Crossing Anthology Two

The beginning of Part 3

It only felt like a few minutes, Jonah woke to a blurred and indescribable image. His vision became clear, and he saw rocks and stalagmites above him; he looked around to see that the walls were covered in glossy and sparkling crystals. Jonah tried to sit up, his back arched upwards slowly, cracking as it elevated. He moved his aching legs under him and pushed his weight enough for him to barely stand. He tripped on his underused feet, and had no choice but to support him by grasping on to the crystalized walls.

Memories of what happened before he passed out rushed to Jonah, he remembered the Final Arbiter standing only a couple meters from him unmasked. It was Seth, his brother. The face underneath the Final Arbiter’s mask looked too familiar to be anyone else but Seth. For the last two years, he only wished the best for his missing brother, but just then, knowing what Seth turned into was like a knife to the chest. Jonah remembered Halie’s death, how the nice and eccentric friend he once had fell to the ground from a lightning bolt, dying instantly and taking her unborn child with her. Jonah became slow, his legs weakened as his adrenaline drained from him. He collapsed to the ground, only a couple of yards from where he woke up.

Jonah crawled forward and lost strength after only four pulls. He looked into one of the many crystals adorning the walls; the gems were polished enough for him to see his face. A feeling of shock crossed Jonah, his face did not look the same as what he remembered, and he appeared older. His face had much more facial hair than he remembered, and his hair was no longer its plush mullet form, it was long, loose, and filthy. Jonah’s focus was disrupted by familiar, yet unbelievable voice;

“Hey! Hey you’re awake! Oh thank Christ your FINALLY awake!”

Jonah dragged his head to the direction where the voice originated. He believed his eyes were deceiving him, it was Mina, her trench coat was tattered, and she also looked older. Jonah smiled at the sight of his friend after she was gone for half a year;

“… Mina…!”

Mina ran to Jonah, she dropped to the ground where Jonah laid. She scooped him up from under his back and hugged him tight, her voice turned weak;

“I’m so sorry! I should have never left you, or the others!”

Jonah hugged her back;

“It’s okay, I was just scared that you were hurt… are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m doing just fine now. But everything else has changed…”

Jonah let go of Mina and sat against the crystal wall behind him, Mina joined him. Jonah asked her;

“What’s been going on? And don’t sugar-coat it; I already know that Seth is the serial killer, and that the General betrayed us.”

“… Seth and his forces have taken over Canterlot completely; they’ve been spreading through all of Equestria. Cloudsdale is one of the last major cities that Seth hasn’t touched, but that General of his isn’t in any rush to give up.”

“How bad is Seth’s reign?”

“It’s horrible; any and all unicorns have been forced to live in concentration camps, technology has taken over and corrupted many lives. Canterlot is now a floating mechanical war ship, it could be anywhere out in the sky.”

Jonah went confused; it was hard for him to believe that all this could be done in such a short time. Then he thought, maybe it was not such a short time. Jonah asked Mina;

“Mina, how long was I out for?”

Mina was hesitant to respond, but knew that he’d eventually learn;

“Well… you and Cole were in commas when I came back. Princess Luna told me that you both were shot with something called ‘death spell’ that Seth fired, but at the same time that Princess Celestia put a shield around you, causing you minimal damage. She also teleported you, Cole, Luna and the five other ponies into these crystal caves beneath the Canterlot mountain, promising that these caves were ‘long-forgotten.’ I arrived two days later with Fluttershy and Spike. Cole woke up two weeks after I arrived, but you on the other hand… you’ve been asleep for over two years.”

Jonah’s heart rate accelerated, it beat faster than any lighting Cole could fire. His eyes widened, and his mouth dropped;

“Two years…? That’s what the Princess calls minimal-fuckin’-damage!?”

“Two years and seven months to be exact.”

“I’M TWENTY YEARS OLD!? AHHH!”

Jonah screamed, his telekinesis controlled itself and ripped about ten crystals from the wall. Mina looked around rapidly; she jostled Jonah’s shoulders to calm him;

“Calm down! Calm down!”

“’Calm down?’ How can I calm down! My brother is a psycho killer, dictator! The last thin’ I remember is Halie DYIN’! And now I just woke up from a two year comma to find out I’m TWENTY!? I was seventeen before I fell into that comma!”

Jonah grasped his messy hair, pulling it down to conceal his agitated face. Then he remembered something and became more stressed;

“Oh… shit! SPIKE! Where’s Spike!?”

Mina spoke to Jonah in a soothing tone;

“Spike is okay, he’s with Twilight. He actually did a big part in helping Fluttershy and I find the rest of you.”

“Oh, okay… Last time I saw him I dropped him off at the hospital in Ponyville, and he didn’t look good. Mina, how did you find us anyway? Where were you this whole time?”

Mina pondered for a moment, trying to remember every detail of her adventure;

“The whole time I was residing in the Ever Free Forest, I fought off many crazy-ass creatures; snakes with chicken heads, lions with wings, wolves made out of timber, they all looked like those chimeras from that jap-only GBA game, what was it…? Ah, I don’t remember… But for those six months, I was like Rambo tearing through that forest. At the six month mark, the same day that you guys got shot, I heard something creep up on me in the forest, and it was Fluttershy. It turned out that she was looking for me the whole night, and she gave me some encouraging advice.”

“Oh, what did she tell you?”

“She told me that even though you feel like an inconvenience, or only feel like dead weight, to just remember that your friends love you and understand what you’re going through, even if they may not seem like it. She said some other things, and she also told me that you were in pieces because of how long I was gone. It made me feel better, knowing you thought about me.”

Jonah smiled, but then he asked;

“What about Spike?”

“He’ll come into the story near the end. When Fluttershy found me; I was pretty deep into the forest. She was getting ready to fly us back, but then one of those crazy timber-wolves lashed out at us and struck Fluttershy, one of her wings got damaged. We had no choice but to go back to Ponyville on foot; and being in the thickest portion of the forest, we couldn’t tell which direction to head in. We had to walk for two nights before we finally got out of the forest. We ended up in a big field, and above it was Cloudsdale. It seemed to look okay at first, but then in the distance we saw several explosions and a whole army of General Canis’ Pegasi trying to invade it.”

Jonah was shocked to hear that the General had gotten so far in just a matter of days, Mina continued;

“The Wonderbolts were larger in numbers so they were able to fend them off for a good while. Eventually the invaders had enough, the General ordered his men to conjure up a giant tornado to destroy Cloudsdale, and that’s when I came in. I activated my weather powers and smothered that tornado; I forced the troops away with a hailstorm. After the battle Fluttershy and I returned to Ponyville, which had already been taken over. Spike came running up to us from the hospital asking if we had seen you and Cole. We told him no and began to wonder just what the hell was going on, because at the time we had no idea it was your brother in charge of it all. Fluttershy and I didn’t even know that the serial killer was reported dead until Spike told us that the obituary was made up. Spike sent a letter to the Princess using that green fire of his, asking what has been happening. Instead of a reply, the three of us were instantly teleported here. We’ve been hiding in these caves ever since then.”

Jonah remembered how Fluttershy left the night before the celebration, and that she never attended it the next day. He grabbed some crystals above him and pulled himself up to stand. He said to Mina;

“No wonder Fluttershy was never at the party, she went to go find you for me… I need to find her and everyone else, AND COLE!”

Jonah mustered up all his strength and grabbed Mina’s shoulders;

“WHERE IS COLE!?”

Two years have passed, Equestria has changed a lot. Advancements in technology have casted a shadow over the once dominant study of magic. Mina has changed for the better, she understands now that her friends would never abandon her, or intentionally hurt her. Mina felt loved for once. For Cole on the other hand, how has the once funny, outgoing, optimistic, brother-like, best friend of Jonah changed since Halie’s death? And what will be done about Seth? How will Jonah confront him in the final battle?