//------------------------------//
// #1 Lynn 
// Story: The Rift 
// by Colors 
//------------------------------//



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...