//------------------------------// // Late Night // Story: Secrets of a Wanderer // by Nero_Nova //------------------------------// //------------------------------// // Late Night// Story: Adventures of Jax, Wandering soul// by Nero_Nova//------------------------------// Chapter 9 late night “Jax, we need to go, now!” A voice pleaded from the darkness. “Get up they need you!” Ice cold air became a fearsome flame that burned his throat with each breath. “We need more in the front, where are the others!?” “Forget the front, get the civilians out of here!” The cries of ponies could be heard in the distance. “I'm here!” Jax called to deaf ears, “I'm over here!” Again and again he shouted to the void praying someone would hear him. Before his eyes, the darkness became a raging inferno filled with the cries of ponies being burned alive. “NO!” The frightened stallion shot up from his bed eyes wide with heavy breaths. “A dream...” He whispered to himself. “A memo... no... it was just a dream... it's past... it’s over.” Jax could feel his hooves still shaking from the vision of flaming death he saw not moments ago. Clasping them together he tries to steady himself, even as his quivering dims, the image of fire and ash would not leave his mind. “Guess I won't be sleeping tonight.” Leaping from his bed, Jax decides to explore the castle having only seen enough to know where his and the others’ rooms are. Most everything was the same as if the castle had only recently been made, or that Twilight had not been there for very long. Most every room was empty with a layer of dust suggesting it had never been used. One door, however, was slightly opened a short distance from the throne room. Upon entry Jax discovered Twilight's massive library, shelves towered over him close to the ceiling fifteen feet high. Unlike the rest of the castle, the library was full of books with many scattered across the tables and desks in small piles. Wondering amongst the aisles eyeing each title, one book stands out to the restless green stallion. “The history of Equestria”, with its neighbors being more historical pieces of literature. Jax shrugs and takes the book in his mouth before heading to the nearest table. “Well, I was going to read up on this place anyway, no time like the present.” Elsewhere in a dim candle light, purple wings twitched in excitement as Twilight's eyes darted back and forth across her newest Daring Do book that had arrived while she and the others were at Jax’s welcome party. She hung on every word reading impatiently through the suspense of the current chapter. Biting her lower lip as the next intense moment crept closer and closer, she leaned in as though watching the scene play out right before her eyes. Suddenly, black. A grunt escapes the frustrated princess as she attempts to relight her candle to no avail. As her eyes adjust to the night Twilight sees that her candle had completely burned down to the end of the wick. For a moment she sat there questioning how a new candle could have burned away in an hour, then a realization of the current time hits her. Once again Twilight had hidden away in her library reading all night and possibly close to morning. Reluctantly Twilight stacks away the mess of books surrounding her cursing both the need for sleep as well as the passage of time itself. The Daring Do book floats along with Twilight in a glow of purple magic as she heads off to bed. Approaching the hall a gentle glow of another candle catches her eye just around to corner. “Spike couldn't be up reading his comic books, could he?” Sneaking in the shadows so not to alert anypony to her presence, Twilight crept to the aisle where the light was coming from. Slowly sticking her head around the corner, the young princess finds not her faithful assistant, but her new house guest. Twilight could tell the green stallion had been reading most of the night by the amount of books stacked around him, having found herself in similar piles most nights. His crimson red eyes slowly scanned the page with the calmest expression twilight had seen yet. Weary eyes spoke volumes of Jax’s exhaustion, more so with his head drooping every now and then warding off sleep the best he could. “So Twilight...” His voice breaking the silence of the night causing his host to jump behind the bookcase as if a young filly being caught making mischief. “Is there a reason you're sneaking around your own library in the middle of the night?” Timidly Twilight steps out into the open. “Oh well... I was just... Well umm...” “Twilight,” Jax calls softly, ceasing her babbling, “I was just teasing.” A smile as gentle as the glow of the candle could be seen clear across his muzzle. This was a side of her guest that Twilight was still not used to seeing. A single breath to calm her nerves and Twilight could finally speak clearly. “Sorry, I didn't want to disturb you.” Again Twilight looks over the small pile of book surrounding her green friend. “Jax, have you been here all night?” A glimpse at his candle was all it took for Jax to realize that he had been there for hours, as it was half melted already. “Yeah, I guess I have. I had trouble sleeping so I started looking around.” Still looking over the few books around Jax, Twilight spots a real blast from the past, the very same “Predictions and Prophecies” book she had read just before going to Ponyville for the first time. “What exactly have you been reading?” she asks moving closer. “Oh nothing much, mostly history and such, I like to learn about the countries and lands I visit. When I saw the history of Ponyville book I couldn't help myself.” “You've traveled a lot haven't you?” “You could say that.” “Where else have you been?” A twitch of his bright red eyes was all she needed to see, he wouldn't say. “Ok... Where are you really from?” His gentle smile faded to a look of worry. “How long have you been traveling?” Jax turns his head back to the book unable to look Twilight in the eye. Twilight could only guess as to why he was so reluctant to talk about himself, but the look he wear at that moment, full of sadness as if not wanting to disappoint anypony. What could she do but let it go... for the time being. “If you like learning about other cultures, you should read about Griffinstone, it's a really good read.” Slowly his eyes raised to the shelves and spots the book in question dimly lit by the light of his candle. He turns back to Twilight with the same smile as before. “Thank you, I will.” Twilight turns to leave Jax to his reading, but just before, she feels her mind must be spoken. “You know Jax... before I came to Ponyville I didn't really understand what it meant to have friends, I had them but I never really knew what they meant to me. I don't know why you don't want to talk about yourself but, if you give us all a chance, I'm sure you'll come to like Ponyville. But even if you don't, we are still here to help you until you can get home, where ever that many be.” For a long moment there was silence, Twilight was starting to second guess her little speech just now until Jax spoke two simple words. “Thank you.” He said the same thing not moments ago, but somehow it felt as though it held more weight this time. Leaving Twilight looked back one last time and thought she saw light glinting on Jax’s eyes as if a tear had formed. Jax stared at the pages in the book and but the words to be read were not on his mind. Her words played through his head like a broken record, Jax shook his head banishing the thoughts from his mind. “I’m sorry Twilight, but a peaceful life in a small town is not for me.” He says to himself in his solitude. Jax stands and puts away the books taking the one he was reading as well as the book on Griffinstone and places them on a nearby table, intending to read them later. The candle had reached the end of its wick and the flame was fading away. “Besides, I'm the last pony you want as a friend.”