Nineteen
Monetopia
Scootaloo
Our party emerged into the city square, before the Bamboo Company building. Just hours before, this place had been so peaceful, beautiful and lively. Now fires burned, bodies of the dead and wounded lay in the streets, and a haze of smoke and wisps of darkness filled the air. There were still dark creatures all over, but far less than I had expected. Several knights in gleaming silver armor were presently engaging them, swords and lances ripping them apart with ease.
“Those’re the White Wolves?” Applebloom asked.
“Yup.” Angel answered simply. “Looks like they’ve spread out throughout the city. There’s only a few taking care of things here.”
“This isn’t right.” Drew muttered, shaking his head. We drew our weapons to prepare to aid the White Wolves, but waited to hear what he had to say. “There’s got to be more. They wouldn’t throw an attack like this at Monetopia. This is a real attack, but it’s just grunts.”
“You’re right…” Sweetie Belle commented. She looked around, then her gaze slowly settled on a point high up on the Bamboo Company building. They widened slightly, and while I couldn’t see anything from here, I knew she could. “There’s someone up there!”
I squinted, and soon found what she was referring to: an upright black form standing atop one of the building’s crenellations. I couldn’t tell what he or she was doing from this distance, but I could only imagine they were simply overlooking the battle. Just as I got a good look at the figure though, they leapt off their perch and descended rapidly to the ground. I almost shouted, but I saw that the figure was decelerating upon nearing the ground, and touched down gently before the building. He stalked forward, his gait and large frame allowing me to guess him to be a man, and the dark beasts paused and shambled over to stand behind him. Soon we were faced with the small contingent that was left, headed by a muscular man in a pitch black cloak.
“You!” one of the knights shouted, removing his helmet, revealing locks of thick black hair, but a fairly young and determined face. I guessed by his armor that he was of a higher rank than the other knights. “You are the one that commands these monsters?!”
The cloaked figure said nothing, but slowly unsheathed a sword from his left sleeve. It glowed with an angry pink light, and his act of retrieving it was clearly one of defiance. The lead knight snarled and leapt forward, his own sword raised and glowing with energy. The other White Wolves were right behind him, weapons at the ready. The man raised his sword and parried the leader’s attack, then began blocking the attacks from the other knights. They were keeping him busy and locking him in where he stood, but they couldn’t land a hit. He was deceptively fast, unusual considering his frame.
The remaining dark beasts surged forward again, but this time the knights were unable to engage them. I nodded so that the others could see it, and dashed forward to fight off the creatures. The others were right behind me, keeping the fight between the Order agent and the White Wolves uninterrupted. I lunged forward and lanced one straight through the chest, destroying it instantly. Beside me, Applebloom preformed a scissor-cut that sliced one into four pieces, and it soon dissolved as well. Between the five of us fighting them off, the creatures were soon defeated, but the time they bought without us fighting the Order member had been enough.
The White Wolves were failing. The leader of the group was fighting just as viciously as before, but the others were beginning to tire. I turned back and gave the others a simple signal, then dashed forward to attack him. My lunge was expertly parried before I got close. The others soon joined in, and with our numbers we were able to start landing a few hits. The other White Wolves were beginning to tire and drop off, though, and the Order agent showed no signs of tiring.
“Get out of here, you kids!” The black-haired knight barked. “We’ll buy you time to escape!”
I shook my head. We couldn’t leave now. Besides, these knights wouldn’t last much longer on their own. “We’re just… as able fighters… as your men, and this man… has a lot to answer for!” I said between attacks and parries. He gave no reply, but he didn’t try to have us flee again. Eventually, when only the Crusaders and the lead knight remained, the Order agent seemed to grow bored of the fight. With a grunt, he delivered a mighty vertical uppercut that sent the black-haired knight reeling backward. His attack gave us a moment to deliver several more hits, but once he finished, our offensive advantage was gone.
He sliced diagonally, and I had to brace myself and my spear to absorb the hit. His next attack reversed his sword in the opposite direction, batting away Angel’s overhead strike. In the same instant, his other hand shot forward and delivered a blow to Angel’s chest, sending him reeling back. I retaliated by launching a blast of wind, throwing him back several feet and tossing his hood to the side. A battle-scarred face and strange grey horn were revealed, and a shock of black hair fell to his shoulders. With a snarl, he dashed forward and rammed Sweetie Belle to the ground with his shoulder. He made short work of Luna as well, sliding across the ground and swatting her aside with his forearm. She managed to land a hit of powerful darkness before she fell, but it did not seem to faze him.
He dashed back over to me, and with a strong drop of his elbow, I was on the ground, stunned and dizzy. Through my blurry vision, I was able to see him stalk over to Applebloom, and quickly disable her as well. He reached down and pulled her up by her collar, and in a commanding but not overly loud voice, began to speak to her:
“Dreamer of Void. You are unable to fight, as are your allies. I will give you two options as to what you will do next. You can choose to offer no further resistance and allow me to escort you away as my prisoner… or I can kill you here. Both choices will result in you being removed as an obstacle, and it matters not to me which you choose.”
I squinted in confusion. He was clearly speaking to Applebloom alone, but he had called her something strange. What did he mean ‘dreamer of Void’? A few seconds passed in which neither spoke, then I was able to see and hear Applebloom spit in his face defiantly. He wiped his sword hand over his face slowly, and then brought it up over his head, in preparation of the finishing blow. I wanted to leap to my feet and stop him, but I was still dizzy and only able to watch helplessly.
I heard a faint whistle in the air, then the sound of metal colliding with flesh. The Order agent dropped both Applebloom and his sword, still alive but in shock. I saw coils of darkness flowing from his back, probably healing his new wound, and he reached around with one arm to pull the projectile free. He stared at it for a moment- a round metal frame with crossing handles, ending in blades on the outer rim- before grabbing his sword and blocking another attack from behind.
A new knight dashed forward, sword colliding with the Order agents’. The knight’s armor was not quite as high-quality as that of the White Wolves- it was only metal in some places, leather in others- but he seemed just as confident with his blade. His messy caramel-brown hair settled on his shoulders, still flowing from his sudden approach.
The knight spun around him, and came to a halt in front of our battered group. “Number Two, I’ve been told?” he said, his sword pointed at him. While he spoke, I felt a tingle in my head, and other wounded parts of my body. Looking around, I saw that another girl had joined us as well, one with golden hair, white and pale violet clothing, and a healing staff.
“Lambs to the slaughter…” Number Two growled, raising his sword again.
“Part of me was hoping I’d find you first, Number Two.” yet another voice commented, from behind our enemy. I turned my head slightly to view him, and saw a boy my age standing confidently, holding the weapon pulled from Number Two’s back, as well as an identical one in the other hand. His pants and shirt were both a continuous swirling black-and-white pattern, with red on the collar and sleeves. He had spiky, lightning-blue hair, rounded black sunglasses, and a confident but angry smile. “You’ve got me to answer to this time.”
“What fortune…” Number Two muttered, gripping his sword, “The dreamer of Time has seen fit to join us as well!” He spun around and slashed at the boy, who blocked with his strange weapons. “It’s a shame you seem so bent on sharing your father’s fate!”
“Bastard!” the boy barked, pushing forward. He moved efficiently and elegantly with his weapons, swinging wide but always keeping one nearby to defend. I saw a fire spell at the tips, pulsing blue and growing in power. The knight dashed forward and attacked him from the other side, forcing him onto the defensive. I turned, nodded to the others, and dashed forward with renewed energy. My attack was parried, but Number Two was starting to sweat this time. The two newcomers’ attacks were furious, and he had to focus almost his full attention to them.
With Applebloom, Angel, Luna and Sweetie Belle all joined in, he didn’t stand a chance of attacking, and he knew it. We were all too pumped on adrenaline to grow tired, and the blue-haired boy was fighting brilliantly, if angrily. We needed something stronger to really hurt him though: all our attacks were glancing off, or being patched up by darkness. The knight leapt back for a moment, and turned to Applebloom.
“You there, girl with the swords!” he called, and Applebloom nodded slightly to show she was listening. “You are a dreamer as well, correct? That of Void?” Another nod. “Then follow my lead!”
He dashed around to the other side, and raised his sword over his head. Applebloom leapt back and did the same with her blades. “Oubliette Symphony!” he yelled, and the two leapt at Number Two. Their initial hit knocked him into the air, and before he could fall, they leapt up and delivered a cross-slash that sent him reeling higher. Running on some kind of magic, they doubled back and slashed him again and again, until he was at least thirty feet off of the ground. The two hung in the air for a moment, then brought down the three swords on him, descending all the way to the ground.
The knight and Applebloom leapt aside at the last second, and Number Two slammed into the ground, knocking loose several pieces of mortar. For good measure, the blue-haired boy charged a large, powerful fire spell on his weapons, and blasted the slight crater with a pillar of flame. When the fire faded, Number Two struggled to his feet, and darkness began to surround him; not a healing darkness as before, but of escape.
“You’ll live to regret not accepting your fate.” he said darkly, and vanished. We all looked around for a moment, expecting more, but the danger seemed to have passed from the wrecked streets of Monetopia. A collective bated breath was released by all.
“Brave souls,” Luna began, “we thank you for your swift aid. Without you, we surely would have perished.”
The knight raised an eyebrow, seemingly interested. “It was nothing, milady.” he replied, “It is but the duty of a knight, and a citizen of the land. Though I have not yet been tied to a service, I still seek to protect my fellow citizens.”
“In simpler terms…” Sweetie Belle muttered, approaching the blue-haired boy while Luna and the knight continued their articulate banter, “Thanks for pulling our asses out of the fire. Where did you come from, and how did you know to come here?”
He chuckled slightly. “We just got here from Forestia. And it was a lucky guess on my companion’s part that they’d be hitting this city, too.”
“Really? We were just in Forestia too! Well, one of the little islands that are technically part of it. So… you’re fighting against the Order, too?”
He raised his eyebrows, just visible over his shades. “I thought I was the only one. And by extension, my friends. What have they done to you?”
“Oh, you know, attacked Eclipse City, framed us for stealing the Elements of Harmony, made it so we had to go into exile for a while. When we got the chance to hit back, you bet we took it. How about you?”
He sighed. “At first, it was my father and I fighting them. I fought because he told me they were bad. It was our job to stop the bad guys… But then that bastard we just fought caught up with us, and… killed him. Made it very personal. I plan to fight them in any way I can.”
I noticed Applebloom had gone over to speak with the knight as well, so I turned to the boy. “He said something about one of our friends being a ‘dreamer’. So did your friend. What does that mean?”
“There are people around who are having dreams, in which they are living the story of another. All the dreams, and probably the dreamers, are connected. Your friend is one of them. So am I, and my two companions.”
I nodded. “If that’s the case, it might be a good idea to stick together. We’re fighting the same enemy, and if we’ve got people that are connected somehow- and important enough that the Order wants them out of the picture- we should stick together to better protect them.”
After a few moments of consideration, he nodded. “I suppose so. At the very least, I don’t want to lose track of any of the dreamers.” The others noticed and walked over to join us. “So, what can I call you all?” he asked.
“Scootaloo.” I said, shaking his hand.
“Sweetie Belle.” “Luna.” “Angel.” “Applebloom” my companions said in turn.
“Raphael.” the knight said, bowing slightly. I had a feeling right away that he and Luna would get along great. He was acting like a knight of old, and Luna actually was from that time period.
“Dinky.” the healer introduced herself, also with a small bow.
The boy paused and looked up at the Bamboo Company building, thoughtful. I guessed he was somewhat reluctant to give out his name. At last, he turned back to me, and said simply “Scratch.”