Login

Bad Company

by Symphony

Chapter 23: Ch. 21 - Shatter

Previous Chapter Next Chapter

Waking up in the morning the last few weeks had been hard, I gotta admit. Like, I'd open my eyes and get a constant reminder that this is not my world. That it's not my real home.

It was much easier this morning. I got dressed in a black tank top and the same beat up jeans I arrived in. After getting cleaned up and dressed, I skipped downstairs and into the kitchen and opened the fridge, staring at what I had.

Considering my options, I decided to make pancakes. I hummed while making the batter and turned on the stove. Once finished making a fat stack, I got a plate out of a cupboard and walked over to the table.

I drenched them in syrup before I dug in. Hey, I might be a pretty shitty chef but failing with pancakes is pretty hard. A couple of minutes later I had finished and when I turned to clean up, I heard a warning from the security system.

With the normal routine of slapping it until it works, I saw both Strawberry and Twilight standing there and talking to each other. Raising an eyebrow, I pushed the button to let them in and unlocked the door, then walked back to the kitchen. The door clicked open and I heard two ponies walk inside.

“Jay?” Twilight called out.

“I'm in the kitchen!” I called back and heard them walking closer. I turned around and smiled at Strawberry. My eyebrows furrowed as I saw the look on Twilight's face. She looked stressed out, like she wanted to scream.

Strawberry walked over to me and rubbed her side to me. I scratched her head.

“What's wrong, Twilight?” I eventually asked her. Her eyes snapped to me.

“What? Oh! Oh, nothings wrong! It's just that princess Celestia has decided to drop by for a visit later today! Without warning!” A nearly psychopathic giggle came from her. “We don't have any time to prepare for her visit!” She let out an extremely forced laugh. “Everything's just. Peachy!” She grinned wide.

I felt Strawberry push herself to me, as if hiding from the deranged little horse on the other side of the room.

“So... Why are you here then instead of getting ready?” I took a small step back.

“Because the princesses are coming here to see you!”

My face fell.

“The... both of them?” I asked. Twilight nodded. “Celestia... And Luna?” She nodded again.

Hoo boy...

“Why are they coming to see me?” I think I knew the answer but it didn't hurt to ask.

“Apparently, princess Celestia wanted to visit to see how you're holding up and princess Luna insisted to come along.” Twilight had calmed down slightly. Honestly, that can't be the only reason they're coming to visit...

I nodded slowly. “When are they coming over to visit? Did they give you a time?”

“Yeah, they'll be here in a couple of hours... I told them to come over to your house when they got here.” She looked around. “That means we have a couple of hours to clean up in here...”

I frowned “Twilight, I had it cleaned up just yesterday. I hired a company to do it thoroughly.”

Both of them stared up at me. “What?” I asked, crossing my arms.

“You don't clean your own house?” Strawberry asked me, raising an eyebrow.

Fuck no, look at the size of this place!” I gestured with an arm. “It'd take like over a day for me to do it alone.”

The ponies shared a glance. “Stallions...” I heard Strawberry mutter with a shake of her head. I decided to not make a scene of it and finished doing the dishes. I wiped off my hands and walked over to the living room, slumping down in a couch and Strawberry joined me on the same couch. Twilight sat down opposite from me, still looking stressed out.

I sighed and leaned forward. “Alright, here's the plan then so you get something to do until they get here, Twilight...” I ran a hand through my hair. “You can go and gather your friends if they want to be here and meet the princesses. Also get Spike here, haven't seen him for a few days...” She nodded.

“And while you're out, get some pastries or some shit from Sugarcube Corner. I'm guessing princess lardass is gonna want something once they get here. Tell them to bill me and I'll get it sorted out.”

Twilight nodded again but frowned. “Hey, don't call princess Celestia that!” I smirked.

“I never said which princess I referred to, Twilight.” I giggled. “Can't wait to tell Celly that!”

“No! Don't! Please, I beg you...” She looked like she was about to break down again. I bit my tongue to hold my laugh back.

“Sure, Twilight. I promise...” I gave her an almost evil grin. I thumbed toward the grandfather clock. “You better get going, Twilight. You don't want to be late, right?”

She looked up at the clock and her eyes widened. She hopped up from her seat and squeaked, then teleported away. All in the span of about three seconds.

I turned to Strawberry. “Don't you have any work to do today?” She shook her head.

“No, I got today off because it's a slow season right now for town hall.” She laid down in the couch, staring up at me. I swung up my legs on the far end of the couch and laid down, using her as a pillow. Her face reddened instantly. “Wha- Hey!”

“You're soft, smell nice and I'm still tired.” I looked up at her. “I got Twilight to do all that bullshit because knowing her, she would have made me do something when she's riled up like that...” I glanced up at the clock. “And since she can teleport, I'm guessing we have about two hours or so until she has everything ready.”

The blush on her face disappeared slowly. She sighed and leaned forward slightly, nuzzling my forehead. “So... The princesses are coming to see you?” Her ears lowered a little. “Does that mean they'll tell you if you can go home or not?” She rested her head next to mine, I tilted my head a little to her.

“Hell if I know...” I sighed. “They might just be here to visit like Twilight said, after all. I don't want to think about it too much.”

She rubbed her head to mine again. “Well, whatever happens I'm right here if something happens...”

I smiled.


-Third person switch-
--Two hours later--

“You fucking cheated!” Jay yelled at Rainbow Dash who was sitting on the other side of the table, leaning forward in his seat.

“I did not!” Rainbow mimicked his movement and also leaned forward.

“I fuckin' saw you cheat! It was obvious!” He planted his hands on the table and stood up swiftly, his chair rattling to the side and leaned across the table.

“I didn't cheat!” Rainbow flew up from her seat and planted her forehooves at the table.

“Did too!”

“Did not!”

“Did too!”

Their foreheads collided, both of them glaring death at eachother.

“Did. Too.” Jay grunted out through gritted teeth.

“Did. Not.”

Meanwhile, Rarity and Strawberry sat at the end of the table and their eyes switched from the human to the pony as they threw insults back and forth. Rarity took a sip from her tea and rolled her eyes.

“Are they always like this?” Strawberry asked, flinching as Jay swiped the playing cards off the table and pointed at the rainbow pony, a vein visible on his forehead.

“Alright, listen here you skittle headed son of a bitch...”

Not bothering to listen to the rest of the rant, Rarity turned to Strawberry with an apologetic smile.

“Sorry dear but this is awfully calm to come from Rainbow compared to what she usually does.” She flipped her mane. “So tell me darling, how are things working out for you and Jay?”

Strawberry's cheeks tinted with a little blush. “Well, um... Things started bad but so far it's working very well.” They shared a smile before they turned to the spectacle in front of them.

“Well you lanky bald piece of monkey shi-”

“Language, Rainbow Dash.” Rarity said calmly before taking another sip of her tea. The two in front of her glared in her direction momentarily.

“You still cheated...” Jay said to Rainbow who glared back at him.

“Anyway, the princesses should be here any minute now.” Rarity looked over at a clock on the wall.

“I'm kinda nervous...” Strawberry rubbed her forehooves together, her ears lowered. “I've never met the princesses before. What if I mess up?”

Rarity gave her a pat on her shoulder. “Don't worry about it too much, darling. The princesses are very nice ponies. If you get too nervous, tell one of... us... about... it.” Her speech slowed down when she looked over to Jay and Rainbow.

Rainbow had him in a headlock, his left arm was waving around madly and his right hand was balled into a fist that he was trying to hit her with. They were awkwardly moving around the room.

“Say uncle!” Rainbow shouted.

“Never!” Jay choked out, twisting around his upper body while trying to knock her off.

Rarity sighed, Strawberry facehoofed audibly.

“That's enough, you two!” Rarity chided, levitating Rainbow off Jay whilst Strawberry held him still with her own magic. “Honestly, both of you are acting like fillies!”

Rainbow huffed and flew away to the living room. Jay sat down on the seat closest to Strawberry, crossed his arms and pouted.

“She did fuckin' cheat...” He mumbled.

The ponies and the human jumped when the door swung open with a crash. Twilight skidded inside. “They're here! Oh sweet maker they're here...”

Jay took a deep breath and released it, then knocked the table twice with his knuckles. “Showtime.”

He stood up and brushed off his clothes, then walked toward the door and pushed the hyperventilating unicorn away. He stood in the doorway and smiled.

Outside, princess Celestia and Luna stood staring up at his house with open mouths. They shook their heads in tandem and focused on the human.

“Princess Celestia and her degenerate little sister, what an unwelcome surprise!” He waved at them and moved from the doorway, gesturing at them to come inside. “Come in, come in! Why, it feels like I haven't seen you two in ages!”

Princess Luna was the first one to enter, walking carefully past him and looked around. Celestia moved to follow her sister but Jay raised a hand.

“Give me a second...” He raised his hands so they touched the doorway, not moving the distance between them he held them out toward Celestia and stuck his tongue out in concentration. “Yup, you can come in through this way. Even though it's a bit of a squeeze...” He scratched his chin. “You sure you don't want to enter through the french doors in the back?”

He bit his lip to hold back a laugh as Celestia glared at him, a small blush on her face. Luna didn't restrain herself and let out a powerful guffaw and snorted.

Her ear flicked in irritation. “No thank you, Jay. I'm sure it won't be a problem.” Celestia walked inside, momentarily lowering her head so her horn wouldn't hit the top of the doorway.

The guards behind her were both biting their tongues to hold back their laughter as well as they positioned themselves outside the door to stand guard. Jay closed the door and chuckled as he turned to the princesses.

“Make yourselves comfortable, we have some sweets from Sugarcube Corner and some tea set up in the living room.” He gestured with his right arm. “Just walk down this way and you'll find it. At the mention of pastries, Celestia's ears perked and they walked away.

Jay turned to Twilight who was standing perfectly still and had gone pale. He frowned. Curling his left index finger to his thumb, he flicked her horn and made it wobble madly back and forth.

“Juh-Juh-Juh-Jay! S-S-S-Stop d-d-doing that!” Her head was also shaking, she raised a forehoof and stopped her horn and glared up at him. He smiled and patted her back roughly.

“Welcome back to the land of the living, Twilight!” He walked off toward the living room with the unicorn following him.

He sat down next to Strawberry who smiled at him then nervously glanced to the princesses on the other side of the room who were talking to Rainbow Dash and Pinkie. Princess Celestia glanced over to them with a smirk, then walked over to them and took a seat next to them.

“Oh and who might you be? I'm sorry but I haven't met you before.” Celestia gave Strawberry a motherly smile in an attempt to calm down the pony who looked like she was about to have a panic attack.

“I'm uh... I'm Strawberry your highness!” She squeaked out, gave a quick bow and then hid herself in Jay's side. Her face beet red. Jay's smile faded a little.

“She's Strawberry, like she said.” He repeated, patting her back. “She's not the greatest with social interactions but this is a big step for her.”

Celestia made an 'o' face. “So you two are together?”

“Yeah, it's still pretty fresh.” Jay smiled when Strawberry seperated from him. “Take it easy on her, will you? Don't want her to have a panic attack or someshit...”

Celestia nodded. “Of course.” She levitated over a pastry and took a bite. “So Jay, how have you been these last weeks? I haven't heard much from you.”

“I've been... Alright all in all.” He leaned forward and grabbed a pastry of his own. “There has been some ups and some downs but nothing major, really.”

Celestia nodded once more and they made some small talk before she walked away to talk with her students and her friends. When she was out of earshot, Jay turned to Strawberry.

“You okay?” He whispered, rubbing her back slowly.

“Yeah... I'm okay, I'm just a little nervous meeting the princesses for the first time...” She smiled up at him.


An hour had passed with small talk, pastry eating and Jay doing a backflip off the living room table from a dare from Rainbow Dash. Surprisingly, he had not gotten hurt in his attempt and actually pulled it off and earned fifty bits for the trouble from the pegasus.

Princess Luna and Celestia walked over to the human who was busy rubbing it in her face.

“Jay, my sister and I have something to discuss with you.” Luna spoke, glancing at the human. “It will not take long.”

Jay nodded. “Let's head to my office then.” He walked toward the staircase. “It's on the second floor.”

Twilight's eyes narrowed and when she was certain that they had walked up and entered his office, she followed them. When the door clicked shut, she held her ear to the door.

A bump came from it and Jay spoke up. “You're still not fuckin' sneaky, Twilight! Go downstairs!” Twilight pouted and walked back downstairs into the living room, joining her friends.

Inside the office, Jay sighed and walked over to his desk and sat down in the office chair, resting his elbows on the arm rests and knitting his fingers together under his chin. Celestia glanced over to her sister and nodded. Luna's horn started glowing and after a few seconds, the walls flashed blue.

“That was a very efficient sound-proofing spell. Nopony can hear us.” Celestia began, making herself comfortable. “Now Jay, my sister and I's archmages at the institute of magic has been working non-stop on dimensional theories and results were at first... confusing.”

Luna nodded and cleared her throat. Jay's eyes flicked over to the younger sister. “The tests they did were at first... inconvenient.” She shook her head. “But once they figured out the formula the tests started moving forward.”

Jay's eyes flickered with hope. “You mean... I can go home?” He rested his hands on the desk and leaned forward, a smile on his face that quickly faded when he saw the faces on the alicorn sisters.

Celestia sighed and activated her magic, making a small envelope pop into existance next to her. She placed it on the desk. Even though she was prepared to say it, the look on his face made it much harder for her. Luna was in similar straits, her ears lowered as it was that she could nearly see his hope being sucked out of him.

“We did everything we could to make it work, they're still working on it but it doesn't look good, Jay...” Luna spoke, shaking her head.

Celestia shivered and looked away from the human and shifted her gaze to the envelope and tapped it with a hoof.

“The result of their research is that...” She chewed on her lip for a few seconds. “I'm sorry Jay, from what we could gather is that manipulating dimensional leylines is too dangerous for both of our worlds, which means...”

“That I'm stuck here for good...” Jay finally spoke in a monotone voice. Celestia rested a hoof on his hand.

“I'm so sorry Jay...”

Jay removed his hand from her hoof and leaned back in his chair, staring up at the ceiling. His shoulders slumped down. His eyes lost the shine of mischief they normally had, making them a dull brown instead of the normal bright hazel. He was dead quiet, not making a noise as he ran his hands through his hairs.

“I uh... I need some air...” He mumbled, shuffling up from his seat and opened the door. He dragged his feet as he walked. He wiped his eyes with the back of his hand when he walked down the stairs.

Once downstairs, he turned his head to the left and saw both Twilight and Strawberry staring at him. He pointed weakly at the door. “I'm heading out for a few minutes...” He rumbled out in monotone. “I need to be alone for a bit...”

He opened the door and went down the walkway to the gate. He felt a tug on his shirt. “I said leave me the fuck alone!” He roared and balled his right hand to a fist, turning around ready to swing.

He stopped when he saw Twilight staring up at him with wide eyes and flinching back, ready to take a hit. He relaxed and turned around with a sigh. “Please... Just this once... I need this.” He walked away and the gate opened.

Twilight stayed there, watching him walk away dragging his feet and his hands jammed in his pockets. She turned around to see all her friends and Strawberry staring at her. She walked over to them with her head lowered.

“Let's clean up...” She murmured, her friends nodded with her and walked back to the living room, cleaning up the mess that was in there.

Strawberry stared at the gate as it closed, then ran upstairs to Jay's closet and fetched a jacket. Levitating it with her, she ran outside and closed the door behind her.

'I hope he's there...' She thought, her eyes set with determination.

She ran through town, still levitating the jacket. She didn't care that ponies were staring. She couldn't give a single thought that ponies were talking to the one closest to them about her right now.

Eventually she made it to the park and saw a figure sitting at hill far away with his back turned to her. She instantly knew that it was Jay. She slowed down her pace to a walk when she was at the foot of the hill. She unfurled the jacket when she was close and levitated it over his shoulders.

Jay jumped at the sudden contact and turned around with wide eyes. He instantly started wiping at his eyes with the back of his hands.

“I thought you'd get cold...” She said when she sat down next to him. He looked away from her and down at the ground.

“I wanted to be alone...” He murmured.

“I don't think that's the best for you right now...” She moved closer and rested her head on his shoulder. He shuddered at the contact but stayed quiet.

It was quiet for a few seconds before he choked out a sob. “God dammit...” He swore, wiping away fresh tears again.

Strawberry turned to him and wrapped her forelegs around him. He tensed instantly but calmed down and rested his head in her neck. She felt her neck becoming wetter by the second and she tightened her hug on him.

Her ears lowered and she rubbed his back. “I'll help you through this as much as I can...” She whispered to him and she felt him nod at her and rubbed his face deeper in her neck.

She didn't know what else to do other than make sure he wasn't alone.

Author's Notes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoDhYf9d09k

Next Chapter: Arc 3 - Going Forward in Life Estimated time remaining: 2 Hours, 47 Minutes
Return to Story Description

Login

Facebook
Login with
Facebook:
FiMFetch