A Changing Perspective

by Dragrace

Chapter 15 - Mentality

Jack stormed down the streets of Ponyville, attracting the attention of almost every pony he had passed. He was furious; Rainbow’s behavior didn’t help him feel any better about his current situation, especially since if he were to tell her anything he’d blow his cover. He never noticed he was grumbling to himself, talking about how Rainbow was ‘immature, childish,’ and ‘needed to grow up’. Jack didn’t know where he was going, but he didn’t really care. Whenever he got angry, he just needed to walk it off, maybe rant to himself quietly in his room. Since he currently had a temporary residence in the library, the only option he had to calm himself down was to walk. Jack found himself at Sugarcube Corner, although he didn’t quite have any bits to purchase any goods. Deprived of the acceptance of Twilight’s friends, Jack assumed Pinkie Pie would still enjoy his company. She was friends with everypony!

>---<

“Of course you’re still my friend, silly! You may have hurt Twilight, but I know it was an accident, and I know you made up for her and everything! Oooh! Did you come here to get her some cupcakes to make it up for her even more! That would be super awesome!” The pink mare exclaimed.

“I would get her something, but Applejack hasn’t paid me for any of the work I’ve done.” Jack responded. “I would get her something nice, like flowers as well as a cupcake.”

Pinkie was constantly shifting. Her grin seemed completely natural, but her strange movements told Jack something wasn’t quite right. He felt although she was still upset about the ‘Jack may be a changeling’ incident, just like every other pony who was close to Twilight.

‘I guess nopony has seen Twilight cry like that before.’ Jack thought.

But, Pinkie maintained her content mood the entire time he had visited. She was the only pony he had seen so far that hadn’t had a negative attitude towards him, although he got a strange vibe from the pink mare that told him she wanted to give him attitude. Eventually, Jack left of his own accord. He planned on going over to Applejack’s farm soon, he needed some sort of payment so he could make his own purchases without somepony else dealing with the final bill. Then again, he hadn’t quite purchased anything yet, and at his current standpoint not a single pony would want to pay for anything he wanted, with the sole exception being Twilight. Filled with disappointment, Jack found himself wandering the streets once more. With Pinkie Pie left in Sugarcube Corner to help the Cakes, Jack was once more alone. Biggs was still at the park, or at least he assumed he was. He wouldn’t wander far, he knew Biggs pretty well. Then again, the sudden change of Wings’ behavior could result in something similar for Biggs. Despite his thoughts, Jack continued his aimless wandering through Ponyville.

>---<

After an hour or so of wandering, Jack had finally completely settled down. He didn’t care about Rainbow’s behavior anymore, she may have been immature, but she was just defending her friend. Everypony seemed to give him displeased looks, some of them even refused to make eye contact with him. But, he didn’t mind anymore, life was good towards him.

That’s why everypony hates you. Life is just that good.

Ugh. Sometimes, Jack’s thoughts were a little… Cruel. He didn’t always enjoy what he thought about himself, and it was what usually got him in an upset mood.

‘So I’m having another ‘conversation’ with myself again. Great.’ Jack thought.

It’s not so much a conversation if there’s only one person. Well, maybe it would be a conversation if you had like, multiple personalities or something.

‘You know, that’s a good question. But I think it depends if you’re conscious of you other personality, not just doing it on purpose or something.’

Maybe, I’m not so sure myself.’

‘And you’re the one that usually argues that we’re the same person… Maybe I am losing my sanity just a little bit. It isn’t right to have a mental debate…’

Hey, I don’t mind.

Well, whatever was happening to Jack’s thoughts, they certainly were strewn. He couldn’t really think straight, despite having calmed down. When he finally snapped back to reality, he found himself staring blankly at a wall.

‘Yup, I’m going insane.’

Technically, insane is attempting the exact thing multiple times expecting different results, like trying to add 1+1 until you get 3.

‘Fine, then I’m going crazy. That better?’

Yes, actually.

Jack found himself tearing his vision away from the wall. He was somewhere near the center of Ponyville at this point, town hall was just in sight. His mind was at peace once more, no more aimlessly arguing with himself. That was a good thing, right?

>---<

The day was quite long, and Jack found himself heading towards Sweet Apple Acres. Between staring at the wall, and choosing to head to Sweet Apple Acres, he had wandered back to the park in hopes of finding Twilight. His disappointment didn’t get the best of him when he had finally arrived, more than likely they had left a while ago when he had ran off. He was expecting them to leave shortly after he had left. Deciding not to go to the library was difficult, the only reason he didn’t go was because he expected Rarity to be there as well. Since her behavior wasn’t the nicest towards him either, he decided to steer clear of those two had definitely witnessed the events. Before much longer, Jack found himself at entrance gate of Sweet Apple Acres.

“Hello?” Jack called.

“Ah’ll be right there!” Came the response.

Coming out from behind a few nearby trees, Applejack was face to face with Jack once more. She didn’t look as upset as the other ponies had, as a matter of fact; she even looked a little guilty. This puzzled Jack, she had definitely heard of the news of what had occurred with Twilight and her hour long meltdown, everypony in or even around Ponyville had heard.

“Oh… Uh… Hey Jack…” She said, frowning a little bit.

It was obvious Applejack was trying to force a smile, but with little success. Her expression looked a little like she had inhaled a terrible odor recently, and didn’t want to breath it in.

“What’s wrong? I know you’re usually not like this, Applejack, even if I’ve only known you a couple days.” Jack responded.

“Ah feel a little bad about what happened back at Twi’s place…” She said.

Her voice wasn’t quite as comforting as it normally was, and she looked genuinely upset.

“Yeah, she had a really bad meltdown. But she’s doing better now. So why aren’t you mad at me again?” Jack asked.

“It wasn’t that, sugarcube. Ah feel bad about sendin’ ya’ll to clean the tree, but when I heard about the fall… Ah just felt terrible! Ah should have just taught ya’ll how to farm, then ya’ll wouldn’t have gotten hurt, and ah wouldn’t feel so bad…” Tears were forming in Applejacks eyes as she spoke, but Jack doubted she would actually cry.

They had a nice hug, one that was comforting, it made Jack feel good about himself again. Shortly afterwards, Jack found a small pouch in front of him, held by a large red stallion.

“Thanks, Big Mac.” Applejack said, wiping the lone tear from her eye.

“Eymmph” Came his response, muffled by the pouch in his mouth.

“Is this money for what happened? I can’t accept it, I’m sorry.” Jack said.

“It’s fine, it’s just for all the work ya did, nothin’ more.” Applejack said.

Reluctantly, Jack took the pouch, and it felt a lot heavier than he felt necessary for the work he had done. He tried to return some of the bits to Applejack, saying it wasn’t necessary, but her stubbornness overwhelmed his guilt. He ended up walking back to the Tree-brary with a pouch filled of 90 bits.

>---<

Jack had finally reached the library, and his legs were getting tired from all the walking. He almost didn’t want to reach forward to open the door, so for a minute he just stared at it.

Got a habit of staring at inanimate objects, don’t we?

“Yes.” Jack said in response.

‘Crap, I just said that out loud didn’t I…’ He thought. ‘No doubt I’ve gone just a little bit crazy…’.

Before Jack had a chance to knock on the door, Twilight had already swung it open. She looked around for a moment before bringing her attention back to Jack.

“Who were you talking to, Jack?” She asked politely.

“Er… Nobody, in all honesty..” He responded.

“Don’t you think it’s a little crazy to be talking to yourself?” Twilight asked.

“Of course it is, but umm… Are we just going to continue our conversation our here or what?”

“Oh yes, of course come in!”

The Tree-brary had served as a home for Jack, but it never quite felt like a home. There was too many books, not enough normal household objects. There was a round table with a small chair near the middle, as well as a desk with another chair near one of the front door’s windows. Other than that, the furniture on the main floor was scarce. Jack collapsed onto the sole chair near the center table, and let out a long sigh.

“What’s wrong? Did something happen?” Twilight asked, looking slightly concerned.

“Kinda,” Jack responded, “You see everypony has been acting weird around me ever since the…”

“Oh, yeah, well, the residents of Ponyville are pretty close, and they tend to be a little overprotective sometimes. Oh and maybe I overreacted a little bit and that may have contributed to the overall outcome as well.” Twilight said.

“Well, Applejack paid me for the work, after she almost had a meltdown of her own.”

“Strange, I never really see Applejack getting that emotional. Well, her and Rainbow Dash.”

“Speaking of Rainbow…”

There was a pause. Twilight looked like she was going to say something, but remained silent. Jack didn’t want to rat her out for her poor behavior either. Everypony makes mistakes, right? In the end, Twilight was the first to speak.

“Yeah, I found out about her behavior. I talked to her along with a lot of other ponies I’m close to, to try to keep things under control. It’s been a little rough, but I think they’ll be a little nicer to you.”

“Thanks for at least trying.” Jack said, trying hard to smile.

It was weird, he really did appreciate the effort, but he found it difficult to find any sort of emotional response. It was almost like… He was losing his emotion. That’s when it hit him. The trace of a smile he did have vanished and he entered a minor state of panic. Twilight caught on before Jack had the chance to say anything.

“No… Nonononononono! This can’t be happening!” Jack exclaimed, shaking slightly.

Twilight was silent once more. Her shocked expression allowed Jack to understand everything, although she looked slightly puzzled as well. All she saw was a grey stallion shaking slightly, expressing a small amount of fear. Was he exaggerating something, or was something really wrong? Twilight stood there, frozen, not sure of what to do. Jack felt… strange. The feeling was similar, but it was extremely foreign. If he had experienced this feeling before, he had no memory of it. Was this the work of Biggs? It couldn’t be Wings; he was still locked in the basement… right?

Jack, now as scared as his limited emotions would allow him, found himself fleeing the library once more.

Comments

[Pickle Tickler]

Excellent work, i can't wait for the next chapter. I really like this story so far!

[Mythical_Elemental]

I think I know what is happening to Jack *Has a pair of glasses on* And It follows due to the Dimensional Transfer and the effects of the change of bodies to....*A Black cloth covers mouth and is all muffled* Now we interupt the smart side to say great chapter and can't wait for the next.

[theRedBrony]

img33.imageshack.us/img33/5764/likethischapter.jpg

Poor Jack.

[SkankMaster]

Oh no!
Wings has escaped!
punditkitchen.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/1a971b2c-55c3-4c89-9a4c-fbd5ce04cb47.jpg

[omega-ze-wargod]

WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELP hes boned

[Tome Turner]

Ponyville is full of assholes.
He just vanished and lost his memories (well..that's what they should think), he shouldn't be in the wrong for anything!
Where would be his evil motive?
Hardly anybody knows him!
Judgmental ponies!

[DerpyDucks]

He gave him autism

[JazzyWaffles]

It was weird, he really did appreciate the effort, but he found it difficult to find any sort of emotional response. It was almost like… He was losing his emotion. That’s when it hit him. The trace of a smile he did have vanished and he entered a minor state of panic. Twilight caught on before Jack had the chance to say anything.

OH NO