Chapter 5
Chapter 5
"So then that incredabul power you wuz usin' wans't really yer power at all?" Applejack asked when we arrived outside Twilight's home.
After the incident in the town center with the party-crashing Dragon, Celestia recommended that I get out of sight and quickly before any possible witnesses to the confrontation plucked up their courage and started asking uncomfortable questions. Twilight offered to let me use her house again for the night, and I thanked her. Before leaving the square however, she introduced her friends to me, and me to them.
"I'm not sure. All I know is that when I'm in physical contact with a Unicorn's horn I feel warm all over and I suddenly have magical abilities. But the second I let go the warmth fades away and I feel weaker than I was before I used magic."
"And ya can't use it when yer not touchin' a horn?" I nodded. "Huh. Well, either way I'm mighty grateful fer yer help back there."
"As are we all, Jacob." Rarity agreed. "If you should ever find yourself in need of some new clothes, I'd be happy to give you a free set."
"You're all very welcome." I yawned as Twilight unlocked the door and pushed it open. "I'm sorry ladies, but I'm beat. I'll see you all tomorrow, okay?" They nodded and said various farewells. "Good night." I entered the tree as they left and took my shoes off at the door along with my cape which I rolled up and placed beside the bag for now. I then took out a fresh shirt and a pair of pants and socks. As I carried my bundle into the library the issue of clean clothing ran through my mind. I need to find someplace to get my clothes washed soon. I'd rather not walk around in stinky clothes for the rest of my life!
Twilight clopped into the room with Spike on her back who slid off to the floor and set to lighting several candles around the room.
"Going to change?" she asked.
"Tomorrow, yes. I just figured I'd set them out ahead of time." I stopped one of the walls and piled them on the floor, pants on the bottom, then shirt, then finally socks.
"Are you alright? I didn't mention it to the others, but I saw the sweat running down your arms and neck when you released mine and Rarity's horns and confronted Drahngov. Did holding both of them at once hurt you?" I shook my head and then stood up from the pile and turned around so I could look at her while spoke.
"It didn't hurt, but do you remember me saying that holding a horn filled me with warmth?" she nodded. "When I held both yours and hers I didn't feel warm. I felt hot. Hot like standing in a smithy while the blacksmith is forging something with the door to the outside is shut." I turned my palms upward and looked down at them as if I thought I would see the lines of burn marks. I dropped my hands and looked back up at her. "I think that if I had been touching one more horn that I would have felt like my blood was boiling in my veins." Twilight Sparkle grimaced at the thought.
Spike finished lighting the candles and hopped down from the step ladder he'd been using.
"Then I guess we'll have to make sure you don't come into contact with three Unicorns at once, then! Should be easy enough. Though now that the party is over it's going to be harder to explain why you're not 'returning' to your 'true form'." I hadn't thought about that.
There was a tapping on the door and Twilight raised an eyebrow. "Who could that be?" She looked out one of her windows and jumped and ran to the door to open it. "Princess Luna! What brings you here?"
"We- I wished to commend the Human for his bravery this night. Where ist he?" Princess Luna? She must be Celestia's sister. But why come all the way out here just to thank me? Why not just send a letter? These thoughts ran through my mind before I informed her that I was inside the house. Without waiting for permission, the same dark blue Alicorn that I'd seen the previous night trotted inside and stopped before me. "Greetings, Human. Well done tonight. On behalf of mine now-resting sister I wish to extend to thee a personal invitation to the royal palace."
My eyebrows rose as far as they would go. So did Twilight's.
"I do not mean to sound ungrateful, princess Luna, but why?"
"Mine sister was put into a rather difficult situation with Drahngov. Had thee not stepped in and put him off guard enough that he retreated he would have slain the living embodiments of the Elements of Harmony, and burned down a good portion of Ponyville in the process. She and I wish to show our gratitude by inviting thee to stay with us as long as thee pleases." She stepped closer until we were less than a foot apart and then leaned her head closer. She dropped her volume and whispered "There is more to it, but mine sister wisheth to discuss it with thee in private." She leaned back again.
"How could I say no? I would be honored."
"Excellent!" She declared loudly. "Then she and I shall await thine arrival." Luna turned around and trotted back to Twilight Sparkle. "To thee, Twilight Sparkle, we extend the same invitation so long as thee agree to useth thine magic to transport him and thine self to the palace gates directly." Twilight bowed deeply.
"It would be an honor, princess Luna." Luna nodded and exited the house.
"Until thine arrival, then. Farewell!" Luna flapped her large wings twice and then launched herself into the sky. Twilight shut the door and then turned back to me.
"I guess we should get packing!"
"I'm already packed, but I wouldn't mind lending you a hand, if you like."
"No thanks, I can handle it. Would you like a real pillow instead of a book to lay your head on tonight?" I laughed, recalling last night, then yawned again.
"Sure. Thanks a bundle."
The next morning I once again woke up after Twilight, who, according to Spike, was out telling her friends that she was going to the royal palace for a few days but would return later.
"Want some breakfast?" he offered. "We have bread, apples, strawberries, more oatmeal, pears, bananas, carrots, potatoes, tomatoes..." he listed a few other things. To be honest, I was in the mood for scrambled eggs with cheese, some bacon, and a tall glass of strawberry milk, but I doubted very highly that they had bacon. But they might have the rest.
"Actually Spike, I'd like to try making my own breakfast today, if that's alright." Spike nodded.
"Okay. What do you need?"
"Do your people have cheese?" Spike nodded.
"It might not be the kind you're used to having, but yeah."
"Any chance you have any?" Spike nodded and disappeared into one of the rooms of Twilight's house. He came back with a cylinder of it eight inches wide. There was a wedge cut out of it that took away about an eighth of it, but I didn't need very much anyway. "How about chicken eggs?" He shook his head.
"Ponies don't normally eat eggs by themselves. They're used as ingredients for other foods like bread or cakes. You might be able to find some at the Sugarcube Corner, though, if you don't mind going outside."
"I don't. Just let me change into some clean clothing first."
"I'm in no rush. I've already eaten."
It took me a minute to get ready, and then I realized something very important: I had not used the bathroom once since the day before. Oh lord, why did I have to remember that! I feel like I'm going to explode!
"Is something wrong?" Spike asked when he saw my face.
"Uh, you wouldn't happen to have a toilet in this house, would you?" Spike blinked, and then laughed.
"So that's why you look like that! Yeah. Through that doorway-" He pointed and I started walking briskly across the room. "And to your left. I gotta warn you though, it wasn't designed with people who walk like us in mind."
"It'll do!" My walk turned into a run. Spike was right. It looked more like a shower stall with a trap door in the back rather than the toilet design I was used to. There was another problem too: no toilet paper. "Uh, Spike?"
"Yeah?"
"This is going to sound weird, but if there any chance that I could have a few pieces of blank paper?"
"What for? I thought you were going to use the toilet, not write a book."
"Well, that's the thing. You see, my anatomy is a bit inconvenient when it comes to getting rid of solid wastes and-"
"Okay!!" he quickly interrupted. "I do not need any details! Hold on a second." The sound of a drawer opening in the next room and the crackle of hastily-grabbed paper came from the other room, and then Spike walked in carrying two sheets of yellow loose-leaf paper. "Will this do? Twilight won't be happy if she finds out, but what she doesn't know won't hurt her in this case, and I really don't want to hear the conversation she'll try to have with you if she decides she wants to study you."
"Me either. Thanks, Spike." Spike left and I went about 'my business'.
After washing my hands in a sink that was fed by a hand pump faucet (which would not have made sense to me if I didn't know Twilight could move things with magic) I told Spike I'd be stepping out to get some eggs but would be back. Instead of staying behind however, he retrieved the round of cheese and followed me to the door.
"There's no sense in you walking all the way there just to walk back again. I'll just give the owners a gemstone to let you use their kitchen and food.
"Are you sure? A gem is an awful lot to just give away."
"Maybe back in Iowa, but not here. Sure, we have to go look for them if we want some, but they're actually pretty common in some places."
"Common gemstones..." I thought about how my race would react if they found a way here and knew that getting rich was as easy as digging a hole in the ground. This must have been part of the reason that Mace destroyed the gateway's physical form. Our people would tear this beautiful little world apart! My stomach rumbled and i felt hunger gnawing at my gut. "Welp, I'm not getting breakfast made by standing here. Do you want to walk, or shall I carry you?"
"I'll walk. The Sugarcube Corner isn't more than a few minutes from here."
Spike was right. Seven minutes of walking and we arrived. I knocked on the door. It was opened by a smiling blue earth pony with hair as pink as Pinkie Pie's. Her smile changed to wonder when she saw me standing at (and standing taller than) her door.
"Can I help you?" she asked.
"I do hope so." I replied. "I was wondering if you might be willing to allow me to use your kitchen." She blinked a few times and hesitated.
"Um, I don't know..."
"He's okay, Mrs Cake. He's with me." Spike spoke up from the ground. Mrs. Cake looked down and smiled.
"Okay then." She looked back up at me. "If Spike trusts you then I will too. Come on in. Just mind your head. I think our ceiling might be a bit lower than you're used to." I smiled back and ducked under the door frame and stepped inside. She was right. Her ceiling was only a few inches above my head. What furniture there was looked like it had been built for a kid. "If you don't mind my asking, why do you want to use our kitchen?"
"To make my breakfast."
"You do know what time it is, right? This would be lunch time."
"I usually sleep late." I explained. "It's probably a bad habit, but I can't help it."
"Well, our kitchen is over this way," Mrs. Cake led me into another room on the other side of their shop. Everything shined like it was brand new, although there were marks on their wooden counted that stated otherwise. Clearly she loved her job and took very good care of it. "The cupboard is over there," she pointed at a row of cabinets that were positioned below what seemed to be a cooling counter for baked goods. "And the way to the cellar is over there." she then pointed at a trap door in the floor at the end of the cooling counter. "The cooking pans, bowls, and other miscellaneous are in the three cabinets and the drawers above them closest to us. Sugar and other powdered ingredients are in there," she pointed several spice racks and shelves against another wall that a stove and oven were near. "and lastly and most importantly, when you're finished cooking, before you eat it, place all the dirty utensils you used in that big sink and wipe any crumbs or such up. The waste bins are by your leg." I looked down. Sure enough, there were two small garbage cans by me. One had a big organic mess sitting in it, and the other had common trash. I gave her a thumb pointing up.
"No problem!" She didn't seem too sure about that, but still left me and Spike to our own devices after a moment. "Alrighty, then!" I clapped my hands together and moved to retrieve a frying pan and a spatula, a small bowl, and a serrated knife. These I placed on a counter next to the stove (it was below a spice rack) and then headed for the cellar. From there I retrieved two eggs, a string of big mushrooms hanging from the ceiling, one onion, one potato, and a small butter jar. These I also put on the counter. Finally I looked through the spice rack and took down some common powdered black pepper.
I scooped a little butter from the jar and plopped it in the pan, and smeared it around the bottom with the spatula. I then set it on a burner on the stove, which seemed to be a gas stove. Which of course, I had no idea how to start. I turned to Spike and asked if he knew how. He shook his head.
"Normally other ponies make my meals for me, or I'm eating gems. I never needed to know how to use a stove!"
"Did someone say stove? Is someone cooking in here?" I turned to see a familiar pink face. "Oh, hello again! What'cha doin'?"
"Trying to make my breakfast, but I don't know how to turn a gas stove on. Do you?"
"Of course I do. I work here, after all!" She walked over next to me and turned a dial and then pushed a button. Small flames sparked to life.
"Thank you, Pinkie Pie." I reached over to the potato and carried it, along with the onion and two mushrooms to the sink and washed them off.
"What are you going to make with those? I've not seen anyone use such an odd mix of ingredients before."
"All I'm going to do is cook them in the butter for awhile, then crack the eggs and drop them into the mix and sprinkle some pepper on it. It doesn't look tasty when it's done, but I'm not cooking for looks. I'm going for flavor." Pinkie looked doubtful.
I cut up the potato first and tossed it into the now-liquefied butter. It hissed on contact and the moisture in the potatoes sizzled and popped. While that was cooking I cut up the mushrooms and set them to one side and cut the onion in half and sliced one half into small pieces. The other half I placed out of the way in case I decided I wanted more later. On and off while doing this I would stir and flip the potato chunks so they wouldn't burn to the pan. I wasn't as successful with this as I would have liked, but it could have gone worse. Once the onion half was out of the way I scooped up the cut mushrooms and added them to the pan as well.
I picked up the small bowl and cracked the eggs into it. I stirred them to blend the whites with the yolks and added a bit of pepper to it followed by a pinch of salt that I decided to add to it as well. When this was done I stirred the mushroom-potato mix and added the onions, followed by the eggs. I waited for ten seconds, then started mixing it all together. The smell in the room was making my stomach ache again and my mouth water. Spike was also sniffing the air with a smile. Pinkie Pie, though interested and watching my every move, was not affected to the same degree.
Two minutes later it was done to my satisfaction and I moved it off the burner and turned it off. I then began to clean up my mess. This took about ten minutes, and then I was looking for a fork. I didn't find one, but I did find several spoons, and used one of those to eat the food directly from the pan.
"Do you want a plate for that?" Pinkie asked. My mouth being full, I shook my head. After swallowing I explained why.
"I like cooking, but I hate washing dishes, and I doubt anypony else is going to want to eat this." I filled my mouth again and chewed.
"What is that smell?" came a voice from the next room.
"Jacob just made breakfast, Mr. Cake! He's eating it now."
"Jacob? The pony who transformed himself for the party last night?"
"Well he's not actually a pony, but yeah." A pony I assumed was Mr. Cake trotted into the kitchen.
"I had a feeling that you weren't really one of us. You walked too easily on two legs for that." He looked at the food in his pan and made a face. "What is that supposed to be?"
"Oh, it's a potato, some mushrooms and butter, half an onion, and some eggs and spices. He says he likes it, but I don't think it looks good."
"I'm sorry, sonny, but I agree. That looks absolutely revolting."
"Well you didn't have any soy or teriyaki sauce or baby corn and green beans, so I couldn't make stir-fry, and you guys don't eat meat, so I-" I stopped up short, realizing what I just said. What I had been trying to not bring up since I got here. Half a second later, so did Mr. Cake and Pinkie and Spike too. Their reaction was not what I had expected, though.
"Your kind are predators? You certainly don't look it." Spike said with doubt written on his face.
"My kind can eat both plants and meats, but we can live off plants alone if we need to. We're omnivores, not carnivores."
"Well, as long as you don't try to eat me or anypony I know, I won't have a problem with you." Mr. Cake stated. "Just make sure you clean up after you're done and pay for what you've used." Spike tapped his leg.
"Here you go, sir." Spike handed him the gem he'd brought along. Mr. Cake took it and left the kitchen to put it away.
A few minutes later I finished my meal, patted my stomach with a smile of contentment and washed the pan and spoon in the sink.
"Well you guys, thanks for having me at your village, but I need to get ready to go with Twilight to the royal palace."
"You'll come back afterward, right?" Pinke asked. "We only just met yesterday, and I'd like to hear more about your world." I smiled.
"If I have the opportunity, I will most certainly return. Oh, and by the way, with the exception of the Dragon crashing it last night, great party." Pinkie's face lit up. "I'll see you later, Pinkie." I patted her side and let the store. Spike followed.
"So are we going straight back home, then? Or do you want to stop somewhere else first?" I thought about this for a moment and decided that there was two more people that I needed see before I left.
"I need to stop somewhere else first. You can go on back if you like, but I need to thank nurse Heartblood for taking care of me. I'll be back later." He shrugged. "Okay. I'll see you later, then." Spike waved and continued to walk straight ahead. I changed course and eventually found myself at the infirmary. I opened the door and walked in to see nurse Heartblood sitting behind the receptionist desk herself. She looked up and stared at me with awe in her face, which confused me.
"Hello nurse Heartblood. I just came by to say thanks again for taking care of me while I was injured, and to also say goodbye."
"You're quite welcome, Jacob. Yes, I'd heard of the invitation that you and Twilight Sparkle recieved from the princesses. Good for you!" She tapped a hoof on the desk and looked like she was trying to remember something. "Oh right! Before I forget, I have something for you! Wait right here." She got up and took the stairs leading up to her room. I waited for no longer than a minute before she came back down holding a box that was a foot long. "Here, this is for you." I opened it and to my shock I saw a Unicorn's horn in it. The base looked as if it had been smoothed with a power sander. I looked up at her, amazed.
"Where did you get this?"
"I was one of the ponies that crept away when the Dragon attacked, but I regained my senses and returned when I realized that there might be someone hurt that only I could help. I got back just in time to see you run to the girls and grip Rarity's horn and then Twilight's when that dragon blew fire at you. I thought you were all going to die, but then the flames bent to either side of you. It was then I realized that your name being Lighthand was no coincidence and I knew that the dead Unicorn in my morgue had died for a reason. Take it, and use it well." I lifted it out of the box with one hand and felt the familiar warmth once more. Dropping the box I stepped forward and embraced her.
"I will. Thank you." I released her and stepped back.
"Oh, and one more thing before you go." She walked to the desk and pulled out a drawer. She then handed me the canteen I thought I'd lost. "You left this here earlier."
"I thought I'd lost that! Thanks again." She nodded.
"You ready to go, Jacob?" Twilight asked when I got back.
"Yeah, I guess. Is there anything that I need to do?" Twilight shook her head.
"Nope. Just grab your things, stand by me and stand still for a minute." Still being by the door I picked up my bag and did as she said. Not knowing what to expect, I asked her if it would hurt. She shook her head. "It kind of tickles, actually. Now please let me concentrate" Twilight closed her eyes and furrowed her brow. Her horn glowed a radiant purple and began spitting away a few sparks in a way that reminded me of a purple version of the Sparklers fireworks. The light spread from her horn to her entire body, and a few seconds late rI too was bathed in purple light. Like she said, it tickled, but it fortunately was not as bad as having a swan feather dragged gently over your skin. Twilight gritted her teeth and bobbed her head once.
There was a bright flash of white that filled my entire vision. When it cleared our surroundings were entirely different. The ground beneath our feet was white marble with light gray veins running through it, the sky was open and clear and there were no walls. I saw a few trees, but they seemed to be decorational. It all seemed pretty bland to me until I looked at the lands around us. Then I realized the reason the place we stood was dull to be a contrast to the area surrounding us.
"Whew! It's been awhile since I've done that!" Twilight stated. "We're here." Beside us at the top of some (also marble) steps stood a great gate that seemed to be made of gold. To either side of it stood two Pegasi in gold or brass armor staring straight ahead as if we weren't even here. Not a good idea, using either of those metals because they aren't very durable. For their sake, I hope they're only gold-plated if a real enemy should ever attack this place. Twilight approached the steps first, not even looking at the guards. I followed her example and she tapped the gates three times with one hoof. Now the guards looked at us. The right-side guard asked Twilight if we were here to visit, to file a complaint, or if we were here for a tour of the palace. Twilight explained that princess Luna had invited us to stay at the palace and the guard passed through the gate and trotted across a long walkway Or maybe it's a bridge. I can't really tell from here. and took another set of steps that led to the entrance of the palace. The guard disappeared inside and we waited patiently for his return. Nine minutes later he came back out of the palace and eventually stopped at the gate and opened it for us.
"You came earlier than they expected, but you are welcome to enter now if you wish." We did, and followed the guard across the walkway (which, it turns out, was indeed a bridge) and into the palace. A palace it was, for it was not built for defense as a castle would be, but rather for splendor. Though the door looked rather mediocre, the inside was much closer to what I had expected, though there was less furniture. Not that equines would need it since they do not sit down like we Humans do. The first room was nothing special. Two more guards waited inside and asked to search our belongings. We gave our bags to them and they spent several minutes rifling through them. The one that searched my bag found the horn that Nurse Heartblood gave me and gave me a suspicious look and pulled me to the side.
"Princess Celestia told us ahead of time that you might have one of these" he showed me the horn. "in your possession. What do you have to say about it?"
"Only that I have done nopony any harm to obtain it, nor do I intend anypony any harm. It was given to me by nurse Heartblood of Ponyville."
"Where did she get it?"
"From a Unicorn that had died from burn injuries. Whatever killed him had also broken his horn off."
"Until your story can be verified, I'm going to confiscate this. If you have any objections, take it up with the princesses."
"I understand your suspicion and I have none. Take all the time you need." The guard nodded and placed the horn in a saddlebag. I highly doubted that there would be any danger for me to protect myself from here, so I really did have no objections.
Twilight had not been carrying anything that concerned the guards and had been led ahead of me to the throne room to await the arrival of Celestia. On my own way there I saw several hanging tapestries that depicted ponies of various types doing various things that ranged from dancing- ponies can dance? to building what looked like the base for this palace, to what looked like the cloth version of a family portrait of several Alicorns. One of which I recognized as princess Luna, and another as Thanatos from the picture in Twilight's book. The windows on either side of the first room- more like an audience chamber than a 'wait for an audience' room, but I would think that the audience chamber would be further in. were so tall they were huge. They reached from two and a half feet to the floor almost to the ceiling. The guard leading me ignored several doors, some ornate and some plain and continued to walk forward until we arrived at two large oaken doors that an elephant could fit through without feeling claustrophobic. Wow, talk about excessive. Do they really need to be that big, or is it just for appearances? When we did arrive the guard stopped and gave me a few lessons on being polite to royalty.
"I do not know how you address royalty where you come from, but here it is common courtesy to bow or kneel to them when you are introduced, and to speak only when spoken to first unless it is of great importance. Also, because she is royalty it is quite often that she will receive notices concerning her duty and may be forced to adjourn your meeting prematurely. Try not to take offense to this as she only has so much time in one day to accomplish things." I nodded.
"I understand. Thank you for the information." He nodded and knocked twice on the door with one hoof. The door opened outward towards us, presumably with magic as there was no one pushing from the other side. At the other side of the room stood princess Celestia, but Luna was nowhere to be seen. Twilight was standing on a red carpet that only took up a tiny portion of the room that ran from the width of the doors and the distance from the doors to the thrones against the wall on the opposite side. Lining the walls were several marble columns that supported the vaulted ceiling and stained glass windows on that ceiling that shone multicolored light on everything below them on either side of the red carpeting. There were more regular windows as well in between the columns to provide normal lighting in places the colored light could not reach. On the columns themselves were several candle scones with virgin candles waiting to be lit later after the sun had retired for the evening and the moon had risen.
My guard made a motion with his head that indicated that I was to enter, so I did so walking at a slow and steady pace. The carpet was so thick that my footfalls made no sound and gave me the impression that I was a ghost in the world of the living. The air in this room felt dead but at least was warm. Whether it was warmed by a fireplace somewhere beneath us or by magic I did not know, but was grateful for it. Unlike the flat lands where Ponyville had been founded it was quite cool outside where we had warped and I had not looked forward to sleeping in it after the sun had gone down and the palace became cooler still.
I stopped when I reached Twilight who gave me a reassuring smile before turning to the elder princess again. Though I had not been announced or addressed, when Celestia turned her gaze on me I bowed as best I could to her without falling over.
"I appreciate the gesture, but you have no need to bow to me, Jacob Lighthand. Rise." I straightened. "I am a little surprised that you two came this quickly, but it is a welcome surprise. What do you think of our capital?"
"Well, so far all that I've seen is the palace itself. We teleported directly to the gates outside, so I did not get a chance to see the city."
"A pity. Perhaps we shall have time for that later. In the meantime, how much do you know concerning your family's history?"
"For certain? Only what is written in my ancestor's journal, you highness."
"May I see this journal?" I nodded and took off my pack. I unzipped it and removed the journal. I then stood straight again and carried it to her. Using her magic, she levitated the book from my hands and opened it to reveal the same gibberish that I had seen the first time I opened it. She stared at the writing a few seconds, then turned the page to the same gibberish. She turned another, and another one after the other. All of them were illegible. She turned her head and looked at me. "Can you read this?" I shook my head.
"Not as it is. When I read it I had been holding the ancient horn that my ancestors passed down. When I touched the book while holding it the letters transformed into English."
"I have a horn on my head, Jacob."
"Yes, but you're not touching the book. At least not directly. Try touching a hoof to it." She did so with no result, and lowered her leg again. "Weird." I looked at Twilight. "Hey Twilight, come here a second." She walked forward. "Would you mind if I held your horn again?"
"Go ahead." I touched a finger to it, and then touched the book. Just like last time the gibberish changed into something I could read, but this time it was different. I recalled this page from before as being Robin Hood's first journal entry from the dark stain in the middle of the page. Instead of him bragging about the village they'd ransacked, there were the same two sentences over and over and a picture of a faceless figure standing on a pedestal with two burning eyes and balled fists in a position of defiance:
The creatures of this world have imprisoned me and I need help. As my descendant, you must free me!!
Over and over and over it said this until the letters ran off the page. I turned the next page and this time it said something else that repeated, but this time showed a picture of the same figure from behind standing alone against a group of armored Pegasi and one Alicorn. In one hand he held a Unicorn horn that was dripping what I assumed was blood, and in the other he held a ball of fire that he was in the process of throwing.
I fought them with all I had, but they were too many, and much smarter than their horse counterparts in our world. You whom bear our legacy, be wary of them.
Princess Celestia looked shaken at the image, and when Twilight stepped around to see what had disturbed her she gasped. I turned the page again and this time the Pegasi were dead on the ground with various injuries and the Alicorn, looking fierce and ferocious stood directly in front of the man. The Alicorn was standing on his hind legs and was trying to strike the man with its hooves, who was in the process of bringing a wall of dirt up from the ground. This time there were no words written on the page, so I turned to the next and instantly regretted it.
"No!" Celestia suddenly cried out, and threw the book across the room with her magic. It bounced several times, rolled, and then slid to a stop on its back, still open. "Put that thing away, Jacob. I do not wish to see it again."
I only saw the page for only a second, but wished I had not. The image showed the man- my ancestor- trying to break the Alicorn's horn from its head by stomping on it like one might do to try breaking a thick tree branch. The body had been rather badly damaged to the point where its internal organs were visible through a large bloody hole in its belly, and there were places on the Alicorn's body where it seemed that blood had simply fountained from the skin on its own. It was not a pretty sight and I found myself feeling sick. Behind my ancestor had stood another Alicorn about to bash him over the head, which was the one good thing about it.
"Dear God!" I whispered with my eyes bulging in horror while running a hand through my hair. "I carry this man's blood?!" Twilight looked from me to Celestia and to the book and shuddered.
"Princess Celestia, will you be alright?" Twilight asked, concern in her voice. Celestia did not answer for a moment, and Twilight's concern grew. After a bit she took a deep breath and regained most of her composure.
"I will be. Those images...drudged up some bad memories for me." Celestia turned from Twilight to look at me. She looked grim. "Did you know about that?" She asked quietly I shook my head several times quickly.
"It only showed simple journal entries when I read through it back home, I swear!" Celestia locked eyes with me and I got the feeling she was peering into me and not just at me. It was an unpleasant sensation. When she did not break eye contact after several seconds I tried to come up with a reason for it. "I haven't so much as looked through it since I left my world. Perhaps my ancestor left some kind of spell behind that would react with the journal if it ever came to be here." That was a long-shot at best and I think we all knew it. Still, it was the only one I could come up with other than one I did not wish to think about. If he's still alive and aware in that statue form he's locked in, it's possible that he can reach out with his mind to the journal if he enchanted it to be linked with him. I know I'd have done that for convenience's sake in case I ran out of ink or my pen broke.
"That is possible." was all she said before turning away. I could have been imagining it, but it looked for a second as if she had looked behind me at something first. Curious, I looked behind me as well and saw a splendid view of the sky and a mountain top from a window, but nothing special. This made me wonder what else could be visible from that window, but Celestia has begun speaking again. "I have had rooms prepared for the two of you, as well as given your descriptions to the guards. Feel free to make yourselves at home and explore at your leisure. I would like to talk with the two of you longer, but I am afraid that I must see an important representative from another nation soon, and I need to ready myself for it." Both me and Twilight bowed to the princess again and headed back along the carpet towards the door.
She means she needs to get those images out of her mind so that she can concentrate. I just wish I could do the same thing! I though with a shudder as I approached first my pack, and then my journal to put it away. As we came within six feet of it Twilight stopped and looked away from it. It being my journal, I swallowed and kept coming closer. When I knelt to pick it up I was surprised not to see the gibberish, nor a horrible image of death, but rather what seemed to be a map of a maze of some kind. In the top-right corner of the maze was an 'X' mark. Having a suspicion that I already knew what it was I closed the book and stuffed it into the pack and zipped it up again. Twilight still hadn't moved, so I turned my head and smiled at her and showed her the closed pack. She let out a sigh of relief and together we left
__ __ __ __ __
It was dark. It was always dark here. Except when the horned ones came. Then, for a few brief minutes he could see again. He could see the equines with horns, and those without. He could hear them too. They would speak of art, and of symbolism. They would speak of history, and of harmony. And sometimes of discord and war. But these things concerned his little, if at all. All that concerned him was the endless torment of the power that was just beyond his reach. The power of magic. Once, he walked as they did, and lived as they did. But no more. He became greedy when he should have been thankful, and it had cost him. Now he was trapped in a living Hell. Every year they came, every year they spoke, every year they left. But this year was different. This year, after they had come there was another line of vision that had lasted only for several minutes. He saw a room of marble, and he saw an Alicorn and a man. Then he saw a purple Unicorn as well. The man was touching the Unicorn's horn. At long last one of my descendants have come searching for me! I must contact him! Recalling his clever trick of mentally linking himself with his journal all those years ago, he took memories of the events that occurred before his capture and placed them one after the other on the pages that they stared at. To his delight both the Alicorn and the Unicorn were horrified by the images and messages of text he added, but was distressed when the Human also had a look of horror and disgust. Why does he cringe? Mankind was meant to rule the lesser creatures! Could it be he has been mentally seduced by them? They were clever before, perhaps they have become crafty as well! Still, perhaps he shall seek me out from curiosity...I shall add a map as well on the next page.
"No!" he heard the Alicorn cry out in distress before his vision whirled as if he had somersaulted. He bounced and whirled, his vision going black and then being revealed again as the journal bounced along and finally came to a stop facing the ceiling. There his line of vision stayed for a few minutes before the man came into view again. The horror was gone, replaced with nervousness, and then apprehension. In the man's eyes, however, he saw exactly what he was hoping to see: curiosity.
The man then closed the book which through him in darkness once more, but he had seen enough. If not for his petrification, Jacob's ancestor would have smiled. Compared to the length of his imprisonment, his wait would not be much longer. Whether or not his relative came with the intent to free him, or destroy his body, he would come, and he would need a horn to do it. As soon as he was free, he would use the small horn he'd sewn into the inside of his undergarments to pull it from his descendant and reclaim the power that was rightfully mankind's- rightfully his.
^ ^ ^ ^ ^
After wandering around the palace for a few hours I was shown to my quarters. Once I was alone in my room I once more took out the journal and looked at the cover. I came to this world to find out about my ancestors and to see if I could find more horns or the animals they came from. I had no idea that the real animals were people that I shared blood with! I glared at the cover and threw it in my fireplace. I then looked through my pack for the cigarette lighter I'd packed. I didn't smoke, but several of my friends did and were all the time asking me for a light. Eventually I bought one to carry around.
My fingers found it and I pulled it out and flicked the starter. An eager flame ignited and satisfied, I clicked the lid shut and walked over to the fireplace. It was empty except for the book. Now I know why parts of it were burned out. Mace must have gotten the same message long ago and he tried to destroy them. But it wasn't enough. I'll be more thorough. I felt a little guilty about destroying the leavings of those that had not been like the original author of this book, but I also knew that if they were anything like Mace that they'd have done the same thing in my place. I reached over to the book and tore a page out of it. Within a few seconds it was burning and I began tearing out page after page and burning them. After a little while something strange started to happen to the pages before I ripped them out. The illegible symbols began to form a face. I hesitated for a brief second and letters (still unreadable) began to form underneath it. Assuming it was some sort of attempt to get me to stop, I pulled a pen out of a jacket pocket and wrote: 'Screw you, you murderous prick!' More lettering formed underneath it, but I tore it out and burned it too.
I felt as if I had been at it for thirty minutes when there was a knock on my door.
"Not now, I'm busy!" I said to the door in a raised voice.
"Doing what?" Twilight's familiar voice asked.
"I'm burning that damned journal!"
"Burning it?!" She burst through the door and trotted to my side. As she did so I tore out another three pages and tossed them on the blaze. I was nearly out of pages, and the sketched face was becoming more and more furious with each page. Twilight stared at the face, and to both of our surprise, the eyes turned to look at her. More letters formed under the face, this time we could read them.
YOU WILL PAY FOR TAINTING HIM, YOU ANIMAL! I WILL BREAK YOU PERSONALLY!
Twilight took a step back. I promptly wrote back: 'Not if I break you first. This journal is only the first step! I will find your body next, and I will break it to pieces!' The eyes turned back to me and his rage became a scary smile.
THEN COME FOR ME, IF YOU DARE!
I yelled at the remains of the book and shredded the remaining pages with my hands before tossing the unburned remains into the flames. Fists clenched, I rose from the fireplace and headed for the door. Twilight ran in front of me, blocking my exit.
"Not now, Twilight, I have some loose ends to tie up."
"I can tell from your face and from what you wrote what you're planning to do, but he's a statue and can wait. The princess wants to see us again. She said it's about Drahngov."
----------------
(Author's Note: For Some reason my spell-check will not work properly once I get to a certain point in my document. It functions fine about a quarter of the way down, but from then on it doesn't pick up on any errors. I have no idea why this is, but I do recall at one point right-clicking and then left clicking something that came up on the list by accident when I tried to click out of it again. For some reason it only affects that one document. If I past it into a blank sheet it does the same thing, but if I open a blank page and type something wrong it picks up on it. Fortunately it still functions fine online. Spell-check does not seem to be turned off, however. If anyone can tell me how to fix it, I would appreciate it.
Another odd thing I've noticed: according to Spell-check 'Teleported' isn't a word. Kind of odd since sooner or later every super-hero story uses it.)
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Nice story, though you managed to butcher Applejack's accent.
28766
Sorry, text-fying accents was never my strong point. ^_^u
Along with punctuation placement that didn't involve periods and sometimes commas...and writing 'ie' instead of ei' in the case of 'ceiling'. (I had to do a lot of corrections for that one).
Any idea how I can improve on that?
♫♥I look forward to reading what happens next in your story♥♪
I dont kno why, But the dialogue seems too.... Happy? Drawn out? Scripted?
When responding to questions or talking to anyone, Myself and many people i see and know respond with simple gestures
Noises such as grunts and breathy exhales.
If someone were to ask me something i would give them a simple answer or a shrug unless i knew the answer.
"where have you been" and responding with Out with *name*
to me sounds better than
" i was out at a party with *name* , We had a great time.
I guess when talking i just like to use as little effort as possible or just dont care for communication through spoken word.
It feels a bit scripted, they seem to explain things to a professor rather than answering a simple question most of the time. Just my opinion i guess.
Cheers
~Iraqlobstah
Wow, that sketched face part was BRILLIANT. I could just see it being done with stop-motion (the rate of page-tearing being the framerate). Though, I think it would be more effective if it was somehow written on the walls.
That being said, I have some other thoughts in mind after I read this chapter. (Chapter 5) I can really quickly see where this is going, and unless you can tell me otherwise I could probably predict what will happen in the next chapters: He frees the evil baddie by accident, the evil baddie wants to purify him of pony (too bad he isn't a Brony), he doesn't yield and gets thrown out like trash, and the rest of it centers around him getting the alicorn back (an Alicorn is a Unicorn's horn, BTW).
Honestly, what made it more predictable was the fact that you gave us a segment that from the villains point of view, and you're letting us know of an upcoming trap. What pains me the most is that not only will we constantly yell at the screen:
misfitopia.com/uploads/1250621854/gallery_1_1_5425.jpg , but we can also predict it with fair accuracy. If we didn't have that segment, the Ancestor (since I forget his name) would seem a lot more threatening and as enigmatic as Princess Celestia, who Lauren Faust stated was intentionally mysterious even to her. By giving us his point of view, you confirm way too much for us, it turns from "Ooh, I could've seen it coming" to "Oh, I TOTALLY saw it coming." That lack of insight into the villain is what made Voldemort and Sauron so scary. The face-sketch scene would've also had much more effect.
weknowmemes.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/shit-just-got-real.jpg
I agree with some others, like the villain's point of view being a spoiler, but mostly good. This has 9 and 1/2 Sootaloos and the Scootaloo Seal Of Approval.
The most likely cause of the inability to spellcheck past a certain point would be that you inadvertently changed the language the document thinks it’s written in — either on a per paragraph basis or a per document basis. In either case, for the earlier parts spellcheck still works because those paragraphs are using a style (visually indistinguishable from whatever you use later on) with the language either implicitly (if you changed the language each paragraph thinks they’re written in) or explicitly (if you changed the language the document itself thinks it’s written in) set to English.
Not all spellcheck dictionaries are made equal; many are missing common words or fail to recognize words with correctly accented characters. That said, the freely available OED dictionary for Libre Office also lacked teleported… amongst other words.