Awkward Situations

Chapters

The Findings
The Sharings
The Askings
The Visitings
The Showings
The Eatings
The Workings
The Wakings
The Leavings
The Stayings

The Findings

Alright, so this is week three on a foreign planet. At least I think this is a foreign planet. I don't really remember anything before about three weeks ago. I do remember Zecora though. She's pretty cool. She took care of me when I first got here. Well, she said she did. All I remember is waking up covered in bandages; since that's not something you normally wake up in, I believed her. She more or less rhymed it to me...

"Hello there, strange one. In order to get here, can you tell me what you'd done?" I woke up in some weird hut with a horse right in my face, talking to me.

"The fuck?"

"All I'm asking of you is your cooperation, and in return a resolution and its implementation." She was talking.

"The fuck is a horse talking for?"

"I am a Zebra, dumbass! I can tell from your speech that you don't think very fast." And she was rhyming.

I could tell it was female by the way the voice sounded. Although it was pretty heavy; but you could still tell. Anyway, I passed out again shortly after her calling me a jackass. She woke me up a few minutes later, asked me a few more questions, I answered them, she made food, yada yada yada... Well, now I live with her. I don't really have anywhere else to go, so it was really nice of her.

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Sweetie Belle trotted merrily through the Everfree Forest. Usually she'd be scared of the place, but today was different. Today, she got to spend some quality time with a friend of her's at a picnic. While Zecora wasn't someone she saw on a daily basis, she still thought of the zebra as someone she could talk to about stuff friends would talk about.

Once the more compact section of trees had been traversed through, Zecora's hut was within Sweetie's field of vision. The happy little filly quickly galloped the rest of the way.

Knock Knock Knock

The wooden door quickly swung open, revealing the friendly smile of none other than Zecora.

"Why, hello Sweetie Belle! I know you're excited! I can just tell!"

"I am! I've been looking forward to this picnic all week! I brought all sorts of different foods for us too like: sunflower sandwiches, pears and apples, mashed potatoes, Pinkie gave me a few brownies too!"

"Quite a feast, Sweetie Belle. And it sounds like fun, too! But I need something from Fluttershy, I'll be back soon." With Zecora's leave, a slightly disappointed filly sat at the doorstep of the straw hut. Sweetie Belle quietly and patiently awaited her hostess's return, reorganizing a few things she had packed in her picnic basket.

Snap...

"Uh..." The unicorn glanced back and forth between various trees.

Rustle...

"Guess I could wait inside!"

SLAM

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I awoke on a beautiful morning at what I thought was about eight o' clock. Zecora didn't have a clock in the house, so it was 'wake up whenever and go to sleep when it's dark'. I didn't really have a problem with the whole idea; I just liked to be more in control of my day.

Once I had finally crawled out of bed, I slapped the tired out of my face with this weird stick thing that Zecora used to wake me up the first time we met. I haven't been able to concentrate on anything until I'd been smacked in the face with that stick. I walked to a mirror kept in my bathroom and combed my hair into a 'decent looking' condition.

SLAM

"Well, Zecora's awake." I said to myself. I grab my toothbrush in one hand and use the other to apply the toothpaste. Wouldn't you know it, I ran out. Now, Zecora is the only one, out of the two of us, that knows how to make this toothpaste. I was upset because I liked having a minty taste in my mouth to start the day. Oh, well... I headed back to my bedroom door and flung it open on my way to the 'living room'.

"Hey, Zecora. I'm out of toothpaste...." In the middle of the living room, on a chair before me, sat a little white coated, unicorn, filly with a purple and light pink colored mane, swirled into little balls in random places. Aside from the fact that the thing was fucking adorable, I was freaking out a little bit. Zecora said that I couldn't be seen by anyone outside of the hut because they would freak out and either start a riot, or kill themselves. I didn't really want either, so I obliged.

"Uh...." I was really at a loss for words. She was adorable, but potentially dangerous. How to react?...

"........uh..... hi?" My voice squeaked at the same time her's did, making her jump a bit. That was the cutest little voice I had ever heard! The only other voices I'd heard were Zecora's and my own, but still!

"Hi!" I returned. "What's your name?" I quickly made my way to the one of the bamboo chairs to join her at the matching table.

"Um... I'm Sweetie Belle. What's yours?"

"Jack." She was very calm when she talked to me. She was either paralyzed with fear, or she was confused as to what I was. Even still, I was eager to continue our conversation.

"So... What are you doing here?" I asked.

"I came over to have a picnic with Zecora. But she left and said she'd be back in a minute."

"Oh... That's where she went."

"I have a question." The little filly said. Her eyes were so fucking huge and shiny that I almost passed out.

"What?"

"What are you?" Very good question. What was I exactly? I wasn't an equine, because I didn't walk on four legs. I wasn't a rodent, because I couldn't survive on the same things they ate. I most certainly was a spider, because I wasn't fucking creepy as hell!

"I don't exactly know. I don't know alot of anything, and the only books Zecora has about anatomy talk about equines and animals. What do you think I am?" I looked to the little unicorn in actual bewilderment.

"I don't know either. I've never seen an animal like you before." Although she was cute, the term animal being used still hurt. I knew I wasn't an animal, but I still didn't know what I was; and it was that confusion that made the word animal hurt like it did.

"Oh, well..."

"But I do know one thing." A slight smirk appeared on her face.

"What?"

"I know you're pretty nice!" The smirk evolved into a full sincere smile.

"You're gonna give me diabetes, Sweetie Belle." I said. She'd really touched me with that. I've never talked to a child as young as her before. What she said and the way she said it made me feel pretty happy. I wasn't really in a depressing state to begin with, but it was still appreciated.

"Do you go places?"

"What do you mean?" I replied.

"Do you walk around or explore different places. There's a town called Ponyville nearby. That's where I live. It's really nice there. I live with my sister, Rarity, who is the town's best fashion designer!"

"Sounds like a pretty cool title. But no... I don't really ever leave the hut. Unless it to gather supplies for toothpaste. Then I'm allowed to look around." My gaze fell to the ground.

"Do you want to come with me back to Ponyville?" My eyes brightened at the very idea.

"YES! Wait. wait... Zecora said I can't leave."

"Well, I don't think it's very good for you to just stay inside all day and away from other nice ponies. Besides, It'll only be for a couple hours or so; just long enough to tour the town."

"DEAL!" I filled a large backpack with things of mine, grabbed the filly under my arm, and bolted out the door. But not before scribbling a little note for Zecora.

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Zecora returned to her hut moments later. The place seemed much more quiet than when she had left. If Jack had been good and stayed in his room, then everything would be fine. The last thing Zecora wanted was to break out her memory erasing powder again. Using it on Scootaloo after the Kelpie incident was hard enough on her as it was.

The zebra entered her home and sat her saddle bags on her bamboo table. Sweetie Belle was nowhere to be seen. This slightly aroused panic within the zebra and she was about to go looking for the little unicorn before she saw the note. Nailed to Jack's door was a small note in his hand writing.

Dear Zecora,

I've gone with Sweetie Belle to go check out Ponyville and stuff. You're welcome to join us if you want to. If you have a problem with me leaving, then you can suck a nut.

Sincerely,

Jack.

"Fuck!"

The Sharings

I ran along the edge of the forest with Sweetie Belle riding on top of my head. She was supporting herself with her hind legs on my shoulders and her front legs wrapped around my forehead. It was like having a cute little talking hat! She was giving me instructions on how to get back to place of residence.

"Okay, you need to sneak past Fluttershy's house." She said while pointing towards a nearby cottage.

"Right!... How?" We shared a moment of silence.

"Probably go around the back."

"Alright!" I made sure to be especially careful while going around back. The backyard was fairly open and wide, but to go around I had to pass by a good sized fenced off portion next to a chicken coop in the mare's yard. It was full of reptiles. Lizards, snakes, turtles.... I was afraid of reptiles...

"Jack? Are you alright?" I heard Sweetie Belle ask. I didn't notice at the time, but I was absolutely still. I wasn't even breathing!

"T-the sn-snakes and stuff..." I said as I pointed toward the slithering mosh pit of fear.

"Hey, you don't have to be scared. They're far away." She was trying to be comforting, but in reality, the pit was only about thirty feet away. "Just be careful and you can get past, alright?" Her voice squeaked again and I was filled with reassurance.

"Alright..." I took one small step of another, being careful not to alert the snakes.

PTSSSSS!!

I slowly brought my head down to my feet and saw the most terrifying thing ever. A constrictor was working its way up to my leg. Before I left that thing touch me, I did the bravest thing I could think of.

"GYAAAAAAAAHAHAHAAAAAAAA!!!!" I ran away screaming like Bubbles from the Powerpuff Girls!

"JACK! JACK, SLOW DOWN!!" I heard Sweetie Belle screaming in my ears, but I was too afraid to listen. That slithering, satanic, piece of shit almost TOUCHED ME!! I kept running as fast as I could; I had to make sure that the thing wouldn't be able to follow me.

"OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD!!!!!!"

"Jack! Wait... Turn here!" I kept running an ignored the command. That is, until she clenched a bunch of my hair in her teeth and yanked to the side.

"OUCH!" I reared to the left and crashed to the ground seconds later.

"Owwwwww....." We both found ourselves saying.

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Scootaloo and Applebloom sat indolently in the middle of the clubhouse, awaiting their friend's return from her picnic.

"Wanna go crusading for our fishing cutie marks?" Scootaloo asked.

"No." Applebloom replied.

"Wanna go crusading for our artist cutie marks?"

"No."

"Wanna go crusa-"

"NO! Scootaloo, we ain't supposed to go crusading without Sweetie Belle! It just don' feel right..."

"Yeah... I guess... Wanna play a game?"

"....Sure." Scootaloo halfheartedly turned to the far side of the clubhouse and stood by the wall. After three light taps with the tip of her hoof on a secret spot, a panel next to it slid open, revealing all sorts of different games, snacks, and trinkets they've collected.

"How about chess?" Scootaloo asked.

"Ugh... Okay..." Scootaloo grabbed the corresponding box and brought it over to her still siting friend; the panel closing itself behind her. The box was emptied into a bedraggled pile before the fillies grabbed the pieces of their kingdom and arranged them.

"So, I had a thought. Like after you said we can't go crusading." Scootaloo began.

"Yeah?"

"I was thinking about how we don't have our cutie marks and how we're made fun of for that."

"Yeah?"

"Well, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon are always making fun of us and I was wondering... What are their talents, exactly?" The two sat there in silence for a moment. A light giggling settled in. "I mean, what does Tiara do? Did she get her cutie mark from trying on different hats and finally found the right one?!" The laughing intensified.

"Or Silver Spoon! She probly got her's from learnin' how to eat every meal with just a spoon!" Applebloom chortled.

"Imagine eating waffles with a spoon!" Scootaloo howled.

"That'd be great! HAHAHA!!!" The two fillies exchanged a loud WHEW before catching their breathes and returning to usual, more calm state.

"I don' know though..." Applebloom began. "I think the only thang them two're good at is bein' a couple a no good little bit-" Applebloom quickly stuffed a hoof in her mouth. "Ah can't believe ah almost said... What ah almost said." Applebloom's eyes darted from left to right as if she expected Applejack to show up at any minute.

"Don't be so paranoid, Applebloom! It's just a swear." Scootaloo offered.

"Ah know, but ah was always taught not ta speak like that."

"It's not like anyone's gonna care or anything. Watch." Scootaloo sat up straight and cleared her throat. "Fuck!" The two looked around the room for a moment and after a short period of silence, Scootaloo continued. "See? The world didn't come crashing down, the city isn't on fire, your sister didn't even show up."

"Alright... Um..." Applebloom gulped. "B-bitch..." She whimpered.

"Was it really that bad?"

"Ah don' think I'd like ta talk like that anymore..." Applebloom looked almost sick.

THUMP

"Owwwwww...." Two voices could be heard groaning at the front of the clubhouse.

"What was that?" Scootaloo asked, not waiting for a reply. The two of them galloped over to the nearest window and stuck their heads outside. Sweetie Belle was lying on the ground, in what looked like pain, next to some giant thing!

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"Damn, that hurt..." I little more than whispered.

"Ouch.. My leg..." Still lying on the ground, I looked over to Sweetie Belle who had already stood up and dusted herself off; her foreleg was scratched slightly. "Are you alright, Jack?"

"Yeah, just glad that I didn't break my nose." I said while rubbing my face.

"SWEETIE BELLE, WHAT THE HECK IS THAT THING?!" I looked up to what looked like a tree house to see an almost neon orange pony with a purple streaked mane. A lighter colored, yellow filly with a red, flowing mane followed quickly after. She was sporting a large bow in her hair.

"He's a... a... What are you?" Sweetie Belle asked. I brought a hand up to my chin and thought for a brief moment.

"Zecora told me that I'm some kind of mythical creature... She called it a 'human' I think." Sweetie Belle smiled and turned back to her friends.

"He's a human! I found him in Zecora's house!"

"Is he dangerous?" The yellow one asked. I happily stepped forward.

"Aside from being able to crush your skull in one of my hands, no, I'm not dangerous." I was only about three feet shorted than most of the trees in the area. I was very big compared to most of the things in this world. Zecora was mostly keeping me around for protection when ever she needed something out of the forest. I remember ripping the jaw off of a Manticore once. But the fact that I had already made a rather dark joke and that I was standing proudly with a huge smile on my face afterwards only made the two upstairs back up a bit. "Hey, I'm just kidding! I'm not gonna hurt you."

"His name is Jack." Sweetie Belle said.

"I'm Applebloom."

"Scootaloo."

"Well, nice to meet you!" I said.

"Sweetie Belle, why are ya draggin' this guy around for?" Applebloom asked.

"I was going to go show Rarity." Sweetie Belle replied.

"Yeah, that'll go well." Scootaloo scoffed. Sweetie Belle acted as if she had never heard her.

"Well, we'll see when we get there, won't we?" I asked.

"Yeah!" I picked Sweetie Belle up and placed her back on top of my head.

"To where ever the heck you and your sister live!" I screamed as I ran off into the distance with no idea where I was going.

The Askings

Although the time I'd spent with the CMC was good and all, I really had to... I didn't know what I was doing.

"Where are we going? And why?" I asked my cute talking hat.

"To my house! I thought I told you that.." The last few words are much quieter than the rest.

"You did, but I didn't realize that you lived in a tree." I said, looking up at the huge thing in front of me.

"I don't."

"Why are we here?"

"I wanted to show you to Twilight first!"

"I am not a toy." My tone goes flat.

"I know, but you're really neat!" Her voice squeaks for the last words.

"I'm not some 'big cool looking thing' that you can just show off to all your friends." I feel her rest her chin on my head.

"But, you're neat..."

"I know, but still."

"Just Twilight and we can go to my house! Please!?" She squeezes her hooves around my head.

".... Just Twilight. That's it!" I say sternly.

"YAY!" I open the door on the side of the tree. Doors do not have trees, so I was a bit hesitant. I don't know why. But once it's open, I'm greeted with the sound of a bell ringing and the sight of a purple unicorn with wings talking to a white unicorn. They look like they're having a happy conversation until they see me.

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Twilight and Rarity were in the library one day, telling each other about some of the things they had planned for the Grand Galloping Gala.

"Oh! I also took the liberty of designing us all brand new gowns for the party!" Rarity said excitedly.

"That's perfect, actually! You see, I had this plan here," Twilight whipped out her notebook. "Where we have different clothing from last time, so as not to be recognized. That's taken care of. Then, we enter the party at different times so it seems that we're not part of a group. Finally, we all-"

Ding Ding

The two girls turned their gazes to the door at the same time, and at the same time, they dropped their smiles. Before them stood a giant something. It was completely barren of any fur except for on its head. It walked on two legs and wore gigantic clothes, much bigger than that that anypony they knew could where. A black, long sleeved shirt and navy blue, jean pants. Lastly, the two unicorns spotted none other than Sweetie Belle riding atop its head, smiling hugely.

"Hi Rarity! Hi Twilight!" She said with a squee.

"............." The two of them said. Jack looked around the room; they seemed to be in a library now, with hundreds of books lining ever wall of the place. The tree looked alot smaller on the outside. A long, uncomfortable silence filled the air as the alicorn and unicorn and giant with unicorn atop its head simply stayed in each other's presence.

"Alright, this feels weird." Jack said.

"What are you?" Twilight asked. Jack noticed that she seemed far more intrigued than afraid, unlike her friend.

"I am a.... Something-er-other. I don't know." Jack replied.

"I've never seen anything like you in my life.I haven't even read anything about you in any anatomy books! What could you possibly be?" Twilight asked again. This time, she walked to and around Jack, inspecting him.

"I honestly have no idea. Wait! Zecora, said she found what I was in one of her mythology books! She said I was a 'Human'."

"Homo sapien." Twilight said. "That's the scientific term for what you are. I remember looking through a mythological book once, myself, and stumbling upon a few different things that where believed to have lived here once." Jack became enveloped in the conversation.

"What else did it say about me?"

"Uh, little to nothing." Twilight gave a disappointed chuckle. "Sorry." Jack was gloomy looking for all of two seconds before looking back up with a smirk on his face.

"It's fine. At least I'm not one of those mysterious creatures you read about that has to be dark and depressed all the time because they 'don't know who they are' or whatever." He smiled. "And who are you young lady?" Jack asked towards Rarity. The white, unicorn mare still stared blankly back at the human.

"Uh..."

"Just answer. He didn't kill me when I spoke." Twilight said nudging her friend.

"Rarity. I-i'm Rarity." She finally managed to say.

"Hey there, I'm Jack!" Jack gleefully said.

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So after introducing myself to the mares, I was invited for dinner. Rarity was still reluctant to have me over at her house with Sweetie Belle, but Twilight wanted to give me a chance. I thought it was nice. The four of us sat at a table in the upper floor of the library. We were having a lasagna with extra veggies. It was gross to say the least. I was used to at least some meat. Beef or something...

"So... Jack. What does a normal day for you consist of?" Twilight asked me.

"Well, each morning I usually wake up on my own, which happens to be around sunrise. I'll head out into what I call the living room of Zecora's hut and she usually tells me of what we'll be doing that day. If we need to go get supplies for something such as toothpaste, she'll give me these really thick gloves and then we'll go looking for things in the forest."

"I see." She was writing notes down. "I can't believe Zecora would keep something like you from me."

"Whatever were the gloves for, dear?" Rarity asked with a curious smile.

"Oh! They're so I don't cut myself if I have to lift something or kill some animal." Rarity's smile immediately dropped. "They actually come down to about my elbows. That way, if something with claws swipes at me, I can defend."

"Wow..." Sweetie Belle said. The little filly at my side had stopped eating her meal in order to focus more on what I said.

"So, Zecora has you around for protection during her expeditions? Or does she have other uses for you?" Twilight asked.

"Well, I'm not exactly flattered by the the word 'use', but yes, I'm pretty much protection. I'm pretty much the biggest thing in the forest." Twilight stopped writing and looked back up to me in confusion. "Oh! Sorry, no I'm not. There was this one creature... A Hydra! Oh, that was challenging. But I still slaughtered it!" I leaned back in my chair, smiling.

"How?" Twilight asked.

"I'm by myself at home a lot and have a lot of free time. I learn how to do things. Such as fighting. I'm always training, man."

"But you surely couldn't have killed it with your bare hands."

"No, I used my gloves." Twilight tilted her head to the side. A confused look spread over her face. "I've been finding things and hooking them up to my gloves for awhile. Call me a little tinker. That's what I've been doing."

"I don't suppose you have them with you?" She seemed a bit excited.

"Actually, I do." I pulled the backpack off of my shoulders and unzipped it.

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Twilight, Rarity, and Sweetie Belle all watched as Jack pulled two large metallic gloves from his backpack and strap them to his arms. As Jack had said, they did cover from his finger tips to the ends of his elbows. The gloves seemed to be made of both a thick cloth and different metals. The knuckles were spiked and the palms were made more of the cloth than the metal.

"Alright. These are they." He said with a smile.

"How did you kill the Hydra?" Twilight asked again. Jack replied by thrusting his arms upward.

SHINK

A large blade exposed itself from the wrist of each of the gloves. Making everyone there jump.

"I've got a bunch of different gizmos in these things. Basically prepared for anything that comes my way."

"You are pretty good at hiding those 'gizmos'. I couldn't even see where the blades came from." Rarity said out of what sounded like a bit of fear.

"Well, thanks. I don't really even know how I was able to do this. It just made sense to me. But just in case you were wondering, these weren't the gloves that Zecora gave me. I did have some thicker gloves, but they were more or less gardening gloves. I just started picking up different things. I don't know how I made these work." Jack said, waving his arms.

Rarity looked out the window and found that the sun had already begun to set.

"I think it's time that Sweetie Belle and I head back home. Good night, Twilight." The white mare and smaller white filly headed towards the door.

"Can Jack stay with us? Pleeeeaaaaase???" Sweetie Belle asked her sister.

"No, Sweetie, dear. We don't have enough room for him. He positively gigantic! No offense."

"None taken." Jack said.

"I can have him stay here for tonight." Twilight volunteered. Everyone turned their attention towards Twilight. "If he's not wanting to go back to Zecora's house. He can sleep on the couch downstairs. Is that alright with you?" She asked looking up to Jack.

"Well, if I'm not imposing. Yes!" He said happily. Jack grabbed Twilight and tossed her into the air then caught her, then did it again and again! "Thank you, Twilight! This'll be the first time I get to stay in a house not surrounded by forest!.... Although it is a tree..." Rarity nudged her sister out the door.

"Come along, Sweetie Belle. You can come visit tomorrow." A long and cute sounding 'Awwwwww!!!' followed soon after.

The Visitings

Twilight set a bed up for me next to hers. I was extremely fascinated by the way she was able to make the bed without touching it. Zecora always did things like this by hoof, but Twilight was using telekinesis or some crap!

"It's called magic." Twilight corrected me.

"But it's like somethin' out of a sci-fi movie or somethin'!" I said excitedly.

"I thought you said that you'd been living with Zecora ever since you got here."

"I did. Did I say something else?" Twilight stared at me blankly for a moment.

"Never mind." Twilight said as she tossed the final comforter onto my bed with her magic, telekinetic, aura crap. I hastily dropped my backpack onto the floor and jumped into bed. Twilight stared at me with a confused expression as I wiggled around on my bed like a cat on silk.

"Oooohhhhhhohohohoh! This is soo soft! How do you get beds like this!?" I asked whilst still flopping around.

"Uh... I don't know... Just wash the sheets? And make sure you're not just sleeping on one side of the bed all the time."

"Cool. Hey, where's your buddy? The, uh, dragon. Yeah, where is he? He was here before dinner." I looked around quizzically.

"Oh, Spike went to go get a couple books for me. An announcement of some new releases was in the paper this morning and I wanted to take advantage. There were at least twenty on the list, so I tossed Spike a couple hundred bits and told him to bring back as many books as he could carry!" The both of us chuckled for a moment.

"Twilight, you're pretty misleading." I said.

"Oh? And how is that?'

"Well, most um, ponies, would think that upon seeing something like me, you'd go crazy with the tests and the research and never let me out of your sight." Twilight softly giggled. "But in all actuality, you've got this kinda laid back feel to ya."

"Thank you." She said with a slight blush. Twilight proceeded to her own bed where she laid down and shut out the lights with her magic.

A few moments of silence passed before I got too bored to put any more effort into sleeping.

"Hey, Twilight." I whisper softly.

"Yes?" She whispers back.

"Is Spike cool to be out this late?"

"Yes. He's usually out on late night errands, so it's no big deal."

"Cool. Hey, why do you have wings and a horn? Birth defect?" Twilight giggled softly.

"No. Not a birth defect. It's a really long story; like a life long story. But I earned these. I'm also a princess now." She said with pride in her voice.

"That's cool. So, did you get any guys? A princess gets guys, right?" I asked this question just to screw with her. I couldn't see her face, but I knew that one must've made her blush badly!

"No! I didn't get guys!"

"So, you don't like guys?"

"No! I mean, yes!.... You're frustrating, you know that?" She turned to her side so I was able to barely make out her face in the darkness. She looked to be on the edge of her bed, looking down.

"Which guys do you like?" I asked, still wanting to screw with her.

"There is this one guy."

"OOOOOOOOOO!! Twilight's gotta cruuuuuuuussh!!" I tease. Twilight reaches a hoof down and swats at my arm.

"His name is Flash Sentry. He's one of the Royal Guard."

"I-don't-know-what-that-is-but OOOOOOOOOO!!!!" That earned me another punch.

"Do you think he's hot?!" I say while stifling a laugh. Twilight smiled.

"Ugh, yes! Alright, yes, he's hot!"

"HAHAHA!!" I burst laughing and cracked my knee against the side of her bed, causing her to fall off and onto me. Our foreheads smashed together and we both gave a short Ouch! Twilight pushed herself up to a sitting position while still on top of me. The both of us were rubbing our foreheads when-

Click

The lights came back on and none other that Spike with books in hand was standing at the perch of the staircase. I took the moment to observe my surroundings. Twilight was sitting on my lap with a messy mane and a beat red face becasue of the situation and I was underneath her with messy hair and a beat red face because of the situation. In simple words, this didn't look good.

"I assure you that this is nothing like it looks like..." I said with slight shake to my voice.

"Am I in the middle of something?" The little dragon asked with a quivering eyelid.

"I said this isn't what it looks like you little pervert!!" I little less than shout.

"GAH!" Spike screamed on the way back down the staircase. Twilight punched me in the shoulder again.

"What?" I asked. "He was thinking things." The princess gave a flap of her wings and descended to the lower floor of the building.

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Spike sat in the middle of the library at the bottom floor, rubbing the sides of his head as he tried to forget what he'd seen. Seconds later, Twilight landed next to him.

"GAH!" He screamed. "Oh! Twilight, I didn't mean to walk in on you and Jack and... Whatever it is you two were doing!" The young dragon was close to hyperventilating.

"Spike, calm down! Nothing was going on. Jack was sleeping on a mattress next to my bed and I fell off. That's it." Twilight reassured.

"That's it?" Spike asked.

"That's it."

"Oh, thank Celestia! I don't usually think of you doing things like that, but that whole situation was-" Spike shuddered at the thought. "I mean, that was just disgusting! To imagine you and Jack g-" Twilight smacked Spike in the back of the head before he could finish.

"I fell off of my bed. That's. It." Spike looked at her with a slight frown.

"Alright, alright..... Anyway, here are the books that you wanted." Spike picked a pile of books up off of the floor and handed them to his alicorn caretaker.

"Thanks, Spike! This is great!"

"Alright. It's pretty late, I'm going to bed."

"Okay, goodnight." Twilight called to her assistant as he traveled to the next room. "I think I'm going to read a book or two before sleep." She opened up a new book and basked in the sound of that satisfying crackle that only new books make when opened. "Chapter one, The History of Spells." Before she could continue, a small piece of wadded up paper fell from the floor above Twilight and hit her in the head. She curiously unwadded it with her magic and read what was written inside.

A poem by Twilight Twilight was confused.

Roses are red

Violets are blue

I'll make out with Flash Sentry

And Spike can watch too!

"JACK!!"

The Showings

"Okay, Jack. I have a lunch packed for you this brown bag here," Twilight said whilst holding a bag in her magic. "And this new pair of shoes for you, because I noticed that your feet were cut up." I lifted a foot to get a good look at the bottom. It had nasty scars and scrapes and a few scabs here and there. I didn't really think a lot of it, but Twilight did. I smiled to her.

"Thank you, Twilight." I said as I pulled her into a hug. Twilight wrapped her wings around me in a return hug. It felt really weird!... But very nice.

"You have a good day."

"I will."

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Sweetie Belle merrily skipped to her friend, Twilight's house. It was a beautiful Monday morning and the eager filly was on her way to pick up her new friend, Jack, for a sort of 'Show and Tell' for her classmates at school.

As Sweetie Belle opened the door to Twilight's house, she noticed the purple alicorn hugging Jack.

"You have a good day." Twilight said.

"I will." Jack replied.

"Hi, Twilight! Hi Jack!" Sweetie Belle cheered. Jack swung his head to the side and met her giant smile with his own.

"Sweetie Belle! You ready for school!?"

"Yeah! Are you!?"

"YEAH!"

"YEAH!" Jack and Sweetie Belle circled the room several times just screaming 'YEAH' at each other.

"Alright! Alright! Enough screaming! You two will be late if you don't get moving." Twilight pushed playfully.

"Okay, let's go Sweetie!"

"Okay!" The large human and small filly ran out the door together.

"Bye, mom!" Jack said just before slamming the door. A very confused Twilight was left in the middle of the library wearing a slight grin that slowly evolved into a curious frown.

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Sweetie Belle and I headed up the side of a hill towards what looked like a stereotypical school house. Sweetie Belle galloped to the front of me and stopped me in my tracks.

"First, I have to give you some rules." She said in a serious tone. With her eyes narrowed and her stance solid, I tried my hardest not to lose it over how much more adorable this composure made her look.

"What would those be?" I asked.

"I already talked to my teacher, and she wrote some things down for me."

"Okay?" Sweetie Belle then proceeded to pull a list out of seemingly nowhere and read it to me.

"'No threats, no scary talk, no weapons, no frightening approaches, and no singing."

"Singing?"

"Yes." She stood there with her professional demeanor still in tact.

"Why? What if I want to go in there and start singing 'Low rider'?" I demanded, smiling.

"This one kid brought somepony in that was singing a nasty sounding opera song an- wait... Low what?"

"Oh, 'Low rider'. It's this one song that I heard back in-.... College... I'm. not... seeing it anymore."

"Jack, are you okay?" I was snapped out of my daze. I had my hand pressed to my forehead and was crouched, almost sitting. I had a slight headache.

"I'm fine. I'm fine... Let's get going to your school. We've got a lot to show them!

Sweetie Belle and I entered the school house and the first thing that I noticed was the immense amount of house pets. The next thing I noticed was the message on the chalkboard in big letters that read: 'Bring your pet to school day!' I looked down at Sweetie Belle and was met with an awkward smile.

"What is this?! I thought you said it was a 'friend day' or something! I'm not your pet!" I was pretty irritated.

"I know! I know! But I was just so excited to show you to everypony... And I wanted to let everyone know how great you were and 'pet day' came up on the board yesterday..."

"We met each other yesterday."

"I know! I was going to bring Opal, but then I remembered that she hates me, and then I met you!" Her story trailed off a bit, but she sounded sincere and was giving me the puppy dog eyes. "Please let me show you off!"

"....ugh... Fine! But I'm still not a pet!"

"Yay!"

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It had been a solid hour since Jack had entered Sweetie Belle's school, and so many fillies and colts had shown their pets. Jack noticed the pink and purple filly, that Sweetie Belle had told him of, had brought her poodle in to show everyone. She tried passing her dog off like it was the holy grail! And it made him sick.

"Alright! We've all seen everypony's wonderful pets! But now we have a special guest that Sweetie Belle brought to school today! Sweetie Belle?" Cheerilee called. Jack had been sitting in the back of the classroom on a ridiculously tiny chair. He'd been receiving stares from every little foal in the room, and he was happier than ever when Sweetie stood up and waved from him to follow her. The two met at the front of the classroom.

"Alright, Sweetie Belle. Introduce yourself and your friends here and you can begin." Cheerilee instructed.

"Hi, everypony! My name is Sweetie Belle and I have my friend Jack here to show off today!" All eyes were on Jack... Well, all eyes had been on Jack for the entire time he was there, but now they were extra on him. "He's a human! The only human I've ever seen and he said he'd answer any questions for you!" Immediately, everyone's hoof flew into the air and Jack was left speechless. After a moment, he pointed to a little, grey unicorn, filly with a golden mane.

"How much do you weigh?" She asked.

"Uh, Zecora told me that I'm about two hundred pounds." The fillies and colts murmured amongst themselves for a moment.

"Wow!" Cheerilee said. "You weight more than Celestia!" She said more to the class than to Jack. Jack dismissed the fact that he didn't know who Cheerilee was talking about and moved on to another question. A chubbier looking colt with a black mane was next.

"What do you do? Like work?" Jack looked to Cheerilee before answering.

"I make bad things go away. I protect ponies."

"Good choice of words." Cheerilee little more than whispered. A grey filly towards the front of the room with a silver mane was the next to be called on.

"So, why are you and Sweetie Belle here such good friends?" Jack initially ignored her tone and moved on to the answer.

"Uh, I used to live in the Everfree Forest and Sweetie ended up walking in and finding me. Since I had never left the forest, when she offered I accepted. And now we're friends." Jack bent down to hoof/fist bump his unicorn besty. A pink pony with a grey and white mane carried on the conversation.

"So, you're her pet now?" She asked sarcastically.

"No."

"From the way you look, you must be her pet. Or her servant, maybe?" The silver one rebounded.

"I bet this was the only way he'd be able to get into a school!"

"I bet this is the first time he's been to school." They both giggled in their supposed triumph.

"Actually, I earned a masters degree in literary arts." Jack interrupted.

"Oh! What school did you go to? Fillydelphia Community College? Manehattan University? Canterlot School of Arts?" Cheerilee asked.

"No, Univeristy of Mic... Michigan. Okay, I've been getting little fragments of crap in my head lately and it's pretty annoying!" Jack barely shouted.

"Yeah, you sound sooo literary! 'Fragments of crap'!" The two fillies laughed again.

"Those who find pleasure in causing pain

Are those left alone in the pouring rain

By those of which they'd been hurting for years

And that time alone brings on their own tears

So, for those who enjoy seeing others' plight

Take a step back and look at your life

Do not conspire

Do not discriminate

Resentful actions, you must retire

And make amends before it's to late

Extinguish your fire,

Your fire of hate."

The two fillies that were so eager to make Jack look stupid were made themselves look stupid instead. Everyone had their attention focused on either Jack or the two girls in front.

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So, I just basically beat the living shit out of two little girls with my vocabulary. It felt good. But the kind of good you get when you beat someone up who ends up being you apprentice later on. A minute after I said all that, Cheerilee starts clapping for me! And the whole class joined in! The school bell rung a few minutes later and the students rushed out. The two I mangled with words were much slower to leave.

"That was very well thought out and delivered in such a short amount of time!" Cheerilee praised.

"Well, thank you, I try." I replied.

"I'd really enjoy it if I could have the opportunity to talk with you on subjects like these. Maybe get some new teaching methods?" I looked down to Sweetie Belle who nodded with a gleeful smile.

"Alright."

"Oh! Wonderful! How about we discuss this over dinner?"

"Alright."

"Oh, good! Well it was a pleasure meeting you, Mr. Jack! I'll see you tonight, then." Sweetie and I left the school house together.

"I think they liked you!" Sweetie said.

"Really?" I looked back at the school. "Nawww. No way!"

The Eatings

Jack's arrival at Cheerilee's house was somewhat less than professional; upon broke the doorbell while ringing it. When the door was opened, he smashed his head on the way in and almost cursed his heart out. Cheerilee just smiled uncomfortably and dismissed it.

"Why don't you make yourself at home and I'll let you know when dinner's ready?" She offered.

"Alright." Jack agreed, still rubbing his head. The inside of Cheerilee's house was moderately humble. A small living room with a single sofa and a little coffee table at the front of it. Pinkish curtains were draped down each of the windows and a small bowl of what looked like chocolate sat on a nightstand at the end of the sofa.

"Whoa!" Jack whispered to himself. "I love chocolate!" Jack rushed to the nightstand and ripped a chocolate out of the bowl. A cylindrical roll of brown. He took a bite. "HOLY SHIT!" He shout/whispered. "THERE'S PEANUT BUTTER IN THESE!!" He grabbed another and ate it. Before grabbing another one, Jack thought. "Oh! I got it!" He grabbed a large handful of the chocolate and began mushing them in the palm of his hand. Once the mass of chocolate was completely flat, jack rolled it into a tube.

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"Alright, Jack. Dinner is just about re- What are you eating?" Cheerilee was staring at my chocolate.

"Uh, burrito."

"Why is it black?" She asked with a more disgusted tone.

"Because it was made with love."

"I-.. Uh.. Alright! Let's get to dinner then!" I quickly downed the rest of my 'burrito' on the way into the dining room. Once I had entered, I noticed a lighter blue pegasus stallion with a slicked back navy blue mane sitting at the table. "Oh! Jack, this is my husband, Celsius. Celsius, this is Jack." Celsius got up and held out his hoof and I grabbed it and shook.

"Pleasant to make your acquaintance." He said in a very educated mannor.

"And to you." I replied.

The three of us sat down at the table and I got a chance to look over the spread in front of me. Cheesy mashed potatoes, a large tub of green beans, a bowl of buttered biscuits, and a tin of cornbread. I was happy and grateful for Cheerilee's hospitality, and her cooking looked great. But I still wish I could eat meat again. The last time I had it was back at Zecora's... Well, I didn't like being locked in a little room all day. I could manage without meat.

"Why don't we all dig in?" Cheerilee directed. We all began scooping up plates of the different foods within our reach. I, myself, scooped a good helping of the cheesy potatoes and a chunk of cornbread. I tried to stray away from the green beans and other more plant food. I'd been eating just plants for the past day or two and I wasn't feeling right.

"So, Jack." Celsius began. "What do you do for a living?" I thought it was a pretty dumb question, but I thought it was cool that he assumed that a giant monster thing like me had a job.

"I kill things." Celsius was clearly disturbed by that. Cheerilee was too, but was much more interested in continuing the conversation than her husband.

"What things do you, um.. Kill?" Cheerilee asked.

"Very large or dangerous animals: Manticore, Cockatrice, Hydra, a couple of diamond dogs once. They wandered into the forest and tried stealing one of Zecora's necklaces. I'm her body guard."

"Oh." Cheerilee said.

"Yeah. It's a pretty descent job. I keep her safe, she gives me a place to eat and sleep. Nice trade." A moment of silence passed afterward. Celsius was sort of staring at his plate blankly; he didn't really seem to be all there. A few pokes of his potatoes later, he looked up at me.

"um... Have you, uh. Have you ever killed a pony?" The blue, pegasus stallion looked almost scared.

"No. I think It'd be pretty easy though, uh..." I leaned over and sat the palm of my hand on top of Cheerilee's head, making her pupil's shrink. I was able to reach my fingers down as far as her chin. "Yeah... Probably crush a full grown pony's skull in my hand." I pulled my hand off and she seemed to relax. "Never done it... But I could..." I sort of spaced out myself.

"Okay! Let's get off of the subject of 'Death', shall we?" Cheerilee interrupted darker thoughts.

"Good. Uh, where are you from?" Celsius asked.

"...Not an easy question to answer.... I don't know." I said. Even though I said I wasn't sad about it, the more I thought about where I came from was beginning to bother me. "Where do you come from?" I asked. Celsius seemed a bit amused by the question.

"I'd think that It'd be pretty obvious; me being a pegasus and all." He chuckled.

"Not obvious at all." I replied. Cheerilee nudged her husband from across the table. I could saw the lights click on in his head.

"Oh!" They'd obviously talked of my not ever being in Equestria before, before I'd arrived for diner. "I was born and raised in Cloudsdale. It's this happy little city completely made out of clouds that floats in the sky."

"That sounds pretty freakin' cool." I said. We all let a few more minutes of silence pass again. Cheerilee and Celsius dug into their food, while I sort of poked at it in disgust like a student having to dissect a frog in biology class. Before either of the two had a chance to notice this, I spoke.

"Hey, do you have a restroom I could use?" I asked. Cheerilee finished chewing the potatoes she was eating, then answered.

"Second door to the right." She said while pointing down a hallway.

"Thanks."

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While Jack left the room, Cheerilee and Celsius took the opportunity to discuss how their meal was going so far.

"He's insane." Celsius said to his wife.

"No, he's not." Cheerilee replied

"He put his giant hand over your head to decide whether or not he could kill a pony!" He shout/whispered.

"He just doesn't know much about how we as a species live. And I'm sure he didn't know that what he did was considered creepy and scary."

"I don't like him." Celsius folded his forelegs together.

"Just give him a chance." Cheerilee prodded. Celsius was silent. "Celsius." She got up from her seat. Her husband remained silent. "Ceeellsiuuuusss." She giggled as she came up behind her lover and wrapped her hooves around his neck. Celsius was trying his darnedest to conceal the smile that was forming on his lips. "Celsius... Celsius. Stop being grouchy." She whispered as she nuzzled him in his neck.

"Heh.. Hehe." He chuckled slightly.

"Stop being a grouch. Celsius." She burrowed her face into her husband's neck.

"Haha! Alright, alright!" He laughed. "You win!"

"Good." She said. "All I'm wanting you to do is get to know him a little bit. Show him your work or do something with him. Maybe visit with him at his home."

".....Alright." Celsius sighed. "I'll-"

"HEY, YOUR TOILET HAS WATER THAT SWIRLS AROUND WHEN I PUSH THIS LEVER THING!! I'M USED TO JUST USING A HOLE IN THE GROUND!!!" Jack screamed from the bathroom.

"I'll sure try." Celsius huffed.

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A few minutes after leaving the wonderland she called a bathroom, Cheerilee walked me to the exit.

"Thank you for having dinner with us, Jack. It was... Interesting, to say the least." She said.

"Hey, thanks for inviting me. You and your husband seem like a nice pair." Cheerliee smiled.

"Thank you." She said. I turned to leave, but was stopped before I could.

"Oh! I almost forgot! Celsius has agreed to spend the day with you tomorrow. He says that he'd like to get to know you better."

"That sounds like a cool idea." I said.

"Well, goodnight, Jack."

"Goodnight, Cheerilee. Thanks again for having me over."

"Thank you for coming." Soon afterward, the door was quietly closed behind me and I was on my way back to Twilight's house.

"I think that went pretty well." I said to myself. I stopped and took a look at my unfamiliar surroundings and thought for a moment. "How the hell do you get back to the library from here?"

The Workings

Sweetie Belle left the boutique with happy, determined speed. She ran through her yard, past a bench with Jack sleeping on it, and into the center of Ponyville, where she turned around and ran back to where she came from. Jack was lying on a bench with half of him hanging off of the side. He had a few newspapers of different varieties over top of him as a makeshift blanket.

"Jack!" Sweetie Belle said with a smile as she shook the sleeping giant awake.

"But mooooooommmm! It's Saturday! Let me sleep...." He muttered.

"It's me, Sweetie Belle!" Jack opened his eyes and met Sweetie's.

"Heeeyyy..." He said, wiping the tired from his eyes. "Wazup?"

"Nothing much. I just wanted to see what you wanted to do today!" She said beaming.

"Well, I'm gonna be going with Cheerilee's husband to his work in order to get to know him better 'er somthin'. You can come with us." Jack offered.

"Alright. What does he do?"

"Notta clue. But that's the adventurous part of it all! We get to run in there blind!!" Sweetie giggled as Jack jumped from his seat with the last words. Newspapers flew off of him and into the breeze, like birds scared off of a statue. Sweetie Belle jumped onto the bench with Jack.

"Lots of danger and excitement!" She shouted.

"Heroics and stunts!" Jack added.

"Explosions in the background!"

"And cool hats that we have to grab before a door closes in a temple, separating us from them!"

"Suspenseful moments with a cliche villan!"

"Et cetera!" Jack finished.

"Hello, Jack!" Someone called from behind him. Jack swiveled his head around and saw the familiar looking stallion he knew he'd be spending the day with.

"Yo, wadup, Celsius!" Jack called back. Celsius paused for a moment, then shook off his confusion and continued his halfheartedly optimistic jog to his human friend.

"Hello, Jack. Sweetie Belle, isn't it? Cheerilee has told me alot about you and the other crusaders. You seem like a very determined bunch!" Celsius complemented.

"Thanks! We do all sorts of things to try to get our cutie marks! We try everything..." She said with a much more serious expression.

"Hey, what is a cutie mark?" Jack asked. Before Celsius had a chance to answer, Sweetie Belle had already begun her response.

"A cutie mark is a symbol that represents your special talent! You get it when you find out what you especially good at and it sticks with you for the rest of your life! It's yours and it shows that nopony else is like you. You are special!" Jack was baffled by such an intelligent response from such a young pony.

"Yes... That about sums it up. Very good." Celsius said with a relatively large smile on his face.

"Enough child geniuses! We have work to watch you do!" Jack shouted.

"Alright. I have these pills her for you." Celsius pulled a bottle from out of under his wing and popped the cap off. "These will let you walk on clouds for about three hours. Are you coming as well?" Celsius asked Sweetie Belle, who nodded violently. "Alright." He said while hoofing off some pills to her too.

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I had my cute hat on as the three of us were pulled up to the cloud city in a carriage driven by two pegasus fucks.

Earlier...

"How are you Celsius?" One of the pegasi asked the weather pony.

"Good, thank you. I've some guests that will be coming with me today." He said, gesturing towards Sweetie and I.

"Alrig- GAH! What the hell is that thing!?!" One guard asked; the other cowering behind him.

"A human being." Celsius answered bluntly. The cowering one came to the front with a sort of smile.

"Oh, humans... My mom used to tell me stories about them before bed." He approached me and looked very closely through squinted eyes. "Freaky..."

"Fuck you!"

Present time...

"We're almost to Cloudsdale, sir." The bedtime stories one said.

"Very good." Celsius replied. "Uh, do be careful to keep us away from the more highly populated areas. Don't want anyone being scared witless." The two pegasi pulled us off to the side of the gargantuan city and parked us in a much smaller section of the place, behind a cloud house. "Be careful, you two." Celsius warned Sweetie and I. "We're currently one thousand feet in the air. Stay away from the edges of the clouds."

"Shewr thing, dude." I said. Sweetie gulped and nodded.

"Alright. Cheerilee asked me to show you around my work place and try to get to know you, Jack. And that is exactly what I intend to do." Celsius beamed with determination.

Celsius had showed us around most every place that we could go in Cloudsdale. Except for the places with lots of civilians. I was too scary and intimidating to go show off; even though that's exactly what a seven year old spent the past three days doing and there still have been no repercussions. But I used my better judgement with Celsius. If he said I shouldn't do it, then I might not.

"And this is the part of the weather factory that I manage." Celsius said with pride. "The Temperature Facility. Here, we have to figure out how to maintain a certain temperature with different types of weather and precipitation." The three of us passed by a few glass windows. "If you look to the left, you'll see some weather ponies tinkering with a rain cloud to make sure that the rain inside is neither too hot, nor too cold." A pegasus stood under the cloud while another, above kicked it. Rain fell from the cloud and the pegasus below immediately screamed once it hit him. Steam then fogged up the window we were looking through.

"That rain was obviously too hot." Celsius said with one eye clenched shut.

"That's gotta be third degree, at least." I said. Sweetie Belle wore a shocked expression for a moment before Celsius continued us on our tour.

"In the window to your right, you'll see some ponies testing the humidity of the heat in this room." A pegasus wearing a breathing mask walked through the room holding a long stick with a large sponge on the end in his hooves. He did a few cycles, then left the room and entered the one at its side; the sponge was removed and rung out, producing over a liter of water in a weighing dish.

"Very humid in there."

"It pays to be a fish with legs in these test chambers." I said. Celsius grunted; obviously annoyed by that last one.

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The trio exited the facility an hour later.

"That was a lot of weather." Jack said half sarcastically.

"Yeah... I hope that hazmat suit one is okay." Sweetie Belle said.

"He's been struck by lighting many times before. He should be fine." Celsius said.

"Alright..." Sweetie said, not entirely sure she could believe him.

"Alright. You two stay here. I'm going to go get us our return tickets for the carriage."

Sweetie Belle and Jack sat off to the side and talked for a few minutes.

"So, that whole thing was pretty cool." Jack commented.

"Yeah, but that pony getting shocked was a little scary."

"I tried really hard not to laugh, but it was pretty serious. Yeah."

"I thought he was going to die! He's very lucky he didn- AHH!" Jack swung his head down to Sweetie Belle and was able to see the top of her head before it sank below the cloud layer. All time slowed almost to a stop. Jack launched himself to the hole in an attempt to catch Sweetie by her mane or anything! But all he caught was air.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" She cried during her descent. Jack took no time to think and simply dove down the hole himself. Sweetie Belle was pretty far away. Jack reached to his back pack and removed his gloves before slipping them on. He slapped the wrists together and pointed his palms away from his falling target. Flames exploded from his hands, launching him forward. Within seconds, he slammed into the still screaming Sweetie Belle and grabbed onto her as tightly as he could.

"JACK!?" She screamed through the thundering winds.

"SWEETIE BELLE!! YOU'RE GOING TO NEED TO GRAB ONTO MY CHEST, ALRIGHT?!? I'M GOING TO TRY TO ANGLE US TOWARDS THAT LAKE!!" Jack screamed as he pointed towards the large body of water.

"OKAY!!!" Sweetie screamed as she clenched herself to Jack's torso. Jack slapped his wrists together again, causing the flames to once again erupt from his palms. The two falling were pushed to the side and above the water it looked like. They were almost above the center of the lake when Jack's flamethrowers went out.

"SHIT!!" He shouted. Sweetie didn't dare ask what for. The ground came speeding at them at an unimaginable pace and was only getting faster. Jack realized that they were nearly as close to the water as he thought they were.

I've only got one shot at this... He thought.

He angled their descent more towards the lake, hoping for more direction so they might see another day. A few clouds smacked into them and Jack slapped wildly at his face and failed to notice the shed they were headed towards.

"SHIT!!!" He screamed again as he balled himself up. Their bodies smashed into one side of the shed and exploded out the other before landing in the shallow portion of the lake water.

"Couldn't fucking (GASP) let me hit (GASP) the water, huh!? (GASP)" Jack shouted to the air. After realizing Sweetie Belle was no longer with him, he spun in a circle a few times and found her face down in the water, near the shore. "Sweetie Belle!!" Jack swam as quickly as he could to her, doing his best to ignore the excruciating pain he felt everywhere. His back felt as if someone had taken a sledgehammer to it, while his left arm and chest felt like someone dropped anvils on them. Jack grabbed Sweetie Belle from the water and carried her to shore where he immediately began CPR on her.

"Come on (GASP) Sweetie Belle! You can (GASP) make it!" The poor filly was covered in scrapes and cuts. She looked like she'd be thrown through the windshield of a car during an accident. "Sweetie Belle!" Jack shouted to her. He forced his breath down her throat and pumped his hands on her chest. "COME ON, DAMN IT!! (GASP)"

"Gak!!" Sweetie Belle coughed as water shot from her nose and mouth. Once the water was out she took a huge gulp of air and began breathing normally again.

"Sweetie (GASP) Belle!!"

"Jack..." She replied weakly. "My head hurts..." She said before falling unconscious. A line of blood trailed down her neck and onto the ground. Jack moved her mane out of the way and took note of the enormous gash on the side of her head.

"FUCK!!' Jack said as he hoisted her up off of the ground. He frantically looked around and his eyes settled on a hospital nearby. He noticed he was back in ponyville. "Let's get you (GASP) to the hospital. (GASP) Damn it, why (GASP) is it so hard to breathe?! (GASP)"

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I kicked the door to the hospital open and limped inside with the white, bloodied filly in my arms.

"Oh, my goodness!" A pink maned nurse pony shouted.

"This filly (GASP) needs medical attention! (GASP)" The nurse looked between Sweetie Belle and I and picked up a phone before shouting into it.

"We've got an emergency in the main lobby!" She shouted. "Any doctors available report to the main lobby!" Mere seconds went by and there were three doctors in the room ready to help.

"What happened?!" A brown maned, caramel colored pony asked.

"She's hurt (GASP) very badly! You have (GASP) to help her!" The doctors' eyes widened.

"He's got a collapsed lung! Someone get him to the E.R, stat!" Two of the doctors grabbed onto either of my arms and I pushed them off and got right in the caramel colored one's face.

"Listen, fucker! (GASP) Just because I'm hurt (GASP) doesn't mean I won't rip you in half (GASP) if she dies or goes comatose! (GASP) Help her first (GASP) then we can worry about me..." A unicorn nurse to his side levitated Sweetie Belle out of my arms and carried her down the hallway to a room. The caramel doctor still wore a look of shock on his face, not blinking. "Thank you..." I said. The others left the room and the caramel one walked me to my room where I was told to wait a moment.

I laid down in my bed and clenched onto my aching sides. Sweetie was safe and the doctors would help her. Now there was nothing distracting me from the agonizing pain that I felt all over my body.

The Wakings

A day went by in the hospital. Jack slipped into a coma an hour after he brought Sweetie Belle in and was undergoing magical therapy by some of the most experienced doctors they had. Twilight had showed up to see what had happened after Celsius had come and told her. She was shown to Jack's room where she was told to wait outside a moment due to him still going through treatment. Twilight noticed Sweetie Belle also waiting outside.

"Hey, Twilight." Sweetie Belle said with much less than a smile. Her head was bandaged so anything above her ears went unseen. She had bandages around her front and hind left legs and a much thicker amount around her torso.

"Are you alright?! I heard you two dropped from Cloudsdale!!" Twilight asked with much worry.

"I'm fine. I just got cut a bunch. And a got something in my head called a concushin?"

"A concussion?" Twilight said with more worry.

"Yeah, but it's fine. Nurse Redheart said she'd be back with something for me." Sweetie Belle replied.

"If you say so..." Twilight leaned into Jack's room and took note of his condition. Jack's chest had a cast around it, his shit had been tossed to the floor which now resembled cut up rags. Jack had his leg hoisted up by a few wires which was in a cast. "How's Jack doing?" She asked.

"They don't know. They said that the collapsed lung was an easy fix and that he'll only have to where the cast for the rest of the day. They said that about his leg too, but..."

"But what?"

"But they said they couldn't figure out why he's in a coma. He didn't get hit in the head very hard. They said he had no brain damage. So, they just don't know." A grey unicorn wearing a doctor's cloak came trotting down the hallway to them.

"Are you Miss Tvilit Spahrkle?" He asked.

"Um, yes?"

"Gut. Your friend in hear vas shleeping off zeh pain ven a sudden someshink vent rong in his head! He's in a coma now."

"I see." Twilight cast a spell as quickly as possible so that the doctor may not notice her horn glow.

"Yes. We don't have any idea why it is that went comatose; he didn't suffer any brain damage, he didn't even get hit in the head. But we think the reason is why the little one here got a concussion is because when they crashed into that shed, he let her go and she flew out the other side by herself."

"I see." Nurse Redheart came trotting down the hallway behind the unknown doctor and walked up to Sweetie Belle.

"Alright." She began, revealing a bottle of pills. "All you have to do is take one of these before bed every night for a week and you shouldn't get any scars, okay?"

"Alright. Thank you." Sweetie said as she grabbed the pills.

"SWEETIE BELLE!!!" Rarity came flying into the hospital like a bullet and crashed into her sister before scooping her up a big hug. "Sweetie, dear, are you alright?!?"

"Yeah, I'm fine..." Sweetie said through what little breath she could take in.

"That fall must've been ho-"

"SOMEONE CHECK THE DATE ON THE MOTHER FUCKING CLOUD WALKING PILLS!!!!!" Celsius came storming into the hospital looking absolutely enraged. "THOSE THINGS WERE DESIGNED TO LAST THREE HOURS!! I GOT ONE AND A HALF!!!!" He screamed at various doctors.

"Celsius?" Twilight called.

"Princess Twilight!" Celsius darted down the hall to the purple alicorn. "Princess, I'm so sorry for what happened. I promise that I'll cover any bills and help Jack and Sweetie through whatever therapy they might need!"

"That won't be necessary. What happened exactly?"

"Well, I gave each of them cloud walking pills. I gave Jack two, because of his size, and Sweetie Belle had one. We were at the end of our tour and Sweetie's pill wore off and she fell." Celsius explained. "Jack's were still in effect for the half second he was still on a cloud. Then he jumped off in order to get to Sweetie Belle. I assure you that Sweetie Belle would have died if Jack hadn't re-positioned the two of them. I see that she was still hurt though. How are you feeling Sweetie Belle?"

"Fine. We're just waiting to see wh-"

"What the hell is he doing?!" One of the Nurses shouted from inside Jack's room. Jack was still unconscious, but flailing his arm around like he was trying to grab something. Twilight rushed inside just in time to see Jack rip a note pad out of a pocket in one of the doctor's shirts and toss it in his lap. His arm then swung to his other side where he grabbed a pen out of a nurse's mouth. Jack began writing.

Check, check. Testing 1 2 3, is this thing on? Good.

This is a list of people that I might like to remember:

Kyle

Marley

Katie

John

Pretty cool right?

Jack's arm went limp again and the pen dropped to the floor.

"What just happened?" One of the doctors asked.

"I don't know. I can't explain what that was." Another said. Jack's arm started flailing again. Twilight levitated the pen back to him and he returned to writing.

What I'm doing is called Dreamscaping, ding dong! It's when your subconscious mind riddles off information that is useful or sometimes stupid. But it doesn't matter that I know that. Because I won't when I wake up.

"Huh?" Both doctors said. Jack sat up in his bed with his eyes still closed. "uh..." They said again. Jack pulled the I.V out of his arm and other plugs off of his body, got up from his bed, and walked out of the room. He stopped just outside the door and turned to face Sweetie Belle and Rarity before picking Sweetie up and placing her on his head. Twilight followed after him. Jack pushed Celsius off to the side and walked down the hallway.

"What is he doing?" Rarity whispered to Twilight as Jack walked down the hallway.

"I... I have no idea." Twilight replied. Jack passed by the receptionist desk at the front of the hospital.

"Uh, sir?" Nurse Redheart called. Jack flipped her off as he passed by. The automatic doors shut behind him and everyone was left to wonder what just took place.

"So, he writes strange names on a piece of paper, puts my sister on his head like a hat, and leaves the hospital. All of this while still unconscious."

"We shouldn't try to wake him just yet. But I still think it best that we follow him." Celsius said just before heading to the door himself.

"Jack is most likely having his memories returning to him." Twilight said.

"But why did he leave? And why did he take Sweetie Belle with him?" There was a long silence before Celsius walked to the door himself.

"I assume it'd be bad if the two of them were headed to the Everfree Forest, yes?" Twilight and Rarity were at the door before he even finished his sentence. Way out in the distance, the three of them could see Jack and Sweetie Belle at the end of the forest, just now entering.

"Holy shit!"

"Twilight!" Rarity shouted. "Such language!"

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Jack kept walking no matter how hard I slapped him in the head.

"Jack! You need to go back!" We were in the middle of the Everfree forest and I was very scared. Everything around us seemed to either be moving around or staring us down. "Jack, come on! I'm scared!" I whimpered.

"Sweetie.... Belle?...." He whispered.

"Jack?"

"I need to... do this... It's alright..." I pulled myself up and looked at his face; he was still sleeping.

"But there are things following us!" I said. Something in the darkness behind us was shuffling back and forth. All I saw was glowing green eyes.

"What?" I looked through squinted eyes at the creature through the little light there was.

"It looks like a Timberwolf." The creature growled at the mention of its name. Jack spun to the left and continued on his walk like he didn't hear me. He knocked on a tree as we passed by; the wolf growled and came closer. Jack turned right and kept walking forward. A few steps later, he leaned down and grabbed a small stick off of the ground.

"Hit every other tree." He told me as he gave me the stick. I whacked it against a tree, let another one pass, then whacked it against the next. I kept up the pattern and the wolf seemed to be closing in. I saw Jack pick up a machete that was leaning against a tree. I kept whacking every other tree. A loud growling distracted me and I looked back just in time to see the Timberwolf lunge at us.

"AAAAHHHH!!!" I screamed. Jack swung his blade down at a nearby tree and cut a rope I hadn't seen. Inches before the wolf was on us, a metal net flew up and caught him and held him high above the ground. Without looking at his catch, Jack pulled down on another rope and continued walking. I looked back again in time to see flames fly from two hoses on both sides of the wolf.

"RRREEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAEEEEEEE!!!!!!" It howled.

"We're nearly there." Jack said. I looked forward and saw Zecora's house.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

"Are you positively sure this tracking spell of yours is working?" Rarity asked with a half whine.

"Yes, for the one hundredth time, yes! I've had years of practice with spells as advanced as body jumping! This spell is so easy that Rainbow Dash could cast it!" Twilight exaggerated. Rarity rolled her eyes and continued the hunt for the lost filly and giant. Celsius was behind them with his patented foreleg cannons. He wasn't just a weather scientist!

"So, we've been traveling throughout the entire expanse of these woods it seems, and we still haven't been able to locate Sweetie or Jack. This is really worrying me."

"Oh, really?" Rarity began. "I didn't expect anyone to feel worried at all when we saw and unconscious Jack run into the EVERFREE FOREST WITH MY SISTER!!" Celsius backed off a good two or three feet.

"Calm down, you two! We don't want to attract any unwanted attention."

"What in Celestia's name is that?" Celsius asked as he pointed to a burnt net full of something hanging above the ground.

"Look up ahead!" Twilight shouted. "I think that's Zecora's house. The three of them rushed up to the house and peeped in one of the windows. Jack was sitting across a table from Zecora with Sweetie Belle still on his head. He looked to still be unconscious.

"I no longer see it fit to stay here. I've caused only grief and worry for those that I've come to care about, but not before I caused harm to an innocent." Jack removed Sweetie from atop his head and held out in front of himself for Zecora to see. Zecora remained silent. "I have proven my inability to be responsible around others and have done nothing to prove any worth within the few days that I've been here. I wish to return home." Sweetie Belle, Twilight, Rarity, and Celsius all gasped.

"Zecora knows how to send Jack back home!?" Twilight asked no one in particular. Zecora nodded and and stood from the table.

"The potion you need will take me some time. I suggest that you tell all of your friends 'goodbye'." She said. Jack stood from the table himself. The door to the hut burst open and Rarity was the first to enter.

"Sweetie Belle, if I get any angrier, I'll go blind! And Jack, I won't let you harm any sister of mine!" Rarity shouted. Jack awoke and caught up to the situation.

"But, Rarity, I didn't get hurt this time!" Sweetie Belle replied.

"Rarity, the fault is really all mine." Jack admitted. Rarity huffed as Twilight entered the room.

"Zecora! You know how to send Jack away?!" She asked with wide eyes.

"I've tried these past few days, but Sweetie Belle took him and got in the way."

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I was at home alone cleaning a mess from my floor

When, suddenly, a loud knocking came at my door.

It was Jack and Sweetie Belle, both bandaged and hurt

I told them to walk to the table and sit in the dirt.

Jack told me that he wanted to leave

He'd hurt ponies and it'd made him grieve.

I agreed with his decision and said to prepare

When a pony burst in with curly blue hair.

"Sweetie Belle, if I get any angrier, I'll go Blind! And Jack, I won't let you harm any sister of mine!"

"But, Rarity, I didn't get hurt this time!"

Jack snapped awake at Rarity's screaming

And only then did his words have clear meaning.

"Rarity, the fault is really all mine."

Then, Twilight entered with a much faster pace

And sent her hooves flailing all over the place.

"Zecora! You know how to send Jack away?!"

She asked, clearly amazed.

"I've tried these past few days, but Sweetie Belle took him and got in the way."

A third pony entered with a look of confusion

His eyes flew around like he'd never used them.

"Why did you come here? And for what may I ask?"

He looked about my idols of sheered and cut glass.

"I came here to go back to where I came from. I know you all must think things like 'I hate him!'"

Twilight and Rarity softened in expression.

"Of course we don't hate you." One said.

"And this isn't your mission."

"But his notes say otherwise." The stallion said attracting Jack's eyes.

"Did I write those while I was sleeping? You know if I did, they may not have meaning."

Jack took the notes anyway and studied them well

While Rarity quietly scolded Sweetie Belle.

"These names all make sense and they bring me back memories. You see, these are all names of all of my family."

Jack was so happy and almost shed a tear, before he looked up and said:

"When did Doctor Seuss get here?"

The ponies and I looked to the dim lighting

Where a man there replied:

"I'm taking down notes for a new book that I'm writing!"

After he vanished, we all focused on Jack

I guessed to make sure that what he said was fact.

"These are all people to which you're related?" The princess had asked.

"Yes, they are!" Jack had restated.

Jack looked into the distance and said with some pride:

"I think you're all great, and I've really enjoyed this ride,"

He smiled to his friends which, somehow, saddened them.

"But I need to go home and see my family again."

Twilight shed a few tears and cried mildly

While Jack looked to her and apologized quietly.

"I'm sorry you all, but I can't leave those I know.

I have to return-

Where did Sweetie Belle go?!"

The Leavings

I pushed the ponies out of the way and rushed outside.

"Sweetie Belle!" I looked around frantically for the missing unicorn. "Sweetie Belle! Where are you!?" I called again. A twig broke to my left and I swung my head around just in time to see a pink and purple tail round a corner, deeper into the forest.

"Sweetie Belle!" I chased after the filly.

"Jack! Wait up!" Twilight called after me.

"She went this way!" I shouted back. The bunch of us chased after our lost unicorn friend. The forest around us grew darker and darker the further we went.

"Why is she running?" Rarity shouted.

"I don't know!" I replied. I tried my hardest to keep up with Sweetie Belle; the girl had some legs on her! "Sweetie Belle! Come back!" I shouted again. Up ahead, I noticed that the trees began to break up and a clearing became visible. The more open area was much brighter and easier to see in than the rest of the forest. It appeared to be a dead end; a large rock wall with a small amount of trees surrounding it. Sweetie Belle was against the wall, crying.

"Sweetie Belle?" I rushed up to the weeping filly. "What's wrong?" I asked.

"Everything!" She shouted at me with tears in her eyes.

"What do you mean?"

"I can't believe you're just going to leave..." The unicorn mumbled. I didn't really know what to say to her.

"This is my family we're talking about, though." I reminded her. Twilight, Rarity, and Celsius caught up to us and stood at the trees' opening. I assumed that Zecora stayed behind to work on the potion.

"But, still! You really neat and nice to me and I just... I just thought you were my friend." It was really getting hard to deal with her crying. "I didn't think you wanted to leave, even if you could."

"Sweetie Belle... I need to do this." I sat down next to her. "This is as serious for me as it would be for you trying to find your way back to Rarity." Sweetie Belle looked up to me and took a break in her water works. "This is very important for me. And I know that you may want me to stay her, but this is my family. My family, Sweetie Belle. And I'm-"

"What if they're not how you remember them?" She asked, her face blank but serious.

"Wh-huh?"

"What if they're not how you remember them?" I didn't like how heavy that question was.

"What do you mean?"

"What if... You get back, and they're gone. Or they're horrible to you. Or you're actually an orphan? If you stay here with us, you won't have to take that chance." She made sense, but I still felt a huge need to find out for myself.

"Sweetie Belle, I do-"

"WHAT IN BLAZES IS THAT?!?" Rarity screamed. Everyone's attention focused on where her hoof was pointed. Up above Sweetie and I hung an enormous green, glowing sack. It's sides vibrated and slowly started to open.

"I believe that's a Changeling egg sack." Celsius said. "So it's in our best interest to probably get the hell out of here!" I grabbed Sweetie Belle and darted for the exit along with the rest of the group. Twilight, Rarity, and Celsius managed to get out before a wall of slime resembling a spider web blocked the path.

"Well, that's a crock pot of bubbling shit!!" I cursed.

SPLAT

I wrenched my head to the side and noticed small black balls coated in a green slim smacking to the ground.

"Whhhat thhaa fuuuucck!?!" I said as I backed up against the slime wall. The little nuggets unraveled themselves to reveal black, insectoid, alicorn looking ponies. "The hell are these?!" I shouted. Twilight ran to the web.

"Those are changelings! They can change their form to look like anypony you know!" She explained.

"That's cool. Twilight?"

"Yeah?"

"Did you happen to bring my backpack?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I need it." Twilight grabbed my backpack from Rarity and tossed it through the holes in the slime to me. I pulled my gloves out and slung the bag around my shoulders. Once the gloves were secure, I took a more comfortable stance and waited. It was always better to be on the defensive in my book.

"Jack..." Sweetie said.

"Yeah?"

"I'm scared."

"I assure you that it won't last for very long." I stood there in front of the twenty some changelings waiting for an attack. The group began speaking to each other through clicks and beeps and it was only making me smile. "They're trying to plan an attack." I said. After the clicking and beeping was done with, the creeps all took a stance of their own. I was surrounded by five on either side of me and the other ten at my front.

A changeling to my left lunged at me and I made sure his head did two full revolutions before letting it crash to the ground. The others either gasped or hissed at me which only made me smile bigger. A changeling for either side flew at me. I grabbed both at the same time, shoved one down the other's throat, then ripped the both of them in half.

"Next!" I provoked. A group of three did a slow walk which quickly evolved into a jog before they were full blown sprinting at me. I thrust my arms downward and revealed my retractable wrist swords.

Shink

As the three came at me, I cut them into pieces, leaving parts lying on the ground like sushi that had gotten stepped on. The rest backed up a bit, but I wasn't about to let them just leave. I retracted my swords and flicked my left wrist, which then revealed a small barrel. A barrel designed to release shells like an eight gauge shotgun!

BANG!!

I thrust my right hand up my left arm then back down and a shell flew from my hand.

BANG!!

I cocked my arm once again. I'd spent the most time on the shotgun than on any of my other gadgets. It had an incredible spread and ended killing about three changelings in one shot. I was proud. I looked up and was faced with only a fraction of the changelings left. Pity I thought. I jumped into the group of them and obviously caught them off guard. An unseen number of them got away to the other side of the field while I cornered about five. Four of them seemed ready to fight while one in the back was cowering in fear. I figured I'd let him live out of pity. But not without punishment.

I grabbed the cowering one in the back, then one of the ones in front. I proceeded to shove the front one down the cowardly one's throat, then grab another and do the same. Once all four of the 'brave' changelings were eaten, I dropped the coward to the ground. The poor thing's body had been inflated to three times its original size and it was being propped up by its massive belly. I stood there a moment and watched in amusement as it struggled to move.

"That's some funny shit right there!" I said. I heard a chuckle or two come from behind me and looked to see Celsius as the one laughing. I gave him a thumbs up.

FWOOSH!!

I turned back to face the changelings I had let go but was hesitant to act. They had all disguised themselves as Sweetie Belle and were all wearing expressions of horror on their faces. There were four total.

"Jack! Kill them, I'm the real Sweetie Belle!" One pleaded.

"No, I am!"

"No, me!" I ignored the bickering and simply plunged my sword into the chest of one of the four Sweetie Belles.

"AAAGGHH!" Rarity screamed from behind me before I let the body drop to the ground and had her watch it shift back to its insectoid look. "Oh..." The remaining three started to panic.

"Please, Jack! Don't stab me, stab them!"

"Don't listen to her! She's a changeling!"

"They're both lying!" I stuck my sword into the chest of another Sweetie Belle.

"AAGGHH!!" Rarity screamed again. Flames went up in the air and again revealed a changeling corpse. "Oh..."

"Thank you, Jack! Now kill the fake Sweetie Belle and let's get out of here!"

"I'm fake?! You're the fake one here!" I grabbed them both by the neck and held them several feet above the ground.

"Jack! Put her down! You're choking her!" Rarity ordered. She'd obviously not seen the pattern.

CRACK

And both their necks were snapped. Rarity stared at what I'd done with Sweetie's corpse in both hands, and she immediately fainted. After a brief burst of fire, both corpses revealed themselves to be dead changelings. Twilight and Celsius looked at me with confusion as I removed my backpack and unzipped it.

"I'm fine." Said the real Sweetie Belle as she popped her head out of my bag.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Jack had cut down the slime barrier and released Sweetie Belle back to her sister. While Twilight, Celsius, and Rarity all expressed gratitude, Sweetie Belle was still sour. Jack bent down to her level to talk with her.

"Sweetie Belle. I want you to know that I will always remember you. No matter how far away I go. You'll always be right here." Jack said, pointing to his heart. Sweetie Belle stared at him for a few seconds with water eyes... Then clenched them shut and faced away from him.

"Just go..." She said emotionlessly.

"Sweetie Belle..." Jack said, obviously having been hurt. Sweetie Belle walked away, ignoring him. Everyone watched her walk further away until Rarity went and chased after her. Celsius shook Jack's hand again and Twilight gave him another hug before they left as well.

Jack was left to stand alone with nothing but the sound of the wind and the soft whimpering of a struggling changeling stuffed full of its own brethren.

Jack was very slow and reluctant to return to Zecora's hut, but knew that it had to be done. Zecora was waiting outside for him.

"Your potion is ready, and your family, you may see. But are you so sure that you want to leave?" She asked.

"What do you mean?"

"You've risked quite alot with your little filly friend, and I know in your heart you do not want this to end. You told her you must leave back to your own planet, but that place cannot be better than here, can it?" He looked at her in confusion for a moment, searching every crevice of his brain for a happy memory. But all he came up with was dark skies, pollution, murder, and hate.

"My home leaves a lot to be desired, but it's where my family is. It's my home."

"But it doesn't have to be. You have a home and family here, just think and you'll see." Again, Jack went through his memories: Staying at Twilight's, the diner with Cheerilee and Celsius, wearing Sweetie Belle like a hat.

"I did have... fun."

"It is time to decide and I need to know, do you stay here with us or do you truly wish to go?" Jack looked off towards where the ponies had gone earlier.

"I know what I have to do." Jack took the potion from Zecora's hoof.

The Stayings

Rarity, Twilight, and Celsius left the forest in a slumped and slow motion. Each of them seemed to be, in some degree, depressed; especially Sweetie Belle, who was still softly whimpering whole on Rarity's back.

"Well, he certainly was an interesting character, to say the least." Celsius said. Twilight and Rarity both shot him a glare as Sweetie Belle clenched her eyes tighter and sobbed a bit louder. "Uh, what I meant was, um..." Rarity and Twilight were relentless with their stares. "...Nevermind."

"I think what he's trying to say is that it was fun while it lasted." Twilight said. Sweetie Belle had stopped her crying but still had her face buried into her forelegs.

BANG BANG BANG!!!!

Every turned their attention back to the forest and saw a brilliant display of many different colored sparks and flashes.

VRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-BOOM!!

A giant white light and a loud explosion went off. When the four of them regained their vision, they became a bit more sad, for they knew what the flashing meant.

"He's gone..." Sweetie Belle said. Her crying started up again, and the group turned back around to go home.

"YO! PONIES!" Sweetie Belle immediately flung her head up. "Where the hell are you guys going?!" Everyone whipped around and were all completely surprised to see none other than Jack running towards them!

"Jack!?" They all shouted.

"No, it's Scootaloo! Who do you think it is?" Sweetie Belle leaped off of her sister's back and sprinted to Jack where she jumped up to him and held him in a hug.

"Jack! You stayed! But why? I thought you wanted to see your family." The little filly asked.

"I did. I really did. But, I thought about what you said. 'What if they're not like I remember?' Well, what if they're not? I will have wasted my time and landed myself in hell with no way to get back. And I just can't take that chance. Especially if it means I have to say goodbye to friends like you." Sweetie Belle's eyes watered as she drew an immense smile across her face. "You're like the little pony sister I never had, and I can't let that go."

"But if you're staying here, then what was the flashing and sparking back there?" Twilight asked. Jack smiled.

"I gave that potion to some other pony that was wondering around the forest, looking for me. She seemed pretty stoked about it, and I guess she just used it." Sweetie Belle hugged Jack tighter.

"Thank you." She said. "Thank you for staying with us.

Clop Clop Clop

Jack and Sweetie released their hug and turned to the purple and blue maned mare that was approaching them.

"Uh, I don't mean to be a bother, but have any of you seen my friend, Lyra Heartstrings?"

Jack laughed loudly and the others soon joined in as the camera slowly panned out and the screen faded to black.

The End.