The Elements of Chaos: The Insanityby WovenTwigsChaptersThe EyesThe Return of the Mare in the moon part 1The Return of the Mare in the moon part 2Thornbloods MansionThe EyesAuthor's Note Well hello, every pony this is my first fanfiction and I've had this idea for a while so I decided to create this. It may be short at the moment and later on as the story will progress I will be better at this in the future. So if there is anything I need to improve I would love it if there is some feedback. The Eyes The streets of Canterlot “He's over here he went down the alleyway” one of the guards chased the young colt. The young colt rushed down the alleyway maneuvering through the crates that were laying around. Until he hit a dead end and that's when he turned around in fear to see the guards corner him. That's when one of them pinned him down and the other started cuff in him into chains. “Send one of the guards to report Celestia for our capture,” said one of the guards. Celestial throne room The doors to Celestia's throne opened up as a guard rushed in “Princess Celestia we have good news,” said the guard “we managed to capture one of the elements of chaos.” Celestia's expression turned into a serious one once she heard this “Arrange the element in here” “Yes, your highness,” the guard said while he bowed before he left the throne room. A few minutes later A young colt was being dragged in multiple cuffs into the throne room; the young earth pony had a blue coat and orange mane. His whole body was covered with cuts and bruises. “Why is he in these conditions?” Celestia looked disappointed “why haven't you got him proper medical attention.” “But Princess we cannot have this filthy creature gain any of his strength back becau...” “That's enough!” interrupted Celestia “go fetch a doctor to patch him up” With that, the guard left to fetch a doctor. She stared at the young colt and noticed his strange swirly purple eyes. They seemed to swirl slowly and were almost hypnotizing as she stared at them but she knew to not look directly for too long or she would start having side effects she had heard about. She always thought it was just a fairytale, but here was one of them that came out in that very fairytale. He seemed to be trembling in fear as he saw the princess approach him. “What's your name?” asked the princess. “Uhhhm…. m my name is Jackal” responded the frightened colt “what are you going to do with me?” The princess smiled “Well, first of all, we have to make sure you don't lose control like you did earlier,” she then used her magic to free him from the chains. She knew that Jackal will never have a normal life but one where he would have to work hard in order to fit in and would probably have to encounter bizarre things due to the element of insanity that is lying partially dormant inside of him. Years later Jackal was inside of his room clustered with wooden puppets on the walls and the floor covered with wood shavings from the carving he has done all day. He sat there proud of himself that he finally mastered carving a life-sized pony figure that was around his size. Around the time when he met princess Celestia she decided to let him live in one of the rooms in the castle. He usually stayed inside of that room most of the time. He figured out one day his cutie mark was when he got a piece of wood and a knife and started carving into it. Afterward, when he finished he realized that he made a small marionette of a pony and afterward he saw a light glow on his side and he noticed he had a cutie mark of a wooden puppet controller with strings. His eyes started swirling again as the puppet slowly started to come to life. It managed to walk around for a few moments before it fell down on the floor. He has been able to control puppets around able to make them walk around for hours, but he had never moved this big of a puppet at the moment. He just needs more practice before he is able to use this puppet properly. He decided to rest for now before trying again; he placed the puppet with the other ones he had made over the years and started cleaning the mess he had made earlier. He then noticed what time it was and realized he worked nearly all night long to just finish his project. He decided that it would be best for him to go to catch up with his sleep so he covered himself in the bed sheets before he dozes off into a deep slumber. Celestias Throne Room Celestia was in her throne room when she received a letter from her faithful student Twilight Sparkle. It was a letter about the return of nightmare moon. Celestia feared that this day would come that her sister would return more powerful than ever to bring eternal nighttime forever. She started to panic until she realized that she needed to awaken the Elements of Harmony, so she wrote back to Twilight that she needed her to go to Ponyville to oversee the preparations for the Summer Sun Festival and to make some friends there. Also, there will be somepony accompanying her as well to make sure that nothing will go wrong while she is in Ponyville; she then sent the letter with her magic and decided to go arrange one of the castle staff to go bring Jackal to her throne room. Jackals Room There was a knock on the door "The Princess wants to see you in her throne room" Jackal then got up and walked towards the throne room wondering why would the princess need him at the moment. As he walked down the hallway he got the usual dirty glares from the guards; some filled with more hatred than others and some who didn't even stare at his direction ignoring that he even exists. He had been used to this for years and he knows the reason why they are like that. He knows that it's because he was born as the bearer of the element of insanity one of the elements of chaos that used to control all of Equestria before the appearance of the elements of harmony. After a while, Jackal came into the throne room “You wanted to see me, princess?” “Yes, I need you to complete a mission for me that you will have to help save Equestria from an eternal night,” the princess said with a serious tone in her voice “are you willing to accept it.” <TO BE CONTINUED = The Return of the Mare in the moon part 1Celestias Throne Room "Uhhh are you sure about this princess," said Jackal in a worried tone "I haven't left the castle for years and you expect me to go out there. The last time I have been out in the open ponies were staring at me and either running away or making fun of me." "Nonsense Jackal you have to face your fears at some point" replied Celestia "You will be assigned to be a body guard for my student Twilight Sparkle and her companion Spike. You will follow her around and make sure she is safe from nightmare moon. She is the key to defeating her." "Princess I don't mean to sound rude but who is Nightmare Moon?" "Well nearly a thousand years ago I used to rule Equestria with my sister Luna," said Celestia as her tone turned into a sad one "She was very dear to me however one day she was corrupted by jealousy inside of her heart that transformed her into Nightmare Moon. I managed to gather the Elements of Harmony to stop her however the Elements banished her to the moon and I now fear that the seal that is keeping her in the moon will soon wear off on the night of the Summer Sun Festival." "So you expect me to stop her?" he asked worriedly. "No, I expect you to keep Twilight and the other Elements Safe from harm until the Elements of Harmony will awaken" she got up from her throne and walked towards Jackal "Can you pack your things you're going to Ponyville as soon as possible I want you to wait for Twilight there." He returned to his room deciding to travel light for now however his eyes shifted towards the life-sized puppet on the wall and decided to wrap it up in a sheet and placed it in the suitcase. Once it was safely put away he went in one of his drawers to retrieve a pair of sunglasses that would help him cover his eyes so he wouldn't get any suspicion. Ponyville As Jackal was waiting for twilight he sat on a bench wondering why would the princess sent him to be a body guard for some is he didn't even know. How can he protect someone when he could barely take care of himself; all he has done over the years since Celestia found him and took him in her castle he has done nothing but make wooden puppets. Sometimes he was able to move them with his own eyes but that always exhausted him. The princess never had to explain to him how dangerous his powers were since he sometimes felt like there was like a dark hole inside of his chest grow bigger every time he used this sort of ability. He tries to avoid this as constant as possible but he knows that one day he might lose any control he has on this so he closed himself off in his room and rarely came out. Now he's out in the open feeling awkward from getting a lot of stares from the towns pony here. Anxiety started to kick into the point that he is trembling and breaking a sweat; he wishes that this mare would hurry up and appear already. While still deep in thought a lavender unicorn mare with a baby dragon following her arrived. It took a while for Jackal to notice their arrival until the little dragon spoke. "Maybe the ponies in Ponyville have interesting this to talk about. Come on, Twilight, just try!" Said the baby dragon. The purple mare tried to start a conversation with the pink pony with a poofy mane but she just gasped and sped off to who knows where. "Well, that was interesting all right." The dragon just sighed after what happened "Oh didn't Celestia mention we needed to meet with somepony first before we check the list?" "Oh yeah I wonder where we can find him" she looked around. She then noticed him sitting on a bench. "You must be the one Celestia had told me to meet, my name is Twilight Sparkle and this is my number one assistant Spike." "Oh uhhh hello my name is Jackal," trembled Jackal as he responded to Twilight. "Well it's nice to meet you Jackal we better hurry if we want to finish this check list for the Summer Sun Celebration" She walked past him towards their first location. He placed his suitcase on his back and followed her towards Sweet Apple Acres. They were nearing the apple farm where they are providing the banquet for the Summer Sun Celebration. They met Applejack and her large family who offered them brunch and they stayed to eat for a while then afterward they met the one who is responsible for clearing the clouds in the sky whose name was Rainbow Dash. After they were amazed at her skills being able to clear the sky 10 seconds flat. Then they met with Rarity who was responsible for the decorations for the festival; she was fixing Twilights crazy mane that Rainbow Dash caused earlier. They soon had to ditch Rarity because she was starting to get too excited learning that Twilight is from Canterlot. Then they met up with Fluttershy who was really shy when they first introduced until she noticed Spike and asked a lot of questions to him as she followed them all the way into the library. When they arrived at the library it seemed like the pink pony that Twilight met with earlier named Pinky Pie made a huge party to welcome Twilight. Jackal left Twilight and went to his temporary room and placed down his suit case on the bed; the party seemed to be getting pretty loud so he wondered if Twilight would be alright. As he walked up the stairs towards Twilight's room he noticed Spike walk down the stairs and he asked: "Is Twilight up there right now?" "Yeah she's up there if you excuse me I got a party to attend" replied Spike. Jackal walked into the room and noticed Twilight talking to herself "Ugh, here I thought I'd have time to learn about the Elements of Harmony but, silly me, all this friend-making has kept me from it!" She turned around and jumped in surprise when she realized Jackal was with her in her room "Don't you know how to knock?" "Sorry about that, are you alright," he asked nervously. "Forget it I don't have time for this we could all be in danger and nobody seems to be worried about Nightmare Moons return," she said as she walked towards her window and looked towards the moon "I still don't know what are the elements of harmony and where they even are" He stood by her side "Well I am sure that you will know what to do when the time comes." She stared at him curiously "Why are you still wearing those in here it's night time" she used her magic to levitate his sunglasses. "Don't look at my eyes please" he pleaded in fear trying to stop her. "Your eyes they are" that sentence was cut short by Spike "Twilight it's time to watch the sun rise." said Spike "Can we talk about this later Twilight?" Questioned Jackal "Alright but I better get some answers soon" Once they were at the ceremony Mayor Mare started to announce the beginning of the Summer Sun Celebration. When they introduced Princess Celestia they noticed that she was missing. Everypony was starting to panic while Mayor Mare was trying to calm them down until they heard a booming voice and evil laughter. That's when a cloud of smoke flew by and formed itself into Nightmare Moon "Oh, my beloved subjects. It's been so long since I've seen your precious sun-loving faces" she started to look around to all of the ponies that were cowering in fear "Does my crown no longer count now that I have been imprisoned for a thousand years? Did you not recall the legend? Did you not see the signs?" Twilight was the one to respond "I did. And I know who you are. You're the Mare in the Moon, Nightmare Moon." "Impressive there seems to be somepony who does remember me, do you know what I'm here for?" "uhhmm.." responded a nervous Twilight Nightmare Moon was laughing maniacally until a rock was tossed and hit her face. She turned furiously toward to the one who threw the rock at her. Jackal stood there trembling in fear however he stood his ground. "You fool how dare you to try to hurt your new ruler," she started to charge up her magic "There is no place for you in my kingdom of eternal night" She blasted a powerful beam of magic and it went towards his back; all that Jackal felt was his spine being torn apart. He fell down crying in pain and the last thing he heard was Twilight screaming his name as she tried to shake him to wake up. <TO BE CONTINUED= The Return of the Mare in the moon part 2Ponyville Hospital Jackal woke up feeling intense pain on his back region. He placed in a hospital bed and there was no pony else around him. He tried to get up but his body refused to move at all, he was paralyzed. He finally recalled what happened earlier with Nightmare Moon. He started to freak out that he will have to live the rest of his life paralyzed and would never be able to do anything for himself. He would never be able to accomplish to be able to have his own puppet store and have puppet shows for everyone to enjoy. He is starting to think about Twilight and where could she be until he heard somepony knock on the door. The door opened up and he noticed a strange figure walk in but he couldn't see who it was since the room was dark. "Who is there, show yourself" he was interrupted by the lights being turned off and was blinded for a few seconds until he saw who it was. Was it a sheep? He was surprised he expected to be a nurse but a sheep. "Hello there you must be Jackal," she said "my name is Lil Betty I may be small but I am reliable" "What, what is going on here where is everyone" "Well, most of the ponies in town had either moved out of Ponyville in fear or hiding in the safety of their homes. I'm here to help" She said proudly "You keep saying that but how are you helping this situation at all" "That's rude to say and here I thought that I would help you out" "Help me out? I can't move at all I'm paralyzed how can you even help out my situation" She then got close up and lifted one of her hooves and produced a strange surge of static electricity; she stabbed him in his chest and he felt an electrical surge go through his body. All he could do was scream in pain as he felt his back was shifting around. She finally pulled out and let him catch his breath "What was that what did yoo do to me?" She smiled coyly "Well all I did was manage to produce static electricity with my vitae" He got off the bed inspecting his body. It was amazing she was able to return mobility to his body, however, there was still some of the pain left in his body but he was not complaining. "Vitae? Whats that" "Oh, I guess Celestia hasn't told you about this?" "Wait you know the princess," he asked, "what happened to her, where is she, and why isn't she trying to stop her sister?" "Look I don't have time to answer your questions. We still have to stop Nightmare Moon before she attacks the Elements of Harmony and brings eternal night." "Sure, but how am I suppose to help out?" "Well you have no experience with vitae but you have a lot of that due to your eyes. Being the wielder of the element of insanity has its perks." "So what now?" "We get some supplies" The Everfree Forrest "All you have to do is imagine the vitae inside of you and let it course through your veins, and with that, you'd be able to get less damage when you get hit with a magic attack. That is all the things you would need for now to help in the defeat of Nightmare Moon." "Wait you're not going with me?" "Nope I am needed elsewhere goodbye" she comically ran off leaving a cloud of smoke He just stared at her with a confused look on his face"I will probably never understand that sheep in my life" he stared towards the direction the Lil Betty went. He turned towards the Castle of the Two Sisters and he ran towards it hoping that he would be able to get there in time. Castle of the Two Sisters He was already at the entrance of the castle when he noticed a flash of magic on one side of the castle to another part of the castle. It seemed like some sort of teleportation spell. He heard the girls scream about Twilight and he took it as a sign as to head out where that burst of magic happened. Once he managed to get there he saw Twilight gasp in fear as she saw the Elements being shattered "But... where's the sixth Element?!" "You little fool! Thinking you could defeat me? Now you will never see your princess, or your sun! the night will last forever!" she started to laugh maniacally until a rock was thrown towards her. "What, who dares to throw another rock at me?!" "Wow, and here I thought you were some sort of powerful alicorn, but you seem to be really a really cocky pony who is just big talk." responded Jackal as he stepped out of the shadows "What I thought I got rid of you, no matter I will make sure I don't leave one ash of your body." she charged up another one of her attacks. Jackal was quick enough to dodge it and did a counter attack with his front hooves and punched her in the face. The other girls started to appear alongside Twilight. "Wait how is this possible I thought his spine was shattered" questioned a surprised Rainbow Dash. "Maybe he was suddenly healed by some mysterious sheep with some sort of magical powers that helped him heal up" randomly said Pinkie Pie suddenly breaking the fourth wall. "What?" said a confused Applejack "Nevermind" "Hey Twilight, can you hurry up and summon the Elements of Harmony and take her down I don't think that I can stall her much longer" yelled Jackal "Oh right, I realized that the Elements may have been shattered but their spirits are still alive right here with us." "Applejack, who reassured me when I was in doubt, represents the spirit of ... honesty. Fluttershy, who tamed the manticore with her compassion, represents the spirit of.. kindness. Pinkie Pie, who banished fear by giggling in the face of danger, represents the spirit of... laughter. Rarity, who calmed a sorrowful serpent with a meaningful gift represents the spirit of... generosity. And Rainbow Dash, who could not abandon her friends for her heart's desires represents the spirit of... loyalty. "The spirits of these five pines go us through every challenge you threw at us." said Twilight Just then Nightmare Moon managed to blast Jackal right in the head blowing up a chunk of his skull. He went flying towards a pillar that crumbled right on top of him. She was laughing maniacally as all the girls gasped. "You still don't have the sixth Element! The spark didn't work!" "But I did! A different kind of spark. I realized it when I realized how happy I was to meet you girls and how much I cared about you and when I realized that you all were my friends. The real spark that was ignited inside me that resides in the hearts of us all, it creates the sixth element, the element of magic!" Then there they were all six of them finally awakened the elements of Harmony "Ok girls let's do this for Jackal" said a very angry Twilight. "You killed him you ruffian!" exclaimed Rarity. "Yeah you killed him," Jackal said as he surprised the girls from behind. "But how is this possible we saw you get blasted and the pillar crushing your whole body!" said Applejack "Well, I used this," he took out a wooden cross that is used to control puppets. He then pulled at it with his mouth and a large life sized puppet was dragged out that looked exactly like him but was missing a chunk of its head. "Took a while to build it before and now it's been broken; it took me nearly 3 weeks to just get the proportions accurate," he said disappointedly. "Who do you even think you are?" asked Nightmare Moon. He took off the sunglasses he had on and revealed his swirling eyes "Well I am Jackal, the Element of Insanity of the Elements of Chaos" he said as he laughed like crazy. She started to back up as she noticed the puppet come to life and wrap all around her. "Quick use the elements on her before its too late" The girls blasted her with the elements and with blinding lights that managed to knock them all down. He woke up hearing the girls talk to themselves when he noticed Celestia appear in front of them. "Princess Celestia" Twilight said as she went and greeted the princess. "Twilight Sparkle, my faithful student. I knew you could do it." "But... you told me it was all an old pony tale. "I told you that you needed to make some friends, nothing more. I saw the signs of NIghmare Moon's return, so I made sure to send Jackal to aid you when awakening the magic of friendship when you let true friendship in your heart. Now if only another will let friendship in their heart. Princess Luna?" she walked towards her. "It's has been a thousand years since I have seen you like this. Time to put our differences behind us. We were meant to rule together, little sister." "Sister?" both Twilight and Rainbow were surprised. "Will you accept my friendship?" Luna suddenly hugged her sister "I'm so sorry! I missed you so much, big sister!" It seemed to be a happy ending until Rainbow Dash was the one who questioned "What are the Elements of Chaos?" everyone fell silent. Jackal walked towards his sunglasses that were on the ground and placed them back on "I'm not so sure my self, I would love to give you answers but all I know is that I represent the spirit of insanity." "Everyone please doesn't fear Jackal because of his element," said Celestia "Everything will be alright" They weren't afraid at all of him and called him their friend and after one of Pinkie Pies party, Celesta decreed that Twilight Sparkle would stay in Ponyville in order to research about friendship. She even asked Jackal to stay and she gave him enough bits to go buy a place of his own. Would this seem to be a happy ending for them? A village in a mountain "Please let the children live... aahhhhhh" A unicorn stood there as he sucked the life out of the pony who was pleading him to spare the children "Like I would take life from children they don't even quench my thirst" He left the children crying over the bodies of their parents as he left the village. His eyes glowed green with swirls "I need more Power!" <TO BE CONTINUED= Thornbloods MansionGolden Oak Library - Ponyville Jackal woke up in cold sweat breathing uncontrollably. This was the 5th nightmare he had this week since the day helped defeat Nightmare Moon and it has been the same one every time. The dreams always start out like one of his regular dreams, but it slowly loses reality and morphs itself in an empty void. He can't move, he cants make a sound, the only thing that he can hear is his own voice in the distance whispering harshly, "I am in control now." He decided to shake it off and went to get a warm glass of milk to get back to sleep. As he opened the door he noticed Twilight outside looking at him worriedly "I could hear you yelling from my room, is everything ok?" "Yeah it's fine I'm just going to get a drink," he said as he passed by Twilight towards the kitchen. We went towards the fridge and took out a carton of milk and placed it on the counter. He rummaged through the cupboards until he found a mug that said Celestias' #1 Student. "Jackal you know that you just can't just brush this off it's been days since you've been having these nightmares they can't be healthy. Also, I can't sleep at all with all of your screamings," she said "Well don't worry I'll soon have a place of my own and you don't have to worry about me anymore" She then got even more worried "But still you're not even sleeping properly it can greatly affect you if you don't get any sleep....Jackal?" She was responded by Jackal snoring as he was overfilling the mug with milk. She sighed "I'll send a letter to Celestia and I hope she knows what to do." Mayor Mare's Office Jackal was sitting in the waiting room waiting for his turn when he noticed... a paper airplane? It landed right in front of him and it just started to unfold by itself. He wondered how was this even possible and who would have written this so he got up and picked up the letter. It was from Little Betty, he hasn't heard from her since the Nightmare Moon incident. "Hey, Jackal, it's me Little Betty and I know this is sudden but I need you to meet me at the entrance of the Everfree Forest at night for some training, test thingy that you would need if you are planning to stay alive. Great danger looms around the corner and it's better to be safe than sorry. Be there or be square from your pal Lil Betty. "What the...." "Jackal your up next," said Mayor Mares secretary He walked in her office and he saw Mayor Mare sitting in her office filing stacks of papers mumbling to herself. "There is too much work today I really need a vacation. Oh hello Jackal are you ready to sign the final of the paperwork" "Yeah so where do I sign" She rummaged through the paperwork until she found it "Just sign the parts that are labeled with an X." Once he was done Mayor Mare searched through one of the cabinets and got out a key and passed it to him. "There you go I hope that you feel welcomed in your new home and if you ever need anything you know when my office hours are opened if you have any questions." "I'll be sure to ask," he said as he placed the key in a pouch in his bag. He walked out of the office and decided to go back to Golden Oaks and pick up his things. Jackal's New Home His new home was a little rundown and it only has one floor, one bedroom and bathroom, and a basement. The outside of his house looks like it needs a new fresh coat of paint and the lawn was overgrown but he didn't mind it though. He opened the door and looked around. It looks exactly the same as the last time he was here when they gave him a tour of the available houses for sale. There were two couches and a coffee table in the middle of the living room, the kitchen had a working stove, however, the fridge didn't seem to work so he has to either get it fixed or just throw it out and get a new one. He walked towards to the bedroom where he started to unpack his things but he didn't go too far before he collapsed on his bed. He couldn't move his body at all and slowly fell out of consciousness. 9:07 PM When he finally woke up he noticed that it was already night time. He groaned in pain as he got up from his position he felt intense back pain; Lil Betty may have healed him however it seemed that she was able to only heal his spine but there seemed to be still a bit of damage left. He sometimes wakes up like this and usually, he would drink up a pain killer but he finished them all last night. He grabbed his satchel which just contained some bits, wood carving tools, small metal pieces for some of his puppets, and twine. He realized that he seemed to have skipped lunch so he decided to go and pay Applejack a visit on her apple farm to get something to eat on the way to the Everfree Forest. As he walked out the front door and locked his house up he noticed his next door neighbor was out watering his lawn. He seemed happy, really happy for some reason "Howdy diddly doo neighbor, you must be new to this neighborhood" he was a gray stallion with light blue hair. Jackal suddenly frowned "Yeah look I would really love to stay and have a nice chat but I got somewhere to be." he said sarcastically. "Alright, my name is Buckley by that way if you need anything neighbor my doors are open." "Yeah sure" Jackal added one more sarcastic tone in his voice right before he left towards Sweet Apple Acres. Sweet Apple Acres He found Applejack starting to put away her apple stand for the day and decided to quickly rush towards her before it was too late "Applejack! Don't put them away I need some apples." "Well sure sugar cube how many do you need" "How many would this buy me?" He took out some bits and placed them in front of Applejack "How about this one on the house," she said as she gave the bits back to him "I already met my sales mark for today and you really need it more since you poured mostly every bit just to buy that place of yours. Maybe you can invite me over there some time." "Sure thanks for the apples though, but I can't just accept them like this maybe i could help out around the place if you like." "Then how about tomorrow early in the morning you can help me pick some apples." "Uhh sure I really don't mind I'll be here tomorrow" He placed the apples in his satchel and started to eat one of them as he walked towards his destination. Everfree Forest Lil Betty was sitting on a stump near the entrance when Jackal got there. He took out an apple and tossed it towards her "An apple for my teacher, I hope this will help me pass this test of yours?" She grinned as she took a bite out of it "Well this test is pretty simple but before you start you will need to learn a bit of history" she got up from her spot and stood at the entrance of the forest "There was once a wealthy family that helped found Ponyville and decided to build a mansion in the Everfree Forest. The stallions name was Thornblood who lost his family to a curse due to his greed and was transformed into a Timberwolf. So I need you to find this mansion and try to get past all of the Timberwolves defeat Thornblood and free him from his curse and you will retrieve a gift inside." "So you want me to go into a Timberwolf den?" "Yep I'm rooting for yah" she started to go back to the stump and continued to eat her apple "Don't worry you'll survive" Jackal stood there shocked but he knew that he must complete this test and possibly get that supposed reward at the end of the challenge. He started to walk into the forest feeling eyes staring at him as he found the path towards the mansion. Mansion entrance Jackal was on a tree branch carving out a puppet half his size and started to tie up some string on it. He wanted to be prepared before he would go in there. "Well it's now or never" He jumped out of the tree and ran towards one of the doors until a pack of Timberwolves started to circle him "Ah crud!" Some time later *crash* Jackal broke in through one of the windows and started to run down the hall way with two Timberwolves behind him *crash* three Timberwolves stood right in front of him. He started to back up but then bolted towards the three of them and produced some vitae on his back legs and bucked one of them and broke it to pieces; one of them decided to attack him and bit him on his right front leg. Jackal howled in pain and reached into his satchel and retired his wooden cross and pulled it out with his puppet. He produced enough vitae to be able to control the puppets movements better than what he could have before. He then made it spin like a top and hit the Timberwolf that was biting him down and broke it into pieces. Two down three to go. The other one bit down and swallowed the puppet but then exploded due to the mass amounts of vitae that were built in the puppet. Make that three down. He kept on going down the hallway with the two trailing right behind him until he saw what seemed to be a study room. He sprinted in there and locked the door and pushed over the nearest bookcase in front of the door to reinforce it. He could hear the Timberwolves trying to scratch their way in. He was safe for now but he was a pain at the moment and produced enough vitae to numb the pain for now and decided to go towards the bathroom off the side of the study room to look for medical supplies. He found a medicine cabinet but they seemed to be mostly expired but thank Celestia there were some bandages in there. It took at least a good 10 minutes to pull out splinters from his wound and clean in before he tied it up. He wasn't sure if there would be more Timberwolves reinforcements on their way but he knows that if he could just take out their leader they might fall back. Unfortunately, he has no idea where would Thornblood would be but he needs to be prepared before he could attack. He saw the large wooden desk in the middle of the study and decided to take out his carving knife and got to work. It took nearly 2 hours to produce two similar looking puppets like the previous one he had but this wood was a bit more durable. The door started to break down more violently and it sounds like there are more Timberwolves out there. Well, it was time to execute his plan so he went to the bathroom and opened up the window and stepped on the short ledge and shimmied his way towards another room that seems to be the master bedroom and opened up the window and got in. "That will buy me some time, for now, I need to figure out where I'm heading." He searched through the drawers until he found what seemed to be a diary. It seemed to contain the day to day life of Thornblood himself; he went to the last diary entry "My family is gone and I'm alone now. I feel that I am losing control of myself and soon I will become into a Timberwolf permanently. I wish I could just say goodbye one last time to my family...." the rest of the pages are written illegibly to the point it's just scribbles. "Well that was useless" sighed Jackal "If I were a Timberwolf where would I be?" he looked outside the window and then he saw on the other side of the house where the kitchen was at. He saw that there was a Timber wolf that seemed larger in comparison to the others that was mostly covered in thorns. "I'm going to take a guess that's him. Great the place is on the other side if I jump out the window and make a run for it ill get ambushed." There are Timberwolves right next door and if I get out of this one they will track me down there aren't many places to hide in here. His best choice was to create a diversion. He searched around the room for anything he could throw out until he searched in the closet the closet and found a mannequin. He grabbed it and tossed it towards the window making a loud enough noise and hid in the closet. It only took a few seconds before the room was flooded with them. Once they looked outside they noticed the strange figure if the mannequin and they decided to go down and investigate but one stayed behind. It seems to have gotten his scent. He was screwed so he bolted out and attacked him by giving a strong enough blow to the head and ran down the hallway. It took nearly 5 minutes to get to his destination trying to avoid his pursuers until he got it the kitchen. There he stood exhausted sweat dripping and stinging his wound as the Timberwolves circled him; there's no way out of this one. Until he heard a deep growl of Thornblood as he got closer which caused all of the Timberwolves to back off. Thornblood wanted jackal for himself. "Looks like I made it here" he started to take out the two puppets "you seemed to call back the others, you really want me for yourself huh" The beast growled more furiously "Well then, come and get me!" this caused the Thornblood to get more aggravated and attacked. Jackal jumped out of the way and called in one of his puppets to spin and attack. This attack was in vain because once it made contact with him the legs shattered and only left the head and a bit of the body. So he transferred enough vitae to cause a large explosion however that still didn't do any damage either. He was down to one puppet. Thornbloods speed was way out of jackals league and he managed to get behind him; jackal had no time to respond as Thornblood slashed him with his claws and made a deep wound on his right side. Jackal screeched in pain but pushed himself to his limit and took this chance and kicked Thornblood in the jaw. Thornblood's mouth was open and now jackal took his chance. He jumped right into the mouth and was swallowed whole. <TO BE CONTINUED= Author's Note Sorry if this took long but I've been going to college for the first time and I haven't gotten used to it yet. I promise that I will get to work on the chapters as fast as I can and the time I get.
The EyesAuthor's Note Well hello, every pony this is my first fanfiction and I've had this idea for a while so I decided to create this. It may be short at the moment and later on as the story will progress I will be better at this in the future. So if there is anything I need to improve I would love it if there is some feedback. The Eyes The streets of Canterlot “He's over here he went down the alleyway” one of the guards chased the young colt. The young colt rushed down the alleyway maneuvering through the crates that were laying around. Until he hit a dead end and that's when he turned around in fear to see the guards corner him. That's when one of them pinned him down and the other started cuff in him into chains. “Send one of the guards to report Celestia for our capture,” said one of the guards. Celestial throne room The doors to Celestia's throne opened up as a guard rushed in “Princess Celestia we have good news,” said the guard “we managed to capture one of the elements of chaos.” Celestia's expression turned into a serious one once she heard this “Arrange the element in here” “Yes, your highness,” the guard said while he bowed before he left the throne room. A few minutes later A young colt was being dragged in multiple cuffs into the throne room; the young earth pony had a blue coat and orange mane. His whole body was covered with cuts and bruises. “Why is he in these conditions?” Celestia looked disappointed “why haven't you got him proper medical attention.” “But Princess we cannot have this filthy creature gain any of his strength back becau...” “That's enough!” interrupted Celestia “go fetch a doctor to patch him up” With that, the guard left to fetch a doctor. She stared at the young colt and noticed his strange swirly purple eyes. They seemed to swirl slowly and were almost hypnotizing as she stared at them but she knew to not look directly for too long or she would start having side effects she had heard about. She always thought it was just a fairytale, but here was one of them that came out in that very fairytale. He seemed to be trembling in fear as he saw the princess approach him. “What's your name?” asked the princess. “Uhhhm…. m my name is Jackal” responded the frightened colt “what are you going to do with me?” The princess smiled “Well, first of all, we have to make sure you don't lose control like you did earlier,” she then used her magic to free him from the chains. She knew that Jackal will never have a normal life but one where he would have to work hard in order to fit in and would probably have to encounter bizarre things due to the element of insanity that is lying partially dormant inside of him. Years later Jackal was inside of his room clustered with wooden puppets on the walls and the floor covered with wood shavings from the carving he has done all day. He sat there proud of himself that he finally mastered carving a life-sized pony figure that was around his size. Around the time when he met princess Celestia she decided to let him live in one of the rooms in the castle. He usually stayed inside of that room most of the time. He figured out one day his cutie mark was when he got a piece of wood and a knife and started carving into it. Afterward, when he finished he realized that he made a small marionette of a pony and afterward he saw a light glow on his side and he noticed he had a cutie mark of a wooden puppet controller with strings. His eyes started swirling again as the puppet slowly started to come to life. It managed to walk around for a few moments before it fell down on the floor. He has been able to control puppets around able to make them walk around for hours, but he had never moved this big of a puppet at the moment. He just needs more practice before he is able to use this puppet properly. He decided to rest for now before trying again; he placed the puppet with the other ones he had made over the years and started cleaning the mess he had made earlier. He then noticed what time it was and realized he worked nearly all night long to just finish his project. He decided that it would be best for him to go to catch up with his sleep so he covered himself in the bed sheets before he dozes off into a deep slumber. Celestias Throne Room Celestia was in her throne room when she received a letter from her faithful student Twilight Sparkle. It was a letter about the return of nightmare moon. Celestia feared that this day would come that her sister would return more powerful than ever to bring eternal nighttime forever. She started to panic until she realized that she needed to awaken the Elements of Harmony, so she wrote back to Twilight that she needed her to go to Ponyville to oversee the preparations for the Summer Sun Festival and to make some friends there. Also, there will be somepony accompanying her as well to make sure that nothing will go wrong while she is in Ponyville; she then sent the letter with her magic and decided to go arrange one of the castle staff to go bring Jackal to her throne room. Jackals Room There was a knock on the door "The Princess wants to see you in her throne room" Jackal then got up and walked towards the throne room wondering why would the princess need him at the moment. As he walked down the hallway he got the usual dirty glares from the guards; some filled with more hatred than others and some who didn't even stare at his direction ignoring that he even exists. He had been used to this for years and he knows the reason why they are like that. He knows that it's because he was born as the bearer of the element of insanity one of the elements of chaos that used to control all of Equestria before the appearance of the elements of harmony. After a while, Jackal came into the throne room “You wanted to see me, princess?” “Yes, I need you to complete a mission for me that you will have to help save Equestria from an eternal night,” the princess said with a serious tone in her voice “are you willing to accept it.” <TO BE CONTINUED =
The Return of the Mare in the moon part 1Celestias Throne Room "Uhhh are you sure about this princess," said Jackal in a worried tone "I haven't left the castle for years and you expect me to go out there. The last time I have been out in the open ponies were staring at me and either running away or making fun of me." "Nonsense Jackal you have to face your fears at some point" replied Celestia "You will be assigned to be a body guard for my student Twilight Sparkle and her companion Spike. You will follow her around and make sure she is safe from nightmare moon. She is the key to defeating her." "Princess I don't mean to sound rude but who is Nightmare Moon?" "Well nearly a thousand years ago I used to rule Equestria with my sister Luna," said Celestia as her tone turned into a sad one "She was very dear to me however one day she was corrupted by jealousy inside of her heart that transformed her into Nightmare Moon. I managed to gather the Elements of Harmony to stop her however the Elements banished her to the moon and I now fear that the seal that is keeping her in the moon will soon wear off on the night of the Summer Sun Festival." "So you expect me to stop her?" he asked worriedly. "No, I expect you to keep Twilight and the other Elements Safe from harm until the Elements of Harmony will awaken" she got up from her throne and walked towards Jackal "Can you pack your things you're going to Ponyville as soon as possible I want you to wait for Twilight there." He returned to his room deciding to travel light for now however his eyes shifted towards the life-sized puppet on the wall and decided to wrap it up in a sheet and placed it in the suitcase. Once it was safely put away he went in one of his drawers to retrieve a pair of sunglasses that would help him cover his eyes so he wouldn't get any suspicion. Ponyville As Jackal was waiting for twilight he sat on a bench wondering why would the princess sent him to be a body guard for some is he didn't even know. How can he protect someone when he could barely take care of himself; all he has done over the years since Celestia found him and took him in her castle he has done nothing but make wooden puppets. Sometimes he was able to move them with his own eyes but that always exhausted him. The princess never had to explain to him how dangerous his powers were since he sometimes felt like there was like a dark hole inside of his chest grow bigger every time he used this sort of ability. He tries to avoid this as constant as possible but he knows that one day he might lose any control he has on this so he closed himself off in his room and rarely came out. Now he's out in the open feeling awkward from getting a lot of stares from the towns pony here. Anxiety started to kick into the point that he is trembling and breaking a sweat; he wishes that this mare would hurry up and appear already. While still deep in thought a lavender unicorn mare with a baby dragon following her arrived. It took a while for Jackal to notice their arrival until the little dragon spoke. "Maybe the ponies in Ponyville have interesting this to talk about. Come on, Twilight, just try!" Said the baby dragon. The purple mare tried to start a conversation with the pink pony with a poofy mane but she just gasped and sped off to who knows where. "Well, that was interesting all right." The dragon just sighed after what happened "Oh didn't Celestia mention we needed to meet with somepony first before we check the list?" "Oh yeah I wonder where we can find him" she looked around. She then noticed him sitting on a bench. "You must be the one Celestia had told me to meet, my name is Twilight Sparkle and this is my number one assistant Spike." "Oh uhhh hello my name is Jackal," trembled Jackal as he responded to Twilight. "Well it's nice to meet you Jackal we better hurry if we want to finish this check list for the Summer Sun Celebration" She walked past him towards their first location. He placed his suitcase on his back and followed her towards Sweet Apple Acres. They were nearing the apple farm where they are providing the banquet for the Summer Sun Celebration. They met Applejack and her large family who offered them brunch and they stayed to eat for a while then afterward they met the one who is responsible for clearing the clouds in the sky whose name was Rainbow Dash. After they were amazed at her skills being able to clear the sky 10 seconds flat. Then they met with Rarity who was responsible for the decorations for the festival; she was fixing Twilights crazy mane that Rainbow Dash caused earlier. They soon had to ditch Rarity because she was starting to get too excited learning that Twilight is from Canterlot. Then they met up with Fluttershy who was really shy when they first introduced until she noticed Spike and asked a lot of questions to him as she followed them all the way into the library. When they arrived at the library it seemed like the pink pony that Twilight met with earlier named Pinky Pie made a huge party to welcome Twilight. Jackal left Twilight and went to his temporary room and placed down his suit case on the bed; the party seemed to be getting pretty loud so he wondered if Twilight would be alright. As he walked up the stairs towards Twilight's room he noticed Spike walk down the stairs and he asked: "Is Twilight up there right now?" "Yeah she's up there if you excuse me I got a party to attend" replied Spike. Jackal walked into the room and noticed Twilight talking to herself "Ugh, here I thought I'd have time to learn about the Elements of Harmony but, silly me, all this friend-making has kept me from it!" She turned around and jumped in surprise when she realized Jackal was with her in her room "Don't you know how to knock?" "Sorry about that, are you alright," he asked nervously. "Forget it I don't have time for this we could all be in danger and nobody seems to be worried about Nightmare Moons return," she said as she walked towards her window and looked towards the moon "I still don't know what are the elements of harmony and where they even are" He stood by her side "Well I am sure that you will know what to do when the time comes." She stared at him curiously "Why are you still wearing those in here it's night time" she used her magic to levitate his sunglasses. "Don't look at my eyes please" he pleaded in fear trying to stop her. "Your eyes they are" that sentence was cut short by Spike "Twilight it's time to watch the sun rise." said Spike "Can we talk about this later Twilight?" Questioned Jackal "Alright but I better get some answers soon" Once they were at the ceremony Mayor Mare started to announce the beginning of the Summer Sun Celebration. When they introduced Princess Celestia they noticed that she was missing. Everypony was starting to panic while Mayor Mare was trying to calm them down until they heard a booming voice and evil laughter. That's when a cloud of smoke flew by and formed itself into Nightmare Moon "Oh, my beloved subjects. It's been so long since I've seen your precious sun-loving faces" she started to look around to all of the ponies that were cowering in fear "Does my crown no longer count now that I have been imprisoned for a thousand years? Did you not recall the legend? Did you not see the signs?" Twilight was the one to respond "I did. And I know who you are. You're the Mare in the Moon, Nightmare Moon." "Impressive there seems to be somepony who does remember me, do you know what I'm here for?" "uhhmm.." responded a nervous Twilight Nightmare Moon was laughing maniacally until a rock was tossed and hit her face. She turned furiously toward to the one who threw the rock at her. Jackal stood there trembling in fear however he stood his ground. "You fool how dare you to try to hurt your new ruler," she started to charge up her magic "There is no place for you in my kingdom of eternal night" She blasted a powerful beam of magic and it went towards his back; all that Jackal felt was his spine being torn apart. He fell down crying in pain and the last thing he heard was Twilight screaming his name as she tried to shake him to wake up. <TO BE CONTINUED=
The Return of the Mare in the moon part 2Ponyville Hospital Jackal woke up feeling intense pain on his back region. He placed in a hospital bed and there was no pony else around him. He tried to get up but his body refused to move at all, he was paralyzed. He finally recalled what happened earlier with Nightmare Moon. He started to freak out that he will have to live the rest of his life paralyzed and would never be able to do anything for himself. He would never be able to accomplish to be able to have his own puppet store and have puppet shows for everyone to enjoy. He is starting to think about Twilight and where could she be until he heard somepony knock on the door. The door opened up and he noticed a strange figure walk in but he couldn't see who it was since the room was dark. "Who is there, show yourself" he was interrupted by the lights being turned off and was blinded for a few seconds until he saw who it was. Was it a sheep? He was surprised he expected to be a nurse but a sheep. "Hello there you must be Jackal," she said "my name is Lil Betty I may be small but I am reliable" "What, what is going on here where is everyone" "Well, most of the ponies in town had either moved out of Ponyville in fear or hiding in the safety of their homes. I'm here to help" She said proudly "You keep saying that but how are you helping this situation at all" "That's rude to say and here I thought that I would help you out" "Help me out? I can't move at all I'm paralyzed how can you even help out my situation" She then got close up and lifted one of her hooves and produced a strange surge of static electricity; she stabbed him in his chest and he felt an electrical surge go through his body. All he could do was scream in pain as he felt his back was shifting around. She finally pulled out and let him catch his breath "What was that what did yoo do to me?" She smiled coyly "Well all I did was manage to produce static electricity with my vitae" He got off the bed inspecting his body. It was amazing she was able to return mobility to his body, however, there was still some of the pain left in his body but he was not complaining. "Vitae? Whats that" "Oh, I guess Celestia hasn't told you about this?" "Wait you know the princess," he asked, "what happened to her, where is she, and why isn't she trying to stop her sister?" "Look I don't have time to answer your questions. We still have to stop Nightmare Moon before she attacks the Elements of Harmony and brings eternal night." "Sure, but how am I suppose to help out?" "Well you have no experience with vitae but you have a lot of that due to your eyes. Being the wielder of the element of insanity has its perks." "So what now?" "We get some supplies" The Everfree Forrest "All you have to do is imagine the vitae inside of you and let it course through your veins, and with that, you'd be able to get less damage when you get hit with a magic attack. That is all the things you would need for now to help in the defeat of Nightmare Moon." "Wait you're not going with me?" "Nope I am needed elsewhere goodbye" she comically ran off leaving a cloud of smoke He just stared at her with a confused look on his face"I will probably never understand that sheep in my life" he stared towards the direction the Lil Betty went. He turned towards the Castle of the Two Sisters and he ran towards it hoping that he would be able to get there in time. Castle of the Two Sisters He was already at the entrance of the castle when he noticed a flash of magic on one side of the castle to another part of the castle. It seemed like some sort of teleportation spell. He heard the girls scream about Twilight and he took it as a sign as to head out where that burst of magic happened. Once he managed to get there he saw Twilight gasp in fear as she saw the Elements being shattered "But... where's the sixth Element?!" "You little fool! Thinking you could defeat me? Now you will never see your princess, or your sun! the night will last forever!" she started to laugh maniacally until a rock was thrown towards her. "What, who dares to throw another rock at me?!" "Wow, and here I thought you were some sort of powerful alicorn, but you seem to be really a really cocky pony who is just big talk." responded Jackal as he stepped out of the shadows "What I thought I got rid of you, no matter I will make sure I don't leave one ash of your body." she charged up another one of her attacks. Jackal was quick enough to dodge it and did a counter attack with his front hooves and punched her in the face. The other girls started to appear alongside Twilight. "Wait how is this possible I thought his spine was shattered" questioned a surprised Rainbow Dash. "Maybe he was suddenly healed by some mysterious sheep with some sort of magical powers that helped him heal up" randomly said Pinkie Pie suddenly breaking the fourth wall. "What?" said a confused Applejack "Nevermind" "Hey Twilight, can you hurry up and summon the Elements of Harmony and take her down I don't think that I can stall her much longer" yelled Jackal "Oh right, I realized that the Elements may have been shattered but their spirits are still alive right here with us." "Applejack, who reassured me when I was in doubt, represents the spirit of ... honesty. Fluttershy, who tamed the manticore with her compassion, represents the spirit of.. kindness. Pinkie Pie, who banished fear by giggling in the face of danger, represents the spirit of... laughter. Rarity, who calmed a sorrowful serpent with a meaningful gift represents the spirit of... generosity. And Rainbow Dash, who could not abandon her friends for her heart's desires represents the spirit of... loyalty. "The spirits of these five pines go us through every challenge you threw at us." said Twilight Just then Nightmare Moon managed to blast Jackal right in the head blowing up a chunk of his skull. He went flying towards a pillar that crumbled right on top of him. She was laughing maniacally as all the girls gasped. "You still don't have the sixth Element! The spark didn't work!" "But I did! A different kind of spark. I realized it when I realized how happy I was to meet you girls and how much I cared about you and when I realized that you all were my friends. The real spark that was ignited inside me that resides in the hearts of us all, it creates the sixth element, the element of magic!" Then there they were all six of them finally awakened the elements of Harmony "Ok girls let's do this for Jackal" said a very angry Twilight. "You killed him you ruffian!" exclaimed Rarity. "Yeah you killed him," Jackal said as he surprised the girls from behind. "But how is this possible we saw you get blasted and the pillar crushing your whole body!" said Applejack "Well, I used this," he took out a wooden cross that is used to control puppets. He then pulled at it with his mouth and a large life sized puppet was dragged out that looked exactly like him but was missing a chunk of its head. "Took a while to build it before and now it's been broken; it took me nearly 3 weeks to just get the proportions accurate," he said disappointedly. "Who do you even think you are?" asked Nightmare Moon. He took off the sunglasses he had on and revealed his swirling eyes "Well I am Jackal, the Element of Insanity of the Elements of Chaos" he said as he laughed like crazy. She started to back up as she noticed the puppet come to life and wrap all around her. "Quick use the elements on her before its too late" The girls blasted her with the elements and with blinding lights that managed to knock them all down. He woke up hearing the girls talk to themselves when he noticed Celestia appear in front of them. "Princess Celestia" Twilight said as she went and greeted the princess. "Twilight Sparkle, my faithful student. I knew you could do it." "But... you told me it was all an old pony tale. "I told you that you needed to make some friends, nothing more. I saw the signs of NIghmare Moon's return, so I made sure to send Jackal to aid you when awakening the magic of friendship when you let true friendship in your heart. Now if only another will let friendship in their heart. Princess Luna?" she walked towards her. "It's has been a thousand years since I have seen you like this. Time to put our differences behind us. We were meant to rule together, little sister." "Sister?" both Twilight and Rainbow were surprised. "Will you accept my friendship?" Luna suddenly hugged her sister "I'm so sorry! I missed you so much, big sister!" It seemed to be a happy ending until Rainbow Dash was the one who questioned "What are the Elements of Chaos?" everyone fell silent. Jackal walked towards his sunglasses that were on the ground and placed them back on "I'm not so sure my self, I would love to give you answers but all I know is that I represent the spirit of insanity." "Everyone please doesn't fear Jackal because of his element," said Celestia "Everything will be alright" They weren't afraid at all of him and called him their friend and after one of Pinkie Pies party, Celesta decreed that Twilight Sparkle would stay in Ponyville in order to research about friendship. She even asked Jackal to stay and she gave him enough bits to go buy a place of his own. Would this seem to be a happy ending for them? A village in a mountain "Please let the children live... aahhhhhh" A unicorn stood there as he sucked the life out of the pony who was pleading him to spare the children "Like I would take life from children they don't even quench my thirst" He left the children crying over the bodies of their parents as he left the village. His eyes glowed green with swirls "I need more Power!" <TO BE CONTINUED=
Thornbloods MansionGolden Oak Library - Ponyville Jackal woke up in cold sweat breathing uncontrollably. This was the 5th nightmare he had this week since the day helped defeat Nightmare Moon and it has been the same one every time. The dreams always start out like one of his regular dreams, but it slowly loses reality and morphs itself in an empty void. He can't move, he cants make a sound, the only thing that he can hear is his own voice in the distance whispering harshly, "I am in control now." He decided to shake it off and went to get a warm glass of milk to get back to sleep. As he opened the door he noticed Twilight outside looking at him worriedly "I could hear you yelling from my room, is everything ok?" "Yeah it's fine I'm just going to get a drink," he said as he passed by Twilight towards the kitchen. We went towards the fridge and took out a carton of milk and placed it on the counter. He rummaged through the cupboards until he found a mug that said Celestias' #1 Student. "Jackal you know that you just can't just brush this off it's been days since you've been having these nightmares they can't be healthy. Also, I can't sleep at all with all of your screamings," she said "Well don't worry I'll soon have a place of my own and you don't have to worry about me anymore" She then got even more worried "But still you're not even sleeping properly it can greatly affect you if you don't get any sleep....Jackal?" She was responded by Jackal snoring as he was overfilling the mug with milk. She sighed "I'll send a letter to Celestia and I hope she knows what to do." Mayor Mare's Office Jackal was sitting in the waiting room waiting for his turn when he noticed... a paper airplane? It landed right in front of him and it just started to unfold by itself. He wondered how was this even possible and who would have written this so he got up and picked up the letter. It was from Little Betty, he hasn't heard from her since the Nightmare Moon incident. "Hey, Jackal, it's me Little Betty and I know this is sudden but I need you to meet me at the entrance of the Everfree Forest at night for some training, test thingy that you would need if you are planning to stay alive. Great danger looms around the corner and it's better to be safe than sorry. Be there or be square from your pal Lil Betty. "What the...." "Jackal your up next," said Mayor Mares secretary He walked in her office and he saw Mayor Mare sitting in her office filing stacks of papers mumbling to herself. "There is too much work today I really need a vacation. Oh hello Jackal are you ready to sign the final of the paperwork" "Yeah so where do I sign" She rummaged through the paperwork until she found it "Just sign the parts that are labeled with an X." Once he was done Mayor Mare searched through one of the cabinets and got out a key and passed it to him. "There you go I hope that you feel welcomed in your new home and if you ever need anything you know when my office hours are opened if you have any questions." "I'll be sure to ask," he said as he placed the key in a pouch in his bag. He walked out of the office and decided to go back to Golden Oaks and pick up his things. Jackal's New Home His new home was a little rundown and it only has one floor, one bedroom and bathroom, and a basement. The outside of his house looks like it needs a new fresh coat of paint and the lawn was overgrown but he didn't mind it though. He opened the door and looked around. It looks exactly the same as the last time he was here when they gave him a tour of the available houses for sale. There were two couches and a coffee table in the middle of the living room, the kitchen had a working stove, however, the fridge didn't seem to work so he has to either get it fixed or just throw it out and get a new one. He walked towards to the bedroom where he started to unpack his things but he didn't go too far before he collapsed on his bed. He couldn't move his body at all and slowly fell out of consciousness. 9:07 PM When he finally woke up he noticed that it was already night time. He groaned in pain as he got up from his position he felt intense back pain; Lil Betty may have healed him however it seemed that she was able to only heal his spine but there seemed to be still a bit of damage left. He sometimes wakes up like this and usually, he would drink up a pain killer but he finished them all last night. He grabbed his satchel which just contained some bits, wood carving tools, small metal pieces for some of his puppets, and twine. He realized that he seemed to have skipped lunch so he decided to go and pay Applejack a visit on her apple farm to get something to eat on the way to the Everfree Forest. As he walked out the front door and locked his house up he noticed his next door neighbor was out watering his lawn. He seemed happy, really happy for some reason "Howdy diddly doo neighbor, you must be new to this neighborhood" he was a gray stallion with light blue hair. Jackal suddenly frowned "Yeah look I would really love to stay and have a nice chat but I got somewhere to be." he said sarcastically. "Alright, my name is Buckley by that way if you need anything neighbor my doors are open." "Yeah sure" Jackal added one more sarcastic tone in his voice right before he left towards Sweet Apple Acres. Sweet Apple Acres He found Applejack starting to put away her apple stand for the day and decided to quickly rush towards her before it was too late "Applejack! Don't put them away I need some apples." "Well sure sugar cube how many do you need" "How many would this buy me?" He took out some bits and placed them in front of Applejack "How about this one on the house," she said as she gave the bits back to him "I already met my sales mark for today and you really need it more since you poured mostly every bit just to buy that place of yours. Maybe you can invite me over there some time." "Sure thanks for the apples though, but I can't just accept them like this maybe i could help out around the place if you like." "Then how about tomorrow early in the morning you can help me pick some apples." "Uhh sure I really don't mind I'll be here tomorrow" He placed the apples in his satchel and started to eat one of them as he walked towards his destination. Everfree Forest Lil Betty was sitting on a stump near the entrance when Jackal got there. He took out an apple and tossed it towards her "An apple for my teacher, I hope this will help me pass this test of yours?" She grinned as she took a bite out of it "Well this test is pretty simple but before you start you will need to learn a bit of history" she got up from her spot and stood at the entrance of the forest "There was once a wealthy family that helped found Ponyville and decided to build a mansion in the Everfree Forest. The stallions name was Thornblood who lost his family to a curse due to his greed and was transformed into a Timberwolf. So I need you to find this mansion and try to get past all of the Timberwolves defeat Thornblood and free him from his curse and you will retrieve a gift inside." "So you want me to go into a Timberwolf den?" "Yep I'm rooting for yah" she started to go back to the stump and continued to eat her apple "Don't worry you'll survive" Jackal stood there shocked but he knew that he must complete this test and possibly get that supposed reward at the end of the challenge. He started to walk into the forest feeling eyes staring at him as he found the path towards the mansion. Mansion entrance Jackal was on a tree branch carving out a puppet half his size and started to tie up some string on it. He wanted to be prepared before he would go in there. "Well it's now or never" He jumped out of the tree and ran towards one of the doors until a pack of Timberwolves started to circle him "Ah crud!" Some time later *crash* Jackal broke in through one of the windows and started to run down the hall way with two Timberwolves behind him *crash* three Timberwolves stood right in front of him. He started to back up but then bolted towards the three of them and produced some vitae on his back legs and bucked one of them and broke it to pieces; one of them decided to attack him and bit him on his right front leg. Jackal howled in pain and reached into his satchel and retired his wooden cross and pulled it out with his puppet. He produced enough vitae to be able to control the puppets movements better than what he could have before. He then made it spin like a top and hit the Timberwolf that was biting him down and broke it into pieces. Two down three to go. The other one bit down and swallowed the puppet but then exploded due to the mass amounts of vitae that were built in the puppet. Make that three down. He kept on going down the hallway with the two trailing right behind him until he saw what seemed to be a study room. He sprinted in there and locked the door and pushed over the nearest bookcase in front of the door to reinforce it. He could hear the Timberwolves trying to scratch their way in. He was safe for now but he was a pain at the moment and produced enough vitae to numb the pain for now and decided to go towards the bathroom off the side of the study room to look for medical supplies. He found a medicine cabinet but they seemed to be mostly expired but thank Celestia there were some bandages in there. It took at least a good 10 minutes to pull out splinters from his wound and clean in before he tied it up. He wasn't sure if there would be more Timberwolves reinforcements on their way but he knows that if he could just take out their leader they might fall back. Unfortunately, he has no idea where would Thornblood would be but he needs to be prepared before he could attack. He saw the large wooden desk in the middle of the study and decided to take out his carving knife and got to work. It took nearly 2 hours to produce two similar looking puppets like the previous one he had but this wood was a bit more durable. The door started to break down more violently and it sounds like there are more Timberwolves out there. Well, it was time to execute his plan so he went to the bathroom and opened up the window and stepped on the short ledge and shimmied his way towards another room that seems to be the master bedroom and opened up the window and got in. "That will buy me some time, for now, I need to figure out where I'm heading." He searched through the drawers until he found what seemed to be a diary. It seemed to contain the day to day life of Thornblood himself; he went to the last diary entry "My family is gone and I'm alone now. I feel that I am losing control of myself and soon I will become into a Timberwolf permanently. I wish I could just say goodbye one last time to my family...." the rest of the pages are written illegibly to the point it's just scribbles. "Well that was useless" sighed Jackal "If I were a Timberwolf where would I be?" he looked outside the window and then he saw on the other side of the house where the kitchen was at. He saw that there was a Timber wolf that seemed larger in comparison to the others that was mostly covered in thorns. "I'm going to take a guess that's him. Great the place is on the other side if I jump out the window and make a run for it ill get ambushed." There are Timberwolves right next door and if I get out of this one they will track me down there aren't many places to hide in here. His best choice was to create a diversion. He searched around the room for anything he could throw out until he searched in the closet the closet and found a mannequin. He grabbed it and tossed it towards the window making a loud enough noise and hid in the closet. It only took a few seconds before the room was flooded with them. Once they looked outside they noticed the strange figure if the mannequin and they decided to go down and investigate but one stayed behind. It seems to have gotten his scent. He was screwed so he bolted out and attacked him by giving a strong enough blow to the head and ran down the hallway. It took nearly 5 minutes to get to his destination trying to avoid his pursuers until he got it the kitchen. There he stood exhausted sweat dripping and stinging his wound as the Timberwolves circled him; there's no way out of this one. Until he heard a deep growl of Thornblood as he got closer which caused all of the Timberwolves to back off. Thornblood wanted jackal for himself. "Looks like I made it here" he started to take out the two puppets "you seemed to call back the others, you really want me for yourself huh" The beast growled more furiously "Well then, come and get me!" this caused the Thornblood to get more aggravated and attacked. Jackal jumped out of the way and called in one of his puppets to spin and attack. This attack was in vain because once it made contact with him the legs shattered and only left the head and a bit of the body. So he transferred enough vitae to cause a large explosion however that still didn't do any damage either. He was down to one puppet. Thornbloods speed was way out of jackals league and he managed to get behind him; jackal had no time to respond as Thornblood slashed him with his claws and made a deep wound on his right side. Jackal screeched in pain but pushed himself to his limit and took this chance and kicked Thornblood in the jaw. Thornblood's mouth was open and now jackal took his chance. He jumped right into the mouth and was swallowed whole. <TO BE CONTINUED= Author's Note Sorry if this took long but I've been going to college for the first time and I haven't gotten used to it yet. I promise that I will get to work on the chapters as fast as I can and the time I get.
