Eighteen
Monetopia
Scootaloo
Our team moved quickly through the city streets, past the fleeing civilians moving quickly the other way. Some weren’t running though. Some were milling about, trying to figure out what was happening. Some were arming themselves and headed in the same direction as us. Some were rushing to aid the injured. Some didn’t move at all, bloodied and slumped over where they were struck down.
I paused to examine one of the bodies. Across the chest were three parallel slices, digging deep. “They almost look like claw marks…” I commented.
Angel took a look at them and shook his head. “They do. There’s only one thing I’ve ever seen with claws like that, and… I really hope that’s not what we’re dealing with now.”
“Those shadow form things from the Cloudsdale ruins?” Sweetie Belle asked. Angel nodded. During the war six years ago, Angel had accompanied Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash to the ruins of the once great city of Cloudsdale, in search of the two humans’ ancestors. The ruins had been infested with creatures of darkness, with tall frames and clawed arms. They had eventually managed to remove the curse keeping the creatures in the ruins, which everyone had assumed to be the end of them.
“Could be some kind of battle claws.” I commented. “We don’t know if it’s those things, but it won’t hurt to be extra cautious.” The others nodded, and we continued. We were nearing the main square again, but the sounds of combat were much closer than that. We rounded a corner, and I was tackled from the side by a blur of black. I called up a blast of wind to shake it off, and as it flew, my suspicions were confirmed. No features were visible at all except a tall humanoid form, blank yellow eyes, and claws at the ends of its hands.
I spun around and deflected the attack coming from the next one. The others were with me a moment later. Applebloom and Angel were at my back, and in a triangle formation we slashed and stabbed at the oncoming creatures. Sweetie Belle and Luna stood at a distance, firing at those who were far enough away that they wouldn’t accidentally hit one of us. Luna didn’t seem to have trouble using violent means against insubstantial enemies composed of pure darkness, and her own dark energy was ripping them to pieces.
I thrust my spear forward, and as the dark form in front of me faded, I suddenly realized that the streets had become clearer again. Debris still littered the ground, but we were the only living things left in the street. I held up a hand and motioned for the others to follow. “The square is just ahead. Be on your guard, everyone.”
Scratch’s Journal
Forestia
“Scratch, wake up!” I heard Raphael shout, from the edge of another dream. I opened my eyes and rose from my makeshift bed in the inn. Raphael was nearby, strapping on his full armor, with shining metal armguards and reinforced leather. “The town is under attack. The White Knights nearby have not yet responded, and the local militia needs all the help we can offer.”
I nodded and grabbed my battle discs and shades. “By who? The pirates?”
“No. These are not natural. I can only assume they are agents of the Order.” I grimaced, but nodded again. They were faster than I thought they would be. I had only been in town for one full day before they caught up. My battle discs in hand, and Raphael’s long sword in his, we rushed out of the inn and into the streets of the town. Immediately after I charged out the door, I saw our enemy: the same tall, clawed beings of darkness used by Lucius, and by extension of course, the Order.
I nodded to Raphael, and we charged. My battle discs burned with magical fire, and his sword with the light of the ocean sun. The first creatures we reached fell immediately, as well as the next. The remaining ones attacked us directly, and we set in back-to-back to fend them off. “Most are closer to the center!” Raphael advised me when they began to thin. Just as the last one burst, the darkness evaporating back into the air, we kicked back into a run and headed for the central area of town.
The creatures were completely flooding the square. Civilians were injured and under attack everywhere, but few seemed to have been fatally wounded yet. Four members of the local militia hammered away valiantly against their numbers, but there were more than they could handle alone.
I charged a powerful lightning spell on my battle discs and threw them both forward, striking two parallel lines of creatures dead. Raphael charged into the fray, sword cutting through several more. I dashed through, arms crossed to plow through the crowd and retrieve my weapons. I felt myself take several hits, but I kept my momentum. I dove for the ground and sprung up, just as several of the monsters were descending on me. They flew back, and were evaporated before they hit the ground.
I heard a scream to my left and spun around to see a golden-haired girl- most likely a member of the clergy, judging by her simple white and violet clothing- attempting to defend herself with a staff. I charged over to her, slicing at the beasts as I went, spun and skidded to a halt in front of her, still facing the enemy. I had only bought us a few seconds, but it was enough to get ready with.
“Who are you?” The girl asked. Her voice quavered ever so slightly, but I could also sense that she had no intention of giving up or running away.
I didn’t answer for a moment, because I wasn’t sure if I’d be sticking around for long, and didn’t need my name floating around where the Order could find it. “The Doctor.” I hear myself say at last.
I heard her intake a breath, which was odd, but I didn’t have time to wonder about it. My battle discs rose again and slashed away at the next dark form to run at us. “The Doctor?” she asked. “D-Doctor wh-“
“Just the Doctor!” I yelled, still defending her. Several more moments passed while I fended off the creatures, then I heard her chant the words of a spell, and felt a tingle over some parts of my body.
“You were wounded.” she explained. “I’m a cleric working under the priest of this island, I can perform healing magic. I’ll keep you alive.”
I nodded. “They teach you any light spells yet?”
“Only a very basic one.” she replied.
“It’s fine.” I said, nodding. “Stay behind me.”
I fired a tier-two lightning spell from the centers of my battle discs, ripping through more of the beasts. Around the clearing, I could see Raphael and the four militiamen valiantly hacking and slashing away, whittling away their numbers. There were a lot less now than there were when we arrived at the square, but we still had a while to go. We held our own, while the rest of the townsfolk escaped to safety. The cleric girl dashed around the square, around the mass of monsters to heal the other fighters, but tended to stay near me most of the time.
Eventually, their numbers began to dwindle, and we gradually began to herd them into the center of the square. The six of us were dragging hard, worn from the fight, but I knew that were it not for the cleric that stayed behind, we would probably all be dead by now. As I lunged forward to slash across two more, my eyes caught Raphael’s through the crowd. They glinted with a determined light, and a flicker of a memory lit up in my mind, something that had happened in one of my out-of-body dreams. In that moment, we both nodded to each other, and I dug my right foot into the ground in defiance of the monsters. My battle discs leapt to life at my sides, glowing with the tier-three spell Arcfire.
“Fanfare Firestorm!” We both shouted, and I launched the battle discs to either side of the crowd. I leapt back and Raphael zipped around the side, performing a wide hurricane slash. The orbit of my battle discs fell in tune with his, and soon wind and fire began to batter against the monsters, destroying those on the outside. When he had picked up high speed and created what was almost a miniature twister of fire, he rose into the air, the flaming battle discs on either side of his raised sword. With a smirk, he descended upon the crowd and delivered an explosive vertical slash, scattering embers, leaves and wisps of darkness across the square.
Ashes were all that was left of the attackers, and as they floated to the ground, we all exhaled thankfully. When we had caught our breath again, I moved over to Raphael to retrieve my weapons. “What was that?” I asked, knowing exactly what it was. What I didn’t know was how Raphael knew how to do it.
“A Fraymotif.” he answered simply. “Powerful techniques that unleash the power of an individual, or the combined power of multiple heroes.”
I nodded, to him and to myself. There was only one way he could give an answer like that. “So you’ve been dreaming too then?” I asked.
Raphael turned and stared at me for a few seconds, then laughed. “I should have known that you would have answers for these strange visions.”
I sighed. “I don’t really have any answers, but I can tell you you’re not the only one. I’ve had dreams too, still am. Doc told me that I’d meet with others who had as well, and once we got more people together it would start to make sense.”
“I see… It is possible that we dream at the same time, each of us living through these avatars in our dreams in real time… Although I still live as a knight both in the waking world and this dream.”
My eyes widened slightly. “So then, you’re …?”
“Excuse me, sir Doctor?” I heard from behind me, and shook my head before turning around. It was the cleric again.
I sighed again. “I’m sorry, but I’m afraid I misled you. I’m not the Doctor.” She looked disappointed more than offended. “I was an associate of his, but the Doctor himself is… gone.”
“Oh, no!” she whispered, clearly distressed. “I had hoped, when you said you were him, that I could meet him myself…”
I frowned, confused. “How do you know of the Doctor, anyway?” I asked. “What did you want from him?”
“Well… I overheard you and sir knight talking of strange dreams?” My eyes widened ever-so-slightly. “I believe I have had such dreams as well, and one of the… characters in them goes by ‘The Doctor’ as well.”
I turned to Raphael, and he nodded. The odds were playing in our favor right now. This girl was another dreamer, and we had to keep her with us. I turned back. “I can’t promise anything, but if you stick with us, we might be able to find out what they mean together.” She nodded enthusiastically, her golden hair bobbing and shining in the sunlight. “What’s your name?”
“Dinky.” she answered with a small curtsey.
“Raphael.” he introduced.
“Scratch.” I finished, deciding that I would just have to trust her. “Now, we need to decide our next move. The Order- the people that were responsible for this attack- need to pay for a lot of things.”
“Tactically, I cannot see this as being a probing attack.” Raphael commented. “They were hitting too hard, but with expendable forces. This may have been part of a bigger overall attack.”
“So you’re saying they might be hitting other places right now, too?” I asked, my stomach sinking.
“Yes. And likely with more force at larger, more important targets.”
“Where would we have the most backup?” I asked. “The ravens are probably scrambling to fight them back already.”
He took only a moment to answer. “Monetopia. Destroying the city would be a crippling blow to any resistance. In addition, it’s the first place the White Wolf Army would leap to defend.”
“Right.” I said, retrieving the Time Tables. “Monetopia it is.”
“But how will we reach the city in time?” Dinky asked. “It could be in ruins by the time we reached it, even with a fast boat…”
“Not with my vessel it won’t.” I said confidently. “Both of you, grab one of my arms.” I began setting the destination point to the capital city of Wistaria.
“Scratch, I know you use this mode of travel frequently,” Raphael said, somewhat nervously, “but I have never experienced it myself… should we be prepared for anything?”
“Nah, pretty standard stuff. Just hold onto my arms, like I said.” In all likelihood, they would probably be extremely nauseous their first few trips through time, but there was no need to worry them about it now.