Chapter Four: Monday, April 28 - Part Two
It was about 1 PM when we made it to Phil's, and entered to the sound of Cab Calloway blaring from the jukebox. Phil was happy to see me again, and especially "the girl with the megaton punch."
"Ahh... Jimmy! And Miss Rarity, too! How lovely to see you again!" Phil bellowed, in his jolly Greek accent. "Ahh, the women are just flocking to you today!"
"Hi, Phil. Uh, Phil, this is Twilight. She's Rarity's sister."
Phil bounded over and kissed Twilight's hand. "How lovely to meet you." He then said to me "Gathering a harem, aren't you?" He then laughed an infectious laugh.
I ordered for the three of us, and we took a seat in a booth. Twilight began to talk.
"Now, Rarity, I know you may not remember much..." Twilight began.
"I was wondering about that. It took me some time to get nearly all of my memories back." Rarity replied.
"It connects to how you're here in the first place."
"That's the only thing I can't remember at all."
"Well, this is what happened."
"I'm all ears." I said.
"Well, it begins with the Alicorn Amulet." Twilight began
'The one that Trixie used that made her into Ponyville's dictator?"
"The same. It originally belonged to a minotaur named Lord Maliss."
"Lord Maliss?" I asked. "Sounds like a fairy tale villain." Twilight glared at me. "Sorry. Do go on."
"Anyway," Twilight continued, "As the legends state, Maliss once ruled Saddle Arabia with an iron fist. He had this ability to manifest one's own fears or make them relieve the most traumatic moments in their lives. If he wanted to, he could kill you with them. Say that you had a fear of water? He'd make a tank appear over you and fill it up. The dark? He'd make you blind as a bat. It was because he found that amulet in a dragon's hoard."
"He stole from a dragon's hoard and lived?" Rarity replied.
"He used the amulet to make the dragon's worst fear come true: the creatures he stole from took their revenge."
"I'm taking a guess that sheer numbers overwhelmed a dragon?" I asked.
"Exactly." Twilight replied. "He made off with the amulet while the dragon was slaughtered. With it, his power was boosted enough that he could conjure and control any nightmare creatures that manifested and build an army to conquer all of Equestria. Thankfully, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were able to stop him with the Elements of Harmony and send him to Tartarus."
"Then what's he doing out?" Rarity asked.
"Remember when Cerberus fled from Tartarus? Maliss used that opportunity to escape." Twilight answered. "He retrieved the amulet from the Ponyville Museum, which we were investigating when we found out about a couple of relics in the Canterlot library. Relics in the Star Swirl the Bearded Wing."
"Star Swirl the Bearded?" I asked.
"The most important conjurer of the pre-classical era, and also one of the most benevolent and kind ponies next to the princesses." She replied.
Our food came at around this time: chicken sandwich and soda for me, Caesar salad and soda for Rarity, and a salad, large bowl of fries, three rolls and soda for Twilight. She continued talking through bites of her meal.
"He had created two talismans: one to travel through time, and one to travel through space. He wanted to use them for beneficial purposes: to get accurate accounts of history and make sure fillies and colts could know the true history of Equestria, and to visit other worlds as a goodwill ambassador, and offer aid to those in need."
"A noble cause." Rarity said.
"Yes, it would have been." Twilight continued. "However, when he found that other creatures and ponies would abuse the power of the talismans, use them to pervert history rather than observe it, or use it to rule other worlds rather than help them, he had them locked away in the Canterlot library. Lord Maliss knew of the legends, and he went after them. He not only wanted Equestria, but all worlds. You, me, Applejack, Pinkie, Rainbow and Fluttershy had caught up to him when he had opened a dimensional gate with the space talisman, and tried to stop us with the amulet. He conjured a demon that tried to kill Applejack. While I dealt with the demon, you saw Maliss was going to summon another one. You bum rushed him, and he flung you into the portal. He followed when he realized you grabbed the time talisman."
Hearing this, I pulled the medallion out of my pocket. "You mean this?"
Twilight got an expression of relief and joy when she saw it. "Yes! That's the one!"
Rarity had it with her when I found her."
Twilight looked at me. "Which reminds me, neither of you have told me about how you came to know each other."
Rarity and I got her up to speed. We related the events of the past two days: of how I found her in the woods, how I had been showing her around the human world, about the flytrap attack, and the strange dreams. Before Twilight could reply, I started on my own line of questioning.
"If Maliss has the space talisman, how did you wind up here?" I asked.
"The talismans had sort-of blueprints in spells that Star Swirl had been working on." Twilight began. "We scoured the library until we found them. The reason for Rarity's memory loss is because she didn't have the space talisman. If she had it and was going alone, she would have been fine. For group trips, before the talisman was crafted, you would use a spell to open the gate, and a second spell would be used to protect against the shock of dimensional travel. Since Rarity didn't know about that spell..."
I finished. "It swiss-cheesed her memory."
"Yes." Twilight said. "Thankfully, it seems the effect was temporary."
"How did you get that motorcycle, and the clothes, and even know how to use it?" I asked.
"We have a resident human expert in Ponyville." Twilight started.
"You went to Lyra?" Rarity asked.
"The one and the same." Twilight said. "To the ponies at large, humans are mythical creatures, said to inhabit another world. Nearly all ponies don't believe in them, but there are a few out there who do. Lyra is one of the most devoted to the subject. She knows a lot about human customs and human behavior."
"We may never know how." Rarity said.
"She had a piece of human currency. A twenty-dollar bill. We don't know how it wound up there, but it did. We used magic to dupicate it."
"Counterfeiting by sorcery?" I asked.
"Before you ask, yes, we knew enough to change serial numbers with every bill duplicated."
"So, you bought the bike, presumably. How did you not show up here naked like Rarity?"
"My guess is since we don't normally wear clothes, and she went in wearing nothing..."
"Ask a stupid question."
"Lyra loaned me the biker clothes, another human relic. I just changed when I landed. As to how I learned to ride the bike, I read the manual."
"If I ever meet her," I started, "I must ask her how she gets this stuff."
"Indeed." Rarity said. "How did you find us, darling?"
"I used a homing spell on the time talisman." Twilight replied.
"A homing spell?" I asked.
"It's like a metal detector. Only unicorns can use it. When the spell is activated, it sends out a series of waves to locate the object, which, in turn, are sent back to the unicorn as beeps. The closer you are, the more constant the beeps are."
"When did you get in?" I asked.
"Yesterday." Twilight answered. Enough time to get the bike, fuel, and a road map to find this place."
"Why can't you guys just rip the amulet off him with telekinesis?"
"The amulet has a magic lock on it. Only the wearer can remove it."
"One last thing," I asked, "Why shouldn't we go home?"
"If Maliss sent that bird after you, he more than likely tried to get you out of the way with that flytrap monster." Twilight started. "He knows where you live and where Rarity and the talisman were located. Why he didn't strike in the night and take the talisman then is anyone's guess. The point is, until he's defeated, it's not safe to go back to your house. We'll have to find another place to stay for the night. Also, in the morning, I would recommend switching cars. If that bird attacked you specifically, then he knows what you drive."
Phil came around with the bill. Twilight took care of it with a twenty, telling Phil to keep the change.
We piled into the Malibu, and headed to the Sunset Inn. It was a small, quaint looking place, one that I had passed many times on my way to work. It would do for the night. We parked in the nearly full lot and headed inside to check in.
"Double room, please. One night." I told the check-in clerk. He gave me a glare.
"Believe me, sir," Rarity started, "There's nothing between the three of us. We've just been traveling for a while and need to rest."
The clerk checked us in, still a bit shady of two girls and a guy checking into a double room. Twilight paid for the room. The clerk handed me the key.
"Room 237." The clerk told us.
The girls and I entered room 237, exhausted. I looked at the clock on my phone: it was 5 PM, and all of us wanted sleep. There were two beds, a couch, a chest of drawers with a small widescreen TV on it, and a bathroom with shower.
"Okay," I started. "You guys take the beds, I'll take the couch."
"Sounds fair." Twilight said, removing her biker jacket and boots. Rarity and I followed suit with our jackets and shoes. Afterward, Twilight laid on her bed and curled up in the blankets. "Good night, guys." She said. "And... Jimmy, is it?"
"Yes." I replied.
"Thank you for taking care of my friend. I don't know what would have happened otherwise."
"It's nothing."
"It's something, indeed. You got dragged into this crisis because of compassion and empathy for somepon- er, someone's plight. The fact that you're riding this out with us speaks volumes."
"It's just the right thing to do."
"Thank you. We're going to need all the help we can get. Good night, Rarity... Jimmy..."
Rarity turned to me. "Well... good night." She kissed me on the cheek.
"Good night, Rarity." I replied, and hugged her. "I forgot to thank you for last night, for helping me deal with two years of repressed emotions. I'll always be grateful to you for it."
"It's no problem." She replied. "I just saw someone in need, and helped them out. That's generosity. That's what I do."
There was an awkward silence. "Jimmy..." Rarity began.
"Yes?" I asked.
Rarity paused.
"What?"
"It's nothing." She replied. "Good night, darling."
"Good night, Rarity. Sleep well."
As Rarity climbed into bed, I settled on the couch and thought about the past two days, about the mess I was in, and about the woman who had entered my life. In two days, we had forged a bond that usually takes years to create. In two days, she had helped me deal with the most tragic loss of my life better than any psychiatrist had done, with pure compassion and love. And in two days, I knew that if push came to shove, I would die to protect her, and she would die to protect me. Unlike a lot of people who say that, I would go through with it, and she would, too. People like that these days are rare, a treasure that one should hold onto and cherish, and I would do that with Rarity for as long as she was here.
"I am truly a lucky man." I thought, as I drifted off to sleep.
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YOU ARE KILLING ME WITH THESE DOCTOR WHO REFERENCES
you are one of the first authors to ACTUALLY explain stuff. You didn't just say "It's magic!
Ta-da!"
You explained everything. And for that I bow down to you.
Let me guess
LYRA