Chapter 1: Brother
“Base camp, please respond.”
“Where’s Alpha and Bravo?”
“What the hell are those things?”
“Oh, goddess! Help!”
He ran through the goddess forsaken forest, the strange wood wolves nipping at his heels. The Op had started so smoothly, but as his unit made their way to the settlement the drones detected, all hell broke loose. Now, they were all dead, and he was running for his life. He could hear their garbled barks and yelps as they sought his blood, but couldn’t see them, their natural camouflage was too effective.
Suddenly, a bush in front of him erupted as a wolf leaped at him. Reacting quickly, he raised his hand and launched a fireball, setting the arboreal lupine ablaze. The creature howled in agony as it ran around aimlessly in panic. It barreled into one of its brethren, spreading the flames.
Without paying the scene much heed, he ran on. The rest of the pack was gaining fast. He pushed himself to his limit, jumping through a large shrub… and found that the earth ended on the other side. His world seemed to slow as he plummeted to his doom. He looked up to see several of the wolves following him to his fate.
Before his journey ended, he thought to himself, At least I’ll get to hang out with David and Sarah again, and play with my niece.
The sudden sensation of plunging into frigid waters as well as the force of impact sent him spiraling into darkness.
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Jacob’s eyes shot open. The nightmare still fresh in his mind, he groaned as he sat up in the small bed. His mind fought through the fog as he regained his bearings. Something was off, but he couldn't quite figure it out. Suddenly his memory of his last moments before passing out returned.
What happened to those creatures?
Jacob took a look around the room he found himself in. It was definitely not a hospital. There was a desk along one wall, a single ficus in the corner, but there was also a heart monitor. The bandages on his arms and chest were obviously done with care, but why?
Who saved me?
As if awaiting that very question, the door opened, glowing lavender. In walked a creature much more colorful than he anticipated. It was purple with a single horn on its head, and walked on four legs. Quickly, Jacob tried to think of ways to communicate with the creature.
“Oh, good, you're awake,” the creature said in perfect standard.
“You speak my language,” Jacob observed.
The creature smiled and answered, “That's right.” Her horn lit up and a notepad floated in front of her face. “My name is Twilight Star. I have a few questions I would like to ask you, if that's alright with you.”
Jacob narrowed his eyes slightly. This creature was acting way too calm to be interviewing an alien. “I'll answer what I can and what I’m comfortable with.”
Twilight smiled reassuringly, “That's fine. First, can you tell me your name?”
“Jacob,” he answered simply.
“Jacob... Corbin?” The creature gave him an inquisitive look. Jacob's eyes widened in surprise at that. “I'll take that as a yes.”
“How did you know that?” Jacob demanded. “Did you read my mind?”
Twilight looked at the human, contemplating her next words. “No, I didn't read your mind, but I do know a bit about you.”
“How?”
Twilight sighed, regarding Jacob carefully. Finally, she spoke. “Your brother told me.”
For several seconds, Jacob could only sit there, trying to figure out what was just said. Surely she hadn't said what he thought she said, right? No, either she misspoke, or he misheard.
“Excuse me?”
“Your brother has spoken of you extensively,” the purple thing said.
Jacob felt his anger boil. There was no way it knew his brother. “My brother died six years ago, and before that he was on the run. How did you know my brother?”
Twilight replied quickly enough. “Six years ago, a set of powerful, sentient – possibility sapient – magical artifacts pulled your brother from your world, before Nag-Ta could deliver the final blow.”
Jacob's mind struggled to comprehend what the being was saying. He had mourned his brother's death, and came to terms. Now, a being from a world that was just linked was telling him it was for nothing? This being was telling him his brother was alive! But, something wasn't right.
“If my brother's alive, where is he? Why isn't he here?” Jacob was obviously getting worked up. He rose up from the bed, shouting and pulling the wires from his body. He was pissed. If this thing was leading him on, he was going to teach it exactly where it fucked up, but if it wasn't it would show him where his brother was. “If my brother is alive why isn't he here?!”
“Please, calm down,” Twilight pleaded. “He is here, in the hall. He asked me to come in first and prepare you. The artifacts that brought him here changed him-”
Jacob leaped up and pushed past Twilight, flinging the door open, he shouted, “I don't care if he grew a tail, if my brother's alive I want to see him!”
He ran out into the hall and immediately ran into another creature like the one before, but this one was dark blue with a black and silver mane and a white star shaped patch on its forehead.
“Well, that's good,” the blue creature said in an all too familiar voice, his scarlet eyes gazing into the human's blue ones. “But a tail is the least of my changes.”
Jacob stared at the creature for several long seconds before he finally found his voice again. “D... David?” It was the eyes. He had seen those same demon tainted eyes on his brother's face. It was those same eyes that stared back from this furry creature.
“Yeah, Jacob, it's me,” the blue creature said. “Though I go by Midnight Star, now.”
Jacob stared at the creature claiming to be his brother. A part of him wanted to deny it, say they had read his mind while he was passed out, but another part of him recognized something in the creature. Something about him, undefinable but still all too real, screamed at Jacob that this was in fact the brother he thought was dead.
“But... you're dead.” Jacob managed to say.
The one claiming to be David chuckled, “I should be, but Twilight saved me-”
He was cut off when the human lunged at him, wrapping his arms around him in a powerful embrace. Midnight was too shocked to respond at first, but soon regained his senses and returned the gesture.
“David...” Jacob wept, “you're a cat.”
Twilight just laughed and said, “He's your brother all right.”
“What? We kind of look like cats,” Midnight defended. “We definitely don't look like any of the equine species on Determis.”
“Equine? You're horses?” Jacob asked in surprise.
“Ponies, actually,” Twilight corrected.
Jacob finally stopped to take a good look at his brother, still holding him. Horse mane and tail, hooves... Yeah, they're horses, er, ponies. Weird.
“Not to be creepy, but do you realize how ridiculously soft you are?” Jacob asked.
Twilight giggled, “Yeah, he's probably the softest stallion I know.”
“Is that why you like cuddling?” Midnight replied with a playful grin.
Jacob raised an eyebrow at that, giving the purple pony a questioning look. “Uh, bro... are you and the purple one a thing by any chance?”
Midnight laughed a little, “You could say that.”
Jacob released his brother and looked back and forth between the two. Wait, she said her name was Twilight Star. David said he goes by Midnight Star... Oh... My... Goddess! Jacob's eyes widened as he realized what they were saying. Before she could react, Twilight found herself in the same position Midnight was just moments ago, except the human lifted her up and spun her around a few times.
“Oh, you little minx! You got my big bro out of his funk, didn't you!” Jacob cheered. “I got an adorable purple pony for a sister, how awesome!”
Twilight had enough and teleported away in a flash-pop of magic, placing Midnight between her and the crazed human. Unfortunately, this only made the human more excited.
“By Mina, that was Teleportation! It's supposed to be impossible!” He shouted. “How do you avoid magical whiplash? Do you use subspace phasing or matter-to-energy conversion? If you use MTE how do you ensure proper reconstitution? Let me study you!”
A new, scratchy-yet-feminine voice spoke, “Wow... It's like somepony took Twilight and Pinkie, mixed their brains, and put it in a monkey.”
Jacob turned toward the voice to see a group of ponies standing at the end of the hall. His jaw dropped at the sight of the colorful equines.
“That's a lot of colors.”
“You're taking this well,” Twilight pointed out cautiously.
“This isn't the first dimension I've been to,” Jacob explained. “After a bit, you get kind of desensitized to weird. I once saw a guy eat his own head. You can't beat that on The Weird-Shit-O-Meter.”
“I can!” the über pink pony exclaimed.
“She's not kidding,” the blue flying one agreed.
“Regardless,” Jacob said, raising an eyebrow , “the only thing I'm surprised about, is that my big brother is alive.”
“Kinda trusting, ain't you?” the orange hat wearing pony inquired.
“No, I just know my big bro. The eyes don't lie.”
Midnight chuckled. “That's just how Jacob is. He's never let anything get to him.”
“That's not true. There were three times I felt like crawling into bed and crying,” Jacob corrected. “First when mom and dad died, then when Sarah and Tiffany died, and especially when I was told you died.” His expression became sombre as the memory of that day returned. “That was the worst. Before, I always had you with me, going through it together, but... I was alone that time. I didn't have anyone to lean on.”
Midnight averted his eyes, unable to look at his brother. “I'm sorry, Jacob.”
Jacob gave a weak smile, “It wasn't your fault.”
“My fault or not, I left you alone. You suffered while I found happiness.”
Jacob laughed, “That's karma for you. You suffered far worse than I ever did and still tried to help people. Now, you finally have what you deserve, an adorable, fuzzy girl and a bunch of friends.”
“Hey!” a voice called from downstairs. “Is it safe to come up?”
Midnight grinned, “Oh... that's not all I have.”
Jacob raised an eyebrow at his brother as the sounds of hooves climbing up the stairs. He turned in time to see a tiny mulberry figure poke its head out from the crowd. Jacob's eyes widened as he slowly but surely put the pieces together.
“Aurora, honey,” Midnight said to the filly, “come here. I want you to meet your uncle, Jacob.”
Jacob couldn't keep the smile off his face. Lowering himself to one knee, keeping his excitement in check, he made himself as nonthreatening as possible. “Hello, Aurora. It's a pleasure to meet you.”
The filly slowly stepped out from the crowd and took a few steps toward the human. “Um... hi, Uncle. Daddy told me a lot about you.”
“Oh?” Jacob smiled, “What did he tell you?”
“That you used to do a lot of dumb things.”
“Aurora!” Midnight scolded, but Jacob's hearty laughter rendered it moot.
Jacob scooted closer and placed a hand on his niece's head. “That's about right, though 'used to' isn't quite right. I still do on occasion.”
“I never said you do dumb things,” Midnight defended.
“But all the stories you told me, he was doing dumb things.”
“Ah wanna see 'em,” came an accented voice from behind the bundle of ponies. “Come on, sis, move your plot.”
Midnight took a look around the cramped hallway. “Maybe we should move this downstairs.”
“Or, how about we finish this over dinner?” Twilight offered.
“We can go to the farm,” Applejack suggested. “There's more room with the picnic area, and it's close.”
“Well, what are we waiting for?” Pinkie exclaimed. “To the orchard!”
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
“So, let me get this straight,” Jacob said and took another bite of the vegetarian chilli. He thought about his wording as he chewed the delicious food. He swallowed and continued, “These 'Elements of Harmony' acted on their own and brought you here, turning you into a pony, so you could then wield the 'Elements of Order' with those three?”
“That's about right, yes,” Midnight confirmed.
“And since these Order elements only pop up when something really bad is going to happen, this Princess Celery-”
“Celestia”
“Celibate, asked you to train the other element bearers, including the mother of your child, a mare that's afraid of her own shadow, a seamstress, and three children, one of whom is blind, to form a special forces unit to combat whatever is coming.”
“It's not exactly like she had a choice,” Twilight defended her teacher. “The Elements chose us, not her. We're the only ones with the power to stop whatever is coming.”
“Bullshit,” Jacob said plainly. “You said she raises the sun. Any being that can do that would have god-like powers. She could probably vaporize anything this world could throw at her.”
“Ah, that's why you're upset,” Twilight said with a chuckle and shake of her head. “I don’t blame you for thinking that. The majority of Equestria believes the same, but their wrong. The princesses have a unique bond to the sun and moon. To them, moving them across the sky is like wiggling a hoof, it’s just natural. In truth, though the princesses are powerful, they are nowhere near as powerful as most think. I’ve been more powerful than Luna since I was fourteen, and Celestia thinks I’ll surpass her within five years. And since my talent is magic, I can actually cast spells Celestia has some difficulty with.”
“Huh… This world’s magic is weird,” Jacob pointed out.
“I agree, but it’s powerful, and precise,” Midnight stated, “And the average pony has about four times the magic of a battle mage, and Twilight, here, has three times the magic of the average pony.”
“No kidding,” Scootaloo said, as she took a seat again with her third helping of chilli. “It’s like looking at a little purple sun. I start getting headaches if I stay around her all day.”
Jacob raised an eyebrow at the filly. He was about to ask what she was talking about, but was interrupted by his fuzzy sister.
“You know, your magic is weird to us, too,” Twilight said. “The way you attach runes to objects and power machines and such is not something we're used to here.”
Midnight's eyes widened as a brilliant idea hit him. He looked back at his wife, and then to his brother once again.
“Speaking of magic,” Midnight gave his little brother a grin, “how good have you gotten at giving non-humans runes?”