If you were to observe the skies above Ponyville on this fateful night, you would be able to clearly see several large rocks hurtling towards the town. You would note that they seemed to follow a pattern of increasing in size the further away they were - the nearest, the one heading for Ponyville library, was also the smallest of the six rocks. And, of course, the most distant meteor was also the largest by a terrifying ratio. Even across the vast distances involved, it still loomed menacingly over the land below. When it eventually hit Equestria, it would be a miracle if anything was left. And, indeed, that was the intended outcome.
Aside from these large meteors, the night sky also featured more immediate - if a little less deadly - concerns. Showers of tiny fragments of rock were also raining down, having broken off of the main meteors. One such shower could, if you were observing carefully, be seen falling into the Everfree forest, not a great distance from Fluttershy's cottage. Regrettably, Fluttershy was not observing the night sky above Ponyville, as she was far too busy not getting Twilight killed by a meteor to pay attention to silly things like that.
The pegasus was guiding her friend through the use of a communication spell, while observing her activities on a larger, immobile screen that displayed a view of Twilight's antics. This screen was currently displaying Twilight levitating a captchalogue card in front of Spike, while nearby a ball of light seemed to be incredibly excited about something or other.
CM: We're getting close to the end of this, right?
RB: Uh... I think so.
RB: There are 10 hints, I think.
RB: And we're at number 9.
CM: Right.
Whatever trail of thought Twilight had been pursuing with that question, it seemed to work, as the screen showed Spike reluctantly turning the card back into a cruxite totem. Fluttershy continued to watch as Twilight placed the totem onto the alchemiter's pedestal, and then -
A light from outside her cottage briefly drew Fluttershy's attention away from the screen, and then managed to hold her attention when she saw what it was. The forest was on fire. Dismissing the communication spell, Fluttershy rushed outside to greet the flames that had engulfed the nearby trees. For a few moments, she could do nothing but stand awestruck by the sight of it, before realising that the fire was almost at her house. While normally her instincts would have taken her in the opposite direction, in this case her animals were in danger. She had to do something. Except, she pointed out to herself, she had no idea where to start tackling a fire of this size, and there was no way she could move all of her animals out of the way in time.
The flames drew nearer.
***
In Ponyville library, the librarian was feeling ridiculously nervous. This was for many reasons, not least because she was going to die unless a certain pony saved her. A certain pony who was currently dealing with a forest fire, leaving Twilight stuck in her library with a ball of light that did nothing but make near constant dinging noises.
CM: Please, just say something!
CM: ... Fluttershy?
Whatever the situation currently was, Twilight decided, Fluttershy was clearly distracted by the fire. Which meant she was in danger, which meant she needed help.
[crespucularMagicant began talking with prismaticAscencion]
CM: Rainbow!
PA: Oh, hey Rarity.
CM: Uh... what?
PA: Oh wait, this is Twilight, isn't it?
CM: Yes!
PA: Sorry. I got the names that you two use mixed up.
CM: OK, well, never mind!
CM: The point is, you have to help Fluttershy!
CM: The forest is on fire!
PA: Yeah, I know.
CM: Oh.
PA: I'm just heading out there with the rest of the weather team, actually.
CM: Oh, well, that's fine then.
CM: Nothing to worry about!
PA: Are you OK Twilight? You seem a little worked up about something.
CM: Do I? It's probably your imagination.
CM: That, or the meteor that's going to smash into my face in 3:30.
PA: Eep.
PA: Well, don't worry, I'll go help Fluttershy and then she can help you, right?
CM: OK, sure.
[crespucularMagicant stopped talking with prismaticAscencion]
And that was that. Fluttershy's fate was out of her hands now. Turning her attention back to her surroundings, Twilight noted that Spike was now asleep, clearly tired enough that he was using the hard edge of the alchemiter for a pillow. It would probably be best to leave him be for now, since she didn't expect to need any more fire tonight. Which gave her some time (although she hoped it wouldn't be too long) to investigate the strange vworping ball of light that had been following her throughout this ridiculous countdown.
It struck her as odd that none of the hints Fluttershy had received had mentioned it – not as far as she'd said, anyway. It was clearly part of the game, as it had come from the cruxtruder, so it was presumably something important. Interesting.
Before she could investigate the mysterious light and its irritating sproings further, however, absolutely nothing happened, so she began to investigate the mysterious light and its irritating sproings further.
***
Approaching the Everfree forest from the air, Rainbow Dash could see the full extent of the fire - a wall of flames along the very edge of the forest, near Fluttershy's cottage, was where most of the fire was growing. Other pegasi had already appeared, and where busying themselves with forming a perimeter around the edge of the forest. Maybe this wouldn't take too long, she thought, even though she knew that there was going to be a lot more work for them when the meteor hit Twilight's library.
While the other pegasi began to fight back the flames, Rainbow Dash decided to check up on Fluttershy. After all, Twilight needed her help as soon as possible. As she approached Fluttershy's cottage, she could see her friend rushing around her garden after the various animals that she kept. Typical Fluttershy. In spite of, or maybe because of, the approaching fire, the animals were being decidedly uncooperative. Chickens and rabbits were dodging and jumping around her, except for Angel who seemed to be the only one there who was paying any attention to the fire. He was smart, as Rainbow had come to realise over time. Perhaps he was a little too smart. Sure, he was cute and everything, but he always seemed to get what he wanted. Who knew what was going on behind those tiny little eyes of his? Realising that this trail of thought (as had happened before, with Gummy) was about to dissolve into a wide range of crazy theories in which Angel was secretly plotting the demise of everypony in Ponyville, she brought her concentration back to the matter at hand and swooped down to greet Fluttershy.
"Hey Fluttershy. Are you OK?" Rainbow's sudden appearance in front of the shy pegasus almost caused her to drop the chicken she had finally managed to grab hold of, but she managed to nod and give the usual rant about just how happy she was to see Rainbow. "I notice you're having a bit of trouble with the animals?"
"Oh, no, not at all. They're just, um... a little excited." As if to confirm this statement, the chickens which were still running loose began squawking loudly. "Although, I do wish that they weren't quite this excited... it's a little tricky keeping track of all of them."
"Can't you do the thing where you turn stuff into cards?" Since leaving the library and retreating to her, as Twilight had put it, 'cloud temple thing', Rainbow had found that she could somehow store objects in small cards and then retrieve them later on. It was strange, and she had no explanation for how it worked beyond 'it just does', so she guessed it was something to do with Twilight's game. Which meant that Fluttershy should be able to do it to. She relayed all of this to her friend, but Fluttershy just shrugged.
"I don't know about that... or at least, I haven't done anything like that yet." Carefully setting the chicken down onto the floor, Fluttershy then attempted to pick it up in the way Rainbow had told her to - 'pick it up, but don't actually pick it up'. Which was very helpful, but even so she was a little dubious about this. "Are you really sure that this is going to OHMYGOSH!" The sudden outburst of excitement had been caused by the entirely expected transformation of the chicken into a small white card with a red border and a picture of a chicken on the front. "I did it!"
Encouraged by this achievement, Fluttershy quickly began rounding up the rest of her animals, and after a highly amusing thirty seconds had accumulated a small pile of cards filled with different animals. Her task done, she paused.
"Uh... so, what now? Do I just carry all of these around with me?"
"I... guess so?" Now that Rainbow thought about it, it didn't really make any sense at all. "It's hard to explain. When I'm not really using the cards, or thinking about them, they just... they just aren't there. It's like they don't really exist unless I need them. But if I think about where they go, then I guess I was carrying them around with me. But... I wasn't. Does that make any sense?" The blank face in front of her answered that. "OK, so I suck at explaining stuff. Twilight could probably describe it better, but..." The mention of the unicorn's name caused something to click in the back of Rainbow's mind. Wasn't there something about Twilight that she had to tell Fluttershy? Between forest fires and potentially homicidal bunnies, it was hard to keep track of every little thing.
"Twilight? Oh, I almost forgot! She still needs my help, or she won't be able to get away from the meteor!" Ah, Rainbow thought to herself, that was it. As the two pegasi turned to look in the general direction of Ponyville library, they were both temporarily frozen by the sudden realisation of just how stupid the distance between the library and the meteor really was. "Uh... do you happen to know how long she has left?"
"Well, she spoke to me before I left for here, and said she had 3:30. And we must have spent a couple of minutes here, so..." Rainbow had never been tremendously accurate at estimating times, or distances, largely because of how often she had blurred such details about her various athletic achievements. "I'd say she must have about... a minute?" Seeing the shock begin to form on Fluttershy's face, Rainbow said her prediction again to herself. "Wait... a minute?!? Oh horse apples!"
Any comment on Fluttershy's inability to hurry up was cut short, as the pegasus quickly shot inside to get back to Twilight. Seeing that the fire was still being dealt with, Rainbow once again took to the air to help the others. It was up to Fluttershy to save Twilight now - and regardless of whether she made it or not, there was still going to be a much larger fire to deal with when the meteor hit.
***
Twilight was beginning to find the occasional 'whoo' that echoed through the library a bit ominous, if she was being honest. She was still rather distraught about the whole affair that had taken place over the last few minutes, but on the plus side at least she had now most definitely prototyped her kernelsprite. Assuming that 'prototype' meant 'combine with owl'. Owlowiscious had been keen enough to help out, of course, and he hadn't been killed or anything, but she still felt a little guilty. Judging by the number of warnings that the universe had attempted to give her on the severity of not prototyping, though, she had managed to avert some kind of terrible disaster. Which was good. Imagine if she had tried to enter the game world with an un-prototyped kernelsprite - well, it didn't bear thinking about. Presumably. She had no idea what would have actually happened, but it was probably for the best that she hadn't found out. Regardless, what was done was done, and the kernelsprite had since vanished from her sight - although its haunting calls reminded her of its existence.
Since losing track of her kernelsprite, Twilight had occupied herself with moving Spike into his bed, some light reading, and desperately trying to think of anything other than the meteor - or the rapidly diminishing countdown. Unfortunately, she wasn't very good at not thinking about meteors, or ominous clocks, and it was all she could do to stop herself leaping from her balcony and galloping all the way back to Canterlot. Princess Celestia has given me this vital mission, she reminded herself, so she must have faith. Fluttershy will pull through, I just have to believe in her. It didn't help that she had moved herself and the purple scroll downstairs, to the room containing the cruxtruder and its terrifying countdown. The display currently read 1:02. That was it, there was no way she'd have time to get away if she did try to run for it. Was there even time to do whatever it was she had to do?
[reticentButterfly began talking with crespucularMagicant]
RB: I'm here! I'm here! I'm sorry I was gone for so long, but I'm here!
The sudden rush of relief and excitement that marked the arrival of Fluttershy's message caught Twilight off balance, and she temporarily forgot how to speak. 0:48.
CM: Fluttershy!
CM: Thank Celestia, I was worried something had happened!
RB: Well, it did, but it's OK now.
CM: You can tell me all about it.
CM: But preferably not until after we get me to safety, yeah?
RB: Yeah...
CM: So, I made the purple scroll thing, what now?
RB: Uh... one moment, the hint just popped up.
CM: OK, I can wait.
CM: Well, actually, I can't, but I suppose I don't have much choice.
RB: By the way, what did you do to that ball of light? I can't see it anywhere...
CM: That's what I was investigating while you were gone.
CM: Based on all the evidence, I believe that the ball of light was my kernelsprite.
RB: I... see... I think?
CM: You don't. But don't worry about it, even I'm not sure what kernelsprite means - not that 'kernelsprite' is even a word.
CM: All you need to know is that I have managed to avert what could potentially have been a complete disaster.
CM: And I almost lost my owl in the process, but he's fine now.
CM: ANYWAY.
CM: The hint?
In Fluttershy's cottage, the screen displaying Twilight was once again obscured by a large white box containing a message explaining the workings of the game. 0:31.
Hint 10 of 10: Now you are finally ready to enter the game world! There is just one last point to cover. In addition to your captchalogue cards, you should also be in possession of a 'strife specibus'. This is set to a certain 'kind abstrata', or a certain type of weapon (e.g. swordkind, or hammerkind) that defines the type of object that you are capable of using as a weapon. All items of that sort which you captchalogue will be assigned to this strife specibus, and stored in the strife deck. This allows you to access any of your weaponry quickly and easily. Just in case you haven't already set your kind abstrata, you may wish to do so now. Now, to enter the game world, you must 'use', or 'damage' your cruxite artifact in some way. For instance, you might smash a bottle artifact, or bite an apple artifact. The precise manner in which it must be used will vary, and is a sort of puzzle for you, but you may find that your strife specibus will be useful in some way. Good luck, and enjoy the rest of Sburb!
RB: OK, do you have a strife specibus?
CM: Uh... oh, yeah, I do.
CM: It says 'quillkind', I think.
RB: Well, I think that means you can now use quills as weapons...
RB: It says that whatever 'kind abstrata' it's set to, that's what your weapons are.
RB: And any quills you captchalogue will be stored in the strife specibus.
CM: OK, good to know.
CM: Do you know what would be even better to know?
CM: How to get to safety in 20 second or less.
RB: Ack, sorry!
RB: Uh, it says that you have to use your item in some way.
RB: It's different for every item, and it's meant to be a kind of puzzle.
RB: But doing something with the item will take you to the game world.
CM: Right. OK.
CM: I can do this.
[crespucularMagicant stopped talking with reticentButterfly]
So she had a scroll. And she needed to use it in some way? Did that mean she had to send it, with more of Spike's fire? Or something else? If there was any lesson to take away from this, Twilight thought, it was that she was incapable of using her brain under pressure. Think, Twilight, think. You can do this, you can - argh! 10 SECONDS! At that point, rather than the sudden last minute burst of inspiration she had been hoping for, instead everything went blank. She had no idea what she was doing! She was going to die, and it was all -
[fractalAbomination began pestering crespucularMagicant]
FA: stab the scroll with your quill
CM: Whuh?
FA: quill
FA: scroll
FA: make it happen
CM: Uh...
FA: ttyl
[fractalAbomination ceased pestering crespucularMagicant]
The first thing that occurred to Twilight was that none of her friends were using that name. The second thing that occurred to her was that it was odd how the conversation had started 'began pestering' instead of 'began talking with'. It then occurred to her that, to be honest, she was out of options and so she may as well follow the stranger's advice. And, just as she retrieved her quill from her strife specibus, it occurred to her that the countdown on the cruxtruder currently read 0:01. After that, everything went white, and things stopped occurring to her.
***END ACT 1 ACT 1***
Now that I have briefly paused the narrative, I will allow you a few moments to come to terms with the sudden deceleration in the pacing of this story. It is only natural that this should require a short period of adjustment, especially when the transition is marked by nothing more than a sudden separation from the structure you may have expected. Act 1 Act 2 will begin shortly, but before then I feel it only fitting to have a short pause.
"I would apologise for leaving you hanging at such a critical moment in the story, but it is, of course, all part of the fun. Regardless, I suspect that the questions to which you are seeking answers will not be resolved for quite some time after I resume my narration, so we can afford to wait here for a short while longer." As is quickly becoming habit, again I pause, this time because I notice that Pinkie Pie has gotten up and left the room at some point during my narration. I'm not sure which part of that I find more worrying - that Pinkie Pie is rampaging through my home waving streamers and confetti about with reckless abandon, or the fact that she managed to leave without a near-omniscient being such as myself knowing about it. I would edge towards the streamers and confetti, however. It's hard enough to clear up even when your house isn't a spatial anomaly.
"Well, I think that's enough of a break for now. The antics of a certain fuchsia coloured equine notwithstanding, I shall now continue with my narration of events. If you will allow me, there are a few things which must be told before the story can progress further." For the nth time, where n is some stupid number that's probably a science fiction reference, I pause and clear my throat. "Fluttershy watched in horror as..."
***
Fluttershy watched in horror as the screen before her faded away into white. That wasn't quite right, however - it wasn't that the image was fading away, but that the light intensified until it obscured the view of Twilight and the library. This light rapidly diminished, however, as the screen soon came to show a solid black screen - as it had done before she had connected to Twilight. There was no sign of the unicorn, or any indication of what had happened to her.
[reticentButterfly began talking with crespucularMagicant]
RB: Twilight?
RB: Are you there?
The lack of response was alarming, to say the least. Desperately trying not to panic, Fluttershy tried to remember the few seconds before the screen had gone white. Had she gotten through? Or...
Trying to force the thought from her mind, Fluttershy once again tried to be calm and rational. Twilight could have gotten through, but maybe she was still travelling to the game world. That was possible. But what if it wasn't?
[reticentButterfly began talking with obstinateCultivator]
RB: Applejack? Can... we talk?
OC: Sure. What's this about?
RB: Well, Twilight's meteor hit Ponyville just now.
OC: Oh, so that's what that was? Ah thought Ah heard something.
RB: Yeah.
OC: Come to think of it, Ah should be able to see it from here.
OC: :O
OC: Heavens to Betsy! That thing must have been huge!
RB: I know...
OC: Is Twilight OK?
RB: I don't know... the screen's just gone blank.
RB: And I'm just not sure what to do...
OC: Oh. Ah see.
OC: Well, Ah'm sure she'll be fine.
RB: But... uh...
RB: What if she isn't?
RB: It'll all be my fault.
OC: Fluttershy, don't go jumping to conclusions.
OC: Twilight'll be just fine.
RB: But, if I hadn't wasted time...
RB: Maybe I should just stop playing this game.
OC: What? But you've got to play now!
RB: Why?
OC: Well...
OC: There's a meteor heading for your house too, ya know.
RB: But I can move all of my animals with me, so...
OC: OK, look, Ah suppose Ah can't stop ya if ya really want to leave.
OC: But Ah'm asking ya to stay.
OC: At least until we know what happened to Twilight, OK?
RB: ...
RB: Alright then.
[reticentButterfly stopped talking with obstinateCultivator]
And so Fluttershy sat down, staring at the blank screen, waiting for any sign of activity. Outside, a few pegasi had been left behind to watch over the remnants of the fire, but most had headed off in the direction of the large crater that had been formed where the library had once stood. The worst thing about sitting and waiting was that it gave her mind time to think; time to completely and utterly convince herself that Twilight was gone and that it was her fault. The fire had been contained easily enough, she reasoned. There wasn't really any need to round up all the animals, so she could have just stayed inside and helped Twilight. But she hadn't, and now Twilight might be...
Unable to finish the thought, Fluttershy stood up and went to get Angel another carrot. He was the only one of her animals who wasn't currently stored safely inside a small white card, so whether he liked it or not he was now the centre of her attention. Returning to the screen, she sat down and offered him the carrot.
***
[prismaticAscencion began talking with obstinateCultivator]
PA: Hey AJ.
OC: Dash, what's going on with the library?
PA: Well, it's...
PA: It's not here.
OC: What?
PA: Crater, check.
PA: Fire, check.
PA: But no library to be seen.
PA: I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not.
OC: Ah just hope Twi's OK.
PA: Yeah. How's Fluttershy doing?
OC: She thinks that Twi's dead, and that it's her fault.
PA: :/
OC: So Ah told her that we don't know for sure what's happened to Twilight.
OC: And to just sit tight until then.
PA: So does that mean she's still going to be playing?
OC: Maybe.
PA: Well, here's the thing. I've got to help the weather team with these fires.
PA: It's only going to get worse as more meteors hit, and we need to keep things under control so that everypony can get to safety.
PA: Since for some reason nopony thought to give them a heads up about the imminent destruction of Ponyville.
OC: Makes sense.
OC: But what's your point?
PA: My point is that I'm not going to be able to be Fluttershy's server player.
PA: So, if you don't mind, I think we should switch around in the order.
OC: Hm. Ah guess we don't have any other choice, so OK.
PA: Great!
PA: Anyway, talk to you later.
[prismaticAscencion stopped talking with obstinateCultivator]
As the communication spell disappeared to wherever it was that it went when she wasn't using it, Applejack looked out across Ponyville. From her vantage point by the farm, she could see the fires that marked the place where until recently there had been a library, and a team of pegasi approaching it. And the same thing would soon happen to her farm, she reminded herself. Glancing upwards, she could already faintly see the meteor approaching her - at this distance it was little more than a dot of light, but she knew that it was growing over time.
"What's going on down there?" It was hard to be surprised by Big Mac, but even so his sudden question caused her a moment's shock. Walking up to her, he gestured out towards the fire. "Ain't that the library?"
"It was." Briefly mulling over just how much she should tell him, Applejack decided that he had a right to know as much as she did. "Listen Mac, Ah'm not going to lie to ya. Some time soon, a meteor is going to smash into our farm and we can't stop it. Ah have to stay here as part of some mission from Celestia, so don't try to stop me, but Ah want ya to take Apple Bloom and Granny to safety. Can ya do that for me?" Considering the nature of this news, Big Mac handled it with admirable calm.
"Eeyup." And that was that. Maybe he trusted Applejack enough that if she was determined to stay, then he believed that she could handle herself. Maybe he was too tired to bother arguing. Maybe this was actually his plan, which he had somehow imprinted in her subconscious through a highly convoluted sequence of psychological triggers, though she doubted that. Regardless, Big Mac had agreed, and now began walking back the way he had come. "Ah'll get em to someplace safe, don't worry about that." Well, that was one less thing to take care of. "Ya just worry about yourself."
***
In a distant corner of paradox space, a Queen sat in her halls of darkness, awaiting the signal from her King that the balance had slipped and that Prospit was making its move. The first Hero was expected to arrive soon, and once she arrived the war could begin in earnest. Absently inspecting the ring she was wearing, she pondered what new form the Hero would bring with them. She knew that it would be an owl (which was apparently some kind of wingbeast, according to her advisers), as had been foretold, but was curious about what this would mean for her.
Her thoughts were interrupted, as someone who had managed to approach unnoticed cleared his throat. Looking up, the queen of darkness was mildly surprised to find a grey pony standing before her. What in the name of all things convoluted and nonsensical was a pony doing in her throne room? And, she added as the pony began speaking, why can it talk?
"I come in peace, your majesty. I would simply like to make a deal. You have something I want - specifically, control of the army of Darkness. And I..." He retrieved a small ring from his sylladex, and levitated it in the air for her to see. On top of everything else, the revelation that the pony was a magic pony went relatively unnoticed. What didn't go unnoticed was the ring which, like hers, was a simple gold band surrounded by small white spheres. The pony smiled as the queen eyed the ring hungrily. "I believe I have something that you want."