Crossing Anthology Two

Jonah removed his disguise and reformed his hair into its original mullet shape, and the dinner began. The fried bird was divided amongst the ponies and humans that circled the crystal table. Cole sat next to Jonah, silent as could be; Mina was in another room receiving hospitality from Fluttershy for her shell wound. Jonah sat at one end of the table, while Princess Celestia sat at the opposite, they conversed Jonah and Mina’s findings;

“The Override Amulet?”

Jonah nodded;

“Yes, that’s what the General had marked in his book.”

The Princess rested her chin on her hooves;

“I know I’ve heard of that someplace…”

Twilight’s eyes grew and she jumped in;

“Oh! I know that one; the Override Amulet, cancels out any and all projectile based magic aimed for its user.”

“That’s it! Good, Twilight.”

Twilight smiled. Jonah spoke;

“Seth must want it for defense of some sort… I don’t see why it’d be necessary; he has all that other freaky stuff…”

Twilight suggested;

“He could be up to something very destructive… Some say that he’s been getting angry with Equestria; he still can’t occupy Cloudsdale, and Mina is constantly stealing things from him. Remember at the celebration in Canterlot, the General said he would use something called the ‘reset button’ if we were too defiant.”

“I hope it isn’t that way, but I say we find this amulet before he does. If we have it, then we can finally face him head on without having to worry about the death spell.”

Applejack stood up and punched the air with her front hooves;

“Then you can give ‘at heathern a hefty wallopin’!”

Rainbow flew above the table and made a swinging motion;

“Yeah! Use your ice and slice his damn throat open! Slash ‘im down the middle!”

Jonah tried to calm Rainbow Dash;

“Rainb-…”

He was interrupted by Pinkie Pie;

“If you still got that gun of yours, you can fire all over at him like POW POW POWPOW POW!”

Jonah was shocked that Pinkie would make such a violent suggestion, he tried to speak;

“I don’t even have the shotgun anymo-…”

Twilight interrupted;

“You’re right, girls. Give him no mercy! This is for everything he’s done in the last few years!”

Jonah jumped from his seat and slammed his hands down on the table, startling everyone in range;

“ENOUGH!”

Princess Celestia tried to ease Jonah with a soft voice;

“Now, Jonah, calm down sweetie-…”

“NO! Dammit…! What’s happened to everyone here?!”

Jonah panned his irate sight over the sitting ponies;

“You! You all use to be kind and empathetic souls, without a harmful thought in the world. You were never so dark and violent until now! You expect ME to kill my own brother! Did you not even consider how I fuckin’ felt about that!? I understand how you all feel about him, and yes maybe he does deserve this kind of punishment, but cool it the fuck down! I for one am NOT looking forward to fighting this guy, and I don’t want to think about it anymore until then!”

The five ponies looked down in shame, some twiddled their hooves while some swayed back and forth; Princess Celestia sat up straight, looking at Jonah;

“Watch your langua-!”

“And Princess!”

The ponies jumped at the tone of Jonah’s voice, in their days it was not wise to yell at a Princess. Jonah continued;

“I’m not your son! I know you’ve lost a lot of people you cared for, but I can’t be a substitute for them! I’m twenty years old now; I have to get on with my life, I already had a mother. So instead of comfortin’ me, try comfortin’ yourself- no actually comfort Cole, he needs it! He literally threw himself off the cliff side earlier!”

Cole looked up at Jonah with tears forming. Jonah sighed, knowing that he just embarrassed his friend. He looked back to Princess Celestia, she also wept at Jonah’s bold and cutting words;

“I really wish I could help you Princess, but I don’t think I can… I’m sorry…”

Jonah looked back down to Cole;

“And I’m sorry for mentioning that, Cole. But you need to talk to us about this; talk to me, talk to Princess Celestia, or talk to the other ponies here, don’t hold it in anymore.”

Cole shook his head rapidly, covering his ears and holding his eyelids tight together, trying to tune out Jonah’s painful wisdom. Cole shook rapidly, seeing faint memories of the late Halie in his mind, the night they first met, the relationship they began, the sensation of their touch, and the unborn child they created together. Cole could not take it any longer; he slammed both fists on the table, sending a vibration to all corners of the rectangle. Jonah reached down and placed a hand on the back of Cole’s back, patting him slowly to ease him;

“Cole this wasn’t your fault… It was Seth that killed Halie, HE deflected that shot… It was somethin’ you weren’t prepared for, and you did the best you could with good intentions for everyone. It was Seth who made it all back fire.”

Cole swatted Jonah away and held his head low. Jonah took a few steps back, examining his hurt friend. In the past, Cole always help Jonah out of a rough patch, this time, Jonah was determined to return the favor. Jonah walked back over to him, kneeled down and hugged him from the side. Cole had no reaction; he kept the same agitated expression. Jonah said to him;

“Don’t put the blame on yourself… It was no fault of your own, we’re so use to shootin’ first and askin’ questions later, and I could have made the same move… It’s not your fault, please understand…”

Cole pushed Jonah away forcefully, stood from his seat and stomped out of the Rotunda. Cole wiped his moist eyes and looked back before exiting, giving the room a brief and depressed gesture. Cole left the Rotunda, and disappeared into the deep darkness of the crystal caverns. Jonah could not believe how cold and distant Cole became. Cole was in a depression that was so foreign and disturbing, that it began to drain the hope out of Jonah; he sighed and turned to Rarity;

“Ya know, we could use that gem-trackin’ spell of yours.”

Rarity stood with tears in her eyes from Cole’s sad words, she then smiled a little knowing she’d be used for crucial steps in ending the nightmare that reigned over her world.

Twilight gathered more memories of her amulet research, it was told that the Override Amulet was a one of a kind charm, buried someplace in the desert of Appleloosa. Twilight warned them that finding the gem would not be easy; that because the amulet cancels out any magic aimed for it, Rarity’s gem-tracking spell would not read it. Their only best bet was to find an area with the most compact gem clusters and dig there.

Transportation was as simple as before, Princess Celestia teleported Jonah, Mina, Rarity and Twilight, with little hesitation in her thoughts. Mina still limped some from her doctored injury, but she insisted that she should come. Jonah could tell that the Princess was not happy with his lecture earlier, but he knew that he said what he needed to say. Within an instant, the four were on the outskirts of Appleloosa. Jonah turned to the white unicorn and said;

“Rarity, do your stuff!”

“With pleasure!”

Rarity’s horn gave off a blue aura, the ground below them lit up the same color, each light spreading about 4 feet between each gem that buried. Twilight reminded Jonah and Mina;

“Remember you two, find the biggest cluster and it should be there.”

The team of four began their long search. After several hours of searching, digging up clusters of amulet-deprived gems, and snapping Rarity out of her obsession of gems and fascinations over jewelry ideas; the four began to feel wind gusting around them. The air grew stronger as they approached a massive source of gems; the blast became so strong that their legs trembled. The sand of the hot desert ground blew through their faces and stung their eyes. Then, something appeared a few meters above them; it was a large, cloaked helicopter. The invisibility of the chopper faded until its opacity was at maximum.

The helicopter descended and rested on the ground before the four friends, and out of its cockpit came General Canis. He sighed in disgust;

“Ah, there they are! How could I forget such children as yourselves…”

Mina snarled at the General, the General continued;

“No matter, because you’re too late! You will not be getting the amulet before my pet does!”

The four looked amongst each other, wondering what monster could be waiting for them inside the helicopter. The General called out;

“MECHA-7-2521, COME FORTH, NOW!”

An armored hoof stomped on the sand outside of the helicopter’s deck. It crept its way out with slow, intimidating and rigid motions. It was a tall mechanized Alicorn pony, armed to the teeth with guns, blades and explosive artillery. Other than its dark blue furry ears, there were absolutely zero traces of nature to this being, it was nothing but a drone composed of mysterious, yet familiar metal. Its eyes were a glowing red, showing no trace of life or thought. The General instructed it;

“Kill these four, then dig up that amulet and deliver it straight to the Final Arbiter!”

Jonah got angry and asked the General in a cutting voice;

“What does Seth want with that amulet!?”

The General looked puzzled, he raised one eye;

“Seth? The master’s name is Seth…? Seth, huh? It almost sounds like a person’s name…”

“That’s because it is, he’s MY brother, I should know.”

“He is…? I thought I saw some similarities between you both, small universe isn’t it? Any who, this my pet’s defenses dominates anything you can throw at it, so I might as well fill you in before you die… Equestria’s defiant stunts in the last few months have led the Final Arbiter to enforce punishment, by pressing the reset button. Of course, he wants protection from its devastating blast, so he has demanded that he be brought the Override Amulet. You and that girl trashing our home was only the cherry topping to the defiance of this wretched fucking planet! Prepare yourselves, you will DIE HERE! JUST LIKE THAT WASTE OF SPACE FRIEND OF YOURS, AND HER USELESS PRENATAL!”

Without anyone’s attention, Mina used her weather powers to channel a lightning bolt down on to the General, incinerating him instantly. Mina’s hair was erect from the amount of electricity she used; she straightened it and said;

“Shut the hell up already…”

The four faced the tall metal pony; it ran to them at intense speed, ready to battle for the desired amulet. The metal pony aimed the guns on its shoulders to the four and fired bullets like a machine gun; Jonah acted quick and raised an ice barrier to block the incoming bullets. He used his power to throw the ice shield at the android; the android lowered its head, opening a door in the back of its neck to fire out a bomb. The bomb impacted the shield, and bits of ice shattered and flew through the air.

Mina conjured more lightning from the sky and sent it to the android, stunning it and making it shiver. The metal pony uttered choppy sounding word, as if coming from a transistor radio;

“What?”

The android shook and pounced at Mina, displaying its shiny, pointed metallic teeth; Twilight grabbed it with her telekinesis before it could trample her. Twilight threw the metal pony in the air; it fell to the hard ground, making clanking and static-like noises. Mina electrocuted it again; the mech then said with a muffled and shattered voice;

“… Save… Me…”

Rarity used her gem-tracking spell along with telekinesis to make the buried gems rise from the desert; she pointed them all at the android and fired each of them one by one. The few larger gems that Rarity fired impaled the metal of the android and caused it to bleed at a rapid pace. Regardless of losing massive amounts of blood, the android stood tall and used its wings to fly high in the air. Its bladed wings spread and tossed spinning knifes and sharp objects towards the group of four.

Twilight conjured a shield to block off the blades flying at them; the blades deflected in several directions away from the team and the sharp rain ended. Twilight lowered the shields and grabbed the android again with her magic. Mina summoned another storm cloud and fired a devastating blast of lighting at the metal pony. The metal pony froze in midair and dropped to the ground, causing its back legs to snap off from its pelvis and break into robotic pieces. The android stuttered;

“Hurt… It did… We are… in pain…”

Its words were loud enough for the four to understand. They looked at each other, and were able to make out that it was a mare’s voice. Mina shot her full of more lightning;

“Religion… Evolve… Hopelessness… Time… Obsessed… Miss… Sadness… Tried… Neglect… Age… Why… Happiness… Tired… Era… Schoolboy…”

No one, not even the observant Jonah could find a way to connect the random phrases that flooded from the dying metal Alicorn. She continued to spray unpredictable words;

“Love… Life… Empathy… Powers… Smother… Explain… Give… Affection… Ever… Save… Ultimate… Hard… Advantage… New… Overpower… Joy…”

The android’s glowing eyes dimmed as she died, ceasing all motions. Rarity went back to business, and pulled a large chunk of gems out of the earth. Jonah pulled it out of Rarity’s grasp and tore apart the gems, eventually finding a silver piece of metal. He held it up;

“Here it is! I remember what it looked like!”

The Override Amulet was covered in sand and dirt from its long neglect. Twilight smiled and said;

“Let’s get back to the caves, we’ll unite with the others and finally confront Seth!”

Jonah strapped the amulet around his neck, ready to take on any magic projectile. Twilight’s horn glowed and the four friends vanished instantly.

The time has finally come to face the Final Arbiter. His closest ally has been terminated; the charmed he clamored over was taken out of his grasp. The odds of his success cowered to his younger brother’s chances. He sits in what was once the Princess’ private quarters, waiting for action with the lowest hesitation to illuminate the planet under him, and the universe around him.