Run

by MonkeyNinja

Monsters

I hung my head in shame.

The ponies stood, jaws dropped in awe, now probably terrified of the creature sitting just inches away.

Twilight’s question was still very much demanding of an answer, but what was there to say.

“I… I…” I stammered, “I’m sorry you had to see that.”

“You… You attacked that human…” Came Twilight’s voice through clenched teeth, “I thought you said you were friendly!”. She frowned, turning away a little.
“Maybe you’ve been lying to us all along, and you really are just here to-”

“No he isn’t!” Rainbow Dash shouted, flapping over to me, “You saw that human on the ground right? He was getting attacked, and Jack saved him! You might not’ve recognized it, but my old flight school had some pretty rough pegassi, just like that! Jack, can you rewind the picture?”

I don’t know why everyone just assumed I had control over the thing, but regardless, the square shimmered back into existence once more, pausing at the exact moment where things turned bad. There it was clearly visible, that the bully had his stick raised high and poised to swing downward. Below him, lay Chris.
“You see!?” She challenged the group.

Silence.

No one said a word.

I actually checked my watch to make sure time hadn’t stopped, when Applejack broke the ice.

“I don’ like the fightin’,” she said softly, “But Dash’s right. That boy’d a’ gotten hurt real bad if Jack didn’t step in.”

“Um…” came a tiny voice, “I, uh… agree with Applejack…”. Twilight looked conflicted. Biting her lip, she looked between me, her friends, and the picture still hovering beside me.

“... Play it again.” She finally said. I wasn’t positive that was a good decision.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea Twilight?” I asked, “I mean, I don’t exactly like reliving that particular-”

“Please… Just run it again. I need to see exactly what happened one more time.” Begrudgingly, I let my mind wander to the event one more time. Almost instantly, the image resumed, and the two hockey sticks shattered to bits. Twilight stared, face unreadable, as the fight ran its course. Finally, the square shimmered out of existence as the fight ended.

With a deep sigh, she turned and looked to me.

“Who was that boy on the ground?” was all she asked. I swallowed hard.

“He’s one of my best friends, Chris,” I replied as clearly as I could, willing my body to stop shaking.
Twilight looked at the others, then back to me. Finally, she reared up, looked me dead in the eyes, and just stared for a long time.

After what seemed like forever, she stepped down and smiled a small smile.

“I’ve fought manticores, dragons, ursa minors, and changelings,” she spoke softly, “and you know what? You’re not like any of them.”
I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding and dropped my shoulders.
“You’re not a monster. Fighting’s just all you thought you could do at the time, so you did it.”

“Did you just read my mind again?” I asked. Twilight shook her head and smiled at me.

“I didn’t have to that time.”

---

“Oh, for the love of… Hold still Jack!”

“I’m doing my best! This thing’s really heavy!”. Twilight had gotten me hooked up to some kind of helmet with blinking lights that weighed like, a million pounds. I didn’t even know what it was supposed to be measuring! All that came out of her ‘science machine’ were random zig-zag patterns.
Twilight studied the resulting paper intently, mumbling and jotting down a note every now and again.

“Pinkie Pie, you can remove the helmet and measure his height now.” Twilight called out to the pink mare, “I’ve got enough data for ten studies!”. Pinkie Pie jumped up to my shoulders and, with the greatest of ease, tossed the helmet into the air, twirled it on her nose, and jumped down, the helmet still spinning. Humming a little tune, she dropped the device on a table, pulled a measuring tape out of her hair and unrolled it until it reached the top of my head.

“He’s about five feet, nine inches Twilight!” She sang. Twilight started to write, then stopped.

“He’s five what’s?” she asked puzzled.

“Oops! Sorry Twilight! I meant thirteen and a half hooves!”. The purple pony just shook her head and scribbled down the numbers.

“Uh,” I piped up with my ever expanding vocabulary, “Now what?”

Twilight flipped through her third filled notebook.

“Let’s see… weight, height, brain wavelengths, DNA sample, and X-Rays,” She listed, “I think all that’s left now is to test your arcanic conduction levels.”
The only word I didn’t understand, was “arcanic”, but Twilight had told me she would be testing my level of magic. Maybe that was it?

“Hey Twi?” I asked, “Don’t you already know that one? I mean, I don’t have any magic, right?”. The alicorn gave a little snort.

“Just because you don’t have the capacity to control an arcane flow, doesn’t mean you can’t be affected by one!”. Without another word, her horn began to glow, sending out a stream of golden light that passed through my chest, and separated into ribbons of color as if I were a prism. I had to resist the urge to move out of the way of the tingly beam.

After taking a look at the colorful patterns, she grinned and filled yet another page with notes.

“Mmm, hmm,” She said with a nod, “Just as I suspected.”
I just stared at her, confused.

“Which means… what exactly?”

“It means, you have an unusually conductive body toward magic!” She said, as if it was obvious, “That explains why my spells have worked so effectively on you!”. I frowned.

“That, was effective?”

“Of course it was!” she said incredulously, “What do you mean?”

“You knocked me out! That, and I could barely control that stupid voodoo box thing you wired to my brain!”. Twilight sighed.

“Regardless, I’m done with data collection for now. Want to head outside and get ready for your tour?”
I didn’t waste a second.
With superhuman speed, I leapt off the little podium I had been standing on for three hours and bolted for the door, shouting, “FREEDOM!!!”.

I burst through the door and promptly tripped over a very confused Rainbow Dash.

“Why…” I groaned, “does that happen… every time?”

---

The tour of Ponyville lasted longer than I would’ve expected, with each stop being even more in-depth than the last. Eventually, sundown came, and with it, the chill of an evening wind. Pinkie Pie suggested that we return to the castle for dinner. My stomach began to growl.

I yawned, and nodded, turning back to the still looming castle in the distance.
“Yeah… we should probably get going.” I said, turning on my heel, “We can go and find my sister tomorrow. Twilight said she was in good hands.”

A half hour of walking later, we had reached the entrance of the castle. As I approached the great golden doors once more, a particularly chilly wind cut through my hoodie. Instinctively, I stuffed my hands into my pockets for warmth. My eyes widened, as the familiar crinkle of my day pack met my ears.

In a rush, I tore the bag from my pocket.
“YES!” I cried, holding the bag above my head triumphantly. How on earth had I forgotten something so big sitting right inside my pocket?

I was about to say more, but the golden doors opened, exposing a hundred ponies to my ridiculous pose.

“Surprise!” Shouted the crowd, and Pinkie jumped onto my shoulders.

“HAHA! Jack, you should’ve seen your face! You looked so silly!” she laughed, “ I realized that before I didn’t have time to give you a proper ‘Welcome To Ponyville’ party and so I got everypony who wasn’t scared of you, which happened to be everypony in town, to come help out with the decorations and bring dessert and cider and party games and then I figured since you were probably tired from the long tour that the seven of us could all have a sleepover and tell scary stories, unless you don’t like scary stories, in which case, we could- MMMMUPH.” I had to cover her mouth to stop the overwhelming tidal wave of words from crushing me. I smiled and ruffled her frizzy hair.

“Thank you Pinkie!” I said genuinely, “I really appreciate it!” The two of us walked into the castle and into the surge ponies that awaited.

---

-

Comments

[The Slending Angel]

Question...

Why is there a Haunter on the cover?

[MonkeyNinja]

6697745

It was the best related pic I could find. I don't know any artists. :(

[The Slending Angel]

6697920 I know a really good one. Want me to recommend you to her?

[MonkeyNinja]

6698114

Are you serious?! Yes please! That would be amazing!

[The Slending Angel]

6698184 Here she is. She did my profile pic, and I can vouch for her.

[MonkeyNinja]

6698222

Thank you so much! :)

[The Slending Angel]

6698337 Not a problem. She's always pretty busy, but, she's been gone for two days, so she should be back on soon. I sent her a message saying you were headed your way.

[The Slending Angel]

Oh, and if her art style doesn't suit you, or her prices are too high, there's a group for writers looking for coverart. Search for it long enough, and you'll find it.

[MonkeyNinja]

6698502

Got it. Thanks again!

[The Slending Angel]

6698545 It's not a problem.

[gamer4COD]

6698337 My patience ran out five minutes after the introductions, take me to my fucking sister or DIE!

[MonkeyNinja]

6719643

O_o ... Bujesus man, its just a story! (Please don't eat me...)

[MonkeyNinja]

6731870

Oh crap! I forgot to hit save chapter order! My bad!

[Jack Kellar]

6731876 Aaah, now that's better

[LigerfoxZeroX]

Why all the stories that I take interest and I like they are always canceled and we are left in suspense wondering what happend next. I know it is really hard to write something good and also that there are times that you do not have the time to continue o that they are causes beyond their control that they can't continue, or start on another storie and forgrt about it. I beg you try to finish them, there are many interested readers on your's stories like me we are very grateful for your time and effort

[Orrm]

6719643
Likewise.