The War of Equestria

by rainbowtiger00

Secrets Uncovered

Jonathan saw the faint darkness of his eyelids. He felt very tired like he had run from one end of the town to the other. He felt the throbbing pain of his sore body. Pain oozed from every pore. But the worst area was his head.

Ouch. It felt like Elder Onyx Ashstone had taken his staff and smacked him in the head. Hard. A groan came from his mouth. He was lying on something soft.

It seemed like silk. Silk. Such a rare fabric to be found in their town. Any silk trader had to travel miles in order to arrive at the village. And there was no guarantee that anyone would buy the goods.

Not because no one would not want a silk item. But because almost none could afford it. Felix, on one of the rare times a silk trader arrived, bought Trisha a silk scarf for their wedding anniversary. It was a purple and blue scarf with fancy light gray designs. It was said to have had a spell of protection on it, but Elder Onyx Ashstone wasn't so sure about that.

Trisha had been thoroughly delighted with the gift. She had become the town envy, but due to her modest nature, she only wore it on special occasions. Jonathan had felt and seen the scarf on town holidays. Trisha, because of her kind nature, allowed the town girls to wear it. Even Lena was allowed to use it one day.

Jonathan smiled at the thought. She had looked rather pretty in it. A sound startled him. Voices could be heard from above him. A regal, yet kind voice was the closest one.

Something placed a cool object on his head. It felt good. But it seemed like some sort of... hoof? Jonathan slowly opened his eyes and saw another pony standing right beside his lying figure.

This one was white as a pearl. Her mane and tail were a multitude of different colors, greenish teal, pinkish purple, sky blue. It was a lovely combination. They were so long that they would have swept the floor if they were not floating in the air. Her eyes were a regal purple, yet filled with wisdom and kindness.

A long horn was on her forehead, and huge, graceful wings came from her back. A golden crown graced her head. She was looking outside through a stained glass window that was in the room he was currently inside. It was sparsely furnished. Probably was supposed to be only used for guests.

Jonathan, at first stared at the pony. Then she caught an eyeful of him. “Ah, you're awake.” His eyes widened in fear. Then he opened his mouth.

"Ahh." A hoof covered his mouth, cutting him off.

"Don't scream. I'm not an enemy." Jonathan blinked. The hoof was removed. "You're in Canterlot, the land of Equestria.

I'm Princess Celestia. You have been out for a day." Jonathan slowly realized that he was staring with his mouth open. He blinked and slowly shook his head. The movement sent off another jolt of pain.

"Ow." He grunted. Princess Celestia placed a hoof onto his chest. "If you can, don't move. You are recovering from a magic spell." Jonathan raised his eyebrows.

"Huh?" Princess Celestia explained. "Somehow, you teleported yourself here. The spell took, like any other spell would, energy. Thankfully for you, you had so much energy from the adrenaline rush of fear that you were experiencing, that you were able to fight off the attacking creature.

But after the adrenaline rush was gone, you collapsed from exhaustion. You would have stayed awake, had you not been experiencing so much shock. " Jonathan nodded very slowly, in case he sent off another jolt of pain. "So, then." Princess Celestia spoke.

"Who are you?" Jonathan's tongue was heavy, yet he tried his best to speak. "I'm Jonathan Markson." Princess Celestia nodded. "Where did you come from?"

Jonathan chewed his bottom lip. "I live near this great big forest. My friends and I were in these ruins inside the forest. We were exploring them to find a source of a very loud noise when we were attacked by one of those creatures. Except that creature looked like a pony. The one that I recently fought looked like a human."

Jonathan's eyes widened with realization, and he tried to leap up from the bed. "My friends! They're in danger!" Princess Celestia placed a hoof on his chest again, watching him panic. "Are you sure that they are in danger?"

She gently pressed. Jonathan nodded fast, ignoring pain. "The creature hit Argon in the eye! Lena was injured! They are in trouble!

I have to go help them!" Princess Celestia's horn glowed with golden colored magic. The next thing he knew, he had been yanked onto the bed by a glowing aura of gold magic. Jonathan stared. That was completely new.

Princess Celestia looked him straight in the eye. “Jonathan, calm down. The best way to help your friends is by healing and then finding out exactly where you live.” Princess Celestia cocked her head at him. “While the former will take time, the best way to use that time is by working out the latter.

If you like, Twilight and the others could help you?” Jonathan nodded. Princess Celestia turned to the door. The full reality of the situation was beginning to sink in. His stomach growled.

Princess Celestia's head turned. “Perhaps something to eat as well?” Jonathan weakly smiled.

The service of the staff ponies at the Canterlot Castle was something to note. Within a few minutes, they set up a desk complete with two chairs and a bench.

There was also a tray of food. Good smelling food. Although he couldn't figure out why a pile of gems was on the tray. Twilight, Princess Luna, another pony who was pink, and also had wings and a horn, and the lizard named Spike came in a few minutes later. After introducing the pink pony (Princess Cadence,) they all sat down at the desk.

Princess Cadence expressed her desire to remain but had to go and run the Crystal Empire. Since Jonathan had moved around a little more, the pain was going away.

Spike began to eat the gems. So big lizards here ate sparkly gems? Okay. Weird. Twilight and Princess Luna's plates consisted of sandwiches with daisies and sunflowers inside.

Did ponies eat flowers here? Well, that wasn't weird. All the horses he had seen before ate flowers on top of grass, hay, and oats. Still, the fact that a talking pony would as well was still new. Jonathan looked at his own plate.

It was, of all things, a slice of cake. Well, alright. It was a very good piece of cake. But still, wasn't there something else, that would be more, satisfying? As if Twilight heard his thoughts, she gave him an apologetic look.

“Sorry, we don't have something else for you. But when I looked in the pantry for human foods, we had exactly, zero. The cake was the best thing I could find.” Jonathan shrugged. “Eh, it's fine.

I rarely got to eat cake before.” Princess Luna eyed him from her meal. “There is a proposal that we have. Twilight.” She tapped Twilight gently with a dark blue wing.

“Has gone into thee only known human world, once. Maybe thou art from there?” Jonathan looked at Twilight, who's mouth was full of sandwich. Spike looked up from his meal. “He isn't from there.”

Princess Luna looked at him. “Art thou sure?” Spike nodded. “I went to the human world as well. I saw all the humans there.

None of them looked like him at all. Either he is from here, or is from another human world that we don't know about.” Princess Luna nodded and looked back at Jonathan. “Very well. We still hesitate to think that there is a country that we haven't guarded the dreams of.”

Princess Luna shook her head and took a bite of her sandwich. She swallowed. “So, Twilight has a map. Maybe thou shall be able to find thee home?” Jonathan nodded.

“Sounds good.” Twilight's horn glowed. A pinkish aura floated around it. A map plopped down on the desk and rolled itself out. “Here we go.

The most up-to-date map I could find.” Jonathan glanced around at all the cities the land he was now in, had. “Wow. You have a lot of cities.” Twilight shrugged.

“We do have a big kingdom.” Jonathan looked at her. “And do all of the ponies here have wings and horns?” Princess Luna snorted. “Thee only winged and horned ponies art; we, Twilight, Princess Cadence, Flurry Heart, and our dear sister, Tia.”

Jonathan raised an eyebrow. “Tia? Who's that?” Princess Luna waved a hoof at the sun. “Princess Celestia.

Our sister.” Spike held up three claws. “There is three common races of ponies throughout here. Unicorns.” A claw went down.

“Pegasi.” Another claw went down. “And Earth Pony.” The last claw went down.” Something inside him gnawed at Jonathan's mind.

He was missing something, he could tell. He glanced at the city of Appaloosa. “Hmm, wait, is that a desert?” Twilight stretched her neck over to the spot on the map. “Mm, yes.

A very hot desert.” Spike rolled his eyes. "Aren't all deserts hot?" Twilight groaned. Jonathan looked at her. “What kind of ponies live there?” Princess Luna answered. “Earth Pony, mostly.”

Twilight's hoof stretched out to a spot on the map where there was a floating cloud with rainbows falling out of it. “Here in Cloudsdale, there are Pegasi.” Spike's claw tapped a spot on the map where a single mountain stood. “And here is Canterlot. Where Unicorns live.”

Jonathan looked at Appaloosa. “Have you been in that desert?” Twilight nodded. “Is it really hot?” Twilight glared at Spike but grudgingly nodded again.

“Yes. Haven't you been in a desert?” Jonathan shook his head. “I've never been outside of my town until now. The farthest I've been is outside of the forest.

Right in view of Split Mountain.” Princess Luna arched an eyebrow. “Split Mountain? Why does thou have such name?” Jonathan shrugged.

“Well, the mountain itself is split. Right in the middle.” Jonathan's hand moved up and down in the air in a V shape. “Like this.” Twilight's head turned to one side.

“…You can see the mountain from the edge of this forest?” Jonathan nodded. Spike tapped a claw on his chin. “What is the name of the forest?” Jonathan chewed his cheek.

“Um, no one actually remembers. There is a ten-year-old rumor that its name was Everfree, but I'm not really sure that it is.” Twilight started. “Everfree? Are you positive?”

Jonathan nodded. “No other name has been given. Why?” Spike looked at him closely. “What exactly did the ruins you and your friends explored, look like?”

Jonathan took a deep breath. “It was some sort of castle. A ruined old castle. It seemed like some sort of battle had taken place.” Spike and Twilight shared a questioning look. “I think we found your home then.”

Twilight said. She looked uneasy. Jonathan grinned. “Good! When is the soonest we can go there?”

Spike answered. “Tomorrow.” Jonathan's grin faded. “Oh.” Lena and Argon wouldn't be able to be reached in time.

Princess Luna glanced at him. “Thou's jewelry has the designs of Elements of Harmony on them.” She commented, frowning at the necklace. He glanced down at his necklace. It sat innocently on his chest.

“The Elements of Harmony?” That sounded familiar. Twilight nodded. “Yeah. That's a little odd.”

Jonathan held the necklace in his palm. It was acting normal now. But how could he know when it would act strange again? A thought hit him. Did his aunt know about the necklace's strange powers?

No, that was impossible. She would have told him about it if she did. Still, something nagged at him. “The oath.” He thought.

“This is similar to the oath.” His heart chilled. The voice of his aunt came to his mind as he asked Twilight a question. “Wait, Twilight. The races.

There is Unicorns?” The words of the oath rang in his head. “With the power of the Unicorns,” Twilight spoke. “Yes.”

He bit his lip. “And Pegasi?” “The speed of the Pegasi.” “Yes.” She said again.

“And Earth Ponies.” “The strength of the Earth Ponies.” Twilight's wings fluttered slightly. “And Earth Ponies. Correct.”

Jonathan's hand shook as he gripped the necklace. “This necklace has the designs of the Elements of Harmony?” “I shall guard the Elements of Harmony.” Spike nodded. “Uh huh.”

Jonathan felt his heart pounding. “This land, it is Equestria?” Twilight nodded. “Yep.” “And protect Equestria from the Demons of Shadow.”

Jonathan felt the slam of realization in his gut. “My aunt.” He thought. “My aunt knew, about Equestria.”

“I am not going on that!” Jonathan said defensibly, hiding behind Spike's wing as he glared at the annoyed face of Twilight. "It's a train,
Jonathan. It's not gonna jump to life and hurt you." She said exasperatedly.

Jonathan stared at the huge metal thing that was on tracks. The tracks looked almost exact to the ones he and his friends had found in the forest. "That thing makes the loudest noises I've ever heard, it moves on these wooden and metal track things, and it pours out smoke.

How can I not be scared?" They were standing in the train station of Canterlot. It was nighttime, and the moon shone brightly. Nobody was around at this time of night. Last night had been horrible. Lying in a bed that was the right size for Unicorns, but not for humans was torture enough.

Add to the fact that when he did fall asleep, he had nightmares of his friends being in trouble. Then in the morning he had cake (again) and talked to Twilight. She had told him that when he had fainted, they had rushed him to Princess Celestia. Twilight had been certain that she would have known what to do. Princess Cadence had borne him on her back with Spike there to catch if he were to fall off.

But the thing was, in order to get him from Canterlot, back to the place they left, was going to be rather hard.

Twilight was worried about how other ponies would react to seeing him. Therefore, she had calculated that if they left at night, they would arrive early enough to sneak around without bumping into a pony. Johnathan agreed with her outwardly, in order to be polite.

But inside he was torn up with worry.

The rest of the day was spent with him, at the request of Twilight, reading in the Canterlot library. The books were interesting, but it was hard to focus. He kept finding himself either pacing the floor or staring out the window. His gut had churned with every hour that passed. When night finally arrived they had gone to the train station where he was currently frightened by the loud, smoky, metal thing Twilight called a 'train."

The door of the train was open, but nobody had gone inside.

Spike's face looked like he was trying very hard not to laugh. "Twilight, we can just take a chariot." Johnathan glanced at Twilight. "Yeah!" Twilight gave Spike a look.

"One, all three of us would not fit. Two, I'm rather certain that he would freak out like he is doing now." Spike tilted his head. "You do?" Jonathan glared.

"I would not freak out! What do you take me for? A wimp?" Twilight rolled her eyes. "A human that doesn't have magic to catch himself if he falls off, or wings to fly, or has enough agility to grab on and pull himself back on with it moving."

Jonathan sighed.

He was quickly learning that when Twilight had her mind set on something, it was hard to tell her that she was wrong. Spike looked at him. "I think he could hold on. Besides, I could catch him." Twilight shook her head.

"The train is faster, Spike." Spike frowned. "But Johnathan has never seen the train before. He is scared of it." Jonathan gave Spike an annoyed look.

"I'm not scared, I'm just." The train's whistle blew, causing him to jump and hide behind Spike once more. “Very, very… unsure about it.” Twilight face hoofed.

“Alright, we will do this the hard way.” Her horn glowed with a pink aura. Jonathan felt a tingly feeling all over his body. When he looked at his hands, he saw that they were, along with the rest of his body, covered with a pink aura. “Hey, wait!”

He cried. Twilight lifted Jonathan into the air and tossed him through the open door. He landed face first onto the train's red plush carpet.

Light yellow velvet booths stood with a table between each one on either side of the train. In the spaces between each seat were vases of roses.

“Ow!” Spike came in after him, shaking his head.

“Was that really necessary, Twilight?” Twilight came in and shut the door. “How else were we going to get him inside?” Spike rolled his eyes. “Twilight, you can be so stubborn.”

Twilight huffed and glared at Spike. “I am not stubborn.” Jonathan lifted himself off the carpet. “Yes, you are.” Twilight sat down on a train seat.

“I'm not!” Spike sat next to Twilight. “You are being stubborn, about not being stubborn.” Twilight harrumphed, and looked out the window. Jonathan sat onto one of the seats himself.

He sighed and rubbed his forehead. It had been a long, long day. Argon and Lena were going to give him the hugest chewing out he had ever had. Boy, weren't they going to be mad. The train started and began to move.

Jonathan jumped, but stayed in his seat. This new world had so many weird things in it. Objects outside the window were speeding past them at lighting speed. He had never gone this fast before. Twilight and Spike looked like they were completely at ease with the whole thing.

They had probably ridden the train many times before. A pretty vase caught his eye. It was full of multicolored roses. There was pink, yellow, red, blue, light purplish blue, white, orange, and black. Jonathan blinked, and took a closer look.

A black rose? “Twilight?” Twilight's head turned to him. “Hm?” Jonathan pointed to the black rose.

“Is that rose real?” Twilight's horn glowed. The rose was surrounded in the aura and lifted into the air. It was brought to Twilight's face. “Hm, yes.

It is real. Many pony florists are using dyed flowers nowadays. It's quite interesting to eat a dyed rose. The flavor is somewhat less vibrant than what I'm used to.” Jonathan blinked.

“You eat roses?” Twilight glanced at him. “Yes, we do eat roses. Actually, we eat all sorts of flowers. Iris, daisies, sunflowers, petunias, bluebells.”

Spike looked at the flower. “How do you dye a rose?” Twilight cleared her throat and lit up her horn with magic. A glowing picture of dirt and a seed came into existence. “Well, first you grow it in the soil like usual.”

A shovel appeared, and dug a hole in the dirt. The seed plopped into the hole, and the shovel covered it with the excess dirt. Then with a small pop, it disappeared. “But, what you have to do is water it with special chemicals in order to make the seed grow into a different colored flower.” A watering can came into existence, and watered the covered hole.

The picture vanished as she floated the rose towards Jonathan. “Quite easy, really.” Jonathan looked at the rose. An uneasy feeling settled into his gut. Spike looked at him.

“Why do you ask, Jonathan?” Jonathan placed the rose onto the table. “…Back at my village, there was a thief. A very good one too. Whoever it was, was stealing all sorts of things from the houses of people that sold things at the market. Such as food or jewelry.

Every time they stole something, they left a black rose somewhere in the victim's house. Everybody began to call the thief, 'Black Rose.'” Spike nodded. “Did you ever catch the thief?” Jonathan shook his head.

“No. Odd thing is, my family and Lena were entirely left alone, even though mine were traders.” Twilight rubbed her chin with the top of her hoof. “Hm.” Spike looked out the window at the speeding scenery.

Jonathan looked back at the black rose. There was no denying that the rose was beautiful. It smelled pretty, and the black petals were soft. The black color faded away to a light gray at the bottom of the stem. Dark green perfectly accented the rich black color.

A leaf was on each side of the rose. They were a lighter green than the smooth stem. Jonathan reached out to touch the rose only to feel a sharp sting on one of his fingers. “Ow!” He pulled his hand back sharply and glanced at his stinging finger.

A drop of blood was on his finger. The thorns had not been clipped from the stem. They looked and felt sharp. Deadly. The drop of blood fell from his finger onto the rose's leaf.

It was surprising that such beauty held such danger. The black rose was some sort of mixture of the two. Jonathan held his throbbing finger as he laid down on the seat. He was tired, and the moving train was actually rather soothing…

Sixteen-year-old Jonathan was sitting on Argon's front doorstep with Lena. They were working on cleaning their latest kill. A turkey had been shot and was now going to be used for the Rowshield's dinner. Lena moaned. “Ugh.

I'll never get used to smelling a dead animal.” She pinched her nose and waved a hand at the dead turkey. Jonathan laughed. “I thought all tough hunters could clean an animal, but no, this one is too disgusted by the smell. Call the Healer!”

Lena lightly punched him in the shoulder. Jonathan laughed again. A girl walked in front of Argon's gate. She was a tall girl, with brown hair and pale skin. She was slender and very pretty.

A light brown wooden bow with darker brown carvings of leaves was slung across her back. At her waist was a sheathed sword. Two rabbits were dangling from her left hand. Lena glanced up. “Oh, hello Sera Foretor!”

The girl glanced their way. Her eyes were a pink-purplish color. “…Hello, Lena Keldsworth.” Her voice was silky smooth and pleasant to hear. It was a custom of the village to greet an acquaintance by their full name.

Elder Onyx Ashstone was the exception. Jonathan glanced at Lena. “You know her?” Lena shrugged. “Bumped into her at the Slob several times.”

The Slob was a building at an alleyway at the edge of town. The poorer groups of the town went there to trade with each other. It was never cleaned, or properly maintained, therefore earning the name, 'The Slob.' Jonathan glanced back at Sera, who was standing there with a hand on her hip. “Huh.”

A loud yell came from inside the house. Both Jonathan and Lena jumped. “Yikes!” Lena cried out. “What was that?”

Jonathan frowned. “That sounded like Argon.” He got up and opened the door. Argon suddenly ran in front him into another room. Jonathan blinked.

“Uh?” Felix came into another doorway. “What has gotten into him?” Jonathan shrugged. Lena looked at the room Argon had run into.

“Oh dear.” Sera watched as Argon ran from room to room, going up the stairs, then down the stairs, and all over the house. A spark was dancing in her eyes, and a tiny smile was at the edges of her mouth. Five little toddlers gathered around Felix's legs and watched, their little heads swishing back and forth as he ran by. Corina came from upstairs and gazed at her running brother.

“I wonder what's the matter?” She softly asked. Trisha walked into the hallway and saw the group. “What's going on?” Argon ran past her.

“Wha, Argon!” He stopped, and turned to look at his mother. “What?” Trisha looked at him with a puzzled look. “What, is the matter?”

Argon pointed at the room he came out of. “There's a black rose in our house, something has been taken!” Jonathan's mouth dropped open. Lena gasped. Corina's hands gripped the stairway railing tighter.

Trisha's eyes widened. Only Sera remained calm. Felix's eyes flared. “What?” He growled.

Trisha glanced at him, then back at Argon. “Where is the black rose, Argon?” He went past her into the other room. Trisha followed. Lena looked at Jonathan. “Poor Argon.”

Jonathan nodded. Trisha came out with indeed, a black rose in her hand. Felix growled again. “Whoever did this is going to regret it!” He said as he ran into the room behind him.

Trisha held up a hand while she gazed at the flower. “Wait, dear.” Felix came back. “Wait?” Trisha looked at him.

“Nothing has been taken. I haven't seen an object missing all day.” Argon blinked. “Wha? Then why did we get a black rose then?”

Trisha shrugged. “A prank, I guess.” Argon groaned. “Ah! I bet that Rayon did it!

He is always getting under my skin!” He growled and punched into his hand. Sera left the house, a spring in her step. Argon saw her. “Hey…

Who's that?” Lena glanced at Sera. “Sera Foretor.” Jonathan cocked his head. “Some reason her name sounds familiar.”

Lena giggled. “It should. Almost all the boys in the town have a crush on her.” Argon snorted. “I don't.”

Lena laughed. “That's why I said, almost.” Jonathan sighed and got back to cleaning the turkey…

The train rattled, jarring him awake. He sat up, rubbing his eyes with a hand. “Ugh.” He glanced at the table. The black rose still sat on the table.

If he was superstitious, it would have been a bad omen.

Author's Note:

Tell me what you think.

Comments

[rainbowtiger00]

Tell me what you think

[Starlight Nova]

If this story only has a little blood in it, then why does it have a gore tag? Maybe it's just me, but I've always thought the gore tag should be reserved for stories like The Night That Never Ended.

[rainbowtiger00]

7172201 Yeah. I agree with you there. I wish there was no gore tag, but the story moderators told me that the story needed a gore tag in order to pass moderation. It failed the first time, because there was no gore tag. I put the warning there, just to say that the story didn't have lots and lots of blood, only a little. But then again, some readers don't want to read a story with blood in it. So, hence the gore tag.

[Blackdust]

You and your damn cliffhangers rainbow.

[rainbowtiger00]

Has anypony read 'Hard Reset'?