Dueling is Magic! A Rip in Time

by Wolfgang

Chapter 3: Rip

Dueling is Magic: Return to Equestria Chapter 3: Rip

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Yusei and the others begin the search for Paradox and his work, but quickly discover that the walls of time are breaking down in Equestria, forming a strange, twisting labyrinth of recent points on the Equestrian timeline. The group is split up and Paradox works to pick them all off one by one...

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Author’s Note: So much for “short and simple”... This might end up being a far more... well, epic story than I had intended. My original intent was for a simple one-off fight between Paradox and Yusei, but now I have so many things I can do to work up to it. And, of course, I can’t resist.

/*********************\

It started as an ordinary day in Ponyville. The birds sang, the smell of breads and pastries wafted through the air around Sugar Cube Corner, foals trotted to school and laughed as they talked with their friends, and Rainbow Dash was making her rounds, clearing the sky of stray clouds.

Everything was normal until the light appeared in the park.

Spike nearly jumped out of his scales when the library door slammed open.

“Twilight!” shouted Rainbow Dash. “Come quick!”

“Jeez, Rainbow Dash! You really scared me!” said Spike.

“Sorry, Spike,” said the pegasus. “Where’s Twilight?”

“I was in my study,” came Twilight’s voice. “What’s all the noise about?”

“You gotta come see this! Some weird smoke-light just appeared in the park!” said Dash as she turned to fly out the door. “Come on!” The pegasus flapped her wings and shot into the air.

“Spike, you look after the library while I’m gone, okay?” said Twilight. “And send a letter to the Princess.”

“Aw, can’t I come with you to see it?” said Spike.

“It might be dangerous,” said Twilight. “Just stay here and send that letter, okay?”

“Oh, alright,” said Spike, defeated.

“I’ll be back as soon as I can,” said Twilight before running off.

*****

“What do you suppose it is?” asked Rarity.

“I dunno,” said Twilight. “I’ve never seen anything like it. Maybe I can use a scanning spell to find out what it is.” Twilight’s horn lit up and a wide beam of energy was projected from the tip, forming a sparkling pink wall of light. The wall slowly moved forward and began to pass through the smoky floating light. However, when the wall reached the center of the light, it stopped. Twilight’s eyes shot open and she cried out before ending the spell and collapsing.

“Twilight!” shouted her friends.

“You alright?” asked Applejack.

“What happened?” Fluttershy asked.

Twilight was panting. She slowly got her hooves under her and pushed herself off the ground, shaking her head. “I’m... I’m okay,” she said. “It’s... it’s a hole. A rip in space. But it’s not made of magic.”

“Then what is it?” asked Dash.

Twilight looked up. She said only one word: “Momentum.”

*****

Princess Celestia arrived at the library an hour later.

“Momentum?” she asked.

“Yes, Princess,” said Twilight. “It’s a form of energy used in Yusei’s world.”

“Does this mean that Yusei has returned?” asked Celestia.

“I don’t know, Princess,” replied Twilight. “If he had, he probably would have sought out my friends and I first, wouldn’t he?”

“You said that it’s a ‘rip’, didn’t you?” said Discord. “Perhaps it is not Yusei, but someone else.”

“What do you mean by that?” asked Rarity.

“Portals and rips are two different things,” Discord explained. “A portal is a controlled gateway that can be opened and closed at will. Creating one is difficult, but closing it again is quite easy. It is essentially pushing space aside to access a new world, and then putting it back to close the door. To close it, you simply have to get rid of the energy pushing it open.

“But rips are different because they linger and can be very dangerous. More often than not, they are accidental. They happen either by punching through a weak area in space, or simply by wearing it down until it falls apart on its own.”

“I can understand not wantin’ to break somethin’,” said Applejack, “but how does any of that make a rip dangerous?”

“Because if left alone, they will expand,” Discord continued. “Purely magical objects must remain complete to exist. The slightest fracture will cause them to shatter and disintegrate. The fabric of spacetime is much the same, but sturdier. If a rip appears, then it will spread like cracks in glass under pressure. If the rip isn’t repaired before it becomes too large, then the universes it connects could be sucked through and collide with each other. Both would likely be destroyed.”

“Then we need to fix the rip,” said Twilight. “How do we do that?”

“If I remember what old Star Swirl said correctly, rips have to be repaired from both ends. If only one end is fixed, then the rip remains on the other side and can reopen the repaired end.” Discord stroked his beard with his lion paw. “This means that anyone on the other end can’t come back without creating a portal, which is extremely difficult to do.”

“What if you went?” asked Celestia. “Could you not teleport back?”

Discord shook his head. “I can only go places that are spatially accessible to me. If I can’t get there without my power, I can’t get there with it.”

“And the vault?”

“You should have used a Rift Spell and put that room in a pocket dimension.”

“Discord, can’t you open a portal once you’re on the other side?” asked Twilight.

“I don’t know, my dear,” Discord replied. “My power may not work in Yusei’s world. And even if it did, there’s no telling if I can create a stable portal without it turning into a rip. The last time I tried, I created Tartarus.”

“Almost immediately after he realized what had happened, Discord enclosed the rift in a gate that stopped it from expanding,” said Celestia. “After Luna and I turned Discord to stone, we tried to eliminate the rip completely, but our magic could not get past the gate, and the Elements of Harmony did nothing, almost as if they saw no need.”

“So, what do we do?” asked Twilight

“I don’t know, Twilight,” said Discord.

“Nor do I,” added Celestia.

“I think I know where we can find out!” said Pinkie Pie. “In the Star Swirl the Bearded Wing of the castle library!”

“What makes you say that, Pinkie?” Twilight asked.

“Remember when we went there because you saw your future self and you were trying to stop a disaster but it turned out it wasn’t a disaster, it was just you going back in time to tell yourself not to worry, but you didn’t get the chance and you ended up worrying anyway and-”

“Pinkie, the point?” Dash interrupted.

“Right, sorry,” said Pinkie. “Anyway, I saw a few books in there about portals. Maybe we could find something there!”

“It will have to wait, though,” said Celestia. “That wing is currently closed for remodeling.”

“How long will that take?” asked Twilight.

“At least one more day,” answered the princess.

“Do ya think we can contain it ‘til then?” asked Applejack.

“I’m not sure,” said Twilight. “Momentum is a completely different energy from magic. There’s no telling how a magical containment would affect it.”

“Well, we might as well try, right?” said Discord as he cracked his knuckles. The draconequus snapped his fingers. There was a bright flash, but nothing else happened.

“Well... darn,” said Discord. “Magic can’t contain it. I’d need to match the energy.”

“Can’t you create Momentum?” asked Twilight.

“Even my chaotic abilities have limits, my little pony,” Discord replied.

“So what do we do now?” asked Fluttershy.

“I suppose we’ll have to inform the townsfolk of the rip and tell them to stay away,” said Rarity. “And we’ll have to keep an eye on Sweetie Belle and her friends, or they may try to fix it themselves.”

“I’ll go speak with the mayor,” said Twilight. “Dash, can you guard the rip?”

“Sure thing, Twi!” said the pegasus with a salute.

“Great. Everyone else, see if you can gather the townsfolk at City Hall.”

“On it,” said Applejack.

Everypony except Rainbow Dash turned and left the area. The cyan pegasus sat on a small hillock nearby.

*****

Yusei’s tires squealed as he stopped, kicking dirt into the air.

“Hang on, girls,” he said. “I’ll save you!”

“Save us from what?” asked Rainbow Dash.

Comments

[SuperPinkBrony12]

Again this is starting to get confusing, it's as if though you're implying there are multiple universes at work.

[JustForgetMe]

942251 maybe we the viewers are just making it too complicated, tell me what's the name of the mane antagonist?

[KaijinZero]

404 ERROR! KAIJIN.exe NOT FOUND DUE TO MASSIVE WTF.