2022)

August 2, 2020

Baltimare Harbor

The voyage to Baltimare could not have ended soon enough. The ES Chimera was an older vessel even by Equestrian standards. Its medical accommodations were sufficient to keep Twilight alive, but not for much longer. As a survey vessel, the Chimera had an almost entirely civilian peasant class crew, which of course, meant that the crew accommodations were subpar. Commander Ballast Hoof had done his best to make their trip as comfortable as possible, even giving up his cabin so the Crusaders wouldn't have to sleep on the floor with the rest of the crew. Although the same could not be said for Jack, who found himself sleeping in a damp corner in the cargo hold.

As the Chimera sailed into the harbor, Jack and the Crusaders made walked out onto the deck to get a view of the city. While Twilight had survived, she had lost the use of her hind legs due to the muscle rotting away and had only regained consciousness the night before. Although, Jack and the Crusaders had yet to visit her. Her injuries were far beyond what the ship medics could remedy. As such, arrangements had already been made for her to be taken directly to the Royal Hospital in Canterlot's magical injuries ward. Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Scootaloo's aunts had all been informed of the incident and were already waiting at the docks.

"Ahgh, my back is killing me," Jack complained, popping his spine. "I can't wait 'till we get off this ship! I'm sure everyone else is worried sick!"

“You don’t think they’ll be mad, do you?” Scootaloo asked, nervously touching the tips of her hooves together.

“Why would they be?” Jack asked. “It’s not like we did anything wrong.”

“Do you think Twilight will be ok?” asked Sweetie Belle.

"I don't know," Jack sighed. "I think she'll live, but her legs looked pretty bad. I don't really know much about magic, so maybe it'll be an easy fix. But then again, this could end up being fatal for all I know.”

“Ya think, maybe we should check on her before we get tuh the docks?” asked Apple Bloom.

"Sounds good to me," Jack agreed. "I think we'll have time before we leave the ship."

ES Chimera Sick Bay

Twilight cringed as Nurse Red Cross cast a freezing spell on her dead flesh. She felt cold but knew that it was a trick of the mind. Her nervous system, after all, had been fully dissolved by Morte's curse.

"Just relax," Red Cross said. "We need to keep your legs frozen to prevent further decomposition."

"I know," Twilight sighed. “What was that magic?” she wondered for about the 20^th time since regaining consciousness. “I've never heard of a spell that can raise the dead or one that can cause a pony to decompose while still alive.”

There was a knock on the door.

"Come in," Red Cross said.

“You alright, Twi?” Jack asked as he and the Crusaders walked in.

"Do I look alright?" Twilight asked irritably.

"Right, stupid question," Jack admitted, awkwardly rubbing his right cheek.

"I assume we'll be disembarking soon," Twilight deduced.

"Yeah, but I think the girls have something they'd like to say to you first," Jack said. Looking down at the Crusaders, he added, "isn't that right?"

"Thanks, fer savin' us, Twilight," Apple Bloom said, bowing her head.

“Yeah, you were almost as awesome as Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo exclaimed.

“You’re going to be ok, right?” Sweetie Belle asked in concern.

“I'm going to be alright, Sweetie," said Twilight. "They're going to send me to the Royal Hospital. I'll be gone for a bit, but when I come back to Ponyville, I'll be good as new."

"I'm glad to see you're awake, Miss Sparkle," said a voice from behind them.

"Commander Ballast Hoof," Jack greeted. "I didn't notice you coming in."

“You’re not all that observant, are you?” Ballast Hoof sighed.

"I am when I try to be," Jack said indignantly.

"I'm sure you are, son, I'm sure you are," Ballast Hoof said before turning back to Twilight. "You'll be disembarking in five minutes. I'm told that the fillies' guardians will be waiting at the docks. Some of my crew will escort you to a chariot Princess Celestia has waiting for you." Turning back to Jack, he pulled a letter out from his uniform. "This was sent by Captain Shining Armor via carrier phoenix, for your eyes only, Mr. Jager," he said softly.

"Thank you," Jack said.

“I’d suggest you be reading that now," Ballast Hoof whispered. "You should be able to get some privacy in the head.”

"Yes, sir."

ES Chimera: Head

Using his pocket knife as a letter opener, Jack unsealed the envelope and read it in the light from the room's only porthole.

Dear Mr. Jager,

I hope this letter finds you well, given your recent encounter. I won't reveal everything due to security concerns, but Princess Celestia has determined it is time to begin your training. You are to report to the Western Canterlot Outpost immediately for boot camp.

I won't lie. What we have in store for you is pretty intense, but given the circumstance, we have no time to waste. Miss Fluttershy has been informed of your summon and has been instructed to inform your teacher that you have come down with a human disease and will be missing classes until further notice. A chariot will be waiting for you outside the docks. Please note that the proper method of disposing of confidential letters is by burning.

With Respect,

Captain Shining Armor, E.U.P, Royal Guard.

P.S. Is Twily alright? I heard she got hurt. I expect a full report when you reach the outpost.

“Well, Jack, you've officially been drafted," Jack thought as he pulled out his Zippo. “I always thought I’d end up getting forced to the Middle East during the next oil crusade. Never thought I’d end up being forced to serve in an army of magical cartoon ponies.” Opening the porthole, he lit the message on fire and dropped it into the sea.

There were two knocks on the door. “Hey, Jack, you in there?” asked Scootaloo.

“Yeah!” Jack answered. "I'll be right out!"

After securing the porthole, Jack opened the door and exited the head. “Is it time to go?”

"Yeah, they're carrying Twilight out now," Scootaloo responded.

"All right, then let's go," Jack said.

Jack and Scootaloo met up with the other Crusaders on the main deck and walked down the gangplank where Rarity, Applejack, and two mares Jack had never met were waiting.

“Sweetie Belle!” Rarity exclaimed as she ran toward them. “I was so worried!" she exclaimed, constricting her sister in a protective embrace. "You weren’t hurt, were you?”

"I'm fine, Rarity," Sweetie Belle said, struggling to escape her sister's grasp.

“Ah was more worried than a cat in a doghouse, Apple Bloom," Applejack said, pulling her sister into a bearhug.

Apple Bloom felt a jolt of pain as her sister put pressure on her wound. "OW!"

"What's wrong?" Applejack asked, letting her sister go. "Apple Bloom, yer all bruised up!"

"Ah'm fine, sis'," Apple Bloom said.

One of the other two mares (a blue-maned pegasus with a spool and needle cutie mark) called out to Scootaloo furiously. "We were worried sick, Scootaloo! When we get home, you’re grounded!”

"Yes, Auntie Lofty," Scootaloo said with her head down.

"And you have a black eye too!!!" Lofty exclaimed. "What the hay were you thinking!"

“So they’re Scootaloo’s aunt’s," Jack realized before turning to the other mare, an equally furious earth pony with a sailboat cutie mark. "Why's Scootaloo in trouble? She didn't do anything wrong."

“And just who are you?” the mare asked.

"Jack Delano Jager, ma'am."

“So, you're the colt Scootaloo ran off with," she deduced with a cold glare.

“Ran off with?” Jack questioned.

“She told us she was sleeping over with Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom,” the mare explained. "When she didn't come home on Thursday, we got worried and asked Applejack where she was. Can you guess what Applejack told us?" she asked rhetorically. "There was no sleepover, and the girls had gone off to some country I've never even heard of with the town librarian and a colt from their class named Jack. Then we receive a letter saying that there was an attack and that the Navy wanted us to come to Baltimare to pick her up.”

“Listen, Mrs…”

"Holiday."

"Mrs. Holiday, I had no idea Scootaloo hadn't gotten permission to come with us," Jack explained. "If I had known, I would have told her to stay home. Twilight didn't know either. If she had, she wouldn't have let her come."

Holiday’s glare softened slightly. “You seem like a nice enough colt. I can see why Scootaloo talks about you so much,” she sighed. “While I certainly want to discuss my niece with you in the future, at the moment, Miss Sparkle is the one I should be talking with now. Where is she?”

"She got hurt during the attack," Jack explained darkly. "If it weren't for her, I don't think the girls would have made it. They're taking her to a hospital in Canterlot right now, so I don't think you'll have much luck."

"I see," Holiday said. "I think Lofty and I will be taking Scootaloo home now. Do you need a ride back to Ponyville? I don't see your guardian here."

"My mother will be here soon," Jack said. "Thanks for the offer."

Holiday nodded. “We’ll continue this discussion some other time then. Say goodbye to your little friend Scootaloo. We’re leaving now.”

"Bye, Jack," Scotaloo said as her aunts led her off.

“You say goodbye to Jack too now, Sweetie Belle," Rarity said.

“See you tomorrow, Jack," Sweetie Belle said as she and Rarity left.

"We're leavin' too, Apple Bloom," Applejack informed. "Say goodbye to Jack."

"Bye, Jack. See ya soon," called Apple Bloom as she and her sister walked away."

Jack waited for a few minutes after the Crusaders and their families left to be safe before looking for the chariot. His search didn’t last long as it was parked just outside of the docks and surrounded by several guards.

“Are you Jackson Delano Jager?” a brown pegasus mare asked as he approached.

"Yes, ma'am," Jack nodded. "That's me."

The mare simply nodded and pointed to the chariot with her wing.

Following the mare's gesture, Jack hopped into the chariot and took his seat. Seeing their passenger was settled, the pegasi in front of him lifted off and pulled him North West toward Canterlot.

Western Canterlot Outpost

As the chariot approached its final destination, the Sun was already sinking behind the Unicorn Range. The base was massive. A Rectangular rampart surrounded what appeared to be a 20th-century-styled army base. There were at least four dozen Quonset huts surrounding a reinforced concrete command center. An extensive training course was situated around the perimeter. They set down in a small field just 100 yards from the rampart.

As Jack hopped down from the chariot, he was met by an armored mare with dark-colored fur and bat wings. "Lunar Guard Unit 1, Lieutenant Dusk Glare, reporting ma'am," the mare reported with a salute. “I have orders to escort the human to the command center.”

"He's all yours," said the brown mare in charge of the squad that escorted him there.

The squad that escorted Jack took off, and Dusk Glare pointed Jack toward the base. "Princess Luna will be awaiting your arrival."

"Luna?" Jack asked. "Great."

Western Canterlot Outpost: Command Center

Stopping outside of the command center, Dusk Glare motioned for Jack to enter alone.

"I hope she's not still sore about before," Jack thought, gulping as he stepped inside to where Luna and the captains were waiting around a table.

Luna was the type to hold a grudge, unfortunately, and with a piercing glare, she shouted, "Come forward, young human!" The volume of her voice had the four captains around her desperately covering their ears.

"Heeeey, Luna," Jack said as he awkwardly shuffled to the table.

“Thou are to refer to us as Princess Luna!” Luna howled.

“I already told you, I’m not…”

“But thou are an Equestrian citizen now, and as thine princess, we shall be referred to as such!" Luna boomed, causing the room to shake.

“Well, shit," Jack thought to himself. “Excuse me, Princess,” he said sarcastically.

Not picking up on the human's sarcasm, Luna decided to get to the point. "We have heard about thine encounter with the necromancer, and our sister hast determined that the time to begin thine training is now. As such, the four captains have created a weeklong training regimen to get thou started. However, before we hoof thou over to them, we would like to hear thou recount the events that led to young Twilight Sparkle’s injury.”

Jack began to explain what had happened. "After spending the day touring Charleston, we decided to make one last stop before turning in for the night. Twilight and I agreed on Magnolia cemetery, and while she and the girls explored the tombs, I went off to deal with some…" he paused, thinking of what to say. "Personal issues. A few minutes after I left, corpses began to rise from the grave, which, now that I think about it, shouldn't be physically possible since most of them had died over 100 years ago. They should have rotted away to almost nothing by now, but apart from their dark grey skin, they looked like they had only just died.”

"A skilled necromancer would be able to restore a body from a single tooth, even ashes, if they are sufficiently gathered," Luna explained. "But to restore so many at once and so quickly, 'tis only one pony who could have done that,” Luna thought to herself. “Please continue.”

"So, after that, I fought my way through the zombies until they just stopped and stood still. When I made it back to Twilight, I found a strange-looking unicorn casting some kind of spell on her," Jack explained. "I did the first thing that came to my mind and shot him in the leg. After that, he released Twilight from the spell and started shouting in Italian. I think he was saying I would regret shooting him. My Italian is abysmal, though, so he could have been saying just about anything." Jack paused briefly. "Then he just stopped. It looked like he was arguing with someone, and in the end, he just kind of disintegrated and blew away in the breeze."

“This unicorn, can thou describe him to us?” asked Luna.

"Yeah," Jack answered. "He was real skinny, no mane, had white fur, a skull cutie mark, and his eyes... they seemed almost... dead.”

“This is bad! We must inform our sister immediately!” Luna thought. “We are most grateful for the information, young human. We’ll leave you in the capable hooves of the captains now!” she shouted before teleporting away in a flash.

Shining Armor cleared his throat. “Before we get started, I have something I need to ask you.”

"Sure," Jack agreed.

As someone with Asperger's, Jack was utterly incapable of reading faces. One of the perks of living in Cartoon Pony World was that most ponies' facial expressions were so exaggerated that it made that part of his condition irrelevant. The look on Shining Armor's face at that moment had lost all cartoonish features. Even so, Jack knew this face. It was the same face that he'd often seen on Bryce and Shawn early into Chase's Cancer. It was the face of someone concerned for a loved one.

"Is Twilight alright?" Shining Armor asked.

“I honestly don't know," Jack admitted. "I don't think she's in any danger of dying, but her legs are in bad shape. Other than that, I don't really know what to say."

“I understand. I’m grateful for your honesty,” Shining Armor said, bowing his head. “Back to the task at hand. The four of us have created a weeklong course to begin your training. Captain Three Arrows has created an obstacle course to test your strength and problem-solving skills.”

"Don't think I'll make it easy for you just because you're a green hoof," Three Arrows grunted.

“When you finish with that, Captain Spitfire has prepared a course to test your speed and stamina," Shining Armor continued.

“I’ll get you into shape, Wonderbolts style!” Spitfire exclaimed with a grin.

“Captain Flash Sentry will be in charge of your weapons training," Shining Armor said.

“I’ll have you fighting like a professional in no time!” Flash Sentry gloated.

“Finally, I’ll oversee your magic training,” Shining Armor finished. “You'll start training at 4:00 tomorrow, so I'd recommend getting up at 3:30. If I were you, I'd go ahead and hit the sack."

"Alright," Jack nodded. "Just one question."

“Yes, Cadet Jager?” Shining Armor asked.

“Where will I be sleeping, exactly?” Jack asked.

"In the barracks," Shining Armor informed, hopping out of his chair. “Come on, I’ll show you," he offered, pushing his chair under the table and trotting to the door. "Oh, and Cadet...”

“Yeah?” Jack asked as he stood up.

"While you're here, you'll refer to us as either sir or captain."

“Yes, sir!” Jack responded with a salute.

Shining Armor nodded and disappeared through the door. As Jack was about to follow, he felt a hoof on his shoulder and turned to see Spitfire glaring at him.

“Hey, cadet,” she said sternly.

“Yes?” Jack asked nervously.

"If you ever call me, sir, I'll kick you in the gut," Spitfire said.

"Y-yes, ma'am," Jack acknowledged with an awkward salute. "I can't tell if she's joking!

"Dismissed," Spitfire yawned. "You better hurry. Shining Armor won't wait forever."

"Yes, ma'am!" Jack exclaimed, scurrying outside where Shining Armor was thankfully still waiting.

“What took you, cadet?” Shining Armor asked.

"Spitfire just wanted to remind me what pronouns to use, sir," Jack answered.

“Ah,” Shining Armor acknowledged. "That makes sense."

Western Canterlot Outpost: Barracks

Shining Armor led him to a Quonset hut with the number 26 painted in bold white letters.

"You'll sleep here, cadet," Shining Armor said as he opened the door. Switching on the light, he said, “the unit that normally uses these barracks is currently deployed to the Yakyakistan border right now, so you’ll have the place to yourself.”

"Yes, sir," Jack said as he hopped into the nearest cot.

"I'll be leaving for Canterlot to visit my sister tonight," Shining Armor said as he turned to leave. "I'll be back in a few days for your magic training." Before leaving, he added, "since your diet is a little different from ours, we had some more suitable ingredients imported from Griffonstone. Breakfast is at 6:00, lunch is at 12:00, and dinner is at 18:00."

“Thank you, sir,” Jack called as Shining Armor left.

A few seconds later, he flipped the light off and drifted to sleep.

Author's Note:

It was taking forever to get this chapter out. After three weeks, I was 5,000 words in and still not at a clear endpoint. So, I decided to split this one in half.
Next Time: Jack reluctantly begins his training.

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