Chapter Forty-eight
“You... you want to talk to me?” Sweetie Belle asked as she was lowered to the ground, confused. All the people around her had taken their eyes off the skies, and were eyeing the newcomer warily.
The Order member walked up to her slowly, lowering himself to one knee. “Man, your friends weren’t kidding when they talked about you in this time...” He said. Judging by his voice, he seemed around my age, but it was hard to tell with so few details. “They will have said you always had been a looker. You’re just as cute now as you will have been then.”
I assumed what he said was a compliment, but it was really hard to tell. Whoever this guy was, he made absolutely no sense. Sweetie Belle blushed slightly all the same, and he continued. “Anyway, aside from that. I believe you may have misplaced this at some point.” He reached into his pocket and placed something into her open palm, and when he took his hand away, I was alarmed to realize it was the Icarus Charm. Both she and Rarity eyed it, surprised. “Found it in a ravine near here, figured you’d want it back.”
“But, wait...” Rarity began, and, only adding to the already hopelessly confused situation, pulled out another Icarus Charm form her pocket. As far as I could tell, both were exactly accurate. “I have the Charm right here! Is... is one of them a fake? What is this?!” She finally decided to just try and get some answers out of him.
“No.” He said with certainty. “Neither is a fake. Of that I am certain. This obviously means that yours will be taken at some point in the near future, and the one I found will be returned later to this day for me to find and return to you... I wonder, do I send it back? Anyway, treat this new one as a replica, until you loose yours. Then the new one will be uncontestedly the real one. So, misplace neither, and they will go where they need to.”
Nearly everyone was shaking their heads, unable to understand what he was talking about, a fact not helped by his quick, low voice. Finally he looked back from where he had been facing the Icarus sisters, and made a single step towards the back of the crowd. “Sorry for my intrusion. Please go on doing whatever you were doing.” With that, and everyone too stunned and confused to stop him, he strode away from the crowd.
At length, I turned to Applejack. “Keep an eye on Scootaloo for me. I’m not letting him get away just like that.” I could tell she wanted to come along, but nodded in understanding. The fewer people to get mixed up in this, the better. I’m going alone. Without another word, I blasted out of the crowd myself in pursuit of the boy in the Order cloak.
At first, I couldn’t tell where he went, though there were few enough surroundings around here. I didn’t see him going back into town, so the only place he could have gone was... the small footpath leading further into the bluffs, where I knew there were some other cliffs. Nodding to myself, I set off quickly down the path. I didn’t see him walking in front of me, but I did see some dust kicked up in my path, while the rest was still looking as though it hadn’t been trod upon in years. Confidence bolstered, I continued.
Coming to the end of the path, a steep cliff rose into the air before me as the trail disappeared. Tall grass covered it up until the rocky edge, and silhouetted against the moon and falling stars, stood the boy. His arms were folded, his back to me, and didn’t turn to face me as I climbed to reach him. He did begin to speak again, however. “It’s quite a night for a convergence of destinies, don’t you think? Stars falling form the sky, a hazy outline for our being together... This place... so many memories, floating aimlessly on this cliffside, thoughts that hadn’t crossed my mind in years... Tell me, Rainbow Dash, do you see it too? Do memories of your childhood abound in this place?”
I froze, wondering how he knew my name, or that it was me behind him. “Uh... No. If you’re asking if this cliff was a special place for me in the past, then no... But I know what you mean. I do have special memories in places like the Acres.”
“I see...” He said, rubbing his chin. “So it’s only me who has old memories here, me and...” He trailed off at this point, and I felt like I hadn’t made any ground. For some reason, I didn’t feel like I shouldn’t have told him about the Acres. “So, Rainbow Dash. Tell me this. Was it your boundless curiosity that led you to pursue me, your desire to discover the new things in the world... Or was it your insecurity, your need to know exactly what happens in your world, that wouldn’t let you allow me to leave without justifying my presence?”
I paused, confused by his question. It was obvious he was testing me, but I couldn’t tell how. After some thought, I answered: “I make it my first priority to guard this town, and the people I love, from any threat that can be avoided. Coupling the facts that a member of The Order showed up right now- and I’ve not had good experience with them in the past- and just waltzes in, talks nonsense and leaves: pal, I’d be surprised if anyone in my position didn’t follow you and try to figure out what you’re about.”
“Hm... good answer.” He responded quietly, as if admitting defeat. “I can’t blame you for being wary of the telltale Order Cloak- I am too- and I suppose I did sort of make for the odd spectacle, I’ll concede that much. I wear the Cloak only as a precaution- it acts as a cloaking device for members of The Order, and will hid my presence from them. Make no mistake, I do not ally myself with them in any way.”
I felt like I was finally making some progress, so I decided it safe to press him further. “Who are you?” I questioned simply.
He laughed, a sound as strangely comforting as it was concerning. “I could go on for hours about my life story, of all the places I’ve been, people I’ve met, things I’ve done, and then you might have some glimmer of an idea of who I am... but I’m guessing you were more in the market for a name?” He turned slowly as he spoke, lowering his hood. A mane of lightning-blue hair fell dramatically to his shoulders, and a pair of black sunglasses covering his eyes reflected the falling stars. “It’s Scratch.”
“Alright...” I said, once again having to pick up where he trailed off. “How do you know my name? And while we’re on it, what were you going on about with the second Icarus Charm, and all that ‘will have been’ nonsense? Just how do you know all this?”
Scratch turned to face me fully, back to the tumulting skyline. “Do you truly wish to know?... Very well. I am, in best description, a time traveller. I come most recently from a time six years or so in the future, but I’ve been just about every-when. I know your name, and your basic history, by what history has to say about you. And ‘will have been’ is simply perfect grammar for something that has happened in my past, but will happen in your future, which, in this case, would be her friends telling me of Sweetie Belle’s enduring cuteness.”
I was torn between my desire to try and get more information out of this guy, or just let him sit and stop him from confusing me any further. I decided to press on, and commit the details to memory to be deciphered later. “So do you come from a time when time-travel has been invented? And, if history has something to say about me, then what is it? What will come of this revolution that’s brewing?”
“No...” He began. “As far as I can tell, at no point in time will normal humans ‘invent’ time travel for general use. If they did, you’d see plenty of other ‘time travelers’ running around. No, I simply find myself in possession of an ancient artifact dating all the way back to The Crash, that allows its user to travel. It cannon be duplicated or learned from, only used. It has traded hands... Twice now? My teacher’s teacher was it’s first user, then my teacher, then me. But anyway, back to your other question...
“I’m afraid I can’t tell you.” He finished. I deflated. I had been so close to learning whether what we were doing was the right thing, or at least I thought I was close. “Point is, if I were to tell you, that would be knowledge you were never meant to have. You’re meant to find your own way through this war, and do what you think is right, not what someone tells you is right. That shouldn’t be too out-of-character for you, right? I will say this, though: you will play a large part in Moonlight, and, indirectly, a part in the conflict I now find myself entwined in...”
“Moonlight?” I questioned, but I felt like I was beginning to grasp at what he spoke of.
“The revolution. Wait, did... did you not give it a name yet?” I shook my head, and Scratch laughed lightly. “Oops... well, there’s a paradox for you. Now you can walk away saying you caused a paradox. It will be called Moonlight, and now I see it’s because of me. Heh...” Scratch then did something unusual (a term largely useless at this stage, but it was still odd): he unzipped his dusky-grey Order cloak, shrugging it off and allowing it to fall to the ground. Underneath he wore long, baggy pants and a better fitting long-sleeved shirt. The pants were black, but with a streak of white snaking up from the bottoms of the legs all the way up to the torso, where they curled back slightly and stopped. His shirt seemed to have a similar, reversed pattern on its back: black at the end, coming to two points over each shoulder. But his low shirt collar- and the sleeves of his shirt- were both red.
“If you’re wondering, I only wore the cloak to avoid detection while returning the Charm to it’s owner, but now I desire the opposite. A member of The Order will surely have just been alerted to my position, and will be rushing to meet me. Before I leave, it’s important that I meet them here.” He lowered his voice, mostly talking to himself more than me. “Now it’s just a question of when they will arrive, and who it will be... I suppose Seven is still a possibility, but I don’t find that very likely. No, it will likely be either Three or Six, though I’m confident that if it does turn out to be Six, I can take him myself. Best case scenario would be if it’s Three, and I can avoid a fight altogether. I need to tell her something anyway...”
“Hold up.” I said, cutting off his fast-paced ramblings. “What conflict were you talking about earlier, and who’s to say I’ll only be an indirect part of it? Why not direct?” I was quickly growing weary of Scratch’s mannerisms, but felt like he had more information to spill, hopefully something useful to me. But being a few statements behind him as I tried to get an explanation wasn’t making it easy.
“Do you believe in fate, Rainbow Dash?” He asked abruptly.
His question came out of the blue, so it took me a moment before answering: “No, I can’t say I do. To me, fate implies that I have no real control over my actions, and that gives way to being lazy and letting whatever happens, happen. I believe I am in full control of my destiny, making it that much more important to do what I think is right.”
Scratch considered this. “Again, good answer, but... I’m afraid that view is not quite correct. As one who travels through time, I can tell you that there’s no changing what was fated to happen, as whatever has happened in history has already taken your actions into account. If I were to lunge forward and try to kill you, for example, something would cause me to fail, because history did not record you dying this day. No matter how hard I may try, you did not die today, and that cannot be changed.
“Just the same with the conflict taking place six years from now. History thus far has not had you make a direct move to fight as I am, but your actions leading up to it will help me insurmountably.”
“Two things:” I started, sorting all my remaining questions into two. “First, why is it you’re so open to speak to me? It’s not like you’re in a position where you have to answer to me. And second, I don’t believe you when you say I can’t play a part in this new conflict, whatever it is. I’m plenty strong enough, and I doubt I would just sit back and let something bad happen without trying to stop it.”
Scratch sighed, almost annoyed sounding, but then softened. “Well, I’m mostly talking to you because I have to wait for the Order member to arrive and meet me, and I don’t feel like chasing you off. See... I’m not exactly a good time traveler. I’m not as emotionally detached as one in my position ought to be, and... I get lonely sometimes. Jumping from time to time is a solitary business, and sometimes I just feel chatty. Nothing personal with you, but you do seem like a cool person.
“And I’m not saying you’re not strong enough to take part in the conflict, I’m just saying you don’t. You seem to be preoccupied at the homestead, but it’s not impossible that you lend a hand by the end. Still... I think it would be better if you remained here, as we’ve already involved a fair amount of people who didn’t have much to do with this anyway.”
“There you go!” I exclaimed. “In the end, it’s my choice, isn’t it? If I’ve still got a chance to help, I will, without a second glance. But you don’t think I’m strong enough to do it, do you? Trust me, I’ve been around in combat, and I know ‘keep as few people involved’ is just an excuse to get the weak guy to stay out of the way!”
Scratch shook his head, and said somewhat testily: “You really don’t get it do you? Well fine, you want me to believe that you can change your fate and take on The Order? Then prove it! Fight me, and prove you’re strong enough!” He reached behind his back, then threw out his arms, two metal objects clutched in his hands threateningly. They resembled a skeleton of a wheel; a steel circle with two bars crossing the diameter of it, meeting in the middle. Four small blades glinted in the starlight on each, positioned equally around the outside of the circle.
I made a move to draw my blade, only to remember I didn’t have it. “You’ll find a sword in the grass about a foot behind you.” Scratch barked, his patience clearly broken and not recovering. “No trickery about it this time, I just noticed it on my way up.” Not turning my back from the now imposing figure, strange weapons drawn, silhouetted beautifully by the meteor shower raging behind him, I moved back slowly until I caught the glint of the blade he spoke of.
My hand darted down to grab it by the handle, and I sprang back up quickly. The sword wasn’t rusty, but hadn’t been polished for a time. It had excellent balance and weight, but the blade was somewhat dull. The steel was thin at the edge and almost round at the top, about three inches in width, the handle unadorned. It was nothing fancy or spectacular, but it was an easy-feeling weapon, and I felt like I could use it.
I twirled it in my palm, showing I was ready, and Scratch raised his arms to the sky. The weapons spun in the air, the outer rims of the steel quickly building up a luminous blue flame. Scowling, Scratch caught the weapons as they fell, and shot like an arrow down the slope, straight at me.