Chapters Life happens. Those are the two words that everyone should understand and be ready to react to, since the unexpected can and will happen. Even if the unexpected can be improbable. Such was the case of one Jethro Magnus. His visit to a convention went sideways fast.
He arrived to the convention in his Vault 76 jumpsuit with leather armor and a bowie knife (a fake one, thankfully). His entrance was unspectacular. His browsing, however, went sideways quickly. He met a shady merchant fellow that had a C.A.M.P. (Construction and Assembly Mobile Platform), as well as a replica of an M1917 Trench Carbine and a P08 pistol replica. With the allure of those being only roughly $40, he quickly bought the items. The merchant was even kind enough to include a holster and a strap for his weapons that blended in perfectly with the leather armor.
After the money changed hands, the merchant said, “Enjoy those country roads.” Jethro thanked the man and began his long walk home.
It was a cool autumn day, the wind whistles through the leaves that had finished changing color. He chose to walk a back country trail to the convention. Trees lined both sides as leaves scattered across the ground. With the sun beginning to set he started his journey.
A replica Pip Boy rested on his arm, holding his phone in the case as he turned on a bit of music for his walk. The soft music filled the air from the small Bluetooth speaker he built into the Pip Boy. It weighed a good bit on his arm but he didn’t mind as the pistol rested on his hip and the carbine strapped to his back.
Shortly after the song stopped, Jethro noticed something. “Why does the woods look different?” He asked to himself, while looking around him. The woods he was originally in had various evergreen trees (mostly pine) in the majority. The woods he was in now, seemed to have mostly oak and birch. No evergreen trees in sight. “What’s going on?” He rushed down the path he was on until he came out of the woods. In the distance, was what looked like a European village.
“Where am I?” With a somewhat cautious start, Jethro started walking to the village. As he walked past some fields and farmhouses, he couldn’t help but taking glances at the size of the buildings and doors. “Children, dwarves, or midgets. Yeesh.” His ‘thoughts’ on the village inhabitants was proven wrong. Technicolor ponies, varying from unicorns, pegasi, and seemingly normal ponies. The top of their heads (on average) reached his chest, while their shoulders reached his waist.
His attention wasn’t very good, however, and he ended up tripping over a pegasus...that was still flying? “Oh Shoot!” The pegasus said as Jethro fell over, face first, into the dirt. “I’m sooooo sorry! I wasn’t paying attention. I just don’t know what went wrong.” The pegasus turned to where Jethro tripped, and hesitated helping, but ignored her fear. She quickly helped him up and began brushing the dirt and grass off of him.
“Just my luck,” Jethro said, as the grey coated, yellow maned pegasus kept brushing. “I’m walking along in what seems to be a new world or land or whatever, and I end up tripping over one of this place’s inhabitants...and why she’s helping me instead of getting mad-”
“It’s my fault as well,” the pegasus interjected, having finished brushing him off. “I wasn’t paying attention. Now that I think about it, why was I flying only a few centimeters off the ground?” She asked with her eyes going in different directions in confusion.
“That is something I don’t have an answer to,” he said. “Out of curiosity, what’s your name? Mine is Jethro.”
“I’m Ditzy Doo. Resident mailpony and overall optimistic one,” she said. Ditzy gave me a once over before giving a nod to herself that he was clear of dirt. “So, you new in town? I haven't seen anything like you here in Ponyville before...well except that minotaur-what's-his-name, but you only are similar in body structure.” Her eyes crossed in confusion again. “Now I'm starting to sound like my husband,” she said to herself.
“You could say I'm new in town,” Jethro said. “Although, with what I'm seeing and hearing, I think I'm new to more than just the town.”
“Like world, dimension, universe, or the like?” Ditzy asked, her face seeming to show her curiosity.
Jethro shrugged. “Maybe? Dimensional travel, or whatever isn’t what my kind deals with on a regular basis,” he supplied. With a smile Ditzy grabbed his hand and started leading him towards the town.
“Whether or not this is or isn’t dimensional travel, my husband is practically an expert on the subject,” she bragged as she pulled him along. “He devised several theories on travel through various parts of time and space...Faust, the things I pick up from him.”
“I don’t want to impose on his help,” Jethro tried to protest, but Ditzy only insisted on pulling harder at that. After a bit, she had pulled him to a cottage near the edge of the town.
“Just wait here, I’ll get my husband.” Ditzy rushed inside while shouting out for her husband. Jethro stood off to the side of the doorway while that was happening. Townsponies were taking occasional glances and momentary stares in his general direction, making him slightly uncomfortable. Just as he was ready to take a seat on the ground, Ditzy came back with a normal brown stallion with a suit collar and tie.
“Well, Great Wickering Stallions!” The stallion exclaimed. “How in all of Equis did a full on Homo Sapien end up here?!” He asked, before lifting his hoof, stopping Jethro from answering. “Don’t tell me, let me see.” He reached under his collar and grabbed a strange rod thing that suddenly glowed blue and emitted an annoying buzzing sound before he placed it back under his collar. “They’re almost uncontrollable now,” he said quietly while facehoofing.
“Who?” Ditzy and Jethro asked. The stallion went to answer, but a loud feral growl with a scream following it interrupted him. They gazed down the street and saw a gruesome sight. A pony that had seemingly lost it’s coat and was covered with green crystalline growths was standing over the bloody corpse of a grayish pink mare with two-toned dark purple mane and tail.
“Honey?” Ditzy asked her husband, but before she could say anything more, the ugly pony took notice of them...specifically Jethro. The pony gave a savage growl, drool and blood dripping from it’s mouth before charging towards them.
“Stop! Or I’ll shoot!” Jethro shouted, pulling his pistol out and pointing it at the pony. The pony didn’t stop, causing him to take a step back and trip over his feet. The sudden fall caused him to pull the trigger on accident and the bullet managed to sail into the pony’s head, causing it to explode. When Jethro hit the ground, his head hit a rock that was conveniently where his head was to land. The hard impact caused Jethro to start losing his consciousness. Before he completely blacked out, he saw a few white ponies in golden armor start running up. With a concerned shout from Ditzy, he was out.
Author's Note
Well...a good start. The M rating is necessary when doing a story about a mind robbing plague and a Vault Dweller fighting in Equestria.
If you hate the story, then stop reading it.
Chapter 1: Court of Quarantine
Opening his eyes, Jethro woke to a dark prison cell. Rubbing his sore head and sitting up, he found an orange pegasus pony in golden armor standing outside his cell looking at him with a sympathetic face. “You okay?” He asked.
Jethro nodded as he kept rubbing his head. “Yeah. Head’s sore, but other than that I’m fine,” he answered. “So, I’m in prison. What’s the crime I’m accused of?”
“You’re awfully calm for something that just commited murder,” the pegasus said.
“So that’s the crime...also, I’m calm because of a personal motto keeps me mostly calm in any situation. Life happens,” Jethro explained.
“Ah, makes sense,” The pegasus muttered. He shook his head before putting his hoof through the bars. “My name’s Flash Sentry.”
“Jethro,” he responded, taking Flash’s hoof and shook it. “So, I hope you haven’t broken my weapons. Regardless if I’m declared guilty or not, I think you ponies would probably appreciate decent weaponry.”
“From what I’ve heard from the other guards, the weapons did more damage to them and they to the weapons, if at all for the second bit,” Flash said. “A unicorn tried pulling that weapon out of your hand while you were unconscious and it apparently shot a millimeter off the tip of his horn. And to tell you how painful that is, think of getting kicked in the dick combined with getting castrated.”
“I don’t even want say how much I didn’t want to hear from that,” Jethro said, while somewhat crossing his legs. A unicorn guard suddenly and silently walked out from around the corner.
“Private Sentry, Captain Armor requests you in the barracks,” the guard said. Flash saluted the guard, and the guard did the same. Flash left and his replacement took up his post.
“So…” Jethro started, but the guard interrupted me with a voice different than when he spoke to Flash.
“You are very convincing, creature,” the guard said before ‘morphing’ into a snow white alicorn with a Sun Fetish. “Your general attitude almost got me to rethink your sentence.”
“Uh...what?” He eloquently asked.
The alicorn sighed. “I mean that you aren’t acting like someone who commited murder. No fearfully denying, or sadistic admission. Just a calm disposition all around,” She said, with a slight scowl. “So, tell me what you did.”
“I’m accused of murder,” Jethro bluntly said. “I’m not sure what the witnesses said, but that seems a bit too much...unless you have a specific definition of ‘self-defense’ and if said definition applies within certain scenarios.”
“...What?” She asked with complete confusion. “What does that have to do with the murder of Spoiled Rich?”
“Who's that?” Jethro asked. “The only thing I shot at with my gun was a mutated pony thing...and a guard on accident.” He said.
“You mean that afflicted? That pony must have slipped through the cracks, but that's not relevant,” the alicorn said.
“It is relevant,” Jethro interrupted. “That afflicted just finished chewing another pony's throat out, I shot it, then hit my head hard.”
“The afflicted aren't mentally capable of doing such an act... even if they weren't afflicted, they wouldn't,” she countered. “But even if one could or did, where's your proof? Where's your witnesses?”
“Try talking to-” The door to the dungeon was slammed open, cutting him off. The rattling of armor and feral snarls reached the two.
“Princess Celestia!” A unicorn guard yelled out as he came around the corner with an afflicted in his magic. “We found another one.”
“Again?!” The alicorn, Celestia, asked in annoyance. “That’s the third one this week! What’s going on? Are the afflicted avoiding treatment? Why would they avoid-”
“DON’T LET IT TOUCH YOU!!!” Jethro shouted, catching the three free ponies off guard. “Now that I see one, I can tell what disease, generally speaking, it has and how to classify it!”
“So you are saying you are responsible for these afflicted?” Celestia asked with a huge scowl. “I will not tolerate actions done to my ponies!”
Jethro gave her a flat look. “In what way did I indicate that?” Celestia went to answer, but Jethro interrupted her before she could start. “I only said that, because those green, crystalline growths and the ‘burnt’ flesh resemble a disease in something in fiction from where I’m from.” He paused to let the information sink in, causing Celestia to cool down and have a look of realization mixed with disdain. “The disease has the unoriginal-ish name of the Scorched Plague. The people and creatures that are infected by that plague are generally known as the Scorched. There are possibilities for cures and/or vaccines, but the details are lost on me. I’m a game nerd, not a virologist.”
“So, then you have presented enough evidence to at least provide reasonable doubt of your guilt,” Celestia said, while waving the guard to continue on his way with the Scorched pony. “To provide full innocence, eyewitnesses are needed to prove your actions.”
“Ditzy Doo and her husband,” Jethro simply said. “They were there when that Scorched or afflicted, or whatever you’ll call them, attacked.”
“Understood. If all goes well for you, you’ll be released tomorrow at the earliest, or by the end of the week at the latest,” she stated as she stood up. “In the meantime, I’m going to get my top scientists on trying to develop a cure, or at the least, a vaccine.” She then left the dungeon. A short while later, Flash came back from wherever he went.
“Urgh,” he mumbled. “As good of a soldier Captain Armor is, I hate his “100% bad cop” policy. It makes us less approachable and more like plotholes.” Jethro nodded in understanding, but paused mid-nod when he noticed something shiny in the corner of his cell. Picking it, a medallion, up he heard a voice in his head.
‘ My name is Dark. I'm a web-swinger with a blade and a lot of heart. If you need a companion to talk to, or an ally to help fight your enemies, just toss this medallion to the air and I'll be there. I'm always willing to meet new people. But know this, I will not allow anyone to harm innocents.’
“I’ll keep that in mind then,” He said to himself before walking over to his undersized cot. “Does Celestia even think there are people besides herself that are bigger than a pony?”
Author's Note
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
Chapter 2: The Calm before the Storm
The next day came and with it, Jethro’s freedom. Despite the fact that he was proven innocent with Ditzy’s help, he was told that he still needs monitoring (she had a bit of a scowl when she told him that). When she said it would be her student, Twilight Sparkle, monitoring him, he could only object. When questioned why, he pointed out his close conviction, and him being different would probably provide biased reports. When it came to the first pony who met him, didn’t judge him, and even stood for him, Ditzy fit the bill and could easily monitor him. Celestia agreed and sent him off on the train to Ponyville.
“Huh, not a bad looking place,” Jethro said, as he exited the train. From his view from the train station, he could see the town seemed to have gotten back to normal, and it was only about 2 days. He exited the platform and began walking to where he remembered where Ditzy lived. As he walked, he saw that while most of the town seemed to have a standard look about them, there were a few buildings that looked unique. A tree that seemed to serve as a library. A boutique with a Merry-Go-Round (or Carousel) theme to it. A joke shop with a jester style roof. A sweet shop with Hansel and Gretel look. “I hope I don’t meet any wicked witch or whatever from that.”
“Why would a wicked witch be in Sugarcube Corner?” A voice said from above him, as he felt a sudden increase in weight on top of his head. “A wicked witch should be in a spooky place to be obvious about their wickedness.” Jethro stopped in his tracks and felt above him. As soon as he felt something fuzzy and (impossibly enough) pink, high pitched laughter was heard. “Stop it, that tickles!” Without hesitation, he grabbed the fuzzy pink thing and threw it, the action revealing that it was a pink pony. “Wheeeeeeeee!!!” She yelled out with her hooves thrown out like she was on a roller coaster ride.
“Haven’t you heard of personal space!?” Jethro yelled out with a combined annoyed and entertained voice. In the blink of an eye, she was in my face and was too close as well.
“No, I haven’t heard of Personal Space!” She shouted back in glee. “Should I know a pony by that name?”
“Personal space isn't a person,” he responded at a more reasonable volume. “It is a concept of allowing someone-”
“Geez, lighten up,” the pink pony interrupted. “I know what personal space is, I just forget to keep my distance...or do I?” She gave me sinister grin before switching to her cheerful look. “So, you’re new in Ponyville. I’ll get a special surprize set up for you unless you say otherwise.” She turned to trot away.
“Maybe later in the week, once I’m settled in,” Jethro suggested. “By the way, my name is Jethro. What’s your’s?”
“I’m Pinkie Pie, the town’s pink party pony!” She answered with a smile. “So, need any help navigating around town?”
“I’m just going to Ditzy Doo’s place. Princess Celestia wanted me monitored for a while, and has given her, alongside her husband, to do that,” he told her.
“Why, are you being monitored?”
“I was accused of murder, when it turned out to be a case of self-defense from a mindless, diseased pony,” he answered. “And with how dangerous my weapons are, she wants me watched.”
“You mean those afflicted?” She asked, with Jethro nodding. “I’m not the most smartest of ponies, but I have noticed that there have been a frequent sighting of those things, and when encountered in person, they tend to be rather crazy and all ‘RAH!! I WANT TO EAT YOU!!’ in that kind of way.”
“Do most of these afflicted have green crystalline growths and scar tissue that makes them look like they were burnt from head to...hoof?” He asked. Pinkie nodded. “The Scorched plague. May God have mercy on this land.”
“Such is the consequences of the Displaced,” said another voice.
“Hi Doctor,” Pinkie greeted. “What’s Displaced?”
“I’d like to know that too, and why when I last saw you, you said something about someone doing something again,” Jethro added.
“You will know soon enough, Miss Pie,” this ‘Doctor’ said to Pinkie. “I don’t say that to be rude, but until then, it’s best left secret.”
“Okie, Dokie, Lokie,” she said. “I’ll head back to Sugarcube Corner and get some muffins ready for Ditzy before she comes home for you.” She then bounced off.
“In all the centuries of my life, I’ve never met a more random pony than her,” the Doctor muttered. “Anywho, I was told about you being monitored by Ditzy and I, so I waited out here for you to help you get to the house. So follow me, and don’t get lost.” He then led him to his house, which was luckily only a ‘block’ away from their earlier conversation.
“So,” the Doctor said, after getting the two of them inside, seated, and some tea served. “Judging by your reaction and questioning about me mentioning the Displaced, you aren’t the willing kind of Displaced.”
“Not that I know anything about what you said, but I wasn’t willing,” Jethro said. “So care to fill me in?”
“The Displaced are individuals who are brought to different versions Equis through the void. There are generally many ways how that happens, but the most common way that I’ve seen is people getting tricked at a convention,” the Doctor explained. “In a manner of speaking, I’m also one of those.”
“How so?” Jethro asked.
“Well, one of these ‘Displacers’ found out that I was investigating the disappearances of those they tricked and they somehow tricked me as well,” he answered with a sigh. “I have to give that merchant points for managing to trick a Time Lord and trapping him by breaking his TARDIS, but that doesn’t mean it’s right.”
“So you are Dr. Who,” Jethro said with barely any interest.
“Most know me as the Doctor or Time Turner,” the now proclaimed Time Turner said. “And your reaction means you aren’t a fan of that greatly over-exaggerated show.”
“Anything else I should know about these Displaced?” Jethro asked.
“There is a way they can visit each other, but I haven’t found anything about-”
“Honey, I’m home!” We heard from Ditzy as she entered the house with a pale purple unicorn foal with blond mane and tail. “And I brought home muffins, both Dinky and the actual treat.”
“We can continue this later,” Time told me before going to his wife. “Nice to see you. I got Jethro settled in...mostly.”
“It’s nice to see you again,” she said to him. “Thank you for keeping that afflicted before it could do more damage.”
“It's Scorched and you’re welcome,” Jethro acknowledged, before starting to meet and interact with Dinky
“I’m sure the future will be exciting from here on out,” Time said to himself as he watched Dinky climb up to Jethro’s shoulder and start giggling.
Author's Note
Yay...my mind is throbbing...but oddly not in pain.
