//------------------------------// // Sixteen // Story: Freedom Through Harmony: Book II // by Electricut //------------------------------// Sixteen Scratch’s Journal Ponyville; Year 490 Equestrian My tired feet finally shuffled through the gates to Ponyville. I hadn’t slept the whole trip, and had only eaten enough to keep me going. The reality of the situation was hanging heavy over me, that Doc was well and truly gone. The hope of seeing Octavia again, and her being able to lift me out of this was what had kept me going. If anyone noticed or recognized me as I walked past, I didn’t do the same for them. I soon found myself at the doorway to her home, and knocked before I could talk myself out of it. Instead of seeing Tavi at the door, though, I was met with her mother. She recognized me right away, and seemed confused and alarmed to see me again after six months of absence. I didn’t answer, but asked if I could see Octavia. She frowned, then told me that Tavi hadn’t been home for months either. She had decided to enlist in the royal guard, and was currently in Eclipse. After a moment of silence I thanked her and walked away again, leaving her more confused and concerned than ever. Without pausing to think, I restocked my supplies at Base A, and headed off for Eclipse. I couldn’t make myself think of anything else. I just wanted her to be by my side again. ~ Near Forestia Scootaloo We stepped off of Drew’s ship and onto the marshy beach, belonging to one of the satellite islands of Forestia. The air was a lot more humid here than it had been further to the east, and just past the beach was a mass of tick-trunked trees. “I’ll accompany you to the place where the treasure is being kept,” Drew told us. “to help direct you there and to keep it safe. Your mission is basically to make sure I don’t get stabbed on the way.” “What’s out here that we’ll have to fight?” I asked, hefting my spear. “Mostly saber kitties, which- trust me- are actually more dangerous than they sound, or look. I also wouldn’t be surprised if we ran into a manticore out here, but if we’re lucky we can tiptoe around any of them.” “Right.” Sweetie Belle stated, leading the way into the forest. The rest of the team, and Drew and his small companion, followed. “Hey, you haven’t said, what exactly is it we’re looking for?” “An artifact said to have immense magical properties, you know the kind.” Drew responded. “It’s a paintbrush and set of paints that, according to legend surrounding them, bring to life whatever is drawn with them, within reason. I want to see if there’s any truth to it. You’ll be paid for getting me there and back either way.” “I see…” I mused while walking. I didn’t personally think such a thing could exist, but as long as we were being paid either way, it didn’t matter much whether or not it worked. “Hey, I was also meaning to ask, what’s with that… companion of yours? What is he? Why’s he with you?” “Ah! Sorry, slipped my mind to introduce him. His name’s Cody. He’s a Putty- forest dwellers, shape-shifters, skilled with psychic energy. Really good companions to have. At least, once you can talk with them. They only speak in kinds of sign language since, as you can see, they don’t really have mouths. We’re slowly getting there.” “Don’t Putties also steal stuff?” Angel asked incredulously. “Eh… some do.” Drew admitted. “But not so much ‘steal’, as much as it is ‘putting it away for safety’. That’s what they think they’re doing anyway. Cody’s an oddball though: instead of storing valuables in his little psychic pocket dimension, he just warps away pumpkins. I cannot figure out why. That’s going to be the first thing I ask him once I learn sign language.” “Hold up!” Sweetie Belle ordered, coming to a halt. We all remained silent, then she nodded slowly. “We’ve got company. There’s something- a couple of them at least- just out of sight.” “That’d be the saber kitties.” Drew answered. “They’re more stealth-minded. They’re probably just going to watch us until we get ‘too deep’ into their territory. And when they do attack, maybe try not to kill them all? Just knock them out if possible. They’re intelligent creatures, they’re just creatures of habit is all.” “As long as they don’t get in the way too much…” Applebloom commented, drawing her swords. We continued, straying further off the beaten path, and the sense that we were being followed got harder and harder to ignore. At last, the forest gave way to a clearing, which I could only guess was where the ‘saber kitties’ lived. There were hollowed out tree stumps and small caverns covered by archways of rock all up and down the clearing, and I guessed they must have served as nests. At the end of the clearing rested a hollow in a large tree which could only contain treasure, and our objective. Our pursuers attacked, jumping from the forest to either side. They were only about as tall as my waist, and with their dark but multicolored hoods and kitty ears, they were far from terrifying. Still, they were determined, numerous, and their claws were clearly sharp. I drew my spear and caught one mid-leap with the butt, and sent him reeling across the clearing. I used a burst of wind to send several more flying back. Out of the corner of my eye I could see the others fighting them back as well, dealing damaging but non-fatal blows to our tiny assailants. We were holding them back just fine, but with as many of them as there were, we couldn’t make any further progress towards the treasure. As if on cue, a mighty roar broke the air, and the saber kitties gave pause. Not waiting for a second one, they all stumbled away, breaking into a run and hiding back in the forest around us. I turned slightly to catch Drew in my peripheral vision. “That the manticore you were talking about?” I asked. “Yeah.” he said, slightly disappointed. “We’re going to kill it, aren’t we?” I asked flatly. “If you don’t want it to kill you, then yes.” I nodded and readied my spear, and the others prepared their weapons as well, ready to fight to kill this time. A few seconds passed before our adversary leapt out of the forest into the clearing. It didn’t look anything like the creatures we called manticores back in Equestria: its body appeared to be fully that of a lion, but its mane and tail glowed with a blue light, and flowed like fire. It snarled, clearly not pleased that there were no saber kitties around to make his lunch, but his eyes soon settled on us. We held our ground, and the manticore stared us down, waiting for us to run. “Now!” Sweetie Belle shouted, letting fly an arrow from behind me which struck the beast right in its side. The manticore yelped and growled angrily, but I had already leapt at it. My spear grazed him in the stomach and hit the ground underneath it, and my shoulder rammed into its side. It tried to twist around to bite at me, but Angel reached it first, his scythe giving it a nice gash across the mouth. Applebloom was right behind him, her speed with her two swords keeping the manticore occupied while Sweetie Belle fired several more arrows into its flank. Angel and I peppered him with attacks to his sides and back, littering his short fur with scars and blood. Growling furiously, the beast reared its head away from Applebloom and turned towards Sweetie Belle, standing a few feet away. With a roar, it leapt into the air towards her, and she stumbled backward in fear. Thinking fast, I propelled myself backwards towards them with a gust of air, my spear pointed upward and braced against my side. I positioned myself underneath the manticore and thrust the spear forward, stabbing it right through the chest. With a yelp, it was thrown to the side, my spear still stuck in it. The beast tumbled to a halt across the clearing, breathing raggedly. I stood and cautiously approached it, but it was clear that it was too injured to move. As gently as I could, I pulled my lance free and stepped away. Around the clearing, the saber kitties began to poke their heads out, no longer aggressively. I could imagine that the manticore had been a problem for them for a while, and seeing us kill it made them realize that we weren’t here for them. I turned to the others. “Stay where you are, but watch him. I don’t want him struggling to his feet and attacking us again.” They nodded, but it didn’t look like the saber kitties were going to take their eyes off of it any time soon. I slowly approached the stump at the back of the clearing and glanced inside. Right away, I saw what I was looking for: A small, shiny metal case, and a paintbrush with fine golden bristles and an equally shiny silver handle. I reached my hand inside to grab them, and I heard an instant reaction of disapproval from the upright cats behind me. Looking closer, I could see that there were a lot of valuables in the stump, or at least things that they would find valuable. I turned, raised my hands slightly and spoke, hoping they would understand: “I don’t want to hurt or steal from you… We just need one thing, okay?” They watched intently as I slowly moved one hand into the stump, and pulled it back out with the brush and paint box for them to see. “See? Just these.” The gathered forest dwellers turned to each other and muttered a few words that were either too quiet for me to catch, or in another language. After several moments of discussion, one of them turned to me, and judging by his hood- blue, when those of the others were green, pale red or brown- he must have been in some position of authority. “Just… that?” he asked, in a voice different from what I had expected. I had expected it to be a bit high-pitched, and it was, but instead of sounding child-like, it was sort of scratchy, closer to Angel’s voice. “Just this.” I confirmed. They exchanged a few more words, then the blue-hooded one nodded to me. He gave the other saber kitties a few motions, and they stepped aside to let us pass. Behind us, Luna and Drew both exhaled their held breath, and Sweetie Belle, Applebloom and Angel all sheathed their weapons. I nodded to my companions, and we slowly made our way out of the clearing and back onto the faded path, which gradually grew more defined as we neared the shore again. I could sense a few saber kitties following us back, making sure we weren’t doubling back around to cause more trouble, but they seemed to become satisfied and fell back. We stepped onto the boat, and I turned to Drew. “Here,” I said, handing him our prize, “Hope they work.” “Me too…” he commented quietly, then stepped into the helm of the ship for a moment. He returned with a cloth sack, jingling with coins, and handed it to me. “Seven thousand, as promised.” I nodded, and turned to my companions. “This should keep us afloat for a while longer. Enough time to find some more jobs.” They nodded, and the ship soon began to sail back to Monetopia. Scratch’s Journal Ponyville; Year 490 Equestrian Eclipse City “Well, thank you for doing what you could.” I said to the first guard captain I had found, after unsuccessfully trying to locate Octavia. She wasn’t permitted away from the training grounds to visit family and friends for the first two months of service. However, I did learn that her month would be up in a few days, and the captain had offered to tell her I was in town to meet her. I told him simply to tell her that she had a visitor, but I didn’t leave my name. I wouldn’t need to. I’d be there myself the moment she could see me. Until then, I decided to just stay in town and wait. Money was no issue, but I didn’t need much to be comfortable, so I simply picked the Inn that was two blocks away from the barracks. I had a small, solitary dinner in the tavern on the first floor, complete with several mugs of coffee. Unlike the rest of Eclipse- full of citizens with more money than they knew what to do with, and incredibly full of themselves- the inn was full of other people simply passing through, or looking for work. I didn’t speak to any of them that night, but at least the conversations around me were tolerable, if uninformative. The Order was not doing anything in this time and place. I left my table and ascended the stairs in the back of the inn to reach my room. It wasn’t big, but I wasn’t expecting it to be. Against the wall was a bed, and beside it was a table, complete with some paper and a half-full inkwell. Seeing it reminded me that I had not updated this journal for several days, so before I went to bed, I chronicled all the events that had befallen me recently. From the point where Doc and I left Daein, to his death, to my decision to carry on in his name, once my mode of travel was repaired. My heart still ached from loss, but I did not shed any tears this time. He may be gone, but his purpose lives on in me, and I will see it through.