Chapter 2: Learning about Humans (Last Edited: 4/27/2022)
June 11, 2020
Unknown
Jack was dreaming again. Unlike last time, however, he could see everything. He watched in horror as his bad memories passed in front of him. He was in his childhood home. Looking to the right, he saw a teen version of himself reading a text message from a girl his brother had a crush on.
Mark asked me out today. I want to say yes, but is there anything I should know about him first?
“Don’t respond," Jack pleaded with himself to no avail.
He's kind of perverted and a bit of a porn addict, to be honest, but other than that, nothing notable.
His dreamscape faded to black briefly as the scene changed. He saw a slightly younger version of himself about to let a dog off its leash.
"Stop!" Jack shouted, knowing what would happen next.
The dog bolted into the street and was hit by a car as Dream Jack looked on in horror. Once again, everything faded to black as the scene changed.
He was on the playground of his elementary school. A fifth-grade version of himself stood with three other boys. To Jack's right was a short, dirty-blond-haired fourth-grader with a face covered in freckles named Chase Carney. To his left stood a taller, dirty-blond-haired, fourth-grader named Shawn Habbers. The Three boys were facing a brown-haired fifth-grader named Bryce Durkheim. Together the four of them formed the Circle of Bros.
"So, what did you want to tell us, Bryce?" asked Dream Jack.
"My mom doesn't want us hanging out anymore," Bryce answered.
"What!?" asked Chase. "Why?"
"It's something to do with my stepdad," Bryce answered. "He's a Jernova's Witness."
"You mean a Jehova's Witness?" asked Shawn.
"Yeah," Bryce answered. "My mom says we need to be Jehova's Witnesses too. She says we can't celebrate holidays or birthdays anymore, I have to throw away all my comics and video games, and I can't be friends with anyone who isn't a Jehovah's Witness."
"That's some gap," Chase pouted.
"Some what?" asked Dream Jack.
"Gay crap," Chase answered.
"There's got to be something we can do," said Shawn.
"Don't get involved," Jack said quietly.
"Why not hang out with us anyway?" Jack asked. "If your mom doesn't know, what harm would it do?"
The scenery once again faded into the void. Now Jack was sitting in the front passenger seat of his car, parked in a lot outside of a Pet Supplies Plus. He turned to the driver’s seat and saw himself pick up his phone. He saw that he was looking at a text message from his mother.
Your friend Chase is in the hospital. Apparently, he was showing “stroke-like symptoms.”
“Please, no more!” Jack said aloud.
Everything faded to black again, but this time it stayed that way.
“Why dost thou continue to allow these nightmares to haunt thine dreams?”
"Oh, it's you again," said Jack. "Hello, Luna."
“We are Princess Luna to thou, young human," she replied.
"Why should I refer to you as princess?" asked Jack. "Technically, I'm not one of your subjects."
Princess Luna cast a stern glare at the human. It was easy to tell his logic did not amuse her. “Art thou going to answer our question?”
“I'm not allowing them to haunt me," Jack answered. "I just can't get rid of them," he muttered.
"Our offer to help still stands," said Luna.
"These dreams have been haunting me for months," Jack said quietly. "Some of them for years." Looking at Luna with wide eyes, he made a request. "Please help me."
"That will have to wait for next time, young human, thou art waking up," said Luna.
Jack opened his eyes to the sound of his phone alarm, blaring like a submarine about to dive. Digging the grit out of his eyes, he rolled over to see what the alarm was for.
Go to Golden Oak Library for Talk with Twilight!
Glancing at his phone’s battery, he found it was at 52%. He had been using his phone only sparingly to conserve the battery, but that didn’t stop it from draining far more quickly than he would have liked. “Perhaps Twilight could figure out a way to fix the battery problem. I'll take it with me when I visit her today.”
Looking over to his nightstand, he spotted three orange pill bottles next to a glass of water. “Fluttershy must’ve left them out for me," he thought as he swallowed the pills with a quick gulp.
Once he had finished his daily rituals, Jack rushed downstairs to find Fluttershy struggling to get Angel to eat a carrot.
"Hey, Fluttershy! I'm going to head over to the library," Jack said.
“Wait, let me take you," said Fluttershy, losing focus just long enough for Angel to sneak away.
"This shit again?" Jack cringed. Putting on a cheerful mask, he responded, “I can go on my own. You don’t need to trouble yourself."
"It's no trouble, really," Fluttershy responded with a bright smile.
Seeing no way to convince Fluttershy to let him out on his own, Jack decided against arguing with her. "Fine," he said with thinly veiled resentment.
The walk to the Library was pleasant enough. Jack could have done without Fluttershy constantly worrying over his safety, but he had no complaints other than that. When they arrived, Spike answered the door.
"Hey, Spike. Where's Twilight?" asked Jack.
"She's in her study. I'll go tell her you're here," Spike replied. "Come on in," he beckoned before scampering to a door across the room.
"I'll be fine now, Fluttershy," Jack said. "I'll come back home when Twilight's done asking me questions."
"I'll pick you up when you get done," insisted Fluttershy.
"This could take a while," Jack said. "What if I ask Twilight to take me home when we finish?"
"Well, I guess that's alright," Fluttershy agreed. "Tell Twilight you need to be home by 6:00, ok."
As Fluttershy left, Spike returned with Twilight.
“Good morning, Jack!” said Twilight. “How are you today?”
"I'm doing alright, Twilight," said Jack.
"That's good to hear," she responded. "Come on in."
Twilight led Jack to her study, where she had ten books about human history stacked up on a table. Spike was standing by the table, holding a quill and parchment.
"Take a seat," said Twilight. “Spike, how about you leave the quill and paper here and go take a break.”
"Ok," said Spike as he handed the quill and paper to Twilight.
As Jack sat down, Twilight levitated the book on the top of the pile over to her.
"Human history is fascinating! It's identical to pony history in many ways, and yet there are some events I don't recognize," said Twilight as she opened the book she was levitating. "For instance, this book makes several references to something called the Holocaust. Could you explain exactly what that was?"
“The Holocaust right from the start?” Jack gulped. “Um, well, The Holocaust was an attempt by a far-right political group known as the Nazis to wipe out the people they believed to be inferior to them," he answered.
“Wipe out?” questioned Twilight.
“It was genocide," Jack elaborated. "17 million people were killed because of the Nazi's beliefs."
“WHAT?” Twilight gasped. “Why would anypony do such a horrible thing?”
To a human like Jack, concepts such as genocide were nothing more than a terrible fact of life. A massacre in the Congo last week, a mass grave from the '70s found in Chile, new documents declassified revealing a previously unheard of CIA black op targeting civilians in Southeast Asia. These were just your typical headlines, which most Americans have grown accustomed to. But, to a pony like Twilight, these kinds of things were utterly alien and immensely distressing.
Had Jack noticed Twilight's discomfort, he might have tried a more comforting method of lecture, but alas, Asperger's didn't serve him well when deciphering his peer's emotions. He chose an academic approach to his explanation, not unlike how he would have given an oral report were he in class. “Well, it all goes back to a war that Germany (the country responsible) lost," explained Jack. "Toward the end of the war, the German Monarchy was abolished, and a new democratic government took over. The new government, naively believing they would receive fair treatment, chose to surrender rather than allowing the war to continue. Unfortunately, fairness was not on the agenda of Germany's enemies, and they punished the Germans severely. Germany was stripped of its military, forced to pay unreasonable reparations, and made to accept full blame for the war."
“Ok, but how does that result in 17 million being killed?” asked Twilight as she frantically jotted everything being said down.
"I'm getting to that," said Jack. "The new Leftist government set about enacting radical reforms such as giving women the right to vote. However, many were not happy with the new government. Some believed the loss of the war was due to traitors within Germany. They blamed Jews (a minority group with a history of being blamed when things go wrong), Roma (a nomadic group known for being unwilling to participate in wars), disabled people, and Leftists, among others.”
Twilight continued to write everything being said down. Her ears drooped downward as she listened in unease.
"The Nazi party was formed by those people. One man named Adolf Hitler quickly rose the ranks of this new party by giving fiery and passionate speeches about the traitors who'd lost the war. As time went on, the Nazis gained more and more power, and eventually, Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany."
“Why didn’t anypony see that the Nazis were dangerous?” asked Twilight.
"Many people did, but unfortunately, the German people were suffering through economic hardship and embarrassment due to the reparations and arms control imposed on them by the victors of the war," explained Jack. "Many Germans wanted solutions and someone to blame their problems on. The Leftists in charge of Germany offered neither. Hitler offered both. The two main groups who opposed Hitler were the center-left Social Democrats in charge of Germany before Hitler's rise and the far-left Communists. Unfortunately, the Social Democrats and Communists hated each other just as much they hated the Nazis. Communists would protest and even riot in the streets against the Social Democratic government, and the Social Democrats would sic the police on even the most peaceful Communist protests resulting in a massacre known as Bloody May."
“Ok, so what happened next?” said Twilight, indicating that she understood.
"Once Hitler came to power, he quickly turned Germany into a dictatorship and moved against his perceived enemies. He started by rounding up people with left-wing ideals into camps and sterilizing the disabled," explained Jack. "After several years, other groups the Nazis despised began to be sent to camps, especially the Jews."
“What was the purpose of these camps?” asked Twilight.
"Initially, the Nazis intended to deport unwanted people to far-off lands like the British Mandate of Palestine and French Colony of Madagascar. However, they later switched from deportation to extermination," explained Jack.
“What caused this change?” asked Twilight.
"The Nazis built most of the camps in territory they conquered from other countries. The conquest of that territory brought Germany into conflict with those nation's allies. On top of this, Germany and her allies had continued their own conquests, multiplying their enemies even further," Jack explained. "One such country was my homeland of America, which joined the war because Germany's ally, Japan, attacked us. Hitler blamed America's entry on American Jews and began exterminating the Jews of Europe along with the other groups the Nazis deemed to be enemies.”
Jack continued to explain how the Holocaust came to an end when the Nazis were defeated by the numerous enemies they had made. Twilight went on to inquire about numerous other topics such as the Space Race, nuclear weapons, slavery, segregation, the American Revolution, and the War on Terror. After about 45 minutes of explanation, the conversation moved to the Crusades, which Twilight had read were a response to Islamic aggression. Jack had other views as to the reasons for the Crusades and had spent the past 5 minutes explaining them.
“...And so, while it’s true that the Islamic Turks were attacking the Eastern Christian Byzantines, the fact that the Western Christian Crusaders attacked Jews, Pagans, and even the Byzantines themselves leads me to believe that the Crusaders didn't really care about helping the Byzantines fight off the Turks. This, combined with the fact that the Crusaders attacked and occupied the Holy Land, leads me to believe that they were really motivated by the prospect of gaining land and riches." finished Jack.
“You called Christianity and Islam religions earlier. I believe you mentioned the word religion at Pinkie Pie's party," said Twilight. "Could you explain what exactly a religion is?"
"As I said last time you asked, there is no set definition of religion," Jack started. "But I'd describe religion as a set of morals, ethics, and beliefs based on supernatural entities, more often than not one or more gods. These beliefs are justified by faith rather than evidence.”
“Why would anypony believe things without any evidence?” Twilight asked, tilting her head in confusion.
“Well, I can’t speak for all humans, but I’m a Christian because I was taught to be from a young age. Now, after 21 years of being told Christianity is the truth, I can't bring myself to believe otherwise," answered Jack.
"That seems irrational," said Twilight.
"That's because it is," Jack agreed.
Twilight raised her eyebrow at Jack's response but ultimately decided not to pry any further for now, "Well, I've read about plenty of conflicts throughout pony history, but never any as violent as the ones you've described. I've never even heard of concepts like genocide before this interview."
"I guess humans are just more prone to violence than ponies are," said Jack.
"Thank you for your time, Jack," Twilight said before a thought came to her mind. "I'm going to go on an expedition to the strange landmass later today. Since you're here, would you mind coming with me?"
"Sure," said Jack. "But why?"
"I'm planning on collecting artifacts, and who better to put human artifacts into context than a human," answered Twilight.
Jack thought about Twilight's request. His thought's soon turned to Fluttershy's curfew. “I'm not a child, and I'm certainly not her child. Just because she tells me to do something doesn't mean I need to do it," he resolved.
“Well?” asked Twilight.
"Sure," Jack answered.
"Alright, I'll get Spike, and then we can go," Twilight said with enthusiasm.
Jack and Twilight left the study and found Spike in the kitchen.
"Spike, it's time to go," said Twilight.
“Is Jack going with us?” Spike asked.
"Yes, I am," said Jack.
“Cool!” said Spike.
June 12, 2020
Sky above Lake Marion
The journey to Lake Marion had taken the rest of the day without any pegasi to pull the balloon. It was now 3:00 in the morning, and Spike was shaking Jack awake from a long nap.
"Fuck off, purple dinosaur," Jack muttered sleepily.
"I already told you, I'm a dragon," Spike wined.
"Yeah, yeah, grow some fucking wings, and then I'll believe you," said Jack, unhappy with being woken up so early.
“He is a dragon, Jack, and could you please refrain from using that word,” said Twilight.
"Fine," Jack sighed.
"Thank you," Twilight said, pointing at the I-95 bridge, which was illuminated by the moonlight. "Your vehicle is on that bridge, right?"
"Yes," Jack answered.
"Good, we'll start there," she said.
The balloon landed at the foot of the bridge, and its three occupants hopped out. Jack led Spike and Twilight to his Honda.
Upon their arrival, Twilight immediately began asking questions. “How does this vehicle work?”
"I'm no expert on cars, but I can tell you that it runs by burning gasoline," Jack answered.
“What’s gasoline?” asked Spike.
"It's a liquid fuel made from oil," Jack explained (as best he could with what little he knew.)
Spike scratched his head at Jack's explanation, but Twilight seemed to understand, as she simply wrote what he said down without further question.
Jack opened the back door of the CR-V, and Twilight began levitating suitcases out of the car. She teleported all the suitcases except for one to the balloon and opened the remaining one.
“Could you tell me what these are?” she said as she levitated a bunch of video games and DVDs out of the suitcase.
"Those are video games and movies," said Jack.
“What are they used for?” asked Twilight.
"Entertainment," Jack answered.
“How do they work?” asked Spike.
“Inside the cases are disks. For movies, you insert the disk into a DVD player, which is hooked into a TV. The TV then shows moving images of actors acting out a story. Video Games work the same way, except the disks are inserted into a console, and you use a controller to control different characters." Jack explained.
“So they're like arcade games that you can keep in your house?" asked Spike. "That sounds awesome!”
“Could you give us a demonstration?” asked Twilight.
“No, while I have a TV in the car and one of my suitcases has a few consoles and a DVD player, I'd need an electrical outlet to plug them into," Jack answered.
“Interesting. So, they run on electricity?” Twilight inquired.
“Yes. I've actually been meaning to ask you about that," Jack said as he pulled his phone and charger from his pocket. "My phone is running low on power, and I can't find anywhere to charge it. Could you help me with that?"
"Electricity has been experimented with as a method of powering technology, but with magic being able to power most objects, not much research has gone into it. I don’t think you’ll be able to find anything in Equestria to power your phone, but I’ll be happy to take a look," said Twilight. "What does it do anyway?"
"Phones are mostly used for long-distance communication, but they are also used for accessing the internet (a collection of much of humanities knowledge), playing games, taking pictures, and many other things I can’t remember off the top of my head,” explained Jack.
“Humans have a device that gives them access to the entirety of their species' collective knowledge whenever and wherever they want!? That’s amazing!” said Twilight excitedly.
"Not all of humanity's knowledge is available on the internet, just a significant portion of it," corrected Jack.
“But you can access that information, right?” asked Twilight.
"No, while I don't really understand how the internet works, I do know that it was shut down when I got here," answered Jack.
“What do you mean when you got here? I thought this was your homeland," said Spike in confusion.
"I meant to say that the internet shut down after the virus killed everyone," Jack said, sobbing heavily. "I guess whoever was maintaining it must've been killed as well."
"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to remind you of that," Spike said frantically, trying to comfort Jack.
"Don't worry about it, Spike. I'm fine," Jack sniffed. "Nailed it!”
Deciding to expand their search for artifacts, Twilight led them to the lake's Southwestern bank. Jack recognized the area as Santee State Park.
"I used to be a maintenance worker for the State Park Service," Jack whispered to Twilight as they entered the visitor's center.
Twilight nodded, and they continued looking around the center. She decided to take an arrowhead that was on display, which Jack explained was from an indigenous tribe that once inhabited the area. As they were leaving the park, Spike asked a question.
“So, what exactly was this island called?”
"The Lowcountry," Jack said, not entirely lying.
As the Sun began to rise, the three of them wandered into the town of Santee, where Twilight decided she wanted to see the inside of a human home. She selected a small one-story house with a black Ford F-150 in the driveway. The truck had a Confederate Flag attached to the left side of the cab and a Gadson flag attached to the other. When Jack, Spike, and Twilight made it to the front door, they found it unlocked.
The most noticeable feature of the living room (much to Spike and Twilight's discomfort) was the abundance of hunting trophies. Much of the furniture was made from deer antlers. The walls were lined with deer heads, stuffed fish, ducks, turkey, bobcats, and even owls.
"That is so illegal, Jack thought as he glared at the owls.
The three of them split up, each searching different rooms in the house. Jack entered the bedroom to find a pair of blue jeans, a camouflaged hunting jacket, and a red MAGA hat on the floor by the window.
“Figures," he thought as he opened a drawer and pulled out a slightly worn King James Bible.
“I’m sure Twilight will find this interesting," he thought as he continued to fish through the drawer.
The next thing Jack pulled out brought a mischievous grin to his face. It was a Glock 17.
“I’ve always wanted a gun," he said to himself as he picked up a box of bullets.
Jack pocketed the gun and bullets. Then he brought the Bible to Twilight. He found Twilight and Spike in the living room. Twilight had a bottle of beer with her, and Spike had found a can of Copenhagen. Trying not to snicker at their "artifacts," Jack asked where they wanted to go next. Twilight said they were done for now and teleported everyone back to the hot air balloon, and they took off. They arrived at Golden Oak Library at around 8:00 in the afternoon to find a very disappointed Fluttershy waiting for them.
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Good update, so far this story has my interest.
10215559
Glad you liked it, I was worried the academic stuff might end up boring some people.
Once again and have a great chapter
Also do you know of any stories where are human finds sunny town
10218588
I've read a few stories where a human comes across Sunny Town, but I can't remember them off the top of my head. I actually plan to use Sunny Town as a minor antagonist group later in my story.
Do you think you could just tell me a few if it isn’t too much trouble and possibly send me a link to the stories
10218851
I honestly can't remember the names of the stories I'm thinking of.
Will Fluttershy use the stare on him in future chapters
10219635
You mean on Jack right? I don't have any plans for her to use the stare on him, but my outline is pretty loose and leaves plenty of room for things like Fluttershy using the stare on Jack to be added if I can find a way to make it work with the plot.
I mean she is overprotective and she might use on him if he tries to run away it is just a possibility though also by the way great story chapters are not too short and not too long
10220020
That's a fair point. I'm glad you enjoy my story.
By the way what did Jack mean by virus what happened to the rest of the humans
10220962
Celestia told Jack and the Main Six to keep his origins a secret. When Jack realized he was about to reveal he was from another universe to Cheerilee's class he stopped himself mid sentence and came up with a lie about how he came to be under Fluttershy's care. That lie was that the rest of humanity had been killed by a virus.
Yes but what happened to the rest of humanity
10221596
I could tell you what happend after the Jack was sent to Equestria with a large chunk of inhabited land, but that would be a spoiler. I can tell you much of what happened on Earth as a result will be revealed after the Grand Galloping Gala.
When is the next chapter
10223958
Probably this Sunday if not it will be out by next Sunday
Why don’t you show the schedule of the day if you’re going to be uploading
10224981
Because I don't have a set schedule and work at my own pace
Anything and everything, all of the time.
Excuse me, what!? If Jack is a hard-core leftist he should absolutely HATE the idea of civilians having guns. More importantly, does he know how to properly handle one? If not, then he should leave it alone. People need training before they ever touch a firearm of any kind.
Also, when he was in the Police Station, why did he not acquire one then? Cops keep their duty weapons and magazines on them while in the stations. There would also have been plenty of holsters available too. Seems a bit incongruent.
11081932
It’s not like every one on one side of the spectrum has a hive mind. One can be very leftist most things and still be pro gun. In fact the far left (anarchists and communists) tend to be VERY pro gun ownership. He’s more of a liberal than a socialist, but there are plenty of pro gun liberals too. As for knowing how to handle a gun, he’s gone to shooting ranges before.
When he was in the police station he had only just arrived on Equus. I’d say he had quite a bit more on his mind at that point than “Ooh, I’ve always wanted a gun.”
I hope that didn’t come off as too confrontational.