July 4, 2020

Canterlot Castle: Royal Court Room

Spike walked into the well lit chamber. He was still sluggish from having to wake up so early and confused as to why he'd been summoned. The room itself was highly ornate, with busts of former representatives lining the walls. In the center of the room, was a giant sculpture of four ponies of different sizes. From smallest to largest, the statues portrayed a farmer, a wealthy business pony, a soldier, and a princess. At the far end of the room were four golden boxes, each containing four representatives. From left to right, they were labeled Peasants, Military, Royalty, and Business. The peasant box included representatives Lyra Heartstrings (an aquamarine unicorn mare with a lyre cutie mark), Apple Fritter (a yellow earth pony mare with a fritter cutie mark), Cherry Berry (a rose earth pony mare with a cherry cutie mark), and Time Turner (a brown earth pony stallion with an hourglass cutie mark.) The military box contained the heads of each branch of the E.U.P Guard, Shining Armor (Captain of the Royal family's personal guard), Three Arrows (Captain of the Army), Flash Sentry (Captain of the Navy), and Spitfire, (Captain of the Wonderbolts.) The royalty box contained the four highest-ranking members of the Royal Family, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, and Prince Blueblood. Finally, the business box contained Fancy Pants (owner of the Equestrian Trading Company), Filthy Rich (owner of Rich's Barnyard Bargains), Cherry Jubilee, (owner of Cherry Hill Ranch), and Hoity Toity (owner of the Equestrian Fashion show.)

"Welcome, Spike. Please make yourself comfortable," said Celestia from the Royalty box.

"Y-yes Princess!" said Spike as he made his way to a chair facing the boxes. "I hope I'm not in trouble," the young dragon thought with a worried look.

"You seem troubled, young Spike. What's on your mind?" asked Celestia.

"W-well, it's just that I don't have any idea why I was summoned here," explained Spike. "I'm not in trouble, am I?"

Celestia gave a warm smile, "You aren't in any trouble; in fact, I've heard you've been doing a wonderful job as Twilight Sparkle's assistant."

"Then why have I been summoned?" asked Spike.

"We'd like you to tell us how young Jack is adjusting to life in Equestria," Celestia explained.

"Oh, well, I think he's adjusting pretty well. He was having trouble getting along with Fluttershy, but I think they've made up," Spike explained. "Speaking of Fluttershy. Wouldn't it make more sense to ask her, since she's the one taking care of him?"

"Based on Twilight's letters, Fluttershy has gotten too attached to the boy to give any objective answers," said Celestia.

"Has he overcome his foul temperament?" asked Luna.

"Nightmare Moon!" trembled Spike.

"Fear not, we have no intention of harming thou!" shouted Luna. "Just answer our questions!"

"W-well," Spike started as he thought about the question.

"Fuck off, purple dinosaur."

"Yeah, yeah, grow some fucking wings, and then I'll believe you."

"You're not going to stop me, Spike. Stay out of my way."

"Not really," he answered.

"Have you noticed anything strange about him?" asked Cadenza.

"Well... Come to think of it, yeah. I know he's seven years old, but you wouldn't be able to guess that from his behavior," said Spike.

"How so?" Blueblood asked, not entirely interested in the dragon's answer.

"He goes to class with all the other foals, but he doesn't act like one. If I hadn't been told he was in second grade, I would think he was Twilight's age." Spike explained.

"You've been to his homeland, right?" asked Shining Armor.

"Yes, Twilight took me and Jack there to collect artifacts," explained Spike.

"What kind of artifacts?" asked Three Arrows.

"Mostly the contents of Jack's car; all sorts of gadgets that run on electricity, kind of like something out of a Power Ponies comic," Spike explained. "Twilight's spent the past few weeks converting them to magic."

"That definitely sounds like something Twily would do," chuckled Shining Armor.

Flash Sentry shot the unicorn captain a glare, "You're speaking out of turn, Captain."

"My apologies, I was just happy to hear my sister hasn't changed since she moved to Ponyville," the white unicorn blushed.

"Whatever," Flash Sentry said before turning back to Spike. "Do you think he could be a threat?"

"Of course not!" Spike exclaimed. "He's just a foal. How could he be?"

"That may be so, but according to the reports, he has powerful magic and has fought against a timberwolf, an ursa, and even a dragon," said Spitfire.

"Yeah, but he's only used it in self-defense, and he doesn't have control over it," Spike said.

"Do you believe this lack of control could be dangerous?" asked Fancy Pants.

"I…" Spike started, "don't know."

"Let's change the topic then," said Filthy Rich. "I've heard from my daughter that he's prone to outbursts of anger and requires medication to function in normal society. Do you think it would be appropriate to remove him from school for the sake of the other foals?"

"I don't really know much about his school life, but I assume he's doing just fine," Spike explained.

"Would you say he's adjusting well to Equestrian Society outside of school?" asked Cherry Jubilee.

"I think so," said Spike. "There are times where he says things that aren't appropriate, but other than that, he's doing well."

"Has he made any friends?" asked Hoity Toity.

"It's well known in Ponyville that he and Applebloom are close," said Spike. "Oh, and I've also seen him hanging out with Scootaloo."

"That's great and all, but I can't believe nopony is asking any of the important questions," said Lyra Heartstrings. "What are his hands like, does he have five fingers, or was that just part of the myth. Oh, and does he use his hands for magic, or some other part of his body and…"

"Lyra, Ah get that yah are obsessed with humans, but do yah really think those are important questions?" asked Apple Fritter.

"Of course they're important!" exclaimed Lyra. "Now that we know humans are real, it's important to learn everything about them!"

"He has five fingers, and I'm pretty sure he does use his hands for his magic," Spike said, a little confused by the questions.

"Back to more important questions," Apple Fritter sighed. "Do yah believe that Applebloom or Scootaloo are in any danger around him?"

"No, if anything, I'd say he's actually protected both of them from danger," answered Spike.

Cherry Berry was the next to speak, "and these "gadgets" you mentioned earlier. What do they do?"

"From what Jack said, they are mostly for entertainment. One of the gadgets that Twilight has been working on for a while, Jack called a phone," said Spike. "According to him, it's used for talking to other humans that are far away and accessing a library of human knowledge."

"This Library, where is it?" asked Time-Turner.

"I don't really understand it, but I think it's on the phone somehow," Spike said.

The questioning continued for a few hours before Celestia decided the council had obtained enough information and sent Spike home.

Golden Oak Library

Twilight, Rarity, and Applejack were eating breakfast when they began to hear noises from Twilight's study. They rushed into the room to find Jack sobbing on the floor, still asleep.

"No more p-please!"

Twilight quickly shook the human boy awake, "Jack, it's just a dream, wake up!"

The sleeping human's eyes quickly opened.

"What in tarnation was that about, Sugarcube?" asked Applejack.

"I-I don't want to talk about it," he responded as he rubbed his eyes.

"Now darling, you were having a bad dream," said Rarity. "It sounded like quite the nightmare to me. Are you sure you don't want to talk about it?"

"YES, I'M SURE!" Jack shouted, grabbing his pill bottles.

"It looks like he might be running out of medicine," Twilight noticed, as the boy took his pills. "I really think it would be better if you talked with somepony about it."

"Just leave me alone for a bit, you guys. I'm going to go hang out with Scootaloo," said Jack as he put on his clothes. "I'm just gonna go to the park and be by myself."

"Wait, Jack, come back!" Twilight said as the human walked out of the room.

"Should we follow him?" asked Rarity.

"No, I have a better idea," the purple unicorn responded.

Ponyville Park

20 minutes later

Jack glumly sat down in the gazebo. He had gone a few nights with no dreams, but last night they had returned with a vengeance.

"Why can't I just get over it?" he wondered. "And why are they suddenly so frequent. I had them before I came to Equestria, but not nearl…"

"HEY, JACKEY!" shouted Pinkie Pie from just outside the gazebo.

"JESUS CHRIST!" shouted Jack as he jumped up. Looking around, he saw the pink earth pony staring at him from the gazebo's entrance. "Don't do that!"

"Sorry Jackey, I didn't mean to startle you" the pink pony giggled.

"Well you certainly managed," Jack spat.

"I'm sorry, it's just Twilight told me you were feeling down because of some bad dreams, so I wanted to cheer you up," Pinkie explained.

"And you're doing such a good job," Jack said as he rolled his eyes.

Not sensing Jack's sarcasm, Pinkie continued trying to make her friend feel better, "Thanks! Now, why don't you tell Dr. Pinkie about these dreams?"

"Dr. Pinkie?" Jack questioned, noticing that the pink pony was now wearing glasses and held a notepad that had seemingly manifested out of thin air.

"Come on!" said Pinkie.

"No," Jack responded

"Come on!"

"Nope!"

"Come ooooonnnnnn!"

"It ain't happening!" shouted Jack as he got up and left.

As Jack walked away, Pinkie gave chase, and he soon found himself running. By the time he had reached the clock tower, Jack was exhausted. "At least… I… lost her!" he panted.

"Come on!" shouted Pinkie as she came out of the clock tower.

"God dammit all to Hell!" Jack shouted.

"Come on," said Pinkie.

"If I tell you about the dreams, will you leave me alone?" Jack asked.

"Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye," said Pinkie, making motions for emphasis.

"Huh?" asked Jack.

"It's a Pinkie promise," said Pinkie Pie.

"What's that?" asked Jack.

"It's a sacred contract that cannot be broken," Pinkie Pie responded in an unusually serious tone. "Now tell me about these dreams!" she added as she pulled her glasses and clipboard from her mane and a couch out from behind the clock tower.

"Where did those come from?" Jack nervously asked.

"I keep the glasses and notebooks in my mane, and Rarity stores fainting couches all over Ponyville," Pinkie Pie explained.

"So, the weirdness isn't exclusive to Pinkie Pie then," Jack thought to himself.

"Let's get started!" said Pinkie as she motioned for Jack to lay down on the couch. "What are these dreams about?"

"What is she, a therapist?" wondered Jack. "They're about things in the past that I regret."

"Things? As in plural?" asked Pinkie.

"Yes, as in plural," Jack responded.

"How many?" asked Pinkie.

"Three," Jack answered.

"Let's start with the one that's bothering you the least," Pinkie Pie decided.

"My brother and I never had a good relationship," Jack explained.

"Why is that?" asked Pinkie.

"Well, it all started when I unintentionally sabotaged his relationship with a girl he liked," Jack began.

"Go on," Pinkie encouraged.

"After that, we began to get into fights regularly stemming from (among other things) his decision to retreat into his room out of depression from the girl rejecting him and my desire to get him to forgive me," Jack explained. "These fights often got physical, and by the time I left for college, he wouldn't even talk to me anymore."

October 5, 2017

Coastal Carolina University

Jack dialed Mark's number. After a single ring, Jack was sent to voice mail.

"Your call could not be completed at this time, please leave a message after the beep."

"He must've blocked me," thought Jack. "Maybe if I call mom…"

He dialed his mother's number.

"Hey Jack, I'm so glad you called. How was class today?" asked his mother.

"Class was fine, mom. Can I speak to Mark?"

"Oh, well, I'll ask, but he'll probably say no."

After about a minute, his mother explained that Mark had no intention of talking to him.

Present Time

Ponyville Clock Tower

"It's not like you'll be here forever," said Pinkie Pie. "When Celestia manages to send you home, you can just apologize to him."

"I've tried that already. He'll just refuse to speak to me," Jack lamented.

"Think about it, you've been here about a month, right?" asked Pinkie.

"Yeah," Jack responded, unsure of where Pinkie was coming from.

"So, you've probably been missing for the same time in your world," Pinkie said before adding. "Unless there's some weird time delay between here and there. I'll bet he's worried sick about you, he's probably forgiven you already."

Jack hadn't ever thought about it that way, and as much as he hated to admit it, what Pinkie said made a lot of sense.

"Tell me about the thing that's bothering you the second most," Pinkie Pie asked.

"The one girl I ever loved hated me and got most of my high school to hate me as well," Jack explained.

"Why is that?" asked Pinkie.

"I did something stupid and…" Jack paused.

"And what?" asked Pinkie.

"And I accidentally killed her dog!" He shouted.

"WHAT! HOW COULD YOU DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT!" Pinkie shouted before noticing that she had only made things worse. "I mean; what do you mean, "accidentally?""

"She asked me to take care of her dog for a few days while she was out of town. On the second day, I took the dog out for some exercise. I should have used a leash, because it ran out into the road and got hit by a car," Jack explained.

"And after that, she got everypony to hate you?" asked Pinkie.

"Well, not everyone. The Circle of Bros stuck by me the whole time," Jack elaborated.

"The Circle of Bros?" Pinkie asked, in confusion.

"It's what me and my friends called ourselves," said Jack. "We'd all been friends since elementary school."

March 7, 2007

Beech Hill Elementary School: Playground

It was recess, and while most kids were playing tag or some other game, Jack was walking in a circle around several trees. This was the typical punishment for unruly children at his school. He was far from alone; walking alongside him were a boy from his class and two boys from the grade below him.

"This sucks!" he complained.

"What were you expecting, dealing gum in front of the teachers like that?" asked a brown-haired boy.

"I didn't even know there were teachers there," Jack responded.

"How could you not have seen them? They were like five feet away!" the brown-haired boy exclaimed.

"But I…" Jack started. "Shut up!"

"Both of you, shut up!" said a younger boy with long dirty blond hair.

"Yeah, we already have to miss recess because of you. The least you can do is let us walk without listening to your arguing," said another younger boy with dirty blond hair and freckles.

"You're the ones who told us to meet you by the door," said Jack.

"You guys could have waited for the teachers to leave before taking out the gum," the freckled one pointed out.

"Touché," said the brown-haired boy. "Hmm… I know, come by the park after school. Jack keeps extra gum in his backpack. We'll give you both a piece free of charge."

"What!?" Jack exclaimed. "Are you kidding me, Bryce? Do you have any idea how much this gum cost?"

"Just trust me on this one, Jack," said Bryce as he looked back to the two 1st graders. "I'm Bryce, this is Jack. What are your names?"

"I'm Shawn," said the long-haired boy.

"Chase," said the freckled boy.

"Nice to meet you both," said Bryce. "If you want the gum, we'll be in Mayfield Park after class."

"I don't know; my mom says not to go places with strangers," said Shawn.

"She meant adults, you retard!" said Chase.

Present Time

"Shawn and Chase ultimately decided to come to the park. In fact, they got there before me and Bryce and were playing a video game…" Jack started before realizing that there was no way Pinkie knew what a video game was. "Oh, um, a video game…"

"Is a game that's played by controlling characters on a screen," finished Pinkie Pie.

"This is the second time she's figured out what I was going to say before I said it. The last time was sort of understandable, but there is no way she knew what a video game was." thought Jack. "Pinkie, how do you know that?"

"It's a secret," Pinkie pie responded. "What happened next?"

"So, they were playing a videogame called Pokémon Emerald," explained Jack. "Now, Pokémon is a game where you catch and train creatures with different powers. One thing you can do while playing is trade Pokémon with other people."

"Oh, that sounds like fun!" said Pinkie excitedly.

"Indeed, it was," said Jack. "Anyways, as it turns out, Chase had some very rare Pokémon that he was trading to Shawn. Me and Bryce ended up asking if they wanted to trade with us, and after that, we started to hang out. We ended up referring to ourselves as the Circle of Bros because we were walking in a circle when we met."

"So, you'd say this Circle of Bros was supportive of you after the dog incident?" asked Pinkie.

"She's way too into this therapist thing," thought Jack. "Yes, they were very supportive."

"Ok, so the girl you liked got everyone to hate you, but your friends stuck up for you," Pinkie summarized as she scribbled in her notebook. "What happened next?"

"Well…" Jack began.

October 2, 2014

Ashley Ridge Parking Lot

"What do you mean, you're switching to an online school?" asked Shawn.

"I just can't take it anymore, other than you guys hardly anyone will even talk to me here and the ones who do call me a dog murderer," Jack explained.

"But, we're here for you, brother, who cares what everyone else thinks. Yuri's just a ditch!" said Chase.

"A what?" asked Jack.

"A dumb bitch," replied Chase.

"I know, but I can't stand the way she and everyone else looks at me," Jack said.

"Oh, don't be such a pussy!" Chase said. "I think you should jus…"

Bryce shot Chase a look that quickly shut the short boy up. Turning toward Jack, he gave a look of understanding, "If you really think that's what's best, then you should do it."

Present Time

"And so, I started schooling online. Unfortunately, it didn't really help all that much. Yuri and several other people who had heard about the incident from her lived in the same neighborhood as me, and the rumors were unavoidable," Jack finished.

"Did you ever think to tell the real story?" asked Pinkie.

"What?" asked Jack.

"I mean, if ponies started spreading nasty rumors about me, I would tell them the real story," said Pinkie. "So did ya?"

"Well, no, I uh…" Jack started.

"Then, when you get back home, you should try and set the story straight. Then you should throw everypony an I forgive you party!" said Pinkie.

"That would be a sensible solution, but I haven't seen any of them since my parents moved," said Jack.

"Then why worry about it?" asked Pinkie.

Jack thought about Pinkie's question, "To be honest, I'm not really sure. I guess it's because while I didn't murder Yuri's dog, I am still responsible for it getting run over."

"You were just a foal though, you made a dumb mistake. Maybe thinking about it like that would help?" said Pinkie. "Now come on, turn that frown upside down!"

The blond human couldn't help but take on a grin. Somehow, just talking about his problems with Pinkie made him feel better. However, the thing he dreaded talking about more than anything still lingered.

"Now tell me what's bothering you the most," asked Pinkie.

"I-I abandoned my best friend when he needed me the most," Jack said.

"You mean Bryce, right?" asked Pinkie.

"Well, no, although I met Bryce before we formed the Circle of Bros, we were just acquaintances who worked together to sell gum behind the teacher's backs in elementary school. When the Circle formed, I found myself hanging out with Chase more than Shawn or Bryce," Jack explained.

"So, what happened between you two then?" asked Pinkie.

"During the summer after my first year at college, Chase was hospitalized with stroke-like symptoms. The doctors found that he had a tumor in his brain, more specifically a glioblastoma." Jack explained.

"A glio what now?" asked Pinkie in confusion.

"A glioblastoma, it's a kind of cancer," Jack explained.

"He had a giant crab in his brain?" the pink pony asked. "How'd it get in there?"

"What? No, no, no, cancer is a deadly disease, not a crab," Jack quickly explained.

Pinkies hair deflated slightly. "Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't know."

Jack sighed. "It's fine, Pinkie. Anyway, Chase was put on a treatment to shrink the tumor. However, the treatment made it hard for him to walk. At first, I would come over and take him wherever he wanted to go in my car."

"That doesn't sound like you abandoned him to me," said Pinkie.

"Notice how I said, "at first." As time went on, I found myself coming up with excuses to avoid visiting him. Eventually, when my junior year of college was about to start, I told Chase I would visit him on weekends when I didn't have any schoolwork. However…"

October 12, 2019

Brooks Stadium, Coastal Carolina University

Jack was in the middle of watching a football game between the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers and the Georgia State Panthers. It was the third quarter, and as usual, things were not going well for the Chanticleers.

"Yeah, that figures, glad I didn't pay for this," he thought.

Just as he was about to get up and leave, his phone began to ring. Seeing it was from his mother, he answered, "Hey, mom."

After a few seconds, the phone slipped out of his hands and slammed on the concrete.

"It can't be, no, I must've misheard her," he said as he picked his phone up.

"That's not funny, mom!" he said.

"It wasn't a joke. Chase has decided to stop taking his drugs. Mrs. Carney says he could pass at any time," his mother explained. "Listen, honey, I want you to go home and get a goodnight's sleep, then in the morning, you can drive down to Chase's house. Don't drive down here tonight, give yourself some time to clear your mind and figure out what you'd like to say to him."

October 13, 2019

Chase's House

Jack stepped out of his CR-V and walked to Chase's door. Seconds after he rang the bell, the door opened to reveal Chase's mother.

"Thank you for c-coming, Jack. I know Chase will be glad to see you," she said as she wrapped her arms around him and sobbed. "Shawn and Bryce stopped by a few hours ago. It made him so happy."

"May I come in, Mrs. Carney?" asked Jack.

"Y-yes, of course, he's in his room." Mrs. Carney said as she pointed down the hall.

"Thank you," Jack said as he walked inside and ran to Chase's room.

Walking through the door, he found Riley sitting by his bed, her eyes red and puffy from crying.

"Oh hi, Jack," she said.

"Mind if I speak to him on my own?" Jack asked calmly.

"Of course not," she said as she got up. "Oh, he can't really talk much right now, but he can hear you."

"Thanks, Riley," said Jack as she closed the door behind her.

"Hey, Chase. How yah doin?" Jack asked.

Chase turned his bald head toward Jack and groaned.

"I heard about…" Jack started before holding back a sob. "About what happened. I-I know that this was your choice and w-well…" he said as a tear dropped from his eyes. "I-I'm so sorry, there were so many times when I could have come to visit but chose not to! I-I know I've been a terrible friend," he said as tears streamed from his eyes.

"J-a-c-k, d-on-t…" Chase muttered as the light left his eyes.

"Ch-Chase?" Jack whimpered. "CHASE!" he screamed.

Present Time

"He died right in front of me," Jack said. "His funeral happened a week later. I remember his family telling me what a wonderful friend I had been to him. How ironic, I wasn't a wonderful friend, I was awful. I don't know what he was trying to say to me, but I'm sure it wasn't anything nice. Whatever it was, I'm sure I deserved every word of it."

Upon finishing his story, he hopped off the couch only to land in about two feet of water. Looking around, he found that the source was a cartoonish stream of water coming from Pinkie's eyes.

"This shouldn't be physically possible!" he thought with a sweatdrop. "Pinkie?"

The party pony ran up to Jack and hugged him, "That was the saddest story I've ever heard! You don't need to keep blaming yourself, you didn't know he was going to die."

"Hey, Pinks?" asked Jack.

"Yes?" Pinkie responded.

"I've never really sat down and talked about this stuff with anyone before," he admitted.

"Do you feel any better?" she asked.

"A little," Jack said.

While the dreams didn't go away entirely after his talk with Pinkie, they were significantly less frequent.

Author's Note:

Sorry this took so long, I had a busy week at work and then I had to take my car to the shop to repair a rupture in the power steering line. Anyway next time: A Zebra comes into Ponyville and Jack is shocked by the bigoted way the seemingly tolerant ponies treat her.