Travelers and Jumpers

Chapters

1 - The Traveling Wizard
2 - Travis Voyageur
3 - Meet and Greet
4 - Close Encounters of The Cliched Kind
5 - Round Two
6 - Warning Shots
7 - Investigations Commence
8 - On The Trail
9 - Guard Blocked
11 - Wordsmithing
Scrolls Case Report - #1
10 - Game of Fools

1 - The Traveling Wizard

Travelers and Jumpers

Prologue:

The Story So Far

Have you ever wondered what’s out there, in that universe? Of course you have. Even as children, when we take our first look at the night sky and see all those great, bright, twinkling lights, we have to think to ourselves, “What are they?” Most sciences will tell you that they’re just great big hunks of flaming gas, or something like that. I’m a little rusty on that topic, to be honest.

However, I think I do know just what they are. They’re stars. Inspiration. They make us think. And when we think, we dream. And when we dream? We create. Entire galaxies, universes, and multiverses all extend from just a single idea. You see, if you make one universe filled with people, then those people will start dreaming, and create other universes. The most common example of this is a novel, or a movie. We see the story of that, and it gets planted in our heads. But all of us see it a different way, no two views are exactly alike. After that, we even begin to wonder… “What if?”

Even the dark ideas exist somewhere. Yes, your nightmares exist. Maybe not in your world, but they're out there...

Now, here’s where I come in.

My name is Omnius. I’m a Traveler. And more importantly, I'm a wizard. For about six hundred years, I've been Traveling through different universes, under the orders of certain Divine beings who shall remain unnamed for now. Because of them, I've had to actively fight against those nightmares for my entire existence. It's a thankless job, but someone's got to do it.

Of course, sometimes...I wish it wasn't me.

Chapter 1:

The Traveling Wizard

The night was dark, Princess Luna’s moon barely visible through the thin layer of black clouds that filled the skies. Raindrops gently fell upon the head of the white-maned unicorn, as she trudged her way through the muddy road, her head bent low in an attempt to keep the rain from falling into her azure eyes.

“Such a miserable night, isn’t it?” a hauntingly familiar voice asked from behind her.

Eyes wide in fear, she whipped around to behold her follower, and she swallowed nervously.

“O-oh,” she stuttered. “I-I didn’t expect to see y-you here, I mean, it’s really-”

“Save it, Miss Scrolls,” the voice spat out in a mixture of anger and cold victory. “You should have known that I would find you after our dreadful business was concluded.”

Desperately, she tried to placate his anger. “You have what you need,” she barely managed to get out. “Why can’t you just leave me alone now?”

The clouds parted, just for a moment, revealing a small patch of moonlight that illuminated the two figures. There was a small bend in the light, a flash, and the pony felt as if someone had just traced their hoof across her throat. It would have been fine, had it not been for the trail of scarlet that followed the touch.

Not a touch, she realized, right before she collapsed.

The figure leaned over her, an indistinguishable shadow in the night. It seemed to smile, before whispering, “You should have known, Miss Scrolls: I never leave any loose ends. It’s bad for business.”

As her life blood poured out, and mixed with the mud and water, she heard the figure say something that shook her to her very core.

“A new dawn is approaching, Miss Scrolls. No longer will Redemption be needed. Neither will Hope, for that matter.”

And just like that…with the knowledge of what she had just done for them fresh in her mind…she died…

“No, no,” I tiredly spoke into the phone on my desk. The voice on the other end babbled about the logistics of physics, mathematics, and a whole lot of other “icks” that I didn’t particularly care for at that moment. When she paused to take a breath, I finally told her, “Lady, look. Your brother already paid my full expenses, including my train ticket, and I got rid of the poltergeist. If you just give it a couple of weeks, you’ll see that the damage will stop spreading as quick as it has been.”

“That’s a load of bullshit, and you know it!” she practically shrieked into the phone. “There’s no such thing as ghost, no such thing as thaumatzerzits-”

“Thaumaturgy,” I said through gritted teeth. Can go on about astrophysics and horoscopes, but can’t understand a magic circle, can she? Must...resist...urge...to curse...

“WHATEVER! And there are certainly, without a doubt, NO SUCH THINGS AS WIZARDS! My lawyers will be speaking to you tomorrow on accounts of fraud! I will see you in court!”

She slammed the phone down so hard that I thought she’d have to pay for a new phone along with the lawyers. It’d serve her right, wouldn’t it…?

I sighed, and leaned back in my chair, tiredly rubbing the three-day growth of stubble along my chin. My desk was a clutter of envelopes, half-folded papers with a motley mixture of precise, clean, obviously-from-a-computer writing, and hand-written thank you/death letters. Some of the papers had been covered in my own untidy notes from the cases I’d taken care of recently.

And a good number of them were bills. Rent, electricity, property damage, lawsuits…everything that wanted to sink its teeth into my wallet, had been stacked neatly into my “Out” box. Out of sight, out of mind, at least until I could finish dealing with the bills from the previous month.

Then again, that’s the life of a freshly started detective, isn’t it? Especially when he’s just finished training with the only professional wizard in Chicago to get said detective license (long story), and moved out all the way to Seattle.

Yeah. I figured Chicago wasn’t the only big city with supernatural problems, and figured someone would have to go and try to deal with them. That required a lot of detective training (despite the fact that I had a license to do that on a plethora of other worlds) and some professional advice from the man himself, Harry Dresden, before I could actually move out here.

The first couple of months…were interesting, to say the least. And it involved a lot of property damage. Most of it wasn’t my fault.

I said most. Don’t give me that look.

In any case, I was sitting at my desk, contemplating how to deal with said bills, when the door opened, and a woman walked into my office.

If this were an old detective movie, this would be the part where I describe her long legs, and how she looks like trouble with a capital “T”. But that’s not what this is. This is a Travels story. So I’m gonna move onto the actual conversation now.

“Excuse me, is this the office of Mr. Voyaguer the, ah…wizard?” she asked in a slightly shy voice.

No, this is the office of Mr. Voyageur, the, ah, lizard. Instead of saying that, I told her in a polite voice, “Yes, this is. How can I help you?”

“Well…you see…” she glanced around, as if she were about to speak about something sacred…or blasphemous. “I have a…well, I have a big problem.”

I winced, and told her, “I’m sorry, you’re in the wrong room then. Big problems are one door over. We only deal with small to medium sized problems here.”

She let me have a wry smile, and shook her head slightly. It looked like she was a little more relaxed than before. I think that’s a good sign. Perhaps she was expecting a looney, or an old, wise, benevolent sage. Unfortunately, I’m just old…and a bit mad…

Gathering my thoughts, I returned to the matter at hand. The woman shifted uncomfortably, and said, “Mr. Voyageur, I’m afraid that my problem can only be dealt with by someone who can operate outside of the normal parameter of investigations.”

Ah. So. She’s using bigger words now. Legal terms. That means she has something bigger for me to worry about, and more importantly, it’s supposed to be some form of secret. Time to get serious.

“Alright, tell me what you know about the case,” I said, pulling out my notebook.

She looked at me cautiously. “So…you accept the case?”

“Well, I suppose so, yes,” I nodded.

Her face lit up in a worrying smile. “Excellent,” she said, instantly changing once more, throwing me off balance. “I assure you, Omnius, you won’t regret this!”

Wait, what?

“How did you-”

I suddenly felt a deep tug in my gut, as something started to pull at my very existence. I tried to fight against it, struggled even, but the power was greater than my own. Akin to that of a God, if I had to guess. I looked at the woman, and gave her an angry glare.

“Lady, just who are you?” I snarled, reaching into my coat.

She only smiled at me, and disappeared. As soon as she did, my entire office began to shake. My spellbooks started to rattle on their shelves, some of my alchemy ingredients tumbled about in their containers, my bills ever so casually fell into a paper shredder, and became a wad of incomprehensible slips of paper. The lights began to flicker, and then fail entirely, leaving the only the pale white light that would flow in through the windows. And even that light was started to change. It became brighter, more intense…it seemed purer, in fact.

Finally, the sensation of forced Traveling ended. It was official. I had just landed in another dimension.

Oh. And my office had come with me. Peachy. Whatever this “case” is, it’s bad enough for a Goddess to personally hire me (probably without pay either) and warp me to another world with my basic wizarding/detective equipment…

I should stop talking to myself, and just get it over with. First, though, I’ll have to grab my said equipment.

“Welp, Live and Learn,” I grumbled, standing up from my chair. A brief shot of dizziness accompanied that motion, but faded just as quickly as it appeared. Slight after-affect of being force-Traveled to another dimension. The only comfort I could take in that was that only a God/Goddess of Good could manage that.

That’s getting distracted again. I need to focus.

I steeled my nerves, and started digging around my desk’s cabinets. A tin filled with small crystals, some string, duct-tape, salt, some chalk, a couple notebooks, and some other odds and ends, all went into my coat’s pockets. Once I stuck my blasting rod into my inside coat, I grabbed my staff, tightened the silver band around my wrist…

And tightened my gunbelt around my waist. What? Wizards can’t just rely on magic all the time. Sometimes you need a bit of mortal firepower. In this case, a Colt 1911 handgun, one of the few guns that wouldn’t act up around a magic-slinging wizard.Well, one of the few small guns that could do that, but still.

Now that I was properly equipped, I could walk outside, and face whatever fresh hell I had been thrust into.

I tightened my grip on my oak staff, and yanked open the door…to reveal a shining, happy, peaceful looking meadow. There were even a few butterflies flying around, and birds singing a cheerful tune. A gentle breeze caressed the glade, carrying with it the warm touch of spring. There was barely a cloud in the sky, and a calm, blue lake was stretched out before me.

“If this doesn’t spell trap, I don’t know what does,” I muttered cautiously, tightening my grip on the oak staff. “All it’s missing is Admiral Ackbar screaming the obvious.”

With a heavy sigh at my own paranoia, I turned back around to stare at the remains of my office. Really, other than the bits and pieces of plumbing and electrical wiring that stuck out from the walls, it looked to be in pretty good shape. I could probably use it as a base of operations during my time here. Hell, it was the only place where I knew I had my magic gear. Unfortunately, though, it still cut me off from my Vault, along with the heavier bits and pieces of my stuff.

Speaking of, there’s at least one powerful piece that I’m gonna want to keep with me at all times. Best not to lose her, especially on a foreign world.

I stepped back inside of the office, and dug around my filing cabinet for a minute. “Come on, where are you Ivy…” I idly said to myself while digging through the seemingly random junk. Finally, I managed to extract a bright, shining pocket watch with a shining picture of a book and quill on it.

“Ivy? C’mon Ivy, time to wake up,” I said, opening the watch.

There was the sound of a soft yawn, before a small, cyan colored flaming puffball floated out of the open watch. The puffball shook itself a little bit, before it said in a feminine tone, “Trav…what’s going on? You normally don’t wake me up unless we’re on a case, or about to Travel.”

Spirits of Creativity are an increasingly rare thing to find. Anything involving the imagination, or even facts in general, they can memorize and store for later use. Ivy is one such creature. She had been given to me when I first started Traveling, and she's kind of become my substitute for the internet on occasion. And she lives in a pocket watch. Come on, that's gotta be kinda cool, right?

Bringing myself back to the question she had asked me, I sighed, and told her, “Exactly. We’ve got a…different kind of case, I guess.” I briefly explained the situation to her, about the mysterious case offer, how the office had been warped to another dimension entirely, and how everything seemed too bright and cheerful to involve a murder case.

“You really need to stop jinxing yourself like that,” the puffball stated seriously. “Especially with your luck.”

“Thank you, Ivy. For a living catalogue of all of my stuff, you really know how to get me all confident, don’t you?” I dryly commented, attaching the watch to a chain around my neck. Once it was nice and tight, I walked outside, and showed her the state of my office.

“Hmm…well, sir, it might be a good idea to draw a magic circle around it. Bind it to your magic, make sure only you can get in. Other than that, there’s not much we can do. Especially with the sparse materials you have on hand,” Ivy commented.

“Figured as much,” I nodded.

I set about using my staff to draw a large circle in the ground around the room, taking careful pains to make sure that the circle didn’t have any breaks in it. Once I had it all the way around the place, I sealed it with a bit of my own will, and took a couple steps back to see the results. After a couple of pebbles were thrown at it, and reflected back with little-to-no problems, I put a basic glamour over it, and started off in a random direction.

“Do you think we’ve been to this world before?” Ivy asked, resting comfortably on my shoulder. Oddly enough, her “flames” did nothing to burn my shoulder. Then again, I’m not complaining.

I thought about her question, and answered honestly, “It’s very possible. But I’m also getting the feeling that my memories might be blocked again. So, prepare to take notes on anything we might run into.”

“Of course. I’ll also take note of how they react to seeing a strange looking man with carrying a staff, wearing a Seattle Seahawks jacket with bulging pockets, and hiking boots,” she deadpanned in reply.

“The jacket was a gift from Mrs. Eberly, and you know it!” I shot back. “She wanted to thank me for getting rid of those pixies.”

“Nasty things they were,” she remembered.

“Yeah. Good thing we had those doughnuts on hand,” I mumbled. “Gahl, I hope whatever planet we’re on has decent orchestras,” I added offhandedly, maneuvering myself onto a dirt road that had conveniently entered my field of vision.

“Indeed,” she agreed.

After that, we fell silent for a time, simply following the path, wrapped up in our own thoughts. To be honest, I was more than a little worried. See, I’m a Traveler. Now, while that means I normally have phenomenal interdimensional powers, I’m more than usually limited to whatever world I’m on. For example, if I’m in the Wild West, then I have to rely on technology from that time period. Right now, I’m just a wizard. So that means I can only access powers relating to wizards; anything with magic, basically.

That being said…I have no idea what my magic will do now. I’m gonna have to improvise really soon, I’m guessing. Hopefully, though, I’ll be able to get a little time to test out some of m-

“ROAAAAR!”

“Ivy, what the hell was that?” I asked, feeling my muscles tighten in their fight-or-flight response.

In answer, another roar echoed throughout the woodsy area. Followed by the shrill shriek of a young girl.

“Oh, you have to be kidding me!” I groaned, cursing the absurdity of it all.

Right now, with my magic in question and my knowledge of this world sketchy at best, the smart thing to do would be to run away, and get help. Hopefully before said child got hurt. I mean, I had experience in running from things. I could probably pull it off.

But that kid would have one too many scratches for my liking.

So, I did what I have more experience with.

I ran towards the huge, ginormous, angry sounding monster.

Wizards. Some of us aren't exactly that wise.

2 - Travis Voyageur

Travelers and Jumpers:

**Chapter 2:

Travis Voyageur**

Despite my experience with my bad luck, I actually managed to push my way through the forest without losing my footing. No roots entangled my feet, nothing ran out to tackle my legs…for once, I was able to make a speedy arrival. Then again, that might still be bad luck, what with having to deal with whatever was attackin-

“Ye Gods!” I softly said, stopping to duck behind a tree. Right in front of my eyes was an incredibly odd sight, even for my standards.

First of all, I had found the source of the roaring. The creature was enormous, a great mass of rolling muscles, sharp claws, with the eyes of an enraged predator. Its tail whipped around angrily, hissing its displeasure to the world, while it both roared, and bleated in a feral rage. Massive paws clawed at the ground before it, tensing up for the pounce that would let it tear into its prey, while its rear hooves adjusted themselves for the weight shift.

Oh, and the goat head on its back let out another bleating war cry, while the lion’s head let out a small puff of flame. A snake lashed about violently for its tail, completing the disturbing image.

A chimera. The classic chimera, from Greek Mythology, and it was about to tear into a…well, here’s the freaky part. It was about to tear into a small unicorn. Yes. A unicorn. Large hazel eyes, powder blue coat, and a cherry red mane and tail. Before I could wonder more at the strange appearance of the unicorn, it – No, she – let out another shriek of fear, barely ducking in time to avoid another pounce.

The scream was what really snapped me out of my trance. Well, that and Ivy furiously flying around my head in circles, her blue flames leaving an odd colored after-trail in my eyes. I quickly blinked it away, and took the hint to move into action.

Possible magic failure be damned; there was someone in trouble.

With that, I thrust my staff towards the chimera, keeping a tight grip on it with one hand, while the other fumbled about in my pocket . The chimera stopped to regard my actions with what seemed to be a sort of curiosity, as if it welcomed a new challenger. It didn’t know just what it was about to get challenged by.

“Fulmen!” I shouted, pouring my will into the staff. The intricately carved runes embedded into the oak glowed a bright white color, quickly followed with a discharge of electricity that arced through the air, and collided with the chimera’s goat head.

I didn’t get a chance to put that much power into that attack, though, and the monster quickly shook it off like it was nothing, training its lion’s eyes onto my tree. It opened its mouth as if it were about to let out another roar, but instead of that, I felt the air around us get considerably warmer.

Oh, hell, I mentally cursed, barely managing to dive to the side in time to avoid a torrent of flame. Ye Gods, I forgot that chimeras could do that!

“Ivy, options, now!” I spat, lifting up my staff to fire off another spell at it. Ideally, I would try to counter with a fire attack of my own, but if I missed, I’d have to worry about a forest fire, along with the casual threat of dealing with the monster. Then there’s that unicorn to consider too. When she had screamed, it sounded…sentient. Like it knew it was scared, and was trying to call for help, but it couldn’t form the right words.

The chimera closed the distance between us with a powerful leap of its legs, and was on me in an instant, its fanged jaws trying to reach down and tear at my throat. I braced my staff against the ground, and used it to catch the struggling monster, right before the teeth could graze my skin. I hastily threw a shield spell together, and used it to reinforce the staff, effectively putting the magical equivalent of a wooden fence between us. As it thrashed about, trying to remove the flimsy defense I had set up, I felt Ivy return to her spot on my shoulder.

She made a noise like she was clearing her nonexistent throat, and said, “Chimera; monster. Originally, the chimera was killed by Bellerophon, when he-”

“When he tamed Pegasus, stabbed the monster with a lead spear, and waited for it to die of lead poisoning,” I growled, still struggling against the weight of the chimera. "Unfortunately, the only lead I've got wouldn't do much more than piss it off!"

"In that case, I suggest you revert to your fallback plan," Ivy shot back, as she floated back into the pocket watch.

Damn it, I hate it when she's right like that. It makes me look dumber than I usually am. I closed my eyes, and focused a bit more will into the staff, right around the area the monster was biting down on. Once the runes started glowing again, I gave the chimera my best See-you-later look.

“Forzarre!”

A focused blast of pure kinetic energy flew out from my staff, catching the beast on the inside of its mouth, and hurling it a good twenty feet away from me, where it slammed its back into the side of a tree, and fell to the ground in a slight daze.

Not one to let this advantage slip me by, I ran to the trembling unicorn, and wrapped a free arm around it.

“Don’t worry, I got ya,” I muttered to it, right before I took off running.

What? The chimera is dazed and confused, just got a couple of decent spells tossed at it, and was blasted into the side of a tree. I think any more damage would just piss it off, and give it a reason to chase after me and the…well, I’m gonna take a guess, and say that it’s a foal. Or a kid. I don’t know, grammar in these situations is not exactly my forte. Plus, I didn't want to risk running completely out of energy while dealing with a ferocious monster like that. If I messed it up, odds are I'd end up killing both of us, and the Chimera would use my femur as a toothpick.

With that lovely mental image present in my mind, I tightened my grip on the unicorn, and fled for our ever-loving lives, ducking between trees, leaping over branches, and nearly slipping on some damp leaves that threatened to send us both tumbling to the ground. After yet another perilous run, I managed to get us to the relative safety of the path, just a little ways away from the woods.

You should have killed it when you had the chance. Tore out its throat with your wyrd, bound it to your will, something that would have shown it and the rest of its kind not to-

"Shut up," I mentally snarled at myself.

Once we had returned to the road, I let out a deep sigh, and looked at the barely struggling unicorn. “You alright there, l’il fella?” I asked, only half-expecting it to answer.

She did.

“I…I’m fine…” she mumbled, actually burying herself a little deeper into my jacket. Now that we were away from the danger, I was dimly aware of the chill in the air.

Talking unicorns. Okay, not the most surprising thing I’ve seen. I deal with this all the time, I’m a wizard AND a Traveler, I told myself, ignoring the surprise that had initially shot through my brain.

“That’s good,” I nodded. Almost as an afterthought, I asked her, “What’s your name, kid?”

She only gave me an indecipherable mumble in reply.

“Sorry, I didn’t catch that,” I said, leaning my ear down closer to her. “What did you say?”

“My mommy told me not to talk to humans…” she mumbled slightly louder.

That was a little surprising to hear. Still, maybe I can get her to take me to wherever her home is, and I’ll be able to ask her parents about what they have against us bipedal apes. I adjusted my staff, and started back down the path again.

“Now why would she say that?” I asked her, my long legs carrying us down the path.

“She says you’re weird…but I don’t think that’s bad,” she said in only the way an innocent child could. “I think Mr. Roberts is really nice. He’s always helping others. And Mr. Brennan isn’t so bad either…”

Only two names? Okay, let’s see…I guess that makes me the magic number three? That’s kind of worrying, actually. See, in magic, three is one of the most magically powerful numbers there is. Think about it; there were three fates, three days that Christ was buried before coming back to life, three core components of a mortal, all kinds of trios. Hopefully it’s just another coincidence, but I’m still gonna keep that bit of information stored away for later.

Back to the conversation.

“Well, I hope I’m not that bad to you,” I cheerfully said, ignoring the small burning sensation from carrying the foal down the road.

“Hmm…” she placed a hoof on her chin, and seemed to regard me with a bit of curiosity. “I think you seem kinda nice…maybe just a bit scary…I thought only unicorns could use magic?”

Other magic users? Hmm…more information. Ivy’s still taking notes, I hope. Thankfully, she popped back into the watch. That’d be awkward enough to explain.

“Well, surprise, kiddo,” I replied out loud, slowing my pace to a jog. “Some of us humans can do some pretty crazy things.”

“Yeah! The way you beat up that monster was really cool!” she said, punching outwards a little bit with her hoof. “I haven’t seen a pony do something like that in, well, ever! How did you even do that? You don’t even have a horn!”

“What, you mean my magic?” I asked, raising an eyebrow at her. “It was just a little something I learned during my Travels. Lots of humans can do that where I come from.”

“Really? But…how?”

If it’ll keep the kid talking, and keep me distracted from thinking too hard on this entire world, maybe a bit of magical explanation will do me some good. Hell, I actually like talking about magic. It’s like I’m teaching, I guess. “Well, where I come from, there are some humans that can tap into the energy of the world around them, and the energy that rests inside of them, and harness it to do fantastic things. They’re normally called Wizards.”

“Does that mean you’re a wizard, mister?” she asked.

“Oh yeah. Amongst other things, but yeah. And hey, I’m not a ‘mister’. My name’s…” Here, I paused. I wasn’t sure if I could give her my real name, so I decided to give her one of my pseudonyms. “Travis. Travis Voyageur.”

“Can I just call you Trav?”

“Sure thing, kiddo,” I shrugged. “Now, back to magic, right? Anyways, there are two basic ways that we wizards can use magic. What you saw me do is called Evocation. That’s where we just take a bit of our energy, slap our will onto it, and guide it into existence. It’s fast, and a bit risky, but I’m fairly alright at it. We mainly use that for when we don’t have time to prepare.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. A lot of us use some kind of focus item, like a wand or something, so that we don’t lose control of it. I guess unicorn horns act the same way,” I added. When she gave me a confused look, I told her, “Look, the simplest way of saying it, is that Evocation is ‘Ka-boom’ magic.”

“Why didn’t you just say that in the first place?” she wondered, scratching her chin.

“That would have been a smart thing to do, wouldn’t it?” I agreed. “But, at least you can add those big words to your vocabulary. You’ll probably understand them a lot better than I do, that’s for sure.”

She giggled a bit at that, and I had to chuckle with her. It was always infectious to hear a child laugh, no matter what their species is. It’s just that fundamental innocence that everyone can take a small measure of comfort in.

“So, what’s the other way you can use magic?” the unicorn asked, a glimmer of wonder in her eyes.

“Thaumaturgy,” I stated. “This is the stuff wizards really excel in. See, this is the magic that we use to actually prepare stuff. You know, rituals, magic circles, potions, anything that takes a bit of time to prepare,” I explained, trying to keep it simple for her. “It’s like…putting a puzzle together.”

“Really?”

“Yep,” I nodded. “We just have to find the right pieces, and put them together just right. If we mess up, it could end up…messy, to say the least.”

“What’s the most?”

I had to let out a barking laugh at that. “Kid, you just asked the right question!” I said, setting her down on the ground so that she could walk alongside me.

The foal trotted with me, her eyes staring at me in excitement. “I did?”

“Yeah. A lot of people just take it at face value,” I chuckled. “You’re trying to learn more. That’s something special, that is.”

“Really!?” she gleefully shouted, before turning her eyes to her flank. After a second of staring, her eyes became gloomier, and she let out a heavy sigh. “Rats…still no cutie-mark…”

“Cutie what?” I asked in confusion.

“You know, a cutie-mark!” she repeated. “It’s how we know our special talent!”

“…Makes sense,” I lied. “So, it just appears when you discover it then?”

“Yeah! But…I haven’t found it yet…” she let out another sigh.

I felt bad for the kid. It’s not just kids that look for their special talent in our world, is it? Even adults try to figure out what they’re good at for a good long time, before either giving up, or persisting…

“Hey, come on now,” I told her with a small smile. “Everyone has that bit that makes ‘em special. I mean, it took me a reeeaaaally long time before I could figure out my talent, and I’m just a silly human!”

She giggled weakly at that, but it was a giggle nonetheless. At least I can give her a bit of cheering up before we reach…erm…

“Hey, do you know where we’re going?” I asked suddenly, realizing I had no idea where the path would lead us.

The filly got a thoughtful look on her face, and tried to think about it for a minute. “Um…I think we’re closer to Ponyville now. I’m not sure…I just moved there from Canterlot a few days ago.”

…Ponyville? Canterlot? My inner pun-isher is going to have a pun time at this place.

At least, it will, once I deal with the new challenger that was standing on the path, glowering at me with a look that could freeze Hell itself.

“Oh! It’s Mr. Roberts!”

“…I just entered Mr. Roberts’ Neighborhood, didn’t I?” I mumbled underneath my breath. “Alright, alright. Let’s…just deal with this calmly, and make sure I don’t make a total fool of myself. Kid, why don’t you go up to him first?”

“Why?” she asked again.

Because he’s trying to kill me with his Deathvision, and that looks like a knife-sheath of some sort on his leg, I thought. “I just want him to know you’re alright. After that, he’ll be able to get you home, nice and safe.”

“What about you, though? Don’t you want to see Ponyville too? After all, it’s getting dark…” she commented, her eyes darting about nervously.

“Yeah, but I’m not scared of the dark. It knows better than to mess with me,” I said with a false bravado. “But what about you? Don’t you think you oughtta get to your parents before they start worrying about you?”

Her face fell at that statement.

“…Ah…” I whispered. “Okay…I see…”

Great. Kid who doesn’t have parents that seem to care about her. Maybe I should go with her, make sure everything’s alright. Then again, I’m just a stranger. Maybe this…Roberts guy could take care of it. I just have to keep a civil tongue, and explain everything to him. Yeah. I can do that. No problem. I’m very sure he’s a reasonable man, and will be perfectly willing to listen to a guy wearing a Seahawks jacket.

…Looking back on that sentence, I think I must have been on something.

Still, it’s worth a shot, right?

I closed my eyes, and cleared my head, right before I took a few more steps forward, and used every ounce of diplomacy, charisma, and negotiations skills that I had acquired in my countless years of dealing with people more than likely to attack me if I acted the wrong way.

“S’up?”

3 - Meet and Greet

Travelers and Jumpers

Chapter 3:

Meet and Greet

"S'up?" the man repeated, his voice carrying a small undertone of amusement.

I nodded, and told him, "Yeah. S'up. Y'know, the modernized way of saying, 'Greetings and salutations good sir, and how do you fare this fine and glorious day'."

"I know what it means," he snapped back at me. "I'm more concerned with the timing."

I blinked in surprise. "Come again?" I asked him.

He shrugged, and said with a slight growl, "I just find it strange that you appear out of nowhere, probably from 'out of town', on the same day that Cherry Lime went missing."

Oh. Oh hell no. He's not seriously trying to pull this one on me. Hasn’t even been three chapters, and I’m getting accused of kid - I mean, Ponynapping. Just my luck, isn’t it?

"You don't think I kidnapped the kid, do you?" I asked him incredulously. "Sure, okay, I'll go with that." Rolling my eyes, I simply gestured to the filly that was now slowly approaching the other human, and said, "Well, there you go. Kidnapping victim returned, unharmed and safe. Now go take her home, which she definitely didn't run away from. No sirree, she definitely didn't do that."

Maybe I was laying the smartassery a bit thick, but I can't stand it when people jump to conclusions like that. Maybe it has something to do with all the lawsuits against me; not to mention the accounts of fraud. Maybe I was also suffering from a caffeine shortage, and craved one of the cokes I always kept stashed underneath my desk at my office.

Maybe I’m just stupid.

"Now, if you'll excuse me," I said with as much mock politeness as I could gather. My inner wizard satisfied, I turned around to start back down the path towards my office.

"Hold it," I heard Alex say.

I kept walking down the path, slinging my staff across my shoulders.

“Hey!” he half-shouted. Resolving myself to the potential shout-fest that was about to happen, I steeled my nerves, and turned to face him.

Instantly, I felt my mind start taking stock of his appearance, measuring him as a potential threat. He was sturdily built, with muscles that could have easily hefted a pickax in the mines, or swing a sword at an oncoming squad of monsters. Fairly tall as well, and he wore his knife with a sort of reluctant casualness that I recognized. It was something I’d seen on many others in my travels...

This man was a survivor. Plain and simple. The thing is though...he had something to survive for, if you catch my drift. That was further evidenced by the way his green eyes seemed to burn in the dimming light of the sunset.

I snapped myself out of it, before I could draw myself into a soulgaze. Wouldn’t be wise to do that just yet.

“Yes?” I asked in an attempt to drift over my noticeable surprise.

He looked at me hardly for another moment, before he somewhat reluctantly said, “I’m sorry about that. I’m going to guess that you just got here today, right?”

I frowned at him, and nodded quietly.

‘Alex’ seemed to relax just a hair, but he never took his gaze off of me. For an instant, I could have sworn his hand seemed to inch itself a little further away from the knife strapped to his leg, but I think that was just a trick of the light.

“That clears things up,” he murmured, mostly to himself.

Now I was really curious. Did something happen earlier? If there was, just what was it? And how did it make this guy instantly think that I did it? Did the kid running away have anything to do with it?

I pushed those questions, and more, to the back of my mind, choosing to focus on the most pressing concern of all.

“Who are you?” I asked him, sticking my hand in my pocket, where it could rest easily on the grip of my pistol. “And more importantly, how did you get here?”

“That’s funny,” he calmly replied. “I was about to ask you the same thing.”

“Here, I got another joke for you,” I told him, resting my staff on the ground, and leaning upon it heavily. The runes on the staff started to glow an ominous white color, as I dug my wallet out of my pocket, and flashed my license at him.

Alex frowned, but said nothing.

“My name is Travis Voyaugeur,” I plainly stated. “I’m a detective, and a consultant on all things supernatural. Oh, and I just happen to be a wizard too. How are you doing today?”

The middle-aged man stiffened, but soon enough a small smile tugged at the corners of his lips.

Uh-oh...my Spidey-senses are tingling... My grip on my staff tightened as I poured more will into it, the runes now lighting up the area around us for about twenty feet. Sure, it might have been a little more flashy than was necessary, but it gave me the feeling of being all wizard-y. That, and I don’t like being in the dark with a potentially threatening man with a large knife.

He probably didn’t like the prospects of being near a wizard with a magic staff.

I know that the guy behind me didn’t.

My only warning was the snap of a twig, the familiar click of someone disabling a gun’s safety, and the cold feeling of metal pressed against my head.

A slightly distorted voice said in a very militant tone, “And I’m Matthew Brennan, a commando with a clear line of sight...and a gun pointed at your head. Your move, Gandalf.”

“...Ah, shit,” I sighed. I very slowly turned around, and dropped my staff to the ground, leaving the light to die out.

Before it did, however, I was able to get a good look at the man who was currently holding a gun to my head.

And for the record, yes, it was a MAN. As in, actual human. I guess this must be that Mr. Brennan fellow that the kid mentioned earlier. He certainly looked...different. At least, from what I was expecting. After all, it’s not everyday that you see a human wearing some kind of futuristic armor. Definitely the last damned thing I expected to see.

How convenient...all three of Equestria’s humans all in one place.

And they had the upper-hand on me.

I shouldn’t be surprised at this point.

4 - Close Encounters of The Cliched Kind

**Travelers and Jumpers

Chapter 4:

Close Encounters of The Cliched Kind**

The normal reaction for those who are held under gunpoint is pretty simple. They’ll either panic, and fall into hysterics, or they’ll willingly comply with the demands of the guy holding the gun. Nothing wrong with that, really. Basic human nature tends to make us want to survive. It’s our natural instinct to comply with the urge to survive to fight another day.

That said, I’m far from normal. So instead of fear, I felt nothing but raw anger surge through me. I wasn’t threatening that Alex person, I had just saved an innocent kid from a chimera, nearly got roasted by said chimera, and got my office forcibly ripped from one reality, and thrown into another one (myself along with it). Even as the Traveler, that didn’t fly. And Ye Gods, he just used Gandalf as an insult.

No one does that to Gandalf.

The runes on my staff glowed once more, even brighter than before, as I poured my will into both it, and the shield bracelet on my left arm. A small, invisible layer of magic formed around my head, effectively protecting me from the gun.

I narrowed my eyes at the man holding the weapon, and told him in a low voice, “Do not take me for some conjurer of cheap tricks.”

The tension in the air was so thick, you probably could have choked on it if you were caught on the tail end of everything. Matt’s gun steadily kept itself aimed at my head, Alex’s hand slowly crept to his knife, and I stood there with my shield bracelet at the ready, my staff filled to the brim with magic.

One twitch from either of us coul-

FWOOM!

Quicker than I could think, a searing bolt of some kind of energy had fired out from the gun, and was thankfully reflected off of my shield, and into the forest.

My eyes widened as I realized what had happened. The bastard had shot me. He had tried to kill me! What the hell?!

Reacting instinctively, I expanded the shield into a solid quarter dome of solid power that pushed the armored human away from me, taking him by surprise. I heard the distinct sound of metal scraping leather, and aimed my staff at the ground.

“Ventas Servitas!” I shouted, releasing the built up energy as a sudden burst of wind that pushed me away from the ground, and into a nearby tree. My arms clawed at the branches for a decent grip, as I glanced back to look at the two humans.

“What the hell?!” I demanded out loud this time, my voice a mixture of anger and surprise.

Alex looked just as surprised as I was. He looked at Matt questioningly, his hand still tightly gripping the very, VERY long knife that he formerly wore on his leg.

“Matt...” he said warningly.

Matthew kept his gaze (well, his helmet pointed towards me) trained on me, and moved closer to Alex. “Something started jamming my HUD when his staff started glowing. Doesn’t take two-and-two together to know he was trying to do something to me.”

Oh, Hell’s Bells. Now that I got a had a better view of his armor, it was pretty damn obvious that it wasn’t exactly “low-tech”. Whatever he was wearing, it was definitely from the future, and probably had a lot of fancy computers and electronics running it.

Fun fact about magic, folks. Us practitioners emit what I like to call a “Murphyonic” field, especially around technology. Anything that can go wrong around tech can, and will, go wrong. The more advanced, the more ruined it’ll be once I’m done with it. This really gets worse with anything after World War Two era, and even WORSE with stuff that involves computers, or electronics. Hell, I can’t even own a CD without it getting ruined in less than a day.

The point is, if his suit had reacted to me summoning my shield, I could see why he would pull the trigger like that. Well, if he was extremely paranoid, I guess.

“Look, hold on,” I tried saying, as I started to lower myself from the tree. “I think I can explain what just happened, if yo-”

The gun started to hum again, and Matt barked out, “On the ground! Hands open, and away from from your body!”

I froze where I was, precariously balanced with my hand on a lower branch, and my staff braced against the trunk.

My inner smartass kicked to life then. “Now, sir, don’t you think you need to take me out on more than one date before we get into the kinky stuff?” I deadpanned.

Matt reached up, and did something to his helmet with his free hand, leaving his gun to stubbornly point at me. It might as well have just been sitting on the ground for how much it moved. There was a small clicking noise, before he removed the helmet, and somehow attached it to his back, as his eyes bored into mine. Once that was taken care of, he reached for a sort of baton on the side of his leg (what is it with these people and leg straps?) and held it with a comfortable ease.

Something tells me that he’s more police than military, I idly thought to myself, snapping my eyes to the side to help avoid a Soulgaze.

“Try anything, and I’ll make you moan alright...but it’ll be in pain.” His voice was playful, but his eyes were cold, and his breathing was faster than normal. Was he amused, angry or scared? I couldn’t tell.

“That’s it?” I frowned, and shook my head lightly as I finished climbing back down to the ground. “That’s the best comeback you could come up with? And they say I’m the dense one...” I muttered.

Lightning bolts seemed to fly from his eyes, but he didn’t even blink for a single instant. Ye Gods, but this guy was starting to annoy me.

Just before he could open his mouth to say another “witty” one-liner, I picked up the sound of hooves approaching the three of us.

“Are you guys fighting...?” the filly that I had saved earlier, Cherry Lime, slowly came towards us, a confused expression on her face.

I completely forgot that she had been there the entire time. Shows just how easily distracted I can get when there’s some asshole aiming a gun at me...and when said asshole shoots me, and tries to insult Gandalf. Still, I’m not gonna get into a fight with this guy while in front of a kid. Even someone like me has standards.

I sighed heavily, and lowered myself down to to the ground so I could pick up my staff. “No, kid, we just had ourselves a misunderstanding,” I told her, smiling gently.

“Oh...that’s good,” she yawned. It took me a moment to realize that it was getting pretty late. How long had we been out here?

“No worries, kid,” I chuckled, walking over to her. I sent a pointed glance back at the other humans, and added in a slightly louder voice, “Now let’s get you home, aye?”

Alex caught onto my thought process, and nodded in an exaggerated fashion. “Yes. Come on, little one. I’m sure your parents must be worried sick by now.”

The filly willingly let herself be picked up by the older man, and almost instantly fell asleep in his arms. His eyes seemed to soften at the sight of that, making me feel a little more trustworthy of him.

Matt finally lowered his weapon, and sighed a little. “Alright, this is getting us nowhere,” he stated. “How about this: I’ll take him to the library, where Twilight and Pinkie can keep an eye on him until you show up with AJ and Dash. We’ll figure out what to do with him then.”

The older man nodded sagely, and said, “That’s about as good a plan as we’re gonna get. Maybe you can go grab Fluttershy while you’re at it. Her Stare can keep him down if he gets violent.”

“Right. If gets annoying, I’ll go get Lyra to babysit him,” Matt replied grimly.

“He can still hear you,” I told them both. “And he has a mind of his own.”

Most of the time.

“So start using it,” Alex said bluntly. “Face it; you’re new on this world, you have no idea what the layout is gonna be like, and to top it all off, it’s the middle of the night. You see those woods? There aren’t just bears and raccoons in there. You’d have to deal with hydras, manticores, monsters you’ve probably never heard of, and dangerous terrain. All without being able to see.”

“Don’t forget my personal favourite, Timberwolves...Not as in regular wolves, but animate bundles of lumber that are practically walking death. Trust me, they aren’t as fun as the pun makes them sound.” He rolled his left shoulder and it cracked loudly.

Hmm...There are two ways I can respond to this. Option A, in which I tell them, politely mind you, to shove it up their asses, and not take me for some conjurer of cheap tricks. I don’t know why they think they’re experienced in other-worldly affairs, but I can guarantee I’ve got a few more years under my belt than they do.

Then again, that leads to Option B: Go with them, because they have a reason to be talking like that. If they say there’s dangerous stuff in that forest, then there probably is. Hell, didn’t I just finish thrashing a chimera? Despite my status as a wizard, it probably wouldn’t mean much to anything that tried to eat me.

At least until it got a faceful of fire, I thought to myself childishly. It wasn’t exactly false, though...

I rolled my neck, and casually unzipped my coat. “Okay,” I told them. “I’ll go with you. Besides, it’s not like I have anything better to do.” Except find out why I was hired by a Goddess of Good to come here, but no, I’ll indulge you. It’s not like something important is going down.

It may come as a surprise, but I was getting a little bit peeved. Maybe it was the hunger.

In any case, I ended up following Commando Crysis-Ripoff Matthew into the small little town of Ponyville.

The puns. They’ll kill me.

{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}

As Matt led me through the village-like town of Ponyville, I realized a couple of things. Firstly, the town was completely asleep, for the most part. Judging by how high the moon was in the sky, it was a couple of hours past midnight at the least. So why didn’t I feel the normal pull of exhaustion that I’d feel after spending most of the day awake, and after throwing around a couple of heavy-hitting spells?

My best answer for that was jet lag. After all, it had been...what, four o’clock when I left? Now it was almost four in the morning, but I still felt like I could go for a few more hours.

Interdimensional jet lag. Who knew, right?

Anyways, that little bit aside, the other thing I noticed: One of the alleys just near the outskirts of the town had been taped off, with big, bold letters saying, “Guard Lines: DO NOT CROSS” on them. Had there been a crime lately? It would fit with how jumpy Alex was around me...

“Hey, focus, Houdini,” Matt said, jabbing me in the back with his tonfa thing.

I bit back another retort, and simply leaned on my staff as we walked through the silent town. See? I can be diplomatic when I need to be. Subtle and quick to anger, and whatnot.

Soon enough, though, we approached a large, tree-shaped building with a sign hanging on the outside of it that designated it as the town library.

Wait...That’s no library...that’s a space station living tree, I thought to myself, quietly surprised.

The other human opened the door, revealing a book-filled room, softly illuminated by the light of about a dozen glowing candles. Somehow, the shelves seemed to be built into the trunk of the tree, artistically flowing so that it seemed impossible to discern where nature stopped, and when craftsmanship had come into play. It all came together to form a beautiful sanctuary of knowledge, where one could escape into the vast tomes that filled the bookcases.

Quite frankly, I already liked the place.

Matt pointed me to a corner, and grunted, “Wait there.”

“Sure thing, Tinman,” I replied, letting out a fake yawn, leaning against the relative comfort of the bookshelf.

Sending what must have been a piercing glare my way, he walked up a nearby set of stairs, and called out, “Twilight! The new human’s here! Keep an eye on him, will you?”

Twilight? I asked myself. Strange name.

Matt looked back down to me, and told me in a strict voice, “I’m only going to warn you this one time: Twilight Sparkle is one of the most powerful unicorns on Equestria. She’s been able to take out entire swarms of changelings, single-hoofedly tame an Ursa Minor, and saved this land from all manner of would-be attackers countless times. A human with a big stick isn’t going to be much trouble to her. So behave.”

“Don’t you have something better to do than be afraid of said human?” I snapped, bringing my eyes up to meet his own. “I’ve done nothing to you, nor do I have any plans to do so. If you keep pushing me, I WILL give you a reason to fear me. Understand?”

The two of us continued to glare daggers at each other, once more coming dangerously close to a Soulgaze. Just before I felt myself get pulled into his mind’s eye, the sound of hooves trotting down stairs distracted the two of us. A unicorn, a sort of lavender color this time, came into view, a perplexed expression on her face.

Somewhere in the back of my head, I thought for an instant that I had known her, but I shook it off, and blamed it on my paranoia. Talking ponies were new to me this time.

She looked at me curiously, but nodded at Matt to tell him that he could go.

He hesitated just before he crossed the threshold, and told her, “He’s a magic user. I’d keep an eye on him if I were you.”

I felt my back tense up, but I somehow remained at my spot on the ground, and managed to control my temper. There was no doubt in my mind that if I wanted to, I could give him a reason to fear me. That I could tear open his throat with just a word and a thought, and feel his life’s blood spill onto the-

“Are you okay?” I heard the mare ask me. I blinked a few times, and looked up to see Twilight looking at me in concern.

Ye Gods...Nearly lost it there for a second. I need to keep myself in control. Can’t lose it here. Gotta stay calm...

I shook myself out of it, and nodded silently at the unicorn.

“Oh. Good, I suppose,” she said, somewhat uncertainly, before sitting down in front of me.

We both sat in silence for a good long while, each of us taking measure of the other one. As the seconds started to stretch into minutes, I started to try and sift through the information I had gathered so far. Oddly enough, though, I found that I couldn’t stop thinking about the police tape that we had passed by on the way here.

Suddenly, snapping me out of my thoughts, Twilight asked me, “Are you really a magic user?”

I gestured to my staff, and said, “Guilty as charmed. Are you really a powerful unicorn?”

She shifted a little uneasily, and hesitantly answered, “I...I suppose I am. My special talent IS magic, after all.”

That got a raised eyebrow from me. She had humility in her favor, I suppose. Then again...They’re not the bad guys here, are they? Neither am I. Both of us are just...well, we don’t trust each other. It’s not surprising, but it wouldn’t have killed me to have acted a bit more polite. Then again, why take the risk?

“Impressive,” I grunted. Adjusting my staff, I told her, “So...nice place you have here. Library. Very nice.”

“Thank you,” she replied. “Do you mind if I ask you a few questions while we wait for the others to get here?”

I thought about it for a moment, before answering, “Actually, I kind of do mind.”

“What?” She sounded genuinely surprised. That bit of surprise, while understandable, sort of pushed my temper to its threshold.

“I have no idea where I am, who you are, and why the only other humans for miles around are treating me like a piece of radioactive waste,” I countered, doing my best to sound calm and controlled. “I’ve been blamed for kidnapping a child, when in reality, I saved her from a chimera that nearly roasted me alive! All I’ve got to my name is either on my back, or still at the place where I landed when I got here. The armored guy nearly shot my head off, and the guy with the knife has only shown me the barest trace of common courtesy. And to top it all off, I’ve been dumped like a prisoner at a library, where someone, who they claim is the most powerful mage in Equestria, is supposed to keep an eye on me. Before I answer to anyone on this damned world, I’d like to get some information!”

I took another calming breath, and closed my eyes. Something stirred in the deepest recesses of my soul, but miraculously stayed dormant.

In a subdued tone, I muttered, “Sorry about that. It’s been one of those days.”

Twilight’s eyes glimmered strangely, but she nodded in...sympathy? I was expecting anger, or contempt at least. This was unexpected.

“It’s alright,” she replied. “I can understand that. It’s perfectly reasonable.”

I blinked. “It...is?”

“Of course,” she kindly said. “I think Alex and Matt are just on edge. Especially with...well, that’s not important now.”

Okay...I’ll ask later. For now, it’s time to ask the most important question of all.

“Who are they? And how did they get here?”

Twilight thought about it for a minute, and started explaining.

“Alex Roberts. How old does he look to you?”

“He looks like a middle aged man. But there’s more to it, isn’t there?”

“Yes. He and Matt call themselves Jumpers. For some reason that neither of them know about, they can somehow jump between different realities. Alex has been doing that for over sixty years, while Matt’s only been doing it for two. They can’t control when they jump, and can only guess at how long they’ll stay before they jump again.”

“How long are they here for this time?”

“Well...they’re both certain that they’ll pass away on this world.”

“Ah. I guess I treaded on to personal territory there, didn’t I?”

“No, it’s no trouble. Now you can see why they’re a little wary of new humans.”

“They don’t want anyone harming the ones they care about?”

“Exactly.”

“So why are you telling me all this?”

“...Call it strange, but...there’s something about you...I...I don’t know, really. Let’s just say I have a hunch.”

“Alright. So. Jumpers, huh? What’s Alex’s story, then?”

“Alex is a strange one. He’s spent the better part of his lifetime jumping between worlds. First, he went to places that held technological marvels, or had alternate timelines. From what it looks like, he finally started hitting worlds with magical properties, and then...poof. He’s here. Nothing but a magic backpack, and his knife. It took him a while, but soon the other ponies started trusting him, and now he’s probably one of the most valued members of Ponyville.”

“...So. Human from another world, starts contributing to society. Makes sense.”

“Really?”

“In my line of work, it does. So, what about Matt? Same story?”

“Matthew Brennan. He’s a good man, but you wouldn’t have guessed that by the way he and Alex got along when he first got here. It was almost like Alex was going to kill him, just to protect us all. It’s a good thing he didn’t, though. Matt’s been another welcome addition to this town, and a lot of folks see him as a good friend.”

“Great. That leaves the wizard as the black sheep of the bunch.”

I sighed, and let the information settle in my mind. There were so many questions I had, but I’d have to get them from the humans if I wanted any real hopes of putting all of this together. Not to mention that I still had to learn about this world itself, and about everything they had, culture-wise.

Good thing I’m a detective. Gathering information is supposed to be something I’m good at.

Still, it would take hundreds of hours to gather all the required info. I’d have to get all the right answers, no opinions, just straight, hard facts. Everything would have to be memorized, organized, and all without getting someone who’d mess it up to see me fail for a good laugh.

That’s why I have Ivy.

Mentally, I called out to the creativity spirit, and asked her, Ivy, did you get all that?

"Affirmative, boss. "

Good. Now, do me a favor, and start scanning as many of these books as possible. I’ll keep Twilight distracted, and if she asks, I’ll tell her something about how on our last worlds, it was polite for familiars to be allowed to do this.

"Isn’t that the truth, though?"

Maybe a few worlds ago. But she doesn’t have to know that.

So as Ivy floated out of my watch, and passed through my jacket unnoticed, I said to Twilight, “Alright. Now it’s only fair for you to ask me anything you want to know.”

This got an excited gleam into her eyes, and her horn glowed as she used what I assumed to be her magic to levitate a scroll of parchment in front of her, along with a quill and ink bottle.

Something tells me that this is gonna take awhile.

5 - Round Two

Travelers and Jumpers

Chapter 5:

Round Two

Five. Hours.

That’s how long I was interrogated by Twilight Sparkle. She asked me question, after question, after query, after question about my magic, and how it worked. I had to dig up old memories of theories I didn’t think I remembered, but somehow did, and several of my answers were sketchy at best. I hardly knew half of what I was talking about, and I had to somehow form it into coherent sentences while Ivy gathered knowledge from the tomes around her.

And I loved every second of it.

There’s a certain joy to be had in teaching someone. It’s the sharing of knowledge, the passing of information from one to the next, ensuring that what you know will be spread to others, and not forgotten. Ye Gods, I had forgotten just how great it felt to do that. To go through my mind, to tell her my theories on magic, gathered from guesswork, facts, and a bit of pure luck. What made it even better was the fact that she was truly interested in what I had to say.

Hell, even when the rest of the ponies, plus the two other humans, joined us, I didn’t even stop to greet them. I was too absorbed in my conversation with my fellow magic enthusiast.

“Now, say you had to conjure a fireball underwater,” Twilight said while furiously scribbling notes down on a piece of parchment. “Would the laws of physics prevent you from being able to do that?”

“Not at all, actually,” I replied, drawing on a chalkboard to give a visual aid. “You see, the basic molecules for water are Hydrogen, and Oxygen, correct? Well, by using an air spell, I could take the ambient oxygen atoms, and use that to create a sort of air bubble to allow me some breathing space, something fairly basic on a couple of the worlds I’ve been to. For this scenario, I would use an extended version of the bubble head charm used on-”

“Hey, Dumbledore,” I heard Matt say from behind me. “Not that this isn’t interesting or anything, but-”

“Oh, shove it,” I snapped, turning to send a glare at him. “I’m in the middle of a magical discussion! If you don’t want me to turn you into a toad, I’d suggest you put a cork in it!”

Matt blinked, and opened his mouth to shoot off what would undoubtedly be a witty retort, only to be cut off by Twilight saying, “Yes, Matt, please wait just a moment! Now, you were saying?”

“Right, right. Now, bubble head charm. It’s a basic spell, conjures a pocket of air you can use to filter in pure, breathable air. By extending that, you’re able to provide yourself with a way to walk underwater, and cast some decent spells. Now, say I use this fireball spell. The water would put it out, right?”

“I would think so,” Alex chipped in, his own expression a mixture of polite curiosity and genuine amusement.

“Ah, but not for a mighty wizard with five hundred straight years of magic behind him!” I replied enthusiastically. “So, to counter this, I’d-”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” One of the new ponies, this one a cyan colored pegasus with a rainbow mane, interrupted. “You mean to tell me you’re over five HUNDRED years old?”

Ah, damn. I didn’t mean to let that bit of information out, but there’s nothing I can do for it now. Still, it was only a bit of the truth. For the last five hundred and seventy one years, I had been going to nothing but worlds that could use magic. As a result, I had been catching up on a LOT of magical theory. And being the experimental bastard that I am...well, I knew a few good Kaboom spells that I could use in a pinch.

Wait, I was about to lie to them, wasn’t I?

“Erm...give or take a couple decades,” I sheepishly chuckled. “All I know is that I got pulled into one universe, and, uh, started from there. Been learning magic ever since.”

That seemed to silence the entire room. All of the ponies wore an expression of mistrust, suspicion, and something akin to fear, while the humans both wore matching masks of neutrality. Damn good poker faces. Twilight, though, regarded me with...sympathy?

I coughed lightly, and gazed evenly at all of them. “So. I take it I don’t get a senior citizen discount any time soon?”

Wiseass under pressure. That’s me.

The older looking human, Alex, gave me a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “That old, huh? How’d you survive this long?”

“Same way I always have,” I replied. My staff glowed once more in my hands, as I gave them all a small smile. “With faith, luck, and a little bit of magic.”

Alex regarded my glowing staff with caution, his hand almost unconsciously slipping back to his knife. Twilight noticed him doing this though, and in an obvious attempt to change the conversation, she asked me, “So, didn’t you say you had found a filly who led you here?”

I shook my head, and forced my staff’s runes to dim once more. “Yeah. It was pretty lucky, too. Some kinda chimera was attacking her. Probably would’ve been in serious trouble if I hadn’t stopped her.”

This time, a yellow pegasus with a soft pink mane asked me something, in a voice so quiet that I had to strain my ears to properly hear it. “Oh, dear. I feel so bad for that chimera now...”

“Hey, I didn’t hurt it that bad,” I shrugged. “Just scared it off so that I could run away and get the kid to safety.”

As soon as I said this, both Twilight and the quiet Pegasus cringed, and started looking around uneasily. I felt a stone drop into the pit of my stomach, as I considered the implications...

“That’s...that’s not good,” Twilight stated, her voice raw with worry.

“What? What did I do wrong this time?!” I asked, a hint of panic in my voice.

The quiet one stepped forward this time, and said in a slightly louder voice (I could count it as a whisper this time), “Well...are you certain it was a chimera?”

“Goat head, lion’s head and body, snake tail, tried to roast me alive...yeah, that’s a chimera,” I said, biting back the sarcasm I wanted to throw in there.

The two ponies cringed again, this time eliciting a concerned look from Alex.

“Girls...tell us what’s wrong,” he said in a strangely soft voice. “Twilight? Fluttershy?”

The Pegasus, who I guessed to be Fluttershy, said, “Um...It’s not good. Chimeras aren’t nice animals at all. They’re predators, that, well...”

An extremely familiar, horribly enraged, ear-piercing roar echoed throughout the night. All of us were frozen for just a single instant, as we listened to the remnants of the monster’s cry. The same roar once more broke the silence, this time even louder, and closer than before.

“They don’t give up the hunt,” she meekly finished.

The kid. Cherry Lime. That thing was...Oh, Ye Gods!

I was out the door a half-second before the others, running once more towards the sound of the monster’s cry.

“HOLD ON KID,” I shouted, my legs pumping at full sprint. “WIZARD’S COMING!

I slid around a corner, and reached into my jacket for my blasting rod. The runes that had been painstakingly carved into the aged wood burst into a blinding blue light, fueled by my will, as I prepared myself for a real tussle this time.

It was just as well that I did. Barely an instant after I reached a large plaza in something close to the middle of Ponyville, another long lance of flame shot by my head, this time igniting the tips of my hair.

I frantically beat the fires out with the sleeve of my coat, and brought my blasting rod down to aim at the monster.

The Chimera was just as ugly as it was before, both of its faces twisted into an inhuman snarl, with pure hatred glowing in its eyes. The snake tail was poised to strike, small droplets of venom falling off of its inch-long fangs. Fire filled its maw once more, as its muscles tensed to pounce.

I beat it to the punch, this time aiming the rod at them, and yelled, “Flipendo!”

A small orb of blueish-purple energy rocketed out of the wand, and smacked the chimera right in the middle of his lion’s forehead. That didn’t go over too well with it, only serving to piss it off even more. Thankfully, though, it stopped its rampage long enough to refocus on its other target that had gotten away, and forced it to come to Ponyville.

Hell’s Bells, I really know how to make ‘em mad, don’t I?

This time, I gripped my staff in my left hand, and my blasting rod in my right, a feral snarl of my own throwing my features into a grim light. The air around me literally started to shimmer, as I gathered more and more energy from the surrounding area. The chimera, for its part, tore apart the dirt road it stood upon with its hooves, while it angrily snorted fire in short bursts from its nostrils. The goat’s head let out a shrieking battlecry, the only warning I got before it pounced. I focused the gathered energy into my staff, planted it into the ground, and screamed, “Protego!”

I gave the magic shape with my will, and forced it to stretch around me in a protective wall of force, effectively calling up a brick wall to absorb the monster’s attack. Well, maybe something more like a wooden picket fence, judging by the way it barely seemed to register the defenses. My head pounded with the strain of keeping up the shield against its attacks, and I didn’t trust myself to keep up the defenses for much longer.

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of the ponies and humans that had followed me...and there, in the window of the home it had just attacked, the small foal. Kid.

I grit my teeth, and thrust my jaw forward. “Hey, ugly!” I growled, slowly moving myself between the chimera and the kid’s home. “You want them? You gotta get through me...”

The chimera turned around and put the entire town square between us. I thought for a moment that it was leaving. I had won without killing it! And then, of course, it came right back around, this time charging at full speed, its entire body ablaze with its own fire.

I remembered one of my teacher’s lessons then; a chant that would help clear my head in battle, one that helped me remember just what I could do with my magic. With a deep, calming breath, I focused all of my effort into reciting some of my titles to reinforce my confidence. “I am Travis Voyageur, Traveler of Eternity, Warden of the White Council, Auror for the Ministry of Magic, second apprentice to the Sorcerer Supreme, and student of the mighty Yen Sid; by my power and responsibility to the innocent, I say unto you...”

I took all of the energy I had left in me, and forced it into my blasting rod, the runes growing uncomfortable to the touch. An insane impulse shot through my mind, and I had to smile at that thought. I mean, what the hell. I had already quoted Gandalf once.

“YOU! SHALL NOT PASS!” I roared, jabbing my blasting rod in front of the charging beast as I dropped my shield. The runes continued to grow in intensity, as I unleashed all of its pent up energy with a single cry of one of the most common spells in wizard history: “FUEGO!”

A small column of navy blue fire, about as thick around as my wrist, launched out of the destructive wand and spiraled in its familiar corkscrew fashion until it collided with the charging beast. The monster was hit right in the eyes of its goat’s head, a miraculous shot even for an expert, and howled in pain, halting its charge completely.

Around this point, I was dimly aware of the fact that most of the town had been awoken by our scuffle. The ponies I had seen at Twilight’s library, plus the man in the armored suit, moved forward to deal with the chimera, to finish it off I assumed. As for me, I elected to fall to my knees, and wait for the stars to fade from my eyes.

Tossing around that much magic with barely any food or sleep in my system had definitely taken its toll on me. I now felt like I had been running full sprint in a small marathon. My legs weakly trembled beneath me, and I had to lean on my staff just to make sure I didn’t fall all the way over.

A pair of arms gripped me by the shoulder, and hauled me back to my feet again, despite my weary protests.

“You alright?” I heard Alex ask me.

I shook my head a final time to clear it of the stars, and mumbled, “Yeah. Not gonna go Gandalf the White this time around...”

“Can you stand on your own?”

“I...I think so, yeah,” I said with a bit more conviction in my voice.

He let go of my shoulders...and I nearly fell over. If it weren’t for the fact that he was pretty much expecting this, I would’ve been met with a lovely faceful of dirt road. Mmm, mm, mm, dirt.

“Alright, come on, Wiz,” he chuckled, helping me move slowly along the road. “I think you’ve done enough. The girls and Matt can take it from here.”

I nodded in agreement, and managed to use my staff to haul myself to a quieter corner of the square, away from the slowly growing crowd. While ponies of all shapes, sizes, and colors gathered to see what was going on, Alex and I managed to slip away unnoticed. Just as we ducked into a nearby alleyway, I caught a glimpse of a newspaper hanging onto the edge of a small trashcan to our immediate left.

Almost unthinkingly, I snatched up the paper, and stuffed it into my pocket. That little action reminded me that Ivy was still in the library, hopefully finished with her information hunt. I needed to get her back into the watch before sunrise, else I risk her becoming unavailable for a few days,

“Hey, Alex,” I wheezed. “Do me a favor? Make sure the kid’s alright. I’m gonna go back to the library, and find a nice patch of floor to fall on. I need to get some sleep.”

“I think that’s reasonable enough,” he replied. “You know the way there?”

“Big tree with books. How hard is that to miss?”

{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}

I pushed the door of the library open, found a comfortable bookshelf to lean against, and pulled my pocket watch out for Ivy to go into. She did so gratefully, the strain of absorbing so much information away from a vessel evident in the way her puffball form flickered uncertainly.

“Get some rest, Ivy,” I yawned. “I think I’m gonna get me some shut eye here too...” A crinkling sound argued against this as soon as I fixed my jacket underneath myself. “...As soon as I get caught up with today’s news.”

Ponyville Inquirer

MURDER IN PONYVILLE

Tragedy has struck the small town of Ponyville today, with the loss of Silver Scrolls, age fourteen. A suspected victim of foul play, Miss Scrolls had been visiting Ponyville from Canterlot to purchase and sell books for her vast collection. Investigators have yet to cast new light onto who may have committed the heinous crime, but they are confident that they will find answers soon. The Royal Guards themselves have since joined the investigation, hoping to find the perpetrator.

No known suspects have been found, as of yet, but the body was found in a dumpster just two blocks away from Sugarcube Corner, the famed bakery known for providing...[More on page 4]

The rest of the article had been nothing but an interview with the lead investigator, somepony who wished to remain anonymous, and a couple of paltry facts about Scrolls’ life before she died.

“Well,” I wondered out loud, “it’s probably just a coincidence that I get pulled here to a land of magic right after a book collector gets brutally murdered in what seems to be a relatively peaceful town. Definitely not because I’m supposed to look into this. And not because I’m that unlucky.”

My watch warmed up a little around my neck.

“Yeah. And tomorrow, I’ll swear off sugar.”

I sighed, and closed my eyes.

Alright, let’s go over the facts.

I’ve been pulled into a new world by something with the same power as a god around the same time that some important pony is murdered. In terms of magic, book collectors are some of the most valuable people to know, due to the fact that they may have some form of magical text that can improve power. The only other humans here don’t seem to trust me, and from what the kid was saying, there are a few other ponies who feel the same way about them. My office is still somewhere back in the woods with little more than a relatively weak magic circle to protect it, and most of my gear is back in Seattle.

And this is all just stuff I’ve acquired in a single day. Let’s see what happens tomorrow. Or in a couple of hours.

You know, it's kind of funny. Everyone assumes that when they get pulled through time and space, they'll be used to the same time zone as the place they just got pulled from. To be fair, there ARE some solid theories behind why that'd happen, but...it rarely does though. Seriously. Jet lag is an incredibly real factor in something like this...as evidenced by my sudden fatigue.

I yawned once more, and felt my mind fade into the bliss of a dreamless sleep.

6 - Warning Shots

Travelers and Jumpers

Chapter 6:

Warning Shots

By the time I had woken up, I was acutely aware of several things. For one, it was probably around noon when my eyes had decided to rebel against the rest of my mind, and crack open. For another...my jacket and staff were gone.

That, in itself, was enough to jolt me to full awareness. Not only did my jacket have some of the only magical equipment I could scrounge up from my office, but it also had my wallet, my gun, and my freakin’ ID card! It was undoubtedly childish, but I actually felt a surge of anger at all of that. Not because of my lack of defenses, but...well, it’s my stuff. And I don’t appreciate thieves.

The man stole your tools. Your protection. He does not trust you, and will not trust you. Take up the fire; burn him until his very soul begins to blaze with-

“Shut up Nero,” I growled, my patience virtually gone at this point. “If you’re going to try something this damn obvious, you may as well do it to my face.”

Something alien and just plain wrong brushed against my consciousness for just a moment, and brought itself to the front of my mind, making itself very clear and known. A dull throb beat its way through my head, as I observed the shadows of my sprawled legs cast by the sun start to grow, and crawl up onto the walls in front of me. Impossibly, it became darker, even thicker, until it felt more akin to a living presence than a mere shadow.

Eventually, the shadow loomed over me, and two blazing red eyes formed near the top of it, along with the silhouette of two long, curving horns.

To be honest, he looked almost exactly like one of does devil shadows you’d see in an old cartoon, where some evil entity is lurking in the shadows, waiting to strike at the hero. Hell, his face was something that a kid would carve into a pumpkin on Halloween.

And I was terrified of him.

The face seemed to smile, and it leered at me in its own sense of triumph. “Hello, dear Traveler. I was wondering when you’d call on me.”

“This isn’t a call,” I told it in as firm a voice as I could manage. “This is a cell check. Making sure you’re not enjoying yourself while you tear it up inside my head.”

He scoffed in casual disregard to my feeble attempts at humor. “Please. What is it you really want from me?”

I hauled myself off of the floor, and made myself look at the shadow square in his eyes. “I want you to stop messing around in my head. You have no control over me.There’s no point for you to-”

Without warning, my left arm suddenly seized up, and started jerking about violently, wreathed in a mass of heatless crimson flames.

I desperately tried to stop it with my other arm, and looked up to see the shadow silently heaving in laughter at the sight of me.

“You share a common trait with all mortal wizards, youngling,” he practically cackled. “Just as the rest of your kineis, you too are arrogant.”

“Yeah? Then how come you’re the crazy demon that got itself stuck in my head?” I shot back at it.

“I will give you credit; No mortal has managed to sustain my presence for this long. Three years of my whispers, my advice, my words of wisdom...and you have yet to listen to a single thing I’ve said,” he mused, watching as I struggled against him. “Even the Emperor of the mightiest land did not last as long as you did.”

“I never got to watch those After-school programs as a kid,” I replied, gritting my teeth a little. “You know, the ones that tell you to share and all that good junk.”

“Ah, but why resist? Look at the fabled ruler of Rome! Once a simple artist, I led him to power, to greatness!” He sighed as if in remembered ecstasy, and moaned, “Oh, the power...the command...the pain...I loved it.”

“Qualis artifex pereo,” I snarled, barely managing to call the latin phrase to my head. “Weren’t those his last words?”

“And everyone thought he referred to himself,” he practically purred. “It was truly a delight to have brought him, and the rest of Rome for that matter, to his knees. Oh, I can only imagine what would have happened if I had a little more time. A nudge to his military, or perhaps another fire would have added just that little spark that I could have used!”

“You did well enough after.”

“I did, didn’t I? I was especially proud of Germany. Why, who knew so many lives could be caused over a petty treaty?” He laughed in fond remembrance. “That’s why you mortals amuse me. Your call for peace just leads to more bloodshed, and to more delicious, delicious suffering. How can you stand resisting that call for so long?”

The shadow relaxed slightly, and I made my move then. The flames around my arm died as suddenly as they had appeared, shocking Nero out of his laughter.

“That’s why you demons amuse me,” I smiled. “Once you get your evil monologue started, you’re focused only on that, and nothing else.”

I reached down with my now freed hand, and grasped the very shadow that connected Nero to myself, and started pulling him away from the wall.

“So here’s a friendly reminder. I know your limits,” I told him as I pulled him back into his prison. “I know you can’t do anything without striking a bargain first. I know that you can’t control me unless I let you. And I most certainly know that if you try a single thing to harm one of these ponies, or one of those other humans, I will NOT hesitate to lock you in the mental equivalent of a Construction site’s outhouse.”

Nero glared at me, his shadow now frozen on the floor. “Mortal arrogance!” he roared in anger.

I pulled him all the way into my mind again, and said, “Bite my arrogant mortal ass, chump.”

Fully trapped in my mind now, he started howling and screaming like a banshee, thrashing around the walls I had placed around him in an attempt to free himself once more. For a terrifying moment, he almost broke out again, was almost stronger than my will. I closed my eyes at that, and cleared my mind in an attempt to strengthen my focus.

When you’re matching your will with anyone, the key to success is a good focus. You need something that will help you stay on target, while distracting and weakening your opponent. It’s one of the most important factors in a battle of the minds, and is the only reason you will win. If something breaks through your focus, or distracts you, all of your defenses will come crumbling down, and you’ll be wide open to an array of mental attacks.

That’s why a lot of people use music or poetry to keep up a good defense. If it’s a good enough distraction, your subconscious will constantly maintain it for you, and allow you to focus on other matters. I’ve actually mastered this area of magical defense, thanks to the little freeloading demon in my head. And while any scrap of music will manage the job, I make sure that I use the most humiliating songs I can think of to remind him who’s in charge of my head.

In this case, I started playing the theme from DuckTales in my head at full volume, completely drowning out his screeches in favor of whimsical treasure hunting ducks.

So maybe he has a bit of truth in his “Arrogance” statement. Big whoop. The song worked either way, and I was able to drown him out entirely.

As soon as I was sure he had gone back to being dormant, I slumped against the wall, and let out a deep sigh of relief.

That had been way too close for comfort. Nero was getting harder to deal with, despite my constant defenses. To put this in perspective, picture Nero as a river, and my mind as a boulder. I have to constantly make sure that the boulder blocks the river every time it gets violent, and keep it up as it increases, or else River Nero will be freed.

And I’ll end up getting swept up with him in the process, and he’ll be calling the shots.

“Ivy,” I groaned, summoning her from the watch. “I need you to start researching ways to suppress demons while they’re in your head. Ol’ Nero is getting cranky in there.”

Ivy’s fireball-esque form floated out of the watch, and rested lightly on my shoulder, flickering in concern. “Traveler, I’m not certain you will be able to suppress him much longer. At best, I estimate you will have five months before he forces you to free him from his prison,” she said, worry in her voice.

“That’s why I’m having you search and reference your memory for something to help with that,” I grunted, brushing my hair out of my eyes. “Right now, I’ve got bigger fish to fry.”

I ignored the wave of nausea that came when I took a few steps forward, and managed to make my way to the front door of the library. A chill wind bit into my exposed skin, and I found myself wishing for a bit more protection from that than my ratty old Dark Side of the Moon album t-shirt and jeans.

Just before I took my first step out the door, I looked up to see the worried expression of Twilight Sparkle, standing next to me with a bowl of steaming hot oatmeal.

Oh. Did she hear and see all of that?

“Did you see all of that?” I wittily asked her.

She only nodded numbly in reply. I was pretty amazed that she didn’t faint, although the look on her face suggested she wanted to do just that. Still, Twilight had some real courage in her to be on her hooves. From the way the humans treated me like the plague, and how she didn’t exactly take well to some of my explanations of combat magic, I guessed that they didn’t have much exposure to violence.

So that left me with a bit of a moral quandary. Do I explain Nero to her? Or do I try to lie, and attempt to preserve her innocence? Normally, I’d try to lie. I could easily write Nero off as a manifestation of some form of magic that escaped because of pressure, or some bull like that. Twilight, though, seemed too smart to be fooled by that, though. Plus...she was the only one so far who’d shown me any kindness. I wouldn’t feel right if I lied to her.

Damn conscience. That thing had more control over me than the damn demon in my head.

I sighed once more, and rubbed at my face tiredly. “Alright. But please, don’t tell anyone else about this,” I asked her, failing to keep my nerves out of my voice. “This is one of those things that gets stronger with the knowledge of its existence.”

Twilight thought about it for a moment, and shook her head. “I can’t say if I will or won’t. If it’s something that will put my friends in danger, I’ll have to tell them. It really just depends on your story.”

“I guess that’s all I can ask for. Alright, I’ll give you the cliffsnotes version.” I pointed a finger at my head, and told her, “About four or five years ago, one of my Travels took me to Berlin, Germany, a place on Earth, in the year 1945. I was there to deal with some kind of reported necromatic activity. You know what that means?”

The unicorn shook her head.

“Someone was messing with the dead. So, naturally, they get yours truly as the guy who goes to check it out. I get there, and somehow get pointed to an old bunker. Turns out that some old fool of a sorcerer tried to bind the spirits of the fallen to his will,” I told her, going over to the chalkboard that was still sitting out from the night before. I drew a few diagrams of the bunker on there for added effect, along with some squiggly lines that were supposed to represent the spirits. “Unfortunately, the sorcerer botched it up, and accidentally called forth a fallen Demon.”

“Nero?” she asked.

“Bingo. Nero’s a special kind of demon. Completely powerless by himself, but if someone makes him a deal, he’s pretty much allowed to use whatever magic or reality bending powers he has to make that deal a reality. With his own twists, of course,” I grimly said.

“What do you mean?”

“He’s a tempter, a genie on steroids and dark magic. He makes you an offer you can’t refuse, and starts offering you all these little favors and points of advice,” I explained further, doodling on the board. “You keep accepting that, and finally, you realize he’s completely in control of you, and the power you got from him is now, by extension, his own. It’s how some of the world’s most feared dictators, villains, and killers got to be that way.”

“Nero...is that his real name?” Twilight hesitantly asked.

I shook my head, and chuckled. “No. Like I said, the fear that naturally comes with his real name actually gives him a bit more power. So I named him after the first guy he took over. Remind me to tell you about that piece of work later. Anyways, the sorcerer was possessed by Nero, right? I get to his lair, fight through his monsters, and find the bastard...right before he takes a gun, and points it to his head...”

I paused here, and wondered how she’d react to the next part. From the greenish expression on her face, I could guess that she already knew what had happened.

“Right...not a pretty way to go. So, I take him out, and Nero’s free to go to the next body...” I smiled a little darkly, and once more pointed at the center of my forehead. “That next body just so happens to be yours truly.”

We sat in silence at that statement, and I took the opportunity to scarf down the almost forgotten food that Twilight had brought me. It occurred to me after I had finished it that it could have been Twilight’s breakfast, but I didn’t really care at that point. The aftermath of dealing with that chimera, Nero, and Nero’s backstory had all but starved me. I think I was allowed at least one meal.

Besides. It had strawberries in it. How can I pass that up?

In any case, Twilight allowed me to finish my meal in relative peace. The moment I finished the bowl, and started on the toast, she asked me, “So how did you get out of there?”

“I pretended to join an army, and snuck out of there. They dumped the body, and I was able to get out of there. A year later, I found out about Nero,” I explained, munching on my toast. “We’ve hated each other ever since.”

“But...how have you been putting up with him?” Twilight asked, a mixed look of fear and respect on her face.

I shrugged noncommittally, and said, “Years of practice. You don’t go waving around as much power as wizards do without gettin’ used to the idea of temptation.”

“I see...I guess that makes sense,” she admitted carefully. “But what about that shadow thing he did?”

“That was just him being cranky,” I scoffed, hiding my nerves with a bit of false bravado. “What you saw me do was metaphorically smack him in the nose with a big stick.” I mimicked the action of using my staff to lightly tap her between the eyes. “He’s probably brooding in the back of my mind now.”

“Brooding?”

“Sulking, moaning, rattling his chains, trying to plot his eventual escape, that stuff,” I joked. At the look of alarm she gave me when I said eventual escape, I quickly added, “Even if he does escape, I’ve got a few contingency plans for him.”

“Like?”

Smart kid. She’s pressing for details.

“Namely I whack him with my staff, slap a pair of magician’s handcuffs on him, and saw him in half,” I told her, getting up from my spot on the floor. “Speaking of my staff...where is that?”

Twilight winced a little, but looked at me openly and honestly.

“Alex took it. Along with your jacket,” she told me.

I nodded, barely surprised at all. It made sense that Alex wouldn’t suddenly trust me after just one little fight with a monster. Besides, he wasn’t as blunt as Matt was. It would stand to reason that he’d wait for me to tire myself out before trying anything. And from the looks of things, he had dealt with wizards before. That’d explain why he took my equipment. But there was one mistake he had made. He wasn’t just dealing with a wizard.

He was dealing with me.

“Thank you, Twilight. I’ll go see if I can’t have a civilized discussion with him,” I said, walking back to the door.

“Wait!” I turned to see her standing there somewhat awkwardly. Taking a deep breath, she said, “I won’t tell anypony about Nero. Not unless they have to know. But you have to promise to keep him locked up, and warn us if he’s about to get loose.”

I let loose a breath I didn’t even know I had been holding, extraordinarily relieved. “I swear, on my power, that I will do just that. Now, if you excuse me...I’m gonna go get my stuff back.”

{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}

A few minutes of stumbling around, and earning more than one awkward stare from a passing pony, I managed to use a bare trace of magic to track down the rest of my gear, using a combination of dumb luck, and actual detective work.

...Alright, I can’t say that with a straight face. Look, the honesty of it was, I got lucky. I overheard one of the ponies talking about the new arrival (Guess who), and wondering if it (I am a he!) was going to be living with them. After a couple more vague guesses, I managed to wander down the road, until I came up to a worn and extremely fixed up home.

That fit the rumors I’d heard. Score one for the Traveler.

Now, that left the matter of my approach. Alex obviously had a clear reason to distrust me. Well, clear to him, at least. I was still a little confused on the issue...or that just might be the constant repetition of the DuckTales theme getting to me. Still, he seemed to be a well-respected member of the community, trusted, easily liked. I was confident that if I really wanted to, I could handle this entire situation with tact and diplomacy. Unfortunately, he had stolen my pistol, so I couldn’t use Diplomacy, and Tact was still in my house back on Earth.

So I’d just have to settle for dealing with this in my usual manner. One that might help me with the intimidation factor.

I waved my hand at the fallen leaves around me, and murmured, “Ventas Servitas.”

A small, steady swirl of wind gathered beneath me, slowly but surely picking up the leaves and twigs, and swirled them around me in what I hoped was a mystifying blur. Slowly, so as not to disturb the illusion, I approached Alex’s home, hidden within my cloak of leaves and dust, doing my best not to cough from the lack of clean air. When I was within twenty feet of his home, I forced the wind to carry the leaves away from me, forming the illusion of a sudden appearance.

That little gesture made me feel another wave of exhaustion, but I quickly brushed it aside. I’d used that spell too many times for the after effects to get to me for too long. What was important, though, was the sudden shifting of the curtain I saw out of the corner of my eye. Someone had seen that little disturbance.

Perfect.

I walked the rest of the distance to his front door as casually as I could, and rapped my knuckles on the door. Little pig, little pig, let me in.

Outloud, I called out in a falsely cheery voice, “Hey, Alex! It’s me, Travis! You know, the wizard? Listen, I think you accidentally took something of mine, and I just thought I’d stop by and grab it real quick. Ya mind bringing it out here?”

No answer. The curtain shifted again.

I shrugged in an over exaggerated way, and called out in that same annoyingly cheerful voice, “Alright, I guess I’ll just have to come in there and get it myself. Don’t worry, I’ll just wait out here until you bring it to me!”

With that, I sat down on his front porch, and idly started whistling to myself. To be honest, I didn’t trust myself to cleanly knock down the doors to his home and get my stuff back myself. I might have gotten distracted by my anger at the fact that he had taken my freaking personal belongings. If any of that anger accidentally fell into whatever spell I decided to use, it might change it from “Friendly” to “Kill With Fire”. So, I settled for patience. He couldn’t get rid of me unless he came out to talk to me face to face, and I didn’t exactly have anywhere I could go.

In other words, we were stuck with each other until the other one yielded.

Where have I heard this one before?

And then, I did what is the most crucial part in the lives of all private investigators. Probably the most important thing for a magic user, or anyone for that matter. Something that everyone has to do, and yet they can never go along with it. We all hate doing it to some level, actually.

I waited.

7 - Investigations Commence

Travelers and Jumpers

Chapter 7:

Investigations Commence

You know, the easiest comparison in my mind for this entire situation was the process of brewing a potion. You take two volatile ingredients, and put them together in a pot. Once you do that, you have to patiently stir them together, knowing that the slightest mistake on your part could potentially have the entire brew explode in your face.

In this case, our volatile components were an angry wizard who had just found out he’d been robbed, and an overly paranoid dimensional “Jumper” who was in possession of those objects, and wasn’t likely to give them back any time soon. So, I had to see if I could take them back. To be honest, though, I’d feel a lot more comfortable about doing this if I had my gun with me.

What? Alex has a knife. A big, large, pointy knife. Excuse me if I want to have the option of not dealing with him in close quarter combat.

The sound of a door opening snapped me out of my thoughts, as I whirled around to find that instead of the man I was expecting, there was a small filly standing in the doorway. She had an orange coat, and a ruffled, purple mane on her head, and an air of general tomboyishness (tomcoltishness?) about her. Her eyes were narrowed in mistrust and suspicion, focused entirely on me.

Well. This was unexpected.

“Hello, youngling,” I greeted the small pegasus, nodding my head to her. “Would you happen to know where I could find Mr. Roberts this fine morning?”

She continued to glare at me with the same suspicious stare as before, as she told me, “My dad told me I shouldn’t be talking to you...”

...Her Dad? Why are my detective senses screaming at me right now?

I thought about how overprotective of the ponies Alex had seemed, and compared it to some of the gossip I had heard from the ponies on the way here. A few connections later, and I had managed to piece together a reasonable hypothesis. And like any good hypothesis, it’s gotta be tested somehow.

“Your dad wouldn’t happen to be...Alex, would he?” I asked, kneeling down to get a better look at her.

The filly nodded, and remained silent.

I let out a sigh of exasperation. As if things couldn’t get any worse, the world had decided to prove me wrong, and make sure that I was put into a situation where I was alone with Alex’s child, and where Alex thought of me as the closest thing to Satan. Although that did raise a few questions, such as why he adopted the kid, or if she really was his biological child.

Don’t give me that look. When magic is involved, everything can happen.

I opted to lean against the side of Alex’s home, and pinched the bridge of my nose in frustration. This really wasn’t how I wanted to do things, but I’d have to adjust. Looking at the filly, I said to her, “Well, okay then. Do you know when Alex will be back in?”

She shook her head, and said, “Nope, sorry. Hey, you’re that guy who beat up the chimera, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, that’s me,” I replied, rubbing the back of my neck awkwardly. “I’m just here to pick up some of my stuff.”

“Dad took your stuff?” she asked, a look of confusion briefly replacing the glare on her face.

“Aye,” I grunted, getting back up to my feet. I dusted my jeans off, and said, “I figured I’d just come and grab it, save him the trouble of trying to return it to-”

“Scootaloo!” a familiar voice shouted suddenly, catching my attention. “How about you go back inside? I just need to talk to him for a bit.”

Great, I thought, the meathead brigade is here.

Turning, I saw that Alex was standing just a few feet away from where we were, an easy distance for him to close, should he want to. His hand was resting on his knife’s hilt, and if looks could kill, I’d have died fifty more times that day. It wasn’t an obvious look, though. It was more powerful, more subtle; the eyes of a deadly father.

The pegasus, Scootaloo I suppose, looked between me and Alex, and elected to go back inside, her wings fluttering a bit in what I assumed was nervousness.

That left me and ol’ Mr. Roberts out in the cold.

And me without my jacket.

“Hello there,” I greeted him in a cheerful tone, “I was just wondering if I could pick up my stuff. See, I don’t know if you meant to do this or not, but it looks like you took a few of my things.”

Alex shrugged nonchalantly in reply, and said, “Well, no harm done either way. And hey, it doesn’t look like any harm will be done. Everyone wins, right?”

“Oh yeah, that’s true enough, isn’t it?” I told him, nodding my head in faux agreement. “Hey, whatever happened to that chimera? Did it get put down for being a threat, or just sent away to some other part of the world?”

The other human walked closer towards me, his face a neutral mask as he said, “The guards actually put him into a cage, and sent him to a zoo in Canterlot. He’s gonna be under observation; studied, even.”

“Well, sure, that makes sense,” I replied, taking a couple steps towards him. Rule number one of an intimidation battle is to never back down, and to never show fear.

“Oh, does it? Why, do wizards do the same thing to new creatures they’ve just met?” he asked me, his voice hiding a subtle acid tone.

“Some, probably. But I was just referring to the fact that everyone fears something they don’t understand,” I calmly said, never once losing that cheerful voice. “They’re making an effort to, though. Sure, maybe it’s in the wrong setting, but I think it’s at least a step in the right direction.”

He opened his mouth to say something else, but I cut him off before he could do so. This little tet-a-tet wasn’t getting anyone anywhere.

I clapped my hands together, and said, “Ah, but we sort of strayed off topic, didn’t we?”

“Yeah, I suppose we did,” he said. We were now both within arm’s reach of the other.

“Yep. So, can I just get my stuff back?” No more dancing around the bush. Word games get tiring after a while, and sometimes, you just miss the feeling of being blunt. Although the sudden change of wording might be enough to throw Alex off, if I’m lucky.

He instantly told me, “No.”

“No?” I repeated. “As in...” I trailed off, and gestured for him to say something.

“As in, ‘No, you cannot have your belongings back’,” he said, his eyes narrowing.

Figured as much.

I sighed, and shook my head at him. “Look, Alex-”

“Only my friends are allowed to call me that,” he said calmly.

“Alexis, just be quiet and listen to the adult now,” I chided lightly, smiling a little to show him just how much I cared about what he had said. “You’ve obviously never watched those after-school programs. Really, those have excellent morals, I highly recommend them. One of those lessons was ‘Don’t steal what doesn’t belong to you’.”

He rolled his eyes a bit at that, and replied with, “I’m sure that applies to this situation perfectly, doesn’t it?”

“Probably. Maybe we’ll even teach the kids at home about doing the right thing,” I shrugged, ignoring the chill in the air. “So, I’ll just be grabbing my stuff then, shall I?”

“No, you won’t,” he repeated. “Besides. I watched a couple of those specials myself. I remember that one of them taught you to never give in to bullies, right?”

Oy Vey, he’s trying to turn my own scathing argument against me! That’s not fair! Well, two can play at that game!

...It occurs to me that he somehow made this turn back into a word game. Maybe this bastard is craftier than I gave him credit for.

“Not when you are the bully,” I managed to counter. “But hey, I’m a nice guy. So I forgive you. Now then, is my staff on the mantle by the fireplace, or is it in the umbrella stand?”

Surprise shot across his face, and I took a brief moment to enjoy the feeling of satisfaction. It’s not everyday you can guess something right, and make the other guy wonder how you knew it.

“It’s nice to know you forgive me for all of that,” he mockingly said. “It really gives me hope that you’ll forgive me for still refusing to give them back to you.”

Okay, patience is wearing thin. “And you do this...why?” I managed to ask.

This time, it was his turn to shrug nonchalantly, and he said, “Because you’re a wizard. Really, I don’t have any reason to trust you, or to think that you won’t do anything to the ponies in this town.”

That was probably the only thing he had said to me so far that had really gotten on my nerves. It seemed like even in a world with magic users, I’d still have to deal with this kind of prejudicial bullshit.

“Is that it, then? What, are you scared I’m gonna huff and puff, and blow your house down?” I asked him, all traces of humor gone from my voice. “Now either get my stuff for me, or get out of my way so I can get it myself. I’ve got important business to take care of, and dealing with someone like you isn’t part of that.”

“Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger, is that it?” Alex scathingly told me. “See? Typical of a wizard to throw his power around, and act like he owns the place.”

I don’t know if it was the fact that he used my own favorite quote involving wizards as an insult, or the fact that he was being such a stubborn ass about all of this, but I finally lost a bit of my temper.

“Fuck subtle,” I growled. “I’m gonna make this as clear as possible for someone even as dense as you can understand.”

He blinked, as if surprised I had the guts to say that.

Not one to miss an opportunity, I pressed on, saying, “I’ve given you no reason to trust me, I know that. But I’ve also made sure I haven’t given you a reason not to either! So for you to try and say that you had a good reason to steal from me is bullshit, and you know it!”

Alex scowled in anger, and shot back with, “So how am I supposed to know whether or not you can be trusted, then? You could easily just be trying to fool everyone! Wizards do that, you said as much yourself.”

“Well how the hell am I supposed to show you if I can be trusted if you won’t give me a chance to even do that?!” I shouted, fully getting into his face. It was incredibly hard not to stare him in the eyes while I told him. “Where the fuck is your proof, that I’d even do anything like that!?”

He reached into his pocket, and pulled out the newspaper I had fished out of the garbage the night before, his eyes glittering menacingly. “Why would someone like you be carrying this around? To keep a memento of his work with him, or-”

“You’re the one with my wallet!” I roared, jabbing him in the chest with my finger. “Read what the damn license says! I’m a DETECTIVE. A private investigator! The kid mentioned something like that happening when I saved her, and so did you for that matter! If you hadn’t noticed, it’s my fucking job to figure this stuff out!”

Instinctively, the man slapped my hand aside, and pushed my back in the same motion, nearly causing me to fall.

“Alright, you want a chance to prove yourself? You got it,” Alex said, crumpling up the newspaper and tossing it after me. “You find out who killed that pony, and I’ll gladly give you all of your items back. Understand?”

Briefly, I considered flash-frying him with a bit of magical fire, but...This was the best deal I could hope for. Even if I did fight him and win, that’d only serve to alienate (no pun intended) me from the rest of town, and make Alex look like he was right all along. Not to mention that the other guy, Matt, would probably make it a point to hunt me down and offer his opinion on the whole matter.

I shook my head, and crossed my arms. “Fine,” I reluctantly growled. “But you’re going to at least give me my coat and staff back.”

“And you expect me to do this, why...?” he asked me, his eyebrow raised.

“For starters, you’ve got all of my focus items already,” I told him. “My shield bracelet, my blasting rod, my energy gems, and even my freakin’ gun! I’m a wizard detective, keyword WIZARD. If I’m gonna be able to solve this case, you’re gonna have to give me something to work with.”

“And the jacket?”

Patience thinning to non-existence at this point, I snapped, “Because it’s cold, damn it! And you’re being overly paranoid over a Seahawks jacket. A Seahawks jacket.” I shook my head in mock disbelief. “Kids these days,” I muttered pointedly underneath my breath.

“Alright, alright, you made your point,” he admitted. “But the staff and jacket-”

“And wallet,” I added. “It’s got my ID and things in there. No magic. Just a square of carefully folded duct-tape.”

He sighed, and did the same nose-pinching thing I had done earlier. “Fair enough,” he relented. His lip quivered for a moment, before he asked me, “Why duct-tape?”

“Wizards don’t explain their ways.”

I can’t just let someone else have the last word. It’d go against everything I stand for.

{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}

It felt incredibly reassuring to have my staff back from Alex. The warm, scarred and nicked oak wood was a comfort in itself, not to mention I could finally get down to what I still suspected I had been sent here to do.

Investigate a murder.

I had no idea of what the police were like in this world, and I didn’t exactly want to get involved with them just yet. It’s probably just my own bad luck at this point, but I don’t exactly have many fond memories of them. Mainly because they’re the ones who think I’m wrong, and I’ve gotta do without ‘em in most cases. That being said though, I’ve always managed without their help.

This situation would be no different.

I smoothed out the wrinkles in the article, and folded it up a bit more neatly. Once I had safely put it in my jacket’s inside pocket, I found myself walking towards the taped-off area I had seen the night before, when I was being escorted to Twilight’s library. This seemed as good a place as any to start my investigation.

A passing mare, cream colored coat with a blue mane, stopped to stare after me as I casually stepped over the police tape, and I nodded in her direction.

“Afternoon, ma’am,” I politely said to her.

She promptly turned around and trotted briskly in the opposite direction.

“Yeah, I’d do the same thing if I saw myself lurking in a dark alley,” I whispered under my breath.

Although now that she had done that, I looked around the alley, and noticed that she had been the only pony in sight. Was it me that had startled her off, or just the general air of death that hung about the crime scene, warning her away? For that matter, I don’t think I heard one argument on my way here, or when I had been going to Alex’s home. Combining that with the fact that a murder case had been on the front page of a newspaper, when on a normal paper it’d just be shoehorned into a back column (and somehow still be noticed and forgotten just as quickly), I started to wonder...

Were ponies just not used to the idea of murder? I remembered Twilight wasn’t exactly comfortable with my casual explanations, but did that go beyond a single pony?

I’d have to look into it more, but my gut is telling me that I’m spot on. It would help explain why some form of guard had to be called in just to help with the investigation.

Well let’s see what I can add to that.

Steeling my nerves, I shoved all of my emotions into a box at the back of my head, and looked silently at the crime scene.

The alley was a bit wide, wedged between two fairly tall buildings. The shadows cast by them were dark enough to hide most of it from view, and I would be surprised if anyone could see even me standing there in the open. A dumpster had been pressed against the left side, and was currently overflowing with random bits and pieces of garbage. Aside from that, though, it was cleaner than I had been expecting.

Except for the red stains I saw on the ground, and to the side of the dumpster. They weren’t exactly prominent, or easily seen, but that didn’t change the fact that they were still there. The only reason I noticed them in the first place, though, was because of the white chalk outline of a pony’s body on the ground next to them.

Something about all of this seemed...off, though. I couldn’t place my finger on it just yet, so I decided to just keep going, and see if I could figure it out as I went.

Time to go to work.

Oddly enough, I didn’t instantly dive for the dumpster. Not very many killers will use a dumpster they found near the body to dump any important pieces of evidence. Right now, the best thing to do is check around for things the victim may have dropped. Hopefully, I’ll get lucky and find something that the other investigators missed.

I knelt on the ground, and eyed the scene carefully. From the way the body was positioned, it looked like she had put up a struggle; at least, judging by the way her limbs had been spread. I started scanning the dirt around her, and poured a little energy into my staff for light. As the gentle white glow flowed into the alley, I was rewarded for my efforts by the smallest glimmer of of something laying just a couple feet away from the tape.

“Paydirt,” I cackled, whipping a tissue out from a spare pocket. Bending down, I made sure to use the paper to pick up the object, and frowned at the sight of it.

It was wire, of some sort. Razor thin too, no wonder it had been missed in the first sweep of the scene. But now I had to ask myself: What was so special about it? There weren’t any blood stains on it, as far as I could tell...

I turned it over in the tissue, and was surprised to see it tear open the thin paper with barely any resistance whatsoever. That shouldn’t happen in most cases. Frowning, I gently brushed the tip of my pinkie finger against the side of it, wincing as something immediately cut through the skin.

“What the hell...?” I muttered to myself.

I looked back at the crime scene, and at the blood spots on the wall. There was still something fishy about all of this...

I shrugged, and wrapped the wire in a protective enchantment I had made for just such an occasion. See, evidence is always something you need to treat with the utmost care. That’s why I actually invented a little spell of my own, one that worked as a sort of safety-bag to keep evidence from being contaminated. I mainly just use it on the small items, the ones I can carry in my pockets, and this wire fell right into that category.

That made one piece of potentially critical information that the “Professionals” hadn’t found. Let’s see if we can’t try for two, or maybe even three?

I’ll spare you the details of the rest of the search, because it mainly consisted of doing the same thing, just underneath the dumpster, and next to one of the blood splotches.

Thankfully enough, though, I did manage to find two more things that I could possibly use in my investigation. That’s three to zero, on the scoreboard now folks! The officials are gonna be hard pressed to keep up with yours truly. Honestly, though, they didn’t seem very significant at first glance. I mean, how useful would a piece of paper and a feather look at first glance?

That’s where the detective work comes in. For example, the victim’s picture in the newspaper hadn’t shown her as a Pegasus. So where had the abnormally large tanned feather come from? And that piece of paper...normally, it would have been overlooked. Even I would have missed such a meager looking piece of scrap. Except for the fact that it had been lying in a spot of blood.

Now if the paper had been there before the murder had taken place, it would’ve been covered in blood. But instead, it had been on top of the scene. Like it had fallen there after. Further investigation of the paper revealed it to be a receipt for an order of cupcakes, at one Sugarcube Corner.

The newspaper had also mentioned that the murder took place two blocks away from that very resturaunt. And the receipt’s date had been marked as the day before the body had been found.

Houston, we have a lead. Next stop...

Sugarcube Corner.

8 - On The Trail

**Travelers and Jumpers

Chapter 8:

On The Trail**

After I got some directions from a friendly pegasus, I found myself standing in front of a building that sent my diabetes radar into overdrive. Now I know that these ponies might be extraordinarily colorful and diverse, innocent, and adorable, but...a building that is in the exact same shape as a gingerbread house. Ye Gods, even I found that a little hard to believe.

Then again...It’s a bakery shaped like a gingerbread house. Why should I complain?

That thought was reinforced into my head the instant the front door opened, and allowed me to catch a whiff of what must have been pure heaven. Warm bread, melting chocolate, fresh cake.

I steeled my nerves, and walked inside of Paradise the bakery, instantly fighting against the urge to just stand in front of the cupcakes display and take in the sights/smell. I couldn’t let myself fall to it, though. I had a job to do.

The thought of that sobered me up long enough to allow me to take in the surroundings. Nobody else was here, except for a familiar looking pink mare that was manning (mareing? Argh, I’ve gotta ask Ivy if she copied a thesaurus while we were at the library) the counter. Her pink mane was incredibly poofy, almost the exact same shape as cotton candy, and she had an image of three balloons on her flank.

“Hello, miss?” I asked, stepping up to the counter. When she looked up, I said, “If you don’t mind, I’d like to ask you a few questions about a pony that came in here a few days ago.”

“Oh, hi! I remember you,” she cheerfully said, leaning onto said counter to get a better look at me. “You were that new Jumper that was at Twilight’s library! It’s nice to finally get a chance to talk to you.”

Now I remember her. She was one of the mares that had joined Alex and Matt the other night. At least she seemed a little more accepting of me than most everyone else. I immediately decided I liked her.

“Well, it’s nice to properly meet you,” I told her, bowing my head to her. “My name is Travis Voyageur.”

“Silly, I know that!” she giggled good-naturedly. “My name’s Pinkie Pie, and welcome to Sugarcube Corner! Would you like a free sample of one of our cupcakes? They just came out of the oven!”

The pony waved a tray of baked goods right underneath my nose, and my stomach growled at the sight of them. I guess it was just about lunch time...

“Why thank you, ma’am,” I said, carefully grabbing a cupcake that had green icing on top of it. She stared at me expectantly, and I gave her a casual shrug, as I took a bite out of i-

...ohmygods.

Take the most delicious thing you’ve ever eaten. I don’t care what it is, or how tasty you seem to think it is. That meal is nothing - nothing - compared to the flavor of that single cupcake. Chocolate had never once tasted so...so good! The icing on it added a delicious mint taste to it that was subtle enough to not overpower the chocolate, but it was still there all the same. I literally couldn’t form a coherent thought while eating that pastry. It was one of the few foods that I wanted to savor, and take the time to enjoy the taste of it.

All in all, I can compare that entire experience to viewing a live orchestra perform an adventurous piece...but in taste form. That probably doesn’t make much sense, but it’s the closest I can come to describing Pinkie’s cupcake.

As soon as I had swallowed the last bit of it, I once again bowed my head to her, and said, “Miss Pie, that was by far the greatest pastry I have ever had the honor of having.”

Pinkie smiled at me, and replied, “Aw, thanks! It’s not everyday that I get to give away something I threw together from scratch!”

...From scratch, she says. Note to self: When I get a steady source of money, come into this bakery, and buy every single cupcake in sight.

Shaking myself out of my sugar-induced stupor, I told her, “Well, you certainly have incredible skills as a baker. Thanks again.”

“No problem! I guess that will have to do for a welcome party for now,” she shrugged, never once losing her smile. “Now, did you say you had some questions for me?”

I sighed, and brushed a hand through my hair. Right. Back to business, I suppose. I just hope she keeps up this attitude with everything.

“Sorry to change the conversation to something so dark, but...” I paused, and fished my wallet out my pocket to show the mare my detective license. “I’m currently investigating the murder of Silver Scrolls. I was hoping I could ask you a few questions, and see if you knew anything that might help me out.”

Pinkie Pie blinked, before tilting her head at me. “Well sure! I’d be happy to. But what makes you think I’d know anything?”

I slid my wallet back into its pocket, and this time came up with the receipt. “I found this near where the victim had been found. The date on here is just one day before the murder was reported to happen,” I explained. “That means you were one of the last ponies to see her.”

She had a thoughtful expression on her face, right before she gasped and exclaimed, “Wait! You don’t think I did it, do you?”

She instantly placed her face a few inches away from mine, forcing me to look right into her eyes...and before I could say anything, before I could even protest or try to struggle against it, I felt myself drawn into Pinkie’s eyes. The unmistakable sensation of a soulgaze overpowered all other senses, filling me with pure terror.

A soulgaze is one of the most terrifying aspects of being a wizard. It is something I find myself both cursing, and loving in the same breath. Sometimes, I don’t even know why I learned about this in the first place.

To put it simply, this area of magic takes the phrase, “Eyes are the window into the soul” and makes it literal. When someone with an iota of magical talent looks into your eyes, they get to see your very soul, they see everything that makes you who you are. However, a soulgaze is a two-way street. You get to see the other guy’s soul as well. And there are no filters attached to it. You’ll see everything about them, you’ll learn more about them in those few seconds than almost anyone else will in a lifetime. And it stays with you. You will never forget it.

Sometimes, though...that can be a good thing.

Like when I found myself staring into Pinkie’s soul.

At first, all I saw was an empty grey space. There had been nothing there, and it seemed...sad. Lifeless, almost, but not quite that. It looked as if despair had been given a physical form, and been carved into the landscape. And then...something miraculous happened.

An explosion of color washed over everything, myself included, spreading warmth and happiness to every fiber of my being. And it didn’t stop there.Loud, triumphant music echoed throughout the space, as every bit of grey was chased away by an enormous rainbow. It was wild, it was chaotic, it was happy, it was pure euphoria. I suddenly felt like laughing, that every single problem that I had dealt with until that point could be laughed away.

The light started to change into forms, then. I saw ponies of all shapes and sizes, the ones who lived in Ponyville, and what I presumed were her family, surrounded me suddenly, and I could make out the shape of Twilight, of Alex and Matt, and of others that I found vaguely familiar. Every single shape seemed to just burst out of nowhere, appearing all over the landscape. Buildings sprung into existence, painstakingly decorated with every single ounce of care for a celebration. Life was predominant in this scene, and it was unmistakably...just...there.

Most of all, though, I remember the laughter. I remember the feeling of joy, of triumph, of days spent in the company of true friends. I remember wanting to spread this feeling to everyone I met, of wanting to chase away their own despair.

I remembered how she strived to do that every single moment of her life.

When I found myself back in reality, it really wasn’t a surprise that I had fallen onto the floor, and that I was weeping openly. After seeing that, who wouldn’t?

“Ye Gods,” I managed to croak out, my voice hoarse. “That...that was...”

I was at a loss for words at that point. How could I even begin to convey everything I had felt and seen in that soulgaze? Honestly...I couldn’t. Even now, I still have a tough time finding a way to do it justice, and each time I do, I feel like I came up short.

Pinkie Pie, though, seemed to have recovered quite easily. I don’t know what she saw, but it evidently made her look at me with a strange mixture of emotions. Most of all though, I saw...surprise. At what, though? Still, I was more than glad it was only the two of us in that bakery. It made the following silence a little less awkward.

“So...” I quietly croaked. “Th-that happened. Are you alright, ma’am?”

Pinkie Pie shakily looked at me, and nodded her head towards me. “Yeah, I’m alright...Wow...what was that?” she asked me.

I sighed, and gave her a brief summary of what a soulgaze was.

“So...that was...that was you?” she slowly asked, looking at me with wide eyes.

I nodded silently. Best to just get this over with...Look, I may be the guy who works for the Good people, but I’m not exactly a saint. I’ve done several thousand things I’m not proud of, and would rather forget if given the chance. And judging by the lack of violence in the lives of these ponies, it wouldn’t surprise me if Pinkie suddenly decided Alex had been right about everything he had said about me.

So imagine my surprise when she gave me a bone-crushing hug, and said, “You’ve really been through a lot, haven’t you? Alex is wrong about you.”

This time, it was my turn to shakily nod my head in answer.

“It’s alright, Travis! You just gotta keep on smiling, and you’ll pull through!” she told me, giving me a wide smile of her own. And it might have just been my opinion being altered by the soulgaze, but there was just something to that smile that made me feel...better.

Damn Soulgaze. Makes my eyes all messed up.

“Y-yeah,” I replied. “You too, Pinkie. Don’t stop that smiling.”

It felt a little awkward to hug a pony that I had just met and shared a very sensitive moment with. A good awkward, but an awkward nonetheless.

Somewhat reluctantly, I pushed myself out of the hug, and helped her up to her hooves.

“So...uh...questions?” I asked.

“Oh yeah!” Pinkie remembered. “Here, wait just a second!”

I sat down at one of the tables, and pulled myself together. For that kind of beauty to be seen in a soul...that should be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Still, I couldn’t let myself be hooked up in that experience.

Pinkie returned a few moments later, a tray of cookies and apple juice balanced on her head, and she sat down right across from me. Once the tray had been moved to the table (quite expertly, and confusingly, I might add), she looked at me with a serious expression on her face.

“Okie dokie lokie! I’ll try to help in any way I can!”

“Thank you, Miss Pie.”

“My friends call me Pinkie!”

I could only smile at her, and say, “...Thank you, Pinkie. Now, let’s get started.”

Reaching into a small hidden pocket in my jacket, I pulled out a small notepad and pencil to take notes, while Ivy brushed against my mind, readying herself to take the conversation to memory.

“Alright, ma’am, let’s start out with the easy questions first. Miss Scroll came into this establishment the day before she had been found dead, correct?”

“Yeah. She used to be an old customer of the Cakes, back when she still lived in Ponyville.”

“She used to live in Ponyville?”

“Yeah, she moved to Canterlot just about three years ago! I think it was because her book collection was getting too big for her old house to hold.”

“That’s right, she was an avid book collector, wasn’t she? In any case, did anything seem off about her that day?”

“Off?”

“Did she seem frightened, worried, nervous, or anything like that?”

“Hmmm...Nope! But the pony she was with was all twitchy and stuff!”

“Wait, Scrolls came in here with someone else? Can you describe him, please?”

“Sure! Let’s see...he had a sand colored coat, blond mane and tail...Oh! And his cutie-mark was a weird circle thingie in a magnifying glass!”

“Cutie what?”

“A cutie-mark! You know, that thing that shows a pony’s special talent? Oh! It’s rude to stare for too long, though. That’d be reeeaaallly embarrassing if you didn’t know that.”

“...Yeah, very. Alright, any other distinguishing characteristics I should know about?”

“He was a pegasus pony, but I can’t think of anything else.”

“Alright. Now, did you happen to hear what they talked about?”

“Well...No, I didn’t. I was actually busy with a few other customers that day, and didn’t really catch anything. I know they were being really quiet, and whispering, but that’s it. Oh! Wait! I did see that the pegasus gave her some kind of books or something. Really old ones too!”

“Old books?”

“Yeah! Like all old and musty and really thick, like the kind that Twilight keeps in her library. I think they had a picture of a crystal moon thingie, and they had little locks on them too!”

“Are you sure that’s how they looked?”

“Yep, I’m sure. The pegasus didn’t look too happy when he looked at them though, but Silver Scrolls looked like she had just been given the best Hearth’s Warming gift ever. After that, I gave them their cupcakes, and they left.”

“Do you have any idea where they are now? Or if they said anything about that?”

“Well, no, but I know a few hotels where they might have been staying. You could try asking around there, and see if anyone else saw them! Here, let me write them down for you.”

“That would be very helpful. Thank you, Pinkie.”

A few minutes later, and I was walking through Ponyville, studying the list of hotels that Pinkie had written for me. She had also been kind enough to add directions to make it easier to find.

Odd girl. But nice.

“Ivy, you got all of that, right?” I asked out loud, ducking down an alley for a bit of privacy.

“Affirmative,” she replied, not bothering to come out of the watch this time. “That was pretty foolish of you though, soulgazing her like that.”

“Cut me some slack; I didn’t know it was gonna happen until it was too late,” I countered. “Besides, it ended up working out for us, didn’t it?”

“It did, but you have to be more careful. What would have happened if she was traumatized by your soul, or if she wasn’t as ‘nice’ as she seemed?” Ivy chided me. “The mental trauma alone would have driven you to the very edge of madness. Not to mention Nero could have used the opportunity to escape...or worse, take over.”

I sighed, and finally said, “Alright, you’ve made your point. I’ll try to make sure it doesn’t happen again, unless I mean it.”

“Good.”

Still, despite Ivy’s misgivings, that adventure had proved highly helpful. I now had new information I could use in my investigation. Silver Scrolls was alive and healthy when she had come into Sugarcube Corner that day. After all, a book collector doesn’t go into a crowded place, gets handed rare books, and buys a platter of cupcakes if they plan on dying. Quite frankly, if I were her, I’d plan on celebrating.

But that other pony. Tan pegasus. Did that have anything to do with the tan feather I had found at the scene of the crime? I’m none too familiar with pony culture yet, but there’s something about a pegasus losing one of its feathers that strikes me as odd. And why had he been nervous when he had been in that bakery today? For that matter, what was his connection to Scrolls in the first place? Pinkie had mentioned that she hadn’t seen him before, and she seems like the kind of pony who would recognize anypony in her town. So who was he? And what stake did he have in everything?

And this still begs the question of why I’m trying to solve this mystery in the first place. I could easily just walk away from it, and get my stuff back from Alex the hard way. There wasn’t any need to solve this. Those guards could probably just deal with it on their own. I mean, this can’t have been the first murder they’d have to solve...right?

But that wouldn’t change the fact that I had already signed up for it. The instant I decided to walk out of my office and into the wide, wide world of Equestria...

I just don’t know when the hell to back down, do I?

Something about Ivy’s presence shifted slightly, like she were nervous about something, as she quietly whispered, “We’ve got company.”

Instantly tensing up, I unconsciously tightened my grip on my staff, and slowly turned around to see that two ponies dressed in dull grey armor,had blocked off the alley entrance, and were aiming their undivided attention at me.

“Howdy,” I greeted them, idly taking note of the fact that they seemed to sport an almost identical color scheme and build. “Is there anything I can help you with?”

Now it might just be the paranoia, but I don’t like it when identical people in matching armor sets corner me in an alley. Especially when an asshole of a human decided to take my stuff from me while I was asleep, and left me with nothing to defend myself with, save a giant stick. So this time, I decided to try and play it safe. Maybe these guys had just wanted to ask me a few questions, or tell me that I had left my wallet at Sugarcube Corner.

“Stop right there, criminal scum!”

Or not.

9 - Guard Blocked

**Travelers and Jumpers

Chapter 9:

Guard Blocked**

So, there I was, standing in the middle of a dark alley, talking to a spirit of creativity that lived in my pocket watch, when all of a sudden, two ponies dressed in guard armor decided to call me “Criminal Scum” in very harsh and angry tones.

Repeat that sentence twice to yourself, and let it sink in.

Done? Good. Now, tell me how all of this stuff seems to happen to me on a near daily basis? Is it just my natural luck, or do several divine beings take great enjoyment out of seeing me deal with this? Frankly, I’m inclined to believe it’s both. Complaining about it isn’t going to get me anywhere though.

I turned to the guards, slowly lifting my hands in the universal gesture of “Don’t-kill-me”. There wasn’t anything I had done wrong, and I knew that. We just needed to calmly discuss what had happened, and everything would be cleared up. Easy-peasy.

“Hello there,” I said, eyeing them carefully. “Is there a problem?”

The closest one glared at me, and his horn started to glow a pale grey color to match his armor. Instinctively, I poured a little of my will into my palms, and frowned at him, already calling up a couple spells I could use to distract him, whilst I beat a hasty retreat. I quickly shook that thought out of my head, however. I didn’t want to cause any trouble.

“Easy, Lance,” his partner said, raising a hoof in what I assumed was a calming gesture. Turning her head, she nodded at my direction, and added, “You too, sir. I don’t want to hurt you, but I will respond with force, if needed.”

Judging by the way they were acting, I could probably assume that they were the equestrian equivalents of the local law enforcement. That in mind, I slowly pulled my power out of my hands, and spread it into the air, where it would just be blown away by the wind.

“Alright, there,” I said, looking at her now. “So, what can I do for you?”

Glaring at her partner, the mare stepped forward, and said, “Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Shine Star” She then gave me a quick apologetic nod of her head, and continued, saying, “First, let me apologize for Lance’s behavior. It was uncalled for on his part, and it makes the rest of Celestia’s Honor Guard look unprofessional as a result.”

Ah, so this was that guard squadron that had been sent to help out with the investigation. That explains the uniform styled armor at the very least. And, for once, an authority figure was treating me with a bit of respect...

This can’t be good.

“No, it’s alright,” I told her, bowing my head. “He was just trying to do his job, albeit a little overzealously.”

That little statement seemed to just irritate him further, and he huffed in reluctant acceptance, like I had just apologized to him for being an innocent bystander. What, did this guy have something against me? Or does he just have something against humans in general. Perhaps he was jealous of the way I had taken out the manticore before any of the actual law enforcement ponies could do anything.

I tend to do stuff like that a lot.

Shine Star didn’t fail to notice Lance’s little huff, and she gave him a pointed glare that silenced him. Looking back at me, she said, “In any case, I’m afraid that you may be guilty of breaking the law.”

“Is that so?” I asked, leaning on my staff. “And what would that be?”

“According to one Bon Bon, you were seen going into a crime scene, despite it being closed off to the public,” she told me, giving me a neutral stare. “Is this true?”

Okay, this is easy enough to explain. I dug around in my pocket, and tugged out my wallet to show her my detective’s license and old Auror badge. After I made sure they got a good long look at it, I said, “It’s alright; I’m a detective. I’m currently investigating this case for a client, and lending my aid to the guards already here.”

Shine Star took the wallet in her magical grasp, and scanned the entirety of it once more, nodding in satisfaction. “Alright, this looks to be in order. Sorry for the confusion,” she said to me.

Lance’s eyes, on the other hand, widened in alarm, as he snatched the wallet away from Star with his own magic. I raised an eyebrow at his shenanigans, and reached my hand out to take it back. However, he simply ignored me and kept going through its entire contents.

“Alright, come on now,” I growled. “Give me my wallet, kid.”

“Wait! This license says that you’re only approved to be a detective in Seattle!’ Lance suddenly proclaimed, eyeing me triumphantly. “And as far as I’m aware, there are no such things as Aurors in Equestria. Therefore, you have no right to be prying into our business!”

I scowled at him, and hotly replied, “Now come on, that’s bullshit and you know it!”

“Oh yeah?” he challenged. “Star, tell this monkey just how right I am!”

“Monkey?” I scoffed. “Out of all the potential insults, you call me a monkey? I’d expect a halfwit like you to at least call me a chimp, or maybe an orangutan! Maybe I overestimated your intelligence, hm?”

His face seemed to take on a slight shade of red, but he remained silent, as he waited for his partner to say something to me. Star shook her head, and sighed.

“I’m sorry, but it sounds like he’s right,” she reluctantly admitted. At my astonished expression, she added, “Look, I know you’re like Mr. Roberts, and from another world entirely. I think we can let this slide, so long as you agree to turn over any evidence you may or may not have found.”

“What?!” Lance sputtered, looking between the two of us. “Star, he’s interfered with the scene of the crime! We can’t just let him off with a warning!”

I felt my anger bubbling up in my chest, but managed to keep my mental process to a semblance of calmness. I had to think this through rationally.

“Lance, that’s enough!” she barked at him. “I’m sending you back to HQ to store the evidence, and I will be including a few notes about your behavior in my report. Am I understood?”

Lance grumbled, his eyes betraying the raw anger he himself was feeling, but didn’t voice it. I guess even an idiot can make a smart choice. The same goes for me...

“Alright, ma’am, here,” I sighed, digging out the feather, wire, and receipt from mypockets. “I found these around where the victim was. It’s possible that the wire was used as a murder weapon, due to the blood stains on it, and the fact that it’s razor sharp. The feather was nearby as well, but I’m not sure what it’s significance is either.” I hesitated for a moment, and made a decision to buy myself a bit of time. “And the same goes for the receipt. I just found it nearby. Probably means nothing.”

“Well you found it by a dumpster, what did you expect?” Lance scoffed. “That’s what ponies do with paper, they throw it away. Or do you monkeys like to collect it for your entertainment?”

I chuckled, despite my growing irritation, and said, “Nah, we recycle. It’s better for the environment. Or are all ponies casual destroyers of nature?”

Star’s lips twitched at that, and she added, “No, Lance here is just too slow to catch up with the times. Thank you for your cooperation, I’ll make sure Lance takes these back safely.”

The obnoxious idiot guard finally took the hint, and gave me a final smug look as he gripped the evidence in his magic, and trotted off to who-cares-where. Right then, I had to force myself to take several deep breaths so that I wouldn’t go beat him fifty new ways to Tuesday.

“What the hell is that moron’s problem?” I said in frustration. I kicked at the dirt, and let out an aggravated growl. “I was just about to follow a lead! Then that bastard had to go all high and mighty on me, for some gods-damned reason.”

I then noticed that Star was still watching me, her eyes apologetic. “I’m sorry about him,” she said. “He’s not exactly fond of the humans. He thinks they’re going to try and take over, or something like that. Horseapples, I say.” She looked at me from the corner of her helmet and added, “You humans seem alright for the most part. I’ve seen Mr. Roberts, and he’s a decent enough person. Same with Matt. And hay, I’d be lying if I said the way you dealt with that chimera the other night wasn’t impressive.”

“Thanks, I suppose,” I sighed. I looked at my now-useless ID and license, and realized that I was now in quite the predicament.

Judging by the way that Lance had treated me, it was probably a guaranteed bet that he’d do everything he could to stop me from pulling this investigation off. But other than his mistrust of humans, why would he do that? I mean, I had already found a solid lead, and more evidence than they actually had. There’s got to be something more to this. Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but...something tells me I’m not.

Still, I can’t keep going on with this investigation, unless I want to get my ass tossed into the slammer. And I’m sure that if that happened, it wouldn’t do anything to help me earn a bit of trust among these ponies, or Alex and Matt for that matter. Plus, now I personally want to solve this murder.

Yeah, that’s right. This just got personal.

I looked at Star, and asked her, “So, what do you think about all this?”

She blinked, as if she was surprised I had asked for her opinion. Looking at me with a mixture of respect and caution, she said, “I’m not sure. On the one hoof, I feel extremely sheepish that my entire squad couldn’t do in a week what you did in a day. I’m sure you’re hiding another bit of evidence from us, but I can understand that. You’re also involved in a case that shouldn’t have anything to do with you, but...I don’t know. You don’t seem like a bad sort, and you didn’t put up a fuss. There’s just one thing I don’t get.”

“And what’s that?” I asked her.

“Why are you involved with all of this? First the chimera, now the Scrolls case.” She looked at me warily. “Not very many ponies enjoy getting into one of those things, let alone both of them. So what makes you different?”

I shrugged, and simply said to her, “It’s my job. And I’ll be damned if I’m gonna start getting lazy about it now.”

“Alright, listen. If you can just go get your licenses approved by a higher-up in the government, you should be able to investigate the cases at your will,” she said, gesturing to the wallet in my hand. “Once you do that, we won’t be able to stop you, as you’d be doing something for whatever world you’re from, or some kind of complicated political reason I don’t care for.”

Now it was my turn to blink in surprise.

She smirked. “I’d hop to it, if I were you.”

I don’t think I can argue against that. Looks like at least one of the “Cops” knows when they need help, and where to get it from.

{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}

After a couple hours spent searching around town, I ended up drifting back to the library, my mind mulling over all of the facts about the case I had learned so far. I’d have to get a journal, or something, so I could make sure I didn’t forget the important parts.

“Wait...do I knock, or just go on in?” I asked myself when I reached the door. “I mean, it’s a library, but it’s also Twilight’s house. I don’t want to be rude...”

Luckily, I didn’t have to worry about figuring this out for myself this time around, because a certain lavender mare had opened the door just as I was about to knock on it.

“Oh! Hello there, Travis,” she cheerfully greeted me. “I was just coming to look for you.”

I raised my eyebrow, and noted the fact that she had a couple of saddlebags strapped to her, both of them filled with scrolls, quills, and other scholarly implements.

“Well, how coincidental,” I replied. “I was just looking for you too. How about you go first?”

Twilight dug around in her bag for a moment, before coming up with a scroll that had been tied together with a fancy red ribbon, and golden hoof emblem thing. With the way she reverently unfurled it, and did as little damage to the seal as she could, I got the feeling that it contained some very important information...or something.

“‘Dear Twilight Sparkle,’” she read out loud. “‘I must express an interest in the man behind those magical theories. If you could please ask him to accompany you to Canterlot as soon as possible, I would be very grateful. Yours truly, Princess Celestia.’”

I vaguely recalled Twilight mentioning Princess Celestia a couple of times during our conversation last night. From what I could remember, it seemed as if she were some form of God-Ruler, but a benevolent one at least.

“What does she want with me...?” I muttered under my breath.

“Pardon?”

“Nothing, nothing,” I quickly said, brushing it off. “So, she wants to meet me then?”

“That’s right,” she replied. “I guess my notes must have sparked her curiosity.”

Well, looks like this works out perfectly for my plans.

“Well, when do we leave then?” I asked her.

“Tomorrow morning. You can stay in the library again until then,” she said, turning around to trot back inside.

“Thank’ee kindly,” I said, yawning tiredly. I was pleasantly surprised to see that my blanket and pillow combination from last night was still in the same place as it was before, ready to take me to the land of sleep and dreams.

But, before I could do that, I had a few questions for Twilight.

“Hey, Twi. Did Alexis ever tell you what I’ve been up to today?”

The unicorn blinked, and tilted her head questioningly. “Alexis? You mean Alex, right?”

“Whatever floats his barge,” I shrugged.

“Actually, no,” she answered, evidently still confused about my fond new nickname for the annoying bastard.

I debated it for a moment, but then decided that it wouldn’t hurt anyone if I told her about what I had learned of the case so far. Maybe another set of ears would help me figure out why this entire thing is bugging me...

“And then, after all that, I have to get someone in the government to approve my investigating, or else I’m sunk on this entire thing,” I grumbled, cleaning my staff of a few ashes that had accumulated on it mysteriously. Offhandedly, I added, “If I find out Alexis tried to burn my staff, I’m going to have a few words with him.”

Namely, “Ventas Servitas, motherf***er.”

“That’s...well, I can’t say I’d like to be in your position right now,” Twilight admitted, sitting across from me and taking more notes down. “How do you plan on getting around the legal system?”

I smiled, and nodded my head to her. “Simple. You said we’re gonna go see Princess Celestia tomorrow, right?”

“...Oh,” Twilight realized. “Maybe this isn’t such a good idea.”

“Nonsense,” I scoffed lightly. “We’ll all have a nice little chit-chat, and I’ll respectfully request my requests.”

Because I have such excellent people skills. Odds are, I’ll go in there guns blazing, and simply force them to-

Shut up, Nero.

11 - Wordsmithing

Travelers and Jumpers

Chapter 11:

Wordsmithing

You know those silences where you could drop a pin, and have it be the equivalent of a nuclear bomb? The ones that you completely dread happening, especially when it’s your fault? Where everyone’s attention is suddenly drawn to you, and you start to think to yourself, “Jeez, maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all”?

This was one of those silences.

Dimly, I took note of the fact that Twilight and Shining Armor had just managed to catch up with me, their own hoofsteps apparently doing a great deal to help snap the wait staff out of their shocked stupors. Mainly because each hoofstep sounded like the pounding of an old Scottish Wardrum.

I turned to the scholarly unicorn, and gave her the same smile I had just given the princesses. “Ah, hello there Twilight! So glad you could come, glad to see you,” I told her, using the distraction of my words to buy myself a little time to take stock of everypony everyone’s face.

Shining Armor seemed to be torn between laughter, and anger, apparently amused by the fact that I had just scared the wits out of a large number of pompously dressed ponies, and mad at me for being so disrespectful to his rulers. Twilight’s face was etched with, primarily, surprise. At what, though, I couldn’t honestly tell. Trust me, even though she’s the number one fan of the royalty here, she wouldn’t exactly be surprised by my actions. If anything, she’d have already used a charm to silence me, and start apologizing on my behalf. The princesses, however, seemed to be completely neutral now. I couldn’t get a single reading off of either of them.

So imagine my surprise when the Alicorn with the alabaster coat, Celestia I assumed, used her magic to draw the curtains closed, and clean up some of the mess I had accidentally made. There was nothing threatening in the gesture, just...it surprised me, is all.

Her lips twitched slightly, as she said in a regal, musical voice, “I’m terribly sorry, council members. If we could push this meeting to tomorrow, I assure you all that I will be more than happy to answer your concerns. For now, though, I’m afraid this...conversation...will take up the rest of the day.”

The poshly dressed ponies dumbly nodded at her, one-by-one slowly trudging out of the room. Soon after, the guards followed them, given a single nod from the midnight blue alicorn. In less than three minutes, the previously filled throne room had been emptied of all of its occupants, save myself, the twin Alicorn Goddesses, Twilight, and the Captain.

The instant the room had been cleared, Twilight turned to the princesses, and said, “I’m sorry, Princesses, I had no idea that he would be affected by your aura in this way! I didn’t think it was possible for it to enhance arrogance, but-”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” I interrupted, frowning at her. “Aura? What do you mean ‘aura’?”

About then, I became sharply aware of a tingly feeling in the back of my head. Something that wasn’t Nero. It was some kind of force that tried to dig straight into my conscious, trying to bring up the worst of my memories and emotions. I got the distinct impression, however, that it wasn’t anything...well, evil, exactly. It was like it was just a part of nature, something that was doing the only thing it knew how to do.

Funny thing about magic that affects the mind, true believers. Once you become aware of the psychic attack/influence, it becomes almost ridiculously easy to throw off, and even easier to form a defense against.

With that in mind, I threw up a solid shield of will in my mind, focusing once more on a random bit of poetry to help me focus my thoughts. As I recited the poem, I noticed that the blue Alicorn, Luna, reacted slightly. It was nothing much, just a simple surprised blink, but it was definitely more than enough to let me guess that it had been mostly her that had lead the attack on my mind.

Nero started snarling, urging me to respond with a mental hammer of my own. Surely, this princess would have a few hidden nightmares and secrets I could use against her. However, I managed to close my eyes, and calm my response to a low growl of, “What the hell was that?”

Celestia gave me a sharp look, and directly said to me, “I’m sorry for the effects of the...Aura, I suppose. It is something we have little control over. Our little ponies have grown used to it, and are not affected by it in the slightest. However, upon humans...”

“They suffer something where you bring out their worst, and they feel the sudden urge to atone for it or something?” I asked, leaning on my staff a little. Thoughtfully, I scratched at the stubble on my chin, and mused aloud. “Now if that’s true, that means you’ve had to have talked to one of the other humans, and experience the effects of that firsthand. Or hoof, whatever. Now, surely, this would explain the letters, wouldn’t they?”

Shining quickly stepped in front of me, and quietly scowled at me. “Mr. Voyageur, it would be respectful of you to answer their own questions first, before you make your own,” he quietly said.

I dismissively waved a hand at him, and said, “Keep it calm, Sparky. I’m already dealing with one headache, I don’t want you to give me another one.”

The unicorn sputtered a little at my response, but ended up rolling his eyes. From the way he was holding himself, it was obvious that he thought I would get my own comeuppance without his help and had decided to stay out of it from that point.

Celestia chose that moment to intervene, and said, “As a matter of fact, yes. On advice from one of our consultants, it was decided that using letters would be the best method of communicating.”

“And yet you asked me to appear in Canterlot,” I replied. Pacing back and forth in a steady line as I thought outloud, I said to the entire room, “Now, this tells me one of two things. That you either A, truly wished to talk to me face-to-face but realized the repercussions of your aura at the last possible moment, or B, you sent out the message that you wanted to talk to me face-to-face, and your consultant Alex decided that he didn’t like that. So he gave you the advice that your aura might set off my temper.” I whirled about on my heels, and pointed my finger into the air. “And as you don’t seem like an idiot with barely a wit to them, you obviously couldn’t go with Option A. I mean, you’re running a kingdom, that kind of mistake could potentially go very, very badly. Therefore, I presume that Option B is the course of action you went with.”

Smoothly, Princess Celestia retorted with, “While I thank you for the somewhat misplaced compliment, I must request that you are silent for but a moment.”

I shut my mouth and ducked my head slightly, deciding to hear out what she had to say.

“Now, let’s try to keep this civilized, shall we?” she asked in a somewhat playful manner. “I’ve had to deal with my petty council members already, and I should like to end this on a happier note than their meeting.”

The Princess levitated the pot of tea from its table, and poured everyone a drink with her magic, kindly offering me some. I politely accepted, making sure to wait for it to cool before I took a sip.

“Alright, let’s get it out of the way.” I looked at both of the princesses, and asked them, “Why did you want to meet me, and why do you think I’m a threat?”

This didn’t catch them off guard this time, though. They were actually prepared for my not-so-sudden bluntness, and Celestia actually said to me, in a perfectly reasonable voice, “I was curious after Twilight sent me her reports on your magic. And after hearing of your battle against the chimera, combined with the advice from my friend-”

“Let’s not beat around the bush with that, please,” I requested quickly.

“The advice from my friend, Alex,” she continued as if uninterrupted. “I was afraid that you would be a conceivable threat.”

“Me? A threat?” I retorted, my anger quickly rising once again. “Ma’am, I have to say, that’s ridiculous. I’ve done nothing of that sort, I haven’t planned out any murders, and I’m sure my motives were made clear after my conversation with not just your student, but with Alex, Pinkie Pie, and now you!” I didn’t realize I had started shouting until the end of that sentence, but I was in too much a rage to stop now. “For the past two or three days, I’ve been pushed around by self-righteous twits who think they know better than everyone else! The very guards you sent to Ponyville to investigate that murder are a great example of that, as is your guard’s captain!”

“I have already-” Shining tried to interrupt, but I wouldn’t have it. I had been pushed around long enough. I had come into this castle, hoping to find wise rulers who wouldn’t judge everything based around the word of one man, or off of idle speculation, and gotten the complete opposite. These were Goddesses I was supposed to work for, and yet they treated me like I was nothing more than a common villain.

“Enough!” I shouted at him, and turned back on the Princesses. “You two ought to be ashamed of yourselves! The one man who comes along with only the potential to be a fearsome enemy, and you instantly start treating him worse than you would treat the murderer! And all upon the word of a prejudiced, ignorant, self-righteous, dishonorable son of a bitch!”

The moment those words left my mouth, I felt an impossible amount of energy wrap itself around my body, freezing my limbs to my sides. No matter how much I struggled, I couldn’t move a single muscle, and I was forced to look directly at the two Alicorns.

“That is enough, Mr. Voyageur!” Celestia said, her voice becoming dangerously low. “I gave you my hospitality, and allowed you to come into my home to discuss your situation. Instead, you choose to throw around accusations and insult one of my dear friends. All you’ve done so far is prove Mr. Roberts right, and for your case, that is not a good thing at all. I would weigh my options carefully, were I in your position.”

Impossibly, I felt myself grow angrier. Who was she to say things like that to me? I was the victim in this situation! Alex was the one who had lied about me, told them that I was a threat to everyone and everything! Who were they, to treat me this way? To say that what I had said was a complete and total waste of time, and little more than childish insults? I wanted to show them just how wrong they were, how wrong they were to force me to become a threat to the-

...Whoa. Where the hell had that come from? I was pretty pissed, sure, but I didn’t think I was that furious. And even then, would I really be dumb enough to consider challenging two Goddesses, ones who are on the side of Good, whom I’m supposed to work for? Why would I even...

Nero.

Remember what I said about recognizing a mental attack? The same thing can apply to when it’s coming from the inside. Just find something to focus on, and you can form a good solid defense against it. In this case, I tried to shove away my anger, and start analyzing the facts.

Ye Gods, that single action is probably the only reason I made it through that day. You see, I had started pulling together everything I had gathered about the princesses, combining it all to form a decent picture I could use to analyze them. My mind went blessedly silent, as I brought up every little detail I could remember. Random images started to flit across my brain, showing me what I knew, and what I had guessed.

I saw the noble ponies and her reluctance towards them. How she had been somewhat relieved that they had left when I made my impromptu entrance. But was that relief at their safety? Or was it something more...? Digging deeper, I brought up the ideals of Pony society that I had picked up on from Twilight and the rest of the equines I had met. Wasn’t it strange that they shouldn’t know how to deal with a murder? How they had absolutely no idea of what to do? Alex and Matt had both acted extremely overprotective of the ponies, but was that really overprotectiveness? Or was it them actually preparing to deal with an honest threat? After all, if they were the only two who could know what to expect...it would make sense for them to be on their guard.

But why wouldn’t they have calmed down when I presented myself as something that wasn’t a threat? More specifically...when they had reported to the Princesses, for it would be obvious that they would, why hadn’t they stopped worrying? What was that missing piece of the puzzle...

The magic around me suddenly cut off, and I stumbled a little, using my staff to prevent myself from falling over entirely. I looked up to watch the Princesses...and found that final piece of the puzzle. For in Celestia’s eyes, for the briefest moment, I saw uncertainty. The Goddess of the Sun, and ruler of Equestria, had a moment of doubt for just a moment. I then remembered the look of relief she had when Twilight had entered the room, how the unicorn was able to freely talk to Celestia. There was also her fierce defense of her friend...not Alex...her friend.

With everything falling into place, I finally realized something.

I was freaking wrong.

To see this, I want you to place yourself in this situation: You’ve been ruling over an entire kingdom, probably one of the most powerful in existence, for well over one thousand years. And every decision that you, yourself, personally make will affect not only this entire population that you’re responsible for, but possible the rest of the world as a result. So far, you’ve done a pretty good job of doing just that, though. Your countless years of experience and know-how have given you everything you need to know about how to guide your people to prosperity and safety. You love your people, and they, in turn, adore you.

Got that image firmly lodged in your head? Good. Now, let’s add a bit of a twist.

Imagine that you were constantly surrounded by greedy, self-absorbed nobles, all of them constantly shouting in your ear,constantly demanding that you grant them their selfish desires, while you constantly struggle to pick out any good advice, suggestions, or requests that they might accidentally spew out. You have to put up with that all day, and almost every single waking moment of your life is spent finding new ways to deal with that. Soon, you start to wonder if there is really anyone who has any true interest in helping you, if any of them could truly be called a friend. Your responsibility suddenly becomes an even heavier burden, almost too much for you to bear.

Still with me? Because this next part is really where it starts getting important.

After all of this, you’ve found a select few that you feel can truly be trusted, that you can talk to them without having to weigh every little word that comes out of your mouth. They listen to you, something that has, in itself, become the rarest of luxuries. You value their advice, their counsel, and willingly give them your own words of wisdom, because you both know that they wouldn’t normally ask of it...because they don’t want to be more of a burden, and you don’t want to burden them. This is where you can find the reason you still rule over our kingdom. This is where you can find real happiness.

And then, something happens. You find something that you’ve had zero experience in dealing with. A delicate situation, where a potentially powerful and almost-surely dangerous individual could start harming your beloved subjects. And you have no idea of just what could set him off, and how many lives it would take to stop him. You’re suddenly in the dark, where it looks like you’re all alone with no one to guide you, because there’s no one else who has dealt with this situation either...

...Except that there is someone. By some miracle, you’ve found a person, one of your very trusted friends, who has dealt with this before. Or, at least, something similar. They freely give you life-saving advice that they feel will put everyone on the right path, a flashlight of sorts that illuminates the solution. Since you already know you can trust this person with your own life, you decide to make the leap of faith, and trust them with the lives of your people...You listen to him. You follow his words to the very letter.

Now think on that. And replace yourself with Princess Celestia, a very Goddess with all of that power on a literally divine scale. Replace that “trusted person” with Alexander Roberts, a man who is seen by her and most of her people as an incredibly kind, generous, and most importantly of all, trustworthy individual, whose selfless nature has landed him in that very position.

And replace that powerful, dangerous threat that no one knows about...with me.

Ye Gods, I’d been...I’d been one hell of an asshole. Everything they had done had been done with pure intentions, with friendship, and I basically stomped on their very ideals. I had burst in with my own arrogant, self-righteous thoughts and feelings, and become the very thing I feared.

I becamethe bad guy.

I returned my full attention to the Princesses, forcing myself to meet their eyes for as long as I could without triggering a soulgaze, and lay my staff down at the base of their thrones. Slowly, I bowed to them, forcing my pride and arrogance down (along with a certain howling demon). After I had recovered my voice, I said to them, “I...I would beg for your forgiveness, fair princesses. My actions were intolerable, and inexcusable, damn the circumstances. I’m truly sorry for how I have acted towards both you, and to the ideals you stand for. I apologize.”

Out of the corner of my eyes, I could see the very surprised expressions on Twilight and Shining armor, both of whom were probably a little more than confused as to my sudden change of tone and mood. Then again, if I were watching this from an outsider’s perspective, I’d be a little worried too. Mood shifts are, after all, a sign of insanity. Or puberty, but that’s considered the same thing in the eyes of most parents.

I think the princesses had been a little surprised too, even though they were the first to recover from my abrupt mood shift. Princess Luna directed a piercing look at me, making me feel as if she were scrutinizing my very soul with just a glance. It actually was a bit of a challenge to not squirm underneath that gaze. I mean, have you ever had a Goddess of the Night and Moon analyze everything about you with a mere look?

Not very comfortable. Especially with the...added baggage I’m carrying.

After a moment, however, Luna simply nodded her head, and told me, “You are forgiven, Mr. Voyageur. The circumstances behind your arrival are unusual, even for one such as yourself.” Sensing my surprise, she smirked a little, and added, “You will have to tell us of your Travels someday.”

...Oh. So they did know about my Traveler status. But if that was the case, why did they wait until now to mention it? Did the-

“However, I’m afraid that day must wait until later,” the princess of the night continued. “For now, I believe there is something you wished to ask of us?”

Remembering the entire point of this trip, I smacked myself on the forehead, and silently mumbled to myself, berating my own foolishness. Arrogance...it can get a guy into a lotta trouble, y’know?

My actions did manage to get a few wry chuckles from those gathered in the room, though. There’s a small bonus, at least. Clearing my throat, I reached into a pocket of my jacket, and fished out a few papers I had been smart enough to bring with me.

“Well, your majesties, I’ll keep it simple,” I said, doing my best to smooth out the worst of the crinkles in the papers. “I’d like to formally request that my licenses pertaining to my status as a detective, Auror, Warden, and other miscellaneous work forms be transferred to Equestrian legal status. Or however that’s done.”

Celestia raised an eyebrow, before asking me, “And may I know of the reason behind this request?”

And here was the part I really had to sell...

“Your majesties,” I began, making sure to speak clearly, “as I’m sure you’re no doubt aware, a murder was committed in the town of Ponyville, not too long ago. As a detective, I found that my arrival on this world at the same time to be too strange to be a coincidence, and as such, began to investigate. I was motivated further by the lack of experience the law enforcement seems to have with such cases.” I paused to let that sink in for a moment, before moving on. “Working with what little I have available to me, I was able to find the murder weapon, and a few other bits of information that could shed some light on the situation.”

The silence in the room was heavy, enough to make me almost regret taking the rare position of center-stage. That didn’t stop me, though. I had a goal, and I intended to make my point one way or the other.

“However, said local law enforcement also detained me a short while after,” I stated. “According to them, my paperwork isn’t good enough, and I need to have it legally approved, or some political jargon like that. You can see how this is a problem...”

Once more, the two alicorn sisters had a silent exchange of words with just a mere look, taking prime advantage of the bond that can only come through family and age. After what felt like an eternity to me, the alabaster colored Princess turned to regard me with a wise expression on her face.

“Very well. If you can promise to do your best to bring this criminal to justice, my sister and I shall reinstate your papers.”

I blinked. “T-that’s it?” I asked, unsure of what had just happened.

“That is it.” Celestia smiled gently at me. “You revealed yourself to be an honest, if not a bit quick-tempered, person. Judging by my student’s reports of you, I am inclined to believe that Mr. Roberts...may be a bit misguided in his judgement. I see it fair, then, that you be the one to prove him wrong.”

“...Okay,” I said, a little stunned at how easy that had been. It seemed as if our business had been concluded...

...Then again...

“Excuse me Princess, but might I trouble you for an added request?”

“Hello again, Mr. Roberts!” I said in my best overly-cheerful prick voice the very instant the man had opened his door.

“Mr. Voyageur,” he curtly replied, his hand once more slowly easing itself to the hilt of his knife.

Smiling, I fished around in my pocket for a moment, saying, “You know, I think we got off on the wrong foot. Things were said that shouldn’t have been said, and opinions were formed before we could get a good measure of the other guy. We jumped to conclusions, in other words.”

“I guess we did,” he carefully said, as if afraid I was working up to something that would make him look like an idiot, fool, and otherwise moronic worrywart.

Oh, wait. That’s exactly what I was doing!

Yanking the scroll out, I thrust it into his chest, catching him off guard, and managed to keep my shit-eating grin on my face the entire time. Surprised, he fumbled with the scroll for but a moment, before unfurling it to read in the dim light of the moon.

“That, my antagonistic douchebag, is an official order by the Princess of the Night!” I chirped. “Because I’m now officially on the Scrolls case, you are hereby ordered to give me my stuff back, or risk being thrown in jail for hindering my investigation.”

Alex scanned the contents of the scroll for another minute, his forehead furrowing in concentration. For the moment, he seemed to be taken off guard, like he didn’t think I’d actually try to go the legal route. All-in-all, the look on his face was one that I will always treasure for the rest of my undying days.

“Let me say that again; we both got the wrong idea about each other,” I said, losing all traces of humor. “I’m not who you think I am. I have nothing against those ponies, and I have nothing against the Princesses. There is no diabolical ace up my sleeve that I plan on using to take over this world. Hell, I don’t even plan on doing that. I’m just a Traveler, plain and simple.

“That being said, though...I now hold a few things against you. I know it was you who sent a message to Celestia, warning her about what you thought of me. You’ve taken my things, twisted my arm to make me do something I would already do, and otherwise lost any respect I would have had for you.”

I then made sure to lean in right to his face, and gave him the coldest glare I could.

“I am not someone you can push around or bully, Alexander Roberts,” I stated, calling a bit of magic into my staff. “Unlike those with kinder dispositions who will let you do that...I push back. I will not make you into my enemy; it seems like you will do that yourself.”

Before he could respond, I turned around on my heel, and walked away at a brisk pace, making sure to release my magic into the air as I did. The result was a fine breeze that stirred up a few more fallen leaves, making my exit look all the more enigmatic.

“Just drop everything off at Twilight’s. And if you need my services as a detective, I charge twenty bits per hour. Keep in mind, I reserve the right to deny you on the grounds of not liking you. Or if I think you’re a tool.”

Ladies and gentlemen, The Traveler is back in action.

Scrolls Case Report - #1

Case File - Scrolls

Employer - City of Ponyville; Princess Celestia

Assigned Wizard - Travis Voyageur

Victim - Silver Scrolls, Unicorn

Age - ???

Power/Special Talent - ???

Time of Death: ???

Cause of Death: Blood loss, caused by severed neck. Thought to be cut by a diamond-coated, serrated metal wire (garrote).

Location: Ponyville, back alley two blocks away from Sugarcube Corner.

Suspect: Name unknown; Tan pegasus with amber eyes.

Notes:

According to the Princesses, this isn’t technically required of me, but I guess old habits are hard to break. As an Auror, I was asked to file annual reports on a case whenever significant progress was made, or if I had anything vital to say on the matter. The entire process helped me catalog my thoughts, making it easier to keep track of everything that was going on. With this new situation, I might need that more than I have before.

Alright, first the basics: Silver Scrolls returned to Ponyville for unknown reasons after moving to Canterlot. She’s a known bibliophile, and is known for her extensive collection of rare texts. I haven’t found out if she has any family yet, but for now I’m guessing she doesn’t. Hell, all of this information is just stuff I’ve gathered from both local law enforcement, witnesses (Pinkie Pie), and my own searching. While Miss Scrolls was in Ponyville, she met with an unknown Pegasus (See Suspect) in Sugarcube Corner, who gave her a few old books. It’s unknown what happened after this, but later that night, she was murdered in a back alley. There were no witnesses, other than the murderer itself.

After the local law tried to investigate bless their incompetence, bless them, I started poking around, and uncovered almost all of the information on here. It’s not much, but it’s one hell of a boost compared to everything else. Anyways, I looked where the body had been found. There’s the key word, found. Initially, I believed that to be the actual place where the murder had happened. Upon closer examination of the blood stains that were around though, I found out that there were too few for that kind of murder.

Ergo...That wasn’t where the murder took place. I did a little more digging, and found another alleyway not too far from where she had been found. Unfortunately, if there was any evidence to be found, the rain must have washed it away.

Yeah, that’s right. It was raining on the night of the murder. That means the running water would have washed away any blood, DNA from the murderer, and any residual magic that I could have potentially used to track them down. Whoever did this knew what they were doing, that’s for certain.

That’s another point of concern, though. From everything I’ve seen, these ponies seem to despise the idea of taking a life to a near extreme. Scars are hideous, bloodshed of any kind is tragic, and the very thought of murder makes most of these ponies physically sick. With that in mind, that means any law enforcement will be un-used to handling a case such as this one. The murderer will be able to avoid them easily, thanks to their bungling around. That’s more or less the reason I’m on the case in the first place.

As it stands, I was only lucky enough to find half of the things I have. That feather I found, it turns out, is a Pegasus’ primer feather. Judging by the color of it, I would wager a guess that it formerly belonged to the same pony that Scrolls met at Sugarcube Corner on the day of her death (Confirmed by Pinkie Pie). She mentioned that he was staying in one of the hotels in town, meaning I’ve got a bit of legwork to do.

There’s still something about this case that makes me uneasy. What happened to those tomes that Scrolls got when she met that pony? Who would want to murder her in the first place? Who was that pony she met? Why was the body moved? Who else is involved? And the two most important questions of all:

Who killed her?

And how are they smart enough to pull off a murder like this?

It seems the more I dig into this, the more questions I get instead of answers. In any case, I’ll report more when I can. I’ll send a copy of this to the Princesses, the Ponyville Police Department (as required by law), and save the original for my own personal use.

I just hope I’m getting paid for all of this.

Detective Voyageur

10 - Game of Fools

Travelers and Jumpers

Chapter 10:

Game of Fools

I like trains.

Out of the many ways wizards can travel, I always find that I prefer trains over anything else. Magic carpets? Too risky and dangerous. Floo powder? I get ashes everywhere, and have to spend hours cleaning them out of my clothes. Broomsticks? They chafe certain...ah...areas, of the body. I can list one hundred and one ways of travel that wizards have to use due to their limitations and powers, and I can safely tell you that I love trains more than any of them.

Seriously, trains are almost always reliable, they go through some of the most breathtaking sceneries imaginable, and their constant chugging sound is something I find to be relaxing. Plus, they’re just plain cool.

So I actually took the time to enjoy the train ride from Ponyville to Canterlot, drinking in the sight of the beautiful mountains all around us. Twilight sat across from me, pouring over the notes she had taken during my magical lecture, stopping to occasionally ask me for clarification, or a reminder on a certain topic. It was one of those rare moments when I actually had a chance to relax.

Despite how hard it was to relax, given the fact that I was about to speak to a Goddess Ruler of a land of magical talking ponies that could potentially launch me to the moon. But hey, why sweat the little things?

I leaned against the window, watching the scenery shoot by me in the blink of an eye. To be perfectly honest, I couldn’t exactly enjoy the train ride. I was too focused on my damn case to think of anything else. Thankfully enough, though, that seemed to make time go by a bit faster, and before I knew it, the train had arrived in Canterlot Station.

And, much to my surprise, the station looked like it was about to move a small army. Nearly every entrance had been blocked off by a couple of blindingly-white ponies in golden armor, with a few grey unicorns surrounding the train car that Twilight and I were on. Nopony else was leaving the train, or getting onto it for that matter.

It was about then that I realized just how quiet this train ride had been.

“Son of a bitch,” I murmured under my breath. “It’s a trap.”

Twilight, oblivious to what was going on outside, simply pulled her saddlebags on, and said to me, “Well, looks like we’re here! Come on, we’re gonna be late if we don’t hurry up.”

I tightened my grip on my staff, and swung it to block Twilight from leaving giving her a pointed look. “Miss Sparkle, I’m afraid you haven’t looked out the window lately,” I said in a calm voice, gesturing to the guards surrounding the platform. “Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but I thought this was supposed to be a peaceful meeting!”

A new voice suddenly cut in from outside of the room, “And it will be peaceful. These guys are just here to make sure it stays that way.”

I turned my head just in time to get met by a blue-and-white hoof that crashed into the side of my face, causing me to slam into the armrest of my seat, and fall onto the floor. Dazed, I brought my staff up instinctively, just in time to stop another powerful blow.

“Protego!” I shouted as my attacker lifted his hooves to pummel me once more. A sturdy wall of energy caught the pony’s hooves, and allowed me to get a solid kick to his head. The kick didn’t seem to really even faze him, but it did allow me to get some much needed breathing space, and more importantly allowed me to stretch my barrier to include Twilight in it.

“Twilight, are you alright?” I asked, keeping my eyes on my would-be assailant. He seemed to look pretty important, what with his red overcoat, and golden buttons. His hooves and mane were a dark, wavy blue color, and his fur was just as brilliant a white as the other guards outside. And it might have just been my paranoia, but his horn seemed really sharp.

“Twilight, get back!” the unicorn snarled, still trying to stare me down. He kept himself composed, though, and never once gave anything away in his stance, other than the anger he was feeling.

For her part, Twilight actually looked pretty pissed herself. She actually whirled on the mystery unicorn, and said to him in an obviously annoyed tone, “Shining Armor, what do you think you’re doing?”

“Twiley-” (Twiley?) “-that thing just tried to keep you from getting off the train!” he protested stopping to look at the scholar. “Celestia already warned us that he would be dangerous, but I didn’t think he’d go so far as to try that!”

I was starting to piece together this entire situation, but there was some other nagging feeling at the back of my head. Gently, I reached up to scratch my head, only to feel a warm, sticky substance.

“Oh, boy. The context in that sentence,” I muttered to myself, suddenly feeling much more tired than I should have.

Twilight turned to look at me, and let out a small gasp. “Shining, how hard did you hit him?! He’s bleeding!”

“No, no, trust me, I’ve had worse,” I protested, pressing my sleeve against the small cut. “Ow. I think it just happened when I bumped my head on the seat, nothing to worry about.”

Shining continued to look between me and Twilight, his eyes filled with a bit of mixed confusion. “Wait, he was-”

“He was actually worried about all the guards you put outside!” she snapped at him. “He didn’t want to go out there, especially after hearing everything I’ve said about them.”

“And the fact that they’re holding very pointy weapons. Very pointy. Did I mention that?” I quipped, lowering my barrier as a sign of goodwill. And partially definitely not because I couldn’t focus enough to keep the shield up any longer. Wearily, I leaned against the wall, and nodded to the unicorns as I added, “See? Not aggressive, not in too much pain. All of that was just a big ole’ misunderstanding.”

The unicor- Wait, they’re both unicorns. Erm...Shining Armor shook his head, and stepped away from the door.

“I’m afraid I have to apologize,” he said to me as Twilight and I stepped past him. He looked like he’d rather do the hokey pokey in a crowded place than apologize, but he went on with it anyways. “It was out of order for me to react like that, and I hope you don’t hold it against the rest of the guards.”

Despite his asshole-ish qualities, I started to feel a bit of respect for the stallion. He owned up to his mistakes, and didn’t want it to reflect upon his guards. And judging by his air, I’d be truly surprised if he wasn’t their Captain at the least.

Realizing he was waiting for an answer, I nodded to him, and said, “No, it’s alright. I just got worried at the guards. Thought I was at another witch burning...”

Shining and Twilight both gave me mixed looks, but were polite enough not to press. As we walked out of the station, escorted by all the guards, I managed to notice that we were being led through what looked to be the less populated areas. In fact...I swear, some of those pegasi guards were moving clouds above us.

Did they not want us to be seen? I’d bet dollars to rubble that’s what it is. They’re probably making sure we aren’t noticed...Now why would these guards for the Princesses not want little ole’ me to be seen going to their castle? Call me super-paranoid, but I can’t help but think there’s something more to this...

I shook the thoughts out of my head, and instead went back to doing my best to follow the ponies through the winding paths.

The only good thing about reaching the castle was that the bulk of the guards had left once I had made it past the main gates. I guess when your boss is a nigh-immortal Goddess of the Sun (or Moon), you tend to learn really quick that they can handle themselves. So when Twilight, Shining Armor, and I found ourselves in what appeared to be a vast waiting room, I let my natural instincts kick in.

“So, we get a magazine to read while we wait for our appointment?” I asked dryly. Okay, not my best witty remark, but give me some credit. I’m working with a hoof-to-the-head injury.

Shining Armor only gave me a glare that plainly told me to be silent, while Twilight face-hooved in reply.

“I take it that means there’s no pony variant of Time magazine? No Equestrian Geography?” I tried once more. “Because I was really hoping for at least some pretty pictures to look at.”

This actually got a small chuckle from Twilight, while it earned an aggravated sigh from Shining. I may have been taking too much of an enjoyment from his irritation, but hey. That’s life for you.

Finally, though, just for the sake of hearing someone other than me talk, Shining asked Twilight, “So where’s Emerald these days? I’m surprised he didn’t come with you.”

Emerald? I thought to myself, idly stretching out on my seat.

“Oh, he couldn’t, actually,” Twilight answered him. “Princess Celestia specifically said for only Travis and I to come.”

“Pardon me,” I interrupted. “But mind if I ask who Emerald is?”

At this, Twilight grinned sheepishly, and let out a nervous giggle. A very, particular, specific kind of giggle. The one that I’d heard from many of my old friends...

That was the giggle of someone with a love interest.

Ooooooohhhh Lawdy.

Just as I opened my mouth to give her a little teasing on the subject matter, the door to the throne room opened, and a guard pony, wearing a more elegant and durable form of the armor I’d come to expect, trotted out, his expression as grim and somber as the rest of them.

“Are you Travis Voyageur?” he asked, standing right in front of me now. When I resisted the urge to make fun of the obvious nodded with a completely straight face, the guard levitated a scroll towards me, prompting me to grab it from the air.

“What’s this?” I asked, already unfurling said object.

“It’s a scroll,” he smugly told me, watching my reaction carefully.

I decided to be more mature than I normally am, and simply flipped him the bird, while my eyes scanned the contents of the source of his smartassery. From the elegant script, it seemed to be more of a message...

Dear Mr. Voyageur,

For your own safety, as well as our own, my sister and I have elected to communicate to you via system of messages. The guard will provide you with paper, and a quill with which to write with. Please, accept our apologies, as this is a method highly recommended by a very trusted friend and ally of ours.

Best Regards,

Princess Celestia.

I actually felt a brief pang of anger at the words, and had to focus on not losing my temper. The very fact that they had taken all of this precaution against someone they hadn’t even met, based on one man’s word against me, was something I did not want to even tolerate. It was that whole prejudice against wizar-

Wait a moment, I thought to myself. The guards. The way Shining Armor reacted. Twilight defending me. The way they refer to me by my full name. The anonymous “friend”. Only two people here on this world could possibly have the right connections to set all of this up, and so far, I’ve really only pissed off one of them.

Alex.

“That son of a bitch is on my last nerve,” I snarled, balling the scroll up into a wad. I sent a sharp glare at the guard, not even hiding any of my anger at the situation. The guard, in turn, switched from a cocky smirk to a panicked expression at the speed of Hindsight.

“I-I’m supposed to, erm, uh-” he started to stutter out, evidently afraid of me.

Ye Gods. He’s afraid of me. Nevermind his earlier bravado; that was all just a show. Something to hide his fear, to try and fool himself into thinking I’m not deadly or dangerous. He was actively working to hide his thoughts, his feelings from me. Not even two days, and I’m basically the thing to watch for danger...

How much influence did this friend have amongst the princesses?

Shining Armor and Twilight both watched me with baited interest, both of them evidently waiting for me to do something.

Alright. I’ll do something for them, then. After all, if they want to see a show...

Best to give them what they want.

“Alright, rookie, you’ve done your job,” I said, getting up from my seat. Before anyone could even say anything, I used a bit of magic to call forth small burst of wind that caught my staff, and tossed it to my waiting hand. The guard balked at the sight of it, and I gave him a sly wink. “Have a nice day,” I cheerfully told him.

“Travis, where are you going?” Twilight asked in a concerned voice.

“Oh, you know,” I growled lightly in return, thumping my staff heavily against the marble tiles. “Just going to do an AC/DC.”

“What?” nearly all three of the ponies gathered said at the exact same time.

I only smiled at them, and let my staff glow in its signature white runes.

“I’m gonna shake your foundations.”

And with that, before anyone could react, before I could second-guess what I was about to do, before I applied logic to my situation...

I used a small Forzarre spell to burst open the doors to the throne room, and kept a big, cocky smile on my face while I walked at a completely leisurely pace, never stopping to acknowledge the surprised guards, and only barely taking note of the twin “Alicorns” at the end of the long room.

“Princess Celestia, Princess Luna!” I half-shouted in my best showman’s accent, throwing my arms out as if I meant to hug them. “You’re looking extraordinary today! And how, might I be so bold as to ask, are you doing?”

Spotting a tea set that was still being levitated by a shocked butler, I grinned widely, and used a bit of magic to blast a teacup to my outstretched hand. This was probably going a bit overboard, but...I felt a little entitled to it. They went overboard on the paranoia, and made me feel like the elephant in the room.

I downed the tea in one gulp, burning my tongue a bit as it went down. I grimaced, and said, “Ack! Hot tea, hot! Sorry, shouldn’t have done that. Here, mind taking this off my hands for me?” I said, placing the teacup on a nearby guard’s horn. “Thanks, sweetie.”

I turned my full attention back to the Princesses, and smiled widely at them. “So! I think you wanted to meet me, right?” I asked them, rubbing my knuckles on my jacket. Almost a second later, I smacked myself on the forehead, and added, “Oh, where are my manners? This is rude of me, I’m sorry.”

They didn’t seem to have any answers coming yet, so I figured I’d fill the silence with my own dashing charisma and charm. After all, a wizard’s gotta have a certain flair to them. Never stopping in my stride, I bowed low to them, twisting my staff in my hand like it was a baton, and made sure that my eyes never left their general direction.

“I am the one and only, Travis Voyageur! Wizard, detective, and tonight’s entertainment!”

Ladies and gentlemen, if there is one thing I know how to do, one thing I’ve picked up in my six hundred years of Traveling, it’s how to make an entrance. And this entrance had gotten me the undivided attention of two Goddesses, their highly-trained, surely elite guards, one of the most powerful magic users in the world, and a guard who was definitely over paranoid about the paranoid guy.

...You know, in retrospect, it was probably a bad idea to decide to do all of this after getting a small concussion, probably made worse by good ol’ Shut Up Nero.

You just realize this now?

Shut up, Nero.