//------------------------------// // Act I, final scene: The Chalice Of Tannenwyl // Story: A World Rent Asunder // by NeverEatTheLemonsAlone //------------------------------// I stumble weakly along on the hard, rocky ground. It scrapes my fur, occasionally reaching to my skin and leaving small, bloody cuts. Beside me is Mena, mumbling to herself as she plods heavily along, and Dash, who's panting and wheezing, strung out several feet behind me. I get the feeling that she's not used to walking long distances, especially not when being beaten down by this kind of immense magical pressure. For that matter, neither am I; sleep sounds really good right about now. Can't happen, though. Not while Dash is still conscious, and not while my magic is still locked up tight. The deadly fissures in the earth spiderweb around us, each tossing up the same glow. At this point, my ears are constantly filled with a crackling static from the magic around me. If I exposed my arcane circuit right now by untangling my leylines, I wouldn't even have time to feel the pain before the gruesome death that would follow. First, my horn would completely shatter. Then all of the magic in the air and earth around me would get pulled through the now-open conduit where my horn was, into the magical vacuum-space that is my body. It's like equalizing pressure. And an equine body can't handle all of that magic at one time. I would quite literally explode. As I continue on my shambling way, I hit a stone and pitch forwards, no longer strong enough to keep myself from falling over. My face wearily casts forwards as I lay on the ground, and it's then that I see it on the flat horizon, maybe half a mile away. The crack in front of me is no mere crack; it's the epicenter of the Chasmlands. Every split, every fissure, every hole; all of them run together, linking into this one place, this gaping, glowing ravine. It has none of the calm green effluence shared by the rest of this place's magic. Instead, the spectral flames that seep out are a roiling hell of monochrome chaos, black and white lashes blazing up into the sky Dash takes one look at it and her face goes flat. One word comes out of her strained mouth: "Nope." [1] She makes a quick about-face and begins to walk back slowly towards the direction we came from. As I make to follow her, I find a spear pressing up against my throat, the point quivering with strain. "Sorry, Sparkle, but you're staying here until I have that Chalice in my hooves. If you try to get out, I'll know. Trust me on that." With that, she turns once more, resuming her backwards slog. I swallow hard. If there's one thing that I know about Dash, it's that she doesn't make empty threats. Shakily rising to my hooves, I finally make the last piece of the arduous hike, collapsing exhausted onto my side only a foot or so from the great chasm. The ground around me flickers with eerie dappled light and the magic is the greatest it's been as of yet. I can feel me head beginning to ache where my horn attaches to it. Then I see it. Jammed between two crags of rock in the center of the chasm, a tiny golden star is gleaming, flickering just past my vision. I can barely see the light reflecting off of it, but I can see what it is all the same. A great golden cup, the storm of intense wild magic parting calmly around it like a river around a great boulder. The object of my search, the point of my ingress into the Sovereignty. The Chalice of Tannenwyl. The point stands, though. How in the Princess' name am I going to get it out of there? --- In a few hours of just sitting and resting somewhat (though the pressure around me is making it difficult to actually gain any energy), I have a tenuous plan formed in my head, and a lot of it revolves around several different unknowns. Pinkie's gone at this point. Once her hooves started to bleed, she decided that following me wasn't worth death and skipped out. Literally. Still, that makes it a little easier, I guess. No burden and all that. Swallowing with nerves, I slowly put my hoof forwards, into the fires of the chasm. A searing pain blasts through my body and I recoil, screaming hoarsely. The skin has been stripped from that part of my hoof, letting the blood flow freely, pouring into the ground. Well, that was a learning experience. I suppose it's better than it could've been. I didn't die, after all. Yet. Because as my blood seeps into the ground, it conducts the storming magic, which comes roaring up the trail and towards my exposed bloodstream. I close my eyes tightly. It's over. I'm done. [2[ Then I realize that I'm not dead. My eyes flit open, and in front of me is somepony I was sure I would never see again: a white unicorn, body covered in a homespun brown frock, eyes narrowed as a magical wall breaks the path of the rampaging magic. "Jeez...you really are hopeless without me, aren't you, Sparkle?" Marks. Exhausted, delirious and having just been saved from death, I throw myself around her in a hug, sobbing. "Why did you come back?" I wheeze out, "Thank you, but why did you come back for me?" She grins wryly. "Luna told me to." Those four words confuse me more than many of the things that happened on this trip. "Buh...how did she know where I was?" She points to the sky. "The Oculi." she chuckles. "They're a bit more subtle than your Princess' Effigies." I wince at the reminder, but still stare at her with vague curiosity. Acknowledging that, she continues: "Instead of stars, Luna calls them her Oculi. Each one is like an eye that she can see through, so she knows pretty much everything about her kingdom as long as what she's watching can see the stars. And vice versa. Some say they can even look through time." I nod slowly before speaking. "And...how are you still alive?" Seriously, this is an important question. Her horn is uncovered, leylines likely unbound. For Celestia's sake, she's actually using her magic. Why isn't she dead as a stone? She sticks out her hoof, and in the dim light of the chasm, I can see a thin membrane of dark blue magic sitting around her like an aura. "I got Luna's blessing. It took some doing, but I finally convinced her that you were worth saving. She wouldn't tell me what happened to change her mind, but she mentioned something about time itself slipping, then told me to come get you and the Chalice both." She saved my life, but still. I'm hesitant about putting the Chalice in Lunar hooves. Then again, since I've been over here, the Princess has been exploding many innocent civilians with her effigies. Luna seems to know something about what's going on. Also, there's the small matter that without Marks here, I'd be dead. And she could easily just leave. I nod slowly, and Marks grins. "That's all I needed to see." The glimmering point of gold slowly lifts itself from the rolling fire, wrapped in Marks' telekinesis, and gently plops to the ground before me. As I reach my hoof out to touch it, I can see Marks' horn glowing, and then the world is white with the flare of teleportation. --- The next thing I know, I'm in a throne room. Built of solid black stone resembling obsidian, it's beautiful, but the main centerpiece isn't the room, nor the silver throne within it, but the pony that sits on said throne, flanked by two ponies in full armour. Princess Luna. Up close, she looks a lot less cruel than she always did on the battlefield. As she rises and slowly trots to me, she begins to speak, and I'm struck by just how gentle her voice is. "Twilight Sparkle. That is your name, is it not?" My voice audibly shakes as I reply. "T-That's right, Princess." She titters briefly. "Please, just Luna is fine. I have no great need for honorifics in the same way that my sister does. Now, Ms. Sparkle, I understand that Celestia sent you over here to retrieve the Chalice of Tannenwyl, yes?" I nod dumbly and she continues. "What you may not know is that the Chalice that my faithful marksmage Rarity holds beside you isn't the real Chalice. No, I'm afraid that the real Chalice of Tannenwyl is lost to legend." I have no words, and as she continues, things only get more complicated. "Celestia knows this. We discussed it at great length once, a very long time ago. No, she sent you over to my Sovereignty for one simple reason: she wanted you to die. Or more accurately, she wanted you to be killed." My mouth drops open, and she holds up a silver-shod hoof, forestalling me from asking anything. "Please, let me continue. You see, Celestia believes you a threat to her power, and credibly so. You are indeed extraordinarily powerful, perhaps even enough to depose her with the support of her subjects. For this reason, she fears you. If she killed you herself, though, there would be quite the uproar, no? So instead, she sent you on a suicidal mission, and occasionally actively attempted to kill you with her solar flames." My mind flashes back to the Solar Effigies, and a great many puzzle pieces begin to fall into place as Luna continues. "My sister is...not herself. You were in the ruins of Canterlot, if I'm not mistaken, and I felt as though somepony was treading upon my grave. So you saw the echoes, then." She pauses for a moment as if to collect herself. "Celestia was...a great deal different back in those days." Her horn glows brightly and a picture comes to life before her, displaying itself to me as a scene of a much younger pair, her and the solar Princess, running happily through a field. "We ruled the land known as Equestria together, and there was a golden age of peace and prosperity spearheaded by such wondrous ponies as Starswirl the Bearded and Clover the Clever, the latter of whom was a dear friend of mine." The moving picture slowly grows darker and a snakelike figure superimposes itself atop it. "Then a survivor of a dead race from long, long ago, the Draconequui, returned for what it referred to as vengeance, and a great deal of war and chaos took place." Once more, the picture rearranges, finally concluding over the ashes of a crumbled castle. "Though we succeeded in stopping the creature, a set of crucially important artefacts was shattered in the process, and from there..." she bows her head, "...it was only a matter of time." The picture collapses and she turns and makes her way back to her black and silver throne. Marks, or Rarity, I suppose, cuts in: "When she saw you crossing the border, Luna knew she could turn this to her advantage and try to reason with you, so she sent me to you. You know the rest from there. Though I must admit, I didn't quite expect Celestia to attack you in the way that she did." Luna, at this point resting once more on her throne, nods. "Even I had no idea that she would go to such great lengths to try and kill her own student. I assure you, she was once a very different pony. Somepony as she is today could never have wielded the Elements." Now it's my turn to speak. "I have no idea what to say." Excellent start there, Sparkle. "If what you're telling me is true, Luna, then there are a great many things that you need to clear up. For example: why did you wait so long to bring me here?" Now that I've gotten the ball rolling, I'm actually getting pretty angry. "If you'd just brought me here right away, not only could you have saved me the trauma of going through the Cullwood, but you could've saved quite a few lives from the Effigies. How does it feel, having all of those ashes on your hooves?" [3] Luna's eyes narrow and her horn sparks. Her voice, when she speaks, is deliberate and soft, but rumbles threateningly, like a far-off storm drawing steadily closer. "Yes, I would agree that it would've been better if my subjects were alive. However, I needed to see if you could reach the Chasmlands. It may please you to know that I tried my best to save some of the citizens of Moonscry, though. Though several died, most of them will live, albeit with scarring. The same cannot be said of the burned-alive guard patrol on the road near the Canterlot pass." Ouch. I can recognize an angry, cutting response when I hear one, and that one cuts deep. My eyes drop. "I'm...sorry about that. I was in a mildly precarious mental state at the time. My magic had surged recently and my reserves were running low, and Marks had just abandoned me after seeing me speaking with an Effigy." At this, Luna lets out a choking sound and starts upright. "She saw you what? She never reported such a thing to me. You actually spoke with one of those images? I thought they were beings of mere fire! You say they are intelligent?" I put my hoof to my chin. "Well, intelligent is a bit stretching it, but they can understand common Equus and can recognize a threat. It bolted because it knew I could destroy it, no matter if I died later, and it does have a basic self-preservation instinct. But enough about the magical theory of the Effigies," I continue before Luna can interrupt, "Why did you want me brought here?" "Simple." she replies, with a trace of smugness. "I want you to fight for me." As my mouth opens to form a protest, she raises a hoof to stop me. "Please, do not misunderstand me. If you do not agree to these conditions, I will be...not happy, precisely, but agreeable to letting you return to the Solar Dominion. Failing that, you could become one of my subjects. I will explain myself further later. But first," she chuckles, "you must be utterly exhausted. A chamber has been prepared for you. Sleep for a time, and then we will discuss more." As I fall asleep in a criminally comfortable bed, only one thought is running through my head: This has been a very, very strange day. --- [1]: My thoughts exactly. [2]: I've noticed that, when death looks inevitable, I have an irritating habit of doing that. [3]: I really need to curb my tendency to lash out at all-powerful god-rulers. --- After I awake from my exceedingly long sleep, I take a moment to collect myself and think before going to find something to eat. As always, everything itemizes easily in my mind, forming a simple list: 1: The magically-stripped hoof is now intact. 2: I am in the Lunar sanctum, in the far western mountains. 3: I have been offered a position in the Lunar army (presumably), by Luna herself. 4: I have no idea whether or not I wish to take her up on that offer. 5: Celestia wishes to kill me to keep her hold on the Dominion secure. And finally, 6: I still have no idea who Marks really is, and what she's really after. With that out of the way, I begin my quest for the first decent breakfast I've had for a long time, and as I meander into the kitchens, I find it in spectacular manner. There's an enormous spread laid out before me. Fruits I don't recognize, scents I don't know, and of course the ever present deliciousness of oats. I eagerly set about sampling everything, finally becoming full nearly an hour later. Nearly as soon as this occurs, of course, Luna enters and laughs faintly. "I see you've found the breakfast that I've laid out for you, Ms. Sparkle. I trust you enjoyed your meal? Good. Now, let us discuss what I mentioned last time we spoke." I swallow. "At this point, Luna, I can't give you an answer. There are still a lot of things that I need to think over before I can even remotely consider your offer. But I won't decline it outright, because I've seen Celestia at her worst, and it involved a lot of fire and a lot of dead ponies." Luna nods. "That is all that I ask, Ms. Sparkle. You are welcome in my citadel for as long as it takes for you to make your decision, and will be treated as an honored guest." Well, I suppose I'm going to be here for a while. I don't know whether or not this is comfortable or not, but you know what? At least the food is good. [1] --- [1]: Priorities, right there. I've got them straight, alright.