//------------------------------// // Epilogue-Steelskin // Story: Jump of the Iron Dragon // by tosety //------------------------------// “Somepony’s coming! Somepony’s coming!” Pinkie Pie was galloping through ponyville. She saw Twilight and charged over, grabbing Twilight’s head in her hooves. “The ‘somepony we lost is coming back’ combo! Get everypony together and follow me while I figure out where they’ll be arriving!” After a bit of running around, Twilight found her in the field just outside town. A crowd gathered around Pinkie as she staked out a circle of grass, warning everypony to keep their distance as they waited. With a crackle of energy, a white bubble appeared in the space Pinkie had marked off. A half second later, it exploded in a wave of pure force, knocking everypony back. Acrid smoke wafted from the scorched earth that now stood before them. Inside the circle of destruction... A pony. He was steel grey in color with a short cropped teal mane. He was covered from neck to flank in metal barding. It was scorched, scratched, and even dented. The chestplate had a crack in the center, running halfway down its length. His face bore multiple piercings. He also had dermal spikes, a style of piercing unseen except in the most warlike warg tribes of the Griffon Empire. What could be seen of his coat had multiple scars and scorched patches of hair. As everypony sat there, trying to understand what they were seeing, multiple fillies tackled him with shouts of “Steelskin!”, “You’re back!”, and “We missed you so much!” The pony slowly got back to his hooves, both happy and uncertain as he looked from the fillies to the crowd of ponies before him. As my vision cleared, I heard voices. I wondered what hellish version of Equestria waited for me here. I could already feel that I had reverted back to my pre-jump age yet again, though my scars and piercings remained. Apparently, a crowd had gathered around me without my hearing. I got to my hooves just in time to be bowled over by four fillies. “Steelskin!” “We missed you so much!” “We thought you were dead!” What happened? I sat under the crushing embrace of what I soon recognized to be the Crusaders. I was glad that they seemed okay here. “Hey, girls, you should really let him breathe for a minute.” My vision finally cleared up enough to see an Alex that seemed to be kind. Well, at least he only has his sword and not the magical armor. Also, Dash isn’t on a leash and both her and ‘Loo seem happy and healthy. ~~~ They half-carried me back to Twilight Sparkle’s library tree as the Crusaders peppered me with questions. I stuck to the ones that only needed a single syllable answer since that was all they gave me the chance to do. “You need help getting out of that armor, or do you need to leave it on?” The last came from Matt Brennan, speaking in a gentle voice. I nodded my head with a thin smile, thankful to put my effort into keeping from being sick from the jump. I gratefully stood still while they gently undid the clasps and removed my saddlebags and armor. “Uhm... Where’s Tallic?” I barely heard Fluttershy whisper. “Oh, they got separated a few jumps in.” Pinkie Pie tilted her head sideways like she had confused herself, then smiled in that same Pinkie smile. “Uhm...” Twilight turned to me, questioningly. I closed my eyes and mustered the strength to talk. “Yeah, that’s pretty much it. I think I’ve been jumping for about thirty years. Most of that was alone.” I gave a small, resigned, smile. “The first one without him was pretty rough, but we’d been through a lot by then and I was pretty much an adult.” I decided not to bother saying that I still hoped I’d see him again. Through it all, Scootaloo was hanging on my every word. She’s still awesome, but she’s still a kid and I’m a war forged veteran. I’d better let Alex Roberts know I can’t be interested in her yet and need to make sure she has time to make sure she’ll be okay with me. Well, if this world is peaceful, I might be able to be a kid again. Better ask that. “Mister Roberts, Twilight Sparkle, who is the ruler here and are they benevolent?” My question threw them for a second. Alex was the first to respond. “Celestia and Luna, and, yes, I can wholeheartedly say that they’re good and kind.” “Does this mean you’ve been in alternate Equestrias where they weren’t?” Twilight looked horrified. Mister Roberts looked down and smiled a sad, regretful smile. I was sure he’d understand anything I told him and probably already had a good idea of what I’d seen.. My smile at the news that both sisters were together and kind faded as I remembered all the different ways Equestria had been destroyed. “Yeah, I don’t think you want to hear about them... They were pretty nasty... Let’ just say there’s lots of ways the jumpers could’ve... done bad things.” I decided to leave it in the air about the multiple insane Celestias I had met. “Oh! You poor dear!” Apparently Miss Sweetheart had come in while I was talking because I was pulled up into a rib cracking hug. I never enjoyed a hug more than that one. “We need to find you a cat now!” Pinkie Pie did another of her verbal explosions, ramming her face half an inch from my own. Everypony stared at her in confusion. “You beat yourself to the punch,” I said with a smirk. “Come on out, Ginsu.”