Author's Note

Real short chapter just to break the writers block and throw in some exposition.

This is in no way my best writing, more a project for fun I write that I decided to share. Even then, as I rush back and forth frantically trying to at least make it somewhat presentable, I feel bad. Inadequate. It’s kinda nice to know despite this there’s some people who genuinely like this story, and I promise I will do my best to improve it and see it through without exemption. Thank you for reading!

Have You Ever Seen The Rain (lightly reworked)

Jared awoke slowly, his tired eyes still shut. Daylight filled the office, judging by the orange glow in his closed eyes. He squinted and rolled out of his sleeping bag to sit up. He then gingerly made his way to his office chair, and leaned back in it. He slowly mixed up the last of his rationed food, and a canteen cup full of coffee. His breakfast would be a cold half-can of peaches mixed with a packet of oatmeal, though dry it would give him much needed calories. His hair was a greasy mess from the pomade he hadn't washed out. He slowly walked into the bathroom, stopping in the hallway to slip on his boots stacked by the wall. As he faced the sink, he washed his face and dampened his hair. Grabbing his comb, he re-styled the greasy hair back into the pompadour of the days before.

As he was finishing, he heard a knock on the office door. Jared stopped, returning to the office. He sat behind the desk as he called out a response.

“Yeah.”

The door opened and in walked the six, and Luna.

“How are ya now?” Jared asked.

“Good N’ you?” Pinkie replied.

“Oh not so bad.” Jared answered, sipping his coffee. “What can I do ya for?”

"Well.. I told them about your dream... Your weapon.. We feel you're potentially dangerous, we want you to hand it over." Luna spoke softly. Jared reached out and snatched up the shotgun from behind him.

"Bite me." He stated, putting his feet flat on the floor.

They all had their mouths agape.

Luna swallowed. "Please, in a show of good faith..."

"Good faith? I tried to be polite and courteous, I was attacked not once but twice and almost killed, I have good reason to have the ability to defend myself." Jared now stood, towering above them. "And I intend to do so if I'm placed in such a position. If you can't inform your people and hold them accountable for their actions, then I will."

"That's vigilante justice." Luna's hoofs clopped quietly as she slowly walked towards him.

"It's justice. What about the pony who hit me with a rock? They just walked away. Who gets community service for attempted murder, or at least manslaughter." Jared held the shotgun with both hands now, clearly on the defensive, prepared for anything.

"Jared, hand over the weapon."

"Fuck. You." He growled, racking a shell into the chamber.

Fluttershy slowly stepped towards him, a scary look on her face, and in a loud voice yelled.

“How DARE you talk to the princess like that! After all they’ve done for you, they saved your LIFE and you STILL insult them!” She snapped.

“That’s. The point!” He shouted in a low roar. He tapped the desk with the barrel of the shotgun, kicking the side of it as he stood. “I’m stuck in this world without a single human. Without the girl I love, the world I knew, and I’ll never find it again. I’d be better as a charred cadaver on the railroad track, than being some dumbfuck who’s trying to piece together a wreck with no parts and no food. To top it all off, you're demanding I hand over my only means of defense when you've done nothing to prove you can keep me safe.”

She softened a bit, her voice returning to it’s normal volume. “It’s still not how you treat people...”

“Fluttershy.” He stated, bringing the butt a little tighter in his shoulder, still pointed at the ground. Steam rose from his coffee on the table. It slowly wound into the air, accenting against himself in the dim room. His hazel eyes a deep brown this morning like twin pools of molten chocolate as he leaned forward. They burned with anger though his face was soft. “I don’t give a damn about any of this. If you're demanding I relinquish something rightfully mine because your people can't be decent, then I don't give a damn about you."

They were all silent.

“I just want to go home. And I can’t. I don’t care anymore.” He grabbed his cup in his right hand and down his steaming beverage. The situation was getting to him. This isn't what he wanted, it never was. He stood and hurled the tin cup at the wall as hard as he could before storming into the hangar, slamming the door behind him.

Jared tossed the weapon on his toolbox, and leaned his head against the fuselage of the airplane.

“Jared...” Someone said “It’s hopeless... You cant keep going like this... Life is worth living you just... Have to find the reasons...”

“Can’t you see..” Tears escaped his eyes and he put his arms over his head to shield their view. “This IS my life... With the tools and materials it’ll take years to fix her... If I even can...” Spots appeared slowly on his dusty boots. Wet spots. Twilight stared at them for a moment, confused, before she realized. She looked up at his face.

She put an arm gently around his leg and he pushed off of the plane. He did a small circle and wiped his tears. Overwhelmed and completely checked out, he walked to the toolbox.

“Oh Jared...” Twilight spoke softly. “Take a deep breath...”

She turned to the other six ponies. “I think we need a little time...” They started to leave. “Can we talk, Jared?” She asked.

“Fine..” He caved.

The two sat on the concrete floor. He was nestled against his plane, cradling his shotgun is his arms.

“Jared. You were in destress long before you got here, that much is clear.” Twilight announced. She stared into the deep brown of his eyes, he slowly met the brilliant, large, purple orbs, perched on her face, intently watching him with mild curiosity. “What is going on.”

In this moment, she felt more like a friend to him than just some animal. He opened up.

“I’ve had a hard life... I’m not trying to appear entitled, it just.. It hurts... Just when I think it’s looking up I get hit over the head... I lost the girl I really cared about, when I thought I moved on to someone else, she couldn’t give a shit and I’m still stuck on her... Then just before I took off I walked in on my soon-to-be wife in bed with someone else.” Jared began “I took off to live in seclusion. I wrecked out of my own stupidity, and now I’m here.”

“In bed with?” She coked an eyebrow.

“When a greasy scumbag and a cheating whore love each-other very much-“ He began.

“Oh.” She got the picture.

“Yeah.” Jared stated. “I just.. I cant deal with this. I dont want to be here, I just... The townsfolk attacking me, random abuse from those guards and Rainbow.. Luna betraying me and demanding my shotgun for no reason... This place is only going to get worse...”

“Just.. Hang in there, okay? It’ll get better, I promise..” She said. She draped her hoof around his shoulder gently. He could feel the soft fur of her muzzle nuzzle the back of his head.

Jared took a deep breath and sighed heavily. “Alright.”

“I stayed up all night reading the documents you gave me, they’re in Old Equis but I was able to understand them well enough.” She changed the subject.

He raised an eyebrow.

“Jeez you read fast.” He replied, shaking his head with a choked laugh, wiping his eyes. He’d given her more material than she should have been able to read in a week, much less a night. She beamed, taking it as a compliment

“Twilight?”

“Yes?”

“When I die. I want you to have my stuff. You’ll make better use of it than anyone else here will...”

“Don’t talk like that.” She stated dismissively. She’d never dealt with somebody this persistently sad before. It hurt and confused her. “Pinkie’s been excited to throw you a welcoming party!”

“I’d be the only one there not enjoying it.” He smirked with a chuckle.

“Oh come oooon.” She kicked at him lightly.

“I’m just... I’m just not ready..” He stated.

“You’ll enjoy it, I promise.” She smiled.

“Don’t make a promise... If you know you can’t keep it.”. Jared looked at her with sad eyes, and tussled her hair. She shook her head gently, re-arranging her hair. He shook her hair loose once more with a stupid grin. Twilight looked at him with an eyebrow raised, and smiled gently. She left her hair messed up.

Jared slowly sat up straighter, switching the motion to getting to his feet. “Alright, alright... I’ll try things your way... But I'm keeping my shotgun.”

Jared slowly stood, growing to his full size. He slowly walked back towards the office, his heavy boots rung out on the concrete. He opened the door, all eyes were now on him. Jared paused as he entered before sitting in his chair and leaning his shotgun in the corner.

“Princess.” He began. “When you invade my personal thoughts and voice them to others, it makes me feel very violated, like I can’t trust you... When you demand action based on those, even more so. With that said, I’m sorry I reacted as harshly as I did.”

All of the ponies in the room paused in shock, mouths agape.

“I- Forgive you.” Luna replied. “We-I am sorry as well.”

“Let’s just let bygones be bygones. Huh?”

“That sounds good...” Luna smiled gently. She was strangely attracted to the creature despite his apathy. She couldn’t shake the distinct feeling he was having none of it. Pinkie slowly approached the desk, and threw a card onto it, towards the human. She turned and walked back to the group. Jared reached out and picked it up. He opened it, reading the contents aloud.

“You’re invited! A special event at 2:30, sugarcube corner, tell your friends!” Jared read aloud, feigning excitement. He set the card down and with utmost serious announced. “Hey guys there’s a special event that told me to tell my friends, wanna go?”

The group looked at each other quizzically. Applejack spoke for them.

“Uhh.. You feelin’ alright?”

“Never better!” Jared lied through an unfaltering smile. Almost, quite literally, lying through his teeth.

“Partner, that ain’t gonna fly.” Applejack called him out.

“Whelp, I guess that makes two things in this hanger that won’t fly.” He replied, pausing for a moment. The ponies looked at each other nervously.

“So how are you really feeling then.” Applejack demanded, rather than asked.

“Dude, I just want to sleep.” He sat back in the chair his eyes screwed shut. Jared put his hands over his face, slowly moving them off in a wiping motion. “I don’t have the words to describe the emotion and what I’m going through, I swear to god I’m going to have a fucking aneurysm if I dont wake up from this twisted nightmare.”

“Look buddy, you’re not going home any time soon. You’re gonna have to accept that and learn to live here if you want to keep from goin’ crazy.” Applejack said.

“Thanks, Jackie. Very cool.” Jared stated. He leaned forward in the seat, abruptly standing up. “Depressed? Don’t be! Stressed? Nah, live with it! Just put it aside, no worries!”

The ponies looked at him, befuddled. They didn’t get his point.

“You can’t see what’s wrong with that? Really? Telling me what my end goal is doesn’t help me get there. It doesn’t help set aside the pain in the mean time. That shit takes time dude.”

“But distracting yourself can help, when you’re alone with your thoughts, sadness gets all up in your brainy...” A depressed Pinkie said. “The party is already ready if you wanna go...”

“Ten minutes. I’ll stay for ten minutes, okay..?” He compromised. She looked up with a slight smile.

“Okay..”

He slowly stood. Jared grabbed the blued steel barrel of the shotgun, tossed it up, and caught it by the receiver with the same hand in one swift motion. He walked to the door, past the ponies, and opened it. He slowly turned to them, as they stayed frozen.

“Well... Are ya’ coming?”