Frustration
"Fucking shit plant..." Jason muttered, looking at the his hands, most of his pointer finger still gone between his hand and the first knuckle. How did poison joke work anyway? How could it know he looked like this?
Jason caught his reflection in a smudged metal plate against one of the boxes, jumping as blue eyes stared back at him. He had green eyes, so at least it wasn't perfect. Did he have green eyes? Yeah, he thought so. Pretty sure. God dammit, these were his eyes, and he couldn't even remember.
He leaned back against the wall, shivering at the cold metal and trying to remember if he knew how to walk. He must, over twenty years of that under his belt. Heh, literally. Eventually Jason pushed himself to his feet, gripping the frame of a shelf tightly as he took a few steps and admiring his muscled hand. After all this, walking wasn't hard, actually. He'd been tempted to try walking on his hands and feet, but with the less than silent noises of his feet on the ice cold metal he didn't want to take chances.
Jason pulled a couple things off a shelf, looking for... he wasn't sure, really. Pants? He was getting pretty cold, and looking down, didn't really fancy having things flop around with how much running he did. Jason cringed slightly at the thought. But besides that, having his junk at head level...
Bingo. He pulled down a suitcase, staring at the combination lock for a moment before he decided to stare instead at a hammer, picking it up with his hand and swinging it into the lock. After all this, he still remembered how to control his fingers. Not that he figured he wouldn't, he could still kinda feel them even when they were gone, like little ghost appendages. The lock broke open as someone stirred, and he quickly opened the lid, finding a fairly large amount of dress clothes, which he threw aside, looking for something that he would actually want to wear. Ah, army stuff, that worked. Maybe it was just army surplus, but still. Something that wouldn't fall apart.
Jason grabbed what he hoped was a clean pair of boxers, sliding them on with the pants and trying to warm up as he stuck his fingers into his armpits. This plane was freezing. He couldn't even feel his toes anymore, although he immediately felt warmer from the pants, and quickly threw on a shirt and coat as well.
"Wha...?" He heard, and turned to find Scoots, much smaller in relation to his size, staring like there was no tomorrow. "What are you?"
"You know the poison joke?" He asked. "It turned me into a human." Jason finished, watching her face turn from fear to curiosity. Without any warning, Scoots fluttered up to his chest and he caught her, stumbling backwards into a shelf. "How good do you think I am at walking after all this stuff on all fours?" He asked, slightly surprised that he could still feel the emotions coming off of her. So apparently the plant only went so far?
"You seem to be doing alright." She replied, nuzzling into his chest. "But you look weird, why are your eyes so small, and how come you have little fingers on your feet?"
"I dunno, that's what humans look like, I guess."
"So can you still do magic?"
"Normal humans can't, but I don't think I'm fully human anyway..." He stretched out a hand, imagining that he'd be able to do some sort of force...thing. But all that happened to the cup he aimed at was a slight jiggle. "I guess that's a big negative, dammit." A tiny hoof swept across his face, tickling his skin with the soft fur.
"You're so smooth." She whispered.
"What the hell!?" Dash yelled, "Scoots, what are you doing?! Get away from there!" Jason quickly set the foal down, brushing a finger against the tip of one of her ears as he slightly shakily stood back up. "You've got five seconds to explain why you were anywhere near my daughter!"
"Uh, well, I guess I should say that I'm Jason, and this is the effect of the poison joke."
Dash stared, causing him to chuckle as her mouth went slightly ajar. She backed up to get a better angle, craning her neck before she jumped into the air, coming in at head level and tilting her head. "You're sure you're him?" She asked, before she flew forward and bumped him against a rack, throwing his eyes wide as she pressed her muzzle against his mouth. She pulled back a few seconds later, smiling at his surprise. "Yeah, you're him."
"Why would you think it was a good idea to kiss someone if you weren't sure? I could've, I dunno, retaliated?"
"Yeah, but I like watching you blush, and the hive mind still seems to be working." Dash landed back on the ground. "When you said how tall humans were though, I never thought it'd be this tall."
Jason knelt down. "There, better?"
"I guess." She replied, putting her hooves around him in a hug. "You aren't planning to stay like this, right?"
"Don't like it already, huh?" He asked with a chuckle.
"No, but you can't exactly fly, so that defeats the purpose of having a cloud house." She shrugged, shivering slightly. "You do look kinda weird though."
"Oh, thanks a lot."
"So, why the clothes?" Dash asked, pulling at a camo pant leg.
"I got cold. I don't have fur anymore, or chitin or whatever." He paused. "Or magic, or the ability to fly." He tried shifting into another human, but nothing happened. "Or shape shifting, for that matter."
"But you do have hands." She said, reaching a hoof out and pushing it into his palm. He idly wrapped his fingers around it, making her giggle slightly. "Still remember how those work, huh?"
"You never really forget, I guess. Walking is a little weird, but you know...."
"Heh, it's like four little tentacles!" She looked between his hands, staring more closely at the shorter, scarred finger. "Why's this shorter?"
"It got shot off, back when my parents were killed and everything." He stood up again and gave her mane a quick stroke, which she seemed to like. "I couldn't see much of my reflection besides the fact that my eyes changed color, It kinda makes me wonder if that's the only thing that got screwed up."
He felt a pant leg get pulled up slightly, as Scoots prodded at his ankle. "Hey, you have fur! And little blobs sticking off this foot."
Jason looked down. "What do you mean, this foot?"
"You only have them on one..." Scoots replied, showing him the other foot with its missing toes.
"God damn, that's got to fucking be from that torture." He swore some more under his breath, realizing that the absence of a second big toe would just make walking harder.
"At least you have fur, right?" The foal asked, brushing the rough fur of his leg with a hoof.
"Pfft, hardly." He pulled up the pant leg to his knee, nearly losing his balance again as he pushed the thoughts from his mind. "It's nowhere near what you have. Now, back to what I was looking for..." Jason stood back up, taking a few disorganized steps past the shelves of the plane, getting closer to where Steve and the others were. He didn't notice immediately as he grabbed a sheet of aluminum from the floor, leaving a slight cut in a finger as he leaned it against a wall, taking a step back.
Jason felt his legs move out from under him, and he stuck out an arm to break his fall as he landed on his side, looking for the culprit before he pulled himself to all fours. It took him a moment to realize that he was in that pose, and with a sigh rose to full height, looking at Morning.
"What the fuck are you?" She asked, her voice low as she stood protectively in front of Tank. Steve was looking on wide eyed, probably figuring that if things went south he could intervene.
"It's Jason, Morning!" Dash yelled, coming around the corner quickly. "It's the poison joke!"
"Huh- what?!" She looked him over, mumbling to herself. "Why's she got the ring?" The mare asked after a few moments of silence.
"I proposed to her after I went back in time to bring her back to life."
"Okay then." She said, knocking the spear she'd been about to pick up a few feet away. "So you're a giant now?"
"Human, giant..." He mimicked a scale. "I'm only a little above average on height." Jason looked back at the 'mirror', which was only slightly distorting his reflection, and jumped a little. It hardly looked like him, but it had to be, the face was just too similar minus the scars and eyes.
"Is it what you looked like? I mean, the dreams where you were human always changed our appearances slightly." Dash said, dragging a hoof along the metal floor.
"I guess, minus the fact that I look like the white version of the Old Spice guy."
"Huh?"
"I'm muscular now, I've never been this ripped before..." He said, taking off the rough shirt and looking down. "Wow..."
"So what do these do?" She asked, pointing at a bicep.
"Curls and stuff." He said, still preoccupied with his reflection. "It's like I just took a bunch of steroids." Jason turned back around, kneeling at their level. "Anyway, onto my second thing to do..." He started, dawning a mischievous expression.
"What are you going to- ooooooohhh." Dash said as he scratched at her behind an ear, feeling her push into his palm.
"Another nice thing about fingers." He said with a chuckle. "Ben's cat really liked that, I figured maybe you would too."
"You need to make something that mimics these things." She said, letting out a sigh as he continued.
"Hey, do me!" Scoots yelled, hopping around.
"God, twenty minutes with hands, and this is what happens." He sat cross legged, picking Scoots up and setting her in his lap. "And man you're light." Jason continued, as she flopped down against his thighs, wiggling against his pants to get comfortable. "And cute."
Morning looked on with a slight bit of confusion as Jason scratched at the other two ponies. "Is there something I'm missing here?"
"How it feels..." Dash mumbled, lying on her side and resting her head against Jason's hip. "This is way better than hooves."
"Yeah, I'm a little jealous." Jason replied, scooting himself back an inch to lean against the wall. "You've got cuteness on my race any day though. Not so sure about other things, but you have that."
"Is that why you're engaged to me?" Dash asked, chuckling lightly.
"No, you're beautiful and all, but I would've had trouble if you weren't so smart. It's not like I don't like dumb people, but as a comedian or something once said, 'you can't fix stupid.' But of course, I don't have to worry about fixing anything."
"You have the most long winded comments." Her ear flicked against his fingertip jokingly. "Oh, these things are so nice."
"I think we should probably get Tank back, don't you think?" Morning asked, beginning to pack her stuff up. "I know you're all cool and human now, but we seriously should get him to a hospital anyway."
"How's he looking?"
"Better, he's breathing a lot more deeply anyway."
"Fine, here's what we'll do." Jason paused. "I'll go with Dash and get this cleared up, get myself back to normal. You three, get Tank to the hospital, and we'll work stuff out from there. Where did you come from, Steve? Before the war."
"Ponyville, actually. Funny how things seem to circle around eventually, huh?"
"I guess it's not surprising, considering you were in Canterlot."
"Some vacation, huh?" Steve asked, getting his own stuff together.
"Yeah, I'd say. But then again, I would still be a wanted criminal." He chuckled. "I don't get paid enough for all this stuff."
"You remember that vacation that we talked about a while ago?" Dash asked, picking herself up from the floor and glancing downwards with a slightly pained look. "We should take that, go to the mountains or Manehattan or something."
"I'd like to go back, really. Back to Earth, show you around there. I know we'd still have to hide out and all, but- I dunno, it still sounds kinda bad. Fuck."
"It'll pass eventually, Jason."
"That's what's funny, I don't think it will. We've put our lives on the line countless times, and I hardly even get a nod of respect. I'm not saying that's what I want, but for once, I feel like they should contain their distaste. I don't want to be transformed all the time, I'm sick of hiding who I am more than I have to."
He felt hooves wrap around his chest as a tear slipped down his cheek. "It's just so annoying, and I can't fix it. I destroyed the order of nature to keep you from dying and I can't even control public opinion." He let out a pained sob, only growing more angry. "I can't even hold myself together anymore."
Everyone stayed silent, staring at Jason as he tried to regain his composure. "Fuck this shit..." He mumbled, shaking his head. "It's funny how this place is supposed to be all happy and shit, what a bunch of fucking idiots." Jason got up and untangled Dash's limbs from his body before turning and kicking an empty bucket across the floor with his toeless foot. He only felt more rage at the missing appendages, and quickly ran down the isle yelling, tripping several times before he exited the plane.
"Dash, is he gonna be okay?" Scoots asked after a few moments had passed, looking up at the sky blue mare.
"I'm sure he'll get whatever it is out of his system soon enough." She said, thankful that her fur could disguise the paleness of her face.
"Fuuuuuuck!" Jason yelled from outside, as the audible cracks of a tree branch tearing from a trunk filtered inside. The wolf body landed in front of the plane's entrance, somehow uneaten overnight.
"I'm going out there." Dash said, rising to her hooves. "I think he's just working himself into a frenzy." She hesitated for a moment before running through the gaping exit, shielding her eyes from the light until she caught sight of Jason, as he snapped a rather thick branch over his knee with a corresponding yell.
Dash set her hooves, lowering her head and splaying her wings before she launched into the air, plowing into the small of his back. They went rolling on the ground as she tried to pin him, getting on top for a moment.
"Jason, you-" Her head cracked to the side as he... hit her in the cheek, knocking her to the side. In the back of her mind, she felt something in the hive mind change, disappear almost. He wasn't taking any of her love anymore, whether he actually lived off the stuff right now or not, and she was caught in between parts of her head.
Common sense dictated for her to retaliate, punch him back for hitting his own fiancé. Another part kept muttering that maybe she was wrong. But she preferred to think optimistically, it'd always been her fortitude, whether she liked it or not. Whether he'd punched her or not, it clearly hadn't been intentional, judging from the shaking form a few feet away. Let him be, part of her mind said, he deserves it.
But whatever she was thinking, she got up and walked the few feet between them anyway, looking down at the scarred face, with silent tears running down his face towards the ground. He noticed her and averted his eyes, blinking as another set of tears slid downward. "I just wreck everything huh?" Jason asked, his voice sounding almost broken. "I'm guessing that a sorry's hoping for too much."
Dash rubbed her cheek, trying to think of something to say. It hadn't been much of a blow, not compared to some of the stuff she'd felt. "You know, if this was a normal relationship, and you did all this, maybe I'd be mad, and maybe I'd kick you out of the house." His eyes shut tightly and she sighed. "But it's not, you're not a normal guy, and we've hardly been through a normal set of months."
"Don't." He said quietly. "Don't just brush this off like some stupid thing, you always do that. I may not have known it was you when I threw that punch, but the fact that I got that mad- I don't expect you to forget it, and I know on some level you'll be afraid of it happening again, that at some point I'll threaten your life, or maybe Scoots'. And what I've just done is put some doubt in the mind of the only pony that trusted me completely, the same one that I'll never be good enough for."
He felt a tear hit his cheek in the silence that ensued, before a heavy blow hit his shoulder. "You f-fucking idiot! You think that some stupid little thing will make me doubt you? You know why? Because I know that I'll always be able to calm you down, and that no matter how bad things get, I'll always trust you." Dash leaned down to his ear. "How much reason do you think I had to trust you on day one?" She asked, her voice down to a husky whisper.
"God damn, I don't deserve you." He pushed his head from the ground and sat up, his legs stretched out in front of himself.
"You'll get there someday." She replied with a smirk, putting an arm around his neck as she sat down beside him. "Plus, you helped me through everything when this started, the least I can do is return the favor."
"You're scaring me. You shouldn't be okay with any of this."
"I'm pretty sure this relationship means more that one stupid fight, if you can call this a normal fight." She rolled her eyes. "It's really not." They went silent for a few moments before Dash let out a chuckle.
"What's so funny?" Jason asked, looking over at her face as Scoots peeked out around the plane.
"You just looked so hilarious, stumbling out of the plane like that."
"Oh shut up, I'm not used to being back like this yet."
"We need to get you cured soon."
"Why? So I can-" His face went a little white and his breathing accelerated. "I'm like this and I only have a week to bring you back. Five days, including today."
"It'll be fine, a little bath in cure water and that's it."
"Who makes that?" He asked offhandedly.
"Zecora."
"You think she's seen a human before?"
"I don't know what she's seen, actually." Dash replied.
"Yeah..." He sighed, pushing himself up. "I'm sorry." He said, looking Dash in the eye as he stumbled back to the plane.
"Is everything okay Jason?" Scoots asked, looking up at him with imploring eyes.
"Yeah, this sure complicates things though." He mumbled, starting to sift through the cargo. There were a fair number of boxes containing clothes; it didn't take much to assume that had been the primary purpose of this flight. Maybe shoes wouldn't be too much to ask, some nice warm socks...
"So you're staying like this?"
"I wish, with those fingers." Dash said, any previous anguish seemingly forgotten. "God, I would love to have some of those on call."
"Well if poison joke repeats itself, then maybe you will."
"I guess you'll have to keep from telling anypony, huh?"
"Yeah." He replied, grabbing one of her ears in his fist gently. "I love you so much..." He mumbled. "I'm still sorry though."
"We can get going then?" Morning asked, having draped Tank over her back in his absence.
"Yeah, I'll see you later." He replied, "The ponies behind the glass suck at conversation."
"Thanks for the warning." She sighed. "Stay safe, I don't want to find a half eaten you or something."
"Oh yeah, could I just grab Tank's machete?" He asked, pointing to the corresponding sheath on her side.
"Why?"
"Cuz it's meant for humans anyway, and I can make it work the best."
"As long as it gets back in one piece, he really loves this thing."
"No problem." Jason replied, carefully unhooking the strap with a few fingers and putting it back around his shoulder as the mare and Steve left, both throwing back waves as they left the other three in the plane.
"So..." Dash started. "I guess we have our work cut out, huh?"