Crossing Anthology Two

The morning was upon the three. Jonah, Cole and Mina were woken by the sound of a rooster giving a jarring “cock-a-doodle-doo!” The three sat up and looked over at the window, then back at one another. Jonah lay back down and hugged his pillow to his face and chest tightly. Cole stood up on both legs, each leg struggling to keep balance after awakening from such a rough sleep on hard wood floor. Cole walked slowly to the opposite side of the bed that Mina slept on, and stumbled on Jonah’s snoozing body. Cole observed the way Jonah slept, the way he cuddled his pillow to him and how his cheek pressed against it, it was a position that he saw Jonah in many times before. In the past, it was normal for Cole to awaken before Jonah, so Cole did as he normally would; he kicked Jonah’s side softly to jolt him awake. Cole would continue the kicking until Jonah finally stood up, while saying;

“Come on, bitch. Get up!”

Jonah only let out a groan, his hold on his pillow tightened as he rolled over to conceal his drowsy face. Cole kneeled down behind him and pushed his shoulder continuously, he said to Jonah;

“Come on! It’s boring without you up. And we need to get breakfast soon so we can find Halie.”

Jonah pushed his pillow away with one arm and finally sat up with the other. Jonah was now sitting, legs crossed in front of Cole, Jonah raised his hand to a mere four inches from Cole’s cheek and slapped it five times in a rapid flick of his wrist, but not at a pace that would hurt him. This was a small sort of prank that they would do to each other periodically, and immediately follow it up with;

“Shut up.”

The two boys started laughing together playfully. Their lack of consideration caused Mina to roll to their direction, and to ask irately;

“What the hell? It’s gotta be six in the damned morning, and you two little shits are already at it?! Seriously, what are you awake for?”

Cole pulled the cuff on his right sleeve back to reveal his watch; he examined it and said to Mina;

“Your argument is invalid Mina, its six-THIRTY…”

Jonah followed Cole with;

“You should really get your facts straight Mina.”

Mina’s face became disgruntled and twisted with rage; she turned the covers back over her with a furious haste. Jonah and Cole stood up and stretched some before exiting the room they resided in. The upstairs hallway of Applejack’s home was short, short enough for the two boys to hear the hoof steps of a pony approaching. A door opened behind Jonah and Cole, a small yellow pony with a big pink hair bow rubbing her sleepy eyes walked out from behind it, she gazed at the two boys who towered over her height. Jonah and Cole gazed back at her; she let out a shriek as if she saw a monster and ran to the furthest door down the hall, opposite from where Jonah and Cole stood. Jonah said softly;

“… Aww… She’s adorable…”

Cole replied with a voice that clearly was of an African American impression;

“Nice little ass too, nigga!”

Jonah’s eyes widened and surpassed his laugh with a snigger. They continued their jokes as they walked down stairs and to the kitchen. The kitchen gave off a country vibe that Jonah could recognize; many shelves contained small decorations and knick-knacks. The bar was covered in pots and pans, and there was not a dishwasher in sight, only two sinks for washing dishes. Jonah and Cole sat at a table located in the middle of the kitchen; it was draped with a plaid tablecloth. Jonah and Cole looked around more, Cole’s eyes being unfamiliar with the setting, while Jonah was clearly losing himself in the atmosphere. Jonah’s mind presented him with faint memories of times when he and his brother would periodically visit their “Mamaw and Papaw’s” house. A yawning voice broke his thoughts;

“Howdy boys!”

It was Applejack; she passed them as she entered the kitchen and headed to the refrigerator. She asked the duo;

“How’d y’all sleep last night? Was it cozy enough for ya?”

Jonah and Cole looked at each other with faces that telepathically told one another what they clearly wanted to say, but they decided it would be best to just say it was good, and to keep any feelings for being hurt. They were under the belief that Applejack must have put a lot into making their stay a comfortable one, even though it was clear that Mina was the only one who felt the comfort. Applejack scanned the refrigerator for the correct ingredients to create whatever she had in mind. She let out a groan of disappointment and instead grabbed something covered in aluminum foil. She placed it on the table in front of the two and said;

“Here’s some leftover turkey from the other day, I was hopin’ to make ya some pancakes, but oh well…”

Applejack walked back over to the bar and opened one of the shelves to grab some utensils, being that she is what Equestria labels as an “Earth” pony; she could only carry objects with her mouth. She craned her neck over the table where Cole sat, Cole saw her drop the utensils from her jaw with disgust. Applejack gave Jonah a fork and knife, Jonah took them with no hesitation, he was use to eating after others. Applejack sat down at the head of the table, and asked them;

“So, where’s ‘at gal you was with yesterday? Is she still snoozin’?

Cole wiped Applejack’s spit from the handles of his fork and knife with his shirt, he began to carve a large chunk of meat from the cold bird in front of him while replying;

“I wish she could STAY asleep sometimes…”

Jonah pulled a bundle of small pieces from the cold turkey; he could tell that Cole was desperate to find Halie, and to finally ask her out. Understanding Cole’s impatience, Jonah followed up that statement with;

“Easy Cole, and yeah she’s still asleep.”

Applejack scarfed down on her helping of the bird that she had already pulled, her left eye raised with surprise. She talked as she ate;

“Mm, really? Usually we all get up and at ‘em pretty early ‘round ‘ere. Speakin’ of which, I can tell ya already met my sister, Applebloom. Haha she ran into my room talkin’ about how she just woke up and saw some sorta monsters.”

Applejack laughed while chewing her breakfast, Cole placed an unfolded hand to the right side of his face while she did so. Jonah found humor in Cole’s expense and chuckled to himself. The merry laughter amongst the two was broken when the loud sound of something tumbling arrived to their ears from the hallway. Applejack leaned her head back and called out;

“Applebloom? Was ‘at you?”

A figure limped its way to the kitchen, it was Mina. She had fallen down the staircase from upstairs. Mina stood on her left leg, the right leg folded back with her foot in her hand as she attempted to alleviate her pain. Applejack greeted her with;

“Good mornin’ partner, come have some breakfast!”

Mina took a moment to examine the turkey; she was disappointed by the low quantity of edible portions. Just then, she saw Jonah pull the last chunk of meat out of the bird’s carcass she limped quickly to where he sat and plopped herself down onto his lap, and swiped his fork from his hands. Mina devoured the entire chunk in one bite; she looked to Jonah with careless eyes and said;

“Thanks, BOYfriend.”

Mina kissed Jonah’s cheek, leaving a greasy residue; she wrapped her arms around him. Cole was giggling at the sight of Jonah’s humiliation, Jonah noticed Cole’s amusement and stated;

“Well… I did overhear my father say some ‘wise’ words before he left… he said to his friend, ‘If you are born with a penis, then your life is officially down the shitter’.”

While Jonah never necessarily agreed with said statement, he found it funny. In most situations, Cole would be the one to brighten Jonah’s pessimistic points of view, but even he knew Jonah was joking and he laughed slightly, he thought of it again and his laughs grew louder. Soon, everyone laughed.

Later:

Jonah, Cole and Mina left Sweet Apple Acres and walked back into Ponyville. Applejack gave them the advice to see her friend, Twilight Sparkle. To Applejack’s description, Twilight was one of the smartest of the ponies in town, and one of the ones with the most leadership skills. Applejack was vague with the directions to where this “Twilight” character resided, she said to look for a large tree. Jonah, Cole and Mina put their heads together to try and map out Ponyville based on their memories from their arrival.

Roughly ten minutes had passed, and there it was, the widest and tallest tree in town. It had windows installed into it, along with a balcony and a door. The three friends approached the large tree and knocked on its front door. They waited for a moment, the door soon opened, and from the other side was a face that they would never have expected, it was Halie;

“Cole! Jonah! Mina!”

The four friend’s eyes were shot wide open. Cole finally relieved to have found her; hugged Halie within seconds of seeing her, Halie embraced him. Jonah and Mina decided to let them have their moment, they walked passed them and entered the tree house. It was a library, with many books aligned on shelves that stretched along the wooden walls. Out of the corner of Jonah and Mina’s eyes, a purple unicorn pony came walking down a flight of stairs, following her was a small dragon. The purple pony took notice of the presence of new company in her home and welcomed them;

“Oh, hello there. My name is Twilight Sparkle; I assume you are here to get Halie.”

Jonah was confused as to what to say next, he did not expect to find Halie here, even though his intentions were to get help finding her. He stumbled and stuttered his words until Mina finally took over;

“I’m Mina; this is my incompetent boyfriend, Jonah. We’re here to snuff out your serial killer problem. Where was the last place a pony was murdered?”

Twilight’s pupils shrunk as her eyes widened. She asked the two;

“Are you… the ones from Earth? Who fought that Atevian? What’s his name…? King Zoxus?”

Jonah responded;

“… Yes…”

Jonah was surprised to hear that Twilight knew as much as she did about him and his friends. He knew that Princess Luna spoke with a number of ponies regarding it; Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Fluttershy. But to think that they knew about the three year adventure that he, Cole and many other friends pursued was astounding, but at the same time peculiar. Twilight was ready to ask a load of questions, but then she lowered her head in a state of deep thought.

Jonah took notice of the small dragon behind Twilight, and how it gazed into his eyes. Jonah tried looking away, but could still tell that he was staring at him. The dragon’s eyes grew into a concerned gesture, one that creped Jonah. He was friendly to the small dragon, and said;

“Hello.”

The dragon took a couple steps back, and ran up the stairs. Twilight snapped out of her deep thoughts and called out to the dragon;

“Spike! SPIKE!”

There was no response; Twilight continued her conversation with Jonah and Mina hastily;

“I’m terribly sorry; Spike is normally a friendly little guy. And I’m sorry for getting kind of lost there; it’s just… well… I’m not sure what to say first. On one hand I feel I should get to know you before anything else, but at the same time I have bad tidings-“

Twilight was cut off by a glimmer of light that manifested in the center of the library; it expanded and grabbed the attention of Cole and Halie, who were outside having a different conversation. The light blinded everyone within its range, and a silhouette appeared in the center of the library. The light faded, and Princess Luna was among them. Everyone was silent, Twilight bowed. Princess Luna walked slowly to Jonah; she placed a hoof on his chest and said;

“I have been watching you, and now, it is time for you to move onwards!”

As the hour continued; Jonah, Cole, Halie and Mina managed to catch up with Princess Luna. She revealed the true reasons as to why the portal landed them in different locations, and why she had been gone until that point. It was a test, a test of unity and getting to learn the “ropes” of Equestria, and that the test would continue until all three friends were united again. Halie told Jonah, Cole and Mina about how she resided with Twilight for the night; she had originally planned to do her own searching until they arrived shortly before her planned departure.

At this point, not one of the four human friends could think of any more surprises that could possibly come, but then came Twilight’s “bad tidings”. Twilight brought the four and Princess Luna to her back yard. There before the four friends was a grave; the name was unfamiliar to Halie and Mina, yet stunning to Jonah and Cole.

The grave was carved with writing, “LEMMOUR ZOXUS – UNKNOWN D.O.B. - 2012 – A TRUE FRIEND AND BROTHER”. Jonah and Cole were confused; they thought they had seen Lemmour die in the year 2010, back when he was named “Metal Seth”. They all went back inside and sat on the library floor, Twilight told them Lemmour’s story, and how he died the previous year. Lemmour was the first to die at the hands of the unicorn serial killer, even though Lemmour was not a unicorn. Spike was the only eye witness to this tragedy; Spike at the time was not sure how to describe the killer. Witnesses to the killer’s succeeding targets were better able to describe him; the killer has been said to be a unicorn himself, he wore a mask, and a cloak that covered his entire body. The killer’s weapon of choice was a firearm of some kind, the same used to kill Lemmour. Twilight also revealed to Jonah and Cole that Lemmour’s true birth place was there, on planet Equestria. Twilight told the boys of Lemmour’s relations to Spike, and how his death traumatized him.

At the mention of how Spike was affected by the murder, Jonah turned his head to the floor where the library stairs led to, where Spike had ran off to. He neither heard nor seen anyone one from the second floor. Jonah thought of why Spike peered at him the way he did, why he would direct his blank and vague eyes into his soul. It had Jonah thinking, was there more to Lemmour’s death that Spike wasn’t telling them?

Jonah, Cole and Mina later returned to Applejack’s barn to rest, they brought Halie. Earlier when Twilight and Jonah introduced themselves to each other, it is said that Cole had his own private conversation with Halie. After ensuring each other’s wellbeing and catching up some, Cole finally suggested to Halie to further their relationship past being only friends, and she handsomely accepted.

The night at Applejack’s was as uncomfortable as the previous, Mina slept on the only bed in the same bedroom as before. While the conditions bothered Cole and Halie, Jonah was too lost in thought to notice it, he learned so much today from Twilight. From his observations, and from how Twilight shed light on the first murder, he couldn’t help but feel that there is more to the little dragon, Spike that even Twilight herself did not know. Surely Spike wasn’t the killer. But there was more information about this mysterious mass murderer, information that Jonah believed Spike held the key to. But just what could it possibly be?

A test of intelligence and unity was given, and now it is time to move onwards. Jonah and Cole face much more ahead of them, but they do so with little fear, they now know how Equestria works, and have met new friends. So far the ponies of Ponyville proved to be optimistic, kind, caring, passionate, open, friendly, and even vague at times.

The end of Part 1