//-------------------------------------------------------// The wrench chronicles (bioshock) -by shanalla- //-------------------------------------------------------// //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 1 //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 1 This is to be my weekend projects for when I am bored. This is likely to be typed on an iPad so I will more than likely have to go back over it and fix any stupid mistakes or auto corrections. This contains spoilers for bioshock 1 and maybe bioshock 2 if I feel like including anything from bioshock 2. This takes place at the beginning of the proving grounds. There may be some things that don't actually happen or do not exist in the bioshock world but many of those things are either plot driving items. No knowledge of bioshock is necessary but a small amount could help. Anyways I think it is time to begin. Jack: I looked at how far I had come, how many people I had killed to get to this point in time, what I had sacrificed, the pain I had gone through. Was it worth it ... You bet, those weren't people they were monsters, I had sacrificed much but I had gained more, the pain I had gone through ... Well there is no denying that, but still I would do it all again to get to this point. I took the green army backpack off and placed it on the floor I opened it to find that I was low on supplies, luckily the room I was in was filled with ammo med-kits and eve hypos. I continued to fill my bag with the supplies, the bag itself was a green army bag it had a camouflage pattern and was almost as big as I was, it was a pain to lug about but I needed it if I wanted to carry my things with me. After I had filled it with all the supplies I still had enough room for a bouncers drill, not that I had one ... Maybe I should look into getting one. I turned around to look at the last desk to find a teddy bear I heard the sound of small feet running away, Ahh Tenenbaum where would I be without your gifts, hmm a note as well. "Jack I can only ask that when you destroy Fontaine you will give the little ones a life on the surface, Do what I cannot and look after them. The plasmid I have given to you is untested and might be very volatile I would suggest testing out in this room before going to face Fontaine. It is a teleportation plasmid, I wish you the best of luck. Tenenbaum" I picked up the bottle of liquid and walked over to the gene bank, this plasmid was different the other ones had a certain colour, electro bolt was blue and incinerate was orange, why is this one flashing different colours? Whatever, I turned the gene bank on and looked at the screen, in the combat tonic slots I have ... Armoured shell 2, electric flesh 2, frozen field 2, human inferno 2, Static discharge 2 and wrench lurker 2. That's a lot of two's, I only have a few engineering tonics, i mean hacking is super easy anyway so what's the point I only bothered to use clever inventor, prolific inventor, safecracker 2 and security expert 2. My physical tonics is where it is at, bloodlust, sports boost 2, extra nutrition 3, eve saver, medical expert 3 and natural camouflage. Now I have 7 plasmids, electro bolt, incinerate, sonic boom, telekinesis, cyclone trap, target dummy and this teleportation plasmid. Well I guess I better try this thing out then, as I turned to pick up my bag I noticed it was shut, I can't remember shutting that, oh well as I pick It up I realise how much heavier it is now that it's full of supplies, this feels so much heavier, Jesus how much stuff did I put I here. I walk over to a clear part of the room and start to use the teleportation plasmid, it was at that moment I noticed a shadow on the floor it was that of a drill. This had happened only once before and I knew how it ended. I felt the pain in the back of my head them darkness, after a couple of minutes I look up to see the glass in front of my face, I had died again, at least the big daddy won't be after me anymore, wrong dead wrong. The big daddy charged towards the glass, the only way I could think of to get out of here was my newest plasmid, I started to use the plasmid, it seemed to have to charge up before I can use it, the big daddy was only ten feet away, five, one then nothing, just before everything disappeared I saw the drill come into contact with the glass cracking it, I'm sure that if I hasps stayed for any longer the drill would have joined me inside here. I was gone but no pain so he didn't manage to hit me all I could see was the vita chamber, the area outside the glass was a deep black, it was thick and foreboding as if it was a liquid. Wonder where I will teleport to? Hopefully not too far away I don't want to walk all the way across rapture ... Again. I woke up on a cold hard floor and I heard small feet running away again, as far as I knew I might have only travelled into the next room, I opened my eyes, of course not. I looked up and saw something I thought I would never see again ... The sky. I looked at my hand to notice that it seemed less, err how do I say this, real? The buildings I woke up in-between where less real as well, almost cartoon like at the end of the alleyway I saw my bag, it opened itself and a small child crawled out, it was a little sister, seems she decided to hide in my bag. Two horses turned the corner or at least what I would call horses maybe they were ponies because of their height ... Whatever who cares what these two are, I need to figure out where I am. The two ponies, I had decided that they were ponies, looked at the small girl. She was running towards them, typical the small girl likes ponies, I stood up and made my way to the young child, I had to make sure she didn't get kicked by accident. The ponies themselves where grey one had a bandana mark on its side, this must be the owners mark, I had grown up on a farm and I had to mark the new horses. The other had a mask; it was like a highwayman mask. What I hadn't noticed was that the one with the mask had a horn on its head, I wasn't a library guy so I had no idea what it was, is horn started to glow and the little sister floated towards him, she obviously didn't like to be picked up in this manner and so promptly started to cry. "Hey whatcha think this is Sly?" "Ay doesn’t know do ay?" So these ponies could talk, I had seen some weird things on my trip through rapture but this took the cake. "You let her go!" the one named Sly turned round, although he looked shocked I had to give it to him he didn't seem to care that much. "How much is it worth to ya?" Sigh I've only been here five god damn minutes and already I'm fighting something. "is it worth your life's? Sly started laughing and from behind him he pulled a miniature wrench, it was proportioned to the smaller pony not like mine which was twice as big, talking of my wrench, i unclipped it from my belt and got my plasmid ready just in case this turned nasty, as Sly ran towards me I put a cyclone trap on the wall and just watched as Jimmy ran straight into it. Being such a thin alleyway sly hit strait into the other side of the wall and collapsed. I looked over at the other pony to see him drop the little sister and high-tail it out of the alleyway, the young girl ran over to me and grappled my leg. She was still crying just not as much now, she was only about 3 foot tall if I had to guess she would be about 4 years old maybe, I walked over to my bag and picked it up again it was lot lighter without her in it. As I ushered her back into the bag and closed the top of it I could now hear her inside the bag she sounded a lot happier now. I heard the sound of many hoof steps it sounded like a stampede, I knew not to stick a about that pony probably went and got a few buddies to come and help him. I turned round and ran at full speed, I could run surprisingly fast with the tonics I had equipped. I turned round a corner and stood completely still, I slowly faded into the brick wall as all the ponies ran past, I found it surprising how many of them wore armour it was a mixture of gold and white plating, it was nothing compared to the big daddy armour that I had stowed away in my bag. Celestia: I saw guard running through the throne room As he neared me I could see the worry on his face. "Your highness, your highness!" "What is the matter?" "A pony has been attacked by some sort of creature in the city, apparently it is massive and can use magic!" "Hmm bring him to me, and do not try to hurt him he might be too strong, if you can't apprehend him in a non-violent manner come and get me." "Yes princess, right away" I sighed, why could no-one call me Celestia, I wonder what this creature is and how it got into Canterlot without me knowing. It must be very strong, thinking about that makes me shiver, I can sense him now that I try, he is in the downtown district near Pony Joe's doughnut shop, wait he is on the move, wait ... Where did he go? How did he get to the outskirts of Ponyville? Thats it I'm going after him myself. Jack: I was outside what looked to be a doughnut shop, as long as I stood still I couldn't be seen, I could feel a sneeze brewing ... "achooo!!!" That had done it a flying pony had seen me, I turned round and ran for a small wall on the other of the courtyard I was stood in as I vaulted over the wall, I looked round to see that the pony wasn't chasing me, I wondered why but as always sudden realisation came to me and instilled horror, the floor on the other side of the wall didn't exist it was a cliff face and I fell, the ground rushing up to meet me. "This one is gonna hurt" he hit the ground and felt nothing. Jack: Well when I said I felt nothing, what I meant to say was I felt nothing except the cold glass against my face. Well at least there is a vita chamber here, I noticed the crack in the glass. Ahh i wondered where this had got to. I opened it up and stepped outside, the chamber was located in some sort of cave. I opened my bag up and inspected the young girl, she seemed to be one of the girls that I have saved before. "Hey there, you gotta name?" she merely shook her head. "you want me to give you one?" "Yes please" her voice was quiet, she was scared. "How bout Suzy? You like that name?" a shake of the head answers my question. "Err do you like Jass?" a giggle was the answer he wanted; it was his real mothers name after all. "Thank you Uncle Jack" Uncle Jack? What's that about? He looked at the screen on the vita chamber, I have administrator access because of my genetic code being so similar to Andrew's, and all I have to do is. I pluck a hair from Jess' head, she noticed I had done it but didn't seem to mind. I programmed her genetic code into the vita-chamber, "now if you get hurt you will end up back here ok?" "Hehe yeah" she seemed awfully giggly, Well for a girl who had been through so much. "Now if you end up here, you must stay in this cave until I come get you, understand?" she went back to nodding her head and jumping up and down, she seemed to like bouncing about. "Well then let's get going, if you see a pony let me know, ok?" she nodded her head again. "Don’t talk much do you" a shake of the head was the answer; I ruffled her hair and picked up my bag. When we emerged from the cave Jess was attached to my arm, she has become attached to me all of a sudden. We were in some kind of forest area, we must be close to the edge because the trees are quite small here, we started to walk towards the thinner trees and soon we saw the edge of the forest. Jass ran towards the edge of the forest, when she reached the edge she was enveloped by a golden glow and lifted off the ground. "Daddy!" I ran out of the forest and saw what was holding Jass Celestia: As I flew towards Ponyville the creature turned out to be moving through the Everfree forest and towards Ponyville, maybe I should wait by the edge where it will come out. I waited on top of a tree waiting for the creature to come out. I saw it ... It was only a few feet high and it seemed to be very young, I'll use my magic to lift it up and get a better look. As I started to lift it up it screamed. It can speak our language and it has a father?! A bolt of lightning went past my head I dropped the child and brought up a shield, now where did that come from. A bigger version of the child was running back into the forest, the child under his arm; I assume it's a him she did ask for her daddy. Before the creature got into the forest I brought up some walls around him blocking him in. Jack: The yellow wall in front of me seemed to be indestructible, I looked up at the top of the wall it was only nine feet tall. I can jump that, as I placed a cyclone trap on the ground and jumped into it launching myself up a roof appeared ... Oh dear, I hit it and the pain I expected to feel didn't happen the roof had stretched and he was floating about a foot off the ground. "Why did you attack him?" of course this one could talk as well, she had some kind of plasmid abilities that created walls, I will have to look into that. "Who do you mean? That grey pony?" of course him who else have I attacked? "Yes him, he is lucky to be alive. But why attack him" oh so she had been fed a pack of lies about me. "He attacked Jass, and I defended her." I pointed at Jass as I said this; she was cowering from the huge pony. "Wait he attacked you first?" she seemed angry at this, whether at me or that other pony is unsure. "Is that why you attacked me? To protect her" "yes, I'm sorry I thought you would hurt her" I stopped thinking of anyway to escape; if she was going to kill me she would have done so by now. Not that it would have had any long lasting effects. "Why would you think that I would hurt her?" she seemed genuinely confused. "Apart from the fact that your kind has already tried" she winced at this, it was a good point "I have been in a place recently where this young one would be killed without a second thought" she was horrified at this. She dropped the shield and walked closer, I almost had to pick Jass up to stop her from running away. She looked deeply into my eyes and just looked sad as though she could see my past, I sure hope she can't. Celestia: What has this one been through his eyes are bleak and dark almost all hope is gone; only one sparkle of hope is left. That must be his daughter the last thing he has to his name, when I get back to the castle those two ponies are going straight to the dungeon. "What is your name friend?" he seemed confused at this, I wonder why? "You would call me friend after all I have done?" that must be it, where he came from he was alone, I must remember to ask him about it sometime. "Yes I would you were merely protecting that which is close to your heart" "My name is Jack and this little one" he was pointing at the small girl her clothes where grimy and rancid. "Is called Jass, may I ask your name?" "My name is princess Celestia and I rule this land with my sister Princess Luna ... Where did you go" Jack had disappeared he had merely fizzled away; he took a step forward and reappeared. "Oh sorry if I stand still for too long I will become almost invisible" ok Jack seems to have many tricks up his sleeves; I will have to get someone to keep an eye on him. Maybe Twilight will keep an eye on him and keep him in order. "hmm ok follow me, you can keep up can't you?" she doubted that he could but knowing what he could do so far, well let's just say it was possible. "Yes I can keep up just give me a minute to get ready." I looked over to see what it was that he was doing, from what I could see he was just talking to Jass and then she did the most peculiar thing she jumped into his saddlebag. "Ok I'm ready now, lead on" "err ok then" I took off and flew in the direction of Ponyville; I was flying slowly so that he could keep up with me. I looked down and saw him jogging to keep up, hmm time to put him to the test. I started to speed up until I was going at full speed, he was still keeping up! Jack: She was testing me; she wants to see how fast I can run. Well then let's show her how fast I can go then, I ran as fast as I could and I soon overtook her and was speeding away. I looked back and slowed down on the outskirts of town, it might not be best to go into town on my own the princess accompanying me might have a better outcome than me on my own. The princess had finally caught up. As I sat on ground I was playing with Jess it was a game of catch but we were using a small rock, Celestia came over to us. "Wow you are really fast, are all of your species this fast?" we stood up and started to walk through town. "no only me as far as I know, the place I came from was a scientific marvel, we modified our bodies to the point where most of us went insane." this last statement made Celestia's jaw drop, I realised I might have said the wrong thing, "but not me I'm fine" "ok two things, one could you please make sure the stories of your home are at least slightly less horrifying please, and two you will tell me the whole story of your home later, ok?" "Err yes Celestia" why was I getting the feeling that Celestia didn't like me. "Ok, now you will be staying with my number one student, Twilight Sparkle." ok that's a strange name, but anyways. "Anything else I need to know?" she looked directly at me. "Well two things one we are at our destination and two do not hurt any pony or you will have me to answer to." "You know the reason I will have if I do attack someone." Celestia looked at me as though I was insane. *sigh* "alright, alright just try not to kill anything, but remember if you hurt someone for no reason then you will be in the dungeons. Understand?" "Yes Celestia, oh and thanks for everything." "Thank you Celes ... Celles ... Celly" I looked at Jass it was a good attempt at Celestia's name, Celestia looked happy. I leant past and knocked on the door, what I hadn't realised until now was that it was a giant tree with windows. It was one giant ... Tree house, I sniggered. "What is it" Celestia was confused. "It’s just that this is a giant tree house" "what's a tree." Jass was tugging on my trouser leg. The front door opened at that point. "how can you not know what a tree I...." the purple pony stopped mid-sentence. "hello Twilight, it's good to see you, may we come in?" Celestia seemed to calm Twilight down just through her presence. "Why yes of course, come right in." I let Celestia go first, Jass seemed to not want to go in, she looked up at me arms outstretched so I picked her up and cradled her like I would a baby. "This is a nice place you have Twilight, I'm Jack and this is Jass" she seemed nervous around me, but she overcame that quite quickly. "Well hi Jack" she looked up at Jass "and hello to you to" Jass seemed to be scared of Twilight as all she did was dig her head into my chest. "Sorry she is really shy at the moment." I looked at her expecting her to be insulted but I just saw understanding in her eyes she didn't seemed bothered at all. "Well now that all of the introductions are over with I will get going." Celestia made her way towards the door. "Wait what is it that you wanted Celestia?" Celestia turned round and looked directly at Twilight. "I need you to give these two a home, these two were dumped here from their world they have nothing. I could also do with you watching over him, he is not all that he appears. Anyway I must get going I have two lying ponies to deal with." With that she took off and flew away. "Err ok then Jack, do you want me to show you to your room?" "that would be most kind of you thanks." she slowly turned round and walked up the stairs towards the third floor of the house, as I looked into the open door of each room we passed I saw many different rooms. A study, a bathroom, a bedroom probably Twilight's and then we reached my room. It was no different to the other rooms I had past it was the same colour of the tree and had a wooden table and chairs in the centre of the room a bed off to one side it was big enough for two people. Next to the bed was a bookshelf, it was empty at the moment and in the far corner was the window underneath the window was a chest of sorts, It was a big room. "thank you Twilight, we are most grateful aren't we" I said this while nudging Jass, ever since we have met twilight she has hidden away from Twilight, she only nodded her head still not removing it from my chest. "Oh you are welcome" Twilight had a grin on her face. "Now I don't suppose you have any weapons on you, do you?" "Err yes I do, and I suppose you want them" Twilight nodded her head at this point; I put Jass down on the bed and put my bag next to her. She instantly ran and grappled my leg "Jass twilight won’t hurt you, she is very nice" I noticed Jass look round my leg towards Twilight and quickly pop her head back. I got back to the job at hand I put my pistol, tommy gun, shotgun, rocket launcher and my crossbow on the bed next to the bag. I did own a chemical thrower at one point but it was pretty useless at the best of times so I threw it away. "I don't know what these do, but it looks like quiet the armament you have there." she look at all the weapons. “Can you make sure they're safe to handle." I then disarmed all my weapons and handed them over to Twilight. "What about your wrench?" "Uhh I'm keeping that one." Twilight looked like she was about to object "if anything happened to this one and I had no way to protect her, I would never forgive myself" Twilight looked at me and I could tell she understood completely, "ok then, you can keep that one just don't make me regret it." "I won't, now if you excuse me; this little one and we need to have a bath, don’t we?" Jass giggled and jumped up and down at my feet, arms outstretched, I picked her up and walked to the second floor bathroom. As I started to run the bath I asked twilight whether we had any towels, she soon directed me to their location. Once the bath was half full I got Jass undressed and put her in the bath, she squirmed at first clearly unused to the idea behind a bath. She soon calmed down enough that I could wash her, I looked back at her clothes they were dirty and ragged. "Maybe I should get you some new clothes, what do ya say?" "yes please uncle Jack" after I had washed her I had no choice but to put her back in her dirty clothes, still she looked all the better for taking a bath. Jass tugged on my sleeve, i wondered what it was she could want. "I'm hungry Uncle Jack" of course we hadn't eaten anything since we got here. "well go ask Twilight for something to eat, I'm sure she has some apples or something you can eat." I watched her run out of the room and down the stairs. Amazing all it took was an empty belly to get her to open up, I got into the bath and begun to wash myself. Once that was done I got out of the bath and wrapped a towel round my midsection, I didn't want to scare Twilight now do I? Right so that's part 1, things to point out I can't do Applejacks accent so just use your imagination. I saw there was a lack of Bioshock crossover so I thought why not and three this will only be written at weekends so depending on what happens at the weekend’s depends on how much gets done! //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 2 //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 2 Ok so I got Monday off so I'm writing today as well consider it a bonus chapter :P and a quick note I can't do applejacks accent so I hope all your imaginative juices are flowing. Jack: Once I left the bathroom I went to my bedroom and got back into my dirty clothes, to think have worn this outfit for over 2 weeks. As I walked down the stairs I could hear Jass giggling away, she really was really giggly when she was happy. If I had to take a guess, I would guess that Twilight and Jass are getting along like the best of friends. I looked into the kitchen to see Jass looking directly at an apple, eyes wide in wonderment; of course she probably has never seen an apple. As Twilight cut up the apple with her magic, Jass was hugging Twilight's leg "I see, you two are best of friends now" Twilight levitated the plate down to Jass. "Here you go" Jass instantly started to eat the apple pieces; she really seemed to enjoy them. "Err Twilight I don't suppose you have anything I can eat do you?" "Well of course I do, what do you want? We have salad, apple, apple pie and daisy sandwiches." she looked round the fridge door, directly at me. "Err I guess I will have some salad please." she grinned and a bowl of salad was floating out of the fridge towards me. "Thanks Twilight." As I started to eat my food, I saw Jass run over to Twilight "thank you Twi" Twilight's jaw dropped at this sudden show of affection, I snickered Twilight had obviously heard me, because she just smiled at me. "That’s alright, is there anything else you want?" I found it surprising that the small girl could be so trouble free after all she had been through. "No thank you." she turned round and skipped back up the stairs. Twilight then came over to me and started to scrutinise my every movement, seems like she doesn't trust me fully yet. "Something on your mind Twilight?" I looked at her; she seemed to be troubled about something so I might as well ask. "Yes, but only a few things. Are you her real father?" what! How does she know? "*sigh* you’re a smart one Twilight. But no I'm not her father, but I'm the only thing she has." Twilight didn’t seem to be to be troubled at this statement; maybe it was the only logical answer. "How old is she and how old are you? I can safely assume you are the older one." "Well I believe she is 4 and I, well I am also only 4 year’s old." that one got a reaction her jaw was trailing on the floor at this point. "Whether I am the older one depends on her birthday and mine. How old are you?" "Well I'm 19 years old, but how can you be so young? Does your race suddenly mature?" she was starting to get flustered, I'm guessing from the massive mind bomb I just dropped on her head. "Well I was given the body of a 19 year old when I was only 1 year old, it was the magic of our world." she looked at me in awe. "The magic from your world is that powerful?" aha I had stumbled across the subject that she was the most interested in ... Magic. "Well yes but the use of this magic destroyed them, they used it for everything and their world crumbled underneath them." I just remembered something I needed to ask Twilight "Twi before we go on' I think me and Jass need some new clothes. I don't suppose you know where we can get some?" "Yes, of course, do you want to go now?" I nodded my head "ok then we shall go over to Rarity's shop now." "Ok then" I called up the stairs "Jass we are going out" I heard the small patter of feet, he he so cute. When I saw what she was holding my mind exploded with ideas, it was my research camera. All I needed to do was take picture of Twilight to find out exactly what she is, Jass put the camera into my hand "hey Twi wanna picture?" "err what is that?" she looked at the camera, maybe this place only has paintings. "It’s a camera, it takes pictures" she looked at me as though I was stupid. "Yeah I know what a camera is, this one is a really old model" oh well I'm taking the picture, the camera flashed. I looked at the readout; it told me everything I needed to know her age her species and her species type. She was 19, already new that, pony and she was a unicorn. The picture came out; it was of a good quality for once. I guess not fighting something at the same time as taking a picture made a difference; I gave the photo to Twilight. "oh thank you" As we set off towards Rarity's shop, I realised that loads of ponies were looking at me "err Twi I'm getting some weird looks, everyone here is err ... Friendly" I picked up Jass and put her on my shoulders, as I walked she giggled it seemed she was only shy when talking to strangers the rest of the time she was a normal 4 year old girl. "Yes they are friendly, but I imagine that you will have many a story circulating about you and her" *sigh* I guess I will cross that bridge when I get to it. "Is this it?" we were approaching a tower-like building. "Yes this is Rarity's place" she went up towards the door and knocked on it, this might not be the best way to meet but whatever. I stood perfectly still and just waited. "Psst Twi make sure she won't freak out and then I will come out." she looked over to where I was but she couldn't see me or Jass, who surprisingly was being really quiet. I saw the door open and a White unicorn walked out, I turned the flash off on my camera and took a picture. The display told me that she was the same age as Twi. "Hello Rarity" "hello darling" oh god she was a posh one, I shuddered, I don't get along with posh people. "Rarity I would like you to meet someone, but you must promise not to ... Well freak out" "why would I freak out, are they committing a crime to fashion?" gah she likes fashion as well, so stereotypical. "No they just aren't ponies and, well they might be I'm not sure" This was the height of fashion for the 1960's, wait I wonder what year it is here? "Well ok I promise not to freak out it wouldn't be lady-like." Twi turned towards where she last saw me and shouted. "You can come out" ouch why did she shout? "You don't have to shout and I didn't go anywhere" Twi was more shocked than Rarity was, I took a step forward and both Twi and Rarity. As I appeared they both took a step back, "hello Rarity my name is Jack, and this one" I picked "is called Jass" "why hello Jass, would you like to come inside?" Jass nodded her head, it seemed the longer she was around these ponies the less scared of them she became. As I walked inside I realised how unclean and ... Well nasty. She truly must care about clothing; this place has dresses and suits everywhere. As I walked into Rarity's workshop, I saw her measuring Jass and of course she wasn't co-operating. "Jass you have to stand still darling, only for a short time" after I had said this she calmed down and stood still. I looked over to the stairs and saw 3 small ponies looking over at us, I waved at them. I saw them all bolt up the stairs at the same time "don't worry about them they are about the same age as you are" she started laughing at this. "Yea that's right get it all outta your system now" Rarity was giving me the most weird look and I just couldn't figure out ... Oh right the age thing. "So Jack just how old are you" she already had an idea, she just wanted to hear it from ... The ponies mouth. I'm glad I didn’t say that one out loud, dear me that's an awful pun. "Well I'm actually only, well, I'm 4 years old. But my birthday is coming up in the next few weeks" I put on my best grin and rubbed the back of my neck. This was awkward, I'm about to receive tonnes of questions about how or why I am so mature for my age sent I? "He is the same age as Jass but he has been magically matured to look and act likes a 19 year old." Thank you Twi, you have saved me a lot of explaining, ah she is done measuring Jass I'm guessing it's my turn. "Alright Jass you’re done, now Jack would you kindly come up here." I stood rock still the urge to go bounding up there was intense, I may no longer be bound by those words, but they still have some power over me. "What's the matter? Was it something I said?" "Well yes and no, just please don't say, would you kindly, again I don't like the saying at all" I calmly walked up to Rarity and she started to measure me, I assumed this was for new clothes. But then again had anyone mentioned that I wanted new clothes, oh well. "Twi I don't suppose you could go introduce Jass to the other young girls could you; I think she needs some friends her own age here." I got a look from her which said, you’re her age. "I'm not exactly her age now am I?" "yes I know, I'm just messing with you. I hope you realise, I'm not going to let up on these jokes about your age" gah why did I even mention how old I was, I could have lied but ohhh nooo I had to say I'm 4 years old. When Twi and Jass had left the room Rarity turned to me, “what have you two been through for your clothes to be such a state?" I was getting bored of the monotonous questions, but this one was a new one. To tell you the truth I thought Twi would be the one to notice, I think I got rarity wrong at first. I expected her to be a snuck up snob, but she seemed kind and genuinely worried about us. "We have been through a lot; our world was not in the best condition. Well at least the part I came from, the people there where not the most pleasant people." she stopped measuring me to look me in the eyes, bit weird but ok. "You poor thing" it was at that point she pulled me into a hug; Twi came down the stairs at that point and snickered. Rarity went back to measuring me "almost done" Twi had pulled a book from somewhere and was reading it, from what I could see of the title it was some sort of romance book. "Ok we are done, you can sit down darling" eh I still don't like it when she says that. "If you two want to, you can go explore the rest of the town if you like. I will look after Jass while you're gone." "That sounds like a good idea doesn't it Twi" I looked directly at her and she nodded, well that's settled "where are we going now then." "well I think we should wait till you get some new clothes before you meet my friends. Maybe we should meet the mayor, you could do with a job." wait, what, a job, well I guess it's a good idea. I need money; I wonder what currency they use here. "Ok then, to the town hall!" As we left Rarity's I looked up at the window to see the girls playing, *sigh* I hope she can grow up here and have a normal life. Scootaloo: We sat on the stairs talking to each other; we were talking about the homework Cherie had set us that day. A creature walked in through the front door he had to be as tall as Celestia, it was only then that I noticed Apple Bloom and Sweetiebell were completely silent. We sat there for a few seconds before the giant thing saw us and waved, Apple Bloom and Sweetiebell ran up the stairs and I quickly followed suit. We ran into Sweetiebell's room "what do you think that was?" Apple Bloom had a slight tremor in her voice, teehee what a scaredy pony. "I don't know but it seemed friendly" this didn't seem to calm the other two down; they looked at me as though I was crazy. "Look at him he is too big to be friendly" sigh it seemed Sweetiebell was just as scared as Apple Bloom. It is my goal to become friends with that creature. The other two had started to gossip about what this creature could do. I slowly slipped out of the open window, I had to see that creature again, I couldn't fly yet but I could glide just fine. I landed on the ground just outside the window overlooking Rarity's workshop. As I peered in I could see that Twilight and the strange creature were looking at another creature, only this one was smaller than the other creature. The two creatures looked to be the same species but one is a lot younger, maybe this is the child of the other creature. I saw the smaller creature jump down from the pedestal she had been stood on and run over to Twilight, as the bigger creature got up Twilight and the smaller creature walked towards the stairs. Oh dear I need to get back into Sweetiebell's bedroom now, I looked around the garden and saw a trampoline. Maybe if I can jump high enough I can glide into the bedroom, well it's the best chance I have. I jumped as high as I could on the trampoline and glided towards the bedroom window, I slipped through without touching the window frame and landed on the carpet next to the other two filly's, they were still gossiping and I don't think they noticed that I was gone. The door to the bedroom opened and Twilight walked in with the small girl clutching at her back leg, she seemed frightened of us. "Hi girls I have some-one here I would like you to meet. “Her name is Jass and she is the same age as you, I'm sure you will be the best of friends." Twilight gave us all a stare; it was as if she knew the other two had been gossiping. The other two seemed nervous and wouldn't go over to see Jass. I walked up to her "hi there my names Scootaloo and it's great to meet you" Jass was only a couple of centimetres taller than me but she seemed to become less afraid after I said that. "Hi Scootaloo, I like your wings they are really pretty." well she seemed nice enough and she said my fur was pretty, I heard Sweetiebell tut in the background. I'm guessing she knows I'm going to be on my high horse about this now. "hi my name is Apple Bloom and this is Sweetiebell" "hiya" he he no compliments for you, I looked over and saw that they both looked a little put out, it was at this point that Twilight left the room with a wave. We then decided we could play some games together for a while, the fact she wasn't a pony just made it cooler to play with her, she could do all sorts of things that we can't do. Jack: We walked through the streets, I was following Twi she didn't seem to mind the fact that everyone was avoiding us, well me. After a bit of walking we are stood outside a big building with a clock tower on top, as we entered I saw the secretary duck down behind the desk, I saw her try to sneak away behind the cover of the desk. If she wasn't hiding from me that would be so funny. Twi strolled past the hiding pony and we entered a room where a single grey pony was sat at the other end of the room, she looked the part, she had glasses on and she was sat on a big leather computer chair. The only thing that was amiss was the fact she was spinning on the chair, "err hello mayor I need to look at the job vacancies" "go right ahead you know where they are" wow really she didn't even stop spinning to look at me, oh well it might be for the best. Twi went over to a filing cabinet and pulled out a very thin file, that doesn't bode well. "ok Jack there seem to be three jobs available, you can either work on my friend Applejacks farm" hmm tempting I know a lot about farming I did grow up on a farm, oh wait no I just thought I did god damn it. "Or you can work as part of the police force" meh I do have experience with combat I guess. "Or you can work as a plumber" oh my god. Ok so I will be doing a Q.A sometime in the near future, if you would like to have your question included please leave it in the comments. Also as a side note I would like your opinion (yes you specifically John, no I’m just messing with all the Johns out there ;P) on whether Jass should go to school, I can’t actually decide on whether she should or not and its buggin me, so let me see your opinion on the matter. and can you guess which job Jack will take? Final thing, has my comma use improved Author notes not really included, I think I was just spamming commas and now I have toned it down, but if it isn’t better then I guess it’s back to Google :P. //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 3 //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 3 Jack: "err, I guess I could be a police officer" I don't fancy working as a farmhand, bad memories, and a plumber? No just no I have had enough of water and plumbing for a lifetime. "But I can't start for a couple of weeks" "why not?" "Well for one I feel like relaxing for 2 weeks, lord knows I need it." Twi looked at me; it was as though she wanted an explanation. Pfft dream on I'm not telling you anything about where I have been. "Ok then, I guess we can go down to the police station later this week. You can have 5 days rest no more." whoa, ok then, it was better than I expected. To tell you the truth I expected her to march me down to the police station and throw me head first through the doors. "and you have had one day rest so far so only 4 more left" gah. We left the mayor’s office and headed back to Rarity's shop, wonder what it's called. It was starting to get dark, I wonder how long it will take Rarity to make our new clothes, it would take a human a few days to make a custom design and that's not even including designing for a different species. As we approached Rarity's shop I saw most of the lights were off, I guess it's pretty late, the clock tower was illuminated and proved me correct it was almost ten o'clock. I wonder if the girls are asleep, we entered and saw Rarity hard at work. "Hi Rarity, you almost done?" done? How could she be done? "almost done, just some finishing touches" wow she works quickly "Jack yours is over there, I hope you like it, I based it on your current clothes and the fashion here in Equestria." I looked over at where she was pointing, oh my god I have changed my mind I love this pony this is perfect. The clothes themselves where made out of some soft cloth, it didn't feel strong. The shirt had short sleeves, was White in colour and had the same symbol from my wrists a purple chain running horizontally across it. The trousers where black and had two pockets on the side, wait? She also made shoes. They looked strange, but they looked good, they were a light blue and had a yellow lightning bolt along the side. Hmm the jacket was a bit strange but it was alright, it was yellow and had an inside jacket pocket and two outside ones, the inside one was on the left side and a zip ran down the front. "Alright I have finished Jass' clothes" I ran over to Rarity, picked her up and hugged her I made sure not to hurt her, but that didn't mean she wasn't blushing. "Thank you Rarity, I love them" "You are most welcome, but can I be put down please" oh I had made her feel awkward, I felt bad, she had given me these new clothes and I made her feel awkward. "Oh sorry Rarity I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable" I put her down and stepped back, she was blushing, her white coat was red around the cheeks. Something I noticed about these ponies though was how light they were, I could lift two with one hand. "How can I pay you back for these clothes?" "Oh don't worry about it darling, it was my pleasure" yeah I'm gonna get you somethin nice. "Is Jass asleep?" I hadn't heard anything from upstairs so I assumed she was. "I'm going to try these clothes on" I walked into the other room and started to get changed. Damn these clothes felt nice, my old ones where itchy. I looked over towards a mirror and had a look at myself, well my clothes looked good but I didn't, I had a messy haircut and I had some stubble growing, I need to get down to a barber or something. As I came out of the changing room I could see the girls gossiping to each other "hey Jack seeing as Jass is asleep you wanna have a sleep over?" a sleepover? Hmm ok. "Yeah sure it'll be fun" Twi and Rarity both jumped up and started squealing, as I watched them run out of the room I questioned whether I had made the right decision. "Jack, get in here!" I walked into the other room to see both Rarity and Twi both wrapped up in a blanket, a bottle of something next to them. Yep bad decision, if that is alcohol then I'm screwed, I'm not a lightweight but I'm not exactly invulnerable to it either. I took a seat opposite the two ponies; I saw Twi's horn glow and three shot glasses floated in from the kitchen. Had they been planning this? "Ok then so what are we going to do?" please don't say truth or dare, please don't say it. "Well I was thinking of truth or dare and we can play spin the bottle after we have drunk this" she pointed towards a bottle that was now pouring itself. Ah jeez my eve is gonna be so screwed after tonight, hope I won't need it. A glass floated over to me, it was filled with a colourless liquid. From what I could gather it was a type of spirit, didn't smell strong, I downed it. Nope nothing, I watched the other two down their drinks, whoa it has a real bad effect on them. "Right that's it. I'll be right back." both girls looked at me as though I was crazy. I ran back towards the library as I tried the door I found out that it was unlocked, not surprising really from what I can tell this town doesn't have many thieves. I instantly started to climb the stairs, when I got to my room I went over to my bag opened it up and took two items out a bottle of moonshine and an eve hypo. Well if I'm going to lose all my eve from this I might as well have a contingency plan, just in case. I got back to Rarity shop and seeing as it only took 5 minutes to there and back I assumed Twi and Rarity hadn't drunk all of that other drink. I walked in to find them talking again. "ok girls, I now have my own drink, of you want to try it you can but only a small amount it's really strong." a shot glass floated over to me, judging from how much that small amount of weak spirit effected them I should only give them a tiny amount, I filled the shot glass by about half a centimetre and handed it back. "What that's it?" Twi looked put out. "Try it" I was waiting anxiously for her to try it, as she drank it she started to cough, I reckon she will feel tipsy in about 5 mins. I then continued to fill my shot glass with moonshine. I downed it and shuddered, "right shall we start with truth or dare" I didn't want to actually start it but if Twi drank anymore she might get alcohol poisoning. "Ok then, jack you can go first. Truth or dare?" wait what? "Hey Twi, why do I go first" "well, alphabetically you are first." gah why must she be so academical. "Err ok" Twi probably has a long list of things she wants to know about. "Ok truth" I took another mouthful of moonshine and put it down, I was starting to feel tipsy. "Have you ever had a crush on anyone?" I coughed and spluttered, typical of Rarity. "Err no I haven't" they both looked disappointed, "so now it's your turn Rarity." she quickly picked truth and after a few rounds of this game, I was completely destroyed, I probably couldn’t even walk if I wanted. I looked over to the girls and they were in the same state. "Dare" "ok then take your shirt off" I found the request strange but whatever. I took of my shirt in front of the two girls, oh great they gasped, is that good or bad? Rarity beckoned me over, I crawled towards her and as I got there she grabbed my arm and squeezed, she giggled "Twi come feel this" Twi dragged herself over, it seemed her back legs weren't in working condition, she eventually managed to get over to me and grab my arm. "Hehe it's muscly" "yeah it's awesome, ok Rarity truth or dare?" Rarity picked dare and then when things didn't go in my favour "why don’t you kiss jack?" damn damn damn, nope not happening I turned towards the door and ran towards it. I stopped as my hand was about to touch the door Handle, I was getting pulled back, no, no, no. Why me, I never hurt anyone ... Hmm I need to rethink that. As I Was held in place Rarity edged closer, I could feel her breath against my face, well might as well go with it, I'm not getting out of kissing her. Our lips met I could taste the alcohol on her lips, they were soft and to tell you the truth it was actually quite enjoyable, I just hope that she doesn't remember this in the morning. Rarity finally broke the kiss, the magic that held me in place released suddenly. I got off my knees and sat down, Rarity asked Twi the one question we had all asked that night "truth or dare" Twi was still giggling from me and rarity kissing. "Dare" oh dear that smug look on Rarity's face gave away what the dare was going to be, not to mention the fact I couldn't move again. "I dare you to kiss" I knew it” Jack, while using your tongue" oh god French kissing. Twi walked over to me, she didn't take as long to initiate the kiss. Her lips were softer than Rarity’s; her tongue was in my mouth! It may have been strange but I did kinda enjoy it, it felt nice. Once the kiss was over I had something to say I was really drunk by now. I stood up "girls I have something to show you." they looked directly at me "this is how a real man passes out" I saluted both of them and fell face first to the floor and then, darkness. I woke up to small hands shaking me "huh?" my head was really hurting what happened last night? Oh dear I need to get outta here now. I opened my eyes to see Jess god that hurts. "What is it darling?" "the other girls need to go to school" she pointed to the three small ponies, they were wary of me that much was obvious. "ok just give me a min to get ready" I stood up and stumbled into the kitchen, I needed a drink of water, I grabbed a glass from the side of the sink and filled it up, after I had drunk the water I felt slightly better, eh guess it's time to take the girls to school. I see a pen and notepad on the fridge, I picked up the pen and wrote a note to Rarity and Twi, well I had to let them know where the children and I had gone. "Ok guys I'm ready and it's time for school, you'll have to show me the way." "Thanks mister, we can't walk to school on our own anymore, oh and my name is Apple Bloom, this is Scootaloo and this is Sweetiebell.” they used to walk to school on their own and they are 4 years old? "why can't you walk to school on your own anymore?" "oh ever since yesterday some of the creatures from the Everfree Forest have been coming into Ponyville and seeing as we have to walk near the Everfree Forest to get to school, we have to ask for an adult to accompany us" Ah that's understandable, I'm guessing the Everfree forest is home to a lot of monsters. I looked into the trees and if on cue saw 4 yellow eyes looking out, two monsters right there "get behind me!" the 4 eyes where moving towards us, maybe they were pack animals, they moved together and never moved apart. When I saw it emerge from the tree line, it wasn't two animals it was one, it was a serpent with 2 heads and all I had was my wrench, it was only about 2 foot tall but it had huge fangs. It lunged straight for me; the girls had managed to get round the edge of the nearest building. I jumped out of then way rolling sideways, my eve was gone but luckily I had an eve hypo with me, I stabbed it into my wrist like I had done of times before. The serpent turned round and began to lunge strait at me, by that time I had some eve and my wrench is now unclipped, I smacked the serpent and sent it flying, unfortunately it went straight towards the girls, I fired an electric bolt at the serpent stunning it, I ran over and grabbed it by the tail and threw it back towards the forest, it slithered back into the forest. I let the snake go there was no point in chasing after it. "Ok girls let's get going quickly now" I turned round to see a crowd of ponies some of them where clapping but then some of them where angry, Ah damn I know that crowd half angry mob and the other half is appreciative that I just scared off a monster. The four girls ran over to me. "That was awesome!" Scootaloo was jumping around me. "How did you do that? You don't have a horn." "Ok we better get you to school don’t want to be late" I picked up Jass and put her on my shoulder, in my mind she was the most vulnerable and I walked through the crowd. Eventually we reached the school house and I saw the 3 girls inside, I turned around and ran back to Rarity's shop it only took me a fraction of the time because of well, no snakes. I walked through the door and saw Twi and Rarity just getting up "you guys ok?" they both looked at me through half shut eyes, ohhh they have it much worse than I did teehee. "Eugh what happened" Twi looked as though she had been steamrolled, and Rarity didn't look much better. "Well a sleepover apparently" "ehhh" "yep now do you want a glass of water" they both nodded their heads, and then they cringed. I walked into the kitchen got two glasses, filled them both up and walked back into the living room, Twi had her front hoofs onto of her head and Rarity was stood there swaying. "Here you go" I put the water down in front of them. "Ehh Jack, err this is embarrassing, but my magic isn't working and I can't pick up the glass" I laughed at this; I picked up the glass and put it to Twi's mouth. I'm glad she doesn't remember what happened. After they had both recovered, Rarity went into the workshop and after a few minutes came out. "Jass I have your new dress here" Jass ran over to Rarity and looked up at it her fingers outstretched Rarity let Jass have the dress, Jass ran into the changing room. Five minutes later she ran out and latched herself around Rarity's neck giggling away. "Thank you Rarity" Jass had such a cute voice. Rarity was stunned by this sudden show of affection. The dress was a black colour with a red lightning bolt going down it. The shoes where red with a black lightning bolt on them, it looked really nice and Jass loved them. "You are most welcome" Rarity looked to be really happy that she had pleased Jass. "Ok then shall we go down to Applejacks farm?" she looked at me and I just nodded. "Ok then it is settled, are you coming Rarity?" "I'm afraid not darling, I have a lot of work to do" that was a shame I really like Rarity she is really nice, oh well how can I repay her for all of these clothes. "oh come on Rarity you need to tell Applejack who made these lovely clothes, and what if a famous pony comes down the street and there is no-one to take an order?" she took the hint and agreed to come with us. We left Rarity's shop, which reminded me "Rarity what is your shop called?" "It’s called the carousel boutique" yep it's called Rarity's shop; there is no way I'm going to say that every time I want to go see Rarity. We walked along a dirt trail; on both sides were apple trees. "Wait what's that" I was pointing at a pink shape that was in a tree. "Oh that's just Pinkie Pie, she pops up in places that" wait what? She just appears? Whatever. Oh god here she comes. "Hai guys who is this is it someone new ahhhhh" she ran away at high speed, what the hell was that. Oh well it seemed friendly and wait she didn't care I was a different species? As we head down the road a bit further I could see an orange pony it had a good ol fashioned Stetson hat. "Is that Applejack?" "yes darling that's her" "err would you go on ahead and warn her of Me." "why would we do that darling?" I made a gesture that said, err look at me. "Oh right" I watched them talk to Applejack then point over at me, wait what she doesn't really care either, I walked over to them. "Hi Applejack, my name is Jack it's really nice to meet another of Twi's friends" "it's nice to meet ya'all too, now who is this little one?" "my name is Jass" it was not much more than a whisper but still she seemed to be getting a bit more brave around these ponies. "It’s awfully nice to meet yah, would you like to come get some apples with me?" "Yeah yeah" Jass was jumping up and down in excitement. I saw Applejack look at my arms. "may I say your muscles are really big, would ya mind awfully if I had a quick look, I think Big Mac will be jealous." "err I guess so" she grabbed my right arms bicep and squeezed. "Oh Big Mac will be jealous when I tell him about this, you have bigger muscles than him." I look over to the other two girls to see they both had their hoofs to their mouths, eyes wide, oh no they remember. "Err it was nice meeting you Applejack, I have some business to deal with, I don't suppose you can look after Jass for a little bit." "Err sure I guess so" I turned round and bolted. "Jack, get your flank back here!" //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 4 //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 4 I ran as fast as I could but nothing could outrun Twi's magic, I was stopped, turned around and brought back to Twi and Rarity. "So ... Lovely weather we are having" meh I'm going to die might as well annoy her a bit; it wasn't even my fault that I kissed them. "What do you have to say for yourself" Twi was giving me one weird look. "How much do you remember from last night?" I had to know how much I needed to tell her. "You kissed me and Rarity!" she can’t remember the fact she held me down. "Well, to be honest you kissed me" she just looked at me, she was confused now. "Wait what?" I noticed Rarity still hasn't said a word. I explained the fact that it was both her and Rarity that had dared me to kiss them and that I was held down. As I told them the story the truth dawned onto both of them. "Oh Jack, darling we are so sorry, we put you in an awful position and then we blamed you for it." Rarity had finally said something; she walked over and hugged my mid-section. Twi let the magic surrounding me go, Rarity then said something, something that destroyed the part of my brain that controlled logical thinking "so who was better?" both Twi and me collapsed, we were both so shocked. "Err, are you sure you want to know" Rarity nodded her head and Twi begrudgingly agreed. "Both of you must promise not to hurt me" "cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye" they both said it at the same time. Ok what the hell was that? "Err ok then ... It was ... Rarity" Twi looked depressed while Rarity had a smug look on her face one of achievement. "Anyway why would it matter I am a human, I'm not even the same species as you" I didn't get an answer from them, as we returned to Applejacks farm I saw Applejack, I grinned Jass had forcibly attached herself to Applejacks back leg. "Your very pretty AJ" I could hear Jass and I saw AJ, I like that name, blush. Still blushing she replied "thank you, your mighty pretty as well young’un" it seemed Jass had instantly bonded with her, Twi and Rarity had to give her something to bond with her. "Ah your back what happened to y'all?" "oh that, we remembered something important we had to tell Jack" Twi wasn't good at lying. "Well I'm sure I'll get the true story later" wow, busted, even though the lie was bad it wasn't unbelievable, how did she know? "Anyway it's getting late, I should take Jass here home and get her some dinner." it was really just an excuse to get outta there, I may be strong but AJ scares me. "Yeah sure, Rarity you want to stay with us for a bit?" Twi was asking Rarity to stay with her and AJ, oh god what will AJ do when she finds out I kissed them? I don't wanna find out! "Seeya guys I'm gonna head back" it was my time to leave. I picked up Jass and put her on my shoulders, she seemed to like it up there. As I walked back I saw a flying pony coming straight at me, Jass was giggling still, seems Jass has got over her nervousness now. The flying pony landed in front of me, she had cyan fur and a rainbow mane. "Are you the monster that has been scaring the creatures out of the Everfree forest?" she was almost shouting at me, I'm not stupid ... Often. "Err I don’t think so, my name is Jack and this is my friend Jass." I thought it to be proper to introduce myself. She looked at me flew up to Jass picked her up and flew just out of reach. "Tell me the truth, you are the monster scaring everything in the Everfree forest sent you" ok that's it, that stupid god damn pony deserves some of the good ol fashioned cyclone trap takedown. I fired a cyclone Trap at the ground and jumped into it I flew up to the pony grabbed Jass and fell back to the ground. The pony was astounded by how quick that entire event had passed, now that Jass was no longer in contact with the flying pony I could do what I wanted to do. An electro bolt hit the pony, she fell to the ground twitching and unconscious, sigh back to Twi then. I picked the pony up and put her on the opposite shoulder from Jass. "You alright sweetie?" Jass looked to be fine although slightly scared As I walked up to AJ's farm I realised how bad this looked, the big scary creature was walking alone with an unconscious pony on his shoulder, I hope no-one see's me. As I got to AJ's house I called out for Twi, she would know what to do. "Jack? I'm in the farmhouse" I walked up to the front door and knocked on it. When Twi answered she instantly saw the pony on my back. "What happened to RD?" ah so RD was her name, I shall remember that one, she was rash, rude and a brute. "She attacked Jass so I knocked her out of the sky." she gave me a terrified look. "You did this?" she was backing away slowly. "Twi it wasn't Uncle Jack's fault" Jass was talking from my shoulder backing me up. Yes child go on, tell her I didn't do anything wrong! "That mean pony picked me up and held me above the ground I don't like her!" Twi was a bit more relaxed at this. "Twi you know that I will do anything to protect this one" I ruffled Jass' hair. "If anyone takes her away from me or try's to hurt her, then nothing will stop me, and this RD pony took her away." Twi had a look on her face, it was as if she was ... Scared. "Err ok Jack I'm going to wake her up now, don't do anything rash" she gave me a glare, wait where is everyone else? I saw RD start to wake up; she wobbled to her feet and started to sway. "Get him away from me!" she stumbled back and toppled over, she hasn't got over the electric therapy yet. "He attacked me for no reason" ok that ... Shocked me how was there no reason? "RD you took his child away from him and suspended her in the air! Of course he had a reason" RD looked from Twi to directly at me and Jass. "Sorry" she had mumbled it, I could tell she didn't really mean it but it was the best I was gonna get. "And I'm sorry for knocking you out" I had to apologise It was both of our faults, it didn’t mean we were friends, "anyway Twi I have got to get back home with this little one" I was getting into the habit of calling her the little one; Tenenbaum was the person who called them the little ones. On the way home I realised something I hadn’t seen a single male since I got here, where were they? I managed to get back without further trouble; I walked into the front room of the library and put Jass down. I then began to get her some dinner, thinking about dinner better get some for myself. Once it was made I brought two plates of it over to Jass, I put her plate down and she immediately started to eat it, huh first child to ever like salad. Jass finished first, it must be really late because she fell asleep, once I had finished I picked her up and took her to my bedroom, only one bed. I put Jass in the one bed and kissed her on the forehead, she meant the world to me and if anyone ever harms her I will end them. I went downstairs and picked the two plates up, as I washed them up I hear Twi come in. "why did you hurt Rainbow Dash?" "you know exactly why, she threatened Jass and no-one will take her away from me." "why are you so protective, I know she is like a daughter to you but why are you protective to this level" ok then I will tell her why. "She is all I have ever had, I thought I had parents but they are both dead" I had killed one of them but I'm not telling her that. "and no-one has ever cared for me I have been used and then thrown away, she is the only one to ever love me, and nobody will take that away from me." this sudden outburst had effected Twi in the way that I had least expected, a tear rolled down her eye. "Oh Jack I'm so sorry, I didn't know she meant that much to you, and I have been just nasty to you all day" what had brought this on? Why is she crying suddenly? I did the one thing I could. I picked up Twi and hugged her, I held her for at least five minutes she was sobbing until she had no more tears to sob. "What was that about Twi?" I looked directly at her she was a state her fur was damp and she was red in the face. ""I'm sorry I have been really nasty to you today, and you have been doing nothing wrong." oh right, wow that's enough to send a pony into a crying mess? "Oh Twi, you have been nice to me, you have made me feel at home" She looked directly at me and smiled. "It’s just that I feel as if I have been so nasty to you." "Come on, I don't think you could be truly nasty to me, even if you tried" she finally got up and ascended the stairs. "goodnight Jack" "G’night Twi" sigh, I have only been here a day and I have kissed two of the locals, attacked one, sent one into mental breakdown and fought a two headed snake thing! Awesome. I lay down on the sofa and started to go to sleep, I think I'm going to enjoy it here. "Eugh" what is on my chest? I woke up, eye to eye with a green and purple creature. "Ahh" we had shouted in unison "Twi what is this thing" our eyes narrowed we had said the same thing in unison again. Twi came downstairs to see the standoff between us. "Spike this is Jack and he is staying with us for a while. Ok?" Twi was giving him a look that I thought only a mother could give. "yes Twi" he turned to face me "sorry for scaring you" "same, so you live here to?" he nodded his head, at that point Jass ran down the stairs and jumped at me, she landed on my chest and she wasn't exactly light. "Uncle Jack!" she hugged my chest and giggled, I saw spike look over and grin. "Spike can you get us some food" although it was a question Twi said it as though it was a command. Spike nodded his head and ran into the kitchen. Spike then brought out some apples, one for each of us. It wasn't much of a breakfast but I guess I had better get used to it. "Twi how is RD? I didn't hurt her too badly did I?" "Oh she is fine; the only thing that was damaged was her pride. Sorry for last night I don't know what came over me." she looked embarrassed. "It’s all right Twi; we all had a bit of a stressful day. So Jass who do you want to visit today? That is unless Twi has some other plans?" I looked at her quizzically, she shook her head. "I wanna visit the pink one, she is funny." well she is honest. "Ok then where does Pinkie live?" I had asked Twi directly, I kinda felt bad for ignoring Spike. "She lives over at Sugarcube Corner, I'm sure Spike can take you on his way to Rarity's, can't you Spike?" Twi looked over at Spike, I noticed he was looking all wide eyed at the mention of Rarity, sigh, a crush it was obvious. "Yeah sure come on Jack" I said my goodbyes to Twi and followed Spike outside, it was overcast, I wonder if it will rain today? I followed spike through the streets, they were mostly dirt roads but as we reached what I assumed was the 'Sugarcube corner' it turned to flagstone. "Well this is the Sugarcube corner, now I have to get to Rarity" "ok thanks spike" Jass ran over and hugged Spike, it was amusing that they were the same size. "Come on Jass we gonna go meet Pinkie?" "Hehe her name is Pinkie and she is pink!" I guess that is a yes. "K lets go inside" as we walked inside I saw that it was a cafe/restaurant kind of thing, I had also noticed that everything went silent ... Awkward. Jass hadn't noticed the awkward silence, or just didn't care, she ran ahead and looked up at the pony behind the counter "I want to talk to the pink pony" the guy behind the counter looked shocked and slightly nervous. "Sorry about her is pinkie around I'm one of Twilight's friends" the guy behind the counter seemed to calm down at this. "Yeah it's her day off but I believe she is still upstairs" meh this guy seemed nice but he needed to assert himself more. "Thank you ..." "Mr Cake" really Mr Cake and he works in a patisserie? I'm starting to understand how the names in this world work, but a few are exceptions to the rule. "Nice to meet you Mr Cake my name is Jack" it was at that point Pinkie walked in through a door behind the counter. "Oh hi my name is Pinkie Pie what's yours? No wait I heard someone say it what is it? Is it: Mac, Jef no it's a mixture of the two umm Mef?" She spoke way too quickly. "It’s Jack and this one is Jass" I held Jass up as I said this, I didn’t think Pinkie could see her over the counter. "She wanted to meet you" her blue eyes were really big. "Wow that's awesome, so what do you wanna do? Maybe ... Dancing or we can go swimming or maybe we can go to the Everfree and explore. Well we don’t have a swimming costumes so that's not happening, we could go dancing and we can’t go into the forest. So that leaves swimming. "Let’s go dancing" Pinkie jumped up and bounced ahead, she literally bounced ahead. We neared what I assumed to be the local club; I could hear a beat coming out of the building. Pinkie bounced past the queue of ponies, the security at the front let Pinkie in but stopped me. "We don't allow your kind I here" he was making this up my kind wasn't known to him. "Yeah of course try and stop me" he stood in my way I just put my hand round his face squeezed it and pushed it away and strolled in. It was absolutely crazy in there, loud beats and pulsing lights. This was more than we had at home. "Err Pinkie what is this?" she just smiled widely at me. "It’s a club silly they play music here. That's the DJ she is in charge of all the music." she was pointing towards a White pony with purple glasses. "Wanna jump on?" she was obviously talking to Jass; Jass nodded her head and clambered onto Pinkies back. As they roamed into the crowd and I followed I saw the guard I had pushed out of the way glaring at me. Pinkie, Jass and me where dancing for a good hour before we decided to go get a drink, Pinkie had some kind of pink cocktail Jass had some juice and I had the strongest thing they had it was a golden liquid, but it was still pretty tame compared to wine. "Think you’re a hard man for picking the strongest stuff?" oh for god’s sake. "you wanna have a drinking contest" I turned round and saw a brown pony he didn't have a horn or wings so he was an earth pony, only reason I know this is because I had taken a picture of one earlier from my bedroom window. I shook my head it was a fun day out and I'm not gonna ruin it. "Ahh your chicken I see" "ok then I'll do it" Pinkie appeared with two shot glasses, I turned around to see she had set up a two man table. "Wow, how did you do that?" she shrugged her shoulders. "You wanna make things interesting? How about a bet? Maybe 100 bits?" I looked at Pinkie, I didn't have 100 bits, bits of what I have no idea. "Deal" Pinkie had suddenly put down a small bag of coins; the other guy did the same. We had gone on for about ten minutes each taking turns when I started to get bored. "Ok let's do this properly" I grabbed my bottle and downed the whole thing, hehe not even slightly tipsy. My challenger did the same thing and promptly passed out. "Hehe not even close to being drunk" I stood up and gave the two bags of coins to Pinkie. "No silly you won one of them" she handed me one bag, wow I actually have money now. I now have to buy Pinkie, Twi and Rarity a present. It was at that point security had appeared, oh come on! They picked up Pinkie and carried her out, she was giggling all the way. They went to pick Jass up; I leant over and snatched her away from them. I then walked out, at my own pace of course. "Sorry about that Pinkie it seems people around here don't like me yet." "Don’t be silly, that was super-duper fun." wow her enthusiasm was ... Refreshing. Wow how long did we spend in there? Ok we went in there at about mid-day and it's now almost night time jeez "Jack you are a super mega awesome best friend forever!" she hugged me and hugged Jass, as we walked back to Sugarcube Corner. I noticed Pinkie was not moving or even touching the ground she was just floating there in deep though, oh come on the other times she broke the laws of physics were subtle this is just too far. After she was done destroying the ideas behind gravity I saw her home, she looked like she had a really nice day, wait she always looks ecstatic. I was taking Jass home when I rubbed my face, Jesus I really need to go see a barber tomorrow. I put Jass to sleep and went back downstairs. I looked in on Twi and Spike, they were both asleep. I passed that stupid owl shaped wooden carving, wonder why Twi only puts this thing out at night. I poked the carving only to find out it was real; I rolled down the stairs backwards and landed at the bottom. Ok it was freaky but I'm not going to get all paranoid about this thing watching me sleep, so I went to sleep and I was paranoid about that damn bird watching me. now the only person he has to meet is Fluttershy and nothing bad will happen with her will it? sorry about the lateness of this chapter i havent been feeling good lately :P //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 5 //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 5 SELCFMFC!!! (super epic long chapter for my fifth chapter :P) Jack: I woke up to see Twi Jass and Spike were already up and about "hi guys, what time is it?" "it's about 9, did you enjoy your time with Pinkie last night" oh yeah. "It was really fun, didn't Jass tell you?" I looked at Jass who was jumping to try and reach an apple, she sure loved apples. "Yeah she did but I wanted to know what you thought of It." oh you smart schemer you. "Well I need to visit a barber today." she looked at me quizzically. "What’s a barber?" oh dear god I hope I don't have to make myself a razor that would be a pain. "It’s someone who cuts you hair, my beard is getting way to long and my hair is a mess." "ohhh I have a spell that can help with that" her horn glowed and my beard just disappeared; now that is slightly awesome. "You are going to have to imagine how you want your hair" I wanted it to be shorter but I just imagined an Elvis haircut, I don’t know why but he was the most famous man in America when I left on the plane. I looked at my new haircut in the mirror Twi provided, I looked good" "ok then Twi do you have any other friends I need to meet?" "yeah there is Fluttershy" Fluttershy? If names are anything to go by, and they normally are, she will be really shy. "But she is really shy" *sigh*. "well then let's go meet her so she knows not to be scared of me, do you wanna go meet another friend Jass?" she nodded and held both her arms up, I picked her up and followed Twi outside. We walked towards Applejacks farm but as we hit the edge of the orchard we turned off onto a small path, I could see a small bridge over a stream and a house in the distance. What was a house doing so close to the Everfree forest, especially with the pony living inside being so timid? I put Jass down and we began to walk towards the front door, as Twi went to knock on the front door Jass fell over. She was crying when I heard the front door open and a yellow pony came rushing out a green med kit held by the handle, funny she uses her mouth to hold it. As Fluttershy, I assumed it was Fluttershy, was putting a plaster on Jass' knee, I asked Twi "I thought you said she was shy, why isn't she now?" "because she is looking after an injured child" hmm strange it seemed that this pony could get over her initial fears if someone or something is in trouble. Hmm, a valuable friend in rough times. "There, you are all patched up, feeling better?" Jass looked at Fluttershy and nodded her head she sniffled a bit but she seemed fine. "oh..." she looked at me and ran inside, oh dear this could be a long day. "Fluttershy this is Twilight, the little girl that you just helped has a father and he wants to say thank you." I saw the door crack open and a pink mane emerged. "It’s alright Fluttershy, I'm not going to hurt you, I want to be a friend." she slowly emerged, she said something but she said it so quietly I couldn't hear her. "What’s going on Fluttershy?" oh god it's the menace. RD came out "oh... Hi I have to get going, I'm still trying to find out what is going on in the forest, cya." she flew strait for the forest. "She still hasn't forgiven me has she?" I looked at Twi for an answer. "No not yet, you did knock her out" Fluttershy recoiled a bit at this. "No don’t worry Fluttershy, RD tried to take Jass away from him." "Oh why did she take her?" it seemed that Fluttershy was less shy around Jass. "She thought that Jack was the monster from the forest" I just grinned and rubbed the back of my head. I looked out at her garden, I saw loads of animals there were: birds, mammals, reptiles and in the pond there was some fish. "There are a lot of animals around, Fluttershy do you look after them?" she seemed to perk up at that. "Oh yes, you aren't looking for a pet are you? Some of them are looking for a good home." "I'm afraid I'm not at the moment, but I know where I will come if I need one" she seemed a bit sadder at this. "Do you need any help with the animals?" "I could use the help with feeding the birds, I don't like carrying their food it tastes really bad" I'm guessing they eat worms and without the use of hands she has to pick them up with her mouth. I followed her over to a small shed, she opened the door and pointed towards the worms "those need to be given to the birds ... If that's ok with you" I picked up the worms and carried them over to the feeding table. I noticed that some of the animals were ... Showboating, call me crazy but I think that these animals are smarter than their brothers at home. I noticed Jass was reaching out to a rabbit, the rabbit reached out with its paw and knocked her hand away, wow the animals here are smarter. Jass seemed upset at this "I’m sorry, but angel is a grumpy bunny" I picked up the rabbit and started to scratch it behind the ears, it instantly calmed down and went to sleep. Awww isn't that cute I liked this bunny Fluttershy looked astounded "how did you do that? Angel doesn't let anyone pick him up" "it's a human thing, I used my fingers to scratch him behind the ears, and he really likes it apparently" Twi and Fluttershy looked astounded; I'm guessing this bunny has a mean temperament most of the time. It was then that Twi spoke up "Do you want to come round mine for some lunch?" strange it isn't quite lunch time yet. "Yeah sure, that sounds nice" as we walked back I heard some thunder. "It’s going to rain today if the forecast is on time." "Oh we better hurry up then" I looked at Fluttershy; Jass was asleep on her back. "There is no point Jack the rain is due in about thirty seconds if my calculations are correct." Twi's calculations turned out to be correct, the rain started to fall. Jass had woken up and as soon as she noticed the rain she started to cry. "What’s the matter Jass?" Fluttershy had craned her neck round to look at Jass; hmm she started crying when the rain started so that's what set her off. Wait water coming down on top of her, the only time that would only happen at home is when the sea is coming in on her, no wonder she is scared. "She thinks the ocean is coming down on her." Twi and Fluttershy looked at me as though I was crazy, "well we used to live under the sea, and if you felt water coming down on you, well it's bad news" "well I guess that is understandable, but why aren't you scared?" "well I wasn't born in the underwater city but she was" I took my jacket off and wrapped Jass up in it, she stopped crying but I could tell she was still scared. I saw the library ahead and we ran towards it, as we opened the door and ran inside I noticed a crowd, what the ... "surprise!" the whole crowd erupted. This was a party? Who would organise a party for me? Pinkie bounced over towards me. "So did you like the surprise, was it a good surprise, everyone likes surprises and a party is always good, so it must be a good surprise!" ow that hurt my head. I grabbed Pinkie and I squeezed her "thank you, this is amazing" she seemed to turn to liquid and poured out of my arms. "Err" "you are the most awesome friend ever!" Pinkie then seemed to reform back into her normal shape. I took Jass' hand and went towards the food buffet, there seemed to be an abundant supply of cupcakes, we will have to fix that. Jass couldn't reach the food on the table so I grabbed a cupcake off of the top of the table kneeled down and passed one to Jass, I heard a bunch of "awwws" from behind, looks like we have an audience. Twi was stood next to me; I whispered to her "what's with all of them?" Twi was quietly laughing. "I don't know if you have noticed but the amount of stallions around here is … lacking, and you know how to look after a child. Not to mention about that giant snake ... Yes I know about that." wonder if she knows about my plasmids yet. Don't think so I haven't been bombarded with questions yet. "And the fact that I'm a different species doesn't bother them?" it just boggled my mind how quickly they got over the species barrier. "seems not, some of those mares seem to be really interested in you though I would watch out." if this is what they are like, what about when I'm in uniform ... Oh god. A pony with crossed eyes approached me "do you like cupcakes?" err is she a few drops of Adam short of a plasmid? "Err yes I do" she pulled me into a hug, ohhh kay, bit weird but I don’t think she is all there. She took off and flew away. "Twi, who was that?" "Mmm" she turned around and looked at the grey pony that had just crashed into a bookshelf. "Oh that's Derpy Hooves" I gave her a look that said stupid? "Yeah, but she is alright." Wait what's that noise, it was a loud rumbling, I turned round to see Pinkie with an oversized pink cannon "oh god no" I saw Jass underneath a table behind the cannon eating cupcakes with Applebloom, Sweetiebell and Scootaloo. The cannon fired and I was sent across the room, apparently everyone had expected this as they moved out of the way, I landed in a pile of cushions. Oh god who gave her a cannon! I got back up after a few minutes rest, I may have landed softly but I was still winded from the cannon firing at me. I then saw AJ with a big red pony, this one was more muscular than the rest, and I assumed this was the big mac that AJ had mentioned a few days ago. "Hey there AJ, I'd assume this is Big Mac? "Eeyup" it was the red one that answered I guess he is Big Mac then. He looked at my arms and looked kinda sad, what's that about? AJ must have noticed the confused look on my face "ah don't ya be worrying about him, he is just a bit put out cause you have the bigger muscles" ok that's amusing. "Anyway I have many people to see while I'm here so I better get talking, it was nice to meet you Big Mac" "eeyup" ok is that all he says? I saw Pinkie bouncing around the food buffet eating massive amounts of food in one bite, I saw her pick up a cake and open her mouth and just push it in, it wasn't a cupcake it was a full blown cake. "Hi Pinkie thank you for the party." she doesn't stop bouncing does she? "Oh its ok I love parties but then so does everyone! Now come with me we need to meet some new friends!" she dragged me towards the group of mares who seemed to be interested in me, no please the awkwardness is overwhelming! After an hour of mingling I heard something it seemed to be shouting, RD flew through an open window and crashed into the buffet table. AJ was the first to react "RD watcha think ya are doing?" "the monster I found it! It was in the woods, it had loads of red eyes and it was massive." oh ... Crap how did it get here? Unless they have something like that here naturally. "watcha talkin about RD, there ain't no monster like that in the forest." I ignored AJ, ran up to RD and picked her up. "What did it have on its arm? Was it a metal pointy thing?" I couldn't go into details about what a drill is; I don't even think they have them here. "Yes it was a metal pointy thing!" she was starting to get hysterical, I turned to Twi. "Get my guns and look after Jass while I’m gone" she didn't ask any questions, I guess my tone of voice was too serious for her to question me, she just ran into the basement. "Now RD where about was this monster?" "it was near the old castle where we got the elements of harmony" ok no idea where that is. "I can fly you there if you need it" ok that could work, Twi ran back into the room a crystal chest behind her, it was beautiful, the chest not Twi ... Maybe Twi, a bit. The chest itself had no lock or latch, Twi's horn glowed and the chest popped open my weapons were inside, I picked up the shotgun and my pistol; I had an abundance of ammo for those, hehe abundance every time I think of that word I think of a bun dancing. "Ok RD you ready? We need to get going now before it moves." RD finally got up off the table; she walked over to the door. She got over the crash quite quickly, I wonder if it happens often. "Yea I'm ready when you are" after waving to the stunned crowd I left, following her outside. She took off and floated above me "grab my front legs" I did as she said and she instantly flew towards the forest. "Listen RD I'm really sorry about what happened the other day, I thought you would hurt Jass." "why would you think that? Nopony would hurt a child here" "are you sure about that, the first two ponies I met tried to take Jass away from me and rob me of everything else. One ended up almost dead and the other ran away, so yes I have a reason to think that." "Oh I'm ... Sorry I never knew" she seemed truly sorry, seems there is a different part to this pony she may not be a brute. I looked down and saw the forest speeding by. "So how much further is this place" "only a few minutes" "ok when we get there you must leave strait away, I don't want you to get hurt and if this is what I think it is then it could take you out of the air." "Ok here we are" ???: I sat in the ruins for goodness knows how long. I was alone; I don't know where I am or how I got here. I wandered the ruins yet again I woke up here a year ago, and I had seen no-one in that whole time. I heard thundering footsteps behind me, I turned around to see a massive metal monster it had a lot of red eyes. It thundered towards me. "Heellllppp!!" Jack: I landed on the ground, I could see the old ruins that RD had talked about. As I walked forwards I looked down "gotcha" there was a footprint in the mud and it led towards the ruins. I followed the path that the monster had left, I wasn't being quiet or sneaky there is no point, if it's what I think it is then it won't help. "Heellllppp!!" what the hell was that? Wait if there is someone around here then I should hurry up, I ran towards the ruins which was where the scream came from. As I ran into what seemed to be the main room, a big daddy was looming over a small pony with a strange dark blue mane, it was strange because it flowed and was slightly transparent. I turned my attention back to the big daddy "hey there old friend" I fired three ammo piercing pistol bullets into his back; he turned round and charged strait at me. I jumped to the side and the drill hit the wall where my head was about a second ago. Hah it's stuck the drill had stuck into the wall it couldn't get it out, I walked over to the big daddy and like an idiot forgot it had two hands. His second hand tightened around my throat and he held me in the air. Oh dear that's bad news. Bad news for you that is, I brought up my shotgun and fired straight into its face. It fell down like a sack of bricks, I looked round at the small pony it had both a horn and wings. The only other pony I saw with both of them was Celestia "what's your name" she shied away from me. "It’s ok I won't hurt you" "you promise?" it was a girl; her voice was a dead giveaway. "Yes no-one will hurt you when I am there to protect you" she seemed to become a little less shy at this. "I don't know my name, I can't remember it. What's yours?" I wonder how long she has been out here. She looks dirty and she can't remember her name, Poor thing well I will look after her now. "My name is jack, do you wanna come with me?" she nodded her head, I was glad I had brought my bag. As I opened it she shied away again, "don't worry, you will be safe in here, do you wanna get inside and sleep?" she nodded her head so I picked her up and put her inside, she snuggled down and started to go to sleep. Aww cute, now if I remember correctly Ponyville is this way, I began walking it was going to be a long day. Twi: I made everyone leave the party when RD came back, now the only people here where Rarity, AJ, RD, Fluttershy, Pinkie and me. "So girls you have all met Jack what do you think of him?" "I really really like him he is a super duper best friend!" Pinkie, check "he is really kind" Fluttershy, check "he is just darling" Rarity, check "he seems to be an honest guy" AJ, check "he is ... Ok I guess" RD, well check sorta. "Well I think he is perfectly kind to people, that is if you don't harm or take Jass away from him." I looked over to Jass who sat on the buffet table with the three fillies eating all the cupcakes in sight. "Well yes but he is a bit unstable if that happens, don't you think?" it was your own fault RD. "well maybe a bit, but I don't think he had such a good life before he came here. Now back on topic, what did you see RD?" I looked at her expectantly. "Well, the monster was huge it hat metal plating all over its body and it was rusty as though it had been in the ocean or something." ok that reminded me didn’t jack say he came from under the ocean. "it had a massive pointy object on its arm that it could spin, it looked dangerous." wait didn't jack know about the weapon?" ok jack has seen this thing before, I'm calling the princess. Jack: Well I could make it home in a hour if I ran full pelt, but then there is a chance of falling over something. I'll run, but not so fast so I don't trip over anything. So I began to run back I crossed over rivers and gorges ran through deep undergrowth but not once did I see a single creature, that's odd I wonder what is causing that? I was making good progress that is until the small filly started to squirm in my back pack. I let her out and somehow she had bed hair "what's the matter?" "I'm hungry" I wonder what she has been living on for the past few days? Oh well, I wonder what I have in my bag that she can eat? Hmm sardines, no ... Err potato chips, probably and a candy bar should do it, I also have a bottle of water for her as well. "thank you" ok she officially has the cutest voice ever, I watched her tuck into all this food she munched down the crisps and had started to eat the candy bar when I realised it was getting dark, and I was tired, I can't continue to run home now. I saw a cave off to the right it was only a small one but it would do, I brought the young filly over to the cave and put her inside. I then climbed in after her the cave itself was about four foot of the ground, for that reason alone I assumed it would be safe, I assumed correctly there was no sign of any animal inside of the cave. "Alright now you must not leave this cave" I put emphasis on the 'must not' part because most children I knew liked to wander around. I went into the back of the cave with my backpack and the small filly and laid down on the rocks, it wasn't comfy but I have felt worse. My dream was strange I woke up outside the library, everything was twisted and strange the tree had an evil aura to it. Twi came out with her six friends behind her, and they were angry at me, told me to leave. It was the worst thing that could have happened I was hated, then came the worst Jass and the filly left me ran over to Twi, I was alone Ponyville dissolved and I was in a jail cell Celestia opposite me, she berated me she shouted at me them she banished me. I woke up suddenly it turned out the small filly had been sleeping on my chest and when I sat up she got launched across the cave, she grumbled and plodded back over to where we were, and soon I had fallen asleep again. When I woke up again it was the middle of the night, I couldn't see the little filly anywhere but I could hear her, she was snoozing in my backpack. I slowly picked it up without waking her and put it on, once I had made sure she wouldn’t fall out I set off into the forest again, the sun had started to rise the sky was still a dark blue. I passed a tree that looked very familiar, I found this strange until I realised where I was. Just over in that cave is the vita-chamber, now do I program her DNA into it? I probably should seeing as I'm looking after her now, ok I'm doing it. After I had integrated her DNA into the machine I sat down for a drink at a pond that was nearby, Jesus I looked worse for wear. I had bruising all round my neck and I also had what looked to be a black eye, great this is going to look amazing when I get into town. Talking about town, I better get going, after a few more minutes of running I could see the edge of town in the distance, wait is that the princess? I could see two forms flying towards Twi's house one was white with a flowing mane and the other was a dark blue with a flowing mane, guess so let's go meet them. As I went to enter Twi's house I realised how tired I was, my legs were fatigued and my neck was killing. I stumbled through the front door and my legs finally gave up on me I dropped to my knees. "Jack!" it was Twi that had reacted the fastest. "I'm fine, don't worry." the rest of them were staring at me, what's the matter with them ... Oh right the whole face thing. "Yeah it's dealt with They all looked pleased that is except for Celestia and Luna, "how do you know of that creature?" Celestia surprised me with that question how did she know? "It is from my land, it was touching ... Me when we came through, it should be the only one to have come through." they all looked at AJ at this. "He is telling the truth mostly, it wasn’t touching him I don’t think" ok what kind of shenanigans is this, how does she know I wasn't telling the full truth. I took my bag off and carefully put it on the ground, it was then that the young filly poked her head out. Twi instantly noticed "who is that?" "I don't know her name but I found her in the old ruin where RD dropped me off, she was being attacked by the monster." they all looked at AJ he nodded her head and that was that "she can't remember her name and she doesn't have a family to look after her." As she jumped out of the bag both Luna and Celestia did a double take, oh god that can't be good. "Jack step away from her" Celestia had a slight tremor in her voice, nope not good at all. "Why, she is a small filly, what can she do?" everyone apart from Celestia and Luna were looking confused. "that 'small filly' is actually nightmare moon and we must destroy her" ok then that's not going to happen I'm sure the others won't let it ... Oh god they look like they want her gone too. "No you won't harm her, I won't let you, and you will have to get through me first." I was thrown aside as I finished it; I hit the bookshelves and slid down them. Celestia and Luna's horn were glowing a small sphere had appeared between the two of them it was growing bigger until they fired. By that time I was on my feet and running towards Nightmare Moon, I jumped in-between her and the ball of energy. It ripped through my chest leaving a crater behind, it hadn't gone all the way through, but it still was going to kill me. "If you hurt her before I get back I will destroy you" I shut my eyes and felt the feeling of cold glass on my face. Twi: "What does he mean? How will he get back? You killed him! How could you?" I was panicking, I mean I couldn't raise Jass on my own and my friend was just killed. "I think I have an idea. But we will have to wait for his return." the rest of the group were silent, all apart from the young Nightmare moon she was weeping in the corner. Jacks body glowed golden and disappeared. After five minutes of anxious waiting jack came back in "ok Celestia, Luna everyone gets one." "One what? And how dare you threaten the royal sisters!" oh god Luna is in her royal voice. "One time forgiveness from me, don't make the same mistake twice. And the fact is you can't do anything to stop me completely! I am abiding to your laws through choice! You can't kill me you can't imprison me for long. It would be better if you don't make me your enemy!" I have never seen jack this mad before he always seemed calm and collected ... Well he hasn't been killed before now. A blinding flash lit the room and Celestia, jack and Luna were gone. Oh dear what has he got himself into now? Celestia: We landed in my bedroom Jack was on the floor "Jack get up." he slowly got to his feet; he had nothing more to say to me apparently. "Jack I'm going to access the memories of your life before coming here." "nope, no ... Nope, not happening, no no no ... No" he thought he had a choice how cute. "I wasn’t asking." I saw Luna hold him down with her magic, smart girl. I launched into his mind, I saw a farm his family ... Did he lie about his life? I saw him grow up with a loving family, he got on a plane. And then the darkness began, the plane crashed he swum to a lighthouse and descended, after many minutes of watching this unfold I realised why he acts the way he does, he has been betrayed by everyone he knew, he is insecure and loyal. I stumbled backwards and broke the connection, what I had seen was too horrible for words. The things he had been through the things he had to do to survive, how is he so stable? His mind should be in tatters. "Celly are you alright?" "Yeah, yeah I guess so" I didn't feel it, I felt awful. "Jack you can go back now, I'm so sorry" "don't be, you now know why I act like I do." I did that's the strange thing I understood all his actions so far, he holds on to those that love him and he won't let them go. "I will send you back now" he nodded his head in agreement; I don't think he will be too much of a problem as long as no-one tries to hurt those two girls. I used the teleportation spell to send him back to Twilight Sparkles home. "Do you think they can be trusted?" Luna looked slightly nervous, I guess that's natural. "Him yes, her maybe, if it comes to it Jack will do the right thing." Luna nodded her head I guess we can only wait and see. Jack: I landed in front of Twi the others were looking over her shoulder at me, I didn't feel good, I felt ashamed I let my anger get the better of me. I looked into each of their eyes they looked at me with a mixture of concern and as though I was untrustworthy it was as if my dream was coming true. This combined with the sudden reality of how many lives I had ended it caused something strange to happen. It was then for the first time in my life I broke down I started to sob, everyone tried to comfort me but I just couldn't get over it. I tried to scoot away from them but Pinkie pounced on me and started to hug me. After like ten minutes of me sobbing I finally got over it. I felt silly, I went through rapture without a slight hiccup, but if I get the slightest idea that they will abandon me, I turn into a crying child. "Ok Jack what was that about" Twi was looking at me, oh how the tables have turned. "I had a dream where you were all abandoning me and I thought it was coming true." every single one of them pulled me into a massive hug. "We would never leave you silly. Who would protect us from all the meanies?" out of all of the people who could have said it Pinkie said it the best. "Now thank you guys now if you excuse me I have had a hard day and I'm about to hit the floor with some force" everybody looked confused until I started to tip. I think that is the last of the violence for a while. he will start work tommorow, and a side note this was going to be split up into chapters with a cliffhanger but i thought ... no, so i merged them enjoy! //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 6 //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 6 I woke up some time later; I found that Jass was asleep next to me and that Night was asleep on my chest. That's a point what do I call Nightmare Moon now? I'll just call her Night, well that should do it. I noticed Twi was asleep on the other side of the library; I stood up and cradled Jass and Night one in each arm. I walked into the kitchen to see Spike, "oh hi Spike, what's the time" he looked at me and just chuckled. "It’s about six why?" wait did he mean morning? I looked outside, definitely morning. He looked at the two children in my arm "cute" "yeah they are, anyway I'm starting my new job today." Spike looked questionably at me "I'm going to be a police ... Pony ... Thing?" he just chuckled. "We better get Twi up, you will need to go soon, hope you are ready for it." Jass woke up and rubbed her eyes, I passed her an apple and she nibbled it. I looked at them and then at Spike, "no, no way, nope I'm not looking after them" "oh go on Spike, please" his face softened, and he agreed. "I'll find someone else to look after them soon. We walked out to see Twi was still asleep "how long has she been here?" "since you passed out yesterday" wow she really has been there for almost eighteen hours? I put down Jass and shook Twi awake, jeez she looks awful, does she always look like this in the mornings or has she been worrying about me? "Oh jack your awake" yep it's a morning thing, she used her magic and all of a sudden her hair was back to normal. "You are starting your job today, aren't you?" I nodded my head, she just grinned widely, "oh look at my baby all grown up!" wait was she back on my age thing again, god darn it. She had noticed Night asleep in my arm, I could tell she didn't trust her, but she still thought it was cute. "Spike said it was tough to become a police ... Officer." "well yeah you need to go through some challenges to show your up to the job" well I am probably up to the challenge, I hope. Night woke up and was squinting because of the light. "Aww good morning Night" Twi frowned at me "what's the matter?" "do you really think that is the best name for her? I mean the entire town is scared of her, well not her but what she was." oh I see me calling her Night combined with the way she looks someone might catch on. "That’s my name though" aww she is so cute! But she is right, who are we to take her name away, I think Twi knew she was fighting a losing battle. "Ok then let's get going, who is looking after the two … err?” "Twi a female human child is called a girl, just so you know and Spike is looking after them this time." she just smiled. I put down Night and followed Twi towards the door, Night grappled my leg she was obviously scared of me leaving her. "Don’t worry Night, Spike and Jass are here to look after you" I scratched behind her ears, she seemed to melt, I didn't know ponies could purr. Maybe it's just here. We walked across town and that's when I saw it, I mean come on it was a White and blue building with a giant police light was on top. It was like out of a cartoon for children, I mean come on! "That’s it" ok Twi I'm not stupid, she must be a mind reader because she followed up with "but you could tell that already" ok now that's just ... You know what whatever. We walked through the front door it was a big open hall like area it was mostly glass, not too good in a fire fight, oh wait. We walked up to the pony behind the desk she wore a police helmet; she was blue with a White mane. Wait ... I looked around all the ponies looked the same, sigh, shenanigans why are you so common here? "Hello there can I ... Oh" oh come on! "My friend jack" she pointed at me "would like to get a job here" the secretary looked at me as though I was joking. "You do know that being a police ... Pony is meant for ... Ponies don't you?" I nodded my head. "Well the training is designed for ponies, are you sure you want to take the challenge?" I nodded my head again "the silent type? Huh I like the silent type" I felt like smashing my head on the desk. "Well we can get going with the training today if you like? Then the test will take place after two weeks of training." "is the training mandatory?" it might be a stupid question but if the ponies found the training hard I probably won’t. "Well no, but no-one has ever passed without it" she just looked at me strangely. "well let's get on with the test" maybe I was being overconfident but she just nodded her head, she stood up and motioned for me to follow, I followed her outside and wow just wow, there was an obstacle course and It was massive. "Ok now you have to complete the whole obstacle course in less than five minutes to be accepted into the police force." ok but really five minutes I could do it in less than two. "And the fastest anyone has completed the course is three minutes and forty one seconds." hah ok let's go. I took my jacket and T-shirt off, I didn't want to get it dirty and I could surprise the strange secretary. *gasp* hehe it worked "well let's get this started" I stood at the start line "any rules?" "Yeah no flying but magic is allowed" I nodded my head, magic, or plasmids, would help me cut my time in half. "Three, two, one ... GO!" I ran forward towards the three meter high wall, oh god Twi doesn't know about my plasmids or magic as she would see it, oh well. I placed a Cyclone trap on the ground and jumped into it, I got launched up and over the wall. I landed on the other side and crawled into the tunnel, this was where all my time would come from, it was a long tunnel I guess this is to test for endurance, it took me almost a minute alone to get through the tunnel. I emerged from the tunnel and then it was a strait sprint to the end, it was a four hundred meter run and I ran as fast as I could. I got back to two open mouths "but-but-but" she just shut her mouth and showed me the time, one minute fifty nine, it was good but I didn’t run as fast as I could. Well I didn’t want to look all puffed out. "That was the fastest time ever, now only two more tests left" wait two more tests? Ahh whatever. I followed her round to the right side of the police station, we came to a fenced off area. The area around the chain link fence was a dirty flatland and further in was a few trees "now this test is to ... Test your ability to hide, you are already hired but we use a rank system here and this is a good way to start off high." ah so that's the point behind it, I have so got this. "You will get a minute to hide and then we will try to find you for five minutes" I turned around and saw two ponies they looked exactly the same, do all the police ponies look the same? "Three two one ... Go!" Eep I wasn't ready, I saw that both of the ponies had turned around, only the secretary was watching me, wait the secretary was head of testing new applicants? Oh well I better get hiding, I walked into the fenced area and just walked to a bare corner and stood still, this was gonna be easy. Five minutes of them searching for me, nothing. "Well I am impressed, you can come out now" I stepped forward and both of the searches just sighed, they didn't have a chance. "that's five points to you" I then followed her to the final test, she turned round to me and asked me a question "anything you find odd about today" Twi shook her head but I thought about it for a bit longer, I got it. "what you mean you’re not a secretary and you were just posing for me being a new recruit, and that means you knew I was coming one way or another." she just started to clap. "Well done you are most certainly the best candidate we have had to date" I'm guessing that was the final test. "You have graduated with a massive twenty points; you got ten for the first part then five for hiding for the full amount of time and then five for realising who I am. You have all the makings of a detective! And if you play your cards right you could be spec ops." wait what is a spec op? She must have seen the confusion on my face. "Spec ops are our special operatives they are used to gather information or take on the gangs in Canterlot." Hmm maybe that will be the best way to get my own back on that gang that tried to take Jass, Well I assume that was a gang. "So what is my job then?" "your job is going to be an inspector for when we need you but your other job is going to be patrolling the street, it's an enviable job" hmm I wonder why maybe I should ask. "You will be able to pick where you patrol and you can survey areas for any activity if you would like, you get total freedom." ohhh this is gonna be good! "You will start immediately, but you need to get a uniform first, I will let you decide where you get it from." Twi was still with me she still looked shocked that I had magic. "so Twi want to go down to Rarity's to get my uniform made up?" she nodded her head "ok chief, well I assume you are the chief, can I please take a full uniform so Rarity knows what to make?" "of course and here is 200 bits to pay for it" she disappeared into the building and quickly came back holding a bag and a uniform complete with a helmet. “Here you are, have fun" "let's go Twi, to Rarity's." I pointed down the road and then we began to walk, on our way I turned to Twi "sorry I didn't tell you about my magic" "you lied to me" this astounded me "you said your people didn't have magic" ohhh I guess that's what she meant. "Well it isn't really magic it’s just my people learnt how to give ourselves special abilities through technology and drugs" she seemed to understand. "I didn't tell you earlier because I didn't want people to be scared of me" "what else can you do, I saw the weird propulsion system." propulsion system? Oh the cyclone trap. "Well I can create electricity, fire and a massive shockwave of air. I can also make things float and between you and me I can create a temporary copy of my body." she looked amazed that we weren't born with magic but yet we have managed to give ourselves powers. "That’s amazing, now I have something to ask you. Was your world really as bad as you made out?" well I didn't expect that. "Well not all of it, I guess the only bad part of it is where I was born and where I was just before I came here. the people there where driven insane and I was being controlled by a mad man." "Controlled?" she seemed generally confused. "Well when I was magically grown they put a ... Spell on me so when I heard the words 'would you kindly' I would do anything without question. That's why I don’t like that phrase; it's still hard for me to ignore it." Twi seemed to be sad at this, had I done something. She hugged me then "oh Jack, I'm so glad that your here now" sigh I am glad I'm here now, I have friends and I have a family. "Err Twi I can't feel my body anymore" it was a lie but it got the job done she let go, I could see Rarity's shop in the distance, we got inside to see Rarity drawing a new design. "oh hello darlings" out of all the people in this world the one I misjudged the most was Rarity, she wasn't a rich posh snob, she was a kind a gentle person who was very generous. "Hi Rarity, I'm here to ask you something, can you make me a uniform that will match this but fit me?" she looked at the uniform I held out and without saying a word levitated the uniform out of my hands and started to work. "Rarity we are going down to Sugarcube Corner for a while do you want us to get you anything?" She looked round for a second "oh no thanks Twi, I'm fine" we looked at each other and shrugged our shoulders; we left and made our way to the town centre. We got to the town centre and I noticed Derpy tangled in a washing up line. "Excuse me Twi I have to go rescue Derpy from that washing up line, she took one look and started to laugh. Oh you nasty pony, I untangled Derpy and she thanked me a bunch of times, she just wouldn’t stop saying thank you, after like the fiftieth time she just hugged me and flew away. I didn't know where she was going, but then again I don't think she did either. I turned around to see AJ, RD and Fluttershy talking to Twi "oh hi guys how are you?" they all looked round and smiled at me, even RD I found that strange. "Hi Jack I heard you are now a police ... Err ... Umm" RD looked confused, I'm guessing she wants to say pony but I'm not one so that won't work. "Man?" I had offered the word because it made sense, that's what they were called back home she nodded her head. "Well do you want to join me down at Sugarcube Corner? We are going to celebrate." "Well of course we will come." well AJ has just answered for everyone, we then continued towards Sugarcube Corner. It finally came into view, we walked inside and I could hear Pinkie bouncing away in the kitchen. I walked up towards the counter, a pony who I assume is Mrs cake asked me what I would like and I replied "five cupcakes please and make that six if Pinkie is available" I passed twenty five bits over the counter, she nodded her head and entered the kitchen, I caught a glimpse of pink flashing past the door. Five minutes later out came pinkie with a tray balanced on her head, how come she doesn't drop the tray, she was bouncing all the way over and the tray was super glued to her head or something. Six cupcakes were on the tray and we all gathered around the table. We continued to eat our cupcakes and talking about random things most of them supplied by Pinkie. We had almost finished our cupcakes when pinkie asked a question that almost killed me. "Who would you rather kiss, Rarity or Twi?" what the hell Pinkie how do you know these things! "Well err I ... Maybe Rarity because I think she is better at kissing." they all started to laugh at me that is except Twi she just seemed annoyed. "Sorry Twi" "well what would a four year old know about kissing?" oh come on I guess I deserved that. The rest of the group looked at me weirdly, oh god I don't want to explain; luckily for me Twi explained it to them. Pinkie then continued to scoop me up, no I'm not kidding, and then cradled me like I was a baby "aww aren't you a cute little child" I struggled but Pinkie was ... Too strong? Ok it seems Pinkie can bend the rules of physics to suit herself. "Pinkie!" I kept struggling but to no avail the rest of the cafe was cracked up, people were rolling on the floor laughing, especially Twi "wait Pinkie in think Twi is feeling left out" Twi stopped laughing immediately, her eyes went wide and she tried to scramble away, all of a sudden I was free and running for Rarity’s shop and Twi was being dragged away by Pinkie. I got to Rarity’s shop and saw her there with a cup of ... Tea, I think. "Oh hello darling your uniform is over there, I picked it up and walked into the changing room. I was half way through changing when I heard the door slam open, oh dear Twi ain't happy. I finished getting dressed and walked outside, as I walked into the front room Rarity screamed from her workshop. I ran into the room to see a brown earth pony, he was facing towards Rarity and I heard him talking to her "hush now, no-one is gonna rescue you. Prince Blueblood wants a bit of revenge for what you did to him at the galloping gala last year" whoa whoa isn't it the boss who is meant to give the plans away? Oh well. I reached over and picked the guy up, he dropped his knife and started to struggle "you coming with me, down the station for a bit of ... Interrogation" hehe I gotta say that every time. "You alright Rarity?" she nodded her head, "I'm gonna go deal with this fool" I walked out of the front door to see a slightly grumpy Twi storming towards me. "sorry Twi I can't talk taking someone down the station" she was about to open her mouth when I said "tell you later" I got a few strange looks on the way to the station, the thug had stopped struggling when I threatened to electrocute him. I got to the station to see a pony behind the massive counter typing away; I assumed this was the real secretary. "Err hello I caught this guy attacking Rarity." "ah ok inspector, the interrogation rooms are to the right and the jail cells are farther along." I thanked her and walked the guy I had caught down to the interrogation room I hurled him inside and walked after him, oh this place has an audio diary, I turned it on and it started to record. "So who sent you to attack Rarity" he just seemed to get all serious. "no-one did I was doing it on my own." ok bored now "I could easily electrocute you" he seemed to get a bit more nervous, "or I could roast you" my hands lit on fire. "Ok, ok Prince Blueblood sent me, he was angry at what she did to him at the Grand Galloping Gala, or the GGG as most ponies call it. I was told to meet him later with her behind the Sugarcube Corner in about ten minutes." ohhh this is gonna be good. Can I just say, every time I wrote “this is gonna be good” I had to make sure I spelled it right because of that stupid gif //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 7 //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 7 Ten minutes later I was on the roof of the Sugarcube Corner, I was waiting for the prince, or so his name suggests. I saw him, well I assumed it was him, in the last five minutes I had seen no-one. He was standing around, either he liked alleyways or he was waiting for something, good enough for me, I jumped off the roof. He looked down and saw the rapidly growing shadow; I landed beside him and instantly grabbed him by the horn. "You are under arrest!" His horn started to glow, I was thrown back, ouch, time to teach him a lesson. I shocked him and he went over stunned and twitching, I grabbed him by the horn and started dragging, I could pick him up and carry him but why would I? I got some strange looks from some ponies, one walked up and started to talk "what did he do?" a unicorn with a pencil and a pad of paper was walking next to me. Ah a reporter, this could be fun. "he is wanted in a kidnapping attempt he planned the attack and hired a pony to implement it." the reporter was writing furiously, a small crowd of reporters had appeared, strange I hadn't seen any before now and I thought I would be big news. I told the rest of the reporters what I had told the other one. When we got to the doors of the police station everyone seemed to disperse, hmm strange I opened the door and entered. I walked into the police station dragging a twitching prince by the horn "do you know who that is?" the secretary sounded worried. "Yes I know who he is, do I care? No." she looked at me incredulously. "The princesses won't be happy." I walked past her and threw the Prince into a jail cell. Aww he looked so out of place, I slammed the door and walked away. I hope everyday will be this fun, the chief approached me she looked impressed. "so you have been on the job for only about thirty minutes and you have already arrested a hired goon and a prince, admittedly I think the prince is shaky ground but I approve." she had a grin on her face. "Just a question how many officers do you have?" she looked at me. "Well last time I counted we had ten women and four men." wow that's a lot of female officers compared to male officers. She must have been able to read my thoughts because she came out with "well there is a 6:1 mare to stallion ratio in Ponyville". Wait what? How is that possible? I have only seen a few males since I got here but still that ratio sounded weird. "Wow back home we had a ratio of about 1:1" she looked at me as though she was wondering about something. "That sounds nice, do you have a special some pony?" oh my god is she coming onto me. "Not that I'm interested in you but I'm just wondering" thank god. "Well no, but it seems that a lot of mares are interested" she nodded her head in agreement. "Well between you and me, anything with a ... Penis ... Gets them interested not many stallions are single for long." hmm that doesn't surprise me for some reason. "Anyway you can have the rest of the day off, you have worked really hard today." "oh thank you I will be patrolling like normal tomorrow, I'm off" we said our goodbyes and I left. I walked back towards Rarity's, I had to make sure she was alright, I got there to find most of the gang was there only Pinkie was missing. "You alright Rarity?" "yes darling I'm ... I'm alright." she didn't sound it but I'll go with it. "What are you going to do about Prince Blueblood?" "well he is twitching down in jail at the moment." Twi being the onset stove pony that she is asked about the word twitching "well he kinda fought back and well he was a bit ... Shocked when I fought back." she just smacked herself in the face with her hoof, not very hard but it made a resounding slap. I decided that Rarity needed to calm down, I offered to take her down to Sugarcube corner, she accepted. We were walking towards Sugarcube corner for the second time that day, I noticed the reporters hiding down side alleys and round corners, and I waved to every single last one of them only to see them all run away. We got to Sugarcube corner and saw Pinkie bounce out towards us "does she always walk like that" I whispered to Twi she nodded her head and I shook mine in despair. I explained what happened to Pinkie, she replied by saying how the prince was a meany and things like that. Once that was all out of the way Rarity seemed to really brighten up, "who wants to come down the club?" Pinkie must really like that place, everybody agreed to go. As we walked towards the club, wow doing a bit of walking today, we chatted about menial things like favourite music and drinks and food, my brain had started to melt by the time I got there. "You are not allowed inside" the security guard looked at me menacingly, sigh I forgot about what happened last time. The others started to argue but I hushed them. "Official police business let me through" he just snorted at this. "What business would that be?" he wasn't happy I could tell that much. "As I said earlier sir official police business" he was starting to get really annoyed. "Ok then what law have we broken?" I never said he had done but now come to think of it ... "obstructing a police officer, I really suggest you move out of the way the station is quite far away, and I don't want to drag you all the way there" he shuffled out of the way, finally admitting defeat. "Clever little pony" I rubbed the top of his head, he shook it and I walked in. "how did you know that would work?" Twi was looking at me closely. Why is everybody doing that recently? "I didn't but I took a chance and it worked, ok girls what do you want to drink?" it turned out they all wanted the same thing, I walked up to the bar and ordered six glasses of vinyl's vodka, and I ordered the strongest thing they had, after paying I realised I was now out of money. I had given Rarity her money, she didn’t want to take it but I made her, and that left me with about 50 bits left and I bought a bottle of the strongest stuff they had. "Err Jack you do realise that even a glass of that stuff will knock a pony on its flank for a night?" oh Applejack, you are so silly. "Yep but it don’t affect me very much" she looked shocked and looked at me closely, can we stop with the looking at me closely stuff. I put the tray down with all the drink on it and the girls all grabbed one whether it is with magic or their mouth, I poured myself a glass of my drink it was a light yellow. We all downed our drinks, for me it was neither a good idea nor a bad idea, but for the others I think it was a bad idea, because ten minutes later their voices were slurred and they were slightly wobbly. "Come on jack let's dance" Pinkie grabbed me by the collar and dragged me onto the dance floor. "Pinkie stop it!" she was dancing dragging me like a puppet or a manikin, I still have no idea how she does this. I looked up to see the dj look down at me her purple glasses showed a reflection of how we looked. Four hours later and the club was almost empty, the only people who remained were our group and the dj, she came over and started to talk to me "I saw you with Pinkie on the dance floor, she was pretty drunk what was she drinking?" "Oh something called vinyl's vodka" she just grinned at me, "do you have a basket or a box I could put those six in? It’s too awkward to carry them without one." she cocked her head at me but nodded, a minute later she was carrying a wicker basket. "Will this do? And how come you’re not affected by my vodka?" "Oh so your name is vinyl? Anyway I wasn't drinking vodka I was drinking a bottle of this stuff" she saw the bottle and her jaw dropped, she dropped the basket and just gaped at me. "But how? You drank the whole bottle?" "yea alcohol doesn't affect me as much, do you want someone to walk you home? I have to drop these lightweights home one more stop won't make a difference" she thought about it then nodded her head. I started to arrange the ponies into the basket, "you really care for her don't you" she motioned towards the one I had in my hand at the time, I nodded my head, it was true crazy but true, I did have feelings for her. "How are you going to tell her?" "I don’t know, how can I? She might not accept me." I mean what if she hates me for it? "Don’t be such a baby, you gotta tell her soon I mean what if she finds out in her own." oh god if she finds out on her own, well she might hate me forever. "I just can't tell her, we are so different how would it work." she just glared at me. "Ok then shall we go?" she answered by walking ahead, ok then. I picked up the basket; it was slightly heavy but not too bad. "So vinyl what's it like working as a Dj?" "It’s fun and I love to do it, wow you can actually carry that?" "Well yeah you ponies aren't exactly heavy ya know." she just shook her head. "Oh and can you get the guards to lay off, it's hard to get into the club" she looked at me questionably "well they say that they don't let my kind in but I just push em out of the way" she was furious but by the end she was laughing. "I'm going to kill the security tomorrow, how dare they decide what species are allowed in!" I hushed her down I mean it was the middle of the night. "There’s my house" she pointed towards a pretty normal house. "Wow vinyl no massive extravagant house?" she shook her head, a grey pony was walking the other way, I looked round to see vinyl hiding. "What’s the matter vinyl?" she was blushing, I looked back round the corner at the grey pony "oh and you were telling me to talk about my feelings?" "So not the time, I'm not ready!" I picked her up and threw her in front of the other pony. "Err hi Octavia, how are you?" I was giggling like a child this was so funny. "Err hi Vinyl I'm good, do you want a hoof up" Vinyl nodded, Octavia pulled Vinyl up. "So Vinyl do you want to ... Get some coffee some time?" wow, well that worked out. Vinyl said her goodbyes to Octavia, Vinyl walked back to me a face as red as a Rose. "So not cool Jack! I was so nervous! But thank you I'm going on a date with Octy!" "glad it worked out, now I gonna take these six back home" Vinyl nodded her head in agreement. "Cya around Vi" she shook her head. "Bye" I walked back to the library, I decided that they could all stay there tonight, I'm not walking all over town and besides I don't know where RD lives. I opened the door to the library to see Night, Jass and Spike asleep on the sofa. "Aww" how cute. I put the basket down on the ground, "you let them have some of vinyl's vodka didn't you." err he nodded his head, seems he already knew the answer. He walked over to Rarity and started to stroke her mane, I could joke about that couldn't i? "Hey Spike you love Rarity or something?" the reaction I got out of him was somewhat unexpected. "Don’t tell her, don't tell her, please don't tell her, please!" he was begging, why was he begging I was only joking ... Oh haha really those two? "Wow I was only joking but really?" he was shaking wow he really doesn't want me to tell her, I know what will make him feel better "hey spike, I have a crush on one of them." "who" I pointed towards the one girl that I liked and he started to laugh, wait what! "That’s funny, anyway time for bed" he settled down in-between Jass and Night, so cute. I curled up on one of Twi's many cushions and fell asleep. I woke up to Celestia standing in the middle of the room grinning at the chaos that surrounded, her six ponies in one basket and a human child, a baby dragon and Nightmare moon all asleep and scattered around the room. "Hi Celestia what's up." She turned round to face me "I saw in the local newspaper, that a certain Prince has been ... Arrested. I would like to know why" oh I wondered when would come round, thought i had more time than this. "Well he kinda organised a kidnapping against Rarity here." she looked at Rarity and shook her head. "He is a fool, all because of the Grand Galloping Gala incident, do you think I could pull a few strings?" "If you are going to let him off his punishment then no, but if you plan to punish him yourself, go ahead." she grinned widely at me. "You have protected my ponies from harm and you have made a life for yourself here, I will grant you one wish." wait what? A wish? Oh sweet Jesus I could wish for anything. "I will remember that for when I have something worthwhile to wish for." she started to laugh, it was the best sound I have ever heard, it boomed out and woke everyone up. "Well I better get to work, you coming Celestia?" she nodded her head and began to walk with me. "So are you enjoying your stay here?" seemed like a silly question. "Of course I am, this is a great land, and thanks to you I have a family." well it was true she let me stay round Twi's and if she hadn't let me keep Night then I ... Well I don't know. "that is good to hear I hope that you continue to look after my land and the ponies in it" Celestia was drawing many strange looks, wonder how the prince is holding up, probably not too good. We reached the police station and walked inside, I went straight to the Prince's jail cell. Wow he was a state; he was rocking backwards and forth clutching his back legs with his front ones. Wow worse than I thought, he really ain't up to jail life. "I'll just take him back to Canterlot then" Celestia had a grin on her face she grabbed the prince "err goodbye" she waved a hoof in my direction and in a flash of light disappeared taking the prince with her. //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 8 //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 8 Well isn't that just peachy, meh whatever, I got a job to do. "Jack I got an assignment for you!" Oh ok then, guess we are doing that today. I Turned round to see the chief stood behind me, wonder what her name is. All I know her as is, the chief. "Yes chief, if I may ask, what's your name?" she just gave me a smile and handed over a file, I opened it. Seemed there have been a lot of problems at local businesses, items going missing, things moving. "Hmm strange, so got a list of the businesses affected?" "What a great detective you are." I turned the page of the file and saw a list, I grinned at her and she returned it. The list consisted of a few places I hadn't heard of but, a few I had heard of. "Ok boss I'll have a look about." it was probably rats or something but it could be something bigger. I said goodbye and left the police station, first on the list was the spa. Hmm I think it's near the centre of town, as I walked there I saw many ponies along the way, seems they aren't scared of me anymore. I waved at them as I passed most of them waved back, a couple jumped, hmm maybe some are still scared, I saw the spa ahead I saw a light blue head pop from the window, sigh they are expecting me. I knocked on the door, a pink pony with blue hair, this wasn't the one I saw from the window, "hello" a blue pony with pink her had popped out of nowhere. Wow they look exactly the same but their colour schemes are different "you are the police man who is here to ... Help with the strange things going on." "yes I am, may I ask your names, mine is Jack?" they both giggled, oh god please no. "My name is Lotus and this is Aloe, and are you the muscly man who is here to investigate?" oh god they are! They are coming on to me! What is about the women in this world? "Would you like something to drink? Or maybe a quick massage?" oh god could you be more obvious? "Err no thank you, where did the objects move from?" they both looked at each other, it was a concerned look. I wonder what that looks about. "Follow me" I couldn't remember which one was which, but I followed them into the basement all the same, they pointed me towards a corner, things had definitely been taken there was patches of clean surrounded by dust. They must not come down here often. "Yes things have either been moved or taken" I searched the rest of the basement, the only thing that was out of place was a scratched floor in a circle shape but half of it was in the wall and a crack in the wall. "How long has this crack been here?" they both shrugged their shoulders, amazing just amazing. I reached into the crack and felt about, bingo! I pulled down and heard a clunking sound then as the wall scraped me also heard the gasps from both of the girls; well then these two officially freak me out. "Jack May we come with you?" well at least they aren't completely scared of a secret passage way under their store. "err I guess so" they both ran over to me and all of a sudden I had one latched on each arm, as I walked down the tunnel I noticed there was no branching paths yet, we walked down the tunnel for about five minutes, it would have taken me only one minute but I had two ponies to drag along. I saw the end of the tunnel loom towards us, I investigated the dead end for a good ten minutes but nothing was obvious at the moment, everything seemed to be normal. "I think the tunnel carries on but I don't know how to open it up." We walked back in the same fashion, when we got back I asked what it was that was moved. "A box of makeup jewels, they are used for special occasions." huh ok wonder why somebody would steal that, it's a box of cheap plastic shapes. "Well I have a few more shops to go visit, I might be back later to investigate those caves a bit more" they both thanked me, and as I was leaving I saw them both look out of the window at me, oh dear me. I continued walking to my next destination, the antiques shop. It wasn't too far away only down the road, the shop was old and dusty, the windows had cobwebs in and they were grimy. I entered the shop and was instantly greeted by a green Pegasus mare; she was probably the same age as Twi, that's strange I expected her to be a bit older. "Hello, my grandmother will be here soon, she is busy in the store room at the moment." well that would explain it, while I waited I looked around, they had paintings, furniture and old jewellery. "Oh hello deary, you here to buy something, or just looking" this mare was a lot older she looked like the younger mare but she had wrinkles and moved a lot slower. "Err no, I'm here for the thefts?" she motioned towards the door, I opened it and realised it was a set of stairs down to the basement. I wondered if the old mare would follow me down, I got my answer when in fact I saw the younger mare walk down the stairs after me. "Hello there my name is Jack" "my name is Arc, it's nice to meet you Jack" Arc? Wonder what that stands for; probably short for something ... Archaeologist? Probably, if the other names are anything to go by I am probably right. "A crown was stolen from over there, and a bangle from over there" she pointed into two corners of the room. I walked over to where the crown used to be; it used to be on a pony shaped manikin, or is that a ponykin? Whatever, I looked around and could find no evidence whatsoever of an intruder. I looked at the floor and saw the dust that layered it and something else, a trail of footprints, at first I thought they were mine but I soon realised they weren't. These prints were like none that I had seen, I followed the trail over to where the bangle should have been and there was a trail leading away from there as well. I followed the trail strait into a wall; I hit my head and fell backwards. Arc ran over and was next to me "oh are you alright? Do you need anything? A drink? A bandage?" I sat up and shook my head, I wasn't walking that fast. "I'm fine, thank you" I stood up and looked at the wall and the floor it looked like a normal wall but I could see the heel of a footprint on one side of the wall the rest intersecting the wall. Someone can walk through a wall or this is a secret door, I started to pat it down it was a flag stone wall and I'm guessing one of them is a button. After a couple minutes of looking stupid I felt a stone sink into the wall. "Wah" she was surprised when the whole wall sunk downwards into the ground, "how did you find that?" I thought it was really obvious, but apparently she didn't. "Well there is a footprint that intersects the wall and the fact that there was a theft at the spa and there was a secret door there as well." she looked at me awestruck, it wasn't that impressive. We walked through the door and started to walk down the tunnel, it was strange in the other one there were torches, in this one there were none. The door rumbled shut, we were plunged into darkness. Arc was screaming as she clamped onto my side, we had no way to create light and I doubt I can find the doors secret switch. Oh wait I'm an idiot, I lit my hand on fire in the flickering light I saw Arc jump back in shock. "How can you do that?" err how do I explain the idea behind genetic engineering? I know! "Well I have a magic off my own" if I ever find it difficult to explain something I can pass it off as magic, I like that idea. "Are you ok though? Are you frightened?" "I'm fine and I'm not frightened with you here." oh god she isn't going to let go, it isn't as bad as Lotus and Aloe because there was two of them. We continued to walk down the tunnel my fist lighting the way, I saw the end looming towards us. Once we got there I started to look around I couldn't find the secret mechanism to open the door, it might open from the other side. "I can't seem to find the mechanism to open the door." she walked over and had a look herself, she shook her head she obviously couldn't find it either. Defeated we began the walk back, once we got to the other end of the tunnel we encountered a major problem, how do we open the door from this side. If we can't find how to we will be stuck I don't have a plasmid strong enough to break the door down either, I searched for something that looked out of place and that's when I saw it, it wasn't out of place as such it's just I had seen it twice before, a pile of rocks with one sticking out further than the others. The part that stood out was as big as a stool and it blended in perfectly, but when I pushed down on the rock it sunk into the ground. The door started to sink into the ground "oh well done, you managed to open it!" she was bouncing with joy, "I don't suppose you would like to help me with a couple of expeditions I am running in the future?" I was right she is an archaeologist, but she is afraid of the dark? I voiced my question to her and she nodded her head while looking at her feet and shuffling slightly. "there is no need to be embarrassed I have a fear of something as well, do you want to know what it is?" she nodded her head slowly "losing those close to me." she looked at me, her face was hard to read. "Mine seems even sillier compared to yours" she didn't understand. "Well no, both of our fears are rational, when you are in the dark you can't see what is around you, anything could be waiting to attack you. Losing those that are close to us is the worst thing I can think of. Without dying you that is." she nodded her head. "Anyway Arc I have one more shop to visit before the day is out, it was nice meeting you." she waved and showed me the way out, the basement was a maze of cardboard boxes and old furniture. As I was leaving a thought ran through my head, "what did the crown and bangle look like?" "oh, if I remember correctly the bangle was gold with a sapphire on it, and the crown was also gold and had three rubies in it" I thanked her and walked down the street, I was looking for the jewellery shop but I had no idea where it was. I saw AJ over by an apple stall, maybe she knew where the jewellery store was. "Hi AJ, how are you?" she looked over and saw me. "Oh hi there Jack, it's nice to see ya, do ya want to have an apple?" I reached over and picked an apple up and began to munch on it. "Thanks AJ don't suppose you have any idea where the jewellery shop is? I need to investigate some robberies." she looked slightly surprised at this. "Robberies, who in Ponyville would commit a robbery?" I shrugged my shoulders "the jewellery store is down that road and on your right." I thanked her, said and walked down the street; it was obvious which one was the shop, mainly because it had a ruby ring on the sign above the door. I walked through the door and saw a blue unicorn asleep on the table, err ok then should I wake her up? "Huh who's there?" whoa she woke up quickly, she looked at me "oh ... Err ... Hi" she was nervous, guess this was the first time she has seen me. "Don’t worry, I'm here to investigate the theft from your shop" she dramatically calmed down after this, she didn't seem like the talking type. She pointed towards a door; I opened it and walked down the stairs on the other side. I didn't bother investigating what was stolen I already knew what I was looking for, one secret passage is a coincidence but two? There had to be a third one here. I searched for a good five minutes and was giving up hope, maybe there isn't a secret passage here ... Wow. The opposite wall opened, turns out I was searching along the wrong wall, a creature walked into the dark basement, I couldn't see what had come out of the tunnel, it was hunched over and sniffing around. The wall slid back behind him closing the secret exit, it was at that moment, the creature jumped up and ran back towards the secret door, and it had smelt me or something. I saw him pull a torch bracket and the door opened. I ran through the secret door and down the tunnel, it was lit with torches, the creature managed to keep ahead somehow. I finally reached the end of the tunnel; the end of the tunnel was the same as the last two. I pushed the rock down and the wall sunk down into the ground, on the other side was the weird creature I had ever seen. "turn round creature these are my shinies." ok and it wasn't smart either, I looked at what was around me, by my feet was a burlap sack, and over on the table was the box of makeup jewels, the bracelet, the crown, and a box of goodness knows what. I had an idea, but I depended on how the creature would react, meh I always have plasmids if this goes wrong. I bent down to pick up the sack and as expected the thing jumped towards me, I opened the bag and the creature flew strait into it. I put the makeup jewels in my pocket and I put the crown and bracelet on, I thought it was more of an arm guard; I then grabbed the box and held it with my other hand, all of this I did without letting go of the burlap sack. sorry for the wait between chapters, been busy recently and i will probably be busy for a while but i will try to keep the updates coming. //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 9 //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 9 The bag itself was writhing it wasn't too heavy and the bag was going to hold, I checked around to make sure I had everything that had been taken. Once I was sure I turned around and left through the secret door I had come through, it opened and walked through, what I hadn't noticed was the pair of red eyes that followed me as I left. The walk back was long the creature in the bag had given up but carrying the box as well made it both awkward to carry and heavy, the box was a foot cubed and unlike the bag was quite heavy. Wonder what is in there, I could see the end of the tunnel and not to soon either. Climbing the stairs was the biggest challenge I almost dropped the box twice, only at the last moment grabbing hold of it. I finally got up the stairs panting and wheezing, I placed the box on the table, the blue unicorn woke up again. "Oh you got it! Thank you! I can get back to work now." she jumped up and opened the box with her magic, it was filled to the brim with gold necklaces they had a number of different gems embedded into them: rubies, emeralds, sapphires even diamonds. As I turned around to leave with the crown, bracelet and make up gems. The jeweller spoke to me "sir, I would like you to have these" I turned round and saw her holding two necklaces, a ruby one and a sapphire one. "I could never accept gifts that are so expensive" she shoved them into my hand and levitated me out of the door, slamming it behind me. Wow that's a new way to leave a shop, this better not become the norm. I returned to the antiques shop, the older pegasus was asleep on the counter, Arc was packing her saddlebags "going on a trip Arc?" "yeah, I heard of an artefact, deep in the Everfree forest." "but isn't it dangerous in there?" she nodded her head "do you have someone to accompany you?" she shook her head "wait is this your way of inviting me?" she nodded her head, oh come on, "alright, I will go but I have a few places I need to stop first." It was then she noticed the crown on my head, "oh you found it!" I handed her the crown and bracelet, "oh thank you so much, find out who did it?" I held up the bag and it wiggled, Arc started to giggle, "Ok go do what you have to do and meet me here in two hours." I left the antiques shop and walked down the road towards the police station, the thing inside was starting to get a bit restless. I entered the lobby, the thing inside the bag squirming away; I then walked to an empty cell and through the bag inside and slammed the door locking it behind me. "Wow you got a diamond dog; I guess he was stealing all the gem related items?" I nodded my head; she slapped me on the back. "Hey chief can I take a couple of days off? I have to go on an ... Expedition into the Everfree forest" she nodded her head and walked away. Next stop is the spa, I don't like that place. I walked down to the spa for the second time today and saw Rarity enter; I guess she is there for a makeover or something. I knocked on the door and when Aloe, or Lotus, opened the door she dragged me inside. "Lotus the police officer has made an appearance" Lotus ran out of the cupboard and bounced up and down in front of me. "Did you get it? Who did it?" I pulled out the box and handed it to her, god only knows how they put those on. "You deserve a free massage!" sigh I guess I do have two hours to kill, whatever. I agreed to the massage and they both squealed, what have I done this can't be a good idea. Aloe pushed me into a curtained off area and told me to take my shirt off and have a seat "water is over there of you want a drink" she pointed over to a jug of water on a small table; I took my shirt off as instructed and went and got a drink. I drank a whole glass of the stuff, and poured another I was about to pick the glass up when I seized up, oh god. I fell to the floor with a loud crunch. "Ow what just happened? Girls when this wears off your for it!" my face still facing the floor was probably a bit muffled to the outside world, I heard two horses walk in. "oh, but you won't remember this at all" oh damn no, they flipped me over "oh Jack you know how muscly your chest is right?" I think it was Aloe talking. They were both feeling the front of my chest up, I could feel both of their hoofs tracing my muscles, well at least they haven't gone south yet. One of them was tugging at my trousers, god help me, "Aloe come help me with this, it's complicated" all of a sudden both of them were working on getting me out of my trousers. "Help!" they both giggled at my attempts to alert someone to what was going on. "How cute, no-one is here to hear you shout ..." both their eyes went wide a sudden realisation, I saw both of them float past my face a light blue aura surrounding them. Rarity's face popped into view "are you alright darling?" I nodded my head, it was the only part of my body that I had any control over, "what they were doing was just monstrous, how long until this wears off you dirty mares" "about twenty minutes Rarity and that's all we need please let us go, we won't get another chance!" Rarity shook her head in disgust, twenty minutes passed and I had no memory of them, when I finally regained control of my body I stood up. "god, I'm thirsty" I grabbed the second glass of the table and downed it, I turned round to see Rarity put her hoof to her face, then I saw the floor rushing up to say hello. Twenty minutes passed and I got up again, and just like last time I walked over to the water again, only this time it floated out of reach "you’re not becoming immobile for another twenty minutes" wait what was she on about? "The water is drugged Aloe and Lotus here were going to rape you" I turned to see them running in the air trying desperately to get away. I raised an eyebrow at them "we're sorry! We won't do this again honest" they were pretty terrified. "Ok as long as you promise, I will let you go, but if I hear you are trying this again I will be back" they nodded their heads frantically. "Ok Rarity you can let them go" they both dropped to the floor in a heap, seems Rarity didn't care that she dropped them from roof height. I put my shirt back on, me and Rarity then left the spa, "now Rarity can we not mention this incident again please" "but why Jack? They almost raped you" I still had no memory on how far they got but it can't have been far because I still have my trousers on correctly. "well, it's not exactly a great moment for me, I was incapacitated by two mares, not exactly the thing I want to spread around." she continued to question me for the rest of the trip home, until "I was touched in places that only the mare I love should see!" the sudden outburst scared Rarity. After a few seconds of silence Rarity asked the one question left "so who is it?" wait what did she mean? I looked at her; she noticed the look and followed up with "who is the mare you love?" I went bright red losing all chance of denying that I love a mare, it seemed silly now that I thought about it, how could I love something which isn't my own species? "Well" I whispered the answer in her ear; she burst out laughing and rolled on the floor "it's not that funny" why did everyone find it funny? I picked her up and walked towards Twi's house, I needed to grab some things before I left ... And of course tell Twi where I was going. By the time we got to the library Rarity had calmed down enough to stand again "have we gained control of our legs yet?" "yes darling you can put me down now" I placed her down outside the library and entered, I saw Twi desperately trying to control the two young children, and failing. "Are you alright Twi?" she didn't look it but might as well ask. "These two are a hoof-full I can't control them!" she looked really stressed out. "Well I'm going on a trip for a day or so into the Everfree forest so I guess you won't look after them" she collapsed on the sofa, "ok I'll ask someone else, any ideas Rarity?" "Fluttershy is very good with children, she keeps my little Sweetiebell in line" "ok then, we will ask Fluttershy for her help" I turned to the two girls who were still running about "Girls I'm going to be away for a while, and you are going to stay with Fluttershy" they both seemed upset by this "when I get back we are going to spend some time together, ok?" they both nodded their heads "now go get your things we are going down to Fluttershy's now" they both ran upstairs. I changed out of my uniform and into my old clothes from my time in Rapture, I attached my wrench to my trousers and put a Eve Hypo in a small bag and attached that to my belt as well, I have to ration these, I don't know how to make anymore. Both of the girls were ready when I got downstairs we headed out to Fluttershy's house. When we finally got there, Fluttershy was by the chicken coop; she was either feeding them or collecting the eggs. Both girls went running over to Fluttershy they seemed to like her a lot and vice versa. "Fluttershy I don't suppose you can look after these two for a couple of days" "of course Jack they won't be a problem, will you?" the last part I assumed was aimed at the girls because she was looking at them, they both shook their heads "see, have fun on your trip" she seemed to be a lot less nervous around the girls and me but still she was really quiet at the best of times. I hugged and kissed both Jass and Night and left, I really have to spend more time with them, I walked to the antiques shop and devised a way I could see both, Jass and Night and also thank Pinkie, Twi and Rarity, I got it. "Hi jack you ready to go?" "yep I have everything" she looked me up and down, "I am more resourceful than you think" she shook her head. "Mhmm follow me then" she walked in the other direction obviously weighed down by her bags, sigh, I picked up the ones balanced on her back In-between her wings. They weren't so heavy, she seemed relieved when I took them off "thank you" the bags did have straps but they were smaller than normal, so I had to carry them with my hands and not wear them. We were about to enter the forest, "now whatever I say goes, no arguing, alright?" she nodded her head "right do you know the way? Because I don't want to get lost" she opened a bag and took out a rolled up piece of parchment, it looked old and was slightly yellow. "Now the temple is here," she was pointing at a black symbol in the middle of a forest; it was like a bats wing with holes in it. Strange. "And we are here" she pointed at the edge of the forest; it didn't seem that far so that’s a plus. "It will only take a day’s journey to get there" "well then shall we get going?" she nodded her head; it was only about two o’clock seeing as Celestia got me up at six in the morning, I had solved the mystery by midday. As we entered the forest it instantly got a lot darker, it was like it was night time already. When we finally settled down for the night "you sure it's night Jack?" she was looking up at the green canopy, not that you could see through it. "Well no, but I'm getting tired so ... Sleepy time" wait a minute, "couldn't you fly up and see?" she shuffled her feet and laid down. "Your right we are tired, it's best that we get some sleep" that was strange I will have to uncover that tomorrow or will it be today? Oh ok I give up, need sleep. I woke up the next morning to see Arc was already awake, I was about to say something when I realised she was doing something strange. She looked back at her wings and flapped them, where was she going, there is barely enough room to walk let alone fly. After a couple of seconds she was straining herself but she wasn't moving anywhere, so that's it. "Morning Arc." she instantly stopped flapping her wings, she looked round with a nervous look on her face. "oh ... Morning, well we better get going soon" she started to pack up, so far we haven't seen anything hostile yet, I'm guessing the forest wasn't as dangerous as everyone thought it was. Really wish I had brought a sleeping bag or something, the floor although it wasn't wet, it was quiet hard. Arc was smart enough to pack a blanket so it wasn't too bad. "Thanks for bringing me a blanket" she was grinning at me. "What would you do without me?" oh how smug she looked. "I'd be at home, probably sleeping" the smugness was wiped from her face, I don't know if she took it to heart "but I'm glad I'm here” she smiled at that, better be more careful with what I say, I think her self-esteem and confidence is lacking. She showed me where she thought we were on the map; we were about fifty per cent of the way there. We walked for many more hours until I fell over, I looked back to see a yellow brick half sunk into the ground it was quite large "the temple is probably nearby" I pushed passed a tree and was blinded, after being in the darkness for so long the sunlight became blinding, when I was able to see again I noticed Arc had followed me and she had not yet recovered from the bright light. After a few seconds of waiting she was able to see again, we walked up to the stairs, the temple was a splitting image of an Aztec temple. We climbed the stairs to the top and stopped, someone had been here recently, a lit torch was in a bracket on the wall. "Now I think someone is nearby we must be as quiet as possible" she nodded her head. As we walked through the hallways, I thought about Arc, I probably should be paying attention looking for traps, she seemed to unconfident in herself and she also didn't talk very much. All of a sudden I was floating backwards, while I was thinking I hadn't noticed that we had reached the main chamber, and there was someone at the centre altar. //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 11 //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 11 Twi: We landed on the hospital floor, I felt the clean marble flooring underneath me, "we landed in the cafe, great just great, I need some help! Anypony!" there were only a few cleaners in the cafe; it must be just after lunch. A doctor and two nurses ran in, the nurses were carrying a stretcher between them and the doctor was carrying a green first aid kit, a white cross emblazoned on the front. He knelt down and looked at Jacks arm. "nurses we will have to take him to the emergency room now, Twi I will have to ask you to leave" he looked at me and shuddered slightly at the look I was giving him "at least for an hour or so ... Please?" he said it as though it was a question, I nodded my head, I had to go get some of the girls and tell them the news, I nodded my head. "do you need an escort to show you the way out" "no thank you doctor, I'm sure that the number one student to Celestia knows the way out" I turned around opened a door and shut it behind me, grr, it's a broom closet, maybe if I just stay here he will go away. Five minutes later I came out, turns out he was still working on Jack. "Took you five minutes to work out it was a broom closet" he didn't even turn around "and if you’re wondering why I haven't moved the patient, it was too dangerous." "Hmm sure, you just wanted to make fun of me" he still hadn't looked at me. "Fifty fifty" I walked past the doctor one of the nurses was giggling, bunch of smart flanks, think they know everything. I walked through the main reception/plaza area stores filled with flowers and food scattered around a miniature garden which was placed in the middle, sure had changed since Dash was here. The hospital was on the other side of town from the library, typical luck, maybe I can get my thoughts in order. Jack was changing, he said he would kill anyone who took his daughters, but when it happened He didn't kill them, whether he was full of empty threats or this world was changing him I don't know. Maybe Celestia will know, I almost ran into the door of my library I opened it and walked in ... Oh god no. "Hi Twi!" There were no books left on the shelves, they were stacked in the centre and pinkie was sat on top, she had made a massive fort in the centre of the room. I stood there speechless, how ... I have been gone an hour! Pinkie threw a pie; it hit me square in the face. "Pinkie where is everyone else" I was shaking, I had only just reorganised the library, it took me hours! "they all have jobs silly: Fluttershy is helping the animals, Rarity is making dresses, RD is making some clouds, AJ is bucking some trees, you are looking for the others and I am the king of a massive fort!" at the end of that massive sentence she jumped in joy. "Pinkie" she stared at me, maybe she realised that I wasn't in the mood "you will put every single book back where it belongs by the time I get back, do you understand!" I walked out of the door, remembered I had pie on my face and walked back inside. Ok that's impossible, all the books were back where they belonged ... every single last one and Pinkie was sat next to Night and Jass "how did you ..." all three shrugged their shoulders at the same time, ok this is a conspiracy. "Ok let me just go clean up and then we can get going and find everyone else" Pinkie bounded over and licked the pie of my face; she did it with one long lick which dragged across my face. The pie was now gone "mmmm apple" ok now I'm freaked out "let's go find them" she bounced ahead of me with both Night and Jass on her back. We headed towards AJ's farm first; we were going on a massive round trip first AJ then Fluttershy then Rarity and finally RD, if we could find her. We had met every pony and now we were on our way to the hospital discussing how much Jack had changed, nopony seemed to have noticed except for Pinkie. We entered the hospital, I walked up to the receptionist "which room is Jack staying in." "Jack? I'm afraid there is no pony here by the name of Jack" hoofs met forehead. "Well he isn't a pony" a sudden realisation washed across her face. "First floor, room five B" wow she seems happy. I led the way; wonder why Jack has a separate room surely he should be in a ward. "Sir please lie down, you need to rest!" oh dear that came from Jacks room. "I think Jacks awake" I looked at the girls they had worried looks on their faces, we ran towards room five B. "I think yah right Twi" I opened the door and walked inside Jack was struggling with two white earth ponies trying to force him back down "hey Jack y'all better get back in that bed" Jack seemed to settle down finally lowering himself onto the white sheets of the bed. "humph, I'm not happy about this I'm fine you know" the nurses turned around to do something and before I knew it jack was up and walking over to us "see I'm fine ... Whoa" he stumbled, I lifted him with magic and moved him back over to his bed, the two nurses just stood there and shook their heads, "Jack can we trust you to stay down and rest?" "yes sure whatever but I'm fine" I gave him a stern look and he just smiled at me, hmm he might listen to me if he doesn't though I have something for him. Jass and Night ran over to Jack and hugged him "hey girls you alright?" they both nodded their heads and snuggled down in the crook of Jacks arm, "am I just their sleeping area now, is that what is to become of me?" everyone in the room started to laugh, yes Jack was feeling better. After an hour of talking everyone had to leave, me included the only person that didn't leave was Pinkie, we all said our goodbyes and left, leaving Jack and Pinkie behind. I took Jass and Night home for the ... Night, they fell asleep strait away in Jacks arms, wait did we leave Jack and Pinkie alone in a hospital ... *sigh*. I'll have a look at the results of the tests they ran on him in the morning. Jack: wonder what Pinkie has planned, if I know her it's something strange, once Twi left I tried to get up, the corners of my vision went black and the world started to spin. I sat back down on the bed for a few minutes waiting for my head to right itself, when I stood back up the same thing as last time happened, wonder how much blood I lost. "Pinkie I can't get up without getting dizzy, sorry" she didn't seem fazed by this at all, the bed I was in was massive it was the right length for me but it was twice as wide as a normal sized bed, it was basically a king sized bed but not as long as normal. I looked at what I was wearing, it seemed that they had taken my jumper and shirt but they had left me with my trousers, thank god. "Don’t be silly, it's ok" she bounced over to me and somehow shoved me under the covers and tucked me in, god knows how she does the things that she does, and it’s as if she breaks the laws of physics on a daily basis. "Now you're tired and need rest" strange I was tired "you’re going to sleep now" yes, that's right I'm going to sleep, with that last thought I closed my eyes and sleeps embrace consumed me. Pinkie: "hehe" that silly doesn't know when he should party and when he should sleep, I bounced around to the other side of the bed and curled up next to him, when I'm with him he seems to be more energetic and I seem to be calmer, hmm time for sleep. Twi: I woke up as the sun started to rise, the light creeping across the wooden floor toward my bed, I stumbled out of bed and walked over to my mirror and picked up the comb with my magic. I looked into the mirror and shuddered, bed hair it seemed I had inherited the ability to have awful bed hair from my mother. The comb magically trailed through my hair, after a few minutes of combing my hair was back to normal, I feel sorry for anyone without magic I mean how does AJ get her hair into that ponytail without magic? It was a Saturday so that means the Cutie mark crusaders are running free, causing mayhem no doubt, I heard a crash from downstairs either Spike was being clumsy or the girls are awake, maybe they will want to go with the other filly's while I meet with Jack at the hospital. I remembered that I left Pinkie with Jack, oh no what chaos have they caused? I walked downstairs to see Night with a pan on her head and Jass with a ladle in one hand and the pan's lid in the other "girls" I had instantly gone into the strict mother tone, Jass dropped the ladle and the lid and put her hands behind her back in a blatant attempt to hide that she had anything to do with it, while Night just grinned at me from under the pan. Spike woke up and made us all breakfast seemed Jass didn't like daffodil sandwiches but she did enjoy the pancakes, strange might have to ask Jack about it. After we had all eaten our food we left to find the Cutie mark crusaders, it was still rather early in the morning so nopony was about, the first place we went was Rarity's, not because I thought they would be there just because I think Spike would like to go. After talking to Rarity for a while I left Spike who was happily helping Rarity with her designs, as strange as it is I don’t think Rarity has realised how much Spike likes her, Jass seemed to enjoy sitting on my back while Night refused to she enjoyed skipping alongside me, I was going to have to introduce her to everypony else. AJ's farm was nearing, I had an idea on where the girls would be but best make sure with AJ first could save a lot of time if they aren't in the clubhouse, I spotted my orange friend "hey AJ do you know where the girls are?" She gave me a look, it was a strange one "they are on ya back" I rested my hoof on my face, she seemed to realise what I meant "oh they are in tha clubhouse" I could tell she was busy, so I said my good byes and led Jass and Night over to the clubhouse, it wasn't a long way away it's just easy to get lost in the orchard. I saw the clubhouse as I entered the clearing, as far as I could tell the three fillies were inside. "Girls! Jass is here and she wants to play and she brought a friend!" I saw a little orange head peek out of a window. The door opened and all three fillies came rushing out to meet Jass and Night, Jass jumped off my back and ran over to them. Night followed nervously, as far as I know she has never met another filly before. "well hey there Night, how are ya" Applebloom as always is the most forward, Sweetie Belle meanwhile was hiding at the back understandable it’s not every day you meet an alicorn filly and Scootaloo was looking apprehensive. "What’s tha matter we ain't gonna hurt ya" "yeah Night they are friends, we can play games with them!" Jass grabbed Night round the waist and just picked her up, what the ... Yet another thing to ask Jack. I left Jass and Night with the Cutie mark crusaders, admittedly Night looked out of her depth but everyone else seemed fine. The hospital seemed out of place in the small village it was a massive tower with a red cross on the top and it doubles up as an orphanage and it is the only hospital for miles, ponies from Canterlot have to travel here for extensive medical treatment. Jack was on a lower floor than most, the private rooms were at the top while the orphanage is on the bottom floors while the public hospital was in the middle. I walked into the main plaza and walked over to the elevator I stepped in and a unicorn asked which flooring I wanted to go to "floor 10 please" his horn glowed and the elevator rose up, every hour the unicorn who lifted the elevator would swap over it was a hard job lifting the elevator and you wouldn't want one passing out halfway up the building. I walked into Jacks room I saw both Pinkie and Jack asleep on the bed; it was the perfect time to see the doctor. I approached the doctor, he turned round and saw me coming "hello Twi what can I do for you?" he had a broad smile and was being cheerful. "How is Jack doing?" his smile faltered a bit but he recover well. "Jack is in the perfect physical condition, his arm will be healed in about a week." he was trying to avoid my gaze and was shuffling about. I raised an eyebrow at him and that was enough to get him to spill the beans "but ... Well his mental health is ... Maybe you should talk to someone who can explain it better than I can. Please follow me" I walked behind the doctor, the corridors were white and smelled sterilised. We walked into a room where a green Unicorn was writing furiously in a book. She turned round and looked at both of us "hello how can I be of assistance?" "can you tell Twilight here of Jacks mental condition" she nodded her head and then brought out two boxes, one was metal and the other was a cardboard box. She placed them on the table next to each other. "well here's a ... Visual aid, now you the doctor here and I have a resistance to being controlled, it is hard to get into our mind and manipulate us" she tapped on the metal box "this box is our mind it's hard to get into but after a lot of work or a lot of power it can be broken into. With me so far?" I nodded my head not liking where this was going. "well jacks mind is not like this metal box, it is more like this one" she tapped the cardboard box "his mind is a lot weaker than ours, it's as if somebody has already broken into his mind and tinkered with it too many times. If somebody wanted to they could control him quite easily" That’s not the best of news. //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 12 //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 12 sorry about the super long wait guys i have been, on holiday ... then the summer sale of steam happened, then i procrastinated for a day or so ... but here it is. Twi: "so is he being controlled now?" that was my major worry, Jack could be under control and he could just be here to overthrow Celestia. "I don't believe so; his mind is more or less clean from control. Although your friend Pinkie seems to have a lot of power over him, just remember he is easily influenced." Hmm that might be a problem, just another thing to add to the list of things that I need to talk to people about. "thank you now I'm going to go visit Jack, oh and can we keep Jack in the dark about this, just trust me on this" she nodded her head, I turned around and left the room heading back to Jack and Pinkie. As I entered the room I saw that Pinkie was awake "mornin Twi" Pinkie was stood at the end of the bed and was stretching out "I'll just wake Jack up" she walked over to his head, normally I would stop her, but I really wanted to see what kind of control she had on him. "Jack it's time to wake up" Jack almost instantly woke up, admittedly he was still groggy but he was awake. "Pinkie how do you do that?" I looked at her questioningly; she put a hoof on her chin and stood there in what was undeniably a thinking pose. "I think really hard and he does it" Jack was looking confused by now; this is very interesting Pinkie can control Jack just by thinking hard enough. A knock on the door signalled that Jack had a visitor, wonder if it's RD or AJ, both Fluttershy and Rarity were busy with their respective jobs. I walked over to the door and opened it; behind the door was Octavia and Vinyl. "Hi Octavia, hi Vinyl you come to see Jack?" to be honest they weren't the last ponies I would have expected but still pretty surprising. "Yeah, we heard Jack had got hurt and came to see if he was alright" they had bought him a bouquet of roses, not the most typical of flowers but who am I to judge. "anyway Jack but I have to get going, I have a few jobs to sort out, I'll see you later alright?" he was still groggy, that much was obvious, apparently being woken up by mental command isn't the best way to wake up. "Yeah sure, have ... Fun" I left the room the clamouring had only just started. Jack: "hi guys it's nice to see you two are working out" they both blushed. "Well yes, I have to thank you for setting us up, without you I might not have ever talked to her. Anyway how long till you get out of here?" they handed over the bouquet of roses, I went to grab it with my left hand and winced at the pain, I then grabbed them with my right hand. "Thanks and I shouldn't be here for long" Pinkie clonked me on the back of the head with her hoof. "no foreshadowing" "foreshadowing? Foreshadowing what?" I grabbed the apple from the side and started to eat it and then I started to cough, for god sake. A doctor came running, his stethoscope was jiggling occasionally hitting him in the face and he grabbed an injection from the side and injected it into me. In the last few seconds of consciousness I saw one thing, both Octavia and Vinyl looking worried and I heard one thing as well, "told you." typical. Four days later: After four days of recuperation I was ready to leave, it would have been earlier but it turns out I wasn't allowed to eat anything because of the medicine I was on. My visitor today was Rarity "so Jack any plans for when you get home?" I nodded my head "sleep a lot of sleep, the beds here are not very comfy for someone my size" the dark rings under my eyes were testament to this, fact. I and Rarity were walking towards the front desk to sign out of the hospital. When we finally got to the front desk the pony behind it, was doing some filling "excuse me, I would like to sign out" "name?" really? She looked up at me "oh Jack, yes, sure you can sign out, just a note, don't use any magic, it could re-open the wound. You may go now, have a nice day" I was finally glad to be out of there. Rarity passed me an apple from her saddle bag, I took a bite into it, so much better than hospital food "so you have a crush on Pinkie" I almost choked on my apple, before I could ask how she knew she told me "Spike told me, I managed to get him to spill the beans" gonna remember that one Spike. We were walking down a surprisingly quiet street, wonder what's going on, I could see the top of the library from here. Rarity opened the front door and stepped inside, she seemed to be moving quicker than normal, I stepped inside and ... "ahhhhh!" ???: I was sat at my table surrounded by the dunces that couldn't even get a simple artefact from an abandoned ruin, what could have gone wrong? "Would one of you like to tell me what went wrong, it was a simple task!" "I'm sorry boss, we tried our best, but there was a thing there. It had a magic that knocked my workers out before I could grab it." I sighed, complete incompetence. "I hired you because I thought you were able to deal with a few hiccups. But I'm stuck with you for now; I will know the location of the next amulet in a week or so. Oh and don't fail me again" Jack: It was only a party, Jesus that scared me. The party banners were up and I could see Pinkie's cannon over in the corner, gonna keep an eye on that one. "There aren't any horny mares are there?" Twi shook her head, "so what is this for?" "It’s for saving Jass and Night and getting better!" Pinkie leaned over the side of a massive speaker set up and pulled both Vinyl and Octavia into view "it's time for the music!" Three hours later: Ow my everything hurts, after two and a half hours of partying I had forgot about the cannon, typical. "Ok I think it's time for bed young ones" I grabbed a sleepy Night and Jass who was asleep and started to climb the stairs. "I'm not tired though!" she yawned just after saying this proving otherwise. I put Jass and Night into my bed; we really need another one, two if possible. I stumbled down the stairs hoping everyone else had gone home ... No dice. All of them were around the table with a single bottle of some alcohol Twi looked at me "Jack want to join us?" I shook my head, "oh ok then, may I just ask one question before you go to sleep then?" I sat down on the sofa and nodded my head. "Are you and Jass stronger here?" "Not really, I think it's a case of everything's lighter here, now goodnight everyone." "night Jack" they all chorused, I was asleep before my head hit the pillow. Twi: "So girls what do you want to do now?" I looked round the room the all shrugged their shoulders, except Pinkie, wait where is Pinkie? She came into the room from the kitchen with a blanket, what's she doing with that? She proceeded to throw it over Jack. "What he might get cold during the night." I thought about it for a few seconds meh it made sense; I mean jack has just got out of hospital so he won't be feeling his best. "Well if we are having a sleepover, we need a certain book." I heard AJ and Rarity groan but we have to do it by the book! Now to get on with ... "oh my gosh, I forgot the friendship report! I need to send it to Celestia by tonight!" I ran off upstairs and left my five friends behind. "Wasn’t it due yesterday?" Rarity had remembered it was a Wednesday and not a Tuesday. "Do not tell her that she will blow a casket if we tell her that." Jack: I woke up way before dawn, a sudden thought hit me, wait what happened to that artefact I found? There it is I spotted it on one of the many bookcases. The wood was a dark brown and it had a little gold handle, engraved on the top was a picture of some kind of insect wing; it had what looked like some circular holes cut out. I flicked the catch open and popped the lid open, the smell of stale air wafted out, whatever this was it hadn't seen the light of day for a long time, inside was a necklace and it was the same as the symbol on the box. A golden chain was the only way to wear it, against my better judgement I put it on, nothing happened. "Wonder if Jass wants ... Whoa I feel weird" I stumbled around for about five seconds before I steadied myself, I noticed I was looking at things from a dramatically lower angle, weird. "So Jass, you want to do anything today" ah so Jass and Twi are awake well, well "you alright Jass?" I turned round to see Twi looking at me with her head cocked, wait what? I looked down to see a dress "this is not happening ... This is not happening, this is not happening" "what's the matter?" Twi was obviously not aware what was going on. "Twi I'm not Jass I'm Jack, I don't know why but I have changed into Jass" Twi started to laugh, err "follow me then" I walked up the stairs towards Jass and Nights bedroom, Twi's concern was growing I could tell that much. I slowly opened the door and walked inside, Twi gasped when she saw Jass and Night asleep in the bed. "Ok now I believe you, now how do we change you back?" we walked back downstairs and into the kitchen. I tried to reach the apple on the top of the counter, I jumped up and down arms outstretched, and after a few seconds of trying I crossed my arms. Twi chuckled at this. "How am I meant to know how to change back? Can't you find out how to change me back … Oh" I smacked my head on the counter and all of a sudden I was tall again I looked at my arms and saw the chain tattoos, I'm back baby. I looked at the necklace around my neck; I took it off and threw it to Twi. "Put this on and imagine being someone and say their name" She grudgingly agreed and after she put it on she mumbled "Rarity" all of the sudden Rarity was before me. "Aha it's the necklace, now just say change back" she said it and ... Nothing, oh god. "Erm maybe say ... Change me back?" she said it and then Twi was in front of me again. "we have to take this to Celestia, this is too dangerous for us to handle" I opened the box and Twi put it inside, I flicked the catch shut and put it in a pocket, "I suggest you go get Jass and Night up while I make them a packed lunch." I jumped up the stairs three at a time and slowly opened the door to the girl’s room to find both Jass and Night awake and in Jass' case dressed. "How would you two like to see the princess ponies?" Jass nodded her head but Night shook her head "I don't like them" the whole killing me incident, yeah that would do it. "Night could I convince you to give them a second chance, they are really nice they were just scared." she nodded her head while Jass looked confused, "now I think Twi is making you some breakfast and lunch." both their faces lit up and they pushed past me, Night pulling ahead but having to wait for Jass to open the door. I walked downstairs to find chaos raining, both Jass and Night were terrorising Twi for food, "ok that's everyone's lunch sorted" I looked over her shoulder to see nine lunches In front of her "there's Pinkie, AJ, RD, Rarity, Fluttershy, Jass, Night, you and me." oh so the others are coming. We left Spike in charge of the library and rounded up the gang, once everyone was present Twi gave the overview of what we had found out. RD and Rarity didn't seem to believe the story that is until I brought the necklace out and all of a sudden Princess Luna was next to them. "So how are we getting to ... Canterlot is it?" Twi nodded her head and pointed towards what looked to be a steam engine from back home. On my back was my bag and it was filled to the brim with lunches and Night, not many ponies had seen Night so far, and I looked over at Pinkie and saw Jass was enjoying the ride. It turns out we didn't have to pay because Twi gets a free ride up to Canterlot whenever she wants, being the student to Celestia seems to haven its advantages. I yawned deeply and rubbed my eyes "Jack darling why don't you get some more sleep?" Rarity was right I needed sleep. "Ok make sure I'm awake when we get there, thank you" I shut my eyes and drifted off to sleep. Twi: I could see the Canterlot train station ahead and decided it was time to wake Jack up, he had a smile on his face, seems like he was having a good dream. "hmm I wonder" "what's that Twi?" Rarity always knew when I was planning something. "Well I wonder what he dreams about, maybe we should find out, for science!" Rarity didn't seem too happy about the whole arrangement. "I don't think you should Twi, a dream is private, we shouldn't pry into his private thoughts." maybe she is right ... Nah, I started the magic and entered his mind ... Oh sweet Celestia A shiny silver penny to whoever can guess what Twi saw in his dream //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 13 //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 13 Jack: I woke up to see my six friends surrounding me, Twi had a surprised look in her face "were you just ... In my dream?" the train came to a stop and she nodded her head, the surprise slowly turning into anger. I knew what to do, it would save me from a beating and it would give time for Twi to calm down. I opened the window behind me slowly and jumped out "Jack! Get back here, NOW!" "Someone look after Jass and Night" I hollered back as I ran, I was running to Celestia the only one capable of stopping a certain angry unicorn. As I ran through the streets of Canterlot, the castle getting closer by the second, I heard my name being shouted, turns out Twi was a fast runner. The main door to the castle was open and a queue was snaking out, oh god what is this? I ran past the queue of hundreds of posh ponies and saw the princess was talking to each pony individually, she saw me running at full speed "Jack what's the matter?" the pony she was talking to just before seemed annoyed he turned round to look at the one she called Jack, all argument against me seemed to disappear and he just looked nervous. "Twilight found *gasp* that I like *pant* Pinkie" she looked at me strangely "I like like Pinkie" she seemed to understand suddenly and started to chuckle. "Go to my sister, she is on the second floor, take that corridor and it should be the ninth door on the right. I shall delay Twilight; the guards will give you no trouble." I thanked her and ran down the corridor after the forth door the corridor inclined upwards to the second floor. Five doors later and I was stood outside her room, typical, her door was blue with a crescent moon on it. Inside the room I could hear singing "now this is a story all about how my life got flipped turned upside down and I'd like to take a minute just sit on your but, I'll tell you how I became the princess of a town called Canterlot. West Fillydelphia born and raised, on the moon is where I spent most of my days ..." wait I don't have time to listen to this, I knocked on the door "just coming" she opened the door her mane seemed to be a mess, she must have only just gotten up makes sense I guess. The time was about six and seeing as she was mostly nocturnal it would be like morning to her "oh Jack, to what do I owe this pleasure" I was silent for a second contemplating how it was possible to have bed hair, when you have magic hair "well Twilight isn't happy and I need somewhere to hide." she sighed. "What did you do?" she seemed to think it was my fault that it happened. "well she watched one of my dreams and kinda found out I like Pinkie" "why would she get mad over you two being friends" what is it with these princesses. "Well I kinda like her as more of a friend, if you get my meaning" she suddenly understood. "Follow me I have the perfect hiding spot" she opened her door and looked outside; she motioned for me to follow. We ran for ages we must have gone from one end of the castle to the other and then there were the stairs, now I'm not unfit but really these stairs went on for ages "now Twilight will search the entire castle from top to bottom searching for you and she won't rest until your found, so what does that tell you?" "I'm doomed" she face ... Hoofed? She pointed to the door which was just ahead, it had Twi's mark on it but why ... Oh my god genius "hide in her room she won't go there to rest until I'm found!" I picked up Luna and hugged her "thank you so much, I can live!" she coughed, drawing attention to the fact I was hugging a princess "oh um yes this is much appreciated Luna thank you" "think nothing of it friend; I know Twilight can be a bit over protective at times. Now I must leave and try to help calm her down. I will send word if she is heading towards her room, so either hide or get out somehow" I nodded my head; she turned around and headed down the flight of stairs. Twi: "how dare he take advantage of Pinkie like that?" Celestia was sat in front of me trying to calm me down and I didn't know why, Jack was trying to take advantage of one of her subjects and she just sits there with a smile on her face. "Twilight please calm down ..." "Calm down? How can I? He is taking advantage of Pinkie and I won't have it!" I walked away; I would search the basement first and work my way up. Luna: "wow she must be bad sister, she ignored and interrupted you." my sister sat on her throne and just nodded her head, she wasn't angry but she also was not amused. "She does not understand these emotions, maybe that is my fault. But she will come round in time; I assume you hid Jack somewhere safe." I nodded, Celestia looked directly at me, her face dropped "not the moon Luna, you remember what happened last time" "no! Well yes I remember, but no Jack is in the last place she would look" I saw her think about it for a good few seconds before she came to the realisation. "Ah you evil genius, now I only wish I knew where you hid my cakes" I watched in horror as Pinkie pulled out a plate of cupcakes, no her diet will be ruined. "Ah Pinkie I can always rely on you for cake relief, I hope it's alright If I just take the whole plate?" Pinkie nodded her head. "Oh you want to save the super cupcakes for later!" oh no she doesn't, she shook her head and began to eat cupcake after cupcake, not regal at all. Jack, six hours later: "I'm officially bored" I had tried to read some of the books but they were all about unicorn magic and to be frank, I really didn't care. Her bedroom was sixty percent bookshelves and books. I heard a voice in my head "hide" oh great I'm going insane "Twilight is coming, hide" it was Luna and apparently Twi was coming, but where to hide? The bathroom? No she will need to go there at some point, the wardrobe? No I can't stay stood up for twelve odd hours that leaves, ugh this will be boring. I heard a clopping of hooves echoing from the door way, I ran and slid underneath her bed. Time for the fun to begin ... Oh god I forgot the book! I could see the bottom of everything from here, I saw the door swing open and a pair of purple hooves walk across the floor towards the table which was stacked high with books I had tried to read but couldn't get through. "Oh Spike why didn't you clean up before we left?" she continued to potter about for a while before going to the bathroom. I knew the real fun would begin when she came out. She had finally got into bed about ten minutes later she almost instantly fell asleep, I couldn't move or make a sound now. The next morning: I awoke to a bright light; turns out I had rolled out from under the bed. I quickly looked around expecting Twi to be stood over me, luckily not. Now I was hungry and as far as I know there is no food in this room, time for some sneaking. I left the room and headed down the spiral staircase. I had a rough idea of where the kitchens would be lower down in the castle, away from the posher ponies. I had reached the throne room in almost no time whatsoever, inside was Celestia and the rest of the gang. Twilight was talking to Celestia "he can't be in the castle, I am extending my search to the town, I will find him" "I have told you, Jack meant no harm" Twilight shook her head and started to turn around, by that time I was halfway across the hall "but my number one student!" Twilight stopped turning around and looked at Celestia, thank you so much, "how can you condemn someone for the feelings they can't control" I made it to the other side and slid through the doors. I headed downwards and my theory was correct, the smell of bread wafting through the corridors getting stronger as I got closer to the kitchen. "BOO!" I almost hit the roof, squealing like a little girl, begging for forgiveness. "It’s only me" I saw Luna looking down at me "I'm guessing you thought I was Twilight" I nodded my head and she started to laugh, once she had finished we went into the kitchen. We were treated like royalty ... Oh wait, Luna is royalty. "So where did you hide last night?" her face stuffed with bread, for a princess she wasn't one to be hung up on manners. "Well I hid under Twilight's bed" she sniggered a bit while all the cooks were running about trying to sort out lunch "is she it of the castle now?" Luna nodded her head, "good I can safely have a shower then" once I had my share of food I decided I would go get some proper rest for an hour or two "bye Luna I'm just going to go get some rest for a while" "don't sleep for too long, Twilight will realise at some point that the search will be fruitless and return" I nodded my head and we said our goodbyes, I wandered the area of the castle where it seemed like all the bedrooms were located. When I had finally found an empty room, I jumped into the double bed and promptly fell asleep. Two hours later: I woke up slowly, like normal I wasn't good at waking up. I realised quite quickly that I wasn't alone in the bed though, next to me was the pink pony known as Pinkie. She was wide awake and staring at me, her bright blue eyes locking with mine. I leaped out of the bed "you know of Twilight was to see us like this I might end up dead, don't you?" "yes silly but Twi is out looking for you so there is no problem" she was right, of course, Twilight was out but still it was kinda unnerving waking up with somebody you didn't fall asleep with. "You know I knew you liked me" my jaw hit the floor. "yeah everypony knew, well I don't know about Fluttershy but she wouldn't of said anything anyway" I looked around the room I couldn't see Jass or Night anywhere around here, they must be out playing or with one of the other girls, "how long will it be till Twi calms down do you think?" "Not long, I think Celestia has almost convinced her that it's normal to feel like that, but Twi doesn't understand love yet. Anyway you sir need a shower" she poked me in the ribs and crossed her front legs, wait she has been stood up like that for a couple of minutes now, how? "Yes because I have really had the opportunity to have a shower" she giggled and rolled on her back gravity finally taking hold of her. "ok ok, I'm going up to Twilight's room to have a shower, I'll see you when she calms down and it's safe for me to walk around" she hugged me, I won't deny the fact it was awkward, I semi hugged her back and patted her on the head. I then walked down the corridor towards the stairs which led to Twilight's room. Pinkie: I bounced back to the throne room, bouncing is the only way to travel, once I had reached the throne room I saw Celestia talking to Twi and it would seem that Celestia was finally getting through to Twi "you didn't understand the importance of friendship when you first heard about and you don't understand the importance love either" Twilight nodded her head, Luna who was stood behind Celestia looking smug about something. "just tell me, how is he avoiding my scanning spells?" if he was anywhere in the castle I should of found him!" Luna stepped out from behind Celestia's throne. "I hid him, but first you must promise not to attack him or hurt his feelings in anyway" I was hiding away in the corner of the room I didn't want to interrupt and slow progress down, Twi nodded her head, "ok then I hid him in the last place you would think to look" Twi's eyes went wide with realisation "I will teleport him two you can apologise to him" oh dear if my timing is right then This will be embarrassing. Luna started the magic spell and suddenly a flash of light and there Jack was, yep timing was perfect, his eyes were shut and he was completely naked, he must have noticed the lack of water raining down on him because he opened his eyes, "send me back, send me back, send me back!" Luna used the same spell and suddenly Jack was gone again, Twi had turned a nice shade of red. Celestia and Luna seemed unfazed by the ... Appearance of Jack, I personally had not seen anything because jack was facing away from me, but the other three would have got an eyeful of Jack's front. "Celestia, Luna why are you not embarrassed?" "well my student we are three thousand years old that was nothing new" if I thought Twi was red before she was now super red. "Now we just have to wait for Jack to come to us, I don't want to traumatise him further" it looked like Celestia was giggling, as if she had planned this, hmmm. A/N: well here is the next chapter im suprised i managed to write this, well at least in this week anyway i have bought payday: the heist and i have played it nonstop now :P. well we finally hit 40000 words i didnt expect to get this far with this story, thanks for all the support :D //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 14 //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 14 A/N: sorry about the stupidly long wait ... This is the end, I didn’t write this story to last very long it's lasted longer than I wanted and well to be honest not the best ending, bit dark but It's this or nothing tbh. Jack, *twenty minutes later* "I'm really sorry Jack, I jumped to conclusions" Twi was looking at her feet, while Celestia was grinning like a Cheshire cat ... The little minx. "that's fine Twi, to be honest it was kinda fun, I forgive you." as I looked around I noticed something strange, one of the pillars flickered between the normal white marble and a rusty metal he knew so well. I rubbed his eyes and it was white marble 'weird' "What’s up Jack?" Luna was looking at me her head turned slightly at an angle. "Oh nothing just saw something weird, it was nothing though," AJ and the rest of the mane six walked in through the door, they had either guessed that the conversation was over or they would've walked in anyway. "Guys that last train leaves in a few minutes, we will have to run to catch it, goodbye princesses" the six small ponies galloped bounced and Flew away all in the same direction. "Hey wait up! Bye princesses!" I sprinted off after them, while they had a head start I knew I could catch all of them, except Dash and maybe Pinkie but that depends on her mood, if she wanted to be I bet she could be faster than Rainbow Dash. The train station loomed closer as we ran towards it, as we skidded to a stop outside the ticket station and was given seven free tickets ... Apparently free of charge, played for by the princess. I walked down the train with Jass and Night in hand when a dripping of water was heard, a puddle was located on the floor a steady stream of water trickled down from the corner of a window. I put a hand out and felt the water it was cold ... Icy cold, I tasted the water only to find out it was salty ... Sea water. I shook it off and continued to my seat, the leather was red and cracked slightly but comfy either way. The trip back was neither eventful nor packed with adventure; I for one was tired but refused to fall asleep despite a certain ponies promise. While AJ and Rainbow Dash were talking about apple cider, Pinkie, Jass, Night and Fluttershy were playing a game of poker, Pinkie had found a dealers outfit somewhere and was busy throwing cards out. What really baffled me was how Jass and Night knew how to play. Meanwhile Twi and Rarity were gossiping about something but I couldn't quite make out what. 'Now to the mystery involving the mirages, maybe it's an illness? No I'm not feeling ill, maybe it's some kind mind trick devised by twilight as punishment? Nah, she seemed genuinely sorry.' "Oh god I know what's causing this it's ..." We were in Ponyville in what seemed like no time at all, 'whoa that was weird,' it is if time jumped, the sun had moved a considerable amount and the amount of chips everyone had was different. 'What was I thinking about' "last thing I remember was saying something about..." I blinked and suddenly I was stood in front of Twi in the library "so what is it you wanted to speak to me about?" she looked at me expectantly. I decided to go with it and just explain the anomalies I has seen "well first things first, ever since our trip to Canterlot I ... Well I have been seeing things, marble turning into a rusty metal and sea water seeping out of a window and just recently I have missing bits of memory, it's every time I mention an evil man from back home" "Hmm are you sure you’re not ill" "Well no but..." "Well then you need to visit the doctor" it was unlike Twi to just dismiss an opportunity to study something unknown, unless it isn't unknown. "You know what is wrong with me don't you?" she looked at me as she flickered in and out of existence "HEY! what is this!" my hand started to warm up as the fire engulfed it. A voice that was not entirely Twilight's boomed out, it reminded me of someone but I couldn't say their name out loud "you couldn't be happy with the world I hand crafted for you could? I chose not to kill you but now the debt is repaid and you will die!" the whole world started to flicker, a red stain was spreading from my chest but no pain was felt" "Oh come on" a darkness started to creep through my vision, it was one I had seen before many a time. Atlas: I stood over the drugged fool, blood seeping out of his chest, "I tried to repay you for your help and you repay me by trying to break free? Stupid boy" my blacked muscle bound hands barely holding the tiny revolver. To think the perfect world with everything he could possibly want, and he doubts it and tries to fight my creation. Atlas shrugged it off and walked into the crumbling city known as rapture. A/N: can i just say sorry for this crappy chapter, but I've been finding it impossible to write anything, every time i try this is at the back of my mind niggling away. i could not get myself to write more than this, the unusual writing style i had used (1st person) was both annoying, that and i just wanted to end it, this chapter took me 13 weeks to write (on and off) and if i ever feel like coming back to this i will add a bit of a change and continue it. if you read that chapter and hated it, well i understand i hate it. But thats the only way i could think of to end it without it going on for another 3 chapters which knowing me will never get done. and as you can probably tell from the grammar in this last author notes has declined so much that i cant write anything for a while. //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 10 //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 10 Jack: The pony at the main altar had a brown coat and a golden mane, the altar was a white marble pedestal, as he reached for the item on the altar there was a flash and he was thrown across the room. My luck held out as always and he slid to a stop in front of me, "Sly, Glasses, Scar! Attack!" three earth ponies charged forward at me, I noticed one of them was the pony I hit into the side of the alley when I first appeared here; he back-pedalled away from me, good call. If Sly was part of this group I had no quarrels with handing them their ... Flanks, I grabbed the first one by the head, he wore some red glasses and he had a black coat with a silver mane. As I threw him at the wall he screamed out, turns out it wasn't a he after all. The other charged at me while I threw Glasses at the wall, he hit me, I heard something break as I landed. This one had some force behind him, I stood up and realised it was only a broken rib and not a leg or something. He charged again "not this time" I had gotten bored of this now, I shocked him, he collapsed and started to twitch, I turned to look at the leader of this gang to find him gone. "Where did he go?" I shrugged my shoulders and walked across the cracked mossy floor towards the altar. A box was floating just above the altar it was only a few inches in each direction, I reached out to grab it, a streak of electricity hit my hand. I continued on, the shocks became more common, my hand closed around the box. I woke up with my back against the wall, I must have been flung backwards, I looked over to see Arc crying to my left. What’s *cough* up?" I tried to stand up a bolt of pain shot through my back, I looked down and realised why she was crying, a pool of blood was seeping across the floor, yep this is gonna end badly. "Hold me" she looked at me through wet eyes tears still rolling down her face, I asked her to hold me so that she wouldn't have to walk back on her own. My leg was broken and I think my back was too, hmm I have never broken a leg. I woke up a Pegasus squished between me and the glass, I reached up and hit the red button above the glass Arc tumbled out and my legs gave-way, Arc ran over to me "but but but how" I wobbled to my feet and was instantly tackled with a hug "oh you’re alright!" I nodded my head, my throat was dry and sore, I tried to ask for a drink but all I could do was croak, Arc soon got the hint and placed a green canteen against my lips, the water pouring down my neck rehydrating it. "Thank you, now I will answer any questions you have but you must keep this a secret alright" I could feel something jabbing against my ribs "I can keep a secret, now what is it." she was pointing at the chamber. "well it’s a vita chamber, if I die I will return back here as good as new, and whatever I am holding will be brought with me" she cocked her head and looked at me at a strange angle, after a long pause "any other questions?" she shook her head. How can she not have any other questions, she has just discovered an alien machine and she only has one question, ok this place creeps me out. I wobbled to my feet and began the short walk to Ponyville I had to lean against Arc for support "one more question, how long till you can walk properly again?" I thought about it for a few minutes. "maybe an hour and I fell out maybe half an hour ago, so not long" the library had come into view, we walked up to the door " well this is my stop" she giggled at this. "Goodbye Jack hope you are alright from here" I assured her that I would be, and said my goodbyes. I leaned on the doorframe and knocked, I heard the sound of hoofs approach the door. The door opened and a familiar purple pony answered the door "Jack, thank god your back!" Twi left the door open and I went to follow her but fell onto one knee I could see into the main room of the library and the six ponies that were staring at me. "Jack! AJ RD help Jack" quick as lightning I had a cyan Pegasus under one arm and a yellow earth pony under the other, they supported me to the sofa and let me down slowly. "What happened darling?" Rarity was giving me a hard stare and I realised everyone was, the one who seemed to have more power though was Fluttershy the normally timid pony was staring at me and she has the biggest presence. "Well we got to an old temple that hadn't been visited in thousands of years" they were still staring and it was unnerving "but someone was there ... Wait where are Jass and Night? If Fluttershy is here who is looking after them" all of a sudden none of them were staring at me "ok what happened?" "well, you know that diamond dog you put in jail" I slowly nodded my head not liking where this was going "well about an hour ago a few of his friends turned up and, well promise you won't overreact, ok?" "No" the blunt answer seemed to shock Twi. "Well they took Jass and Night" I tried to stand up but I still couldn't manage it, by my reckoning I would be able to walk in about fifteen minutes. "I'm going to go get them, could you please get my shotgun Twi" she couldn't understand how calm I was being. "No Jack, If you kill them Celestia won't be happy" I nodded my head in agreement, she was right I could hurt them instead. I may not have looked angry but my anger was unmatched at this very moment in time, I was broadcasting an aura of hate that no one could detect. What I didn't know is that Celestia was having a major headache at that exact moment in time; strange thing is Celestia has never had a headache. I stumbled to my feet and slowly gained my balance I walked towards the door favouring my left leg, I opened it and realised I had no idea where I was going, Twi was behind me "let me show you" I was adamant that no one would come with me but I had no choice with Twi, I needed to know where to go. "Ok but no one else" a group moan was heard from inside the library, strangely enough I don't think I heard Fluttershy, I sniggered at this, typical I thought nothing could brighten my day up but these ponies willingness to help had done that already. Eww I'm going soft. I was floating behind Twi, as undignified as it was it was easier than walking. We walked in total silence I may have looked calm but I think Twi knew otherwise, we walked ... Well she walked I floated, in complete silence. As we crossed over a field I could see a hill with what looked like caves in the side. As we approached I could see the diamond dogs gathering outside, definitely the place. "Jack there has to be about twenty diamond dogs" "I know, now this is good set me down here and stay here." she didn't answer but she put me down and lied down it looked as though she had hunkered down, her hoofs were curled under her body. I limped towards the dogs; they were all bunched up near the side of the hill. The hill itself was a rock wall with a hill on top of it and the diamond dogs were stood right in front of the wall ... Perfect. I was stood in front of the diamond dogs what looked to be their leader stepped forward, he was bigger than the rest and was a lot stronger "stupid creature you takes one of us and thinkies you can get aways with it." ok these things were stupid they talked weird, they looked weird and to be honest they were not at a tactical position. "Give me them back and we will say no more about this, but if you don't well ... You will get hurt" they all started to laugh, "Your decision?" I knew what the answer was and I was glad when he supplied it, I yawned and stretched my arms out, he took the bait and jumped towards me. I brought my arms together with incredible speed; I felt the eve drain out of me, a shockwave exploded from my hand sending all the dogs into the wall behind them. Twi ran from her seat on the hill over to me, "what kind of magic was that?" "Mine" I turned and walked down the tunnel in front of me, I was taking it slow I don't want to be reckless, I wasn't killed twice in one day in rapture and it won't happen here. For a peaceful place I have been in too many fights, I'm going to have to stop doing this. I entered a big cave room a single diamond dog with a sword he rushed at me I brought my hand up to electrocute him, sparks jumped across my hand but didn't go anywhere, oh god. He bum rushed me, the thuggish splicer approach to things. He held the blade above his head and slashed down, I brought my left arm up to protect my face. I had been shot whacked and crushed, but this was one of the worst pains yet, it was like the blade was molten hot. I punched the dog with my other hand, sending him crashing across the room. He landed in a heap on the other side; I pulled the blade out of my arm and dropped it on the floor. I looked around for a hint about where my girls are being kept, that's when I saw it, a cage in a corner I ran over to it and looked inside, and both Jass and Night were inside. The lock was bolted on with four bolts, I brought out my wrench and unscrewed the bolts the lock fell to the stone ground with a loud clank. The door swung open slowly, I reached in and picked up both Jass and Night, I cradled both of them in one arm while my other arm lay limp at my side. Twi: I sat there wondering how jack could have thrown that many dogs and still been able to walk, if I had tried that with my magic I would be unconscious. Also how had he got back so quickly he was meant to be gone for another day, ten minutes later I saw jack walk out his left arm covered in ... Oh god. I ran towards him as I drew near I saw how bad it was, his face had gone pale and his arm was covered in blood "jack we need to get you to the hospital!" he nodded his head, why doesn't he say anything? It was at that point Pinkie jumped out of a bush and grabbed both Jass and Night, as she bounced out of the way and Jack was wobbling, I ran over to him and held him up. "I'm going to try and teleport him to the hospital" Pinkie nodded her head and bounced back towards Ponyville. "Well here goes nothing" in a flash of light both Twi and jack disappeared. well there is the next chapter for you sorry it took so long i have watched chuck from season 1 to season 5 and i havent been in the mood for writing. but next one will be out soon ... hopefully