RQ2: Rising Storm

by Zetriax

IV - Past Tense

Chapter 4- Past Tense

Rainbow awoke to a nearly pitch black room. A terrible headache pounded deep within her skull. Moaning quietly and rubbing a hoof against her forehead, she sat up on the extremely uncomfortable cot she had been sleeping on. She looked around the room. There was a washbowl, her cot and a barred window and door. There was no denying it. She was in a dungeon.

She couldn’t believe she had let herself get caught. Wasn’t she supposed to be the fastest flier in Equestria? Rainbow stood up and gazed out the barred window, surprised at what she saw. She was nowhere near the ground. Rather, she was miles above the earth which looked rather desolate. It was like a desert only the roiling thunder clouds above were a testament that this place was not lacking in water. What kind of place was this that thunderclouds were so high?

In fact, she had never seen a tower of this height before. Or had she? There was a vague memory of an endlessly high tower that pierced the sky. She and a group of others had been there, but she couldn’t remember who she was with or why they had been there.

Rainbow’s attention was yanked to the door when she heard chains rattling against the ground. A pair of heavily armored soldiers were escorting a yellow and orange unicorn down the hall. They stopped at the empty cell across from Rainbow’s and threw the mare in harshly. They slammed the door shut and walked back the way they came.

The orange maned mare sat there in defeat, staring pitifully at the ground. Rainbow wanted to talk to her, but she wasn’t exactly sure what to say. So she decided to ask the most obvious question.

“Psst,” Rainbow hissed. The unicorn looked up at her with amber eyes. “Hey, what’d you do to get locked up in here?”

“I made them mad. Same as anypony else here,” she said.

“Really? I’m not sure what I did wrong,” Rainbow said.

“Wrong? No no no,” the unicorn said, shaking her head. “If you get locked up here, you did something right. The ponies that run this place are as corrupted as they get. All they care about is enforcing a utopian society where everypony lives in harmony.”

“What’s wrong with that?” Rainbow asked. It sounded nice to her.

“It’s actually quite horrible. They dictate every aspect of our lives down there from when we get up to what we do to where we work. Place one hoof out of line, then the IOE are on your tail.”

“IOE?” Rainbow asked.

“Listen, I get that you’re not from around here, but you don’t know what the IOE is? Everypony knows them.”

Rainbow was confused. She’d never heard of anything like it. “I’m sorry. I just never heard of them.”

“Then, my friend, you’ve led a good life. IOE are the Iridium Order Enforcers. They are ruthless, and usually use brutality to get you back in line.”

“Did they hurt you?” Rainbow asked.

The unicorn shrugged. “Not really. I have a way with the stallions if you know what I mean.
Although I did piss them off pretty bad.”

“How so?”

“Well, you’re supposed to stay inside the walls of Iridis at all times,” she lowered her voice for the next part. Rainbow leaned closer to the bars to hear her better. “However, one night I decided to sneak out. I met a pony, who was part of this rebellion and I decided to become a mole. Every week, I would deliver information to them. Problem was, I got my cutie mark in spying. I would dye the fur in that area every few days to keep the IOE from noticing. But one of them took notice of how much dye I would purchase. They discovered that I was covering a cutie mark and threw me in here.”

“So, you’re not allowed to have a cutie mark?” Rainbow asked.

“No, it’s not that. It’s just that, if you get it in the wrong thing, you’ll likely be arrested.”

“That’s harsh.”

“Anything for the city,” she said, slumping against the bars. “You know, Iridis is the only city in the empire that is enforced in this utopia style.”

“How come?”

“Well, the entire city is at the base of this tower. It would be bad for the empire if its capital city was in chaos. So they put the mighty law and enforcers to prevent uprisings and such.” She let out a sigh, “At least up here I’m freer than I was.”

“Wow. That sounds horrible. Who does this emperor person think he is anyways?”

“You don’t know? He’s the creator of all of Altero!”

“Creator? Of this country?”

“Country? Altero is the entire world!”

“By the way, my name’s Minuette,” the blue unicorn told Soarin as they trotted down the street.

She led him to a building next to the windmill at the edge of town and stepped inside. Soarin hesitated at the door but she waved him in.

“Doctor!” she called. “Doctor Hooves!” There was no reply.

“I guess he’s out right now,” Minuette said, turning to Soarin. “Why don’t you take a seat?”

Soarin shrugged and sat down on a couch. There were clocks hanging from walls all around him; he felt as if he were in a clock museum.

Minuette stood before him and gazed at him with a serious expression. Was she still mad at him or something?

“Tell me what you know about Arcanum.”

“What?” Soarin asked.

“That purple pegasus. His name is Arcanum,” Minuette explained.

“Oh. Well, I don’t know much. All I know is that he broke into my house and kidnapped Rainbow Dash.”

Minuette stomped and swore. “Damn! We were way off!”

Soarin rose from his seat. Minuette knew something. “What do you mean?”

Minuette shook her head. “I’m sorry. We tried so hard to figure out what he was doing. But we failed.”

“I don’t get it!” Soarin snapped. “Who’s we? Who’s Arcanum? Why did he kidnap Rainbow?”

“I don’t know!” Minuette said, backing away from Soarin.

“Well you know something!” Soarin stepped closer, threatening the unicorn. “Tell me what’s going on!”

Minuette’s expression suddenly shifted from fearful to angry. “Stop being so pushy! You don’t have to force answers out of me! What the hell’s your problem?”

“I’ll tell you what my problem is!” Soarin loomed over Minuette, wings flared in anger, confusion, and even fear. “I lost the one I love most to somepony I don’t even know and my closest friend has turned her back on me! I lost everything in the course of a night! You have no idea what I’ve been through!”

“Yes I do!” Minuette shouted back.

Soarin suddenly felt his anger fade as quickly as it had risen. “You do?” he asked her, his voice low again.

Minuette was still panting and shaking with rage, but she lowered her head. Letting herself calm down, she sat on the floor and looked up at him a tear sliding down her cheek.

“Better than you’d imagine…”

An earth pony wearing a black cloak stood on a cliff overlooking the Iridium Plains. The dry, cracked earth stretched as far as she could see and in the center was Iridis, known to all but themselves as the City of Darkness. The Devil’s Spire rose from the enormous city and into the clouds many miles above.

“I wish I could find you,” she whispered into the wind. “Mother.”

She knew the mother she was referring to wasn’t her biological mother, but a pegasus that came to her in her dreams. This was the mother that brought her through the thirteen years since Altero was formed. She would never have survived without her.

She knew where she was, though. She was imprisoned on the highest floor of that accursed tower. But trying to get to her would be suicide. The IOE would kill her on sight. She’d be lucky getting anywhere near the Ragnarok Tower, or the Devil’s Spire as it was known to most, without being spotted from halfway across the plains.

Stardust was the only one who could get anywhere near that place without being caught. She was the only unicorn among her ranks that could use the teleportation spell. However, a field of magic surrounded Iridis; a spell that disabled magic of all except the IOE and the imperial leaders.

She prayed that the prophecy was true. That the savior would arrive and save everypony from the iron grip of the empire. She could only do so much with her meek rebellion. A hero was what they needed now.

“Lady Arcus, I just got word from Stardust,” said a white pegasus with a pale blue mane as he alighted on the cliff next to her.

“What's the report, Shattered Ice?” she prompted, still gazing across the vast desert-like expanse.

“Our inside mare, Summer Blaze has been arrested. Apparently they discovered that she was hiding her cutie mark,” Shattered Ice said.

Lady Arcus sighed. “I suppose she'll be alright as long as they don't discover her affiliation with us. But if they do...”

Shattered Ice blinked. “Let's hope they don't. If they do, the poor mare will have a slow, agonizing death.”

“It seems fate has been against us lately,” Lady Arcus said solemnly, turning to look Shattered Ice in the eye. “If our main spy is imprisoned, we'll have to struggle much harder to find out the information necessary to invade.”

“My Lady,” Shattered Ice said. “I fear that even if we had the info, we wouldn't have the strength in numbers to get through the Iridium Plains, let alone fight through the city and reach the Devil's Spire.”

“Shattered Ice, have a little faith. Once the savior arrives, we'll be able to do it. We will free the land and peace will reign.”

“You've been saying that for years, and yet the savior of prophecy has yet to show his tail. I think this prophecy of yours is a myth; a story to give hope to all of those that are starving or enslaved all around the world.”

“It's not a myth, I've seen the glass with my own eyes.”

“Glass?”

Minuette's heart beat in her chest. She had never told her secret to anypony before. Well none except Dr. Hooves of course. Could she trust Soarin? Most famous athletes she knew were pompous and untrustworthy and she wanted nothing to do with them. Yet, this was a stallion who just lost somepony important to him. The fact that she was kidnapped by Arcanum must have traumatized him. And not only that, he may be able to help her figure out what Arcanum's motives are. It might be worth the risk.

“I know your pain, Soarin,” Minuette began. “You see, I may say I'm a dentist, but I'm actually not.”

“I figured as much. An odd cutie mark to have if you were,” Soarin said. Minuette shrugged off her annoyance at the interruption. It was important to get him on her side.

“I'm actually a... time traveller.”

“A time traveller? Really?” Soarin asked.

“Yes. I go throughout time to restore it to its proper state. Many odd things have happened since the creation of the first Temporal Rift.”

“Temper what?” Soarin asked. This was going to take a lot of explaining.

“Okay. Here's the thing. You and I live on a specific timeline. However, a timeline can be distorted creating what we call a Temporal Distortion.”

“So temporal means having to do with time?” Soarin inquired uncertainly.

“Exactly,” Minuette exclaimed. Maybe he'd understand after all. “You see, a Temporal Distortion is a tear in time, basically when something happens that should not happen in this timeline. It ruins everything. Say I went five-hundred years into the future. However, I was not predestined to do so. Since matter cannot be created nor destroyed unless fate decides to allow it, all matter and time in the universe will be displaced. According to studies by Star Swirl the Bearded, when this situation occurs, the universe has a self-destruct mechanism. A creature or weapon created at the beginning of time would wake and destroy the world, so that a new world can be created in its place. Not even Star Swirl could tell why this was necessary, until it happened to him...”

“Wait a second... are you saying that you knew Star Swirl?” Soarin asked astonished.

“Well, yeah. We were friends. But that was when I was new to time travel. But as I was saying, a Temporal Rift was formed back then and that's when that alicorn appeared. Her name was... It was... well it's not important right now. What is important is that she is what's known as a Tempest. Not a storm, but a pony that is born from a Temporal Distortion. One that was never supposed to exist. Not even Star Swirl figured out how the Distortion that formed her came to be, but it spawned disastrous events. You see, when a Temporal Distortion occurs, a Temporal Rift appears. A Temporal Rift is basically the rift left behind in time. Beyond this rift is what is simply called the Void. It is called such because there is nothing. No time, no matter, no light, just nothingness.”

“What exactly do you mean by 'rift'?” Soarin questioned, thoroughly engrossed in her lesson. Minuette was glad that he was enjoying it. It was difficult explaining such an elusive subject.

“The rift is the hole left in time when it is torn by the Temporal Distortion,” she explained.
Soarin gave her a puzzled look. “Are you saying that when a someone travels through time without permission from fate or whatever, that they physically tear a hole in time?”

“Well, yes and no.”

Soarin stared at her blankly. Minuette rolled her eyes. She wanted to get to the point. “Okay, this is how it works. Say you are the author of a story. If you write a time traveller into your story, he is officially part of the storyline. But if you are writing and then suddenly a new character appears out of nowhere that you didn't write and the story starts writing itself in a different manner... well, that's basically what happens in a Temporal Distortion. Fate or God or whatever deity writing our timeline loses control of our stories, our destinies. Life becomes twisted. From the Temporal Rift, which is an invisible portal to the Void rises the Fallen, creatures of nothingness that strive only to return everything to the Void. However, if a Fallen somehow obtains a spirit, they take the form of a pony and have free will. They become a Tempest. Though they are not common Fallen, they still do not have souls and are not meant to exist. So, the Fallen strive to devour the universe. If they accomplish sending everything to the Void, there will be nothing. The ultimate end. However, after Star Swirl realized what the Fallen were capable of, he also realized the purpose of Ragnarok. Ragnarok was created to prevent the Fallen from ever eliminating the universe. When a new world is created so is a new timeline. The Fallen are destroyed with the old. That way the universe will never be reduced to nothingness.”

“What about everypony that's still living,” Soarin asked. “What would be the point of a new world if there was nopony to populate it?”

“Well, it seems that in the final days just before the end, a tower will appear. I can't be certain, but
I think it acts as an ark to keep the ponies safe until the world is recreated.”

Soarin looked at her closely. “You've seen it, haven't you?”

The question caught her off guard. What would make him ask that? “Y... yes. Why do you ask?”

“It must have been horrifying... The end of the world mere days away... So I think I got everything. Ragnarok ends the world to save it from creepy monsters that want to destroy everything. There are special Fallen called Tempests that aren't supposed to exist but are basically normal ponies. Um, special tower... Distortions are glitches in timeline and Rifts are... invisible portals to the Void apparently... So how is a Distortion set right again? Without ending the world, I mean.”

“Well basically all that needs to be done is remove the source of the distortion. If the one who caused the timeline to distort is removed before Ragnarok awakens, then time will reset. Everything before the distortion will return to normal.”

“So what does this have to do with Arcanum? Or your loss?”

“Arcanum is a Tempest, see. The Doctor and I have been trying to figure out what in Equestria he's doing here but he always disappears back to his own time. However, for some odd reason, whenever he returns to his own time, time doesn't reset. Everything he affected stays the way it is. If time had reset, nopony would recall his existence and nothing he did would have ever have happened. So we are trying to find out why this is happening and why he keeps coming back. We thought we had it figured out until you told me he kidnapped Rainbow.”

“What did you think he was here for?”

“Well, we knew he had something to do with the pegasi's disease. We thought he was picking off those at the Cloudsdale Weather Corporation to cause a storm or something that would affect his future beneficially. Even though Rainbow was important in the facility, the fact that he kidnapped Rainbow means that his goal was not just to kill. He had a personal goal and particular interest in Rainbow Dash. Now it seems as though he sickened all those pegasi just to tire out Rainbow and kidnap her. How odd that he would do that...”

What was so important that this Tempest would kidnap Rainbow? Strange works were going on and she was going to get to the bottom of it. She just hoped she be able to stop him before something too horrible happened.

Comments

[Crescent-087]

Aaand chapter four

[Mares-a-Mares]

Nya~! Thank you! Been waiting for this one!