“What else is there?”
Jack glanced up from where he was gardening on the ground as he pulled up a weed. His hazel eyes land on a familiar lavender alicorn standing behind him, not more than a dozen feet away, sporting her “determined” look. Jack sighed and chuckled before he resumed pulling weeds.
“A bit early to be hounding me today, eh Twilight.”
Twilight huffed and walked closer to the side.
“You're always busy doing something during the rest of the day. This is the only time I can really catch you for questions.”
Jack pulled out another weed with a satisfied grunt, tossing it in a nearby bucket with a smirk, before turning back to his garden and frowning. The next one was the prickly kind. Those are a pain to pull.
“Well, I like to keep myself busy, Twilight. Gardening, I found, has been a good way to start my day.” He reached with his work gloves and safely grasped the weed around the base and began to gently tug.
“Besides...*grunt*... didn't I already answer some questions when I went to speak to your class at school, ‘Miss Sparkle’?”
Twilight blushes slightly before huffing again.
“Yes you did answer some questions about what you were and where you came from, but I don't need the Element of Honesty to know that there was a lot more you left out. I could tell when you decide to skip over some details, specifically when the topic of other races come up…” Jack scrunched up his face as he gently wiggled the roots.
“... or the way you dodged around the subject of your ‘occupation’.”
A sudden crack fills the morning air. A shadow falls across Jack’s face. He stares down at the weed in his hands, and at the roots snapped off, still in the ground. He clenches his jaw.
“Damn it.”
He takes a deep breath and sighs before moving on to the next weed, but he couldn’t shake how his face felt just a little bit harder, and a little bit sad.
“It's too early to go that deep, Sparks.” He says quietly as he resumes his work.
“Jack... you have been here for over three years now...” Twilight states as she watches Jack work. “From the first time you approached us out of the blue to the time you bought this house, you have been doing above and beyond your best to be cooperative to us. You have been running yourself ragged every day, helping other ponies any chance you could get and doing community work for the other citizens. You have helped everyone in this town thrice over already.” Twilight stares sadly at Jack as he continued to pull weeds in silence. “I am not the only one that can tell something burdens you. AJ and Fluttershy can't even look at you anymore without being weighed down by their elements with what they call an... unknown feeling of sadness. Please, let us in.”
“There is no reason to tell you.” Jack countered, continuing to pull at the weeds. “This world is free of that disease, everything is so peaceful compared to where I came from, why preach about something that doesn't exist?”
Twilight scoffs and stomps her hoof.
“What we ought and ought not to know should be decided by ourselves, don't you think?”
A silence falls between the two as Twilight stares defiantly at Jack, while he stares down at the ground. Twilight's expression softens and she looks off to the side at the rolling hills of grass at the edge of the forest.
“If we don't know about what happened in the past then we are cursed to repeat it.” She looks back to the kneeled form of the ‘man’ and walks over to put a comforting hoof on his shoulder. “You promised to tell us about your world. Good or bad, it deserves to be recorded… to learn from.”
The blonde haired human and the lavender-coated mare stayed like that for a few moments before a chuckle comes from the man.
“If we don't learn from our history then we are doomed to repeat it.”
Jack’s head turned to the side until Twilight could see his hazel eyes and the small smile on his face.
“A quote from my world, it went something like that. It’s always scary how similar things here are.”
His head turns back around and he sighs heavily.
“Well, I guess you better write a letter, Princess.” He says as he gets up from his knees. Twilight takes her hoof off of his shoulder and gives him a confused look.
“A letter? To whom and why?”
He cracks his back loudly as he stands twice as tall as Twilight and brushes off his pant legs before looking to her over his shoulder.
“What I have to say, I would like to inform the leaders of the nation directly. After all, I am a living breathing creature of the culture I am about to give grim detail about.”
He stares off to the side as he goes into thought.
“Besides, I would also like to hear the thoughts on my world from beings that have lived a couple thousand years.” He is snapped out of his thousand yard stare when Twilight cleared her throat.
“The other girls are going to come along with us.” Twilight states. Jack raises an eyebrow and scratches his chin in thought.
“Is that wise? I can see some benefit of telling some of them, but the place I will be describing is not one for the light of heart… or stomach.” Twilight waves away his concern.
“Be that as it may, all the girls feel invested in you. You are a friendship quest that has remained unaccomplished for three whole years. You couldn't stop us even if you tried.”
Jack scratches his head and hums in thought. After a few moments, he gives in with a sigh.
“Fine, if it satisfies everyone with no fuss then it is alright with me.” He gestures the way before him.
“Shall we? This is going to be a long day.”
Twilight bows her head in thanks and walks out the gate and down the road, Jack close behind. With Twilight in the lead and a letter already being written, the two walked down the path to town, en route to the train station.
Author's Note
Whelp, first chapter to my first story. I know that this was short compared to the usual 5,000 word chapters nowadays but I just felt like getting this out there.
If there are grammatical errors don’t be afraid to let me know, I am an aspiring author, so I will need your opinions to grow better for the future.
Anyway, I hope you liked this taste.
