I didn't keep track of how long I was talking, but I told Hestia about my initial arrival into Equestria, how an ancient Alicorn brought my house, staticnet, electricity and water with me, changed me into a human-Alicorn hybrid, albeit on accident, and about all my adventures in great detail. It helped to pass the time, especially since our destination didn't seem to be growing any closer. I also relayed the nature of My Little Pony to her, which greatly piqued her interest.

"…and after a long talk with Thalia and Adranus, I made them promise to keep an eye on Spike, then I entered the tower," I finished as before taking a small drink from my water canteen before offering some more to Hestia, who drank gratefully. "It's pretty obvious what happened after that."

"Indeed," Hestia said, then she turned to me. "I'm curious, though, how did you solve the three riddles in the first chamber without using magic?"

"I had non-magical means to reproduce flames," I said, then proceeded to recount that story as well, bringing out the now defunct lighter and flicking it a few times, producing one small flame for a few seconds before it vanished again. I also took out my phone, showing him the camera feature and snapping a few panoramic shots of the cave we were in for Twilight to geek out over later.

Hestia stared at it, then looked back at me with a surprisingly bemused expression. "You know, there was a candle in that room, one that was pretty well hidden. It was meant to show you the letters."

I facepalmed. "Yeah…I didn't see it, and I am on the clock right now."

"I understand that," Hestia said. "I'm just saying you solved it very differently than it was meant to be solved."

"This was one reason why I wanted Daring Do with me," I grumbled, "I mean, come on! It's not like I'm any good with these sort of things." Looking back at Hestia, I then said, "It's my turn to ask questions. Question one: how are you speaking English to me right now? All other Phoenixes have their own language."

"You mean this one?" Hestia asked in the Phoenix language.

"Exactly," I said. "Are all Phoenixes capable of speech?"

She shook her head. "No. I am special in that sense. And as to how I know your language, well, the moment I was reborn, I came back learning your language. Bennu helped with that. Dude says hi, by the way."

I turned and gaped at Hestia. "Did you just…call the king of the Phoenixes…a dude?"

Hestia smirked. "I did say he helped me learn your language. That includes some new words, bro."

I groaned. "My household just keeps getting bigger and full of the unusual…I hope Eve'll be okay with this, and I shudder to see how Scarlet will react to you."

"I'll have a talk with Eve when we return to your home," Hestia said before she looked at me curiously for a bit. "Any other questions?"

"Hmm…" I closed my eyes and thought. Since we apparently had a long walk ahead of us, I decided now was as good a time as any to get some history lessons, and if this Phoenix was there during the time of these ancient Dragons, perhaps she knew something about their culture. But first, I had to know if she was around. "How old are you? Were you really around during the time of the Dragons who built the city?"

Hestia closed her eyes, smiling as if remembering some good times. "I'm not sure how long I've been in this statue, but I do know that I was alive for the last three generations of the Dragon rulers who controlled the motions of the heavens."

I nodded. "So, Dragons did control the motions of the sun and moon before the Ponies took over, huh?"

"They did control the day and night cycle, yes," Hestia said. "I am not quite sure just how the Ponies managed to take over, though."

"From what Twilight told me, it used to take a fuckton of Unicorns to do it before Celestia and Luna showed up," I replied.

Hestia nodded. "It takes a great deal of magic to keep the Heavenly Accord." harmony

"Heavenly Accord? What's that?" I asked.

"Forgive me, it's a rough translation from Draconic," Hestia said. "The ancient Dragons followed a belief in the Accord of life." She stopped, turned to me, and grinned. "Actually, now that I think about it, Harmony would be a better translation."

I couldn't help it. I laughed. "Dragons believing in Harmony? Wow. I know only one Dragon who would believe in Harmony, and that's Spike."

"Spike, eh?" Hestia looked at me curiously. "What's he like?"

I smiled. "Spike is one of the bravest and most loyal Dragons I've met. Despite knowing I was coming to the Dragon Lands alone to try and find the Sunsword, he still came along because he was worried about me. And he hasn't even experienced a molting yet!"

Hestia's eyes widened in alarm. "A young male came along who hasn't experienced a molt?!" she asked in alarm. "And he isn't with you?"

"I was told he couldn't come in by Thalia and Adranus," I replied.

Hestia sighed. "Remind me to give those two a good thrashing when we get out of here."

"Heh, don't be too hard on them. They're keeping watch over him while I'm in here," I said, "and if that's not enough, there's a Pegasus Pony on the castle grounds who's exploring. If I don't make it out of here before nightfall, she'll be able to keep an eye on him."

Hestia relaxed slightly, but not much. "Still, for a Dragon hatchling to follow you across the ocean in nothing but a burlap sack speaks volumes about him. And about you."

I shook my head. "It speaks a lot more about him than me," I said. "Truth be told, I love the little guy a lot. He might be just a kid, but I'm pretty protective of him. The two of us don't spend as much time together as I think we should, and I'd like to try and change that."

She chuckled. "I look forward to meeting this young hatchling very much."

Absent mindedly, I reached up and stroked her head. As she cooed, I said, "I'll make sure you do." Turning to her, I said, "Well, do you have another question for me?"

She looked at me, a curious expression once more on her face. "Well, I do, actually. This My Little Pony story…can you tell me more about it?"

I pulled out my phone, looking at the signal. I was a bit shocked that I still had any signal. "I can do more than that," I said as I unlocked my home screen and opened Netflix…

After watching the first two episodes of the show, we were almost at our destination, which I now saw was a large orb of glowing energy with a familiar looking sword hovering in the air directly above a swirling circular pool.

As I closed Netflix, Hestia could only look stunned. "That is…quite unusual," she said in a quiet whisper, which in the massive cavern echoed around us. "How did your kind find the history of our world, or even future events?"

"Believe me, I've discussed that with Twilight a few times," I said, "and there's so many possibilities. But this world is so much more than how it's portrayed in the show. It's darker, grittier, but there's still so much good in this world, a lot more than I could say for mine. Back in my old world, I wasn't really living. Ever since I've come here, I've gotten a girlfriend, a ton of amazing close friends, and despite getting involved in some pretty nasty shit since coming here, I would rather be in Equestria than back on Earth."

"Don't you miss certain things about your old world?" Hestia asked.

I nodded. "I mean, sure. I miss fast food, for one. I miss driving my car. I miss certain food products, especially meat. It's hard to get meat here, especially when almost everything that I used to eat back on Earth can talk here. Sometimes, I even miss other humans, but I can travel to another Earth that's practically identical to mine. Even so, I'd much rather be here. Here, friendship means more to these Ponies than it would to an average human. It forms a lot faster, and can literally make a rainbow laser of power."

Hestia laughed heartily. "So I saw. Did you witness the event we just saw?"

I shook my head. "Nah, not personally. I didn't go to Ponyville until a month after I arrived in Equestria."

Hestia nodded. "If the Ponies have indeed taken the Celestial Reins, I don't blame you for avoiding them."

"Eh, what matters is that I've been accepted into Ponyville for the most part," I replied. "And it looks like we're here."

The two of us stopped right in front of the large glowing orb of magical energy surrounding the large circular pool with the sword hovering in the air. The sword itself…well, I had to admit, the images I saw didn't even begin to do it justice. As I'd seen in the murals, it was one half of a broadsword. Much like in the murals, it had Dragon wings for crossguards, a spiked tail for a handle, and a broad blade with spikes near the bottom of the blade itself. The source of the magic barrier seemed to come from the sword itself. If I was honest, the whisps of magical energy moving towards the edge of the spherical barrier reminded me a bit of those electric globes I would see in our local mall's Spencer's. Unlike the depiction of the mural, however, the sword appeared to have been snapped in half, but as I zoomed in closer with my phone's camera, I saw that it was an intentional appearance. The edges of the break were too smooth. Like it was one piece of a puzzle.

I pressed against the magical barrier, and wasn't surprised when it held me out. Also, much like those globes of electricity back on Earth, a bolt of magical energy close by moved closer to me and lit up brighter, remaining in the same place. I removed my hand and it began moving away, dimming back to its normal glow. Putting my hand back on it, the bolt of magical energy returned and lit up brighter once again. I removed my hand again, stroking my chin thoughtfully "Hmm…"

"Any thoughts?" Hestia asked.

"Hang on," I said as I took a few steps back. I dug an X in the dusty surface with my foot, then took out the same bit from before. I flipped it and caught it. "Heads for left, tails for right," I said, then looked down at the bit. "Right it is," I said as I slipped it back into my pocket, then turned left.

"May I see that coin?" Hestia asked.

"Sure," I said, fishing it back out and handing it back to her. "It's a bit, and from what I've seen in the show, it's a pretty common denomination of money in the world."

Hestia took it in her wings, turning it over to look at it in the light of the magical barrier beyond us. She seemed more interested in the coin than anything else, so I just left her to examine it. It amused me to see my new Phoenix companion just looking over a simple bit like it was the Holy Grail.

When I finally made a full rotation around the barrier, I'd been walking for around ten or so minutes. Hestia slowly handed me the bit, and I stuffed it back in my pocket. "Any ideas, Jethro?" Hestia asked.

I almost answered, but just then, the green octahedronal gem around my neck began to glow softly. I looked down at it, only to see it starting to hover, the bottom point aiming directly towards the sword. Curious, I turned to the side, but the gem continued hovering in the same position. I frowned. "Huh…wonder what this-WHOA!"

Just then, the gem began being pulled towards the sword itself. I was so surprised that I was caught off guard and was pulled through the air. But while the gem passed through the barrier easily, I wasn't so lucky. I found myself splayed against the barrier face first, the chain around my neck digging into my skin. With each passing second, the chain around my neck only got tighter. With my face pressed against the barrier, I couldn't get any air into my lungs. I fought back, trying to pull back, but the force around my neck was a bit much. Panic began setting in as the barrier around me began deforming in the shape of my body. Tears streamed down my cheeks as the barrier closed around my ears, cutting off the panicked sounds of my new Phoenix companion. I continued moving closer to the sword slowly, the gem approaching the end of the sword's hilt. I tried using magic to move, but that drained me even more. Soon, dark spots formed around the corners of my eyes, and my vision became blurry.

Is this it? Do I die from suffocation? Those were my last thoughts before a blinding bright light filled my narrowing vision. I felt myself falling, all pressure around my body vanishing as I fell into cold water. I gasped, drinking in great gulps of air, my hearing back as well. Hestia's scared voice came closer as she landed on my shoulder. "Jethro?! Are you okay?"

I continued taking in deep breaths of air, holding up a finger to silence her. Fortunately, it seemed the newly reborn bird understood the gesture, because she went silent. Looking down, I saw that I was sitting right underneath the floating sword. I cupped my hands, splashing the cold water in the pool against my face. It helped, and I grabbed the side of the pool and slowly stood up. "Well…that was a trip," I said, before realizing just how dry my throat was. I grabbed my water and downed half of it, gasping after I finished. I cleared my throat and looked around.

I was standing in about a foot of water now, water that was slowly spiraling around in the pool below me. The water rippled as I stood, disturbing the pool that had, presumably, not been disturbed since this cavern was set up. The ripples slowly faded, although I could still feel the slow movement around my legs. I faced the sword, looking it over and wondering just how I could grab it without touching it with my skin.

With my skin…

Just then, an idea popped into my head. I reached into my backpack quickly, pulling out the gloves Rarity gave me, and slipped them on after drying my hands on what little portion of my clothes were still dry. Fortunately, the gloves had not gotten soaked, so they were easy to slip on after I got my hands as dry as I could. Looking down at my soaked gloves, I wasn't entirely sure if this would work. "The moment you touch the sword, it belongs to you, yes?" I asked, turning to Hestia. She nodded. "So technically, if I don't touch it with my skin, it doesn't count, right?"

Hestia tilted her head. "Even though I wasn't meant to come this far, I can't tell you anything. I've been forbidden to tell you anything."

I sighed. "Well, let's try a few things, then." I lifted my hand towards the sword, trying first to grab it with telekinesis, but whatever was suppressing magic was still active since the glow around the sword vanished directly into said sword. I groaned, then got out of the pool and looked around the sides, hoping to find something that could give me any hint as to what I should do next. However, there was nothing. No writing, no magic fire runes (I briefly let my wings burst into flames just to be sure), nothing.

Next, I took off my hoodie and tried as carefully as I could to tie it around the sword's hilt. I pulled as hard as I could, but not even that seemed to work. I tried using my Earth Pony strength, but even that failed.

Finally, not knowing what else to do, I gripped the hilt in my gloved hands and pulled. And pulled. And pulled. And yet, there was no reaction. I sighed, feeling defeated and sat on the ground in front of the pool, staring at the sword. A horrifying suspicion began forming to the forefront of my mind.

I removed the glove on my right hand, stormed over to the sword, and swiped at the hilt. The moment my bare skin wrapped around it, I felt its weight and balance. As it began to fall, I gripped it with both hands, holding it carefully so it didn't touch the water. I held it up in my hand, looking in disbelief at the half sword in my hands. The sword itself seemed to glow briefly with an inner fire before dimming back to its normal self. With this, any doubts I might have had at my growing suspicions vanished.

I had to touch it.

There was no other way. I had to touch this sword with my bare hands to remove it.

Fear rose up inside me as Hestia landed on my shoulder. Just then, a large circle of fire formed around me. All I could do was stare at the half bit of sword in front of me with complete terror. I owned this sword now. Something inside me just knew I was the master of this sword and had dominion over the power it possessed. A power Torch craved. A power that was now completely out of his possession. Because it was now mine.

The flames around me grew larger and larger until they enveloped the area around me. I closed my eyes, a part of me wondering just what was happening, but another part of me was far away. I failed. Even if I suspected that Torch wouldn't keep his word, I still had a small portion of hope that he would.

A hope that was dashed to pieces the moment I touched the sword with my bare hand.

And just like that, the sound of flames around me vanished, and I felt something warm against my face. Opening my eyes, I saw that I was now outside once more, standing right at the entrance to the tower, the Sunsword still in my right hand, my left hand gripping onto the glove I'd removed. On my shoulder, Hestia was still perched, looking at me.

I slowly turned around, looking down towards where I'd last seen Spike and the other two Phoenixes. Thankfully, they were still down there. Spike was sipping on the bottle of water I'd left for him, and Thalia and Adranus were sitting opposite him. The three looked like they were having an animated discussion. With a heavy heart, I removed my gloves, shoved them both in my pockets and trudged towards them, not looking forward to giving not only Spike bad news, but the Ponies back home.

Instinctively, I began to blame myself, but the moment I did, I shook my head. No, Jethro, this is not your fault, I shouted at myself in my head. You did what you could to not touch it, but in the end, you had no other choice.

Behind me, I heard something began to crumble. Whirling, I looked at the tower I'd just been in, only to see cracks forming at the base. With each passing second, I saw the cracks spreading upwards, dust bursting out of said cracks. "Shit!" Turning, I ran down towards the others, Hestia taking flight as I ran. When I was within a few feet, I grabbed Spike in my magic, shoved him under my arm as tightly as I could, and launched myself into the air. Thalia, Adranus and Hestia all flew into the air as well, the latter a bit shakily, but with help from the other two, she managed to avoid the falling debris which headed our way.

The ruins of the tower slammed into the street where Spike had just been, causing a massive cloud of dust to explode from the ruins, surrounding the air quickly. Holding Spike protectively under my left arm, I flew back towards the hole in the main building which the possibly flying galleon had crashed through. As I flew towards it, I saw a familiar pith helmet wearing Pegasus flying in my direction. "What in Tartarus just happened?!" she asked when I was in earshot, "and who's the new Phoenix?"

"I'll explain later," I said quickly as I flew down towards the hole. Passing through without incidend, I landed right in front of the downed galleon, with Daring Do landing beside me, and the three other Phoenixes landing beside her. I slowly put a trembling Spike down.

He looked up at me worriedly. "Jethro…?"

"We have a problem," I said.

Daring Do looked at me with a serious expression. "What kind of problem?" she asked.

I held up the Sunsword in my hand. Daring, Spike, Thalia and Adramus all looked at the sword with varying degrees of awe. "I just took possession of this sword. Torch won't be able to receive its power."

Silence filled the room around us. A full minute passed before anyone spoke. And the last words I ever expected to come from the young drake echoed around the hall.

"Fuck."