Chapter 21
The next day when Beating woke him up, there were two extra nurses present. One was white with a light pink mane and tail, and a red cross as her mark, with a heart in each corner. The other had a similar mark, except… no wait, that was exactly the same mark! Jax thought those marks were supposed to be special or something… The only difference was that the other pony was light blue with a greenish mane and tail. Both earth ponies as well… Maybe they were sisters or something. They both looked nervous.
“Good morning Jax. Sleep well?” Beating met him with her usual cheerful self. Maybe even a bit more cheerful.
“Well enough. Would be better if you didn’t insist on waking me up at 7 every morning.” He told her with a yawn. When he got up to stretch his legs the two ponies took a step back. He looked at them tiredly before stretching his entire body. They were probably the two nurses who had talked about him in the hallway the day before. He looked around but it would seem that they forgot to bring both a squad of guards and Big Mac. They seemed to relax a bit when he sat back down.
“I’m sorry Jax, but as long as you’re in this hospital, you will get up early. nurse Redheart and nurse Tenderheart wanted to meet you as well. Girls, why don’t you introduce yourselves?”
The white one stepped forward. “Hello.” She said nervously. He recognized her voice as the first one, the one who had defended him. “I’m nurse Redheart. Pleased to meet you?” Why was that a question? He didn’t know whether she was pleased or not.
The other one stepped forward. “I’m nurse Tenderheart.” She seemed reluctant to be there, glancing at the door every few seconds.
He had decided yesterday before he went to sleep not to fuck with them if they came, and be nice. Rarity had worked hard for his reputation and he didn’t want to fuck that up, no matter how tempting and easy it would be. All he needed to do was to drop a few hints that he would ‘silence’ them and at least one of them would freak out… but no.
“Pleased to meet you both. My name is Jax. Alright, why do all your names have something to do with the heart and why do you two-” He indicated the two new ponies. “-have the same mark?”
The blue one, Tenderheart, spoke up. “Why should we-“ But was interrupted when the white one stuck a hoof in her mouth.
“What she meant to say was, we don’t know for sure. The heart is a vital organ in the body, which could be a reason. The cross is seen as a sign of good health, which could be a reason for our cutie marks. Normally there are small variants to cutie marks even when they are similar, but Tender and me just have the same for some unknown reason.” Tenderheart took out Redhearts hoof.
“Alright then, let’s ask you some questions then!” She pointed her hoof at Jax.
“Uhm… okay?” He was prepared for questions, but why the dramatic hoof-pointing?
“Why are the princesses and the elements so interested in you? Do you eat ponies for lunch? Did Twilight fry you because you attacked her? Are you really Discord in disguise?!” She ended on her back legs, both her front legs in the air. She came down on all four with a thump.
Redheart looked embarrassed by the outburst of her friend, while Beating was literally face-palming… or hoofing or whatever.
“I’m sorry Jax, if I knew they would be like this I wouldn’t have introduced them.” Beating apologized. Jax just looked dumbfounded at the pony in front of him, thinking how to answer.
“I… fry? You seriously use that word to someone who got incinerated? Do you have any idea how much pain I’m in most of the time?” He put his head in his hands. “Okay, alright… I would think the princesses took an interest in me because I’m an alien who suddenly showed up in their land, but I’m not sure, you’ll have to ask them. I don’t eat ponies for any meal of the day and I don’t ever intend to do so. Twilight didn’t mean to… incinerate me, and I forgave her for doing so. I’m not Discord in any form or shape.” He raised his head from his hands. “Anything else?”
To her credit she had the decency to look ashamed. Jax was well aware that there would be silly rumors and questions, but the word ‘fry’ made it sound so… well, like his pain was a joke. It was not.
“No… I… I didn’t mean it like…” She turned around and ran out of the room.
“I apologize mister Jax. We didn’t mean to upset you. Please don’t hurt her.” The white one, Redheart, tried to appease him, but only managed to spread the coldness that was building inside of him.
“Why would I hurt her?” He almost whispered. Beating Heart stepped between them.
“That’s enough. Nurse Redheart, please leave. Tell Nurse Tenderheart that next time you ask a favor of somepony, make sure not to upset that ponies’ friends.” Redheart left with her head held low. Beating went over and slammed the door shut, before going back to Jax, who was hugging his knees with his head on his arms.
He wasn’t exactly sure why he was so sad. It wasn’t like Tenderheart had said anything particularly mean to him, she had just asked some silly questions. The last question was even beyond that. It was just…
“Are you okay? I’m sorry I agreed to them meeting you.” Beating asked from beside his bed. She sounded really remorseful.
“It’s not your fault Beating. I don’t even know why I’m sad… I should just have laughed it off… It just felt so… cold.” He tried to explain. The coldness that had appeared inside of him was still there, although it was mixed with the warmth of Beating’s actions and words. It was a familiar coldness. He had felt it a lot before he came here. He had almost forgotten how numb it made him feel. The numbness kept his tears at bay.
Suddenly he felt a soft muzzle slowly make its way under his arms. He automatically made more space until he was hugging Beating Heart. She had her head on his shoulder.
“I know why you’re sad. Nopony likes to be seen as a monster. Who would be happy being accused of something you have done nothing to deserve? But don’t worry. You and me, we know the truth. The elements and the princesses as well. I was hoping that if they met you, Redheart and Tenderheart would see it too. I didn’t think they would be so… blunt.”
The warmth inside of him spread further, nullifying the cold, until it was all he felt. A smile took the place of the frown he had.
“Thanks Beating. You’re a good friend.”
“To be honest, I didn’t realize I saw you as a friend until Tenderheart asked you those questions and I wanted to buck her right out the window.”
Jax laughed at the image of a blue pony flying out the window. “Every single friend I made here, I didn’t realize I had until… Well until I realized we were actually friends.”
“Good to know… are you going to be okay? I don’t want to leave you like this but I have other patients waiting for me.”
“mmm… I’ll be fine. I need to prepare for the awkwardness to come anyway. Thanks Beating.”
He let go of her, and she gave him a smile. “No problem. Now let’s hurry up and salve you so I can move on.”
***
Luna was restless. She had been up for a couple of hours, and that was only because she had decided to take a nap. Twilight had told her that she had to do what she did not want to do… talk with Jax about what happened. She had done so much pacing in her room that she had almost made a track.
She was very conflicted about the situation. On one hoof she really wanted to make up with Jax, on the other she did not want to have such an embarrassing conversation. It was almost time and she was unsure if she wanted to eat breakfast and get it over with, or teleport away and never return.
“Luna? Are you ready?” Twilight’s voice could be heard through the door. Luna looked over to her meal, and decided that she was too nervous to eat.
“Yes. No. Uhm…” She looked around as Twilight came in.
“Luna, it’s not so bad when you think about it. None of you hurt the other in any way. It’s just… well, a little embarrassing. I can assure you that he is just as embarrassed.”
“A little embarrassing? Just as embarrassed? Twilight, I know you are trying to help, but I do believe that it is unbelievably embarrassing and how can he possibly be just as embarrassed? He wasn’t the one to…” She almost whimpered at the end. She could not do this. Back to Canterlot, where the most embarrassing thing she could do was to sit on a throne in an almost empty room.
“Nopony ever said that friendship is easy, Luna. Sometimes we do embarrassing things in front of our friends. Sometimes that thing is to go crazy trying to find out how the Pinkie Sense works, sometimes it’s… a different kind of embarrassing. The thing about friendship though, is that they accept you nonetheless. When you do something wrong, they forgive you and try to help you make things right. It is something I never realized I was missing until I came to Ponyville, and honestly, I wouldn’t trade it away for anything in the world. That is the beauty of friendship. That is why I will take you to the hospital, so that you and Jax can not only move on, but become even better friends.” Twilight looked at her with determination shinning in her eyes. She felt ashamed for wanting to leave them behind. She craved friendship, but the second things got a little out of hoof, she wanted to run away. She was looking forward to the day where she viewed her friends as Twilight did. It sounded amazing.
“Alright Twilight, you are right. I just need to…” She took a deep breath. “…pull myself together, as they say. Let us venture forth.” She met Twilight’s gaze with a newfound determination.
***
She really really wished Twilight had given her pep-talk at the hospital. Her determination had slowly corroded away on the way over, and she was left just as nervous as before.
She took a couple of deep breaths outside his room but little did it help. She had started pacing back and forth in front of the door instead. Twilight had left her so she could do it in her own time, but she could not get herself to face him.
“Jesus Christ you are making me more nervous than I already am. Just come in already!” She heard Jax shout from the other side of the door. She steeled herself. Now that he knew she was there, there was no turning back… unless… no! She could do this! She slowly entered, keeping her gaze on the ground. She was already blushing and she had not even looked him in the eye yet.
“Hello… Jax.” She started. She tried to suppress her feelings and put on a mask, but she could not focus properly on it. He was right there, the creature that had heard… had made her moan. She was so embarrassed she could not believe it… She was supposed to be one of the rulers of the country, she had lived for more than a millennia… well her time on the moon could not really be counted as living… Still, she had lived for more than four centuries. She thought she had learned to control her feelings well… except that time where the Limelight slowly turned her evil… but before that. Ah, she was just a bit rusty. That was it. She could do this, no problem.
She chanced a glance at him. He was blushing madly, his gaze set on his lap. That made her feel a bit better. At least she was not the only one who was embarrassed. Now… how to proceed.
“Hello Luna.” He answered her greeting.
…
…
What was she supposed to say next?! She had no idea, she should have planned this a little better. To make things worse, she felt really hot and had a hard time thinking straight.
She glanced at him again. She was by no means an expert in reading him, with the lack of pony ears and muzzle, combined with smaller eyes… it was still obvious that he looked agitated. He probably had trouble with the silence… he did mention he was not very good with awkward situations…
This realization only stressed Luna even more, which made it harder for her to think of something to say. It was way too warm in that room.
…
…
“So… nice weather, is it not?” She said the only thing she could think of. Apparently it was not the right thing.
“Oh come on! Let’s just get it over with, please! For crying out… please stop with the torture…” He put his burning face down into his hands.
His outburst did nothing to calm Luna down though. He was in pain and she still could not think of where to start. She went over to open the window manually to buy herself some time. She could hear him groan from over there.
“Luna… please… just say it.” She went back beside the bed. It was still warm.
…
…
She tried to take a deep breath. That usually calmed her down. Not this time.
“I…” She tried to say something regardless, but her throat felt very dry all of a sudden. Luckily there was a glass of water, still half full, from Jax’ breakfast. When she picked it up, Jax groaned louder than before and squirmed around on the small bed as if uncomfortable. She really wanted to put him out of his misery, but could not get herself to say it. When she put the glass down, she found him staring at her fiercely. She took a step back in uncertainty.
“Luna. Did you come here just to see me in pain? Is this some kind of elaborate trick just to see me suffer?”
She drew in a surprised breath. “Trick? It most certainly was not a trick. We are trying very hard to say it but… ‘tis not easy. We are one of the rulers of this land, about to admit-” She looked down abruptly, feeling like her blush covered her entire body. She would not be surprised if ponies mistook her for Big Mac. This is not easy, that much is certain.
***
Jax was at the end of what he could endure. She started out by pacing back and forth in front of his room, which he could hear because she was a pony, and when she finally came in at his request, she barely said anything, and the silence was killing him. Then she started postponing it by opening the window and taking a sip of water. It was maddening. He had finally asked if she did it on purpose to watch him suffer, and had at least gotten a response, but she had cut herself off just as she was about to get to the heart of it. He felt like he was burning up from embarrassment, and she didn’t seem to be faring much better.
They both took a deep breath at the same time.
“Alright Luna, if you can’t say it, then I will.” She looked at him in horror. If he wasn’t so invested in the situation, he would have laughed. Here they were, an immortal alicorn, and a mortal human, unwilling to talk about something because it was embarrassing. “I mean, we’re both adults here. Right?”
“…Right. Certainly.” She agreed, somewhat uncertainly.
“Yes, yes we are. So… Okay. Let’s see… When I scratched you, I made you… well…”
“You turned me on!” Luna finally burst out, to Jax’ relief. She started pacing back and forth in front of him. “It felt so good, and We did not realize what was happening until thou stopped, and We did not know it would happen, and We are sorry!” She seemed to determine to say it as quickly as possible, leaving her breathing heavily when she was finished.
They were both blushing madly, but Jax was relieved to have it out in the open. One step closer to getting passed this.
“Uhm… yeah, precisely. Don’t apologize though, it was a natural reaction that you didn’t know you had. Like when boys get-“ Why was he bringing that up again?
“When boys get what?” He had hoped she didn’t notice or care, but no such luck.
“Well, human males can get… excited, sometimes without reason. One of the reasons we wear clothes all the time is because, since we’re standing on two legs, it’s pretty noticeable.” Well, she admitted to being turned on, only fair he said something embarrassing as well. They were both looked down. He had never imagined something could be this embarrassing.
“Oh… I see. Good to know.” He quickly checked to see if she actually saw, or if she just used that figure of speech. He sighed in relief. There was enough embarrassment in the room to feed a changeling who could only fed on embarrassment. That totally made sense.
“So… Let’s just… try to move on, alright? We can do that, right?” Jax asked, trying to get through the last part.
“Yes. Yes we can.” Luna sounded confident but she was still looking at the floor, with a very visible blush.
“Okay… then it’s settled…”
…
…
“So-“
“Please don’t comment on the weather.” He cut her off.
“I was not going to!” She defended. “I was going to… ask… how are you healing?”
“Right, of course you were. I’m healing well enough. It’s a slow process and it’s only been… a week or something.” It felt really good to talk about something completely different. So good.
“Good… that is good…” She looked around the room.
…
…
Fuck. It would seem that just talking about it and agreeing to move on didn’t automatically mean you moved on. The silence was dragging on, and not the good kind you have with close friends. How long would it take for them to go back to their comfortable relationship again? Would he ever be able to touch her without being reminded of the scratching incident? Some of the best memories he had with Luna was them blowing raspberries on each other… which was pretty weird now that he thought about it. Could he still do that? Did he… did he still want to do that?
“Princess Luna!!” Thank fucking god. Never had Jax been so happy to hear anyone scream ‘Princess Luna’ at the top of their lungs. Three tiny ponies ran up and started jumping around the princess. He recognized Scootaloo and Apple Bloom, but he didn’t think he had met the third one yet.
“Hello children, good to see you!” Luna seemed just as relieved by the interruption as he was. She smiled down at the hyper foals. It was sweet to look at, especially when they gave huge smiles in return. Luna was popular amongst the children at least. That was good.
“Hey there, I don’t believe we’ve met. My name is Jax.” He directed at the white unicorn.
“But you can call him Jax.” Scootaloo put in before she could answer, referring to how he had introduced himself to her. They all giggled at that, even Luna. They all sounded damn adorable, and it made him smile sincerely, something he needed on that day.
“Charmed to meet you Jax. My name is Sweetie Bell. My sister Rarity talks about you all the time.” She even gave a little bow. Tiny ponies really were in a class for themselves.
“Has she now? I hope she has good things to say then.” He smiled back at the young unicorn.
“She does. Every time somepony tries to start a new rumor about you in her boutique, she politely refuses to believe them, saying that she has met you and that you simply would never dream of destroying the town, or attacking anypony.”
Rarity needed more brownie points, defending him like that.
“Hey, Rainbow Dash has been doing the same thing, except more awesomely.” Scootaloo defended. “She flies really close to them and tells then straight up to stop spreading false rumors.”
Nothing less expected by his first pony friend.
“Mah sister has been doing the same at her stall. Whenever somepony tries to tell her anything she tells them to stop this instance.”
Applejack as well? With so many of the elements of harmony protecting his reputation he was surprised there were still rumors flying around. On the other hand, rumors are easy to spread, especially when a new creature suddenly appears. Jax was fairly certain that time and good behavior on his part would stop those rumors in their track. After all, it’s boring to make rumors about the same thing over and over again… which was probably the reason everybody was making rumors about him. He was new after all.
“We wanted to get our cutie marks with you somehow.” Scootaloo said.
“But then Apple Bloom told us how boring that would be.” Sweetie Bell took over.
“But since our sisters tell us how good you are, we thought about how we could help yah.” Apple Bloom continued.
“CUTIE MARK MEDICINE DELIVERY! YAY!” Jax almost fell down from the bed at how sudden the yell was.
“But I already get medicine… every fourth hour in fact.”
“This ain’t no normal medicine.” Apple Bloom told him.
“We heard about how the medicine you get here isn’t good enough.” Scootaloo clarified.
“So we went to Zecora, and she made this.“ Sweetie Bell pulled out a bottle from… somewhere. There was a green substance in it, which looked a little bit like it might kill whoever drank it.
“Zacora says that this is much better than the salve you get here. You have to drink it because-“ Scootaloo took on an African accent. “Healing comes from within’.” Jax took the bottle from Sweetie Bell.
“Uhm… are you sure this will work on me? I’m not a pony after all.” His uncertainty was clear. Even if he was a pony, he would hesitate to drink this.
“Oh yeah, she said that if the salve you get here works, this should as well. It’s made from plants from the Everfree.” Apple Bloom told him. That didn’t exactly made him more trusting.
“I once made my way through a meadow in the Everfree. I woke up as a wolf. Never went near that place again.”
“Okay, but Zecora knows what she’s doing. She says that if you drink it, you will be better in three days! I think.” Scootaloo said.
“What do you mean you think?” He deadpanned.
“Well, Zecora speaks in rhymes, so she’s hard to understand sometimes. We are preeeetty sure it’s three days though.” Apple Bloom clarified.
He looked over at Luna who was studying the bottle curiously. “What do you think?” He asked her. She looked up at him.
“Well, my interaction with Zecora has been… limited. I have heard that she is reliable, with a vast knowledge of potion-making though.”
“Okay… three days isn’t that long compared to how long I need to be here otherwise. I’ll try.” A small voice in the back of his heard told him that it was too good to be true. He ignored it.
The potion tasted like leaves. Not the worst taste for medicine, but he had definitely tasted better. He had four set of eyes on him, waiting for something to happen. At first he felt fine, and was just about to tell the ponies present so, when it started.
It started from his stomach, as a slight discomfort, then it started spreading, and while it did, the pain intensified. After a few minutes he was screaming at the top of his lungs. When it had spread out to all of his body, it felt like his insides were on fire. He didn’t care about anything else but making it stop hurting, stop burning, stop the pain! But no matter how much he screamed, it didn’t stop.
At some point he during his convulsions, he hit something hard, and was met with sweet sweet darkness.
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Crap that sucks. Why to go Crusaders you broke him.
6130324 haha XD I love the way you said that XD He's broken. Good job. Try turning him on and off? XD
Nice. This one felt longer for some reason. No complaints from me though. It was a good chapter. I don't think I would've dealt with Luna the same way Jax did, though. I know when it's awkward, words don't typically come out like you want them to, but he came across as angry, which seemed weird. But hey, everyone handles things differently.
Congrats on your likes, and your good grade. So, since exams are over, does that mean we are back to weekly updates?
And lastly:
"as"
6130345 thats what i was aiming at
6130368 Hehe I'm happy to hear that :) Ah, I was going for 'wants to get it over with' maybe that came across as angry. Thanks for the feedback, and I corrected my mistake as well :)
also, yes, we are back to weekly updates, from Sunday :) and thanks, it feels good to get a decent grade on something you thought you wouldnt do so well in XD
6130452 Yeah, I thought that was probably the case. His responses just seemed a bit snappy, and his impatience definately showed. But, as I said, everyone handles stressful situations differently. Doesn't sound like he was a highly diplomatic in his past life, so his handling of it doesn't seem unfitting.
6131674 hahah XD yes, that's true, not much diplomat over this guy ;)
6132629 lol XD
Another sweet chapter. Kinda feel for the guy with how much pain u write into this dudes life. Feels like I'm watching shinji from evangelion all over again.
You rock! Can't wait for more.
Oh and my pic is of Derpy trying to figure out why that muffin cup has an orange in it lol
6140084 Yes, he is pretty unfortunate XD I'm sure his luck will change... at some point... Surely XD I mean, certainly ;) The chapter after the next he will experience a lot of happiness! I think... haven't written it yet though... ah, next chapter comes out tomorrow so that's good :D
Ohh I thought that might be it, just wanted to make sure :)
"With this brew, in three days we shall know..."
"
"...if he has been healed, or should be planted six feet below
we REALLY need some appropriate smilies in this site
6735681 hahaha XD Oh my God dude, that was good XD
Yes, not that I can talk much since I still use these :D
according to wiki it's Belle.
Zecora.
I'd decide if I'm interested in potential more intimate relationship with person in question and act accordingly. Still would make lewd jokes tho.
I am sure it were brownie points a few chappies ago
7721795 thanks for the correction :) It's brownie points, I just never remember XD Muffins are good too ^^
Are you sure they got that from zecora and not cranky Ive gotten some weird medicine from him...