Divine Entertainment

by Orthoros

50. Runes - Part One: Journey

"Want to go over the list again?" Atlas asked.

"We already went over it twice, I really doubt anything has changed since we looked at it last," Crimson responded.

"I still don't see what purpose this list has," Doc Brown added. "Too much order is boring, so can't we just say, forget something? It would at least add a little spice to our journey."

"For you maybe..." Atlas muttered.

With a sigh, Atlas added the list to his saddlebags, which he set down near the others. Even if they did find something missing, they couldn't really go back to get it, since they were already on the outskirts of the town. After a whole five years of working under Brown Diamond, they were finally about to start Atlas' first personal research project.

Officially the project was under the care of the head of the department Doc Brown, but Atlas was the one who suggested it. When Atlas told Doc Brown about runes and what he suspected they could do, he was immediately on board. Just the promise of a long forgotten enchanting method was enough to almost give Brown a heart attack.

The real problem was convincing the higher ups. At first, they didn't even believe that runes existed, so Atlas and Doc Brown had spent months searching through every imaginable book in their library for clues or references to them. They’d had to pester their superiors for months until funding was approved. Atlas correctly suspected that what had finally pushed them over the edge for approval was the potential uses for the guard.

"Do you think he'll arrive soon?" Crimson queried while playing with a pebble on the ground.

"He should've been here some time ago, so I really hope so. We're burning daylight." Atlas replied slightly miffed.

They were promised a guard since it was entirely possible that they would encounter monsters on their way. Of course, Atlas was capable of defending himself well enough, but it was always better to have a professional soldier along for the ride.

In turn, Crimson came along as a scout. When Atlas asked if he was interested he was taken off guard by how quickly he agreed. If they had a pegasus with them the temple they were searching for would be infinitely easier to spot, since it was supposedly located deep within a forest.

White Mallow described the location of the lost temple as good as he could, but they would still need to search a large area since it was impossible to pinpoint without an accurate map.

"You think that's him?" Crimson asked.

In the distance, they could see a lonesome guard trotting in their direction.

"Must be, guards always travel in pairs." Doc Brown supplemented.

Once the guard got closer, he revealed himself to be a familiar face.

"Hey guys, long time no see." Amethyst Blade greeted.

He was decked out in the standard issue Teras armor, which covered most of him. Its colors were mainly black with purple accents, reminding of the standard guard armor. It could have also been a very, very dark gray, Atlas could never tell. Apparently wearing it on regular patrols was optional, some ponies abandoning it for increased mobility during battle; but for official assignments like this, it was mandatory.

"Amethyst? You're our guard?" Atlas asked in disbelief.

"The one and only," Amethyst responded smugly.

Atlas and Crimson chuckled happily upon hearing that their friend was to accompany them. They hadn't seen him for quite some time since Teras members usually were gone for months on their patrols along the borders.

After they properly greeted each other, including a few hugs, they started to gear up. In the researcher's case, it was as simple as putting on their saddlebags.

"You must be Brown Diamond," Amethyst said to the disheveled looking unicorn. "I've heard a great deal about you."

"Whatever they told you, I didn't do it," Doc Brown blurted out.

"Mostly good things," Amethyst added, slightly confused.

"Well, I probably did those things," Doc Brown rectified with a smug look. "You interested in enchantments son?"

"Uhhh... sure?"

"Good enough," Doc Brown shrugged. "Come on, let's go! We have a forgotten art to rediscover!"

With those words, he started happily walking northwest, towards the mountains.

"Is he always like that?" Amethyst asked.

"Yeah, but you get used to it, "Atlas replied. "Only took me about two years or so."

Laughing, Atlas started to follow Brown Diamond who was already placing considerable distance between them. Crimson and Amethyst shrugged before making to catch up to him.

"So Amethyst, haven't seen you in a while. What have you been up to?" Crimson asked.

"Patrolling the borders mostly," came the reply. "I'm actually surprised by how little fighting we actually do. Monsters coming too close to our kingdom isn't as common as you might think it is."

"But, I heard a lot of ponies die and Teras is always understaffed," Crimson asked curiously.

"Well, yeah. It's just when a monster actually shows up ponies tend to get hurt and we don't have medics with us most of the time. If you get a bad wound we often can't return in time to have it treated."

"Why don't you have any medics with you? Seems kinda irresponsible."

"Medics aren't exactly useful in a fight and if you can't pull your weight in a fight you're putting the entire team at risk. There are a few veteran healers in Teras that can put up a decent fight, but not anywhere near enough."

"Huh, you ever come close to dying on us?" Atlas interjected.

"Once or twice," Amethyst said. "Hydra pulled out a sizable chunk of my leg about a year ago, almost bled to death."

He accentuated his statement by levitating the shinguard off his left foreleg so they could see the scar. Running up the entire length of his leg, the scar was clearly visible, devoid of any fur. Both Atlas and Crimson winced at the sight before Amethyst put his armor back in place.

"What have you two been up to? Any interesting developments?" Amethyst asked in turn.

"Mostly research for me. Doc and I had a few breakthroughs on enchantments, but everything we did was just making the existing ones more efficient. No new stuff yet, but we hope to change that with our little expedition here." Atlas stated.

"Just working away at the weather factory," Crimson said. "Blue Current got a promotion recently and will probably take over once her father retires in a few years."

Amethyst nodded, happy that his friends were doing well in life; albeit a bit sad that he was missing out on it.

"Also," Crimson added. "Blue Current is pregnant."

Atlas tripped over his own legs because his head snapped towards Crimson at an unhealthy speed, while Amethyst opted to simply freeze in place with his jaw hanging open.

Crimson blushed at his friends reactions, the red of his cheeks barely registering through his fur. Atlas caught himself first and playfully slapped Crimson on the shoulder.

"Congratulations!" Atlas laughed.

"Heh, thanks..." Crimson blushed even more.

"I call dibs on being uncle!" Atlas exclaimed.

"You can't call dibs on being an uncle..." Amethyst responded, having just recovered.

"You can and I just did. What are you gonna do about it?" Atlas asked smugly.

"But that's not how uncles work..." Amethyst muttered. "That aside, I must congratulate you as well. I look forward to meeting him or her. How far along is she?" He redirected at Crimson.

"She just recently started showing, so probably around nine more months or so," Crimson said proudly.

"That's great! I'll see to it that I'm not stationed too far off during that time, wouldn't want to miss it after all." Amethyst said.

"Does Belle already know?" Atlas asked slightly concerned.

"I do believe they scheduled a get-together tomorrow, so if she didn't before, I'm sure she's about to find out. Why?"

"Oh, just... reasons. You know?" Atlas replied awkwardly.

Crimson was slightly confused but let the matter drop. Wouldn't be the first time his friend acted a little weird.

Atlas, in the meantime, had an unsettling thought. Belle had agreed to wait however long it would take until he finally got comfortable with the idea of marriage and all it implied. Crimson and Blue Current were setting an example he just couldn't follow yet, and by all means, he should have long ago.

Their friends expecting a foal would definitely raise some flags and Atlas wasn't sure if he could face them just yet. He didn't know what it was, but there was still some part of him, something missing, that prevented him from fully accepting the situation he found himself in. He had spent many a sleepless night thinking about what it could be but always came up empty in the end.

"You okay Atlas?" Crimson asked. "Something on your mind?"

"Huh? What?" Atlas snapped out of his stupor. "Oh hey look, Doc is already way ahead of us! We really should catch up."

With those words, Atlas took off, cantering towards Doc Brown who had indeed put quite the distance between them already. It also appeared that he had, for whatever unfathomable reason, put on his favorite lab coat along the way.

Crimson and Amethyst shared a confused look before taking off, running after their friend and starting their journey proper.

"Atlas? Psst! Atlas! Wake up!" Amethyst whisper-shouted.

The noise was just loud enough to pull Atlas from his slumber. He groggily opened his eyes to look at whoever had the nerve to wake him up ahead of time.

"Amethyst? What time is it?" He asked, following up his question with a huge yawn.

He groggily attempted to rise, since he was awake anyway.

"No, wait! Stop moving!" Amethyst cried out in alarm.

Atlas furrowed his brows but stopped moving nonetheless, since Amethyst seemed to be genuinely distressed.

"Why?" He asked simply, now wide awake.

He could just barely make out the sun rising in the distance, the view from their perch atop a mountain pass quite formidable.

"Now, Atlas, promise me to not freak out," Atlas nodded. "There are currently three snakes using you as a pillow."

Atlas slowly turned his head towards his torso, only to find that Amethyst was telling the truth. Curled up on him were three distinctively colored snakes, presumably sleeping. It was kinda hard to tell since snakes couldn't close their eyes, so he just took their lack of movement as a clear sign.

It also explained the weird sensation of weight he felt since he woke up.

"I'm gonna levitate them off you very gently, don't make any sudden movements or they might strike," Amethyst said while simultaneously firing up his horn.

"Don't you dare!" Atlas called out to stop him.

"What?" Amethyst exclaimed confusedly, the mana gathered in his horn dispelling. "But why? They could be dangerous!"

"Don't you fight huge monsters for a living? Don't tell me you're afraid of some noodles." Atlas rebuked in disbelief. Atlas' moving around must have woken the snakes up since they’d started periscoping to see what was going on. "Besides, they're kinda cute."

Atlas smiled down at the reptiles resting on him, which stared back curiously. Now that he looked at them, the brown one seemed oddly familiar, but he couldn't quite figure out why.

"But they could be venomous!" Amethyst said in a last ditch effort.

"Oh come on, they clearly came to me because I was warm. The nights can get a little cool around here. If they wanted to bite me they'd have done so while I was asleep."

"But..."

"No buts!" Atlas replied slightly angrily. "The snakes are staying, end of discussion. Now, friends, if you could maybe readjust yourselves a little, I'd like to get up."

Amethyst looked on in a stupor as the snakes actually did as asked and moved towards Atlas' back while he got up from the ground. The brown one was even daring enough to coil around his horn. Simply chuckling, Atlas rolled up his bedroll with his magic, the snake doing nothing to hinder his casting ability.

"Come on, let's wake up the others, we can already see the forest from up here and I'd like to get a move on," Atlas said while replacing his bedroll back into his saddlebags.

"No need," Crimson said, as he got up himself. "Your bickering would be enough to wake up even Blue Current, and let me tell you, she's a heavy sleeper."

"Agreed," Doc Brown added, apparently already in the process of preparing breakfast. "I'm also not sure how I should feel about the fact that our supposed bodyguard is afraid of tiny snakes."

"I'm not afraid of them!" Amethyst rebuked angrily. "I just didn't want to endanger Atlas by startling potentially lethal snakes!”

"Alright, but shouldn't a member of Teras know which snakes are venomous around these parts and which ones aren't?" Doc Brown added with a raised eyebrow.

That shut Amethyst up for good and he started to roll up his bedroll as well. He muttered something along the lines of 'just wanting to help', but caught himself a few minutes later.

Breakfast could do wonders for one's mood.

"Call me Jörmungandr! King of the snakes!" Atlas shouted ahead of their group.

Somehow, on their way down the mountain pass, he had managed to pick up even more snakes. By now he was practically covered by them, making him look like he was bound by living, moving ropes in some kind of perverse BDSM display.

"Don't worry, he did something like this before," Crimson said to a worried looking Amethyst. "Although not this extreme, I must admit."

Amethyst shot Crimson a concerned look, wanting to respond somehow before he got interrupted by Atlas' shouting.

"Behold! Another one!"

"Okay, so here's what we're going to do," Atlas said seriously.

After two days of mostly uneventful traveling, they had finally made it to the outskirts of their destination. Ahead of the group was the treeline of the forest in which the temple of their desire resided in. Allegedly.

"According to White Mallow, the temple should still be around one day's travel away from here. Crimson, we'll need you to fly above us from time to time to assure we're staying on course. Amethyst you'll be on guard duty as our vanguard with Doc Brown behind you and me at the rear."

"Is there anything I should look out for?" Crimson asked.

"Anything that looks pony made and sources of water," Atlas responded.

"From what we could gather, this forest is still largely unexplored. It has been deemed worthless by King Goldbar since there were close to no natural resources found by his expedition," Atlas explained. "If the records and White Mallow are to be believed, there should be no monsters inside, making predators like wolves our biggest threat. This was years ago, though, so be on the lookout for anything potentially alarming regardless."

The rest of their group acknowledged the orders in an uncharacteristically serious manner compared to their attitudes up until this point; while it seemed like a simple road trip until now, it suddenly felt like it was about to get serious.

"Alright then, let's go."

Satisfied everyone knew their role, Atlas turned around and let Amethyst take the front. While they acted quite serious, the forest didn't look threatening at all, it felt inviting even. The trees didn't stand too close to each other allowing copious amounts of sunlight to filter through their leaves, casting their rays onto a picturesque scenery filled with flowers and other fauna. It didn't take long until curious rabbits and squirrels could be seen watching their procession.

Seeing how idyllic everything was around them, the group relaxed a bit, loosening their formation while still staying on the lookout for anything out of place.

"It's pretty beautiful," Crimson said matter of factly.

"Sure is," Atlas responded.

Atlas' mind wandered towards Vibrant Colors and how she would’ve loved to see this and put it on canvas. Sometimes he felt a bit guilty for leaving her all alone, but deep down he knew that's where she wanted to be. A big city like the Crystal Kingdom wouldn't suit her at all. With a smile, he resolved to go and visit her someday.

Doc Brown had already wandered off, ignoring the instructions as usual, and Amethyst was forced to babysit him as he examined one of the plants growing at the base of a tree. By now their formation had completely fallen apart, the forest having had a relaxing effect on them.

A fire crackled madly in a pit they made, a pot with left-overs of their vegetable stew sat unattended while hanging from a metal hook on a barely stressed branch. A nearby creek complimented the fire with the sound of running water.

After spending the whole day traversing the forest, they had made camp near the creek, which Crimson spotted from above on one of his scouting flights. The day passed by them quite uneventfully, the most exciting thing happening being Doc Brown finding a broken pot of sorts.

"How far away do you think we are?" Amethyst asked.

"With a bit of luck, we could stumble over it tomorrow," Atlas responded. "But, I seriously doubt it. This forest is huge, and we don't really have anything to go by. From here on out it's up to luck."

"At times like this, I'm glad we have a natural compass with us," Amethyst grinned.

"I'll let you know that I have a name," Crimson chuckled. "and I still can't believe we forgot to bring along an actual compass."

"Not my fault it wasn't on the list," Atlas said defensively.

"It kinda is, you wrote it after all," Crimson quipped.

Amethyst laughed, immediately joined by Crimson. Atlas tried to keep up his grumpy facade, but it didn't take long until he joined in with them.

"Horseapples!"

Doc Brown was rummaging through his saddlebags, apparently looking for something. He had been at it for quite a while now, his weird demeanor largely ignored by the three friends. They had gotten used to it after traveling with him for some time.

"What's up, Doc?" Atlas called over to him with a smirk.

"I can't find the bag of candy I brought along!" Came the frustrated shout back.

"What would you possibly need candy for out here?" Amethyst asked.

"I'd guess to eat it," Crimson replied with a raised eyebrow and a look that practically doubted Amethyst's sanity.

"No no no, not for eating you silly pony." Doc Brown responded and turned around to face them. "I brought them along just in case I wanted to re-enact the war between the Teras division and the Diamond Dog pack that wanted to claim the lonely mountain for its resources."

Crimson and Amethyst looked at each other in confusion while Atlas simply shook his head, familiar with the crazed professor's quirks.

"Re-enacting important historical battles through the use of confections is one of my greatest hobbies after all."

Amethyst furrowed his brows. "That doesn't make any sense..."

"Oh, my dear Amethyst," Doc Brown shook his head in disappointment. "How about you join me once I find them? It actually is a lot of fun."

Amethyst sighed, letting the matter slip with a shake of his head, lest he be pulled into the insanity. They returned to their previous conversation, decidedly ignoring Brown Diamond rummaging through their bags as well.

Atlas sighed as he scanned the ground for anything out of place. It was their third day in the forest and Atlas was slowly starting to lose hope. He knew it would be difficult to find the temple since they had little to no actual information on it, but since they found absolutely nothing until now it was starting to get to him.

Crimson was leading them along by staying airborne most of the time and coming down from time to time to tell them where to turn. They almost lost each other a few times, but either Atlas or Amethyst were able to flag him down by sending flare spells above the tree's canopy.

"Atlas? Doc?" Amethyst called out, not too far away. "You might want to come look at this!"

Atlas looked towards where the voice had come from, a bit of hope squirming its way back inside of him. He trotted over to Amethyst, Doc Brown arriving almost at the same time.

"Look!" Amethyst said, pointing towards the ground in front of him. "That looks pony made!" He added excitedly.

Resting at the base of a tree was what, at first glance, looked like a regular rock. Upon closer inspection, weathered carvings could be seen engraved upon its surface. While it was utterly illegible due to the test of time, it definitely looked like writing.

Just then, a dull thud could be heard from behind them. Crimson had just landed and he looked decidedly out of breath.

"Guys? I think I found it." He said matter of factly. "There's some large building southeast of here."

Excitement bubbled up within Atlas and he could see Doc Brown having a similar reaction. After days of searching, could they really dare hope?

"Lead the way," Atlas said, itching to get going.

Crimson nodded with a smile on his face and took off into the trees behind him. They joined him in a mad chase, eager to finally see what they’d come all this way for.

It took them almost fifteen minutes before they suddenly burst through the treeline and into a huge clearing. Occupying most of it was a pony made building. A building which Atlas would definitely brand as a temple.

Rows of pillars supported a huge roof, reminding Atlas of pictures he saw of temples in Greece. Which actually made a lot of sense, considering who built this place.

They approached the entrance, which simply consisted of a huge piece of missing wall on the side of the temple. Nature had left its mark on the building, ivy and moss having spread all around the structure, making it almost seem like it was painted green from a distance.

"You think this is it?" Doc Brown asked Atlas.

"Only one way to find out," he replied before briskly trotting inside.