Half-Blooded Harmony: The Lightning Thief

by SonicSpeedster97

Diving from Death

They’d been on the train for two days now, still westbound across the country and they hadn’t been attacked once. Still, Twilight felt they couldn’t afford to relax and the others agreed; Rarity had made the unflattering comparison that they were simply a traveling wardrobe display being watched from all angles, like something was waiting for the right opportunity.

Percy especially was trying to keep a low profile because his name and picture were splattered across the front pages of several East Coast newspapers. The Trenton Register-News especially showed that picture that had been taken as the group jumped off the bus, wild-eyed with metallic blurs in their hands, probably recognized by mortals as standard weapons.

The caption read: “Twelve-year-old Percy Jackson, wanted for questioning in the Long Island disappearance of his mother two weeks ago, is shown here fleeing from the bus where he accosted several elderly female passengers. The bus exploded on an east New Jersey roadside shortly after Jackson fled the scene. Based on eyewitness accounts, police believe the boy may be traveling with eight teenage accomplices. Jackson’s stepfather, Gabe Ugliano, has offered a cash reward for information leading to his capture.”

“Don’t worry,” Annabeth assured. “Mortal police could never find us.”

“You wanna say that with a little less certainty?” Rainbow remarked sarcastically, though she had a point; Annabeth seemed fairly nervous. The whole rest of the day, the group spent trying to pass the time (taking turns pacing since they had trouble staying still) and looking out the window.

Once, Rarity spotted a family of centaurs racing across a wheat field with bows at the ready as they hunted lunch. The little boy centaur, who looked to be about the size of a second-grader on a pony the size of her own pony form, caught her eye and waved. Rarity couldn’t help but wave back before she looked around the passenger car, but aside from her group, no one had noticed.

Another time, Rainbow spotted something huge moving through the woods. “Tell me that’s not a lion,” she said to Fluttershy seriously.

“Impossible; it’s too big,” Fluttershy argued, and she wasn’t wrong; the beast was the size of a Hummer, and its coat shone like solid gold in the evening light before it leaped through the trees and disappeared.

The reward from returning Gladiola had only been enough to get them as far as Denver, and they couldn’t get any bunks on the sleeper car, so they had to doze off in their seats. Their necks and joints went stiff as they slept, and Percy did his best not to drool as he was sitting right next to Annabeth. Grover just kept snoring and bleating in his sleep, waking the group up several times. Once he shuffled around and one of his fake feet fell off, so Rainbow had to wrestle it back on before anyone noticed.

Once she was done with that, Annabeth looked around at the group. “So…” she said. “Who wants your help?”

“I beg your pardon?” asked Rarity.

“When you guys were asleep just now, you muttered. Something like ‘I won’t help you’. Who were you dreaming about?”

The girls almost didn’t want to say anything; this was the second time they’d dreamed about that evil voice from the pit. But it bothered them so much that they finally told Annabeth everything. And she was quiet for a long time. “That doesn’t sound like Hades. He always appears on a black throne, and he never laughs,” she remarked.

“He offered my mother in trade.” Percy reminded. “Who else could do that?”

“I guess… if he meant, ‘help me rise from the Underworld’. If he wants war with the Olympians…” Annabeth theorized. “But why ask you to bring him the Master Bolt if he already has it?”

“I wish we knew.” Twilight shrugged.

Percy and Rainbow were still thinking about what Grover had said in their camp about how the Furies seemed to be looking for something instead of one of them. Grover probably sensed their emotions about that because he shifted in his sleep and muttered something about vegetables.

Annabeth leaned over and adjusted his cap so it covered his horns before she turned back to the others. “Percy, you can’t barter with Hades. You know that, right? He’s deceitful, heartless, and greedy. I don’t care if his Kindly Ones weren’t as aggressive this time-”

“This time?” Applejack interrupted. “This ain’t your first time dealin’ with ‘em?”

Annabeth just reached for her necklace and fiddled with one of the beads – a white one with the image of a pine tree. “Let’s just say I’ve got no love for the Lord of the Dead. You can’t be tempted to make a deal for your mom.”

“What would you do if it was your dad?” asked Percy.

“That’s easy. I’d leave him to rot.”

Rarity seemed somewhat offended by the idea. “You can’t be serious?”

Annabeth just glared at the group with the same expression as when she’d drawn her sword against that hellhound. “My dad’s resented me since the day I was born,” she said. “He never wanted a baby. When he got me, he asked Athena to take me back and raise me on Olympus because he was too busy with his work. She wasn’t happy about that. She told him heroes had to be raised by their mortal parent.”

“What, is that a law for us half-bloods?” Rainbow asked.

“It’s not exactly as heavily enforced as most of the others, but yeah.” Annabeth shrugged.

“But how… I mean, I guess you weren’t born in a hospital…” Percy surmised.

“From what I’ve been told, I appeared on my father’s doorstep in a golden cradle, carried down from Olympus by Zephyr the West Wind,” Annabeth remembered. “You’d think my dad would remember that as a miracle, right? Like, maybe he’d take some digital photos or something. But he always talked about my arrival as if it were the most inconvenient thing that had ever happened to him. When I was five, he got married and totally forgot about Athena. He got a ‘regular’ mortal wife, and had two ‘regular’ mortal kids, and tried to pretend I didn’t exist.”

“That’s messed up, man,” Rainbow said in disdain.

Percy just looked lazily out the window as the lights of a town drifted by. “My mom married a really awful guy.” he shrugged, probably trying to make her feel better. “Grover said she did it to protect me, to protect me in the scent of a human family. Maybe that’s what your dad was thinking.”

Annabeth just kept fussing with her necklace, pinching the gold college ring… which – it occurred to Twilight – was probably her father’s. But if she hated him so much, then why did she hang onto it? “He doesn’t care about me,” she assured. “His wife – my stepmom – treated me like a freak. She wouldn’t let me play with her children. My dad went along with her. Whenever something dangerous happened – y’know, something with monsters – they would both look at me resentfully, like, ‘How dare you put our family at risk’. Finally, I took the hint. I wasn’t wanted. I ran away.” The girls remembered how she said that in her verse of the song at the campfire… which felt like forever ago.

“How old were you?” asked Twilight.

“Same age as when I started camp. Seven.”

“You made it all the way from Virginia to Half-Blood Hill by yourself?” asked Pinkie.

“Not alone, no,” Annabeth assured. “Athena watched over me, guided me toward help. I made a couple of unexpected friends who took care of me, for a short time, anyway.”

The group wanted to ask what happened, but Annabeth seemed to get lost in sad memories, so they just listened to Grover snoring and looked out the windows as the train rattled through the dark fields of Ohio.

Toward the end of the second day – June 13^th, eight days before the solstice – the train passed through golden hills over the Mississippi River into St. Louis and Annabeth craned her neck to see the massive Gateway Arch, which looked like a huge shopping bag handle stuck on the city to Percy and the girls. “I want to do that.” she sighed.

“Do what?” asked Rainbow.

“Build something like that,” Annabeth answered as she pointed to the arch. “You ever see the Parthenon?”

“Only in pictures.” Percy shrugged.

“Someday, I’m going to see it in person,” Annabeth said with conviction. “I’m going to build the greatest monument to the gods ever. Something that’ll last a thousand years.”

Rainbow couldn’t help but laugh a bit at that. “Really? You? An architect?” It just seemed funny to her; the idea of a warrior like Annabeth trying to sit quietly and draw all day.

Her cheeks flushed in annoyance. “Yes, architect. Athena expects all her children to create things, not just tear them down, like a certain god of earthquakes I could mention.”

“Really darling, must you go there?” Rarity asked in annoyance as Percy watched the river churn below them.

Annabeth sighed and raised her hands. “Alright, sorry. That was mean.”

“Can’t we work together a little?” Percy pleaded. “I mean, didn’t Athena and Poseidon ever cooperate?”

Annabeth had to think about that. “I guess… the chariot,” she said tentatively. “My mom invented it, but Poseidon created horses out of the crests of waves. So they had to work together to make it complete.”

“In that case, I don’t see why we can’t cooperate with Percy, do you?” Twilight asked in return.

Annabeth just watched as the Arch disappeared behind the hotel while the train rode into the city. “I suppose,” she said at last.

The train pulled into the station downtown and the intercom told the passengers they would have a three-hour layover before departing for Denver. Grover stretched and before he was even fully awake, he said, “Food.”

“Come on, goat boy.” Annabeth countered. “Sightseeing.”

“Sightseein’?” asked Applejack.

“The Gateway Arch.” Annabeth specified. “This may be my only chance to ride to the top. Are you coming or not?”

The others exchanged looks. “I’m not arguing with her,” Twilight remarked.

“Safety in numbers and all that.” Rarity agreed.

“As long as there’s a snack bar without monsters,” Grover remarked.

“Amen to that.” Rainbow nodded.

It was about a one-mile hike to the Arch from the station, and it was late in the day so the lines to get in weren’t that long. The kids weaved their way around the underground museum, looking at covered wagons and other things from the 1800s; not really that thrilling, but Twilight listened in earnest as Annabeth kept telling the group interesting facts about how the Arch was built, and Grover and Pinkie kept passing the others candy, so they were okay.

Even so, Percy was wary as he looked around at the other people in line. “You smell anything?” he asked Grover.

The satyr took his nose out of the jellybean bag and sniffed around, shaking his head. “Underground,” he said distastefully. “Underground air always smells like monsters. Probably doesn’t mean anything.”

“Or it could mean we’re completely surrounded.” Twilight pointed out simply, earning a look of terror from Fluttershy. “Sorry; just saying it as it is.”

Percy seemed to have similar concerns as he looked around. “Guys,” he asked. “You know the gods’ symbols of power?”

Annabeth had been right in the middle of reading something about the construction equipment for the Arch when he asked that. “Yeah?”

“Well, Hade-” Rainbow quickly interrupted him with a slap upside the head before she pointed aggressively at her camp shirt to remind him that they weren’t at Camp Half-Blood anymore. Percy quickly got the message and changed his word choice. “Our friend way downstairs… doesn’t he have a hat like Annabeth’s?”

“You mean the Helm of Darkness.” Annabeth nodded. “Yeah, that’s his symbol of power. I saw it next to his seat during the winter solstice council meeting.”

“I thought he didn’t have a seat?” asked Pinkie.

“It’s the only time he’s allowed to visit Olympus; the darkest day of the year.” Annabeth countered. “But his helm is a lot more powerful than my invisibility hat, if what I’ve heard is true…”

“It allows him to become darkness,” Grover confirmed. “He can melt into shadow or pass through walls. He can’t be touched, seen, or heard. And he can radiate fear so intense it can drive you insane or stop your heart. Why do you think all rational creatures fear the dark?”

“But then… how do we know he’s not here right now, watching us?” asked Percy.

Everyone stopped and exchanged looks.

“We don’t,” Grover said grimly. Fluttershy looked about ready to keel over right then and there.

“Thanks, that makes me feel a lot better,” Percy said nervously. “Got any blue jellybeans left?”

“Yo.” Pinkie smiled as she thrusted a small baggie of the treats into his face.

“Thanks.” Percy accepted, trying to master his jumpy nerves along with the girls. They’d almost managed it when they saw the tiny elevator car they were going to ride to the top of the Arch and Twilight saw Percy getting scared again. It was no secret why; he’d told the girls at one point that he was incredibly claustrophobic.

Things only got worse when the group got shoehorned into the car with a fat woman and her chihuahua with a rhinestone collar. None of the guards said anything, so Twilight figured it was a seeing-eye chihuahua or something. Then the car started going up and almost immediately, everyone hated the concept of elevators that went in curves.

“No parents?” the fat lady asked out of nowhere. Rainbow Dash wasn’t sure she’d ever seen an uglier woman before; beady eyes, pointy coffee-stained teeth, a floppy denim hat, and dress that bulged so much, she looked like a blue-jean blimp.

“They’re below.” Annabeth excused. “Scared of heights.”

“Oh, the poor darlings.” Rarity didn’t particularly care for that tone as she glared at the lady. The chihuahua snarled at the group and the woman didn’t seem to mind. “Now, now, sonny. Behave.”

Fluttershy in particular appeared concerned; the dog had beady eyes like its owner, intelligent and vicious. And she couldn’t understand what it was saying.

“Sonny. Is that his name?” Percy asked.

“No.” the lady replied and smiled as if that cleared everything up. Spoiler alert; it didn’t.

They couldn’t worry too much about that for now though as they reached the top of the Arch, and while the view was fairly spectacular, the girls could clearly see Percy was getting more and more concerned about the height and confined space.

Annabeth just kept talking about structural supports and how she would’ve made the windows bigger and designed a see-through floor – the latter idea Fluttershy hated; it was bad enough she was this high up without her wings, but she didn’t need to fear the floor would give out beneath her when she didn’t have them like this. Either way, Annabeth probably could’ve gone on for ages if the park ranger hadn’t announced that the observation deck would be closing in a few minutes.

Percy found this exceedingly agreeable and steered the group to the elevator. He was about to get on himself with Twilight, Spike, and Applejack when they realized that with the other two tourists onboard aside from the group, there was no more room. “Next car, sir.” the ranger said.

“We’ll get out; we’ll wait with you.” Annabeth shrugged.

“That’ll just take longer.” Twilight pointed out.

“Yeah, we’ll see you guys at the bottom.” Percy nodded. The others all looked nervous as the doors closed and their car disappeared down the ramp. Applejack looked around and saw that aside from the three of them, there was just a little boy and his parents and the old lady with the chihuahua.

The four smiled uneasily at the lady and she just smiled back, her tongue flicking between her teeth… and it looked forked like a snake’s, which alarmed and confused the four beyond words. Before they could figure out if they’d all just hallucinated seeing that at the same time, the chihuahua hopped down and started yapping at them. Spike snarled to try and scare it off, but then he sniffed and appeared… confused.

“Now, now, sonny,” the lady said. “Does this look like a good time? We have all these nice people here.”

“Doggie!” the little boy smiled. “Look, a doggie!” His parents pulled him back, and considering how weird and frightening this whole situation was – including the foam dripping from the chihuahua’s lips – the kids couldn’t blame them.

“Well, son,” the fat lady sighed. “If you insist.”

Percy could feel ice forming in his stomach. “Um, did you just call that chihuahua your son?”

“Chimera, dear,” the fat lady corrected. “Not a chihuahua. It’s an easy mistake to make.”

“Chimera?” Applejack asked in surprise; she knew about chimeras in Equestria and this dog didn’t look like one. But then the lady rolled her denim sleeves up and revealed that the skin on her arms was green and scaly. She smiled and bared her teeth, which now resembled fangs, and took her glasses off to reveal her eyes had sideways slit pupils like a reptile’s.

The chihuahua started barking louder, but every time it barked, it grew. First to the size of a Doberman, then a lion, and the bark became a roar. Naturally, the little boy screamed and his parents pulled him back to the exit, straight into the park ranger who was just gaping in shock at the monster… and none of the kids could blame him.

The Chimera was now tall enough for its back to rub against the roof of the observation deck, with the head of a lion with a mane caked in blood, the body and hooves of a massive goat, and a ten-foot-long diamondback rattlesnake for a tail. The rhinestone dog collar still hung around its neck and the plate-sized dog tag was now much easier to read than it had been: CHIMERA – RABID, FIRE-BREATHING, POISONOUS – IF FOUND, PLEASE CALL TARTARUS – EXT. 954.

“Anybody else ever had nightmares like this?” Applejack asked numbly, no one daring to move or draw their weapons for fear the Chimera would pounce at them from its place ten feet away from them, its bloody maw letting out burning hot snarls.

The snake lady just hissed in a way that almost sounded like laughter. “Be honored, Percy Jackson. Lord Zeus rarely allows me to test a hero with one of my brood. For I am the Mother of Monsters, the terrible Echidna!”

The four stared at her in confusion. “Isn’t that a kind of anteater?” Percy asked dumbly… earning an angry howl from Echidna as her reptilian face turned brown and green in rage.

“Please tell me he did not just ask that,” Spike said in serious concern.

“Pretty sure he did,” Applejack noted, terrified.

“I hate it when people say that!” Echidna roared. “I hate Australia! Naming that ridiculous animal after me. For that, Percy Jackson, my son shall destroy you!”

The chimera charged, its lion fangs gnashing as Percy and Twilight jumped back in fear. Quickly taking advantage of the room they’d given her, Applejack swung a hard right hook at the beast’s face, knocking it to the ground as she stumbled back to the others, all of whom ended up next to the family and the ranger, who were all screaming and frantically trying to open the emergency exit.

“We can’t let them get hurt.” Twilight insisted as she quickly pulled her spear while Applejack tied her lariat to her mace and Percy uncapped Riptide.

They all ran to the other side of the deck and Applejack knocked her mace on the handrail. “Here, kitty-kitty-kitty!” she called tauntingly… and the Chimera turned faster than the team could’ve expected.

Before any of them could attack, the beast opened its mouth and its breath stank like the world’s biggest barbecue pit… before a massive column of fire shot out at the group. Quickly they dove through the explosion before the carpet burst into flames. Applejack was certain the heat would sear her hat if she wasn’t careful, but they didn’t have time to worry about that as they were now relatively in the clear… especially considering the place where they had just been standing was now a ragged seared hole in the arch.

“Great. We just blowtorched a national monument.” Percy shrugged.

“Ah, we’ll have the gods send a check.” Applejack shrugged as she swung her mace on the lariat like a flail. She swung the weapon hard at the beast’s face as Twilight stabbed at its hoof with her spear, drawing its attention just long enough for Percy to try and get a swing in at its neck, but Riptide just bounced off its collar and sent him stumbling into the girls.

They were all so busy trying to regain their balance and focus on the lion-head that they completely missed the snake tail… until it whipped around and sank its fangs into Percy’s calves, making him scream in agony. “Percy!” Twilight yelled in concern.

Percy could barely think; the venom made his leg feel like it was on fire. Twilight scowled in response to this and swung her spear to try and stab the chimera in the snout, but the serpent tail wrapped around Percy’s ankles and went taut, tripping Twilight up and making her accidentally knock Riptide out of Percy’s hands, sending both the blades spinning out of the hole in the Arch and down toward the Mississippi River.

Applejack tried to catch them with the other end of her lariat, but the spear was too heavy and it tugged the mace from her hands. “Oh, that ain’t good,” Applejack remarked in fear. She wasn’t wrong; they were all unarmed, Percy had venom coursing through his veins to his chest, and they had their backs to the hole with a deadly drop to the river just a misstep away.

Percy fumbled weakly at his pockets to try and find his weapon, knowing it would return to him any second… but it didn’t. Maybe it had fallen too far, maybe it only reappeared when it was in pen form – he didn’t know and he didn’t feel like he would live long enough to find out.

The chimera just snarled as it advanced, smoke curling from its lips as the heroes backed closer to the hole. Echidna just cackled. “They don’t make heroes like they used to, eh son?” The chimera growled, seemingly in no hurry to finish them off now that they were beaten.

They glanced over at the witnesses, the little boy hiding behind his father’s legs, and the kids knew they had to protect them; they couldn’t just die… but they didn’t have much choice; Percy was poisoned, they were all unarmed, facing a giant fire-breathing monster and its mother… and they were scared, especially as they looked down. If Twilight had her wings, she might be able to save her friends, but until she figured out how to Pony Up – as Sunset Shimmer had named it – and summon her wings in her human form, they were doomed.

But she could tell Percy was thinking something; if they died, then maybe the monsters would let the mortals go free. She understood the logic, but she also really didn’t want to die.

“If you are the son of Poseidon,” Echidna hissed to Percy. “you would not fear water. Jump, Percy Jackson. Show me that water will not harm you. Jump and retrieve your sword. Prove your bloodline.”

“Oh please, we’re not that crazy.” Twilight pointed out as she picked Spike up and clutched him to her chest; she knew full well that the higher you fell into water, the more it hurt. And from this height, it would be like splattering on solid asphalt. But they didn’t have much choice as they saw the Chimera warming up another blast.

“You have no faith,” Echidna remarked. “You do not trust the gods. I cannot blame you, little cowards. Better you die now. The gods are faithless. The poison is in your heart.”

Percy knew she was right; the venom had indeed reached his heart and he was dying. He could feel his breath slowing and knew that no one could save him and the girls, not even the gods. They all backed up further and looked down at the water. Percy remembered the warm glow of his father’s smile when he was a baby, knowing that he must have visited him. He remembered the trident above his head when his father claimed him.

“Hate to say it, but she’s got a point,” Applejack whispered. “River at camp healed Percy, so we might survive this time.”

“Do you really want to risk that?” Twilight whispered back. “This isn’t the sea.”

Percy knew she was right, but he also knew they didn’t have much of a choice, especially as Echidna rasped “Die, faithless one.” and the chimera sent another column of flame toward their faces.

“Father, help us.” Percy prayed and quickly turned, grabbing the girls’ hands before he jumped, dragging the girls down with him as they all screamed, plummeting toward the river.

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