//------------------------------// // Chapter Three // Story: The One They Call Phoenix // by Always Shipper6 //------------------------------// A/N: Hey readers, I'm sorry this one took so long. This one may be a bit less detailed due to rushing. I said one to two per week, and I'm trying to meet that quota. It's just that school and everything else has been keeping me busy. Here's a little insight on what happened. Twilight figured out CJ was a male, the embarrassing way. The nurses ran into something very....odd...let's just say they didn't bother to determine his gender. It was kind of just stated at that moment when they took his clothes off to put him into the robe. ---------------------------------------------- "C'mon Twi, you said he finally woke up not too long ago." "I know Applejack, just give me a minute. I have to send this letter to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna before we go." Applejack stood in the library for a minute as Twilight told Spike to write a letter. After a few seconds, Spike lit the scroll on fire, sending it to the Princess's. He then went back upstairs to go back to sleep. Twilight put her bags on her back, mostly filled with notebooks and quills. Hoping to question him about where he came from and who he is. "Ok, let's go get the others, but let's get Rainbow Dash's first though, we need her to go get Fluttershy." "Ok, well what are we waitin' for, let's get moving." Applejack and Twilight walked out of the library and into Ponyville. Ponyville is your average town, not to big, not too small, but just right. However, it's like being in a place where every house is the same. Every house has the same structure to it. The roofs look like they were made out of hay and other things, most houses had two stories and had potted plants and neat little designs hanging from the windows, and in front of the house as well. Some had signs designating that they were stores. The houses looked simple, yet were very sturdy. The earth ponies knew how to build fast, and efficient. As Twilight and Applejack were walking to Rainbow Dash's house, they pass one of the very few houses that looked different in Ponyville. It looked like it was made out of desserts, and it had a sign that said Sugarcube Corner on it. They stop and Twilight asks a question. "Hey Applejack, do you know if Pinkie is working today?" "Ah don't know Twi, want ta go find out?" "Well, since here were we might as well, why backtrack and waste more time. He could leave the hospital at any moment, so we have to hurry." They both walk into Sugarcube Corner, expecting to be greeted by a very hyperactive pink pony. As they enter, a sweet aroma of cakes, cupcakes, and other sweets enter their nostrils. The store isn't that busy, just a few ponies waiting for their orders to be filled. Sugarcube Corner may look very odd on the outside, but on the inside it's very simple. There's a counter with a little bell on it that you can ring, and a few foods on display. There's a few tables for when ponies want to eat there, not very many, but enough. "Wow, they must be workin' hard today, I wonder if Pinkies helping them." Applejack asked. "I don't know Applejack, I didn't hear any singing about cupcakes or anything. Plus we didn't get greeted by her either, which is very unusual." "Weird, ya think we should ask Mr and Mrs Cake if they know where she is?" "Good Idea Applejack, lets go ask them." They walk into the kitchen and see the Cake's hard at work. They see Mrs Cake looked up to see who walked in. "Oh, hello Twilight, hello Applejack, can I help you two with anything today?" "No thank you Mrs. Cake, but thanks for asking. We were just wondering if you happen to know where Pinkie went." "I don't know, she said something about meeting a new pony in the hospital today. Apparently somepony hurt him last night, and as soon as he got to Ponyville too. So much for a warm welcome." Mrs. Cake let out a little chuckle. Twilight and Applejack both look at each other with a worried look, they knew they had to hurry now. The first pony he would wake up to would be the most hyperactive and random pony in Equestria. "Not good!" they both said simultaneously. They started to leave when Mrs. Cake asked them a question. "Hey, do you girls know how he got hurt?" Applejack turns around and describes the whole story to Mrs. Cake. She had a worried look on her face. "Oh my, is he ok? I hope he will be fine. I mean, surviving a buck from you. That's quite a feat." "Now, mah bucks ain't that hard. They hurt yea, but not enough to kill anypony. Big Mac on the other hand, I'm kind of worried when he goes to the bar every weekend." "Well now, remind me to stay away from him when he goes, I don't want to be around when he's drunk off cider. By the way, how long has he been out. Pinkie said that her Pinkie Sense told her he woke up." "Well, he's been out for about 3 days, and he just now woke up today. We were gonna go gather everypony together to go meet him. Still, ah feel bad bou-" "Well were sorry we can't stay and talk Mrs. Cake. We really need to get going. We need to get to Rainbow Dash's house, then go to the hospital." Twilight began to nudge Applejack out of the door. "Twilight, I wasn't don-" "Sorry Applejack, but we must get to Rainbow's before Pinkie scares him to death." They leave Sugarcube Corner in a hurry, racing to get to Rainbows, and then to Rarity's house. Then to the hospital to see if everything was ok. -------------------------------- Meanwhile, CJ awoke in the hospital for the second time. The first time, everything was dark so he decided to go back to sleep. This time, he decided to keep his eyes closed. He usually just lays there for a minute or two, running thoughts through his head of what he's going to do before he starts his day. When he started to set up though, he could feel something sitting on his stomach. He sat up, and the thing moved to the bottom of the bed. He smelled cotton candy, which was odd to him, so he turned his head to the left, rubbing his eyes and opening them. He didn't see anything, and the feeling something was at the bottom of his bead was gone. He looked right, and saw an open window. The only thing he could see though was the sky and some trees, with a few mountains in the background and a city on a cliff? He tried to remember what happened when he was last conscious. He remembered falling into an unknown last, meeting a rabbit, then meeing a...pegasus? He remembered everything that happened, getting bucked in the chest, meeting one of his favorite ponies, and passing out. "Ohhh...shit...I remember." "Remember what?" CJ looked up, and saw something coming out from his....hair? It was a pink pony, with sky blue eyes, and a very big smile on her face. CJ thought something happened to him, so he screamed. "AHHHHHHHHHH." The pink pony jumped at this, and screamed back. "AHHHHHHHHHH," "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" "WHY ARE WE STILL YELLING." The pink pony asked CJ why he was still screaming. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" Then Twilight, Applejack, and Rarity walked into the room. Applejack decided to calm CJ down. "Woah there, nothin' to be afraid of here, we're just little old ponies, we're not here to hurt ya." "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" CJ screamed at the three walking in. This was too much for CJ to take in at once, so all he could do was scream. "Hey, calm down dear, no pony is here to hurt you, I'm Rarity, this is Applejack, and this is Twilight." Rarity pointed to the other two, and they waved a hoof at him smiling. "And I'm Pinkie Pie! sorry if I scared you, I just wanted to welcome you to Ponyville, but since you're in the hospital it's kind of hard to do." "Wait...I'm in a hospital?" CJ looked around again. This time fully aware of his surroundings due to the startle he had earlier. It was just simply a desk to the right of the bed with a window above it. There were a few monitors that he believed had heart rate, blood pressure, and other things. A curtain separated him from the other bed, even though nopony was in it. He looked back at the desk, on it were his belongings. His shirt, boxers, pants, and jacket were all folded neatly in a stack. He was glad he had something to wear instead of this stupid gown he was wearing at the moment. Then he heard the sounds of something coming from outside the open window. Then he heard a voice sound out before it came through. He saw a cyan pegasus with a Rainbow colored mane and tail. The next pegasus was a yellow pegasus with a long flowing pink mane and tail, which he absolutely loved. "So Twilight, why did you need me to get Fluttershy and come to the hos-" Rainnbow Dash looked at what was currently in the bed next to her. She got a horrified look on her face, a few nights ago when she ran into this thing she though it was just a Diamond Dog who'd just walked away from his home underground. However, this wasn't the case. She quickly regained her composure and stuttered a bit when she talked to CJ. "W-what are you?" CJ opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He didn't know if he should tell them the truth or lie. He decided to tell them the truth, it's no use to lie when Applejack is around. She can see through anyone whose lying, he thought for a minute. 'I'm in Equestria....I, as in me myself and I......am in Equestria......Me.... and Equestria...HOLY SHIT!' Nothing could have made CJ happier than that moment. He recognized he was living the bronies dream. He didn't know what to do, he just sat there and ran all the possibilities in his head. "Um, hello, earth to whatever you are." CJ was snapped out of his thoughts as Rainbow Dash looked him in the face. "I-I'm a human, what are you?" CJ decided to play dumb, even though he knew who they all were. "I'm a pony of course, like everyone else...whats a hyooman" "Well, were a bipedal species from the planet Earth." "Earth?" Twilight began to ask as she pulled out her notebook and quills as she began to write. "Yes, it's probably a different dimension from here, if not it's very, very far away. It's an okay world, there's just a lot of very bad people that live in it. Humans are the-" Two bright lights appeared in the middle of the room, and two unicorn/ pesagsi like creatures step out. He knew them to be the alicorns Princess Luna and Princess Celestia, which he was excited to see his next favorite one which was Luna. He just decided to act stupid again. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" "CALM THYSELF AND BE QUIET." Said the loud booming voice that came from Luna. "Ok." CJ said calmly, then he saw Luna's mane. He's always wondered what those felt like. They never stopped moving, so that means somethings different about them. He knows he shouldn't, but his curiosity got the best of him. CJ reached for her mane, transfixed on it. He got closer and closer, until Luna spoke up. It wasn't in her ancient Equestrian voice, instead it was her cute, less louder voice. She stuttered when she asked him what he was doing. "W-what are you doing?" Luna asked CJ. He was snapped back into reality as Luna started backing away. "I-I'm sorry," CJ felt bad for making Luna back away. "I didn't mean to, my curiosity got the better of me." "Curiosity?" Luna stopped backing up and started walking forward very slowly, almost looking like she was studying him, CJ thought this was weird. "Y-yes, I'm naturally a very curious person, I like to experiment with things," Twilight perked up at this statement."I also like working with animals. Animals naturally came to me without being afraid or anything, while they would run from my friends. My dad said it was because I have a so called caretaker aura." Fluttershy perked up at this statement, thinking she finally had someone to help her out with all the animals. "I'm just naturally a weird person, I have many things you ponies have yet to find out. Some of you don't even know who I am. I hope to know you all soon though. I'm not a threat to any of you, I couldn't bring myself to hurt anypony. Sorry again about reaching for your mane Princess Luna, it's just that it's unlike anything I've ever seen, it's beautiful." Luna blushed deeply. "O-oh t-thank you. I-I've never had anyone comment my mane like that before." "Really, I thought you would've gotten plenty of compliments on it." "No, most of my subjects are still scared of me cause of the Nightmare moon Incident." CJ felt bad for Luna, he knew what it was like to be alone. "I'm sorry Princess, if it makes you feel any better, I'm here for you whenever you need me." "B-But we just met, I don't know, I'll have to think about it. If so, you'd be the second person like that besides my sister." "That's fine, I understand. I'm completely new to this world, and you are still wondering if I'm a threat. I'll give you some time to think it through." Luna didn't reply, she just took a step back and started whispering to her sister, then Celestia finally spoke up." "Um Mr?" "CJ, my names CJ." "Ok, exactly where are you from and why are you here." CJ smirked a bit. "Well Princess Celestia, I was just getting ready to tell them when you two teleported in." "Oh, well then please continue." "As I was saying earlier, I come from a place called Earth. I don't know if it's in a different dimension or is vary, vary far away. All I know is that I don't want to go back." "Why don't ya want ta go back?" Applejack asked. "I have absolutely nothing left there for me. I had maybe two good friends, and they were getting ready to start their own lives somewhere else. They were two years ahead of me in college, so that means for my last two years I'd have no friends at all." "W-well, what about your parents?" Fluttershy asked. CJ got a sad look on his face and put his head down."Sorry, I just don't feel like talking about it, I'll tell you guys when I'm ready to, just...not right now." "O-ok I-I'm sorry." "It's ok Fluttershy, no harm done." CJ lifted his head back up, and started describing earth again. "Earth is a very beautiful place. Luscious jungles filled with all kinds of animals and plants. Some places there's mountains as far as the eye can see. Other places like where I'm from are surrounded by forests and rivers. I wasn't much for being in big cities, too much noise and the air was very stuffy. Out in nature, I could play my clarinet in peace, and always wake up to fresh, clan air. As we know, theres never a completely peaceful place. Most humans specialize in one thing, and one thing only...war. Humans have fought since the very beginning. Starting out with clubs, to spears, to swords, then to cannons, then guns, missiles, so on so on. Thousand's have died due to war. Families lost their kids, kids lost their fathers, and fathers had to attend their own sons funeral. War is horrible, that's why I refuse to use weapons when I fight. Their just a cheap way of winning, I mean. They can save lives as well, but I prefer to use my body. One day when I was little, I saw my sister protecting me from some bullies. She got injured, bad, and had to be sent to the hospital. I spent the whole night in my room crying because I knew it was my fault that my sister went to the hospital. Because I wasn't strong enough, because I was weak. After that day, I decided I would train my body to be a living weapon. Years upon years I spent training. Day after day, week after week, and year after year. Just ruthless training my trainers put me through. Eventually, I became a master in martial arts, I even surpassed my own teachers. On my last day I finally though that I had done it. I have finally made my body a living weapon that can handle almost any situation. I was ready to take on the world. As you can tell, there are some very kind and caring people in my world. However, there's more evil and hatred more than anything. I even lost my parents due to a war, but like I said earlier, that's for another time." Everyone stood there just staring at CJ, except for Twilight, she was writing so fast that she was burning a hole in the paper. When he said that he lost his parents though, she stopped and looked up with everyone else. She had slightly heard the conversation. Enough to make her feel bad for CJ. "Wha- OOF." Fluttershy, Luna, Twilight, and Applejack hugged CJ, who just now remembered he was hurt. "haha- ow. What's wrong girls, you ok?" Luna's hugging CJ...what? Well then. "W-were sorry you lost your parents, but what happened to your sister?" They all looked up at CJ's face, and it was beginning to tear up. "S-She died a year after she protected me the first time. The school bullies decided to pick on me one day walking home from school, and my sister had to protect me. We were on the sidewalk, right at a speeding intersection, and the bully pushed her out into the road, which is where she got hit by a car. Cars are like carriages here, but bigger and faster. From where she was only 8, she was instantly dead once the car hit her. I was devastated. I was the one who caused my sister to die, it was all my fault. My parent's said she was in a better place, and she was. However, my one and only sister died...because of me." Tears were streaming down CJ's face, the rest were as crying as well. "W-why are you ponies crying?" "Y-Your life back on earth, i-it was s-s-so awful." "I-I know, but now I'm here with you ponies. Nothing could make me any happier than I am now." CJ had stopped crying, and was now trying to get them so stop. He finally succeeded after a few minutes of calming them down. Luna blushed again, she hadn't cried since she was freed from Nightmare Moon, and here she was, crying over some human's story. "Hehe, um...girls...could you please get off, I'm kind of hurt you know...ow." They all got off, and every single one started blushing, except for Luna, who was already blushing. "Um, could somepony point me towards the stallions room please." They all pointed towards a brown door to the left, It had a stallion on one side, and a mare on the other. "Ok, thanks." CJ sat up in his bed and partially removed his covers to look at his chest. There were two perfectly shaped, and spaced hoof prints, and he just shrugged the pain off like he always does. "Ah'm sorry for buckin' ya those few nights back, I thought you were tryin' ta hurt Rainbow over there, but ta find out you were just ticklin' her." "It's okay Applejack, no hard feelings. You were just trying to protect Rainbow Dash, which I can understand," "Well, ah'm still sorry about doin' that too ya." "I said it's okay Applejack, take my word, it's fine." "Well....ok then CJ, still, ah feel bad. ah'll get over it soon though." "Ok, good. Now if you all will excuse me, I have to use the restroom." CJ removed the covers and hit bare feet hit the cold floor, sending a chill up his spine. He stood up and noticed something felt...different. The robe he was wearing was meant for stallions, not 6'3 tall humans, so it was insanely short on him. He felt a breeze between his legs, and he looked down, and there they were, just flying in the wind. He looked over to everyone and noticed very deep red blushes on all of them, except for Celestia. She seemed to only have a slight blush, which wade it even weirder. "U-UM E-EXCUSE M-ME!" CJ grabbed his clothes and ran into the bathroom and turned around, slamming the door behind him, he then put his back up against the door and let out a deep sigh. "Phew, that was embarrassing." His back started sliding down the door. "Now what am I supposed to do? They've seen the one place I've never let anyone see...ever. Now all these ponies have seen...ALL of me...I don't know if I should be scared or nervous." He looked around to find the toilet. He saw it was just like the toilets back on earth, only a bit shorter. "Well that's convenient. I guess I'll do my business and head back out." CJ did his usual business, flushed, washed his hands, then walked out. However, before he turned the knob he thought about what happened a few minutes ago. He had no choice... "Well, here goes nothing." He walked out and looked at the mane 6, Luna, and Celestia. He noticed they were a bit blurry. "Oh yea that's right, hey Twilight." "Yes CJ?" "Do you know where I can find my glasses, they must have fell off my head when I passed out." "Oh, you mean these." She floats up the only thing left on the desk besides his clarinet case and jacket. They were his usual, nerdy looking glasses. They weren't like the type with the tape in the middle, just normal glasses. He just looked nerdy in them was all. "Why do you need these, most ponies have good vision." "Oh, well you see, human's eyes are prone to more stuff, kind of like TV, which if you sit too close can make your eyes go blind. So since my vision is 20/200 in my left and 20/40 in my right, I have to wear specialized glasses." "Oh ok.....but what's a TV?" "A TV is something that uses a multitude of pictures or computers to make motion pictures. Most people watch it cause of the news or weather predictions for the week." "Weather predictions?" Rainbow Dash was curious of this because most pagasi told the other ponies what the weather was going to be like. "I guess you could say our world is like one big, gigantic Everfree Forest. Every single plant grows on its own, the weather acts on its own, and everything else takes care of themselves." They all look horrified by this statement. "Don't worry, It was nothing to be scared of. The weather was usually predicted correctly, so it's partially related to here, it's not so bad. No need to be scared." They all calmed down again. 'Gees, these ponies seem to be really bothered by things that work by themselves. Better steer clear of those subjects.' CJ goes over to the desk and grabs his jacket and slips it on, and everyone sees the words Phoenix embedded on the back of it. "CJ, why does your jacked say Phoenix on the back of it?" Rarity decided to ask CJ. "Oh, this old thing. It was a gift from my bro's after I graduated from high school, back when I had friends. They always called me Phoenix after I saved them from a crazy guy with a knife. He tried to kill them, and I walked past the alley at the perfect time to hear them scream for help. I looked, saw, and acted. He was tough, and he was skilled with his knife as well. He managed to cut me a lot, and even stab me once. I fell to the ground, suffering from blood loss and the wounds he caused me. I was passing out due to blood loss, I could feel the world start to fade. Suddenly, something inside me told me not to give up, to get up and fight this person. I don't know what happened, but before I knew it I was standing up. My stomach had a gash, and I had a lot of cuts and I believe one stab, and there I was standing. The guy had a very horrified look on his face, and my friends were screaming something, but I ignored them and focused on the problem was in front of me. I ran up towards the guy with the knife, as he went for another stab right at my chest. I stopped and caught the hand that the knife was in, I twisted it and heard a satisfying crack. I let go and the guy dropped his knife, screaming in pain because of his now broken hand. I grabbed the knife and tossed it over to my friends, then diverted my attention back to the person with the broken hand. I ran up, grabbed his head, and slammed it down on my knee. I heard a slight crack and felt his nose bend on my knee, knowing I broke it. When I let go of his head, he hit the ground, out cold. I began walking towards my friends to see if they were ok, but when I got to them I fell to the ground and passed out due to blood loss. I awoke the next day in the hospital covered in bandages. The nurses said I should have died from that many wounds, and blood loss as well, but I didn't. When I got released from the hospital, my bros were waiting for me, wanting to tell me what happened. They swore up and down that I had wings for a split second, but I didn't believe them, and still don't. I'm the kind of person that has to see it to believe it." They all just set there quietly, not saying a word. CJ decides to speak up again. "What? Did I say something?" "No, but you said earlier you were a master of martial arts right?" Twilight asked with a curious tone, and just now catching this. "Yes, I still train every now and then to keep myself in shape." "So why didn't you dodge Applejack's hooves?" "Oh, my glasses were dirty from where dust flew up around me on the road, and it was night so I couldn't see well." "Oh, so basically you were blinded." "No, I wasn't completely blind, my vision was just very impaired." "So you were..kind of blind?" "Haha, yea, I guess you could say that. Now, when do I get checked out of this hospital?" CJ looked around, and noticed the sun was beginning to set. "The nurse said you could leave whenever you're ready, just make sure to check out." Twilight said, still writing down on her notes. "Ok, so is everyone ready to go, cause I'm hungry, and need to find someplace to stay tonight." Celestia and Luna look at each other, then Luna speaks up. "We must leave CJ, it's almost time to raise the moon, and sister needs to finish some royal duties before bed." "Ok, I guess I'll see you ponies later then?" "I-I guess, but we must go, bye." "Ok, see you ponies later." They both teleport out of the hospital, and CJ grabs his clarinet case and makes sure he still has everything. "iPod, check. Headphones," CJ opens his clarinet case and pulls out big black headphones, they're apparently Crossfade V moda headphones, some very good quality headphones. "Check. Wallet, check. Clarinet, check. Me, check. Well I guess that's everything, so I'm ready when you girls are." He looks over to the mane 6, they gave him a weird look. "What?" CJ looks around himself. "Is something wrong?" "No, but what are those things you said?" Twilight began walking towards CJ, examining his stuff. "What are these things?" "Oh, there things I had with me when I came here from Earth. I'll tell you about them later. For now though can we get something to eat, I'm starving." "O-Oh yea, well I guess we're ready." CJ hears everyone's stomach growl, including his. "Haha, I guess we're all hungry. Lets go find something to eat." CJ walks out of his room, signs out, and begins to walk out of the hospital. He turns around and looks at the 6 ponies before him. 'I finally have friends, they may be a different species, but friends nonetheless. I couldn't be any happier than I am right now. They walk out of the hospital and head into Ponyville, CJ leading them for some weird reason. "Um girls, I don't know where anything is in Ponyville, so could one of you please lead me to a restaurant that serves something I could eat." "Oh yea, I know this great place, it has everything you could want. It had cupcakespiescandycakesmuffinsand-" "Pinkie, we get it, lets go to Sugarcube Corner girls." Twilight announced. They all agree as they follow Pinkie, who is bouncing happily and continuing with her conversation. "Thenwecouldhangoutandhavefunandparty- wait a minute." Pinkie stops in mid bounce and slowly starts sliding down, somehow defying gravity. "What Pinkie?" CJ asks, nervous because he knows what going to happen. He counts down '3....2....1...now.' Pinkie lets out a large gasp then dashes towards Sugarcube Corner. "What...was...that?" CJ asked, still acting stupid. "It's just Pinkie being Pinkie." Twilight assured him. He knew what it was. 'A party, great, just great. Sugarcube Corner is on the other side of town from the looks of it. That's plenty of time for Pinkie and her Party cannon. He let out a long sigh and just continued walking with the rest of the five towards Sugarcube Corner. ------------------------------------- Meanwhile, back at the Canterlot castle Celestia and Luna were getting ready to go to bed. "Sister," Luna asked "Do you think CJ is the one?" "I don't know sister, for now we will have to wait and see." "When will we know if he's who we think he is?" "In due time my dear sister, in due time." Luna left Celestia's room so she could sleep. When Luna got to her room she sat her tiara on her dresser by her bed. She then pulled back the covers with her magic and laid down. "Should I really trust CJ," She thought "He seems like a nice guy, but the last time I opened up to somepony they betrayed me, and I don't want to go through that again. He seems like he wouldn't, but its just..." Luna let out a sigh "I guess I'll try to trust him, but I will test him first. The only problem is how?" Luna thought for a few hours. "I've got it! I'll make sure to put that plan into action within the next few days." Luna went to sleep after thinking out a very clever plan to see how trustful CJ is. Hoping he would at least survive, hopefully. ----------------------- A/N: Well, I decided to cut this chapter in half, there was just too much to do. I have an American History project due Tuesday, and I have a ton of Spanish to do. Sorry if this chapter is worse than the last one, I tried, but I was rushed trying to meet my 1-2 chapter weekly quota. I'm getting used to this, I think. But until next time, Always Shipper6 out. Don't forget, I'm always open to Criticism, so judge away.