> The last yard
>  by The Psychopath
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> The blank road
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was a sunny day in Equestria. In its entirety, surprisingly. The birds were chirping with joy, while the other animals were bouncing about through the trees and bushes, occasionally causing a pony to fall and bring out a curse. While everything seemed calm in the park so far, there was, in fact, a huge race going on between a tall man and an orange mare wearing a cowboy hat. The man's hair slightly went past his shoulders, but they stayed near his face at all times. He wore black jeans with a blue shirt, and seemed to be working up a sweat against the equally tiring mare.

"Ya can't beat meh, Jack."

"I ain't tryin' to. You just go'n hurry up with yer runnin', cause ah'm gon' beat you, pony. I ain't even goin' full speed."

"Tch. Neither am I. "

With a kick of a second wind, the two bolted off even faster through the park and ran to their finish line, the mayor's office. The two ran right through several passing bodies of ponies through the town, what with the new market starting again. The same old market bringing in quite a lively population, what with so many colors and objects in the same place. It never seemed strange to anypony that this human was here, but did they know any better? There are things better left quiet and calm. With a final skid, the two both stopped at the finish line, blowing up tons of dust in the air. Pinkie Pie was at the finish line, measuring carefully with a pogo stick. Like before, especially with the pink pony, there were things better left unasked.

As the dust cleared up, both competitors were looking quite smug of themselves as Pinkie checked every last detail to declare the winner.

"Ah'm the one who won." Applejack proudly boasted.

"Sure ya did. Ah'm purdy sure."

"Are you makin' fun ah me?"

"Maybe."

"Then maybe ya'll wants a good beatin'?"

"Bring it, orange juice." 

The two locked heads in a passive-aggressive way, but Pinkie somehow slid right between them, stopping their bickering.

"You're both the winners!" she yelled as confetti sprayed from her ears and smacked both racers in the face.

"Whadda ya mean, Pinkeh? 'Re you just sayin' that ta make us feel better?"

"No, Jack." she spun her eyes."You both won the race. It's not my fault."

Both racers sighed and scratched the back of their heads.

"Well, ah guess we should start another race. How 'bout it, Applejack? Same time tamorrow?"

"Sure. Ah've gotta look after the cattle today. See ya tomorrow."

"Bye."

The cowpony ran away towards her farm as Pinkie looked at the man with big, watery eyes.

"What?"

"Weren't we gonna do some cupcakes and pie after your race?"

"What? No. I said I had to help Fluttershy with the animals, THEN I'd help you with the pastries."

"Shoot. Fine!" Pinkie's mood swung from sad, to mad, to glad."See you later!" she waved wildly as she bolted into a blur into her house.

"Now then. Fluttershy needed help with da animals. Let's go 'n see what she needs help with."

Jack, as the man was called, walked calmly through the dirt path in town. Sure, he was breathing hard because of the race, and he needed a bath, but he still had enough young energy to get through the day. The wind was blowing with a chilly demeanor, but its soothing touch caressed the man's cheek like silk, calming and soothing his distraught soul. Why would he be distraught? Fluttershy had certain creatures he sometimes didn't want to deal with, and he would have to deal with them quite soon as he approached the wooden cabin of the pegasus, the smell of pine and oak floating with a gentle waft through the air. As he walked ever closer to the place, the nearby animals fled in front of him. Jack just smiled and approached the door, calmly knocking on its wooden solidity.

"Wh-who is it?"

"It's just me." the man answered with his countreh ack-cent.

"Jack?"

"Eeyup."

The small door creaked open, showing a timid little face with big eyes staring at the giant through the tiny crease in the door.

"Oh! It is you! Thanks for stopping by. I'm having trouble dealing with a manticore. She has her tail cut, and I can't put my ointment on the wound."

"Ugh." Jack whined as his arms slunk to their sides."Don't you have any less life threatening animals?"

"Manticores aren't life threatening." Fluttershy protested.

"Yeah. Just like Twilight never causes catastrophes with her magic."

"I..."

Jack was right. Just last week, Twilight managed to cause a massive gender-bending incident. While some took it nicely, the majority were opposed to it, and a massive outbreak exploded.

"Be that as it may, I think that manticores are cutesy-wutesy."

"You think EVERYTHING is cutesy wutesy. Ah ain't never seen one animal ya ain't found cute."

"Hmph. Can we go? I don't want the cut to get infected."

"Sure. Just let me stretch a bit." *crack*"Ow. I'm good."

"Okay then."

The two left through another door in the back of the shack, and saw the wounded manticore.

" Ah'm guessin' that's her?"

"Yes."

"Alrighty then."

Jack cracked his hillbilly knuckles, made a direct dash towards the manticore, and jumped on its back, causing the surprised beast to lunge around roaring. Fluttershy kept begging him to be more careful while he kept complaining that, if she wanted him to be careful, she could by them an apron so they could make some brownies together. The manticore slammed the guy into a tree, making his head spin, and then into another, allowing two chipmunks to rage in fear and tear up his face. Just for that; he punched the rampaging beast right in the neck; blocking blood circulation for a short moment, and having it crash into the ground, tossing Jack far away into the mud further away.

"Oh no! You poor dear." Fluttershy went towards Jack, but completely passed him and started to pet the giant monster. "Oh, did he hurt you? Don't worry, I know exactly how to take good care of you."

"Ugh." the sound of the splurchy mud being moved around was enough to grab the pegasus' attention."I got smashed into several trees, was torn up by evil chipmunks, who could have finished me if they started to sing, and then I'm tossed into the mud, and you don't care?!"

"Um...It's not that I don't care, but you did her."

"Yeah. Ok. What else do ya need? Am I done? I need to help Pinkie make some new fudge brownies, then I have to help Twilight around the library."

"Ummmm. No. I'm good."

"Okay. Pfouh. Thank you."

While Fluttershy tended to the now smiling manticore, Jack began to wipe himself of the mud and rejoined the dirt passage. Mumbling along the way, he found himself engulfed in Rarity's magic and wiped clean of the dirt.

"Huh. Thank Rarity."

"Oh. It's a pleasure. I was just going to Fluttershy's home to get some new feathers for my outfits. Come to think of it, you definitely need one. Your outfit is wretched for my eyes! Come, you'll follow me bacck and-"

"Not today!"

"Wait, Rainbow Dash!"

But it was too late. The blue pegasus snatched the man into the air and out of the unicorn's reach. Jack sighed in satisfaction.

"Thanks a lot, Rainbow Dash."

"No prob. You DID help me with some problems, so I owe YOU a free ride. Just don't get too used to it."

"Ah won't. Can ya get me in front of Pinkie's bakery?"

"Sugarcube Corner? Of course!"

"NOT SO-"

Two seconds later, the two were already in front of the bakery. Jack thanked Rainbow with a salute, said pony did the same before rushing off herself, allowing Pinkie to suddenly pop out from some sort of hole in the ground, and drag Jack through into the kitchen, making him jump about wondering what the hell just happened.

"What? How? When? How did you..."Pinkie just stared at him with a smile."Never mind. Let's just show you how to make fudge brown...STOP EATING ALL THE CHOCOLATE!"

"But I like to eat chocolate." Pinkie spoke with her mouth full of chocolate bars.

"Gurdydur! SPIT THAT OUT!" Jack smacked the pink pony over the head with a wooden spatula and caught the chocolate still wrapped in their foil in his hands.

"Ow! You didn't have to be so mean."

"THEN STOP EATING ALL THE INGREDIENTS!"

"Fine." Pinkie puckered her lips and folded her forelegs.

Jack began to show the party animal how to make perfect fudge, along with the proper way to cover brownies, top AND bottom, with fudge so the cooking is perfect. Despite Pinkie trying to add in some few tons of extra sugar and some eggshells for the crunch, everything worked out smoothly. The man waited on the counter as the brownies cooked, humming a tune as his boredom overtook. With a reassuring ding sound, Pinkie took the brownies out, cut them, then chomped on one, all in two seconds.

"Mmmm. It tastes so good."

"I know. It's an old recipe from my grandmother, God rest her soul."

"Hey, it's really dark out. Shouldn't you be helping Twilight?"

"Hm?"

Jack sat there for a moment as the clock continued to tick until a "ping" resonated through the air.

"OH CRAP! I BEST HURRY!"

"You do that. I've got more brownies to eat. Mmmm."

This was a very quick day indeed. First A race, then a fight with a manticore, then baking, and now helping Twilight with her studies. Could this day get any better?

The library's door slammed, scaring off Spike, and causing him to faceplant onto the floor.

"Ow. Watch it next time. You can knock, you know."

"Yeah. Sorry about that."

"Twilight's up there." Spike said as he angrily wiped off the dust on him.

"Okay."

Jack hurried up the ladder to Twilight's bed, where only a candle kept everything illuminated.

"You're late."

"Pinkie Pie."

"Oh."

"Now, what do you need help with?"

"This. The laws of reality and how to bend them."

"Pff. That's easy. You just..."

Two hours later, Twilight had passed out from exhaustion and was mumbling in her sleep as Jack sat at the foot of her bed with an old smile and as the rakes of fatigue seemed to cover his face as well. He gently placed the blanket back over her, trying as well as possible to try and forget this speedy day. However, as soon as he stood up, she awoke, and with a tired tone, said:

"Are you going to help me again tomorrow?"

"Yes I am. Now go to bed."

The lavender unicorn let her adorable head rest upon her comfy pillow as she drifted back into dreamland. Finally, with a loud tone coming from the tiredly smiling Jack, everything was interrupted:

"Terminate session."

Suddenly, everything around him began to buzz out of existance, revealing that Jack was, in-fact, not a young lad, but a very old man with a bent back and gray hair. The room he was in was gigantic and black, all covered in cold, gray frames with little yellow bulbs at each intersection. Ol' Jack just stared at the spot Twilight was at and kept smiling.

"Perhaps ah could do another world tomorrow."

He walked slowly towards two massive metal doors blocking his exit.

"Open."

With a loud screech, the doors began to open, casting a massively bright light upon the room and the man, who just stared at it with a smile.

"Heheh. I wonder what would have happened if I set it on normal speed." were his final words before stepping into the light.

On a console behind some glass blinked a screen. It was covered with an impossible amount of dust. As the doors opened up, the dust blew off, showing what was blinking in white on the green screen:

 Date: March 20, 2253
Last known date of usage: April 22, 2152.

Finally, as the light from the door faded, one could see that this entire building had fallen into complete disrepair. It was opened to the gray and cloudy skies above it, letting one witness the crackling of storms during their worst times. The floor had burst open, and the chamber itself barely even had anything but a few sections of wall standing. The doors had fallen off their hinges a long time ago, turning into rusted remains. If one looked further away, they could see that this world had long been devoid of any life. Nothing but a destroyed city in ruins and damaged construction cranes, with the dead ground no longer fit for life. The man was nowhere in sight, nor was there any proof that he had ever been here. Just dust.


Looking upon one of the bent, somewhat standing doors, stood two fresh shoe prints in the immense quantity of dust. There was a note flapping in the wind. It read:

 Time is only a burden to those who can't embrace the future. Time is a burden to those who fear death. Time is a burden to those who fear change. Time is an advantage to everything. You just don't know it yet.





That wasn't a timelapse... |3: