//------------------------------// // A New Sensation // Story: Jumper: A New World // by PTTN //------------------------------// A New Sensation 8 Partying the night away and being confronted by the monarchs of the land was a most draining experience. As soon as Jay had hit the bed, he was long gone. Jay had not even bothered with the covers, which were strewn underneath him; he had just flopped down on his belly, his hooves askew, face first (naturally), and left reality. Unfortunately for Jay, there was somepony who didn’t want him to sleep, no matter how much he needed it, and that pony let herself be known with a loud thump and “Ow!” next to the open window in Jay’s room. Semi-conscious, Jay let out a groan and turned to the window, only to see a cyan pegasus with a rainbow colored mane hover in, rubbing her head with her hoof. Even in his groggy state, it wasn’t hard to tell what had just occurred. ‘This oughtta’ be good.’ Jay thought to himself as he fumbled around the bed to find his sunglasses. He felt a lump in the covers and after throwing them aside, he slid his sunglasses on his head so Rainbow Dash would keep her comments to herself about his eyes. ‘I still have no idea how these hooves grab things.’ he thought before realizing it either wasn’t worth the effort to find out, or he wasn’t supposed to know. Turning to look at Rainbow Dash, he could still see her rubbing her head, trying to sooth the pain from impacting the tree. Jay reasoned that if he heard the crash from the inside of a tree, she probably hit hard. “Ya’ know, most ponies tend to aim for the window, and even more ponies tend to use the door.” Jay told her, slightly annoyed at her disturbance. “And even more ponies than that tend to wait until it’s day time to wake other ponies.” Rainbow Dash turned to glare at him for a second before speaking. It was obvious that there was something on her mind. “You need to tell me what’s goin’ on.” Dash said, her voice a little louder than the standard ‘middle of the night voice, other people are trying to sleep’ voice. “No. I don’t.” Jay shot back before laying back down and closing his eyes, feigning sleep. He was forced to reopen his eyes when Rainbow Dash flew over to him, hovered above his body, and dropped, landing right on Jay’s exposed belly. In addition to opening his eyes, Jay was also left gasping for air, as the landing from the not-so-light pegasus had pushed all of the oxygen out of his lungs. “What the hay was that for?!” Jay managed in between gulps of air. He also realized he was being pinned to his bed. Jay knew he could have easily gotten away, but he decided to humor Rainbow Dash for a bit. “Tell me what’s really going on with you.” Rainbow said with a calm stubbornness. “I said no.” “Why not?” Rainbow Dash was not going to let this go easily. Her stubborn attitude was something Jay had liked, but now it was starting to annoy him. “Because you weren’t supposed to hear anything.” Jay snapped, jumping from underneath her and materializing at the foot of the bed. The sudden disappearance of the barrier between her and the bed made Rainbow fall right into the covers. “You said you weren’t hiding anything else!” she shouted as she turned to face Jay, positioning herself to lunge at him. Jay caught on and smiled. “It wasn’t my intention-” Rainbow Dash lunged at Jay mid-sentence hoping to catch him off guard, but she was met with only air and the floorboards. She noticed Jay was even farther from her than before, and he had kept talking. “-for anypony to find out, let alone spy on me. And that whole trying to pin me down thing, yeah, that’s not going to work.” Rainbow Dash rose to her hooves, glaring daggers at Jay. “And besides, why does it even matter? You all accepted me as a Jumper, why is this bothering you, and what seems like, only you?” Jay asked suspiciously. “Because I want to know!” she said with a strong emphasis on the ‘I’. Jay analyzed the situation to see if there was any hint of dropping the subject. He sighed when he realized there was no chance; Rainbow Dash was holding her ground. “Get over it.” he said, turning to walk out. Jay never saw her poise for another strike, figuring she had learned that it wasn’t going to work, and he barely even registered the burst that caught him from behind. Rainbow Dash’s claim of ‘Fastest Flier in Equestria’ certainly had been proven. Once again he found himself pinned under Rainbow Dash. ‘Heh, not that this is such a bad thing’ a voice automatically said in his mind. This set off numerous alarms and Jay mentally swatted his brain with his mental newspaper while he shouted, ‘Bad brain! Bad!’ in his head. Once again, Jay decided to humor Dash, and smiled at her, waiting for her to continue her interrogation. “I’m not going to drop it, so you might as well tell me.” Rainbow Dash growled. ‘Sunova-’ “What did you hear?” Jay asked with resignation. “First off, Princess Celestia said that you were- how’d she put it... ‘not of this world’. What does that mean?” she asked, narrowing her eyes. “Don’t think too hard about it.” Jay remarked sarcastically. Noticing that his sarcasm went completely over her head, he continued. “It’s just as it sounds, I’m not from Ponyville or Canterlot or Equestria or anywhere you’ve ever heard of.” Still not satisfied, Dash pressed on. “So where then?” “Let’s leave it at Earth.” That seemed to appease her. Rainbow Dash moved on. “You guys talked about a human. What’s that?” “Me.” Jay knew this would irk her. “Well who are you?” Dash asked, having to restrain herself from shouting. “Jay.” he said with a coy smile. Jay didn’t think it was possible for a pony’s coat to change color, but Rainbow Dash’s cyan face flushed red with anger. “YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN!” Dash screamed. “I don’t know what to tell you. In my world, I wasn’t a pony, I was a human. In your world, I am a pony. I could try to describe to you what I used to look like, but what difference would that make? What I used to be was the dominant species of my world, just like you are the dominant species here.” Jay explained to Dash, hoping she was at least understanding him. It didn’t look like she was- her face remained blank. “Just know that I wasn’t a pony before coming here.” Jay hoped to whatever higher power there was that Rainbow Dash wouldn’t press the matter as Jay was out of an explanation, and, surprisingly, she nodded her head. “So why hide it?” Dash asked with a tilt of her head. Jay couldn’t help but laugh. “Where I’m from, if somepony is different, they aren’t exactly treated... nicely.” “Well why the hay not?” Dash asked with an incredulous look on her face. “It’s just the way people are.” Rainbow Dash caught his words. “People?” “Ya’ know... humans.” “Oh.” They both sat there for a minute- Jay still pinned to the floor with Rainbow Dash sitting on his chest, her hooves holding his down. “Is that all?” Jay asked, snapping Rainbow Dash out of her thoughts. “Oh! Yeah.” She mumbled as she moved to get off of him. Jay looked towards the window and noticed the light coming through and illuminating the room. ‘Morning.....’ he drearily thought. Sleep had avoided him once more. “So you woke me up, tackled me... twice, and interrogated me. What now? Torture?” Rainbow Dash chuckled at this. It was a serious question. “In a way.” An evil smile crept across Dash’s face. “How about that flying lesson?” ********** Learning to fly was, perhaps, worse than torture. Or maybe it was just because Rainbow Dash was the coach. The fastest flier in Equestria certainly had high starting expectations and Jay could only imagine what she would be like if she implemented her teaching methods with young foals. Jay couldn’t help but feel bad for those poor, imaginary foals. At the start of his training, Rainbow Dash had forbid the use of any and all jumping- labelling it an unfair tool. This condition was met with strong protests, mainly in the form of a whine, but her condition was absolute. After her single term was established, Rainbow Dash asked Jay about his current ability and understanding of flight. When she was met by a blank stare, she let out a long sigh. Figuring Jay was just being stubborn, she wrapped her forelegs around his waist, hoisted him to about 8 feet in the air, and let go. She smiled to herself at the brilliance of her plan and watched Jay fall, expecting him to unfurl his wings and catch himself in the air. Rainbow Dash’s smile turned to gales of laughter when Jay didn’t catch himself with his wings, but instead, caught himself with his face, about 8 feet down from where he was dropped. He hadn’t so much as moved his wings to catch himself and Rainbow Dash realized that his wings were completely useless at this time. It was going to be a long day for the both of them. ********** Jay collapsed onto his bed nearing complete exhaustion, his mind and body sore from his experience of ‘Flight School’. The first half of his day was spent being lectured by Rainbow Dash about wing functionality and aerodynamics. Of course Rainbow Dash didn’t actually use those words, but Jay had picked up on the general idea. He was given a crash course on how his wings worked, and it was basically like a cliffs notes of a cliffs notes for wings. Jay learned to move them freely but still strained himself in doing so. When he first spanned his wings to their full length, Rainbow Dash had burst into more laughter, comparing his wings to string beans. They were the correct proportionate length for his body, but having never been used before, they were definitely.....stringy. Jay had folded them back to his sides, cursing Rainbow Dash under his breath. The next half of the day had been responsible for the multiple bruises on Jay’s face and body. After he had learned to move his wings and how they should be used properly during flight, his actual flight training began. Dash’s ‘approved’ method of training was to find a high jumping point, jump, and hope that Jay remembered how his wings worked. About 95% of the time, he didn’t. Gravity would always win in those situations and drag him straight to the ground causing him to, literally, eat dirt. But the day wasn’t all brain melting lectures and bone shattering crash landings. As the day wound down, Jay found himself able to catch himself in the air and hold himself up for a few seconds before his wings fell out of synchronization, which would result in another one of those crash landings. Each time he hit the ground, Rainbow Dash would laugh at him. While Jay welcomed her laugh, he found it quite annoying that she took pleasure in his misfortune. By the end of the day, Jay had learned to hover several feet in the air for a short time, but at the cost to his physical well-being, he wasn’t sure if it was worth it or not. Normally, Jay would have never taken this kind of abuse, but for some reason, he stuck around, trying to prove himself in the eyes of Rainbow Dash. He also couldn’t help but wonder why Rainbow Dash would stick around and help him out like she did, besides the obvious hilarity that had ensued. Jay didn’t want to think about it too much though. Right now, he just wanted the sweet embrace of sleep to take him, and as he snuggled, face down, into the pillow, he quickly started to lose the connection to reality. “Hey!” The voice had come from the window. It could only mean one thing. “Hm hmm hmhm.” (“Not you again.’) Jay mumbled, face still buried in his pillow. “What?” Rainbow Dash looked at him quizzically. “Oh hi!” Jay spoke with false enthusiasm. “Find somewhere higher for me to jump off of?” “No... And what are you doing? It’s not even that late in the evening yet!” Rainbow Dash looked like she was raring to go. “I was about to sleep. What do you need?” Jay asked, still a bit groggy. “Oh, well... I was wonderin’, ya know, if you wanted to, I dunno, hang out, or somethin’...” Rainbow Dash said, avoiding eye contact with Jay and shuffling her forehoof on the ground. Jay smiled and shrugged. “Sure, why not?” Usually, nothing could keep him from sleep, but for some reason, Jay was compelled to go with Dash. His whole body ached from the physical abuse dealt to him earlier in the day and he was experiencing a new kind of sore in his wings, having never felt pain in an area like that before, and yet, he still pushed himself out of bed and trotted over to where Rainbow Dash was waiting for him by the window. Having not yet mastered his flying, he decided to jump, appearing in the dirt just beneath the window to Twilight’s guest bedroom. Rainbow Dash was right about one thing: even though it wasn’t late in the evening, it was still evening, and the sun was on its way down. As she flew down to meet him, Jay noticed she actually touched down, hooves on the ground. Jay couldn’t remember the last time he had seen Rainbow Dash get around by hoof. Usually she just hovered everywhere. She began to trot along a path leading away from Twilight’s house, leaving Jay behind. He jumped and materialized beside her. “So, uh, what do you want to do?” Jay asked. “Well since you can’t fly,” she began, “I figured we could just go for a walk. Ya’ know, to the park, or somewhere like that.” Jay couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Really? Is the path loaded with spring traps? Pits? Is something going to chase me? Are you going to drop me again? Does anything you have planned have to do with me exploding?” He would have to keep his guard up. Rainbow Dash chuckled at his suspicion. “No, just a walk.” She turned to smile at Jay. He caught himself staring and had to look away. ‘Holy shit, I love that smile.’ he thought to himself. ‘Wait, what the hell? What did I just think?’ “So, Jay... What do you do for fun if ya’ can’t fly?” Rainbow Dash asked. Something felt off about the situation. Jay couldn’t help notice that the ever-confident Rainbow Dash now appeared nervous. In fact, he felt nervous. He could have sworn he was sweating bullets. ‘Is it hot in here? No wait, shit, I’m outside.’ “I, uh, really don’t know at the moment. I just got here, remember?” “Oh... yeah, right.” Rainbow Dash paused, considering her next question. “What did ya’ used to do for fun- in that other place?” “Well, I wrestled. It was a sport, I guess. I loved to be athletic.” Jay replied, “I also loved these things called video games. I spent hours playing them.” “Video games?” “Uhh... I don’t really know how to explain them. They were virtual.... games.” Jay answered, feeling stupid himself. “Oh I see.” They walked along, their hooves crunching into the gravel as they passed. Jay didn’t really feel the ensuing silence was awkward. He was just enjoying Rainbow Dash’s company. They reached the park at one of the best times of the day. The sun was falling beneath the horizon to make way for Luna’s moon. Jay found a small bench with a perfect view, and they both sat and watched the sun fall. Perfect time for Jay to start monologuing. “This is my favorite part of the day. The sun falling below the horizon creates the perfect colors. It’s just amazing to see the red, yellow and orange spread across the landscape like that. It’s hard to describe, but when I used to watch the sunset, my worries and problems would all just slip away, if only for that moment. I just tend to lose myself. There used to be a range of mountains where I used to live, and the colors would accentuate the peaks perfectly and I would stare at them, knowing full well that if the sunset could last for hours, I would be there the whole time, lost in my own little world.” Jay knew it wasn’t the best monologue, or the most touching, but it was how he felt. He turned to look at Rainbow Dash only to see that she had stopped watching the sun, and had turned to face him. Rainbow Dash looked away, a vivid blush spread across her cheeks.