Chapters “Hurry up, Night. We’re almost out.”
“I’m hurrying, do ya think it’s easy digging a tunnel this deep as quietly as to avoid the guards.”
“Alright, alright, calm down, sheesh.”
“Wait, I think I see ya.”
“Ya do?”
“Yeah, just beyond this pipe. Let me clear it.”
“Wait, wait, wait, wait, I think that might be the water main.”
“No, the water main pipe is always marked red, this is green.”
“How would you know, you’re color blind, you’ve always been colorblind.”
“Well it’s too dark for you to see, and I may be colorblind, but I know my stuff.”
“There is only one pipe that leads in and out of here, and that’s the water main. Just flash the light here so I can see.”
“Okay, I’ll flash it as I start drilling.”
“It’s red!”
“Red?”
*Drill noises*
A volcanic blast of water burst out of the ground, carrying two ponies out with them. The alarms of the prison were blaring as searchlights flashed on it.
“WATER MAIN BURST! HE’S TRYING TO ESCAPE! STOP HIM!”
The two ponies ran as prison guards and dogs chased after them. One of them stopped to catch his breath.
“Not now, now now!”
“Sorry Jackpot, I’m not used to running this much anymore.”
“Well come on!” Jackpot pushed the other pony up, and the two started running again. “By the way, why did you decide to break that pipe before I gave you the all clear?”
“Sorry Jackpot, I just thought…”
“Don’t think, from now on, I do the thinking.”
“All right, jeez, you’re such a grouch sometimes.”
The two were chased all the way down the road, until they jumped into a car. Jackpot hotwired the car, and they sped off. After a few minutes, they escaped to the highway, there were no others cars in sight. Which was a relief to Jackpot.
“Okay Night, give me the sitrep, how’s the joint?”
“Perfect, running like it did, only without your charm.”
“The flow of money?”
“Only went down since some clients ended up in the big house after you did.”
“Hopeful and the foals?”
“Well fed, and warm, miss you a whole lot.”
“Scaly?”
“Right here.” Night pulled out a scaly cap from his coat pocket, and handed it to Jackpot.
“What would I do without ya Night?” He said, with a smirk as he put the cap on his head. Night was about to answer that when a searchlight shown on their car. They both looked up to see two helicopters and several police cars behind them. They swerved to avoid the bullets being fired at them. They kept driving until they started crossing a bridge.
“Dammit, we’ve got to lose ‘em.” Night looked ahead, and screamed. There was an entire police blockade in front of them. The officers were armed with rifles.
“Jackpot! Look!” Jackpot started swerving the car when they started firing. But one bullet hit the front left tire, causing the car to spin around uncontrollably. They flew over the side of the bridge, and landed in the water below. Jackpot was knocked out by the impact. The car started sinking, Night undid his seat-belt, and tried to undo Jackpot’s. He couldn’t get it to unbuckle, water started filling the inside very quickly. He debated whether or not to save his friend, until the water reached his chin. He sighed, opened his door, and swam out. The car completely filled with water, and Jackpot Star sank to the bottom of the river.
Chapter 1: Getting My Wings
“Jackpot.” A sweet, soothing voice said. “Jackpot.” It said again, a little louder.
“JACKPOT!!!!!” The pony did not stir. The voice sighed, then a bolt of lightning struck Jackpot, who shot up.
“Goooooood morning Equestria! The time is now 8 o’clock in da evenin’ and I am here to bring you some sweeeeeeeet, sweeeeet music!” He fell to the ground, and shook his head. Note to self, wake up when somepony asks you to. He looked around, trying to get his bearings, which was hard because everything around him was white. He blinked a few times, and shook his head. His vision cleared up, and he saw that everything was indeed, white. “Whe-where am I?” He said slowly.
“I’m sorry Jackpot, but you’re dead, and now you’re here in the realm of harmony.” Jackpot turned to see who was talking to him. It was an alicorn with milk white fur, and a simple brown mane. She had a motherly vibe coming off her, or at least from what Jackpot could guess was a motherly vibe. Wait, did she just say I’m dead?!
“Wait, wait, wait, wait,wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. I’m. Dead?” The pony nodded. “Celestia dammit!” *Zap* “Yee ow!” Jackpot jumped into the air, screaming his head off after lightning struck him.
He landed with a thud, “Pretty stars.”
“I do not appreciate swearing in my domain, especially when it’s my daughter’s name.” The pony said sternly, like scolding a child. Jackpot shook the stars away, and stood back up, then he acknowledged what he said.
“Wait a minute, are you saying you’re…”
“Indeed, I am Lauren Faust, but you may just call me Lauren. Welcome to paradise.” Jackpot could only sum up his reaction in two words, and he couldn’t even use one of them. The dead criminal looked around, and saw the beauty of it all. The grass was green, the sky was violet, in permanent twilight, the clouds had pegasi children playing on them. So this is paradise. I might like it here.
“So… this is it?” He said, looking at the goddess with sad, yet energetic eyes. Lauren said nothing, looking deep in thought. For a moment, Jackpot thought he was going to be sent to Tartarus, that this was all a joke, or a way of punishing him before sending him to his real final resting place, after all. He was a con pony, a gambler, a criminal, has he done some good sure, but his bad life outweighed his potential good. That’s what Father Solar taught him.
“Tell me Jackpot, did Father Solar teach you about the potential good, and committed evil?” Jackpot was about to ask how she knew that, but then remember who he was talking to.
“I do. Potential good is the measure of the goodness in your heart, which is graded based on the good you hope to do, have done, or will do. Committed evil is the same thing, only measured by the evil you’ve done.” Lauren nodded.
“He has taught you well.”
“But never raised me well.” Jackpot said sadly.
“I can offer you another chance.” Lauren said, Jackpot looked back up at her.
“Come again?”
“I can give you another chance, on one condition, you will become a guardian angel, a protector of all good.” Jackpot said nothing, then giggled, which grew into a huge laugh which forced him to the floor.
“Yeah, sure, me an angel!” HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA” *Zap* “Yee ow!” Jackpot looked at the burn on his flank. “That smarts ya know.”
“I’m being serious Jackpot, I know the good in you, you just need to trust yourself. Now, do you accept this responsibility?” Jackpot thought long and hard, more than he ever did in his life. After a minute of silence, he looked at Lauren with a face of pure confidence.
“I do.”
Lauren looked at him with great respect, then she grinned, her smile covering her whole face. “Great, have a great trip down, I’ll see you on Equis.”
“Wait what?” Jackpot felt the floor give out from under him, and he dropped straight down the the planet below, screaming at the top of his lungs. He was falling down at a million miles an hour. Did she really have no other way of dropping me off?! He slammed into the ground, leaving a pony shaped crater in the ground. A few seconds later Lauren landed softly next to the hole, and looked inside.
“Welcome back to the land of the living Jackpot.” He crawled out of the hole, covered in dirt, and trying to catch his breathe. He got out, and laid on his back. Lauren just watched with amusement.
“How… did that fall… not kill me again?” He barely said, still out of breathe.
“Technically, you’re still dead, at least, until you put this on.” She used her magic to summon a silver necklace with the piece being shaped like a bit. “This necklace will allow you to become alive, and only you. It’s a necklace that recognizes who wears it. You’ll still be able to see other angels with or without it on. So you’ll always see me while others won’t. I call them Miracles.”
“So these necklaces are miracles. Okay, I’ll believe anything at this point.” Jackpot laughed. He put it on. It started glowing a bright white. He felt a tingling sensation throughout his body. Kinda tickles. The necklace stopped glowing, and the sensation stopped.
“Congratulations Jackpot Star, you are now an angel.” Lauren said, with no hidden sense of pride in her voice. “Not only did you become an angel.” She disappeared in a white light. Seriously, what’s with all the white lights? She reappeared in a red dress, with a mic held in her magic. “You also get a brand new house! This house comes complete with six bedrooms, a video game lounge, an in home movie theater, an armory, and a shiny kitchen!” Jackpot couldn’t help but laugh. “With that out of the way, I’m also giving you 10,000 bits to pay for 4 months rent, but you will need to get a good paying job, no coning of any kind. Am I clear?”
Jackpot saluted, “Yes ma’am.”
“Great, I’ll contact you when I have a mission for you, until then, have fun.” With that, she jumped back into space, leaving a resurrected pony to watch from the ground.
“Huh, well… that just happened, better check out my new house.” He walked toward the door, and saw the newspaper on the ground. “Huh, wonder what’s in the news today?” He opened the paper, and what he saw made his jaw drop. The date on the newspaper was, “MAY 18TH, 1000!!!! I’M A THOUSAND YEARS IN THE PAST?!?!?!?!?!?!?!”
Chapter 2: Swinging Around Town
Okay, stay calm Jackpot, it could be worse. Just breath. He took a deep breath, “Okay.” He walked into the house, and the inside was gorgeous. “Wow.” He walked upstairs to see a hallway of doors, each one had a nameplate, he saw one with his name on it on the first door on the right. “Huh, there’s five more, I wonder.” He opened his door. The bed was a king size, and his room had a lot of stuff from his time. There was an electronic alarm clock, a chest full of who knows what. “Damn, this place is-” *ZAP* “Ow!” Lightning struck him, and a note floated down in front of his face.
Dear Jackpot Star, I forgot to mention that you’re on a 24 hour probation, so no swearing, no gambling, no anything involving coning or other crime related activities, every time you do, there will a shock. Have fun!
Signed, Lauren
“Oh boy, this is going to be a long 24 hours.” He let the note fall, and it disappeared in green fire. Jackpot felt parched, so he went to get some water, only to find nothing in the fridge. “Dammit.” *ZAP* “Ow fu-” He quickly covered his mouth before he could finish that. Who would’ve thought I’d get punished for swearing by Lauren Faust.
“Guess I’ll have to go buy some.” He walked over to the bag of bits, opened it, and pulled out 16 bits. “This should cover a few things.” He then made his way into town.
The town itself was busy, the market place was hard to get through with the sheer amount of ponies shopping. Sheesh, is today do all your shopping today day? A pink pony walked up to him. “Hey, are you enjoying Do All Your Shopping Today Day?” She asked. Jackpot facehoofed. His head shot up as the pony gasped. “OhmygoshIhaven’tseenyoubeforeyoumustbenewtakethisinvitationseeyouat7!” With that, she ran off leaving an invitation to a…
“Welcome to Ponyville Party? Huh. Maybe I’ll go.” He said to himself after his brain restarted. “But who the hell was that?” *Zap* He bit his lip, the other ponies obviously couldn’t see the lightning, so why scream in pain out of nowhere.
“That would be Pinkie Pie.” A voice said behind him. His first reaction was to reach for his knife, only to realize he didn’t have one anymore. He turned around to see a purple unicorn standing behind him. “Hi, I’m Twilight Sparkle, Let me give you a calmer welcome to Ponyville.” Let’s see, uptight, formal, stands like a scholar, and polite. Add a bit of nerdiness and we have a student trying to make friends.
“Jackpot Star, at your service.” He gave a bow, and tipped his cap. “So what that pony behind me did was normal to all new ponies?” Twilight nodded. “Wow, I think I’m going to love it here.” He said goodbye to Twilight Sparkle, and continued on his way.
He kept going until he saw an apple stand, or his stomach saw the apple stand, and told him to go to it. ‘Who would’ve thought that dying could make you hungry. Never thought I’d say that in my life.’ Jackpot approached the stand and was greeted by a “Well howdy do mister, mah name is Applejack, how can ah help ya today?” ‘I like her already.’
“I’m Jackpot Star, just moved in this morning, I was hoping that I could have two apples.” He placed 6 bits on the counter, but Applejack handed 4 back.
“The price for an apple is only 1 bit here.” She said, matter-of-factly. Jackpot’s jaw dropped to the floor. ‘A bit for an apple, what sorcery is this?!’
“Wow, where I come from, they charge three times as much. Thanks.” He grabbed the apples off the counter, waved, and walked off to find a place to eat in peace. He made his way to the park, nopony was there, thankfully. Jackpot had a lot to think about.
“This town is really nice, way better than Manehatten, at least here I don’t have to worry about getting killed by rival gangs and other sh- stuff, stuff, I was gonna say stuff!” he shouted into the heaven. ‘Dodged a bolt there.’
“LOOK OUT BELOW!” Jackpot turned his head just in time to see a rainbow blur, then an instant later, all he felt was intense pain.
“OW FUCK!!” *ZAP* “SHIT!” *ZAP* He groaned, then realized his necklace fell off. “Not good.” It was on the ground next to that crazy ass pegasus that crashed into him, he quickly grabbed it and put it on before she noticed. “Hey, you okay?” He said. The pegasus stirred, but otherwise didn’t act hurt, or dead.
The pegasus groaned, and slowly got up. “What happened?”
“You crashed into me.” Jackpot said, she spun around and blushed.
“Yeah, sorry about that, I lost control in the dive. Hey who are you anyway?” Jackpot rolled his eyes, that’s always a pegasi’s excuse for crashing, but he wasn’t gonna say anything. “I’m Jackpot Star, I just moved her from Manehatten, and you are?” He asked, and immediately regretted it.
“The One and Only Rainbow Dash, and you now have the honor of meeting me. Welcome to Ponyville.” I hate her already.
“Well, thanks for the welcome. Why were you doing dives anyway, is that how you always welcome ponies?” He said slyly.
“I was training for… The Wonderbolts.” Oh for fuck’s sa- *ZAP* AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH! He bit his lip trying not to scream, that one had more volts than the others. “Hey, you okay?” He realized that Rainbow Dash was watching.
“Yeah, just an itch, I’m fine.” he lied. Luckily, she seemed to buy it or just didn't care because she went right into telling him about how cool and amazing the wonderbolts were and how she was going to show them how awesome she was and how they will accept her into their ranks. Jackpot had to avoid facehoofing in annoyance. He also noticed the sun going down.
“Well that's great and all, but I have to go, it's getting late. So, uh, goodnight.” He didn't even give Rainbow Dash a chance to respond before he left, not wanting to finish the conversation. With this day getting weirder, he decided to just go home, and sleep.
It took a little over 10 minutes to get to his house. The sun just blinking above the horizon. He opened the door to his house, groaned as he walked up to his room, and dropped on the bed once he got there. It didn’t take long for him to fall asleep, and end the first day of his new life.
Jackpot was sleeping quietly in his bed. The bed was so comfortable, it felt amazing. Too bad Lauren decided to wake him up. With a flash of her magic, confetti, horns, and cheers went off. The sleeping pony shot up in alarm, and fell out of the bed. He groaned in pain after landing flat on his face. “I’m starting to regret this decision.” He thought.
“Good morning Jackpot Star, I have two things to tell you.” Lauren said, not even hiding her amusement and excitement. Jackpot sat up, and glared at the goddess. She either ignored the look, or somehow didn’t notice as she continued. “First thing, your probation is up.” “Oh thank Lauren.” He thought. “You’re welcome.” She added. Jackpot decided not to question it, and motioned for her to continue. “The other thing, is that I found a new recruit, a mare from Manehatten.” The stallion raised an eyebrow in interest. “Her death is four days from now, the train in this time period takes at least half a day to get there, so you will leave the day before. I suggest you get ready. Here’s her profile.” All of a sudden, Lauren was wearing a business suit with sunglasses, and pulled a file with several pictures and reports of the pony in question. “Good luck Mr. Star.” She said before disappearing with a flash, blinding Jackpot.
It took him two minutes to get his full vision back. Once he did, he grabbed the file, and took a look.
“Damn.” Never saw that coming. Considering her life as a filly, how the hell did this happen? He looked through the rest of her history, and found nothing that showed signs of change, it looked almost instantaneous. Jackpot just couldn’t wrap his head around it. He’ll have to look into it later. Right now, he was hungry and wanted breakfast.
He got up and went to the kitchen. He still had some apples from yesterday, so he had that, along with some coffee. “Thank Lauren that they have coffee in this time period.” He looked at the time, and saw that it was 10 o’clock. “Wow, I slept late.” He finished his breakfast, and got ready. The house had great plumbing, so he was able to take a shower. It was 11 o’clock by the time he got out the door, and into town to get some things for the new arrival.
Once again, the town was busy. Ponies continued to go about their day buying and selling goods. Jackpot looked at everything she liked to eat, carrot dogs, hay burgers and hay fries, some good old fashion pizza, carrot pannini, and of course, apple pie. ‘Let’s be honest, who doesn’t like apple pie.’ He was interrupted by a scroll smacking him in the face. ‘Why do things always hit my face, my beautiful face.’ He grabbed it off the ground, and read it.
Come to SugarCube Corner at 4:00 this afternoon.
Signed,
Double P
“Okay?” Jackpot questioned the paper, then remembered Pinkie Pie yesterday. “Oh wait, party, right.” He groaned, he was never one for parties, especially after that one time when a rival gang trashed one at his old gang’s headquarters. “I never did like those Saints.” He thought about it for a few moments. “Eh, might as well go.” He looked at the time to see he had an hour, so he decided to start looking. He went down two blocks, and found it. ‘The kids at the orphanage would eat that alive if they saw it, then Hopeful would scold them, then I would… come in… and… make ‘em smile.’ His smile quickly turned into a frown as he thought about Hopeful and the foals. ‘Damn, they must have heard I died by now, how could I have been so stupid!’ He slammed his hoof into the ground. ‘I was a damn moron, how could I have gotten caught so easily?’ He was broken from his thoughts by somepony poking him, he turned to see Twilight looking at him.
“Jackpot, are you okay?” Jackpot took a deep breath, then said he was fine, Twilight tried to push it, but Jackpot just waved her off.
“Wait, Twilight, why are you here?”
“I was given an invitation to a party at 4:00, so, here I am.”
“Oh, okay, well, ladies first.” Jackpot made a gesture with his hoof towards the door, which the purple unicorn happily accepted. Three seconds later, Jackpot walked in, and his vision was filled with an explosion, and a loud bang.
Jackpot couldn’t breathe, he looked around the room expecting police, but instead, ponies looking at him with curiosity. Pinkie Pie looked at him. “Hey, we really surprised him didn’t we?”
Jackpot got his breathing under control. “Ye-yeah, ya did, thanks for that.” he said. He managed to calm down very quickly. “So… Let’s Party!” He said through a strained smile. The first thing he did was grab a piece of cake that Pinkie Pie handed him. He took a bite, and it was the most delicious cake he ever had. “Wow Pinkie, I love this, how did you know chocolate was my favorite?”
“I read your profile.” Pinkie said simply. Jackpot almost spat out the cake.
“Wait, how did you get my profile?” Pinkie simply winked, and bounced off. “I need to ask Lauren about her.” He went back to eating the cake.
He had to admit, the party was awesome. The ponies were fun to hang out with, but he still questioned Pinkie Pie. He shrugged. ‘I’m dead, why am I questioning anything?’ He then noticed something. “It’s night?! I need to get to bed.” He ran home, with a box of leftover cake. “I better catch the train, that way, I get time to find her.” The rest of his walk home was silent.
It was a few minutes before he made it home, putting the cake in the fridge, and marching up to bed. ‘Time for another restless night.’ With that in mind, he went to sleep.
“Hello, my son.” Jackpot opened his eyes as he heard a familiar voice. In front of him was an old stallion wearing a simple black shirt.
“Father Hope?” He asked, hopefully. The old pony nodded with a smile. Jackpot felt tears in his eyes.
“Father, forgive me for my sins.” He said, bowing his head. He felt a hoof on his chin.
“All is forgiven.” Hope said. There was a loud bang, and a gasp. Jackpot was frozen in shock as Father Solar fell into a pool of his own blood. Jackpot got up but stopped as he saw a young stallion looking over the body and crying.
“Father.” He cried over and over again, Jackpot knew exactly who that was.
“All is forgiven…”
“All will never be forgiven.” A venomous female voice growled.
Jackpot woke up screaming. He was sweating bullets. His breathing was heavy. He felt sick, he ran to the bathroom, and vomited into the toilet. After a few upchucks, and some gagging. He was breathing again, his hooves were shaking, his fur was soaked with sweat. He flushed the toilet, and went back to his bed, and he did something he hasn’t done in many years. He got down on his knees, and prayed.
“Forgive me Father, for I have sinned…”
Author's Note
I'm so so so so so so so sorry for not updating, writer's block, work, and now school kept me a bit busy, I finally managed to get this up. Try to guess who the new character is, here's a hint. It's not an OC, and she was introduced in season 5.