One Way

by jroddie

59: Sword

Chapter 59

“You should have seen the look on their faces, Othello. I’ve never had so much power over the Doctor.” I spoke to the Console room. I heard Othello’s tinny laughter over the Tardis’ intercom.

“Really? They just let you go?” He asked, voice distorted by the intercom. Othello was in the sickbay, with a surgical robot working to place his arm. When I got back to him, the Tardis told me that they had to operate immediately or he would lose the arm. He was so drugged up I was surprised that he could blink, let alone speak.

“Yeah, they did. They made me wade through space for a minute, but they still let me go.” I told him. He groaned in pain for a moment. I perked up, looking up to the source of the noise. “Are you alright?” I asked. Othello didn’t say anything for a moment, but he just gasped.

“I’ll live.” He groaned. I nodded and turned back to the Console. He started screaming, but the sound was cut off suddenly. I shivered, trying to concentrate on the Console. I keyed in the coordinates, looking with faint regret at the screen It showed the gross galactic coordinates in Standard form.

Universe A

Virgo Supercluster

Milky Way

Sol System

Earth

United States

California

San Francisco

890 El Camino del Mar

I read the location several times before it finally sank in. This was where Jamal lived when he was alive. It was a house I’ve never been to. Surely it was nice. The backyard led to the ocean, the neighborhood was amazing, and it even had a view of the Golden Gate. I could live there for the rest of my life, happy, healthy, and alone. I sighed. I typed in a new sequence, watching the destination I entered fill up the screen.

Universe D

Alcubierre group

Equus system

Celestia’s star

Equestria

Canterlot

The Royal Estate

Royal Suite 2

I read this location’s name even more than the first. This was where my home was. Where Luna and I paged through books together, where we slept, where we lived. It was where I came home to. I never felt comfortable anywhere else. It was the place that my mind sought refuge. But... My human body didn’t belong there. Jamal King never belonged in Equestria, and he never ever will. Only my mind did. It was like a puzzle piece forced to fit in place. I couldn’t bring Jamal’s body to Equestria, but I couldn’t live with myself if I went back to Earth. I waited, sitting in front of the monitor, for Othello to get done with his arm.

Othello crawled out from the floor, pulling himself out from under a grate. I was holding the gun that I found when Gespard tried to kill me. I was tapping the tip of it against my temple absentmindedly. Othello walked up to the console and looked at the monitors that I was looking at. He couldn’t hope to understand the flowing data, so he just tried to talk to me.

“They fixed it! They cloned one up for me, good as new!” Othello said, rolling up the sleeves of his black sweater and wiggling the fingers of his once-broken arm. There was a seam where the unblemished cloned flesh met the aged skin. I glanced at him, but kept tapping the handgun and looking at the data. Othello’s smile faltered.

“Othello, where do you want to go?” I asked him. Othello shrugged.

“Let’s go back to that Rangoon place, I’m hungry.” Othello said. I slammed my hand down on the console with a loud bang. Othello jumped.

“Not that!” I shouted, trying to get him to focus, “It’s this-” I said, shaking my gun at the two screens. “Are we going to Earth, or are we going to Equestria?” I shouted, trying to make it known to Othello how important this was. He gulped.

“I, uh, I... I don’t...” Othello stuttered along. I sighed.

“I think that we should go to Equestria.” I sighed out. Othello looked confused.

“But I thought that you didn’t want to go.” He said quietly. I sighed, throwing the gun out of my hands and rubbing them over my head stubble.

“We’ve come at least this far. We should go the rest of the way.”

“Good. Good.” Othello said, completely overeager to go. I rubbed my eyes.

“We need to be completely sure, Othello. Completely sure. We’re in this together. Do you want to go? We might not come back. We might die there. We’re going to have to live with our choice for the rest of our lives.” I told him, making sure that he understood his choice. He still nodded, eager to get back. I sighed.

“Okay, Othello. Strap in.” I said, pulling down the harness in my chair and making sure that I was firmly attached to the thing. Othello frowned.

“We’re just going to Canterlot, right?” He asked.

“Well, before the Doctor pulled us off course and Gespard tried to kill me, we were jumping to get you back home. We’re stuck between dimensions, somewhere between Equestria’s dimension and Earth’s.” I explained. Othello shrugged, letting his hands slap back down on his thighs. I sighed. “We need to dimension hop. It takes longer, it’s more dangerous, and it’s not very comfortable.”

“Do I have to wear one of those harnesses?” Othello asked. I shrugged.

“You don’t have to, but then I’d have to scrape you off of the walls when we got there.

“That bad?” Othello asked, belting himself down to one of the nearby chairs

“Frankly, I’m surprised that the Tardis can survive dimension hopping. It’s like putting an egg in the blender for a few days, putting your hand in to get it while it’s still running, and pull out an intact egg. If it was up to me, We’d both be in inertia chambers, but I need to constantly adjust the controls and that’s something I can’t do remotely. You could be in a chamber too, but I might need your help. So it’s gonna be dangerous, and it’s gonna be hard. But we’re in this together, Othello.” I finished, making sure that he understood the risk. He nodded, determined. I tightened the straps of my chair, making sure that I would stay firmly attached to my chair. I gulped and leaned forward to grab a lever, straining against my straps to reach it. I turned back to Othello. He was grinning like crazy.

“You ready?”

“I’ve been ready for the last forty years.” He promised. I smiled a toothy grin and
pulled the lever.

Five airsickness bags, three dimensions, two hours, and ninety trillion miles later, the Tardis finally stopped shaking. With fumbling hands, I managed to unstrap myself. I fell forward out of my chair. I clenched the grate with my hands, trying not to heave for the hundredth time. Cold and clammy, I crawled past an unconscious Othello and clawed my way to the Tardis door. I grabbed it and pulled it toward me, hurling myself out of the Tardis. I got up on my elbows and gasped for air that didn’t smell like vomit. It took me awhile to notice the vibrant purple carpet that I was lying on. The sumptuous weave was so soft I loathed getting up. But I had to. I pushed myself up to sitting and just looked at what was around me. The halls. Pony suits of armor, vases, tapestries, and chandeliers were absolutely everywhere. Everything was a little bit smaller than I remembered it to be, but I didn’t mind. I was home. I let the emotion suffuse me. I was home! This was where I belonged! I smiled and got to my feet. I closed the Tardis door and walked out into the hallway. I wandered aimlessly, trying to find anything.

I could feel how dirty my flannel shirt and my slacks were. My skin felt incredibly dirty. I tried to navigate through the halls, trying to find one of the scattered bathrooms. Pushing open doors at random didn’t work very well. I finally managed to push open a door and found a gleaming copper tub with shining faucets that promised hot water. I couldn’t strip down fast enough. A few minutes later I found myself steeping all of the adventure out of my bones. I relaxed. I was still holding the gun that I found in the Tardis, but I wasn’t expecting anything to jump in. I was just trying to relax. Getting thrown into space is unusually strenuous. I let myself rest, working hard to do nothing at all. I almost fell asleep.

“Wake up.” Something said, prodding at my face. I started, nearly jumping out of the tub. I looked all around me, wheeling all around. I finally focused on an emaciated, perfectly white pony. He had dirty bandages covering one of his eyes. He didn’t have a cutie mark from what I could see. All of these details coalesced in my mind and made me recognize the pony.

“Columnus?” I whispered, too surprised for anything else. He nodded.

“I see that you made the crossing. Regrettable.” He said calmly, his voice extremely hoarse. I was surprised that he could speak.

“Are you okay? You look like you should be dead.”

“I am weak, foal. My body is fresh and untempered.” He explained cryptically. I frowned, not understanding. I really didn’t want to press the point further, so I changed the subject.

“So why are you here?” I asked. Columnus tried to speak, but he bent over and started coughing. He sounded like he was going to hack up a lung. I waited for it to pass. I realized, while he was coughing, how strange this scene must look. A grown black man in an undersized tub, holding a gun, talking to a thin, coughing pony. It almost made me laugh. But Columnus perked back up and remembered what he was talking about.

“I realize that events in Equestria move quickly. We no longer have the luxury of time, so I shall try to be concise. You must get Othello to the Throne room. He must reach the sword.” Columnus rasped, his voice urgent.

“Why does he have to do that?” I asked, waving the gun to pantomime confusion. Columnus sighed.

“Suffice it to say that he needs to get there. Where is he now?”

“He’s in the Tardis. But why...” I trailed off, but Columnus shushed me. He crept toward the door, his ears twitching. I frowned, standing up in the tub. I leaned toward the sound that I could almost hear on the edge of my senses. Suddenly, the door to the bathroom exploded, sending splinters everywhere. I held up a hand to shield my eyes. An Angelic stormed into the room- he was immediately transmuted into a grey stone statue and toppled to the floor. The other Angelic that stepped in wasn’t so lucky. I raised my gun and fired it. There wasn’t any bang, and there wasn’t any smoke. There was a simple humming noise and the Angelic suddenly had a perfect square hole in his head. It was as if someone had cut out a square cross section out of an Angelic and left the rest of the body completely unaltered. The Angelic stumbled for a few steps and then fell, unmoving. I looked down at the gun in complete disbelief. I didn’t have time to think about this before Columnus waved me forward. I followed, trusting him, in the moment, implicitly. I followed him out of the door, stepping over the Angelic statue and into the hall beyond. We didn’t encounter anything else, and we arrived at the Tardis without incident. I walked in to the Tardis. Columnus tried to follow me in but I stopped him at the door.

“I’m not going anywhere where you can go.” I said. Columnus frowned.

“You would refuse me passage?”

“Yeah. It’s gonna be hard enough to get the Princesses to believe me without you. You’re going to have to figure out your own way around.”

“The Angelics could possess me in my weakened state.”

“Then I’ll have to kill you later down the road.” I said without hesitation. Columnus appeared to be offended.

“You would leave your own mentor to death?” He asked. I smiled.

“You’re not a mentor. And I could kill you now if that would make you feel any better.” I said, waving the gun. Columnus smiled.

“Blunt as always. I’ll pass on your offer, Foal. Making the Jump is strenuous as it is without having to do it twice.” He said, turning around and walking down the hallway when he was done. I watched him go for a moment and then shrugged. I closed the door and turned to the Tardis. Othello was staring at me, his mouth open. I held my hands out

“What are you looking at?”

“Where did your clothes go?” Othello demanded. I looked down at my body and only saw brown skin

“Where did my clothes go?!” I shouted, looking up at the ceiling like it would answer my question. Othello chuckled.

“Put something on, for Celestia’s sake. You can’t go anywhere like that.” He said. I frowned, trying to remember how to get to the closets. I remembered my way and managed to find one of the Doctor’s suits, along with a pair of black leather penny loafers. I walked back into the console room and navigated without saying a word. Othello was trying not to laugh the whole time, but he wasn’t doing very well.

“What are we going to do?” I asked Othello. He stopped laughing immediately.

“What do you mean?”

“We’ve made it to Equestria.”

“We fight. This is still our home, Edwin. We’re still Numbered.” He said, completely convinced. I nodded.

“Well, there you go.” I said, pointing to the Tardis door. Othello looked, walking towards the door. He pulled it open slowly. I was close on his heels, holding the square gun at the ready. Othello finally revealed the throne room. It was completely empty. There wasn’t a single pony in there. The windows to the throne room were darkened, as if it were night time. There was a table in the middle of the throne room, with a glass box on top of it. The glass box was holding none other than the first sword ever sung. I gasped out loud, knowing its history. The white and pink sword was glowing slightly in the darkness, radiating light from an unknown source.

“Othello, look, it’s-” I started, but Othello shusshed me. His face was serious. I stopped in my tracks, suddenly afraid of the sword. I watched, silently, as Othello approached it. He finally came up to the table. He placed his hands on the top of the glass case. He was silent for a long time.

“I can feel it.” He whispered. I frowned

“What?”

“I can feel it. It’s been waiting for me.” He said. He was quiet for another moment. Suddenly, he pushed the glass case off of the sword. It shattered when it hit the floor, spreading glass all over the floor. I watched Othello slowly reach for the sword.

“I... I don’t think that you should do that, Othello.” I cautioned, trying to keep Othello from touching it. It could be a serious magical trap. Othello shook his head.

“No, Edwin. This sword is mine.” He stated. I watched in fear as he grasped the hilt.

Comments

[the onlyoneofmeisyou]

Oh SHIT>

[ObviousMoose42]

Again with these cliffhanger endings! I'm going to be mad as a hatter by the time this story is done.

[Sonicbrony66]

Ish a sword sung out of love. Might be trapped.