Observations and Preservations

by Tolerance

Zero-Seven

After finally arriving at their destination, the Transcendence had anchored down near the mouth of an unassuming cave. Within the cavern, the Null Tether lay hidden behind a slew of maze-like tunnels. Only by Celestia's guidance were they able to navigate their way towards the central chamber.

Once they entered the largest room in the complex, Twilight was initially stunned by what she saw. In the middle of the large, circular room stood a massive structure, it was shaped like the tail of a raindrop as it neared the ground. Due to the darkness enveloping the cave's ceiling, however, Twilight couldn't make out whether or not the pillar was attached to the ceiling at it’s apex or not.

"Is that it?" Asked a confused Twilight. Impressive as it appeared, it didn't seem to be the all-knowing source of power that Celestia had described.

"You might not be able to see it Twilight, but I assure you there is an enormous amount of energy flowing through this place. I'm sure you can sense some of it if you concentrate." Celestia replied.

She was right. Twilight wasn't sure how she hadn't noticed it before, but the nearer she was to the Tether the more she could feel a subtle force pushing against her head at the base of her horn. Nothing painful at the moment, but now that she recognized it, the constant pressure was quickly starting to give her the beginnings of a headache.

"Don't worry, you'll get used to it after a while.” the princess said, observing Twilight’s behavior. ”We should probably only begin preparations for your spell and return tomorrow for you to cast it."

"That-that's a good idea," Twilight responded, finally feeling the full effects of being surrounded by such a tremendous amount of energy.

The setup involved carving three Glyphs into the ground arranged around a fourth. Unlike most Glyph spells, which used only the Flux within them for power, this one was designed so that the surrounding Glyphs acted as energy reserves, pooling the magical energy contained within their own Flux so that the spell caster could pull upon it without halting the spell.

This was the only way that Twilight could think of to maintain a protracted casting of the Remote View spell at all, let alone her altered version. The best thing that Twilight hoped would come from her Glyph design was the possibility that her spell could be maintained for as long as a supply of Flux was nearby. Simply topping off a Glyph as it drained of energy was enough to restore it's power, after all. The Flux would be added to the Reservoir Glyphs just before the spell was cast so that nothing would have a chance to mess with the preparations before they were ready.

~@~

The next day aboard the airship, Twilight was glad for the reprieve provided by her distance from the Tether’s magic. While she could still feel the occasional bump as another stray pocket of energy brushed against her, the headache she was experiencing earlier had all but vanished. With any luck, she would be as acclimated to the conditions in the central chamber, just as Celestia suggested, by the time they reached it later.

When they finally reached the chamber, a few members of the crew assisted in filling the Glyphs with Flux as Twilight took her place in the center of the arrangement. Once the workers’ task was completed, Celestia dismissed them before turning to her former student, "Twilight, I want you to be very, very careful. We know next to nothing about what lies beyond the Tether. What we do know is that there are only warnings regarding the interaction with the fabric of our world. It's why I chose to halt Starswirl's research all those years ago. Those warnings left absolutely no room for challenging them, Twilight, and if we could confirm that our world wasn’t in danger, I would stop you now."

"I know." Twilight said as she lay upon the central inscription. Her consciousness was essentially leaving her body, and she didn't want to chance falling over and accidentally disrupting the active spell. Twilight let her magic drift from the tip of her horn, and then to the Glyph directly beneath her. It was designed to pull the magical energy from the surrounding Glyphs without any interaction from Twilight, so that she could concentrate on maintaining the main spell.

With the Glyphs functioning as intended, Twilight moved onto the next portion of the spell. She extended her magic to envelop her body as she began to separate her conscious mind from the rest of her. The sensation wasn’t exactly unpleasant and soon enough she found herself standing just outside of the magical arrangement.

As Twilight looked at her prone form, she had to resist the urge to study her casting technique from an outside perspective. Tearing her studious gaze from herself, she turned to the Tether. Astounded by what she saw, Twilight finally realized what it was like to see through her old mentor's eyes. The Null Tether was indeed an incredible sight to behold. In her ethereal form, she could see every tendril of magic as it moved from the very fabric of the world and wove its way up the central spire.

As she witnessed the magic funneling off into the ceiling, Twilight's perception began to falter. It appeared as though there wasn't a ceiling for the Tether to connect to, but at the same time, her mind forcibly declared that to be untrue. She knew that there was something up there, but she also knew that there was nothing at all that connecting the cave to the top of the Null tether.

"Twilight, I'm not sure if you can still hear me," Celestia started, breaking Twilight out of her daze, "but if you can, know that I will protect you for as long as is possible. Remember to be true to yourself, for beyond this place you may very well be the only one you can rely on."

"Thank you, princess. I will." Twilight thought to herself as her made her form step into the multitude of lights.