Chapter 1
I was asleep when reality started shaking itself apart.
It jarred through my slumber, shivered my fevered dreams to pieces, and pulled me awake with icy claws. I rolled off my cushion, letting the quivers wash through me as I struggled to orient myself. The walls of my room trembled and flickered, jittering from stone to wood to dirt and back, the floor heating and cooling instantly as the tiny fragments of reality I'd hoarded fought against the flows of a huge spacequake.
I scrambled upright, forcing my limbs to obey despite my disorientation. I dashed the sleep from my eyes with a hoof and took an unsteady step towards the exit. I pushed a dab of magic before me, exerting my will against the quivering fabric of space in an effort to smooth the uncertain reality of the door. I'd barely managed to establish coherence when the next wave of the quake started. I slammed it open before my control could slip, abandoning my pillow and leaping out. The pocket dissolved behind me.
I stumbled as I landed, forgetting the sudden drop. I nearly fell, but a steadying hoof caught me.
"Careful, Dinky."
"Thanks." I turned, glimpsing a yellow coat and red mane. "Thanks, Apple Bloom. Any idea what's up?"
"Eenope." She shook her head solemnly. "But it's big. We gotta get to the bastion. You're the last I was sent for." She turned towards the center of the Redoubt, breaking into a canter.
I nodded and followed, our conversation lost in the rush.
As we moved, a small herd fell in with us. I nodded to a few before turning to check the scenery. At the moment, the Redoubt looked like a forest. Tall pines stretched for the sky, layering the ground with a thick carpet of scrunching needles. Thin trails meandered through, sprinkled with clearings. Apple Bloom picked one, leading us deeper into the shade. I wondered where or even when this place was from. Surely nowhere near Ponyville. Distantly, in the thin slice of sky the trail allowed, I could see the shimmering Curtain ripple like shaken cloth as reality groaned and stretched under the stress of the quake. Trees around us stretched and shrunk drunkenly, a few even flickering and changing in age, shape, or stranger ways as the tremors rippled through them. Apple Bloom stopped for a second, yelling and stomping.
"Haaaaa!" I felt the pressure she gave off, a surge of power that danced ahead. She returned to running, and I saw her rolling influence collide with the quavers in reality, slightly steadying our path. A few earth ponies moved up, helping her ease our way.
I frowned, unconsciously chewing a wisp of my golden mane. I'd been shaken awake too quickly to think much, but as I ran, my brain was clearing. I'd felt the shock of the spacequake clearly enough to call up my training, enough to wake me despite sleeping in a bubble inside the Redoubt. Apple Bloom had understated our situation. This wasn't just big – it was dangerous. Shatteringly dangerous. The tiny island of reality we maintained here wasn’t exactly fragile, but it was all we had against the storms of chaos that raged outside. If it did break...
I raised my eyes to examine the Curtain, even as I dodged trees and branches. The spacequake seemed to be calming, but that was little relief. I knew how treacherous the reality-wracking tremors could be. The Curtain was our shelter, our only permanent defense. Something was shaking reality strongly enough the ripples were reaching through. We needed to understand, to act. Even the one creating this shield had limits.
I winced as a branch whipped me. I was about to tear my gaze from the Curtain when I noticed something. The ripples were visible as they splashed across the iridescent barrier, leaving streaks and circles which spread and curved. That was normal. As I watched, though, they seemed to be spreading more quickly, or turning sooner, as if…
I stopped dead, shocked by what I was seeing. I spun, staring back. Ponies shouted angrily, squeezing and streaming past as I stood stock-still in their current. The path behind us turned sharply, and as the last of the stampede passed, I stared fiercely at the trees, hoping I was wrong, that I'd misread the signs on the Curtain. In a moment, though, I saw something shimmer between the trunks. I gulped, my eyes going wide as the Curtain swept towards me, a soft white iridescence that engulfed the last of the trees and rushed clear down the open path. I whirled back, galloping for all I had.
"Faster!" I yelled to the ponies ahead. "He's drawing in the Curtain! We need to— Oooof!" I tumbled and fell as the earth under my hoof melted away. I'd forgotten the quake, and I'd fallen behind Apple Bloom’s stabilization. The Curtain caught me in barely a moment. There was an instant of fizz. A wave of frothy sensation rolled across my light-purple coat and my ears crackled like I’d plunged my head underwater. I was suddenly outside.
Instantly, the full force of the storm wracked me. Pain washed me. I felt myself stretch and shrink, twist, turn, change, as reality itself was folded and wrapped around and through me. I glimpsed wheeling stars, felt swirling desert sand, tasted crashing waves. Infernal heat scorched me for a moment, only to be replaced by crushing pressure. Each feeling would rush in, only to be pushed back by another. A thousand crazed sensations filled me as places and times from every-where and every-when battered me in an insane stampede. The only constant was the Curtain, now receding through the storm of realities, still rippling and shaking as the space-quake threatened to rend it.
As chaos rolled over me, my panic fell away. I'd been startled by the quake, scared by its implications. I'd fallen into the energy of the stampede and been shocked by the rolling Curtain. Now that my safe footing was gone, my training kicked back in. This was dangerous and hard, but it was something I understood and had faced before. I might not survive, but I knew how to try, and I knew I was good at it. My magic instinctively sparked to light, a golden aura to match my eyes. I pushed back the pain and confusion of the storm, focusing all my attention on the spell I was casting. It took all my concentration to even begin impressing my will on the chaos, but this was my only chance. If I didn't act now, fast and fierce, I'd be swept away from the Redoubt in moments. I gathered myself up and strained harder.
I felt the spell take with a snap, a wavering that almost harmonized with the shivering of reality. A thread of golden power, weaving and dancing in the force of the storm, stretched ahead of me and snagged the Curtain. I'd have sighed in relief if the safety it offered was more than slimmest hope. Apple Bloom will notice, I tried to reassure myself. It was a slim chance, but hope was there. I gasped as the pressure of the storm battered against me, trying to drag me away, but my tether held. I could already feel myself starting to unravel, a strange fuzz working its way inwards as raw chaos ate at me. I couldn't fight it directly; I wasn’t an earth pony. But I wasn’t defenseless, either.
Instead of resisting the storm, I tried to match it. My spell shone brighter, tendrils spinning around me as I probed for the movements of the quake. The tremors washed through me, each successive shock throwing reality into new swirls, changing my surroundings a thousand times. The storm came from the quake. As the fabric of reality rippled and shook, times and places were tossed at me like foam on the sea. I felt the movement, trying to bend it around me. Instead of standing against the shaking, I slipped through the waves. Instead of fighting the wind, I let it bend me. I wouldn't — couldn't — break.
I held my place as best I could, struggling for long moments against the storm. I had no idea how long I was fighting before I saw the Curtain ripple and bulge. My heart quailed. For a second, I was sure the quake had finally damaged it beyond repair. Instead of tearing, the Curtain stretched. I gasped as a pair of earth ponies stepped through, hope suddenly filling me.
It was Apple Bloom, leading Silver Spoon. They moved slowly, calmly. I wanted to scream for them to hurry, but caution was the watchword here. If they hurt themselves, none of us would be safe.
Each of Apple Bloom's firm steps sent out ripples of power to shatter the storm, firming their path. Silver Spoon backed her, securing the way to return. Before them, the shaking was silenced and ripples of chaos were flattened to nothing. They traced my tether, eyes fixed on me as they forced a way through the storm. Their stability, the unshaken faith and steadfast hearts that drove their particular type of magic, resisted the thrashing of reality. They could stand directly against this, though not forever.
"Easy now." Apple Bloom slowed as they neared me. Her teammate nodded, and they split to surround me. Eventually, they began drawing in. I felt the pressure recede as they neared me, cutting off the worst of the storm. I finally released my spell. The encroaching fuzz began clearing from my body, pain reappearing in waves as my reality started to push back the chaos. Finally, Silver reached out and placed a hoof on my withers. I groaned in pain and exhaustion, collapsing as stability rushed back.
"Sorry, Dinky." Apple Bloom gave me an apologetic grimace as she heaved me up, supporting me with one leg. "I didn't know the Curtain—"
"Not your fault." I gave a flat laugh. "I shouldn't have stopped. Thanks, you two."
"No problem." Apple Bloom gave me a grin. Silver Spoon just nodded. Had I ever seen her smile? "Let's get you inside." I nodded weakly as we turned back towards the now-stable Curtain.
~****~
"Feeling better?"
"Lots." I passed back the cup as the orange unicorn finished bandaging the last of my cuts. "Thanks, Doc." I was battered, bruised, and exhausted, but I hadn't been seriously hurt. Silver Spoon and Apple Bloom had even managed to keep me from getting chaos burns. They really were good. I sat on a narrow cot, inside a hastily erected canvas shelter.
"No problem." He accepted my thanks easily. I made to rise, but he stopped me with a hoof. "Be careful, Dinky Doo. You didn't break anything, but give yourself some time to heal. You can't do everything."
"Right." I nodded, and he released me with a sigh. I shook my head slightly as I stood. I knew he meant well, but… although I couldn't do everything, there were some things I had to try anyways.
I pushed the cloth door aside and stepped out, looking around. Apple Bloom had carried me into the bastion, our last stronghold at the center of the Redoubt. It had been a forest earlier, but we now stood on dressed stone. It looked like green marble, chiseled flat and smoothed to a glassy sheen, but the veins glittered with opalescent fire. The Curtain, immobile again, surrounded our sanctuary completely. Chaos raged outside, but drawn in like this, it barely rippled at all. Still, I saw a few earth ponies carefully re-enforcing it, trying to erase even the tiny tremors that slipped through.
I looked out over the small space; it was only a few acres, and it was already crammed with temporary shelters. Bales of hay were stacked into walls, sheets of canvas and wood made temporary roofs. A few columns of smoke rose, drifting upwards until they dissolved in the glowing Curtain. Even though I'd been one of the last to arrive, it couldn't have been more than a few hours since the quake started, and it already looked like a refugee town. A few of these shelters had already been here, but the rest had been thrown together since by ponies searching for a touchstone against chaos. I guess it was a refugee town.
This was everything. I sighed as the reality of our situation settled across me. It was a familiar weight, but it always hit with the same force. Nothing outside the encircling Curtain really existed, not in any way we could understand. The Splintering, whatever it had been, had shattered reality like a walnut. Time, space, everything, had come undone at the very foundations.
Or so we guessed.
I cast my eyes over the scraggly settlement. There were maybe a few hundred ponies living in the Redoubt. I'd never known much about the wider world. I'd barely gotten my cutie mark when everything broke. I knew our remnant was vanishingly small and had shrunk since. Several ponies had been unable to cope with losing every semblance of stability and simply wasted away. A few had even left, walking away to find something or lose themselves. We'd lost some to accidents. The quakes, and the storms that came with, had been devastating before several of us younger ones started learning to push back. We couldn't stay inside the Curtain at all times, not with hunger and thirst driving us. Although the Redoubt was stable, it wasn't always welcoming. I kicked the green marble, wondering about our water supply. Sometimes I wished things would just get simpler.
"Dinky!" I pulled myself out of introspection, turning to see Sweetie Belle trotting up, glasses perched low on her nose and a clipboard hovering alongside. "You okay?"
"Yeah, I think so." I sighed, trying to blow away my gloom. "Yeah."
"Excellent." She ticked something off a list and tucked away the pen and paper. "You're the last."
"We all made it?"
"Yup. It was close, though." She smiled weakly, and I grinned back.
"Any idea what's going on?"
"Now that everypony’s accounted for, we're going to ask." She waved towards the center of the bastion, where a dome of swirling energy hung, tall enough to show over the intervening huts. A tiny thread reached skywards from the top, arching and spreading until it slowly flattened into the walls that surrounded us. The source of the Curtain was in there, the only person who might have some idea what had happened. "You coming?"
I nodded. It was understandable, but we who were young when everything broke had adapted to the new world much more quickly. Sweetie Belle, once irresponsible and uncertain, had somehow been pushed into making decisions and been surprisingly good at it. Those of us who could fight chaos, who had some understanding about surviving outside the Curtain, considered her our leader. Even the older ponies would defer to her on expeditions and storms, since few of them grasped how our powers worked against chaos.
"Right, come on." She turned, leading me through knots and lumps of camping ponies. They were cooking, talking, playing games, sleeping. We might be in a crisis, but we hardly had a week without one. Everypony here was adjusted, at least a little, to surviving the swirling winds of chaos. I even saw a semblance of 'routine' returning. In a few places, ponies were assessing stores and distributing supplies, or organizing for what we'd need to do when the storm abated.
We stopped before the dome. Apple Bloom, Silver Spoon, Berry Pinch, and Chip Mint were waiting. Sweetie glanced over the group and stepped forward.
"You've all done this before, so just remember: be careful."
We all nodded.
Without further ado, she stepped through the swirling barrier. We followed slowly.
The inside was smaller, but not cramped. I glanced at the rest of the group before joining them in staring at the behemoths frozen in the center.
The near one was an Alicorn, quartering away from us. She looked like Celestia. If I'd been told they were sisters, I might have believed it. She had the same fine features, white coat, and delicate ornaments, but without the crown. Her cutie mark was shaped like the sun, but with vicious hooks instead of rays. Her mane and tail looked like a raging fire; even frozen, they flared above her in a scarlet cloud, filling the room with a dim amber glow. A fierce sneer curled her motionless lips, exposing pointed teeth. Her eyes were narrowed in rage, slit pupils fixed immovably on the creature before her.
He was a little more familiar, although I'd only seen him a few times before the Splintering. He had the head of a horse, the tail of a dragon, the beard of a goat, and a little bit of everything in between. It was Discord, and he was laughing. His left arm, which ended in a claw, was raised to the roof. The iridescent energy of the Curtain streamed from it. His right arm, shaped like a lion's paw, was impaled on the Alicorn's horn. It pierced straight through his palm, as if he'd stabbed himself, simply slapping the vicious point. Smears of ocher blood stained the white horn's length and ran down his arm in long streams. A few drops hung mid-air. Behind him, arrayed in a circle, hung a halo of light in red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and indigo.
"Right." Sweetie pulled out something like a sextant and made a few careful measurements. "Phooey."
"He's still slowing?" Apple Bloom gave the tableau a measured look.
"Yup." Sweetie waved at a blood drop. "It's fallen less than half the distance since last time, but I think we can still get through." We all stepped back as she lit her horn. She concentrated for a good three minutes, muttering calculations and incantations. Finally, a wisp of light licked out, stretching slowly to the draconequus.
"Discord?" She relaxed slightly as the spell completed.
"Oh, hello." The reply was laconic, seeming completely relaxed. It sprang from thin air, his body remaining completely static. "How are you, children?" He seemed to be speaking slightly slower than last time. I'd have thought he was purposely annoying us, but the sound itself was deeper, giving him a rolling baritone.
"Had a rough day, Discord." Apple Bloom sighed. "What's going on?"
"It's a spacequake. A big one. Surely you noticed?"
"We noticed you pull in the Curtain," Silver Spoon interjected. "A little warning would have been nice."
"I did yell. Didn't you hear me? Anypony? No? Well." He sighed gustily. "See?"
"This is the biggest spacequake we've ever had," Sweetie Belle said. "We want to know why."
"Can't say. Hey! I think my paw has moved at least a millimeter since you last visited."
"Discord!"
"Don't you want to hear the progress of my battle? It's very exciting, I promise."
"You're sidetracking. Anyways, if you keep slowing, it'll take more than a millennia for you to finish… whatever it is you've started."
"Oh, yes." He seemed to lose a little enthusiasm at that. "Of course, in a thousand years, things will change anyways. The moon will aid in her escape and all that."
Our group shared a look. That was new.
"Some say in fire, some say in ice. I don't think either will be very nice. But the world is going to end one way or another." He gave a sour, self-deprecating laugh. "Then, if not sooner."
"You're still trying to distract us. What's happening?" Sweetie stamped a hoof. "We're not children anymore."
"No… I guess you're not." He sighed again, as if exhaling all the mirth in his body. "I’m not sure anything can help us now. The rot is deepening. I think the Tree of Harmony has cracked."
"The Tree?" Sweetie cocked her head slightly, excitement touching her voice. "It still exists?"
"Well… Maybe. In a manner," Discord replied slowly. "In some senses, it's hard to say it ever really existed."
"Discord!"
"Will you stop that?" He snapped. "I'm properly explaining."
"Sorry."
"Hmph."
"Please continue."
"Alright, well… The Tree is, really, something like a record. It contains… contained, rather, memories of everything that happened. Or, no, maybe it is everything that ever happened. Its breaking would be more than catastrophic; it would be complete annihilation."
"Destroying everything even more?" Silver Spoon asked incredulously.
"No, no! Not destruction. Time is now like a sprung clock. Things fall apart; the center cannot hold, but this is mere anarchy loosed on the world. The clock still exists. If the Tree breaks, we'll have oblivion. Everything that 'has been' will vanish in paradox, unstitched like a pulled seam as cause uncauses itself. There's nothing past that. True oblivion can't be defined any more than true chaos can be conquered by the magic of children. You've put up a good fight in this world; better than your elders, and far better than I expected, but against this…"
"It's not broken yet." Everypony turned to look at me. "We're still here."
"…maybe we can stop it?" Berry Pinch suggested.
"We can try," Mint Chip said decisively.
"…You can?" Discord sounded surprised. "I… I guess you can. Though there's a chance this isn't it…"
"We'll take that chance. What do we need to do?" Sweetie pulled out a notebook.
"I have no idea."
"Discord!"
"I really don't!" He sounded wounded. "Look, Sweetie, I may be twisty as a corkscrew, but I've always been straight with you. I really am guessing."
"Can you at least tell us where the Tree is?"
"Ah… that, I can do. Who will you send? It's far; farther than you've gone."
Sweetie paused, tapping a hoof to her chin.
"They need to move fast, and I can't spare many. A small team… " She surveyed us. "You five are the best, but… Apple Bloom, I need you here. Pegasi magic outside is a solo thing, so you stay, Chip. That leaves three. Silver, pick your teammate."
"Dinky, are you up for this?" Silver gave me a serious stare. "I saw what you went through out there. Berry couldn't have done that, but…"
I stared into her mauve eyes, wondering. Was I up for this? I hurt all over. I'd been on long trips out of the Curtain and knew this would be beyond exhausting. But I felt the weight of reality tug at me and remembered when I'd realized what it was. Less than despair and more than gloom, it was a freight of responsibility I'd willingly picked up. We were all the hope there was. I could walk across our whole reality in less than a minute. It was no longer big enough to pretend this wasn't my problem. Things were broken, and somepony needed to pick up the pieces. I couldn't do everything, but this.. Maybe I could do this.
"Give me a night's rest."
"Alright." Sweetie nodded slowly. "Silver Spoon, Dinky Doo, you're a team. Be ready in twelve hours." I exchanged a glance with Silver Spoon, and we nodded.
"Here." Discord's voice had gone slightly hollow. A glittering speck broke off the spell linking him to Sweetie Belle, hanging in the air before me. I touched my horn to it and felt a small magic unfold in my mind. "Sorry, Sweetie, but our time's almost up."
"Right. I'll be back in a few weeks. And Discord?"
"Yes?"
"Thanks."
~****~
"So, what's it like?" I asked, as Chip Mint swooped in through the Curtain to land neatly before us.
"Not bad, right here." He pointed. "The quake re-arranged everything, of course, but this splinter is survivable." I nodded at that. Outside the Curtain, the world was like a crumpled ball of paper, if paper could be folded through itself. We could cross flat spaces - splinters - fairly easily, but folds were tricky. They could lead anywhere, and each quake would jumble and jostle everything differently, leaving a new maze to walk.
"Ready?" Silver Spoon asked calmly. "Know where we're going?"
"Ready when you are." I tapped my head. "Discord gave me… something. It's not a map. You know how useless those are. But it should guide us somehow."
"Good enough for me."
I glanced back at the Redoubt. There was no send-off; there had been no proclamation or announcement. We were just leaving. There'd been a round of hugs and sincere well-wishes, a few quiet words of advice. We looked like any other away-team, and most of the ponies in the bastion didn't spare us a second glance.
"After you." I waved Silver Spoon forwards. She nodded and led me through.
Outside, the storm had abated. I remembered it subsiding while I slept, sudden cessation waking me long enough to settle into a more peaceful rest. With the shocks gone, the splinters were mostly still, leaving our surroundings largely static.
This splinter was sunny, cool, and open, plains rolling away from us on all sides. Lush grass brushed my hooves as a pleasant breeze stroked my mane. We stood for a moment, enjoying the scenery. I could feel Silver's power smoothing things around us, firmly anchoring our small space with her own personal realness. I extended tenuous threads of magic, feeling the invisible folds and wrinkles of nearby space-time; no matter where you stood in a splinter, it extended as far as the eye could see. The edges were out there, though. I quickly mapped the beginning of our path, relying for directions on the strange certainty Discord had instilled in me.
"That way." I pointed to the distant forest, half-hidden by the Curtain. "Be careful, though. There's an edge just past that boulder." Silver nodded and stepped into a light trot.
I fell in behind, letting her make our path. Sparkles of chaos flickered around us, tiny ripples even in the seemingly peaceful prairie. A bird flashed into reality mid-swoop, before flickering into a floating leaf and vanishing. The grass visibly yellowed as we walked, moisture stripped from the plants as the weather heated from gentle spring to harsh summer. Night fell in moments and day returned as rapidly, the sun diving below the horizon on one side to spring into space on the opposite before swirling wildly and reversing.
"Nice day," Silver said absently.
"Mmm."
"Your turn." We'd reached the boulder.
"Right." It looked the same here, but I could feel an invisible barrier, a warp in the fabric of reality where it folded deeply. Our splinter ended with the fold, and I had no idea what lay beyond. I carefully spread my magic, letting the spell settle gently. A shimmering, half-visible wall appeared, tearing sunlight like a heatwave. I cautiously gathered a section of the fold into my control. When I had enough, I flattened it with a sudden yank. A portal formed, quickly dilating to a few feet wide. I'd carefully placed it several paces to our right, so when a jet of high-pressure water ripped through, throwing dirt into the air and shredding the grass, it missed us completely. I let the portal close, the ambient stresses neatly re-folding reality and closing my door.
"Horseapples," Silver swore mildly. "That's a no-go."
"And on our first try, too." I frowned. "It must have been pretty deep underwater."
"I'm glad I've never been caught in a storm. Good thing you didn't run into that yesterday."
"Yeah," I replied absently. "In a storm, things average out so fast physical reality is usually less dangerous than raw chaos. But I'm glad you reached me quickly." I felt along the edge of the fold. "We're walking the edge of this splinter until we find another. I'll lay a path." A thread of golden magic snaked ahead, clearly marking our way. It seemed to twist randomly across the grass, but Silver just nodded and stepped forward, tracing it carefully. I settled my pack more comfortably as I fell in behind, letting a little of the Redoubt's pressure lift from my shoulders. I didn't exactly enjoy being in the field, but it was at least a different sort of worry.
~****~
"Seven splinters." Silver stopped as she stepped through the portal. "Time for a break."
I nodded. Sweetie Belle had been insistent: though we were on an important mission, we couldn't break protocol. Our safety was paramount to our success.
I glanced around, checking our new surroundings.
"Oh, wood lilies!" Silver pointed ahead. We'd landed on the edge of a forest this time, high on a mountain where the trees were thinning into loose scree and broken boulders. My watch said it was nearly noon, though the sun was low. Bright yellow blooms clustered under scrubby pines and shrubs, bobbing and swaying in the shade. I spread my spell, feeling towards them.
"They're in this splinter. Let's go." I looked behind us for a second, searching the vista. There; the Curtain was still visible, the one piece of stability in our trek through madness. It looked small and fragile from here, a tiny white dome nestled in short trees. The prairie we'd started in was gone.
Silver paused, looking to me.
"I'm coming." I shook off a wistful feeling and trotted after her.
The lilies were delicious, wild and spicy with sweet undertones. Their fragrance filled the air as we rested.
"Do you think we'll run into quakes soon?" I bit off another blossom, chewing slowly.
"Count on it," Silver mumbled. "I just hope they're weaker. Yesterday was brutal."
"You up for it?"
"I hope so." She sighed morosely, and I nodded. I'd never been particularly close to Silver Spoon. I'd known her as a bully when I was younger, and looking back… she'd been a hanger-on, a sycophant. She'd changed, like all the survivors, but she'd never become adventurous. She stuck carefully to the hap-hazard protocols we'd developed, and only used her strong magic with meticulously restraint. Still, I respected her skill.
"For what it's worth, I think you are." I grinned, wishing she’d return it, but she just nodded and grimaced slightly. "Ready?"
"Sure."
I traced our next path along the forest edge, staying near the tasty snacks while we could.
"Hey, Dinky." After a half-hour, Silver stopped picking her way through the rubble, looking up.
"Yeah?"
"There's something ahead."
I stepped up, looking where she pointed. Near a gap in the trees, the sporadic and scattered patches of lilies swirled into clusters like a marker.
"A trail?" I carefully traced it with my eyes and nodded. "Look, it winds down…" I pointed. A narrow dirt track tripped back and forth from the mountains, eventually vanishing into the forest. It was rough, barely used, but visible over a distance.
"Think there's salvage?"
"Should we check?"
"Yeah…" I nodded slowly. "Lets."
Trails meant civilization. If there was a house, we might find tools and food; possibly first-aid supplies or medicine. This was what our expeditions usually sought: supplies we couldn't make or harvest. This wasn't our aim, but passing it up seemed foolish.
"I'm not feeling the edges."
Silver nodded, and we started again. When we reached the lilies, we turned towards the woods. It really was a path, a rough track cut through the underbrush. The lilies grew alongside, a touch of cheer in the forest's gloom.
"Silver—" I was about to stop her. We'd gone far enough out of our way. But then we turned a corner and found a small log cabin, windows high and tight, tucked under the branches of the trees. We paused together a moment before quickening our steps to the door.
I slipped the latch with a touch of magic, letting the door swing open slowly. It was welcoming inside, a small, shapely house, made from warm wood and filled with lovingly arranged rustic furniture. Looking around, I felt a sudden pang of loss for well-ordered spaces, quiet comfort and snug necessity. Homely things. I remembered the Redoubt, where we lived in shacks and scrambled for necessities, and a sigh escaped me.
We ransacked the place methodically.
The sparkles of chaos surrounding us always seemed more invasive inside a house. Vases of lilies flickered here and there, table settings and dirty dishes appeared and vanished. Doors opened and closed randomly, chairs blinked in and out. We were used to the shifting light of chaos, but when candles and lamps lit and snuffed themselves at sudden nightfall or daybreak, it always reminded me just how alien, how very inimical to life and comfort our broken world was, how small the stable fragment we clung to.
The best salvage was from things left long unattended. I snatched bandages and soap from the bathroom while Silver drew clean water for our canteens. We found a barrel of apples in the basement, and she stabilized it while we filled our packs. I took a sheaf of paper from the desk, carefully discarding diary entries that blinked and flowed while Silver carefully wrapped the nicest kitchen knife in a small towel.
When we'd gathered what we could, we left. The door latched itself behind us, and warm light spilled from the windows as night fell again.
I was about to step off the small porch when I realized my companion wasn't following.
I looked back. She was staring through the window, eyes fixed on something inside. I stepped up beside her and peered in.
A cheerful mare was serving dinner. A stallion and two foals sat at the small table, talking and laughing. Firelight cast the scene in a rosy glow, and I could almost feel the sense of love, belonging, and home as they began to eat.
Beside me, Silver's magic trembled and flickered, wavering towards the house.
"They're just ghosts," I said quietly, putting a hoof on her shoulder. "You can't—"
"I know." Her magic smoothed out. "We can't do anything. It would break them." Her voice was calm, but she wiped her eyes as she turned away. "Come on, let's go."
~****~
"You okay?" I was carefully weaving a bubble, folding space precisely around us. As I did, shimmering iridescence wafted into four walls, a floor and a high ceiling, my own little Curtain against chaos for the night. I stabilized it meticulously, bracing and cross-bracing as best I knew how. We soon stood in a small, featureless room.
Silver nodded and collapsed on the floor, letting her magic drain away as she finally relaxed. She pulled out her blanket and sloughed off her pack, kicking it into a corner as I tweaked and adjusted. The walls and floor darkened to wood, the ceiling dimming to a warm glow. It wasn't much, but it would allow us to rest comfortably. In an artificial space, only a quake would bother us.
"Want to talk about it?" I pulled out my own bedroll, trying to get comfortable. We hadn't exchanged more than a few words since noon. Neither of us were chatty, but we'd at least spoken a little in the morning. Her sudden change had me a little worried.
"I miss my family." Her voice was quiet. I stared at the ceiling, momentarily struck dumb.
"Me too."
~****~
"How… much longer… will we be out here?"
"No idea."
I winced sympathetically as Silver leaned against another tremor. We were inside a bubble, which helped a little. The walls flickered and flowed, but I was able to ease part of the shock around us.
I checked my clock again. It had been two hours since the quake started, and it was showing no signs of letting up. We'd been on the trail for four days now, a day longer than I'd ever been outside the Curtain, and we had yet to reach our destination.
We'd crossed fields of broken rock, plains of flowers, mountains, the foot of a volcano, more forests than I could count, swamps, jungles, rivers, and a lake or two. The quakes came and went, fiercer and more frequent than usual. We dealt as best we could, but both of us were nearing exhaustion.
I checked the guide spell Discord had given me, but it still just pointed forwards. The trace back to the Curtain was clear. I lingered over that a second, considering whether we should turn back, but another shock pulled my attention away.
"That one was weaker." I tried to sound encouraging.
"Might be letting up." Sweat slicked Silver Spoon's coat, pulling her mane down around her eyes. We stood tense for another few minutes, weathering a few more ripples, before everything finally went blessedly, totally still.
"Haaaa." Silver flopped down on her bedroll, curling up and draping her tail over her eyes. I pulled out some of our stored food and made a quiet meal while she slept, leaving her portion nearby. Feeling a little better, I walked over to the wall and opened a peephole.
Bubbles would hold us constant to each other, but chaos would shift around us. We'd gone to sleep on a broken desert, but now…
Now, lush green air wafted in. I could hear birdsong and smell flowers. I surveyed what I could see, although it wasn't much: gnarled trees, sparse underbrush, and small blue flowers. We were in a forest again.
I sighed. Forests were slow going, although they usually had food and water. I made to close the hole, but the short blue flowers caught my eye. I surveyed them again, a feeling of curiosity turning to recognition, then wonder. I was almost ready to widen the portal, but I stopped myself.
I couldn't go without Silver. Outside the bubble, I had no defense against the ambient chaos. I might be fine for a few minutes, but then… I might not. Even if my body wasn't hurt, I wasn't willing to risk my mind or magic. Trees, flowers, and insects stayed mostly constant despite the storms because they were so simple. Larger animals were more susceptible. No thinking creature survived long without magic, even in the calm.
"Silver!"
"Mmm?" She opened one eye. "Let me sleep."
"No, Silver, look!" I gestured to the hole. "Outside, those trees, flowers, that's Poison Joke! We're near! This is the Everfree!"
"It won't go anywhere." Her eyes started closing again, before they flicked open. "Will it?"
"I…" I gulped. "I have no idea."
"Oh." She stood and stretched, sighing. "Then let's move."
Preparing was the work of a moment. She snagged the food I'd set out and munched as we walked. I led the way, carefully feeling for the spell's gentle nudging.
"Do you feel that?" Her voice broke my concentration. We'd been walking for the better part of an hour. I looked back to see her eyes had gone wide.
"No, what… Wait." I frowned. I'd been focusing so hard on the tracking spell I hadn't noticed the gentle swelling of the background magic. We shared a look and broke into a canter, crashing out of the underbrush and into a clearing.
We stopped together. There was a cave here, a tall, shallow cavern of dark rock. Inside, maybe halfway to the back, stood a tall, glimmering, crystal tree. It seemed rough-hewn but organic, with strings of flower-like orbs hanging from the branches. Sigils marked the trunk, and five lobes branched off the main stem at even intervals.
"There's a Curtain." Silver waved at the entrance, stepping forward. I stopped her with a hoof, but looked carefully. Sure enough, a shimmering iridescence hung just inside the cave. "Hey, let go!" She pulled against my hoof.
"No, wait." I lowered my voice, but whispered fiercely. "Remember why we're here. Something's gone wrong. We can't just rush in."
"But—"
"Silver Spoon!"
She seemed to deflate at that, and I released her. We both stood and looked, searching and scrutinizing as best we could.
"That one's different." Silver pointed to one of the lobes, second from the left.
"What are you seeing?"
"The rest have… something in them, I think?"
I narrowed my eyes. I didn't have the best eyesight, but I slowly nodded.
"You might be right. That one looks empty. Are… Are they the Elements? Is one gone?"
"All I know is the Elements were 'returned to the Tree', whatever that means." She shrugged.
"Alright." I let out a long sigh. Silver watched me expectantly. "Let's step inside."
The Curtain - or whatever it was - felt normal. Silver breathed deeply as we stepped through, and I felt her magic vanish. My head snapped around, and she shied away. I shook it off and felt the space around us.
"It… seems stable." I released my magic more slowly, cautiously feeling for the fuzz of chaos in my mind and body. When nothing happened, I sighed and relaxed as well, finally releasing some of my tension. "Let's look around. Be careful." She nodded.
The cavern was rough, with dirt, grass, and vines strewn over gravel and lumps of stone. Surprisingly tasty flowers adorned the walls, tiny pink rosettes with succulent petals and leaves. It was all fairly empty, filled with silence and jagged lances of light from the roof.
Soon, both of us were sitting under the Tree, simply staring up at it. I'd seen larger plants, but this one exuded an ineffable grace and warmth that felt good to just be near.
"So, what now?"
Perplexed, I glanced at my companion.
"We were sent here to do… something, right?"
"Uh." I stopped, unsure how to respond. She was right; we had been sent on a mission. "I guess we need to search, or wait, or… I dunno." I sighed, despondent. Silver just nodded. "Did you see water anywhere?"
"There are pools in the back." She pointed past the tree.
I walked slowly, pondering our situation. We had no plan past this; we didn't really know what was happening, or even if the Tree was behind the imbalances causing the catastrophic quakes. Now that we'd arrived and explored, I was beginning to think this might be a dead-end. I sighed, glancing back. The Tree seemed flawlessly beautiful to me. My eye was drawn upwards, to the lobes we'd inspected from the entrance. There was an empty one, but it hardly seemed broken.
The water was cool, clear, and sweet. It had the mineral tang of limestone. I wondered if there was a spring.
Clink.
My ears swiveled at the unexpected sound, and I lifted my head from the pool. Silver was still resting by the Tree. I turned slowly, searching my surroundings. The shadows were thicker here in the depths. The gloom wrapped me, washing the broken rock in an ever-changing palette of darkness. The pools were flat slices of light, and smears of lichen glimmered on the rocks.
Click.
It came again, more quietly. This time both my ears caught it, flicking towards the source. I stepped away from the pool, veering around a nearby boulder and sweeping with my eyes. A dim green glow stopped me, emanating from a shimmering indigo gem cut into a faceted rhombus. It was vibrating.
Clank.
As I watched the gem slowly rolled upwards, balanced momentarily on a precarious edge, and fell forward. It was slightly further away from the Tree.
I hesitantly lowered my horn. This was magic if it was anything, and I only knew of one way to investigate that.
I started with a bare trickle of power, falling back on the multi-purpose scanning spell I used every day. A tendril wafted out, lightly touching the gem. The vibrating stopped instantly. I frowned, about to pull back, but the readings I was getting tempted me. Reality rippled gently near the gem, like a tiny spacequake - but somehow ordered, regular.
I flinched as my golden thread of magic turned green. Color flashed up the tether, whip-quick, racing from the gem towards my horn. I snapped the spell with a thought, but the magic merely wavered before re-forming, dissolving into green mist for a moment. I leaped backwards, thinking to run, but it caught me easily.
"P-Please!"
A sweet, high voice echoed in my head. A gentle tugging drew my attention back to the gem. I nearly stepped towards it, before pausing. What… who…
"I can… give you…"
The voice faded as a welter of images sleeted through my mind. I saw myself pick up the gem, fasten it around my neck on impossible golden lace. Power would be mine; a promised surety filled me. I saw myself step out of the Curtain, certain of my strength.
"…all will be…"
My new power, glimmering green, rolled away chaos. Anything I imagined, was. My barest desires manifested instantly, pulled from inspiration to reality with the barest thought. I saw myself paint a swathe of order around the Redoubt. The Curtain was dispelled, and I felt responsibility turn to pride as ponies walked free.
"Even turn back…"
Time itself couldn't stand to the power I was promised. I searched through past vistas, finding those lost to chaos and dragging them back to us. Ponies I hadn't seen in years stood beside me; Zipporwhill, Aura, Scootaloo… I could draw a ghost from ruin, coalescing the tiniest fragments of memory into an unblemished whole. I basked in joy and awe as relationships were restored, friends returned.
"All this and m-more."
Anything could be done, or undone. For a split second, I saw myself, older, wiser, and infinitely more powerful, stepping back to a horribly familiar dawn. The sun rose red over a peaceful Ponyville, and the half-remembered catastrophe of the Splintering started with a shriek and a shatter. This time somepony could stand against it—
"Dinky!"
"Huh?" I gasped myself aware. "Silver?"
"What's wrong?" She gave me a searching stare. "I called you several times."
"Look." I pointed to the gem. "It was rolling; I found it. Let's—" I reached a hoof out to scoop it up, but Silver grabbed my fetlock. "Hey!"
"Hold up." She frowned at the gem, her eyes tracing its trail in the dust away from the Tree. "What— Is that an Element? What happened?"
"It's magic! It can help… everything!" I grinned brightly. Of course it could! “It’ll all be better!”
Her frown deepened at that, and I paused in confusion. What was her problem? This was good news… right?
"What happened to you?" Her voice was low, confused. "This isn't you, Dinky."
"Hey, what do you know?" I struggled to pull my hoof away. She hadn't seen.
"I…" She trailed off, and shook her head. "Nevermind; just tell me what you mean. How do you know… and what did it do?"
"I was scanning it; the gem." I waved a hoof. "It reached back through the spell, and told, showed me. It's strong, Silver! It can help all of us fix everything! I just need to pick it up—"
"No!" Silver cut me off with a yank, jerking me further away from the gem. "Don't!"
"But…"
"This isn't you," she said again. "I might not know you well, but I know you're better than this. Nothing's that simple, nothing's free."
"Come on, Silver!" I was pulling back, but she was stronger. I could barely budge against her grip. "Just think! We could fix things, help everypony!" Her grip loosened slightly, and I continued, encouraged. "It can stabilize stuff, fix things permanently, just like that!" Her look darkened at that.
"No." Her voice was grim this time. "No, that's impossible."
"It's not! I saw it! We can change things, save ponies! Don't you want to see our lost friends again? Don't you care?"
"Shut up!" She was angry now, eyes blazing. "You think I don't care about my friends? That I'd abandon them now? Look at what you're doing, Dinky! I care about you. I won't let another friend destroy herself. You know things can't just be undone." She spat in disgust. "There's no magic to fix this broken world, no make-everything-better button. Discord couldn't fix this, even if he was free. Not even the Elements or alicorns could, in all their glory. We can't go back, no matter what pipe dreams you've been fed. We're stuck like this! I know it. You know it."
She poked me in the chest. "And you're suddenly willing to listen to some strange thing dragging one of the Elements away from the Tree of Harmony?" She grit her teeth and shook her head violently, but her anger abated a little. "I wish I could believe you. I wish you were right. But I know you're not. I know it like a stone in my hoof. I can't stand by and let you too…" Her voice trailed off. "Sorry, Dinky. I won't let you do this, no matter how angry you are at me."
"Wha—" I blinked as a hoof filled my vision. Bright lights blinded me and a rushing sound filled my ears.
~****~
When I came to, I was snugly tied.
"Silver?" I squirmed around, trying to ignore the aching in my head. She was standing near the gem, pouring magic over it with one hoof.
"Shut up." She barely spared me a glance. The green mist, whatever it was, fought her. It was losing.
"Sorry."
Her power finally coalesced, snarling into a tight knot around the gem. The mist thrashed and swirled, but it couldn't escape. Whatever it tried, it was turned back in tight curves and twists. She shuddered and relaxed, before looking to me. I winced at the hurt in her eyes.
"I really am sorry," I said quietly. "I wasn't myself. I can see that now." She nodded, a little hardness leaving her face. "…Could you untie me?"
"Can you prove you're okay?"
"N…No," I mumbled. "But… I promise I am."
She sighed at that, almost trailing into a chuckle. She loosened the ropes with a few tugs, but stood between me and the gem.
"I can kick you again."
"No need!" I winced at that, feeling my jaw ache. "I'll be good!"
"Good." She cast a glance back at the gem, an indigo spark knotted in green mist, and a shadow of regret crossed her face. "I guess… that's over."
"Hey, are you okay?" I gave her a worried look. After the past few days, I knew her better, but still not particularly well. "You did the right thing. It was my fault."
"Yeah…" She looked away. "Though I'm sorry I hurt you."
"It's fine." I waved it off. "But… what's bothering you?"
"It would have been nice, is all." She sighed. "If we could fix everything." Bitterness touched her voice. "If we could fix anything."
"Silver…" I looked at her, suddenly reading more than just exhaustion in her stance. I'd always felt a weight at the Redoubt. I thought of it as responsibility. Now, for the first time, I realized she might be carrying one too. "Let me past." She looked up, meeting my eyes fiercely, but I gave her a pleading look. "I'll be okay." She reluctantly stepped aside. I looked at the gem but didn't draw any closer, instead snagging it with a puff of magic and floating it after me.
"Silver, I think… you were only half-right." I turned towards the Tree at the center of the cave, and she fell in beside me. "There is no magical fix-everything button." I led her around to the front, and we both looked up at the beautiful branching crystal. "That doesn't mean we should give up. It doesn't mean we should give in." I floated the gem to her. She stared it silently for a long minute.
"W-What…"
"Put it back." I pointed to the empty lobe. She furrowed her brows, but took it carefully.
I watched as she struggled her way up the Tree. She couldn't fly, and she was holding the gem in one hoof. Still, the ascent was far from comical. Her fierce determination gave her struggle a strange, solemn air. Finally, she reached the empty lobe. Balancing precariously as she stretched towards it, she paused and stared at the gem for a long moment. As if reaching a sudden decision, she turned and shoved it into the lobe. It sank in easily, the crystal folding around it. I could see the green mist lash for a moment, before dispersing with a disquieting wail. Silver flinched, suddenly losing her grip. I winced as she tumbled down, landing before me in a heap.
"What," she gasped, "was the point of that?"
"You were half-right." I helped her up, and turned her to look at the Tree. "We can't fix everything. There's not enough magic in the world for that. But… I do think we can fix anything, given the time and determination." I bit my lip, staring at the Tree for a moment, wondering if I'd misjudged this.
Just as I was about to sigh and give up, sparkles appeared in the branches. The light quickly spread, lambent halos appeared around the gems; five in the branches, one in the trunk. Red, orange, yellow, blue, indigo, and violet. The whole thing flashed, blindingly bright, and a wave of magic passed over us. It was gone in an instant, but we could feel the difference; the strange peace the tree had emitted was stronger now, wrapping around us with the comfort of a warm blanket on a cold day.
"There. You did it." I smiled, and threw a hoof over Silver's shoulder. Her expression of wonder melted into a complicated, confused expression, before giving way to a grin. For the first time, I saw her grin, wide, open, and wonderful.
"I did, didn't I?" We stood in silence for a moment. As we watched, one of the crystalline flowers floated off the tendril it hung from, wafting down to land in front of us. It wilted immediately, crumbling to dust. Silver leaned down, gathering the dead bloom and rubbing it in her hooves. I saw something glint.
"What's that?" Curiosity drew me closer. She held out a hoof, showing a half-dozen crystal teardrops.
"They look like seeds." She grinned again, just as bright. "You're right. Maybe we can't fix everything. But you haven't given up, so I won't either. It's a broken road, but we'll take it one step at a time. It's not everything, but if it's enough for my friends…"
I nodded.
"Then it's enough for me."