The Worlds End

by Alcatraz

X.

I put on my backpack, secured the waist and sternum straps, donned the canvas satchel with rope and water bottles. As I started to pack my supplies together, I began to wonder just how long this trip was really going to be. A day? A week? A month? Maybe longer? No one knew. I certainly didn’t know either. If the answers we sought were really here, I had to find them.

I never really thought about the closure I wanted until Luna and I finally arrived here, and how late I was to seek it. Now that we were this close, I couldn’t stop thinking about my parents. How they raised me, the holidays, the cold evenings we spent near the fireplace. I would be consumed in some book or new toy, with my parents sitting on the sofa, just watching me without a care in the world.

I needed the closure. That is what I kept telling myself. That’s what kept me going, even after everything that had happened. Even after Luna and the others had been put into danger, I still needed to say goodbye. God that makes me sound selfish.

I wasn’t sure why it took me so long to remember why I came. I was so consumed by everything around me, I hadn’t even thought about my parents. This was the whole reason for going to The Breach, wasn’t it?

Maybe that’s what tried convincing myself. Perhaps, I was only fooling myself. Could it have been there was another reason for me to want to keep going? A curiosity about the Breach, maybe? It was the only explanation I could come up with.

We said our goodbyes to Ratchet and Sky, although they weren’t exactly happy about us leaving. Sky was pretty adamant about him and Ratchet coming along. He went on about how we were nearly killed by those pirates from before and that he had a fear that something bad would happen without him. While I wasn’t pessimistic nor did I doubt my abilities to protect Luna, I could say his concerns weren’t completely unfounded.

Fortunately, Luna and I were able to convince them to stay here and make repairs on the ship. The ship hadn’t been damaged to the point that it was beyond repair or that we would have difficulty finding replacement parts for anything. By what miracle that happened, I’ll still never know.

However, Ratchet made the suggestion we keep in touch via messages at the end of every day detailing progress on both our parts. I couldn't argue with that and it was the only way that Sky would have ever let us go it alone. I told her I'd send her a message in the evening when we settled down to camp, when she received it, erase the ink and write her own message. I advised her to erase my message, so we don't waste paper. The journal I was writing all this down in only has a finite amount of paper, and I didn't want to keep tearing out pages for a new message every day.

I stayed out in front, cutting the trail, using my compass to keep us on the north-west bearing toward the Breach. Bullseye brought up the rear with Luna between the two of us. I had the idea of Luna flying above us in an attempt to discern any other clearings or breaks in the trees, and that proved to be fruitless because of the jungle canopy. For those that don't know, a tree canopy is what results when trees grow enough branches and leaves at the top that the resulting thickness obscures any kind of vision, both looking in from above and looking out from below. Sunlight still got in, so that is a non-issue.

The other issue that we quickly discovered is the humidity of the jungle. I didn’t notice it at first. My thoughts were concerned with… other things. By the time, an hour, I think, had passed; my shirt, specifically my back and pits were already soaked with sweat. My forehead was dotted with tiny beads that ran down my face as I took in heavy breath after heavy breath. Wiping my brow, I could feel my warm sweat rub off onto my forearm. I don’t know why I wiped my perspiration away. It was replaced only a few moments later.

It wasn't as bad as some tropical rainforests on Earth, but it was still bad. We were burning through our water supply surprisingly fast. It was my latest fear come true. In the three hours of progress we made, we had polished off three of the five water bottles we had. For me, that's understandable but rather ridiculous. As warm as it was, we shouldn't have been going through that much water that quickly. I thought that it was not just because we were getting dehydrated, but to stave off boredom and help the food we're snacking on move through us. I had a three-liter water bladder in my bag, so I was pretty sorted.

Not exactly the lightest of weights, however. The weight of my back began to drag my footsteps, and resting became a necessity. I found it difficult to keep up with Luna and Bullseye. Their equine stamina made it easy for them to carry their extra luggage. Luna had attempted to help me, but I politely refused, stating that I wasn’t growing weaker. What? I wasn’t. It was just surprising how trying this new task was. But I wasn’t growing weaker and even if I was, I couldn’t let Luna know. She’d worry about me.

Besides, I already had enough on my mind, with my parents, the Breach, the leviathan, Sky, Ratchet and of course, Luna. I didn’t need to add trying to make sure she wasn’t worried about me to the list.

Despite their stamina outperforming mine, however, I could tell that the humidity and the distance was draining them as well. Their movements became sluggish like they had rocks tied to their limbs. Yeah, they pushed forward, but it wasn’t the vigorous march that I expected from them.

Fearing for them and for myself, I proposed, that, when we found another source of water that we each be responsible for our own water That is… if we found another water source. For now, we had to deal with what we had. There was no telling when, or even if, we would find another water source. For now, we kept our drinking to a minimum. There was no use taking the risk of losing it all in the first few hours of our journey. If you drink all of yours within five minutes, tough shit. We also needed water to help cook with later when we stopped to make camp.

Tough shit? I had hoped that was the humidity talking. Or maybe I really wanted them to monitor their water supply. I don’t know why I said it. What if something did happen? What if something happened to Luna and she did run out of water before we reached our destination? Would I really be able to just move on with her being drained by this heat, with not even a drop of water?

The more I kept thinking about what I said, the worst I felt. Luna must have thought poorly of me right now.

The long trudge through the forest didn’t help make things better for us. Bugs of every size, shape and color attacked us, forcing us to spend half of our time swatting them away. Luna’s magic gave her an unfair advantage against the little pests that were constantly biting us. I would have given up a lot just for a can of insect repellant.

Between the heat, the distance, the bugs, and the water situation, none of us were in our top condition. Our energy and our patience were slowly withering. We were easily irritated and there were no conversations between us. Even Bullseye’s normally upbeat personality seemed to be sucked out of his body by the conditions.

We sat down for a resting point in an open grassy area. A small patch of grass with the trees and brushes all around us. As we sat, I glanced up at the small opening in the sea of trees. I almost thought about Luna flying up and trying again, but what good would it do? There was only one opening in the trees and we already knew what was there. Maybe I thought I wanted to get out of this place. Hoping that there was some exit nearby that we could use to get out of this damn jungle.

I looked down at my pack by my side and started to dig for my water bottle. As it appeared in front of me, the bottle’s half empty contents looked at me. It was as if the bottle was taunting me. Like I knew nothing would please me more than to empty its contents. However, I resisted the urge to pour it all over my face and took a quick swig.

A thought then just occurred to me. What about the return trip? It hadn’t even occurred to me. My mind was so preoccupied with everything else, I hadn’t even thought about what would happen if we hadn’t found water by now. Most, if not all of us, were on our last bottle of water. There was a little left in my pack, making me wonder how long we had been walking for. If we didn’t find water soon, we would never have enough to make it back to the ship without suffering for it. Maybe we would pass out before we even got there.

Maybe Sky was right. Maybe this was too dangerous for us. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t thought of this. I mentally berated myself for being so reckless and now Luna might have to suffer for it. What kind of father would put their child in danger so recklessly?

I looked over to Luna and Sky who were keeping a good distance from each other. Not that I entirely blamed them. It was a rotten situation we were in and if they realized what I realized, they knew we were in trouble.

We broke camp after a few minutes. I couldn’t believe how silent it was between us. Save for the insects, the occasional bird and our dragging steps in the grass, there was hardly any noise being made. I looked up to the sea of trees above me, as if there was someone or something watching. But of course, no one was. At least, I didn’t think so.

Still, I was worried about Luna. If we didn’t make it and she got hurt, I’d never be able to forgive myself. Another hour passed, at least, it felt like it, and we were still staggering. Our water supply was dangerously low. While each of us still had at least one bottle left, it wouldn’t be enough to get us back to the ship. We needed to head back. I cursed myself under my breath. I refused to head back. We had to press forward.

But was that right for me to do? Did I really have the right to force everyone to follow me like this? I wanted to see my parents so badly that it put us all in danger. For the first time on this quest, I felt like a damned fool. My priorities had never been this bad.

I thought about how I had taken every precaution for this journey. Taking careful analysis of every situation we came, or might have come, up against. And now, that we were so close to our goal. After everything we had gone through, we had finally come into a situation where we might not make it out.

Because of a combination of heat, distance and poor planning, it's beginning to look like we were almost about to die from heat exhaustion.

No. Not Luna. Not today. She was going to make it out. If the three of us pooled our resources to Luna’s pack, she would make it back to the airship. If somepony was going to make it out of this alive, Luna had to be the one.

I had just made up my mind, when suddenly a sound came to my ear. It was a rushing sound followed by a thunderous crash. It nearly escaped my hearing. I picked myself up off the ground and race towards the sound. I think I heard Luna call out to me, but I wasn’t paying any attention. Perhaps it was because I was hoping against hope. Perhaps my mind was yelling for what I thought it was.

As I passed through another section of the grassy area, I could hear the sound growing closer. Cutting through the jungle, my eyes widened at the sight that I beheld. A glorious spring that seemed to shine as I set my eyes upon it. The thunderous waterfall fell into the little pool below, the sound of falling water overpowering the insects around us.

A smile spread across my face as a loud cheer came from my throat. Luna and Bullseye appeared behind me with the same overjoyed expression that I had. Our luck was finally turning around.

After filling up our bottles with as much water as we could, and having our fill of it, I decided to go for a quick dip to sooth my body. The water wasn’t too warm, but it wasn’t too cold either. Perhaps it was because of the humidity in the jungle. Either way, I didn’t care. It was just water. That is what we needed the most.

I sat in the pool, clothes and all, minus my bags, thinking to myself how fortunate we were. If this spring hadn’t been there or we would have missed it, we wouldn’t have made it back. At the very least, Luna would have been safe. That was all that mattered.

But what if something did happen and Luna was in trouble? What if she got hurt on this journey? She already suffered from those pirates, who did god-knows-what to her. I couldn’t imagine how frightened she was, how terrified she must have been. It was something I tried not to think about.

And yet, as I sat in the pool, the tepid water soaking me, I found myself thinking about it more than ever. I should have never allowed Luna to come with me. Whether it was her choice or not, had I known she would have to go through all this, I probably wouldn't have let her come.

After a quick swim, I filled up the bottles plus the bladder in my bag. I gave two to Bullseye, and two to Luna. I kept the largest one in my satchel for cooking with later on, and I took small mouthfuls of water every twenty minutes. I suggested everyone do the same.

Every couple hours, I had Luna fly above the canopy to check the position of the sun. When it began to get into the afternoon, I had her take me up to see how much sunlight we had left before needing to set up camp. Sure, Celestia raised the sun and Luna raised the moon, but they're on a cycle of sorts. When Celestia raised the Sun, it follows a pre-determined path across the sky until it hits the horizon, then the cycle of the sun comes to an end. At that point, she uses her magic to fully lower the sun to make way for the moon. The in-between doesn't need magic.

Anyway, there’s a little trick to check how much daylight you've got left in the day if you don't know how to read clocks, make a sun-dial, or have a watch. I have a watch, I just don't want to go digging through my bag to find it and risk losing something in the process, but, I digress. Hold your hand up to the sun, sideways, between the bottom off the sun and the horizon. The number of fingers there is, for example six, means that there is an hour and a half until sun-down. We're in the clear, I've got eight fingers, or two hours. Fifteen minutes per finger. So that means we should have enough time to clear a small area, set up shelter and have a fire going to cook.

I managed to use my magic, rather the gem in my arm, to pick up all the dead leaves, sticks and stones that littered the floor and made a nice little clearing in five minutes as opposed to what would have taken upwards of ten minutes. The magic was difficult to perform and yet it was a simple task of clearing debris from our camping spot. I felt it would have been easier to move them all by hand rather than magic. The strain it put on me felt like a boulder crushing my arm. But, Luna said I ought to practice my magic. She was right. I did need the practice. If I was going to protect her, I needed to know how to use magic to better myself. So, I persevered.

As the debris started to clear, I found myself thinking about the firewood. How long had we been in this stupid forest? A day? I lost track of time, I suppose. I don't know why I didn't use it yesterday when I was gathering wood. Stupid me.

I couldn’t blame myself too harshly for that. There were more pressing matters on my mind and I only just discovered these magical powers that I could now utilize.

I had Bullseye go and get wood for a fire while I began work on making a shelter. It wasn't much, just a two-metre by three-metre slate made out of strung together straight branches propped up by a couple sticks with leaves thrown over the top and underneath for insulation. The idea is to keep us covered, but still allow for room to move around in.

Bullseye came back with ample amounts of wood tied together in bundles. How an earth pony, for lack of a better word to call him, manages to tie a knot without hands or magic is beyond me. He couldn't bring back larger wood, so I went in to get some more manageable logs. Not the huge ones from yesterday that took me an hour to cut. I've got the time, in a sense, but not the energy, I only bought a finite amount of food to last us Celestia-knows how long. The logs I found were of varying sizes, some twice as long as others, but I had no problem cutting those.

The food was another issue. If we didn’t find this place, we would need food to keep us going. However, I thought about the animals we could eat in the jungle. There were birds all around us, I could hear them chirping. However, I doubted that Luna and Bullseye would go for that kind of thing, so I dismissed it from my mind.

I wondered what kinds of plants were edible in this jungle, if any. If so, I had no way to identify them. I sure as hell wasn’t an expert in plants and I’m pretty sure Luna wasn’t either. Bullseye? Maybe. I honestly didn’t know much about him to make heads or tails out of him. He seems loyal, that much was clear, but as far as what he knew, that was still a mystery to me.

I dismissed it from my mind, figuring that we would figure out something and made my way back to camp. I got a fire going, eventually, with just enough wood to keep the fire going until morning broke. We'd need to get up and go early if we want to make enough ground. I emptied my billy can of its contents into my bag with the rest of the food I bought with me, half filling it with some water, pasta, then adding a couple smaller packets of a thick tomato soup to mix into the cooked pasta to make macaroni soup.

I served up Luna and Bullseye a portion and we sat around the fire in the middle of the growing darkness, the clinking of spoons on metal being the only noises for now. At least, within our little confines.

Inside it, I was still arguing with myself about the wisdom of bringing Luna along. About endangering everypony around me. Sure, we got lucky this time. But what about next time? What if we weren’t so lucky and Luna was hurt, or worse?

The thought seemed to overtake everything else in my mind. I could barely concentrate on the food in front of me, no matter how good it tasted. Luna finally took note.

“Father, are you unwell?” She asked.

Her voice snapped me out of my trance as I looked up to her, laying across from me. I gave her a weak smile. “I’m fine. Don’t worry about me.”

Luna lowered her head and glanced away. “It’s just that… you have yet to touch your food.”

I looked down and saw my meal staring straight at me as if to tempt me from my thoughts, even for a few precious minutes. I gave a fake chuckle, hoping that it would fool Luna into thinking I was alright. “I’m fine, Luna. Just... thinking about stuff.” Finally, my food reaches my mouth as I dig at it, hoping that maybe it will keep my mind off what has happened, even for a moment.

Eventually, Bullseye finished his dish and put it to the side, being silent for a few minutes until he finally spoke up. "Since we're in the middle of the jungle, how's about we tell scary stories?"

I was grateful that Bullseye broke the silence. It was getting to me. It was causing me to think about what I could have done better. Any conversation would be a great relief from my own mind.

"I don't really know any scary stories. Luna might, since she watches over dreams. You're bound to have seen a few bad dreams, right?" I reply. I turn to Luna, still carrying a smile on my face. I wasn’t sure if Luna had bought my lie from earlier or not, but she certainly didn’t question it.

She shook her head. "I don't give people bad dreams, nor do I prevent them. I just simply give them good dreams, so they don't have bad ones."

"So... Does that mean no scary stories?" Bullseye almost sounded disappointed.

Luna pointed a hoof at me while looking at Bullseye. "Father knows some good stories." She turned to look at me. "You used to tell me lots of bed time stories when I was a filly!" Her smile grew into a heartwarming nostalgic memory.

I scratched the back of my head. Her smile made me feel a little better. Seeing her bright face with such an innocent look on her face almost made me sigh. And yet, at the same time, did it make me feel worse, to see her innocent face in the face of such peril? Hell, I couldn’t tell. "You mean like the one about Ugly the Cat?"

“Nooooo!” she winced. Her voice squeaked like a rubber duck back home. It sent a tingle up my spine as her cute little voice that reminded me of the little filly that looked up to me a long time ago. "That story, while good, was so sad!"

Bullseye's gaze turned to me with a raised eyebrow. "Why would you tell a story about an ugly cat to somepony so young?"

"It's a story with a moral. At the time, I was trying to teach her the value of being kind and nice. It worked out for the most part."

Luna scowled at me. “What do you mean ‘the most part’?!”

My voice chuckled and my face delivered a nervous smile. “It’s just an expression.

Luna gave a disapproving grunt. Being a smartass is a love-hate kind of thing.

Bullseye let out a chuckle. That didn’t seem to improve Luna’s disposition very much as she gave him a dirty glance. "I'm intrigued. If you wouldn't mind recounting the story for me?"

I sighed and began to tell him the story. Mind you, when I told the story to Luna as filly I left out all the... bad stuff. I told her I am going to tell the story how it was originally written; with everything included and not watered down for a child's hearing. I began by reciting it from my memory as best as I possibly could, recounting how the person whom originally wrote it always saw an ugly cat roaming the alleys.

As I told the story, I continually remembered how Luna would always want me to tell that story again and again. Every time she did, I would always think about the more disturbing aspects of the story. Would she like the story as much if she knew the truth about it? The truth I had always been keeping from her. I know she was a child, but was it still the right story to tell a child? Looking back, maybe it wasn’t. But, she turned out just fine. So, maybe, I was being hard on myself.

By the time I finished telling the story, Luna was looking at me with a pained expression almost like she was about to cry. It broke my heart a little.

"Remember, I left out the gross bits because you were young. What did you think?" I said, turning my gaze to Bullseye, who is looking at me dumbfounded.

"I... Don't know what to say. It's heart-wrenching, but it teaches a valuable lesson at the same time." He didn't sound very empathetic. It made me wonder about his demeanor as a whole. I thought about how little we actually knew about him. It was clear he was keeping secrets from us, mostly about him and his motives. Whatever he was up to, if he was out for Luna, I would take him out.

"Okay then, tell us one of your, 'scary' stories." I used air quotes when I said scary. Ponies used hoofs when they said that kind of thing. Either way, it denotes sarcasm. When I think back on it, it makes me wonder how they can stand on their back two legs while doing air quotes with their front hooves without falling forward and face-planting.

He gave a devious grin. "One day this mare went to foal-sit some fillies-"

"And she kept getting calls or messages telling her to check on the kids?"

"How did you-"

"We had a similar story back on Earth!" He harrumphed and Luna just giggled. "Let me tell you a scary story. One day this woman went to babysit these kids for a couple while they went out on a date night. After a while she put the kids to bed and turned on the television."

"What's a television?"

I realized that this story wasn’t going to hold much weight if he didn’t realize what a television was. It was going to be completely lost on him, but I didn’t really have any other ideas. So, instead of bowing out, I moved on.

"A box with moving pictures. Luna could make you dream of one tonight if you remember much of them." She nodded. "Anyway, after a while watching TV and going to check on the kids every so often, she noticed a stone angel statue staring at her from the corner of the dining room, in the other room opposite her. It kept bothering her, so she called the parents and asked if she could cover it up or move it somewhere else. Do you know what they said?"

"...No?"

"Take the kids and get out of the house. We don't have an angel statue." Bullseye's eyes widened and Luna just shot me a horrified look. I continued the story. “The children ran out of the house with all speed, turning their backs to the angel. As they ran, they heard the sitter scream. The children turned around, seeing only angel statue standing proudly, no dead body in sight. It looked so welcoming, with its arms wide open and its gentle face. It was anything but.

“For you see,” as I leaned forward towards the campfire, “these angels were evil. These angels sought the destruction of others. But they could only move when someone wasn’t looking at them. The children notice the statue move several meters towards them, as they eyes shut for a mere moment. In a frightened panic, they ran down the street, screaming. That’s when they saw another angel statue. It was still and lifeless, but it had the same welcoming arms and same tranquil face. They blinked, and the statue grew closer.

“Faster and faster, the children ran, but the angles were always catching up to them. They sprinted down an alleyway hoping to avoid the creature’s grip. However, they ran into a dead end. They turned around to see the statues, gathered at the entrance to the alley. The children shivered in terror as waiting for them to make their move. They blinked, and he statues moved several meters, coming closer to them, their welcoming features still dominant.

“They waited until the statues moved to run. However, as they gazed upon them, they were as still as stone. They blinked and the statues moved again, their faces now with sharpened fangs and demonic eyes. The children closed their eyes fearing that the end was near. Little did they know that to survive, all they had to do was keep their eyes open. But, when they opened them again, they found themselves standing in a completely alien place centuries in the past.”

I looked over to see Luna shivering, her head buried in her shoulders. "Please tell me that wasn't real?" begged Luna. "You remember showing me that episode and you know it scared me! I was just a filly at the time! Well, older than a filly, but that's beside the point!"

"Doctor Who? Of course they're not real. Well, at least not from what we've seen. They could be, but we don't know because we haven't seen them. Or at least no one lives to tell their encounter with them." The two of them looked utterly horrified, and I just gave them a shit-eating grin before laughing to myself. "I think you might want to make sure Bullseye doesn't have nightmares when he falls asleep!"

"Thank you very much, hyooman. I already offered to take up first watch tonight because you did the last one, now I'm going to be jumping at everything that moves."

"Just remember one thing."

"What?"

"Don't blink!" A smug grin appeared on both mine and Luna's face, and I just began laughing hard. He shot me the most venomous look ever. "Besides, you've got your spears and arrows. You'll be alright."

He heaved a sigh before turning his back to Luna and me. I couldn’t help but laugh. Here he was trying to be tough and a simple story made him shiver in terror. Admittedly, the Weeping Angels, as they were called, were pretty terrifying. I guess one could only imagine what his imagination was conjuring up.

I barely remembered to tear out a page from the journal and scribble a note telling Sky and Ratchet that we made good ground and that we're settled down for the night. I left out the parts about the how much danger we would have been in if we hadn’t been so lucky had we not found the spring. However, I did make sure to give them details about how to travel and what to expect if they made the unlikely decision to trek from the ship.

I had Luna send it to Ratchet, and not ten minutes later we got a reply back saying they had cleaned out everything from the ship, and tomorrow they're going to begin strengthening the supports. My heart felt relieved to hear from them, especially so soon. They were making good progress, and hopefully, after we found the Breach, we’d be on our way back home.

We both curled up on the pile of leaves covered by the tarp I used the other day. It was a makeshift mattress, so sue me. I was tired from staying up all night last night, so I was asleep faster than you could say so.

The next morning, I got woken by shouting.

I bolted upright as my senses tried collecting themselves before setting upon Bullseye and Luna staring each other down and screaming something at each other. “Irresponsible! That’s what that is!” Luna shouted.

“Look, I’m sorry. I dozed off before I knew it,” Bullseye replied.

Luna shook her head violently. “And that is an excuse?! You put us all in danger!"

Bullseye shook his head. “I said I was sorry!”

“Is that supposed to comfort us when we are bleeding out from Celestia-knows-what is out there?!”

I got up and walked over to remedy the situation. "Woah, woah, woah! What the hell is going on?"

Luna turned her gaze to me. "When I got up to lower the moon, I found him sleeping!"

My head turned, slowly, to look down at Bullseye. "Is this true?" He looked down in shame and nodded. "I'm going to tell you another story." He audibly gulped. I put my hand under his muzzle and lifted it up to look in his eyes and began talking in an almost threatening tone. "Back on Earth, there was an ancient city called Rome. Whenever this city has fighting going on, it sent out troops toscout ahead, and they often made camp. The leader of this camp would always put people on guard. One night, one of the guards came storming into the tent of one of the officers telling him he had a dream that they were going to be attacked. That very night they were, but, because of the guard's warning, they managed to fend off the attackers."

"What happened to the guard?"

"Protocol dictated he got put to death."

"WHAT!? But his vision saved lives!"

"That maybe so, but do you know why he had that vision?" The color drained from his face. "That's right, he was sleeping. The punishment for being caught sleeping while on guard duty was death. By way of answer, he turned himself in. I don't like killing things, but for you I won't. You're only here because you saved us back at the library. But if you fall asleep again, I'm going to hog tie you and leave you to fend for yourself. Just remember; there's no official record of you ever going on this voyage." I ended that sentence with a firm poke on his chest. "Pack your things, we're moving out."

Luna's mouth hung open, but I just turned away from them both and put out the fire. And when I say put out the fire, I mean peed on it. Then I buried the embers so they wouldn't accidentally ignite anything else. We ate breakfast in silence, and Bullseye looked rather shaken while eating. After cleaning up and dismantling the campsite, we kept walking north-west.

The only sounds I could hear were the birds and the various insects still pestering me. But I was hardly paying attention to them. My thoughts were on Bullseye. That idiot could have gotten us killed. He could have gotten Luna killed. I’d had never forgiven him if something bad happened to Luna because of his negligence. I’d've probably killed him on the spot.

Part of me hoped that was just my anger talking. That, after a moment to cool off, I’d be fine. But he did endanger my daughter. My little Luna. That was unacceptable.

I checked my watch which I put on the strap across my chest. The strap that otherwise would go around my wrist broke not long after I came to Equestria, and there wasn't any leather around town or that I could get a hold of to replace the strap. We were walking in silence for two hours before Luna came up beside me and started talking.

"You... weren't being serious about leaving him behind if he fell asleep again, were you?"

I gave a curt, stiff nod. I hated the idea of leaving him behind. He was a good warrior, but he endangered us with his negligence. That was something I couldn’t allow. I was too careful for that. "I wouldn't hesitate to as much as I don't like the idea. People that hindered the group or posed any sort of threat were often left behind. They weren't needed if they proved to be as useless like that."

"I... understand, I suppose." She didn’t sound convinced, like she wouldn’t do the same given the situation. Yet, she was the one who was yelling at him. And when I threatened Bullseye, she became very quiet and very reserved. It wasn’t like her at all. Did she… disagree with me? I’m not sure I liked that.

"Not to place blame elsewhere, but if he was asleep surely he would've been dreaming, and you could have woken him up. Just saying." She seemed saddened by that, so I knelt down and gave her a soft hug. "Sorry. I guess I was still annoyed a bit."

Luna put her leg around me to return the hug. "It's alright, I understand." I couldn’t tell if it was meant to convince me or not. Maybe it was still the anger swirling around in my head. I hoped it was. Luna needed to know that I would always protect her. I didn’t want to her to question that. I needed her to trust me, like she had before.

Bullseye kept walking past us, getting a few meters ahead before I heard him stop. "Princess?" He called. "You might want to come take a look at this."

We needed only turn around. I didn't notice it before because my mind was elsewhere, and it was covered in enough brush to easily miss without a second glance. Bullseye only found it because he was too busy watching his footing and bumped into it.

It stood over fifteen feet tall, a seamless stone slab with rounded edges and corners. The image carved into it, a sight to behold. Straining my neck to look up at it, I began pulling vines and leaves off of it to fully reveal it. It bore the image of an alicorn with flared wings standing on hind legs reared up as if it's about to stomp something on the ground. The details of the carving are exquisite; sharp angled spirals and odd looking markings covered the body, almost like a circuit-board diagram. I couldn't tell if the carving is of a mare or stallion, it seemed to be a gender neutral for whatever reason. That, or I simply don't know what it's supposed to be.

I took out my chunky bushcraft knife and used the pommel to tap at the stone. A few pieces flew off. "It's just normal stone by the looks of it. Luna, can you scan it to see if there's something magical about it?"

She stepped forward and her horn lit up, moving her head up and down the stone slab in a scanning motion. She stepped back with a neutral expression. "It's just stone from what I can tell. Everything around here radiates magic, so it messes with my magic to a degree. Unless the ambient magic is covering up any magic that is in the stone, it's just a normal slab of stone."

I put the knife back in its sheath. "So what do you think it means then?"

"It's ancient, that much is certain. Most likely carved by the inhabitants long past."

"Do you think we'll find remnants or artifacts of them?" asked Bullseye

I gave him a puzzled look. "Firstly, it's a possibility, but there would have to be ruins between us and where we're going so that much seems unlikely. Secondly, why would you want their artifacts?"

He shrugged. "No reason. It's always interesting to see what past civilizations left behind."

With a smile I said, "That's pretty much the backbone of reason behind archeology and why they do it. That, and to better understand exactly how past generations did this and that. Back on Earth, people would say all sorts of retarded things about how the ancient built things. Some claimed aliens built them, some said wizards. The consensus was that people found the construction of these buildings so hard to grasp they had to believe there was outside intervention. But as science progressed, it pretty much destroyed conspiracy theory after conspiracy theory."

I pulled out the diary I've been detailing this adventure in and scribbled a quick drawing of the figure on the stone. It wasn't good by any means, but I didn't want to stay in one place too long and it's something I can cross-reference in the journal we got from The Library later on when we make camp for the night.

Author's Note:

From here on out, the editing will be done by spideremblembrony, as my last editor had to stop doing so because of some personal reasons.

After the fact, I do apologize for any changes in consistency, fluidity, and things of that kind.

Comments

[Alcatraz]

4753546

I only had them burn it down because that's what happened to the real life Library at Alexandria.