Far Away

CHAPTER XV

The lavender unicorn revealed her name to be Twilight Sparkle. She was student of Princess Celestia herself. Jack managed to calm down enough to explain the whole course of events to her. She asked for every little fact and detail. Probably just to paint a clearer picture. It soon became late afternoon when the pair finished discussing. Orange rays of the sun pierced the round windows that were supported by peculiar lead frames.

“Come back tomorrow at midday. I’m sure I will make a plan,” said Twilight. She started to walk upstairs and stretched the wings that Jack had missed before. That made her royal. An alicorn as a symbol of royalty.

“Y-you… princess?” Jack spluttered.

Twilight giggled at Jack’s consternation.

“It’s nothing. You didn’t need to call me princess or bow to me. I’m not into that stuff,” she said, giving Jack a wink.

Jack walked back to the Inn. He passed through the centre of the town this time. The town hall was taller than he imagined. He trotted through the central road towards his inn. He was feeling anxious, about what had happened today. He was especially troubled by what Twilight had told him about the Everfree. The whole forest was out of control. It had already tried to take over Ponyville before. Now there is believed to be an entity in the forest, controlling many forces, including a mercenary force of pegasi.

He was thinking of dark thoughts as he walked into the inn. He didn’t feel hungry that night. He walked up stiffly to his room and pulled out his key. He sat curled up in bed looking at the moon.

‘What went so wrong?’ he asked himself, ‘Where did it go so damn wrong?’

He recalled the horrific events. What are they currently doing to Daring. What were they doing to his Daring? It was the first time he felt any strong urge to arrive by her side, to tell her everything would be ok. That was a lie. Everything was never ok. He felt broken. Nothing except her could fix it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Daring looked up from her cell. She was chained onto her bed and could only move a few metres away from it. The cell was painted a shiny grey colour. This cell was constructed of concrete. A glass of water sat on a metal stand next to her bed. What had happened earlier that day? A stallion in a white coat approached her cell. Stopping her from thinking about Jack but now about the syringe he held in his hoof.

“Now don’t worry, captive. I’m just taking a blood sample,” he said.

Daring bit at him but his magic paralysed her. It took all her willpower to move her limb out of the way. The stallion stuck the syringe into her hoof and withdrew a full load of the crimson liquid. What was she here for? Daring felt claustrophobic in such a cell. She knew that Jack would come for her… Eventually.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was midday. The sun was beaming down onto the small town. Jack didn’t get any sleep that night. Too worried about somepony who cared for him and he cared for. He absentmindedly walked over to the large tree. This time, he was not in such a rush and took in the sight for a brief minute. It was a large oak with twisting branches and a balcony situated on the side of the tree with a telescope set up on it. It didn’t look like a bad place to live.

Jack knocked on the door. Twilight answered almost instantly. She opened the door wide with her magic, letting Jack in. She gestured for him to sit down. Jack did so obediently. Twilight closed the door softly and faced him.

“Well, I’ve written to Celestia,” she told Jack, “She knows Daring knows some confidential information. She doesn’t want it slipping to unworthy hooves.”

“Well, how are we going to get her back?” questioned Jack.

“Well, the Princess is dispatching a wing of Wonderbolts to the scene. Apparently they have scouted the area before for her,” informed Twilight.

“What are we going to do then?”

“We will wait for the ‘bolts to show up and see what information they have. Then we can conduct an operation.”

Jack sighed, a weight on his chest had been lifted and handed over to somepony else. He trotted over to the couch and lay on it, nearly dozing off.

“Had a bad night?” queried Twilight.

“Yup. Didn’t even get to sleep.”

Jack closed his eyes briefly. It wouldn’t hurt to doze for a few hours, right? Wrong! A loud knocking on the door awakened him from a deep slumber. He walked over to the door sluggishly and turned the handle. Agonizingly slow. First thing he felt was being blasted away from the door, the knocker had swung the door open.

“Oof,” Jack grunted.

A group of five pegasi trotted into the room when Twilight herself came down from upstairs.

“Oh hello Commander!” she said cheerfully.

“It’s nothing but bad news,” replied a mare with a fiery mane in quite a harsh voice, “They had anti-air weapons activated, like they were expecting us. Two of us are crippled,” she gestured to a white maned mare, who was limping into the doorway and another yellow mare who collapsed on the floor. The others only have slight grazes.

Twilight stared at the pony who talked.

“Oh you want the info on our scouting mission eh? Well, at least we found their compound. Its stuck right in the centre of the Everfree. No sign of Daring Do though.”

She glanced at the floor beneath her. Jack struggled up, dazed from the impact.

“I’m sorry,” she stated simply without any emotion in her voice.

“Well, how does the idea of being acquainted with Jack sound. He is the pony who was travelling around with Daring for the past few weeks,” suggested Twilight, “Maybe it’s for the best.”

“Oh all right,” said the mare gruffly.

“Well, my name is Commander Spitfire, commander of the Wonderbolts, this is Soarin,” she waved her hoof at a light blue stallion with a navy blue mane, “this is Fleetfoot,” she motioned at the crippled mare with the white mane, “this is Blaze,” she pointed at the collapsed pony, “and this Misty Fly,” she pointed at the pony with a light blue mane, “Done!”

“My name is Jackson Wanderer. It is a privilege to meet you,” Jack stated firmly.

“Well of course is a privilege, were only just the best fliers in Equestria!” groaned Fleetfoot.

“Well Fleets, at least you don’t have a broken sense of humour!” Spitfire chuckled.

“When have I ever Spits?” she shot back.

Soarin rolled his eyes and trotted next to Jack, “This is what it’s like to be the only stallion in the group,” he said sarcastically and unnecessarily loudly.

All the mares stopped gossiping and looked at Soarin with bored stares.

“Always trying to ruin the moment, eh?” said Misty.

“What?” exclaimed Soarin bewilderedly.

“You know, I swear we are professional comedians,” Spitfire nudged Jack.