Half-Blooded Harmony: The Lightning Thief

by SonicSpeedster97

America's Most Wanted

Somehow Twilight couldn’t help but feel reminded of how she’d fallen off that cliff in the Everfree Forest when she first joined her friends to fight Nightmare Moon as she, Percy, Applejack, and Spike plummeted from the top of the Gateway Arch… but that and whatever other rationalizations she could possibly come to was only in the background. Mostly her main thought – along with that of the others – was “AAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!”

The river was fast approaching as the wind lapped at their bodies and forced their breath from their lungs. Quickly Applejack held her hat to her head and dove to try and aim for the bank, but she ended up losing her grip on Percy as she dove. “APPLEJACK!” Twilight cried in fear. Applejack tried to swim through the air back toward them, almost wishing she was a Pegasus, but she was too far away so she had no choice but to right herself in midair, almost certain against all hope that she wouldn’t shatter her legs upon landing.

And it turned out she was right as she landed hard enough to leave a small crater next to the river… right as Twilight and Percy splashed down hard, the jet from their impact shooting up at least a dozen feet. Grateful she hadn’t broken anything and terrified for her friends, she ran to the bank. “TWILIGHT! SPIKE! PERCY!” she called in fear, praying they were okay.

---

Twilight had half-expected to feel a pain she’d never experienced before and maybe see Clover the Clever in the afterlife when she crossed over after the impact or at least the drowning in the murk she had no doubt she’d be lost in for the rest of her life. But somehow… it only stung a bit, like a belly-flop off a diving board, but nothing more. And while she wasn’t actively drowning, she knew she and Spike couldn’t hold their breath forever, but it was the sight of Percy next to them that surprised the two of them most; not only was he not a poisoned, barbecued pancake, he looked… dry. A tentative touch of his shirt confirmed Twilight’s suspicion; she was almost certain he was feeling the cold of the river as she was, but his shirt wasn’t just not on fire; it was bone-dry.

Percy appeared just as confused as he looked at his own shirt. Then he looked at the trash floating by in the river and grabbed an old cigarette lighter. He looked over at Twilight who merely shook her head as if she knew what he was going to try and doubted it just as much as him. Percy shrugged either way and flicked the lighter, stunning them both with the small flame that burned there at the bottom of the Mississippi River. Curious, Percy reached and grabbed a soggy burger wrapper, which immediately dried in his hands and lit like the water wasn’t anywhere to be seen. He let it go and the paper turned once again into a slimy rag with no fire – just a lightly singed area where he lit it.

And the craziest thing was that it looked like while Twilight and Spike were holding their breath like their lives depended on it, Percy was breathing the water as easily as air. It seemed like a miracle as they stood up, shaky and terrified about how they weren’t dead. But then Twilight realized something; since Percy was a son of Poseidon, the water was his domain and since she fell with him, she was probably spared along with him.

Percy’s head jerked a bit as if he heard something but Twilight didn’t hear it. “Um… thanks,” Percy said, his voice sounding deep like a recording or what he would probably sound like as he got older. “Thank you… father.” No response; at least none that Twilight could discern from the murky depths.

Which suddenly made her realize: the people at the top of the Arch were probably Chimera food by now. And she and the others couldn’t do anything to save them.

A riverboat’s paddlewheel churned the water above and a bronze glimmer in the mud in front of the two heroes let them see their weapons. Without a second thought, Twilight tromped her way through the muck to grab her spear and Applejack’s mace, quickly waving Percy over to claim his sword, but he appeared distracted by something like he could hear something she couldn’t.

Spike’s panicked struggling in her arms reminded Twilight however that just because they were part-god in this world, they could still drown. Quickly Twilight started swimming after the riverboat as fast as she could, gasping and coughing for breath as soon as she and Spike reached the surface. “Are you okay, Spike?” Twilight asked breathlessly.

“I’m fine.” Spike coughed as he looked down into the river. “What about Percy?”

“He’ll be fine. Come on; we’ve gotta find the others.” Twilight said quickly, swimming with Spike toward the riverbank as hard as they could. Quickly they pulled themselves to the bank and strained to pull themselves up.

“Twilight!” Applejack called as she ran over and helped her friend to her feet. “Sorry I couldn’t get us all clear. Are you alright?”

“Somehow.” Twilight nodded.

“Where’s Percy?” Applejack asked in fear.

“He’s fine. Come on, let’s find the others.” Twilight insisted as she handed Applejack her mace and lariat, quickly running with her and Spike outside the perimeter that the cops were setting up.

---

Almost a block away, Percy dragged himself to the shore next to a floating McDonald’s restaurant, Riptide safely back in his pocket. He could plainly what he believed was every emergency vehicle in the city surrounding the Arch and a huge crowd like Times Square on New Year’s Eve. “Mama! That boy just walked out of the river.” a little girl called, pointing at Percy.

“That’s nice, dear.” her mother said, clearly trying to see the ambulance.

“But he’s dry!”

“That’s nice, dear.”

Percy saw a news lady talking into the camera and did his best to stay out of the camera’s feed, but when he heard something about survivors, he breathed a sigh of relief; he had been just as worried as Twilight as the family and the ranger at the top of the Arch and prayed the others were okay. Quickly he tried to push through the crowd toward the police line to see what was happening, but then… “…an adolescent boy.” Another reporter was saying that and Percy got nervous as soon as he heard it. “Channel Five has learned that surveillance cameras show an adolescent boy and two adolescent girls going wild on the observation deck, somehow setting off this freak explosion. Hard to believe, John, but that’s what we’re hearing.”

Quickly Percy put his head down and backed away, wandering around the perimeter. He’d almost given up all hope of finding the others when… “Perrr-cy!” Percy turned just in time to be tackled off his feet as Grover bear-hugged him, flanked by the rest of the group who had descended from the Arch before the madness started. “We thought you’d gone to Hades the hard way!”

Rarity flipped her hair as she looked down at him. “We can’t leave you alone for five minutes without you stirring up trouble, can we Darling?” she asked haughtily. “Almost reminds me of you, Rainbow Dash.”

“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up.” Rainbow rolled her eyes. “What happened up there? And where are Twilight and AJ?”

“We sort of fell.” Percy excused.

“Percy! 630 feet?” Annabeth asked angrily.

Before Percy could answer, the crowd parted. “Gangway!” a cop shouted as a few paramedics hustled out with a woman on a stretcher – the mother from the observation deck.

“And then this huge dog, this huge fire-breathing chihuahua-” She was rambling almost madly, and the girls were confused.

“Okay ma’am.” the paramedic said. “Just calm down; your family is fine. The medication is starting to kick in.”

“I’m not crazy!” the woman screeched. “This boy and these girls jumped out of the hole and the monster disappeared.” Then she saw Percy. “There he is! That’s the boy!”

Percy was scared and almost moved to do something before he and the others were suddenly grabbed from the crowd and dragged into obscurity among the masses. “Glad to see you’re okay, Percy.” Twilight smiled.

“You too.” Percy nodded to her and Applejack.

“What is going on?” Annabeth demanded. “Was she talking about the chihuahua on the elevator?”

“For chihuahua, read chimera.” Applejack countered. “And his mama was Echidna.”

“The anteater?” Pinkie asked.

“Never call her that to her face; she hates it,” Percy assured.

“You would know.” Twilight pointed out bluntly. “And no, Pinkie; not the anteater, the Mother of Monsters. At least that’s how she introduced herself.”

“Accurately. Well, that explains the destruction,” Annabeth remarked.

“Sorry guys, I feel like this is on me.” Grover excused. “I should’ve smelled Echidna, but my nose was so filled up from underground.”

“It’s okay, Grover. We weren’t exactly expecting to get attacked up there.” Twilight shrugged.

“And we certainly weren’t expectin’ to end up goin’ for a high-dive neither, but I ain’t complainin’,” Applejack noted.

“Which reminds me; how are you guys not paste?” asked Rainbow.

“Well, I landed like a heavy-set cat.” Applejack shrugged, leaning against a streetlight as she rubbed her feet through her boots. “My dogs are still barkin’.”

“And I’m pretty sure Percy’s dad saved us,” Twilight noted. “I just want to know why you didn’t come with us when we swam away.”

“Some sort of… woman in the river.” Percy shrugged, still not sure how to describe it. “She said that… my mom’s fate wasn’t as hopeless as I believe.”

“What does that mean?” asked Fluttershy.

“I don’t know. She just said that my dad wants us to go to Santa Monica beach before we descend to the Underworld.” Percy remembered. “And something about not trusting the gifts.”

“What gifts?” asked Twilight.

“I don’t know; she disappeared after that.” Percy shrugged.

“Whoa,” said Grover. “We’ve got to get you to Santa Monica! We can’t ignore a summons from your dad.”

“If it means he’s treating us to a beach holiday, I agree.” Rarity smiled.

Annabeth almost said something, but they were passing another reporter giving a news break and everyone almost froze when they heard him say, “Percy Jackson. That’s right, Dan. Channel Twelve has learned that the boy who may have caused this explosion fits the description of a young man wanted by authorities for a serious New Jersey bus accident three days ago. And the boy is believed to be traveling west. For our viewers at home, here is a photo of Percy Jackson.”

Right on cue, Rainbow pushed the others around the news van and down an alley with impressive speed. “First things first, Grover.” she pointed out. “We’ve gotta get back to the train and get the heck out of St. Louis.”

“Agreed. Let’s move.” Twilight ordered as the group slunk across the city. Somehow, they made it back to the Amtrak station without being spotted and jumped aboard the train just before it pulled out for Denver, trundling west as darkness fell, police lights still pulsing against the St. Louis skyline behind them.

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