//------------------------------// // #22 Twilight // Story: The Rift // by Colors //------------------------------// 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.”