A World Rent Asunder

by NeverEatTheLemonsAlone

Act I, scene x - Chasmlands

I can feel Dash's single eye boring into my back as I trot towards the ominous cloud hanging in the distance. She's daring me to drop my guard; I know it. I can feel her just waiting to sink her spear into my back as soon as I stop expecting it. Consequently, I'm extraordinarily tense as I walk. Mena is walking next to me, mumbling almost constantly under her breath. It's infuriating, but I know that she at least has my back now. Probably. With crazy ponies, you can never really tell, but it certainly took some doing to calm her down and stop her from trying to rip out Dash's throat.

In due time, we're nearly there, and I can feel what Marks was talking about. My arcane sense is picking up what looks approximately like a wall of sheer, lethal magical force only a few feet in front of me. I stop short, and Dash grumbles, trying to pull me along.

"Dash! Stop it! If I go any more in this direction, I'll be dead before you can blink!"

Well, that certainly stops her in a hurry.

I'm pretty sure that the only reason she hasn't attacked me already is because she still wants the Chalice, but doesn't want to actually work to get it. That, or she just wants to parade me in front of the Princess before murdering me in one of quite a few gruesome ways. Either way, she needs me alive, so she grudgingly ceases her movement and drops to the ground.

"Alright, Sparkle, make it quick. Why can't you go there?"

The words rush out in a flood, and I explain to her in no uncertain terms exactly what the conduction properties of a horn would do in the presence of that much raw magic, right down to the grisly details. I can see her eye widening fractionally and her lips part in a sudden intake of breath. I'm pretty sure she also goes pale. [1]

"Still," she grunts, "I'll get you in there somehow. If there are restriction rings that block magic from escaping the horn, then there are similar devices that stop magic from entering it, right?"

I snort. "Yeah, sure, if you're willing to fly to the heart of the Solar Dominion and retrieve one of the two known Aegis rings from a magically sealed vault under the protection of the Guard's best soldiers. Even so, I don't think even one of those could stand this kind of force." I'm distracted for a moment by how easily she can fly through it and frown. "You can't feel anything? Nothing at all?"

She shrugs, shaking her head. I'm now thoroughly confused. Either modern science is wrong on many accounts of how magical conductivity works with different pony tribes, or there's something very strange at work in the Chasmlands. That much sheer magical force should at best render her unable to fly, and at worst, tear her wings straight off, enter her body and poison her blood until she can't sustain herself anymore. In a way, the instant unicorn brand of death is much better.

Moot point, though, because she's just kinda...casually flapping through it. I glare at her wings enviously. Must be nice to have a completely closed system...

Wait. That's it.

With a brief pulse of magic, I prepare for the worst and step forwards. Luckily for me, it worked; I've managed to step into the place by essentially shutting my own leylines. My head is entirely unsplattered, so that's a definite plus.

That said, now I can't cast any magic at all. After all, it's a two-way street. In order to use magic, you have to let magic use you. And this magic is...angry. It's so intense that I can actually feel it. This magic is unbelievably, irredeemably angry. I don't know how. I didn't even know magic could be angry. It's an unconscious, universal force, not a living being. With all logic factored in, it shouldn't feel emotion.

I shudder at the raw intensity of the rage surrounding me, and force myself to move forwards. Dash yawns and smirks at me, lounging on her back in the air. I'm not even sure how that's possible, but I glare at her all the same, each step an arduous journey further and further into this place from which I have no guarantee of escape. Mena follows me, staring with an angry, predatory gaze at Dash, hoof resting on her belt of pyrotechnics. At least she's got my back, though I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not.

---

[1]: I have to hand it to her. She's not intelligent, but she's smart enough to know when she's in over her head, and generally, that's when things are beginning to get magical.

---

Exhaustion.

Pure and unrefined.

Just
plain
exhaustion.

It's barely been even a single mile, but the sheer pressure of the magic all around me has crushed me down to the ground. It's even starting to affect Dash and Mena, though nowhere near as bad. Dash has to flap twice as much to keep in the air and I can see sweat beading on her brow. As for the third pony, I'm not really comfortable around her; it's probably a product of the wild magic all around us, but she's been switching between Mena and Pinkie erratically and very rapidly.

Other than that, well. I can now no longer walk.

Inconvenient, no?

Regardless, I can't keep going, but at the same time, I can't let myself stop. Dash is already impatient with me. If I spend any more time doing something that isn't moving, she may decide to get violent. I'm between a rock and a hard place right now. On one hoof, I could stay here and gradually make my way back to the border of the Chasmlands. If you want the highest chance of survival, there you go. However, that's not really a possibility. If decide to do that, I have no physical way to defend myself from Dash's spear, and I doubt Mena—no, wait, she's Pinkie now—can hold her off alone.

And on the other hoof, I can struggle to my hooves and find a way to keep moving. The further into the Chasmlands I travel, the slower I'll be able to move. If I go far enough, though, I might be able to render Hurricane unable to keep her grip on her spear. At this point, I'm pretty much completely out of options. [1]

I strain in exertion, grunting as I heave myself back to my hooves. Squaring my shoulders, I keep trekking gamely on, every step taking more out of me than the last.

---

[1]: Well, I could always unbind my own leylines and let nature take care of the rest, but I think I'd rather be alive.

---

A little ways longer, and Dash can no longer keep her wings moving. She's been forced down to the ground. Pinkie has been affected the least, I think. She can still move with relative ease, but she's gone quiet and seems really subdued, to the point that I'm actually worried about her. No matter what state she's in, she's always been talkative. Seeing her like this is a little bit disturbing.

As for me, I can barely move.

My steps have slowed down to a snail's pace and shortened until I'm barely even moving, and my face has gone pale and sweat-streaked. The black cloud above me, coupled with the constant night, has me almost completely blind, except for arcs of blue lightning that crackle ominously above me. Finally, I see before me what gives the Chasmlands their name.

Stretching out into the distance, linking with many more of the same sort before vanishing into the network, is an enormous rupture in the earth that bleeds an effluent pale-green light. I plod the last few steps to come within hoof's reach of it and then stop, collapsing to the ground as I heave in breaths. It throws up what is essentially a wall in front of me, a barrier of pure arcane force, impassible, pulsing with raw, deadly energy.

Even with my leylines tied up, I can tell that I would die if I touched that. In fact, it's likely that Dash also would. Mena wouldn't last a second. Wild magic is dangerous stuff, and this is as wild and untamed as it gets.

The Chasmlands was created in the first real battle of the war, several hundred years ago. This was before Luna and the Princess commanded their armies from the rear. They dueled each other on this field, and their magic clashed together, screaming against itself in a cosmic war. When the battle finally ended, they were the only two left standing, and they retreated to nurse their wounds. The Princess fled to the Eastern Plains, while Luna hid herself away in the mountains to the west. Since then, they haven't come to the front lines. That's probably a good thing; the last thing we need is to make the whole of Equus into one enormous Chasmland.

Comments

[Lost_Marbles]

Jeez. How are they going to get the chalice if they can hardly move?

Lovin' the backstory to the chasms.

[Misty Spell]

"Yeah, sure, if you're willing to fly to the heart of the Solar Dominion and retrieve one of the two known Aegis rings from a magically sealed vault under the protection of the Guard's best soldiers.

"Oh, by the way, here's a magic ring so you don't insta-die on this quest I'm deliberately sending you on."

Yeah, umm, author? Unless Celestia is deliberately trying to get Twilight killed it makes zero sense for her to have not sent Twilight with one such ring.

[Thranx]

The Chasmlands was created in the first real battle of the war, several hundred years ago. This was before Luna and the Princess commanded their armies from the rear. They dueled each other on this field, and their magic clashed together, screaming against itself in a cosmic war. When the battle finally ended, they were the only two left standing, and they retreated to nurse their wounds. The Princess fled to the Eastern Plains, while Luna hid herself away in the mountains to the west. Since then, they haven't come to the front lines. That's probably a good thing; the last thing we need is to make the whole of Equus into one enormous Chasmland.

Jeez, pray that they would never meet again... in hostile terms, that is. Which they are at the moment.