Half-Blooded Harmony: The Lightning Thief

by SonicSpeedster97

Viva Las Vegas!

Just as he promised, Ares was waiting in the diner parking lot when the kids arrived. “Well, well. You didn’t get yourselves killed,” he smirked, appearing almost surprised when he saw Rainbow Dash was Ponied-Up. “And you got yourself some flash; nice.”

“You knew it was a trap.” Percy pointed out sternly.

Ares just grinned wickedly. “Bet that crippled blacksmith was surprised when he netted a couple of stupid kids. You looked good on TV.”

Rainbow just scowled as she took the shield off Percy’s arm and tossed it at Ares, but he caught it without even flinching. “You are hands-down the biggest jerk I’ve ever met.” she scowled as Annabeth and Grover caught their breath.

Ares smirked as he spun his shield in the air like pizza dough, making it change into a bulletproof vest. “I’ve been called worse.”

“I’m sure you have. Now then, we’ve done our end of the bargain…” Twilight pointed out.

“Yeah, yeah; my turn – got it.” Ares shrugged and pointed to an 18-wheeler parked across the street from the diner. “See that truck over there? That’s your ride. Take you straight to LA, with one stop in Vegas.”

The kids looked at the truck and were annoyed by the sign on the back. Not because of their dyslexia – the reverse-printing of white on black helped immensely with that – but because of what it said: KINDNESS INTERNATIONAL: HUMANE ZOO TRANSPORT. WARNING: LIVE ANIMALS INSIDE.

“Are you quite serious?” Rarity asked in annoyance.

Ares just snapped his fingers and the back door of the truck unlatched. “Free ride west, punks. Stop complaining. And here’s a little something for doing the job.” he said as he slung a blue nylon backpack off his bike’s handlebars and tossed it to Percy. Inside were some fresh clothes for the whole group, twenty bucks cash, a pouch of gold drachma, and a back of Double Stuf Oreos.

Percy just scowled. “I don’t want your lousy-”

“Thank you, Lord Ares.” Grover interrupted, giving his best red-alert ‘Quit while you’re alive’ warning look. “Thanks a lot.”

The girls could surely understand why Percy was reluctant to accept anything from Ares, but they also figured it was a huge insult to deny something from a god. Still, Percy slung the bag over his shoulder, resisting the urge to deck Ares in the nose like he’d wanted to with all the bullies who’d ever made his life hell.

Rainbow was having a much harder time resisting that same urge, but it helped when she saw into the diner – now with only a few patrons remaining – and saw the waitress who’d served them earlier watching like she was worried Ares would hurt them… and then pulled the fry cook from the back to watch before she whispered to him, and he pulled out a disposable camera, snapping a picture. “Oh nuts.”

“What?” Applejack asked… before she saw the camera herself. “Oh.”

“Yep. Looks like we’re making the six o’clock news again,” Rainbow whispered. “I just hope the Mist covers up my wings.”

“You owe me one more thing,” Percy said sternly to Ares. “You promised me information about my mother.”

“You sure you can handle the news?” Ares asked as he kickstarted his bike. “She’s not dead.”

“What?” Twilight asked in surprise.

“What do you mean?” Percy asked in surprise.

“I mean she was taken away from the Minotaur before she could die.” Ares shrugged. “She was turned into a shower of gold, right? That’s metamorphosis, not death. She’s being kept.”

“Kept? Why?” asked Percy.

“You need to study war, punk. Hostages.” Ares explained briefly. “You take somebody to control somebody else.”

“Nobody’s controlling me,” Percy said firmly.

Ares just laughed. “Oh yeah? See you around, kid.”

Percy was about to say something when Rainbow stepped forward. “You’re pretty smug for a guy who runs away from Cupid statues, buddy,” she smirked.

Ares scowled, the fire in his eyes flaring behind his sunglasses as a hot wind blew through the kids’ hair. “We’ll meet again, kiddies. Next time you’re in a fight, watch your back.” He revved his bike and roared off down Delancy Street.

“That was not smart, guys.” Annabeth pointed out seriously.

“I don’t care.” Percy scowled.

“You don’t want a god as your enemy. Especially not that god.” Annabeth argued.

“Uh, speaking of that god, I hate to rush us, but…” Spike remarked, pointing to the diner where the group saw two guys at the register wearing coveralls with the same logo as the truck.

“I’m with Spike; if we’re takin’ the zoo express, we need to hurry.” Grover agreed.

“Hardly my first choice of transportation.” Rarity remarked in disgust.

“Maybe not, but it’s our only choice.” Percy pointed out. “Besides, I think I’ve seen enough of Denver.”

“Agreed. Let’s move.” Twilight nodded as the group ran across the street and jumped into the truck… where the first thing that hit them was the stink, like the world’s biggest litterbox. The second thing – as revealed when Percy uncapped Riptide for a faint bronze light from the blade – was that the name of this company couldn’t be more ironic or ill-fitting.

The truck was a depressing line of filthy metal cages with three of the most pathetic wild animals the group had ever seen; a zebra, a male albino lion, and some manner of antelope – Fluttershy guessed it was an impala, and a sad one at that… but as much as she hated to say it, she could also say it about the other two animals; the lion had been thrown a sack of turnips that he absolutely wasn’t interested in and the herbivores had both been given Styrofoam trays of hamburger meat.

The zebra’s mane was matted with chewing gum like someone had been spitting on it in their spare time – which the ponies especially hated the sight of – and the impala had a stupid silver birthday balloon that said ‘OVER THE HILL!!’ and had long since been deflated tied to its horn. Clearly, no one had been stupid enough to get close enough to the lion to mess with it, but he was just as miserable as the others; pacing around on soiled blankets in a space way too small for him and panting from the stuffy heat of the trailer, flies buzzing around his eyes and his ribs visible through his white fur.

“This is kindness? Humane zoo transport?” Grover yelled in annoyance. He probably would’ve jumped out of the truck right then and there to beat up the truckers with his reed pipes – and Percy and Fluttershy would’ve helped him without a second thought – if not for the engine roaring to life, forcing the kids to huddle in the corner on mildewed feed bags – which Rarity found particularly disgusting – and try to ignore the heat, the smell, and the flies.

Grover and Fluttershy spoke to the animals to try and sooth them, but they just looked at the two sadly. “I say we just cut them loose right here and now,” Annabeth said firmly.

“At fifty miles an hour on a highway?” Rainbow pointed out.

“Besides, I have a feeling we look a lot better to the lion than those turnips,” Percy added.

“We should at least help them somehow.” Fluttershy pointed out. No one argued with her about that – Percy found a water jug and refilled the animals’ bowls while Fluttershy switched the food to the appropriate animals. Then Grover did what he could to sooth the impala as Annabeth cut the balloon off its horn with her knife. She wanted to cut the gum out of the zebra’s mane as well, but with how the truck was bouncing, they decided it was too risky.

“I promise you all, we’ll help you more in the morning,” Fluttershy assured… before she flashed a faint pink, her ears shifting into cream-colored pony ears as her hair grew just like Rainbow’s and cream-colored wings sprang from her back. Then a familiar gold necklace appeared at her neck – this one with a pink gem in the shape of a butterfly.

“Lemme guess; Element of Kindness?” asked Annabeth.

“Good guess.” Twilight nodded contemplatively. “I just wish I knew why the Elements’ physical forms were coming back to us in this world.”

“Who cares? I say embrace it.” Rainbow smiled.

“And I say we attempt to get some sleep.” Rarity pointed out as the group piled up in the corner, Annabeth opening their cookies and nibbling on one half-heartedly.

Percy and the girls were all a bit nervous about something though. “We’re almost there.” Rainbow smiled quietly to her friends. “Halfway to Los Angeles and we’ve only got a week left until the solstice. I’d say we’re making great time.”

“Yeah but… I just wish the gods would stop toying with us.” Percy noted. “I mean, at least Hephaestus has the decency to be honest about it; cameras and advertising and all that, but… I feel like we’re still being watched.”

“I got the same feeling. I can’t place its source though.” Twilight shrugged.

“Hey,” Annabeth remarked, drawing the group’s attention. “I’m sorry for freaking out back at the water park, guys.”

“Don’t even gotta worry ‘bout it, sugarcube.” Applejack smiled caringly.

“It’s just…” Annabeth shuddered at the memory. “Spiders…”

“Because of the Arachne story.” Percy guessed. “She got turned into a spider for challenging your mom to a weaving contest, right?”

Annabeth nodded. “Arachne’s children have been taking revenge on the children of Athena ever since. If there’s a spider within a mile of me, it’ll find me. I hate the creepy little things.” She scratched at her arms uncomfortably just from talking about them. “Anyway, I owe you guys.”

“We’re a team, remember?” asked Percy.

“Yeah. Besides, Grover’s the one who did the fancy flying.” Rainbow pointed out.

“I was pretty amazing, wasn’t I?” Grover muttered, surprising the others who thought he was asleep and making them chuckle.

Annabeth split an Oreo and gave half to Percy as the group talked. “In the Iris message… did Luke really say nothing?”

The group was wondering when they would broach that topic – that conversation had bothered them all day… though Rainbow was mostly bothered by it because they were talking to Luke through her hair. Either way, they had all agreed to keep the little sister comment Luke had made under their hats around Annabeth, but as for the rest… “Luke said you and he go way back.” Percy shrugged.

“And he also said something about Grover not failing this time. And that nobody would turn into a pine tree.” Rainbow added… though it was hard to read the expressions of the others in the low bronze light of Riptide’s blade… though the mournful bray Grover let out told them everything they needed to know.

(Play “The Tree on the Hill” – TLT Musical [Edit the spoken word a bit to make them fit here])

“I should’ve told you the truth from the beginning,” he said, his voice trembling. “I thought if you knew what a failure I was, you wouldn’t want me along.”

“You’re the satyr who tried to rescue Thalia, aren’t you?” Percy asked… and Grover started singing a sad song.

Grover: There’s a Tree on the Hill
Up on Half-Blood Hill
That watches over us
Silent and still
And no one at camp is safe until
We can see the Tree on the Hill

Grover just nodded glumly in response to Percy's question.

“And the other two half-bloods who were with her, who got back to camp that night…” Rainbow added, looking at Annabeth. “It was you and Luke, wasn’t it?”

Annabeth sighed as she set down her Oreo, uneaten. “It’s like you said, Pinkie; a seven-year-old half-blood wouldn’t have made it very far alone. Athena guided me toward help. Thalia was twelve, Luke was fourteen. They’d both run away from home, like me. They were happy to take me with them, they were… amazing monster fighters, even without training. We traveled north from Virginia without any real plans, fending off monsters for about two weeks before Grover found us.”

“I was supposed to escort Thalia back to camp.” Grover sniffled. “Only Thalia. I had strict orders from Chiron; don’t do anything that would slow down the rescue. We knew Hades was after her, see, but I couldn’t just leave Luke and Annabeth by themselves. I thought… I thought I could lead all three of them to safety. It was my fault the Kindly Ones caught up with us. I froze. I got scared on the way back to camp and took some wrong turns.”

And there on the Hill
Up on Half-Blood Hill
A cold wind blew
Dark and chill
For nothing would slake its wrathful will
We had to make a stand…

And maybe if I’d been a little bit braver
Maybe if I’d stayed behind to fight
But “maybe” doesn’t let me go back and save her

“Maybe” doesn’t make it all right…

“Stop it, Grover,” Annabeth said seriously. “No one blames you for that. Thalia didn’t blame you either.”

“She sacrificed herself to save us,” he said miserably. “Her death is my fault; the Council of Cloven Elders said so.”

“Because you wouldn’t leave two other half-bloods behind?” Percy asked. “That’s not fair.”

“Percy’s right.” Annabeth agreed. “I wouldn’t be here today if it weren’t for you, Grover. Neither would Luke. We don’t care what the Council says.”

Grover just kept sniffling as he sang, the sight of the tree fresh in his mind.

There’s a Tree on the Hill
Up on Half-Blood Hill
That protects us all
And always will

And it’s there reminding me
Of all I failed to be

The Tree… on the Hill

(Cut it)

“It’s just my luck.” he moaned sadly. “I’m the lamest satyr ever and I find the two most powerful half-bloods of the century, Thalia and Percy.”

“Dude, whoever called you lame needs a reality check.” Rainbow pointed out seriously. “Name one other satyr who would even think of going to the Underworld.”

“Yeah Grover, you’ve got more heart and courage than any other satyr I’ve ever met.” Annabeth agreed. “I bet Percy is really glad you’re here right now.”

She kicked his shin to agree, but he would’ve done so without the kick. “Yeah. It’s not luck that you found Thalia and me, Grover. You’ve got the biggest heart of any satyr ever. You’re a natural searcher. That’s why you’ll be the one who finds Pan.”

The group smiled as they heard Grover give a deep, satisfied sigh. They waited for him to say something, but a quick glance from Pinkie revealed something funny as his breathing got heavier. “He just fell asleep,” she remarked as Grover’s breathing turned to snoring.

The group couldn’t help but laugh at that. “How does he do that?” Percy chuckled.

“I don’t know.” Annabeth shrugged with a grin. “But that was really a nice thing you told him.”

“I meant every word,” Percy smirked.

“You did, too.” Applejack smiled, patting Percy on the shoulder. “You’re a true friend, Perseus Jackson.”

“That reminds me; why is your name Perseus?” asked Rainbow.

“My mom said it was for good luck.” Percy shrugged. “Perseus was one of the only Greek heroes who got a happy ending.”

“That tracks,” Annabeth noted as they sat in the truck, riding along for a few miles.

After a while, Percy decided to take his mind off the hungry look the lion was giving him by looking at Annabeth… and seeing her rubbing her necklace thoughtfully. “That pine tree bead,” he said. Is that from your first year?”

Annabeth froze as she looked at Percy, almost like she hadn’t even realized she was doing that. “Yeah,” she said. “Every August, the counselors pick the most important event of the summer, and they paint it on that year’s beads.” She tugged her necklace and looked at it. “I’ve got Thalia’s pine tree, a Greek trireme on fire, a centaur in a prom dress-”

“Wait, what?” Rainbow asked as she looked at the bead in question.

“Yeah, that was a weird summer,” Annabeth smirked.

“And the college ring is your father’s?” asked Twilight.

“That’s none of your-” Annabeth snapped but stopped herself and sighed. “Yeah. Yeah, it is.”

“It’s okay; you don’t have to tell us.” Fluttershy nodded.

“No… it’s okay.” Annabeth nodded and took a shaky breath. “My dad sent it to me folded up in a letter, two summers ago. The ring was, like, his main keepsake from Athena. He wouldn’t have gotten through his doctoral program at Harvard without her.” The look on the girls’ faces earned a quick answer. “That’s a long story. Anyway, he said he wanted me to have it. He apologized for being a jerk, said he loved me and missed me. He wanted me to come home and live with him.”

“That doesn’t sound so bad.” Pinkie smiled.

“Yeah, well… the problem was I believed him.” Annabeth shrugged. “I tried to go home for that school year, but my stepmom was the same as ever. She didn’t want her kids put in danger by living with a freak - monsters attacked, we argued, monsters attacked, we argued, rinse and repeat. I didn’t even make it through winter break. I called Chiron and came right back to Camp Half-Blood.”

“You think you’ll ever try living with your dad again?” Percy asked.

Annabeth just scoffed and wouldn’t meet eyes with him. “Please. I’m not into self-inflicted pain.”

“Sometimes family is worth a little pain,” Rainbow noted, remembering her experiences with her own family.

“Yeah, you shouldn’t give up.” Percy agreed. “You should write him a letter or something.”

“Thanks for the advice,” Annabeth remarked coldly. “But my father’s made his choice about who he wants to live with.”

“His choice… or your stepmother’s?” asked Rarity.

That gave the group something to think about as they kept riding for a few more miles, letting Rainbow do a small amount of practice with her swords and wings as they rode… but it reminded her of something. “So… what happens if the gods do go to war?” she asked.

“Yeah, will things line up like they did with the Trojan War? Will it be Athena versus Poseidon?” asked Percy.

Annabeth sighed and set her head against the backpack from Ares and closed her eyes. “I don’t know what my mom will do. I just know I’ll fight next to you.”

“Why?” asked Percy.

“Because you’re my friends, Seaweed Brain. All of you. Any more stupid questions?” Percy and the girls couldn’t think of any answers and fortunately, they didn’t have to as Annabeth fell asleep shortly afterward.

The group had difficulty following her lead, what with the lion’s hungry gaze and Grover’s snoring, but Percy did eventually fall asleep. “The rest of us should probably sleep in shifts, just so we’re not caught off-guard,” Twilight whispered.

“Not a bad idea. I’ll take first watch.” Rainbow nodded as she kept her eyes on the door, the other girls all falling asleep around her.

As the night dragged on, the girls all rotated sleeping and on Applejack’s watch, she noticed Percy was kicking around a lot and mumbling in his sleep. She was worried a bit, but not as much as when she felt the truck jerk to a stop and the engine turn off, waking up the others. “Ah apple-fudge,” Applejack remarked.

Grover quickly moved over to Percy and shook his shoulder. “Wake up, Percy. Wake up!” Percy suddenly woke with a start and appeared surprised. “The truck’s stopped. We think they’re coming to check on the animals.”

“Hide!” Annabeth hissed and slapped on her cap, disappearing into the shadows while Pinkie… well, she just randomly vanished like she always did. The others looked around in annoyance at their antics and quickly dove behind feed bags just before the door opened, letting the blinding sun and scorching desert heat in.

“Man!” one of the truckers remarked, waving his hand in front of his ugly nose. “I wish I hauled appliances.” He climbed into the truck and poured some water from a jug into the animals’ dishes. “You hot, big boy?” he asked the lion… before splashing the rest of the bucket of water in its face, making him roar in indignation. “Yeah, yeah, yeah.”

Rainbow Dash didn’t think she’d ever seen Fluttershy so murderous before, and it only got worse when she saw the trucker throw the impala a squashed-looking Happy Meal bag before he smirked at the zebra. “How ya doin’, Stripes? Least we’ll be getting rid of you this stop. You like magic shows? You’re gonna love this one. They’re gonna saw you in half!”

The zebra, reasonably wide-eyed with fear, brayed as he stepped back. But what came next was what really confused Percy and the girls; there was no sound, but clear as day, they heard a male voice in their minds say “Free me, lord. Please.”

They were all too stunned to react, but it was prevented when they heard loud banging on the side of the trailer. “What do you want, Eddie?” the trucker yelled.

“Maurice? What’d ya say?” the trucker outside – presumably Eddie – shouted back.

“What are you banging for?” The banging came again, this time from the other side of the truck.

“What banging?” Eddie asked. Maurice just rolled his eyes and climbed out of the truck, cursing at Eddie for being an idiot.

Literally one second later, Annabeth appeared next to the others… before the knocking came again, this time from the roof of the truck. “Pinkie, knock it off; plan’s done.” Annabeth hissed quietly.

“Aw okay. That was fun though.” Pinkie remarked, suddenly next to Rainbow Dash who just brushed it off.

“This transport company can’t be legal.” Annabeth pointed out.

“Really? What was your first clue?” Rarity asked sarcastically.

“No kidding.” Grover nodded, before pausing like he was listening to something. “The lion says these guys are animal smugglers!”

“That’s right.” the zebra said in the group’s heads again.

“Okay, everyone hears the zebra talking, right?” Rainbow asked in confusion.

“What? No,” said Annabeth. “It must be because you’re horses in your world.”

“Well, what about me? I can understand him too.” Percy noted.

“Zebras are close enough to horses in this context, and Poseidon created all horses.” Annabeth reminded.

“Um… sorry for saying this, but I don’t really think it matters.” Fluttershy pointed out. “We have to free them all.”

“On that, we agree.” Grover nodded.

“Better make it fast,” Rainbow noted as she heard Maurice and Eddie arguing outside the truck. “They’ll be back any minute.”

“Open my cage, lord. Please. I’ll be fine after that.” the zebra said. Percy gladly listened and slashed the lock off the zebra’s cage with Riptide, letting it burst out. “Thank you, Lord.”

Grover held his hands up to the zebra and said something in goat-talk, almost like a blessing while Fluttershy carefully cut as much gum from his mane with her knife as she could.

Then just as Maurice poked his head in to check the noise, the zebra leaped out over him into the street, resulting in screaming, yelling, and honking horns. “Jailbreak!” Rainbow called as the group raced to the door, watching the zebra gallop for its life down a wide boulevard lined with hotels and neon, Maurice and Eddie chasing it as a few cops chased them yelling about permits.

“We just let a wild zebra loose in Vegas,” Applejack remarked in astonishment at the situation.

“I know. Isn’t it great?” Rainbow smirked.

“Now would be a good time to leave.” Annabeth pointed out.

“The other animals first,” Grover argued.

“I got it.” Rainbow smiled as she drew both her swords from her wrists and slashed both the other locks away. Grover raised his hands and gave the same blessing to them as he’d given the zebra.

“Good luck,” Fluttershy said caringly before the animals bolted from their cages and out into the street. A lot of tourists screamed at the sight of them, but most probably just thought it was a stunt from one of the casinos.

“Will the animals be okay?” Percy asked. “I mean, the desert and all-”

“Yeah, not gonna lie; Ah had the same worry,” Applejack noted.

“Don’t worry; I placed a satyr’s sanctuary on them,” Grover assured.

“Meaning?” asked Percy.

“Meaning they’ll reach the wild safely,” Grover answered. “They’ll find water, food, shade, whatever they need until they find a safe place to live.”

“And you didn’t place a blessing like that on us a little sooner because…?” Rainbow asked in annoyance.

“It only works on wild animals.” Grover shrugged.

“Oh. So it would only affect them.” Annabeth noted as she pointed at Percy and Rainbow Dash.

“Hey!” the two protested.

“Kidding!” Annabeth assured… before she glanced at Rainbow. “Mostly.”

Rainbow just growled in anger and almost raised a sword at Annabeth before Rarity grabbed her arm. “As much as I’d love to see you get pummeled Darling, I suggest we leave this filthy vehicle as far behind us as possible before the police come for a statement and recognize Percy from the news.” she pointed out.

“Can’t argue with that; let’s make like hay and bail.” Applejack pointed out as she led the group in leaping out of the truck and running. It was probably 110 degrees and they all looked like deep-fried vagrants, but they were lucky everyone was too busy paying attention to the wild animals than them.

As they hiked down Las Vegas Boulevard, they passed numerous casinos and landmarks, and Fluttershy could clearly see Percy getting a bit homesick at the sight of the miniature Statue of Liberty. “So where exactly are we going?” asked Rainbow.

“Anywhere we can lay low for a bit so I can come up with a new plan for getting us to LA,” Annabeth answered simply.

“Well, we ain’t exactly short on options.” Applejack pointed out. Even so, the group must have made a wrong turn because they ended up in front of a huge hotel apparently called the Lotus Hotel & Casino – a magnificent place with a huge neon lotus flower for an entrance, and huge open chrome doors… which no one was going in or out through, but the AC blowing from within smelled like lotus blossoms.

“Hey, kids.” the doorman smiled. “You look tired. You wanna come in and sit down?”

The kids were suspicious at first – if there was one thing they’d learned this past week, it was that – but this guy appeared legit. Not to mention the sympathy in his voice was a welcome change. “Not gonna say no.” Applejack shrugged.

“We’d love to.” Percy agreed as they walked in the door… and were immediately dumbstruck.

“Whoa…” Grover said breathlessly.

“Ya can say that again,” Applejack remarked.

The entire casino lobby was a massive game room… including an indoor waterslide snaking around the almost 40-story glass elevator, a climbing wall, an indoor bungee-jumping bridge, and practically every kind of video game the group could dare imagine… and even some they couldn’t imagine, all on screens the size of widescreen TVs. Not to mention what looked like infinite buffets and snack bars. “Are we dead?” asked Rarity.

“If we are, I don’t think I care,” Rainbow remarked. “This place is awesome!”

Applejack was less convinced. “If’n we’re dead… where’s Hades?” she asked, but no one appeared to be listening.

Especially not when a bellhop – or at least that’s what they guessed he was since he was wearing a lotus-design Hawaiian shirt and flip-flops – came up. “Welcome to the Lotus Casino. Here’s your room key.” He handed the key to Percy who started stammering unsurely, but he just laughed. “No, no, the bill’s been taken care of. No extra charges, no tips. Just go on up to the top floor, room 4001. If you need anything, like extra bubbles for the hot tub or skeet targets for the shooting range or whatever, just call the front desk. Here are your LotusCash cards. They work in the restaurants and on all the games and rides.” He handed them each a green plastic credit card, which only confused the group more.

“This must be a mistake. We don’t have reservations.” Twilight remarked.

“We don’t do ‘em. We always do walk-ins. ‘You’ll never want to leave’; that’s our motto.” the bellhop smiled.

“How much is on here?” Percy asked as he held up his card.

The bellhop’s eyebrows knit together. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, when does it run out of cash?”

The bellhop just laughed. “Oh, you’re making a joke. Hey, that’s cool. Enjoy your stay.” He walked off and left the group standing there in confusion.

“Anyone else smell something hinky about this place?” Applejack asked.

“Maybe a little,” Pinkie remarked, scanning the crowd for insincere smiles… but they all looked real enough, so she shrugged. “Mm. Might just be our imaginations.”

“And besides, what’s wrong with a bit of indulgence?” Rarity asked as she walked to the elevator, the others following her.

And as soon as they reached the top floor and saw their room, they were even more blown away by the sight of their absolutely epic suite, fully furnished with everything – including, just as the bellhop stated, a hot tub and skeet-shooting machine and shotgun on the balcony. Percy and Twilight had doubts about whether the ability to plug clay pigeons over a city skyline was legal, but it was cool, so they didn’t care much. The place was practically a penthouse, and they were all astounded by it.

“Oh, goodness,” Annabeth remarked breathlessly. “This place is…”

“Sweet. Absolutely sweet.” Grover finished.

“Forget ‘sweet’.” Rainbow smiled, spreading her wings. “This…! Is! AWESOME!!!” She cheered as she flew loop-the-loops around the room and Pinkie bounced around like a maniac, the others spreading out to search the place. The clothes in all the closets fit them perfectly – in terms of size and style, which was a bit confusing, but they didn’t care that much. Percy made that clear as he threw Ares’ backpack in the trash – his reasoning was they could buy a better one from the hotel gift shop when they left.

After a while, they were all relaxing in the lounge as Annabeth turned on the TV. “All those stations and you turn on National Geographic. Are you insane?” Percy asked her.

“It’s interesting.” Annabeth shrugged.

“I feel good.” Grover smiled, the wings on his shoes springing to life and fluttering him a foot above the ground for a minute. “I love this place.”

“I hear that, Grover,” Rainbow smirked.

“So what now?” Annabeth asked. “Sleep?”

Percy, Grover, and Rainbow all just grinned at each other and pulled out their credit cards. “Playtime~” Percy smirked.

And that’s exactly what everyone did all over the hotel, enjoying every possible amenity and game. Rarity spent almost her entire time in the fully furnished hotel spa and came out looking like a completely different girl though distinctly still herself, while Pinkie almost literally pigged out on all the sweets at the buffets and Rainbow did every adrenaline junkie activity she could get her grubby hands on just for the rush.

All over the hotel, they were going completely insane as they enjoyed themselves… but for some reason, Applejack had a nagging feeling in the back of her mind that something was wrong. The lack of clocks or windows on the casino floor was a good start, but she figured that was just because the hotel staff wanted their guests to enjoy themselves as long as possible with no time constraints. It became much clearer as she was thrown from the mechanical bull for the umpteenth time and bonked her head right into a girl about Percy’s age. “Whoa. Oof, sorry there darlin’.” she smiled and helped her up.

“Oh, it’s quite fine,” she assured… in a fairly thick but clearly diluted Italian accent. Applejack was a bit surprised by the sound of that, but moreso by the rather old-fashioned clothes she was wearing. As was a young pale boy she surmised was the girl’s brother.

“Didn’t realize there was a costume party goin’ on here,” Applejack remarked.

“What do you mean?” the boy asked.

“Well, those outfits of yours went out of style a while ago.” the cowgirl pointed out.

Now the girl looked at her in confusion. “That’s absurd. They’re only a month old.”

“A month?” Applejack asked in surprise and looked closer. She obviously wasn’t as skilled in clothing analysis as Rarity, but she knew old-fashioned manufacturing when she saw it, and it was all over these two’s clothes. “And uh… what year did y’all say it was?”

“Year?” the girl asked.

“If’n ya don’t mind; think I just forgot.”

“I’m a bit surprised by that. Everyone said people would always remember 1939.” The way the girl said that so casually made massive alarm bells ring in Applejack’s mind.

(Cut it)

“Uh, nice talkin’ to y’all,” she said quickly and ran, trying to find her friends. Fortunately for her, they had all grouped up in the game room where she ran right into Percy, who looked just as clear-eyed as she did. “Percy, thank Celestia. Listen, there’s somethin’ seriously wrong here.”

“I know; I just found a few guys who keep saying they’re from decades ago,” Percy said frantically. “And they all say they’ve only been here a few days.”

“Question is how long have we been here?” asked Applejack.

“I don’t know,” Percy said in worry. “I- I remember… we were heading west?”

“Yeah, to… to LA.” Applejack nodded, clearly having the same trouble remembering as him. “We’re headin’ to the Underworld from there.”

“For my mom. My mom… uh…” Percy said, terror creeping into his voice as he apparently forgot his mom’s name for a second. “Sally. Sally Jackson. I gotta find her.”

“And we gotta stop Hades from startin’ World War 3 while we’re at it.” Applejack agreed. “But first things first, we gotta drag the others outta here.”

It took a good deal of work to pry their friends away from their games – including Applejack having to literally slap some sense into Rainbow and Rarity – but they finally managed to drag their whole group to the door where the bellhop hurried over to them. “Well now, are you ready for your platinum cards?”

“We’re leaving,” Percy said firmly.

“Such a shame.” the bellhop smiled, his insincere smile seemingly snapping Pinkie out of whatever daze she was in. “We just added an entire new floor full of games for platinum-card members.”

He held out the cards and for half a second, Percy appeared to consider it but Applejack quickly dragged them past him. “Pass,” she said firmly. As they left, the sounds and smells of the casino’s luxury felt more and more intoxicating but as soon as they were out the door, their minds cleared and the other girls fell to the ground, lightheaded and groaning.

“Oh, what happened?” Rarity asked.

“Ah don’t know, but Ah ain’t ever settin’ foot in this place again long as Ah live,” Applejack remarked.

“I think we have bigger problems,” Spike noted as he looked at the sky. Everyone looked and was shocked; it felt like afternoon, but a massive thunderstorm was brewing over the desert, lightning flashing in the distance.

“That’s impossible,” Twilight remarked. “It feels like we’ve only been in there an hour.”

“Was it an hour though?” Rainbow asked… noticing Ares’ backpack back on Percy’s shoulder somehow. Either way, her words were enough for him to make a beeline for the nearest newspaper stand.

His sigh of relief when he saw the year on the newspaper was a good sign. “Okay, it’s still 2005; thank the gods for that,” he said.

Spike’s eyes went wide as he saw the paper for himself. “Yeah, that’s the good news,” he remarked. “The bad news is the exact date. It’s June 20^th.”

“What?!” Twilight asked in shock as she snatched the paper from Percy and looked at it herself.

“Spike dear, are you telling me we’ve been in that casino for five days?” asked Rarity.

“I don’t think he’s saying just that,” Twilight remarked in realization. “The solstice is tomorrow.”

“Which means we’ve only got one more day to get to the Underworld and finish our quest.” Percy finished solemnly as they watched the thunder crack in the distance.

Rainbow couldn’t help but break the terror-driven silence. “Great. No pressure.”

Author's Note:

Boom. Foreshadowing to the nth degree.

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