Crossing Anthology Two

It has been hours since the news was brought to Equestrias’ attention, that the serial killer was “dead.” The celebration was a wondrous occasion; food and beverages were lines up on long tables that stretched through the convention room of the Canterlot Castle. Hundreds of mares and stallions were dressed from head to toe in their own fancy getup, gathering from all corners of the land. The Princesses; Celestia and Luna stood by each other, and happily watched their excited subjects as they danced, laughed, smiled and mingled. General Canis’ guards stood around the border of the large room, ready for anything. The convention room air was singing with a cello being played by a gray mare, joined by several other musicians behind her. The ceiling was decorated with giant chandeliers of glass and light. Each table was dressed with a lacy table cloth and given a candle in each center. Each of the tall walls had windows made of stain glass, making the moonlight shine across the floor in a variety of hues.

Halie, Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Rarity arrived to the party, with the exception of Fluttershy who had been gone since the previous night. Halie walked slowly to admire the beauty of the castle, it was breath taking. No longer was she afraid of the elevation of the unicorn city, nor was she alarmed of the loud noises that would come from popping caps on glass bottles. Halie was finally at peace with her mind and traumatized condition. Princess Celestia and Luna stepped down from stage at the far end of the room to greet their special guests. Princess Luna spoke;

“Halie, Twilight and friends, how lovely to see you all again.”

The seven guests bowed to the princess sisters. Princess Celestia scanned the group, asked Halie;

“Where are Jonah and Cole?”

“We’re not sure actually, I think we can assume that they could be busy with the press or still investigating.”

Princess Luna was disappointed;

“Oh, but this celebration was for all of you. Well I guess we’ll just have to do with you then, Halie.”

Princess Celestia objected her sister’s quick suggestion;

“No, let’s wait for the boys. Surely they can’t be gone for too much longer…”

Twilight thought for a moment;

“You know, I haven’t seen much of Spike today either… I hope he’s okay.”

Halie informed Twilight;

“Spike’s with the boys; he wanted to come with them on their mission.”

“Oh, okay… They better het here soon; it’s already nine ‘O clock!”

Pinkie Pie jumped through Halie and Twilight;

“Who cares what time it is? The only thing I’m worried about is getting to PARTYYYY!!!!”

Pinkie ran into the distance, shoving her way through the crowds of ponies before her. The rest of the five smiled and looked at each other; they separated and joined in with the festivities.

General Canis sat on top of a large cardboard box to himself on the stage where the Princesses once were. He motioned to one of his many guards patrolling the room and whispered something to him. That guard whispered to another guard, then that guard to another and so on. After a few minutes, General Canis stood from the large box, and walked over to a microphone that was set up in the center of the stage. The General pulled it to his mouth level, and spoke in to it;

“Hello, everyone. I entrust that your celebration is turning out for the best…?”

The ponies cheered loudly, Princess Luna stepped over to her sister and whispered;

“He’s not supposed to speak yet, what’s he doing?”

The older Princess did not respond, she only watched. She suspected that this could just be to stall the party until Jonah and Cole arrived. But then something happened, a loud bang was heard from the stage. The crowd of hundreds went frantic and looked over; they saw the cardboard box that the General sat on it had a hole blown through it.

From inside the box a hoof tore the box apart, and out came the serial killer they all thought was dead with his infamous shotgun. The crowd went silent from the wave of fear and confusion that was casted over them. The leather robed figure glared at the audience through his wicked mask. The visor for his horn glowed a dark red and a black pulse of mysterious power blasted into a thick portion of the crowd. Over twenty ponies were struck by this ambiguous magic, and instantly they were corrupted, they remained in a seizure-like state for a matter of seconds, and then dropped dead to the cold ground.

The Princesses united their power together to form a stunning form of magic, and fired at the killer. The killer raised a hoof and deflected the blast to the ceiling, making the chains that held the giant chandelier shatter and the cracks in his mask to thicken. The chandelier fell to the ground above a larger crowd of ponies. Princess Celestia used her magic to make the chandelier levitate before it could harm anyone; she threw back at the killer. The killer used his power to capture the colossal roof decoration, and cause it to explode into billions of glass particles.

Halie covered her ears from the sounds of chaos; Twilight grabbed her by the hand and instructed her;

“Let’s get out of here!”

Pinkie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Applejack gathered with Twilight and Halie. The six of them ran to one of the many exits. As they approached the exit, guard ponies blocked their path, pointing spears to them, ready to strike and kill. The six girls backed up, and took cover under the tables. Rainbow Dash said to her friends;

“I’m sure glad Fluttershy didn’t come to THIS.”

Twilight became annoyed;

“This is no time for jokes, Rainbow!”

Their conversing was interrupted by the amplified voice of the General;

“What an impressive show, Princesses… But I’m afraid your successor has the upper hand here. Fillies and Gentlecolts… please rise from behind your barricades and welcome your new dictator, THE FINAL ARBITER!”

The Final Arbiter walked slowly to edge of the stage, looking into the eyes of the many that feared him. He stepped slowly across the stage as the General spoke;

“Do not fear him! His actions were necessary for him to get to where he is now. Observe the Final Arbiter, his beauty, his swift power, his supreme authority! And to ensure that very authority, he has learned the formerly-illegal death spell! And a new form a power that he invented, from the bodies of all you outdated unicorns!”

The Final Arbiter turned his shot gun around, and revealed a bright-red gem inside the butt of his weapon. The General spoke as The Final Arbiter presented his invention;

“This, my little ponies… is the reset button! With the power of all the unicorns that have been sacrificed, this gem allows the Final Arbiter to pull the plug on the existence on this very universe, space, and time itself! If you don’t want this to be activated, all you have to do is fall in line with what he instructs…”

The ponies made more frightened noises, they quivered and tried running, only to be betrayed by more of General Canis’ guards. Princess Celestia and Luna joined Halie, Twilight and the other four girls. Princess Luna asked the girls;

“What is happening!? I thought they found this murderer!”

Halie looked around, desperate for Jonah and Cole to arrive;

“I… I don’t… I don’t know where they could possibly be, they never came back today…”

Princess Celestia became scared for the boys’ status; it was a look that Twilight had never seen from her mentor. Twilight asked;

“Princess? You’re not scared… are you?”

The fear traveled, Twilight thought for a moment, she was now worried about Spike;

“Where’s… Spike…?”

The fear was contracted by Halie, she began to cry. She shut her eyes and covered an ear with one hand, while she stroked her pregnant abdomen with the other. The four other ponies gathered around Halie to hold her in fear and comfort. Princess Luna peaked over the table she hid behind and gazed at the General she trusted for so many years. She never expected this sort of treason from him, not him. All she could ask was;

“… How could everything go so wrong…?”

Everyone else who wasn’t murdered was as still as could be, all hid behind a table or under a dead body. Children were told by parents to play dead, and the parents cried and collapsed. All they could do was hide and wait for something to happen. The General spoke again to the intimidated party;

“The Final Arbiter has a brilliant plan for all you primitive, worthless pieces of meat! He brings with him the future! A new era of technology and enhancements are coming! Something your pathetic and obsolete princesses could not provide!”

The General pulled out his cell phone and spoke again;

“Gaze upon me! This is only a small example of the technological power the Final Arbiter can give you! You could hold the same power that I have, if you simply do away with the past! Now, EVERYONE WITH HORNS ON THEIR HEADS, RISE! It’s time to do away with primitive magic, and introduce an era of technology!”

No one complied with the direct orders, the General spoke again with a raised voice;

“OKAY! THEN HE’LL JUST START SHOOTING!”

The Final Arbiter jumped from the stage and cocked his weapon. Princess Luna had her eyes closed, she felt guilt beyond any she ever felt, she opened her eyes and rose above her barricade. Princess Celestia demanded;

“No! Stay!”

Princess Luna ignored her sister’s word, she flew over the table and then back down to the ground and stepped to a mere two feet away from the Final Arbiter. Princess Luna looked into the Final Arbiter’s mask, ready to accept her fate. The Final Arbiter raised his shotgun to her forehead, just as silent as before.

A single tear ran down Princess Luna’s cheek, but then just before the Final Arbiter could squeeze the trigger of his shotgun. The stain glass windows behind Princess Luna shattered, and in came Jonah and Cole, alone. Halie looked up at her friends in relief. Despite the fear of being shot on the spot, Halie ran to Cole and hugged him tight; she kissed him romantically with tears streaming from her glorified eyes. Jonah screamed;

“Princess Luna, MOVE!”

At that very second, Princess Luna used her advanced magic to teleport back to her hiding spot. Jonah fired an intense blast of ice at the Final Arbiter. The Final Arbiter deflected each blast, sending each pulse of ice towards a pillar or window. Jonah finally sent one blast, to the ground below the Final Arbiter’s feet, this one being unnoticed. The Final Arbiter tripped on the frozen floor and fell backward, causing his mask to fly off his face. The mask went through the air, finally hitting the hard floor and breaking into two pieces. The Final Arbiter looked up, directly into Jonah’s eyes, unmasked. Jonah gave a soul piercing stare to the Final Arbiter and scanned every detail of his face and head, his left cheek was scarred, his eyes were green, and his hair was a light brunette mullet shaped into a crown like figure. Jonah’s stare became less abrasive as the Final Arbiter’s final layer of Anonymity was ripped from him. The Final Arbiter’s body began to quiver and corrupt like a hologram, a white light shined through him, and his fake unicorn form dissolved into his true, human form. The Final Arbiter looked back up at Jonah with a disgruntled expression.

The five pony friends and the two Princesses leaned their heads over to get a clear look at the Final Arbiter’s true face; he looked almost exactly like Jonah. Applejack hollered;

“A… ano… another Jonah…!”

The Final Arbiter stood stiff; his leather cloak encased his entire bare body. He wielded his shotgun in his hand but did nothing with it. He only continued to stare into Jonah’s eyes, as he starred back. Jonah was sad, and did not know what to do, he wanted to cry at what he was witnessing, and he wanted it all to be a nightmare that he could simply awaken from within moments. Jonah kneeled to the ground, his hands being the only thing holding him up. Jonah shook his head, he let his own weight dictate him and covered his ears and shut his moist eye lids. Jonah could not contain himself, he became ill to his stomach, and vomited on the spot. Cole looked down at Jonah;

“Jonah! What’s-?!”

Cole took another look at the Final Arbiter. Cole looked deeply, his eyes slowly widened, and he finally knew just who he was getting ready to fight. Halie whispered to Cole;

“Cole… Who is this man…?”

Cole did not respond. Cole felt like letting a reservoir water flow from his eyes. Regardless of how he felt, he knew what he had to do. Cole charged an extremely powerful and bright abundance of electricity in his hand, this one he knew would be fatal to whoever was hit by it. Cole swung his arm back, then forward for better momentum. A bolt of lightning traveled from his fingertips directly at The Final Arbiter. The Final Arbiter remembered his mission; he raised his palm to the incoming bolt. The lightning hit the Final Arbiter’s palm, it deflected from it. The lightning sprang back and struck Halie’s torso, entering her between her heart and the womb where her and Cole’s baby developed.

Halie’s body riddled with millions of volts of electricity. Her eyes crossed and her pupils dilated, and she dropped to the floor. Halie was killed on the spot and took her unborn child with her as electricity continued to crawl through the both of them.

Cole fell to his knees, examining his deceased lover. Cole rotated her to face him; he examined the fatal blow he fired. Cole shook Halie back and forth, his shaking became rapid rattling. The jostling weakened and slowed into a tear filled, nonstop trance of rocking. Cole just sat there, weeping and peacefully rocking the beautiful young girl and the child he made with her to their eternal sleep.

Both of the boys cried as their worlds were pulverized around them. Cole had lost his lover and his child; and Jonah lost his brother, Seth, to the darkest depths of the towering, insecure region of his dissolved mind. This darkness that was once Seth was now the Final Arbiter that stood before them. Loud shrieks of panic were heard from a familiar source, and then everything went black, pitch black. Sounds were no longer heard nor could anything be seen by the two boys.

Halie, 17, formerly of Harts Creek, West Virginia and currently of Ponyville, Equestria; went to be with the Lord, Tuesday, January 29th, 2014 at the royal castle in Canterlot, following a blast of lightning to the heart fired inadvertently by her lover. She was a loving partner of Coltrane, and was expected to be a graceful mother to their unborn child.

The end of Part 2