• Published 5th Aug 2013
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The Titans' Orb - Mister Horncastle



Callum lives a miserable life on Earth. But that is soon to change, when some unexpected visitors change his life forever.

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Chapter Four: Early Complications

Before going back upstairs to join the girls, I went to the kitchen and grabbed a dish cloth; I really didn’t want the others to freak out over Twilight lashing out at me, so I made an effort to make the damage seem as insignificant as possible. Going into the downstairs bathroom and turning on the cold tap, I wetted the dish cloth and then gently pressed it against my mouth to cool it down and reduce the inflammation.

{Oh Twilight, what’s making you act like this?} I thought to myself, deeply exhaling out of my nose.

Dabbing at my lip to clear the blood, I reflected on all the information currently available to me, desperately trying to sus out what had driven Twilight to such drastic levels of hostile paranoia. Obviously she knew about humanity’s darker merits, that much was evident, but there was clearly something else at the root of all this.
What frustrated me to no end, was that she had tried to tell me something! Just before the game of Hide and Seek, in Oliver’s room, she had made an attempt to reason with me, and I had squandered the opportunity by touching her shoulder, which had spooked her back into her fearful and mistrustful state.

{You idiot, Callum!} I spat to myself in thought.

There was no telling when I would receive another opening like that, I could only hope that it came soon, as I feared that the longer this issue went unchecked, the worse it would become.

Once I was sure that my lip was no longer bleeding, and skin around it wasn’t quite so red, I grumbled that it would have to do, and made my way upstairs. Stepping into my room, I was immediately greeted by Rainbow Dash, donning a warm grin.

“Hey dude! So, Rarity’s come up with some sort of plan.”

“Brilliant!” I replied cheerfully, “Let’s hear it.”

Before Rarity could elaborate, Applejack walked up to me and squinted at my face.

“Sugarcube, what in tarnation happened to your chin there?”

At that, Rarity looked at me with more attentiveness and spotted the little bloodied tear in my lip, along with the red blemish beneath it. She gasped and promptly dashed up to me, practically knocking Applejack out of the way in order to tend to me.

“Darling, that looks really painful! How ever did this happen to you?”

Rainbow Dash frowned and opened her mouth to speak, it was pretty clear that she was going to accuse Twilight of attacking me. Though she would have been correct, I didn’t want to bring about any further hostility, and so I chose to lie.

“I tripped over on the way back from talking to Twilight, stupid as that sounds.”

Squinting at me with her jaw clenched, Rainbow Dash slowly shook her head and gave me a bitter look, one that very clearly said, ‘I know that you’re lying’. She was just about to question my rather pathetic excuse, when Twilight walked in behind me. As she did so, Rarity turned to her and pointed at my mouth.

“Look at his poor face, just look at it, Twilight!”

The lavender unicorn peered at her own handiwork (or was it hoofdiwork?). She then gave me a subtle glare, clearly assuming that the first thing I had gone and done was grass her up. Luckily, Rarity continued to dote on me before Twilight had the chance to speak.

“You must have hit something pretty hard when you fell over, what happened exactly?”

I quickly fabricated how I was on my way back from fetching Twilight, when I became absent-minded and tripped over my own feet, in which my mouth smacked into one of the flowerpots on the patio.

“Oof, that sounds painful.” Rarity commented, wincing.

“I swear I’m not usually this clumsy.” I continued, chuckling awkwardly, “I’m still trying to process that this is all real, and I just got a little scatter-brained on the way back to the house, that’s all.”

“Yeah that makes sense.” Applejack hummed with understanding, “If creatures from another world showed up on my farm, telling me that I was needed for some big quest of theirs, I’d be more darn befuddled than an earthworm in a bowl of spaghetti!”

As Applejack delivered her first countryism of adventure, Twilight looked at me and raised an eyebrow, obviously not expecting me to cover for her. Perhaps this could be the start of earning her trust? I winked at her, and for the first time, I saw her look to me with an inkling of kindness. It wasn’t much, but it was definitely a start.

“That does look, pretty painful...” the unicorn admitted.

I noticed the expression on the mare’s face change, it was the exact same look I had seen on my mother’s face this morning, after she had shoved me to the floor; it was a faintly shimmering sense of regret, and in that moment I knew Twilight regretted hitting me. But alas, just like with my mother, the expression only lasted for a short time.

“Well, I suppose you should have watched where you were going. As our new guide, I would expect you to at least show the capability to guide yourself.” she crooned nonchalantly.

{Um, ouch...} I thought to myself.

The others were once again shocked but kept quiet, even Rainbow Dash, whom looked like she was about to explode. Whatever game this mare was playing, it wasn’t going to work, and if an explosive reaction was what she was after, she was going to be sorely disappointed.

“Quite right, it shan’t happen again.” I agreed, giving her a weak smile and dipping my head.

Agreeing with her little jab was the smart play, she knew what she had done, and after eyeing me up and down for a moment, I noticed yet another hint of remorse in Twilight’s expression. She exhaled heavily from her nose and went to sit down beside Pinkie and Applejack. The realisation then crossed my mind that she might have been trying to provoke me into displaying a more threatening stance, perhaps so she could ensure that the others were also mistrustful of me. Whatever she was playing at, it wasn’t going to work.

As I playfully batted away Rarity’s hooves from my chin, I asked her what plan she’d supposedly come up with. She finally left my face alone and sat back down, flicking her perfectly curled mane aside; I couldn’t help but smirk, even while on another planet during a dangerous mission, she still maintained her sense of beauty and glamour.

“Well, you see darling, when the Titans’ Orb was forcibly removed from our world, a great deal of its essence was left behind, a magical residue, if you will. And prior to our departure, Princess Celestia had Twilight absorb this essence into her body, allowing her to physically resonate with the Orb.”

“Huh, and how does that work exactly?” I quizzed.

“It means I’ll be able to sense when pieces of the Orb are close by. It also means that once we have every piece, I’ll actually be able to repair it.” Twilight answered.

Humming loudly with great interest, I inquired as to how this played into Rarity’s plan. Proudly lifting her chin, the pearly unicorn happily explained.

“I had the idea that Twilight could use my gem-finding spell. She could fine-tune it to hone in on the Orb fragments, that way, we can know exactly where we’re going!”

“You know what, Rare? That’s actually a really good idea!” Applejack praised.

Pinkie clapped her hooves together and cheered for Rarity, as did we all, even Twilight admitted that the idea was superb. With the plan established, we were pretty much ready to embark, the was just one final matter.

“Firstly, that idea is absolutely sound, good thinking Rarity. And secondly, before departing for good, I need to handle this business in faking my death, but I haven’t a clue of how to go about it. Any suggestions?”

Now, I thought this part would take forever to plan out, but Pinkie Pie clearly had other ideas.

“Ooh, ooh! That’s easy-peasy, one-two-threesy! All you need is for Twilight to use her cloning spell, and then you can just make the clone look all dead-like!”

I was gobsmacked, Pinkie Pie, out of all ponies...

“Pinkie, you’re a genius!” I praised.

“No I’m not, I’m a pony!” she giggled.

Every pony in the room laughed, not even Twilight was able to stifle a giggle.

“So, you actually have a cloning spell then? You can like, copy people?” I asked Twilight once we’d settled down.

“Not exactly...” the unicorn began, “Cloning spells vary in complexity, but none of them will ever make a fully functional duplicate of someone. If I cloned you, it would be more like an echo of you, it wouldn’t be able to make its own decisions or anything like that. They also don’t last forever, if you don’t destroy it manually to regain the mana, a clone will naturally break down after a week or two.”

“Huh, that’s still incredible!” I exclaimed, taken aback.

Amazingly, Twilight asked if I’d like a demonstration of the spell, to which I very eagerly agreed to.

“Very well, stand still.”

Twilight’s horn began to glow brightly and the girls gave us some space. A thin stream of purple light then started to emerge from my chest, it wasn’t painful in the slightest, it just felt really warm, it was the strangest sensation. The stream of light coalesced in front of me a formed a shimmering sphere, which then grew bigger and bigger, it was one of the most amazing things I’d ever seen in all my life! The ball of light began to stretch out, it twisted and turned and I noticed that it was shaping into the form of a human, shaping into me.
Then in a split second, the light faded away, leaving behind a perfectly convincing replica of myself.

“Whoa...” I breathed, utterly mesmerised.

The others giggled quietly as they watched me process this event, gazing at my clone with wide eyes.

“Whoa indeed.” the clone spoke.

I jumped back a good few feet and nearly shat a brick.

“It can talk?” I asked Twilight, pointing to it with awe.

“I don’t know, can it?” he asked in reply, smirking.

Scoffing with amusement, I circled him, completely starstruck. Even as a living falsehood, it seemed that the clone could think for himself and form his own sentences. Observing my own self from another’s perspective was beyond surreal; and damn, was my arse really that good? I gave my doppelgänger’s firm bubble-butt a curious touch, to which he turned around and looked at me with an eyebrow raised.

“Come on, at least take me out on a date first?”

Every single one of us, including the clone, burst into hysterics at such a comment. The hilarity went on for a few more minutes before Twilight brought it to a close.

“Alright, that’s enough now, it was only a demonstration.”

Her horn once again shone brightly, and the clone started to glow in turn. Small pieces of his body then began to break away into wisps of light, which faded away into nothingness. In his very last moments of existence, he began to sing depressingly, accepting his end.

Hello darkness, my old friend... I’ve come to talk with you a-

His singing came to a halt as his entire being eventually fell apart and vanished altogether.

“Well, that was an experience...” I murmured.

After taking a moment to settle down from the event, we all got back to business.

“Right, so in all seriousness, how are we going to do this?” asked Applejack.

With nobody offering to make a suggestion, I put forward an idea.

“Well, we could simulate a break in? It could play out that I was killed by the intruders.”

“And how are we be able to do that? I can’t just conjure up some people to break into your house.” Twilight grumbled.

“It’s simple, we break in ourselves!” I replied with a toothy grin, “I could kick the front door in, and we just smash a few things here and there, and it’ll look like someone’s broken into the house.”

The girls all looked around at one another, shrugging, and then looked back to me.

“Sugarcube, is that really necessary?” Applejack asked.

“Well, it needs to look authentic!” I shrugged, “Besides, we could all blow off some steam before heading out. Nothing relieves stress better than breaking a few things.”

“Hm, I suppose you’re right...”

I knelt down and reached under my bed, pulling out my dad’s big camping rucksack, which I now owned since he left.

“What’s that for darling?” Rarity asked.

“Supplies, for the journey! You’ve all got bags, why shouldn’t I have one?” I answered.

“Hmm, touché.” she replied.

“So, when do you plan on trashing this place then?” Rainbow Dash asked.

That made me think, what did I need to take? And what about the dogs? I couldn’t leave them here alone, Oliver wouldn’t be home for days, and that witch of a woman certainly wasn’t a responsible owner. I wanted the best for them, but how I could I achieve that when I was about to duff up the house and stage my own murder?
That’s when an idea hit me, I had a friend close by, my only friend within walking distance, Bruce Harding. He was one of my best mates, and there was no doubt that he would look after the dogs, and keep his trap shut about it. He was a brony like myself, and a huge lover of animals. He was a top bloke, with plenty of land, and would certainly be willing to care for the dogs, even if the police ended up searching for them. He only lived a few miles away too, a forty minute walk at most.

“Today if we can, but first I have to do something...” I replied at last to the pegasus.

“And what is this something that you have to do?” Twilight asked.

“I need to find somewhere for the dogs to stay, so that they’re safe. I have a friend who might look after them.”

“Absolutely not.” the unicorn commanded, “We are not risking our mission for the sake of your mutts, we can just-”

“I’m sorry, I don’t think I heard that correctly,” I interrupted.

Taking a step forward towards her, Twilight gulped, realising that she’d genuinely offended me.

“It’s funny, it almost sounded like you just called my beloved dogs, of whom I love very dearly, mutts.”

I stared deep into her large almond eyes, causing her to shiver.

“N-No, you heard wrong...” she stuttered, “You can inform your friend, but you’d better know what you’re doing...”

“Oh, excellent! No problems then.” I cheered, bursting back into my usual smile.

I picked up my rucksack once more, and headed to the door.

“Right, I’m going to fill this thing with supplies, are you girls okay with being in here on your own for a bit?”

They all nodded, besides Twilight, who sat there grinding her teeth. She was clearly embarrassed and angry at my ability to seize dominance from her, and Dashie’s poorly suppressed giggling wasn’t helping.

I headed downstairs and raided the kitchen. The first place I searched was the cupboard, a perfect place to find snacks and non-perishables. Oliver was prone to snacking throughout the day, and so the stock was frequently diminished in as much time as it took to restock it. Thankfully, my mother had been shopping only two days prior, so I had a lot to choose from. I decided to think long-term, and grabbed things that would last a long time without going bad. Fruit and such would need to be found along the journey; rotten food in my bag was the last thing I needed.
The rucksack ended up being stuffed with bags of crisps, cereal, pasta and rice. I also packed some sweets and chocolate too, (mostly for Pinkie). Additionally, I crammed in every tin of beans I could find, knowing I would need them for protein; it was a no-brainer that I wouldn’t be eating meat for a while.

With meat on the mind, I thought hard on the issue. Even if I became a vegetarian from this time forward, the ponies would find out one way or another that I was an omnivore. When that happened, any bonds of trust that I’d currently formed with the girls could very well go straight out the window. I fought hard to let the thoughts blow away, and decided that I’d cross that bridge when I came to it.
Ensuring there was still some space in the bag, I rushed around the house to grab things I needed besides food. I gathered my swimming goggles, a towel, my phone, its charger, my toothbrush, and accompanying toothpaste. Sneaking into Oliver’s room, I stole one of his Swiss Army knives, knowing it would surely come in handy. I also grabbed a few rolls of toilet paper from the bathroom; going vegetarian was bad enough, I wasn’t going to use leaves to wipe my arse if I could help it.

I headed back upstairs, now with enough supplies in my rucksack to last a good few months, I opened my door to find the six ponies chatting to one another, they smiled as I walked in.

“So, Callum, who’s this friend of yours that we’re going to meet?” Rarity piped up.

Before I could answer, Twilight jumped to her hooves.

“Meet? I said nothing about meeting him!” she barked, “You are to do nothing more than inform him to collect your dogs at some point, long after we’re already gone!”

For once, I decided to hold my ground and see where it got me.

“That’s quite funny Twilight, because I don’t remember asking for your permission.”

She opened her mouth to speak, but I continued before she could utter another word.

“Look, I’m throwing away my entire life to do this, and I’m well aware there’s no going back. The last thing I want to do before I leave, is make absolutely sure my dogs are safe, and I’m not going to let you take that away from me. Now I’m only going to say this once, I’m taking my dogs to my friend, and you are not going to deny me that, do you understand?”

Clenching her jaw, Twilight was clearly about to object, which was when she spotted her friends eyeing her, waiting for her reaction. Swallowing her anger, she remained silent and gave a slow, reluctant nod.

“Following your question Rarity, his name is Bruce Harding. He’s an animal lover, just like you Fluttershy.”

At that, the butter coloured pegasus jumped up with delight, immediately growing more talkative.

“He loves animals? Oh, that’s wonderful! What animals does he have?” she asked excitedly.

“You can ask him in a moment, I’m about to call him on Skype.”

“Uh, Sugarcube, what in tarnation is a Skype?” asked Applejack.

“Well, Skype is a really useful application on this device of mine. It allows me to communicate with others across the the world. You can talk to people as though they’re in the same room.”

Everypony was amazed, such a feat seemed impossible to them, especially without magic.

“Across the whole planet?” said Rainbow Dash.

“Yup!” I replied with a huge grin.

I looked at Twilight, who was again back to her original self, eager to learn; about goddamn time...

Opening my laptop screen and hitting the ‘on’ button, it instantly sprung to life, the screen lit up with the ‘Acer, Empowering People’ logo, before going to the login screen. I entered my password and went to my desktop, and instantly regretted it, as my desktop background was that of the Windows logo, with Derpy Hooves sticking her head through it.

“Hey!” Rainbow Dash shouted, “That’s Derpy!”

I looked from pony to pony, only to find them smiling and giggling at the image. I had expected them to be horrified at seeing a cartoon image of one of their kind on my computer screen.

“Uhm yeah, that’s Derpy alright! Although to be perfectly honest, I was expecting you all to be a little unsettled at seeing her on here. I’m not exactly sure how much you know about the cartoon.”

Thankfully Rarity cleared the mist and clarified what they knew.

“Well dear, during our mission briefing, Princess Celestia explained to us about how we co-exist in your world in the form of an animated story for children. Broadcasted via your, um, what is it called? A talvision?”

“Close, it’s called a television, or just TV for short.” I corrected.

Rarity gave an interested ‘hmm’ in acknowledgement, and I decided to carry on with my query.

“But I don’t get it, I would’ve thought that you’d be freaked out by knowing that you’re a TV show here, what gives?”

“Oh trust me darling, we were to start with, incredibly so in fact! But the Princess explained everything in thorough, and even used a spell to show us some of the cartoon directly. It was rather weird at first, I must admit, but we soon adjusted to the facts. I must say at least, it was quite entertaining to see myself as an animated character, you humans are very talented with your work.”

Humming with understanding, their reactions made a lot more sense. Still, I didn’t expect Celestia to do such a thing, and besides, how did she acquire a memory that included a vision of the show in the first place?

“Might I ask, how did Princess Celestia get a hold of the footage to show you?” I inquired.

“She didn’t say, only that it was something she’d acquired from a previous visit, why do you ask?”

“Just curious.”

A previous visit? That must have been the ‘My Little Dashie’ event, just thinking about it again made me shudder. Still, now I knew that the six were aware of the show, it made it a lot easier to use my computer without having to hide all the ponified stuff lying around. It would also make talking to Bruce less awkward for them. With that in mind, I double clicked on Skype and waited for it to open.

“So what else did Celestia tell you about this place?”

“It’s Princess, Celestia. She has a title, use it.” Twilight snapped.

Well, Twilight’s good mood didn’t last long. Although, it was understandable that Twilight wanted the Princess’s name to be spoken properly, as she was the ruler’s prize student.
It was Rainbow Dash to answer my question, although it was barely an answer at all.

“She didn’t say much in detail. All she told us was that we’ll need you to guide us, as it might be dangerous.”

{Well, she got that right.}

“But I don’t get it, why me?”

The cyan mare shrugged, for she did not know the answer; by the looks of the others, nopony knew.
Yet another mystery to be solved.

Skype made its usual popping noise to indicate it had booted up. I clicked on Bruce’s profile, and then clicked on the message bar and began to type.

Callum: Hey broski! How are ya?

The ponies stared at the screen in confusion.

“I’m not seeing anything...” Twilight moaned.

“Wait for it...” I replied.

Bruce: CALLUM! *glomps*

The other ponies were amazed.

“So, those words, just came from some dude in another part of the world?” Dashie asked in awe.

“That would be correct.” I smiled back.

“What is a glomps?” Rarity asked.

“It’s sort of like a dive hug, I think...” Fluttershy quietly answered before I could speak.

I wasn’t quite sure how she knew about glomping, perhaps the word existed in Equestria? I’d figure that out another time, but for the time being, I got back down to business with Bruce.

Callum: Bro, can I ask a huge favour of you?

Bruce: Ugh, your favours are always costly. What is it now?

Callum: I need your help, for real. Kinda urgently, it’s important.

Bruce: What do you mean? I’m worried now. Are you in trouble or something?

Callum: Can I just call you?

Bruce: Yeah, go ahead...

“Okay girls, I’m about to hit this button here, and then he will be able to see me from here” I explained, pointing to my webcam.

In the blink of an eye, Twilight darted away from the laptop, wishing to remain out of sight. The others bunched up together, ready to greet my friend. But then, at the last minute, looking at the fear in the purple unicorn’s eyes, I decided that showing them all on camera may not have been the best idea. Twilight was right to a degree, we needed to minimise risks and take this seriously. The ponies didn’t need to be included in this transaction; it was between me, Bruce, and the dogs. Exhaling heavily from my nose, I expressed my feelings to the girls, and requested that they remained out of sight, and not to speak. Pinkie and Rainbow Dash both moaned in protest, but obeyed regardless, shifting over with the others to watch from the side, still eager to see how Skype actually worked.
Hitting the call button, Skype started ringing, and in a few seconds, Bruce’s face appeared on the screen.

“Right, talk to me. What the bloody hell have you done?”

Giving a heavy sigh, I didn’t really know where to begin other than that I needed his help.

“Like I said, I need to ask you a favour, a big one, and it needs to be kept between us.”

“Dude, you’re really freaking me out. What the hell is going on?”

Inhaling deeply, I explained that I would be going away, and that he needed to look after the dogs for me.

“That’s it? For fuck’s sake Callum, you had me really worried!”

I winced slightly at the language, worried that the girls would take offence. Glancing at them, they seemed mostly unbothered, aside from a few concerning looks between one another.

“I don’t think you understand.” I continued, “I’m going away, and I’m not coming back.”

His cheesy grin was gone instantly and he froze, processing my words.

“Wait, what do you mean?” he eventually spoke.

“Look, can you take care of my dogs? Yes or no?”

“Well yeah, easily, I love Chilli and Archer to bits! But what do you mean you aren’t coming back?”

Huffing anxiously, I asked if he could pick me up, where I’d explain in person. Regrettably, he explained that his car was currently being repaired at the local garage, so I’d have to come to him. Clenching my jaw with annoyance, I was hoping that he’d be able to just swing by and pick up the pooches and be done with it, but at least it wasn’t too far of a walk.

“Roger that, I’ll get walking then.”

“Okay, alright, I... um... better clean up this place! Where to begin? Uh, ah! Dog food, baskets...” he trailed off.

Knowing that his mind was now on the dogs, I said goodbye, to which he dipped his head and joked that he’d put the kettle on. I thanked him and said that I’d be over as quickly as possible, and then hung up. I turned to face the girls with a weak smile; it had been so difficult not to tell Bruce about the girls, but the last thing I needed was him losing his mind, when I just needed him to say yes about the dogs.

“That must have been awfully difficult for you.” said Rarity, giving my shoulder a friendly nudge, “I can certainly see how us being on the camera would have made things more problematic.”

“Thanks Rare.” I replied, “Now I just have to walk the dogs to his, I shouldn’t take too long. Out of interest though, is there a way of magically travelling back and forth between two spots?”

“Well, now that you mention it, Twilight could set up a Pullie-Portal for you!”

Twilight immediately started shaking her head, frowning.

“A what?” I asked.

Rarity went on to explain that a Pullie-Portal was a two-part spell, that essentially worked like a boomerang. The first part of the spell would be cast onto me, making me the boomerang. At a later point in time, Twilight could then cast the second portion of spell, teleporting me back to her.

“That’s... awesome!” I exclaimed, my jaw dropping.

“Yeah it’s certainly one of the more complex spells.” Rarity agreed, “I wouldn’t be able to cast it to save my life!”

“Can I come?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Don’t be ridiculous, he can go alone.” Twilight ordered.

Before Rainbow could argue, I backed Twilight up, suggesting that it would be safer and faster if I made my way alone. While I was gone, the girls could pack up their camp and prepare to leave for good.

“Then how’s Twilight going to know when to pull you back?” Dashie retorted.

“Good point.” I added.

Rarity cleared her throat and reminded us that there were in fact two unicorns among us. With a cloaking spell, she could accompany me without the risk of being seen, and magically ping Twilight when we were ready to return. I praised Rarity for the idea and Twilight gave a small huff of annoyance.

“Ugh, whatever gets us out of here sooner.”

“Well, for now, how about we get to beating up the house?” I proposed, “Then I’ll take the dogs, and then we’re free to go.”

“No objection here.” Rainbow Dash muttered.

No disagreement came from the group, and I dipped my head, ready to rumble. With the biggest grin my mouth could manifest, I went over to the corner of my room and retrieved my cricket bat.

“What’s that for?” asked Pinkie.

Smirking at the pony, I tightened my grip on the bat’s handle, and inhaled deeply.

”Daddy needs to express some rage...”

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