Half-Blooded Harmony: The Lightning Thief

by SonicSpeedster97

Lunch with a God

The train rolled into the station in Denver on the afternoon of June 14^th – seven days before the solstice. The group hadn’t eaten anything since the night before in the dining car somewhere in Kansas, and none of them had showered since they left Camp Half-Blood, which Rarity had made no bones about… despite not looking any different than before, though everyone was certain it was obvious.

“Let’s try to contact Chiron,” Annabeth suggested. “I want to tell him about your talk with the river spirit.”

“What about the ‘no phone’ rule?” asked Rainbow.

“I’m not talking about phones,” Annabeth assured. They kept walking through downtown for about half an hour, though Percy and the girls weren’t exactly sure what Annabeth was looking for. But that wasn’t what bothered them as much as how hot and dry the air was, especially compared to the humidity of St. Louis, and everywhere they looked they could see the Rockies around the city, which Percy felt was staring down at him, like a tidal wave about to crash into the city.

Finally, they reached an empty do-it-yourself car wash and veered into the stall farthest from the street as Rainbow and Applejack quickly glanced around to make sure they were clear of the cops… not that there were any to see around – a bunch of adolescent kids hanging out at a car wash without a car; any cop worth his doughnuts wouldn’t think they were up to anything wicked.

Not that any of the girls knew what they were doing here either. “What exactly are we doing?” Percy asked as Grover grabbed the spray gun.

“It’s 75 cents,” Grover grumbled. “I’ve only got two quarters left. Annabeth?”

“Don’t look at me. The dining car wiped me out.” Annabeth pointed out.

“If I give you this, will we get an explanation?” Twilight asked as she handed over a quarter, only leaving the girls with a few small bits of loose change and a few drachmas from Medusa’s place.

“Excellent.” Grover smiled as he accepted the coin. “We could do it with a spray bottle, of course, but the connection isn’t as good, and my arm gets tired of pumping.”

“What are you guys talking about?” asked Applejack.

Grover fed in the coins and set the knob on the spray gun to Fine Mist. “IMing.”

“Instant messaging?” asked Percy.

“Iris-messaging.” Annabeth corrected. “The rainbow goddess Iris carries messages for the gods. If you know how to ask and she’s not too busy, she’ll do the same for half-bloods.”

“You summon a goddess with a spray gun?” Percy asked.

Grover just pointed the nozzle into the air and was about to pull the trigger. “Unless you know a better way to make a rainbow.”

“Um…?” Fluttershy pointed out quietly, pointing to Rainbow Dash with her thumb… her rainbow-colored hair, specifically.

Grover and Annabeth realized what she was talking about, and both sighed as Grover put the nozzle back. “You couldn’t have reminded us of that two minutes ago? When we hadn’t just blown most of our change?” Annabeth asked in annoyance.

“Did we know what you were doing two minutes ago?” Twilight pointed out.

“Don’t get smart with me,” Annabeth argued.

“I thought smarts was our whole thing, ‘sister’.” Twilight countered with a smirk.

“Then how come she didn’t think of it?” Applejack raised an eyebrow in a cocky fashion.

“Ooh…!” Spike remarked with a smile in response to that burn.

“Shut up.” Annabeth scowled as she walked over to Rainbow and roughly turned her around.

“Hey, ow; easy!” Rainbow said quickly as Annabeth grabbed her hair and examined it.

“Hmm… yeah, yeah, I guess this’ll work.” she shrugged and stepped back. “Drachma, please.” Percy handed it over and Annabeth raised it over her head. “O goddess, accept our offering.”

Then she reared back to toss it, and Rainbow preemptively braced herself for the impact of being hit in the head with a gold coin twice as big as an Equestrian bit, but when Annabeth threw the coin, it didn’t come; just a faint rippling as it disappeared into her hair in a golden shimmer.

“Half-Blood Hill.” Annabeth requested. For a split-second, nothing happened but then as Rainbow lifted her hair so she could look too, it was like she and the others were looking through her hair at strawberry fields, and the Long Island Sound in the distance. It was almost as if they were standing on the porch of the Big House, and with his back to the group was a familiar-looking sandy-haired guy with a bronze sword staring somewhat intently at something down in the meadow.

“Luke!” Percy called, and Luke turned with wide eyes. Rainbow Dash could swear he was standing right next to her and just looking through her hair like a screen, except they could only see the part of him that appeared in the rainbow.

“Hey Percy!” he smiled, the grin breaking his scarred face. “Are Annabeth and the others there too? Thank the gods! Are you guys okay?”

“We’re… uh… fine,” Annabeth stammered, fussing to straighten her shirt and hair, much to Rarity’s amusement. “We thought- Chiron- I mean-”

“He’s down at the cabins.” Luke’s smile faded as he said this. “We’re having some issues with the campers. Listen, is everything cool with you? I can see Grover, but where’s Rainbow Dash?”

“Who do you think you’re talking through?” Rainbow asked, tilting her hair so she was in his line of sight as best she could, surprising him.

“Huh. Talk about creativity.” Luke smiled. “Who came up with that?”

“Not Annabeth, that’s for sure,” Rainbow smirked, especially at the annoyed look on the blonde’s face, but it only provoked a chuckle from Applejack. “But enough about that for now; what kind of issues are there?”

Just then a big Lincoln Continental pulled into the car wash with its stereo turned to maximum hip-hop. As the car slid into the next stall, the bass from the subwoofers vibrated so much, it shook the pavement. “Chiron had to- what’s that noise?!” Luke yelled.

“Can someone please turn that down?!” Rarity agreed.

“I’ll take care of it,” Annabeth yelled back, looking very relieved to have an excuse to get out of Luke’s line of sight. “Grover, come on!”

“What? But-” Grover started.

“Just come on!” Annabeth barked. Grover muttered something about girls being harder to understand than the Oracle but followed Annabeth all the same, leaving Percy and the girls to talk to Luke.

“Chiron had to break up a fight,” Luke shouted over the music. “Things are pretty tense here, guys. Word leaked out about the Zeus-Poseidon standoff. We’re still not sure how – probably the same scumbag who summoned the hellhound. Now the campers are starting to take sides. It’s shaping up like the Trojan War all over again. Aphrodite, Ares, and Apollo are backing Poseidon, more or less. Athena is backing Zeus.”

Percy shuddered and the girls didn’t blame him; the thought of Clarisse’s cabin siding with his father for anything was almost impossible. In the next stall, they heard Annabeth and some guy arguing before the music’s volume decreased dramatically.

“Ah, much better.” Rarity remarked in relief as she rubbed her pained ears. “Honestly, how that caterwauling counts as music in any way is beyond me.”

“Hmph. Tell me about it.” Luke agreed. “So what’s your guys’ status? Chiron will be sorry he missed you.”

“So far so good.” Percy shrugged before he and the girls told him pretty much everything, including their dreams. It honestly felt so good to see him – to feel like they were back at camp for even just a few minutes – that they almost didn’t notice when Rainbow had to switch which arm she was using to hold her hair up since it was going numb, or how much time had gone by until they saw the sun shifting.

“I wish I could be there,” Luke said. “We can’t help much from here. I’m afraid but listen – it had to be Hades who took the Master Bolt. He was there at Olympus at the Winter Solstice. I was chaperoning a field trip and we saw him.”

“That’s our belief as well, but Chiron’s told us that gods can’t usurp each other’s items directly.” Rarity pointed out.

“That’s true.” Luke looked troubled as he said this. “Still… Hades has the Helm of Darkness. How could anybody else sneak into the throne room and steal the Master Bolt? You’d have to be invisible.”

That gave the group pause. “You don’t mean…?” Twilight trailed off as she glanced back toward Annabeth.

“Oh hey, no. I didn’t mean Annabeth.” Luke protested, apparently realizing what he’d said. “She and I have known each other forever. She would never… I mean, she’s like a little sister to me.”

“Heh. Don’t let her hear you say that.” Rainbow smirked, which was echoed with the other girls… until they heard the music stop abruptly in the next stall, a man screaming in terror, car doors slamming, and the Lincoln peeling out of the car wash. “Speak of the devil.”

“Yeah, you’d better go see what that was about.” Luke pointed out, almost like he already knew. “Listen, Percy, are you wearing the flying shoes? I’ll feel better if I know they’ve done you some good.”

“Oh… uh, yeah!” Percy smiled, trying not to sound like a huge liar. “Yeah, they’ve come in handy.”

“Really? They fit and everything?” Luke grinned, but Pinkie noticed something… off about his smile. Luke didn’t notice her reaction and smiled as his image started to fade from Rainbow’s hair. “Well, take care of yourselves out there in Denver.” His voice was getting fainter as his image faded. “And tell Grover it’ll be better this time! Nobody will get turned into a pine tree if he just-”

But his image was gone, leaving the group alone in a wet, empty car wash stall. Annabeth and Grover came around the corner laughing, but it stopped when they saw the group’s faces. Annabeth immediately stepped forward. “What happened, guys? What did Luke say?”

“Not much,” Percy lied, the stomachs of himself and all the girls feeling as empty as Zeus’ cabin. “Come on, let’s find some dinner.”

No one could argue with that as they followed Percy, but Twilight leaned over to Pinkie. “You okay, Pinkie?” she asked.

“I don’t know. Why did Luke ask if Percy was wearing the shoes?” Pinkie asked.

“He said he was worried about him; is that so hard to believe?” asked Rainbow.

“I don’t know. I didn’t trust that smile.” Pinkie remarked quietly.

The girls weren’t sure about that, but after how correctly Pinkie’s intuition about smiles had turned out with Starlight Glimmer, they weren’t about to completely dismiss it.

---

A few minutes later, the group had taken up two booths in a gleaming chrome diner, surrounded by families eating burgers and drinking malts and sodas.

Finally, the waitress came over, and she didn’t seem a bit surprised or even impressed by how big their group was, aside from a skeptical raised eyebrow. “Well?”

“We, um, want to order dinner,” Percy said nervously.

“You kids have money to pay for it?” Grover’s lower lip quivered, leaving Percy and Twilight worried he was going to start bleating – or worse, eating the linoleum. Annabeth looked about ready to pass out from hunger and Twilight could distinctly hear Spike gnawing on the inside of her backpack.

Percy looked just about ready to spin a sob story when the whole building shook with a massive rumble. The group looked out the window and was stunned when they saw a motorcycle the size of a baby elephant rumble to the curb, all conversation in the diner stopping.

The motorcycle’s headlight glared blood red and the gas tank had hot-rod flames painted on the sides, and a shotgun holster rivetted to either side, complete with shotguns. The seat was leather, but it was the color of Caucasian human skin.

And the rider… well, he looked like the kind of guy who could’ve made Tirek himself run to Mama through sheer force of will. He was dressed in a red muscle shirt – which really lived up to its name as this guy was jacked – and black jeans under a black leather duster with a massive hunting knife strapped to his thigh. He wore red wrap-around shades, but the girls could still easily see his burning red eyes through the red lenses, and he had the cruelest, most brutal face they’d ever seen – handsome in a way, but wicked – with an oily black crew cut and cheeks scarred from probably too many fights to count.

The especially odd thing was the girls all felt like they’d seen his face before somewhere. But that thought was suddenly driven from their minds as he walked into the diner, a hot and dry wind blowing through the place with him. Everyone rose to their feet as if they were possessed, but the biker waved his hand dismissively and they all sat back down, going back to their conversations like nothing had happened. The waitress blinked almost like someone had pressed a rewind button in her brain. “You kids have money to pay for it?” she asked again.

“It’s on me.” the biker said simply, sliding into the booth with Percy, even though it was far too small for him and he cramped Annabeth up against the window. He glanced up at the waitress, whose mouth was agape at the sight of him, and lowered his shades a bit as he looked at her. “Are you still here?” He pointed at her and she stiffened, turning as if she’d been spun around and marched robotically back toward the kitchen.

(Cut it)

Once she was gone, the biker adjusted his glasses and glanced at the kids, and while they couldn’t see his eyes, they could all very easily feel a strange sense of rage boiling up within them all – even Fluttershy clenched her fists as she looked at this guy. He gave Percy a wicked grin. “So you’re old Seaweed’s kid, huh?”

“What’s it to you?” Percy asked, with all the same venom as he had when he was talking to his stepdad. And Rainbow nearly jumped behind him to back him up, no one even bothering to question how he knew they were half-bloods.

Annabeth’s eyes flashed the whole group a warning. “Uh guys, this is-”

The biker just raised his hand. “S’okay,” he said. “I don’t mind a little attitude. Long as you remember who’s the boss. You know who I am, little cousins?”

The girls were surprised by then, but then they all realized why this guy looked so familiar; he had the same sneer as some of the kids from Camp – Cabin 5, specifically. “You’re Clarisse’s dad,” Percy said. “Ares, god of war.”

Ares grinned and took his shades off, showing that where his eyes should’ve been, there were just two empty voids full of fire, glowing like miniature nuclear explosions. “That’s right, punk,” he said. “I heard you broke Clarisse’s spear.” Then he glanced at Applejack. “And you tripped her up.”

“She was askin’ for both.” Applejack pointed out curtly, lowering the brim of her Stetson over her brow to try and out-menace him… though she doubted she could do a good job of that.

“Probably. That’s cool.” Ares shrugged. “I don’t fight my kids’ fights, you know? What I’m here for – I heard you were in town. I got a little proposition for you.”

Before he could continue, the waitress came back with heaping trays of food and Ares handed her a few gold drachmas. She looked nervously at the coins as she glanced at Ares. “But these aren’t-”

Ares cut her off as he drew his huge bronze-bladed knife and started cleaning his fingernails. “Problem, sweetheart?” he asked, almost bored. The waitress just swallowed in fear and left with the gold.

“You can’t do that.” Fluttershy said firmly, almost like she was warming up to try “The Stare” on him. “You can’t just threaten people with a knife.”

Ares just laughed. “Are you kidding? I love this country. Best place since Sparta. Don’t you punks carry weapons? You should. Dangerous world out there. Which brings me to my proposition. I need you to do me a favor.”

“What favor could we do for a god?” Percy asked bitterly.

“Something a god doesn’t have time to do himself,” Ares said simply, kicking back in the seat. “It’s nothin’ much; I left my shield at an abandoned water park here in town. I was goin’ on a little… date with my girlfriend.” His fiery eyes drifted over to Rarity as he said that which made her profoundly uncomfortable… not to mention queasy. “We were interrupted. I left my shield behind. I want you to fetch it for me.”

“Why don’t you go back and get it yourself?” Rainbow asked sternly.

The fire in Ares’ eyes glowed a little hotter as he looked at her. “Why don’t I turn you all into prairie dogs and run you over with my Harley? Because I don’t feel like it.” He looked at Percy. “A god is giving you and your little friends an opportunity to prove yourselves, Percy Jackson. Will you prove yourselves cowards?” He leaned forward tauntingly. “Or maybe you only fight when there’s a river to dive into, so your daddy can protect you.”

“That does it!” Rainbow snarled – she wasn’t going to just sit here and listen to someone insulting her friend, god or not – so she turned, ready to leap over the booth seats and punch Ares in the face, but Applejack quickly held her back with a shake of her head, which made Rainbow realize it – he wanted her to hit him. His power – his very presence – was making them angry, almost like the Sirens Twilight had described from Canterlot High in Sunset Shimmer’s world. Relenting, she took a deep breath and sat back down. “Thanks, but no thanks. We’ve already got a quest.”

Suddenly their minds were filled with images of blood and smoke and battlefields littered with corpses – clearly presents from Ares. “I know all about your quest, kiddies. When that item was stolen, Zeus sent his best out looking for it: Apollo, Athena, Artemis, and me, naturally. If I couldn’t sniff out a weapon that powerful…” He licked his lips, almost enticed like the very thought of the Master Bolt was enough to make him hungry. “Well… if I couldn’t find it, you got no hope. Nevertheless, I’m trying to give you the benefit of the doubt here. Percy’s dad and I go way back. After all, I’m the one who told him my suspicions about old Corpse Breath.”

That drew Twilight’s attention, her ire somewhat lessening. “You told him Hades stole the Bolt?” she asked.

“Sure. Framing somebody to start a war.” Ares shrugged. “Oldest trick in the book; I recognized it immediately. In a way, you got me to thank for your little quest.”

“Oh, lovely; just when I thought you weren’t vile enough already.” Rarity pointed out bitterly.

“Hey, I’m a generous guy. Just do my little job and I’ll help you on your way. I’ll arrange a ride west for you and your friends.” Ares shrugged.

“I think we’re doing just fine without your help, thanks.” Percy countered.

“Yeah, right. No money, no wheels, no clue what you’re up against.” Ares smirked. “Help me out, and maybe I’ll tell you something you need to know. Something about your mom.”

“My mom?” Percy asked quickly.

Ares grinned. “That got your attention.” he greased. “The water park is a mile west of Delancy; you can’t miss it. Look for the Tunnel of Love ride.”

“What interrupted your date?” Rainbow taunted. “Something scare you off?” Ares bared his teeth, but the group had seen his threatening look before on Clarisse. There was something… false about it, almost like he was nervous.

“Wait… did it?” Pinkie asked in surprise.

“You punks are lucky you met me and not one of the other Olympians.” Ares threatened. “They’re not as forgiving of rudeness as I am.”

“This is him being forgiving?” Rarity whispered to Twilight.

“I’ll meet you back here when you’re done,” Ares noted. “Don’t disappoint me.” He snapped his fingers and almost immediately, the group was waking up from what felt like a black-out. Percy and the girls assumed it was a dream or something, but the looks on Annabeth and Grover’s faces said otherwise.

“Not good,” Grover said nervously. “Ares sought you out, guys. This is not good.”

“Yeah, we gathered that,” Applejack noted as she glanced out the window, seeing a distinct absence of Ares and his motorcycle.

Percy’s mind was a jumble; even if Ares did have information about his mother – and that was a big ‘if’ – his power to cloud people’s ability to think by filling their minds with rage didn’t exactly endear him to the group. “It’s probably some kind of trick,” he said. “Forget Ares. Let’s just go.”

“We can’t.” Annabeth countered.

“You cannot be serious, darling.” Rarity said aghast.

“Look, don’t get me wrong; I hate Ares as much as anybody, but you don’t ignore the gods unless you want serious bad fortune,” Annabeth assured. “He wasn’t kidding about turning you guys into rodents.”

The group all looked down at their food, which suddenly seemed much less appetizing. “Why does he need us?” asked Twilight.

“Maybe it’s a problem that requires brains.” Annabeth theorized. “Ares has strength. That’s all he has. Even strength has to bow to wisdom sometimes.”

“Yeah, but this water park…” Rainbow pointed out. “He acted almost scared of it. What could make a war god run away like that?”

“Ah’m not sure Ah wanna know,” Applejack remarked honestly.

Annabeth and Grover appeared to share that sentiment as they glanced at each other nervously. “Even so…” Annabeth said. “I’m afraid we’ll have to find out.”

---

The sun was already going down behind the mountains by the time the group reached the water park, which had clearly been called Waterland at one point, judging by the sign – even with half the letters smashed out. And the place looked abysmal – the main gate was padlocked and topped with barbed wire, huge dry waterslides, tubes, and pipes snaking everywhere inside the fence, leading to empty pools as old tickets and advertisements fluttered across the asphalt in the wind. “Charming place.” Rarity remarked sarcastically.

“Yeah. If Ares brings his girlfriend here for a date, I’d hate to see what she looks like.” Percy remarked, earning a laugh from Rainbow.

“Percy, be more respectful,” Annabeth warned.

“Why? I thought you hated Ares.”

“He’s still a god. And his girlfriend is very temperamental.” Annabeth warned.

“Yeah, you don’t want to insult her looks,” Grover added.

“Who is she; Echidna?” That crack from Percy made Applejack and Twilight laugh more than they reasonably should have, but the stern looks on Annabeth and Grover’s faces said otherwise.

“No, Aphrodite,” Grover said a little dreamily. “Goddess of love.”

“My patron?” Rarity asked, clearly offended. Since this whole thing started, she and the other ponies had decided to refer to the gods they’d been claimed by as their patrons instead of their parents – it just made the whole thing seem more normal for them… as little as that meant in this situation. “What could she possibly see in a brute like him?”

“And, um, isn’t she already married? To Hephaestus?” Fluttershy pointed out.

“What’s your point?” Grover asked pointedly.

That reminded the group of Selina’s part in the campfire song and the girls all blushed. “Oh,” Percy noted simply, quickly feeling the need to change the subject. “So how do we get in?”

“Pfft. Please. I could jump this thing and break the lock in one move.” Rainbow smirked.

“Oh yeah? Prove it.” Annabeth remarked, clearly not believing her boasting.

Twilight and Spike just smirked, knowing how Annabeth would regret making that bet. “My pleasure,” Rainbow smirked as she stepped back a bit for a running start. A quick breath and she took off like a shot, her usual rainbow-colored contrail following her as she backflipped over the gate. “Loop the loop around and wham!” With one hard axe kick, she split the lock clean in half just before she landed and pulled the chain from the gate, opening it with a smirk directed at Annabeth. “Toldja so. I never leave my friends hangin’.”

“Yeah, yeah, keep a close watch on that hubris of yours; it’s come back to bite more than a few heroes before you,” Annabeth remarked with a roll of her eyes as she and the others walked through the gate.

The shadows grew long as they walked through the park, looking at the attractions as they walked. It was quiet – almost too quiet – not even a rodent, much less a monster. Just a souvenir shop left open with cheap merchandise left on the racks; snow globes, pencils, postcards, and racks of- “Clothes.” Annabeth said happily. “Fresh clothes.”

“Yeah. But you can’t just-”

“Watch me.” she interrupted Percy before she snatched an entire row of stuff from the racks and disappeared into the changing room, quickly reemerging dressed in grossly overblown park memorabilia, a backpack filled with more slung onto her back.

“What the heck.” Grover shrugged. None of the others could argue, so soon enough, they were all dressed up as walking advertisements for a defunct water park… which Rarity didn’t exactly find very pleasant as she felt the branded clothes didn’t do a thing for her.

Either way, the group kept searching for the Tunnel of Love as Percy and the girls got the feeling the whole park was holding its breath. “So… Ares and Aphrodite.” Rarity finally broke the silence to try and keep her mind off the growing darkness. “What exactly is the story between them?”

“They’re old gossip, Rarity,” Annabeth assured. “Three thousand-year-old gossip.”

“What about her husband?” asked Twilight.

“Well, you know; Hephaestus, the blacksmith.” Annabeth shrugged. “He was crippled when he was a baby, thrown off Mount Olympus by Zeus. So he isn’t exactly handsome. Clever with his hands and all, but Aphrodite isn’t into brains and talent, y’know?”

“She likes bikers.” Rainbow reasoned, remembering how – admittedly – awesome Ares looked, despite how much she didn’t like him.

“Whatever.” Annabeth shrugged.

“Hephaestus knows?” Percy asked.

“Oh, sure.” Annabeth shrugged. “He caught them together once. I mean, literally caught them. In a golden net. And invited all the gods to come and laugh at them. Hephaestus is always trying to embarrass them.”

“Ares don’t strike me as the type to get embarrassed easily,” Applejack noted.

“You’d think.” Annabeth shrugged, telling the cowgirl all she needed to know. “But that’s why they meet in out-of-the-way places, like…” She stopped, looking straight ahead. “Like that.”

In front of the group was an empty pool that would’ve been perfect for skateboarding – at least fifty yards across and shaped like a bowl. Around the rim were a dozen bronze statues of Cupid standing guard with wings spread and bows at the ready. Opposite the group was a tunnel opening, probably where the water flowed into when the pool was full. The sign above it read ‘Thrill Ride O’ Love: This is not your parents’ Tunnel of Love!’

Rarity just raised an eyebrow as she looked around at the ride. “Delightful,” she said curtly.

“Guys, look.” Grover pointed down the edge of the pool. Marooned at the bottom was a pink-and-white two-seater boat with a canopy over the top and little hearts painted all over it. And in the left seat, glinting in the fading light, was a polished circle of bronze – Ares’ shield.

“This is too easy,” Percy noted. “So we just walk down there and get it?”

“No way; there’s gotta be some sort of catch,” Spike noted as he sniffed around the area.

Annabeth walked over to the nearest Cupid statue and ran her fingers over the base. “There’s a Greek letter carved here.”

Twilight walked over to her side and examined the letter for herself. “Eta.” she recognized. “What does that mean?”

“I dunno. I wonder…” Annabeth said thoughtfully.

“Grover, Spike, you guys smell any monsters?” Percy asked.

Grover sniffed the air. “Nothing.”

“Nothing – like, in-the-Arch-and-you-didn’t-smell-Echidna nothing, or really nothing?” Percy asked seriously.

“I told you, that was underground.” Grover excused, looking hurt.

“Okay, I’m sorry.” Percy nodded and took a deep breath. “I’m going down there.”

“I’ll go with you.” Grover didn’t sound too enthusiastic, but the whole group got the feeling he was trying to make up for what happened in St. Louis.

“No,” Percy countered. “I want you to stay up top with the flying shoes.”

“Yeah, you’re the Red Baron, a flying ace, remember?” Rainbow smiled, not sure she was using that right, but thought it was cool anyway. “We’re the backup in case anything goes wrong.”

Grover puffed up his chest a little. “Sure. But what could go wrong?”

“I don’t know. Just a feeling.” Percy said uncertainly. “Annabeth, come with me-”

“Are you kidding?” She looked at him as if he’d just dropped from the moon, her cheeks bright red.

“What’s the problem now?” he demanded.

“Me, go with you to the… the ‘Thrill Ride of Love’?” Annabeth asked seriously. “How embarrassing is that? What if somebody saw me?”

“Who’s going to see you?” Percy asked seriously, gesturing to the empty water park.

“Really Percy, it’s the principle of the thing.” Rarity chimed in. “We’ve only known each other a few weeks; would you suggest such a thing with one of us?” It was clear that this situation had embarrassed Percy as well since his face was also burning.

“Fine; I’ll do it myself,” he said and started down the side.

Annabeth sighed as she followed him down. “Boys always mess things up,” she muttered.

As the two moved toward the boat, Twilight and the others continued to look around the area. “I doubt I’m the first person to say this, but I don’t really understand Ares,” Rainbow remarked. “I mean, why would he bring Aphrodite on a date to a deserted water park?”

“Well, privacy certainly appears to be important to them.” Rarity noted as she looked around at the absence of any other people.

“Not to mention ego.” Applejack pointed out, earning some strange looks from the others. “Mirrors.” Sure enough, mirrors were all around the rim of the pool.

“Well, that figures. Nothing better than seeing your own favorite people while making out.” Rainbow rolled her eyes.

“Still… I have a bad feeling about this.” Twilight shrugged as she looked at the various statues, seeing more and more Eta symbols.

In the pit, Pinkie could see Percy picking up a woman’s silk scarf from next to the shield… and looking at it almost longingly before Annabeth snatched it from her hand and shoved it into her pocket. “Oh no you don’t. Stay away from that love magic,” she warned.

“What?” Percy asked.

“Just get the shield, Seaweed Brain, and let’s get out of here.”

As Percy grabbed the shield, Twilight could almost hear something from the base of one of the statues, like a fishing reel spinning and reeling in cable, but much faster. “What the…?” she muttered and looked to see a small hole was the source of the noise.

“Wait,” Annabeth said.

“Too late.” Percy shrugged.

“There’s another Greek letter on the side of the boat, another Eta.”

Almost immediately, Twilight figured it out. “It’s a trap!” she called, right before noise erupted from all around the pool, like one massive machine coming to life.

“Guys!” Grover yelled as he looked up. The others followed his gaze and saw the Cupid statues turning and drawing their bows.

“Hit the deck!” Rainbow called… before the statues all fired at each other across the rim of the pool, trailing silky cables that weaved together into a large net.

“We have to get out,” Percy said quickly.

“Duh,” Annabeth remarked as Percy grabbed the shield and they ran up the rim of the pool, but that was easier said than done.

“Come on!” Grover called as he and the girls struggled to open a section of the net, but the threads just wrapped around their hands.

“Gah! What is this stuff?!” asked Rainbow.

Then the Cupids’ heads popped open and video cameras came out as spotlights rose up and blinded the group with illumination. “Live to Olympus in one minute…” a loud voice boomed over the loudspeaker. “Fifty-nine seconds, fifty-eight…”

“Hephaestus!” Annabeth screamed in anger, clearly recognizing the voice. “I’m so stupid! Eta is H. He made this trap to catch his wife with Ares. Now we’re going to be broadcast live to Olympus and look like absolute fools!”

“Don’t worry; we’ll get you out!” Rainbow insisted as she drew her swords and tried slashing at the net, but the cables reformed as fast as she could cut them.

“Don’t bother, Rainbow; if Hephaestus made this trap, he probably made certain Ares and Aphrodite couldn’t escape it.” Twilight pointed out, trying hard to free her hands so she could pull Percy and Annabeth up as they had nearly made it to the rim.

Then the row of mirrors opened like hatches and thousands of tiny metallic things poured out; an army of bronze wind-up creepy-crawlies, click-clacking along the tile with spindly legs and pincer mouths on their gear-like bodies.

Annabeth immediately screamed when she saw them. “Spiders! Sp- sp- AAAAH!”

It was almost insane to see her like this as she scrambled back in terror, quickly getting swarmed by the spider-bots before Percy dragged her back into the boat. “Hephaestus’ pets, I assume?” Rarity remarked.

“A lot of ‘em, yeah.” Grover nodded as the spiders swarmed further toward the boat, completely surrounding Percy and Annabeth.

They certainly didn’t look lethal – they were probably just designed to make their victims look stupid – but then again, this trap was designed by a god for gods, so no one was sure. Percy did what he could to kick the spiders away and yelled at Annabeth to help, but she was too paralyzed to do anything as the loudspeaker counted down. “Thirty, twenty-nine…”

“We’ve gotta get them outta there!” Rainbow called, still trying to cut the threads as Grover flew above the net on his shoes.

Twilight quickly ran through all the possibilities in her mind, seeing the Tunnel of Love’s entrance under the net, which could easily serve as an exit… if it weren’t swarming with spiders. “Water…” she realized quietly, clearly seeing the same realization in Percy’s eyes.

Rainbow heard that and saw the pipes beneath the mirrors where the spiders were coming from – water pipes. Immediately, her eyes locked onto a glass control booth at the lip of the pool between two statues. “Grover, gimme a hand! We need to find the on switch for the water!” she ordered.

“But-”

“Do it!” Percy ordered, more than pleased the girls had the same idea as him as the spiders swarmed the boat, Annabeth screaming her head off.

Immediately Rainbow and Grover made it to the control booth and started slamming all the controls at once, with only five seconds left on the loudspeaker’s countdown. “Nothing’s working!” Rainbow called.

Percy scowled and closed his eyes, trying to focus, thinking about water in every way he could; the rushing waves, the Mississippi river… then he felt a tug in his stomach as he imagined trying to drag the ocean all the way to Denver. “Two, one, zero!” Right on cue, water blasted out of the pipes and swept all the spiders away, lifting and spinning the boat as Percy and Annabeth strapped in.

Through what looked like sheer power of will, Percy seemed to be controlling the boat as it shot toward the tunnel. The others could hear Percy and Annabeth screaming as they rode through it. “Okay, not gonna lie; that sounds pretty awesome,” Rainbow remarked as they heard the sounds of the ride in the tunnel.

“It’s about to become less awesome pretty fast,” Twilight noted as she looked at the gates in the exit of the tunnel… which was chained shut and Twilight could clearly see a few boats wrecked against them. “Even if they make it over that crash, they might be in for a rough landing.”

“I’m on it,” Grover called as he quickly took to the air with his shoes.

“Not on your own; I got your back!” Rainbow called and raced up along the roof of the tunnel, more than happy she had her speed as a daughter of Hermes.

And right on cue, as they heard Annabeth scream “Now!” before the boat crashed into the gate, the impact launching Percy and Annabeth from the crash and sending them flying high over the park… straight toward the asphalt.

Almost immediately, Rainbow leaped off the top of the tunnel and grabbed Percy and Annabeth in midair by the backs of their shirts, her momentum only driving the group further away from the pool. “Grover!” she called, immediately answered by Grover grabbing her by her shoulders and pulling up hard.

“We’re too heavy!” Grover called as they spiraled toward the ground. “We’re going down!”

Thinking quickly, Rainbow slipped Grover’s grip and grabbed Percy and Annabeth under her arms, just barely managing to slam her feet into the ground ahead of them, skidding to a stop… right as Grover crashed into a photo board, his face landing right into a hole where tourists pretended to be Noo-Noo the Friendly Whale, which Pinkie Pie couldn’t help but crack up about.

“Whew. Whoa… that was awesome.” Rainbow smiled breathlessly as she leaned against a lamppost, the adrenaline still burning in her veins. “You guys okay?”

“Yeah, we’re fine.” Annabeth nodded as she and Percy stood up, Ares’ shield strapped to Percy’s arm. “Nice work, both of you.” The three struggled to pull Grover from the photo board and smiled as they got their breath back.

“What’d I tell you, Grover? Red Baron, man.” Percy smiled, laughing with his best friend as they punched at each other playfully. “You saved our tails.”

“Yeah, you really did. Thank you.” Annabeth agreed, turning to Rainbow. “Both of you.”

“Hey, I already told you. I never leave my friends hangin’.” Rainbow smirked… before she felt a surge of energy and a red aura surround her body. Her tan human ears magically shifted up her head into a pair of pale blue pony-ears, her ponytail gained an extra tie and lengthened down to her ankles, and a pair of bright cyan wings sprang from her back. Everyone was confused until a familiar gold necklace appeared around Rainbow’s neck… complete with a gleaming lightning bolt-shaped ruby dead center at her collarbone.

“What in Tartarus?” Annabeth asked in surprise.

“That’s Rainbow Dash’s Element of Harmony; the Element of Loyalty,” Twilight said in awe. “We’re all embodiments of the Elements, but they do have physical forms. Or they did.”

“That’s what confuses me. How does Rainbow Dash have her Element back like this?” asked Rarity.

“I don’t know, but I’m not complaining,” Rainbow smirked, hugging her hands to the necklace. “It’s been a long time, old friend.” She smiled as she stretched her wings. “And this is just another bonus. Especially for the viewers.”

“Oh, I’m pretty sure they all knew this was coming,” Pinkie smirked, looking at… apparently nothing.

Twilight just shook her head at her friend’s typical strangeness and looked up at the Cupid statues. “Well, Dionysus did say Chiron told him about us. He’s probably told the other gods by now.” she shrugged.

That reminded Percy that they were on the air as he looked at the cameras still rolling, spotlights beaming down on the group. “Show’s over!” he yelled. “Thank you! Good night!” With that, the cameras receded into the statues, which resumed their original positions and the lights turned off, leaving the park just as dead as before.

As the group stood in silence in the middle of the park, they all clearly had the same thing on their minds. Percy was the first to voice it as he looked down at his arm and hefted the shield up before he turned to the others. “We need to have a little talk with Ares.”

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