Seven
Scratch's Journal
Year 480
I gazed intently at the black-cloaked man, a member of this mysterious Order, with him staring intently at something else. "Lucius..." I said, trying out the name. "And he dies today without our influence. So what does he have that we need?"
"His weapon." Doc answered. "A seemingly normal, if somewhat ornamental spear, that acts as a key for a lock that need be unlocked by us. It only does so because its previous owner enchanted the thing, and the lock. Otherwise there really isn't anything special about the weapon; I doubt Lucius even knows of its second purpose as a key."
"So it's the contents of this lock that we want, not the weapon." I concluded, walking away from the ledge. "And we just throw away the weapon afterwards?"
"Essentially, yes." He answered, joining me. "Though who knows? We may have need of such a lock in the future, to seal away some other treasure... No, I recommend we keep the weapon once we've used it. Anyway... We've got the rest of the day until Lucius dies and we can take his spear, so I say we get the rest of our business out of the way first."
I shrugged and moved over to him, as he was readying the Time Tables for another trip. Once again, he only adjusted the location, meaning we were going to stay linear in this trip. He held out his hand, I took it, and we were transported once again.
This time, we landed in a place much less friendly than the fields outside Manehattan, but at least we were already at our destination. The area around us was nothing more than craggy, almost impassable grey rock, as far as the eye could see. Before us was some kind of ruin, just as grey as the stone around it, but clearly man-made. With stone pillars, places for torches and a huge, smooth stone slab in the center engraved with a seven-pointed star, it appeared to be some kind of altar.
"Familiarize yourself with this location." Doc instructed. "We are roughly a mile or so north of the port city of Emberton. This altar before you is called the Quest Bed. It is very important you remember what this is, what it can do and where it is found, but do not ever be tempted to use it yourself.
"This is an artifact from the very beginning of time as we know it, belonging to the system that ruled the worlds before The Crash. You know what happened after that fact, and how the world became as it now is, but I have told you nothing of things before that, have I?"
I shook my head in agreement. "Not much. I do know of how the system worked: that the old world was left to die, and eventually give rise to new life, while the chosen heroes of that world went on a grand quest through a place called Skaia, then populated a new world that they created."
"Yes. However, has it ever crossed your mind that if these young heroes, only thirteen years of age, were the ones to create the worlds... Why do we have Gods? Where did they come from...?" He pointed to the Quest Bed. "Those children are the very same Gods worshiped on the worlds they created. The Quest Bed is the apparatus that yields these immortal beings that are remembered as Gods. By losing one's life upon a Quest Bed, a hero could ascend to godhood and would then traditionally proceed to rule over their world."
My eyes widened marginally. "So all legitimate Gods... Are just the kids who made it through their quest? Ashunera of Tellius, and the unnamed God of Ivoire?"
"Indeed. You also might hear talk from people of The Order, or some other civilians, of a Goddess of Equestria; this girl is also the God-ascended survivor of her own quest, and is most definitely legitimate... Now, after The Crash, the Quest Bed can be theoretically be used by anyone, but only in the way of Dual Godhood, the same way Celestia and Luna became immortal during the civil war. The two participants must both die at the same time, and will be immortal as long as the other is not killed. And as is true of all Gods, one can only truly die if they are killed in a 'heroic' or 'just' manner."
"I see..." I said, rubbing my chin in thought of the tremendous power of the seemingly normal stone slab. "And this one is still operational..."
Doc hesitated before responding this time, as opposed to his lightning-fast replies before. "Yes... But as I said, do not be tempted to use it. Celestia has proven that one person cannot be allowed to hold that amount of power. I tell you of this artifact's power in the case that you discover someone plans to use it- therefore, you know the danger implied and will try your utmost to stop them. It is quite likely that one of our enemies may learn of this Bed's existence..."
He then moved over to the ruin and began moving some of the stones, digging for something. "There's a chest buried around this ruin somewhere..." He explained. "I know, because I helped bury it several hundred years ago. But for the life of me, I can't remember exactly where..." I nodded and dropped to my knees, digging in a different spot. It was slow work, since a good portion of the ancient stone had been weathered into place, so I eventually resorted to using another stone to pry them away from their resting place. Eventually I hit dirt level and retrieved a portable shovel from my pack, then began digging through the hard-packed, clay rich ground.
Doc came over several minutes later to view my progress, then shook his head. "That's deep enough. I know I didn't bury it deeper than that, so it must be in a different spot." I sighed and nodded, took a swig out of my water canteen, then started all over again a few feet to the left. Doc did the same near his own first hole. We worked like this well through the day, stopping once to teleport to a restaurant for lunch, then getting right back to work.
Later in the afternoon, after the rock surrounding the ruin had begun to look like a minefield from all the holes we had dug, my shovel clanged noisily against something below the dirt. It was different than the noise I had received when I hit rock so many times before: it sounded like something else metal, and hollow on top of that. Excited, I called Doc over to see what I had found. He peered down into the two-foot deep hole, and nodded satisfactorily. "Yes, that would be the chest. C'mon, let's finish digging it up, there's goodies inside." He went to work at clearing away the rock on the surface around it, while I focused on exposing more of the rusty iron box.
Unearthing the thing may have been more difficult than actually finding it, but as the two of us gazed proudly at the worn chest sitting before us, I suddenly felt as though it was well worth the effort. Doc could tell I was excited and anxious to see what was inside, so he reached into his pocket and withdrew a small key, the moved to the box and unlocked it dramatically. The lid swung open with a loud creak, and he reached inside to pull out its contents.
I moved towards him to see for myself, and he thrust something into my hands as I approached. I was surprised to see that it was not some valuable trinket or ancient treasure, but a pair of rounded sunglasses. I stared at them, confused, but I had to admit they were rather cool looking.
"This isn't your typical hoard of baubles, Scratch, but the contents of this chest are something to be treasured." Doc said, still digging around in the box. "The objects within belonged to my own teacher, a man called Strider, and are his final gift to you and I."
"Your teacher?" I asked in honest wonder. It seemed like Doc knew everything already... Who could have taught him all that? I had never heard of anyone called Strider. "Who was he? And... What happened to him?"
A fond, but sorrowful look crossed Doc's face. "Strider taught me most everything I know, including the workings of the Time Tables. I believe he was the one that built them. You see... Strider existed before the Crash, on another world whose fate eludes us still. He was one of the four heroes of this world, and when his new world- the prize of the quest- was threatened, and his friends- new and old- branched off to accomplish the tasks necessary to save it, he made the decision to pursue the entity that threatened it in the first place.
“Of the fate of his friends, I know not, but Strider drifted for several years before landing upon our world, which as you know is the combined result of three individual quests. Deciding the only option left was to call this world his home, Strider set in to protect these lands from whatever could not naturally be combated, and eventually took on an apprentice, in a younger me. The quest to find that which nearly destroyed his new home always lingered in his mind though.”
I gazed in wonder at the sunglasses, imagining them resting on the face of this great hero who created the Time Tables and stood guard over our world. "Feel free to wear those." Doc said. "You and he are enough alike that I think Strider would approve." I held out the object with intense honor, unsure if I was worthy to wear these signs of such a great man, but decided that if Doc thought I should, then I could only do my best to be worthy. I affixed the sunglasses to my face; I used to wear shades regularly when I was little, so the darkening of my vision was not severe.
Doc took in the sight of me with this new accessory, and I could tell he was immensely proud of the l sight... but also sad. I figured he probably saw Strider for a moment and was missing him. I still hadn't heard what had become of Strider, but I decided right then not to ask again. My mentor shook his head clear and withdrew a third object from the chest, this one catching my attention much easier. It was a sword- or rather, half of a sword. The blade only traveled past the hilt for a foot or so, before a jagged line cut through the center, severing the rest. The remainder of the blade was nowhere to be seen, as the chest was now empty, save for an empty sheath for the weapon.
The hilt of the sword was quite unusual: it had a long, thin handle wrapped tightly in red cloth for a grip, and the pommel had four long antennae protruding at right angles to the handle and blade at each diagonal direction. Strangest of all was on one side of the pommel, where some kind of dial sat, several alien figures written around the circle. It took me a moment to see it, but the figures were in the same language as the ones the Time Tables used.
Doc swung the half-sword around a few times, testing it for weight. He nodded as if satisfied with its performance, then offered it to me. "Care to give it a try?"
"I don't know how to use swords... But sure." I took the weapon just as gingerly, and swung it around a few times, feeling rather silly. My attention was one again drawn to the dial on the side. "What does this control?" I asked curiously.
"Turn it backward and find out." Doc answered. "But point the blade away from you when you do." I nodded somewhat apprehensively, pointed the broken blade away from me, and turned the dial all the way back. The steel of the weapon glowed with a blue light, which crawled forward off of the blade and formed a continuous line for another two or three feet. The light then cooled to a steely grey... And I realized that it was steel. The sword had fixed itself!
"Not bad, eh?" Doc commented. "Try it the other way." Excited with the possibilities, but still wary of the power of this weapon, I turned the dial all the way to the opposite setting. The new steel vanished, and was replaced with a sharp icy blue light, cackling with energy. The four antennae seemed to be feeding it, tiny bolts of lightning arcing from their tips to the base of the remaining steel.
"That sword is called Caledscratch. It, like the Time Tables, is imbued with strange temporal power, and adjusting that dial restores the blade to different stages of its life. Turning it back makes it go back to before it was broken, and turning it forward brings it to a state of time after which it was fitted with upgrades. Its default state is of course the broken present one."
I returned the dial to its default, then handed the half-sword back to Doc, but he shook his head. "You hang onto it." He insisted. "Neither of us is capable of using it effectively, but you may find someone who could. I'd rather it not be stuck in my hands when I possess no battle ability of my own." He glanced skyward, and I realized the sun had already begun to set. Doc strode quickly to his pack. "Time flies, doesn't it? Heh heh... We need to get moving to catch Lucius as he's going out."
I slung on the sheath in the chest, closing it behind me, and put away Caledscratch. I looked to Doc, who moved over to the chest and withdrew one final object, an utterly normal-looking key, and he slipped it into his pocket. He shook his head and said we didn't need to move the chest or reseal the holes we dug. They would be gone by the time anyone else arrived here. I hefted my pack over my shoulders next, and took Doc's hand.
We were right back where we started, atop the building overlooking the others. However, in sunset, the scene was much more active than at sunrise. I saw Lucius, black cloak swirling in the breeze, standing atop another building nearby, watching the scene unfold on the one he was on earlier. A single swordsman brandished a vicious broadsword, slicing away at an uncounted amount of dark shapes, tall and clawed, bipedal and blacker than night. The swordsman had long, multicolored hair of blue, green and violet, and a brown leather jacket, and seemed to know what he was doing with his heavy weapon.
"Look alive, Scratch." Doc told me. "You're about to witness a miracle." As I looked on, I noticed another figure floating high above the battleground, holding a short katana and flying on sky-blue wings. My eyes widened when I saw his hair: six colors, all the basic shades in the spectrum. Rainbow Dash, hero of the Moonlight Resistance... What's he doing here? Rainbow Dash seemed to make a snap decision, and he dove down for the battle sword first. He was fairly high up, so he was able to pick up an immense amount of speed as he descended. Just as he almost hit the roof, he seemed to slow for a moment... Then a shockwave of energy, as multicolored as his hair, erupted from his point of impact, spreading rapidly through the sky over and away from Manehattan.
"The Sonic Rainboom." Said Doc in awe. "First time the sound barrier has been broken since the civil war, and it's in full color on top of that. This burst of energy can be seen everywhere on the continent right now... Ah, the real show seems to be beginning." I followed his gaze back to Lucius, and saw another figure creeping up behind him, a tiny hatchet in hand. She had sandy blond hair tied back in a simple ponytail and otherwise covered with a cute cowgirl's hat, and gripped her weapon tightly as she approached behind the Order member.
I think it was safe to say I was disappointed in Lucius's reaction time, as the girl was able to reave across his back with her hatchet and send him reeling before he even noticed he was under attack. He recovered at once, however, and lashed back out at the girl, swatting her across the rooftop as though she were just a bothersome insect. She tumbled to a stop at the edge of the building, but yet another figure arrived to stop Lucius from finishing her. This one had brilliant golden hair and wings that shimmered in the dying sunlight, brandished a steel lance, and wore a wide-brimmed red fedora atop her head.
Words were exchanged between the two that I couldn't hope to hear from my vantage point, and the newcomer launched herself at Lucius, who drew his own spear and charged. I knew at once that this spear was the key Doc and I had to retrieve, due to its unusual shaped head and spotless golden texture. Lucius fought against the golden-winged warrior mercilessly, but she managed to hold her ground, activating some kind of blue-energized power-up in the process. The girl with the hatchet dove back into the fray as well, occasionally landing a hit while Lucius was busy with his other opponent.
Doc tapped me on the shoulder. "I fancy that we should find a better vantage point." He said. "The battle is about to move to the ground, and we have to be there to see it to the end." I nodded quickly, wrenching my gaze away from the two separate brawls raging on the rooftops below, and the two time-travelers made their rapid way back down the fire escape and towards the street in front of our building, between the two active ones. My head was craned towards the sky, as I was determined not to miss a minute of the action. All of a sudden, I saw the blonde girl take a dive from her rooftop, and a hoarse scream escaped her lips as she tumbled down past the top floor, then the next...
Then the electric form of Rainbow Dash blasted in from across the street, colliding with the girl and flying through an open window. Oh, that must have been Applejack, one of the other heroes of the war and Rainbow Dash's mate. Doc grabbed me by the shoulder again and pulled me into a side street. "We still don't want to be seen, but we will be able to watch from here." He said. "Our time is nearly here, we just need to wait a few more minutes..."