XAVIER POV
HOME
The first thing I did when we arrived home was check the local news. Nothing about paranormal activity at a park, so I relaxed and settled down to prepare a proper dinner.
“Wow, those look beautiful!” Joyce exclaimed, her eyes wide in awe at the glistening gold of the elemental necklaces Twilight and her friends were wearing. “And I see those gems are the same shape as your cutie marks!”
“Absolutely,” I said proudly. “We successfully recovered them. Turned out they were hidden, encased inside tree trunks. But Twilight can still use her powers in this world, apparently, and so together we were able to successfully get them out. Now that they’re reunited with their respective elements, I can proceed with the next part of my plan. Just need to go over it to ensure everything’s in the right place.”
“But, beforehand, we need some energy,” Applejack noted, pointing to the fridge.
I nodded and took out some leftover lasagna, which I then divided into several sections and heated up on some plates. Everyone sat down around the table and by the couch, and we all ate happily, savouring every mouthful. For once, the gears inside my mind stopped turning so fast for once. But eventually, they had to get spinning again.
“What’s the plan again?” Twilight asked, putting her hooves up on the counter and looking up at me eagerly as I washed the dishes. She literally looked like a puppy.
“Seems like you’ve forgotten,” I smirked, realizing that spell must’ve taken a load on her memory cells. “I’ll discuss when these dishes are done, alright?”
Quickly drying one of my hands, I reached out and stroked her head, with a little ear-scratch, causing her to giggle affectionately. She then departed to join her friends by the sofa, where Joyce was resuming work on an elaborate necklace.
Skystar helped me dry the dishes, and soon we were all gathered around me. I placed a large thin book on my bed and rolled out a large sheet of paper, along with the other sheets that I’d written about my plans on earlier.
Rather quickly and roughly, I sketched out a large hexagon, ad on each vertex, I draw a circle, and put initials inside each one of them:
“Okey dokey loki, take a look at this,” I began. “All of you guys will be standing around in a hexagonal format, ready to receive the signal from Equestria that will come to Earth. Tempest and Skystar will be here with me, in the center.”
I drew three smaller circles in the center of the hexagon and connected them together with a triangle.
Together the three of us will hold a staff with a large splitter gem. That gem will split the beam into six parts. You all will them simultaneously rotate until everything lines up. The rest of the task is on you, Twilight, to ensure that the signal from Equestria pulls you and your friends up and back through the rift. All the way home. Once you all are beyond the Earth, I’ll then break the staff to avoid potentially harmful side effects and consequences.”
“How will you build that staff?” Twilight asked, still in awe at my plan.
“From forged steel, sand, silicone rubber, and perhaps ceramic,” I replied. “I can do some research and ask Rodney for help. He has a fabricator background and knows the industry well.”
“What about the gem?” Rarity added.
“Quartz crystal,” I replied. “Pretty easy to find online for a couple hundred bucks. I can get a lapidary to cut it into a smooth hexagonal prism for me, with pointed ends to direct the flow. It’ll make me go broke, no doubt, but it’s the only chance I have at this.”
“Are you sure there isn’t an easier way?” Joyce asked, a concerned look on her face.
“I’m afraid not, dear,” Rarity said sadly, and Twilight shook her head in agreement. “When magic directs itself in a large, unified quantity from a source, it needs to be split for its powers to work. We as the Elements of Harmony cannot separate them solely.”
“And that’s why your son is here,” Spike declared proudly, patting my shoulder. “To use his intelligent mind, loving, caring heart, and unbreakable spirit for the benefit of his family and friends.”
“Then let’s start working on this. Together,” Joyce replied, her eyes full of determination and support.
I began by researching popular fantasy staffs – from Gandalf’s walking stick in Lord of The Rings to the Zombie Staff from Elder Scrolls V. Then, I sketched out multiple designs, all to scale.
After many hours of re-evaluation and troubleshooting with Twilight, who kindly guided me with her knowledge of Equestrian magic, the final render was complete.
The staff would be four feet long, with six thinner rods coming out the top, which would then bend and curve around in an oval shape to encompass the crystal, while still exposing its six sides. At the very top, the tips of the rods would bend outwards like the petals of a flower, allowing the magic beam from Equestria to strike it at full force without breaking the crystal. Additionally, the other end would have a pommel for balance, and a flat circular guard just below the gem, for strength and added stability.
“Check this out!” Joyce exclaimed, calling from my studio. Twilight, Rarity, and I rushed over to take a look. On the screen was an Ebay listing for a 3-pound pink clear quartz crystal in near-perfect condition, complete with wand cuts at both ends.
“That’s huge!” Rarity exclaimed. “And $300 bits – er, I mean, dollars. Are you sure?”
“Yes, I am,” Joyce snapped, tapping the “Buy it Now” button without pause. In less than a minute, she’d placed the order – on her own card. “I am also sure about one other decision. Come, let’s talk.”
We returned to the living room and settled down, hoping to be given some joyful news about going somewhere special, or perhaps moving to a larger home. Instead, Joyce refused to drop a ball – she dropped an asteroid instead.
“We’re returning to my home.”
“Y-y-you’re serious?” I stuttered, dropping my phone in total shock. “You miss Trinidad?”
Joyce nodded – the dead-serious type of nod. “We came here on the premise of good career opportunities for your dad. Now that he’s gone, we’ve just been swept away in the struggle to get by in a neighborhood that isn’t the safest. We’ve lost focus of what matters the most to us in life. I know I haven’t had the most peaceful experiences back on that island either, but it beats being in the hood with all of…this stuff, right?”
I slowly nodded back in agreement, before a wave of memories hit me hard, and my face fell. “I understand your rationale, Mom, but… I’m gonna miss a lot from here. Especially Zack.”
Applejack climbed up on the bed beside me and caressed my shoulder. “Sometimes in life, you have to be selfish, and get others to adapt to your choices. If not, then you’re in a state of weakness, because then they’re essentially limiting you from expanding to what’s possible for you.”
“I… feel like I’m losing everything I loved,” I confessed, my thighs feeling damp already from my wet eyes.
“Are you… No! Please don’t cry, we’ll always love you!” Twilight cried, leaping into my arms. Tempest stroked my dreadlocks and gently gripped me from behind. Joyce smiled with tears of her own and kissed my forehead. Soon I was completely wrapped in a ball of fur, affection, and love.
“Know it and believe it, we’ll always be in your heart, always,” Twilight whispered. “Never forgotten, for all you did for us. And you too, Joyce, for giving us a safe, warm home.”
“And if you’re still concerned, Zack can always come visit in the summer,” Joyce added. “I know you two have been good friends for more than a decade, and I can’t break that.”
“Thanks, Mom,” I said under my sobs, looking up with a smile.
“Always caring as I can be,” she replied. Twilight and her friends released to allow us to have a solo hug. “Now let’s go make this staff! We have a week and a half until that gem arrives, so it’s best we use that time in the best way possible.”
“Can’t argue with that.”
The following morning, after a good breakfast, Joyce and I hopped into the Forester, with Joyce driving, and me up front with her, with Spike on my lap. We were off to visit Maverick and Rodney, to inquire about making the staff – and also for me to start work that day.
“Howdy, Rodney!” I called out, entering the shop through the main garage door.
“Xavier! Good to see you again,” he replied, giving me a tight hug. “What brings you here today – besides work, of course.”
“I’ve come with my mom for two things,” I replied. “First is to enquire on metal. I have a side project I’m working on, and I need your help. Do you know any good fabricators that can make a forged staff for me at a decent cost?”
“Sure! Good friend of mine, Etiree, down in the U.S. though. It’s alright, won’t take more than a week. And the second thing?”
“I wish to quit my job soon. I cannot give you the specifics of when, just yet, but it will be within the next month or so.”
“Really? Okay… I’ll miss you though…” Rodney replied solemnly.
“I know. But it’s for the better in the long run. Here’s my design.”
I handed him the paper I’d drawn the night before, to which I’d added length, width, and diameter specs, and some brief explanatory details.
“Bottom part Etiree can do, and you can do the top part next week, which is when I can bring a gem I’ve ordered, and place in the center. It’ll be locked inside, permanently.”
“Looks like a staff for a video game cosplay, eh?”
“Yeah,” I replied sheepishly. “But it’s got far greater uses, I imagine.”
“Alright, I’ll let know when you get the staff,” Rodney concluded. “In the meantime, get to work with Brian on that Buick GNX in the corner there, will ya?”
“Yes sir.”
Mom headed off to work, and I laboured the day away, still feeling a little sad, but satisfied that I’d taken all the necessary steps to help my friends – as well as me and my mom – return to all our true homes. It’d only be another two weeks for them – and a little longer for my mom and I.