Trapped as a science experiment, will our human escape?
They tell me my memories are fake. They tell me my life isn't real. That I'm nothing more than a science experiment gone wrong. I can't accept that. I won't accept that. They trapped me in some sort of cell, where they study me. I will escape from here and find a way home. I am Jake Darrison, and I WILL find a way back to my family. Nothing will stop me, not these horses, not any magical monsters, NOTHING. I will be free.
Ever since I woke up here, I've received nothing but trouble. At first I was confused as to where I was, and how I came here. After a while I was eventually found by some aliens. Yeah turns out I'm on an alien planet. How'd this happen? Well your guess is as good as mine. Just so you know my name is Jake Darisson. So what next you might ask. Well these aliens brought me to some kind of secret laboratory base..... WHERE THEY THREW ME IN A CONTAINMENT CELL, AND PROCEEDED TO EXPERIMENT ON ME! NO I'M NOT KIDDING! THEY REALLY DID THAT! The best way I can describe it is take those stories you've heard about Area 51 where they dissect aliens and stuff, and make them ten times worse. Now I know those stories about area 51 aren't true, but you get my point. Now you probably have a lot of questions, but let me tell you what I know from the beginning and maybe your questions will be answered.
******
*Third person POV*
*Planet Earth*
*United States of America Pennsylvania*
A man dressed in an ordinary white shirt, with some royal blue sweat pants was walking home after his usual day of work passing street corners, and tall buildings. Nothing, out of the ordinary happening, and honesty it was a really good day for him. One might even say too good... almost cliché. As he continued on his way home he spoke with one of his friends as he passed by.
"Hey Joe. How have you been?" Jake Darrison queried.
"Oh, hi Jake. Been doin alright." Joe replied. "Thinking about taking a vacation soon"
"Dude sweet." Jake exclaimed, as he remembered Joe mentioning his vacation plans before.
"Sorry I can't talk more, I've gotta get home. My kids report cards are due, and my wife wants me to help look them over" Joe spoke.
"Gotcha, say hi to Tarry, and the kids for me! Jake said as they were walking away from each other.
"Will do!" replied Joe, and he continued on his way home wondering how bad his kids grades might be.
Jake kept going for a while, until he eventually came to a street that was completely void of people, except for him. He thought it was odd because this was usually one of the most crouded streets in the town, even at this hour, but he continued on his way. He would come to regret that decision.
Jake heard a strange noise around him. Like some sort of buzzing. He looked around but didn't see anything. The buzzing got louder.
"What's going on?" He asked to no one.
Suddenly a grey vortex appeared behind him, and began to suck him and any nearby loose objects in. Jake ran, but the suction current was too strong. He grabbed the ground desperately to try and avoid being sucked in, but only succeeded in delaying the inevitable. He lost his grip and was sucked in. Everything faded to white and he passed out.
Some time later he woke up in some forest. 'Where am I?' He thought to himself as he examined his surroundings. 'Well guess I better find out' He looked around, picked a direction, and began walking, hoping to find a way out of the forest.
*A few minutes ago*
*Unknown character perspective third person POV*
A stallion sat alone in his office pondering to himself staring out his window. He was here to protect Equestria. They all were. By whatever means necessary. There was a knock on his door which interrupted his thoughts. "Come in!"
A unicorn stallion entered his office and approached him, standing in front of his desk. "Sir I think you will want to come see this." the stallion spoke
"What is it Study Guide?" The first stallion asked.
"Well sir we've detected an unusual magical spike emanating from White Tail Woods." Study Guide replied.
The first stallion thought to himself for a moment, 'This could be serious' he thought. "Prepare a team to search and investigate, I will organize the supplies and lead them myself."
"Yes sir." Study Guide obeyed.
Study Guide left the room leaving the first stallion to ponder what this anomaly could be. As well as what should be done. He and Study Guide, as well as everyone else stationed here, were part of a secret scientific breakthrough operation. Authorized by Princess Celestia herself, she had set up secret underground laboratories for them. Giving them access to whatever they would need, and lots of authority over the public, despite the fact that pretty much nopony knew about them.
The stallion finally decided to bring along supplies that they would need in order to correct or neutralize whatever it was that was going on in White Tail Woods.
*Back to Jake*
"OK. How far can this forest stretch on for!" Jake screamed knowing absolutely no one could hear. He'd been trekking through the woods in the same direction for what felt like hours, but was probably no more than 40 minutes. The forest was exactly what you'd expect it to look like, uneven rows of trees after rows of trees after rows of trees. Jake tripped on a root sticking out 'Dangit! that's the fourth time it's too dark to see anything. It had been dark out when he woke up but now it was even darker. He'd only seen a few wild animals too, so it was pretty lonely. Still he kept walking, what else could he do? The forest had to end at some point right?
He kept going until eventually something happened that was different. Jake entered a small clearing and heard something that sounded sort of like the flapping of wings. He looked around and beheld a sight he never could have guessed in his life. A bunch of winged horses were landing on the ground and surrounding him.
"Wha... What's going on?" Jake exclaimed as the strange creatures surrounded him. "Just what are you guys?" Suddenly more creatures came out of the woods. But these were a little different. These new ones had horns on their head...unicorns? Looking closely Jake noticed that all these strange horses seemed to be the same colors of black, and dark grey, although some had stripes of yellow instead of black. To top this off they all had strange markings on their... flanks. Just what exactly was going on?
"Sir this is the source of the anomaly." One of the winged ones/pegasi said. One of them spoke, and it spoke freaking English. Needless to say Jake was stunned.
"Alright. Well subdue it." said the unicorn stallion who was apparently the leader.
"Wait what? You can't be serious." Jake shouted recoiling with caution at the statement.
"So. The creature can talk." the leader spoke. This made him nervous, this creature could be even more dangerous than he thought.
"Yes I can talk, and are you guys, unicorns, and pegasi?" Jake replied.
This creature could speak, and it knew what they were!? The leader stallion didn't trust this thing one bit. But the creature was clearly intelligent. Perhaps he could negotiate with it. Better to capture it peacefully through trickery than through the use of force. "You have to come with us."
"Why" Jake inquired
"Because you're an alien on our world." The unicorn declared.
Jake stood still for a moment, processing this information. "I'm on an alien world?" he asked.
"Yes, and you need to come with us." the unicorn demanded.
Jake thought for a moment. "Fair enough. Where are we going?" the unicorn didn't answer but instead got the guards to get the creature moving. "OK OK jeez." Jake said as they began shoving him.
As they were walking the unicorn began asking the creature some questions. "What is your name?"
"Jake. Yours?"
The unicorn didn't answer him but instead asked another question. "What is your species called?"
"Human, or Homo sapien if you want the scientific term. Where are we going?" Jake replied.
Again the unicorn didn't answer and asked another question "How did you get here?"
"Some sort of portal appeared behind me and sucked me through to here. How come you won't answer my questions?" Jake demanded.
"Because you're the alien here. You could be a threat to Equestria for all I know. And because I'll ask the questions, not you!" the unicorn answered sharply.
"Ouch." Jake said slightly offended. "So this place is called Equestria is it?"
'Shoot!' The unicorn thought to himself.
"I promise you I mean no harm."
The Unicorn ignored him.
Silence..........................
"Where are we going anyway."
The unicorn just sighed and said "You'll see soon enough."
"Alright." Jake answered. Eventually they made it out of the forest and began approaching a building that looked a lot like an underground bunker. Jake asked what this place was, but as usual the unicorn wouldn't tell him anything. The horse creatures led him inside and the inside was completely different from the outside most of the rooms were a yellowish-gold color and very tall. Parts of the wall jutted out to look like pillars stretching up to the ceiling and dividing room from room. The horses brought him to a room that was filled with gurneys and operating tools, looked kinda like a hospital room. "Why are we here?" Nobody answered.
"Everypony, stay back." The unicorn announced.
'Everypony? What?' Jake thought when he was suddenly hit in the back of the head by some sort of shock and fell to the floor. "What the...?" Jake asked very dizzily. Realizing that they must have done something to him he asked. "What are you doing?"
"I don't know why you're here. But you could very well pose a threat to Equestria. I won't allow you the chance." The unicorn stated.
"But I promise you I won't" Jake pleaded.
"Am I supposed to just take your word for it? I don't think so." said the unicorn
"What are you going to do to me?" Jake asked nervously.
"I'm going to cut you open, discover what makes you tick. I'm going to learn everything there is to learn about you. So that when your kind comes to invade us. We'll be ready." The unicorn proudly boasted.
"But I-we don't want to invade you!" Jake shouted.
"Enough of this. It's time for you to go to sleep." the unicorn said and then zapped Jake with a sleep spell. Jake's world faded to black.
*Jake first person POV*
So that's pretty much how I got here. I woke up in this glass containment cell, it wasn't filled with liquid or anything, it was just kinda like a giant cage, and before you ask no I can't break through this glass, it must be reinforced. By the way the name of that unicorn leader is Tempest Reason. Yeah these horses have some pretty weird names, although I think the funniest is Study Guide. Can you imagine someone talking about using a study guide to help prepare for a test, and then he shows up and asks if someone mentioned his name? Hahahahahahahaha... Jokes. Just about the only thing I can do here since I'm trapped in a cell, I guess I could sing and dance, but I was never big on those activities.
I can't believe these guys are doing what they're doing, and getting away with it. It turns out that when they first knocked me out they already experimented on me before I woke up. But the experiments, and vivisection after that were ten times worse. But what's probably the worst of all is that their magic or whatever can completely heal me. You're probably wondering why I say that's the worst part. Well instead of putting me out of my misery, it just means I've got to endure the pain all over again in a few days. Also they don't care if I'm awake or not for the surgery. It's horrible. I need to get out. I need to break free. I will escape. I promise.
I swear these "experiments" keep getting worse and worse. Yesterday they separated my FREAKING ARM FROM THE REST OF MY BODY. Yeah that sounds pretty bad, but the worst part about it was the fact somehow even though it was no longer attached to my body, I COULD STILL MOVE IT! I DON'T KNOW HOW BUT I COULD! I think the horses said something about a spell and a symbiotic link between my body part and my mind being active which allowed me to control its muscles? I don't really get it. Fortunately the effect didn't last long, I could only move my arm for a few minutes before it went limp. Nevertheless it was still very... creepy. I really can't come up with a better word than that to describe that experience. CREEPY. Oh did I forget to mention they had also cut open my chest? I COULD SEE MY FREAKING ORGANS PULSING. UGH. I'm never gonna quite get these images out of my head. Oh and if you're wondering why I didn't scream, well I couldn't because somehow these horses made me temporarily mute. But they sure didn't bother to numb the pain.
After that was finally over they zapped me with their mental powers or whatever, and my arm was reattached, my chest healed and I was taken back to my cell. Then I was drugged, and became unconscious until this morning. At least I think it's morning, I can't tell cause I can't see outside. I've tried talking to them to get them to stop treating me like this. But to no avail. Fortunately though one good thing did come out of talking. They now know what my basic diet consists of, so I've been getting some decent food. Not really enough to fill me up, but enough to sustain me. I'm also glad they let me keep my clothes, I guess even they don't want to see me naked for very long. They clearly want me to be somewhat healthy, and alive. Well a new day is starting, might as well get myself prepared for what's to come.
*third person POV Tempest Reason's office*
'This creature, this "human" was absolutely fascinating. Bipedal, omnivorous, those appendages he called hands, the lack of fur, the way it constantly wanted to wear clothes. SO FASCINATING.' Tempest Reason was in his office alone gazing out his window at the stormy weather, pondering to himself. 'But the most fascinating fact of all was the fact that there was no magical essence in him at all. Every creature on Equus had a magical essence within them. Even the ones that didn't use magic directly or in the same way unicorns did like gryphons, minotaurs, zebras, Earth Ponies, and changelings. The sheer scale of the scientific possibilities, we could gain from studying a creature with no magical essence is overwhelming' "I'm gonna go down in history" Tempest said aloud. 'Did I say that out loud? Oh well' he thought to himself.
There was just one problem though. The fact that the creature was sapient. Princess Celestia would never approve of the way they were treating the human. Tempest knew this very well. So he had begun working on a plan to keep the fact that this creature was sapient from Celestia no matter what. If she found out they were all in trouble. 'Celestia would let this creature go. She'd determine if it was a threat first sure, but the creature would fool her. The human couldn't possibly have good intentions for coming here. Celestia is too weak to do what is necessary. I have to make the hard decision that she can't' Tempest reasoned with himself.
At this point Study Guide entered tempest's office to discuss something with him. "Sir, I hope I'm not disturbing you." Study Guide spoke.
"Don't worry, I wasn't doing anything important." Tempest replied. "What is it you want?"
"Well, sir I um... Well... uh... Is-is it really necessary to treat the human like this. I mean it seems cruel, and unethical. Plus he hasn't honestly done anything wrong." Study Guide questioned.
"SG, I've already explained this to you and everyone here. The creature is a potential threat to Equestria and should be treated as such. We need to keep him contained so he won't hurt anypony." Tempest replied calmly.
"Maybe. But that doesn't explain why we need to vivisect him or experiment on him." Study Guide returned.
"Look SG, there's a lot of scientific advancements we could learn from studying this creature. Advancements that will benefit ponykind greatly." Tempest answered back rather sternly.
Study Guide just looked at Tempest, considering what he had just said. "Well it still doesn't seem fair" he said with a sigh. "What can we really learn from him anyway?"
"Well you are aware that the creature lacks any sort of magical essence correct?" Tempest asked to which Study Guide nodded. "Well from the data I've gathered, theoretically I can create a weapon that is capable of absorbing the magic essence from anypony."
Study Guide looked at Tempest in shock. "You mean you can make a weapon that can suck the magic out of anypony?! Isn't that the same thing Tirek did?"
"Well, yes I'm afraid it is. But don't worry it'll be under our control." Tempest reassured.
"I... I don't like it. I don't like it at all." Study Guide declared.
"Don't worry I wouldn't go through with something like this without an emergency plan. Which is why I'm also working on a weapon that will allow us to fill anypony with a magical essence." Tempest said.
"Well. I still don't like it." Study Guide said.
"Well this isn't your decision. The princesses will decide what to do about the weapons." Tempest stated.
"Why don't we ask them what to do about the human?" Study Guide asked.
"Because we're the ones that should deal with these situations. Not the princesses." Tempest said a bit angrily.
"Also why do you keep calling him creature when you know his species name is human?" Study Guide queried.
"Because I choose to. Study Guide unless you have something important to say to me you may leave my office." Tempest announced.
"Actually sir there is one thing." Study Guide said. Tempest tilted his head as he listened. "You see Princess Celestia is coming here to see the new creature you discovered."
Tempest's face took on a look of shock. "WHAT! Why was I not informed about this?"
"Well sir we only just recently heard she was coming. That's one of the reasons I came here to talk to you." Study Guide answered.
Tempest growled and raced out of the office desperately trying to come up with a plan. He knew the Princess would demand to see the creature. He had to prevent her from finding out too much about the creature. But how? Suddenly an idea came to him. It wasn't very ethical, but it would work. He needed to find somepony. Somepony who wouldn't be afraid to do what needed to be done. Somepony like... Maxus Deduction.
Maxus Deduction was a brilliant pony and had many scientific accomplishments under his belt, like all of the ponies who worked here. Unlike most of the other ponies though Maxus was rather large. Towering over most of the other ponies he also had a very impressive muscle build for a unicorn. His coat was a dark crimson color, and he had a ghostly white mane. At least that's what his coat would normally look like, however he and all the other ponies stationed there had a spell cast on them that would hide their identity, similar to the magic used by the royal guard which made all the royal guard look the same. However the magic around these ponies was slightly different. The differences being that the medical ponies, such as nurses, were mostly white with red stripes along their mane, and certain patches of fur. The other ponies were a dark grey with either yellow stripes, or black stripes depending on their level of authority, black stripes being higher, yellow stripes being lower. All of the ponies also kept their original cutie marks to help identify who they were.
"Maxus I need you to do something for me." Tempest stated.
"I'm listening." Maxus spoke in a deep voice.
"Well, you see Princess Celestia is on her way, and I can't allow her to find out the creature is intelligent." Maxus tilted his head, a slight look of confusion on his face as Tempest said this. "Just trust me."
"OK. But what do you need me to do?" Maxus asked.
"The Princess will eventually want to see the creature up close. When she arrives I want you to stay out of sight. I will signal you when she approaches its cell, and you will cast a spell that will make an invisible barrier that will stun her. If that doesn't stop her then when she gets closer I'll signal you again and you cast the spell again, this time powerful enough to harm her slightly." Tempest informed.
Maxus just stared at Tempest for a minute. The plan didn't sound very good to him at all. But maybe Tempest knew something he didn't, and he always did as he was told. "I understand."
"Good." Tempest then walked away from Maxus preparing himself for what he was going to say to Princess Celestia.
*Some time later outside of the secret facility*
A golden chariot pulled by two pegasi slowly descended to the ground. Inside the chariot itself sat a very uncertain Princess Celestia. She had come here to discover what strange new creature the scientists here had discovered, or if this was even true. As well as learn if they knew anything about the magical anomaly she had detected a few days before.
Celestia thanked her guard escorts and proceeded to enter the building. Once inside she was greeted by a rather nervous yet calm looking Tempest Reason. "Hello Tempest." she greeted.
"Greetings your majesty." Tempest said as he bowed down to her.
"There will be no need for formalities my little pony. I'm here on business." Celestia reassured.
"As you wish your majesty." Tempest said then realized he didn't need to say that and face-hoofed. Celestia chuckled at this.
So Tempest lead Princess Celestia through the facility while she asked him some questions. "Do you know anything about the magical surge I sensed a few days ago?"
"Well we went to investigate it, but it was nothing serious." Tempest told her.
"Are you sure?" Celestia questioned.
"Yes. Quite sure your majesty."
"Well then is it true that you've discovered a new creature?"
"Well sort of your majesty. I'll explain more later. But I suppose you'll want to go see it now?"
"Yes Tempest I would. Have you determined if this creature may be a threat to Equestria?"
"As long as we keep it contained it shouldn't be a problem your majesty."
Tempest filled Celestia in about what they knew about the human, leaving out some obvious things of course. They finally arrived at Jake's cell and needless to say Jake was a bit surprised to see Celestia. He'd been expecting more experiments, but who was this new horse? Unfortunately for him his question would not be answered today.
"Princess please keep your distance, even though this creature is contained it still has some powers that could hurt you if you get too close." Tempest warned.
"Your concern is appreciated Tempest. But I think it will be alright." Celestia reassured as she approached Jake's cell.
"Wait your majesty I must advise against this!"
Celestia ignored him and walked closer to Jake's cell. Jake grew even more curious about this 'Who is she? What is she?' he thought noticing her wings and horn. 'And what does she want?... Could she actually be friendly?' It was doubtful but Jake still hoped. As Celestia came closer Jake noticed Tempest give a little spark from his horn, and from behind Celestia a unicorn just barely visible began casting a spell 'What is he doing?' Jake wondered. Suddenly the tall white horse recoiled and there was a strange red glow around her neck and face for a few seconds. 'What the?' Celestia shook her head from, whatever that was and tried to approach the creature's cell again. She was met with the same problem, but this time it was worse. She cried out in pain and backed off.
"Princess are you alright!?" Tempest asked concerned as he rushed over to Celestia.
"I...I think so." She replied her strength coming back.
"Please stay away from the creature for your own safety." Tempest pleaded.
Celestia looked at the creature long and hard. Finally coming to a decision she answered. "Alright but I want to know as much about this creature as possible and as soon as its safe I want the opportunity to see it up close.
"As you wish your highness." Tempest replied 'phew dodged a bolt there.'
Jake just stared in confusion. What had just happened? He saw the unicorn in the background using its horn to prevent the tall white horse from getting too close. But why would they do that? Were they trying to keep her from reaching him? But what reason would they have to keep her from reaching him unless... Would she have helped him after all?!............... It didn't matter now, she was gone. He had tried calling out to her when he saw her getting hurt, but it was to no avail. His cell was soundproof. He sat down in a corner feeling more depressed than he had since coming here, what might have been his best chance of escape was just stolen away from him.
*Back outside the facility*
"I'm sorry things didn't turn out like you'd hoped Celestia." Tempest told the Princess.
"It's not your fault Tempest." Celestia reassured. "Unfortunately affairs at the castle require my attention so I must be going."
"Be that as it may, I have something I want to show you." He telekinetically handed her the blueprints for the weapons he planned to build "From studying the creature I have been able to design weapons capable of siphoning the magic from somepony or restoring magic to somepony."
Celestia looked at the plans impressed, but concerned. She folded them up and declared. "I will present these to the council and see what they have to say about them."
"Thank you your majesty."
Celestia then reentered her chariot and her escorts began their return to Canterlot. While Tempest smiled to himself 'All according to plan.'
*Back in Tempest's office*
Tempest reentered his office to find Study Guide there waiting for him. "How did it go with the Princess?" Study Guide inquired.
"It went just about as well as I hoped." Tempest replied.
"I see." Study Guide replied, not sure how he should feel about that. "What are you going to do now?"
"Now, I want to work on a plan that will help explain why the creature is sapient without Celestia coming against us..." Tempest said planning to himself. "And I think I know just the way to do that." he finished with a grin.
"What would that be?"
"Celesta doesn't yet know how we acquired this creature. I will tell her we genetically created him in our labs by mistake."
"OK. But how would you explain his memories?" Study Guide inquired.
"Well I'll simply say that he psychologically developed these memories to explain his existence if it comes to that. In the meantime though I have another plan for that."
"What s it?" Study Guide asked.
"Well using a process of magic and psychology I can slowly have his memories removed and make him believe what we tell him. Though the process will take several weeks."
"Why not just use magic to alter his memories?"
"Study Guide you know as well as I that the princess banned the use and study of mind spells that powerful centuries ago. They are kept in he archives were only those with special permission from the princesses themselves may access them, and I doubt even I will be able to get her to permit me access" Study Guide's face lit up in recognition as he remembered this.
"Now I want you to assemble our finest psychologists and explain their duties to them understand?"
"Yes sir." Study Guide answered hesitantly and left the room.
*Back to first person POV with Jake*
*Warning slight gore ahead*
Well I honestly didn't think these guys could do anything worse to me than the vivisection, and you probably didn't either. But now these guys are trying to take away my memories and convince me I'm just a science experiment. UNBELIEVABLE!!!! It's bad enough they kidnap me, dissect me, and experiment on me. But now they're freaking taking what's left of my life away. NO! I won't put up with this.
But do you honestly want to know the worst thing? It's actually working, I'm starting to lose some of my memories. I've got to get out of here. But alas there's nothing I can do about it right now. I'm currently drugged and sleeping off the effects.
*A short time later*
My eyes flicker open and shut, the drugs must be wearing off. The nurse should be coming any second with a new dosage.
*Several minutes pass*
OK seriously what's going on the nurse always shows up way before now, the drugs have completely worn off. Well here she finally comes. She sticks me with the syringe and I pass out again.
*A few hours later*
I finally woke up. It looks like it's a little before whatever they've got planned for me is ready. Something feels off about all this. I keep wondering what was going on with the nurse and why I'm up so early. Wait I'm beginning to get an idea. Oh my gosh that's it! I know what to do. I KNOW HOW TO ESCAPE!
These guys have been keeping me here for quite some time. But today I'm going to escape this place. The horses have made one crucial mistake, you see these horses have been drugging me ever since they first began experimenting on me. Over time the human body builds up a slight tolerance to the drugs effects causing them to put the human to sleep for a significantly lower amount of time. Apparently they didn't take this in to account, or maybe their horse bodies are different and don't have this effect so they wouldn't expect it. Regardless my plan is, when the nurse comes to give me my second dosage I pretend to be asleep, so that she'll open the cell door. Once she does I'll unleash a surprise attack and render her unconscious, hopefully with as little pain as possible. Once that is done my cell door will still be open and I'll be able to begin my escape.
*A few hours later*
The drugs effects are starting to wear off finally, and the nurse hasn't shown up yet. That's good, time for me to get into position. I position myself close to the door to my cell but not too close so that I get in her way, that might look suspicious. I lay down and pretend I'm still affected by the drugs so she won't be afraid when she sees me. I wait until the hall door leading to my room finally opens, meaning the nurse is finally coming. I wait patiently until she opens the door to my cell 'Come on!' I'm getting jumpy, I can't blow it now, calm down Jake. She enters my cell and as she turns around to close the door I begin to get up quietly. Before she closes the door I grab her, she shrieks from this and I quickly close her mouth. I grab the syringe from her bag and inject her with the drugs, deep down a part of me is concerned about what the syringe contains, and whether or not it might be dangerous to horses, but logic dictates otherwise. Why would the horses inject me with something that was poisonous to them? It would make more sense for them to inject me with something they know works as a drug on every living creature. Before the drug takes full effect as I'm lowering her to the ground I whisper in her ear "Sorry." With that I place her gently on the ground and make my way out of my cell.
I feel the first taste of freedom I've had in a long time. It feels GREAT! Freedom is incredibly important to me and having been denied it for so long felt horrendous. But I couldn't just stand here embracing my freedom, I had to get a move on, they'll figure out I'm loose eventually. I approached the door that led outside the containment room, and looked outside. No one was in the hallways. So far so good, well here it goes. I move through the hallway very quietly so as not to get anyone's attention. Looking down the other hallways to make sure there was nobody there. How big was this place? At this moment I recalled the biggest flaw with my plan. The fact that I knew very little about the layout of this place. The horses always brought me to the exact same rooms, so I only knew my way to those rooms, I couldn't really remember the way out either because the first time they brought me into the building was weeks ago, and they haven't exactly shown me since then.
Another problem was the amount of horses here that could discover me. I needed to find a way to move around the place without risk of being seen. I could also really use a weapon, I didn't really want to kill anyone, not even Tempest though I did want some justice. But I wasn't afraid to fight my way out of here. I thought for a moment, 'If there are any vents here I could travel through them without being seen.' I looked around for vents but there weren't any here. 'Darn it!' I had to keep going before I was seen.
I made it to the end of the hall where it turned left and right. I quickly checked both directions to see there was no one, and took a left turn. Ran to the end of this hall where there was a door. I opened it just enough to peak through, and then backed off. Horses, there they were. How was I going to get past them? I looked around for vent or anything I could use to sneak past them. Nothing. I backtracked a little and noticed a ventilation duct I hadn't seen before, 'Perfect!' I pulled the vent out of its socket Thank God it wasn't screwed in. I crawled into the vent and pulled the cover back over the hole so no one would notice that it had been removed. I crawled through the vent to see where it would lead me too.
I finally came to AN ending to the maze of vents, I could have got out at other points I had found but there were horses there and I would've been caught. I dropped from the ceiling into a room that looked like a kitchen. It had a ton of tables with white table clothes over them and a back area that looks like it was used for making food. I guess it must have been like midnight or something cause no one was here to make food. I went to the back area to see if there was anything I could use. Nothing really useful, but I found two really sharp knives that I could use if I needed too. From here I continued back into the hallways.
*Tempest Reason third person POV*
Tempest was seated in his office when a random unicorn scientist knocked on his door. "Come in." The unicorn opened the door and stepped into the office. "What is it you want sir?"
"Well, you see sir there seems to be a slight glitch in the system." The unicorn said
"What do you mean?" Tempest asked confused.
"Sir, the nurse who was supposed to give the sedatives to the human, has failed to report in and confirm she did so."
Tempest looked alarmed for a second, but then reasoned with himself 'There's no need for alarm. The nurse probably just forgot about checking in. The creature was still secure, everything was perfectly fine' Tempest took a deep breath, and answered "Well find the nurse and ask her to check in she probably forgot to do so, and if she didn't then find out why she didn't check in. Understand?"
"Yes sir." The unicorn turned and trotted out of the room
'Yes. Everything is fine. Everything is perfectly fine.'
*Back to Jake First person POV*
I took my new knives and continued to walk through the hallway, lucky for me the horses hadn't set up much security, clearly they thought it was completely impossible to escape. Well they were wrong. I kept walking until I came to another intersection. Was I going in circles? This place all looks pretty much the same. I kept walking and passed by a room I was familiar with, I quickly moved away from the open doorway so the horses in the room wouldn't see me. I found another vent to enter and I did so, I was starting to get nervous walking out in the open.
Crawling through the vents I eventually found a place where there were some stairs that were going up, 'progress alright!' I made sure no one was around and I leapt out of the vent and ran up the stairs. The stairs lead me to another set of hallways, but since this building was mostly underground going up must be the correct way right? Let's find out. I walked along to another intersection, and immediately jumped back when I saw horses down the adjacent hallway fortunately they were looking away from me. I scolded myself for being so careless I had nearly been caught. Looking around the only way to go was straight ahead, but I'd have to sneak past that adjacent hallway. I hugged the wall and began to slowly sneak across the hallway, once I was close enough I dove to safely get out of sight from those horses, and proceeded to run across the hall in case any of them wanted to come this way.
*Third person POV Tempest*
The unicorn from before came charging into Tempest Reason's office. "Sir we have a situation."
Tempest slightly annoyed that the unicorn had just barged in unannounced. "What is it?"
"Well sir we looked around but couldn't find any trace of the nurse. That is until we checked the humans cell. The cell was open and the nurse was unconscious. She had been injected with the syringe and the human has escaped."
Tempest's jaw dropped. 'This can't be happening. This Can't Be Happening! THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING! NOT NOW!' "Put the facility on full alert! I want the creature caught before it has the chance to escape and harm Equestria!"
"Yes Sir!"
Tempest looked out his window his face filled with rage. 'Alien scum! I won't let you get out so you can hurt my nation!'
*Back to Jake with the first person POV*
A lot of exploring and traveling through vents later. I suddenly heard bells and alarms being sounded. 'Well guess they know I'm gone' Time to knock down the stealth, and amp up the speed. I ran across another hallway looking for a way out, all the rooms I had come across had been pretty much pointless to my goal. Running across the hall I glanced down an adjacent hallway where some horses spotted me. They began to chase after me telling me to stop, 'Yeah right!' I continued to run but since they were horses, well they were gaining on me. Thinking quickly I ran into a nearby room and locked the door behind me, opened the back door. But instead of going through it though I went back and hid in the room. The horses broke the door down and looked around after seeing the open door on the other side of the room one of them said "Quick he must be headed for the exit! This way!" and with that they ran through the door and turned right. 'Perfect now I know which way to go.' I followed them as best as I could but they were still faster than me They turned right at the end of the hall and by the time I got there they were already at the end of the next hall. I knew they'd eventually double back when they realize they should have caught up to me by now, so I crawled into another vent.
After crawling through the end of this ventilation system, I got out somewhere I think was close to the exit I started moving across the hall thinking just how many halls were in this place? "STOP RIGHT THERE!" Someone behind me shouted. That voice. I knew that voice. TEMPEST! I turned around clenching my hands around my knives. Tempest and about seven other horses who were with him were standing there glaring at me.
"You're coming back with me." Tempest declared.
"Not on your life!"
"I won't let you get out so you can destroy Equestria!"
"I'm not going to destroy Equestria!!"
By this point some other horses had heard us and gathered around behind us. I turned around to see a nurse horse standing several feet away. I got an idea, there was no way I could overpower Tempest and his posse by brute force in this confined area, and I didn't want to fight if I didn't have too. I looked back at Tempest to see that he had started charging his horn. I quickly threw the knife in my right hand in his direction. I knew I was going to miss but I was only trying to distract him so I could begin my plan. I turned around and ran over to the nurse and grabbed her and held my knife to her throat.
"HEY! Let her go!" Tempest screamed.
"First you back off! If you don't she may get hurt." I screamed back. I was bluffing I wouldn't actually hurt the nurse, sure she was working for Tempest but she probably didn't have any say in his affairs. I wasn't going to hurt someone innocent if I could help it. But Tempest wouldn't risk any of his fellow horses getting hurt. Not if he cared for his country like it seems he does.
"Why you-"
"NOW!"
"Arghh! Stand down everypony." Tempest said with a defeated tone. "
There was that saying again. Every pony. Were these guys ponies? I dunno I'm just gonna call em horses.
"You can't hurt Equestria. I won't let you Tempest declared.
"How do you know what I'd do you never even gave me a chance!!"
"You clearly don't deserve a chance! Look what you're doing."
"You forced me to do this! Just stay there! If I see anyone following me, well I won't be responsible for what happens." I yelled walking away from them my captive in hand, she was barely even struggling. Poor thing must be scared to near paralysis. I made sure no one was following us and I walked into some kind of storage room for broken metal supplies. I knocked the nurse out as painlessly as possible and set her on the ground. Looking around the room I noticed a large metal pipe that looked useful to me. I decided to swap it with my knife grasping the metal bar in my hands the weight of it felt perfect to wield.
I opened the door and looked around. I didn't see anyone in the hallways so I began making my way to the exit. I was so close I could feel it. I turned a corner and started running ahead but then four horses ran in front of me clearly intending to stop me. I grasped my metal pole, and took a stance saying "Get out of my way." They shook their head no and charged at me. I charged them back.
When I came close to the first one I swung my metal bar as hard as I could at the side of his head and he fell down completely out cold, a noticeable gash in the side of his head, but nothing he wouldn't recover from. The second tried to stomp me with his hooves but I moved to my left out of his way and wacked him over the head. The third got scared and tried to run off but the fourth stopped him so they both tried to jump me. I dodged and they fell on their heads the fourth was dizzy for a second but the third just ran off. The fourth then tried to use its powers on me shooting laser blasts at me. I jumped and dodged each blast and charged him when there was an opening. However before I could reach him a field of energy surrounded me and lifted me into the air. I struggled but I couldn't break free no matter what I did. I looked at the unicorn in front of me, and noticed his horn glowing, 'so he's the one doing this'. I looked at the metal pole in my hand, it was my only chance. I concentrated and flung the pole as hard as I could at the unicorn's face. "OUCH!" he yelled. and his horn 'sputtered' and the glow disappeared, and with it the energy field around me. I quickly ran forward and grabbed the unicorns head and smashed it into my knee to knock him out. I picked up my metal pole and ran to the exit.
There it was. I could see it. The way out. I hadn't seen something so beautiful in a long time. But before I could go through the doors someone behind me yelled "STOP!!!!" I turned around. It was Tempest and his posse, I wish this guy would just give up. I ignored him and ran through the door while he was still screaming. Outside I could see Tempest had prepared for this too as there were guards out here I managed to avoid being seen by most of them while I tried to quickly sneak past, but two of them spotted me when I got close to the woods. Here they come. The first unicorn charged at me I dodged and bashed him on the head easily enough. But the second managed to hit me with his front hooves and pin me to the ground. On the ground I saw Tempest getting out of the building about to alert the other guards to my presence. 'NO! Not when I'm so close!' I grabbed some dirt in my hand and flung it in the unicorn's eye, he grunted and recoiled while I brought my fists and feet to make his acquaintance. Yeah I punched and kicked him off me then once I got free I kept punching and kicking him until he passed out. I looked back to see that Tempest had alerted the guards and was beginning to approach me. I turned and ran straight into the woods. I heard Tempest yell NNNNOOOOOO!!!!!! behind me. I didn't care. I made it I was free, I still didn't stop running though, there was enough adrenalin flowing through my body to keep me going for a while. I was not going to get caught.
*Third person POV Tempest Reason*
"NNNNNOOOOO!!!!!!" Tempest yelled. "Don't just stand there go after it!!!"
"No wait!" A different voice shouted "We need to treat the wounded!" It was Study Guide.
"Are you undermining my orders Study Guide?! I said go after it!"
"Sir these ponies are wounded. We need to help them right now."
Tempest stared at Study Guide full of rage, but then started to cool down as he realized Study Guide was right. "Alright fine! You ten go and try to find the creature quickly! The rest of you let's get the ponies inside."
Ten ponies charged into the woods in a desperate attempt to find the human. While the rest headed back to the facility after the nurses put the two unconscious unicorns on a stretcher.
Tempest thought to himself "I will catch you again. I WILL bring you back here. I will punish you for escaping. I promise."
Study Guide on the other hand was thinking something completely different. "May Celestia guide you human." he tuned to look back at the woods one last time and thought to himself. "Good luck..... Jake."
I was finally free. Against all odds I had escaped from the horses and their facility. I can only imagine how mad they must be. But I feel so freaking GREAT right now. Some of the horses did try to follow me into the forest. But I used various hiding tactics such as climbing trees, hiding behind boulders, or just out right running in the opposite direction to avoid getting caught. They never found me 'Thank you God'. Now that it was all over at least for a little while I dared to ask myself the one question I had been dreading. "Now what?"
*Tempest reasons office third person POV*
Tempest was just staring at his desk. He still couldn't believe this had happened. Now he had to figure out to do about this situation. Obviously he needed to send out a group of ponies to find the creature, but there were other matters to consider. Like what to tell princess Celestia. Yes as much as he hated to admit it he did actually have to tell the princess sooner or later. According to the laws and rules that applied to this place he was required to inform the princess immediately when something like this happened, he was already late for that. He had to figure out exactly what to say without incriminating himself. If he didn't tell her she'd eventually find out anyway, then he'd be in bigger trouble. But if he played his cards right he'd get the princess to help find the creature and simply hand it over to him. In the meantime he'd stall for as long as he could, maybe his personal guard would find the creature and this whole thing would be unnecessary meaning no risk of Celestia finding out the creature was sapient.
There were some ponies that had been hurt by the human, but they were all doing well now. Tempest thought over all he'd learned about the human. It had to have a weakness somewhere, yes the creature was vulnerable to magic, but there had to be something else. One of the unicorns had managed to grab the creature, but that was because he was lucky and really close, it was difficult to catch a creature in magic when it didn't want to be caught. The unicorn probably only caught him because it wasn't expecting it. To catch a creature in magic that was moving fast took careful calculations. Calculations that you usually couldn't make when something was fighting or charging you. Still magic was our best shot right now at catching it. Tempest got up from his desk and went to check on how progress was going with the creatures recapture.
*Back to Jake third person POV*
Jake was sitting on the grass just wondering to himself what he should do. Should he try to find a village or something? Jake shook his head at that thought. No the horses there would probably treat him the same way those scientific ones did. Or they'd just turn him in. His best option would be to find a new place to hide, the horses would search this forest from top to bottom looking for him. He also had to try to survive out here. Jake only had minimal survival training, and most of what he remembered was from survival TV shows. He wondered if any of those tricks would even work on an alien world? Regardless still he had to try.
Priorities first, he needed to find a new place to hide. So he began walking in the opposite direction of the facility that had held him prisoner for so long. He took breaks whenever he needed to, and during those breaks he tried to make some useful things to make his journey easier, for example the first thing he did was use some vines to create a makeshift pack of sorts, all it could carry were things like his metal pipe and a few other necessities (if he had any) so it was more like a scabbard than anything else really. But it was still something he was proud of, especially since it took a lot of attempts to actually get right. His first creation in the wild he'd probably keep this in his memory for a long time.
He was rested now so time to continue. His stomach growled, reminding him of the necessity of food and water. Unfortunately Jake couldn't afford to stop to find food because had to keep moving or the horses might find him. Speaking of the horses, Jake suddenly heard a familiar sound coming closer. Wings flapping. Jake ran and dove into the bushes that were nearby. He saw through the canopy of trees at least six horses fly by. Had they seen him? He waited for a while but the horses didn't come back, so Jake decided they probably didn't notice him. He started walking again.
*Several hours later*
It was officially way to dark to continue. Jake had to find somewhere to rest for the night. It was going to be cold, and he couldn't make a fire without the risk of being seen. He hadn't seen any predators, or even any signs of them so he shouldn't need a fire other than for warmth. He hoped.
*The underground science facility*
Tempest Reason was marching toward the facilities entrance. The time to tell Celestia about the creatures escape was near, and he had finally decided on what to tell the princess. He'd begin by telling the princess that the creature had been created in his genetics lab by complete accident. Then somehow the creature became self aware. From there they had used magic and teaching to help it learn to speak and understand Equestrian. He'd describe it as a miracle but unfortunately it came with a side effect. He would explain that the creature developed a slight mental disorder, and began a desperate attempt to explain its existence. The creature had made up a story of an enitre world inhabited with creatures like it, and that it had come here through some magical accident. We tried to explain to it that these were just delusions, but when we tried the creature became aggressive, and refused to listen to us. In the middle of our trying to fix this problem the creature staged an escape.
Now would come the best part of Tempest's description of what happened. Tempest had decided to exaggerate the carnage the creature had done. This way when the princess knew how violent it could be, there's no way she'd ever allow it into society. It would be returned to him at once. From there the research would continue until they learned all they could from the creature then he'd put it out of its misery.
Tempest exited the facility and headed toward the carriage that had been prepared for him. Tomorrow he would be in Canterlot to tell the princess the "True story".
*Back to Jake*
Morning. Finally. Jake got up after the sun shone in his face, and took a look at his surroundings. He was still where he had fallen asleep last night against a tree, so that meant nothing had bothered him while he was sleeping. Good. Jake got up his stomach rumbling again, and he felt very parched. Oh well nothing he could do about that now. Jake was pretty sure he was getting pretty close to the end of the forest so he continued on his journey.
Eventually he made it out of the forest. "Finally! YES!" He exclaimed. However unfortunately for Jake he was so distracted by his accomplishment, he forgot to check if the coast was clear. High up above the ground six pegasi were circling the area for the human. One of them spotted Jake. "Hey there's the human!" The squad leader looked down and saw where the other was pointing. "Good eye. Now give the signal!" One of the pegasi pulled out a flare and yanked the pull-string to activate it. It launched into the sky and burst into bright red flames in the shape of an eight pointed star.
Jake looked up when he heard the explosion 'What the heck was that?!' Then Jake spotted the pegasi. 'Great. Just great they probably signaled to Tempest exactly where I am. Well I'm not going down without a fight!' He gripped his metal pipe hard and took a fighting stance, Jake was an ex-cop so he had had plenty of combat experience. Granted he hadn't kept up his practice since he retired, but he still remembered enough. Somethings you just never forget. Suddenly four unicorns appeared on the ground next to where the pegasi had landed. 'That's their reinforcements? I was expecting worse.' Jake eyed the situation carefully he was outnumbered ten to one, but he probably had more combat experience than any of them. But if the worst happened and they were too much for him, he could retreat back into the forest and change up the playing field or outright retreat if he needed too.
"Creature surrender now, and we will go easy on you."
"That's not going to happen."
"So be it then. Engage HIM!"
The pegasi charged full speed while the unicorns fired energy blasts from their horns. Jake dodged to the right of the first pegasus, and wacked his head with the pipe. The pegasus was down but not out. The second pegasus tried the same manuever and was met with the same result except Jake made sure to hit him harder so he'd be knocked out. He was. The third pegasus managed to get close to Jake and tried to bring his hooves down on him, but Jake grabbed his hooves and soon the two were in a battle of strength, each one trying to tackle the other. The unicorn was slightly stronger than Jake and Jake was beginning to realize it. So he quickly thought of another tactic. He side kicked the unicorns back legs throwing him off balance, then bashed him in the side of the head until he passed out. Jake had been dodging the energy bolts this whole time, but he got a little distracted when he was wrestling the third pegasus and a bolt managed to hit him. "Gah!" It hurt a lot but he didn't let the pain stop him. He wacked a fourth pegasus behind him in the side of the head with his pipe and the pegasus fell to the ground.
"Is this the best you can do?" Jake taunted. The two pegasi standing nearest him were mad about that and charged at Jake. This was exactly what Jake wanted. He dove left and the two pegasi missed him. Jake then jumped and kicked the pegasus closest to him which knocked him into the other so they both fell down. Jake seized this opportunity to knock them unconcious. That left six. Jake turned to face the rest of his enemies. They had all regrouped, including the first pegasus he had knocked down, although he looked a little dizzy.
The last two pegasi charged and the unicorns fired their lasers. Jake ran forward and rolled underneath the pegasi to get at the unicorns. Following up his roll he leapt forward and rammed his pole into one of the unicorns heads. The group was stunned by this and Jake knocked out another while they were distracted. After that they recovered and tried to blast him. Jake dove out of the way, and looked up to see that the last two unicorns had zapped each other. They were both lying on the ground. 'Hah.' Jake thought then turned to look at the last two pegasi. Who returned his look with absolute disbelief plastered on their faces. Jake decided to speak up. "I'll give you one chance to surrender. " The two pegasi snapped back to attention, and shook their heads. "Your choice." They charged each other, Jake rolled again, but the two pegasi had been expecting this, and quickly swooped around for a second strike. They rammed into Jake knocking him to the ground. Jake quickly got back to his feet. He was in a lot of pain but not enough to stop him. He ran and grabbed a pegasus by the mane and pulled with all his might, yanking the pegasus' head with him. Jake kicked the pegasus' legs from underneath him and threw the pegasus at the other one still standing as hard as he could. Fortunately Jake had just enough strength to make the two pegasi collide. They fell down like bowling pins. Jake didn't let up, he ran with his pipe in hand and bashed them both over the head knocking them unconscious.
Finally it was over. Jake dropped to his knees panting. He had won, he was in a lot of pain but he would recover. Jake took this moment to examine his surroundings. He noticed in the distance that there was another forest completely separate from this one. 'Really? Another forest. Oh well it's probably the best place for me to hide right now.' So Jake made his way to the new forest. This one seemed even darker and more foreboding than the last. Regardless Jake entered, and started planning ahead, to find some food, and water and eventually build a shelter.
Little did Jake suspect that he had just entered one of the most dangerous places in the general area. The Everfree Forest.
*Canterlot Castle with Tempest Reason*
Tempest was preparing for his meeting with Celestia. He had just received a letter informing him about how one of his search teams, had located the creature but was unable to apprehend it. The letter also mentioned how the creature had clobbered all the ponies on the team. 'More grist for the mill.' Tempest thought. He'd be sure to mention this to Princess Celestia. Speaking of which here he was in front of the two giant doors that lead to Princess Celestia's throne room. 'Here we go.' Tempest took a deep breath and entered the throne room.
"Ah Tempest glad to see you finally made it." Princess Celestia greeted.
"Glad to be here your highness."
"Shall we begin the important matters?"
"If you wish to Princess."
"Very well then is it true that the new creature escaped your custody? And that you're only now coming to tell me?" Celestia asked.
Tempest briefly wondered how she had figured it out. "Yes your majesty you see-"
*One long explanation later*
"-And most recently my search team that I sent to find the creature, managed to find it."
"Really?" Princess Celestia asked surprised.
"Well yes but unfortunately when they went in to recapture it the creature brutally fought back leaving most of them for dead. Fortunately it looks like they will recover. But the creature is still very much a threat."
"I see. What would you like me to do?" Celestia inquired.
"I strongly suggest you send out your royal guard to search for the creature. And as soon as they find him, to immediately return him to my custody." Tempest answered.
Celestia considered Tempest's request. "I agree with your proposal Tempest."
Tempest grinned, everything was going perfectly. "Thank you your highness I-"
"However." Celestia interrupted. "Before I return the creature to your facility I want him brought here so that I can determine whether or not he is a threat myself."
"What! But your majesty. You-you...you...you can't risk him breaking free and then being unleashed into the city." Tempest stammered.
"I assure you Tempest Reason my security will be more than adequate enough to contain the creature."
"But-"
"No buts Tempest my decision is final." Celestia declared.
"As you wish your majesty." Tempest said through gritted teeth.
"You are dismissed."
Tempest turned and left the room, thinking to himself, this is not how I planned this would turn out. This could ruin everything. This isn't good.
Would I be safe here? I can't help but wonder that to myself. But right now I need to focus on finding food and water. Listening hard I heard the sound of a stream or a river. Hah 'Objective complete water found'. I walked in the direction the noise was coming from, and found myself alongside a river. The river no doubt held fresh water, however it was dangerous to drink any water that wasn't boiled. Hopefully I can find a container of some sort to boil the water in. I made a mental note of where the river was located, and went off to gather some supplies and hopefully find a container to boil some water in.
I gathered up some branches and twigs, to build myself a fire, and possibly a lean-to shelter. While away from the river I noticed that there were tracks that looked an awful lot like wolf tracks. Great like I need more animals to hunt me. There weren't any tracks near the river though. Maybe that means that the wolves don't come near the river for some reason. Or it could mean that something even more dangerous lives near the river which the wolves are smart enough to stay away from. I hadn't seen any evidence of the latter, so I'm going to hope its the former. I placed my branches and twigs in the pile I had gathered and turned around to go get some more. As I'm searching for more twigs, I find an odd shaped bit of tree that looks almost like a cup, I could use this for boiling water lucky me.
Once I've gathered enough supplies I head out to see if maybe I can find a squirrel or something, or heck even an apple. I hunt for a while until it starts to get dark and I prepare to head back. I did manage to snag one squirrel fortunately. As I head back to my campsite I hear a low growl coming from my right. I look to see two pairs of glowing green eyes staring at me, and what was that smell? I watch as two wolves step out of the bushes and into the moonlight. But these weren't any ordinary wolves, these wolves appeared to be made of wood 'How the heck does that work!!?' The wolves lunge at me but I move out of the way and literally knock their heads off with my metal pole. "Well that was easy." Suddenly the broken piles of twigs are enveloped in a green aura and float back to their proper places and reform. "Oh come on! How is this even fair?" The two wolves charge at me again and I dive out of the way. Now I'm stuck in between them, they charge at me again 'how original.' and I dive away and watch them collide into each other. They crumble into twigs upon their collision, and I make a beeline for the river before they can reform.
*Canterlot Castle with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna third person POV*
Princess Celestia was marching with Princess Luna to her map room. Celestia was filling Luna in on the events of the creatures escape.
"So you see Luna, we need to recapture this creature before he can cause any more harm."
"We understand sister. I mean I understand. This creature should be brought to justice as soon as possible."
"Easy Luna, this creature may not be in complete control of his actions. Tempest Reason informed me the creature had been having delusions, and has developed a mental disorder."
"All the more reason to capture it as soon as possible."
"It is a he Luna, we will recapture him, but we should also treat him the same way we would a pony, he is a thinking creature after all."
"As you wish sister. But let us not forget his actions have made him a criminal, and therefore it-" Celestia looked hard at Luna "He should be treated as such."
"We will see Luna we will see."
The two princesses entered the map room where Tempest Reason was directing the royal guard on where the human was most likely located.
"That'll do Tempest we'll take over." Princess Celestia announced.
"As you wish your majesty. But I insist on staying, to offer assistance." Tempest requested
"As you wish." Celestia replied. "Show Luna and I all that you know."
"Well some members of one of my search teams I sent out to find the creature last encountered it here." Tempest pointed to a section of the map just outside of White Tail Woods.
"Very good, however Tempest I respectfully request that you, as well as all those assembled here refer to the creature as a he."
"What!? But why your majesty?"
"Because he's a living creature that deserves better than to be given such a belittling title as it."
"Ummm... As you wish your majesty. Anything else?"
"Actually there is one thing." Celestia began. "Does the creature happen to have a name?"
"...Ummm... well uh..."
"Please answer the question Tempest surely he preferred to be called something other than creature while he was in your custody."
"Well uh... the creature liked to be called uh...... Jake."
"Hmmm. An unusual name, but very well, please continue Tempest."
"Well as I said we last encountered the creature-"
"Jake." Celestia interrupted.
"...........Jake was last seen in this area." Tempest said through clenched teeth and pointed to the area just outside White Tail Woods.
"So he could be anywhere in that general area?" Celestia asked.
"Well yes. But I think the crea-... Jake is likely still near there."
"What makes you think so Tempest?" Celestia asked.
"Well the cr- Jake just managed to get out of White Tail Woods, the only place near there is the Everfree forest, and I doubt he'd want to go into another forest just after leaving one."
"Why do you think this."
"A creature in his mental state clearly wouldn't be thinking properly. So he would want to stay away from the forest."
"I disagree Tempest, I believe it is highly likely that he is hiding in the Everfree forest."
"Well if you insist your majesty we can divide our forces to search for it-him."
"I think that would be the wisest course of action. That will be all for today Tempest, you are dismissed." Celestia announced.
Everyone leaves the room except for the two princesses. "Sister why did thou insist so hard that the creature be called by his name?" Luna asked her sister.
"I'm not entirely sure Luna. I just feel like there's something about this creature that we don't know." Celestia answered.
"But there's plenty of things we don't know about the creature. We don't even know what it is."
"This is different. It feels like there's something we should know about Jake, but we don't."
"Are you saying Tempest might be hiding something from us?"
"I'm not sure Luna. I'm not sure."
"Well I for one agree with Tempest that once we capture him we should immediately hand him over to Tempest and have him secured."
"No Luna I want him brought here so that we can learn more about it ourselves."
"I will do as you say Sister, but do be careful. However Sister do you think I could locate the creature through its dreams? Assuming it actually has dreams."
"I do not think that is wise Luna, we don't know how Jake could react to having his dreams invaded."
"I understand Tia."
"However if you could find mention of a strange creature in anypony's dreams, that might be useful."
"Oh that is clever Sister. I will try that. Farewell Celestia." Luna said with a smile on her face.
With that the two sisters left the map room, and each went their own way. Celestia wondered to herself "Hmmm. If the creature is near the Everfree forest, perhaps I should send a letter to Twilight."
*Back to Jake in first person POV*
Running a fast as I could I made it back to the riverside. I tried to come up with a plan in case the wooden wolves followed me. 'Come on what can stop wooden wolves?... uh... FIRE! Fire will stop them!' I needed to start a fire anyway. I gathered some stones and sticks to attempt to make fire and well to make a long story short I failed three times whether because it was the wrong combination of rocks or I failed to build the flames up enough. I finally got it right on the fourth try, guess I should be grateful for that. It turns out I didn't need to be stressed out the wolves never showed up again. I guess they really want to stay away from the river. With the fire built I made myself a spit to cook my food, and boil my water on. I attached some vines to the strange tree cup I found so it would stay on the spit.
As for the squirrel, I had to gut it using some sharp rocks I found. Ugh it was disgusting, and I messed up most of it but I managed to get enough good meat to sustain me for now. Food and water were finally mine to enjoy. I took a drink, man boiled water is pretty bad, way too hot. But it'll keep me alive, beggars can't be choosers. I tried to construct a shelter but it was getting too dark out, and I couldn't finish. 'Oh well I'll just have to curl up by the fire for the night.' So I do just that.
The next morning I woke up and decided to build a lean-to shelter. It took a while but I finally managed to get it right. Objective complete shelter. It was mostly made of branches an logs etc. that I found, with leaves aligned on the top so that rain would flow off of it. Not much of a home. But it's mine, at least until THEY find me. I need more supplies, time for another forest hunt. I venture out into the forest again.
I'm not in there for long when I hear a growling noise behind me. 'What the heck is that?!' I turn to look in the direction, the noise is coming from. A gigantic creature that resembled a lion was staring right at me. It roared at me loud enough to cause my hair to shake 'This is not good.' I run away from it, but looking back it's clearly faster than me. I stop and it leaps at me to swipe its paw at me I leap over its paw and whack its face with my metal pole. All this accomplished was to make it angry. Greeeeeaaaatttttt. I try running again, and I'm a bit surprised to see it's gone. Until I look up and see a lion with BAT WINGS flying after me. 'That thing can fly!? That's not freaking fair.' It comes down trying to crush me with its singer tail 'It has one of those too?' but I dive out of the way. I can't beat this thing with brute force I need a new plan. My fire! I can lead it back there and scare it or burn it with the fire.
I begin racing back to the river bobbing and weaving as I go. The monster is trying desperately to catch me. It finally leaps past me to try and stop my course and swings its paw at me. Which I jumped over again, and ran past the lion-thing heading for the river. At last I made it back, and my campfire was still burning. I grabbed a thick branch and put some flammable moss on it to make it into a torch. I lit the moss just in time for the lion-thing to charge through the area that separated the trees from my camp. 'So some predators will come down here. Good to know.' I wield my torch like a new weapon yelling and thrusting it at the lion-thing in an attempt to scare him off. He does seem a little scared of the fire however he's not scared enough to completely back off, wait why am I calling it a he, it could be a girl. Regardless it kept circling me trying to find an opening to attack. So instead I attacked. I dash forward avoiding its paws, and hold my torch up against its mane setting it ablaze. The creature roared with both pain and fright and began running around wildly trying to put out the fire. Eventually it got desperate enough to jump into the river and got swept away by the current.
I wait for a while to see if it'll come back. Finally I decide to let my guard down. That thing is not coming back anytime soon. However the fight I had with the lion-thing made me realize how severely underequipped I am. I need new weapons, tools, and supplies. So that's my next priority, I'll build a hunting bow, and an axe, that is if I can.
*Canterlot Castle Princess Celestia's chambers third person*
Celestia sat at her desk looking for some paper, and a quill. "There you are." She said as she found what she was looking for. She quickly began writing a letter. Before she finished however a guard came in to speak with her.
"Your majesty. The new ambassador is here to see you."
"I will meet with him as soon as I finish this letter."
"Your majesty he says it's urgent."
"Alright, alright give me a moment." She said as she began writing faster. Once she finished she put the letter and quill down, and sealed the folded the scroll up ready to be sent. 'I'll send it tomorrow.' She thought. As she and the guard left the room Celestia thought to herself 'I hope I didn't leave out anything important.'
*Back to Jake first person POV*
OK this is frustrating. I keep trying to make a bow, but just when I think I've got the perfect shape it snaps in two. I already made an "axe" by just tying a sharp rock together with a stick using vines. I even made some arrows already, only a few of them had stone tips but, the wooden ones should do for hunting small game. However I can't test them out to see if I got them right until my bow was ready. Ugh. I try again, and again, and again, and again. Finally I decide to take a break. I sit down by a tree to catch my breath. 'Maybe I'm doing something wrong. Maybe the wood isn't thick enough or something' After I catch my breath I go back to try again and after many attempts I finally get it. OH YEAH!
I use some thin but strong vines I found as the bowstring, and go out to practice. I nock an arrow to the string aim at a nearby tree, pull back and release. OK either I need practice or I did something wrong with either the arrow or the bow cause I missed by more than a foot. Let's hope its the first one. I'm calling it a day.
The next morning came and I wanted to practice some more. I practice for a few hours however there's only so much practice I can do. Right now I need to go hunting. I bring my bow with me, my metal pipe, a torch, and my arrows and head out into the forest looking for game.
As I go deeper I smell something eerily familiar. 'Oh no.' Suddenly I'm surrounded by those wooden wolf creatures I've met before. There must be at least twenty of them snarling at me. I quickly draw my bow ignite one of my arrows with the torch and release it at one of the wolves. It hit him in the shoulder, I was aiming for the face, oh well I wait to see him burst into flames..... Any second now. The wood wolf rolls on the ground and the flame from my arrow goes out, and the wolves direct their attention back to me. 'Why did I think that would work? Let's see there's no way I can fight my way out of this, I need to get somewhere safe.' I look up, last I checked wolves can't climb trees, I run towards the nearest tree leaping over the wolves in my way and begin climbing quickly. The wooden wolves try to get to me but I'm way to high up for them to reach, and I'm only going higher. 'Alright I should be safe up here. I'll just wait until they leave.' Suddenly the wolves below me are surrounded in a green aura, and they begin breaking apart and merging into one giant wooden wolf. One that's tall enough to reach me. 'Oh come on! How is this freaking fair?!' The giant wolf snaps at me I leap to another branch, barely managing to grab it and pull myself up. 'What do I do. OK first don't panic, maybe I can-' Suddenly I see something fly through the air and collide with the giant wooden wolf. Whatever it was exploded in a cloud of green mist, and the wolf-thing was knocked away. A few more of those things flew at him I now saw they were some sort of bottle. They exploded on contact and the giant wooden-wolf ran off scared.
I look down to try and find whoever, and whatever had just saved me, wondering if it had done so intentionally. I don't see anyone. Suddenly a voice calls out "Whoever you are please do come here. I can feel your presence very near." Whatever it was spoke in an accent that I think sounded African, but I'm not sure. I climbed down the tree since there was no point in staying up there, either this person would help me, or I'd have to run from it, and I can't do that in a tree. Looking around I saw a hooded figure come out from behind some trees. "I knew there was some new creature I would see. Now tell me what are you supposed to be?" 'Ok it seems friendly enough.'
"I-" Suddenly my body jerks and I fall to my knees unable to control myself as my body begins speaking for me. I've felt this feeling before but never this strong. "I-I was created in a genetics lab located- Ddahhhh! NO!" I grab at my head screaming at whatever is trying to control me. "NO! I'm a human being! I was born in the United States of America! My name is Jake Darrison! I have a family! I have a home! I'm not just some creation from a laboratory! AAAAHHHHHH!" I struggle harder than before and now that I've said what I needed to say I can feel whatever that was fading away. My voice had sounded so monotone, and my eyes were just staring straight forward, like I was in a trance. I had felt like this back when the horses were trying to erase my memories and replace them. So this must somehow be related. Maybe this persons question of my origin had triggered something.
Speaking of the creature it had recoiled from my outburst and was staring at me, with a look of what was probably confusion or fear or something. I couldn't tell through the hood. She finally spoke again.
"Are you okay? That was quite a display."
"I think I'm fine now I'm not quite sure what happened there."
"I've never seen something like you before. Can you please tell me what you are and more."
"Well like I said I'm a human."
She looks at me then says "I think I see. Now come follow me."
"Why do you speak in rhymes?"
"It is simply the way my people speak. I assure you I am no freak."
"I didn't think you were a freak I was just curious."
"Now let us get to my home. In this forest it is not safe to roam."
She led me through the forest apparently taking me to her home. I'm pretty sure it was a she by the voice but I can't be certain. She eventually led me to a hut that was literally built into a tree. Kinda cool, but it did have some creepy looking mask and decorations adorning the place.
She noticed me staring at her decorations and said. "Please don't be scared by my decora. By the way my name is Zecora."
"I'm Jake." We enter the house and Zecora takes off her hood, letting me see her face. She looks different from all the other horses I've seen, she's more like a zebra. She has some olden jewelry on too. But the grey and dark colors on her look pretty similar to the colors of the horses who held me captive. I'd better keep an eye on her just to be safe.
"I'm sure you have many questions to ask. So I shall make answering them my task." She announced.
"OK. What are you?"
"A question I do not mind. Zebra is the name of my kind."
"How did you get that wooden-wolf to run off?"
"It's a very simple notion. I used a Scare-Away potion."
"I see. Well thank you." She nodded at my thanks. "How did you know I needed help?"
"I've known you were here for quite some time. I have become quite attuned to this forest since my prime. I sensed there was something strange here from how the animals acted. To go searching for you was how I reacted."
"Interesting. Now why did you want to find me?"
"Because you were something new and it gave me something to do. I wanted to find out if you were a threat and now I know you're not because we met."
"OK, well I'm no threat I promise. I think that's all the questions I have for now. It's getting late is it alright if I spend the night here?" Zecora nodded her approval at me. She led me to a room where I could sleep for the night. I said "thank you" as she left, and I began thinking about whether or not I could trust her. She was different from all the other people I'd met here, and she didn't seem to know anything about me. But I've been fooled before. Well something deep down told me to trust her, and I think it's better to trust someone and be wrong, than to mistrust someone and be wrong. With that thought I lay my head down on the guest bed and went to sleep. My first comfortable sleep since I got here.
*Princess Twilight's Castle in nearby Ponyville third person POV*
Twilight Sparkle sat on her thrown around the new map she and her friends had uncovered. She was wondering where the map might send them next, or if it had anywhere else for them to go to. She honestly had no real plans for today other than her daily routine, which was pretty much finished already. "Maybe I'll just go see if my friends want to hang out for the rest of the day." She declared when Twilight's assistant Spike entered the room.
"Hey Twilight what's going on?" Spike asked.
"Nothing much Spike. I might try to hang out with the girls." Twilight answered.
"That sounds good Twi-buuurp!" Spike was interrupted as a letter was sent through his magical fire. Twilight looked up and quickly grabbed the letter with her magic.
Dear Princess Twilight
It has recently come to my attention that a new creature is present in Equestria. Its current location is unknown however evidence suggests that it may be near the Everfree Forest. This is currently unconfirmed I will send another letter if there is more evidence suggesting its location. Until then keep a look out for unidentified creatures if they come near Ponyville. But do not search the forest until more evidence turns up.
Sincerely:
Princess Celestia
Twilight set the letter down. "Spike call the girls."
It turns out I really didn't have to worry about the zebra. She's really friendly. Seriously she's letting me stay at her home for a while, she helped me make my tools better than they were, she's even offered to help me build a new home of my own. I might build that up high in a tree though, that'd be cool. She's bringing me supplies from the nearby town too, and even helping me make traps to catch game. There's also a bathroom I can use finally. Back in my containment cell all I had was a little compartment panel that would slide away revealing a place for me to do business. It didn't give much privacy, but there was hardly anyone there to watch me anyway.
She did ask me to go to town though. I explained to her why I couldn't go, at least not yet. She said she understood, but felt I was misjudging the ponies in town. She said something about them learning their lesson about people being different, and something about a first hand experience. Right now she had gone into town herself to get some of her own supplies. She's told me all about this world, apparently it's called Equus, and right now I'm in the Everfree Forest which is near the town of Ponyville. 'Ponyville, kind of an unoriginal name. Oh well maybe the founders were going for something simple.' Also these horse creatures are actually ponies, and they're only one of the dominant species on this planet. There's also gryphons, cows, changelings and many more. Those wooden wolves are timber-wolves, and the lion-thing was a manticore. But back to the present, right now I'm thinking about going to the edge of the forest so I can take a look at the town.
Looking at the town is probably a bad idea. But honestly I've got nothing else to do today, just gotta be careful and stay out of sight. Zecora had shown me several paths she commonly took through the forest, and I took the one she mentioned led to Ponyville. I noticed the area was slowly getting brighter as I got closer to the edge of the forest. I finally made it just outside the Everfree Forest. I had to shield my eyes from the sunlight because it was so bright. The forest was so much darker and my eyes had adjusted to that level of lighting. But when I finally got a good look at the town, it was beautiful. I don't mean beautiful in looks, but rather it felt beautiful, peaceful, like home. Sigh. I can't see the ponies very well from here, maybe I should get closer. I carefully sneak closer to get a better view, there's virtually no cover to hide behind, but I shouldn't need it. I get to a place where I can see the ponies going about their daily lives. Like I said before beautiful. I can't stay here any longer I might get caught.
*Back at Zecora's hut*
Man I still don't know what to do with the rest of my day. Zecora isn't back yet so I can't ask her if there's anything she wants me to do. I sit down and think for a while. 'Hmmm. I wonder if the shelter I built is still standing. Maybe I'll go check that out.' I decide that's what I'm going to do, so I gather some supplies just in case I run into any timber-wolves or manticores, or worse. I make it down to the river without running into anything dangerous 'lucky me.' I come to where my camp was located and see that my shelter actually is still standing. 'Maybe I should take it down it'll leave a trail for THEM to find me.' I think about it but decide not to destroy my shelter, because... Well it didn't feel right. It's a memory, a symbol now, maybe I'll take it down when I leave the forest. Suddenly I hear a familiar sound. An all too familiar sound. The sound of flapping wings. "Oh no."
*A few minutes ago third person*
Flying up above the Everfree Forest is a squadron of ten pegasi, on the search for the escaped creature. One of the pegasi speaks up "We've been searching this area for hours. I doubt the creature is still here, if he ever was."
"Our orders were to search the Everfree Forest. So that's what we're going to do." The squad leader stated.
"But sir we've searched this area thoroughly. Don't tell me you seriously want to stick around much longer."
'This recruit had some guts.' The leader thought to himself. 'But he is right. This is boring.' "We'll make one final swoop around the area then we'll move on to the next."
'Finally something different.' The recruit thinks to himself. As the pegasi make their final swoop of the area one of them shouts. "Hey what's that down there by the river?!"
The leader looked down and spotted their target. "That's him that's the creature. Troops mobilize and surround."
*Back to Jake*
Ten pegasi landed on the ground surrounding me. 'Not again.' But wait these pegasi were different from the others who tried to capture me. They were all white with blue manes, and golden armor, and they all looked pretty much the same. And they had spears! Were they some kind of police force? I couldn't think of that stuff now I had to focus.
One of the guards spoke up "Move in to capture it boys."
"If you try that you'll regret it." I said. Some of the horses, I mean ponies reacted to my speaking, saying things like "What! The creature can speak?!" and "It can understand us?"
The lead Pegasus spoke up again " So you can speak." I nod my head. "Then surrender yourself so that we may bring you before the princess."
"On what charge?"
"We are under direct orders from Princess Celestia herself to bring you to her. It doesn't matter what charge, just surrender."
"No. I don't surrender without a good reason to."
"Very well. Then I guess we have to do this the hard way. Subdue the creature!" I took my battle stance and prepared for the biggest battle I've faced yet since coming to this world...... OK these guys were easy, don't get me wrong they were tougher than the other ponies I fought. But considering the armor and spears they had I would've expected more of a challenge. At the start of the fight two pegasi had charged me, which I quickly avoided. I hit them with my metal pipe when I could and they dropped like a rock. Another one came at me and I parried his spear with my pipe. Now think about it which would win a parry? A hoof, or a hand? That's right I won, I easily out-skilled his parry since hooves aren't meant for close quarters combat, and once that was done I knocked him out. After he fell I put my metal pipe away and picked up two of the three spears that were lying on the ground. 'The odds just got a little more even.' I used my new weapons to force the pegasi to keep their distance. 'Just seven left.' Four of them try to jump at me from different directions at the same time. I duck and roll away, and watch as they all crash into each other. They quickly got back up, but it was my turn to attack. I jump and kick the pony in front of me, which knocks him into another pony and they both topple over. One of the other two tried to jab me with the end of his spear. I ducked and whacked his head with the bunt of my spear and followed up with my knee to the side of his head. He fell unconscious and I walked over to knock out the two that fell over.
Once those two were dealt with I turned to the fourth who had decided to fall back to the only other three pegasi still standing 'smart move.'. I decided to speak to them.
"Just give up you're losing this fight. You won't beat me." I said.
"The royal guard never surrender." the squad leader declared.
"Sometimes surrender is the only option. You won't win this fight, do the smart thing, leave and come back with more troops."
"I can't do that."
I sighed "Your choice." and with that the fight resumes. Two pegasi tried to tackle me which I just rolled under, however I wasn't expecting the apparent leader to be right there when I stopped. He brought his hoof down on my face, which hurt a lot, then he turned around and bucked his legs. Owww now that really hurt, one of the pegasi threw their spear at me which I barely managed to duck out of the way of. The squad leader yelled at the one that threw the spear reminding him that they were supposed to capture the creature not kill it. I think adrenalin started kicking in allowing me to ignore the pain cause I stopped hurting as much, and I used my returning strength to bash into the pony in front of me. After knocking him to the ground I tried to knock him out but one of the others tackled me. He held me down with his hooves, but I brought my legs up and kicked myself free. I picked up my spears, which I had dropped when he tackled me and knocked him out with the wooden end, (I didn't want to kill them).
I turned around to look at the last three. One decided to charge me followed by another I swung my spear but the first one blocked it and swung his at me. I ducked but now the second was behind me. Using both spears in both hands I parried their blows trying to find an opening. I finally found one when the Pegasus on my right stumbled a bit, I brought the back-end of my spear into his face and knocked him to the ground. Then I swung around and bashed the other one in the face. Once they were both down I made sure they were KOed. Just one left.
We stared each other down. Waiting for one of us to make a move. Who'd strike first me or the squad leader? Finally the Pegasus had had enough and charged at me. I held my ground as he lashed out with his spear. I countered with my one of my spears, and we began to parry. Stroke upon stroke, parry after parry, this guy wasn't half bad. Suddenly he did something I wasn't expecting and one of my spears flew out of my hand. I was stunned for a second, but only a second. I clutched my remaining spear with both hands and continued to trade blows. Finally I kicked out with my left leg and got him when he wasn't expecting it. I followed up with a quick hard stroke to the side of his head and down he went.
So that's pretty much what happened there. After that incident I went back to Zecora's which is where I am now. I took a healing potion Zecora had shown me, and I sat down waiting for her to get back.
*three hours later*
OK where is she, she should've been back by now. Did she decide to stay in town for the day? Maybe she was on her way back. I decided to go back outside the forest to see if she was coming.
*Princess Twilight's Castle Ponyville third person POV*
Twilight paced back and forth waiting for Spike and her friends to arrive. She wondered to herself what exactly was going on. What was this new creature, what should she do?
Finally Twilight's pacing came to an end as her friends entered her castle's map room. First came Spike, followed by Rainbow Dash, then Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and finally Fluttershy. Twilight turned to look at her friends, "Ah girls I'm glad you're finally here."
"No problem Twi. What's going on?" Rainbow Dash asked
"Yah Spike said something urgent had come up."
"Ooh. Ooh, is it a new map location? Are we going somewhere new? Wait wouldn't our cutie marks be glowing if that was the case? Something else must be going on. What is it Twi? Tell me. Tell me." Pinkie said getting right up in Twilight's face as she did so.
"Calm down Pinkie. Let me explain." Twilight said pushing Pinkie away from her. "Just yesterday I received a letter from Princess Celestia informing me that there is an unknown creature in Equestria, and evidence seems to point to it being in the Everfree Forest."
The others stared in surprise at this. But only for a few seconds, they were kinda use to things like this happening.
"Did she say anything else about the creature, what it looks like or anything darling?" Rarity asked.
"No not yet she said she would send another letter once she had more information." Twilight replied.
*At Canterlot Castle*
'Why is it that whenever I have an important letter to send I get interrupted by something that needs my attention.' Princess Celestia thought to herself, as she was writing another letter to Twilight. A patrol of guards had reported back about encountering the creature, and losing a fight to it. The guards had reported about the creature speaking with them, and even offering a chance to escape, which they had refused. This fact interested Celestia, but she didn't have time to think about this now. She had to meet with that new ambassador again. Celestia stopped to think about this new ambassador. He showed a lot of potential, might even become a prince, only problem is he's headstrong, and believes that's he's always right, and he's also a bit radical.
Celestia turned her thoughts back to writing her letter, but a guard entered the room. "Your Highness the ambassador is waiting."
"I will be there soon." She said quickly writing the letter.
Dear, Princess Twilight
Some new information has arrived that confirms the creatures presence in the Everfree Forest. I'm sorry I don't have time to write more right now so I'll be quick. The creature single-hoofedly defeated ten of my royal guards. I know you're going to search for this creature, so please be careful when you search for him. Bring him in peacefully if you can.
Sincerely,
Princess Celestia
Celestia prepared to send the letter, and once she was done left the room hoping she hadn't forgotten anything important.
*Back to Twilight and the others*
"Well I say we go kick that creatures flank with or without more information." Rainbow Dash declared. "Who's with me?"
"Ah agree with Rainbow." Applejack stated.
"Really Rainbow there may be no need for violence after all this creature could be harmless." Rarity said.
"Ummm... I agree with Rarity." Fluttershy said very quietly.
"I think we should find the thing and throw it a PARTY!" Pinkie exclaimed.
"Girls. Girls we can't do any of those things right now, because Princess Celestia told me not to enter the forest until more evidence turns up."
"But Twi mmmph-buuurpp!" Spike was interrupted as a new letter arrived for Twilight. Twilight snatched it up in her magic and read it aloud to her friends.
"OK well I guess we've got the approval now to go into the forest, so let's get to it." Rainbow Dash said and raced outside towards the Everfree Forest.
"Rainbow Dash wait! Ugh! That mare sometimes." Twilight said frustrated.
"Come on everypony, let's git after Rainbow." Applejack said racing after Rainbow Dash.
*Back to Jake first person POV*
I came out of the edge of the forest. No sign of Zecora so far, well I'll take a look closer to the town. I should be able to stay hidden like last time. I began walking towards the town, but suddenly I heard voices in ahead of me. Unfamiliar voices. "Relax Twi I waited up for the rest of ya." "Rainbow this is serious." I quickly try to turn around, but it's too late as the heads of six ponies appear over the edge of the hill ahead. When they were in full view they stopped and noticed me. 'Oh no.'
*Third person POV same scene*
The six ponies stared at the human a shocked expression on their face, and the human stared back equally shocked. The Twilight and her friends had finally caught up to Rainbow Dash, who had been waiting for them, and as soon as they stepped over the hill there was the strange creature. Fluttershy was the first to recover, other than Jake who was slowly backing off. "Ummm... is that the strange creature we're supposed to find? I don't think I've seen anything like it." Twilight shook her head to refocus her thoughts. She studied the creature, it looked similar to the creatures she had found beyond the mirror portal, when she went to Canterlot High. But at the same time something was different about him. He was more gruff looking, and had a fiercer 'aura' than the humans of the mirror portal. He also had no magical essence at all, so it couldn't possibly be a human right? And if he had come though the mirror he would have been changed into a pony, or some other native Equestrian.
"OK everypony we need a plan to catch that thing." Twilight said
"I have a plan we kick his flank." Rainbow said and she charged at Jake. Jake was ready to be attacked and had taken a battle stance when she said this, however he severely underestimated Rainbow's speed. When Rainbow collided with Jake he went flying.
"Rainbow stop!" Twilight screamed.
'OK she's pretty fast, gotta remember that.' Jake thought as he rose back to his feet sore but ready to fight.
"Twi how are we supposed to catch this thing without ruffing it up first?" Rainbow asked. Jake wondered to himself who these girls were, were they bounty hunters or something?
"We should try to get it to follow us peacefully first, and if that doesn't work, we can try tying it up or something." Twilight answered.
"Let's get one thing straight here. I'm not going anywhere with you, especially not tied up." Jake declared. All the ponies stared in shock 'The creature can talk, Princess Celestia never mentioned anything about the creature knowing how to talk.' Twilight thought to herself.
"You can talk?" Rainbow asked.
"Maybe it's just mimicking things it heard like a parrot." Twilight said.
"I'm not a parrot! A parrot can't understand what's being said to him, and wouldn't be able to respond to statements like that." Jake stated. Twilight just stared at Jake, she didn't know what to do.
"Well regardless of whether you can talk or not, the Princess wants you captured, so that's what we're going to do." Rainbow boasted.
"I don't think so." Jake retorted. Rainbow charged at Jake again, but he was ready this time and twisted around whacking Rainbow with the back of his spear.
"RAINBOW!" All the other ponies, and Spike yelled.
"Yah varmint, you'll pay for hurtin mah friend!" Applejack shouted and charged at Jake. Jake managed to dodge and whacked her with his spear, but she shrugged it off like it was nothing.
"Girls stop!" Twilight screamed trying to stop this fight. Applejack tried to buck Jake but Jake moved to avoid it. Jake was a little slow, and AJ's legs did hit him but it was just barely so the damage was less than it would have been at full force. 'Owww. She must be strong. She just barely hit me and that still hurts. Better watch out.' He whacked Applejack with his spear again harder, this time in her face. This time Applejack felt it.
"Owww." AJ yelled.
Pinkie stepped into the fight. "Hey meanie-pants get a load of this." Pinkie said as she suddenly stood next to her party cannon. Jake thought to himself 'what the, where did that come from.?' Pinkie suddenly fired at Jake 'WHOA' Jake dived out of the way and took a look at the carnage behind him. 'Cake? She shot cake at me?' Pinkie aimed her cannon again and fired "That's for being mean to my friends." She said
"Hey you ponies attacked first!" Jake replied just before getting tackled by Applejack who he then kicked off of himself.
"Fluttershy use your stare on it!" Twilight yelled. 'Stare what is that?' Jake wondered as the yellow shy looking one approached him.
"Ummm. Sir could you please stop fighting and come with us?" She asked Jake. Jake shook his head. Suddenly Fluttershy opened her eyes very wide and stared right into Jake's own eyes. Jake felt like she was staring into his soul. "I asked you nicely now I'm telling you to stop fighting and come with us...Please?" The last word was spoken quieter than the rest. Jake suddenly felt like he couldn't control himself, like he HAD to do what this mare asked. NOOO! He wouldn't he was in control he would not be manipulated by someone like this. 'The eyes I need to stop looking at the eyes!' It took a tremendous amount of willpower but Jake finally managed to move his arm in front of his eyes. With the eyes no longer staring at him he was free, and he brought his arm back and swung as hard as he could with his free hand, hitting Fluttershy in the back of the head. Fluttershy grew very dizzy from this blow and fell to the ground.
"FLUTTERSHY!!!" All the ponies yelled. Rainbow and Applejack charged at Jake. He dodged them kicked Applejack away and pounded his fists into her till Rainbow tried to save her. Jake grabbed Rainbow and threw her at Pinkie Pie.
Suddenly Rarity blasted magic bolts at Jake "Take this you ruffian!" Blasting more magic at Jake. Jake slipped and accidently sent some dirt flying towards Rarity. "Ewww. Ewww. Get it off!" 'So she doesn't like getting dirty. Now's the time to strike.' Jake ran forward whacked Rarity upside the head. When she fell over Jake picked her up and threw her towards Pinkie, and Rainbow.
Suddenly a flash of pink appeared in front of Jake and Twilight emerged having teleported in front of Jake. She shot a magic blast at his feet which missed but the explosion knocked Jake back a bit. Twilight approached Jake a look of rage on her face. Jake swung at her but missed, and Twilight grabbed his spears with her magic knocked Jake to the ground and stabbed the spears into his shirt sleeves to hold him there.
Jake was stuck the spears had him pinned down, and the purple pony with wings and a horn was coming toward him. He struggled and struggled but couldn't get free. The purple pony began to speak "Now that I've got you down. You're coming with me to Princess Celestia." Jake had no idea who that was, but he wasn't about to risk being put back in that cell. Jake gave one last attempt pushing away from the ground with all his strength. He felt his shirt sleeves beginning to tear more and more until he was finally free, his sleeves ripped but free. Jake got to his feet which completely surprised Twilight. Jake seized his advantage and began punching and kicking Twilight in the face repeatedly. Twilight couldn't react to the flurry of blows Jake was hitting her with. Jake kept up his barrage until Twilight finally fell down nearly unconscious. Jake looked around, and saw that these ponies just wouldn't stay down. The orange one, and the rainbow one were getting back up, along with the pink one, and the white one. 'I can't keep fighting like this. I need to get out of here. I need a hostage.' Jake looked around to see who he could take hostage. Jake spotted the yellow pony that had tried to control him. She was all alone, she'd be perfect.
Jake ran towards Fluttershy, who looked rather scared when he was charging toward her. Jake grabbed her mane, and held her in a headlock, holding the end of his spear to her neck and shouted "STAND DOWN OR THIS PONY MIGHT GET SERIOUSLY HURT!!!!"
"FLUTTERSHY!" Rainbow screamed and tried to rush over and save her, but was held back by Applejack.
"Hold it Rainbow, he'll hurt Fluttershy if yah git too close."
"Please let her go. We can sort something out!" Twilight pleaded frantically.
"Oh so I should just give in to a bunch of horses who just tried to catch me for who knows what, to bring me to who knows who, for who knows why. And if whoever they are want what I think they want, there's no way I'm going back."
"We're ponies not horses! Horse is so uncouth." Rarity said.
"WHATEVER!" Jake screamed "Now don't-"
"Wow this 'Who' person must know a lot of things if he knows who we're taking you to, what we're doing to you, and why we're doing it. What else does he know?" Pinkie asked
Jake just stared. "What?"
"Oh silly this 'Who' person you mentioned a few seconds ago he-mmmphmmuuummuuu." Pinkie was cut off as Twilight shoved her hoof in her mouth.
"Look I'm going into the forest. DO NOT FOLLOW ME! Or something bad might happen to Fluttershy here." Jake said backing towards the forest.
"How do we know we can trust you not to hurt her anyway?!" Rainbow demanded.
"You don't have a choice." Jake answered. The ponies looked towards Applejack who looked closely at Jake as if she were scanning him.
"Ah think he's telling the truth. He won't hurt her." She said. Jake thought this was curious 'Why'd they look for her opinion?' None of the ponies said anything after that. They just watched with cold eyes as their friend was dragged into the Everfree Forest.
*The Everfree Forest*
Jake and Fluttershy had been walking for a while, he made sure nothing was following him. Jake had dragged Fluttershy for a while, but he eased up a little later allowing her to walk in pace with him. She seemed a little less frightened as this was going on. Eventually Jake eased up a little more only holding onto her mane like it was a leash. He was surprised that she hadn't tried to escape at this point she probably could've and he wouldn't have stopped her. Eventually Jake let go of her mane entirely, and just let her walk beside him. 'Why wasn't she running away?' "Why are you still following me? You can go now really."
"I wanted to talk to you." she said
Jake was surprised, she seemed less shy than she had been before. "What about?" Jake prepared himself in case this was another one of her eye tricks.
"You weren't really going to hurt me were you?" Fluttershy asked.
"You're right. How'd you know?" Jake asked he couldn't help but smile at the pony, she seemed so cute and innocent.
"I'm an animal caretaker, and overtime you start to notice patterns among animals, like when they feel sad, or angry. I looked into your eyes and I saw regret, regret at what had happened to you, regret at what you had to do, and regret for other things. I could tell you didn't want to hurt me." She answered
'Wow this pony was smart.' Jake thought. "I see. Is there anything else you wanted to ask?"
"Yes, could you please explain to me what you're doing here, and after that come back to Ponyville with me?"
"Yes to the first, no to the second."
"Why not?"
"Well for one thing I just beat five of your town's citizens into a bloody pulp. I doubt they'd receive me too well. Second the other ponies would freak out at the sight of me."
"I'm sure we could convince everypony to like you with enough time."
"No I'm not going back... Not yet."
"But it's dangerous in the Everfree, you could get hurt."
"I've survived here so far. Besides Zecora is helping me."
Fluttershy paused. "You know Zecora?" she asked.
"Yes I'm staying, at her place in fact. Do you know where she is?"
"Ummm... I think she had to help Applebloom and the CMC with a potions project for school."
"I have no idea who those people are."
"Won't you please consider coming to Ponyville? You'll really like it there."
"No, and that's final."
"Oh. OK. Could you explain some things about why you're here then?"
"Yeah I can do that." Jake explained about his time in Equestria in detail, however he left a lot of things out, he didn't want to tell the pony too much. After his story she had started saying things like "you poor thing." to him.
Fluttershy had to leave before her friends got too worried about her, but before she left she asked one more time for Jake to come to Ponyville, which he politely refused. Jake however asked Fluttershy not to tell her friends where he was living, and she agreed. Fluttershy walked back to Ponyville, and Jake made his way to Zecora's house. Once Jake entered the house he picked up another healing potion and went into the guest bedroom, and lay down to think. 'First the so-called royal guard find me, then six ponies who appear to be civilians, except maybe that purple one try to find me. This is not looking good clearly everyone is on the lookout for a renegade human, there is probably a reward for my capture too. I can't stay here any longer. I need to leave.'
Twilight was writing a letter to Princess Celestia about what had happened when they encountered the creature. About how it was intelligent, how it had nearly beaten them, and then took Fluttershy hostage etc..
Twilight stopped to think about Fluttershy, she had come back without a scratch on her but she was rambling about the creature being rather friendly once you gave it the chance. Twilight wasn't quite sure whether or not to believe this, especially since she had been on the receiving end of its fury. But then again Fluttershy WAS perfectly fine. Maybe the creature had some kind of mind control or something, she doubted that since it had no magic but it was still a possibility. Twilight finished her letter and had Spike send it to the Princess. Regardless of whether or not the creature was friendly, she still had to capture it and bring it to Celestia, hopefully this time it would listen to reason, and they wouldn't have to fight. Twilight went outside to go find her friends.
*Jake first person POV*
I woke up in Zecora's guest bedroom. I wondered if she was back yet, I got up and listened carefully, I heard someone humming, which must have been coming from Zecora. Sure enough when I entered the main room of Zecora's house there she was walking about, working on potions. "Hello Zecora where were you all this time?"
"I'm very sorry my friend. There was an errand I had to attend."
"What was it?"
"It was for my friend Applebloom. She was in a horrible gloom. She needed to mix a brew, for her school project was due. She was my friend, and I'd help her to no end."
"Oh yeah Fluttershy mentioned something about that."
"Oh me oh my. You've met with Fluttershy?"
"Umm that's actually related to what I need to talk to you about."
"Please explain, do not refrain." So I explained to her how I planned to leave the area. My plan was to head far away from here to one of the neighboring countries, probably the Gryphon lands since I had a general idea where to head. I also explained to her about how I met Fluttershy, and her friends, and why I had to leave this area. Needless to say she was a little shocked at what happened to her friends, and the fact that I was leaving. But she eventually accepted it, and she insisted on giving me some supplies to take with me. This sounded like a good idea so I agreed.
Once I was ready we prepared to say good-bye to each other. "My best wishes I send. Farewell I bid you friend." She said to me.
"Goodbye Zecora. I hope to see you again." I returned and with that I turned and started out on my journey to freedom.
*Canterlot Castle Princess Celestia third person POV*
Princess Celestia sat at her desk in her large office looking over the letter she had received from Twilight. According to the letter some of Twilight's friends brashly attacked the creature, and he had managed to fight them off, and take Fluttershy hostage. Fluttershy had come out of this ok, and claimed the creature was actually rather friendly. Celestia was pondering this new information, when Luna suddenly entered her room. "Sister has there been any news regarding the beast loose in Equestria?"
"Yes there has Luna. But didn't I ask you to call him by his name?" Celestia said.
"Sorry we forgot sister. But we-I don't understand why you insist on this, the creature is merely an animal is it not?"
"Luna Jake can think for himself, he's more than just an animal." Celestia said slightly shocked.
"Hmmm that's not what Tempest Reason tells us, he thinks the creature should be treated like a beast." Luna stated.
"Hmmm. I may need to have a little talk with Tempest." Celestia said. There was a long pause.
"I'm sorry Celestia, I guess I just don't understand the situation the way you do." Luna said feeling a little regret at having upset her sister in such a way.
"It's alright Luna. Now as for the new information well..." Celestia filled Luna in on what had happened in the Everfree Forest according to Twilight's letter.
Luna was in shock. "THAT MONSTER DID WHAT TO TWILIGHT!" She screamed.
"Luna please calm down."
"No this creature must pay for what it's done."
Celestia sighed, she knew there wasn't much chance in talking her sister out of this. "What are you planning to do Luna?"
"We-I requested several royal guard elites to report in a short time ago. Including one Captain in particular."
"Who?"
"Shining Armor." Celestia's eyes widened when Luna said this. "I will send him and his elite guard to the Everfree to capture the creature. What do you think? Armor could work with Twilight since they are brother and sister after all."
Celestia thought about this 'Shining Armor's presence would give Twilight some added moral after her defeat at Jake's hands, and there was almost no chance the creature could escape the royal guard and the elements of harmony. "I agree Luna send Shining Armor to the Everfree immediately."
*Princess Twilight, and her friends gathered outside her castle*
Twilight and her friends were gathered together to make another attempt at catching the Everfree creature. "I'm gonna give that thing some payback. for what it did to us, and especially Fluttershy." Rainbow declared.
"Wait...ummm...please don't hurt him he's really nice." Fluttershy pleaded.
"Now Fluttershy ah know yah had some kinda talk with the thing while he had yah in the Everfree. But he viciously attacked us just before that." Applejack argued.
"He was defending himself." Fluttershy answered.
"Regardless we still need tah bring him to the princess. Remember?" Applejack reminded.
Fluttershy thought for a moment, she didn't want any trouble for Jake, but she was loyal to Celestia, and didn't believe the princess would hurt Jake. After thinking for a minute Fluttershy realized that they would still go to capture the creature whether she went or not, 'poor Jake might get hurt if I don't go along.' "I'll go but only to make sure you all don't hurt him."
"We'll try, but no promises." Applejack said, then looked over at Rainbow Dash and said in a stern voice "Right Rainbow?" Rainbow scowled and looked away.
"Alright girls are we all ready to go?" Twilight asked. Her friends announced they were. "Then let's go."
"Okie dokie loki." Pinkie Pie said and together they set out for the Everfree Forest.
*Jake third person POV Everfree Forest*
Jake was on his way out of Equestria. The Gryphon kingdom was pretty far away so he decided to take a short cut, the short cut however brought him uncomfortably close to the town. But he decided that the amount of time he would save was worth the risk.
He walked out of the Everfree Forest and stepped into the open field. He was greeted with bright sunlight, and shielded his eyes for a moment. once his eyes adjusted he looked around, he suddenly felt very sad, he was leaving another place he had almost begun to call home. It made him think of his real home, and how he'd probably never return there.
Once he got over his sadness, he started walking in the direction he needed to go, but before he got too far he heard voices he recognized. It was those six ponies from before. "So how are we gonna catch this thing this time Twi?" "Let's try talking to it first." Jake wondered to himself 'What should I do?' but it was too late, the six ponies got within eye distance of him and spotted him.
The six mares looked at him clearly surprised to see him outside the forest again. Rainbow recovered first and dashed at Jake. Fluttershy shouted "Wait stop." Rainbow remembered that Fluttershy had asked them not to hurt the creature and stopped before she slammed into Jake but the look on her face told him that she didn't want to stop. She flew back to the others, Jake lowered his guard.
Twilight stepped forward and cleared her throat. "Ahem creature could you please come with us?"
"My name is Jake, and no thank you I won't." He answered.
Twilight sighed "Why not?"
"Because I don't know what you all want from me, you could easily be leading me into a trap, and I'm trying to get out of here."
"You're leaving?" Twilight asked.
"Trying to."
"But you need to come to the princess."
"Why." Jake asked.
"Probably so she can help you." Twilight answered.
"I'm not interested right now. Now if you'll excuse me I've got a long journey ahead."
"Wait you're obviously an intelligent creature let's talk reasonably."
Jake stopped when she said this, and turned around. "I told you my name is Jake." With that said he turned and continued walking.
"Twi we're not getting anywhere with this. I'm gonna knock him out." Rainbow said, and charged at Jake again.
"Rainbow DON'T!" Fluttershy, and Twilight yelled.
Jake had his back turned and was unprepared for this attack, although when he heard he tried to turn around to brace for the incoming attack, but he was too slow. Rainbow crashed into him and sent him flying into a tree. Jake was on his knees from that, but forced himself to get back up. Jake dropped the pack that Zecora had given him, and pulled out his spears. Now ready to fight Jake stared his enemy down.
Rainbow stubbornly made another dash at Jake, who jumped away causing RD to crash head first into a tree. Applejack pulled out her lasso and threw it over Jake. Jake struggled but was caught, and fell on the ground. "Guess that takes care of the problem Twi."
"That wasn't exactly how I wanted things to go, but what's done is don-What!" Twilight started to say, but stopped when she noticed Jake was getting back up. Unseen by the ponies he had been cutting the rope with the end of his spear, and had finally cut himself free.
"Why you varmint! Ah loved that rope!" Applejack charged at Jake who charged back, but at the last second Jake jumped to his left and stuck his spear out to trip Applejack. "Whoa!" Applejack yelled as she tumbled. Twilight and Rarity charged at Jake together blasting sleep spells as they ran. Jake dodged the shots (which were rather poor anyway), and rolled in between Twilight and Rarity. They stopped once Jake past them and turned around. Twilight received a boot to the head Rarity was whacked with the back end of Jake's spear, and then thrown into the oncoming Rainbow Dash.
Jake was about to go back into the fight when he caught sight of Fluttershy. He suddenly remembered that these were her friends and realized he didn't want to hurt them. So he started thinking of a plan to get away from them and slow them down. He looked around and spotted the tree Rainbow had crashed into, apparently the impact had made the tree nearly ready to fall over. While Jake was trying to think of a plan Applejack came from behind him and hit him with her hooves. "Owww." Jake countered with his spear but Applejack blocked it with her fore-hoof and tried to jab him again. He dodged and leapt on her back, when she was surprised by this Jake hit her in the side of the head and leapt off before she could try to buck him off, and began running toward the tree. Rarity and Twilight tried to blast him with more magic, but he simply just jumped out of the way and started running towards the tree again.
He ran behind the tree and prepared to knock it down, but Applejack came sneaking up behind him. At the last second Jake heard her and dodged to his left, AJ's hooves struck the tree, and it went down. 'That works.' Jake thought, and ran over to the tree to see what else he could do with it. There was a large hole in the tree, large enough to fit a pony in. Suddenly Jake got an idea.
"Het! Rainbow One! You're too slow! You couldn't hit the side of a barn if it was right in front of you!"
Rainbow Dash was completely enraged by this "WHY YOU!" She dashed as fast and hard as she could at Jake, who jumped out of the way. Rainbow couldn't stop in time, and got stuck in the knothole. Without wasting any time Jake began pushing the tree down a nearby hill.
The ponies watched as the tree rolled down the hill with Rainbow Dash still in it. Jake turned to them and said "I guess you better go save your friend." and with that Jake grabbed the bag of supplies Zecora had given him, and took off into the forest.
*Jake's POV*
I ran through the forest as quickly as I could. Forget the shortcut, if I stuck to it they'd catch up to me quickly once they freed their friend from the tree. By running into the forest I could lose them as long as there wasn't anything to slow me down like a pack of Timberwolves.
I ran past Zecora's house, and began to think about her again, but I couldn't get distracted now, I had to keep moving. I was getting worn out. The fight had been tiring enough but all this running was making it worse. But it will be worth it if I get away. I realized I was getting close to the river where I had set up my original shelter. I started to get a better feeling at this memory and quickened my pace.
*Back to Twilight and co. third person*
All five of the ponies chased after the rolling tree, Rainbow was wailing as she rolled down the hill. Fortunately the tree was bent in such a way that prevented Rainbow from getting hurt on the ground whenever the tree rolled over. Applejack had retrieved her rope and made a new loop for it. Swinging it over her head she tossed it at the tree and managed to wrap it around a thick and sturdy branch. She slammed her hooves on the ground and pulled back with all her might. Fluttershy and Pinkie grabbed the rope and pulled to help Applejack like a game of tug-o-war. Rarity and Twilight ran past them and tried to use their magic to stop the tree. The tree began to slow down more and more until it finally stopped.
Fluttershy flew over to Rainbow and began to pull her out of the knothole. Twilight and Rarity helped with their magic and there was a loud popping sound once Rainbow was free. Now that she was free she began ranting about how the creature had tricked her.
"I can't believe that thing pulled something like that! Where is he I'll show him a thing or two!" Rainbow shouted.
"He ran into the forest." Twilight answered.
"Wait then why didn't any of you go after him?" Rainbow asked.
"Because sugar-cube you were tumbling down this hill in that tree. We had to save yah." Applejack answered.
"Oh yeah. Thanks for that by the way." Her five friends smiled at her when she said that, and Pinkie said "You're welcome."
"Well now unless anypony disagrees I say we go into the forest and catch that thing." Rainbow said and the others nodded. Together they galloped back up the hill and into the Everfree Forest.
*Back to Jake in first person*
I made it to the river and spotted my shelter as I ran past huffing and puffing. I smiled as I saw it, I was almost out of the forest now, just a little farther. I ran past many trees, the area I was running across was slowly getting clearer and clearer. Finally I was outside the forest. There I stopped to catch my breath and get my bearings. Phew. That was a long run, but I was on my way to freedom, which is great. I started walking in the direction Zecora told me the gryphon kingdom was located.
After I was walking for a little while I stopped. I heard a noise not too far ahead of me. As I listened I heard the steady clip clop of hooves on grass. Ponies... A lot of ponies. I started to hear the ponies talking to each other. They were saying things like "I'm not sure why Princess Celestia wanted us to take this road. But orders are orders." "Does anypony actually think something's going to happen?" Based on what they were saying I assume they are royal guards. 'No I can't be caught. Not here not now!' I turned around and ran, but one of the pegasi flew up very high and spotted me.
*Third person a short time ago*
Shining Armor was leading his elite squad towards the Everfree Forest, and then on to the town of Ponyville. His orders were to capture the creature that was currently on the run in the Everfree Forest, but also to partner up with his younger sister if he couldn't find the creature on his own while heading to Ponyville. He was dressed in his purple and gold armor and carried the usual equipment issued to royal guard. Suddenly one of his pegasi troops shouted that he had spotted the creature. Shining and his troops, consisting of ten pegasi, and ten unicorns ran forward until they all spotted the creature. The troops came to a halt waiting for Shining's orders.
"Move out and surround the creature." The troops did as they were told, Jake was trying to run away, but he was quickly surrounded. Jake dropped his bag of supplies, and picked up his spears.
"Stay back. I'm warning you!" Jake shouted. Shining was surprised 'So the rumors were true the creature could speak.'
"Listen here creature, uhh, what's your name." Shining asked.
Jake was surprised at this question "Jake." He answered gruffly.
"Jake. You need to come with me. I'm ordered to escort you to Princess Celestia. So if you could please lay down your arms and come with me."
"Sorry I can't do that."
"Can't or won't?"
"Both."
"Why not?"
"I'm not going back just to become a lab experiment that's why!"
"What are you talking about?"
"You know perfectly well what I'm talking about."
Shining stopped to think. He had no idea what Jake was talking about. But he decided to take the conversation in a different direction. "What exactly are you?"
"Oh no I'm not doing this again."
"What do you want-" Shining started to say but was interrupted by Jake.
"Look I'm not going with you. None of us have to fight so let's just go our separate ways so nobody gets hurt."
Shining paused at that, 'The creature was actually offering, or more correctly negotiating for everyone to leave safely? Clever, and honorable. Maybe this creature had a noble soul.' This gave Shining an idea. An idea that wouldn't endanger his troops, but might let Jake escape if it didn't go as planned. "Jake I have a proposition that may satisfy both of us."
"What is it?" Jake asked.
"I will challenge you to single combat. If I win you come with us to Princess Celestia bound just to make sure you don't try anything."
"And if I win?"
"I will allow you to go free until I meet up with my sister, at which point the search for you will continue."
Jake thought about this. He really didn't have much of a choice, he could either fight his way through all of the guards, or fight just one. Even if the one was lying to him fighting him on his own for a while without the aid of his buddies would give Jake an advantage.
"What do you say?" Shining asked.
"The way I see it, I can either fight my way through one of you, or I fight my way through all of you. I accept." With that said the two combatants walked into the center of the circle of the royal guard elites. Some of them were talking amongst themselves "Is the captain nuts? What does he think he's doing?" "Relax Armor's got this."
Jake thought he should ask one thing before they start. "What's your name?"
"Shining Armor." He answered circling his opponent. Jake thought to himself 'Okay that might be the silliest name I've heard so far.' The two took their stances and prepared to fight.
*Twilight and her friends back in the Everfree Forest*
Twilight had used a tracking spell to help locate Jake, and all her friends were following right behind her. Applejack and Rainbow were arguing with Fluttershy about whether or not the creature could be reasoned with. "Fluttershy something friendly wouldn't just come out and attack us like that." Rainbow said.
"Well that's exactly what you did Rainbow. Does that make you unfriendly?" Fluttershy answered.
"What!? No I mean-" Rainbow stammered but was interrupted by Applejack.
"What Rainbow means is the varmint is unruly, he can't be trusted, and he needs to be stopped for everypony's good."
"Well you trusted him not too hurt me when he took me hostage. And I came out just fine."
"Girls enough! I can't concentrate on the spell with all this arguing." Twilight exclaimed. "I'm a bit stuck right now too so that doesn't help."
"Why are we stuck Twi?" Rainbow asked.
"Well something here isn't making sense."
"What?"
"Well the trail spreads out in several directions here, and I don't know why, any excess trails should have vanished a while ago. "
"Can you tell which trail is more recent than the rest?" Rainbow asked.
"Well yes, but I'm still trying to figure out how his other trails are still here."
"Look Twi we can worry about that later okay? Right now the creature is getting further and further away, and we need to catch it."
"Ummm...Rainbow his name is Jake." Fluttershy said, Rainbow just gave her a hard look.
Twilight sighed. "You're right girls. But this brings me to another interesting anomaly in his trail. A lot of his older trails lead in pretty much the same direction."
"So?" Rainbow said confused.
"So, I would like to find out if he has a gathering place nearby."
"OK sounds good to me." The ponies began walking in the direction the trail lead, and soon wound up near Zecora's house. Twilight stopped, some of the trails led straight into Zecora's house! It wasn't the current trail they were following, but several of the older ones went to and from Zecora's hut.
"Girls." Twilight announced.
"Yes?" They all answered.
"The creature has been to Zecora's house."
"What!" Everyone except Fluttershy, and Twilight yelled.
"Ummm. Actually I already know this." Fluttershy said.
"What!" Everyone else yelled.
"Fluttershy you were keeping information from us?" Twilight said shocked.
"I promised Jake that I wouldn't tell, so I didn't."
"But-he...we-we could've captured him without any problems. We could-" Twilight stopped herself as she thought about what Fluttershy said, and tried to calm herself down.
"I made a promise to him Twilight. I wasn't going to break it."
"I understand Fluttershy." Twilight chuckles to herself. "You know being here reminds me of the time we first met Zecora." Twilight and her friends begin to think about the time they met Zecora... and suddenly they all come to a realization. They'd pretty much been treating Jake the same way, only worse.
"Ummm... Ah'm thinking maybe we should try to find that creature and apologize to it-him." Applejack said and the others agreed except for Rainbow Dash.
"I dunno." Rainbow Dash said.
"Oh come on Rainbow, yah don't think yah went a might overboard at some point around him?"
Rainbow Dash thought for a moment. "Alright, but I'm still gonna get him back for getting me stuck in that tree, and rolling me down the hill." The others laughed at this. Once Twilight finished laughing she went to see if Zecora was home. There was a note on the door that informed anypony that she had gone out to get some supplies in the northern section of the forest.
"She's not at home." Twilight informed the others. "But now I really want to know how Jake's old trails are still being picked up by my tracker spell?" Twilight pondered this for a moment listening to suggestions from her friends.
"Maybe it has something to do with the fact that he stayed here for a long time." Fluttershy suggested.
"Or maybe he traveled those paths more than once." Applejack suggested. Twilight pondered these ideas, she started to remember what effects these variables would have on the tracker spell, and suddenly she figured it out.
"Of course! the longer an individual stays in one place the stronger the tracking spell becomes, and the same goes for when somepony travels from one place to another more than once. Good thinking girls."
"Aw shucks it ain't nothin." Applejack said.
"Now let's get back to finding Jake." Twilight said, the others nodded and the began following his trail once again.
*Back to Jake and Shining Armor*
The two opponents stared each other down circling around each other looking for an opening to attack. Jake decided to strike first and swung his spear out hitting Shining in the side of the head. It would have been a decent hit, if it wasn't for Shining's helmet which absorbed most of the blow. 'Dang it!' Shining took this moment to begin his attack, and show Jake just how much of a disadvantage he was in.
Shining created a magical blade from his horn and began to swing effectively at Jake. Jake began to parry Shining's blows with his spears, but it was clear that any advantage he had with the dexterity of his hands was surpassed by the unicorn's magic. Shining's parries were getting harder and harder to block, he had to make a move NOW! Jake quickly moved around the side of his opponent, rammed the wood end of the spear into Shining' face and followed up with a good hard kick. Shining clearly felt that and recoiled from the blow. He refocused himself and began to parry with Jake once again. It was at this moment when Jake fully comprehended just how tired he was after running through the Everfree Forest.
Shining parried blow after blow until he made an opening and hit Jake in the stomach with his front left hoof. Jake had the wind knocked out of him, but quickly got back up. Jake ran forward and used one of his spears to vault himself into the air and swing down at Shining, however Shining quickly swung his magical blade at him in midair and knocked him back to the ground. Jake got back up and spit some grass out of his mouth. Then charged at Shining again. Shining decided to abandon his magical blade and instead grabbed one of Jake's spears out of his hand with his magic. Jake and Shining began to parry again, but Jake made a mistake which allowed shining to get some good jabs at Jake. Jake managed to narrowly avoid theses by moving his body to the left and right very quickly, and jumping at the right time. Still it was close. Jake realized that Shining had a lot more combat experience than him. But Jake could still win, he just might have to fight a little dirty.
Jake always preferred to fight honorably, but he also believed there was a time to use every advantage you could, and considering what probably awaited him if he lost he decided it was worth the risk. Jake scooped up a handful of dirt from the ground and ran up close to Shining. He flung the dirt into Shining's face getting some of it in the eyes. "DAH!" Shining flailed his spear around wildly, but Jake easily avoided this and began to pound Shining wherever he could as much as he could. Some of the surrounding guards booed while this was going on. Shining's eyes were clear again and he bashed Jake with his front hooves. Jake fell to the ground, but rolled and got back up. Jake's muscles were starting to feel really sore, he couldn't keep this up much longer.
Jake charged forward again and managed to find an opening in which he brought his spear down onto Shining's forehead. After that Shining shoved Jake back with his hooves again. Jake picked up another scoop of dirt and threw it at Shining, but Shining was ready for it this time. Shining brought up a magic shield just before the dirt could hit his face and proceeded to parry with Jake again. It was at this moment Jake realized he was going to lose. Shining parried harder and harder and suddenly managed to knock Jake's other spear out of his hand. Shocked for a moment Jake reached behind his back and pulled out his trusty metal pipe and charged forward for one last strike. Miraculously whether Shining made a mistake, or just dumb luck Jake managed to avoid Shining's spear or block his blows enough to get a good hard strike on the side of Shining's head. But it wasn't enough, Jake was at his limit his strength was giving out on him. Shining noticed this and proceeded to bring hard blow after hard blow at Jake wearing him down with each strike, it was hard enough blocking a spear with a metal pipe but Jake's weakened state only made it worse. Finally Jake couldn't even stand up anymore and fell backwards onto the ground. He managed to block one final blow before Shining yanked the metal pipe out of his hand and made a good hard strike against the side of Jake's head, nearly knocking him out.
Eyes barely open Jake felt something metal against his throat. Forcing his eyes open he saw it was the end of a spear Shining was holding against his throat. Jake knew exactly what Shining Armor wanted him to do. Jake barely managed to groan out. "I ... yield."
*Jake first person POV*
They pushed me into a sitting position, and then put handcuffs (or would they be hoofcuffs?) on my hands. I didn't even try to resist, I had given my word, and I had lost. Besides even if I wanted to resist I didn't have the strength to do so right now. At least they let me keep my hands in front of me instead of behind me. The ponies pushed me to my feet, and I barely managed to get up. They shoved me clearly wanting me to move forward. My legs ached so much! This was going to be a long hard trip.
*Twilight and friends third person near the River*
Twilight felt like they were very close to Jake, the trail seemed to be getting a little stronger meaning they were getting closer. When the six ponies arrived at the River they noticed something odd. There seemed to be a strange little structure somepony had built. They stopped to look at it.
"Who do you think built this?" Fluttershy asked
"It must have been Jake. Who else could it have been?" Twilight answered.
"Why would he build such a stupid thing like that." Rainbow asked.
"It's probably a simple shelter he built to stay dry when it rains Rainbow." Twilight said.
"It looks dumb." Rainbow mocked.
"I'm sure he did the best he could in the time he had. Could you really do any better Rainbow?" Fluttershy asked.
"I'd just build a house out of clouds. Easy peasy 1-2-3eesy." Rainbow boasted.
"Well Jake probably couldn't build a house of clouds. So he had to stick with this. At least until he found Zecora." Fluttershy said.
"Whatever." Rainbow dismissed.
"Girls let's get back to following the trail." Twilight said as she began to head in the direction it lead. The others followed after her and soon enough they made it out of the forest. "We're very close now the trail is extremely fresh. Something must have slowed him down here. Come on let's hurry." Twilight and the girls ran ahead, but spotted something they hadn't expected. A group of royal guard soldiers were gathered around something. "Royal guards? What are they doing here?" Twilight asked.
"Let's find out." Rainbow said flying ahead.
Jake looked up and saw the rainbow Pegasus flying above the group of guards. "Whoa you caught him?! Hey Twi they got him!" 'Twilight does that mean that those six have caught up with me too. Oh this is just great.' Jake thought.
Twilight walked towards the royal guards, she couldn't believe that they'd actually managed to catch the creature. But as she got closer she was in for another surprise. "Shining!" "Twiley!" Brother and sister ran towards each other and hugged. Jake wondered how they knew each other, 'Were they boyfriend and girlfriend? No they were probably brother and sister.' He thought as he remembered that Shining was supposed to meet up with his sister. After the hug Shining and Twilight talked for a minute. Then they came back towards Jake and Shining spoke to him. "My sister says you fought her and her friends. Since she's my sister I should probably hit you for that, but she asked me not too, and I think you've taken enough of a beating already. Still I want you to apologize to my sister."
"Umm. Actually Shining I wanted to apologize to him."
This surprised Jake and he asked "What-wait why are you apologizing to me?"
"Because my friends and I acted rashly and attacked you without good reason. So we're sorry, and we'll make it up to you if we can."
"Could you let me go?"
"No sorry I can't do that."
Jake scowled "Of course."
"What are you afraid of?" Twilight asked.
"Don't mock me. You know exactly what I'm afraid of?" Jake exclaimed.
"I assure you I don't know what you're talking about. But Princess Celestia will be fair to you." Twilight reassured.
"Yeah sure. Just like when I was treated fair when I first arrived here." Jake fumed.
"What do you mean?" Jake remained silent. Twilight sighed Jake wasn't going to answer her.
"If nopony has any objections let's continue on to Canterlot Castle." Shining announced.
The guards pushed Jake forward, and he began marching, although after a few steps he fell over.
Fluttershy gasped and quickly flew over to Jake. "Oh my gosh. Are you okay?"
"Fluttershy?" Jake quietly spoke.
"He's in no shape to walk all the way to Canterlot." Fluttershy declared.
"Why do you care about that thing?" A royal guard Pegasus asked.
"He has just as much right to live as we do." Fluttershy stated. Shining assessed the situation before him, weighing his options before coming to a solution.
"Alright I'll send for a chariot to be sent from Canterlot to pick us up while he rests." Shining announced.
"Alright you just lay down and rest, I'll take care of you." Fluttershy reassured Jake. But Jake wasn't really paying attention, instead he was thinking about how he could escape. He had promised not to try anything and be taken to Princess Celestia. But nothing said he couldn't escape after that, and some of the supplies Zecora had given him might just help with that.
I sat in the middle of a field, I was surrounded by guards, and six ponies who seemed to be important for some reason. All six of those ponies came up to tell me they were sorry about attacking me earlier. I didn't know what to say, they seemed so nice, but they were going to take me back, WILLINGLY. Back to him... to Tempest Reason. I didn't really know who this Celestia was, but she sounded like she was the nations ruler or something. She must have known what Tempest had done to me, how could the ruler of the nation not know that? She couldn't. As soon as I was in her clutches I'd be put back in that cell.
Fluttershy was nice to me, and helped tend to my wounds. Honestly I don't think she really knows what'll happen to me, she's just to kind to know. The others... I don't know. Right now we're just waiting for that stupid chariot to arrive. The royal guards don't seem to trust me if their stares are anything to go by. There's nothing much I can do right now while waiting for the chariot to arrive, so I think my time would be well spent forming an escape plan once we arrived in Canterlot.
I theorized that I would be brought before this Celestia for "negotiations". Once those were over I'd be led to a temporary prison cell before being handed over to Tempest. Now, hopefully I've managed to smuggle one of Zecora's potions with me, which I would use to escape the guards. I'd probably still be handcuffed at this point so I'd need something to get those off me. Maybe I could break them with a spear or a hammer? Or maybe I'd find some keys to unlock the cuff, maybe on one of the guards? Once the cuffs were off I'd work on escaping the castle, and custody, by any means necessary. I couldn't really plan any further than that since I don't know the layout of the castle I'd just be guessing where to go.
Off in the distance I began to see something 'What's that?' I take a closer look and see that the approaching object is the chariot that everyone's been waiting for. Great now I'm the steer being led to the slaughter. Pushing aside my grim thoughts I decided to observe the chariot, it was being dragged through the sky by some pegasi. Gotta admit I wasn't expecting a flying chariot. That's kinda cool actually, too bad it'll be taking me to my capture.
The ponies exclaim once the chariot approaches, they seem pretty excited. I don't share their joy. Once the chariot lands the royal guards tell me to climb in, which I oblige to. The six ponies try to reassure me about how kind, and nice Celestia will be. I seriously doubt this. Once I'm in the chariot the six ponies wave good bye and say they'll meet me at the castle. I decided to say bye back to them instead of ignore them.
The royal guards sit me down in one of the seats, and do something that surprises me. They brought Zecora's bag of potions on board and placed it in front of me. Shining Armor said "Thought you might want this." I'm very surprised by this 'they're letting me keep this stuff? Did they even search it? Maybe escape would be easier than I thought.' I hoped.
Two Pegasus royal guards strapped themselves into the chariot and get ready to take off. 'Why does a society of horses have a horse based travel system?... Never mind.' The pegasi begin to gallop ahead to build up speed. Once they've gained enough speed they lift the chariot off the ground and begin to fly in the direction of Canterlot. Kinda like how an airplane takes off. As we continue towards Canterlot only one thought flows through my mind. 'Judgment day.'
*Princess Celestia's throne room third person POV*
Princess Celestia sat in the throne room, she was in a good mood. She had just received the news that Jake had been captured, and now she was feeling hopeful that she could find out the truth of what was going on, or at least hear his side of the story. Celestia sent for her sister to share the news. When Luna arrived Celestia rose to greet her sister. "Luna I have some good news."
"What has happened sister?" Luna asked.
"The royal guard have finally managed to capture Jake." Celestia announced.
"Huzzah! Now we can bring that beast-Jake to justice." Luna exclaimed.
"Luna let's not assume that Jake is evil before meeting him."
"But he attacked the elements of harmony! Surely that reveals his intentions." Luna argued.
"According to Twilight's letters Rainbow Dash attacked Jake first. He could have just been defending himself."
Luna grunted but gave up arguing. "When will the creature be arriving?"
"JAKE should be arriving within the hour now, Shining Armor requested a chariot be sent their way."
"I see. Is there anything else you want my sister?"
"No not now Luna, that will be all." With that said Luna turned and left the throne room.
Luna walked down the halls in search of the pony Tempest Reason. She found him in one of the castles labs. There were large cylindrical tanks filled with blue liquid, and plenty of tables with notes scattered all over them. When Tempest saw Luna approach he immediately bowed and greeted her. "Greetings your majesty. To what do I owe the pleasure?"
"I wish to know more about the creature called Jake." Luna answered.
"Oh...him." Tempest said his voice becoming gruff.
"Yes please tell me all that you know."
"Very well-" Tempest began a long speech containing a mixture of lies, and facts concerning Jake.
*Jake in the flying chariot third person*
Jake sat in the chariot staring at the floor. He was still feeling down about his fate, but he couldn't just sit like that forever. He looked up from where he was sitting, and saw one of the most beautiful sights he'd ever see in his life. There was a huge beautiful city in the distance with the bustle and bother of city life happening within it. Beautiful buildings mostly white, stretched across the entire cityscape, and beyond the city on a hill stood a castle. A beautiful, real, and lively castle with lovely white walls, and tall towers with a mixture of gold and purple rooftops. Jake was in awe.
Shining Armor turned to speak to Jake. "Beautiful isn't it?"
"Well yes." Jake couldn't help but wonder how ponies could build things like this, when they don't have any fingers.
"We'll be there soon, I hope you're ready." Shining said. Jake just sighed, he hoped that things would turn out okay, but how could they? It doesn't seem possible.
After a while they were flying over the city itself. Jake looked out over the edge of the chariot at the city itself, and was even more impressed by what he saw. Ponies of all kinds and colors walking around doing their daily routine. Jake missed his home.
Before he knew it they were near the hill where the castle was located, and the pegasi were preparing to land. Before they did Jake made sure to check his bag for supplies he'd need to escape. Pretending to just admire some of the potions, and smuggling the ones in small bottles into his pockets when they weren't looking. Once they landed Jake was forced to get out of the chariot, and began marching toward the castle. Some of the royal guards began shoving Jake telling him to get a move on. Jake stopped and turned around to face them. "Do not force me around like that. Understand?"
"What are you going to do about it?" One royal guard asks. Jake thought about it, he could strike out at the guard and probably over-power him even in handcuffs, but what would that prove? It'd probably only make him look violent, and cause more guards to come and restrain him. So thinking for a bit he replied.
"I simply won't move."
The guard simply laughed and said. "Hah! I'll just make you move!" and reached out his hoof to push Jake forward. Jake swung around and grabbed the guards hoof and restrained it glaring at the guard with hard cold eyes, and spoke with a cold stern voice.
"Don't."
The royal guard Pegasus was furious and raised his other hoof in the air to strike at Jake. Fortunately Shining Armor jumped in to stop this. "Would you two stop fooling around! We've wasted enough time as it is. And you back off and leave the creature alone, he doesn't deserve that kind of treatment from you."
"Yes sir." With that said the ponies and Jake walked into the castle.
*Tempest and Luna in the lab*
"So the creature amounts to little more than an animal in the long run. I'd go so far as to say less." Tempest spoke.
"Very interesting. But if you view the creature in such a low light, why do you want him back so badly?" Luna inquired.
Tempest was prepared for this question and replied. "As much as I hate to admit it, there are many scientific benefits to be gained from studying the creature. Benefits that will aid ponykind in the future. Once we have learned all that we can from the beast we will put it down."
Luna was a bit shocked at this statement, and asked "You mean you'll kill him once you get what you want?"
"Well there won't really be a reason to keep him around anymore your majesty. Besides we created it we should decide what happens to it." This statement shocked Luna even more.
"You cannot claim ownership of another creature like that Tempest. You aren't in a position to decide the fate of another being in such a way. None of us are."
"I beg to differ princess. It was us who created it in the first place therefore, since we had a say in its creation we should have a say in its death." Luna didn't want to hear anymore. She had been on Tempest's side up until now. Now she didn't know what to think, she didn't trust Jake, but what Tempest was saying here was atrocious beyond belief. Who did this pony think he was?
She decided to turn and leave, Tempest spoke to her as she left. "I'm glad we had this talk your majesty." Luna left feeling very conflicted.
*Back to Jake*
Jake was led through the halls of the castle. They were majestic, lovely stained glass windows, that apparently depicted some of the ponies historical events. Most of the doors were huge and colorful, ranging from a beautiful blue, to a mixture of gold, and purple.
Jake passed one of the windows and noticed something familiar, it was a stained glass window that depicted six mares apparently battling a dark blue winged unicorn. "Are those?" Jake began.
"Yes that's my sister, and her friends. The Elements of Harmony." Shining Armor answered before Jake finished his question.
Jake stared at the stained glass window a little longer. "Whoa." So those six ponies were important, like some kind of national hero or something. Wait a minute the purple/violet one was missing her wings. "Why doesn't... Twilight have her wings?"
"Oh my sister didn't receive her wings until after she ascended." Shining explained.
"Ascended?"
"I'll tell you about that later right now I need to bring you to the throne room." Shining got the group to begin moving forward again. They passed by several nobles and guards, many of the ponies were shocked and stared at Jake wide-eyed. Jake just sighed when he noticed this. But soon he wound up in front of some huge double doors, that he assumed led to the throne room itself. Two unicorn guards stood alongside these doors. Jake thought to himself 'Now that is a big door.'
Jake entered the throne room along with Shining Armor and two Pegasus guards. Jake was shocked to see someone he recognized. It was the white winged unicorn he had seen back when he was still a captive!
*The train station back in Canterlot City*
The train pulled into the station and came to a stop it's brakes squealing. The train's conductor stepped off the train and onto the station floor announcing for all the passengers aboard who were stopping here to get off. The train doors opened and several ponies walked out, including six ponies in particular. Two earth ponies, one orange, one pink. Two pegasi, one cyan with a rainbow mane, and one very shy with a yellow coat and pink mane. One unicorn with an elegant white coat, and splendid purple mane, and finally a violet alicorn with dark purple mane and tail with a pink stripe. The Elements of Harmony. Once they stepped onto the platform Twilight spoke.
"Alright girls, we need to get to the castle soon so we can catch up to Jake."
"What's the hurry Twi? He'll still be there when we arrive." Rainbow said.
"I know Rainbow, but well-"
"You just want to learn about him and do egg-head stuff, don't you?" Rainbow smirked. Twilight blushed but nodded her head yes. "Ha ha thought so. Let's get going." With that said Rainbow sped off ahead of her friends. The others chased after her telling her to slow down.
*Back to Jake*
Jake stood in front of the entrance to the throne room. He was still shocked that he recognized the tall white pony in front of him, maybe things would turn out okay after all. Probably not, but he decided to hold off on trying to escape until he was sure he was in danger. The white winged unicorn rose from her throne and approached Jake. Shining nudged the back of Jake's head and whispered for him to bow. Jake just shook his head.
Shining stared hard at Jake but looked away when Celestia stopped in front of Jake. Celestia began to speak to Jake. "Greetings. My name is Princess Celestia."
"My name is Jake." Jake answered in a serious voice.
"I would like to talk with you alone. Would that be okay with you?"
Jake was surprised that she would ask him if he was okay with talking to her alone. After thinking about it Jake answered "Yes." and Celestia dismissed her guards. Shining protested "Are you sure your highness?"
"Yes Shining. Now off you go." Celestia said with a smile.
"As you wish princess." Shining bowed and left the room leaving Celestia and Jake alone. For a little while they only stared at each other. Finally Celestia broke the silence.
"Is there anything you wish to ask me?"
Jake thought about this for a moment.. He decided to ask a direct question. "Why am I here?"
"Because you're a new creature in Equestria, who apparently escaped from Darklight Labs." Celestia said.
So that was the name of the place he was trapped in. "Are you going to take me back there?"
"Possibly. It depends on what you tell me, and what I decide to do from that." Celestia answered.
Jake considered what she said to him. He wasn't quite sure what to think, did she not know what had happened to him down there? Was she even considering letting him go? Was she just toying with him? What should he say?
Jake thought back to the time he first saw this pony. Tempest had set up something to prevent her from getting too close to him. Why? Maybe he was trying to keep Jake a secret from her as much as possible. Jake was about to speak but Celestia spoke first. "Why aren't you using your magic against me?"
"Magic?"
"When I first encountered you at Darklight Labs, you emitted a magical field that prevented me from coming close to you. Why?"
Jake didn't know what she was talking about. "Magic isn't real, and that wasn't me."
Celestia was surprised at his statement that magic wasn't real, but decided to save that for later. "Then who was it?"
Jake thought hard about what had happened. He remembered that there was a pony in the background barely visible whose horn was glowing, he was probably the one who did it. He told this to Celestia, and she seemed to consider it. Just then Luna entered the throne room. She prepared to speak to Celestia with a look of urgency on her face but stopped when she noticed Jake. Luna takes a moment to take Jake in and asks "Are you the creature that's been running loose in Equestria?"
"Yes. Who are you?" Jake asked. Luna's face tensed up at Jake's answer and replies
"Do not speak to us in such a way beast. We are Canterlot royalty, you will answer OUR questions." Luna's voice rose in volume as she spoke.
"My name is-" Jake started to say but was interrupted by a sharp "ahem" from Celestia
"Luna I must ask you to leave Jake and I alone for now, unless you have something important to speak with me about." Luna suddenly remembers why she came here in the first place and approaches Celestia to whisper to her. Once she is finished Celestia has a somewhat shocked expression on her face. She turns toward Jake and tells him
"I'm very sorry Jake but I will have to cut this discussion short as something important has come up. Unfortunately for you I cannot offer you a guest-room since I can't be sure whether you're a threat or not. So I'll have to place you in a cell until I can continue this discussion." Jake grunted at this 'figures' he thought to himself. "I'll make sure you are treated fairly while you're there." Celestia finished as she began leading Jake to the Canterlot dungeons. Celestia informed her guards about the situation and sent Jake to his cell. Celestia also informed her guards to make sure he received plenty of food and was made comfortable. Celestia left to go discuss with Luna, leaving Jake alone to ponder to himself.
Jake wondered whether he should try to escape or not. He couldn't attempt it while he was in this cell, but he could try when they let him out. But should he? The white pony didn't seem so bad, but the dark blue one seemed like a bit of a jerk. Jake longed to be free again but something deep inside him told him to wait and see how this played out. After all he probably wouldn't be able to find his way home without help from others, especially those who knew how this world worked.
Having decided what he was going to do Jake decided to do one of the only things you can do to enjoy yourself while in a prison cell. Sing a song.
*Meanwhile with Celestia and Luna*
Luna paced back and forth waiting for Celestia to return. She wanted to talk to her about the things Tempest had said to her, as well as inquire about Jake. Finally Celestia reentered the throne room and approached Luna. "Luna you said there was something important regarding Tempest Reason and his opinion of Jake. Something I needed to hear. What is it?" Luna filled Celestia in on everything Tempest had told her. Celestia reacted similar to how Luna did but she was a little more calm about it altogether.
Celestia thought over everything for a moment, then sent for her guards and ordered them to bring Tempest to the throne room. The guards left the throne room, and returned shortly with Tempest Reason being escorted.
"Greetings again your majesties. To what do I owe the pleasure this time." Tempest asked in that calm smug voice of his.
"Tempest is it true that you view Jake as nothing more than a beast? And that you intend to treat him as such?" Celestia asked.
"It is true your majesty. Is there a problem?"
"Is it also true that you intend to put him down once you've learned all you could from him?"
"The creature will have served its usefulness, I see no reason to keep t alive afterwards."
"Are you aware Jake is sapient?"
Tempest pretended to be surprised at this "Surely you jest the creature began to show signs of intelligence in our labs, but complete sapience that's ridiculous." Tempest stated but then a thought occurred to him. "Wait how would you know of this?"
"Tempest, we have succeeded in capturing Jake." Celestia answered.
Tempest was surprised by this since he hadn't been informed yet. He cleared his throat "Well then I suppose you'll be turning him over to me relatively soon...?"
"That remains to be decided Tempest. However what's important right now is that we address your opinion of him."
"I don't understand your highness."
Luna became slightly enraged by Tempest's arrogant ignorance, and shouted "Jake deserves to be treated better than as if he were a mere animal. You do not have the right to decide whether he lives or dies."
"Wha-wha!? You can't be serious, he's not a citizen, he's an out of control science experiment."
"Not anymore Tempest... In fact he's so intelligent that I'm starting to wonder if your story of creating him in your genetics lab is even true." Celestia stated.
"But he can't-" Tempest started to scream, but he stopped when he realized what had just been said and what it meant. 'You fool! Your ego has put everything in jeopardy! How can you protect Equestria from an alien menace when the alien is embraced by royalty! You're handing him over to them because you won't shut up! You need to get control of this situation immediately or the princesses will trust you even less. Or worse they'll find out the truth.' Tempest Reasoned with himself. Choosing his next words very carefully he spoke "I understand your highnesses. I see my mistake and I plan to correct it. In fact perhaps I will get to know Jake myself. With your permission of course." Tempest bowed as he said this.
"Very well Tempest. But consider yourself under watch for now, I intend to get to the bottom of this mystery surrounding Jake. You are dismissed." Celestia said.
Tempest couldn't tell if Celestia bought his ploy or not. Celestia's tone was hard to read. Regardless he had to figure out how to fix the situation he now found himself in. The human was here within his grasp. Perhaps he could use him to his own advantage. A wicked grin formed around Tempest's face as he decided exactly what he was going to do.
*Celestia walking down to Jake's cell*
Celestia walked towards the dungeons with a lot going on in her mind. She didn't know what to think about Tempest anymore. He was a loyal dutiful pony, but he viewed Jake's life in such a low light, and he seemed to be hiding something. He had promised to make amends but something still rubbed her the wrong way. But that wasn't the only thing bothering her, she was also feeling a little guilty for leaving Jake in the prison cell for so long, especially when she wasn't even sure if he deserved it in the first place.
As she got closer to the cell Celestia heard a voice singing. Once she got closer to the cell she realized it was Jake who was singing. Celestia listened for a moment Jake was singing a song about escaping a city. Celestia listened to it carefully, it had a nice beat, and smooth rhythm, and so much more, but she had never heard a song like it before, and she was several thousand years old. She knew almost every song in Equestria, how could she have missed something like this? Did he come up with this on his own? That didn't add up how could a creature that had only existed for a few weeks, or months at the most come up with something so creative so quickly? Simple answer he couldn't... Could he? Maybe song-writing was his special talent? It just didn't make sense. Maybe Tempest WAS hiding something.
Jake stopped singing, and Celestia marched forward and opened his cell door. Jake started at this he hadn't expected anyone. Looking at Celestia he spoke "Celestia wasn't it?"
"Yes." Celestia answered.
"Why are you letting me out?"
"I don't think it's fair to keep you locked up here 24/7 I will meet with you again soon. Until then I will allow you to explore the castle somewhat as long as you don't cause any trouble."
"I don't intend to." Jake answered.
"Alright I have royal duties to attend to right now with the new ambassador. Once that's finished I will come find you so we can finish our discussion. Does that sound okay?" Celestia asked.
"I'm fine with that."
"I have informed several of the staff of your presence. However not all of them know and some will most likely be shocked when they see you. Understand?"
"That's to be expected. I'd probably feel the same way."
"Glad to hear you understand." With their discussion finished Celestia went off to her royal duties, leaving Jake to decide what to do for himself. Jake's stomach growled, and he decided to try and find the kitchen.
*POV switches between Tempest and Jake every ______________________________*
Tempest was prepared to spring his trap. He finished writing a note to Luna telling her to meet him in the Dining Hall at precisely one o-clock so he could begin to patch things up between him, the princesses, and the creature. He had one of the guards deliver it to Luna then prepared to lay the trap for his prey.
He knew Jake was wandering around the castle somewhere, the first phase of his plan required Tempest to lure Jake to the Dining Hall. Tempest walked into the Dining Hall and checked the time, ten minutes to one perfect. Tempest concentrated hard he still had a magical fix on Jake from all the studying and experimentation he had done, and focused on sending the spell to affect only him. The spell would send a voice that only Jake would hear, and it was designed to lead him precisely where the pony that activated it desired. In Tempest's case the Dining Hall. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Jake was wandering around looking for someplace he could get some food, when suddenly someone or something from out of nowhere called out to him "Come."
"Huh? Jake exclaimed looking around, he didn't see anyone around him. "Is anyone there?"
"COME." The voice said again.
"Who said that?"
"COME." The voice insisted again. The voice seemed to come from a certain direction, Jake decided to follow it to find out just what the heck was going on. But he remained on his guard in case this was a trap. "COME." The voice said again just what the heck was going on? Regardless Jake kept following the voice what else could he do? The voice eventually led him to what looked like a dining hall from the outside. "COME." the voice insisted again.
"Well since I was pretty much heading here anyway." Jake wondered why the voice led him here. Was it his subconscious so desperate for food that it telepathically guided him here? That just sounds ridiculous. Jake opened the doors and walked inside. As soon as he did so the doors slammed shut behind him. Jake spun around and tried to open the doors, they glowed with a yellow aura and wouldn't open. Definitely not his subconscious. It's a trap! ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Tempest grinned when he saw Jake enter the Dining Hall. Immediately he used his magic to slam the doors shut and lock them. He saw Jake react to this, and stepped forward. "Hello. Jake is it?" Jake turned around to look at the pony the voice came from. His eyes went wide.
"YOU!"
"Yes me you punk. You have a lot of nerve to escape from my facility."
"What do you want!?" Jake screamed.
Tempest snickered, "I think you know what I want." Tempest charged his horn and blasted at Jake. Jake quickly jumped out of the way.
*third person POV*
Jake examined his surroundings, Tempest was clearly here to fight so he needed something to defend himself. There were lots of tables with silverware and plates prepared on them. That'd have to do. Jake leapt onto one of the tables grabbed a plate and flung it at Tempest like a Frisbee.
Tempest simply put up a force field and the plate shattered on contact. Tempest grinned his prey had taken the bait. Tempest unleashed another blast at Jake. Jake dodged and picked up several sharp knives, and immediately threw them at Tempest. Tempest sidestepped and dodged to his left, then looked up to see another plate flying right at him. Tempest caught the plate in mid air with his magic and sent it flying back at his attacker. Jake wasn't prepared for this he stepped back and tripped falling onto the table. His fall allowed him to avoid the plate, but the fall hurt a bit.
Jake got back to his feet grabbed whatever he could get his hands on and circling around his enemy, flinging things as he ran. Tempest failed to dodge this attack and was hit four times before he brought his shield up. Tempest picked up some plates of his own with his magic and flung them at Jake. two of them hit Jake in his shoulders the other two missed. Tempest checked the time five minutes till one. 'Five more minutes. I just need to keep him busy for five more minutes.'
Jake grabbed a bunch of knives and threw them at Tempest. Tempest caught them all in his magic and threw them back at Jake. Jake dove behind the table and the knives flew past him. He got up and leapt toward another table, however in mid air he was hit by a magical blast from Tempest. Jake grunted the blast hurt a lot.
Tempest watched Jake take his magical blast head on. He laughed as he saw Jake hurting on the ground "You are absolutely pathetic. You should just accept your fate. You're absolutely worthless." Jake got back on his feet and looked Tempest in the eye, "If I'm worthless, why do you want to study me so bad? Hypocrite!" Jake charged towards another table grabbed a plate and flung it at Tempest.
Tempest saw the plate coming. He could easily avoid it, but he felt he had to let this attack hit him. He braced himself and turned his head away. The plate shattered after hitting him Tempest howled with pain that'd probably bruise in the morning. Tempest quickly looked at the time. It was exactly one. 'Perfect.' Tempest used his magic to unlock the doors Luna would be here any second.
Jake ran toward the end of the table picked up four plates and threw them at Tempest at close range the first two hit Tempest in the face which he recoiled from and raised his shield. 'Where is Luna she should be here by now.' Tempest thought.
Jake saw that Tempest was distracted and decided to use this opportunity to strike. He grabbed one more plate from the table as well as a candlestick. He leapt into the air towards Tempest and flung the plate at him. The plate struck Tempest square in the face making him see stars. Falling through the air Jake brought the candlestick down hard onto Tempest's head. Jake followed up with two more swift swipes to the side of Tempest's face, and then one more good hard hit the neck knocking the wind out of Tempest. Jake brought his candle stick up into the air ready to give the final blow.
Suddenly the doors opened revealing Princess Luna, Jake stopped to look for a second, and Tempest seized his chance. He dropped to the floor and screamed "Princess Luna! Help me! The creature is attacking me!"
Jake was caught off guard "What but he-" Jake exclaimed before being grabbed in Luna's magic the candlestick wrenched from his hands. Looking down Jake saw Tempest glaring up at him a huge sneer on his face.
"How dare you attack one of our subjects! You are given freedom and this is how you use it!" Luna yelled and whacked him with the candlestick. Jake started to speak but Luna's magic held his mouth shut. "Silence I don't want to hear excuses! Perhaps some time in the deepest darkest cell in Canterlot will straighten you out. My sister trusted you and you betrayed her! She will hear about this! You are a MONSTER!" Jake tried to yell "But I didn't!" but his mouth was still stuck and before he knew it he was suddenly teleported into a new cell. It lived up to Luna's description it was really dark, barely any light at all. It was also wet and dingy. The cell was even positioned away from the other cells making it look more like solitary confinement. Maybe that's what it was.
*Back with Tempest and Luna*
"Tempest are you alright?" Luna asked urgently.
"I'll be fine princess." Tempest answered assuredly.
"What happened why did the beast attack you?"
"I have no idea. I came here to make amends and he was already here. When he saw me he screamed and viciously attacked me."
"We should get you to the hospital rooms just to be safe."
"Thank you Luna. I'm sure I'll be fine though."
"I want you to see a nurse or a doctor at least just in case." Luna requested.
"As you wish Luna." Luna left to go inform Celestia of what she had just witnessed. Tempest laughed as Luna left, she was so easy to manipulate. Then he groaned as he now felt the wounds Jake had inflicted upon him. But it would all be worth it, there's no way the princesses would believe anything the creature would tell them after Luna "witnessed" how violent and merciless he was. His plan had worked perfectly. Tempest walked out of the roof heading toward the castles own doctors' room.
*First person POV Jake*
I stared down at the floor. It had all been a trick. Tempest had manipulated me perfectly. No one would believe me now. I was going to be stuck here. Then I was going back THERE to be studied. I slammed my fists into the ground 'It's not fair! What did I ever do! God can't you help me out of this!..................' I calmed down after a little while 'I'm sorry God I didn't mean to yell like that.' I quickly said a short prayer asking for help. Once I was done my hands slumped against my side.
I felt defeated, completely and utterly defeated. I pulled out the vials of potions I had snuck from Zecora's bag. What good would they do me now? Nothing... Absolutely nothing. I felt completely overcome with depression, not even a song could cheer me up now. I kept thinking to myself 'What did I do wrong? What can I do now? What should I do? Why did this happen to me? What did I do?'
Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy all stood right outside of Canterlot castles main entrance. Twilight spoke up. "Well let's go in girls let's see what has happened to Jake." All the girls nodded and together they all entered the castle. Walking down the halls towards Celestia's throne room they ran into Shining Armor who greeted his sister with open hooves. "Hey Twily." Shining said with a huge smile on his face. Twilight and Shining hugged each other quickly, and Shining greeted the rest of the elements. Twilight asked her brother if he knew what had happened since Jake had arrived at the castle. "I don't know too much Twilight. Princess Celestia wanted to talk to him alone, and I haven't seen him since. However there's a rumor going around that he has been placed in the Canterlot Dungeons."
"What!?" The six mares screamed.
"It's just a rumor though. You should check with the princess to find out what really happened." Shining Armor added.
Twilight sighed with relief. "Thank you Shining. Let's go girls." The six mares continued their walk towards the throne room.
*Celestia and Luna in the castle throne room*
"Luna don't you think you may have jumped to conclusions?" Celestia asked her sister.
"Sister you were not there. You didn't see the room or how injured Tempest was. And Jake was standing over Tempest's body ready to kill him." Luna answered.
"Perhaps but you still should have heard both sides of the story before sending Jake away like that."
Luna sighed "I suppose you're right Celestia. But I wanted to get him away from Tempest as quickly as possible."
"I see. How do you feel about Tempest? Do you think he's been lying to us?"
"I began to question his motives when he revealed he intended to kill the creature. However he seems to regret that now, and I believe he wants to make up for it. Aside from that he's been loyal to the crown his whole life. I'm convinced he'd do anything he felt was necessary for the kingdom." Luna answered, then added with a chuckle "I also think he's quite admirable."
Celestia raised her eyebrows then continued. "I... Agree. After everything that's happened, what you've told me, what Tempest has said, and what Jake has told me. As much as I didn't want it to be true I think Jake has been lying to us. The information doesn't add up, and after what you saw Jake do, I don't think we can trust him to tell the truth. I will give him a chance to explain himself, but I don't think anything he can say will do him any good."
"So what will happen to him?" Luna inquired.
"Normally Jake would be given the same punishment anypony would be given with attempted murder. However Tempest has informed me that he will be willing to drop the charges if Jake is returned to Darklight Labs. So that is what I think will happen."
"I agree with your decision." Luna and Celestia talked a bit more but were interrupted when six mares entered the Throne Room.
A unicorn guard announced their approach "Your majesty. Princess Twilight Sparkle, and the Elements of Harmony are here to see you."
"Yes I see that. Thank you. Glad to see you here Twilight." Celestia answered and smiled at Twilight. "What brings you here?"
"Greetings Celestia, and you too Luna." Twilight smiled as she said this. "Well we came here because we wanted to find out what happened to Jake since he came here."
"Ah. I should have guessed, unfortunately Twilight I have some bad news."
"What would that be yer highness?" Applejack asked.
"Well Luna witnessed Jake attacking a pony named Tempest Reason."
"What! Why!?" Twilight and her friends exclaimed.
"At present I don't know, Tempest claims he hadn't done anything to antagonize Jake, he just attacked him. I haven't heard Jake's side of the story yet."
The Elements of Harmony looked at each other. In the short time they had gotten to know Jake he didn't seem like the guy who would start a fight for no reason. They quietly discussed this with each other until Fluttershy decided to speak up for Jake. "Your majesty, ummm, well I just can't believe that Jake would do something like that without a good reason. I got to know what he was really like when he took me into the Everfree Forest."
"You mean when he took you as his hostage after fighting you and your friends?!" Luna scowled.
"Ummm, Luna the reason why he took me hostage was because he didn't want to fight with us anymore. He didn't want to see anyone else get hurt when they didn't need to, but he also felt like he needed to get away from us for some reason which I still don't understand. We became friends while we walked through the Forest, and he even admitted that he never intended to hurt me in the first place, even if my friends did come after me."
Luna stared with confusion at Fluttershy "He captured you because he wanted to stop the fight, and he had no intention to hurt you?"
"Yes." Fluttershy answered Celestia watched this discussion, her eyebrows raised at this new information.
After hearing her friend speak Twilight stepped forward and said "Celestia I think Fluttershy is right. Every time Jake fought with us he never seriously injured us, and he even tried to convince us to simply leave him alone. Even when he battled my brother he tried to negotiate before fighting. Because he didn't want to fight anypony, and I don't believe he wanted to fight Tempest, there must be something we don't know."
"Darn tootin!" Applejack said in agreement with her friend
"Yeah! Besides I was the one that attacked Jake first both times it wasn't his fault!" Rainbow admitted.
"Yeah Jakes not a meanie!" Pinkie said.
"I concur with Twilight your majesty." Rarity declared.
Luna couldn't believe what she was hearing, they were sticking up for the creature that viciously attacked them? Why? "Why do you defend Jake after he attacked all of you?"
"As we said Luna, we attacked Jake first. We made a mistake and we want to fix it. Jake isn't a bad guy he's just misunderstood, and he's been misunderstood for far too long. He didn't attack us because he wanted to, he attacked us because he had to. Luna we forgive him for what he did, and I hope he forgives us." Twilight answered.
Luna stared at Twilight taking in everything she told her. It started to make sense to her but one thing still bothered her. "If Jake is really so good, then why doesn't he pay proper respect to royalty?" The others stared at her. "From what I saw he never once bowed to my sister, and he definitely never bowed to me. He even went as far as to disrespect me to my face." Twilight was a little shocked at this but this time Celestia answered Luna.
"Luna did it ever occur to you that there might be a reason why he didn't bow?"
"We-well no." Luna stuttered.
"Jake didn't exactly disrespect you either, he was simply sticking up for himself after you demeaned him. I think you may have got what you deserved."
"What! But what did I do?" Luna complained.
"If I recall correctly you referred to Jake as a beast, and demanded he treat you with respect after you disrespected him. How would you feel if the positions had been reversed?"
Luna thought about it for a moment. She thought about everything she had thought about Jake, and then she thought about what Twilight and her friends had told her. Suddenly she realized that she may have been misjudging Jake from the very beginning, making assumptions without evidence just because he was different, and what he had done. She hadn't known enough to make any sort of accurate assumption, but she made assumptions anyway. And she was wrong, but one thing was still left unexplained. "Then why was Jake ready to strike Tempest down?"
The elements looked at each other. "I say we go find out." Twilight suggested.
"Yeah, and ah'd like tah have a word or two with Tempest." Applejack said.
"Yeah I want to find just what that pony's beef is with Jake." Rainbow stated.
Celestia looked at all her friends rallying to Jake's side, and wondered if there was hope for him after all. "I will be honest my little ponies I had thought there was no hope for Jake. That he would be found guilty of attempted murder. But now I believe that Jake's word is credible once again, and that he might not be guilty. So I agree with Twilight, let us go hear Jake's side of the story." The ponies marched off toward the Canterlot Dungeons.
*Jake in his solitary cell*
Jake sat down staring at the floor. He had finally gotten over his brief period of depression, but wasn't sure what to do now. Was anybody going to come for him? Was he trapped here? Was he going to be sent back to Tempest? Most likely. Jake hoped against hope that that wouldn't happen, but the odds seemed to point towards that happening.
Wait what was that? Jake listened carefully and heard the sound of hoofsteps heading towards him. Jake eagerly looked out the bars hoping to see someone who might be able to help him even though he knew that was unlikely. He couldn't see anybody yet, but after a little bit the ponies came into view. Those six ponies he met earlier accompanied by the two princesses Celestia, and Luna.
Jake wasn't too surprised to see Celestia and Luna, but the other six were a surprise. 'I guess they came after me after all.' He thought. When the ponies arrived at the cell he was greeted with hi's and hello's from all the ponies, and Princess Luna unlocked and opened the cell door.
"Why are you letting me out?" Jake asked.
"Because it's time we heard your side of the story about what happened in the Dining Hall." Celestia answered.
Jake was mad, he wanted to scream at them that if they had just listened to him before sticking him in this cell they could have saved everyone a lot of trouble. But he held his tongue because he knew it would just get him into more trouble. "Let's go then."
The ponies led him back to Celestia's throne room where Celestia asked Jake "Now can you explain to us why you attacked Tempest?"
"I have good reason to want to attack him, but he actually attacked me first." Jake answered.
"He claims you attacked without reason." Celestia informed.
"He's lying. Here's what happened-" Jake filled them in on what happened after he was originally let out of his cell. How he was led by a mysterious voice to the Dining Hall, and how Tempest attacked him, and started the fight. He also mentioned that he believes it was all a set up to make him look bad, and make Tempest look good.
The ponies looked at each other taking all this in. It was a lot to take in, for the most part everypony trusted Jake, but what he said didn't seem right. Why would Tempest just lead Jake to a room to set him up? Why would anypony want to do that? "But why would Tempest want to set you up?" Twilight asked. "What could he gain from it?"
Jake just stared at her "You're joking right? Do you honestly not know."
Twilight sighed angrily, "Jake you've hinted at something horrible happening to you, and that if you were brought to Celestia that something horrible would happen to you. But you've never told us what it is. You just said we already knew. But we don't! We have no idea what you're talking about. Please just tell us. Why would Tempest want to hurt you?" Twilight pleaded.
Jake just stared mouth open. None of them knew, not even the Princesses? Why would that be kept secret from them?... Unless what Tempest did to him was illegal, and he needed to keep it secret. Which would explain why Tempest had that unicorn put up some kind of barrier which prevented Princess Celestia from getting to close to him and finding out he was intelligent. It all made sense now.
"The reason why Tempest wanted to do that to me. Is because he freaking tortured me!" The ponies recoiled at his outburst. "I wound up in this world through some kind of portal that sucked me in. I wound up in a forest where Tempest found me, and brought me to his labs. Where he knocked me out cold and performed vivisections and experiments on me!" Jake informed.
Everypony was in shock at this but Jake wasn't finished. "This went on for several weeks, but I finally managed to escape from there, and I think you can figure out the rest."
The Elements of Harmony, Princess Luna, and Princess Celestia were in shock. Luna was the most distraught by this information as she realized something nopony else did. 'He used me. He used me to hurt Jake!'
Celestia was the deepest in thought. Tempest had done all that? Was Jake lying? Was Tempest capable of such atrocities?
Suddenly Celestia remembered Jake telling her about Tempest having a unicorn set up a magical field which prevented her from meeting Jake back when she first saw him in Darklight labs. That would make sense if Tempest wanted to keep his treatment of Jake a secret. It would also explain why Tempest lied about having created Jake, why he had no respect for Jake, and why he would have set Jake up in the Dining Hall. The portal also explained the magical anomaly she had sensed. So it was a portal that brought Jake here. Celestia believed Jake's story, but she still needed proof. "Jake do you happen to have any proof of what you claim?"
"I still have the scars from some of the experimentations." Jake answered.
"I see. Unfortunately this isn't the proof we need, there's nothing to suggest Tempest did this to you. It would still be your word against his."
Twilight spoke up "Then we need to find some proof. I will search around with my magic, and see if I can find any evidence of the spell Tempest used to lure Jake to the Dining Hall."
"Ah'll go have a talk with that Tempest fella, see if ah can get im tah admit tah anythin." Applejack declared.
"I'll go with you." Rainbow said
"I will head over to Darklight Labs to see if I can find any information there." Celestia said. What she said caught Twilight's attention.
"Darklight Labs? I thought that wasn't real. Why didn't you tell me about it Celestia?"
"Darklight Labs was supposed to be top secret Twilight. I was going to tell you some time after you became a princess, but it wasn't exactly a priority." Celestia explained.
"And Tempest is a part of Darklight Labs?" Twilight asked.
"He was head of Darklight Labs." Celestia answered, and Twilight gasped at that. The head of Darklight Labs was the one that did those things to Jake?! That's just... evil.
"As for you Jake, I will have Luna prepare a castle suite for you to stay in." Celestia declared.
"That's not necessary your highness." Jake assured. "A regular room will do just fine."
"Nonsense you are our guest now, and you shall be given the respect you deserve."
"But-" Jake started to reply before being cut off by Luna.
"Don't try to argue with my sister. You won't win this fight." Luna chuckled after saying that.
"Fine." Jake said when his stomach growled, and he remembered he hadn't had anything to eat all day. "Can we get something to eat first though?" The ponies giggled and Luna and the rest of the elements led Jake towards the Dining Hall (a different one) while Celestia, Twilght, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash went off in search of evidence for Jake's case.
*Following Jake*
Luna led Jake to the Dining Hall, so that they could all grab a bite to eat. Luna asked "What exactly does your kind eat Jake."
Before Jake could answer Fluttershy spoke up "Ummm. I believe Jake is an omnivore, am I right?"
"Yes, and before you ask no I don't eat ponies, even if I did I wouldn't eat you because you're intelligent, and that would be murder." Jake answered.
"Well then perhaps we should request the gryphon menu then." Luna suggested.
"That's okay, I'll just have some fruits for now." Jake said.
"If that's what you want." Luna replied and requested a menu from the royal waiter.
While everyone ate, Pinkie decided to get to know Jake a little better.
"Hey Jake do you like parties?"
"Well it depends on-"
"Ooohhh ooohhh! Can I throw you a welcome to Equestria party?"
"Well I'd rather you didn-"
"Here I already have invitations set up here's yours?" Pinkie held out a party invite for Jake's welcome to Equestria party it was to take place in 15 days.
"But-but why would you make this, how did you make this in the short time you had?"
"Well duh, I've had these prepared in case an alien named Jake ever happened to wind up in Equestria on that particular day."
"But-but why would you even-" Before Jake could go any further Rarity interrupted.
"It's Pinkie Pie darling. Don't question it."
Jake just stared not quite comprehending, then just shrugged his shoulders. "OK."
"So you're coming to the party right?" Pinkie asked.
"We'll see."
Rarity decided it was her turn to have a conversation and spoke to Jake, "Darling if I may ask why are you wearing such plain looking clothes. They look well designed but not very stylish."
Jake looked at his clothes he was just wearing some royal blue sweatpants and a white t-shirt, nothing stylish but not ugly either, just casual. Then he remembered these were ponies, and obviously didn't wear clothes very often. "I just wanted to wear some casual clothes, since I wasn't expecting to get sucked into a vortex and end up in a world inhabited by ponies."
"Ah. I'm sorry that happened to you."
"It wasn't your fault."
"Still I'm sure you didn't deserve what Tempest did to you." Jake said nothing, instead he thought about Tempest. Jake honestly didn't completely blame Tempest for doing what he did. Jake understood that Tempest believed he had to do this for his country. Tempest was wrong of course but Jake still understood him. Rarity spoke again "Tell me why did you even bother to wear clothes? Was there some sort of celebration?"
Jake was dumbstruck. Did that pony just ask him why he wore clothes period, did she honestly- oh wait ponies. Jake remembered and answered, "Well my kind generally wears clothes on a daily basis, and it's considered improper, even illegal to be naked in public."
"Really." Rarity said surprised "Why?"
Jake thought about it for a second. "Think about it like this would you go out in public if all of your fur was shaved off?"
Rarity shuddered at the thought "No of course not."
"That's pretty much what it would be like for humans going around naked since we don't have any fur." Rarity's eyes sparkled with comprehension and Jake finished saying "So you see humans wearing casual clothes is the equivalent to ponies going around with no clothes on."
"Oh I see. Still if you would like I could make you some very fancy attire." Rarity offered.
"That's very nice of you. I'll think about it."
"So your race is called human then?"
"Yes it is."
Fluttershy thought the term human sounded familiar, and suddenly remembered what Twilight had told them about her adventures in Canterlot High. "Wait human you mean like the creatures Twilight met when she went through the mirror portal?"
"Wait mirror portal? What do you mean?" Jake asked curious.
"Well some time ago Twilight had to go through a magic mirror, and enter the human world, to get her crown back." Over the next few minutes Fluttershy explains the events of Equestria Girls to Jake.
"So I might have a chance at going home?" Jake asked with excitement in his voice.
"It's possible Jake but unfortunately right now we have more important things to worry about right now, like bringing Tempest to justice."
"I don't care about Tempest just get me home."
"As much as I wish I could we need you here to provide evidence against Tempest. Besides only Princess Twilight knows how to make the portal activate properly."
Jake sighed "Alright, but as soon as this is over I want to give that portal a try."
"I'll see to it. However now I have something I would like to say, Jake first of all I would like to apologize for misjudging you on more than one occasion, and for jumping to conclusions when I saw you in the Dining Hall with Tempest."
"Apology accepted. I can't blame you for acting the way you did under the circumstances."
"That doesn't excuse my actions, I was impulsive, and should have known better." Luna said.
"Hey, learn from your mistakes that's all anybody can ask for." Jake replied.
"I suppose you're right. However I have another thing I want to ask you."
"Yes?"
"Is there a reason that you do not bow before me or my sister."
Jake stopped at this and thought about what he was going to say. "Well in my home country we no longer have royalty, instead we elect our leaders through votes. That's a very dumbed-down description, but I think you get the basic idea right?" Luna nodded. "There are other countries that still have royalty, but some are just for tradition. As for why I don't bow, it's because I have set up certain rules for myself, one of them being I don't bow to anyone unless they earn my respect, or I am under allegiance to them."
"Why?"
"It's what I believe is right, it follows my religion and feels like the right choice for me."
Luna pondered what Jake told her and finally replied "Not sure how I feel about it, but as ponies say to each their own."
"Humans say that too."
"Really? It seems like our races might have some things in common then." Luna commented. "Well now that we've finished our food I propose that we take Jake to his suite."
"Alright." Jake said and they walked off in the direction of the Canterlot suites.
*Twilight Sparkle in the castle halls*
Twilight was on her way towards the Dining Hall where Tempest and Jake had fought. She was hoping she would be able to use her spell tracker to find out what spell Tempest used to lure Jake to the Dining Hall in the first place. Once Twilight reached the Dining Hall she immediately went inside and scanned the room. Nothing. "What? There has to be something." She scanned again and got the same result. This was where the spell originated so if there was anything left over it would be here, and there wasn't enough time for the magic trail to disappear yet.
Twilight decided to search elsewhere to hopefully find a trace of the spell. But no matter where she looked she couldn't find any trace of it anywhere. She even searched Jake's cell but still nothing. This wasn't possible, was Jake lying after all? She shook her head in refusal, but still what was going on?
*Tempest Reason in the castle laboratories*
Tempest was absolutely confident in himself. Soon Jake the human would be returned to him, and life would proceed as normal. Tempest was going over the notes to his magic siphoning weapon when two ponies entered the room. Annoyed Tempest turned around and asked "Can I help you?" Looking at the two ponies he recognized them as Applejack the element of honesty, and Rainbow Dash the element of loyalty.
"Are you Tempest?" Applejack asked.
"As a matter of fact I am, and I believe you two are Applejack the element of honesty, and Rainbow Dash the element of loyalty." Tempest praised.
"Ya got that right." Rainbow said.
"Well what can I do for you two?"
"Actually we would like some answers." Applejack stated.
This confused Tempest "Answers to what?"
"Well we want to know what really happened in the Dining Hall with Jake."
"Wait how did you even know about that?"
"Jake happens to be our friend, and we want to know why you and he fought." Applejack explained.
"Well there isn't much to tell. I entered the room he happened to be in, and he screamed at me then attacked me."
"That's not what he told us he said you attacked him first."
Tempest scoffed "Well he's obviously lying."
"Hey don't you call our friend a liar, it was you that attacked him because you-!" Rainbow started to say but was interrupted.
"Rainbow!" Applejack interrupted her before she revealed how much they knew about Tempest.
Tempest was enraged now. "You dare accuse me of wanting to fight him, look at me I still have the injuries from what he did to me!" As he said this he pointed to a bruise on his neck where he had let the plate strike him. "Now if you don't have anything better to do than accuse me of things that didn't happen then kindly leave."
"Why you little-!"
"Rainbow, let's go." Applejack cut her friend off tugging her towards the door. The two elements walked outside the door. "Fools." Tempest muttered under his breath as soon as they had left. He knew having some injuries on him from the fight would prove useful. He turned his attention back to his notes but he couldn't help but think about why these two were questioning him. Did they have evidence against him? No that wasn't possible, the only evidence that remained was the magical trail from the spell he used to lure Jake to the Dining Hall, and he had buried that under another spell so that it would come up as nothing. Sure a high level magic user could eventually break it if they figured it out but few ponies had that level of magical expertise, even if they investigated it for some reason, your average investigator pony would not be able to detect it. He had absolutely nothing to worry about.
*outside the door with AJ, and RD*
"What the hay AJ! Can't you see he's lying." Rainbow practically screamed.
"Of course ah see it. But ah also see that we can't do nothing tah get him to spill the beans. It's a dead end here, we should just go back to Celestia and tell her we couldn't get any info out of him."
Rainbow groaned but muttered "Fine." And they began walking back towards the throne room.
*Celestia at Darklight Labs*
Everywhere Celestia went the ponies bowed before her, but not a single one of them wanted to give her any information. She asked several what they knew about Jake the creature that had once been here, but what she usually got was "I can't talk about that without permission from Tempest." or "I'm sorry I don't really know anything." Celestia suspected that they were keeping things from her, but she couldn't just lash out at them. She sighed and continued walking through the facility hoping to find somepony to give her the information she needed.
She asked pony after pony, but nopony told her anything, there was one nurse that seemed to be frightened when Celestia mentioned Jake, but she wouldn't speak either. Celestia was getting tired of this, and was almost ready to give up. It didn't help that almost all of these ponies looked alike. In fact she had actually asked a few of the ponies she already asked because she thought they were somepony different. But finally something happened that might help Celestia out.
A young unicorn stallion approached her and asked "Are you trying to find out about the human?"
Celestia eagerly replied "Yes can you help me?"
"Do you want to find out the truth about him?"
Celestia grew even more eager "Yes please."
"We should go somewhere private and talk. Follow me." The stallion turned and led Celestia to his office Once they entered, he locked the door behind them and bowed to Celestia. "Princess Celestia, my name is Study Guide." He rose after introducing himself. "And I think there's something you should know..."
*Back to Twilight*
Twilight was infuriated, there wasn't a single shred of evidence she could find to help Jake. She stomped her hooves on the ground in frustration, why couldn't she find a trace of the spell Tempest used to lure Jake? Twilight forced herself to calm down, and tried to think this thing through. 'What could cause spell trails to be hidden?'
The answer suddenly hit her 'cover spells!' Tempest was a clever pony, just in case someone did try to find evidence against him, he used a cover spell to cover his tracks. Twilight immediately ran back to the Dining Hall and began scanning for cover spells, after a bit of searching she finally found one, it was a high level one, but nothing she couldn't handle. She charged up her horn with a spell that would remove the cover spell, and unleashed it.
The cover spell dissipated, and Twilight began searching for luring spells until she finally found what she was looking for. With a smile she jotted down in her notepad everything she needed to tell Celestia and went back to the throne room.
*Canterlot Castle throne room*
Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Twilight Sparkle waited patiently for Princess Celestia to return. Suddenly a burst of white light appeared in front of the ponies, and out emerged Princess Celestia accompanied by a young stallion. The ponies greeted Celestia, but afterwards Twilight asked "Princess who is this?" She pointed at the young stallion.
"This Twilight is Study Guide. He has agreed to help Jake's case, and has already revealed much of what Tempest has done to Jake." Celestia answered.
"Wait a minute this guy was with Jake the whole time but he's only now deciding to do something about it." Rainbow exclaimed.
SG stuttered "Well I uh-"
"Zip it pal, you might be trying to help him now, but you should have done it long before."
"Rainbow Dash that's enough." Celestia said.
Study Guide took in everything Rainbow just said, and came to a conclusion. "No she's right your majesty, I should have done something a lot sooner." Study Guide declared.
"Study Guide the past is in the past, and there's nothing we can do about it. Learn from your mistakes. Besides given your surroundings, your inexperience, and your uncertainty of what to do it's understandable that you would make a mistake. However what really matters is that you're here now doing the right thing." Celestia reassured.
"Thank you Celestia." Study Guide said with a smile.
"Now my little ponies tell us what you have found out on your own."
"Ah'm sorry yer highness, but uh, that Tempest fella was locked up tighter than a prison on a Sunday. We couldn't get im tah talk." Applejack said.
"I see, what about you Twilight?"
"Well it was tricky but I finally found the spell Tempest used to lure Jake to the Dining Hall, and I took notes." Twilight said levitating her notebook.
"Good work Twilight. Now let us find Jake and prepare to bring Tempest Reason to justice." Celestia said. Rainbow Dash screamed "Yeah!" and the company heading toward the castle suite.
*Jake's new room Canterlot Castle suite*
Jake lay down on the huge king-sized bed talking with his new friends Luna, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie. They continued talking for a while, until Celestia entered the room accompanied by Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and a stallion Jake recognized. "Study Guide? What are you doing here?"
"Oh uh, hi there. I-I'm here because, because, because I want to do what's right. Tempest had no right to do what he did to you." Study Guide replied.
"What's right? What's right would've been to find Princess Celestia and put a stop to Tempest's schemes before they got out of hand." Jake said his tone serious but only slightly condescending.
"I I'm sorry. I-It's just, Tempest and those other ponies are my friends, I really didn't want to get them in trouble."
"But you're turning them in now." Jake said with slight concern for SG.
"I-I know. But what they, and I have done has gone on for far too long without being punished. I can't just stand by anymore."
Jake took this into thought, out of all the ponies he remembered at the facility Study Guide had been the kindest to him. Jake still hadn't liked him very much but now, he believed him.
"Just be sure to remember this for the next time it happens." Jake said reassuringly.
"I'll try." Study Guide answered confidently.
Celestia cleared er throat to make an announcement. "Ahem. Everypony I believe the time has come to bring Tempest to justice."
"About that." Jake interrupted. "Could we not make a big deal out of this?" All the ponies stared at him and Rainbow screamed "What! After all he did to you, you want us to take it easy on him?!"
"Well yes, becau-" Jake started, but was interrupted again by Rainbow.
"Are you insane!? That pony needs to be taught a lesson!"
"I agree, but he should be given the punishment he deserves, and only what he deserves nothing more nothing less."
"But what makes you think we would be unfair to him?" Luna asked.
Jake sighed "I don't mean to imply that you all might be unfair, it's just... back on my home planet Earth, I used to be a law enforcement officer. And in my line of work, obviously I had to arrest and bring some criminals to justice. The criminals would face a trial from the town judge and get the punishment he or she deserved.... But after a while the town judge's power went to his head a little. Anyone who had committed a crime no matter how big or small always got an extremely undeserving punishment way worse than what justice actually called for."
"I've seen some half decent people have their lives ruined because they stole something petty, and all they really did was make a mistake which they honestly regretted making. I'VE SEEN FREAKING CHILDREN GET PUNISHMENTS MEANT FOR ADULTS!! There was a kid who stole a loaf of bread because his little sister was starving and he was the only one who could provide for her. You'd think there would have been a little sympathy for the kid but NO! He was given two freaking years behind bars for what he did. AND HE WASN'T EVEN OLD ENOUGH FOR A PUNISHMENT LIKE THAT!" The ponies expressions grew more and more shocked as Jake went on, but he wasn't done yet.
"But it got worse, when the kid and I protested that the punishment was too harsh, and the kid struggled and tried to escape, the judge only increased his punishment to five years. The boy asked me to look after his sister for him, since I seemed to be the only one willing to help him. So I did, I found his sister and looked after her as best as I could. But in the end it was all for naught, the little girl died only five months after I took her in, apparently she had caught a rare disease that I forget the name of. She had caught the disease sometime while she and her brother were on the streets. The disease had gone away, but she had a relapse which is what ended up killing her." At this point Pinkie and Fluttershy had tears in their eyes.
"I've tried for years to do something about it, I've sent letters to out of town authorities, I've spoken out publicly against what the town judge does. But no one seems to care, sometimes it feels like I'm the only on who wants actual justice to return."
"Do you understand why I want to step in and make sure Tempest gets a fair punishment?" The ponies stared at Jake as if they were seeing him for the first time.
Finally Celestia stepped forward and spoke up. "I understand where you're coming from Jake, but I assure you I will handle this with as much grace as I can."
Jake took her words in slowly, then with his mind turning to other matters requested "Celestia may I speak to you in private?"
"Yes Jake you may, please come with me." Celestia led Jake out the door and into the next bedroom closing the door behind them. "Now Jake just what was it you wanted?"
"Hold on a second." Jake interrupted as he walked over to the door. He quickly opened it to find Princess Luna attempting to listen in on their conversation. She blushed and quickly trotted away. With a sigh Jake asked "Celestia would you mind throwing a shield around us to prevent unwanted ears from listening in?"
Celestia's horn immediately began glowing a beautiful transparent gold and started emitting twinkling sounds indicating that she was using her power. Once she finished producing a barrier around the room she spoke. "Now that we're alone and uninterrupted what was it you wanted to speak about?"
"Celestia, I think we need to keep everything that happened between me and Tempest quiet." Jake stated.
"Why?" She asked curious.
"Because what Tempest did to me is pretty much an act of war, if word of it somehow got to my world, it may not go over so kindly with them, not to mention it's probably better if the general public of your world is unaware of what happened as well. So in short the less people, and ponies know about this the better." Jake's voice took on a tone of assurance when he spoke this.
Celestia pondered over everything that Jake had just told her before agreeing quickly "I agree with you Jake. I will have a private trial for Tempest, as Princess I have the authority to grant his punishment myself. However Jake I think you should know that the minimal punishment I can give him is banishment from Equestria."
"Temporary or permanent?" Jake asked his tone serious.
"For an act of war, permanent. However permanent banishments can be dismissed if the convicted does something rather amazing to make up for it. In Tempest's case however this is unlikely especially considering that Equestria is in a time of peace."
"I see." Jake sighed "Well if that's what needs to be done, then do it." Celestia nodded at Jake's answer.
"Would you like to be present at the trial?"
"No, I don't want to be anywhere near Tempest ever again." Jake replied coldly.
"I understand." Celestia assured.
With their discussion finished they went back to the room where the others were. Luna and a couple of the others were pouting about how they didn't get to hear what Celestia and Jake had discussed.
Twilight approached Princess Celestia with a question. "Princess may I ask what you two discussed?"
"Sorry Twilight, but I will not tell you now."
"Oh okay your majesty, I mean Celestia." Twilight said remembering the many requests Celestia had given her to stop calling her princess. "So what happens now?"
"Now my little ponies we will bring Tempest Reason to justice."
"YEAH!" The other ponies cheered.
*Canterlot Castle Throne Room some time later*
Tempest walked into the Throne Room. He was certain that the Princess was finally going to hand Jake over to him. What else would they summon him for? However the look in Celestia's eyes made him feel uneasy. He cleared his throat and began to speak. "Greetings your majesties. May I ask what you have summoned me here for?"
Princess Celestia rose to her feet and spoke with a voice of no remorse, "Yes Tempest, you see I have summoned you here, because you have committed a grave crime that must be answered for."
"What!"
"Tempest Reason you have been found guilty of foalnapping, assault, lying to royalty, torture, and many other crimes."
"What-wha? By who?!"
"By Jake Darrison the human. You held him captive in Darklight Labs and performed various experiments on him without my authorization and held the truth from me going as far as to injure me when I got close to discovering the truth."
Tempest was in shock 'How did she find out?' "What! No I didn't."
"Do not lie to us Tempest it will only make things worse for you. Twilight Sparkle step forth and present your evidence." Celestia said.
Twilight stepped out from behind a curtain levitating a notebook. "I found evidence of a luring spell in the Dining Hall that was hidden under a cover spell. I documented the evidence into my notebook."
Tempest stared at her 'How did she find out?' "But that doesn't prove-"
"Maybe not Tempest, but this will, Study Guide please step forward." Tempest stared in shock as the pony he recognized as Study Guide stepped out from behind a curtain. "Study Guide are the charges against Tempest Reason true?"
Study Guide stared hard at Tempest for a moment before answering "It is all true."
"Study Guide! You traitor!!" Tempest screamed.
"And I should have done this a long time ago!" Study Guide retorted.
"Tempest Reason, Study Guide has already testified against you. There can be no doubt that you are guilty. Before I allow Tempest to defend himself is there anything anyone else wants to say."
Luna stepped forward. "I have a few things to say. Tempest we know all about your plan to lure Jake to the Dining Hall. But we have seen something nopony else has. Thou used us." Her eyes began to tear up a little as she struggled with her emotions. "Thou-thou used me to suit your own plans. You knew I would act rashly when I saw you and Jake fighting in the Dining Hall. You used A PRINCESS OF THE NIGHT TO HURT ANOTHER BEING!" Tears of anger were flowing down Luna's cheeks now. She really regretted everything negative she had ever thought about Jake, and that she had unintentionally helped Tempest inflict more suffering on him. Celestia placed a wing on her sister to try to calm her down.
"Tempest Reason you may now speak your peace." Celestia stated.
"I did what I did for Equestria." Tempest stated sternly.
"Explain." Celestia requested.
"Jake is an alien, regardless of how he wound up here in Equestria he could pose a serious threat to ponykind if he is allowed to inform the rest of his kind about our weaknesses, our lifestyles, anything! The risk of alien threat was to great, and I knew none of you would condone what needed to be done so I took matters into my own hooves."
"And that Tempest is where you went wrong." Celestia replied.
"What?"
"Performing such an act without consent is unacceptable. But furthermore you had no right to do what you did to Jake even under the assumption that he was an invader. And if Jake truly was an invader he would have done something against our kind by now, he also would not have come alone. Did you ever consider that Tempest?"
"Well-I..."
"I didn't think so. The fact is Tempest, you were being xenophobic. Jake has proven to me that he has no intentions of harming ponykind, and what you did to him must be atoned for."
Tempest paused for a moment. "Where is Jake?" He would have thought the beast would want to gloat about having beaten him.
"He did not want to be here at this time. He wants nothing to do with you Tempest. Now if you have nothing else to say I shall give you your punishment." Tempest remained silent. "Very well. Tempest you are now stripped of your rank and removed from Darklight Labs."
"What!"
"And the same goes for the rest of the ponies who experimented on Jake and never tried to help him. But considering that you were the head of the crime, the punishment for you will be much worse. Tempest Reason you are hereby banished from Equestria forever."
Tempest couldn't believe it. Everything he had accomplished, his life's work, his position of power, everything he had ever done in his life had just been stolen away from him. Tempest had been the one to get the Princess to arrange for Darklight Labs to be set up in the first place, he was its founder. Now everything was lost to Tempest BECAUSE OF HIM! Tempest was furious, but even more so Tempest was afraid. Afraid of being outside of the safety of Equestria. He couldn't go back, not out there, not after what had happened to him so long ago. "No! No you can't do that!" Tempest cried out in desperation, but the more rational part of his mind told him to calm down 'You idiot the charges against you could give you life in prison, or worse petrification. She's letting you off easy by giving you banishment. Don't antagonize her, accept her offer and go!' But Tempest was still afraid, afraid of something that had happened to him in the past. Something that had changed his life. Tempest's worrying was interrupted by Celestia drawing him back to attention.
"Tempest I do in fact have the authority to do what I have said, I suggest you accept this before I add to your punishment."
"............... I accept, your majesty."
"Very well, you will have three days to pack up your things."
Tempest walked out of the room enraged, while the others left to go celebrate with Jake.
*Tempest Reason in the Canterlot labs*
Tempest gathered up the rest of the things he had left in the Canterlot labs. Most importantly his notes on the magic siphoning weapon, maybe they'd come in handy, might give him some leverage with the princesses.
Once he gathered up all of his things, he started to head for Darklight Labs. It would no doubt be his last visit, along with several other ponies' for that matter. While he traveled he thought over everything that had just happened. Was he wrong? Was Jake the human really a good guy?.........................No! He did the right thing, and he would prove it. In fact Jake was the reason for all of this right now, the reason his life was ruined. 'Jake will pay. I shall have revenge. Somehow.' Tempest thought.
*Jake's castle suite*
Jake sat on the edge of his bed and looked around at all of his friends. Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Princess Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie who was bouncing up and down on the bed. Even Shining Armor was there. All the ponies congratulated Jake for no longer being in any danger. Jake couldn't help but feel happy now, he no longer had to be afraid of Tempest sending lackey's after him, or of being put in a cage. There was only one thing that still bothered him. How was he supposed to get back home? 'Maybe that mirror portal will hold the answer.'
"What's on your mind sir Jake?" Luna asked, she had taken to calling Jake 'sir Jake' for some reason.
"You don't need to call me sir. And to answer your question I'm thinking about home."
"Oh I see."
Pinkie finished bouncing and decided to ask Jake a very important question "Hey Jake can I throw you a congratulations on being set free party?" her eyes getting large like those cute puppy dog eyes. Jake was immune to that trick but still answered "I'll think about it."
Jake took in a deep breath as he finally came to the terms of the fact that he was free.
*POV of unknown pony*
It's just as I feared. Celestia and Luna are weak rulers. This world needs a strong new ruler, and because no one else will take up this responsibility, I suppose I will have to. I am fully capable of leading in the princesses stead, but I lack the physical power to overthrow them. But I will find a way to fix this. I will lead Equestria to a new age. An age of glory, strength, fear, and power. The time has come to end the sisters reign, and set in a new order for Equestria.
Twilight and Jake were walking alone through the halls of Canterlot Castle. The reason why is because Twilight had offered to give Jake a tour of the castle, which he had accepted. Twilight told Jake all about the history of Canterlot Castle and the various rooms she showed to him. A lot of the information was boring, and Jake could care less for, but he was interested in some of the legends like Nightmare Moon, Starswirl the Bearded, and Tirek. Things went on like this until Twilight mentioned something that caught Jake's ear. "This room used to hold the Crystal Mirror, that's the mirror that leads to the human world. It was relocated to the Crystal Empire for Princess Cadance to watch over. But after my first adventure through the portal and once I got my own castle it was relocated there so I could study it on my own."
"Did you just say portal to the human world?" Jake asked remembering Fluttershy mentioning the mirror before.
"Yes, why?" Twilight asks staring, then realizes. "Oh."
"Can you take me to see it?"
"Sure, but I don't think-"
"Well then, let's go see if it'll take me home."
"But, don't you want to say goodbye to everyone before you leave?"
"I can come back through the portal right?"
"Well yes."
"Then let's at least see if it works." Twilight pondered this for a moment before she nodded yes and charged her horn, preparing it to teleport them to her castle. Twilight and Jake became surrounded in a light violet sphere, and suddenly they teleported to Twilight's castle. Twilight felt a little dizzy after that, and Jake asked her "Are you alright?"
"Yeah I'm just fine. Teleporting over such a long distance is a bit of a strain."
"Okay, so where's the mirror?"
"Right this way." Twilight led him through the map room and past her Dining Hall straight to the portal room. "Well here it is."
Jake studied the mirror. It was somewhat in the shape of a horseshoe with mirror glass in the center. It looked kinda fancy but more towards equine standards. There were a lot of wavy designs on the outside and two small steps leading up to it. There was also what looked almost like a smaller mirror perched on top of the larger one, this one had the shape of a pony in it. Could this thing really take him home?
"Are you ready to give it a try?" Twilight asked.
"Let's go."
"Wait a moment I need to set everything up." Twilight said this as she began moving several objects around. Wires, a pumping mechanism, and finally a book with Celestia's symbol on it which she placed on a weird looking shelf platform above the mirror. After that the book started to glow and magical energy coils wrapped around the electrical antennas, wires, and do-hickeys. Magic began flowing through the entire mechanism and the pumping machine began spewing out magical glowing paper. Finally the mirror itself glowed with a bright pink light from which Twilight and Jake shielded their eyes. When they looked back the mirror had a glowing pink vortex where the mirror glass used to be.
Twilight smiled and said "There we go."
"Let's go." Jake said.
"Wait." Twilight stopped Jake before he just walked through the portal. "I should warn you it's a pretty crazy ride. You'll feel very... uncomfortable once you go through."
"Nothing I can't handle." Jake said with a grin.
"Alright then let's go." Twilight smiled and they both walked into the portal. Suddenly everything was spinning and colors flashed before Jake's eyes. Then everything went black.
Jake's eyes slowly began to open, and once they did he realized he was on his knees laying on a school sidewalk. He looked around and saw he was in front of a white statue monument with a horse on top of it. Looking around some more he noticed some cars driving by, and heard the voices of school children 'This must be Earth right?' Jake looked around for Twilight and found something pretty surprising. Instead of Twilight there was a girl kneeling on the sidewalk next to him, she was wearing a dark purple skirt, a light blue shirt, and some large purple/pink boots. Except it wasn't a normal looking girl, for one thing her skin was purple! OK maybe it was violet but still! Wait a minute the skin color was the same as Twilight's fur, and her hair/mane was the same too, and on the skirt was the same mark that Twilight had on her flank. Could this be Twilight? No way... Maybe? Better find out.
"Hey are you okay?" Jake asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Could you help me up?" The girl spoke in voice that sounded just like Twilight. It's got to be her... Just to be sure.
"Twilight is that you?"
"Yeah who did you think?"
Jake gestured at her and she stared for just a second before realizing he was confused by her changed appearance. "Oh right. Whenever a pony travels through the mirror portal they change into their respective human counterpart."
"Human counterpart?"
"Yes everypony in Equestria has a human counterpart here in this world somewhere. Basically someone here will have the same name and personality as somepony in Equestria, and vice versa."
"Really?... Okay but why is your skin purple?"
Twilight stared at him for a moment like he was dumb "Because it's the color of my fur back in Equestria obviously."
"But normal human skin isn't purple... or blue or pretty much any color of the rainbow... unless it's dyed."
"Really? Then explain them?" Twilight pointed at some school kids walking by, and they all had different skin colors. One had a light blue skin color, one had a magenta skin color, and the last was orange.
"What the?" Jake looked around observing everyone around him. Everybody seemed to have a different skin color. Jake noticed people walking across the streets, people driving in their cars, people walking their dogs. Not a single one of them had a 'normal' looking skin color. This wasn't Earth. "This, this isn't my home."
"What?"
"On my world humans skin doesn't come in blue, red, or green. It pretty much ranges from a light tan like mine to a dark brown, and everything in-between."
"Really... I knew it!" Twilight exclaimed.
"Knew what?"
"I knew there was something different about you, I had a feeling you weren't from this world."
"Well why didn't you say something?"
"Well I wasn't quite sure, and if I was wrong then I would be preventing you from finding your home."
Jake thought over what she told him and understood why she didn't say anything. "OK Let's go back then." The two friends turned around and Twilight led Jake back through the mirror on the human side, which turned out to be the horse monument they were standing in front of.
Jake saw all the bright colors again and felt like his head was spinning. But when he opened his eyes he was once again in the portal room of Twilight's castle. Looking over he saw Twilight back to her normal form and shaking her head to clear her thoughts. She looked over at Jake with a grin and asked "So your kind only has a skin coloring ranging from light tan to dark brown huh? You've got to tell me more, tell me everything you know about your species!" She said getting more and more eager as she went on, and slowly getting closer to Jake's face. Before she got too close Jake replied "Alright later. Right now let's go back to Canterlot, I'm sure some-...pony is wondering where we are."
Twilight looked disappointed but agreed "Okay." She charged up her horn and teleported the two back to Jake's bedroom suite in Canterlot.
Just so it's clear to everyone this is pretty much the same chapter as the last one just with a different ending feel free to skip to the part after they've gone through the portal since the rest is just copy and paste.
*Canterlot Castle halls*
Twilight and Jake were walking alone through the halls of Canterlot Castle. The reason why is because Twilight had offered to give Jake a tour of the castle, which he had accepted. Twilight told Jake all about the history of Canterlot Castle and the various rooms she showed to him. A lot of the information was boring, and Jake could care less for, but he was interested in some of the legends like Nightmare Moon, Starswirl the Bearded, and Tirek. Things went on like this until Twilight mentioned something that caught Jake's ear. "This room used to hold the Crystal Mirror, that's the mirror that leads to the human world. It was relocated to the Crystal Empire for Princess Cadance to watch over. But after my first adventure through the portal and once I got my own castle it was relocated there so I could study it on my own."
"Did you just say portal to the human world?" Jake asked remembering Fluttershy mentioning the mirror before.
"Yes, why?" Twilight asks staring, then realizes. "Oh."
"Can you take me to see it?"
"Sure, but I don't think-"
"Well then, let's go see if it'll take me home."
"But, don't you want to say goodbye to everyone before you leave?"
"I can come back through the portal right?"
"Well yes."
"Then let's at least see if it works." Twilight pondered this for a moment before she nodded yes and charged her horn, preparing it to teleport them to her castle. Twilight and Jake became surrounded in a light violet sphere, and suddenly they teleported to Twilight's castle. Twilight felt a little dizzy after that, and Jake asked her "Are you alright?"
"Yeah I'm just fine. Teleporting over such a long distance is a bit of a strain."
"Okay, so where's the mirror?"
"Right this way." Twilight led him through the map room and past her Dining Hall straight to the portal room. "Well here it is."
Jake studied the mirror. It was somewhat in the shape of a horseshoe with mirror glass in the center. It looked kinda fancy but more towards equine standards. There were a lot of wavy designs on the outside and two small steps leading up to it. There was also what looked almost like a smaller mirror perched on top of the larger one, this one had the shape of a pony in it. Could this thing really take him home?
"Are you ready to give it a try?" Twilight asked.
"Let's go."
"Wait a moment I need to set everything up." Twilight said this as she began moving several objects around. Wires, a pumping mechanism, and finally a book with Celestia's symbol on it which she placed on a weird looking shelf platform above the mirror. After that the book started to glow and magical energy coils wrapped around the electrical antennas, wires, and do-hickeys. Magic began flowing through the entire mechanism and the pumping machine began spewing out magical glowing paper. Finally the mirror itself glowed with a bright pink light from which Twilight and Jake shielded their eyes. When they looked back the mirror had a glowing pink vortex where the mirror glass used to be.
Twilight smiled and said "There we go."
"Let's go." Jake said.
"Wait." Twilight stopped Jake before he just walked through the portal. "I should warn you it's a pretty crazy ride. You'll feel very... uncomfortable once you go through."
"Nothing I can't handle." Jake said with a grin.
"Alright then let's go." Twilight smiled and they both walked into the portal. Suddenly everything was spinning and colors flashed before Jake's eyes, but there was something else he felt like something was changing or something was moving on him. Then everything went black.
Jake's eyes slowly began to open and his vision was very blurry. In fact it stayed blurry for far longer than it probably should have. Once it all finally cleared up everything still seemed a little off, like his eyes had shifted positions or moved to the side of his head, or something. However looking around Jake began to see things he recognized, tall buildings, cars driving trough the streets, heck the building in front of him and Twilight appeared to be some kind of school. Speaking of Twilight where was she?
Jake tried to stand up from the awkward position he was in to look for Twilight but heard a strange sound as soon as he moved his feet. 'Clip clop.' What was that? Jake was struggling to stand up properly, he managed to get onto all fours and decided to look down to see what was going on. What he saw would shock him for the rest of his life. He had hooves, he-he was a pony! He was a pony! Wait no something was different, his fur wasn't colorful, he was taller than a pony like Twilight and he didn't have any mark on his... flank? Why was he thinking about this he just changed into a horse!
"What the heck is going on!?" Jake's scream alerted the girl next to him. The girl's skin was purple and she wore a dark purple skirt with a blue shirt.
The girl turned toward him and asked "Jake is that you?"
"Twilight?" Jake asked.
"What happened to you?!" They both yelled at each other. The yelling drew attention of some of the students that happened to be nearby and they came to see what the commotion was all about. Jake stared at the students coming towards them. They all had different skin colors red, blue, grey, nothing that looked 'normal'. Whatever this place was it wasn't Earth.
"Take me back! Take me back!" Jake screamed and Twilight immediately grabbed Jake and pulled him back through the portal they came through, which happened to be a white statue monument with a horse on the top of it. Going back through the portal Jake saw the bright colors again and felt his body begin shifting again and everything faded to black.
Jake opened his eyes and discovered he was back in Twilight's portal room. He looked around and found Twilight sprawled out on the floor. Jake bent down and helped her up. "So can you explain to me what just happened?" he asked.
"I'm not quite sure but the mirror portal appears to have altered you into an equine once you passed through it, like how it turned me into a human."
"Why did it turn you into a human? Or me into a horse for that matter?"
"I expected it to turn me into a human since that's what happened before, but I admit I didn't think you would change. To be honest I don't really know why. I think I can figure it out but it'll take a while. I think we should just head back to Canterlot for now." Jake sighed but reluctantly agreed. Unfortunately for Jake he needed to find a new way home.
The Elements of Harmony, the princesses, and Jake had all gathered together to discuss what was going to happen to Jake now that the trouble with Tempest was over. Celestia rose up from her throne and cleared her throat to address the people in the room. "Now then everypony... and everyhuman."
Jake decided to interrupt Celestia to correct her mistake. "We don't say everyhuman."
"Oh? Then what do you say?" Celestia inquired.
"We say everybody, or everyone."
"Hmmm interesting. Now then everybody, the reason I have called all of you here is to discuss exactly what will happen to Jake now that Tempest has been taken care of. I know you want to go home Jake but that opportunity may still be a long ways away. My sister and I will do our best to find a way to get you home, but until then I don't believe it would be fair of us to keep you here until we discover how to. So therefore I think it will be best if you decide where you want to stay."
"You want me to decide where I should go?" Jake asked surprised.
"Yes, however if I could make a recommendation, I believe Ponyville would be an excellent place to stay. Princess Twilight can let you stay in her castle since there's plenty of room, and she can help you get integrated into pony society. I will be sure to inform Ponyville and the rest of the nation of your presence, and Twilight will be able to help with the rest. Isn't that right Twilight?"
"Absolutely." Twilight answered assuredly.
"However Jake I don't want you to feel pressured to go to Ponyville, there are many other great town you could stay in Appleoosa, Manehattan, or if you really want you could stay here in Canterlot. I can bring you a map if you want some help deciding." Jake shook his head at the offer. "Very well, have you decided?"
Jake wanted to think about it "Let me think..."
"Oh come on Jake Ponyville's awesome!" Rainbow Dash said enthusiastically.
"Yeah besides how can I throw you a welcome to Ponyville Party if you don't come to Ponyville?" Pinkie Pie said.
"Yeah sugarcube. And ah wanna take yah tah Sweet Apple Acres to introduce yah to mah family. Ah think you'll really like em, plus you'll get to try some of mah delicious apple treats." Applejack announced.
"And I would like you to come to Ponyville and meet the nice ponies there. I'd also like to fulfill my promise to make you some better clothes Darling." Rarity said.
"Please Jake I'd really like for you to come back to Ponyville with us. I want you to meet my animal friends. Please." Fluttershy said in her quiet voice giving Jake the puppy-dog eyes.
"You'll really enjoy living in Ponyville Jake. It's a great place to stay, and we'll get to talk all about the differences between our worlds." Twilight said.
Jake thought about it, it all sounded great but there was still something he wanted to ask "Will Zecora be there?"
"Yes absolutely. She lives in the Everfree Forest which is right next to Ponyville remember?"
Jake chuckled and replied "Just checking."
"So you have decided to go to Ponyville then?" Celestia asked.
"Yes but before anything else happens, Celestia I have something I want to ask you." Jake said remembering something that was bothering him.
"Yes, what is it?"
"What would have happened to me if I ended up here in Equestria and I met you instead of Tempest?"
Celestia just stopped, and so did everypony else. She hadn't expected this question, and needed to think about the answer. After thinking about it for a while she finally answered "I'm very sorry to say this Jake especially after all you've been through. But I believe I would have sent you to Darklight Labs so we could learn more about you."
The other ponies reacted by shouting "What!?" Jake however remained silent, but Luna had some things she wanted to say.
"Sister are you saying you would've had Jake studied by ponies like Tempest?"
"Yes Luna, but of course I wouldn't have allowed them to treat Jake the way they did. I would only have learned what we needed to in order to determine if he is a threat or not, whether it be by questioning or study. However I would never force him to do something against his will. However because Tempest took matters into his own hooves this has become unnecessary since he took his studies far further than I would have required, and since then Jake has also proven himself to be most trustworthy."
"I-I suppose you are right sister." Deep down Luna still felt pity for Jake because even though Tempest had tricked her she still played a role in his suffering. She promised herself to one day make it up to him.
"Does that answer your question Jake?" Celestia inquired.
Jake thought for a moment before answering "Yes. Thank you for being honest." It did bother him that he would've been sent THERE of all places, but he knew this was a result of his past experiences there and tried to ignore it. Jake clapped his hands together and asked "So when do we leave?"
*First person POV Jake*
Well you can probably guess what happened next. The Elements and I all packed up our things in preparation for the trip to Ponyville. Celestia had already sent her messages to the official mayor of Ponyville to inform her of my arrival. Celestia also gave a speech about me and introduced me to the city of Canterlot to make sure that when I went to the train station the ponies wouldn't panic.
Once we finished packing we said good-bye to Celestia and Luna and... I actually bowed to them. I had decided that they had earned my respect after helping me the way they did. After that we made our way to the train station, which considering the lack of technology around me I'm surprised they actually have a train.
Oh I forgot to mention how the ponies reacted to seeing me. Well it didn't go so well, some of the ponies ignored me but most looked at me with fear in their eyes. Some even screamed and ran apparently having forgotten all about the Princesses big speech. The Elements told me not to worry about that and we continued on.
Twilight paid for our tickets and the conductor pony let us on board, but I could tell he was afraid of me. I decided we should probably find an empty train car to sit in since I didn't want to disturb the ponies. Twilight and her friends tried to argue that I didn't need to stay away from the other ponies just because I was different, but I told them it was easier this way and they eventually stopped arguing with me.
All in all it was a pleasant ride to Ponyville. No one really bothered us on the trip, it was a smooth travel, and I got to talk with my new friends. The talks ranged from the differences between the cultures of Equus, and Earth, to the many adventures Twilight and her friends have had. Eventually the ponies asked me about my life back on Earth, but the next thing we knew we had arrived at our destination.
When we exited the train the mayor of the town was there to greet us. She showed some discomfort but the Elements managed to win her over. It was decided that the mayor who was oddly enough named Mayor Mare, would arrange a town meeting tomorrow to introduce me to the rest of the town.
From there Twilight and the gang led me to her castle, which is where I would be staying for now. This was the first time I had seen the castle from the outside and I gotta say it was actually very pretty. The castle was in the shape of a tree for the most part with a section that looked like a house. It looked like it was made of solid crystal which made me wonder how sturdy the castle actually was, but I figured if it held the castle up it must be sturdy enough, then again what do I know about style or architecture. All I know is the way the sun was perfectly angled to shine through the crystals to give it a majestic glow, made the view absolutely spectacular.
We walked into the castle where Twilight led me up to the room I would be staying in. The room Twilight took me to was much larger than I would've expected, and apparently this was just one of her guest rooms. The beds had very fancy blankets on them, with a nice looking crimson pattern on them. The only real problem was that these beds were designed for ponies not humans, so they were a little small. Twilight however fixed this problem by bringing in a bed she said was built for minotaurs. So apparently minotaurs live on this world too. What's next talking cows?
It was getting late by this time and all the elements except Twilight said good-bye and went off to their homes. Once they left I got into bed, but unfortunately for me Twilight was still here. She wanted to know why I slept with my clothes on, so I just said "It's what I choose to do." I had hoped that would be the end of it but Twilight insisted on tucking me in for the night. I sneered check at her and she giggled at my obvious discomfort at the fact that she was treating me like a child. There wasn't much I could do about it however since she used her magic to pull the covers over me. I sighed and told her good night, and she replied the same to me.
The next morning Twilight woke me up rather early, which got on my nerves since I'm more of a night-owl. But I let it slide since she was my friend, and technically I was her guest, I don't want my host to be cross with me after all.
Twilight led me downstairs towards the kitchen. Inside was a small little purple and green lizard looking creature. Twilight informed me that this was her assistant Spike who was a baby dragon. She introduced us to each other and then we had breakfast. Spike was the one who had made the breakfast, which was pancakes, and they were really good. I would've preferred waffles, but I'm not going to complain.
Once that was done Twilight told me she was going to meet with the mayor to find out what was going to happen with the town meeting today and when it would take place. Once she left Spike came up to me and said he wanted to talk to me in his room. He led me there and once we entered his room he looked at me his face revealing he was a little mad. We started talking and he revealed that he was upset that I had attacked his friends.
I explained to him why we had fought and how we all had apologized since then, but it still seemed to bother him. Finally he asked why I had wanted to avoid capture in the first place. I told him a censored story of what had happened to me, hey he was just a kid I didn't want to scar him for life. That... seemed to get through to him. He came up to me and gave me a hug while telling me he was sorry that had happened to me. Now while I felt like the hug was a little silly and he didn't need to tell me he was sorry, I have to admit I was a little touched by the whole thing.
We continued talking for a little while longer. He showed me his power pony comics, Twilight's Daring Do collection and lots of other popular reading material since Twilight has lots and lots of books. At around that time Twilight came back and informed Spike and I that the town meeting would be held in about twenty minutes and we needed to get ready.
Twilight led me to the center of town where the rest of the ponies were gathered to see what the town meeting was about. There was a wooden stage set up there, with a podium for making anouncements. Obviously the stage was there so I could be formally introduced to the town. Twilight took me around the back and behind the light purple curtain so the other ponies wouldn't panic.
Around back stage we ran into the rest of the elements who were apparently there to help support me and ensure the town that I was perfectly safe and that I wouldn't do anything bad.
The mayor called for attention as she was ready to give her speech about me "Fillies and gentlecolts-" 'That's how they greet crowds out here?' "- I'm sure all of you are wondering why this town meeting was called." The townsponies nodded their heads and a few muttered yes. "Well this meeting was called to help explain and introduce you all to our town's newest visitor. Some of you may have noticed his arrival at the train station yesterday evening" That got a few members of the town talking before the mayor called for attention again. "Ahem. Now for those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, allow me to explain. Our visitor is not a pony, in fact he is not a creature anypony has seen before. He is in fact a creature from an entirely different planet." Of course this news got a number of ponies talking, fortunately the mayor was able to calm everyone down. "Now please everypony remain calm I have assurances from Princesses Celestia, and Luna, as well as the elements of Harmony themselves that he intends to bring no harm to us, or our fine town. Now without any further ado allow me to introduce Jake Darrison the human."
After that was said the curtain was raised, and the Elements of Harmony along with myself stepped forward into full view of the crowd. I was pretty nervous since I had no idea how the crowd would react. Honestly it went better than I expected, most of the ponies seemed indifferent towards me, only a few seemed disgusted or afraid of me. However even less seemed to actually like me that is if their faces are anything to go by.
Once introductions were done and the elements had spoken on my behalf, the mayor announced that any questions ponies might have for Jake would be answered by Twilight Sparkle, and if she wasn't able to answer then ponies could write a letter and leave it in the designated box for me to answer later. I was grateful for this since I really didn't want to speak in front of the crowd.
While Twilight answered the questions the ponies asked, I played a little game. I examined the ponies in the crowd before me to see what I could make of them. I spotted a white mare with hair that had different shades of blue. She had a musical note on her flank and weird looking glasses. Everything about her screamed dj to me. Next to her was a dark grey mare with a black mane and a pink treble clef on her flank. She seemed orchestral to me. I spotted a minty green pony way back in the crowd but couldn't get a good look at her.
Before I knew it Twilight had finished answering questions for the day, the town meeting was declared over, and the ponies went about their normal everyday life. So this was it, I was now an official citizen of the town of Ponyville. 'Kinda sounds stupid when you say it aloud.'
The elements all came up to me with congratulations, and Rarity wanted to take me to her boutique so she could make me some new clothes. I figured this would happen sooner or later, well since I don't really have anything else planned for the day, and I need to see the town anyway I'll go, but there's something I want to do first. "Before we go to your boutique Rarity I want to visit Zecora and let her know that I'm back." The others all agreed to this and we set out for the Everfree Forest.
It was pretty easy getting to Zecora's since the Elements knew the path to take, and we didn't run into any trouble. Even if we had I'm pretty confident the Elements could've dealt with whatever it was easily.
We made it to Zecora's home and knocked on her door, fortunately she was inside and came to open the door for us whilst saying a rhyme. "Who has come to visit today? Please come inside, it is okay."
I wish you could have seen Zecora's face light up when she saw me. She ran up to me and hugged me, and returned the action. Immediately she demanded to know what had happened to me since I had been gone. I filled her in on the details and she... Well she had a mix of emotions, sad at points like when I fought the Elements again, or when I was captured, but happy at points like when Tempest got what he deserved. Once I finished she offered us some herbal tea which we all drank graciously.
While Twilight and her friends began talking with Zecora I put my hand to my pocket and felt something. Reaching in I realized it was the potions that Zecora had lent me which I had stuck in my pocket, they were still intact. I offered them back to her but she told me to keep them. After tea we all sat around and discussed how Zecora and I met, the Elements had been interested in hearing the full story for a while.
Once we finished telling our story the Elements and I said our goodbyes to Zecora, and we headed back towards Ponyville to go visit Rarity's boutique.
Rarity led us to her boutique called the Carousel Boutique. The name suited the look of the place, it was a beautiful looking building painted pink and light-purple, with lovely looking windows, and it had a spiral cone for the roof. The inside was even fancier, which makes sense since this is Rarity. Her boutique was beautifully decorated, as in so beautifully decorated you probably couldn't make the place look better if you tried, and I don't even like fashion.
Rarity brought me to her dressing room where she told me to step onto a little stand so she could take my measurements. I obliged her and she asked me if I was comfortable with taking my clothes off so she could get exact measurments. I told her I was not comfortable with taking my clothes off and that I didn't mind if the clothes didn't quite fit right. She nodded and began wrapping various measuring tapes around my arms, legs, torso, etc..
Once she finished she suggested I take a shower while she worked. 'Hmmm let's see six girls in a room with one male about to take a shower. This seems totally safe.' I joked to myself as I walked towards the shower Rarity indicated. Her shower room struck me just about as much as the rest of her boutique, it was elegant, a pearly white tub with fancy curtains, a lovely mirror, and lots of accessories for bathing. I prepared myself to take a shower, keeping an eye out just in case there was a peeping tom outside the door, since for some reason a lot of the doors ponies use don't seem to have locks on them. Rarity's did but still.
*one shower scene later*
I wrapped myself in one of the towels in the shower room and dried myself off. Then I redressed myself, and left the room feeling fresh. Rarity said that it would take her a few days until she was done.
Rarity decided to introduce me to her sister, who happened to be upstairs in her room. Rarity knocked on her sister's door and a squeaky little voice said "Come in." Rarity opened the doors and walked inside her sisters room, she told her that the creature from the town meeting was here and she wanted her to meet him.
When I saw Rarity's little sister my first thought was about how cute she was. I could definitely see a family resemblance since, they were both unicorns, they both had a fancy white coat, and they had similarly colored manes. However Rarity's sister's mane was a mixture of purple and pink and was also styled differently. Rarity introduced the two of us informing me that her sister's name was Sweetie Belle, and telling Sweetie Belle that my name was Jake. Sweetie was a little uncomfortable with me at first, but she soon warmed up to me, and even gave me a little hug.
Rarity also showed me her cat Opalescence. Yeah I didn't like her too much, since she constantly hissed and snarled to express that she didn't like me. But Rarity told me that her cat does that to everypony so I'll let it slide. I was pretty much done here for the day so the elements and I discussed what we were going to do next. Applejack suggested we go visit Sweet Apple Acres and visit her family. Everyone else, myself included agreed to this idea, but suddenly Sweetie Belle came down the stairs and asked if she could join us. No one present had the heart or desire to say no to the little pony.
As we walked through the town heading for Sweet Apple Acres we came across a pegasus filly who was riding on a scooter. Rainbow flew over to her and said "Hey squirt, come hang with us, I have a new friend I want to introduce you to." Rainbow and the little filly who had an orange coat with a purple mane came over to us. Rainbow introduced me to her friend Scootaloo, 'A fitting name since she rode a scooter.' and Sweetie Belle told her that I was okay. Since her friend seemed to like me Scootaloo decided to trust me too.
After we started walking again I noticed Rainbow, Scootaloo, and Pinkie lagging behind and when I looked back they were whispering to each other and then they started snickering. 'What are they up too?' I thought. We continued traveling across town until we came to a dirt path which took us straight to SAA.
Sweet Apple Acres was apparently an apple orchard. 'Makes sense.' There was a large red barn, and a cozy looking home, not too mention the hundreds, maybe thousands of apple trees.
Outside the house stood a large red stallion with a green apple that looked like it was sliced in half on his flank. The stallion turned his head he spotted Applejack and called for the rest of his family to come outside. Out came an elderly green earth pony with a grey mane and an apple pie on her flank, along with a little filly with a yellow coat, and a red mane with a little pink bow in it.
Applejack raced ahead of us to greet her family, and explain what was going on. Once she did she brought them over to introduce themselves. First came her brother the large red stallion Big Macintosh. Then Applejack's little sister Applebloom, who trotted over to the other two fillies once introductions were over. 'Looks like the three of them might be friends.' Finally Applejack introduced me to her grandma Granny Smith who had apparently forgotten, or misunderstood what Applejack told her since she asked "What the hay is a Jake? And what is this thing doin on mah farm?"
"Granny ah just told yah Jake here is a foreigner who happens to be mah friend, and ah'd like tah make im a guest." Applejack reminded.
"Oh. okay AJ bring im in."
'Well that was easier than I thought.'
"And get this thing off mah farm."
'Darn it.'
*One explanation later*
The Apple Family had invited us inside for supper. Honestly I don't think I've had an all apple-themed dinner before, there were apple treats everywhere apple fritters, apple pies, plain apples, apple sauce, caramel apples for desert and for beverages apple cider. Well all things considered it was actually pretty good, not the best meal I've ever had, but not the worst either. After a while I noticed Rainbow, Pinkie, and the three fillies had left early, and I didn't know why. Once dinner was over it was starting to get late and I'd have to get back to Twilight's castle soon.
But while I was outside waiting I was in for another surprise. I wandered around and found a herd of grazing cows near the barn. As I headed towards them they noticed me and one of them greeted me "Hello, and what sort of creature are you supposed to be?" 'Talking cows. Huh guess I called it.' I talked with the cows until Twilight and the others were ready to leave.
We said good-bye and left Sweet Apple Acres, but Rainbow Dash said that she, Pinkie, and the three fillies who called their group the cutie mark crusaders had something they wanted to show me in private. The other elements didn't seem to know what it was, so I just shrugged and followed her. Guess I should have known better, cause as soon as I was out of sight of the other elements the CMC, Pinkie, and Rainbow all came out of hiding and threw buckets of mud at me completely coating me in filth. Rainbow, Pinkie, and the CMC all started laughing at me and Rainbow said "Ha ha I got you good! Ha ha ha ha!"
"Rainbow. I just showered today." I muttered realizing this was a prank. My statement only got them laughing harder. "Why'd you do this anyway Rainbow?"
"It's payback for when you sent me rolling down the hill in that tree." Rainbow retorted.
I considered what she said and replied "Fair enough. But did you have to get me so dirty?"
Rainbow chuckled "Let me help you." She flew off a little ways and somehow brought a little cloud over to me. 'How did she-' Before I could finish the thought Rainbow began hopping on the cloud and causing rain to pour out onto me. 'WHAT THE HECK!' How was she causing rain to fall out of a cloud? When she finally stopped all the mud had fallen off of me, but I was soaking wet. "Ha ha. Oops I-I guess I overdid. Um. How about this..." She started spinning around me faster and faster, it felt like a blow-dryer and soon enough I felt a lot dryer, but the speed Rainbow went around me kept getting faster and faster until eventually my shirt flew off of me. She kept talking while she did this "My very own patented Rain-blow-dry." That's when Rainbow decided to stop and brag "No-no don't thank me, you're quite welcome." Then she stared eyes wide at me shirtless and my hair all messed up, and she began laughing again, and this time fell over.
At this point the others had started wondering what happened to us and they came from around the corner. They all blushed when they saw me and AJ started laughing. I just asked "Could somebody bring me my shirt?"
*Back in the middle of town*
Twilight was leading me back to her castle, the others had already gone back to their homes, when we passed by a section of town I hadn't noticed before. It looked like there was a tree that had been burned down. "Hey Twilight what's that?" I asked pointing at the tree.
"Oh. That. That used to be the town library, however during a recent threat it was destroyed." She said her tone slightly sad.
I was surprised to hear that 'What could possibly threaten this peaceful place.' Then I remembered Tempest and I answered my own question. Evil exists everywhere, even a place like this. "How did it happen?"
"I-I'd rather not talk about it."
"Can I ask why?"
"The library was where I used to live before I got my own castle. I'm still a little upset that it's gone."
"Oh I'm sorry."
"Let's just get back to the castle." She sighed.
We made it back to the castle and Twilight and I went straight to bed. The next morning Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy arrived early at the castle. Fluttershy wanted to take me to her cottage, and Pinkie Pie wanted to show me the rest of the town. As soon as we ate breakfast, which Spike had prepared for us again, Fluttershy took me over to her cottage. It was a nice little building, kinda looked like something a hobbit would live in. But what really caught my eyes were all the animals around her house. She had a chicken coop, as well as various pens housing all kinds of different animals, there was even a bear. 'Geez she wasn't kidding when she told me she was an animal lover.'
She welcomed me inside, and guess what was waiting inside. That's right more animals, birds of every feather, squirrels, chipmunks, bunnies, and more! Fluttershy said she was going to prepare tea, for me and a "special friend".
While I waited this small little white bunny with an attitude came up to me. He glared at me and started pantomiming for me to get off of the couch. After taking a second to contemplate the fact that a bunny was trying to tell me to move, I ignored him until he started tugging on me trying to physically pull me off the couch, then he bit me. "Yeowch!" I stood up on my feet and clutched my leg on the spot where he bit me. "Why you little-"
"Angel haven't you learned by now not to treat guests that way." Fluttershy's voice came through rather sternly compared to her usual voice. She flew over picked up Angel the bunny and swatted the back of his head to teach him a lesson. "Now Jake would you mind joining me in the dining room for some tea."
"I don't really like tea that much but I'll make an exception for you." I said smiling.
"Please follow me." I followed her into the dining room, and I immediately recoiled at the sight before me. "What the heck is that thing!"
"Really? That's not a nice way to greet somepony." said a creature that looked like it was made from the body-parts of several different creatures.
"Jake I know Discord is a rather strange character to meet for the first time but that doesn't make it okay to act that way towards him. I request that you apologize to him. Ummm... if you don't mind that is."
I pulled myself together and said "Umm I'm sorry uh mister Discord."
"Apology accepted. Now get in here." Discord said as he snapped his fingers.
I saw his hands completely disappear and suddenly I was being pushed forward in a chair I hadn't been sitting in just a second ago. I looked behind me and saw that both of Discord's disembodied hands were pushing the chair into its proper place. Once I was there one of the hands snapped its fingers and they both vanished reappearing on Discord's body.
Fluttershy took this moment to introduce us, "Discord I'd like you to meet my new friend Jake the human. Jake this is my friend Discord."
"I tip my hat to you sir." Discord said as he bowed his head and tipped his hat which wasn't there a second ago. The hat floated over to me and suddenly became alive and sprouted wings. It then flew right back onto Discord's head and vanished.
"Just what is going on here?" I asked.
"I'm sorry Jake I guess I should've taken the time to explain Discord to you before bringing you here." Fluttershy said apologetically.
"Well you can start by telling me what he is exactly." I replied.
"Discord is a draconequus. He is the embodiment of chaos, and used to be quite the troublemaker."
"Oh you wound me Fluttershy." Discord said feigning being emotional harmed.
"Oh I'm sorry Discord. But umm as I was saying Discord used to cause trouble in Equestria, which I'll explain to you later. However Princess Celestia believed there was a chance for Discord to redeem himself and I was instructed to try and reform him through kindness, and friendship. And it worked, Discord is now one of my friends, and doesn't try to cause trouble anymore...Well for the most part."
"Okay so he's basically chaos incarnate?" I asked taking everything in.
"Yes."
"So is that why he's so... sporadic?"
"Yes." Discord and Fluttershy both answered at the same time.
"Okay let's continue." I said taking a sip of my tea.
*One tea party later*
Well that was an unusual tea party, not that I've ever been to one before. Discord was an interesting fellow, and I wanted to get to know more about him. However he seemed more interested in what my story was and how I got to Equestria, than he did talking about himself. I did learn a few things about him though, like the time he tried to take over Equestria. After a while of talking about each other the tea party was declared over, and I joined Pinkie Pie who was waiting outside. I said good-bye to Fluttershy and Discord, and followed Pinkie as she literally hopped along the trail.
Pinkie led me back to Ponyville and began showing me the various sights in the city. She showed me EVERYTHING, and I mean EVERYTHING. Any house we passed she told me who it belonged to and tried to introduce me to as many of the ponies as possible.
We passed by a grey mare with a yellow mane who was singing a song that sounded similar to the muffin man song. "Do you know the muffin mare, the muffin mare, the muffin mare, do you know the muffin mare she lives on derpy lane."
"Hi derpy. Come and meet my friend Jake." Pinkie called, and the grey mare trotted over to us.
"Hi there." she said, now that she was this close I noticed that something was up with her eyes, they were angled so that one was always facing the opposite direction of the other.
"Hiya Derpy this is my friend Jake, Jake this is Derpy the local mailmare."
"Hi. So your name is Derpy?" I asked.
"Actually my name is Ditzy Do, but I got my nickname from my love of muffins and the line from the muffin mare song, and because of my eyes." Ditzy said as she looked at me with her wobbly eyes.
"Oh. I see."
"It's nice to meet a ha-uman for the first time, but I've got to get going." Derpy said and took off through the sky.
"Well she seems nice." I said.
"Oh yeah she is." Pinkie said as she began hopping along the street.
Pinkie took me to the place where she worked at called Sugar Cube Corner. Apparently she does more than just throw parties for the ponies in town, she's also a baker. She introduced me to Mr. and Mrs. Cake, as well as their kids Pound and Pumpkin. Pinkie asked me what my favorite kind of cake was. I told her I liked pretty much any cake, so she brought me a tray full of different cakes to try out so she could find out what kind of cake I liked best so she could have it at my party. I tried several different flavors before deciding on which one I liked most, I don't even know what flavor it was and I had started to feel a little sick from all the cake.
Pinkie Pie led me through the rest of the town and I'm pretty sure that by the time we were done I could've quoted everyplace she took me to by memory. Before we made it back to Twilight's castle we ran into two mares, one was a mint green unicorn with a harp on her flank, and the other was a yellowish earth pony with a blue and red mane and wrapped candies on her flanks.
"Oh hey you're the human thing that was announced at the town meeting right?" the green one said.
"Um yes, yes I am." I answered.
"Oh cool. I've been wanting to meet you, my names Lyra, and this is Bon Bon." The pony named Lyra said.
I nodded my head "Nice to meet you Lyra. My names Jake."
"I know, I remembered it from the town meeting. So what can you tell me about humans? I'm quite interested."
"Lyra you really shouldn't shift the conversation like that. It's quite rude." The pony named Bon Bon interrupted.
"It's okay really. What would you like to know Lyra?" I replied
"Everything!" she said leaping forward and grabbing me in her hooves. Bon Bon decided to speak up at that.
"Lyra take your hooves off the nice human." Bon Bon said in a slightly scolding voice.
Lyra blushed and let me go "Sorry."
"I apologize for my friends behavior, she isn't usually like this."
"It's okay, but anyway Lyra I don't think I have time to tell you everything about humans." I replied.
"He's right Lyra it's getting late." Bon Bon interjected.
"Is there something quick I could tell you?" I asked.
"Well could you tell me something about these." Lyra levitated my hands with her horn to indicate what she was talking about.
"As long as you agree not to grab me parts of me like that again. What would you like to know about my hands?" I asked.
"Yeah Lyra you shouldn't violate ponies like that." Bon Bon said.
Lyra blushed again, and said quietly "Well he's not a pony."
"It still applies." Bon Bon replied
"I know. Um Jake would you mind telling me what your 'hands' can do?" Lyra asked.
"Alright, well humans use them for lots of different things. Normal everyday tasks, or more precise and complicated things like building structures or furniture. Their primary use is for grabbing and holding things." I said.
"Fascinating. What else can you tell me?" Lyra inquired.
"Nothing today, I've got to get back to Twilight's castle."
"Oh but-"
"I agree Lyra let's go." Bon Bon said "Nice to meet you mister Jake."
As Lyra and Bon Bon began to leave I noticed Pinkie hopping back over to me 'When did she leave?'
"Bye Lyra, bye Bon Bon." Pinkie called to her friends.
"Pinkie, where'd you go?" I asked.
"It's a secret 'giggle-snort'." Pinkie said.
"Well I'm heading back to Twilight's Castle okay."
"Okay bye." Pinkie said and then began hopping back towards Sugar Cube Corner.
I began heading back to Twilight's Castle, and once I arrived there I found her waiting outside for me looking a little steamed. She approached me and started ranting about how I was so late and that she didn't get a chance to ask me anything about my world all day. I told her she'd get a chance tomorrow. She sighed, turned around and went inside. I followed her in and Twilight, Spike, and I all said good-night to each other before going to bed.
Thus ends my first three days in Ponyville, little did I know what the following weeks had in store for me.
Jake and Twilight were outside of the castle together, sitting on a patch of green grass. They had come out here for something very special today. You see Twilight and Jake had gathered together ..................................... to ................................ TALK! Yeah just to talk. What did you expect?
They planned to talk primarily about what Jake knew about humans, something Twilight was naturally curious about. Jake decided started the conversation "So Twilight what do you want to learn about first?"
"Well actually I want your thoughts on something."
"Yes?"
"Why do you think we speak the same language? I mean the odds of that are extremely small, both of our worlds have multiple languages and what are the odds our worlds would even have the same languages to begin with?"
Jake thought for a moment, "Well I'd just call it luck. I mean the odds of that are very small, but maybe not as small as we think. I mean this may be a different reality, or a different world or something, but our worlds actually have a lot of similarities between them, why shouldn't language be one?"
Twilight thought it over "That's very interesting. Next question, what do you think of your race as a whole?" Twilight inquired.
"Well that's an interesting question. I'd probably say that basically we are not that different from ponies. We have our good traits and our bad ones. I'll admit my world has a more violent history than yours, and it is generally a bit harsher. But I think one of the reasons for that is the lack of "magic" in my world. From what you've told me whenever a threat to Equestria comes up it's usually defeated through some magical feat such as the Elements of Harmony. My world does not have anything like that to help fix its problems, we have to do it the hard way. Can you imagine having to defeat threats like Discord without the Elements?"
Twilight thought over what Jake asked her. Without the elements they would have had to try and beat Discord with regular magic, and they certainly couldn't do it alone. They would've need an entire army to have beaten Discord, and that's assuming Discord could be beaten with normal magic. And that doesn't even include the other villains Equestria has faced.
Twilight shook her head no. "What else can you tell me?" Jake started giving Twilight a brief description of what he knew about humanity, everything from its history to its cultures.
Eventually Twilight asked Jake to tell her about himself. "Well I..." Suddenly Jake fell to his knees unable to control his body, and began speaking in a monotone voice "I was created- aahhgghh-in Eques-DAAAHHHH!" Jake suddenly grabbed his head and his body began convulsing.
"Jake what's wrong?!" Twilight shouted.
"I CAN'T CONTROL MY - AUUGHH! SOMETHING'S CONTROLLING ME AAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!" Jake screamed in agony.
Twilight didn't know what was happening, but she knew something was wrong with her friend. She immediately performed a magical scan on Jake to try and determine what was wrong, he was still convulsing and screaming. Twilight's scan revealed that Jake was under the effects of a spell that was forcing him to believe and speak whatever it was the caster had wanted. Fortunately Twilight knew how to remove this kind of spell and charged her horn and cast another spell that would diffuse the spell affecting Jake.
Once she cast the spell it immediately took effect and Jake slowly began to calm down. Once Jake seemed to be back to normal Twilight asked Jake what exactly had happened. "I-I'm not sure. All I know is Tempest did something to my mind which was causing some of my memories to fade and forcing me to say certain things."
"Why didn't you tell us about that back in Canterlot?"
"I just forgot about it. It hasn't happened in a long time and there was a lot to distract me at Canterlot. Honestly the last time it happened I think was back when I first met Zecora."
"I'm sorry that happened to you. I think we should go back to the castle now." Jake nodded his head in agreement and the pair began walking back to the castle resuming their conversation as they walked to try and lighten the mood.
"Jake what was it you were trying to tell me before, whatever it was that happened back there happened?"
Jake paused for a second "Twilight do you know what a Christian is?"
"Um no what?" Jake informed her that he was a Christian and explained some of the basic things about Christianity and she seemed to recognize some of the things Jake talked about. "That actually sounds very similar to one of our religions."
"Interesting, ummm if you don't mind my asking are you a Christian Twilight?" Jake asked. However before Twilight could answer the two were interrupted by Pinkie Pie balancing on a large ball while juggling and rolling across the street in front of them.
"Well that was random."
"No that was Pinkie Pie. Oh look we're here." Twilight announced as they arrived at her castle "Sorry Jake but I think we should continue this discussion tomorrow, I really want to scan you and make sure you're alright right now."
"Twilight I really think we should-" Jake started to persuade but Twilight interrupted.
"Jake please allow me to finish this, if there's another spell affecting you I want to make sure it's gotten rid of. Now get moving, I'll need to let the Princess know about this as well." Twilight said pushing Jake forward with her magic.
Jake reluctantly gave in and this officially ended Jake and Twilight's talk for the day.
*Twilight's Castle Guest Bedroom Jake first person POV*
Today was the day. I had been in Ponyville for several weeks now. I'd made some friends, and some enemies, and I'd even gotten a job. I now worked at the Ponyville Post Office, I sorted through all of the letters and gave the ones that needed to be delivered to Derpy. She was one of the reasons I took the job, I wanted to work somewhere I had a friend. I had considered joining the town guard, but they required specific training specifications, and my alien training as a cop didn't count towards it. I wasn't interested in going through hard training all over again to work for an inferior police force, so I took the job as postal assistant.
But today was special, today was a day that I was actually a little worried about. You see today was the day Pinkie Pie had set up my 'Welcome to Ponyville Party' yyyyyyyaaaaaaayyyyyyy....... I really don't like going to parties especially with people I didn't know very well. But I had finally given in and agreed to go to the party. Oh boy.
*Ponyville street a few hours later*
Well I'm glad to say that I'm pretty much caught up on the lifestyles of the ponies. I know all about their cutie marks, what ponies eat, their 'magic'. Yeah I don't really believe these ponies have magic. They definitely have some kind of power, but I don't think it's really magic, I just think that's what they choose to call it.
But back to business I was given the day off from work today since Pinkie Pie was throwing me a party. Right now Pinkie Pie was leading me over to Sugar Cube Corner where the party was taking place. I have no idea how the entire population of Ponyville managed to fit in Sugar Cube Corner, but I'm not going to question it. As we got closer to Sugar Cube Corner I started to hear music blasting. You know your basic party sounding music, thing is I didn't really like that kind of music. Oh well.
We went inside and ponies all cheered my name. Great I'm the center of attention just what I always wanted. Sorry for sounding so negative but I'm genuinely quite shy so being in the center of attention like this is uncomfortable for me. Let's just get this over with.
The party started and I pretty much stayed to myself in the corner where I wouldn't be noticed. I didn't like dancing or singing when there were people watching in situations like these. I talked with my friends like Twilight and Fluttershy, and even some ponies I didn't know too well, don't get me wrong, I just let them come to me. I was happy to see Zecora again though, I talked with her for a long time.
Next came the cake, okay this part I actually enjoyed, the cake was delicious, and so were the rest of the treats for that matter. Thankfully Pinkie made sure that none of the treats had hay, grass, or flowers in the treats except for a few which were for ponies only.
After treats came probably my least favorite part of the party. Pinkie had gotten the idea that I should give some kind of a speech to all the ponies in Ponyville about my life before I wound up in Equestria. Well let's get this over with.
I stepped up onto the podium Pinkie had prepared for me. I felt very awkward being in front of so many people but I know if I panic or run off stage I'll just embarrass myself more, so I keep my cool. Now how should I start this? I should probably get them laughing first, but how? Maybe I could try something I'd say back on Earth.
"Good-evening ladies and gentlemen." The ponies looked at each other clearly not understanding what I meant by that. "Sorry I forgot for a moment that I was on a world of ponies, how exactly do you ponies say it?"
A few chuckled at me not knowing something so obvious and several of them called out "Fillies and gentlecolts!" That confused me "But there's hardly even any kids in the audience." This time several ponies started laughing 'phew.' "Anyway Pinkie Pie wanted me to come up here and tell you all about myself. So if my life is boring please go blame Pinkie instead of me since I wouldn't be up here if it wasn't for her."
Lots of Ponies started laughing again, I even saw Pinkie Pie laughed which is good since I thought I might have offended her. 'Alright enough joking around.' "Now if there are any ponies here that don't want to stay here and hear my story, you have my permission to leave." To my surprise several ponies actually did get up and leave. However when I looked I realized most of these ponies were the ponies in town that hated me, for one reason or another. Still I figured they would've stayed just for the sake of the party. That still left a lot of ponies for me to talk to. "Well okay allow me to begin. My life back on Earth probably wasn't all that different from the lives of some of you. I had been born to my parents Martha, and Seth Darrison. I went to school like many other kids, and I got really good grades. That's pretty much how my life went for the most part, I went to school took jobs, learned about life, and eventually made it to college. I majored in writing, and computer animations, not that you would know what that means." This brought a chuckle from some of the ponies.
"Anyway once I graduated I felt like I should do something different from what I majored in, so I looked around and eventually became a law enforcement officer. I stayed an officer for four years until I met someone who changed my life. My future wife Clara Lewis." Some of the ponies did that annoying 'aaawwww' sound and I rolled my eyes. "I met Clara on one of my days off and we hit it off great. I found myself wanting to see her more and more, and eventually I decided to retire from the police force, so I could spend more time with her. Well that and for another reason that I will not disclose now."
"She had gone into computer animation as well and I decided to try and apply for the same job. I took some refresher courses in computer animation, and applied for the company Clara worked at. With my experience and Clara to vouch for me I made it in quite easily. After working on several projects, and seeing how much people enjoyed them I realized my love for providing people with entertainment."
"Eventually Clara and I decided to get married, and a small formal wedding was arranged for us." Another aaawwww erupted from the crowd. "Three years after we were married Clara became pregnant, and we had our first child. A girl whom we named Lucy. Clara decided to quit her job in order to stay home and take care of Lucy. I remember asking her if she was sure she wanted to do that, and she replied to me "I am willing to give up the job I love to take care of the child I love.""
"I didn't argue with that, in fact I considered quitting my job as well, but she convinced me not too. "Please I know how much this means to you. You should stay and do your job, you enjoyed it far more than I did, you belong there. Besides someone needs to work and pay the bills." So I went back to work and things continued like this for four years. That was when Clara became pregnant again this time with a boy. She was pregnant with him for ten months, and we named him Peter."
"From there things went on as normal for five years. That was the day when a mysterious portal appeared behind me and brought me to Equestria. I miss my family terribly, but someday God-willing I will find a way back to them." The crowd clapped and cheered for my story, which confused me. Why would they be cheering for someone like me? I hadn't done anything, I just told them the story of my life before I ended up in Equestria, why would they applaud me for that? I didn't get it. "Are there any questions any-pony wants to ask me?" A little yellow filly in the front row raised her hoof "Yes."
"How is it that you had two jobs? Wouldn't your cutie mark tell you what you were meant to do?"
Apparently she doesn't know that humans don't get cutie marks. "Actually humans don't get cutie marks."
To my surprise this raised even more questions, a grey stallion in the crowd called out "Then how do humans discover what they're supposed to do in life?"
"Well we humans pretty much just decide for ourselves what we want to do?"
"Really?"
"Yes really."
You can probably guess but the questions went on for a while, most of them weren't even about me or my story. The questions finally came to a stop when Pinkie declared it was time for party games.
The party continued on a little after that, but eventually came to an end. I said good-bye to Pinkie, Derpy, Zecora, Rainbow, AJ, Fluttershy, Twilight, Lyra, Big Mac, and more before heading back to Twilight's Castle for the night.
Okay I guess the party wasn't that bad it's just I really don't like going to parties and I doubt that's going to change anytime soon.
*Canterlot Castle Princess Celestia's Throne Room third person POV*
Princess Celestia sat on her throne awaiting the arrival of Study Guide, whom she had requested to come see her. Finally the massive doors to the Throne Room opened and out stepped the unicorn known as Study Guide. He stepped forward and bowed to the Princess, and asked "Your majesty, may I ask why you summoned me here."
"You may Study Guide. I summoned you here because I wish to know what you plan to do in the future. You were one of the few ponies stationed at Darklight Labs who was allowed to keep his position, yet you continue to remain here in Canterlot. Why?" Celestia inquired.
"Your majesty I-I, I'm just not ready to go back there. After all that happened to Jake while he was in that place, it-it just feels wrong to start working there again so soon. I-I just don't feel right about it." SG said shaking his head back and forth from time to time.
"I see. Perhaps a vacation would do you some good. In fact maybe you could help me out with something while you're at it." Study Guide cocked his head at this. "Study Guide how would you like to vacation in Ponyville, and visit your friend Jake?"
Study Guide grinned at the suggestion "I'd be happy too, but what exactly is the favor you want me to do?"
"Well you see Study Guide, while Tempest Reason was very wrong to do what he did. He was right about one thing. As much as I don't want to believe it Jake could possibly pose a significant threat to Equestria. I need somepony to keep an eye on him just in case he decides to turn against us for any reason."
Study Guide was a bit shocked by this, "Your majesty I don't believe Jake intends to bring any harm to Equestria. Surely this won't be necessary."
"I don't believe Jake intends to bring harm to Equestria, but we do need to be prepared in case the worst should happen. Nopony else knew this but Jake actually had some potions in his possession that would help him escape from here."
"What? Why didn't you tell anypony?"
"I wasn't aware he had them for quite some time, and when I did learn of this I realized that if he was going to use them to escape he would have done it by now. So I decided to wait and see what would happen in the future."
Study Guide pondered the princesses logic "I----- I suppose that makes sense." he said stretching out the "I"
"Now tell me will you be willing to do this for me?"
Study Guide thought it over, he didn't like the idea of spying on one of his friends, but deep down he knew the Princess was right. But even still could he do it? Well technically Jake would never actually know about it, and there's no way Jake would ever do something to hurt Equestria anyway. "Alright I'll do it. But I don't like it."
Celestia's face grew stern "I'd be surprised if you did."
"I'll start packing immediately."
*Twilight's Castle Jake first person POV*
I woke up early this morning. It had been a few days since the party, and today I had to get to work early. Somepony was out sick at work which meant that I had to work a double shift for them. At least I was getting paid double what I usually got.
*After Work*
When I finally finished work for the day the CMC came up to me. They wanted to know if I could somehow help them get their cutie marks.
"Hey Jake do yah think yah can help us get our cutie marks?" Applebloom asked.
"How would I help exactly?" I asked.
"Well you could come with us to the clubhouse so we could find out if our cutie marks have something to do with you." Scootaloo said.
"Girls I really don't think that'll work." I said.
"Why not?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"Well because I'm not from your world, the fact that I'm here at all is pretty much an accident, or just dumb luck. Why would your cutie marks have something to do with something that doesn't exist on your world? And I'm not going to be staying, so even if your cutie marks have something to do with me, if I leave and you don't have your marks then you won't have a chance to get your cutie marks and that wouldn't be right. There's no way your cutie marks have something to do with something that will be gone before you know it. It just doesn't make sense for your cutie marks to have something to do with me. Do you understand?"
The CMC's heads drooped, clearly disappointed but they nodded yes. I smiled at them and attempted to cheer them up but suddenly a voice behind him said. "Well the human beast is now crushing the dreams of young fillies, I still can't believe anypony would've let a monster like you into our town." I knew this voice. It belonged to a mare named Silver Charade, and she was one of the ponies in Ponyville that despised me. She and Filthy Rich were the worst, but at least Filthy Rich never went out of his way to insult me. Silver Charade seemed to take joy from insulting me, and what's worse is that her special talent is motivating crowds, she would get ponies that were indifferent towards me to start harassing me alongside her.
I turned around to look at her she had a silver and white mane, with a tan-yellow coat. Her cutie mark was a pony speaking on a stand to a crowd of other ponies who were cheering. She was a unicorn. "Don't you have something better to do Silver?"
"Not at the moment, besides somepony needs to convince Ponyville of the truth." Silver said in an icy tone.
"Hey leave our friend alone." Applebloom said.
"Don't talk back to your elders little girl." 'Didn't she just accuse me of being rude to them? What a hypocrite.' I thought.
"Applebloom stay out of this." I said sternly.
"But she-" Applebloom started.
"Applebloom let it go." I said.
"You can't tell little fillies what to do in our town beast." Silver declared.
I turned my gaze towards her "My name is Jake."
"I don't care if your name is Princess Celestia, you're still a monster." She stated.
I clenched my fists tightly. She was really getting on my nerves. I hate it when people hold themselves above others. 'Keep it together Jake, she isn't worth it. Don't strike out at her, keep your cool. You're better than this. SHE IS WRONG.' I opened up my hands again, and bent down on one knee to speak to the CMC "Girls you better get home, I don't think it's smart for you to stick around here any longer." I could tell they were getting ready to argue but I interjected. "Don't worry about me I'll be fine, just get yourselves home."
"Hey didn't you hear what Silver said?! You can't tell our fillies what to do." I recognized that voice, it was Berry Punch. 'Great now she's taking Silver's side too?' I thought as I turned in her direction. And received a flying bottle in my face *crash* "Dah!" I screamed, that really hurt. I regained my senses and looked around to see that a crowd had gathered around me pointing hooves and muttering to each other. This didn't look good.
Next thing I knew all the ponies around me started picking up things and throwing them at me. I called out to them "Stop you'll hit the children!" but my voice was drowned out by all the cries of "Get out of our town!", "Disgusting creature!", "Stay away from those fillies!", "Monster!", "Take this!", and "We don't want you here!"
I looked over at Silver Charade, she was smiling, she was enjoying this. A rock struck my elbow. "Aahh!" I looked down at the CMC I couldn't just leave them here to get hurt from the mob. I knelt over them and did my best to shield them from the oncoming projectiles.
Applebloom looked up at him "What are we gonna do Jake?"
Sweetie Belle added "Yeah."
Scootaloo suggested "Jake you should get out there and teach them a lesson." Deep down a part of me wanted that, but I knew I shouldn't, besides Silver would only turn this against me by talking about how I attacked the ponies, she might even exaggerate and accuse me of teaching violence to kids.
"No listen to me. Here's what we're going to do. I'm going to count to three." I winced when a rock struck my back. "When I say three you girls run straight to Sweet Apple Acres, don't stop for anything, I'm going to run to Twilight's Castle."
"But you won't-" Applebloom started but I interrupted
"I'll be fine I've survived worse. Ready?" The CMC nodded their heads "One, two-" before I got to say three a voice called out "What in tarnation is going on here!?" 'Applejack.'
The pelting stones stopped and all eyes including mine turned to Applejack. She wasn't alone, the rest of the Elements were with her along with her brother Big Mac, but there was someone else, someone familiar. It was Study Guide! "Ah asked a question and ah want an answer." Applejack's voice carried a message with it that sent a chill through down the crowd-ponies spines "don't mess with me" Nopony spoke up. Twilight stepped forward and addressed the crowd.
"What happened here? I demand to know." Her voice was just as stern as Applejack's "Somepony speak up!" Still no one spoke. "Jake can you tell me what happened here?"
"Well ummm...-" I started to answer Twilight but Silver interupted me.
"Hold on now, this scoundrel is no doubt going to give a biased point of view of things." she huffed.
"Oh, are you volunteering to explain things then?" Twilight asked, a hint of sarcasm in her voice.
"Well yes as a matter of fact I am. Ahem, I just happened to be passing by when I noticed this brute being cruel to these poor fillies. I decided to intervene, and the surrounding ponies came to help me."
Twilight's eyebrows raised "Is that what really happened?" Most of the background ponies nodded. "I wasn't asking you" Twilight snapped "Jake is that what really happened?"
"You're going to ask the beast what happened, especially after what he did?!" Silver said outraged.
"Why yes as a matter of fact I am. I intend to hear both sides of this scenario whether you like it or not." Twilight answered back. Silver humphed in response. "Now Jake tell us, is what Silver said true."
I stood myself back on my feet and began to speak "I suppose some of what she said could be true if you look at it from her point of view. However let me tell you what happened from my point of view. The CMC came up to me after I had finished work for the day, and asked me to help them find their cutie marks. They thought that perhaps their cutie marks had something to do with me, however I convinced them that this was not the case, and that's when Silver showed up. She accused me of crushing their dreams and continued to throw various insults at me. Then others gathered around and took her side. They began throwing rocks and various things at me, and either didn't realize, or just didn't care if the CMC got caught in the crossfire."
"That's not true, Princess Sparkle you can't believe the word of this creature over the word of your own ponies." Silver declared.
"His word is just as valid as yours is Silver Charade. In fact I'm more inclined to believe him than you since he has become a friend of mine. However I believe I have a very simple solution to find out who here is telling the truth." Twilight retorted.
"And what would that be your majesty?" Silver scoffed.
"We ask the CMC what happened. Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo who's telling the truth Jake or Silver?"
The three fillies announced all at once "Jake is telling the truth!"
"Your majesty you can't take the word of three fillies who are clearly afraid of the wrath of this creature over the word of-"
"I most certainly can. It is a well known fact in town that you constantly harass Jake just because he's not a pony. Your word has hardly any credibility in my eyes. Now as for the rest of you gathered around here, how many of you actually feel the same way about Jake as Silver Charade does?" Twilight addressed the crowd. Half of the ponies who threw rocks at Jake, including Berry Punch slowly hung their heads in shame, guilt plastered on their faces before turning and trotting away.
"Now as for the rest of you, I will be making a note of what happened here and if something like this happens again there will be severe punishments."
Applejack decided to speak up "Yeah ah can't believe ya'll would do somethin so... mean. All them things ya'll said about Jake weren't true why ah'd trust mah sister with Jake more than ah trust any of you tah look after her."
Big Macintosh added an "Eeyup." to her statement.
"That goes double for me." Rarity declared.
"Yeah Jake's way cooler than any of you. Scoots deserves a friend like him." Rainbow stated.
"Yeah your all a bunch of meanie Mcmeanie-pants's." Pinkie screamed.
"You all really should know better, especially after what happened with Zecora." Fluttershy declared.
"Now as for you Silver Charade." Twilight began. "If you ever cause a disturbance like this again, so help me I will mute your voice for the rest of the year. Do you understand?"
Silver nodded her head a clear look of disdain on her face and turned to leave, but not before having one final say. "This creature will bring ruin to Ponyville, and I will prove this to you, then you'll be sorry." Then she and the other ponies left.
Twilight turned her attention to Jake noticing his injuries "Jake you look hurt, I can use my magic to heal you."
"That's okay Twilight, I'll be fine." I reassured.
"Jake you're bleeding, stop being a foal and let Twilight help you." Fluttershy said speaking up out of concern for her friend.
"Really I'm fine." I said tending to one of the cuts I'd received from a thrown rock.
"Jake please it'll only take a second to heal you." Twilight pleaded.
I sighed "Not taking no for an answer are you?"
"Nope." Twilight said smirking.
"Alright then." I submitted. I heard the sound of Twilight's horn charging, then releasing, and suddenly I felt a lot better. I rubbed my arms over where my wounds used to be and didn't feel any pain.
Now Twilight decided to rub it in "There that wasn't so bad was it?" I shook my head. "Why were you so against me using magic to heal you anyway?"
I sighed again. "I just don't feel right about using magic to heal my wounds, it still feels a bit unnatural to me, since magic doesn't exist on my world." The elements nodded theirs heads in understanding.
Something I had wanted to ask for a while suddenly came back to me. "Hey AJ there's something I've been wanting to ask you for some time."
"What is it sugarcube?" Applejack asked.
"Back when you all first tried to capture me, everyone looked to you to decide whether or not I was telling the truth about not hurting Fluttershy. The scenario we just witnessed brought that memory back to me, and I was wondering do you have some kind of ability to tell if someone's lying or not?"
Applejack chuckled. "Ha-ha. Not really sugarcube, it's a bit complicated. You know about the Elements of Harmony right?" I nodded yes, and she continued. "Well ah represent the Element of Honesty, and over the years I've become pretty good at guessin when somepony's lyin or not, but ah'm not perfect."
"Oh I see. So you can't really tell if someone's telling the truth, you're just a really good guess."
"That's right sugarcube." Applejack replied.
"But I have another question for all of you."
"Yes?" Twilight asked.
"Why did you guys show up when you did, not that I'm complaining but is there a reason you happened to be traveling there at that time?"
"Actually there is I had received a letter from Princess Celestia that someone we knew would be coming off the train to Ponyville today to come and see you. I gathered up all of the girls and we went to the train station to find out who was coming. It turned out to be Study Guide, who apparently is on vacation right now and decided to see how you were doing, isn't that right SG?" Study Guide nodded his head and Twilight continued. "After that we started heading back to look for you when Big Mac came running up to us saying there was some kind of riot in town and we came to investigate. I'm sure you can guess the rest." Twilight finished.
"I see, well nice to see you again Study Guide. What brings you here?"
*POV swap Study Guide first person POV*
"I see, well nice to see you again Study Guide. What brings you here?" Jake asked me curiously.
'Princess Celestia brought me here to spy on you.' I thought, but I couldn't say that so instead I said "Well I was given a vacation and I figured why not check up on my new friend? So that's exactly what I did. How are things with you, aside from the whole angry mob attack thing?"
"Things are okay for the most part. I'm still getting adjusted to living with ponies though." Jake answered.
While he answered I thought over what I had just witnessed happen. Jake had been abused and mocked by those ponies. But despite all of that Jake didn't seem mad at all, like he had just let all of that go and it no longer bothered him. If there was any doubt I had before about whether Jake could be trusted or not it was now gone. No pony- er person with malicious intent would've let those ponies get away with what they did without even a little consequence, because they would have had nothing to gain from letting people walk all over them. They would have at least pressed charges or something. But Jake didn't, Jake just let it all go. Why? Because he knew his friends had his back, he didn't have anything to prove to those other ponies. There's no way Jake could be evil. 'I'm definitely writing to the princess about this.'
I smiled at my friend and told him "You're cool Jake. Real cool."
*Back to Jake a few days later*
The next few days weren't nearly as hectic as the day with Silver. I still had to work a double shift since that pony who was supposed to do the early shift was still sick. But I was finally done work today. I said good-bye to Derpy and went back to Twilight's Castle. 'Hmmm maybe I should start looking for my own place to stay, I don't want to be a burden to Twilight for the rest of the time I'm here.' When I came into the castle I looked around for Twilight before I remembered she had gone to Rarity's boutique along with her friends for a grooming day with their pets. Oh well I didn't need Twilight for anything important anyway.
I went up to the guest room and started reading one of the books Twilight had lent to me. Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone. Don't tell anypony but these books are kind of over-rated. I mean they're not bad by any means, just I've read much better books on Earth that are way better than these, but get less praise. Maybe its just different tastes between ponies, and humans. Anyways back to the story...
*Twilight and the Elements third person POV*
Pinkie Pie hopped all around the room of Rarity's boutique saying "Oooohhh. This is amazing!"
Rainbow yawned, and then agreed with Pinkie Pie. "Yeah Rarity, thanks for setting all this up." After saying this Rainbow went back to washing Tank, her pet tortoise's shell.
Now it was Fluttershy's turn to compliment Rarity "A grooming day for our pets really was a great idea." She said in her quiet voice.
Applejack petted her dog Winona, Rainbow scrubbed Tank, Fluttershy cuddled Angel, Twilight brushed her pet owl Owlowiscious's feathers, Rarity brushed Opalescence's tail, and Pinkie... well she was Pinkie. However one thing all the ponies had in common was that they all seemed a little sleepier than usual.
In fact Rarity began to doze off while brushing Opal's tail with her magic and accidentally poked the cat in the backside with her comb. With a loud "Mmmmeeeeoooowwww!" The cat leap straight up into the air and grabbed onto one of Rarity's archways with her claws. "Oooohhhh MY! Oh I'm sorry." with a yawn Rarity continued "I didn't get my normal beauty sleep last night." Opal hissed at her and Rarity recoiled a bit.
The Twilight spoke up with a yawn "You know. Yyaaawwwnn. I didn't sleep well either."
The others muttered and groaned in agreement except for Pinkie Pie while Opal slid down one of Rarity's curtains tearing it up. Then Pinkie Pie cartwheeled across the room and spoke in her normally cheerful voice "I'm totally beat too."
Winona barked waking up Applejack "Alright Winona time for yer brushin." Still half asleep AJ reached for Winona's brush but instead grabbed Pinkie's pet toothless alligator Gummy, who was just resting on the table. She held gummy in front of Winona with her hooves and Gummy chomped on Winona's ear. It didn't really hurt Winona since Gummy had no teeth, however the dog whimpered slightly and immediately shook her head viciously to get the alligator off of her.
Winona's shaking sent Gummy flying right onto Owlowiscious, who immediately panicked and flew into the air wildly, bumping into Twilight knocking he into a tub of water, and knocking over the stand he had been resting on. Applejack spoke up while all of this was going on "Oops. Ah guess ah'm too plum-tuckered out tah do this right." Winona gave AJ a hard stare after she finished rubbing her ear on the table. Meanwhile Pinkie began following Owlowiscious still carrying Gummy on his head.
Fluttershy yawned and then spoke "I even went to bed early last night. But then I had a really scary nightmare."
All the other Elements immediately exclaimed "Me too!" all of them had shocked looks on their faces, except for Pinkie Pie who was smiling, and Twilight's mane was soaking wet as she leaned out of the tub she had fallen in.
Rainbow Dash immediately tried to sound confident again. "Yuh, only, you know I didn't think mine was thaat scary." She boasted.
"Well mine sure was. There was this blue smoke monster and-" Twilight started to say but stopped and recoiled when she noticed everyone staring at her mouths agape. "What?"
"I dreamt about a blue smoke-thingy too." Fluttershy informed nervously.
"Me too." The others except for Rainbow added their faces frowning except for Pinkie who was still smiling.
"So what?! Probably just a coincidence." Rainbow said shrugging it off leaning back and relaxing in mid air.
"That's an awfully big coincidence." Twilight said climbing out of the tub.
Spike walked over carrying towels for Twilight to dry off with which she gratefully scooped up with her magic and began drying herself off. "Huh, I wonder why I didn't have that nightmare. I slept great." Spike said with a grin earning glares from Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash. Rarity broke the silence by asking "So then, what could have given us all the same nightmare?"
"I don't know. But I do know who might." Twilight started then continued her voice getting slightly more tired as she went on. "Spike could you send a scroll to Princess Luna?" Twilight finished as she laid her wet towel back onto the pile of towels in Spike's hands where she had gotten it from.
"Sure." Spike threw the towels he was carrying aside and brought out from behind his back a scroll and quill. "All set."
"Dear Princess Luna, last night my friends and I all dreamt of a creature made of blue smoke. I'm sure you're very busy, but Yyaaawwnn, when you have the chance please let me know if you have any idea what it could mean. Yours yawn Princess Twilight Sparkle." Twilight said walking in front of her friends as she dictated to Spike what to write. Once she finished she added "You can leave out the yawns." Spike smiled sheepishly turned to his right slightly and quickly crossed out the yawns he had already written into the scroll. Then he rolled up the scroll and wrapped it with a seal, then released his dragon fire breath to magically send it to Princess Luna. The scroll turned into smoke and drifted off towards Canterlot.
Immediately after the door burst open to reveal Princess Luna "Which of you saw the creature of blue smoke in your nightmare?!" she exclaimed.
The others stared blankly and Pinkie's jaw dropped slightly for a moment before Fluttershy spoke what everyone else was thinking "Wow. That was fast." Rainbow and Pinkie smiled at Luna.
"We all did." Twilight answered.
"Noott mee." Spike cut in.
Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash all said together. "Uhh. We know."
"So you've encountered the smoke monster too?" Twilight asked.
Luna began walking in and started explaining what the blue smoke creature was. "The Tantabus is a creature of my nightmares." She said her head hanging low. "It escaped from my slumbers yesterday."
"But how did it get into ours?" Fluttershy asked nervously.
Luna's head hung low and her eyes had a sad look in them, but she answered Fluttershy's question "The Tantabus is like a parasite. My dreams must no longer be enough for it. Now it seeks others to infect and corrupt." Luna's voice grew increasingly more concerned as she spoke. "It must have learned of you six from seeing you in my dream." Luna turned around unable to look her friends in the eye after what she had brought upon them. First Nightmare Moon, and now this. She had created the Tantabus to force herself to have the same nightmare of her becoming Nightmare Moon and torturing her friends over and over as a self punishment for what she had done to Equestria. Now she had once again put her subjects in danger even if it was unintentionally.
She was so grieved by this that she barely noticed when Spike approached and asked. "Whoa whoa whoa. So what you're sayin is, you dreamt about all of them, and not me?" Spike's eyes teared up feeling neglected and he whimpered a bit.
Rainbow half yawned half spoke "Uh so Smoky gave us bad dreams. No biggie."
Luna shook her head and spoke again. "I saw that the Tantabus had grown more powerful. But I did not realize that power was enough to enable it to escape my dreams. If its power grows, it could very well find a way to escape into the real world. It could turn all of Equestria into a living nightmare." Luna stared wide eyed away from her friends as she finished her description of what could happen if the Tantabus became too powerful.
"Okay okay okay. I take it back. That does sound bad. Really bad." Rainbow exclaimed grabbing the side of her head with her hooves as she imagined what might happen.
*Jake first person POV*
Well that's enough reading for tonight, I hope Twilight falls asleep better tonight than she did last night. Speaking of Twilight, she had come in a little earlier to tell me she was having a sleepover with her friends. 'How cute.' Princess Luna was here also, to help them take care of some kind of dream problem. I have no idea what that means exactly but if Luna's involved along with dreams, then I probably want to stay away from it. Her ability to watch over peoples dreams unnerves me severely. I told her I don't want her peeking into my dreams unless I say it's okay. She seemed to be concerned and in a hurry, I could tell she wanted to talk to me about the matter, but whatever was going on must've been too important. Well I'm just gonna go to sleep.
*Back to Princess Luna and the Elements third person POV*
"We've prepared everything exactly as you requested." Twilight said as she led Luna and the rest of the Elements to her sleeping quarters.
"Good, as you six slumber here, I will pursue the creature into whichever of your dreams it infests." Luna flew into the room to get out of her friends way once Twilight opened the large crystal blue doors.
Pinkie hopped towards, and into her bed saying "Ooohh! It'll be like a princess sleepover."
The other Elements quickly followed her example and got into their own beds. "Speaking of Princesses, aren't you going to ask Celestia for her help as well?" Twilight asked as she tucked herself into her own bed.
"There is nothing my sister can do. She has no power in the realm of sleep. Only I can move from dream to dream. I'm afraid nopony can help me tonight." Luna said pacing about somewhat.
"Even us?" Applejack asked after she put hung her hat on the bedside.
"Especially you. You have all suffered so much because of me. You need only slumber while I hunt the Tantabus in your dreams." Luna placed one of her wings over her heart as she said this. Suddenly something yanked on Luna's mane. Looking down she saw it was Spike trying to get her attention.
"I know you said nopony could help, but I'm no pony! I'm gonna stay up and watch over you guys just in case." Spike sat down on his bed and held his eyes open with his claws to emphasize his point.
"Ohh thank you Spike." Twilight said sweetly, and sleepily.
"Yawn. One good thing about not sleepin well last night, shouldn't be too hard to fall asleep now." Applejack said and rolled over to her left to get in a more comfortable sleeping position.
Suddenly Pinkie popped out from under AJ's covers surprising and said "Are you kidding?! This is so exciting I don't know how I'm ever going to-" immediately after saying the word to Pinkie fell over onto AJ's pillow sound asleep snoring like an elephant. Applejack inched away from her friend slightly and went to sleep.
The other Elements quickly fell asleep as well and Luna realized the time had come for her to act. She brought out her wings and flew into the air. Her horn began shining with a crystal white light which wrapped around her horn and spread to the foreheads of the Elements of Harmony, meaning she could now enter their dreams directly.
Luna decided to search Rarity's dream first, Rarity was wearing a yellow sleep mask with red outlines and two pink butterflies on it. The white line of magic emitting from Luna that led to Rarity pulsed with Luna's presence and a white sphere of magic traveled down it entering Rarity's dream.
*After Luna searched through the dreams*
She had failed. Princess Luna had failed her friends yet again. She had pursued the Tantabus through all six of the Elements dreams. She began with Rarity who was dreaming of flying dresses that she could admire and adjust. However the Tantabus had quickly changed these beautiful dresses into monsters that tried to harm Rarity. Rarity fought back and Luna came to her rescue insisting that she should handle the Tantabus.
Luna pursued the Tantabus, but it escaped into Pinkie's dream. Pinkie was walking through different environment singing "la la la la" as she went. Whenever she hopped she was in a completely different place. Luna had trouble keeping up with her since the world kept changing but Pinkie finally came to a stop in the middle of a sweet store where she could try various cakes.
However the Tantabus had laid a trap for her turning the cakes into monsters that even Pinkie Pie wouldn't eat. Luna once again came to her rescue but the Tantabus escaped once Pinkie changed the locations again.
This time the Tantabus entered Fluttershy's dream. She was dreaming that instead of her taking care of the animals the animals were taking care of her, Angel bunny in particular was now gigantic and grooming Fluttershy. Suddenly the Tantabus infected Angel turning him into a giant monster bunny with sharp purple claws, cyan striped demon horns, a purple chest with a cyan-ish patch of fur above it. Luna rescued Fluttershy from the monster just in time to see the Tantabus escape... again. This time into Applejack's dream.
Applejack was dreaming of tending to her apple orchard and taking special care of the biggest apple there. The Tantabus entered her dream and immediately began causing all of the trees in the orchard to wilt and die. Luna emerged from a blooming flower just in time to see the Tantabus cause Applejack's massive apple to rot and escape into Rainbow's dream.
Luna followed it through the apple and emerged to into a cave where Rainbow Dash was fighting off hordes of changelings. Naturally Luna thought that this was the cause of the Tantabus interfering with Rainbow's dream, until Rainbow assured her that this was not the case. Suddenly the entire area changed from a dark dangerous cave, into a an adorable paradise with ice cream trees, cupcake bushes, candy rocks, and singing flowers. The flowers began singing to Rainbow in an adorable thought slightly creepy voice about how cute they were. Rainbow clutched her head and screamed at the top of her lungs when Luna spotted the Tantabus and chased after it. It seemed to be getting larger but that didn't sway Princess Luna she chased it all the way to Twilight's dream.
Twilight was sitting at a desk in a massive library reading books that literally flew off the shelves and right to her exactly when she needed them too. The Tantabus emerged from one of the books in the library and began infecting some of the flying books. The books grew bat wings and began chasing Twilight. Suddenly the Tantabus itself charged at Twilight from the opposite direction and she was trapped. Luna jumped in front of Twilight just in time to save her and began pushing the Tantabus back with magic. Luna trapped the Tantabus inside of crystals but noticed Twilight being harassed by more flying books as well as slimy crawling books. Suddenly the crystals that trapped the Tantabus began cracking and glowing with white light. The Tantabus escaped and caused everypony to wake up from their dreams with a gasp.
*POV shift*
Spike noticed that the girls had woken up and immediately put down the book he was reading and ran over to Rarity's bedside as she took off her sleeping mask. "What happened! Are you guys okay?!"
"That-that was terrible.I-I never wanna have that nightmare again." Fluttershy said as she began shivereing from fright.
"Ugh. Me either." Rainbow said rocking back and forth.
"But Luna caught it, didn't she?" Spike asked nervously.
"I am so sorry my friends." Luna began as she floated back down to the ground her voice filled with regret. "I failed. It will be back to infect your dreams the next time you sleep."
All the ponies there closed there eyes at the news. "Oh no!" Fluttershy exclaimed and buried herself under her covers.
"Yeah. Ah recon ah could live without seein that thing ever again." Applejack said waving her hoof for emphasis.
"But you will. Again, and again every night. Until it grows powerful enough to infect the waking world." Luna walked over to the window as she continued. "After what I did as Nightmare Moon. The fact that I am once again responsible for harming others, is more than I can bear."
"It'll be okay." Pinkie reassured. "Everypony makes mistakes."
"As long as none of you dreamt about another pony the Tantabus remains confined to your dreams. I still have a chance to catch it before it's too late." Fluttershy was still shivering under the covers as Luna said this.
"Phew. That's good to hear." Pinkie announced. "Although after you left I did happen to dream I was eating a giant ice cream cone with all of Ponyville, and taking a test we had to study for. See what'd I tell ya, everypony makes mistakes."
Luna's face took on an expression of both shock and worry. She clenched her teeth and began wondering what to do.
"But that means the Tantabus could be turning every dream in Ponyville into a nightmare!" Twilight exclaimed.
Luna trotted forward. "It is far worse than that. Infecting all those dreams gives it more and more power. Soon it will be able to escape into the real world and infect Equestria with its nightmare plague."
"Then you must let us help you stop it before that happens." Rarity declared gesturing with her hooves.
"But how? The Tantabus was able to escape Luna with only six dreams it could get too." Fluttershy said holding her cheeks.
"It is true. With so many dreams to hide in, I do not know how I can catch it." Luna said discouraged.
Twilight pondered the situation for a moment. "Hmmm. What if everypony in Ponyville were having one dream?"
Luna's head shot up at the suggestion. "I can create shared dreams, yes. But for so many ponies at once? I have never done anything like that. The amount of power it would take."
"It is worth a try. Isn't it?" Fluttershy asked nervously holding her covers closer.
"Of course. I will do anything to end this. Including accept your help." Luna answered. "I cannot allow the Tantabus to escape into the real world. All of you must now go back to sleep. And hope that I can create such a dream."
The Elements as well as Spike; who was snoring, went to sleep in order to allow Luna to proceed with her task. A transparent sphere formed around Princess Luna as she flew into the air casting the enchantment to bring everypony in Ponyville into a shared dream... and everybody.
*Jake sleeping soundly in Twilight's guest bedroom*
Jake was dreaming of what he hoped would be his future. He was dreaming of finding a way out of Equestria and back home to his family. Princess Celestia had finally found the location of Earth and had the means to send him back there. Jake was currently standing in Canterlot Castle surrounded by his friends. He said his final good-byes to everyone and stepped towards the portal Celestia created that would send him home. Suddenly the portal and everything around him vanished in a flash of white. Jake had to shield his eyes from how bright it was but then suddenly everything went from white to black.
Jake opened his eyes and discovered that he was lying on the grass in an area just outside of Ponyville. "How the heck did I get here?!" Jake asked aloud. "Wasn't I sleeping in the castle? What's going on?" Jake got too his feet and looked around. "Yeah this is definitely Ponyville. But why would-" Jake stopped when he noticed there were some odd things happening in the town, even strange for Ponyville.
"Are those flying- muffins?" He said as he watched various muffins with wings fly through the town keeping away from a giant Derpy. "And wait are Lyra and Bon bon fused together? WHAT'S GOING ON?"
Jake tried to get a grasp on what was happening, which was difficult since everything happening was impossible! There were tiny ponies being chased around, one in particular being chased by Opalescence, gigantic ponies, walking street lamps, a pony rowing a boat through the sky, Berry Punch's head turning into a balloon. What! WHAT! WHAT!
Jake finally saw something he recognized when the Elements of Harmony walked into the middle of town. "*Gasp* Princess Luna did it!" Twilight exclaimed. 'Princess Luna? Jake thought. 'OOOOOHHHH. So that's why everything's so weird, this is all a dream, and it's pretty freaking trippy. But wait a minute I asked Luna not to involve me with any of her dream magic things. I'm going to have to have a talk with her once this is over.'
The Elements were getting use to everything as well when suddenly Princess Luna floated down from the sky in the center of town surrounded by a white aura and shouted to get everyone's attention. "Ponies!"
"Princess Luna!" Almost all of the ponies spoke at once and gathered around the princess bowing to her. Jake started to approach until he noticed Silver Charade amongst the group. The sight of her got Jake thinking, 'The ponies probably don't want me to be involved in this. In fact they don't even seem to notice I'm here. It's probably better it stays that way. Magical dreams are problems they probably want to solve without me. I'd better just leave.' Jake turned and ran behind the nearest building keeping out of the townsponies line of sight. He was feeling slightly depressed at his decision to stay away but convinced himself it was probably better this way. If they need him he'll help, until then leave them alone.
Jake snapped back to attention when he heard Luna speak again. "There is no time for bowing my friends." All the ponies looked up at her when she said this. "There is something coming. Something terrible, *gasp*. No! It is already here!" Luna pointed her hoof towards the sky. The large blue smoky form of the Tantabus towered over the ponies' homes creeping towards the center of town. "I am so sorry I brought this upon you!" Luna shouted sorrow clearly etched in her voice.
This confused Jake 'Wait what? She brought this creature here? Then why doesn't she just get rid of it? She is in control of this dream isn't she? Is she playing some sort of game?' Luna continued shouting "But I will end it now!" Luna fired a beam of lightning from her horn at the Tantabus, but the beam quickly fizzed out dealing no visible damage to the Tantabus.
Without anything to stop it the Tantabus began chasing the ponies around. The Elements ran up to Princess Luna to find out what was wrong. "Princess! What's wrong!?" Twilight asked concerned.
"Uh. It is taking all my strength just to hold this massive dream together. You will have to stop it!" Luna answered intensely. "I truly wish I did not have to ask this of you!"
Twilight looked at Luna, and then smiled at her friend. "Then you're in luck."
"Yeah we're already on it!" Rainbow declared, then immediately snapped into action dashing ahead towards the Tantabus. Her friends quickly followed.
Jake was pondering over everything Luna had said. 'She can't stop the creature? Didn't she create it? Luna wouldn't try to harm anyone intentionally, and she regrets the creature being here, so it was an accident? And she needs everyone's help to stop it. OOOHHH.' Jake thought as he realized why Luna had brought him here. 'I guess I can forgive her if that's the case. Still how can I help them?' While Jake thought about this he watched the Elements go into battle with the Tantabus.
The Tantabus flew through a house and turned it into a monster once the Tantabus passed through it. The house grew two large blue striped legs, the windows became mouths, and eyes appeared near the mouths. Near the top of the house one window had been turned into an eye, and there were two large orange bat wings beside it.
The Tantabus brought another house to life a little different from the first one. The top part of the house turned into a sort of gremlin thing and one of its arms popped out of the house holding an Earth Pony named Filthy Rich, who pleaded for it to let him go. "Please I'll pay you anything." He said holding up one measly bit. The gremlin-house-thing roared in his face and was then kicked in the head by Rainbow Dash making a karate noise. The gremlin thing dropped Filthy Rich and Rainbow flew down and caught him.
"I got you."
The Elements worked hard to save the ponies from the monsters. Fluttershy changed into a vampire bat pony, 'What?' and saved a pony caught in a house monster's foot. But what was probably the strangest save of all was when Applejack tried to save her brother from the flying muffins by telling him that this was a dream and you can do anything you want in a dream. Big Mac concentrated and suddenly changed into an alicorn, complete with jewelry.
Jake gasped, 'Could I do something like that? Maybe I could help that way.' Jake wanted to help, but something held him back again. For some reason he felt like he shouldn't involve himself directly in this battle, but they needed his help why was he hesitating? Jake grabbed his head as he argued with himself about what to do. While he did so in the distance he began to notice something nobody else did. The Tantabus wasn't just focusing its attack on Ponyville, it was preparing to attack from the Everfree Forest as well. Timberwolves, manticores, and all kinds of monsters Jake had never seen before were charging towards the town. Jake looked back, nobody noticed what was coming, the ponies would be caught unprepared and then they'd be overrun. Somebody had to do something.
Jake ran towards the Everfree forest trying to come up with a plan, what could he do against an entire army of monsters? Jake stopped to think 'Okay, I'm in a dream, and I can do pretty much anything in dream so what can I use to combat these things? Hmmmm... Well if I'm gonna fight with anything I can imagine, I might as well go all the way.' Jake envisioned in his mind himself in an incredibly advanced armored suit and suddenly a bright blue light appeared at his feet.
The light slowly began rising up his body and as the light progressed up his body the places the light passed over were being replaced with a mechanical exo-armor exactly like Jake was imagining. The armor was a shiny royal blue, it fit over Jake perfectly. The feet of the suit were circular with spiked points all around it. The legs were reinforced with sturdy armor which protected him and also allowed freedom of movement. The chest was bulky in some areas and had a large cannon in the center. On his back was a massive rocket-pack with dual laser blasters on the top of it pointing upwards. The shoulders had bulky armor and were covered in spikes. The left arm was armored with a small laser blaster attached onto the hand capable of firing multiple types of beams. The right arm was the same down to the elbow, however the rest of the arm was surrounded in a plasma-laser-beam arm cannon. Jake's head was covered with a visored helmet which had an advanced heads up display that would help him fight the monsters.
With the suit on completely covering him from head to toe Jake stared out at the approaching horde of monsters and discovered another problem. ‘Even with this high-tech suit I’m still incredibly outnumbered. Hmmm. But who says I have to fight this battle alone?’ Jake immediately imagined allies to help fight alongside him. In a flash of light there were various robots standing beside him varying in shape and size. One of them resembled Jake’s exo-armor exactly except for the head which instead of a helmet there was a robots’ head.
With his own army to back him up Jake turned his gaze towards the oncoming horde. “Charge!” Jake shouted and began running towards the monsters. The suit he was wearing enhanced his speed as well as his strength so he got there a lot faster than he normally would. As soon as he was within range he began firing lasers at the closest monsters. He took down two timberwolves, and two other creatures he didn’t know the name of which looked like a mixture of different creatures combined into one.
Jake activated his rocket-pack and lifted off into the air. He flew over towards a massive timberwolf followed closely by four other robots, and together they blasted it with a continuous beam incinerating the timberwolf in seconds blue smoke dissipating from its body.
Jake landed back on the ground and spotted another creature that was much taller than most of the others. It had multiple heads and was covered in brown scales, it was slowly walking towards Ponyville. ‘A hydra.’ Jake fired multiple laser blasts at the hydra however the hydra didn’t even flinch. “Alright then I guess I’ll have to do this the hard way.” Jake ran up closer to the hydra and aimed his left hand at the hydra, firing a beam that attached itself to one of the hydra’s heads like a grapple. Jake pulled with all of his might and the hydra tipped in his direction and eventually fell over.
With the hydra down Jake and several robot comrades climbed on top of the hydra attacking it with various melee weapons, such as laser swords, saws, and cutters. The hydra fought back biting at the metal beings tearing two of them off of itself, but the others easily avoided the attack and continued to strike the hydra until it vanished in a mist of blue smoke.
Jake looked back towards Ponyville. The Tantabus had grown much larger than when he had last seen it, but the ponies were also fighting back a lot harder than they had before. Jake saw Filthy Rich flying around on a cloud of coins ‘typical’ Rainbow Dash had changed into one of those power pony characters Spike had shown him in his comic collection when Jake was still new to the town.
They all seemed to be holding the Tantabus back but they wouldn’t hold out if these monsters made it to Ponyville. Jake turned his attention back to the battle before him just in time to see two large timberwolves lung at him. Jake was knocked to the ground as the timberwolves tried to bite through his armor. Jake threw one off of him and blasted the other in its face. Jake stood to his feet and began blasting all nearby monsters. A timberwolf fell, then a manticore, followed by a dozen more creatures all vanishing in a puff of blue smoke.
Jake spotted another hydra and charged at it, leaping up into the air and punched one of its many heads. Jake then twisted around and blasted another head as he flew through the air. Jake grabbed a head and began yanking it backwards trying to flip the beast over, but the hydra swung its head down to the ground dragging Jake with it. Before Jake could get up the hydra stomped its foot onto him attempting to crush him. Jake pushed up as hard as he could but was unable to get the hydra’s foot off of him.
The hydra pushed down harder, Jake knew he had one chance left and began charging his chest cannon building it up to its full power. Jake released the energy in one powerful burst and the hydra immediately tore its foot off Jake howling in pain. Jake followed up his attack by flying up to one of the hydra’s heads and stabbing a laser blade through its eye. The hydra screamed in pain again and struck out blindly trying hit Jake, but Jake was already back on the ground charging his laser sword even stronger. Jake pierced through the hydra’s scales and ran along the ground underneath the hydra dragging his blade through its flesh with him. The hydra’s underbelly split open from the cut and the hydra fell to the ground. It then vanished into a cloud of blue smoke.
Jake ran forward into the horde of monsters grabbing a timberwolf twisting around and flinging it into another. He dashed through all monsters that got in his way, blasting, stabbing, punching, etc.. They were finally pushing the monsters back, less than half remained. Jake charged his core blaster and fired four bursts at some of the larger monsters taking them out.
Jake looked back towards Ponyville, the Tantabus was even larger now, and seemed to be trying to walk through some kind of vortex, and something was happening between Luna and the Elements. ‘What’s going on?’ Jake wondered. He had to find out. “Hold the line here my friends. I’m going to the town to see if I can help.” The robot whose body resembled the shape of Jake’s exo-armor looked at Jake and nodded signaling that he’d heard the message. Jake turned and ran towards Ponyville.
*Princess Luna and the Elements*
The Tantabus was tearing a hole through reality that would allow it to enter the real world. Twilight acted quickly and used her magic to drive it away from the hole, and Luna followed her up by using her own magic to seal the hole back up, although this clearly put a strain on her. "Hurry my friends!" Luna called out and the Elements ran after the Tantabus.
Rainbow flew at the Tantabus and charged through it dealing no damage. "What the!?"
Fluttershy trotted up to the ponies assembled in town "Please! We need your help too." She pleaded. Twilight ran behind her and tried to blast the Tantabus with her magic but it just shot through the Tantabus doing no harm.
"Fluttershy's right. We've all got to work together to stop it from escaping." Twilight said.
"But how can we help?" A pony named Carrot Cake asked standing next to another pony named Golden Harvest aka Carrot Top. "No pony in Ponyville has your magic, or your speed." Carrot Cake said fluently pointing at Twilight then Rainbow Dash correspondingly.
"That's true." Rainbow Dash boasted striking a relaxed pose in mid air. "In Ponyville."
"But this here isn't Ponyville. It's a dream." Applejack reminded.
Big Mac flew by blasting flying cupcakes as h went. "Eeeyuup."
"And not just any, this is your dream." Twilight announced trying to motivate the ponies. "Anything you can do in your dreams you can do now." She said putting her hoof down.
Spike thought to himself then snapped his fingers/claws and transformed into a "tall, more muscular version of himself" with a cape some armor and red boots. He leapt through the air and landed on Derpy's back, kicked his heels into her to get her going and she reared up... meowed? And then took off with ponies cheering behind her, then they took off after her to help.
The Tantabus made another attempt at escaping into the real world, creating another hole in the dream-scape. Spike conjured a lance with his imagination and pierced the Tantabus with it, slicing through it as Derpy flew through the air. The Tantabus recoiled from the attack and was then struck by a blast of coins/bits from Filthy Rich who was riding on a cloud of bits.
The Tantabus tried to escape again creating another hole in the dream and attempting to slither through it. The cutie mark crusaders noticed this and Scootaloo sprouted massive wings, then flew up towards the Tantabus. When she was close she flapped her wings hard creating a wind current that forced the Tantabus out of the hole it was attempting to escape through.
Rainbow Dash flew up near Scootaloo and grinned her way. She then transformed into the power pony known as Zapp and used her elemental super powers along with her speed to create a tornado by flying around the Tantabus causing it to be trapped in the vortex. "It's working!" Rainbow called to her friends.
"But it's not enough." Twilight exclaimed pointing a hoof at the mini-tornado that held the Tantabus. The Tantabus suddenly oozed out of the top of the vortex with an eerie sound. Luna stared at the Tantabus completely shocked that it had become so powerful.
"Then do more this is a dream remember!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed. Twilight ran towards the area in town where the Golden Oak Library used to stand. She imagined the library in its full glory and suddenly the library tree was restored. Twilight turned around an angry look on her face and pointed a hoof towards the Tantabus as the door to the library opened and an army of books came flying out to attack the Tantabus.
Applejack transformed herself into the power pony named Mistress Mare-velous and wrapped her golden lasso around the Tantabus yanking it away from escaping the dream through another hole in the dreamscape. A magical needle and thread appeared and sewed the hole back up.
Rarity nodded her head and then backed up shocked as a large and monstrous Angel Bunny stomped through town next to her being directed by Fluttershy who stood proudly on top of his head.
Luna watched all of this struggling to hold the dream together, tears were streaming down her face. "I cannot hold this dream together much longer! Equestria will fall! Because of me." The Tantabus suddenly forced everypony attacking it away and started to take a new shape.
"Am I crazy or did it just get bigger after Luna said that?" Spike asked aloud.
"I think it's feeding off your guilt Princess Luna!" Twilight shouted above the howling wind that had started after the Tantabus grew.
"If that is so, then perhaps that is how it grew strong enough to escape in the first place." Luna said.
AJ/ Mistress Mare-velous flipped onto the top of a building. "Say what now!" She shouted as the Tantabus made another hole in the dreamscape and attempted to crawl through it.
"I created the Tantabus to give myself the same nightmare every night. *pant* To punish myself for the evil I caused as Nightmare Moon."
"But why would you do that?" Fluttershy asked as she and Angel started to cower away from the growing Tantabus as it stretched out closer and closer.
"To make sure I never forgave myself, for how much Equestria suffered because of me. *sniff* But it seems I have not learned my lesson. For now I have only made you suffer more." Luna sniffled.
The Tantabus grew and changed its shape into a giant unicorn and with its horn tore a MASSIVE hole in the dreamscape preparing to make its escape into the real world.
*Back to Jake*
Jake made it to the edge of the town but again that feeling that he shouldn’t involve himself in this fight presented itself and he stopped just outside the town. But this was close enough to hear what was going on.
"I cannot hold this dream together much longer! Equestria will fall! Because of me." He heard Luna cry as he crept closer hiding behind a building. Jake sensed a deep despair in Luna's voice and thought to himself. 'What? Luna was blaming herself for all of this, even now? Besides how bad have things really gotten?' Jake looked towards the sky hoping to catch sight of the Tantabus. That wasn't a problem. 'Oh.'
Jake stared at the Tantabus wide-eyed, it looked incredibly large from this angle. There were ponies gathered around it trying to fight it, but suddenly it got even bigger and forced all the ponies around it away. 'WHOA!' Jake saw Filthy Rich fall to the ground bits falling around him.
"Am I crazy or did it just get bigger after Luna said that?" Spike asked aloud. 'It did.'
"I think it's feeding off your guilt Princess Luna!" Jake heard Twilight shout. 'What?! What does Princess Luna have to feel guilty about? Nightmare Moon? That was a long time ago and everyone forgave her.'
"If that is so, then perhaps that is how it grew strong enough to escape in the first place." Luna said. 'What does she mean?' Jake thought.
"Say what now!" Applejack asked.
"I created the Tantabus to give myself the same nightmare every night. *pant* To punish myself for the evil I caused as Nightmare Moon." Luna cried. 'What! Luna that- what- just no, you can't be serious.' Jake exclaimed in his head.
"But why would you do that?" Fluttershy asked as she and Angel started to cower away from the growing Tantabus as it stretched out closer and closer.
"To make sure I never forgave myself, for how much Equestria suffered because of me. *sniff* But it seems I have not learned my lesson. For now I have only made you suffer more." Luna sniffled. Jake just stared and felt his heart turn cold. 'Luna no you shouldn't put that much guilt on yourself like that. No one should have to carry a burden like that. Luna no one blames you, you need to stop blaming yourself.' Jake thought, but his face scrunched up as a voice in his head said "You hypocrite. You do the exact same thing holding guilt over things that no one would blame you for. Heck I bet if you had the power to give yourself the same nightmare every night you'd do it, you feel exactly the same way she does."
'That's exactly why I don't want anyone else carrying this kind of a burden its too much for anyone.' Jake thought back but the voice wasn't done.
"*scoff* Then why do you carry it you still hold onto the tiniest flaws in your life and hold them against yourself when no one else does." The voice mocked.
'I do that so that I remember never to make those mistakes again.' Jake answered. This wasn't an excuse and Jake knew it, but it got the voice to shut up.
Jake looked back up at the Tantabus to see that it had grown even larger and had even taken the form of a dark unicorn. It was now using its horn to pierce through the dreamscape and make an attempt at escaping the dream.
"But that means you might just be the key to stopping all this." Twilight called out to Luna. Jake looked up at this 'Yeah Luna listen to her you can stop this.'
"Yeah! If it gets strong because you feel bad about what you did as Nightmare Moon, then you just gotta stop feeling bad for what you did." Rainbow Dash declared as she flew around the Tantabus accompanied by some of Twilight's books. 'Come on Luna listen to them your friends are right please, don't make the same mistake I have.'
"How can I forgive myself? I am no better now than I was then. My creation is about to turn Equestria into a living nightmare." 'No Luna don't.' Jake thought when Luna said this. 'She's not getting it I've got to help her somehow.'
"*scoff* You're not getting it either." The voice in Jake's head mocked 'Shut up!'
Jake looked up at the Tantabus, he'd never make it to Luna before it escaped, but he had to talk to her somehow. ‘This is a dream so maybe I can’ Jake concentrated really hard on sending a thought to Luna “Luna can you hear me?”
“Jake what-“ Luna started to answer.
Jake hadn’t expected an answer so soon but he still caught on quick enough to interrupt Luna’s telepathic thought. “Yes it’s me. I’m speaking to you through telepathy. Listen to what I have to say. STOP IT!”
"What-"
"Stop it, you need to listen to your friends. They're right, you need to let this go, you're only hurting yourself and inevitably your friends become affected by this too. Just let it go it's not worth torturing yourself we all know you're a good person really."
"Hypocrite alert! Hypocrite alert!" The voice in Jake's head uttered Jake ignored it.
Luna sensed something was wrong with Jake "Jake are you okay?"
"Yes I'm fine." But something didn't seem right to Luna like Jake was hiding something, something bothering him that had been bothering him for years,... something... familiar.
"But look at what you're doing! Nightmare Moon would've wanted the Tantabus to turn Equestria into a nightmare. You're doing everything you can to stop it." Twilight said as Luna and Jake were communicating telepathically and Luna heard every word. "Don't you see that proves you're not the same pony you were then. Eveypony who knows you knows that Nightmare Moon is in the past. We all trust you Luna. Do you trust us enough to believe we're right?"
"Luna listen to them, trust them Let it all go, please trust your friends." Jake telepathically requested of Luna. 'I sounded so sappy.' Jake couldn't help but think to himself.
Luna looked around at all of her friends and suddenly smiled. "I do." Suddenly the Tantabus jerked back from the hole in the dreamscape it was halfway through its face twisted and contorted. It began shrinking, with white sparks flashing around it, and making moaning sounds as it did so.
Eventually it became about the same size as Princess Luna still maintaining its unicorn form. It walked forward through Luna's magical aura-sphere and merged into her disappearing forever. "Thank you. Thank you all." Luna said and with her magic brought the dream to an end.
*with Jake in Twilight's guest bedroom*
A rooster crowed in the distance waking Jake from his sleep. 'She did it atta girl!' Jake mentally cheered. Then he stopped to think about what had just happened. It was either the most insane dream ever, or it was real. And if it was real then what other amazing things did this world have in store? Would he even want to leave?
Jake immediately corrected himself of course he'd want to leave he had family to get back to. But... Why not bring them here? Simple this wasn't our home, it's fun to visit but eventually all the amazing things here would eventually get boring. Earth might not be the best place but it was his place and where he belonged.
*Princess Twilight's sleeping chambers*
A rooster crowed in the distance waking Twilight from her sleep. "*gasp* Luna did it!" the others ponies stretched and yawned when she said this.
"She sure did. Only ah'm not exactly sure what she did." Applejack admitted.
"Luna created the Tantabus to punish herself. The worse she felt the more power it had." As Twilight said this pike crawled up onto her bed next to her. "But once she finally forgave herself for what Nightmare Moon did-"
"Poof!" Spike exclaimed spreading his arms out for emphasis.
"Shhh." Fluttershy said holding a hoof to her lips. She then motioned towards the floor where Princess Luna was sound asleep.
"Huh, wonder what's she's dreaming about now." Spike said.
Princess Luna was dreaming a peaceful calming dream. Her own dream for the first time since before Nightmare Moon. She rested on a comfortable bed beneath a tree of large pink flowers with glowing anthers. Luna was sleeping in her dream she was relieved to finally be free of the guilt she had held so long and that the Tantabus issue was over. But she was relieved for another reason as well. She was also relieved because she finally knew how she was going to make it up to Jake for all the trouble she had caused for him when Tempest. She could finally set things right.
Jake was lying down on the grass, just staring out into space. He had a lot on his mind following the events of the previous night. He watched ponies go about their everyday activities, but for some reason felt unable to be cheerful. Luna's inner guilt that she had dealt with had reinvigorated his own guilt that he'd tried to keep buried, and now it was stronger than ever. But of course he couldn't let anyone know that, he just needed to work this out on his own like he always did.
Jake shook his head. He'd get over this; he always did, he just needed to keep his emotions in check like he always had, only letting them out when it was appropriate, and even then only in small amounts. But doing this also allowed him to think things through rationally most of the time, which is what he felt he needed to do. Jake stood up and decided to go back to Twilight's castle when Rainbow flew by "Hey Jake what's goin on?" She asked.
"Nothing much. I was just about to head back to Twilight's castle." Jake answered his voice distant.
"Hey are you feeling okay Jake?" Rainbow asked concerned.
"Yes Rainbow everything is fine." Jake answered still somewhat distant.
"Are you sure? Cause you seem kinda down, and I don't like it when my friends get mopey."
"I'm not mopey Rainbow Dash, now if you'll excuse me."
"Come on Jake what's eatin ya?"
"I told you I'm fine okay? Now can we please drop the subject?" Jake asked his voice slightly angry 'Keep it together Jake keep it together.'
"Jake come on tell a friend what your problem is." Rainbow pleaded.
"*sigh* You're not gonna leave me alone until I tell are you?"
"There's a reason why I'm the Element of Loyalty Jake." Rainbow said with a smirk.
"It's just something I need to deal with okay?" Jake's voice clearly demanded that Rainbow drop the subject but of course Rainbow wasn't one to back down.
"I'm not leaving Jake."
Jake stared at her long and hard, he could tell Rainbow was serious about not backing down, but should he really break down and tell her? The stubborn part of him wanted to leave, but as he thought about it more and more he wondered what the point was. He finally decided to talk a little if only to get Rainbow off his back. "I've been thinking about everything that happened with Luna and the Tantabus last night."
"Why?" Rainbow tilted her head.
"What happened with Luna makes me think about some things that occurred in my life." Jake said solemnly.
"What you mean, like things you feel guilty about?"
"...Yes, things like that. It bothers me a lot whenever I mess up."
"Is that all?"
"All I'm willing to talk about."
"So there is something else!"
"Something you're not going to find out."
"Jake you can't just hold whatever it is inside you." Rainbow called but Jake was already walking away. "Jake come on!" Jake didn't acknowledge her and just kept walking. Rainbow sighed she was worried about her friend something was clearly bothering him and he wouldn't talk about it. She wasn't sure what to do, but maybe her friends would know.
Rainbow turned and flew towards Sugarcube Corner to find Pinkie since she'd probably be able to help her round the others up the fastest.
*Some time later in Princess Twilight's throne room*
"So something's been ailing Jake has it?" Applejack asked. Rainbow had gathered all of her friends together with the help of Pinkie and informed them that she knew Jake was troubled by something, but she didn't know what.
"Yeah but he wouldn't talk about it. He only said he was feeling guilty for something." Rainbow said.
"Well that doesn't sound so bad Rainbow. I mean everypony feels guilty at some point or another." Twilight reassured.
"Yeah but this was different Twi. I couldn't shake the feeling that it was something besides guilt that was bothering him. I mean it felt like he was closing himself off from feeling anything, and then when he snapped at me for pressing the issue... I saw something in his eyes. It was like he hated himself for getting angry, I don't mean it like he felt sorry for raising his voice, although I'm sure he did, I mean it's like he was punishing himself... kinda like what Princess Luna was doing with the Tantabus." Rainbow paused for a moment thinking it over. "He shouldn't have felt as bad as he did, I mean I pressed the issue more than he was comfortable with so he had a right to snap at me."
"Now Rainbow ah don't think you're bein fair to yerself. But ah git what yer sayin about Jake, it does sound like somethin's botherin him more than it should from your description. What do you think Twi?" Applejack asked.
"Weeelllllll....... We could all just be overreacting, but now that I think about it Jake has been keeping to himself more than he usually did." Twilight answered slowly.
"What do you think we should do?" Fluttershy asked.
"Ooohhh, ooohhh! How about we throw him a party to cheer him up" Pinkie said excitedly with an already huge grin growing even larger on her face.
"Um I don't think that's the best idea Pinkie. I mean he clearly doesn't want to talk about whatever's bothering him, and last time you threw him a party he didn't actually get all that excited." Rainbow said with a hint of nervousness.
Pinkie's mane deflated. "He didn't like the party I threw for him?" She asked her eyes tearing up, she hadn't noticed how little Jake had enjoyed the party so this news came as a shock to her.
Applejack placed a hoof on Pinkie's shoulder to comfort her. "Now don't you fret none sugar cube some ponies just don't like parties." Pinkie sniffed and nodded her head. "We should get back to the matter at hoof. Twi any ideas as to what we should do?"
Twilight stopped and thought long and hard for a while. Finally she said "I think we should contact Princess Luna for her help. Jake mentioned something about this affecting him after the whole event with the Tantabus right Rainbow?" Rainbow nodded her head while she flew in mid air, and Twilight continued "Therefore I think it might be possible Luna might have some idea as to what's bothering him." The others agreed and Twilight had Spike send a letter to Princess Luna requesting her help.
*Canterlot Castle Princess Luna*
Luna trotted around her room eagerly. Her room was a beautiful midnight blue color with purple red-violet drapes beside the windows, and a lovely bed to sleep in. She was a bit excited since soon she was planning to help Jake with his problem she had learned about. His problem of always taking his mistakes too seriously and never letting them go. Always holding them against himself and trying to be perfect all of the time, which is impossible. She would help him see this and hopefully cure him of his troubles. Suddenly a scroll appeared before her wrapped tightly in a red ribbon.
Luna untied the scroll with her magic and upon examining it discovered it was a message from Princess Twilight Sparkle requesting her to help aid Sir Jake. Luna pondered this for a moment, she had wanted to help Jake all on her own, but one of the things she learned from the Tantabus incident was that she should place faith in her friends. She concentrated her magic on sending herself to Ponyville and vanished in a bright flash of light.
*Back to Twilight and crew*
Twilight and her friends sat around waiting to get a response from Luna. None of them had expected her to suddenly appear in the room after a bright flash of light. Twilight stepped back when she saw it was Luna, she'd been expecting her to reply in a letter rather than just showing up without a response. She shook her head and addressed Princess Luna. "Luna I take it you read my letter?"
"Yes Twilight; and I too am most disturbed for our friend Jake." Luna replied solemnly.
"Princess do you have any idea what could be troubling Jake?" Twilight inquired hopefully.
"I believe he is suffering from some form of self induced punishment. He feels like nothing he does is ever good enough and never moves on from his mistakes, constantly reminding himself of what he may have done wrong... much like I did by having the Tantabus give myself the same nightmare over and over."
"But he was there in the dream with us shouldn't he have learned just like you did?" Rainbow interjected.
"I fear he is more stubborn than I was, still telling himself that he needs to feel this way to make himself a better person."
"Then what should we do?" Twilight asked.
"I have a plan to help Jake see the truth of the matter. I was going to do it all on my own but seeing as all of you are concerned for Jake as well, I would be ashamed not too let you help."
"What is it?"
Luna beckoned the Elements to come closer and explained her plan to them.
*Back to Jake*
Jake walked through the town of Ponyville still bothered by his own belittling thoughts. No matter how hard he tried he couldn't shake the feeling that he wasn't good enough, not as a friend, not as anything. But he was also bothered by one lingering question, 'Why don't you just let it all go?' Jake told himself that he needed to hold onto his guilt so that he could learn to never make those mistakes again. Even though he knew he would most likely fail, heck he'd probably end up doing something wrong the very next day as most people tend to do no matter how small a thing it is.
This was what bothered Jake the most, why couldn't he be perfect?! Why did he have to mess up so much despite how much he hates doing that? Jake sighed he had to clear his thoughts 'Remember the guilt but don't let it consume you otherwise you make mistakes.' As Jake walked through town he spotted a familiar face coming towards him, a face he really did not want to see. Silver Charade.
"Well well if it isn't our resident monster." She said in her tone that gave off a false air of authority. Jake turned and walked away 'Whatever you do, do not let her get to you. That's exactly what she wants you're best option is too ignore her.' "You know it's rude to walk away when a pony is talking to you." She called after him,
Jake turned to face her. "It's also rude to insult people to their face" Jake said and then just kept walking.
Silver followed him continuing to spray insults at him, but nothing she said even caused Jake to flinch. He simply replied "Didn't Twilight warn you to stop attacking me like this or she would take away your voice?" Silver just stared at him hard as they kept walking, her tactics weren't working on him. 'Fine if I can't attack you one way I'll attack you in another.' She thought and once she was in range reared up on her hind legs and slammed her hooves into Jake. Jake saw the blow coming but didn't have time to react. Her hooves slammed into him and knocked him to the ground causing him to roll over.
Silver decided to seize this opportunity to strike a low blow "You think yourself equal to us ponies? Look at you lying in the mud and filth, you're absolutely pathetic! And I'll bet the rest of your kind is even more pathetic. You 'humans' are nothing but beasts, the other 'humans' are probably even less tame than you." Silver's plan was if she couldn't insult him directly then why not insult those close to him to see how he reacts. As she gazed upon Jake she saw something she had never seen before in him, rage, pure rage.
When Jake heard what she said several thoughts ran through his head but one in particular above them all 'She just insulted my race. My entire race!' Jake got to his feet and stared Silver down. Unable to control his actions he charged forward and punched Silver on the side of her head. She fell to the ground and landed on her side, Jake stepped back as realization of what he'd just done sank in. Silver grinned as she got back on her hooves, she had won.
Jake suddenly heard voices behind him chanting "Menace! Menace! Menace! Menace! Menace! Menace! Menace! MENACE!!" Suddenly Twilight and her friends were behind Jake and he turned to face them.
"Jake I can't believe you would do something like this, I actually thought you could live amongst us, clearly I was wrong." Twilight spat at Jake.
"But Twilight I didn't mean to I just-" Jake started but was interrupted by Twilight again
"I don't want to hear it, what you've just done is proof of how you feel towards ponies."
"No I really don't-" Jake was interrupted again by Rainbow Dash this time.
"I should have finished you when we encountered you outside the Everfree Forest!"
"Wait you're all-"
"Jake how could you? You seemed so nice, but you were just taking advantage of us." Fluttershy said.
"No I wasn't-" Jake started but was interrupted by Twilight again.
"Jake I have no choice now but to put you down. You cannot be allowed to live in Equestria anymore."
"Twilight please listen to reason!" Jake pleaded fear growing in his voice. But Twilight just charged her horn and fired a beam of magic into his chest. The beam forced Jake off his feet and sent him plunging off a cliff onto the sharp rocks below. 'Since when was I in front of a cliff? Jake thought as he fell despite his impending doom. Then he screamed as he fell and braced himself for the impact closing his eyes.
When he opened them he discovered he was somehow floating above the crowd of ponies that had gathered to watch him fall 'What the? What the heck is going on?' None of the ponies seemed to notice Jake as he floated above them listening o what they said.
"I'm glad he's gone, how soon would it be until he turned on the rest of us?" Twilight said.
"How do you feel Fluttershy?" Applejack asked.
"I hate him. I can't believe I ever thought he was something better than a monster."
"At least he's gone for good." Twilight said.
"Twilight! I'm right here!" Jake shouted but none of the ponies heard him. Suddenly a bright flash of light appeared behind Twilight and Princess Celestia emerged from it.
"Twilight I'm proud of what you've done here. Jake had become an evil creature of hatred and needed to be put down." Princess Celestia declared.
"Thank you Celestia. But what do we do now?" Twilight asked her mentor.
"I shall have a statue built to remind us all of why we loathe Jake so much. It will serve as a lesson for all of us." Celestia declared.
Jake just stared at this scene in shock. For the first time in is life he was completely broken. Speechless, mortified, confused, shocked, and unable to control himself Jake curled into a ball and wept "No nonononononononononononononono. This can't be happening" 'Was he a ghost? Had he died from the fall?' Jake looked up and suddenly he was in Canterlot where there were was a statue below him shaped exactly like him. "The plaque on it read Jake Darrison the human. A symbol of what happens when we allow evil to consume us." Jake turned around suddenly there was a crowd of ponies standing there. The ponies all at once began picking up various objects and flinging them at the statue of him. Jake's jaw dropped how had he become so hated amongst the ponies so fast? "NO! PLEASE STOP!" He cried but it only got worse.
Time flew by ponies stopping every once in a while to throw objects at the statue, eventually centuries went by and the statue began rotting away until nothing was left of it, not even dust. That was it the last remnant of his existence gone now he would never be remembered, not even as a hated monster. If there was anything worse than being hated, it was being forgotten, and that's exactly what had happened to Jake, he had been both hated and forgotten, all because of one little mistake. But none of this made any sense, how could time have gone by so quickly? For one thing, how did Princess Celestia know what happened when she wasn't even there?
Suddenly Jake realized something he should probably have figured out a while ago, this was a dream, well more correctly a nightmare. Jake eased up when he realized this, but he was still very disturbed by everything. But the nightmare wasn't over yet, suddenly Jake was back on Earth several years after he had disappeared. He'd been officially declared dead and his wife and kids were suffering without him. The town judge had become even worse than when Jake had left Earth, and was spreading his influence through the rest of the world. This was the last straw, Jake couldn't take anymore "Make it stop! MAKE IT STOP PLEASE!" He screamed to the heavens. And it did stop, everything went white and Jake heard a voice in his head. "So do you understand now why you can't afford to screw up? Why others will only suffer for your mistakes, these could be the consequences of your actions if you allow yourself to make even one small mistake.' You can't let that happen, you have to be perfect!"
Jake's head hung low, he couldn't think straight after all he had just seen. But the voice, was it wrong? Jake had always tried his absolute hardest to never mess up, to always be the good guy no matter what. But even good guys make mistakes, and nobody's perfect. But still he had to try to be perfect, he couldn't forget the mistakes he had made, he needed to remember them constantly so he would remember not to make them again. He would try to be perfect no matter what it cost him.
'Yes, I understand.' Jake thought.
Suddenly another voice in Jake's head called out to him."Wait! Do you really think that's what's best for you? Never allowing yourself to feel happiness, is that what you truly want for yourself?
Jake thought it over for long time. Finally he answered back 'No, I don't know what I really want to do. But I do know that I won't hurt anybody else if I keep myself in check, so for now I'm going to stick to what I know works. Now then I think it's time we all woke up from this dream, don't you?'
*Princess Luna POV*
Thank Celestia they had arrived when they did, Jake was in the middle of a nightmare that was causing him turmoil. The nightmare was an unusual one, but she understood what it was about. Jake was afraid of being hated, of being forgotten, and of being a failure. 'Was this how he normally felt?' Luna hadn't seen anything to suggest this sort of behavior from Jake... Or had she simply not noticed it?
Luna watched Jake end his nightmare and she immediately initiated her plan to help him with newfound urgency. Her horn glowed a bright white and the area around her changed.
*Back to Jake*
Jake closed his eyes expecting to wake up from his nightmare, but when he opened his eyes all he saw was darkness. Was it still night time? Then he noticed that whatever he was laying on didn't feel like a bed. He quickly got up and tried to figure out what was going on.
There was nothing, just darkness as far as the eye could see. Jake couldn't even see the ground he was standing on, he might as well have been floating in an empty void, heck maybe he was just floating in an empty void and couldn't tell. Another strange thing was that despite the fact that there was clearly no light anywhere, Jake could still see his own body as if it were broad daylight whenever he looked at his arms or any part of his body. . . strange.
Jake started walking around looking for something, anything to explain his situation, this was probably just a dream but there wasn't much he could do at the moment. Suddenly Jake's foot bumped into something that rolled in front of him at the impact. He bent down and discovered it was his metal pipe that he had carried with him since his escape from Darklight labs. Just like his body Jake could see the pipe clear as day. He picked it up and held it in his hands for a moment, a feeling of familiarity rushing over him. He brushed it aside and began looking around.
"Hello human." Said a menacing voice from behind, a voice Jake was well familiar with.
"Tempest!" Jake spun around anger fully present on his face. What was HE doing here in his dream? "What are you doing here?" Jake growled.
"What do you think I'm here for? I'm here to eliminate you." Tempest said and charged his horn firing a beam of magic at Jake. Jake dodged sideways and lowered his arms gazing at tempest with a look of pure rage as his pent-up anger towards Tempest came back to him. Why had he let this scumbag go? He didn't deserve that, Jake deserved his revenge. . . so why had he let him go? 'Because I can't let my feelings get in the way of making the right choice.' But as soon as he thought that Tempest fired more magic at him bringing his rage up again.
Jake ran forward and bashed Tempest over the head knocking the unicorn off his hooves, what did it matter what happened here? This was a dream the choices he made here didn't matter, there were no consequences. Jake ran over to Tempest's limp corpse, Tempest tried to fight back with magic but kept missing since he couldn't aim in the position he was in. Jake started beating Tempest until the unicorn finally stopped shooting. As Jake lifted his pipe one more time he stopped and looked at what he was doing even if it was only a dream it was still wrong, he had to stop now. But just at that moment Tempest made one last attempt to hurt the human charging his horn for a powerful blast, out of instinct Jake brought his pipe down on Tempest's head. . . killing him.
Jake lay there stunned at what he had done, he had lost control after all this time he finally lost control. Jake felt absolutely abysmal. How could he have become so angry as to do something like this? He asked himself this question over and over and tears started welling up in his eyes for the first time in years. Jake forced himself to stop crying, he had to pull himself together so he wouldn't do this again. There was no time for crying. Suddenly Jake heard a noise behind him, and turned around to see Tempest again perfectly fine, but not just one Tempest rather three.
If there was any doubt in Jake's mind that he was dreaming before it was gone now, staring at the three Tempests in front of him he became angry all over again, some part of his mind tried to get him to unleash his anger since clearly his dream was trying to let him relieve some anger by taking it out on Tempest. So why not go all the way? As he thought this he focuses his mind on the metal pipe in his hands and it begins to change shape becoming a huge Gatling gun. Normally a gun like this would have been heavy to lift, but for Jake it was light as a feather. He points the barrel at the closest Tempest and fires round after round obliterating him, then proceeds to do the same to the other two.
More and more Tempest's appear around him only for Jake to shoot them down, eventually Jake got tired of using the Gatling gun and throws it on the ground causing a massive shockwave that only effects the Tempest duplicates. Jake then starts blasting the Tempest duplicates with anything he can think of, beams from his hands, mind waves, telekinesis, anything. Until he suddenly stops and looks at his hands, what was he doing, this didn't solve anything, and honestly it didn't even make him feel any better. He'd gone off the deep end twice in less than one hour, this had never happened before, why now? Was his buried hatred of Tempest too strong for him to overcome? Suddenly Jake heard a new voice speak out to him "Sir Jake?" 'Luna?'
Jake turned and indeed there stood Princess Luna, the princess of the night herself. But she wasn't alone alongside her were the Elements of Harmony, Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie. What were they doing here?
"Sir Jake I know you must be confused." Luna tried to console Jake, but he just stared right through her, he was looking at the elements taking in their shocked expressions, had they seen what he just did? Were they judging him? "Sir Jake there is something very important that you must know about."
Jake didn't hear what she said right away, when he did he turned his head and asked "What is it?"
"Do you recall the Tantabus? The creature that haunted my dreams?" Luna began.
"Yes, what about it."
"The Tantabus apparently escaped and has now infected your dreams."
"What!" Jake exclaimed.
"Sir Jake you must stop the monster before it is able to consume your dream." Luna said solemnly.
"But I haven't seen any sign-" Jake didn't finish what he was going to say, for he was interrupted by a large amount of blue smoke rising out of the ground and causing a tremor. Jake recognized the blue colored smoke.
"The Tantabus." Twilight cried.
Jake stared not able to fully comprehend this. "Wha-how did it get here?" Jake stuttered.
"I'm not entirely sure sir Jake, but I think when you telepathically linked with me during the shared dream in Ponyville, the Tantabus may have left my consciousness and entered yours." Luna tried to explain.
Jake processed this information "Sooo. . . What do I do?"
"You need to stop it."
"How?"
"Do you remember how the Tantabus feeds off of an individuals guilt?" Luna asked to which Jake nodded. "Therefore it must be feeding off the guilt you feel towards something. But only if the guilt you feel is excess. Sir Jake in order to stop the Tantabus like I did, you need to let go of your excess guilt."
Jake turned to face her somewhat angry "What are you talking about?"
"Jake. . . I believe there is something bothering you deep inside, something you won't forgive yourself for. Speaking from personal experience whatever it is you shouldn't let it bother you to such an extreme."
Jake looked away. "It's not something."
"Jake please-"
"It's somethings."
Twilight decided to interject at this moment. "What could possibly be bothering you this badly?"
Jake just looked away again.
"Jake please tell us you shouldn't hold something like this in." Twilight and the other pleaded.
Jake stared at the ground away from Luna then quickly turned towards the Tantabus with a fully loaded minigun and fired at it. the bullets forming holes within the rift of blue smoke until it vaporized. "There problem solved."
"No Jake that didn't destroy it-"
"I know, but it did slow it down." Luna and Jake stared quietly for a moment.
"*sigh* Sir Jake please whatever allows you to feel this much guilt must be dealt with, your guilt is even stronger than mine was."
"Or you know maybe I'm just more stubborn about it." Jake pointed out, then suddenly the earth began to shake again and the Tantabus shot out of the earth in the shape of a giant scorpion. "Just my luck, I hate scorpions." Jake raised his minigun and took aim.
Jake fired his minigun at the monster scorpion as it attempted to charge him. Luna, and the Elements joined in the fight to stop this creature, Twilight, and Luna blasting it with their magic, Rainbow Dash bashing it at high speeds, Applejack lassoing its legs, Fluttershy and Rarity distracting it by flashing it with magic and flying in its face. In response the titanic scorpion raised its massive claw and slammed it down on the non-existent ground where Fluttershy, and Rarity had been. Fortunately they were able to move away in time before the claw struck them.
Jake concentrated hard and imagined himself being able to fly. He flew up above the scorpion and changed the minigun into a harpoon gun, and fired four harpoons straight into the scorpions backside, without reloading. Unfortunately Jake failed to notice the scorpion tail swinging at him as he was suddenly swatted out of the air. The tail hadn't pierced his skin but he fell to the ground hard bouncing and sliding on impact. Jake managed to get back to his feet and saw Princess Luna approaching him to make sure he was okay. "I'm fine Luna, go help the Elements."
Suddenly there was a large crashing sound. Luna and Jake looked behind them and saw that the giant scorpion was attacking the Elements by firing dark blue lasers from its claws and tail. The lasers missed the Elements but the shockwave managed to knock them off their hooves. Jake imagined a gigantic laser cannon and fired at the scorpion before it could finish off the Elements.
Rainbow Dash saw what Jake did and called out "Thanks Jake!"
Princess Luna turns to look at Jake and says with a smirk. "Shall we rejoin the fight?" When Jake nodded she turned and flew back at the scorpion whilst Jake had given himself some hover shoes and hovered after her.
Then Jake began to wonder "Luna why can't I just dream the Tantabus out of existence?"
"Unfortunately such an act cannot be done."
"Why?"
"Dreams can grant the dreamer and beings like myself some powers, but they cannot wipe another being from existence, if they could then the Tantabus could have imagined us all into oblivion by now." Princess Luna explained. At this point Luna Jake were close enough to start fighting the Tantabus-scorpion again. Twilight and her friends had managed to get back to their hooves and joined Jake and Luna, together they would surely bring this beast down. Jake used his imagination to give himself a laser blaster, and he also imagined eight robotic drones (which looked like large gems with circular rings rotating around them).
The drones flew around the scorpion and together blasted a continuous beam at the Tantabus weakening it while Jake did the same with his own laser blaster. Rainbow Dash flew around the scorpion and rammed into it at various points not giving it a chance to hit her. Applejack got up close and personal by bucking the scorpion in its face while avoiding its teeth. Rarity trotted behind the scorpion and used her magic to bind its tail to the ground. Fluttershy flew beneath the scorpion avoiding its massive claws as they slammed the ground, she struck at its sensitive legs. Pinkie Pie meanwhile danced all over the scorpion without a care in the world just barely avoiding its attacks as well as friendly fire, and pulling various objects out of her mane which she used in multiple ways such as throwing confetti in the Tantabus' eyes.
Twilight focused her magic into holding the scorpions claws still. She had a plan to weaken the scorpion but she would need Luna's help to do it. She could feel the strength of the Tantabus-scorpion desperately trying to break free, but before it could she called out to Luna "Princess Luna blast the scorpions claws while I'm holding them firm!" Luna heard Twilights cry and charged her magic to its fullest potential, then with a scream she unleashed a magical beam that pierced through the scorpion's claws and kept going.
The mighty scorpion now with two useless appendages howled in pain and took several steps back from the attack. It then stared at its opponents with pure hatred and let out a howl so loud it forced everyone there to cover their ears and Fluttershy's and Twilight's wings froze up because they couldn't focus on flying and they crashed to the ground. Jake's drones were destroyed or crashed from the shriek and Jake himself was knocked off his feet his laser flying out of his hands. When Jake got back up he saw a sight that filled him with dread, Tempest again, but not just one, there must have been at least eighty of them.
Jake couldn't do anything but stare as his most hated enemy stood before him, even the ponies were too stunned to do anything. The Tempest standing closest to Jake charged forward and knocked him to the ground, then placed his hoof on Jake's throat. "You don't belong here! You're not a pony! You're not like us! Anything that's not a pony cannot be trusted, but something like you. . . You're the biggest monster of them all! You need to be stopped before you hurt anypony!" All of the eighty Tempest's chanted this together in a monotone rhythm. They all charged the magic in their horns and pointed it at Jake. "And now it ends!" Jake was in a panic his mind instinctively thought of something to defend himself with, and suddenly an automatic handgun appeared in his right hand. Without thinking he aimed the weapon at Tempest's head and fired. . . It was so easy. So dang easy to pull the trigger. 'Why didn't I just put a forcefield around myself? Or create a shockwave that would send Tempest flying? Or something that wouldn't have killed him, I've done that too many times already.'
The other Tempest's stopped and looked at what Jake had done, they watched as the bullet plowed straight trough Tempest's skull a splatter of blood shooting out of the hole, and the Tempest's lifeless corpse falling over. Once that was over with they slowly turned their gaze back to Jake and began speaking in that same monotonous tone from before "Do you see? This is why you're a danger to us all! This is why you cannot be allowed to be free! This is why you need to be put down!" Once those words hit Jake he became overridden with a train wreck of guilt. But worse yet the Tantabus-scorpion growled and suddenly its claws reformed as if it just gained a significant supply of power.
The Tempests all lowered their horns at Jake once again prepared to blow him away once and for all. Jake wasn't sure what to think or do.
"Jake don't just sit there!" Rainbow Dash called out. "Do something!"
"Jake they're wrong about you!" Twilight cried.
"Come on Jakey wakey don't let them bully you around." Pinkie chanted.
"Jake, please get up." Squeaked Futtershy.
"Jake listen to us please!" Rarity cried.
"Sir Jake! You must take action now!" Luna demanded.
"Consarnit are we jus gonna sit around here and do nothin?" Applejack stated and then charged at the group of Tempests. The others followed after her and Rainbow managed to beat Applejack there with her speed. Rainbow tackled the first Tempest that was in reach, then immediately flew up and tackled another one. Applejack joined her leaping into the crowd of Tempest's and bucking them. She grabbed two that were standing next to each other in her hooves and bashed their heads together. Rarity created a magical rope which she used to tie up a group of Tempests. Twilight grabbed a group of seven Tempests with her magic and began spinning them around in a circle. And then everything took a turn for the worse. The Tempests turned away from Jake and started fighting against them.
Twilight found herself being trampled by at least four Tempest clones, Applejack was held in place by two tempests pulling her front hooves in opposite directions. Rarity had accidentally gotten herself tied up in her own magical rope and now several Tempest's started approaching her. A Tempest grabbed Rainbow by her tail and smashed her into the non-existent ground, but before Tempest could do any more harm to her Princess Luna came to her rescue shooting magic beams at Tempest. Fluttershy tried to use her stare to stop them but it had no effect. In desperation she called out to Jake to help her friends.
But Jake didn't hear her, he couldn't really hear anything right now. What he could hear were the voices in his head as he tried to figure out what to do.
"Give up Jake. Tempest is right about you. The moment you came here you caused nothing but trouble. Remember that nurse you drugged when you made your escape? Or how about all those guards you injured when you didn't really have too? Face it Jake you're better off dead."
"You could've done better. You can always do better, but you don't, you fail to be your best almost every time, and everyone else suffers for it, including those you left back on Earth. You can't make up for this, give up."
"You knew what would happen if you messed up. Which is why you needed to be perfect all the time. But you failed, and now there's no time left. It's time for your retribution."
"Jake, don't give up. You never give up. You make mistakes yes, but if you just give up then you'll never be able to fix your mistakes."
"A hopeless cycle is a hopeless cycle. Even your death will end up hurting others. So really you can't do anything right, your always gonna screw something up."
"Jake none of this matters now, you're needed. You need to finish this fight."
"What a joke. You'll just screw this up too somehow."
"Jake, you idiot stop being so stubborn. Deep down you know you'll never be as perfect as you desire to be. You know that you've been going about this the wrong way, so why do you continue? Please let your stubbornness go and move on."
"No, you must always strive to be perfect, completely flawless one-hundred percent of the time! You must remember every one of your flaws and make sure you never forget any of it. Hold on to the past so you never make those mistakes again. You're mistakes ruin you, and you cant escape this."
"No Jake, you have to let go of your mistakes from the past because they don't matter anymore. You need to move on, don't forget your mistakes, but don't let them weigh you down either."
.............
Jake opened his eyes, looked at the situation before him, then gave one final thought. 'My personal feelings are trivial. I am flawed, but I will fix this because it is the right thing to do.' With that thought Jake's head cleared and he was able to focus on the task ahead. Jake stood up and imagined a pump action shotgun in his hands. He cocked the weapon and aimed it towards the Tempest who was hunkered over Rarity. 'what are you doing?' Jake thought but he ignored it. He fired knocking the Tempest away from her and watched it vaporize, he then turned to the Tempest's who were attacking Twilight and blasted them setting her free. Princess Luna had successfully rescued Rainbow Dash and Applejack and rejoined the rest of them alongside Pinkie and Fluttershy.
Jake stared as what remained of the horde of Tempest's surrounded them and suddenly realized that he could wipe them all out in a single blow. He slowly raised his fist and slammed it to the "ground" sending a shockwave that made every last Tempest disappear in a puff of blue smoke. Jake looked around relieved that his friends were now finally safe for the moment. But his relief would not last long. 'Do you realize what you just did? You just murdered every last one of them.' suddenly a glowing vision of Tempest's face appeared and began speaking to him. "You're a murderer, Jake the human!" 'No! No I'm not I swear!' Jake tried to convince himself but the voices wouldn't let up and neither would Tempest.
"Do you think you can just get away with what you've done without any consequences?!"
"You failed again you screw-up."
"You can't go a single minute without messing something up"
Stay strong Jake never give up.
Feeling some new strength for a brief moment Jake spoke up. "I have to do this it's the only thing I can do."
"You don't really believe that do you?!" Tempest shouted forcing Jake to his knees clutching his head as the voices returned in full force.
"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" He shouted.
The Elements of Harmony watched in horror unable to comprehend what was going on. Slowly they all turned to Princess Luna in hopes she knew what was going on, Rainbow, AJ, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and finally Twilight. "Princess Luna do you know what exactly is happening here?" Rainbow asked.
Princess Luna stared hard at Jake for several moments before finally turning to face Rainbow and answer her. "Psychological warfare. The Tantabus is trying to defeat Jake by striking at his weakest point. His uncertainty of whether he has done the right thing or not."
Rainbow stared in disbelief "What but why does-"
Twilight interrupted her "Is there anything we can do to help him?"
Princess Luna nodded quickly. "Yes we must hurry and get his attention, make him see reason." So the ponies tried calling out to him.
"Jake can you hear us?!" Twilight called. Nothing.
"Sir Jake those thoughts you are hearing in your head are nothing but lies please see reason!" Luna called.
Something.
"Why do I mess up? Why can't I just be perfect?" Jake lamented.
"Nopony is perfect Jake, and that applies to more than just ponies." Luna tried to ease Jake's misery.
"What about your sister? I haven't seen her do anything wrong." Jake said, then immediately regretted it.
Luna stared at Jake for a moment not fully comprehending what he meant. "Jake surely you know better than that. My sister is as fallible as anypony. In fact not so long ago she and I had a quarrel over a wedding present."
Jake just stared at his feet. ". . . I guess I know that, but still why?"
"That's the way things are, we just need to accept that." Luna calmly replied.
". . .I know. . ." Jake sighed. "But. . ."
"But what Jake?"
Jake's voice became very monotone as he said "I am weak."
When Applejack heard him say this she remembered the time Jake told them of all he had been through. "Jake that just ain't the truth. Ever since you arrived in Equestria you've had to deal with so much torment. But no matter what happened to you, you never gave up. You know why? Because you are strong!"
Jake spoke again "I am cruel."
This time Fluttershy responded "Jake you've had many opportunities to harm others, and sometimes you even would've been justified. But no matter what you always tried to avoid that. You are anything but cruel, you are kind."
"I am stupid."
Twilight Sparkle responded with "Jake if you were stupid you would never have escaped from Tempest, or come as far as you have. You are not stupid, you are smart."
"I am selfish."
Rarity was appalled at what Jake was saying about himself and now took her turn trying to reassure him. "Jake, you must cease this defeatist attitude at once. You are not selfish, when my little sister and her friends were in danger you gave everything you had to save them. You are gracious."
"I am a shame."
Pinkie Pie jumped in when she heard this "Are you crazy Jakey wakey? How can you be a shame when you've done so much to help others. You have nothing to be ashamed of. You are great!"
"I am cowardly."
Rainbow Dash jumped in "Okay Jake this putting yourself down stuff has gone on long enough. You're no coward, especially after everything you had to face while you were fleeing from Tempest. You are brave!"
"I am evil"
Now Princess Luna stepped in "Sir Jake I know this isn't really you saying this. Do not listen to those voices in your head. A few mistakes does not make one evil it is your choices that define who you are, and you are not evil Jake, you are heroic!"
Jake heard this and finally started to come to. "I am . . . . . . . flawed. . . . . . " Finally he stood up. "But I always try to do the right thing." He looked at each of the ponies with him. "Thank you all for giving me the boost I needed in my darkest hour." With that said Jake turned toward the Tantabus once again. "Now I've got to finish this."
"Jake we should stop it together." Luna tried to say but Jake held up a hand.
"No, just like only you could stop the Tantabus by letting go of your guilt, only I can stop it now." Jake stared at the Tantabus now fully reborn as it roared and charged at him. The ponies screamed but what happened next was something unexpected. When the Tantabus reached Jake it became a barrier of blue mist that separated the ponies and Jake.
When Jake opened his eyes he realized he was in the center of this barrier, and upon examining his surroundings he realized he wasn't alone. On the opposite end of the "room" was a dark blue shadowy figure that apart from the color looked exactly like Jake himself.
"Who-who are you? What are you?" Jake demanded.
"I am you. everything about you down to the tiniest flaw. And the reason why you should give up this foolish fight." The figure spoke.
". . . No. No you're not me, you're the Tantabus."
"True, but I am also you."
"What do you mean?"
"I have access to all of your memories, your personality. Essentially I am you."
". . . What did you mean by the reason I should give up?"
"You are trying to save your own worthless existence. Even now you doubt yourself. You think you'll never be good enough to make a difference. You're a hopeless being fighting for a hopeless cause. That's why you should give up."
"That's true, except for one small detail. I'm not doing this for myself. I'm doing this to save all of the other ponies in this world from you. If you really knew everything about me you'd know that."
"Ah yes your nobility. Look where that's gotten you so far." The Tantabus suddenly morphed into Jake as a little kid wearing a white shirt and black pants. "One day little Jake Darrison had his first real encounter with what the real world was like. One of your friends from school was being bullied and you came to help. You yelled at the bullies to stop but they just stared at you for a moment before one of them turned back to your friend and attempted to punch him again. The boy ducked and the bully's fist struck the support beam of the little playhouse they had dragged your friend to. The bullies made it out but your friend was trapped underneath rubble and passed out."
"You immediately ran to help your friend out of the rubble. You dragged his unconscious body clear and that's when the teachers arrived. You remember who they blamed for the incident right? Of course you do."
"What does this have to do with anything?"
"This was the beginning of your desire to make the world a better place. It was days before the teachers believed you or even your parents especially since the bullies wouldn't admit to anything. It literally took your friend waking up in the hospital days later to tell his side of the story for the teachers to believe you. This was the defining time in your life, it was your first experience with how the world could really be. And it's what inspired you to later become a cop."
"What does this have to do with anything?"
"You'll see. Moving up a few years, you have your job as an officer and you have done quite well for yourself. Of course that doesn't last long does it? It isn't until the judges sentence that one kid unfairly that you're finally ready to admit that something suspicious is going on. You confront your fellow officers about it-" Jake tenses up at the memory. "You expected them to agree that what the judge was doing was beyond absurd, that it was downright wrong. You didn't expect the response you got. Not only did most of them not seem to care, but some even claimed that you were in the wrong for standing against the judge. You said that it was insane to think that way. One of them punched you. You couldn't comprehend this at first, then you figured it out. They were in on it. He punched you again, you punched back, HARDER. You knocked him on the ground, some of the others joined in the fight. You had a lot more experience than they did and you held your own. But of course four unconscious officers at your feet doesn't paint the prettiest picture, and it's not like any of the others were going to stick up for you. You slowly began to realize just how high in power the judge was, and that there was nothing you could do to stop him at this point. Things only got worse for the boy after that and you blamed yourself for it." Jake ran forward and grabbed the tantabus clone by his shirt collar
"How do you know this stuff?! How?!" Jake screamed.
"Oh but I haven't even gotten to the part that bothers you most. What bothers you most, is that for a moment you even started to wonder if you were wrong" Jake stared at the Tantabus. Then delivered an uppercut to its jaw "Shut up!" The Tantabus fell on its back.
"The truth hurts doesn't it? You're goody-two shoes act has brought you nothing but suffering."
"I said shut up." Jake shouted again.
"Then of course there's all the incidents with Tempest. Just think of all the times you could have done something different. You could have tried to get Princess Celestia's attention the first time you saw her. Or you could've convinced him to let you go, turned yourself in to Celestia's guards."
"Shut up!" Jake shouted again. This time Jake ran forward and started to punch the Tantabus' face over and over. "How do you know all of this?! Answer me!"
"You ruined Tempest's life. You keep trying to convince yourself that it wasn't your fault, that he got what he deserved. But you can't quite accept that can you? It's all your fault and you know it. Now your stuck in some alternate reality separated from all you've ever known, all because of your goody-two shoes routine. This is what being the nice guy gets you." Jake tries to raise his hand to punch the Tantabus again, but as the words the Tantabus spoke sink in he slowly lowers his fist an stares at the ground. The Tantabus lifts its hand to Jake "Just give in, let all of your guilt flow free. And it'll all be over. You won't have to worry about another thing."
*Outside the swirling mist*
Princess Luna, Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash ran as fast as they could toward the mist. When they got there they tried to break through or at least catch a glimpse of whatever was happening inside. None of them could see through the barrier of blue smoke.
"Jake! Hey Jake can you hear us!?" Rainbow Dash called out. No answer. She started pounding on the barrier with her hooves. Nothing happens but she keeps trying. She looks over at her friends desperately hoping that they're having better luck than she is, but none of them seem to be faring any better. Applejack tried to break through with her hind hooves, but they just glanced off the barrier. Even Princess Twilight and Luna's magic seem to have no effect. Enraged Rainbow hits the barrier again, but this time something happens. Parts of the barriers mist breaks apart and now she can see inside. "Hey girls! Over here!" She called out earnestly.
The others came rushing over as fast as they could. Inside they could see Jake hunched over the Tantabus and punching it over and over. "Yeah give it to em Jake!" Rainbow said rooting him on.
"I don't think this is going to make a difference." Luna stated as all the other ponies turned to stare at her. "Remember we only stopped the Tantabus when I let go of the guilt I had been feeling over everything I had done as Nightmare Moon. I think Jake needs to let go of whatever's bothering him before the Tantabus can be defeated." Luna explained.
"It's all your fault and you know it. Now your stuck in some alternate reality separated from all you've ever known all because of your goody-two shoes routine. This is what being the nice guy gets you." The Tantabus said.
"What's it talking about?" Twilight asked nervously.
"Remain calm Princess Twilight everything's under control." Luna said reassuringly.
"Just give in, let all of your guilt flow free. And it'll all be over. You won't have to worry about another thing." The Tantabus beckoned. Jake did nothing.
Twilight couldn't stand it anymore. "Jake don't listen to it!" But Jake couldn't hear her.
Jake slapped the hand away. "I can't give in to you."
"Can't? Or won't?" The Tantabus mocked.
"Both. If I give in to you then lots of others would suffer. I won't let that happen." 'Yes!' Twilight thought to herself.
"But you still can't let go can you?" the Tantabus cackled. 'What?' Twilight thought confused and shocked.
". . . No. I'm afraid that if I let go of my guilt I'll lose my resolve to be better."
Twilight's ears drooped. This was why Jake lived with such torment? Because he was afraid of being free from guilt? She couldn't stand it. "Jake no please. You're my friend, and I don't want to see you put yourself through unnecessary punishment."
"Twilight?" Jake said as he recognized the voice of his friend.
"Jake I understand you wanting to better yourself. But don't you realize that you don't need to keep feeling guilty to better yourself. By holding onto your guilt means you never move past your mistakes. You'll always remember them but not for the right reasons. Please you need to move on and forgive yourself. You shouldn't forget your mistakes but you shouldn't let them haunt you either. You told me you believed in a Creator. Let me ask you, do you think he would want you to feel this way about yourself?"
Jake stares into space, his eyes and expression showing he was deep in thought. He sat there for what felt like an eternity. Until at last he made his final decision. He stood up and faced the Tantabus one last time. "Be gone harbinger of torment. My guilt no longer has any hold on me and therefore you have no place here." And with that said, the Tantabus gave one last menacing stare before the barrier and the Tantabus faded into mist, never to be seen again.
Jake turned around to be met with six ponies leaping towards him ready to smother him with hugs, and they very nearly did just that especially Pinkie Pie, along with excess chatter about how glad they all were that he was okay. Jake just let it all happen, he felt more free now than he had in years.
Princess Luna watched this spectacle from a few feet away. She regretted having to break this up but she had one last important thing to discuss with Jake. "Excellent work everypony, and human. As much as I wish we could celebrate more, Jake there is something I feel I must explain to you before I go." Luna gazed at all the sad faces on the Elements. "Do not look so sad my little ponies the night is still young. I shall return you to your proper dreams so that you may have a pleasant sleep. I just need to explain to Jake what I explained to you before." The ponies nodded their understanding. Luna smiled and her horn started to glow as the Elements became transparent and disappeared altogether returning to their own dreams.
Jake looked at Luna confused as to what she could want to talk about. "Luna just what is it you need to talk about?"
"I think I should start at the very beginning. When you communicated with me telepathically when we were stopping the Tantabus in the shared dream. I could sense within you troubles similar to the one I was going through at the time. However I also noticed that unlike myself you never moved on from those feelings." Luna began
"What does this have to do with anything?" Jake asked inquisitively.
"I'll explain shortly. Now do you remember the time when I didn't trust you and put you in the Canterlot dungeon?"
Jake started at the memory. "Yes, that is sort of hard to forget."
"Well I know I apologized to you privately for that, and you accepted. But I still felt like I owed you something to make up for it but I didn't know what I could possibly do for you to help make it up to you. However once I saw that you were suffering from the same problem I was, that's when I figured out how I wanted to help you. Jake what I'm trying to say is that this entire scenario with the Tantabus was set up by me."
"What do you mean? How?" Jake asked surprised and confused.
"You see Jake if you wouldn't give up feeling guilty when you saw me do it. There was no way I'd be able to convince you myself. I started to plan out a scenario that would show you why holding onto your guilt the way you have is not wise, and convince you to let it go. I created an artificial Tantabus."
"An artificial Tantabus?"
"Yes. Basically this artificial Tantabus would act like its predecessor in the way it fed off of your guilt, but it would only appear to be gaining power, it wouldn't actually be getting any stronger. It would only appear to do so until you gave up your feelings of guilt. I had control over everything except for the creatures free will. And if things took a turn for the worse I could use my magic to make it disappear." She looked at Jake studying his expression then smiled. "You didn't think I would unleash such a danger a second time did you?" She said with a smirk.
Jake was stunned to say the least. "But what if I hadn't given up my guilt? What then?"
"As I said I would have used my magic to get rid of the Tantabus. Then I would have explained things to you like I am doing now, except it would be a little different. If you would've wanted I could have made you forget the entire event but that's neither here nor there."
"So . . . There never was a danger?"
"No the artificial Tantabus had no real power to threaten anypony."
"But how did it know so much about me?" Jake asked.
"The Tantabus did have the ability to access your memories. But do not worry no one else knows your memories, not even myself."
Jake stared blankly for a moment taking all of this in. He clenched his fists slightly and slowly turned his head away. Luna was upset thinking that she may have offended him, but then Jake turned back towards her with a smile on his face. Luna stared for a second puzzled. "You're not mad?"
Jake thought before responding. "By all rights I should be. You lied to me, and you manipulated me into a situation where a monster was able to harass me and torment me with things from my own past." Luna's ears drooped and she lowered her head. "But I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel better than I have in years because of it."
Luna's eyes lit up. "Do you really mean that?"
"Yes. I'm very grateful to you. But if you don't mind I think I'd just like to go to sleep and dream about my family."
"Rest assured I can do that." Luna said and she charged her horn. Within moments Jake had vanished from this shared dream and into his own personal dream. With her work done Luna set about returning to Canterlot castle.
*Canterlot Castle*
Princess Luna gracefully landed through the window into her own room. Her wings folded back to her sides and she was giddy with anticipation to tell her sister of her success. She did not expect Celestia to suddenly swing her large doors open at that moment her voice desperate. "Luna where have you been? I've been trying to reach you for hours!"
"Why sister? What's wrong?"
"It's the Royal Canterlot Labs. Somepony broke in."
