As anyone who has had the pleasure of taking one right in the shnoz might be able to say, getting a huge fist rammed into your face will cause a negative reaction. This reaction is made even worse by the simple fact that you've been asleep for three weeks and everything that happened, including said fist, was all in your head. Needless to say, it was an unpleasant way to wake up for all involved.
Jarrad jolted upright in bed, nearly smacking somepony right in the face, and scaring the life out of everyone in the room. Apparently, his return to the waking world was completely unexpected. He had given no real indication of his awakening on the machines monitoring the multitude of signatures from brain patterns to a simple EKG. He literally "just woke up". His breathing was labored, his mind still in a hazy dream and seeing the fist of a gorilla moving ever so slowly to his face.
He instinctively bent over and tried to calm his breathing. Slowly but surely his mind began to completely awaken as he took in his surroundings. The room he was in was lavish to say the least. Expensive tapestries and paintings hung from the walls and even the ceilings. What looked like Persian rugs and carpets, along with some very large pillows, littered the ground. There were even a few tables and bookcases, no doubt filled with first editions of whatever this world would consider very high level literature. He was even lying in a gigantic four poster bed with frills and trimmings of some sort all around it, and with lavish curtains to boot. At a glance it looked like it was Celestia trying to make up for what she put him through, or throw him off balance; both of which were just plain unwelcome.
'It's going to take a lot more to make up for that SNAFU,' he thought to himself. He took a few moments to see exactly what his status was. Looking down he saw a great deal of his body covered in bandages. There were even a few IV tubes sticking out of him, as well as diodes connected to the measuring equipment. He decided that he needed it off and he needed it off now.
"Alright, can someone get this stuff off me?" he asked aloud. Dead silence was the only response..
"Can someone please get this stuff off of me and let me out of here?" he asked again a moment later.
Somepony finally found the courage to speak up as nurse with a fusia color and a shot cutie mark over a band-aid, "We're sorry sir, but we've been given orders to keep you in here until Celestia is ready for you."
Jarrad balked at that. 'That arrogant bitch,' he thought as he began to become angry. Given the inherent need to get up he was feeling; Jarrad wasn't about to jump around the issue, "Alright, I'm going to tell you how this is going to work. You're going to help me get this stuff off of me and I'm leaving to find a certain Zebra. That, OR I'm going to get it out myself, run train on whoever wants to try and stop me, then I'm leaving to find a certain Zebra. Which do you want me to do?" he asked, his voice dropping dangerously.
The nurse didn't look as if she was going to take that. Her eyes suddenly grew cold and her horn glowed. The next thing Jarrad knew his body was behind held down on the bed, hard. Straps moved around him further pinning him down. He struggled as hard as he could against them, but they weren't going anywhere.
"How about this? You're going to stay right here until Celestia tells us otherwise and not do anything, understand?" she growled down at him.
Without thinking Jarrad tried to draw on his magic, but he couldn't feel it. Come to think of it, the more he attempted to feel his magic, the more it felt completely gone from him. His face must have shown his fear.
"We placed a seal on your back to keep you from using on magic for a while. We couldn't let you hurt anyone again, could we?" the nurses voice was like honeyed acid.
Whether it was out of sheer rage or simply based on his instincts Jarrad's focus became razor sharp. He kept trying to feel his magic, to draw it out of him. It felt like a useless battle, nothing was coming forth.
However the more he tried to draw upon it the more he felt something begin to build. It was a completely different sensation than before, but he chose to focus on that. Eventually, he recognized it as a wall breaking. It was the same sensation he felt when he first touched magic. It was breaking through some kind of barrier… the one on his back, no doubt. The more he focused the more his lower back began to burn, as if someone had simply dumped gasoline on him and lit it on fire. He ignored it though; he didn't have any other choice. He had to break out of whatever it was they had put him under.
The room seemed to explode in the light radiating off him. The ponies were blinded for a moment, only a moment, but it was all the time Jarrad needed. He snapped the strap holding his left arm as if tearing through paper and grabbed the first thing he could find; the nurse's horn.
He had a death grip on it. He didn't know whether or not breaking it would be effective, given the debate on the internet back in his world, but he was satisfied at the results regardless. There did seem to be some pain in her eyes, but more fear than anything else. It made sense; she knew what he would most likely do. And what was a Unicorn without her horn? She knew that he could and very well would tear it off without a second thought if he felt the need to. He dragged her over closer to him, pulling her down as he stared hard into her eyes.
"Let's try this again. Take off these restraints and let me the fuck out of this room," he snarled softly.
"I can't… you've got my horn," she squeaked softly. Not only was the surprise of him breaking the seal there, but she was petrified with fear over losing her horn.
"Then get one of them to do it," he spoke as if it were the easiest thing in the world.
The nurse eyed the other two unicorns in the room, begging them to help her. The tension was palpable, bearing down on everyone. The unicorns knew they could launch a spell, but it would be obvious, and by the time it reached Jarrad might have managed to break of the nurse's horn. But if they did nothing and let him go, what guarantee did they have that he wouldn't do it anyway, just for kicks?
"Hmm… I must admit, this was an outcome I did not expect one bit," a smoky voice cut through the room.
Jarrad looked over the nurse to see not only Zecora but Pinkie Pie there as well, "Jarrad, I believe it would be in your best interest, if you simply give it a rest."
Jarrad eyed Zecora and Pinkie warily before letting go of the nurse's horn. He stared at her even harder than before, "If you ever pull this shit again, I won't just grab your horn. I'm going to reach as deep inside you as I possibly can and pull out your goddamn spine, you understand me?"
The nurse was in tears, but she nodded.
"Good, now everybody but the zebra and the pink one have about five seconds before I break out of these restraints. If you aren't gone by then Celestia is going to add a few new graves to Canterlot… get me?" he seethed.
They scattered faster than ants. Jarrad's scowl didn't move as he lay back down. Focusing again he managed to rip the restraints out one by one, after freeing his other hand. Reaching down he removed the IV in his hand. It healed quickly, and that was a good thing. It meant his magic was back to normal… well, as normal as it could be given the circumstances, but normal regardless.
"Jarrad, was that necessary?" asked Zecora
Jarrad thought for a moment, "No, no it wasn't. I don't like to make people suffer if I don't have to, but I'm trying to prove a point to them. I'm not about to have my every movement controlled by some stupid bitch who thinks she knows everything," he mirthlessly chuckled. "No one seems to want to leave me the fuck alone and let me breathe for a minute."
Zecora heaved a sigh, "I suppose it can't be helped."
"Well I think it can, you need to stop being such a big meanie pants to everyone here mister. Not everyone deserves what you're doing to them," Pinkie Pie intervened, attempting to put a stop to his behavior.
Jarrad couldn't find himself in any place to disagree. He didn't need to keep acting like this, but if he kept running into people who were going to do this stuff to him he was going to lose his mind.
Jarrad ran a hand through his hair, "Alright, alright, I'll try to ease up. But I make no promises. I'm sick of everyone here and their 'Holier than Thou' attitude. If I run into it again I'm going to give them a serious attitude adjustment."
Zecora and Pinkie just looked at one another. It was the best they could hope for at this point. At least he wasn't going to be openly hostile with anyone. That was a start.
"Alright, so, where are the guards?" Jarrad asked suddenly.
"What guards?" responded Zecora
"The ones I hurt. I need to heal them," he answered plainly.
"You want to… heal the guards who went after you? Even Dashie?" asked Pinkie, confusion and hope both in her eyes.
"Yes, They may have come after me, but they were pawns the same as me. They didn't deserve all that I gave them."
"Wait… you mean you didn't want to do that stuff?" asked Pinkie
Jarrad paused, trying to figure out the best way to answer, "No, Pinkie. It would be a lie for me to say that I didn't do exactly what I wanted to each and every one of them. I was angry, I was furious, and I wanted to hurt as many ponies as I possibly could. However, that doesn't give me the right to. I should have had the control to stop and run. That's all I ever needed or wanted to do. But I got too wrapped up in the action, even before Grant decided to make his entrance. I need to try and find a way to make amends for that. If I can heal them to make up for it, at least slightly, then I'm going to do it."
"Jarrad, you don't know any healing spells," Zecora pointed out the obvious.
"You're right, I don't… but Grant did. I don't have all of his knowledge… well, I guess I do actually, but I'm still sorting it out here and there. I have a few bits and pieces from memory floating around in my head. One or two of which involve his experience with overall healing spells. Speaking of which, for the sake of my own safety, I need to do this now rather than later." as he spoke Jarrad stepped forward, bending onto his knee in front of Zecora.
He grabbed her head by the sides with both hands and placed his forehead on top of hers before reciting, "Here we seek to bind two souls through the power of Gaia, the Nexus and the Mentor, Protected and Protector, Apprentice and Master. May the power of Gaia flow through them on their journey together, and may the Nexus grow strong under the watchful eye of the Mentor. For this we ask, for this we demand, and for this we beg. May the magic of life flow through them, until the end. May their connection never fade until the end, until they both find their way back to the Source."
A wave of… something passed through the room. Yet, as quickly as it came, it vanished. It barely felt like anything at all, but the results spoke for themselves. In the stead of a zebra that once stood the same height as anypony, there stood another almost as tall and regal as Celestia herself. She was certainly taller than Celestia's younger sister Luna. Pinkie couldn't believe her eyes, and Jarrad was just as surprised. He had just uttered the words he could remember from Grant's memory, but he didn't remember the previous Mentor getting this big.
"Um… Zecora… why'd you grow?" asked Jarrad and Pinkie at the same time.
A deep chuckle me their ears. Her voice was still as sensual as ever, if a bit deeper, "The form you see now, is merely based on what will most likely go down. If you are in danger of any sort, then a new form I will sport. It is all relative, Nexus, based on whatever danger is active."
"So… you get bigger the more danger I'm in and vice versa? I'm gonna guess that I'm in some trouble right now?" asked Jarrad.
"Only possibly. The form before you is merely for show, only if there is danger will I need grow."
"…Ya got any other useful tricks?" he quipped.
Zecora merely grinned in response.
"I guess we'll figure out later," he grinned. He turned to pinkie as the grin faded away. Here was the moment he had been dreading. It was time to talk to Pinkie Pie about what was happening. He didn't care much about the others at this point, but he would need to speak with all of them eventually.
He kneeled down in front of the pony, "Hey Pinkie… listen I-"
Before he could try and work out an apology he was cut off by the pink pony latching onto him and bawling her eyes out. "Oh Jarrad, I'm so sorry! We never should have listened to that meanie Celestia!" she exclaimed through her sniffles. Jarrad didn't quite know how to handle this distraught pony. He was expecting a fight of some sort, at the very least a shouting match, but not this.
He did the best he could, wrapping his arms around her and running his hand through her cotton candy mane. He did his best to whisper in her ear that it was alright and that he forgave her. He bore her no ill will, not anymore. In all honesty, he couldn't say he really hated any of the others, he would just need to make sure they knew not only where he stood but to never pull something like that again.
"How! How can you forgive us after what we did to you?" she bawled even harder. Jarrad had to guess she felt she didn't deserve forgiveness. He wondered why she was being so hard on herself. If he had to guess, he'd say it was for the fact that she was not only an Element of Harmony, but also the Element of Laughter. She was, quite literally, made to bring joy to people, not the pain and suffering that he had felt. Maybe she felt she not only failed him but everything she believed in.
"Pinkie, listen to me," he spoke softly before taking her forelegs off his shoulders and holding them in his hands. He looked her dead in the eye, "None of this was your fault. You and your friends only did what you thought was right, I can't fault you for that; not now, not ever."
"But…we let Celestia do that to you. We didn't even tell Zecora." She sniffled out.
"Yeah, but why did you do what Celestia said?" asked Jarrad
"Well…she's Celestia. She's ruled Equestria for so long, and she's hardly ever wrong." Pinkie thought aloud.
"Yeah, but she's been wrong before, and she was wrong here. Look, Pinkie, you listened to her because she's never led you wrong before. She's never put you in a situation where you would have to choose between your friends or forming a bond with a new friend, much less between yourself and your people. So when she finally does, you trust her enough to make the choice to help her, and you know what, you did the right thing," he tried to bring her some level of comfort.
"But… how?" she asked.
"If you had said something I would have run. If I'd have run then things would have gone differently, if they did go differently then we wouldn't be where we are now. Pinkie, I need to be here right now, because of what I am. If you had said something then, that would have made things different and who knows what would have happened not only to me, but to you as well. Besides, Pinkie, does Celestia seem like a pony who's usually denied what she wants?" asked Jarrad.
"Well… no, I mean, she is the ruler of Equestria," Pinkie mused. She seemed to have calmed down at this point.
"Exactly…now, hypothetically, what do you think might have happened if you had warned me of exactly what was waiting for me?" he asked.
"Well…" Pinkie couldn't finish. She could scarcely imagine the horrors that Celestia would unleash on her if she didn't cooperate completely. Most of them involving the Cakes, her family. She couldn't bear to think of anything happening to them.
"Exactly, you don't. You may have lied to me, omission wise, but you sure as hell didn't go out and decide to fuck up my life for your own reasons. Pinkie, I forgive you," Jarrad hugged her, "because I want to give you a second chance. Because as much as it pisses me off that neither you nor anyone else said anything, I recognize on the whole that there wasn't really anything you could do, not in this situation." This seemed to calm her down a great deal.
Jarrad abruptly became grave. "Pinkie, I want you to do something for me, but it's going to be something you're probably going to hate," he hesitantly spoke.
"What?" she asked, nervous.
"I need you to make me a Pinkie Pie Promise that you won't ever do anything like this again. Promise me that you won't ever try to help someone who wishes me harm or their intentions aren't good. But, if they ask you to, I want you to break it as obviously as you can," Jarrad spoke in a serious tone.
"W- what?" she looked like she was about to cry again at the suggestion.
"Pinkie, if you break a promise you made to me and make sure I know about it, then I'm going to know something is wrong and ru- no, nevermind. I can't do that, if it was like this then the same thing would happen," Jarrad shot down the idea.
"What if I promised to never hurt you in any way, and me breaking that promise would mean something was wrong?" asked Pinkie, catching on to the general idea.
"That, Pinkie, would work wonderfully," Jarrad smiled. "If something happens like this again then I can get some kind of early warning and be ready for it, though I'm sorry I have to ask you to out and out break a Pinkie Promise."
She seemed to think about it for a moment before realizing exactly what that would entail. It seemed to Jarrad that she was disgusted with herself for even thinking of doing such a thing.
"Pinkie, have you ever lied to a friend? Like, a little white lie?" asked Jarrad
Pinkie immediately shook her head. This was, to Jarrad, a good sign. She should have been the element of honesty the way things were going.
"Listen Pinkie, what I'm doing is about the same thing. I know we're going to make a Pinkie Promise, but I need to realize that if you break it, it's going to work out for the best in the end. If you break it then I'll know something is wrong and try to make sure you and myself are safe. It's for a greater good, but I'm not going to make you do something that you're uncomfortable with. So if you don't want to, I'm not going to make you make that Pinkie Promise," Jarrad hugged her again.
"Thank you Jarrad but, I'm sorry, I won't ever break a Pinkie Promise…never." She shuddered, "I just can't."
In some sense Jarrad was relieved, he thought he was starting to sound like Celestia. If he focused too much on the greater good, he would miss everything right in front of his face.
"Then just promise me you'll do your best to be my friend and be there for me as much as you can, as long as I'm not being unreasonable, that you and I can trust one another completely?" He asked.
"Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye," she whispered softly.
Jarrad could only hug her tighter; things would be fine between them.
"Well, that's one down, now five to go. Hmm... this was probably the easiest one," he thought aloud. Well…now that his business here was taken care of he had a new task to perform.
He let go of Pinkie and began to walk toward the door, only to stop at two realizations. One, he had no idea where he was going, and two, and this was the most important one, he was buck naked.
Looking down to see all of himself, even some parts covered in bandages, but everything else was flapping out in the open. He reached to cover himself as quickly as he could. Looking up he could see a smile on Zecora's face, she was waiting for him to figure it out.
"Yeah, yeah, you're a real Gallager, now, where the hell are my clothes?" Jarrad wrenched out. He was feeling very embarrassed about his predicament.
"Well, dear Jarrad, I'm sorry to say, that all of your clothes left you that day. Everything I gave you from before, was another form of the armor you bore. Once your smiting and destruction had come to an end, the armor decided that it's power would no longer need to be lend. It resides now in your tattoo, but you do not need to worry, to talk around naked is not such a taboo." Her reassurance didn't seem to help Jarrad all that much.
"….great, so my only clothing I have is now armor, and that armor is my brand…great. So, do you have any clothing I could use?" grumbled Jarrad.
"It's not much, but yes we do," Zecora motioned over to the other side of the room. There sat a pile of clothes on a chair with a pair of...
"Zecora, where the hell did you guys get a pair of Vibram Fivefingers? And how did you make them?" asked Jarrad
"Well, they were a gift from the princess. She said that she had looked into your head to see if there was anything she could figure out about you and your preferences for clothes. She had some of the designers in Canterlot make the rest," said Pinkie, "She did a REALLY good job on them."
"The princess…went into my head…to find out what I liked for clothes?" asked Jarrad incredulously, "She invaded my mind?"
"Not so much, dear Jarrad, not so much. She only took a small amount of time to examine your most shallow thoughts and memories, some of them happened to be of clothing that you had bought. She never went further than she would have needed, for she knew such advances would be completely unseeded," Zecora explained.
"That bitch having some level of privacy and self-restraint…that's funny as hell," he seethed, "Does she think she's going to win me over after the shit she pulled?"
"It wasn't that princess," Zecora said simply.
That one was a surprise, "Wait…it was Luna? Why would Luna do anything for me?"
"Well, according to her, she wanted to help make up for what her sister went and did a few days ago, which I think is just awesome. She also made a Pinkie Promise to me not to do anything even REMOTELY similar to what Celestia did to you," Pinkie answered, "She also said that she wanted to meet with you as soon as she could."
"Ugh, she wants something, doesn't she?" muttered Jarrad
"Of that I do not know, but what do you have to lose if you go?" asked Zecora. Luna may have been an unknown, but there was a more positive connotation to this princess than the other.
"I can think of about a hundred different things, my freedom standing at the top of that list…but I'll go. If she was willing to make a Pinkie Promise then there's a good chance she wouldn't try to stab me in the back, I hope. Besides, she's been fucked over by her sister before, maybe she's got a better attitude," he thought aloud as he worked on putting everything on. She had even gone as far as to make the underwear as fitting as possible. Luna didn't attempt to miss anything, It seemed.
He was wearing now a new pair of Vibrams, dark black cargo shorts, a plain navy blue t-shirt…and his chains.
"….how…these are…" he couldn't speak properly for a moment.
"She reached into your world and plucked a few items for you. She attempted to take a few things that wouldn't be missed, she also said that if she needed to, she would be happy to do that again. She's also etched some runes into that necklace and bracelet," said Pinkie. "She said it was something like 'breaking the fourth wall'. "
Jarrad held the chains in his hands, "My father gave me these for Christmas a few years ago…I was wearing them when I died."
His vision began to blur a bit as tears stung his eyes. He held that chains to his chest and dropped to his knees, he couldn't hold it back anymore. A pair of legs wrapped around his chest and pulled him in. His vision was blurred by grey and black.
"I can't go back, can I? Not even to say goodbye?" he sniffed.
He knew the zebra was shaking her head. He was stuck here for the rest of his days. It was something he was just going to have to accept, and he thought he had. But seeing something his father had given him, something from his old life, seemed to have brought everything back to the surface once more. It was odd yet very cathartic for him to cry like this. He hadn't done it in years, not even when his grandparents had passed away. He would have to see later if this was simply another change, or if it was just that this incident was finally bad enough for him to have this reaction.
He felt another pair of legs wrap around him and join Zecora. He lost count of how long he was there, but he remembered feeling better after it was all over. He knew it might come up again, given how fresh the wound was, but in time it would be far better. Besides, as his father would say, it was better to recognize the emotion and live with it, than try to ignore it completely.
After his cathartic moment was over, Jarrad asked to be shown to the medical wing to see if there was anything he could do to help the soldiers. Zecora looked hesitant to answer, but he wouldn't be deterred. She finally explained why.
In the three weeks he had been asleep the ponies that could had already been healing, by their own power and a bit of help from the nurses and doctors. However, there were a dozen or so who had injuries so bad that they would be out of it for months, including physical therapy. Some even had life altering injuries that would confine them to some form of handicap status for the rest of their days, including Rainbow Dash. When he threw her he had injured he wing; no, injured isn't the proper term, he mangled it beyond recognition. He had caused it so much damage that Rainbow would, most likely, never fly again. It even had to be amputated to keep the dead flesh from causing more problems.
"I took away Rainbow Dash's ability to fly?" asked Jarrad, not really believing it.
Pinkie couldn't bear to look at him.
"Fuck. The brony community would have my head," he muttered.
Pinkie looked startled at that one, "Jarrad…how can you say that? She's my FRIEND and she won't ever fly-"
"No, no, she'll fly again, it's just going to take some time for her to do that. Her new wing is going to need a few weeks and some therapy to get it where she needs to be," Jarrad shushed her. He didn't want her worrying more than she needed to, or bringing up his own feelings of guilt and clouding his reasoning. He needed to be as focused as possible if this was going to work.
"How can you do that? Even Celestia said it was impossible." Spoke Pinkie.
"Yeah, well Celetia says a lotta bullshit, so I wouldn't trust her on this. If she says it's impossible either she doesn't know how to do it and doesn't want her omniscient image ruined, or she just doesn't want to do it and wants to see me do it. Hell, I'd guess if I said no, she'd come up with some bullshit method that's been 'lost to time' to deal with it. I don't think Rainbow was ever in any real danger of permanently losing her ability to fly." He reasoned. It seemed to put Pinkie at ease, though not by much, "You'll see what happens, I'll make her the first one I help."
Of course, helping would have to come when he was able to calm everyone down enough to do it. Almost immediately after arriving at the medical wing he was met with glares and heated words in his direction. All from family and friends of the soldiers he had hurt. Being here was not a good idea, not yet at least, but he didn't have the luxury of time on his side. This needed to be taken care of now, before anything else got out of control.
"What do you think YOU'RE doing?" a nurse screamed at him. She seemed to be getting nods of approval from everyone there.
Jarrad knew he had to choose his next words carefully, "Making amends and correcting my mistakes."
Of course, even the best chosen words, can be taken incorrectly. Everyone in the room almost dove for the closest patient and attempted to shield them from whatever he was going to do. Some of the children even glared at him as if they were going to kill him. This was obviously not going to end well.
"Zecora, Pinkie, anything you guys can do would be VERY fucking helpful right now," he whispered.
Zecora nodded and stepped forward, "Listen, good people, this man wishes no harm. What happened was horrific, but no one here knows the details so specific. What this man wishes is only to heal those he hurt, please trust him and myself as well, we know this can work."
"How do you expect to heal anyone when the Great Celestia herself couldn't?" shouted another pony.
Jarrad knew he didn't have an argument that was going to persuade any of them. Only action would work, and he wasn't sure that would work all that well either, but he didn't have much other a choice.
"Pinkie, take me to Dashie," he whispered to her, trying to conserve his energy as best he could. Pinkie nodded and walked through the crowd of beds and cots, through the seemingly endless sea of distraught families, to a small bed in the back of the room.
Moving aside the curtain he found Rainbow Dash, minus a wing, with her back facing them. They could hear soft sobbing coming from her, and words meant to soothe coming from Applejack across from her. The orange pony held the hoof of the cyan one, running the other through her hair. It didn't seem to have the affect she wanted, especially when she looked up to see Jarrad standing there.
She looked to jump right over Rainbow Dash and lay hooves on him, but he put a stop to it. Before Applejack to could any momentum Jarrad had his fist up, glowing red.
"Applejack, I'm here to help her and everyone else in here. I fucked up, badly. I want to make amends for that, and I know I'm the last person you want to see right now. So I'm pretty sure that you're going to be hard headed and stubborn about me helping. But here's the deal, you get in my way and keep me from doing my thing, we're gonna find out which is harder, your head or my fist," He spoke as calmly as possible. His patience was reaching its limit and he didn't have it in him to wait for people to get over it.
Applejack sat back down and continued to glare at him. She knew when she was going to face something more powerful than her, especially when it threatened her well being. But a thought had occurred to her, if he was really this determined, could he give her friend her ability to fly back? Rainbow Dash, on the other hand, was not as receptive to the idea.
"So…you injure me and come to gloat?" she choked out, "Come to finish what you started? Well go ahead, you've already taken my dreams from me, it'd be easier if you just did me in now. Hell, if Celestia can't heal me, then I've got nothing left."
Clearly she didn't hear anything he just said. He didn't bother to try and reason with her. He simply closed his eyes and focused on a memory. It was an age ago, back when Grant was alive; specifically, when he was there after a battle. There were so many wounded on all sides, so he gave his services as a doctor for a time. In his mind he became the ape, walking through the medical tents bringing one patient after another back from the brink. He focused on the spell in his mind, one designed to bring the body back to full health. It was difficult to preform, but powerful and godlike because it played with nature itself.
It was not like necromancy, no, but like pure life itself. It created a 'blueprint' of a person's body in their DNA. Having that blueprint, it moved the cells and sped up their growth, literally bringing a person back to their full health, curing disease, replacing lost limbs, the works. The amount of power needed to make the spell work well depended on the injury, but when it did its thing, it was a literal miracle. Jarrad focused on the feel, the smell, the sight, the sound, even the taste of the magic in his- no, in Grant's body. He needed to be like Grant if he was going to use it.
Hell, even the words were important, but they wouldn't do shit if he didn't remember everything else. This wasn't some kind of little Harry Potter incantation, this was an olden wizardry from beyond sort of spell, the kind that requires unflinching focus and dedication. He felt the power flowing through him and brought it forth, doing his best to commit the feeling to memory. He didn't know exactly what he was going to do, but he knew, or better yet, felt, that allowing magic to do exactly what it needed would be his best option.
Shaking himself back into the real world he brought his hands up and brought his magic to bare. The world shifted a bit and he found himself back in the tent, his hands five times larger. He didn't have time to do it again, so he kept going. He placed his hands on the bright red unicorn in front of him, missing both a horn and a front leg, and pushed his power through. The words came naturally, as if spoken over a million times before, and the magic followed.
A vibrant green glow surrounded his body and leaked into the cyan Pegasus. His mind filled with images, moving between wings, horns, legs, heads, bodies. It was as if he was healing two people at one time. Each moment was bringing a new image to the forefront of his mind, and it was causing him a great deal of confusion.
He mentally shook himself back and focused on one, just one, putting all energy into her. He could see some kind of…outline of her, the same as he had with Twilight. Only this time, there were wings on her back, rather than a horn on her head. He could only see one, and knew this was wrong. He put a hand in that direction and felt the whole body…shift.
It didn't shift completely in his field of vision, but shifted the same as if he was pulling on clay or play- doh. He figured that this was his best option. He pulled on her wing stub and tried to draw it out. After a few attempts he was successful, and had the bone structure placed back. For some reason, he knew exactly how long to make it, how thick, how powerful, even what to go with first.
Eventually the bone structure had properly formed and he began to mold the muscle, veins, nerves, and flesh. This was the most difficult part as they were small, very small, and he felt as if his hands were going to be too big to do a proper job. Like trying to fold origami with giant sausage fingers, it simply made things more difficult. However, as much as he was frightened by the prospect, everything seemed to follow and fit as if his hand were literally designed to make them.
He didn't have any real knowledge, on a "textbook" level, of what he was doing. His hands were guided by some unknown force, compelled to do exactly what needed to be done. Eventually, he began to literally pluck the newly formed limb, to create the feathers. Each one needed to be gently stretched out of the original limb, the soft feathers beginning to take shape and form. After much grueling effort a brand new wing was formed, right before his eyes. His final task, he surged forward with energy, kick starting the magical system and making it connect with everything else. The result was explosive.
Rainbow Dash nearly shot off the bed with that final jolt, she seized up and relaxed only when he was done working. Tears were streaming down her face as the pain of reforming her wing finally took hold. She gained a death grip on Applejack's hoof, nearly crushing it.
As the excitement and power died down Jarrad backed away, his breathing heavy and sweat pouring from all over. It felt as if he had just jogged 10 miles nonstop. He wanted to drop down and quit for a few hours so he could regain some energy, but he knew he had to keep working. He took at look at his work one time and moved on to others. He would celebrate after it was all over.
What he didn't know, however, was that he wouldn't be around to celebrate when it was all over. Everyone was in such shock at what he was capable of doing that they simply couldn't find it in themselves to do anything as he moved from one pony to the next. Eventually he finished the last one, a father who had his wing broken as well as a leg lost in the fight due to a building having fallen on it. What struck Jarrad even more was that the son of this pony was hovering over him asking if he would really heal his daddy.
"He'll be as good as new," Jarred wheezed out. He wasn't going to give the generic answers that hospitals had to give. He knew he could heal this pony.
But, the second he had finished with the father, the son reached over to give him a hug in gratitude. He never got the chance, as Jarrad collapsed face first on the floor right in front of them. He was just barely able to move out of the way and keep from crushing the son. Whether his mind and spirit were willing to keep going, his body didn't have anything left in it, and simply gave up. His reward for his hard work was a mouthfull of hardwood floor. And he ate it hard.
Jarrad couldn't tell exactly how long he was out, only that it was night when he woke up again. He found himself in the same room that he had occupied before, moonlight streaming through the blinds. He jerked up, checking himself once more to make sure he didn't have any new designs or seals on him, even felt for his magic. Everything was fine and in order, except for the fact that he was back in his underwear; but it was completely different pair than before.
"Do they get some sick pleasure in staring at me stark naked?" he asked to no-one.
"We would think it would be more for the fact that thou had such a sweaty ensemble upon thyself, they wanted you to be comfortable when you awoke again," a voice spoke from the darkness.
On sheer instinct Jarrad jumped off the bed to the side opposite the voice and brought his hands up, though he was attempting, and barely succeeding, in keeping his stance up. He was about the fall over from exhaustion.
"Well, if that's how you thank the person who gave you such wonderful clothing, we'd 'd hate to see what thou would do if you hated them," said the voice.
Jarrad focused his eyes and saw the silhouette take shape. A dark blue figure of a horse with a crescent moon cutie mark against a backdrop of stars…it was just Princess Luna.
"Princess?" asked Jarrad, his stance tightened, "What do you want?"
She seemed taken aback by the question, "What?"
"I asked what you wanted. I've already dealt with your sister. The clothes and the help, they're appreciated, but I know it's not going to be for free. What do you want from me?" he asked again, keeping his voice as calm as possible. He knew he was being rude, and very rude at that, but he wanted to get to the bottom of whatever it was she wanted. The sooner it was over the sooner she would be out of his hair.
Luna's face took on a far colder look, "Why doth our kindness have to come with a price?"
Jarrad pondered that for a moment, "Forgive me my initial assumption, but I haven't had much luck with gods and goddesses lately. Especially since the last one I dealt with caused a right fucking mess of things."
Luna nodded at that, "Yes, she did."
"Then can you explain why you didn't go further to stop her? You both lose the same…hell, you were sent to the moon for her stupid-"
"Do not EVER presume to speak of things thou doest not understand," she seethed. Apparently he hit a nerve.
Jarrad relaxed his stance, "Then explain it to me. Slowly. I seem to be hard of hearing these days considering how many people have been trying to yell me into deafness."
She looked as if she was going to bite his head off, or shove that horn somewhere unpleasant. He could tell he struck a nerve, but he couldn't bring himself to care. He was tired, and he was out of patience about not being told very important things. In a word, he was very cranky.
The more he thought about it, however, the more he realized that he was wasting so much energy in trying to figure out exactly what was going on he wasn't letting things progress naturally. He was getting worked up and angry over things that really didn't matter at this point, they were already said and done. So he decided to try and new approach and save himself the trouble; give up.
Heaving a sigh he hobbled forward and sat on the bed, "Look, forget it. I'm sorry if I'm being short, but I'm pretty much at my fucking wits end with information being held from me and people using me for shit left and right. So, please explain to me what you need from me, and why you need it, and I'll do everything in my power to help if I can."
"I'm sorry, but that is something I cannot say," she looked downtrodden.
"Then I can't help you with it. Now if you don't mind, I'm tired and I need to get some rest that isn't brought on by me passing out," he began to climb under the covers before he heard a sniffle.
He looked back to see tears in the Princess's eyes. She looked close to outright bawling right in front of him. And if there was one thing he didn't want to see it was a woman, even if she was an alicorn, crying. It tugged at his heart and made him re think exactly how he had been acting.
'Goddammit; I know this is gonna come back to bite me,' he thought to himself, 'I guess I just need to take a leap of faith.'
He got out of the bed and hobbled forward right in front of her. He went down on his knees and put himself face to face with her. He brought his hands up and, as gently as he could, started to use his thumbs to wipe her tears off her cheeks.
"Luna, I'm sorry. I don't mean to be short, I really don't. But I can't allow myself to do anything unless I know exactly what I'm getting into. I was burned by your sister and I don't want to be burned again…but I'm willing to place some trust in you. All I need is for you to do the same for me," he spoke as softly as he could, attempting t calm the distraught alicorn.
"I'm sorry, but we…we don't know how to start or what to talk about. We don't even know if thou will understand," she choked out.
"Just, start at the beginning. Give me some details before you get into the whole thing, then tell me exactly how I can help you."
She calmed down enough to begin, "Some time ago, we can't even remember how long, we began to notice some…changes in ourself. Our thoughts were becoming much darker and much more horrific. We began to isolate ourselves from our family, from everyone we loved. This was still during the time of our parent's reign, before my sister and I became the rulers of Equestria," She seemed to pause for a moment, as if debating on whether or not to share the next bit of information, " Did you know she is actually our younger sister?"
To say the least, he wasn't expecting that, then again, it all went back to the same theory: how much did he REALLY know about this world.
"Alright, so why are you now the "younger" one?" he asked, "Also, I'm sorry to ask, but can you please speak in a more modern dialect? I'm having trouble distinguishing the we you're using from either you and your sister, or just you."
"Very well, I shall attempt to do so for this conversation…I need to work more on that anyway. But back to the subject, I'm getting to that, it has a great deal to do with my current predicament. Now, as we were saying, we were the older of the two sisters. However, our powers began to become more a burden than a blessing. Something began to…infect me. It crept into my thoughts and mind very slowly and very subtly. It took so long, centuries, before we even began to notice any signs. By then, it was too late, and I did something very VERY foolish," she said.
"What?" he asked.
"We killed the Nexus to disrupt magic," she had trouble speaking about it.
"What?"
"We killed the Nexus of the time. A dragon by the name of Kilij. He was a very noble person, a good friend of my family…and I killed him in his sleep when he was at his weakest," she began to shed more tears, clearly devastated by her mistake.
"How…why would you do something like that?"
"We couldn't control ourselves!" she shouted, "We didn't know what we were doing and by the time we had control again it was too late. One of our best friends was dead at our hand…we were devastated!"
Jarrad reached forward, "Luna…it's okay. You didn't mean what you did, you can't blame yourself for something you had no real control of…it snuck up on you too well for you to do anything about it."
"We know…but we still didn't understand why we did it…or didn't then, we do now. Something was controlling me, something had infected my magic. It moved through is without form, not giving anything for either my sister or myself to find when we did our examinations. We simply couldn't figure out what was causing it. So we did the only thing we could think to do…regress my age and hope whatever it was got regressed as well. At least regressed to the point where we could pinpoint the source and remove it," it was becoming easier for her to talk to him.
"Alright, so I'm guessing it didn't work out the way you needed it to?" asked Jarrad
"No, no it did not. Whatever it was, it was smart. It knew we would try something again, so it decided to be even sneakier this time. It was even more subtle in altering my thoughts and ideas. Eventually it got to a point where I was no longer really thinking, but listening to its voice. This was about a millennia after it occurred, just before a new Nexus was chosen. My memories are still fuzzy, but I believe my sister found out. Without my permission she regressed me once more, and wiped me of my memories," Luna sniffed.
"What?" asked Jarrad, "She did what?"
"She believed that if we were wiped of our memories it would make it harder for this…thing to take over. Once we were regressed she was all we knew, and we thought it best to follow her to the best of our abilities."
"So, that's why you let Grant get killed, why you helped your sister."
Luna was taken aback, "How could you possibly know that?"
"I've been 'blessed' with the ability to live the lives of the Nexi who came before me. I can see their memeories…potentially. I'm still sifting through Grant's memories, but I was able to see that one. You let your sister kill him because you believed it was right. I'm guessing the moron didn't really bother to properly explain everything to you?" asked Jarrad.
Luna let out a humorless chuckle, "An apt term for my dear sister at the time. No she did not. What was worse is that when the Zebras cast their spell on the forest, on what was once our home, it began to unravel the memory spell. My sister never destroyed them, but locked them away. They began to come back in whispers and nightmares. They nearly drove me insane, until I was able to organize them. I finally was the person I was over five thousand years before. However, I could not let my sister know this; at least, I thought so at the time. I never allowed her to know of my plans and began to grow my power, which came to a head a thousand years ago."
"When you became Nightmare Moon." Jarrad finished for her.
"Yes. I fought my sister for the crown and power because of her stupidity and mishandling of the situation. She sealed us in the moon for a thousand years. She believed we would be cured afterward, but she could never be sure. So she began the legend of the Mare in the Moon, so that the new bearers of the Elements of Harmony, whoever they were at the time, would have enough in them to face us if necessary."
"I'm guessing that once they did, the elements regressed you again and put you in a far weaker form?" asked Jarrad
"Yes, they did. We have been slowly but surely regaining our powers since then, but we've begun to feel the same way as before. We thought that if we celebrated and surrounded ourselves with friends it would stop, but we are at our end with it, we don't know what to do. Our last and best option is for you, Nexus, to purge us the same way you did Twilight Sparkle. If you can do that, you may be able to get rid of all traces of whatever has been causing us such pain and anguish our whole lives."
Now, Jarrad wasn't going to even think of saying no to something like that. She had come to him, face to face, and asked, nay, begged, for him to do something to help her. As far as he could tell she was being truthful, at least where it counted. She had even confessed to killing the Nexus before Grant. If that were the case, he was willing to go on a little blind faith.
Jarrad sighed and sat down on the chest at the foot of his bed a few feet away from Luna, "Alright, I'll do it, but I'm going to need something from you: protection."
"From what? Our sister?" asked Luna. Hes seemed hesitant given his willingness to help so quickly.
"Exactly, Zecora is already there to help, but I need an older sibling type here to talk some sense into your sister. She's fucked up, royally as far as I'm concerned, so I want her to stay away from me and let me do my thing. I need somewhere that she isn't going to fuck with me and I can grow and develop exactly as I need to. I can't be on the run and I can't keep relying on Zecora to save my ass every three seconds, it would take away from her ability to teach me. So, what can you do for me?" asked Jarrad
"What makes you think we can or will do anything?" asked Luna.
That one annoyed Jarrad a bit, "Because I need you to. I'm sorry but I can't help you without helping me. Besides, I'm not asking for a whole lot if you think about it, only for me to literally be ME, to be the Nexus; I would hope at least someone here understands what that means."
"Indeed, we do. We do not want to see you hindered, given the horrors that would create for the whole of Gaia. Very well, I can place you under my flag while you reside in Equestria." Luna conceded.
"Does that mean I need to remain loyal to you, cause that's exactly what I need to avoid." Jarrad claririfed.
"No, I will not ask that of you. You will be under my flag, but I will allow you to do exactly what you need to do and we will only ask of you that which you can give us. Is that acceptable?" asked Luna
"Its great," Jarrad said, "Alright, so if I'm going to do it, then I need Zecora there with me to make sure nothing goes wrong. Apart from that all I need is rest…I hope."
"You will need far more than that. You will need a proper place where my magic is most…potent. It will allow your job to be that much easier. For that, we'll need to go to the moon."
"You're shitting me, right?" asked Jarrad.
"No, were are not 'shitting' you. And we'll thank you not to use such language." She said.
Jarrad held up his hands, "Fine, but you guys are going to have to get used to it. I'm going to curse, especially when something strikes me as REALLY weird. Like someone asking me if I want to go to the moon."
Luna said nothing, but her eyes said 'You'd best shut the fuck up.'
"So…when do you want this done?" asked Jarrad.
"Well, for your benefit, as soon as possible. If everything happened as I have been told then my sister needs to know about this at the last possible second. To allow you the rest you need I can take you and Zecora to my palace on the moon and allow you to rest there. Then once you are ready, we can perform the procedure and come back here."
"Alright, let's go get Zecora. Oh, and am I going to be able to leave a letter or anything? I want to let a couple of people know that I'm leaving for a little while."
"Very well. We won't be very long, and you should be able to see them again sometime soon." Luna reassured him.
Jarrad nodded. He walked to the desk on the other end of the room and took out a…
"You people use quills? I have no idea how the hell I'm going to write with this…any help?" asked Jarrad.
Luna glared at him a moment before trotting over. He couldn't tell if she was angry over his language or that she was going to have to help him.
"Actually, come to think of it, there is something I would like to ask of you. Can I train with you for a time?" asked Jarrad
"What do you mean?"
"Well, the way I figure it, I've been busting my ass for the past few weeks. I've been doing…okay, but I can't seem to keep up. It's like my 'magical endurance' is garbage. I need somewhere that I can train properly for a time and at least get some REALLY good basics down. At least enough so I can train properly on my own or not run my ass into the ground after only healing a few ponies. From what I've gleaned from Grant's memories he was able to do what I did today a few dozen times over before he got even close to exhausted. I need that kind of control to do whatever it was he was doing. So I would like somewhere secluded to train, at least for a while."
"Hm." Luna put her hoof to her chin, "I shall consider this. I can promise nothing at this point, but we may be able to help accommodate you."
"If you can, can you have some kind of communication line between myself and the Elements, at least, those who wish to contact me?" asked Jarrad
"Why not just talk to them?" asked Luna
"Because, as much as I don't want to, I don't have the luxury of sitting on my ass and waiting; I need to get as strong as I can, as fast as I can. Otherwise magic doesn't get stronger. I need to get the basics down pat, if nothing else. And given how that's going to be hardest, I figure after I manage to purge your system I can get a head start…if that's alright." He explained.
"Very well, we cannot fault your logic. After you have, if you are able, managed to purge our magic and purify us then we will honor this bargain and give you sanctuary for you to train. However, it will come at cost." Spoke Luna
"That being?" asked Jarrad
Luna's head dipped to the side and she mumbled something.
"I'm sorry…what?" asked Jarrad
She mumble again.
"Alright, one more time."
"We need someone to talk to us," Luna squeeked out.
"You hold my probable future in your hands, the possibility of all magic…and you just want someone to talk to?" asked Jarrad
Luna nodded, her cheeks a bright red.
"Well fuck, I'd have done that without any kind of deal. Hell, as Pip said, you're my favorite princess."
Her watery smile was brighter than the sun itself.
"So, can I get a little help with this letter?" asked Jarrad.
She nodded. Her horn glowed slightly and a pen and paper were lifted and placed right in front of her for her to write upon.
"Alright…um…Dear…Pinkie Pie. I'm addressing this directly to you because I don't know how the others will feel about this, but you can feel free to tell them a about it. I've gone with Princess Luna. She needs my help on something very dire, something that I cannot reveal at this point, mainly because it isn't my secret to reveal. Suffice it to say I've taken Zecora with me to help. By the time you've read this we'll have already left. I can't say where because, once again, it's not my secret to give. So, I'm going to be gone for a little while. Not permananently. Not at all. But I need some time to learn about magic, to learn about the basics that I need in order to strive and flourish. So I'm going to take this as an opportunity to train. If nothing else I can get a base to go from and things will start to actually move around here. It will also give me a safe place where I won't have to look over my shoulder hoping something bad will happen. Speaking of which, I've spoken to Luna, who's agreed to set up some kind of communication between us that you guy- ponies can use. I don't know how long I'll be there, but as soon as I'm back I'd love to have a party, if that's okay, I mean," he chuckled at the last bit, sounding like Fluttershy.
"And… done," she tapped the paper with the last spin of her quill. It disappeared from the room completely.
"Hey, where'd you that thing go?" asked Jarrrad.
"To Pinkie's room. The poor dear is asleep after it happened. I don't want her to wake up and see her friend not be where he was supposed to be. Would you?" asked Luna
"Huh…ya know, I'm kinda upset I didn't think of that," Jarrad chuckled, "Alright, let's get Zecora and I'm all yours."
A flash and the room was empty once more, save for a small midnight black feather falling gently to the floor, joined soon after by one of pure alabaster white.
From Drakon Samael: So, I figured I'd have this up last week….then Mass Effect 3 happened and well…draw your own conclusions. So, big thanks to nobodyreallyimportant once more for his work here, tell me everything you think about it, and let's go from there. It may get some edits a little later on, but right now, I kinda like the way it looks…or maybe I'm just so sick of looking at it I'm fooling myself into thinking it's really finished so I can get it up and posted…..meh, we'll see. Anyway, let me know how it looks in the comments, and thanks a bunch.