Fall of the Rightful King-Clean

Nick

Brittney turned out to be ok. She wasn’t even affected by the mind control, but it had knocked her over. While they were recovering, I found Paper Back and hugged her.

“Thank you,” I said, trying to say more, but my throat locked up. “She means so much to me. Thank you for saving her.”

She hugged me back. “We have to stick together if we’re going to fix any of this. You have to get your bodies back, we need to heal you, and I need to get home.”

“Right,” I said. I looked over and saw that Brittney had stood up. She seemed to be doing ok now.

“So,” I said. “Battle plan. Obviously we’re in a bigger hurry than we thought.”

Paper Back/Alan kept fidgeting. Finally she opened her mouth.

“Just tell them!” Alan said. “You can trust these guys.”

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“The spell… it didn’t mind control us but…” she looked up and blinked tears out of her eyes. “It felt like it was killing me.”

Decision time, Nick. Do you withhold the info from them like you did with Erin?

“I actually need to talk to you about that,” I said. “Manuel said that he thought two people can’t be in the same body. I didn’t tell you because one, I don’t really trust him, and two, I thought we’d be able to get you back to Equestria and split up before it was a problem.”

Paper Back nodded. Her voiced sounded a little choked, but she kept control of it. “I think the spell is making it harder for me to… to stay in my body. I don’t know if I can take another wave like that.”

“Then we have to move,” I said. “Our best plan is still to try and find Lauren Faust. She either has connections to Equestria or knows someone who does. Maybe it’s even a way back, but even if it isn’t, it has to be a way to talk to someone close to the Princesses, or Twilight. If we can talk to them, they’ll have to have a way to help us.”

“I was thinking,” Erin said, “and what if she just found a book that connected to Equestria? Or what if she just dreamed about the place?”

“Plus,” Alan said, “it’s going to be freaking difficult trying to get to her with the Canadian government protecting her.”

“Probably not impossible with what your guy told you,” I said. “Plus, Erin, whatever connection she has, it’s worth a shot, and I think it’s a little more interactive than that. It has to be, with everything she learned.”

She nodded. “Yeah, hopefully.”

“Besides,” I said. “We’re running out of time and don’t have a lot of options. Are we willing to go for this?”

“Oh yeah,” Alan said.

“Of course,” Paper Back said.

“Mmhmm!” Brittney said.

Erin held on to my arm. “It’s our best hope.”

“All right, then. Let’s-” I said.

Brittney was holding out her front hoof.

“Come on,” she said. “Everypony put their hooves in and we’ll go one-two-three-break! Guys? Come on!” she pouted as we laughed.

Getting to Toronto was remarkably easy. I drew attention, being human, but not so much that we had problems. The hardest part, honestly, was getting Paper Back on board.

“It’s crazy!” she said at the airport. “That machine thing is supposed to fly?”

“Yep,” I said.

“But it’s so big! And it’s made of metal!”

“Paper Back, I have a small plastic box in my pocket that lets me access any information the human ra-”

She waved a hoof in front of her face. “I know, I know, that’s kind of scary too. I just… we’ll be so high up! What if we fall?”

“We’re gonna miss our flight!” Brittney said, looking at the clock.

“Dude, I can’t move my legs,” Alan said. “She’s freaking scared.”

“Paper Back, you’ll be fine. Crashes almost never happen,” Erin said. “It’s way safer than driving.”

“Ok, ok,” she said, taking deep breaths. “How… how high up will we be?”

“Like six or seven miles?” Brittney said, before I could stop her.

Paper Back whimpered.

She made it through the flight, although she couldn’t look out the window at all. She’d ended up with a window seat, so we had her switch with Brittney, who was more than happy to stare at the clouds.

“This is so cool!” Brittney said. “I wish I could fly.”

“I don’t…” Paper Back said. She’d actually curled up in her seat. Erin was gently running her hoof across Paper Back’s ears.

She scampered off the plane as soon as we’d landed. Her legs were still shaking as we walked out.

“I can’t believe we made it!” she said, grinning. “I’ve fought a minotaur before but that wasn’t as scary as this!” After a few seconds, her face fell.

“You ok?” I asked.

“I’m acting like a little filly, aren’t I?” she said.

“No, it’s ok,” I said. “Lots of people hate flying.”

“Yeah,” Erin said. “First time I went flying I had to take pills to make me sleep the whole time.”

“Oh,” Paper Back said, smiling slightly.

I stepped closer to Erin as we left the airport.

“That was nice of you,” I said.

Erin looked in my direction. “I wasn’t lying. Remember that time we went to California and I said I was exhausted?”

“That was your first time? And you were on drugs?”

A griffon walking by us looked over in shock and walked into a handicapped parking sign.

We got a rental car (the salespony was almost ecstatic to have someone come in) and started driving off to our hotel. Brittney and Paper Back were talking about different parts of Equestria. Erin reached out and touched my leg with her hoof.

“Thanks for letting me come along. I know I’m really not helpful and a liability right now.”

I held her hoof in my right hand. “First of all, don’t talk like that. You’re still super helpful. And besides, I want you here. I’m not leaving you behind. I mean, what if what Lauren has is a way to actually get to Equestria? We’d have to be able to go right then. You’re not coming with us to check out the place at first, since that could be dangerous, but we’re not leaving you behind.”

We settled into the hotel. The sun was setting. I went out to get food, and was on my way back when I spotted a familiar car outside the hotel.

“No…” I said, a pit forming in my stomach. “He can’t be here.”

I got inside the hotel and inside the room without seeing anyone else.

“Have you seen anyone else?” I asked the group. They shook their heads.

“Ok, good. Listen, we might have to get out of here. I think that we were followed.”

There was a hard rap on the door.

I opened the door and Manuel stood just outside, glowering at me.

“Can I come in?” he rumbled at me.

“I don’t know, can you?” I said. My heart was speeding up. There was no one else with him, but he probably was a lot more dangerous than he looked. There was a grey blur next to me, a rush of wind, and suddenly Manuel was on the ground with Paper Back standing over him.

“What are you doing here? How’d you find us?” she asked. Manuel tried to glower at us, but that was less than intimidating from his angle.

“Please, as much as you distrust me, I am on your side. Please let me in.”

Between Paper Back and me, we could probably take him down. In a pinch, I could use that symbol Derek taught me. Let's try this.

As soon as we closed the door behind us, Manuel turned and drew lines on the door. He just moved his finger and a blue-grey line appeared glowing on the door. It looked like two angular letters, but I didn't recognize them. The door started to glow a faint blue.

"We are safe now," Manuel said, and turned around. "Now, Nick, why in heaven's name are you here?"

"We're trying to find someone," I said.

"Lauren Faust," he interrupted. "I know. But why?"

"Well, two of us are dying, so we have to do something."

"Yes, I understand this, but Nick, you don't understand. How did you even find where Faust was? The Order, with all our resources, only found out a day ago. No, it doesn't matter," he added before I could say anything. "What matters is that you need to leave."

"No way!" Paper Back yelled.

"Oh, absolutely not," I said. "We're trying to save our-"

"Derek is here," Manuel enunciated slowly. "Do you understand what that means? He is far more dangerous than a simple leader. The kinds of magic he uses - Nick, you cannot expose yourself and your friends to him. Death is not the worst thing he can do to you."

"Ok, it's risky," I said, "but let me remind you. Paper Back," I said, pointing at her, "isn't even from Earth. She's from Equestria and we need to get her home before she dies, like you told me she would. Plus, I'm dying, and my only hope is someone with healing magic, so that's either Equestria or Alexander."

"It is far too dangerous. You do not understand how valuable you are! Nick, you possess magic within yourself. No other living human has this! By being here you are exposing yourself to Derek. Do you have any idea how dangerous this is? What he could do with you?"

"No! You haven't explained anything. And am I really so much more in danger here than I would be at home? You're telling me that Derek wouldn't be able to find me at home?"

"Nick, you have also kept your friends with you and put them in danger. They would be safe if they were not with you."

"I don't care!" Erin said. She came up beside me. "I'm not leaving him alone."

Manuel took a huge breath. "I admire your perseverance and loyalty, I do. But you are in extreme danger."

"And aren't you the best person to protect us from Derek? Who'd be better?" I asked. "Look, you're trying to go after Lauren. Let's go together. My friends can stay here, safe, and we can go figure out how the heck she knows about Equestria."

Manuel sighed. "Are you prepared to fight for your life?"

"Hey, I'm going too!" Paper Back said. "I'm a martial artist."

"She's basically a freaking black belt," Alan said.

"Are you prepared to kill to protect yourselves?"

"I, yeah. Whatever it takes," I said. Paper Back didn't answer.

"Fine. We have little time. We shall go at six tomorrow. Are either of you two capable of fighting?" He asked, looking at Brittney and Erin.

"Uh... not really," Brittney said.

I looked up and saw Manuel undoing whatever he did to the door. He left in a huff.

“Well,” I said, “I got food!”