Chapter 6
Right up until we stood before Celestia once more the only thoughts running through my mind were how I was going to dispose of my ancestor. It would be wonderfully poetic if that which he sought were to be his downfall. But I'll need to wait for the guard to return the horn to me first for that. I also considered using a sledge hammer but had no idea where I would be able to get one.
"Thank you for bringing him here, Twilight, but I am afraid that I must speak to him alone now. Would you please leave us for the moment?" Twilight nodded and left. I watched her go for a moment, but looked back to Celestia when she cleared her throat. "Are your quarters satisfactory?"
"More than satisfactory, your highness. The room you prepared is larger than my bedroom back home and more luxurious than any room I've seen.
"I am glad of that. I suppose you are wondering why I summoned you here, correct?"
"A bit, yes."
"In part, it is simply because of your name and mixed heritage, but that is the smaller part. The rest of it concerns Drahngov, and the threat he thinks that you represent. When you threatened to kill him and destroy his race, that effectively was a declaration of war. That you protected my people does not escape me, but if he should come in force and demand your release to them, I cannot protect you due to the treaty and your own admission to killing his kin. If I tried to then our truce would be dissolved and Equestria would once more be at war with the Draconic race and subspecies. The Dragons are largely a proud and independent race, but in times of need in the past they have united under one leader to destroy an enemy or help a family group to defend their territory against a few of their kind gone rogue." I nodded.
"My people are the same way. They can spend decades arguing and feuding with one another, but as soon as a common enemy comes along they put aside their differences and fight this new threat until it's taken care of."
"And then what happens?"
"Usually the morons go right back to fighting each other again, but sometimes they make a deal for peace."
"That is where your people and the Dragons are different. Always after the threat has been destroyed they go back to living individually unless a call is issued."
"Which would be how my people were able to destroy so many."
"So many?" She didn't know that I'd eavesdropped, and I hurried to cover my spill.
"My people have dozens of different stories of Dragons and Dragon-slayings. At the time when the stories were made, our weapons probably would not have dealt a Dragon much harm unless they hit the eyes or mouth or used a siege weapon such as a ballista or catapult. Most stories of Dragon hunts involved eight to fifteen hunters. If the Dragons had fought us all at once they probably would have mopped the floor with us, but if they went off to live by themselves their strength would have been greatly lessoned."
"Do you know how Dragons came to be in your world?"
"I'd assumed that they had always been there. Like us."
"Neither your kind, nor the Dragons were in your world to begin with." She then went on to explain to me the history that she'd told Twillight Sparkle at Twilight's house. I listened to it all with a thoughtful expression, hoping that would mask that I already knew this. Celestia wasn't fooled and stopped her dialog halfway through. "You've already heard this before." It wasn't a question. Seeing no point in lying when she already guessed the truth, I admitted it.
"Yes. I eavesdropped on you and Twilight Sparkle back in Ponyville before you and her joined the party."
"Does this knowledge change your opinion of us? We essentially trapped both your kind and a dangerous enemy in another world with little hope of survival."
"But you also said that Humans helped your people to do it."
"Yes, but without permission from the majority population."
"What they did helped both of our races survive. Without a leader the Dragons in my world stopped fighting us and left to make new dens for themselves and in time we destroyed them on our own. Without his armies the Dragon king was forced to retreat from your kingdom, bringing relative peace to both worlds. I bear your race no ill-will." Celestia smiled and I found myself smiling too.
"This gladdens my heart. Unfortunately, there are still the Dragons in the here and now that are a problem, and the moral implications aside, attempting a mass-transportation now will probably be impossible."
"Why is that?"
"At the time when the spell was cast my mother, uncle, and one other Alicorn whose name I no longer remember were present along with twenty Unicorns and fifteen Humans, all of which were strong in magic. Unfortunately most of those same Unicorns and the Alicorn whose name I don't recall went with the Humans through the gateway to help your people fight the Dragons. My mother eventually died in her grieving after my father was murdered, and my uncle Thanatos disappeared into the Everfree Forest eight hundred years ago with Mace Lighthand. All those who were strong enough to perform that spell either had no descendants here, or are missing or dead. Both myself and my sister are strong in magic compared to the average Unicorn, but niether I nor Luna are as strong as Thanatos, who was the best magic-user in our family. While we could eventually summon enough Unicorns to match the power they put out last time, we would still need your people to regulate the flow of all that raw power, and then something to lure Drahngov and those that follow him to one spot and keep them there long enough for the spell to be completed."
"And of course if I tried to regulate the flow by myself, even if I had the experience I would probably tear myself apart because it would be too much for one person." Celestia nodded. "Well then, since we can't use the old method, what would you suggest?"
"That you return to your world and not step through it again which would leave Drahngov thinking that you were a coward and would satisfy his pride."
"And what about those others that were at the site of his brother's demise? I've seen people like Drahgov in my world and he won't just be content with me leaving. He'll look to take out his anger on someone else, which means he'll go after the others who've defied him, and he already knows that they lack the strength to resist him for long. If they won't be safe, then I can't leave."
"The alternative to leaving them behind would be for them to go with you, and from what Mace and Thanatos did in your world I would say that doing so would be no better."
"So either way I get to live and they either live in Hell or die. I can't accept that." Celestia sighed and looked at a stained glass window on the ceiling that depicted a dark Alicorn facing off against Celestia herself. The dark Alicorn was being enveloped in a beautiful light. Both of them looked like they were in pain. Above them both was a full moon. Quietly, Celestia said
"There are times when, for the greater good, we must do things we do not want to." She closed her eyes and lowered her gaze and head until she would have been looking at the floor. She looked...almost ashamed.
"But there has to be another way!" I said, tone edging on begging. I wasn't afraid to die. What I was afraid of was the feeling that I was certain I would get if I left Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash behind to bear the vengeance of a Dragon while I got to live in safety.
Grasping at straws, I suggested me going to Everfree forest to look for Thanatos myself. "Maybe if I can find him we could use a smaller version of the Mass Teleport spell to take away a handful of Drahngov's supporters. It might scare his underlings enough that he'll lose support as a leader."
"And what about your world? Have you lost care enough for them that you would drop seven or eight frightened dragons into it?"
"I haven't lost my care for my world, but my people are constantly at war with one another and our weapons grow more and more dangerous with each passing year. A few Dragons wouldn't really be a problem for them. Besides that if we drop them off in the right places it might stop a few wars for a few more years."
"Like cutting down part of a diseased forest to save the rest. Even if I were to agree to such a plan there would still be the problem of finding Thanatos. Also, what if you found him and he was dead or changed by the forest? If he has become one of the changed ponies that inhabit the forest then he would surely kill you, and if he were dead then you would have risked yourself for nothing." I disagreed.
"Not nothing. If he's changed, then I can put him out of his misery. If he's dead, I can bury his remains and bring his horn back for the spell. Perhaps the difference in breed will also affect the amount of magic I can withstand."
"If we are going to do this, we cannot run on 'maybes' and 'perhapses'. Step forward, Jacob. Take my horn in your hand and try to use magic." I was surprised and hesitated. The ruler of Equestria had just told me to use her power. Can I really do that? If something goes wrong and we're killed, what then? "Well?" I stepped within reach and extended my arm until my hand touched her horn. I felt no warmth. On the contrary, I felt cold, almost freezing!
"Brr! You're cold!" I exclaimed.
"Can you use my power?" She asked.
"Hold on." I reached into a pocket and pulled out my lighter. I flicked the starter and pictured the little flame to erupt like I'd sprayed gasoline on it and shoot across the room towards the doors so that niether of us would be burned. I expected a thin shaft of flame that would resemble the stuff shot from a flamethrower like in the world war movies. Instead the fire did better (or worse, dpending on your perspective) than that and filled almost the entire room with blue (rather than orange-red) fire. It scorched the columns and burned the paintings on the walls. That was bad enough on its own but it got worse when I realized that I couldn't entirely control it. The heat was so intense the carpet caught fire and the sudden expansion of the air molecules made my ears pop and blew out the windows. I yelped and pulled my hand away from Celestia's horn and threw myself to the floor as a wave of flame washed over my head. Celestia did not duck but erected a shield around herself. The fire I called quickly vanished, but the various objects that had been set aflame continued to burn.
The guards burst through the door and demanded to know what had just happened.
"An experiment with magic that went wrong." Was all Celestia would say about it in spite of the guard's continued prodding for more information. Finally she ordered them to put out the resulted fires and to commission new windows to replace the destroyed ones. While the guard put out the fires and removed the damaged or destroyed paintings I stood from the floor and was silent. That was a serious difference in power output. With a Unicorn's horn I had to concentrate on what I wanted to do, but with her horn it seemed to happen almost on automatic! If I'm going to harness that power I'm going to need to practice with it, but after this incident I don't think she's even going to let me go to Everfree. I'll be lucky if she doesn't put me into manual labor to pay for the damages!
When the guards left the room again Celestia looked at me and sighed.
"I'd be lying if I said that this was not the reaction I expected. I did not expect you to even guess the huge gap between an Alicorn's natural talents and a Unicorn's. But now I think you understand better what you were unwittingly volunteering for when you said that you would go looking for Thanatos. He had far more potential for magic than both I and Luna combined. If you cannot control my power, then you most certainly have no hope of controlling his." I said nothing in reply. What could I say? "Which is why as of this moment I am going to place you under Luna as her student until you can at least control hers." I looked up in surprise and disbelief. I almost set her palace on fire and she wants me to try it again? "Once you can control her abilities I shall once again allow you to try manipulating my power. If you can do it successfully three times in tests of my choosing then I shall allow you to go looking for Thanatos. If you cannot, then you will leave Equestria and return to your world when you leave this palace. Do you accept my terms?" I nodded. "Good. Luna is sleeping at the moment, so I shall send a servant to deliver the message to her for when she awakens. In the meantime go to the guards outside the door and retrieve the horn that they took from you earlier." I nodded again and turned to leave. "Oh, and one last thing." I turned my head. "Dinner will be soon. If you should become hungry pull the bellcord next to your bedroom door and a servant will come. Tell them that you wish to go to the dining room and they will show you the way."
"Thank you, Princess Celestia." I looked once again at the damage I had caused. "Um, about the fire damage, I'm sorry for torching your throne room and hope that I'll be able to pay you back for the damaged goods." Celestia looked around the room as well and looked at me again and burst out laughing. I must have looked confused because she told me that if I wanted to pay for the damages I'd just inflicted I would probably be working for the next thirty or so years even if I had a good-paying job.
"So then...you're not going to make me pay for them?"
"It was my idea for you to try using my magic in the first place. No, I'm not going to force you to pay for it. Just one thing."
"Yes?" Her face became serious again.
"Don't fail."
The next week consisted of me nearly freezing my fingers while holding Luna's horn and struggling to control the flow of power directly from the source. It was exhausting, and more often than not I burnt to a crisp that which I was trying to avoid.
Right from the start Luna came up with the idea of constructing an obstacle course for me to stand above and try to move objects through without touching the walls. I usually failed this because regulating the flow while at the same time minding the object was mentally tiring and one often distracted from the other. Every four attempts Luna would declare that it was time for a break and then give me ten minutes to reorder my mind. During one of these breaks Twilight Sparkle happened to be walking by and came down to watch.
This is so frustrating! How can there be this big a gap between a Unicorn and an Alicorn?! I have almost no trouble at all using a Unicorn's power, so why is this giving me so much trouble?
"I take it the lessons are not going well?" Twilight asked from behind me. I looked over my shoulder.
"No, not really. I'm doing much better than when I set Celestia's throne room on fire, but that's probably just because Luna has less magical potential." Luna overheard me and frowned in my direction. "No offense intended, princess."
"Hve you practiced with the Unicorn horn that nurse Heartblood gave you lately?" I shook my head.
"I haven't had much time for that. I'm awake at night trying to control Luna's power, and then I sleep away most of the daylight hours. Most of my time awake in between those times is spent trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong."
"Have you considered that what you're doing wrong is forgetting history?" I turned my body around so I could see Twilight without having to turn my neck as much and she continued. "Celestia told me about the conversation you had about using the teleportation spell. She also told me that at the time the Humans involved all used Unicorn horns and didn't touch any of the Alicorns. Perhaps where you're making your mistake is that you're not doing the same thing."
"But how can I access Luna's power if I'm not in contact with her?" Luna walked over to us and joined the conversation.
"I can channel energy directly into thee, but if thou art unable to control it then the same thing shall occur as when thee art touching me. If thou art unable to speak and thee beginst to lose control again then I shalt not know to stop and the results could be unpleasant."
"No more unpleasant than me wasting a week failing. Drahngov could come for me any day now. If I'm not ready by then I'll either have to flee or die fighting him, which could end badly for everyone either way." I looked at Twilight. "If it should become obvious that I can't control the flow, knock me out. I don't want to send an object through someone's skull." Twilight nodded and I headed to my room to retrieve the horn. When I returned I took a deep breath and once more cleared my mind. "I think I'm ready." Luna nodded and her horn began to glow. Strangely, the warmth that normally came from holding the horn faded and my body grew cool, but not as cool as when I held Luna's horn directly. Could the two be balancing out, somehow? There will be time to ponder that later. For now I need to focus on this.
As I had over a dozen times I felt the river of power rushing through me and I struggled against the 'current' and lifted an apple from the row of six that still remained for this purpose. I had already 'mastered' that with Luna, which had proven difficult in terms of not throwing it a hundred feet in the air with the simple thought 'up'. I then began trying to maneuvern it through the maze. It still rocketed along, but reaction from mental command to action was alot smoother. Many times before when I had tried to change direction from straight to a ninety degree right turn the apple reacted so quickly that it torn itself in half and splattered on the wall. Next came a turn to the left, then I skipped a a turn and had to go back, then another left, then an immediate right and an odd spiral and then straight, and then finally the apple was through and had only scraped two walls.
"Much better." Luna stated, a little surprised. "Now try again, and this time take it slower."
"Yes, princess Luna." I dropped the apple that I had been using and picked up another.
"And next time set it down, do not simply drop it. Thou might be carrying an object of value or a pony the next time thou needst to carry something with magic outside of thine lessons." I nodded and ran the maze again. And again. And again. For the last round that I carried the last two apples at the same time. This I struggled with all over again because Luna made me 'hold' them seperately. I dropped them multiple times on the way through and each time she had me remove them and start over again. This continued for almost an hour before I finally made it through without dropping either apple. The poor fruits were badly brusied after all the times that they had been dropped or bounced off a wall, but they were still intact.
I looked behind me at Twilight and grinned.
"Twilight, you're a genius." Twilight blushed a little at the compliment and smiled back.
__ __ __ __ __
Back on Earth, Jacob's mother was growing frantic. Jacob hadn't called her or responded to any of her or her hsuband's calls for nearly two weeks. This simply wasn't like him. Maybe something happened to him? No! Don't think that way! Maybe he just doesn't get any cell phone service in Britain. Yeah, that's gotta be it! but she knew she was only trying to fool herself. Jacob would have used a local phone to call them if he'd been able to.
She pulled out her phone and called his workplace to get hold of his best friend. After talking to the customer service people she got through to his friend Travis. Her news wasn't good.
"I'm sorry, Mrs Lighthand, but I haven't heard from him either. He hasn't even sent me a text message telling me what town he's in. I was just starting to wonder about him myself when you called. The last time I'd heard from him was when he filed for that month of saved-up time off he had. It kind of surprised me since every time I told him to take a day off he always said he was saving it for a 'just in case' scenario. I'll let you know if I hear from him, though."
"Thank you, Travis."
"No problem, Mrs L. Give me a call if you hear from him, will you?"
"Of course. Goodbye."
"Bye!"
"Has Travis heard from him?" her husband asked.
"No he hasn't. I'm telling you, honey, something is wrong. I can feel it!"
"We know he was going to the UK to check out Dad's old stories to see if any of it was true. I know for sure that we at least originated from there, but most of the rest is probably nonsense."
"Nonsense or not, I can't shake the feeling that he needs me or will soon." Her husband turned away and looked out the window.
Ever since he started at his job he had been ignored, annoyed, and given most of the work that no one else wanted to do. He had done it with few to no complaints because a job was something to take pride in. Eventually management changed and saw that he was one of the few that actually worked for the entire eight hours a day that he was being paid for and decided that he should be commended for his efforts. That felt good, and he wanted to stay and enjoy the reward he'd been given, but like his wife he also shared a foreboding feeling and his son was more important to him than a reward or his job.
"Do you want to use the return-tickets to go look for him?" He asked, turning back to her. She nodded.
"Yes, I really think we should." I love this woman. He smiled.
"Then let's pack our things. We're going to the UK too."
__ __ __ __ __
Drahngov impatiently awaited the return of the messengers he'd sent to gather the rest of his kin. If the Humans really were returning to join once more with Equestria and they joined their magical talents with the Ponies then there was a good chance that they could make a formidable foe. Perhaps even enough to do as that one threatened and wipe us out. It was well known that the Humans multiplied faster than both Dragons and Ponies did, and lived longer than most of the pony-kin. In the time that had passed since the Great War their numbers could have exploded with no real threats to them existing in the Echo Dimension.
The Dragon-kin had not found out about the Echo Dimension until one hundred years after the Great War. Not that the information did them any good as their king could not retrieve their banished brethren. Our numbers are not as high now as they were back then, but the number of Unicorns and Alicorns has also decreased and Celestia will not break the treaty so long as she thinks that it will keep her precious people safe. If I move quickly enough I can do what my grandfather could not and claim all of Equestria as my domain. Of course I'll need to make a few examples of the locals to instill fear in those that would resist me, but I can use the Human for that. He's the only magic-user to kill one of us in over a thousand years. His demise would go a long way in instilling obedience. If he resists I need only attack him from a distance. Even if he can deflect my fire I doubt he could stop a mountain's worth of stones. He chuckled at the image of several Dragons under his command tossing boulders at him standing alone. His face would fill with terror and he'd try to stop them. He might even turn aside a few, but in the end he'd be crushed below half a ton of stone. Then he'd come for Celestia or perhaps her sister first. Yes! He ran his tongue over his teeth. Oh, how he'd make her scream before finally eating her alive in front of her sister. But he would not kill Celestia, oh no. He'd do what he did to that one Unicorn he'd burned alive a month previous and break her horn off so she'd be unable to use her magic to fight back, and then make her watch as his kind turned her once-beautiful kingdom into a feeding ground.
"As it always should have been. The predators feeding upon the prey." He said aloud. But first he would have to wait. Which, with thoughts of domination on his mind he no longer found irritating After all, the best things in life were worth waiting for.
^ ^ ^ ^ ^
After my practice session with Luna reached its conclusion I decided to go for a walk. Twilight had gone to bed awhile ago because she was not used to staying up so late and she had studies of her own to attend to in the morning.
It was a beautiful night. A bit chilly, but nothing my jacket couldn't handle. The sky was clear, the stars sparkled like so many diamonds, and there was not a sound to break the tranquility other than my footsteps. At the end of the wrap-around balcony I stopped and leaned against the guardrail and stared at the sky to see if I could pick out any familiar constellations (though some of them were made up by my family).
"Ursa Major...Orion's Belt...Row of Three...Wolf's Head...UFO- wait, what?" I tried to get a better look at the object flying across the sky, but it was too dark. The most that I could make out was a rectangular outline and it was flying like it was being driven by a pilot that was either drunk, or dying. Suddenly it vanished. It didn't go behind anything and the moon wasn't covered. It simply vanished into thin air. "What the heck? Maybe I imagined it...I am tired from using magic."
Putting the probable hallucination out of mind, I took out the horn and turned it over in my hands. As soon as Luna had stopped channeling energy into me my body warmed back up again. Perhaps because Unicorns have to work hard at learning magic their horns act like a buffer against the much more powerful Alicorn magic. I thought about the cold of Luna's and Celestia's horns vs the heat of the Unicorns. It was as if when separate both were unbalanced like hot and cold water on the same table. But when I used them both the cold became less. I wonder if there's some way to balance it out. When I hold a Unicorn's horn I become the power source, which was evident by how quickly I tired out when I used magic. but when I hold an Alicorn's horn my body seems to act like a container that overflows. which would explain the rush of energy-feeling I got when in contact with Luna and Celestia followed by the almost-completely uncontrollable boost of magical power. Cold became cool with one horn. I bet that if I had another the two would balance out with the Ali-horn and I'd have the same amount of control as with Uni-horns. I would need Luna's and Twilight's or maybe Rarity's help to see if that was really the case. Unfortunately Rarity was back in Ponyville, and Twilight had work of her own to accomplish while she was here which left only one person I could ask for information. One person that I really did not want to talk to.
I pocketed the horn and headed back to my room. Earlier when I had gone to my room to retrieve the Uni-horn I foudn something rather disturbing: the cover for the journal had not burned and showed no sign whatsoever of having been in a fire. What was even more disturbing was that the pages that I'd burned no longer were burned and had returned to the state they were in before I had torn them out.Really, I should have figured that something like that would happen given that someone else tried to destroy part of it before. I wonder if magic had been their method of destruction for that one section of pages?
When I arrived at my room I lit a second candle (a servant had come by earlier and lit a fat one that was now burning low) and then picked the journal up from the floor I'd tossed it on after discovering that it had not been destroyed as I had hoped. Getting the feeling I was going to regret this I carried the journal to the table the newly-let candle sat upon and took my pen out of my pocket. I opened the back cover and flipped through the blank pages until I reached the latest entry. I then clicked my pen and began writing in it.
I do not know the year in this world, and I don't even know the month. But back home on Earth it's the year 2011 and the month is October. Many things have happened since I received this journal from the postal service...
I wrote about everything that I had seen and done, my impressions of those whom I'd met, and of my puzzlement over the hot vs cold of the equine horns. After a page and a half of writing I then signed it with my name and beneath is wrote:
P.S.
I know you can see what I'm writing, ancestor. I also get the feeling that you know more about Pony-Human magic than I do. Is there a way to fuse two Uni-horns together to make a wand or a staff or something?
At first there was no response and I began to wonder if the connection between his mind and the book had been severed. Part of me wished for that to be the case, but the part of me seeking knowledge wanted an answer. I got an answer, but not a particularly helpful one.
AND WHY SHOULD I TELL YOU? YOU WHOM THREATENED TO DESTROY ME? YOU WHOM HAS SIDED WITH THE ANIMALS?
Because I may be the only person who could release you. Once I'm dead there won't be any others of our bloodline that will have any idea you ever existed, and the ponies will certainly not free you. If I can't find a way to get rid of Drahngov and his minions then I will die. I have no delusions of invincibility.
NO, I SUPPOSE YOU DO NOT. HOW DO I KNOW YOU WON'T SIMPLY LEAVE ME TO ROT ONCE YOU HAVE WHAT YOU WANT FROM ME?
What choice do you have?
I COULD SIMPLY CHOOSE NOT TO HELP YOU. I HAVE SPENT MANY CENTURIES LIKE THIS. WHAT ARE A FEW MORE? SOONER OR LATER SOMEONE WILL FIND MY JOURNAL AGAIN AND I WILL BE ABLE TO LEAD THEM ON WITH PROMISES OF POWER IF THEY BUT FREE ME. THEY DO NOT REALLY NEED TO BE HUMANS. I BUT NEED THEM TO TOUCH MY FOREHEAD WITH AN ALICORN'S HORN, AND I SHALL BE FREE ONCE MORE.
I glared at the book. He was right. If the Dragons came and I was killed and the sister princesses enslaved all it would take is a single jealous underling or pony freedom-fighting to read the journal and he could be loosed on the world once more. horn to the head...what if he didn't havea head?
And what, pray tell, would happen to you if I were to break off your head and toss it in a lake somewhere? I got no response to that and I smiled smugly at the pages, hoping he could see me as well as my writing right now. Gotcha! Help me, or tomorrow morning I shall do exactly that. As with before when I was tearing the pages out the letters that I had just written formed a face. It was cold, and serious.
YOU ARE PLAYING A DANGEROUS GAME, BOY. I wrote my reply in the journal, no longer smiling, but also serious.
A game that you have no good cards for. What is your answer? The face snarled at me, and then disappeared.
SO BE IT. IF YOU MAKE AN ERROR THEN IT COULD KILL YOU, BUT THIS IS WHAT YOU MUST DO...