The Rift

by Colors

Rating: teen
Tags: Romance, Thriller, Original Character, Random, Discord, Princess Celestia, Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Main 6
Length: 27611

There is a rift on the large crystal sphere that surrounds the known universe.

There is a rift on the large crystal sphere that surrounds the known universe.

Things don't make sense anymore.

Published 2017-07-23 22:20:11 UTC
Last updated 2017-08-24 15:04:45 UTC

#3 Fluttershy

I

A pleasant shiver ran down Fluttershy’s neck, reaching all the way to the tip of her outstretched wings. Twilight giggled ... maybe she had felt it through their close touch? ... whispering something, her muzzle only inches away from the pegasus’ ear.

“I can’t,” Fluttershy breathed, involuntarily ducking her head at the tingling sensation of the other mare’s breath. “I have to... g-go... to feed... a-angel.”

“Huh?” Twilight made. “But angel is right here.”

“What?” Fluttershy loosened herself from Twilight’s embrace, her eyes scanning the contents of the room. The library’s upper floor. “Uhm, where?”

“Right...” Twilight whispered. She walked across the room, as if to pull out angel from behind a shelf. Then with a flash she disappeared, momentarily reappearing in front of Fluttershy.

II

“... here.” And before Fluttershy could say anything else, their lips were locked in a kiss, and her silly heart jumped with joy, so predictable, so euphoric. A surge of electricity, warming and tingling every part of her body.

“My angel’s right here. And why would she leave me?”

“She likes being here,” Fluttershy mouthed, trying her best to furl in her shivering wings. “But she has... things to do.”

Twilight kissed her again, then parted with a giggle.

“I can come over, can’t I?”

Yet another shiver. She had hoped Twilight would say that. She nodded, smiling.

“I’d love that.”

III

A trillion miles above Equestria, there is a large crystal sphere.

A complex web of lines decorates the shell, shining in a lighter color. Their are thousands, millions... countless lines.

And there is a rift on the surface of the sphere. Through it, control and order seeps out, out, out...

#6 Rainbow Dash

I

Rainbow Dash was fast. Everyone knew this. But something was off. Right now, she wasn’t just fast, she was really really really fast. She hadn’t even tried to, necessarily, it had just been a normal flight... thing. Free time. Stuff. Yeah, stuff. She’d just been flying because that’s what she liked to do, but right now she was pretty sure that she was flying faster than ever before in her life. And that was odd.

Come to think of it, shouldn’t there have been a rainboom? Realizing this, she slowed down. Gradually. You couldn’t slow from such a speed too quickly.

Maybe rainbooms only came when you flew at a certain speed, but not at a certain higher speed? ... Rainbow Dash really didn’t understand the physics and stuff behind it, but that kinda didn’t sound logical.

She came to a halt. She looked around, flapping her wings to fly to a nearby cloud to take a breath.

Gosh, she was really far away. She’d flown really far.

II

This was really weird.

It hadn’t really happened before, ever. Okay, the rainboom. She’d been really fast there, and it was weird that she hadn’t been able to fly that fast again for years afterwards. But still, that wasn’t as weird. The difference wasn’t as big. And she hadn’t even tried to, again, she’d just flown and then flown faster and realized that for some reason she could fly really really fast and... well yeah. That.

Had Equestria decided to give her superpony powers for a day? Had she accidentally drunk some weird potion? Or was this permanent? Was she suddenly able to fly way faster than ever before, even though she’d already been the fastest flier alive?

Was it a reward for being the fastest? Was the fastest rewarded by being even faster?

That also didn’t sound logical.

Cautiously, Rainbow Dash, who didn’t even feel particularly tired, made for the way back. Soon she was flying rather quickly, and then really really quickly. Really fast.

III

A trillion miles above Equestria, there is a large crystal sphere.

There is no sound in space. No air to carry vibrations from the sphere, which are surely being caused the constant flow of lines.

And there is a rift on the surface of the sphere. Through it, control and order seeps out, out, out...

#8 Sigma

I

A trillion miles above Equestria, there is a rift on the surface of a large crystal sphere.

In the center of Equestria, seven hundred yards from Canterlot, there is a rift on the ground. Sigma stood at its edge, her long mane blowing in the soft wind, the only part of her body that was moving.

(some of its texture is moving. some of its texture is moving.)

She was wearing two large saddle bags on her back, brown and nondescript. For over two minutes, she stood still. Eventually – perhaps she had come to a decision? – a steady stream of purple erupted from her horn, forming a web around her entire body. As time passed it grew lighter in color, until it was almost invisible.

She took a deep breath. Then she took several steps backwards. Then she ran towards the rift. Then she jumped, even though at the last moment, it seemed as if she had changed her mind. But it was too late. Or was it? She had passed over the edge, but momentarily she cast a different spell, one which caught her in mid-air. Breathing heavily, she directed it to float her back to the edge. On shaky hooves, she stepped back onto solid ground.

She sighed.

II

Forty minutes later, Sigma closed the door of her apartment building in Canterlot.

Many ponies talk to themselves when they’re alone. It’s more common than most think, because many who do are too embarrassed to admit it. If Sigma had been among them, perhaps now she would have said something informative. But she didn’t. She only dropped her saddlebags, shuffled to her fridge, poured herself a glass of wine, and sat down onto a couch. Not a single word that would explain what had just happened.

III

Some of its texture is moving. Some of its texture is moving. Some of its texture is moving. Some of its texture is moving. Some of its texture is moving. Some of its texture is moving. Some of its texture is moving. Some of its texture is moving. Some of its texture is moving. Some of its texture is moving. Some of its texture is moving. Some of its texture is moving. Some of its texture is moving. Some of its texture is moving. Some of its texture is moving. Some of its texture is moving. Some of its texture is moving. Some of its texture is moving. Some of its texture is moving. Some of its texture is moving. Some of its texture is moving. Some of its texture is moving. Some of its texture is moving. Some of its texture is moving. Some of its texture is moving. Some of its texture is moving. Some of its texture is moving. Some of its texture is moving. Some of its texture is moving. Some of its texture is moving. Some of its texture is moving. Some of its texture is moving. Some of its texture is moving. Some of its texture is moving. Some of its texture is moving. Some of its texture is moving. Some of its texture is moving. Some of its texture is moving. Some of its texture is moving. Some of its texture is moving. Some of its texture is moving. Some of its texture is moving. Some of its texture is moving. Some of its texture is moving. Some of its texture is moving.

#9 Twilight

I

Despite her offer having been a clear attempt to spend more time with Fluttershy, it wasn’t unbeknownst to Twilight that feeding 183 different animals was actual work, particularly if you counted the cleaning up afterwards. Fluttershy had trained all of them to just come into her cottage, which was probably the only way to accomplish this daily task in a reasonable amount of time, but it didn’t come without cost.

At least, not without cost for Twilight, who like normal ponies was bothered by the constant smell that hovered above the place. Not a strong smell (at least not usually), but an extraordinarily persistent smell. Someday, perhaps, Twilight would learn what Fluttershy had mastered: to not be bothered (in fact, a part of Twilight was wondering if Fluttershy actually liked it). But whether or not that would happen eventually, it certainly wouldn’t happen today.

“This is uncanny,” Twilight complained, releasing her magic with a frustrated groan. “I cleaned everything!”

“Uhm.”

“I researched for several days just to figure out how to use magic to best clean a place! With extra emphasis on being thorough rather than quick! By the way, the lack of prior work on this topic is disturbing. It’s as if I’m the first magician in history with a marefriend whose home needs dire cleaning!”

Fluttershy giggled.

“Or forget marefriend! For all those ponies liking colts out there, you should need cleaning spells even more!” She sighed. “Why is the smell still here? That’s so unfair.”

“The smell never goes away, Twilight.”

Twilight sighed, for a moment feeling very, very tired.

“Do you, uhm. Want to take a bath?”

Twilight stood still. “A bath?” Then, “You don’t get dirty if you use magic!”

“Oh. Yes. Ahem.”

“Unless,” Twilight said, “unless you want us to take one... together?”

“Oh. Yes, that’s-”

But Twilight was already gone, laughing as she dashed into Fluttershy’s bathroom. Fluttershy stifled a giggle, throwing another look at the extraordinarily clean (if not odourless) entrance hall, before she followed.

II

Splash!

“Hehe... don’t do that!”

“But I like doing it!”

“Ohh, why?”

“I like how you smell!”

“Hehehe...”

Splash!

“Hey, Fluttershy?”

“Mh?”

“Speaking of smells, don’t you realize something?”

“You mean-”

“The stench is gone!”

“D-don’t call it a stench, please. And I’m pretty sure it’s because of all this stuff that you put-”

“Yeah, if I can’t get rid if it I just have to cover it up.”

Splash!

“Hehehe...”

BUMP. BUMP.

...

“What was that?”

“I think it came from the door.”

“Twilight?” Rainbow’s voice came from outside. “Twi, are you in here? Fluttershy? Something weird’s going on!”

III

A trillion miles above Equestria, there is a large crystal sphere. There is a rift on the surface of the sphere. Its edges are illuminated in a pale red glow.

#10 Gold Star

“Shhhhh!!” Autumn hissed, throwing a nervous look at the door. “Not so loud!”

I

“Come on! I’ve known you for eight years. You’re not a racist!”

“It’s not racist if it’s true,” Gold Star held against her, though keeping her voice down. “You attacked Canterlot, trying to enslave the entire city! And it didn’t even make sense! I thought you guys feed on love. How were you going to get love from a ponies that despise you?”

“Beats me. I’ve left the hive over a decade ago.”

“Oh.”

“Look. If you say you aren’t racist, then there must be possible for me to do the right thing. So what would that be? Leave the hive? Done that. Be nice to others? Done that. I hope.”

“Don’t lie?” Gold Star suggested.

“That’s unrealistic.”

“Fair enough.” Gold Star sighed. “Okay. But you prove to me you’ve always been Autumn and didn’t kill her last week, or I’ll report you on the spot! I’ll tell the mayor! And Twilight!”

“Ask away.”

“The first thing I said to you.”

“’Hey, nice daffodils’.”

“Actually,” Gold Star said with a frown, “I don’t remember what I said.” Pause. “But you do have nice daffodils.”

“Thanks. I always memorize the first thing somepony says to me. It’s part of the job.”

II

“Mh.” Pause. “So how is it being a changeling in hiding?”

“It sucks.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah. You always gotta worry. What if someone finds me asleep? What if I mess up? What if Twilight or someone finds a way to detect us? Actually I think there already is a spell, but only single target. But, beats me, she could come up with a spell that puts up a shiny red arrow pointing to the nearest changeling. And aside from that, you don’t have any benefits. I’m just living a normal life, plus risks.”

“Oh.”

“And I could fall over dead at any moment.”

“What?”

“Yeah. Ponies don’t know this, but changelings don’t age. We just fall over dead at some point. But it’s totally random when that happens. They say, if you aren’t being killed by someone, you always have about a sixty year life expectancy – no matter how old you already are. The unluckiest changeling so far died after 9 days. Others are 500 years old and going.”

“FRICK!” Gold Star’s lips quivered, and she could feel tears dwelling up inside her. “Oh, Autumn!” she cried, running over and hugging her friend. “That’s so unfair! Everything is so unfair! I’m sorry! Of course we’re still friends! I’ll never tell your secret to anypony! I swear it!”

III

A trillion miles above Equestria, there is a large crystal sphere.

Let an invisible eye move through the rift. Once outside, many things change. What before was a web on the surface, is now a web all throughout the sphere. Countless lines are woven, some ranging from just beside the rift all the way downward, two trillion miles, hitting the sphere’s other side.

Only those connecting to the rift itself are leaving the sphere. Leaving the known universe.

#12 Celestia

“Tell me... princess... did you create the world, or didn’t you?”

I

“Discord,” Celestia said, calm but with authority, “if I did, why would I tell you? And If I did not, why would I tell you?”

“Mhh... yes, why indeed? Perhaps because I will leave you alone.”

“I’ve endured worse. I can endure you, and I will if I have to.”

“If you did not,” Discord said, “surely you must have wondered who did. How curious, that our records don’t go back that far. What was the beginning of our dearest princess?”

Celestia said nothing. Trying to leave would not be smart, so her options were limited to things she could do in her personal chambers. Without wasting another look at the draconequus, she levitated the book she’d been reading from her night stand, opening it where she had last been.

“Perhaps the one who did is still alive? Perhaps... he is right here?”

Her blood froze.

II

No. Not that. Many time she had considered this question, pondered who had caused Luna and her to wake up on their first day, who had put the will in them to rise and eventually take control. But she had thought it couldn’t be him. That she could not have been made by the embodiment of chaos. That he could not be the one who had created the world, and surely not in his image. But if he had, if it truly had been him, what did it mean? What did it mean for her subjects, and for Luna and herself?

Horrified, she let her gaze trail back to Discord, who for a strange reason was pressing a paw to his mouth.

What a moment, was this-

“BUHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!” DIscord jumped into the air, holding his stomach with both limbs as he laughed so loud that, were it not for the spell isolating her chambers, it would surely alarm the guards. “HAHAHAHAHA! HOHOHOHOHUHUHUHEHEHEHEHAHAHAHAHA!! Snnkt... hehehehe... HAHAHAHAHA!! Ohh, you should see the look on your face, dear princess! Me, the creator of the world! Priceless! What a pleasant thought! Priceless! Just Priceless! Hehehe... hehe... HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!”

Celestia slowly closed her eyes, sighing in relief.

“Mhhh,” Discord made. “But here is something true for, you princ.... princess... hahaha... HAHAHAHA!!! Ohh, you know, I took your memories ages ago. Do you think I wasn’t curious myself? I took them the first time we met. This, I swear to you, is the truth. I know everything about how you woke up and what came then, but nothing about what came before. Those silly ponies did even manage to record a proper history! Just another demonstration of the failures of harmony... although...” He coughed. “... of course, I am still perfectly reformed and...” He snored. “... stuff. Anyway, well, it’s true that they did not have the best functioning harmony, back then.”

“You took my memories,” Celestia repeated, “and I did not even notice?”

“Yes, well, it appears I am more powerful than you,” he said in a demonstrably bored tone of voice. “Ohhh... what news!” He did some silly transformation with his body to showcase the rolling of eyes. “Anyways, thank you kindy for making this afternoon so very delightful! I’m afraid I have things to attend now, but perhaps we can talk soon? ... what, are you not even going to say goodbye?”

“Goodbye, DIscord,” Celestia murmured, and with a wink, he was gone.

III

A trillion miles above Equestria, there is a large crystal sphere.

The rift is not widening. So why does the spreading of chaos accelerate?

The answer is the mathematical principle of exponential growth, that even the sphere must abide by. Every node that is damaged affects another node for every line it sends. A nice, smooth, natural, exponential curve. A shallow slope at first, but steeper by the hour.

#13 Cyclone

“Uhm,” Cyclone said. “I think somepony needs help? Do you two need help? I’m sorry if I’ve done anything wrong.”

I

The green unicorn mare’s eyes slowly trailed downward from the demolished ceiling to Cyclone. “I’m pretty sure you just saved either one of our lives or both,” she said, while dust and debris were still trickling down. The purple mare, whose mouth was still half-opened, merely nodded.

“Oh.” Cyclone smiled in relief. “Good. You, uhm, you’re both welcome. Do you want me to fly you out?”

“I’m good,” the mare replied. “I can teleport. As for Apple Stars...”

“Uhm... p-please.”

Cyclone nodded. She lowered her hind legs, allowing the purple mare to climb onto her back with shaky hooves.

II

When Cylcone came flying out of the pit with Apple Stars on her back, the other mare already waited.

“Thank you,” she said. “I’m Lynn. This is Apple Stars. We’re... um, friends. Yeah. Why not. Listen, I’m super grateful to you, but it would be great if you didn’t ask what happened here.”

Cyclone nodded. “Of course. No problem.”

Lynn raised an eyebrow. “Really? Just like that?”

“Yeah.” Cyclone gave a smile, shrugging. “It’s okay, I’m-”

She interrupted herself as the apartment door suddenly flew open. Two more ponies with silver wings came rushing inside, both of whom mares, one also having a horn.

“A new face!” That one exclaimed, in what had to be a cheer. “Awesome! Finally!”

“And she already saved two ponies from certain death!” the other added. Both of them giggled.

“Err,” Lynn made. “I’m probably okay with you coming in like that, considering, but who-”

“I’m Corinne,” said the one with the horn, while closing the door with her magic. “And this is Featherfall.”

“We sense if somepony is in big trouble,” Featherfall added. “We’re angels!”

“That’s right. That’s why I got wings!” Corinne gave them a flap, giggling. “Though they’re better if you die as a pegasus.”

“Probably divine justice. You have your horn, so we have to be better at flying.”

“Yeah!”

“Oh,” Cyclone said. “So am I an angel, too?”

“You sure are!” Corinne gave her an affectionate nuzzle, as if they were old friends. “You look like a great pony to spend eternity with!”

“’Die’?” Lynn echoed. “Are you saying you’re dead?”

“Probably,” Featerhfall said, “we’ve all died and came back.”

“Our theory is that only the nicest ponies can come back,” Corinne explained. “At least everyone who’s come back so far is amazing. Being dead is great!”

“Uhm,” Cyclone said, “are you sure we should explain all this to-”

“Oh, it’s no problem.” Corinne gave a wink. “Ponies forget about angels and everything they’ve told them after a few minutes. But I still prefer telling them who saved their lives. She did save your lives, didn’t she?”

“Kinda,” Lynn said. “Uhm, listen, I’m sorry if this makes things more complicated, but that amnesia thing probably won’t work on me.”

Corinne’s smile froze. Featherfall, who had been looking around the house, slowly turned to face her.

“Why not?”

“Um,” Lynn said. “It’s... complicated?”

III

A trillion miles...

The rift gave birth to the angels.

Children of chaos.

#15 Sigma

I

The little ‘o’ on her flank with the strange hook at its top glowed in a pale silver light, just like it always did. Most ponies had no idea what it represented, just as they had no idea about set theory, group theory, command theory, or pretty much anything else Sigma was working on. Right now, her eyes were half-closed, her brow furrowed in concentration as nothing visible whatsoever happened in front of her. Then there came a knock from the door.

Sigma stood up. She walked over to the door and opened.

“Hey! Do you remember me?”

“Um,” Sigma replied after a second. “Yes.”

“Err,” Gold Star made. “Cool. Okay, can I come in?”

Once again, Sigma took a few seconds to consider the question before she replied.

“Is what you’re actually asking whether I’m okay with you coming in?”

Gold Star grinned. “Exactly!”

When Sigma didn’t respond, her smile flickered a bit.

“Err... I’d like to talk to you. It’s important.”

“Um. I am okay with you coming in,” Sigma said. “Please try not to use coded language.”

“Sure! I’ll try.”

Sigma nodded, allowing her former neighbour to step into her apartment.

“Okay,” Gold Star said, taking a breath. “Can you promise not to tell this to anyone?”

“If you say ‘this,’ do you mean-”

“What I’m going to tell you.”

“And if you say ‘can,’ do you mean ‘will’?’“

“Yeah.”

“Um. I don’t think I will.”

“No?”

“Um,” Sigma made. She didn’t know what to make of that question, if it had even been one.

“Why not?”

“Um, promising that would prohibit me from doing it, but, um, it might be that telling someone is clearly the right thing to do.”

“It won’t be like that. I’m not doing anything wrong. It’s just something most ponies don’t react well to. They’re just... biased. But telling anypony wouldn’t be the right thing to do.”

“Um,” Sigma said after a few moments, “I think it’s unlikely that my judgement will be significantly affected by a common bias.”

“You’re right. Okay. Listen. One of my friends is a changeling. I found out today. But I don’t think she’s evil. Can you believe that?”

II

“Um,” Sigma made. “The ethical thing to do as a changeling, besides working on reforming the hive, is probably to live peacefully among ponies. So what you say seems plausible.”

“You’re the best!” Gold Star beamed, but it only lasted a second. “She... she told me changelings don’t age, but... but that at one point just die without warning. She said... that you always have a sixty year life expectancy, but... but every day might be the one... the one where...” She gulped, leaving the sentence unfinished. “Did you know that?”

Sigma nodded.

“... wait, you did?”

Sigma nodded.

“How?”

“Um. I don’t want to tell you that.”

“Oh. Okay. But it is true?”

“Very likely.”

“That’s so terrible!” Gold Star bit her lip. “Don’t you think so, too?”

“I do.”

“... really?”

“Yes,” Sigma said, “I think death is extremely bad and decreasing control and predictability is also bad. Both of those make the way changelings die really terrible.”

Gold Star nodded. “C... can you do anything about it? I... I don’t want her... to... to... to die! I don’t want her to die! She could die tomorrow! And... and... she’s such a nice pony... changeling... so kind... and... and she always has to hide. Isn’t there anything we could do... you could do... to help her? I know how... uhm... I know that you can do... things.”

“Um,” Sigma said. “Um. Um. I think I can probably help her with both problems, but I won’t.”

Gold Star gasped. “What? Why?”

“Um. Well. Um. I think there is, a, um, a rift in the gargantuan sphere that surrounds all celestial bodies in about a nine-hundred-and-fifty-billion mile radius around Equestria. If you, um, found out that your friend is a changeling in the last two days, there is an eighty-five percent chance that the rift caused it. It also does a lot of other things. Some of them are probably very good but on the whole it’s a really bad thing. Right now my utility function prioritizes closing it so far above all other things that any action which would decrease the probability of doing so, and helping your friend would do that because it would take effort, is something I won’t do.”

III

“...”

Sigma shifted around uncomfortably, unsure whether what she had said had somehow been socially unfitting.

“How long will you take to close the rift?” Gold Star asked cautiously.

“Um, I think if the rift is still there then there is a fifty percent probability that, um, three quarters of the population is dead within a month, and, um, a ninety-seven percent probability that three quarters are dead within two months. And, um, I use this as an objective prediction, but more generally you could say that the universe will drown in chaos. So, um, conditionally on the world not effectively ending, the rift will be closed in two months at most, but probably a lot sooner.”

“Wait,” Gold Star said. “Wait. Is this really happening? Did you not forget some giant, err, some, I don’t know, some thing that really changes what you said? Like, a reason why the world would not end anyway?”

“No,” Sigma said, “I’m very confident that what I said is directionally accurate.”

“C...c...” Gold Star swallowed. “That’s... that’s... that’s... very... that’s... that’s a lot to take... I... I didn’t expect you to tell me about the apocalypse. Uh, SIgma, you... you didn’t think this would happen before, did you? Ever?”

“No.”

“Can I help? Can I do anything? Does Celestia know? Why isn’t anyone doing anything?”

“Um. You can help. You can do something. I think Celestia doesn’t know but might know eventually. I think no-one except me is doing anything because no-one knows. That is if you don’t count the probably billions of ponies living on other planes or planets. Some of them might know too, but if I am correct about what I think, then they can’t do anything.”

“Why aren’t you telling Celestia?”

“Um,” Sigma said. “I think that would decrease the odds of closing the rift.”

“Why?”

“I don’t want to tell you that.”

“What... what can I do?”

“Um. I still have to spend time buying food and sometimes stop working. Buying food for me and doing a few small things would increase the amount of time I have to prepare. That would increase the odds of the rift getting closed.”

For a few seconds, Gold Star stared at her like she had said something particularly unusual.

“If I do all that;” she said eventually, “will you help my friend afterwards, if the world doesn’t get destroyed?”

“Yes,” Sigma said immediately, “I swear I will try to help her, if the rift is closed and you helped me do it.”

#16 Gold Star

I

Gold Star felt increasingly confident that Sigma was either the greatest or the worst pony in all of Equestria. But between those two, it was almost a toss-up.

On the first day, while Sigma had taken one of her rare and short breaks from whatever she was working on, Gold Star had asked how much help she expected for their bargain to hold.

Sigma had responded that, um, as far as she remembered, the deal they had made was that if Gold Star helped her at all, she would try to help her friend after all was done, and, um, she had already bought things for her once, so her end was met. She had not even added “but I would like it if you stayed anyway,” or “but if you keep helping me, that would improve the odds of the rift being closed.” She had just given her a pass, following the literal words of their deal.

Gold Star could have walked out right then and there. She had no doubt that Sigma would stick to her word... that was, at least not during the times when she thought of Sigma as the greatest pony in Equestria. During those times when she felt Sigma was terrible and utterly insane and that she was making the biggest mistake of her life by believing in her, she might have had a few doubts... or perhaps more than a few...

She hadn’t walked out.

Instead, she had asked whether there was anything else she could do, anything whatsoever. Sigma had responded that, um, um, she would think about it.

On the following day, she had said something about the high temperatures being distracting (which was quite understandable, even for normal ponies), and that doing something about that would help, but that it couldn’t be too loud. Gold Star had nodded, had searched through the stores of Canterlot and bought the nicest air conditioner she could find. It was a fascinating thing, purely magical, a highly sensitive constellation of crystals that sucked in warmth from their surrounding. After twelve hours of use, you had to carry it outside, where it would release all of the accumulated heat in a matter of minutes.

It had also been very expensive, but Sigma had said she had enough and it didn’t matter. Gold Star wasn’t sure if she wanted to know where all the money came from.

She vaguely remembered what it had been like, when she had just thought of the other pony as a somewhat eccentric, socially awkward mare that lived next to her. Only weeks before she had moved to Ponyville had she seen her do the thing... the thing which should have been impossible. It was that incident which was the sole reason for why she had asked her for help in the first place.

II

On the second evening, Sigma had asked if Gold Star would make love to her.

Gold Star hadn’t known what to say, and after a few seconds of regaining her voice, she had asked whether she had to. Sigma had looked at her like it was a weird question, and had said no, and that had been it. Gradually, as her shock had been fading, Gold Star had remembered that she had offered to do ‘anything whatsoever,’ that she was already free to leave if she wanted, and that Sigma probably had no idea why there was any difference between that particular request and the air conditioner. She hadn’t said yes, but she had decided not to begrudge the other mare, either.

She hadn’t slept well that night. In her dreams, a gigantic dragon had descended to Equestria through a crack in the sky, and with a fury he had spat green fire onto everypony and everyone in his path. Gold Star had run from him, and then she had seen him burn a smaller dragon, a dragon who she knew was her friend Autumn Wind, who had transformed into a dragon herself, believing it would keep her safe. She had awoken as Autumn had melted into a pool of crimson blood.

Sigma hadn’t been there. The night before, she hadn’t seen her sleep either, but Gold Star had assumed it was simply because she stayed up later and woke up earlier. Now, she was wondering whether the other mare slept at all.

When eventually she did come from the living room, Gold Star was still wide awake. She asked her how little she slept, and Sigma said two hours. Gold Star asked how that was possible, and Sigma replied that she had studied sleep before and had found a way to decrease it to two hours a day. Gold Star asked how and Sigma said it was very complicated.

Carefully, Gold Star then asked how her previous suggestion would have helped. Sigma said that, um, releasing extreme physical pleasure relaxed body and mind, made sleep more effective, and helped her to concentrate.

Wondering whether she had gone mad herself, Gold Star agreed.

III

“Isn’t there anypony who could help you more than I can?” Gold Star asked carefully.

She was a mess. She had cried a lot, out of fear, confusion, sometimes regret, and then more fear. She had kept it from the other mare, which had been very easy. Sigma spent almost all of her time sitting in the living room, sometimes with a sheet of paper in front of her, sometimes writing something down, but most often with her eyes near closed, her lips moving in perfect silence.

Still, she was hanging in. She had decided to help Sigma, and that was what she was going to do, as best as she could.

“Um,” Sigma said. “Um.”

...

There was a long pause. The longest one yet.

“I have very poor social skills,” Sigma said eventually. “I think if I had strong social skills, I would not be working alone. I did not think much about that question.”

“So is there somepony?”

“Um,” Sigma said. “I don’t know.”

“What would somepony have to be able to do to be helpful?”

“Um. If she was very good at group theory, that would help.”

“What’s group theory?”

“It’s the study of mathematical objects called groups and of functions and relations between them.”

“O-... oh. Maths...”

A pause.

“Anything else?”

“Um. If she was very good at magic, that could also help.”

“Magic?” Gold Star asked excitedly. “Twilight Sparkle is really good at magic! Have you thought about contacting her?”

“Um. No.”

“... no? Why not?”

“I make a lot of mistakes when it comes to these things,” Sigma said. She sounded unhappy. “There are probably a lot of things I should have thought about or done that I didn’t. It was only luck that you came to me, too.”

“Oh. So would contacting her be a good idea?”

“Um ...”

...

“... it’s complicated.”

“Come on!” Gold Star protested. Sigma gave her a confused glance.

“What I mean is that, well, I can do it for you! I can contact Twilight. If you want, I’ll drive back to Ponyville right now!”

“Um,” Sigma said, “give me a few minutes to think about it.”

#17 Lynn

I

“Oh. Hey there. Are you here to rent a book?”

Spike stood in the entrance, the cute little dragon that lives with Twilight or something. I knew him by name, but I had only talked to him once before, and very briefly.

“No,” I said, “I want to talk to Twilight. Is she here?”

“Err,” Spike made. “Twilight is... busy. Does she know you?”

“She probably knows my cousin, Lyra,” I said, which wasn’t really an answer and didn’t really matter, but it felt like a better response than ‘nope’.

“Woah! I didn’t know Lyra had a cousin! What’s your name?”

“Lynn.”

“... Lyra and Lynn?”

“Yup.”

“So what do you...?” He tried to get a good glimpse at my cutie mark, which is always a slightly awkward thing for guys to do, though I guess he at least wasn’t a stallion.

“It’s complicated,” I said. “Can I talk to Twilight? Please?”

“Uhm. She’s... really busy?”

“It’s important.”

“Um. Still, I-”

“Come on! Not even for Lyra’s cousin?”

“Ahm.” Spike gave a nervous chuckle, then cleared his throat. “Alright. Come in.”

I rolled my eyes as I followed him inside.

II

“Uh, hey,” Twilight said as she saw me approaching, looking up from a book. It was lying face-up, so I couldn’t get a glimpse at its title, but it certainly was thick. “Do you need assistance in the library?”

“No. I was hoping I could talk to you.”

“Um,” Twilight made. “Do I know you?”

“Lynn,” I introduced myself. We shook hooves. “Lyra’s cousin,” I added, just because it always seemed to make things easier, even though the only thing Lyra and I had in common was our color.

“Lynn. How can I help you?”

“... it’s complicated.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow.

“Some weird stuff has happened,” I said carefully, “and I’m not sure what to do about it, but I think I’m supposed to tell somepony. Uhm, I...”

“Weird stuff?” Twilight echoed, as my break got a bit longer.

I nodded.

“What kind of stuff?”

“It’s... I can’t really tell you everything... or even most of it... that’s what makes it so hard... but-”

“Why not?”

“You might not believe me,” I said, a response which nicely bent around being a lie.

“As it happens,” Twilight said, “some extremely... ‘weird stuff’... has happened to... well, friends of mine. Was it by chance the kind of thing that shouldn’t be possible?”

“Oh yes,” I said immediately. “Not remotely possible.”

“Crap.” I could see Twilight biting her lip. “This is bad! This is really really bad! I’m really worried! Lynn, can you tell me what it was? Please?”

“It’s-”

“I promise that everything you want to be a secret is kept secret.”

“Let me think,” I said. Then I sighed. “Alright.”

And I told her everything, except that I replaced the entire three challenge game with ‘then I did something which I can’t tell you about that saved me from her crystal thing, but which would have gotten at least one of us killed.’

III

“That’s even more insane than what I’ve seen,” Twilight said. “... then again, both stories are impossible, so I guess they’re in the same ballpark.”

“What have you seen?” I asked. Now that I had told her my story, I thought it was only fair for her to repay the favor.

“Rainbow Dash can now fly seventy percent faster than the fastest flier ever recorded in Equestrian history, and yesterday, when Spike tried using his breath to send a scroll, he suddenly cast a giant fireball! It destroyed five books, but only because I put it out almost immediately. If I hadn’t been there...”

“How fast was Rainbow Dash before?”

“Not quite as fast as the fastest flier in recoded history.”

“That does sound impossible,” I agreed.

Twilight nodded.

“Have you notified the princess? You have a direct link, don’t you?”

“That is confidential,” Twilight said. “But yes. Uhm, if you don’t mind me asking...”

“Yeah?”

“Your cutie mark ... what is it?”

I gave a sigh. “It’s complicated...”

#18 Fluttershy

I

“We’re in a crisis,” Twilight Sparkle declared, pacing around in the library room proper. “Rainbow Dash’s maximum flying speed has almost doubled from one day to the next. Applejack told me that she tried to pluck a single apple yesterday, and instead of it falling down from the tree – like apples are supposed to do! – it flew straight upwards, until it was out of sight. We don’t yet know what would happen to the others, and thank Celestia it is not harvesting season... yes, Pinkie?”

“Why is it bad if Dashie can fly faster?”

“Because,” Twilight explained, “we like to things to follow a certain order. I know you don’t appreciate order as much, Pinkie, but if Rainbow Dash can suddenly fly twice as fast, who’s to say that tomorrow, she won’t instead be much slower? If apples fall upwards, who’s to say you don’t suddenly start falling upward rather than downward, the next time you bounce? Does that answer your question? ... okay, great. And yesterday, Lyra’s cousin told me about things that are even more worrisome, though I promised to keep the details a secret.”

“Lyra has a cousin?” Rainbow echoed.

“This is a crisis!” Twilight repeated, ignoring the insertion. “A serious crisis! Don’t treat this as a joke! Our...” She took a deep breath. “... our lives may be at risk.”

A murmur went through the group. Fluttershy shifted around uncomfortably. Nothing weird had happened to her, at least not yet, but what Twilight had said was worrisome.

She hadn’t known about the apple. That was the scariest part. Fluttershy imagined what would happen if gravity suddenly pulled her upwards. Would she have to fly to stay at the earth? Oh, Rainbow Dash would be strong enough to do that, but her...

“I don’t know if this will help,” Twilight said, and Fluttershy looked up to see that she was levitating a chest where she knew the elements of harmony where stored, “but we have to try. I already contacted Celestia, and she sent these to me.”

Knock. Knock.

II

“Um,” Twilight said, “the library has a ‘closed’ sign hanging on the entrance.”

“Maybe somepony didn’t notice?” Fluttershy suggested.

...

Knock. Knock.

Twilight closed the chest she had just opened, putting it out of sight, then she went over to open the door. Fluttershy could see a very pretty mare standing in the entrance: an earth pony with a coat similar to her own, her mane a waterfall of gold, with a few dark strands mixed in.

“I’m sorry, but the library is closed,” Twilight said.

“I know. I need to talk to you.”

“... I’m sorry, but this is a bad time.”

“It’s important!”

“I’m sorry,” Twilight repeated, ”but we’re in the middle of something urgent. You have to come back later.”

“Uhm... in the middle of what?”

Although Fluttershy couldn’t see it, she imagined Twilight having one of her cute frowns.

“That’s ... really none of your business.”

“But... it... it might be that what you’re dealing with is the reason I’m here.”

“Why would you think that?”

“Is... is it about lots of weird stuff happening?”

Slowly, Twilight nodded.

“Can I come in?”

“I’m sorry,” Twilight said for the third time, “but we are in the middle of something. Look, you can come back in... ten minutes. Okay? Just wait here. But don’t eavesdrop!”

“Oh. Okay.”

III

“Come in,” Twilight said, stepping aside to let the yellow mare inside. Their attempts to use the elements had been unsuccessful – admittedly to nopony’s surprise. The elements just didn’t work without a target.

“Oh, hey Gold Star!” Pinkie walked over to welcome her – notably, without bouncing.

“Hello, Pinkie. Uhm, and hello Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, and, uhm...”

“Fluttershy,” said Fluttershy.

“Right! Sorry.”

“So,” Twilight said, “what’s going on?”

#19 Gold Star

“So,” Twilight said, “what’s going on?”

I

“I don’t know,” Gold Star replied, which was of course a lie. Sigma had given her very careful instructions on what to tell, what to keep a secret... and what to lie about. It had been a shock, but Sigma... she couldn’t quite remember how she had put it, but the essence of it was even though lying was normally bad, in this case there was so much at stake that they shouldn’t even worry about it.

It was frustrating, and it was hard for Gold Star to follow, particularly because she had no idea what the reasons for all the secrecy were, but Sigma had emphasized that saying the wrong things could literally have world-ending consequences.

And Gold Star really, really didn’t want the world to end.

“I’ve been sent by somepony from Canterlot,” Gold Star said, eager to be able to talk about things that were true. “She’s trying to fix everything, and she thinks she can use your help.”

“She can use Twilight’s help?” Rarity asked. “Who is this mare?”

“I think she’s the smartest pony in Equestria,” Gold Star said. “Or maybe she’s crazy and I’m eating it up. But, uhm, she did say it would get worse, and that seems to be true. I don’t understand anything of what she does, but I trust her.”

“The smartest pony in Equestria,” Rarity echoed. “And we are supposed to just take your word for it, darling, aren’t we?”

That was what Gold Star had asked, too. Sigma had sighed and said that she didn’t understand other ponies very well and what Gold Star thought would be convincing.

“What does she even want to do?” Twilight asked.

Gold Star shrugged. “I have no idea. Err... I asked her if she could give me something that would demonstrate her... uhm, abilities, and she told me to give you this...” She pulled a piece of paper out of her bag, offering it to Twilight, who took it from her with a frown. “She said it’s a proof for the, err, ‘false complexity theorem of spells’.”

II

Everypony watched as Twilight’s eyes trailed over the letter. Eventually, Applejack cleared her throat.

“Uhm,” Twilight said, who seemed to have almost forgotten her surroundings. “I’m... I’m not sure... this is really complicated stuff... I think I get it, but...” She murmured something else which Gold Star didn’t understand, then looked back at the paper. “That’s cheating!” She suddenly exclaimed. “Wow. That’s so... I never would have... I need to...” She loosened her gaze from the paper. After a few moments, a book came flying out of its shelf, hovering next to her. Twilight opened it, only to momentarily freeze on the spot.

“Twilight?” Fluttershy asked. “Twilight, are you okay?”

“... no. I’m not. Look at this!”

She turned the book around. Gold Star had to take a step closer to see it: there was a single phrase being repeated over and over on both pages.

Some of its texture is moving.

Gold Star had no idea what that meant.

Twilight flipped through the book. Every page looked the same. She dropped the book, summoning another one. As she opened it, it was the exact same sight. No breaks, no paragraphs, just that one phrase.

“My books!” She cried. “My books! The library! It’s all gone! AHHHHHH!!!!”

Deadly silence.

Twilight gave a long sigh.

“Alright,” she said eventually, “what does your friend want us to do?”

III

“Well...” Gold Star bit her lip, feeling more than a bit uncomfortable. “She said we should form a group of volunteers, be ready to do... well, I don’t know what, but you should be ready. ... uhm ... well, she said she can come by in a few days, and that if we had a group of ponies ready to help her, that would be good. And she said she can’t explain more but she only wants the best for everyone. And she said the ponies she needs should be good at magic, or very strong, or maybe if they can do new things because of the stuff that’s been happening, that could also help. ... That’s it. I’m sorry.”

Twilight looked at her. Then she looked back at the piece of paper.

Then she shook her head.

“The princess has to know what to do.”

“About that...” Gold Star could now literally feel a drop of sweat on her brow. “She said that the only thing you really shouldn’t do is to tell the princess.”

...

“Declined,” Twilight said, her voice suddenly much less friendly than before.

“Who does that mare thing she is?” Rainbow asked.

“Yes,” Rarity said, ”she is being way out of line.”

“Please!” Gold Star was now in full panic, rushing over to Twilight. “Please, Twilight! She said it’s incredibly important not to tell the princess! She said it could be the thing that ruins everything!”

“Why would-”

“I don’t know! I have no idea! But do you really want to ignore the word of a pony who can do this?” She gave a nod to the paper.

That seemed to give Twilight pause.

“She said it’s not at all because Celestia is evil.”

“Why then?”

“I don’t know! Please, Twilight.”

“I trust Celestia more than anypony in the world," Twilight said slowly. "Even more than somepony who just proved one of the most important theorem in magic – If the proof is even true. I’m sorry.”

“WAIT!” Gold Star shouted, even though it wasn’t as if Twilight had been about to send a letter right then and there. “Wait! I...”

“Look-” Twilight began, but Gold Star cut her off.

“Can’t you just... wait a bit with sending it? Enough so I can ask her for... uhm...”

“I don’t think so.”

“What if I go there right now? It’s, um, three PM. I can get the train at four. I can be back at seven. Please?”

#20 Lynn

I

“Oh,” I said as I opened the door and saw none other than Twilight Sparkle standing in the entrance. “Uhm, what can I-”

“What happened to your home?”

I sighed. “It’s...” I stopped myself from saying ‘complicated’. “... the thing I didn’t tell you about. Don’t worry about it.”

“Okay,” Twilight said, “a crater in your house is less disturbing than a lot of other stuff that’s going on. Listen. The angels.”

“Yes?”

“I think it'd be good if we could summon them.”

II

“Uhm,” I made. “How?”

“I was hoping you’d tell me.”

“Well, one of them said they come when someone is in danger, I think.”

“You think?”

“I know,” I corrected myself. “She did say it.” It was an annoying habit to say ‘I think’ when I really was sure, but I couldn’t help it.

“I see,” Twilight said. “Hmm...” She gave me a long look. “Lynn-”

“Let’s do it,” I interrupted.

“What?”

“I know what you're thinking. If you can keep it safe, I'm up for it."

III

“This is boring,” I complained. I was standing a few hundred yards north of Ponyville and around thirty yards above ground, on a purple web of energy. That wasn’t the boring part, though. The boring part was that I had already been up here for at least twenty minutes, and anything was yet to happen.

“We don’t know how far away the angels are away,” Twilight's voice came from below. I think she was trying to sound encouraging. “They might be here any moment.”

“Or it doesn’t count because I’m not in real danger.”

“Maybe.”

I sighed. Despite my words, I got increasingly nervous as I watched the web getting thinner below me. Twilight had cast a self-sustaining spell, but it wouldn’t sustain itself for too much longer – which, of course, was the whole point.

Hopefully, if I did fall, Twilight would be quick enough to react in time.

Five more minutes passed, and I could feel the web bending a bit under my weight.

Two more minutes passed. Then I could see somepony – no, two ponies – flying towards us at record speed.

"Twilight?" I asked, causing her to first look at me, then at the approaching angels.

"It worked!" Twilight exclaimed, giving a cheer.

"Yeah. ... let's just hope they had nothing else to do."

#21 Gold Star

I

“Sigma!” Gold Star began as soon as Sigma opened the door. “Sigma! Twilight wants to tell the princess, and if I’m not back at seven with something that will convince her not to, she’ll do it!”

“Um,” Sigma said. “Please come in.”

Gold Star came in, waiting for Sigma to close behind her.

“Twilight said she will not tell the princess until seven?”

Gold Star nodded. “That’s what she promised.”

“Then we go today.”

“T-today?”

“I, um, have a plan. I thought about this while you were gone. We will go today, but before we have to do something else. It, um, includes robbing from a store.”

“Um,” Gold Star echoed, who didn’t know what else to say.

“Will you help me?”

“Uh... okay.”

“Um. We need something that you can use to communicate with me, and that you can also destroy very quickly if you want to. There is a device for sale which can do the first of those, and I know how to change it so it can also do the second. Um, after we stole the device, I will teleport you to Ponyville. Talk to-”

“Wait,” Gold Star interrupted, “teleport me? The entire way?”

“Um. Um. Yes. Um. I’ll teleport you to Ponyville. You should be ready to destroy the device very quickly. If you think there is a thirty percent chance that Twilight has notified Celestia mentioning me, or if you see Discord, destroy it as quickly as you can.”

“Wait,” Gold Star said again. “Discord?”

“Yes. If you see Discord, regardless of when, where, or what he is doing, destroy the device as quickly as you can. It is very important that you do it quickly. Um, if those things don’t happen, use the device to talk to me. I will tell you the coordinates of the spot where you and everyone else who is coming can meet me, on a map I’ll give you.”

“What kind of map?”

“A regular map of Equestria.”

“Sigma, What happens if... what you said happens, and I destroy the device? What then?”

“Um. Then I’ll go alone. I might still be able to fix it, but the probability of failure will be greater because I have no help.”

“But why?”

“Um. Um. It would be really bad if I told you that.”

Gold Star sighed. “Okay. I trust you. Uh, about the device. I don’t know how to use it.”

“Um, I won’t teleport you directly after we stole it. We’ll come back here first, and I’ll modify it and explain you how to use it. It is not hard for most ponies.”

“O-okay.” Then, “Wait. Why are we stealing this? Don’t you have tons of money?”

“Um. I have enough bits, but there is a law governing the purchase of potentially dangerous magical artifacts in Canterlot. Therefore-”

“Okay,” she interrupted. The problem was obvious: they wouldn’t get it quickly enough. “But, uh, if you have enough bits, can’t we pay for it anyway? Even if we steal it?”

“Um. Paying is very slightly lower in my preference ordering. If you want to, we will pay.”

Gold Star nodded. “It would make me feel better.”

II

Twenty minutes later, Gold Star entered a large and very expensive Canterlotian store on magical artifacts. She immediately approached a counter and began talking to the pony standing behind it. After a while, he disappeared into the back of the store, returning with a pair of identical looking disc-shaped devices, bound together by a simple rope. Carefully, Gold Star took the thing in her grasp, then there was a sudden flash and she disappeared, leaving behind a bag of bits and a very confused salespony.

III

“I got it!” Gold Star exclaimed as they both re-appeared inside of Sigma’s apartment.

Sigma took the device from her, putting it onto the table.

“Um. I will to do the modifications first, then-”

“You know,” Gold Star interrupter her, “if you work with other ponies, it can be helpful to give them some... encouragement. Especially if they’ve just done something well.”

“Oh. ... well done.”

“Thank you,” Gold Star breathed, feeling several conflicting and complicated emotions at once. Without having planned to do it, she leaned forward to give Sigma a small kiss onto her cheek. For a few seconds, they looked directly into each other’s eyes, then Sigma lowered her gaze, staring downward while she spoke, just as she usually did.

“Um. I’ll do the modifications first, then I’ll explain you how to use it...”

#22 Twilight

I

“I’m scared,” Twilight said in a quiet voice. Fluttershy and her were standing on the upper floor of the library, with Spike and the other girls downstairs. “I’m scared and I don’t know what to do.”

“I’m scared too,” Fluttershy admitted. “I keep thinking about... what Applejack told us. What if it starts happening to ponies?”

Twilight grimaced. “It all reminds me of Discord,” she said after while. “Remember when we first noticed his effects? The clouds were sticky and raining chocolate milk. Now apples fall upwards. Do you think-”

“I already asked him. But, uhm, I don’t think it’s that similar, actually. When Discord... uhm, it was chaotic, but it all had a sense of humor to it. Chocolate milk... things appearing when you eat them... ponies acting like animals... stuff being being put upside down. But this – Rainbow Dash being way faster? There is no joke there.”

Slowly, Twilight nodded. “You’re right.”

“I also couldn’t ask Discord again,” Fluttershy added. “He doesn’t live with me anymore. I only see him every now and then.”

“It’s so weird,” Twilight hissed. “You’re right. The only thing that could have come from Discord is the thing with the apples. But the books? And the fireball? Yeah, that’s not DIscord. That’s... I don’t know anypony who would do that. Or anyone.”

“I don’t know anypony who even could do it,” Fluttershy murmured.

“Yeah. I don’t think even Celestia has that kind of power.”

“What are you going to do? Are you going to message her?”

Twilight sighed. “I don’t know. I just don’t know. I read the proof. Gold Star was right, whoever wrote that was a genius, hooves down. It was so elegant, and so short. And generations of ponies didn’t manage to do it. But...” She shook her head. “If Gold Star doesn’t come back today, I’ll tell her. I have to.”

“Is it like maths?” Fluttershy asked. “You never talk about this kind of stuff. I didn’t know there even were theorems you could prove the way you can prove things in maths.”

“It’s a hybrid of math and the universal language of magic theory. The proofs read a lot like proofs in math, they’re just... even more surprising, sometimes. And even harder to learn.” She turned her gaze towards the window. “It’s all very abstract. You don’t have to know any magic theory to do magic. I just researched it out of curiosity.”

Fluttershy giggled. “Of course you did. Otherwise you wouldn’t be Twilight...”

She turned around. Fluttershy was giving her that look which she liked so much, that always made her heart leap, and she took a step closer, they exchanged a long, loving kiss. But as wonderful as it was, in also made her realize just how afraid she was to lose her closest friend.

II

There was a knock from the door, and Twilight immediately rushed downstairs. As soon as she entered the lower floor, her gaze fell onto the five ponies with silver wings. This must be the angels, she thought, and then she realized that she must have seen all of them before.

She had probably had this exact thought before, too. And once they left (or if she even went upstairs for more than a minute), she’d forget about them again, and only remember what Lynn had told her.

She opened the door, seeing Gold Star alongside a pegasus mare she didn’t recognize.

“Did you message the princess?” Gold Star asked immediately. Twilight noticed that she was awkwardly holding something in one of her hooves, which for an earth pony meant walking around on three legs.

“I didn’t,” Twilight replied. “But I will if you don’t give me a good reason not to. Uhm, who is this? And what are you holding?”

“Twilight, Autumn. Autumn, Twilight. You... you really didn’t contact her?”

Twilight slowly shook her head. “What are you holding?”

“It’s a device to contact the mare I was talking about. Do you want to talk to her? Can I come in?”

“Please.” Twilight stepped aside.

The library was now almost too crowded: she and the other five elements, Spike, the five angels, Lynn, Gold Star, and Autumn were all standing in the modestly sized room.

Gold Star did something to the device, then put it onto the small table in the center of the room. It was a sort of round disc with a glowing crystal at its center. Twilight had never seen something like it before.

“Hello?” Gold Star asked. “Can you hear us?”

“Um,” came a voice out of the device. “I can hear you.”

“Twilight is here,” Gold Star said. While she spoke, Autumn pulled out something from a pouch she was wearing, unfurling it onto the table. It was a map of Equestria, the same one Twilight also had somewhere... that was, if whatever had destroyed all of her books had left it intact.

“Um. Hello, Twilight?”

“Are you the pony who proved the false complexity theorem?”

“... yes.”

“Who are you?”

“Um. My name is Sigma.”

“Sigma. Why don’t you want me to contact princess Celestia?”

“Um. I will tell you later. Um. Things are probably worse than you think. It’s unlikely that anypony will survive if we don’t fix this problem. I know a way to do that. I, um, want you to meet me. You can bring other ponies if you want. What I will try to do will be dangerous but it is the only way I know of to save Equestria from otherwise highly probable destruction.”

Everything turned unnaturally silent as the voice stopped talking.

“Why would I trust you more than my mentor?” Twilight asked after a few seconds.

“Um. You don’t have to. I will tell you why it is bad to notify the princess. Um. It is just better to discuss the other things first, Letting you know the reason is potentially dangerous. I want to minimize the time you know it. I, um, will give you the coordinates of the place where we can meet.”

“How do we know this isn’t a trap?” Rainbow Dash asked, her tone aggressive.

“... um. I will be alone. And you’d have my friend as a, um, hostage if it became necessary.”

Twilight could hear Gold Star gasp at those words.

“Can we discuss it and respond to you?”

“... yes. Please be quick.”

The crystal stopped glowing.

“What do you think?” Twilight asked into the room.

“Well, we are a lot of ponies,” Fluttershy pointed out. “I don’t think she could threaten all of us. Not if of all the... uhm, angels come with us.”

“We will come with you,” one of the new ones said.

“She doesn’t want to hurt you,” Gold Star said. “She just wants to save the world.”

“Okay,” Twilight said. “We’ll come. Does anyone disagree?”

Everyone remained silent.

“Okay. Gold Star, turn it back on.”

Gold Star took the device from the table, again pushing against somewhere. The crystal started glowing again.

“Tell us why we can’t message the princess. If your explanation is good, we’ll come.”

“There is a sixty-five percent chance that Discord regularly reads the princess’ mind, and a fourty-five percent chance that he does it constantly. Telling the princess increases the probability of Discord finding out what I want to do. If Discord finds out what I want to do, the world is very likely to end. Um. The coordinates of the place where I want you to meet me are seven-hundred-and-six, seven-hundred-and-eighty-nine. Please be as quick as you can. The longer you take, the more likely it is that Discord will find out. Um. If he sees you, he is likely to read your mind, and now that I told you where I am, that would very likely also cause the world to end.”

III

Seven-hundred-and-six, seven-hundred-and-eighty-nine was barely half a mile away from Ponyville. It was an empty stretch of land, where nopony lived and nothing grew.

And amidst this nothingness, there was a lone mare standing and waiting.

It looked so deceptively harmless that Twilight was starting to actually reconsider her choice, but it didn’t matter. Before she could do anything, Gold Star rushed ahead of the group, run towards the other mare and... hugged her?

“It worked!” She exclaimed. “Look at how many came! And... y-you called me your friend...”

The last part had been barely loud enough for Twilight to hear, who had begun running herself to let those two mares spend too much time alone. So that was why she had reacted earlier? Not because Sigma had declared her a hostage, but because she had casually referred to her as a friend?

Then she saw Gold Star giving the other mare a short kiss.

“You two,” Twilight said, while the rest of the group were coming in from behind, “are you...?”

“Um,” Sigma said, who as far as Twilight could tell had barely reacted to the gesture. “It’s complicated.”

Gold Star giggled, blushed, and nodded. “Oh, Sigma – this is the friend we talked about,” she then said, gesturing to Autumn Wind.

“Um,” Sigma said, once again addressing Twilight. “Um. Who are those ponies?” She pointed at the angels.

“A few weeks ago, ponies who died began to come back as angels,” Corinne answered for her. “If you have a plan to save Equestria, we’re in.”

“Um,” Sigma said. “That is good.” She then unmistakably stared at Lynn, closed her eyes, and stared at her again. Then she turned back to the rest. “Um. I am about to show you something. Please don’t go further in my direction.”

Twilight could see her channeling her magic. Then there were gasps, as suddenly a crater appeared in the crest of the otherwise plain earth, roughly thirty yards long and five yards wide.

“Um. To save Equestria, we have to get down there.”

#23 The Rift | 1

I

“Why?” Rainbow Dash asked aggressively, before anypony else said something. “Why should we just do what you say?”

“Um,” Sigma said. “Um. Because doing what I say will improve the odds of saving the universe.”

“Why should we believe you?”

“You need to tell us what’s going on,” Twilight chimed in. “Otherwise you won’t get everyone to come with you.”

“Um. I can tell you some of what is going on. It would be better if we went in first and I told you on the way. If I have to tell you now, please don’t interrupt me.”

“Go ahead,” said Twilight. “We’re listening.”

“Um. The accessible universe is surrounded by a crystal sphere with an approximately nine-hundred-and-fifty-trillion mile radius. The sphere controls a lot of things on most planes and planets, and it is divided into a lot of nodes which regularly communicate with each other. There, um, is a rift in the sphere which causes it to malfunction, which is likely the cause for most of the particularly untypical things anyone here has seen in the past few weeks. In order to fix the problem, the rift must be closed. Um, this is very difficult. I believe the only feasible way to close it is to direct the sphere to kill Discord, transform some of his power into crystal matter, and use the remaining power to repair the structural damage. If successful, it would likely allow the sphere to also repair the information-based damage and eventually become fully functional again. Um. Because Discord is much more powerful than any other entity on this plane, and because it is unlikely that he would consent to this plan, it is very important that we keep it from him. The chance for Discord to read the princess’ mind regularly is sixty-five percent, the chance for him to read the mind of most creatures he encounters is forty percent. Therefore, it is important that anyone knowing about what I want to do does not encounter him. The chance for him to come here is five percent per hour. If he does find out and tries to stop us, the chance for us to succeed anyway is effectively zero. Um, this crater here has been caused by the rift. From in there, I believe I can reprogram the sphere. It is likely that there are mechanisms, spells, or creatures in there that will try to kill anyone entering, therefore I believe the chance of success is greater if I don’t go alone. Um, if we are being attacked, it is probable that I can neutralize the danger in a fairly short amount of time, provided I stay unharmed, therefore it will likely be best if everyone else primarily tries not to die and to protect me.”

II

“How do you know all this?” Twilight asked into the silence.

“Um. It’s complicated.”

“Even if the rest was true, why would there be this thing which just gives you a way to fix everything?” Lynn asked.

“Um. That is very complicated.”

“Do we really have to kill Discord?” Fluttershy asked cautiously.

“No, we don’t have to-”

“Fluttershy means if it’s necessary for closing the rift,” Gold Star chimed in.

“Oh. Um, yes.”

“Sigma...” Twilight murmured. “This is too much. You seem to be very smart, but can you see how it’s hard for us to just take your word and jump into an abyss to kill Discord to close a rift we’ve never heard about?”

“Um. That is a complicated question.”

“She already demonstrated that she’s a genius!” Gold Star protested. “What else do you need?”

“She’s a genius at magical theory,” Twilight held against her, “that’s not enough! There have been ponies who were brilliant in some fields but also crazy!”

“Um,” Sigma made. “If, um, I demonstrate magical ability higher than what any unicorn you’ve ever seen is capable of and explain how I do it, would that help?”

III

“Err.” Twilight didn’t seem to have expected that question. “Err. I don’t know?”

“Do you mind if I do it, then? It is bad if we lose time.”

“Uh,” Twilight said. “Sure.”

“Oh. Um, okay.”

“She means ‘no,’” Gold Star translated. “She doesn’t mind.”

“Oh. Is that true, Twilight?”

Twilight nodded.

Everyone who had previously talked to each other turned silent as Sigma closed her eyes. At first, nothing happened. Then, there was a purple stream from her horn, and six – no, eight – piles of earth were lifted up from the ground, carried in a purple cloud. Then the same thing happened with each pile: it split into three, then each pile split into three again, and then each into three again. Then the magic faded and everything dropped back to the ground.

The last time Twilight had been this impressed was when she had seen Celestia raise the sun.

“No-one is this good,” she whispered. “Why would you need us?”

“I’m not as good as this probably made you think. I do things differently than you do.”

“Differently?” Twilight echoed. “What does that mean?”

“Um. What magic does is execute a lot of very basic commands. Um, the regular way to cast spells is to approximate the effect by learning it instinctively. But it is also possible to state the commands explicitly if specified in a suitable language and read and execute them by a matching spell. Um, I only cast the spell to do those two things. The spell you saw was pre-specified. That is why I am capable of doing very complex things, even though I have below-average magical potential. But I have a number of scripts prepared that I believe will help us. Some of them are designed to be edited before use, to match the situation.”

“How do you store your commands?” Twilight asked quietly.

“I invented a spell.”

“But that must have been super difficult!”

“It was very hard.”

“Wow.” Twilight gulped. “Okay. You convinced me. I am coming with you.”

Gold Star beamed. “Great job!” She whispered, so quiet that only Sigma and a few others could hear her.

“I didn’t understand any of that fuzz,” Rainbow said flatly. “Twi, are you sure?”

“What she just explained is a bigger deal than every bit of progress done on magic in the last thousand years,” Twilight said. “We’re outclassed here, Rainbow. I know it’s always been us who’ve made the difference. But if this is too big for us, and it seems to be, let somepony else take over.”

“But what if she’s crazy?”

“She’s not crazy,” Twilight said. “But even if she is and we follow her and it leads to nothing, we can just get out. You can fly. I could manage it if I really had to. All of the angels can fly. Um, if you’re coming with us?”

“You bet,” Featherfall said immediately.

“Going down there for nothing won’t kill us. But if Sigma is right, it seems like doing nothing will.”

“I didn’t understand much either,” Fluttershy said, “but I trust you.”

“So do I,” Rarity echoed, and both Pinkie and Applejack voiced their agreement.

#24 The Rift | 2

Author's Note

This story is updated daily – that is more or less the whole point. And there is no exception... except when there is. I’m going to be without access for a couple of days, and be unable to publish anything. Therefore, I did a double update today, I’ll do another tomorrow, and I’ll do more every day after I’m back, until there have either been exactly as many double updates as missing updates, or the story is completed.

24 The Rift | 2

================

I

“Alright!” Twilight Sparkle announced. “We are going into the abyss! First thing we need to do is organize how we do this. I suggest we start by forming groups. Everypony who can fly, please to over there ... yes, here in the direction of Canterlot. Everypony who can’t fly, over here. And everyone who doesn’t want to join us at all, stay here with Spike. It is perfectly fine-”

“What?” Spike protested immediately, as everyone else began to move. “I’m coming with you!”

“No you’re not.”

“I am! Why wouldn’t I?”

“Because you are a baby dragon and I am responsible for you. That includes keeping you safe. Letting you go into an abyss where there are things which will try to kill you isn’t keeping you safe.”

“But-”

“No, Spike!”

The first group now consisted of Rainbow Dash, the five angels, Autumn Wind, and Sigma (who presumably had ways to fly without wings). The second group consisted of Lynn, Gold Star, Spike (who had just walked there despite Twilight’s orders), Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and also-

“Fluttershy!” Rainbow protested. “Come on! Get over here!”

“Uhm-”

... and the third group was empty.

“Alright!” Twilight interrupted, before there could be any more discussion. “Now everyone among this group who thinks she can also carry a second pony, please go a bit to the left – from your perspective – and the others stay where you are. Don’t go too close to the rift.”

Rainbow Dash, Featherfall, Cyclone, and one of the two angels whose name Twilight didn’t know stepped over.

“Four,” Twilight echoed. “Not enough.”

II

“Does anypony have an idea how we can get the rest of us down there safely?”

No-one replied. Twilight bit her lip.

“Sigma. Can we do several runs?”

Sigma said something so quiet that Twilight couldn’t hear it, so she dashed over the pegasus group.

“Come again?”

“Um. Um. I think it would be bad to plan for some of us to wait here and be picked up later. I think it would also be bad if ponies for whom it would be hard carried another pony anyway.”

“Sigma thinks we shouldn’t do multiple runs,” Twilight announced, because now that they weren’t all standing in one group anymore, there was no way everyone had understood her. “She also thinks you shouldn’t volunteer to carry another pony if you aren’t sure you can do it. Uhm, Sigma, if only four of the non-pegasi can come, who do you think it should be?”

“You,” Sigma responded immediately, “the green unicorn, Gold Star, and either-”

“Excuse me,” the third angel interrupted. “I don’t think I am strong enough after all. You said only ponies who are really confident should carry someone. I was an earth pony, so my wings aren’t very strong... I think we should only carry three ponies...”

Twilight gave a nod of approval, and the angel walked back to the other group.

“What about the elements?” Twilight asked Sigma. “If we’re not all there, we won’t be able to use them.”

“Um. I think it is unlikely that the elements would be of help.”

“But we defeated Discord with them!”

“Um. It is very likely that he could have prevented it if he wanted to.”

III

Twilight didn’t reply to that. She had always believed he had been overconfident, but had genuinely been defeated in the end, but there were obvious reasons for why Sigma might be right. And there was no way to find out.

“Sigma thinks only Lynn, Gold Star, and I should come,” she said reluctantly. “Among those who can’t fly. We have limited time, so is everyone okay with that?”

Of course, everyone wasn’t okay with that. Applejack wasn’t okay with it, Rarity wasn’t okay with it, and Spike wasn’t okay with it. There was more discussion, but eventually, the lack of alternatives won out. Spike agreed to stay on the surface, along with Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and-

“Come on, Fluttershy! I’ll carry Twilight, and I’ll fly right next to you. I am even stronger now, remember? Nothing will happen, even if you fall.”

Fluttershy’s gaze was set at her hooves, not looking at Rainbow Dash. Eventually, she nodded.

#25 The Rift | 3

I

“Why me?” Gold Star asked in a whisper, as ponies around them got ready and said their goodbyes. “I’m not strong and I can’t do magic and I can’t do maths. Why do you want me to come?”

“Um. I think you help me make better decisions,” Sigma responded just as quietly. “And you help me understand what other ponies mean when they say things.”

Gold Star didn’t know what to respond, so she just nodded.

“Do you think there is something else I should say?”

“You could tell us more about what to expect. What is so dangerous in there? What exactly should we do if we’re attacked? And, could it happen right away? How deep is this thing? Are we going to be flying the whole time?”

“Um. I think it can happen very early. You should try to dodge attacks and to protect me and also Twilight. I think we will land fairly soon.”

“And... do you think we will make it?”

“I think there is an eighty percent chance we’ll be successful.”

“Gold Star?” Cyclone asked, stepping beside her. “Uh... I can carry you, if you want.”

“Right.” Gold Star gulped. “Right.” She felt a stitch of pain in her breast as she looked at SIgma, who seemed so nondescript, so unimpressive, just a shy mare who was always staring down at her hooves.

She put a shaky hoof onto the pegasus’ back, only for it to freeze in shock as the body she touched wasn’t warm, but-

“Oh. I should have warned you. Featherfall mentioned this. Our bodies are much colder than they used to be. I don’t feel any difference, but...”

“... oh.”

“Is that a problem?”

“N-no.” Biting her lip, Gold Star climbed onto the angel’s back.

II

“L-listen,” Gold Star said as everyone was ready to go. “Everypony. We might be attacked soon. We don’t know how or in what form. But... but we think we can make it. Please, uhm, please don’t panic. Avoid... hits, and if you can, protect Sigma. Uhm. We’ll probably reach... reach something where we can land soon.”

“We’ll do our best to protect her,” the fifth of the angles said, a gray mare with a fitting horn and an almost fitting pair of wings, who must have been a unicorn before she died.

“Is everypony ready?” Twilight asked, her own hooves wrapped around Rainbow’s neck.

“... no,” somepony responded. It was Sigma.

“What is it?”

“Um. I’m afraid.”

“Afraid?” Twilight echoed. “You?”

Sigma nodded.

“But you are the one who got us all here! You are the one who said we have to hurry!”

“.... yes. I am very sorry. Going immediately would be the right thing to do.”

“... but?”

“I’m afraid.”

Twilight wanted to say something else, but she stopped herself as she saw Gold Star slide off Featherfall’s back, approaching the other mare. They both said some things that were too quiet for her to understand. As Gold Star extended a hoof to gently strike Sigma’s chin, Twilight involuntarily threw a look at Fluttershy, who stood right next to her, and who was noticeably shivering. And, Twilight realized as she looked back to the mare who was the sole reason for their expedition, so was she. It wasn’t as clear as it was with Fluttershy, but it was there.

Gold Star left, and Sigma kept standing there for a few more seconds. Then, there was a slight magical stream from the tip of her horn, then a purple cloud enveloped her, gradually floating her over the edge of the abyss.

“Um,” she said. “I am ready.”

III

Flying into this giant hole was the scariest thing I’ve ever done.

I was clinging to Featherfall’s back, and it didn’t help that her entire body was cold. Her, Rainbow, and Cyclone, the angel I owed my life to, were forming a triangle, with Sigma in the middle, who was floating downward all by herself, only carried by her weird floating spell. It looked super unstable, as if she would fall at any moment. The three other angels, Gold Petals, Corinne, and Lightning Arc, were flying around us, along with Gold Star’s friend whose name I didn’t know. It was almost a pretty formation, except that Fluttershy was flying just inches away from Rainbow Dash. At least so far, she hadn’t been too afraid to use her wings. And she was even carrying the saddle bags that belonged to Sigma.

The entrance was only a small sliver of light to our top. If it weren’t for Twilight, Sigma, and myself, who were all casting lighting spells, it would be totally dark. This way, we could at least make out the walls, their rocky surface with a bit of moss sprinkled in between.

Then there was a shadow. I could see it in my peripheral. “There!” Corinne shouted before I could, and then there were lots of shadows. One of them came flying towards us. I could only see a black shape, then it flew above our heads as Featherfall took a dive downward. A purple splotch, an explosion to our left somewhere. Had Twilight done that? No, it must have been Sigma. I couldn’t see. Featherfall had brought us too far down. Only now I realized that everypony was shouting. I think Featherfall had asked me whether I was okay.

“I’m fine,” I shouted back. “Get us back up!” To hell with those creeps. We weren’t going to sit this out.

With strong wingbeats, Featherfall flew back upwards, and I could see three shadows advancing on Twilight at once. Rainbow shot upwards, faster than it should be possible while carrying her, and came back in from the side. Twilight shot a laser or something, and it hit one of the shadows, but it didn’t look like it killed it. Then a second one exploded. That was Sigma. Was she taking them out? I couldn’t see it anymore. I didn’t know how many there were left. But Featherfall seemed to know what she was doing. She shouted something, and we flew directly at another shadow who was sailing towards Sigma. We wouldn’t be fast enough, but as it got closer, there was a purple blaze and it bounced off like a pinball. I focused all of my energy, and I cast one of the spells I had invented, and a single green line cut through the shadow in the span of a few milliseconds. And it disappeared. Did that finish it? It must have.

Something appeared at our left. Featherfall dove upwards, and dear Celestia she was drawing a loop! I clung onto her neck with all of my strength, focusing on not falling off. I wasn’t used to this. Then there was another shadow directly above us. For a moment I thought it would get us, but then it exploded. As we dove back downward, my vision refocused in time to see two more shadows advancing on Twilight. I saw Rainbow dodge by diving downward, but I think Twilight still was hit. Then she slid off. I saw Rainbow jerk around and dive after her, but then Featherfall flew to the side. Two more shadows. Then one as the other exploded. I couldn’t see it anymore, they were already far behind us. But another was now directly in front. Featherfall must have seen it too late, she had been looking behind her. She was heading straight at it. I called upon my magic, but I wasn’t strong enough to repeat that little trick. In the span of a moment, I realized it was too late to do anything else, so I cast something to propel me away from the shadow in the same moment that I loosened my grip around the angel, who flew directly into the shadow and then burst into the wall behind it. Then she fell, and so did I. Down into the abyss.

#26 The Rift | 4

Author's Note

The without access period began one day earlier than anticipated. Double updates are now planned going forward.

26 The Rift | 4

================

I

Fluttershy had fled as soon as she had seen the shadows. She had planned to do the opposite, but as soon as it had started, all of her convictions had been washed away, leaving only the wish to escape. She had observed the battle from a distance, had seen Twilight and Lynn fall, seen Rainbow and Cyclone dive after them, seen Sigma annihilate every shadow in a purple shower of sparks. She had seen Featherfall crash into the wall, too far away from the fight and unnoticed by anyone but her.

And she had seen both Rainbow and Cyclone return, carrying the fallen ponies on their backs.

But as Fluttershy flew down, expecting only Featherfall to be lethally hurt, her hopes were soon shattered. Her reality shattered. Everything shattered.

Lynn was alive. Twilight was not.

II

“She’s dead!” Rainbow cried, holding Twilight’s limp body in both her hooves. “I dove after her. I got her. But she wasn’t moving. The shadow just touched her, and... unless she’s under a spell or something... but she’s not breathing...”

“Um. We should go further.”

“TWILIGHT DIED!”

“Please, there is no reason to stay here longer.”

“Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy whispered, unable to hold back tears. “Rainbow... let’s go d-down and l-look at her l-later.”

Rainbow spun around in mid air. “What do you mean ‘look at her?’”

“Maybe she’s not... maybe Sigma-”

“Can do what?”

“Please,” Cyclone said, who was now carrying both Gold Star and Lynn, one on her back, and the other in her grasp. “We also lost one of ours. Featherfall might still be alive. She could be hurt. Let’s go find her.”

That did what reason couldn’t. Rainbow Dash nodded, then dove downwards, flying at an unreasonable speed. The others followed. Soon, they couldn’t see her anymore, but there was only one direction to go.

III

Featherfall lay on the ground a hundred yards below.

Despite the large distance, the fall hadn’t caused any visible damage, but Featherfall was dead all the same. Lynn had said she had flown straight through a shadow, and if Twilight was any indication, than a single touch was deadly.

Rainbow Dash was standing on the ground, beside both her and Twilight.

“They’re both dead,” she repeated as Cyclone got in reach, dropping Lynn on the ground before she came to a landing, allowing Gold Star to climb off her back. “Dead. Gone.”

“Maybe...” Gold Star said quietly. “M-maybe... Sigma can bring them back?”

“What?” Rainbow asked, her voice hollow.

“Maybe Sigma can bring them back,” Gold Star repeated. A part of her wondered whether she had finally lost her mind, but she was past the point where she believed in impossibilities. “Sigma?” she asked as the mare came floating downward. “Sigma? Can you bring them back? Can you bring Twilight and Featherfall back? Or, aren’t they dead at all? Maybe it’s just part of some spell?”

“Um,” Sigma said, seeming even more hesitant than normal. “Um ... they are both dead. Um. If we succeed, it is possible that I will bring them back.”

“It is?” Gold Star asked excitedly. “Rainbow, did you hear that? You don’t have to give up hope yet. You can still fight for her!”

“You!” Suddenly, Rainbow was in front of Sigma, hitting her breast with a front limb. “You are the reason she’s dead at all! Why would I believe you?”

“She’s trying to save the world!” Gold Star shouted. “Would you rather that everyone dies? She just told you that Twilight might come back! It’s a chance! Take it!”

To her mild relief, Sigma didn’t make any attempts to fight off Rainbow, even as she forced her to slowly retreat.

“How likely is it?” Gold Star asked. “How likely that you can bring them back?”

“Um. Rainbow, can you back off, please? Then I will answer.”

Five full seconds passed, then Rainbow took a step backwards.

“... seventy percent for Twilight, fifteen for Featherfall, conditional on us succeeding and the bodies being intact.”

“You expect to be able to do it?” Rainbow asked, but Gold Star noticed that her tone was now more disbelieving than angry. “Who do you think you are?”

But Gold Star had another question.

“Why the difference?”

“Um. It is very likely that the angels exist because of the rift. If we close the rift, I don’t believe the existing ones will die, but I also don’t believe I will be able to bring back a dead one. Um, my understanding of things is incomplete, therefore I could be wrong, but I believe it will be impossible for me.”

“Wait,” Lightning Arc cut in. “You don’t believe we will die? So we might? We might die if you succeed?”

“Um. Yes.”

“You should have told us!”

“Um. If the rift remains, the chance is far larger. I didn’t think it would make a difference from your perspective. I am sorry.”

“Alright.” Rainbow shook her head, and Gold Star could feel the change that had been going through her. “We got a job to do. Let’s save friggin’ Equestria,, and then deal with saving Twilight. But if you lied,” she hissed at Sigma, only to at once turn around without finishing the sentence. “Let’s go!”

#28 The Rift | 6

I

Cyclone was afraid.

It should have been expected – two ponies had died and they were exploring a cave hundreds of yards below the surface. But somehow she hadn’t expected it. Maybe it was because she hadn’t been afraid before, at least not like this.

Cyclone had died thirty-two years old, on a rare kind of wing cancer. Lightning Arc had told her that ponies didn’t die of cancer in Equestria, that Celestia herself came to heal them if doctors failed – but Cyclone had been born in a far away land called Lûn, and there, cancer was a death sentence.

Yes, she was used to suffering. She was used to harshness, to fights, and to fear. She had even accepted her fate as the cancer had slowly devoured her body. But now she was back alive, and as far as she knew, with decent odds to survive all of this. More than that, being an angel seemed to mean having amazing friends, a stronger body, and living in Equestria, the closest thing to paradise that was known to ponykind. Her life was better than ever before.

And more to lose meant more to fear.

Cyclone didn’t want to die again. And she didn’t feel like she deserved to die again. Corinne had said only the best ponies came back from the dead. Even if that wasn’t true, all she ever wanted to do was to be a good pony. She had not hurt another creature since she was four years old. Had not lied since she was seven. Had always offered her help to anyone who needed it, without expecting anything in return, even with life as rough as it was back at home.

Home. She could feel a tear running down her cheek. She would like to be home again, some day. To meet her parents. Her brother. Her two younger sisters.

Of course, even if they did escape, if they kept their ability to sense problems from other ponies, then she would never have the opportunity to go for such a long journey.

But there was more. There was so much she still wanted to do... she had never been in love... but she had never thought of herself as unable to love... she just hadn’t found the right pony yet...

She had never seen the princess, either. Had never been to the city on the mountain. Had barely done anything, really, since living here.

In short, Cyclone wanted to live. Apparently, her wish to live was so strong that it almost made her want to leave. Because she did want to leave. She could feel it. She didn’t want to go any further. Didn’t want to help this strange mare with the strange symbol on her flank.

She wanted to leave. Leave this place and leave saving the world to others.

That was the most selfish thought she had ever had. What was wrong with her?

II

Fluttershy wanted to leave, and that was terrible. Twilight, the pony she loved more than anypony, anyone, anything else in the world, had died, and she wasn’t willing to help to bring her back? She was terrible. Terrible and afraid and useless.

That, and a traitor. She had volunteered to go on a trip that would lead to the death of a friend, and she hadn’t even known why. Still didn’t know why. Had sat out the fight. Still was afraid. So afraid.

Wanted to go back. To save herself. To go back and back and leave them all and hope Sigma would do it all on her own, or let the others do the work.

Fluttershy was terrible. But she wouldn’t let herself leave. She’d have to ask for permission. And she didn’t deserve that. She didn’t deserve anything.

Had failed. Had fled the attack. Had been useless. Was terrible.

Wanting only to leave, Fluttershy numbly trotted along, the weight of her dead friend on her back.

III

Fear.

Fear was her greatest enemy. Understanding more of the world than other ponies only meant there was more to be afraid of. She was afraid of so much, of the eternal nothingness, if it existed, of immortality, if it didn’t. Fear of the Rift. Fear of losing her own consciousness. Fear of something happening to the mare close to her.

Fear of the Rift. Fear of the Rift.

Fear. Fear. Fear. Fear. Fear.

Sigma didn’t believe that she had a particularly good understanding of fear, but she knew the feeling well. It was the absence of safety, of security. The absence of an insurance that would keep her alive. The one insurance she so desperately craved.

She didn’t know where it was coming from now, why it was so much, why she was so afraid that she could barely stop herself from crying.

#29 The Rift | 7

I

“I’m scared,” Autumn whispered, who had pulled her old friend aside mid walk. “I’m scared, Star. I know this is selfish and I know I owe you for trusting in me and... everything, but I’m so scared.”

“I’m too,” Gold Star whispered back, hoping her friend would believe just how true that was. “I’m super scared. I don’t know why. It wasn’t like this earlier.”

“For me too.” Autumn shivered – literally shivered, even though it wasn’t cold at all. “Star. Let’s leave.”

“No.”

“Please! I can’t! I’m too afraid.”

“We can’t leave.”

“Are you in love with her?” Autumn asked, nodding to Sigma.

“I am,” Gold Star replied immediately, only to then freeze mid-walk. “Oh gosh. I didn’t know. I didn’t know I was until you just asked. Argh. I’m sorry!”

“Why are you sorry?”

“Uhm... I don’t know. No idea. I’m scared. I don’t know. I don’t know why. But I can’t leave.”

Autumn nodded. “I understand. But I have to-”

“Don’t leave!” For a moment, her fear got even worse. “Don’t leave, Autumn. Please!”

“But-”

“Stay! For me!”

“Celestia be damned,” Autumn hissed, biting her lip. “Star, I won’t be able to keep up my transformation.”

“What?”

II

“I’ll turn back! I have to! I can’t focus!”

“Why?”

“I’m so scared! I can’t think! I can’t focus!”

“Wait!” Adrenaline shot through Gold Star’s body as she pivoted around in a panic. “Waitwaitwait! Let me just- okay. Just. Keep it up for moment longer? Sigma!”

Sigma turned around and a moment later, Gold Star was hugging her.

“I’m so scared! Sigma! Autumn says she can’t keep up her transformation! We have to do something!”

“Um. Why can’t-”

“She says she’s too afraid,” Gold Star said, still clinging to the other mare. “I don’t know what’s going on. I don’t know why now. But she’s as scared as I am. Sigma.” She loosened herself. “Can you help her keep her transformation up?”

Sigma shook her head.

“No! What do we do then?”

“She can-” Sigma began, but Gold Star cut her off again.

“We have to tell them! Everypony!” The group came to a halt. “I am about to show you something strange, but please don’t panic! You don’t have to be afraid of her. Uhm-”

“Eeek!” Fluttershy suddenly made, then she was in the air, hovering above them under the tunnel’s ceiling. “T-t-t-there. A change-”

“Don’t worry!” Gold Star shouted, desperate to keep the situation from escalating. “Autumn is a changeling, but I’ve known her all my life! She’s a good pon- a good mare! She said she was too scared to keep up her transformation! She went down here to help us! Please don’t attack her! Please!”

“I have never seen one of these creatures,” Cyclone said, who had turned around at Fluttershy’s scream. “Why would we attack her just because of what she is?”

“’cause every changeling ever is evil!” Rainbow Dash cried, swooshing forward to put herself between the changeling and Fluttershy. “Sigma said there would be things down here trying to kill us, and here-”

“She isn’t from down here!”

“And I’m not evil!” Autumn shouted, who was now in her changeling form. “I left the hive because I didn’t want to hurt others!”

“Likely story!”

“BE QUIET!”

III

Everypony turned around. It was Corinne who had shouted.

“Panic always makes things worse,” she now said. “Sigma. You’re the one leading us. Do you think this is a dangerous creature.”

“No. Um, I-”

“Why wouldn’t she be evil?” Lightning Arc cut her off. “You aren’t from here, Corinne. You don’t know changelings. Rainbow Dash is right. They are all evil. Sigma, why would this one be different?”

“Um. Because her actions are enough evidence to make it unlikely despite a high prior.”

“What?”

“Everything she’s done has shown she’s not evil,” Gold Star translated, “so even if most changelings are evil, this one clearly isn’t! She’s left the hive, for Celestia’s sake! What else do you want her to do?”

“I had thought none of us would condemn someone for things out of her control,” Gold Petals said. “That doesn’t seem to be the right thing to do for an angel.”

“You’re right,” Lightning Arc said. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I’m just so afraid. I don’t know why.”

“It would be good if you got them to listen again,” Sigma said to Corinne, while Rainbow Dash responded something and Lynn said something else.

“Quiet!” Corinne shouted again, then nodded to Sigma.

“Um. Um. It is somewhat probable that a defense mechanism of the rift is making us more afraid to make us turn around. Does anyone of you not feel much more fear than she did five minutes ago?”

#30 The Rift | 8

I

Nopony responded.

“Th-then that’s great! All we have to do is to keep g-going and we’ll be fine!” Gold Star gulped, not adding that going further was the last thing she wanted.

“Um. Yes. It would be bad to stay for longer.”

“Then let’s go!” Corinne exclaimed, and with a determined motion, she turned around, leading the group. Overruling her protesting instinct, Gold Star followed, not even caring whether anypony was left behind.

“Wait!” Rainbow protested, “We still have a friggin’ changeling here! Guys!”

“Don’t dare hurting her!” Gold Petals hissed, while nopony else even cared to respond. “Let’s go!”

II

The fear was retreating, now. What Sigma said must have been right. Making us afraid to make us turn around. That’s so messed up. I’m kinda impressed it didn’t work. None of us had stayed behind this far. And now that things became easier, surely no-one would.

And so, further into the abyss we went. ‘cause it was rather obvious that we were still going downward, now. The tunnel had been getting steeper for a while. Just what were we going to find at the end?

I think it was also getting more narrow. At the start, I couldn’t even see either wall in our dim light. Now they were pretty close. What if it just kept on getting more narrow until none of us fit through anymore? That would really suck.

I threw a gaze at the changeling. The yellow angel seemed to have made it her task to protect her, now walking beside her rather than at the top. I wasn’t particularly afraid of it, anyway. I could deal with a single changeling just by myself, and she was vastly outnumbered. That, and it made no sense for her to be here for selfish reasons... not exactly a good spot to feed on love.

III

Autumn Wind was more than just a pony who had died years ago. Autumn Wind was whom she had become. Changelings had neither name nor gender, but she had long begun to identify herself as the pony whose life she had taken – not stolen, just taken after it was lost.

Right now, she was in a group where, after seeing her other form, only a single pony wanted to hurt her. That was incredible, and unexpected to say the least. She had never really shared Gold Star’s trust in Sigma and this entire expedition, but now... not only had she seen the angels, but they had chosen to protect her, to even stand up for her against a desperate and mourning pegasus.

She wasn’t angry at Rainbow Dash, either. For one, because most ponies reacted the way she did, and also because of what she had been through. The artificial fear was bad enough, but going through that while suffering the loss of a friend... yeah, she could be forgiven. At least for now.

Autumn could feel herself getting more optimistic as they pressed onward. The artificial fear was now gone entirely, and what little normal fear remained seemed harmless in comparison, almost laughable. They had defected every challenge, Rainbow Dash had made no attempts to pick a fight after the angel had spoken out, and... they were close. At least, Autumn hoped they were close. They had to be. The tunnel was getting more narrow with each step, only two ponies could fit side by side anymore. Soon it would open up, and whatever their destination was, it would be in reach.

Soon.

#31 The Rift | 9

I

When the tunnel got so narrow that no two ponies could fit next to each other, Rainbow took charge. No-one was listening to her, and Twilight was still dead. The only thing left for her was to get this damn thing done, and then force Sigma to make good on her promise. Even though it was stupid and she hated having to rely on somepony she neither understood nor liked.

No excitement dwelt up inside her as she saw the end of the tunnel, discernible only through of the lack of sight beyond. Without asking for permission, she pushed against it. To her honest surprise, it swung open, causing a series of gasps from the group as blue light flooded the tunnel.

It was a gargantuan hall, with a myriad of blue flowing and moving symbols on the floor. Wordlessly, Rainbow stepped inside. A small part of her that was still thinking straight prevented her from walking into the center, so she merely trotted around the edges.

“We’re there,” she announced flatly. “Sigma, time to do your job.”

II

“Did you expect this?” Gold Star whispered as they all entered the hall.

“Um.”

“Nevermind. But... does this... work? Is this good or bad?”

“It will probably work. It is good. I expected something like this,” Sigma said, who unlike her was not whispering. “The sphere’s structure is based on group theory. I don’t yet know a lot of things I need to know, but I can learn them from here. I will need time.”

“How much?” Rainbow asked.

“I don’t know. My estimate is five hours.”

“Five hours?” Rainbow echoed, disbelievingly.

“Um. Yes. That is why I said we should carry food. It could also take much longer. It is very likely that we will succeed at this point. Please do not step onto the symbols.”

“And,” Corinne asked skeptically, “what do we do in the meantime?”

“Um. As long as you stay in this room and do not step onto the symbols, it is unlikely to be important what you do. Being quiet so I can focus would be good.”

“We just stay here,” Rainbow echoed, “and do nothing?”

“Um. Unless anyone of you is very good at group theory, it would be good if you did nothing.”

“And you? What do you do?”

“I will try to reprogram the sphere to do what I described earlier.”

“S-Sigma,” Fluttershy said cautiously, “Sigma. Can you... can you not... not...”

“Yeah,” Rainbow said, “you want to kill Discord. Did you know that he’s friends with Fluttershy?”

“Um. No.”

“Can’t you do it in a different way?” Fluttershy asked. “Please? I... we... already lost Twilight. And F-Featherfall. Can’t we... n-not try to lose anyone else? P-please...”

“Um-”

Driven by a sudden instinct, Gold Star whispered something in Sigma’s ear, who listened to her without any expression signaling her thoughts.

“I am very sorry, Fluttershy,” she then said. “I swear to you that if we do not kill Discord, the chances for us to survive are below five percent, and those are based on the possibility that I misunderstand things in a major way. If I am mostly correct, not killing Discord will inevitably cause all life to be wiped away in the accessible universe. I estimate a total death toll of, um-”

Once more, Gold Star whispered something in her ear. This time it was ‘don’t say more’.

“I’m sure it was... a very big number,” Gold Star then said. “Fluttershy... nothing I can tell you will make you feel good about this. But... but Twilight trusted that Sigma was right. I trust her. We all followed her here. We all saw what she can do. If she is right... it’s too much.”

“But why? Why does it have to be Discord? Can’t it... can’t it be me-”

“Fluttershy!” Rainbow hissed. “If Twilight does come back and you died instead of Discord, what would she think?”

“It couldn’t be you anyway,” Gold Star said, “r-right?”

“Yes,” Sigma said. “Um. Fluttershy, it has to be Discord because of his magical energy. Um, there are several factors, therefore what I am about to say is a simplification, but it plays a minor role. Um, imagine your magical energy was five. Then mine would be about twenty. Twilight’s would probably be around fifty. Um, Celestia’s would probably be around three-hundred, and Discord’s would probably be around half a million. The estimated amount required is about two-hundred-thousand. While summing up several targets’ energy is theoretically possible, it is not practically possible for me to make it happen, even if you found it preferable.”

“I’m sorry,” Gold Star said again. “Sigma didn’t mean to to say you would... want that... um... there’s just no other way. We need to do this. For everyone. Not just here, but... more ponies than you could even imagine.”

Fluttershy didn’t respond. Instead, tears dwelt up in her eyes, and she covered her face and turned around, galloping along the edge of the wall.

“I think you should get to work,” Gold Star whispered. “You don’t understand how Fluttershy thinks. It doesn’t help... or at least it’s not enough to explain her why it’s necessary, even if you’re right. She won’t be okay with it, but I don’t think she’ll try to stop you.”

“Can you try to prevent everyone from stepping onto the symbols?”

Gold Star nodded.

“And... um... could you...”

Gold Star smiled, giving her marefriend a kiss before she turned around to search for Fluttershy.

III

Ponies are very good at getting used to things.

You move to a totally different city? After a few days, it’ll seem normal to you. You discover a crazy thing that nopony else knows about? After a few days, you’re used to all of the change it brings. Trust me.

It was crazy, but even though the stakes were so massive, after just a single hour of nothing whatsoever happening, everyone got bored. We got further away from Sigma, who was stepping around on the symbols, doing whatever the heck she was doing, and began talking to each other. The outer part of the hall without symbols was at least ten yards wide, so you didn’t really have to pay a lot of attention not to get too close to them or something. You just had to not do it on purpose. As it stood, I doubted anyone would. Sigma hadn’t told us what would happen, and no-one wanted to risk being the mare who destroyed the universe.

I even got to know most of the others better. Lightning Arc was the only angel who’d been born in Equestria, the other four, Featherfall included, all came from lands that are super far away. None of those lands seemed to be as nice of a place to be as Equestria. None had a ruler comparable to Celestia. And no-one there had ever heard of Discord.

Honestly? I wasn’t feeling particularly sorry for him. I always thought that freeing him was insane. There was no guarantee whatsoever that he wouldn’t just bury one of the elements or whatever and go back to what he did before. Or worse, kill one of the bearers. Or all of them. Or all of Ponyville. Or all of Equestria.

Though, if what Sigma had said was true, perhaps he was never defeated to begin with. Perhaps he could have broken free whenever he wanted, and just chose to play along for... Celestia knows why. Yeah, maybe Celestia was perfectly aware that no-one stood a chance against him anyway, and, well, if you have an enemy whom you can’t beat, I guess your only shot is to befriend him.

Which, I have no idea if it actually worked. Maybe he was just fooling us. Having fun. Perhaps he’d lost interest in being a villain and was more interest in being tolerated while doing whatever he pleased.

Beats me.

I also got to talk to the changeling, though she preferred her pony form. I have no problems with her. On the contrary, some of the things she told me about what life was in the hive are so messed up that I’m frankly impressed at how normal she is.

And then, every few minutes, you get reminded that the fate of the universe is going to be decided in a few hours. And then you feel really strange and have a ton of anticipation for about half a minute, and then you go find someone to talk to.

We must have spent more than five hours in there. Seven at least. The saddle bags which LIghtning Arc had carried, after Fluttershy had had to carry Twilight, were packed full with water and food, mostly bread. It wasn’t that much when split among us all, but it was enough to provide a decently-sized meal to everyone.

At the end, I felt connected to everyone in the room, with the exception of Rainbow Dash and, of course, the pony whom we couldn’t talk to.

“Um,” Sigma said eventually. “It’s done. Discord is dead and the Rift is closed.”

#32 ◈ I

Author's Note

And thus, my debt is paid.

32 ◈ I

=======

I

“That’s it?” Gold Petals asked skeptically. She’d been standing the closest to Sigma, along with Lynn. “Just like that? Nothing happened.”

Gold Star, who must have noticed something was up, rushed over, closely followed by Autumn.

“What happened?” she shouted, as soon as she was in ear range. “Did something go wrong?”

“Um. A few things went wrong. I probably caused two accidents that could have been avoided. But the rift is closed.”

“So that’s it? We’re done?”

“Um. I’m not-”

“Pretty anti-climactic,” Autumn commented. “Are you sure everything went well?”

“I am over ninety-nine percent confident that Discord is dead and the rift closed,” Sigma said.

“Then we should leave, right?” Gold Star threw a gaze around. Rainbow and Fluttershy were standing somewhere far away, and didn’t seem to have noticed anything. “Someone who can fly, can you get them?”

II

“Is that true?” Rainbow asked, as her and Fluttershy were the last to join the group near the entrance. “We’re done? World saved?”

“Um. Yes.”

“Good. Then it’s time to make good on your promise. Bring back Twilight.”

“... um. Rainbow Dash, I will need time to try that, and I will not do it from down here.”

“How much?”

“Um, I estimate half a year.”

“HALF A YEAR? You... you... Twilight isn’t gonna make it that long! Are you gonna create a new body for her, too? Just admit you’ve been lying the whole time, you-”

“Stop!” Gold Star hissed, her voice almost spiteful. “Rainbow, don’t be naive! She has to invent a spell nopony has ever done before in the history of Equestria! Of course it won’t work in a day!”

“How do you think Twilight will look like in half a year?” Rainbow held against her. “We’re lucky if she makes it a day!”

“Um, a unicorn with as much magical energy as Twilight will be magically protected from decay for about thirty hours after her death,” Sigma said. “If we put her in cryonic stasis before that point, she will be unharmed for an arbitrary amount of time. Um, I don’t know how much time Featherfall has. In her case, it is possible that decay has begun already, and it is possible that it has already progressed too far. Um, getting out of here quickly would raise the chances for her. For Twilight, it will not make a difference.”

“Cryonic stasis?” Rainbow repeated.

“Her body must be cooled down to extremely low temperatures.”

“But... I thought-”

“If waiting around here means less chance for Featherfall to come back,” Cyclone threw in, “then can we please go immediately?”

“We are going immediately,” Lightning Arc said. “We don’t have to ask for permission. And Sigma, you come with us. Everyone else can stay here for as long as they want.”

“Does she smell?” Gold Petals asked as Cyclone picked up the fallen angel.

“No! Not at all so far.”

“That’s good, right?” Gold Star asked Sigma.

“Yes,” Sigma said. Without wasting any more time, she joined the group going one by one into the tunnel.

III

“We’re still alive,” Gold Petals accurately noticed, and not without relief. They were still in the tunnel, but it was now wide enough for several of them to fit next to each other. “Lightning told me you said all angels might die when you closed the rift. Does this mean that turned out to be false?”

“Um. Yes. It was unlikely to happen.”

“Is everything back to how it was before, now?”

“Um. The sphere’s software is still damaged. I expect further incidents to happen, but for them to become less frequent and less severe with passing time. Um ... It is somewhat probable that all angels lost their abilities to sense danger.”

“Oh. But I didn’t. I’m already sensing something.”

“Um, in that case you are likely but not guaranteed to keep it indefinitely.”

“Good. I believe you, you know? The same sense was what the other angels and me follow you here in the first place. It’d be nice if we kept it.”

“S-Sigma?” Fluttershy asked shyly, catching up with them from behind. “Sigma? D-Discord is dead now, isn’t he? I never heard you say it.”

“Yes.”

“And... you can’t bring him back too, can you?”

“It is very likely not physically possible to revive him at this point.”

Fluttershy didn’t reply, but tears dwelt up in her eyes. She didn’t try to hid it, she just kept walking beside Sigma, crying silently.

“Please bring back Twilight,” she whispered eventually. “I don’t care if you need half a year. I just want to see her again. The real her.”

“I will work on it every day as soon as I fulfil the promise I made to Gold Star.”

“Thank you,” Fluttershy whispered, not even asking what it was. Gold Petals kept watching her for the longest time, until they reached the end of the tunnel. There, something else drew her attention.

At the bottom of the abyss stood Celestia and Luna.

#33 ◈ 2

I

“Discord is gone!” Celestia exclaimed, in a voice which Fluttershy had never heard from her before. “When I tried to reach for Twilight, I sensed emptiness, now I see you carry her dead body with you. When I reached for Rarity, I found her hundreds of yards above us, at the entrance to this chasm. Others were still with her. Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy. Tell me, what did you do?”

Silence. Flutershy’s heart pounded. This was too much. She had already lost two friends, she couldn’t bear Celestia’s anger. She could feel herself crying again, and she was infinitely far away from forming a response...

“She is the one who made us go down there!” Rainbow exclaimed, pointing at Sigma. “She’s responsible! Ask her!”

Celestia’s gaze fixated the purple unicorn. “Is this true?”

“Um,” Sigma said. “Yes, I suggested this trip. Um, there has been a rift in the sphere around the universe, princess.”

“If that were true, everyone standing here, as well as every other creature alive today, would face certain death.”

“It’s closed!” Gold Star exclaimed. Fluttershy gave a silent sob that nopony noticed. “Sigma closed it! That’s why we’re here! That’s how Twilight died!”

“Nopony is strong enough to affect the sphere, neither you nor me. The only creature-”

Suddenly, Celestia fell silent. Through her swollen eyes, Fluttershy could see her whispering something to Luna, and Luna responding something.

“Explain what you claim to have done and how you did it.”

“Um. Um ... I used the hall at the end of the tunnel we just came out of to reprogram the sphere’s software. Um. I made it absorb Discord’s magical energy and, um, use it to repair itself. Um, it worked, and that is how Discord died. Um, Twilight and Featherfall died when we were attacked on the, um, flight down here.”

“You claim to have saved the universe.”

Sigma didn’t respond to that.

“What is this hall?”

“Um, it is a coded control panel for the sphere’s software. It is possible to order it to do things, but mistakes are likely to have catastrophic consequences. Um, the sphere’s software is based on group theory. It would probably be very bad if anyone who isn’t very good at group theory and has good intentions and good reasons tried to do anything with it. Um, I suggest you prevent anyone except me from accessing it in the future.”

Once again, Celestia whispered something to Luna, and Luna gave a longer reply.

“If I went there now to see it for myself, I would find proof of your words?”

“... um, you would find a large hall with a lot of flowing symbols on the floor. I don’t know how much about it you would understand. Um, it would be very bad if you stepped onto the symbols without understanding what effect it has, but staying on the edge would be harmless. Um, I suggest you read my mind if you want evidence that what I’ve told you is true.”

“You volunteer to let your mind be invaded?”

“Yes.”

“Invading anyone’s mind against their will is breaking an ancient law, one that is still in effect. I have to abide by this law, just like everyone else. Will you confirm that you give me explicit permission to do this, and that I did not force it upon you?”

“Um, yes.”

“Sigma!” Gold Petals interrupted, rushing towards her to whisper something in her ear. After a few moments, Sigma replied something. She walked over to Gold Star, saying something to her. Celestia watched the scene calmly.

“Princess,” Gold Star said cautiously. “Princess, may I ask you for a favor? It, um, it won’t hurt anyone if you do this. You might find it strange, but it won’t hurt anyone and it needs to happen soon. Then we can go back to discussing, um, what... um, what we were just talking about...”

“Speak.”

“Can you please freeze Featherfall’s body down enough so that she doesn’t... um, doesn’t... decay?”

Cyclone heaved the body in question from her back, laying it onto the ground.

“Why would you ask this of me?”

“Please! Just do it! I beg you! It won’t do permanent damage, right?”

“I cannot do something like this to a dead one without her family’s permission.”

“Her old family is thousands of miles away,” Gold Petals said. “We are her real family. All of us with silver wings. We want this for her.”

“Thousands of miles,” Celestia repeated. “You claim she is from outside Equestria.”

“She is,” Gold Petals said firmly, “out of a nameless region only referred to as the land of mountains.”

Once more, Celestia had a silent exchange with Luna.

“I have been to this land,” Luna then said, “two thousand years ago. How would a pony travel this far?”

“Please!” Gold Star plead, “please, it doesn’t matter how she got here! Just cool her down! Or she’ll decay while we stand here talking!”

This was followed by another exchange between Celestia and Luna, this one going back and forth a number of times.

“Luna will do what you ask,” Celestia declared. “You. Is Sigma your name?”

“Um, yes.”

“Sigma. You gave me permission to enter your mind. Are you still certain?”

“Yes.”

“Then stand still and do not resist.”

II

It took over ten minutes for Celestia to read in Sigma’s thoughts, her horn brightly lit, and Sigma standing before her, tiny in comparison, her eyes set onto the ground. Ten minutes, during which the only thing Gold Star had been able to do was hope that everything would turn out well.

“It appears I must thank you,” Celestia said eventually, and Gold Star’s heart made a leap. Then Celestia shook her head. “Or perhaps not, as merely thanking you seems like a laughable response to what you have done. Everyone I will ever know, and everyone I will never know, ponies and other species alike, and even the plane itself, all of it will continue to exist because of you. Without you, we would drown in chaos, worse chaos than any of us could imagine, until all lights go out, all life is spent, and the plane itself dissolves into dust. For as long as we may live, we will be in your debt.”

Then Celestia’s legs gave away beneath her, and she kneeled onto the ground, bowing her head. Moments later, Luna followed her. Without questioning it, so did Gold Star, and then everyone else, until the only pony left standing was Rainbow Dash, and then no-one as even she followed.

And, of course, Gold Star knew what the response Sigma was going to have would inevitably start with.

“... um. Um. Um. You’re, um, welcome. Um, princess, it would be good if you did a number of things I will suggest.”

Celestia stood back up. “There are few things I shall not grant,” she said, “as long as they don’t harm my subjects. Name them.”

“Um. I have not shown you how I can do the things I did. It would be bad if you knew, and it would be worse if others knew. Um, I ask you to permanently prohibit all research into the theory of magic, and if they consent, I ask that you remove the knowledge of what I found out from everyone standing here or on the top. Um, I also ask you to hide this place as best as you can and remove the knowledge of where to find it from everyone standing here or at the top, including yourself and Luna.”

“No-one should know of this place,” Celestia agreed. “But why do you not want us to progress our understanding of magic?”

“Um, if I devoted myself to it, I think I could destroy Equestria in a few decades, using what I found out. It would be bad if others could do similar things.”

“You fear power being misused.”

“Yes.”

“This is an enormous decision. Dozens of bright minds will be thrown off their work and passion, and knowledge that might help us grow together will forever remain hidden. But I meant what I said. If you tell me what you found out and demonstrate the risk it brings, I will do what you ask.”

“Aren’t you forgetting something?” Lynn suddenly threw in. “Maybe I don’t get this right. There is this large sphere that surrounds everything. There was a rift in it. The rift would have destroyed literally everything if it remained open for too much longer. The only way to close it was to use Discord, ‘cause Discord is crazy strong. So you did that, and now Discord is dead and the rift closed. Right?”

“Um, yes.”

“... in other words, the next time there is a rift, everyone dies guaranteed.”

Gold Star wondered whether the sinking feeling that was in her breast right now was something the others shared.

III

“Another rift would surely cause the world to end,” Celestia said. “Unless it comes at a time when our understanding and abilities are far, far beyond our current point. A time which will never come if I do what you ask.”

“Um. If we are knowledgable enough to close a rift by ourselves, I think it is much more likely that we will destroy ourselves than that a new rift forms.”

Celestia bowed her head. “I cannot disagree.”

“So we just sit around waiting,” Rainbow said, “at some point there’s another and then swoosh, we’re done?”

“Luna and I always believed the sphere to be infallible. That it can malfunction in this way, I will not deny, is tragic news. We all depend on it. If it ceases to work, I fear there is nothing we can do.”

“Did it just malfunction?” Cyclone asked. “Did nothing cause the rift?”

“We know of no cause,” Luna said. “What about you?”

“Um. I think that, um, whatever caused Discord to exist also caused the rift. But, um, I don’t know what that was.”

Silence spread after those words. If this was supposed to be victory, Gold Star thought, then she had imagined it differently.

“Let us not forget that there has been no rift before since the beginning of time,” Celestia said at last. “Yellow one. Why did you wish for the pegasus to be frozen?”

“Uhm. S-Sigma thinks she can bring her back.”

For a moment, Celestia seemed lost for words.

“You are one of a kind, Sigma. I do not think I have ever known a smarter pony than you, not in my nine thousand years of existence. Not even I know how to reach beyond the realm of darkness. If you think you are capable, then I do not have the confidence to tell you otherwise. But it is forbidden.”

“Um, I ask you make an exception,” Sigma said. “For Twilight and Featherfall.”

“Perhaps I should say no,” Celestia mused. “It is a misuse of my power, an authority I should not have. But after all...” She sighed. “The law is not there because I want the dead to stay dead. The law is there to prevent fools from hurting themselves in pursuit of a goal they will never reach. Who am I to tell a pony so much smarter than myself what to do? If you want to, go ahead and try. Two ponies?”

“Yes.”

“You will not attempt to revive a third one without my permission.”

“Um. I swear it.”

“We will make up a story,” Celestia murmured. “Equestria cannot know that you have this power, if you do have it. Twilight is on a journey, far away. If you succeed, she returns safely; if you fail... well...” She shook her head. “Here we are, like fools standing at the bottom of a giant hole. Let’s all return home. We still have a lot do discuss.”

Epilogue

Fluttershy sat alone next to the small sea on the outskirts of Ponyville, staring across the water. Next to work and sleep, this was now what she spent most of her time doing. A sadness rested inside of her, a sadness more persistent, and more deeply rooted than she could have ever imagined. Even now, over a year after it had all happened, it was still just as powerful and overwhelming as ever.

And yet...

There was a certain scene Fluttershy now replayed in her head almost every day. It was a scene that had taken place when she had already known Twilight for the better part of two years. Fluttershy could remember exactly what Twilight had said, and exactly how she had said it, even though it hadn’t meant as much to her then.

“Most ponies think the opposite of happiness is sadness, They are wrong, Fluttershy. Before I’ve come here, I’ve felt sadness almost every day of my life. If you took that away from me, what would I have left? What would I be?

We are here to feel, Fluttershy. That’s the only thing that gives meaning to life. Sadness is a way to feel connected to the world and to other ponies. When you feel sad, you remember something you once had, or something you wish to have. How could daydreaming of those things ever be the opposite of happiness?

Sadness is not laughter. It’s not what you should strive to feel. But if you feel sad, you still feel. It is better than nothing, so much better than nothing.”

“Then...” Fluttershy had responded. “Then what is...?”

And even though they hadn’t been a couple yet, Twilight had slid closer and hugged her.

“Boredom,” she had said, “boredom and pain.”

Fluttershy remembered those words as more tears dropped from her eyes, merging into the sea. She remembered them every day, when she woke up and when she went to sleep, when she fed her animals, and when she talked to her friends.

Pinkie Pie did not understand. It had been some of the worst weeks of her life when Pinkie had decided that Fluttershy had been sad for too long, and that she needed to cheer her up. At the first party she had thrown, Fluttershy had told her that she didn’t want it, that Pinkie couldn’t make her smile because she just wasn’t happy. She had asserted herself, just like everyone had always told her to. Had refused to participate. Had said no.

And Pinkie had been disappointed, had said she understood, and then she had tried again. And again. And again. And again. And Fluttershy had told her to stop, again and again and again. Told her that she would never manage to make her happy, and that it was okay. She had done everything she could, but Pinkie had not believed her, had kept on trying, until the other three of her friends, including Rainbow Dash, had taken her aside and given her a piece of their mind in a way that stuck. Afterwards, Pinkie had left her alone.

But even the others didn’t really believe her when she told them she was okay. At least Rainbow and Applejack didn’t. Rarity, perhaps. But none of them understood why. None of them understood that Fluttershy had chosen to embrace this sadness, to carry it with her, to relish it, breathe in it, live in it.

Sadness was now her life. Sadness and solitude. Sometimes, she thought of Discord. Most of the time, she thought of Twilight. Sometimes, she smiled. Most of the time, she cried. It wasn’t as good as her old life, when Twilight was still there, but it was so, so much better than nothing. Fluttershy did not pity herself. She pitied Pinkie Pie, who had been rejected and who was determined to keep pretending, and she pitied Rainbow Dash, who was conflicted and angry, and who now spent so much of her time far away from Ponyville.

Applejack and Rarity had done something else – they had moved on. Perhaps it was because they had no other choice – after all, each of them had a business to run. Applejack was the most cheerful out of them all, and Fluttershy could sense that it was real, that she had stomached this latest loss just like she had stomached the loss of her parents. And Fluttershy was sure that Twilight would appreciate that. Want that. She wouldn’t want anyone to be miserable for so long.

Once she’d come back, she’d tell them so herself.

Sigma was now living in Ponyville, had moved into a newly freed house along with Gold Star. Applejack, in her stubbornness, might not believe anypony could bring back the dead, but Fluttershy did. Sigma had already saved the universe, and besides, as Gold Star had rightfully pointed out, they already knew that it wasn’t impossible, because the sphere had demonstrated it five times over – with each of the angels. The only question remaining was whether it was possible to replicate the effect with far less power.

Whenever she saw her, Gold Star would tell her exactly how confident Sigma was at the moment, always at a precise percentage. At the beginning, it had been seventy. Only a week later, it had been eighty-five. Gold Star had said that no part of the problem had immediately turned out to be much harder than expected, which had been a potential outcome, therefore the chance of failure was no lower. A month later, it had gone up to ninety. Then, ninety-five.

And then, sixty. Fluttershy remembered that day vividly. Gold Star had said that a part which Sigma had thought to be trivial had turned out to be much harder, perhaps unsolvable. That it was hard to judge from here on out, and that the coming days would probably change a lot. To Fluttershy, it had not felt like sixty. It had felt like defeat. At that point, she had almost given up. Had almost stopped believing, stopped thinking of Twilight as “on a dangerous journey far away,” as Gold Star had suggested, and instead as kept inside of a dark little box, frozen and dead forever.

Two days later, it had been back to eighty, but the estimated duration had changed from half a year to two. Rainbow hadn’t taken those news very well, but all that Fluttershy had felt was relief. Who cared if it took her longer? All she wanted was to see her again. It could take two years, or even three. As long as it happened. Admittedly, there was a part of her which was afraid that she might one day see Gold Star, only for her to tell her that it would now take five years, but the much larger part was just afraid of failure.

From there, it had changed very slowly. Almost every time she saw Gold Star, she told her that it was a tiny bit more likely than before, because so far nothing else had gone wrong, but that they still couldn’t be sure. Eighty had slowly become eighty-five over the course of the year, and that’s where it still stood now. As Gold Star had pointed out, it was better than rolling a die and hoping for any number but one.

Autumn also still lived in Ponyville, her true form still a secret. Much unlike Fluttershy’s, her wish had been granted very quickly. From what Fluttershy had heard, it had taken Sigma only two days to invent a spell that would ensure Autumn wouldn’t fall over dead, a problem which had apparently been “a lot easier than expected,” although it wasn’t self-sustaining, so Autumn still had to visit Sigma once every one-and-a-half months for her to renew it. Fluttershy hadn’t even known that changelings didn’t age but died this way instead (and neither had any of her friends), although Gold Star had pointed out that it was actually public knowledge and could be looked up by anypony who was interested enough to bother.

But the pony Fluttershy spent the most time with – even more than with Rarity – was Gold Petals. Like almost all ponies in the sun’s kingdom, Fluttershy had lived most of her life in a state of blissful ignorance about the state of life outside of Equestria, but four out of the five angels had come from there, each one from a different place, none of them being nearly as prosperous or peaceful as Equestria was. They had all had hard lives compared to Equestrians, but even those of the other three paled in comparison to what Gold Petals had been through. Born into a family of four, she had lost her father, her mother, and her older sister to the war that slowly consumed her homeland. Out of sheer necessity, she had moved in with another family, only to be treated poorly and to work almost twenty hours a day, until her home was raided, everypony else killed and her being kept as a literal slave. She spent two more years that way, until one of her captors ended her life, by accident more than by will, in a drunken rage.

A moment later, she had stood in a wide, brown field that apparently lay somewhere a few miles to the south-west of Ponyville, with an unharmed body and a pair of silver wings. The second angel to come back after Corinne, and the one who deserved it the most. Fluttershy did not know what about her kept Gold Petals interested enough to visit her again and again, but she was thankful for it. Gold Petals was the only pony who truly understood her, who knew that sadness was far from the worst thing a pony could feel. Beside her, Fluttershy could only feel thankful for all the things she still had, including the much greater hope of seeing her friend again. Even though Featherfall’s body had been undamaged – apparently, even a fall of hundreds of yards wouldn’t hurt an angel – the odds of ever seeing her again remained slim.

“They are two separate problems,” Gold Star had explained her once. “Bringing a dead pony back is the first one. Dealing with the fact that she’s an angel with a now closed rift is the second one. Sigma needs to solve just the first to revive Twilight, but both to revive Featherfall, so there’s no use looking into the second before she solved the first. She says if the second is even possible, it’ll probably go much faster than the first, but there’s about a two third chance that it’s not.” In other words, while Fluttershy merely needed the die to fall on anything but the one, Gold Petals had to hit the six to see the pony again who, so she had told Fluttershy, was the closest friend she had ever made.

Sometimes, Fluttershy didn’t just dream of getting Twilight back, but also of the life she would lead. Once it happened, that much she was convinced of, everything would go back to normal. Rainbow Dash would come back to being a regular sight in Ponyville, Pinkie Pie would stop having to pretend, and she would leave her life of sadness behind and be happy with Twilight for... well...

Fluttershy knew that Sigma was now forty-nine years old, but her body merely twenty-four. She also knew that Gold Star was planing to wait until she was twenty-four as well, and then keep it there indefinitely, so that she and Sigma could remain together forever (Fluttershy wasn’t sure if even the old Pinkie Pie had been as genuinely happy as Gold Star appeared to be, ever since she and Sigma were living together). Halting the ageing process, so Gold Star, was very hard but something Sigma had already solved, and she extended an offer to each of the element bearers to freeze their age or even move it backwards, if they wanted.

Applejack had respectfully declined. Pinkie Pie must have also declined, though Fluttershy honestly didn’t know. Rainbow Dash had said sure, but that she wouldn’t let Sigma touch her until she finally fulfilled her promise and brought Twilight back, Celestia damn it. Similarly, Fluttershy had asked to put it off until they knew what would happen to Twilight. Only Rarity, surprising everyone, had accepted. It had only been a year so far, too early to notice a difference, but still...

Whatever would happen, Fluttershy just couldn’t bring herself to worry about things that lay so far in the future. Not yet. Not while all she wanted was just barely out of reach.

A sad smile on her face, Fluttershy kept watching the silent water, waiting for Twilight to return.

#1 Lynn

I

Stop what you’re doing. Listen up.

Suppose a mad pony broke into your home. Suppose she was carrying one of those pre-charged one-way crystals which can fry a mare’s brain in a matter of moments.

Suppose she said “you have ten seconds to start telling me a story or I’ll use this on you.”

Suppose you went “wait wait wait let’s not be too hasty oh you’re serious aren’t you holy crap crap crap crap no wait okay I got yesterday I was uh I was trying to uh uhm uhm argh no crap time time crap crap crap” and then you realized that your time was running out and you didn’t come up with anything so you used your own device that you created for inexplicably complicated reasons.

Both me and her were being thrust out of the room. Reality spun around me, and I had the very bad feeling of my insides turning about, and the very bad feeling that the former very bad feeling might be an indication that something very bad going very wrong, but before I could get properly scared, I was already landing, finding myself standing in a large room with a shimmering ceiling.

You should really come up with a story instead. Trust me.

II

ACT I announced an invisible voice, EXPOSITION. YOU BOTH WILL UNDERGO CHALLENGES. EACH CHALLENGE HAS ONE WINNER. WHOEVER LOSES THREE TIMES WILL DIE AND HER COMPETITOR WILL GO TO SAFETY. END OF ACT I. ACT II. PREPARATION. ACT III WILL START IN TWENTY SECONDS.

“I wasn’t serious!” the other mare shrieked. “I wasn’t going to kill you!”

“You’re bucking kidding me, right?” I shouted back. “I hope you are. Because I can’t call this off now. Only one of us is going to make it out of here alive.”

“Oh jeez oh jeez why really how what even is this can’t you reverse it come on oh no-”

“END OF ACT II. ACT III. FIRST CHALLENGE. QUESTIONS. THE FIRST TIME YOU ANSWERS ARE DIFFERENT THE ONE WHO WAS WRONG LOSES THE CHALLENGE. FIRST QUESTION. IS CELESTIA OLDER THAN THAN A THOUSAND YEARS? CROSS YOUR HOOVES FOR YES.

i crossed my hooves. I looked at the other mare, then at the large numbers that had appeared in the middle of the room. A countdown. 3 seconds. I looked at the other mare again. Her hooves were crossed.

“BOTH CORRECT. NEXT QUESTION. IS LUNA OLDER THAN A THOUSAND YEARS? CROSS YOUR HOOVES FOR YES.”

I looked at my hooves. They were still crossed. A brief moment of panic, then I uncrossed them. Crossed them again. This counted, right? I looked at the other mare. Her hooves were crossed.

“BOTH CORRECT. NEXT QUESTION...”

III

A trillion miles above Equestria, there is a large crystal sphere.

It surrounds everything the world has ever been. Beyond it, a careless, cold infinity stretches on ad infinitum.

And there is a rift on the surface of the sphere. Through it, control and order seeps out, out, out...

#2 Celestia

I

“In the beginning,” Discord said in a booming voice, “Celestia created the heavens and Equestria!”

Celestia sighed.

“Now Equestria was formless and empty! Darkness was over the surface of the deep! And the Spirit of Celestia was hovering over the waters!”

“For the last time,” Celestia said half-heartedly, “I didn’t-”

“AND CELESTIA SAID, ‘LET THERE BE LIGHT’, AND THERE WAS LIGHT! CELESTIA SAW THE LIGHT WAS GOOD; AND SHE SEPARATED THE LIGHT FROM THE DARKNESS!”

“I didn’t write this, Discord. I don’t know who did. Ponies just started passing it around in Canterlot. Somepony must have thought it was funny.”

“Hehehe...” The book disappeared out of Discord’s talons, reappearing in front of Celestia, who inadvertently read the next couple of lines which she had tried so hard to avoid.

... Celestia called the light ‘day,’ and the darkness she called ‘night.’ And there was evening, and there was morning – the first day.

This was ridiculous. She lit her horn, tossing it aside.

“A great prank then, I would say! Such devotion! Fifty chapters!”

“Discord... I am busy. Is there anything-”

“And you know... I think ponies are starting to believe it.”

II

It was true.

She wouldn’t admit it in front of Discord, but this was more than just a prank. This was harmful. Celestia could almost hear the whispers...

... so this is how it all began ... she never told us ... this is amazing ...

“And who knows... maybe they’re right?”

Celestia merely scoffed, hoping that would end the subject, throwing a nervous glance at her chamber’s doors. No-one was allowed to just go in here – this of course included Discord, but it was no use telling the draconequus what to do and not to do.

“Are they?”

“’And Celestia said ‘let there be light’ and there was light,’” she quoted. “Please. Of course this isn’t true.”

“Well, maybe not all of the specifics. But the general idea...?”

“I won’t talk about this with you, Discord. Why don’t you visit your friend Fluttershy?”

Discord gave a theatrical sigh. “Rejected! But won’t she talk because she doesn’t want to share, or because she doesn’t know?”

Celestia said nothing. She could hear Discord’s quiet chuckles.

“Tell me... princess... did you create the world, or didn’t you?”

III

A trillion miles above Equestria, there is a large crystal sphere.

It’s shimmering in a faint purple light. Some of its texture is moving.

And there is a rift on the surface of the sphere. Through it, control and order seeps out, out, out...

#4 Gold Star

I

Gold Star briskly entered the home of her closest friend, who appeared to have left her door open, likely due to the heat. She could hear sounds from the kitchen, a cabinet being opened and water being poured. As she rounded the corner, she could see a changeling standing beside the fridge with a glass of fresh water in her hoof, the jar leaning slightly into the nearest moon-shaped hole in her skin. A moment later, the changeling was replaced by her friend Autumn Wind.

“Oh,” Autumn said, “h-hey. Y-you, u-uhm, y-y-you didn’t s-see that, r-right?”

“You,” Gold Star whispered, “are a changeling.”

“... crap.”

....

....

“What... did you do?” Gold Star demanded. “What did you do to-”

“Nothing.”

“You’re lying! You changelings are all liars! You can only take the form of real-”

“Autumn died 30 years ago when she was captured in a raid. I memorized her appearance and created her again when I left the hive. It’s always been me. I just... forgot...” Autumn sighed. “... forgot you were coming over. Can’t we just pretend this never happened?”

II

“Pretend this never happened? Our friendship was a lie!”

“Why?”

“Because you lied to me!”

“Well, yeah. Would you have been friends with me if I told you the truth?”

“Of course not!”

“Therefore, I had to lie.”

“Err,” Gold Star made, “uhm...”

“Right?”

“I guess?”

“So I did nothing wrong.” Autumn gave a hopeful smile. “Still friends?”

“YOU’RE A-”

“Shhhhh!!” Autumn hissed, throwing a nervous look at the door. “Not so loud!”

III

A trillion miles above Equestria, there is a large crystal sphere.

Patterns and regularities come and go in the web of lines. For once it is all still, then its movements continue.

And there is a rift on the surface of the sphere. Through it, control and order seeps out, out, out...

#5 Cyclone

I

Cyclone was dead.

As gargantuan of a thought as this might otherwise be, right now it concerned her far less than the fact that, despite being dead, she was still conscious.

The biggest question known to ponykind, ‘will something come after death?,’ apparently had a simple answer: yes.

That was rather nice... particularly for her, given that she was dead and all. But what was it? Where was she?

Nervously, Cyclone looked around to- HOLY CELETSIA WHAT HAD HAPPENED TO HER WINGS?

Her wings! they were! were! were...

... gray? Silver?

Cyclone gulped. Had she aged? A minute ago, she’d only been thirty-two years old. She lifted a limb to see if it too had changed. Nope, still the soft, blue color it had always been.

She looked back at her wings. They were still silver.

II

Okay, so she had silver wings. Big deal. But, where was she?

She looked around. There was nothing. Well, there wasn’t literally nothing, of course, but there also wasn’t really anything, except for a plain wide field of... dirt. Hopefully, wherever she was wasn’t like this everywhere. It wouldn’t be fun at all to spend the afterlife all by herself.

Cautiously, she flapped her new, silver wings. They worked just like... no, wait a moment, they didn’t. They were... stronger? Yeah, they were stronger. Cyclone had already been a good flier, but now she was quickly flying at a speed that would otherwise have taken a lot out of her. Now it was easy.

So death gave her better wings? Okay, that was... nice?

Cyclone gradually slowed her flight, eventually coming to a landing at a spot almost identical to the one she’d been before.

... still. Where was she?

III

A trillion miles above Equestria, there is a large crystal sphere.

Every now and then, several moving lines meet at a single point. Then, sometimes, a tiny piece of white sails down, too quick for any mortal eye to see.

And there is a rift on the surface of the sphere. Through it, control and order seeps out, out, out...

#7 Lynn

I

“QUESTION 9: DID CELESTIA IMPOSE TRADE SANCTIONS ON THE GRIFFON KINGDOM IN THE YEAR 4239 S M? DO THREE STEPS TO THE LEFT FOR YES.”

Trade sanctions, it went through my head. When were those? 239? No, that was the thing with the nice number. 222. My eyes were stuck on the other mare, who so far hadn’t moved. It was so weird that you could watch your opponent the whole time. But the time for answering questions-

“BOTH CORRECT. QUESTION 10: DID FROSTCRAWL DISCOVER THE PENDULUM PRINCIPLE OF APPLIED UNICORN MAGIC? DO THREE STEPS TO THE LEFT FOR YES.”

was so short. I hadn’t tried hiding them yet. Maybe I should? I knew Frostcrawl discovered this so... okay who cares she already did three steps. I followed. Why was she so good at history? Crapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrap. Crap! I thought I was good but-

“What if we both just refuse to compete?” She suddenly said. It was the first time either of us had talked since the start.

II

“I don’t think that would work with-”

“BOTH CORRECT. QUESTION 11: WAS IT A WOLF WHO ACCIDENTALLY STARTED THE FIGHT BETWEEN GRIFFONS AND SERPENTS? DO A SOMERSAULT FOR YES.”

“I can’t do a somersault!” I protested involuntarily.

“The answer is no anyway.”

“I knew that,” I snapped, which was the truth. “As I was saying, I don’t think that works with later problems.”

“But if we just don’t do anything now? Wouldn’t the questions be tied forever?”

“Why would I negotiate with a mad pony?”

“I’m not mad! I-”

“BOTH CORRECT. QUESTION 12: WAS IT A GRIFFON CHANGING THE COURSE OF A RIVER THROUGH A MAGICAL ARTEFACT WHO ACCIDENTALLY STARTED THE WAR BETWEEN GRIFFONS AND SERPENTS? DO A SOMERSAULT FOR YES.”

“I can’t do a somersault!”

“The answer is yes this time.”

“I know that!”

Again the truth. I know my history, damn it!

“So let’s both answer no.”

“You! I don’t trust you!”

“Okay but I can do a somersault. Should I show you?”

“No!” I shrieked, for a moment reminded of what was on the line. “Okay, fine!”

...

“BOTH FALSE. QUESTION 13: ...”

III

A trillion miles above Equestria, there is a large crystal sphere.

Some of its texture is moving. Some if its texture is moving. Some of its texture is moving. Some if its texture is moving,

And there is a rift on the surface of the sphere. Through it, control and order seeps out, out, out...

#11 Lynn

I

“QUESTION 118: DID THE AMBASSADOR OF THE DARK CITADEL DELIVER A CONDITIONAL PEACE OFFERING IN THE YEAR 3723 S M? JUMP TWICE FOR YES.”

“... weak,” Apple Stars said. “I wouldn’t win against you anyway. I know history, but you have to win three challenges, right? You’d win three to one.”

“I’m sorry,” I said uncomfortably. “I didn’t-”

“Not your fault. I’m just... saying. I won’t fight you. If it comes you to it, I’ll surrender. I’d rather die than be responsible f-for...”

“BOTH CORRECT. QUESTION 119: ...” the announcer began, while I tried my best not to listen. Yeah, things had changed quite a lot in the past... hour? It was impossible to say how long it had been.

Apple Stars, far as I could tell from talking to her, was just a regular Ponyvillean mare. Friendlier than I was, for sure. Celestia only knew why she had acted the way she had. From what she had told me, she had never done anything like this before. She had said that it had just come over her. Like somepony else was controlling her body, every act and every motion. Like she’d been a puppet. Then, once she had dropped in here, everything had gone back to normal.

I believed her, just because nothing else made sense. If she really were out for my life, she’d hardly offer her own to save it, now.

And there was no third way. One of us was going to die here. We could tie for questions indefinitely, but unless someone was going to come and help (and there was no reason why anypony would know we were here), we’d simply starve to death. Or dehydrate, rather.

“BOTH FALSE. QUESTION 120: ...”

“Does it go on forever?” Apple Star asked, in a loud voice so as to talk over the announcer.

“Yeah. Don’t ask how.”

Apple Star had already asked what in Tartarus name this whole thing was. I hadn’t told her. This was a secret I wasn’t sharing with anypony, not even one I was bonding with over... well, over this incredibly stupid situation we were both in.

“BOTH FALSE. QUESTION 121: DID CELESTIA CREATE THE UNIVERSE? WIGGLE YOUR NOSE FOR YES.”

II

“Wiggle your nose?!” Apple Star repeated, disbelievingly. “That’s not even possible!”

She was right. But right now I couldn’t care less. Did Celestia create the universe? That being a question should be just as impossible as wiggling your nose.

We exchanged a look. Then we both said nothing, waiting for the resolution.

“BOTH CORRECT. QUESTION 122: WHY IN THE NAME OF CERBERUS’ BALLS AREN’T YOU DOING ANYTHING? YOU KNOW THAT THIS IS RETARDED? ARE BOTH OF YOU COWARDS WHO WON’T EVEN PLAY IN A GAME FOR YOUR LIFE? YOU KNOW YOU’LL BOTH DIE OF THIRST IF YOU WAIT AROUND ANYWAY, DON’T YOU? SCREW BOTH OF YOU. JUST ONE COSMIC ENTITY’S OPINION. WIGGLE YOUR EARS FOR YES.”

“Uhm,” I made.

“It shouldn’t do that, right?” Apple Star asked carefully.

“No,” I said, “definitely not.”

“BOTH ERROR 18: ELEMENT NOT FOUND. QUESTION 123: IF YOU DON’T GET GOING, MAYBE I WON’T LET EITHER OF YOU OUT? DO YOU THINK I CAN’T DO THAT? HA. HA. HA.” (It wasn’t laughing, it spoke the syllables ‘ha-ha-ha’.) “WELL, MAYBE I CAN’T. OR MAYBE I CAN. DO YOU WANT TO TAKE THE CHANCE? IT’S EITHER ONE OF YOU OR BOTH OF YOU THAT WILL BITE THE DUST. MAKE YOUR CHOICE, CELESTIA DAMN IT. WIGGLE YOUR-”

There was a bombastic crash as the ceiling of the hall exploded into a thousand splinters. An angel (at least that’s what she looked like at first) with silver wings descended from heaven (okay, I see how that might be stretching it, but you know it looked pretty damn poetic in that moment, okay? And she saved our lives, jeez!) and landed between us.

“Uhm,” Cyclone said. “I think somepony needs help? Do you two need help? I’m sorry if I’ve done anything wrong.”

III

A trillion miles above Equestria...

– INTERLUDE –

... there is a large crystal sphere.

Power is power.

Light is light.

Cosmic texture is drawn to power and light.

Equestria is at the center of the sphere. A plane: wide, massive. Far larger than any planet.

Position is not random. Randomness is real in every day occurrences, but on a cosmic level, everything is guided. The crystal sphere is like a gargantuan control panel, far larger and more complex than any invention by species living within. Twenty-five quadrillion nodes, the equivalence of a quintillion lines of code, shooting hundreds of trillions of white lines by the minute, soaring through the sphere’s interior. The machinery that is running the universe. Not to be seen, never to be understood, but near perfect in what it does.

Save for the Rift.

In relative terms, the Rift is tiny. It that were different, the ensuring chaos would have wreaked havoc at a scale beyond imagination. It is five hundred miles wide, ten thousand miles long. You could not fit a single planet through it, not even a moon. And yet, if you punch a hole into an intensely connected web of software, even if it’s tiny, you will have lastings effects. The sphere has not been optimized for modularity.

So what is it that draws all the attention? What force put Equestria at the center? What could be powerful enough to keep up eternal interest from the machinery?

#14 Rainbow Dash

I

The door was opened by a Twilight Sparkle who, for inexplicable reasons, was dripping wet. Rainbow paid it no mind.

“Twilight! Thank Celestia! Something is wrong! I can fly really fast!”

“Um,” Twilight made.

“No, you don’t get it! Really really really fast! It’s crazy!”

Twilight lit her horn. Her mane started blowing in what had to be a stream of air.

“Okay,” she said after a moment, and over the sound her magical mane-dryer, “how fast?”

“Dunno! Like, twice as fast as normally.”

Fluttershy came walking out of the bathroom, wrapped in a towel.

“Twice as fast as your normal maximum speed?” Twilight asked, redirecting the wind to dry her backside.

“Yeah. I think so. I was really fast when I just flew out for a bit, and when I got back I was even faster!”

“Okay,” Twilight said, “that sounds very odd.”

“Shouldn’t there have been a rainboom?” Fluttershy asked. “Or were you too far away and we didn’t hear it?”

Rainbow shrugged. “No clue. Thought that, too. But there wasn’t.”

II

Twilight cut off the stream, drawing a hoof through her hopelessly disheveled mane. It looked similar to when Rainbow had dried it on the first day they’d met.

“If there was really no rainboom,” she said, “even though you flew faster than ever before, that would be... uhm...”

“That’s what happened.”

“Rainbow, please don’t get the wrong idea, but what you’re saying sounds so unbelievable that I have to at least consider that it didn’t happen. Maybe you just thought you were flying really fast and-”

“It happened. I can show you. Come outside.”

III

“Okay,” Twilight conceded, “you were right.”

“Wow,” Fluttershy murmured. “That was really...”

“... really really...” Twilight continued.

“... really fast,” Fluttershy concluded.

“Really fast,” Twilight added.

“Told you.”

“Frick!” Now Twilight was visibly worried. “You flew way faster than you did at the Best Young Flier’s Competition. And no rainboom.”

“... and?” Rainbow asked, feeling somewhat nervous herself. “What does it mean?”

“I have no idea,” Twilight said, “but it’s really scary.”

#27 The Rift | 5

I

“How?” Gold Star asked in a whisper. “How do you think you can bring them back?”

At the ground of the abyss, there was what Gold Star would describe as a cave, or even a tunnel. It was still sloping downward as they walked through, and Sigma’s and Lynn’s magic was now the only source of light.

“Um. It is very complicated. I’m sorry.”

“But... with magic?”

It felt like a silly question, but she just wasn’t sure.

“Yes. I will try to invent a spell.”

“But if that’s possible, why has nopony ever done it before?”

Was the tunnel getting steeper? Gold Star wasn’t sure.

“It would be extremely hard to do with the conventional approach to magic. Still, I don’t know if anyone has done it before.”

“How long will this go on?” Rainbow hissed. She was leading the group along with the four remaining angels. Fluttershy and Autumn were behind them, carrying the two fallen ones.

II

“Um. I don’t know,” Sigma replied. “I don’t think it will take us more than two hours, but any shorter time is possible. A few minutes are the most likely.”

“Have you ever tried it before?” Gold Star asked as Rainbow didn’t say anything else.

“No.”

“Uhm... why not?”

“Um. I was very busy. I created Command Theory, the field to define languages used to pre-specify spells. It was very hard. I took over twenty years to make it work. I used it to reduce the need for sleep, to stop and reverse ageing, and to create a strong defensive spell. That was also hard. It took me thirteen years.”

“Wait,” Gold Star breathed. “No,” she added as Sigma halted, “I don’t mean... we can keep going. I... how old are you?”

“Forty-eight years.”

“Oh.”

III

Gold Star was twenty-one. Sigma looked about the same age.

“How... how old is your.... your body? I mean, what age...”

“Do you mean what age of a regular pony does it correspond to?”

Gold Star nodded.

“Twenty-four years.”

“But...” It was a silly thing to worry about, but Gold Star couldn’t help it. “Is it... really like this, or do you need... magic to keep it like this?”

“I use magic to keep it at twenty-four years. If I stopped doing that, it would age normally. The spell I use has no other effects.”

“Oh.” Gold Star released a breath she hadn’t known she’d been holding. That was good. She smiled, then after a few moments, she realized that Sigma had raised her gaze from her hooves, and was now looking at her.

“Um. Do you-”

Quickly, so as not to have anyone else notice, Gold Star gave her a short kiss, just beside her lips.

“It’s all good,” she whispered, her gaze already back ahead.