A day later..
I turned off the coffeemaker and moved the pot away from the heater, pouring myself a mug before setting it back on the counter. Grabbing the sandwich I had made earlier, I moved to the table and pulled out a chair. I looked around in the kitchen, nothing stood out of the ordinary. Everything was still in perfect condition and untouched.
Not a sound. Nothing. All I can hear is a very low sound of the town coming alive. I rubbed some sleep out of my eyes then rolled my shoulders.
It's too quiet. I don't like this at all. No sound, nothing. I'm completely alone. I feel a weight settle on my shoulders and my chest tightened. I can't draw a single breath without it feeling short and forced.
My hands are shaking... I need to stop this. 'Get back in control of yourself, Jay! What's happening to you, dude?! 'I tried to assert control of my own body, but the panic of what's happened to me over the past days are creeping back to me.
My breakfast long forgotten, I jet up from my chair, making it fall over and clatter on the marble floor.
It's as if I can hear and see my family here with me. I can hear them talking about their coming day. From the house being dead quiet, it's now just full to the brim of loud imagined noises. I cover my ears and shut my eyes as hard as I can.
The sounds doesn't stop. They just won't stop. I start to feel sick as I can hear my heart thumping harder and faster as the seconds pass.
I gritted my teeth as I felt my hands shaking harder while they were still covering my ears. I could make out what sounded like my mom talking to me, my dad laughing at another stupid joke, my sister asking me to take her into town later, an off hand mention from my dad that my older brother is coming over later. It started blending together again, louder by the second.
“Shut up...” I hissed through my teeth. “Shut up.” The sounds were still growing louder. “Shut the fuck up!” I nearly yelled. It felt nearly deafening now “SHUT. THE. FUCK. UP!” I roared at the top of my lungs and the sounds stopped.
I fell to the wall behind me, slowly sliding down until I was sitting down. I hugged my legs to my chest and leaned forward.
I can't go home. I physically can't go home on my own accord. I'm helpless. I tried to ignore the tears staining my jeans but to no avail. “God dammit” I sniffed and wiped my face with the back of my hand.
I hate being alone. Truth is, I bought this house just so I could get out of Twilight's hair cause I know I can go too far with jokes or my actions. I wanted to make it so she had a place of her own again in case she just fucking hates my guts and just hangs with me because Princess Celestia told her to.
“God damn, I'm fuckin' pathetic, aren't I?” I groaned and sniffed again, burrowing my face into my legs and shivering as my back touched the cold wall where my shirt had ridden up slightly.
I heard a gasp from a few feet away and hooves clopping on the stone floor faster as they came closer to me.
“Jay! Are you okay?!”
-------------------------------
THIRD PERSON SWITCH
-A few minutes earlier-
“-and that's when they got off the train. Jay just gave me a ten thousand coin, even though he only borrowed two thousand from me!” Twilight said to Rarity and Fluttershy as they were making their way up the road to the mentioned humans home.
“Ten thousand, darling?!” Rarity gasped, stopping momentarily to raise a hoof to her mouth. Her friends kept walking while looking at her. Rarity hurried her pace momentarily to catch up to them.
“I know, right? I told him that it was too much but he just shrugged me off and told me to keep the change!” Twilight shook her head “I tried to give it back to him but he wouldn't have any of it.”
“That's very nice of him.” Fluttershy added. “So in which house did he live in now, anyway?” The pegasus looked around.
Twilight gestured to a house at the end of the road. “That one.” Her friends gasped even louder. “I don't know why he wanted to buy that house when there are much cheaper ones around here...” She turned to the girls, who were staring at the house in question. “Girls..?”
Rarity was the first one to shake out of her stupor. “Oh my dear sweet Celestia... I didn't know he has such a fine taste in housing...” Fluttershy nodded.
“Let's head inside.” Twilight walked forward to the gate control, quickly tapping in the code that Jay gave her earlier. Gesturing to her friends, they walked down the road to the house and passed the fountain.
Walking up to the front door, Twilight frowned as she felt that it was locked when she tried to open the door with her magic. She levitated a pot to her right up slightly and fished out a key from below and unlocked it.
“Jay, hello?” She called into the house. “It's me, Twilight. I came to visit with Fluttershy and Rarity!” No answer was heard, making the unicorn frown. 'Strange... He's not sleeping, is he?' She walked inside the house, her friends following her. The scent of freshly made coffee convinced her that he was in fact, not asleep. She started walking toward the kitchen when a sudden noise made her stop.
She heard... Sniffling? She stopped and perked her ears in the direction of the kitchen. Rarity and Fluttershy, judging from the look of their faces had also heard it. Twilight slowed her walking and stopped to listen more.
“God damn, I'm fuckin' pathetic, aren't I?” Another sniffle was heard. Twilight hurried up to investigate. As she turned the corner into the kitchen, she saw Jay sitting with his back to the wall and hiding his head in his legs. He looked like he had been crying. A chair was haphazardly thrown back and a still smoking mug of coffee and a sandwich as on the table.
She gasped while Rarity and Fluttershy were quiet as they took in the scene.
“Jay! Are you okay?!” Twilight called out. Jays head snapped up and his eyes locked on her. The red in his eyes revealed that he had indeed been crying.
“Oh shit... Twilight, didn't expect you so soon...” Jay wiped his eyes with the back of his hand and stood up slowly. “Sorry that I wasn't at the door to greet you, was busy doing human things!” He gave her an extremely forced smile.
“Jay, what's wrong? Did something happen?” Twilight walked closer to him, righting the flipped chair and placed it by the table.
“No, I just...” Jay took a half-step back, but sighed and slumped his shoulders. “I was just thinking that I really am stuck here. It finally hit me. I'm alone. 100 percent. I'm the only human in Equestria...” He ran a hand through his dark brown hair. “I kinda got to thinking about my family and all and... It... just hurts, y'know?”
Twilight's eyes softened away from the questioned look she was giving him. She didn't expect him to just pour it out that easily.
“And... I'm sorry for just being an asshole to you all the time. I guess I'm just trying not to think too hard about things...” He continued. Twilight nodded softly.
“It's fine, Jay. Goodness, I don't know how I would react if I was in your position” Twilight replied after planning a good response. “I know I can't say too much to help, but if you need someone to talk to you can talk to me anytime.” Twilight gave him a small smile.
“Thank you, Twilight. I really mean it.” Jay reached out a hand to her, Twilight reached out her hoof and assuringly squeezed his hand for a few seconds.
A cough from behind them brought both of them back to reality. They turned to a smiling Rarity and Fluttershy. “Now now, as heartwarming as that was I believe Jay hasn't touched his food yet.”
Jay nodded, walking to the table and grabbing his sandwich and coffee mug. “Come on, I'll show you girls round the house while I eat.” He took a long sip, leading the mares around his estate.
After the tour was finished, they had ended up in the back of his house next to the pool. Jay sat on one of the chairs with Rarity next to him, Twilight and Fluttershy walking around his rather big yard exploring every nook and cranny.
Rarity turned to him. “Look, Jay...” He looked away from Twilight to her. “I'm sorry I acted so... Confrontational when you first came here. I was merely thinking of the safety of one of my closest friends...”
Jay nodded in understanding. “It's fine. I know the things I did earlier were bad and I came at you kinda strong... I guess I was still reeling from the fact that I'm stuck here.” He scratched the back of his neck. He turned back to Twilight and Fluttershy, only to see nothing. No trace of them
“That's weird... I'll go check where they went...” He said to Rarity who gave him a slight nod.
Jay walked down the lawn until he came to what looked like a break in the fence. Scowling, he tried to look past the damage but couldn't see anything. “God dammit, gonna have to fix that...” He muttered. He stared at the fence, then back at Rarity who was leaning back at the chair to catch some sun. “Fuck it...
He pushed through the break, knicking his arm on some exposed metal and swore. He kept going until he saw some light behind the bush. Just as he was about to move the last branch, his foot snagged on something and he fell forward through it
“Ow, shit...” He rolled over on his back, sighed and stood up. “I gotta be more careful...” He turned around, only to be blasted in the face by several confetti shots.
“SURPRIIIIIIIIIIISE”
He screamed.
Holy balls! It’s back after *checks* TWO YEARS!!!
8608609
See you in another two years :^)
(i'm kidding)
8608629
Now that would be dedicated, another chapter in 2 years time is way to fast. And a really dedicated joke
Hey, look what updated. Even with our conversation I wasn't expecting a new chapter of this so soon so I'm very pleasantly surprised. Granted I had to reread the whole thing to remember what is going on, but it was definitely worth it. Not only is this story a fun romp, but reading through it again also reminds me of why I used to like Twilight back before everything went to shit.
As for this chapter, the opening was definitely something of a tonal shift, but it still worked well and definitely needed to be done because even if Jay is dealing with his issues through humor (and driving Twilight up the wall ), they are still there and need to be addressed directly to some extent which this chapter did well.
8609438
Yeah, I figured if I didn't do it ASAP I would have been carried away by a flood of "I'll do it tomorrow".
Glad you liked it!
8609591
Yeah, I know how that happens sometimes. You say you're going to start something "tomorrow", and the next thing you know it's weeks later and you haven't given it a second thought.
So, what's your plan from here? Are you going to keep rolling on this, switch to Xenophobia, push out a one-shot, procrastinate...?
8609640
I'll roll on this story for a few chapters to get back to it, write a oneshot for something different and then put a lot of effort into Xenophobia to make it to the level of polish I'd like it to be.
Oh, I remember this story. I wanted to read it a few years ago, but didn't, because it was dead side-story of a dead [dark] story.
I added it to my read-it-later list, in case it's truly resurrected, and not fake-out.
8609656
That sounds like a plan. Do you have any particular update rate in mind, or are you just going to run with it and see what happens.
8609716
It sounds like this is coming back for real, and based on a discussion in a blog post this is probably being split from Xenophobia (which is amazing, but not being worked on yet so it's probably smart for you to hold off on that until it gets its first update). That said, it's not unreasonable for you to be cautious given the past update rate, and nothing in this chapter cemented it as being separate from Xenophobia yet, although I'm getting the feeling that'll happen next chapter.
8609747
My current goal is 2 chapters per week of around this word count until I can write longer chapters comfortably.
8609716
I know I don't have the best track record but I'm setting up a plan of action basically which I never did before.
8609772
That sounds like a good plan to start with, although I do want to caution you against pushing for longer chapters if you find it doesn't work for you. Some people work better releasing shorter chapters more frequently, so if you find longer chapters to be a chore you may want to keep the chapters roughly this length and instead release more of them per week to get your production rate up rather than going for longer chapters. Of course, you might also find that once you get rolling on longer chapters you can just keep going and produce 10,000 word+ beasts on a regular basis and drop to one of those a week which will also get your production rate up in spite of releasing chapters less frequently because I've seen that work for people too. Either way, once you get rolling and start pushing for more, you should figure out what works best for you fairly quickly and use that understanding to tune your plan as needed.