Chapter 8: Steady-ish Introductions

Slowly making his way through the strange forest, Jake was determined to put this misunderstanding to rest. As he walked his right hand slowly dropped, allowing it to rest upon the pistol secured at his hip. Suddenly, he felt a small pinch in his stomach as a low growl followed.

"Shit... I hadn't thought about food." He voiced aloud, continuing his march through the wood. "I think there was some rations packs in that bag… I’ll have to check later."

Another ten minutes of walking brought Jake to the edge of the forest, though this time the trip wasn’t so calm. Every few minutes movement would show up on his radar, before vanishing without a glimpse. He also hadn’t seen a single familiar landmark, even though he swore the path he took was the same each time. Shaking his head and dismissing the thought, he slowly spread the branches and looked towards the town. The moment he did he froze, before dropping to his stomach and peering at the scene ahead. Bringing a hand to his right temple he gave it a small tap, causing his vision to rapidly zoom in. He focused on a group in the distance, along with one familiar looking character, the purple pony speaking to the small gathering.

"Lucy... can we hear what they're saying?" Jake whispered as his audio crackled for a second.

"No sir, out of range." Lucy chimed back, electing Jake to focus harder on their mouth movements.

Silently cursing to himself, he continued to watch and study the creatures. Only two of them appeared to have wings, but the only one actually using them was another he recognized, currently hovering a good 4 feet off the ground. It's body was a bright cyan, it's mane and tail adorning a variety of colors. As Jake took in it's features he recognized it as the same one he ran into earlier. The other winged pony, now obviously distinguished as a Pegasus, was a butter yellow with a light pink mane and tail that stood un-moving next to the group, hiding most of it's face. The next two Jake took in seemed to be more like what he saw in the town before. They seemed like normal, if small, horses. Though they also adorned a similarly strange color scheme, the first an orange pony wearing what seemed to be a cowboy hat, while the other was… pink. That's the only way Jake could describe it… mane, coat, tail…

Pink.

And wow, was it’s hair curly.

And as if pegasi weren't strange enough, things got weirder as he turned his attention to the last two. The first, it’s coat white like a pearl with a styled purple mane, seemed to be conversing with other.

This last pony was no doubt the one he’d nearly been vaporized by earlier. It's lavender coat and purple mane caused it to stand out, the darker color scheme contrasting the party’s bright pallet. One thing struck Jake as odd though… something unique about this pony in particular he’d missed before. Not how it seemed to be the center of attention, or how it was an inch or two taller than the others, but rather the pair of wings on it's side complementing the horn atop it’s head. As Jake finished picking up every detail he could he pondered his next moves carefully. That is, until something happened that, to this day, will still confuse him.

The pink pony turned, smiled, and waved at him.

Jake instinctively pushed himself back, behind more leaves and further out of sight.

'How?! I’m damn near invisible here!'

Thinking quickly, he dragged himself to the edge of the forest and peered through. Only to have his heart sink.

The group was walking his way.

"Oh shit..." He whispered, "Lucy what do I do...? Run?"

"I thought we came here to talk?" Lucy shot back.

Jake rapped his fingers impatiently from his prone position. "Yeah I know, but... well one of them already doesn't like me and the another I almost shot... I don't think they’ll take too kindly to me..."

Jake moved to retreat, but stopped himself as he took one last look at the approaching group. '…no. No going back, it's too late. Get your ass up!' He mentally berated himself.

“Interesting technique, lieutenant.” Lucy added.

Breathing out a quick breath Jake straightened up, waiting half concealed by the tree-line. As they drew nearer and nearer, he could see them looking around as they approached.

"Are you sure you saw something, Pinkie?" Asked the lavender one.

"Yep! I just wanted to say hi because it must be super duper hard living in the Everfree forest, but he keeps taking off before I can! He’s all like, ZOOOM-" The pink pony finished, hopping in circles around them.

Jake watched the strangers as they drew closer to his spot, raising his hand onto his hip where his pistol sat. 'Remember Jake, rule number one... NEVER underestimate your enemy and give the upper hand. Oh, shit I broke that rule yesterday didn't I?'

”You did.” Lucy quipped, earning a grunt back from Jake.

The group was just about a leaping distance away from the border when the white one, seemingly having a knack for fine details, suddenly stopped and locked her eyes on Jake's helmet. The others took notice of her stare and turned their own to match. One by one they all froze on the same thing.

Moments of silence passed as Jake stood there, waiting for something to happen. The ponies, on the other hoof, didn't know what to do either as a mostly concealed but undeniably unique creature looked at them with a single glowing red eye. What felt like hours of excruciating tension took place in just a few seconds.

"G-Greetings... m-my..." The lavender pony began, pausing briefly as she took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. "My name, is Princess Twilight Sparkle. On behalf of me, my friends, and the town... we wish to know what you are and why we've never seen you before." She ordered with a more stern tone.

Blinking once inside his helmet he processed her words. 'Royalty.... you've got to be shittin' me....' He thought to himself with an inward groan.

With a small breath Jake stepped forward into the clearing, all of the ponies expressions changing at once from the movement. The pink one was filled with eagerness, smiling slightly at the sight while the white one seemed downright awestruck. Both the tan and blue ponies had faces filled with curiosity and determination. Lastly, the yellow pegasus, who was trying to make herself invisible behind the pink pony.

The lavender pony's face, however, remained confident.

'Just act natural... natural...' Jake thought to himself. 'Natural? How the FUCK do I act natural to... THIS? I'm about to converse with a talking pony princess' Jake mentally replied to himself. 'Hey it's your choice, go in guns a blazin' and make enemies, probably doom my species... or try and make a truce'

Letting out a small sigh he dropped to one knee, looking up at the pony's eyes which now adorned a look of surprise. As he stared back he pressed a few buttons on his left wrist, electing a small hiss as his helmet's visor slowly retracted. The princess watched with apprehension and a touch of unease as the sleek surface reeled back, but quickly dawned a look of curiosity and wonder as it revealed the man's entire face underneath.

"Greetings, Princess... my name is Jake Carson. I wish to apologize for anything I may have done wrongly, I must speak to you on a matter of grave importance." Jake spoke in a serious tone, waiting eagerly for her reply.

As he kneeled in silence he could almost see the gears turning in her eyes. "Well Jake... I'd love to hear what you have to say, but I still need my own questions answered first." She replied, staring back at the human’s much smaller eyes.

Clearing his throat, Jake sighed while looking to the houses farther back. "Of course... just know that I mean you and your town no harm, but I'd rather speak about these matters in a more... secure area if you don't mind." Jake requested, glancing at the forest behind him.

Nodding back, Twilight spoke up. "Well, then perhaps you could follow us back then? I have a place where we can discuss things."

This was when the cyan pegasus, who until now had been glaring at Jake as she stood nearby, suddenly butted in. "Twilight, are you nuts? After the panic he caused before, and did you forget he threw me into the ground?!" The cyan Pegasus shot back, glancing at Jake and letting out an angry snort.

The purple pony, Twilight, lightly pulled the rainbow maned pegasus away. "Rainbow, everypony deserves a fair chance at voicing their side." She insisted, looking back at the human in curiosity.

"An’ maybe, you were askin’ to be thrown." The orange pony muttered with a chuckle, electing an annoyed glance from Rainbow.

'At least this one’s willing to cast unbiased judgment... even on a completely unknown creature' Jake wondered, glancing at the winged unicorn.

Rainbow sighed, before pointing at Twilight with a fore-hoof. "Whatever... but I’m staying with you.”

Nodding, the lavender pony sighed. "Very well, but Rainbow… could you go back to Ponyville first and tell Spike to send a letter telling the princesses everything?"

Flinging her front hooves up, Rainbow groaned. "But I just said-!"

"Please, Dash?" Twilight pleaded, quickly breaking down Rainbow's tough façade as she drooped her head.

Sighing, she stretched out her blue wings. "Fine. But don't bring him in until I get back!"

Jake stood, allowing the visor to once again cover his face as the reflective black surface slowly extended down. Looking at the town Rainbow darted off to, a similarly colored trail fading behind her, he noticed just how... small it was. His hope for finding a fix for his problem... namely, resources for his ship, was starting to look less and less likely. Only a few minutes wait and the rainbow pegasus had rejoined the group. Jake had to admit... she was fast.

Making their way back to town, Jake's mind swam with worries and possible outcomes. 'Hoooly shit, I can't believe I pulled that off... Lucy, what do you think? You’ve been quiet.' Jake thought, waiting for her reply.

"Sir... I thought we were doomed. I ran a number of possible scenarios and calculations, the odds of successfully making it through that situation were approximately 3,720 to 1. "

'Lucy... sometimes the chances of success don't matter, it had to be done.' Jake replied back. 'Don't ever tell me the odds.'

After a few tension filled minutes of walking they finally reached the town entrance, continuing their way inside without a second thought. Every pony within the general area when they entered stopped, watching silently as the creature in strange clothing walked by with it’s pony escort. Jake payed them zero mind, focusing intently on his pony guide until they finally reached a location familiar to them all, the public library.

As all of the ponies went through he followed suit, pausing as he ducked towards the entrance. Reaching to the left, he pulled the rifle that was stuck in the bushes by the door and quickly latched it onto his back. The weapon stuck in place as Jake looked at Twilight, who watched the human curiously, glanced at the object but payed it little mind as she waited for him to enter. The room itself was large enough that Jake could stand fully, something he was silently grateful for. The ceiling was high, and if he jumped he’d probably barely touch it with the end of his fingers.

"So..." Jake began, turning towards the Lavender pony as she closed the front door. "Please tell me why a 'secure' place is... the public library."

Twilight looked surprised for a moment, before nodding. "Oh right, this is where I live. And not many ponies come here anyway... so I thought this would be as good a place as any." The lavender pony replied, tilting her head a bit. "Now, for what I said before... what are you?" She asked, Immediately beginning her inspection as her eyes scanned him up and down.

"Uh, human?" Jake said with a shrug as Twilight scratched her chin.

"Human... sorry but- well... 'humans' aren't real. Everypony knows that." Twilight stated with a wave and a chuckle.

Raising an eyebrow under his visor, he put his hands on his hips. "Wait, what do you mean, not real?"

"A... 'Human' Isn't a real thing, just a story told to little foals to nurture creative minds." She said with another dismissive wave. "An old pony's tale."

As she finished, her horn ignited with a purple aura and set off every alarm system in Jake's suit.

Jake gripped his head as the HUD flashed red, warning him over and over of a nearby immense power source as a nearby book hovered over to Twilight. The feedback through Jake's audio system started to amplify tenfold, quickly growing louder and louder. Jake clutched the sides of his head, dropping to his knees as it changed from a low whine to a piercing screech.

"AHHHHH!' He yelled aloud, initiating the emergency eject as the suit suddenly locked in place.

A loud, abrupt beep rang from the armor as it split open and threw Jake out. He landed on the wooden floor with a grunt, taking in a sharp breath as he looked back at the unstable armor. The statue-like structure slowly began to tip forward as Jake pounced and rolled away.

The suit crashed into the ground, cracking many of the floorboards where he’d been moments prior.

Twilight turned from the book in her magical grasp just in time to see the suit crash into the ground. "W-Whoa! A-Are you okay!?" She yelled, moving to assist the fallen suit of armor.

As she ran towards the collapsed figure, a sudden yell stopped her charge.

“Don’t touch it!” Jake yelled from his crouched position, holding a hand out towards the pony.

Twilight’s gaze snapped to where the rest of the ponies were looking as Jake slowly stood to his full height, the group looking at him with a mix of worry and apprehension… and undeniable curiosity.

“A… suit?” Twilight began, this time looking between the armor and the human. “Are you okay?” She said again, this time looking to the nearby human.

"F-Fine... just tell me, what hell was that?" He asked as he rubbed one side of his head, quickly walking over to the suit.

"I... I just used a bit of magic and-" Twilight began but was quickly interrupted by Jake.

"Let me stop you there...” He cut in, pressing a few buttons on the collapsed suit’s wrist and causing it to power down completely. “-there is no such thing as magic... whatever you did caused some sort of energy spike and my helmet picked up everything. My whole system went crazy." He finished with a shake of his head.

Twilight looked at the ground a couple times in rapid succession then back up to the human. "I didn't do anything! All I did was levitate this book and-"

"There is no such thing as magic!" Jake cut in again, trying his hardest to flip the armor over.

"Then explain this!" Twilight replied as she lit her horn up, the armor engulfing in the same aura as it hovered off the ground.

Twilight grunted slightly, the suit much heavier than she originally suspected as her horn doubled in brightness. Setting the suit gently against the wall, it’s back leaning on it, the aura cut out.

"…” Jake stared at it in silence.

“Well?” Rainbow asked nearby, a smug grin on her face. “Seems kinda... magical to me.”

Jake scowled at the pegasus, walking towards the catatonic armor. “I... I don’t know! Some kind of advanced telekinesis of some kind? Which is...” Jake paused, looking at Twilight with newfound surprise. "...actually kind of amazing. So, you just use that horn and... make things move?"

It was Twilight's turn to be surprised as she reeled back slightly, a tinge of red flowing through her cheeks. "O-Oh... well yes, but it involves a complex thought process and magical knowledge to-" She began to ramble but paused as she noticed the displeased look from Jake at the mention of magic. "-nevermind, we can talk about it later... here read this!" She ordered as a book floated towards Jake and flipped open.

"I... I can't read this..." He admitted, squinting his eyes at the text and taking small worried looks at the aura surrounding it.

"Oh sorry... anyway right here," She began, motioning to a section on the page, "Says... 'Not much is known about the mysterious race known as Humans. Of what is whispered of is their great feats of creation… things pushing the boundaries of impossible. Nopony knows how they came to be known or where they’ve gone, just that they simply up and vanished one day and never returned. Bits of their history are out there, waiting to be found by the most dedicated and astute of researchers. It may be a race we’ll never know more about... or maybe some soon to be unveiled treasures still await us that will reveal more of their secretive past. Pony kind might never know. So as you can see... that's not possible." She finished, closing the book and smiling smugly.

"Well..." Jake began as he tried to search for words. 'How would they know about us at all? And yet, know so little... if we ever did come to a place like this I'm sure we’d have records, wouldn’t we?' "Is there anything else? About what they did, or could do?" Jake asked, hoping to get some information out of her.

Twilight tapped her chin as she flipped through the book's content with her magic. "Well not in this one... but a few other books I’ve seen mentioned them being very intelligent engineers. Another one theorized about the amazing technology they could... create...." Twilight tapered off, slowly turning her gaze toward the armor against the wall again. "W-what exactly were you wearing...?”

Raising a brow at the pony's change in demeanor, Jake leaned over and tapped a sequence into the suit's wrist. "This, is my spartan Mk. III set-" He paused with a final push of a button, the suit flaring to life with a purr. "-and as far as I know... the only surviving prototype from the Starstreaker. It was only available there, so I'm not sure more even exist." He finished, looking over the armor carefully.

The suit was heavy. He decided it’d be best to leave it off for now, sort out the interference issue later. Pressing a few buttons on the wrist caused the suit to jump to life, closing itself up and standing much straighter against the wall. Turning back to Twilight Jake saw her in a state of shock.

"So... you... really are..." Twilight stuttered, trying to find her voice.

"What, human? Of course I am! Those books of yours must have something at least mentioning what we look like... right? Honestly, I'm surprised you know anything about us at all. I'm not even from this planet." He stated, Twilight’s eyes widening like massive saucers.

Rainbow facehoofed nearby. “Ugh… here we go.”

"I... I really need to take notes!" She said aloud, running up a set of stairs and out of sight.

As Jake watched her disappear he knew he didn’t have much time left on his hands until a barrage of questions begin. Turning to the ponies still staring at him, he decided to ask a question that's been on his mind and bugging him since he noticed it.

"So, what do those marks on your asses mean?"

Author's Note

Yeah! 3k word chapter! Woo hoo!

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