Desolation

by BlazingCobalt

The Dream

The next morning Jacob awoke feeling almost as good as new. Most of the bruises were gone, and he no longer felt as stiff and weak as he did last night. The soreness was going to last a while. He carefully washed up, not wanting to test just how healed he was at the moment. His bandages were a little bloody, which he assumed was from the back of the wooden wolf he had ridden, or from the fall. The cuts were all healed, and his face looked much better after a shower. It would take a while to get used to the much smaller shower space, but the warm water felt wonderful washing away the dirt and grime off of his body.

Still feeling guilty about last night, Jacob tried to make it up to Twilight. Once redressed, having to reuse his just barely cleaner clothes, he walked upstairs and saw Twilight looking over a letter. She smiled towards him, which made his guilt rise up again. “I was just about to go check on you. You were asleep for a long time but Fluttershy told me about what had happened. I'm just so happy you’re okay… Timber Wolves… I should have remembered. I would have never-”

“It wasn’t your fault. It wasn’t the wolves that did the damage… I fell. I feel fine now though.” Jacob said, scratching the back of his head.

Clearly noticing that Jacob still felt bad about yesterday, Twilight continued. “Enough about all of that. I ran into Fluttershy about an hour ago on my way to see Pinkie and she asked me to ask you if you would like to stop by for some tea sometime?” Twilight beamed up at the human, who looked a bit taken aback.

“Tea? I mean… Sure? Did she say why?” Jacob questioned, watching Twilight float her letter onto a nearby table as she walked towards a small box.

“Well, she knows that you don’t know many ponies and would love to know more about you. I was a little surprised myself when she asked me. She is usually very shy…” Twilight floated up the box and placed next to Jacob on a chair. “Rarity also stopped by to bring the clothes she made. She seemed very pleased on how they turned out.”

Jacob opened up the box and found a small letter on top of a folded shirt. He plucked it up and read it.

“Dear Jacob,

let me just say this was a wonderful experience and I do hope these are to your liking! If you ever need any more clothing made I would be more than happy to whip up anything you need. Do not hesitate to ask!

-Sincerely, Rarity

Jacob set the letter down and blinked a few times, an enormous amount of affection bubbling inside him for Rarity. He unfolded a shirt and felt the soft cotton. He held it up to his chest, seeing that it was exactly the same size as the tattered shirt he currently wore. He excused himself and rushed back downstairs to change. He unfolded three pairs of jeans and five shirts each a different color. Black, blue, red, green, and white. Not only that, he found a few pairs of underwear as well as white cottony socks. Jacob stared for a moment, immensely grateful for what Rarity had done for him. Then again, she was the Element of Generosity. He discarded his filthy and torn clothes and wasted no time getting dressed in the brand-new ones. He went with the blue shirt and stuffed the rest of the clothes in a nearby dresser.

When he got back upstairs, Spike and Twilight turned to him. “Nice clothes.” Spike said, giving him a thumbs up.

Twilight nodded in agreement and smiled. “Rarity does amazing work. Now, Jacob, you offered that you would help out around the library.”

“Yeah, what’s up?” Jacob asked, looking over to Spike, who had grabbed a duster and began dusting the lower shelves.

“I have to go head out for a bit. When I was out earlier I heard some ponies mention something about a miracle tonic and I would bet anything it’s those two brothers, Flim and Flam… Could you just help Spike out with his chores? Thank you.” Twilight smiled up at the human and trotted out of the library.

“Who are Flim and Flam?” Jacob asked Spike, who was frowning slightly.

“These two con artists. They almost made Applejack lose her farm a few years back,” Spike said, not noticing the teenager’s raised eyebrows. “Anyway! Since this is a library and ponies like to check out books, maybe you can put all the returned books on the shelves? I'm just dusting for now.”

“Sure thing.” Jacob walked towards a small cart with about two dozen books on it. For a moment, he pondered just how odd it was that they spoke English in Equestria, but just as quickly he decided that it wasn’t worth much thought.

It was very easy work, especially since Jacob was tall enough to reach all of the shelves, something Spike happily commented on. “Maybe you can do the higher shelves from now on! I hate having to get the ladder! Speaking of which- Mind giving me a lift?” Jacob nodded and bent down to pick the dragon up and allow him to dust the top shelves. The human was surprised how deceptively heavy the little dragon was.

Every bookcase held different types of books. One held books on magic, another fantasy stories. It took little more than five minutes until Jacob finished. Spike had completed his dusting off the shelves and was sitting on a chair, kicking his feet out absentmindedly. “Say, I already did the dishes, and Twilight’s probably going to be gone a while… Want to play a game? Maybe some Ogres & Oubliettes? I don’t really have anyone to play it with…”

“Ogres and… What?” Jacob stood in front of the dragon, who seemed a bit embarrassed.

“It’s a really fun and amazing adventure game but- eh… Never mind. Um, I forgot you don’t like board games and stuff. I’ll find somepony to play with some day…” The young dragon frowned in disappointment.

“I mean… For the most part I don’t, but if you wanted to show me what it’s about?” Jacob asked, stunned as Spike sped from the room with remarkable speed and returned holding a large box that was nearly half his size. The teenager watched as Spike clambered up onto a chair and placed the box down. He opened it up and pulled out a map, sheets of paper, dice, and a folded-up screen. Jacob couldn’t quite remember the name, but he swore it was nearly identical to a game he had heard of back home.

In an ominous tone that was clearly rehearsed, Spike said, “In a world where evil reigns supreme, a small band of warriors stands tall against the darkness… This is… Ogres & Oubliettes!”

Jacob slowly walked over to the table and looked down at the beaming dragon, and then at the sprawled-out game pieces. “Looks like a kind of a complicated game?”

“Oh, it is. Don’t worry, I’ve read the instructions a few times and I’ve already made my character. I am a powerful wizard by the name of Garbunkle!” Spike plucked up a small game piece with a drawing of a wizard version of himself and placed it near the board. “There’s so many options… Do you wanna be a wizard too? Or maybe a warrior? A bard?” Spike suggested, looking through a few of his papers to find a character sheet.

Although not fully interested, as the game itself looked like a huge investment of time, Jacob tried to find enjoyment out of letting Spike decide for him what his fictional character would be. Eventually they settled on a pegasus knight named Sir Kester. He was an eye-patch wearing batter-worn stallion that Spike had plenty of fun drawing on a piece of parchment for Jacob’s game piece. The teenager couldn’t help but smile a bit at how much fun Spike was having brainstorming ideas for their campaign.

“Hmmm… Maybe… A squid- but, hear me out, but he’s also an evil wizard!” Spike and Jacob exchanged a look and shook their heads. “Nah, hmm... You have any ideas?”

Jacob glanced down at a few adventure booklets and picked one up, skimming the first few pages of it. “How about an evil monster tries to steal the worlds magic, but we have to stop them?” He suggested, handing it over to Spike, surprised on how quickly this game was starting to sound fun.

Time seemed to pass very quickly as the both of them discussed a possible bad guy for their campaign. They decided on an evil alicorn king named Ander. He was a black and red stallion as well very large and very nasty. Spike had just as much fun drawing the scowling villain as he had setting up game pieces. Spike proudly took the role of Dungeon Master, which was good since Jacob knew next to nothing on how the game really worked. The dragon did not mind in the slightest taking on the responsibility of telling the story as well as playing as a character alongside Jacob.

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In just under two hours, Sir Kester and his magical companion Garbunkle had accidentally burned a tavern to the ground, been attacked by a cockatrice (something Spike made sure to tease Jacob about as he had to push Sir Kester’s turned to stone body back to town) and were declared heroes of a small village that was suffering frequent bandit raids. Jacob definitely saw the appeal and wasn’t surprised why Spike was so excited to have somebody to play it with. Just as they had rolled to see if they would receive a bounty of gold for a reward, a voice caused them to jump in surprise.

“Sorry it took so long. Applejack sorted everything out. I'm just glad that-” Twilight stopped and looked down at the game sprawled across the entire table and then smiled. “Well, looks like you two are having fun.”

“Yeah! Jacob and I just fought off like twenty bandits and I turned one into a slug! And just a little bit ago-“Jacob recoiled in surprise as Spike let out a loud belch and a green flame nearly charred his game piece. A scroll appeared in his hand and he opened it, before glancing up at Jacob. “it’s for you.”

“For me?” The human asked in confusion, accepting the scroll. His eyes widened as from the first few words he knew this letter was from Princess Celestia.

Dear Jacob,

I do hope that you are finding Ponyville to your liking. I believe that you will be much happier in Ponyville where you can make friends, rather than waiting in the castle for my sister and I to find out a way to take you back home. As the situation currently stands, I am looking into research from an old acquaintance. We believe that we might be able to find more information on the subject of teleportation to another planet. If you would be so kind to disclose a description of your world for Spike to send back it will make the search for it much easier for my sister. Once we confirm that magical travel from distances this great is safe and once we locate your planet we will do what we can to ensure you return home safely.

As this type of magic has not been thoroughly tested, I will not give an exact date to when we can expect to take you back to your world. Also, although I have allowed Twilight Sparkle to take responsibility as your guardian for the time being, and she has no doubt already spoken to you, I advise that you do not stray into the Everfree alone again. There are more than just Timberwolves to worry about, and your safety is our highest priority.

Sincerely yours, Princess Celestia

Jacob glanced at the parchment for a few moments, unsure if he should feel excited, or disappointed. Princess Celestia seemed to have at least have a sort of plan. A plan that could take an unknown amount of time. Twilight, who had evidentially read the letter from the right of him, floated a new piece of parchment up for him and a pen. He smiled in appreciation and thankful he remembered images of the Earth that he saw in school, did his best to draw the planet, as well as each of the continents. It looked like a very unprofessional rendition of a world map. His art skills weren’t amazing, but he hoped that it was enough to get the idea of what they were looking for. He wrote a small thanks and promised he wouldn’t wander off into the forest again, before rolling up the parchment and allowing Spike to magically transport it back to Canterlot.

“Thanks, Spike,” Jacob said and stood up, his eyes suddenly drawn to a small poster on the wall between the magic and fantasy bookshelves. From where he stood it looked like a small chest. “What is that?” The teenager asked, walking a bit closer to it as Spike began to clean up the game pieces and papers.

“Oh! That’s the Chest of Harmony. The girls and I, well, mostly I, have been trying to figure out how to open it. You see, it will not open by magic. It requires Keys…” Twilight trailed off and tapped her chin.

“One Key for each of you?” The human asked, noticing that there were six key holes on the picture.

“That is what we think. For now, we have to wait and see if these keys will ever present themselves… Anyway, thank you for helping Spike tidy up.” Twilight said, smiling up at Jacob.

“It’s the least I could do,” Jacob said awkwardly. “Thanks again for letting me stay here.”

Twilight Sparkle raised her hoof in an “It’s nothing at all.” Sort of way and offered to make them lunch. Spike happily accepted the offer before Jacob could respond. Knowing that he had a bit more time to kill, Jacob decided that he would try to make his living arrangement a little more comfortable. He returned to his bedroom, and gathered his filthy clothes, noting the awful smell emanating from them. With the help of Spike, they fashioned a small laundry line behind the library between two trees.

“Twilight could clean your clothes in an instant.” Spike insisted to him, but Jacob figured that Twilight was already doing enough for him to be getting on with. Jacob filled up a small barrel with soap and water and cleaned off the clothes he had brought with him and then hung them up to dry. By the time they had reentered the library, Twilight had already set lunch out. It was much more appetizing than most of the other meals he had eaten thus far, mostly because of the lack of hay. Grilled cheese was something he was very fond of.

The afternoon was still relatively young, and Jacob didn’t have any intentions of going out exploring Ponyville. His mood was too good to risk ruining it due to ponies gawking at him like he were an animal in a zoo. Twilight soon noticed he was skimming the shelves he had helped restock earlier that day. Jacob had no trouble believing that Twilight had read every book in the entire library, and she seemed overjoyed when he had told her he had no idea what kind of book he would be interested in. “Oh, there are so many options. I'm sure you would love Daring Do, or maybe you’re interested in magic? You told me there isn’t magic where you live. Or maybe,” She floated a massive hard cover book and dropped it into his arms. “You can never go wrong with history!”

In the end, Jacob agreed with Twilight and brought the large tome down to a comfy little chair. History usually wasn’t one of Jacob’s favorite subjects, but he couldn’t deny he was a bit curious about the world he was temporarily living in. As it turned out, the extensive history of Equestria was much more interesting than the story Twilight told him about the Elements of Harmony. In fact, it read much like a fiction novel from back on Earth. Magic and evil villains seemed to be casually mentioned in nearly every page. Jacob ended up flipping through the pages, occasionally catching names such as Tirek, Grogar, and even caught a picture of a very angry looking unicorn named Sombra. He learned not only were Princess Celestia and Princess Luna extremely powerful ponies, but they were ancient. They were more than a thousand years old.

Time passed very fast, perhaps even faster than when he and Spike delved into their fantasy world. Just as Jacob turned to a page that showed a very large, goat-like creature, seemingly made of all sorts of different animal parts, Twilight’s voice caused him to perk up. “Sorry to interrupt you Jacob, but Spike is nearly done with dinner.”

“No, no. It’s fine.” He said, closing the massive book and standing up. Twilight seemed immensely pleased that he had been absorbed in one of her favorite books. He gave her a small smile and headed into the kitchen.

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By the time the sun had been lowered, Jacob felt rather tired. Due to the slight soreness still in his legs and arms, he assumed this was due to his body healing. Before he could excuse himself to return to his room, Twilight asked him if he were willing to continue the interview that had been cut short on the flight to Ponyville, and feeling much more comfortable on the ground, he accepted.

As best as he could, he answered her questions. The teenager couldn’t help but become greatly amused when he did his best to explain some of the technology he could remember back at home. Equestria, no doubt due to the fact they had an abundance of magic, was not as technologically advanced as Earth. Twilight’s eyes seemed to light up when he explained what cars were, and when he tried to tell her what an airplane was, she was astonished.

“Of course, you say humans do not have wings. It’s only natural that air travel would have to be done in another way… Oh this is wonderful. These ‘cars’, would you say they are motorized carriages?” Twilight asked, quickly writing everything down.

“Yeah. I mean, you have lots of things here that we used to have. Not many countries where I come from still build castles. Lots of cities have massive skyscrapers. You know, tall buildings.” Jacob explained.

“Oh yes, we have those as well! Manehattan for example has plenty!” Twilight happily responded. “This is so fascinating. Without magic and an innate ability to fly your world seems to have built machines to make life easier.”

Jacob gaped at Twilight for a moment, wondering if Manehattan was just some sort of odd coincidence. Eventually he nodded. “Pretty much, yeah.” The human turned to Spike, who had decided to join in and listen to the interview.

“Is it really hard not having magic and stuff sometimes?” Spike asked curiously, leaning in his chair.

“Not really. Lots of humans are really smart and stuff is always getting better.” Jacob went on to explain to the best of his knowledge how fast technology seemed to evolve. He offhandedly mentioned that his kind had traveled to the moon in a rocket, something Twilight reacted to so excitedly that Jacob flinched in his seat. Once she had calmed down and Jacob had told her that he had no idea how rockets worked, she sat her quill down and looked over her pages of notes.

“Thank you so much, Jacob. Ponykind can learn so much from your world,” She said happily. “As could humanity learn from us!”

“If I told everyone I knew about magic and talking unicorns and dragons when I got home I might be sent to a madhouse, but I see what you mean.” Jacob said back, grinning a little.

Spike let out a yawn and announced he was going to bed, and Jacob decided it would be a good time for him to sleep as well. He bid both of them a goodnight and walked downstairs into his room. He took off his shoes, pants, and shirt before crawling into bed. The day hadn’t been nearly as bad as the others had been so far. As he drifted off to sleep he hoped that tomorrow would be even better.

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In no time at all, Jacob dozed off and was quickly thrown into a dream that felt so real he thought that he was wide awake. He stood on an odd grid-map and looked up to see Spike looming over him, holding a 20-sided dice. “Will you return home, or be stuck here forever? That’s a tough one! You’ll need at least a 15 for that!” With an evil grin, the 100-foot-tall dragon rolled the gigantic bolder size dice. Jacob yelled in shock and ran as fast as he could, but he seemed to be running in place. Spike’s evil laughter echoed around him as he looked back just in time to see the dice land on him, smashing him down against the map. “Bad luck! Looks like you rolled a 1. Sorry Jacob! Looks like you’re going to be here forever!”

The human let out a fearful scream as the dice was lifted off of him, but his body was grabbed tight in Spike’s claw, but when he looked up Spike was almost unrecognizable. His face was covered in dark shadow and seemed to be a dark crimson color. The silhouette of two large horns were seen on the dragons head and from the darkness the teenager saw his eyes glow a bright yellow. “W-What are you doing! Let me go!” He yelled in vain, thrashing helplessly as he was lifted high into the air above Spike’s mouth.

“If you say so!” His voice had gone odd. It was raspy and cruel. Jacob felt his heart racing in his chest as he was dropped. He fell and fell. The human feared he was about to be eaten, but he found that he was not falling onto a massive tongue, but rather falling through the clouds. The only light he could see was from the flashing of lightning in the distance. He had to be hundreds of feet up, falling to his doom. He screamed as loud as he could, begging in his mind that he would wake up. He pleaded to nobody in particular that he would be woken up before he hit the ground. The trees below grew closer and closer. He was going to get impaled by branches and even if he did not get run through by large wooden spikes, he would hit the ground with enough speed that he would most certainly die.

The air was knocked out of him as he smashed through branches and was assaulted by a face full of leaves. He felt his skin get deeply cut by the jagged pieces of wood that jutted out, but his body hardly slowed. His legs hit a large branch and his body was sent summersaulting down to the ground. With a loud CRACK! He slammed into the mud, feeling the disgusting liquid splatter all around him. The pain he felt was just as real as he could have ever imagined. He was not sure how he was alive, but he knew at once when he tried to push himself up, his wrist was broken. An immense pain in his right leg let him know that something was either sprained or broken there as well. He attempted to sit up, but something pushed him back down into the mud. At first, he feared that whatever had pushed him was going to hold his face in the mud, but he soon found that he was able to move. There was no sound, but Jacob knew that something or someone was with him.

“Perfect…” The same raspy voice muttered, and Jacob found himself looking up to see a pair of yellow glowing eyes looking down at him. His mouth opened but no words came out. A massive shadowy figure stood over him. Lightning cracked in the sky above, momentarily outlining the robed figure just long enough for Jacob to see whoever it was, they were four-legged like a pony. He tried to get up again, but the pain was way too much for him. The human could do nothing but watch as the creature lowered towards him and placed a hand on his head and an even greater pain shot through him. He wailed in agony and fell back down into the mud. His head felt as though it would explode and when he weakly looked up, everything began to lighten. The rain turned into a pitter patter, the dark clouds turned very light grey. The sky was now a bright blue. The immense pain in his body faded and Jacob heard gentle hoof steps grow closer to him as he sat up, still shaking with terror.

“Jacob! are you okay?” A much more welcoming voice asked. Jacob shakily looked up to see Princess Luna stepping towards him. He nodded, unable to stop himself from continuing to shiver. “I apologize for my late arrival. Are you sure you are alright?” She asked, trotting up towards him.

“I… I don’t know... What... What just happened?” He asked, unable to prevent himself from continuing to pant.

“A nightmare. Take it slow, Jacob.” She spoke softly, her eyes full of concern. There was something else in her expression… Shock. He had tried to stand up but was still much too shaky to do much.

“It... It felt so real… Where are we?” Jacob muttered, looking up towards the princess.

“If I am not mistaken, this is the forest where Captain Silvermane found you,” The Princess answered, glancing up towards a mountain not too far in the distance. “I do not take it that this is a recurring dream?”

“N-No,” Jacob was sure that his nightmare had just shown him how he arrived in Equestria. At least, his crash landing. He couldn’t get the yellow eyes out of his head. Something about them seemed to linger on his mind. “Thank you… For saving me.”

“As I told you, it is my duty. Think nothing of it, Jacob. I know my sister wrote you a letter,” Luna said, watching as Jacob carefully stood up and leaned against a tree. “Thank you for that drawing of your planet by the way, that will make my search much easier.”

“That’s good… Sorry to ask... But… Do you think that it is going to take a long time to find it?” Jacob asked, hoping that he did not sound desperate.

“Honestly, I do not know. There are quite literally billions of planets and I admit I am not very experienced in searching for other worlds with my magic. However, with your assistance in providing a visual representation, combined with Star Swirls research I would hope it would not take too long. I do not want to give a time frame but end up disappointing you. You also have to understand that my sister and I have other responsibilities.” She said kindly.

“I understand. Sorry to be giving you both so much extra work…” Jacob said in a near whisper, glancing at the ground.

“Don’t be silly, Jacob. You are doing no such thing. I do hope you are enjoying the company of Twilight Sparkle and her friends?” The mare said, clearly seeing the current subject was very touchy to the still shivering human.

“I am, yes. They are all very… nice.”

“I am glad to hear it,” Luna said with a giggle and looked towards the now clear sky. “I believe that things here are now under control. If these nightmares persist I will be here to end them. Rest assured, my sister and I will also continue our work. In the meantime, try to not dwell on your situation. There are many things I learned in my banishment. One of them is to appreciate the company of friends…”

Jacob simply nodded his head and watched the princess spread her wings. “I’ll try, Princess” He said, watching as she smiled at him and took off into the sky, vanishing with a pop. For a few moments he stood there in silence, thinking about what had just happened. The pain he felt was real, as was the terror. Never in his life had he remembered a dream so real, besides, perhaps the one he had just the other day after falling down the hill. The sky above began to fade away, and the feeling in his body did too. In an instant his eyes opened, and he was greeted with the near pitch darkness of his room. He sat up in bed, rubbing his eyes for a moment before looking at his feet. Princess Luna advised him not to dwell, but a reoccurring thought kept creeping into his mind. Those glowing yellow eyes.