Destination Darkness

by Aragem

Calm

“Lookit that shit.” A datapad landed on the table amidst stacks of round poker chips, scattering them.

“Fuck, Belgard, ya bitch,” A thirty year old man with a cigar tucked between his teeth snarled as he piled the chips back into the center.

“Look at the datapad, Jones.” Belgard threw herself into a chair, nearly toppling it taking her with it. “They’re replacing us.”

The grizzled man snorted through a wide nose as he regarded the holo-screen for a brief moment, “Replacing you, maybe.”

“Is it those Hybrids they keep going on about?” Crenshaw asked. He was kneeling at a duct repairing a dent that someone made when they lost a small fortune at an earlier game. He had a tool that he drew over the dented bars that softened the metal enough for him to take another tool and straighten them.

“Yes. Part cyborg and part organic soldiers they can mass produce to fight Haven’s wars.” Belgard rocked back in her chair as her face twisted in disgust. “Ain’t that a kick in the nuts.”

“I dunno. Doesn’t sound too bad to me.” Crenshaw carefully examined his work, making sure the vent looked as it did before the enraged kick. “No more kids waiting for their mums and pops to come back from the wars.”

“But what about people like me? I enlisted to get out of foster care. Enlistin’ is the only escape kids like I was have.” Her pierced lips pulled back in a grimace.

“Stop bitchin’. It ain’t gonna happen for a few decades yet. You’ll be long retired by the time they come out with the first wave.” Jones took a long drag on his cigar, the end smoldered brightly. He released a long cloud of smoke, “You gonna bet or fold.”

“Fold and I’m out. This shit pissed me off too much to play more.” The bald woman shoved her cards away from her distastefully. “If anyone needs me, I’m blowing off steam in the gym.”

“Too bad Winter ain’t here. He’s always one for sparring or . . . other activities.” Jones leered at her while she stood haughtily.

“Hey, I don’t need Winter for a good time. I have a vibrator.” With that said, Belgard left the engineering level followed by the guffaws of Jones and Crenshaw.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jelly made certain that Pinkie Pie understood what she wanted for her party. It would take place after the Winter Ball and she wanted the party attendance small so Pinkie was free to invite her friends such as Twilight, Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy. She also wanted Apple Bloom and her friends to come so there was a need for some of the games to be foal friendly. Also, there may be a few extra members that she may or may not invite. The food would consist of flowery treats and apple treats from the Apple Family and a cake provided by the Sugarcube Corner. Where the party would be held . . . she decided to let Pinkie decide that.

When she left, she felt better than she did earlier. Maybe it was something that she took control over or that she dodged a huge a humiliating bullet from Rarity thought she may not have heard the last of it. Right now, she needed to head it off and that required a visit from Fluttershy. Perhaps she could convince the yellow pegasus to lie on her behalf. Or at least not tell anyone that she left with Winter.

She trotted along the snowy path to Fluttershy’s cottage. When it first snowed, she enjoyed it finding it beautiful, but now she understood the problems it could cause for travel as she struggled to wade through half a foot of snow. What should have been a quick trip to the cottage ended up being a difficult journey.

When she arrived, she noticed that all the animals wore small knitted scarfs and she swore she glimpsed a mouse wearing ear muffs from the corner of her eye. She knocked on the door nearly raining ice and snow from the roof above.

The door opened a crack and Fluttershy peeked at her. “Hello, Jelly.”

“Hey, I wanted to visit.” Jelly offered her a smile with teeth chattering from the cold.

“Oh, come in, come in.” Fluttershy opened the door and allowed herself, “I’ll make tea.”

The cottage was warm with a small fire at the chimney place. Jelly brushed the snow from her mane and flicked her tail to shake off any clinging ice. She drew the scarf from her neck and slung it along a hat post near the door. “I hope I’m not barging in on anything.”

“Oh no. I was just making hot soup.” She motioned to a large pot bubbling on the stove. “Have a seat. I can get you a bowl.”

Jelly wanted to refuse, but her growling stomach halted her refusal. She didn’t get the chance to eat her Flower Power Platter as she wanted to before. “Sure, I’ll take a bowl.”

Before too long, they were seated at a low table inside Fluttershy’s stove. She noticed that the bowls had handles on both sides, big enough for hooves to easily grasp. The food smelled delicious and she was hard pressed not to start gulping the soup, but it still steamed promising a scalded mouth if she did so.

“Fluttershy, I . . . um . . .came over to talk to you about last night.”

“I’m sorry if I left without you. Winter . . .he made me so flustered . . .that I left before you got back.” Fluttershy looked away demurely.

Jelly almost moved around the table to kiss her cheek and hug her tight. “No, no, I . . .I just want to ask you not to tell anyone who I left with last night.”

“You mean when you left with Winter?” Fluttershy curiously tilted her head, her long pink mane tumbling along her shoulder.

Now Jelly understood why Winter had to steal a kiss from her. The yellow pegasus was lovely and sweet. “Yes, could you please tell everyone that we walked home together? You see, there’s a rumor going around that I . . . I um . . . played around with someone in the gardening shed . . .”

“Played around?” Fluttershy inquired with the slow rise of her eyebrows.

“You know . . .” Maybe a pony like Fluttershy didn’t know anything about sex deeming from her reaction when Jelly asked her friends if they had boyfriends. “ . . .how a girl pony likes a boy pony . . .”

“Oh, you mean sex.” Fluttershy took a dainty sip of her soup while Jelly looked at her incredulously. “I know what sex is, Jelly. I’ve been around animals for a long time.”

“I’m sorry. I . . .I didn’t mean that you . . .”

“It’s alright.” Fluttershy waved away her apology. “I understand what you mean. A lot of ponies think that because I’m really shy that I’m naïve . . . I mean, I am . . . but not about that.”

“I’m sorry. Again, I didn’t mean to imply that.” Jelly couldn’t believe that she had unwittingly insulted a pony she had hoped to request a favor from. Today was not her day.

“If you don’t want me to talk about Winter, I won’t.” Flutter gave her one of her endearing smiles again that reassured Jelly completely.

“Thank you. You have no idea how better that makes me feel.”

Thankfully, the soup was cooled enough for Jelly’s mouth and tongue. She tried to eat with etiquette as Fluttershy, but she found herself taking long draughts into her mouth and swallowing. When she finished, she couldn’t refuse a second bowl, but in attention to her waist line, she denied a third bowl.

To carry a conversation, she asked, “Are you excited about the Winter Ball?”

“Oh, I’m not going.” Fluttershy dropped her eyes and a dull blush touched her cheeks. “The last time I went to a ball in Canterlot, I didn’t do too well.”

“What happened?” Jelly inclined her head concerned.

“It’s embarrassing . . .” Fluttershy seemed to wilt on her side of the table.

“Did someone try to . . . take advantage?” Jelly asked gingerly.

“Oh no!” Fluttershy shook her head, her eyes wide as if the thought of anyone attempting to exploit her was unthinkable. “I got angry because the animals in the Canterlot Gardens didn’t want to be my friends so I chased them into the ballroom and made a mess.”

Jelly tried to stifle the giggle that was creeping into her throat. Her shoulders shook and her lips trembled, but then she uttered a tight squeak before she broke into a rough tenor of a laugh. Images of the sweet pegasus chasing bunnies and squirrels through a fairy tale ball room where high society ponies were diving for cover rolled through her head. All the smile, Fluttershy was blushing with an uneasy smile. “I was a little silly.”

Jelly choked back a laugh, forcing herself to speak calmly. “We’ve all been silly sometimes. One time, when I was a little girl, I was baking a cake and I didn’t really understand the difference between self-rising flour and all-purpose flour. So I ended up using corn meal instead and made chocolate cornbread.”

“That sounds delicious,” Fluttershy said enthused.

Jelly laughed so hard, tears came to her eyes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Twilight sent Spike to leave a message at the inn for Jelly to meet her at the library. She considered going to visit Victory and continue their discussion on magic, but she decided that it would be better if she met with Jelly first.

The egg pouch hung heavy against her chest and it had been no easy ordeal when Rarity saw it.

“Darling, what is that thing around your neck?” Rarity stared at the pouch as if it was a coiled snake.

“It’s a gift from Zecora. She gave it to me during Winter Welcome.” Twilight hoped to move the topic along to something else, “Are those the new Winter lineup?”

“Twilight, I have better pendants if you were looking for jewelry.” Rarity was determined to get that dreadful thing off her friend.

“Oh no. It’s fine. I sorta like it.” Twilight had to admit that the pouch wasn’t that appealing to look at, but she didn’t want Rarity to know the true purpose behind her wearing it.

“Well, if you ever change your mind.” Rarity’s voice lilted as if she felt that Twilight ought to change her mind.

“Thanks for the offer. So do you know if any of the others are coming to the ball?” She hoped mentioning the ball would move the subject away from the pouch.

“I’m certainly going and so is Rainbow Dash, anything to be close to her Wonderbolts.” Rarity magically placed Twilight’s dress on a pony mannequin. “Applejack said that she isn’t willing, and these are her words, ‘stick her hoof back into that fire’. I believe Fluttershy will be too embarrassed about what happened at the Galla. Pinkie Pie is on the fence, but I’m certain that she can be convinced to go.”

“If she doesn’t want to go, don’t force her. I’m surprised that any of us are going after what happened last time.” Twilight internally grimaced at the memories. “But I’m still glad that I won’t be alone. I think that Jelly and her mother are going.”

“Ah, the mysterious Jelly. She’s hiding something. I know it was her in that shed with our mystery stallion.” Rarity tapped her chin with a hoof in thought. “It couldn’t have been Smokey because I saw him with June Bug all night and Jelly shut the door on that the night we dealt with those awful mites.”

“Maybe you should leave it alone. Jelly hasn’t been doing too well lately and I wouldn’t want to make it worse,” Twilight said.

“Oh?” Rarity paused in inspecting Twilight’s dress for any tears or loose seams. “She strikes me as a resilient mare. She did well against the mites and Discord.”

“You’re right about that, but I think Jelly is more sensitive than she lets on. Especially when it comes to her mother.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Laotaner had a plan. It would work. Her plans never fail, not when she was involved. Winter knew his role well, because she had drilled it into his head repeatedly and also because he was well experienced. He had a list of what they would need from the ship. It’ll be risky since they don’t have the layout of the castle, but Winter knew how to be resourceful and careful. And she would be there to make sure it all went well.

She had a theory she developed in her conversation with Twilight. It was more of an instinct or a gut feeling. Regardless, whether it was proven false or not, it would not hinder the overall success of the mission. She would see to that personally.

She raised a hand and watched the fire flow over it. It was a self-warming spell that a unicorn living in the icy north had created to keep himself warm during his studies. Laotaner had mastered it and put her own little spin on it creating fire that would burn along her skin without causing damage or pain, but if she touched wood or cloth it would burn. She lightly rubbed her hands, dismissing the spell. The warmth stayed with her long after the flames died.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jelly got the message from the inn keeper when she returned home. She considered ignoring the message, but then did she really want to go upstairs and have nothing to say to Victory? Thus she made her way to Twilight Sparkle’s library anxious of what the unicorn wanted her for.

It was late afternoon by the time she had arrived at the tree library. She had spent much of the noon visiting Fluttershy. She found herself growing closer to the sweet pegasus. Being around her was cooling balm on her fractured nerves and prickly anxiety. She really wished that she was going to the ball too.

Before she raised a hoof to knock, the door swung open and Spike greeted her, “Hey, Twilight was waitin’ for ya.”

“I got her message. Is something wrong?”

“Nah, c’mon in.” Spike opened the door for her and she drew inside.

Twilight was already inside for the first time Jelly noticed that she was wearing a small beaded pouch on a thong around her neck. “Hello, Jelly, I’m glad you came. I just wanted to talk about earlier.”

Oh no. Not this again. “Twilight, I really don’t . . .”

“I know you don’t want to talk about it, but I think there is something I can do to help.” Twilight held up a hoof before Jelly could speak. “Hear me out. If you don’t like what I have to say, then you may leave and I promise I’ll never bring it up again. Ever.”

“Okay.” Jelly dropped her rear onto the floor, certain that she wasn’t going to like what Twilight had to say.

“Jelly, this might be sensitive for you but I really want to help you develop your magic,” the lavender unicorn told her.

The green unicorn sat stunned for several moments before she replied, “I . . .I don’t know.”

“This will strictly be between you and me,” Twilight said quickly. “Spike won’t tell anyone and neither will I. And we’ll practice only in the library downstairs where no one will see.”

Jelly looked down at her hooves, averting her eyes from Twilight’s eager face. “It’s too embarrassing.”

“We won’t know until we try. We’ll do the lessons as long as you want and we’ll stop when you want.” Twilight placed a hoof on her shoulder. “Jelly, don’t be embarrassed. All unicorns started out not able to use magic at all. It took me years to get where I am now.”

“You . . .won’t tell anyone. Not even my mother?” Jelly murmured.

“Not even your mother. I won’t even talk about you with her,” Twilight swore.

“Okay, we can try, I guess.”

“Excellent. Let’s get started! I know some simple exercises that will help out.”

The simple exercises were lifting small feathers that she likely drew from a pillow. Jelly struggled to get the bit of fluff to move across the table, but then again, it may have been her breath that did that. Twilight was a patient teacher, very much unlike Victory, but even she had a hard time figuring out why Jelly was having so many problems.

“I think you are trying too hard. It’s like walking. You don’t think too much when it comes to moving one hoof in front of the other,” Twilight advised as the green unicorn looked dejectedly at the feather. “Just take a breath and calm yourself and just push with your magic.”

Jelly drew a breath, holding it for a moment, and then let it out slowly, but away from the feather lest she blew it off the table. Then she concentrated with magic. The fuzz on the feather steam ruffled slightly and Jelly hung her head in defeat. “I want to stop now, please?”

“Are you sure? We haven’t been practicing that long.” Twilight glanced at the clock. It was still late afternoon, but it was on the cusp of evening. It would be dinner soon. “Do you want to stay for dinner?”

“No, I’m okay. I have to go home anyway.” Jelly stood, but then paused. “Twilight, thanks. I really appreciate you being a friend to me even though I’ve been difficult this morning.”

“It’s no problem, Jelly. I don’t want you to be discouraged. This is just day one. Tomorrow, you will do better.”

“I don’t know.” Jelly was already feeling pretty discouraged, but she wanted to make Twilight happy. “I’ll come back tomorrow. Morning?”

“Um, not tomorrow morning. I have to see visit a friend, but how about before lunch? Ten o’clock?”

“That sounds good.”

“Great. Also, I don’t know if this will help, but it helped me when I was a foal starting out.” Twilight motioned to an opened book on her desk. “Whenever I read a book, I made it a point to turn the pages with magic that way I was motivated to improve my magic so I can read uninterrupted.”

“Good idea, I’ll try that.” It should be easier to tape the edge of a datapad to change text than it is to turn a page in a book.

Comments

[Aragem]

Surprised that I got this posted today. I didn't get my hands on a copy of Darksiders 2 until the afternoon from UPS so I spent the morning working on this chapter, and then we had a storm and couldn't play my X-box for fear of it being screwed up by bad weather, so I finished this chapter up.

Most in this chapter is mundane stuff which is why I added Slice of Life tab to the story. But the title of the chapter is named for "the calm before storm".

[Jigoku Luna]

It's a good chapter and enjoyed that Twilight is teaching Jelly magic.