Chapter 1 | Something isn't right...
Sunlight was piercing the forest's canopy, it lit up something lying on the ground, or a person I should say. That person was named Jax, and he was a human known for his type of people, the Archdrakes. His helmet, still on his head, shined from the light. His fingers started to twitch. Jax groaned and moved to his side, murmuring something illegible. Gasping, he instantly sat up and started looking around. He began feeling for his weapon, found it, and used it to get up. Jax then looked around for something else, but couldn't see it anywhere. I must have somehow woke outside the Shrine, I should go looking for it now. Jax thought to himself as he brushed the grass off his robes and started walking in a random direction. Suddenly, he began whistling an unknown tune as he walked. As he walked through the forest, he found himself on a path and in the direct sight of a town. He directed his course towards the town and continued whistling as he walked.
Walking through the town he noticed something strange about the people here, or as he saw, the ponies! They talked and ran shops, as if they were humans, but they obviously weren't. Jax started pondering about the "people" when he turned to see one of them staring at him. Her coat was purple and her hair was dark purple with a bit of light purple going down the middle. She also had a horn, but Jax knew nothing about that. They just stood in silence, staring at each other for a total of four minutes, until she spoke.
"Um... What exactly are you?" The pony said, her face showing curiosity.
"A human, a little while ago I suddenly appeared out in... Wait... Who are you?" Jax questioned
"I am Twilight Sparkle, pleased to meet you." Twilight answered, smiling.
"I am Jax, the pleasure is mine." Jax said as he bowed.
They began walking together and talking. Twilight was explaining to him about their land while Jax simply listened. Apparently Jax had fell into Equestria, where ponies reigned and humans don't exist. He just nodded and looked up to see a tree house in front of them and that they were standing at the door. Twilight opened it and walked in, inviting Jax inside. Jax looked around and saw a lot of books all over the place.
"Is this a library?" Jax questioned.
"Yep, I own it. Please make yourself at home, maybe there is a book that can tell you how to get back to your own land?" Twilight suggested, walking upstairs and leaving Jax in the library. He walked to a shelf and pulled a few books out, looked at the titles and put them back into their place. He heard a door open and close and when he turned around, a gray pony with blonde hair was flying straight at him! They both yelled while Jax dropped his weapon and put up his hands to cushion some of the impact. They crashed and the books fell all over them. Jax was lying on the ground when another book fell onto his helmet's face.
"Ow~..." Jax managed to moan as he laid still.
"Sorry, I was looking for Twilight to give her this package." The pony got up and looked into her bag to find a small rectangular package. Holding it in her jaw, she looked around for Twilight. Jax got up and went upstairs to fetch her. They both came down and Twilight instantly smiled.
"Hey Derpy! What do you have for me today?" Twilight said as she stood in front of her.
"I have a small package for you by..." Derpy walks over to a table and puts it down on the table and looks at the name on it.
"It is by another library, they didn't want it so they sent you this book." Derpy said, smiling.
"A single book? Jax, can you take it and put it somewhere on the shelves?" Twilight looked at Jax, who stood there watching them. He shook his head to try and stop spacing out and looked at Twilight.
"Wait... Am I technically working here now?" Jax finally said.
"Well, I am letting you stay here." Twilight replied.
"Good point, right away. Oh, do you want me to unwrap it as well?" Jax asked as he picked up the package.
"Yes please." Twilight replied.
Jax took the paper off of the book and looked at the title, it read 'The Mansion of Hollow Shades'. He took the book and put it on its respective shelf. Jax walked back and saw that they were talking with each other. He went over to tell Twilight that he was going to go explore the town and that he will be back later. She nodded and went back to talking with Derpy. Picking up his weapon, he walked out onto the streets to see what the town had to offer. Within a few minutes, he began whistling again and ponies were already looking at him while he walked, but Jax didn't mind at all. He looked around and heard music coming from a house nearby. He walked over and saw a sign on the outside of the door that read 'Party inside! All welcome!. Jax shrugged and walked inside to a large party. Everything was amazing, there was sweets and apple cider that tasted heavenly. Jax lifted his helmet a tiny bit to take a drink from the cider. He put his helmet back down and turned around to see a orange pony behind him. 'Why does everything pop up behind me?' Jax thought to himself as he waved to her.
"Whatcha doin' over here? The party is over there." She said, looking towards the ponies having fun.
"I'm thirsty,and I'm also just going to observe. As you can probably tell, I am not a pony." Jax said as he slightly chuckles.
"Yea', I noticed that, but as long as you're friendly, I don't mind none." The orange pony replied, smiling at Jax.
"My name is Jax, may I ask what is yours?" He bowed as he said this.
"Name is Applejack, you're not from this area are ya'?" Applejack asked.
"I'm from another land completely, I just appeared in the middle of that forest a while ago." Jax answered, still holding onto his halberd. He walked to the door and looked back at Applejack.
"I am afraid I need to leave the party a bit early, I really want to see the rest of the town and then get back to the library. Goodbye!" Jax said as he went out the door. Twenty minutes of looking at buildings, going inside of shops and walking out, he was still whistling his little strange tune to himself. Everyone, or as I should say, everyPONY probably are thinking me as a strange new creature. Jax thought to himself as he walked through the town. Ponies still stared at him only for a little bit before going back to their things. He had finally explored the whole town and decided it was time to head back to Twilight's library. While he was walking, he felt like he was being stalked by somepony. He turned around and saw a light brown pony with black and red hair jumping behind a cart.
"Um, sir? I still see your tail." Jax yelled to the pony.
"No you don't!" The pony replied, his black tail was pulled back behind the cart.
"Dude, if I saw you already, that means you should come out from hiding."
The pony stood up from behind the cart and walked towards Jax. He had different colored eyes, his left one was purple and the right was gold. He wore a lab coat and had a pair of goggles hanging from his neck.
"So, you're a human?" The pony finally said.
"Um, yeah? May I ask who you are?" Jax said, looking at the pony with a strange look.
"I am Baxter Gearwork, a full-time inventor!" Baxter looked at Jax's halberd he held.
"I am Jax." He bowed and so did Baxter.
"Our names are fairly similar, I already like you."
"Wait... How did you know I was a human?"
"I read about your kind in a book."
"Okay... Well, I need to get going, it was a pleasure meeting you. Goodbye" Jax said as he walked away. He finally made it to Twilight's house before the sun went down. Opening the door he found the room was empty and dimly lit only by a light on the ceiling. A book was lying open on a table, it was a book about other worlds and such. Jax went over and read some of it, before getting startled by Twilight who stood by him silently. He jumped and dropped his weapon. It clattered to the floor, the blade glinting from the light. He put his hand on his chest, and sighed loudly. Twilight looked at him with the look of curiosity. Jax confused, just stared back. Both of them just stared awkwardly at each other with curiosity. The front door opened and Baxter came walking in. He saw the two just staring at each other, made a gag noise, and walked to the counter to drop a book on it. Then he just simply walked out laughing at the awkward moment the two were having. Jax finally made a motion and sat down, crossing his legs.
"I'm guessing you're curious about me right now?" Jax said, looking at twilight.
"Yeah, I would like to know about you and where you come from." Twilight answered, sitting down as well.
"Okay, well let us start off with my home..."
Jax explained about his home, it was called the Shrine Of Amana where the Archdrakes live and protect the Shrine. It was filled with water, humongous tree roots grew from the roof of the shrine, ruins were scattered across the flooded cliff where the Archdrakes lived. Blue growing plants grew from the cliff and made the Shrine even more beautiful. He lived in a ruined house off of the main road with his brother, Ezekiel. They guarded the King's room. The King was name Vendrick and was ruling over the kingdom known as Drangleic. Apparently he was dealing with a war that was happening on his land so he won't get a chance to visit the Shrine. The Archdrakes kept the Shrine looking beautiful for the King's eyes, and even went as far as killing those who dare tread across the Shrine to preserve its beauty. Then Jax talked about himself directly, including the fact that he protected the Tower of Prayer with his own custom weapon, the Archdrake Halberd. Twilight asked how he had managed to end up in this world, but he answered saying that he can't seem to remember. Jax got up, picked up his halberd and waved Twilight a good night saying he found somewhere to sleep. Twilight only waved back with a smile.
Jax was sound asleep underneath a tree in the same forest that he came out of, only he is just in the direct sight of the town. His halberd was against the tree, the blade shining from the sunlight boring straight through the leaves. He started to wake, stretching and yawning. Putting his hand down he felt hair. He was barely awake and kept his hand on the unknown pony's head before shaking his own and whispering Wake up~ to the pony. She had a yellow coat and her mane was pink. Her eyes started to open a bit.
"Hey... You know you were sleeping on me right?" Jax said to the pony who was still trying to wake up. She yawned and looked at him with curiosity, just as Jax expected.
"I know that look, everyone has been giving it to me... I am Jax, an Archdrake." Jax said, trying to his best to sound friendly.
"Oh, so you're an animal I never seen before, and you can talk!" The pony said, getting up.
"I'm Fluttershy, I think you already seen my friends, except Pinky, Rarity, and RainbowDash..." Fluttershy said, looking down and thinking.
"Well I am-.....Wait, how did you know I already met some of your friends?"
Fluttershy grew red and looked down. Jax just looked in confusion and realizing that she must have followed him through town.
"Wait... did you follow me throughout the town?" Jax finally questioned. Fluttershy only nodded her head.
"How did you know to follow me? The only one that was physically following me was Baxter and I caught him right away." Jax continued.
"I heard your little tune and just followed it, I swear I didn't know you were the one causing the noise!" Fluttershy quickly added the end part.
Jax only chuckled and got up. He stretched his arms, grabbed his halberd, and started walking towards the town. Fluttershy followed him and stayed by his side. He looked at her for a second to acknowledge her then turned back to see somepony kicking clouds in the distance. Jax stopped and stared at the sky. All of a sudden somepony yelled something. Jax looked back at the road to see a pink pony running towards them. She stopped right in front of the two and only looked at Fluttershy.
"Is this your pet now?" She asked without hesitation.
"Um, n-no, I just saw him earlier..." She replied, the shyness in her voice coming out only slightly.
So... gonna leave out the part about you following me all over? Jax silently said to himself.
"Hey, Twilight wants all of us to come to her place so we can help somepony out with something." The pink pony said before dragging off Fluttershy.
"Wait... w-wait~" Fluttershy said, her voice still quiet, as she was being dragged off.
Jax looked at the two while waving before he continued his walk. After a few minutes of walking, he saw Baxter lying on the ground outside of a house, he was ashen and one of the windows were broken. A light purple pony came walking out of the same house, her mane was pink, cyan, and white. She scolded him for doing something before dragging him inside the house. Baxter just let out a sigh before the door shut. Jax laughed and continued his walk before being hit from behind by something moving fast. His feet were being dragged across the ground, something was holding onto his robes while flying towards Twilight's tree-house. Jax just stared as he sped towards the front door before it opened and whatever held him let go. Jax went flying through the door towards the bookshelves, but this time he was smart. He drove the end of his halberd into the floor, which only stopped his halberd mid-flight while Jax hit the shelves, hard. Everything went black.
"Is he dead?"
"No Rainbowdash, he isn't dead, just unconscious. Maybe if we wait for him to-..."
"We can give 'im some Apple Cider to wake 'im up!"
"But my darling, what if you spill it all over his good looking robes? Surely he won't appreciate that!"
"I don't think h-he will appreciate anything, especially you guys touching his helmet like that."
"Hey, when he wakes up, we should throw a party for him!"
"Pinky, I don't think we should throw a party right now."
"Aw~..."
Jax started to move and began groaning. My head hurts, everything hurts, if I open my eyes the light would hurt... Jax thought to himself before finally opening his eyes. He looked around to see a lot of ponies looking at him. He got up while holding the back of his head, then he realized something... He wasn't wearing his helmet! His eyes widened and he looked around for it. He saw it on the table and instantly grabbed it and put it on his head.
"Jax, why are you freaking out about your helmet?" Twilight asked
"I need my helmet, it makes me feel safer." Jax answered.
"Can you take it off, you're safe in here. Everyone here is your friend." Fluttershy said.
Jax hesitated for a second, then he slowly removed his helm. He put his helmet back on the table and looked at the ponies smiling. He had a light beard that was black, his hair was short and messy. He had green eyes and a small, grey dragon tattoo was on his left cheek. Jax bowed to them and chuckled.
"I never really take off my helm, but I guess I can around you guys." Jax said, breaking the silence. He looked at the three ponies he never met yet.
"I am going to take a guess that you're Pinky, you're Rainbowdash, and that you're Rarity... Am I right?" Jax said as he pointed at each pony. They all nodded and waved to him.
A booming noise happened in the distance, followed with somepony yelling at another pony. Suddenly, a ball of smoke flew through the window and landed on the table. Jax instantly grabbed his helm and put it on. The ashen figure began coughing and when he sat up, his purple and golden eyes stared at Jax. Baxter smiled and just as he got up, a Pegasus came flying in through the window. It was the same pony who dragged him into his house. She landed and inspected Baxter while scolding him.
"Goodness Baxter, when are you going to stop trying to create things that end up literally blowing up in your face?" The pony ask as she looked him up and down. Her cut-glass voice sounded beautiful compared to Baxter's well-spoken accent.
"Lavender, trust me when I say this, the pain isn't all that bad." Baxter replied.
"Oh, so when you get blown up, you're all good, but when you get a sliver, you are about to die?"
"Hey!"
Lavender giggled and helped Baxter down from the table. Baxter laughed and went towards the door. Lavender followed, still scolding him for being an idiot. Jax looked at them as they walked away. Twilight explained that Baxter was always trying to create some sort of new invention but always ended up exploding and having his girlfriend tend to his injuries while scolding him.
"Oh, okay so what were we all doing before they came in?" Jax said.
"We were about to throw a party!" Pinky yelled, a cannon appeared next to her.
"No, we were going to help you get back to your own land." Twilight said, still looking at Pinky who is pushing the cannon into another room.
"Sweet, so how is that going to be possible?" Jax asked, taking his helmet off and setting it back down on the table.
"Well, maybe Baxter can help out, let's head to his house." Twilight answered.
They all walked through Ponyville to Baxter's house, it was a two story house and has usual explosions throughout the day. As soon as they made it to the door, another explosion happened and Baxter went flying out the second floor window in a ball of smoke, Lavender followed trying to catch him. About ten minutes passed and the group saw the couple walking back. Baxter saw them first and ran over to greet them, but Lavender flew to them and made it first.
"Hello friends! What brings you to our home?" Lavender asked, smiling.
"We're here to see if Baxter can help us send Jax back home." Twilight said, as Baxter finally tuned into the conversation.
"Oh, yeah, I can help out with you guys, lets go inside." Baxter said as he went through the front door.
The home was a mixture of royal decorations and simpleness. The flooring was a sort of polished dark wood and a red carpet with the edges designed with golden flower swirls.The walls were white and had paintings and pictures on it. They went into the living room and in it was only a black couch, table, and a fireplace. Baxter had the group wait in here while he went into the basement. They looked at everything, the paintings of landscapes, pictures of Baxter and Lavender on vacations, and a few small cougar and black eagle dolls. Baxter came back and asked to see Jax real quick. Jax and Baxter went downstairs and a few minutes later a whirring noise came from the basement and then a flash of light. What followed was Baxter saying Oops and Jax screaming for a second.
"Um, guys, come down for a second!" Baxter yelled from the basement.
"Are you kidding me Baxter, that hurt so much, it was far from painless!!!" Yelled Jax.
The group ran downstairs to find that Jax was different, VERY different. They all gasped while Baxter laughed at what had happened to Jax. Everypony looked at him in complete wonder and amazement. No-one thought that it could be done but the result was looking at them in the face. Baxter put a mirror in front of Jax as he began speaking.
"Why are you guys looking at me like tha-AAAHHHHHHHH!!!"
Silence....
"So, who's hungry?" Baxter blurted out, smiling.
