//------------------------------// // VII. // Story: The Worlds End // by Alcatraz //------------------------------// If memory served me correctly, we were a little over two-thirds on our way to our next destination. The floating region of Evisica. But...recently, things have quite honestly been a little too placid to be comfortable, lately. The closer we got to Evisica and the Breach, Luna kept telling us how she felt the raw power of the Ley getting stronger and stronger. It was an almost intoxicating sensation coarsing through her. I couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at her interesting choice of words, but, what can I say. I felt the same way about smoking marijuana back on Earth when I could get my hands on it. I had tidied up my bags and cleaned everything under the bed the day after I told myself I would, and that took all of two hours for my own belongings. All of us who weren't managing the course of the ship took it upon ourselves to clean up the mess that was left over from three days ago, when we had that big pirate scare. Yeah, we were only cleaning up the bridge, but the blood that was spilled on those metallic floors was enough to make us all have to combine out efforts to clean up as much as we could, as quickly as we could, so it wouldn't rust. I remember seeing where that god damn Gryphon threw his talons over my face. Those cuts were deep, and so were the bloodstains, but thanks to some healing magic from Luna they healed right up. Aside from that, though, I had to keep myself occupied so cabin fever wouldn't set in again, but there was only so much I could do. My blades were sharpened and oiled the very morning after the battle, and my bags and all my possessions were organized. The kitchen, and only very loosely could you call it's setup a kitchen, was spotless, as was pretty much everything else for the most part. And over the time I worked at cafes back on Earth, the habit of keeping everything clean and organized grew hard on me. Okay, so... Back to thinking of stuff to do. Unless I wanted to go polish over every single surface again, I was pretty much stuck. I didn't know what to do, like, at all. Luna often took me out on her back to fly around within close distance to clear my head as well as get a breath of fresh, free air for the both of us. But aside from that, she kept her activities personal, to herself, as did Sky and Ratchet. They had plenty of things to do already, with keeping the ship up and running. I don't think they had to worry about staving off boredom. "God damn, man." It's on my one of many meanderings around the ship that I found Bullseye sitting or laying down with legs at his side doing his meditating. Seriously, how would you even describe a pony sitting down? He had really recovered quickly, not to my surprise at all. I'm sure that taking your state of mind to an altered state has benefits that majorly outweigh the injuries he suffered. His thin gray coat covered most of the many wounds that afflicted his body. But the biggest bullet hole, the one nearest to his neck, still required him to wear a thin brace that would cover the wound, most likely for the rest of the trip, until we would be able to walk on land again. But other than that, he remained his normal self, gladly warming up to us all. It made me happy to think about how important he must have felt. Both curiosity and boredom got the better of me in this instance. And, it wasn't that I minded at all, but I decided to join him He opened his eyes suddenly. I worried that I drove him out of his peaceful, tranquil state. "Oh, I didn't mess you up, did I?" "Nah," he smiled and looked up at me. "You're good." "May I join you?" I next asked, taking a seat close to him. "Of course!" he beamed brighter. "I was wondering when you would take interest." My ear caught an emphasis on just one of those words. Jeez, I felt like such a douche right then, sounding as if I never had any interest at all. "I've always been interested in what you do here. Hehe." Just as long as he didn't take me as a liar, I was good. Bullseye just chuckled to himself, then he repositioned his back up straight again and crossed his legs again, tighter this time. "Close your eyes," he told me." Empty your mind of all things, keep a still posture and take deep breaths every three seconds. Holding, then exhaling for the same amount of time. Relax, let your mind slip away. After a while of setting yourself in this scene, you'll notice that things won't begin to feel real to you anymore, you enter your own mind palace where you can do anything and everything you wish." He shared all of those details with his eyes closed, without moving a muscle. Well shoot, this was almost too familiar to how Luna described taking magic into my blood. Probably just as complicated, too. Regardless, I followed his advice, leaning up against the wall. I closed my eyes, I relaxed, and I let my mind slip away. It was really very easy, not to my expectations. I began by taking in the rhythmic breathing patterns, and I noticed how things just...started to slow down. My heart rate had dropped, my muscles began to relax, and everything just became so tranquil. Everything temporarily became so meaningless. I don't know how long it was after I started, but I could feel myself become weightless, in a sense. Like, I knew I was sitting on the floor hundreds if not thousands of feet in the air, but that fact downgraded to theory when my questioning vanished. By comparison, though, it was almost like flying through the air with nothing in your way. No air currents, clouds, and no creepy crawlies getting into your mouth. Just pure, uninhibited flying through some internal sky in your mind. Perhaps searching for something new. I tried picturing various things against the inky black canvas of the realm that my subconscious had transcended to. The first thing that came to mind, in all sense of the phrase, was Luna. The image that followed was of when she was just a filly, right before I found her in that shed during that horrendous storm. Her image looked like she was laying on something, without anything actually beneath her. That tiny little filly, scared out of her mind by the thunder and lightning going on outside. I continued to see only her figure, now curled up into a ball and shaking from the fear. She had no idea where she was, and she had no idea what was going on outside of that weak structure. It broke my heart to see her like that, but it made me happy at the same time. That was where I found her, and it was also when my life changed forever... Eventually, the scene floated past me and disappeared into a pinprick. The next thought I conceived was of Luna, several months down the track when we moved to my grandparent's farm. I pictured her sleeping in the little bed I bought her, complete with blanket and the miniature Sonic Screwdriver I gave her for Christmas the year before. She looked so adorable like that, just as she always will be. Her mane falling around her head, framing those great big puppy-dog eyes of hers. The next image that came floating my way was of Luna again, but she was all grown up this time in her regal beauty. Her flowing astral mane fell to the right side of her face, with a lock of it coming over the other, and her royal appearance was complete with her tiara and the trademark moon necklace she wore. This time, she didn't float across my sight, passing it. Instead, the imaginary construct walked up to me and took a seat, staring at me. I blinked a few times in surprise. How is this even possible? She giggled at my uncertainty. And the she spoke. "You having fun there?"I could only stare in disbelief. "This isn't just a meditative state," she added. "It's more of a manufactured dream. You can do whatever you want in here because you're the one making it." With that, her tiara exploded in a shower of party ribbons and confetti, and in its place sat a party hat. She magically tossed it away with a cute smile as she rolled her eyes in my general direction. I couldn't help but laugh. "Come, you've been out of it for longer than you might think." She leaned her head down to me and touched her glowing horn to my forehead, and I felt a rush of...I had no idea. And before I felt anything at all, I was pulled back to reality. I opened my eyes suddenly, drawing in a sharp breath. Luna sat in front of me, but bullseye wasn't on his blanket where she sat."How long was I..." "A little over a day, give or take." My eyes really widened just then."A whole day...? Holy... What's the time?" "It was about an hour to noon when you sat down with Bullseye, so... seven-thirty in the evening the day after." I gasped, more in a confused awe than anything."I was asleep for twenty-eight hours!?" "I... thought it as an idea to leave you be. You do get bored pretty easily during the day, and the meditation helped while away the time."I was sure hit with that realization. By now we are only a day and a half away from our destination. By the time you sleep during this night and make preparations the following day, we'll arrive the day after." "What about dinner?" She levitated a bowl of chunky, steaming soup over to me. "Bullseye tried his hand at cooking for us after watching you mess around for a while." I got up on my feet. "Where is he now?" "He's outside. Or at least I think he still is. Either that or he's asleep down below. He's taken quite a liking to that bed." I took the bowl from her aura, sitting down at the table and taking in a mouthful with a spoon. I was very surprised, as mean as that may have sounded. "Oh man. This is so good." I took spoonful after spoonful in my mouth until the heat actually got to me. I didn't know he could cook, either! "What's in it?" Another voice came from below, speaking as it made its way up the stairs. "Pasta, lentils, and vegetables, in a pureed tomato soup with some herbs." Bullseye was the owner. He came into view, coming up the steps and wearing a rather smug grin. "It's almost like a minestrone." "What's that?" he asked. "It's the name of a type of soup back on Earth. What do you call it?" "Vegetable and pasta soup?" The tone of his voice told me that the name of it sounded rather peculiar. He gave me a laugh nonetheless. I finished eating, thanking him on multiple occasions before I actually finished. Then I took the porcelain bowl down to the kitchen's back room, washing it and putting it away. The remainder of the evening consisted of chatting with Luna and Bullseye, as well as noting my past experiences, and everything else up to this point, in this journal. Though, that part didn't exactly take too long. And neither did the conversation. "Bullseye?" Luna heard no audible response. "You still awake?" I asked him. I didn't hear anything immediate either, but I gave it some time before I heard him whisper into his fluffy pillow. "You're the best, Midnight," he muttered in his half-asleep stupor as we heard his head fall hard onto his pillow with a feathery thunk. I blushed beneath my hand, shielding the red on my face. It was a bit of habit to do that, regardless of whether it was necessary or not. But Luna saw through my obstruction as she looked back down at me. "He really likes you." she said. "Yeah..." I replied to her as I fully lied on my bed, my feet at the foot of it. I was crying, just a little bit. "He really is like the little brother that once was." "I'm glad you feel that way." "But you'll always be my little Luna. Never forget that." She blew her mane out of her eyes. "I'm not worried about that, Father." "In fact, we've already become good friends with everyone on this ship. I think..." I paused for a few seconds, trying to find the right words to use. "You think that... What?" "Oh, nothing. It wasn't important." With that, Luna tried to respond, but her mouth hung open for a second. Then she explained how she couldn't stay up any longer. Then she took her head back to her bed and curled up to go to sleep. I might be overreacting, but... Did I say something wrong? It was easy enough, as all my belongings were merely under my bed. Nevertheless, I felt a compulsion to pull them out and atop my bed. I was mostly interested in the bag that was more like a small briefcase, with concentric, smaller pouches on the front.. I released the simple locks at its top and opened it, laying it down, with the my awesome knives sitting at the base. They pretty much took up the whole bottom space, accompanied with a whetstone laying horizontally alongside the blades. It was older fashioned, but sometimes, there are things that are better off unchanged, like a way to sharpen knives. At the top, spare batteries for all three of my flashlights hung underneath plastic clamps, along with a few books of matches, lighters in waterproof containers, too. Intact and restocked medical supplies took up p the top left corner, directly above a few dry matches, all the straps and belts attachable to other pieces of equipment. And on the right hung rope, a can of adhesive spray, and three rolls of duct tape. There would Indeed still be some times where none of this stuff would be of use, I knew that much, but, for the most part, I thought I was fairly prepared. Another bag I pulled up was only purposed to hold a few miscellaneous items. It was a simple, over-the-shoulder canvas bag that I bought from an army surplus store on Earth for less than twenty dollars. It was old and stained, and the buckle was rusted enough that, when Rarity first laid eyes on it, she instantly turned her nose up at the sight. She kept complaining how 'ghastly' it looked. I tried to explain to her why I bought it, but I just couldn't stand her nitpicking over every single detail, especially how it didn't go fit with any outfit I wore every time I saw her. I think I hated her. "But it's old and dirty!" she whined. "Yes it is. But do you know why I got it?" "Why in Equestria would you buy such a horrid thing!?" "Think about it. Yes it's dirty looking, yes the buckle is rusted and the leather used to hold the flap closed is cracked. Most importantly it's old." "How is that a good thing?" Honestly, sometimes you have to spell things out black and white. "It works!" "Not with that outfit it doesn't!" Oh. My. God. "My point is this. It stood the test of time! If you have something for who-knows-how-long and it still functions correctly, what reason is there to throw it away? It still functions perfectly well." I hadn't really had it for THAT long, but the point remains nonetheless. Rarity said she stood corrected on how horrible it looked, but I honestly didn't care. We'd need to bring other food with us while exploring the island, So I emptied the pocket in my bag that had the ropes, unused roll of duct tape (much to my surprise after all this time) equipment straps, zipties—essentially things that tie other things together­—and put those in the satchel, putting high-energy foods in, rice, and some freeze dried vegetables. That also means I won't need to go digging for rope if and when I'd need it. Up until now I had used a little ceramic rod to keep my knives sharp, but since we're going bush-whacking It's important to keep knives razor sharp and not just touched up with a small tool. I got the fine-grit whetstone I used on the kitchen knife, and used it to sharpen the tanto and mora. The kukri and bushcraft knife have huge forward bellies, so I could only sharpen about two-thirds of it before turning back to using the ceramic rod on the recurved portion. Satisfied with the hair-shaving edges, I strop and clean off any excess material, sheathing the knives and putting everything back under the bed for the time being. That managed to kill a few hours. I signed and fell back onto my bed trying to figure out what to do for the next 24 hours. Nothing, really. Everything is pretty much sorted on my end, Luna needs to sort her things, and so does Bullseye. It suddenly occurred to my that I didn't see Luna bring anything with her on the trip. Although why it took me this long to figure that out is beyond me. "Hey, Luna, did you bring anything with you, like, provision wise?" "Oh yeah, I have some things in my pocket." "...What?" Ponies don't have pockets unless they wear clothes. And she never wore clothes. She was always...naked. I wasn't sure how to respond to her. "But... you don't... have pockets?" "Singular, not plural." "That's besides the point. How do you even have one pocket? What do you even mean?" She stuck her head over the side of her bed to look at me. "Do you ever wander how I managed to pull things out of thin air?" "Magic?" "Yes and no. You're from another universe, so I'm assuming you know what pocket dimensions are, correct?" "Single universes of varying sizes that lay empty, void of anything at all." "More or less. If you know the right spell, you can unzip one of those voids and use it for storage." "Hehe, now it makes so much sense why you pulled stuff out on thin air when I watched your character, or Discord's, on TV, on Earth." Then again, I can't really argue with cartoon logic at this point since I'm basically living in a cartoon universe. She added, "So long as you remember what it is you put in there, all you have to do is use magic to 'unzip' the dimension—for lack of a better word—and mentally recall what item it is you want." "Luna, you just blew my mind. But more to the point, what did you bring with you?" "Not too much. Sanitary items for the most part. A few books to read while on the ship." Well that explained one way she kept herself busy all this time. "Ink and quills to write anything I might need to remember, and not much else in regards to this trip." "I think you came under-prepared. You should always come prepared, cuz you never know what might happen. Don't worry though, because I'll...help you out." I didn't want to bring up the word 'protect', as that was still a sensitive subject between us. She deadpanned at my choice words regardless. "I...cannot argue with the former. Is that why you bought so many bladed implements?" "In a sense. Back on Earth I had a decent sized collection of knives as you've seen, but only bought these ones with me because they're the only good quality ones I had at the time. That, and they've served me well thus far." I said, running my hand over the glowing moon under my shirt sleeve. "It was actually quite impressive." "Also, do you think you could hold onto my little diary thing? I don't want it to get ruined in my bag or anything. You know, safe keeping." I grabbed the notebook from between the bed and it's frame and held it up to her. It quickly disappeared from my grip with a pop, and Luna shared a sheepish grin with me. "Just let me know when you would like to use it next. I...promise I won't look inside." "I don't mind if you do or not, I've got nothing to hide. It's just a detail of the journey so far." Just a short time after I fell for Luna's little game once more, Ratchet came running down the stairwell, but she stopped where her legs were visible and ducked her head down a little. There was a smile on her face that looked as if it was plastered on her face. "Guys, you're gonna wanna see this!" She beamed. I gave Luna a quick glance as she did me. We both got up from our beds and ran up the stairs onto the bridge. Then, power walking through the corridor. I couldn't see anything but clouds from the panoramic window. I could have had to get closer, too. I saw Bullseye trying to get a view, too. "What is it?" Sky reassured my curiosity. "Just wait for a break in the clouds, you'll see." I stood in front of the window squinting my eyes at the scene of nothing but dark gray clouds move aside for a solid two minutes, but then they started to get thinner and thinner... but in due time, the clouds gave way to the most spectacular of views. "Hey look guys!" Bullseye called. Luna and I were amazed at the sights. "Evisica." We all chorused. Mere words would fail to describe the absolute beauty and wonder of what my eyes were feasting upon. The map I now I had a mental image of showed islands floating, and I'd have been damned if they weren't. From my viewpoint, it was almost like this hunk of land had been pulled right out of the ground from far below. Nothing but the green color of life gave way on the surface of the mass, and it simply cut off at the edges. I could see a waterfall crashing down, almost buried in the plantlife I saw. Then I saw another fall, and another, then a third. The three newest falls I saw were all cascading over three separate sides of the island, the water evaporating half way down the rock face, with the vapor forming two rainbows that I could see. But what I couldn't see was the taper of the bottom of island, if at all there was one at all. A picturesque rainforest stretched before me like something from a touched-up tourism brochure. In one of the furthest distances laid a lush, green jungle and a dramatic mountain rising from the heart of the island. All around it flew the beautiful, sparkling, blue-hued ambiance created by water trickling off the sides of the island with a lovely distinctive smell to accompany the scene. I wouldn't mind spending summer vacation here at some cabana or relaxing on a beach towel. Provided it even has a beach. My somewhat pleasant ideas, though, were then suddenly interrupted by an unquestionably unpleasant, deep, eerie, metallic groan that resonated throughout the room. "What the hell?..." I audibly gulped. "...What was that?" Several seconds passed without another sound, and I heaved a sigh of relief, but only for the opposite to occur. But then, even more abruptly, the ship was intensely and violently impacted by something, sending everyone inside tumbling to the floor. Shit just got serious. "Sorry to do this again, Sky," I stumbled to my feet as I grabbed one of the navigation modules and pulled myself up."But hurry up and get us over to that island so whatever it is that just knocked us around doesn't get the chance to do it again!" He was still regaining his ground as well. "Ratchet!" he called."We're close enough to put this thing into overdrive without completely fucking up the systems, right?" "Yes sir!" she answered as she overlooked the modules and displays in the engine room. "Your call!" she added. "DO IT NOW!!" Ratchet threw open the doors on the row of mechanisms that me, Luna and Bullseye were holding onto. She revealed the ultimate controller and immediately threw a couple of levers and twisted a couple of knobs. "Sky, press the button!" By now, Sky was at the front control panel, awaiting her orders. And when he got them, he didn't hesitate at all to press a bulky button that hung over the end of the table. We all felt the ship lurch forward with gusto, but it wasn't enough to knock any of us off the floor again. At least we got some speed out of it; Not as much as I would have liked, but any advance would help at that point. I saw something out the window, like something was... crawling on the ship. I ran over to the door and grabbed one of the pipes running down the wall. I threw open the door, only to be assaulted by the winds pushing past us as we sped towards Evisica. I scanned the general area around me and tried to find out where whatever it was I saw headed this time. Then, when I looked down at the bottom propellers, I had just enough time to see a giant black, almost fish-like tail to go under the ship. It was quite a ways below us, but that was only what I saw from the door frame. "Luna." I said calmly, as she was now at my side. She looked at me, then I headed back inside with her. "What's about twenty times the size of this ship and black?" Everyone else looked at me now as I shut the door. "Book, please." I said, holding out my hand. She made the big book appear in my palm. I don't know why, but I should have given it more thought as to what these illustrations of strange animals could be. I flicked through the pages until I found the most relevant one I was looking for. Situated in the middle of the page with two paragraphs of the mysterious text above and below it sat a crude illustration of this thing. The drawing had what could be described as a fish tail at the end of a lobster's tail, leading up to a non descriptive-body that had a single drawn eye and two "great big scorpion-like pincers." Hey, don't blame me, the drawing was pretty vague. "Well, we're fucked."