//------------------------------//
// Chapter 12 
// Story: MLP: The Last Mage 
// by WorldWalker128 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 12


Despite what we knew had happened in Ponyville, Canterlot was still deceptively peaceful. Everything was as it should be and there were no sign of any Dragons anywhere. Which means we got here in time. Good! I ran up to the gates and greeted the guards and informed them we had dire news for Celestia and Luna.
"Which would be?" The guard asked, sounding bored but looking edgy. "Celestia is a bit busy right now."
"The Dragons have attacked and destroyed Ponyville!" Twilight answered. The guards jumped and then looked us over. They nodded at one another and one opened the gate while the other galloped through and over the bridge to the palace.
"Go on through. I think that she will definitely want to hear about this. Go, and hurry." We thanked him and ran after the first guard.
Given the news that the Pegasus guard that went before us the guards that had searched us before when I first came here let us through with no objections. They stood aside and let us run right by.
Unfortunately we weren't the first group to bring news of Draconic destruction to the royalty. When we arrived at the doors there were three more ponies, all of the Pegasi that looked worn out enough to drop. One of them had scorched feathers and another had a bandaged broken leg. They stared at us (or maybe just me) as we came to a stop next to them.
"Let me guess." The one in the best shape began. "Dragons attacked your homes?"
"Yeah, how'd you know?" Applejack asked.
"We just came from Cloudsdale. Or rather what's left of it. The Dragons bathed it in fire and our clouds burned away like fog under the sun. All of our buildings and nearly everypony died in the process. There's maybe a few hundred of us left out of nearly four thousand. What of us that died that weren't burnt to death by the flames or crushed when the buildings fell and eventually smashed into the ground were eaten in midair. The Dragons that attacked us made a sport of it. They laughed while our blood ran down their chins and dripped like rain to the lands below. Seventy of them came for us, but most of them didn't do anything until we started trying to escape. What few of us were left tried to flee in all directions but the other Dragons began to fly and breath their firy breath like they were trying to herd us inward. To coral us or something. So we fled the only direction we could and came here. That was three days ago, and apparently we weren't here first either. There was a line when we first arrived."
"Who else came under attack?" Twilight asked them.
"Phillydelphia for one, a new farming settlement at the outer edge of our nations near the Zebra lands, and the Zebras as well. It would appear that the Dragons aren't discriminating on who they attack as long as they're equines. Who knows who else has been hit, or who may be getting hit as we speak." 
Five separate attacks. How many ponies have been killed versus how many Dragons? Probably only one or two Dragons. These ponies aren't like my people, they're not equipped for this! I brought my backpack to my front and unzipped it. I pulled out Thanato's horn but put my wand away (in reverse order). After only a few seconds my hands felt like they were going numb from cold. I traced the spiral groove from tip to base and reflected once again on my encounter with Drahngov. It had taken two horns to deflect his fire and I had been worn out after just that. Granted I had been practicing with magic a lot since then and I had a better idea of what I was doing now, but there was no way I could hope to match just four Dragons in a fight, let alone seventy or more. Obviously if it came to confronting them I would not be standing alone and I would have to be a fool to try, but would we really be strong enough to counter them all if they converged on us? Unless we can come up with a plan and implement it, I guess we'll just have to find out. This being the capital of Equestria, it would also be the hardest to destroy. But from what I'd seen the closest thing they had to weaponry here was magic (and it certainly could be formidable), the training weapons of the sparring field, and a toy catapult I'd seen in a shop window when I'd gone through Canterlot city looking for a magic-user. This of course did not mean that they didn't have any weapons at all anywhere. This age seemed to be once of peace, which meant there really had been no need to carry them out in the open, but as things appeared to be now, it looked bad. 
Abruptly the doors to the throne room opened and two Zebras wearing alot of gold jewelry exited the throne room. I hastily dropped Thanato's horn back into the bag and zipped it up. They froze when they saw me and stared while the Pegusi entered, the injured one limping. Then the doors closed again and our group continued to wait.
One of the Zebras came right up to me and stared up into my face.
"Tall you be, foreigner. Have you come to request help for your people as well?"
"You're not rhyming!" Twilight observed, surprised. The Zebra gave her a funny look.
"Why would I be rhyming?"
"I have a Zebra friend named Zecora who always speaks in rhyme."
"Ah, Zecora. I know of her. She's a medicine Zebra, yes?" Twilight and the rest of our group nodded. "That's why. Those of our people that study medicine are taught to make rhymes out of the ingredient list and process for mixing them if they are able . It makes it simpler to remember them that way. This teaching method tends to affect their regular speech as well."
"I suppose that makes sense." It nodded and looked back at me again.
"I have seen earth ponies and Unicorns and the Winged Ones before in this place, but not your kind. You are very tall."
"I am a Human. It's not really surprising that you've never seen my kind before. I'm not from your world."
"I never said that I had not seen your kind before, merely not in this place, and that you were tall." This time I stared.
"You've seen another Human?! Where?! When?!"
"In my own country, about a week before my tribe was attacked. She was traveling and only remained with us for one day before moving on again." 
"Did you notice anything odd about her?"
"Aside from walking on two legs instead of four and lacking noticeable hair anywhere but her head much like you? She carried an instrument with her. I believe it was called a violin."
"Do you have any idea where she might be now?" The Zebra shook his head.
"No. Though we asked for conversation, all she said was 'wherever my feet take me' and would give no other answer."
I was about to inquire further but the door opened again and the three Pegasi came back out again and it was our turn.
"Safe journeys homeward, Winged Ones." The Zebras said to the Pegasi.
"Heh. If only we still had a home to go back to." One of them replied. "But thank you."
The door shut behind us and as a group we walked across the room on the new red carpet. I looked down at it and saw that its color was a bit darker than the first had been. The older one was probably sun bleached lighter over the years.
"Why's the carpet look different?" Applejack whispered to Twilight.
"Because Jacob set it on fire by accident the last time we were here and it needed to be replaced." Applejack blinked a few times and then looked at me. I gave her an embarrassed smile in response. Our trio said nothing more until we arrived in front of Celestia, at which time Twilight related the events that had occurred to us while we were gone. Celestia asked several questions along the way, and looked surprised at the description of how my world was on the other side. 
"It seems that your race has done well enough for itself without magic but is ill-prepared for one skilled in it. Give me Thanatos' horn, Jacob Lighthand." I brought it out again and held it out on open palms for her to examine. "Yes, this is certainly his. It still carries his scent." Celestia looked up at the ceiling and closed her eyes. "Rest in peace, Uncle." She sighed and lowered her head again. "I really had hoped to see him again, but it seems that it was not meant to be." Celestia took the horn with her magic and set it behind her throne. She was silent for a long time. Ten minutes, at least. Finally she spoke again. "As to Ponyville coming under attack, multiple settlements, towns, and areas have also sent reports and given accounts of assaults. I had hoped that Drahngov might have been willing to seek alternative methods to war, but he is of the same mind as his grandfather was and is not content with being the leader of his own people alone."
"Tell us what to do, Celestia!" Twilight said, sounding full of courage. "We're ready!"
"I don't think any of us are ready for war, Twilight Sparkle. War is a terrible thing that I'd hoped none of you would have to experience in your lifetime. I wouldn't wish the experience on any being. But whether I would wish it or not, it has come. For the moment, I will give the three of you rooms to rest in as I have done with the other messengers. Tonight I shall hold a council with mine sister and several advisers. It is then that we shall come to a decision."
Celestia dismissed us and we bowed and left. Celestia doesn't know what to do! I realized as we left the throne room. This is too much too fast, one set of bad news after the other. Applejack noticed the look on my face and asked what was on my mind.
"Despair is on my mind. This is looking really bad, Applejack. I don't think Drahngov would be stupid enough to come here alone, and the only way we can get the Dragons to call off the attack would be to kill Drahngov or make his followers lose faith in him as a leader, which may amount to the same thing. Thanatos is dead, so we can't teleport Drahngov or his people into my world, and to top it all off,  the Dragons seem to be forcing everyone in your nation inward towards the center of it. They aim to finish us in one go."
"You're giving up? That doesn't sound like the Lighthand that I've heard of."
"Who said anything about giving up? If it comes to it I'll fight against them with my teeth and fingernails. I just think we're not going to win."
"You know, this is normally when you come up with a crazy idea that nearly gets you killed but still works." Twilight commented. "So, any ideas?" I stopped talking and started thinking. They were right, this would be the time for a crazy plan, but I had nothing.
"I'll let you know."

We parted ways at our rooms, and I entered my old guest room and dropped my stuff on the window sill. Trixie was on the bed looking at something. She stuffed it under a pillow when she heard the door shut. It made me curious, but decided it was none of my business.
"Good day, Trixie." I said. She turned her head and asked me if we'd found Thanatos. I explained what had happened and she sighed.
"That was about what I had expected, but don't worry, I'm not bothered. I'm starting to get used to this form."
"You are?" That kind of surprised me. Trixie had been rather testy with me from the start (not that I held it against her).
"Yeah. I mean, taking a look at myself now versus how I looked in my original body I look a lot younger than I was. How old do you Humans normally live to be?"
"It differs from Human to Human, but my family normally lives to be in their late eighties to early nineties." Her mouth dropped.
"Your family lives three times longer than any pony I've ever heard of!" I hadn't thought about that. "You said back when we met that you were twenty three. That would be a little under two thirds of how long we live. I think I can find find something to do with myself within that time period." To hear her making the best of it made me feel a bit better.
"You're welcome, then."

Having gotten very little sleep back in my own world I changed my outfit and laid down on the carpet and fell sleep almost immediately.
When I awoke later Trixie was gone. I yawned, got up and used the bathroom, and then went to my bag to get my toothbrush and toothpaste out. I wasn't going to use it until later, but wanted to have it out for when I did need them. I reached into the bag and pulled them out, then got halfway to the bathroom before I realized that my bag had been zipped shut when I set it down, which meant that someone had gone through it while I slept. My wand?! I dropped my toothbrush and toothpaste and ran back to the bag and emptied it out on the sill. I tossed my clothing to one side and was relieved to hear my wand clatter on the floor. I picked it up and set it on the sill and then began to sort through the rest of my things, wondering what might have been taken. Everything seemed to still be here. The only off thing was that the journal was on the bottom of the dumped pile, which meant it had been on the top when I dumped it out. Before it had been at the bottom of my things, which should have put it at the top of the pile. Someone has been messing with my journal. But who? It only translates when a Human is holding a Unicorn horn and the journal at the same time so it wouldn't do anybody else and good. Unless of course, my ancestor had chosen to write in basic. I opened it and paged through it. Hopefully I could find what I was looking for before my ancestor got rid of it. If there was ever an 'it' to find, of course. I skipped over the first hundred or so pages and then jumped past the conversation we had. I found several blank pages and then found something new. 
"Oh no." I kept reading through Trixie's conversation and came to another bit of it.

I have them! I'll be bringing them to you shortly. Jacob's come back though and there are more ponies running around the palace than there have been since I first came here. I might not make it for a bit. But I am coming today.
TAKE YOUR TIME, GIRL. I'VE WAITED FOR CENTURIES. A FEW MORE HOURS IS NOTHING.

A bit later in hasty handwriting there was more saying that she was on her way out. "Oh NO!" I was about to leave the journal and run after Trixie when more lettering popped up.

HELLO AGAIN, JACOB. IF ONLY YOU HAD BEEN THE ONE TO HELP ME I COULD HAVE TAUGHT YOU SO MUCH. IT HAS BEEN ABOUT FORTY MINUTES, I THINK, SINCE THAT GIRL LEFT. EVEN IF YOU LEAVE NOW IT IS UNLIKELY THAT YOU WILL CATCH HER. FAREWELL.

A smug face appeared on the next page, winked, and then disappeared. I bolted from my room, forgetting my wand and having to come back for it before once more bolting from my room. Servants jumped out of my way as did several nobles, though the nobles yelled curses after me. I also passed a few guards that watched me with curiosity or suspicion. At one point I passed Applejack who asked what was wrong.
"Can't talk now! Trouble!" I said in between breaths. Applejack spun and followed me. I slid to a stop outside the throne room and turned to the left to go outside. I stopped briefly to ask a 'search-you-before-entering' guard the fastest way to the hedge maze. He looked at the maze from a window near where he stood and looked back and told me to grow wings and fly there. If the situation had been different I might have taken the time to say something back, but it wasn't. Instead I ran outside and looked at it from the stone bridge.
"Gosh darn it, Jacob!" Applejack said. "What's this about?"
"Do you know how Celestia's father died?" I asked her.
"Nope. Ah didn't even know she had a father."
"One of my genetic predecessors killed him."
"Huh? How about you stop using fancy words and talk like a normal person?"
"A member of my family that was born a long time ago slew him."
"What?!"
"Yeah. But rather than have him executed, her uncle had him turned to stone. Unfortunately Trixie found out a way to return him to flesh and is probably on her way to him now."
"Trixie? As in 'the Great and Powerful' Trixie?"
"That's her. It's a long story, but the short of it is that she's been tricked and will release him unless we can stop her."
"Well where is she?"
"I don't know. I was asleep when she left. I only found out after I woke up."
"Well then we need to go tell Celestia, then!" I shook my head.
"It's too late for me to do that, though I'd appreciate it if you would for me. I need to get there first and prevent her from freeing him."
"And just how are you gonna to do that?"
"A crazy idea." I gripped my wand tighter and ran for the edge of the bridge.
I didn't know if my abilities with telekinesis were skilled enough for me to levitate myself there in mock-flight so that meant I'd have to use another method: I'd teleport in short jumps the whole (what looked like) two miles. 
"What are you-" she saw where I was headed and the look on my face. "No! Stop, you'll kill your-" I jumped over the guard rail and soared into open air for all of about three seconds before I started falling. Okay, here goes everything! I focused my mind on one clear goal like Twilight had instructed: move forward. Forward, and forward, and forward.
I teleported three meters (or nine feet) forward and then reappeared and started falling again. I blinked myself forward again and kept doing that. Every two seconds I'd disappear and then reappear and then start falling and then blink forward again. In this manner I got about a third of the way before I started feeling tired. Maybe you're right Applejack. Maybe I am going to kill myself this time!
I didn't make it to the hedge maze before I reached the ground, but I nearly did. Unfortunately I was rather tired by the time I reached the ground. I felt as if I had just gotten off work during Christmas shopping week after working a twelve hour shift, but I could still jog, and jog I did. But I didn't enter the maze. Instead I jogged along the outside of it and followed it to the outer edge and turned the corner and followed it again. If Trixie had not yet arrived then I had a head start, and if she had then I could hope that she had not also had the same idea and was now going through the maze the hard way.
My jog slowed to a brisk walk over time not due to my being tired but rather to the increasingly rocky terrain. There was still grass and shrubbery, and even the occasional tree, but the ground was uneven and bits of shale stuck out of it from it from time to time. I am suddenly very grateful for my shoes. I'd already stepped on and broken off several bits of it, and from what I'd been told of shale it could slice flesh like a knife if the edge were narrow enough.
I yawned and was suddenly choking on a bug that had flown into my mouth. I was forced into a coughing fit that pushed me to my knees for a few minutes before I finally coughed it back up. The  dang thing was still alive and buzzing about too.
"I hate flies. I cross the boundary between realities and I'm STILL being plagued by flies." I swung a hand at it and knocked it away. 
After the fly incident I walked another ten minutes before I hit a dead end. It would seem that mine plan of walking around to the back was flawed in that the hedge maze was not a perfect rectangle. Well, crap. I reached into my pocket for my lighter. Fortunately I'd remembered to pick it up again before we left the gateway clearing in Everfree. Twilight had tried to teach me to make fire without needing a ready source, but it had proven too much extra to cram into my head along with everything else at the same time. 
I pushed back the metal lid and flicked the starter with the same thumb. If I couldn't find my way there and just push my way in, I'd take a shortcut and apologize to Celestia for it later.
FWOOMPH!
I burned my way through the green wall that towered over my head and the one after it (by accident). When the flames died and heat faded I stepped into the maze and looked left and right. Left was a dead end, and right was clear until it bent to the left. I stepped forward again through the second hole and looked around. There was a path ahead of me and one to me left. If I had the time I'd do this maze properly, but sadly I do not. Alright wand, be my compass! I lifted my wand and will it to show me to the nearest statue. I felt a tug and followed it. Twice it took me to dead ends within three minutes, so I burned my way through and kept on walking. I saw no one, heard nothing except the occasional bird chirping as it flew overhead and the rustle of the green leaves of the bushes and my own footfalls. 
After wandering for what felt like forever I was led into the center of the maze, and then the tugging stopped. The only reason I knew it was the center was because there was a sign telling me that I'd reached the center. There was also a bench that one could rest on for a moment if they so desired. In the center of the center there stood the oddest statue I'd ever seen. It vaguely resembled a serpentine Chinese Dragon, but it had several differently shaped limbs and two different horns on its head. It also looked as if it were surprised and was trying to push something away or perhaps block it.
"What the heck are you supposed to be? There's not way in heck that you're my ancestor!" I said, looking it in the face. So then why hadn't I been led to him instead of here? Could this maze enchanted against homing magic to keep those that enter it from cheating to find the exit? If that was the case then my wand had probably been leading me to the center and not to a statue at all. I willed my wand to take me back where I had started from and it did not respond at all. I pointed a hand at the bench and tried to lift it. It rose with almost no effort on my part at all. I set it back down in front of me and sat on it to think.
I looked up when a familiar child walked into the center as well. She wasn't paying any attention to me, which was good as I had started to sneak up behind her.
"Stupid maze, and stupid person that grew it and- aah!" I tackled her to the ground and wrestled with her briefly. She scratched my face with her fingernails and I grunted, but ignored the pain. In her right hand (the hand that scratched me) was a Unicorn's horn, and in her left was- An Alicorn's horn?! Where the heck did she get it!? I didn't have long to ponder the question. Trixie stabbed me in the side with the Alicorn's horn. This felt much worse than a simple scratch and I loosened my grip on Trixie. She fought free and kicked me where she had stabbed me. I cried out and on reflex covered the hole in my side with my hands. Blood flowed between my fingers and over my wand, soaking my shirt.
"I hope you don't die, Jacob. You don't seem like a bad person, but I can't stay this way."
"He's..." I gasped as my body sent more messages of 'you're hurt' to my brain. "He's tricking you, Trixie! You can't trust him!"
"He's the only one who can change me back now! You told me Thanatos was dead, and Celestia told me before she didn't have the skill to change me back! That leaves only him." Trixie looked at me with pity. "Listen, after he's changed me back I'll come back and carry you to the palace with my magic. I'm no good at healing, so you'll have to stop the bleeding yourself." Trixie wiped the bloodied horn off on the grass and then, throwing one last glance of regret at me, continued into the maze.

__ __ __ __ __

I hope that doesn't kill him. Trixie thought as she walked deeper into the maze, following the instructions that the journal's original owner had given her. At one point she passed a wall that looked like it had been set on fire and she stopped to stare at it. Jacob must have done this when he came in. He probably read the journal after he woke up and found our conversations. But how did he get here ahead of me? Not that it really mattered. She had directions that would take her directly to him as long as the hedge maze had not been changed since he'd been placed there. She suspected that it had been. Only an idiot would have left the maze as it was if they knew he could still see through his eyes. Hopefully they didn't know or were stupid.
Trixie turned several times, and then finally arrived in front of Jacob's petrified ancestor. He certainly did not look friendly. In fact he looked angry. But I would be too if I had been wrongly imprisoned. Trixie set the Unicorn horn down on the ground and carried the Alicorn horn closer. She hesitated at the base of the statue. It stood more than twice her height due to the pedestal he stood upon, but climbing it would be easy. That was not what held her back. Jacob said that he was trying to trick me. What if I really am being tricked? Jacob gains magic with a Unicorn's horn, but I've never seen what happens when he gets hold of an Alicorn horn. I could be about to make a very large mistake here.

__ __ __ __ __

Come on, you blasted hybrid! You're right in front of me! Release me! Release me and I can take the horns you've brought me as well as your own when I change you back!

__ __ __ __ __

Trixie licked her lips and looked at the face of Jacob's ancestor, then looked back the way she had come. Guilt and selfishness were at war with one another inside her. If she turned back now she could start dragging Jacob back the way she'd come and he could get help faster. She'd never killed anyone before, and she didn't want to start today. Trixie looked up at the statue again, and then looked at herself. This body wasn't really as bad as she made it seem when she stopped to think about it, and the extended lifespan was a definite bonus. If she could find someone to complete the transformation she could use magic again without having to free this man without knowing if he truly was a killer or not, and better yet, she might even have a teacher (as long as he forgave her). That was something that she'd lacked as a pony, which was part of the reason her magic was so limited in comparison to others. 
Trixie clenched a fist, retrieved the Unicorn horn, and walked away.

__ __ __ __ __

Jacob's ancestor howled in frustration.

^  ^  ^  ^  ^

My vision was growing dark and I felt cold. I didn't know how much blood I'd lost, or how successful I'd been in healing myself. Obviously it hadn't been enough because I could still feel it trickling between my fingers and pooling beneath me. When Trixie had stabbed me, she must have hit something vital, because rather than the simple 'OMG ts hurts!' feeling something felt...wrong. Wrong like the feeling you get when you know you're about to get sick. Twilight was right, I didn't know enough about anatomy to be a particularly useful healer, but I did know that blood was important and was probably why I was feeling cold.
"I wonder if I'm dying?" I thought aloud. "If I am, it's not so bad, really." The pain was already fading. Right along with my vision. "I do wish I could still see, though."
"Jacob?" Came a young voice. It sounded familiar. "Jacob!" I heard muffled footfalls coming closer to me and and turned my eyes towards the sound. It was Trixie. I smiled. It took much more effort than I expected.
"Heh-hey there Trix. How are y- you?"
"Oh holy Celestia, what have I done?!" Trixie touched my still-bleeding injury 
"He didn't change you back? What a wanker. The next time you see him, give him a kick to the balls for me, will you?" I closed my eyes but opened them again when she slapped me in the face. "Hey, what's- what's your problem?"
"Here, take this!" I felt something warm slide into my empty hand. A sudden chill rushed through me and I suddenly felt much more awake and coherent. "I don't know what it will do, but I know you can use it somehow!" I tried to raise my head to look and could not. I tried next to raise my arm and still could not. 
"What did you give me?"
"The Alicorn's horn. You've got to try and heal yourself!"
"I don't have the energy anymore. I cannot even lllliffft my h-head anymore."
"Then- then take mine!"
"That's very gen-erous of you, Trixie, but I don't know how to do...energy transference. Twilight... never showed me...how." The awareness was fading fast. I needed a hospital, that much I knew. But I also knew that I wasn't going to get one. I coughed weakly and felt a liquid leaking from the corner of my mouth. It was probably more blood.
"I'll- I'll get help! Don't you go to sleep until I get back!" Trixie rose, stepped over me, and ran out of my line of vision. As my mind drifted, my thoughts also drifted to many things: where I'd grown up, the friends I'd had as a kid, my first car, my first car crash, the smiling faces of my parents, the angry glower of my ancestor from the journal, a cartoon I'd once watched at age fifteen, my first dog, my favorite foods, that stupid trick I'd tried on my rollarblades...the list went on.
I don't know how much time passed until I heard footsteps again. They were heavier than Trixie's, and there were several of them. I turned my eyes one last time to see a blue-body and red-orange maned Alicorn arrive. Melinda?
"I can't ever just have a nice peaceful walk all to myself, can I?" She said, looking at the sky. Thunder rumbled where there were no clouds for lightning. She sighed and lowered her head to touch my middle.
I lost consciousness.

When I awoke again I was in a white room on a soft bed. I looked around the room with my eyes and saw that I was not alone. Trixie was asleep on a bench by the door, and the doctor that had helped me drain blood into a jar for my wand was reading some notes on a clip board. I tried to move and instantly felt sore all over. Ugh. This feels like the worst hangover in the history of the world! I shouldn't have had that thought, because the second I did my head also started to hurt. I moaned and the doc turned towards me.
"Ah! You're awake! Are you hungry? Thirsty?"
"Parched. I feel like I could drink a river." The doc nodded and walked over to a pitcher on a metal platter. He picked it up with his teeth and carried it over to the bed and set it down. I tried to sit up and was met with more soreness. I only got two inches off the bed before needing to lie back down again.
"The sore feeling will go away with time provided we get some fluids in you. You lost a lot of blood. Quite frankly I'm surprised you're still alive."
"Someone found me in the maze before I passed out. I think she may have healed me."
"Well someone had to have done so. There was barely a mark on you where she-" he pointed a hoof and Trixie. "said you were stabbed."
"How long have I been sleeping here?"
"About two days." 
"What?!" I once more tried to sit up and got a little farther than before, but not by much. "Have I missed anything?"
"More reports of towns attacked, and a blue Pegasus with a rainbow tail and mane arrived yesterday evening. Her hide and feathers were singed, but that's about it. Oh yes, and Celestia and Luna have made a decision regarding the Dragon threat."
"Which is?"
"They told me not to tell you until you could walk again. Judging by your efforts thus far, I don't think that it's going to be any time today." The doc walked across the room again and picked up a metal cup and carried it over to me as well. He set it down on the tray and poured some water into it. After setting the pitcher down again he lifted the cup and held it to my mouth. "Here you go. Take it slow, now." I drank gratefully from the cup and politely asked for more when it was gone. He nodded and I drank again after he refilled it. I sighed the content sigh of a thirst-quenched individual.
On the other side of the room Trixie stirred and yawned. She then stretched and opened her eyes and blinked a few times. When she saw the doc by my bed she hopped up to her feet and walked over. 
"You're awake!"
"Yes I am." I looked at the doctor and asked if he'd give us a few moments alone. He nodded and exited the room, closing the door behind him. As soon as the door's latch clicked shut Trixie gave me a look of remorse and looked at the place where she'd stabbed me.
"Um, I'm really, really sorry for stabbing you, Jacob."
"I forgive you, Trixie." I didn't smile when I said it, or after I said it. Why would I? She had nearly killed me. Forgiving someone doesn't mean that you had to be happy about it. "So how did you explain my having an Alicorn's horn to everyone, and more importantly, where did it and the other horn come from?" Trixie turned her eyes away from me and put a hand behind her back and pulled her tail around to her front. She played with it for a bit before answering. 
"I stole the Alicorn horn from the royal crypt. The Unicorn horn I also stole, but from the Canterlot graveyard. As for what happened to both, I hid the Unicorn horn in the folds of my dress, and the Alicorn horn was gone when we arrived and found you lying in your blood. I don't know where it is now. The Unicorn horn is hidden under the first mattress of the bed now." 
"I see. What about my being stabbed? What did you tell them about that?"
"The truth. Celestia already knew about what I had intended to do regarding your ancestor, but because I chose not to free him in the end she decided not to have me executed or even thrown in her dungeon. I am, however, now under house arrest."
"So you got off easy, then."
"Not so much. I'm also supposed to be guarded night and day now. I thank whatever Maker that crafted our world that she didn't know about me looting the royal crypt, otherwise Luna might have had me executed or at least banished to the Everfree forest." Which would have been pretty much the same thing in the end.
"What changed your mind about freeing him?"
"Guilt, mostly. After I stabbed you, the possibility of you dying ate at me. I've cheated, I've lied, and I've stolen things without remorse, but I've never killed anyone nor had the desire to. Plus when you told me I was being tricked I stopped to consider what might happen if I really had freed him."
"Nothing good, that's for sure." It was then I noticed Trixie's outfit had changed. This was a good thing, because her first was becoming quite dirty. This one was dark blue with small white dots like stars on them. "New outfit?"
"Yes. Twilight helped me make it. I tried sewing it on my own, but only succeeded in hurting my fingers."
"At least you managed to do some of it yourself. I've never tried sewing at all, and I doubt I'd be any good at it." A knock came at the door and it opened to reveal Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash. "Hey!" I said, greeting them with a delighted smile. "You're okay!" Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes.
"Pfft! As if a Dragon could hope to catch me when I'm in the air! I flew in circles around that lizard and then left him in a cloud of his own smoke!"
"Where did you end up, when you stopped?" Her cocky expression became sad in the blink of an eye.
"The remains of Cloudsdale." I recalled what the Pegasi from earlier said and felt a pang of sympathy for her.
"Sorry I asked." She nodded. I looked at Twilight and asked if she'd heard anything from Pinkie Pie about Rarity. She shook her head but said that it was too early to expect a response anyway.
"Jacob, I have a question."
"Sure."
"How did you manage to heal yourself in your state? Trixie said that you were close to dying when she left you."
"I didn't. Someone else came along while I was lying there. I think it was Melinda." Twilight raised an eyebrow.
"As in Melinda Jones? The Alicorn that helped you forge the wand?"
"Yeah. I guess I could have imagined it, but I'm fairly certain that it-" I stopped speaking as I recalled that Trixie had said the Alicorn horn that she had taken was missing when she and the others had arrived on-scene. Melinda must have taken it! But why? It's not as if she could use it, and besides that she has her own already.
"What's wrong?" I yawned to cover my hesitation.
"Nothing. I'm pretty sure it was her." My stomach gurgled and I looked at it as best I could. "Eh, heh! Would someone mind getting a servant to bring me breakfast?"
"It's lunch time now, actually." The doctor said as he reentered the room carrying a bottle of pills in an upturned hoof. He uncapped it and poured two small pills into the cup I'd drank out of and then poured in more water. "But before we get you any food you should take these vitamins. There's lots of iron in them." I recalled from health class in middle school that iron was needed to make blood, but I also recalled that if you had too much of any element in your body it could be very bad for you. Given that I had just recovered (somewhat) from blood loss though, I doubted that a lot of iron intake was going to be an issue. I nodded weakly and the doctor helped me drink it down. "Got both of them?" He asked. I looked into the cup. One had gotten stuck on a wall of the cup.
"No. One got stuck on a wall."
"Well then the next time you take a drink you can have the other. In the meantime, you need re-" A sudden, ear-splitting roar echoed through the hall to where we stood. I knew that sound, and I knew that voice.
"He's here! He actually came here!" I said in disbelief. 
"Celestia! I know you're in there, come out and face me if you so dare!" Drahngov's voice challenged from somewhere outside. "Or shall I burn your precious kingdom down around you first?" 

__ __ __ __ __

Drahngov gloated from the Canterlot side of the bridge. There was no way the bridge would support his weight and breaking through the roof wasn't practical. If he simply rushed into tight spaces even the ponies would be able to bring one as mighty as he down eventually, and besides that he didn't actually know Celestia's prowess with magic. Alicorns were, according to legend, more than ten times more powerful than a Unicorn, but until he knew the truth he would not place all his chips on the table, though he was content to place someone else's. Even while he waited several of his followers were scaling the mountain that the palace had been situated on the peak of. Two of the seven he'd set to this task had a mission. The others were await one of two signals. One would be for them to attack anyone that came out of the palace, and the other was to break away and leave. As for the two on a mission, they were to infiltrate the palace once Celestia and her guards came out to face their leader. None of these Dragons were fully grown. Instead they were juveniles that had a personal grudge against Celestia for giving their siblings away to her people. That their parents had volunteered their offspring didn't matter. In their eyes Celestia must have used some trick or threats to entice the taking of their siblings. 
Spike's own older sister was among them. She had joined Drahngov not out of hate however, but out of love. She wanted to protect her little brother, and though she didn't know what he looked like she did know that he almost always accompanied a purple Unicorn that was Celestia's favorite and most gifted student. She had seen what Drahngov had done with 'the traitors' that had joined with the ponies and tried to protect them and did not want this end for her sibling. Once she found him (if he was here) she would grab him and fly away back home again. But if he was not, then she would complete the mission assigned to her and her team mate: subdue and capture princess Luna.

Flanked by over a dozen guards the older princess walked out of her palace as if she were simply going out for a walk, but a tightness around her eyes said that she was tense. Celestia had no doubt that if it came to blows that she would win, but the destruction of the countryside in the process could be very bad if Drahngov was fast enough. It had been a very long time since Celestia had needed her magic for combat, and her skills were rusty.  If it did come to blows she might be a tad sloppy.  Not that this is a bad thing. I'd much rather be sloppy at fighting than an expert. Expertise in warfare means that it is a constant.
"Why have you attacked my kingdom without provocation, Drahngov?" She said icily. "It is almost as if you want your people to die needlessly."
"None of them die needlessly if it means that we have the land and food we need to continue to survive. You might not have noticed, Celestia, but my people's numbers have skyrocketed again in the last two hundred years. Our numbers have regrown from a bit over three hundred to nearly eight hundred over those two hundred years, and while gems continue to be plentiful, you know as well as I that not all of my people can eat gems alone. Some of us require meat, and while there are plenty of fish in the sea to feed on, fishing has never been our strong point. Unfortunately the land that my people live in has become barren over the centuries and we require other lands to forage for our meals. Last I checked you kingdom has an abundance of creatures we can consume." He allowed a smile to creep over his face.
"Yes, word had reached me that you had attacked several of our holdings. No doubt that which you feasted on were my citizens!" Celestia said this with loathing, but Drahngov merely shrugged.
"Is it my fault your people are prey? Really I don't see why you're so upset. Most of them will be going into hibernation for one hundred years soon, which will give your people plenty of time to rebuild their numbers again. You always did breed so quickly compared to us." Drahgov's smile became insulting. "Oh wait, I meant that they bred quickly. Remind me again, when was the last time that you had a foal? Oh yes, I remember now! When it died as a stillborn. How can you live with yourself knowing that you're a walking gravesite?" He laughed and Celestia felt a mix of rage and sorrow enter her mind. It was all she could do to keep her face straight. His name was to be Sol. Oh, my poor little Sol... Two tears, one for each eye, trickled down her face.
While carrying Sol something had happened to the sun that she rose and set every day and she had to stay awake for five days under intense concentration and endured the physical taxation of using powerful magics the entire time to fix it. If she had not done so the sun might have exploded, but sadly her unborn offspring was not yet strong enough to endure as she had and it perished shortly after. For twenty years she was in a state of mourning, but kept her face smiling for her subjects and continued her duty of raising and setting the sun and moon while her sister still banished. Now the pain rushed back anew and she silently wept. 
Controlling her voice with effort, Celestia responded with a question of her own.
"What happened with my foal was an unfortunate accident, but was a necessary sacrifice for my people. How can you live with having killed so many innocents?" Drahngov made a face that said this answer should have been obvious.
"Simple. I accept that I am a carnivore, and that in order for me to live, something else must die. Does it really matter whether it is a rabbit, a deer, or a pony? Now, pleasantries aside," 
Hardly pleasantries. Celestia thought.
"I suggest you surrender to me and mine. If you do I promise we'll only take what we need of your people to survive, and that will be all. If you don't then I have no problem destroying your civilization entirely and treating the survivors like cattle, but I'll leave that choice to you."
"I have a better idea." Celestia said, pushing through her guards despite their objections and began crossing the bridge on hoof. "You go back to your territory, you never return, and I don't kill you." Drahngov laughed. The ground vibrated while he did so, which made some of the newer guards eye their surroundings nervously as if expecting it to come down around them like in an earthquake.
"My dear Celestia, do you seriously think that you are a match for me?"
"I know it, and so did your father, which is why we lived at peace from his birth to his death. Would you like to test me?" Sounds of a struggle came from behind Celestia's guards at the palace entrance and she turned to see what the commotion was. To her dismay she saw two juvenile Dragons had taken Twilight Sparkle captive and were plowing through her guards as they tried to stop them. Celestia whipped her head back to Drahngov, who looked displeased.
"We couldn't find Luna, my lord, but we did find her prized student, at least!" The female of the pair declared in an uncertain voice.
"Luna?" Celestia said, looking at Drahngov with renewed dislike. "What are you playing at, Drahngov?"
"Just doing what your ancient allies once did, dear Alicorn: I'm fighting with my head. I know how attached you are to your subjects and your younger sibling. I admit that it had been my intent to take your sister captive, but I suppose the infamous Twilight Sparkle will have to do. Now let them pass, Celestia," he ordered as the pair of abductors reached her. "unless of course, you want her throat ripped out." Celestia was debating on what to do when both Applejack and Rainbow Dash also came running (and flying) out of the palace and threw themselves at the two Dragons. Applejack jumped onto the back of the male and began slamming her back legs into the connecting joint of one of its still-developing wings, and Rainbow Dash crashed into the surprised face of the other and poked it in the eyes.
"Let her go!!!" Rainbow Dash yelled when the Dragoness began to shake her head in an attempt to throw the Pegusys pony off. Twilight chose that moment to bit the scaled hand that held her against her abductor's breast. She received a punch for her trouble before the Dragoness began swiping at Rainbow Dash. While this happened the guards that had been knocked down or stunned were picking themselves up and were once more assaulting the young (for their kind) Dragons.
"Barsh'newgart!" Drahgov barked in the Dragon's native language. Suddenly more roars echoed up along the mountain face and seven more flew and in one case slithered up. One of them breathed fire at the charging guards but Celestia placed a barrier above them and the flames parted. Where they struck the marble of the palace melted and ran like butter. Inside the palace screams came out from unfortunate ponies that had the misfortune of being nearby.
Applejack succeeded in effectively preventing the male Dragon from being able to fly anywhere  by popping his wing out of joint, but unfortunately for her the Dragon manged to get a claw around one of her legs and yanked her off his back and tossed her of the bridge.
"Dominic! Save her!" Celestia ordered. Dominic nodded and, ignoring the other Dragons that were now filling the sky leaped over the side after her. Applejack was easy to pick out due to her coloration, and her yelling as she fell certainly helped too. Dominic tucked his legs close to his sides and beat his wings faster. 
One Dragon dove after him, diving with its jaws open as if it intended to swallow him whole. Dominic ignored him and pushed himself harder. I'm getting too old for this! he thought as he finally caught up to Applejack and changed the angle of his descent to avoid splattering his body against the ground.
"I'm going to land. You run away while I distract him. There's a cave near the base of the mountain behind a sticker-bush. Go in there and don't stop running until you find and ascend some stairs."
"But whut about you?" Dominic shrugged as he came in low to the ground and set her down.
"I guess we'll find out." 

Back up on the bridge the Pegasys guards had managed to subdue the one Dragon and had chained it's limbs together and muzzled it. It glared at them and never stopped struggling against its bonds.
The female Dragon finally managed to get Rainbow Dash off her head (Rainbow Dash was now unconscious on the floor) and had made a run for the other end of the bridge, but Celestia stood in her way with her eyes narrowed.
"If you value your life, you will release her!"
"And if you value yours, you'll pay more attention to my king!" The female said triumphantly in response. Celestia put up a second barrier behind herself in time to stop a statue from smashing into her. The statue broke into several fragments and bounced along the marble bridge. Seeing Celestia completely unfazed, the Dragoness tried another tactic and jumped over the guardrail and took to the sky. This time Celestia was torn. She could follow after her student and leave her guards to fend for themselves (which though they were good at what they did none of them had never actually fought for their lives before. Some of them weren't faring very well even with the fire barrier) or she could let her student go and give her guards a better chance for survival. While she debated more of them were pouring out of the palace or flying up from the training yard with various types of weaponry. 
Several of them converged on a Dragon that had gotten too far from the rest of its group and threw their spear at it. Most of them were turned aside by its thick scaly hide but one got lucky and hit an eyeball. The Dragon roared in pain and clawed at his head trying to pull the spear out. Seeing that their enemy had a very serious weakness the Pegasi retrieved their thrown weapons before they could hit the ground and began trying to hit the other eye as well. The Dragon tried to protect its last source of vision, but this left it open to attack in other regions. Remembering what Applejack had done to the Juvenile Dragon they began attacking its wings. Twenty seconds later the Dragon fell screaming towards the ground. It landed on its head and its neck snapped. The Pegasi sent up a cheer at their success and then turned their attention to their remaining enemies. The most pressing of which being a brown serpentine dragon that was attacking the earth pony guards. Rather than fire this one breathed scalding-hot steam. Several of their comrades had already been cooked alive inside their armor and lay dead on the bridge, their fur soaked and their eyes bulging out of their sockets. 
As with the flying Dragon they attacked its eyes first. This time however it did not work because this Dragon had two eyelids on each eye because it was a saltwater Dragon. The first eyelid kept out the saltwater so it could see, and the second was for blinking and sleeping. This second eyelid did not stop it from hurting a lot, though. While the serpentine Dragon writhed like a snake with legs one of the earth ponies came up with the idea of pulling it off the mountain (and palace, now) and dropping it like a rotted banana into the open air.
It took a lot of effort and a lot of distraction directed towards the remaining flying Dragons,  but they managed it and another Dragon was killed. Before Celestia could decide to leave them to their own devices however the remaining Dragons converged on the palace itself and began drenching it in liquid fire. As the wall had done the palace began to melt as if it were built of white chocolate rather than stone. More screams came from the increasingly drooping palace and Celestia, with regret at abandoning her student and friend spread her wings and took to the skies to get a better view of her palace so as to make a more complete shield over it.
Meanwhile Drahngov gave the order for the young female to retreat back to their territory.
"We may yet need her alive, so do not kill her. If she tries to use magic, break off her horn." The young Dragoness nodded and flew away from Canterlot back to the Dragon borders.
When she was safely away Drahngov gave the order for the remaining Dragons to cease their barrage against the palace and to fall back to his position. They did so and Celestia dropped the barrier, not looking winded in the slightest. It did indeed seem that the legends were true. 
"Celestia!" Drahngov said about racket another of his underlings made as the Pegasi brought it down and slew it. "I have Twilight Sparkle, and soon I shall have your entire kingdom under my clawed thumbs. My offer for your surrender still stands. Fighting my people here today you have lost nearly two dozen, whereas I've lost only four," as he said 'four' he looked at the captured Dragon that was still struggling to free himself. "and you don't seem to have the stomach to kill the last of those four. If and when we strike you at full force your nation will die. I might lost one hundred of my kind, perhaps even one hundred and fifty, but you will lose far more than that in the process. I will await your answer for one week at my father's old lair. When that time comes, if you have not responded I shall renew our attacks in earnest, and take your kingdom before another two nights have ended." Drahngov spread his wings and with one mighty flap joined his people in the air and flew back the way he'd come with his underlings in tow, including the one that had been chasing Dominic (whom he never manged to catch). 
Celestia watched them go before turning to save those of her guards that needed healing to survive. Later she would also go throughout her nearly-ruined palace and do the same thing for the ponies that had visited, or worked there, and when she finally got some time to herself she would spend it trying to come up with a solution to this ultimatum.

__ __ __ __ __

"He's gone again." Roger Lighthand said to his wife after reading the note left on his room's door. He sighed. His son was too much like his grandfather: whenever he made a mess or thought he had, he never stopped trying to clean it up until the job was done no matter how long it took. Not really a bad quality, if you thought about it, but in this situation Roger wished that his son were like his mother's father and that he would have been easy to give a guilt trip into coming home. My son's a Lighthand, alright. Once we get our minds set to something we're more stubborn than a mule!
"Did he say when he'd be coming back?" Agatha asked, sounding like the typical worrying mother. Roger hesitated. How could he tell her that their son thought there was a good chance that he might not come back at all? Both of them had seen on every news channel the events that took place on Shopstreet that had been captured by some fool who thought it was a good idea to hide nearby and record it on a cell phone. The quality was terrible, but there was no mistaking their son or his two pony-friends using magic to fight it. First the video had been sold to a news station, and then it hit the internet and went world-wide inside an hour. Most of the world thought it was some new movie with incredible special effects or a hoax, but a news reporter that had been on a crashed news chopper and the pilot that had flown it both swore that it was true and it had happened before their eyes. He told the world how someone that said his name was 'Lighthand' had used a magic wand to tear off the chopper's windshield and then cut the pilot free before he turned to fight the evil Alicorn. It's only a matter of time before they find out that we're related to him and reporters start hounding us. I just hope that's all that comes of it because I don't feel like being questioned by Britain's national security forces. There won't be much that we could tell them and I doubt they'll believe that what little we know is really all that we know.
"He said as soon as he finishes what he started that he'll be back." An honest answer. I just hope that he really can in the end.
"Then we'll just have to trust him. In the meantime, I think I need to call my job and see if I can get them to give me some recommendations so I can get a job here in the meantime. You should call your work too. I know that they work internationally, I'm sure they could get you a job here too."
"Get a job here? What for?"
"To wait for him to come back, of course! I'm not going to just go home when my son is trying to save the world! Even if it's not ours, he still deserves a Hero's welcome when he comes back, and I want to have a place that he can lay his head down besides a hotel pillow!" Roger smiled. She was trying to put on a brave face and she made a good argument in the process.
"I'll grab my cell phone."