//------------------------------// // Act I, scene iii - Stormwinds // Story: A World Rent Asunder // by NeverEatTheLemonsAlone //------------------------------// It's been a few, uh, twenty-four hour increments (I can't bring myself to say 'days' anymore) since Marks and I escaped from the forest, and I've finally stopped thinking about what I saw there. From what I can see, stretching out before us are miles and miles of rolling hills, and most importantly, no forests. Shuddering briefly, I glance at the unicorn that's standing next to me and she nods. Good, we're ready to go. Some time later, walking through grassy hills with no landmarks or variations begins to become tiresome. Interesting, then, when I hear something from the east. I hold up a hoof, forestalling Marks, who looks at me with curiosity in her eyes. That sound...I know it. It's the sound of... My mind reaches for a moment before I realize exactly what it is. That's the sound of rain coming. Very, very fast. Just seconds later, we're drenched as a curtain of utterly freezing water cascades over us, leaving us shivering. More than anything, though, I'm confused. I would've seen any dramatic meteorological changes like this before they hit, at least! The only thing that could've brought a rainstorm on with that speed is... Oh, no. Oh, please, no. From above me, over the crash of the rain and the roar of the thunder, I can faintly hear something that I very much didn't want to. Battle cries. I was hoping we could go through these lands without this happening. Far above me, shapes flit in and out of the raging storm, shaping it, crafting it, making it. "The Stormwind Legion," I breathe. Marks, having not seen what I have, is confused for a moment, until she looks up and connects the dots. Good, she looks suitably horrified. [1] The Stormwind Legion is one of the few true rogue factions in this war. They're guerrillas, fighting for themselves and not for any faction. They generally raid small border towns, using their easy mobility to hit hard, hit fast, and then simply vanish. Sometimes they even burst into battle between the Solar and Lunar armies, striking from all sides. It's infuriating. No matter how skilled we are at spellcasting, we just can't strike them. Too fast, too elusive. And now they're upon us. All around us, pegasi descend from the heavyclouds, surrounding us in a ring bristling with spears. One steps forward, and I recognize her. Commander Dash, Valkyrie of the Stormwind. Suddenly, a horrifying thought strikes me and I glance sideways at Marks. Dash and I have clashed many times in the past. As a trained battlemage and representative of the Princess, it was my duty. She knows who I am. She's going to ask why I'm here. And then Marks will know. And infighting is something I can't afford when we're being attacked by the Stormwinds. See, the pegasi are the greatest military force in the area of Greater Equus. Nobody knows where they make their homes, but when they arrive, something is going to go wrong. Two unicorns against the entire legion? Not likely. Unfortunately, I don't have much time to think before Dash steps forwards, rainbow mane blowing in the hurricane winds that circle around us. She squints at me. "You, with the black cloak. Take it off." Her voice is rough on my ears as I slowly take off the cloak and magically slide it into the saddlebags to prevent it from blowing away. Dash's singular eye widens briefly and flicks back and forth between us, then she laughs mightily. "Oh, what a riot! I don't think either of you actually know who you're traveling with!" Marks and I lock eyes, and she looks at me in confusion. She doesn't know what Twilight Sparkle looks like? Actually, she might not have ever heard of me. She's been calling me Sparkle for a while after I told her that was my name and now she can see me fully. I know she's not stupid. She must simply not know who I am. Oh Celestia, how lucky I am right now. The blue pegasus steps forwards, an unpleasant glint in her eye, and addresses me with an exceedingly irritating voice."So, what are you doing here, Sparkle? I thought you were—" Desperation-fueled magic surges forth, clamping around her jaw and shutting it tight. Heedless of the numerous spears that grow tighter by the second, I walk up to her and hiss quietly, seething with rage. "Don't. You. Dare." [2] Her rose-coloured eye narrows at me, her nostrils puff out a frustrated breath, and she nods. Exhaling, I release the magic and step back, leaving her rubbing her jaw and glaring at me. "Take them to Skahaben," she yells to her soldiers. "They're going to stay with us awhile." She smirks at me and watches the soldiers step forward and produce lengths of tough rope, binding our hooves and lifting us from the ground. There's a horrible feeling of vertigo as the ground drops away from me, and then I'm punching through stormclouds as my escorts soar off. Ahead of us, a rainbow contrail blasts through the sky. --- By the time we land, I'm absolutely petrified. The sky chariots are terrifying enough, but just being carried by two pegasi by my hooves? Now that's bad. I'm dropped onto a cloud and, to my surprise, I stay afloat. My face is planted down in the cloud and it's texture is surprisingly firm. Interesting, I think half-deliriously. They must be enchanted. By the time I collect myself and manage to sit up with relative coherency, Marks has landed next to me, and is going through about the same thing that I did. I wince in sympathy, but have little time to consider what she's going through, because from a large cloud building in front of me, Commander Dash emerges. Wow, I think, she never got that eye fixed. Dash, as prideful as all pegasi[3], has never gotten a magical healer for the eye that I somehow managed to strike with a wild bolt of loose magic many years ago. There was nothing there but a huge scar now, a livid red blotch that looks somehow angry. She smirks down at me with that same self-assured smile that irritates me whenever I see her, and bends down, whispering in my ear, "maybe this time, I'll take your eye." That damn pride. This is why I can't stand pegasi. --- [1]: There's a certain level of horrified that you need to look in this kind of situation. Otherwise it's not dramatic enough. [2]: This was a terrible, terrible, terrible idea. [3]: That's a lie. She's more prideful than any other I've met. --- Cut to maybe half an hour later and I'm in the dungeon of Skahaben. It's interesting; nobody's ever found the pegasus stronghold, and it turns out that all they needed to do was to be imprisoned. At least my limbs aren't bound anymore. For the second time in not nearly long enough, I'm cut off from my magic. The inhibitor ring affixed to my horn makes sure of that. Not that my magic would be useful anyway. Even if I tried to escape, I don't think I could fight an entire army of Stormwind Legionaries alone, even with my magic. This dungeon is weird, I reflect. I'm used to seeing the castle dungeons; flickering torches, wet corners, hard stone. Here, though, it's less of a prison cell and more of a mental asylum, with how padded the walls are. Maybe they're trying to tell me something. After some time of prodding at all of the walls, I've determined that it's pretty solid. Given how pegasi can manipulate clouds, they don't even need a door; they can just pull out a section of the wall and pull me out through that. Well, at least it's light. Almost blindingly so, in fact. An illumination crystal that I'm pretty sure was stolen from my laboratory at one point lights up the cell, and the pure white clouds reflect it off of each other uncountable times. I can barely see for how bright it is. Eventually, I resign myself to sitting in the corner and closing my eyes to avoid some kind of eye damage. Of course, almost as soon as I get comfortable, there's a poof as a section of the wall vanishes and two pegasi soldiers drag me bodily out of the cell. After several uncomfortable minutes of being dragged along the cloudy ground, I'm dumped on my side in the middle of a large, round building. Other than me and the soldiers, it's completely empty. One of the two pegasi next to me calls out, aggravation in his voice: "Commander! We've brought the Solar unicorn!" A conspicuous cloud that floats in the center of the room dissolves, and with a startled yelp, Dash falls to the floor. [1] Graceful. Springing up and brushing herself off, she clears her throat and motions with her hoof for the two soldiers to leave. They do as bid, one of them chuckling under his breath. My focus is shifted from them rather quickly, though, as Dash stands over me. For all of her annoyance and idiocy, she cuts an imposing figure. "Stand," she commands. I have no real choice but to obey her, mostly because of that impressively sharp spear slung across her back. Once I'm on my hooves, she paces in a circle around me, speaking all the while. "You were the last pony I ever expected to see there, Sparkle," she chuckles. "Crossed through the Cullwood, too. We saw some bright lights in the forest when we were crossing over, more than usual, and decided to wait to see who came out. Imagine my surprise when, on Lunar lands, I saw Celestia's prized pupil!" She grinned, and I could see what was going through that head of hers before she even said anything, quickly forestalling her. "Celestia wouldn't pay a ransom for me. She sent me into Lunar territory knowing full well what would happen if I were caught. I'm on my own." She's mildly taken aback by that. I guess she's never met Celestia in person, because the Princess definitely isn't the type to pay ransom. It doesn't faze her too much, though, and just moments later, she's back to her old self. "What are you doing over here, anyway? And don't even try to lie; trust me, I'll know." I don't think too much of her last statement, and the lie flows as easily as it did when I told it to Marks. "I was assigned to do some research on the magical fallout in the Chasmlands. Celestia wants to know if we can use it for power of some sort." Dash chuckles without humour, and my heart sinks. She really does know. "Oh, Sparkle, Sparkle, Sparkle. Didn't you believe me when I told you you couldn't lie to me?" Her eye narrows and her voice reaches a much lower register. Wow, she actually sounds genuinely threatening. "Now, Sparkle, tell me the truth, unless you want me to beat it out of you." [2] I sigh. Well, better to tell her what I'm doing than to die and never be able to do it in the first place. With resignation in my voice, I begin to speak, telling her all about the Chalice of Tannenwyl and where it's supposed to be. As I reach the end of my explanation, she begins to laugh. "Oh, Sparkle, if you could see the look on your face. Tell you what: I'll let you go! In fact, I'll escort you all the way to the Chasmlands! In exchange..." Her teeth bare in a predatory smile, "You can give the Chalice to me instead of Celestia." My reaction is as instant as it is firm. "No dice, Dash. I'm not working for you." She sighs, disappointment written across her face. "Well, Sparks, I gave you the chance to be reasonable. Guess that's beyond you. Sorry, but you get to stay in your nice, comfy cell until you do what I tell you." As the same to soldiers enter to take me back to the cell, she calls one of them over and begins whispering in his ear, glancing at me. He nods, smiling, and salutes, returning to me. Back into the cell. --- [1]: This is about what I expect of Dash. She's an excellent fighter, but a tremendous idiot. [2]: One thing I have to give her credit for: she's definitely not afraid to get her hooves dirty. --- Later, I realize what Dash had told those soldiers. My throat dry and raspy, I lean next to the cloud wall where I know my guard is and ask when I would be getting water. He replies in no uncertain terms that the Commander had specifically mentioned that I was not to be given either food or water, his voice muffled through the clouds. My eyes widen. That's barbaric. Still, I have to admire the crude efficacy of it. If there's one way to get ponies to do what you want, it's to take away their water. As time wears on and days pass, my dehydration becomes more and more severe, to the point where I begin hallucinating. My first clue of this is when the walls around me begin to swirl, forming a face. It terrifies me in the most irrational sense, and I cower on the other side of the cell, eyes shut tight, refusing to look at it. The next time I saw that wall, it was gone. And it only gets worse from there. It's amazing how dependent we are on water. Finally, I can't stand it any more, and limping weakly over to the wall, I ask in a soft, croaking voice, "Take me to see Dash." By the time I'm there, I'm nearly unconscious. The colors in Dash's mane and tail are rotating wildly, and I barely have enough attention span to hear her ask, "So, have you reconsidered my offer?" I nod weakly, and her triumphant smile is all I need to tell me how badly I messed up being taken to this damned cloudscape. I should have been more careful in observing the world around me, more aware of when a large group of armed pegasi was converging on my position. She hops down from her cloud and walks up to me, staring into my eyes. "So?" she inquires, "what's the verdict?" There's so little water in my body that I can hardly answer, but I muster up enough to tell her that the Chalice is hers. I can't, though. She can probably see my loyalty warring with bodily needs in my eyes, and eventually, loyalty wins. "No deal," I mumble. "You'll never touch the Chalice." She clicks her tongue as though a child had been naughty. "And here I thought that we were going to be reasonable adults. Ah well, it can't be helped. If I can't get you to do it on your own, I'll just have to drag it out of you." She swirled her maroon cape as she turned, throwing the offhand command of "take her to the chambers" to her soldiers. Still half-dead from thirst, I'm dragged roughly to the bowels of the cloud city and deposited on a surprisingly hard surface. [1] A single brown pegasus, mane and tail red, is waiting for me there. Surrounding him is a group of lethal-looking torture devices. Even though we're technically still enemies, it hurts to see Marks strung up on a rack, stretched out and apparently unconscious. One of the pegasi that dragged me along kicks me roughly and tells the torturer that he's to "give her some water to keep her alive, and then do whatever you need to, as long as it gets her to do what Commander Dash says." Then the two grunts leave. Great. Just what I needed. That said, the skin of water that's poured down my throat is the best thing I've ever tasted, and what happens next is among the most unexpected things that have ever happened to me. The torturer tears off his face. Wait, no. That's a mask. Hang on. "Celestia above," I murmur. I know this pegasus! Flash Frost is his name, I think. He's one of Celestia's elite corps of scouts. But what is he doing here? "Celly thought you might need a little bit of help if this kind of thing happened. She had a feeling that the Stormwind Legion would be heading this way, so she captured one of them and had me replace him in case you needed me." [2] How did she even know? Never mind. The Princess works in mysterious ways. "So, Flash. I know it looks strange, but can you take that unicorn off of the rack? I know she's Lunar, but she's saved my life and we're traveling together." He eyes me strangely, but it appears that he trusts me, because she comes off of the rack. He continues speaking in a whisper as he uncovers a trapdoor-like hatch. "In about twenty minutes, we're going to be passing low over a lake to refill our water reserves. That's your chance to jump out. Go under and swim to shore as fast as possible without coming up for breath unless you need it." He prods at Marks until she wakes up, and I tell her what's going on. She's understandably confused, but appears to be fine with the plan. "Now if you'll excuse me," he chuckles, "I need to put my face back on." The masks goes back on, and he's back to the torturer. I shudder slightly. That's really, really weird. A few minutes later, he judges that the time is right and heaves open the hatch, revealing open air for about thirty, maybe forty feet until we hit the water. "Remeber," he instructs us, "go in hind legs first, as straight up and down as you can. It'll hurt, so be ready for it." I nod uneasily, looking down. Well, this is it. Marks and I look at each other and not, and then we're plummeting. Eat that, Dash. [1]: I was told later that they managed to pack the clouds with sufficient density that they could support a stone floor. I don't get it. [2]: To my knowledge, Flash Freeze is the only pony that has gotten away with calling the Princess 'Celly.'