//------------------------------//
// I.  
// Story: The Worlds End 
// by Alcatraz 
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The Breach.


I've studied lore, myths, and many legends before, but all of them pale in comparison to what we know as ‘The Breach’.

Nopony knows exactly what it is, or has any knowledge as of how it came to be-all we know is that it's a giant chasm Celestia-knows how long that is debated to either lead into, or come from, ‘The Void’. The Void is a hole; a supposedly bottomless hole from which seemingly limitless energy, or what unicorns call "Ley" comes from, with a similarly limitless supply; never ceasing.

One legend says that the crack, ‘The Breach’, was formed when the creator of the world, the 'God' if you will, had been slain. Another stipulates that a demon aviation rose from the core of the planet from the chasm, hence the name ‘Breach’.

There's even one that pony-kind consider to be the most conceivable explanation; conveying an image in many imaginations that it came to be through a fierce battle between ancient alicorns and a tyrannical god."

There's only one thing we know for certain about The Breach and The Void, being that they both leak a strain of magical energy. Unicorns, pegasi and earth pony alike draw in this energy to use at a whim, most notably in unicorns for their outright display of it. Pegasi use the ambient Ley in the atmosphere to fly since, anatomically speaking, wings of their size would not be able to support flight otherwise. They also use it to manipulate and control the weather.

But Earth pony magic is more... discreet They can't use it in a manner that unicorns and pegasi do, but for reasons that are still being studied, It is ascertained that it allows them to be such excellent farmers."

Closing the book I placed it on the growing pile on my desk. Feeling the light and ambient heat given off by the desk lamp, I heave a sigh. Nothing! Well, nothing worth while, I thought in my head. Huh, that's curious. That passage doesn't have a name attached to it, even though it's written in first person. In all the other books I borrowed from Golden Oaks this is the only one that gave me any relevant information about what I'm after.

I look to the small clock sitting on the desk and can't help but be both unsurprised and startled at the time. "2am!? I gotta stop doing this to myself..."

The house that I was allowed to live in was signed over to me by Celestia so long as I proved a productive member of society. She offered to let me stay in the castle with Luna, but I politely turned her down and opted for a place in Ponyville. Luna was a bit disheartened that I didn't choose the castle so I could be around her, but after a while I started getting homesick and time to myself is something I decided I needed.

The house itself is, for the most part, identical to one on Earth. The only difference being that everything is more spaced out to allow for the larger equine beings to move around in. Ponies don't exactly cram into rooms the same way that people do, but I digress. The shower and restroom is what intrigued me the most. What would be the faucets or knob for the shower are recessed into the walls so the ponies can put their hoof into them and turn, effectively turning on the water. The toilet is a squatting toilet, and I found them to be much like the ones I encountered while in Japan however many years ago that was.

Walking up the stairs from the ground floor study and into my room, complete with over-sized bed fit for one pony or about three people, and lazily hauling my plot into bed, closing my eyes and instantaneously falling asleep.

The next morning saw yet another trip to the library to return the books I borrowed and seek out new ones.

Knock knock Knock. Silence.
Knock knock knock. Silence.
Knock kno- "SPIKE, door!" screeched a voice from within.

Yeesh, cut the little guy some slack would you, you ride him harder than a pack muel. Not surprisingly the door opens to reveal Twilight's green-and-purple draconian assistant.

"Oh, hi, Midnight." he said after giving a friendly chuckle. "What were you after this time?"

Ever since coming to Equestria, I tried using my real name to introduce myself to the other ponies after I was deemed non-hostile by Celestia, but it didn't quite stick. Something about trying to pronounce a name from another world didn't sit right with everyone, nor did it roll off the tounge quite right. I discussed this with Luna, and she suggested I give myself a name. In honour of Luna I gave myself a name after one of my most favourite times of night. That was easier for them all to pronounce, but it didn't stop Luna from calling me by my Earth name from time to time when she visited. Not that I minded, it was nice to be reminded of who I was and where I originally came from.

"Hey, Spike, just came to return these. I've fished out all I can from them but no other books from here has given me any useful information to what I'm after."

"And that would be..." Spike ventured with a curious tone.

"The Breach." I replied flatly. All that could heard at that point was a loud crash and scraping of hooves on the wooden floor. Twilight appeared at the door with heavy breaths.

"How could you possibly know about The Breach!?" She commanded.

I held up the book with the nameless passage, opened it, and pointed to the same page and passage and shoved it in her face. "There, that's how I know. Honestly, you have a book with information about the literal end of the world with Celestia-knows what coming out of it and you're surprised I know about it? Just think how many others have checked out this book and how many more know about it!"

Her mouth opened, but no words came out. I experienced the feeling one gets when they win an argument with somepony and put them in their place.

It was short-lived, however, as Twilight huffed and cleared her throat, finally retaliating with a response. "Why do you want information on The Breach anyway?"

"Back on Earth, we have no magic. Anything that someone claimed to be the former was either trickery, science, or something that was yet to gain an explanation. I have a genuine interest in your worlds use of magic."

"Uh-huh..."

"Anyway, Twilight, you can explain why this book has no name attached to the two paragraphs. They're written in first person, so I can confidently say there is somepony that knows quite a bit about it, and what it is specifically."

"Ok, fine, you got me there." The defeated look on her face only lasted a second, but for somepony that radiates pride in their knowledge, I relished the brief moment. "I don't know who wrote it, somepony from generations ago maybe but as for the name, I'm as puzzled as you are. Since this is the only book with any relevant information, I would guess it's restricted knowledge. In fact, I don't even know why this particular book is even available to the public, it should be in the basement."

She levitated the book with her purple aura, flicked through the pages cover-to-cover. "Nothing out of the ordinary, but..." Turning the book over to its back, down in the bottom-right hand corner, a simple golden ‘S’ was literally engraved in the fibers. "Huh, I wonder what that's about?"

"Maybe Star Swirl? Since, you know...the ‘S’. It was basically his job to make notes on this kind of thing. Besides, if anypony got their hands on the location of The Breach, everypony who wants more magic from the leaking Ley coming out of the crack is going to be all over it."

From my research, I've managed to understand, or barely, that their magic is a measurable force, almost like radiation, or gravity, and ponies have become a living conduit and have learned how to manipulate it. The proper term for it in research terms is 'Ley', but everyone is just so used to calling it magic. It leaks from a crack on the opposite side of the globe, almost as if there's a rift in time or something that's allowing this. 

"The only other place that would have that kind of information is in the Royal Archi-" Twilight cut off her sentence; obviously she knows more about this than she's letting on and wasn't supposed to say anything. "Oh dear..."

When the book is finally lowered from in front of her face, she can see the biggest grin on my face stretching from ear-to-ear. The look on her face further widened my grin just from seeing her expression at the realization of the words she spoke, and the horror of the inevitable consequences that would ensue from uttering those, shall we say, forbidden words.

"I bid thee farewell Twilight. There's plenty of things to do and books to read!"  Turning to leave with my grin in tow accompanied by a chuckle, I begin walking back to my house to gather a few things. All I could hear after the library door slamming closed was a muffled "GGAAAHHH!" followed by "Nice going Twi." At that point I started laughing, looking back over my shoulder at the library. When I turned my head forward, my cheery mood was met with a familiar pink mare’s unexpected presence some meters to my left.

"Watcha laughing at?"

"Oh shi-," I felt numb as I struggled to gasp, stumbling back at her sudden intrusion of personal space. "HOW DID YOU EVEN?!"

"How did I what?"

Picking myself up off the dirt, dusting off and straightening myself out and readjusting my hat, I step to her side and continue walking back to the house."Doesn't matter, I've got places to be." Never apply logic to Pinkie, never apply logic to Pinkie, I kept telling myself. Applying logic to her will surely lead to confusion on every level, kind of like when Luna and I watched Doctor Who back on Earth. She loved the show and could follow it well enough, but if you thought about certain things hard enough then your brain would begin to sizzle.

I decided to stop by Sugarcube Corner on my way home to pick up one of the renowned pastries that the bakery/confectionery sells. Not surprisingly, Pinkie had somehow got to the store before me with her freaky teleporting ability. Even though she's an earth pony, it both fascinates and leaves my mind reeling about how she can move so quickly. A lot of the ponies I met there recommended their personal favourites. Derpy said Blueberry, Raindrops said Lemon Surprise, but Pinkie said she was willing to let me try one of her special muffins. Mind you, when I was on Earth I read the 'Cupcakes' fanfiction story. When she offered this particular cupcake to me, you could imagine I was rather apprehensive about it. I politely declined and opted for my usual Ginger Chocolate Sponge with Minted Icing. The flavour balance was perfect; delicate notes of ginger and cocoa, and a thick, simple icing with mint that wafted into your nose when you ate it.

I made my purchase and turned to leave out the door after greeting some of the ponies out at that time of morning. Being of English heritage, it was the norm to say to people whom were walking down the street in the opposite direction to you, "Top of the morning!", which is basically saying "I hope you have a good morning." Traditionally the other person would respond with "And the rest of the day to you!" which is a follow on meaning "And I hope the rest of the day goes well for you." It took a while and some misunderstandings for the ponies to cotton onto my peculiar behaviour, and I was eager enough to share some of the customs from earth.

Lyra always listened with such intent, much to my amusement. Bon Bon wasn't too far away from her either, and she just either rolled her eyes or facehoofed every time Lyra wanted to ask me something.

Back at home sitting in the study with paper and pen, or rather quill, I plotted out what I would need for the journey ahead. From maps I've looked at, Equestria itself is coastal for the most part which stretches across the eastern part of the country itself, and it has territory stretching up to the north east. There is a huge, lawless mountain range between Equestria and another country, Ib'xian, which is the empire of the Ibex. 

What I found most humorous from looking at the map is the location that Appleloosa is in. On the map, it's like a tendril of coloured land territory snaked its way out into the Mild West, which is buffalo land, for the sakes of saying that thin stretch of land that the train tracks are on is sovereign land.

Almost nothing else is known about the lands out to the north and out west, which is where The Breach is, but geographically speaking The Breach lies directly north-west of Equestria. The only known countries in that direction are Heliopolis, a desert country with a single river flowing down the middle of it. Not surprisingly, a lot of the settlements can be found along this river because it's essentially the only source of water.

South of there lies two countries. Vaporia. A small settlement of dragons populate one area, while large populations of griffin and pegasi inhabit some of the more well-known regions of the hovering city. And then there's Hosstralia, a nation founded by outlaws and exiles.

Folding the map up and putting it safely into it's waterproof sleeve, I glance down at my checklist of gear I plan on taking. Most of this stuff is what I brought with me from Earth to Equestria. A backpack with two changes of clothes which included socks and underwear too, copious amounts of rope, several different ways to light fire in the form of lighters, ferrocerium rods, and storm proof matches. Seriously, those bastards won't go out even when you dunk them underwater. Food sprung to mind, and I thought of a large billy can I bought with me that has non-perishable food in it. Knives too. Can't have too many knives. Luckily I bought enough with me.

My planning goes well into the day, only to be interrupted by a knock at the door mid-afternoon. It's time for a break anyway, so I gladly get up out of my custom-made chair and answer the door. To my delight, Luna decided to drop by.

"Greetings, Father, may We come in?"

She had regained much of her formal/archaic way of speaking, much to my bemusement.

"Of course, you are always welcome here!" I let her in and close the door, turning to walk in the kitchen. Opening the fridge and getting out two bottle of Apple Family’s nation-renowned apple cider, popping the lids off them both and setting them down on opposite ends of the circular table in the middle of the kitchen. Luna sat and used her magic to raise the bottle and take a generous swig. I followed suit.

"So, Luna. What brings you here?"

She looked at me for a few seconds, as if she's studying me with her deep azure eyes.

"Twilight Sparkle informed Celestia that you were wanting to venture to The Breach." Her tone wasn't accusatory, challenging, and it didn't appear as though she was accosting me just yet.

"I... yeah." There wasn't any escaping this.

"May We ask why?"

"You see, Luna, I've been thinking. I came here to be with you, that means leaving everything behind that I had on Earth; friends, family, and so on like that. As impossible as it may seem to do, I've been looking for a way to get back to Earth so I can get some closure and see what has happened to everyone in the mean time. I also wanted to visit my parents graves."

Luna's eyes widened before they turned toward the table as she spoke, "I... Understand your predicament. When I became Nightmare Moon, those thousand years spent on the moon had the same effect on me. I got so alienated and forgotten by the people I cared about for so long, I couldn't help but wander what they were going through, and what was going on in their lives."

When Luna got back to Equestria with me, Celestia did her best to restore Luna's memories that were locked away. It was a tricky progress, only some were restored. One could appropriately describe the situation as having missing pieces from a ten-thousand piece puzzle

Her mentioning of her time as Nightmare Moon made me curious. "How do you remember something like that anyway? I thought the Miasma amplified your jealousy and hate for Celestia?"

"Indeed... it did, but allow me to paint you a greater vision. "I began to listen more intent than I normally did, even for her.” When I transformed, the parts that furnished and retained the transformation were kept, while the rest of my psyche was locked away. Strictly speaking, I was aware of what was going on. I was able to see, hear and speak, but I could not control the rest of my actions. It was like being a prisoner in my own body. I was the puppet and the Miasma was the puppeteer."

The revelation was not an easy one to grasp, but it made enough sense to me.

I take another generous sip of the cider and continued. "Anyway, what did you say it was you were doing here?"

Her mind snapped back to attention. "Ah, yes. I can't stop you, but I can't condone your choice. Indeed The Breach has many properties, only a couple of which are known and haven't been fully explored at all."

"Pray-tell, what properties are known?"

Luna raises a hoof under her chin to ponder the question. "If I remember correctly, it is the source of a powerful magic, and it's where magic comes from... Ley, I think the term might be. They might be one in the same; something so powerful that it radiates energy without end. But that's about all I know. My memory... isn't so good."

"So what do you want me to do?"

"Like I said, I can't stop you nor condone your choice. My only wish is to join you on your journey to The Breach."

I had to admit, I was a little shocked at the offer. Very shocked, I could say, actually.

"Father, have you even thought about exactly how you were going to get there to begin with?"

That question knocked me out of my seat, metaphorically speaking of course. I had been so preoccupied planning the trip that I forgot about that formality. "I..."  I almost choked on my tongue. "You're right. If we plan to make this journey, and it goes without saying we have absolutely no idea what will be waiting for us, Where the World Ends."