//------------------------------// // #31 The Rift | 9 // Story: The Rift // by Colors //------------------------------// 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.”