//------------------------------// // #23 The Rift | 1 // Story: The Rift // by Colors //------------------------------// 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.