Denial, Acceptance, and Everything in Between

Chapters

Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Denial
Chapter 4: Catching Up
Chapter 5: Standoff
Chapter 7: Getting To Know Each Other
Chapter 8: A Speedy Recovery
Chapter 9: Practice Makes Perfect...Well, Not Always
Chapter 10: Not Letting Go
Chapter 11: Reappearance
Chapter 3: Explanations and Confusion
Chapter 6: On the Subject of Ex-Coltfriends

Chapter 1: Introduction

===============Denial, Acceptance, and Everything in Between===============

Welp, this is a new fic for me, I wanted to make this one more……realistic, seeing as Secret Lightning is…..great, but it never really followed the path that I kinda wanted it to follow. So while I’ll keep updating Secret Lightning, I’m devoting some serious time to this one. Hope it gets some followers!

Btw, there will be several point of view changes, maybe just for this chapter, maybe the whole fic. I dunno. They will be separated though, either by the zigzag line if FIMfiction accepts it, or by a line of ~s, or a horizontal rule, if i can do that

=====================Chapter 1: introduction=====================

John was not exactly the average guy. His full name, by the way, was John Connor. He was technically older, old enough to drink, at any rate, but not really all that old, as he was only 32. Still, he was old in the eyes of the neighborhood kids near where he lived, who were only around 18 or so. He had been in war at one point, and he had also been In love. But sadly, the one he loved did not wait for him while he was at war. However, he didn’t carry any grudges about that. What he did carry, was his trusty Glock .45 pistol, always with him, always there in its side holster, ready for action. And yes, he had an open carry permit for it. After he got out of the military, he had taken up a job as a security guard at a bank. Not a glamorous job, true, but it paid well enough. And to be honest, he was a pretty intimidating security guard. Standing at six feet tall, built like a tank, he was a force to be reckoned with. But one day, everything changed.

John was standing inside the vault, guarding the safety deposit boxes, when he heard lots of noise coming from the main lobby, including gunfire. He immediately drew his weapon, inching towards the main lobby, peering around the door. There were five armed gunmen in the lobby, holding up the bank. They split up, with one running into the vault (in his mad dash, running right past John), the others taking hostages into a conference room. The masked man in the vault started placing several C-4 charges on the safety deposit box doors, each one of them with a timed detonator with a blinking LED on the front. He had gotten about seven placed on the boxes, then John was behind him, gun to his head. “Drop your weapon, turn around slowly, keep your hands where I can see them.” He ordered.

The man turned around slowly, putting down his assault rifle. He stood up, and looked at John with a smirk that rattled John down to his core. He knows something thought John furiously. But what?

*Beep. Beep. Beep. Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee*

Shit.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!!!!!

The resulting explosion ripped through the air of the vault, vaporizing the masked gunman In front of the safety deposit boxes. John however, was both luckier and unluckier at the same time. While he was not killed by the blast, as he was wearing a small amount of body armor, it did beat him up quite a bit and throw him against the back wall with considerable force.

He was dead. He knew it. He could feel the broken bones, and the burns. Surprisingly, it didn’t hurt. But then he remembered. Adrenaline. He was starting to fade out of consciousness, the blood loss getting to him. His last thought as he was laying on the floor before he slipped under was I failed. I’m so sorry.

=============================================================================================

He stirred, slowly sliding back into consciousness. He opened his eyes, and the whole word swam. He was lying on a dirt path in the middle of nowhere, with grassy field on both sides. Where the hell am I? He tried to speak, to call for someone, anyone, to come help him, but he couldn’t. His mouth refused to obey him, and he could feel himself slipping under again. With the last of his strength before he passed out, he raised his pistol to the air, and fired off three shots, in the hope of getting someone’s attention.

And then he was gone again, back to the peaceful world of dreams, where you feel no pain, where you feel no sorrow.

Fluttershy was sitting in her backyard, tending to a bird with a sprained wing, when she was startled by three loud popping sounds echoing from the distance, not far from her house. She carefully put the bird on a perch on her back porch, making sure he was comfortable.

“Oh my, um…..wait here please, I think I should go see if Rainbow got herself into trouble again.” The bird nodded and settled himself on the perch. Fluttershy smiled and took off, heading toward the source of the sound.

A few minutes of flying later, she saw a blue and black form laying on the ground. She also saw red. With a gasp, she dropped altitude quickly, (lol, you can tell I’m an aircraft nerd, I can’t even say ‘she flew down’) and was quite shocked at what she saw. It wasn’t Rainbow Dash, but then again, it wasn’t exactly a pony either. It looked like it walked on two legs, and quite frankly, it looked like it was a lot bigger than she was. But as scared as she was of this thing, it was injured and needed help, and she was determined to not let it die.

She landed next to the strange creature, and slowly approached it. It was breathing, but its breaths were very ragged and forced. There was no time for fear now, this thing needed help. She walked over to the creature very carefully, and gingerly poked it with a hoof.

“Um, hello? Are you all right? Can you speak? Oh dear” she jumped a little when the creature stirred.

John was sliding back into consciousness, and he could feel himself being poked. Seconds later, he could hear a very light and airy female voice speak to him. “Um, hello? Are you all right? Can you speak?” He twitched slightly and opened his eyes. “Oh dear” the voice replied. His vision was swimming, but he could make out a blob of pastel yellow with some light pink as well. Strange colors. I have got to be hallucinating. Was all he could think. A couple of seconds later, he finally forced his mouth to obey him.

“Please……….help……me” was all he could croak out before slipping away again, the blackness rising up to meet him with open arms.

“Please………..help………me” the creature managed to say before passing out again. Fluttershy was scared, but she pushed past it. This thing needed help. Now.

“O..okay, I’ll be right back with some help, don’t you worry.” She said, knowing that it couldn’t hear her, but somehow, saying it made her feel better knowing she could help this thing.

She took off, flying faster than she ever had before, heading towards Twilight’s library.

John stirred again, he could hear voices above him. “What is that thing Fluttershy?” “I don’t know, but it’s hurt. We have to help it.” John calmed down a little. They wanted to help him. “*sigh* alright, let’s get him to the hospital. We just better hope whatever this thing is, it’s not hostile.” John felt himself being lifted off the ground, though by what he had no idea, he couldn’t feel anything. But that would have to wait, as he slipped back into unconsciousness for yet another time.

====================END CHAPTER 1====================

Well, sorry to start off with a short chapter, this one’s shorter than the shortest one on my other fic, Secret Lightning. But it’s the intro, so I guess it’s okay. But yeah, in case you guys who read my other fic didn’t read my blog post, I have a lot of stuff going on in my life right now, so there WILL be delays on updates, though maybe for just a little while. Idk, let’s see how my first chapter goes over with the FIMfiction community! also, sorry for any spelling/formatting errors, i am ironing them out as i find them

Chapter 2: Denial

===============Denial, Acceptance, and Everything in Between===============

Well, it seems last chapter went fairly well. I decided to take a break from Secret Lightning, so that’s technically on hiatus right now. Also, there’s been a few………other complications that make writing harder right now. None of them bad, in fact really good, but they make me a little busy to write. Also, if SOPA and PIPA get passed……..i’ve had a good run, but I doubt I’ll be able to keep my fanfic online because, “I don’t own My Little Pony” or some other bullshit reason I’m sure they’ll have. But thankfully, I have all my chapters archived locally, on my hard drive. So if this does get passed, I can still write and store it for now, and wait for it to blow over before blast updating like Coal Buck was doing for a while. But I have a feeling it won’t happen, for several reasons. First, the mass protests. Even minecraft is protesting, hell! Second, the fact that if this gets passed, several hackers could easily over encumber strategic backbone servers and effectively cripple the internet. (hint hint) Third, a shit ton of politicians are against this. But whatever, we’ll see what happens. Anyway, I really want to get writing on this chapter. Also, people tell me I should plan better sometimes. I don’t. I just start the chapter and run with it. I don’t have a specific plan of what happens. But I don’t think I will do any more POV changes, those get confusing as hell. And to those who read Secret Lightning, an update is coming…….eventually.

=======================Chapter 2: Denial=======================

John groaned, his eyes fluttering open. His vision was still a little blurry, but a few blinks cleared his eyes up a little. He choked suddenly, realizing there was a respirator tube down his throat. He pulled it out slowly, gagging as he did so.

After looking around for a few seconds, his eyes darting around like that of a trained bodyguard, taking in all he could, he came to a conclusion. He was in a hospital, that was for sure, but things looked…different. There was the standard hospital machinery, sure, but first off, all the buttons on it were huge, like they were designed for something big. But that didn’t make any sense; in fact, the ceiling was quite a bit lower than that of the average hospital room.

He spent the next couple seconds unplugging himself from various machinery, the latter beginning to sound alarms as their data input was interrupted. Fortunately, the mute button was very easy to find, thanks to the huge buttons. He went to stand up, and immediately regretted even trying to move.

It was then that he noticed the bandages covering a very large portion of his body, mostly his chest. Over in a corner, was his clothes, and armor. Also, he could just make out…yes, his firearm was there too, but it looked a little strange.

Back to before about everything looking different. Everything did look very real, just…drawn, like a cartoon. The colors were a little TOO vivid, but that could just be his eyes screwing with him. As he sat there on the edge of the bed, still wincing in pain, trying to figure out exactly where he was, the inevitable happened.

Into the room, trotted, a, well, a little white horse, with a pink mane and tail. John even noticed that she had some kind of symbol on her, well……John's brain would have him say “ass”, but he knew the correct horse term was “flank”. So yeah, some kind of symbol on her flank, and it looked like a red cross with little pink hearts in the corner. Was this one of those special animals used to calm down people who had been through traumatic incidents ?He wondered. It was a good theory, until the little white horse…thing opened her mouth.

“So, you’re awake. We figured the amount of damage you suffered, you’d be out for longer.”

John was on his feet now, pressed to the wall, as far away as he could get from this talking white horse thing.

Finally he found his voice. “You…you can talk?!”

The white miniature horse had been surprised by his rather…violent reaction to her, but this was replaced by a very confused look in her face.

“Of…of course I can talk, every pony can. I suppose I should say the same for…whatever you are.”

John was still pressed up against the wall, his chest heaving as he tried to understand exactly what was going on. First, he gets blown up in his place of employment, and now he ends up….wherever “here” is, and to top that all off, there’s a talking horse…thing talking to him. She did mention every pony, does that mean there’s more of them?

Finally, he found his voice again. “What do you mean, ‘every pony’? Does that mean there’s more of you?”

“Y…yeah, in fact, you’re the only non-pony thing I’ve ever seen that can speak Equestrian.”

“Equestrian? What’s that? I’m speaking English. American dialect, to be exact.”

The white…pony cocked her head slightly to the side. “Well, I don’t know what that is, but it must be the same as our language.”

This calmed John just a little bit, and I mean only a little bit, knowing that he could at least communicate.

The white pony sighed, noticing that he had still not come away from the wall yet. “Please, come away from the wall. I promise I won’t hurt you. You are hurt, very badly actually, and you need rest. Please, at least come sit back down.”

John sighed, and relaxed. “Alright, on one condition.”

“And that would be?” she said, a slight amount of uncertainty in her voice.

“I’ll sit back down, as long as you tell me just what the hell is going on here, and where I am.”

She nodded. “I don’t know a whole lot, but I can tell you what I do know.”

He nodded. “I guess that will have to do. Very well….”

He inched away from the wall, wincing as he sat back down on the bed. Since his adrenaline had stopped flowing, he was once again feeling the pain of his wounds. As he sat there on the bed, he was feeling like his chest was on fire. The white mare saw this and walked over to him, jumping a little when he shrank back from her.

“Would you like some pain medication…err….”

John smiled a little, pain meds sounded awesome right now, and she was offering him some. He was so engrossed in this thought that it took him a second to realize that she had just asked him for his name. he shook his head a little to clear it, and answered her, his voice still a little raspy from the ventilator tube.

“I’m John. John Connor.”

“Well, John, I’m Nurse Redheart, and I am basically the one in charge of taking care of you today. And as we discussed, I will answer all of your questions soon, however I don’t think you want them answered while you are in pain. So first, take this” she produced an oval green pill out of seemingly nowhere. “And I will be back in about half an hour when the medicine starts to work. Okay?”

John could only nod as he took the pill and lay back in bed. He would have done more, but he just hurt too much. Also, he knew he should be freaking out still about what happened to him, but there was something about that mare that just…………..controlled him. He’d look into it more later. For now, he was feeling very tired. A nap couldn’t hurt, right?

And so, he closed his eyes, and drifted off into a very peaceful sleep as the medication started kicking in, numbing his entire body.

===============END CHAPTER 2===============

Now keep in mind, this story is not going to be like Secret Lightning. He is not going to be as accepting of this world as Matt, he is just waiting for Redheart to come back and she will answer any questions he has. Also, yeah, I’m trying to go for the she has the Fluttershy calming eyes thing. Also, um, pain meds tend to do that to you, so yeah, next chapter will be interesting as well, when I get around to writing it. Also, Secret Lightning is on hiatus for now, I’ll update it eventually. Oh, and today I saw a video that was shared on facebook of a few young (sounds like girls, they never showed their faces to the camera) setting a puppy on fire and LAUGHING as it died a horrible death. Yeah, I’m losing faith in humanity more and more these days. But, I put my buddy, who is in FBI cybercrimes, on it, and since he is a dog lover, it became a personal vendetta to find these people and have men in black knocking on their door by sometime tomorrow. Oh, I think he’s already completed the IP backtrace, so that will happen sooner than thought. I cannot disclose an address or even a state (if he tells me) so please do not ask. Just know that these people will be brought to justice.

Chapter 4: Catching Up

===============Denial, Acceptance, and Everything in Between===============

Well then, I guess it’s time for a new chapter! And to anyone who reads my other story, Secret Lightning, the hiatus will be over soon, I just wanted to get more chapters out for this story first, and also my life has been pretty busy right now. Also, just to let you know, that grey stallion will be showing up later, but things will get really interesting. Anyway, I figure I’ll write this while I’m waiting for Coal Buck to update with a new chapter, cause when he does, that’s my first priority. Seriously, I love that story. Anyway, I’ll shut up now.

==================Chapter 4: Catching Up==================

*beep* *beep* *beep*

“Guuurghh” John woke up slowly, his head feeling like there was a porcupine having a field day in there. He sat up slowly, attracting the attention of the purple shape in the corner of the room. Wait, the room? How the hell did he get back here?

“You’re awake!” the purple shape practically yelled, zipping into him and grabbing him in what he assumed was a hug that made him yell out in pain from his injuries. The purple shape, now identified to be a purple unicorn once his vision cleared, pulled back looking surprised. “Heh. Sorry. It’s not like we get too many humans around here.”

John was confused, to say the least. “Wait, you know what I am? How?”

Now it was explanation time. “Well, we did have one human here before you. His name was Coal.”

“Coal? Really?”

“Well, his real name was Colson. But when he came here he figured he would make a new name and life for himself.”

“Well, what happened to him? Can I talk to him?”

The purple unicorn looked very saddened by this question. “No, he had me send him back to his world a while ago. To this day, I’m not exactly sure why. But I know it had something to do with couple of my friends. They loved him. I mean, we all loved him, but they REALLY loved him. But then again…so did I. and after some little fight or something he came barging into my house and basically forced me to send him back. You…you don’t know how much I miss him. Everypony misses him. I mean, not everypony remembers him anymore, but my friends and I still do. Oh, and Scootaloo.”

John cocked an eyebrow. “Scootaloo?”

“Oh, right, you don’t know about this world. Well, Scootaloo is a little filly that Coal had adopted. Both her parents are gone, so she’s basically an orphan. Her surrogate mother disowned her after she broke some stuff trying to get her cutie mark. By the way, a cutie mark is...”

“Yeah, I know that much, Redheart told me. But please continue about Scootaloo.”

“Alright, well, since her surrogate mother kicked her out, she was wandering the streets one night when she ran into Coal. Long story short, he ended up adopting her. But since he left, she’s been more distraught than ever. She does have a home, the innkeeper that Coal made a deal with for Scootaloo to stay at her inn, has taken her in, but she just never seems…happy anymore, no matter what. In fact, none of us have been. As I said, we all loved Coal, and he’s helped out so much around town. He even did something similar to what you did last night, my friend Rarity’s ex-coltfriend was about to….you know, when he stepped in. Though Coal did do more damage to the attacker.”

“Really? That actually happened last night?”

She nodded “Yes, in fact, Vinyl is still here if you would like to say hi. I would suggest you do, she really wants to thank you.

"But first, let me see if I can’t do anything about your wounds, if I let her in here now, you’ll just end up getting hurt again.”

He nodded. This Vinyl mare must really be grateful if this purple one was going to hold her back.

“By the way, I’m Twilight. And I never got your name.” She idly asked, her horn lighting up

“I’m JhOOOn! HOLY SHIT THAT HURTS!!!” he yelled as his chest was suddenly on fire and being bombarded with sledgehammers. Or at least, that’s what it felt like. A second later, it was over, and he felt like he was never injured.

“Sorry about that, but if I told you what I was going to do, you would have refused.”

“NO, I would have braced myself!” he yelled defensively. Standing up, he found it was quite easy when you don’t feel like you took a cannonball to the chest.

“Well, sorry. Next time, I’ll tell you.”

Suddenly, something clicked inside John’s head. “Twilight, did you say this Coal person’s real name was Colson?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Well, it’s just that…..if what you’ve told me for a description is correct, I’ve seen him before, back on the human world.”

“REALLY?! Did you talk to him? What happened to him?”

“Well, when he went back, he got sent to a mental facility or something, and they basically brainwashed him that the whole thing never happened and that this world didn’t exist.”

“Oh, this explains why he never came back! Quick! Let’s try and go find him!”

“No, Twilight. This…this part isn’t going to be easy, but…..he’s dead.”

Twilight just stood there for a second, processing what he just said. Then it hit her: Coal was dead. She sat back quite violently. Her face…her face took on a look that conveyed a lot more sadness than John thought was equine-ly possible.

John figured he’d better get the rest of his explanation in before she broke down. “I did know him from the human world. He…he was my friend. He always talked about this world, and how he wished he could go back, but that he was stuck on earth. Hell, I just thought he was crazy. But now that I’m here, I guess he was telling the truth. And…the morning I ended up here, before I went to work, I read in the paper, that…they…they found him dead in his room, with a gun in his hand.”

That was more than too much for Twilight. The next thing John knew, she was curled up in a ball on the floor, wailing loudly, her tears making a large puddle on the floor. There was only one thing John could think to do. He sat down next to her, and pulled her into his lap, embracing her. For a long time, the two of them just sat there, crying, holding each other. Yes, even John was crying.

After a little while Nurse Redheart walked in.

“Twilight? John? What’s…what’s going on?”

John looked up at her, his eyes pleading her ‘please, just give us some privacy’

She nodded and walked quietly out. After a few minutes, Twilight found herself able to talk.

“Th…thank y…you. I…I just…he…”

“Shh, it’s okay, Twilight. Think about it this way: from what he told me, he made a stupid decision, and regretted it with all his life. He said he would rather die than desert you all. I think…I think he was attempting to find his way back here. But I don’t think he succeeded.”

This seemed to calm Twilight a little “Yeah, *sniff* I guess it is good to know he only wanted to get back to us. But…I should have never let him go!”

“Hey, hey, it wasn’t your fault. It could never be your fault. He was hurting and not thinking clearly. There was nothing you could have done about it.”

“*sniff* Thanks.”

It was then that a large, and I mean large, alabaster unicorn-no, not a unicorn, she had wings, what the hell?-walked in. She looked quite surprised at the scene in front of her.

“Twilight, might I ask what is going on here?”

Twilight jumped in surprise. “P..princess! What are you doing here?”

“I just stopped by to thank this human for taking care of one of my little ponies last night. You know, it reminds me of another human who did an identical deed a while ago.”

“Princess…John here just told me…Coal’s dead.”

The Princess hung her head, a single tear dripping from her face onto the floor. “Well then, it seems Ponyville has lost a dear friend. I shall return to Canterlot, and arrange for a memorial ceremony. I shall leave you alone for now. We can talk later. Farewell, my faithful student.” With that, she turned and exited the hospital room.

After a few minutes, Twilight turned herself in John’s embrace and looked up at him. “I think…I think I’m ok now. Thank you though.”

He released her gently, making sure not to drop her. She jumped down and stood in front of him. “So, are you ready to meet Vinyl?”

“I…I guess"

“Okay then, let me just go fetch her.” She disappeared from the room, leaving John to his own thoughts. Did he really want to stay here? Well, he may not have a choice. And with Colson dead, his only friend….there wasn’t much to go back to. And even if he could, how would he go back? He was blown up, and most likely dead on Earth.

He didn’t have any more time to think, however, because a blue and white blur slammed into him at high speed, knocking him over. He looked at his chest, and sure enough, it was the same white mare from last night. Same blue striped mane and everything. As soon as he got his bearings back, he realized that the blue and white mass clinging to his chest was talking. Well, not exactly talking, more like yelling “THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU” over and over again.

Slowly, John returned the hug, though not with quite the bonecrushing force this mare had him in. Seriously, he could have sworn his spine was snapped in two. After what was actually about a minute and a half, but felt like an eternity, she slackened, and he released her. She jumped onto the floor, and sat down in front of him, while he struggled to get back into an upright position. Once he did, she started peppering him with questions.

“So, what’s your name?”

“John. John Connor.”

“Hmm, that name sounds familiar. Anyway, I’m Vinyl Scratch, but you may have heard of me as DJ PON-3”

“No, I haven’t, I’m….I’m a little new to this world. I’m not even entirely sure how I got here in the first place.”

“Well, that reminds me, what exactly are you? I don’t think I’ve ever seen something like you before. I mean, Twilight tells me that there was one other creature like you a while ago, but I just moved to Ponyville recently, so I never saw him.”

John’s face drooped a little at the mention of the other human. Vinyl noted this, and decided to ask. “What’s wrong? Did I say something wrong?”

John, not wanting to upset her, put a smile, (If a fake one), on his face. “No, it’s...it’s nothing, don’t let it worry you. Anyway, I am a human, or at least that is what my species is called.”

“Well, ok then…anyway, I can’t thank you enough for last night. Honestly, if you hadn’t shown up when you did, he might have *shudder* done some things.”

John reached over and pulled the white mare into a hug. It wasn’t hard, considering the fact that ponies are quite a bit smaller than humans. “Hey, don’t let yourself get freaked out about that. All that matters is that it didn’t happen. And if you ever see him, make sure you come find me, I don’t think I’m going to be leaving this world anytime soon.”

“Th…thanks, John. And I will. By the way, since you are new to this world, do you know where you are staying tonight? Since Twilight fixed you up, I heard Redheart say that you would be discharged today.”

“I…that is a very good question, I hadn’t thought that far yet.”

Twilight piped up. “You can stay with me for now, in the library. Besides, I need your help in breaking to news to my friends.”

John nodded. “Sure, I’d love to help. I know it’s not going to be easy.”

Vinyl looked over at him “I don’t know what’s going on, but do you suppose maybe I could hang around for a little while? I…I’m not sure I want to go out alone for a little while.”

John and Twillight shared a chuckle. She had taken a liking to him, and they both knew it. “Sure, Vinyl” Twilight said. Vinyl’s face lit up immediately. “Great!”

At that moment, Nurse Redheart walked in. “Well, John, since Twilight here healed your injuries, I guess you are free to go.”

John stood to his full height, and looked down at the pony in front of him. “Alright, thank you, Nurse. and thank you for taking care of me.”

She giggled. “It was no problem at all, John.” And walked out of the room.

After john put the rest of his clothes on, also checking his gun to make sure there was still no chambered round, and that the safety was on, he put it into its holster. Twilight took notice of this. “John, what is that thing, anyway?”

John sighed. He knew this would come up eventually, but he was NOT explaining guns now. “I’ll explain later, Twilight, for now let’s just get out of here.”

She nodded, and all three of them walked out of the room.

The walk to the library was semi-uneventful, the three of them chatting lightly to fill the silence. John did get some strange looks from the ponies in the town, but no one said anything. He did see, however, crouching behind some trash and stuff in an alley, that same grey stallion from the night before, watching them. Twilight and Vinyl may not have noticed, but in John’s line of work, you couldn’t afford to miss much, so he saw. He quickly turned to the pony and made a slashing motion across his throat with his finger. The grey unicorn paled, as much as a grey pony could, and disappeared behind the junk in the alley.

They reached the library, and John was amazed. It looked so small outside, yet was positively huge inside. It reminded him of a car he used to drive, but the human world was quite fuzzy in his mind at this point, so he couldn’t remember what kind of car it was.

Twilight told both John and Vinyl to sit on the couch, while she took care of something really quick. A minute later, she was back. “Okay, my friends should all be here soon.” True to her word, a sky blue Pegasus with a rainbow mane and tail came crashing through the door. Next, a pastel yellow Pegasus with a pastel pink mane and tail made her way carefully and quietly into the room, speaking in a light, airy voice that seemed VERY familiar to John. Then came a white unicorn with a dark blue, almost purple mane, a pink earth pony with a pink mane (who bounced in, by the way), and an orange earth pony with a blond mane. They all gathered in the main lobby of the library, and Twilight called for John.

“Alright John, the gang’s all here.”

He stood up and walked out into the lobby, to an audience of gasps. He could swear he heard a few “Another one?”s, and a few other statements, but nothing bad.

“Girls, this is John. And he has some very important news. It involves Coal.”

Suddenly, all eyes were on him. In fact, a few of them scooted closer to him.

“Well, John?” Twilight pushed. John shot her a look that said “Gee, thanks.”

“Alright, well, this isn’t going to be easy for me, and definitely not going to be easy for any of you, so I’ll just say it. Coal is…Coal is dead.”

There was pure silence in the entire room as what he just said sunk in. Seriously, you could hear a mosquito sneeze, it was so quiet.

Then, all at once, their eyes started to water. John looked up, realizing what he had basically just done, and one thought crossed his mind.

Oh shit.

=======================END CHAPTER 4=======================

well, sorry to leave it on a cliffhanger like that, if you could even count that as a cliffhanger. by the way, this chapter and quite a bit of this story does damage control after the bonus chapter that Coal Buck of "My Second Life" and my other story, Secret Lightning shared, in which Coal ends up returning to earth, and attempts suicide after a while. in the other version, he was stopped, but this is an alternate, "What if?" story, so yeah.

Chapter 5: Standoff

===============Denial, Acceptance, and Everything in Between===============

Well, last chapter went over better than I had figured it would. To anyone who was upset by the loss of Coal, I am so sorry, I am using this chapter to patch up a hole made by multiverse theory when Coal Buck and I did the collab chapter. But think of it this way: it’s all the more reason for John to stay in Ponyville. also, I think this chapter I shall add the first of a few run-ins with that grey stallion, and maybe have John explain the concept of guns to Twilight. Yeah, it may get interesting. I just hope I can write well enough to make it interesting. Also, uh, I will eventually restart work on Secret Lightning, it’s just that I have the biggest case of writer’s block on that story right now. But maybe after this chapter I will be mentally unclogged enough to make another chapter for it. Also, I’m going to try to wrap up the whole “Coal’s dead” part of the story fairly quickly, don’t ask me why, other than it makes me feel really bad to have killed Coal Buck’s character, I will make something else involving him happen eventually, but for now, I have a story of my own to tell. That is all for now.

===================Chapter 5: Standoff===================

John had no time to prepare before the reaction to what he had said came. Each pony reacted in her own way, no two were the same. The cyan Pegasus with the rainbow mane, who had been hovering, plummeted to the ground and curled in a ball, crying softly. The pink one, her hair appeared to deflate and go straight, and she just sat there, tears dripping down her face. The orange one, basically fell sideways, and appeared to be paralyzed with shock, not saying or doing anything, short of breathing. The white one lay down on the floor, tears making a decent sized puddle on the floor, and the yellow one, well, she disappeared upstairs. After a few minutes, they all calmed down considerably, and they introduced themselves. The orange earth pony was known as Applejack, the pink one was Pinkie Pie, the White unicorn was Rarity, and the cyan Pegasus was Rainbow Dash.

The yellow one that was still upstairs, was known as Fluttershy. After a while, her friends all convinced her to come back down. She came back and sat down, but for some reason was unable to look at John. But he supposed he could understand this, considering he had just told all of them that their friend, no, the person they all loved, was dead.

It was getting late by that point, so Twilight suggested that they all stay at the library overnight. They all seemed pretty tired, so they all agreed. Twilight got out sleeping bags for all of them (John had no idea ponies had sleeping bags), but insisted that he and Vinyl stay in the guest bedroom. There was only one bed, and he had told Vinyl to take the bed, and he would have the floor, but she would have none of it.

In the end, he ended up taking the bed, with her in a sleeping bag on the floor, plus a couple pillows from the bed, he insisted. As soon as his head hit the pillow, he fell into a deep, restful sleep.

======================================================================================

He was awoken suddenly, in the middle of the night, by a light squeak and a couple of light hoofsteps on wood. His brain would normally tell him to ignore it, but his soldier’s sense was screaming. So, before he was even fully awake, he had whipped his gun out from under his pillow, chambered a round, and flicked off the safety, and was standing next to the bed pointing it at the source of the noise while his eyes woke up and adjusted fully.

What he saw made him seriously contemplate pulling the trigger.

Standing right next to Vinyl, in the middle of the floor, was the same grey unicorn stallion from the other night. He was frozen, staring at John with that deer-in-the-headlights look.

John was the first one to break the silence, teasing the stallion, as if DARING him to give him a reason to let loose a couple rounds. “You’ve got a lot of nerve coming here after what happened.”

The stallion snorted. “A lot more than you think, creature. And if you’ll recall, I hurt you pretty bad last time.” He retorted in a low voice, making sure not to wake anyone else.

“Haha, yes.” John replied in the same tone and volume, “But last time I was already injured from my trip to this world. As you can see, I’m all better now. And, this thing I have pointed at your head? Yeah, I don’t think we need to get into specifics, but just know that all it would take is for me to pull this trigger, and you’d be dead before you hit the floor.”

The stallion had no response. He hadn’t figured on this creature having the upper hand, being fully healed and having some kind of weapon that could kill him. He had just figured on sneaking in past everypony, binding Vinyl in a sound-proof bubble spell, and floating her back to his place. This complicated things.

“Now.” Said John, motioning towards the floor with his gun. “Sit. You and I are going to have a little talk about your thing for Vinyl.”

The stallion shook his head. “You may have me cornered right now, but that doesn’t mean I answer to you. I still have magic, after all.”

John put that smile back on his face. It was an almost evil grin, one that conveyed “Oh, you just done fucked up”

“Really? You think magic’s going to help you at this point? In case you haven’t noticed, I have you backed in a corner with a loaded .45 in your face. You may not know what a .45 is, but trust me, this thing can do some serious damage. And also, think about it: how did you get in here? You’re not a Pegasus, so I’m assuming you snuck in through the front door. And if you did, you would have seen the six other ponies sleeping downstairs. All I have to do is make enough noise to wake them. So I really don’t think you’re in any position to try anything. But you know what? Go ahead. I dare you. Give me a reason to break open a can of whoop-ass over your head. I mean it, go ahead.” He said in a low, quiet, yet very sinister tone that said that he was not fucking around.

The stallion narrowed his eyes, and his horn lit up. It quickly went out though, he was too distracted by the screaming.

John wasn’t easily affected by loud noises, but the sound caught his attention, and he turned his head a little to see exactly where it was coming from. In the sliver of his peripheral vision, he saw Vinyl standing a good distance from where she had been sleeping, almost pressed against the back wall, screaming her head off, staring wide-eyed at the grey stallion.

Within seconds, the other ponies downstairs were awake and up the stairs into the guest bedroom. What they saw was quite confusing for them. John was standing there, having backed a grey unicorn stallion into a corner of the room staring him down, holding a strange piece of metal at him like it was a weapon. On the opposite side of the room, was Vinyl, screaming her head off, a hoof pointing at the grey stallion John had cornered.

Fluttershy immediately took flight and flew over to Vinyl. After a few seconds of comforting, she finally got the white unicorn mare to calm down enough to stop screaming and breathe. Then Twilight asked her. “What’s wrong, Vinyl? And who is this colt?”

“He…he’s the one who…who John saved me from the other night. He…he tried to…” she couldn’t talk anymore, she was crying too hard. They all understood, they had heard, and knew something like that must be very traumatic. Fluttershy did her best to comfort her, but it was going to take a while before she calmed down again.

“So!” Rainbow Dash cut in, pointing a hoof at the grey stallion, (Still unnamed, btw) “YOU’RE the one that tried to have his way with Vinyl!”

“We don’ take too kindly to your type around here, iff’n ya couldn’t guess” Applejack added

“Yeah! Big mean, meany-pants ponies don’t get any sympathy from us!” Pinkie pie interjected, her hair now deflated, and a very pissed off look on her face. In fact, they all had a similar look on their faces, even Fluttershy.

“You big meanie!” Pinkie Pie yelled. “I have half a mind to come over there and hoof-smack you so hard, you’d swear you kissed a freight train!”

That one caught John off guard a little. They have freight trains in this world? His question was answered by Rarity, however.

“Umm, Pinkie, darling, what on earth is a freight train?”

“What? What are you talking about Rarity?”

Rarity rolled her eyes and scoffed “Never mind, we’re getting distracted.”

Indeed, they were. While they were all distracted by Pinkie Pie’s train statement, that they didn’t notice the grey stallion trying to sneak away from them.

“Oh, no you don’t!” Twilight cried, encasing the stallion in a glowing purple bubble that hovered slightly off the ground. But he wasn’t done yet. His horn fired up again, and the bubble started to quiver a little. He was fighting it. Suddenly, there was a flash, and the bubble disappeared, but the remaining energy propelled the stallion so forcefully towards the outside wall that he went straight through it, leaving a pony-shaped hole.

John could have sworn he heard Pinkie mutter “What a tool.” But that was only a speculation on his part. He would have laughed at the comical hole in the wall, if he wasn’t in shock over what just happened, but he recovered quickly.

He was about to ask what just happened, when another winged unicorn, this one dark purple, flew through the hole in the wall, the grey stallion in the grip of her magic.

“Twilight, I was just passing by inspecting my night sky, care to tell me why I found this pony airborne out of this building? And a pony-shaped hole in the wall?”

“Well, Princess Luna, I think Princess Celestia told you about that night John saved Vinyl from an attacker? Well, this pony IS the attacker. He tried sneaking in here when we were asleep. We’re…not quite sure how he got in here, but John here woke up and prevented him from doing anything.”

The purple Princess pony, seriously, how many are there? turned to the pony still hovering in front of her, still surrounded by a blue glow. “Oh really? Is that so, young colt?”

The stallion shook his head violently. “No, Princess! I was just walking, minding my own business, when I get dragged in through the front door, and propelled through the wall here. I have no idea what these mares are saying.”

Luna shot him a look that said “Really? You’re really gonna try that with me?”

“Well, it would seem your story is severely flawed, and besides, I don’t think Princess Celestia’s personal protégé would have a reason to lie about this kind of thing. So you, young colt, are bucked. We depart for Canterlot for your court appointment straight away.” He hung his head. It was over, and he knew it.

“Farewell, Twilight Sparkle, we shall meet again.” The Princess stated before turning and leaving through the same hole she entered through, flying off into the night sky before disappearing in a blue flash. Pinkie Pie, seemingly the one to get the last word, waved energetically out at the grey stallion. “Bye, meanie-pants!” She called out.

“That’s it” sighed john, flicking the safety back on on his gun, “It’s over.”

Vinyl shook her head. “I doubt it.” She said between shivers, “I have a feeling we’ll be seeing him again soon.”

John smiled “well, next time we’ll have to be ready.”

Everyone nodded, but realized they were still very tired. It was the middle of the night, after all. So, after Twilight fixed the hole in the wall (now John had time to giggle over the comedic look), they all went back to bed. John having unchambered the round in his gun and slipping it back under his pillow, crawled back into bed. He was about to fall asleep again, when he was suddenly aware of a white and blue shape in front of his vision again (he was laying on his side). He re-opened his eyes, and saw Vinyl standing in front of him, looking at him rather curiously, and blushing a little.

Seeing he was still awake, she decided to ask him. “I, I don’t want to…do you think…maybe I could…share the…you know, the…”

John chuckled. “Sure, Vinyl, hop up.”

She did just that, curling up into a ball behind him, snuggling against his back. She was asleep almost immediately. John chuckled. This definitely wasn’t a hallucination anymore, and even if it was, he didn’t want it to stop.

===============END CHAPTER 5===============

Well, let it be known, this is not the end of the unnamed grey stallion! Also, if anyone would like to give him a name (at least try to be appropriate, I don’t want to see people suggesting I call him “dickface” or something like that-you know who you are), I would appreciate it. Pop a comment with a name suggestion, and I’ll choose the best one, and credit you for it! Also, this is not the end of the “Coal” subject. also, there is a hidden fourth wall breach in there, try and find it, hee hee!. And yeah, that’s about all I can think of for now, so I think I’ll treat you guys with an early one today

Chapter 7: Getting To Know Each Other

===============Denial, Acceptance, and Everything in Between===============

Well, I’m back writing again, after a very interesting 18th birthday party for a friend of mine. It ended with us almost setting a tree on fire, a friend of mine got a broken collarbone, the friend responsible for that managed to mess up his ankle a little later. (karma, bitch!) But yeah, I am going to be featuring an OC, made by a friend, and since it is not a commonly used character, I can get away with guesswork. So yeah, that’s about it. Oh, and I lost a bet with a friend of mine, you shall find out what the terms were later in the chapter.

=================Chapter 7: Getting To Know Each Other=================

“So,” Vinyl began, snapping John out of his trance. “Twilight tells me you came from another world. Tell me, what kind of work did you do there?”

John was prepared for this kind of question, but he was a little distracted at the moment. They were being followed. He knew so, his infallible soldier sense told him so, and it had never been wrong even once.

“I, uh…” looking up at a cloud confirmed his suspicions. There was a red Pegasus stallion with a turquoise and black striped mane staring down at them from on top of a cloud. John could see him in his peripheral vision. But the second John looked up at the cloud, he pulled his head behind the cloud. This had been going on for some time now, and John was getting a little annoyed. But he was distracted once again by Vinyl. “Helloooo? Equestria to John? You there?”

He turned his attention back to her. “We are being watched.”

She immediately looked nervous. “How do you know?”

“It has to do with what I used to do in the human world, like you asked. I’ll explain when we get to your house.”

“Well, we’re here, perfect timing.” She replied, walking up the front steps of a semi-large cottage just on the edge of the town.

“Jeez, did we just walk all the way across the town?”

She laughed. “Yes, but you were too busy looking around to notice. Now come in.” she said wile opening the door.

The inside looked like any other cottage, except that almost every inch of the interior was covered in a wire of some kind, or a piece of electronic equipment, or a speaker. In the corner was a chair surrounded by monitors, mixer boards, turntables, and other various DJ equipment. All in all, it was pretty impressive.

“Alright.” John said, breaking the awed silence from him, “So which piece of this amazing setup broke down on you?”

She grinned widely. “Nothing” she said, while closing the door behind her. “I just wanted to be able to get to know you better.”

(And now I try my hand at romance fics, thanks to having lost that bet. No clop, trust me, just light romance throughout the rest of the fic. <.< >.> Please don’t hate me. -Dan)

“What are you…” John barely had the time to get those three words out of his mouth before she jumped up at him, tackling him against the couch behind him. Before he had time to react, she was on top of him, her lips pressed against his. He was utterly paralyzed, unable to kiss back, unable to move, think, or even breathe; all he could do was sit back and simply let Vinyl kiss him. The only thought that kept running through his mind over and over was: I’m kissing a pony. Finally, his mind caught up with him, and he broke the contact, pushing her back gently.

“What…what was that for?” he asked, shaking off the daze.

“Well,” she purred “I decided I hadn’t properly thanked you for all you’ve done for me.”

“Yeah, but….” He argued

“Ssh” she silenced him, placing a hoof over his lips. “Don’t fight it, just relax.”

He was still in shock, but he relaxed and released his grip that had been holding her back. She giggled, and approached him again. This time, he didn’t resist, and she quickly resumed her kidnapping of his lips with hers. This time, however, he closed his eyes and returned the kiss, quickly becoming lost in it. Before long, her tongue found its way into his mouth, eliciting a slight moan from him. Taking this as a sign to continue, she pushed onward, her tongue swiping the inside of his mouth. John shuddered. He never would have figured a pony could kiss this well.

They would have been there all day, had there not been a loud thump sound that caused them to suddenly break apart and try to isolate the source of the noise. “Wait here” John got up, lowering Vinyl gently to the ground, and walked quietly over to the window, careful not to make too much noise.

There, outside the window, trying to break in, was Steel Tempest. John didn’t know how he escaped, but his mane was dirty and wildly sticking up, and his coat muddy and scratched. He hadn’t noticed John yet, he was concentrating on trying to get the window open.

Doesn’t he ever learn? Thought John, as he crept back to where Vinyl was laying on the floor. “Back for more?” She casually asked.

John shook his head. “No time.” He said. “It appears Steel Tempest has escaped somehow. Or been set free.”

Her eyes widened, pupils constricting and ears falling back in fear. “You mean he’s here?”

“Yes. He is trying to break in the window right now. Keep your head down and come with me.”

She nodded and stood up, keeping herself low to the floor. He led her into the back room of the cottage, which turned out to be a kitchen. At least it had the L-shaped countertop. It would have to do. They huddled behind it and waited. John pulled out his gun, flicking off the safety and chambering a round once more. He didn’t think he’d have to use it if he used the element of surprise, but it didn’t hurt to be prepared.

“What are you doing? And why are we hiding?” she asked him.

John sighed. Not the best of times for a discussion, so he would have to keep it short. “Alright, look. You asked what I did in the human world? Well, I was a soldier. In other words…” she waved a hoof to silence him.

“I know what a soldier is. But, ok, that explains the hiding, we’re going to surprise him, but what is that metal thing in your hand?”

“*sigh* Welp, it’s called a gun, Vinyl. Suffice to say, it fires pieces of hot metal out at very fast speeds with the intent to kill. And yes, in my position as a soldier, I have had to use one on a person before.”

Now he’d done it. She shrank back from him, a similar look of fear on her face.

“Look, I don’t intend on using it, only as a backup, if I absolutely have to. And besides, I have no real intention of shooting anyone with it, however, it is very effective for intimidation. Hold up, I hear something.”

From the room they had been in before, he heard a small smashing sound. The stallion most likely broke out one of the panes of glass in the window. John assessed his situation. They were in the kitchen, huddled behind the counter, so they would not be able to be seen until they wanted to be seen. However, they did not have the other six with them this time, so facing a most likely pissed off unicorn stallion with magic was significantly more dangerous. He would have to be careful.

“huh.” He heard from the other room. “I could have sworn I heard her in here a while ago."

John looked over at Vinyl, who was cowering against the counter, shaking and silently sobbing. He put a finger to his lips to tell her to stay quiet, then whispered very softly. “You’ll be okay, don’t worry.”

“Well, I guess as long as I’m here, I might as well grab something to eat and wait for her to come back.” Came the voice from the other room.

John heard hoofesteps approaching, and finally entering the kitchen they were in. he then heard other noises, and wondered just what the hell was going on. He peered around the side, and saw the stallion was busy with making food in another part of the kitchen, facing away from him. He got up, and silently slinked over to his new position, directly behind the stallion. He stood up to his full height, towering over Steel, and casting a very large shadow over him.

“What the…” was all he got to say as he turned around to see what the source was, before John grabbed him by the throat, and slammed him against the wall so hard, it left cracks in the plaster.

“You…” John practically yelled through gritted teeth. “What the fuck is wrong with you? Did I not warn you what would happen if you came back? Did you learn nothing from the last time I saw you?”

Instead of answering, Steel began to chuckle. “You may have the upper hand now, human. But you won’t be around to protect her forever. And when you’re gone, even for a little while, I will have my revenge.”

Now it was John’s turn to chuckle. “Yeah. Like that’ll happen.”

Steel smiled evilly. “Yes. Yes it will happen.” He said, his horn lighting up.

John immediately felt like he had been punched in the chest. Falling to his knees, he found he couldn’t breathe, and felt like he was going to pass out. Steel, taking full advantage of this, lowered his head, and charged at John, his horn like a spear on his head.

John, while he was in pain, and having a hard time breathing, knew what was happening.

Seconds before Steel hit him, he quickly dodged to the side, punching the side of Steel’s face, sending him sprawling, and also disrupting whatever spell the stallion was using to weaken John.

John quickly jumped back to his full height, and made a grab for the stallion on the floor, but he was already back on his hooves, and gave John a harsh buck in the knee, causing him to yell out in pain and fall face-first on the floor. His gun flew out of his hand and clattered against the linoleum, sliding over to where Vinyl was still cowering.

John was doing his best to get back up again. His nose was bloodied from hitting the floor, but he didn’t care. Nothing else mattered except keeping this…this…John didn’t even have a proper word for him, away from Vinyl. As he pushed himself very painfully into a sitting position. He noticed that his knee was broken. Well, it had to be, knees generally don’t go in that direction.

As he managed to sit back up, the grey stallion was preparing for another attack. However, instead of a physical attack, the unicorn powered up his horn, grabbing John in a field of telekinesis, and lifting him off the ground. He began to apply pressure to the field, squeezing John tighter and tighter, until he felt as if his lungs might burst. At the same time, the grey stallion began screaming at him.

“YOU THINK YOU CAN JUST TAKE HER AWAY FROM ME LIKE THAT?!?! YOU THINK YOU CAN JUST FUCKING WALTZ IN HERE, ACTING LIKE SUCH A BAD-FLANK ALL THE TIME, AND TRY TO WIN HER OVER WITH THAT?!?! WELL, I GOT NEWS FOR YOU, HUMAN, YOU ARE SADLY MISTAKEN!!!!!”

At this point, John was about to pass out from lack of oxygen. But before he had a chance to, he heard another smashing of glass in the other room, this one much larger, and a large, dark red Pegasus stallion, the one that had been stalking them before, flew into the room, tackling Steel, causing him to lose focus and let go of John.

John fell back to the floor, gulping large breaths of air, trying desperately to get his lungs back under control. As he did so, the two stallions rolled around on the floor, wrestling and trading punches.

However, the unicorn had a distinct advantage, considering he had the use of magic. He tossed a blast of magic at the red Pegasus, throwing him against the wall hard enough that John heard a *snap* and the stallion hit the floor like a sack of bricks. John could hear Vinyl cry “Red Wind! No!”, but he didn’t have time to even look in her direction. The unicorn stallion was turning around to face him again, his eyes literally burning with magical power. He grabbed John again, throwing him against the walls, the ceiling, and occasionally the floor. Things broke. But not the things he was hitting. He was about to pass out again, this he was sure of.

BLAM

Suddenly, he was released, and dropped unceremoniously on the kitchen counter. The last thing he saw before passing out was the stallion on the floor, blood leaking from a hole in his chest. Vinyl was standing over him with a hardened look on her face, John’s still-smoking gun in the grip of her magic.

=============END CHAPTER 7=============

Well! Now I have to go and add a dark tag to this story, thanks to that last bit. But no worries, I’m cool with it. To be honest, I’m feeling a little “dark” right now, but to explain would take me forever, so I won’t. well, that, and it’s a personal matter. Anyway, uh, Red Wind has his own facebook page! Go ahead and check him out/ like him at http://www.facebook.com/redwind97 don't be afraid! he doesn't bite!

Chapter 8: A Speedy Recovery

===============Denial, Acceptance, and Everything in Between===============

Well, I finally got around to writing again, so I guess that’s good. Uh, I kind of have a plan going for the rest of the story, at least for generic storyboard, anyway. Also, a friend of mine will be appearing in the later chapters, when things get interesting, anyway. I am in the process of interviewing her to get a good idea of how to do this. So yeah, I will make the later chapters veeeeery interesting, so stick around, we’ll see what happens. Also, I finished watching Highschool of the Dead, and yes, that does have something to do with the later chapters. Btw, fucking EPIC anime. Anyway, I uh, I don’t know when I’ll have any more chapters out after this one, my life is a little hectic right now, but I will try. And I will try to update Secret Lightning at least once too.

==============Chapter 8==============

“Uuurgh” John’s senses slowly returned to him. First off, his whole body was numb, and it was quiet. Deathly quiet. He forced his eyes open and took a look at his surroundings.

He was in the hospital again. This time, almost all of his body, save for his face, was wrapped in bandages. Looking at the foot of the bed, he saw a familiar white and blue blob that he easily identified as a curled up Vinyl.

He coughed suddenly, now aware of his very dry throat. He grabbed the glass of water that was on the stand next to the bed and gulped it down, hoping for all he was worth he didn’t wake Vinyl. This prayer went unanswered, as she lifted her head, yawned, and looked around, blinking rapidly. Her eyes were red. Well, they always were red, but this time they were very red and puffy, like she had been crying.

“John? You…you’re awake?”

“Of course I am. What, you thought I would be killed that easily?” he said with a lot more confidence than he had. While it was true it had taken several C-4 charges to kill him in the other world, he still could have easily died this time as well. And that scared the living hell out of him.

Vinyl shook her head, tears in her eyes. “John, I’m…I’m so sorry! If I hadn’t brought you to my place, then you never would have….”

John reached down to the foot of his bed, ignoring the little twinges of pain that seeped through the stupor of the pain medication. Or pain spell, he discovered they did those too, if the doctor was a unicorn. He grabbed the now sobbing white mare, and pulled her into a hug. For about a minute or so, he just let her cry, releasing her pent up emotions into his shoulder. Then, he started to talk.

“Shush, Vinyl, I don’t want to hear it”

She pulled back a little and looked up at him with bleary eyes. “Wha…?”

“What happened could never have been your fault. And just think about it, if I hadn’t been there, you would have been home alone when Steel broke in, and I…I would never be able to forgive myself if that happened. So please, I don’t want to hear it’s your fault, I’m just glad you’re ok.”

John noticed that when he mentioned Steel, she shrunk back a little. He was going to ask, but she answered for him before he could.

“But…Steel…I…I killed him! I killed a pony! I killed somepony in cold blood! How can you ever forgive me for something like that?!”

“Ssh, Vinyl. It’s okay. You didn’t kill him in cold blood, you killed him because you had to. Because if you didn’t, he would have done bad things to you, therefore it was self-defense. I don’t think there’s anyone in this entire world that honestly would blame you for what you did. So why would I need to forgive you? I was never mad in the first place.”

She pushed herself closer to him, and buried her head in his chest. “Th…thanks, John. I…I just wish no one had to get hurt. I…I don’t think I’ll ever be able to look at myself the same way again.”

She completely broke down, crying loudly into his chest, her tears soaking through the custom made hospital gown he was wearing. He did the only thing he could, he just sat there and held her while she cried, stroking her back lightly in an effort to calm her.

After a few minutes, her sobs had declined, turning into light hiccups. Deciding now was better than ever, he began to speak again.

“It’s okay, Vinyl. I’m not upset with you. And, while it was a rather…different way of dealing with Steel, I can guarantee that you won’t have any more problems with him. In truth, I’d rather die than have him do something horrible to you. You deserve so much more than you get, Vinyl, it seems like no one really respects you. But I do.”

She stopped crying now, and was looking away from him, a huge blush overtaking most of her face. “You…you really mean that?” She asked finally.

“Yes, yes I do.” Was his response.

“Sweet Celestia, would the two of you get a room?” Came an unfamiliar male voice from behind the curtain next to the bed

“Red Wind?” Vinyl asked, climbing down off of John and walking over to the curtain. She pulled it back, and there was that same red Pegasus, in a bed on the other side of the room, directly parallel with his.

His right wing was in some kind of brace device, it enclosed the wing like a cage and had wires going down to different parts of it, ensuring the bones set properly. His right foreleg was also in a cast, as well as a good portion of him was bandaged up from cuts, scratches and bruises. Now normally, you wouldn’t bandage a bruise, but John discovered early on that Equestrian bandages had some kind of healing power in them, probably enchanted.

“Yeah, that’s me.” The Pegasus responded.

“Oh, Red Wind!” Vinyl cried, grabbing the very surprised Pegasus in a crushing hug. “I was so worried that Steel had killed you!”

“You’re…going…to…if…you…don’t…let…go… CAN’T BREATHE!!!!”

“Heh, sorry.” Vinyl apologized as she dropped back down to the floor.

“That’s…okay” he said once he managed to regain his breath, “Just good to know I’m appreciated”

“You’re not hurt too bad, are you?” she asked .

He glanced forlornly back at his wing for a second, and tried to move it, but gave up a second later when the brace around it proved that effort futile. “No, they say I’ll be healed up pretty quickly. Apparently, I’m pretty lucky, getting thrown against a wall and only getting a mild concussion and a broken wing.”

Vinyl smiled at this news. “Well, that’s good. Glad to hear you’re going to be ok”

The red Pegasus just nodded in reply. “But what about you?” he asked John. “What happened to you?”

That was actually a good question, John couldn’t remember a whole lot about what had happened after the…confrontation with Steel. “I…I don’t know. All I can remember is fighting with Steel, and then…walls and pain. Lots of pain”

“Yes, John, I’d say you are very lucky to be alive. You endured quite a bit of damage.” The doctor, a unicorn, suddenly and rudely interrupted as he cantered into the room.

Putting aside his annoyance at the interruption by the doctor, John turned his attention to him. “How…how much damage?”

“Well, several bones in your arms and legs were shattered into pieces, your sternum was cracked, and your spine had several herniated disks. All in all, a lot of broken bones.”

John was confused. He slowly rotated his arm around with a rather puzzled look on his face. “Then…how come I can move?”

“Well, our doctors were able to heal most of the broken bones. Oh, and you are on one of the most powerful painkiller spells we have available. Unfortunately, we were unable to heal any of the flesh or muscular damage, and the herniated disks. So you’re going to be off your feet for a little while.”

Well, this is just great, there goes your plans of finding a job and a place to live for a while, John silently berated himself.

John grunted a response and started to rise from the hospital bed, only to be forced to lay back down seconds later by an excruciating pain in his back. “Feels like I got hit with a Volkswagen” he groaned.

All three ponies in the room looked extremely confused. “John…what’s a Volkswagen?” Vinyl asked.

John chuckled. “Right, you’re not familiar with my world, “ He started to explain. “You see, a Volkswagen is a type of…..”

“OOH! OOH! I KNOW THIS ONE!” Cried Pinkie Pie, who appeared seemingly out of thin air. “A Volkswagen is a brand of car that a specific group of humans from a country called Germany created!”

“That’s….very good Pinkie, but how did you know that?” He asked the extremely energetic pink mare.

“It was under Eeeeee!” She practically sang, while bouncing around the room on all four hooves, then suddenly bouncing out the door and disappearing. In her wake, she left two very confused ponies, one puzzled human, and a laughing Vinyl.

“Wha…but…how…she…what?!” John stammered. Vinyl just laughed, and said: “John, in the time I’ve spent in Ponyville, I’ve learned there is nothing more random than Pinkie Pie. You can’t fight it, you can’t argue with it, you can’t even throw logic at it, you have to just accept that Pinkie Pie is simply….Pinkie Pie.”

“But…that still doesn’t explain how she…”

“Believe me, I’ve seen that mare walk on thin air, stand upside down with no kind of support, and somehow have a fifth hoof. Don’t try using logic John, I already tried, it just gets you nowhere. Just laugh and go along with it.”

“But I..alright.” John resigned, although he still had many many unanswered questions about that strange pink mare. Then a thought hit him. “Hey, wait, if she’s here, does that mean that the rest…”

At that moment, the white alicorn sun princess known as Celestia strode into the room, wings raised, head tilted back, she…looked quite majestic, actually, more than usual at least. At once, Vinyl turned her gaze away from John and towards the door. When she saw the sun princess, she immediately dropped to her knees and bowed. “Princess Celestia! What an honor!” She exclaimed. John looked around and noticed the unicorn doctor doing the same.

“Rise, my little ponies, there is no need for formalities on this occasion. I am simply here on a casual visit to speak with this human you call John.”

Oh crap.

Celestia picked up on this sudden tension, and spoke. “Relax, John. I just wanted to thank you for taking such good care of one of my little ponies. Oh, and I have your weapon, you may take it back now, I simply was fascinated by the design of it. Projectile weaponry was something that we ponies had never been able to perfect past bows and arrows. Regardless, I studied the type of ammunition it requires, and had an old friend of mine craft some more for you. I suspect you will be needing it, considering you seem to be almost like a personal guard to miss Scratch here. Will this be enough?” She reached out with her magic and grabbed a cardboard box seemingly out of nowhere, (John was wary of any random Pinkie Pies this time) and floated it over to him, as well as his gun. John just gaped at the box. It was a box that was easily big enough to fit a motorcycle helmet, filled almost to the top with round after round of .45 ammo.

John was speechless for a few minutes, finally finding his voice soon after. “Well, I….thank you, but…why give me more ammunition? I mean, a gun is a weapon, used to kill. How do you know I won’t use this ammunition against you?”

The Princess chuckled. “Because, if you had wanted to kill us with your gun, you would have already. The fact that you didn’t even shoot it when you had Steel backed into a corner after he broke into the library tells me that you’d rather not use it unless you really have to. No, instead, you’ve been using it to protect ponies, rather than hurt them. So I am perfectly fine with giving you more ammunition. I also took the liberty of making you several more magazines for your weapon, I just couldn’t help myself, this technology just fascinates me!”

“Well, that’s good to know, Princess, perhaps I can give you a lesson on firearms one day.”

She smiled and nodded. “And I think I can help you with your current situation as well.” She said, standing over him, horn glowing. She lowered her head till her horn just touched his chest. Immediately, a large surge of energy jolted through John, and he flailed around in the bed, his muscles completely out of control. Steam came out of his pores as impurities were driven out of his body, as well as all of the cuts, bruises, and visible wounds on his skin faded away as if they never existed while the bandages fell away from his body, their presence no longer needed. Finally, his back arched upwards with such force, that it made several loud snap noises, making Vinyl and the doctor wince.

And just like that, it was over. John settled back into the bed, consciousness already returning to him.

“What…what the hell was that?” He almost demanded when his breath returned to him.

The Princess smiled. “Speed healing. Not very comfortable, but it gets the job done very quickly. Of course, there was also the bit of magic I imbedded inside you.”

“Well gee, I…wait, WHAT?!”

She smiled again. “Nothing special, really. With practice, you’ll have a form of the unicorn telekinesis spell. However, this version does not require you to possess a horn, can handle a lot more objects at once, as well as a lot more weight, and is far more precise. However, I must warn you: this power, it is almost like a muscle for your brain. You must start off with small objects, and gradually work yourself up to larger ones. Try moving something too large, and you will strain this metaphorical muscle, and you don’t want to know what happens if you do that.”

John was beyond stunned. “So…you’re telling me…that with some practice, I’ll be able to move thing with my MIND?!”

She nodded. “Exactly. Oh, and there was one other spell I gave you control of.” The look on his face just said ‘There’s MORE?!?!’, which made her giggle “This ammunition I had made for you is no regular ammunition. It is magical ammo, and can be controlled by the second spell your mind now has control of. So now, before you fire, think of what kind of ammunition you want the gun to fire, be it explosive, incendiary, electroshock, regular lead, or anything else you can think of. Your gun has also been modified to be able to handle these special rounds, as otherwise it would take quite a beating with the first few.”

John was in a state of shock. “I…I can’t thank you enough, Princess, but what do I have to do in return for all this you have given me?”

The Princess simply smiled. “Your task is simple. Keep Vinyl safe. She has a tendency to…attract trouble, no offense to her. It’s just that trouble always manages to find her wherever she goes.”

“I..I will, Princess, you can count on me.”

Still smiling, Princess Celestia nodded. “Good. I must go, however, there is a lot in Canterlot I must attend to, and I have been gone far too long already. But we shall see each other again soon.” She said, before walking out into the hallway where there was a bright pink flash, John guessed she teleported back to wherever she was going.

John mentally debated what to do now that she was gone. Get up or play with telekinesis? Get up or play with telekinesis? Get up, or….get up.

He placed his gun and the box of ammo on the bed beside him, and started to get up. This time, there was no pain. No dull ache, no sharp pains, nothing. In fact, he felt better than he ever had in a long time. his feet hit the ground, and he bounded off the bed with an energy he never knew he had in him. Better watch that before he turned into a human Pinkie Pie.

“Wow, that was quick!” Vinyl exclaimed, noticing how quickly john had recovered.

“Yeah, well, I feel like a million bucks!” He replied, which brought a slight frown to Vinyl’s face. “That term must mean something different in the human world.” She said, looking away and blushing. She was terrible at hiding that, by the way, since her coat was white. “Well, what does it mean in this world?” John asked her. She motioned for him to bend down, and when he did, she whispered it in his ear. He almost immediately straightened back up, his entire face red. “Uhh, well then, I’d say it definitely means something different in the human world.”

“What about me? Don’t I get healed or anything?” a voice suddenly interrupted John and Vinyl. He turned to notice Red Wind still lying there, wing still in a brace, with a pretty pissed look on his face. “I’m…I’m sorry Red Wind, I didn’t…”

“Meh, that’s okay, it’ll give me a couple days of time to myself to think. Something I don’t usually get to do very often anymore.”

“I suppose I had better get dressed.” John said, noticing he was basically standing there in his underwear, and man, didn’t that bring a blush to his face!

Once he put his clothing back on, had stowed away his gun, and had the box of ammunition stored under his arm, he turned around. “C’mon Vinyl” he said “it’s a beautiful day out, let’s go for a walk.”

==================END CHAPTER 8==================

Well, there you have it. Got a few more chapters to go, and then things get interesting. That is also when my friend will make her appearance. Like I said though, idk exactly when I’ll be working on more chapters, but I WILL be working on them. Took me what, a couple months to finish this chapter? And that was only the first couple of paragraphs, the rest I banged out in a couple hours tonight. So yeah. also, if the gun, special ammo, and special power aren't enough of a hint, something quite interesting is going to happen, mwa-ha-ha!

Chapter 9: Practice Makes Perfect...Well, Not Always

===============Denial, Acceptance, and Everything in Between===============

Welp, my shop partner and I won the Connecticut state championships for the Skills USA robotics and automation competition! Nationals at Kansas city in June! With that note, there is other news in the end note, but I suggest you read the chapter first.

===============Chapter 9: Practice Makes Perfect…Well, Not Always===============

“So where are we going, John?” Vinyl asked as she trotted beside John down the dirt road.

“I dunno, just around, I guess.” He replied. “I just feel like taking a little walk to think about some things, then I guess we can go back to your place or something and maybe see if I can get anything out of this new magic Celestia gave me. Sound fair?”

“Yeah, that sounds great. I need to think about a few things as well.” She replied.

He nodded, and they set off walking. Where they were going, he wasn’t really paying attention to, he was already lost in thought. The first thought that crossed his mind was: Why did Celestia seem more fascinated by his gun than horrified about its existence in her world? Seriously, it had been used to kill a pony. Granted, not by him, per se, and that particular pony was trying to kill him, but…still. And then…why had she modified his weapon, and given him magically enhanced ammo? How the hell did she even do that? How was he even supposed to use it? Something just…didn’t sit right with John about this whole thing. Perhaps it was his soldier’s paranoia at it again, though, when he thought about it, that had never failed him before. And then…Celestia had said that his duty was now to protect Vinyl. Why was that even necessary? Hadn’t her problems ended with the death of Steel? What exactly did this mare DO for a living? And furthermore, why had the Princess healed just him, but ignored Red Wind? That red stallion had had a…hoof in the confrontation with Steel as well. Hell, he threw himself into the fight to try and help John and Vinyl, and had gotten injured! None of this made any sense to John, it seemed like the Princess was preparing him for something…but what?

These thoughts were promptly interrupted by John smacking face-first into the door of the Ponyville library. He staggered, but managed to not fall over. However, this did not go unnoticed by Vinyl, who giggled softly, and apparently by whomever was in the library as well, as he heard someone inside start walking towards the door. Before he could react, the door was opened, and a slightly confused Twilight stood in the doorway. “J…John? Aren’t you supposed to be in the hospital still? What happened?”

“Well, I’m not quite sure. One of the Princesses stopped by and did some….things to me. One of them was a healing, at least…I think it was. I’m not exactly versed in magic, but I’m pretty sure a healing isn’t supposed to hurt that much.”

“The Princess was here!?” Twilight burst out, startling John. Normally, this would be very hard to do, but he wasn’t really himself right now. “What did she say? What did she do?”

“Well, I’m not entirely sure,” John answered “She healed me, and then started talking about how much she admired my gun, and how she had made special ammo for it and some upgrades to it, and then something about some form of telekinetic power.”

“Wait, what?!” She exclaimed in shock. John smiled “Exactly my reaction.” He said with a chuckle.

“Well don’t be a stranger, come in, come in, make yourselves at home!” She said, flinging the door open wide and gesturing for them to come in. “I’ll go make some tea while you two get settled”

John and Vinyl stepped into the library, and he took a seat on the nearest couch. Vinyl jumped up onto the couch, and laid her front half across his lap, curling up a little bit. John reached over and started stroking the back of her head lightly, and she let out a little sigh, and closed her eyes, curling up even more so she was basically a small white and blue blob on his lap. He smiled, and stroked her back lightly with his other hand. This brought a huge smile to her face, and she started making a sound that actually sounded a lot like a cat purring, bringing up something he didn’t experience very often: that all too famous warm-and-fuzzy-inside feeling.

He was startled by a semi-distant “Awwww!” coming from the other side of the room. He glanced over, and noticed Twilight standing in the doorway, floating a tray with tea and teacups on it just above her. The look on her face, was something between happy and excited, made John smile. “So I see the two of you have gotten fairly close”

John chuckled. “Yeah, I guess you could say that. Now what’s on your mind, Twilight? I can tell something’s bothering you.”

The lavender mare sighed and set the tray down on the coffee table before sitting on the floor in front of John. “Well, I…I don’t know. I mean, yes, you’re right, but…I just can’t place exactly what. Princess Celestia never does anything without reason. And all that she’s done for you, it seems like…like she expects something bad to happen and she’s preparing you for it. But what, exactly, I can’t begin to fathom.”

John had to agree, she was right. But he had survived being blown up once, how hard could this ‘bad thing’ possibly be?

“Don’t let it bother you too much, Twilight. I’m sure Celestia’s just making sure Vinyl and I are extra safe. From what, I’m not sure. But besides, I’m sure I can probably handle this ‘really bad thing’ without too much trouble.”

“Eh, I dunno John, I’m not sure you know just how powerful that ammo Celestia gave you really is. It’s made from enchanted starmetal, something that is very rare and expensive in Equestria. However, Princess Luna is able to craft it, but it’s not easy for her. Especially since the zebra folk are incredibly wary of anything involving the stars, because of their legend of The Eater Of Souls. But so far, the Princesses have been able to keep them fairly calm about it.”

“The zebras? I’ve only heard of one, though I haven’t met her, but there are more of them?”

“Well, it’s rather complicated, we trade them gems and things they need for coal that is buried in their lands. They live away from us ponies, and because of that, a lot of ponies are prejudiced against them. I’ll explain much more later, for now, let’s see about what else Princess Celestia gave you.”

She stood up and walked over to where John was sitting, and reared up. Using the side of the couch for support, she touched her horn to John’s forehead. She scrunched her face and concentrated, her horn beginning to glow with a lavender hue. John felt a slight tingle and a tiny amount of heat at the base of his skull. A second later, she was done, and she dropped down to the floor again, a puzzled expression upon her face.

“Well, what did you see?” John asked.

She shook her head “Well I…I’m not sure. I mean, I see what you were talking about when you said she gave you telekinesis, but…there’s something else in there as well. And I can’t tell what.”

“Wait, you mean there’s more stuff inside my head?!” John practically yelled. What he didn’t realize was that Vinyl had been snoozing on his lap, and was woken up by his outburst. She decided to keep quiet though, and act like she was still sleeping.

“Yes, while I can’t exactly identify the other two spells, one appears to be some kind of time-controlling targeting spell, and the other is a detection spell. How they are used, I have no idea, but if you don’t mind, I’d like to keep copies of them.”

“Copies of them? How?”

“Well, It’s quite a simple process, really. Since I’ve done some research into the human world, I suppose you could say it’s like copying data from a computer. Does that analogy work?”

John had to admit, it worked fairly well. So he allowed her to take copies, which felt like she was pulling a wet noodle out through his forehead. When she was done, Twilight sat back down on the floor and remained there for several minutes before getting to her hooves again. “Well, while I look into these spells, let’s see if we can’t at least get that telekinesis spell of yours working.”

“Alright, hang on, I should probably get up then, my leg’s falling asleep.” John said, making Twilight giggle. “Vinyl?” he gently said in Vinyl’s ear “C’mon Vinyl, it’s time to get up.” He said while shaking her gently. It seemed she had fallen back asleep, as John was aware she had woken before. She groaned and rolled over, practically falling off him. If he hadn’t caught her, she’d have hit the floor. “Alright! I’m up! I’m up!” she practically screamed. Perhaps waking up hanging upside down had that effect on a pony, John supposed. John and Twilight shared a good laugh while Vinyl jumped out of John’s grip and to her hooves, blushing furiously.

John stood, and followed Twilight over to where she was standing, next to a large desk with a feather quill sitting right in the middle of it. She gestured to the quill once he was close enough to the desk. “Now, here’s the first thing for you to try. Try lifting this quill up in the air.” He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, held his hand out palm up, and concentrated. And concentrated. And concentrated. But nothing happened. Not even the slightest flutter from the feather. Disappointed, John lowered his hand.

“Don’t be discouraged, John.” Vinyl stepped up and said. “No one gets it the first try. Try envisioning….almost like you’re creating a bubble around the feather.” Glancing down at her warm smile, John raised nodded and his hand back up, closing his eyes, and concentrating once more. This time, the feather fluttered slightly, but did not move at all. He concentrated until he felt like his head would burst, then gave up. He opened his eyes to see another disappointment: the feather had not moved at all. Not even the slightest bit. He sighed and lowered his hand, looking rather dejected.

Vinyl stepped closer to him and reared up, nudging his side with her nose. “It’s okay.” She reassured. “You’ll get the hang of it, I’m sure.”

John glanced outside. It was transitioning onto night very quickly, it was already pretty dark out. “I think…I think I’d like to go for another walk to clear my head. Vinyl, why don’t you stay here with Twilight for a little while? I’ll be back soon enough”

Vinyl stared back at him, a look of disappointment on her face. “You mean…you don’t want me to go with you?”

John felt those sad crimson eyes boring into him better than any drill. “Don’t worry, it’s just this one time. There’s a lot I need to think about, and I just…please understand, it’s not that I don’t want you to go with me, I just…need to think, that’s all.”

She nodded and smiled faintly, but looked away right afterwards. “Hey,” John said, scooping the white pony into a hug that raised her far off the ground “Hey, I’ll be back. I’d never leave you behind. I’ll only be gone a little while, ok?” She nodded, and her smile strengthened a bit. John knew he’d still have some making up to do later for this, however, and as much as it hurt him to upset her, there was something inside his head, just….egging him on, to go out walking, and to go out alone. He had no choice but to listen, this…whatever it was, was very persistent. It wasn’t that famous sixth-sense that soldiers have, it was…different.

With that, he set Vinyl down, patted her on the head with a smile, said his temporary goodbye to Twilight, and walked out the door.

Before he left the library, John had made sure his gun was strapped to his hip once more, if only for the feel of it. For soldiers like him, it was a comfort thing. Nothing more comforting than walking into an area that could turn dangerous at any second, with a little bit of oomph in a side holster within easy reach. Of course, with his gun, it was more than a LITTLE oomph, as it had had some modifications done to it by the Princess, although he was still unsure as to exactly what she had done. Also was the ammo, since she had used all of his ammo in her amazement of the weapon. He had decided to fill two mags with the specialty ammo she had given him almost a metric ton of. If he ever had to use it, then he would find out just how powerful it really was. But John didn’t think he’d really need to use it, the most threatening thing he’d come across had been taken out by Vinyl, so he wasn’t too worried.

John stopped for a second to get his bearings. He was on a dirt path, in the middle of a forest, and, looking behind him, he couldn’t see anything of the town anymore. Had he really been that absorbed in his thoughts? He didn’t have time to answer that question, because he was more distracted by a new development. Something was forming around his head, almost like a gridded globe. He reached up to touch it, but his hand went right through it. Bit by bit, the terrain around him began to be mapped out by whatever this was. Seconds after that was done, little blue bars began appearing all over the place. Some were in trees, some slowly moved directly over his position, which was marked by a red dot. John noticed that as he moved his head around, the bars and terrain in his vision moved as well, keeping even with the actual terrain, while other things that he hadn’t been looking in the same direction as before started appearing in his field of vision. So this must be the detection spell Twilight was talking about, he thought to himself.

Suddenly, a yellow bar and an arrow appeared in the very top edge of his vision. He noticed that as he turned his head, the arrow turned as well, pointing constantly towards whatever this yellow bar was representing. Suddenly, the yellow bar began flashing, and the arrow grew larger and flashed as well, almost urging him to seek out whatever this yellow bar represented.

He took off in a run in the direction the arrow was pointing; a small numeric display appeared next to the arrow, counting down the remaining distance as he approached. It almost seemed like this was a heads-up-display from some kind of computer or video game or something.

John stopped just about 20 or so feet away from the yellow bar, ready to draw his weapon, but stopped himself when he saw what the bar was representing.

Up ahead was a rock ledge, about 100 feet or so above the ground, and below was relatively flat rock, though there were some rather sharp looking bits. Sitting up on the ledge was a very sad looking orange Pegasus filly, with a purple mane and tail. She didn’t appear to have her cutie mark yet either, which made John question just how old she was. But the thing that really struck him was the fact that it appeared she had tied down her wings with rope. John just stood there and stared for a while, unsure as to what he should do. She just sat there, staring at her hooves.

After a few moments, she sighed and stood up, walking away from the edge of the rock ledge. John was glad, she wasn’t going to jump like he guessed she was thinking about doing-next thing he knew, she took a running jump off the ledge, diving headfirst toward the ground. John was already in motion before his brain registered movement, scattering any and all of the thoughts that had been in his mind before.

As he sprinted towards the spot on the rocks that the orange filly was headed for at terminal velocity, one thought kept crossing his mind: he wasn’t going to make it in time. This thought only spurred him on further and faster, until he was moving faster than he’d ever moved before. Keep in mind, this all was only happening in a timeframe of a few seconds, but in a situation like this, mere seconds can seem like hours.

He stretched out his arms just as he rendezvoused with the point the filly was heading for-yes that whatever it was in his head even marked that point with a red dot-he jumped up, clearing a couple feet, and caught the very surprised filly like a hurtling football. As he landed, he hugged her to his chest as he tucked and rolled a few times, keeping his arms braced around her like a cage of sorts, making sure she was safe.

He finally came to a stop in a sitting position, the orange and purple filly still hugged tightly to his chest. He managed to take the brunt of the injuries, although it was only a few scrapes and bruises. The orange filly, however, was perfectly fine, physically at least.

She squirmed out of his grip, and jumped down to the ground. “Why did you stop me?!” she demanded.

“What were you trying to accomplish up there?!” He demanded back with almost equal volume.

“Isn’t it obvious?! I was going to kill myself! I’m tired of living the way I do. Tired of it all. I just want it to end.”

“What do you mean? Living what way?” he asked, this time a lot gentler.

“You…you wouldn’t understand.” She muttered, now staring intently at the ground.

“Hey” he said, while grabbing her chin and turning her head back up to look into her eyes. “Try me”

She looked away once again. “Well, I…it’s just that…I’m the only one in my class to not have gotten my cutie mark yet. Even my two best friends got theirs before me. And also…I can’t fly. I mean really! I’m a Pegasus and I can’t even fly! What kind of Pegasus can’t fly?! And I mean…my friends support me, but everypony else just makes fun of me about it, calling me a ‘blank flank’, and ‘dodo’ and I’ve even gotten beaten up a few times for being different. My parents…my parents are dead, my stepmom kicked me out of the house quite a while ago. There was another human here a little while ago, his name was Coal. He…he was going to adopt me as his daughter. But then he got in a fight with another pony, and the keeper of the inn he had me staying at wouldn’t let me near him. Right after that, he left this world, and I haven’t seen him since. The innkeeper was forced out of business by a competitor, who forced her into retirement. She was forced to move to another town, and she couldn’t take me with her, much as she wanted to. The new owners of the inn want nothing to do with me, seeing as I have no money. I can’t go back to living with my stepmom, she still won’t let me in the house, she says that pretty much anything bad that happens is my fault.”

“That’s…I don’t know what to say, but…why haven’t you told anyone about any of this? There are plenty of nice ponies in the town, I’m sure someone would be happy to listen.”

She shook her head. “Everyone I’ve told has just passed me off as one of those ‘emo’ foals that seem to be pretty popular right now. They all think I’m just trying to get attention. No one actually cares. And I’d just had enough. I’d had enough of living on the streets, living off of whatever food scraps I could find in the garbage, and having to either sleep in a treehouse or the schoolhouse when it gets too cold. So I just decided to end it all. I figure no one would care if I did. Pfft, I don’t think anyone would even miss me. I’m just that strange homeless filly, no one cares about me.”

“I do.” John said, scooping the orange filly into a giant hug. “I care.”

“Y…you do?” she asked, her voice quavering.

“Yes” he said, while stroking the back of her head, as she started to cry into his chest. “Of course I care.”

For over an hour he just sat there, letting this filly cry into his chest as he gently stroked the back of her head and mane in an effort to calm her. Gradually, her deep sobs got shallower and shallower, until they degraded into hiccups and a lot of sniffling. She squirmed slightly in his grip, and pulled her head back to look at him with tear-filled eyes. “Th..thank you” she choked out. “No one’s ever cared enough about me before to even listen to what’s the matter.”

John smiled “Of course” he slowly stood, changing his grip on the orange filly from a giant hug, to the way one would hold a small child. “Now why don’t we start off by getting that rope off you, and getting you cleaned up. I have somepony I think you’d like to meet.”

“I…I can’t thank you enough. You’ve done so much for me already, and I don’t even know your name.” she said between sniffles.

John smiled. “I’m John. John Connor. What’s your name, little one?”

“I’m…I’m Scootaloo.” She replied.

“Well, Scootaloo,” John said while he untied the rope from around her wings, “I have a feeling you’re going to be very glad you met me.” He said, as they set off back towards the town.

========================END CHAPTER 9========================

Well, I was pretty much done with this chapter a few days ago, but I decided to add that last part due to….recent developments. Remember I said in the beginning note about winning the skills competition? Well, halfway through the awards ceremony, I got a text from one of my best friends, Skylar, who is like a sister to me. Hell, she’s even taken up calling me her brother. And you know what? Since around December when I met her, I’ve been a pretty good brother, if you ask me. But anyways, back to the text. Basically, she was about to kill herself, and the text she sent me was a goodbye text. Needless to say, I freaked the fuck out. But her boyfriend (one of my friends I’ve known for a while) and I were able to stop her a couple of ways. For me, local police, since I was nowhere near where she was, and him, cause he was in the vehicle with her. But together, he and I did something that no one else has ever had the balls to do for her: we cared. We cared about her, and not anything else. So Skylar, when you read this note, cause I know you will eventually, just know that your big brother cares. And yes, the end part of the chapter is dedicated to her. But as far as what has happened to her in her life….yeah, no, I made up a bunch of stuff for Scoots, the real situation is a lot worse, but it’s not really my place to say exactly what. But you know what? That whole thing made me realize that I can have just as large an impact on other people's lives as they can have on mine. But I'm also not going to dwell on this, because, she's alive, and that's all that matters to me.

Chapter 10: Not Letting Go

===============Denial, Acceptance, and Everything in Between===============

Well, I’m gonna have John go through a lot of the same thoughts that I did, because honestly, the what-ifs messed me up, like if I hadn’t received her text, or if I hadn’t been able to do anything. But after a few days, I pushed that all out of my head, because…she’s alive, that’s all that matters to me. So instead, I’ve been using what’s been rattling around inside my head as fuel for my writing. Well, my favorite podcast, Hard With Style by Headhunterz helps too, but not quite as much. But hey, great news! She’s out of the hospital early, and doing good. I think the Prozac helps a little, but that’s beside the point. We’ve been having a VERY interesting conversation on Skype by the way XD. Oh, and she has been writing a story as well! It’s pretty cool, check it out here.

===============Chapter 10: Not Letting Go===============

Halfway back to the library, Scootaloo fell asleep in John’s arms. Occasionally as he walked he would look down at the curled up orange and purple ball in is embrace. As he walked, he could see her sides gently rise and fall as she breathed, which comforted him some. Much to his disadvantage, his mind started to drift into the what-ifs of the situation. What if he hadn’t moved fast enough? What if that…thing in his vision hadn’t urged him to go check out the situation? What if he’d just ignored it? No, no…John forced those thoughts out of his head. She was alive. He had succeeded. If he hadn’t….he wouldn’t allow himself to think about that, because he had succeeded. It wasn’t doing him any good to be dwelling on something that COULD have happened, but didn’t.

John looked up. Since when had there been a library in front of his face? He must have been lost in thought again. How he managed to get back to the library, he didn’t know, but he wasn’t arguing. He opened the door and stepped inside. Twilight, who had been working, immediately dropped what she was doing and turned to look at him. There was also a very short purple and green creature next to her, holding some books. Upon closer inspection, John figured he must be some kind of dragon creature or something. The second he (John figured out it must be a he) saw John, he yelped in surprise and dropped the books he had been holding. Twilight turned to stare at him. “Spike! Relax, it’s just John. Now look at the mess you’ve made”

Spike looked down at the books he had dropped. “S…sorry, Twilight.” He stammered. “I’ll pick up the mess.” With that, he scrambled around picking up all the books he dropped and scampered away, most likely going to reshelve them.

Twilight turned back to John. “Sorry about that”

He smiled. “No, it’s..it’s alright. I’m just glad I went for that walk.” He said as he sat back down on the couch, next to a still sleeping Vinyl. She was curled up in that ball form that seemed to be a standard for ponies, but every now and then she would let out a small sigh in her sleep. John’s heart melted, which seemed to be happening more and more lately. As Twilight walked over to ask John how his walk went, she was suddenly aware of the orange and purple ball he was carrying. “John? Why are you carrying Scootaloo?”

John smiled. “Well, Twilight, that’s why I said I was glad I went for that walk.”

“What…what do you mean?” She asked, now very confused.

“Well, I…I don’t really think it’s my place to say too much, but… *sigh* she tried to kill herself. Tied down her wings and jumped off a rock ledge.”

“What?!” Twilight practically screamed, startling the hell out of John and yanking both Vinyl and Scootaloo out of their sleep. Upon waking up, Scootaloo started crying almost immediately, having been both scared by her dream and Twilight’s yelling.

“Shh. Shh. It’s okay, little one. No need to cry. You’re safe with me.” John whispered as he hugged the little orange and purple ball, stroking her back gently.

“John? What’s going on? Why are you holding a crying filly?” Vinyl asked, now aware of her surroundings.

John smiled gently and looked over at the confused white unicorn. “Well, Vinyl, put it this way. Remember that walk I took? Well, while I was on that walk, I just saved her life. I just…I somehow knew I was supposed to go on that walk. But whatever it was in my head that told me to go, was telling me to go alone as well. I have no idea why, but I’m glad I went all the same.”

“But…what happened that you ended up saving her life?”

Scootaloo pulled her head up and looked up at John with big, teary eyes, her expression asking for confirmation. John smiled and nodded gently, then wiped the tears from her eyes ever so carefully with the back of his index finger. She smiled faintly and nodded back, then turned her head to Twilight and Vinyl. “Basically…I was just tired of…of everypony making fun of me. I was tired of being called a ‘blank flank’ and ‘dodo’ by everyone I know. Even my friends started calling me a chicken. I know they were just kidding, but….that actually hurts me…a lot. And recently, a lot of other ponies have taken up calling me a chicken as well. I’ve tried talking to somepony…anypony about it, they….they just think I’m looking for attention. Nopony actually cares about me enough to actually listen.”

“What…what about your parents?” Vinyl asked.

“My parents…my parents are dead. My father…my father died trying to protect the town from that Chimera that attacked us several years ago. I was only a foal then. And my mother…she…I never actually met her, she…she died while giving birth to me.”

“Well…don’t you have any kind of step parents or something?”

“Well, I…I have a stepmom…well, she’s a foster mom technically, but she….she honestly doesn’t care. She adopted me simply for the tax write-off, that’s about it. Back when I used to live with her, I had to find my own food, and either sneak a shower when she wasn’t home or was asleep, or find another way, or just do without. But she kicked me out a while ago, saying that I wasn’t allowed back until I dropped Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle as friends. Right around that time, another human named Coal showed up. He…he told me he was going to adopt me. Even paid for a room for me in the Ponyville inn while he got working o a house. But…then there was that fight he had with some other pony, and I wasn’t allowed near him. And then…and then he left!” she dissolved into tears once more while saying the last part of that sentence. “He…he left!” she choked out between heavy sobs. “He left! He left! Why did he have to leave?! He…he didn’t even say goodbye! I didn’t get to say goodbye! Why did he leave?! Why?”

While she was letting all this pent-up emotion out, John couldn’t help but notice Twilight looking both extremely guilty and nervous at the same time.

“Oh, honey….” Vinyl said softly, getting to her hooves and walking over to John and Scootaloo. She reared up so she was standing on her rear hooves, and John bent down a little. She put her forelegs around Scootaloo and pulled her out of John’s embrace into one of her own. She just stood there, (on her rear hooves, by the way) holding Scootaloo, letting the orange and purple filly cry into her chest as well. John glanced over at Twilight, who seemed to be distancing herself as much as possible from the three of them. “Can you hold her for a second? I’ve got to check on something.” He mouthed silently to Vinyl, who was still standing there, holding the crying filly. How she did that was beyond John, but he’d have to ask another day. She nodded, and he mouthed a silent “thank you” and walked as quietly as he could over to Twilight. She seemed to get really nervous as he approached, and tried to shuffle away like she didn’t notice him, but he put a hand on her back and forced her to sit, sitting cross-legged next to her on the floor.

“Alright, Twilight. “ He said with a sigh. “What’s going on? I can tell something’s bothering you.”

She sighed and hung her head. “It’s just that…she…I…she was talking about Coal and how he left. But…she doesn’t know…I’m the one that sent him back. He came to see me late one night, demanding that I send him back to his world. And I…I did it! I sent him back! I could have said no. I could have made him think about it. I’m sure if he had time to think about it he’d have decided against it, but…I just sent him back. And I just…I feel so guilty, I mean…I’m the reason he’s gone. I’m the reason she lost him.”

John smiled and put a hand on her shoulder. “Twilight, it’s okay. He wanted to leave. It was his own decision, and that doesn’t make you a bad pony for respecting his wishes. And even if you had said no and made him stay here, I knew Colson. When he gets it in his head that he’s going to do something, nothing can stop him. He would have found a way. So don’t let yourself worry about it, it’s not your fault.”

She smiled a very weak, almost fake smile and perked up her ears a little. “Yeah…I guess you’re right. It’s going to take me a while to get over the guilt, but…thank you.”

John reached over and patted her head. “No problem, Twilight.”

“By the way, does she…know….about Coal?” Twilight asked him.

“Not yet, and if you don’t mind, I’d like to keep it that way for a while.” She nodded.

John got up off the floor and back onto his feet, Twilight doing the same. The two of them rejoined Vinyl and Scootaloo without another word. As john knelt down beside Vinyl, Scootaloo crawled out of Vinyl’s embrace and back into John’s. John’s heart melted once again as she curled up into a little ball in his arms. “Now Scootaloo…” John began, and she lifted her head to look at him. “I know you don’t really know much about me, but…if you like, I could adopt you as my daughter. A filly like you, deserves all the love you can get. I don’t know how good of a father figure I’d be, but I can personally promise you that I will not be going anywhere. Or, well, if I do, you’d be going with me. I don’t know what I’m going to do as far as a home either, but I won’t be just sending you off to the inn. You’d be living with me, wherever that may be. And even if you don’t think me adopting you is the best of ideas, I will personally see to it that you are never alone and uncared for again. No matter what, I will always be around to care for you. So what do you say?”

The little filly teared up once more, but this time, with happiness. “I think…I think I’d like that very much” she choked up, before jumping up and latching herself to John’s neck in a hug that had the power of a deathgrip. A second later, after recovering from the shock of basically growing an orange and purple beard in a split second, he returned the hug, eliciting a synchronized “awwww” from both Twilight and Vinyl. But John didn’t care. In one night, he had saved a filly’s life, and from that experience, he now had a daughter. He was probably the happiest man alive right now, so much so that tears of joy started streaming down his face as well, something that no one had ever seen. But he didn’t care. He had family now.

===================END CHAPTER 10===================

Well, I hope after reading this chapter, you’ll go read my friend/sister’s story, found here. Like I said, it’s a very unique story, and a very touching one as well. You’d be a fool NOT to read it! Also, I didn’t want to make Coal seem like too much of an ass for leaving, he was just hurting and not thinking properly. (yes, I’m still doing a crossover from Coal Buck’s story) In his right mind, he would have never left Scoots behind. But this is my story, and well….it’s John’s turn. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, it’s almost 2 in the morning and I have to wake up at 5 to go set up at a flea market, so I say goodnight all! And go read that story! Cthulhu commands you!

Chapter 11: Reappearance

===============Denial, Acceptance, and Everything in Between===============

God DAMN, it’s been a long time. I’m sorry it took so long for me to get another chapter written, I’ve just been so caught up in things lately. For one, the trip I took to Kansas City for the Skills USA Robotics and Automation Nationals competition (placed 9th in the country, btw). All kinds of other junk too, just…..it’s a long story. Longer than the one I’m writing. So I’ll spare you the three-page author’s note and say I hope you enjoy the chapter!

================Chapter 11: Reappearance================

“So, what now, John?” Vinyl asked.

John considered it. There were so many things he needed to do. But at the moment, the list in his head was clouded over with a thick grey fog of sleep deprivation.

“I think…..I think I need some sleep before I do anything” He replied, yawning immediately afterwards.

She nodded, and he made an immediate beeline for the couch. All other thoughts were driven out of his head, except one. SLEEP. He needed it.

Before he knew it, he was stretched out along the couch, hands folded across his chest, eyes closed. The last thing he felt before being whirled away to dreamland was tiny hooves walking across him and then a little orange ball of fur nudging her way underneath his hands, then curling up and falling asleep underneath their warm secure feeling.

BAM!!!!

John’s peaceful slumber was interrupted by the sharp, strong sound of the front door to the library being kicked open, nearly splintering off it’s hinges. In a matter of a split second, John analyzed the situation. The front door was being kicked open, so it was obviously a threat of some kind. He was laying on the couch facing away from the front door, on his back. His firearm was in it’s hip holster as always, and one more thing: Scootaloo was still on his chest, though she was starting to wake up.

In one fluid motion, which was aided by military training, he curled his arm under the sleeping filly, stood up, grabbed his weapon with his free hand, jumped the couch, and within seconds was in front of the door holding a startled filly in one arm and his completely overkill firearm in his other hand aimed at the intruder. John made sure to put his best “shooty” look on his face, and looked down.

“Out of the way, human.” Demanded the uninvited guest, a light blue unicorn mare with a silvery blue mane and tail. “The Great and Powerful Trixie has business with the mare that is the proprietor of this library.”

“T-Trixie?!” Twilight exclaimed as she stepped out from a back room “What are you doing here?”

“Trixie has come to take her revenge on Twilight Sparkle for ruining her show and forcing her out of PonyVille! Have at you!”

The light blue unicorn pushed past John and immediately fired a beam of energy at Twilight. John was aiming his gun again, getting ready to actually use it for once, but before he thought about it, Twilight had shot her own spell that formed an umbrella shape and deflected Trixie’s blast. It made a burn mark in the wall where it hit.

“Trixie, I didn’t…” Was all Twilight got to say before Trixie powered up her horn again and fired eight spells that curved away from her and spiraled around to approach Twilight on all sides like magic missiles. Twilight fired up her horn and planted a hoof solidly on the floor, spinning in place and firing spells, shooting each one of Trixie’s magic missiles out of the air as easily if they were Tomahawk warheads. Each one hit the ground like a wounded bird and left a small pool of magenta fire in their wake.

John lowered his gun. He didn’t holster it, in case he needed it, but he DEFINITELY wasn’t stupid enough to get in the middle of a unicorn fight.

“I wasn’t the one who…” Again was all Twilight got to say before Trixie fired again, this time it seemed as if 7 tentacles of pure fire were sprouting from her horn. They sped off towards Twilight with incredible speed, and before she had time to react, whipped themselves around the startled mare.

“STOP IT!!!” screamed the little orange filly in John’s arms. She struggled out of his grip and raced across to the makeshift battlefield where Trixie was now attempting to strangle Twilight with her fire tentacles. As soon as she reached it, one of Trixie’s fire appendages released itself from Twilight’s horn and swatted the little filly away. She flew across the room and hit the wall, then slid to the floor unmoving.

“NO!” cried John, Twilight, and Vinyl, who had just stepped from the back room to see what the commotion was all about. Twilight fired up her now uncovered horn with all the reserve magic she had, and collected it in a ball at the end of her horn. Vinyl also fired up her horn, light blue energy raging across it.

John also aimed his gun at Trixie, thought as hard as he could about some form of nonlethal magic blast, flicked off the safety, and pulled the trigger.

THW-BOOOOOM!!!!!

The resulting amount of energy being fired from such a small object, overpowered as it was, knocked John back a few steps. Then, something amazing happened.

The magic bullet pierced Trixie’s magic shield, probably due to the starmetal, and released its energy inside the shield at the exact same time that Vinyl’s blast and Twilight’s energy ball hit. Since the bullet had already taken out the shield, all three energies met at the same time. The resulting combined energy formed an immense blue, purple and red form that seemed almost like a giant fist as it blew Trixie completely through the wall of the library and out into a tree. She bounced off the tree and came to a stop laying on the ground, coat blackened and smoking and her unconscious, but breathing. Twilight dropped to her hooves as the fire appendages that were suffocating her ceased to exist. John didn’t even take the time to marvel at the amount of energy that just got thrown around, it didn’t even cross his mind.

He jammed his gun in its holster, not even bothering to unload it or put the strap or safety on, and ran over to where Scootaloo was laying. He gingerly picked her up and inspected her for damage. Her left wing was crumpled where she hit the wall, and he suspected by the way it was bent, that it was broken. At least she was breathing.

“We have to get to the hospital.” He commanded. “Now.” As he said this, he cradled the filly in his arms and immediately started to briskly walk towards the front door.

The two unicorns nodded and followed him, keeping pace as he sped up. “Bring her too” he motioned to the still unconscious and smoking Trixie on the ground as they passed.

“HER?! Why?!” Vinyl demanded “Why should we help her after what she just did to Twilight and to…Scootaloo?! And all over some silly grudge!”

“Because” John said simply as he stopped and turned to face Vinyl, a look of pure darkness on his face “After she comes to, you have NO IDEA how much I will make her regret that course of action”

“Fiiiiiiiiiiiine” the white unicorn groaned. She moved to try and lift the lump of blackened light blue fur onto her back, quite unsuccessfully.

“Here” Twilight said, enveloping Trixie in a purple glow and hoisting her onto her own back “I got this. I at least owe her this much”

“What do you mean?!” Vinyl exclaimed as they started their fast-paced walk to the hospital once more “After what she did to you, you shouldn’t owe her anything!”

“Allow me to explain” the purple mare said simply. Vinyl nodded. “About a year or so ago, this mare…Trixie…showed up with a big stage and all, performing ‘magical feats beyond belief’. She really just did a few magic tricks then started challenging ponies to beat her. Except when somepony challenged her, she didn’t actually best them at their own game, she just turned their own game against them to embarrass them. She even challenged me, but I didn’t play. Anyway, one of the stories she bragged about after growing bored of embarrassing ponies was about the time she supposedly defeated an Ursa Major. Don’t ask me how, but sometime in the middle of the night, two young colts ended up being chased by one, and they went straight to town with the thing on their tails. Well, who should the one they run to be than the one who says she’s defeated one before. Except this time…after some feeble tricks, like tying a rope around it’s paw, she admitted that she didn’t actually defeat an Ursa Major, and that she had no idea how. That’s where I came in. See, I had been doing research right before the thing hit the town, and knew that it was in fact not an Ursa Major, but actually an Ursa Minor-a baby. In the end, I ended up lulling it back to sleep and sending it back to it’s cave. But Trixie had run off before I could even say anything to her. I figure she probably lived in the woods for a while, her anger growing until she came and did what she did just now. But in reality, she was incorrect. I didn’t show her up. I didn’t bring the Ursa to the town. All I did was step up and defend my town and friends when she failed. But she was too caught up in her rage to realize that. I accept that. If she apologizes, I may forgive her, though not for what she did to Scootaloo. But for now, let’s just get Scoots to the hospital.”

“We’re here” Vinyl interrupted.

Indeed they were. They ran inside and checked Scootaloo and Trixie in immediately.

Now they waited. The three of them sat in the waiting room, which looked surprisingly like one from the human world, chairs and all. Twilight sat completely pony-like on the cornermost chair, while Vinyl chose a much different approach. She sat upright, exactly like a human would, right next to Twilight. John sat next to her, and she leaned into him, while he put his arm around her. John figured he would ask how/where she learned to sit like that later. Right now there were bigger matters to worry about. Mostly an orange and purple one.

“Mr. Connor?” John perked up at the sound of his name “Scootaloo is in stable condition and able to see you now.”

“How is she, doctor?” John tentatively asked.

“Well, she has a concussion and a fractured wing, but she’ll live. Now normally, if we have a foal come In in this kind of condition, we don’t let anyone see them until we’ve figured out what happened exactly. Policies. But I was part of the crowd at Ms. ‘Great and Powerful’’s show, and I’m sure I can safely assume she had more to do with Scootaloo’s injuries than any of you.”

“Thank you” John said sincerely, before practically running to the room Scoots was in. As he rounded the corner and came into the room, he saw that Scootaloo was laying on her back on the bed, her head and wing both wrapped heavily in tape, the latter splinted to stick straight out at her side. She had her eyes closed, and appeared to be sleeping.

“Scootaloo?” he asked softly as he approached her bed.

“D-daddy?” she asked quietly, her voice quivering.

“Ssh.” He whispered while placing his hand on her foreleg, tears of joy streaming from his eyes “It’s okay. I’m here”

===============END CHAPTER 11===============

Sorry to give you guys such a short one for all the waiting you did, but…yeah. I wasn’t originally going to go here with the story, but for the next part of the plot I have in mind, it’s an entire arc, and I need another character. Plus I kinda wanted to try my hand at writing Trixie. Anyways, I should be working on further chapters very soon. Sorry for the delay, and sorry about the Scootabuse!

Chapter 3: Explanations and Confusion

===============Denial, Acceptance, and Everything in Between===============

Well, uh, I totaled my copter the other day (god damn it!), but I can get parts (again). Anyway, since Secret Lightning is on hiatus until I think of how to figure the whole mess out, I figure I’ll write this chapter. Also, SOPA and PIPA got pulled…..hopefully indefinitely. They say they’re pulling the bills till they get more “widespread support”. Like THAT’ll ever fucking happen. I literally felt like running outside and screaming “VICTORY, BITCHES!!!!”as loud as I could when I read the news. But I’ll stop boring you and get to writing, I guarantee that this chapter will get quite interesting. Btw, the idea for the ending part to this chapter inspired by Coal Buck and his story “My Second Life” if you haven’t read it yet, go do it nao!

==============Chapter 3: Explanations and Confusion==============

“John? John!” John could hear the voice of the nurse pony, Redheart, right? Drifting into his sleep stupor. He groaned and opened his eyes. Strangely enough, it was dark outside, he could see the moon through the window next to the bed. Also, a lot of the hospital equipment was gone, save for the heart monitor, though it was turned off.

“John, wake up.” The white mare was nudging him gently.

“I’m awake, I’m awake” he finally managed to grumble. Truth be told, he was slightly annoyed, he was sleeping peacefully for the first time since he could remember.

“Well, okay, it’s just that you said you had questions for me, and…..you slept for almost five hours.”

If John wasn’t awake before, he sure was now. “Five hours?! Why didn’t you wake me?”

“Well…….” The nurse pony stammered, “You…you just looked so peaceful and content, I figured I’d let you sleep. But my shift is over soon, so I figured I’d come talk to you before I left.”

John was a little surprised, but his curiosity of the world took over him. “O…okay, well, I think we can start by you telling me exactly where we are.”

The nurse was quite stunned by the sudden change in his mood. In fact, the hostility meter, (if they had one) would have risen several notches.

“W…..well, as I have already told you, you are in Equestria. To be more exact, the town of Ponyville.”

“But….what about earth?”

“I don’t know of any town called earth. The only thing I can think of is the earth poinies, which is a type of pony.”

“You mean there’s more than one type?”

She chuckled. “Yes, aside from earth ponies, we have unicorns and pegasi here as well. I trust you at least know what those are?”

He nodded. Well, he did, after all. But he never imagined he would end up in a world full of mythical horses! Yet he still had questions.

“So…how did I end up here? And how can I get back to my world?”

“Well, I honestly don’t know the answer to either of those questions. You’d probably have to talk to Twilight Sparkle, she’s one of the ones that brought you here after you were injured. She will probably be here tomorrow, she was here every day since then to see if you had woken up.”

John scratched his head. He had no idea who this Twilight was, but he was sure he was going to find out tomorrow.

“Ok, fair enough, and what about that symbol on your….flank?”

“Oh, you mean my cutie mark? Hehe, it symbolizes a pony’s special talent. As you could guess, mine is nursing and caretaking.”

“Oh.” To be honest, John didn’t really understand much of what she had just said, other than she was talented at nursing.

“Well, where I’m from, people don’t usually have ‘cutie marks’, nor are they very colorful”

“Colorful? What do you mean? You look pretty colorful to me.”

John laughed at what she meant by that. But decided he’d rather not get into a discussion about skin colors now. “Haha, no, most humans are pretty much the same color as me.”

The white earth pony, John figured that much out on his own, scratched her head in confusion. “But….if you don’t have cutie marks, and you aren’t very colorful, then what makes humans….unique from each other?”

Again John laughed. He decided he was strangely calm for having woken up in a world with talking ponies, but he would deal with that later. For now, he would ride out this possible hallucination until it ended.

“Well, I mean, not every human is the same color, most humans are different from each other by different tones of their skin, but I often ask myself that same question. At least, the part about being unique.”

(note: I’m sorry about the skin color thing, but you got to admit, if you showed up in Equestria, that question is bound to come up at some point)

“Hmm, very interesting. And I suppose you style your manes differently from each other too?”

“You mean my hair? Yeah, most people have different hair styles from each other.”

“Well, then I suppose you have that then. Look, I hate to cut this short, but my shift is up and I have to go home and make sure my little colt did his homework and such. But I’ll be back tomorrow, if you want to ask more questions.”

“Well, alright, fine. Have a good night, Nurse.”

“You too” She said, and trotted back out of the room.

“Heh” John said to himself. “I may just come to like this world before I even find a way back”

He laid back on his bed and tried to think about sleep again. But he couldn’t. His curiosity was piqued, and he wanted to explore now.

So he decided to sneak out a little, and explore. It was after dark, all the ponies should be in bed, right?

So he put on his half destroyed clothes, wincing as he put his shirt back on. While his clothes were all burned and tattered, they were better than walking around in his underwear. He smiled as he strapped his gun back onto his hip. It felt like he was missing a part of him without it. He checked the magazine, and just as he figured, he was only missing three rounds. Well, four, actually, but there was one chambered. He made a point of un-chambering that one and sliding it back into the magazine. No need for it to have a chance of accidentally going off, right?

After his gun was snug in its holster, he walked over to the window. He was still injured, but he had figured out how to walk without hurting himself already.

The window was super easy, just a simple slide lock, there wasn’t even a magnetic sensor. A quick check confirmed that yes, he was on the ground floor. No sense in being that stupid.

He stepped out of the window and into the somewhat cool night air. As he looked around, he noticed that yes, he was the only living thing outside right now. So that was good. He stepped forward, and, gaining momentum, started walking.

The walk was mostly uneventful, the town was like a ghost town at night. The cartoon-ish buildings seemed actually creepy, when in the daytime, he was sure they looked quite funny.

He was still walking an hour later, when he heard whimpering coming from a dark alley just down the street. He went to investigate, and was shocked and severely angered by what he saw.

There, in the middle of the alley, a grey unicorn stallion with a black mane had a white unicorn mare with a blue and electric blue mane pinned to the ground. He had her forelegs and horn enclosed in some kind of glowing entity, the same color as what was swirling around his horn. John took a wild guess and figured that was his magic. (you don’t say?)

He crept up behind them, unnoticed by both. He could hear the stallion muttering something to the mare as he raised her rump up with his hooves. “And now, Vinyl, since you have the GALL to do this to me, I am going to take from you the only thing I can. Your innocence.”

John was beyond angry at this point. He was fucking pissed! He never would have figured a cartoon-ey world with colorful talking horses could have such a dark side to it.

As he crept up closer to the two, the stallion still hadn’t noticed him. But the mare did. She stared at him with big, tear-filled, crimson eyes, and whimpered/mumbled something inaudible. John also noticed her mouth had a strip of magic across it.

“Shut up!” the stallion suddenly raised his voice a little. “Ain’t no pony coming to help you!”

“Oh,” Said John, a huge devious grin on his face as he towered over the stallion. “Definitely not a pony”

The stallion turned around, ready to attack. But two things happened. First, he got a look at John. Second, John had already grabbed him by the neck and tossed him to the ground by the time the stallion got a look at him. He held the thrashing pony to the ground, and bent down, speaking directly to his face.

“Now you listen here. I don’t know exactly what you were planning on doing to this mare here, but I have a pretty good idea. And where I come from, we don’t take very kindly to people…err….ponies like you. Now you have three seconds to get your sorry ass up and get out of here before I decide to do something more.” He growled, releasing the stallion.

The stallion looked like he was going to cut and run, but had a better idea a second later. He turned around and, before John had the chance to stand back up, bucked him straight in the chest. John groaned as he felt the breath rush out of him. Good thing he was on painkillers, otherwise that would have really hurt. But the stallion looked like he was going to try again. John may have been winded and injured, but these ponies were much smaller than he was, making this easier. He grabbed the stallion by the neck again, slamming him against the wall of the nearest building.

“You..” he growled through gritted teeth “Just made the biggest mistake of your life” he reached for his gun, but thought better of it. If this world was real, and not a hallucination, then why kill a person/pony and have everyone hate him? So he got a better idea.

“You caught me in a good mood today. But if I ever see your face around here again, I promise you I won’t be this nice.” He ended this statement by lifting the stallion off the ground again, and, grabbing his tail as well, hurling him bodily into the nearest dumpster.

Shifting his attention over to the white mare, he noticed that the magic bonds that were holding her down before were now gone. No surprise there, considering what he just did to their caster.

He knelt down close to the mare, and offered his hand, as if he were greeting a dog. “Are you all right? He didn’t hurt you , did he?”

“N...no,” she finally choked out, slowly approaching him. “I…I suppose I should thank you. If you hadn’t showed up, he might have…..” she trailed off, looking at John. His face was white, and his breathing heavy and labored, and within a few seconds, he was passed out on the street, the darkness once again rising to embrace him.

===================END CHAPTER 3===================

Well, there ya go! Sorry if this chapter makes anyone unhappy with me, but I felt like it was sort of necessary for the direction I’m going with this story. Anyway, I need sleep, it’s like 1 in the morning, which is why I’m not going to type much more than this sentence, so goodnight.

Chapter 6: On the Subject of Ex-Coltfriends

===============Denial, Acceptance, and Everything in Between===============

Well, I forgot to add a few things last chapter, but it was starting to get rather long. (lol, what am I saying, it was only at 2,000 words) Anyway, hopefully in this chapter I get to what I want to get to. Anyway, yeah, idk if I want to do shipping yet, we shall see. Also, the winner of the name game has been chosen! The winning name is Steel Tempest, suggested by Eshmasesh. Comment polls are now closed. Thank you all for participating and I guarantee there will be another opportunity for a comment poll soon.

===============Chapter 6: On the Subject of Ex-Coltfriends===============

John’s eyes fluttered open. It was morning, the sun casting rays through the window onto the floor. As he slowly woke, he was aware of a warm spot in his back. Looking over his shoulder, he saw the white with blue mass that he recognized as Vinyl, still curled up in a ball behind him. He chuckled lightly, remembering what had happened that night. He wanted to get up, but he didn’t want to wake Vinyl. After his bladder threatened to explode, he very carefully snuck out of the bed, running to the bathroom, his feet making barely a sound on the hardwood floors that were so used to hooves.

After he was done in the bathroom, he crept back over to the guest bedroom, where Vinyl was still sleeping like a rock. He put the clothes he had that weren’t burnt too bad or mangled beyond recognition back on, his jeans, and the undershirt he had been wearing under his armor on Earth. They had been cleaned by Twilight, and for that, he was grateful. He also grabbed his Glock from under the pillow, slipping it into the side holster on his hip, along with his spare clip. After he did that, he snuck downstairs, he hadn’t put his shoes on yet, so as not to wake anyone. After all that Vinyl had been through the past couple days, he figured she needed the sleep.

When he got downstairs though, he noticed that everyone was awake and chatting quietly over breakfast. “Hey girls.” He said in a low tone. “How did everyone sleep last night?”

Twilight was the first one to answer. “We slept ok, except for that one part of the night.”

John shrugged. “Yeah, well, I don’t know what that guy’s problem was. Hell, I don’t even know his name.”

“Vinyl said something about him being her ex-coltfriend, but she was too shaken at the time to give much information on him. Otherwise I would have sent a letter to the Princess.”

“Hmm. Well, I’ll have to ask her when she wakes up.”

“You mean she’s still sleeping? How is that possible, it’s close to noon.”

“Well, I figure after all she’s been through, she deserves it. She probably didn’t sleep much after the incident, so I would imagine she is pretty tired.”

“Yeah, I think you’re right. I don’t think she slept at all, until last night, when I set you guys up in the guest bedroom. I wonder if there’s a connection.” She giggled.

John blushed slightly. “Yeah, well, you may be right there, she has been hanging around me a lot.”

She giggled again. “A little more than hanging around you, I looked in the room this morning.”

He blushed a little more now. “Yeah, well, she said that she didn’t feel...” Twilight stopped him by holding up a hoof.

“I know, John, I know. She feels safe around you. I can understand that. I just hope Luna makes that stallion pay for what he did, so Vinyl can sleep easier at night.”

“Yeah, you know, to be honest, if I weren’t injured, I’d have done a lot more damage to him than I did that night. He probably wouldn’t have been able to walk well enough to sneak in here.”

“Yeah, well, I still can’t shake this feeling that that wasn’t the last we’ll see of him. Oh hey, Vinyl!” she changed the subject immediately as vinyl appeared in the doorway. “Sleep well?”

John looked over and had to suppress a giggle. She had a serious case of bedhead. “Yeah, better than I have the past few days. But…you were talking about…him, weren’t you?”

Twilight sighed. “Yeah, we were. But I don’t think you have any reason to worry, Princess Luna and Princess Celestia will make sure he is locked away.”

Vinyl shook her head. “Don’t be so sure. I suppose…I suppose I had better tell you guys about him.”

Twilight noticed Rarity’s face light up at the prospect of having a new subject to gossip about. “Before you do, I’d like to say that what she says is not to leave the group of us, unless Vinyl says it is okay. That means you, Rarity.” She looked annoyed for a second, but nodded. “Alright, now that that’s out of the way, you were saying, Vinyl?”

She nodded and sat down. “His name is Steel Tempest. He was a roadie for a band back in Canterlot. I met him at one of the gigs I had at a concert at the theater. He…I guess you could say we fell in love, but only for a little while. After we had been going out for a little while, his true colors started to show. He was very selfish, cared about nopony but himself. What he wanted the most though, I wouldn’t give him. You…you can guess what that was. He started yelling at me one night for it, and I finally had enough. I dumped his flank and sent him packing! However, he ended up being a stalker ex-coltfriend, and I ended up moving to Ponyville to get away from him.”

At this point, John was feeling a mix of rage and sympathy. Obviously, rage for Steel Tempest, and sympathy for Vinyl. (just felt like clearing that up)

“But…no matter how far I moved, it seems he still managed to follow me. I mean, thanks to you, John, he never got to do what he planned to, but I know I’ll be seeing him again.”

Twilight interrupted her with a sympathetic look on her face and a hoof on her shoulder. “Vinyl…he is in the custody of the Princesses now. I highly doubt they will let him get away, considering what he did…well, tried to do.”

Vinyl shook her head. “You don’t…you don’t know him like I do. He won’t give up, no matter what happens. That was part of the reason I liked him originally, he was the ultimate in perseverance.”

John felt he had to act. So he reached over and put a hand on her shoulder. “Vinyl…If you like, I can stick around for a while, make sure he doesn’t get near you if he manages to escape. (BIG if). And besides, it looks like I’ll be living here soon. So, if you ever need any help, you’ll know where to find me.”

She sniffled a little and looked up at him. “Th…thanks, John”

John was overwhelmed at this point. “Aw, c’mere, you” he said while scooping the marshmallow white mare in a hug that actually lifted her off the ground. She gasped at first, both from surprise, and the fact that she was still a little jumpy from that night, but settled quickly, shoving those thoughts out of her head, knowing that John would never hurt her, even if he wasn’t a pony.

“Well” said John after he had put her back on the floor, “I suppose if I’m going to live in this world, then I’d better find some kind of a job so I can find a place to live.”

“Oh, no, John, you can stay here at the library as long as you like!” Twilight exclaimed.

He chuckled. “I know, but if I am going to live in this world, then I have to make something of myself as far as a life. I will have to stay at the library for a little while, as I save up for buying a house, but once I do get a place to live, then I’ll be out of your hair, er…mane.”

She giggled a little. “Seriously John, it’s fine, you can keep the guest bedroom.”

He crouched down in front of her and looked her directly in the eyes. “Twilight, I appreciate what you are doing, but I insist on doing this for myself. Not just so I’m not mooching off of you, but so that I can know that I actually managed to make something of my life. Hell, maybe some time later, I’ll even adopt a child.”

She sighed and sat down, gazing somewhat sadly up at him. “Okay, John, if you insist. But while you are saving money, I insist that you stay here until you have enough.”

He smiled. “Okay, Twilight. And thank you. Now, I just need to find a job.”

It was at this point that the Vinyl spoke up. “Well, I am still touring occasionally, and I’ll need a roadie.”

He smiled wider, then frowned slightly. “Thanks, Vinyl. But how often do you tour?”

Her ears drooped and she looked down at the floor. “Well, not very often, I suppose. Hey, are you any good with electronics?”

“Yeah, I am pretty good, I went to a special school for electronics back in the human world.” The girls notice that, for once, he didn’t call it 'his world'.

Vinyl perked back up immediately. “Well, great! I always have equipment breaking down on me. In fact, right now my input channel mixer is fried. Maybe you could take a look? I can pay you as a technician/tech manager if you’re good enough.”

“Yeah, alright, that seems like it could work. What’s the pay?”

“Well, I could pay you a couple hundred bits a day. It’s not much, I know, but it’s within my budget.”

“I…okay!” he was a little stunned, if the monetary system they used here was anything like the one humans use, that was more than fair pay.

“Great! So after breakfast, why don’t we go back to my place and have you take a look at it?” the other mares in the room giggled amongst themselves, and she blushed heavily and started yelling at them.

“That’s not what I meant, and you know it! My studio is set up in my house!” John blushed a little too, realizing what was being implied.

Dash spoke up, a slightly annoyed tone in her voice. “Jeez, Vinyl, calm down, we were only kidding.”

Hearing this, she did calm down considerably, though her blush remained resolute. “Well, it wasn’t really that funny.” She said defensively.

“Well, anyway,” John said, deciding he should get them back on track before the conversation derailed. “How about that breakfast?”

“Of course!” Twilight smiled widely. “Just give me a moment.”

The breakfast they had wasn’t actually that bad, considering the pancakes looked like random flat shapes and the eggs looked like a yellow explosion on a plate. As for the bacon…well, he had already been prepared for there to be none.

They all thanked Twilight as they walked out, the other five of Twilight’s friends heading towards their respective houses, with John and Vinyl staying behind. Before they left, he thanked her, and gave her a hug as well. As he did so, he heard Pinkie Pie, who was still somewhat close to the library, mention something about him becoming “quite the regular Coal”. Man, did he know what that meant. Colson HAD always been a bit of a huggy person, and even though John was not, he felt himself almost getting sucked into the kindness and whatnot of these ponies. And hell, Colson was always a nice guy, so if he became the next Coal, did it really matter that much?

John giggled a little at this thought as he set Twilight back down. He thanked her again, and he and Vinyl set off into Ponyville, headed for her studio/house.

=================END CHAPTER 6=================

Well, there you go. I named him, with the help of a reader. Sorry this took so long, but I finally caved and started reading the epic novel that is Fallout: Equestria. I was actually embarrassed that it took me 3 hours to read the first 10 chapters. That’s slow for me, man! Also, I know I was supposed to have John explain the concept of guns to Twilight, but I kind of forgot. However, I do have a plan for next chapter, and how to get it in there. So yeah, as soon as I publish this, I’m starting chapter 20 of Fallout: Equestria. And it is a TRULY EPIC story, btw.

-Dan