Ivy’s commitment

The melting snow stuck to Hikary’s hoofs and she was extremely annoyed by it. It slowed her down… and it shouldn’t. She had to get home, to her mother, to Taira, as soon as possible, and the freakin’ snow was slowing her down. Of course they were almost there… but as every day passed Hikary felt more and more that there was no time to lose.

More and more she began to realize the importance of the message the Guardian had left her. The future of the world was in her hands now. She had not dared to burden Vin with her knowledge just yet. She wanted to enjoy being with him just a little bit more, before he, too, would realize what was happening around them. The fading of the world… Only she and her family had the power to stop this now.

This was why she had to get home as soon as possible. To share this news… Instinctively she touched the stone inside her bag. It was still there, but it hadn’t talked anymore. It was just like any other stone now… apart from the strange shape and color. But she would protect it with her life, even if it was only one of the five stones they needed. Still four to go… And she had no idea where to look for them. They could be anywhere… Even in the west.

Thankfully she and Vin had found a quicker way out of the old Friendship Lands. Within a week they had arrived at a village where they had rested a few days. Hikary had wanted to move on, but Vin had insisted. They needed to regain some strength before they could move on, otherwise they might not have made it at all. Well, in the end he had been right… Only when Hikary had been allowed to rest had she realized exactly how tired she had been.

According to Vin she had slept for days and she had only awoken to eat, but she remembered surprisingly little of it. He had been taking care of her, even though he must have been so tired himself. And that wasn’t even considering the fact that he had spend his entire life in darkness and that everything of the outside world was new to him. He was adjusting surprisingly fast, even though he could still be surprised about the smallest things.

She had to smile when she remembered the time they saw a bunny for the first time. Vin had been so surprised to see the large ears on it that he and the bunny had spend five minutes just staring at each other. Sweet Vin… When she saw him like that, Hikary wanted, for only a little moment, to be with him forever.

Ivy could not help but stare the moment she opened her curtains. She still could not get over how barren the land was here. Only rocks and stones and sand. No trees, no green, no animals, no nothing. And they were so close to the breach… Of course Taira had told her the world looked like this around here, but Ivy had never been able to imagine it. Only now did she appreciate the green world that was her own home.

They had been traveling for so long now… And they still had not reached the breach. She had always thought she could imagine how big the world actually was, that it was just a big version of the world she had always known, but now she realized she actually couldn’t. And the west was supposed to be so different from everything she had seen… And she had already seen so much.

The world she had known all her life, the safe place surrounded by the mountains… seeing how different the rest of the world was, she began to appreciate and love her home more and more. It truly was the most beautiful country in the world… Her mother had told her so but she had never understood what she had meant until she saw the world with her own eyes.

“Are you ready Ivy?” Taira asked when she entered their little hotel room.
“Yes, I think I am. I’ve packed everything.” Ivy replied while she turned away from the window.
“Good. Then let’s go. We’re close now… I want to hurry.”

Ivy nodded and followed her older sister out of the room. They paid the hotel owner and left the hotel. It was strange, to see the hotel there next to the road, while there was no sight of civilization elsewhere. “It’s the last hotel before we reach the breach.” Taira said, as if she sensed what Ivy was thinking.
“We’re that close already?” Ivy asked, surprised.
“Well… if we hurry, we should be able to reach it late this night. But we won’t be able to cross the breach until tomorrow morning, but there’s an inn there I think, so we should be fine. Let’s go, Ivy. I don’t want to be out there when it’s dark. I’ve heard groups of bandits hang out there, looking for merchants who cross the breach. And as I’m not allowed to use my powers, I don’t want to risk anything.”

Ivy agreed, and soon she and Taira were on their way through the barren lands. They had to stop frequently to drink, and as the scenery didn’t change at all, Ivy had the feeling they weren’t advancing much. They only met one other group of ponies who, as Taira pointed out, were from the west, and were probably only here to sell some of their items.

To Ivy, it seemed like ages had gone by before she realized the sun was setting. Only now did she dare to ask Taira’s much hated question.
“Are we there yet?”
“We’re getting close. Maybe another hour, maybe a little more. I think. I’m beginning to feel it… the flow of the breach’s power.”
“Power? What do you mean?” Ivy asked curiously. She had never thought of the breach as anything else but a natural place.

“The breach… Nobody knows why it’s there. As far as ponies can remember, it has always been there. Even the oldest of accounts that still exist today speak of it. But why it was born… Many legends surround it. Nobody knows for sure. One thing we do know, though, is that it separates the west from the east, not just by land but also because of the different powers that work on each side. The breach is more than a gap in the earth. It can keep the powers of both sides apart. To do such a thing… it holds a tremendous power itself, Ivy. I don’t know if you can feel it now that your powers are, err, sealed off, but I think you will notice it.” Taira explained.

And, Ivy had to admit later, she did notice it. Not because she actually felt its powers, but because of the immense silence. There was no wind, there were no animals, no birds, no trees or other plants. To Ivy it seemed like nothing dared to go close to the breach. She began to feel silly for attempting to cross it. If nature itself had decided it was best to stay away from it, then why did she try to do so? As they got ever closer to the breach, this feeling grew inside her. It was wrong, it was unnatural to get so close to the breach, let alone try to cross it.

Yet there was a sole reason she kept going, one reason only that would take her over the breach. Every time she looked at her sister, the future queen, she saw a determination in her face, a strong will she had never seen before. The strength of a queen and mother who wants to reach her destiny on this journey… who wants to find her child. And in that determined look Ivy saw all she needed to know. Taira, she knew from the bottom of her heart, would be a great queen one day. But in order to find peace in herself to be able to be that queen, Taira would have to know if her child was all right.

And this child was not only Taira’s child, but also her heir and the future of their little country. And that was why she would cross the breach, even though all of nature whispered to her that she should stay away from it. Ivy wondered why she suddenly felt nature’s powers so strongly. She was not aware of ever being so aware of the life around her, but now that she thought about it, she was sure she felt more… connected to the earth around her ever since they had set out on their journey. Was it because of all the new things she saw, or because of something else?

“We’re here.” Taira said, awakening Ivy from her thoughts. Ivy looked up. Ahead of her, on the right side of the road, she noticed a large wooden building. There was a much smaller one a little further away,  on the left side. But beyond that, she saw nothing. Her curiosity was awoken, and Ivy began to walk a little faster. Taira pointed out to her that the big building was the inn, and that the little building was the guard’s post. “They’re actually guards from the west, stationed here, just as we have guards on their site. That way we can prevent anyone we don’t want to enter our continent to cross the bridge.”

“I see…” Ivy said. She passed the large inn, which was larger than any she had seen on this road.
“It’s so large because sometimes the weather prevents ponies from crossing the bridge for a while. So they need quite a bit of room to house them.” Taira said as if reading her mind.
Ivy glanced at the large building, and through the window she could see the main room was almost empty. Well, there was no rain, no wind, nothing that would prevent ponies from crossing a bridge.

When she got closer to the breach, she was shocked to see the other side was so far away. She knew the breach had to be quite large, if it really was to separate both sides, but it was much broader than she could have possibly imagined. The other side was at least five hundred meters away, she realized. She could hardly make out anything and the only reason she was sure it was there was because of the silhouette of some other large building, which she suspected to be an inn as well but couldn’t be sure because it was so far off and it looked even larger, on the other side.

She realized one more thing as she was able to look over the side of the breach. It had no bottom, as far as she could see. It was a giant tear in the earth, going on endlessly to both north and south, and she could not even begin to imagine how deep it was. She couldn’t see it, but she could feel it… somehow. Deep within this breach flowed the power that retained the balance of the world. But it was so deep that no living soul would ever see it, and no one should, either.

Ahead of her, a large wooden bridge stretched out over the tear, straight to the other side. It’s gigantic ropes were tied to even larger stones that seemed to be founded deep in the earth. There were four ropes in all, two at the bottom, two at the top. Wooden planks covered the bottom two all the way to the other side while another rope was tied up and down between the bottom and top ropes. It looked like it was well taken care off, and secure. There was one thing Ivy could not find an answer to, though. “How?”

“How? Missy, the answer to that is, I am afraid, nothing more than a legend.” One of the guards said.
Ivy had no idea she had gotten so close to the guard house already. A male pony, dressed in a dark purple uniform and carrying a long staff was standing next to her. She noticed Taira was standing back, unwilling to join in the conversation.
“ A legend?” Ivy asked curiously. “Yes… they said it were the ancient winged ones of the east that flew the ropes to the other side, while the mages of the west used their connection with the earth to move the planks in place.”

“I see… so it’s a magical bridge?” Ivy asked. The guard laughed at her innocence.
“I don’t know about that, missy. It’s only a legend. But it’s true that this bridge is old and still looks like new while it hardly ever needs maintenance. And the winds it survived… Maybe, in that way, it truly is a magical bridge. But, I’m afraid, it’s closed for the night. Please stay at the inn for tonight. I can only allow you passage tomorrow morning.” The guard informed her.
Ivy nodded.
“I know. Thank you for your stories.”
“No problem, missy. Good night.” The guard smiled, and he returned to his little house.

Ivy turned to Taira. “It’s… you are right, Taira. I don’t really feel it with my powers, like you said, but I’m aware of it. This breach… it’s special. As is that bridge. I don’t know why, or how, but… it is beautiful.” Ivy said.
“It is, isn’t it? Well, let’s get ourselves some food. We have to cross that bridge tomorrow, and it’s still quite a long way to cross while there is nothing below you, I can tell you. We need some rest before we try.” Taira turned towards the large inn. Ivy followed her sister and princess, while looking back on the huge breach once more.