Daring Do and the Hand of Doom

by Unwhole Hole

Chapter 40: The Wizard

The world came to its end at a precipice. It was a ridiculous sight, one that would have been laughable had it not been so obvious and depressing. A thin, winding trail of cracked not-stone led through a seemingly endless gray desert- -and just stopped. Beyond it, the fundamental physics of the world seemed to break apart. The land had been torn asunder, as if by some great cataclysm, and it floated outward as ravaged asteroids of innumerable sizes. Above, the sky was sickly yellow; below, what looked like infinite land with vast cracks stretched out for eternity in every direction.

Daring Do looked over her shoulder. She was not sure how far she had come. This world- -or half-world- -only superficially resembled her own. Time and space had little meaning, or what meaning they had was not fully comprehensible to her. She wondered if it was to Flock, but doubted he even cared.

“Where are we? What is this place?”

“A basin-plane.” Flock stood at the very edge of the path, looking out at the slowly floating ruins of many things. “A schism. Beyond this point, is phase no longer corresponds to points in any physical world. It simply exists.”

Daring Do looked over her shoulder again. Many eyes stared back at her. They had not been there before. Now, though, they stood silently- -and yet she could still hear them whispering in words that she could almost understand.

“Why are we here?” she asked, not looking away from the gaunt and pallid creatures watching her.

“Because it is where we need to be.” Without a further word, he stepped over the edge. A pair of black wings spread from his back, and for several seconds he appeared before them as an alicorn- -before he ruptured into a mass of crows. They cawed and swarmed as they raced into the void.

Rainbow Dash and Daring Do looked at each other, and then took flight. Behind them, the alicorns approached the precipice, but did not go further. Daring Do somehow knew that they would not, and she was glad- -but still not completely relieved.

There was no air, per se, but whatever ethereal medium inhabited the void made flight possible and easy. Daring Do could not help but feel like she had sailed through such a medium before, and she adapted quickly to flight without gravity. Rainbow Dash, though, struggled.

Breathing hard, Rainbow Dash began to lose altitude. She beat her wings faster, but only grimaced and sunk lower. Daring Do, upon seeing this, swooped lower and helped her up.

“This has never happened before,” wheezed Rainbow Dash. “I don’t- -I don’t know what’s wrong with me!”

“You’re very sick in this world.”

Rainbow Dash looked down at her pale, anemic body with panic. “What if- -what if I’m like this forever? Daring, if I can’t fly- -”

“You can. And you will. When we get back to the real world, you’ll be just as fit as ever. Watch.”

“Are you- -are you sure?”

“Come on, Dash. I’m Daring Do. You can trust me.”

Rainbow Dash smiled weakly. “Yeah. Of course. What the hay was I even thinking?”

Rainbow Dash beat her wings faster and with Daring Do’s help followed after the crows. Daring Do, of course, had been lying. She had no idea if the change would somehow be permanent, or if they would even be able to get back. For all she knew, the edge to this strange floating wasteland had been a point of no return, and that the wizard could be leading them into a trap.

Likewise, she assured Rainbow Dash with a pang of resentment. If it did turn out to be true, when they returned, Rainbow Dash would be young, strong, and healthy again. Daring Do, meanwhile, would be aging again and once more standing at her own personal precipice. This world made her strong, and the offer of restored youth was unbelievably tempting.

As before, distance had no real meaning. Within seconds- -or hours- -they had passed an incredible expanse. Daring Do quickly realized that they were approaching a particularly large asteroid. It was different from the others in that it was substantially large, but also in that it was made of some kind of dark material. Whereas the others appeared as though they were torn from the ground, this one appeared almost like a sphere on which strange substances had begun to crystalize- -or to grow.

“What is this place?” she said, mostly to herself.

The crows before her merged, and a black griffon appeared form them. “I do not know,” said Flock, slowing his pace and gliding in a wide arc around the vast object. “It may be a spore of Aira, or a shard of the ruins of Tanelorn. Or even a wandering fragment of Tartarus. I’ve spent an inordinate amount of time considering the question, but have yet to reach a satisfactory conclusion.”

“You…you live here. This is your home.”

The griffon’s yellow eyes narrowed. “No,” he said. “If I ever had a home, it was destroyed long ago in your history. This place is simply where I work.”

As he said it, they crested the horizon of the misshapen sphere. Immediately an enormous gouge was visible in its side, a tremendous valley formed by some ancient collision. Lying within it was a structure, a castle built with strange care toward geometric precision. The style was at once imposingly ancient and brutally futuristic, appearing superficially to be either an elaborate temple- -or an industrial-age prison. It was forged from similar dark stone to that which the asteroid was wrought.

Flock descended, landing in a wide, perfectly smooth courtyard of milled stone. As soon as he touched the ground, his form shifted; he was once again a unicorn.

“You can shapeshift,” noted Daring Do, landing several paces behind him.

“In a sense,” he replied. “I can manifest my merged body in different shapes.”

“But only in black.”

“Would you rather I had my soul to cardinals? Or perhaps blue jays?”

Rainbow Dash landed next to Daring Do, nearly tripping as she did. “This would be so cool…if I didn’t feel…so darn TERRIBLE…”

“Oh please,” said Flock, looking over his shoulder with one clouded eye. “I don’t even have lungs and I’m fine.”

“Why are we even here?”

Flock glared at Rainbow Dash. “Because we have things we need to discuss.”

“Concerning the Hand of Doom?” asked Daring Do.

Flock glanced at her. “Yes,” he said, slowly.

“I have more pressing concerns right now,” said Daring Do, dismissively. “Those two friends. They’re out there, waiting- -”

“Stop.”

“Stop?” Daring Do frowned indignantly. “Those ponies are my responsibility. I suppose Sweetie Drops will be fine, but White is just a kid- -”

“No. I mean stop being an idiot. I know it is difficult. After all, your race never evolved past banging clouds together. In case you didn’t notice, time does not flow normally here. The relationship is governed by mathematics that are far beyond your tiny featherbrains. Sometimes it moves faster, slower, or even in reverse. Right now, we could be here for years and minutes would barely pass outside. So we have time to talk.”

“And if I don’t want to?”

Flock pointed out at the void. “You are free to fly in any direction you choose. They all lead to the same place. Oblivion. Without guidance, you will never find your way back.”

Daring Do did not spread her wings. “And if I want to take my chances?”

“Then you will watch you rainbow-maned ward fall before you do.”

Rainbow Dash frowned. “First, I’m not her ‘ward’, that’s weird and kind of sketchy. But something that I would, for the record, be totally okay with. I mean, if she was offering. Second, I’m not afraid of you. Oooh, a big castle!” She waved her hooves mockingly. “I spend, like, two hours a day in a castle. And to be honest, you can’t even fight Caballeron. Daring Do can do that in her sleep.” Rainbow Dash was about to cite an example from one of A.K. Yearling’s texts, but Daring Do stopped her.

“I never said I was afraid.”

“That’s not what I was saying!”

“I just want to make sure you know where you stand.” Daring Do took a step toward Flock. “Sure. I’ll talk. I’ll even have a cup of tea with you if that’s what you want to do. Trust me, I’ve had teatime with MUCH worse ponies than you. But if you try anything- -”

“Daring Do,” said Flock, looking disgusted at having to say a pony’s name. “I assure you. Appearances to the contrary, I’m not your enemy. We have a common goal.”

“Yes,” said Daring Do, cynically. “We want to claim the Hand of Doom.”

“No,” said Flock, cocking his head at a ridiculously avian angle. “We want to prevent the Order of the Red Bloom from obtaining it. At any and all costs.”

Comments

[Lancasterlaw1175]

Yes! The plot thickens!