Happy Disaster
“I know, I’ve seen stuff like that first hoof,” Shining Armor told my brother. “All you can do is move past it.”
Louis nodded. “I guess you’re right. I mean, I can’t exactly do it over.”
I shouldn’t have been there, but I couldn’t help it. My own brother, who I didn’t even know existed until seventy-two hours ago, had PTSD, and I wasn’t going to let him go through that alone.
I’d asked Shining Armor to come by and talk with Louis as a bit of therapy. Louis had shared his story, and Shining had done the same. The two had talked about how they’ve never forgotten the faces they’d seen, friend or foe, and the actions they had to take, no matter how drastic.
In complete honesty, it was a bit jarring. I knew people could be corrupt, but... hearing it in close detail sent a chill down my spine. I could only count my blessings, not having gone through it myself.
“One soldier to another... did you ever go through something like this?” Louis asked.
Shining chuckled. “I did for a bit, but... then I met my wife, and we had our daughter.”
I heard him get up.
“Having somepony around really helps to move on,” he said.
Louis sighed. “Somepony. I’m never gonna get used to that word.”
They both laughed, and I had to hold my own laughter in.
“Thanks for this, it means a lot,” Louis thanked.
“Of course,” Shining replied. “I’d better be getting back. Don’t hesitate to call me if you ever need any help.”
Shining Armor walked out the door and right past me, seemingly unaware of my presence. My brother followed, but I said, “Hey.”
Louis jumped a little. “Dude, don’t do that.”
“Sorry,” I replied. “How are you feeling?”
Louis didn’t answer right away. Instead, he looked away.
“You alright?” I asked.
“It’s just... how can even the most peaceful have to endure so much? I thought humans were messed up,” he answered.
I nodded, not knowing how to respond.
We both just stood there for a minute before I spoke up. “I was, uh, gonna swing by Sweet Apple Acres to see if I could get my old job back. You could, uh, join me if you wanted.”
“Sweet Apple Acres? Isn’t that the orchard on the other side of town?” he asked.
“Yeah, but it’s not that far a walk,” I replied. Honestly, I just wanted an excuse to get out of the castle and get to know Louis, and heading to Sweet Apple Acres, which I’d been meaning to do anyhow, was the perfect excuse.
Louis looked hesitant. “You sure? There’s a pretty good possibility I might... freak out again.”
“Well, you gotta get outta here sometime, so why not now?” I coaxed.
He sighed again. “Fine, fine. But if I go off, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Twilight Sparkle looked as Jake Taylor and Louis Moxon left the castle. As soon as the doors closed, she faced the room and said, “They’re gone, release the Pinkie.”
As soon as Twilight was finished talking, the pink blur zipped around the large room, hanging up streamers and balloons. Spike and Starlight got busy bringing out tables and posters. Twilight busied herself with setting up gifts and the like.
It was currently the three of them, as Sunset was still suffering from morning sickness, and Princess Celestia was helping her work through it.
As she set up, Twilight couldn’t help but reminisce about the first time everyone had celebrated Jake’s birthday in Equestria. He didn’t tell them for months until Pinkie got it out of him. Since then, he’d forgotten nearly every year, not really needing to remember so long as Pinkie Pie was around.
Now, not only was it Jake’s birthday, but Louis’s as well. Twilight had no idea what Louis liked or was into, so she told Pinkie to be as generic as possible.
...Probably not gonna happen.
“Twilight? You okay?” Spike asked, getting Twilight’s attention.
Twilight blinked a few times and cleared her throat. “Umm, yeah. I’m just... thinking.”
“Oh?” Spike replied. “What about?”
Twilight shrugged. “Nothing in particular, really. Just that this is gonna be Jake’s first birthday as my husband... and that I wanna go all out.”
Just then, Pinkie came to a screeching halt, directly in front of Starlight, nearly knocking her down.
“Did I just hear what I thought I heard?!” Pinkie excitedly asked.
Twilight nodded. “Yes. Go all out with the decorations!”
Pinkie gave a girlish squee as she continued to do what she, and only she, did best. Meanwhile, Starlight stood up and dusted herself off.
“Twilight, not that I don’t trust your judgement or anything, but... are you sure going all out is a good idea? What with Mox’s... condition?” she asked.
“I already thought of that,” Twilight answered. “That’s why we’re not having it in the foyer. Sound doesn’t echo or carry as much in here, and besides, we won’t yell ‘surprise’ or anything like that, just let them discover the party for themselves.”
“O-Okay, if you’re sure,” Starlight hesitantly responded. For whatever reason, she wasn’t sure having such a big party for Louis so soon after his arrival was a good idea for his state. In fact, Starlight had been thinking a lot about Louis lately, the way he talked, the way he looked, the way he smiled, it... fascinated her to say the least.
Especially since Jake and Twilight got married and Sunset came to have the baby, Starlight had felt... lonely.
Louis and I were at Sweet Apple Acres, helping Applejack and Big Mac put everything away. Apparently, it was supposed to be extremely cold tonight for whatever reason. The most explanation Applejack could give me was that winter was quickly approaching, which it was.
However, she also seemed a bit anxious to get to the castle for whatever reason.
...Scratch that, I knew exactly why, but wanted to feign ignorance toward Louis.
Speaking if which, he’d just finished moving all the movable equipment into the barn and walked up to me. “Need any help with that?”
“No, I’m almost done,” I replied. I was currently digging in a few holes to keep one of the heavier wagons from rolling off. Big Mac would usually do this sort of thing, but he was nowhere to be found. “Go ahead and head to the castle, I’ll be right behind you.”
Instead of leaving, Louis knelt down to face me. “Actually, there’s something we should talk about. Something about you listening in on my and Shining Armor’s conversations that last few days.”
I looked up at him. “Yeah, and?”
“And, I don’t want you burdening yourself with my problems,” he answered.
I rolled my eyes. “You’re my brother; what am I supposed to do, stay out of it?”
Louis scoffed and stood up. “Uh, yeah. Do you know how many issues I had to go through on my own back home?”
I got up as well and looked him in the eye. “Well, you’re not back home, are you?”
“I appreciate that you’re trying to help me,” he said, “but stop, or I’m gonna somehow bring you down with me.”
“You know,” I said, letting out a sigh, “I used to be just like you, too prideful to ask for anything. But you know what? That doesn’t get anyone anywhere.”
“Don’t push it,” he said, giving my shoulder a serious poke.
I didn’t respond right away. Looks like we really were brothers. Bickering, arguing, fighting brothers.
“Just go to the damn castle, and I’ll meet you there.”
“Fine,” he said, storming off.
I groaned and got back to work. A few minutes later, once I had all the wheels set in place, I stood up and admired my work, giving the wagon a good push to make sure it wasn’t going anywhere.
The second I turned away, however, I heard something creak. I looked back at the wagon just in time for it to roll right at me, push me back, and pin me to a tree.
I pushed against it as hard as I could, but it wasn’t going anywhere. I tried calling for help, but it was resting right on my chest, constricting my breath. I also noticed that the sun was beginning to sink below the horizon, signaling it would be nighttime. And it was already starting to get cold.
I tried to shimmy my way away from the tree, but to make matters worse, I was on a slight incline, so gravity was against me as well.
“H-Help!” I wheezed into the air. “Mox, please help me!”
I got no response. Breathing was already becoming more and more difficult, and the air got into my lungs, causing me to cough. I had to get lout of there fast.
Louis knocked on the castle doors and waited for an answer. He was still a little upset at Jake, but tried his best to hide it. Apparently, that Twilight Sparkle pony was his wife or something, Louis wasn’t entirely sure.
Jake had attempted to explain his relationship status to Louis, but he didn’t do a very good job. All Louis really took away was that Jake was a lucky bastard with not only a wife, but two girlfriends, one of which he knocked up.
After not getting an answer for a hot minute, Louis slowly opened the door on his own, finding it was unlocked. He stepped inside and found a note waiting for him.
Jake and/or Louis,
Come into the library for a special surprise. Don’t worry about Louis, we have a plan to deal with that
Twilight
Louis shrugged and slowly made his way to the library. The entire castle was built like a maze, with hallways twisting and winding so that no one knew where they were going unless they had a map or something. Jake had tried to give Louis a decent layout of the castle, but it didn’t do much good; that knowledge was gone by next morning.
Instead of aimlessly wandering, Louis opened one door and called out, “Hello?”
When he got no response, he did the same for another door. This time, Twilight appeared to him out of nowhere.
“Hey, Mox, guessing you don’t know your way around yet?” she politely asked.
Louis simply shook his head.
“That’s alright, just follow me,” she said before walking through one of the many doors. “Where’s Jake?”
“He’s, uh, back at Sweet Apple Acres, finishing up some work. He said he’d be right behind me,” Louis answered. Truth be told, Louis didn’t really care to see Jake for a while, at least until one of them got over whatever they needed to, and Louis would probably have to be the bigger man... again.
“Oh, well, that’s okay. Did he, um... did he tell you what today is exactly?” Twilight asked.
“No... should he have?” Louis answered.
Twilight looked a little anxious. “You’ll... find out in a second.”
Louis shrugged and continued to follow Twilight through the halls until she told him they had arrived at the library. She opened the door and stepped out of the way, revealing the library’s features.
Inside were several hung decorations that Louis guessed would’ve taken all day, all of the ponies he’d met so far and then some, and a huge banner that read ‘Happy Birthday, Jake and Mox’.
“Wait,” Louis said, “today’s my birthday?”
“Surprise!” Twilight giggled. “Since you and Jake are twins, it only makes sense that your birthdays are, well, on the same day. You... didn’t know?”
“Twilight, I didn’t know I had a brother until a month ago,” Louis joked. With that, the two of them went inside.
My arms gave out once again. I’d been trying to get out of this for what felt like hours. Calling for help was pretty much out of the question, but simply pushing seemed useless as well; this wagon wasn’t going anywhere.
I have to admit, things were not looking good for me at the moment. Breathing was becoming harder and harder, and the air around me was getting colder and colder.
This could not be happening, not now. I just met my brother, I finally married Twilight, the baby with Sunset was on the way.
...Five years ago... five years ago, I probably would’ve been just fine with this, but not now, not with so much going for me. I couldn’t bare to think of Twilight, what she’d think if she saw me like this, cold and... dead. I had to get to her, to everyone. I couldn’t go like this.
I took as deep a breath as possible and pushed against the wagon as hard as I could, but... no luck, whatsoever.
“H-Help! Some... someone, please!” I yelled as loud as I could as I continued to push. “Come on! Happy freakin’ birthday to me!”
“And why should anyone help you?” a strangely familiar voice called out to me.
“W-Who... is that? Mox?” I shouted.
“You’re a terrible person, whether you know it or not!” the voice shouted.
“Discord? I-Is that you? Come on... stop messing with me. Just... just help me!” I pleaded.
“You’ve been undermining your long-lost brother’s wishes!”
I pushed harder. “Please, stop!”
“You’ve been keeping secrets from Twilight, your wife!”
“I have... too much to live for! I... I can’t go now!” A tear began to make its way down my cheek.
“You’ve utterly ruined the teenage life of Sunset Shimmer!”
The wind was getting to me, beginning to make me feel numb. It didn’t feel like I had long.
“And you’ve forgotten who means most to you, your alleged ‘first love’.”
“S-Starlight? W-What are you talking about? I... I love Starlight!” I refuted.
“She doesn’t seem to believe that!”
I shook my head; this couldn’t be the end. With all the strength I had left, I pushed against the tree and the wagon, doing all I could to separate them... until my strength finally gave out.
“But... I forgive you... son.”
I looked up in confusion. “Who are you? What do you want from me?!”
A large, bright light appeared before me, and also appeared a shadowy figure within.
“Cock-o-doodle-doo, Jakey,” the figure said, his voice much more clear now.
More tears fell down my face. There are only two people who have ever said that to me... my parents.
“D-Dad? I-I-Is that... you?” I cried.
“It’s me, son,” he answered. “Everything will be okay.”
“I-I’m so... scared. I can’t d-die like this,” I sobbed.
My father reached his hand down toward me. “It is alright. I’m here now. Just take my hand, and it will be all better.”
I almost reached for him right away, but... didn’t. “W-What about... Twilight... a-and Louis?”
“They’ll be fine. Your loss will surely be devastating, but I assure you that they will recover.”
I forced myself to look away from him. The warm that was coming from his light vanished and was quickly replaced by the harsh, cold night air.
“M-My child... I can’t leave Sunset like this. I can’t leave my child behind.”
I felt my father’s hand caress my cheek, warming it up in an instant.
“You can see them anytime you like. Please, son, you’re family is here, and you will never be separated from them again, old family or new.”
“N-Never?” I asked, looking up at him.
“Never,” he reiterated.
One of my hands were still free to move. I slowly, shakily reached up to take my father’s hand.
“Something’s not right,” Twilight whispered to herself. Louis seemed to be enjoying the party, but... where was Jake? He’d just... never shown up.
“You okay, Twilight?” Starlight asked, bringing Twilight out of her thoughts.
Twilight shook her head. “No... have you seen Jake at all lately?”
Starlight looked down, her eyes facing the ground. “No, not really.”
“Mox said he’d be here right behind him,” Twilight thought out loud.
“Maybe Mox knows where he is?” Starlight suggested.
Twilight shrugged, and the two of them walked over to Louis.
“He was at Sweet Apple Acres, planting down a wagon; he told me to come here and that he’d be here right after me,” he told them.
“You don’t think he’s still out there?” Twilight asked. “It’s... beyond freezing out there.”
Louis looked toward the door and got up. “I’ll go look for him.”
“Are you... crazy? It’s well below freezing. Jake wouldn’t just... stay outside,” Starlight said.
“Well, I’m gonna go look anyhow,” Louis replied. “I’m supposed to be a soldier; I never leave another man behind, let alone my own brother.”
“I’m going with you,” Twilight stated, joining Louis at the door.
Seemingly out of nowhere, Pinkie appeared in front of Louis and Twilight. “Where ya’ going?”
“Where... How... What?” Louis stammered.
“Pinkie, we’re going out to look for Jake, he never showed up. Party’s over,” Twilight answered.
Pinkie let out a sad sigh. “But... but it’s a birthday party, and Jakey didn’t even get to see it,” she pouted.
“If we don’t find Jake, there’ll be no point to a party to begin with,” Louis countered, putting on his jacket. “Now, if either of you want to help me, I’m leaving, now.”
Twilight followed him. “Yeah, I’m coming too.”
With that, the two of them left the castle and entered the harsh, cold winds that came with this particular night.
“If Jake is out here, we need to find him fast,” Louis shouted over the wind.
“Jake’s smart,” Twilight informed. “He wouldn’t stay out here unless it was an emergency. You said Jake was at Sweet Apple Acres when you came to the castle right?”
Louis nodded. “Yeah, which way’s that?”
Twilight pointed a hoof in the northwest direction. “That way.”
Without saying another word, Louis took off in the direction Twilight had pointed in. “Wait for me!” Twilight struggled to keep up with Louis. She’d considered simply teleporting to Sweet Apple Acres, but she’d didn’t want to find Jake if he was there, and leave with him before Louis got there. So, she stuck to running. Flying was pretty much out of the question, due to the strong winds; she’d simply be flapping her wings as hard as she could without getting far.
Once Sweet Apple Acres came into view, Louis slowed down, so Twilight took the opportunity to catch her breath.
“He was grounding a wagon when I left. If anything, we should check there before anything,” Louis told her before taking off again.
Not having much of choice, Twilight sighed and followed Louis’s direction. But the sight she came upon was truly horrifying.
Jake was passed out, pinned by a wagon to a very thick tree. The wagon was at perfect height to reach his chest, being perfectly able to cut off his breathing. Coupled with the fact that Jake wasn’t conscious, Twilight was easily able to put two and two together.
“Twilight, help me!” Louis shouted, trying to move the wagon, but to no avail.
Twilight was snapped out of her daze by Louis’s command and quickly used her magic to roll the wagon away from Jake, allowing his body to fall. Louis quickly caught him, moved him away from the tree, and poked two fingers into Jake’s neck vein.
“His heart is racing; we need to get him to a hospital,” he said.
Twilight sniffed and nodded, a small team of tears freezing on her cheeks. Louis heaved Jake over his shoulder, and Twilight led the way to Ponyville hospital, crying all the way.
“The hell was I thinking?!” Louis chastised himself as he paced through the hospital lobby. “I never should’ve let him stay.”
“Calm down, there was no way you could’ve known,” Applejack comforted.
Everyone was at the hospital, Twilight having told them what happened as soon as Jake got treatment. The alicorn in question was the only one actually with Jake at the moment.
“No way I could’ve known?! You told us it was gonna get bad, but that didn’t stop me from leaving Jake alone,” Louis countered.
“Dude, your ranting isn’t gonna help Jake get any better any quicker, so chill,” Rainbow Dash said.
“Sure, and when your sibling is in here on account of you, I’ll say the exact same thing, and we’ll see how you react.”
Rarity put a hoof up to her chin. “Why do I have a feeling this isn’t the first time this has happened to you?”
“I don’t know, because you’re reading too far into it?” Louis grunted before sitting down, burying his face in his hands.
The lobby was quiet, the only noises being doctors and nurses walking in and out. The only news given of Jake’s state was that he was alive, but unconscious, his body temperature being far too low, and his lungs having been compressed.
“I really wished they’d tell us something,” Sunset said.
“I know, it’s the not-knowing that’s killing me,” Fluttershy agreed.
After another moment of silence, Louis spoke up. “I could’ve driven her.”
All eyes went to Louis with confusion. “Her?” Rarity asked.
“My foster-sister,” Louis answered. “A month ago, she had to take a plane to a conference. She... she called a day before she left to ask if I could give her a ride.
“I told her I was busy, made her get a cab. She... had a heart attack on the way to the airport. She... she was... gone before... I could g-get to the h-hospital.”
The ponies present all shared sad, sympathetic looks, none of them wanting to approach Louis.
When no one else, said anything, Starlight cleared her throat and spoke up. “L-Louis...”
“Don’t say it,” Louis cut off. “I’ve heard it too many times. Let’s just sit here and wait for some news about my brother.”
Strange, I didn’t know death felt so... comfortable. Well, it wasn’t king-sized bed of five-star hotel comfortable, but... not too bad. It was also warm, very warm in fact, and soft too. I slowly opened my eyes, and as expected, I was blinded. All I could hear was a sharp ringing in my ears, and a dull but familiar voice saying something incomprehensible. I turned my head to see a blurry, lavender figure beside me, holding onto my hand.
“T-Twilight?” I slurred. My head wasn’t exactly at its full capacity.
My vision began to slowly clear up, revealing Twilight was in fact beside me, seemingly crying.
“You’re so... beautiful... a-and soft,” I said, rubbing her hoof with my fingers.
“Jake! You’re awake!” her voice distortedly rang. “W-We found you at... S-Sweet Apple Acres, n-nearly f-frozen. I’m so glad you’re alive.”
So I wasn’t dead, and this wasn’t the aftermath. Dad...
“Don’t do that!” Twilight playfully chastised before wrapping her hooves and wings around me, a hug I slowly returned.
While feeling had come back to my face, my arms and legs were still a bit numb, so moving wasn’t a possibility at the moment. But there was something bothering me...
’You’ve been keeping secrets from Twilight, your wife’!
“Twi, sweetie, I have to tell you something,” I said.
Twilight broke the hug and looked at me. “Yeah? What’s wrong?”
“Sit down, this is gonna be... shocking. But I don’t wanna be the kind of husband who keeps secrets from his wife.”
She nodded and hesitantly sat down. “Whatever it is, I’m sure it’s nothing.”
I took a deep breath and prepared to tell Twilight everything.
Twilight walked out into the lobby with her head down. Immediately, she was surrounded by her friends.
“Is Jake okay?” Starlight asked.
“He’s... awake, and he actually asked if he could see you,” Twilight answered. She then looked to a nurse and asked, “Is that alright?”
“As long as Mr. Taylor’s awake,” the nurse answered.
Starlight took a step back. “Me? Umm, okay.”
The nurse nodded and lead Starlight down the hall. Everyone went back to their seats, and Twilight sat next to Princess Celestia, who she poked to get her attention. The princess looked at Twilight, who motioned for her to come close.
“Jake told me... about you and Sunset,” Twilight whispered.
“He did... did he?” Celestia whispered back.
Twilight nodded. “He told me that you wanted to be the one to tell Sunset. But you do have to, before the baby comes, or else she’ll feel even worse about your fight.”
“...Understood,” Celestia replied.
Stats
Page generated in 0.028 seconds
Total duration
1,057 users online
1,684,157 hits today, 2,054,621 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Yep, I'm calling it now Starlight is going to break from the herd and get together with Louis.
Not going to lie, I really wish you hadn't ended this chapter where you did because I am on the edge of my seat right now.
Really looking forward to the next chapter!
10189852
Originally, I was gonna keep going, but writer’s block kept getting in the way
Shining was a poor choice for counsel, since the entire Royal Guard has repeatedly been proven to have no real combat experience aside from drills.
I think Tempest Shadow would have worked better. Given how effective she was in her siege of Canterlot, she's more likely to have seen bloodshed in prior campaigns.
As for the runaway wagon, that tells me that Jake is definitely a city boy.
Did you mean to say “His heart is racing?”
10189913
This takes place during season 7. Tempest doesn’t show up until afterwards
10189972
Yeah, that’s probably one of many things I missed
10189973
My point still stands. Heck, he might benefit from Pharynx at that point.
I feel like Louiss existence is a mistake honestly. Both him and Jake are taking the fact that their parents had twins and gave one of them away for no reason waaaay to lightly.
I just feel like Louis is a pointless and somewhat forced character that just takes away from the core of what this story was about.
A lot of what makes the Human in HIE stories interesting or special is the fact they are the only one of their kind, have no actual family. But with Louis here Jake is now not the only Human and also has real family so it really takes away from all the things hes lost, The fact they are twins doesnt help since it also takes away the focus from Jakes birthday.
I dont know what inspired you to add Louis but he is really killing this story for me. I used to look forward to seeing updates but now I dread the idea that the chapter might feature Louis.
10190348
Yeah, this started off decent, went into hit and miss, but got bland in a hurry. It's only firing on two cylinders at best.
Gee, no pressure right?
10189825
I could see that happening too, however I don’t think Mox would be romantically interested in ponies so soon
I can see maybe 5 shipping scenarios from this for Louis:
1) Starlight: After feeling she's less than special than Twi or Shim (and a unconvincing pep talk from Jake), she turns to Louis.
2) Applejack: Apple farmer who lost her parents and ex-soldier who lost his sister... both hard workers who lost family would make some sense (though Louis would still have extra baggage with the PTSD and survivor's guilt)
3) Rainbow Dash: Like Applejack, would be into physical activity (training their bodies to keep a more athletic tone, and maybe a few... "wrestling matches"), and with Rainbow's interrst in The WonderBolts (a precision military flight squad) Louis would likely find some familiarity (Rainbow might end up sharing).
4) Fluttershy: Aside from helping around the cottage with Fluttershy's animals and other chores (some would call caring for animals therapeutic) Louis would have a shoulder (in this case some whithers) to lean on when he has a breakdown.
5) Joining Jake's herd with Twilight as the Lead Mare and Jake as the Main Stallion: Mutually beneficial for the herd (if Starlight feels lonely, she can still get some cuddle in, Sunset would have extra help with the foal, Twilight would have extra help around the castle, Louis would some semblance of a family, and Jake would be able have a little bit of relief from servicing several mares (unless Twilight decides she wants a foal)). And Louis can still to to Shining for help.
10207202
There’s also Tempest Shadow, though that one may be a while