Chapter 11
We found the wand with no problem, but when we did we discovered another problem: The stones that had been part of the collapsed gateway were now scattered across the plain and some of them had chipped or broken. Twilight cautioned me that from what little she knew of gateways (though the ones she knew were meant for speeding travel from one part of Equestria to another) that if the stones were not all in one place that they would not function for their original purpose. So we searched the area gathering up the miscellaneous stones and chips of rock that looked recently broken all in one place. Most of the stones were light enough for me to carry without the use of magic, but Twilight insisted that I do so anyway if only for me to stay in practice with levitation. When we'd found as many stones as we could (even if they didn't look as if they went with the original pile) I approached it and began to sort through them, looking for the stone that bore my family symbol on it. I set it on top of the pile and then stepped back.
"Rebuild!" I commanded with more confidence in my tone and stance than I had when first I came to this place. As with before a phantom doorway appeared, but there was something wrong with it. One moment it would be solid, then the next a shiver would run through it and the door would blink a few times and then become solid again. It seemed that whatever it was that linked our two worlds together directly had been damaged. The path was still there, but it was none too stable. "Not good."
"What's wrong with it?" Fluttershy asked.
"The old enchantment must have been linked to the stones themselves. When his mother and Thanatos tossed them around and they became chipped, cracked, or broken it must have also affected the enchantment." Fluttershy became worried.
"Does this mean that we won't be able to go home?!" Tears started to form in her eyes.
"The path is still here, Fluttershy." I said. "It should still transport us provided that we go through when it isn't flickering."
"What if it is flickering and we go through it?" Fluttershy asked. I looked at Twilight. She looked at the ground.
"Then we could be trapped in between the worlds or the passage might collapse. Or it could just be that it won't let us pass through at all."
"We need to find a way to fix it somehow." I said. I had no idea how to go about doing so, though.
"I don't know enough about gateways to even attempt something like this, Jacob. Our tampering with it might just make it worse than it already is."
"Yeah you're right. Well, we did get what we came for and have done more besides. So now that we're out here, is there anything you two want to do? There's nobody around so it's not as if anyone is going to harass us."
"I'd like to wander about and see if there are any familiar animals around here."
"I think I'm going to give you a lesson in actual spells. I'm guessing that most of what you've done so far was done on instinct and will, right?" I nodded. "I thought so. That's only going to get you so far. If you should ever need to face a master head-on, raw power isn't going to help you very much, especially if you're burning more energy to use your attacks or defenses than you need to. I'm far from being a master of magics, but I'll show you what I do know. Let's start with what you seem to be worst at: healing."
Twilight had me make several cuts on my body with a sharp rock in the same general area, and then told me to sit down on the ground and do nothing. "Healing magic is like cooking. The best way to find out what ingredients would best go together for flavoring is to sample a little of each ingredient first. Or, at least that's what the book I read had to say about it. Let your mind dwell on the pain caused by the cuts, and how it lessens as your blood dries and your body begins to repair the damage. Keep your mind focused only on that." I closed my eyes and did as she instructed. My arm didn't hurt so much as itch as blood trickled through the cuts and ran over and down my skin where it eventually dripped onto the ground. But the itch was far more distracting than any pain I'd been in since I sprained my ankle at age thirteen after trying to do a trick on rollarblades. At least it's not as bad as a mosquito bite. I hate mosquitoes. No! Focus! I hastily cleared my mind again. Eventually the tickling sensation stopped and the itch faded. It did not go away but was much less than it had been at the start. Eventually that too faded and I opened my eyes again. Twilight nodded and told me to make several more cuts on my other arm. "As before, do not use magic, but this time simply let nature take its course. This time focus your mind specifically on the pain fading away and the your blood ceasing to shed needlessly. Focus your mind on healing and watch it happen."
I had heard of something like what she was talking about before on television. Temple monks had used meditation when they became ill to get better faster. At the time I had thought it ridiculous and had dismissed it. In all honesty I still felt ridiculous trying to heal my body with my mind, but did as I was instructed. To my surprise it did indeed stop itching faster than it had before, and I lost less blood than I had before. Seeing the look of surprise on my face Twilight smiled. "Now, one last time make cuts. This time when you finish take your wand and focus magic into the injured area and focus on healing."
"Out of curiosity, how is this different from when I healed myself before?" I asked. Focusing on getting better was what I had done every other time I'd healed myself with magic.
"Healing injuries based on only what you see on the surface is risky, which is why I only had you do surface damage to yourself. Fortunately for you all of the injuries that you've had so far were fairly minor. If you had broken or cracked a bone then I would not have been able to help you. You need to have a good understanding of anatomy in order to heal something more severe than a cut or a gash, and I know nothing about how you look beneath the surface."
"But you healed my leg after that Bloody Hoof took a chunk out of me." I pointed out.
"You healed most of it yourself first, and if you weren't familiar with your body's build then you're lucky that you didn't mess up your muscle structure in the process." Twilight gave me a funny look. "You know, luck is something you seem to have a large store of. Why is that?" I shrugged. "Well, I guess it isn't important right now. For now, heal your cuts." I did so. "Good! Now let's work on shifting earth. There are several ways you can do this, the simplest of which if you already have good concentration is to use Telekinetic force. This is not the same as manipulating dirt or stones however, and if you want to shape it like clay in your hands then it takes too much effort using only Telekinesis. This is not to say that you couldn't, but you'd probably give yourself a headache long before you finished. Another way is to soak it with water and then manipulate the water, but if you don't have water then that's out too, and more often than not you'd just pull the water out of the dirt which accomplishes nothing."
"So then...magic is merely understanding your surroundings and coming up with the best method of controlling those surroundings?"
"It's a little more complicated than that, but yes."
"Then what is it that allow us to control it? If it were simply will then my people would still be waging wars with sorcery and everyone on my world would be using it to one degree or another with or without a horn. I find it a little hard to believe that it's just a matter of bone shape." I waved my wand in a lazy circle.
"That, I don't think anyone knows." Twilight said. "Or, if anyone does, they haven't seen fit to write it down."
From there our conversation for the most part stopped and we went through several other lessons, one of which being short-range teleportation. By short range, I mean very short. Whereas Twilight could warp across miles and miles, I could only transport myself or something else a few meters. Not very helpful.
"Aw, don't get mad!" Twilight said as she saw my growing frustration. Nearly everything she had tried to teach me I had either failed or had only succeeded by the skin of my teeth. Who came up with that phrase, anyway? Teeth don't have skin! "I've been practicing and using magic for years, and you've had less than a month. For you to be as good at it as you are is a blessing." I knew she was right, but that didn't stop me from being annoyed at my lack of progress. "What do you say we take a break and go check on Fluttershy?"
We looked around for her and saw a small yellow and pink figure in the distance. Apparently Fluttershy had indeed found something because there was a taller brown figure in front of her. It looked like a horse. Me and Twilight traded a look and then walked over to her. This took several minutes but the two of them still stood there when we arrived. A few stones crunched under my shoes and both Flutterhhy and the horse looked at us. The horse said nothing, but Fluttershy welcomed us and introduced us to 'Running Wind'.
"His language is very, very primitive compared to what we're speaking now, but it's still simple enough to understand." She explained. Running Wind snorted at me and also made a brief grunting sound. "He says that he doesn't like being near you, but won't run as long as you don't try to come any closer."
"Well I have no intention of upsetting someone that could split my head open like a rotten melon." Fluttershy made a face that said that she was grossed out. Twilight kicked me in the side and I grunted. "I mean, no worries, Running Wind. I'll keep my distance." Fluttershy made some typical-horse sounds at Running Wind and he nodded and visibly relaxed. "So horses actually talk, then?"
"Of course they do!" She said in an enthusiastic voice. "So do birds, and squirrels, and turtles, and-" Fluttershy listed off several others animals before she noticed the look on our faces and stopped and blushed. "Sorry! I guess I got a little carried away." Me and Twilight laughed.
"So what do horses talk about?" I asked, genuinely curious.
"Well this horse mostly has complaints about you Humans taking up all the lands that their previous generations used to run through, how he misses the warmer weather, and his surprise over how small I am compared to him." Running Wing nickered. "He also wonders why I'm not afraid of you."
"Afraid of me? Do I really look so scary?" She shook her head.
"No, but he's seen your people hunt before. He thinks your wand is a weapon."
"I suppose in a way it is, but my wand looks nothing like a gun." Fluttershy shrugged and looked at the horse again. He pawed at the ground with a hoof but 'said' nothing else. Fluttershy returned the 'gesture'. He then turned away and left. Fluttershy turned her full body to face us and said that she missed her home. "This world is a nice place to visit, I think, but I wouldn't want to live here."
"This place is only a tiny part of our world. We're actually on a large island. Some other parts of Earth are very beautiful this time of year."
"All the same, I want to go home." Twilight agreed, and so did I. But I needed to make sure that Thanatos wouldn't cause any trouble first.
I raised my wand and focused on the mental image of Thanatos and homed in on him. After turning several times the wand pointed me back towards town.
"Oh no."
__ __ __ __ __
It's a cold, but beautiful day! A woman thought as she walked down the sidewalk. She had just gotten off work for her meal-time break and was on her way to her favorite diner for lunch. While she walked a television shop with several different TVs in the display window caught her eye and she stopped to look at them. She already had a TV at hope but it at times would make the people on it turn funny colors. I guess it's about time to retire that old machine and get a new one. Oh! I like that news lady! The news lady was currently standing in front of a coffee shop and was talking about the sudden rush of animals that had invaded and taken up residence in the last few days. Yeah, there have been an awful lot of them lately. I wonder why?
A man wearing a blue cap stepped onscreen and leaned close to the woman's ear and whispered something. She nodded and he pulled a folded paper out of a pocket and handed it to her before stepping out of view of the camera again.
"I've just received a notice that a previously unknown animal has been spotted entering town. It vaguely resembles a horse, but has both wings and a horn on the top of its head and-" she stopped and made a face. "Is this for real?" She said to someone standing to the side who wasn't visible. "Seriously? This isn't a joke that Johnny is playing on me again? Huh." She looked back at the camera. "It would seem, ladies and gentlemen, that the creature in question is a mix of a Pegasus and a Unicorn." She scoffed and rolled her eyes. "And according to my boss it's heading this way, so we should be seeing-" A car smashed into the coffee shop behind the news lady, narrowly missing her. She had screamed when it did and started yelling at the camera man to turn around. The image shown on the television spun to reveal a black creature of the description given flying towards him. He fell over backwards and the camera showed the sky and the horse-whatever flying over top of him. The camera then fell to one side on the pavement and multiple screams could be heard. Several pairs of legs ran across the screen but it was not picked up again.
"What in the world?" The woman watching television wondered as the screen blanked and an image stating that the news crew was having technical difficulties popped up with the annoying humming-ring sound. Maybe this is an advertisement for another American Hollywood movie. Bleh! She had once been fond of them, but they had long-since run out of any original stories, and they just got more and more stale with each remake. Why do they seem to think that more profanity equals better story? Give me the originals any day!
Suddenly a scream and a car's 'AROOGA' horn sounded nearby and the woman looked up to see the same creature that had been on the TV flying above the street with a police car chasing it. She rubbed her eyes and looked again with the same result.
"Am I going crazy?"
Suddenly the flying horse-thing spun around in midair and its horn glowed. The police car came to a sudden stop as it crashed into- nothing? Yes, nothing! One moment the police car had been moving forward at forty mph, and the next it had crashed into an invisible wall and stopped. The driver of the car had been knocked out, and after checking his partner the other person in the car got out and stared at the front of the car in bewilderment. He walked forward and found no wall in place for the car to hit, and the horse-thing hovering in mid-air ahead of them as if waiting.
"I just don't get it! What did we hit?" He threw a look at the horse-thing. "And what the heck are you supposed to be, anyway?" It blinked and then turned and left the officer standing and staring at it.
Two more patrol cars drove by the smashed car and continued to pursue the horse-thing. Just before they vanished from sight the woman saw one officer pull a tranquilizer gun out of the car and saw the officer lean out of the window to shoot it. Half a second later that same car came bouncing backward along the road like a child's toy to smash down on top of the first car.
The woman ran then. She didn't know what the heck was going on, but she wasn't sticking around to find out.
__ __ __ __ __
"For the last time, get out of my face and leave me be! I don't know where you got your information, but you're nuts!" Roger Lighthand said, trying to get rid of yet another reporter that had come into the hospital hoping to talk to either him or his wife. Apparently the purple pony-thing was a popular subject for just about every news station in the country and every other frequent internet user as well. What he wanted to was punch the next reporter that walked in, but he knew from his own country that if he did that not only would they threaten to sue but then he'd be on television himself for more than the time it took to tell the reporter to get lost. Just fill out the paperwork, pay the fee, and go to your son's motel, and convince him to go home with you. Then your life can start getting back to normal again. He was just about calm again when some footsteps that came from behind him stopped close by. They sounded like high-heeled shoes.
"Mr. Lighthand? Could I ask you a few-"
"NO YOU CAN'T! BUZZ OFF!" He yelled in the pretty, young dirty-blond-haired woman's face. She squeaked and turned and walked briskly away. A few of the people that had been sitting on benches waiting for family to finish an appointment laughed. Most of the people that had been sitting there had seen him already brush off three other reporters and had remained polite and at least calm on the outside for each, but everyone had their limit and they had the feeling that he'd been pestered even before he'd been ready to leave.
The elevator dinged once again and to Roger's relief Agatha stepped out with her arm in a cast and sleeve.
"How are you feeling, honey?" He asked. She looked at her arm and then looked back at him with a wry smile. "Right, dumb question. Ready to leave?"
"More than you know. I think if one more reporter asks me where to find a certain purple Unicorn I'm going to strangle them!" Roger laughed and told her that those were his thoughts exactly.
Unfortunately as soon as they exited the building they were surrounded by news crews jabbing microphones into their faces and shouting a dozen different questions a second. Roger looked at Agatha and Agatha looked at him.
"You know, I think I preferred fighting the evil horse-thing to this." Agatha whispered as best she could to him over the din.
"Agreed!" He said back.
Suddenly almost all of the news-people became silent all at once and put a hand to an earpiece (those that didn't have them took cell phones out of their pockets. Twenty seconds later all of them were saying something about getting back to them later and then made a run for their vehicles and in some cases literally jumped into vans or cars and then pealed out of the hospital parking lot and nearly caused a car accident several times. Roger and Agatha looked at one another again, this time puzzled.
"I don't know what just happened, but thank the Maker!" They said at the same time, and left the hospital.
^ ^ ^ ^ ^
We reappeared inside my motel room and I quickly moved to the door and unlocked it. I then gathered up my things and put my backpack on my bed. If Thanatos was here in town then we'd probably need to make a quick getaway once he was dealt with- if we could deal with him. Once my things were packed I clicked on the television hoping for a more precise hint as to where to find Thanatos. I flipped through a few channels and then stopped it on the first news station I found. Currently they were talking about a car accident somewhere. While the news crew droned on I used the bathroom and grabbed a slice of pizza out of the fridge without cleaning off the toppings first. There was no time to be delicate. I needed food, and and I needed to eat it quickly. While I stuffed my face Fluttershy explained the television to Twilight.
"Interesting, but why turn it on when we're trying to stop Thanatos? Just use magic and home in on him." I shook my head.
"No. My ancestor warned me that all that combining the horns into a wand accomplished was extending their expiration date a bit, making it easier to carry and isolating their true power to those that carry my family's blood. Which means that one day this wand will turn to dust as well. I want to put that off as much as possible. If there is an alternative to magic use then I want to use it as long as it's still practical." I turned my attention to the television when one of the news-people mentioned 'a horse-monster is attacking law enforcement'.
"It has also somehow managed to toss patrol cars as if they were toys, seems to be unaffected by bullets, and it can fly. It sounds preposterous, but let's see if Charlene can shed some light on this. Charlene, you're on." There was no response. The announcer looked at his two co-hosts and repeated that Charlene was could link up and be live. There was still no response. "Well, then let's go to Marcus Carnfield in our chopper. Marcus?"
"Hello, Dan. Yeah, Charlene's van got by a large chunk of concrete. This scene is absolutely insane, Dan. If I wasn't here watching it I'd never have believed it!"
"Marcus, could you turn the camera so we can get a look at this thing? All we can see is a few buildings on our end."
"I'd rather not, to be honest. Pointing a camera at that flying horse-thing is what made it throw the concrete at Charlene."
"What?"
"Well there are police shooting at it so maybe it thought the camera was some kind of gun too."
"No, no, not that. How did a horse throw concrete?"
"If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say it used The Force. It wasn't even touching the ground at all when the chunk ripped itself up from the ground and then hurled at the van. An odd thing, though. The horn on its head? It's glowing bright orange and the air around it seem to...sparkle!"
"That's Thanatos, alright." I said. "Where the heck are they?!"
"Maybe it's using magic!" One of the news-people sitting behind the wooden desk laughed.
"At this point I wouldn't rule- Aaah! It's coming right at us! PILOT!" There was a blur of feathers and fur and then the camera stopped working.
"Oh my Maker, Marcus! Talk to us! Are you alright?!" Dan yelled into his mic. Marcus didn't respond. "Whatever is going on down there, I ask for your prayers for the people and patrolmen and women trying to stop this creature on Shopstreet lane." I clicked the television off and went to my backpack to find the map I'd gotten from the airport. My eyes skimmed over it a few times before I found it. When I did I realized that it was quite close to here. It was only three roads away. We could get there easily on foot.
"Alright, I know where he is. Are you two ready?" I looked at Twilight and Fluttershy. Fluttershy looked how I felt: nervous. She still nodded, though. Twilight did the same. "Then let's put an end to this and get you two home."
We arrived on scene to witness several men and woman in like uniforms shooting several types of firearms at Thanatos, who did not seem to be touched by any of it. The light around his horn blazed like a fire and at one point he tore up a decorational tree and hurled it at them. The people with the guns ducked or dove for the pavement when the tree struck the vehicles they had been using for cover. Several windows broke and car frames were a little dented but only one person actually got hurt, and it was only a scratch inflicted by one of the sharper branches across the face.
Nearby a helicopter was on the ground and burning. Inside two people were calling out for someone to help them before their fuselage fully ignited.
"Jacob! Them first!" I agreed and we ran to it.
"How do we get you out?" I yelled.
"The window is probably the best way, but it's safety glass!" I looked at the cracked windshield and raised my empty hand.
"Close your eyes!" I said. They did. My wand glowed and I clenched my fist. The middle of the window crunched in on itself into a ball. "Come on!" A guy wearing a helmet was still strapped it and seemed to be stuck, but the other man climbed out. I aimed my wand at the straps and pictured them being cut. With a snap the pilot came free and also climbed out.
"How did you do that?" The newsman asked in awe.
"Magic!" I said simply, flashing him a cocky grin before running towards Thanatos. Twilight and Fluttershy followed and the newsman and pilot stared. "Thanatos seems to be shielding himself with magic. As long as we stay behind him we shouldn't get hit by stray bullets."
"But what are we going to do about him?" Fluttershy asked as Thanatos brought a live telephone down on top of another vehicle. One of the power cables snapped and miniature lightning bolts arched and zapped anything that got too close to it. After a few bolts the car it had landed on ignited and burned. The driver and partner ran from it as well as their neighbors. A few seconds later the flame retraced from the fuel line to the gas tank and exploded. The local law enforcement was running now, all of them. What ones still had functioning cars got into them and drove, while others simply hoofed it, as it were. Thanatos gave chase to those on foot and impaled them on his horn.
"Oh no!" Fluttershy gasped as one such unlucky person screamed and fought to get loose. Thanatos chomped into his leg and then bit a huge piece out of it, not unlike the Bloody Hoof had done to me in Everfree forest.
"This has gone on long enough, Jacob!" Twilight declared. "We have to help them!"
"Yeah. Let's barbecue this chicken!" I ran closer and drew fire from the burning car, drew it into a rough ball shape and then hurled it at Thanatos' flank. I suppose he hadn't expected an attack from behind because he shrieked in pain as the flames engulfed him. He whirled and stared at me, (the body still leaning against his head) then seemed to hesitate a moment.
"Young Lighthand, forgive me, but you are too far gone!" Thanatos said in an oddly sad voice. Thanatos's horn glowed even brighter than before and lifted all six patrol cars into the air.
"Uh oh." I said before he hurled them at us. The glow of his magic around them did not fade however, and when we tried to dodge they followed us. If we can't run, and we can't defend, then that only leaves attack! I gathered my will and threw my mind back to the downed helicopter. I heard a creak and an exclamation from the two people we'd pulled out of the chopped and brought it forward above our heads.
"Twilight! Flutterhsy! I'll clear a path for you. Twilight, use that lightning wire and try to entangle Thanatos in it. Fluttershy, see if you can find some of my people's weapons where the cars used to be. I'll buy you some time to do that!" I hurled the chopped forward and plowed two of the cars out of the way and sent it straight for Thanatos, who spread his wings and leaped into the air to dodge it. His concentration never broke, unfortunately, and I was very nearly crushed by the oncoming vehicles. If not for my size in comparison to his own, I probably would have been. As I was one of them still brushed through my hair. "Is that all you got?! I thought you were the most powerful Alicorn with magic! Show me what you're really made of!" I foolishly taunted. Thanatos frowned and dropped the cars and lifted me instead. "Wha?!" He threw me across the street and through a display window. I crashed through two flimsy tables and slammed into a stack of cardboard boxes. Apparently this place was still in set up stages which was probably what saved my life as the boxes were full of packaging peanuts, but it still hurt like rolling down a rocky hill. I slowly got back to my feet, amazed that I wasn't more hurt than I was (I had a number of cuts from the glass where it touched my exposed skin as I went through the window and a few places where I could swear that bruises were already forming from hitting the legs of the tables) and then headed back outside again, taking several of the broken table legs with me to use as javelins. Thanatos had not turned his attention from me but instead waited for me to come back out. "That's seriously the best you've got? Throwing me through a window? You helped destroy a forest with a conjured lightning storm and then sealed all those creatures inside Everfree forest! Maybe you've grown weak in your old age!"
"Never...NEVER CALL ME WEAK!!!" Thanatos raged and came at me directly. I tossed the table legs into the air and launched them at him. Thanatos didn't even try to dodge and instead blocked them with magic. As he came up to me I suddenly appeared next to Twilight. Blinking in confusion I looked at her.
"Well I couldn't very well entangle him if you led him to the other side of the street, now could I?" I laughed and apologized. "Apologize later, just get him over here!" I nodded and performed a wolf whistle.
"Hey, you old horse! Why don't you try looking over here!" I waved my arms and then gathered up more flames and sent them his way. Thanatos turned into time to redirect the flames back at me. I tried to catch them and tried to re-re-direct them but his power was still in it and the flames barely deviated at all, so did what I could to dodge and grabbed Twilight and teleported a few meters to one side. The flames missed but we still felt the heat. A single gunshot sounded off to our right and Thanatos winced and turned his head to see Fluttershy awkwardly holding a 9mm pistol between her front hooves. (How she pulled the trigger with no fingers or other slender appendages I'll never know, but at the moment I didn't care about that.) Seizing the moment of him being distracted I told Twilight to be ready and then rapid-teleported myself from where I stood to standing right next to Thanatos. I wrapped my arms around his neck and then rapid-teleported back almost to the same location. "I'm sorry Thanatos. You stood by Mace faithfully and helped him in both of yours final hours, but you've changed and need to be put down before you hurt anyone else." I turned to Twilight. "Twilight! Now!" I let Thanatos go and pushed away from him with my hands before using a blast of wind to propel me even further back.
Twilight caught on and used her power to wrap the sparking power cable around Thanatos' neck. Thanatos went into convulsions as countless watts of energy filled his body. He shrieked again and again as the lightning lit him up inside and out. For a moment I could have sworn that I saw his skeleton like in the old cartoons and then it suddenly stopped and Thanatos fell over onto the cracked pavement. No more electricity crackled which made me think that either we'd fried the power grid or someone had shut off the power running through this line. Cautiously we approached Thanatos. His limbs twitched frequently and he was muttering something. I removed the power cable from Thanatos' neck and leaned closer. His eyes were no longer burning, or even red at all. They were the pale white of those either blind or dead. From his dialog he seemed to be reliving a moment of his life. A rather unpleasant one, because he started crying. Finally he stopped twitching and weakly tried to lift his head.
"Thank you..." He whispered. "I go now...to apologize....to a friend......." Thanatos' head dropped back down to the pavement and he said nothing more.
"So...now what?" Twilight asked me. Fluttershy lowered the gun to the ground and joined us at Thanatos' side. Before our eyes he rapid-decayed. His hide seemed to dry out and turn to dust as if he were a mummy. His mane fell away from his head and neck and his tail seemed to wither and simply vanish like a string of burning plastic. His eyes sunk into his skull and also turned to dust and in time his remains fell away from his bones and blew away in the wind. His skeleton looked horrible. Cracks spider-webbed all over almost the entire frame and they too began to fall to the ground in small chunks. Eventually these too turned to dust but for one thing: Thanatos' orange horn.
"Why didn't his horn decay too?" I asked Twilight. She shook her head.
"Even Unicorns that study magic for years don't fully understand it. It could just be that he wanted you to have it." I reached for it and brushed it with a finger. A chill ran into my hand but barely got further than that (as far as being chilled went) with my wand still in my hand. This did not stop me from feeling cooler in general, however.
"I'll take it back to Celestia and Luna. They can decide what to do with their uncle's remains." I picked it up and then asked Fluttershy if she was alright. She said the gunshot made he rears hurt but other than that she was fine and asked about me when she saw all the cuts on my clothing. I told her it was nothing that I couldn't deal with.
I heard the sound of helicopter blades drawing closer from somewhere out of sight and looked around. Several people were starting to drift back in now that things had quieted down again and were pointing at Twilight and Fluttershy and myself.
"What's that sound?" Fluttershy asked.
"One of our flying machines. We should leave. Given the damage that Thanatos did I don't think that you two would be welcomed here with open arms. My people tend to act very rashly towards something that they're unsure or afraid of."
"So are we going back to the gateway then?" Twilight asked. I shook my head.
"I'd like to get my things and leave a note for my folks before we go so they know that I'm alright first. Is that okay with you two?" Twilight and Fluttershy nodded.
"Hey! Hey magic-man!" I looked at who called out to me to see it was Marcus from the helicopter. He was running towards us with a clipboard and pen in hand.
"Sorry, Marcus, but we've got work to do still. But don't worry, you'll not be troubled by a crazed Alicorn again."
"But who are you? And who and what are they?" Marcus came to a stop next to us and pointed at Twilight and Fluttershy.
"My first name doesn't matter. Just call me Lighthand. As for my two friends, The purple one is Twilight Sparkle," Twilight curtsied, which looked kind of funny on four legs. "and she's a a Unicorn. The yellow one is named Fluttershy" Fluttershy waved. "and she's a Pegasus. And now," Twilight's horn started to glow. "we need to be going." We warped.
We stood outside of the damaged Stone Arch Gateway, watching the blinking pattern and waiting for a calm period to open the door.
I had left a note on my room's door telling dad and mom not to look for me as they wouldn't find me unless I came back on my own. I wrote that I loved them and would do my best to come back safely as long as I was able.
I made a mess in my friends' world and I need to clean it up. I won't tell you that it will be easy or promise that I'll come back because there's a very good chance that I won't even if I do manage to survive the events that lie ahead because our fight with Thanatos in the field damaged the gateway. If I can repair it then I will come home, but in case I don't, know that I'll always love you and I'll miss you both. Tell my best friend back home that I wish him all the best and that he was right about Amelia. He'll know what I'm talking about.
-Your son, Jacob Pharaoh Lighthand.
"Now!" Twilight exclaimed and inserted her horn into the phantom gateway and unlocked it. The door swung open and started flickering again. "I'll go first!" When the passage stopped flickering she ran through. Fluttershy hesitated, so I offered to go next. She nodded. I waited for the calm bit, and then I too ran through. It was still nighttime in Equestria, but for now the area was clear of any Twisted Ones. Twilight looked me over and I nodded at her. She turned to the gateway and made a motion at Fluttershy that it was okay and safe. As we did, Fluttershy waited for a calm bit and then came through, but as she exited it started flickering again and she lost the last few inches of her tail.
"Ack!"
"Yikes!"
"What?" Fluttershy asked. Both me and Twilight pointed at her tail. She looked and then she too 'eeped'. I did not want to consider what could have happened if her main body had still been inside. "I- I almost died!" She shivered.
"Yeah, but you didn't, and we're very happy about that. What say we get back to Ponyville now? I don't want to stay in these woods any longer than necessary. Especially if the- you-know-whos are still hunting." Twilight agreed.
"Let's go as quietly as we can. Maybe if they don't hear us they won't find us. There's no wind so it shouldn't be easy for them to smell us either."
We set out across the forest, walking straight away from the front of the gateway, whose stone doors closed and locked. Nothing pestered us on our way out of the woods but there were times that I thought I saw a few pairs of red eyes watching us as we passed them by. Each time I made eye contact and held it until we were by them before breaking it and looking ahead again. A few times Twilight gave me a funny look but I replied that I was merely making sure to mark landmarks in my memory in case I needed to come this way again in the future. I think she knew I was lying but she didn't press the matter. None of the watchers in the woods made a sound so perhaps it was simply my imagination but I could have sworn that one of them blinked. But nevertheless we made it out with no incident to the place where I had first encountered the Cutie Mark Crusaders. "I know where we are now!" Fluttershy said happily, and from there she led us back to her home where we parted ways. "Good night, you two. " We said goodnight and goodbye as well and then Fluttershy shut her door and went to bed. We heard her speaking to someone or something inside in a happy voice before we left so I assumed it was a pet.
"So now what?" I asked as we walked towards Ponyville proper. "Are you going home too?" Twilight nodded.
"It's been a long night- day-" She fumbled. It was nighttime here but still daytime on earth.
"It's night. You're from Equestria and it was night when we left, and it's still night now. It's night."
"Hmm. Looking where the sun usually rises from I can see some light already so it's probably going to be dawn soon. From where we're standing Ponyville is over that way too."
"Light?" I turned to look where she was. "Wait...that's not sunlight, it's too smoky...smoky?" Our gazes shot to one another.
"FIRE!" We broke into a run towards Ponyville and once more Twilight outpaced me.
When we arrived we found that Ponyville was deserted except for a few badly-burnt bodies of ponies and one huge dead dragon that had been torn limb from limb. What buildings that were not already a smoldering wreck were still blazing away.
"No!! My home!" Twilight cried out loudly. Tears began to form in her eyes. Twilight's tree had been put to the torch as well and it no longer was a tree so much as a charred stump. Ashes drifted around us like snow as she kicked open what was left of the door and waded through the remains of her library. "SPIKE!" She shouted. "SPIKE, WHERE ARE YOU?!" I followed her in and used my magic to push all the ashes out the door to make it easier to walk and search. "Spike?" Twilight's tears were falling now and I placed a hand on her shoulder.
"We'll find him, Twilight. Spike is a smart guy. He'd have evacuated with the other ponies earlier before we left." I coughed on the smoke and toxic fumes that filled the air. "We just have to find where the others evacuated to. In the meantime let's see if there are any survivors in town after the attack ended." Twilight nodded and we split up. She would search her house first and I would go to the other side of town. We'd work our way to the middle and from there we'd go to Sweet Apple Acres. Unfortunately most of the town had been burnt almost to the ground and there were very few buildings that weren't still burning that I could actually go into. One of these buildings almost collapsed on me when I tried to cross the smoky room and I had to teleport out. I am suddenly very grateful that I can use this spell at all! Thank you so much, Twilight! I wiped a bit of nervous sweat from my forehead and headed for the next house. This one's door was still standing, but ironically none of the rest of the house was. Feeling stupid I knocked on it and asked if anyone was home. No response, not that I had really expected one. Eventually my efforts led me to what used to be the Sugarcube Corner. Once it had been build in the shape of a gingerbread house. Apparently a Dragon had thought so as well because it looked as if someone big had taken a bite out of it before trying to burn it. Fortunately for the owners it was one of the more intact buildings in town. Unfortunately it looked as if it would still need heavy and expensive repairs.
I knocked the already-broken glass out of a window with my wand and climbed inside. Moonlight shown in through the hole in the roof but other than the hole, a few busted windows and some scorched walls and floors it looked to mostly be intact.
"Hello! Mr. and Mrs. Cake? Are you in here?" I got no answer, but thought I heard a crash coming from the kitchen. I walked into the kitchen but saw no one, so I approached the cellar and tried to lift the door. It wouldn't budge. Someone is in there. It's locked. "Hello? Who's down there? It's alright, the Dragons are gone now. It's me, Jacob Lighthand!" I heard several voices and then a metallic sound that sounded like a deadbolt being drawn back. The door came open and revealed a familiar pink face. Her hair was hanging loosely rather than being puffy though. I kind of liked that hairstyle more.
"Heya Jacob! So you survived the trip into Everfree! That's great! We survived too! Where's Twilight? We should celebrate that with a party!" Her happy voice sounded hollow like it was forced.
"Twilight is on the other side of town looking for more survivors. What made you stay, Pinkie?"
"Well I was just helping a few ponies pack up some last-minute things when fifteen Dragons swooped in and set fire to half the town in one fly-by! That big mean one from before was with them and he said that if Ponyville surrendered me and the others that defied him almost a month ago that he's spare everyone else. Well, since you, Twilight and Fluttershy weren't here they couldn't very well do that and the big meanie ordered the entire town to be burned. There were only three dozen or so ponies left in town by then which is good, but he burned or crushed or ate about half of them. The rest of them got away or hid with me in the cellar." Pinkie turned her head back and said that it was safe for the others to come out. Mr Cake, Scootaloo, Sweetie Bell, and several other ponies that I had not been introduced to also exited the cellar and headed for the door. I warned them that what awaited them wasn't a pretty sight. Mr. Cake looked out the window I'd come in through and gasped. The others crowded around and moaned or burst into tears or stood in stunned silence. Mr. Cake then went to the door and unlocked it. One by one the others filed outside to see if any of their homes had survived. Most of them had not and they held one another and wept. I felt extreme pity for them, but there really was not much that I could offer for comfort.
"Pinkie Pie, where did the others go to?"
"Jacob! Have you seen Rainbow Dash anywhere?!" Scootaloo asked, looking worried.
"No I haven't. Why?"
"When the Dragons came she taunted them and flew in circles around them. One of the Dragons turned away from destroying the town and started chasing her, then Pinkie grabbed me and took me into the cellar. You haven't seen her at all?" Now she too started to cry. I knelt down to the ground and put a hand on her head. She looked at me and for her benefit I smiled, though I didn't want to smile. What I wanted to do was find anyone else who might have survived and then go after Drahngov.
"Scoots, if there's anything that I've learned about Pegusi in my short time of being in your beautiful world, it's that they don't give up even in the worst of situations. Rainbow Dash is fast, strong, and smart. I'm sure that a Dragon, no matter how big and scary it might seem is no match for her. We'll find her." Scootaloo sniffed and tried to put on a brave face. "But first let's see if there are any ponies here in town that still need our help. Take your friend Sweetie Bell and go find Twilight. I'm sure she'd be glad to see you." Scootaloo nodded and spoke to Sweetie Bell. The two ran towards the other side of town and I let my smile fade. What Scootaloo had said about Rainbow Dash had me worried now, too. She was indeed very fast, but ponies weren't fireproof. All it would take is one lucky gush of flame and she'd have been charbroiled alive. I re-entered the Sugarcube Corner and asked Pinkie if she knew where Rarity or Applejack was.
"Rarity left with the others when the town evacuated. Applejack went home to get her sister and her brother when the Dragons arrived. OHMYGOSH! You don't think they-"
"I hope not. Me and Twilight were going to look once we met up in the middle of town. Would you like to come along?" Pinkie nodded, her hair still deflated and we walked to the town square to wait. Twilight had not yet arrived, but several other ponies had, including the mayor.
"Oh, it's you again. Still transformed?"
"Well actually-"
"Good, because we could use a set of hands. Most of the Unicorns left with the evacuation group and we're not really built for grabbing and lifting things. There's a family of five trapped in the basement of their house and it could fall at any moment. We'll get them out, but we need a support beam that fell across it moved first, and bucking it only seems to make the house more unstable. You lift it out of the way, and we'll get them out." I nodded and followed her to the house of subject. The rescue went off without a hitch and we all got out with no injuries. Five minutes later the house next to it collapsed from fire damage which made theirs fall as well. When we made our way back to the town square this time Twilight was there and looked much better than she had been when we parted earlier. Losing her home and the town it was in had been devastating, but seeing that most of her friends and neighbors had survived really helped speed her heart's healing.
"Ready to go, Jacob?" She asked. I nodded and with Pinkie Pie walking beside us we followed the road to Sweet Apple Acres. It was worse there than at the town if only because nearly all the trees that had once made up this place were either broken or burnt to a twig. Only one or two still stood, but seemed to have been left there as a mockery or an insult. The barn had also been destroyed along with their house and the chicken coop and even the tool shed.
"I am suddenly very glad that Fluttershy stayed at home rather than coming into town with us." I whispered under my breath.
"APPLEJACK! BIG MAC! APPLEBLOOM! GRANNY SMITH!" Twilight screamed, and ran to what was once their house. Pinkie followed, looking just as worried and scared as Twilight Sparkle. My face was sad, and my emotion despair. For the families that had survived in Ponyville, the homes had at least been mostly intact. There was nothing left here.
Twilight and Pinkie began to dig through the rubble of the house searching for any sign of their friends while I went to the barn. It was while I moved some of the heavier boards with my magic that the other two CMC's also joined us at the farm and hurried to help. Sweetie bell joined Twilight and Pinkie, while Scootaloo helped me.
"Hello again." I said. "How are things back in town?"
"We found two more survivors, but one of them died shortly after." Scootaloo stopped digging through the ash for a moment. "I've never seen someone die before." She looked up at me. "Have you?" I nodded.
"Several of my relatives died with me present. For two it was just old age finally catching up with them. For another he had gotten hit by a car and his internal organs had been damaged."
"What's a car?"
"A mechanical vehicle that my people use to get around quickly. The driver hadn't been paying attention to the flow of traffic, and when my cousin tried to cross the street-" I stopped when I realized I was gripping the wand like I wanted to choke something. "Well, he died." I looked at the mess before me. No more deaths here. Not One! I raised both my arms and lifted all the rubble that had fallen, keeping in mind to only lift the wood. I regretted it shortly after when the drain of energy slapped me in the face, but for the moment I was doing my part and didn't care. I moved it all to one side four meters to the right and then lowered it. A lot of the ash went with it, but some did not. That ash was probably not made from wood burning. Both me and Scootaloo waded into the remaining wreckage and found nothing at first. It wasn't until we reached the back of the barn's founding that we found a trapdoor that led into a dug-out area beneath it. How we found it was when it collapsed under our weight. If it had been Scootaloo alone we probably would have opened it like normal people/ponies after her hooves knocked on something that sounded hollow, but since I weighed considerably more...
"Aah!" We both yelled as we fell through the weakened wooden door. When we came to a stop a large hoof was placed against my head.
"Who are you?" A southern-accented voice asked.
"Applebloom! Applejack!" Scootaloo said in joy and ran around the big red pony (or maybe it was a horse. That guy was pretty tall for a pony!) to the side of a familiar yellow and red pony and an orange and blond one. I looked up at the big guy.
"Please don't crush my skull? I kinda need that."
"He's okay, Big Mac. I know him. He's the Two-leg I told you about." Applejack said from behind him. Big Mac removed his hoof and examined me.
"Eeyup. Sahry 'bout that, but with whats been goin' on one can't be too careful."
"No problem." I stood up from the ground and brushed myself off. "I'll go and tell the others that you're-" I paused. There were three ponies here, and not one of them looked elderly. "Where's Granny Smith?" I had never had the opportunity to meet her, but given that these three had the names and coloration of what apple-related things there should have been a green pony here as well, and there wasn't. Big Mac, Applejack, and Applebloom all looked at the dirt flooring.
"Granny Smith was in the house when the Dragons came." Applejack said quietly. "We were outside already and ran for the barn cellar. I yelled to her to get into the basement, but I don't know if she heard me." Remembering that Twilight and Pinkie were digging through the remains of the house I informed the others of this. We filed out of the cellar one after the other with Big Mac in the lead. When the Apple family saw the damage they gasped. Applebloom and Applejack started crying while Big Mac could only stare at the devastation in wide-eyed silence.
"Why would they do this?" Applebloom asked her older sister while pressing up against her. "We didn't do anything to them!"
"I don't know, sugar cube. I just don't know." While we stood there Pinkie Pie looked over her shoulder to check on me and Scoots' progress and noticed the majority of the Apple family with us and told Twilight. The two of them raced over to us and another reunion took place. Applejack asked if they had found Granny Smith but neither of them had and as a whole group we went over to the house and renewed the search. We never found her in the house's remains though we dug on after the sun had risen. Once we were certain she was not in the house anywhere we searched the rest of the property. All we found was a broken cane and a large smear of blood on the ground. Fortunately none of the foals were present for that. It was Big Mac that found it.
"Dear Maker...I whispered, feeling sick.
"Ee-" He couldn't finish.
"They didn't..." Applejack said, not wanting to believe.
"No!" Twilight exclaimed. Pinkie had been told to lead the foals elsewhere when Big Mac first found it.
I turned away from it, and walked away holding my stomach. Killing an animal to eat was one thing. The idea of killing a sentient for food made me sick. Sick and angry. Twilight comforted her friends while I walked farther and farther from their group. I did this. This is my fault. I had not been the one that chose to eat another sentient, but I had been the one to effectively declare war on the Dragon race. Now all of Eqestria was going to pay for it. I had been staring at the ground while I contemplated this, but now I raised my head and walked back to them. I hated to interrupt Twilight while she and her friends mourned, but I needed to speak to the princesses, and my skills in teleportation magic were decidedly lacking. They needed to be told to sound the alarm.
"Twilight, I'm sorry to interrupt, but I have a favor to ask of you. Your nation needs to be warned of the Dragon threat while there is still time to do counter them, if they can be countered. We have to go back to Canterlot, and the sooner the better." Twilight lifted her still-weeping head from the lowered position it had been in and looked at me. She wiped away her tears and nodded.
"Yes. We can't let something like this happen so somepony else. Just give me a minute to say goodbye." I nodded.
"What de ya mean, 'goodbye'? I'm coming with you, sugar cube!" Applejack declared, overhearing our conversation. "Someone needs to teach these...monsters a lesson!" She finished with loathing in her tone. Her eyes were angry now.
"I'm coming too!" Pinkie added, trying to smile. "Somepony's got to find a way to make you all smile again!"
"No, Pinkie." Twilight said. "I need you to go find Rarity and Spike and also tell Fluttershy what happened. I get the feeling we're all going to be needed before this war is over." Pinkie looked disappointed, but nodded.
"Big Mac," Applejack said to the big pony. He lifted his head, also crying. "I need you to look after the girls while we're gone, alright?" He nodded. "Take them to the refugee site. We'll be back after this is over." If we come back from it. If I trusted my people to take action in time I'd try asking them for help, but knowing our politicians we'd be dead long before they made a decision! I still didn't really want my world getting involved more than necessary given the damage that I myself had done, but wasn't I already intending to do that with the plan to send the Dragons into my world? That plan is in the toilet now, though. Thanatos is dead, and with him the skill needed to both change Trixie back and to ensure that the trans-dimensional warp could succeed. I supposed I could ask Melinda Jones for help again, but given her reaction to me last time, she'd probably want the land mass value of Everfree forest in currency. Though for the safety of the nation she lives in she might be willing to give me a discount if I ask really nicely.
"Hey Jacob, are you ready to go, or are you just going to stare blankly into nothing all day?" Twilight asked me. I jumped and replied in a brief stutter that I was ready when she was. Twilight nodded and in a few seconds we had once more arrived at the gate of the palace.