//------------------------------//
// Chapter 11 
// Story: A New Beginning in a New Land 
// by REDACTED99999 
//------------------------------//

Someone was poking him. That’s all he could register in his half-asleep state. The second thing he registered as he tried to turn around was that the floor was hard, but his head was laying on something soft and warm.
The poking turned into a gentle shaking of the shoulder as he started to grumble about needing more sleep. Then the shaking became a little too strong and he realized with a cry of pain that it was his injured shoulder that was being shaken. This seemed to be the signal for the rest of the body to tell him how stupid it was to sleep on the floor. Every bit of him seemed to hurt, especially his injured shoulder that burned with the intensity of the sun. He was really paying for disregarding the injury as quickly as he had, using his shoulder as if it wasn’t there at all. That’s what he had done with his other injuries, out of lack of choice though. In the forest he didn’t have time to lay down and relax until the injury got better, he had to find food and make sure timberwolves didn’t come too close to his camp. The way he was treating them, he was surprised he was still alive. He had a theory that bacteria were lazy in Equestria.
“Oh. Uhm… Sorry” Turned out princess Twilight was his own personal alarm.
“Was goingon?” His pillow, whom turned out to be Rainbow Dash, slurred out.
He was still in too much agony to say anything.
Rainbow looked around like a confused puppy before grabbing her head in pain. “Ahh… What happened last night?”
“You got drunk.” Twilight said with a disapproving tone. “You crashed four times while trying to fly indoors. I can only imagine how many more times you would have crashed if Jax hadn’t decided to carry you around.”
Rainbow Dash turned to Jax. “Thanks.” She said quietly.
“Don’t mention it.” He managed to get out through clenched teeth. They both looked at him with worry.
“Are you okay?” Twilight finally asked.
“No. Nothing you can do anything about though”
“I know a pain reducing spell. Here let me just…” She pointed her horn at him. He was just about to protest but was too late. Everything happened quickly after that: A violet aura appeared over his shoulder, it felt sort of like a hand putting pressure on it. Then it felt like the aura was violently rejected by his body, which caused it to fly like a projectile straight at Rainbow Dash, who was too dazed to react at all.
Good news: The pain was gone.
Bad news: Rainbow Dash was screaming like she had just been stabbed repeatedly.
For a second they both just stared at her, too dazed and confused to react at all while she was writhing on the ground.
“What did you DO?!” Jax yelled, near panic. He quickly slid over and placed Rainbow’s head on his lap so she wouldn’t hurt herself in her convulsions.
“I didn’t… it wasn’t supposed to… I…” Twilight stuttered in disbelief. “It was supposed to reduce pain, not transfer it!” Panic was rising in her voice as Rainbow’s screams were becoming unbearable to listen to. Jax wanted more than anything in the world to stop those screams that should never come out of a pony’s mouth.
“Well undo it! Transfer it back! Something!”
“I can’t cancel it because it’s no longer my spell!”
“Well then-!”
“What in tarnation is going on in here?!” Applejack interrupted from the barn entrance, Big Mac and a tiny pony behind her.
“Well then use the same spell you tried to use on me!” Jax finished his sentence.
“Rainbow Dash what’s wrong?” Applejack and co. hurried over to us.
“What happened to Rainbow?” The tiny pony who was probably part of the apple family asked, on the verge of tears already. She had probably never heard anything scream like they were about to die.
His own worry intensified.
“Twilight!”
“What’s goin on?”
“Eeyup!”
“QUIEEET!” Twilight finally snapped. “I’m trying to think! Jax I can’t use the same pain reducing spell because magical and natural pain are completely different. Everypony just give me time to think. I’ll figure it out.”
Everyone in the room shut up, while Twilight talked to herself. No one could hear what she was saying because Rainbow’s screams were too loud. It was like they were stabbing Jax right in the heart. This was his fault. She was experiencing his pain.
“Jax, let go of her.” Twilight finally said, catching Jax completely by surprise.
“What?”
Twilight looked determined. “You are most likely the reason the last spell went wrong. I don’t want to take a chance right now. Please let go of her.”
Jax looked at her for a second before he nodded and turned to Applejack. “Take her head. Make sure she doesn’t hurt herself.”
“Sure thing sugarcube.” Applejack nodded her understanding. 
The second Applejack had gotten a good grip on Rainbow, Twilight’s horn started to glow, then Rainbow’s entire body was covered in her violet aura. A tense second passed, where everyone looked with anticipation. Rainbow seemed to tense up with everyone else, before her body relaxed and sweet silence finally covered the room like a warm blanket. Everyone looked relieved when the soul-piercing screams finally stopped.
“So… Would somepony finally tell us what’s goin’ on?” Applejack sounded very tired. The whole incident had lasted a minute at most, but Jax was exhausted as well. It felt like all his energy had been sapped out of his body.
“It was my fault.” Twilight said, her voice heavy with guilt. “I tried to cast a spell on Jax before making sure his body would react appropriately.”
Jax shook his head. “You couldn’t have known Twilight. Let’s just… Let’s get Rainbow to the hospital or something. Make sure she’s okay.”
Everyone agreed on that and Jax gently picked up Rainbow Dash, with both arms this time. She looked like she was asleep.
“So… What happened?” The tiny apple pony asked, sounding worried. Jax noticed she didn’t have a mark, which he would have to ask about later. Along with why the hell Twilight was waking him at sunrise.
Twilight explained what happened while they walked. Big Mac decided to stay behind on the farm to get started on work, while Applejack and momentarily dubbed Tiny Pony came with, making sure everything was okay.

***

Luna sighed in relief. Everything seemed to have turned out fine. She had just lowered the moon and was getting ready to sleep in a tree when the screams started. By the time she had found the source, the Apple family had already entered the barn. She must admit, it looked bad, Jax sitting with a screaming Rainbow like that… for a moment she had assumed he had done something bad. Then Twilight had called for silence, and Luna had seriously debated with herself whether she should go in and offer help or not. Before she could come to a conclusion the screams stopped, and the group was making their way out.
She was standing behind some apple trees, looking at them walking towards town. She had spent some time thinking last night, about how she could follow Jax when he went to town, and had concluded that an invisibility spell would be better than a transformation spell. She didn’t want to risk Pinkie throwing a ‘welcome to Ponyvile’ party for her, having to lie to everypony about who she was and why she was there. She didn’t even know how long she was going to stay.
She could, of course, see the bright side of the transformation spell as well. She would be able to talk with Jax without fearing him recognizing her, and it cost less energy to uphold. In the end she didn’t want to form any relationships on lies. She was Luna, princess of the night.
Of course there was nothing wrong with observing a bit before meeting. Nothing wrong with walking around invisible at all…

***

So it turned out that she was named Apple Bloom, not Tiny Pony. Who would have guessed? Another apple related name in a family who sell apples for a living. Nothing weird about that at all.
Jax was sitting in front of Apple Bloom in the hospital.
“So let me get this straight.” He said to confirm. “You, Apple Bloom, part of the Apple clan, are part of something called the Cutie Mark Crusaders, along with two others.”
“Eeyup.”
“And the purpose of the Cutie Mark Crusaders is to find your marks.”
“Eeyup.”
“Which appear when you find your special talent.
“That’s correct.”
“And instead of sitting down and thinking about what your good at, you just try a bunch of random stuff?”
“We have thought about it! If we knew what we were good at we would already have our cutie marks.” The frown adorning her face soon turned into a smile. “Hey! Maybe our cutie marks have something to do with you!”
“Well that would suck.” Jax answered honestly. Apple Bloom looked at him in shock, obviously having trouble understanding.
“I’m fairly certain I’m the only one of my kind on this planet.” He explained. “I can’t be a hundred percent certain, but if I am, whoever gets a mark that’s human related would have to stick with me wherever I may go, whatever I may do, for the rest of my or her life if she wants to keep doing what she’s good at. And even then she would have to get a job, because I’m fairly certain I don’t have the capital to pay anyone to follow me around.”
Apple Bloom looked crestfallen. “Oh… I guess that makes sense.”
He was just about to cheer her up when the doctor came out to the waiting room. They all got up as he headed over to them. “She is going to be alright. We used a spell for her throat so she’s not going to be hoarse when she wakes up.” He stated after bowing to Twilight. “I tried to retrieve the spell matrix as you asked princess, but it would seem that it was so unstable that your sleeping spell completely ruined it.”
“That’s… that’s fine doctor. Thank you. Can we go see her?” Twilight politely asked, obviously relieved.
“Of cour-“ The good doctor started before getting cut off by a familiar voice.
“Let go of me! I’m fine I tell you!” Rainbow Dash came into view along with a nurse that had a heart as her mark.
She was buried under her two friends within a second, both trying to make sure she was okay and give her a reassuring hug. Jax hung back a bit with Apple Bloom so Twilight and Applejack could make sure everything was fine. He had never been so relieved in his entire life, but he felt that the oldest friends deserved to go first. 
“… screaming like a bull in a rodeo.” Applejack just finished explaining when he decided to go over.
“Takes more than a little pain to take out Rainbow Dash though.” Jax felt that the rainbow mare deserved a little praise after what she had been through.
“You know it!” Rainbow answered, cocky grin in place.
Jax knelt down so he could look her in the eye, serious again. “How bad was it?”
Her grin was replaced by a thoughtful frown. “I’ve had my fair share of crashes Jax, I thought I knew what pain felt like.  This was... more painful than anything I have experienced. It felt like a pack of timberwolves had gotten to me, biting and scratching almost every bit of my body, while my shoulder felt like it was caught on fire. Worst of all was how helpless I felt about it, all I could do was scream and hope that the pain would stop.” She looked down on the ground, shivering at the memory.
Jax sighed. “I’m sorry you had to feel that Rainbow. It sounds like you got more than my current pain transferred. It sounds like you felt every bit of pain I felt since coming here, all at once. As you can probably tell by all these bandages, I haven’t been all that lucky while in the Everfree.”
To his surprise Rainbow Dash leaned in and hugged him. “Don’t worry. I’ll protect you from now on. I always protect my friends.”
As crazy as it sounds, being told by a small cute pony that she would protect him made him feel safer. A smile spread on his face.
“Then I’ll protect you as well.” He answered as she drew back. She smiled at him.
“Well then, we better get back to the field. Ah can’t let Big Mac do all the work. Ah’ll see you later.” Applejack said as she put her little sister on her back. Apple Bloom still looked kind of down, but Jax reckoned she would cheer up sooner or later.
“Jax, can you wait here while I try something?” Twilight asked. Jax nodded and Twilight went further into the hospital, looking like she was searching for something. Jax turned back towards Rainbow. His friend. His only friend in this world. A friend he had known for one full day, a large part of the night, and a little of the morning. That was a ridiculously short time to make a friend in, by Jax’ standards. He had known people for years without referring to them as friends. He had known Max and Liz, who had been his only friends in his old world, for most of his childhood. Yet here he was, looking down at a pony he knew for little more than a day, referring to her as his friend and meaning it. He felt like he could trust Rainbow with his life if he needed to, which was a dangerous thought. The last time he had trusted someone…
He shook himself out of it. “So, Rainbow… You mentioned something about a friendship council yesterday in the forest. What exactly do you do in a friendship council?” He asked, eager to learn something more about his new friend.
“Right now? Not much, just being my awesome self. Twilight has big plans though. For now my main job is still on the weather team.”
“Weather team?”


	***

Luna stood in the corner of the waiting room, still invisible, looking at Jax and Rainbow Dash while they talked. She was a little jealous of Rainbow Dash, who looked like she had already formed a friendship with Jax. She quickly got her feelings under control. He deserved friends, and he would surely make more. Jealousy had done her no good in the past, and it would not do her any good now. She took a deep breath. She would be one of his friends as well. He wouldn’t fear her. Even if he was going to be afraid in the beginning she would calm him down and make him see that there was nothing to fear. She would even apologize for entering his dream a month ago. And when she had his trust, she would finally be able to ask him what the dream was about. All she had to do was talk with him. That’s how you make friends. ‘You can do this Luna. Just walk up to him and introduce yourself.’ She told herself.
She tried to undo the invisibility spell and walk up to him, but another part of her, the fearful part, stopped her. He was going to be afraid of her if she appeared of the blue. This wasn’t the right time. How would she explain why she had been invisible in the corner of the room?
She almost choked as her fears overwhelmed her. Why was this so hard for her? She was a princess, an alicorn who had ruled the land for centuries after defeating Discord.
‘Celestia would have no pro-…’ She stopped herself before she could finish the thought. She was not Celestia, and she would not compare herself to her. That bad habit had not taken her down a road she wanted to traverse again.
She took a deep breath again. She could not do it now but she would be able to soon. She just needed to wait for the right time. Timing was everything, everypony knew that. Time was something she had a lot of.


	***

“Okay. Pegasi can manipulate weather. No problem. That’s not weird at all.” Jax was trying hard to believe his own words. It wasn’t the weirdest thing he had heard or seen since coming here, but it was weird enough. Pushing around clouds like they weren’t made mostly from water and air. Luckily Twilight rescued him from his predicament.
“You ready to go Jax?” She asked. She looked like she was worried about something.
“I am so ready. See you later Rainbow, have fun… punching through clouds.” He said as he stretched out his fist for a fist bump, mostly out of habit. She understood the gesture all the same, and bumped it with her hoof.
“See you around Jax. Let me now if you wanna hang out sometime. You’re cool enough.”
Jax laughed at that. “Of course I am, and I will.” He replied as he left behind Twilight. Twilight turned around as she remembered something.
“Rainbow Dash, remember that there’s a town meeting today where we welcome Jax to the town. Don’t nap through it.”
“Oh right, forgot about that. Thanks for reminding me Twi.”
Jax had also forgotten all about that. He was supposed to say a few words at that event if he remembered correctly. Okay, He would just thank them for the nice welcome and assure them that he wasn’t violent. No problem.
He was also reminded of some other things he needed to do this day, these more pleasant though.
“Twilight, I have some places I need to go.” He told her as they left the hospital.
“Will it take long? I woke you up early to ask you some questions about you and your kind, but after what happened I really want to conduct a few tests before somepony else gets hurt.”
“Tests? Are you sure that’s a good idea? I mean, I can see your point but I really don’t want anyone else to get hurt… Can’t we just agree not to use magic on me?” He thought back to Rainbow’s screams.
“That’s precisely why we are going to conduct the tests in a special room designed to contain magical energy. Where is it you want to go exactly? Maybe we’ll have time if it won’t take too long.” She sounded like she didn’t want him to go anywhere, but he wasn’t going to let this go.
“I was promised some things at the party yesterday. First off: Bon Bon’s candy store.” She looked at him with a sigh, and he gave her his most convincing smile. 
She sighed again and changed direction. He smiled at the small victory. If he was going to get tested on he was at least going to have some candy as a reward.

***

After getting an entire bag of candy, Jax was very happy. The bag was half his size, you could have fit a pony in there. He was very impressed by Bon Bon keeping her word when she said a lot of candy. He was going to be as hyper as Pinkie for an entire week!
They made their way over to Rarity as well so Jax could get measured, Jax already had three sweets in his mouth, enjoying the taste. It was amazing what you missed while in a dangerous forest.
They arrived at the… Interesting building. Carousel Boutique? It fit well. Was the building made first, then named, or named and then built? Jax shrugged and opened the door to the chime of a bell.
“I’ll be with you in one moment!” It sounded from the back. To his surprise Fluttershy was sitting on a nearby couch, sipping tea. She looked at him and gave him a small smile.
“Hey Fwuttershy, whatchu doing here? Getting a dwess?” He asked as he put his Sack O’ Candy next to a free couch before sitting down, Twilight in tow. The three sweets in his mouth made it hard to talk. He quickly crunched down two, to make communication easier.
“Oh, no, actually I’m here because of you. Uhmm not that I mind though. Rarity just wanted to take her measurements without the bandage, and I mentioned that it was a good opportunity to apply new ones, so she invited me over.” Her voice was silent but Jax could make it out just fine.
“Oh actually I meant to ask about that. How frequently do you need to change bandages? Generally speaking.” Jax asked curiously.
Before she could answer though, Rarity entered the room. “There you are darling! I was starting to wonder when you would arrive. Poor Fluttershy would be stuck here until you did. Now, before we begin: Would you like to take a bath? I know it’s a bit rude of me to ask but…”
“Like a shower? With shampoo and a sponge and stuff?!” Jax asked excitedly. “I would fuc-, I would be very happy to! Thank you so much for the offer Rarity. Actually, could I brush my teeth as well? It’s been forever…” 
“Why, of course darling, it’s no problem at all. I have an extra tooth brush in there somewhere, I’ll show you if you’d follow me.” Rarity sounded very pleased for some reason.
Jax almost had to hold back tears of happiness. It was weird how many things you miss after you stop doing them. He quickly crunched the last sweet in his mouth and followed Rarity.

***

To save time he brushed his teeth in the shower. It felt so good to brush them after so long, he almost giggled like a little girl. After fifteen minutes he finally decided that was enough brushing. He spent another ten just enjoying the warm water, before he remembered he had ponies waiting for him to finish. Five minutes after he was looking at the big towel Rarity had given him, wondering how much it would hurt to dry his newest wound. It hadn’t hurt since Twilight used her spell that morning, but he didn’t know how long that would last. It seemed to still be working since he had felt no pain in the shower but that could just have been luck. He took the chance and started drying it gently before letting out a hiss of pain. It was healing nicely but that fucker had a giant stinger, and the wound was pretty deep. It was no wonder it still hurt only… How long had it been? Two days it would seem. It had only been two days but it felt longer somehow. It was weird how much his life had changed in that time.
He put on the remains of his pants. He really needed the new clothes Rarity had promised to make him. He looked down at the used bandages, wondering what to do with them. He decided to take them with him and ask Rarity where to throw them out, he would get new ones applied soon anyway.
He went down stairs to the working area again. “Rarity, where should I thro-.”
He was interrupted by two gasps coming from Twilight and Rarity when they saw him. They looked with horror at his body and he realized they hadn’t thought that the bandages would cover this many wounds and scars. Only Fluttershy seemed in control of her reaction, even though he could see the sadness in her eyes.
He looked down at his collection of scars, half-healed wounds, and relatively new wound. There was a lot, there was no denying that, more than he was proud of.
He sighed. He was getting in the habit of doing that again it would seem.
“The Everfree isn’t a welcoming place.” Was all he had to say about that. “Now where can I throw this out?” He turned towards Rarity, gesturing to the pile of used bandages in his hands. She silently pointed at something behind him and he made the mistake of turning around, revealing more scars and wounds, getting another gasp from Rarity. He went over to the trash-bin Rarity had pointed at and threw out the bandages. When he turned around both Twilight and Rarity were looking at him with enough compassion to make his chest hurt. He wished they would stop looking at him like that.
“So, Rarity… Ready to measure me?” He asked to try and get them out of it. Rarity nodded as if she hadn’t quite heard the question, her thoughts obviously in a different place. After a second of looking at her she shook her head, obviously pulling herself together.
“Of course darling, let me just get my measuring tape.”
Everything was painfully silent while Rarity did her work. Twilight was studying his body with a kind of fearful fascination, Fluttershy was drinking tea and politely looking anywhere but his body, and Rarity was focusing on her work. It was very awkward. Jax hated it.
“So Rarity… how’s business?” He hated small talk as well, but sometimes that was preferred to silence.
“Blooming mostly. I can’t complain darling, everypony wants my dresses since Twilight became a princess.” She smiled at him. Her voice was too sad for words that were supposed to be happy and her smile half-hearted. Time to try a different approach.
“Like what you see Twilight?” He asked in a flirty voice. At least he hoped it was flirty, he wasn’t very good at these things.
It seemed to work though, as Twilight blushed madly and averted her eyes. “I, uhh… Was just… scientific purpose, not like that.” She stammered.
Jax laughed at her explanation, and Rarity stifled a giggle. The mood was a little better after that and before he knew it Jax was invited to tea with Rarity the next day.
***
Luna held a hoof over her mouth in an attempt to not giggle. She was invisible, not soundproof. She had been shocked that Jax had had so many scars and wounds as well, but she had controlled herself better than the two mares. It was obvious that Jax was uncomfortable with the mood it had made, and she was happy that his attempt at lightening it had been successful. Rarity was a professional after all, and she quickly took over the conversation, which seemed to make Jax happy. Rarity was done with her measurements soon after and Fluttershy took over with a first aid kit. She spent a little time judging each wound, especially the big one on his shoulder, before she applied a new set of bandages, less than before though. Luna looked on with a critical eye and could only agree that a lot of the wounds didn’t need bandages anymore, they needed to breathe. His shoulder had the most critical wound, which could easily open again, so it got a good amount of bandaging.
***
After they were done Jax thanked both of them, offering candy as thanks. Rarity took some for her sister while Fluttershy politely declined.
Jax and Twilight made their way to her castlehouse. Castletreehouse. Crystal castle shaped like a tree house… ish. Eh… Just castle then.
She led the way inside and down some stairs and the paranoia hit Jax instantly. He had forgotten his mighty stick of awesome back at the barn. All he had was his flint dagger in his pocket. But she wouldn’t lead him down into a dungeon. Did these ponies even know what a dungeon was? It was probably just a basement…
He took deep breaths as he followed Twilight down the stairs. She had shown no signs of wanting to lock him up anywhere, none of them did.
As it turned out, the long staircase led down to a corridor with only one pair of double-doors.
“So this is the room you were talking about earlier?” He asked to be certain.
“Yes, this is a special room that won’t let any magic leave it as long as the doors are locked. We can conduct a couple of tests in there without fear of hurting anypony.” She answered as they neared the doors. There was a guard on either side of it, looking as stoic as ever.
She looked at the guard to the right. “Please don’t let anypony enter, it would be too dangerous.” The guard saluted. She then turned to Jax. “You need to leave the candy outside with the guards. It’s safer that way.” He begrudgingly left his Bag O’ Candy beside one of the guards, giving him a warning stare.
Twilight opened the giant doors with her magic and they quickly entered. The room was… barren. It was big and empty, made of the same crystal as the rest of the castle. The only difference were the drawings on the walls. Well drawings would be a crude way to describe them… Runes might fit better. He assumed it had something to do with magic and keeping it in.
“Okay Jax,” Twilight started. “I’ll shield myself with a powerful spell while I try different spells on you. I’ll write down the effect and we’ll try to find a pattern. Okay?”
Jax looked at her for a bit. “You don’t see the problem here?” He finally asked. She just looked at him, confused. “You didn’t take any paper with you. Also you have nothing to write with.”
Twilight facepalmed. Or facehooved. She went out, got the needed tools, and came back.
“Are you ready Jax?” She asked him.
“If you think this is the right thing to do, then I can’t argue.” He said uncertainly. He had a bad feeling about this. Twilight started nonetheless.
First she tried a simple levitation spell, which the second it touched him turned into a wind producing spell. A light breeze gently ruffled his hair.
The second spell was a transformation spell that turned into a projectile and hit a wall that caused a small explosion. Twilight a little worried at that but continued anyway.
The third spell was a levitation spell that levitated a piece of parchment over to Jax. When the aura touched him the parchment disappeared. She then tried the same spell but only touched half the parchment with her aura and touched him with the other half. Nothing happened.
She continued with spells, writing down the effects on her many pieces of parchment. The shield she had made around herself proved useful a couple of times. At some point she started over from the first spell, explaining that she wanted to see if the something new would happen or the same thing as before. New stuff happened.
The last spell she retried conjured a bouquet of flowers, which she quickly analyzed with a spell.
“It doesn’t have a spell matrix!” She exclaimed surprised. “This is chaos magic… That explains a lot, but so many new questions…”
“Wait what? Chaos magic? It’s just some flowers Twilight, why would they have a… spell matrix?” Jax asked confused. He was happy that they seemed to be at the end of the tests though.
“They aren’t just flowers, they are magically manifested flowers. Discord must somehow be a part of this. Okay I just want to try one last spell and then we’re done. Remember the pain reducing spell? I tried it on a patient in the hospital and it worked fine.”
He had a very bad feeling about this but he just shrugged and Twilight charged her horn.
During the tests the different spells had felt differently when they turned into a different spell. The levitation spell had felt kind of tickly. The transformation spell had felt kind of… pressurery? But when the pain reducing spell hit him and transformed into a new spell, he knew something would go wrong. It felt hot… too hot.
Before he knew it, every single textile on his body caught fire.
That’s when he started to scream.