Sorry this has taken me so long to write. May was an insainly crazy month.
The following morning couldn't come fast enough for Percy. Sleep was rare and when it did come, it was filled with visions of a dying Annabeth that shook Percy to the core. He tried wrapping his head around this strange world he had entered. Everyone he had met seemed nice enough, which was a relief, compared to other receptions he's had. Flying yesterday had been exhilarating, and it felt good to laugh even for a little while. Dinner had been interesting. He found himself following the other pegasus' lead whenever it came to doing something new. But today, Percy was finding it hard to keep his wings folded, as he was anxious to get going. He ate breakfast quickly, while everyone else slowly ate while chatting amongst themselves. As everyone was loading the train painstakingly slow, Percy realized he was missing something vital. He looked around his body. There were no jeans and therefore no pockets. Where was Riptide? Percy suddenly felt more naked than ever without it.
"Still checking yourself out?" Rainbow Dash teased.
"No. I just realized I'm missing something."
"We checked your crash site thourally. There wasn't anything there." Prince Shining Armor said as he checked the last of the luggage.
Percy frowned.
"Cheer up. It's time to go." Rainbow Dash got onto the train.
"Why don't we just fly?" Percy asked.
"Trust me, this way is better." Rainbow Dash grinned. Percy was about to get on when he saw Princess Cadence and Prince Shining Armor nuzzling each other saying their goodbyes. The sight made him long for Annabeth. He quickly boarded and found a seat next to Rainbow Dash, who sat across from Pinkie Pie and Rarity. Percy noticed several of the soldiers surrounding them staring at him and then whispering amongst themselves.
"I think I'd prefer to fly." Percy muttered as he ducked his head down.
Rainbow Dash placed a hoof on his back for a moment then took it off. He appreciated the gesture. Percy turned his focus to looking out the window and was relieved when the train started moving. He watched the scenery fly by and before long he drifted off. He dreamed of enslaved horses being whipped and beaten. He watched as The empousa, Kelly, lounged on the throne in the Crystal Palace with no trace of Princess Cadence or the little foal she had with her. He dreaded to think what happened to them, but he was sure he already knew. The dream changed to a city that looked straight out of a fairytale book with a white castle atop a hill and quaint shops and homes lining the streets. The entire scene was mared, however, by a large black hole with hordes of dracnea, empousa, telekines, and many other varieties of monsters streaming through it and filling the quaint streets. Thorne was in his full monster form and looking over the incoming monsters. Percy saw a brilliant white Alicorn with pastel rainbows streaming from her mane chained up cruelly. Even her wings were chained down. Next to her was an alicorn as black as night in a simalar condition. He felt compassion stir in him to see such beautiful creatures treated so cruelly. Suddenly the black alicorn turned and looked right at him and asked, "What are you?"
Percy started so bad, he woke up with a jerk. His hooves flailed in the air before he landed on the floor awkwardly.
"Whee!" Pinkie Pie laughed as she landed on top of him.
Percy could tell that Rainbow Dash was trying not to laugh. Several soldiers laughed openly. Percy felt like anything but laughing.
"You okay?" Rainbow Dash tried to hide her chuckle.
Percy gave her a disbelieving look, "Really?"
"Sorry." She said not sounding sorry at all.
"Weren't we playing a game?" Pinkie Pie asked innocently.
Rainbow Dash," Rarity reprimanded, "stop giving him a hard time. It is just the first stop. We didn't mean to wake you." Rarity explained.
"Trust me, it wasn't you who woke me." Percy looked back outside the window so see ponies of all types of colors doing business with one another. It strongly reminded Percy of an old western scene. Before long, the train was moving again. "So is everyone here a horse?" Percy asked.
"Only in Equestria. The Griffins are to the west and the yaks are to the south, Hippogriffs are to the east." Rarity explained.
"Uh-huh." Percy tried to wrap his head around that piece of information. "And the princess with a horn and wings is . . ."
"An alicorn." Rainbow Dash looked bored now. "There's only four in all of Equestria. Our friend Twilight being one of them.
"So why do you call her a princess and not a queen, and why isn't the prince an alicorn." Percy rushed, asking only a few of the hundred of of questions running round his head.
Rarity gave a dismissive laugh. He's a prince because she's a princess. And she's a princess, because . . . " they looked at each other with questions of their own.
"It just is." Rainbow Dash answered.
"Oh." Was all Percy could come up with. They were quiet as they traveled with the occasional interruption from Pinkie Pie. Percy thought of his dream and its possible meanings. Had they already happened? Were they about to happen? So many monsters in this seemingly perfect world was something that shook Percy, right to the core. Percy's thoughts again drifted to Annabeth. Where was she now? Was she going to be at their destination? It made him anxious just thinking about it. Percy's thoughts were interrupted when the train came to an abrupt stop. He took in his surroundings. There were ponies racing by the train. They looked to be outside of some town.
"To arms." A unicorn clad in armor stood up and the soldiers started to file out of the train. There was screaming and yelling, and Percy's senses went into battle mode. He got off the train and saw telekines with their long spears laughing as they chased ponies around. He saw some pegasi take off into the air, only to be brought back down with nets cast over them.
"What the?" Rainbow Dash said when she got a good look at them.
"Run." Percy yelled as he charged toward the monsters.
"What are you doing?" Rarity repremanded him as he ran into the fray.
What was he doing? He realized that in his current condition that this wasn't the best idea. He bit and kicked at the telekines, but, unsurprisingly, nothing had an effect on them. He got a nasty cut across his chest that made him stagger back.
"The water!" He heard Rainbow Dash's voice above him. "Missed me." She taunted as she dodged a net being thrown at her.
Wings! Why hadn't he thought of that? Percy extended his wings, knocking a couple of telekines off their feet in the process, and jumped into the air while flapping his wings. He spotted a fountain in the town center. Just as he lined himself up to it, he felt a piercing pain in his wing. He crashed spectacurally a few feet from the fountain. His body screamed in pain. He looked at his wing to see a spear sticking through it. He grabbed it with his teeth and painstakingly pulled it out. Once it was out he threw it toward the nearest telekine, which didn't have quite the effect he wanted as the telekine grabbed it out of the air. Percy tried to get up, but felt one of his legs give way. Sprained or broken, Percy didn't know, nor did he have time to access it with the telekines swiftly approaching him. Percy awkwardly used his remaining limbs to drag his strange body toward the water. The telekines were almost on top of him when several pots and pans fell out of the sky on top of the telekines, who didn't appreciate it. They threw their spears in anger. Percy watched as Rainbow Dash and several other pegasi swerved and dodged the arrows, but one hit a pegasus' wing and he fell not far from where Percy was. It gave Percy enough time to get to the fountain. Once his body hit the water, he felt strength return to his body and stood up weakly on his leg. The telekines were approaching the fallen pegasus. Percy felt a tug in his gut, and a wave of water rushed out of the fountain and swiped the telekines off their feet and several feet away.
Percy became aware that the soldiers were behind some sort of shield. He watched as ponies ran through the shield without any resistance., but the telekines washed right up to it, but couldn't pass through. Murmurs and exclamations broke out.
"It can't be." One telekine said as he stood back up. "You have no affect over us, son of Posiden. We are also of the sea." He said as he advanced. The telekine surprised him as he lept into the air and hit him in the face, making him fall back into the fountain. Percy lay in the fountain, trying to stop the ringing in his ears. He saw a bright light and tried to focus on it. Eventually he realized that the light was from his flank, and that as the light faded, two pictures appeared on it. He instantly recognized them, but what really caught his attention was that one of them looked like it was more than a picture. He could hear the telekine getting ready for another strike. Without even thinking, he bit the end of his precious Riptide and slashed at the telekine. The telekines face widened in surprise and then he dissolved into golden dust. Percy stood back up with the sword in his teeth. The other telekines muttered amongst themselves as they eyed Percy with his sword.
One grew bold and swiped at his sword with his spear. Of course, Percy didn't have the strength to keep a hold of it and his sword fell into the fountain. The telekines saw this as an opportunity and attacked. Percy then had an idea. He concentrated on the water and felt a twinge in his gut. The sword rose out of the of the water with a fist of water holding it. In five quick blows the telekines burst into golden dust. The fist of water holding his sword felt like an extension of his own body.. He almost felt like himself.
"He's getting away!" Rarity called out.
Percy turned and saw a telekine scrambling as fast as it could out of the village. Percy raised his fist of water and threw the sword with deadly accuracy. It ran through the telekine like nothing, turning it into golden dust.
Percy returned the water back to the fountain. And carefully stepped out. He noticed a lot of gapping mouths, which he thought looked weird on horses.
"My wing is healed." The pegasus that had been hit with a spear said. "You healed me." He said in awe.
Percy looked back at him with just as much surprise. "That's never happened before."
Rainbow Dash landed in front of him with an incredulous look on her face. "That. Was. Awesome!" She punctuated each word.
"Uh . . ." Percy wasn't sure how to respond.
"Oh, what a lovely cutie mark." Rarity came to inspect it closer.
Percy looked back at it. "My swords back!" The picture of Riptide had reappeared. Next to it was a trident with blue water swirling around it.
"Does that mean you're good with forks?" Pinkie Pie asked.
"No." Percy said in a slight daze. "It's my father's symbol."
"Interesting." Rarity looked deep in thought. "Like Apple Jack's family all have apples. Does your family make forks?" She asked politely.
Percy gave a snort at the idea. "My father is Posiedon." When no one showed any signs of recognizing the name, he continued, "God of the sea, storm bringer, earth shaker, creator of horses, . . . and father of Pegasus."
Everyone was quiet at this proclamation.
"Woah, woah, woah! You want to run that by me one more time." Rainbow Dash stared at him disbelievingly.
"On my world, my father, Posiedon, created horses." Percy sighed.
"And?" Rainbow Dash tried to draw it out.
"And is the father of Pegasus, which probably explains why I turned into a pegasus."
"So we're related?" She looked at him doubtfully.
"I try not to think about any of my half siblings. As far as we're concerned, it probably doesn't count."
"That's weird." Rainbow Dash looked at him strange.
"Out of that entire spill, that's what you got out of it." Rarity looked at Rainbow Dash disbelievingly. "He's the son of a god. A god!" She emphasized.
"Whatever you are or wherever you came from, you can fight these things." Prince Shining Armor said.
"The life of a half-blood requires that you learn how to fight to survive."
"If we can secure shields over the towns, can you fight them?" Shining Armor asked.
"Sounds like a plan. To bad I can't have water with me everywhere. I don't know how to use a sword in this body."
"Inspiration!" Rarity sang. "I'll make you a saddlebag that can hold water so you can carry it around with you. I know just the material to use."
Percy tuned her out after that. She kept going on about stitches and patterns. "Alright, then where to next?"