//------------------------------// // The ways lead to unknown // Story: Aeternitas Book II: Starry Eclipse // by Shadowlight Wanderer //------------------------------// Chapter 24 "Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck!!!!!" Sunset yelled as she was falling along with the Doctor through the dark void, without any orientation or direction. Her hair flowed in the icy void of blackness. She couldn't breathe. Her whole body was burning and freezing at the same time. Her body started to be covered by the icy mist. And the pressure was unbearable. She had... to ...breath. And when it seemed that she would pass out from the cold, heat and lack of oxygen, the dense nothingness of the void dissapeared and Sunset touched something material. She didn't have time to see what it was, cause the pain filled her entire body and she fell to the ground, unconcious. ************** "Sunset !!!" She gasped, filling her lungs with air, her eyes opened widely and reached forward, grabbing Doctor by the tie on his neck. "NEVER. AGAIN. DO YOU HEAR ME ??!!! NEVER!!!" she half screamed, half coughed. "I am sorry Sunset, I didn't want this. I know it wasn't pleasant but it was the only way to escape." Sunset regained control of her breathing. "If you say so. But please, next time we will have to escape, think about something else. Anything is better than throwing yourself into a black hole." Doctor looked at her. "Sunset, there is one more matter to cover" he pointed to her legs and hands. But there were no legs and hands. Instead Sunset saw a set of hooves. She and Doctor became ponies again. Sunset screamed and raised up, standing at her back legs in a vertical position and later jumped up into nearby bushes. "Sunset, what are you doing ?" Doctor questioned his companion's behaviour. After a moment, Sunset came out. "Sorry, forced habit. I have to get use to walk without clothes again." Doctor smiled. He reurned to the form of an earth pony with spiky brown mane, chestnut coat and hourglass cutie mark. But in contrary to Sunset, he was wearing a part of his brown suit and blue tie with golden ornaments. "This is amazing... I mean, not the fact that you are naked but the fact that we teleported into a universe where equine shape is dominant." Sunset examined her mane and horn, checked her ability to cast magic. "Well, this is really suprising but I guess I can get use to it. I haven't been a pony for a while, you know". She looked around. They were sitting on the edge of the field, close to the forest. "Doctor, where are we ?" "Oh, near the Everfree Forest...some Everfree forest. Now, while talking about where are we, why don't we look around, shall we ?" Doctor started to trot down the path through the field but was stopped by a cold "Are you kidding ?" Here turned around to see Sunset sitting on her up with her front legs crossed on her chest and with forwned face. "You expecting from me to move like a good, quiet girl without any answers ? Well, not today mister. I won't move an inch until I hear what in Tartarus exactly happened and what is our mission. I don't want my life blown up and turned upside down for no good reason. So you can sit and talk with me or get lost and forget about my help !!!" she cried out. Doctor stood in place for a moment, took aback by the sudden outburst of the unicorn, andd fell on the ground laughing. Sunset raised an eyebrow "What is so funny ?" Doctor raised up and trotted back to her, still laughing quietly "I am sorry, but...you just reminded me of my friend Donna " he cleared his throat " Anyway, fine. I will tell you everything. You are my companion, you deserve to know." Sunset looked at him, little ashamed. "Sorry for yelling at you. I know you mean the best for all of us. But for someone, who calls himself a Lord of Time, you didn't exactly have much time to do what you want. Still running and running." Doctor nodded "Well, if you put it that way, it is a bit ironic. But to not keep you waiting, I will tell you everything I know. It all stared when I was in a practice in young division of the Academy, back on my home planet, Gallifrey. I was studying in the library. I wandered to the restricted area and saw a very old book. It caught my attention so when no one was looking, I smuggled it to my place and read it." "You have quite a tendency to "borrow" things, don't you ?" joked Sunset "Oi, I took it back. But here is an interesting part. This book was a volume of ancient manuscripts. By ancient I mean written by the first of my kind, very long time ago. It was a precious historical relict and tht was why it wasn't turned into a simple electronic data." "So the super precious manuscripts were just lying on the table for you to grab ?" "Oh, there was some security. It even burnt my pants during coming through. But the point is that the book told me a story. It was a tale of the Eternal Forces and their nature. Eternal Forces are the basic fundations of our universe and the book said that after a creation of the first universe, Forces became semi-sapient entities. There are twelve Eternal Forces: Time, Sound, Harmony, Air, Water, Light, Space, Silence, Chaos, Earth, Fire and Darkness. Together they created the universe as we know it. They mantained the balance in the creation, as the six pairs of opposite powers. The Forces decided to give their power to mortal beings in order to help them survive and improve their life. The keepers of Eternity needed to guide their races and bring them peace. But then the greed and lust appeared in some of the bearers. This started a big war, which lasted longer than you can possibly imagine. Finally, Forces left their guardians so they no longer could use their power to fight against each other. The power of Eternity remained hidden within twelve entities throughout millenias. And this, Sunset, explains why our friends had their power. They are the guardians of Eternity, which for some reason awoken right now. They are the embodiments of those Forces. Specifically, Rainbow Dash is the Element of Air, Applejack is the Element of Earth, Pinkie Pie is the Element of Water, Rarity is Element of Harmony and Fluttershy is the Element of Silence. The Forces of Eternity are the raw power of creation, they are highly unstable and they can be used with equal potential for good and evil purpouses. Sombra and Daybreaker want to find all the bearers and kill them to achive their powers. If they control that power, all the worlds in the multiverse will suffer. We have to make sure that our friends will stand by our side in the fight against Daybreaker and Sombra. You may wonder why we are here and where are the girls ? You see, Sombra wanted to kill our friends to suck out the Eternal Powers from them and to use it by himself. But I figured out that right know we need to have an advantage of time. When I created that black hole, I also made a gateway to the different realities. Each of our friends is now in a different version of the equestrian reality and our quest is to find them. Every reality has some backups, versions that are really similar. Black hole sent us and our friends to a few different realities, that are those backups. They are very similar, but there is a one element missing, and that element differes it from original equestrian timeline, which was destroyed. Those errors can mess up with the future of those words. Our job here is to find the changed event and fix it up." "How we are supposed to do this ? There is no chance that we would know how to fix up things that we didn't experience in the original timeline. Also, how are we going to know where the girls are ?" Doctor pulled a medalion with a moon scythe symbol that he got from Sweetie Belle. "Basing on my earlier research, this medalion is somehow synchronized with the Eternal Forces. It should lead us to the nearest Bearer. Our friends became...how to say it...readjusted to those timestreams and that means that they won't remember us or maybe even act like the ponies or people we used to know. But I think that fixing the event should reconect them with their Elements and they should remember who they are." Sunset tapped her chin with her hoof. "Seems legit. What's the catch ?" Doctor frowned "Well, we have to make them return to their original selves before Sombra, Daybreaker or someone sent by them will capture them. We have to fight with them for the multiverse and all in it. And now, let's go ! If you have any questions, I will answer them on the way." The medalion shone with silver light on one edge, working like a compas. Doctor examined it. "It seems that it is leading us in the direction of Canterlot" he looked at the city upon the mountain, that was rising near them. He started to move towards the train tracks that could be seen on the edge of the vison, but Sunset stopped him. "Wait ! Before we go, there is one thing that is bothering me... What was that Sombra meant by "What one can do with the Forces ". Doctor, why they need all of them ?" Doctor was standing still for a moment before he turnned to face her once again. He was bitting his lip. "Sunset, each of the Eternal Forces is very powerful, has its own previlages and abilities. But the legends say that if all 12 Forces are used together, in conjunction, the mysterious 13th Force will appear. And with this will come an ultimate power, the most elusive there is." Sunset gasped "You don't mean..." Doctor noded "Omnipotence. Total and ultimate control over everything that ever was, is and may be. If Sombra and Daybreaker obtain all 12 Forces, they will literally become gods. They will be able to wrap reality with ease and at any level they desire. They will be able to destroy us simply by thinking about it." Sunset's lip quivered "Then let's go. You were right, we shouldn't waste our time." They both started galloping to the train tracks. *************** Flash of dark light and... "Damn it !" Spike screamed, pressing his claws to his injured side, while he fell from the sandy dune. That idiot really stabbed him. "I am not done with you Sombra, we will see each other again ! " he hissed , trying to rise up. He couldn't believe that he actually escaped. Everything that was happening through the last couple of minutes was so ridiculously stupid that it was just impossible that the escape actually worked. But he will think about this later. Speaking of where he was... He looked around. He was clearly in the middle of some sort of a desert. Sea of sand and burning heat of the sun everywhere he looked. He rolled his eyes as his legs folded beneath him. He threw his fists into the air, screaming with frustration. "Of all the worst things that could-" Spike covered his mouth, then chuckled slightly, his heart filling with warmth. Then his face fell. Rarity. That stupid spell didn't work. But what to expect ? He never altered a spell before, he didn't know how did he do it, but most importantly, how he even could do it ? Taemah ge nellea rarii For some reason, Spike understood that weird language Sombra was speaking with and said those words Take me where I should be He definately should be with Rarity and the girls, making sure if they are fine. He shouldn't be in the middle of nowhere, probably dying from the bloodloss and dehydration. "Well, at least I am free to go and reach them. I hope I will make it in time" he looked around " hmm, sand, sand and more sand...I think I'll go in the direction where there is sand." He slowly walked down from the dune ************ After a few miles of walking Spike was done. "Really ? This is how it all ends ?" he slowly moved forward, step by step, feeling dizzy and sick. "This is how I die ? In this forgotten desert, away from my friends ? " He fell down, heat here was so overwhelming, even for a dragon. He needed to find cover and he seemingly didn't have much time left. "Well, at least I will die doing the thing I am the best in: trying to help." He moved, despertately trying to see something in a small sandstorm that created during his journey. Spike half laughed, half coughed. "Well, I was a lucky guy. But c'mon, I can't die. It is not like I am that irreplaceble, but...who will care for Twilight when she is sick or when she is having one of her crazy panic attacks ? Who will clean the castle ? Who will be a Grand Cider Distributor to assist Applejack ? Who will assist Fluttershy in her Study of Reptilian creatures ? Who will go with Dash to a National Aviation Festival ? Will there be a somepony to know the perfect flame temperature to help Pinkie bake her Almost Burnt but Not Burnt Cookies ? Will there be a good a replacement player in Ogres and Oubliettes with Discord and Big Mac ? And most importantly, who will assist Rarity in the boutique ? My generous, kind, breathtaking Rarity... I hope that you will find somepony that will love you for who you really are and take care of you, when I won't be here. Somepony who would know that you need to be reminded to take a scarf on the rainy days, cause otherwise you always catch a cold. That you love roses, hate hoofball and sport events, that you want your fabrics to be organised by warmth of colour, not durability, that you admire both classical music and alternative rock. Will somepony know that saying your creative and special will always put a smile on your face and that sometimes you need someone watch over you, even from the distance, when you devour conteners of ice-creams...will be someone who will understand that you are the most amazing wonder of a mare, will someone see you as I see you ?..." He used the remainings of his strenght to got up. If he is going to die, he should at least do it right. Showing that he is not scared, to move forward in the face of death. Wait....he was scared. No, he was terrified. But his time was really running out. "Thank you girls, for everything. I will miss you. You were my world !." He raised up his leg up, looking forward to the horizon. "And Rarity... I will always lo-" he said, taking a step. Without checking the ground His eyes snapped open when he fell forwards, to the tunel in the sand. "Sweet Celestia, will I ever finish that sentence ?" was Spike's last thought before he hit his head into something hard and passed out, still falling down. ******************* He didn't remember much what happened later. Through his weird state between sleep and reality he heard a sound of flowing water. He recalled desperate yet slow movements of his body. And finally a touch of a cool liquid on his face. And drinking, drinking, drinking and drinking... Then everything were black once again. When Spike awoke once again, he found himself near the spring in the dark and spacious cave. He shook his head. To think that he was proclaming his last will speech a step from the entrance to the cave, where he found the water...he suddenly felt ridiculous. Well, that day was getting weirder and weirder. He looked a dark tunel few meters behind him. This had to be the pit he fell into. It was strangely convinient that he landed in the cave, where he could find water. The place where he should be... There was one thing he had to do. He looked at the sharp cut on his side. It stopped bleeding but he still could still could see the flesh and the wound didn't look good. He bit his lip. He read too much books about medicine with Twilight and he knew that if he didn't want an infection and for the cut to heal well, this wound had to be desifnected. He sighed. He didn't want to do this but since he didn't have any asceptics, it was the only option. Spike started to breath fire on his hand until it was glowing and burning by itself, unafected due to his fireproof scales. Then he pressed his hand to the wound, left without heat protection by Sombra's spell. He howled from pain and after ten seconds pulled the palm away and put it into the water to cool it down. Suddenly, the whole cavern trembled. Spike found himself close to the obsydian walls, when he heard a deep, roaring voice "WHO DARES ???!!!!-" Spike felt a wave of tremendous heat around him and close his eyes, scared to death. But then the air slowly cooled down. Spike slowly opened his eyes to find a giant eye, with a crimson red iris, staring at him from the wall. "WELCOME, YOUNG ONE" said the voice. Spike smiled nervously, noded and then decided to faint once again, with grace that Rarity would be proud of.