Shatters of a Reflection Chapter 5: Kindness of a Stranger

The night I fell asleep in her hooves. She calmed me from my outburst and hummed a lullaby which sent me into a deep sleep. I never thought I would find someone who would accept me for I was.

I woke up to the sun shining down on me. I rubbed my eyes while sitting up, "Hmm?" I looked around and noticed I was laid out on the same rug from last night only I had a blanket and a pillow where my head was resting. And not too far away my bag was laid against the couch with a scroll atop it.

I crawled over to it on my knees and picked up the scroll and unrolled it.

"To Jake,

If you are reading this then you have awoke from your sleep. I am sorry I could not be there for when you awoke but I have matters to attend to as I am the ruler of this land. But I have arranged for you to be brought to me for Lunch should you awaken before noon. Just let the guards outside know you are up and they will do the rest. And do not fear, I have informed them that you are my guest and they are to treat you as they treat me.

Yours truly, Princess Celestia."

I read the letter over once before I put it inside my bag. I looked outside at the sun above it looked like it was still around noon but I really didn't know.

I gathered my things and went over to the doors and opened them. I peeked outside to see the same two guards from last night.

"Um, the Princess told me to talk to you when I was ready to go and see her?" I said to the guard.

One of them turned around and looked at me, "Come with me." He said and began to walk away without me.

I quickly closed the door and followed the armor clad pony. He never said anything besides the one sentence, but he led me down the long corridor's until we came to another set of white doors with golden handles.

The Guard knocked on the door before he slowly opened the door, "Your Highness, the one you asked for has awoken and I have brought him."

"Thank you, and please see him in."

The Guard moved to the side and ushered me inside closing the door behind me. I entered to see the Princess sitting behind a large desk filled with a mountain of scrolls.

I saw her using her magic to levitate a scroll in front of her. I stood there waiting for her to speak first since I was feeling mixed emotions right now.

I know what I did last night but it was still embarrassing.

I heard her chuckling as she placed the scroll down, "Oh come now Jake. I know that yesterday was embarrassing for you but you should embrace those feelings. It is what makes use unique after all." She said moving from behind the desk and over to me.

She only smiled at me, "Now. I believe that you are hungry after everything that has happened."

As if on cue my stomach let out a monstrous growl. I unconsciously flinched, waiting for her to hit me but she never did.

I looked at her as she had this puzzled look on her face before it changed and she moved forward and wrapped a wing around me, "You have nothing to fear Jake. As I told you once before you I would never hurt you and that is a promise I will never break." She said in a soothing voice which calmed me down.

"S-sorry about that." I said to her. She only giggled once more and let me go.

"Now, come with me. I have already told the Royal Chefs to make a variety of things to eat since I have yet to know what you can or cannot eat." She said as we left the room and began to walk down the corridors once again.

"Well, I am an omnivore. I can eat both plants and meat." I said making the two guards following behind us jolt as I turned to see their weapons pointing at me.

On instinct, I was about to grab one of the spears and pull him forward to hit but a large white wing blocked me before I could even move.

"Stand down this instant!" The Princess shouted loud enough that my ears were ringing.

I looked at her and she just gave me this look as if she knew what I was about to do before she looked back at he guards.

"But your Highness! You heard it! It eats meat meaning it eats us!" One of the guards shouted out but I took this moment to clear that up.

"I don't eat meat. My kind does but I don't. I never did like the taste since every time I would try it I would become sick." I said making them settle down a bit but he look in their eyes told me that they were still watching me.

"See, now that that is cleared up. Let us continue." Celestia said giving me a gentle nudge forward.

It was a silent walk the rest of the way for me. Celestia did ask me some questions which I nodded yes or no too but I didn't want to say anything to make the guards hate me more than they already did.

We walked into a large decorated room with a large long table in the middle. It could seat maybe 30 people err… ponies or more. She walked over to the head of the table and sat down before she looked at me standing there and nodded her head to the seat next to her.

I took my seat as the doors on the opposite side of the wall opened up and in walked a few Unicorns pulling carts with their magic.

Magic that was the one thing that I thought was never real yet here they are using it as they set the table up.

They placed the utensils and the plates for the food down before another cart came in with a few foods on it.

"For the Princess your favorite, Banana Cream pie with a cup of tea. And for um, this one." He by the sounds of it placed a few plates in front of me.

I looked at them, the first was a plate of steamed hay? It was covered in some sauce. The second was a sandwich but instead of the normal things I knew it had a few leaves and flowers inside with a side of fries that looked like fried hay. The last one was just a normal salad with dressing on it and a few bread crumbs inside.

I pushed the first two plates away making the Chef gasp as if I was insulting his cooking.

"I can't eat those dishes." I said plainly.

"And why not! This is some of my finest dishes!" He said clearing insulted in his French accent.

I just sighed, "My kind can't process hay or flowers. It makes us sick and the only edible thing I can eat is the salad." I explained to the Chef who felt embarrassed now since he lowers his ears.

"Ah, forgive my brashness. I only assumed you refused to eat my food." He said.

I shook my head, "You had no idea so it isn't your fault." I said. He nodded and used his magic to remove the two dishes and left us after pouring some water for me and one for the Princess.

I waited for her to start before I began to eat. She smiled at that.

We talked for the next hour or so. She already knew about my past but only what the little things that impacted me. She asked things like how old I was. What I liked to do in my free time.

Then she asked me something I didn't expect.

"Jake." She said getting my attention, I put down the cup of tea which extremely sweet.

"Yes?" I answered her.

"What are you going to do now?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean what you are going to do now. Are you going to seek a way to your world, or are you planning on staying here in Equestria?" She gave me a question I hadn't thought about till now.

Do I want to go back? If I did I would just be going back to all the pain, the loneliness, all the negative things in my life. Home, that place wasn't my home. It was hell, I never felt like it was home.

But even here, my first encounter lead to me nearly dying but out of it I was able to find someone that accepted me. I knew immediately what my answer was.

"I want to stay here." I said looking at her. She only smiled, "If that's alright with you that is." Is said adding that last bit in.

She only nodded to me, "I had a feeling you would say that. Well then. Allow me to be the first one to officially welcome you to Equestria Jake. And if there is anything you ever need do not hesitate to ask me." She told me.

I couldn't help but feel a ping of warmth in my chest as I cracked a smile.

"Thank you." I said to her, "And I do have something to ask. Where will I be living from now on?"

She seemed to laugh at my question making me a little embarrassed and confused at the same time.

"Jake. Do you really have to ask that? You will be staying here within the castle. I wouldn't think to let you out into the world without knowing anything about our world. Besides I have already made room for you in the west tower." I couldn't help but feel happy and grateful towards her.

She who accepted and welcomed me into her kingdom.

"Thank you once again Princess."

"Please, you may call me Celestia, Jake."

"Alright Princes- I mean Celestia." I corrected myself.

She only laughed once more at my mishap of words.

"Now that that is a settled with, I must return to my work and also meet with the Ponies of the land. As I said once before, the guards knew that you are allowed to walk the grounds but I must ask that you not venture out into the city for the last time you were there things did not go so well." I agreed with her the last thing I wanted to do now was draw more attention then what I already had.

"Well is there anywhere you would like to visit? The castle has a variety of things one could see. There are the gardens, the courtyard, the Gala Hall, and then the Maze behind the Castle itself. But then again those are just few things that you will be seeing eventually."

I thought for a moment, "I guess I could go to the Garden. I have some of my things from my world with me that I want to have a look at." I told her and she nodded.

"Sliver Wing." The doors opened in walked a Pegasus in armor. He had a light blue coat and a sliver tone mane and grey eyes.

"Yes your Majesty?" He said in the same tone that the rest of the guards had as he stood in attention.

"I would like you to escort young Jake here to the Gardens. He would like some time to think and look through some of his belongs." She told him. She didn't sound like any of the rulers you would read or see.

"Yes your Majesty." He said looking at me for a moment. I wonder what he was doing until I realized he was waiting for me.

"Um, I guess I'll see you later then Prin-Celestia." I said correcting myself once again.

She only smiled stifling a laugh as she nodded and waved to away.

"Follow me." Sliver Wing said to me when I approached him.

"Ok." I said in response.

It took a little while but finally we came to a large opening in the corridor which had open windows which had a stairway that led to the path of the Gardens.

"I think I can find my way from here. Thank you Sliver Wing." I told him and he only nodded as he turned around probably to return to his post.

I walked over to the stairs and made my way down. I noticed there were some guards watching me in the distance. They didn't move but I could feel them watching me.

I walked down the dirt path to the open garden. There was an abundance of flowers and different plant life. But I found a spot under a tree which was shaped.

"This seems like a good spot." I sat down and removed my bag from my back and put it in my lap once I sat down. "Now, let's see what I have with me."

I opened the bag and the first thing I saw something I hadn't thought I brought with me. I pulled out a short combat knife I had taken from one of the guys I had beaten up when they jumped me. Or should I saw I had to take it with me since it was embedded into my arm at the time.

I never used it but it was still like new and since I got a stealth for it I had forget I had it let alone putting it in my bag. But then again, I grabbed a lot of things before rushing out.

I placed it on the ground next to me and looked inside again. I found some extra pairs of clothes which made up for the majority of the things inside. I didn't have many things inside besides my wallet, a watch and lastly a lighter.

"Man, I should have grabbed more things than this." I said placing everything back inside the bag everything expect the knife.

I looked at it and the thought came to me should I keep it or not? I mean I was a guest here so there was no need to have a weapon but then again. Should anything happen I would need something to defend myself with.

I decided against my better judgment to keep it.

I slid it into my back pocket just to save measure.

I closed my bag and put it next to me and I just sat there thinking. A lot of things happened in the past few days which made me think, 'How long was I out for when I woke up in the cell?' I know a day had passed since then but how long was I out for.

I made a mental note to ask Celestia later on as he returned to his original trail of thought. He was wandering through the forest when that light. That purple light that brought me here… what was that anyway?

I assumed it was some type of magic since well that was the only thing that made sense. I was brought here using magic. But then someone brought me here.

This only dawned a new question of why? Why was I brought here? I mean I wasn't one to complain but the thought of not know the reason behind it egged me on.

I would have thought more about it but I heard the sound of hooves heading right for me.

I looked up to see a small purple pony heading right towards me, "Hmm? Twilight?" It was her; only thing was she didn't even notice me. She just ran right past me without saying anything.

But I noticed something.

She was crying.

I got up and threw my bag on my back and ran in the direction she was running in.

"Damn it where did she go?" I ran after her but since I had no idea where I was going she seemed to given me the slip.

*Sniff…*

Or maybe not.

I looked behind the bushes I was near and moved them aside to see a small purple pony curled up in a ball.

"Twilight?" I said making her jump up as if I had scared her.

"Ah!" She shouted as she began to shiver.

Why was she acting like this? The last time I saw her she was nothing but smiles. But then again, I wasn't exactly the nicest person the last time we met.

I reached for her, this time I didn't pull back. My hand brushed against her mane making her shiver a bit but at least she looked up to see it was me. And before I could say anything else she leapt at me burring herself into my chest crying.

"Twi-Twilight?" I whispered out as she just shifted a bit.

I just wondered on what to do. I was never one to comfort others, but I remembered what Celestia did for me.

I slowly wrapped my hands over her small body. She wasn't any bigger than a dog. I could easily hold her. I brushed my hand over her mane as she seemed to cry out more. I shushed her saying it was going to be alright.

For a while I sat there holding the crying pony until she finally stopped. She was still whimpering but she had calmed at least.

I brushed my hand down her mane once more thinking it was time to ask her, "Twilight." I felt her fidget a bit in my arms but she looked up to me, "Why are crying like this?" I asked her getting start to the point.

She looked down, " *Sniff* I told the other ponies I knew who was the one that caused all that trouble a few days ago in town but they just made fun of me. They kept making fun of me so I ran away." She said as tears formed in her eyes again.

I froze for a moment as a memory came to me.

I was in the first grade and something like this happened to me. I was made fun of for wearing the same clothes almost every day.

Even if it was because of different reasons, I knew what she was going through.

"Listen Twilight." I started, I had no idea what to say but I went with what I would have wanted to hear at the time, "You don't have to listen to what the others say because you know the truth and that is good enough. So even if no one else believes you, I will." I said placing my hand on her head and rubbed her behind her ears.

She seemed to like that and even giggle a little bit, which told me I was doing something right.

"Thanks." She said hugging me. I just responded by hugging her back.

"By the way, I don't think I ever told you my name did I?" I asked her and she looked up to me.

"Know that I think about it, you never did!" She said with a smile.

I just grinned at her, "The names Jake. It's nice to finally meet you."

She only smiled brightly in my arms as she threw her front hooves into the air.

"And I'm Twilight Sparkle!" She said giggling.

"Well it's nice to meet you Twilight Sparkle." I said as I joined her in her little fit of laughing.

But what I didn't notice at the time was two ponies watching from not too away with the look of satisfaction on their faces.

Tbc-

-Hello everypony! 3ndless here with another completed chapter. I will not be posting a new chapter everyday but maybe once or twice a week. And another thing, as I mentioned in the first few Chapters, Jake will be gaining his use of magic by draining it from other living things.

1. He can absorb it two ways, one by magic psychical touching him, which is how he has been using it, unconsciously might I add. And the second being by absorbing it out of a living thing, but when he does he doesn't kill them but only takes their energy.

2. When he does use magic, it is in the form of pushing or attracting similar to how any pony uses Telekinesis. But for Jake, let's just say that I have something in store for him later on in the story.

And lastly 3. I said in the ending of the first Chapter that this would be a short story, but I think that with what I have planned. I will be longer. Not too long but long enough that my readers could enjoy and see how Jake evolves in the story.

And on a side note, I want to thank all those that have taken to time to read and favorite my story.

And without further ado, next time on Shatters of a Reflection: Jake befriends Twilight and gets to know her. But as the sun sets over the land Jake finally encounters the one he has had on his mind. What is he going to say to her when suddenly appears out of nowhere? Find out next time in Chapter 6, "Starting Over."