The Epic Tale of Jack Darrius

by Ponyswamp

The Fantastical Adventures, And So It Begins, Chapter 3

Author's Note:

Sorry for the wait, I tried to figure out exactly where I was taking this story, down to a t. It was rather difficult. Also, the story really picks up in a couple of chapters so try to give it a chance. And if you don't like it, you don't like it. That's life.

Chapter 3

Recently, there's been a significant increase in me being dumbfounded. My first thought is that there is no possible way she could go with me. Then I remembered the whole seemingly-infinite-uses-of-magic bit, and I decided to let her continue. After all, she is literally the element of magic. And I'm kind of hard pressed to think of magic as anything other than deus ex machina, so yeah.

I shrugged “Okay, fine.” I said calmly, as if bringing a talking horse princess to school is totally normal. She cocks her head in surprise. “So easily?” she asked, only slightly confused. Honestly, I don't think anything can possibly confuse her enough that she can't figure it out before she starts talking. At least, that's from the last few days with her. She's kinda nuts.

I shrugged once more. “As long as you look human, and not the weird purple skinned thing you were before, I can try to sneak you into the education system.” She snorted derisively before motioning me to follow her while she walked back into my living room. You know, the one with a full home theatre system and wall sized TV I never use. Not to be confused with my bedroom, which, up until recently, I practically lived in.

Twilight trotted to the centre of the room and began clearing out space. We all helped, because house fires, while not necessarily a possibility, are best avoided. She cleared her throat and waited for a silence before explaining her plan. A silence that was quickly provided due to the eagerness of the audience. It seems like Twilight didn't tell anyone about her plan up until now.

“Since the end of my experiments on the Elements of Harmony trying to get us home, I took it upon myself to study the the humans extensively. This includes everything from culture to anatomy. Using a variation of a spell created by the great Starswirl the Bearded to transform ponies into Breezies, I will attempt to transform myself into a human!”

Okay, this just got interesting. Experimental magic? Check. Starswirl the Bearded? Check. Season 4 stuff? Check. Hopefully this will turn out well. I'd hate for Twilight to kill herself trying to go to high school. Although the last time she went it turned out well, so let's give it a shot.

Have you ever seen unicorn magic in person? No? It's breathtaking. First, a purple aura enveloped her horn. The aura grew as she exerted herself more and more in pursuit of becoming a human. She slowly raised into the air, to around eye level. She was slowly enveloped by pulsating tendrils of magic until it formed an orb the size of a small bike in my living room. And soon that orb began to open.

First thing we saw was her hair. At first, we saw no difference, until we saw it's rooting in her scalp. Her distinctly human scalp. Her face came next. She had soft features, a small nose, average sized lips, and medium length eyelashes, all upon a distinctly teenage face. Nothing to boast about, but she looked well kept, and rather pretty. The orb began to quicken it's unravelling, and only then did I realize the only flaw in her plan. To paraphrase AJ, they don't normally wear clothes.

Her distinctly... shall we say, natural form, drew no reactions from the others, apart from the awe at her transformation I now noticed on their faces. From me, a mostly innocent teenager, well, let's say it got the blood pumping.
She lowered to the ground as she opened her eyes, and began to marvel at her own brilliance. Unfortunately, so was I. She noticed my extreme discomfort, and rushed over to help. Grabbing me, she asked if I was alright, and checked my pulse. The proximity proved to much for my fragile head, and I fainted before the other one could take over.
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The bunkers aren't really that cold. Geothermic heat keeps them warm. But the steel prison just feels that way. Harsh and unforgiving. A horrible melding of mining, science, and home. The carts full of coal and iron passing through here every day from the mines might be how it feels cold, letting in the air from the mines.

I know this is just a distraction from the task at hand. Getting over this new guy. Every time a new employee is assigned here, administration throws them a welcome party, with mandatory attendance. Normally, I take this opportunity to note the weaknesses of the new guy for future pranks, but he's different.

They say he's here on the insistence of my father. They say he's my behavioural councillor, and that he's going to fix me. He looks nice though. Clearly yet another ploy to break me. But I won't be broken. Mark my words, behavioural councillor, I will break you. I will break you until you beg me for psychiatric aid.

The other employees, I make fear me. I also enjoy making them hate me. You have earned a special honour, though.

I will make you worship me like a god.
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I moan and rub my head, having been woken by the sound of... a sewing machine? Standing, I survey the room, and upon noticing it's emptiness, I follow the sound of the machine. As it turns out, it was coming from the sitting room down the hall. The one with completely unused chairs.

Upon my arrival, I see that Rarity is, obviously, the operator of the machine. She's so enthralled in her work that she doesn't notice my entrance, but that doesn't extend to the room's other inhabitants. Rainbow Dash sees me, and motions me over to a small gathering of chairs.

As I walk over, I notice that a bookshelf has been moved away from the wall. Curious, I begin to walk over, but Applejack stops me before I get too far. “Not so fast, sugarcube. We don't want a repeat of last time.” Only then do I realize the purpose of the bookshelf to block Twilight's... openness.

“There. Now do ya mind telling us why you passed out again? Ya seem ta be doing that a lot.” I stare at her, completely dumbfounded. “She was NAKED!” I practically scream, slightly shocking Rarity, but unable to put a fault in her work.

Rarity turned around, and tilted her glasses, which I now noticed she was wearing. “Is that a problem?” she asked, very clearly clueless on the matter. I start to say something, but decide against it. At least Rarity had the idea to make Twilight some clothes. But that begs another question...

“Where did you get the fabric for the clothes?” This evoked furious blushing from all of them. “Well, you see...” Rarity began, but she stopped before finishing her thought. Rainbow almost piped up, but thought better of it. Only Spike found the courage to say what the others could not.

“We kinda had to butcher your clothes.” This caught me off guard. I stared at Rarity. “How much?” I asked, trying to stay calm. She blushed, looked away, and mumbled “All of them.” Okay. I officially couldn't stay calm anymore. “All of it?! All of my clothes?!

“Are you telling me that I only have one set of clothes left?!” She nodded, blushing furiously as she tossed her latest creation over the bookshelf before galloping out of the room. The others went after her, and I sank into the chair feeling like shit.

As I was accosting myself for lashing out, I tried desperately to remember my meditation techniques. I began with some deep breathing when Twilight walked out from behind the bookshelf. She looked rather decent in her only slightly patchwork clothes, but she also looked rather pissed.

“What is wrong with you!?” she screamed, stamping on the ground for emphasis. I felt a boiling sensation in me, which I tried to stave off with more deep breathing. Unfortunately, she didn't take the hint, and continued. “She had no idea how to make clothes for humans, and you didn't have any other fabric she could use! If you had something, any other fabric, then this wouldn't have happened!”

This is too much, even for deep breathing.
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Only then did I see it. The rage boiling up inside him as I screamed at him. The pure, primal fury, completely overreacting to the situation. But I didn't dare say it was an overreaction. I just stopped my yelling and stared at those hate filled eyes with a mix of fear, confusion, and rage of my own.

He stormed out of the room, tearing down the hallway into the bathroom, and the click of the lock was audible in the silence. I slumped down into the nearest chair, suddenly exhausted from that impromptu standoff.

Was that it? The reason he was the chosen one? That he had more rage that anyone back in Equestria? That his pure fury could exhaust it's targets? Of all the foes I faced, none of them had that much... intensity to them. No wonder Rarity broke down. Jack Darrius is terrifying when he's mad.

Suddenly, he burst into the room. I flinched, fearing more anger, but his look was one of distress. “We're late!” he gasped, already sliding on the shoes he wore whenever he went outside. Soothed by his loss of anger, yet terrified at the thought of being late, I took off after him towards his garage.

Only now, as we rush through the halls of his house, do I begin to wonder how we're supposed to get to his school on time. I understand once we reach his garage, though.

From the looks of it, it's a scooter. Granted, it has a motor, and a seat for two, but it's a scooter. Jack tossed me a helmet, perhaps a bit too fast, and quickly snapped one on his own head before we both clambered on to this thing. He opened the garage door, and we sped off.

I glance at the edges of the streets as we speed by. As it was from the windows of his rather large house, there are no signs of civilization past a tree line about half a mile away. If his speedometer is to be believed, it shouldn't take us long to pass it.

We don't speak for the duration of the ride. Mostly because, due to our proximity, I realized that the intensity from his anger had only just begun to subside. Can something with so much rage really be the hero for Equestria? A nation of harmony, saved by a thing of hate? Divine comedy at it's best.
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We arrived at the school in a little under a half an hour, just in time for lunch. As we approached the brown, single story building, I wondered for the first time how I was supposed to get Twilight into the school.

I grew up with every kid in this town, and Twilight is definitely an odd one out. With her purple hair and vaguely patchwork clothing, she'll be singled out and questioned on the spot. Not to mention that the administration has a profile on every kid in town.

We pulled up to the parking spot closest to the entrance, and we wordlessly walked up to the entrance. Once inside, I noticed the general emptiness of the school, until I heard laughter and chatting through the closed door of the cafeteria. Lunch time. Twilight tried to dash to the library, but I grabbed her wrist.

She turned to me, confused, and I gestured towards the office. She understood, thankfully. I didn't feel up to speaking with her right now. We walked in, and were greeted with a very displeased looking Mr. Grotch.

Mr. Grotch is the principal of the school, but he's also it's teacher, and the town mayor. He's got three sets of big shoes to fill, but right now his stressful anger seems more directed at me than at his difficult duty.

“Care to explain?” He said simply, yet demanding detail. He wanted to know everything. I'm not telling him anything though. I came up with a ghost of a plan, mostly improvisation, but it should work. That is, if Twilight didn't pipe up.

“I'm an exchange student.” She blurted out. Mr. Grotch raised an eyebrow. “From?” he asked, calm as ever. Twilight perked up slightly. “Equ...” she started, pausing momentarily. “Ecuador.” Nice save. Mr. Grotch wasn't done. “Name?”, he asked, keeping his questions as short as possible. This time, I chimed in. “She's Katie Twi, but I just call her Twi.” Mr. Grotch didn't look convinced. Time for my trump card. “My father sent her.”

At that, Mr. Grotch grinned widely and genuinely. “Why didn't you say so? Any friend of your father's is a friend of mine! Now, let's just forget about this whole lateness mess, and get on with our day!” He shooed us out the door. “You two get along now, busy year of school ahead of you!”

If only you knew I wasn't staying too long. I grinned at Twilight, and she softened up, smiling back. Her smile somehow put me on cloud nine, and I felt like nothing could get in the way of my excellent mood.

Then Butch showed up.
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A burly kid, probably Jack's age, walked up to us with two kids, who I assumed were his friends. They grinned at Jack, and everyone tensed. Jack was getting mad again. But the burly kid didn't take the hint.

“Finally got a girlfriend, squirt?” he chuckled, and his friends chuckled too. I got the feeling they were his goons, not his friends. Jack smirked. “No just a friend. Not like you'd understand, Mr. Cut-to-Fourth-Base.” the burly kid tensed and clenched his fists, but still smirked. “So you laid no claim on her foreign slopes?” Jack ground his teeth. “Don't you dare, Butch.” Butch grabbed me suddenly, and roughly pulled me over to him. I almost cried out for help. But Jack moved too quickly.

He was unbelievable. He punched Butch in the face, then spun around and got one of the goons in the gut. I noticed Jack was mainly using his left arm, but still used his right, as shown when he grabbed the back of the second goon's head and brought it into his fist.

Butch discarded me and rushed to attack Jack, and Butch tackled him right after Jack punched the first goon in the head. The first goon didn't get up, but Jack curled up into a ball before slamming his feet into Butch's chest, knocking him clear across the hall. The second goon jumped onto Jack's back. I saw Jack's eyes, though. I saw more rage than ever. I knew this wouldn't end well.

Jack flipped the goon onto the floor, propping him up against the wall. The goon looked up with hope and fear, pleading for mercy. He knew what was coming. I wish I did. Maybe I could have stopped Jack. Maybe I wouldn't have thrown up.

Jack stomped on the goon's leg. I could hear the bone snap before I saw his leg bent backwards. I heard the screaming, a primal cry like a dying animal, and I keeled over and threw up. It felt like an eternity later, but the vomit stopped. Jack turned to face me, his anger long melted away. Or all channelled into that last, horrific attack. He extended a hand to me. My heart was pounding, and I didn't know what to think about Jack now, but I took his hand.

And we ran.