//------------------------------// // Chapter 5: The Four Scales // Story: Epsilon's peak // by StoryWeaver //------------------------------// Chapter Five "Thou knowest the risk that thou placeth in doing this right, 'Tia?" Luna asked Celestia. "Yes Luna, but I know it will work out, I trust Reach, he is one of us now, after all, do you have the book?" A black book popped into existence wrapped in the dark blue alicorn's magic, "I do, sister." "Put it in it's rightful place. If I knew Raymond at all well then Reach will have had the dream, he will know where to find it," The book popped away again. "It is done sister," Celestia nodded solemnly, "Then we wait," _______________________________________________ "...And bacon strips, and bacon strips, and bacon strips!" I thought, distracted from my task of searching for this armor by the delicious thought of turducken epic. I reluctantly put those thoughts in the back of my mind. Oh Bacon, how I will miss thee in mine herbivorous form. the armor had a connection to this bracelet somehow but I couldn't figure out how to follow it! Maybe if I learn how to use the magic of this world...maybe if I look in the library or something... And off I went, as I trotted to the huge library. I found Twilight sitting in a reading chair there with several stacks of books surrounding her, "Hey Twi, watcha doin'?" "Oh hi Reach, Just some light reading. I've already read all these books so none of this is new. You looking for something?" "Actually yeah, I am. I'm looking for a book on magic, so that I can learn how to use my horn." Twilight smiled, "Wasn't I supposed to teach you that?" I facehoofed, an audible clack going around the room, making my head rattle, "Oh yeah, how could I forget," "You have a lot on your mind." Twilight suddenly looked worried, "I don't mean to pry, but...Do you know what was so upsetting that Princess Celestia cried over?" Honestly? "She didn't give me very much, and she said to tell no one else of it, not even you Twi." She seemed shocked by that, "but the princess trusts me!" "I imagine that this is beyond trust Twi. Celestia is just as much a pony as the rest of us, and being huma-ahem. being a pony means that you have emotions, and sometimes you need to sort through them...alone" "But-" I interrupted, "No buts Twilight. Celestia needs to work this out by herself. this is far beyond the both of us and you know it." Twilight looked at me, pleading to me to tell her what I knew, but I stood resolute. Defeated, she hung her head in shame, "I shouldn't have pressed for information, I'm just so worried for her, she's like a mother to me." "I know the feeling," I thought back to the girl, "and like all mothers, she has problems that even a child such as you can't fix with all your knowledge. Now, can you teach me to use my horn?" "No," Twilight looked at me sadly,"It's not you, it's just that if I did try I would be too distracted worrying about the Princess." Twilight slowly trotted out of the room, an air of gloom permeating the surrounding area. I called out to her, "Twi, if you want to know so bad you should ask her yourself, that's all I can give you for help, she does love you, you know, I can see it in her eyes every time she looks at you..." I paused for a moment, unsure if what I was about to say was right, "Your lucky to be loved so uniquely by her Twilight, I'm sure if you ask her she'll tell you what's wrong," Twilight looked at me with a new light in her eyes, "Thank you so very much Reach. I'll ask her right away!" And off she trotted with a skip to her step to ask the princess. I smiled quietly to myself, then saddened, "I wish it were that simple for me though..." I thought back to my home, my parents! What had become of them? They have been infected during the breakout, and if they weren't then...then the gravity well must have killed them! I-I killed my own parents! I killed a whole country! No! You can't let your grief control you Reach! You almost destroyed this innocent land when that happened. You must look for the ceremonial armor, then once your crowned prince maybe you can find a way to get back home...to earth...to Her... I smiled once again, reassured that if I could get back home I could fix everything. I looked around, surprised to see that I had been absentmindedly wandering the halls of the castle. In front of me were a set of stairs leading downward. A sort of urge to go down, a pull beckoned me forth. Maybe this is that connection to the armor... I thought, Let's try it... I slowly began to step down the stairs. Then I tripped. I went tumbling down the stairs one by one, hitting each one painfully. Once I reached the bottom, I just lay there. The bruises all over me radiating pain. "Ow..." I slowly pulled myself up, wincing from the pain, thankfully my horn hadn't been touched. I had the feeling that if it had been broken that very bad things would have happened. "Where am I?" I looked around, surprised to see that beyond the stairs were caves made of crystal. Something about that nagged at me. Had I been here before? The tug had become stronger, pulling toward a dark dusty gallery. I gulped and went forth into the darkness. I slowed down, fearing that I would run into something, I almost did several times, opting to follow where the pull led me. A whisper. I jumped, "Who said that!?" No one answered. "Who's there!?" Nothing. I paused a little longer..."Maybe I'm just hearing things..." I reluctantly kept moving, soon a light began to filter through the crystalline walls. My eyes had adjusted to the dark so I could finally see. I definitely heard something that time. "I know you're there! You can come out now!" I called out. A presence permeated the area, focusing gently upon me, "Oh, Child, you have much to learn," the voice was male. "Where are you? Show yourself!" "Come now Far Reach, I thought you'd be smarter than that. That is why I chose you over Raymond after all." What was this...thing talking about? "What?" I got the feeling that it was displeased, "Follow the...pull as you so eloquently put it...all shall be explained in time..." And just like that it was gone, the pull much stronger, more tangible. It clouded my thoughts, forcing me ever nearer wherever it was leading me. Around me is a crystal cathedral, translucent pillars of crystal support high vaults of the same. The crystal shows with an inner light, refracting with such beauty that it takes my breath away, as if it has a life of it's own. I walk forward between the crystalline pews, my jaw hanging open at the sheer beauty of this sacred place. When I look forward I see a crystal pulpit, and resting upon it is an open book, a bible of the religion that built this place. Upon it's face are the words "The four scales". My study of this book is interrupted as the pull leads me onward. Beyond this bible is an ornate chest of shining red metal. I walk slowly and reverently towards it. The ornate lock meant to keep the contents within this container away from the unworthy is broken. I open the chest, and within it's gleaming confines lay, among the rest of the armor, the other bracelet, the armor itself held an indescribable beauty, the helm was winged with the most intricate of black feathers When I lay my eyes on it the pull grew to be almost unbearable. Commanding me to take the bracelet and put it onto my other hoof, completing the set. When I do, something shifts inside of me, the armor flies out of the chest and assembles itself around me. As the helm rests on my head my mane changes, forming into a raging blue inferno. As the rest of the armor assembled itself I feel power, the power of creation. But something about it felt hollow, only a fraction of something greater ...a lock without a key! "Finally you understand, I have always been here Reach, inside you since your very conception, but I am not complete, I need a host, and though you are fitting, I cannot take you. You aren't the point of creation that I seek to restore balance to this universe..." I nodded, "What do I do?" "First you must attain the knowledge of the book behind you, after that we will continue." "The book of the four scales, I see, very well," I turned to look at the black book on the pulpit, but when I went to grab it, the book pulled away. I was suddenly surrounded by black. The presence then spoke "Your first trial, the trial of knowledge, wisdom, and cunning." I was suddenly surrounded by hedges. Three times my height. "Find your way out." "Aren't you going to give me any clues?" "Only one, look inside." The presence stopped speaking, but was still there, the weight of it on my mind was still there, observing my every move. "Well...that makes no sense." _______________________________________________ Reach was right. If Twilight wanted to know what was bothering Celestia so much, she needed to go right to the source and ask her. Celestia was in her study, the study that Twilight knew so well, full of little contraptions that did things that no one knew of except Celestia herself. She looked up from the book she was reading, taking off her reading glasses with a golden aura, "Hello Twilight, I was just about to send for you," Twilight stopped right inside the door, "you were?" "Yes, I have been thinking for some time, and I've finally decided that you should know of this." "Princess...?" Twilight asked, unsure of what to say. "When You defeated King Sombra at the crystal empire I said that you would advance to the next level of your magical studies, this is it." Twilight suddenly smiled widely, excited at the prospect of new knowledge, "When are we starting princess?" "It does not work like that My Student, this concerns the Elements of Harmony." "What do you mean princess?" "Do you know where the Elements came from?" Celestia asked, her face suddenly solemn. Twilight's brows scrunched in thought, "Something about it being crafted by ponies..." Twilight's eyes dilated, "Th-there's nothing about it that I've read about except that you used them to send Luna to the moon..." "As with the Crystal empire, not everything is written in books." Celestia's magic brought forth eight small spheres of different colors, she placed them together and shot a burst of magic between them, causing them to light and shoot intricate lines of magic between each other in a pattern that Twilight didn't recognize, "Once, long ago, there were seven gods, all but one existed to oppose another, Luna and I were only two within this council." Two spheres opposite one another flashed, highlighting which ones represented the Solar and Luna Godesses, "Cadence and Sombra both represent good and evil respectively" two more spheres flashed, "Raymond represented both Creation, and destruction," another two, "and finally, Chaos and Order," The last two flashed. "Discord is chaos right?" Twilight asked. "Exactly My faithful student." "Then who is Order?" Celestia said only one word, "Harmony" "But the Elements-" Twilight stopped, as a realization struck her, "What happened to Harmony?" Celestia looked at Twilight, a deep ancient pain filled her eyes, "She passed on, and the power of Harmony split into six pieces." Twilight's jaw fell open, "That means..." "Yes, you and your friends hold the power of a god..." Twilight was dumbstruck. She had never imagined that it would be like this, "Wh-Why here? Why now?" "When Far Reach came to this world I knew exactly what he was. A short time after Harmony fell, Raymond, the holder of both creation and Destruction, left this world in search of another, a world where he could pass his power on to another. In short, he was dying." "B-But how? Aren't you immortal?" "For a time Twilight, all of us have had our beginnings in the council. Raymond was here before all of us came into office. He knew more of the council than any of us." "That doesn't explain why you're telling me this now." "Raymond found his successor, I'm sure you know who it is." Twilight was at a loss for words, "B-But..." "This is the first time since Harmony fell that any of the council have taken in a new office. Sombra fell but the spirit of evil is still looking for a host. Glimmer is in self exile, and Discord is locked in stone. When someone new enters to replace another in the council, the other hosts must be present, the problem is, Order has no host, the Elements are their own magical object." Twilight was still trying to process the information being thrown at her, "Reach is...is a god?" "Not yet, and Both Luna and I aren't sure if he ever will be..." "But if..." Twilight stammered. "If he doesn't take the office then the balance will be upset, and everything will be destroyed." Twilight suddenly realized something, "What about destruction?" Raymond found another host, and informed me of his identity, it seems that when Far Reach tapped into his power for the first time, it split in two, destruction going into a new creation, Far Reach had named it Argoron." Celestia paused for a moment, letting it sink in, "If Argoron makes it here before Far Reach discovers his true power, then this world is doomed to destruction." _______________________________________________ He finally had it! Argoron had finally cracked the barrier! Once he had sent that boy through to Equestria, the walls between his universe and Equestria had closed themselves, making it impossible for Argoron to follow. But by tapping into the girl's power, he could tear that wall down! The girl was strapped into the machine, tubes protruding from her not quite corrupt form as she still tried to scream in pain. The machine pumped blood out of her, which instantly refilled, extracting energy from it and using her as a never ending battery. Oh the beauty of Torturing her made the familiar rustling in his nonexistent loins rise. He would have fun with her later, but that boy was his primary goal, he had made a promise to visit him, and he just couldn't find it in himself to break a promise well made. "Heh heh heh, This will be fun," And with that, Argoron finally pulled the lever, activating the machine before him. The girl's struggles were redoubled as the machine pumped more blood out of her at an increasingly furious pace, her muffled screams finally dying as her voice gave out. The space in front of Argoron distorted, seemingly pulled apart, and with that a hole had finally been torn through the fabric of the unyielding void, allowing him access to the world he had longed to destroy ever since he had been made, Equestria! Argoron turned to the girl, "Ah, you have done so well, My Dear in serving me, so much so that I think you deserve a reward, you shall join me as I destroy the one you love." She couldn't scream. He wrapped his tentacles about her and dragged her out of the machine, and before the rift could close, they both were through. In Equestria.