Destination: Equestria

by Zervziel

Chapter 24

Before anyone could ask what a geas was, Merlin's hand glowed as arcane symbols came to life on the wizard's cloak. Moving swiftly for a man nearly eight hundred years old, Merlin closed the gap between him and Mayberry, grabbing her face with his glowing hand.

Lyra and Mayberry's human self had leapt up at the sudden movement but pulled back in surprise as similar symbols appeared on their friend's forehead, centered underneath her horn. With the appearance of these symbols, the mare's body started jerking and twitching as the old mage battled with the offending magic

Encouraged by his progress, Merlin pushed even harder, working with magic's innate elusive behavior to fray the spell. Without warning, the old man reeled back from a heavy blow to his stomach. As he tried to catch his breath and hold his own spell, he caught another blow, this one a quick jab to the ribs. Merlin glared at his assailant. Mayberry's eyes looked straight back him, a dead, lifeless quality to them.

"Let the mare go, Star! She's delivered what was needed!" he demanded as he feebly deflected another blow from the mare's forehoof. Sweat beaded on his brow as his mind tried to cope with the strain from the spell.

As the body wound up for another blow, a mint glow surrounded the offending limb. Nodding a desperate thanks to Lyra, Merlin pushed on. Suddenly all resistance stopped. One by one the geas defenses failed before it's main matrix shattered. Mayberry slumped to the ground, out cold.

Heaving a tired chuckle, the mage sank back as the ethereal shreds of magic disappeared into the aether. Before he could sit down, strong hands grabbed his cloak and hoisted him bodily back to his feet.

Amber glared at him as Lyra simply watched on in disbelief. "What the hell is your game, old man," Amber growled as she emphasized her words with a shake.

"Amber, what are you doing? Asked Lyra, her tone both confused and worried.

The woman's eyes didn't leave Merlin as she answered. "Don't you think it's a bit odd that a magical legend from my world is hanging around the headquarters of a bunch of magical eggheads? Especially after what he said about the magic from my world being stolen? Now on top of that we have mind control and someone named "Star""

Lyra tilted her head in thought. "Wait….you mean he's in league with them?!"

"Pretty much."

"Well of course I am! I never gave up on my quest to restore magic to Terra!" The mage grumbled as he struggled in Amber's grasp. "Milady, please! Release me and I shall explain!"

Setting the wizard down, Amber crossed her arms. "Ok, out with it."

Straightening his robes, he started.

"Back when I first came here, I tried my best to undo whatever was absorbing our magic. As I told you earlier I failed and Princess Celestia stole the last of our world's precious magic. I wandered this world for years, in an exile of my own making. There was only one course of action for me to take: I needed to bring the magic back.

I figured if I could study this world's magic enough, that I could find some way in the future to restore our magic to it's rightful world. Sadly, I needed information. So I, the Mighty Merlin, consul and mentor to King Author, was reduced to a magical thief. I'm sorry to say I used my abilities to obtain books, scrolls, and several artifacts to further my understanding of how the magic of this realm worked. It was these sadly necessary thefts that led to my chance encounter with my mirror self. He had followed a subtle tracking spell on one of his journals. By the time I noticed it, he was already knocking at my door.

Needless to say he wasn't pleased with me stealing his journals and spells and we had a bit of a battle. Upon it's conclusion I somehow managed to convince him of my cause. While he was rightflly very skeptical and slow to believe at first, he eventually relented. He was no fool and hadn't risen to his legendary status by being blind. He and several of his colleagues noticed the massive influx of magic.

I told him my intent to return the magic and I was gratified to see he was sympathetic to my cause. I can only guess he thought how terrible a world without magic would be."

"It's not that bad."

"Hush! Let him tell the story!"

"After this we worked tirelessly over the ages to find out just how that thief managed to perform such a feat. Imagine our surprise when some of our oldest text mentioned something called the Arcane Lexicon."

"How original."

"Shut up!"

"After learning about this ancient repository of magical knowledge we knew the source of the spell. If only we could get a hold of it ourselves, then we could tear down the Veil and release the magic back. Sadly, Celestia had secreted the Lexicon away, sealing it behind magical seals that she herself had crafted and guarded by her most elite guards, though most knew not what they guarded. To make this task even harder is an ingenius spell woven by Celestia herself. This particular defense used one's own magic and spells against them, unfortunate as most unicorns use their magic instinctually. A very special thief was needed, one without the magical skills to do so. And that is where I believe your friend came in."

Merlin sat back and caught his breath. Both pony and human stared at him with looks of shock on their faces, before a look of comprehension dawned on Lyra's face.

"That's why Mayberry didn't know magic! She was your inside agent!"

The old man nodded, his misshapen hat flopping as he did. "Yes. When that experimental teleportation spell accidentally brought milady here, it also caused this unicorn to be formed. I can only guess that my colleague and his associates saw an opportunity and placed a control geas on her then before teleporting her to Canterlot."

"And you are ok with this?" Amber asked archly. "I mean they just mind-controlled her into committing crimes. If what she's said is true, the guards have been hunting her this whole time!"

Merlin's face twisted into a grimace. "I cannot fathom why he thought a controlled pony would make a more effective thief. Nor why he would use one of the most forbidden schools of magic to do this."

His eyes locked onto Amber's. "I must see him. Despite his actions, we are much closer to achieving our goals now. Come. There is a back way into the Pinnacle. Tis the route I take whenever I visit him."

The young woman frowned, gesturing at her unicorn counterpart. "And what about what he did her? He can't get away with doing that to an innocent."

"Wait!" Mayberry shouted, her voice causing Merlin to stop in his tracks. "What was that you said earlier?

The wizard looked back at her. The recently risen unicorn leaned against Lyra for support. The tall mare's eyes had a haunted look in them.

"Before whoever that was took over, you said I might well have killed the purple unicorn's parents. Why? Why he make me do that?!"

The old mage bowed his head. "I do not know. It is but one more thing for him to answer for."

Mayberry looked to say more, her eyes becoming watery until a large hand put itself on her shoulder. Looking up, she saw Amber. She never would have thought herself as being a somber person, but looking at her human self now, she found herself reconciling her personal image of herself as a goofball with the grim looking human.

"I'm fine." She lied, shrugging her shoulde to dislodge the hand. No such luck. The moment the hand was knocked off, Amber stooped down and picked up the protesting pony for a hug.

"No. You're not, May." Said Amber, her voice neutral. A small smirk lifted one corner if her mouth. "Don't lie to yourself."

"Besides we'll give this mean old Mr. Star a piece of our minds." Piped up Lyra from the ground.

Amber and even Merlin nodded their agreement. Mayberry couldn't help but smile.

"Thanks, guys. It's just…I know I didn't do it on my own, but if I hadn't been there maybe she'd still be alive."

"That's arguable." Merlin muttered as he looked for some sign of his usual path. Finding what he wanted, he continued in a louder tone.

"If the poor mare was killed, then she did something that must have endangered some project of Star's."

Taking a narrow rocky path, the group quickly left the tree cover behind leaving them exposed. Despite the wizard's earlier assurances that the Guard couldn't find them thanks to his magic, Mayberry and Amber kept a nervous eye on the sky.

Their caution didn't go unnoticed by their guide.

"We are quite safe as I said before." He said, not stopping. "Nopony can see us from above. We are quite safe."

Suddenly the group stopped as the shadows of the rocky mountain side slithered from the places to form a pool of pitch black on the ground.

"What of alicorns, mage?" Asked the Princess of the Night as she stepped out of the pool.

AN: A long ass wait followed by a cliffhanger. Sorry about that, mates! However with Luna in place, things can get rolling. By throwing Luna in there, all my old ideas that kept getting stuck are now officially out the wind! Now I'm just gonna fly by the seat of my pants!

Also I'll be replacing the laptop that all of D:E has been written on. It has served me well since 09, but now I need a new comrade!

Comments

[Lauralite]

Before I start reading... I have to say. DIS GON B GUD

[Zervziel]

2982019 Heh, it does get a little weird towards the end.

[Lauralite]

2982124 weird is good my friend

[Lauralite]

Okay, officially through... And HOT DAMN THAT WAS A FUN RIDE!

[randomfacts137]

Dun dun dun! It's Luna! Also, poor Mayberry. Inability to control herself led to her committing terrible crimes.

[Zervziel]

2983350 Glad you enjoyed it!

2983466 Yup and now Luna is on the warpath. Just one thing she hasn't accounted for yet though.

[Zervziel]

4264650 What? My writing that bad or are you getting to the part with a certain somepony's mum?

[ShadowWing09]

4266101 Holy Horseapples, I didn't even see I'd gotten a response

No, your writing is perfectly fine, I had just....yes, I had just read about somepony's mother

[Silentwoodfire]

Interesting, you managed to avoid the pitfall adding Merlin wouldve created with this so far.

[Lorthalis of Crows]

Will story be coming back? It one of my favorite human in equestrian stories.

[Zervziel]

5905194 Just working through some tough stuff first

[Topaz Moon]

I am just shy of 2 years late to this party, but this was a pretty good story so far. Kind of sucks it has been abandoned, but oh well. I knew that by the dates when I started reading it, and it was enjoyable enough to have been worth the time.

[Zervziel]

6191796 Not abandoned, just on hiatus while I try to figure things out with my stories. Basically trying to get my rhythm again.