MLP: The Last Mage

by WorldWalker128

Chapter 10

Chapter 10

"What the heck is that?!" Mr. Lighthand exclaimed, helping me to my feet.

"Long story, but there's no time for that right now! You two have to run! We'll hold him as long as we can!"

"And leave you behind? Never!" My mother said, throwing glances at the frightening creature every other second.

"If you don't, he might kill you! I could never live with myself if I got my own parents killed!"

"These Humans are your parents, Jacob?" Twilight Sparkle asked. I nodded and she looked first at my mother, then at my father. "Yes, I can see the similarities between you." Addressing them, she said that I was right. "We're the only ones that can challenge him, but neither of us even working together have any hope of beating him." My parents stared at her.

"That horse just talked." My father said.

"Actually they're ponies, but yeah she did. But seriously, you need-"

Thanatos stopped waving his legs about and began running straight at us. Again, he was much faster than I had expected, and had bowled through our little group in less than five seconds. But strangely enough he veered away from me and my parents and attacked Fluttershy first. Fluttershy jumped backward, using her wings for an extra boost. Thanatos jabbed with his horn like a fencer does with his/her weapon again and again, forcing Fluttershy to dodge and twist her body so quickly that she looked as if she were performing an odd dance. Fluttershy looked terrified, and Twilight aimed her horn at Thanatos, the familiar purple glow turning into a bright shining light. There was a sickening crack sound and Thanatos suddenly fell to one side. His left front leg was bent at an odd angle, which meant that Twilight had broken it. At first I was relieved, but my reaction was proven foolish as Thanatos' horn also began to glow a bright orange. His leg snapped again, but this time when it snapped it realigned and he quickly stood to his feet and glared at Twilight, his horn still glowing.

"What just happened, Jacob?" My mother asked. "What are we witnessing?"

"The purple pony, Twilight Sparkle, my friend, just used magic to break Thanatos' leg. Thanatos used his own magic to heal himself and is now very angry."

"Magic?!" My father exclaimed. "Magic is real?!"

"See for yourself." I lifted my wand up and pointed it at Thanatos. I then reached for the lighter that I had forgotten I'd dropped in Everfree forest. "Crud! My lighter's gone!" Twilight rocketed backwards and upwards in an arch. Fluttershy, seeing this flew after her with the intent of catching her. Thanatos' eyes flicked up to Fluttershy and her wings clapped to her sides and she fell to the ground with a surprised yelp. Thanatos ran at her with his head lowered and horn no longer glowing. I changed my tactics from attack to defense and willed Fluttershy to be pulled to me instead. Thanatos' horn rammed into the earth and growled in frustration before wrenching free and searching for another target. My parents stared at me as I now levitated Fluttershy to her feet.

"Get Twilight. I'll hold him back." Fluttershy nodded and once more took wing. Thanatos looked at her again. "Hey!" I yelled at him.

"What are you doing? Are you trying to get killed?" My mother asked.

"Mom, if you're not going to run, then don't distract me. Using magic is tiring, and I'm already worn out from an earlier battle." I said as politely as I could while I tried to think of a way to stall him. We'd probably have to kill him to stop him, but as long as he could use magic doing any permanent damage to him was going to be impossible. Which means I need to either kill him in one blow, or else remove his horn from his head. But can I really do that? I doubted that. I was tired, and without my parents holding me up I'd still be on the ground. My parents! That's it! "Dad, I know that you don't believe in magic, but I need you to believe, if only for today. I'm tired. Very tired, and if I fight him I'll pass out before I can do anything useful. I need you to take my wand and kill him." My father stared first at me, then at Thanatos, and then at my wand.

"I can't use magic!"

"Hold my wand in your hand, and you can. It was made in part with my blood, and my blood is yours and mom's blood. Trust me, and help me. Just will something to happen, concentrate, and it will." My father hesitated, and then slowly reached for the wand. My mother, however, took better initiative and snatched it out of my hand first. I looked at her, confused. My mother of all people? She didn't believe in anything unless- Unless she saw it as proof, which she has.

"This thing attacked you. That makes me angry." She said simply. "Roger, hold him." My dad nodded and used his other arm to support my body as well. She strode towards it and stopped a few feet away, glaring at Thanatos. Mom glanced at the collapsed stones of the Stone Arch Gateway and raised her empty hand palm up to eye level. As if she'd been doing this for much longer than I had several stones rose from the pile and with a sweeping motion of her arm the stones slammed into Thanatos' backside and knocked him over. Mom wasn't done with the stones after that, though. She raised them again and slammed them down onto Thanatos' back several times like hammer for tenderizing meat. Thanatos shrieked in pain but did not die. Each time that my mother raised the stones he rapid-healed himself and the damage was undone. "I feel hot from doing this!" Mom stated, sweat becoming visible on her skin. "Why?"

"It's the wand." I explained while she kept pummeling him. "That wand is made mostly from two Unicorn horns. Holding one in your hand makes you feel warm, but two makes you feel hot."

"What happens if I hold three or more?" She asked.

"I don't know. I haven't tried."

Suddenly Thanatos changed tactics. Rather than healing himself he created a rush of wind that knocked my mother off her feet, breaking her concentration and giving him time to heal himself again and launch another attack. Thanatos took the stones she'd been using and threw them at her.

"MOM!"

"AGATHA!" My father and I yelled at the same time. One of the smaller stones clipped her wand-arm and she screamed as her arm bent the wrong way. The others, to my relief and gratitude were blocked by a glowing purple shield. Fluttershy had indeed managed to catch up to Twilight before she hit the ground and had made sure she reached the ground safely, then they ran back to join us.

"Dad, for the last time, get mom and run! We're not going to win-" The sound of car's engine interrupted my thoughts. I turned to see where it was coming from and to my surprise it was a taxi cab. I was even more surprised to see the same driver from before driving it. Twilight and Fluttershy and even Thanatos all turned and stared at this new creature.

A few feet away from us he stomped on his brakes and came to an abrupt stop. The driver reached for his glove compartment and then opened his door. When he got up he raised a six-shot revolver and asked who he was supposed to shoot.

"The black one! The black one!" My father yelled. The driver nodded and fired four shots at Thanatos. Two hit his neck, one missed, and one his hit jaw. Thanatos shrieked again, horn still glowing. He again healed the injuries in seconds and reared. When his hooves came back down a wave of earth ripped up from the flat ground and rolled like an oceanic wave at him. The driver dove back into his car and his door was torn off when the dirt went by. He gaped at the damage, and then reached for his glove compartment again. Probably for more bullets. I thought while dad carried me along with him to mom's side. He moved one of his arms from me to her and pulled us both up, heading for the cab.

"Dad! My wand!"

"Forget the wand! Your lives are more important to me!" The cab driver began shooting at Thanatos again while Twilight and Fluttershy covered their ears.

"No! I will not leave it here!" I shoved at him, but to no avail. My after opened the rear passenger door and put me in first, followed by mom. I opened the other door and tried to crawl back to it, but dad caught me again.

"Don't make me knock you out, Jacob P. Lighthand!" He said angrily. "We're leaving, and right now!"

"The hell we are! I'm not leaving my friends here to die!" My father ignored me and told the driver to start the car.

"We're getting out of here!" The driver nodded and tossed the gun into the front passenger seat and got back in.

"Twilight! Fluttershy! Get over here! Hurry!" I yelled as my after once more put me in the car. "We're leaving!"

"But what about Thanatos? We can't just let him run around free!"

"I don't have any say in the matter!" I replied. "Just get over here! We'll go after him later!" Flutter shy and Twilight looked back at Thanatos, who was lifting the stones again, then ran. They made it to the car and jumped in the back with me and mom. My dad ran to the front passenger seat and the driver put the cab in reverse, flooring it. Dirt was kicked up by the tires and we sped backwards away from Thanatos, who once more hurled the stones at us. The driver spun the wheel to the right and dodged, then shifted again so he'd be going forward and once more floored it. We sped away from the deranged Alicorn, who attempted to give chase. The Driver shifted again, and then again as we picked up speed, and in the end we left Thanatos in the dust.

At every jolt my mother tried not to scream, but still made a sharp intake of breath and then cried after.

"Where to?" the cab driver asked when we reached the pavement again, sounding frantic.

"A hospital! I don't care which as long as its close!" My father answered. The cab driver nodded and we sped down the road.

When we arrived at the hospital everyone outside stared at the damaged car. My father told him to stop outside the doors, and once there he hopped out of his seat, grabbed my mother and then ran into the hospital hollering that he needed help. The rest of us stayed in the cab. I still couldn't muster the strength to do more than sit up, and with Twilight on my lap I wouldn't have been able to stand anyway.

"Aren't we going to go after him?" Fluttershy asked. "Your mother looked like she was in alot of pain."

"She is, but I don't think that would be a good idea."

"Why not?" Twilight asked.

"Look around you, girls. What do you see?" They looked out the windows for a minute or so.

"I see more of these strange vehicles, tall buildings, lots of your kind, and alot of small animals being chased out by more of your kind."

"Do you see any ponies or horses anywhere?"

"No...wait! I see one there!" Twilight pointed at a horse being ridden by a police lady.

"Yes. One. And that horse can't talk like you can."

"It can't? Why not?"

"I don't know. But equines don't talk on Earth. None of them. Unicorns don't exist here except in legends, and the same goes for your people, Fluttershy. And especially not in your coloration." The driver looked in the back seat and gaped when he heard 'Unicorn'.

"By the queen! Little talking horses!"

"Ponies, actually." I corrected, my tone as if this were the most normal thing in the world.

"They are talking!" He repeated.

"Yes they are. And one is a Unicorn and the other a Pegasus." The driver looked back and forth between them a bit, then looked at me.

"If that's what these two are, was that big thing a combination of the two?"

"Maybe, but I doubt it. He was an Alicorn. Thanks for coming to our rescue, by the way." He looked at his door and frowned.

"When I heard your mother scream I looked across the field and saw several tiny figures. I started my car and drove out there thinking that a few hikers decided to rob you."

"And the gun?" His frown became a smug smile.

"Occasionally I get people that think they can ride without paying or try to steal my car. A pistol muzzle pointed at their face usually changes their mind."

"I thought you said your people didn't have magic, Jacob."

"We don't, little miss. This weapon uses gunpowder to propel its bullets."

"Gunpowder?" She asked.

"Gunpowder is the successor to Black Powder, which is what is used to make some types of firecrackers." I explained. Wow! History class can be useful!

"So your people turned fireworks into a weapon?" Fluttershy asked, sad that something that was made for beauty and entertainment was being used to kill.

"You would be surprised what we've made into weapons, little miss." The cabby said. "And what we've made based on weapon designs." He looked at me. "What do you want me to do now?" I considered this. While I did an ambulance screamed into the parking lot next to us and the driver and his assistant got out of the vehicle and raced to the back to unlock the door. They pulled out a man with a large chest injury and a big scratch across his forehead whom was screaming that he couldn't see and wanted to know where his wife was.

"The drugs aren't working!" One of them yelled over the injured man's screams.

"Open the door." Twilight said. I gave her a look that said that I knew what she was thinking and that it was a bad idea.

"I didn't leave you in pain, don't ask me to do the opposite for someone else!" She said fiercely to me, looking angry. Feeling ashamed, I nodded and opened the door. She leaped out and ran to the wheeled stretcher. "Move!" she said. The two medical men were too shocked at her appearance to do anything and she stood on her hind legs and placed her fore on the stretcher. "Stay still! I can help you!" Her horn began to glow.

I quickly got out of the car as well and, wobbling on my weak legs, joined her at the stretcher and told the medical guys to bugger off and

"Let the lady work!" Two minutes later he had stopped screaming and was looking at us in shock.

"Am I hallucinating?" he asked.

"No." Twilight answered, breathing heavily. "You're not."

"Thank you." he said, looking relieved. "Thank you so much!" He looked at the two men that had driven him here. "Now where's my wife?"

"Sir, you should relax-"

"I don't want to relax!" he shouted, sitting up and grabbing him by the neck of hist shirt. "You tell me where my wife is!" The medical man licked his lips and told him that his wife had not survived the accident. The man on the stretcher blinked, and a muscle under one eye twitched. He let the medical man go and fell back onto the stretcher and cried.

"Come on, Twilight." I said, leading her away. We're drawing a crowd. We don't want to be here any longer than we need to."

"Please! Help me! Someone help me!" A woman from the parking lot cried out. "My son was just hit by a car! He's in my backseat! Please! Anyone?!" Twilight looked up at me. I knew there'd be no stopping her. I smiled and nodded.

"But let me carry you there. I get the feeling this is going to be a long day."

Several minutes later I carried Twilight back to the cab and gave him directions to my hotel. A crowd had indeed been drawn and multiple people were taking pictures with cell phones, cameras, and others kept asking for help. Finally I yelled that Twilight wasn't a vending machine and that she was tired. "Drive." I said to our driver. He nodded and left the parking lot.

When we arrived at a the motel our driver suggested I once more carried Twilight, this time into my rented room. I set her down on the bed and then pulled my wallet out of my backpack and gave him all the money I had left. "I doubt this will be even close enough to replacing your door, but it's all I've got."

"Oh, don't worry about it." he said, handing most of it back." (He kept the fee for the ride.) "After I get back I am probably going to be interviewed by several news crews. All that attention for my company should keep me from loosing my job at the very least, and if I am lucky my boss might even give me a new car. You three should probably lay low for awhile if you don't want a crowd of miracle-seekers and paparazzi following you around, though. I'm guessing that after this you'll just want to be left alone?" I nodded. "Well good luck with that. Give me a call if you need another ride anywhere. Just let me know if there's going to be any evil mythical creatures involved next time." He waved and then left. Following his advice I retreated indoors and shut and locked my door.

I called my father's cell phone from the motel since my own phone battery had long-since died. He answered that even though the break was bad it had been set and would heal up after several months. He asked how we were doing and I told him everything that had happened.

"You didn't tell me she had healing powers! We could have healed your mother without having to go to the hospital at all!"

"I had alot on my mind at the time, dad, and I still do. Besides, as soon as we got to the hospital you practically flew inside carrying mom. It was a bit late to go after you."

"Where are you now?"

"I'm staying a motel that the driver recommended. I borrowed the cab driver's cell phone and reserved it before we arrived."

"Well that was nice of him. What's the address?" I told him. "Alright. Is your cell phone charged?"

"No, but I'll get it charging when we're done talking."

"Well don't go anywhere. As soon as the doctor gives permission we'll come to you, okay?"

"Alright. I'll talk to you later, dad."

"I love you son."

"I love you too, dad. Tell mom I said I love her too and thanks for helping us back in the field."

"I will. Bye."

"Bye." I hung the phone up. Fluttershy was poking at the small box TV on the dresser in front of the bed that Twilight was sleeping on. I picked up the television remote on the nightstand next to a lamp and the wired telepone and pressed the power button. Fluttershy jumped back as an image appeared on the screen that displayed a man and woman in the late eighteen hundreds dancing on a polished wooden floor to violin music.

"What- what is that?!" She said, looking at me a little frightened and curious like a child.

"That's a television. Our people use it for several things, but mostly for entertainment."

"How do you get those pon- er, Humans inside it?"

"We don't. It's only an image projected on the glass. Think of it like an illusion spell placed on a mirror." Fluttershy tilted her head to one side as the woman on the TV whirled around and her dress spread out like a blooming flower. She then whirled again back to the man's arms and they resumed moving about the floor on in-tandem a step at a time. Their faces said they were focused more on one another than the actual dancing.

"Are they dancing?" I nodded.

"Yes."

"I've never seen dancing like that before!"

"That makes sense being as as we have only two legs whereas you have four. Our styles are bound to be different."

A few minutes of watching later they ceased dancing and the man lifted one of her hands and kissed it.

"Thank you for the dance, Diana. I hope that you'll honor me with another later tonight?" She nodded and they shared a smile before parting. Then the movie (or TV show) faded to black and a commercial came on.

"What happened? Is it over?"

"I don't think so. This bit is a commercial. Or to put it another way, a video version of an advertisement. What was on before should return in a bit." I set the TV remote down on top of the television and crossed the room to use the bathroom. When I came back Fluttershy was trying to stand on her hind legs like she'd seen on TV. She extended her wings to help with balance, but she still found it to be challenging. I said nothing and watched from the bathroom door. When she fell a third time I walked over and asked her if she wanted help. She blushed and asked how long I had been watching.

"Not long. Want help?" She looked at Twilight, who was still asleep, then nodded. I approached her and got onto my knees. "Stand on your hind legs again and place your front hooves on my shoulders." She did so.

After an hour of her using me as a living walker her legs got tired and she hopped down again.

"How do you manage to make it look so easy?" She asked, rubbing her sore legs. I shrugged.

"I guess it's just the way we're built."

"Um...would you mind if I took a nap on the bed too? If...it it's not too much trouble, I mean..."

"No trouble at all, Fluttershy. Make yourself at home." I yawned. "Come to think of it, I could use a nap too. I've gotten too used to your world's hours and those fights earlier have taken their toll."

I closed the curtains on the window and then laid myself down on Twilight's right. Fluttershy laid down on her left. I covered my head with one of the pillows on the bed to block out even more of the light, and slowly dozed.

__ __ __ __ __

Thanatos howled at the empty wilderness around him. The two creature-ponies that had cornered the Lighthand Human had proven worthy adversaries. The yellow one was fast. Almost as fast as his forest brethren were. No...not my brethren...no they are...no... He didn't know anymore. Who was friend and who was foe? That Human female certainly had not been a friend as she had attacked him, and the older male had not been either. The male held the Lighthand descendant while the two female creature-ponies and Human female also fought against him. Then another Human in a metal beast had arrived and stolen the Lighthand away and left him behind, lost and alone. But I am not defeated, and I will not give up. I failed Mace, but I will not fail to protect his kin!

Thanatos had not always been like this, he remembered. Once, he had been of orange hide. Now only his horn was still orange, and his old memories were fragmented. He no longer recalled the details to how Mace had died, only that they had been surrounded by enemies and Mace had been too tired after the binding spell to defend himself properly. He and Thanatos had been separated and in the end both had fallen to them. Thanatos did not know how he was alive now, nor how much time had passed since he had fallen, nor where he was now, but this did not bother him. Only one clear thought flowed through his mind: find and protect, and woe to whomever got in his way. Thanatos closed his burning, blood-red eyes and focused his magic to home in on the image of the young man whom now carried Mace's blood. He felt a tug and started galloping where the tugs led him.

"I'm coming!" He shouted..

__ __ __ __ __

Trixie walked by the two library guards carrying a wooden crate. The two guards looked at one another, wondering what she was doing, but had to remain at their post as per their orders

The crate that Trixie carried was full of fireworks. When it became clear that she would be unable to open even a single casket by herself she wracked her brain for possible solutions and recalled a bottle rocket of hers that had once mis-launched and detonated inside a tool shed. It had been rather devastating. If she could estimate just the right amount she would be able to blast a coffin open.

Of course, this would make a lot of noise, but she had already prepared for that and had set a large portion of her fireworks to go off on the other side of the palace. She took care to place it in an area where no one would actually get hurt from the blast, but also where the sound would echo the most through the halls. It had not been easy to find a location such as this, but she'd done it, and given it an extremely long fuse so that she would have time to get to her destination and set up. Hopefully the first explosion would draw the guards away from from the library door and leave her free to detonate the second explosive pack here.

Trixie took the stairs down to the crypt doors and set the crate down to push the door open again. Once it was open she picked the crate up again and carried it inside. Trixie sorted through her crate and pulled out a single bottle rocket she called a Snapper-pop. She called it that because after it launched it would make a snapping sound four times as it flew and then finally explode. Hopefully it would be powerful enough to crack or destroy the lid without also destroying the body inside. Trixie tied it to the coffin and then moved her crate outside the crypt to prevent any risk of it also detonating. Then she sat down and waited. Three minutes later the floor vibrated and she heard a muffled 'bang' sound. Dust fell from the ceiling and a paintings on one wall shifted. Trixie crept up the stairs and peeked at the guards up the hall. The two of them looked at one another, and then galloped up the hall to the steps and went up them. Trixie smiled smugly and waited another minute for them to get farther from the crypt and then ran back down the stairs to her second explosive package. Trixie did not have what we normally would use to make a fire, but she had taken a coal from the fireplace in her room and packed it in a jar of sand. Trixie dumped the jar out on the floor and with the same pair of tongs she'd used to take the coal from the fire (she had stashed the tongs in the crate) she picked it up and carried it to the Snapper-pop and placed it on top of the fuse. When the fuse started hissing she dropped the tongs and ran for the doors and pushed them closed. Eight seconds later another loud 'bang' and the door were almost pushed open by the shock wave. Trixie opened the dor again and a combination of smoke, dust, and sulfur-smell gushed out. Trixie gagged and waited for the smoke to clear, then ran in as soon as she could see again. Success! The coffin she'd tried to blast open had not been destroyed, and the lid was in pieces. She pushed and pulled at these pieces until the way was clear and then examined the body. Time had not been kind to the male Alicorn body contained within. The flesh (what little there still was. Most of it was dust now) looked like poorly-made paper. The eyes were blackened from decay and it smelled. The horn was still intact, though, and that was what she'd come for.

"Yuck!" she said waving the air in front of her around with a hand. "No offense, sir." The dead Alicorn said nothing in reply, not that she expected him to. Trixie jogged to her crate and pulled the same hacksaw she'd used on the Unicorn horn to now saw at the Alicorn's horn. Unlike the Unicorn's horn, however, this horn was thicker and took longer than twenty minutes to saw through. Trixie grew more nervous with each passing minute. She expected the two guards from before to come in at any moment and arrest her and throw her in the dungeon, but no one came. Finally, to her relief there was a snap sound and the horn came loose. Trixie stuffed it in her crate along with the two tools, burried them under her fireworks and quickly pulled the crypt doors shut and picked her things up. She was almost to the stairs when the two guards came back. Thinking fast she asked what the shaking and the noise had been about.

"We don't know. We arrived at the supposed site of the blast, but who or what caused it is yet to be determined." The guards looked at her crate suspiciously. "Are those fireworks? What are you doing with those down here?"

"I was trying to make more of them." She lied. "I use these in my magic performances, but since I can't use magic anymore I figured I'd experiment with my firework-making skills." The guards looked at one another, not buying it. Trixie saw their disbelief and spoke to them like they were stupid. "Well I couldn't very well do it where ponies might get hurt, now could I? Making fireworks it dangerous work! If one of them should suddenly go off while I'm working on them, somepony could have gotten hurt! Now, if you'll excuse me I need to put these somewhere cool and out of the way so they will be less volatile and there'll be less chance of somepony setting one off!" The guards grunted and moved aside to let her pass. Trixie stomped by them to show her 'annoyance' and headed up to the next floor. Once there she smirked and headed back to her bedroom to drop off her fireworks and retrieve the Unicorn horn. Everywhere servants and guards and nobles (that had been allowed inside the palace) alike were chatting about the unexplained explosion. Some thought it was an attempt at a new spell and it had gone horribly wrong and obliterated the caster, some thought it was an attack, and some others thought it might have been a freak lightning strike.

Trixie smirked again inwardly but kept her face blank. It seemed her plan had worked better than she had hoped. Now she just needed to sneak out during the night when most of the palace's inhabitants were asleep, and she coudl head out into the hedge maze. Not long now... She thought, yearning for the feeling of magical energy surging through her again. Now I just need to keep from being caught!

^ ^ ^ ^ ^

I awoke once more to someone shaking me. Or rather, somepony

"Ungh?" I 'said'. When my eyes focused I saw it had been Twilight.

"Um, sorry to wake you, but where's your rest room and how do I use it?" I blinked a few times and then sat up and yawned and followed that up with a big stretch. I sat in place for a moment and stared at the wall waiting for my brain to reboot. "Jacob?"

"I'm alright." I yawned again and looked outside. It was still daytime. "Bathroom. Right. Okay, follow me." I turned to the side and put my feet on the floor and rose to standing. I led her to the tiny bathroom that came with the sleeping quarters and showed her the bathroom and the toilet.

"That's it? That's...tiny!"

"Well, it was made for our kind, not yours. As long as you sit on it like we do, you should be fine. Also, when you're done," I pointed at the flush handle. "Push down on that until you hear water flowing." I pointed at the toilet paper dispenser on the wall next to the toilet. "If you need to wipe yourself off, use that." I might have been less blunt if I was more awake. As I was Twillight frowned at mine being so direct. I started back to the bed but she grabbed (don't ask me how, I don't know) my shirt with a hoof.

"I can't stay balanced like that."

"What, do you want me to prop you up?" Twillight's purple cheeks took on a reddish tinge and her eyes looked everywhere except for me. "You do, don't you?" Well this has got to be the third-most awkward moment of my life.

"I would be eternally grateful!" She stated followed by a nervous grin.

"You owe me big time for this. Alright, hold on..." I shut the door.

"Ahhhh!" Twilight exclaimed as she exited the restroom. "Much better!" I followed I had stared at the ceiling during the...process...but still felt more awkward than left-handed pair of scissors on a right hand. Fluttershy was still asleep. Aww! She looks so adorable when she's sleeping! Not that she doesn't look adorable period. My stomach suddenly gurgled and I recalled that I hadn't eaten anything since before we set out from the royal palace. I also recalled that if I didn't include the egg-and-vegie mix that I'd made at the Sugarcube Corner I hadn't had any meat for more than a week. My stomach pinched me at the thought of stuffing my face with either a Meat-Lover's pizza or a Cheese Steak sandwich. Of course I'd need to get something for the girls too, but Fluttershy was still asleep for the moment.

"Hey Twilight, are you hungry?"

"Yup. How about you?"

"Starving. I already have something in mind for me to eat, but what would you like?"

"I think I'd like to try something from your world. Just give me some of whatever you're getting." I don't think she'll be so eager if I told her what I'm craving. I'll just get two different pizzas, then.

Alrighty. I'll have it delivered right here, then."

"Delivered?"

"There are stores in our world that make meals for you and will even bring them to you even if you're on the other side of town. They charge a little more for it, but it is not as if we have anything to cook with here."

"Pre-prepared meals delivered to your doorstep...I'm starting to like your world!"

Thirty minutes after I placed the call a car pulled to a stop in the parking lot of the motel and the delivery girl stepped out. I had been waiting outside by a small tree for our food's arrival for almost ten minutes and had begun to debate on whether or not I'd tip the driver when or if they ever arrived. One whiff of that pizza and I began to salivate and forgot my impatience.

"I take it that you're the guy I'm supposed to deliver this to?" She asked.

"I certainly hope so, otherwise I'm going to be making a rather unpleasant complaint call to Samstall's Pizza Shack."

"Oh, good! I was afraid I'd gone to the wrong place again!" I paid her what she was owed, but gave her only nickel. She frowned. "Are you kidding me?" I grinned.

"Yes." I handed her two dollars (because of gas cost pity) "Thanks for the food." She pocketed the extra money and put the rest in an envelope when she got back into her car. I watched her go, then carried the food back to my- correction, our room.

"What's that smell?" Twilight asked when I closed the door behind me.

"Melted mozzarella cheese, tomato sauce, a few spices, some exotic fruit, and freshly-baked bread. For yours and Fluttershy's food, anyway. Mine is a bit different from yours." I moved the things on the nightstand to the floor and dragged it into the middle of the open space and set their pineapple pizza onto it. Mine, I placed on top of the television and took a deep sniff, savoring the scent. I then opened it and removed a slice.

"Jacob, what are these yellow things?" Twilight asked, pointing at the pizza in her box.

"Pieces of a pineapple. It's a type of sweet fruit."

"I've never heard of pineapple before! What's it taste like?"

"Sweet, if it's ripe." Twilight levitated a piece (of fruit, not the pizza) away from the slice it sat upon and placed it in her mouth. She chewed on it a moment, then her face it up.

"Delicious!" She picked up another piece of fruit. I laughed.

"Try it with the pizza, Twi." I suggested. Twilight ate the fruit she'd picked up and then tried a slice of pizza next.

"Is this food healthy?"

"Probably not overall, but you're getting calcium from the cheese, and vitamin C from the tomato sauce and fruit at least." she nodded thoughtfully.

"I didn't think so." She took another mouthful of her slice.

"How do you think its tastes?"

"It's not bad. I don't think it's the best thing in the world I've ever had." She shrugged. "Personally I'd have to say the fruit on it is better." To each their own, I guess. I thought as I ate a bit of my own pizza. Twilight sniffed the smell coming from my food. "What's that spicy smell? And what's all that stuff on yours?" She waited while I chewed. After I swallowed I answered.

"Nothing that I thought you'd want to try, Twilight." She raised one eyebrow and lowered the other. "Several types of meat." Her eyes became very wide. Oh right. I never told her about that. Whoops! "Um..."

"Rainbow Dash told me about that before we left for Celestia and Luna's palace, but to hear it and to see it..."

"Two different things?" She nodded. "Would it make you feel more comfortable if I stopped eating it and got something else?" She broke eye contact with me. "Really, it's not a problem." I tired to assure her. I returned to the box and scraped as much of the meat off the slice as I could. Inside I sighed at the loss of the toppings, but if me eating meat made Twilight uncomfortable, how would Fluttershy react when she loved animals?

I finished the stripped slice of pizza and then ate another. I then closed my box and put it into the mini-cooler next to the dresser. It had not been plugged in, so I did so. When I shut the mini-cooler door Fluttershy came awake and sniffed the air.

"Do I smell cheese?"

"And other things, yes." I replied in place of Twilight, whose mouth was full. She nodded and pointed a hoof at the open pizza box. "Help yourself if you want any. Twilght tells me the pineapple, that is, the yellow pieces of fruit on it are very good." I'll have to get more, I suppose. I thought as Twilight ate another chunk of pineapple. She's taking to that like my mother does to chocolate!

Fluttershy also agreed that the pineapple was the better part of the meal, but ate her fill of the pizza as well and when they finished I put the remains in the cooler as well.

"So what do we do now?" Fluttershy asked. "We should probably return to Celestia and tell her that her uncle isn't dead."

"No, he isn't dead. He's undead like those Twisted Ones," I said, face becoming grim. "and now he's loose in my world. A world that has no idea what he's capable of. Even with our weaponry it might take quite a bit of effort to destroy him for good unless we use some of our more dangerous weapons. I thought, recalling the driver's efforts to kill Thanatos. The next time he encountered our people he'd likely put up some kind of barrier if they pointed anything at him, and being undead he'd never tire, which meant he could hold the barrier up indefinitely. Well, indefinitely if the undead really were as inexhaustible as Zombie movies and video games made them seem to be, anyway. Hopefully this was not the case. If it was...

Images of Thanatos making fire hydrants explode and then using the torrents of water as weapons and then drawing electricity from power lines to kill any soaked survivors filled my head followed by him forcing helicopters to the ground and then crushing them and their pilots with telekinesis and bullets pinging off an invisible barrier or worse, bouncing back and killing the people who fired them in the first place. It might have been being a little dramatic, but then, Celestia had said that he was the most powerful of her family. "We have to find him, but I need to go get my wand first or I'll only get in the way." I stated, and went to check my cell phone's battery. It was full, so I unplugged it and pocketed it. "You two stay here for now. I'll be back soon." Both Twilight and Fluttershy hopped up to protest.

"You can't go out there by yourself! If you run into him before you find your wand you'll be helpless!" Twilight objected loudly.

"He could really hurt you, Jacob!" Fluttershy added. "Besides, I don't think your mother or father would be very happy with you."

"No they wouldn't, and yes I would, but I'm still going."

"Oh, no you aren't!" Twilight's horn started to glow and I suddenly felt as if a huge weight had been placed on my shoulders. I fell to the floor where I was pinned by some unseen force. Twilight's horn stopped glowing, but I was still pinned. Twilight slid off the bed and walked to stand next to me. "Now you are going to listen to me. Your sense of duty is admirable, but it's making you foolish. You can't help anyone if you're dead, Jacob P. Lighthand, and make no mistake, that is exactly what will happen if he catches you alone! He tried to kill both Fluttershy and me, and your mother, and the driver of that metal box we rode in earlier."

"It's called a car." I corrected.

"Don't think you can change the subject that easily!" She bopped me on the forehead with a hoof. "Why do you insist on trying to do everything first on your own? Is this a Human tendency, or just your own pride?" I didn't answer. "No one is perfect at everything, Jacob. Even the Celestia and Luna have their limits, and they've had over a thousand years to hone their skills!" I looked at Fluttershy, who nodded and also hopped down off the bed to stand next to Twilight.

"It's not out of pride, but fear that I try to do everything alone, Twilight. I don't want those I care about getting hurt because I wasn't strong enough or skilled enough or cunning enough to get the job done. I'm afraid that if I tell my parents that they, like you, will want to either stop me or go along. I was the one who let Thanatos into my world, I was the one that slew Drahngov's brother, I was the one that decided to poke fun at Trixie. This is my mess, and I want to clean it up without putting anyone else at risk." This time it was Fluttershy that spoke.

"Do you understand what a friend is really for, Jacob?" I gave her a confused look and opened my mouth to respond. Of course I knew what a friend was for!

She put a hoof over my mouth. "I don't think you do. If you did, then you wouldn't be trying to leave us behind. A friend is someone who helps you bear your troubles, whether they are big or small. A friend is a person that you can count on when no one else will help, and if necessary, would brave all the dangers of the world with you." Fluttershy rubbed her front hooves together and looked down at them. "I'm not the bravest pony in the world, nor the strongest, nor the smartest, but if you want me to be your friend," she looked back at me again. "I will be." I suddenly felt a mix of embarrassment and shame. Indeed, I had forgotten what it meant to be a friend, and I had indeed been foolish.

"Can you forgive me?" I asked them both.

"As long as you promise never to try to leave us behind again and you keep your promise, yes." Twilight said.

"I swear it on our name of Lighthand." My family had been around for longer than any other that I had ever read or heard about. The only oath more binding in my mind would be to swear on my Maker's name, but I doubted Twilight or Fluttershy had any idea who he was. Fluttershy smiled and Twilight's horn glowed once more. Almost instantly the weight lifted off of me and I slowly sat up.

"Alright. now we can go get your wand." Twilght said. "My two-legged friend." Twilight's horn began to glow again and a few seconds later we were back out in the barren field.

Comments

this is good. 5 stars. i'm looking forward to more.

[McPoodle]

Best chapter in the story so far!