Chapter 12
Twilight was too shocked to do anything for a second. Her spell had just turned Jax on fire. She had combusted somepony. The thought was so alien to her that she couldn’t react until his screams finally snapped her to action. She ran toward the big double doors, barging them open with her magic, revealing the two guards standing over the bag of candy Jax had received from Bon Bon, looking like they were just caught with a hoof in the cookie-jar.
“Guards! Get me some water as fast as you can!” She ordered, panic clear in her voice. They looked at her dumbstruck, then at the flaming creature behind her, who had started to roll around on the ground.
She knew that before the guards managed to get all the way upstairs, find a bucket, fill it with water, and get back, Jax would already have suffered more than any living creature should. It may be too late by that point, and she wanted no more than to wrap him in her magic and extinguish the fire, but she knew that that might just make things worse. Using her magic on him again was out of the question, but what could she do? What was there to do? Wait, she could teleport! She could get the water faster herself than to wait for the guards!
She just started charging her horn when she felt a large discharge of magic and heard a loud splash behind her. When she turned around Jax was laying in a puddle on the floor, most likely passed out. How long had he been on fire? 10 seconds? 15 tops? She wasn’t sure, but she knew she had to get him to the hospital as fast as she could. She turned towards the guards again.
“Get me four pegasi to take him to the hospital as fast as you can. Inform the hospital beforehoof that they have a burn victim and they are not to, under any circumstances, use magic on him. Go!”
The guards hurried off, leaving her alone with her thoughts. Or almost alone. She had recognized that spell matrix…
“Princess Luna? Are you here?” She asked the empty hallway.
A moment passed before the princess of the night revealed herself. She looked very worried. Twilight bowed more out of habit than anything else.
“Twilight Sparkle. What happened in there? I waited out here as to not interrupt with the tests.”
“I don’t… The tests were going fine, we… I… I let my curiosity get the best of me princess. I had all the data I needed but decided to try one last spell… One last spell to state my curiosity. I thought I had learned my lesson back with the pinkie incident… I thought… Everything was going fine. I forgot that he wasn’t shielded.” The tears started dripping down her muzzle. “I didn’t count the possibility that he could get hurt.”
A range of emotions went over Luna’s muzzle throughout her explanation. Confusion, shock, disappointment and anger before it settled on a cold glare.
“You decided to test your luck… WHEN YOU HAD ALL THE DATA YOU NEEDED?!” The Royal Canterlot Voice hit her hard, almost blowing her away. Luna seemed to take a moment to get her voice under control again. “You put his life in danger just to state your curiosity?” Her voice went from anger to cold emotionlessness, as she reverted back to her old speech. “We thought thou better than this Twilight Sparkle. Our sister hath nothing but praise for thine abilities, and thou hath proven thine worth against many opponents. We would never have thought thou would fail a friend, of all things.” Twilight’s tears streamed down her face by now, taking the verbal reprimand without complaint. She could hear the guard rushing down the stairs, hopefully ready to take Jax to the hospital. “We shall converse more later.” Luna stated, also hearing the approaching guard. With a spell she turned invisible again.
Twilight took a moment to pull herself together, drying the tears from her eyes. When the guard came with a stretcher between them, Twilight was ready to organize everything. The least she could do was to make sure he arrived at the hospital without further incidents.
***
Luna paced back and forth outside the castle. She had just yelled at the closest thing she had to a friend. Were they even friends? Friends do not normally bow to each other, do they? But they do yell sometimes. At least they did 1247 years ago… Times had not changed that much had they?
She thought back to 1247 years ago, to the last real friends she had had. Before her and Celestia had brought down Discord and the world was in chaos. Back then nobody slept in the night and worked during the day because day and night could switch as quickly as a snap of Discord’s claws. Everypony was just focused on surviving the chaos that was their reality.
Luna and Celestia had two friends back then, Water Door and Fire Nova. How tight a group they had been, finding happiness in each others company even in those dark times. How tragic their deaths had been, giving their life so that Luna and Celestia could acquire the Elements of Harmony and defeat Discord. After that they had been seen as heroes, then as princesses. Nopony came close to that level of friendship after that. Of course Celestia had more success finding friends than she had…
She lowered her muzzle with a sigh. A thousand years on the moon. She felt so out of place, out of time. The smallest of distractions still made her revert to the old speech patterns. She had no real friends, at least none as close as she wanted. As she needed. The closest thing she had, Twilight, probably did not want to see her again after she lost control of her emotions like that.
Why had she lost control like that? It was true that Twilight had been reckless, but it was not like she set him on fire on purpose.
Yet when the doors had been opened and she saw and heard Jax, running around on fire, screaming worse than Rainbow Dash that very morning, she had felt a sense of… dread? Like she had to protect him, but had failed miserably. She had teleported water onto him before she had realized what she had done. Of course Twilight would have felt her spell matrix, with a spell as powerful as that. She did not regret it though.
But when Twilight had told her what she had done, she had felt so much anger and disappointment. She had stayed outside the chamber as to not affect the tests in any way, but she had done so with a sense of trust towards Twilight. She was sure that the princess of friendship would be careful with her tests, taking every precaution she could so that nopony was hurt.
Still, Luna had overreacted. It was clear that Twilight already knew she had done something wrong, yet she had thrown her anger at her mercilessly.
On the other hoof…
Enough. She could debate with herself forever whether her reaction was justified or not. In any case, why was she so obsessed with Jax? He was just a weird looking creature who appeared in Equestria one day, having a nightmare and when Luna had tried to help, he had screamed at her. She should not feel this protective of him. It was not like she hoped he would understand her own suffering like no pony ever could. It was not like she felt the loneliness in his dream mirrored her own perfectly. It is not like she wanted him to hold her in his weird forelegs…
She stopped her denials. That was exactly what she wanted. Sometime during the month since she entered his dream, she had started thinking more and more about him. He probably did not grow up with the stories about Nightmare Moon if she was lucky, so he would not fear her by instinct. He was no stranger to loneliness, if his dream was anything to go by, so they had something in common already. He was different, an outsider like her, although he had already made more friends in the two days he had spent in Equestrian culture than she had since she was freed all that time ago. He intrigued her. In all her years of living, even in the Discord Era, she had never seen or heard of anything like him.
She looked up at the pegasi flying Jax to the hospital on a stretcher. She took wing and followed.
She would have to apologize to Twilight later.
***
Jax looked at the meal before him. It had been an hour since he woke up in the hospital, covered in new bandage. He was getting very tired of bandages by this point.
The doctor had said that they had applied some kind of salve on his burns. It numbed his body somewhat, taking care of most of the pain, but not all of it. As far as he could understand, the burns were pretty serious, but not life-threatening.
As was the rule in any universe it would seem, the meal you got in a hospital had to suck. What sucked even more was that he had received the herbivore version, being a daisy sandwich with a side of hay and an apple. He had only eaten a couple of sweets that day, and he sincerely hoped his Bag O’ Candy was safe somewhere. He only ate two pieces of the giant cake at yesterday’s party for that entire day. He was fucking starving and they gave him food he couldn’t eat to mock him.
He knew deep down that they probably didn’t know, but why didn’t they ask?
Maybe they were afraid of the answer…
He ate the bread and the apple.
Just as he finished the last of the apple, the very pony he wanted to see opened the door of his own personal room.
Twilight Sparkle entered.
It was painfully obvious that she was nervous as she walked over to his bed, especially when he just stared at her without saying anything.
“I uhh… I brought you a book. It’s… It’s the one I wrote about our adventures, Rainbow Dash said you would be interested…” She trailed off.
“You brought me your own book?” He asked. She nodded meekly. “Did you sign it?” He asked. She looked at him surprised, obviously not expecting the question.
“No…?” She answered, unsure of herself.
“Write ‘To my biggest fan, kind regards, Twilight Sparkle.’”
She looked utterly confused. “uhhhhh….”
“In case I ever need to sell it. I’m sure it will triple its value.” He explained.
“Wait, aren’t you mad?”
“Twilight… You set me on fire. I am absolutely…” He took a deep breath, trying to control the anger that had been trying to take over since he woke up. “I’m furious. The only reason I didn’t throw this sad excuse of a meal at you the second you tried to enter is that you didn’t do it on purpose, and my private parts escaped with minimum damage.”
Twilight was looking down at the floor silently so he decided to continue. “The worst part isn’t even that I spontaneously combusted, as hurtful as that was, no the worst part is that I can see absolutely no reason for you to try that last spell! You had already tried spells on me twice, you knew something new would happen. I can’t see what you could get out of it, and frankly I feel foolish for trusting you!”
Twilight finally looked up, tears flowing freely from her eyes. Regret stung in Jax’ heart at the sight. Ponies have a natural cuteness to them that unfortunately made their sadness look absolutely devastating.
“I’m sooo sorry Jax.” She slowly started. “You trusted me to conduct those tests even though you didn’t want to, and I… I just…” She took a deep breath, obviously having trouble talking. “I let you get hurt. I had a theory that your body was rejecting magic as a defense mechanism, so I didn’t count on the possibility that you could get hurt in the process. I let you down and I… I can understand if… If you never want to see me again. I let my curiosity get the best of me again, and again somepony had to suffer because of it. If there is anything I can do for you Jax, anything at all… Please let me know.” She turned around and started making her way towards the door, head hanging low.
For a moment Jax considered letting her go. She had set him on fire, surely that was a good enough excuse to hold on to a grudge. You don’t just forgive people who set you on fire, causing serious burns all over your body, right? He had trusted her and she broke that trust.
She didn’t do it on purpose, another side of him argued. She would never have done it on purpose. The look on her face when she apologized told him that. She felt absolutely terrible for what she had done, and she would feel terrible for a long time and only he could make her feel better.
He struggled with his decision but the look of that tearful face kept coming up.
“Wait.” He said as she was at the door. This was a new beginning for him, in a new land. Holding on to grudges may be what the old Jax would do, but he was no longer his old self. He didn’t want to be. She looked back at him, a glimmer of hope in those tearful eyes. “Come here.” She hesitantly made her way back. He made some room on the small bed he was laying on and patted the space. She understood the gesture and laid down beside him. He looked her in the eyes as he started talking again, his voice calm.
“Listen Twilight, ‘cause this is important. Since Fluttershy found me, you ponies have been throwing your trust at me as if it wasn’t the most important thing you could give another being. Sure, I’ve seen some of you give me weird looks now and again, and more than enough avoided me at the party yesterday, but all in all you have been very trustful of me, and don’t get me wrong, I really appreciate it. But where I come from… Things are different. Even among my own race I gave my trust to fewer than most. So when I decided to go with you to be tested… by my own standards I was very trustful.” Twilight started looking away, shame evident on her face/ muzzle whatever it’s called. He used his hand to guide her head back. Her fur was surprisingly soft. “I’m not telling you this so you can feel worse, I just want you to understand. I’m not only angry at you for setting me on fire. I’m angry at myself as well for trusting you so easily.” Surprise was the first expression on her face, quickly replaced by sadness. She threw her hooves around his neck and he held back a hiss of pain. The salve was working great but it wasn’t perfect.
“I’m so sorry Jax.” She said between sobs. “I promise never to break your trust again if you give me a chance… please.”
By this point he felt horrible for letting her suffer for so long. She obviously felt bad, if her endless stream of tears were anything to go by, and her hug was very painful to him. Still he hesitated a moment before he said the next words. He knew he wanted to, and he knew he should, but the words didn’t come easy.
“I forgive you Twilight.” She drew back to look him in the eyes, making it less painful for him in the process.
“Really?” She asked, her voice full of hope. He nodded with a small smile on his face, and she hugged him again. He decided to endure the pain in favor of getting a hug. This was a victory for him as much as it was for her, he had become a bigger man. He had overcome his old self. He felt really happy.
Until he remembered his situation. He had no money, nowhere to live. He did however have a princess in his arms who owed him big time.
“Twilight?” He started. She drew back again to look at him. “I need some stuff.”
“If it’s anything I can help you with, I will.” She stated, drying her tears. He gave her the napkin that came with his ‘meal’ and she accepted happily.
“I need my own place to stay and I need money, whatever your currency is. Also, I was serious about you signing the book. Oh and my Bag O’ Candy. Can’t leave that behind.” He felt bad for putting her in a position where she practically couldn’t deny him, but he needed to get on his feet and get a feeling of their society, before he decided what he really wanted in his new life.
She smiled at him, obviously happy to be able to help him. “Of course. I was going to offer you a room in the castle but I can understand if you would rather have your own place. Also, I can give you a monthly stipend until you find work.” She took a quill from the saddlebag along with the book and some ink. She quickly wrote what he had told her to, and tried to hand it to him in her magic, before she remembered how that was a very bad idea. She quickly took it in her hooves before handing it to him and he smiled gratefully. This was definitely going to be a problem.
“Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Pinkie came to see you, but I told them I wanted to talk with you first. I’ll send them in now and go cancel the town meeting.”
She jumped down from the bed. “No, don’t cancel the meeting. I can make it out there and say a few words. It’s no problem.” She turned around, dissatisfaction clear in her eyes.
“Jax… You’re seriously injured. You need to stay here and rest. There is no way the doctor is going to let you leave so soon.” She said firmly.
He rolled his eyes at that. She was clearly underestimating his power. “Twilight… I know full well I’m injured, but I have been through worse. All I need is a real meal to get me back on my legs long enough to attend the meeting, I promise I’ll come back here afterwards. But that’s another thing we need to talk about…” He hesitated, but he knew he had to know. “How do ponies feel about… carnivores?”
She looked confused at the question. “Carnivores? Well we are on friendly terms with the griffons from the north and neutral terms with the dragons from the south, though dragons mainly eat gems. Why?”
“They eat what? No wait, focus. If I were to say that I was an omnivore… how would ponies react?” He finally got the question out.
Twilight grimaced. “Differently. Some probably with fear, if I were to guess. Many ponies are still afraid of the griffins. I think it would probably best if you didn’t share this knowledge with too many.” She looked at his plate, where the hay and daisy lay untouched. “What exactly can you eat?”
***
He knew she was coming. He was ready for her this time. He would not be taken by surprise… He could do this!
“Hey Jaxie, how are you feeling?!” Pinkie appeared beside him. He turned his head casually.
“Oh hey Pinkie, what’s up?” He gave her a casual smile to complete his victory.
“Aww you’re no fun.” Her statement was contradicted by the smile still on her face.
“Hey tough guy.” “Hello darling.” Rainbow Dash and Rarity said from the now open door. A small pegasus with… Alright lets see… no mark, purple hair… likely one of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, followed in after them.
“I must admit darling, I was very relieved to hear that you forgave Twilight. She was so very distraught before she came in here. Where did she go by the way? She looked a little distracted.” Rarity started.
“Yeah, that was very cool, nothing less than what I expected from you.” She raised her hoof, and he bumped it with his fist. It would seem like it was their thing now, which suited Jax fine. It felt nice, familiar in a sense.
“She went to Fluttershy’s. She is fairly certain I can get a proper meal from her… Any of you want any hay and/ or plant?” He gestured to the remains of his meal.
“Sweet, I’m starving.” The small Pegasus said as she jumped onto the bed and started eating the hay. “What?” She asked in relation to the looks she recieved.
“This is Scootaloo, my number one fan.” Rainbow puffed her chest out, clearly proud. He stuck out his hand.
“Jax, but you can call me Jax.” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes at that and Scootaloo looked confused. “What else was she gonna call you?” Rainbow asked.
“Well I guess ‘that guy that was set on fire’ is too long, and ‘weird creature’ is kinda offensive… AppleJax would be damn right silly. Which reminds me.” he smiled triumphantly at Rainbow, who looked like she was on the verge of remembering something embarrassing. “Remember that time you flew into me and called me a tree? Not very cool o-“
“Okay, cool, gotta go, bye!” She picked up Scootaloo who was looking on in confusion and made her way out faster than… a car… no wait, Sonic the Hedgehog. Faster than Sonic.
He looked over at Rarity, mouth still open. She stifled her giggle behind a hoof, while Pinkie laughed freely. “Darling, Rainbow doesn’t deal well with embarrassment. She normally flies away from it. I am just happy to see you have enough energy to joke around. It’s not every day one gets set on fire after all.”
“Well it’s not every day you get your wounds treated by a professional medic staff. When I was in the forest the only one treating my wounds was me, and that didn’t always turn out painless. I would probably be more upset if the salve they applied didn’t work so well. I’ve had wounds in the forest that hurt three times as much, so I’m relatively okay. Also I feel good after the conversation I had with Twilight” He looked at the smiling mares in front of him, remembering his manners. “Thanks for visiting by the way. You didn’t have to and you must be busy.”
“Oh, nonsense. It must have been horrible for you, I can only imagine… “ Her body quivered at the thought. “Oh, also, we will have to enjoy that tea together another time. You need to stay here and rest.” Jax smiled at her. She was kind of… posh, and normally he wouldn’t feel comfortable around her type, but Rarity was clearly concerned about his well-being, and she had been more than kind to him. Warmth spread through his chest at the thought of the kindness he had received from these ponies. It was nice, knowing that even though he was different than everyone else, he would be treated with kindness. He had no doubt that some ponies would still be afraid of him, but he could deal with a little undeserved fear and/or hate. He looked up at Rarity when he realized she was talking to him.
“… mane seem to have been burnt as well, I think you could use a manecut darling, and I know just the place. After that we could go to the spa and enjoy the treatment. What do you say?” She looked at him with those big eyes that these ponies had. For some reason she wore makeup, so her blue eyes were really prominent. He thought about her proposal for a moment.
“Sure, sounds like a good idea. I could use the relaxation. When did you have in mind?” She looked absolutely thrilled for some reason. Maybe she was expecting him to decline or something.
“Me and Fluttershy usually go once a week, so there is no haste. I think it would be best if we let your wounds heal first.” She gave him an excited smile. She was obviously looking forward to it, which in turn made Jax smile.
Pinkie, who had been weirdly quiet, finally seemed to erupt as balloons came out of nowhere. “Yay! It’s so good to see a pony make friends.” She learned in and whispered in his ear. “By the way, I brought you your bag of candy, I hope you don’t mind I took some. As an apology I brought some cake from yesterday, and stashed it all under the bed.” She drew back and winked very obviously at him, making him wonder why she did it at all.
They were interrupted by a nurse with a red heart as her mark. Jax recognized her as the one who had tried to hold back Rainbow Dash earlier that day. She smiled pleasantly at them all. “Hello, I’m Beating Heart. I will have to ask your guests to leave Mr. Jax, as I have to change your bandages and apply more salve.”
“Ah, of course. Come now Pinkie, we must let the professionals do their job.” Rarity made her way out with Pinkie, and they both gave him one last smile, which he returned.
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you continue to do good
5797099 thank you :D
This one was good. Can't wait for the next one.
Her magic
If you were refering to Rarity, it should be "mare". Else, you should remove the "white" descriptor if you were refering to both, unless Pinkie was covered in flour or something.
5797927 glad to hear :D
yeah... cause Twilight is female. Makes sense.
heheh well she often is XD To be honest I completely forgot Pinkie was in the room, that's why she's a little quiet XD wrote her in again later, but forgot this part ^^ But thanks as always :3
.... This chapter reminds me of this Dexter's lab moment.
6120349 I prefer this one
He actually explodes in the next few frames but Vagitaru Interrupts it
5797927 I'm pretty sure Pinky is caked with a layer of flour on top of her skin but bellow her fur at all times.
Bullshrimp! NoPony is faster than Sonic!!!
6440884 I'm not a shrimp, you don't even know who you are!
Wait...
No of course she's not, just trying to make a comparison here XD You know... exaggeration promotes understanding and all that.
6440884 I've seen plenty of works that have said she's as fast as him though. *giggles* still as fast isn't faster than....
I can still remember when I was reading this story all of the suspense and cliffhangers btw keep going man your doing a good job.(stopped reading on chapter 56. Re-sending to remember everything.)
7313845 I will keep going until it's finished :)
I'm introducing myself like this from now on XD
"it's nothing to get fired up about eyy?"
7461088
XD good one :b
Oh my gawd... is Twilight falling for Jax... does she want some alien booty like Luna, maybe they could share if you know what I mean
7908479 that would be the bomb!
is that a fact?
9174195
nah XD