CHAPTER 1: Pony Powered Prologue(Arrival of the Fittest)
The land of Equestria was peaceful, as usual. Being primarily populated by multicolored, innocent ponies will usually do that to a place. War was far from its borders, and the two princesses ruled with a kind and loving grasp of the nation. Princess Celestia, the alicorn who ruled over the day and rose the sun, was getting ready to pass the watch over to Princess Luna, the alicorn sister of Celestia and ruler of the night and moon, so that she might keep guard over the evening. The two royal sisters worked in harmony, each wishing the best upon their nation and protecting it during the hours during which they represent. Celestia, as an embodiment of daylight and the sun, bore a white coat, with light pastel colours adorning her flowing mane and tail. Luna, the opposite, had a dark blue-greyish coat, with her mane appearing to shimmer like the night sky itself. Both sisters, as alicorns, donned the magical horns of unicorns, and the powerful wings of the pegasi.
A long time ago, more than 1000 years previous to that evening, catastrophe struck the beautiful country in the form of Nightmare Moon. This mare was the incarnate of the anger and jealousy fostered by Luna, towards her older sister. See, Luna was the ruler of the night. Celestia, in turn, was ruler of the day. When Luna grew to see that all of the subjects loved and adored Celestia for being the bringer of light and daytime, her emotion bottled inside of her at the sadness of being the ruler of a sleeping nation.
Eventually, this emotion broke free and the Princess took a new form, Nightmare Moon. The goal of this tyrannous doppelganger was to shroud Equestria in eternal night. As one might imagine, Celestia would not stand to have her little ponies without the joy and warmth of the sun, and proceeded to banish her little sister’s evil incarnation to the moon, for 1000 years. Celestia then took on the role of ruling the whole nation, alone. This wore her down and stressed her to no end, and many nights when she took over her sisters’ role she wished she had seen the change in Luna before it was too late. But alas, the duties of royalty are ill-equipped for fostering family-hood and friendship, with the countless political functions and meetings to be dealt with taking up all the time that could be used nurturing a relationship between sisters. It did not help that the nation, while forgetting about Nightmare Moon herself and labelling her a mares tale, celebrated a holiday known as “Nightmare Night”, where all the young colts and fillies dressed up and went around to various houses to show off their costumes and receive delicious treats.
A short time before Nightmare Moon’s 1000 year banishment was up, Princess Celestia took on a student in the ways of magic, who was named Twilight Sparkle. This unicorn was very skilled in the manipulation of magic, and was very devoted to making her princess proud by being persistent in her studies. She was a light purple colour, with a darker purple mane that had a streak of pink through it. Twilight read many old texts from the palace library, attempting to study everything she could, which wasn’t that bad considering she loved books anyway. During her studies she came upon a legend of 6 magical artifacts, known only as the Elements of Harmony.
Upon researching the Elements she learned about Nightmare Moon, though not of the villain’s relation to the princess. Celestia knew about the return of her sister’s evil embodiment, and despite that sent Twilight to the small town of Ponyville, in order to oversee the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration, a large festival celebrating Celestia’s restoring the sun to the land, banishing Nightmare Moon, and the summer solstice. She was also given another assignment, to purge her of her reclusiveness. She was tasked with making friends.
When Nightmare Moon returned, she captured Celestia, and plunged Equestria into darkness. Twilight, with the help of 5 ponies she met while preparing for the celebration, ventured into the Everfree Forest, a dangerous place full of monsters and beasts, trials and tests. At the end of a series of gruelling circumstances, the confrontation with Nightmare Moon occurred. During this, Moon got to the Elements first and destroyed them. But the Elements were not just an artifact, they were a force, a power! Destroying the stones did nothing but help Twilight realize the truth behind both the elements, and her new friends:
Applejack, an orange pony with blonde hair and an ever-present cowboy hat, reassured Twilight when she was near certain death, and represents the Element of Honesty.
Fluttershy, a light pink pegasus with a light yellow mane and tail, showed compassion to a fearsome foe whom all the others were set on fighting, and discovered that the manticore simply had a thorn in its paw, making it aggressive. She represents the Element of Kindness.
Pinkie Pie, a bright pink pony with a bushy pink mane and tail, cheered up the group in the scariest part of the forest by “giggling at the ghosties”. She represents the Element of Laughter.
Rarity, a white unicorn with a purple mane, made a sacrifice of her own tail for a stranger she hardly knew, without a doubt representing the Element of Generosity.
Rainbow Dash, a blue Pegasus with a rainbow streaked hair pattern, turned down the offer of her dreams to stay true to her friends, representing the Element of Loyalty.
Twilight Sparkle saw the Elements represented within them, which set off a spark of magic. The Elements manifested themselves into gemstones, embedded into necklaces and given to each of the five ponies. When all 5 of the Elements were present, the 6th appeared to Twilight: The Element of Magic.
Working together with the new power they had gained, the 6 of them banished the evil out of Nightmare Moon, reverting her to Princess Luna. Celestia showed up and explained about what happened a thousand years previously, and asked the Princess to once again rule alongside her. Celestia then assigned Twilight to stay in Ponyville to study the magic of friendship.
Over the years, Twilight and her friends conquered many obstacles, wether they be socially sticky situations, community conundrums, vile villains, or personal problems. After repairing the Elements of Harmony she is visited by Celestia, and made into an alicorn herself, and a princess as well. Princess Twilight returned to Ponyville and, with her augmented power from her recent transformation, gathers together all of her friends to try out a new spell. She plans to use the power of the Elements to further increase the magic output of the spell...
“…just a little to the left, Dashie!” Twilight spoke as she rushed around Ponyville’s Library, missing Rainbow’s groan as she was attempting to get things into perfect condition for the spell she was so excited to attempt. She had lived in the Library since Celestia had assigned her to make friends, and was she glad she stayed. What started off as a friendship between a few ponies grew into something nopony could expect. The six of them were tighter than a fat pony in spandex, and they loved it. Together they’ve faced down monsters, tyrants, invading armies, attempted business takeovers, and banishment from the town.
She looked behind her to see her 5 best friends standing around a circle that had been drawn on the ground, with strange symbols and markings in the middle.
“Ah don’t mean to be a bother, Twilight, but th’last time we all helped you with a spell, it didn’t end all that nice.” Applejack commented from her position on the circle. “Ah mean, I trust you and all, but do ya know how ta fix this spell, just in case?”
“Don’t worry AJ, I’ve got it all under control.” Twilight replied consolingly, before taking her place in the middle. The horn on her head lit up as she levitated each of the Elements of Harmony from their glass display case to each respective bearer.
“As absolutely breathtaking as these are, don’t you think we should check with the princess before using them?” Rarity asked.
“Don’t be silly! I am a princess, remember?” Twilight declared with a ruffle of her new wings. She hadn’t really gotten that great at flying yet, or even used to her wings, so she mostly walked where she was going. Rainbow Dash was doing the very best she could at giving her flying lessons on the side, but she was never the physical type so advancement from the training was barely visible. If anyone could teach Twilight how to use her new wings, it was Dash. She finally settled the Element of Magic on her head, and took a deep breath in, and back out.
“Okay, let’s do this.” Twilight declared. “I need all of you to focus, hard, on us six ponies. Try your very best to think of us as one thing, but separate. Think about a week. It’s got 7 days, but when somepony says ‘a week’, we know what 7 days they are talking about. Imagine us as each a day of the week, obviously with 6 instead of 7. Together, we are the Elements of Harmony, and apart, we’re all unique. Stick that into your mind, and don’t let go of that thought!”
The ponies around the circle all had their eyes closed, with a peaceful look on their faces. “No matter what happens, keep focused!” Twilight exclaimed, closing her eyes as well.
The Elements began to pulse slowly with light as papers started to rustle from the ambient magic in the air. The pulsing began to quicken as the magic in the room continued to grow in chaos. All of a sudden the pulsing stopped with all the elements glowing. The five around Twilight shot out a beam, interconnecting the five and leaving Twilight inside a pentagon of light. The mane 6 rose off the ground, the spell completely in effect at this point. Twilight’s horn lit up, and a beam shot from her tiara to the 5 Elements around her. As soon as the beam connected, everypony was flung in the middle towards Twilight, and when they struck, there was a loud *CRACK* and an explosion blew the Library to pieces.
Pegasi rushed to bring clouds over the burning tree to quench the inferno with rain, but it was to be another few hours before the blaze had died down enough to salvage anything. Celestia had seen the explosion from her balcony as she watched over the land, and had come to see what horrible act had brought upon such destruction. Upon seeing the fire at the library she feared the worst for her faithful student, and ran into the burning tree with a protective bubble of magic protecting her from the heat and smoke. She tore through the rubble, pushing piles of burnt biomass out of her way. She heard a breaking sound, and sent another pulse of magic into her sheild just in time to repel a huge bookcase from crushing her. Her horn glowed slightly brighter than before and the bookshelf imploded upon itself, going from a ton of weight to nonexistent almost instantaneously.
She continued her dash throughout the burning library, only to spot a small silhouette, unmoving against the flames, and skidded to a stop, expanding her bubble to accommodate the being before her..
Spike, the dragon, was sitting alone in the middle of the ruins. Tears flowed freely from his eyes, and he let out a pained scream. Celestia looked to his hands and felt her own tears begin to brew. No… No no no nonono… this can’t be right, it can’t be!
But it was right. It was true. It was Twilight’s tiara, scorched from the flames and speckled with burnt blood. It was her Element, the Element of Magic, and the gem within it was gone.
Camp Half-Blood was having a pretty normal day. Well, as normal as a day can be when you have half-god, half-human teenagers willingly climbing a rock wall… with lava flowing down it. All the members of Half-Blood were what would be called “demigods”, the term for a child of a Greco-Roman god, and a mortal. Half-Blood is the safe spot for the east of the USA for the demigods, more specifically the destination for those of the Greek descent. As one might guess, demigods are not like normal mortals. For one, most carry on a trait or power of their God parent, effectively making them the realistic version of a super hero. However, with those powers, come great risks; namely the assaults of monsters, typically from Greco-Roman lore, who hone in on the “scent” of demigods. As the power of the god-child increases, so does the power of their scent, resulting in larger and more frequent monster attacks. With all these powered kids running around, it would only make sense that somebody had seen them, and that the Greek world was exposed to the general population, right? Or so it would be, if the demi’s in question weren’t protected by a force known as The Mist. This essentially covers up the traces of quests and collateral damage done in battles with immortals.
So, why do these unique teens need a safe zone? Camp Half-Blood is fully protected against monster attacks, allowing the demigods to train and learn in relative peace, or at least in a non-fatal area. Most campers only attend during the summer, choosing to go to a normal school and live a normal life the rest of the year. The option for year-round residency is available though, mostly for those who have no home or family to go back to. The campers are sorted into cabins based on their lineage, and the unsorted campers are placed in the Hermes cabin until they are claimed by their God-parent.
It was at the lake nearby that our six ponies would have found themselves, had they not been unconscious upon arrival. It was also 50 meters above this lake that a loud magical thunderclap sourced from, echoing across the camp and distracting the demigods from their dinner. The teens were sat at respective tables that corresponded with their cabin, and all wore the standard orange "Camp Half-Blood" t-shirt. Despite the excited mutterings of his peers around him, one camper immediately stood and started towards the lake, feeling a natural call from deep within his gut. This boy was named Percy Jackson, and he was the son of Poseidon, Lord of the Sea. As he ran, he saw the ending ripples of a splash, and sprinted to the lake, not taking off his clothes before diving right in. As a son of the Sea God, he didn’t need to worry about getting wet, or holding his breath. Being under the waves was more at home to Percy than being on dry land, as that is where he was strongest. He was healed by water, comforted by the sea. In the depths of a water body, his control over the element was magnified, as was his perception of the world around him. So it’s no surprise that he immediately found our six inter-dimensional travellers almost immediately, and wasted no time propelling them to the shore on a water current he created at a thought.
The ponies were ejected from the lake, landing with a thud on the beach as campers gathered around the six unmoving equines. Percy jetted himself out on a pillar of water, landing beside the ponies and taking a good look. They appeared to be like most other ponies, with a few key differences: Firstly, they looked as if a horse-show fanatic had attempted to dye their coats and manes, one of the ponies even having a rainbow patterned hairstyle. All 6 of them bore some sort of reflective mark on their flanks. The orange pony was adorned with a shining red apple. The light pink one had 3 butterflies that seemed to glisten, the darker pink bequeathed with balloons. The white one had sparkling gemstones, the rainbow-maned one had a cloud with a shimmering rainbow lightning bolt, and the purple one had 3 sparkles on her flank, which constantly twinkled despite her not moving.
Before any of the campers could get a word in, the white unicorn groaned and rolled over onto her stomach. Percy rushed over to her and, as Poseidon is also the father of all horses and passed down the trait of understanding them to his sons and daughters, found it completely normal to ask “are you alright?” to the mare. Let it be known that not a single camper kept a straight face when the unicorn looked at the drenched ground beneath her, and then looked straight up with a thousand-mile stare. She slowly stood on shaky legs, and seeing the lake, walked over to it. She looked down at her reflection, and nobody was prepared for what happened next, the sheer intensity of this one action:
“MY HAIR!!!!” She screamed at a decibel level loud enough to break the surface tension of the water, distorting her image. She fell to the ground in a dramatic pose, with her hoof covering her forehead. “Oh, the horror! The agony of… of…” She paused for just a moment. “I’m hideous!”
The campers stood around in shock at being able to understand what the overly-upset unicorn was saying, as before that point the only one who could understand creatures of the equine nature was Percy. Mostly everyone stood with their figurative jaws on the ground, and one camper stepped forward. Her name was Piper McLean, and she was the head counsellor of the Aphrodite cabin, Goddess of Beauty and Love.
“Now, now, Miss…” Piper trailed off expectantly.
“-sniff- Ra…Rarity” The unicorn replied.
“Rarity. I can see why you’re upset, we all” She gestured to the Aphrodite children “know exactly what it’s like the have water ruin your looks.” Cue glare at Percy.
Rarity allowed herself the pity and nodded weakly.
“We ain’t in Equestria no more.” Applejack muttered to herself.
Piper reached out to touch her purple mane. “If you ju-.” She was interrupted by a flash of rainbow and blue knocking her to the ground.
“Get your paws off my friend!” The blue pony sassed, before looking up to see the whole of the Apollo cabin pointing nocked arrows straight at her. She backed up slowly, coming to a stop where the rest of the ponies were huddled in fear at the weapons being pointed at them.
Chiron, the centaur activities director of Camp Half-Blood, galloped in between the Apollo cabin and the terrified visitors, with a shout of “Weapons down!” At his word, the cabin lowered their bows and went back to watching the spectacle before them unfold.
“Welcome to Camp Half-Blood. I am Chiron” he began. “The first question I need ask is simple, and the rest of today, or your lives hangs in the answer, although if you choose the wrong one, those two options may be one and the same. Be you friend, or foe?”
At the sound of the word ‘friend’, the darker pink pony leapt up and held out a hoof to Chiron. “Hi! I’m Pinkie Pie! I don’t know what a foe is, but let’s be friends!”
The Apollo cabin again raised their bows at the sudden movement, but was motioned again by Chiron to lower their weapons. “And the rest of you?” He said, looking to the other 5 ponies, who replied with frantic nodding.
Chiron sighed. “Lou Ellen, Percy, Piper, come with me. Everyone else, BACK TO THE DINING HALL!” His voice left no room for disagreement, and everyone except the aforementioned three shuffled off with barely concealed mutters and gossip. “Can you all speak?” he was met with another round of hasty nods.
“Do you have names which I can call you by?” He inquired of the group.
The purple winged unicorn stepped forward. “Hello sir, my name is Princess Twilight Sparkle, and I want to be the first to thank you for saving us from those monkey-like creatures.” Percy winced at these words, while Piper had the decency to hide her expression.
“Those ‘monkey-like’ creatures just so happen to be the sentient population of this planet, known as Humans, ignorant one.” Lou Ellen snapped before anyone else could say a word. “Watch your tongue, horse; else I turn it into a fish!” Both Percy and Twilight looked offended at her words.
“Treat a guest of the camp that way and you’ll be on kitchen duty for the rest of the summer. Do I make myself clear?” Chiron scolded the black-haired girl.
Lou Ellen looked back at Chiron with a look of shock. “But… Sir… It called us monkey-like!”
“You are.” Chiron deadpanned. “And not it. She." “And you said Princess?” Twilight nodded again.
“Lou Ellen, you have offended royalty, whether or not it is royalty that you are familiar with. She also appears to be quite sentient, as do her companions.” He turned to address the three remaining campers, clearing his throat to pull Pipers death-glare away from the Hecate Counsellor. “Introduce yourselves.”
Percy, their saviour, stepped forward and bowed his head to Twilight. “Forgive her, Princess. My name is Perseus Jackson, though you can call me Percy.”
Piper stepped forward and, with a smile at Rarity, “I’m Piper McLean. Nice to meet you.”
Lou Ellen hmph’d, then spoke”Lou Ellen” rather crossly.
The blue pegasus stepped towards Piper with a bashful grin. “Sorry about that whole tackle thing. A mare’s got to look out for her friends, ya know?”
Piper nodded in agreement. “I hear ya there, so don’t sweat it.”
“Rainbow Dash” she said, holding out her hoof to Piper, who grabbed and shook it with a smile at the equine.
Rarity began to use her magic, and as soon as the purple glow engulfed her horn, everyone watched as the water slid off of her body, her features restoring to their pristine state. “You may call me Rarity, darling.” She extended a hoof out to Piper as well, receiving the same treatment as Rainbow Dash before her.
“Howdy there! Ah’m Applejack. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance” The orange pony said with a pony equivalent of a curtsy.
“mumblemumblemumble” was heard from the grapefruit pink pony, which was then interrupted by Rainbow Dash.
“I’ll save you all some time, this one’s Fluttershy.” She said with a lopsided grin.
“Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Princess Twilight Sparkle, right?” Percy asked, pointing to each of them in turn and receiving a collective chorus of confirmations.
The Princess spoke up. “Please, just call me Twilight. I don’t want to confuse anypony with titles, when I don’t even know where I am.”
“Anypony?” Piper inquired.
“Yea, what of it?” Rainbow Dash blurted out.
Chiron stepped in before things could get out of his control, even remotely. “I see a lot of questions are going to be raised. Let us move to a place more comfortable for our guests.” He then turned to Lou Ellen.
“We need them to see us and only us, along with our path we take. Can you do that?” He asked her. She nodded, and began chanting and making motions and patterns with her hands. After a minute, her chants grew to a crescendo and with a pop the whites of the eyes of the ponies turned black. At this, the ponies all jumped and Twilight’s horn lit up for a couple seconds before the magic was pulled out of their eyes, manifesting in a crackling dark ball the size of a apple, and straight towards the setting sun.
“We will not have spells cast upon us, no matter where we are and whose guest we might be.” Twilight said sternly, glaring the the mage in anger. Lou Ellen was just barely hiding her anger and fear behind a mask of indifference. It had taken her a minute to modify the blindness spell to be selective and to even work on a pony, but in just a second the alicorn not only managed to dispel it, but pull the actual magic out in a physical form. Magic in it’s physical form is the heaviest material known to man- and god-kind, and that pony just shot it at the freaking sun like it was the weight of a pebble! A orb of magic that size would have crushed right through a human body!
“My apologies” Chiron said, disrupting her train of thought. “Could you all just follow me, then?” He asked before being met with glares from the group. “Please, let’s do this peacefully. No harm was meant by the spell, only the intent of hiding our only haven on this half of the country.”. The glares faded, and a moment later found Chrion leading the mismatched group towards what appeared to be an arena.
After a short walk through the entry tunnel, the group found themselves alone in a large circle of hard packed dirt which they were told was the practice fieldBefore long they placed themselves in varying levels of comfort in the setting sun: Pinkie Pie was lying on a reclining Rainbow Dash’s stomach, Twilight was biting her lip and treading on her hooves in place with her eyes darting between Lou Ellen and Chiron, Rarity was trying to find somewhere clean, Applejack was standing nonchalantly and Fluttershy was hiding behind AJ.
“Now, I know you all have man-” Chiron began.
“How can she do magic without a horn?! And why was it so easy to remove? How are you half pony, half monkey? and where ARE we?!” Twilight exclaimed.
“What are you calling easy to remove, pony?” Lou Ellen spit, rolling up her sleeves and stepping towards Twilight.
Twilight blinked at her, and she disappeared, only to reappear a moment later, back to back against Percy, who let off a laugh. Ellen (I’m gettin tired of all the Lou Ellen. Her name is shortened now. Deal with it.) whipped around then humph’d in frustration before moving back and out of the group, arms crossed in front of her as she watched the scene unfold.
Twilight, meanwhile, was standing in awe of how easy that feat was. ‘How did I...’. She was snapped back to attention by Applejack. “You a’right, sugarcube?”
“Yes, Applejack, I’m fine.” Twilight replied after shaking her head.
Piper turned and whispered to Chiron for a moment before he nodded. She turned, put her arm around a sputtering Ellen, and led her away.
Percy looked to the retreating duo, then back to Chiron, then to the six ponies in front of them. “Uh... No offense, to anyone, but shouldn’t we have more of... you know... our team here?”
“They are no threat to us.” Dash started forwards at his words, but was stopped. “At least, not while we treat them fairly.” Chiron turned back to the ponies. “I have a few questions to ask of you, before anything. Let’s start with the easiest one: Where do you come from?”
Twilight jerked back, then replied. “We come from the small town of Ponyville, under the great land of Equestria.”
“So not from Earth.” Percy deduced.
“I’m from Earth!.” Pinkie exclaimed, whilst juggling a few rubber chickens that she pulled from somewhere.
“So not from this Earth.” Percy tried again.
“How many Earth’s do you think there are?” Dash blurted out.
“So from the past?”
“Are you calling us old?”
“Future?”
“Nope”
“Alternative location in the space-time continuum?”
“Nuh-uh”
Twilight chose that point to clear her throat.
“I... I performed a destiny spell. It was supposed to show us where we would be in 5 years. Show us if we had coltfriends, kids, businesses, jobs, anything. I never thought it would take us here...” She trailed off, regret in her eyes. “I’m sorry, everypony. This isn’t the Earth we know. We’re... a very long way from Equestria.”
“Huh?” Quoth the rainbow-clad mare, voicing the opinion evident on all the ponies faces.
“Twilight mucked up a spell, now we ain’t nowhere close to home.” Applejack summed up.
Twilight laughed awkwardly. “Yep, that’s me...”.
Fluttershy took that moment to faint, prompting Pinkie to run over to her and begin dramatics.
“Oh, woe on her! She was so young, to hath been felle-” She was interrupted by a glow from Twilight’s horn encompassing Fluttershy, and said pegasus groaning before getting right back up.
“We- We’re not... home?” Fluttershy asked.
Everypony present just looked at her with a ‘Duh’ look, whereas she had the decency to let out an “Eep!” before hiding behind Applejack again.
“Excuse me.” Chiron interrupted, garnering the attention of everyone there. “I think it would be wisest if we keep all origins to ourselves. There’s no telling how the camp will react to your... antics, so for now, you are creatures made by our gods. You can stay over there, and we’ll have our grooms come to attend to you. Righ-”
“You’re making us stay in a stable?” Rarity asked in a flat tone, looking appalled at the thought.
Percy jumped in. “Where do you normally sleep?”
“In a bed, silly!” Pinkie Pie proclaimed, while precariously perched atop a post.
“Could they stay in the fields? Or with the satyrs?” Percy thought.
“Chiron, sir, could they stay in the fields?” Percy asked. “They would be out of the way, plenty of food, and temporary for when we decide to move them.”
“No, Percy. They would be all too visible to anyone who attempted to look. That, and the close proximity to the forest leaves them prone to monster attacks.”
“Hey, now don’t you worry bout us, y’hear?” Applejack drawled. “We can take care of a few little monsters.”
“You have monsters in your world?” Percy asked.
“You bet! Timberwolves and manticores and hydras and sea serpents and chimera and a lot more!” Pinkie Pie said.
Those from the human/Greek world looked at their visitors with a new level of respect. Around here, those animals were incredibly tough to defeat, for anyone who hadn’t been trained. The way this mare talked about them as if their appearance was a regular thing... maybe they aren’t as defenseless as they thought?
“I would prefer to stay within a house, if it isn’t too much bother?” Rarity asked.
Chiron turned to Percy and began a fierce muttering match, whilst the ponies thought amongst themselves. After a few restless moments Chiron galloped off, leaving Percy alone. He looked at the equine guests in front of him and cleared his throat, gathering their attention.
“Chiron has agreed to let you all stay with me.” He held up a hand to quiet the ponies before they could say anything to that. “Around here, my dad is also the god of all horses. It only makes sense that you would stay with me, right? Besides, we have the emptiest cabin in the camp. On top of that, I did save you...”
The ponies struggled to find fault in the reasoning presented to them, but were unable to before Percy continued.
“It’s only me and my brother there, and you can trust the both of us. I swear it upon the River Styx that no harm will befall you at my hands.” A clap of thunder echoed across the sky, terrifying Fluttershy into hiding underneath an agitated Twilight. She was about to speak up before Percy again cut her off.
“What I just did is a life-binding oath. Basically, even if I were to try and hurt you physically, I would die.” There was a collective gasp of shock from the visitors.
“Why... You didn’t... but... That isn’t necessary!” Twilight exclaimed.
“...But I already did it.” Percy deadpanned, with his signature lopsided smile upon his face.
Fluttershy creeped out from underneath the alicorn, before turning to Percy and mumbling.
“Well I personally think that was very nice of you, darling.” Rarity told Percy, who was then showered with thanks from those surrounding him, to which he nodded his head and said:
"Alright then, follow me."
The six ponies all filed in behind Percy as he lead the way through the dark camp. From farther away the sounds of chatting and laughing were heard and after looking, Rainbow Dash noticed the glow of a fire.
"Hey, uh... Percy, right?" She asked.
He nodded as he lead the group. "Yep, that's me."
"What's that?"
He looked over and saw she was pointing in the direction of the dining hall. He didn't see anything though. "What's what?"
"The long spiny thing with legs that looks like a evil version of a dragon." She dead-panned, making Fluttershy 'Eep!' and duck underneath Twilight.
"Oh, that's just Peleus. He helps protect the camp from monsters." Percy explained.
“Helps? He looks like he could do it all on his own!” Rainbow Dash pointed out.
“Could somepony explain just what the hay you two are babblin’ about?” Applejack asked.
“Can’t you see that?” Dash asked her.
“Uhhh.... no?”
“Seriously, just look” Dash dashed ((I’m so sorry, I just had to.)) beside AJ and pointed with a hoof “that way!”
"I wanna see!" Pinkie shouted as she plopped on top of Applejack from somewhere above the two, sending the two earth ponies to the ground. Rainbow Dash disappeared, and a loud crack was heard off to the right. The group looked over to see her on the other side of what was once a 90 foot tree about fifty metres away, and was now just a collection of splinters vaguely resembling a tree stump. Dash blinked. “Whoa.”
“Rainbow Dash! What did you do?!” Twilight scolded, being the first to recover her senses. Nopony (or person) had seen what happened, though the aftermath was clear as splinters began to fall from their temporary flight. Twilight looked up and saw the main trunk of the tree still intact and about to fall on the group! She quickly recalled what Canterlot’s Captain of the Guard, her brother, had taught her and sped through the incantation in her head, her horn shooting out a spark straight up that stopped and expanded to form a protective bubble around them. The bubble was luminescent, the physical form of magic creating a super-dense shield around them. A muffled crash was heard as what remained of the tree slammed against the shield, bouncing off and splintering as if the magic shield was harder than steel. Technically it was, with magic being one of the hardest and densest known substances to man- and ponykind.
Twilight’s eyes widened in surprise, but she kept her reaction to that. Everyone else just stared either at her or Dash before Percy broke the silence.
“Wow... Uh... Thanks.” He said to the lilac coloured alicorn, the gratitude evident in his facial features.
“No problem.” She replied before turning again to Rainbow Dash, who had trotted over by this time with a pair of ‘cool’ sunglasses on. “What. Did. You. Do?” she scolded crossly.
“I just decided to be a bit more awesome than usual for a bit, that’s all.” She said nonchalently. Percy chuckled a little at her response, before interfering.
“Gu- Girls, relax. It’s just a tree.” He said with a laugh. “As for you Dash, that was... incredibly fast. I think Arion might just have a new rival to deal with.” Twilight opened her mouth to speak but Percy interrupted her again. “-and Twilight, that shield magic was very impressive. I can’t say I’ve seen anything like it, but hey, whatever works right?” She opened her mouth to speak again but was cut off, as was becoming commonplace for her. “Anyways, we’re here.”
The group looked at the cabin in front of them, noting its close position to the lake, and how all the windows faced the water. The cabin itself was long, short, and strong, and the walls made of a rough, gray stone that was pockmarked with seashells and coral. It vaguely resembeled the bottom of the ocean floor, not that any of the ponies would know what that looks like.
They speechlessly followed him inside, the building being a striking contrast to the vivid and bright colours of their hometown. Upon entering they saw six sets of bunkbeds, with only one of them appearing occupied. In the back a large fountain sat, and upon closer inspection one could notice a collection of gold coins sitting in the bottom. Other than that it was decorated with various naval ornaments, such as a rope net covering a wall, a buoy suspended from the ceiling, and a large mooring cleat upturned in the corner of the floor with a cushion attached, making for a pretty creative couch.
“My brother isn’t here right now,” Percy said with a sad smile, “so we do have more room than usual, although that isn’t saying much. I take it you would all like to bunk on the bottom?”
Applejack nodded for the group, even as Dash was lounging on a top bunk in her usual nonchalant manner. Pinkie noticed the disappointment in Percy, even through the smile, but didn’t press the issue. It was hardly her place to step into matters she didn’t know, and while she hated seeing anyone with a frown, she was still trying to take this whole new world in.
That was, until her stomach rumbled. All eyes turned to her as she smiled and giggled. “My tummy is rumbly and bumbly.”
“You hungry?” Percy asked.
“Yes.” All six -or five, as Fluttershy was being shy still- chorused.
Percy sighed, and with an “I’ll be right back.”, he left.