Homecoming of a Jumper

by tosety

02 Dreams of a Jumper

Luna walked the dreamscape, stepping in here and there to banish a nightmare and impart wisdom.

She passed by some of the humans’ nightmares since she had helped all she could, not to mention being thoroughly disturbed by the horrors they relived of what their species perpetrated on each other.

And then there were Matthew Brennan’s.

Luna gave a slight shudder.

Something drew her closer to another one of those oppressively dark dreams. Her curiosity as to whom it belonged caused her to peek in despite her better judgement.

What she found shocked her. It was not a human dream. It was the dream of a pony.

A colt in battered armor stood in the massive clawprint of a dragon. Before him stood an army of powerful beings. She quickly recognized Sombra, Discord, and herself in the form of Nightmare Moon, but the jumpers were there too. Their expressions were cruel and their mouths and hands dripped blood. Celestia, Cadance, and even the Bearers of the Elements were also there; twisted and corrupted into monsters that would make a pony run to Tirek for protection.

Dwarfing all of them was a dragon she recognized as Tallic, but it was not the Tallic she remembered. If these demons had a general, this corrupted dragon would fill that position well.

Behind the colt cowered all manner of foals, even one or two alicorn fillies. To either side there lay the bodies of the fallen. Her, Celestia, the jumpers, the Bearers, even copies of the villains. They were all pure and uncorrupted, but dead and lifeless.

In the far distance stood his parents, unable to come to his aid.

The armored colt trembled in fear, but stood resolute as a twisted copy of himself arrogantly strutted forward. The monstrous twin was covered in spikes and scales, with the jaws and fangs of a wolf. Its eyes glowed faintly and its smile was that of a predator.

Instead of fighting, it trotted over to stand beside and slightly behind him.

Luna watched as one enemy of Equestria after another stepped forward to be beaten back by him. Each time they were defeated, they got up and joined the ranks of the enemy. Each time he got knocked down, his twin moved a little closer.

After an eternity of fighting, the poor colt had reached his limit. He lay, unable to rise to his feet as his enemies laughed and taunted. His twin reached out a hoof and pulled the colt to his hooves. Once he was standing, he tried to let go, but his twin held fast.

Luna stood in shocked horror as a dream interpretation of something she knew all too well played out before her. Hers may have been jealousy while his was desperation, but the result would be the same. The battered colt fought against his twin, pulling on his foreleg feebly. Sadly, it was no use. His twin’s grip was too strong and he was too badly weakened. She watched as it pulled him into itself.

The newly nightmared colt turned to his enemies with a laugh. First to fall was Alex Roberts. He spun on a foreleg and bucked in Alex’s direction despite being several tail lengths away. His hooves, turning into sharpened spears, lanced out, impaling his enemy. He turned and grinned before pulling them back and turning to the others.

The monstrous colt laughed and she heard the familiar ring of cruel joy.

Turning on the others with morbid glee, he speared them or ripped out their throats until only the dragon stood before him.

It roared and a thousand tiny blades of metal sliced him as he charged forward, still laughing even as he bled. He made a mighty leap and was smacked out of the air by the dragon’s claw. He got to his hooves, smiling as he wiped a bit of blood from the side of his mouth before charging again. This time he dodged the claw and sliced down its side.

With each attack, the dragon grew fearful even as the colt grew more monstrous and deformed.

It had the dragon on the run, dodging the dragon’s claws and teeth, bucking the spears of metal out of the air as the dragon tried to attack from a distance.

Finally, the last blow was dealt. It jumped past the dragon, raking a knifed foreleg across the dragon’s throat.

Blood spewed from the dragon’s neck and the monster stepped underneath the flow, acting for all Equestria like it was taking a shower. When the blood stopped flowing, it stepped towards those it had been protecting. It smiled at them and, lifting a forehoof shaped like a knife, it slowly licked the blood off the blade, savoring it as it smiled cruelly at the foals it had been protecting.

They cowered as it walked past them. If anything, their fear gave it amusement, but it continued past with nothing but the ever present arrogant smirk.

It was approaching...

The tree!

The Tree of Harmony stood before them. Luna was too horrified to even think as the creature casually walked up to the tree, smirked, and bucked it.

The trunk shattered.

The Elements fell to the dirt.

The monster walked over to each in turn and brought a hoof down, shattering it.

Luna finally remembered herself as it stood over the last gem. It raised his hoof above the Element of Magic and-

”Begone!”

Luna drove away the nightmare more quickly and thoroughly than she had ever done in her life. An empty grayness was left in its place, neither light nor dark. It was a field of nothingness; the canvas that even ideas of light and shadow were painted on.

She walked over to the poor colt that was curled up on his side and whispered. “It is over, little Steelskin.” She nuzzled his side to add to the reassurance.

Slowly, he struggled to his hooves and gave Luna a sad bow.

”Thank you, Your Highness,” He said with a defeated voice.

She wrapped him in her mane and rested her head on his neck.

“We had wished thee to have some time to adjust to thy homecoming, but it would seem we were in error,” Luna said as Steelskin took a shuddering breath. “We will visit thee come the morrow.”

“Fare thee well,” She called as she was pulled from his grasp by the onset of wakefulness.

Steelskin opened his eyes to the darkness of his house, emotions warring within him. Hope and comfort were slowly winning out over fear and guilt. The memory of the scent of Luna’s mane was still in his nostrils. It was the scent of a spring evening; the scent of a field just after nightfall.

A popping kitten nuzzled him, wrapping its tentacles around his neck and purring.

“Thanks, Ginsu,” Steelskin said as he petted the kitten.

It was still hours before Celestia’s dawn, but he knew from past experience he’d feel worse if he tried to get back to sleep. Instead, he climbed out of bed and went through a few forms that Butterscotch taught him. He was always calmed by the familiar moves and the effort put into doing them both accurately and with all his strength.

It didn’t hurt that Ginsu stayed on his back through every twist, turn, and flip.

After he had run through the exercises, he walked outside and sat down to quiet his mind and watch Luna’s moon slide towards the horizon.

“Steelskin?” A blue earth pony stallion and a light gray pegasus mare stared in open mouthed shock.

I stumbled in confusion as I saw two familiar faces. The blue with charcoal mane and the silvery gray with teal mane were both sights too wonderful to believe. They were staring at me with the same wonderment and concern as I had.

“Mom? Dad?” No, it can’t be them, they died in the train wreck.

They rushed at me, scooping me up and nuzzling me. “How can this be? You died in the train wreck. We buried you,” They whispered as I returned their embrace.

I pulled my head back to drink in their appearance. It had been so long since I’d seen more than a picture of them. My dad with his vividly blue coat over well defined muscles and a close cropped charcoal mane, still looking like a stallion out of boot camp. My mother with her sleek silvery coat and a teal mane long enough to bury myself in. I couldn’t pull my eyes off them for fear that they’d vanish.

“Reunion party!”

The three of us let out sobbing laughs as Pinkie Pie dragged us off to Sugarcube corner.

“So...” My mom looked at me, trying to figure out how to even ask her question. It was pretty obvious what she wanted to know.

“I’m a jumper,” I volunteered, having smelled the scent of Alex and possibly Matt in this Ponyville.

“You mean like the humans?” My father seemed to be recovering a little faster than my mom.

“Yeah, I’m not from this reality... You said I died in a train wreck?” They nodded slowly, giving a silent affirmative to my question. “In my reality, it was you two who died.” Tears came to my eyes, mirroring theirs.

Ginsu took this opportunity to make an appearance.

A midnight blue furred tentacle rose out of my saddlebags followed by a pair of yellow eyes.

“Meow?”

Mom screamed and dad jumped out of the booth, ready to fight. The other customers jumped, while I let out a quiet sigh.

“What is that thing?” Ginsu fled back into the depths of my bag at the sound of my mom’s scream.

“You’ve got a popping cat in your bag!” My dad approached me, staring at the bag warily.

“Don’t worry, he’s tame.” I got out of the booth and carefully pulled Ginsu out, setting him on the table and keeping a reassuring hoof on his back.

The two adults stared at Ginsu. A high pitched squee increased in volume as a yellow and pink blur flew across the bakery.

“A popping kitten! I haven’t seen a popping cat since...” Fluttershy’s face fell for a second before she looked back at me with wide, pleading eyes. “May I hold him?’

Fluttershy’s enthusiasm as she picked up and petted Ginsu set this reality’s version of my parents at ease... mostly.

“So... You said you’re not...” My mom sat, trying to get the words out.

No, I should think of her as Straitwing.

“Yeah, I’m not your son... and...”

“Oh, don’t be a frowny face! Just because you aren’t exactly the same as the ones who died doesn’t mean you can’t be good enough for each other.” Pinkie grabbed all three of us and pulled us into a group hug.

I wonder if I’ll ever get used to Pinkie popping up out of nowhere.

“So that would explain...” Toughstuff motioned to my body, taking in the piercings and armor before looking over at Ginsu, who was batting at Fluttershy’s hoof.

“You know, Pinkie’s right,” Fluttershy whispered, “You could just not worry about that and just be a family.”

Steelskin roused himself from his memories. The sun had been raised and Ginsu had gone hunting. He made a mental note to take him to see Fluttershy so she could tell the little kitten what was appropriate to hunt here.

On his way inside to make some breakfast, Alex and Matt called to him from down the road.

“Feel like hitting Garbo’s for breakfast?”

Steelskin responded with a smile and trotted over to them. “Is Gary working there yet?”

Matt stared at him from behind his visor for a second before smiling. “Yep, he started yesterday, Pinkie.”

Steelskin laughed. “Yeah, I probably do sound like Pinkie when I do that.”

They walked along, Steelskin doing a halfway decent job of being happy.

“Glad to see no hangover from last night. How did you sleep?” Alex looked concernedly at Steelskin.

“Well...” He thought for a minute, deciding how honest to be. “Luna visited, so it ended up being a lot better than it usually is.”

"Luna learned a long time ago that my dreams are best left undisturbed. I still think she'd have problems looking me in the eyes,” Matt offered. “Then again I have a hard time trying not to have a panic attack any time we're in the same room, so I think we're about even."

“Oh yeah,” Steelskin added. “She said she’d be visiting me today... I think she wants to talk to me about what she saw.”

“Need to talk about it with us?” Alex ruffled his mane.

“No.” Steelskin realized he was a little short in his response. “I mean, I’d rather not think about it right now. Let’s just say it was my biggest fear.”

They had invited me to stay in the room that would’ve been mine. After a night of tossing and turning while my brain refused to shut down, I decided I’d take what I can get and forget trying to distance myself from them.

“So we’re going to Fluttershy’s to have her tell your... cat... what animals he can-” My mom swallowed hard. “Kill?”

I have her an embarrassed smile. “Pretty much. I could get some meat that doesn’t look like an animal anymore, but Ginsu is a hunter and tends to have a bit too much energy if he’s not allowed to hunt.” I felt the place on my foreleg where he recently scratched pretty deep. ”He also gets a little rough in how he plays.”

“It’s a fact of life, dear,” My dad added. “Makes me a bit queasy too, but that is the natural order.”

Ginsu suddenly popped off my back and started hissing in the direction of the forest next to us.

I smelled timber wolf and quickly put myself between the trees and my parents. Not gonna let them die on me again.

Time slowed down as my adrenaline kicked into overdrive.

The timber wolf stepped out from the trees.

My dad started moving to get in front of me.

Ginsu hissed and swiped at it.

Through it all, I heard my mother screaming.

The wolf growled and lunged at Ginsu, but he popped sideways and leapt at the wolf’s neck. He connected, wrapping his tentacles around the wolf and scratching it with its hind legs while trying to bite at its neck. The wolf lifted up a paw and knocked Ginsu off like it was scratching at fleas. Ginsu landed and leapt again, this time, popping in midair. The wolf was ready for him and grabbed him out of the air with its jaws.

I lost it.

I charged the wolf, sending out a hoof club to smash it to splinters before it could close its jaws. As I charged over, it started to re-form itself and I bucked the pieces out of the air.

That was the last I remembered of the fight.

When I came to my senses, I was surrounded in splinters. I looked over and saw Ginsu standing with one paw raised and a cut on his cheek. The cut was shallow and his paw was tender, but I couldn’t find anything obviously wrong with it.

I looked up at my parents to see them staring at me in shock.

“Are you okay?” I started to ask before seeing them flinch away from me.

It was then that I realized what I had done and what it must have looked like to ponies.

What I looked like to ponies.

Does that mean I’m not a pony anymore?

Alex noticed how sad and tired Steelskin looked and reached down to grab Steelskin and ruffle his mane; something that always cheered up Scootaloo.

Steelskin jumped back, rearing up on his hind legs, forehooves sprouting blades.

He quickly noticed what he did and went back onto all fours, hooves returning to their normal form.

“I’m sorry,” He said, looking down and starting to turn away. “I think I should stay home.”

“No, please come. I should’ve known better than to do that to a fellow jumper. You just looked so much like Scoots there, I forgot how one of us would react.” Alex rubbed the back of his neck. “Rule one, never startle a jumper.”

Steelskin nodded uncertainly and continued walking with them in silence.

As Garbo’s came into view, Matt finally spoke up. "That's the thing. Everyone wants a sharp knife, so you hone the edge of it until it can cut stone. What people forget is that knives can cut their users too. The same instincts we've had to hone to stay alive are just as likely to cause us to slip up and hurt those we care about." Matt paused and ran his hand through his facial hair. "It's not easy, but you get used to it."

Steelskin gave a nod of understanding before whispering to himself “Not worth it.”

“Oh, you poor little thing!” In typical Fluttershy style, she was ignoring us and focusing squarely on Ginsu. “They say you attacked a timber wolf?” She acted like he was answering her, pausing between each question as she bandaged his cheek. “You should know better than that! You’re much too small to hurt them. Please let us ponies handle those till you’re bigger.”

Fluttershy looked up in concern after examining his paw. “He’s got a splinter,” She whispered. “You’ll need to take him to Twilight to get it pulled and the magic cleansed before it starts growing.”

Fluttershy’s eyes went wide with realization before she looked over at my dad. “How did you...”

Toughstuff looked over at me before responding. “He... smashed it pretty good.”

“You’ll need Twilight to check you over, too. Those splinters are how they reproduce.”

We gave our thanks and started to leave.

“Be careful, timber wolves can re-form after they’ve been knocked apart,” Fluttershy warned.

My parents looked worried at that piece of information.

“Not unless there’s a piece bigger than your hoof.”

The three of them stared at me in shock as I realized I had a smile on my face.

“Alex, Matt! Great to see you!” A griffin filly smiled at them, batting her eyelashes and swishing her tail slightly as they walked through the door. “The usual?”

They looked back at Steelskin.

“Better leave off the bacon this morning, Georgette,” Alex responded.

“Don’t worry about it,” Steelskin said with a sheepish smile. “I... kinda like the smell of it.”

They sat down and Steelskin picked at his omelette.

There was something going on outside.

“How do you deal with it?” Steelskin stared at Matt. “Being... sharpened.” He stuck his fork in a piece and lifted it to his mouth. “...Not being a pony.”

Both of them opened their mouths to reply when there was a commotion at the door.

“Princess Celestia!”

“Greetings, young griffin. My sister and I are visiting Ponyville and would like to sample your dishes since we have some leisure time this morning.”

The poor griffin stood with beak half open for a second before recovering.

“Yes, your majesties. Thank you so much for gracing our establishment. I can have a table ready for you in moments.” Georgette bowed to the diarchs.

“No need. We would rather not put your patrons off their ease with our presence,” Celestia said with a larger than normal smile and a glance at the humans. “We have not had simple fare in ages and heard your establishment is one of the best. Please allow us to purchase one of everything on the pony menu, I think the phrase is ‘to go’, if you would be so kind.”

“We would also request that you send our greetings to Alex Roberts and Matthew Brennan,” Luna added, glancing over to where they were sitting. “and please inform Steelskin that he is invited to join us in the eastern field at his leisure.”

“Yes, your majesties, though we are sorry to say our kitchen is too small to prepare such a large order quickly. Would you be willing to come back in half an hour?” An older griffin mare stepped up to rescue her daughter from the unexpected royal visit. “I believe we can have it ready by then.”

“That would be more than adequate,” Celestia said, her smile returning to its usual benevolence.

The three jumpers saw and heard everything. Steel looked between his plate and the princesses a few times before Alex said “Go ahead. They obviously don’t want to rush you, but I know how a royal summons feels.”

Steelskin nodded agreement before grabbing a few more hasty bites. “I know, but...” He looked over at Alex’s plate. “I know you shouldn’t let me, but... can I have a little meaty courage?”

Alex laughed and pushed his plate over.