Awkward Situations

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.

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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.