Red Dead Revisited/Growing Where You’re Planted

Jack Marston in Equestria

Chapter 2 Back in the Saddle

“I just know that there are two theories when arguing with women. And neither one works.” John Marston..

Twilight looked at the creature before her. Thousands of questions came to mind. Instantly she wanted to write a very long letter to Princess Celestia, asking what she knew about the myth of humans. Of course she could attempt to enlist Lyra Heartstrings, but she had a feeling that Lyra would be too caught up with the prospect of being right. She took a moment to look at Roseluck. It wasn’t surprising that she didn’t know what this creature was. After all, the myth of humanity itself was exceptionally old, and usually it was only those that studied at Celestia’s school for gifted Unicorns that knew anything about them.

She felt foolish, exceptionally foolish, because of all of the things she studied the myth of humans was fairly low on the list. She knew they were connected to ‘The Megan’, but how they were connected was a bit hazy. She was still fuzzy on exactly what ‘The Megan’ was, but she knew the few times the Princess had spoken about her it had been with as much reverence as she had ever heard. Still, she grabbed a quill, some parchment, and quickly handed it to Spike. The young drake rolled his eyes before taking his place as her assistant and prepared to take notes. Twilight stepped toward the human, glad that he at least spoke a similar language as Equinish, although his accent sounded close to Applejack’s.

A grin crossed her lips as she thought of that. The first bit of proof that humanity existed, and their example was a male version of Applejack. She realized that she’d been studying him, not saying a word, for several minutes at this point, and obviously it was making the situation far more awkward than it needed to be. Slowly she cleared her throat.

“Welcome to Golden Oak Library, I’m Twilight Sparkle.”

He nodded, “Jack Marston, It’s a pleasure, I’m sure, but Miss, I gotta tell ya that I’d love to find out where I am. The school marm told me that y’all might have some books that could tell me more about where I am.”

Twilight nodded, and gestured toward the various walls, “I’m sure we can find something, but do you mind if I ask a few questions?”

Jack noticed the hopeful expression on her face. It was something he’d seen a few times in his travels. A few learned men, including Dr. Riggs himself, often had that same expression when they were looking at something they hoped would be a major discovery for them. Part of him wondered if that was what this mare was thinking. Did she see him as a potential study or project? If the situation was reversed he couldn’t deny that the thought might would pass his own mind.

“I’ll be glad to answer what I can, but I truly would like to know where I am.”

“Oh, of course!” she said, perhaps a bit too enthusiastically, as she moved toward a table, “Spike would you grab…”

Before the words were out of her mouth the younger drake laid a large book on the table. She glanced at it. The historical atlas was the best choice. It gave a brief overview of Equestria, and it also provided maps of the area. She glanced at Spike who was making his way back toward where Roseluck was standing.

Jack took a moment to look at the book itself. He had hoped that the lettering would be in English, especially since they seemed to be able to speak it. That hope seemed to be realized, and he slowly opened the old book. Just touching it he could tell that it was likely far older than he was. In some ways it reminded him of the old family bible that Uncle had with him. He’d said that it he knew it went back six generations, but past that he didn’t have a clue.

This book felt like that bible. It felt old, delicate, and he took care turning the old pages. He glanced up at Twilight who seemed to be holding her breath in anticipation.

“What kind of questions did ya have for me?”

She practically squealed in delight before glancing at him, “I want to know everything! Oh, let’s start at the top! So you are a human, male, are there others of your kind?”

Realizing that this could take a while he leaned back, “Back where I come from it’s mostly just my kind, at least that’s the only ones that talk. Unless ya drink some of that spirit tea. If’n ya do that then damned near everything talks.”

“Spirit tea?”

“Peyote tea, some of the Comanche used it to spirit walk. I had to drink it once, and I don’t plan on drinking it again.”

Twilight scribbled on the piece of parchment, obviously happy to listen and get what information she could about human civilization and culture. He waited as she finished and then she looked back at him.

“Roseluck said that you were able to stop that Manticore. Would you mind to tell me how you did that?”

He pulled out the revolver and showed it to her.

“This is a Cattleman’s Revolver. It’s a forty-five caliber pistol, holds six shots, and is usually a fella’s best friend when dealing with dangerous critters or bounties.”

He quickly unloaded it, and he felt it become lighter. A strange purple color surrounded it, and suddenly it floated over to the mare next to him. Jack had to remind himself that this obviously wasn’t home, and that strange things were bound to happen. Thankful that he had read works by several different authors that talked about fantastic voyages, creatures of every shape and size, and of course hearing about the legends of nightmarish creatures that Uncle would spin yarns about.

All of that made seeing the revolver float over to the mare a bit easier. She seemed to study it, and then he watched as she studied it more intently. Before he could get a word out it began to split into a dozen pieces, and she was drawing a diagram of it. After a few moments it began to pull itself back together, and then she floated it back to him. He took a moment to study the revolver, seeing that it looked fine he quickly holstered it.

Twilight finished up the diagram of the weapon, placed the parchment over to the side, grabbed another one, and dipped her quill back into the inkwell, “You said that humans are the only sapient species where you’re from, right?”

He nodded, “Yeah, we’re the only ones that can talk. Course, I wouldn’t exactly put that down as making all humans much better than animals. There’s a few that I’ve brought in that weren’t much better than wild critters.”

“Huh,” she scribbled on her parchment, “What about where you live. What’s it like?”

He had half a smile, “Haven’t really had much of a home in years. I used to live on a farm that my Pa bought. It was a small place, but Pa was trying to make it into something that we could be proud of,” his smile began to fade, “The farm, or ranch rather, ended up being a dream.”

Twilight looked at him for a moment. She placed the quill down, “Do you need to talk about it?”

There was a heaviness on him. It sat like a dead buffalo on his soul. Its very presence was more than enough to make him want to be rid of it, but at the same time that heaviness had helped him more times than not. It had given him the drive to avenge his father, but did he want to keep carrying it? Did he want to continue to carry the carcass of the past around with him? His mind drifted to Seth, and he considered how the old prospector, and graverobber, did externally what he was doing internally.

He shook his head. He just wasn’t ready to be rid of his past. He couldn’t let go of his father, not yet. His father had taught him several valuable lessons, and one of the strongest was that there wasn’t any shame in getting help. There might not be any shame in it, but he needed to know when to get it.

“Thank ya, but I don’t want to lay my burdens down on ya.”

Twilight studied him for a moment, and she saw more of Applejack in him. The way he refused to let someone else lighten the load was something that Applejack tended to do. A small part of her wondered if perhaps his background was similar to Applejack’s own background. He did speak about being raised on a farm. It would make all kinds of sense that their similar upbringing could be what made them so similar in the first place.

“Okay, but know that if you want to talk about it, I don’t mind to listen. Anyway, I know that you were wanting to know where you were,” she used her magic to open the Historical Atlas and she let it settle on Equestria.”

“This is Equestria, specifically we’re in Ponyville.”

“This ain’t part of the United States, is it?”

She looked at him and shook her head, “I don’t know what the United States are… Equestria is our country, and continent on Equus, that’s the planet.”

He shook his head, “Not even on Earth anymore…”

Everything considered Jack had seemed to handle the news that he wasn’t even back on Earth fairly well. After all he’d seen, and heard, about strange happenings that went far beyond the understanding of man. This was just another sense of that. Still, it laid the truth of what he knew down for him. There wasn’t a going back. Likely what brought him here was a single occurrence. Oh, if there was someone left back home that he was close to it make a difference, but there wasn’t really anyone that he was overly close with.

His Ma and Pa were both buried out at the old homestead. It bothered him that he wouldn’t be able to visit their graves anymore, but all things considered he was sure they would understand. His Pa would tell him to make the best of it, and be glad that he was somewhere that the life he leads couldn’t follow. Of course he wasn’t a full fledge outlaw like his father, but he was close. A bounty hunter, bit of a card shark, and a part-time author. There was a single book out that he wrote, and another some yankee wrote about his father.

Uncle had told the man much of what he could about John Marston, and he had filled in the blanks that Uncle couldn’t remember. Part of him wondered if such a story would do good here. Maybe they would like to read about the life of an outlaw, the decisions he made, the woman he married, and the life he tried to lead when he broke away from the life he had. The problem was the ending, but he believed in being honest. That was something his Pa had wanted to truly instill in him. He wanted him to remain an honest man.

He finished up with the questions and answers with the Princess, and soon he was informed that the other Princesses would be told about his presence. In truth he wasn’t sure how he felt about being the center of a large fuss. He thanked her, turned, and walked out. His Pack still had the fresh kill from that manticore, and he looked at the stalls that lined the street. There was dozens upon dozens of stalls that dealt with vegetables, fruits, and even everyday items, but finally at the end he saw a lone stall ran by a gryphoness.

Walking toward her he watched as her entire presence perked up. She gestured toward the collection of vegetables, and the samples of meats she had.

“Interested in buying?”

Hearing him ask so plainly she nodded, and he pulled the cuts of the manticore. She eyed the steaks, the tenderloin, and she sniffed it, “Huh, I don’t believe it, manticore. It’s rare that anyone has any manticore for sale.”

She judged it a bit longer, “I’ll give you a hundred and fifty bits for the entire lot.”

Figuring that she might be lowballing him, but also realizing that he had never been offered anything that high, except for the bear he had killed once, he nodded. She quickly tucked it away, and he pulled out the pelt. Seeing it she squirmed.

“Fifty bits, that’s all I can spare.”

He grinned, nodded, and she took the pelt.

“Look, I don’t set up in Ponyville every week. Usually I’m here about once a month, but if you can bring me more of this everytime I’m here I can promise you a fair price.”

He stuck out his hand, “Sounds like we have an accord.”

She shook his hand, and he began walking back toward what was left of Tumbleweed.

Author's Note

(AN: Again, it's been a while, but I wanted to get an update out there. Especially since the release of Red Dead Redemption 2 just happened. That said, I'm hoping to have more updates on this fairly more often.)