ch.1 The welcome committee
Falling… that's how it’s been for some time now. Just falling, Usually falling isn’t that big of a deal, when you're a pegasus, but that’s how dreams work for ya.
Jackal reflects on how he always ends up in this dream.” I try and get one good night of sleep and what happens, I end up wingless and falling from the sun.” Finally after what always seem like years the ground rushes up to greet him and his rapid approach.
Groggily dragging himself out of bed Jackal prepares for the day ahead. shambling to his bathroom he looks at the silver with a large purple monster slowly consuming his head or as it is more commonly known as his mane. Grumbling to himself he uses his very sorry looking brush to try and rally his mane and fur to look presentable. Feeling slightly less dead after the great battle of that morning Jackal prepares breakfast for two.
Yelling up the stairs towards the bedrooms “Hey Ethaine, you up yet?” Jackal calls ‘she is usually the one making breakfast’. After a minute or two he starts u- ”BOO!” Jumping with a yelp Jackal rounds on the perpetrator and finds Ethaine with a look that was too innocent barely holding back her giggles. raising his eyebrow at her he asks in a very unpleased voice “boo, really?” Ethaine now giggling in her beautiful laugh just nods. Jackal now chuckling softly follows her into the dining room were there meager breakfast of slightly burnt pancakes and water states what needs done today. ”We are going to need to go into town today and get some more supplies, find a new hou...” he is cut off by a loud crunch and a couple snaps as part of the roof give way to the bed from the next story up. “and then… actually I think thats all.”
“Then do you think we can go and explore the town a bit… maybe?” Ethaine ask softly and Jackal hesitating almost says no but the way she said it, the way she always says it makes his denial for exploration crumble in his throat so giving in he nods causing Ethaine to jump slightly with joy.
Finishing their sad meal they prepare for the journey ahead.
“Lets see brush, comb, blanket, matches, this and that”. Jackal mumbles off a few more items.”First aid kit, odd bug “*crunch*” mumble, mumble and I think thats it, now to get this into my bag.” shooting a glare to the red faded until pinkish bag that seems to be perpetually covered in dust. slowly loading his few possessions into the saddle bags and mumbling about where Ethaine is, he falls to notice the stunning white mare creeping up on his right.
Getting beside and slightly behind him she leans in careful to not brush him with her mane she whispers softly in his ear. “ I am done.”
jumping slightly from the unexpected response to his outloud thoughts he rises and starts for the door.” Cool lets get moving.”
pulling on his tail with her mouth to stop him.”arnf yoo forgertng sermfing?”
Jackal confused by her question starts listing off things to himself and looking over his shoulder. ”umm… my saddle bags, fully stocked with my things, Ethaine, Ethaine’s saddle bags” under his breath he adds“because she is to cute to carry her own.”
Ethaine casts him a questioning glance but before she can say her piece he continues. “No I think thats it.”
Smirking at him, “what about a certain stick you like so much, don’t tell me you forgot.”
Facehoofing he runs toward the bedrooms only stopping to shoot a glare at Ethaine for calling his bo staff a stick.
Flapping their way towards the new town Jackal breaks the calm silence “Do you remember what this town is called?”
“hmm…” Ethaine takes a couple of seconds to think as she looks up she states. “Wasn’t it called po- “”WATCH OUT” the rest of what Ethaine was going to say is lost as a blur slams into Jackal’s back and his wings causing him to plummet with his new saddle bag.
flipping around to face the new, presumably mare, luggage he sighs realizing that this is probably going to hurt so grabbing the unconscious grey mare he wraps himself protectively around her and braces for impact.
Ethaine barely having time to react watches as Jackal hurls towards the ground. With a gasp she bolts after them slowly gaining but she realizes not fast enough and as she gets a few pony lengths away she pulls up almost hitting the ground. Ethaine can just watch as he hits the ground the impact knocking his passenger out of his grasp and while she lands in the only bush for a good twenty feet Jackal has nothing to stop him as he bounces, skids and rolls down the small hill.
Ethaine snapping out of her stupor she goes to check on the first of the crashed flying over to the mare in the bush first Ethaine finds her rubbing her head. Helping the mare out of the bush she flies down to pick up her traveling companion. Finding him out cold with what she can only assume is a broken wing and possibly leg. Careful not to touch either of the two extremities she makes her way up to where the mare was, finding her no where in sight she gives off a very slightly annoyed sigh and makes her way towards the town with Jackal on her back.
Falling… again, always falling, just me, the clouds, the wind, the sun, the grey mare I hold - WAIT WHAT.
Jackal wakes with a start his eyes flinging open only to recede back behind his eyelids as quickly as they could in protest to the lighting. Letting out a grown Jackal tries again, slowly this time.
once he manages to keep his eyes open he starts to take in his surroundings. It is a hospital room is the first thing he notices. his room is bare of basically any furnishings besides the bare necessities like the bed, a small bedside table, some medical mumbo jumbo, and there are also two visitor chairs with a small table with magazines in between the chairs.
After taking in his surrounding he begins to rise questions firing off here and there in his head; why is he here? where is Ethaine? WHAT IS MAKING THAT INFERNAL BEEPING!? apparently the princess decided to grant him answers at the speed he asked him, because as he finished asking his questions Jackal turned his head toward the sound as he was rising and by some divine joke as soon as all his hoofs touched the ground he spotted the bringer of the beeps and the door burst open and in came a not very happy white furred, pink maned earth pony with Ethaine in toe. The abrupt entry startling Jackal causing him to trip falling on something covered in a cast. At that moment in time Jackal couldn't care less about his now answered questions as a shock of pain branches through his body confused at first he came to realize why that hurt so much as well as what the thing in the cast was.
With a gasp from all ponies in the room, each one for a different reason Jackal from pain, the nurse from worry and Ethaine from laughter, the nurse and Ethaine rushed to Jackal’s side and helped him back to bed.
after a good scolding from both of them Jackal lowered his head in guilt “sorry both of you.” The nurse with a slight look of confusion asked “how are you feeling, mr...Jackal?”she takes a second to look at what you presume to be a clipboard at the end of your bed
“I was feeling better a minute ago, but other than the slight throbbing in my wing I am fine, Mrs.”
“oh, I am, Nurse Redheart.”
“well thank you, Nurse Redheart for coming to my rescue from the floor.” Jackal states in a light hearted tone.
“Thats what I am here for I am, Nurse Redheart protector of patients from villainous floors!” Redheart laughs along with you. “I will go get the doctor so you may ask him some questions.”
Jackal sends a thanks towards the nurse as she leaves. Turning his attention towards Ethaine, who being her shy self was hiding on one of the chairs in the room, she sends him a pleasant smile which he returns and they make some small talk and what to refresh Jackal’s mind on what happened until the doctor shows up. A knock at the door announced the arrival of said doctor.
“come in?” Jackal says a little bit confused as to why a doctor would knock on a door.
“I was just making sure you were still up” a tan unicorn with a brown mane which Jackal can only presume is the Doctor trots in.
“Well thank you for considering that, Doctor…?”
“I am, Doctor Horse”
“Thank you, Doctor Horse, now I assume you are here to answer some questions?”
“Among other things, yes.”
“Ok, now what did I do to myself, from what I was told and what I remember a grey pegasus mare rammed into me while I was flying into town so I saved her from any harm but was knocked unconscious and ended up getting carried into town.?” Jackal asks the doctor.
“Just about but from what I heard you walked to the edge of town and collapsed.” Doctor Horse states as he is checking your cast and wraps -the wraps being on your leg that you somehow missed- as well as how you can move your damaged limbs.
“hmm… well the only other thing I can think of asking is, when can I get out of here”
“well thats the interesting part, we weren’t expecting you to heal as fast as you did, you weren’t even supposed to wake for another few days.” The doctor says as he moves down to the clipboard and starts writing.
“how long have I been out?” Jackal states with a touch of surprise in his voice at hearing he should still be asleep.
“Only about 3 days.” the Doctor lets that sink in before continuing. ”and you should be out within the day, as a matter of fact we can remove the cast on your wings for something a little less... bulky.”
“oh, thats nice this was starting to get a bit itchy.” Jackal says still getting used to the fact that his broken wing will be fully healed and functional in only a few days. He casts a smile to Ethaine at the prospect of not having to wait in the hospital as Doctor Horse works on Jackal’s wing cast.
After waiting a few agonizingly slow minutes Doctor Horse finally peels from your wing the cast that you slowly started to hate more and more. “There you go now we just need to do some motor tests and you should be fine to go.” the unicorn chuckles quietly as he sees Jackal’s head pop up at the prospect of being released.
The “tests” which amounted to ‘open, flap, flap this way, close’ happened with only minor pains and some aches went by fairly quickly and with orders to keep “off your wings” for a few days Jackal and Ethaine were on there way out.
“oh… before you leave” Jackal turns toward the voice to find Nurse Redheart coming around a counter
“tell, Pinkie Pie hi.”
“how do I find, Pinkie Pie?” Jackal asks slightly confused by the odd request.
“Don't worry about that, she will find you.” Nurse Redheart states with a smile
Author's Note
Thank you for taking the time to read my story
If you like the story feel free to drop a like or if you want you can give it a favorite
but if you feel like it sucks and I should go die in a hole tell me what to change and I might get better
also if anyone wants to edit give me a call and if I don't have anyone at that point you can give me suggestions and advice.
“Twilight I think we're done!” Spike exclaimed proudly.” There aren't any more books on the library floor, my bedroom is clean and there are no toys left in the rest of the castle! Oh and I checked, double checked and triple checked the check list ”
“Very good Spike” Twilight responded to which Spike puffs out his chest a smile bursting with glee which only grew when Twilight continued. “In fact you did so well I think you earned a trip to Sugarcube Corner.”
“Well what are we waiting for, lets go” Spike rushes towards the door only to get pluck off the floor by Twilights magic a small giggle escaping her lips. “Hold on now Spike I will need to get my bits if you want to actually get something.”
Placing Spike on her back and fishing her bits from her room they leave the castle and head towards town. “wow Twilight you are getting better at that levitation thing.”
“What do you meen?”
“well you pulled your bits from your room while standing in the entrance.”
“hmm, now that you say that I am doing better than I first arrived in Ponyville, thanks Spike.”
“speaking of being new in Ponyville look at Pinkie.” Twilight following the direction of Spike’s claw sees said pony stalking low to the ground with her black hat on stopping every once in awhile to let out a few twitches and spasms.
Trotting up to the bail of hay Pinkie just hid herself in Twilight whispers to play along with Pinkie. “Are your pinkie senses going off?”
Pinkie’s eyes appear from the depths of the bail and Twilight and Spike have no time to reach as they are suddenly dragged into the hay and appear in a large room.
“Where are we, Pinkie?” Spike asks as he spots said mare digging in one of the many boxes sounding the room.
“I can't tell you, it's a seacret”
“Well why did you drag us in here?” This time Twilight is the one with the question.
“So that the new pony, possibly ponies, don’t hear us talking.”
“So there is a new pony in town?” Spike asks heading towards one of the boxes.” Yes” Once Spike reaches the box Pinkie springs from it picks him up and puts him next to Twilight who had not moved from her spot in the middle of the room, partially scared from what she might find in this hidden room of Pinkie’s.
“wait you said there maybe ponies, as in more than one?”
“yuppy daisy, my Pinkie senses tell me there could be; one pony, two ponies, or even three ponies. Unless of course one of them is an alicorn then there is two ponies for sure, but something about it is odd, almost like they are lying.”
“Your pinkie senses are lying?”
Pinkie dashes from the box she was digging in to get very close to Spike’s face.“No, Spike that would be crazy!” Pinkie laughs, ”It’s more like one of them is lying, to him or herself or maybe everyone else.”
Twilight getting a little weirded out by the way Pinkie is acting asks. ”well how do get to Sugarcube Corner from here, Spike earned a snack for all the hard work he did today?”
“oh, thats easy all you do is this. ”As Pinkie finished her sentence they found themselves standing in Sugarcube Corner much to the surprise of everyone in the room besides Pinkie.
“Do you think we should follow her and make sure she doesn’t give the new pony possibly ponies a heart attack?” asks Twilight watching as Pinkie pronks down the road and dives between two crates.
“Even if we could follow her I think we should get something to eat first,” responds Spike trying to drag Twilight to the counter. ”One sapphire cupcake please!”
As Jackal and Ethaine leave the hospital they cast uneasy glances expecting this, Pinkie Pie to jump them as soon as they round a corner.
Jackal ignorant to the stares they are getting tries to distract himself from there no doubt impending doom. ” We need to figure out somethings like; where are we going to stay, where are we going to work and where do we go to g- “*growwgul* with an embarrassed cough he continues. “where do we go to get some food?”
“THAT LAST ONE IS EASY” Both Ethaine and Jackal jump away with a startled yelp at the unexpected appearance of a certain pink mare.
Pinkie having found her target begins firing of questions like neither of the two newcomers have ever seen. “ Hi i’m pinkey pieandyoumustbenewtoPonyvillebecauseInoweveryoneinPonyvillebutIdon’tknowyousoyoumustbenewIneedtogettonowyoubecauseIknoweveryoneinPonyvilleandnowthatyourinPonyvilleIneedtoknowyouorelsIwon’tknoweveryonethenIwouldn’tbePinkiePieand*GAASSPP*IneedtotroughyouapartysowhatisyourfavoritecakeandIdon’tmeenMr.andMrscakebecauseyoudon’tknowthemyetdoyouknowanyalicornsthatiswhyIneedtothroughyouapartydoyouhaveanyfriendsbecausefriendsareimportantifnotIcanbeyourfriendandthroughyouapartysocanIbeyourfriendandthroughyouaparty please say yes pleaseplesepleaseplease.”
Jackal and Ethaine overwhelmed by the sudden barrage of questions can only nod, completely lost in every sense of the word.
Pinkie now even more happy to have so many friends picks Jackal up in a big hug and spins around a couple times narrowly missing a pony couple of ponies walking by like nothing is wrong here. ”I need to go get ready!” and as quickly as she arrived Pinkie vanished the only thing that shows that pinkie was there is a pink cloud and Jackal sprawled out in the middle of the road.
“Well that was... interesting.”Ethaine says as she helps Jackal collect himself.
“No kidding,” Jackal chuckled wincing slightly as he un-ruffles his wings” I guess that was Pinkie Pie.”
“Yup, thats the pony that brings the fun when I am not around.” Ethaine surprised by the apparently invisible voice jumps up and lets go of Jackal causing him to fall back onto his wings.*yelp*
“oops sorry, Jackal” Ethaine stretches out to grab him.
Glaring at her hoof he allows himself to be pulled to his own, only to almost fall back down once he spots the maker of the voice they heard just a second ago. ”What is on your head!”
“What, my-” Ethaine begins only to be cut off rather rudely by “the thing on her head”
“I believe he means me, dear,” he states in his cool voice that seems to be soaked in mischief.
“Me?” Ethaine asks as the creature in question jumps off her head
“Dear?” Jackal continues the questionnaire with obvious displeasure toward it.
“Yes me,” he responds choosing to ignore Jackal’s question. with a snap he disappears and walks out from behind Ethaine in a much larger size.
“DISCORD!” all three of them turn to see a lavender alicorn appear from the crowd of ponies going about their day. “You aren’t terrorizing the new pony are you?”
Jackal now realizing who is floating next to him pales a bit and moves to Ethaine’s side while she gives off a small squeak of alarm and jumps behind Jackal as he rounds on the draconequus. “Discord, I thought he was locked in stone!”
“That was so last year my friend, you see thanks to the ‘glorious’ Elements of Harmony, especially one of them, I have been ‘reformed’.” discord floats around giving Ethaine a curious poke here and there.
“Umm, Discord, I thought we agreed you would let new ponies have a few days to settle in before you said hello… that is if you don’t mind.” Discord seeming to give into the very soft voice that came from behind the lavender alicorn. “Yes I did say that didn’t I, well I am sorry fluttershy. Good bye, so sorry that I can’t stay but I let my oven in the meatloaf, your highness.” with a quick glance at Ethaine an over exaggerated bow to the alicorn and a snap he was gone.
Jackal stares at the spot where the draconequus had been for a few seconds before turning his attention to the two ponies before him. The yellow pegasus he now knows as Fluttershy having emerged from behind the.. alicorn… that is a… princess.
Eyes getting wider than what should be possible Jackal quickly bows as his brain catches up with the current events. “I am so sorry Princess I was not aware that there was a princess living in ponyville.” Jackal continues to ramble apology after apology as the alicorn slowly trots closer, spreading her wings slightly to urge him up causes a whimper to rise from Ethaine’s throat snapping Jackal to snap out of his ramble.
Looking up slightly a look of fear stretches across his face as he sees the lavender alicorn, wings out stretched in an aggressive manner.
The alicorn noticing the look of fear begins to realize how her wings made her look, with a small gasp she snaps her wing close.” oh, I am so sorry, I am still getting used to the whole wing thing. You see I only became an alicorn a few weeks ago.”
Ethaine realizing the princess didn’t want them to bow any more gives Jackal a nudge, partially so he will stand and partially so she can continue to hide behind him. Jackal getting the hint stands. “ It is nice to meet you princess I am Jackal.” Ethaine whispers a greeting as well.
“It is nice to meet you as well and please call me Twilight, I am guessing you are new to town.”
“Yes, well… kinda, I have been in the hospital for a few days after an abrupt meeting with a grey pegasus mare,” Jackal states with a nervous chuckle. “We were actually just about to find some places that provide the necessities during our stay.”
“Well I would offer to help show you around, but I need to do a bit more shopping.” Twilight says electing a grown from from her back, much to the confusion of Jackal and Ethaine who share a confused glance. “umm, not to be rude or anything, but what was that?”
“oh, that was Spike, my number one assistant,” Twilight says. “ and if my number one assistant helps we might take a shot stop to a certain white unicorn.”
“oh, why didn’t you say so lets get going.” Spike says as he jumps from Twilight’s back grabbing a sheet of paper that could only be a list. With a small chuckle Twilight heads off in the direction Spike went.” It was nice meeting you and I hope you enjoy your time in Ponyville.”
“Ya, thanks and you too,” Jackal says. As he turns to Ethaine he adds. ”Was that a dragon riding the princess?” Ethaine baffled by the experience can only nod watching the corner Twilight took.
“OK, how about we find an inn of some sort.” Jackal states electing another nod from Ethaine
