Crossing Anthology Two

Everyone was there; except for Princess Celestia, she refused to watch what was about to happen. Jonah, Cole, Mina, Spike and the six ponies stood in the outer ring of Seth’s private home, ready to fight. Jonah glared at the door to the inner ring, hesitant to open it. Cole leaned his emotionless self onto the outer ring window and said nothing. Rainbow Dash flew over to the sitting Jonah, and asked;

“Well, what are you waiting for?”

Jonah shook his head;

“I don’t think I can do this. Everyone is expecting me to kill him, I know he’s done some horrible things that definitely warrant it, but I can’t bring myself to do this…”

“Remember what he did, man… He deserves what’s about to come to him, if it makes you so conflicted, then I’ll deliver the final blow. It’ll be quick and painless. He won’t even see me!”

Jonah stood on his feet again;

“That doesn’t help me…”

Rainbow Dash ignored Jonah’s remaining discomfort; he opened the door to the inner ring and guided Jonah in. The inner ring bared zero resemblance to what Jonah remembered; the walls were repainted to be blue summer skies, with sand near the base. The floor of the inner ring was complete sand with sea shells scattered across it, and there was even a large puddle of water in the area where the bed once was. The side of the ring leading to the bathroom was crowded with green trees. The setting of the inner ring now resembled a beach, not one that seemed like an Equestrian beach, but like a beach from Earth. It even had a thick coastal-like smell in the air; it made Jonah think of Virginia Beach.

The team was done observing, Seth stood in front of the door to the core room. Little did Seth know, that the door before him was impenetrable, and that only Princess Celestia could possibly open it. Seth was peering into the key hole, trying to see what could be in there that neither he nor anyone except the Princess could ever access. Seth felt a presence; he turned and saw his younger brother, with his best friend as well as a girl, six ponies and a little dragon.

Seth charged his death spell, while everyone else lined up perfectly straight behind Jonah for protection. Seth fired the massive death spell, causing a wave of darkness to gust towards his opponents. The spell traveled to Jonah, and dissolved from the power of the Override Amulet wrapped around his neck. Seth admired the glowing silver charm, he breathed heavily and shut his eyes in disappointment, and it was to his belief now that his General was mere dead weight. Seth gathered his energy and fired a shield in such a co-ordinance and scale, that it separated Jonah from his friends, even Cole. Jonah instantly turned back and banged his fists on the shield; Cole was on the other side only a meter away, giving no effort to reunite with his friend. The, both of the brothers faced each other, locked inside the shield the elder sibling created.

Seth reached into his long robes and swiftly pulled out his shotgun. Jonah levitated in the air, ready to move at the very second he saw the barrel aim for him. Jonah flew rapidly back and forth around the barrier he was locked in, giving him a good seven meters in width, and five meters in height to pan across. Seth’s wrists followed his younger brother; he fired once, only barely missing Jonah’s head. Seth fired again, this time sending a shell through Jonah’s right shoulder. Jonah fell to the sand below him, skidding across the floor.

The six ponies behind him jumped and shuttered in fear. Cole jolted and walked closer to the conflict. Jonah brought himself to his feet again, Seth was ready to reload, but noticed he only had three shells left in his pockets. He instead used his prodigy skills in telekinesis to lift his little brother from the sand, and then threw him to the opposite side of their barrier like a rag-doll. Jonah’s back hit the hard, solid wall of the shield; he trembled to his knees, lungs winded.

Cole spread his sweating, shaking palms spread across the barrier, watching his friend as he was continuously thrown around, mercilessly. Mina became scared, she turned to Twilight;

“I thought the amulet cancels this shit out! He’s getting his ass kicked in there!”

Twilight came closer and observed through the transparent shield, she spoke;

“Telekinesis isn’t projectile magic; it can still be used against Jonah…”

Cole kicked and clawed at the shield, his breathing became rapid and short. Mina pulled Cole away;

“Calm down, Cole. He’s not out yet! He’ll make it…”

Mina kept watching, seeing Jonah bleed more from his shoulder made her cringe. Something exploded within her, she jumped closer and bashed her elbows and fists at the shield, and not even a scratch was left on the barrier. Her sudden transition from calmness to agitation made Cole’s knees shake uncontrollably. Applejack budged through Cole, Mina and Twilight;

“Com ‘on, boy! Give ‘im a beatin’!”

Her words failed to reach Jonah; the shield was so strong and dense that it blocked all sounds from the outside. Jonah asked Seth;

“What is this for?! Huh? Is it because of Dad? Or is it me? It’s one of us! Let’s hear it! Let’s hear your bullshit!”

Seth showed no emotions in his face or eyes and gave no verbal response; he gripped Jonah with a powerful telekinetic hold. Seth wriggled his fingers about, causing Jonah’s body to twist in disturbing directions. Jonah struggled to retain a less life threatening pose as Seth tried to churn his wrists, elbows, shoulders, hips, knees, ankles and neck. Jonah used his own telekinesis to resist his elder sibling’s manipulation; he finally regained a plausible position, breathing heavily from the pressure and pain in his bones and muscles.

Rainbow Dash flew to the shield, pounding it with her hooves;

“Come on, kid! Hit him back!”

Jonah could barely make out the muffled voice; he had no time to process it. Seth had his way with Jonah again, this time pulling his anatomy in all opposite directions; he howled in anguish then used telekinesis to fight the yanking and tugging back. Jonah spoke to Seth again;

"Seth! Try and understand! He as a father was proud of you! He loved both of us equally; he was only worried about you, that didn’t mean he loved you any less than me or mom.”

Lightning struck, Seth’s pupils grew smaller, and his anger boiled at the phrase, “mom.” Seth lifted Jonah again, throwing him up and slamming him straight down with bitter strength. Jonah grew furious; he was finally able to hear his friends from beyond the barrier. They encouraged Jonah to fight, to tear into Seth, slash his throat, slice him open, as well as do many other violent actions.

Lingering anger finally took its root, and Jonah had taken enough. Seth prepared to use more telekinesis, Jonah reacted to his charge instantly, and fired a blast of ice at Seth’s feet, causing him to slip and fall to the ground. Jonah towered over Seth with black eyes, no trace of compassion or reason was visible in the younger brother. He raised his hand, preparing more devastating rounds of freezing power and one at a time he swung fists back and forth at Seth, pounding him with his frozen, rock hard fists. Seth could only take the rapid blows, he groaned in pain as Jonah punched quicker, delivering bloody and disgusting gashes to his pale, white skin. Jonah finally jumped back from Seth by two meters, he lifted his older brother with his telekinesis and tightened his fist, causing Seth’s limbs and entire being to tighten and collapse in to an inward direction. Seth gasped and choked from the dark manipulation manifesting from each of Jonah’s tightening fingers.

Exasperation was high. Jonah was going to do it; he was going to kill his brother, his blood brother, crushing him with no remorse or emotion. It was as if Jonah was a different person at this point, over taken and possessed by the same nothingness and ambiguity that Seth displayed during the Fillydelphia academy shooting. But then, something happened and Jonah’s telekinetic grip loosened, he started looking around the room as if looking for someone. Jonah turned his head back to where his friends were blocked off at, he saw Spike remaining quiet as everyone else cheered at his dominance.

Poor little Spike was under distress, obviously not liking what he was watching, two brothers killing each other. This horrible battle disgusted Spike, and only brought back awful memories of his brother’s death. Jonah gazed into Spike’s eyes, Spike returned the glare with sadness that begged and pleaded Jonah to find another way to end this, any other way feasible. Jonah wanted the same thing Spike was telepathically asking, but he could not think of anything else. Seth did not speak at all throughout his three year presence in Equestria; Jonah had no solid motive as to why his brother went so far off the deep end. Jonah tried connecting everything relevant or irrelevant together one last time, the flashbacks of that god awful day, the obsession Seth had with Virginia Beach, the beach-themed room around him, and the scar on his left cheek. He also thought of what his friends desired, Spike wanting his brother, Cole wanting his child and lover, and Princess Celestia wanting a child to nurture.

Suddenly it was clear; Seth’s anger was never towards his father, nor his younger brother. Jonah knew then what Seth truly wanted. It was vivid to him, and he began to see everything in a different light.

Ending his concentration and train of thought, a shotgun shell penetrated Jonah’s thigh, breaking his femur. He screamed in a most terrible cry of anguish, it was loud enough to reach his startled and cowering friends. He was blown backwards by the shell's contact and landed on the floor sitting up, his power vanished and Seth was free. Seth landed on the ground shins first; he slumped over giving himself a moment to regain his strength. He reloaded his shotgun, aimed at his younger kin and fired. Jonah was shot in the stomach, the shell left a two inch hole entering his gut, and a three inch crater exiting his back, causing him to endlessly bleed out. He fell over, and his vision began to blur and fade.

Gasping and coughing, Jonah could not move, he could not stand or even sit up right. His legs were paralyzed by the shell's exit through his lower spine. He remained barely conscious, and stayed slouched over to his left side, trying to think of anything, anything that may help him at all.

Anything, even the most impossible of spells that could assist him.