Homecoming of a Jumper

by tosety

01 First Jump

Alex opened the door to The Grain Bucket and stood to the side as a colt walked in. Before even noticing his young age, they noticed his appearance. He was about as un-ponylike as you could get and everypony there immediately labelled him as a rebellious troublemaker. They had seen piercings like his in some of the angrier youth of larger cities and the armor showed hard use despite the obvious care taken to clean and polish it.

They would have sighed and considered him another redemption project that Princess Luna had given Alex and gone back to their drinks were it not for another detail that not only had none of them ever seen, but few had even heard of.

The colt had spikes sticking out of his face.

He had three sticking out along each eyebrow and another six running in pairs down his muzzle. Most stopped there and wondered who would have been willing to do such body modifications to a colt as young as he was, others wondered why Alex was bringing an obviously underage colt into a bar, but a few noticed his eyes and were blindsided by the emotion behind them. Where they expected to see boredom, anger, or arrogance, his eyes spoke of tiredness and pain.

They took a seat at the bar and Berry Punch trotted over, her maternal nature allowing her to look past appearances and see just a sad colt sitting next to Alex.

“Two virgin humans and a bowl of salt,” Alex ordered, giving a sad smile to Berry Punch.

Berry Punch poured them the two alcoholic but unsalted drinks and set a salt bowl and spoon in front of Alex, completely forgetting that humans didn't take salt.

The two sat at the bar in silence. Alex took a sip of his drink as the colt spooned salt into his and stirred it, building up the nerve to remember.

Many indignant looks were shot their way as they watched Alex contribute to the delinquency of an already delinquent minor. The colt merely sat there, ignoring the glares and continuing to stir his drink meditatively.

Berry Punch didn’t notice the colt add the salt, but after seeing him stirring his drink, seeing other patrons looking shocked and offended, and Alex drinking his ‘virgin human’, it finally clicked.

“What in Celestia’s name are you doing to that colt? He’s way too young to be taking salt!” She reached for the bowl as she continued her tirade of righteous anger. “Is this what you and Dash do with Scootaloo? Do you get her drunk and laugh as she stumbles around?”

Alex blocked her hoof with an outstretched hand as he interrupted her diatribe. “No, I don’t, and you should know me better than that.” He then put his hand over the salt bowl, pulling it close. "Berry, remember that one time before I got married, when I got blind stinking drunk and told you my story? You know, the one from before Ponyville?"

She pulled her hoof back. "Yeah, so?"

"Steelskin went through the same thing." Alex turned back to his own drink and let the simple statement sink in.

"You...." She stood there, jaw agape.

Steelskin held her gaze.

She shuddered as her eyes misted up, noticing the look of serious, soul scarring trauma behind those eyes. She had seen lesser looks in the eyes of hardened veterans as they tried to salt away their memories in that very seat.

"Next round is on me, kid.” She turned to Alex with a motherly frown. “But Alex, you are responsible for him. Make sure he gets home safe and remember how small he is.” She took a moment to stare at Alex with a look that spoke volumes. “Do not let him take too much.” She raised her voice as she looked out over the patrons. “Anyone who doesn’t like it can take it up with me.” What little noise there was after Alex’s statement vanished at that pronouncement.

Steelskin gave a wry smile, having long since learned that a drunk pony can’t defend himself.

“Of course not,” Alex responded. “In fact, I won’t even leave him alone at his place if he’s slurring his words.” The emphasis on ‘his place’ was subtle, but pointed.

Finally, Steelskin broke his silence. “Scootaloo is in love with me.”

It wasn’t what he’d come to talk about, but he needed to break the silence with something else and this needed to be said.

Only the barest hint of motion in his eyes showed Alex’s response to this statement, but Steelskin heard it loud and clear. Alex also saw the look in Steelskin’s eyes and knew exactly what he meant and how ready he was for any of Alex’s potential responses.

“Please make sure Scootaloo knows how badly I’m messed up. I can’t even think about dating her till she’s much older.” The colt’s old eyes showed a deep sadness and resignation. And she’ll need time to find out if she really wants somepony as broken as I am, he added to himself.

A small nod was Alex’s response to this. “How’s the new place?”

Steelskin chuckled, thinking back with appreciation at everyone’s push for him to be considered ‘of age’ and all the housewarming presents that filled out the home his parents had bought in Ponyville before...

“Lonely.”

Alex looked at him with concern, despite his smile.

Steelskin took a long pull of his drink and stared at his reflection in the surface for a while.

“Ever see a magitek horn replacement?” Steelskin activated a recording gem as he asked his question, knowing that he’d be asked to recount these stories far more than he’d be able to.

---

#PL - 01#
@Arrival + 1 Hour@

Tallic finished chewing me out for coming with him and we looked around. It was late evening and our circle of cave sat in the middle of a large sheet of metal.

“Hop on,” Tallic ordered.

We took to the air and found a very different Ponyville beneath us. Metal was much more common and the sheet we landed on was one of many that could now be recognized as some sort of doors. There were also metal obelisks with strangely shaped gems encircling the town.

Tallic seemed to zero in on something in the distance, but all I could see were bright flashes on the horizon.

---

#PL - 01#
@Arrival + 1 Hour@

Twilight flew over the forest, her Heads Up Display scanning below her for any telltale chaonic fields.

“You see anything, Dash? All I’m picking up are the background chaons.”

“Nah,” Dash replied. “Can’t I get out and fly on my own? The suit can tell you if it sees anything.”

“I’ve told you already,” Twilight responded in an exasperated sigh. “The ponytech needs your decision making abilities if we run into some of the bipeds. It can only handle simple automation, not full fledged battle.”

“C’mon, I’m still not used to this new wing. Really need to get some flight time in,” Dash replied grudgingly.

“You think I’m used to this horn?” She rubbed the metal and crystal replacement jutting out of her forehead.

Suddenly, a bright red pentagram appeared on their viewscreens.

“We’ve got incoming,” They informed each other in unison.

“Mapped, logged and reported,” Twilight said aloud, mentally thanking the captured technology for an even better messaging and note-taking system.

“Okay squad, take formation omarega and prepare for awesomeness!” Dash shouted.

With that, the ten ponytechs behind Dash and Twilight fanned out in a semicircle. The forest lit with a red and black glow as the portal dumped five biped shaped behemoths and several dozen wheeled boxes.

Everypony’s HUDs lit up with two more, even larger pentagrams popped up indicating incoming threats behind and to either side of them.

“Up and over! Don’t let them flank us,” Dash called out.

---

#PL - 01#
@Arrival + 90 Minutes@

When we were close enough to see metal golems fighting with each other, Tallic flew low, slowed and did a barrel roll. I had just enough time to turn myself around so I could land on my feet before seeing him fly off into the battle.

There were multicolored pony shaped golems fighting silver and white things that seemed to be modeled after Spike or the humans.

Several of both types were already on the ground, smoking, but the bipeds seemed to have the advantage.

Tallic, apparently, made his decision and flew at the biggest of the bipedal ones, dodging mage blasts coming from its arms, ripping off all four limbs and biting into the head before leaping sideways to dodge another one’s attacks and spearing it through the middle. I saw one of the ponies that looked like a giant Twilight Sparkle with wings blast another one that was shooting at Tallic.

---

#PL - 01#
@Arrival + 75 Minutes@

“The cavalry is... no, that’s something else coming in from the east,” Lyra called out.

“It’s a dragon!” Derpy called out as she hit two separate wheel-boxes with her hoof blasters and landed hard on a third, flattening it with the extra plating on her unit’s hindquarters.

The ponies took up a defensive position as they watched the dragon slow, roll inexplicably, then charge straight in towards the leader of the invading force and tear it limb from limb.

The ponies watched in amazement as the dragon ripped their attackers into pieces. When all the bipeds and wheel-boxes were scrap metal, it turned and started towards Lyra’s ponytech. Twilight had just barely enough time to yell ‘Stop!’ through the outside speakers before it drew up short, sniffing at Lyra’s unmodified, but green painted unit.

Without warning, it back winged and flew off in the direction it had come.

---

#PL - 01#
@Arrival + 100 Minutes@

After ripping all of the human shaped golems into pieces, Tallic flew back to me and I eagerly climbed back onto his back.

Instead of flying, he walked back towards the battlefield. The Twilight golem met us halfway.

“Thanks for your help back there. I’m Twilight Spa-what? Is that a pony on your back?”

“Greetings, Twilight Sparkle. I am Tallic, and this little one is my adopted son, Steelskin.” At Tallic’s introduction, I hopped down to get a closer look at the golem.

“How are you controlling that?”

She responded to my question by opening up the chest to show herself standing in a little control box with all sorts of crystals and levers.

I have to admit, I think I took longer to get over her awesome battle armor than it took her to get over a dragon and colt appearing out of nowhere.

Tallic wouldn’t let me near the ones that were picking up the pieces of the destroyed golems. He insisted I wasn’t ready. Now I’m really glad he did. I figured out pretty quickly anyway that those things had living pilots.

On second thought, it would’ve prepared me for some of the horrors I’d see later.

When we got back to Ponyville, I got to hear the whole story.

---

#PL - 01#
@Arrival - 3 Months@

“Here it is, Princesses,” Twilight said as they approached the strange, shimmering anomaly.

The egg shaped disturbance sat in the middle of the field east of Ponyville, standing twenty hooves high and about half that in diameter at its middle. The inside sparkled and various shades of color swirled within it.

“I thought you said it was only five hooves high,” Luna commented.

“It was,” Twilight said as her mind sorted through the ways it could have grown so quickly. “It was also less defined...”

The unicorn scientists surrounded the anomaly and began studying it while a team of earth ponies hauled in the equipment they would be using and the royal guardsponies set up a defensive perimeter.

Twilight stepped closer even as her friends hung back in fear. “I think I see something moving in there... It’s almost like it’s a passagewa-”

An explosion knocked everypony back and five bipedal iron golems stood in the center of the newly formed crater.

The princesses, Twilight included, had shielded more than half of the scientists and only the ones on the far side of it had been hurt.

“Greetings, visitors, I am Princess Celestia. I welcome you to Equestria,” Celestia said, stepping forward and giving a regal bow.

“Unicorns! Þeir eru unicorns!” One of the golems cried.

“Ég kröfu í hvíta,” The tallest and most decorated of the five shouted, raising a foreleg towards Princess Celestia.

Celestia put up a barrier just before a crackling energy blast erupted from its limb. Dash, responding faster than anypony else, rammed the creature’s limb, denting it and knocking it sideways. Luna and Twilight followed with magic blasts that vaporized the limb. Immediately, the four others raised their own forelegs and started firing at anypony that moved.

The royal guard quickly moved in even as the civilians fled in terror.

Twilight teleported randomly, firing magic blasts in rapid succession. As she glanced around in her free moments, she saw the unicorn guards as they took up the attack, firing at various body parts in an attempt to figure out where their weak spots were.

The pegasi dodged hostile fire, trying to find an opening.

The earth ponies, to their credit, were dashing among their legs, trying to buck them out from under the golems.

Apparently Luna and Celestia were their primary targets, as the golems were targeting them more than the others. They kept up the attack for several seconds before their shield shattered and they fell to the earth.

Dash was flying through their ranks, pingponging off them and leaving dented, off balance enemies in her rainbow hued wake. As she banked for a return pass, a blaster bolt caught her left wing and she landed hard, digging a five tail trench in the sod.

Fluttershy was dodging blaster bolts as she ran from injured pony to injured pony, checking their condition. She had just finished dragging a stallion to the tree cover and was heading back into the fray when a blast ricocheted off a unicorn shield and hit her in the throat. She dropped, curling up in pain as Twilight teleported over to her and checked the wound quickly. She wasn’t in any immediate danger as she seemed to be breathing fine and the damage seemed superficial.

Dash climbed out of the trench she dug, ignoring the blackened stump where her wing used to be and looked around to judge the state of the battle.

Rarity was grabbing bits of metal and rock and jamming them into various joints and holes on the monsters even while holding her left eye closed tightly, burn marks surrounding it. She apparently found an opportune spot as one fell over, unable to bend a hind leg properly. She quickly yelled instructions to the other unicorns.

Pinkie Pie had hit three with paint charges from her party cannon before one brought its foreleg down on her back with a sickening crunch. Applejack ran over and bucked its hind legs out from under it. Dash, Rarity, and Twilight stood aghast as another grabbed her hindlegs in its blunt-tipped claws and squeezed before throwing her off to the side.

”You monsters!” Twilight screamed, blasting a hole through the chest of that golem. The others turned as one and shot their bolts at her. She had just enough time to put up her shield before the sizzling energy hit.

Time slowed to a crawl as her shield crumbled. The feedback from the forcibly cancelled spell travelled slowly into her horn. For an eternal moment, nothing moved as she remembered the warnings about trying to keep up a spell that was being overridden. A crackling noise filled her head before her horn exploded into a thousand fragments. Her wings fluttered for a brief moment before she passed out.

With the last bit of their strength, Princess Celestia and Luna stood one last time to face the invaders. They were grievously injured but they stood strong, remembering past fights before they were divided by jealousy. Celestia gave a nod to Luna Charged their horns. Both pairs of eyes flashed. Suddenly, the air was full of energy as bolts hammered the golems. The golems responded with evasive maneuvers and a volley of their own blasts.

While the princesses had the golems’ attention, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Dash quickly gathered the wounded, levitating Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and several of the unicorns out of the danger zone.

The golems’ blasts hit Celestia’s shield as Luna timed her attacks to pass through the seemingly random dropping of her sister’s defense. Another golem fell before Celestia’s shield shattered and she fell to her knees. The last two aimed and shot together. The twinned bolts hit Luna in the side as she turned to shield her sister with the only thing she had left. The golems each grabbed one, throwing Luna and Celestia over their respective shoulders before touching their claws together.

A popping noise and a sudden rush of air sucked those nearby into the once-occupied crater.

Dash, Rarity, and Fluttershy looked at the devastation and wept, holding each other tightly.

---

#PL - 01#
@Arrival + 6 Hours@

I was caught between being horrified at what had happened and geeking out about how much more amazing this stuff was than any of the magic fiction books I had read.

After listening to their story, the strange mechanical parts of them made sense. Twilight must have rebuilt her horn out of crystals and various pieces of the golems then proceeded to give Dash a new wing. Rarity now sported a diamond and platinum eye, Applejack had replacement hind legs, the box at Fluttershy’s throat must have been to give her her voice back, and, when fixing Pinkie Pie’s broken back, they gave her a shoulder cannon that must’ve been wired right into her nervous system.

I didn’t have the courage to ask if she had party charges for that thing, though I later found out the answer was yes.

“How have the counterattacks gone?” Everyone gaped at Tallic’s question.

“Counterattacks?”

“Yes...” With a sudden realization, Tallic brought his claw up to his face. “You have been playing defense this entire time even while the diarchs may yet be alive.”

”A rescue mission!” In true Pinkie Pie style, she had hopped up on Tallic’s nose and yelled like he was across the room.

Needless to say, Tallic jumped back and slammed into the rear wall.

Everypony there looked abashed.

---

“While there, I got some more pieces for this.” Steelskin tapped his chestplate with a hoof and a few pieces surrounding it glowed briefly.

“Nice...” Alex sat, and looked first at the chestplate, then at Steelskin. “So, Twilight was an alicorn?”

“Yeah, seems in most realities, there’s some sort of ascension ritual with the Elements of Harmony... I’m gonna need to talk with Celestia about that and a tree that was mentioned later.”

Alex took a sip of his drink.

Steelskin blinked back a few tears. “Tallic wouldn’t let either of us join them on the rescue mission... That’s another thing I’m grateful for. The rescue mission returned in pretty bad shape.” Steelskin shut his eyes and tried to get his breathing under control. “They found their heads and wings hung over a fireplace.”

“Wow. I have seen worse, but not by much.” Alex reached over and patted him on the shoulder. Steelskin flinched before looking over with an appreciative smile.

“Yeah, wish I could say that was the worst I’ve seen.” Steelskin took another sip and looked longingly at the salt bowl. It was still half full, but he made no move to spoon more into his drink. “There... there were some evil versions of you I met... They were some of the worst” Steelskin’s eyes unfocused for a second and he pulled the salt bowl closer.

Alex looked down into his glass and whispered, "Damn."

Steelskin took a moment to compose himself again. “...You can say that again... You’ve... you’ve been either a shining light rallying everyone together or the cruelest and most destructive force in Equestria... There’s never been any middle ground with you... Thanks for being one of the good ones.” Steelskin smiled a teary smile at him and have a gentle punch to Alex’s arm.

Alex didn’t cheer up like Steel thought he would.

“I’m sorry, I’m not as good at this as you are... What I’m trying to say is...” Steelskin took a deep breath and tried to order his thoughts. Without thinking he put two more spoonfuls into his drink.

“...When you’re good, you’re amazing... It doesn’t matter how weak you are or what you have that you can use... you motivate the rest of us to be... as ‘Loo says... awesome.”

His smile grew strong for a minute. “You and Pinkie were the ones that gave me strength when Tallic was gone and I will never forget that. I owe you my life in too many ways to count.”

As he turned back to the bar, he slid his drink to the side and rested his chin on his forelegs. “And thanks for being somepony I can break down in front of.” With that, Steelskin let the tears flow as his body shuddered. “Been... been holding this back for far too long...”

Neither of them noticed everypony else in the bar staring at them, some with tears rolling down their cheeks, others with faces frozen in horror ever since Steelskin’s story began.

“Is that what jumpers have faced?” A pony in the back stared at one of his friends.

One of the more composed ponies turned to his shell shocked friend. “If you think that’s rough, don’t even think about asking Matt about his jumps.”

Berry Punch stood there, cleaning glasses and regretting having listened in. She did not look forward to the nightmares she’d be having that night.

Author's Note:

#PL-01# = 1st Portal Reality

Memverse ponies aren't used to violence and Steelskin startied out with one of the more tame stories.
Be prepared for worse to come.

Comments

[Techogre]

A fitting successor to Jump of the Iron Dragon. I look forward to this thrilling tale!