Sadly Sings Destiny

Sadly Sings Destiny
Chapter 8: And Then There Was Silence
By: Jace Arveduins

Jesse woke up with a crick in his neck, he’d turned over in his sleep or something, either way, his sleep hadn't been as restful as he would have liked. He got up to fix some breakfast, and started muttering about some heretics that needed purging, probably due to the fact he’d ran out of bacon. Checking to see if he had anything else,he came across some of the left over sloppy joes he’d fixed. With a shrug, he nuked it until it wasn’t frozen, then devoured the result. Some thought he was crazy for liking them cold, and he payed about as much attention to them as he did everyone else.

An hour or so later, he heard a knock on his door. He got up and opened it, smiling as he saw the three ponies that had been putting up with him.

“Morning ponies, finally get some rest?”

“Just fine, I was starting to miss my bed.” Emerald told him, barely suppressing a yawn.

“Did these old bones some good!” Steel said with a chuckle.

“Yeah, the ground is nowhere near as comfortable as my clouds.” Frostfire tossed in.

Jesse laughed and looked at them, “Well, guess this is good bye.” He was hit in the gut as Emerald gave him a hug, adopting an expression of suffering, e grumbled as he hugged her back. “Oh fine, just because it’s you.” He shook Steel’s hoof and ruffled Frostfire’s mane after it looked like she wasn’t going to give him a hug.

“Do you have to leave?” Emerald asked him. “Life was starting to become exciting with you around.”

“Afraid so, this world will probably be a better place without such a hateful warmonger running around.” He told her with a smile, but he relented and they sat there for a few minutes, wondering exactly how long he’d really been there.

“Time to get going, I’d advise standing back.” He told them as he gave himself a shake and pulled out the Time Twister. He walked back into his house, leaving them to trot back a small distance. They could see a comforting light coming from the windows, then the house was gone.

Two weeks later, Emerald heard a knock on her door late in the evening. Getting up from the little bit of homework she’d been grading, she answered the door, to nopony.

“Hello?” She asked the darkness, not really expecting an answer.

“Well hi there.” A voice from behind her said. She jumped and shrieked, before seeing Jesse standing there with a cocky grin on his face

“I’m going to.... ugh!” She said, settling on glaring at him. She finally broke and gave him a hug.

“Missed me eh?”

“Of course, though I’m not sure why...”

“Because I’m a dashingly handsome bastard.” He said, barely suppressing a chuckle. “Did you really think I’d not use the power to travel between time and space once I had it? It’s like you don’t know me at all!”

“Now that you put it that way... So what have you been doing?”

“Nothing much, I somehow went back before I had to go to work, so I’ve just spent the last week messing around.”

“It’s been two weeks here, so that’s odd.”

Jesse shrugged, “I don’t know how this thing works, I just use it. So how are the others doing?”

“They’re doing fi...”

She didn’t finish the sentence, since there was a small pop and a dark alicorn was standing in the room now. Emerald bowed to Luna as Jesse gave her a nod.

“Evening princess.” He told her, still grinning like an idiot.

The Princess nodded, but was looking at him seriously. “Ms. Dawn, would you mind letting us speak in private?”

Emerald looked confused, but nodded and went to her bedroom.

Turning back to Jesse, Luna sighed. “We can’t have you bouncing back and forth. You may be harmless, but it would set a precedent that could be harmful in the future.”

Jesse nodded while his face took on a more serious tone, he could see where she was coming from, even if he doubted the other ponies would. “Me? Harmless? I’m touched that you think so, but I’m sure we both know I’m far from harmless. Just because I refuse to harm these ponies doesn’t mean I can’t.” He looked her in the eye to make sure she got the point, she had, and saying she wasn’t amused with him would be an understatement in the extreme. “So when do you wish for me to leave?”

“Sometime tomorrow, we’ll give you time to say a final farewell. I take it you remember my offer to stay as a pony?” Jesse nodded. “Well, if you decide to take us up on our offer of citizenship, just spend tomorrow night here. Fare thee well, child of Earth.” And with that, there was another small pop and she disappeared.

Jesse raised his voice so Emerald would here him. “You can come out now.”

“What was all of that about?” She asked, the curiosity written across her features.

“Not too much, I’ve just got a bit of a decision to make. Go home and never return, or stay and become a pony.”

“Why would she do that? You’ve done nothing wrong!” She said, going from curious to confused.

“Simple, if she lets me stay, then they’ll have to fight an uphill battle to get rid of any bad things that come along. Just because you ponies like me, doesn’t mean all of them will. Since they have no precedent for this, they’re being cautious. I really don’t blame them, they’re doing their jobs as rulers well.”

“I don’t like it, but if you seem to understand, I guess it’s fine.” She said with a snort, still not liking that they were telling a friend he couldn’t come back.

“Think of it this way, what if they let, let’s say a cockatrice, live in a town because he was nice. If they let that happen, they’d have to let any cockatrice that wanted to live in a town stay. If they started letting only a few in, they’d be criticized for playing favorites. Not only that, but some of them may just be using the guise of being nice to allow them to get inside the town before starting a disaster. Does that help?”

“I’m pretty sure I understood it to begin with Jesse...” Her face had changed to annoyance.

“See? I’ve already made you realize that me sticking around would just cause you to wish I’d be elsewhere.” He said, his cocky smile returning. To which she just groaned.

They went to sleep later that night, after talking about books they’d read. Jesse had brought a pack, but left it beside the house while he snuck past her earlier. He then brought it in and gave her the gift he’d brought back; a complete copy of all of Tolkien’s work. She’d given him a hug, and he was sure she’d stayed up later than him reading.

Jesse woke up the next morning to something that smelled delicious. Following his nose, he found Emerald making pancakes.

“Those smell absolutely lovely, any chance I can have one?”

“The ones on the table are for you silly, did you think I wouldn’t let you eat?”

Jesse chuckled as he sat down. “Of course not, but it’s always polite to ask. Not that you could have ignored my roguish charm.”

He waited till she had sat down with hers before he started to eat. They ate in companionable silence. The pancakes tasted great. He could make them, but cooking was not a refined skill of his. They eventually migrated back to the living room and Jesse slumped onto the couch.

“That was great, I’m almost tempted to stay just for the food!”

Emerald laughed as she got up and walked towards the door. “I’m going to get the other two, I think it’s best if you stay inside, since this is a short visit.” Jesse nodded and twisted so he was laying down, his feet over the end of the couch.

The group returned some time later, and Jesse twisted off of the couch and on to his feet. “Well hello there.”

“I was wondering when you’d be back.” Crescent Steel told him.

“Why didn’t you tell us you’d be back?” Frostfire asked him, she wasn’t quite glaring at him, but it was getting close.

“I see your more perceptive than our friends Steel,” Jesse said with a chuckle, and turned to Frostfire. “I thought you’d have realized I wouldn’t let that kind of power go to waste. Apparently I overestimated your abilities.”

Frostfire went to say something, but Jesse held a hand up. “Do you really want to annoy me when I brought back presents?” He brought a book out of his bag and gave it to Steel, and gave Frostfire a pair of goggles. “That’s a book on metallurgy, not completely comprehensive, but I’ll bet you’ll learn at least a few new tricks. And those goggles are made for very cold conditions, they should help keep your sight clear and your eyes protected in all weather.”

“Well that’s not what I was expecting, but it should be interesting, thanks.” Steel told him as set it on his back.

“Thanks.” Frostfire said, though she seemed slightly unhappy about what the gift was.

Jesse shrugged. “I didn’t have a clue what to get you, but since you fly, I figured a good pair of goggles may eventually come handy.”

“So, Emerald said you had something important to tell us?” Steel cut in, not sure if she would start yelling at Jesse or not.

“Yeah... " Jesse replied, "The Princesses have decided that letting me come and go as I please would set a bad precedent, so they gave me a choice. I can either leave and stay gone, or stay here as a pony.”

Steel sighed. “I think I can see where they are coming from.”

“Just because they are the rulers, doesn’t mean they can do what they please!” Frostfire said vehemently.

“Um, I think that’s the part of the definition of “ruler” Frost.” Jesse told her.

“I still don’t think it’s right.” She muttered.

“You could always do like we did a few hundred years ago, get a group to follow you and create a bloody war for freedom of rulers and set up a democracy. You’d just have to create an army and forcibly march to the thrones of a pair of alicorns of unknown power.” The others just looked at him with their jaws slightly open. “What? I was just telling her how it usually works in my world.”

“Nevermind...” Frostfire grumbled.

“Don’t worry, we’ve got today to go do all kinds of crazy things.” Jesse reassured them with a grin.

They spent the rest of the day just messing around. They played a few Equestrian board games, and Jesse had brought Monopoly as well. After it was all over, he told them to keep the board, since he could get another easily enough. It was getting close to sunset when Jesse decided it was time to leave.

“It’s been a blast, but I should probably be heading off, don’t want Luna to turn me into a pony before I get around to leaving, that would take some explaining once I got back home.”

Emerald gave him a hug, while Steel shook his hand. Frostfire hung back for a few seconds before asking. “Are you sure you want to leave?”

Jesse sighed, he had an idea where this might go, and didn’t much like it. “Yes, I don’t belong here. This is for the best, to be honest.”

“Well then can any of us come with you?” The other two looked rather intrigued by the idea, before he squashed it.

“You’re a horse, albeit a small one. Humans are the only creatures capable of speaking on Earth, so if you came, you’d probably just end up in a science lab being prodded for the rest of your life. And that’s the pretty picture, it can become much more... grotesque.”

She slumped slightly and gave him a quick hug. He waved his final farewell before he slipped the ring on and went towards the woods. When he was sure no one was around, he pulled the Time Twister out and headed home, though not for the last time. While he may not be able to come to Equestria anymore, there were plenty of other worlds and planes of existence to explore.

The End