//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: MAN About Town // Story: A Warrior's Peace // by Ricardo Nixon //------------------------------// A Warrior’s Peace Chapter 3: “Man” About Town By Ricardo Nixon “ So…” said Jack genuinely enjoying the fresh air, colorful architecture, and companionship of this new realm. “ Is everyone here a pony?” “Well.. yes.. I mean no… I mean, oooh.” Fluttershy stuttered, nearly dropping her limping companion. “ I’m sorry. Here in Equestria most of us are ponies, there are a couple of griffons…” said Fluttershy, having flashbacks to a less than amiable griffon she met. “ …and a few other species, but you’re the first human.” “ The first human?” That thought made Jack’s stomach turn. “ I really hope I don’t do anything…too human.” He thought to himself. “ You’re going to love everyone!” Said Fluttershy, eyes widening.” Twilight’s smart, she’s one of the smartest ponies I know, and her assistant Spike is one of the cutsie wootsiest dragons I’ve ever seen!” Fluttershy’s wings flapped in a spur of glee, nearly driving Jack off his feet. “ Oh, I’m sorry.” She said giving him an apologetic smile. “ Your friends seem like nice peop… ponies…” Jack responded with a smile, still a bit awkward with this change in vocabulary. “ But wasn’t Twilight the one pressing you for information?” Jack said, embarrassing the little Pegasus below his arm. “ Oh… you heard that…?” she wimpered, once again using her mane to cover her eyes. “ My apologies, I wanted to learn a bit about what was going of before I scared anyone.” Jack said, now a little embarrassed himself from having flustered Fluttershy. “ I-it’s quite alright, she gets a bit intense at time, but she means well.” Jack blushed slightly, “ Yeah, I can relate.” He said, picking a timberwolf leaf out of his hair. “ But keep going.” “ Oh.” Fluttershy’s ears perked up as she continued her train of thought. “ Well there’s Rarity, she’s really pretty, she owns a boutique in town where she sells really nice dresses. She took an interest in that nice necklace of yours, you should talk to her about it later…that is.. if you have time… if you want.” Fluttershy’s ears drooped back down. “ What does it mean? If you don’t mind…” “ Oh, these?” Jack said, smiling at the flustered equine supporting him while gripping the brown wooden spheres around his neck. “ These are meditation beads, we… I use them when I meditate, they give me something to hold to help me focus.” “ That’s sounds nice, I’ve always loved peace and quite.” Said Fluttershy observing the wooden spheres hanging from the man’s neck. “ I could tell by your home, thank you again by the way.” Jack said, taking some of his weight off of the fluttering Pegasus. “It’s no trouble, no trouble at all, I like living a bit away from the town, I can get away from all the noise and keep out of troub…” The softly flapping Pegasus was interrupted by a rather obnoxious voice. “ HEY CLUTZERSHY!!!!!!!” Said a dark brown Pegasus, crashing to the ground, kicking up a dust cloud as two other pegasi, one gray and one light brown landed behind him. Fluttershy’s wings locked up, causing her to land and forcing Jack to drop to his knee. “ Do you know these… ponies?” asked Jack. Fluttershy nodded yes and backed up behind him a bit. “ This a friend of yours Clutzershy? He looks like a monkey fell in a laundry basket, haha, uhaha!” Quipped the Dark brown Pegasus, looking for approval from his chuckling cronies. Jack remained still, still looking at Fluttershy. “ Are they bothering you, Fluttershy?” The timid yellow pony nodded her head as a tear grew in the corner of her eye. By now Jack’s face had turned into a scowl, but now his lips curled into a smile. “ Can you do me a favor?” “S-s-sure.” Said the teary eyed equine. “Cover your ears, I don’t want you to hear this.” Jack said with a reassuring look on his face. “O-o-okay.” Said Fluttershy folding her ears down with her hooves, looking up at her protector who now faced her aggressors with a polite smile on his face. Unable to hear a thing, Fluttershy saw Jack stand up, his lips began to move, spewing forth words she could not hear. As she turned her focus to the trio of brawny pegasi, she saw their snarky smiles turn into expressions of fear and then into horror. She looked back at Jack to see his chipper expressions still firing off words at the trio, his smile so wide his eyes were barely open. The three once assertive ponies were now huddled together, tears streaming down their muzzles and snot running down their noses. Jack patted Fluttershy on the head, turning her muzzle up to him and waved his hand at the three cowering equines, releasing them from their torment, leaving them to fly away, tails between their legs. “ It’s alright Fluttershy, you can listen now.” Said Jack, lifting the shaking pony back to her feet. “ W-w-What did you say to them…” said Fluttershy before giving a telltale “gulp” of anxiety. “Nothing, we had a nice talk, they’re quite nice fellows, they just had to be put in their place.” Jack said, running his callous fingers through Fluttershy’s soft, pink, mane. Her wings opened and resumed their gentle flapping as she dug her head under Jack’s arm. It was about five minutes before Fluttershy realizes he was walking straight up, but she nestled her head closer and smiled and the headed toward Sugarcube Corner. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “AAAAAh! Twilight, you’re the egghead here, what does he like to eat, what does he drink, what music does he like!” yelled a certain cotton-candy pink pony, seemingly eight places at once as she bounced around the colorfully decorated bakery. “ Pinkie pie, you can’t cause to much ruckus we don’t even know what he is yet.” Said a visibly annoyed Twilight Sparkle. “ Well that’s no reason to be rude, darling, he did save our Applejack from those dreadful Timberwolves.” Said Rarity, brushing her bouncing purple mane out of her face. “ That’s right Twahlight, If it hadn’t been for that big ol’ fella, me and Big Mac might have been goners.” Said the proud orange Earth pony, tipping het hat to prevent her friends from seeing her embarrassment. “ C’mon A.J. you know I woulda saved ya’” said Raindbow Dash, putting her hooves up in preparation for a boxing match. “ Yeah I’m sure ya would of, I’m just glad he showed up when he did.” Said Applejack, shooting Rainbow Dash a sarcastic glance “Well in that case… I guess it’s alright.” Said Twilight, levitating a ladle into nearby punch bowl and pouring herself a drink. KNOCK KNOCK!!! “THEY’RE HERE!!!!” yelled Pinkie Pie, making the final adjustments to her colorful decorations “ But, we didn’t invite anyone?” said Twilight, “ You don’t think Fluttershy would…?” “ Hello?...Is anyone home.” Said a sweet little voice from behind the door. “Well… go ahead dear, let them in.” said Rarity, gesturing the purple unicorn towards the door. Twilight wrapped her hoof around the knob of the door and with a quick twist of the fetlock swung open the door to the bakery to reveal a pink-maned yellow Pegasus with her head nestled under the arm of a rather tall figured garbed in an Earth brown tunic, sporting a rather contented look upon his face. “ Hel-hello everyone.” Said Fluttershy taking position in the center of the room. “ this is my new friend, Jack.” Fluttershy said, now embarrassed, considering her actions a bit too bombastic. “ Hello, nice to mee..!” “ WELCOME TO PONYVILLE!!!!” yelled Pinkie Pie, drawing her massive party cannon, taking aim, and letting loose. BOOOOOM!!!!!!! Confetti and streamers fell to the ground as each pony’s smile twisted itself into a look of confusing. The room became clear, as Jack was nowhere to be found. “ Where did he go?” said Twilight, scratching her mane with her hoof. “ Um… Guys…” said Rainbow Dash said, her nose in the air. “ You miiight wanna look up.” The ponies looked to the ceiling to find the human crouched, suspended on one of the horizontal beams of the bakery. He dropped back to the floor, face turning red as he turned to survey the confused equines before him. “ Sorry… force of habit.” He said, scratching the back of his head. He made eye contact with a certain blue-eyed party pony and the room fell silent. “ ……ha…ha..ahaHAHAHAHAA, BWHAAAAAAA!!!” The pair exploded into laughter as Pinkie dropped to the ground rolling on the floor, Jack gripping his ribs trying to stifle his uncontrollable laughter. Twilight looked at Rarity to find her giving her trademark “ That’s Pinkie” hoof-wave. Fluttershy was the next one to giggle before the whole room broke into laughter, Rainbow Dash hitting the record player setting the whole room into festivity. TWO HOURS LATER Jack made his way to the punch bowl, leaning next to a certain poofy-pink pony. “ Thank you very much, Pinkie Pie. This really wasn’t necessary, but it certainly is appreciated.” Jack poured himself some of the sweet pink beverage and passed a cup to his hostess. “ Unnecessary? Unnecessary? It was ultra-super-mega-redicusuper Necessary! I couldn’t let our newest friend move in without a proper welcoming party, now could I.” said the Pink Party Pony before she downed the whole drink in one swig. Jack pondered this for a moment. He hadn’t considered the concept of home in a while. His home was always where ever his head fell, even during his years with his Mentor up on the summit, he never felt “at home”, but now…. He didn’t know how to feel, these kind, gentle creatures opened their homes to him and had nothing to give in return. It was the most inhumanly humane thing he had ever witnessed. “ T-thank you.” Jack said before his view of view was replaced with two great big violet eyes attached to a fluttering cyan Pegasus. “ Is it true that you took out five timberwolves with you bare hooves?!” blurted Rainbow Dash, on the verge of giving out a little squeak. “Bare hoo… oh, bare hands.” Jack lifted his hands and showed them to the ogling Pegasus who was now looking at her own hooves, flexing her fetlocks in an attempt to grip something. “ Most of it was a blur, but that Applejack seems like a pretty honest pony so I’d go with whatever she says.” Rainbow Dash shot off, nearly barreling over Applejack in search of more detail Jack reached for the ladle once more to find it glowing blue and levitating out of the bowl and into a nearby cup. “Oh, I do apologize, silly me.” Said Rarity, bringing the cup to her lips, her horn glowing the same hue of blue as the cup. “ My good sir, you must tell me where you bought that most elegant robe.” She said, eyes widening at the dark brown cloth wrapped around his body. Jack chuckled. “ This? Ha ha, I made this myself. Nothing more than dyed cotton.” “ IIIIDEA!!.” Rarity exclaimed, nearly dropping her beverage. “ Less is more! Why did I not think of this before, ooh Fluttershy will love this, she’s never been one for extravagance.” Rarity dashed off leaving her beverage to drop to the floor. “ Oh, I’ll get that.” Said Jack, making his way to the kitchen to find a familiar orange mare standing in front of the paper towel rack. “ Excuse me, Mr. Jack sir? It was a mighty kind thing y’all did for me and my brother earlier.” Said Applejack, gratefully tipping her hat. “Don’t worry about it Applejack, I’m just glad everyone is safe.” Jack said, grabbing a handful of paper towel. Applejack placed a hoof on his chest, preventing him from escaping. “ Nah, if y’all hadn’t been there I prolly wouldn’t be here right now. If’n it’s all the same to you, y’all can stay at Sweet Apple Acres, we’ve got plenty of room.” “ That would be great, I think I might have to take you up on that offer, as I believe I am currently homeless.” Jack said, gesturing her over to the spill. “ But I would hate to be a burden on you.” Jack finished wiping up the spill and tossed the damp rag into the proper trash receptacle. “ If’n y’all feel that set on getting’ ta work then I got just the job for ya. As soon as ya feel better you get yourself over the orchard I’m sure you can lend a hand durin’ applebuck season. Said Applejack, a confident smile taking up most of her face. “In that case.” Jack held out his right hand. “ You have yourself a tenant.” Applejack spit into her hoof and placed it in his hand “ Well alrighty then.” Said Applejack, once again tipping her hat. “ You seem to be making friends with everypony around here.” Jack turned around to find a certain purple unicorn with streaks in her mane. “ Oh, excuse me.” She tossed her mane out of her face. “ My name is Twilight Sparkle, I’m Princess Celestia’s student and resident librarian here in Ponyville, and this is my assistant Spike.” Gesturing to the short, purple dragon next to her. “Well it’s certainly nice to meet you, Twilight, and you Spike. Seeing as im a bit naïve as to whats going on, or how I even got here, so if it’s not too much trouble I’ll be requesting your help to assist me in making sense of every…..” “ WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!” Jacks head turned to the door then back to Twilight who returned his concerned look. “ Rarity.” Said the purple unicorn before they made their way outside. “ Rarity what is it!” yelled Twilight at the nearly comatose, marshmallow colored unicorn. “ M-m-m-maj, M-maj, Major!” Rarity stuttered, her hooves shaking, making a subtle clip-clop with the ground. She stared directly at Sugarcube Corner. “ Major what, Rarity, what’s going on.” Twilight walked over to the shaking equine. Jack took off his meditation beads and handed them to Twilight. “ Can you hold these for me?” “Sure.” Said Twilight, putting her head in the earthen scented loop. “But why?” Jack turned around tapping Twilight on the flank, causing her to look over Sugarcube Corner and take in an eyeful of translucent purple destruction. The Ursa Major was now gnawing on the roof of the bakery. “I have some business to attend to. On second thought…” Jack took back his beads and wrapped them around his hair a few times, pulling it back into a long gray Ponytail. “ I might need these.” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~