Sept 30, 2032

Okay, only a small update today; I’ve got some work to do around the FOB. I suppose I need to name my base, don’t I? I’ll come up with something eventually. Anyways, food is holding steady, but I had to throw out most of the frozen foods. Managed to eat a fair share of it, but it’s still a waste. I’m genuinely worried about my med-stack. Down to two syrettes of morphine, and maybe four to six days worth of my pill battery; that’s if I take half doses the whole time.

I’m thinking that I should ask Flitter if her people have even invented morphine. But at this point, I’ll take whatever I can get my mitts on.

Speaking of Flitter, she hasn’t been by for the past two days. Not sure If I should be worried about it or not. I hope she pops by soon, if only just so I know that she’s not dead. (Or worse.)

At any rate, that’s all I’ve got to write about for today. I’ve got a wasp nest to deal with.

Signing off, he tucked the PDA back into his pocket before stretching. Slinging a small bag over his shoulder, Jack set off into the forest; leaving his armour and exo-skeleton behind. The heavy optical camouflage tarp brush past his head and hands as he wandered outside. Sucking in a deep breath, he started slowly letting out the cool air through his nose. Adjusting the straps on his bag, Jack allowed a satisfied smile break his countenance. His features seized for a moment; a barred tooth snarl escaping his lips. Jerking his head violently, Jack rubbed his face furiously, before blinking rapidly. Uttering an uncontrolled growl, Jack swatted at the empty air. JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP.

Setting off in an agitated jog, Jack quickly found himself disappearing into the trees.

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“Flitter! I don’t care what you think anymore; you’re taking that job and that’s final!” Cloud Chaser roared up the stairs as Flitter treaded away from her. The already displeased Cloud Chaser screamed in outrage as Flitter slammed her door shut. The mare ascended the stairs in a fit of rage; muttering foul words under her breath.

Ignoring the furious pounding on her door, Flitter paced through her room, picking up all of her drawings of Jack within the mayhem that was her room. A flustered scowl crossed Flitters features as her sister continued to try and scream at her through the door. Cloud Chaser hadn’t given her a break since she’d returned from Jack’s early in the morning, two days ago.

“FLITTER! OPEN THIS CELESTIA DAMNED DOOR!”

Screwing her muzzle up in distress, Flitter turned hotly towards the door. “I HEARD YOU THE FIRST TIME!” Flitter let out a shaky breath as the pounding on her door ceased. She quickly returned to gathering all of her artwork up, before quickly stuffing the pages into her designated box without any care.

“Flitter, please just open the door.” Cloud Chaser’s voice was muffled dully through the door. The mare sounded like she was still fuming heatedly, but Flitter could tell that her sister was stuffing it deep down once again.

Sighing quietly to herself, Flitter trotted back over to the door and cracked it open ever so slightly. Peeking through the crack, she could see that Cloud Chaser was still red in the face from all of her yelling. Her mane was disheveled well beyond its usual messy state, and her pupils were tiny pinpricks of rage. Cloud Chaser took the opening as an invitation; forcing her way into the room using her superior size. “Hey!” Flitter cried out as her sister forced her way in. “C-come on Cloudy! Just leave me alone!”

The mares menacing glare shut Flitter up immediately. Taking a moment to compose herself, Cloud Chaser coerced a smile out of herself -if only for a moment-. “Listen, Flitter-” Cloud Chaser trotted over to Flitters bed and sat down. “We need to talk.”

Flitter shook her head, and refused to meet her sisters gaze. “No, we don’t. I heard you the first time, and I definitely heard you yelling for the last twenty minutes.” She gestured back towards her door. “So you can just leave me alone.”

Jumping up abruptly, Cloud Chaser stormed over to Flitter. Pressing her muzzle against Flitters; Cloud Chaser’s fury filled eyes drilling into her sister's terror stricken eyes. “Just shut the fuck up Flitter. Sit down, and shut the fuck up.” Cloud Chaser jabbed violently towards Flitters bed. “NOW.” The smaller mare scrunched up her soft features before shakily sitting down on her bed. Pacing over before Flitter; Cloud Chaser shook her head in disgust. “I’ve had it with this, Flitter. You’re acting like a foal.” She glared at Flitter bitterly.

“W-what!? Cloudy-”

“Flitter, shut up!” Cloud Chaser snarled out as she paced in front of her younger sister. Flitters mouth hung agape for a short moment, before she clamped it shut. The older mare shook her head. “I’ve had it with all your crap. You’re acting like a brat!” The mare huffed angrily as she continued to pace. “You’ve had over a month to find a job, but you haven’t tried at all! What are you going to do when rent is due? Huh? Are you going to sell your silly art?” She glared down at Flitter, who wilted under the intensity of her gaze. “I had to cover your share of rent last month, and I’m not going to do it again!”

Flitters stared up at her sister in pained disbelief. “But I gave you bits! It’s not my fault mom is so greedy!” Flitter’s wings flexed anxiously as she held back tears. Without warning, Cloud Chaser’s hoof slapped across Flitters cheek, sending the smaller mare reeling in shock.

“You do NOT talk about Mom that way! She’s given us everything since Dad went and got killed!” The mare grabbed Flitter by the shoulders and pulled her back up. “Flitter, you’ve got to grow up. I’m sorry that I have to do this, but Mom told me to take care of you, no matter what. It might not feel like it right now, but I’m helping you.” Cloud Chaser placed her hoof under Flitters quivering chin and lifted it up so she could look her younger sibling in the eyes. Flitter hiccuped weakly; refusing to meet her sisters gaze. Despite this, Cloud Chaser carried onwards. “I’m doing you a favour. I went in to Founders yesterday and talked with the manager; he said he’s willing to take you on, but you need to work hard to keep this job Flitter. I know that may be hard for you, but-”

“NO!” Flitter cried out, back pedalling away from Cloud Chaser. “You can’t make me work there! The manager is- is a pig!” Flitter hiccuped again; tears streaming down her cheeks. “You can’t-”

“YES!” Cloud Chaser followed after Flitter; her cheeks flushing red again. “You will work there! I don’t care what kind of pony your manager is! YOU- ARE- GOING- TO- WORK!” Cloud Chaser punctuated every shrieked word with a forceful prod to Flitters heaving chest. The mare quickly collected herself; pulling off her smaller sibling in the process. Running a hoof through her messy mane; Cloud Chaser let out a weak sigh. Leaving the bawling Flitter on the floor, she calmly trotted out of Flitters room and quietly closed the door.

Stomping loudly down the stairs, Cloud Chaser growled in annoyance before heading into the kitchen. Pouring herself a small glass of water to ease the pain in her throat; she found she could barely hold onto the glass her hoof was shaking so badly. Setting the glass down, Cloud Chaser covered her eyes with a hoof and gently set her head down on the counter. Sucking in a cracked breath, she could only shake her head softly. If she pinned her ears hard enough against her head, she could just barely block out the sound of Flitter snivelling in her room. I better go and see if she`s alright… With a disgruntled sigh, she pushed herself up and off the counter; towards Flitters room up the stairs. As she approached Flitters door, she chewed the inside of her cheek restlessly. Cloud Chaser closed her eyes, and forced her hoof up.

“Flitter?” Pushing her way past the now open door, Cloud Chaser looked around the empty room. Uh oh…. Biting her lip nervously, Cloud Chaser trotted in cautiously. I can’t hear her… Did she leave? The mare scrunched up her features in worry as she checked the room over. Having no luck; Cloud Chaser exhaled a tired sigh as she looked over at the open window. “Damn it all Flitter.” The mare shook her head; her eyes flitting about through the chaos that was Flitter’s room. Her eyes fell on Flitters art box, which had fallen over and spilled its papered contents everywhere. Slouching somewhat, she trotted over and sat down before the art pile. Cloud Chaser reached out, and started gathering the scattered pages; she froze stiff a moment later. Her eyes were stuck with the gaze of an inked predator; whose tiny, intense eyes pinned her down. Blinking, Cloud Chaser looked away from the artwork and rubbed her eyes roughly with the back of her forehoof. The mare looked back over at the page with intense curiosity.

Carefully picking the page up, Cloud Chaser scrutinized it with more interest than she’d ever shown much of Flitters work. “A human?” She asked herself quietly; said human stared back at her. Cloud Chaser furrowed her brow heavily. This isn’t what humans look like. The humans cheek bones were too sunken and sharp, it’s entire face seemed just a bit too long. It’s forehead was quite a bit larger too. Cloud Chaser scrunched up her features tightly in confusion. It’s not like Flitter to make a mistake like that. The mare looked over the artwork, but her eyes always wandered back up to the humans eyes. They were almost half the size of a normal humans, but they held an intensity that Cloud Chaser had never seen in anything before. Somehow it felt like the human wasn’t even looking at her, but at something beyond her. The look on the humans strange face made her fur crawl anxiously. Breaking away from the humans gaze, Cloud Chaser spotted another image of the human, then another, then another. Setting the artwork down, Cloud Chaser stood up and looked over the scattered artwork as a whole. As she stood up, Cloud Chaser’s eyes went wide astonishment. “It… looks like Flitter has a new muse….” The dozens of pages spread out across the floor; the odd human at the forefront of every single scrap. Shaking her head in bewilderment, Cloud Chaser trotted out of the room, not noticing the drawing of a pretty blue-green ball as seen through a thick window, even as she stepped on it. She didn’t notice the group of floating humans in that drawing, nor did she see the title, ‘TERRA’ inked with care above the artwork. Flitters door closed with a quiet click.

__________________________________________________________________

Flitters hooves made little sound as she landed on the soggy forest floor; the only sound being the crunching of dead leaves underhoof. A weak sniffle escaped her as she slowly treaded through the quiet forest. Nobody came out to meet her as she drew closer and closer to her destination. The rockwall soon came into view, but Flitter stopped short of the hidden doorway. The mare sucked in a laboured breath as she tried to compose herself; she wiped her eyes again as she whimpered. Sighing weakly, Flitter trotted forward, and pushed the camouflage tarp out of the way with her wing. She blinked rapidly as her eyes adjusted to the dim lighting within the cave. Flitter sniffed loudly, catching the cave’s occupants attention. The human smiled, and lifted one of his hands out of a bucket to wave; water splashed off his waving hand as he did so.

Managing a weak smile, Flitter trotted forward, and slumped down onto a stump that sat before the crackling fire. She watched as Jack held up a single finger, before focusing again on his bucket of water. The mare scrunched up her face in pained confusion as she watched the human work at something. “W-what are you doing?” She asked, before sniffling again. Jack glanced over towards her and opened his mouth to speak, only to devolve into a coughing fit. Watching the human hack his lungs out made Flitter arch her eyebrows in concern and scooted closer to him. He held up one of his hands and waved it back and forth as he covered his mouth with the other. Flitter stared at him worriedly until his coughing slowly ceased; he gave his hands a violent shake, before drying them on his pant legs. Jack quickly typed in a message for Flitter on his PDA.

“I’ve got a teeny tiny bug problem; I’m making something to deal with it.” Jack’s smile faded swiftly as he looked over at Flitter. “You alright Sparky? You look like hell.”

The mare weakly waved a dismissive hoof as she forced a smile onto her face. “I-I’m fine. Just… had a small fight with my sister today…” Her smile wavers slightly as he stares at her; Flitter quickly averts her eyes towards the ground.

A quiet sigh escaped from Jack’s lips as he shifted his body towards Flitter. “You know, I can usually tell when someone’s lying. Trust me, you aren’t any better at hiding it than any of my sisters.” He smiled softly at Flitter. “You can tell me if you want. It’s not like I’m going to talk to anybody else any time soon.” He grinned slightly at her as a sign of good faith. When Flitter clamped her mouth shut and kept her gaze locked onto the ground, he rolled his eyes melodramatically and returned to his bucket of water. After a minute of working quietly, Jack pulled his hands out of the bucket, and brought a large tin can out with it. He grinned happily, and gave it a light toss in the air before catching it.

Looking up from her spot of ground, Flitter cocked her head in confusion. “W-what is that? It looks like a coffee can.” She said as she scooted a bit closer to get a better look at the mans creation. It was a coffee can, but it had some kind of now hard foam sealing the top of it, and a small stick of metal poking out the top.

Smiling, Jack carefully tucked it into a large pouch on his webbing. “It’s a little homemade solution. I ringed the can with RDX, filled the center with white phosphorus, and used a bit of lexfoam to seal it up.” He taps the little strip of metal. “That’s my detonator.” He grinned happily, like a foal who’d just won second place in the science fair.

Seeing Jacks jubilant smile, Flitter found herself smiling softly. “I-I don’t know what any of that means… But it sounds…” She rolled her hoof as she searched for the right word “Um… Neat?” She couldn’t help but smile a little bit more as the human chuckled; his cheeks tinging red.

“Come on, walk with me.” He slipped his PDA into a rectangular pouch on his webbing before standing up; his curious little creation in tow. Despite herself, Flitter smiled, and got up to follow Jack out of his cave and into the forest. As they passed through the hidden door, Jack turned to Flitter. He pointed at her, then mimicked as if he were talking; he then pointed at his own ears, before giving Flitter a double thumbs up. Jack promptly turned around, and started weaving his way through the forest. After a moment of thinking over what he meant by his hand gestures, Flitter grimaced as she pinned her ears against her head. She couldn’t make the words come out, which resulted in the walk being a peaceful one; The human ahead of her would occasionally toss a glance over his shoulder to check and see if she was still there.

Eventually, the words did come to Flitter; “I… I had a really bad fight with my sister today…” Flitter said as she kept her gaze locked onto the ground and Jacks tromping boots. “She-” The mares words caught in her throat for a moment. “She hit me… And… She’s forcing me to work for a… A very foul stallion.” Flitter sighed quietly, just as Jack crawled up onto a small berm and laid on his side. The man turned his head toward Flitter, and beckoned for her to join him on the berm. As she lay down next to him, Jack held out an odd cylindrical object to her, with a dull, worn red button on top of it. Out of curiosity, Flitter reached forward to touch it, only to have Jack grip her hoof and hiss quietly as he shook his head.

Going to kneeling from prone, Jack reared himself back and hurled the coffee can off into the forest. There was a dull crack as it hit something; it was swiftly accompanied by the exponential increase of incredibly pissed off buzzing. Flitter stuck her head up over the berm to see a boulder sized wasp nest several dozen meters away.

“Get your head down Sparky.” Jack said as he slid down to the bottom of the berm. Once Flitter had done so, the human grinned broadly and messed her mane with his spare hand. “You know what always makes me feel better after a shit day? Copious explosives. You can hit that button now.”

Cocking her head in confusion, Flitter looked back down to the cylinder she was holding; the red button beckoning her like a caring friend. Nervously, she lifted her other hoof up, and depressed the button.

KRA-KOOOOM

The morning sky lit up vibrantly as the fireball reached up and capped over the forest; tiny glowing shards of metal flying in every direction. Flitter gasped as the shockwave struck her in the chest; the glow of the fireball casting on her face and flaming debris rained down in every direction. Past the ringing in her ears, she could swear she could hear somepony laughing maniacally. Looking over, Flitter watched as Jack pumped his fist in the air and whooped in victory. The glow of the fireball was fading quickly; Flitter turned her head to capture its beauty as best she could. A large grin started to break through her shocked features. A joyous giggle escaped the depressed mare as she surveyed what she’d done.

The aftermath was nowhere near the beauty and majesty of the fireball she’d witnessed, but it left her in awe all the same. A welling sensation filled her breast as she stood up; Flitters smile spreading to comical lengths. Looking over at the mare, Jacks grin become one of pride.

“Nicely done Sparky. Now let’s get the fuck out of here before someone comes to investigate. Come on, chop chop.” Jack started herding the glowing mare back to his cave as the sound of angry buzzing filled the air; the wasps returning from abroad to find their home nothing but a smouldering crater of crushed hopes and dreams.

“That. Was. AWESOME!” Flitter pranced in place once the pair reached the relative safety of Jacks cave. Flitter squeed as she pranced about, her wings flared out.

Watching as the mare danced about, Jack smiled softly and shook his head as he chuckled. His fingers danced across the PDA screen for a moment. “Thanks for not blowing us up back there. I’m glad I don’t have to pull phosphorus from either of us.” He grinned at her. “So, feeling a bit better?” He ventured.

The mare looked over at him and blushed lightly; her wings deflating slightly. She nodded sheepishly before taking a seat by the fire. “Y-yeah. I am.” She smiled honestly to the man across from her, but quickly averted her attentions to the crackling fire; her smile slowly fading. “I’m… Still kind of scared to go back to Ponyville. I mean, after my sister… And now I’m working for Gaze…” She trailed off on a harsh note; her eyes flicked up to Jack for support.

Scratching at his beard, Jack leaned forward and prodded the fire with a stick. After a moment, he tapped up a response for the timidly waiting mare. “I think you should do the work.” Flitter let out a choked response, but was cut off when Jack held up a single finger. “But you shouldn’t take any guff. Something my Dad told me and my siblings a long time ago, is that you should always be willing to stand up for yourself and others, but know when to do it.” Jack repositioned so he was looking directly at Flitter. “You should take the work, because having money is good. However, if this Gaze pony gives you shit, you break his ass in half.”

The words of bravado earned a mirthful giggle from Flitter as she slumped. “I wish I could do that…” She trailed off before poking the fire.

“Why can’t you?”

Flitter blinked, and turned her head to regard the human, who simply stared at her and made a light ‘Well?’ gesture with his hands. Flitter sputtered lightly as she stared at him. “W-well… I’m small, and weak. Everypony can push me around. I’m not tough, like my sister.” She grumbled the last part.

Jack sat back a bit and started chewing the inside of his cheek. “Is that it? You don’t think that you can be tough enough? Listen, plenty of-”

The mare suddenly seemed to become much more animated as she bolted up, as if struck by revelation. She closed on Jack quickly, her eyes wide. “C-could you make me tough?” She asked desperately.

“Uh… I probably could, but-”

“Pleeeeaaase?” Flitter sniffled a bit, and batted her eyelashes several times. It looked as if tears were beginning to well up in her eyes; just waiting for the opportune moment to strike. “I… I just wanna be more like my daddy wanted me to be. I’m tired of everypony pushing me around. I wanna be like you.” She stated finally. Jack reached up and scratched at the scruff that was slowly growing in on his face; his eyes regarding Flitter critically. The mare squirmed under his scrutiny, but otherwise stayed still and quiet. After what seemed like eternity, Jack leaned back and smiled toothily.

“I think we can make it work.”

Author's Notes:

I'm so sorry that this chapter took so long guys, that's on me and my lazy ass. I'm hoping you all won't have to wait as long for the next chapter. It is only very lightly edited, so It's probably shit-tier writing. So, if you guys spot anything wrong, just post it in the comments and I'll do my best to fix it right away.