One worm for the Apples

An explosion was heard coming from an unknown location, forcing a certain worm to return from his rest. Jim slowly opened his eyes to spot a wooden ceiling, as he did his best to remain awake. Hid head hurt like Heck and he didn´t know why, but this wasn´t the only feeling. Lifting his head, Jim took a look at his surroundings, trying to recognize the area.

“Where am I?” He silently asked himself, slowly sitting himself on the couch and noticing something off. Taking a quick look at his lower part, Jim couldn´t help but to release a loud scream. “Where´s my suit?”

Suddenly, Snott came into view, positioning himself on top of the worm, catching his attention in the progress and making a bunch of sounds which Jim understood.

“What do you mean a killer bunny stole it?” Snott spoke once more, confusing Jim further. “A land of talking ponies?” Snott nodded and resumed his talk. “Evil forest, musical numbers and a magic called friendship?” As Snott nodded again, Jim released a short scream in response, trying to understand this newly arrived barrage of information. “Did I end up in Disneyland by mistake again?” Jim felt completely lost, struggling to understand his predicament. One moment he was going through a bizarre tunnel, the other he was in a land full of talking ponies and even though he had yet to see them, Jim trusted on Snott´s words.

However, Jim´s train of thought would have to wait, as Snott grabbed the worm´s attention once more. After a couple of weird sounds, Jim nodded. “Where is this killer bunny?”

Snott pointed towards the entrance, signaling for him to go outside. Without a second thought, the worm got off the sofa and proceeded to head towards the door, catching a side glance of a photo sitting a top of a small table, which held the image of a yellow pegasus. Curiosity got hold of the worm, who crawled right to the table and took hold of the photo, analyzing it in the process.

Snott made a few noises behind Jim, who smiled in response. “Come on, Snott, we should thank this Fluttershy once I recover my suit.”

With a nod from his head, the duo headed outside the cottage, quickly getting hold of the chaos ensuing close to them. A barrage of maniacal laughter caught the worm´s attention, who looked at the direction of the source. With a movement of his head, Jim indicated Snott to follow him.

Upon his way, Jim did not notice his surroundings, as he was focused on recovering his suit. He believed that in the bad hands, this weapon could destroy so much, as such, he felt like it was his duty to protect it at all costs.

Soon enough, the maniacal laughter was heard closer to them and it would not be long before Jim got sight on what Snott was talking about. Indeed, there, at the entrance of what looked like a town, his suit was running around, destroying houses and trees with its pass and inside it, a small white bunny held a loony look on his face.

Jim decided not to waste more time and approached the bunny. “Stop right there!” He yelled, getting the attention of the smiling Angel, who was twitching in a very unnatural manner, Jim was not fazed by this. “I will give you five seconds to give me back the suit and I will not have to whack a mole you.”

Smile still in place, Angel got closer to the worm, who couldn´t help but to grin at this action. Letting out a small laugh, Jim talked. “See Snott? There are still beings in the universe that can be civi...”

Squish!

With one quick movement, Jim was plastered under his own suit´s palm, forcing Angel to release another laugh as he went away running.

With a concerned look, Snott got close to his friend and helped him of the ground. Jim rubbed his head, as dusted himself off, then released a frown, while looking back at the slime creature. “Come on, Snott, we need to catch that bunny before he destroys the town.”

And so, the chase began, with a crazy Angel and a pair of unconventional creatures running around Ponyville, with none of them noticing the destroyed town, nor acknowledging the battle happening close to them, where a certain purple alicorn was battling against a powerful enemy.

MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Angel laughed, as he launched an apple stand towards the pair, who dodged in time, before continuing their race to retrieve the weapon.

“He is really starting to be totally ungroovy, Snott.” The mucus creature agreed with this statement.

Upon their race, they noticed Angel jumping inside the remains of what looked like a destroyed tree house, Jim however, did not pay attention to this and simply followed him, sadly for the worm, a book flew straight to his face.

“Hey!” He yelled, getting another book to the face. “Are these seriously that bad?!” Just as another book found his way to the worm, Jim used his head body to grab it mid air and throw it back at the smiling bunny´s head, sending him to the floor. “Aha!” Said, Jim, making his way towards the downed Angel.

The bunny stoop up quickly and released another barrage of laughs, then turned around and went to the fridge for no reason. Not too long passed before he faced the worm back with a whole lot of carrots in his mouth, laughing at the same time.

Jim was only a few steps away from the suit when the bunny spitted a bunch of carrots, almost as if they were some kind of twisted machine gun. The weird attack was about to collide against Jim´s face, until he easily dodged them, the food would soon meet its end at Snott´s mouth, who happily received it.

Jim thought he had the bunny, but sadly for him, Angel jumped once more, getting out of the destroyed home, getting once more unto the streets.

“Oh, come on! What the Heck did this guy inhaled?” Jim said, before resuming his chase towards the bunny. None of them noticed they where heading towards an spectacle of a couple of beams being blasted by two colliding forces.

Angel landed on the floor, leaving a small crater around him and was about to continue his walk, when he noticed a shiny golden bit on the ground, immediately stopping his advance. The crazy bunny took hold of the round object and carried it to eye level. Feeling the control of the mightiest treasure on the whole universe, Angel began laughing maniacally, almost kissing the golden object.

His laughs, loud as they were, did not catch the attention of the couple of beings fighting a few meters away from him. “M...m...my precious...” Managed to utter the bunny, his voice raspy and demented.

Soon enough, Angel would feel a force taking hold of him, a skin color blur that made its way towards the bunny´s face. ”Got you!” Angel heard, as he tried to get the worm off from him.

Both worm and bunny struggled for control, but in the end, Jim managed to get hold of Angel, who returned to his normal state upon breaking contact with the powerful suit.

Holding Angel with one end of his body, Jim inserted the rest inside the weapon, getting back the control of the suit. With one sigh of relief, Jim grabbed the bonny with his right hand and held it to eye level. “So... Anything to say in your defense?”

However, Angel felt dizzy and was struggling to maintain his sight, which caused Jim to place the bonny on his palm, while petting him on the head. The now calmed worm released a gentle laugh upon his recent victory. “Bearing the suit is not an easy task, right little buddy?” Finally, the bunny succumbed from the sheer amount of energy emancipating from Jim´s suit and passed out.

Snott came running behind the worm, then settled himself on Jim´s shoulder. Preparing himself to get back to Fluttershy´s home, the worm had hoped he could clarify things up, but first he had to wait for the pegasus to arrive. It was almost comical, Jim had been dusting the suit off and while doing this, he never noticed six ponies and a draconequus passing behind him, defeat clearly shown on their faces. None of them noticed each other.

As the other beings disappeared behind the worm, he took a smiling look at his surroundings and when he did, his smile immediately fell.

He did not look a happy place full of smiling ponies like Snott had told him, he saw a destroyed town, flames consuming everything in their path and complete solitude. "Wow! Whose fut boll team won?" Jim said, trying to realize what had happened.

Turning around, he noticed a destroyed mountain and a few holes on the ground, he instantly deduced a fight had happened, although who against who he did not know, but he would not remain with the uncertainty for too much longer.

Directing his eyes from left to right, he finally got look of an enormous black and red minotaur creature, who seemed rather happy watching the destruction around him.

Releasing a frown, Jim got on one knee, as Snott went off from his shoulder. The worm turned to look at his friend and deposited Angel on his back. “Take our friend back to his home and wait for me there.”

With a nod, Snott proceeded to leave, leaving Jim to stand up and turned to look at the centaur.

Snott wasn´t exactly worried about leaving his friend, he had his good share of adventures, but he knew they were new in this world, making them oblivious of the beings living in here and by the looks of the town´s state, they were powerful. Snott could only hope Jim would be okay, but for the moment, he had to get Angel back and take care of him.

For Jim, It was kind of obvious what had happened, as there was no mention from a creature like the one standing in front of him. Snott had told the worm about ponies living in this place, but he saw none, instead, he witnessed an smiling centaur admiring the view.

He may be in a completely new place and away from home, but this place seemed like it was in peril and he would not remain with his arms crossed, no matter how unfamiliar this was all to him.

Reaching into his holster, Jim noticed something lacking. “Ungroovy.” He said, noting his blaster was not where it had to be.

It was no matter, he did not need to use his blaster to get in a fight. Relaying on his gun at all times shortened his multiple ways of taking care of the galaxy´s foes and Jim was certainly not weak, not even a little. He had been in situations where he found himself unarmed, this would be no different.

Taking a deep breath, he calmly, he made his way towards the centaur, who upon sensing something, turned around. Tirek couldn´t help but to feel confused at the scene in front of him.

There, standing a few feet away, was not the so called princess Twilight like he had been expecting, but a weird worm with body and a frown that could kill.

Trying to deduce what was happening, he released a laugh. “Didn´t know you still had magic.” Jim cocked his head to the side. “It doesn´t matter what trick you assault me with, I have won, Discord.”

“I don´t know who Discord is, but if it was you who destroyed the town then this is going to get ugly.” Replied Jim, further confusing the centaur.

Tirek was now more confused than before, why would discord try to fight him, knowing he had no power? And why use such a bizarre avatar? It did not take him too long to deduce that the one standing before him, was not the chaos god. Discord could sometimes be very childish, but he was definitely not stupid, he knew that going against the centaur like this, would just be suicidal. Curiosity taking hold of him, Tirek got a good look at the creature, noticing the unusual amount of magic emanating from him, godly power. He got closer.

“Who are you?”

“I´m Earthworm Jim, protector of the universe.” He replied, frown still in place.

Far from concerning Tirek, the presentation made him release a chuckle. “´Protector of the universe´?” He asked, before dismissing Jim with a wave from his hand. “Get out of here.” With that, he turned around to leave, until...

Whip!

Tirek felt something close to a whip hitting him, forcing the centaur to turn around and face the worm once again, who had just placed his head body inside the suit.

“I wont let you get away.”

Tirek frowned at this poor idiot. He was far to pleased by having acquired control over Equestria to let this bofoon make fun of him, it did not matter to him who he was, the centaur would not stand for this. Slowly getting closer to Jim, Tirek looked right at him.

It wasn´t long before the towering monster found himself face to face with the worm, then with one movement, he opened his mouth and prepared to absorb.

A thin smile was formed in Tirek´s features, but he never noticed Jim´s confused look.

“Seriously? You are going to start a staring contest right now?” Asked Jim, this time worrying the centaur, who noticed he wasn´t absorbing anything from this new creature. Jim managed to catch this change of confidence and smiled. “Here, let me help you with your sight!”

Faster than he could react, a fist collided against Tirek, who was instantly propelled away from Jim and into a nearby mountain. The worm stood still, waiting for the imminent movement, which soon did after a huge explosion and a powerful beam went straight to Jim.

The worm wasted no time and placed his arms together in front of him, as a blue shield was formed from them, blocking the blast incoming from the mountain. As the attack continued, Jim heard rocks moving and a heavy force making its way towards him, he began to calculate and prepared for a strike.

Finally breaking the spell, Jim noticed in time the flying centaur flying straight to him. Moments before a towering monster could hit him, the worm side stepped and kneed Tirek on the gut, then grabbed the back of his head and brought the huge centaur to the ground, colliding his face against rock. Taking a step behind, Jim brought his foot forwards and kicked Tirek, once more sending him a few feet away from the worm, this time, Jim did not stop.

Tirek prepared to get up, but he was tackled by the worm, who brought his fist into the centaur´s face. Left and right collided with force, preventing Tirek from getting a good look to avoid the attack.

After a few more punches, the centaur managed to get hold of Jim´s fist and used it to bring the worm to the ground. Not wasting the opportunity, he blasted him with as much power as he could muster, but soon he would be interrupted by a foot kicking him in the stomach.

As Tirek did his best to breath, an almost unscratched Jim quickly launched an uppercut at the centaur´s jaw, then used his head body to grab him mid-air and bring him back to the ground.

With a scream of rage, Tirek tackled the worm and went flying straight to a mountain, soon enough colliding against it with Jim up at front.

While the enormous rock was destroyed from the inside, both Tirek and Jim exchanged lefts and rights. Not long passed before Tirek felt tired with the fight, causing him to collect a huge amount of energy between his horns and blasted the worm from the inside of a mountain.

A white blur fell to the ground as the shadow of a horned being towered over Jim. Tirek once more charged up an attack and blasted into the floor, but this time before this new creature could have a moment to attack, the centaur brought himself down and into the ruble, later going out of the the dirt smoke with Jim in his arms.

Pinning the worm in the ground, Tirek opened his mouth once more and tried to absorb again... Still nothing. Tirek´s smile faded away, but it wasn´t because of his inability to get this power but the fact that Jim had been smiling the whole time and soon enough he would discover why.

Tirek noticed in surprise that Jim had managed to get his arms free and was preparing to launch a strike. Just before he could feel the punch, Tirek tried to block it, but the power fist never contacted against him.

The enormous centaur wide opened his eyes in surprise as soon as he noticed that both of Jim´s hands were missing, he was dumbfounded.

“Wait for it...” Tirek had no time to react and as soon as the words left Jim´s mouth, a blue blur collided against the centaur´s face, taking him away from Jim, who hurried himself to his feet and seemingly punched the air.

A pair of flying fists found their way to Tirek´s body and after a few blows, the centaur was starting to see blurry. However, he would not accept going down, not after he had finally taken control over Equestria and focused enough to send a blast towards Jim.

The worm saw the attack coming and dodged it, calling his fists back, then launched himself forward. Another attack was coming in fast, forcing Jim to raise his arm and deflect it with one fast wave from it, Tirek tried once more and as soon as it was about to hit the worm, he jumped in the air and attached his head body to the centaur´s arm, then used Tirek´s strength to bring himself down, landing a top of the beat up centaur.

A small crater was formed from the impact, once more filling the air with rock dust.

Tirek was hurt and downed, he didn´t know how. He had used strength, magic and everything in his power and while he had managed to defeat the princesses, a god and the Elements, here he found himself at the mercy of a giant talking worm.

He had felt it, his power, the magic that ran from that body, overwhelming yet it was not his to reclaim. Soon his thoughts were cut short by a pair of blue gloved hands, which pulled him up. It wasn´t long before Tirek found himself face to face with this smiling warrior. “H... How did you...”

“Oh please! Don´t start with the evil guy speech.” Jim rolled his eyes, instantly shutting Tirek up, then gave him a wide smile. “Want to end this in a more original way?” The centaur simply stared blankly at him, making Jim release a chuckle. “Thought so.”

Faster than the eye could see, Jim brought his fist against Tirek´s face, knocking the centaur out.

The worm dropped his enemy to the ground, dusting his hands of and placing them alongside his hips. He looked from the downed Tirek to the town in ruins, sighing at this. Yes, he had managed to defeat the centaur, but he had arrived too late, Jim only hoped the pegasus that took care of him was alright.

Maybe he could start searching for some kind of leader and explain what had just happened, start relationships with this planet´s leaders and find where the Heck he was.

Thankfully for him, his answers were about to arrive.

“Okay, Tirek, we´re...” A distant voice had caught the worm´s attention, who turned around to spot six ponies floating close to him, their manes were colorful and emanating with power.

Jim released an excited look at this and came quickly towards them. “Holy cow! Pony Saiyans!”

The Elements looked between each other, on a complete loss for words. They had just acquired the power from the box and were ready to defeat Tirek, but what they found was not the waiting foe, but a strange creature in a white suit, smiling at them and with a knocked out Tirek just a few feet away from him.

Jim did not erase the smile from his face while he met the newly arrived group. He had been analyzing the six ponies, until he noticed one he recognized. Getting closer to the yellow one, he released a gentle laugh. “You must be Fluttershy, I was eager to thank you for taking care of me while I was passed out.”

“Jim?” Asked the confused pegasus, releasing another chuckle from the worm.

“I´m Earthworm Jim, protector of the universe!” He finally said, confusing further the six mare, who were participating in a collective mane scratch.

“Protector of the universe?” Asked Twilight.

“Saiyans?” Replied Rainbow, with Rarity going next.

“Is that a worm?”

“Are you an alien?” Asked Pinkie, her face showing confusion and a hint of excitement.

“What in tarnation?” Okay, okay, you get the idea, they were on a complete loss for words.

It was hard to make up a decision, especially for Twilight; she had always used the mantra ´expect the unexpected´ but what was lying in front of them wasn´t only unexpected, it was bizarre. Trying to fight to barrage of questions that came to her mind, the purple alicorn placed a hoof on her template.

“Okay!” She called out, grabbing the worm´s attention. “What exactly is happening? Who are you? Why is Tirek knocked out?”

“Tirek?” Jim asked, placing one gloved hand under his chin, then turned around to spot the downed centaur. “Ooh! That is Tirek!” Realization hit him in that moment. “Well.. That´s usually what happens when you punch someone on the face really hard... Or at least when I punch them in the face really hard.”

Contrary to the worm´s chuckle, Twilight facehoofed at the response, then tried again. “What I meant, was: What exactly happened here? Why is Tirek sleeping on the floor, because I seriously doubt you actually fought him.”

Ignoring Twilight´s comment, Jim decided to answer the question. “I had just woken up, to find my buddy telling me a killer rabbit had stole my suit, then I went out of the house and caught up with him and as soon as I got control of it, I noticed the town and immediately knew something was bad, then when I turned around I saw Tirek admiring the view, making me assume it was he who destroyed this place.” He gave an heroic pose. “And I would never allow any place to fall in the hands of villainy, that´s why I confronted and defeated him, then you arrived and asked me ´What exactly happened here? Why is Tirek sleeping on the floor, because I seriously doubt you actually fought him.´ and I answered ´I had just woken up, to find...´”

“Wait!” Called out Twilight, scaring her friends in the process. “Are you seriously trying to make me believe you defeated...” She pointed towards the centaur. “Him!?”

Jim frowned, he simply did not like being called a fake. “I have no reason to lie, momma always told me to never tell lies.”

“What!?” Once more, Twilight exploded, now concerning the rest of the Elements. “He managed to defeat the princesses and us and then a giant worm comes dancing around and simply knocks him out cold!? KNOCKS HIM OUT COLD!?”

As a response, Jim simply gave her a nervous smile and shrugged. In an instant, Twilight screamed in fury, making Jim back away with a concerned look. “Ungroovy!”

Thankfully for the worm, Applejack stepped into the scene, placing a hoof on her friend´s chest. “Wow, easy there sugarcube! At least... Whoever he is, managed to stop that vermin!”

“But he couldn´t!” Replied Twilight. “There is no way something like him,” she pointed towards Jim, “could have stopped an all powerful centaur! He is just a giant worm!”

“I´m right here!” Replied Jim, but his words were completely ignored by the raging Twilight, who simply continued her argument with her friends.

Jim silently observed the scene, until he noticed on the corner of his eye an incoming yellow figure that he instantly recognized. Quickly turning around, Jim greeted Fluttershy with a friendly smile. The mare backed away upon detecting the worm´s sudden movement.

“Are they always like this?” Asked the grinning Jim, pointing with his thumb towards the group.

Fluttershy lowered her head. “Sometimes, there are occasions Twilight simply doesn´t expect and you certainly were kind of unexpected.” She replied, then wide opened her eyes, worried about her words. “Oh, I didn´t mean that in a bad way.”

Jim chuckled, the got on one knee. “Don´t worry, Fluttershy, I understand.”

With a nod, Fluttershy responded to Jim´s words, then she remembered something. “I uh... I thought you said Angel had grabbed your suit.” Jim nodded, smile still in place. “I hope he didn´t do anything to it, he can be so short minded at times.”

“He didn´t I grabbed him before he could do any more damage.” Jim noticed the sudden worried look on her face and proceeded to calm her down. “And don´t worry, I asked Snott to take him to your home, they should be safe inside.”

As soon as the words left the worm´s mouth, Fluttershy couldn´t help but to release a smile. Both of these guests were very kind and she held no regrets about helping them out, plus, if what Jim said was true, then she was more than glad to have had somepony... Or someworm like him around.

Soon enough, she felt comfortable around the worm and let herself loose a little. “Oh I´m sorry, I haven´t introduced myself properly.” She said, extending her hoof. “Nice to meet you, Jim, my name is Fluttershy.”

Jim got hold of her hoof and shook it carefully, nodding in response, then got up in time to spot the rest of the group walking towards him, with a still frowning Twilight up front. Soon the purple pegasus spoke.

“We´re going to take care of Tirek and once we finish cleaning up his mess, you and us are going to have a serious talk!”

Jim felt nervous. “Do you promise I will get out this with my members still attached?” He asked.

Twilight smiled. “No promises.”