Chapter 9: Jynxed (Edited)
December 27
I ran through the forest until I came to the wrecked contraption. The pilot, a light brown earth pony mare with a black mane and tail, both braided, was lying beside it. There were no obvious injuries from where I stood, but that didn’t really mean much. I ran over to see if she was still alive.
I placed one paw gently on her side and the other on her neck. When I felt her breath and pulse, I let out a sigh of relief. “Thank god,” I said aloud.
The first aid training I received in the Navy paid off as I checked her for injuries. I felt along her spine for misalignment or deformations. Her body didn’t have any foreign objects piercing it. There was no blood other than a few minor scrapes and cuts, but those seem to have already stopped bleeding. It appeared that she was only unconscious.
Confident it was safe to move her, I took her back to the hill and made a bed for her out of leaves and a touch of magic for that extra fluffiness. I laid her down and covered her with a blanket that just happened to be floating near by.
After weaving a few spells to hide her from predators, I went off to see what I could find in the wreckage. It was surprisingly intact. Its massive cloth wings, spread between wooden struts, were shredded, and a few of the wooden pieces were broken, but it wasn’t that bad. The propulsion system was a simple jet, and the guidance system was flaps on the wing that attached to straps that I guessed went around the forehooves. The tail rudder likely attached to the hind hooves in a similar fashion. It was here that the failure occurred. One of the lines had busted.
I found some beat up saddlebags nearby and assumed they were hers, so I grabbed them and went back to the hill. When I got back she was starting to wake up.
“Wha...? What happened? Where am I?” she said.
“Now don't be afraid, I won't hurt you,” I said, sitting behind her.
She turned toward me, her eyes still adjusting. “Why would I think you would... hurt... eep!”
“It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you.” She began backing away, eyes wide and body trembling in fear, despite my assurances. “Listen, I'm friendly. I live in Ponyville.”
She stopped when she heard that last part. “Y-you live in P-Ponyville?”
“Yeah, I live at the library with a mare named Twilight Sparkle. Everyone there knows me. My name is Shirotora, but everyone just calls me Shiro. What's your name?”
She seemed to be thinking about if she should tell me or not for a moment. “I-I'm Jynx... with a 'y'”
“Well, Jynx with a 'y', it's a pleasure to meet you.” I smiled, accidentally showing teeth. She started shying away again. I groaned, rolling my eyes. “Listen if I wanted to eat you I would have done it while you were out. Besides I've already ate.”
She seemed to relax a little. Well, she stopped shaking and and looking at me like I was some kind of monster, but she still looked ready to bolt at any given moment. “Is that what you're doing way out here if you live in Ponyville?”
“Yeah, I didn't want to do it close to town so I came out here,” I said.
“Um... are you going back there soon?” she asked.
“I was actually getting ready to go back when you crashed,” I said.
“Do you mind escorting me? I don't know how to get there,” she said.
“It would be my pleasure.” I led her out of the clearing, towards the humble little town.
For a few minutes, we just walked in silence. I could see Jynx giving me glances that were a combination of nervousness and curiosity. I thought about telling her to just say what she wanted, but decided to let her work it out on her own. Instead, I just took in the beauty of the forest.
So few ever get the chance to just take it in. Hell, this was the first time I had ever had the chance. The Everfree Forest is a truly magnificent place. Towering trees grew so thick that the sun never touched the ground. There were flowers bigger than my head, sporting every color imaginable and ever a few you can’t imagine.
Then there were the smells. I didn’t know what half of them were, but I was trying to learn them. There was the smell of the various flowers, a sweet smell that reminded me of berries, something like wet dog, and another that I could have sworn was sulfur.
As we passed a patch of rather familiar blue flowers, I wondered what they would do to me. The flower, according to Twilight, uses chaos magic to alter those exposed to it. Since I was a chaos mage, I wondered if I would be immune or would my magic just alter the effect.
“So... Shiro,” Jynx said, bringing me out of my thought’s. “Where are you from? I've never heard of a sapient tiger, before.”
“Virginia,” I answered.
“Where is that?”
“You wouldn't believe me if I told you.”
“Try me.”
I gave her a sidelong glance and decided I might as well. I explained how I got here (again) and a bit of what happened after I mostly just talked about the important parts, like how I met Twilight, finding out I could use chaos magic, and the Hearth’s Warming tragedy. The whole time, Jynx was looking at me skeptically.
“You were right, I don't believe it. Not only are you from another world, but you can use chaos magic, something that only Princess Luna can... use…?” She looked over at me as I was back-stroking through the air.
“You can always ask one of the princesses,” I said holding back a laugh at her shocked face.
“A-are we almost there?” she asked, shaking the image from her mind.
I flipped back to my feet and began walking again. “I’d guess we got another half an hour. It’s not-”
The underbrush exploded as two wolves jumped out and tackled Jynx, biting into her left hind ankle with a sickening crack. She screamed in pain, trying to kick at it with her other leg.
The second moved on me but was halted as Piercing Light separated his left half from his right. The first wolf let go of the pony and leaped at me. I stepped to the side and lifted my katana, severing its head.
I slammed the ancient blade back into its home, and quickly grabbed Jynx in my arms before taking off for town. We didn't get ten feet before I could smell the rest of the pack. It was that wet dog smell from before. They were trying to be seen. It’s how they hunt, running their prey to exhaustion.
“Can you hold on to me?” I ask.
“Yeah,” was her answer. I could tell she was hurting, her voice gave it away, but she was trying to stay strong.
I swung her over onto my back. She grunted in pain but held onto my pack with her forehooves. I dropped to all fours and ran as fast as my feline body would go.
I ran for five minutes, the pack of wolves growling and yiping at us, keeping us running. Trees and brush whipped past in a blur, but I was starting to slow. Tigers are sprinters, but wolves are distance runners. They were gaining on me.
I couldn't help looking back to see eight wolves giving chase, and immediately cursed myself for it. I was exhausted, carrying the mare and my pack taking its toll. I didn't know what to do. I didn’t want to die, but the only way I would make it out was to abandon the mare. If I dropped her, they would just take her.
No! I won’t abandon her. I won’t let another pony die because of me!
I felt a fire in my chest. Something deep within was stirring, begging to be released. So that’s what I did. I let instinct take over, and that fire spread across my entire body. Jynx yelped as I leaped and twisted around, extending my arms toward my pursuers. A ball of silver fire erupted from paws. It struck the lead wolf and exploded, engulfing the rest of the pack. The wolves yelped and howled in agony as their lives ended.
I twisted back around to land on my feet instead of Jynx.
The last thing I saw was open land and the glorious sun. I was unconscious before I hit the ground.
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
December 28
I woke up in a white room with a massive headache. The heart monitor beeping steadily by my head was only making matters worse, so I turned it into a gumball machine.
“Oh, Runts. Nice.” A pawful of candy made the pain slightly more tolerable.
Nurse Redheart came in and noticed my improvement. “Mr. Tora, please return the monitor to its proper form.”
“OK, but first,” I got another handful, “you want some?”
She stared at me for a few moments before answering. “Okay, I could use something sweet.”
We ate a few more before I had to return my heavenly candy to it's original, irritating beepieness.
“I'll take some of these to Ms. Jynx. I'm sure she would appreciate them,” she said.
“Wait, nurse.” I stopped her. “How is she?”
“She suffered a broken ankle and several scrapes and bruises, but she's fine,” she answered.
“One more, how did I get here?” I asked.
“I dragged your heavy flank here.” Twilight was standing in the door. “You had me worried sick, you jerk.”
“Sorry about that,” I said rubbing the back of my neck.
She sighed. Before her lecture could continue, though, a cyan blur shot through the door and latched onto me almost as hard as Pinkie.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you...” She was almost hysterical.
“Um...” This was just weird. “You're welcome... for what?”
“Saving my sister!” she said.
It took a few moments for that to register. “Jynx is your sister?”
“Thanks for leaving me out there, plot-head.” Jynx came rolling in in a wheelchair. “And yes, unfortunately, I am.”
“Oh, heh, sorry, sis.”
“Wait, how are you two sisters when you're a pegasus, and you're an earth pony?” I asked.
“First of all,” Jynx began, “I'm not an earth pony.” She wheeled over and lifted her bangs. “I'm a unicorn.” On her forehead was a boney stump that had been ground down and only stuck out about half an inch.
“I lost my horn about four years ago. I was in Coltstown when I was attacked by a dragon. I used my magic to teleport it away, but my focus faltered when it roared and my horn went with it.”
“But that didn't stop her from becoming one of the top researchers in ancient magics,” Twilight continued.
I raised an eyebrow, “You two know each other?”
“Ha,” Dash laughed. “My sister is the only pony in Equestria who's as big an egghead as Twilight. Why wouldn't they be friends?”
“So, Twi, when were you going to tell me you have a coltfriend?” Jynx asked.
“What?” replied the purple princess.
“He told me you two were living together. Nice job, he's cute.” Dash and I broke out on tears from how hard we were laughing.
“What?! No, no, no we're not dating, he just doesn't have his own place yet.” Twilight's face was red.
“How can you say that, Twilight?” I couldn't resist. “I thought you loved me.”
“I'm dying... I'm dying.” Dash was panting for air as her laughter grew out of control.
I decided to give Twilight a break. “What are you laughing at, Skittles? She's not the one who planted a big, wet, sloppy kiss right on my lips.”
Twilight began her own fit of laughter as the pegasus stopped hers. “What? Hey, you liked it and you know it.”
“I'll give you that.”
When she finally stopped laughing, Jynx asked, “Why do you call her Skittles?” I just tossed her a bag. She looked at it and read with Twilight reading over her shoulder. A new fit of laughter came over them.
“Let me see that.” Rainbow took the bag and looked at it. She glared at me and opened it, popping a few in her mouth. “Hey, I taste pretty good.”
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
After bringing Jynx back to Golden Oaks with Twilight and I so she could be close to her 'test subject', I decided to see if Souffle would let me work.
“Hello? It's Shiro,” I called as I walked in through the back entrance.
“Oh, so you finally decided to come back," said my boss with a grin from the spice rack where he was cataloging what we had. "I heard you saved some cute mare from the Everfree Forest.”
“Got attacked by a pack of wolves, too,” I said, “but I roasted them.”
He whistled. “It’s nice knowing we have a carnivore on our side. Anyway I'm glad you're here. Can you take lunch and dinner? I need to do some things. There’s a hundred and fifty bits in it for you.”
“Sure, I could use the bits.” This was a good opportunity to show my stuff.
“You know the menu. Mrs. Cake said she'll help if you need it. Her number is by the phone,” he said. "Do you need anything?"
"I'm go. Go do what you have to do," I replied.
With one last nod, he left me to get started.
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Lunch went well. Rarity and Fluttershy came in and had a couple of salads. Of course I made them extra special.
“If only I could find a stallion who was as good in the kitchen as you,” Rarity said.
“Oh, Rares, I think I'm a bit too uncouth for you,” I said.
She just rolled her eyes and laughed. “That you are, but your cooking nearly makes up for that.”
After lunch was wrapped up I had my own. I didn’t want to bring any meat here, so I just had a caesar salad. As I ate I thought back to the wolves and how I burned them. I thought of how I felt, what was going through my head. The feeling of the magic I used to protect Jynx was warm and wild, but oddly controlled. There was more to the feeling, but unless you've felt magic, you wouldn't understand.
As I focused on that feeling, willing the fire into my paw, I felt the same feeling again. A smile crept onto my face as my paw was cloaked in silver flames. I quickly extinguished it and got up to prepare for the dinner crowd. As much as I wanted to play with it, I had a job to do.
Dinner, too, went smoothly, and soon enough it was closing time. Souffle came back as I was cleaning up.
“How did it go?” he asked.
“Great. No real problems, except the back right burner is out again,” I said.
“Darn it. I just fixed that.” He shook his head. “I'll have words with the repair pony about that. Anyway, thank you for your help. Here's your pay.” He tossed me a pouch with about 180 bits. “A little extra for the good work.”
“Thanks. I guess I’ll see you tomorrow, then.”
With that, we exchanged our farewells and parted ways.
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
I was greeted by seven mares and a dragon (or would that be 6 ¾ mares and 1 ¼ dragons? That was still confusing to me) as I walked in. “Hey ladies, Spike. What's up.”
They returned my greeting, with Twilight adding, “We’re just trying to decide on an evening activity.”
Taking a seat amongst the group, I started brainstorming with them. A few ideas were offered, but thrown out. Suddenly, I had a brilliant idea. “Hey, who wants to watch a movie?”
“The theater's closed, Sherclop,” Rainbow said.
“I know.” I pulled a tiny box out from behind my back.
I set it down by the wall and lifted up on the top, stretching it. I repeated the same thing on the sides. I then lifted the box revealing a 52” TV entertainment center.
Did I ever mention how much I love chaos magic? Of course, I almost passed out from mana fatigue, but it was worth it.
A strange thing about chaos magic is that it doesn’t hit you until after the spell finishes. That can be dangerous if you don’t know your limits. Twilight was lecturing my ears off about just that as she fanned me, easing some of her own magic into me.
When I finally regained my strength, I explained to the confused ponies, “This is a TV. It’s like a theater for your house. This one has every single TV show and movie ever made on Earth on it. So, what kind of movie do you want to watch?”
“What kind of movies does Earth have?” asked Twilight.
“Action, comedy, sci-fi, horror...”
“Why don't we let Jynx decide? She's the guest,” AJ offered. We all agreed.
“How about... that show Twilight told me about. The one with them in it.”
Shit… “You told her about that?” Twilight just gave me a sheepish smile. “Are you sure you want to? I mean, it’ll probably be weird.” I got nods of agreement from all of them.
“We've heard about this show enough. It's about time we see it for ourselves,” Rainbow Dash said.
“Okay if you say so.” I flick on the TV and opened a menu. I clicked on My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.
“This might be a little unsettling.” I hit play.
“Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria...”
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
“Well what did you think?” I asked as the second part of the first episode ended.
There was an awkward silence. Twilight was the one to break it.
“Well, that was... different.”
“How so?” I asked.
“Well I remember my encounter with Nightmare Moon to be more painful than that,” she said.
“How painful?” I asked.
She replied, “About as painful three broken ribs, a punctured lung, both hind legs broken, a bruised spleen, a moderate concussion, and a black eye.”
Damn.
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Ah, yes, I remember when I used too much chaos magic...IT STILL WASNT ENOUGH... Not enough chickens...
- liking the story, discord
6095499
As an engineer, I could make some exploding sheep, if you want. I'll just replace the TnT white phosphorus. We dont want any collateral damage....or loss of life, on our, err, Claws.
I don't get it. Explanation, please?
6420651 In a previous chapter Shy explains how her father's mother was a dragon, which in turn gave her abilities that fuse pony and dragon magic (The Stare).
Whoa
, that's definitely some damage done, and it's supposed to be "as painful as three broken ribs "
Damn our MLP Version is for wussys and yours is the dark souls version...
6420651
Fluttershy is partly dragon... Gives her 'stare' a new meaning.
6095499
Makes sense... them... Maybe ?
Guess Nightmare didn't fall for the teleport instead of the collision head to head.