Stupid. So freaking stupid. Yeah, Antares, just tell her that you were in a land of magical talking ponies and all the rest of that stuff. That'll go over really well! Yes sir, there's no way that will come back to bite me. Now she totally thinks I'm loony.
I sighed and sat down on my bed, glancing over at my computer that had changed to the screensaver. I thought about returning to the episode, but what was the point? Kristen already thought it was weird enough without her coming back in to see me watching it again.
At the same time, I did still want to hear my wife's voice again.
I suppose that I stared at the computer too long, because I heard a knock on my door, breaking me out of my thoughts and making me jump a little bit. I quickly stood up and backed away from the door, hoping that Kristen hadn't come back to call me a loon.
"Y-yeah?"
"Dinner's ready, TD," my mom's voice said on the other side of the door.
Oh, yeah, right. They were making dinner, too.
"Alright, I'll be right there."
I opened up the door and my mom stepped aside to let me pass her. I nodded and walked down the stairs with my mother following closely behind, almost as if she was afraid that if she didn't keep a watch on me at all times I'd disappear again. I highly doubted it. I also hated the idea of me disappearing again. As much as it sucked to say, I had to. I had to leave my parents and sister behind again. I didn't belong here anymore. I wished that I did. I wished that I didn't have to hurt my family anymore. If I'd stayed missing then they could eventually move on. The sting would fade away as they accepted that I wasn't coming back. Here, though, all of that pain had to return for them, which would only double when I went back to Equestria.
I made it to the dining room table where my father and Kristen already sat. I sat at what used to be my usual spot and looked out at the presented food. Chicken, corn and mashed potatoes. Normally I'd be happy to see that in front of me, and that wasn't just because I was starving. It was a good, home cooked meal that I hadn't really had in years. My palace chefs were the best of the best, but it didn't completely compare to something like this. It made me feel like I was actually home again.
"Alright, you can dig in," Mom said as she sat down at her usual spot. "TD, you can have the big piece of chicken if you want."
Ah, yes, the big piece of chicken. Boy did that bring back memories. Back when I was growing up, whenever we had chicken or fish or something like that, there'd always be one piece that was a little bigger than all the rest. Not by design, but when you put five pieces of chicken on a plate then one's gonna be bigger. Usually my dad was the one who got it, but every now and again someone else would be allowed to eat it. Given the situation, it didn't surprise me that Mom offered. I gave her a small smile and speared the chicken on my fork to move it onto my plate. Everyone else seemed to take that as a sign to dig in.
I glanced over at Kristen as she scooped corn onto her plate. She just stared at the table, obviously not trying to make eye contact with me. I grimaced and looked down to my own food. It would come up again. I just didn't know when. Best not think about that right then, though. Kristen I could handle, but if my parents some how found out... I didn't want that. It'd just hurt them.
I cut off a piece of chicken and put it in my mouth. Perfectly seasoned and cooked, just like always. I turned to my mother, motioned to the chicken, smiled and nodded. She returned my smile. I couldn't remember the last time I'd had actual meat. My chefs had gotten good at imitation meat that tasted almost exactly like the real thing, but "almost" was the key word. I could have probably gotten real meat if I'd really wanted to, but that tended to be on the expensive side, and that's not even counting the fact that my subjects probably wouldn't like the idea of a carnivorous ruler.
Maybe once I got back to Equestria I could change my views on that. Ara and Veritas were omnivorous, and there was a chance that Nymeria would be too. Hopefully we wouldn't find that out because we found her eating a changeling, though.
"So..." My father cleared his throat as he tried to break the incredibly awkward silence. "How are you, TD? Is... everything good with your room?"
"Yeah. I'm good." My gaze flicked back to Kristen whose eyes had narrowed ever so slightly. Not good. Mom must have noticed her not talking, if the frown on her face was any indication.
"Kristen? Are you okay?"
"Peachy," Kristen said through gritted teeth.
Mom put her fork down and steepled her fingers as she gave Kristen "that look." You know, the "I know you're lying to me, what's going on" look.
"You never could lie to me. What's on your mind?"
Kristen's gaze flicked up to me. "Nothing. I'm just tired from today. Lots of emotions. I'm feeling kind of drained."
"I guess that makes sense," Dad said, returning to his potatoes.
"If you don't want to talk about it that's fine, but I don't like you saying that nothing's bothering you when something clearly is."
"It's just..." Kristen raised her head and made eye contact with me for the first time. "Don't worry about it. TD and I are fine. Just fine. Peachy. Great. Amazing."
"Do you want to talk about it?" Dad asked.
"Do I ever," Kristen growled under her breath. My eyes narrowed and I shook my head in a "don't you dare" kind of way. "TD and I just had a little talk, that's all."
"What kind of talk?" Mom asked, looking to the two of us. "Did he tell you where he's been?"
Don't you dare, Kristen. Don't you freaking dare. I tightened my grip on my fork and, to my vague surprise, I felt anger rising in me. If Mom and Dad were going to find out about what happened, this was not the right time, place, or way. As I stared at Kristen, I felt a slight twinge of pain in the places I'd been hit with the Nightmare Weapons.
"Yeah," she said, returning her glare to me. "He knows where he's been."
"What?!" Mom's eyes widened. "Where?"
"Now is not the time," I growled. I grunted as the pain from my scars started getting worse, but I didn't focus on that. Only on what was about to happen.
"TD, I already said that we'd believe whatever you told us," Dad said, putting his silverware down and fully focusing on the two of us. "We won't think you're crazy. Just tell us."
"I know it was a lot to put on you, Kristen. I understand that. We need to talk about this later."
"Oh, yeah, later. It's always going to be later, isn't it? If I hadn't walked in on you watching the show, when would you have told me? I'm guessing never. You would have just left again without caring how we would feel."
"Kristen, TD doesn't want to leave again," Mom insisted. "TD's right: we can talk about this later. We'll listen when he's ready to tell us."
"Yeah, okay, but what show were you watching, TD?" Dad asked. "I'm just curious."
"He was..."
I shot to my feet, the pain in my scars rising. That was unimportant compared to what Kristen was about to do. "Don't you dare. I'm giving you one warning."
"Oh yeah?" Kristen retorted, shooting to her feet as well. "Or what? I know I'm not taking this well, but how on Earth would I?!"
"You're upset, I get that. You don't know how to feel, but I need this to not come out sideways, alright?" I growled. "Just take it easy."
"Or what?" Kristen growled. "They know something is up now. Just tell them. Or should I?"
"Don't. Don't do that to me."
"What is going on?" Dad cried, standing up himself. "Can you both just calm down so we can talk about this like adults?"
Kristen didn't respond to that. All she did was glare at me. I opened my mouth to say something, but before I could, she turned to Mom and Dad.
"He was--"
"I said don't you dare!"
I slapped my hand on the table as hard as I could. Just as I did, the pain in my shoulder in chest exploded to the point where I couldn't even stand up. I tried to grab the table to prevent myself from falling to the floor, but I didn't reach out in time. I hit the floor hard, but I didn't even register that pain. I could only grasp at my chest and shoulder while trying to get over pain so bad I could barely see. I started gasping for breath almost like a fish out of water. I heard my family rush over to help me, but they couldn't.
"I think we need to call the hospital again," Dad said, pulling out his phone. I weakly looked up at him as he unlocked the screen. He noticed and smiled down at me comfortingly. "Just hold on, TD. We're going to get you some help."
"No, I'm fine," I croaked. "It doesn't hurt as much anymore." I took a few deep breaths and managed to get into a sitting position, leaning my back against the wall. "You don't need to call anyone."
"Are you sure?" Mom asked. "Do you know what caused that pain?"
"You were grabbing your chest and shoulder," Kristen pointed out. "Don't you have the scars there?"
"I'm fine. Just..." I slowly stood up and grabbed the back of my chair for balance. "Let's finish eating and we can..."
My eyes widened when I saw it. On the table, right where I'd slapped, was an outline of my hand. The edges were smoking, like the imprint had been burned onto the table. I slowly looked down at my hand, but it looked normal. The rest of my family noticed the indent, and they seemed to be about as shocked as me.
"Whoa, dude..." Kristen reached out and touched the imprint before quickly retracting it, hissing in pain. "How the heck did you do that?"
"I... I..." I began backing away. "I just... I need some time alone." I got up as quickly as I could and tried to make my way to my room. Unfortunately, my mother blocked my path.
"TD, please, just talk to us. At least let us help you with the pain. We can--"
"Later." I pushed past her. "I'm sorry. I'm just not ready." I turned back to Kristen and glared at her. At least she had the sense to look embarrassed. "You wouldn't handle it right now if Kristen is any indication."
Without another word I rushed up to my room, shutting and locking the door behind me. My scars didn't hurt as much anymore, so that was an obvious plus. I took a few deep breaths and ran a hand through my hair.
"Did I just do magic?" I whispered to myself. "I think I just did magic."
If I had, that left me with a sliver of hope. Maybe my remaining magic is what showed up on the odd blood test my doctor had told me about. That still left a dozen questions, though. Could I control it without a horn? Could I activate it at will? Was I as powerful now as when I was still an alicorn? That wasn't just me hitting the table hard. I burned an outline of my hand into the table. I couldn't think of any other explanation as to what that was.
I grimaced and focused on my hand, trying to channel energy into it. Come on. Just one little spark. I could work with that. I'd already learned magic in a foreign body once. I could do it again if I still had the ability. I gritted my teeth as I increased my focus. Just one little spark. Or anything, really. Just something to let me know that I still had the ability to cast spells. I just had to learn how in this body.
My concentration was broken when I heard a knock on the door. I growled and rubbed my temples. "Can you please just give me two freaking minutes?!"
"TD..." I heard Kristen's voice on the other side of the door. "Just talk to me. I'm sorry I got upset and almost told Mom and Dad. I just... I didn't know what to feel."
"I got that part, thanks."
"You burned your hand into the table, dude. I... I think I might believe you a bit more now. That's not normal."
"Sure isn't. Now can you leave me to figure stuff out?"
"TD--"
"Please leave me alone! I need to concentrate!"
Kristen sighed. "Yeah, okay, that's fair, I guess. I'm here, though. You know that, right?"
"Because that went great last time." I grunted in pain as my wounds flared up a bit again. "I'll talk to you later."
"Okay. I get it."
With that settled, I went back to concentrating. I didn't know if I'd shot energy or fire out when I'd lost my temper. I wondered if that was the only way I could cast spells: losing my temper. Or could I cast with any extreme emotion? I growled and began rubbing my shoulder, trying to ease some of the pain. That seemed to be the worst when I'd gotten upset, so it might not be a good idea to get overly angry. Frankly the only thing in my life that hurt worse than my scars after losing my temper had been actually being wounded by the Nightmare Weapons.
Maybe I just needed to concentrate. I knew mentally how to cast spells. I had the mechanics of it down completely. Granted, that was with the addition of a horn, which was specifically designed to channel magic. But pegasi and earth ponies didn't have horns, and they could still use their innate magic. Did I still have innate magic?
This was too freaking complicated.
But I had to do it. If this was my way home, I couldn't rest until I'd figured it out. I took a few deep breaths and sat down on my bed. My eyes landed on a pencil sitting on my desk, and I remembered my first levitation lesson with Luna. At the risk of looking like a Jedi, I closed my eyes and reached out with my mind, trying to levitate the pencil over to me. After a few moments of that, I cracked one eye open and looked to the pencil. It hadn't moved. I closed my eyes and tried again. Nothing. I cursed and laid down on my bed.
I just needed to think it through. Discord couldn't keep me here forever. I would get back home, and when I did I'd kill him. Not encase him in stone again, not wound him a little until he begged for mercy, I'd straight up obliterate him. I'd do my best to erase even the memory of him once that happened. Remove the stained glass window, strike every mention of him from history books, and even take the pedestal his statue stood on down. After a hundred years or so it'd be like he never even existed at all.
Now that I'd calmed down more, I began to realize just how tired I really was. The last time I'd slept, my wife was beside me and my daughter laid not too far away. Whatever had just happened at the dinner table, it would probably be easier for me to make sense of things if I wasn't tired. I crawled under my covers and closed my eyes. I couldn't say that everything would be better in the morning, but it would at least mean the end of today.
* * * *
The sun was up by the time I awoke. With no watch or clock I had to turn my computer on to see the time. Ten in the morning. I nodded and sat down on my bed. Time to get back to it. Just think it through, Antares. You can do it if you just think it through. I reached my hand back out to levitate the pencil over to me. I needed to feel the energy around me and manipulate it to my will.
It wasn't freaking working.
I grumbled some non-family friendly things to myself and rubbed my temples. Last night couldn't have been a fluke. I still had magic in me. I had to have some. Otherwise how did I burn my hand into the table? I had to hope that anger wasn't the only thing that triggered it, because with that came terrible pain. If I could cast spells just by being angry, I couldn't be accurate with them if I was also in so much pain I could barely see.
"Just one," I whispered. "Just let me cast one spell. Levitation is fine. Anything as long as I can control it." I closed my eyes and focused on the pencil again. I reached out my hand, hoping beyond hope that I'd feel it hit my hand, allowing me to catch it. I cracked one eye open and my heart soared. The pencil was moving toward me. It was barely noticeable, to the point where one would have a hard time seeing it if they weren't looking, but it started moving. I pumped my fist into the air, ignoring the small amount of pain in my scars. I'd be able to cast spells without the pain. I was certain of that.
For the moment, though, I needed to eat. I didn't exactly finish dinner the night before. I'd need my strength if I was going to cast spells. A hungry Antares is an Antares who isn't functioning at one hundred percent. I put my hand down and walked out of my room. I didn't hear any noises around the house, which felt odd to me. I highly doubted that Mom or Dad would be at work the day after I was found. Same with Kristen. Maybe not Kristen. She might be upset enough that she went to work just to get away from it all for a little while and clear her head. I couldn't exactly blame her.
As I went to the kitchen, I spotted the imprint I'd left on the table. I grimaced and touched it with the tip of my finger. It had cooled off considerably since the night before. Seemed I'd kind of ruined the table a little bit. There was no way they could repair that. Thank goodness the table wasn't some antique.
I tried to push the imprint out of my mind as I made my way into the kitchen. I flinched back when I saw my Mom making breakfast. She must have heard me because she turned around and gave me a tired smile.
"Good morning, TD. How are you doing?" I shrugged. "Yeah, I'll bet. You want me to make you some breakfast?" She motioned to the stove. "I have some scrambled eggs going. I can put some cheese on them if you'd like."
"Uh... yeah, I guess that sounds good." My mom went over to the fridge and pulled out a few more eggs and the cheese as I sat at the kitchen counter. Neither of us spoke for a few moments, the only sound being the eggs cooking on the stove.
I hate awkward silences like that.
"So, uh... how are you doing?"
My mom gave me a small smile. "I'm doing better. Last night was kind of rough."
"Yeah. Sorry about that."
Mom's eyes widened and she shook her head. "No! Don't be! We're all reeling from everything that happened yesterday, and of course we'll all be stressed out. I'm curious what you told Kristen, of course, but you'll tell me when you're ready. I'm just glad to hear that you know where you were and that you're okay."
"But all of your questions are burning you a little bit," I guessed.
"Of course. There are a million of them. I'd be open to hearing any answers you gave." Mom turned back around and started focusing on the eggs again. "I want to ask. I really do. Of course I don't really have something to compare this to, so I wouldn't even know where to start. But I also know that your emotional state is more important right now. I can't imagine what you've gone through in the last five years. It hurt us when you disappeared of course, but I know that it really hurt you too."
"Yeah, it did," I admitted. "For years I wanted nothing more than to come back. I thought about it every day. Part of me hates to say it, but it got to a point where I had to stop focusing on that. Things happened that I had to focus on and deal with."
"You adapted to your situation," Mom said simply. "I don't blame you for that. Most people would do the same thing."
"Yeah, I guess."
"No guessing about it. You did what you needed to." Mom opened up the kitchen cabinet and took out two plates before portioning the eggs and cheese onto the plates. She took two forks out of the silverware drawer and put one of them and the plate in front of me. "Can I get you anything to drink? Water? Milk? Juice?"
"Nah, I'm fine for now. Thanks, though." I took a bite out of the eggs before speaking again. "Where are Dad and Kristen?"
"Dad's downstairs working on the computer. Kristen had to go to work."
"Yeah, where does she work?"
"A dive shop, actually. She's saving up to go to Seattle and get her certification in salvage diving."
I raised an eyebrow at that. "Really? Huh, that's kind of neat."
"Yeah she's worked very hard." Mom sat down next to me and ate a bit of her eggs. "Although I've had to discourage her from having an octopus as a pet."
I snorted at that. "A dog's not good enough for her?"
"No, I suppose not."
"She's a bit of an oddball."
"True." Mom and I continued eating our eggs in silence for a few moments before she spoke again. "I think your disappearance hit her the hardest. Your dad and I were beside ourselves with grief, of course, but it seemed to... break her a little bit. I know she's confused right now, but do believe that she's very, very happy to have you back."
"Yeah."
Great, thanks Mom. Good to know that she's going to be emotionally devastated when I have to leave again. I didn't want to do that to her, but unfortunately my duty to my subjects came first.
We finished our eggs in silence. Once I emptied my plate, I put the dishes in the sink and quickly washed them. "So, uh, I think I might go back to sleep. I might have woken up too early."
"That's fine." Mom walked over and put her empty dishes in the sink. "Let me know when you want lunch. I can make you something, or I could heat up your leftovers from last night."
"We'll see." I wrapped my arms around my mother for a tight hug. "It is good to see you again. Whatever else happened, please know that."
"I do know that, TD," Mom said, returning the hug. "We're happy to see you too."
"I know." I broke away from the hug. "When I wake up again, I might do some surfing around the web. You know, check to see what I missed in the last five years."
"Sounds like a plan to me," Mom said with a smile. "If you want, maybe tonight we could watch Episode seven. I think you'll like it."
"You know, that actually sounds okay."
"Good. You sleep well, TD, and we'll talk some more later."
* * * *
The next week passed by much like the second day had. I didn't see Kristen much outside of meals, but I expected that. Mom and Dad tried to make her come out of her room for family nights, but she didn't go for it. I knew she felt happy to see me again, but that was tempered a little bit by the knowledge that I'd leave again if I could. Yeah, that had to hurt, especially since she was so devastated the last time. Besides that, I practiced my magic whenever I could. By the third day I could move the pencil over to me. It fell to the floor whenever it reached the edge of the desk, but it encouraged me.
Although at that rate, it'd take me years before I could get back to my former power. Who knew what Discord would do in that time? Maybe he'd already been stopped by the Elements and my family had started looking for me. Of course, according to Celestia, finding my world at all had been a coincidence or a fluke or whatever you wanted to call it. It would take a ton of luck to find me.
Of course, given that the multiverse theory seemed to be true, they might look for me and find an Antares with my exact experiences and personality, but he didn't like pickles, or something. That would be awful for me, since it would mean being stuck forever.
At the end of the week, I'd finally managed to levitate the pencil over to me completely. No blue magical aura, though, which disappointed me. That disappointment didn't hurt as much with the knowledge that I had started improving with my magic. My scars still hurt whenever I tried using it, but nowhere near the pain levels I'd felt during my angry spells.
The night after I'd just about mastered levitation, my family and I sat around the dinner table eating dinner. Kristen had opened up a little more, thankfully, and we all seemed to be a little happier.
"--So then this guy who barely speaks English comes into the shop. I, not being bilingual, can't understand a thing he was saying." Kristen smirked and paused her story to take a bite out of her baked potato. "So I'm trying to get my manager who does speak a little Spanish, but he's not letting me get into the back. He's just pointing at the scuba masks and saying something or other."
I snort and shake my head. "And that made for a really good day, I'll bet."
"Yeah. So after ten minutes of this, I'm getting a little frustrated. I--"
I chose that moment to reach out towards the salt shaker. Out of pure instinct, instead of just grabbing it I levitated it over to me. And yeah, despite Kristen's story, everyone else saw that. I quickly dropped the shaker and made a point of looking down at the table, though I could imagine how shocked they all must have looked.
"Um... yeah. Never mind," I muttered. "You were saying, Kristen?"
"Uh, no, you don't get to pretend like that didn't just happen." I glanced up at Kristen who was looking at me as though I'd done a backflip. "How did you do that? Is this like when you burned your hand into the table?"
"I don't want to talk about it."
"As much as I'd love to give you some space on this, I'm really not sure I can anymore," Dad said. "You just levitated the salt shaker over to you. We can't really ignore that."
"Yeah, well, I'd really rather you did. It's like you all said: I should talk about it when I'm ready." I stood up from the table. "I'm not hungry anymore. I'll be in my room."
"TD, please just talk to us," Mom pleaded. "You don't have to give us the whole story, you just--"
"Not comfortable talking about it right now." I glared at Kristen. "And I'm standing by my stance that I don't want you talking to them about it."
"Yeah, I'm, done being silent for you, TD," Kristen retorted. "We want to help you! I totally believe what you told me, and after that little display, I'm positive Mom and Dad will too."
It was at that moment that someone chose to ring the doorbell. Repeatedly. Dad glared at the door and stomped over to it. "I'll handle this."
He reached the door and threw it open, revealing a man in a black suit and matching hat. He grinned at my father in a way that looked... oddly familiar.
"Sorry, but the sign says 'no solicitors'," Dad growled. "If you'll excuse us..."
"Oh, I'm not a solicitor, Mr. Powell. I'm here to talk to..." He leaned to the right so he could see into the house, then pointed at me. "Your son."
"We're not talking with the press either," Dad insisted. "If you could please leave us alone."
"Oh I'm not the press either, I can assure you."
My eyes narrowed, then widened when I realized who stood on the other side of the doorway. I took a deep breath then walked into the entryway.
"Dad, let him in. We do need to talk."
Dad frowned at me, but must have decided that I knew what I was doing. He stepped aside, allowing our guest entry into our house.
"TD, who is this person?" Dad asked as Mom and Kristen came up behind me.
"Uh..." I sighed and began rubbing my temples. "Mom, Dad, Kristen..." I motioned to the man. "This is Death."
You could have heard a pin drop after that. I had no doubt that my family was looking at me like I'd just grown a second head. After a few moments of total silence, Mom cleared her throat.
"Death. Is that some kind of nickname?"
"I'm afraid not, Mrs. Powell." Death walked over to the entryway table and waved his hand over a plant sitting there. The plant instantly wilted away. "So, Prince Antares..." He turned his attention to me. "We've been looking for you. Thank you for using your magic. It made locating you so much simpler."