Of Bone and Steel

by joe mother

Jump (Rewritten)

Author's Note:

Sorry for taking so long. Hope you enjoy!

JUMP

When Twilight opened her eyes, she was alone in the dark.

"Hello?" she said, not daring to move a muscle.

A demonic chuckle filled the air, and the black lit up as a single, solitary candle flickered on. This illuminated the face of a gray pony, who was staring her in the face, eyes full of mirth.

"Boo!" he said in a whisper.

Twilight yelped and jumped back. However, her hooves found no surface, and she started to fall. She screamed as the air rushed past her, tearing at her coat and mane.

She hit the ground with a thud, and groaned as she tried to stand. When she had struggled to her hooves, the candle returned, this time brighter and revealing more of the area.

The face of the pony was lit up once more, revealing that it was a head floating in the air. The candle flew up to above the head, showing strings hovering above it, dancing madly.

"A... puppet?" Twilight asked in confusion.

"I am not just a puppet," the creature said, spinning around on the wire. "I am a being here to take you away. I am here to make you do my will."

Twilight shuddered as the space became ice-cold. A layer of frost began to develop on her fur, turning it hard and brittle.

"Who are you?" she asked with a shiver.

"I am a certain spirit," the head replied, a smile across its face. "I am here to spread a little mischief. Maybe butt heads with Celestia, see how powerful she really is without her Elements."

"Why?"

There was a crackle. The face began to develop static across it.

"Why not?" it said with a chuckle. "She imprisoned me in stone, now I'm going to get my long awaited revenge!"

The face faded into the blackness along with the candle, which left a small trail of smoke floating off into the sky.

The ground gave way beneath Twilight's hooves, and she fell onto something sharp, which tore through her body. She screamed in agony as her body fell limp.

~

"Twilight?"

Twilight's eyes fluttered open, revealing Spike to be standing over her with a doctor, who was looking at her form in interest. Her head pounded as though somepony had dropped a ton of bricks on it, and she winced in pain.

"Wha-?" she said numbly, trying to fight through the haze. "How- how long was I out?"

"Not too terribly long," the doctor said, inspecting her coat, which was covered in water. "You passed out at sometime while your assistant came to fetch me, and woke up within a few minutes of our arrival here."

Twilight shut her eyes and the dream came rushing back to her. She bit her lip as she remembered the face.

"I had a really bad nightmare," she said, looking at the doctor, who had begun to look at her legs, which showed no signs of injury.

"I wouldn't be surprised after what Spike here told me happened," he replied. "However, it seems as though these 'metal knives' he spoke of don't exist."

"But they were there!" Spike said, pointing a claw. "They cut her leg open! She was bleeding and hurt and-"

"I see that you believe firmly that there was a projection of metal," the doctor said. "But, I doubt that a traumatized pony and dragon can be trusted to provide accurate information about a very... different thing."

Twilight gritted her teeth.

"A question still does remain," he said, staring her in the eyes. "Your coat is soaking wet. Why?"

Twilight thought for a moment, going through both the dream and before she blacked out.

"In my dream,” she began. “There was a strange pony, and he spoke of overthrowing Celestia and doing something to get revenge on her. When he was speaking, it got cold, and my fur froze. That means that this water is from the dream.”

The doctor shook his head.

“I must say,” he said. “It takes a powerful unicorn to do that.”

“Do what?” Twilight asked.

“Project your dreams into the real world,” he replied, turning away. “It’s something I’ve read about. I assumed it was possible, at least from the Princesses. But you’re not a princess, just a normal unicorn.”

“Well, I’m a bit far from normal,” Twilight said with a smile. “I am one of the Elements of Harmony, and my cutie mark is in magic.”

“I deduced that much on my own,” the doctor replied. “And you’re still normal. You just learn your magic faster and have a good deal more of it to throw around. Those things just make you unique, not beyond normal. Now, maybe if I got to know your personality, I might see you as not normal, but until then, you are only Twilight Sparkle, a normal unicorn.”

The doctor stood and smiled.

“Well,” I must be going,” he said. “If anything else pops up, don’t hesitate to give me a call. Just, please don’t call me after my shift. Call one of the others at the hospital.”

Twilight chuckled lightly as she watched him leave the room. She stood shakily and sighed.

“Maybe it was all a dream,” she said. “He said I could project my dreams, so what if I had a bad dream about my legs splitting apart?”

“Hm... that actually kinda makes sense,” Spike mused. “But what if it wasn’t? What if it really happened?”

Twilight shook her head.

“No,” she said. “The logical explanation is the one that had to have happened. Some unexplained anomaly is not going to beat out the choice of magic or science.”

“It did with Pinkie Pie,” Spike quipped.

“She’s Pinkie,” Twilight replied with a laugh.

Spike laughed as well, and soon Twilight was convinced that it had all been the result of some strange dream magic.

~

Twilight turned and waved goodbye to Spike as she left to acquire some quills. She closed the door and stepped into the Ponyville afternoon. It was a good temperature, warm but not too warm, and with a slight breeze to blow through Twilight’s fur.

The unicorn walked slowly, relishing the air and every breath of wind.

It was all brought to an end when she reached the quill store, known as Ink Point. She stepped inside and was greeted by the clerk, who automatically pulled out a small box full of his finest quills.

Twilight was ridiculously particular about her quills. They had to be made from griffon feathers, due to the griffons having very sturdy feathers. Twilight was prone to snapping quills with her strong magical grip, so any extra bit a strength helped.

“Here you are,” the clerk said, pushing the box forward.

Twilight opened it and began flitting through the quills within. She performed measurements and scrutinized every last one until there were five sitting out.

“I’ll take these,” she said.

She dropped her bits on the counter and strode out. She just stepped into the street when she heard it. She looked and saw a runaway carriage bowling down the road. It was close, already only fifty feet away.

Twilight did not have time to charge up a teleportation spell, so she risked it and tried jumping away. She closed her eyes and pushed.

The ground disappeared beneath her hooves as she leapt, but it did not return, as Twilight seemed to be suspended in the air. Her eyes opened, and she screamed as she saw herself flying fifteen feet up, heading for a nearby tree. She hit it and fell.

When her vision reverted back into focus, she saw that some ponies had gathered around her, and more still had turned and stared.

“I-I’m okay,” Twilight stammered awkwardly, standing unsteadily and chuckling softly.

What was that? her panicked mind whispered fiercely. I just jumped across the dang street!

The ponies backed away and went back to their daily lives, albeit a little concerned. It was not everyday when an Element of Harmony jumped into a tree.

Twilight hurried back home and slammed the door shut violently. She fell against it and started shuddering.

“What’s happening?” she asked herself, cold sweat pouring down her body. “All these things.”

“Twilight, I heard the door slam,” Spike called from upstairs. “Are you alright?”

“Y-Yes, I’m fine!” Twilight called back, closing her eyes and attempting to clear her head.

“Are you sure?” Spike was coming downstairs, his claws clicking softly on the wood.

“Y-Yes!” Twilight opened her eyes and jumped further back onto the door.

Her right eye had zoomed in once more, and now a pain was sprouting from her back.

“Ok, I’m not!” she yelled. “There’s something really wrong with me!”

Spike ran down the stairs and came up to her, “What is it?” He enveloped her in a hug, and Twilight began to sob.

“Whatever happened to my leg, it was real. Today I somehow jumped across the street and just kept going. Whatever I saw on my leg that broke through, it was real, and it made me jump that far.”

Spike ran his hands down her back, and suddenly he stopped. Twilight became aware that his hands were no longer touching her, and she was confused.

“Spike?” she asked.

“Twilight, what are these?” he asked, moving his head to Twilight’s back to see. He gasped.

“What?” Twilight asked frantically. “What’s wrong?”

“There’s something growing out of your back,” the dragon whispered, staring straight at the rods of bloody steel and wire tearing their way out of Twilight’s spine.

Comments

[Zaralann]

Finally! Awesome chapter! More please!

[joe mother]

4471294

Sorry for being slow. :P

I'll try and be more active.

[Pyro The Reader]

Oh man, It's sooo great to see this back! ...And I just remember how much I hate that doctor, what a joke... in a magical world filled with
windigoes and manticores and other such nonsense a dream like that is just wrote off instantly? What kinda doctor in that setting writes
something off that quickly and with such certainty? What an idiot!

Great to have it back!

Signed,
--Pyro The Excited Reader

[Clocklike]

I remember this story! Usually I don't remember anything about the plot, but here I did! I guess that's a good sign for your story.

[Nightingalehound]

4471396 He's a doctor, you could be one of a hundred and fifty people who saw an alien land, walk out, and do a silly dance followed by an air hump all the while playing the trololol song and then getting back in his saucer and fly off just before shooting a laser into the ground writing out the words 'suck it earthlings', and he will not believe a single one of you even if you got photographic evidence. What you are looking for is one of the many different types of doctors that exist in america that retain the title but not the actual medical job.

[Pyro The Reader]

4478491 Yeah that would be true... except this ain't our world. I was just flabbergasted cuz you'd think a doctor in that setting would say,

"Oh golly gee, I wonder if something something else is going on, ya know, with her being the Element of Magic and all it could be a villan Oh wait, nope, I'll just assume it's a phenomenon I assume is real!"

It just seems pretty ridiculous. But it's a story, it doesn't have to make, sense. Doesn't mean I can't hate a character for not being as savvy and he thinks he is.

[Nightingalehound]

4478584 Also, you forget from the show that ponies in ponyville besides the main ponies, are all a bit stupid and forgetful, or need I remind you of the flim flam brothers.

[Pyro The Reader]

4478618 Oh yeah, they do have the tendency to be a bit... dull, maybe I just read too much fiction and expect everybody to be just as genre savvy... oh well no biggie, just need to chill out.

Sorry if my first comment sounded dumb, I just remembered how much the Docannoyed me when I first read this.

[Nightingalehound]

4478665 Yeah, same here, I just have a tendency of getting over it quickly and moving on. Even if the guy decided not to listen to the mare who has proven a majority of ponies wrong on multiple occasions.

[LadyFacepalm]

You're alive!

[joe mother]

4501793

You bet I am!