“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!” Jonathan shot up, his covers flying into the air. Sweat beaded on his forehead, and he took in huge breaths. He was fairly certain that his hands were shaking. The scream had come from him, a reaction of terror over what he had just seen.
His heart pounded against his chest with loud beats. He shook his head to clear it.
Jonathan's breathing slowed as he gained control of himself. “Stupid necklace.” He muttered, kicking the rest of the covers away. That second dream… had it been real?
Had that actually happened? He had no way of knowing. Not till he got home. Sunlight was pouring out of the window, so Jonathan assumed that breakfast was ready. He put his jacket back on, and his boots.
Not one to leave a mess behind, Jonathan straightened the pillows and smoothed the blankets. He gave the necklace another tug. “If only this could come off.” He thought. Did his aunt ever have trouble with the necklace coming off?
Running a hand through his locks, Jonathan walked downstairs where he smelled something yummy. Applejack was standing at an oven, cooking. Spike was sitting at a table writing in a notebook. He looked like he had been up all night. Bags were under his eyes. An orange pony with a magenta mane edged with teal was sitting there as well.
She had wings and a long magenta tail. A shield cutie mark with a scooter on it and wings was on her flank. The table had a wooden butter tray with creamy brown apple butter in it. A knife lay at the edge.
Applejack glanced at him. “Well, howdy partner. Have a bad dream?” Jonathan nodded as he pulled up a chair. “Yeah.
I think Twilight was right about my necklace giving me dreams. The second one was awful. The first one was good, though.” Spike finished writing and glanced at Jonathan. “Hello, Jonathan.
Meet Scootaloo. Scootaloo, this is Jonathan, the human I was talking about.” Scootaloo nodded at him. “Hey there.” Applejack placed a plate of two biscuits, and several scrambled eggs in front of him.
“Now then. Eat up. Don't want to lose your strength.” Jonathan cut a bit of the egg and placed it in his mouth. It tasted rather good.
Eggs were a rare treat back in the town. Only when he, Lena, or anyone else discovered a wild bird's nest full of eggs did they get to taste them. Trisha had always prepared them by boiling them in hot water, and putting multiple spices on them. A tasty treat, they were. These however, were different.
They were… fried in a pan. Maybe? Spike tapped the pencil against his cheek. “Jonathan. How many days have you spent here.”
Jonathan stopped chewing. “Um. Let's see. I was out for a day, then spent most of one in Canterlot, then spent one exploring Ponyvillie, so today is my fifth day here.” Spike frowned.
“I see. So then, what was the date of the day that you left?” Jonathan began counting on his left fingers with the fork still in his clenched right hand. “Uh, let me see here. It was in the beginning of fall, so that would have been in the month of Augustus.
There is four weeks in a month, and the moon was full, so the day number would have been 16. And, Felix went to the nearby forest lake the day before all this happened, so that means it was a Tuesday because he always goes to the lake on Tuesday.” Scootaloo stared at him with slight awe. “You knew all that without looking at a calender?” Jonathan raised an eyebrow at her.
“What is a calender?” Scootaloo blinked. Spike snorted. “Well, there is your answer. Hm.
Augustus. The Patin term for the last month of summer, heading to fall. About the very beginnings of fall really. So it would be August, the sixteenth.” Jonathan's face fell suddenly.
Spike raised an eyebrow. “What's wrong?” Jonathan poked at his egg with his fork. “Tomorrow will be the anniversary of my dead parents. And I won't be able to visit my aunt's grave.”
He sighed and looked at Spike. “Was that helpful?” Spike nodded. Scootaloo looked at him.
“But today is not the 16th, or is it August.” Spike nodded tiredly. “What year, Jonathan?” Jonathan took several bites of his egg as he thought. “3018.”
He answered. Applejack sat down beside them. “Why do ya need the date, Spike?” Spike looked up from his notes. “Twilight decided that our world and Jonathan's world were in different times.”
Scootaloo raised an eyebrow. “Different times?” Spike cleared his throat. “You know, like another plane of existence. Another universe.
Something like that. She wanted to know if our time lines were in the same time periods. Which they are not.” Spike glanced back at his notes, and stuck his pencil behind an ear. “Jonathan's world is in August, and we are on June the 20th.
One month, and four days behind him.” Jonathan cocked his head. “June?” Spike shook his head slightly. “Or Lunius.”
Jonathan nodded. Applejack looked at Spike real close. “Spike, you look worn out.” Spike sighed softly. “I bet I do.”
Scootaloo frowned at him. “Spike, Twilight didn't make you stay up with all her figuring things out. Did she?” Spike gave a very sleepy shrug. “I am her number one assistant.”
Applejack frowned. “Spike, Twilight isn't staying as well. Is she?” Spike shrugged again. Applejack sighed and shook her head.
“Typical Twilight. Spike, you go and lay down before you nod off in that chair.” Spike nodded and climbed down. He mumbled to Applejack. "I made blueberry tea before I left.
Help yourself to it." He settled down onto a nearby couch and closed his eyes. Few seconds later, he was fast asleep.
Applejack went into another room to fetch something. Scootaloo walked over to the sleeping Spike and pulled a blanket over him. Jonathan finished eating his eggs and started on one of the biscuits. Cracking it open with his hands, he slid a layer of the creamy brown apple butter over the biscuit. He took a bite of the biscuit.
It was good. A creamy, spicy, cinnamon, apple taste ran over his taste buds. It had just the right amount of spiciness and sweetness. It was very delicious. He took an another bite, this one bigger than the last.
He could taste the biscuit as well. It was soft, fluffy, and warm the bread taste reminding him of a pie crust. He cracked the second open and spread a thicker layer over it. He took a satisfied bite of the biscuit. Applejack scraped more scrambled eggs from the cooking pan onto a plate.
She took two biscuits, placed a jar of the creamy, apple butter with a knife, covered it with a cloth, and carried it to the table. “You willing to
eat that on the way, Jonathan?” He nodded and swallowed. “Where to?” Applejack straightened her hat.
“Twilight's place. Can't have her stay up all night and plan to stay up all day as well.”
Jonathan grabbed the two biscuits and followed Applejack outside. Scootaloo followed them, her wings flapping. The outside was full of damp grass, sunny skies, singing birds, and puffy, white, clouds. A gentle breeze pushed against his hair, ruffling it. Jonathan, despite having a bad dream, been to find this mood lifting.
They walked along the dirt road, with Jonathan munching on the biscuits. Scootaloo would fly often into the sky in order to do a few loops, then soar back down. Applejack watched her with a proud smile on her face. "Ah knew Scoots would fly one day." Jonathan looked at Applejack.
"She couldn't before?" Applejack shook her head. "Her wings were unusually small for her age when she was little. But she got a growth spurt after receiving her cutie mark, and boy did those little wings grow. Now, they are slightly bigger than the normal wing span, making her a much better flier."
Jonathan nodded and watched Scootaloo's form as it flew through the sky. They soon arrived at a tree castle made from crystal. Jonathan finished eating the biscuits and wiped the crumbs from his hands. Applejack's hoof knocked on the door. "Twilight!
Are you in there?"
Silence answered them. Jonathan slowly cocked his head. He was certain that he heard a faint sound. Applejack's ear twitched. Then twitched again.
She frowned. Applejack opened the door and walked inside. Jonathan came with her. Scootaloo came in and shut the door. She floated lazily to the ground.
As they walked deeper into the crystal hallway, the faint sound got louder. It sounded a whole lot like snoring. Applejack's brow furrowed.
They went into a room full of books, scrolls, charts, diagrams, desks, pens, paper, burning candles, smoking potions, a telescope, and symbols of magic. In the middle of the room was a lavender pony with wings, horn, and a dark purple mane and tail.
Applejack swerved around the mess and headed to the pony. Jonathan followed her, stepping over the mess delicately. Applejack's hoof shook the pony's shoulder. "Twilight?" Twilight snored in reply.
Applejack frowned. "Twilight!"
She said louder. Twilight kept snoring. "Twilight!" Twilight's head shot up with her eyes wide open. "The answer is sixty-five!"
Applejack blinked. "Huh?" Twilight blinked several times. "Applejack? What are you doing here?" At the look on Applejack's face, Twilight slowly looked around and began to look rather sheepish.
"Uh, I fell asleep again, didn't I?" Applejack nodded. Twilight giggled softly. "Heh. Oops."
Applejack sighed and gave Twilight a tight hug. "You gotta learn to cut yourself some slack, Twilight." Twilight hugged her back. "I know." Applejack finished the hug with one more squeeze and placed her plate onto the desk.
"Here Twilight. Eat some breakfast. I'll go get some of the blueberry tea." Twilight nodded yes, shook her head to clear it, and uncovered the plate with a hoof. Her horn glowed with a pink aura.
It lifted a knife and cracked open a biscuit. With a swift swipe, it spread the creamy apple butter over the biscuit. Scootaloo came beside Twilight. “You made Spike so tired that he fell asleep right in the middle of Applejack's floor!” Twilight looked guiltily at her hooves.
“He volunteered to help.” She mumbled. Scootaloo turned to one of the potions and watched bubbles float to the surface. Jonathan looked more closely at the scribbles Twilight had made onto the scroll before her. “What is this for?” Twilight glanced at it.
“That is how we are going to activate your necklace.” Jonathan stared at her. “Meaning?” Twilight pointed a hoof at the necklace. “As far as I know, when you stepped into that room with the statue, your necklace was activated.
Meaning that it somehow knew I was in danger over here and took you there. Automatically.” Jonathan stared at the necklace. A grimace covered his face. “Wonderful.”
Twilight frowned. “But here is the thing. Unlike what I previously thought, it isn't going to keep doing that. From what I gathered, the wearer of said necklace is supposed to be able to pass between worlds by simply appearing before a landmark. Like the statue.”
Jonathan nodded. “So it only did that, because I wouldn't have known how to do it on my own?” Twilight nodded. Jonathan's brow furrowed. “But that doesn't make any sense.
Why would I even need to go here to save you? I'm not saying that its bad that I did save you, but I did have two other people that really needed to be saved at that moment. And I honestly think that Spike had it covered.” Twilight sighed. “Remember how we couldn't take it off?”
Jonathan nodded. “Apparently, by putting it on, you are therefore bound to do something.” Her head cocked. “Wasn't there a ritual done, or a chant is spoken when you received it? Something like that?”
Jonathan looked at his necklace. “I had to take an oath. And allow my aunt to draw a symbol of a horn on my forehead, a symbol of wings on my back. Symbols of leaves on the front of my hands. A six pointed star with five other stars on the front of my chest. And a streak on the bottom of my lip. ” Twilight nodded very slowly and took another bite of the biscuit.
“Your aunt was the previous wearer of the necklace?” Jonathan bit his lip and nodded. Twilight chewed her cheek. “Well here is the thing. When Equestria is in danger, you are now bound by the necklace to come to its aid.
You will have to literally drop everything to come.” Jonathan covered his face with his hand. This was awful news. How could he ever do anything meaningful when he could get popped away any second? “And to get you back.”
Continued Twilight. “will take some work. And we shall add onto the fact that the previous wearer of the necklace must have added those UMCS.” Jonathan cocked his head. “UMCS?”
Twilight cleared her throat. “Unidentified Magic Casting Symbol. I sensed quite a few on you when I examined your necklace in my aura.”
Jonathan blinked. “What, are they?”
Twilight shrugged. “I'm not sure. They seem to be there for you to cast magic, I suppose. I don't know what I am supposed to call them, though.” Scootaloo looked up from the potion.
“How about runes?” Twilight nodded. “Okay, we will call them runes.” She looked Jonathan square in the eye. “Those runes could very well help us get you home.
So, then we will activate your necklace, and discover how many, and what kind, you have. Sounds good?” Jonathan looked at his necklace.
Once, back before all this crazy stuff, looking at it brought him comfort. Now, it no longer did.
Only a sense of loneliness.
“Sounds good to me, Twilight.”