• Published 14th Feb 2022
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Half-Blooded Harmony: The Lightning Thief - SonicSpeedster97



With a new book discovered, the Mane 6 have a mystery to unravel. And they'll have divine help to do it.

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Dog Directions

It was perfectly reasonable that the group would be miserable that night. They camped out in the woods a hundred yards from the main road in a marshy clearing obviously used by local kids as a party ground, littered with flattened soda cans and fast-food wrappers. The group had taken some food and blankets from Medusa’s lair, but no one dared start a fire to dry their clothes; between the Furies and Medusa, they all agreed they’d had enough fun for one day and they didn’t want to attract anything else.

Percy volunteered to take the first watch with Rainbow Dash as the others slept. Grover fluttered onto the lowest bough of a tree with his flying shoes and put his back to the trunk as he stared into the night sky. “Get some sleep, Grover,” Rainbow assured. “We’ll let you know if anything happens.”

Grover nodded, but still didn’t close his eyes. “It makes me sad, guys.”

“What does? The fact that you signed up for this stupid quest?” asked Percy.

“No. This makes me sad.” Grover pointed at all the garbage on the ground. “And the sky. You can’t even see the stars. They’ve polluted the skies. This is a terrible time to be a satyr.”

“Oh yeah. I guess you’d be an environmentalist.” Percy remarked.

Grover just glared at him. “Only a human wouldn’t be. Your species is clogging up the world so fast… ah, never mind. It’s useless to lecture a human. At the rate things are going, I’ll never find Pan.”

“Pam? Like the cooking spray?” asked Percy.

Pan!” Grover bleated indignantly. “P-A-N. The great god Pan; god of the wild! What do you think I want a searcher’s license for?”

Out of nowhere, the scent of berries, wildflowers, and rainwater blew by on a wind, making Rainbow strangely nostalgic for the plains outside Ponyville.

Rainbow was the one who said it. “Tell us about the search.”

Grover looked at them cautiously like he was afraid they’d make fun of him, but he started talking anyway. “The God of Wild Places disappeared two thousand years ago,” he explained. “A sailor off the coast of Ephesos heard a mysterious voice crying out from the shore, ‘Tell them that the great god Pan has died!’ When humans heard the news, they believed it. They’ve been pillaging Pan’s kingdom ever since. But for the satyrs, Pan is our lord and master. He protected us and the wild places of the earth. We refuse to believe that he died. In every generation, the bravest satyrs pledge their lives to finding Pan. They search the earth, exploring all the wildest places, hoping to find where he is hidden, and wake him from his sleep.”

“And you want to be one of them.” Rainbow surmised.

“It’s my life’s dream.” Grover nodded. “My father was a searcher. And my Uncle Ferdinand… the statue you saw back there-”

“Oh, right, sorry,” Percy noted.

Grover just shook his head. “Uncle Ferdinand knew the risks. So did my dad. But I’ll succeed. I’ll be the first searcher to return alive.”

“Whoa, hang on; the first?” asked Rainbow.

Grover pulled his reed pipes out. “No searcher has ever come back. Once they set out, they disappear. They’re never seen alive again.”

“Not once in two thousand years?” asked Percy.

“No.”

“And your dad? You have no idea what happened to him?”

“None.”

“But you still want to go,” Rainbow remarked, seemingly confused as to why he would choose such a suicide mission. “I mean, you really think you’re gonna be the one to find this guy?”

“I have to believe that, Rainbow. Every searcher does.” Grover argued. “It’s the only thing that keeps us from despair when we look at what humans have done to the world. I have to believe Pan can still be awakened.”

The two demigods looked out at the orange haze of sky, trying to understand how Grover could pursue a dream that seemed so hopeless. Then again, how was Percy’s wish any better? “How are we going to get into the Underworld?” Percy asked. “I mean, what chance do we have against a god?”

“I don’t know,” Grover admitted. “But back at Medusa’s, when you were searching her office? Annabeth was telling me-”

“Oh, I forgot. Annabeth will have a plan all figured out.” Percy remarked bitterly.

“Hey, I don’t like her any more than you do, but there’s no need for that,” Rainbow assured.

“Don’t be so hard on her, Percy. She’s had a tough life, but she’s a good person. After all, she forgave me…” His voice faltered, which surprised the other two.

“What do you mean?” asked Percy. “Forgave you for what?” Grover suddenly felt the need to play his pipes.

“Wait a second, didn’t you say your first keeper job was five years ago?” asked Rainbow. “Annabeth wasn’t… I mean, your first assignment that went wrong-”

“I can’t talk about it,” Grover said quickly, his quivering lower lip indicating to the two that he might start crying if they pressed him further. “But like I was saying, back at Medusa’s, Annabeth and I agreed there’s something strange going on with this quest. Something isn’t what it seems.”

“Well, duh. I’m getting blamed for stealing a lightning bolt that Hades took.” Percy remarked.

“That’s not what I mean.” Grover countered. “The Fur- The Kindly Ones were sort of holding back. Like Mrs. Dodds at Yancy Academy… why did she wait so long to try to kill you? And then on the bus, they just weren’t as aggressive as they could’ve been.”

“Seemed plenty aggressive to me when Fluttershy shot one of ‘em in the head,” Rainbow remarked… quickly filing that under sentences she never thought she’d hear herself say.

Grover shook his head. “They were screeching at us; ‘Where is it? Where?’” That helped Rainbow realize it.

“Asking about me.” Percy reminded.

“‘It’?” Rainbow countered. “They weren’t after any of us; they were after something they thought we were carrying.”

“That doesn’t make any sense.” Percy realized.

“I know.” Grover nodded. “But if we’ve misunderstood something about this quest, and we only have nine days to find the Master Bolt…” He looked down at Percy as if he was hoping he’d have answers, but he didn’t.

Percy was just thinking about what Medusa had said; that he and the girls were being used by the gods, and what lay ahead was worse than petrification. Finally, he sighed and looked at the two of his companions who were awake. “I haven’t been straight with you guys,” he said. “I don’t care about the Master Bolt. I only agreed to go to the Underworld so I could bring back my mother.”

“I think we all knew that.” Rainbow shrugged as she laid down and Grover blew a note on his pipes.

“But are you sure that’s the only reason?” he asked.

“I’m not doing it to help my father, if that’s what you’re asking.” Percy scowled. “He doesn’t care about me, I don’t care about him.”

Grover just looked down at Percy from his perch. “Look Percy, I’m not as smart as Annabeth, I’m not as brave as you, but I’m pretty good at reading emotions,” he assured. “You’re glad your dad is alive. You feel good that he’s claimed you, and part of you wants to make him proud. That’s why you mailed Medusa’s head to Olympus; you wanted him to notice what you’d done.”

“Yeah? Well, maybe satyr emotions work differently than human emotions.” Percy barked bitterly. “Because you’re wrong. I don’t care what he thinks.”

“You’re a lousy liar, Percy,” Rainbow remarked.

“I’m serious!” Percy countered. “Besides, I haven’t done anything worth bragging about. We barely got out of New York, and we’re stuck here with no money and no way west.”

“Eh, could be worse; least we’re not dead.” Rainbow shrugged.

Grover was just watching the skies like he was thinking about that problem. “How about I take first watch, huh? You guys get some sleep.”

They almost argued, but then he started playing on his pipes and the two demigods felt the overwhelming urge to go to sleep, which only took a few bars.


The dream the group had this time was somehow worse than the last; they stood in a dark cavern before a gaping pit as gray mist creatures churned around them; whispering rags of smoke they somehow knew were the spirits of the dead, tugging at their clothes trying to pull them back. And yet for some reason, the young demigods felt compelled to walk to the edge of the chasm.

Vertigo overtook them all, Fluttershy more than all the others as they looked into the pitch blackness of the wide pit, which they knew was somehow home to something trying to rise from it; something massive, ancient, and evil.

The little heroes…” an amused voice echoed from far below in the darkness. “Too weak, too young, but perhaps one of you will do…” The voice was ancient, cold, and heavy, wrapping around the group like sheets of lead.

“Who- wh-who are you?” Twilight asked in fear.

They have misled you, children.” the voice echoed. “Barter with me. I will give you what you want.” A shimmering image hovered over the void, showing the group exactly what they wanted. Twilight had the ultimate knowledge surrounded by her friends, Applejack was surrounded by her family, Rainbow and Rarity had great fame and fortune, Fluttershy was surrounded by happy animals and Pinkie was surrounded by smiling faces of everyone she’d ever met.

But Percy’s vision was the most profound; his mother, frozen at the moment she’d dissolved into a shower of gold in the Minotaur’s grasp, her face distorted in pain. Percy tried to call out, but his voice failed him as cold laughter echoed from the chasm.

Out of nowhere, an invisible force pulled at the group, nearly dragging them into the chasm as they stood their ground. “Help me rise, children.” It sounded like it was getting hungrier. “Bring me the bolt. Strike a blow against the treacherous gods!

The spirits of the dead swarmed around the group warning them to wake as the golden image faded away as the unseen grip grew tighter… as if the thing in the pit was trying to pull them in. But then they realized it wasn’t trying to pull them in; it was using them as a handle to pull itself out.


The group opened their eyes with a start in the sunlight as they felt someone shaking them all awake. “Well… the zombies live,” Annabeth remarked dryly.

“Good morning to you too,” Rainbow said in annoyance as she tried to keep her shaking to herself… though as she looked at the others, she saw there was really no need; Percy and all the other girls could clearly also still feel that monster’s grip around their chests. “How long were we asleep?”

“Long enough for me to make breakfast,” Annabeth remarked as she tossed each of the group a bag of nacho-flavored corn chips she stole from Medusa’s.

“How gourmet.” Rarity remarked sarcastically. “So have we missed anything else?”

“Well, Grover went exploring.” Annabeth shrugged. “Look, he found a friend.”

“What?” Twilight asked as they glanced at the satyr, who was sitting cross-legged on a blanket with something fuzzy on his lap. At first, the group mistook it for a dirty unnaturally pink stuffed animal, but on closer inspection, they saw it was actually a pink poodle.

The dog yapped at the group suspiciously, and seemed to offend Fluttershy. “No, we’re not.” she returned.

Percy blinked at Fluttershy. “Are you… talking to that thing?” The poodle growled.

“I’ve always been able to talk to animals.” Fluttershy shrugged. “It’s been a gift since I was a filly.”

“Huh. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were blessed by Artemis.” Annabeth remarked.

“We’ll figure it out later. For now, what’s the deal with the poodle?” asked Rainbow.

“The poodle is our ticket west. Be nice to him.” Grover explained quickly. “Guys, meet Gladiola. Gladiola, guys.” The girls all said hello, though Rainbow was a bit more begrudgingly.

Percy glanced at Annabeth and Pinkie, as if expecting one of them to crack up at this joke they were playing on him, but they looked serious enough. “I’m not saying hello to a pink poodle. Forget it,” he said firmly.

“Percy. We said hello to the poodle. You say hello to the poodle.” Annabeth instructed immediately. The poodle growled and Percy said hello to it.

With that out of the way, Grover explained that he’d found Gladiola in the woods and struck up a conversation with him. Turned out the poodle ran away from some local rich family who’d posted a $200 reward for his return. Gladiola didn’t really want to go back to his family, but if it meant helping Grover, he was apparently willing to make an exception.

“How does Gladiola know about the reward?” Percy asked.

“He read the signs. Duh.” Grover responded simply.

“Of course. Silly me.” Percy remarked sarcastically.

“So we turn in Gladiola, we get money, and we buy tickets to Los Angeles. Simple.” Annabeth rationalized quickly.

Percy and the girls thought about their dream – the voices of the dead whispering in their ears, that thing in the chasm, their dreams before them, shimmering like gold. They knew all of that might be waiting in the west, and they weren’t looking forward to it. “Not another bus,” Percy said warily.

“No.” Annabeth agreed.

“Not ever again.” Twilight nodded.

“Never, ever, ever.” Pinkie agreed.

Annabeth pointed down the hill, indicating a train line the group hadn’t been able to see last night in the dark. “There’s an Amtrak station about half a mile that way. According to Gladiola, the westbound train leaves at noon.”

“Well then, we’d best get moving.” Rarity remarked and led the group in moving, ready to continue.