Memories Old and New
The sound of an alarm brought me out of my slumber. Sleepily, I reached for my phone on the nightstand so I could turn it off.
"Fucking hell, where is it?"
After about a minute of looking with my hand, I finally grab my phone and look at the screen.
7:00 AM
Work
"My work alarm… great… Why did I even turn it on? I don't have work today." I turned the alarm off and just layed there, seriously considering whether or not I should get up today. Then I remembered where I was.
"Right… magical unicorn land… welp, time to get out of bed. Knowing my luck, the bed bugs here are horse sized shape shifters or some bullshit like that."
I dragged myself out of bed and to the adjoining bedroom, getting a good look at my bed head. Looking through the drawers yielded no comb-shaped results, so I had to use a brush to tame it instead. Not my preferred method, but better than nothing.
"At least I still have my hair. My old man can't say that, now can he?" I chuckled a little at my internal joke, but the humor died pretty quickly. "God, my family probably think I'm dead, don't they?"
I remembered how, on the day of my "accident", I was supposed to be meeting up with my stepbrother and spending a day with him and his kids. "Does he think I bailed on them? Or that I forgot? Or has he realized that something is wrong? No, he's definitely realized something is wrong by now. I don't just bail out at the last moment with no warning."
I set the brush down on the countertop as I stared into the mirror. "He might've left most of his brains on the football field back in high school and college, but I know he's smart enough to realize that. You don't get a teaching degree for nothing, even if it is just for high school PE."
"And what about Eddy? Has Marc told him yet?" I somehow managed a chuckle at my nickname for Anthony. "He always hated that nickname, didn't he?" I still remember when he invited me to his wedding. First words out of my mouth were "So Marc Antony has finally found his Cleopatra, huh?"
To this day, I am the only one of my brothers who has ever been almost uninvited to a wedding. It was only my tactical threatening to use the nuclear option (i.e. the "I'll tell mom card") that saved my invite in the end.
"God, I hope Edward's not taking my sudden disappearance too hard." I had always been closer to Eddy than Anthony. Maybe it was because the age gap between us was so much smaller, or maybe because, unlike Anthony, the two of us were related in blood in every sense of the word.
That didn't mean that I didn't care about Marc, though. I remember once when he was fourteen and I was six, I caught him sneaking out one night. When I asked him why, he told me that he was going out to visit his birth mother's grave. Apparently, he had been doing it every night he knew could get away with it since he was ten. I don't know the full story behind her death, but from what I do know from dad, she fell back into some bad habits that she had swore off once she learned she was pregnant.
She didn't survive her relapse. Marc was four at the time.
I offered to go with him. He declined, and he made me promise that I wouldn't tell anyone about his nightly visits to his mother's grave.
It's a promise that I've kept to this very day.
I wasn't kidding when I told Luna that I'm a man of my word. I keep my promises, no matter what.
Then there was Edward, the middle child. The first of two children born to my father and his then girlfriend. The two got hitched soon after Eddy was born. I was born on the winter solstice two years later.
Eddy was my best friend growing up. I was never the most social child, at least not until high school, so he was kinda all I had. Even when we had our disagreements, we still made up in the end.
"Blood brothers to the end." I muttered the old childhood pact we made under my breath. We even did that one blood ritual thing where you prick your thumbs and push them together after seeing it on TV once. Mom was not happy about us stealing a kitchen knife and pricking our thumbs with it.
We were dumbass kids, that's for sure.
I looked out the door and saw the pocket knife still sitting on the nightstand. I still can't believe he gave it to me so soon. Can't say I'm not glad, though. It was a gift from my father. He gave it to me on my twelfth birthday and, according to him, he got it as a present for his fourteenth birthday from his mom. While he used it to look cool at school, I just left it in my pocket in case I ever needed it to defend myself.
Such a situation has not arisen yet, thankfully. And I hope it never does.
I stepped out of the bathroom and picked it up, opening it to get a look at the blade.
Outside of self defense, I guess the reason I've hung onto this old thing for so long is for the sentimental value. It was a gift from my grandmother to my father, and my father to me. Passed down through three generations.
I miss my grandma. She passed away a few years ago from lung cancer. I was very close to her. Not as close as Marc, though. I think that was the first time I saw him cry in years.
I put my beanie and hoodie on as I remembered the good times. Back when we could head out to the middle of bumfuck nowhere, Pennsylvania, visit our grandma at her house, and swim in our own private pond. We didn't care about all the leeches that attached themselves to us and how we had to pull them all out ourselves at the end of it all. We just had fun.
Well, at least until Eddy got a leech right on the left nut. Marc and I thought it was the funniest shit in the world, while Eddy claimed it was the most painful experience in his entire life. Even breaking his leg a few years later didn’t top the leech.
"Should've listened to me when I said skinny dipping in the pond was a bad idea!" Marc's voice echoed in the back of mind, his voice sounding happy and jovial.
"Hey, when you're desperate for a blowjob, you gotta try everything." My voice replied back. "Just a shame for Eddy that our new friend here missed the mark a little."
I shook the memory from my head as I continued putting everything back on. "Hopefully I can make it back to them soon. Or at all." It was while I was tying the laces on my boots that the knock came at my door. I checked the time on my phone:
7:43 AM
"Fucking Christ, I really took my time, didn't I?"
"Come in!" I called out as I put my phone in my pocket and finished up the laces on my boots. I knew my two housemates couldn't understand a word I said, so I just had to hope the meaning of them got through to whichever one of them was knocking.
Enter stage right, the white unicorn - "Shining Armor", I reminded myself - and he looked tired. Tired to the point that I wouldn't blame him if he fell over and went to sleep right then and there.
"Did you get any sleep last night?" I asked, my concern overriding the more rational parts of my brain reminding me that he couldn't understand me. Still, the concern clearly showed in my voice
"I'm fine." Replied the former guard, seemingly also forgetting that we can't understand each other. Even with his dismissive tone, I didn't believe him for a second. He's asleep on his feet - er hooves, I mean - for fucks sake! It's like all those times where my niece stayed up late behind my back while staying at my house and tried to hide it the next morning.
…
Actually, the resemblance was really uncanny. Uncomfortable, even.
(Cadances POV)
I don’t know what Shining was thinking last night.
He was clearly exhausted from the long trip here, yet he refused to go to bed the moment I let out a small yawn. I’m glad that he offered to take over holding the protection spell, but I told him to wake me up after a few hours so we could switch again, not take over for the whole night!
I let a sigh escape my lips as I left the bathroom. “That stallion sometimes, I swear. He’s been way too overprotective of me since the wedding.”
“I can’t really blame him though, can I? I mean, I was stuck in those caverns for three weeks and no one even noticed! I guess I would be a bit overprotective as well if the horseshoe was on the other hoof.” Looking at the bed, I notice that he’s no longer there. “Oh bucking tartarus, where did he get off too? I told him to get some sleep!” That’s when I heard the thump in the room next door.
The room that the creature - “Jackson, Luna said his name is Jackson.” I reminded myself - had claimed as his own last night.
“... Oh no.” I said simply as I rushed to the neighboring bedroom. I walked through the open doors…
… to find Shining asleep on the floor and Jackson giving himself a facehoof with an exasperated expression on his face.
“Fucking Christ, Shining.” Jackson said to my unconscious husband in his native tongue. He then shook his head and chuckled. “You're so lucky my brothers didn’t end up here with me. Who knows what dumb shit…” He trailed off as he finally noticed that I was in the room. “Uh… morning, Cadance.” He said with a small wave.
I was a bit freaked out that he suddenly knew our names. Then again, Auntie Luna probably told him when she visited him last night. I nodded in his direction and then looked back down at the sleeping stallion on the floor. “How am I gonna get you back into bed?” I thought. I could just use telekinesis, but it was difficult to maintain that for heavier objects as well as hold something as intensive as the protection spell. I then came up with an idea as I remembered the biped in the room.
“Yes… that could work.”
(Jacksons POV)
I noticed that Cadance was now alternating her gaze between me and her husband. I could see that she was trying to tell me something, though I couldn’t be sure what she was trying to say. I raised an eyebrow and cocked my head to the side to show that I was not getting what she was implying.
She used her magic to pull my beanie off my head and float it over towards her, where she proceeded to make a show out of dropping it on the floor and picking it up again. Occasionally, she would point towards herself, then me, then the beanie, then Shining.
Repeat this for several minutes.
“Let’s see… I think she’s saying that I’m her and Shining is… the beanie? She… wants me to pick up her husband? Does she want me to carry him somewhere?”
I approached Shining and knelt down next to him while making motions as if I was going to pick him up. At Cadance’s enthusiastic nodding, I picked him up and put him over my shoulder like he was an old burlap sack.
(Cadances POV)
I had to stifle a chuckle as Jackson adjusted Shining so that his head was resting on one shoulder and his flank on the other. I had to admit, it was pretty funny to see my husband being worn like he was a scarf.
“I wish I had a camera. That would make this just perfect.”
At Jackson’s questioning gaze, I moved my hooves in a way that symbolized taking a picture with a camera. Surprisingly, he understood what I was implying and pulled out the small black box from his pocket. I had noticed it the other day, and Shining had noted that his headphones were plugged into it when we met him in the throne room yesterday.
At first, I was confused about why he was pulling out his music player, before I saw what was on the back.
Three camera lenses.
“His music player is also a camera?”
He tapped on… something a few times before handing it over to me. I took it in my magic and saw that he had... turned on camera mode? I guess that would be the best way to describe it.
“I think I’m starting to like this guy.” I thought as Jackson gave me a brief tutorial on which button to push to take a picture. I pulled the camera/music player up to take the photo. Jackson kneeled down so I could get him in frame easier, giving a thumbs up and a silly, over exaggerated smile.
While it did take a few attempts, I managed to press the button required to take the picture with my hoof. I handed the device back to him and his quiet laugh as he placed the device back in his pocket was all I needed to know that he approved of my actions.
(Jacksons POV)
After depositing Shining Armor in his room (and once again laughing at the picture Cadance took, at his expense), Cadance and I set forth on our venture to the kitchen, in our quest for breakfast.
I took the opportunity to check my battery.
74%.
“Still above fifty, surprisingly. Let's make that last as long as possible.”
"Wait… I'm in a world where magic exists. Perhaps…" I snuck a glance at my alicorn companion's horn before shaking my head. "Later. I've got more important things to worry about right now than charging my phone. Besides, it's a brand new world. How am I supposed to enjoy my time here if I spend it all staring at the screen of my phone?" My thoughts continued as we reached the kitchen and began rummaging around in the cabinets, looking for breakfast. "God knows I already wasted enough time staring at screens back home. I don't need to waste all of my time doing the same here." I finally found the cabinet where I found the fruit yesterday. "Huh. I thought it was two over to the left. Guess I should've paid more attention. Anyways," I resumed the original debate in my head as I grabbed a small selection of various different fruits and placed them on the counter while Cadance kept rummaging around. "On the other hand, I've got a lot of memories on this thing. Pictures, videos, texts… I really don't want to lose them forever."
I was interrupted by the sound of something falling and a certain pink mare letting out a rather loud and panicked "eep" noise. I looked over and saw Cadance, covered in an entire bag's worth of flour, the empty bag having made its new residence on the ground in front of her. Then I thought back to the picture she took of me carrying Shining back to bed.
"Regardless of if this is a temporary arrangement or a permanent one, one thing is for sure.
"I'll be making a hell of a lot of new memories during my time here." I let out a laugh as I quickly got a picture of Cadance. She was not amused, but her glare wasn't nearly as intimidating as her aunt's. And with the flour…
Well, let's just say I'm lucky she started laughing along as well. Otherwise, I probably would've died in that room at her hooves.
So it's been about eight hours since "the flour incident", as I have decided to call it. Shining woke up from his nap about two hours ago, and he was already looking much better than he did when he came to visit me at fifteen minutes to eight this morning. Still obviously tired, mind you, but much better regardless.
I also tried my hand at cooking in this world around lunchtime. Sure, the ovens looked like they came straight out of the medieval era, but I was certain that I could harness my very limited culinary skills to figure out how to make some grilled cheese.
Cadance was kind enough to use what I assumed was a healing spell to heal the burns I got from the several-century-year-old ovens. I also burned the first grilled cheese I made in the process. The other two came out about as well as I could get them to come out without harming myself again, though they were a little under cooked from the looks of it. Cadance and Shining still enjoyed them. I enjoyed the burnt one significantly less, but I was hungry, and I wasn't gonna let it go to waste.
I think Shining offered to eat the burnt one instead, but I did my best to decline that offer. It wasn't the first time I've burnt a grilled cheese and eaten it anyway, and knowing me, it won't be the last.
"Perhaps there are some easy native dishes I could try to learn? I'm pretty sure these guys wouldn't let me eat or cook meat, so tacos are out, and I won't be able to survive off of grilled cheese and quesadillas alone."
As I said, I have very limited culinary skills. I only know how to cook those three things.
It was during lunch that Cadance decided to reveal the fact that I have a camera in my pocket. I know this cause she told me - well, more like widely gestured to me - to show Shining. He seemed impressed until we got to the picture we took of him earlier.
The ever so slightly annoyed look on his face was priceless.
I then showed him the picture of Cadance in the kitchen, and his mood turned around very quickly from 'slightly annoyed' to 'almost pissing himself laughing'. Until Cadance said something to him, and he stopped pretty quickly.
I'm not sure what she said, but it must've been horrifying for the stallion.
Almost reminds me of Eddy and his first girlfriend, Amanda. They would playfully tease and threaten each other all the time. Everyone knew they didn't actually mean it when they threatened to rip each other's throats out over who got the last cinnamon bun. It was always just them playing around.
I'm glad they were able to stay on good terms with each other after they broke up. Amanda's always a joy to hang out with.
“I wonder if my brothers told her yet. She’s still a friend of the family, after all. And she is an editor at the local paper… maybe she was made aware through work? Or maybe she heard about it through the grapevine?”
John Fogerty decided to become the love child of a set of intrusive thoughts and an ear worm in the form of song lyrics at that moment.
Ooh-ooh, I heard it through the grapevine
Not much longer would you be mine
Ooh-ooh, I heard it through the grapevine
And I'm just about to lose my mind
Honey, honey, yeah
(Shinings POV)
Jackson seemed to be lost in thought again, humming a song I didn’t recognize. But that was hardly surprising at this point. I didn’t recognize the song he was singing on the throne, so why would I recognize another song from his world? What did Princess Luna call it again? ‘Amareica?’ Something like that.
Speaking of Princess Luna…
“So Luna visited me in my dreams during my… nap.”
“Really? She brought good news, I hope?” Cadance replied
“Ehhhh…" Good and bad.” At the tilt of her head, I continued. “She said that she spoke with Twilly and the others today. They should be here in five days.” I took another bite of the grilled cheese Jackson had made. “The bad news is that the troops from Canterlot aren’t coming. The nobles caught wind that some of their kids who are in the E.U.P. were gonna be deployed to the Frozen North, and now they're doing everything they can to delay the deployment. With all the roadblocks they keep setting up, Princess Luna isn’t very confident that she and Princess Celestia will be able to get the troops up here for another two, maybe three weeks at least.”
“THREE WEEKS?!” Cadance’s voice boomed through the kitchen, startling both me and Jackson. Seeing this, she took a few deep breaths to calm herself down before she continued. “We can’t hold out for that long, even with Twilight and the others coming! That’s, what, nine of us to defend an entire empire from Sombra? And Jackson can’t even use magic to defend himself!” She stomped her hoof on the countertop. “Not to mention the Crystal Ponies. Who knows what Sombra would do to them if he takes power again!"
Even after her attempt to calm herself down, Cadance was still pretty riled up. I don't think I've ever seen her this angry before.
Actually, no. I have. Only once.
The day she crashed her own wedding and exposed Chrysalis to the world. I was under hypnosis at the time, so my memory is a bit foggy, but that is one of the few things of that experience that I remember well.
I looked over at Jackson, and he seemed legitimately fearful of Cadance for a moment if the wide eyes and few steps he took back were any indication.
I trotted over to my wife and gave her a quick nuzzle in an attempt to calm her down. “I’m sure Jackson is able to defend himself just fine, honey. I’ll even take him down to the armory and give him a sword if it's such a big concern to you." Cadance seemed to melt a little as she calmed down. “I know that this is a stressful situation, but we need to push through it. We can’t let our emotions get the best of us. That’s how we fall.” I looked into her eyes to see the diminishing rage within them. “Knowing Twilly, she’ll find a solution before the guard even gets here. Tarturus, maybe the three of us can figure it out before even Twilly gets here.”
“I… you're right.” She finally said after a long period of silence. “We need to stay calm and not do anything rash.”
“Don’t pull a Sunset. Right, dear?” The glare I got from Cadance would’ve melted through my armor had I been wearing it. “Er, sorry.”
“It’s fine. Just… still a bit of a sore spot, I guess.” A sigh escaped her lips before she seemed to realize something. “Wait… maybe… maybe we can figure it out.”
“What?’
“How to protect the empire without our protection spells.” She clarified. “And even if we don’t figure it out on our own, it’ll still give the others a head start when they get here.”
“It’s a good idea, but how are we going to be able to do that? With the guard held up in Canterlot, I’m going to have to patrol the Empire's borders myself. You need to keep your protection spell up, and Jackson doesn’t speak our language.”
“Maybe you don’t need to patrol the border alone?” Cadance replied. “You and Jackson can work in shifts. Every other day, you trade off, and on your days off, you can ask around about potential solutions.”
“You’re right… but is it fair to him, though? I mean, I don’t want to push it on him against his will, and I don’t know how to mime ‘you need to help patrol the borders of the empire while I look for information.’” Now I was letting a sigh escape my lips.
Cadance had a look on her face.
I knew that look.
That was her ‘I’ve just solved our problem’ look.
“Well… I think we need to talk with Auntie Luna tonight.” She then turned to Jackson, who had returned to his spot at the countertop and resumed eating at some point during our conversation. “All three of us.”
I was confused for a moment before I realized what she meant. Jackson, meanwhile, had raised an eyebrow and wore a look of mixed confusion and curiosity on his face.
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More good
11672033
More Haver comments
I love the non-verbal character interactions. It makes the emotions feel so genuine.
This story just keeps getting more interesting.
I look forward to the next chapter.
That was very low of you and very uncalled for, be better Shining Armor.
Too bad he didn't bring a backpack with a solar panel.
11672083
One of the early drafts actually did include a backpack among his list of items, but I scrapped it cause I couldn't find a way to justify him having it on his person when he was just walking home from work.
No solar panels, but I'm sure Twiggle Spriggle would've found a way.
I don't know any of those songs, but it reminds me of the band "Have Gun, Will Travel"
11672119
Every song referenced in the fic thus far is by the band Creedence Clearwater Revival. They're an old classic rock band from the late 60's and early 70's and their music is really good. They are also one of my personal favorite bands, so that last statement might be slightly biased. The reason I keep saying "John Fogerty" is because he was the lead singer and main songwriter for the entire bands existence.
The songs I referenced are (in order of appearance) "Suzie Q", "Lodi", and "I Heard It Through the Grapevine", if wanna give them a listen. They were also the guys who made "Fortunate Son".
I'll definitely be looking up "Have Gun, Will Travel" now.
This version of Cadance is far more enjoyable than others.
11672134
Making her a three dimensional character will do that.
Seriously though, I never really liked how most people just delegated her to "The One Who Makes Other Ponies Fuck", so I wanted to step away from that.
Sure, some elements from that characterization might pop up now and again later on, but it won't be her whole character.
11672045
Nice to see I'm doing something right. Thanks for the support!
11672068
I love the headcanon that she and Sunset were at odds with one another.
It'd be interesting to explore how Sunset felt growing up with another alicorn.
11672127
Nice, I hope you like some of their songs, even if it's not really the same
I have a request.
In future chapters would focus less on the protagonists' internal monologue and more on what's actually happening in the story? Nobody reading this cares about Anthony or Edward or his relatives. Nobody cares that his grandmother lives in Pennsylvania or that Eddy went skinny dipping that one time. We don't need these entire screenfuls of songs or itemized lists of his clothes.
Every time your protagonist has character focus, it's pages of rambling that have absolutely nothing to do with the story. A third of chapter four is him rambling about completely irrelevant people who may as well not even exist and then when I think it's finally over, we're dumped back into him reminiscing about I-don't-care-who-Eddy-is' girlfriend Amanda-who-I-also-don't care about because neither of them are even part of the story but you're telling us how this three-steps-into-irrelevant person who knows a person who knows a person, you're telling us about her job on a different planet and how she teases her boyfriend who's also on a different planet and how much fun she is to hang out with on that other planet that this story isn't happening on....why are you doing this?
Please, less irrelevant stream-of-consciousness ramblings from your protagonist, and more about what's going on right now on the planet this story is happening on.
11672205
Jackson is a man who has a tendency to go on irrelevant tangents and ramble on and on about irrelevant things. It certainly doesn't help that he has no way to verbally do so. If he could do that, then I'm sure Cadence or Shining would've told him to shut the fuck up at some point, or at least point this out to him so he could do it less.
The next chapter won't even have Jackson in it, as I plan on focusing on what the fuck is going on with the Main Six. There you will get more details about the world around the characters. The chapter after that, as implied by the ending of this one, is another in the dreamscape, so there's going to be less rambling. Anything after that, I won't say.
I thank you for bringing your concerns to me.
11672140
Awesome
So what about her "love" spell? I can't see how that's different from other forms of mind control. You gonna try to tackle that?
11672220
I have a few ideas, but nothing concrete. That is all I will say on the matter.
11672222
Fair enough
11672205
I kinda agree with you, but I kinda don't. All that stuff about Jackson's relatives has no relevance to the ponies, but it has a lot of relevance to Jackson's characterization. We already know the ponies, but we don't know him. Without some sort of backstory, Jackson becomes another Anon who is about as interesting as stale white bread. His past interactions with his family help set up his personality and set up future chapters.
And there you go. asking Murphy for a 'favor' ...
Patrols are defense. They’ll need to explain the danger, expectations, and consequences of a confrontation. Not sure what Jackson’s experience is with security enforcement. If MC’s on board with patrolling, I wonder what his weapon of choice will be.
I like the explanation of why the Guard aren’t present. It’s a little odd they didn’t have a contingent in canon or otherwise. Even if an alicorn is present, a whole city is still a large space for two ponies to occupy.
11672743
Yeah, I always found it odd how the show never even tried to explain why there weren't any guards in the Empire at the time. I hope my explanation of "Canterlot Noble's being a pain in the ass" was, at the very least, a believable one.
friggin soundcloud timing, always something sad, or at least depressed sounding
https://soundcloud.com/aperture-psychoacoustics/robot-ghost-story-original-mix
11672961
LMAOOOOO
This is one of the best comments I've gotten on this chapter so far, and that's purely for the comedic value.
11672668
Yeah, I remember having a dream where a Lion bit my arm, and it did hurt as far as I remember.
Looking forward to whatever you write next
11673332
Dreams can actually simulate pain to a certain extent it is nowhere near as painful in a dream to get hurt as it is to get hurt in real life in the exact same way
To quote Terry Pratchett
“A weapon you held and didn't know how to use belonged to your enemy.”
― Terry Pratchett, Making Money
Monk
"I took another sip of my coffee." -Star Dawn
...............
🤫
11672035
>
WOOOOOOWWWWW.
11672035
11672442
Incidentally, of course, “shift shaper” is to the best of my knowledge not an actual term for anything.
And yeah, recruiting Jackson for patrol purposes would at best only work if he had at least one companion at all times. Otherwise, well, how is he going to report anything unusual he’s noticed?
11694211
...
Fuck, I didn't even notice that.
Edit: Went back and fixed "shift shaper". Thanks for pointing it out.
Ah, umm... well... about that... Please don't panic, but you see...
Well you're not exactly wrong. However, instead of blood they suck out love