Jumper: A New World

Chapters

Worry Free
One Jump Left
Death
Arrival
Discovery
Revalations
It Never Ends
A Recurring Sensation
The Time of Day
A Problem
Say Again?
Treats and Such
Amends, Maybe?
Who?
A New Sensation

Worry Free

He sat on the roof of his home, perched on top of one of the houses turrets, staring off into the horizon. He always loved the way the setting sun looked just before it dipped below the mountains, casting waves of red and yellow and orange along the peaks and ridges of the Rockies. The resulting image gave off the impression that the mountains were alit with a bright fire.

It was this time of the day where he could relax. It’s not like he did much anyway. There was not much for him to do at all. After graduating high school, his days were long and uneventful. His ‘father’ was never around; ‘Off striking some business deal with his company’s next customer, or wasting away in some casino and/or bar with his newest eye candy’, he thought to himself, snorting in disgust.

He was a pretty normal guy leading a pretty normal life.

His name is Jay. Jay is like any other teenage athlete. He was the captain of his high school’s wrestling team, he likes to lift weights, almost everyday, and holds some weight lifting records at his old high school. He would like to consider himself very strong for his size.

There is nothing too special about his looks, either. He stands at a breathtaking 5 feet 5 inches tall. Jay figures that the constant weight lifting and weight cutting that wrestling put him through has stunted his growth, but he doesn’t care. As long as he is strong.

He shaves his brown hair, he wears nothing but gym shorts and t-shirts and the previous year, he adorned his right bicep, shoulder, back and chest with a tribal tattoo. ‘Heh. That set me back quite a bit.’ He thought. A slow smirk crept onto his lips as he remembered his opponents on the wrestling mat stare at it in shock. ‘Worth it.’

His most stunning feature, however, would turn a few heads. His eyes were blood red. For as long as he remembered, his eyes drew the attention of passer-by all around. He hated the unwanted attention. Whenever a curious onlooker would muster up the courage to ask him about it, he simply shrugged and gave them the uniform, “I’ll get back to you on that.” He never did, though.

As the memories swirled in his head, he fiddled with his signature black New Wayfarer RayBans. He bought the sunglasses to hide his eyes from the general public, and he never took them off. He finished his signature clothing combo with his black and white Rhino Wrestling beanie. He loved the ratty old hat; pulled down to his brow. He would slip the sunglasses underneath the sides of the hat, and his identity would be complete. He wanted to be as inconspicuous as possible.

Jay absolutely hated attention. Whenever someone tried to strike up a conversation with him, he would trail off and shout something taking out the trash. Many people wondered what he was doing taking out the trash in school, but no one cared that much. He figured if he doesn’t absolutely have to talk to someone, then he won’t.

He fit the sunglasses on his head, over his eyes, as the sun dropped farther below the horizon, as he leaned back. ‘Yep, perfectly normal guy.’ He thought, with a frown slowly starting to spread. No matter how many times he lied to himself like that, it would never be true.

Jay was a Jumper.

At least, officially, he was. He had no idea what to call his... ability. He’d never met anyone like himself, and never told anyone about what he could do. Not even his ‘father’.

He was 7 years old when he first discovered his “ability”. He remembers the day clearly.

It was a beautiful, sunny day. He had been in the yard of his family home, tossing a baseball with his father while his mother looked on at the two with a loving gaze that only a mother could ever have, , her eyes red as blood, just like Jay’s.

He recalled his dad always mixing up his throws, throwing grounders, rolling fast on the ground, or pop flys, going high into the air and falling as they reached their peak. Such a simple game brought him so much joy. ‘Maybe that’s why I went on to wrestle instead of play baseball...... Or maybe it’s just because I suck at baseball...’ He thought, ‘Oh well.’

Thinking back to the day, he remembers his dad throwing one of his famous pop flys. Jay had instantly noticed that it was going far beyond him. He kept running back, and back, and back. The ball kept going. His dad shouted for him to watch the fence, as he had recognized that he had accidentally thrown the ball with enough force to land in their neighbor’s yard.

Jay had kept running, however, his eyes glued onto the ball high in the air. A thought suddenly struck him, and that thought reminded him that his family’s back yard was not that big. He remembers his eyesight flashing towards the fence, it being closer than Jay let most fences get without buying him dinner first. He then remembers the trigger. The image of his neighbor’s yard popped into his young mind. He remembers always climbing the fence to snag various objects that had been thrown over, so the layout of his neighbor’s yard had been burned clearly into his head.

*Whump*

Jay remembered standing there, with his eyes squeezed shut, his head lowered. Slowly, he had opened his eyes and raised his head, he had noticed that he was now standing in his neighbor’s yard. He had turned around to inspect the fence for a child sized hole, and he had found nothing but a fogged up view. It had been like someone took their thumb and smudged life. He had then climbed up the fence, maneuvering the hand holds like an experienced ball retriever (but not before retrieving the ball, like a good ball retriever). He remembers climbing up, popping his head over, then his arms, torso and finally legs. He remembers landing back in his yard, and looking up expecting to see his parents proud and approving faces.

He remembers. Horror. Revulsion. Disbelief. Shock. Anger. Despair. Pity. Both of his parent’s faces had been a light show of mixed emotions.

His mother had turned to go inside. His father had started moving toward him, grabbing him underneath his armpits and picking him up, squeezing Jay around the waist a little harder than had been necessary for a 7 year old. His father had put him to bed, neither parent speaking a word to him or each other. Jay had been scared (and a little miffed, it had only been 6 o’clock in the afternoon, who goes to bed at 6?). He had spent the next couple of hours in his blue and green striped room playing with his Legos, his model Star Destroyer had been the prize of his fleet, and it had taken him the rest of that day to finish it finally. Jay recalled the excitement he felt after spending 3 days working on his Star Destroyer and finally having it finished. He had dearly wished to show his parents right then and there.

But when he had wanted to shout out his parent’s names to show them his prize, the words caught in his throat. He had figured, maybe in the morning. He had struggled into his blue footie pajamas, and had gone to bed without another sound.

The next morning, he had thrown off his sheets, grabbed his Star Destroyer by the bow and thrusters, and had run down the stairs, shouting his parent’s names. He had been met with an empty house. He had been a little hurt that they had dared to leave after his great accomplishment but had thought nothing of it. He had decided that showing them later, when they had returned from whatever had them occupied would be all the more sweeter.

He had done what any other 7 year old would of done. He had climbed the counter, gotten the Lucky Charms, poured them into a bowl with milk (‘Cereal always comes before the milk.’ Jay reminded himself quickly, interrupting his train of thought.), flipped on the morning cartoons and then he had proceeded to plant himself next to the fireplace, where he had always played. He had happily munched his cereal and re-created epic space battles between the Imperials and the band of misfits, led by the Storm Trooper, that had abided by Jay’s command.

The day had passed. Dinner had come and gone, and there had been no word from his parents. They had still not shown up. Jay remembered sitting by the fireplace, the TV turned off as he had tried to think over his growling stomach, clutching his Storm Trooper. He had then shuffled off to bed, still clad in his blue footy pajamas, but there had been no one to tuck him in.

Jay recalled two more days passing, going just about the same as his first day alone. He had yet to jump again, as he had not fully realized what he was. No one had come home. He had grown tired of living off cereal and peanut butter and jelly. Just as he had finished his meager breakfast, he picked up his Star Destroyer, by the bow and thrusters, still ready to show his parents his pride and joy. As he had been walking across the living room, the stress of carrying it around was too much for the model ship, and it split in the center, the Legos slipping apart right in the middle. The halves had slid out of his hands, and his ship crashed to the ground, sending pieces of it every which way.

Like any rational child, Jay had started to cry.

But no one had come to soothe him.

A thought had then crossed his young mind: He was alone. No one was coming. He was alone.

Jay’s eyes started to water. He hated remembering his childhood, and as much as he tried to understand why his parents left, he could never understand it.

Going back to his memories, he remembered little after that day. With no one to pay the bills, he had been forced out onto the streets as a child, his home foreclosed. He had stopped going to school, and no one had seemed to care. He had been just another kid and when he had stopped showing up, his spot was just another desk.

Jay remembered re-discovering his ability, something about him getting himself stuck in a revolving door, and in desperation and a non-clear train of thought (i.e. Panic), jumping clear across town onto the top of one of his favorite highway billboards. It’s amazing how many people will see someone in danger, and not bother to help, especially a 7 year old. He had resolved to climb down using one of the ladders.

So that’s what Jay had done during his childhood. While most kids his age went to school, he had honed his ability. He had finally concluded that as long as he had a clear image of an existing place in his mind, he could go there, teleporting in the blink of an eye. His jumps were always instantaneous, accompanied by a small ‘whoosh’ and the weird, foggy screen that made everything look distorted. That would often disappear within a minute.

At first, his jumps had taken huge amounts of concentration and energy. They had left him feeling drained each time. He remembered the day where he had been able to make 2 jumps, and he remembered realizing that his ability was like a muscle. With practice, he could master it, and make his ability grow.

And master it he had. By age 9, he had been jumping from place to place like it was nothing. He had learned how to make small, minute jumps and he had learned to make jumps to the other side of the planet. He had still been a young kid, but it was survival of the fittest, and his jumping had helped him survive the harshest of times.

‘I was such an amateur back then.’ He smugly thought to himself. At age 18, his jumping ability was near limitless. He still felt a tiny bit of a strain, increasing with the distance of his jumps, but he felt that he would never be able to solve that, and the slight strain was never enough to incapacitate him.

The tip of the sun had almost dropped below the mountains.

‘I wonder how long I’ve been out here.’ He thought, scrunching his brow as he tried to remember what time he had jumped to the roof.

‘Ah well.’ He concluded, ‘I’ll stay out a bit longer, who the hell cares anyway?’

He adjusted himself into a comfortable position with his arms thrown behind his head, creating a slight cushion for his head, and fell back into his memories.

At age 10, he had been in Colorado, vacationing in the mountains. He remembered he had jumped to the top of Pike’s Peak, and had been hanging his legs off a rock, watching the sunset.

Just below him, he had spied a man. The guy had looked like he was ready to climb Mount Everest, with loads of unnecessary gear hanging off of him. Jay remembered that the man had been carrying some good quality stuff. Albeit unnecessary.

He had watched the man with slight interest, laughing to himself as the man’s gear continuously got in the way.

But that was all it took.

The ropes on the side of the man’s bag had come undone, and one conveniently placed gust of wind had sent the man stumbling over the fallen rope, and off the side of the ledge he had been perched on.

Jay had reacted quickly. He had jumped to where the man had fallen and had noticed that the man had still retained consciousness, but he had been slipping into unconsciousness fast. Jay had looked around to see if anyone was coming to help the downed man, as Jay had had no idea what to do or even where to begin.

He had looked down at the man and had said, “This is probably going to hurt.”

He had then grabbed hold of the man around his chest and jumped them to a hospital that had been clearest in Jay’s mind. The jump had knocked the man right out.

Jay remembered going back 4 days later. The man had woken up and had been asking about him. Fortunately, no one had had any idea of how to contact him, and that was just the way Jay liked it.

Jay had walked into the man’s room, his mind had been flooded with questioning thoughts. They hadn’t been questions of what the man wanted, but had been more along the lines of ‘What the hell do all of these machines do?’ and the bigger one, ‘What does this button do?’

He had to be continually reminded not to touch anything.

The man had been extremely grateful. He had been unsure as to how he had gotten to the hospital, but Jay had just played it off as a stroke of luck; he had explained that he had waved down a passing hiker, who had proceeded to call ‘Flight For Life’. The man had wanted to reward Jay. He had wanted to meet with Jay’s parents at a dinner hosted at the man’s house.

All it had taken for Jay to refuse was just mentioning his parents. With a calm “No”, Jay had turned and began for the door.

The man had been dumbstruck. The look on his face was enough to make Jay quietly snicker to himself.

It was then that the man had gotten out of his hospital bed, his IV still attached to his arm. He had had to pull the drip along with him, and he had caught Jay just as he had been about to exit.

The man had then proceeded to brag about his life, as Jay had looked at him, bored and uninterested.

The man was some sort of business tycoon. He had said something about owning a large telecommunications company, or something like that, Jay had never really listened. The man had wanted to reward him and his family.

“You can try.” Jay had said. “Let me know when you find them, I would like to see them as well.”

The next thing he had known, the man started spouting suggestions of coming home with him. He had been all alone, such is the life of a businessman, and his house was certainly big enough for a child.

Jay had just shrugged. ‘If things go bad,’ he thought, ‘I can always just leave.’

And he had eventually grown fond of the man. He would never be his real father, but Jay had come to see him as a form of father figure, but, such is the life of a businessman, the man was almost never around, giving Jay free reign of the house. At least it was a place to stay.

The man had sent Jay to school. He had pulled some strings and had allowed Jay to go right into middle school, where he excelled scholastically, but not much in anything else. When high school rolled around, Jay had signed up for the wrestling team, quickly earning him the position of captain, as he had found his calling. High school was just a blur to Jay though. Where he excelled in sports, he lacked in education. Jay was in no way stupid, he just didn’t care. As one of his college recruiters had put it:

“Judging from your test scores, you know the material. The decline in your grades, however, may point to the fact that you’re just bored with school.”

Jay couldn’t help but smile and agree.

‘Of course,’ he thought, ‘Bored.....’

He had a couple of trusted friends, but he wasn’t too popular. He never let people get too close: the fear of abandonment much greater than the need for company. Many people just knew him as ‘That buff guy with the tattoo’. And Jay didn’t care, as long as people left him alone. With the increase in public interaction, though, his jumping was severely restricted. He had let no one know about it. He had been close to no one.

And he thoroughly enjoyed his life.

He had found a home, and had found his calling: Wrestling. In just a few months, he was going off to college; riding on a scholarship to wrestle for that school.

Jay smiled at the thought. Wrestling for money! He couldn’t wait.

He sat up from his resting position, his thoughts coming to an end. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his military grade flip phone. Nothing fancy like all those touch screens, just something that was durable. And shock resistant. And water proof. And pressure resistant. It was actually more of a brick than a phone, but the only thing Jay cared about was whether or not it broke when he threw it. Usually the phone broke whatever it hit, instead. He had a temper sometimes.

Noticing it was getting late, he stood, clasping his hands together and stretching his arms above his head. This elicited several pops from his spine, just what he had been hoping for.

And with that, he lazily pictured his room, and jumped effortlessly.

He appeared about a foot over his bed, his chest and face towards the bed itself. He fell the last foot, landing with a muffled *thump*. He groaned, but being as lazy as he was, he just accepted the position he was in.

He hadn’t noticed, however, as a black shadow moved from the tree it had been balanced in; having a perfect vantage point of the roof Jay had just left. It’s blood red eyes filled with sorrow, but a stubborn determination.

One Jump Left

Jay awoke with a start.

He looked around his room, noticing it was pitch black and also noticing that he was wearing the same clothes as the night before; black and red gym shorts and a black t-shirt that fit his body snugly.

He got up out of bed, only to meet the shin destroyer (aka. the bedside table). He stood there frozen, as pain gripped his entire left leg, cursing his luck. What a way to start the day, especially at.....

‘It’s 2:30 in the morning?!?!’ He screamed in his mind, ‘What the hell, brain?!’

As he was silently reprimanding his mind, he heard a scuffle downstairs. Apparently the maid was talking on her cell phone, or something like that, Jay didn’t care. She was speaking too fast and she was too far away for him to even understand.

As he strained to listen, his stomach growled. He recognized the growl. It was not the ‘I’m hungry, feed me’ growl, it was the, ‘get to the bathroom or you’re going to have to burn your underpants’ growl.

Sweet and sour chicken always had that effect. He had no idea why he kept eating it.

He hadn’t noticed that the maid had been cut-off mid sentence. He hadn’t even noticed her lifeless body hit the ground: her jugular vein and carotid artery slit.

Jay just wanted to make it to the bathroom before making a mess on the floor that, lo and behold, the maid would have to clean.

He stopped in the middle of the hall and mentally slapped himself.

‘What the hell am I doing, I can just poof there...’ He thought.

He selected the appropriate bathroom from the archive in his mind in almost no time at all, and jumped.

He made it just in time, materializing in front of the toilet, and his bowels agreed with him, preparing to release a small monster into the toilet.

He hadn’t noticed the shadow underneath the closed bathroom door move. Nor had he noticed the door move, ever so slightly.

The Templar reached into her satchel and pulled out what looked like a dart gun. She aimed it directly at the light and fired a blunt tipped metal needle at the bulb, shattering it on impact and bathing the small room in darkness.

Jay looked around, wondering what had happened to the light. He reached down to his pants to find the pocket and pulled out his cell phone, flipping it open and turning on the flashlight/camera flash.

As soon as he did so, he jumped. He was sure he would have just soiled himself had he not just given the honor to the toilet.

At first, he thought he was looking straight into a mirror. Blood red eyes stared back at him, but no other feature was shown, hidden by a shrouded mask.

The Templar, however, knew what she was looking at. She wanted to get one last look at her son before she did what needed to be done. She had promised to wait until his 18th birthday, and even then, she stalled, trying to give the boy as much time as she could on this Earth, but all good things had to come to an end, and the time had certainly come.

Jay quickly realized he was not looking into a mirror, but those eyes.... He then looked at his assassin, then down at his pants, then back at his assassin, realizing where he was.

“I’m sure you can see how awkward this is for both of us.” He said, a bit of anger creeping into his voice. “You can stay and watch the show if you want, but I still need to wipe and, ya know......”

His voice trailed off as his assassin continued to analyze him.

She stood stoic, her mind battling itself. She knew which part of her mind would win, but she had to wonder if she had it in her to spare her own son. Eventually, the calculating side took over. She began to make her move.

Jay saw his assassin shift her weight. All he saw was an assassin. Her eyes bore into his soul as her right arm reached for something slung on her back. He knew he could get away, even defend himself if need be, but he sat there, wanting to give it a little more time to see what would happen.

She pulled a long rod from its’ holster on her back. It had two prongs at the top of the rod that looked like the pincers of a bug. That was all it took for Jay. He flashed and image of his room in his mind, and he was gone.

The Templar was not easily escaped. She heard him appear in a room down the hall, and with a swift kick to the door near the handle, she busted it open and flew out into the hallway. The chase had begun.

Jay quickly looked around for something to use. He took a step forward and fell face first into his floor. He lay there for a moment, his vision filled with carpet. He stood up again, mumbling a curse, and this time pulled up his pants. He could hear the footsteps racing towards him and he knew he didn’t have much time.

He heard the door burst open, its’ handle and clasp shattered, and he turned, only to be met with those same red eyes that froze him.....

He saw the rod charge with electricity as she stared at him. He felt like she could see his very soul, she could see all of his secrets as they stood there eyes locked.

The Templar raised the weapon, the prongs pointed at him and crackling with electricity. Her right arm held the base while she let the end of it rest on her left forearm, allowing her to stabilize it and aim. Jay recognized this and dove onto his bed as the prongs lurched forward into the spot he had just been standing in. The prongs hit the wall and let out a burst of electricity, lighting the room.

Jay looked at her as she started to retract the weapon. He started to roll around in the blankets like a child. To an onlooker, the scene would have been somewhat comical. He made sure he was buried deep in his comforter before he jumped into the kitchen, just as the prongs hit the blankets, but not finding purchase.

He grabbed a frying pan off the hanging rack over the stove and waited as he heard her hop the banister and run down the hall. Jay took a swing at her head as the Templar ducked under it, grabbing his arm as she went by and bringing her knee up to his left leg, hitting him just above knee cap on the outer quadricep, causing Jay’s left leg to buckle.

She raised her weapon, still bursting with electricity, and tried to bring the rod straight down towards Jay’s neck. He jumped directly behind her, just missing the blow to his neck.

Jay tried to get up, his left leg nearly useless as she had crushed the artery. She turned quickly and launched the prongs at him again, catching him in his shoulder. The shock brought him to his knees as he felt like his organs were being violently vibrated. It took him all of his willpower to reach up, grip the two metal prongs, and pull them out of his shoulder, causing a charge of electricity to burst outwards, sending him into the cabinets behind them, successfully shattering them.

He sat in the wreckage of the cabinets, trying to unscramble his brain from the electricity.

“What the hell do you want?!” Jay demanded. He had had enough of this.

The Templar stared at him. Her gaze burning into his own eyes,

“No one man can have the power you do, Jumper.” She stated flatly, her eyes never leaving his. “You are an error in the world, and it is my job to absolve the world of such errors.”

Jay was shocked. For some reason, he didn’t hear a word she said. All he could hear was her voice, and for some reason, he felt calm. The voice soothed him. It was like this brutal death wasn’t going to be such a bad thing after all.

His mind then put together the fact the she knew who he was, calling him a ‘Jumper’.

‘Not only that, dumbshit, but she JUST said she was going to kill you! Now get it in gear and do something!’ His mind screamed. Sometimes Jay could be so mean to Jay.

He jumped behind her, making sure he was standing when he came back into existence. As she turned, he brought his palm upwards, toward her chin. His open palm struck her chin at a 45 degree angle, and he could have sworn he heard her teeth crunch.

The Templar stumbled back, stunned. Jay brought the image of his room into his mind, planning his escape already.

He heard the tell-tale launch of the two pronged rod, and he jumped.

In his room, he went straight for his signature RayBans and beanie. Couldn’t leave home without them.

Just as he finished adorning them, the distortion he usually leaves behind from jumps started to crackle. The next thing he knows, the prong shoots from the distortion, having hit the starting distortion just as he jumped from the kitchen. It wraps tightly around his leg and immediately begins shooting electricity through his body.

He can hear the faint footsteps of his assassin, walking with a bit more confidence and with less urgency. She knows she has him, and she knows he is dying.

Jay’s brain begins to shut down, the current running through him frying him from the inside. Black begins to surround the edge of his vision. He has no idea how much longer he can hold on.

‘At least I got my sunglasses on.’ He thinks to himself, almost as if accepting death.

He can’t think straight. His thoughts are distorted, rendering his jumping useless.

His assassin walks in and looks right down at him. Jay can see the hurt in her eyes, but it just pisses him off.

‘Get that!’ He thinks to himself. ‘I’m being electrocuted and I can still find a place in my heart to be pissed off.’

That brings a smile to his face.

The Templar watches in horror as the smile creeps onto Jay’s face. Here is her son, with who knows how many volts of electricity travelling through his body, and he his smiling.

Jay watches as his assassin steps back. Death is slowly creeping in.

The black in his vision growing with every passing second.

As death reaches out to him, his mind clears. Suddenly, he can think, but one image pops into his mind.

‘Huh,’ he thinks, ‘never been there before. Must be heaven or something.’

It’s an image of a bright sunny day, with a forest of lush, green trees. Everything in it just seems so colorful to Jay, but he has no idea where this place is. He has never seen it before, let alone been there.

This memory came from nowhere, but it is the only one Jay can focus on. His mind is not responding to him, no other memory can be pulled up.

Jay is confused, scared, and dying. He focuses on the image, but sets his head back, accepting death, who eagerly awaits him.

The Templar watches with mixed feelings. She had no intention to let him suffer like this, but her job is done. Her loyalties lie with the organization.

She had, however, watched him from the shadows. She watched him grow into an adult.

But she knew that she had brought that monstrosity into the world, and it was her job to take him out.

With her job done, she turns to leave.

*Whump*

Jay blacks out.

The Templar is thrown into the wall.

She groans as she gets up, and looks towards Jay’s body. Where he had been, a large crater had formed in the floorboards. His body was nowhere to be found.

She looked closer at the air, looking for the tell-tale distortion of a jump.

She found nothing.

Death

Jay lay in the grass and dirt facing the sky. He had already gained consciousness, but he wasn’t ready to open his eyes yet. He just couldn’t do it.

‘Scratch that, you’re just lazy, ya wanker.’ His mind insulted him.

He slowly opened his eyes; hating every second of the process. He groaned as his eyes fully opened.

“AHH!” He shouted!

He started to panic; all he could see was darkness laced with hazy images that were not coming into focus.

“OhnoOhnoOhnoOhnooo I’m blind!” He whined, reaching up to feel his eyes, “I’m blind and I can’t see and my....sunglasses.....are........”

‘Dang. I’m so glad no one saw that.’ He chuckled as he took his sunglasses off slowly, letting the sunlight hit his eyes. At first, the light blinded him, with white this time, but his eyes adjusted quick. He lay where he was for a moment, not wanting to move.

That’s when the memory of last night hit him. Hit him hard. It was like a blow right to the stomach. Everything about the fight came back to him, even the end. HIS end. The one where he died.

‘I should be dead anyway....So where the hell am I?’ He pondered.

He looked around where he was, taking in the scenery.

He was sitting in the middle of a crater, blown right into the ground. He put two and two together and assumed that that was his doing.

‘Okay, now I should definitely be dead.’ He concluded. ‘But why do I not...... ‘feel’ dead?’

He looked past the crater. He was sitting in some sort of forest, exactly like the one that flooded his mind as he had laid dying on the floor of his room. Trees surrounded him on every side, and everything was just so...... bright.

‘If this isn’t heaven, you could have fooled me.’ He thought to himself.

He looked down at the sunglasses he was still holding in his......hoof?

“GAH!” He shouted, looking straight at his han- hoof.

“Wha-” He looked over to his other side and found a matching hoof.

“What’s going on?! And how can I hold these sunglasses in a hoof???”

Jay was getting scared. Something was really wrong. He got up slowly, pushing himself up to his two feet, only to fall back down.

He looked at his legs and noticed that they too, were hooves.

Jay had seen horses walk before. He could do it, too!

He stood up, this time supporting his weight on all four of his hooves, noticing that this was now much more comfortable than standing on two legs. This was going to take a while to get used to.

Now standing, he looked around.

He spotted exactly what he was looking for; a stream running through the forest off in the distance. He looked to the spot where the stream was, memorized it, and brought it up in his mind, just like he had done so many times before.

And just like so many times before, he jumped straight to the stream. Jay was ecstatic! He still had his jumping!

He looked down into the stream and almost blacked out again.

He was staring directly into the reflection of some sort of horse thing..... A pony! That’s what he was! A pony.....

He still had his blood red eyes, shining clearly in the reflection. His beanie sat atop his head and he was happy to still have it. He looked at his body and noticed two wings, one on either side of him. He also noticed that he no longer had his tattoo on his right side, but instead a series of black lines covered his body and face.

He was a bit disappointed. All of the pain he went through to get that tattoo on most of the right side of his upper body and it was gone. Jay had been extremely proud of his tribal markings.

He looked at his front right hoof expectantly. He shook it a few times, just to see what would happen. Maybe it was some sort of hallucination.....

Nothing happened.

He then slowly reached up, grabbed his beanie, and pulled it off of his head.

‘These hooves are very misleading...’ He thought to himself.

Under the beanie, a white mane had been revealed. It was a short, dishevelled looking thing that ran down his head and neck. At the top of his mane, near his head, a streak of red stained part of his mane.

‘Where did that come from?’ He wondered. ‘My hair used to be brown.....’

He turned to look at his body in the stream. On his flank, an image of the Colorado Wrestling logo had appeared on both sides.

“Haha! Now that’s pretty cool!” He exclaimed, straining his neck to get a better look at it. He ended up just circling himself a few times, like a dog chasing his own tail.

He was, after all, a wrestler.

Lastly, he examined his newfound tail. It was white, just like his mane, with a large black streak running right through the center of it, matching up with the black streaks on his body.

“Well, I guess I’m a horse now...” He huffed, still unsure as to what to make of the situation.

Jay looked around to make sure he was alone. That done, he planted his rear hooves firmly into the ground, and stretched his flank into the air while lowering his front hooves. He felt the familiar pops in his spine and welcomed them. He suddenly felt a new sensation in his side. His wings were stretching with him! Jay had completely forgotten about them!

Unfortunately for him, he had no idea how to move his wings, or even how to fly.

“So I’m a flightless, flying horse now? Is this some kind of weird joke?” He wondered aloud. “If it is, then, Death, man, your sense of humor sucks.”

Jay waited for some response, mainly along the lines of an insult about his mother, but nothing came. All he could hear was the everyday sounds of a forest in action.

He moved back over to his hat and sunglasses and put both of them on. These two things were what made Jay, Jay.

Jay sat down and looked around. What should he do now? Was he all alone in this new world? Was he actually stuck in Purgatory and he just didn’t know it yet? All of these questions floated around in his head. He began to worry. As much as he hated people, he didn’t want to be the only one in this strange world.

His fears were suddenly absolved as his new ears caught onto something and perked up.

‘Voices!’ He thought, adrenaline kicking in. ‘I should probably hide!’

Jay looked around, his eyes scanning for a suitable place to hide. He caught on to a branch, high enough where he could remain out of sight. He jumped to it, landing perched on the thick branch overlooking the area where he had just been. He struggled with his balance some as his new appendages were still being broken in. Jay could see his crater perfectly, even through the lenses of his sunglasses, and judging by the pitch of the voices, they were moving in his direction.

He braced himself on the branch and waited just as the voices came into earshot.

“Ah’m tellin’ ya, Twi, there ain’t nothin’ out here!” One of the voices said, bearing a distinct southern accent and growing louder as the distance between it and Jay closed.

“No, I heard it, Applejack! Something crashed out here and I intend to find out what it was!” The other voice said.

Jay could make out no other voices, so he assumed there were two coming in his direction. Two of what, though, he wasn’t sure of.

“Well alright, sugarcube, but Ah got some work back on th’ farm Ah need to take care of, so let’s hurry it up...” The western voice said.

“Don’t worry, I’m almost positive whatever it was I heard last night is right up here in this clearing.” The second voice said.

Just as the second voice finished her sentence, Jay spotted the two owners.

‘More horse things....’ He thought to himself. Just as the thought crossed him, a new wave of panic followed.

“By God,” he mumbled quietly, “They’ve done it. The ponies took over the world. Frankly, I could have sworn it would have been the monkeys...”

One of them was an orange pony with freckles and a golden blonde mane tied into a ponytail with a red ribbon and draped over her shoulder. Her tail was done in much the same fashion. A brown cowboy hat sat atop her head and three apples adorned her flank.

Jay recalled one of the names the two had used in their conversation.

‘Hmmm.....Apples, Applejack....Apples....Applejack.......Well, that one must be Twilight!’ His thoughts were dripping with sarcasm.

The other was a purple pony with a horn on her head. Her mane and tail were matching purple with a lighter shade of purple, almost pink, running through it. The mark on her flank was that resembling a six pointed star with 5 smaller, white stars circling it.

“We found it Applejack!” The purple one shouted. Jay just had to assume that this one was the actual Twilight.

She ran up to the crater with Applejack in tow. As soon as she hit the crater, the horn on her head began to glow with a purple aura.

“Well Ah’ll be...... Whaddya think IT is, sugarcube?” Applejack asked, confusion plastered all over her face.

Twilight’s face screamed focus. Having to break her train of thought to answer Applejack looked like it irritated her some.

“I don’t know what it is, Applejack, I’ve never seen anything like it.” She started, “But I think I’m going to stay here and examine it some more. You can head back now, I know the way.”

Applejack looked worried.

“You sure, Twi? Ah mean, we are in th’ Everfree forest. It can be a mite dangerous out here.”

“I’ll be fine! And if anything does go wrong, I’ll just teleport back to Ponyville!”

That last line piqued Jay’s curiosity. He had never heard of another being able to teleport like him.

Twilight’s answer must have been acceptable for the orange mare as she started to make her way back to wherever she came from. Jay saw her look back once at her companion before she disappeared on a hidden path in the foliage.

With the orange one gone, he turned his attention to the purple one, Twilight. She was still at the crater, horn aglow. She stood rigid, as if the slightest movement on her part would cause some catastrophic failure in what she was trying to accomplish.

Jay battled with himself on his branch. Should he make himself known? And if he did, should he reveal his ability? He had already overheard her talking about her own teleportation ability, but he wasn’t sure if he should bring it up, revealing that he had, in fact, been spying on her.

Or should he just stay up there, hidden in his tree, and let things play out. He did, after all, hate confrontation. People just always seemed to annoy the hell out of him. Especially the stupid ones. Oh, how he hated stupid people, especially the people who tried to press their opinions onto other people. His high school had been filled with plenty of people like that.

As Jay started to rattle of the names of stupid people he found annoying, he hadn’t noticed a purple glow coming from underneath him. It climbed up his body and locked him into place. He was still thinking of people he hated.

Oh, the joys of ignorance.

“Uh, hello?”

‘What the hell?’

Jay’s mind scrambled to assess the situation. Its’ first priority was to figure out what that noise was and where it came from. Its’ answer: look around.

“Down here.” Came the familiar voice from somewhere below him.

Looking down, he noticed the glow coming off of his body, then noticed the two purple eyes staring at him suspiciously farther below.

“What are you doing?” Twilight asked, probably wondering why he was in a tree.

“Uhhh.... what are YOU doing?” ‘Smooth’.

“Oh! Well, I was examining that crater over there and I casted a spell to see if whatever caused the crater might still be around!” She said with a smile, clearly quite proud of her magical ability.

Jay was taken aback. How had that actually worked? Even HE knew he wasn’t that persuasive.

“So is that why I’m glowing purple?” Jay asked, looking himself over.

“Oh right! Sorry!”

With a glow from Twilight’s horn, the purple glow around Jay’s body was dispelled, and he figured it was as good a time as any to get out of the tree. Clumsily, but very carefully, he made his way out of the branches and down to the forest floor, deciding on taking the manual way down, instead of just jumping. He didn’t want to reveal his ability just yet.

“Couldn’t you have just flown down?” She asked quizzically.

Jay looked at her, puzzled for a moment, and then he remembered the feathered wings folded to his sides.

“Well....sure.”

It wasn’t much of an answer, but she shrugged anyway, offering him her hoof.

“I’m Twilight Sparkle, star student of Princess Celestia and the librarian of Ponyville!”

Jay took her hoof with a firm grasp.

“I’m Jay.”

She stared at his shaded eyes expectantly. She was obviously waiting for more. Jay sat there staring right back through the dark lenses, letting the awkwardness of the current situation sink in. Here was this stranger, in a black beanie with black sunglasses, sitting up in a tree. She must have thought him a bit off.

“That’s it?”

He shrugged. “Yep.”

“Oh...” She said, hesitating with her next choice of words. “Where are you from?”

Jay was unsure of what to say. He wasn’t at all sure of where he was or which way home could be. He wasn’t even sure he was in the same ‘place’ as home was, considering he was now a talking, flightless, flying horse. He looked around trying to establish his bearings. He pointed his hoof to the crater in the clearing.

“Over there.”

Twilight’s eyes went wide. Jay could have sworn she started to vibrate.

“You’re what made the crater?!” She exclaimed, a hint of relief in her voice as she realized that her magic was spot on in locating him, but she also sounded very excited.

“I suppose I am.” He honestly had no idea what else to say.

“This is amazing! We have to go back and we have to run some tests and I have all sorts of questions! What were you doing that caused a crater? Are you injured? Why were you in that tree anyway? Oh you have to let me examine you!” She babbled.

She had lost Jay at ‘run’. He tended to tune things out like that. Not knowing what he should do, he offered the first thing that came to mind.

“Yes?”

She squealed with delight. “You can follow me back to Ponyville, then!”

Jay shrugged once again, unsure of what he had just agreed to. He figured that heading to civilization and getting out of the forest was in his best interest, so he decided to play along with the purple mare. As she turned to make her way out of the forest, following Applejack’s path, he followed.

As they made their way out of the forest, Twilight was deep in thought. She spoke naught a word to him the whole trip out. The trees slowly started dissipate as they exited the forest.

The trees soon ceased to exist altogether, and Jay found himself surrounded by open fields. The trail was even more worn here than in the forest, showing years of usage: hoofprints and wheeltracks forever embedded into the dirt.Twilight kept going, making it clear that her target was a village set on the horizon.

As before, Jay followed, nervous as to what he would encounter in the village. His mind ran through all of the possibilities as to what could be in the village. As his mind hit ‘cannibals’, his train of thought was broken by a shouting coming from above him and growing louder.

“Lookoutlookoutlookout!”

It sounded as if......

*Wham*

Jay lay there in a daze, letting the stars in his vision fade.

“Heh... I totally meant to do that!” He heard the new voice explain.

“Careful Rainbow Dash! I need him to be conscious!” Twilight said, the sound in her voice making it obvious she only cared for his well being if it meant helping her with her questions.

“It’s not my fault he was in the way! Like I said, I had planned to land there!” Rainbow Dash said as she turned to look at who had interrupted her glorious landing.

Jay managed to get himself up, brushing the dirt from his coat. He found himself eye-to-eye with a cyan colored mare with a rainbow mane.

“Whoa......you’re eyes are weird.” Was the first thing she said.

Jay felt his face with his hooves in surprise. In his confusion, he hadn’t noticed that his signature sunglasses had been knocked off of his face.

He turned his head, avoiding eye contact with the two mares, as he ran over to his fallen sunglasses, dawning them as quickly as he could.

“Well uh.... sorry for hitting ya like that...” She said, starting to form a sincere apology, “but you should really watch where you’re going!” And as soon as it the apology came, it went.

“Sorry... I think?” Was all Jay could manage. He was mixed somewhere between anger and confusion.

“Hey, you look new!” She said, her eyes brightening a little bit. “Well I’m Rainbow Dash, the fastest flier in Equestria!” She added, beaming.

With that, she took off and did a loop-de-loop in the air, attempting to show off her ability. She landed in front of Jay with a smirk on her face.

“But I bet ya already heard of me, huh?”

“Can’t say that I have.” He said. He suddenly remembered his own wings, and wished that Rainbow Dash would show off a bit more.

“Well then I’ll prove I’m the fastest! How about a race? First one from here to that cloud over there wins!” She challenged. She assumed a launching position and opened her wings, “Readysetg-”

“You two will have to race later.” Twilight said, interrupting Rainbow Dash’s unfair countdown. “I need him to come with me, for now.”

Rainbow Dash looked at Twilight, disappointed, the challenge fading from her face.

“All right...” She said, sounding disappointed.

‘I can’t even express how glad I am that Twilight got me out of that. I don’t even know how to freaking fly!’ Jay chuckled to himself.

“Don’t think I’m letting ya off the hook that easy, new guy! I’ll just have to kick your butt in a race later on. Whaddya say, huh?” It sounded like Rainbow Dash was a bit too confident in her abilities.

Jay, once more, shrugged. “Sure, after I’m finished doing whatever Twilight wants, I’ll be sure to come looking for you.... I’m Jay, by the way. In your haste to flatten me into the dirt, then publicly humiliate me, I never gave a proper introduction.”

That caught Rainbow Dash off guard, as she had been expecting to find some way to weasel out of her challenge. “Well, cool, I guess. I’ll see you later Twilight.” She said as she flew off with a wave.

“Is she always that cocky?” Jay asked, turning to Twilight, remembering that she was still standing there.

“You have no idea.”

Jay was puzzled by the cryptic answer but didn’t care enough to delve into it.

Once again, they began their walk on the trail leading to the small village on the horizon, Ponyville, if Jay remembered correctly.

Arrival

The sun was high in the sky, signalling midday. At least, that’s how Jay thought it worked.

He had been walking for what seemed like hours. How the purple mare he was following managed to keep going, Jay would never know. He was supposed to be a conditioned athlete, but here he was, dragging himself along the dirt path, head hanging low, breath coming in pants, each movement a strain on his steadily growing sore legs.

He just hoped that Twilight wouldn’t look back, he obviously didn’t want to be emasculated so soon in this new world.

Jay lifted his head and looked beyond his guide, spotting the village still far off into the distance. He tried to judge the distance between him and it, only to come up with the conclusion that it, in fact, is the same distance it was when he checked an hour ago.

Jay heaved a sigh as the trials of the day started to set in on him. The heat from the sun radiating on his back and the numerous rocks on the path starting to make his newfound hooves sore.

He trudged on anyway, bitterly following the still pondering stranger.

‘Seriously, what could she even be thinking about?’

A hint of annoyance creeps into Jay’s head as he tried to decipher Twilight’s features. Something had this mare deep in thought, and the lack of communication was starting to annoy him.

‘If you offer to bring someone home to interrogate them, at least make a little small talk on the way there.’ Jay reasoned. ‘Ya know, how’s the weather? Wife doin’ all right? Does waterboarding sound like a reasonable way to get answers?’

He froze his thought process for a second, actually wondering what his reaction would be if that came up because of small talk.

He shuddered ever so slightly and, deciding to give up on Twilight, he turned back to his own thoughts.

He knew he could have easily jumped to this new town: the image of it alone off in the distance was enough to imprint into his mind and send him on his way. Sure, he could of, but did he want to risk detection?

If the first person to ever know what he was in his world tried to kill him (‘On the toilet, too! The nerve of some people!’), how would they react to him here? Jay had already heard that teleportation was, at least, a thing here, but he had no idea if it was the same or not. Keeping it on the downlow, for now anyways, might not be such a bad thing.

Jay then angrily turned to look at his sides. He was extremely frustrated at the two feathered appendages that sat folded uselessly at his sides. He had never before dreamed of the possibility of being capable of flight, always lacking the means to, but here sat the tools to an aerial freedom, and they were worthless to him. He thought about embarrassing himself in front of Rainbow Dash by actually admitting that he couldn’t fly when he eventually showed up for that race, and maybe, just maybe, she would take pity on him and show him how to fly.

Jay snorted at that last bit. He had only been in her presence for, at most, 10 minutes, and knew that the resulting outcome of a situation like that would be a fit of laughter from her part, right in his face.

Jay pushed those thoughts aside. He was mortified of the idea of being laughed at, rejected and humiliated at the same time. He pushed his mind to a more analytical state.

He began to wonder if he could just jump back to his own world. If that’s how he got here, then why can’t he get back.

Jay looked ahead, noticing Twilight was paying no attention to him, still wrapped up in whatever. He looked around, trying to spot any wandering eyes, but coming up empty. If he jumped, no one would even notice.

Jay still remembered everything from his own world, from his house, to his room, and even the trivial things like his toothbrush. He knew no one was around, so he figured he give his jump a shot.

He had to stop himself from going back to his room, afraid that that psycho hunter had decided to remain in his house. Instead, he thought of something no one would expect to look for him in.

He remembered a men’s room bathroom in a downtown bus station he used to sleep in when he was out on his own. The feeling and memories of abandonment threatened to invade his mind once more, and his eyes started to water. Jay had to actually concentrate to get rid of the rising memories, pushing them into the farthest, darkest parts of his mind, hoping they would not resurface.

He began his process of jumping. In his mind, time seemed to slow down around him as he brought up his destination, but to an outsider, his jumps would occur within hundreths of a second, barely even enough time to register what happened.

Bringing up the memory of his destination, his body began to shimmer. Bits and pieces of him began to fade in and out of reality. Something was definitely not right.

Jay had no idea what to do. Could he stop a jump? Is it even possible? He would have to figure something out fast, because Twilight would eventually have to notice that something was going on.

His whole body just kept shimmering, moving in between the plane of existence.

Once again, the darkness crept on the edges of his vision, his perception of the world around him becoming foggy and distorted.

His mind shut down in an attempt to stop him from jumping into the nothingness.

The darkness engulfed his vision as he blacked out.

**********

Darkness surrounded him.

Jay looked around, seeing nothing but a black abyss in all directions. He noticed he was back on his two legs, his mind back in his human body.

He couldn’t think, his brain was scrambling for a grasp on the situation. His ability impaired.

He began to run forward, not knowing what else to do. He ran on, and on, and on, only to be welcomed by more abyss.

A sudden pain forced him to his knees; a thousand white hot needles being pushed against the inside of his head. He tried to bury his head in his arms, hoping that holding his head would help numb the pain.

The pressure just seemed to increase.

A buzzing noise began to fill his ears. The white noise soon becoming unbearable. Jay would have gladly welcomed slipping into unconsciousness, as he knew no one person could take this much pain, but for some reason, unconsciousness never came. His mind bearing the full force of the pain and noise.

The noise was maddening. He couldn’t describe it as anything but white noise. There was just no other description for it. It grew louder and louder, matching the growing pain in his head.

Then, nothing. As soon as this wave of pain and noise came, it went.

Jay looked up, fully aware of his surroundings.

His eyes were met by another set. The blood red of these eyes staring directly at him, a mere foot away, unblinking.

He held his breath and his gaze, frozen in place.

He blinked, the eyes lunged forward.

**********

Jay awoke with a gasp, searching for his breath. Sweat matted his coat and mane and soaked through the beanie, still on his head.. The room around him was dimly lit by an odd assortment of candles and the light of the moon that shone through the window.

He looked around him, realizing that he had somehow ended up in a bed in some strange room. His eyes suddenly locked onto a pink pony standing in the corner staring at him.

Her eyes grew to the size of dinner plates.

“GASP!” It sounded like air escaping from a tire.

She launched herself into the air and shot out the window.

Jay shrugged to himself. ‘As long as she’s gone.’

He flopped back down onto the padding underneath him and groaned, realizing that the bedding and pillow was soaked with his sweat. It made for a very uncomfortable bed.

He looked to the spot next to the bed, and jumped, materializing in a standing position.

“I still got it.” He said, smiling to himself.

He performed his stretching routine, yet again, popping the bones along his back and stretching the muscles and ligaments in his four new legs. With a bit of concentration, he managed to move his wings outwards, away from his body. He found himself laughing as the sensation of having two more controllable appendages tickled his insides.

He took off his hat and sunglasses, staring at his two remaining worldly possessions before tossing them on the bed, making sure they landed anywhere other than the spots soaked with sweat. His red eyes gleaming in the flickering candle light.

He then performed the minute jump to the door, wanting to jump as many times as possible in secrecy before he grew restless from the lack of being able to use his abilities. He opened the door and followed a spiralling staircase downwards that led into a large library: bookshelves filled with all sorts of different texts.

Jay spotted Twilight off in the corner of it all, sitting at a desk, hunched over a piece of parchment that she was furiously scribbling on.

“So, who was that pink pony that was up there?” He asked as he approached, causing Twilight to jerk a little in her seat, apparently startled by the sound of his voice.

“Oh good, you’re up!” She turned to look at him with a cheerful, almost giddy look on her face. She caught her breath a moment when she saw his eyes, but recomposed herself quickly. “That was probably Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie.”

The tone in her voice sounded almost as if Jay should have known this.

“Yeah, sure. Where am I?” he paused for a moment, considering his next question. “And how did I get here?”

“Well when you blacked out, I had to teleport us back to my home here in Ponyville!” she said, obviously proud of her quick thinking. “I don’t know why I hadn’t thought of it sooner, we wasted most of the day walking!”

‘Damn,’ Jay cursed in his mind. ‘A chance to see how this other teleportation works and I was nothing but dead weight.’

“Ok, so what now?” he asked her.

“Now, we find out why you were in that crater!” she said as a devious smile slid onto her smile.

**********

“So these burns will go away, right? They’re not permanently etched into me because of that stupid machine?” Jay asked, examining himself in a mirror hung on the wall.

“I said I was sorry....” was Twilight’s defense.

Her way of ‘finding out why someone is in a crater’ is strapping them into extremely painful devices located in her basement. And, apart from the burns, nothing had been gained from the experience.

“No seriously, if you wanted to kill me, all you had to do was ask.” Jay said, doing little to hide his annoyance.

“Just sit,” Twilight growled, “There’s a couple more things I need to ask you.”

Jay took a seat on a couch located in the center of the library, seeming oddly out of place.

“Ok, first, and again, where are you from?”

Jay got up and moved to the window, he then turned to her and pointed in the general direction of the forest, a blank look on his face.

Twilight took a deep breath before continuing. It was like dealing with a child.

“What caused that crater?”

“Your guess is as good as mine.”

“Can you remember anything before the waking up in the forest?”

“Sure.”

“And?” Twilight leaned forward, coaxing an answer from him.

“And what?”

“Can you elaborate?” she said, leaning closer.

“Elaborate ‘and’? No, I don’t think I can.”

Jay watched Twilight slump back. He resisted the urge to smile as his ploy to be as difficult as possible seemed to be getting to the mare.

“Will you tell me what you remember before waking up?” she pressed on.

“No.”

“What?! Why not?”

“You wouldn’t believe me.”

Twilight’s eyes narrowed. “Try me.” She had whipped out a notepad, a quill and an inkwell as she finished her challenge. Apparently she thought she had won.

Jay was, again, left in a situation where he had absolutely no idea what to do. He was, for sure, not going to tell her about his jumping, but was on the fence about telling her where he actually came from. He didn’t know whether or not to trust this complete stranger. He’s never been good with trust.

So why should he start now? “I can’t.”

Twilight deflated as she heard that. Her scientific mind being forced to a hold as she had failed to get any answers out of Jay.

“Just listen to me when I say that it’s probably best you don’t know.” he mumbled.

“Well, alright,” she sighed. She was clearly disappointed in his answers, or lack thereof. “You can sleep in the guest bed upstairs, for now. I assume that you really have nowhere else to go, waking up in a crater and all that.”

With that, she trotted off into her own room and closed the door behind her. Jay made sure he was alone before bringing up the visual of the room he awoke in and jumping, materializing just above the bed, already asleep just before he hit the bedding.

Discovery

Jay awoke to the smell of breakfast, and he could have sworn that it smelled like oatmeal. He grabbed his sunglasses from where he threw them on the bed the previous night (having almost crushed them with his carelessness in getting into the bed), and popped just in front of the bedroom door.

He hadn’t realized how hungry he was until he opened his door, and the smell from the kitchen below wafted through his room, slamming into him like a wall of pure incense. He hadn’t eaten anything for almost a day! That’s crazy talk!

Carrying himself down the stairs towards the smell, his hooves gliding down each step, he found himself staring at a purple and green scaled creature sitting at the stove, wearing a small apron. It was almost comical. In fact, if Jay had been in his own world and saw someone in this exact situation, Jay would have ripped the poor guy a new one. It just seemed so easy.

“Twiliiiiight? Why is there a small lizard wearing an apron, cooking?” Jay shouted, without breaking his gaze away from the creature, who had turned to meet his gaze.

“Hey! Who are ya calling a lizard?” the purple creature said, clearly annoyed at Jay’s lack of observation. “And, for your information, everypony said they liked my apron! Even Rarity!”

And that was it. Jay had just barely controlled his laughter as he had entered the room, but this was the straw that broke the camel's back. Jay almost busted a gut from laughing so hard. Getting back to his hooves, small waves of laughter still coming up, he couldn’t help but break up in laughter again. The small purple creature was still glaring at Jay, his face had become a deep red color and he was visibly pissed, and he was STILL in his apron. A small, pissed off lizard in an apron was just too much to handle for Jay.

‘It’s that stupid apron! This is almost like the time I dressed my dog as a pumpkin for Halloween!’ Jay managed to think to himself between rolling fits of laughter.

At that moment, Twilight strolled through the door from the library, looking at Jay on the ground, laughing, then up to the small dragon on the stove. Even she had to bite her tongue as she noticed the miniature apron draped on the dragon's neck.

“Good morning, Spike. I see you’ve met our new guest.” Twilight said, enthused at the scene before her. “Jay, this is Spike. He’s my number one assistant.”

Spike turned back to his cooking, a bit of his pride restored from the complement.

“And I’m a dragon, for your information..” Spike mumbled under his breath, just loud enough to where Jay would have missed it if he had still been laughing at Spike.

“Well, *gasp* it’s nice to meet you, Spike.” Jay said sounding as sincere as one possibly could while trying to recover. “But you mentioned a Rarity... Who’s that?”

Twilight looked over at Jay with a shocked expression. She opened her mouth to answer when Spike beat her to the punch:

“She’s the best fashion designer in all of Equestria and the most beautiful pony Celestia’s sun has ever - eep!” Spike’s voice squeaked like a mouse at the last line as he caught himself, quickly shifting his gaze downwards to avoid eye contact with anyone. Jay could have sworn he made out a slight blush on the baby dragon’s scales as Jay realized Spike’s little schoolpony crush. Jay couldn’t help but smile at this.

Twilight, however, had apparently been oblivious to Spike’s slip up (‘Or Spike is as horrible as he is at trying to hide it as it seems he is.’) as she had given Jay a once-over.

“And being the fashionable pony that she is, I would recommend avoiding her.” She stated matter-of-factly. “She would give you a long lecture on why sunglasses aren’t ‘in’, then she would probably faint at the sight of your mane.”

Jay couldn’t help but feel insulted as he mentally decided to look himself over in a mirror the next time he was alone. “Are you going to feed me or insult my image this morning?”

Jay heard Spike’s shit-eating chuckle. “Now you know how I feel.”

Spike had already landed a spot on Jay’s ‘New World, New Ponies Who Annoy Me’ list. It was an impressive start: second day in this world and Jay had already found somepony he wouldn’t mind dropping from a tower just to see their reaction. Maybe catching them, maybe not. That was more of an on-the-spot decision.

Planting himself at Twilight’s table, he eagerly awaited his food.

**********

The taste was still there. After an hour of scrubbing his tongue raw, Jay still could not get the taste of whatever it was he ate out of his mouth. His comparisons of the taste of the unknown food were rather explicit and freaky combinations.

For some reason, it didn’t occur to Jay that the food would be any different in this new world, however he did notice the distinct lack of meat in whatever it was he ate, and couldn’t help feel saddened at that thought. Ponies just don’t like succulent bacon. Their loss.

After his vicious scrubbing, Twilight had waved him out of the library fast, saying stuff like, “Make yourself useful around town.” and, “Come back at dusk.” Those were the only lines that were decipherable to Jay, as most of what Twilight was saying was incoherent bordering on ‘Was she even saying real words?’ Without hearing anything else, Jay had been pushed into waking town, on his own. A nice stroll couldn’t hurt.

Looking up to the sky, he saw several pegasi pushing and kicking clouds, effectively clearing the sky. Another pang of sadness hit Jay as he felt is still useless wings shuffle at his side as his muscles slightly contracted.

‘I’ve really gotta get these things working.’

With a sigh, Jay continued his walk through town. For whatever reason, he found himself on the outskirts of the small village without a remembering how he got there. Apparently his ‘stroll’ had gone to auto pilot and taken on a mind of it’s own.

Looking around him, Jay noticed an apple tree (well more like several hundred apple trees). This tree was perfectly placed among its’ brethren.

‘Perfectly placed for a nap, that is. Exercise like that deserves some rest’ he thought as a yawn escaped him.

Checking around him again for any stray eyes, he jumped into the shade of the tree when he noticed he was alone. He assumed the position of an experienced napper, getting as much comfort as he possibly could while leaning on tree bark. Jay shut his eyes, and let blissful sleep consume him.

**********

A nice, huge, juicy strip of bacon sat in front of Jay. It was absolutely massive; at least the size of a tree.

Jay’s hunger from the morning carried over with him. That weird, vegetable based vomit just hadn’t cut it for his stomach.

All it took was one glimpse at the large bacon strip and Jay’s self-restraint was shot. Wanting to taste it AND savor it at the same time, Jay stuck his tongue out, running up the side of his delicious morsel.

“Hey you!”

Jay could have sworn he heard a voice from somewhere off in the distance. It sounded strangely familiar to him, but at the same time, he was lost in the high that was the taste of bacon.

“What in the hay are ya doin’?”

There it was again, that strange voice. It was getting louder. As his tongue hung from his mouth, still attached to his prize, he strained his ears to listen.

“Hey!”

**********

Jay’s eyes snapped open as his wonderful dream came to a screeching halt. He noticed he was belly down in the grass under the tree he picked for his nap.

Even more shocking to him was the fact that he was licking said tree, and with his luck, he heard hooves rushing up towards him.

‘Sunova-’

“What are ya doin’ on mah farm, ya crazy foal?!”

Jay turned to observe an orange pony charging him through his tinted lenses, recognizing it was the one from the clearing earlier.

‘What was her name again?’ He pondered to himself, casting away the fact that he was about to be impaled onto the side of a tree. ‘Applejuice? No... Applejooce? Wha- no, that’s just the same damn thing spelled differently.’ Jay frowned, his mind coming up blank. ‘Applej....ewce? No, damn it, stop that!’

He thoughtfully turned his head at the oncoming pony and, seeing how he was already in trouble, let a small smile replace his frown.

‘What the hell, why not?’ His prone form vanished into thin air in the blink of an eye, leaving a bit of distortion behind him. He materialized several meters behind the startled farmer pony, in another one of the trees.

‘Applejack!’ he thought, watching from above as Applejack rubbed a hoof in her eye, trying to clear her vision for some odd reason. ‘Heh, what a weird one, she is.’

Noticing he was now sitting in an apple tree without the threat of impalement looming on the horizon, he casually snatched an apple from its’ hanging branch and took a bite out of it. Jay couldn’t help but smile, who knew fruit could taste so good?

As he bit into the apple again, he jumped, with the memory of an alley he saw earlier at the edge of Ponyville in mind.

Appearing in the alley, he bit into the apple again, relishing its’ flavor. Looking up, Jay noticed that the sun had only slightly shifted in the sky, giving him the assumption that he might very well be the best power napper in the world, and, more importantly, that very little time had passed. With that, he poked his head out of his alley and peered around the corners of the buildings around him.

It seemed as though in the short time Jay had been gone, the town had fully awoken, as its’ market was bustling with activity that had been absent at the time Jay had been so rudely thrown out of the library.

Sighing to himself, he receded into the alley, the light slowly fading as he moved deeper. Just as he hit the wall, signalling the end of the alley, he jumped, appearing on a hill he had seen over the rooftops of the small houses.

Jay planted himself at the top of the hill and watched the anthill of activity in the town with the perfect vantage point.

“Hey! You’re that one with the weird eyes! Where’d you come from?” the scratchy, yet familiar voice said behind him. “I, literally, just flew over, and no one was here!”

“Musta’ missed me.” Jay responded lazily.

“There’s no way I could have!” Rainbow Dash responded confidently. “But now that you’re here, you still owe me a race! Ready to get your butt-”

Jay stopped her there with a raise of his hoof. He didn’t bother breaking his gaze away from Ponyville, the sight of the activity was calming to him.

“Naaah.”

She apparently had not expected to be interrupted or declined with such ease. “I knew you’d chicken out! Chalk another one up for the best flier in Equestria!”

“Yep, and it only took all of five seconds. Congratulations.” Jay still hadn’t turned to Rainbow Dash, his gaze still on the town, but instead of focusing on the activity of the town, he was putting together what he would say next. Jay knew her type: Competitive. Just like him. Not one to turn down a challenge. Jay turned to face her, fully aware that he just had to push all the right buttons...

“Fastest flier in Equestria is a huge claim, ya know? I’m pretty sure I saw somepony (‘That just feels so weird.... somepony. Weird.’) doing some pretty crazy aerial stunts this morning. I don’t know exactly who it was (‘Of course I don’t, I don’t know anypony here.... There it is again!), but she looked like she was beating a lot of the other ponies she was racing.”

Rainbow Dash’s eyes narrowed at him.

‘Heh, got her.’

“Was it Cloud Kicker?? Or Rain Drops??” She said. a with a bit of force behind both questions.

Jay simply shrugged.

“Because I’m waaay faster than those two could ever be!”

Jay smiled at her. “I suppose I’ll have to be the judge of that. I’m the one who saw the other mare racing.”

Before Jay could even detect a response, Rainbow Dash shot up in the air.

Jay nestled himself into the grass, content with his ability to successfully find something to entertain himself with for the afternoon.

**********

And entertained Jay was. He watched Rainbow Dash from the ground as she regaled him with her speed and technique, doing corkscrews and loop-de-loops gracefully in the air.

Jay couldn’t help himself but stare at the prismatic pony as she whipped passed his hilltop perch.

At one point, she had descended and started to describe her signature move, the sonic rainboom. Rainbow Dash stated that when she hit a certain speed, breaking the sound barrier, she would release a rainbow like pulse that would emit a huge *boom*. Sonic Rainboom. She had, however, only ever completed a sonic rainboom three times in her life. She seemed pretty confident in herself.

“There’s no way I could believe that!” Jay said skeptically. He could do some pretty unbelievable stuff himself, but for a being of flesh and blood to break the sound barrier without being torn to shreds? He found it highly unlikely.

Ready to defend her honor, Rainbow Dash jumped up with an enthusiastic, “Watch!”, shooting straight upwards.

Jay watched as the mare climbed up into the air, higher and higher. He thought that Rainbow Dash would have to turn around at some point, but she just kept climbing into the air, looking for the best possible way to build her momentum.

Higher and higher.

‘There is no possible way anypony can be safe at that kind of altitude.’ He thought to himself, worry and doubt creeping into his head.

Rainbow Dash still had not turned to drop, apparently requiring more height to reach the apex of her momentum building climb.

‘What the hell is she doing?’

At long last, she turned to drop, building an amazing amount of speed as soon as she turned around. Jay released the breath he had been holding.

Her climb had paid off, as she was hurtling straight to the ground.

‘Huh, throwing some corkscrews in the dive? Impressive.’

Jay couldn’t help but wonder what it must be like to fly like that as he looked on.

It almost looked like....

‘Why is her back towards the ground? That’s no way to achi-’

Jay caught himself mid-thought, recognizing Rainbow Dash in a state of unconsciousness. She was now in a free fall, hurtling to the ground, out of control.

With no wings to go and help Rainbow Dash, he contemplated his next move carefully. Jumping up there to save her would risk further exposure, maybe to the whole town.

But as of right now, it was the only thing that popped into Jay’s mind.

‘How does one jump into the sky? It all looks the same!’

He pictured the patch of sky underneath Rainbow Dash that she had yet to pass. He was praying to every superior being that he got this right.

He sent himself into the jump, appearing in the patch of sky he imagined that could have easily been mistaken for a wind tunnel. Gale force winds pelted Jay’s face as he, too, began his speedy descent to the ground.

Jay tried to maneuver his body in his free fall, only managing a flailing of his limbs as he started to spiral out of control. It was in his flailing that he luckily spotted Rainbow Dash’s limp form directly below him and moving faster than him, having a much faster starting velocity.

Jay pointed himself downwards, straightening his rear hooves and pressing his fore hooves to his sides, along with his wings, trying to make himself as aerodynamic as possible.

As soon as he was satisfied with his positioning, he made five instantaneous jumps, each one spaced about four feet apart and successfully accelerating him faster and faster.

Jay realized that five may have been a bit over kill when he slammed, head first, into Rainbow Dash’s body, eliciting a pained groan that also told him she had woken.

Even with Rainbow Dash’s flying skills, there was no way she could stop the both of them in time and prevent a messy disaster, which also meant there was no way Jay could try to explain how he flew up to wake her because of what he was about to do.

He wrapped his fore hooves tightly around Rainbow Dash’s torso, pulled up the image of his hilltop, and jumped.

The two of them appeared right on the top of the hill with a loud crack, some of the momentum from the free fall carrying over with the jump and causing the two forms to sink into the hill a bit.

Jay lay there next to Rainbow Dash for what seemed like hours, but in reality, had only been a couple of seconds. She turned to him with a dazed expression.

“If you’re a pegasus, then how-”

Jay got up before she could finish. He stood over her, looking her directly into her eyes through his shaded lenses. How his sunglasses managed to stay on his head, after all of that, Jay hadn’t the slightest clue. He hesitated for a brief moment before he vanished, leaving behind his tell-tale distortion and one confused-as-hell flier, lying in a sunken crater, on a hilltop.

**********

The sun had long since dropped below the horizon line. One can always find beauty in a sunset.

Jay was supposed to have gone back to Twilight’s by now, but for him, the cat was most definitely out of the bag. If one pony knew, then surely half the town must have known.

Jay considered this, then took into account the fact that there wasn’t a mob of angry, electricity wielding ponies running up to greet him.

That was always a great sign.

He had found himself a nice little rock far outside of Ponyville to crawl under and hide for the duration of the day after the events that transpired with Rainbow Dash. She apparently had kept her mouth shut about a teleporting pegasus fitting his description, as no one had tried to kill him yet.

Yet again, another great sign.

He sighed and resigned himself to whatever fate awaited for him at Twilight’s tree library. Assuming that everypony would be turning themselves in for the night, he jumped right into town, appearing in the same alley in the marketplace as earlier on in the day. Once again, he peered around the corners of the buildings and was gratefully rewarded with absolutely nopony in sight. It was a marvelous sight, indeed.

Jay took that as his cue, and made a beeline jump straight in front of Twilight’s tree, appearing right in front of the door.

“Ah swear to ya, Twi, there was a pony in mah orchard one second, then he was gone the next! He just vanished!”

Jay’s ears perked up the sentence, recognizing the voice as that orange farm pony, Applejack. Strangely enough, the lights were all turned off inside the library, and something inside Jay just screamed ‘trap’. Neither of the two inside had heard Jay’s approach.

‘At least, I hope there are only two in.....’

“Ah never got a good look at ‘im, but Ah know what Ah saw!”

Suspicion immediately washed off of Jay. Applejack had had no idea who she had been talking about, so there was a good chance that she wouldn’t recognize Jay. ‘Right?’

The lump rose back to his throat.

“Ok, I believe you, Applejack, we’ll have to discuss it later, though! He’ll be here any minute, so get ready!” Applejack mumbled something incoherently in response.

Now Jay’s curiosity was piqued. ‘Get ready for what now?’

No longer able to hold back, he knocked on the door, and heard a chorus of shuffling and shushing behind it.

Taking it as ‘Come in’, he made his way through the door, walking right into a pitch dark room. His sunglasses covering his eyes didn’t help at all.

With no forewarning, the lights flashed on, momentarily bathing everything in a bright, white flash.

“SURPRISE!” shouted a combination of pony voices.

Jay had to double take at the crowd, noticing that everypony from town had somehow managed to fit into Twilight’s home. Even Rainbow Dash had shown up, awkwardly standing in the back of the crown, avoiding his gaze.

The pink one (‘Pinkie Pie, wasn’t it?’) sprung out from the side of his vision sporting a party hat and several of those noisemakers.

“Welcome to Ponyville!” She said (‘Shouted.’ Jay reminded himself.) with a huge, genuine smile plastered on her face. “I saw you in that bed and I was like ‘I’ve never seen this pony before, and I know everypony in town, but I don’t know this pony, so he must be new!’ and then you woke up and I was like ‘GAAAASSP!’ because I had just realized that I needed to throw you a “Welcome to Ponyville” party and then I ran out the window as fast as I could to get it set up!”

Pinkie was going a mile a minute, and Jay caught maybe every fifth word that came out of her mouth. He instantly pegged her as annoying in his mind, but it wasn’t that annoying that made him want to set fire to small children, it was the annoying that seemed to make everyone laugh, and Jay was definitely ok with that.

Before anything else could happen, he was enveloped in a purple aura, yet again. Jay knew it for what it was, this time, as he was slowly levitated above the ground and turned to face Twilight, who bore a bewildered expression, and Applejack, who had a glare that could melt ice.

“That’s ‘im, Twi! Ah know ‘im from his fancy glasses!” She shouted, a little louder than necessary.

Twilight looked at him even more confused than before. “You’ve got some explaining to do.”

Revalations

‘Applejack, you bitch.’ Jay thought bitterly to himself while suspended in the air. She may have had all the right intentions of telling Twilight about him, but still..... ‘Bitch’.

Jay had become the center of attention for the second time during his ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ party. Suspended in the air, surrounded by the all-too-familiar purple aura, he couldn’t help but draw the attention of everypony in the room.

And by everypony, it seemed as if most of the town had been able to cram into Twilight’s library, with still a bit of room to spare. How this even worked, Jay would never know.

But now, instead of enjoying the party thrown by the pink one, they were all staring at him with immense curiosity. A new pegasus had arrived in town and he had a few tricks up his sleeve. Applejack seemed to be the only one angry with him, however. ‘Probably still mad for stealing a nap on her land.’ That had to be it.

He noticed Rainbow Dash was staring up at him, presumably waiting for an explanation as to how he had been able to disappear before her very eyes.

Jay had also noticed a yellow pegasus with a light pink mane hiding behind a set of curtains, her hooves clearly visible under the end of the curtains and her head poking out of the side, wearing and expression Jay could only guess as a mixture of curiosity, fear and confusion.

‘So I guess I can go back to my starting “bright side” and roll with the fact that no one has tried to kill me, again!’

“So, uh, Jay.” Twilight began, stepping forward and separating herself from the other on-lookers. “Applejack told me what she saw earlier today....” She trailed off, hoping that that would be enough to draw an explanation out of Jay.

Jay held his tongue for a moment, unsure of what to say.

“Ok..... And?” ‘Brilliant!’

The entire room let out an exasperated sigh. They were all clearly looking for a better answer than what had just been supplied.

“And, well, you’re a pegasus... who’s able to vanish...” Twilight urged, trailing off again, hoping to not continue any further.

“Aaannndd?” There wasn’t much else for Jay to say, his brain just kept shooting blanks when he tried to draw from it.. He was hoping to be able to at least be able to get around explaining what he was.

“Well, only unicorns are able to... teleport... is that what you do?” Twilight was the voice of the ponies, who all held the same level of curiosity.

Jay gave up, there was no avoiding explaining what he was. He just hoped that no one rejected him for it, let alone kill him. The first person who actually knew about his talent did try to kill him.

Jay took a deep breath. “Well,” and he jumped, leaving behind a purple blob of magical energy and his distortion ripple. He had decided to appear at the back of the crowd, behind the curious spectators. His action caused a collective gasp to form in the crowd.

Jay stood behind the spectators, a look of amusement on his face. Clearing his throat, the crowd of townsponies turned around to meet him, another gasp arising as they realized what had just taken place. Twilight and Applejack pushed their way back to the front of the group, their expressions demanding an explanation.

“I’m what one per-, er, pony called a Jumper.” Jay had to catch himself with the person/pony dialogue. He didn’t want to reveal the whole ‘other world’ thing just yet. With that, he jumped to the left of the crowd, the ponies following the sound of his voice.

“Any place I’ve been to, any place I’ve seen, whether from a distance or in a picture, I can go there. Instantly.” There was no better way to describe it. Jay jumped to the other side of the room, making the crowd turn once more.

‘Hell, if they want to hear my story, I’ll make them work for it.’

He found himself face to face with Twilight, once again.

“But pegasi aren’t supposed to have that kind of magic!” she countered, her mind cranking out all sorts of theories in her head.

“As far as I know, it’s not magic. It’s just something I’ve been able to do for, well, a long time.” Jay wondered how unicorns teleported, seeing how he was out cold for his first demonstration. “How do unicorns teleport, Twilight?”

Twilight smiled, pleased that she could now show off her magical ability. She closed her eyes and went to full on concentration mode. Her head lowered and the horn centered on her skull began to glow. After a few seconds, she was enveloped in a bright purple light, which was shortly followed by an equally bright purple light next to Jay. Twilight appeared next to Jay, still smiling to herself.

Sure, it was teleportation, but it wasn’t the same.

“What you can do, is much different than what I can do, Twilight.” Jay began to explain. “You had to concentrate to pull off your teleport. In the gap of time between when your horn started to glow and the actual teleport, I could have pulled off, four, maybe five of my jumps. As I said before, what I do is instant.”

He jumped directly behind Twilight, and as she turned around, Jay jumped back to his original spot, as sort of a demonstration.

Now came the moment of truth. There was nothing left for him to do, now that one of his two secrets had been exposed, not to one pony, but to most of the damned town. The collective stood for several seconds before Pinkie Pie hopped from the middle of the group.

“Now it’s a ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ AND a ‘cool poofy teleport thing’ party!”

The crowd of gathered ponies cheered loudly and the party resumed. The banner hung along the ceiling had already been changed by Pinkie to support the party addition (‘She may need to be examined, not me...’ Jay thought.). Nopony noticed Twilight slip away into her personal study, Spike trailing behind her.

**********

The party was in full swing. Apparently, the ponies of Ponyville were not fully understanding of Jay’s ability, or they just didn’t care, accepting the fact that he was who he was. Jay preferred to assume the latter. Either way, nopony seemed to mind him, and now that his ability was out in the open, he felt the need to take full advantage of this. Jay had jumped around all night, popping up next to groups and getting to know the various ponies who had shown up to celebrate him.

The most notable was a white pony with an electric blue mane and oversized, purple sunglasses who was pumping out music from her DJ station. She was obviously the first pony to meet: shades are a great conversation starter, and Jay had seen nopony else sporting them.

There were ponies of all colors and occupations, and Jay took it upon himself to meet most of them. Each one of them asked Jay about his ability, and after giving each pony the same generalized description as when he addressed them as a group, he quickly steered the conversation away to something else.

Jay even approached Applejack, offering a sincere apology for..... ‘What did I do again?’ he asked himself. ‘Whatever, I’ll just say sorry and hope she doesn’t delve too much into it..’

Applejack looked him over for a minute, trying to detect a flaw in his sincerity. She eventually grunted in satisfaction, accepting his apology. “But Ah know you’re still hidin’ somethin’.” She added.

‘You’ve got no idea.’

He even got to meet the rest of Applejack’s group: two more ponies who appeared to be friends with Twilight. The aforementioned Rarity, who, as Twilight guessed, gasped and lectured Jay about how sunglasses were so out of style and so on, and Fluttershy, who let out a small ‘EEP!’ when Jay addressed her. After coaxing her for a second, he managed to get a name from her before she looked down and shuffled one of her front hooves on the ground. Her presence quickly became awkward as Jay just sort of backed away.

The night progressed, and Jay quickly grew tired of the ponies, wishing to just be alone. Twilight had reappeared and joined her group, but kept giving Spike an occasional glance, followed by a quick shake of his head. Jay didn’t put too much thought into what it could be.

He eventually found himself outside, sitting alone in the night, the brisk air of the outdoors a welcoming relief from the packed party tree. It was his party, sure, but the guests had long overstayed their welcome. Leaning against the side of Twilight’s tree, Jay closed his eyes, not wanting to go to sleep, but not wanting to be fully awake, either.

“What’s up Jay?” His eyes flipped open, noticing Rainbow Dash looking at him. She had somehow come up without him hearing her approach.

“I just had to get out of there; too many ponies.” Jay responded, still a bit out of it.

“Oh, that’s cool, I guess.” She stood there for a moment, shuffling awkwardly, looking at the ground, just like Fluttershy. “So, uh, yeah... I wanted to, well, thank you for, ya’ know, saving me... Not that I couldn’t have handled it myself or anything!”

It took a couple seconds for Jay to register that this was a thank you. He smiled at this, also realizing how hard it was for Rainbow Dash, THE Rainbow Dash, to thank someone.

“Yeah, I bet you could have, but it was really no problem.” he replied cooly. “What happened with that, anyway? I didn’t really see what went wrong.”

She trotted over and sat next to him, the moonlight glistening off the feathers of her wings. “I dunno,” she shrugged. “I just kept flying higher, and all of a sudden, everything got real foggy, and the next thing I know, you slammed into me in mid-air.” Upon finishing her sentence, she wound up her foreleg, and slugged Jay right in the ribs. “And that’s for running into me.”

Jay tried his best to hide his pain, but Rainbow Dash had a hell of a punch. His wince amounted to her laughter, but as fast as her laughter came, it went, and her gleeful expression was replaced with one of a more serious nature.

“So what else are you hidin’?”

Jay frowned at this. There was no way he would reveal where he was from, afraid that this would disgust her. He had to come up with something fast.

“I can’t fly.” was the first thing that popped into his head.

Rainbow Dash was shocked. Extremely shocked. It was almost as if Jay had just said he killed a puppy. At least it drew her off the subject of his secrets.

“Wh-what?!” After that, everything else she tried to say became incomprehensible, as her fits of laughter interrupted whatever else she tried to say.

‘Maybe I should have just let her into my past. It would have been better than this.’ he thought, sighing.

Noticing that Rainbow Dash would probably not stop laughing at him, Jay began to get up, only to have her hoof push him back to the ground.

“No, wait!” she said, almost shouting it and looking a bit embarrassed. “Not many....fully grown.... ponies can fly!” Her consolations, albeit sincere, didn’t help much, as Jay knew this probably wasn’t true.

An idea crossed Jay’s mind.

“So you’re the fastest flier in Equestria, right?”

Rainbow nodded her head ‘yes’ in reply.

“And I can’t fly, right?”

It looked like Rainbow had to use every ounce of willpower she had to stop from laughing again, but she finally shook her head ‘no’.

“So, how about I learn from the best, and you show me how to fly?” As much as he really wanted to learn how to fly, Jay also had a larger, ulterior motive behind his question, even if he may not have fully realized it.

Apparently the ego stroking had worked, because her agreement came a little faster than really necessary.

“Yes! - er, I mean, yeah sure, why not?”

It could have been the flank-kissing, but Jay hoped that her quick response was the result of something else.

“But, I mean, only if you want to. I don’t want you to feel like you owe me anything for saving you, or anything.” Jay offered.

This resulted in another punch to the ribs, causing Jay to have to pause to catch his breath.

“I said I could have handled myself, and don’t worry! It’ll be fun.” Rainbow Dash said with a slight smile. Jay also could have sworn that he had seen a faint blush spread on her muzzle, but he couldn’t be sure. For some reason, Jay had not taken off his sunglasses... at night. He knew he was bad at taking them off most of the day, but wearing them at night just made him look stupid.

Reluctantly, he slid them off his head, and cradled them in his foreleg and hoof, not wanting to let them touch the dirt.

Rainbow Dash froze as he did this, staring straight at him. “Whoa... I keep forgetting about your eyes.”

Anger flared in Jay. He tried his best to hide it, thought it may not have worked. “Is there something wrong with my eyes?” he tried to say as calmly as possible. The subject of his eyes was another touchy thing for Jay, having to always defend himself for being the odd one out for most of his life gets irritating after awhile.

“N-no! I mean, they’re just crazy, ya’ know?” Rainbow Dash stammered.

Jay stared at her with a blank look. “I better get back inside. They’re probably missing me at my own party.” he said calmly as he got up. “I’ll see you tomorrow, yeah?”

“Oh ok. Yeah, I;ll see ya’.” she replied, looking slightly disappointed and a bit irritated with herself.

As Jay trotted back to the entrance, he could have sworn he heard her mumbling, “Stupid, stupid, stupid! It sounded like you insulted his eyes. Why would I say that?!”

But he couldn’t be sure.

It Never Ends

The party progressed well into the night. After Jay’s encounter with Rainbow, he had headed back in to join the party and quietly mingled with the partygoers. It didn’t take long for him to get bored of this, too. He had mentally decided that his talents would best be used in the back of the room, near the food that Pinkie had provided.

‘For a bunch of horses, they sure know how to throw a party... I wonder what they would be like drunk?’ Jay thought to himself with a snicker. Imagining a bunch of ponies in an alcohol induced craze would probably be one of the greatest things he had ever seen. Sadly, the fruit punch sat in the corner- unspiked.

But, like all great things, the party eventually came to an end. It wasn’t a sudden end, but gradual. Ponies would shuffle out the door, exhausted from doing whatever it is ponies do at a party with a loud bass line in the background.

Jay hadn’t even noticed the decrease in party-ers; he had been too busy stuffing his face with the delicious party treats that somehow kept restocking themselves in a blur of pink. Why look a gift horse in the mouth?

By the time Jay actually did stop and look around the room, he was almost in the advanced stages of a food coma. Never in his life had he had so many wonderful pastries as he had that night. He had noticed that the library was now empty, with Twilight and her five friends being the exception. He recognized them all- Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack and Pinkie Pie- but having only briefly met most of them, he didn’t really put too much urgency in getting off the of the floor where he suffered and seeing what they were doing. For some reason, the floor made a great cushion.

Almost hitting full on coma, a belching noise followed by a green flame shot into the air from the middle of the six’s group. That caught his attention: his ears perked up with interest as he tried to regain his attentiveness.

Spike was standing in the center of their small ring, holding an elegant scroll bound in a decorative ribbon. This sight of it made Twilight tremble with anticipation. Jay watched as she snatched the scroll from Spike’s claw, unravelled the ribbon, and pulled it open. She quickly scanned the page and her eyes grew wide with excitement. She spoke to her group of friends in a hushed tone, occasionally peeking in Jay’s direction. As she finished, the group was basically bouncing off the wall with giddiness.

‘Are they all normally this weird?’ Jay thought with a mixture of confusion and amusement.

At this point, he decided the mental strain it required to jump several feet to the other side of the room would be worth it if he was able to quell his curiosity. Jay appeared right behind Twilight, hoping to read over her shoulder.

With his sudden appearance, Twilight slammed the scroll closed, stopping Jay from even reading a word.

“Sooo.. what’s goin’ on?” Jay asked, now fully confused.

Twilight turned to him with an all-business expression.

“Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are coming down from Canterlot.” she explained.

“Huh?”

“And they want to talk with you.”

“Why?”

“Because I told them all about you when you were enjoying the party.” Twilight said with a smug tone.

“Why would you do-”

Before he could even finish, the door flew open and in walked two very tall ponies accompanied by two guards in golden armor. The tallest one had a white coat and a flowing, multi-colored mane and extra long tail. The mark on her flank was that of a sun with beams radiating off of it that appeared to be waving. The shorter one was a dark blue with a mane and tail of translucent space filled with stars. Staring into it would have made for one crazy trip. Her flank mark was that of a crescent moon, which appeared to be surrounded by a black void. Strangely enough, the symbol also appeared on her chest. Jay also noticed that this was the first time he had seen anypony with wings and a horn. He also noticed the crowns atop each of their heads.

Everypony immediately dropped to a bow, acknowledging the two rulers. Everypony except Jay, that is. He had absolutely no idea what was going on.

“Rise, my faithful student.” The taller white one said, her voice a mixture of grace and command.

Twilight instantly rose to her hooves and shot forward, hugging the taller of the two.

“Princess Celestia!” Twilight exclaimed, “How have you-”

Before Twilight could get any farther, Jay couldn’t hold back any more. All the food he had ingested was itching to come back up, in a less-than-polite way. Jay let out a monumental belch. It was truly a sight, and sound, to behold.

**********

Vinyl Scratch was laying on her couch, snuggled against her lover, Octavia. The party had worn the DJ out as she had blasted some of her best tunes and she was beginning to nod off.

Octavia was just glad that she had come home without getting into too much trouble.

All of a sudden, Octavia watched Vinyl jerk her head upwards, fully awake, ears perked. Vinyl looked around the living room, as if scanning for something.

Octavia watched her with a hint of worry. “Are you alright?” she asked, her voice prim and proper; that of a high standards pony.

“Yeah, yeah.” Vinyl said, digging at her ear with her hoof. “Actually, I don’t know. I feel..... funny.... I think someone just broke my record.”

**********

‘Oh damn.’

Jay looked around the room, noting each of the different expressions on each ponies face.

Pinkie and Rainbow Dash were literally forced to tears as they tried to stop the oncoming laughter.

Applejack sat there with a look of feigned horror. She would never admit that she actually found the situation hilarious, especially because of the pony that caused it.

Twilight and Rarity sat with a look of actual horror, which made the scenario that much more funny.

The shorter of the two princesses was visibly pissed off.

The taller, white one was complacent, her face giving nothing away.

“And what, subject, was that?” asked the shorter, darker one.

“Heh, uhh, indigestion?” Jay offered with the most innocent smile he could muster plastered on his face.

His answer did nothing to satisfy her anger. Before anypony else could speak, the tall, white princess (‘Oh, what did Twilight call her? Princess... Mole- no Celestia! Right.’) cleared her throat, commanding the attention of everypony in the room, then turned directly to Jay.

“My sister and I would like you to come down to Canterlot to discuss some things.”

“Is it really necessary?” Jay asked, unsure.

“Yes.” Judging from the tone of Princess Celestia’s voice, she was, also, not amused.

“Well, ok then. I think.” At this point, Jay just wanted to disappear. He knew he was fully capable of doing just so, but he figured that jumping away would be an extremely bad idea.

“Do you need us, too, Princess?” Twilight piped up.

“I don’t see why not.” Princess Celestia said, smiling to Twilight.

‘This can’t be good.’ Jay thought with a touch of panic.

Princess Celestia then turned to one of the standing guards and whispered something into his ear. He nodded his head, waved the other guard out, and exited himself.

And with that, the two princesses lowered their heads, their horns aglow, and a bright light filled the room.

**********

The next two hours were spent demonstrating to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna how Jay’s power worked in a large throne room, taken straight out of a medieval story book. Both of the royal figures found his ability extremely interesting. Jay showed that he could complete small jumps by jumping back and forth several times in the room and showed that he could jump to just about anywhere he wanted. The long jump also proved that he could jump people as well as himself. He demonstrated both of these things by jumping back to Twilight’s library, picking Spike up with his teeth (much to his chagrin), and jumping right back to the throne room in a couple of seconds.

Rainbow Dash had even stepped forward and spoke her story; another of those slight blushes appearing when she started on the part where Jay had saved her from “becoming a pancake”.

When all was said and done, the Princesses excused the ponies, halting Jay as he tried to leave with them.

Princess Celestia motioned to a guard for the doors to the throne room to be shut as soon as Jay’s six companions departed the room.

She then waved the guards out, who exited out of a smaller door. Jay, Princess Celestia, and Princess Luna remained.

Once again, Jay’s mind went straight to: ‘Oh shit’.

Princess Celestia turned to Jay and studied him, another one of those soul gazing stares that everypony in this land seems to have mastered.

After leaving Jay feeling exposed and dirty, Princess Celestia finally spoke.

“Do you want to go home?”

Jay thought for a second, not fully grasping the meaning behind the question. “Well I don’t really have a home right now, Twilight’s been letting me stay with her.”

Princess Luna stepped forward, looking annoyed. “What my sister means is; wouldst thou wish to return to thy own world?”

Something in Jay’s mind clicked. Somehow, these two royal sisters knew who he was.

“Er, so you two know who I am? Where I’m from?” he asked hesitantly.

Both nodded their heads.

“So you must know I wasn’t originally-” Jay motioned to himself, waving his hooves around him, “pony...-y.”

Both nodded their head once more.

“How?” he demanded.

Princess Celestia was the one to speak this time. “Not a whole lot gets by us in the land we rule.” she stated, chuckling to herself.

“When you first came into our world, my sister and I both felt an immense power surge. So immense, that we instantly knew that nothing local could have caused it.”

Princess Luna stepped forward, taking over the conversation. “But it was a power source we could identify; a source identified in our archives.” This time she spoke normally, not a hint of the Shakespeare-esque voice from before.

“And now that you just confirmed our suspicions, we ask you, do you wish to go home?” Celestia finished.

‘Sneaky...’

No, he didn’t want to go back. Here was the world, so peaceful, so harmonic. Every day in this world was another day he wasn’t reminded of his abandonment. True, Jay hadn’t found his home just yet, but in his world, his actual world, he was supposed to be dead. Staying just made more sense...... among other things.

Celestia nodded her head in an accepting manner. It took Jay a couple more seconds to realize what had just happened.

“You heard all that?”

Princess Celestia laughed. “Being the celestial ruler of a land of magic tends to have a couple perks!”

“Ok, so what happens now? Do I go on, live my life, and just forget this ever happened?”

Princess Celestia pondered this for a moment before answering. “If that’s what you choose, then yes, that’s what will happen. For now, I will permit you to stay with my faithful student, Twilight, and I will let her know of the arrangements.”

Princess Luna let herself be heard, once more. “But be warned, human, if thou wish to return to thy own world, let it be known now. After thee third day, thou cann’st never return to thy realm; thou willst remain here.” Luna's voice had re-adopted that olde tyme pronunciation.

The consequences of Jay’s future decision hit him like a brick wall. This was it: his next choice would decide the fate of his life. Luna had hammered that realization in deep. Everything in his past life would be just that: a past life.

‘I wonder if anyone back there knows I’m gone.’ he thought solemnly. ‘Did I die to them? Or just disappear? And did I really leave anyone behind?’

His mind raced to process all of this information, which would, in turn, decide his fate.

Jay sat and pondered this for several minutes, the time ticking on. His mind running through the pros and cons of each world. It definitely was not a choice made everyday.

Eventually the pros of Equestria started to outweigh the pros of his old world and a semblance of an answer began to form.

“Well, human?” Luna interrupted, breaking his train of thought.

Jay stared at the two large ponies for a moment before giving his answer:

“Yes. I want to stay here.” Jay said with a smile.

Princess Celestia bowed her head. “So be it.”

Jay took this as his cue to leave and quickly excused himself. He turned towards the large doors that separated the throne room from a corridor that his companions had been ushered out of. As he approached, two guards threw open the doors, allowing Rainbow Dash, Twilight, and Applejack to stumble forward. This could only mean that they had had their ears pressed to the door, listening in.

When the three recovered, Jay paused to look at them, to see if their expressions gave anything away.

They did.

Applejack had that ‘I knew it’ face, probably in regards to that “Ah know you’re still hiding something” comment from earlier.

Twilight had the look of a small child on Christmas day as they looked at all their presents under the tree; she was in complete, scientific heaven and couldn’t wait to probe Jay’s brain about this new world she wasn’t supposed to hear about.

Rainbow Dash looked completely stumped. “What the hays a human? I thought you were Jay!” she blurted out.

“I, uhm... you weren’t supposed to hear all that.” Jay managed. “Twilight, I s’pose I’ll see you back at the tree.” And with that, Jay jumped, appearing right in the guest bedroom of Twilight’s library.

He threw himself on the bed, and quite literally, passed out.

Rainbow Dash, on the other hand, was not satisfied. She stormed into the throne room, demanding answers from both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.

All the two princesses would reveal, however, was that Jay was not of this world. Rainbow would have to get the rest of the story from Jay himself. Rainbow Dash left with a huff, opting to fly back to Ponyville instead of teleporting with Twilight. Probably not the best choice, but Dash wanted some time to think about what to say to Jay. Whatever she had to say, Jay would not be getting much sleep when she got there.

Dash had no idea why she took so much interest in this pony; she’s never been this interested in anything before, but she was determined to figure this pony out. She flew off, heading in the direction of Twilight’s library.

**********

Somewhere in the Everfree forest, there lay a small clearing. There was absolutely nothing special about it as there were hundreds just like it scattered throughout the forest. The trees that surrounded it were just normal, Everfree trees, that shed normal leaves and sticks which lay, normally, on the floor of the clearing.

Normal.

That is, until a spark appeared right in the center. A burst of bright light shot through the clearing, holding steady for several seconds, before collapsing in on itself before returning back to normal.

Normal.

A Recurring Sensation

“People who live in glass houses should learn to shut the fuck up.”

~Ernest Cline - Ready Player One

The two ponies sat in silence, watching Celestia’s sun fall. Both of them harboring feelings that neither fully understood.

Jay was completely lost in the sunset and never noticed Rainbow Dash scoot herself ever so closer to him.

There was something about this partially flightless pegasus that made Rainbow Dash feel comfortable- like she didn’t have to prove herself to him, but still wanted to try anyway. She enjoyed the aura of self-confidence that Jay emitted; it was almost as if he wanted to take on the world and somehow he knew he would win.

Like when he accepted Rainbow Dash’s race when they first met....

‘Wait a second!’ she thought to herself, ‘He couldn’t even fly then and he still wanted to keep his ability secret! I would have left him behind in the dust!’

So why accept her offer in the first place? Jay reminded Dash of herself.

But, perhaps, his most redeeming quality was his demeanor. He was so humble about everything. He knew that he had a special ability, but he didn’t go around flaunting it.

‘Like I would.’ Rainbow Dash thought solemnly.

‘Yes, he’s definitely an odd pony.’ Dash concluded.

Jay, still lost in his own world, was staring intently out at the sun, noticing it fell faster here than it ever did back in his world.

‘What a perfect way to the end the day,’ he thought, ‘A relaxing park, a colorful sunset, a colorful... mare,’ Jay smiled at that part, ‘an evil looking bolt of lightning stemming from the forest... Did I mention the sunset already? Yeah, I think I did.’

Jay sat for a few moments, his eyelids starting to droop as the days’ activity started to take its toll on him. His brain finally caught up to him and his eyes shot open.

“Lightning?!” He shouted out, startling Rainbow Dash next to him.

Normally, Jay wouldn’t have cared too much about lightning, but the fact that there was hardly a cloud in the sky, and that the lightning seemed to travel upwards was a bit suspicious to him.

Just a bit.

“Uhhh... what?” Rainbow Dash asked, looking very confused.

Jay pointed his hoof in the direction of the Everfree forest. “I saw a lightning bolt! Over there in the forest!”

Of course Rainbow Dash hadn’t seen anything, her attention had been focused elsewhere, but Jay had clearly noticed it as it shot in front of the sunset, breaking his stare.

Dash scooted away from him. “I didn’t see anything.”

Of course that didn’t matter. Jay knew what he saw, and although he didn’t want to believe it, he knew the implications that the lightning bolt brought.

Jay was glad he had been given a white coat, because if it was possible to make white, white-er, Jay would have been the whitest pony in Equestria, as his face had drained of all blood and his stomach had turned over on itself.

As much as he didn’t want to believe what it could mean, he knew what it was, and he knew what he had to do.

Jay hopped off the bench. “I have to go.” He said in a monotone voice. Any and all emotion he had previously held had drained away as the situation dawned on him.

“Wait!” Rainbow Dash looked both surprised and angry. “Where the hay do ya’ think you’re goin’?”

Jay couldn’t put his hoof on it, but she had sounded a little....hurt?

“I just have to take care of something real fast,” he said, turning to get a good look at the entrance of the Everfree forest as he prepared his jump. He didn’t know exactly where the lightning had sprung up from, but he knew it had to have left some trace of its existence and Jay would search all through the forest to erase all traces of it, and whatever, or whomever, it might have produced.

Dash sprung up from the bench, hovering in mid-air. “Well then, I’m coming with you!” Jay noticed it was more of a demand than a statement.

“That’s not going to happen.” Jay laughed sardonically, turning back to face her.

“Well it’s not your choice!” Rainbow Dash shouted, growing angrier.

Jay smiled and jumped, appearing directly behind her and allowing him a good view of the forest.

As Rainbow Dash tried to square up with him, Jay jumped again, materializing at the entrance of the Everfree forest. He let out a long sigh and began his search of the forest, unknowing of whatever danger that may await within.

**********

Rainbow Dash turned in a complete circle. He had really done it. He had tricked her, and then left without her.

‘Oh he is so not getting away!’ She turned toward the Everfree forest, readied herself, and shot forward, flying as fast as her wings could push her. ‘And when I catch him he’s going to be in for it.’

**********

‘This walking long distance shit sucks...’ Jay thought bitterly. His short but exhausting trip through the forest was already leaving its mark on him.

As the sun fell even further, Jay’s visibility had plummeted. Stumbling around the forest floor, he couldn’t help but meet every stray branch, root, crevice and rock that had presented itself. He had been dinged, bruised, cut and slashed and the wear and tear on his coat was apparent, but he kept going. On top of that, he had gotten no rest the previous night, courtesy of Rainbow Dash, and he didn’t know how much farther he could make it.

Jay had been searching for what felt like hours, but he really had no idea how long he had been out in the forest, having lost track of time as soon as he had entered. All he knew was that the sun had passed its glorious sunset stage and now it was, ‘dark as shit out.’

Putting the constant assault of inanimate objects aside, Jay made completely sure that he was moving as quietly as he possibly could. He had no idea what the lightning could have released into this world and as far as he knew, it could be anywhere. It could even be stalking him now as he was lost in thought, lurking in the shadows, poised to strike when it deemed necessary.

If Jay died this night by some unknown entity, let it be known that he had at least tried to sneak around it.

But if it were Jay doing the stalking and if his target was in the same condition as Jay was right now, that target would have already been dead. Battered and tired , Jay was sure he was an easy target for any predator and the fact that he wasn’t dead at the moment eased his fears of being hunted for the time being.

As he trudged on, his mind couldn’t help but wander through the possibilities of what could be waiting for him and as every possibility shot through his head, only one ever repeated itself over and over.

The Templars had found him.

He didn’t know how it was possible, but they had succeeded. To what extent, however, was the question.

**********

Rainbow Dash had caught up to Jay easily enough. He was moving slow and trying to be quiet. As stealthy as Jay thought he was, Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but chuckle to herself realizing that he was about as stealthy as Pinkie Pie around any form of sweet.

But as the forest had its way with him, she couldn’t help but worry as his coat started to mat with blood from the various scrapes he had acquired and as more and more bruises started to appear on him. Rainbow Dash didn’t want to make herself known, fearing Jay would likely be angry at her, but she’d reveal herself if absolutely necessary.

Even though she hadn’t been able to see what Jay had seen, she was sure he was hiding something again and was content with following him.

**********

Jay was on the verge of giving up and jumping back to Twilight’s house. Several more hours had passed and he was still empty hooved.

The thought of the Templars being able to track him was deeply disturbing and because it could be them, he kept going. Had it been anything else, he definitely would have given up his search long ago.

‘The Templars.... and maybe Rainbow Dash.’ He smiled at that. He had to admit, she did seem pretty great, but if the Templars got him, he’d never have the chance to act on his growing feelings.

He had to stay focused.

And just as soon as he thought about focus, his front hoof caught the lip of a small crevice in the forest floor and he tumbled forward, smashing right into a branch that managed to leave a deep gouge on his cheek.

Jay righted himself and looked around. He had landed in a strange open area and immediately noticed that the ground was scorched and black, all plant life having been burned away. He looked up and saw that the tree tops were thick enough to blot out the sky, save for a large hole that appeared directly in the center of the tops of the trees, looking like it had been created by burning the area around it. The hole allowed a sliver of moonlight to grace the forest floor and Jay was grateful that there was any light at all.

But the most startling of all was the large, electrified portal that sat dead center in the clearing. Jay had to wonder why that portal wasn’t the first thing he noticed, but shrugged, telling himself the moon was in his eyes.

He knew for sure, though, that it was a portal. Jay could make out faint, distorted images of a world he had left on the other side.

Jay looked on at the portal in disgust. Not only did he know that it was of Templar design, but he couldn’t help but think how unnatural looking it was.

When Jay jumped, he melted with reality. He couldn’t quite explain it, but his jumps just seemed to flow as he blended with the fabrics of space and time. The eyesore he now looked upon was different. It was as if someone had forcefully ripped a hole into reality, fraying the edges and scarring the universe. There was nothing about this portal that flowed. It’s as if its creator punched a hole into existence without a second thought of how it would affect anything else. It was unnatural.

Jay sat there, watching the portal, unsure of what to do. At first glance, it appeared that the portal had only opened. Nothing had come through it, at least, not yet.

Jay approached the portal, getting as close as he dared and looking for some sort of shut-off. He knew that because it wasn’t a natural portal, some form of machine must be keeping it open.

He leaned in, his snout inches from the edge of the crackling portal.

As soon as Jay got close, the portal flashed and the ground shook. The shimmering electric edges started to pulsate, speeding up like a strobe light. Jay started to back away instinctively.

As soon as the portal started flashing, it stopped and it snapped shut, fading from existence. There was a snap and a sound that reminded Jay of the uncoiling of rope. Something akin to a net shot from the fading portal scar and hit Jay, sending him flying back into a tree. The net had wrapped itself around Jay and when it hit the tree, it locked into place, successfully pinning him to the the bark.

A split second after the sound of the locks being engaged, the net electrified, sending jolts of electricity through Jay’s entire body causing him to fade in and out of reality, his body flashing between existence and nonexistence as his jumping powers were activated by the electricity. Jay was helpless.

Jay’s last coherent thought was: ‘What... is it with these... people and... electricity?!’

His vision started to blur and he started to black out. A rainbow blur filled the remnants of his sight before he lost consciousness.

**********

Rainbow Dash had seen everything from her position in the sky. When the portal started flashing, she was blinded by the light and as the strobe sped up, she began to feel nauseous. Her wings started to flap erratically as she struggled to keep herself in the air.

Even when the flashing stopped, she still had trouble coming to her senses. She heard the uncoiling noise and the cry Jay gave out when the net electrified.

It was suddenly clear to Rainbow Dash that if anything happened to the pony in the clearing, she would never forgive herself and her life wouldn’t be the same. She had only known this pony for a very short time, but she knew she needed him, just as he needed her right at this moment.

Rainbow Dash dropped to the clearing and immediately spotted Jay pinned to the tree. His body was flashing and fading and Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but stare, horrified. She rushed to his side and began tearing at tree bark, trying to break the locks.

The more electricity that passed through Jay, the more hopeless Rainbow Dash started to feel. Tears started to well in her eyes as the locks held to the tree, but Dash kept tearing at the bark, unwilling to give up.

She finally tore away the bark being held by the net’s locks and watched as the net disengaged and fell to the ground and as soon as the electricity cut off, Jay fell along with the net, still out.

Rainbow Dash flew to where he fell and started to shake him, hoping that he wasn’t fully gone, the tears falling from her eyes in full force. “No! Come on! Stay with me... please!”

Dash looked around frantically, trying to spot somepony or something to help her and, finding nothing, she wrapped her forehooves around Jay and threw him over her back.

She positioned herself to take off on the ground, and launched herself into the air, aiming for the scorched circle in the tree tops.

The Time of Day

“I believe one thing holds it all together. Everything I’ve ever done was with excitement, because I wanted to do it, because I loved doing it.” - Ray Bradbury, Hilarity Ensues (Tucker Max)

Darkness, once again.

Jay woke to find himself on his side, his front and rear hooves sprawled out in front of him. He tried to rise earlier than he was apparently intended to and a crippling pain shot through his back and neck.

‘Well, can’t do that,’ he thought with a groan.

With standing out of the question, Jay managed to roll onto his belly, tucking his legs under him for maximum comfort and even doing that left him wanting to shift positions again.

As soon as he found the best possible arrangement for his limbs, Jay looked around. He noticed he was surrounded by nothing.

Again.

Jay sighed loudly. ‘This darkness thing gets old as hell.’

He thrust his snout into the air and inhaled deeply, testing the scent of the darkness.

‘Just as I thought! Nuthin’....’

Jay’s ears perked up alerting him to a faint beeping noise. It was a noise that one had to really concentrate on, else it went unnoticed.

beep..........beep..........beep..........beep..........beep..........

It was a sharp, high pitched tone, with about a three second pause between each tone. It was constant, rhythmic and extremely annoying. At first, Jay didn’t notice it, but it was one of those kinds of sounds that once it was noticed, he couldn’t un-notice it- but at the same time, it was like he had heard the sound before. He couldn’t place where or when or even what it was, but something in his brain had recognized the sound and was now working to call up his memories.

He decided it was best to just shrug it off, thinking to himself that if it was really that important, he would have remembered what it was.

Once Jay was fully acquainted with his surroundings, which, in truth, wasn’t that hard, he decided he would try his hoof at standing upright again. With trembling legs, he managed to stand, and the absence of the searing pain was considered a pleasant surprise.

With nothing left to do, he spun himself full circle. Repeatedly. Feeling like a school foal, he couldn’t help but giggle. Really, what would you do in the situation?

The air rushed through his mane as he spun faster and faster, the unchanging darkness whipping passed him. This spinning was more entertaining than it should be, but he didn’t care. It was a way to kill time in a world where there was nothing but.

For a moment, Jay could have sworn that the darkness brightened, a hint of a rainbow appearing as he spun, but as soon as he noticed it, the rainbow tint was gone, replaced with a red dash, directly at eye level.

Either he was encircled by the dash, or it spun around him, maintaining its centered eye level position. As Jay slowed himself, his mirth fading, he noticed the dash were eyes. Those red eyes, looking directly at them.

They burned brighter than last time, more intense, as their stare bore into him. Jay could almost feel the stare penetrating his coat and into the skin under the soft fur. He shifted uncomfortably and stepped to the side, but the eyes moved with him, unchanging.

He couldn’t take it anymore. “What?!” he screamed, “What do you want?!”

His voice sounded unfamiliar to him and he noticed an echo that carried the sound deep into nothingness, quieting as it went farther and farther.

As soon as the echo was out of earshot, the droning of that wretched beeping returned, louder than before. Even more annoying to Jay than previously, as well.

The eyes shifted and Jay’s gaze snapped back to them as his attention was drawn away from the beeping. They appeared larger than before and Jay assumed that meant they moved closer to him. Not being able to see what they were attached to left him in the dark (no pun intended) as to where their true position was.

Jay laughed nervously, unsure as to what he should do. Once again, the laugh carried into the darkness and the eyes moved even closer. Jay would only have to extend his foreleg and he would be able to touch the eyes.

It was probably the worst moment to sneeze, but the urge came upon Jay. He couldn’t help himself as he let loose, the sneeze sounding like a gunshot in a confined space. When he refocused on the area in front of him again, the eyes were there, this time they had moved to the end of his snout.

Jay could have sworn that he could feel the breath coming from the being.

He tried to back up, but the eyes moved with him, always staying on the edge of his snout, unchanging, staring.

Giving up, Jay stared back. What seemed like a year had only amounted to a few seconds as he continued to stare back at the seemingly glowing eyes. He noticed the beeping increasing to an almost uncomfortable pitch, but he didn’t dare break his gaze again.

The beeping filled his ears as he struggled to keep his concentration, afraid of what the eyes might do if they got any closer.

The eyes appeared to notice his struggle and shifted diagonally, like the bearer was cocking its head out of curiosity.

“What is it?!” Jay screamed, his mind on the brink of madness.

The eyes widened a bit, as if shocked that he spoke, then, they blinked, still at an angle. It was then that Jay realized that ‘they’ were aware of his presence.

The darkness receded, replaced by a blinding mixture of colors, strangely resembling a rainbow.

**********

The first of Jay’s senses to return was his hearing. That (Faust damned) beeping filled his ears and Jay couldn’t help himself from thinking how many bullets he would put into the source if he could.

The next sense he noticed that had returned was smell. Oddly enough, his snout felt clogged by some obstruction that was alien to his body.

Next was touch and taste. He smacked his mouth a few times, trying his best to moisten it and rid himself of his nasty cottonmouth. His efforts were in vain and he quickly gave up when he noticed the sharp pain that wracked his body.

Everything ached.

Jay was afraid that if he moved, he would break. He also noticed various points in his forelegs that felt a little weighted. It wasn’t a pressing weight, but it was noticeable.

Lastly, came his sight. Jay’s eyelids felt extremely heavy and the act of opening them was a struggle in itself. He strained his eyes to bid his command and in doing so, was rewarded with an extremely blurred image of a pony’s face directly over him.

“Mrhm... R-Rainbow.. Dash?”

Jay saw the figure turn away from him. “Doctor, he’s awake!”

There was, what sounded like, a muffled, scuffling of hooves, signalling the approach of a pony.

Through his blurry vision, Jay watched as the door to the room opened and a caramel colored pony outlined in white strode in. The newcomer picked up a brown, squarish thing, paused for a moment, then made his way to Jay’s side.

There was a click and Jay’s vision was filled with a blinding white light, passing left and right over his eyes.

Another click. The light in the room darkened, and a few seconds later, Jay’s sight started to return to normal.

Now fully aware, he noticed the same caramel colored pony peering down at him; his analytical eyes working over every part of Jay’s face.

“Erhhmmm.... hi?” Jay groaned.

“Oh! I’m sorry. My name is Doctor Stable. How are you feeling?”

Jay tried to sit up, but the series of monitors and machines he was connected to pulled him back to the bed, causing the doctor to shoot him a disapproving glance.

“Now please, relax. You’re in a bad way,” the doctor said, his calm voice relaxing Jay slightly.

The previous nights activities floated back into Jay’s memory, frowning as he struggled to remember where he was and how exactly he had gotten there.

He looked around, taking in the room for the first time.

The room itself was unassuming; just a default, sterile white walled hospital room. A window on the far side of the room gave a comforting look at Ponyville. Other than that, the room was just a room. Jay was definitely going to have to get out of there, fast, lest the boredom get to him.

Doctor Stable took another look at his chart and started to relay the information. Unfortunately, his words fell on deaf ears, as Jay had long stopped (more like never started) listening. The implications of the other nights events were clogging his mind and he was unable to focus on much else.

The Templars had found him. This changed everything and sitting here in this room wasn’t helping anything, either. Yep, it was decided, since he was almost sure none of his pain was crippling or life threatening, Jay was going to make a run for it back to Twilight’s guest room the first chance he got alone.

Doctor Stable finished his overview and left the room. The pony that Jay had woken to had already left, probably realizing that they had better things to do than sit there and listen to the doctor as he rambled on.

Now that he was alone, Jay tore the IV out of his arm, feeling the pinch as the needle left the skin under his fur, leaving the spot a bit sore.

Reaching up to his snout, he felt the tube that was stuffed in his nose. With an intake of breath, he ripped the nasal oxygen tube from his nose, feeling the smooth plastic pulled up through his esophagus and out through his nose.

He immediately gagged as soon as the tube came out. Jay remembered the time he had drank a raw egg for protein and he remembered the slimy, gooey feeling of the egg as it had slithered down his throat. He also remembered how hard it was to keep himself from throwing up because of the feeling egg. There was no doubt in his mind that he was going to have to stop himself from throwing up because of the tube.

Looking at the heart monitor cable hooked to his chest, he knew that pulling it would cause a flatline, which would inevitably cause the doctors and nurses to come rushing into his room, foiling his escape plan- and he definitely didn’t want to try jumping with a wire on him.

Just before Jay could do anything else, he heard two voices on the other side of his door. Both of them sounded very familiar to him, one more so than the other. He smiled to himself as he recognized Rainbow Dash’s unmistakable, scratchy yet flowing voice.

The second voice spoke up, eliciting a giggle from Rainbow Dash from behind the door. A moment later, the sound of hooves approached his door and he quickly abandoned his escape, for now, tossing the now stray IV and oxygen tubes behind the plastic headboard of the bed. The blasted heart monitor would have to wait.

Rainbow Dash’s head peered through the door just as Jay settled back into position on his bed. He turned to her and faintly smiled, she was certainly a welcome sight. Rainbow Dash pushed herself through the door and trotted to his bedside, a look of worry had replaced her usual mask of confidence.

“Uh, hey,” she says, as her right foreleg comes up to scratch the back of her head.

“Hey.”

‘I’m in a hospital and that’s all she can think of? Ouch.’

Rainbow Dash looks around the room, avoiding eye contact, as Jay looks on at her expectantly.

She pauses and stares at something in the corner of the room, a sly smile spreading on her lips.

“So, I heard you asked about me,” she says coyly.

Jay’s face feels like it had been lit on fire. He knew his fierce blush couldn’t have gone unnoticed.

“Uh, heh, yeah,” Jay managed to stammer out, “I, uh.... Yeah, I did,” he finished, resigning himself to whatever fate had in store for him. He was pretty sure that she’d just figure him a creep, because, in all honesty, it seemed kind of creepy to blurt out her name after waking from a mini-coma.

It didn’t help at all that the heart rate monitor started emitting beeps faster and faster- surely Rainbow Dash would notice it. Jay made a vow that he would end that machine.

And notice it she did. Rainbow Dash took in the beaming blush on Jay’s face and his audible, ever-increasing heart rate. Her coy smile grew, exuberating a happiness near a Pinkie Pie level.

And there was the faint blush of her own that Jay noticed under the fine furs on her cheeks.

That was when he noticed Rainbow Dash had moved closer, obliterating the space between them.

She brought her head up to his and nuzzled him affectionately before whispering into his ear: “You had me worried... for a moment, uh, anyways.”

She gave him a quick, but solid, peck on the cheek, and on that note, she bolted out the door of his room, stringing words together as she flew out.

“I-have-to-talk-to-you-later-when-you’re-feeling-better-ok-bye!”

The monitor was beeping so fast, it could have been mistaken as a flatline.

The spot on Jay’s cheek where Rainbow Dash had kissed him burned as he reached a hoof up to feel it.

For now, he would remain where he was, a small voice in the back of his head telling him he was only going to stay there for Rainbow Dash.

He let his head hit the pillow as he lay there in his bed. In the hospital.

There was a new world. There were the Templars. There was Rainbow Dash.

Only one thought ran through his head:

‘What the hay have I gotten myself into?’

A Problem

Location: [DATA EXPUNGED], Earth

Site: T-SF-[DATA EXPUNGED]

Sector: [DATA EXPUNGED]

Designation: OVERWATCH Complex

The small central office sat approximately 70 feet below ground. The blank, concrete walls of the room left little to the imagination. Windows were a non-existent commodity underground and He hated the fluorescent bulbs that came standard in the facility, preferring to leave His office in the dark, with the glow from His computer monitor being the only light. He sat in a thick, leather chair, back to the monitor, facing the wall behind his desk, lost in thought.

A heavy, aluminum desk sat in the center, facing away from the door, with a computer screen and stacks of papers. The only object on the desk showing any hint of His personality was a picture frame that held a picture of his family, but for as long as anyone in the facility had worked there, they only ever remembered that picture laying on His desk, face down. No one knew why, but no one dared to question Him.

Many would agree that He was a harsh, calculating man. Some would go as far as sociopathic. His methods, while very effective, bordered on psychotic. Those who had a problem with His methods of dealing with... ‘invalids’, were quickly taken out of His facility and reassigned.

‘Invalids’. He smirked at the name. Of course He had come up with it. It helped with the process if you thought your target was no longer a person.

A door in the room opened quietly, allowing the light from the connecting hallway to flood in, before being closed. The staff knew better than to leave the door open- and to flip the light switch was unheard of. The new arrival cleared his throat, gaining His attention.

He turned in His chair to face the arrival. It took all of the agents’ willpower not to flinch as He turned (he even went as far as to thank whatever power drove Him to keep the room in the dark, knowing the darkness did well to shroud his facial expressions.), the glow from His computer accentuating His features, making Him look like the spawn of a nightmare.

Two deep scars ran up the left side of His face, starting at the corner of the right side of His mouth, moving over the nose and left eye and finally extending passed the left ear. His left eye was shrouded in a white film and His left ear was mangled beyond recognition.

He called the scars memories.

The staff called it nasty as f--.

The agent began, knowing not to keep Him waiting.

“We were unsuccessful at keeping the portal open, sir.”

“How much longer until we can get the machine operational again?” His deep, baritone voice filled the room, calm, yet commanding.

The agent hesitated, only for a moment, before replying.

“Unknown at this time, sir. Per your orders, we fired at the, uh, pony, as soon as we recognized it. We believe the SS drive couldn’t handle matter transfer and shut itself down.” The agent took a deep breath before continuing, “We confirmed the hit with the target and it appeared to be alone before the drive shut down.”

The agent could feel the disappointment from Him. His very gaze felt like it was burning into the agents’ skin.

“Very well.” His tone gave nothing away. “As soon the drive is operational, report to me.”

“Yessir.”

The agent bowed before exiting, breathing a sigh of relief as he left through the door, thankful that He didn’t implement one of His staff ‘reassignments’.

Unbeknownst to the agent, He sat at his desk, His hands clamped on the lip of the underside of His desk, out of sight. His knuckles were white with tension and as He released His grip, the indents of his fingers remained imbedded into the aluminum.

He folded his hands together and turned His chair back, facing the wall, this time taking in the blood red cross that adorned it.

He knew his target.

He was God’s right hand.

He smiled to himself.

‘How can I miss?’

**********

“Wake up!”

Jay was unceremoniously slapped across the face, rousing him from his slumber. He looked up to see a cyan hoof finish its follow through. If there had been a third party opinion, the slap probably would have been labelled ‘graceful’.

He had slept deeply, the toll of the past couple of days had finally caught up to him. Jay had taken an immense amount of electricity which had caused him to pass out and, aside from several burns across his body in the shape of a net, he appeared to be fine, but Doctor Stable insisted that Jay stay the night, just to be safe.

“The Doctor says you’re free to go!”

Rainbow Dash. Of course she would do that.

Dash had spent as much time as she could hanging around his room. She would sit in the corner on one of the cushioned, wooden chairs and fiddle with everything in sight. When Jay had addressed her, her wings fluttered a bit before regaining composure. It seemed like all she would talk about was how awesome she was (for saving Jay), and how the Wonderbolts were even more awesome. When Jay had asked what a Wonderbolt was, Dash gasped like he had just admitted to killing a puppy. She had then proceeded to lecture him on the finer points of the amazing Wonderbolts. In all honesty, Jay didn’t mind the company, as long as he didn’t have to speak a lot, he had been way too tired for that. Rainbow Dash had that area covered anyways.

When Dash wasn’t around his room, she was in the hospital cafeteria looking for something to eat, but she was never gone for too long.

By the time official visiting hours ended, Dash had been reluctant to leave. Jay had stifled his laughter as two ‘murses’ (male nurses) had to escort her out as she fought tooth and hoof to stay. Jay had heard her shout something about coming back, but he had been far too tired to concentrate.

And now here she was, her hoof print clearly visible on the side of his face.

“Why?” Jay moaned out.

“Because you weren’t waking up that’s why!”

“So you slapped me?”

Dash shrugged. “Should’a woke up.”

Jay let out a sigh. He noticed the heart monitor wire was gone now, courtesy of the attending nurse. He pushed himself off the bed, testing each of his legs before he was confident enough to take a step.

That done, he looked to Dash.

“Ok, I’m awake. What’s up?”

‘Nothin’ really. Just wanted to wake ya’,” she replied with a shrug. “I’ve gotta’ go report for weather duty, sooo.... yeah..”

Dash turned and shot out the window before anything else could be said.

“Uhhh.. ok, cool. You do that.” Jay said, more to himself than anyone else.

He looked around the room one last time, trying to remember if there was anything left he had to do. When nothing came to mind, Jay figured he would just head back to Twilight’s.

Steadying himself, he hopped into the air before jumping while airborne. He figured if anyone was watching, they were welcome to a little grace. Jay appeared a few feet above his bed in Twilight’s guest room, just as intended. He fell the rest of the way, allowing gravity to do the work and landed with a soft thud into the bed sheets. That never gets old.

For a moment, he lay still; belly-down, hooves sprawled out in all directions, snout buried into the pillows, and for that moment, Jay felt lost. He had no true purpose in this world- none that he could see anyway, and he was unsure of what he could do next. Would he just have to go about living his life like every common pony he had seen? Would his whole life amount to harvesting carrots like the orange maned one, or delivering mail, or any other menial task?

For such a new world, it sure reminded him so much of his own world. One where he had somewhere to at least call home.

Jay knew homesickness was setting in, but with nothing else but home coming to mind, he couldn’t avoid it.

He let out a sigh and tried to sink deeper into the bed, to no avail. His old world, it seemed, did not want to let him go, as well. The damned Templars were definitely a thorn in his side. It seemed he would have to consult a higher power as to what needed to be done with them.

He raised his head up as far as his position on the bed allowed him. “HEY TWILIGHT?!”

Jay heard a metallic crash and several muffled thumps come from the floor below him. His face broke into a wide grin as he pieced together what had just happened.

“Oww... When did you get back?” Came a faint reply. Several loud hoof steps later, Twilight emerged at the door to his room.

“Ohh, ya know... I was wondering, if one were wanting to, I dunno, contact Princess Celestia, how would one go about doing that?”

“Well, I could always write her a letter and have Spike send it,” Twilight replied, matter-of-factly. “Or you could set up an appointment to meet with her at the day court.”

“Alright, yeah, how would I do that day court thing?”

Twilight looked surprised for a second. “YOU wanted to contact the Princess?”

It took all of Jay’s willpower to not facehoof. “Yeah. Who’d ya think I was talking about?”

“I thought it was hypothetical,” she said with a slight shrug. “Anyway, it would be a while before you would actually be able to see the Princess: normally you have to make an appointment months in advance. She’s pretty busy.”

“Hmph. Ok thanks anyways.”

Twilight smiled before departing, presumably to clean up downstairs.

Jay thought for a moment. He still remembered when he had first met both Princesses and he still remembered the throne room. Jumping there would be absolutely no problem. The only thing deterring him from jumping was the nagging question of how much trouble he would get into if he just appeared in the royal throne room.

‘Ah well, I’ll cross that bridge when I get there.’

With a *whump* and a scattering of a few loose sheets of paper, Jay was on his way.

**********

Fleet Quill resisted his urge to groan, knowing full well that the noise would just carry through the grand throne room and somepony might hear it. It was his first day as the new court stenographer and his superior had insisted that he take a tour of the castle and get accustomed to his new work environment.

Very rarely did something ever go wrong with the court and yet Princess Celestia insisted that every meeting and matter be documented for later storage in the archives. Fleet Quill knew it was tedious work and was thankful that the court was closed for his first day so he could get settled in.

He had been all through the castle. He now knew the place like the back of his hoof, save for both Princess’ private quarters and any room with a guard posted. Fleet Quill had trotted through countless corridors, he had examined the massive library and toured the kitchens. He cheerily explored the great gardens and even tried his hoof at the enormous hedge maze centered in the garden.

Needless to say that he would never visit the maze again.

And now, here he sat, at his new, small desk covered with writing parchment, an inkwell and several quills. The touring of the large castle made his hooves ache and he was glad to be off them for a bit.

He tucked them under his body as far as he could and prepared himself for a quick nap in the plush chair that would soon become his. Fleet Quill closed his eyes and his mind began the process of slipping into the dream world.

*WHUMP*

Fleet Quill jerked back, now at full attention, as the inkwell and writing parchment flew off his desk. The inkwell, being conveniently full (thanks to the tireless, unnamed supply ponies), also managed to find his face and sent him sprawling backwards, out of his chair.

He sputtered and spit, trying to rid his mouth of the vile, black ink as he looked around, trying to determine the source of the noise. The echo of the throne room made it seem like the sound came from all over.

“You alright?”

The voice came directly behind Fleet Quill. He quickly rose to his hooves and turned and was met with blood red eyes. He let out a startled yelp as he tripped over himself, landing on his flank.

“You got a lil’ something..... Right there.” The new pony said, waving his hoof around Fleet Quill’s face.

He was a strange looking pony. Red eyes, a red streak in his white mane, and black stripes on his all white coat coupled with the strangest cutie mark Fleet Quill had ever seen certainly made the pony a sight.

Fleet Quill got right to the point. “Uh, thanks. Where did you come from?!”

The new pony made a waving gesture with his hoof again. “Over there somewhere.”

Fleet Quill looked around, noticing that all the doors in the throne room, save for the two large entrance doors, were closed, and he certainly would have noticed a pony come through the main entrance.

“Well you shouldn’t be here. The court is closed for the day. Sorry.”

The newcomer shrugged. “Bummer. Hey, if I wanted to find Princess Celestia, where would she be?”

“Oh, certainly!” Fleet Quill pointed to a majestic looking door. “She would be through that door. Her chambers are down the hall. But I’m sorry to say that she is busy and is not expecting any visitors, so you must leave.”

“Okay thanks!” With that, the strange new pony trotted off to the door Fleet Quill had pointed out, seemingly without a care in the world.

“Hey! Wait a minute!”

‘I’m going to be in so much trouble.’

**********

‘Well that was easy.’ Jay thought smugly. The guards posted in front of Princess Celestia’s room had been easily fooled and were probably still looking for him.

Jay had happily trotted down the corridor that the court pony had pointed out, ignoring his protests and finally his pleas. By the time Jay had reached the door with the guards, the court pony had long since fled, looking to save his own hide.

By questioning one of the guards’ sexuality and stating that the other guard created a vacuum, they gave chase, and Jay ran like hell. He waited for them in the throne room before jumping back into the corridor, appearing right outside of Princess Celestia’s chambers.

Jay trotted up to the doors and gave a solid push, causing them to swing inwards as he entered. He froze when he noticed the situation in the room.

There sat regal Princess Celestia at the foot of a large, possibly overstuffed bed. She was facing Jay, but she was focusing, very intently, on a point to the side of him. Jay turned to get a better look at whatever she was focusing on, and noticed a large, decorated, white cake sitting on a small table.

Jay looked at Princess Celestia, then at the cake, then back at the Princess.

“Uhhhh, maybe I should come back?”

That seemed to snap Princess Celestia back to reality.

“Hm? Ah, and what can I do for you my little pon--,” Princess Celestia stopped mid sentence and brought her gaze to Jay. “Ah, you are the human.”

“Yes, your Highness.” Jay said, lowering himself into a bowing position.

‘Why did she sound pissed off when she recognized me?’

“I hope you understand that, even though my sister and I do not have the power to send you back to where you came from, the constant attempts to tear open the dimensions is damaging to both worlds, and you would remain in pony form.”

“That’s actually what I wanted to talk to you about, your Highness. We may have a bigger problem on our hooves.”

Say Again?

Princess Celestia stared down at Jay, her face expressionless as her mind tried to piece together what she had been told. It was another one of those awkward situations that Jay just had to sit through. It also didn’t help that the cake she had been staring at was now slowly being munched upon as she contemplated.

‘She’s been staring at me and chewing for like, 5 freakin’ minutes. What the hell?’ Jay thought. He did everything he could to avoid meeting the Princess’ gaze, firmly believing that it would only be way more awkward if he did.

He shuffled his forehoof on the ground and looked around, trying his best to give himself something to do.

‘Faust, look at those windows, magnificent- and that bedspread, don’t even get me started!’

‘I spy with my little eye, somethinnnng... grey!’

‘Is it the stone floor?’

‘No!’

‘The stone walls?’

‘Nope!’

‘The stone ceiling?’

‘No, you got it right the first time: the floors.’

‘What the hell, bro?!’

‘Don’t take that tone of voice with me, me!’

‘I’ll do what I want motherbu-’ “Ahem...”

Jay snapped out of his mental arguments as soon as Celestia cleared her throat. Her brow was scrunched in a mixture of confusion and worry.

He realized he had visibly been arguing to himself in his mind. He wouldn’t be surprised if Princess Celestia admitted him to a mental hospital within the next 10 minutes.

“Well, Jay, I’m having a little trouble understanding what you said. Would you mind repeating yourself?”

“Sure!” Jay cleared his throat, took a large breath, and began again.

“So there’s these evil people who call themselves the Templars- weird right?- and they hunt people like me because they’re angry at life, or something like that, and they stop at nothing to get people like me-” Jay paused to inhale another deep breath. “-cause they might be secretly crazy and when I say stop at nothing, I mean, STOP AT NOTHING and I think they have figured out a way to get here and if they do-” Another breath. “-all hell will break loose and we’ll be doomed and I’ll be even more doomed and surely you must have been feeling their attempts to enter the universe and now I don’t know what to do!”

Jay lowered his head a bit, panting and wondering why he couldn’t breathe the air faster.

“And when you say, ‘people like you’, what do you mean?” Princess Celestia asked.

Jay didn’t even need to answer. He pictured the far right side of the window and jumped, appearing right where he pictured. If Celestia had blinked, he would have to demonstrate again.

“I see.”

She set her frosting covered tray aside- ‘When did she even EAT all that? I’ve been here the whole time!’- and rose from her bed.

“Up until now, I have never heard of such a thing happening,” Princess Celestia began. “The very fact that you are here is a mystery to me, and it’s because of that ‘unknown’ factor, that there is nothing I can do to stop these, Templars, from gaining access here in Equestria.”

‘Well that’s not good.’ Jay thought.

“So there’s absolutely nothing you can do?”

“At the moment, no, there is nothing I can do.”

Jay stared blankly at the princess for a moment.

‘Nothing she can do! What a load! She’s supposed to be some sort of god pony I thought!’

Princess Celestia smiled. “I am some sort of god pony. These... templars are currently in a realm out of my capabilities. If the problem persists, however, and say, moves to Equestria, I may be able to help. Until then, I would suggest forgetting about them. They pose no problem right now.”

Jay turned in a huff and headed straight for the door. He came out just as the guards he had tricked earlier returned to their posts.

“Hey!” Shouted one of the guard ponies as he walked by.

Jay turned to the challenging guard pony, met his eyes, and jumped. He was in no mood to deal with them and jumping provided an easy escape. He appeared in Twilight’s guest room, angry thoughts swirling in his head.

‘Divine ruler my new pony ass,’ he thought to himself as he stomped around the room. ‘Why can’t those lunatics just leave me alone? It’s not like I insulted their sister or anything!’

Jay felt so helpless. The princess had been correct about one thing; there was nothing he could do right now. He needed to go somewhere, anywhere, to vent some anger. But what could he do? As far as he knew, Ponyville was a fairly violence free town.

‘Wait a second. That farmer pony.... I heard at that party she kicks trees! I wonder...’

With that thought, he jumped, a picture of the apple tree he so fondly licked in his mind. After that, it wasn’t too hard to find what he was looking for.

A red barn sat next to a cozy looking home at the edge of the orchard. He spotted Applejack working outside, moving barrels of what he could only imagine contained apples. Beside her, stood a massive, red pony attached to a cart filled with even more apples.

‘He’s going to make this difficult,’ Jay thought solemnly. “Well, here goes nothing.”

As he left the cover of the orchard, he immediately caught the attention of Applejack. The big red one also spared him a glance as he lazily turned his head towards Jay’s direction.

“What do you want, tree licker?” Applejack asked with narrowed eyes.

“Ok, I admit, that was a weird situation to be caught in, but that’s not the point! I was wondering, if I could go out and kick a few trees or something.”

Applejack looked him over suspiciously, giving a few seconds to respond.

“Why?”

“‘Cause that one tree looked at me the wrong way- does it matter?”

“Hmph. I s’pose not, it would save some time gatherin’ todays harvest.” Applejack replied, keeping an eye on Jay. “Can ya finish with the rest of these barrels, Big Mac?”

“Eeyup.” Jay instantly knew the big one was quite the talker.

Applejack turned to enter the barn, leaving Jay alone with the one called Big Mac.

“So, uh, have you seen that window?” Jay asked, referring to the window in Princess Celestia’s room, in a failed attempt to make small talk.

“Nnope.”

‘Guess he doesn’t like windows.’ Jay thought with a shrug.

Applejack broke the silence a minute later as she came out of the barn, a large bucket strapped to her back.

“Alright, tree licker, let’s see what ya got. Come with me.”

“I do have a name, you know.” Jay mumbled as he followed Applejack’s lead.

**********

“Now, ya gotta wind up like this, and plant a solid buck near the base.”

With that, Applejack turned and planted a solid kick to the nearest tree, causing every red apple to fall into the bucket she had placed just underneath.

They had walked for what felt like forever into the mass of apple trees, only stopping when Applejack had found a suitable location to start harvesting.

Jay nodded, and turned to his tree. He planted his forehooves firmly into the ground, and wound up his rear legs, preparing for the kick.

‘Oh man, this kick is going to shatter that tree!’

Jay released his kick and bucked the tree in the spot Applejack had indicated, shaking it ever so slightly. A small, green leaf floated slowly down to the ground, landing softly next to where Jay stood.

“Pffft BAHAHAHA-!” was all Applejack could manage, before she started gasping for air as she rolled on the ground, laughing.

“And here *gasp* I was thinking you were *gasp* a strong lookin’ pony!” Applejack said in between breaths.

Jay’s ears perked at that. “Say what now?”

Applejack immediately stopped laughing, a more serious look dawning on her face.

“Er, well, ‘cause my sis’ can buck a tree harder than you can, and she’s half your age.” Applejack quickly said, turning away from Jay.

‘What was that all about?’ Jay thought, shaking his head in confusion.

Applejack turned back to him, “Never mind that, tree licker,” she said, a hint of anger returning to her voice, “Let’s just get back work.”

**********

Jay slowly crawled out of the orchard, unable to feel his hind legs. The sun had began its descent into the horizon and Applejack had finally called it a day. His anger had been sated only to be replaced with pain. So much pain. All he could think about was the pain of a hard days work.

‘This was a stupid idea.’

He inched his way into the shade of the barn deciding to just lay on his stomach on the ground instead of leaning against the wooden wall.

He knew he wouldn’t make it as far as the wall anyway.

Through all of his pain, he was able to make out the sound of approaching hoof steps.

“Here ya go, tree licker, have some cider.”

Jay rolled onto his back and took the glass from Applejack, wolfing it down without even bothering to taste the sweet apple drink.

“It might be too late to ask if that was poisoned or not, but at this point, I don’t think I would care.”

A smirk crossed Applejack’s face as she sat down next to him.

“Ya know Ah don’t hate ya-” she began, looking out into the orchard.

“Coulda fooled me.” Jay mumbled.

“Ah just don’t trust ya. What with all the secrets ya been keeping.”

“I’ve got my reasons, Applejack, and trust me, it’s for the best.”

“Ah just don’t understand why ya wouldn’t want to trust us, Jay.”

Jay paused for a second, her last sentence registering in his brain.

‘Jay... that’s my name, right?’

“Hold on a moment, you just called me Jay and not tree licker. Are you feeling ok? I hear heat exhaustion does some pretty funky things to your head...”

“Er, well, don’t get used to it.” She snapped, reaching for something behind her.

“Here.” Applejack said, tossing a pouch onto Jay’s stomach.

“What’s this?”

“It’s your pay for the day. Ah couldn’t let a pony work hard and not get paid for it.”

“I can’t take this-” Jay began, being stopped by Applejack’s hoof.

“Take it ‘fore Ah have to make you take it.”

“Can’t argue with that logic, I guess.” Jay said with a shrug.

With a sigh, Applejack stood and walked away, only stopping to smile at Jay as she left.

‘Is everyon- er, pony, this crazy around here?’

He decided to rest in the shade a bit longer before jumping back to Twilight’s library, instantly crashing onto the couch in the main room.

“Hey, Jay!”

“Oh hey Spike, didn’t see ya there.”

Jay turned his head in the direction of Spike’s voice, his whole body screaming in protest. He noticed the little purple dragon dutifully organizing the books on the shelves of the library.

“Where’s Twilight at?”

“She had to go help Fluttershy with something. Girl stuff, ya know?” Spike said, scratching his head.

“No, no I don’t know, Spike. Girls are like that.”

Spike shrugged and turned his focus back towards the books.

“Oh yeah!” Spike exclaimed suddenly, causing Jay to turn in surprise before remembering, too late, that his muscles didn’t work properly. “Rainbow Dash came by looking for you! We didn’t know where you were and she looked kinda bummed that you weren’t here. What’s that about?”

“That, would be adult stuff, my good dragon.” Jay replied smugly.

That seemed to hit a nerve with the small dragon. “I’m not that young!” Spike paused a moment, collecting himself. “Can you, uh, tell me what adult stuff is?”

Jay quickly got off the couch and headed for the stairs managing to stammer out a, “No can do.”

Jay had heard about how parents give their children ‘The Talk’ and had always felt bad for both parties, and he was definitely not prepared to give such a speech, especially to a baby dragon.

Jay shuddered at the thought. ‘What would I even say to him if I had to say something? I’d have to make things up about dragons, that’d be weird as hell. How would I even explain interspecies things? Like huge dragons and small little ponies.... Oh Celestia.’

He had to force those thoughts out of his head, fast.

“Hey Spike, if Rainbow Dash comes by, I’ll be in bed. Don’t grow up, little man!”

Jay heard an angry “Hey!” come from the main floor as his head hit the pillow.

It was just too easy to mess with that dragon. Jay figured he had to take advantage of it while he was still bigger than Spike.

Treats and Such

Location: [DATA EXPUNGED], Earth

Site: T-SF-[DATA EXPUNGED]

Sector: [DATA EXPUNGED]

Designation: OVERWATCH Complex

Laboratory 20-C

He had decided to oversee work on the portal personally. It was coming along well. They were so close, He could feel it. So very close.

“I want a sit-rep on the portal.” His voice filled the room as he walked in, hands locked behind his back, authority lining every word.

One of the white coated lab workers turned in his chair, breaking his gaze from the data flowing across the monitor.

“Well, sir, the portal is working just fine. Everything seems to be operational, but we can’t seem to keep it open. Something is interfering with the transmitters and breaking the lock when the portal actually opens.”

He stared at the unnamed crone for a moment, keeping His temper in check. Good leaders did not show anger. They kept calm, they were unnerved, and so He shall be. At least, in front of His subordinates.

“And what is it that’s stopping us?”

The worker flinched, knowing that his job, and most likely his life, were in danger if he answered incorrectly.

“Uh, we don’t know what it could be. We’ve checked every possible scientific query but we’re stumped.”

“We’re dealing with more than science. Consider every route. Get it done.”

He turned on His heel and strode out of the room. He let his fingers drag against the smooth, metallic wall as He made His way back to His office.

That worker would be dealt with later. If you kill too many worthless subordinates, people start to ask questions.

That didn’t change the fact that there was still something stopping Him. He would not stand for it.

He paused in the hallway, making sure no one was around to see him. He allowed his hand to slip off the wall, letting it dangle at his side. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and punched the wall with enough force to leave a large dent, scarring the otherwise smooth, flawless metal.

He would not show it, but He was angry. Very angry, but he was so very close.

**********

Princess Celestia looked up from her cake. It was never not the time to have cake.

She looked around, wondering what it was that she felt before finally placing it.

‘Well, someone is angry.’ She thought to herself as a smug smile crossed her face.

She turned back to her platter with a small chuckle as she prepared to relish the oncoming, sweet, creamy flavor of her cake.

**********

Rainbow Dash sat lazily in the open window of Twilight’s guest room, popping an occasional berry into her mouth. Jay was sleeping peacefully in his bed, looking comfortable. How he had managed to tangle himself in the bed sheets into the position he was in was beyond her.

‘He looks a bit too comfortable. Better change that.’ She thought with an evil grin.

She lined up her shot, and tossed a berry, hitting Jay perfectly between the eyes.

She watched as Jay crinkled his nose as he sleepily lifted his hoof, swiping at the air in the direction that the berry came from before entrenching himself deeper into his covers.

Rainbow Dash giggled at her own shenanigans, took aim once more, and let another berry fly, hitting Jay right on the snout.

Jay crinkled his nose again and moaned, turning onto his side in his bed before settling back in.

‘Huh, he’s cute when he’s annoyed. Couple more should do it.’

Rainbow Dash wound up and let fly once more, the berry finding purchase on his cheek.

“Mmmm seriously... fivemoreminutes...” Jay grumbled, turning onto his other side.

This time, Rainbow Dash was in it to win it. She popped one more berry in her mouth before taking the rest and tossing them at Jay.

That got him. Jay waved his hoofs around in the air as if to fend off an invisible attacker before rolling off the bed and landing in a heap on the floor, still tangled in his bed covers.

“Alright. I’m up.” He moaned.

He flailed around on the floor for a second trying to untangle himself from the awkward position his covers had left him in. That was when he realized he could simply jump out.

He appeared outside of his balled up covers, kicking them with a hoof believing that the covers should be punished for their accursed entanglement and leaving them in a mess on the floor, also as a form of punishment. They needed to be taught that they shouldn’t tangle ponies that early in the morning.

He didn’t even notice Rainbow Dash hovering beside him, watching his display of violence towards the covers.

“What are you doing?”

“Gah!” Jay’s immediate reaction was to jump, appearing in a prone position under the guest bed.

He frowned when he realized who it was and just how stupid he had made himself look.

“It’s way too early for you to be doing that, Dash.” Jay said, crawling out from under his sanctuary.

Rainbow Dash seemed to be enjoying herself, however. She had both her forehooves clamped over her snout trying to stifle the oncoming burst of laughter.

She lowered her hooves and landed softly back into the windowsill in her lounging position, smiling the whole time. “Sorry, I just couldn’t help myself!”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m sure you couldn’t,” Jay grunted in reply. “So I’m up Dash, what do you need?”

Rainbow Dash’s smile disappeared in an instant and for a moment, she looked unsure of herself, but that was quickly replaced with another, more nervous-looking, smile. “I was wondering if, ya know, you wanted to get a milkshake at Sugarcube Corner, or somethin’.”

Just at the mention of the word ‘milkshake’, Jay was gone. Oh milkshakes. So velvety and creamy, filled with enough sugar to take a year off of your life. His mouth started to water as he imagined the cool mass sliding across his taste buds with the sole purpose of getting into his belly as fast as possible. He could just see it: his perfect milkshake, thick and creamy in a tall fluted glass covered in delicious whipped cream with a ripe cherry on top, and it always had to be chocolate. Anything other than a chocolate milkshake didn’t deserve to be called a milkshake.

Unbeknownst to Jay, his tongue had lolled out of his mouth and his eyes had glazed over as his mind swirled with visions of sweet deliciousness. His thoughts were unwelcomely interrupted as a cyan hoof bopped him on the head.

“Anyone still home in there?” Rainbow Dash was staring at him with a bemused look, probably wondering if she should call for help.

And so Jay was brought back into reality, where there was no milkshake waiting in front of him, and it was a cruel reality.

“Huh... Uh, yeah, I could go for a milkshake, Dash.” Just that thought that there were milkshakes in this new world made Jay giddy.

“Awesome!” Rainbow Dash said, her smile a bit wider than before. “I’ll meet you downstairs.”

Disregarding the perfectly useful stairs, she launched herself out the window to wait for Jay.

‘What a perfect way to reward a hard day of work yesterday,’ he thought as he trotted over to the bag of bits Applejack had ‘forced’ him to take.

“Now how the hell do I carry this?”

**********

“Mmf fmm mmm!” The bag of bits dangled loosely from Jay’s mouth as he trotted along the path to Sugarcube Corner next to Rainbow Dash. His speech ability had been severely limited and making conversation was next to impossible, all thanks to a stupid bag.

Twilight had kindly offered up a pair of saddlebags to borrow for the day, but something about the color purple was a bit too feminine for Jay to be seen in, so he opted to go without. Not the brightest decision, certainly, but it was one he could live with.

Rainbow Dash had, however, come up with her own pair of saddlebags seemingly out of nowhere (which, at this point, Jay was starting to believe she had stashed them there earlier on and had already anticipated him to say yes).

She hovered along lazily next to Jay, taking great amusement in his attempts to talk (walking just wasn’t her style). Jay could have jumped, he could have saved himself the hassle of walking with the stupid bag clenched between his jaws and he could have saved himself the embarrassment that came with trying to talk, but something told him not to. Must be a Jumper thing.

Jay finally decided to give up in his attempts to talk, and contented himself with simply nodding his head or grunting a reply. It’s not like he was listening to Rainbow Dash ramble on anyway, he was too focused on the images of milkshakes that danced in his head.

“-and then I bucked her right and the face and- Hey! We’re here!”

Rainbow Dash’s exclamation quickly snapped Jay out of his revelry. ‘So we are.’

Sugarcube Corner was certainly... odd. It was as if the whole building was made out of sweets. The place even smelled sweet! As they were about to walk in, he paused and stared at one of the support beams outside the door. It looked vaguely like the base of a peppermint candy cane.

‘I wonder...’ Jay set the bag of bits down next to him and inched closer to the beam, opening his mouth to take a bite.

“Jay! Come on!” Rainbow Dash shouted from inside the shop, stopping him from clamping down on the tasty peppermint-looking beam.

He turned his eyes to the door, then back to the beam. ‘To be continued,’ he thought as he snatched up his bag and trotted through the door.

“Hey Dashie!”

‘Oh no. I recognize that voice.’

“And you have teleporter pony with you!” Pinkie Pie jumped out from behind the counter and shoved her face closer to Jay than he would have liked. “Have you teleported anywhere cool? Huh? Like the moon? Ooh I want to go to the moon! Ya know, some ponies say that the moon is made of cheese! Wouldn’t that be silly? Moon cheese! I wonder if there’s a cheese flavored cupcakes! Oh and moon flavored cupcakes! But if the moon is cheese, then that would mean-”

Rainbow Dash was slow in the rescue, but finally came to his aid. “Hey Pinkie Pie,” she said as she pushed her back from Jay. “Can we get a couple of milkshakes?”

“Milkshakes! I’m on it!” Pinkie said with a mock salute. “I wonder if you can make cheese milkshakes!” Pinkie Pie shot towards the kitchen, eager to try out her new theory.

“Just normal milkshakes, Pinkie!” Rainbow Dash shouted after her.

Jay spit out the bag in his mouth. “And make mine chocolate!” He was sure his words fell on deaf ears, however, as Pinkie Pie was already gone.

“So... Dashie?” Jay said with a smug smile and a raised eyebrow.

Rainbow Dash shot him a look that screamed certain demise if he were to continue on the subject, so Jay shrugged as he pushed his bag of bits towards Rainbow Dash. “Here Dashie, it’s on me. I’m going to wait outside.” Jay was eager to leave before the pink menace made her return.

Exiting the shop, he looked around to see if anypony was paying attention to him. When he was certain his business was his own, he turned to the candy-cane looking support beam.

“So we meet again.” He closed in on the beam, ready to finally take a bite and confirm his suspicions of a candy crafted building.

“Thanks Pinkie!’ Rainbow Dash hovered outside past Jay, carrying what looked like two masterfully crafted milkshakes. “Let’s go sit over here,” she said as she made her way to one of the outdoor tables.

Jay hung his head in defeat and followed Rainbow Dash. ‘You may have won the battle, beam, but not the war.’ He thought in a vain attempt to console himself.

He plopped himself into the chair of the table Rainbow Dash had picked out and found himself face to face with chocolaty, creamy heaven. Despite everything, Pinkie Pie definitely knew what she was doing. A lone tear streaked down his cheek as he prepared himself to devour the treat.

“Are you ok?” Rainbow Dash looked at him quizzically, Jay’s fascination for milkshakes again confusing her.

Jay looked to Dash, then back at the milkshake. “I.. I’m just fine.”

**********

‘That milkshake... there are no words.’ Jay was saddened at the sight of the empty, fluted glass that sat on the table. He missed his milkshake.

It had only taken minutes to drain the glass, and in between breaths he had gotten the chance to chat with Rainbow Dash. They had talked about anything in general. How awesome milkshakes were, weather patrol, which eventually led to flight which, in turn, led to the Wonderbolts and how great they were. At that point, there was no stopping Rainbow Dash.

It was just a great day, with a great milkshake, and a great mare. Nothing could get much better.

“Howdy Rainbow Dash!” Applejack trotted up behind Rainbow Dash and upon catching sight of Jay, smiled. “Howdy, Jay!”

“Hey, Applejack. What’s up?” Rainbow Dash said, breaking off of her fangirl speech.

“Just thought Ah’d say hi.” Applejack replied, turning to Jay. “Ah I also wanted to say thanks for helpin’ out on the farm. Saved me a bit of work.” She smiled again and walked away, her tail flicking to the side as she snuck a glance back at the table.

‘Huh, I wonder what that tail thing was about?’ Jay shrugged to himself and looked back towards Rainbow Dash, quickly noticing that something was off.

She looked conflicted as she rose from her seat. “Hey, uh, I’ll see ya later, ok?”

“Uhhh, ok?” But Rainbow Dash had flown off already, leaving him talking to himself.

‘What did I do now?’ Jay gazed around, thoroughly confused. He then realized that Rainbow Dash hadn’t given his bits back, and he was now broke. Again.

“What just happened?”

Amends, Maybe?

Jay lie in his bed, tossing a ball he had found around Twilight’s house straight upwards in the air. He figured it had probably been Spike’s ball, but that didn’t matter anymore. It was his ball now. It had been 3 days since Rainbow Dash had even given him the time of day.

He still saw her, though. He’d watch out the window of his room as she broke the clouds in the sky. Perhaps it was something about beating clouds that drew Jay’s interest, but it was most likely something else. It was during this time that he noticed something off. Clouds were only a visible mass of liquid droplets. The force at which Rainbow Dash hit each cloud was way overpowered than what was needed to break something so fragile as a cloud.

It almost looked violent.

Jay heaved a sigh as he continued to toss his new ball upwards towards the ceiling; Applejack had stopped by once and asked for him, but as soon as he heard Twilight call for him, he had peaced out, jumping to Sugarcube Corner to get another one of those delicious milkshakes. The pillar had beckoned to him, but Jay hadn’t been feeling it. He gave it a once over glare as he passed by before he had jumped back to Twilight’s place to sulk.

And now he was here. Bored, alone, and tossing a stupid ball. He used to like being alone, he would even go as far as considering himself as somewhat of an introvert, but right now, he wanted to talk to somepony. Unfortunately, Twilight was out, helping her friend Rarity with something. Jay hadn’t been paying attention to what she said.

Lost in his thoughts, Jay heaved the ball higher than necessary, causing it to bounce of the ceiling. It went right through his hooves and hit him right in the snout.

Jay was definitely not in the mood for that. His habit for punishing inanimate objects took over once more as he sat up and chucked the ball right out the window.

‘Good riddance,’ he thought, plopping back down on the bed with a huff.

He closed his eyes, hoping to embrace sleep when the ball came back through the window and hit him in the side of the head.

Jay’s eyes snapped open as he looked at the ball, a little surprised, but even more pissed off. ‘What the hell? I got rid of this thing!’

He took the ball in his mouth and jumped to the window. Attempting his best pitching windup in pony form, he threw the ball out the window as hard as he could, watching it sail in the sky and out of sight, disappearing behind a cluster of houses.

With a “Hmph” and a content nod, he turned back and trotted over to his bed, but before he could make it, the ball sailed back into the room, bouncing off his head, once more.

“That’s it ball!” Jay shouted, aloud. “I’ve had enough!”

Jay snatched up the ball in his mouth and jumped, appearing at the top of the highest hill he could remember. He took a few steps back and began to run forward before adding jumps in between steps to help build momentum. He cocked back and at the end of his run, let the ball fly, watching it go. He was positive he’d never see that stupid ball again.

‘I wonder if Spike will notice’ he thought. ‘Ah what am I thinking? I don’t really care that much.’

Jay jumped back to the room Twilight was letting him stay in and assumed his position on his back in his bed, closing his eyes once more.

But something felt off. Was he being watched? And what was this hot air hitting him in the face? It smelt strangely sweet, almost like... ‘Oh no.’

Jay opened his eyes to reveal a pink, frizzy-maned pony smiling down at him.

“Pinkie Pie.”

“Hiya!” Pinkie Pie shouted enthusiastically with an extra wide smile on her face.

“How did you get in here?” Jay asked, less than enthused. He had wanted somepony to talk to.

Pinkie Pie cocked her head to the side, still looking down on him. She held out her hoof and offered him a small, round object.

“You dropped this!” She dropped the ball onto Jay’s forehead and giggled as she hopped off her perch above the bed.

Jay sat up, resisting the urge to throw the ball back at her, only a little harder. “Pinkie, how did you get in here?”

“Well I was just testing out this super-duper cupcake recipe that I had been just itching to try when my Pinkie Senses went off telling me that somepony was unhappy! And I was like, ‘Oh no! Somepony is unhappy?!’ And that somepony was you so I came here but then I noticed that you dropped your ball so I thought that maybe you were unhappy that you lost it so I brought it back and then you were like ‘How did you get in here?’ and I was like-”

“Ok Pinkie,” Jay said suddenly, wanting to cut her off, “What are you doing here?”

Pinkie Pie’s smile only grew wider. “I’m here to make you happy, silly!”

Jay tapped his hoof against his chin, thinking for a moment. ‘Maybe this isn’t so bad. I could use a little cheer.’

“And how are you going to go about doing that?” He finally replied.

Pinkie Pie’s smile dropped to a grin. “Is there something you wanted to talk about?” She asked, pressing her face closer to Jay. “Maybe about a certain somepony?”

“Nope.”

“Are you extra absitively posilutely sure?” Pinkie Pie asked again, inching even closer.

“Yeah I’m sure.”

Pinkie Pie stared at Jay for an extremely uncomfortable minute, her eyes scanning over him. For a moment, Jay thought she was going to give up the subject, but as soon as the thought crossed his mind, Pinkie Pie’s mane dropped, losing its bouncy fluffiness instantly and going completely straight.

“Ehrm, Pinkie?” Jay asked a little concerned.

Pinkie Pie glared at him menacingly before reaching for him with an incredible amount of speed and pulling him out of the bed.

“Now you listen,” she started, “you’re not the only unhappy pony around here and it’s your fault!” She sounded different. It was as if her voice had lost all of its original cheeriness and was replaced with something akin to, well, threatening. Jay was sure if he still wore underwear, he would've had to change them.

“Rainbow Dash is my friend and I intend to do something about it!” She narrowed her eyes and peered into Jay’s very soul. “Now, are you going to tell me about it?”

“Uh yeah sure, whatever you want!” Jay responded quickly.

Pinkie Pie released him and Jay watched as her mane bounced back up to its original poofy, unkempt form. “Good!” She said gleefully.

“Uh huh. Uh huh. So about what time did you scrape your knee?” Pinkie Pie asked. She had pulled out a psychologists chair from nowhere and had commanded Jay to lay on it. She had also produced a notepad and a pair of professional looking glasses for herself. Not wanting to see the other side of Pinkie, Jay had complied and began talking about Rainbow Dash and his time in Ponyville.

“Pinkie, I’ve been talking about Rainbow Dash for almost an hour, I never mentioned scraping my knee at all.”

She jumped up from her seat, throwing her glasses and notepad in the air as she did. “I know, silly! What did you think I was doing the whole time, drawing you with funny hats? Because I wasn’t!”

Jay looked around for the notepad that had flown in the air, trying to catch a glimpse of what was actually on the page, but it had disappeared, almost as if it had never landed. Pinkie Pie was physically and mentally exhausting him.

He had to get out of there.

“Well, Pinkie, this has been a blast- and I mean just fantastic, but I’m gunna have to call it and see ya around.” Jay cracked a smile before jumping down into the first floor of the library. His sudden appearance startled Twilight, who had been dutifully organizing her books. With a yelp, her magic failed and the books dropped to the floor.

“Hey!” Twilight shouted, shooting a disapproving look at Jay before levitating the books back up.

“Sorry Twilight! But I have to get outta here.”

Jay gave Twilight a quick apology smile before rushing to the door.

“Ooh ooh so where are we goin’ now!”

Jay froze and slowly turned to the bubbly voice that had come from nearby. Pinkie Pie was staring at him expectantly with a large grin on her face.

‘Where the hell did she come from?!’

Jay quickly looked about the room, looking for something, anything, that would help him escape this pink menace. A small semblance of a plan started to form in his head. ‘Twilight, please forgive me, for I know not what I do...’

Acting fast, Jay twisted around and bucked a nearby bookcase, putting his newly learned apple bucking skills to the test. The resulting *thud* sounded promising and sent an avalanche of books tumbling out of the shelves. “Twilight! Escape plan Gamma!” Jay shouted as he made a beeline straight for the front door.

“What are you ta-” Twilight managed before letting out a loud gasp as her most prized possessions came tumbling down.

‘Oh man, she’s totally going to kill me for this. It’s the quiet ones that are the scariest.’

As he ran, he could hear Pinkie Pie giggling to herself, clearly enjoying the moment.

“Jay! Jay, get back here!” Twilight shouted after him. “Right. NOW!”

Jay never made it to the door. He felt a force grasp him, freezing him in place and rotating him around to face the now fuming Twilight Sparkle. He noticed that everything now had a purple aura surrounding them; books had frozen in midair and were now hovering, Pinkie Pie was flipping in the air with a face-busting smile. Twilight, her horn aglow and murder in her eyes, was less than amused.

“Why would you do that?!” She demanded.

“Sorry Twilight, but I gotta go. I’ll have to make it up to you later. I’ll tell you about- uh... Art! Yeah art! From my world!” Jay replied sheepishly.

He jumped, picturing himself outside of Sugarcube Corner, a memorable landmark. His plan to find Rainbow Dash had been set in motion.

Looking up to the floating cloud... mansion, Jay sighed. Rainbow Dash certainly wasn’t one for subtlety. It had taken him little effort to find the place. As soon as he mentioned he was looking for a certain prismatic mare, the passerby he had stopped had pointed him in the right direction, mentioning several times that he definitely could not miss it.

He effortlessly appeared in front of Rainbow Dash’s front door, covering the distance from the ground to the air in a split second.

‘Here goes.’ Jay thought to himself. He was resolute in making amends with his... friend? Maybe more? He hadn’t decided. The thought she was still a pony had crossed his mind more than once, but had quickly been pushed away into the recesses of his mind. Ignorance truly was bliss. He thought he had gotten over it, but now, Jay wasn’t so sure. And the fact that she currently hated him wasn’t helping Jays’ case.

Jay raised his hoof and knocked once before quickly pulling away and planting his ear on the door to listen.

...Nothing

He knocked again several times, repeating the process.

...Still nothing.

“Maybe she didn’t hear? A few more times oughta do it.”

He knocked on the door a couple more times. Planting his ear on the door once again, he listened.

“ALRIGHT! Geez, can’t a pony get some sleep around here?” Jay heard from behind the door.

His stomach turned over. Jay hadn’t actually expected her to be home. He pulled his head away from the door and stood patiently outside, waiting to be received.

‘Alright, here we go. Gunna make some amends,’ he thought confidently. Jay heard hoofsteps from inside, increasing in volume as they neared the door.

‘Gunna do it.’

They sounded closer, yet.

‘Here we go!’

Even closer.

‘Have to apologize!’

Jay heard the latch to the door click as it opened.

‘Nope!’ Sirens went off in his head that screamed “BAIL OUT!”

The door opened fully to a rather confused looking Rainbow Dash. She trotted out to the stoop and looked around, confusing shifting to anger. “I swear if this is another one of Scootaloo’s tricks...”

Jay watched from the ground as she shook her head and turned, going back inside.

‘Weak....’ was all he could manage in his head.

He jumped back outside the library and slowly made his way through the front door, head hung in defeat. He noticed the place was much cleaner than he left it.

“There you are!” Twilight approached him, still quite angry with his escape. “Why would you-” She cut herself off, noticing Jay’s current state.

“Are you okay?” She asked, the anger in her voice replaced with something akin to pity.

“I’ve been better.” Jay replied.

“Well, since you owe me for that mess, you still need to tell me about the art of your world!” Twilight was clearly ecstatic to learn about another culture, ever the student.

“Sorry Twilight,” Jay began. “I hated art.” He turned and made his way to the stairs leading to his room, and his bed.

“Besides,” he said without looking back. “All of the historical stuff was just about naked people posing anyways...”

Who?

Jay groaned as he hobbled his way back to Twilight’s library, his mind too tired to perform the mental calculations it took to perform a jump and his body ached far too much to actually make another attempt to fly. He hurt enough as it was, he didn’t need to go smashing his face into the ground anymore than he had to. The sun was low in the sky and Jay’s sight was quickly fading as the light of the sun disappeared below the horizon line.

Four more days had passed and with nothing else to do, Jay had figured it was time to make a few more bits for a little walking around money at Sweet Apple Acres. At this point in time, however, he couldn’t help but berate himself, wondering why he would ever think such strenuous work was ever a good idea in the first place. Especially four days in a row.

On the bright side, Applejack had paid him well enough. He wasn’t about to go around buying fish eggs at an extravagant restaurant or anything like that (‘I wonder if they eat fish eggs here?’), but he was finally in a position where he would be able to stop leeching off of Twilight. Still, even if he didn’t mean it, Jay would complain as much as he wanted about the work... Never out loud, though. Well, maybe sometimes.

Applejack certainly didn’t mind the extra help. It was a wonder how she and her brother ever harvested those massive orchards by themselves. Then again, they were talking horses...

It was probably best just to not question it.

“Hey!”

Jay halted his limping gait and looked around. He had been positive he had been alone on the path back to Twilight’s place. Seeing nothing in the immediate area around him, he shook his head and resumed his painful walk back. Maybe that overly-pink monster had finally gotten into his head...

“Hey!!”

This time it was louder- louder than before.

Jay checked again. Nopony was around. Just the thought of Pinkie Pie being able to access the mind sent a slight shiver down his spine.

“Jeez, come on. Up here!”

Jay looked up, greeted by the sight of a certain multi-coloured mare hovering above him.

His stomach flipped, once more, as one thought stood out in his mind above the rest now circulating in his head.

‘Well. I’m boned.’

After his little adventure to Rainbow Dash’s doorstep, he figured it was best to just leave her alone for the time being. Twilight had warned him that that was the best way to go, hinting that it was mainly for his physical well-being more than anything else. She had explained that Rainbow Dash was a little... brash, at times. Upsetting her certainly didn’t help the cause.

“Here,” Rainbow Dash said with a flick of her hoof, an empty brown bag landing on Jay’s head. He noticed it had once been filled with the bits that Applejack had given him for his first day of working on the farm.

“I, uh... don’t remember this bag being so... empty,” Jay said, peering inside of the small brown bag.

“Yeah I spent ‘em,” Rainbow Dash said with a nonchalant wave of her hoof. “I got hungry and I figured you owed me.”

“As long as they were put to good use, I suppose.” Jay chuckled nervously. “Well, thanks for returning this but I’ve gottobeheadingbacknow. Okbye...”

Jay turned in a sharp about face to get away, moving as fast as his body would allow him knowing full well that he was just going back the way he came. At least the tension in the air at Sweet Apple Acres wasn’t thick enough to cut with a butter knife.

‘I think I’m in the clear! That was a close-’

“Hey wait up!”

‘...Damn...’

Jay froze at the sound of her voice and turned slowly to face Rainbow Dash. The expression she bore on her face was less than pleased.

“Where have you been?” She said with narrowed eyes.

Jay started to back away, his ears drooping to the sides of his head.

“Well, I’ve, ya know, been doing things... And stuff.” Jay said nervously, averting his gaze away from Rainbow Dash, struggling to find something, anything else to look at.

Rainbow Dash slowly descended from her hover over Jay, still peering at him with narrowed eyes. She landed softly in front of him and hesitated, struggling to find the right thing to say.

‘I wonder how much of my will I can write in the dirt before she ends me...’

Heaving a sigh, Rainbow Dash finally spoke up. “I can’t believe I’m saying this- I’m... Well, I’m...ugh!”

Jay looked up to say Rainbow Dash, eyes closed tightly and hoof pressed to her face, the post-visual of an apparent facehoof.

“I’m sorry!” She blurted out. “There, ya happy now? I said it!” Rainbow Dash hopped back into the air, folding her forelegs across her chest and resuming her glare.

Jay, now thoroughly confused, took a moment before replying.

“Rainbow Dash, if I may...?” Jay started, looking up to her for permission to continue. When she nodded, Jay cleared his throat and continued.

“I haven’t the slightest semblance of what’s going on.” Jay deadpanned. He was, however, telling the truth. He knew Rainbow Dash was angry, and he knew Rainbow Dash’s anger was directed at him. But whatever reason why such anger had appeared escaped him.

Rainbow Dash’s hard gaze softened a bit before returning to its previous state.

“Don’t play dumb!” She shouted, pointing an accusing cyan hoof at Jay. “I know what’s been going on with you and Applejack!”

“What? That I’ve been working for her?” The thought of adding a snarky, extra smart-ass-y comment crossed Jay’s mind, but was quickly pushed away. Being a smartass in a fight was fun, but was only necessary if he didn’t particularly care whether the fight escalated or not.

Rainbow Dash was about to respond when Jay raised a hoof to cut her off. Now wasn’t the time for jokes, or sarcasm or even milkshakes. Being serious was hard for Jay, but he could do it... probably.

“Like I said, I have no idea what happened, but... I was really starting to like you, Dash. To the point where I was going to start calling you Dashie,” he said with a coy smile. “But you flew off without telling me anything, and to top it all off, I haven’t seen you since.”

Jay took a breath before finishing. “And that kinda sucked,Dash. That... kinda sucked...”

Rainbow Dash let her hooves fall to her sides, unable to answer, her face giving away no emotion.

Without warning, Rainbow Dash’s hoof shot up and thumped herself on the head. And again. And again. He couldn’t be sure, but Jay swore he heard her mumbling, “stupid, stupid, stupid,” after each thump.

She proceeded to sit on her flank and bury her face in her hooves before dragging them down with an exasperated sigh.

“I sometimes... tend to overreact.” Rainbow Dash mumbled her gaze pointed downwards.

Jay couldn’t help but grin at this. “I couldn’t tell.”

Rainbow Dash’s head shot up with a hint of fire in her magenta eyes. “What was that?”

Jay’s own eyes went wide as he managed a quiet “Nothing.”

Suddenly, Rainbow Dash smiled, an apparent idea popping into her head.

“Look,” she began sternly. “Let’s start over.”

Rainbow Dash took off into the air and disappeared, leaving Jay momentarily stunned with more confusion.

With a shrug, he turned back towards the path to Twilight’s library. Off in the distance came a faint “Look ouuuuuuut!” that gradually increased in volume.

Oh no, she couldn’t mean-

*WHAM*

She did.

Jay groaned slightly as the rainbow mare used him to stand upright.

“Oh what’s up? I’m Rainbow Dash, fastest flyer in Equestria!”

Jay picked himself up and sat on his haunches, spitting out the dirt that had found it’s way into his mouth after his face abruptly met the ground. “Ya know, Dash, I don’t think that’s how it works.”

“Now that we’ve been acquainted, you seem like a pretty cool pony. How ‘bout we hang out sometime?” She asked, a large, hopeful smile plastered on her face.

Jay hesitated for a moment, causing Rainbow Dash’s smile to falter a bit, before answering.

“Sure, Dash, I’d like that.”

“Cool, I’ll see ya around then.”

“Sounds good, Dashie.”

Rainbow Dash lunged forward and whacked him unceremoniously upside the head with her hoof.

“Only my really good friends can call me that.” She said with a grin. “Besides, we just met.”

Rainbow Dash took off into the air, snickering at her own cleverness as she left.

‘She’s definitely an anomaly,’ Jay thought to himself, shaking his head.

With that in mind, Jay found the energy to jump back to the library, where he found a very impatient looking Twilight waiting for him.

“You seem to be in a better mood.” She observed.

“I guess I am,” Jay said with another shrug.

“Perfect!” Twilight exclaimed, clopping her hooves together in excitement. “Now you can tell me more about where you came from!”

‘Ever the student.’ Jay thought as he let out a long, drawn out sigh. He made his jump above Twilight’s couch, landing with a muffled *plop* and steeled himself for the long conversation that was about to ensue.

As easily as it was to have just jumped somewhere to escape, he figured he owed her this much.

Author's Note

My thanks to HeimoBauss and chaos2012 for reading through this short filler.

A New Sensation

Partying the night away and being confronted by the monarchs of the land was a most draining experience. As soon as Jay had hit the bed, he was long gone. Jay had not even bothered with the covers, which were strewn underneath him; he had just flopped down on his belly, his hooves askew, face first (naturally), and left reality.

Unfortunately for Jay, there was somepony who didn’t want him to sleep, no matter how much he needed it, and that pony let herself be known with a loud thump and “Ow!” next to the open window in Jay’s room.

Semi-conscious, Jay let out a groan and turned to the window, only to see a cyan pegasus with a rainbow colored mane hover in, rubbing her head with her hoof. Even in his groggy state, it wasn’t hard to tell what had just occurred.

‘This oughtta’ be good.’ Jay thought to himself as he fumbled around the bed to find his sunglasses. He felt a lump in the covers and after throwing them aside, he slid his sunglasses on his head so Rainbow Dash would keep her comments to herself about his eyes.

‘I still have no idea how these hooves grab things.’ he thought before realizing it either wasn’t worth the effort to find out, or he wasn’t supposed to know.

Turning to look at Rainbow Dash, he could still see her rubbing her head, trying to sooth the pain from impacting the tree. Jay reasoned that if he heard the crash from the inside of a tree, she probably hit hard.

“Ya’ know, most ponies tend to aim for the window, and even more ponies tend to use the door.” Jay told her, slightly annoyed at her disturbance. “And even more ponies than that tend to wait until it’s day time to wake other ponies.”

Rainbow Dash turned to glare at him for a second before speaking. It was obvious that there was something on her mind.

“You need to tell me what’s goin’ on.” Dash said, her voice a little louder than the standard ‘middle of the night voice, other people are trying to sleep’ voice.

“No. I don’t.” Jay shot back before laying back down and closing his eyes, feigning sleep.

He was forced to reopen his eyes when Rainbow Dash flew over to him, hovered above his body, and dropped, landing right on Jay’s exposed belly.

In addition to opening his eyes, Jay was also left gasping for air, as the landing from the not-so-light pegasus had pushed all of the oxygen out of his lungs.

“What the hay was that for?!” Jay managed in between gulps of air. He also realized he was being pinned to his bed. Jay knew he could have easily gotten away, but he decided to humor Rainbow Dash for a bit.

“Tell me what’s really going on with you.” Rainbow said with a calm stubbornness.

“I said no.”

“Why not?” Rainbow Dash was not going to let this go easily. Her stubborn attitude was something Jay had liked, but now it was starting to annoy him.

“Because you weren’t supposed to hear anything.” Jay snapped, jumping from underneath her and materializing at the foot of the bed. The sudden disappearance of the barrier between her and the bed made Rainbow fall right into the covers.

“You said you weren’t hiding anything else!” she shouted as she turned to face Jay, positioning herself to lunge at him. Jay caught on and smiled.

“It wasn’t my intention-” Rainbow Dash lunged at Jay mid-sentence hoping to catch him off guard, but she was met with only air and the floorboards. She noticed Jay was even farther from her than before, and he had kept talking. “-for anypony to find out, let alone spy on me. And that whole trying to pin me down thing, yeah, that’s not going to work.”

Rainbow Dash rose to her hooves, glaring daggers at Jay.

“And besides, why does it even matter? You all accepted me as a Jumper, why is this bothering you, and what seems like, only you?” Jay asked suspiciously.

“Because I want to know!” she said with a strong emphasis on the ‘I’.

Jay analyzed the situation to see if there was any hint of dropping the subject. He sighed when he realized there was no chance; Rainbow Dash was holding her ground.

“Get over it.” he said, turning to walk out. Jay never saw her poise for another strike, figuring she had learned that it wasn’t going to work, and he barely even registered the burst that caught him from behind. Rainbow Dash’s claim of ‘Fastest Flier in Equestria’ certainly had been proven.

Once again he found himself pinned under Rainbow Dash.

‘Heh, not that this is such a bad thing’ a voice automatically said in his mind. This set off numerous alarms and Jay mentally swatted his brain with his mental newspaper while he shouted, ‘Bad brain! Bad!’ in his head.

Once again, Jay decided to humor Dash, and smiled at her, waiting for her to continue her interrogation.

“I’m not going to drop it, so you might as well tell me.” Rainbow Dash growled.

‘Sunova-’ “What did you hear?” Jay asked with resignation.

“First off, Princess Celestia said that you were- how’d she put it... ‘not of this world’. What does that mean?” she asked, narrowing her eyes.

“Don’t think too hard about it.” Jay remarked sarcastically. Noticing that his sarcasm went completely over her head, he continued. “It’s just as it sounds, I’m not from Ponyville or Canterlot or Equestria or anywhere you’ve ever heard of.”

Still not satisfied, Dash pressed on. “So where then?”

“Let’s leave it at Earth.”

That seemed to appease her. Rainbow Dash moved on.

“You guys talked about a human. What’s that?”

“Me.” Jay knew this would irk her.

“Well who are you?” Dash asked, having to restrain herself from shouting.

“Jay.” he said with a coy smile.

Jay didn’t think it was possible for a pony’s coat to change color, but Rainbow Dash’s cyan face flushed red with anger.

“YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN!” Dash screamed.

“I don’t know what to tell you. In my world, I wasn’t a pony, I was a human. In your world, I am a pony. I could try to describe to you what I used to look like, but what difference would that make? What I used to be was the dominant species of my world, just like you are the dominant species here.” Jay explained to Dash, hoping she was at least understanding him. It didn’t look like she was- her face remained blank. “Just know that I wasn’t a pony before coming here.”

Jay hoped to whatever higher power there was that Rainbow Dash wouldn’t press the matter as Jay was out of an explanation, and, surprisingly, she nodded her head.

“So why hide it?” Dash asked with a tilt of her head.

Jay couldn’t help but laugh. “Where I’m from, if somepony is different, they aren’t exactly treated... nicely.”

“Well why the hay not?” Dash asked with an incredulous look on her face.

“It’s just the way people are.”

Rainbow Dash caught his words. “People?”

“Ya’ know... humans.”

“Oh.”

They both sat there for a minute- Jay still pinned to the floor with Rainbow Dash sitting on his chest, her hooves holding his down.

“Is that all?” Jay asked, snapping Rainbow Dash out of her thoughts.

“Oh! Yeah.” She mumbled as she moved to get off of him.

Jay looked towards the window and noticed the light coming through and illuminating the room.

‘Morning.....’ he drearily thought. Sleep had avoided him once more.

“So you woke me up, tackled me... twice, and interrogated me. What now? Torture?”

Rainbow Dash chuckled at this. It was a serious question.

“In a way.” An evil smile crept across Dash’s face. “How about that flying lesson?”

**********

Learning to fly was, perhaps, worse than torture. Or maybe it was just because Rainbow Dash was the coach. The fastest flier in Equestria certainly had high starting expectations and Jay could only imagine what she would be like if she implemented her teaching methods with young foals.

Jay couldn’t help but feel bad for those poor, imaginary foals.

At the start of his training, Rainbow Dash had forbid the use of any and all jumping- labelling it an unfair tool. This condition was met with strong protests, mainly in the form of a whine, but her condition was absolute.

After her single term was established, Rainbow Dash asked Jay about his current ability and understanding of flight. When she was met by a blank stare, she let out a long sigh. Figuring Jay was just being stubborn, she wrapped her forelegs around his waist, hoisted him to about 8 feet in the air, and let go. She smiled to herself at the brilliance of her plan and watched Jay fall, expecting him to unfurl his wings and catch himself in the air. Rainbow Dash’s smile turned to gales of laughter when Jay didn’t catch himself with his wings, but instead, caught himself with his face, about 8 feet down from where he was dropped.

He hadn’t so much as moved his wings to catch himself and Rainbow Dash realized that his wings were completely useless at this time.

It was going to be a long day for the both of them.

**********

Jay collapsed onto his bed nearing complete exhaustion, his mind and body sore from his experience of ‘Flight School’.

The first half of his day was spent being lectured by Rainbow Dash about wing functionality and aerodynamics. Of course Rainbow Dash didn’t actually use those words, but Jay had picked up on the general idea. He was given a crash course on how his wings worked, and it was basically like a cliffs notes of a cliffs notes for wings.

Jay learned to move them freely but still strained himself in doing so. When he first spanned his wings to their full length, Rainbow Dash had burst into more laughter, comparing his wings to string beans. They were the correct proportionate length for his body, but having never been used before, they were definitely.....stringy.

Jay had folded them back to his sides, cursing Rainbow Dash under his breath.

The next half of the day had been responsible for the multiple bruises on Jay’s face and body.

After he had learned to move his wings and how they should be used properly during flight, his actual flight training began.

Dash’s ‘approved’ method of training was to find a high jumping point, jump, and hope that Jay remembered how his wings worked. About 95% of the time, he didn’t. Gravity would always win in those situations and drag him straight to the ground causing him to, literally, eat dirt.

But the day wasn’t all brain melting lectures and bone shattering crash landings. As the day wound down, Jay found himself able to catch himself in the air and hold himself up for a few seconds before his wings fell out of synchronization, which would result in another one of those crash landings. Each time he hit the ground, Rainbow Dash would laugh at him. While Jay welcomed her laugh, he found it quite annoying that she took pleasure in his misfortune.

By the end of the day, Jay had learned to hover several feet in the air for a short time, but at the cost to his physical well-being, he wasn’t sure if it was worth it or not.

Normally, Jay would have never taken this kind of abuse, but for some reason, he stuck around, trying to prove himself in the eyes of Rainbow Dash. He also couldn’t help but wonder why Rainbow Dash would stick around and help him out like she did, besides the obvious hilarity that had ensued.

Jay didn’t want to think about it too much though. Right now, he just wanted the sweet embrace of sleep to take him, and as he snuggled, face down, into the pillow, he quickly started to lose the connection to reality.

“Hey!”

The voice had come from the window. It could only mean one thing.

“Hm hmm hmhm.” (“Not you again.’) Jay mumbled, face still buried in his pillow.

“What?” Rainbow Dash looked at him quizzically.

“Oh hi!” Jay spoke with false enthusiasm. “Find somewhere higher for me to jump off of?”

“No... And what are you doing? It’s not even that late in the evening yet!” Rainbow Dash looked like she was raring to go.

“I was about to sleep. What do you need?” Jay asked, still a bit groggy.

“Oh, well... I was wonderin’, ya know, if you wanted to, I dunno, hang out, or somethin’...” Rainbow Dash said, avoiding eye contact with Jay and shuffling her forehoof on the ground.

Jay smiled and shrugged. “Sure, why not?”

Usually, nothing could keep him from sleep, but for some reason, Jay was compelled to go with Dash. His whole body ached from the physical abuse dealt to him earlier in the day and he was experiencing a new kind of sore in his wings, having never felt pain in an area like that before, and yet, he still pushed himself out of bed and trotted over to where Rainbow Dash was waiting for him by the window.

Having not yet mastered his flying, he decided to jump, appearing in the dirt just beneath the window to Twilight’s guest bedroom.

Rainbow Dash was right about one thing: even though it wasn’t late in the evening, it was still evening, and the sun was on its way down. As she flew down to meet him, Jay noticed she actually touched down, hooves on the ground. Jay couldn’t remember the last time he had seen Rainbow Dash get around by hoof. Usually she just hovered everywhere.

She began to trot along a path leading away from Twilight’s house, leaving Jay behind.

He jumped and materialized beside her. “So, uh, what do you want to do?” Jay asked.

“Well since you can’t fly,” she began, “I figured we could just go for a walk. Ya’ know, to the park, or somewhere like that.”

Jay couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Really? Is the path loaded with spring traps? Pits? Is something going to chase me? Are you going to drop me again? Does anything you have planned have to do with me exploding?” He would have to keep his guard up.

Rainbow Dash chuckled at his suspicion. “No, just a walk.”

She turned to smile at Jay. He caught himself staring and had to look away.

‘Holy shit, I love that smile.’ he thought to himself. ‘Wait, what the hell? What did I just think?’

“So, Jay... What do you do for fun if ya’ can’t fly?” Rainbow Dash asked.

Something felt off about the situation. Jay couldn’t help notice that the ever-confident Rainbow Dash now appeared nervous. In fact, he felt nervous. He could have sworn he was sweating bullets.

‘Is it hot in here? No wait, shit, I’m outside.’

“I, uh, really don’t know at the moment. I just got here, remember?”

“Oh... yeah, right.” Rainbow Dash paused, considering her next question. “What did ya’ used to do for fun- in that other place?”

“Well, I wrestled. It was a sport, I guess. I loved to be athletic.” Jay replied, “I also loved these things called video games. I spent hours playing them.”

“Video games?”

“Uhh... I don’t really know how to explain them. They were virtual.... games.” Jay answered, feeling stupid himself.

“Oh I see.”

They walked along, their hooves crunching into the gravel as they passed.

Jay didn’t really feel the ensuing silence was awkward. He was just enjoying Rainbow Dash’s company.

They reached the park at one of the best times of the day. The sun was falling beneath the horizon to make way for Luna’s moon. Jay found a small bench with a perfect view, and they both sat and watched the sun fall.

Perfect time for Jay to start monologuing.

“This is my favorite part of the day. The sun falling below the horizon creates the perfect colors. It’s just amazing to see the red, yellow and orange spread across the landscape like that. It’s hard to describe, but when I used to watch the sunset, my worries and problems would all just slip away, if only for that moment. I just tend to lose myself. There used to be a range of mountains where I used to live, and the colors would accentuate the peaks perfectly and I would stare at them, knowing full well that if the sunset could last for hours, I would be there the whole time, lost in my own little world.”

Jay knew it wasn’t the best monologue, or the most touching, but it was how he felt. He turned to look at Rainbow Dash only to see that she had stopped watching the sun, and had turned to face him.

Rainbow Dash looked away, a vivid blush spread across her cheeks.