//------------------------------// // Test? // Story: The bird in the crow family // by InedibleBeef //------------------------------// “So what happened to you? How did you teleport here? Where are you from?” Luna asked nearly bouncing out of her seat. “Now Luna, lets not pressure him with a barrage of questions, we have to go one at a time.” Celestia said in a calming voice. “Oh, sorry” Luna smiled in apology at him. “That’s fine.” Jay said. “But one way or another, we will have to have those questions answered.” Celestia said with a slightly more serious tone. “Lets start with Luna’s first question shall we?” Jay thought for a moment, questioning whether he should really tell them everything. He was afraid that it might cause trouble but was unsure just how it would. “Well?” Luna asked out of more excitement. Fuck it “I was attacked by either scavengers or a government task force.” The princesses were both taken aback by his answer. “Governments attacking the people?” They both said. Jay heaved a sigh, he had a lot of explaining to do. “Yes, our president has been waging a war on his people for thirty years now.” He paused. “It all started a long time ago when president Nicholas O’Hare was elected. Since he ruled a democracy, he couldn’t do just anything he wanted, it had to be passed by the people. So what he did was he asked some of the country’s best scientists and technicians to invent actual brainwashing and mind manipulation in one helmet. He mass produced this and fitted every one of his soldiers with one of these helmets. He also fashioned this into a civilian product and claimed it relieved stress and cured headaches, so many officials used it. From there it was like being the queen ant of a massive ant colony. He could command his entire army and all people who could pass new laws and bills from his desk. Which meant that he could now do whatever he wanted. He cracked down on protestors, killing innocent people, women, children.” Jay paused again and looked at the floor of the carriage. “Taking my family too. Thus beginning the revolution. This is where I come in, I joined the rebels and fought all over the east coast with my friend Will, as we both grew up together in a bomb shelter, like me, his family was also killed by O’Hare. We eventually secured the northern territories and we established a port with our allies across the seas to come and take refugees to safety. I was assigned at post of a town just outside a large city where we have the refugees waiting for a ship or a plane. I was picked up to come back to the city, and a roadside bomb blew up, there was a bright light, and now I’m here.” Celestia and Luna couldn’t believe their ears. How could he have gone through all this and still go on? Their jaws hung open in awe at Jay’s story. This creature, calm and caring, has no family, no home, no childhood, no nothing, and yet, sat here before them. They both felt pity for the creature. But they were amazed about how he has grown to be an adult, how he could live with his himself, they admired his refusal to give up. “B-but, who raised you?” Luna asked out of curiosity. “The rebels did, I was born around the time O’Hare finished his brainwashing project. I was in my mothers arms when she was killed, the rebels found me and took me as their own.” Such a kind deed, the rebels must really care about the peoples well being. Luna slowly got up and sat next to him, she put her hoof on his knee. Jay looked at her. “I’m so sorry.” She said to him. He smiled and gave a small nod. The carriage stopped, and shining armor opened the doors. “Your highness, we have arrived.” He said as soon as he was in sight. Just as he saw what was happening in the carriage he broke his professional posture. “Oh, uh sorry.” He said cheaply. Nobody said anything. Celestia was the one to break the silence. “How are we to get Jay and his friend into the hospital without causing panic?” Jay took a look at the hospital; he observed only three entrances through the front lobby, two windows and a front door. No sneaking in. “He could be put under an invisibility spell” Luna chimed. “Good idea Luna!” Celesta said. “Now Jay you will be invisible to everyone, even yourself. Just don’t bump into anypony or knock anything over.” Her horn glowed a bright yellow aurora. “Whoa, hold on, are you sure this is- A yellow beam shot out of Celestia’s horn and hit Jay in the abdomen. He felt a slight tickle and every part of his body just evaporated into nothing. Safe” He finished. “Well then, follow our lead.” Celestia said as she stood up and exited the carriage, Luna behind her. Jay stood up and followed on. He once again found himself admiring the atmosphere of this beautiful planet, nearly bumping into a Pegasus. Well, no, the Pegasus nearly bumped into him. It had a gray body and a yellow mane, its eyes were crossed and she couldn’t seem to fly in a straight line. Jay briefly considered the idea that she was drunk, but deemed it impossible since the carriages escort would have arrested her, or at least taken notice of her. Celestia turned around “Jay are you still there?” “Yes” He replied. She opened the door to greet seven colorful ponies. A purple unicorn with a dash of pink in her hair, A completely pink pony with an afro, a light yellow pegasus with a pink mane, a white unicorn with a purple mane, an orange pony with blonde hair with a stetson styled hat, a pegasus with a cyan body and a rainbow colored mane and finally a pink alicorn with purple, dark pink and light blonde mane, she wore a tiara and a necklace similar to the other princesses. Jay figured that she was also a princess of someplace. “Princess Celestia!” The purple unicorn said with glee. “We came as fast as possible, what happened to you? Are you alright?” “Yes I am quite alright, I called you all here because we have discovered a…” Celestia noticed the nurse operating the front desk. “Could you please leave us?” The nurse quickly got from her spot and left to another room. “We have discovered a new species. He somehow opened a portal to our world and we met on the road here.” She continued. “Umm, where is it?” the purple unicorn asked. “In front of you” Jay answered. Everyone except for the two sisters gasped at the sound of his voice. “Jay don’t scare them now, save that for when we disable the spell.” Luna joked. “Oh yes, about that.” Celestia said as her horn glowed again and Jay’s body began to faze back to normal. The seven ponies gasped at its immense size compared to themselves, its shape and build all terrified them. The yellow pegasus squealed and hid behind the pink alicorn. “Don’t worry, I’m not here to hurt you.” Jay said assuringly. “He indeed is not, and his friend received some serious injuries which is why we called you here.” Celestia said in her soothing voice, which seemed to ease them a bit. The pink alicorn stepped forward to greet the behemoth creature. “Hello, my name is Princess Cadence of the crystal kingdom.” Jay admired her bravery compared to the others. “This is Applejack gesturing to the orange pony, Rarity, to the white pony, Fluttershy, revealing the trembling yellow pegasus, Twilight, to the purple unicorn, Rainbow Dash, to the cyan/rainbow Pegasus and.” “HI IM PINKIE PIE!” the pink pony rang out. “Yes, and may I ask your name?” “Jay, just Jay.” “I like your brave attitude by the way.” Jay said, thinking aloud. “Why thank you.” She said with a smile. “Hey, I’m not afraid of you!” The rainbow pegasus protested, springing up and hovering with her wings. “You just uh, look dashing today.” She said sheepishly. “What? You cant be serious rainbow, look at him! He’s just so cut and bruised all over, poor thing. You need to fix that up!” The white unicorn said with empathy. “Well, uh I…” Jay was unsure what to say at this point. These ponies sure are friendly. “From the letter sent by Shining Armor, it said her royal highness would like me to conduct a test on you.” Cadence said, saving him from the awkwardness. “Test? What kind of test?” “A test for the amount of love, and harmony you have inside you.” Jay grew fearful, knowing he would fail this test. “What we will do is look inside your memories and live you’re past to see what you believe in.” Oh shit. “I don’t know if you want to do that.” Jay said. “Well I am under order of princess Celestia.” Cadence looked at Celestia for support, but only got a look equally as nervous as Jays. “Is something wrong?” She asked out of confusion. Jay looked hard at the ground and fell silent. “Jay has had a, well, troubled past.” Celestia said. “But unfortunately, we will have to see it Jay. I understand that you are keeping it from us for our own well being and yours too, but we will have to look into it.” Jay understood her reason. He was just uncomfortable. “Okay, fine. What do I have to do?” “Just find a comfortable spot and clear your mind. I will do the rest.” Jay heaved a sigh. “Okay” He eyed a spot in the corner nearest to him at sat up against it. “Now are you sure this is safe?” He asked Cadence. “Yes, I assure you nothing bad will happen.” Jay relaxed and closed his eyes. He heard a chime from her horn. A white flash and he was back in Manhattan. He heard the scream of the F-15s above him. Gunfire rang out from the street. Jay knew what was going to happen. He turned to his side to see his squadmate get shot in the head, blood and brains splattered all over the floor. He pulled his lifeless body behind the wall and replaced him. He opened fire on the unit that killed his squadmate. After five shots the gunman went down. Three bullets hit the wall inches from Jays face before he fell backwards behind cover on top of his dead squadmate. I was clear to him that he needed to move to another cover. He turned and took his squadmates dog tags. And looked out to an overturned humvee. The bulletproof side facing the enemy, perfect. Jay took off in a sprint towards the overturned vehicle, bullets whizzing by, barley missing him. He vaulted over a piece of a destroyed BTR. About ten feet from his new cover when a grenade bounced in front of him. He kicked it five feet away from him before he slid behind the vehicle and the grenade exploded. A big piece of shrapnel skimmed his arm, taking flesh. He winced in pain but brushed it off. He had been too lucky today. He heard footsteps behind him and spun around to see an enemy rifleman staring at him, already raising his weapon at Jay. Jay rolled sideways and finished off with his rifle raised at his opponent who was now aiming at an empty space on the ground. Jay let three rounds go, dropping the dazed enemy. As Jay pushed up against his cover, a canister of purple signal smoke rolled into view just about a foot away from him. Signal smoke. They were calling an airstrike on his position! He took a last stand and hurled the grenade back to enemy lines just as the roar of the jets could be heard through all the gunfire and shouting. Those helmets may brainwash them, but it does make them fucking stupid too. The jets came at a low altitude and dropped a single JDAM on the enemy position, obliterating their lines. Cheers were heard behind him as the enemy began to retreat. The platoon leader, Barbossa, stood next to Jay and faced the rebels. “They are weak!” He shouted with a raised fist, “Finish them!” The rebels gave a shout to this as they charged from their lines. There was another bright flash, and Jay was running towards a trench with someone draped over his shoulders. “Come on, don’t give up on me now brother!” Jay said. Sniper rifles and the rebels desperately trying to shoot their owners was all that could be heard. About ten feet left to go and Jay was nearly sprinting, but it was still too slow. A bullet hit him in the leg and he came crashing down. He screamed in pain, looking down at the wound. The bullet tore right through his leg leaving a hole exposing the bone. “Jay! Go without me, just leave me here!” The rebel said, in an attempt to save Jays life. “I am not going to leave you here!” Jay shouted back, grabbing his vest. Another bullet struck the ground near Jay’s feet. Jay got up on his good leg and hopped along to the trench. Bullets constantly coming his way. Jay mustered all his strength to shove the rebel into the trench before a bullet struck him in the shoulder and he collapsed in after him. A third bright light appeared and Jay was on crutches and bandages covered his two wounds. He was making his way down a long hallway, which led to a room filled with children playing amongst themselves. “Uncle Jay!” A child exclaimed. “Hey there little dude!” Jay said greeting the boy. His face was similar to Jay’s, and looked very alike to the boy's father, Jay’s brother. “I missed you so much!” The boy said with a hyper tone. “What happened to you?” He asked, noticing the bandages and crutches. “A dinosaur got me!” Jay said jokingly. “But he was no match for me and Will, we kicked his a-butt!” The boy giggled and said, “You’re silly.” The light flashed again and Jay was back in the hospital lobby. Cadence had never seen such violence. Sure equestria had conflicts, but they never received a casualty. Their power of friendship usually solved the problem. This war made their conflicts look like a water balloon fight. All of the ponies had seen it, and they stared a Jay, who had seen so much hate and rage… yet could still love. “So how badly did I fail?” Jay asked Cadence. Cadence could barley hear him through the buzz of thoughts going through her head. She had seen him kill, but she had also seen him put his life on the edge for another. She had also seen him interact with a child, his nephew. “Who was the child?” She asked him. “Well, he’s technically my nephew, but I volunteered to take care of him after my brother died.” He answered. He did the same thing done to him! Luna thought. Rebels who found him abandoned on the street raised Jay, and Jay consciously raised his nephew without a father. “You didn’t fail, you passed with flying colors.” Cadence answered Jay’s question. The six ponies looked surprised at Cadences answer. “What?” Jay said in amazement. “Your actions may have been violent, but you did them for a good cause. You fight for your people, you eradicate the evil and take care of the innocent. You also saved a life, injuring yourself in the process. And raising a fatherless child! That truly earns my respect. You have proven yourself to have lots of love, but you are trapped in a merciless, unforgiving world.” Jay couldn’t believe it, he didn’t deserve this, he was a monster. But he was grateful. “Thank you Cadence, I owe you bigtime.” Cadence smiled and said “Your welcome.” The moment was interrupted by a familiar voice to Jay scream “HOLY SHIT!”