Crossing Anthology Two

Celebration was made. Eventually, Princess Celestia teleported back to her home in Canterlot, and the five ponies went to comfort their friend, Rarity. Jonah, Cole and Halie stayed at Applejack’s. Halie was outside ready to go to Rarity’s “Boutique” to meet back up with the others. Jonah and Cole had a private conversation in Applejack’s living room;

“WHAT THE FUCK!?”

“Look, Jonah. I know this is a shock to you since we’re both from Earth and we’ve seen a lot in the media about THIS kind of thing. But we’re not on Earth anymore; we don’t have the same restrictions and opportunities as they do. So maybe having this baby with Halie won’t be as bad as it could be on Earth.”

Jonah gripped bundles of hair from his mullet; he paced in small circles;

“You don’t know that!”

“Jonah calm down, it’s not like we’re in school or anything.”

“We have a serial killer maniac on our hands! And Mina is still missing!”

“For NOW we do, we can just look Mina and this killer more thoroughly. I’m sure both can be accomplished before the baby arrives.”

Jonah was not sure what to say;

“Cole!… Cole… ugh… What happened?”

Cole grinned for a second;

“Um… we had sex…?”

“No! I mean before, how did it come to that?”

Cole thought for a moment;

“Halie, she was having another episode. I didn’t know how to calm her down so… things happened… and eventually… yeah.”

The two sat together on the living room couch, silent for a moment. Jonah’s arms pressed against the cushions of his seat. Cole twiddled his fingers around, looking down to the floor. Jonah asked Cole;

“Cole? Are you ready for this? This kind of responsibility? It’ll be so different… and I’m afraid for you.”

Cole did not respond, instead he put a hand on Jonah’s shoulder jolting him lightly. Cole gave Jonah an assuring smile, and then moved his hand to Jonah’s face to fake slap his cheek for a matter of seconds. The two boys sat there together for a while.

Later:

The boutique was quiet, hollow, and polished. A sweet fragrance bounced from all angles of the building, encasing the many hoof-made dresses in a marvelous scent. Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Applejack were in the front lobby of the boutique waiting for their sixth member of their friendship ring. Time passed, and Jonah, Cole and Halie finally arrived; the front door led them to the same lobby that the five ponies once were, no one was in sight. Cole asked rhetorically;

“Where is everyone?”

Jonah tried calling out toward the ceiling;

“Anyone here!?”

A few seconds passed with no response. Then suddenly, knocking was heard from the top of a stairwell, followed by Twilight’s voice;

“Rarity! Come out of that room!”

Jonah, Cole and Halie followed the voice up the stairs. Before them were the five ponies and a humongous cake baked by Pinkie Pie. The five friends were arguing with a trans-Atlantic accent from behind the sealed door;

“I’m not coming out until that wicked BEAST is gone! So we might as well part ways my friends!”

Fluttershy pleaded with Rarity;

“Please Rarity! Come out, we’re only trying to help you, we’re all scared of that big meanie…”

“’Meanie’? Perhaps you know not of the severity of the situation! He’s a MONSTER!”

Rainbow Dash flew to the door and scolded at Rarity;

“Come on, Rarity! Get your prissy butt outta there before I have to break through a window and force you out!”

“Just leave! I want to be safe in my room, locked away from that horrible scoundrel!”

Applejack’s patience wore to its thinnest, she pushed her friends aside and approached Rarity’s bedroom door. Applejack turned around leaning down while keeping her rear end high;

“Allow me, gals. Alright Sugarcube, ya got five seconds ta open ‘is door ‘ere! One!”

“You go away, Applejack! You especially! I’m so stressed right now; you’re the last pony I should be around right now!”

A matter of seconds and bickering passed. Then like a lightning bolt, Applejack threw her strength into her back-legs and kicked the door to Rarity’s room into pieces. The fragments of wood flew through the once bolted and locked room, the five ponies stepped in, followed the three adolescents. Looking around the room revealed a beautifully maintained bedroom and workshop, filled with blueprints for pony sized dresses and accessories. The source of the anxiety ridden sixth was neither heard nor seen. Everyone looked about the room; the five ponies looked thoroughly for their isolated friend. Finally, Rainbow Dash saw it, a silk purple tail poking itself from under the queen sized bed. Rainbow sunk down to the floor and grabbed the shiny tail with her teeth, dragging a white-coated unicorn pony out from under the plush mattress. Rainbow Dash let go of the squirming mare;

“Here she is!”

Before she could run away, Twilight used her telekinetic magic to bring Rarity to her;

“Rarity! We’re here to help you! You’ve been like this for a month!”

Rarity used her telekinesis to pry herself from Twilight’s magical grip;

“I’m surprised YOU are not scarred, Twilight! You’re a unicorn too!”

“I am afraid too Rarity, the only difference between you and I is that I’m remaining strong! You won’t even set hoof outside this boutique!”

“It’s easy for you to be strong. You’re the one with all the GOOD magic. I only possess the flash, but I can’t say the same for any substance… Any useful substance at that…”

Twilight looked saddened;

“Rarity… You’re very useful to us.”

Pinkie Pie jumped between the two;

“Yeah! Who else could make a dress as good as the one you made for me! It was made of candy for pony’s sake!”

Rairty sighed heavily;

“That’s just it! Twilight, you have your vast and spine chilling magic… Rainbow Dash, you have incredible speed and agility… Applejack, you have your powerful DOOR CRUSHING strength… Fluttershy, you have your kind and calming words for when the tension is too high among us, as well as hospitality for when we’re harmed… And Pinkie Pie, you have your sense of optimism to keep us going… But what do I have? What does Rarity have that can help anyone?”

The room began to feel cold, a wave of guilt speared into the hearts of Rarity’s friends. Jonah, Cole and Halie did not know what to say, they only watched and waited for something to happen. Rarity became distracted from her self-loathing, she finally noticed the three humans standing idly by in her room. She walked to Cole and said;

“Oh my, I’m terribly sorry. It was not polite of me to not introduce myself, I am Rarity, the fashionista and dress designer of town and… I think that’s all there is to it. Would it be safe to assume that you three are the ones who have come to find the… killer…?”

Cole examined Rarity;

“Yeah, that’s us. The name’s Cole. This is Jonah and Halie.”

Cole pointed to Jonah and Halie respectively as he talked. Fluttershy walked to Rarity’s side and said;

“We’ve brought them here to help you feel safer; they’re trying very hard to locate this criminal.”

Jonah added to Fluttershy’s statement;

“We haven’t got him yet. We actually haven’t seen or heard anythin’ about him since the shoot-out. The General we work for just says that nothing is happenin’, and that nothin’ has been reported. I guess we can all assume that there haven’t been any murders since then.”

Twilight put a hoof on Rarity’s back;

“You see, Rarity? They’re here to help us; as long as they are around we’ll be okay. They’re skilled fighters, equipped with powerful abilities. They are experienced in adventure and hunting. If anyone can find the killer, it’s them.”

Rarity shut her eyes tight;

“I… I’m still not coming out! I want to know that the killer is gone before I do! You can’t make me come out, so you all might as well leave!”

“But Rarity-!”

“No.”

“Listen, Sugar-!”

“No!”

“If you just-!”

“NO! Now leave my shop!”

“But I’ve got this yummy cake-!”

“GET OUT!”

Within seconds, all of them save for Rarity was outside the boutique. Applejack threw her hat to the ground and stomped it into the dirt;

“Con-sarnit! We gotta git her outta ‘at shop!”

Rainbow flew to Applejack;

“Well what are we gonna do?”

Fluttershy gently flew closer and answered;

“Um… panic?”

“That’s your answer to everything!”

Twilight sighed and rolled her eyes as her friends bickered. She began walking away, and then a look of enlightenment crossed her face. Twilight turned to Jonah, Cole and Halie;

“Hey, you three. Come with me to the library! I have an idea!”

Twilight galloped towards her library, the three friends shrugged their shoulders and followed, leaving the rest of the ponies to argue.

A new project is to come; whatever Twilight has up her sleeve just might be what Rarity needs to see. At the same time, nothing is mentioned by General Canis regarding the serial killer. What is happening? Why would the serial killer just all of a sudden vanish after the shooting he committed? What of Mina? Where has she been in the past three months?