//------------------------------// // The Fantastical Adventures, By Royal Decree, Chapter 7 // Story: The Epic Tale of Jack Darrius // by Ponyswamp //------------------------------// It's been several weeks since I first saw my counselor, and it's been great. He and I have bonded over the sessions we spend together, though he still hasn't told me his name. Well, he has told me, several times in fact. It's just that he changes it almost every time he does, and his favorite is John Doe. I grinned as I walked down the hall, an action only recently brought on by him. I turned the corner and heard a little clang behind me. A lot of noises come from the room I just passed, so I thought little of it. Stopping at the counselor's door, I politely knocked. “You there, sir?” No response. Another clang. I opened the door and peered around. He wasn't in there. I scratched my head and stepped inside. A word almost came from my lips, but it was interrupted by a significantly louder clang, followed by a series of yells. A quick glance into the hallway saw the counselor running down the hall in my direction with something under his arm. He smiled nervously at me as he passed me. “Take good care of Liz for me!” There was no time to respond as he darted into a closet moments after a few guards came around the corner. They bolted at him, and he spared a grin at me before slamming the closet door behind him. One guard broke off from the group and took up a protective stance in front of me, though I was able to see the rest of them open the closet wide. To reveal nothing out of the ordinary. The guard who placed himself in front of me glared slack jawed at the impossibility, before turning to me. “Did he give you any indication that he was able to do something like that?” I shrugged. “He could pull a guitar out of a bag that was too small to hold it.” ---------- A groan escaped my lips as I opened my eyes for what seemed like the first time in days. I heard a beeping characteristic of a hospital's heart... measuring... thing. I never really bothered to find out what that was called. Never really seemed all that important. Memories slowly flowed back to me. The incident with Butch came first, and I grunted. So that explains the heart thingy. I was in the hospital to treat my arm. Then came the fight with Alistair. Yeah, I suppose that would warrant a few stitches. Another groan came out, and I rubbed my forehead with my right hand. Damn, he didn't need to throw me down the stairs. A strange part of me thought, “at least I didn't have to walk down to the portal.” Holy crap, the portal. As the rest of the events poured into my mind, my eyes opened and started darting around to observe my surroundings. The coloration. The layout. The off white unicorn with a green mane currently staring in some degree of awe at me. I'm. In. An. Equestrian. Hospital. I suddenly bolted upright in the bed and shot both arms up in the air, startling the unicorn. “Whoo! Equestria!” The unicorn fell onto his haunches, and I chuckled. “Uh, sorry.” He shook his head quickly. “N-not at all necessary! Now I'm just excited to find out why you can heal so quickly!” He picked up a notepad. “We'll have to run a few tests, and then we...” I cleared my throat, interrupting him. “Cibola Syndrome. An offshoot of Cushing's Syndrome, but the corticosteroids go through a filter in my brain and go on to create excess epinephrine. Plus, you'd need to at least tell me your name before testing me.” He blinked awkwardly before jotting down some notes and chuckling. “Oh, sorry, where are my manners? I'm Open Shade, the doctor currently in charge of your recovery. Although it would seem that I didn't do as much for your recovery as I thought.” Giggling a little, I glanced at my left arm. Unfortunately I couldn't see the true damage that was done, since it was currently wrapped in gauze. I flexed my hand without incident, since they took the liberty of individually wrapping each of my fingers. “What's the diagnosis?” Open Shade grabbed another notepad from a cart and flipped to a page with his magic. “Really bad. First, second, and third degree burns up the whole arm, but luckily it was mostly only second degree. There are multiple puncture wounds in the vicinity of your forearm and upper arm. When you came in, the wounds themselves were contaminated with small splinters of wood. The puncture wounds themselves suffered burning, as well. Luckily, some of the puncture wounds were stitched up by your friend Fluttershy.” Wow, alright then. I whistled. “Geez. How am I still alive?” He flipped to another page. “It was a difficult procedure. First, we magically stabilized your arm. We treated for your burns, then set about the stab wounds. Over the course of the past six days, we've been applying various treatments to your arm. Half the doctors in Canterlot worked on your arm. Frankly, it was an opportunity. Heck, it's an even bigger opportunity to find out my treatment was successful.” Open Shade walked up to me and poked at the bandages. “Feel anything painful?” I shook my head, puzzled. “Not really, no.” He grinned. “There's an enchantment on your arm, put there by Princess Twilight, Princess Luna, and yours truly. Unless Princess Celestia herself decides to bust your arm to pieces, it'll be safe.” I flexed my arm, and grinned at Open. “Sweet!” He nodded and trotted happily to the door. “I'm under orders to send word to your friends and Princess Celestia the second you woke up. I'm off to do that, and to start on my paper on this!” I waved him off with my left arm, and he grinned wider and chuckled. Reclining a bit, my mind decided to drift to a nap. I made no attempt to stop it. ---------- Six days? A wound like that and it only took Jack six days to recover? I can hardly believe it. My friends and I were going over what happened on Earth for the forty-sixth time with Princess Celestia when word arrived that Jack was conscious and functioning properly. My mentor wanted nothing left out, seeing as what happened there was so extremely important. Princess Celestia decided that only she and myself would meet with Jack at first, though she elected to not give me an explanation. She had her reasons, I'm sure. I paused at the door to Jack's room, sighed, and walked in. As per the light snoring I heard, Jack had started taking a nap. How can someone who's been unconscious for six days even take a nap? Princess Celestia stepped to the foot of the bed and cleared her throat strictly. Jack yawned at this, and got up. He glanced at the princess and smiled. “Morning, princess.” He glanced at the windows, which were currently covered by blinds. “It is morning, right?” The princess frowned and looked at him sternly. “My student has told me the story of the past two weeks. Care to explain some things?” Jack nodded. “Sure, of course.” Princess Celestia's expression didn't change. “Why did you feel the need to break that boy's leg?” Now himself frowning, Jack looked around. After a moment, he grabbed a notepad. “Ah, here we are. These are notes made by doctor Open Shade after I told him the reason. Nice guy.” He cleared his throat, and stared for a moment at the page before scoffing and tossing it away. “Oh, of course. Even in Equestria, doctors can't write legibly.” I chuckled a little bit, much to my mentor's chagrin. “Actually, part of the reason you can't read it is because it's written in Equestrian. Through the penmanship is quite terrible.” The princess cleared her throat again, and I stepped back, embarrassed. She gave me a stern look before returning her gaze to Jack. “Well?” He nodded. “Genetic disability, combined with extreme prejudice over fourteen years of disproportionately cruel treatment.” Princess Celestia stared at him for a while, then nodded. She turned to me. “Where will he be staying?” I stepped forward once more. “He'll be in the library with me until he can build his own home.” My mentor looked at me with an expression that mixed concern and easiness seamlessly. “Are you sure? He has proven to be dangerous in the past.” The nod came without thought. “I trust him.” She, in turn, nodded back at me, then turned to Jack. “It's settled. You will stay with Twilight at the library for the time being.” A smile coated his face. “When can we go?” The princess was a little taken aback at this. “I suppose whenever you feel ready. As you're not a citizen of Equestria, we have no legal precedent to keep you here.” Jack nodded, glancing at his left arm. After a moment, his right arm shot out and delivered a swift punch to his wounded arm. Both myself and Celestia recoiled, but Jack only grinned as nothing happened. “Well, that's settled. I'm good!” ---------- We left the hospital within minutes. Since my existence was debatable here in Equestria, there were no forms to sign or doctors to meet with. I just walked out the door. Of course, that presented it's own problems. For you see, one of the greatest plagues of pre-war Earth apparently carried over to Equestria. The paparazzi. Reporters swarmed the exit of the hospital, and though the excitement of meeting some actual ponies from Equestria was nearly overwhelming, Celestia made me deny any comments. We trudged through the crowd to a pegasus drawn chariot, and we were off. Once in flight, euphoria took over. I started pointing out places below us, and Twilight named them off and explained a little. She first pointed out the Saddle Lake, just below Canterlot, then to the massive forest encroaching across the horizon, which she identified as the Everfree Forest. After she mentioned the Everfree, my mind raced to what was coming next. And there it was, on the horizon line, just entering our sight: Ponyville. I'll admit, I squee'd right there. I could barely contain my excitement, and so I resigned to bobbing up and down excitedly in my seat. Twilight chuckled, but Princess Celestia's gaze was both unreadable, and looking off into the distance. After what seemed like an agonizing eternity, though Twilight asserted that it was mere moments, we landed. In Ponyville. Well, just off of the fringes, but still. Dreams really do come true. ---------- Jack literally leaped from the chariot as we were landing. He didn't wait the extra three seconds it took for us to safely land, he just jumped. I understand this must be exciting for him, but I didn't realize... That's when it hit me. I leaped from the chariot and landed in front of Jack, who was already ready to bolt into town. I stepped into his way, and he grinned. “Ponyville. As in, Ponyville of Equestria. Twilight, this is by far the best day of my life.” At that, I chuckled. It was nice to see him so happy, considering the last time he was conscious. Nevertheless, I piped up. “We need to go over some ground rules.” He cocked his head to the side. “Like... which chores I'll need to do, and which to leave to Spike?” “No, but-” “Where I'll need to go to use the bathroom?” “That is a good question, but I meant-” “Because I can probably hike on over to-” This time it was me who was the interrupter, as I stuck my hoof in his mouth. “Jack, you've seen these ponies in your world, but they haven't seen you.” He began to talk through my hoof, then stopped and sat down. He glanced to Ponyville just a minute's walk away. “A one sided mirror, eh?” I nodded. “I'm sure you'll get to know them in the future, but this is a hump we'll have to go over sometime before then.” Jack sat there for a while, staring at Ponyville. Princess Celestia came over to us, and I left Jack there for a minute to talk to her. We moved some distance from him, until he was out of earshot. I started the conversation. “Princess, do you not trust Jack?” My mentor blinked. “My faithful student, I'm only concerned for your well-being. He broke someone's leg, something that rational, in control ponies don't do.” So that's what it boils down to. “Princess, without him, none of us would be back here. What if Butch found us? Or Jack's father?” “But they didn't, and instead you were found by some...” she paused for half a second. “...body who would just as easily get into a pillow fight as he would cripple some... body.” I sighed, making my discomfort clear. “Sorry for the sass, princess, but we've been over this literally forty-six times.” She turned to look directly at me, and I returned the gaze. “I trust him. No matter what happened back on Earth.” Princess Celestia sighed her own sigh, a motherly and dismissive sigh. “Fine. But know that I will be keeping an eye on him. When the time comes for him to fulfill that prophecy, he had better not have killed anypony.” I nodded, a silent assurance to the fact that Jack wouldn't hurt anypony. I knew this to be true. My mentor stepped gracefully back to her chariot, then turned to me. “So, I take it that the plan to talk things over before letting Jack meet anypony is gone now?” For a moment, I didn't understand what she meant. The princess glanced behind me for a moment, and I turned to see Jack surrounded by small fillies and colts, doing his best to answer their questions as well as keep himself in control. My wings flared out, and I propelled myself over to him as fast as I could. That's alright, improvisation is a good plan too. As I landed, my eye twitched a little. Totally a good plan. --------- So many fillies and colts surrounded me, badgering me with question after question. And I was totally okay with it. “My name's Jack,” I said to a pale pink filly. “I'm a human.” “A human?” I looked to that back, at a pale blue colt. “Like one of Miss Lyra's monsters?” I chuckled. “No, not quite.” Suddenly, three very specific fillies shoved their way to the front of the crowd. I barely contained my urge to squee again and hug them. “Do you have a cutie mark?” Sweetie Belle's curiosity was shared by her friends, who nodded along with her. After a long breath, I judged myself able to speak without fangirling. “Humans don't get cutie marks, actually.” A hush fell over the group. “N-no cutie marks?” came Scootaloo's reply. “How do you know what you're good at?” I shrugged. “Most humans don't. Or they do, but just do it and don't broadcast it to the world.” I paused, then chuckled. “Except for maybe those few with tattoos, but don't you go getting any ideas there.” A snigger emanated from the rear of the crowd. Using my size, I easily saw the source: Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. “Don't waste your time telling them that. They won't take it to heart. In fact, I'm sure those blank flanks will be headed to a tattoo parlor any day now!” Silver Spoon laughed at her companion's wit, and Diamond Tiara at her own. No one else reciprocated it. The Cutie Mark Crusaders looked ready to retaliate, but I stepped in front of them. Twilight stepped forward into the corner of my eye, and I pointed my index finger at the two bullies. “You wanna shut your traps?” Both of them stopped laughing immediately. “W-what!?” I took a half step forward. “Oh, didn't you hear me? It was something along the lines of you shutting your pie holes and stopping what you were doing.” Diamond Tiara gulped. “It's all in fun!” “Oh really?” I turned to the CMC. “Is it all in fun?” They shook their heads in near unison. “See? Now, be nicer, or take your bigotry somewhere else.” We all stood there for a moment, then the two harrumphed and turned away. After a few seconds, I called out to them. They turned, and I extended a different finger to the sky. “One of these days, I'll get around to telling you what this means.” Now both pissed off and confused, Ponyville's resident bullies left. I turned to the three fillies. “So, back to where we were at before, no, I don't have a cutie mark. If it's any compensation, I'm only fifteen.” Applebloom's eyes widened. “Yer fifteen? That's only two years older than us! How're you so big?” I shrugged, and made a familiar, and famous gesture with my hands. “Humans.”