//------------------------------// // Chapter 53 - Adventure Time! // Story: A New Beginning in a New Land // by REDACTED99999 //------------------------------// Luna regretted teleporting away almost instantly. She should have stayed with him for as long as he needed her. She should have stayed and made sure he was alright. She had left him just after rejecting his advances after all. She sighed heavily. She had her duties she needed to attend to, and she could not ignore them when she was the one who set them in motion. However, Jax was being possessed, and nopony knew better than her how quickly that could escalate. And as far as she knew, a parasite did not need a spell to take control of somepony’s body… if they gave it up freely. It had caused her a great deal of worry from the very moment she had heard there was a parasite within him. The worry kept gnawing at her heart, no matter how much she tried to push it away. Luna was not a big believer in karma, but the irony of the situation was not lost on her. A thousand years ago, she lost to the Limelight, a parasite that took control of her body, made her turn on her own sister, and now… now the same thing could happen to the one she loved. She felt her life did not deserve to be as happy as it had become. Fate must have been conspiring against her, and making up a destiny most cruel for her. Her ears drooped, even as she was preparing herself for court. She was late… but she found herself not caring all that much. They were not ponies that had come to see her, they were ponies who had come to see her sister and found themselves too far back in the line to make it before day court closed. So instead of coming back the next day with their problems, they came to her. It was just convenient for them. She was the next best thing, as she had been back- she stopped the thought. ‘Think of something else.’ She told herself. Jax… maybe she should teleport back? She could apologize for leaving and she could spend her night with him. That thought brought a tired smile to her muzzle. Alas, it had cost her too much magic to make her display of shooting stars, and what she had left after that was used to teleport back to the castle. She opened the door to her room to find Moondancer with a raised hoof, about to knock. “Princess!” She hurriedly kneeled. Why she was kneeling was anypony’s guess, but Luna was too tired to think about it. She just wanted this night to be over so she could rest. “Rise, my little pony. There really is no need for you to kneel before me, Moondancer.” “Right! Of course.” She got up and shuffled her hooves around a bit. “Oh! I brought you coffee. I thought you might need it.” She smiled nervously. Sure enough, two cups of steaming hot coffee were being held in her aura. Luna started walking towards the courtroom as she spoke. “Ordinarily I prefer tea, but this night… I think I could use some coffee. Thank you, Moondancer.” Moondancer smiled brightly at her. “No problem Princess!” Luna took one of the cups in her own aura, taking a small sip. It was hot and bitter, just as she remembered it. She would have to drink it slowly. “Oh!” Moondancer exclaimed, seemingly remembering something. “I hope you wouldn’t mind if I spend some time speaking with the petitioners? I have some questions for them.” “No, of course not.” Luna simply answered, too tired to even begin to speculate what Moondancer could ask them. She took another sip from her cup. *** Pinkie could barely contain her excitement! Discord and Filthy Rich were with her and they were standing in front of Jax’ house. She and Discord had their party cannons ready, Discord’s being a little bigger than hers. They had knocked and the second Jax opened the door they would- “SURPRISE!” She and Discord shot their confetti into the air. Beside them, Filthy Rich covered his ears. “What the….” Jax staggered backwards. He looked really, REALLY tired, but also really surprised, meaning that their surprise had worked. He took a moment to look at them all. Pinkie gave him a large smile amongst the raining confetti. “Ohhhkay. Should have seen this coming… what’s the occasion?” He asked warily. “Occasion? Why, dear Jax, does a good friend really need a reason to surprise each other at six in the morning?” Discord asked, putting a paw over Jax shoulder. “Normally I would say yes, but since it’s you guys I guess ‘normal’ isn’t part of the equation.” His eyes landed on Filthy Rich. Then on the bag on the ground. “Is that a bag full of money?” Pinkie gasped. “How did you know? It was supposed to be a surprise!” She looked around conspiratorially, before whispering loudly in his ear. "Are you psychic?" “Well it has a dollar sign on it, and with how ridiculous this world is with its logic, I just assumed.” Filthy Rich coughed into a hoof, drawing their attention. “Yes, well… you assumed correctly. As per my agreement with Princess Twilight Sparkle, it is my pleasure to present your share of the profit from selling the pens. My ponies had been busy day and night to prepare an adequate amount and spread the news of the invention, and I am happy to say that we sold out. Here is 50 percent of the profits after paying for the materials and horsepower, two thousand three hundred and twenty-two bits.” Pinkie gasped at the amount. You could buy a lot cake for those bits. Discord conjured up a hammock that swung back and forth by itself and laid down in it. A smile spread on Jax’ face as he accepted the bag. “You can expect to get even more next month if sales continue as they have. I also have five pens for you, as a thank you for this wonderful invention.” He took out five packages from his saddlebags, and hoofed them over to Jax. “And you can try one of them out right now by signing this.” He took out a piece of parchment. “It pretty much just says that you will be paid the agreed upon percentage at the beginning of each month. The rest has been taken care of by the princess.” Jax carefully read the page over before taking out a metal thingy from one of the packages. “Uuuuh, is this a pen?!” Pinkie snatched it from him to better examine it. The bottom part looked like a golden quill, the upper part looked like a metal tube instead of the feathery part. “Fancyyyy.” “Yes, Pinkie. Be careful with it, someday this pen will be worth a lot.” Jax took the pen from her and signed the papers. “Oh it already is Mr. Jax. Thank you for choosing me as your investor. We are both going to make a lot of bits.” Filthy Rich smiled with the same kind of excitement Pinkie had when she had a cake in the oven that was almost ready. “Oh, it was Twilight’s suggestion, and Applejack backed her up.” “Ah, it’s good to know that the princess has such trust in me, and the Apples have my back.” He laughed. “In any case, I have to get going. Good day to all of you, and… uhm… good luck with… your condition.” He quickly turned around and walked away. “Huh? What condition?” Pinkie asked, a bit perplexed. Unless…. “Does he mean the fact that you have an ancient evil king inside of you, that wants to take over your body at any sign of weakness, leaving us unable to help you since we can’t use magic on you and-“ She quickly cut herself off when she saw his frown. Sometimes she could talk a lot without thinking about it, and sometimes she would say something that made ponies around her unhappy. She quickly recovered and put on a smile. “Me and Discord have planned a great day for you today, you’re going to love it. Isn’t that right Discord?” The hammock disappeared with a pop and Discord fell down, looking around in confusion. “Oh goody, the boring pony is gone.” He got up and dusted himself off. “Why yes, you are going to have a splendid day, because you are going to be amongst the first to get a tour of my very own chaotic realm! Oh this is simply going to be so much fun.” “… alright.” Jax turned and disappeared into his house. “Mr. Bear, I’m going out, most of the day. Protect this bag of money while I’m gone.” “raaawr!” Came the reply, which probably meant ‘I will protect this bag with all my might!’ Pinkie giggled. “Alright, how do we get to your realm when you can’t use magic on me?” Jax asked when he got out again. “Good point!” Pinkie agreed, looking expectantly at Discord. “Oh, dear Jax… you are surrounded by magic all the time here. Why do you think it doesn’t affect you?” “Oh, that’s true!” Pinkie looked at Jax. “… I guess because it’s not a spell? My question still stands though. Unless you plan to…” He yawned briefly before continuing, “to walk there?” Pinkie looked back at Discord, who smiled mischievously. “That is exactly what I intend to do. Do you remember when you connected two places together? You went through without a problem.” He snapped his claw, making a glowy rift appear in the air. It expanded, showing a swirly place with floating islands. “Uuuuh, floaty. Well, let’s goooo!” She jumped through, followed by Discord, and after a moments hesitation, Jax. This would be sure to cheer him up. What could be more fun than a day full of unexpectedness?! *** “Weeeee!” Pinkie cried as they fell towards some new friends. At least she hoped they would be, they didn't look too happy to see them coming down towards them. Nothing a few hugs wouldn't fix. “Ahhhhh!” Cried Jax besides her. Falling here was super fun since there was no up or down. How were they falling at all then? “Isn't this fun?” Discord asked while falling/laying in a beach chair. “Yeeeees!” Pinkie answered for them, since Jax was busy screaming. “Good! Let’s move on to the flowing lava island. That always cheers me up!” "Wait! I didn't get to make friends with-" But Discord has already snapped his paw. *** “Oh God, why?!” Jax cried out, trying to swim away from the fishies. It was flowing lava, but it wasn't hot, so they could swim around in it. It was kind of like swimming around in cream. Did that mean it tasted like cream? "Hot, hot, hot, hot, hot!" “Oh! So that’s where I put those…. Sorry about that friend. And don’t try to drink the lava, it may not feel hot, but it’s quite…” he paused at Pinkies reaction, “spicy…. Sorry about that.” Discord did really look apologetic. It had a nice caramel aftertaste though. *** “Just… a normal house?” If Pinkie didn’t know any better, she would say Jax sounded slightly shaken. “Yes. Kind of. Just don’t step on any of the black-“ “Ooooh it’s like a checker board in here!” Pinkie yelled as she jumped from white to black squares. “Now… what was it that that did exactly?” Discord asked himself, as some kind of creature started to rise. “Oh right…” Discord gulped. *** “Why did I agree to coming here?!” Jax shouted as they galloped on the remains of a bridge, the swirly thing that this place had instead of a sky threatened to swallow them up. Not to mention the meanie-pants that was trying to catch up to them. Definitely not friendly, Pinkie had tested it. “To have fun silly! Isn’t this exciting??” Pinkie replied from his shoulders. She jumped down and started galloping again. “Found it!” Discord pulled out a thick book from a travel suitcase. Pinkie ran up to it to read the title. “On summoning and sealing? Heeey, did you steal this book from Twilight?” “Of course not, dear Pinkie Pie. I borrowed it. It is a library after all.” “Whatever! Just … figure out how to seal this… thing again!” Jax said sounding out of breath. *** “Fuck, fuck, fuck… FUUUU-“ “We’re almost there Jax! Don’t give up!” Pinkie encouraged him with a smile as she jumped into the wagon. He came in a second after, the creature right on their tail. “Hold on, everypony and human! This will be an… electric ride.” Discord put on a pair of sunglasses as another lightning bolt from the creature missed him by a teeeeeny tiny bit. Somewhere in the background you could hear a faint “YEEEEAAAH!” Discord tipped the wagon forward so that it started rolling down the hill. "Weeeee!" Pinkie raised her hooves in the air. *** Pinkie put on her meanest of meanie looks. “Destroy Equestria? Not if I can help it!” “Just pull the damn trigger Pinkie!” Jax sounded close to panic. He jumped to the side to avoid a lightning bolt coming straight at him. “Okie dokie lokie!” She took careful aim, then fired her party- no wait, this was an actual canon. The canon ball hit it square in the chest and sent it right back into the sealing thingie Discord had drawn. “RAAAAAAAAWR!” It screamed as it was sucked into it. “Woooooooooo! Take that, you big old meanie-pants!” Pinkie cheered. They definitely deserved a victory snack! *** “Wow, sealing an ancient horror is a lot of work!” Pinkie exclaimed as she bounced out of Discord’s realm. “Who knew? Now that that’s taken care of, who wants victory muffins?” Jax crawled out behind her, then collapsed face first on the ground. “I need… shower… sleep… so much sleep.” “You do look tired. Ol’ King Sombra not letting you rest?” Discord asked as he snapped his claw, making the rift disappear. Jax answered with a grunt. “But it’s still light out! You can’t be done already Jaxie, we still have some hours to have fun!” With another grunt, he turned himself around. “Pinkie… you may be used to sealing ancient horrors away on a weekly basis, but it was only the second time for me. I need… rest. And a shower.” He did sound very tired. Maybe it was best to let him sleep. At least they had succeeded in taking his mind off things for a couple of hours. “Fine. But next time we have twice the victory muffins.” She insisted, gaining a small smile as her reward. “Sure thing, Pinkie.”