What Separates

by Zurock

Rating: teen
Tags: Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Human, Main 6, Original Character, Spike, Princess Celestia
Length: 92293

A story of trust and differences. Twilight Sparkle is charged with befriending an otherworldly creature whose sudden appearance is unexpected for the both of them.

“What separates us is much more than just simple cultural differences and clothes ...”

A modern human soldier falls into Equestria. After some consideration, Princess Celestia determines that Twilight Sparkle is ready to serve as his guide into their world. And as for her insights into his world? Is he a lens, or a mirror?

A story of trust and differences.

Rather than being a story of good and evil, or dramatic conflicts, the tale revolves largely around the dialogue of the human character with the many ponies; an initial cultural exchange between two parties who have not prepared for it. The intention and exploration in it is earnest: what separates them? Or what doesn't?

What Separates was originally written over the course of a few months in 2012. It was published on another fan fiction website at the time. After FimFiction grew prominent, it has been moved here.

Published 2013-12-23 01:20:03 UTC
Last updated 2013-12-23 01:20:03 UTC

Chapter 2: Reestablishments

Looking back at Twilight, James felt confident he could make this recounting go a bit more smoothly. He had recognized Twilight visually when he arrived because she was one of the ponies present when he escaped from the collapsing DT. In fact, the Princess had told him Twilight was there when she explained that he would be staying with Twilight. Since Twilight would have seen the structure he believed he could succinctly explain his presence in Equestria first.

"Alright," he said to her, "Let me explain where I'm from. That large structure you saw yesterday was what some of my people called the 'DT' or 'Dimensional Tower'. Basically it was a building made with the purpose of testing the theory of traveling to different dimensions or universes and-"

But Twilight's eyes went wide and she stood up and leaned in, her thoughts firing straight out of her mouth with all the suddenly realized implications. "Are you saying you're from another universe? That's amazing! I mean, I had read a paper which speculated on the concept of multiple universes but no one has ever figured out if a spell could be crafted to open a portal to one! How did you do it? There was just so many unanswered questions and-"

She had completely derailed James' train of thought with her excitement. He had taken her prior calmer mood at too much face value. Or perhaps he had relied too much on remembering Princess Celestia's patience and unthinkingly assumed he'd get the same thing with Twilight. This girl was a sponge for knowledge though, so the ramifications of this new information gripped her like a vise. The sudden academic turn of thought also helped ease the underlying tension for her.

Twilight then recognized she had cut him off and apologized with, "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt."

Taking into mind her curiosity, James thought about forgoing the story in favor of a conversation. He would have to drop the planned course he had but honestly it would probably be easier for him too. If he let her freely talk back it would mean anything else that caught her interest wouldn't be an interruption. Also, he would feel more at ease since it wasn't like him to give speeches. His encounter with Princess Celestia had a certain awkwardness that wasn't just from not being used to telling a tale under the scrutinous eyes of a talking horse.

He spoke up, saying, "That's alright. Feel free to ask questions if you have any."

Setting herself back down, Twilight took the invitation and asked, "How did your people open a doorway to Equestria? I mean, how specifically was that thing supposed to do it?"

"Unfortunately, I don't have an answer for you there," he said. "I didn't build it or know how it really works. Some rather smart people spent decades doing the research and eventually built it."

She was a little dejected that there would be no answer but also impressed with the appropriately grand amount of effort that seemed to have gone into it. Some famous wizards had spent decades crafting their masterpiece spells. Something that could move between universes seemed like it would naturally take a team of wizards a long time to put together. She asked her next question, "So, why did you come to Equestria with it?" She also remembered its destruction. "And what happened to it? It fell to pieces!"

"It was an accident," he replied. "Both were accidents, actually."

Twilight cocked her head slightly. "Both?"

"The DT was just part of their research. It could THEORETICALLY move between dimensions," he laughed in his head again at the use of the word "theoretically" where it no longer applied, "but it was really just built to help them study and understand their theory." James explained the ocean metaphor to Twilight, about how each universe could be considered its own island floating in a massive, infinite ocean. The purpose of the DT was to start understanding that ocean, the void space between dimensions, because you don't just build a boat that you hope is seaworthy enough to take off and find other islands which may or may not be there. Especially if you don't even know how to look for them yet.

Twilight put a hoof up to her chin. "That makes sense. It's like an extrapolation of how space normally works." She gestured over to wall with a window saying, "I can't just take a step and wind up in a neighbor's house. I have to go outside first to cross the street before I can enter their place." Reflecting on it, she concluded, "So is that what happened to the structure? The 'ship sunk?'"

"I don't know about that either," James said. "Maybe. I mean, that seems logical to me. It had an incredible capacity to generate power. Maybe when it came across a situation it wasn't built explicitly to handle, like 'running aground,' it lost its control over that power, which wound up tearing it apart."

Using what had been brought up so far, Twilight made the next logical deduction. "You're stuck in Equestria now because besides building another that could work without falling apart it would have to find its way back here, then?"

James said, "Yes." He shook his hand dismissively. "I've accepted there's no way back. I'll work through it in time." He seemed a little more irritated than he was despondent. There were some things he didn't want going through his head at the moment. Like a dangerous, risky situation, sometimes it's better not to think about it but power through. The thoughts and feelings can be sorted out later at a more appropriate time. Since he was still trying to understand his current situation, he just wasn't comfortable enough to process everything.

The negative turn bothered Twilight, who tried to rebuff it. "There's no reason to lose hope. You never know what might happen." But he didn't respond except to turn away slightly and curl his lip. Twilight realized that she still didn't know anything about him or species, so though she didn't like the resignation to such a loss it might not be a good idea to push the topic further. If she could learn more about him, she could figure out which approaches would be best. That's the way you solve problems.

She searched for the best way to pick up the conversation somewhere else when James turned his gaze past her, fixating on something behind her. Turning to look for herself, she saw the door to the bedchamber was open and she quickly made out the green eyes of her assistant peering over at them. The bleariness in them showed as her assistant squinted from the light.

"Spike? I thought you had gone to sleep?" Twilight said.

He yawned as he hobbled out from the doorway. "I was asleep. I thought you were going to wake me up when the new guy arrived?" He had gone a few steps when he paused as he got his first look at James, still squinting from his weariness and the stronger light in this room. Then he continued his way over to them.

"I didn't want to get you up if you were asleep," Twilight told him. "I know you want to be up and out early tomorrow."

"Yeah, yeah," he said, going straight into another yawn.

"So what are you doing up then?" she asked him.

"I heard talking. Somebody sounded really excited."

Twilight got an embarrassed smile from not having monitored the volume of her voice more carefully. "James and I were just getting to know each other better." She turned to James to give a proper introduction. "James, this is my assistant and friend Spike. He lives in the library with me." Turning back to Spike, she made the counter introduction to him.

Spike hadn't been present at the destruction of the DT, so this was his first time getting a look at James. He had even less to go on than Twilight, knowing only the contents of Princess Celestia's initial letter. Despite that and his present drowsiness he was cheery about the encounter. For him it was just another meeting with someone new. But there was one thing that stood out about this one.

"Huh," he said. "I've never seen someone like you before."

For his part, James was rather cheery as well. The change in focus moved away from what he didn't want to mull over and now he got to see another fantastical creature. Even with the reptilian appearance there was a kind of adorable charm to him. James genially responded, "I can truthfully say the same thing to you."

Holding out his hand, Spike said, "It's nice to meet you, James."

Here was another comfortable familiarity that perked James up an extra little bit. Contrasted against the prior introductions to new ponies, something that seemed so regular stood out all the more. He immediately took Spike's hand to shake it. "Spike. It's nice to meet you too."

They released their grips and Spike pointed his thumb over his shoulder to some items piled in a corner. "Sorry about not having an extra bed, but I got out all the extra blankets and pillows I could so you can s... slee-" he yawned again at trying to mention the word.

Giggling to herself, Twilight nudged him back towards the bedchamber door with her nose. "Why don't you go back to sleep, Spike? You're really tired. You'll have a chance to talk to him later. You're never going to be awake early enough to make it to Rarity's when you want to if you stay up too late."

"Okay, okay," he mumbled and started drearily making his way back. He stumbled a little bit with his steps. "It was nice to..." he trailed off, shaking himself at the déjà vu. James gave him a wave back. "Good night," Spike said, which the others echoed. Spike grabbed a hold of the door as he wandered back into the bedchamber. It shut gently and moments later the low light from under the door faded.

Bringing her attention back to the conversation, Twilight was happy to see the distraction brought the general mood up. Before she could ask a question, James spoke up.

"Your assistant's not a pony," he said.

"Oh, no. Spike's a dragon," Twilight responded.

He wondered if he would have been able to guess that given enough chances. It's a word he was a little surprised to hear at first, but it made its own sort of sense immediately. Why not, after all? His capacity for critical skepticism had been temporarily busted by this whole chain of events. He was getting ready to believe just about anything that he was presented with. But still it struck him. With an inquiring gaze he said to himself, "It's funny..."

Since he wasn't laughing, Twilight asked, "What is?"

"Well," he began, "dragons don't physically exist where I come from. That doesn't seem too surprising, right?"

She nodded.

"But they do exist as a concept. They're mythical animals. Used in stories and legends. Fictitious. Dragons aren't real, but the idea of them is," he said.

Twilight was trying to discern what precisely he was getting at. "By crossing into another universe, it seems natural that you would possibly find yourself seeings things you've never seen before," she said.

"That's not what I mean," James answered. "I crossed over and now I've seen what is specifically considered a fake animal back at home. It just seems a little unusually... coincidental."

Now Twilight recognized what he was saying. She thought about it for a second. "I can understand why it might feel like that," she said, "but at the same time it seems silly to make those kinds of assumptions. Although it's easy to imagine that another universe must be filled with completely unknown and unimaginable things, there really isn't anything to base that off of. What can actually be known about a place you've never been to or heard of before?" She brought up an old lesson she had learned about studying new subjects. "Sometimes it's necessary to throw out preconceived notions before stepping into something new, otherwise they might bias your judgment in a way that holds you back."

"That's fair," James said nodding. And with the teacherly tone of her delivery, he couldn't help but feel that maybe she was right. He's already seen plenty he wouldn't expect but hadn't stopped to think about how they compared to some of the other, more "usual" things he had seen. Trees, mountains, castles. Even the whole idea of "an alternate dimension full of talking horses" had an almost expected storybook nature to it. That's the kind of thing you almost innately believe you'll find if you ever wound up in another universe. He wasn't sure why seeing a dragon caught him. Maybe he was just becoming more lucid. Still, Twilight had a strong point so he resolved to, as best he could, keep his skepticism suppressed.

"So are ponies mythology to you, too?" Twilight joked, amused by the thought of her own kind being the subject of some other world's stories. But by the way he looked back at her and scratched his head she could tell the answer was a bit more complicated. "Wait, are there ponies in your universe?" she asked, half guessing.

He wavered his head slightly saying, "Sort of. But they're different. Less colorful. No horns. No wings. No society. They can't even speak. They're just... animals." He had a twinge of momentary regret with his choice of final word, but Twilight seemed to take it in the inoffensive way he meant it.

"That's strange," she said. It was suddenly less amusing for her to think about. What would it be like for ponies that had none of the usual things in a place like where he was from? In fact, what was it like where he was from? She had intended to ask questions about that next before things took a sudden turn. All she had to go on was what she saw yesterday. She now knew what the bizarre structure was all about. The only other thing that happened was Rainbow Dash pulling the two people out of it as it was falling apart.

That's when Twilight remembered seeing James and the other one like him fight, not long after Rainbow Dash had dropped them on the ground. The other one moved at James with a large knife and they struggled over it briefly before James got it and quickly stabbed him. She grew nervous again thinking about it. It was a sudden and shocking thing to see. For most of the time since she saw it, it had been plaguing her thoughts. It was a dark riddle without an answer. Like the lingering uneasiness at every unlit room that comes after reading a good scary story, it was an unsettling conflict of the desire to illuminate the truth versus the fear and risk of actually finding out what was in the darkness. She was unable to put it off her mind until Spike coughed up a letter from Princess Celestia saying that she would be responsible for him. Then she fretted over what would exactly happen when she met him.

But things had gone differently than she imagined. Now that she had gotten the chance to talk him a little bit, she thought he seemed quite amiable in conversation. He didn't even look particularly threatening, especially not in what he was wearing now. She still thought it looked more like he was wrapped in a table cloth than wearing actual clothing. Above all that though, she completely trusted the Princess over anything. The Princess had put her on assignments before while withholding information, and the Princess had trusted that Twilight would carry through. There was no reason for this not to be true now. That, whatever the reason behind what happened was, the Princess must have believed in Twilight enough to know she could maturely understand the truth of the matter. Even if she was a little afraid to find it out.

"James?" she asked, though there was a slight crack in her voice.

He fixed his gaze on her. "Hm?"

"I'd like to a-ask you a... uh... a l-little bit about what happened yesterday. A-after the structure collapsed." Before he even had a chance to consider what she said, she suddenly continued, "B-but first! How about a drink? I'm a little thirsty! Eheh..." She just needed a moment to calm her nerves and focus herself. She knew she could get through this, but now she felt too agitated from jumping so hastily from thought to action without taking the time to prepare.

"Alright," he responded. "Water would be great."

"Sure! No problem! I'll be right back," she said, getting up and heading off towards the kitchen. She muttered positive reinforcements quietly to herself, as well as a small chastisement for not asking for the break before bringing up the topic.

James looked down at the floor and brought his right fist up against his mouth in thought. Princess Celestia had talked to him about Twilight's studiousness and curiosity. The Princess also had a warning with regards to that terrible subject that she knew James and Twilight would inevitably talk about.

The rays of the morning sun cast into the room from the left of the bed, through the tall windows and their curtains. James fumbled in the sheets for several minutes to collect some more rest. Eventually he sat up, looking out from under the canopy of the bed at the windows and the morning sunrise as it filtered through the purple curtains. He was in a guest suite at Canterlot Castle.

He got up out of the bed, again getting a look at the thing Princess Celestia had given him to wear last night. It was a rather funny looking type of white robe. The Princess told him she had just taken and old table cloth and sewn it up, cutting in holes for the arms. It was only temporary until he could get some proper clothes made. She had seemed pleased with herself, saying it had been a long time since she had tried her hoof at sewing. It didn't look very professional but James was appreciative anyway. As long as she wasn't requesting he go around without clothes like several ponies he had seen he was fine with it.

James checked the door to the room. A guard was posted outside who requested he stay in the room as Princess Celestia would be up to meet with him shortly. He turned back in and dropped himself on the bed and begin thinking over various events of the previous day. The battle, the destruction, and the strangest event of all, recapping the day to a regal, talking horse in her castle. He was curious as to Princess Celestia's intentions for him. He was so sure by the way she reacted to his talk of war and fighting that she would just find a place to hide him away. But she had absolutely assured him when he asked again after their meal that there was no castle dungeon and nobody was going to be locked away. Keeping his thoughts occupied with these present matters also helped him deal with some of his loss. He felt sure he could handle it in time; he had been in military service so there was always the chance he could suddenly lose everything, after all. He just didn't want to deal with it at the moment.

The wait was only about fifteen minutes before the Princess arrived. She invited him to follow her down the halls of the castle and into the gardens. They casually chatted along the way. She asked him how slept, if his cuts and bruises were doing better, if he was hungry, and such general conversational things. It was only a short walk down some corridors before they crossed a large ballroom with glass walls that opened right up into the gardens. They stepped out, welcomed by a soft breeze. The morning air made things chilly for James, especially as his makeshift clothing wasn't very insulated or wind resistant.

The gardens themselves were quite beautiful. By the colors of the leaves on the trees, it appeared to be very early in autumn. It gave the scene the start of a warm color palette, but things hadn't given in to the change enough to lose all the lushness of summer. A diverse arrangement of flowerbeds dotted the area, with buds in more spectacular colors than James had ever seen. Several vibrant plants also popped out of hedges that were scattered here and there. There were a few stone statues placed about as well, mostly of ponies striking dramatic poses.

Princess Celestia led him to a tree with a thick, curved trunk that branched upwards into a veritable cloud of leaves. There were several arcs of short hedges surrounding the area, giving it a minor enclosed feel, and two stonework benches were at either side of the tree. Although the ground was fairly cold, James enjoyed walking through the grass barefoot. It had been a long time since he'd been outside without anything on his feet.

As they approached, Princess Celestia said, "I've been taking into account everything you have told me and I have decided what shall be done with you." It was really the gentle, soft tone of her voice that kept it from sounding ominous. "Since you are going to be a permanent part of Equestria, and your experience falls far outside the normal Equestrian way of life, you will be assigned to a pony who will take care of you and educate you. What I personally ask is that you keep an open mind about the experience."

"Alright," he replied. He felt she was putting an awful lot of trust in him. His rational side thought it was too much trust to be putting into a stranger, especially with how seriously clear she had already made Equestria's anti-violence position out to be. But his emotional side responded to her faith as well. Being given such trust made him feel like it was that much more important to live up to it. He could reconcile the feelings and go forward since he believed he had nothing to lose by trying, anyway.

"I know exactly the pony I will assign you to, as well," the Princess elaborated. "She is a personal student of mine. My most faithful student, Twilight Sparkle. I believe her recent studies will be most useful in shepherding you into our world. There is much you may be able to learn from her if you try, and she and the friends she surrounds herself with will be more than capable of assisting you with any needs. For instance, with new clothes." Princess Celestia looked James over once more, considering something. "Perhaps," she said, "in time, there may be things that she will be able to learn from you."

She brought herself close to him so she could emphasize her main concern. "Please understand, though. Some of your experiences and your world are painfully against the Harmony that lives within all ponies. Twilight Sparkle is a very gifted, intelligent, and curious pony. She will want to know and understand you. You must be careful with those parts of yourself and your history that could be dangerous to that Harmony. Twilight will be able to understand. I just wish for you to understand how important the Harmony is, how serious what you carry is, and to exercise caution with regards to those most terrible things you know of."

James wasn't sure he really understood what she was saying to him. "Ponies hate war," was his initial interpretation last night, but the powerful way she depicted the knowledge and associated experiences, almost as if they were a weapon, seemed both profound and ridiculous. Were ponies somehow so under informed or gullible that introducing the idea of taking things by force will get them all to start practicing it? Or was it some kind of social advice like, "If you want to avoid making yourself a pariah, be careful what you talk about"? He would have been "exercising caution" anyway as he wasn't one to press upsetting subjects if it wasn't important.

"Okay, I understand," he told her.

But the Princess' eyes narrowed slightly and she stared deeper into him. She felt he wasn't lying, but he wasn't exactly being honest either. This was the one thing that was important for her to establish before leaving things in Twilight's capable hooves, so she wasn't going to let go with a halfhearted acknowledgment.

Feeling the authoritative pressure, James relented. He straightened his back and stood almost as if at attention. Closing his eyes, he drew a breath. Princess Celestia seemed like one of those individuals who was incredibly good at reading people so he needed himself to take this seriously. In his head he resolved to keep her words always in mind and promised himself he would give them serious weight. He still didn't feel sure he understood what it meant, but he was trusting time and experience to sort that one out. Perhaps as he learned about Equestria from this Twilight Sparkle it would become clearer.

"Princess Celestia," he said opening his eyes, "I promise you that I will try my best to understand what you have told me and to exercise as much responsibility as I can bring to bear with regards to it."

The Princess smiled. It wasn't the more committal, "Yes, sir!" he would have given a superior officer, but it did contain the honesty she was looking for. "I believe you will," she said. She walked over to the trunk of the tree and looked up, admiring the leaves' golden color. She continued, "I will send a letter to Twilight Sparkle informing her of her new responsibility shortly. A chariot will fly you out to her this evening."

"She's not here?" James asked.

"No," she answered. "Twilight Sparkle lives in the library at Ponyville, a town not that far from here. You emerged just outside of it. In fact, you even saw Twilight herself yesterday."

He presumed she meant one of the ponies he saw after being dragged out of the DT. He asked the Princess, "Where will I be staying until this evening then?"

"You may have the time between now and then to yourself. Feel free to wander the gardens or the castle. Talk with one of the royal guards if you need anything," she said. When he didn't respond, she felt satisfied that everything was accounted for and wandered off into another part of the garden.

James was amazed at the leeway he was given. But now he was also alone with his thoughts. He sat down on one of the stone benches, resting his hands in his lap, and stared at the tree in silence.

Chapter 3: Discoveries

The clack of the cups being placed on the table snapped James out of his musing. He looked up to see Twilight sitting herself back down. Her confidence had returned, having spent a moment pacing in the kitchen to steady herself. She was still nervous but completely ready.

"Thank you," James told her as he picked up the cup closest to him and took a drink. He kept the cup in his hand as he looked her over. It was fairly easy to tell she was nervous, but the determination behind her eyes spoke to how the better part of her curiosity had her. He was actually nervous as well since he still didn't have a solid handle on what Princess Celestia really meant when she had warned him about talking of war. Irregardless, he intended to keep to his promise of trying his best to exercise caution. Twilight had shown herself to be intelligent so he thought he could play it by ear, answering her questions as they came and carefully scaling up or down depending on how she reacted.

He set the cup back down on the table and gently asked her, "Are you ready?"

As if answering to herself, she straightened her posture and looked right back at him. "Yes, let's begin," she said. Taking one more breath, she opened with, "A friend of mine pulled you and someone else out as that thing was falling apart. But then after you were set down..." She delayed as she was having a hard time bringing herself to say the specific words. She had thought about the exact words she wanted to use too, but it was hard to deliver them in context out loud. Saying it almost made it more real.

James gave a large nod to inform her that he understood what she was referring to.

Twilight sighed, then asked, almost painfully, "Why?"

That question was a little less specific than he had hoped. He didn't respond, lacking a good way to answer.

Sensing the stalemate, Twilight tried to add a little detail. "I don't understand why you would..." She was still having trouble with using the words. "Harm..." was as innocent as she could improvise, "... someone like yourself."

That left an opening James felt he could use. "Like myself," he echoed, but shook his head no. "It's more complicated than that. Maybe even more so for you." Placing his hand over his chest with fingers spread he said, "That other man was a human like me." He took his had off and gestured to the side, "But there were still many, many differences."

"What differences could make... what happened... happen?" Twilight uneasily responded.

James wanted to start with trying to explain, "We were enemies," but Princess Celestia wasn't particularly pleased with that idea when he had used it last time. If ponies have a society that doesn't have war and all its implications then maybe that explanation just comes out wrong. It could be like saying, "I didn't like him, so I killed him," which would just sound mindlessly sociopathic. It was still clear that the Princess had understood the concept though. So perhaps it was a matter of context.

"What you're going to have to understand," he said, "is that where I come from, sometimes people get in conflict, and if it gets bad enough those conflicts can escalate to violence. Even lethal violence." Twilight's ears drooped and she didn't seem to have words ready to respond with. James added, "I've been told it isn't like that HERE, but the reality is that is what it's like THERE."

For Twilight, it was a frightening thing to think about. Ponies could get into conflict. But usually it came to heated discussions, sometimes maybe even flared tempers. And if it came to really nasty disagreements there could be a push here and a shove there. But the ponies, and those around them, always looked for a way to settle their problems peacefully. To find a solution that worked best for everypony. To a large degree this even extended to the beings of Equestria beyond the ponies. The absolute worst Twilight had ever seen was a "battle" between a herd of buffalo and a village of ponies, but even then their opposing goals in the physical conflict mostly boiled down to making things for the other side so inconvenient that they would capitulate. She remembered a poignant moment where it looked like one of the buffalo might have actually gotten hurt and that caused the entire thing to come to a stand still for both sides.

What he was saying ran counter to a lot of things she so innately felt. What becomes of a society that accepts that sometimes actual physical harm to individuals can solve problems? Everypony loses. Those that get hurt might not be able to fully give back to the society they are a part of. Nothing is proven through the show of violent force other than how painful the irresponsible use of power can be. Twilight murmured, "Things don't have to be that way. There are so many other solutions that work better for everypony."

"But that's not what I'm talking about," James said. "I'm not talking about what could be. I'm talking about what is." He thought for a second. To avoid pushing things too far maybe he should backpedal a bit. "I don't want to present the wrong idea. There are many, many humans who are against the fighting. It's recognized as the terrible thing it is. But sometimes it's seen as necessary. As the only viable option."

"No! It's nev-" she realized she was being a bit too loud and might wake Spike again so she quickly dropped the level of her voice. "It's never the only option. There are always other ways. Sometimes they're not easy, but everypony has to work together to find them."

James didn't really feel like she was understanding what he was trying to establish. He also had no idea if it was him being unable to communicate the idea or if Princess Celestia's talk of ponies not knowing war was such an imposing reality that it was literally incomprehensible. "The view where I come from is that sometimes it is necessary," he tried to explain again.

Twilight just couldn't reconcile the difference of realities. "But, why?" she repeated.

"'Why' again. That's a small word, but it's a big question," he said. "I think if somebody had ever figured out the answer, something would have been done about it a long time ago. That's just the way it is. That's the way it has always been." Wars coursed throughout human history, and it wasn't like people haven't stopped to ask why before. Leaders, philosophers, citizens, poets, diplomats, spiritual men and women, song writers, and so many others. James didn't have anything over all of them that would give him the answer. It was an ever tumbling see-saw of "necessary" war and its lament.

Things weren't really progressing with Twilight, and it made James uncomfortable. Trying to drop the entire subject might not work well as they were already so mired in it, but he had to scale back somehow. Or maybe, he thought, he can try to use her curiosity to get her more engaged. But it had to be something she'd respond to more positively.

He grabbed his cup and took another drink, and then said while setting it back down, "Here, let's try this."

She stirred slightly at the change in direction, raising her eyebrows.

"I'll put the question to you instead. Why? Why is Equestria the way it is? Why is there no war here?" James winced for a second. Whoops. He had used the "w" word.

"War..." Twilight whispered, but then strayed into thought. If you ever heard that word around Equestria it was in a colloquial way, as an abstracted euphemism. When Rarity and her sister Sweetie Belle have a big argument, maybe somepony will say it's a "war". But in this conversation there was no doubt he meant the real deal. War in Equestria. She knew of it, actually. It wasn't common knowledge, though. In Equestria, a lot of history is kept alive through tradition: plays, songs, dances, ceremonies, stories and the like. That's how most ponies learn their history, augmented by some rudimentary history lessons in school. Real heavy history was mostly reserved for those ponies who discovered a special talent in history, or ponies like Twilight who read every book they could get their hooves on. As Twilight recalled, the last war in Equestria would have been an unfathomably long time ago, where the record of history gets somewhat scratchy. Long before the time of Princess Celestia. Long before even the uniting of the pony tribes.

James wasn't sure what to make of Twilight's long moment of reflection. She was silent, but the focus had returned to her eyes. Giving her the question had provided her something to really think about rather than leaving her with something to just react to.

Finally she said, "I think everypony understands Harmony. That it doesn't do any good to fight."

It was too simple an answer. James had suspended a lot of his skepticism so he considered that maybe ponies really did never get angry or upset with each other. However, it seemed like he had already seen enough to doubt that. Twilight was able to passionately disagree with him before. He also recalled the guards of Canterlot Castle. Maybe they never see action now but there had to be some sort of real ceremonial history to their presence and their armor. To be sure, he asked, "There are never any times when ponies don't get along?"

"Well, no, of course there are times when ponies don't see eye to eye," she admitted.

"Alright. What I'm asking is why doesn't that scale up? Why don't things get worse?"

"Because... because no pony..." but she stopped. She recognized that he was poking at the relatively unexplained nature of her argument. When two ponies couldn't get along, did they really look for forgiveness, or stop to mediate, or find a compromise because they thought to themselves, "Gosh, it sure would be horrible if things got violent!" That kind of thought, which admits to even the possibility of awful violence, would never enter a pony's mind. They just naturally seem to seek resolutions to their conflicts in Harmony.

Twilight delivered her conclusion, "Because there's something in the nature of ponies that keeps it from going that far."

James leaned in and shook his open hands in front of him. "And why?", he said, putting a rhetorical spin on it.

She just shook her head. She was reminded of him saying, "That's just the way it is" about his own world. It was a clear role reversal of what he was trying to point out before. The historical records of Equestria, that she remembered at least, didn't really say what changed with ponies after the last war. There was enough written to understand that the fighting stopped and in the period after there was a slow, great effort that eventually brought the tribes together. But there was never a clear answer to "why?"

"I don't think I could answer you any better than you could answer me," James said. He was just a little bit melancholy about this conclusion. It was putting Twilight in a dismal mood and, besides that, it actually would have be interesting to get an answer. To learn what went so wrong for people or perhaps so right for ponies.

There wasn't a part of Twilight that wanted to accept that there was a place somewhere out there like the one where he was from. "That's such a terrible reality," she moaned.

She caught him by surprise when she said that. In a way he almost resented it. There were good things he remembered about home. The beautiful, like sun rises, waterfalls, or sweeping plains. The artful, like eye opening paintings, moving music, or emotional poems. The personal, like spending time with his family or receiving such kindness from a stranger. But he recognized that Twilight was just getting hung up on one horrible facet, the only one of his world that she had witnessed personally, and he couldn't blame her for it. Then he remembered something she had said to him only a little bit earlier. He repeated it back to her, "Sometimes it's necessary to throw out preconceived notions before stepping into something new, otherwise they might bias your judgment in a way that holds you back."

The turn around bothered Twilight. She had meant it when she said it in such a good way, but now here it was blocking her. The objective truth of it was still recognizable. She had been trying to place her frame of reference over his world even though she had no logical reason to do so.

With a sigh she said, "I guess I just don't understand how you can accept it."

"No, no, that's okay," he said, recalling again Princess Celestia's warning. "I wouldn't ask you to fully understand how I deal with it. I'm just trying to answer your question with the truth." He tried to bring things back to the start. "What happened between me and that other man comes from all that. From that specific reality. When someone comes at you to destroy you, you can either fight back or be destroyed."

Twilight looked at the floor. Within the logic that had been established, what he said unfortunately did make sense in explaining what had happened. When Princess Celesta's letter had first arrived Twilight had fears that maybe she would be meeting a monster but so much of the start of their meeting dispelled that. Now, instead, it was as if he had something monstrous attached to his side, being dragged along with him. The Princess' instructions floated into her mind: to teach him about Equestria. Surely part of that is to show him why this monster associated with him didn't belong in Equestria. And he had to be capable of understanding that. She had to believe that. The idea that there would be no solution could not be accepted. "That's why the Princess has him here now," she thought to herself. She looked James in the eyes, saying, "I still want you to know that isn't how it works in Equestria."

It was a shorter reemphasizing of what Princess Celestia had told him. But in having this conversation with Twilight, he felt like he knew better where she was coming from. With Princess Celestia he somewhat had to take her word for it with regards to the nature of Equestria. With Twilight, there was something much more visceral about seeing her try to reconcile things with her world view that made it seem that much more real. He gave a slow nod to her. "Okay," he said. After a brief moment he followed up with, "I suppose in time I'll get to see that for myself."

There was a quiet release of tension while neither said anything. James took another drink from his cup, looking into it afterwards to see how much was left and giving it a swirl. Suddenly realizing she actually was a little thirsty, Twilight sipped from the water she had poured for herself using a straw she had left in the cup. After she finished, she ended the silence by speaking up, "Let's go on to a different topic and leave this behind for now."

He concurred.

Twilight began to get a little excited. The other things that they had talked about at first were interesting and not nearly as depressing, so she was looking forward to getting back to things like that. It really felt like he was an interesting person, he just had terrible things associated with him. To her, that was a big improvement over the worst of her imagination. And she knew from past experiences not to be so quickly judgmental on others even if there appeared to be terrible things about them. She thought about what she should ask next but then realized she had been driving the conversation with a lot of her own questions. If her task was to teach him about Equestria perhaps it was time to give him a turn. "Are there any questions you have for me?" she asked.

There were two he had in mind. One was a more pressing concern, something he hadn't even talked to Princess Celestia about. He was sure Twilight wouldn't like the topic though, and he wanted to refrain from potentially dragging the atmosphere back down after what they had just finished. So, he moved on to his other concern. "Yes. Do you know where I'd be able to get some clothes?" He held his arms out wide to give a good showing of the makeshift robe he was wearing. "This is only supposed to be temporary."

"I was wondering about that," Twilight said. "It looks like you draped yourself in a table cloth," she giggled lightly.

"Not too far off. The Princess made it for me out of-"

"And it's very nice! And practical for what it is!" Twilight stammered, with a little embarrassment.

He thought the respect she had for the Princess was endearing. "Anyway," he continued, "it's just to hold me over until I can get some real clothes."

"Well," Twilight responded, "my friend Rarity is a seamstress and dressmaker. She runs the Carousel Boutique in town. I'm sure she could put something together for you."

James raised an eyebrow. "Dresses?"

She chuckled, saying, "Relax. That's not all she can make, that's just usually what she does for her business. She's very talented and I know she's made suits for Spike before. She'll be able to make something that's just perfect for you."

"Alright, that sounds good, thank you." He grabbed some of the robe he was wearing and stretched it out in front of him, looking down at it. "And the sooner the better. All this white could get dirty very easily."

"Why couldn't you just wash it?" she asked. "It's only a table cloth."

He fumbled a little bit, responding, "Well, I could, but then while it was being washed..." He really should have known. A naked pony and a naked dragon walking about the library; clearly the nature of nudity worked differently here. It couldn't be a lack of use for clothes. Twilight's friend was a dressmaker. She made dresses. For wearing, presumably. Ponies had to have some conception that there was a time and place for clothing. It was just much less reserved than anything he was used to. He struggled a bit with how to explain it until he hit on something. It wasn't a problem for them. It was his problem. He was the only one embarrassed by it. All he needed to do was speak to the truth of the matter. "It's about modesty," he said.

"Modesty? How?" Twilight didn't see any immediate connection.

James explained, "In human culture, or most human cultures anyway, clothing is strongly tied to the idea of modesty. The default is that it's immodest to be without clothes unless the situation specifically calls for being unclothed. So normally everyone is clothed except when you're doing something like..." He bit his lip. "Taking a bath," he said abruptly.

Twilight thought that was interesting. "If everyone had to usually wear clothes there must have been quite a lot of fashion designers to keep up with demands. It sounds like Rarity might have a lot of expectations to live up to."

"I guess you could say that." He recalled a lot of the diverse outfits he had seen over the years, personally or in media. Practical wear for the every day, fancy suits and dresses for formal occasions, rugged and well-worn outdoor clothing, flashy and vibrant show costumes, extremely bizarre wearable artistic statements, and a wealth of traditional cultural wear from the world over. There was no doubt that there was more clothes than people. He wasn't much of a fashion person himself, however. "I don't really have tremendous standards, myself," he told Twilight. "I just need more to wear. And hopefully something that won't get ponies to think I robbed the Princess' dining room."

She smiled. "If clothing helps make you more comfortable here, we can see Rarity first thing tomorrow. I know she'll help." Twilight thought about the few dresses she kept in her own closet. All her clothes spent most of their time there, coming out only as necessary, which was quite different than the mandatory nature he was describing. "I wonder how such an attitude about clothing could come about?" she pondered out loud.

"Hm..." James thought for a second. "There's a practical side to clothing also. Look." He rolled up the part of the robe that was covering his right arm so that it was clearly visible and swept down his arm with his left hand. "There's some hair, but no real coat of fur. The human body is well built to deal with managing body temperature, particularly in hot climates. Cold climates can be more of a vulnerability but that's the beauty of clothes. You can carefully add layers to insulate yourself."

"I see," Twilight replied. "Perhaps that's part of it then. People who lived in colder places were so used to always wearing clothes that they just kept on with it until the habit became very entrenched."

"I'm sure it helped," he said, "but I have to imagine that like many things it's so much more complicated than it seems. There's probably all sorts of social factors woven in over time, for example."

Twilight took that into consideration. With the buffalo recently on her mind, she thought about them. Many of them looked very similar to each other in her eyes, some almost indistinguishable. But their leader, Chief Thunderhooves, for example, wore a special headdress which set him apart. Not all the creatures in Equestria were as naturally diverse as the ponies, with their wide range of coat colors and unique cutie marks. "It really is a more complicated topic than I was giving it credit for," she said. She made a mental note to go over the library catalog later for books on fashion history or clothes outside pony culture. There was a lot of extra reading she suddenly wanted to get done.

"Maybe we should get to any other questions you have," Twilight suggested.

The only other question he had ready could get a little messy. He hadn't even brought up the subject with Princess Celestia so he had no direct experience to go on. From everything seen and said though, he thought he had a pretty good guess of how poorly Twilight could take. It was a real pressing issue in the long run however, so it was best to deal with it now. He just wanted to tread carefully.

"When Princess Celestia fed me at Canterlot I got the impression that the usual pony diet isn't going to work for me," he said.

"Oh! I should have realized," Twilight said. She had offered him a drink but nothing to eat. And she needed to be respectful to dietary diversity because all creatures have different nutritional requirements, some radically so. Spike, for example, eats gemstones. "Are you hungry? What kind of food can I get you?" she asked innocently.

The fact that she hadn't yet picked on the direction he was about to take things made it that much harder to deliver. He still tried to proceed cautiously. "No, I'm not hungry, thank you. I ate what I was given at the castle. What I mean is... there were a few fruits and vegetables but a lot of sugary confections. That will keep me from going hungry, but over time if I stick to that I'd get very sick."

"Alright. So what do you need?" she asked. There was a slight pulling back of her voice, as if she could feel something coming her way.

"You're not going to like it," he told her.

Twilight tensed up. "Not going to like what?"

"You're really not going to like it." He was trying to give her that moment to brace herself.

She had a panicked instant where she thought he was going to tell her something truly wild or frightening, like the final sting in a ghost story. There was a flash of an undirected thought, "He's going to tell me he can only eat young, studious unicorns!"

"Meat," he said.

"Well, it's not unicorns," she immediately thought with some relief. "Oh. You're a carnivore," she said to him in a very straight manner. Then it caught up with her. That really wasn't all that much better. "Uh... you're a carnivore?" she tried to verify with some trepidation.

Technically "omnivore" would be the case. He nodded his head with some reservation, saying, "Somewhat..."

Twilight dug herself in. There had to be some reasonable solution to this. She actually noticed he was being more restrained with this topic than when they were talking about war, so she gave him the benefit of the doubt. He must have been seeking a reasonable solution as well. She told him, "That's going to be... very hard to accommodate."

He easily responded, "I imagined so. But there might be another way."

She eased up and looked at him expectantly.

"You see," he said, "not all people eat meat. Many do, but there were some who chose, for varying reasons, to not do so. And because we're actually omnivores, they were able to get by." Holding up an index finger, he said to her, "So, if the right things are available, it should be possible to have a working alternative diet."

Twilight felt completely relieved. This is precisely what she was talking about when she was saying there are always other solutions. She was determined to make this work. "Okay, then. What do we need to get?"

James tried to recall the specific details. He had never followed any form of vegetarian diet himself, but he has had friends and associates who have. "The key idea is that we're getting all the nutrients, proteins, vitamins, and so forth that I would usually get from meat from other sources instead." There were a few things that came to mind but the most important component he remembered was diversity. "Vegetable variety is going to be the big thing I think. A really broad range is needed to get everything. If I stick to too small a pool there's bound to be some nutrient I wouldn't be getting enough of."

"Ponyville grows a reasonable mix of its own vegetables," Twilight said. "And we bring in more from the outside, often in exchange for the excess apples from Sweet Apple Acres."

"Apples..." he mumbled. "Fruit is fine in regular amounts. Maybe we want to diversify there too, just in case."

"We can check the market stalls tomorrow to see if there is enough variety," Twilight said. "I think I can also special order in anything else through Canterlot since its a big center of trade." She looked around the room for a second. "I should probably be writing all this down!" she realized. She spotted a ready quill and some paper neatly organized on a table just across the room. A small light gleamed from her horn as the quill, its ink bottle, and a piece paper radiated a small glow before quickly lifting up and moving across the room to her.

James clasped a hand over his face and rubbed his closed eyes. He had thought he saw some things floating along earlier in Canterlot Castle but this confirmed it. Whatever. Reduced skepticism, right? One thing at a time. He could ask Twilight about that next.

The paper floated in front of Twilight as the quill swooped about in the air over the parchment, writing out her thoughts and dipping into the floating ink bottle as necessary. "I'll go ahead and make this a whole 'to do' list," Twilight said, writing a reminder that they needed to see Rarity about clothing. "Anything else with regards to the food?" she asked.

"Right, right," he said, bringing his attention back. "Some dairy foods are going to be important too. Milk, cheeses... eggs, if that's acceptable. Things like that." With all the cakes he had seen earlier he hoped eggs would be acceptable. Then again, maybe right now it wouldn't surprise him if she told him they grow the cakes in a garden.

The quill kept scribbling away as Twilight diligently took notes.

"Some grains... seeds, beans, nuts..." he honestly couldn't recall at this point which of these things started falling into other categories that he might have already been mentioned.

Twilight noticed his trailing out. "Is that all?" she asked.

"Yeah, I guess," he said. "Once I get a look at everything available I think I'll remember the specifics better." He added after a moment, "It's probably worth making a note about all those sweets and sugars. That has to be limited." Staring at Twilight, he thought that cake being a regular part of a colored horse's diet seemed like another one of those things that made its own weird kind of sense. He decided not to ask about pony nutrition though, in favor of getting to his next question.

"Already have it written down," Twilight noted. "You said it would get you sick." She glided the paper, quill, and ink bottle onto the table next to their drinks, and the glow emanating from the objects and her horn stopped. "I really think we'll be able to get everything you need. I'm glad we found a reasonable alternative."

For the most part, James was too. One problem solved was one less thing to be worried about. Not that he wouldn't miss the meats he enjoyed eating, but he understood that, like a lot which had already happened, he didn't have much of a choice in the matter. In a funny way, because he was holding off so much on processing his deeper emotions at the moment, meat was currently the thing he was most remorseful about losing.

Taking another sip of her drink, Twilight asked him if he had another question.

He jumped right to it. "How did you move those items around without touching them like that?"

"This?" she said, levitating the paper up again. "Unicorn ponies like myself can actively use magic to move things about." She demonstrated by swishing the paper back and forth.

Magic. He was just rolling with it now because he had dropped his skepticism. But it was still remarkable in how it explained everything and nothing at the same exact time.

Twilight set the paper down, knowing immediately from the way he phrased his question and the way he was still looking at her that the answer wasn't really sufficient for him. "This is one of those things," she said, "that's different in your universe, isn't it?"

"It's like dragons," he replied. "The idea of magic exists, but it's not a real thing." At this point he imagined things were pretty open. Magic could be some supernatural force like it is in stories, or maybe "magic" was just the word ponies used to refer to some kind of telekinetic power the Unicorns have. In either case he still felt safe going with the dragon comparison because the idea held: whatever it was, it wouldn't have been considered real back home.

Her reaction was mostly subdued surprise. Just as James had been sliding along by suspending his disbelief, Twilight was now getting accustomed to not having what she considered universally familiar to serve as a base for him. She still had a hard time swallowing the idea of a world where magic was absent, but she was able to take him for his word. "Magic is an incredibly essential part of Equestria. It's really difficult to imagine a world without it," she said.

To him that sounded like more than just telekinesis. "Essential in what way?" he asked.

"Maybe the biggest example is in maintaining the balance of the world," she explained. "For example, the Pegasi have a passive magic that they have used to influence and control the weather for a very, very long time. They keep the seasons in order with it." Realizing that he hasn't gotten a chance to personally talk to a pegasus yet, she turned to an example from someone he knew. "Perhaps more importantly, for a long time Princess Celestia has been responsible for raising the sun to light Equestria using her magic."

That confirmed to him that she was speaking of something extremely supernatural. Supernatural to him, at least. "That sounds pretty important. Which makes it strange for me because nothing like that has ever been necessary before," he said.

"Which is what really throws me for a loop," she followed up to his sentence.

Going right into an explanation, James said, "Nature had a way of maintaining its own balance, without intervention. Maybe one could even say nature WAS balance." Since raising the sun sounded pretty impressive he started there. He didn't really want to go into gravitational forces and orbit in case the theory of gravity wasn't really a pony thing (or his memories of those particular school lessons fail him), so he hoped a poetic but nevertheless true explanation would suffice. "The sun would raise every day because that was the equilibrium it struck with the world. The world turns while the sun waits. And when the world faces the sun as it turns, the sun would shine its light on the world. They do those things on their own and, because no being in the world has the power to change that, they stay that way. In balance."

The idea was intriguing to Twilight. She wondered what would happen if Princess Celestia didn't raise the sun. Conventional wisdom would say that it would remain night until the sun came up, and with the way ponies use magic now maybe that is true. But perhaps, a long time ago, that wasn't always the case.

Not fully satisfied with his explanation, James tried making an example of weather. He still wanted to keep things simple while striking the core idea. "Or rain," he said, "which comes when there's an imbalance of moisture in the air. If there is too much the sky has to let some of the water go in order to restore balance. That water comes down as rain." He grabbed his cup from the table. "It would be like if the natural state of this cup was to be half full. If you put more water into it, then it has too much and wants to return to its state of balance." He started tilting the cup to the side slightly. "Eventually it will get to a point where it must dump water to return to balance." A little bit of water drooped out as he turned the cup, but he caught it with his other hand. It was an exceedingly rough description, but not altogether inaccurate.

Twilight wondered whether maybe the lack of magic had some relation to the nature of war in his world. The power of Harmony helped keep ponies together in their worst of times. Maybe the humans' lack of control over their world somehow came to manifest itself as conflict. Maybe that's what had happened in the olden pony times to change things. Maybe magic came along. But Twilight recalled how she and James had talked about the nature of clothing and how a society's attitude towards something even as basic as clothing needed a more complicated explanation than just "it was often cold", so she didn't feel too sure about her theory. She also didn't want to bring up the topic of war again tonight, so she let those thoughts be for now.

"I think I understand and that's actually very fascinating," she told him. "Many things work differently through magic here. There's a lot to learn about magic if you're interested."

"I guess I should be," he answered, "since it sounds so important." He thought about what it might mean for him. "So, only the unicorn ponies can directly use magic?" he asked.

"Amongst ponies, only the Unicorns can cast spells. There's ambient magic in the Earth Ponies and Pegasi. For the rest of the creatures of Equestria, it varies," Twilight explained.

"Spells. From floating objects all the way up to raising the sun?" He just wanted to get a feel for what unicorns like Twilight were really capable of.

Twilight elaborated, "Each unicorn pony's skill and ability is different, so it depends individually on that in addition to how much they study and practice magic. Princess Celestia raising the sun is a very exceptional example. Levitation of objects is a very simple spell that nearly all unicorn ponies learn. But there are all sorts of different spells with lots of uses." She glanced around quickly and then settled on the candle on the table. "For instance, watch the candle." Twilight focused intently on the candle. A spark flashed from the tip of her horn and a flame flickered to life on the candle. "That's a fairly basic spell too, but there will be some unicorns who aren't skilled or practiced enough to be able to reliably cast it."

James rested his back against the wall a bit more. The complexity of the situation was increasing more than he ever imagined it would. He remembered when Princess Celestia had told him, "There is much you may be able to learn". Now it reached beyond just philosophical differences in the way ponies think and feel that gives them a warless society, all the way to the existence of a supernatural force that may permeate all creation in this universe. He reflected on Twilight's observation, "What can actually be known about a place you've never been to or heard of before?" Her advice was to throw out your preconceived notions so you can avoid a biased judgment. He wasn't sure if he was even capable of preconceived notions anymore.

"It sounds like there's a lot more to try and understand than I ever would have guessed," he said. "Not just about magic. About Equestria."

The Princess had given Twilight the task to help him to understand and she was ready to put everything into that. She remembered how some time ago she had arrived in Ponyville under the Princess' orders to study friendship and she didn't know anyone besides Spike, who had come with her. It was with the help of the new friends she made that she learned to understand friendship. Even more, she learned to understand her friends and, in many ways, also to understand herself. She remembered how wonderful it all was. How wonderful it still is. How much she is still learning and understanding.

Twilight was adamant that things could be repeated. Things may be more difficult because he was from a much farther away place. The farthest anyone had ever come from. But there had to be a solution. She knew it. "I think we'll really get to understand each other in time," she told him, smiling. "Some cultural differences and some clothing isn't going to get in the way of that."

"What separates us is much more than just simple cultural differences and clothes, Twilight," he said.

"I'm not going to believe that just yet," she said optimistically. "I think you'll see." She beamed with confidence.

They had covered a lot of ground already. Neither felt particularly tired yet and there was enough fascination with new, unknown things that they kept their conversation going for awhile longer with new questions and answers.

Spike made his way slowly down the steps, heading for the bedchamber door. He yawned and tried the rub the sleep from his eyes. There was enough sun streaming in to make it early morning. He checked a clock on the wall to be absolutely sure. It was a little past seven o'clock, which meant he was on schedule to make it to Rarity's when he wanted to. Before he left the room, he looked back up at Twilight, who was rolled out on her bed under the wrinkled covers, sleeping soundly.

Closing the door outside the bedchamber, he looked around just to remind himself that he had in fact taken care of all the chores before turning in last night. He jumped for a moment when he saw a pile of pillows and blankets sprawled out on the floor, annoyed that someone had left a mess for him to clean up. That's when he remembered what happened last night and Princess Celestia's letter. He move a bit closer to get a better look and, sure enough, he saw their guest laying over the pillows, wrapped amongst some of the blankets, asleep. James was close to the wall next to one of the small tables. Two empty cups had been left out, one with a straw. The only other thing on the table was a candle that looked like it had been burnt down a few inches before someone had snuffed it out.

Chapter 4: Companions

It was a generally busy day on the streets of Ponyville. Some ponies were out for a walk while others shopped. Vendors in the street were restocking their supplies after the morning customers had gone through and the food services were getting ready for the lunch rush that would be coming up. Twilight and James ambled down the street on their way to the Carousel Boutique to meet Rarity, having gotten up late in the morning. Twilight was wearing her large saddlebags with a star design on the straps. She carried the to-do list she had written in one of them and was bringing them along to carry the food they planned to pick up at the market later.

James was puzzling over the idea of magic in his head. Having a night's rest had helped him get his thoughts a bit more in order and some skepticism and disbelief was flowing back into him. Still, Twilight's own statement about not being able to have preconceptions of another universe made a lot of sense. The basic things that make up each universe could just be different, literally. Physicists could explain a lot about gravity, but they couldn't explain why it was a "fundamental force" of the universe. Matter attracted other matter. That was just an observed part of the universe. In some ways that was as mystical as magic. A lack of understanding about something can grant it that kind of supernatural aura. He remembered a specific event from his childhood when he couldn't understand how something worked and his father was trying to explain to him that, "Just because you don't understand it doesn't mean it's magic." His father showed him a phone, a device he did roughly understand at the time, and told him, "If you took this phone back to people hundreds of years ago, they would think it was a magical talking rock, even though it's not." James imagined that maybe Equestria's magic was like that. If scientists from his world were to ever come along, maybe they would set up laboratories and do research and eventually generate theories and explanations that, even if they relied on different fundamental forces of this universe, would make a consistent kind of internal sense.

Twilight was in a chipper mood, still confident that, with the help of her friends, James could adapt to life in Equestria. There might be hurdles to jump but jump them they would. They were already making progress by coming up with an alternative diet that wouldn't rely on such... hard to obtain foods. She briefly wondered about getting help from her friends. Some of them had witnessed what happened back at the collapsing tower as well so that might be a problem. "No," Twilight thought, "I was able to move past that enough to see that there's more to him than that. They will be able to also."

She caught a sense like she was being watched. It only took a glance to see that she and James were getting funny looks from the ponies they passed. The ponies who were also walking down the road would make sure to move to the opposite side of the street first before slowing down and staring. A few even got a little more cautious, sliding slightly behind wooden stalls, carts, or curtains and shutters if they were watching from the windows. But their faces and eyes could be seen peeking out to catch a glimpse. She didn't like it. They had never seen a human before though, so she hoped that after being around for awhile the strangeness of the sight would wear off. She looked back at James to check on him, but he didn't seem at all disturbed.

He had noticed the stares, but he was mostly able to shrug them off. He understood he would be an odd sight. Also, this wasn't a particularly new experience. In the past, having to walk down the street armed and in uniform could elicit some similar reactions from civilians. There was also a side of it that he thought was almost amusing too. He imagined a child casually leading an elephant down a busy street and the kind of reactions that would get. And in a table cloth? It was probably like the circus was in town. He just kept pace behind Twilight, following her as she lead the way to Rarity's place.

As the Carousel Boutique came into view, Twilight pointed it out to James. "That's where Rarity lives and works."

"Was she one of the ones I saw with you when I first appeared?" he asked.

"Yes, she was there," Twilight responded. James seemed to have some consideration on his face of what that might imply for Rarity's reaction. "Don't worry," she told him. "She's a little high strung at times, but she's very pleasant, hard working, and generous."

They approached the door and Twilight gave it a knock.

The door opened a few moments later and Spike stiffly hobbled into view. He had a few fabrics draped over his outstretched arms which he carefully balanced to keep them from falling off or dragging on the floor. A measuring tape was coiled around his neck and he had several pins sticking out of his back. "Twilight?" he asked, "What are you doing here?"

"Hi, Spike," Twilight answered. "We're here to see Rarity about making some clothes for James."

Spike looked over her shoulder to notice James. "Oh, hey James!" he said. He started to lift his arm up for a wave but some of the fabrics began to fall and he quickly rebalanced himself to keep them safe.

Rarity's voice called from inside, "Spike, dear, who's at the door?"

He shouted back, "It's Twilight!"

After a few carpeted clops, Rarity appeared in the doorway. "Why Twilight, how are yo-hoo-hoo-hoooo..." Her words faded and her pupils shrank as she caught sight of James. She leaned in close to Twilight, never taking her eyes off James. In a hoarse voice that was probably meant to be a whisper yet somehow wasn't, she said, "Twilight. It's right behind you."

Twilight frowned. This wasn't how she wanted it to start at all. It's cool. Act natural. She put on a smile and tried to push things along. "HI, Rarity! It's GOOD to see you! This is MY FRIEND James! I've been ORDERED by PRINCESS CELESTIA to TAKE CARE of him while he STAYS with me in Ponyville!"

"F-f-friend...?" Rarity fumbled out.

"Yes, FRIEND," Twilight said. She turned back to James saying, "James, this is my good friend, Rarity."

James had quietly shuffled a few inches back, as if it would make him less intimidating for her. Giving the best bow he could muster, he said as politely as he was able to, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Rarity."

"Oh... ah... yes... how do you do..." Rarity nervously glanced her eyes around. Then she leaned in close to Twilight another time and again with the raspy failure to whisper asked, "Are you sure this is a good idea?"

Rolling her eyes once, Twilight dropped some of the pretense in her voice. "Yes, Rarity, it's fine." She got closer to Rarity and in a correct whisper told her, "Trust me. I promise. I'll explain the details later, okay?"

Rarity cautiously resumed a normal stance and glanced back at James. She slowly gave a large, anxious smile.

"May we come inside?" Twilight asked.

Without changing her smile or gaze, Rarity only creaked her head up and down slightly in confirmation and stepped backwards inside. Twilight and James followed her in and once everyone was inside Spike awkwardly moved about the door to lean against it and shut it.

There was a tremendous amount of decoration on the inside. Stylized columns appeared evenly spaced along the walls with intricate arches between them. Golden bows hung at prominent junctions in the structure and the royal purple curtains had frills of a vivacious beauty. There was no doubt it was the shop of a dress maker, though. Various racks held examples of Rarity's work, while a small few choice dresses were more visibly placed on pony mannequins. There were a few shelves lined with a wide mix of available fabrics and a large mirror mounted on the wall. James was taken aback by how different it was in design aesthetics from the library. Rarity stood inside, still not having dropped her clumsy smile.

Twilight began, "Rarity, we're here because we need your help."

Her smile started shrinking but still through her teeth Rarity said, "My help?"

Continuing, Twilight motioned towards James and said, "James needs some clothes and since you're the best seamstress in Ponyville I naturally thought you could help." James spread his arms and legs a little to give a better showing of what he was currently wearing.

Rarity's silly smile quietly faded as the introduction of a subject she was passionate about began to take a slow hold. Still nervous, she said, "W-well, that drab r-robe is quite tasteless..."

"Princess Celestia made it for me," James quickly chimed in. He really couldn't resist.

Rarity frantically sputtered, "I-I-I mean, it shines... with a royally... elegant... simplicity!"

Twilight gave a small disapproving look to James but then turned her attention back to Rarity. "If you have the time, I'd like it if you could make something for him to wear."

"Just something practical to wear. Even one thing would be good. I could switch between it and this until I could get more clothes," James said.

Staring at James, Rarity started to speak but she slowly trailed off, "W-well, I don't k-know if... I could..." Her eyes began to narrow and her head crept forward. Steadily, she saw not a person standing there but a possibility. She was used to making dresses, but she had assembled so many other things in her time that she naturally saw the potential for creation elsewhere. And this one had a size and shape that invited something new. Not a possibility... possibilities! She visualized the textiles coming together over his form. Cottons draped in silks. Satin weaving with buttons, ribbons, trimming, gems! Every stitch, every seam. It was all there before her eyes. The infinite possibilities. This was an empty canvas, and it had to be painted!

"Rarity...?" Twilight tried to get in touch with her friend.

Suddenly Rarity snapped back into a rigid stance. "Spike!" she commanded, without averting her gaze.

Spike dashed over to her side and threw up his hand in a salute, flinging all the cloths draped on that arm directly into his own face. "Yes, Rarity!" he responded.

The tape measure around his neck lit up as Rarity took control of it and brought it into the air. She trotted forwards to James as Spike wiped the cloths off of his face and went to grab some paper and a quill. "Legs together!" Rarity ordered. James moved his legs together and held his arms out to the side for fitting. Rarity immediately began taking measurements: legs, feet, waist, chest, arms. Whatever she felt she needed to refine her vision. At each measure she called out a number and Spike, ever diligent, wrote it down. After several measurements and a few repeat measurements, she went back over to Twilight while she wafted the tape measure through the air back to Spike, where it gently wrapped around his neck again.

"Well, do you think you can make something, Rarity?" Twilight asked with excitement.

"Oh, I may have a few ideas," Rarity bragged back.

Lowering his arms, James said, "Something simple will do. Something I could wear every day."

"Every day? What will you be do..." she started saying as she turned to look at him. But having gotten out of her tailoring zen, his sight started to make her a little nervous again. "...ing," she finished in almost a squeak.

Twilight moved between them to get Rarity's attention. "That's great that you can help! I know you're busy, so whenever you have the chance to put something together, that would be wonderful."

"Oh... right. Yes," Rarity replied, working to maintain her focus. "Anything your clothes need? Any requests, ah, sir?" Rarity said to James. She was getting a reasonable hold of herself, even if her voice was shaking a little.

"Simple. Practical. Everyday," he repeated. He thought for a moment more. "And pockets," he added. "Pockets right around the hips, at least." He patted his hips to emphasize the location.

"Pockets. Pockets..." Rarity whispered to herself. She went over to Spike to check the measurements. Only then did she notice that Spike had dropped all the fabrics she had been carefully selecting before the others arrived and started to scold him.

Twilight said to James, "Rarity is the best there is. I know she'll come through with something perfect."

James nodded. He didn't doubt Rarity's talent from seeing what was hanging around the front of her shop. He just hoped she could do something other than dresses. But he trusted Twilight's assessment of the situation. The reaction Rarity had to him was a little disconcerting for him, though. It probably couldn't be helped after what she had seen. Still, she seemed to be bouncing back fairly well. He was a little surprised at how much Twilight's trust did for her. It made him feel like he could trust Twilight, particularly to explain his situation to Rarity by herself if need be.

"Is there going to be anything else you need soon as far as clothes?" Twilight asked him.

"Actually, yes," James said. He used one hand to lean up against the wall and picked up one of his feet with his other hand, showing the bottom of it to Twilight. The sole of his foot was grimy and dirt covered, with small pebbles and various bits of grass stuck in. "No hooves. No scales. Relatively soft," he told her. "These roads in Ponyville are not for my bare feet. I could really use some shoes, or anything like that, if we're going to be walking around some more."

Twilight could make out a red soreness on the skin that was still visible. Maybe Rarity had something immediately available he might be able to use.

James starting brushing off the base of his foot with his hand.

"No, not on the carpet!" Rarity yelled. She rushed over, magically picking up a dust pan and brush that had laid next to some shelving. Bending down close to make sure she could see every last foul grain, she started sweeping it up while muttering to herself.

"Here, allow me," Twilight said, taking over the pan and brush and continuing to sweep up. "Rarity, do you think you have anything James could take for his feet right now?"

Rarity looked at the foot he was holding up. She thought about the measurements she had taken. His feet just weren't the right dimensions for most pony footwear she had around. He would also want something with a thicker base than usual pony shoes since the purpose is to protect his sole, something not typically necessary for ponies. There was only one thing she could think of.

She went near the front door and flipped open a small cabinet that contained a few inclement weather supplies like umbrellas and raincoats. From it she pulled out a set of four boots. They were beautifully made and of a very light gray color. The soles were purple, connecting to similarly colored highlighting that covered the back and reached partially around the front in a series of smooth swirls. They looked like a wonderful match for her coat and mane.

"Those are great, Rarity!" Twilight said. They certainly seemed like they had the best chance of fitting out of anything else here.

"These are my customized Graceful Gale brand Snow Swimmers!" Rarity looked down at them ruefully. "I just got them in a little while ago. They're expected to be the hottest hoofware of this coming winter season. I haven't even had a chance to try them on yet!" she moaned. She picked up her head to see James again and could recognize the soreness in the foot he was still holding up, along with the markings left from the pebbles and other debris that had sunk in from his walking around barefoot. Sighing while she shook her head, she magically grabbed two of the boots and brought them over to him. "Here... try them on," she said.

James attempted to slip his cleaner foot into one of the boots. Getting past the top of the boot was easy. It was wide enough to allow a whole hoof through. It took a bit of force to wedge all the way in, but the boot had enough space to make it more than possible.

"How does it fit?" Twilight asked.

"A little tight, but not uncomfortable enough that I couldn't put up with some walking in them," he responded. Twilight held the dust pan up for him while he cleaned off his other foot into it and then he put the other boot on as well. He took a few steps back and forth. "These should work," he said. "Thank you, Miss Rarity. I promise to be careful with them until I can get something of my own."

"Yes, thank you Rarity!" Twilight added. "You've been a big help. I can't wait to see what you come up with!"

"You're welcome..." Rarity said with a little smile. It was nice to help out. But, goodness, the boots didn't go with that robe at all. It was such a visually disgusting combination. Her poor boots! She wished they didn't have to be seen like that.

Twilight started heading to the door with James following just behind her. "We don't want to take any more of your time," Twilight said to Rarity. "I promise I'll catch up with you later, okay? Thanks again! Bye Spike!" She opened the door and went out. James gave a wave and a thanks as he followed after her.

"Bye guys!" Spike shouted after them, giving a wave and consequently dropping all the fabrics he had just draped over that arm again.

With Rarity set to handle the clothing, the next major thing to accomplish was getting food for James to eat. It was almost noon and he hadn't eaten since just before he left Canterlot Castle last evening. They went to the food section of the marketplace where farmers and redistributors were selling every edible thing grown in or brought into Ponyville. In what came as another half-surprise, James was quick to recognize a lot of vegetables and fruits on display. Every now and then there was a plant he couldn't make heads or tails of, but it sure seemed like changing universes didn't do too much to crop availability. How convenient. He put the Twilight Sparkle mantra to work again. Who knows, maybe carrots are just an existential constant.

The ponies at the market, like the others they had passed by before, had varying degrees of uncomfortableness around James. Most of the other shoppers gave him a wide berth. Some vendors were reluctant to talk to him so Twilight handled all the interaction and, in general, any given vendor warmed up once they realized they would be getting a sale. At least one of them was particularly amicable, but she did ask Twilight if the food was for her "funny looking pet there." Twilight really hoped making regular trips to market with James would wear away at this kind of behavior.

They spent awhile moving between stalls, picking an assortment of foods out. Each new selection available reminded James of things that the vegetarians he had known once talked about. Twilight used the list she had brought to keep a tally of what had been picked up and write down things that James remembered or which couldn't be found. She also tried to make what suggestions she could based on her own observations of what he said and everything they had been purchasing. When she suggested hay, James was pretty quick shoot it down, saying it probably wouldn't agree with him.

After a time, Twilight's saddlebags had filled and James was carrying a full extra bag. At that point they double-checked the list one more time. It looked like they had more than enough to make a good start, and Twilight was confident that between what was locally available and what she could order in from Canterlot there would be enough variety to get by. James expressed some concern for the expense but Twilight assured him that Princess Celestia would cover the costs of feeding him. They started to make their way out of the market and back to the library.

"You know," Twilight said as they walked on, "I think after we sort all this food and eat, I should take you around and introduce you to the rest of my friends." Meeting them was something that was bound to happen sooner or later, and it might as well be sooner. They all had things they could contribute.

"Alright, if you say so," James said with some hesitation. He recalled Rarity's initial reaction.

Twilight tried to assure him, "They're all very-" but she was interrupted when she heard a familiar voice. Just ahead, a certain brash pegasus with a vibrant mane was doing some shopping of her own. Or at least, she appeared to be shopping.

"So there I was, soaring dangerously through the blasts of lightning shooting from the mysterious metal tower," Rainbow Dash was telling the young, disinterested stallion running the stand she was at. "They shot out all around me, but I dodged and I swooped and I rolled, and I got through without a scratch!"

"That's great, ma'am," the vendor said indifferently. "Are you going to buy anything?"

"Wait wait, I'm not done yet," she said. "So then-"

"Rainbow Dash!" Twilight called, approaching her.

The vendor looked relieved as Rainbow Dash broke off from him. "Oh, hey Twilight," Rainbow Dash said, before noticing James. She took a partially defensive stance and eyed him suspiciously.

Like before, Twilight tried to push on through as if everything was completely natural. "Rainbow Dash, this is my new friend James. James, this is Rainbow Dash. She's the one who pulled you out of the collapsing tower."

There was some mutual recognition. James remembered her as one of the ponies he had seen after that event. Rainbow Dash remembered him from rescuing him and what she saw afterwards. That's what was making her cautious, but Twilight's behavior had her a little confused.

"I should thank you. You saved my life. So... thank you, Rainbow Dash," James said, giving a bow.

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow but relaxed her stance. "Uh... Yeah. Sure. I'm a hero like that," she said, somewhat perplexed. She looked over at Twilight. "What's going on, Twilight?"

Twilight quickly explained Princess Celestia's instructions. That James would be staying with her in Ponyville at the library.

"And... you're using him to go shopping?" Rainbow Dash said, gazing at James suspiciously again.

"We were picking up some food for him since a usual pony diet wouldn't be any good for him," Twilight said. "We are heading back to the library now to eat. Why don't you join us?"

"Can't," Rainbow Dash replied. "I gotta pick up something to eat for Tank." She always remembered to feed her pet tortoise, even if she didn't always have great punctuality with it. Patience was one the little guy's strengths though, so he was pretty forgiving about that.

James was remaining silent at this point. He knew Rainbow Dash was scrutinizing him, but she was being much more bold about the whole situation than Rarity was. He didn't want to make a move that might get a more charged reaction out of her, so he felt inaction was a better course than action. Twilight would hopefully be able to handle things.

Rainbow Dash got up closer to him to size him up, scanning him up and down. He didn't look particularly threatening or dangerous. Especially not in that dumb robe or those goofy boots. Still, she was worried about her friend. "Is everything alright?" she asked Twilight.

"Of course, everything's fine," she responded reassuringly. "Listen, Rainbow Dash, I'll explain everything in detail the first chance I get." She didn't want there to be any problems but these introductions weren't going the way she had imagined them.

"Allllright..." Rainbow Dash said, almost to herself, as she backed off a few steps. "Twilight, if everything's ever NOT fine, you come get me."

"Thanks. I guess?" The sentiment was greatly appreciated, even though Twilight completely doubted its necessity. "I guess we'll see you later," she said.

"Later, Twilight. Later, uh, you," Rainbow Dash said, acknowledging James. Twilight started to move on and James followed behind her with a quick wave to Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash watched them go, still with an alert gaze, before finally turning back to the food vendor and saying, "Now, where was I?"

He panicked. "Uh, you had just completely finished your story and was about to buy something!" he nervously suggested.

Twilight and James continued walking on back towards the library. Once out of range of Rainbow Dash, Twilight said, "I'm sorry about that."

But James wasn't really bothered. "No, don't be. Your friend was just looking out for you," he told Twilight. Having a general understanding of ponies' feelings on violence thanks to his talk with Twilight last evening, he wasn't happy putting the other ponies in a position he knew they would probably be uncomfortable in. But he understood their reaction. "She's right to be wary. There's prudence in not being so trusting of strangers. You can't know the motivation of everyone you meet."

Saying that irked Twilight. He almost sounded like he was implicating himself in having underhanded motives. "You have to have good faith in the different ponies you meet. Even strangers. Trust has to begin somewhere," she told him.

"Trust is a very valuable thing. If you give it to everyone you meet, then what value would it have?" he asked rhetorically. "I think your friends understand that and that's why they're hesitant to trust me. It's fine. I'm not bothered by it."

Twilight had a brief, doubtful moment. "But they can trust me," she murmured.

"I got the impression that they do trust you. Very, very much," he told her in surprise. "They were fast to take your opinion to heart. I thought they had a lot of confidence in what you had to say." Considering Twilight's pained reactions last night whenever she really thought about violence and war, James was still stunned with the relatively more amount of stride Rarity and Rainbow Dash had taken things. And they hadn't been directly commanded by a mentor, by the ruler of ponies, to care for him. They didn't have any stake in him outside of respecting Twilight. "Given what they had seen, I think that really says a lot."

Hearing that relieved Twilight. Things had not gone completely the way she had felt they would at first, but it was reassuring to hear someone else say that her confidence in her friends hadn't truly been misplaced. She still didn't like James' take on the situation, however. "If you have a hard time placing trust in others how can you rely on them when you need to?" she asked.

"It isn't about difficulty in placing trust. You have to use caution." It seemed like a straight forward concept to him. Stranger danger. In fact, some of the leeway that had been extended to him worried him a little bit. What if someone else had come through who had a real silver tongue? Their ability to exploit the ponies could be disastrous depending on their intent. "Build trust slowly over time. Both individuals have to work at it to give it meaning because it shatters like glass."

"That still doesn't start it," she complained. "If everypony is too reserved to start trusting anypony, than no pony will trust anypony. It's a mutual thing."

"It is. Both sides have to work at building it," he said again.

"No, I mean, if you don't try to trust others they might see that and even reflect it back at you," she said. "It can't exist where you aren't willing to try and make it exist."

There was a point there, James admitted to himself. If every person you meet is a stranger at first and you don't trust strangers, who do you trust? There has to be a moment of integrity, where someone exposes themselves and that builds the faith in each other to begin trust. "You just have to do your best," he said, "to give what little you can so they can prove their reliability bit by bit. It's a brittle thing that you have to guard with care. If they fail to live up to that trust it breaks."

For Twilight, the glass metaphor was troubling too. Trust isn't a weakness between two, it's a strength. "You have to believe in your friends. It isn't really trust if you let a failure of theirs break what you have between each other." It's because you have faith in them that you must forgive them if that time comes. That's how she really felt.

He replied, "There's an expression that goes, 'Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.' To have a dependent relationship, you always have to prove your trust to each other."

"But that's what I'm saying! If you're always having to prove your trust, then it isn't really trust at all." It seemed so much worse, actually. Then it's like suspicion. Leaving reminders to each other because you don't believe that they believe in you.

James thought they were getting off track. This was supposed to be about Twilight's friends exercising proper caution because they saw him do a very unponylike thing. Also, he's the first human they've ever seen. A little doubt could carry a lot of safety. Not that he didn't appreciate Twilight putting herself out there so much for his sake, bringing him into her home, working with him to get food, and so on. But there was never a time to be so careless as to put so much trust into a person you didn't build it with.

Wait, what was he saying? He's been in life-or-death situations where, sometimes, he has had to trust his life to people he had never met before. Sometimes it was even trusting that people elsewhere whom he had never met at all had done their jobs. Other people he didn't know had put their lives in his hands. But surely the extreme nature of those circumstances changed things? He wasn't talking about who he personally chooses to relate with anymore. Of course, here he was putting so much trust in Twilight. But even if there wasn't enemy fire this still counted as an extreme circumstance, right? It's a completely new world. He could die without their help.

Twilight spoke up, asking him sincerely, "Do you trust me?"

"Yes," he said.

"So, how have I earned your trust?"

He jiggled the bag he was carrying. "Food," he said. He kicked out a little with one of his legs, Rarity's boots still on his feet. "Clothes." He nodded his head forwards towards the library that was coming into view. "Shelter." And it was true. She was really pulling through for him, and he wasn't particularly doing anything to prove that she should trust him. So, he gave her the honest truth of what he was just thinking about. "I trusted you before all that, though..."

Given what he had been saying, that was curious to her. "Why?" she asked.

"Because I had to," he said. "I wouldn't make it on my own."

She wasn't sure how to take that. It wasn't comfortable because it sounded like he was trying to excuse himself. That he gave his trust but only because the situation was twisting his leg. In that light he wouldn't have really been giving his trust at all. She did feel better that, at least for his part, he was trusting her more legitimately now.

They took the last steps to reach the library door. James spoke up about something else that had been on his mind. "Boy, I am hungry!" he exclaimed.

Twilight gave a little laugh. "On this, I couldn't agree more," she said as she opened the door.

Chapter 5: Compatriots

Twilight and James safely stored away the bulk of the food they had picked up save for a mix of leafy vegetables he recognized and an apple. He would just throw the vegetables together in a bowl and call it a salad for today, and the apple was on Twilight's high recommendations. When Twilight had told him that Princess Celestia would cover all his food expenses, it began dawning on him for the first time that his situation had virtually eliminated all his serious responsibilities. With no duty to report to or job to maintain he would find himself suddenly with a lot of free time. It was daunting on some level because he would prefer to keep busy, particularly since it helped pass the time while keeping his mind off of the deeper thoughts and emotions he wanted to slowly sort through. On the other hand, there was a certain stressless freedom to it all. In any case, he would have plenty of time in the future to learn how to prepare different meals out of the available food selection so he didn't see a problem settling for a random jumble today. Maybe tomorrow he would figure out how to work some of the grains and legumes in there.

They kept their lunchtime conversation casual, sticking to mostly talk of the food they found, what more they could order from Canterlot, the coincidental commonality of some plants across dimensional lines, and such things. James felt like the variety was there in the options they had found, and he also thought he had formed a solid recollection of the things he had heard from vegetarians in the past. Still, without reference material he could only hope that they had enough to maintain his health. Twilight suggested that as he adapted to his new diet he should maintain a consistent amount of activity and spend some time carefully monitoring himself so he could feel for changes or anything that seemed unusual to him. That way they would hopefully catch anything wrong as soon as possible. It oddly struck him as the kind of advice he imagined one of his friends would give him if ever decided to try vegetarianism back home. He would run with it.

After they had finished eating Twilight was eager to head out and try to introduce James to her other friends. Although the initial meetings with Rarity and Rainbow Dash had not gone as well as she had hoped, she didn't let that put a damper on her faith in her friends. Each pony would react differently, but they all would meet him in time inevitably and she knew that no matter their initial reaction they would warm to him in time. She told James her basic plan for the afternoon. They could stop by Sugarcube Corner first to see if Pinkie Pie was around. After that they could visit Sweet Apple Acres because Twilight was reasonably sure that Applejack would be working the farm today. From there they could wind their way over to Fluttershy's cottage to see if she was home tending to her pets.

Still trusting Twilight's lead in the matter, James didn't see any reason to object. He had subtle reservations about meeting more ponies, especially those who had seen him earlier when he first arrived, but he recognized that these meetings were unavoidable one way or the other. They were all Twilight's friends and they were all going to be around as long as she was. Besides, he had gotten through the introductions with Rarity and Rainbow Dash alright. Better than he had expected, even. With that they departed from the library, leaving behind the saddlebags this time.

Sugarcube Corner looked like a child's fantasy come alive. A gingerbread house scaled up from its festive display and dropped right into town. James was rethinking his original interpretation of the intentions in the minds of Ponyville's designers. When he first saw the insides of the library he had thought they were going for a creative grandiosity. But now, having seen a few buildings with their wildly different but appropriate designs, it felt more like there was an emotional expressiveness behind it all. Of course a confectionery and candy shop looked like a gingerbread house; that's what one "should" look like. Or so it felt.

As they approached, Twilight was giving James an overview of Pinkie Pie. She explained how her friend rented from and worked for Mr. and Mrs. Cake at the shop. "She's a very lively and excitable pony," Twilight continued, "and she's also a little... goofy. So, don't take her too seriously. She's very friendly, though. You can take that seriously."

"I take it she was there when I first arrived also," James said.

"No, actually," Twilight responded. "When the tower started shooting out energy and became dangerous, I sent Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy back to town so they could get Spike and alert Princess Celestia."

"Oh. I see." Thinking about it, he believed he had only seen four ponies at the time. That would mean that the only other pony who he hasn't met that had seen him before was probably her other friend Applejack, the one who worked at the farm. Unless it was instead some other pony who had just happened to be there? One who wasn't a close friend of Twilight's? But what are the odds of that, considering everything else? "It's a funny coincidence that you, the Princess' personal student, and your friends were there when the tower came through," he said to Twilight.

"Not completely," she plainly said. "Pinkie Pie sensed it coming."

He didn't understand what she was saying.

Twilight pushed open the door of Sugarcube Corner which rang the shop bell as it swung open. Mr. and Mrs. Cake were in shop baking more of the treats which share their name. They looked up from their work to greet their prospective customers but got incredibly quiet and still when they saw who followed Twilight inside. Mr. Cake never stopped the pressure he was applying to the pastry bag he was using to ice a cake, so it kept spewing out icing in excess over his target, overflowing onto the countertop.

"Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Cake!" Twilight said. "Is Pinkie Pie around?"

The frozen couple glanced at each other for a moment before Mrs. Cake carefully answered, "She's just upstairs, dearie."

"Thank you!" Twilight cheerily said and made her way to the stairs. She didn't want to interrupt their busy day with talk of extra-dimensional visitors. James followed her while trying to casually smile and wave.

After they ascended, Mrs. Cake asked her husband quietly, "What was that, honey?"

"I think it was a ghost!" he nervously replied.

"The poor girl doesn't even know she's being haunted," Mrs. Cake said.

Pinkie Pie was in her room sorting through various party supplies while humming and singing to herself when Twilight and James entered. She bounded over to them at the sound of their approach.

Twilight began, "Hi, Pinkie! I want to intr-"

But Pinkie Pie was only looking at James for a moment with wide eyes before she gasped and shouted, "Is it Table Cloth Day already?!"

"What...?" Twilight said in confusion.

"Wait right there!" Pinkie Pie gleefully instructed before zipping off to the other side of her room. She dove into a basket of laundry and linens which ruffled and shook before Pinkie Pie emerged again wrapped in her own white table cloth. It covered her from head to tail, falling down over her eyes. Only her nose and mouth were left visible. The walking table cloth shuffled across the floor back towards Twilight and James, but she was a little off the mark and wound up standing in front of a pile of stuffed animals instead.

"Pinkie Pie, what are you doing?" Twilight asked, still confused.

Pointing a hoof out of her coverings at the stuffed animals in front of her, Pinkie Pie said to them, "Don't be silly, Twilight. EVERYPONY knows about Table Cloth Day!"

Twilight didn't have a clue what bizarre memory or fantasy had given her the idea to make up this strange sounding holiday. For all of Twilight's reading and studying of pony history and culture though, there is one thing she felt confident she did know: NOPONY knows about Table Cloth Day.

"Don't take her seriously, indeed," James mused to himself. Twilight's crash course on her seemed pretty accurate. She was anything but vapid. He couldn't help but see a strange odd couple nature between the two friends as well. Twilight didn't seem to have any problems being loose and jovial when she felt like it but, in general, there was a serious and knowledgeable side to her that was a strong contrast to this unhinged liveliness that Pinkie Pie displayed.

"Pinkie," Twilight began again, "I want to introduce you to a new friend of mine. He'll be staying with me at the library."

Pinkie Pie prodded at one of the stuffed animals on the pile, which gave a high pitched squeak each time it was pressed. "New friend? He sure is soft and squeaky," she said.

"Pinkie!" Twilight shouted to try and get her attention. Her horn lit up and with her magic she whisked the table cloth off of Pinkie Pie's face, revealing her whole head.

"Oh, hi Twilight!" she said with a giggle while turning to face her guests.

Starting for a third time, Twilight said determinately, "Pinkie, this is my new friend James. James, this is Pinkie Pie."

James gave a bow and an introductory, "It's nice to meet you, Pinkie Pie."

With a vigorous smile Pinkie Pie gave a bow of her own, the table cloth still hanging over her sides scrunching up on the floor as she lowered herself. "It's very nice to meet you, Mr. James!" she echoed back.

The energy of her greeting encouraged him to respond. "The pleasure's all mine," he said, smiling.

Twilight was satisfied with the way things were going. Not that this introduction went the exact way she imagined either, but if there was any meeting that was going to be reliably unpredictable than this would be the one. Pinkie Pie's exuberance was reliable however, and all the things that made the townsponies uncomfortable around James clearly didn't matter to her.

Somewhat bewildered by her holiday conscious guest, Pinkie Pie curiously asked, "Why are you here, Mr. James?" Before he could answer she got worried and said, "You're not here to replace poor Spike are you?"

"No," James said. "I'm not here to be an assistant at the library."

"Princess Celestia sent him here to learn about Equestria from us," Twilight explained. "He's staying at the library under my care by her orders."

Something about the situation was really firing up Pinkie Pie because she was bursting with excitement. "You know what this means!" she exclaimed.

"What does it mean?" Twilight asked uncertainly.

Pinkie Pie whirled around and threw her hooves into the air, causing the rest of her table cloth to fall off. "He needs a welcome party!" she shouted into the ceiling. She bounded back over to the party supplies she had been organizing, saying, "I just knew I should get these ready!" She kept digging through the pile, sorting things and babbling about what she should do for the party.

"How did I not see this coming?" Twilight thought to herself. She should have realized it would happen. Pinkie Pie had thrown a party for her when she first arrived in Ponyville and that was before Pinkie Pie had even said a word to her. Twilight wasn't sure this was a good idea. Although Pinkie Pie threw great parties, the other ponies in Ponyville have certainly shown that they're not used to James' presence yet. Further more, Twilight didn't feel like she had collected the data to know how well James would respond to such a thing so soon. She remembered how much she didn't appreciate her own welcome party at the time. While she did regret her unappreciation now, in this specific situation James' present comfort might be more important than any future regret he might have for not enjoying a party. They were dealing with someone who didn't really know or understand pony culture and she didn't want to risk putting him in a situation where he might be very uncomfortable or simply not understand. Perhaps she should try and get more details out of him.

"Uh... Pinkie Pie really likes throwing parties," Twilight mentioned to James, trying to spur on some kind of readable reaction.

"I see," James observed, watching Pinkie Pie eagerly sift through her supplies. This was starting to make him uneasy. He didn't want a party. What was there to celebrate? Besides, he didn't really know anyone here. It would be another one of those "stand in front of the class" type scenarios he had long hoped to forget, pointless and awkward for everyone around. He thought about Twilight's earlier mantra, however. He had no clue what a pony party would entail or if, in Equestria, throwing parties was such a regular thing to do with so little provocation.

Twilight was trying to read his face, but she wasn't precisely sure what to make of it. He definitely wasn't excited at all, that much was clear. Maybe a party would be a bad idea.

Noticing her staring, James looked back and gave his head an unsure shake while he shrugged.

It wasn't much to go on. Since he wasn't showing any direct opposition, Twilight thought she could let Pinkie Pie throw a small party. Maybe it will be a nice welcome for him and another chance to get to know her friends more. At least it could be an opportunity to teach him a little more about Equestria. Pinkie Pie was sorting through a bunch of envelopes, talking about how she would have to get the word out to everyone in Ponyville, when Twilight approached. "Pinkie," she said, "maybe we should reconsider this a little bit."

Pinkie Pie got quiet and stared at Twilight as if she had just told the most enthusiastic party planner in all of Equestria that parties were sometimes a bad idea. No, wait. That's exactly what Twilight just did. Pinkie Pie scratched her ears just in case some cupcake frosting had gotten trapped in there somehow from when she had eaten lunch earlier. All the while she was gaping at Twilight with a loose jaw.

"What I mean," Twilight tried to elaborate, "is that James is new to all of Equestria."

"Ooooh," Pinkie said in one long drawn out breath. "You're right!" she smiled as she bounced over to a closet. With a flick of the hoof she swung the door open and a larger pile of envelopes and additional party favors came tumbling out. "I'm going to need a lot more invitations to get all of Equestria here! Do you think Applejack will let us use the farm for the party? I don't think the library will have enough space for everypony."

"No, no, Pinkie, listen," Twilight pleaded. "I think it would be better if we could have a small party. Just our close friends."

Pinkie Pie gave Twilight another dumbfounded stare for a moment before finally bringing her hoof up in thought. Her eyes wandered back and forth between her two guests as the hum of her thinking became audible. Her clenched teeth flashed as they ground more and more with each passing second. The sweat from her massive consideration began to dribble down her forehead.

Suddenly she held her head up with a tremendous grin, saying, "Okie dokie lokie!"

"Thanks, Pinkie," Twilight said, relieved. "I'm sure it's going to be a great party, as always."

"You bet!" Pinkie Pie enthusiastically responded. "I'll have it ready before you know it!" She skipped over to the first pile of party supplies while telling James, "I'm going to throw you the best small 'Welcome to Equestria' party you've ever been to, Mr. James!"

"Thank you," he said with a polite hesitation. "And it's just James."

At this point, Pinkie Pie already had her head deep in the pile of party goods, fishing around for what she needed. But still she responded, "Okay, Just James!" She laughed wildly. She hadn't misconstrued him. That one was on purpose.

Twilight asked Pinkie Pie, "Are you going to need any help planning this?" She was pretty sure she already knew the answer, but she still felt she had to try and be courteous. "We were going to go visit some of the others, but I can stay and help if you need it."

Popping her head out of the the pile, with streamers now caught in her hair, Pinkie Pie giddily answered, "Nope! I plan small parties in my sleep!" The exact tone of her response made it hard to tell if she was just boasting or if she was literally describing her dreams.

"Alright," Twilight said. "I guess we'll leave you to it. Thanks so much, Pinkie Pie!"

"No problem!" Pinkie Pie replied. She grabbed some deflated balloons and leap over to an open space on the floor to start a new pile of everything she would need as she began again to hum and sing to herself.

Twilight walked back over to James. "Let's head to Sweet Apple Acres and visit Applejack," she said. She made her way out of the room to go back to the stairs while calling goodbye to Pinkie Pie.

James gave another bow and said, "It was wonderful to meet you, Pinkie Pie. Goodbye."

She turned to him, gave another counter bow, chuckled, and said, "Bye-bye!"

With that, James followed Twilight out. They went down the steps back to the main lobby of the shop. Mr. and Mrs. Cake had just finished cleaning up all the stray icing and renewed their baking work. They froze again as Twilight and James passed through. Twilight warmly wished them a goodbye while James repeated his smile and wave. There was a ring of the shop bell as they went out the door.

Mr. and Mrs. Cake let out a collective sigh and got back to work. A short while later Pinkie Pie came thumping down the steps, again completely wrapped in her table cloth. She couldn't wait to tell her hosts the good news about the holiday. "Hey, Mr. and Mrs. Cake!" she shouted.

The couple leapt into each others' embrace and screamed.

The tangy smell of live animals mixed with the rejuvenating smell of the orchard, and it hung in the air as a mark of the agrarian lifestyle the ponies at the farm have long lived. Twilight and James walked along some fencing which separated them from an apple orchard, following it towards an arch that lead to the main area of the farm. The place evoked a strange, nostalgic feeling in James, reminding him of farms he had visited before in his youth. Hayrides in the fall to see all the different crops and animals, or going apple picking to make apple cider.

Twilight was again trying to run down the basics of one of her friends to James. "She's strong and hardworking. She's also fair and considerate, always willing to lend a hoof. Applejack never has problems telling you what's on her mind, either." Twilight also tried to give a simple summary of the details of Sweet Apple Acres itself and its place in Ponyville's history and culture.

James didn't bother to ask if Applejack had been present for his arrival. Based on his earlier deduction he was assuming she had been. In any case, it would be easy to tell for sure once she saw him.

Applejack did catch a glimpse of her visitors while she was moving some bales of hay about. She put down her work to go over to meet them with a serious look in her eyes. She recognized who Twilight was approaching with, but she also knew something had be up if Twilight was so comfortably walking along with him.

"Twilight," Applejack said as a greeting. "What can I do you for?" There was every hint of caution in her voice, and she was visibly studying James whenever she wasn't talking to Twilight.

"Hi, Applejack. I wanted to bring my new friend over and introduce him to you," Twilight responded.

"Friend, huh?" Maybe it was the afternoon sun or the silly getup he was dressed in, but there was something more approachable about him now. She still couldn't forget what she had seen however, so she was trying to carefully reserve her judgment. Twilight wasn't a fool though, so she must have had a good reason for doing what she was doing. "Well, name's Applejack," the farm pony said plainly and with a tip of her hat, "and this here is Sweet Apple Acres. The finest farm and apple orchard in all of Equestria."

Getting very used to the action now, James gave a bow to her and introduced himself. "Nice to meet you, Applejack. My name is James."

Good manners. That was a point in his favor as far as Applejack was concerned.

Twilight explained Princess Celestia's orders. That James would be staying at the library and learning about Equestria from herself, and how she was now taking him around to introduce him to her friends. "You're all going to be a big help in showing him how we live in Equestria."

"The Princess' instructions?" Applejack said out loud. That was some strong support. If both the Princess and Twilight were content with his presence then there must be something to it. Things would be at least alright for now while she had the time to make up her own mind. She relaxed herself and said to James, "If you're going to be staying awhile then let me welcome you to Ponyville. But you should probably know that there are some things we don't take to kindly here."

Both listeners knew exactly what she was referring to. Twilight got worried as she didn't want any negative topics clouding up this meeting. James, however, was somewhat impressed with Applejack's openness. Like with Rainbow Dash, her lingering suspicion better matched with the carefulness he felt the ponies should have towards him. There was also a genuineness to her words. He didn't feel there was an actual veiled threat in her language, but that she was just expressing a fair warning of what pony society would not accept.

"I've been told, yes," he said to her. "I guess that's part of what I'm here to learn about."

Stepping in to try and avert any downward turn in the mood, Twilight said, "Well, I'm glad the introduction has been taken care of. I'm sure in time we'll all be friends."

"Since y'all have come on out here, I suppose I could show you about the farm," Applejack offered.

It would be interesting to see how a pony farm differed from a human farm, but James was reluctant for a tour over worked earth. "Maybe a little," he said. "But I'm still borrowing Rarity's boots, so I'd like to avoid soiling them too much." The boots already had a dusty layer of dry dirt stuck on them from marching down the roads of town.

Applejack hadn't fully recognized that he was in pony boots at first. Now that she really noticed it, she gave out a friendly laugh. "Those sure look like something that fussy princess would wear," she snickered. Considering momentarily where she could take them, Applejack at last held a hoof out to the sea of apple trees just beyond the fence. "Suppose I could show you the apple orchard at least," she said. "Our pride and joy. And a little ambling through there shouldn't mess the boots none."

They were agreeable to that. Twilight had seen the orchard plenty of times before, but it was a particularly beautiful place that was always a nice setting for a stroll. Not to mention it could serve as an opportunity for her new friend and old friend to get to know each other a little better. Besides all that, Applejack was always proud to show it off anyway and there wasn't anything wrong with sometimes indulging a friend.

Passing through a gate in the fencing, they walked amongst the apple trees while Applejack gave a short speech about the glories of the farm's apples. Their impeccable color, their mirrorlike shine, their crisp crunch. She punctuated her sermon with a cocksure, "The best apples in all of Equestria!". It was all the things you would expect to hear from a rightfully proud apple farmer.

"Have you tried one yet?" she asked James.

"Yes, for lunch actually."

"And?" There was no hiding her confidence. She knew what answer she would receive.

James wasn't in the habit of keeping track of the best apples he had ever had. An apple was an apple. Still, when pressured for an answer directly he didn't have to respond with a lie. "It was very good," he told her.

"Of course it was! Best apple you ever had," she said with assurance.

The trio continued on through the orchard. The early autumn's soft breeze wasn't enough to overpower the warmth of the sun whose light eased through the branches of the trees. James was taking in the air of serenity, not having had the chance to go for any kind of leisurely nature walk in a long while outside of wandering the castle gardens at Canterlot. Meanwhile, Applejack began talking with Twilight.

"I guess you already took him to see Rarity," she said. "You shown him all around town yet?"

"Ah, not really. I've only brought him to a few places," Twilight replied.

"Goodness girl, aren't you supposed to be showing him the ropes?"

"We've just started today!" Twilight protested. "He only arrived from Canterlot last evening. It hasn't even been a full day yet."

Nodding with acknowledgment, Applejack said, "Guess the Princess had him for a little while there."

"Yeah..." Twilight reflected for a second, recalling her uneasy day of heavy thinking that had followed first seeing him, after Princess Celestia took him away with her to Canterlot. The Princess had kept him there for about a day herself, but Twilight had no clue what really happened there since the letter she received never said so. "It was so sudden," she told Applejack. "The letter with the Princess' instructions came in out of the blue and a few hours later he was at my doorstep."

"Princess Celestia knows how to pick'em insofar as students go," Applejack said to her friend. It was a vote of confidence in Twilight, but it also made Applejack remember how much she trusted the unicorn herself.

"Thanks, Applejack," Twilight said gratefully. She supposed she really should consider just how she was going to teach James about Equestria. The conversations they've had so far have been educating for her. Not always in the best way but informative nonetheless. Hopefully he was getting something back from them. Introducing him to her friends has seemed like a strong step as well. In the past they have done a lot to help her learn about friendship so she absolutely knew how helpful they could be here. But where would be the best place to go next? "Books!" she said suddenly.

"Come again?" Applejack asked.

"He'll have free run of the library, so I can give him some recommended reading material to learn about Equestria." Twilight excitedly considered what titles would serve as good starts. Some on history and mythology were a must, maybe "The Tourist's Guide to Ponyville" for some local information, or you never know what he could learn from a compelling piece of fiction. There were so many great books to choose from.

"Books?" Applejack blew a raspberry. "Books, schmooks. Twilight, what have books ever taught a pony that couldn't be learned better with some good ol' jumping in and getting muddy? Beanstalk there needs some practical experience."

Catching up from behind them, James entered their discussion. "Books would be a good start," he asserted. "I'm going to have a lot of free time to do reading, and I imagine you all will be somewhat busy with your usual routines most of the time."

The fact that he wasn't opposed to soaking up the written word was good news for Twilight. The library's collection offered a wealth of knowledge. If only she could actually decide which titles to recommend to him!

Applejack considered her own schedule in the coming weeks. "Harvest is going to be picking up more and more," she confirmed. No doubt Twilight had some of her own responsibilities she had to take care of in addition to her new charge, leaving it questionable how much time she would have to serve as a teacher. But Applejack got curious. If they're going to be busy... "Why are you going to have so much free time anyway?" she asked James.

"I don't have any responsibilities," he said.

"What?" She didn't understand what he was saying. It sounded like some kind of odd admission to laziness.

Twilight realized he was referring to how shifting universes had cut him off from anything he was supposed to be doing. "It's a bit complicated," she tried to explain to Applejack, "but he's right. His most important goal should be to learn and study anyway."

"It's just as well," James added. "With how rapidly everything has happened, it will good trying to spend some time decompressing."

Hearing that, Twilight thought that perhaps Pinkie Pie's small party was going to turn out to be a reasonably good thing. A little time to relax and relieve some tension. It sounded like that was what he was looking for.

"Hm. Alright," Applejack said with acceptance. The books would have to do. However, she still told James, "But don't you go forgetting to get out and see some things for yourself. Ponies can tell you how juicy and delicious the apple is but you ain't ever gonna know until you taste it yourself."

That was fair. It was also something James was used to. In general he preferred direct experience where he could get it. But when and where possible, some preparation and research could go a long way.

"We are still going to get around a tiny bit more today," Twilight mentioned. "We'll be heading to Fluttershy's after this to introduce her."

Applejack tried to imagine that meeting. Fluttershy didn't quite have the constitution of some other ponies but, then again, she didn't witness what happened back when James had first appeared either. With Twilight taking the lead, things would probably turn out okay.

They were coming back around to the orchard entrance now, so Applejack said to them, "Well, if that's where you're heading next perhaps you'd better get a move on, then."

"I'm sorry, we didn't interrupt anything did we?" Twilight asked with concern.

"Nah, nothing important," Applejack reassured her, "but I'm not sure how much more I could show you around without putting her highness' precious boots at risk." She opened up the orchard gate for them while grinning. "Go on. Pay a visit to Fluttershy."

Twilight thanked her. "We'll see you another time."

With yet another bow, James said to her, "It was nice meeting you. Thank you for the tour of the orchard."

"Don't mention it, Beanstalk."

"James," he corrected.

"Right," she jestingly said. "Take care. And don't go getting yourself in any trouble."

Chapter 6: Compassion

The trail winded down alongside the Everfree Forest. James stared into the dark gaps between the trees as they continued along to Fluttershy's cottage. The wild, untamed growth surrounding the trees wriggled and whispered as if the whole forest was breathing. It radiated its own life but not in the bountiful way the apple orchard did. It gave off a hungry aura. You could almost imagine being swallowed whole by the thick brush.

"That's the Everfree Forest," Twilight said as she noticed him staring. "It's a dangerous place. Don't wander into it."

"Dangerous how?" he asked, without looking away. After all the revulsion to violence, the mentions of the ponies controlling nature with magic, and the shop decorated with frosting and gumdrops, the idea of danger seemed like it couldn't exist in the fantasy land Equestria was making itself out to be. But there it was, a feral place before his eyes, different than everything he had seen since he arrived.

"The heavy growth of all the plants and the lack of major trails makes it easy to get turned around and lost in there. Some of the plants are even poisonous. Worst of all, the forest is teeming with dangerous creatures, some of which are aggressive and territorial. Nopony goes into Everfree Forest without a very, very good reason." Twilight gave a glance to the forest and the shadows falling between the tree trunks. She had only been deep in there a few times as necessary, and she's never liked it once. Usually her only regular passage into the forest itself was along one of the few existing trails that lead straight to the hut of Zecora, her zebra friend. Even though that was through a relatively lighter and tamer part of the forest it still had an unnerving quality to it.

James couldn't avert his eyes. The density of the trees wasn't so different than the forests of the suburbs he had grown up in, but each individual tree was so much more mammoth and imposing that it seemed like a jungle. The strange counterbalance this place made with Ponyville evoked such mystery. Why would the resident ponies set up their town bordering a "dangerous" forest? Judging by his and Twilight's current direction of travel, Fluttershy's cottage was right on the very edge of the selfsame danger. "Isn't there a problem with the creatures of the forest wandering out and causing problems in town?" he asked Twilight.

"No, not really," she said. It seemed like a silly assumption to her. Why would they ever want to or need to head into town? "Is there are reason you ask?"

"Ponyville is just so close to the border of the forest. It seems like it would have to happen from time to time," he answered. He was still staring at the tree line. No fencing here, no wall around town, no guards to keep a lookout for stray predators or foragers.

What he was saying didn't make much sense to Twilight. There was nothing the animals of the forest needed in town that couldn't be found in their natural habitat. "All the creatures of Everfree Forest are able to live within it without our help," she said. "They can live separately since there is nothing they need from us."

"I'm sure they know how to survive on their own," he said while finally taking his gaze away from the trees to look at Twilight. "It's just..." but he wasn't sure how he wanted to express it.

She stared at him expectantly with a raised eyebrow. With no immediate followup, she finally said, as if to push out a response that had gotten stuck in his throat, "It's what?"

He ran his fingers through his hair for a moment. If this path in the dialogue wasn't producing anything then maybe the approach should change up. "Human habitation tends to push animals away," he said. "Those animals that have been domesticated and can live mutually with people do. Some others become foragers that pick through the leftovers of the towns and villages they live near. But the rest of the wild animals will be driven back from the areas where people live because they often cause problems in the human societies."

"But why would they bother the towns at all?" she asked. Her pace grew slightly uneven as she felt more uneasy with the turn the conversation was taking.

There was something fundamentally different here. James supposed it was possible pony magic had taken over the role reserved for natural selection as well. "All animals try and survive," he explained. "Living in the same area as humans means they'll compete for the same resources. Space, food, shelter. Sometimes that means they'll try and take it from people."

That sounded horrible to Twilight. Animals getting caught up in the violence and the fighting and the wars of humans. There was a little extra kick of disgust because she knew that humans eat the meat of animals as well. The unruly barbarism of it seemed even beyond the ferociousness of the Everfree Forest. She wasn't sure she would have believed him about his world if, instead of finding him at a crossing between universes, she had found him walking out of the forest. The beasts there could be aggressive, and potentially even deadly, but even they had a kind of respect for the natural order. They didn't try to march into Ponyville to take things.

Her head drooped towards the ground. "They don't actually try to take anything by force, do they?" she wearily asked.

"Not exactly," he said, "in so much as it's hard to ascribe those kinds of motivations to animals." They didn't weigh their options and decide, "Well, I hate to be a bad neighbor and steal something, but I am hungry so forget morality!" They had instincts: eat, sleep, reproduce, survive. "An animal's goal is to survive," he continued, "so it's going to avoid fighting if it can. But if it has to in order to survive, it will. If the only way it can get food is by trying to take it, it will."

"And... there might not be enough food for the animals since all the humans and the animals are competing for the same resources?" She was calling back to what he had established earlier. But she couldn't reconcile things in her head, and shook it with uncertainty. "I don't understand... You had told me that nature in your world finds a balance, but I don't understand the balance in this competition for resources. Here, we work in harmony with all the animals that are willing to work with us, and we all get by. Those animals that won't work with us make their own way in the Everfree Forest. We leave them alone, and they leave us alone. That's our balance."

James folded his arms while walking, drawing his eyes downwards. There's truth to the idea that unity is power. Working together can yield results greater than individuals can do separately. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts, after all. There was, in fact, a balance to this setup in Equestria. But he felt there was a missing piece. Like Equestria lacking war, he didn't see how that balance was created. When you already have no war and no problems with anyone it's easy for everyone to say no to beginning a war. When you already have enough food and space to go around for absolutely everyone it's easy to agree that fighting over those things benefits no one. But how do you get to that point? In nature, his nature, competition was the self-balancing mechanism. It creates that state of balance. And when things get thrown off balance, competition enters again to set things right.

He spoke up, saying, "In an environment that can only support so much, the competition is what creates the balance. Those who are able to fight, fight for what there is available with which to survive."

"But they all might be able to survive if they worked together to try to!" Twilight shouted.

"Twilight," James said with exasperation, holding out an open palm in front of himself, "the competition is already there. They're already fighting to survive. If you stop fighting to try and make peace then those that are still willing to fight can take what is yours without resistance. Then they survive better and you don't survive at all." He let out a heavy sigh. Maybe it was too aggressive an answer. He didn't want to try and convince her that she was wrong, only that he believed she didn't really understand. "It might be true everyone could get by working together, but if things are already a struggle then you bring a huge risk on yourself in trying to create that unity."

She looked away, depressed. The thoughts turned over and over in her head. Again, she felt when she really put her mind to it she could more or less understand the established logic of what he said. A shiver passed through her. She despised how there was any kind of sense that could make.

This wasn't the mood for her to be in before meeting a friend, James thought. She had approached all the others with such confidence. He tried to slowly steer things away. "This is the balance I don't understand." He made a big sweep with his arms. "A nice, great, old forest right here and I can't take a stroll through it? As a kid I used to scramble through the woods all the time." The mock disappointment carried clearly like the ringing of a new bell.

Twilight looked up at the wall of trees that made up the forest border. Beyond the leaves, through the shrubs, past the hanging vines, a harsh and dark place existed in there. Maybe his world was one big Everfree Forest.

Even though he was joking, she wanted to make the dangers clear. "Well, you won't be wandering through this one," she said to him, picking up her head while trying to put the troubled thoughts out of her mind. "Getting turned to stone ISN'T the worst thing that could happen to you."

He made a strong note of that. Maybe back home the most common risk was a scraped knee. A more unlikely but more serious threat would perhaps be running into a bear or other predator that had strayed too close to civilization. But if this forest was a place where an average fate was being medusa'd by some magical lurking horror, then it probably didn't matter how well he thought he could hold his own. "If that's the case," he said, "I think I can see why some animals choose to hold up with you ponies. I've observed ponies have a distinct lack of petrifying those they meet."

She snorted a suppressed laugh and shook her head. "You're about to really see how ponies get along with animals. Fluttershy absolutely adores animals. She takes care of a whole menagerie of them."

"In her cottage?" he asked.

"In it. Around it. Birds above it, rodents below it. The fish in the lake. You get the picture," she explained.

"Yeah, I get it," he responded. "What you're basically telling me is that I shouldn't mention what we've been talking about. Or the meat thing."

Twilight halted her movement with a snap, eyes wide. She hadn't even thought about that. "Yes," she said emphatically. "Do not talk about that. At all."

Pointing down the road to what looked like a bridge over a stream before a windowed mound of earth, James said, "Maybe you should tell me more about her before we continue."

There was a cacophony of chirps, thumps, squeaks, chitters, twitters, whistles, hisses, and every other animal noise imaginable. It played like a looping refrain which never faded, omnipresent throughout the air. Similar to the Everfree Forest, Fluttershy's cottage felt alive but in its own unique way. It was reminiscent of the hustle and bustle of a major city street on a business morning in its energy, but instead the commuters and pedestrians were much smaller when they were even visible at all. They were sure to be around somewhere though, as James thought he felt their stares.

Some things stood out to Twilight. Some of the animals were agitated, others looked like their feeding hadn't been thoroughly taken care of. She wondered if, perhaps, Fluttershy wasn't home. Regardless, she knocked on the stable door that served as the entrance to the cottage. Everything remained quiet for a time. Just before Twilight was going to suggest what she thought, a rushed flapping of wings could be heard approaching the door. The top half of the door swung and a yellow pony head poked out.

"I'm sorry, I just-" the pony quickly started to explain, before gasping and slamming the door shut again.

"Fluttershy?" Twilight asked, knocking again.

The top half of the door creaked open a little, with a cyan eye peering through the crack. "Yes?" the voice behind the eye questioned timidly.

"Fluttershy, it's me. Twilight."

The eye rolled back and forth, taking in what it could see through the sliver it was given. Then, in repetition of before, the eye spoke. "Yes?" she asked nervously.

"I want to introduce you to someone. He's a new friend who will be staying with me at the library for awhile," Twilight said.

There was the long drawn sound of achy hinges churning as a hoof slowly pushed the top half of the door open enough for Fluttershy to stick her head out again. "A friend?"

"Yes," the unicorn asserted. "On Princess Celestia's orders he'll be staying with me in Ponyville to learn about Equestria."

With a steadying hoof, Fluttershy pushed the bottom half of the door open as well, taking a solitary step out for herself. She took a brief moment to study her friend's companion before saying with a reserved awe, "I've never seen a creature like this before..."

Like with the introductions to all of her other friends, Twilight felt the specific details might be a bit too much right now. However, like Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy had not seen James' original arrival to Equestria. All six friends saw the tower at first but once it began sparking energy Twilight had urged two of them back to Ponyville. "That's because he's the only one of his kind in all of Equestria," Twilight said, trying to at least lay down the basic framework for later.

Fluttershy took the news in an unintended way, meshing it with some of the thoughts that were preoccupying her mind. "Only one? Oh no! Why? What happened?"

"It... it's a bit of a long story," Twilight said dissuasively. "I was just taking him around to introduce him to everypony."

Once again, James mustered his politest bow and said, "It's nice to meet you, Fluttershy. My name is James."

"O-oh," she muttered in response initially, shaking some of the busy thoughts in her head out. "It's very nice to meet you, James," she said, inserting a strong courtesy into her voice.

Twilight started to turn away. "Well, now that you've been introduced, we don't want to keep you any longer if you're busy with something."

"Oh!" Fluttershy sharply cried. "No! I'm not busy. I mean... I am. But I'm not."

James and Twilight exchanged a confused glance.

"Is everything alright, Fluttershy?" Twilight asked with concern. She moved in closer to her friend, who was trying to avoid eye contact.

"W-well..." the anxious pony began, shaking at the knees. She nervously looked around for a moment, thinking of what to say. "M-maybe you better come inside," she finally finished. She turned back inside, leaving the door open for the others to follow her in.

Like Twilight had mentioned, Fluttershy cared for animals with her whole home. The outside had been littered with little houses, cages, and pens but, in passing through the doorway, James saw that this didn't change on the inside. Much of the space was dedicated to homes for small animals, in addition to other spots set aside as play spaces. Various tiny steps and pathways had been set up, including holes in the walls, to allow critters to comfortably roam the cottage as they pleased. It all seamlessly blended with bits and pieces of furnishings meant for its chief pony resident, and even some of those seemed to be designed to double as convenient resting places for larger animals. Being inside still brought a certain quietness to the air, however. Perhaps the animals dedicated homes may be outside, with them being invited inside from time to time for entertainment or care.

Leading them in, Fluttershy took them to a room where most of the furniture had been shifted to one side and many makeshift animal beddings had been hastily set up, created from towels, blankets, pillows, and any other soft thing that could be found. Food and water bowls were laying about haphazardly with different edible contents and some clearly had not been used as much as the others. As they entered the room, Fluttershy gave a hush and put a hoof over her lips, slowing down her pace and creeping along more gently than before. She waved her guests over to a low sofa and coffee table where they could sit as she went over to the only bedding that seemed currently occupied. Her pet rabbit, Angel, was sitting alert next to the bedding, watching and worrying over the small critter curled up on it. A teeny little flying squirrel was laying there, sleeping but shaking with distress. Fluttershy picked up a loose part of the blanket with her mouth and tenderly wrapped in over the animal, tucking him in. She returned her attention to her guests, carrying a forlorn look on her face.

Straining under her friend's sadness, Twilight lightly asked, "Fluttershy, what's the matter?"

The pegasus' lips trembled. Something had been building inside her for a few days and she had to work up the will to release it. Eventually, she took a big breath and opened up while collapsing into a sitting position. With unreserved speed, she began pouring out, "Oh, Twilight! It's just been so terrible! That crazy thing that showed up the other day devastated a small piece of the outer Everfree Forest, destroying the homes of the animals that lived there! I've been gathering the ones I could find who didn't run away in fear, taking care of them and trying to find new homes for them, but I'm not sure they're all accounted for and then... and then this one," she gestured towards the sleeping squirrel, "this young one is the saddest case of all. His home was smashed and he can't find his parents and we were looking for them all morning and he's just been crying and crying and he finally cried himself to sleep and, and, and..." She had been overworking herself caring for the displaced animals and all the empathy she had been bottling up to keep her from being distracted came spilling over in near tears.

Twilight got up from her seat and rounded the table to sit next to her weary friend, patting Fluttershy's back and trying to comfort her with soothing whispers. Looking around, Twilight spotted a box of tissues on some shelves and levitated it over to herself, getting out tissues to begin drying Fluttershy's eyes.

James sat awkwardly in silence. The absolutely worst thing he hated about military work was collateral damage. There was a certain horror to fighting and killing other human beings and you needed the mental strength to push past that in order to serve, but you could find some of that strength in knowing and understanding that the people you are battling have also chosen to fight. A mutual contract of blood, an unspoken agreement that you won't begrudge their hostile efforts because they won't begrudge yours. It wasn't the same with innocent bystanders. They've done nothing to bring the suffering upon themselves, but they're still scarred by the conflict regardless. He never got along with the soldiers who so thoroughly believed that you couldn't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs. The ones who became reckless and uncaring in regards to who else got hurt. The chain of events that had brought him to Equestria bugged him when learned of the intelligence and society of ponies; it was a fight that never should have been brought to their front. But only now, with direct innocent casualties, did he really feel rattled. What confused him however, was why he was being so troubled over just a few animals. Forests get torn down all the time. It's a shame for the animals that live there, but as he had been discussing with Twilight, that's survival of the fittest. They would find new homes and habitats. In this case though, the distraught girl brought before him was somehow bridging an emotional gap, making things more real and critical.

"You've really done your best, and you've helped the animals a lot," Twilight reassured her friend. "Come on, now." She laid a crumpled, used tissue down on the coffee table.

"It's awful what happened," Fluttershy lamented. "I still don't know if all the animals got away safely."

"Don't worry," Twilight reinforced her words with a strong hug. "You've been doing all you can, and I'm sure all the animals are going to be fine. Even the little one's parents." She got out another tissue to dab at the misty eyes a few more times. "Why didn't you tell me or any of the others about this? We'd be glad to help."

"I've just been so busy with making space for the animals, and trying to look for missing ones, and caring for my other little friends. I haven't had the time," Fluttershy tiredly said. There were distinctive bags under her eyes to support her story, and her body had a slight shake that came from exhaustion as much as it did from stress. It didn't stop her from beginning to collect herself now that she had her chance to relieve all that built up tension.

Taking her foreleg off from around Fluttershy's back, Twilight said, "Well, now that I know, I'll definitely help out. We'll tell the others and I know they'll help as well." She finished her work with the current tissue and set it aside without drawing a new one. There wasn't a need to. "What do you need help with? What has to be done?" she asked her friend.

Calming herself, Fluttershy tried recalling where she was at in everything she had been doing. "I finished setting up new pens outside for all the unfortunate animals, to get them out of this temporary bedding here." She looked back at the sleeping squirrel. "All except for him. He needs personal care," she said quietly. "I'm still looking for lost animals, including his lost parents, and new permanent homes for the found animals."

"We'll get the others and start helping you look for everything," Twilight reasserted.

"Thank you, Twilight," Fluttershy said sincerely. She relaxed as best she could in her fatigue and gave a heavy sigh. "I wish I knew why this happened..." she moaned.

Twilight felt it wasn't really the time to be getting into the details. Fluttershy was already too tired for her own ordeal and starting an in depth discussion about where James came from or who he was would just be pulling her into places she might not be ready to go. This made it extra surprising to Twilight when James spoke up.

"I should take responsibility for it," he mentioned.

Both ponies looked up at him with surprise, but Twilight was extra incredulous. "What?" she asked, utterly baffled.

"I'll take responsibility for what happened," he stated plainly.

"No no no, that doesn't make any sense. It wasn't your fault," she stood up as she protested his claim.

"Not my fault directly," he countered, "but since I'm the only one left who can even rightly accept responsibility, I should." He shook his head with disappointment. "I hate when these disastrous mistakes happen to innocent people and no one steps up to answer for them. Someone should own up to it."

"That's still ridiculous! It's pointless to make a scapegoat out of somepony who isn't even-" She stopped herself. It truly was ridiculous. There was already a big enough problem that had to be solved with helping Fluttershy and dealing with nutty politics about who takes the fall was just a waste of time. Especially when nopony here was even at fault. She directed a hoof at him, "Look. You're not responsible. It doesn't matter who is. All that matters is setting things right again. And everypony should lend a hoof in doing that."

Lacking details, Fluttershy wasn't able to follow their argument closely. She was getting upset listening to them disagree, however. "I don't want anypony to blamed for anything," she meekly interjected.

Exasperated, Twilight shouted, "Nopony is being blamed for anything!" Her raised volume caused Fluttershy to recoil sheepishly, and Twilight exhaled in frustration. She took a second to calm herself before continuing. "Let's get the others and get to work fixing this."

"Oh... well..." Fluttershy began unsurely, "I think it's a little late in the afternoon to do any more today. It won't be long until evening and we shouldn't be searching the forest then. Many of the animals are also still tired from their trouble. The little one is finally asleep too..."

"I think you're also pretty tired from your troubles," Twilight told her. "You should get some well deserved rest also. I'll talk to the others as soon as I can." What a shame they hadn't visited Fluttershy first today. Then she could have spoken with the others as they saw them one by one. Now, when was the next time she would see them? Maybe she would have to go out to visit them all again tomorrow or... the party? Pinkie Pie can have a really quick turn when she is excited about getting a party going, and for this one she seemed positively ecstatic (by Pinkie Pie standards.) There was no telling when the party would be until she sent out invitations. But Fluttershy's troubles could sidetrack the party. Twilight's brain pounded itself against her skull in irritation. This is fast becoming one of those weeks.

"Thank you, Twilight," Fluttershy said to her friend. She closed her eyes and her head sunk slightly as she appeared to nod off, breathing slowly. With a shiver, she suddenly snapped her eyes open and looked at James. "I'm sorry, I haven't been a very inviting host. Do you need anything?" She struggled to try and make a suggestion, finally settling on, "I could make some raspberry tea if you'd like."

Twilight decided to jump on the offer. She felt like she could use some tea to clear her head. Besides, the tea would help Fluttershy herself relax a little more. "I think that sounds great. Why don't I help you make it? Would you like some, James?"

He was staring past her, brooding with his own thoughts. Offhandedly, he responded, "Sure."

After helping Fluttershy to her hooves, the two ponies made their way out of the room towards the cottage kitchen. James sat silently, alone save for the sleeping squirrel and Angel, who was quietly keeping vigil over the minute creature. The aural wave of Fluttershy's pets continued on outside but only came through the walls as a low rumbling noise in the room. By far the clearest sound was the regular, repeating tick of a clock with a pendulum hanging on the wall. It swung itself back and forth as James unconsciously lined up the blinking of his fixed stare to the beat of the clock.

At last he stood up and squeezed his fist into a ball, digging his nails into his palm. He really didn't care what Twilight said about this subject. She was probably just trying to stop a guilt trip, which is understandable. Or she didn't wanted him embroiled in the pony criminal justice system. Given how freely Princess Celestia had let him go and how resistant to his proposal Twilight was, he doubted the ponies had much of a harsh criminal justice system anyway. If they even had one at all. The whole thing wasn't about blame in his mind him, though. It was only the justice of the situation which was important to him. If everyone was pitching in for the restitution, that's fine. He expected that. It didn't bother him that others would try and make things right. What was significant was that, since the lives and livelihood of these animals was so important to them for whatever reason, someone should be held accountable for what unfairly happened to them. It was about the fact that he was the only one in Equestria now who was involved in any way with the catalyst event. The only one that could also truly explain not just what happened but why it happened. When they're hurt and suffering unfairly and they ask, "Why?", he could do the responsible bare minimum and give an honest explanation. And when it comes to injustice, people are owed at least explanations. He would be responsible. Twilight didn't have to accept it. He did.

He folded his arms and harshly exhaled through his nose. Taking a few steps around the coffee table, he observed the room in a bit more detail before settling on examining Angel. He was a good looking rabbit. Rabbits were actually the only pets he had ever raised himself growing up. His parents were against the idea of "family" pets, like dogs and cats, since they believed inevitably the kids would not subsume full responsibility in caring for the animals between school and friends, and his parents themselves were busy enough raising those very same kids. He was permitted to have a personal pet so long as it wasn't too high maintenance, which wound up being one rabbit at a time for many years. James couldn't place Angel's breed but, then again, maybe that didn't matter on account of changing universes. The only thing that struck him was that something about the rabbit was... different than anything he had seen before. It was in the eyes. There was a certain... expressiveness he had never seen before. As he stared, it was almost like Angel was studying him back. Not in the reactive way a watchful animal follows you around a room; in a way like the rabbit was wondering who he was and why he was here.

"You're a funny bunny," he whispered to Angel. The rabbit scrutinized him back for a few more seconds before looking down again to monitor the tucked in squirrel. James followed Angel's eyes to get a good look at the sleeper himself.

The soft fuzz of the yellow blanket folded around him covered everything but his dinky little head. With his tiny size you could hardly tell if he was breathing at all. James mused over the critter. This was an animal whose situation got a certain pony very worried. His home lost, separated from his family, he was taken from what he knew and was cast into a world that frightened him. He had been taken in and is being cared for by a pony who is working hard to make him comfortable. To make things right again. Now here he was, sleeping in the home of that pony. You know, looking at his eyes... it was almost like... he actually had cried himself to sleep. Can squirrels even cry?

James swiftly turned back towards the couch. He sat down and rubbed his forehead. What was he doing? He didn't even like tea.

Chapter 7: Arrangement

Magically holding a teapot aloft, Twilight gently poured its contents evenly into a set of three matching teacups she had set out on the table. Fluttershy brought her nose over her drink and closed her eyes, taking in the warm, relaxing aroma while she waited for it to cool slightly. Feeling his cup carefully to check the heat first, James picked his up and sampled the smell emanating from it. He wasn't sure he would drink any, but he kept cradling the drink because the scent had a strong raspberry sweetness that was soothing. After she had poured her own drink last, Twilight slowly set the teapot aside and then lifted her own teacup with her magic. She blew some of the rising steam off of it and gave it a minuscule sip to test the heat. There was a moment of collective silence which for Fluttershy was a reprieve from her hard work but the others spent it deep in thought, occasionally looking at each other.

Eventually, Fluttershy gave a faint yawn before apologizing again for not being a more receptive host. The pensive two snapped out of their respective contemplations, reminding her that they had come over without prior notice and assuring her that she was doing beautifully given the circumstances. Humbled by their support, she told them both, "Thank you so much. I really appreciate it." When things returned to silence she began to feel like she was inadequately handling her hosting duties again. "Well, why don't we have a chat now while we're all resting?" she invited, trying to break the stillness.

"Yes," Twilight said, hopeful to keep things positive, "let's just have a pleasant, relaxing conversation." She nervously took another sip of her tea, catching a bit too much and slightly burning her lip.

"Oh..." Fluttershy became disheartened. To James she said, "I wanted to ask a little bit about you, and who you are... but if..." With it having been mentioned that he was the only one of his kind in Equestria she was unsure if her questions would be within the pleasant ground Twilight wanted. She didn't mean any trouble. She was mostly just curious. There was a new kind of face, a creature she had never seen before.

James began to express his comfort with the topic, but Twilight cut him off. "Oh, that," she hurriedly said. "It's... it's a little complicated."

"I mean, I don't even know what he-" Fluttershy pulled back a bit in embarrassment from speaking like he wasn't in the room. Turning to James to continue, she said, "Ah... what you are." She anxiously looked away, whispering an apology under her breath.

Again James started to say something only for Twilight to jump in first. She wasn't even sure what she specifically wanted to say, but she was desperate to keep the conversation from turning sour for Fluttershy so she was claiming the talking spot. "Oh! Well..." The tea in her cup swished about as she unconsciously whirled it in a small circle. Maybe she would have to give some information now just to placate her friend's curiosity, but she wanted to be utterly careful to avoid any of the gruesome details from James' side of existence. "He... he's from a far away place. A very far away place," she said, stumbling over her words. "It was that tower from the other day that's responsible for bringing him here to Equestria."

"It was an accident. I'm sorry," James sincerely interjected.

Fluttershy was confused as to what exactly he was apologizing for, but she was forgiving in her tone regardless. "It's alright," she expressed with genuine sympathy. "But... do you know what it was? And... why it...?" The tower took on the form of a monster in her memories, breathing destructive rays of energy, smashing creatures' homes and now apparently kidnapping others. Asking about it shook her nerves a little, as if thinking about a bogeyman could summon it to your side.

Twilight rushed in again. "You know, it's such a long story, and you're kind of tired, and, I mean, he'll be here a while, staying in Ponyville that is, so there'll be time to hear it, but maybe not now?" She quickly went to take another drink of her tea, catching herself and slowing down just in time to avoid another small burn. "Aheh..."

Caught between the trust he had been placing in Twilight since he arrived and the fact that now she was so actively working to keep the truth under wraps, James found himself glaring at her. It wasn't right. Fluttershy had clearly been hurt by the whole affair and at this moment she was yearning to know why. What did it protect her from, keeping her in the dark? She deserved an answer. Twilight's intentions were undoubtedly good, but it would raise his anger too much to try and abide by them. "I don't mind explaining it all right now," he said forcefully.

But Fluttershy, aware of Twilight discomfort, mollified the situation. "If it's a really long story, I don't need to hear it immediately. I don't want to spoil our tea time with more sad tales." She smiled politely and took her first sip of the tea. "Mm... I think raspberry might be my favorite," she said.

While Twilight sighed with relief, James leaned back into the couch. In frustration, he took a tiny sip of his tea. Actually, this stuff wasn't bad at all. He drew a big breath right over his drink a took another taste of it. Hm. Well, he supposed he could rest and enjoy the moment then. There will be another chance to explain. He embraced the relative silence and tried to clear out his head.

Outside, the animals continued their noisy chatter. Their combined voices formed a muffled roar when heard from the inside which James now consciously heard again, backed by the steady tick of the clock. This place was a compact zoo. "It sounds like you have an impressive collection of animals," he told Fluttershy.

"Oh, they're not a collection," the shy pony replied, "they're my friends. They're all a little chatty right now because of what has happened."

"Does that mean they're not your pets? Where do they all come from?" he asked.

Twilight reminded him, "Do you remember how I told you that we work together with the animals to all get by? They're the animals of Ponyville."

"Wait, this is all of them?" he asked, startled.

"Oh! Sorry, I wasn't being very clear," she corrected. "Of course this isn't all of Ponyville's animals here at the cottage. But that's where they come from."

Fluttershy took over the explanation. "The animals that live in Ponyville are free to come and go here. Some do choose to stay for awhile... at least until they find homes as pets or with other animal families that live around the area. And others are my pets because I adopted them myself." She seemed almost embarrassed at her last remark, thinking fondly about how some of her small friends were just so adorable it was like she couldn't let them go. "I love them all the same, though. They're all my special friends."

"So you see," Twilight said, "in a certain way, Fluttershy does take care of all the animals of Ponyville."

Blushing at the statement, Fluttershy responded, "I wouldn't say all. I usually don't take care of the ones kept on the farms... but I do love them too."

It was something different than a crazy cat lady type of situation, not that James was exactly expecting that. But this emphasized the point Twilight had been making earlier. The ponies had some way of really communing with animals, getting along with them in harmony. Here, the "wild" animals were existing right alongside the "domesticated" animals to the point that both words lost their meanings. He looked again at Angel. At the complex feelings hidden behind the rabbit's eyes. He pictured the face of the young, agonized squirrel, still asleep.

"That's not a surprise," Twilight laughed. "I've never seen an animal in Ponyville that you didn't love. And it's no wonder, since dealing with animals is your special talent."

"Talent?" James was reminded of something he and Twilight had talked about on the first night after their more serious discussion had cooled into casual conversation. The details were vague in his mind. "That tattoo thing..." he said, rolling his hand as if it would jog his memory. He looked over at the markings Fluttershy's side. It was a simple depiction of three butterflies. To him it didn't seem to point to a specific idea, but Twilight had mentioned that the image's connection to the pony's talent could sometimes be loose or interpretive. All he recalled was that somehow each pony develops some kind of unique skill or enhanced talent which then gets branded on their flank.

"Yes, cutie marks!" Twilight said. "Fluttershy's represents her deep connection with animals. As I recall, she got her cutie mark the first time she came down to the ground from Cloudsdale and saw all the animals living here."

Fluttershy warmly regarded the memory. "I'll never forget how wonderful it felt to see all their precious faces. How I really understood them the first time I saw them." She glowed with a delightful giddiness, bringing all the feelings back in her mind.

It sounded like a kind of magic, which given the precedent, was probably true in some facet. "So I guess you have a real empathic link with them. You can really understand them," he told Fluttershy.

"Well," she said, "I believe that anypony can understand animals. It can take a lot of work and patience, but you just have to learn how to listen. My little friends have feelings they want to share just like any pony. I guess it just came naturally to me."

"'Naturally'... in your nature." he whispered to himself.

Twilight remembered the first night. Being "in the nature of ponies" was her own conclusion to the question of why ponies might not have real war and violence to the degree that humans do. Or rather, it was more of a submission to a lack of a conclusion. Admitting that there was something that was different between the two species but having no clear conception of what that difference was. Now was it the same for their relationships with animals too? Do ponies get along so well with animals because of something that was "in their nature" which was absent from humans? Were there no people who, like Fluttershy, could deeply feel and connect with animals? Was the unknown variable inside of ponies the same thing that kept them from being violent? It was an aggravating stream of questions which didn't lead to any answers. In another way she was almost amused, however. Ponies have spent ages working closely with the animals of Equestria. Has the question of "why" really never come up before?

A soft yawn came out from Fluttershy as she went to take another sip of her tea, followed immediately by a flustered apology for the yawn.

Setting her own drink down after a final sip, Twilight stood up and said, "There's no need to apologize. In fact, I think we should apologize for keeping you up. Why don't we head out now and let you get some sleep?"

It had been an interesting topic but, like Twilight, James thought it was something to ponder over later. They wouldn't really be generating any answers here. Plus, each passing minute made it more and more apparent that Fluttershy was incredibly tired. She may not have even slept for the past two days. He set down his own teacup and stood to show his support for Twilight's suggestion.

"Oh... okay," Fluttershy resigned to the decision. She shook as she struggled to her hooves, using her wings to get a some extra support. "It was nice having you two over." She went over to check on the little flying squirrel, who was still asleep.

"Thank you for having us. It was great to meet you. And thanks for the tea," James said. Mom had always said it was silly to hate something before you tried it, and it looks like this time mother knew best. What had even happened in his life that made him decide to dislike tea anyway?

"Yes, thank you! Goodbye, Fluttershy. I promise we'll be back with the others to help out." With that, Twilight made her way out of the room followed by her charge.

"Goodbye," Fluttershy yawned. She watched them leave the room and then waited in the stillness as she heard the front door open and close. Fighting the urge to nod off while still standing up, she turned to her rabbit. "Well, what do you think, Angel?"

Angel twitched one of his lips and drooped an ear, shrugging.

Outside, James and Twilight had only gone on for a few yards before the violet pony came to a stop. "What was that responsibility thing all about?" she asked with concern.

James kept walking, waving dismissively with his hand. "Forget about it," he told her.

Twilight stood still, watching him walk on. She bit her lip and uncomfortably stamped the ground once. Suddenly, she got determined and galloped to catch up with him. "No, seriously, what was it about?" she asked demandingly.

"No, seriously, forget about it." He immediately regretted the tone he had taken and looked away shaking his head.

Twilight's sudden conviction left her at the harshness of his reply and she grew silent, looking ahead down the road.

"Look," he said after a moment, "you're not going to keep the details hidden from them forever, right? So they'll find out eventually."

That didn't really answer the question for her, but she glumly kept quiet and didn't poke any further.

There wasn't much said during the walk back to the library as the late afternoon began to wane, giving into evening. While there were a lot of unexpected turns, in the end Twilight supposed the day had gone fairly well. They at least accomplished everything they had planned to do and then some. Additionaly, nothing went seriously wrong with the meetings of all her friends. Maybe they could have gone better, but these things take time and effort to get right. That was always going to be the case. Now, hungry from an afternoon of walking and talking, she looked forward to getting back and having some dinner. There would be hard work tomorrow helping Fluttershy, and she still had some ambivalent feelings about the party Pinkie Pie was planning. Maybe, without any more surprises or distractions, she could use the quiet evening to have another conversation with James and clear things up.

This is why she was greatly annoyed to be surprised by Spike's presence when she opened the library door. He was sitting in a chair, holding a bowl full of gemstones and eating away. "Oh, hey guys!" he greeted them cordially, if a little unclearly from a mouth stuffed with precious rocks.

"Spike?" Twilight asked. "What are you doing here? I thought you'd be busy all day at Rarity's."

"Oh, yeah," he said, swallowing his current mouthful. "She finished all her orders." He scooped up another handful, tossing the gems in the air and catching them in his mouth.

"All of them?" Twilight was stupefied. "She was complaining that she would have to work through the entire day to fill those orders! But now she finished before dinner?"

"I know, right?" Multicolored flecks sprayed from his lips as he insisted on talking while chewing. "But it was weird. She was in, like," he swallowed, "like some kind of trance." Spike tilted the whole bowl up over his face and shook it, catching even more gemstones to chew. "She really teared through them. I could barely keep up."

Twilight was still stunned. "She got through them all?" she asked herself rhetorically. The unicorn shook her head in disbelief then started to head to the kitchen.

James didn't have any idea what the size of Rarity's workload was, nor what was involved in making a dress for a pony, but it sounded like an impressive feat. Simultaneously amused, he offered up with a chuckle, "Well, she is a MAGICAL dressmaker."

Just before Twilight opened the door to the kitchen, Spike said, "Last I saw when I left, she was working on those clothes for James. In fact, she told me to tell you to send him over."

"What?" Twilight was holding the kitchen door open with a hoof and looking back. Now it was a battle between hunger and curiosity. "What does she need him for?"

"I don't know for sure," Spike shrugged, again flipping the bowl over his mouth. When no stones came out he stood on his chair and held the bowl out to the side, upside down, shaking it aggressively. The bowl spat out nothing but empty air. He tossed it aside with a grunt. "I think she wants him to try on what she's working on so she can double-check the sizing. I guess."

"Oh. Okay." Makes sense. Curiosity satisfied. Time to satiate that other need. Twilight marched forward into the kitchen.

Walking over to one of the bookshelves on the wall, James ran his hand along the books. He was hungry but he also wanted to just take a moment to rest since they would probably be heading out again to see Rarity after eating. That was a really fast turn around time on the clothes. Though presumably she wasn't finished but had something hastily thrown together to test the fit.

Spike observed him for a little bit before scratching his head and asking, "So... uh... how was your day, James?"

"Hm? Oh. Twilight sure has a colorful assortment of friends," James remarked.

"She took you to meet them all?" Spike asked while hopping down off his chair and heading over to the bookshelf. "So, what do you think?"

James rubbed his chin in reflection. They were all fairly different. In fact, he couldn't see what common thread would have united them as friends. "Colorful," he repeated. It seemed like the right word, literally and figuratively.

"Yeah. I always thought she should have a green friend, though. You know. To make the group pictures more complete," Spike commented.

"Hah! Yeah," James choked on a laugh. Maybe that was the common thread! Filling out a color chart.

The little dragon wanted to talk to the new house guest some more as he didn't really get the chance to speak with him earlier but James seemed too distracted. Not to mention that Spike himself was worn down from his rushed assistance to Rarity. If James was going to be around for awhile like Princess Celestia had implied then there would be other chances. So instead, Spike asked what seemed to be the only natural question. "Aren't you hungry?"

"Yeah," James lazily responded. He rested his hand on the shelf for a second longer before dropping it and saying, "You're right. Time to eat." It wouldn't be the best rest if it was on an empty stomach. He made his way over towards the kitchen with Spike following suit. James realized something and said to his company, "So you really do eat gemstones. That must be an expensive habit."

Several books came floating off the shelves as Twilight inspected them, considerately weighing their value as reading material for her guest. She had some time while she waited for him to finish his own meal in the kitchen, after which she wanted to head out to Carousel Boutique. Because of the effort Rarity had clearly put in, Twilight didn't want to appear ungrateful for her friend's generosity by keeping her waiting. Any books she pulled out she eventually put back, as she was just taking the waiting moments to get a start on a mental list.

There was a knocking on the library front door. Twilight set aside the books she was levitating and went to answer it. Perhaps Rarity had come to the library instead?

"Heeeeeeey Twilight!" Pinkie Pie shouted as the door opened, causing Twilight to jump.

"Oh! Pinkie Pie. Hi," Twilight said as she recovered.

Pinkie Pie gleefully smiled, bouncing in the air with excitement. She had a wicker basket around her neck that held several pink envelopes, each one tumbling about inside the basket at every jump. "I came here to give you your invitation to the big party!" She grasped one of the envelopes in her mouth and held it out.

"'Big' party? Pinkie, we talked about this," Twilight moaned. She really hoped her friend hadn't gone overboard this time, even after she had already agreed not to.

"I mean the small big party!" Pinkie Pie squeezed out through the sides of her mouth. The envelope flapped up and down as she vigorously shook her head to encourage the unicorn to grab the invitation.

With a glow of the horn, Twilight moved the envelope out of Pinkie Pie's grip. "Just checking, but you haven't set the party for right now or tonight, have you?"

"Oh, I wanted to!" Pinkie Pie insisted. "But I went to give Rarity an invitation before and she was all," the pony suddenly struck a more refined pose, raising her nose up a little and fluttering her eyes. The fluff of her hair almost seemed to take on the Rarity's curls as she did a charming, if inaccurate, impersonation of her friend's voice. "No, Pinkie. I'm too busy, Pinkie. I don't have time, Pinkie. I must get this assembled, Pinkie. Have you seen my twill tape, Pinkie?" She vibrated her whole body, head to tail, to drive out the pony impression that had taken her, returning to her bubbly form. "So I said 'Okay! We won't have it tonight!'"

Twilight stared, waiting for an indication of when Pinkie Pie was planning the party for. Her glaring was returned only with a silent, wide-eyed grin. "Well? When it is?" she finally asked impatiently.

"Why don't you read the invitation, silly?"

"R-right! Yes. I was going to do that," Twilight stammered, bringing the envelope in front of her face. She popped it open, drawing out the card inside and scanning her eyes across it like a typewriter. The word "tomorrow" stood out, if only because it was quickly scribbled above a crossed out "tonight". She sighed, returning the card to the envelope. "I hate to ask you to put it off some more, especially after all the work you've put into it, but we can't have the party tomorrow, Pinkie."

In the style of a cliff wall being battered by the waves of a raging coastal storm, pounded by the relentless assault of the ferocious waters, rammed by an unending torrent of the ocean's fury, Pinkie Pie was completely unfazed. "We can't?" she asked sweetly.

"No, we can't. I'm sorry," Twilight said with remorse. "You see, Fluttershy is really going to need our help tomorrow. She's had a sudden rush of homeless animals she has had to take care of and find new homes for, so I want to get everyone over there to help her out immediately." She slid the envelope back into Pinkie Pie's basket. "I hope you'll be able to come and help."

"That does sound pretty important!" Pinkie Pie gaily replied. "You can count on me to be there! I guess we'll just have to have the party on another tomorrow." She cocked her head quizzically, wondering if she was getting her timing right. "That's... tomorrow's tomorrow? Two-morrow?"

Twilight gave her a dry look. "The day after tomorrow. We'll go to Fluttershy's tomorrow and then have the party the day after tomorrow."

"Right!" the pink pony buoyantly agreed.

"Who have you already given invitations too?" Twilight asked. Organizing meetups can always be a pain since it's hard to track who knows what and when they know it.

"Just Rarity. I went to give it to her, but she said..." Pinkie Pie began to adopt Rarity's manners again before Twilight interrupted her.

"Yes, I know, you told me." She quickly formulated a plan. "Okay, Pinkie... if you're going to get invitations out to the others tonight, could you let them know about Fluttershy's situation? Tell them she needs help taking care of some stray animals and to meet at her cottage tomorrow morning if they can. I'll be going to see Rarity in a moment, so I can tell her while I'm there and correct her party invitation for you."

Pinkie Pie enthusiastically nodded, giving a delighted, "You bet!" Her smile lasted until she apparently crossed a wire and confused herself. "Wait... should I tell Fluttershy about Fluttershy and to meet at Fluttershy's tomorrow?"

With a hoof up against her forehead, Twilight groaned. "Tell the others. Fluttershy was really tired when I saw her today, so why don't you wait to give her an invitation when you see her tomorrow? She'll be at her own home anyway."

"Good thinking, Twilight!" Pinkie Pie joyously leapt into the air. Her smart friend could always be counted on to solve those real brain teasers.

"Alright. Thanks. I really appreciate it, Pinkie Pie," Twilight told her friend. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow at Fluttershy's then?"

Diving deep into the wicker basket to pull out a marker, Pinkie Pie confirmed, "I'll be there! First, I have some invitations to fix!" She walked off, fiercely swaying her head about in an attempt to get one of the envelopes to open so she could correct her corrections.

Rarity called them in without looking up as soon as she heard the knock on the door of her boutique. She was sketching away at a piece of paper mounted on an easel, drawing and erasing details rapidly, taking notes, and exploring ideas. She was harried, trapped in her own fervor, and it showed in her worn expression and trembling posture. Despite that she kept her perfectly groomed mane, ever the lady under pressure.

Twilight and James passed through the front of the shop and went straight to the work area. A good number of newly made dresses were scattered about, completed with a professional precision but hung or stored in a rushed way. When they walked into the room Rarity wasn't surprised to see them. Besides having told Spike to relay the message to them, she had no reason to see anyone else tonight. She was quick to open up the conversation before either of them could get a greeting out.

"Good, you're here," she said to them, barely taking her eyes off of her work. "I've made some progress on that special commission of yours. I want to check how it fits at the moment." Rarity finally turned to show them her full attention, but she was given pause upon seeing James again. "Ah... if you wouldn't mind trying on such a basic and incomplete thing. That is."

The collection of completed dresses was still stunning Twilight. "Wow, Rarity! I'm really impressed with how quickly you've done all this."

"Yes," James agreed. He couldn't particularly imagine what goes in to this kind of work, especially of the pony specific variety, but the whole room carried a buzz in the air. There was an indelible feeling that the space itself had witnessed something incredible. "You're really quite talented. Thank you for this."

Strengthened by the compliments, Rarity composed herself. "Oh, well, thank you. It was nothing for a dressmaker of my caliber. Now, if you'll come this way. Ah, please?" She lead them over to a folding screen on one side of the room, which had her work in progress draped over it. "Again, understand that this is crude and incomplete, so forgive how simple and pedestrian it is currently." Lighting her horn, Rarity lifted the clothing up and held it out in display.

James' breath froze. It was royal. Sure, there was a degree to which it could be considered basic. The sleeves and most of the pants were completely plain, made of a cottony fabric with a beige color. His eyes were drawn to the more decorated torso area. It was a double-breasted piece, with the broad right flap significantly overlapping the left underside. Colored primarily in a strong, emerald green, there was also a thin gold piping that ran around the waist, lined the flaps, encircled the connection with the sleeves, and crossed the shoulders to wrap the neck. The flaps were fastened by buttons that had small sapphires affixed to them. There was a single, larger sapphire in the center of the darker green waistband that separated the top from the pants. It wasn't overly complicated or screaming with detail, but it gave off a elegant beauty. Honestly, he had been hoping for something that would vaguely resemble maybe jeans and a t-shirt, so this was stunning in how far beyond his expectations it went.

Twilight recognized that it certainly wasn't the flashiest thing Rarity had ever produced, but she also enjoyed the practical charm it emitted. There was also an imaginative potential. The design could go lots of different ways from here, but it was already fully usable. By all accounts it was a fantastic start by Rarity.

The dressmaker's smile grew wider with confidence as she was reading their reactions. There was still concern about the fitting, though. She had faith in the measurements she had taken, but she had never designed something like this at this size so it was important to get a look at how everything fell into place when actually worn. "Would you care to try it on?" she earnestly asked.

He grabbed the top half of it out of the air, feeling a brief tug as Rarity's magic let go at the same time. She folded the floating pants and handed them off to him. The fabrics it was made out of felt soft and comfortable. He walked around the folding screen to get changed, doing one last check on the pants. Yes! Pockets!

"This is a phenomenal start, Rarity!" Twilight gushed to her friend. "I still can't believe how fast you've done this. I really owe you a lot of thanks." There was the sound of snow boots being set aside and Princess Celestia's mangled table cloth flew into the air and landed over the folding screen.

Rarity flushed with embarrassment at such praise for so elementary a start. "Oh, really, it's nothing at all. Just a humble beginning. As you've seen, it's not nearly finished yet. I've only gotten the shape down and have put some minor work into the torso. I still have an endless number of ideas to fix up this tacky little thing."

"Don't sell yourself short, Rarity. It's incredible even like this. I can't wait to see what you do with it."

"You're being too kind, really," she said. "When I'm finished with it I'll have taken it from basic to truly-"

"Beautiful," James said to himself as he looked himself over while stepping out from behind the screen. "This is a really magnificent piece of clothing." It was gentle to the touch and light to wear. It was easy to put on and likewise would be simple to take off. The waistband and buttons held things securely in place, despite a mild looseness to the fit. Clearly wherever Rarity made estimations she had cautiously erred on the side of being too large, but that was fine with him. He preferred loose fitting clothing to feeling stuffed and squeezed into something tight. He gave a shake to his legs and rotated his arms around to check for anything stretching or tearing.

"Sleeves are the right length... little too loose..." Rarity was murmuring to herself while walking around him to inspect every facet of her work. With all her knowledge and practice she had a tremendous power to be so near the mark with a only a few measurements and some guesswork, but it is getting the little details just right that makes things perfect in the end.

It was an interesting sight for Twilight. For the first time he seemed visually appropriate for his setting. No battered, strange clothing. No awkward, temporary wrappings. It had a tone and aesthetic that blended with the world he was now in, camouflaging him. Things seemed more natural.

Finishing her observation, Rarity said, "Well, only a small few adjustments are needed to make it fit perfectly. After that, I can complete the design with-"

"Actually, could I just take it like this?" James interrupted. "I could really use the clothes, and this is fantastic already. I think this is the nicest thing I've ever worn in my life." He wanted to be as complimentary as possible with the request as it was clear Rarity had bigger ideas, but he was still serious. He disdained some of the dress suits he has had to wear before. And ties. Ties were the worst.

"B-but... it's so... so..." Rarity couldn't finish her sentence. It was incomprehensible to think about somepony going around in this partially assembled apparel. Would you send the model down the runway before perfectly lining up her jewelry? His kind has some disturbingly bizarre attraction to wearing terrible things.

Twilight ultimately decided to back James' position and encouraged Rarity to let him keep it. Although she did honestly want to see what her friend would have done in the end and she had absolute faith it would have been fantastic, that wasn't what this was about. They hadn't gone to Rarity to get something for him to wear on special occasions. It was to get clothing to make him comfortable. So it seemed to Twilight that, if this is what made him comfortable, it was alright to let him have it. Maybe it was even better this way. He did look normal like this. Maybe something flashy would look great but stand out too much. Even though it didn't meet the seamstress' high expectations, it went beyond James'. "Nobody is saying you can't make new, complete ones," she told her friend. "Just let him have this one for regular wear. It still looks wonderful. I really mean it."

"Ugh..." Rarity moaned and sighed. She shook her head in resignation and then magically lifted something out of the corner of the room. "Here, I made these as well," she said, dropping a pair of shoes at James' feet. They were certainly meant to go with the clothes she had made, primarily being covered in the same green fabric as the shirt. There was a strong resemblance to ankle high slippers, lacking in laces or other bindings. The soles were sturdier and thicker to compensate for his lack of hooves. "Once I had settled on a design I was going to decorate them to match."

"Oh! Thank you." He tried them on and again her work proved sufficiently accurate. They fit snugly and were much better sized for him than the boots he had been wearing. He reached back behind the folding screen and grabbed Rarity's boots. They still had a layer of encrusted dirt on the bottom that he decided he shouldn't wipe off considering what had happened before. He handed them over to Rarity. "Sorry," he told her, "I tried my best to keep them clean."

"Yes... thank you," she responded with a strained smile. She took a reserved magical hold of the boots, but she couldn't bring herself to drop them down anywhere in their current state. There was just this irresistible urge to wash them first.

"Rarity," Twilight said, "I really want to thank you for this. You've been a big help."

Her smile eased into a more natural state. "You're welcome, Twilight. I'm glad to be of assistance."

"Before we get on our way," Twilight spoke with a sudden seriousness, "I want to talk with you for a second about Fluttershy."

When they arrived back at the library, Spike recognized what James was now wearing. He was a little surprised to see it being worn in the state it was in, but James would only say it was marvelous already and that it didn't need anything more added to it. Spike didn't have a disagreement there; Rarity had made it after all, so of course it was excellent. He did laugh after a moment of observing it.

"What's so funny?" James asked.

"It looked like you get to be the green friend who we thought was missing!"

Chapter 8: Division

An actual bed was a relatively low priority but probably something that should be invested in since James would be around for the foreseeable future. He was moving about some of the pillows he had been given, trying to adjust his makeshift bed. It wasn't the worse sleeping arrangement he has ever had to endure, but after that night in Canterlot he was reminded of how much of a relaxing pleasure a simple, well-made bed could be. Floors, chairs, couches, and piles of pillows can let you sleep, but there's something about good, soft beds that lets you rest.

During his shuffling, Twilight came over dragging along a stack of three books through the air. She set them down on a nearby table. "I brought a few books. I think these will be a good place to start as far as reading material goes. At least until I can make a more comprehensive list of books."

James set aside the pillow he was holding and picked up the small pile of books, looking through them. There was "The Tourist's Guide to Ponyville" and "A Brief History of Equestria" which both sounded pretty self-explanatory. It was the third book which stood out. The binding was different, being much more brightly colored in a warm red with a dusty golden design embossed on, far from the other tomes' plain brown and gray. The title was "Shadow of a Pony's Heart".

"It's a fantasy piece. A work of fiction," Twilight explained when she saw him studying it more than the others. "It's a few decades old now, but it's certainly a classic. One of my favorites. I've probably read it a dozen times." She shifted her voice into a grandiose narration, setting the stage as if it were a play. "A mysterious figure, the Dreadful Dark Stallion, is slowly consuming Equestria, town by town, in shadow. A young filly, optimistic yet clumsy, sets out from home against her parents wishes to try and discover why. She meets and befriends a whole cast of characters along the way to learn the truth and stop the shadow's spread." She returned to normal. "It's a really good story."

He rotated the books through his hands, looking them over again. "Alright. Thank you. I'll get started on them the first opportunity I get," he acknowledged, setting them back aside on the table. The reference books made a lot of sense but he wasn't sure what made her pick the third one. This wasn't a book club. Still, the library had a tremendous amount of reading material and he had no idea where to remotely begin so he was thankful for the recommendations. He turned his attention back towards his temporary bedding.

But Twilight didn't depart. "I thought... we might spend some time talking again," she said hesitantly.

"About what?" he asked, looking back at her.

Twilight wrestled with the specifics in her head before answering. "Maybe we could just pick up the conversation from last night. The casual side," she gently offered. There might be a time at some point in the future to revisit the more grotesque topics, but she didn't want to touch them right now. Besides, there were a few things she wanted to mention which she wasn't completely sure how he would take them.

For James, the first long discussion they had, particularly after breaking through the more stressful topics, had actually been very enjoyable. The nature of it somehow held that kind of relaxing charm which comes from meeting and catching up with an old friend you hadn't seen in some time, even though all they talked about revolved around ideas, experiences, and people (or rather, ponies) that were new to him in this world. It was edifying, in a way. However, their recent disagreement was still fresh in his mind. He couldn't help but feel like she might try to approach that again, and he didn't want to deal with it now if possible.

"Not tonight," James said. "It's been a long day. Besides, if we're going to leave early tomorrow to help Fluttershy, we shouldn't stay up."

"Oh," Twilight responded, greatly disappointed. She lingered a moment longer, unsure, before finally turning away. "Well, good night then," she said a little dismally, walking off.

"Good night." He was faint in his reply. When she had gone he looked back at the pillows and blankets but wasn't really focusing on them. He idly moved some about in a random fashion before stopping and sighing. He grabbed the books Twilight had set down and moved "Shadow of a Pony's Heart" to the bottom of the stack.

As Twilight, Spike, and James arrived at Fluttershy's cottage they could see two of the others had already made it as well. They were outside in front waiting for everyone to show up, already engrossed in conversation. Rarity and Pinkie Pie were hearing the story straight from the pegasus' mouth, which meant only Applejack and Rainbow Dash weren't present. After a mutual greeting between the respective parties of three, Pinkie Pie was quick to assure everypony that the remaining two said they would be coming.

"Hopefully they'll be here in a few minutes," Twilight said. "Once everypony is here we can talk specifically about what we'll be doing."

Flapping her wings softly to take off into the air, Fluttershy said, "I'll go get my little friends ready." She drifted away towards the new, freshly constructed pens where the displaced animals were staying.

Meanwhile, Rarity was choking with embarrassment upon seeing James again in her incomplete work. She couldn't shut off the creative part of her brain that was endlessly streaming out ideas for what it should look like, but having had the work cut out from under her had demolished most of her drive to start at it again. Maybe time would give her the initiative to begin anew after awhile, but right now it was just a reminder of the unsung possibilities.

Bounding with energy and bearing a knack for goat getting, Pinkie Pie of course wasted no time asking about it. "I like your clothes!" she told James merrily, immediately following with, "Where'd you get them?"

He pointed at Rarity with one hand while holding the bottom of the shirt out a little to show it off, praising the quality her work. However, when the seamstress saw him pointing in her direction, she knew immediately she was being fingered as the guilty party in this criminal display of unfinished fashion. Pinkie Pie's chuckling just sealed the deal. There would be no escape from this tragedy.

"This is really different than most of the other stuff you've made that I've seen, Rarity," Pinkie Pie said, giggling at the contrast which stuck out in her mind. "But I like the green a whole lot. And the gold! And the sapphires. And the-"

"Okay, I get it, Pinkie," Rarity gratingly responded.

"Just wanted you to know!" the effervescent pony sang out before going quiet and smiling intently.

Fluttershy was kneeling down low to the ground, speaking softly to the host of animals she had gathered. James was curiously watching the way she seemed to directly speak to the animals and also the way the animals in turn seems to almost respond back to her. These were some of the wild animals that lived in the outskirts of the forest? A special talent for working with animals, that's what Twilight had said... this scene added a lot of color to the image she had been trying to paint before. About how ponies and animals can work together. He had never seen a person really commune with animals this way. Even with his own rabbits which he had gotten close to, you had to occasionally drag them kicking into something they didn't want to do and no amount of calmly talking to them changed that.

Turning to Twilight, James asked, "What's the basic plan?"

She tensed up. "We really should wait for everypony to arrive before we discuss the plan of action," she said evasively. "No sense in explaining it twice. They'll be here soon I'm sure."

Spike cackled, "Are you sure Rainbow Dash will be here and isn't sleeping in right now?"

"Please, Spike, Rainbow knows how important this is," Twilight reproved him. "She'll be here."

Rarity couldn't dismiss Pinkie Pie's smile as it gleamed continuously in the corner of her vision. Every time she tried to just ignore it she would only wind up thinking about more ideas for her abandoned work. When she moved to block that, her friend's pressing smile took stage again. And no matter what, Pinkie Pie wouldn't stop complementing the stupid clothes. "Whhhhaaat, Pinkie?" Rarity grumbled.

"It looks really nice!" the pink pony reiterated. "Maybe you could make one for me!"

"Erk! No, Pinkie, no," Rarity snapped in agitation. "I'm not going to make anot-" A different and more pleasant mental image immediately hooked her. "Well, you would look rather striking in the right shade of green. I could maybe add epaulettes to accentuate the c-" She suddenly slapped a hoof across her face and shook the train of thought from her head. "Ugh!" she cried out in exasperation.

Blissful and unaware, Pinkie Pie continued to cheerfully smile.

"Pinkie, darling, you're starting to step on my nerves a little," Rarity politely told her.

"Oh? I am?" She checked under her hooves, just in case.

"Yes," the tired unicorn complained. "Could you be a considerate dear and maybe just be a little teensy bit more quiet? I would really appreciate it right now."

Pinkie Pie gave the matter some serious thinking. "Hmmm, I don't know," she said. "I've been feeling less animated and more wordy lately. It might be really hard to not talk!"

"Oi..." Rarity sighed in submission.

After she heard somepony call her name, Applejack looked up to see a rainbow streak diving out of the sky. Rainbow Dash swooped in low, eventually slowing to a gliding pace alongside Applejack's steady trot, both on their way to Fluttershy's cottage. The farm pony had felt she had gotten a late start but from the dreary look in Rainbow Dash's eyes it was clear that everypony's favorite flier had just woken up and blitzed out the door. That speedy little pony had practically slept in as late as she could!

"Excited to get some work done, huh?" Applejack teased.

Rainbow Dash shook off the drowsiness and pulled some airborne stretches. "I'm awake!" she insisted. "Getting up early is nothing. Besides, this is going to be a flight in the park. I could do it in my sleep."

"Ha!" Applejack snorted. "I don't doubt we'll find you sleeping at some point during the middle of all this."

"What? No way," the pegasus confidently returned fire. "Looking for a few animals, roaming around the Everfree Forest. This is fillies' play. I could handle it all myself if I had to."

It was the usual bluster, but it kept Applejack upbeat. With Rainbow Dash that cockiness was typical so it was usually when she wasn't self-assured that you knew there was something to worry about. "Sure. Whatever you say, Rainbow," Applejack remarked with amusement.

The trail continued alongside the edge of the forest. They weren't very far from the cottage and they were moving at the brisk pace of a morning jog. A few more minutes and they would be there, provided there was no lollygagging on Rainbow Dash's part. They still slowed down a little bit, mutually realizing that they were probably going to be the last the arrive anyway.

Rainbow Dash decided to put a question out to her friend now, before the other ponies where around to hear. "Hey. I want to ask you something," she opened up in a sober tone.

"Sure. What's on your mind?"

"Did you see that thing Twilight was dragging around yesterday?" Rainbow Dash asked. "The one in the stupid looking clothes."

"You mean Beanstalk?" There really was only one thing Applejack imagined she could be asking about, but it never hurts to be sure.

"Was THAT its name?" Rainbow Dash asked in surprise. It didn't ring any bells in her head, although she was sure she had heard Twilight mention a name. Maybe she missed it.

"Well, no, but see he's all up and no-" Applejack suddenly discarded the digression. "Look, what did you want to ask about him?"

Rainbow Dash harrumphed. "Him. Right. What do you think about him?" She stared off ahead, talking over to Applejack. "I don't know if I trust it. Him. Whatever. I don't know if I trust him being around Twilight like that."

"Well..." Applejack said in a long, drawn breath. "I reckon there's plenty reason to be suspicious and all."

"Yeah, I'll say!" the pegasus interjected in agreement, swinging a hoof to the side.

Applejack immediately cut back in so she could finish her thought. "But... Twilight did say that Princess Celestia has him staying here. And the little miss herself didn't seem so worried about it." She tried to make a coherent analysis of own her stance from that. "So... I guess I'm not too worried neither."

"Seriously?" her friend asked skeptically. "I mean, yeah, it looks like Twilight seems okay with it. But really?" Rainbow Dash shook her head in uncertainty. "You saw what happened back there in the field. That's what staying with Twilight. What if-"

"Oh, I saw it alright," Applejack hastily replied, withdrawing partially into her thoughts. "That's not the kind of thing that falls out of your head easy. I don't know if I'll ever forget it," she said in a low voice. "But still," she reasserted herself, "we can't really say we know a darn thing about him or what was going on. So maybe... maybe if Twilight's giving him some time to explain himself, we can too."

Rainbow Dash stared at Applejack for a moment, still slightly caught in disbelief, trying to gauge the sincerity of the pony's statements. Looking ahead and grunting again, Rainbow Dash unconvincingly mumbled to herself, "Yeah. MAYBE."

The orange mare wasn't sure what more she could tell her companion. "You're gonna have to make up your own mind, Rainbow. But give'm some time. There could be more to the stranger than we've seen."

"That's what worries me," Rainbow Dash grimly answered.

At Applejack and Rainbow Dash's arrival, everyone gathered in the cottage yard where several animal houses and pens were kept. Fluttershy was herding an assortment of creatures with her; the animals who had lost their homes in the disaster. They were mainly a wide mix of birds and small mammals, suited for forest life. The avian critters ran a rainbow of colors and a scale of sizes, from a hefty brown owl to a tiny red robin. The mammals were mostly a hodgepodge of rodents: chipmunks, squirrels, badgers, porcupines, and the like. Nestled amidst the mane on Fluttershy's head was the little young flying squirrel who couldn't find his parents, still lost and confused, clinging dearly to his only source of comfort. All of the animals were dutifully following her instructions and preparing themselves for the task ahead.

"Alright," Twilight confidently said, surveying the area. "Since everypony is here, Fluttershy can explain the situation in detail and lay out what we're going to be trying to do." She nodded over to her friend and stepped back to give the focus over to Fluttershy.

Timidly and with her head lowered, the pegasus came forward and began, "Well... three days ago, when that weird thing showed up in the fields where the river gets close to the forest... and it started going crazy... um..." She took a moment to observe all the displaced animals she had around her. Most looked at her expectantly and with hope, believing in her to make things right again. Fluttershy picked up her head and continued, "Whatever it was doing, it wrecked the edge of the forest around it and destroyed these poor creatures' homes. Now they have no place to live, and some of them have said their friends are still missing too. We need to search for spots in the forest where they can build new homes. Places where everything they need will be near and which also don't intrude on the nests and dens of other animals already living there." Several of the creatures moved in close to her, circling around her and creating a large group hug of faith and support. She shifted her eyes up as far as she could to try and look at the young one in her hair, not forgetting the other big responsibility they all had. "We also need to search in and around the forest ruins to try and find any of the lost animals and make sure they're not hurt."

Twilight moved back in to continue, "So, we're probably going to have to break into teams. Some of us will look for the missing animals and some will help the other animals get settled in new places." The gathered ponies, and dragon, and person, all looked at each other. Rainbow Dash especially stared at James with a discriminating eye. Twilight examined them all, considering how precisely to break things down. "I'm not sure how exactly we're going to split apart just yet. I'll spend a few minutes figuring that out. In the meantime, Fluttershy can tell you the specific details about the animals who are missing and what you'll want to know about the habitats we'll be looking for."

"Right," Fluttershy responded. She thought quickly to try and recall the most important details to deliver to her friends.

James looked over at the tree line of the forest. They wouldn't be entering here but presumably heading over to the original site of his dimensional entry first. The forest was still dark and foreboding, a stark contrast to the inviting, warm design of the cottage right next to it. What really waited in the forest, in the wilds of that place?

Spike was attentively listening to Fluttershy when Twilight pulled him aside. She whispered to him, "Spike, could you stay here instead of going with us? If we're going to be splitting up then someone should remain here to serve as a point of contact. You could also watch over Fluttershy's animals while we're out."

"Oh. Okay. Sure, Twilight," he replied. He was willing to go into Everfree Forest with them, but he wasn't particularly keen on the idea. It was relieving to have a good reason not to go.

Next, she went over to James to drag him aside. "Can I talk to you about something?" she asked. Her was voice was shaky and her approach slightly apprehensive.

He nodded, wondering what was on her mind that was making her uneasy. She lead him off to the side, out of earshot of the others.

"I meant to talk to you about this last night, but we didn't get a chance," she started. She nervously stole glances to the side. She knew exactly what she was going to say and and she also knew that he probably wouldn't like it. "I don't want you going into Everfree Forest. I'd rather you to stay here at the cottage. It's too risky going in."

"What?!" It hit him with surprise. She had made the danger sound fairly significant before and had said he shouldn't wander in there but that was before they found out about Fluttershy. He thought he was ready. He had to be. What sort of risk could it pose to him that he hadn't been in before? Threats to life and limb weren't new. Besides, what did it matter? What did he even have to lose? That's right, it didn't matter. He was taking responsibility and he had every right to help them fix the situation, whether they wanted that help or not. If a bunch of childish horses can handle whatever trolls and goblins were in there, he would probably be able to take care of himself. "I'm not afraid of some stupid forest!" he said angrily.

"I-it's not about that!" Twilight said as she winced. "You're just not familiar enough with things here. There's too much risk."

"Forget the risk," he said callously. "I can handle myself and help fix this mess."

Twilight tensed up. The memory of when she had first seen him, when he fought with the other man, flashed in her head. This hard edge really bothered her. They had spent time talking to each other and learning about each other but now she felt again like she didn't understand anything about him anymore. She shouldn't have let that conversation opportunity slip by last night. Stupid, stupid, stupid! Maybe this could have been solved then, without being so close to the moment now. Maybe he would have been more reasonable. He could be reasonable. He was before. For some reason he just wasn't being so right now. Maybe then... just maybe, being reasonable isn't the way to go in order to handle this...

She steeled her nerves and stood solidly. "You're not going," she said definitively. "Princess Celestia put you in my care and I'm not going back to her two days later to tell her that I let you get burned by a Fire Ant. You'll stay here and watch over the animals at the cottage with Spike. And that's that." She stamped a hoof hard against the ground and tried to hide a nervous swallow.

James grit his teeth briefly before breaking off and walking over to a pen where some rabbits were kept. He threw a hand on top of a corner post to lean on it and squeezed it to wring out his frustration. The rabbits all darted away to the opposite corner of the pen or inside one of their warrens.

It was several seconds before Twilight finally let go of the breath she was holding. She watched his back for a short period longer before turning around to go join the others. He hadn't answered with a "yes" or "no" but he seemed resigned to her decision. She hoped he was anyway, as she was too hesitant to try and talk to him again. Regardless, she really wanted to try and trust him. That's what she had told him back at the market. Trust has to begin somewhere, and you have to believe in it. She hoped this was the case here.

Although he couldn't hear what they had said, Spike had seen them talk to each other. As Twilight returned to the ponies, he went over to join James. "So, I guess she has you staying here too, huh?" he said as he approached. The dragon grabbed the wiring to the rabbit pen while he looked at the bunnies inside. He could feel the steady vibration of James' squeeze on the corner post.

"Yeah," James answered wearily. He released his grip and started rubbing his temples with his other hand.

"Just be glad you don't have to go into the forest. You really don't want to go in there unless you absolutely have to," Spike said.

But James was unresponsive.

Undeterred, Spike simply tried again, guessing at what was bothering him. "I wouldn't worry about the girls. They'll look out for each other."

Dropping his hand, James leaned on the post again, more calmly this time. What a chipper little dragon. "Well, that's good," he said, slowing and controlling his breathing.

Satisfied with the slight improvement in response, Spike let up with that line of discussion. This whole scenario was going to provide him with the opportunity to finally get to know the new guy and there would be plenty of time to ask questions as they deal with Fluttershy's animals. However they're even supposed to deal with them, that is. "So... how much do you know about taking care of these animals?" he asked his partner unsurely.

The rabbits in the pen trepidatiously began moving again. Caring for rabbits James remembered. He looked around at the rest of the small zoo that was present and all the breeds of animals he didn't have any personal familiarity with. "Uh... a little bit," he answered.

Fluttershy finished dumping all the essential information she could think of as Twilight returned, catching the tail end of it. She wasn't about to ask the poor pegasus to repeat herself, though. Amongst the faces of her friends, she didn't see one who looked truly unprepared to get going and lend a hoof. Although Rainbow Dash did seem mildly distracted by something.

Rarity was carefully going over herself, uneagerly anticipating the ruinous effect the job ahead would have on her mane. "I suppose we have our work cut out for us," she moaned. "This isn't turning out to be my week at all."

"Aw, don't be such a grumpy-puss," Pinkie Pie chirped in lively fashion. "It looks like a great morning for a walk through the forest!"

"I doubt any morning would be rightly great to go for a walk in there," Applejack said, "but it's good to have your optimism behind us anyway." She steadied her hat as she turned to face Twilight. "Well, I'm thinking we're prepared as we're gonna be. Now how's this going down exactly?"

"Oh, right!" Twilight realized. She had more or less figured out how she wanted to divide the group beforehand and rapidly matched up some pairs. "I think we should split into groups of two. Fluttershy and I can look for the missing animals." Pairing off with her would compensate for having missed the crash course. "Rainbow Dash and Applejack can go with the birds who are looking for new places to nest and help them find somewhere to settle in. That leaves Rarity and Pinkie Pie to look for homes for the ground animals."

They all were in agreement. Mostly. Rarity gave some resigned griping about her chosen partner and Rainbow Dash still seemed somewhat distracted. Finally the pegasus spoke up, pointing over to James. "What about him?" she asked.

Twilight glanced over at Spike and James, who were curiously observing the behavior of some chinchillas. "They'll be staying here at the cottage," she explained. "Because we'll be splitting up, I think it's a good idea to have them stay here to act as a center of information. In case anybody has to come back for any reason."

Rainbow Dash became scrupulously objectionable. "You're leaving him here alone with Spike?"

Looking at the man and the dragon again, Twilight squinted at them, unsure what precisely Rainbow Dash was seeing that she was apparently missing. All she saw was the two scratching their heads over a small herd of some big eared, fuzzy critters. She turned back to her protesting friend, saying with ambiguity, "...Yes?"

Applejack knew what was going on and rolled her eyes. "Quit your worrying, Rainbow. She says it's fine."

"I don't want him coming along," Twilight elaborated. "He's too new and not familiar enough with the potential dangers of the Everfree Forest."

"What? I mean, no, of course he shouldn't come along. Who said he should?" Rainbow Dash uncoordinatedly rambled. "That's good thinking. But, I mean, you're leaving him here alone with Spike?"

Groaning, Applejack brushed the babbling aside. "We're wasting our time with this. Let's get a move on."

"Uh, right," Twilight said. But she couldn't break herself off completely. "Listen, Rainbow Dash, they're just going to stay here watching Fluttershy's animals while we're gone."

Fluttershy tried to gently intercede. "They should be alright. I've done all the morning chores already. For the most part all they need to do is watch the bowls and troughs and keep them filled with food and water. All the bags are labeled and I keep them stored in..."

Twilight looked again at the two they were leaving behind. They were still puzzling over the chinchillas as if they were the most mysterious thing in the world. "Uh, Fluttershy?" she interrupted, "Maybe you should give them some quick instructions before we go. You know. Just in case."

"Oh. Right. Okay," Fluttershy quietly replied, lifting off and floating over to them.

Rainbow Dash glared intently at James, watching as Fluttershy showed him and Spike where to find the different foods and hays. Maybe the suspicious pony didn't have a lot to go on but there wasn't any telling what the risk to her friends was, and that was unacceptable. Twilight's nonchalance wasn't cutting it, or if that girl knew something she hadn't been revealing it yet. Looks like it would be up to the great Rainbow Dash to keep a very close and careful eye on this new guy, least danger stalk in close where none of her friends could see it.

Once Fluttershy had finished giving her instructions, the ponies departed with the swarm of displaced animals tagging along with them. The group would make their way along the river until they got close to the original site of the destruction and spread out from there. Rainbow Dash flew along, her head turned back to watch the cottage as long as she could spare. As the hoof beats and skittering of the animals faded, James sat down on the grass of an easy slope to think things over. Was he taking orders from ponies now?

Chapter 9: Reevaluate

"It looks like they'll all be good on food and water for awhile," Spike said in reference to Fluttershy's many animals. The dragon approached James and sat himself down next to the man, carefully sweeping his own tail to the side as he dropped to the soft grass of the gentle slope. "I don't think we're going to have to do much of anything until later."

James wasn't responding. He sat quietly, knees raised with an arm draped over them, watching nothing in particular. The details of his disagreement with Twilight were turning over and over again in his head.

"So, we've never really had the chance to talk," Spike opened up after a moment of silence. "But there's plenty of time now I guess, so..."

"Hm? Oh." James snapped out of his ruminations. "No, I guess we haven't had the chance yet." He relaxed his body, stretching his legs out, trying to briefly forget some of the concerns occupying him. "Is there something you wanted to talk about about?"

Spike shrugged his shoulders. "Actually, I just wanted to get to know you," he said plainly.

"Oh! Yeah," James said apologetically. He was letting the affairs of the moment get to him too much. This little guy sitting here was one of the individuals he was now living with and they had never taken the time to formally get acquainted with one another. "Sorry, I've just been a bit distracted is all. There's been a lot going on... it has been almost too much to deal with these past few days." He leaned back, planting his hands behind himself to keep steady, looking once more at the tree line of the Everfree Forest. "But you're right. We've got the time now."

"I remember when I first came to Ponyville with Twilight," Spike told him. "I had basically lived in Canterlot my whole life so coming here was a big new experience. There were all sorts of new faces, so many ponies to get to know. And also so many new things to experience too." He held out a scaly palm in solidarity. "I can understand how it can keep you so busy."

The relative comparison produced a small, innocent laugh from James. While Spike was speaking true to his own experience, it wasn't exactly the same thing that he was going through. "I think in my case there's quite a bit more to it than moving to a new town," he said.

The lime scales jutting off the sides of the dragon's head twitched as he looked over in curiosity. "Where are you from?" he asked.

"Much further away than Canterlot to be sure," James answered. "Way outside of Equestria. Not just farther even, but somewhere much more... different as well. In a lot of ways." It would be easy to get lost in a jumbled run down of the specifics on a topic like this. That's why there was these metaphors with islands and oceans, to make it all more understandable. But first, he needed to know what he was working with here. "How much do you know about what happened?" he asked his small companion. "I mean, three days ago. Were you out with Twilight and the others?" He didn't recall seeing Spike there but, compared to the ponies, the dragon had a reduced silhouette and was less noticeable.

"Well, I don't know much I guess," Spike speculated. "I was doing chores at the library when Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy came in saying I needed to send a message to Princess Celestia. Something about a metal tower that was shooting lighting or something everywhere." A thoughtful squint came to his eyes. "That's what caused this whole mess with the animals, right?" he asked.

That specific reminder sparked some discontent in James' face. "Yeah," he murmured in a low growl. "Anyway, that metal tower was the thing that brought me here from outside of Equestria. It dragged me along with it when it came over."

"It... came over?" Spike questioned in confusion. "Could the tower walk or something?"

"No, no. Sorry. I mean... hmm..." There had to be a simplistic way to put this. One that didn't involve the metaphorical hoops and shenanigans that he gave to the Princess and Twilight. "It basically disappeared from where it was and rematerialized here."

There was an immediate flash of understanding in the dragon's eyes. "Oh, I get it," he stated. "It teleported. More or less."

Now why hadn't James thought of explaining it like that? "That's one way to look at it. Actually... that's a pretty accurate description in a lot of ways," he realized. And after all, why not? It was moving something from one spot to another seemingly instantaneously. That's the definition of a teleport. Whose to say that there had to be an established rule that it must be exclusively in-universe movement in order to be teleportation? "More or less," he echoed back with laugh.

Spike seemed sufficiently stunned in processing the new details. "Wow. I don't know if I've ever heard of a teleport coming in from somewhere outside of Equestria. That seems like a long way to go." He rubbed his chin thoughtfully and said, "It does answer why I've never seen anyone like you before. But then again, I mean, I haven't traveled a whole lot so if there are others like you in Equestria I wouldn't know."

"I've been told I'm the only one," James replied, confident in his information. One would think the Princess of all ponies should have a fair handle on the kinds of intelligent species that could be found in her kingdom.

"I guess I can see how that's different than moving from Canterlot to Ponyville," Spike lamented. He picked up the end of his tail and awkwardly fiddled with it, sympathizing with the implications that this brought on. "I think I can kind of understand it still," he mentioned quietly. "I'm pretty much the only dragon in all of Ponyville. I haven't actually gotten to know any other dragons very well."

Having never thought about it before, the news surprised James. "There aren't other dragons around? No adult dragons?"

"Well," Spike explained, "most dragons who grow up live outside of pony society. They'll live in caves or on mountains, things like that, and they spend their time storing away gemstones and treasures that they collect." His nose wriggled recalling some of his own few sightings of other dragons, largely unpleasant experiences. "Generally they're... they're not very nice dragons. In fact, most ponies don't get involved with them since they can be just as dangerous as the things you can find in the Everfree Forest." He gestured over to the wall of trees, ominous as ever. There was an uneasy discomfort that reflected off his eyes as he stared at the forest.

It was a restlessness that James immediately noted. "The forest is really that bad, huh?" he stated, folding his knuckles together in thought.

"Yeah," Spike emphasized. "There's something off about that place, and it definitely isn't safe, that's for sure." The black shadows of the trees shuffled and waved as if they wished to show their support for his assertion. Spike was thanking his lucky stars he didn't have to go in there before he suddenly realized what he had said and flipped around to become more reassuring. "B-but don't worry about the girls! They'll be fine, they know what they're doing. It's risky, but if anypony can handle it then it's them."

That wasn't the problem. It was good to know there was belief in their ability to succeed and everything. But... "I should be there sharing that risk," James said.

"I know what you mean, but you shouldn't worry about them. I'm sure Twilight has figured out how to make it work out best for everypony and that's why she's split us up like she has," Spike said. Maybe it was just a little itty bit selfish to enjoy not being the one to go into the forest while the others put themselves in danger, but he wouldn't have been asked to stay behind if it wasn't important that someone did.

James sighed and rotated to engage Spike more directly. It's time somebody should hear about this now that Twilight isn't here to keep it under wraps, and this small dragon was proving himself to be attentive and thoughtful enough. "No, that's not what I was trying to say. I'm saying that I share the greater part of the responsibility in fixing this."

But Spike didn't understand. His eyelids rolled up as he tilted his head and tried to figure out what exactly the words meant, asking, "Why? What do you mean by that?"

"It's my responsibility. Or rather, I'm taking responsibility for what happened," James responded, firmly placing his hand on his chest. He tightly gripped the dirt and grass with his other hand. "So it's just... aggravating that the others are going to all the trouble to correct things and Twilight just wants me sitting around here waiting for them." Sometimes there are measures that are simply necessary in order to make things right. Sometimes you've got to do what you've got to do.

"Are you saying that the whole thing with that metal tower was your fault?" Spike asked, worried.

"Well..." James said with uncertainty. "The whole thing was an accident. The tower wasn't supposed to... 'teleport' this far. I don't even know who turned the thing on to begin with," he admitted. "But that's all besides the point!" He brushed the air to wave away his prior statements. "It happened regardless and people... er, ponies and animals have been hurt. Somebody needs to step up and take responsibility for it."

Making his own interpretation, Spike began to relax and told James, "It really doesn't sound like it was your fault at all."

"It's not. Not directly," he stuttered with his answer. The concept was so clear and right in his head, but it was the effort to bring the words to it that was failing. In moving from those ideas and ideals into a reality through his expression, they were breaking apart. First in his actions, by resigning to Twilight's direction, and now in his words. He tried to explain it all again as much for his own benefit as for Spike's. "I didn't do something to cause it to happen, and I certainly didn't mean or want for it to happen. But..." What was this all about? What made it important? He searched himself for the answer as the dragon watched in silent waiting.

"Spike, listen," James finally began again, "sometimes, unfortunately, awful things happen and people get hurt. Not always physically, but... you know what I mean, I think. That's just a fact of life, right? Sometimes bad things happen."

Although he nodded in understanding the premise, the befuddlement in Spike's eyes expressed that he wasn't quite following the direction this was taking.

"Alright," James continued, "and it's worse when something terrible happens to someone and it's outside of their control. When the actions of one person cause harm to someone else, someone who had no hand in the matter. When someone's life suddenly and unexpectedly takes a negative turn due to the decisions of another person. When someone gets hurt by something that completely isn't their fault, something that they had no ability to influence. That's not fair at all." That was the heart of the matter. It was what was most important to him about the whole situation: justice.

Still unable to see the end this was leading to, Spike only again nodded in understanding the immediate value of the words. "Okay... I'd say that it's not fair," he cautiously offered.

"Because of that injustice, they're owed an explanation for what happened. Someone needs to come forward to tell the injured why, through no fault of their own, they had to suffer," James said passionately. He recalled events in his own world and lifetime; horrible things happening to good, innocent people because of others' foolhardy or selfish actions. The memories and feelings came forward to fuel the emotion of his argument. "This whole thing Fluttershy has been dealing with, the animals with the lost homes, everything, it has all clearly hurt her and her animals. Maybe I didn't cause it to happen, but in the end I'm the only one who has come through it all and is still left. I'm the only one remaining who can legitimately tell her why she and the animals had to be hurt." It was up to him to bring that justice, give the answers, and then make things right.

Spike rubbed his tail as he looked around, slightly confounded. "I... guess I can get that?" he slowly said. Something clicked in his head and he straightened himself out, continuing, "And I'm sure Fluttershy would really appreciate hearing the truth and everything, but... I think right now all she's REALLY worried about is the animals. That they're alright and taken care of. I think what's most important to her is that they get the help they need and it doesn't matter who helps then."

There was a sudden release of steam in the passion that had been driving James. A popping of the balloon that had been inflating with his desire to see what he felt was right get accomplished. "I...!" he began, but couldn't find anywhere to bring it. Necessary measures... is justice always a necessary measure? Does justice always make things right?

"We're all Fluttershy's friends," Spike said, "and what worries her, worries us. We all want to do our part to make things better. Even if, for you and me, that means waiting here and taking care of her other animals."

Again James fell into silence, slouching. He wanted justice. There was a time that a drunk driver had killed someone. The driver's poor, careless choices lead down a road to death, wrecking another car and killing that car's young driver. He wanted justice. The drunkard was brought before the parents of the victim. What did they want? Did they want to be told why it had to happen? Did they want justice? Did they want... revenge?

Did they want their baby back?

The cold silence caused Spike to shiver and fidget. "I... uh... I guess if you've never been to Equestria before or in the Everfree Forest or anything, then Twilight probably doesn't want you going in there... so that's why she has you here. She's just trying to keep you safe."

James immediately nodded in agreement with the facts, brushing past some of his feelings. It's not that he didn't always recognize the prudence of her decision. Maybe he had just been clouding it with his own feelings more than before. This whole chain of events has been a sequence of twists and turns and new, inconceivable experiences. But as time has continued to pass he was slowly waking up from the shock. There had been trust in Twilight's actions because he told himself it was the necessary measure to be taken for him to survive. When that trust recently became opposition to him, to what he felt and what he wanted... did he really have to be so quick to assign antagonism to that? Or now would he trust her because she has been given an assignment by her mentor and she's just doing her best possible job to try and fulfill it? He thought quietly. The forest, maybe, could wait for another day.

Running a hand through his hair once, James sighed hard. "I think... I think I'm just... annoyed and frustrated by this whole situation, is all. Not just the animals... everything. Absolutely everything. I'm slowly coming back into myself and adjusting to this experience, and it's bothersome to only be able to sit here and think about it and wait on it."

Standing up, Spike said to him, "Well, you don't have to feel bad about what happened. We're all here to help, first with Fluttershy and then you if you need it." He pointed over to some of the animal pens, sweeping across them. "We don't have to sit here either. Let's check on all the animals again."

Pushing off the ground, James threw his weight forward to stand up, bouncing into position. "Sure," he said, "I want to see the rabbits again."

They walked off towards the rabbit pen as the shifting shadows of the Everfree Forest silently rustled, and the eyes in the darkness watched them go.

It was a whole sweeping crescent of the forest edge that had been devastated by the event. Very little debris had been left behind in the field where the dimension hopping tower briefly stood before its own self-destruction. Twilight supposed that Princess Celestia may have ordered a clean up, lest anything left behind could still prove dangerous in some way. The vigorous discharges of energy that characterized most of the tower's cataclysm had left their scars in a circle surrounding the original location. Gashes across the field winded every which way, leaving the once grassy plain resembling the aftermath of a bunch of hasty, panicked groundhogs shoveling dirt wildly. The section of the disastrous circle which overlapped with the forest edge stood out as a visible swath of fallen or broken trees.

Stepping carefully amongst the ruins, Twilight and Fluttershy started their search for any missing animals. All the animals who were helping with the search, the worried friends and relatives of the missing, stuck close to Fluttershy. The little orphaned squirrel buried himself in her hair, hugging her tightly and closing his eyes on his lost home.

Twilight, despite her best meaning efforts, had a hard time keeping herself on track, instead observing and thinking about the chaos that had taken place here. With so many trees lost, sunlight easily flooded this small section of the forest and, with it, the layer of fresh ash from an outbreak of fire stood in contrast to the dried and decaying leaves that normally made up the forest floor. Most peculiar was the pattern of the fire's spread. While it had clearly burned over quite a bit of the ravaged area, she noted that there were some parts of the desolation that it hadn't touched. The remains of the unburned trees were broken branches, partial trunks, and now logs resting on the ground. There was one detail that stood out to her immediately. Where they had been severed by the bolts of energy weren't particularly burned through. In fact, there wasn't much scorching on them at all. Nor was the separation a snapping break. It seemed like the whipping tendrils of energy had the power to cleanly cut through the trees, perhaps simply vaporizing the parts they sliced through.

She spoke some of her thoughts out loud. "I'm not sure what would have started the fires. The way the trees are cut through so smoothly with so few burns here..."

Fluttershy didn't have any words to offer. She was distraught at seeing this location again, emphatically feeling the burden of the animals they had brought along.

"Maybe some heat or an explosion generated from accessory damage to the structure itself?" Twilight guessed. James and herself had speculated that the tower's demise came about from an inability to properly regulate its own immense power, and the results of that were now before her. It was frightening what unrestrained power was capable of in the wrong situations. That's the kind of energy that was needed to open an interdimensional portal?

A bird whispered into Fluttershy's ear and she presented the translation to Twilight. "They say that after the initial confusion they were able to organize enough to get the fires under control before they spread too much. There wasn't anything they could do about the 'storm' though."

"There's not much anypony would be able to do against a force that could do something like this," Twilight replied, pushing over a thick, severed branch with her hoof. "Not much except get out the way."

"I really hope the other animals did," Fluttershy somberly said. Her little companions pulled themselves in close to her in support. "I looked through here yesterday and didn't find anything. It... doesn't look like any of the animals came back." She swiveled her head around to look again, depressed. "There's not much left to come back to..."

Analyzing the destruction around them, Twilight pointed further into the forest. "If they ran, they probably went deeper into Everfree Forest in order to escape. It was either face what's in there or face the terrible waves of energy that were razing their homes," she concluded. "We should carefully move in and search."

Anxious but still committed, Fluttershy agreed. "Right," she timidly said as she began to lead her following in the appropriate direction.

The shift between the ruins and the fresh forest was stark. The canopy of the trees quickly formed together, consequently warding off the direct light of the sun. The low echoes and grumbling of forest life became more present as background noise with each inch inwards the group moved. Steadily, the breath of the untamed woodlands cycled stronger; an ecosystem alive and surviving on its own.

Eventually, once they felt they had penetrated deeply enough, Fluttershy began to encourage her entourage to cautiously start searching. "Okay," she said while nudging a chipmunk off with her nose, "spread out just a little bit and look for places your friends or family might have gone, but be very, very careful. Don't get too far out. Always be close enough that you can return to me or Twilight immediately if you need to or if we call for you." Her flock of critters dispersed, flying, climbing, crawling as necessary to seek out those that were missing. All except for the little orphan squirrel who stayed hidden in her mane. The pegasus herself stretched her wings and took off, looking amongst the tree tops while also surveying the area from above and gently calling out for lost animals.

Twilight used her magic to part bushes and branches, looking for any clue or trail of the wayward critters. There didn't seem to be a way to reliably track any recent movement through the area but they could look for temporary homes the fleeing animals might have made. Any friendly local animals they find could also be interrogated by Fluttershy. The pulsing undercurrent of the forest life got her thinking. Frightened as they might have been, the animals wouldn't have run too deeply into the forest. They were well aware that things get more perilous the further in you plunge. Perhaps the ponies should search in an arc heading back towards the forest edge, keeping themselves outside of the ruins.

Fluttershy's face peeked through a heavy wall of leaves as she whispered an apology for any intrusion she was making to whomever might dwell in that tree, but it was empty. She nervously called out to get the attention of any animal, lost or otherwise. When there was no answer, she withdrew from that tree and peered about tentatively, noticing Twilight's own careful search. To try and ease some of her tattered nerves, she started talking to her friend while gliding over to the next tree to check. "So... Rainbow Dash didn't seem to like James very much."

The simple mention of the topic rapidly redirected all of Twilight thoughts. She shifted her attention ungracefully and responded spasmodically, "What? What makes you say that? She's just... being..." Her brain tore through pages of suddenly disorganized vocabulary in a desperate search for an appropriate word. "Obstinate?" she finished, vaguely unsure.

"Oh... I... uh..." Fluttershy stammered, unhappy that her efforts seemed like they were only adding to the tension of the situation. She awkwardly fumbled to clarify herself politely, too shaky to attempt to back out of what she just started. "I mean, she seems to think that... maybe he's... not very nice?" she clumsily delivered and then thrust her head into another tree to hide her discomfort.

"Rainbow Dash has barely talked to him at all!" Twilight rationalized. "She doesn't really know him yet. She's just forming a reactionary opinion from..." but her excusing broke down while she continued, "... what little she does know about him." The only things the brash pony had to go off of were what she had seen with her own eyes (notably something that Fluttershy hadn't seen) and what few words Twilight had exchanged with her. But were Twilight's words enough? Maybe they didn't mean as much to the others as the hopeful unicorn had imagined they would.

The leaves fell back into place as Fluttershy pulled her head out and moved on to the next tree. "Oh. That sounds like Rainbow Dash," she said softly. "That's good to hear, though. To tell you the truth, I was a little bit worried about it," she admitted, "but if you've been able to talk with James a lot, then I guess you know more about him and..."

Although the words continued, they trailed off in Twilight's mind as she fretted over the current state of affairs. Did she really know more about him? Technically yes, they had squeezed a lot of details out of their limited conversations, but it hadn't even been two full days yet since his arrival at the library. He had given her the impression of being calmer and more erudite than she initially imagined, but at the same time he still had to somehow be that person she, and Rainbow Dash, had originally seen. The person who took and wielded the knife. All of the talking with him had established a line of reasoning that, horrible as it may be, was at least self-consistent in explaining everything. But each new event was showing that it was never revealed to her who he truly was. She was wishy-washy over Pinkie Pie's party because she didn't know how he would take it. She had many unpredictable surprises in her friends' meetings with him. And even more recently his words and actions have caught her completely off guard. He had gotten angry and she didn't clearly understand why. Maybe worse, she turned around and countered it forcefully, almost on an instinct. The holes that seemed to exist in her knowledge made all the prospects scary. Did she really know where this was heading as well as she thought she did? Her head was full of ideas and plans that she had thought were moving along steadily but now it was more like running an obstacle course blindfolded, scrambling to hurriedly correct mistakes and change directions in ever shifting conditions. What was Princess Celestia thinking, sending him here to her?

The voice of her friend faded back in. "... and I hope that once this is all over, that party which Pinkie Pie has planned will help clear everything up," Fluttershy concluded optimistically. Confidence was emerging in her now that she felt more relieved from their conversation and she steadily continued her search of the trees.

"Sure... the party," Twilight mumbled. She moved to return to her own search, talking to herself. "Everything will be fine. You'll see. We'll get back to the cottage after this and everything there will be fine."

The impact with the ground was hard and heavy as James landed right on his chest, his outstretched hands just barely missing out on grasping the legs of a running ferret as he fell. Spike made his own jump and landed on James' back, immediately bouncing off him afterwards. The dragon dove towards the weaselly critter and managed to wrap his fingers around one leg as he slammed into the ground. He secured his hold as tight as he could and jumped to his feet, digging his heels into the dirt. "Got you now!" Spike announced triumphantly.

It wasn't much of a victory however, as the ferret just took off again on his remaining limbs with enough sudden power to fling Spike forwards, face-planting into the soil. The ferret ran erratically, thrashing about to loosen his captor's grip as he dragged the poor dragon along behind him. At last, Spike could hold on no more and lost his hold on the leg, rolling to the side with the momentum he had leftover. Free again, the ferret broke for the rabbit pen and climbed to the top of the fencing, bounding over towards the gate. James was just getting up and shaking some of the dirt off when he saw the escaped animal fasten himself to the top of the gate and reach down for the latch, undoing it. With a push against the stable portion of the fence, the sneaky rat rode the gate open.

"Oh, come on," James complained as all of the contained rabbits bolted. He could have swore he heard the ferret chuckling at his own trickery. Something out there was definitely laughing, anyway.

Chapter 10: Confrontation

The escaped rabbits ran wild, spreading out to take off in different directions. Spike recovered his footing and went straight for the diabolical ferret who masterminded their escape, himself already on the way to another pen of animals that he could set loose. The dragon made his best effort to block the attempt by cutting the conniving critter off, but the ferret managed to slip out of the trap by leaping right on top of Spike's head and then jumping straight to the next pen door. Another band of animals were set free.

This was getting out of control. James could scarcely believe the trickery that this sneaky little weasel had been able to pull off. Getting out was one thing but now being able to release all these other animals? What a way to get hoodwinked. He didn't have the faintest idea how he and Spike were going to get this situation under control.

They had been spending the morning observing the many creatures Fluttershy kept at her home. It was like a day at the zoo with no tour guide to direct you from here to there, and the minimalistic enclosures separating you from the residents brought you closer than ever to them. It seemed incredibly impressive that all of these animals were cared for properly by one individual. Yet still, there wasn't any indication that a single animal wasn't receiving proper care. In fact, the atmosphere was filled with a jovial energy which emanated from the animals, happy to be living just where they were. It was like a day at the zoo... but it wasn't the smiles of any attending children that made things feel so light and carefree.

The real start of all the trouble came later when, after about an hour of looking around, they went to examine the ferret in his cage. The rodent, so innocent seeming at the time, was flopped over on his side and partially curled into a ball, apparently taking a nap. However, the bowl of food left for him had been spilled and its contents scattered. Spike went to retrieve the appropriate feed to fill a replacement bowl while James stayed at the cage to withdraw the overturned one. It was all a ruse though, like a prisoner who feigns sickness to get the guards to open the cell door. As soon as the cage door was open enough the ferret sprung from his position like a coil, bouncing off a wall of the cage and shooting straight out the opening before there could be any reaction from the surprised man.

All the effort to catch the escapee was fruitless. Lithe and slippery, the little devil winded and crawled his away around obstacles that proved too difficult for James to closely follow. As soon as Spike had returned he dropped the feed bag he had brought and rendered assistance but even with pincer tactics the duo failed to catch the ferret. They never got any closer than charging at him from both sides yet still missing him as he squeezed through their fumbled grasps and they tripped over each other. It was several minutes of cat and mouse before the chaotic monster unleashed real pandemonium by opening the pens of other animals.

Spike kept on the ferret's tail, realizing that as long as this con artist was loose he would only continue to open more cages and pens. The increased ground traffic hampered the purple dragon's efforts causing him to hop about to avoid being tripped by any of the scampering critters. As a result, he failed to beat the wily ferret to any of the next three pens and more animals were released into the confusion. They all seemed eager to run about in rambunctious revelry.

Worried and shocked at the collapsing stability of the situation, James scaled a nearby barrel of water. He stood balanced on the rim and stretched up, getting the best look over the battlefield as he could manage. At this point there were no less than forty animals running loose. Though it seemed that now, at least, the ferret had gotten his fill of opening enclosures and stopped adding more to their numbers. The next thing the man noticed were the limits the animals were adhering to. Despite being completely free, no animal wandered out of a certain radius of the area and none especially went close to the border with the Everfree Forest. It seemed like they weren't trying to escape or explore at all. In fact, he was sure of it when he suddenly noticed what exactly they were doing to Spike. The animals had mostly created a large circle in the area around him and as the dragon continued to pursue the ferret they were taking turns to zoom across and get in his way.

James got off the barrel and moved straight towards a collection of animals waiting their turn on one side of the circle, trying to break their formation. He picked up speed and rushed over, startling the alerted creatures into dispersing. A few were passing just close enough to his reach that he tried bending down to catch one, instinctively going for a rabbit. Although it had been a few years he still recalled enough of his experience in dealing with the jumpy buggers to make a successful catch.

"Sh! Alright, it's alright. Calm down," he tried telling the bunny in the best soft voice he could generate under the circumstances. But the panicked rabbit seemed to ignore his advice, writhing and kicking as he held it low and close. Eventually it ceased resistance and just held still, frozen in his firm grip. "Alright, good. That's good. Stay calm," he tried to deliver in a coo. As soon as he started to stand up, however, the rabbit whipped to life and quickly wrestled out of his hands, bouncing up onto his shoulder and running down his still arched back to get away. James squeezed the empty air between his hands in profound confusion and aggravation. This is nuts.

The alliance of Fluttershy's loose pets expanded their perimeter to include both targets. Spike's arms were whirling as he tried to steady himself after another near catch of the ferret but a raccoon took a pass at the poor dragon, causing him to stumble over. James moved over to him and helped him up to his feet. "This isn't working," Spike complained.

"Just keep going for the ferret. I'm going to try and break their circle in order to catch some of them," James responded.

"Circle?" Spike asked, before taking a look around himself and noticing that they were surrounded. Only the ferret wasn't in formation, instead being slightly inside the circle, bouncing and twirling, goading Spike into a chase.

"Go for it," James reiterated.

Spike readied himself, puffing out his chest, before rapidly taking a step and a lunge at the elusive ferret. He failed again but as soon as he was on the go the other animals resumed running interference.

Selecting the group that seemed the most easy to corner, James made his move towards them. Like before, they broke and scattered, heading off to other areas of the perimeter. Also like before, he made a grab for a rabbit only this time the critter's well timed dodge caused James to stumble over, landing on his side. He pounded the ground once with his hand, swearing again that he thought he heard something out there laughing at his predicament.

The ferret leapt over him from behind, darting away as soon as it landed. Spike following immediately in his own dive, just missing the mark and crashing on his stomach in front of James. "Drat!" he grumbled, picking himself up yet again.

"I think this is hopeless," James lamented as he returned to his feet. "There's no way we're going to catch them all like this."

"Well, there's has to be something else we can try," Spike said.

Looking around, James saw again the circle the animals had formed with the excited ferret on the inside, taunting them with another opportunity to chase him. Every attempt for the ferret so far had failed. Eac time he successfully gets away and several of the other animals take the moment to cross the circle. Even double teaming the ferret had proved pointless. Going for the opposite targets, animals on the outside of the circle, hadn't fared any better. Maybe if they had some tools, or a net, or something that they could do to herd them better, or...

"Can you breath fire or anything?" James asked his small companion.

"Yeah?" Spike answered hesitantly.

"Alright, here's what we'll do." He pulled the dragon close and whispered into the scaly protrusion that he hoped was an ear, laying out a plan to try and outmaneuver their opponent.

"I don't want to burn him," Spike protested.

"Well, don't TRY to hit him," James countered. "Now, ready?"

Spike nodded and secured his footing. "Ready, I guess."

Slowly, James took a few tiny steps out, drawing the attention of the ferret to himself. The furry troublemaker stopped his taunting and began carefully watching the man's movements, suspicious of the apparent change in tactics. Once James was sure he had the enemy's attention he started approaching the ferret. His attack was slower and more deliberate than the reckless chasing of before, moving in steadily but never pouncing upon the target to try and grasp him. He kept to the inside of the circle, using haste only as necessary to pressure his mark to stay on the outside.

The ferret responded in kind, picking up speed when needed to evade capture but then slowing down to watch his pursuer keenly. This was very, very different from what they were trying before and the change vexed the fleeing creature. The other animals took their turns crossing the circle, mainly trying to trip up James since Spike was standing still and simply watching the proceedings. But rather than be distracted by the animals cycling past him, the man calmly ignored them. He remained cautious and calculating, seemingly dawdling in the chase. Unsure what exactly what going on and no longer knowing what to expect, the ferret became nervous and fidgety.

At the perfect opening, when few animals were crossing and the ferret had lost all attention of him, Spike suddenly acted. The dragon belched up a stream of green fire in front of the ferret's path, blocking him off. It caught the animal off guard completely, causing him to leap backwards high into air in absolute surprise. Being airborne in such a way made him an easy target for James who ran in and grabbed him around the midsection. "Gotcha, you little weasel!"

Every critter that made up the circle stopped and backed up for a moment in awe. Even the ferret himself was too stunned to resist at first. Once he realized what had happened he put all his energy into flailing desperately, attempting to break his captor's hold. Whipping, wriggling, scrambling, jiggling, the ferret struggled like a fish on the deck of a boat randomly flopping towards the edge. James' hands quivered with the movements, resisting as best he could. Without warning, during one spontaneous twitch, the ferret managed to pop out of the man's grasp and drop through the air towards the grass. Before he could touch down, James dropped to his knees and caught the defiant ferret again, grappling to maintain control and unwilling to lose him this time. Tasting that short success, the ferret resumed his campaign of thrashing about. It was shortly thereafter that he broke free another time. Relentless, James fell forward and again caught the feisty vermin, this time by the hind legs as his he landed. Clawing tirelessly at the ground and snaking his whole body like a live wire, the ferret slide his legs free bit by bit until at last he gained traction and felt no more pull coming from behind. He blasted off to the edge of the animal circle while leaping into the air and doing a celebratory spin.

James buried his face in the grass with an exasperated spit of breath. The remaining animals all jubilantly charged across the ground simultaneously, rejoicing in their triumph. They jumped on, over, and around James' prone body in their crossing while Spike held his arms up and barely managed to avoided being bowled over by the excited animals. After a few runs reveling in their victory they all settled again on the outside of the circle. The activity died down enough to hear the end of the muffled sound of something cackling uproariously.

Spike put his hand down on the back of James' shoulder. "Well, we almost had him that time," he said. "It was a good try," he added as an encouraging afterthought.

"Great," James replied in monotone without looking up. He rolled over onto to back and looked at the sky. "Can't even watch over a bunch of silly animals..." he mumbled.

"We can try again," Spike suggested, upbeat. "We'll get them back into their cages yet!" He pounded his fist into an open palm with determination.

James glowered at the dragon, not sharing the motivation to continue. He sat up and observed the animal circle once more. That stupid ferret just looked so darn proud of himself. It was infuriating. With a tired, grouchy sarcasm, James threw up his arms and said out loud, "Alright! That's enough! Game's over, back to your cages and pens! All of you!"

The animals gazed about at each other for a moment before turning to see the decision of the ferret. The dastardly rodent wavered his head back and forth, slowly and easily. Finally, he stopped and gave a satisfied nod. The crowd dispersed and all the animals made their way back to their respective enclosures with jaunty hops and skitters. The ferret was the last to go, lazily crawling over to his cage. He hopped inside and then, with a snicker, bite his cage door and swung it closed with his jaw. Reaching his little paw through the wiring, he effortlessly switched the lock into place to complete the seal.

"Huh," Spike dully commented, "I guess the first thing we probably should have tried was asking them." He went over to begin closing the doors to the pens that were still open.

There was only a heavy smack as James thrust his hands into his face and rubbed vigorously.

The rest of the morning went by without a hitch. After their playful romp Fluttershy's pets were content to relax the rest of the day away, waiting for the return of their primary caretaker. Maintaining the food and water of all the animals didn't prove to be a problem for Spike and James at that point. They managed their watch while passing the time by conversing about different casual topics. Spike discussed Twilight's history, making jokes about her bookishness, admiring her dedication and friendliness, and passing on some of their past experiences together. On the other side, James spoke a lot about the different rabbits he had raised while growing up and what he remembered best about each one. Eventually, as the morning came to its close, the pair retreated into the cottage for lunch. James found enough amongst Fluttershy's kitchen to make due but Spike had to settle for less than his personal expectations.

After eating they retired outside to rest, once again sitting down on the grass. It wasn't long afterwards that Spike pointed out somepony approaching them, "Hey! Look! It's Fluttershy!"

The yellow pegasus was quietly gliding her way back to the cottage. She was unaccompanied by any of her friends, pony or animal. The one exception was the young flying squirrel still nestled in her hair. She spotted the two who had been left to monitor her house and touched down in front of them.

"Hey, Fluttershy. What happened?" Spike asked her.

"And where are the others?" James added.

"I think they're alright," Fluttershy assured them. "I came back to drop this little guy off." She gave a slight nod and glance upwards to reference her small passenger who was despondently clinging to the locks of her mane. "It's just becoming too much for him. He shouldn't be out there with us anymore," she said. The gloom of the young one's situation reflected clearly off of her face.

Eyes closed and trembling, the little flying squirrel was balled up on her head. His constant shivering was causing the whole of Fluttershy's mane to quiver along with him.

"Please, take him," Fluttershy asked, leveling her neck and bringing her head in closer to James.

"Okay..." he said with reservation. The small critter looked almost terrified and it gave James pause. Fluttershy moved her head forward again once more to encourage him to pick up the saddened animal. Recalling how he had handled upset and frightened rabbits in the past, he finally collected himself and gently held out a hand to her forehead for the squirrel to cross on to. But the tiny creature was too shaken and distraught to move. James very carefully laid his other hand behind the young squirrel and softly nudged him to try and get him going. When that failed James molded the hand into a scoop and lightly got it under the squirrel's rear, pushing him slowly forward. Finally, the little animal let go of the pegasus' pink hair and rolled into James' open hand, laying still in silent distress. James brought his hand against his lower sternum and tilted it up a bit to create a secure pouch to hold the sad squirrel, remembering how rabbits usually disliked feeling loose and unsupported when they were held. To make extra sure, he also brought up his other hand and cupped it behind the first. The young flying squirrel lay and cried against his chest.

Fluttershy pulled back her head and shook it to realign all the hair that had been pulled out of place. She still wore all the sorrow she was feeling for the troubled animal on her face but she was hopeful that, while he rested here, she and Twilight would have success finding his parents. "Please bring him inside," she instructed James. "Do you remember where the bedding I laid out for him is? Angel can point it out if you don't."

"Yes, I remember," he answered. It was only yesterday he was here and saw it, after all.

"Okay. I hope he'll be able to get some rest," she said wistfully. "Oh! And you'll probably want to feed him," she suddenly remembered. "I know he's hungry but he's just been too upset to really eat much, so please try to get him to eat as much as you can."

Spike rubbed his chin. "Huh, a squirrel... so that's going to be the nuts and seeds mix, right?"

"Yes, mixed with some small pieces of fresh fruits. But he's still just a bit too young to have it all straight," Fluttershy replied. "Grind it up before giving any to him."

"Did we finish off the last open bag of the nuts and seeds?" James asked Spike. "I think we poured the last of it for some of the other animals around here."

"Yeah, I think so," Spike answered. He turned and started off towards where the feed is kept. "I'll check and get a fresh bag if we need one."

The tiny squirrel squirmed uncomfortably for a second in James' hand. Fluttershy got in close and poured her motherly love over him in delicate whispers. "It's going to be okay, little one. Stay here and try to rest. We're going to find your parents." Her words calmed the restless animal and he began to settle down. "There, there. That's right," she continued in a tender tone, "It's going to be alright. Just rest, my little squirrel."

James thought for a moment. "He doesn't have a name?" he asked quietly.

"I haven't given him a name for ponies to call him," Fluttershy explained. "With pets that I hope will get adopted, I often don't name them so that their new best friend will have that chance. For wild animals like this I sometimes give them nicknames." She sighed with remembrance of the heavy emotional load she had been under. "It's just been so busy with everything going on and trying to take care of them all," she said while closing her eyes. At least now things were getting better. When she opened her eyes again she could see James staring down at the squirrel in his hands. "Would you like to name him?" she asked.

He blinked in surprise at the question but then frivolously suggested the first thing that came to his mind. "How about 'Rocky'?" Seemed appropriate for a flying squirrel, even if it was too culturally esoteric.

Fluttershy peeked over James' hand to look at the small squirrel who picked his head up to stare back at her with wet, bleary eyes. "I think that sounds like a nice name for a strong and brave little squirrel," she lightly commented to him. It was that extra bit of affection in her voice that helped raise the little guy's spirit, and he tried to curl up and relax.

As Rocky settled, James asked Fluttershy, "So how has it been going out there? What about the others?" Since having accepted Spike's take on the situation and resolving not to do anything rash, he was now worried about how the ponies were doing and relying on them to set things right.

"We haven't heard from Applejack or Rarity or the others yet," Fluttershy said, "but Twilight and I have be doing alright. We've managed to find some of the missing animals and, from what they've told me, I don't think the rest may be that far off." She was smiling and encouraged by the success they were having but it still didn't completely hide her own worries. "We still haven't found Rocky's parents though. And I really hope that the others are doing as well as we are."

James didn't feel he had the knowledge to make a good assessment of their chances. But Spike had been supremely confident in them, so he echoed that support instead. "I bet they're doing just fine."

"You're right, I think," she responded with bolstered confidence.

Spike was making his way back to them with a heavy, sealed bag laid over his head. He kept his hands on either side of it to maintain a steady balance and prevent it from falling. As he passed the cage where the once-troublesome ferret was staying, its occupant leapt against the cage wall and snarled, causing Spike to jump. His tail jutted out to fix his slipping balance as he grabbed the falling bag in a hug. The ferret turned back into his cage, chortling to itself with glee. Spike gave him a stare with squinted, piercing eyes before sticking out his tongue and continuing on his way.

"You haven't had any trouble here with the animals, have you?" Fluttershy asked James with some concern.

"Ah, no. No trouble. Not at all."

"That's good to hear," she replied. With Spike having returned to them, she gave them both an appreciative bow. "Thank you for watching my friends. I should get back to Twilight now," she said as she beat her wings and began to lift off. They both said their farewells to her and wished her good luck in the search. With that, Fluttershy took off.

Spike patted the bag he had brought out. "So I did have to get out a new bag," he told James. "Fluttershy keeps all the fresh fruit inside, too. I think this will be all we need."

"Well," James started, pausing to think about the situation for a moment. "Why don't you watch the animals out here? I'll take him inside and get him fed and put to bed."

"You won't need any help?" Spike earnestly verified.

James shook his head, looking down at Rocky curled up between his palm and chest. "I don't think so. It's just one little squirrel. He's not going to be any trouble."

"No trouble as long as you can keep a hold on him," Spike laughed, grabbing the bag of nuts and seeds. He heaved it up over his head to pass it over to James, who bent down and took it by carefully freeing his extra hand from supporting the young squirrel. Spike made sure the bag was secure under James' arm before letting go.

"Thanks," James said while standing up straight. He turned to proceed towards the cottage's back door while Spike waved him off. The dragon himself then rubbed his hands together while ambling back towards the ferret cage, considering his options for getting even.

It took a bit of doing to open the door while holding Rocky and the bag under his arm, but James got it done after a few seconds of awkwardly fiddling with it. The tiny squirrel fidgeted a few times in his hand, trying to keep calm and get rest but it was clear he was still in distress. "Relax, Rocky," James told him in a low voice. "You, at least, still have things to hope for. So hold onto that hope."

As James shut the door behind him, a shadow skulked out of the tree line of the Everfree Forest. Slithering low to the ground and out of sight, it ruffled the grass as it stealthily maneuvered towards the cottage. A few animals caught wind of it as it snuck along by their pen and they retreated to the opposite side for cover. Spike was too busy standing outside the ferret cage pulling open the corners of his mouth and making faces to notice anything that was going on. The shadow crawled right up to the wall of the cottage and waited there for a moment before suddenly whizzing straight up the wall and onto the roof. It warily wormed its way across the roof to the other side of the building, turning quickly and moving down the opposite wall. It stopped and positioned itself by the kitchen window. Focused eyes looked in.

From the awkward angle it had given itself, the shadow could only roughly make out what was going on inside. After a short time it saw James enter the room and set something down on a countertop before he moved out of view. There was a sound of some rummaging; articles being shuffled about or gathered. When he returned, he set more things down on the countertop before again disappearing. This time, the crisp sound of clacking metal could be heard. He returned again and approached the countertop. As he raised his arm, a light gleamed off of what he was holding in his hand and the shadow made it out clearly. He had armed himself with a knife.

Gasping, the shadow bounced off the wall of the cottage before whirling about and crashing straight into the kitchen window. Fortunately the window was a casement window with the hinges on the inside so it split and swung open as the shadow passed through rather than breaking. The frames slamming against the inner wall made a loud and sudden bang.

"Hold it!"

In his surprise James withdrew the knife halfway through its cut and turned to face the shadow, unconsciously holding the blade defensively. The instant he made out what was in front of him, however, his arms fell to his sides and he loosened his stance. "Rainbow Dash?" he asked in confusion.

"Just what do you think you're up to?" the colorful pony demanded, floating in the middle of the room while pointing a hoof at him.

James was stumped as to what exactly was going or why she was here. He was still so taken aback by the intrusion that it took him a moment to even respond. Eventually he turned back to his work and reinserted the knife. "I was opening this bag," he told Rainbow Dash in a bewildered voice. With one swift motion he moved the knife completely through the remainder, setting it down on the countertop afterwards. Now the fresh bag of nuts and seeds Spike had given him was open and its contents readily accessible.

Rainbow Dash herself became confused and hovered down towards the floor. "I... you...," she sputtered, looking about the kitchen. Besides the now open bag on the countertop he had also placed there a bowl, a small plate, a spoon, a cutting board, and a wooden mallet. The bowl was filled with many tiny pieces of different fruits. "What are you doing?" she asked in befuddlement while landing.

He looked unsure. Didn't he just answer that? Oh, wait. The rest of the things he had here. James explained to her, "Fluttershy just stopped by a few minutes ago and dropped off a little squirrel here. I'm going to mix and grind this stuff together to feed him."

"The squirrel...!" Rainbow Dash muttered. She had watched the earlier exchange outside from the shadows. Her body became alert again and she jumped to a ready stance. "Where is he?" she asked loudly.

"Right in the next room, waiting to be fed." He pointed over to a doorway out of the kitchen.

She loosened up again in confusion, rapidly swinging her head between him and the doorway he was pointing at. Then, leaving a rainbow trail, she zipped over to the doorway and peeked into the other room. Rocky was sitting up on a blanket laid out over the floor, looking around in fright because of the boisterous crack from Rainbow Dash's entrance. Angel sat next to him trying to calm him back down. She turned around to face James again. "You're... feeding him?" she said in a perplexed way that was halfway between question and statement.

James was already scooping small amounts of feed out of the bag and laying it out on the cutting board for mashing. "Yeah," he answered. Though he was still puzzled as to what exactly was going on. "But... what are you doing here? Are you and Applejack done with what you had to do?" He looked up from his scooping for a second. "And why did you come in through the window?"

This is not what she was supposed to find! Okay, well, what she was "supposed" to find isn't what she wanted to find anyway because that would have been very bad, but still! There's nothing wrong going on here. Everything's in order. Everything's as he said it is. "I... we... I just... came to check on you, is all," the faltering pegasus hastily cobbled together a half-truth.

"Check on-?" James started to ask. But the memory of their initial encounter at the Ponyville market sprung to his mind and things began to fall into place. There were elements of her opinion that were just too visible to hide. Plus the sudden entrance? The mysterious laughter earlier every time he fell or tripped up? "You thought I might do something," he told her vaguely.

"I-I was just... you see," Rainbow Dash inconclusively tried to counter.

He decided to be more direct. "You don't trust me."

She stopped her stammering and steadied herself. Stepping closer to him, her face washed over with seriousness and she firmed up her posture. "Yeah, I don't trust you," she told him outright.

It was strangely comforting to hear. Finally, a direct confrontation with a properly cautious pony. No "well, you could be dangerous so I'm sending you to live with my favorite student", or "I don't know you at all but I'm going to trust you anyway". This was a resistance with which he could actually feel traction and progress. Most of all, it was just plain nice to know that somebody amongst the ponies was actively looking out for them.

Taking some of the fruit from the bowl, James mixed it with the nuts and seeds he had withdrawn and placed on the cutting board. "I guess... heh, I should thank you. Again," he said to Rainbow Dash.

"What?" she asked, once again becoming confounded at being presented with something she completely did not expect. When he grabbed the wooden mallet she took a sudden step back and attentively snapped into a defensive stance. However, he only leveled the mallet gently over the mix on the cutting board. Placing his palm on the top of it, he started grinding down on the mixture. "What are you thanking me for now?" she asked him.

"Ever since I've got here it has felt like everyone has been trusting me too readily. It's... very thoughtful, I suppose," he admitted, "but it just seems so unusual. And dangerous. It's actually kind of relieving to have someone be wary and suspicious like normal." Normal, hm? Was that the word he meant to use?

Rainbow Dash still wasn't able to wrap her head around what was going on. "You're... relieved that I don't trust you?" She couldn't even tell if this was a good thing or a bad thing. It's like everything was backwards for this stranger. Was this some weird and impulsive form of honesty... or were things getting so much more nefarious and tricky than she had ever imagined? Like some kind of reverse backwards contrariwise roundabout doublespeak.

"Yes. I mean, I think I'm just worried for the others, really. With the way they can be so quick to trust a stranger. There's a lot of risk there," he said. How hard would it really be for someone with darker intentions to take advantage of the situation? He didn't sound convincing to himself when he said it, though. Twilight's mantra about expectations rang in his head, and their discussion on trust, and even some of Spike's words from earlier. What they have here has been working for them, presumably for a very long time, and nobody seems to have come along and abused that.

"That's what I've been saying to them!" Rainbow Dash suddenly agreed. Her own statement seemed to even surprise herself. "Wait... why are you telling me this?" she demanded to know.

"I don't have anything to hide," he said plainly. He had hardly asked to be dropped into these circumstances. It just actually made him uncomfortable to see these little ponies taking what he thought were such naive risks.

For her part, Rainbow Dash only continued to eye him suspiciously. She couldn't make up her mind about him. Things seemed so much more simpler when he was just the bizarre, potentially dangerous new guy. Somehow following Applejack's recommendation of finding out more about him, even if only accidentally, hadn't done anything but make things harder to figure out.

"Tell you what," James said to her as she kept on staring. "You can keep on being careful and watchful, keeping an eye on me, until you feel like you don't need to," he offered. "It'll help make me feel better. Maybe we'll both feel better, I guess."

"I just don't want anything to happen to my friends," Rainbow Dash clarified in a strong voice.

"And I promise nothing will." Taking advantage of a bunch of innocence horses was pretty much the furthest thing from his mind. He was still busy grappling with the issue of his own dimensional displacement more than anything else. Still, so long as he was already beholden to Princess Celestia to try his best to avoid hurting the ponies, even with just his knowledge, he had no problems adding to that promise with Rainbow Dash. "So I'm serious. Keep an eye on me until you feel comfortable with everything. You can make sure nothing happens for yourself."

He scraped off the mashed nuts, seeds, and fruit from the bottom of the mallet. The mixture had been ground down into a paste and he gathered up a portion of it to slop onto the plate. Setting aside his tools to be cleaned later, he took the plate with Rocky's meal and made his way past Rainbow Dash. She followed him closely out of the kitchen.

"Alright," she told him in tentative agreement as they entered the next room. "So, care to explain yourself?" Her tone was dead serious.

James put the plate on the blanket next to Rocky, who had somewhat recovered from the shock of the pegasus' entrance. The little squirrel was reluctant to eat, however. James knelt down close and rested two fingers over his back, trying to sooth the small animal. Again this reminded the man of the rabbits he used to take care of. If it became absolutely necessary you could force-feed a rabbit but if they were just upset or being stubborn you usually had to sit with them, encourage them, and make them comfortable until they felt ready to eat on their own.

"What do you want explained?" he asked Rainbow Dash, but she just stared back at him with narrowed eyes. It silently cemented what he had essentially assumed. She wanted to know about what happened between him and the other man. She had saved them both but now only James was left since he had killed the other man immediately afterwards. That was the single, definitive action that was driving her distrust.

"It's a complicated thing. Especially for ponies, it seems," he said to her. He matched her serious nature to try and respect her forthrightness and emphasize that he wasn't dodging the question. He was only looking for the right way to answer it. "The short and direct version is that I only did to him what he was planning on doing to me."

Her stare stayed leery, trying to make a judgment on him. It lined up with what she had seen. The other man had made the first move. But it seemed too simple a justification for so heavy an action.

"It was always going to be me or him," James resolved. "If I hadn't acted at all then the only thing that would be different right now is that you'd be here talking to him instead of me." Who knows if the ponies would have been better off like that. He had no idea who that other man was. If he was a better man. He didn't want to know. It could hurt to know.

Rainbow Dash kept staring for a while longer before she finally closed her eyes and shook her head briskly. "I don't get it," she complained, "I mean, I 'get it' but I don't... ugh." There was a deeply registered disgust to it all that she didn't know how to vocalize. It's one thing when the going gets tough for the tough to get going. But holy Celestia, what does it take to go that far?

"It's complicated," he said again. Looks like there was no way to simplify it down without getting into big talks of ethics, morality, necessity, warfare, and so on. "I had a whole, long conversation with Twilight about all this too. It took her a bit of time to get a real handle on things. Hm. If you're staying around right now we-"

"Wait," Rainbow Dash suddenly interjected with a realization. "You've already talked to Twilight about all this?"

He guessed they never really gave Rainbow Dash the details when they met her at the market but it still seemed odd that she didn't imagine Twilight would have asked him about it. "Yeah. We went into quite a bit of detail," he elaborated.

She withdrew into thought. That little unicorn was holding back information! Maybe she did have a good reason to, though. Maybe she did know what she was talking about before, or at least knows what she's doing. Maybe Applejack was right about just giving enough time for everything to be explained. Perhaps she could talk to Twilight first and hear her account and interpretation instead of relying on James' version. She still couldn't make a judgment on him.

Rocky stirred from under James' petting and stretched forward to begin nibbling at the mush that was his meal. Without thinking, James reacted by giving the hungry squirrel some light praise in a silly voice before quieting himself in embarrassment. It broke Rainbow Dash's concentration and she had a hard time suppressing a chuckle. Watching the entire proceeding, Angel sat upright and rolled his eyes.

"Alright, I guess I don't need to hear all about it right now," Rainbow Dash decided. "I'll take your promise... for now. But I'm still going to keep an eye on you."

"That's no problem," he answered. He added after a pause, "Thanks again." Maybe it was weird that being mistrusted at first felt better than spontaneous trust. But when you're so used to certain behaviors they become very normalizing and comfortable.

They sat in silence, watching Rocky slowly pick at his meal. The dainty sound of his chewing was backed only by the regular ticking of the pendulum clock on the wall. Finally James broke the silence when he realized something. "Hey. If you've been here watching me, what happened to Applejack? Is she going to be okay?"

Rainbow Dash casually blew the notion off. "She'll be fine. She always is."

A branch snapped with a forceful crack as Applejack tumbled through it during her fall down. She landed on the leafy forest floor with a crinkled thump as her hat floated down and came to rest next to her without a noise. She moaned from the soreness as she pushed herself up onto her hooves and picked up her hat to return it to her head. Two small birds stood in front of her and looked up at her quizzically.

"Well," Applejack groaned while straightening her hat, "I reckon it looks clear enough up there if ya'll want to nest in it. Didn't see nothing dangerous."

The avian couple fluttered around each other in happy abandon several times before shooting up into the leaves of the tree.

Taking strained steps towards the remaining birds that still needed homes, Applejack twitched from the leftover pain of her fall. She grumbled to herself, "When I get my hooves on that lazy, good for nothing pony, leaving me here like this..."

One of the other birds tweeted at her and held a wing out towards another tree.

"That one, huh?" Applejack said. "Alright, alright, hang on. Lemme try to find a way to climb it here." She sighed as she looked about for the easiest way to haul herself up the tree.

Chapter 11: Emergence

Rainbow Dash decided to stick around at the cottage. She had no idea where in the forest Applejack was anymore and it would take a mountain of effort to search for her. Besides, that farm pony knows how to take care of herself so she would probably be fine. Probably. By sticking around Rainbow Dash could at least continue to monitor James until she got a chance to question Twilight directly. She didn't want to discuss any more details with him until she got that opportunity. Spike was a little surprised to see her back without her assigned partner but the blue pegasus swiftly claimed that she had come back to help out around the cottage. It was a white lie which backfired as far as keeping completely out of work was concerned; Spike was quick to recruit her assistance in watching over the animals. While she did help out, she was unsurprisingly hard to keep a tab on and the other two often didn't know where she was or what she was doing.

What remained of the afternoon passed by without incident. Fluttershy's pets were still content to wait for her return. They didn't again give any more deliberate trouble for the caretakers left in charge. Inside the cottage, Rocky the squirrel managed to fall asleep several minutes after being fed, freeing James up to return to regular duties.

Just as afternoon was closing and the trio was getting hungry enough to consider dinner, two of the venturing ponies returned. Rarity tiredly trod back towards the cottage, weary hoof by weary hoof, with her head hung low in fatigue. Even though she was physically drained, it appeared she had managed to keep the perfect curls of her mane and tail. Pinkie Pie followed close behind her, shining and chipper, untouched by the exhaustion that filled her partner. Although a crowd of critters had gone with the group when they left, the two ponies brought back with them only four animals: two raccoons, a chipmunk, and a porcupine. Their approach was well announced since every step of the way back was filled with words by Pinkie Pie.

"At first I thought I wasn't sure it made any sense but then when I thought about it suddenly I started thinking that that I thought it made a lot of sense!" the exuberant pony jabbered while bouncing along. "I mean, a tree hollow? That seems like a place to hide away, not a place to live! But then look at them!" She lowered her face down uncomfortably close to one of the raccoons walking alongside her. "They're like little bandits! It's the perfect place for them! Don't you think?"

Rarity just kept silently plodding along, summoning every last ounce of willpower necessary to keep the babbling from taking her sanity.

Spike dropped what he was doing without hesitation the instant he realized Rarity was coming back. James followed as he noticed the dragon running off to the meet the returners. Neither of them was sure exactly where Rainbow Dash was at the moment as she had been rapidly making rounds and again they had lost track of her.

Finally seeing salvation from being the ear for Pinkie Pie's rambling, Rarity ran to greet Spike and James. Not that it stopped Pinkie Pie from matching her speed without breaking vocal stride, right up until the very last second possible when Rarity began addressing Spike.

"Oh, Spike, thank goodness!" she exclaimed with relief.

The happy dragon swung his arms around her neck and embraced her, joyful not only to see her unharmed but also enthused by her greeting. Her face flushed with slight embarrassment at the sudden hug, but she accepted it regardless.

"Well, it's good to see you're both back in one piece," James said. Although he was glad they hadn't come back hurt, he was a little bothered that they seemed to have no serious trouble. For all the warnings Twilight had made of the risk of the Everfree Forest, here was a dressmaker and a... whatever it is that the bubble-headed Pinkie Pie does... who apparently had no trouble whatsoever in dealing with the dangers of the forest. Second thoughts about not having struck out on his own came to him, wondering if he would come to regret his decision.

Releasing his scaly arms from Rarity, Spike proclaimed, "And it looks like you girls did really well!"

"Yes. It took some work to get going, I admit, but once we got in far enough we found plenty of space for the animals to make their nests, and dens, and warrens..." Rarity verified. "I think everything went rather well. They all seemed sure they would have everything they needed there."

"Yeah!" Pinkie Pie shouted giddily. "There was a pond and some berry bushes and places to dig holes and trees and everything! We even found some nice, friendly local animals who helped us out!"

Rarity began filling in the details, explaining, "There were some animals already living in an area we came across, but they weren't the usual disgusting monsters of the forest." She scrunched her face thinking about the horrid things they could have bumped into while in there. "They were just some other small critters making a living in the forest. They were generous enough to make what room they could for the others animals, and they pointed us in the right direction to keep our search going afterwards."

Some of the excitement fell off Pinkie Pie's face as she added on, "We almost found enough room for everyone." She gestured to the four animals they had brought back with them. It was hard to tell that there was any amount of disappointment in them, though. They seemed thrilled that all their other friends had found new homes, and they were more than willing to continue spending time with Fluttershy until they got their chance to be resettled.

"It was just getting too late to keep searching," Rarity said. "I wanted to make sure we had plenty of time to return before the sun would begin setting." At this time it was low enough in the sky now that it certainly wouldn't be long before its encroachment on the horizon would change the heavens' color into a warm orange.

"I guess we can get them back into the pens Fluttershy had set up for them," Spike said regarding the returned animals. "She'll know what to do with them."

"Speaking of Fluttershy, are she or any of the others back yet?" Rarity asked.

Spike began, "Well, mostly not." He cranked his head around swiftly to look for any sign of Rainbow Dash, but there wasn't a trace to be found.

When Rarity raised a puzzled eyebrow at Spike's incomplete answer, James chipped in. "Fluttershy stopped by for a short time earlier, around midday, to drop off an animal here before heading back into the forest to continue her search with Twilight. She had said they were making a lot of progress with it, though." His shoulders gently shrugged. "Haven't seen her since," he finished.

"Ah. Good to hear at least that they've been doing well," Rarity acknowledged, nodding her head. "I suppose we'll just have to wait for the other four to return, then. I can't imagine they'll stay out too much longer at this hour." She started moving towards the cottage, tired and spent. Just laying down and getting some rest inside would be the most relaxing thing in the world right now. However, she only made a few steps before Spike interrupted.

"Actually," he said, "Rainbow Dash is already here. She's around... uh... somewhere." He scratched the back of his neck, unsure what more he could tell them.

Pinkie Pie swatted at her twitching tail to calm it before she looked upwards. Pointing at the sky, she said to the others in a bouncy voice, "Oh, she's right up there."

They all turned their heads skywards to see the missing pegasus hovering in place way up over them. Realizing that she had been spotted, Rainbow Dash dove down in a spiral. Even if she was troubled that she had been discovered, she was unable to resist showing off just a little bit. She hit the ground fast and steady before them, folding her wings behind her back after the landing. Her smile worked to try and smooth over the fact that they had caught her attempt at clandestine surveillance. "Pinkie Pie! Rarity! Welcome back!" she bellowed with forced enthusiasm.

"Rainbow Dash has been here for a few hours, helping us with the animals," Spike explained.

Rarity cocked her head, easily picking out that something with amiss with these circumstances. Pinkie Pie, by contrast, was as energetic and upbeat as ever. "Wow, Dashy!" she exclaimed, "You really are the fastest pony in Equestria if you and Applejack finished your search with so much time left to help out here!"

"Ha ha, yeah..." Rainbow Dash uncomfortably laughed. "S-something like that." She was caught between her natural desire to confidently accept the praise that was being levied at her and her knowledge that she hadn't quite earned it in the way Pinkie Pie was suggesting.

The speculative unicorn gave her nervous friend a hard stare and then glanced around the backyard of the cottage, searching the area for any indication of what the scene was missing. Finding no answer with her eyes, she openly questioned Rainbow Dash with a long, drawn out, "Where's Applejack?"

Words came blowing out like a hurricane from Rainbow Dash's mouth. "Oh she's fine I'm sure, hey did Spike say these animals should go back into their pens well why don't I take care of that Rarity, you just sit back and relax." In a flash she whipped into motion, blasting around her surprised friends and grabbing the animals they had brought back with them. Her rainbow trail shot off towards the fresh animal pens, the squealing of the stunned animals she carried fading as she went.

"Huh," Rarity muttered, finally breaking the silence that the rainbow blitz had brought about. Hastily she checked her mane once to make sure every hair was still in place. "That was very... abrupt. So... where's Applejack?" she asked the others, growing a little bit more concerned.

"Rainbow Dash separated from Applejack to stay here," James said.

"Oh dear... does that mean Applejack's still out there, alone?" Rarity realized.

"Nah," Pinkie Pie lightly dismissed while shushing a few involuntary ticks and twitches in her body. "She's right over there!" Again the pink pony pointed, this time off towards the direction she herself had come from with Rarity only a few minutes ago. As if on Pinkie Pie's cue, Applejack came into view, trudging along with all her aches and sores. She was scuffed and dirty with several twigs and leaves caught in her hair, and her hat had fallen off center. Perched on her back were the three remaining birds she hadn't found any nesting space for, clearly indicating her own success despite the handicap she had been saddled with.

The group went out to meet her halfway. Pinkie Pie caught the lone pony's attention when she loudly called out Applejack's name in a sing-songy voice. Seeing fresh and friendly faces picked up the tired girl's spirits and she stepped up her pace a notch. Her fatigue wasn't going to keep her from greeting her friends properly with a smile.

"Howdy, everypony!" she greeted spiritedly. She took a moment to correct the position of her hat, but she knew from the looks she was getting, particularly Rarity's, that she wasn't appearing at her best just now regardless.

"Woah. Applejack," Spike said while taking a close look at her. "Everything alright? No offense, but you look like a mess."

"Mess is right," Rarity concurred, magically pulling out some twigs from the farm pony's hair. Applejack winced as one of them caught on her locks and pulled out a strand. She gave a strained stare to her friend; a stern request to "knock it off", spoken right through her eyes. "Oh, sorry," Rarity hurriedly apologized, "but you look like Opalescence after she's gone chasing field mice. Look at this dirt! Ugh. You weren't rolling around in the bushes, were you?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine," Applejack assured them. "Just a li'l worse for the wear is all. I," she stressed the self-reference, "found trees for most of our winged friends, excepting these three here. I suppose they'll have to sit with Fluttershy a might longer, though they don't seem to mind." Her three passengers all gave nods in agreement. Like the animals Rarity and Pinkie Pie had brought back, they were more relieved to have seen their friends get reestablished and were comfortable with waiting a bit longer for themselves to personally be resettled.

Pinkie Pie reared up cheerfully, already having forgotten her previous interpretation of events derived from Rainbow Dash's actions. "That's great, Applejack!" Her hooves landed not with a heavy thump but a buoyant patting that matched her positive energy. "I didn't know you were so good at finding nesting grounds, too!" she declared.

Applejack's smile drooped slightly. "Yeah, well, turns out I'm a fair bit better at bucking trees than I am at climbing them," she complained. "It would've been handy to have the help of a certain winged pony with me to do some flying."

There was a marked tone in her voice that caught James off guard. It was a barely detectable amount of... hostility, almost. He wasn't sure what to make of it. When he and Twilight had originally spoken to Applejack at Sweet Apple Acres there was no mistaking the genuine concern her voice carried, specifically when she had spoken directly to him. She had been absolutely serious in her worries for the safety of the situation. But there was no way any reasonable person would mistake it for anything close to contempt. Now, her subdued anger at Rainbow Dash beat back against the fantasy worldview that had been forming in his mind. It was days of seeing decadent castles, pretty colored ponies, a life-sized gingerbread house, tremendous concern for the welfare of deceptively emotional animals, and being told more than once that war isn't a reality here. And yet here it was, in the middle of this perceived otherworldly happy paradise, that he saw a typically human reaction. When her friend abandoned her to make the long haul alone, Applejack was angry in a very raw way. She didn't show it much, but it was unmistakably there.

"Rainbow Dash went to settle in the animals that Rarity and Pinkie Pie brought back," James told the agitated pony. He was mildly unsure how to really handle what he was seeing, but he thought it was at least fair if Rainbow Dash herself got the first chance to try and explain things to Applejack. Besides that, he felt he owed the pegasus anyhow, seeing as he had already wound up thanking her sincerely twice now for the things she had done for him. "The fresh cages for the birds are there too, so let's bring them over."

He started leading the way and all the others were quick to follow except Rarity, who didn't move. "I think I'd rather head inside and rest my poor, overworked hooves," she said. She picked up a hoof and looked it over carefully in disappointment, saying, "I'm going to need another hooficure because of this."

"Wait for me, Rarity!" Spike yelled as he broke from the group to follow her. The two headed inside while the rest made their way to the cages to deliver the returned birds and confront Rainbow Dash.

When the freshly set up animal pens and bird cages came into view, Rainbow Dash was still there, her back to the incoming crowd. Applejack immediately scowled and moved faster, getting ahead of the others while muttering to herself. "Gonna give that lazy pony a piece of my mind..." she snorted under her breath.

James didn't bother to catch up or try and interfere. In a way he was kind of curious to see how this would play out, still uncertain as to how these behaviors fit into the impression of their world that he had been getting. Out of the corner of his eye he saw that Pinkie Pie also slowed down. After coming to a stop, in fact, she simply took a seat on the ground. Was she just going to observe too? Or maybe she was predicting what was coming and knew better than to try and get in the way? Whatever it was, she still wore a peppy smile on her face. He stopped close to her and folded his arms across his chest, watching the clash between the two ponies unfold with morbid interest.

Applejack stomped right up behind Rainbow Dash, who was engrossed with removing the last of the porcupine quills she had pricked herself with when she rushed to snatch the animals earlier. Finally plucking out the last one, she didn't notice the aggravated pony's approach. The birds on Applejack's back, sensing the tension right through her and realizing what was coming, lifted off to flap back into the cages Fluttershy had prepared for them. At last in position to strike, the orange pony hollered loudly, "Rainbow!"

The surprised pegasus flinched while she whirled about to face her aggressor. In her shock she was unusually reserved and withdrawn, speaking nervously, "Oh! Hey! Applejack! Eheh... good to see you..." She avoided making eye contact.

"What in tarnation was the big idea, leaving me out there all by my lonesome self?" Applejack demanded to know, leaning in towards her friend with a furrowed brow.

Rainbow Dash stayed remote and evasive, giving Applejack a gentle tap on the shoulder. "Hey. Look at the birds you brought back," she said weakly. "You sure did a great job out there. Yeah." Unsteady and ever so slightly shaking, she took a single step backwards.

Relentless, Applejack took two steps forwards and thrust her face right up to that of her friend's, hitting nose to nose. "I said," she powerfully insisted, "what did you go running off for?"

Backing up again, Rainbow Dash gestured over her shoulder. "I should go check on... you know, the thing. That I need to check on," she said. With one more last faint laugh and a trembling smile she quickly turned to take off.

"Oh no you don't!" Applejack shouted, snatching the fleeing pony's tail with her teeth. Rainbow Dash's wings beat furiously to try and gain some distance. Despite Applejack's sore joints and exhausted body, she still had more than enough strength and determination to overpower her opposition. The retreating pony only succeeded in making marks in the dirt as she dragged her anchor barely a few inches along the ground. Through clenched teeth, the heavy weight snarled, "You're gonna be staying right here and give me a straight answer!"

With Rainbow Dash being so flighty it seemed like James might have to step up to provide a clear explanation, but he wasn't sure he wanted to. This display before him was still boggling him and it was so difficult to break away from just watching it. To him it resembled a strange mix between a one-sided barroom standoff, two household pets having a spat, and two siblings quarreling. What really made the experience surreal was that it was between two brightly colored horses with vibrant tattoos, one angrily imposing upon the other. Presumably this was the kind of conflicting thing that only a man in a straitjacket usually sees.

Suddenly Rainbow Dash stopped resisting, obviously becoming fed up with her failure to escape. With new and fresh determination she dropped back to the ground, growing stolidly defensive and serious in demeanor as she turned to face Applejack dead on. There was only one way out of this now. Seeing that she was ready to be direct, the farm pony let go of her rainbow striped tail and stared directly into the pegasus' eyes. This ought to be good.

Looking right back at her orange friend with renewed conviction, Rainbow Dash told her strenuously, "Look, I had more important things to do, okay?"

"More important?!" Applejack yelled incredulously. "You come all the way out here in the morning to help out Fluttershy but then all of a sudden you got 'more important' things to do?" Again she leaned in, pressing against Rainbow Dash.

However, this time the pegasus was ready to push back. Applejack's eyes flashed for a moment when she was pressed back a step, now leaning on the defensive. Rainbow Dash shouted at her, "It's none of your business, Applejack!"

Once more their stances changed as Applejack pushed forward and returned fire. "It's my business if it leaves me monkeying up and down trees all day!"

Pinkie Pie giggled. James wasn't sure if she was seeing the colorful horse fight in the same way he was or if she had just pictured the idea of a monkey Applejack swinging between trees. He was too caught up in the events to care until he noticed her suddenly get up and start to walk away. She was shaking off a few errant twitches as she went.

The two arguing ponies continued to shout back and forth at each other in a stalemate. Each time one spoke they would press forward into the other; an exchange of ground with every line they uttered. Their specific words faded as James watched and mulled over what he was seeing. In some ways it was like encounters he had seen before. There would be some point at which the two combatants couldn't restrain themselves anymore and the fists would start flying. But in other ways he was still caught on the surface absurdity of it. Even more, there was lingering confusion about how this all played into the apparent magical land of ponies and princesses he had been experiencing.

He recalled Twilight's passionate and emotional responses to things they had talked about. Whether it was the abhorrence at the ugliness of war or the resolve to tell him that he couldn't accompany her into danger, those deep emotive responses were present in these creatures. It was those gooey, innate feelings that cause individuals to respond and react in ways that aren't always the best thought out. The stirring inside that can subtly guide thoughts and actions, and sometimes even drive people to do things of many extremes: heroic, submissive, or terrifying. It was the thing that made rules sometimes fail, when the rigid structures of words and law and situation stand too hard against the flow of the heart and soul. Everything was telling him that if what he was seeing was true, then this world, as he thought of it, should be impossible. Nobody with deep feelings can universally think before they act.

But maybe Twilight had a deceptive amount of wisdom. What can be really known about someplace so new and different? Or maybe he was wrong to assume he knew as much about his home as he thought did? Must passion lead to pain? Wiser people have written better words and spoken better things than he ever did, and he was still relatively young and inexperienced compared to those that have seen many more decades pass by. This was all a strange dance of mind and consciousness. Being thrown into a world and situation where he felt like he knew nothing and now, after time and progress spent towards gaining an understanding, he had just fallen back in a hole of ignorance all over again.

"Girls!" The loud cry pierced all thought and action. Everybody's attention was immediately drawn to Twilight, who positioned herself between the two arguing ponies. "What's going on? What are you fighting about?" she asked, strained.

Awoken from his musing, James looked around. Twilight and Fluttershy had returned, and with them had come a reasonably sized crowd of forest critters. As Fluttershy had implied earlier, their own search turned out to be a great success. Now Twilight was trying to diffuse the situation between Rainbow Dash and Applejack while the yellow pegasus was processing all her new charges, getting them ready for their temporary stay at her cottage. Pinkie Pie sat near them, smiling as always, having gotten up before to go and greet them as they arrived.

Before he could continue to observe how the conflict would resolve itself, Fluttershy stopped what she was doing and approached James. Her eyes glittered and she had a contained smile, clearly very happy about something. It was, perhaps, the most excitement he had seen from her yet.

"Oh, you'll never guess who we found out there!" she said with a soothing joy. There was hardly any need to guess since as soon as she spoke two mature squirrels bounced up from behind her hair and perched themselves on her head.

"Rocky's parents?" James verified.

"Yes! Isn't it wonderful?" she expressed while her face lit up with a calm glee. "The little guy is going to be so happy to see them again!"

There was some undistinguished shouting from the trio of embattled ponies. Rainbow Dash was obviously disdaining the fact that Twilight seemed to support Applejack's side more than her's.

"Oh my," Fluttershy moaned. "I think I should stay out here. I have to make sure the rest of my new friends are ready for their time here. Also," she said while looking over at the three disagreeing ponies, "maybe I can help them...?" Weakly she dug at the ground with her hoof before turning back to the matter at hand. "Could you please take Rocky's parents to him?"

"Sure, no problem," he answered. The two squirrels leapt from Fluttershy's head and caught his shirt, immediately crawling up to sit on his shoulders. He flinched for a moment when they jumped at him, not fully expecting them to be so comfortable riding him. He quickly fell back to normal, realizing he has been seeing a lot of new behaviors from animals today. No way was this as sudden or surprising as his instincts were telling him it should be. Passengers all aboard, James left to enter the cottage.

Fluttershy looked once more at her friends, huddled and yelling. Flushed with uneasiness, she bit her lip watching them. After several long moments of staring, she at last decided to act. Ignoring them for the time being, she directed her following of critters around the battleground to get the cages and pens where her entourage could gain some respite after their ordeal.

"Rainbow Dash, please," Twilight pleaded, "I really do trust that you had a good reason if you say you did, but it was still dangerous to leave Applejack alone out there! You were supposed to stick and work together." Her mediation didn't seem to be amounting to much as the opposing ponies simply avoided eye contact and frowned. "But I can't understand why you did it if you won't tell us," she begged her friend.

"I told you, Twilight", Rainbow Dash shot back, annoyed, "I'll explain in a little bit. I just want to talk to you about something first. In private."

"Fine. Suit yourself. I don't care," Applejack griped. She had hit her limit for what she was willing to tolerate from her dodgy friend. Walking off in a huff, she looked back to tell Rainbow Dash, "I'm going to go get some rest. You know, on account of all the hard work I put in today." She made sure to stress all the right words so her indignation wouldn't go unnoticed.

Twilight let out a heavy sigh as Applejack stormed off. Might as well hear out Rainbow Dash now... but of all the problems she feared she could come back to, this wasn't one of them.

Inside the cottage, James carried the squirrel parents through the rooms to take them to their child. They passed by Rarity on the way, who was seated in front of a mirror mounted on the wall, keenly checking herself over. Spike sat with her, fawning over her in every way he possibly could. Unnoticed in passing through, James entering the room where Rocky lay asleep. Angel, unfaltering and diligent, continued his vigil over the young animal.

Seeing their progeny for the first time in days, the two squirrels scrambled down James' shirt, leaping off at waist level. The light clunk of their landing woke the young squirrel up. He abruptly snapped into a fearful position before registering that it was his own parents rushing towards him. They ran over his blanket, coming right up to him and wrapping their paws and bushy tails around him. Was he dreaming? He had a moment of unresponsive shock before recognizing the truth and tearfully embracing them back with a soft, faint, squirrely cry. All their tails wriggled blissfully like an overjoyed ball of fuzz.

It was nice seeing what was lost become found. Seeing the shattered made whole again. Seeing what is separated become joined. Although it was witnessing Fluttershy's distress that had got him initially bothered and guilty about the whole affair, it was the sight of these three squirrels' reunion that seemed to put everything back in the right place again.

Chapter 12: Review

Wanting to make sure they were alone and that no pony would have a chance to interrupt them, Rainbow Dash lead Twilight away from the cottage. She refused any of the unicorn's invitations to begin questioning until they had made some sufficient distance. Finally stopping alongside the stream several dozen yards from the cottage, Rainbow Dash turned to face her friend while lazily hovering in place. Though her wings beat laxly as she steadily bobbed in the air, her face registered the alert seriousness with which she was taking the matter.

"Alright," Rainbow Dash began, "so what's the deal with this guy you've been dragging around?" And to try and clarify that she was looking for the actual answer, not the details that Twilight had originally told her, she added with emphasis, "And I mean the real deal."

Twilight pulled her head back with hesitation, leaving one eye turned towards her friend. This wasn't one of the topics she predicted might come up. And besides, didn't she already explain this once before? "It's like I said," she slowly responded. But within her voice lingered a small amount of hidden doubt. "The Princess has sent him here to-"

"No!" Rainbow Dash slapped her forehead with her hooves and then held them out in exasperation. "The REAL deal," she stressed. "I mean like, who is he? Where he's from? You know, what's up with him?!" Twilight's dodgy behavior only pumped the airborne pony full of more agitation and she rolled her eyes up while moaning, "And don't give me more of this, 'Oh well the Princess dada-dada-dada.' I know you've actually talked to that guy about all this stuff, who he is an everything." Eyes narrowing, she moved in close and demanded, "So, what's the deal?" Every sentence carried the weight of an accusation as the pegasus floated in and pointed a hoof right in Twilight's face. Her wings stiffened and the frequency of their beats sped up, bearing a load of the stress she was feeling. All of her frustration was being channeled towards the indicted pony.

Flustered and taken aback by the offensive forthrightness of her friend's questioning, Twilight's mouth moved but she remained mute. Her deep violet eyes peered back at Rainbow Dash and tried to compensate for her silence while she dug for the right words, but the reserved panic they reflected didn't wind up helping her. "That's... it's just... well..." the words sputtered out without direction. There wasn't a start she could bring herself to take off from as every trail of thought seemed to expand into an abyss that she wasn't sure she could navigate. She had absolutely every intention of filling in her friends about everything... in time. Yes. Absolutely, in time. That is, when the time was right. Which would probably be later. Hopefully. "It's complicated, Rainbow Dash," she tried to express. "You're right, I have talked to him a lot. We had a whole, long conversation about it. We went into quite a bit of detail." There was an emerging calm in her voice as she got back on track. In some ways being confronted was an idle release of steam from an overpressured system, and that much at least helped to soothe her.

Rainbow Dash, however, wasn't experiencing the same thing. She could not believe how aggravating this was turning out to be! All Twilight was doing was rehashing what James had told her when she was interrogating him at the cottage! "It's complicated, it's complicated," they said. "But we've totally talked about it, just not to you," they said. Every bit of her sour mood was worn on her face, easily transmitting across the air to Twilight.

"There... hasn't been time to explain," the unicorn hastily tried to justify.

"What? No time? Like when you were hauling him around yesterday? There's been time," Rainbow Dash argued. "Like, right now, for instance." Her patience was wearing thin with these excuses. What was the trouble with just giving a straight answer?

Twilight hung her head down, having no more deflections at the ready. "I just need you guys to trust me on this," she strained to say, almost begging.

Taking a moment to pull back her aggression, Rainbow Dash eased up on her wings and carefully descended to the ground to stand in front of her friend. She didn't want to upset the pony, but she just didn't know how to draw out the honest answers without stirring up all these evasions and diversions. Twice before when talking to Twilight she had essentially asked about this stranger and both times the unicorn wasn't forthcoming. What more was there to do now? Somehow the answer had to be pried out.

Gently, and with all the understanding she could put into it, Rainbow Dash asked her friend, "How do you expect us to trust you about it when you don't trust us enough to tell us what's really going on?"

Hurt by the statement, Twilight snapped her back head up with an inaudible gasp. "I... I do trust you guys!" she said weakly. But she couldn't hold the position and it drooped back down again. "I just don't know... I don't know how to start explaining it," she admitted.

Rainbow Dash moved a little to the side as she approached in the hope of being less intimidating. "Twilight," she lightly intoned to her friend, "I DO trust you, too." She wanted that to be unabashedly clear. That's not what was in question. What was getting her angry wasn't any thoughts about misplaced feelings of trust, just that she was so completely fed up with the lack of answers. "But," she emphasized, "that's why I want to know the truth about this guy. I'm asking you because I trust you."

"Rainbow..." Twilight whispered.

The pegasus grew sternly serious again but her concern for her friend didn't leave her. "So, can you tell me about him?" she sincerely inquired. "Like, back at the field, when we first saw him... what was up with that whole thing he did... with the knife?" Earlier she had posed the same question to him through implication. There wasn't any doubt he directly understood what she was asking, but in the end the answer he gave really wasn't suitably comfortable for her. Twilight was always so good at making things sound simple and logical. But if her friend has been having a hard time figuring out how to explain everything, maybe this won't get as far as she had hoped? Maybe she won't do any better here?

Twilight sighed. "It's complicated," she answered, again repeating the word that both she and James had independently settled on to describe things. She shook her head, contemplating for what seemed to be the thousandth time what exactly she could say to explain it, or at least what she understood of it. Looking back up at Rainbow Dash, she closed her eyes and decided to give into the trust she believed in. She was just going to try going for it.

"I guess the thing to understand," she told her friend, "is that, where he's from what happened isn't a very unusual thing. That sort of thing just happens. I mean... that's what I took away from talking to him."

"Not unusual?" Rainbow Dash faintly questioned. That actually lined up with what he had said as well. Or rather, the casual way in which he said it. He plainly told her, with an understood acceptance, that the other man was going to kill him. So he acted first. For him, that was the end of the story. But now, like before with his answer, the pegasus just couldn't wrap her brain completely around it. "We've been up in some pretty tough spots before," she reminded Twilight, "but even though we've had to stand tough and even fight, I've never felt like we would have to..." She swallowed once, but then suddenly didn't bother finishing the statement.

"I know," Twilight answered. "But that's simply the thing to try and understand. It's just a different place where he's from, and that's the way it is. I don't... I don't really know why it's different right now." Again she was shaking her head thinking about that enigma. She had spent a chunk of her free time puzzling over it in the past two days. Pulling out history books, psychology books, anything she thought could be useful in understanding the "why" of how ponies operate like they do and what might be different for any other race. But a few extra minutes and some books naturally haven't wound up solving one of the many great mysteries of the universes.

Struck by a sudden rush of optimism as she rolled through her memories, she perked up. "But I think there's more to it than all that. What I mean is... I don't really think he's as different from us as he might seem," she insisted. How different does one have to be in order for integration to be impossible? She didn't want to accept that the friendship she believed in would ever be able to cast an individual out. In the past it has stretched pretty far in order to be inclusive. If he ultimate end goal of Princess Celestia's orders was to accept him into Equestria, then it has to start with the belief that he's not incompatible with them. "No, I don't think he's too different," Twilight said again. "He's just from a place that seems so incredibly different."

"Where IS he from, anyway?" Rainbow Dash was suddenly driven to ask.

"It's complicated," Twilight repeated, before sighing, again, and rubbing one of her temples. She didn't even mean to use that particular word another time, but now apparently it was the most straightforward, natural descriptor of this whole mess. Committed to trying to explain things to Rainbow Dash and already in hip deep, she didn't bother stopping to revise her words. "Do you remember that tower you saved him from?" she asked.

Rainbow Dash responded with a dry stare. It was only the most memorable, life-threatening thing that had happened in the past few days, after all.

"Right, well," Twilight continued, "it was basically a dimensional doorway."

The words didn't seem to convey much meaning to Rainbow Dash and she remained silent. The only acknowledgments she gave were a cocked eyebrow and an attempt at cleaning out of one of her ears. Not unexpected for what was surely not the most everyday subject to bring up.

Nothing to do but try again, Twilight reasoned. "The tower acted as a portal to a whole different universe," she explained. "It brought him here through that portal, but he's from that other universe."

The was some glimmer of understanding registering on Rainbow Dash's face, but it could be seen that a complete grasp of the idea hadn't been made. All the further implications had yet to sink in as well.

To try and finish bringing the idea across completely, Twilight pulled a trick out of a her mane. "How about this... did you read 'Daring Do and the Domain of the Gemstone Horn'? It's one of the newer ones. The one with the aliens."

"Ugh, yeah," Rainbow Dash said with regret, derailing her previous train of thought. "I mean, it was alright and everything, but I don't really like the directi-"

"Alright, well, it's like in that book," Twilight cut her off before she got lost complaining about the series' outlier. "In the story, the titular artifact served as the key for those alien ponies to go back to the world they came from, 'the space between spaces.'" the unicorn quoted from memory. "The tower was like the Gemstone Horn except instead of sending aliens back to their world, it brought James from his to ours."

It was probably one of the weaker references to written material she had ever had to make, but it was the only one she knew of that Rainbow Dash could possibly have even read. The analogy paid off though, as the confusion mostly cleared off of the blue pegasus' face. It wasn't entirely devoid of disbelief, but the idea had still been firmly planted. "Okay... I think I get it," was her tentative acknowledgment.

"So, you see," Twilight brought things back around, "he's from some kind of existence beyond our own. A place that is impossibly far away. And some of the things that happen there aren't... exactly the same as what happens here. And that's why it happened like it did."

Silently, Rainbow Dash walked over to the stream. She watched the babbling water flow along as she quietly ordered her thoughts on what she had learned and the nature of the entire situation. There was only a low murmur from her throat as she juggled the considerations around in her head.

Twilight suddenly felt the need to elaborate more on the circumstances. To defend the nobler goal of unity that she was pursuing and to dissuade Rainbow Dash from potentially being alarmed. "It was all an accident how he came here, though! He's not here to cause any problems. I know he doesn't want to." She knew? She hoped. "In any case, that's why the Princess has him here with us to learn about Equestria. So he can discover the things that are different here for him, and why he won't have to... do the stuff that he might be used to doing..." This wasn't sounding nearly as reassuring out loud as it did in her head, especially with the fading strength of her voice as she trailed off.

The murmur from Rainbow Dash swelled up. The dumb clothes. The disclosed and unreserved honesty. Watching over the animals at the cottage all day, including being safely one-upped by a ferret. Even the goofy voice he used to talk to that kid squirrel. Rainbow Dash turned her head back towards Twilight. "No, I guess he doesn't SEEM too bad. So he should get a chance to prove himself." She gazed back down at the running water. "I'm still going to keep my eyes on him, though," she determined.

A mix of relief and hesitation poured into Twilight. She guessed this was an improvement on the situation? It felt good to let all these details be heard by somepony else, at least. But what did- "Wait..." Twilight realized, "is that what happened? You abandoned Applejack to spy on him?"

James shut the cottage door behind him as he went back outside. The three squirrels were enjoying their tearful reunion so perhaps it was best to leave them to it without any disturbance from onlookers. He caught a glimpse of Rarity and Spike again on his way out, still in front of the mirror while indulging the beauteous pony's vanity. Applejack was also inside when he left, having stretched herself out on a long, cushy sofa to relieve her aching muscles.

The only pony outside who was immediately visible was Fluttershy, dutifully busy settling in the many animals she and Twilight had brought back. Because of the hard work all of the other ponies had done in finding homes for the rest of the displaced animals, there was now enough room in the new pens and cages for the recent arrivals. The doting yellow pony was flapping between the enclosures, shifting what food was available and restocking water to suit the change in population composition.

No sign, mane nor tail, of Twilight, Rainbow Dash, or Pinkie Pie, James noted. It was too late in the day for them to do anymore wandering of the forest, surely. Perhaps they were somewhere else around the cottage exterior? Other than those guesses he didn't have any ideas... but maybe it didn't matter. There wasn't much to talk about with any of them at the moment, or so he felt. Fluttershy, however...

She was quietly exchanging some whispers with her new, small friends. The trades were just a delivery of whatever instructions were necessary to help them enjoy their temporary stay at her cottage while she received any of their outstanding needs. James waited on the side to give the busy girl the time to finish up. After only a few minutes she slowed down as the chaos of the many settlers' arrival gave way to a calmer order. That was when he decided to approach her.

"The squirrel family has been reunited and they're taking the time to celebrate," he told her.

"Oh, I'm so glad," was her elated answer, delivered in her unique, soft tone. She bore the gentlest smile and her eyes faintly sparkled with an incredible delight. This was not the harried, tired pony he had first encountered yesterday. What the hours of worry and toil had taken from her earlier was now restored because of the results of this day's endeavors. The positive turn of events had paved over every crack of despair and smoothed down every mound of anxiety. "Poor little Rocky was just so crushed by what had happened that it broke my heart seeing him so very sad... but everything worked out in the end and it's just so wonderful!" she said gaily.

James nodded, but he was having an awkward moment of reservation. There was a newness that he felt; that things weren't the same in this particular meeting. Something here was just... different than most of his previous encounters with any pony. The presence of something much more natural had broken through, yet he wasn't able to identify it immediately. With all the other ponies, he had to endure their first encounter tensions and scrutinizations. It was similar to meeting someone new, albeit there were certainly circumstantial complications here. You meet, you greet, behind your mask you size them up and make hidden notes and judgments. You learn their name and face, but not their person. His dealings with virtually all the ponies had that underscore playing in the background. True that Twilight had gotten reasonably comfortable with him but it was obvious that both he and her were clearly still feeling out the exact dynamic of their relationship. Every interaction between them was affected by her commitment to Princess Celestia's orders. Every pony he was meeting was presenting only the part of themselves that they thought was most appropriate to show to an extraordinary new stranger.

Pinkie Pie was the one real exception, actually. She never carried around any suspicion, or gave subdued leers, or presented any other face but her own. What was different between this experience with Fluttershy here and with Pinkie Pie was that the pink, wild pony had an undirected randomness that seemed to render her unknowable. Or, at least, for now anyway. In all probability she wouldn't be the first outgoing person he had ever met who had deeper layers to them once you really got to know them. But she was certainly the most... excitable, that's for sure.

But now, here, alone with the joyful pegasus outside her home, it became increasingly obvious that were no layers to peel back or masks in place. The turn around of emotion for Fluttershy gave her cause to let her blissful personality shine through unfiltered. Here he was meeting a pony as she "naturally" was. The circumstantial inhibitions weren't coming into play. All there was... was who she was. The moment it all struck him was when he observed in a sudden realization how exactly the happier parts of her personality matched the description that Twilight had first given of her. This wasn't just Fluttershy the pony, this was the true friend which Twilight knew.

As much as it put him at ease, it also stirred some conflict in him. Again, it put the ponies' character on a very deep, complex human level, and not on the level of the candy land paradise that had been pressed into him by other sources. Unlike the argument between Applejack and Rainbow Dash, at least this matched the conception in personality. But it was so hard to just say that they were merely ordinary people when they apparently didn't fall prey to the ordinary vices of people. And why? "Magic"? That had been easy to accept when he was dazed and confused, but now...

Something that more immediately caused him concern, however, was that she was in very high spirits and so he didn't feel right bringing up the sour topic of his specific involvement with the dimensional tower. After what she had been through it would be pretty horrible of him to accidentally strike at her merriment, even with the best of his intentions. He didn't see any reasonable way to bring the conversation around to where he wanted it to go without that problem arising, but he was still driven to try and talk about the subject somehow.

"I'm glad things turned out as well as they did," he said to her. The many critters that she had been settling and tending to seemed to be suitably adjusting and were comfortable enough now that Fluttershy could give her full attention to James. He continued, "It was a pretty terrible situation all around."

"Oh, it was awful," Fluttershy agreed. But she still radiated positive energy. "Everything is going to be alright now, though. I'm sure my new friends here will be able to join the others soon. I really feel so much better now!" Her wings spread and she soared over to one of the other cages in a animated fashion, smiling at the birds inside. "I was so upset with what had happened, but everypony stepped in to help and set things right again. Thank you so much!"

It was gratitude meant to be given to everyone who assisted, even James and Spike who had stayed behind, but he didn't say anything to accept it. It felt too unearned. "That's great," he responded with some masked insincerity. "It was a responsibility you never should have had to bear, though."

"Responsibility?" She floated the question out into the open air. With her teeth she opened the cage door and ducked her head in. A bird inside bounced over and they touched beak to nose, Fluttershy smiling as she rubbed away. The tone of her answer switched to carry some rejection to his assumption. "I helped the animals because I wanted to," she told him. "Actually, the animals of the Everfree Forest aren't my responsibility at all. They usually prefer to get by on their own, without help from ponies." Here she withdrew and shut the cage door, floating back down to James. She kept on, "But not all the animals of the forest are mean or aggressive... some are really very nice. And when the tragedy happened they weren't afraid to ask for help, so they sought me out."

"Sought you out?" he asked. That's right, though. Twilight had specifically mentioned her special talent was in communing with animals, but it was the animals of Ponyville she took care of. Not the animals of the forest.

Fluttershy nodded. "Oh, yes. And I couldn't turn the poor dears away! I wanted to help them so much." Her smile widened. "In a way, this tragedy has actually been very good... I don't get to meet that many animals of the forest. But because of what happened, I had the chance to make many new little friends these past few days! Many I never would have met otherwise. Even though what happened was so sad... something very good still came out of it." This silver lining, combined with the fresh hope of the day's successes, seemed to have completely eliminated every last trace of sadness and anxiety in her. She was incorruptible. This was one happy pony.

"That's... a very positive outlook," he said to her in surprise. Even with all the anguish she had been going through, somehow she had managed turned it all into something positive in the end. The event that destroyed the homes of the animals she cared so greatly about instead became the event that made her new friends. "I don't think... that it particularly justifies..." he started to say, but he faltered. There might not be any way to do this without attacking her happiness, and he really didn't want to wind up doing that. "What I mean is... that's... wonderful and all, but this whole situation should have never happened," he settled on.

"But it did happen," she answered. "So... I just want to be glad for the good that came out of it, instead of being upset over all the terrible parts of what happened."

After a moment of silence he softly surrenders. "Okay..." he said, "that's very good." It was dumb to try and talk about this. She didn't need to hear the how's and the why's. She didn't care to hear them. In the end this whole endeavor, the entire attempt to "help", was all for his own stupid self.

"I was just watching out for Spike, you know? Didn't want anything to happen to him while they were alone, so I kept a lookout," Rainbow Dash said as if it should have been obvious. Between helping Applejack move some birds around or doing nothing but sitting around and watching Spike and the stranger from the shadows, of course she made the choice any sane pony would make.

"I guess I understand why you felt like you needed to," Twilight said, "but Applejack really could have-"

Rainbow Dash kept on as if she hadn't been interrupted, ignoring her friend's pleas. "And besides, who cares? Everything turned out fine anyway. Applejack came back, no problems. And nothing at all happened at the cottage." As far as results went, the brash pony thought she was completely vindicated.

"R-really?" Twilight asked, abruptly catching the mention of uneventfulness at the cottage. That was a relief to hear in confirmation. Not that... she thought anything was going to have happened anyway! Of course nothing would have! Don't be silly.

"Yeah," Rainbow Dash casually laid out. "They just watched the animals and sat around talking mostly. So... nothing. Nothing except when that ferret showed them up." She looked back in her mind, playing the scene over again in her head. Hopping about like clowns at a circus, they couldn't even catch one measly, weaselly animal. "Heh," she chuckled to herself.

Twilight looked at her with a dumbfounded stare. "What?"

"Ah, it's nothing," Rainbow Dash dismissed, still suppressing laughter. "They're just slowpokes is all."

It didn't sound like there was a point to that frivolous nonsense. So anyway, nothing happened at the cottage according to Rainbow Dash. That's good to hear. Twilight forced herself back on track. "Well, I still think you should apologize to Applejack," she earnestly told her friend. "It wasn't fair to leave her behind like that to do all the work. Especially without telling her."

"Okay, fine," Rainbow Dash relented. "You don't have to twist my leg about it. I'll say I'm sorry the next time I see her."

"Why don't you go say it now, while she's still her?" Twilight strongly suggested.

"Alright already!" the impatient pony said, buzzing with annoyance. She stretched her wings to limber them up and then lifted herself off the ground. Taking off with steady flaps towards the cottage she muttered, "You don't have to be so pushy about it."

Alone for the first time today, Twilight just took a moment to breath. Even still, she couldn't keep from recapping things furiously in her head. At the very least, nothing seemed to go tremendously wrong. Their work with the animals has been a phenomenal success, she now had one pony's confirmation that there were no troubles in her absence from James, and the worst that came up today was some strife between Applejack and Rainbow Dash (which didn't seem nearly as surprising in retrospect as it was initially.) These past few days have been a stream disorienting events, but maybe all her worrying has only been herself letting her fears get the better of her again. Things seemed to be working out fine overall and there was nothing serious to worry about. Nothing at all.

"I better check with Spike and ask him about what happened," she suddenly thought to herself. Her hooves made shushed clops on the grass as she shuffled back towards the cottage.

Chapter 13: Remember

It wasn't a simple task to separate Spike from Rarity. They were still both inside the cottage. Rarity hadn't stopped obsessing over her appearance, verifying that the day's venture had not inflicted any serious damage to her visual perfection. Spike sat besides her with a longing gaze, completely enamored by her every last detail like a love-struck puppy. You could almost make out small hearts in the pupils of his eyes while he let out one big, contented sigh.

Twilight asked him if she could speak with him in private but, no matter what she said or how she phrased it, she couldn't get a response out of the lost dragon. His singular attention to Rarity was blocking out every other thing going on around him. She was simply going to have to force the issue.

"Excuse me, Rarity. I'm just going to borrow Spike for a minute," Twilight said to her occupied friend while she magically gripped the dragon's tail. For several moments Spike was still oblivious to what was going on as his butt was dragged across the floor, tail first, by Twilight. Once he recognized what he was happening, he dug his claws into the floorboards and desperately tried to crawl his way back to Rarity. He couldn't overcome Twilight's enchanted pull though, and he lost much more ground than he gained. Wood shaving peeled away as he left scratch marks in the floor until at last the annoyed unicorn who was wrangling him decided to merely lift him up into the air by his tail, hanging him upside down. She carried him out, though he made one last bid to stay by digging into the door frame of the room. His tail stretched from the pull as much as it could bear before he lost his hold on the frame, leaving telltale claw marks there as he snapped back like a rubber band.

She brought him all the way outside the cottage. At this point he had folded his arms and wore a grouchy frown, still hanging upside down by his tail. Apologizing to him for dragging him out, Twilight encased the whole of him with her magic in order to gently correct his orientation and set him down. He didn't flinch during the entire process.

"I"m sorry, Spike," she apologized again, "but I really need to talk to you about something."

He leered back at her for a second before dropping his arms in resignation.

Smiling, Twilight thanked him graciously. "Now," she began, "I want to know how everything went while I was gone. Did anything significant happen?"

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"With you and James," she clarified. "Did anything happen with you guys while I was out?"

Spike immediately nodded in understanding but swiftly fell into a disinterested torpor. "Not really," he answered her. "We sat around and watched the animals. It was pretty uneventful."

"Oh! Oh..." Twilight called out in surprise before catching herself. What was she so surprised about? Nothing happened. Rainbow Dash had told her as much. Asking Spike was only for confirmation of that, so it should have been what she expected to hear.

"There was that one time some of the animals got loose, I guess," Spike admitted, "but that was only for a few minutes before we rounded them up."

"What? What happened?" Twilight inquired.

The little dragon raised his arms with a mix of embarrassment and uncertainty. "I dunno," he moaned. "This annoying ferret got out somehow and started releasing the other animals. But we got them all back in their cages again eventually."

"How?" Twilight asked him, without hesitation.

Feeling somewhat pressured, Spike stumbled over his words for a moment as he brought back the fresh narrative from only several hours earlier. "Well, we had to... I mean... we weren't able to catch them. There was too many of them and they were way too fast," he recalled. "But eventually James just asked them to go back into their cages and they did."

Twilight blinked at the quiet air. "He asked them to? I mean, and that was it?"

"And that was it," Spike shrugged. "They went back to their cages and we took a break."

That sounded very good to her. No serious trouble, just as Rainbow Dash had asserted, but also the only problem that came up was resolved without incident. By James, no less. She chastised herself silently for getting way too worked up over nothing. There hadn't been anything to worry about at all. Better to just drop it and let Spike go, now that her questions had been answered.

Only she couldn't.

"So... that was the only thing that happened while I was out? What else did you guys do?" Twilight resumed questioning.

"Geez, I dunno" Spike complained again. This girl was being heavily inquisitive and relentless. What was the big deal? "We just kept watch over the animals. Checking their food and water and everything. I guess we mostly talked in order to pass the time."

"Well, what exactly did you talk about?" she asked curiously.

Spike reeled back in frustration. "I don't know," he moaned yet again. "Stuff." He didn't set up an incredibly organized schedule for his day or keep a detailed log of every specific thing that gets said and done. Why was this so important anyway?

The zealous unicorn's head bobbed, expecting more information out of her small friend.

Sighing, Spike hands stirred about in front of him as if he was juggling his own memories to produce the details. Finally he said, "Rabbits. We talked a bit about that. Did you know he used to take care of rabbits?"

"He..." Twilight started to say, before consciously noticing the sheer mundanity of what he had told her. "...wait, what? Really?" she completed in diluted confusion.

"Yeah," Spike said. "When he was growing up he raised some rabbits. We talked about that for a little while."

There was a relative silence where Twilight couldn't muster a response. That was indeed something she did not know. It was also a side of James she hadn't imagined before. Not after the earlier talk of his world, and particularly of the place of animals within it. Lastly, she was simply in yet another bout of surprise. She didn't know what she expected Spike to tell her, but it certainly wasn't that. Seeing nowhere else to go, she eventually said, "So... was there anything else that you guys talked about?"

Enough was enough for Spike. He suddenly snapped back at her, "Why do you want to know anyway? What makes this so important?"

Twilight pulled back, caught off her guard. She hadn't realized how much her imposing on Spike was bothering him. All these recent, repeated failures of hers to read others was becoming a real problem. "I'm sorry, Spike," she apologized, "but this is the first time I wasn't around to watch him myself, so I guess I've been a little bit nervous." She looked back to her assistant, approaching him again. "After all, the Princess assigned me to take care of him, so he's my responsibility. I'm the one who needs to watch him and make sure everything goes well. So, again, I'm sorry for pushing you about this," she sincerely offered up.

That was so much like the typical neurotic Twilight which Spike knew that it put the dragon at ease. When he first started working as her assistant she compulsively had to double-check everything he did, just to make sure it had been done the way she was used to it being done. They've settled into a more reasonable working relationship now, but still he noticed every now and again that she just couldn't rest easy until she had absolutely made sure something was the way she thought it should be. It was like that with a lot of things for her; she could really be a dedicated micromanager sometimes. Besides, with the way she was laying all the responsibility on herself you'd think she would get along with James much more naturally.

"I think you guys worry about things too much sometimes," Spike told her with a relieved honesty. He rubbed the back of his neck slowly while wracking his brain for the specifics of what he exchanged with James. At the very least, sharing the information with Twilight would help her relax, even if that information probably wasn't important at all.

"There isn't really anything that stands out... I told him a bit about Ponyville, and you, and our friends. He talked a little bit about where he's from..." Suddenly Spike recalled the shift which that conversation had. They had gone from the tower's function and James' relationship with it to the results of its emergence. The details instantly became clear in his head. "We also talked about this whole situation with Fluttershy and the animals," Spike said. "He sounded like he was as worried about you guys as much as you've been worried about him."

Twilight tilted her head, unsure of what to make of Spike's opinion. "He didn't seem that worried to me," she commented lowly. Thinking back she could only remember his anger in their confrontation.

"Yeah," Spike added, "he wasn't happy about staying behind here. But he really just wanted to help out, I think."

The unicorn mused over what the dragon had said, nearly whispering her thoughts aloud to herself. Just as Spike was going to say a bit more she put her hoof up and interrupted him. "That's enough, Spike," she told him. "Thanks."

"So... that's all?" he asked.

"Yes. Thank you," she answered. "And... I'm sorry again."

He easily brushed any offense aside with a friendly, "Don't worry about it." He lingered for a moment to be sure there was nothing more to add, and then took off back into the cottage to rejoin Rarity.

Twilight's eyes dulled as she retreated into her head to think. Any noise and activity around her faded from her senses as she unconsciously started pacing back and forth.

"Thank you, Pinkie," Fluttershy said in gratitude as the pink pony filled the final water bowl.

After setting down the water jug she was carrying just outside the pen, Pinkie Pie casually kicked the door shut. The latch fell into place from the force. "Aw, no problem!" she answered.

Fluttershy surveyed the scene once more. Things were looking pretty good. All the animals were separated into appropriate spaces, the proper food was laid out, litter was changed where needed, and all the water had been replaced with fresh liquid. Everything was set for the new animals' temporary stay at her home. Between so many of the animals being returned to the wilds of the Everfree Forest and the remainder being well set up here, this painful, home wrecking saga was coming to a close.

"I think that's everything," Fluttershy reassured herself as she finished her visual inspection. "It's so nice for this to finally all be over."

"Don't the rest of these guys have to go back to the forest?" Pinkie Pie asked uncertainly.

"Oh yes, of course," Fluttershy responded plainly in acknowledgment, "but I can take care of that myself now." She beamed with her rarely seen confidence. "You girls have really done the hard part for me already. With the help of the animals who have already been out there, I'll be able to find homes for the rest of them. And with no more animals missing, we're not in any sort of rush." In the pens and cages, the settled animals were already stretched out and resting. Compared to what they had gone through, an impromptu vacation would be more than tolerable for quite awhile.

Pinkie Pie absorbed the answer quietly, before giving her usual cheery smile. "Okay, if you say so!"

"Besides," Fluttershy tacked on with teeny bit of guilt, "I don't want you to have to put off that party you were planning any more than you've already had to."

The reminder caused Pinkie Pie to animate with a jubilant vitality. She reached back into the curls of her hair and produced a paper party horn that she had somehow stored in there, just in case. It made a sudden, loud buzz when she gave it a blow, causing all the present animals to jump up in awareness. Fluttershy ducked her head down to avoid being swatted by the paper roll which unfurled out from the horn when it was blown.

"I can't wait!" Pinkie Pie shouted, shaking with anticipation. The horn flirted and flittered as it caught bits of the stray breaths from her speaking.

"The party is still going to be tomorrow, right?" Fluttershy questioned her friend.

"Right!" Pinkie Pie confirmed. She blew the horn loudly again, causing Fluttershy to repeat her dodge. The wary pegasus gave an awkward smile as she took a single step back to be out of range from any future strikes. Pinkie Pie finished her tooting and continued, "Technically, it's going to be yesterday's tomorrow's tomorrow."

Fluttershy blinked twice. "So... tomorrow then?"

"Tomorrow!" Pinkie Pie yelled out gleefully. She drew a tremendous breath and gave her party horn its biggest blast yet. The frilly end of the paper roll danced as the horn's sound rang out. "I hope everypony is as excited as I am!"

It came time to depart. Having been assured by Fluttershy that everything was in order, Twilight wanted to get back to the library, eat, and perhaps take some rest. With all the thoughts plaguing her she honestly didn't expect it to go quite as smoothly as that, however. Politely declining her pegasus friend's offer of food, she gathered Spike and James to head out. Her words to James, telling him it was time to leave, were simple and terse. He responded with only a nod. Spike was reluctant to part from Rarity yet again, but the rest of the ponies looked like they were preparing to head home as well so he gave in to leaving. Tomorrow was always another day.

After some quick farewells, goodbyes, and "see you tomorrow"'s, the trio became the first to leave the cottage. Throughout the walk Twilight held her eyes low, quietly thinking to herself. Spike figured it would be fruitless to try and interrupt the pensive mood she had gotten herself into, so he tried to clear the silence instead by talking to James.

"Well, I guess everything turned out alright today," he opened up.

"Yeah," James dryly admitted. "Fluttershy seemed very happy with the results anyway." He let out a subtle, subdued sigh but then perked up a little bit. "And I suppose it was all good in the end. Most of the animals getting homes and everything. And Rocky got his parents back," he said.

"Rocky?"

"The flying squirrel," James answered the dragon's confused question. Things resolved fairly well all around but that reunion was what James felt most genuinely happy about.

"I guess everybody got what they really needed," he hesitantly mentioned, shaking his head in exclusion. He looked once at Twilight as well, who was still staring down as if following an invisible line on the ground, not acknowledging any of the ongoing conversation.

"I'm definitely glad everything worked out," Spike said. He strolled along hoping the conversation would carry on, but James didn't offer a response. Thinking for a moment, Spike tried drawing the discussion elsewhere. "So, do you have everything you need?" he asked the man.

James shot the dragon an uncomfortable, guilty look.

Spike quickly clarified himself, to make sure he hadn't misspoke. "At the library, I mean. We're trying to get you settled in and everything..."

"Oh," James heaved. "I could use a bed," he replied.

"Ah, well, I know a place that sells them," Spike said. "They do the delivery and stuff too, so we can get it anytime. I mean, we'll have to make room and figure out where to put it and everything, but-"

"It's not a huge priority or anything," James hastily interjected. "We don't need to rush it. I can deal with using pillows and blankets to sleep on the floor. That kind of situation has been coming up a lot for me recently, so I'm fairly used to it."

"It's no big deal to get a bed," Spike suggested. But then his curiosity made him ask, "You sleep on the floor a lot?"

"Actually, come to think of it, I've been doing it often for a long time. Ever since I had the rabbits," James realized. "Mom really hated it, but sometimes at night, rather than leave my rabbit cooped up in his cage, I would throw my pillow and sheets on the ground, open up the rabbit cage, and we'd sleep together on the floor."

The dragon tried hard to stifle his laughter. "You slept with your rabbits on the floor?" he got out between choking on his laughs.

"Sometimes!" James confirmed, warming with the memory. "It's not like they couldn't just jump up on the bed either! All the rabbits can and did at some point," he chuckled. He wasn't sure why, but maybe it was being down low on the floor with the rabbits, on a similar level to how they usually see the world, that made him feel closer to them. Maybe that was why he did it like that?

Spike shook his head while working out the last of his giggles. After everything faded into a noiseless lull again, save for their clops and footsteps, he at last asked, "Is there anything else you need?"

Rubbing his chin, James reflected for a moment. But that action with his hand quickly brought his attention to something. "Some kind of razor would really come in handy now that the beard's coming out. Don't know where I would find one around here..."

"There's the Gentlecolt's Store not far from the bed place," Spike told him. "I bet you can get one there."

"The Gentlec-" James broke off his words and sighed. "Ponies with beards? Really?"

As the three continued to amble back into town towards the library, Spike and James carried on their conversation, peppered with lighthearted fare. Twilight maintained her muteness the whole way, contemplating things on the inside. She could hear their words but didn't bring an ear to listen, missing most of their exchange.

James was sitting on a small stool, thumbing through the pages of "The Tourist's Guide to Ponyville". Nearby the pillows and blankets that would make up his bedding for the night sat neatly stacked and ready to be deployed. His basic plan was to get some reading done and turn in the instant he felt tired.

A knocking sound caught his attention, and he looked up to see Twilight lightly tapping the wall nearby. He didn't have a personal room with a door, so it was the best she could do to avoid impolitely intruding. "Can we talk?" she asked.

He slid a bookmark into the tome and dropped it on the table to his side. "Alright," he said, nodding.

Twilight approached slowly, without saying a word and avoiding eye contact. She sat down across from him but still didn't start speaking. The heavy wear on her face showed that she was just preparing herself before beginning.

"First," she started when she was ready, "I want to apologize for having you stay back at the cottage today. I still stand by my decision to make you do so, but I realize that you didn't like it. So... I'm sorry."

"That's alright," James weakly responded. He suddenly fumbled with his words for a moment as he rapidly tried to avoid sounding ungrateful. "Thank you, I mean. But I guess I understand why you choose to have me stay behind. Even if I didn't agree with having to do."

Twilight let out a breath and her shoulders drooped with relief. "Thank you," she returned. "I'm glad to hear it. That was a big disagreement that we had, but I really don't want our interactions to be characterized by antagonism."

"Well, you were just trying to do your best to follow Princess Celestia's orders, right? Which I suppose includes keeping me safe. And I can understand following orders." He still couldn't tell how much he danger believed the Everfree Forest actually represented, but he was now fully accepting that Twilight truly believed there was a risk to him and she made the best call that she could.

With James' words, her tension started to release and she relaxed. Continuing from her previous line of thought, Twilight said, "I also want you to know that I didn't mean anything hostile when I put my hoof down and got harsh with you. I just..." she seemed to have some reservation about the word choices she had to make, "... I had to make sure my point got across."

"It got across, no problem," James lightly dismissed. When he saw Twilight stare questioningly at his spontaneous forgiveness of her past aggression, he added, "I can withstand a little serious talk and verbal dressing down when necessary, don't worry." He's had parents, dozens of teachers, superior officers, and other authority figures in his life. The only thing novel about this particular experience was that it had come from a purple talking unicorn. "I've definitely had worse. Your effort was kind of adorable in comparison, really."

For Twilight, hearing that was one step in the direction of comfort but also one step in the direction of confusion. Was that a compliment... or...?

Not having a recognizable reaction from her, and feeling the need to fill the vacant air, James simply continued, "I've been reprimanded and yelled at by people in charge of me plenty of times. I get it. I try not to take it personally."

"Right, well," Twilight picked up her side of the conversation again, "I was worried because of the way you reacted. You were pretty... angry."

"Sure. Because it wasn't what I wanted, or expected, to hear," he explained. "I thought I... I expected I was going to be going in with the rest of you to help out. So your plan caught me by surprise."

"You weren't angry at me specifically," Twilight said, to verify what she had begun to suspect.

James backpedaled apologetically. "Oh no, not at all. Not really, anyway. I'm sorry if I let on that impression." He ran a hand over his head once, resting it against the back of his neck. "I was just... frustrated and annoyed with the whole situation, you know?" he mumbled uneasily.

Once again, things were going much more smoothly than the bumpier possibilities Twilight had feared. While the darker parts of her worried imagination had conjured up nightmares of an unforgiving man, easy to stir with rage, the reality had turned out to be far more straightforward and understandable. Everypony gets a little riled up when things take an unexpected, aggravating turn. It was ridiculous of her to imagine it sprang from somewhere else. She really should had probed his feelings last night; pushed harder to get him to talk then, instead of presenting it to him the moment before. That time has past now, but the present has given her a new opportunity to discover his feelings and learn about who he is. She asked him honestly, "Do you want to tell me about why you think you're responsible for what happened?"

There was a pause before he replied, "Not 'responsible' as in 'at fault'. I think someone needs to step up and claim responsibility."

"Why?" Twilight pressed.

"I'm the one bested suited to do so."

"No," she shook her head vigorously, "I mean, why does somepony need to be responsible? You've made it pretty clear it was all an unfortunate accident."

"Well, because-" He started to raise his arms up in emphasis, but quickly stopped midsentence. "Actually, I went over this whole thing with Spike earlier," he realized aloud.

"I had a feeling that you did," Twilight told him. She had stopped short of asking her assistant about this directly because he had made her wake up to how intrusive she was being, but he had more or less already implied that they had talked about James' feelings. Recalling that, she decided to avoid demanding conversation specifics of the man and instead carefully laid out her question to get straight to the results. "Did anything Spike say to you make you reconsider how you felt?" she asked.

He shook his head plainly and shrugged, saying, "No. Well... sort of, I guess. It helped me calm down which dissuaded me from taking any rash actions, at least."

The revelation was disheartening for Twilight. Effectively what he had said was that he didn't have any intention of following the directions she had given to him. He would have ignored her if not for Spike. Now she somewhat regretted not learning exactly what the dragon said to James. "Incisive wisdom" wasn't a quality she often attached to the little guy. Maybe he's earned an extra treat next time they have dessert.

James continued, partially rambling, "I might've gone off on my own, who knows. I wasn't thinking clearly." For a moment he almost seemed to be talking to himself as he couldn't settle on his feelings. Then his attention snapped back to Twilight and he said, "You were right to draw a line and put me in my place. Regardless of how I felt about the situation, nobody else really cared who was responsible. And everything worked out in the end with your plan anyhow."

"I still don't understand why you're on about the responsibility," Twilight picked up. "Why do you, or does anypony, need to be responsible?"

"Innocent people suffering is a horrifying thing," James stated.

"It is," the unicorn immediately agreed, "but having somepony to blame doesn't do anything to relieve their suffering."

"Probably not physically," James admitted, "but having someone who can explain the 'why' of it can give them answers."

Twilight raised an eyebrow in suspicion. "Answers?"

James glanced around the room briefly while he searched for the right words to elaborate with. "Have you ever been in a situation where..." he began, slowing down when the next sentence didn't come to him immediately. He rolled his hands over on another in front of him until he found what he needed to continue. "Where... everything was just so wrong or terrible, and you didn't understand why? You search and search and search for answers about why things are the way they are, but you get nothing back from the darkness you shout into? Turning to someone, ANYONE for answers, asking 'why?' You want so badly to know why, but you just simply can't understand it?"

She paused in reflection. "Yes... I think so," she finally answered. "What I've realized is that many times you do find the answers, with or without help from others, but sometimes you don't. Sometimes there is a point at which you must accept things are the way they are, even if you don't understand why." Generally she was on the side of all questions being answerable if the right tools were used, the right data gathered, the right approaches taken. But more than once she had felt like she was drowning in questions, in over her head and unable to escape, and eventually surrendering to ignorance became the most sensible solution. "You can't always understand everything that happens around you, even if you want to. And I REALLY like trying to understand everything," she emphasized, "but... I think sometimes you don't always need to."

He thought about her words, but grimaced when trying to reconcile them with his views. "Even in matters of justice? What if it's an injustice that you don't understand?" he asked.

The unicorn gave James a perplexed look, unsure what specific difference that would make. Internally, she tried to predict where his questions were leading.

"Many years ago," James started, cutting Twilight off from answering his questions, "I lost a friend in a terrible accident. Some irresponsible, inebriated stranger lost control of his vehicle and crashed into my friend's car, killing her. The stranger himself, through some sick twist of fate, walked out of the wreckage without a scratch on him." James rubbed his elbow and looked off to the side while telling the story. He had put his more intense feelings from this event to rest a long time ago, but it was still perhaps the most seminal event of his adolescence. It would be impossible to talk about it without completely dismissing all of his past discomfort or anger. "I mean, he was still hauled away and put in jail for breaking the law and everything. But the crash he caused, which killed my friend, didn't touch him physically."

Twilight's eyes dropped sorrowfully.

"I never felt like I got an answer," James told her. "I never understood why it had to happen."

With a hushed sigh, Twilight reseated herself to try and get more comfortable. The conversation was going to have to continue despite the sullen turn of mood. She didn't want to let the change of tone suppress her too much, and it was clear the event he was talking about was far enough away in time that he was settled emotionally. There shouldn't be any need to tip-toe about the subject. "It didn't 'have' to happen," Twilight stated. "It was a horrible accident."

"But that's just it!" he lamented, tossing a glance aside. "That's all that guy said too. 'It was an accident, sorry!'" He spit out the words he was attributing to the other man. "That's all he thought of what happened. 'I didn't mean to do this.' That's what bothered me the most. He couldn't own up to it. He couldn't stand in front of everybody else and say, 'I did this. I'm responsible. It was my fault.'" James exhaled through his teeth, resting his open palms on his lap. "It all had to be an 'unfortunate accident.'"

Again, Twilight searched for the words to respond with, but didn't have anything to immediately offer.

"Even if it wouldn't have fixed anything," James continued, "and, I know, of course it couldn't, you can't bring someone back to life, but... even if it wouldn't have fixed things, just having him be accepting of that responsibility... just getting that answer..." He trailed off, leaving the thought unfinished.

They steeped in silence for several seconds before Twilight spoke up. "I'm sorry about your friend," she said emphatically. She let that sit for a moment to separate it from what she was about to say. "But... you don't really think an admission of responsibility would have made you feel better, do you? Or made you understand the situation any better?"

In the past he would've told her, "Yes, I would have felt worlds better about it!" James was beyond doubt that earlier versions of himself would refute her insinuation.

"I don't know," he admitted to her. "Maybe it would've. I was thinking about it earlier today." His mind mixed the memories and feelings of the past with his modern person and ruminations, teasing out whatever answers he could. He mused out loud, "At the time the accident happened I was certainly younger and more immature, I guess I was caught up more in my own personal feelings and my own world. So maybe I didn't stop to think about bigger things as much as I should have... like how anybody else was affected. I sort of just worked through it on my own. You know, I didn't REALLY talk much to anybody else about it. Not to my other friends, or my parents... or especially not my lost friend's parents." The faces of his friend's parents barely materialized in his mind. He saw so little of them after she had died; the common link between him and them had been severed. "I never talked to them about it. What the loss of their daughter meant to them. I don't know how they felt about what that man did, or how they would have felt if he was more forthcoming."

No concrete conclusion came to him. Other than the knowledge that he didn't even know if he was on the same side as those who arguably lost more than he did, his pondering gave him nothing. "I don't know how I would have felt," he said again to Twilight. "In any case, that was definitely my most personal experience with that kind of situation. But I've seen the same kind of thing played out several times elsewhere in many different circumstances. And I hate letting it stand."

The insight did a lot to clarify his actions. Now what Twilight saw earlier as erratic behavior stood out more clearly as part of his own attempt to be of assistance. She openly told James, "I can sympathize with how you feel. And I think where you're trying to come from is a very good place. But personally, in this case, I don't think you claiming responsibility would have helped anypony."

"No, I guess not," he concurred. "I talked to Fluttershy briefly afterwards, and she was just so overjoyed with how everything turned out, despite what had happened." In their past conversation, he saw pegasus' meek form rise above the chaotic storm of circumstance, seizing victory and happiness despite not understand the tragedy's origins. "She didn't care why it happened at all."

"Her empathy with animals is astounding," Twilight asserted. "She wouldn't be able to rest as long as she knew a single one of them was in trouble. Having somepony to blame wouldn't have helped her."

While he nodded in general agreement, he opposed one element of her final statement and countered, "I don't think it's about blame, though."

Twilight was surprised at the interpretation. "That's not what it sounds like to me," she said.

"But-"

"I know," Twilight cut him off with her quickly arranged thoughts on the matter, "You understand that you're not directly at fault for the events, but you want to take responsibility insofar as explaining the facts of the situation. To tell why the events occurred. But... in the end isn't that the same thing as trying to be blamed for it? I don't see how it's any different than just trying to be the pony that everypony can direct their ire at."

"That- That's not what it's about!" he argued. "It's not a matter of scapegoating!"

"I guess I just really don't see how it's any different," Twilight shrugged, helpless unless he could elaborate further.

James leaned forward a little, resting his wrists on over his knees, bouncing one slightly in mild nervousness. "It's different because it's about being fair," he insisted. "It's not leaving the innocent people with an empty 'sorry this terrible thing you had no control over happened to you for no reason.' An attempt to give them the facts and let them make up their own minds about the matter." If after they had the facts they wanted to blame someone, well that was their business. Or the business of the courts or whatever, if it came to it.

Twilight dabbed the front of her hoof on her chin a few times while thinking. "I'm not trying to accuse you of anything, but to me that still mostly sounds like trying to find a target to blame. Or maybe... even worse, focusing almost on revenge."

"No, it's not about revenge either," he said. "I mean, I really, REALLY hated the guy who killed my friend, but..." He froze in thought. Now that he was a trained soldier he had actually made the necessary moral decisions about the when's and where's of killing, something that wasn't true when he was an angry, hurt young man. Back then, would he have killed the drunk driver in revenge if he somehow had the chance? Would fear of the consequences stop him, or would fear of crossing that murderous threshold do it? Instinct said no, he wouldn't, because of course history said he didn't, but it wasn't clear on why. But maybe that wasn't important anymore. Would he kill the drunk driver now, with who he was?

He bit his lip hesitantly, but shook out an answer. "But... I wouldn't kill him," he said. "Not in revenge. I don't know about 'deserving to live' versus 'deserving to die', but murder in vengeance... that isn't right." His military experience wasn't, in any part, really about empowering to kill. It was, in part, about being ready to do so when absolutely necessary. That issue with the drunk driver was a matter for the law, not a matter for vengeance.

Twilight pulled back, her eyes widening. "You... wouldn't?" she asked, with the raised pitch of the final syllable being unusually high and choked with surprise.

Chapter 14: Necessity

"No...?" James cautiously said, reflecting some of Twilight's own bewilderment back at her. He steadied his voice as he repeated himself. "No, I wouldn't kill him. I mean, I DIDN'T kill him. But I still wouldn't either."

Twilight seemed inexplicably caught in her own surprise while trying to orient her thoughts. She babbled, "I guess... I guess I just thought... I mean, the way everything was described before..." The disjointed fragments fumbled past her lips, trying to somehow assemble and express her incomplete exploration of the topic.

"What? The way what was described before?" James asked.

Wordless, Twilight's mouth hung slightly open as she searched for an answer to give back to him, but she realized she hadn't considered the matter too deeply. However, it swiftly dawned upon James that there was only one remotely similar conversation she could even be referring to. He tried to explain the nature of things, though his voice dragged mildly as he said, "There's... there's a huge difference between being in a war and... aggressively dealing with a matter that really should be reserved for civil justice. They're not even remotely the same thing."

Regaining some of her composure, Twilight started to respond, "Okay, well, be that as it may, we're still talking about the value of somepony's life so surely-"

"The context is completely different," James reemphasized. "The circumstances are completely different."

"What does that matter?" Twilight demanded.

But he was absolutely insistent on its importance, telling her again, "The context is what matters the most. It all depends on the situation." He wasn't sure what to tell her otherwise. The two scenarios weren't comparable in his mind.

Twilight gave a light sigh and shook her head. She took his words and turned them back around, reinterpreted as her logical conclusion, saying, "You're telling me that... that murder... is alright in certain circumstances?" Her distaste for the suggestion almost had her sticking out her tongue.

"No, it's not that people think murder is alright," James countered. "I don't think there's anybody who thinks that mu-" Okay, yeah, there was no way that statement was going to be a blanket universal truth. In the dark times when worst excesses of hate occur, some people can encourage some pretty twisted thing. He was going to have to pull back some of the blanket to be more reflective of reality. But only some. After all, since in any given place there are usually laws on the books against murder, it can at least be said that the majority of people certainly don't condone such aggravated, fatal violence. Starting over, he told Twilight, "Most people agree that killing others is a terrible thing. Even in wars it's still seen as horrifying."

"Well, if that much is agreed-"

"But!" James was fast to cut her off before she could lay out her point. "But, like we've talked about before, enough people also believe that there are times when killing becomes necessary." He laid a strong emphasis on that final word. "Times when it has to be done, because there's simply no other choice. So even though it's not seen as a good thing, even seen as a horrible thing, there are still certain times and certain contexts in which it's considered acceptable. Acceptable only as a necessary measure."

"I don't believe it's ever acceptable," Twilight flatly stated, "so I'm struggling to understand what possible difference the context could ever really make."

Unsure how to go about explaining it yet again, James could only repeat himself, "The context is that, in war, it's... seen as necessary. Somebody is going to have to do it. And that's not the same case with vengeance."

The stalling out frustrated Twilight, who blew some air out of the side of her mouth. Putting her head down and closing her eyes, she thought hard to try and analyze what she was being told. In particular, her brain seemed to key in on two of the words James had stressed: "acceptable" and "necessary".

For starters, the two are obviously not the same thing. But does one indubitably imply the other? An accepted measure is certainly not always a needed measure. If there are multiple accepted solutions to a problem, any can be used; they generally aren't all needed. But a needed measure... something that, in theory, MUST be done to solve the problem at hand... if one doesn't accept it as a solution, then does the problem stay unsolvable? That doesn't seem a fair assessment. It fails to factor in perception. What an individual pony determines to be necessary may not always be objectively necessary. It can be only the opinion of the individual that it is necessary. Ergo, it could maybe be said, at the least, that if a pony sees a measure as absolutely necessary, they are only likely to see it as also acceptable. They might feel as if they have little choice in the matter.

Too lost in her own thoughts to consciously track her actions, Twilight opened her eyes and stood up, taking a few small paces about her position. James watched, but stayed silent to give her time to think. He was only partially clued into her thoughts by the occasional utterance she let out as she continued her contemplations.

Going from her prior logic, she concluded that any society which sees killing, in absolute, as necessary... or at least SOMETIMES necessary, will then most probably see it as SOMETIMES acceptable. Even regardless of whatever moods and feelings they may have with respect to such slaughter in general. That theory lined up with what James was expressing. For the sake of argument, Twilight flipped around the considerations. What of a society that sees killing, in absolute, as acceptable? Would the necessity be considered at all? Would the necessity even be relevant to them? If murder were absolutely accepted... well, there are a whole lot of scary implications she could make about such a society. But those possible conclusions don't seem to match with who James appeared to be. So maybe it wasn't right to even remotely attach those thoughts to the far off place he was from...

She turned to the man, briefly puzzled by her changed position as she became aware of her physical self again, and asked him, "Most people don't look favorably upon murder, even in warfare?" Her voice was driven with verification rather than curiosity.

"God, no. It's not seen favorably at all," James confirmed. "The lamentations of war... particularly with regards to death, come in poems, plays, novels, stories, art, music... all sorts of things about the atrocities and horrors of it all. Those things go on to fill up whole libraries." That was mostly true. As a soldier, steps have to be taken to rise above that since soldiers need to be ready and able behind the trigger when the time comes. They're the ones who must be most prepared to step up and do what has to be done. But history seemed to have a way to always remember the body counts. The soldiers fight, but it isn't always the soldiers who bury the dead afterwards.

Nodding to the confirmation, Twilight delved into her ruminations again. The focus in her eyes shifted and she restarted her mild pacing, continuing the murmuring of little whispers to herself.

A very, very long time ago it certainly may have been the case for ponies that taking a life was seen as an unwanted necessity. She knew that there was once a time when armies of armored soldiers marched or flew towards each other with violent intentions. Fighting, slaying, butchering each other in battle. Pony wars that may have been thought of as unavoidable, undesired but acceptable. The attitude of James' present may have been the ponies' past. But that's such ancient history now. If that was what ponies thought back at that time, then somewhere in the course of history the underlying thinking had changed. That kind of fighting and death was, for some unknown reason or from some mysterious cause, deemed either less "necessary" or less "acceptable".

But she had no leads to go on. Her history books had left her with no indications where a change had occurred or why. Reaching back into folklore always yielded more moral lessons and emotional teachings than they did factual accounts. It was an open field of pure speculation. Naturally, this didn't keep Twilight from making her own guesses; she would follow the trails of her thoughts to whatever ideas and hypotheses they could generate.

What drives necessity? Or rather, going along with an earlier note, what drives the perception of necessity? Facts, was her first immediate thought. Knowledge is directly tied to how many solutions one has available when faced with any given problem. If there are few options, then those few may be perceived as more necessary than if a larger pool of choices were available. By the same token, acquiring more knowledge, learning more things about the situation, gaining new insights... in these ways new possibilities can open up. And more possibilities is more solutions, which can mean a reduced perception of necessity for any particular given option. So maybe the ponies of old could have learned something which changed their thinking on what was "necessary".

But in some ways that was still a lacking answer. For instance, it didn't provide any clues regarding what was perhaps the more fundamental question. Why would ancient ponykind believe war was ever a necessity to begin with? That first night, when Twilight had asked James, "Why?", his answer had been, "That's just the way it is." Saying, "The ponies of the past saw war as their only option," really wasn't any different of an answer.

That thought lead her to realize that, of course, extreme circumstances may also drive necessity. If something is important enough, or somepony dear enough, then the need to secure or protect it (or him, or her) could be seen as uncompromisingly necessary. And if options are few or nonexistent... well, then ordinary standards may be abandoned, giving way to extreme measures to meet those extreme circumstances. The notion of "doing whatever it takes." Accomplishing the task "no matter the cost." In James' instance, this was demonstrated by killing being intolerable in some contexts but acceptable in others.

"Doing whatever it takes" was something Twilight felt an immediate connection to. That was something she knew she was familiar with. In the past, she and her friends have been in tight spots where everything seemed to be on the line. In those moments she certainly felt like they were ready to do anything that needed to be done in order to save the day. And if any new threat ever came to her friends, or to Ponyville, or to all of Equestria, she believed that they would step up and do whatever it takes again... but... she ALSO still believed they would never deliberately kill anypony. Her train of thought crashed as she recognized her feelings were something of a paradox; claiming on one hoof she would do anything but on the other hoof explicitly denying one possibility.

Twilight stopped pacing, groaning once with displeasure at the dead end she had steered herself into. Was she a hypocrite? Or maybe it was all about her perception again. Assuming that the pony wars of old were at least partially caused by believing that battle was unavoidably necessary, and assuming that ancient ponykind learned something which eventually put a stop to it... then ponies have innately "known" such violence and death hasn't been "necessary" for maybe thousands of years. In simpler terms, she would have no natural reason to assume it ever would be necessary, even in the most dire of circumstances. For instance, even when the entirety of Equestria was threatened with eternal darkness by Nightmare Moon, Princess Celestia still wouldn't go so far as to destroy her sister. The Princess did have to take the extreme and incredibly painful measure of sealing her own sister away for a very long time, but she did not take the more lethal course of action. And she's the leader of all ponies! And that was even a thousand years ago!

As the busy unicorn continued tumbling through the thoughts in her head, James only partially acknowledged Twilight's erratic pacing. He was himself beginning to nervously withdraw into thought. The quiet, ruminative behavior she was now displaying, in the middle of their conversation no less, was quite different than how she had previously approached their discussions. He heard in his head the echo of Princess Celestia's warning to him and he worried if perhaps this conversation had gone somewhere too dark for Twilight. For a bunch of naive little ponies who live in hollowed out trees and gingerbread houses, the weighty moral choices of war and the complicated issues surrounding the value of life might be a bit too much for their innocent minds. To him it seemed doubtful they would have ever run up against a truly desperate situation that called for making the hard choices.

Just as he was considering speaking up, Twilight repositioned herself across from him and sat down again. She radiated a calm collectedness and her eyes sparked with focus. Not sure now what to expect, James quietly gave her an awkward stare while folding his arms. The unicorn looked him over while giving a slow nod and a slight, almost hidden smile.

Thinking over everything, Twilight realized that while her personal philosophy on this abominable topic was very black and white, it was a subject that was obviously much more complicated than she had given it credit for. With respect to pony history, it was hard to do anything more than make conjectures about it (barring some finagling with time magic, but that was far too risky.) However, if she was assuming that the same impetuses for violence in James' world drove some of the pony wars of the past, than that meant James was actually a direct chance to gain insight on her own kind's history. From a certain perspective, he was in fact pony history come to life. An opportunity to really explore the subject matter, and in safe way.

"I'm sorry about that, I was just gathering my thoughts," she confidently apologized. Her voice took charge and she asked him directly, "Now, why don't you explain to me: what is the difference in the two scenarios? I mean, in your personal opinion. Why, for you, would killing in revenge be unacceptable but killing in warfare be considered acceptable?" Her ears perked up and she cocked her head, listening intently. There was no struggle to try and deeply interpret and respond this time. Just focus and attention, like an interested student waiting for the lecture to start.

"Well..." James began with a pause. He rocked back and forth slightly in his seat before he found where he wanted to start from. "A revenge killing for some personal reason IS just a murder. It's a personal, one-on-one conflict that ultimately doesn't assist a functioning society. And that's important. People try to run a society for the benefit of everyone, so you need law and order. Rules and regulations. If everybody went to take revenge against those who they feel have wronged them, things would descend to chaos very quickly." That wasn't particularly specific to murder as a crime. Society was about establishing rules and systems to help everybody get by in their lives, of which systems of justice was just a facet. "It wouldn't be my place to render judgment on the other man, regardless of what I feel. To help maintain a safe, stable society, matters of justice like that need to be put into the hands of a socially agreed upon system.

"War... is different. For one thing, it's something much larger and more impersonal. It involves whole societies, not just the affairs of individuals. In war, both sides acknowledge that they're fighting each other, so..." He delayed. What he was planning on saying might come out sounding ridiculous out loud, more so than it did in his head. "There's a... a sort of agreed, implicit understanding that, because there's a war, soldiers from both sides will fight and some of them will be killed. Again, it's thought of as necessary, by both sides. It's mutually accepted, which is pretty much never true of a revenge scenario. I guess on some level it can also be said that the normal order of society has already broken down to reach a state of warfare, so everybody accepts that not all the usual social rules apply. But even in war there's still an effort to cling to some kind of rules. Like, as much as possible, allowing only the soldiers to fight."

James pinched the bridge of his nose. It was quite a gross oversimplification. Collateral damage, intentional massacres (or worse) of civilians, and other atrocities always crop up in warfare despite the best efforts to stick to the "rules" of war. But it was still the thought that counted. Part of the reason those things are such disgusting, vile tragedies is because they break the perceived "rules".

Raising an eyebrow with skepticism, Twilight plainly asked him, "So, even in such a drastic conflict there are rules to be adhered to?" Every audible ounce of her question oozed with suspicion.

It didn't help that James' answer was a hesitantly given, "S-sort of." Twilight winced while giving a glance aside.

"The point is," James continued, "the context between the two scenarios is significantly different. In the personal matter, I can't be the judge to deliver justice to the man who was responsible for my friend's death. Society at large needs to do that. Because everybody can't take it upon themselves to play judge without harming social order." He shifted his hands from one side of his body to the other, to demonstrate a separation. "In war, which is much larger than any issue between two individuals, both sides acknowledge the conflict driven state they're in and so society accepts that their soldiers will fight with their lives as necessary."

"Society controls the value of life, and when it is 'acceptable' for some to be killed," Twilight laid out bluntly.

He didn't like the detached way that sounded, but he couldn't disagree with the fact that his basic argument could be boiled down to such a level. "Yeah, I guess so," he answered her.

Twilight shook her head. "What I don't like about that," she said, "is that I feel like 'society' isn't always a well defined thing here. It's not tangible. Do you mean... something like authority or government?"

"Well, I am using the word loosely. Maybe 'culture' or 'majority' might fit in better," James suggested. "It's the collective beliefs and will that emerges from people when they are gathered together. So it's definitely related to things like government, and laws, and everything. But it's also something which is deeper, if you know what I mean. A government can try to make that determination on the value of life, but if the inner heart of the people doesn't agree with it then they won't go along with it. Not without serious coercion."

"Uh-huh," Twilight calmly said in agreement. Before Equestria had Princesses, the separate pony tribes were lead by their chosen leaders. Recalling her own experiences with teamwork, she understood the difficulties that can come into play even with a united group of ponies. Keeping the ponies directed towards the end goal while still caring for the personal needs of each pony was part of the role of leadership. "Good leadership represents the will and spirit of the ponies being lead," she stated. "And it should also always work towards the best interests of those ponies."

James concurred wholeheartedly. "Right, exactly. So it's still that will and spirit that is supreme in the end. Bad leadership won't represent that or, even worse, attempt to exploit it. Come to think of it, revolutions to alter leadership are a pretty common theme throughout history. When people feel those in charge are not serving them as they should be, they're not afraid to do something about it."

"Alright. Well, assume that, for some society, the leadership is well organized and represents those they're leading," she immediately directed him. "In that case, why do you think conflict and wars still begin? Any particular reasons or causes?"

"Oh, geez. I don't know," he softly complained. Taking a moment to think, he rubbed his chin while drawing slow, large breaths. "Competition for limited resources, maybe. Like we talked about before with animals, only between societies. Hrm. Then again, it's not always about survival..." He held up an open palm for a moment before simply shrugging. "You know, there could be any reason. Pick any individual war and it's a major topic to study all on its own. You could spend weeks looking at the social factors, the political motivations, everything. Maybe... maybe in the end, the reason... the trigger behind any outbreak of war... isn't particularly important...?"

He sounded like he was searching for the right way to finish his thought, but Twilight provided a possible conclusion, saying, "If the willingness to fight is present? So long as there are ponies who would accept that fighting unavoidably must be done in certain circumstances, they would fight regardless of the reasons given. Only as long as the situation called for it."

"Yeah..." James loosely agreed.

Twilight mentally processed all the different data that had been coming in. Studying, collating, analyzing, reinterpreting. At last, she said to James, "I bet for someponies like that it would take something quite momentous and powerful to change their thinking and teach them that they don't have to fight." Her voice lowered as if she was talking to herself and she murmured aside with a small, awed smile, "Somehow we did it."

Their dialogue ground to a halt. James had become passive, responding only to Twilight's input, but the unicorn seemed unconcerned with pressing any more questions. She wasn't bothered by the stalling. The resolution she had come to had made her feel better than ever about the situation. It had given her some theoretical insight into the history of her own kind, and in particular she felt a great sense of appreciation for how far ponies seem to have come. What's more, she really thought she was getting to better understand her new guest. Like before, she believed that perhaps the differences between them weren't as grand as they appeared to be. Lastly, a tremendous sense of accomplishment pervaded her feelings. There are always moments of nervousness, and dread, and worry in these kinds of situations. The ones that you are reluctant and scared to approach. But once the will is found to push past all the doubt and you throw yourself into the thick of things, the darkness clears, light prevails, and you find that the monsters of your mind are worse than most of what you'll actually face.

She said to James, "I suppose that's enough for tonight. I'm really glad we got a chance to talk about all this."

"Sorry if this conversation went somewhere that you weren't comfortable with," James responded. His delivery was a little shaky as he forced himself to say the words, feeling a need to apologize.

She looked back at him, puzzled. "It may not be a subject matter I find enchanting, and I can't really say I deeply understand some of the finer points right now... but it would be really ridiculous of me to deny the existence of where you come from." Standing up, she stretched her neck, twisting her head from side to side in order to relieve some stiffness. "Besides," she addressed him again, "I need to try and understand where you're coming from if I'm going to get you to understand where I'm coming from. I also happen to think there's a lot of things we can learn from each other."

James considered her words. Although Princess Celestia had given him a warning, she had also expressed that same exact sentiment of mutual education. "Alright," he answered, "I just don't want to be spreading any dangerous ideas or anything."

But Twilight scoffed lightheartedly. "Knowledge is neither good nor evil," she incanted, raising her head up high at the recitation of one of her many favorite quotes. "It's what you do with it that counts. And if I don't have any bad intentions, and you don't have any bad intentions, AND you're even worried about it... well, then I think we're not going to have any problems. Thanks for the concern," she said, expressing herself with a proud confidence poured over just a little tiny bit of assured smugness.

James got up himself, stretching his rigid legs and arms out. "Well... you're in charge," he told her playfully, submitting to her positive determination.

"Right," she chuckled with an easy mirth. "And I say it's time for some sleep. Do you want any food, or water, or anything?" she asked as she started towards the door.

"Nah. I'm just going to read a little more and then get some sleep." He gestured to the books Twilight had given to him last night, still stacked on the table besides him.

"Alright," she replied. "Thanks again. And have a good night." She made her way out, towards her own bedroom, eager to finally get some rest and recuperate from the many trials of the day.

"Good night," James called after her as he watched her go.

Without sitting down, he reached to where he left "The Tourist's Guide to Ponyville" on the table and picked it up. He drove his finger into where the bookmark had been placed but stopped short of opening the tome. Frozen with indecision, he eyed the heavy volume in his hands, afterwards turning to look at the other books on the table. Finally, he took his finger out and dropped the book back on top of the stack resting on the table. He slid "Shadow of a Pony's Heart", the fiction story Twilight had recommended, out from the bottom of the pile. Sitting back down and stretching out his legs, he turned his body to get the best possible lighting on the book. He opened the decorative bound cover and flipped to the first page.

Chapter 15: Preparation

The wheels on the cart squeaked and creaked in a charming fashion with every rotation as they carved a path through the dust of the Ponyville roads. The cart was packed with party favors like balloons, horns, ribbons, streamers, hats, and noisemakers. It was stuffed with supplies like paper plates, colorful napkins, and disposable cups. And, certainly not to be forgotten, it was overloaded with the obviously obligatory cake, record player, games, and other operative options for an optimistic occasion.

Hitched to Pinkie Pie's back, the whole collection rolled along as she trotted gaily down the street. Every hoof struck the ground rhythmically in sequence as she glided, and she was bearing a smile whose beaming matched the noontime sun. Other ponies who were out tending to their own midday business didn't bat an eye at the pink pony and her party wagon. Most gave a hearty hello in passing and some wished for her to have a wonderful party. They didn't need to know what the event was or who the party was for. Anypony in Ponyville knows what it means when Pinkie Pie is dragging those goods somewhere.

Eventually Pinkie Pie arrived at the library and guided her cart right up to the front door. She gave the door a steady three knocks and politely waited for a response, taking tiny leaps off the ground in her excitement and consequently jostling her payload. It only took a moment for the door to open and Twilight emerged from inside.

"Hey, Pinkie," she greeted her friend. She was slightly stumped in tone, not fully expecting the arrival of the party pony.

"Hey, Twilight!" Pinkie Pie returned enthusiastically. "Are you ready to PARTY?" she exclaimed, lowering herself at first before bouncing up on the final word.

The surprise lapsed as Twilight immediately recalled the arrangements that had be made and she slapped the side of her head. "Oh, horseshoes! I forgot about the party!" she complained. "It must have slipped my mind with all the other things that have been going on. I haven't even reorganized today's schedule to account for it."

Pinkie Pie's big smile drooped into a worried frown. Her large eyes began to glisten, the precursor to a bout of tears.

But Twilight quickly put her friend's concerns to bed, telling her, "No no, Pinkie, don't worry. We're still going to have the party. Any problems in my schedule are my fault for forgetting to clear the time." She took several steps back inside, pushing the door all the way open as she did. "Come on inside," she invited.

The pink pony perked up just as fast as she had pouted. She carried herself forwards through the doorway, dragging her cart behind her. The wagon almost perfectly matched the width of the door and the widest part became lodged in the doorframe as Pinkie Pie tried to pull it through. When she felt the sudden resistance from her stuck cargo, she simply upgraded her leisurely trot into a canter. Her hooves scrapped against the wooden floorboards but they weren't giving her the traction needed to free her haul, lending her the appearance of jogging in place. Since her first effort proved futile, she kicked into a full gallop, grunting and straining as she pulled forwards. The bending wooden frame of the cart groaned loudly before suddenly popping free of the doorframe. All the excess force of her pull flung the cart forwards, pushing Pinkie Pie from behind while she slammed her hooves into the floor. Her brakes slowed her down just enough to come to stop right before crashing into the bookshelf on the opposite side of the room. The relieved pony wiped the sweat from her brow.

Twilight merely rolled her eyes once and shut the front door. She made her way over to her friend, magically gathering and putting away some of the history books that were scattered about. She had been digging through them just prior to Pinkie Pie's arrival.

"Are you okay to start setting everything up?" she asked.

"Sure!" Pinkie Pie easily responded while unhitching herself from her supplies.

"Alright," Twilight said. "In that case, why don't you begin unpacking while I just go look over my schedule to move some things around? Get them out of the way for the party."

"Okie dokie lokie!" With that, Pinkie Pie pulled open the back gate on the cart, causing several of her jumbled items to spill out onto the floor. Ignoring the litter, she thrust her upper half into the bounty of goods still secure on the wagon.

Twilight made her way over to the wall she had posted the day's schedule on and pulled over a quill with her magic. When she gave a glance back at Pinkie Pie, however, she dropped the quill on the floor. She was stupefied at what she was seeing.

Pinkie Pie withdrew from the pile of supplies with several bizarre, arcane looking amulets around her neck and an ornate bottle of water held sideways in her mouth. She waved her legs about in an absurd dance, turning and spinning about the room. Then, without warning, she began thrashing her head around wildly, squeezing the bottle and spraying water all over the area.

"Pinkie!" Twilight yelled, rushing over to some books and shielding them from the flurry of liquid with her body. When her first cry met with no response, she called the boisterous pony's name again.

The pink pony suddenly ceased her unhinged spouting, dropping the bottle on the floor. However, her peculiar antics continued as she changed up her dance to a slower, more stationary, but equally ridiculous one that involved a lot of jiggling the talismans around her neck. She began chanting in a poorly mimicked deep voice, "Begone spirits! Begone! You're not welcome here! Return to your rest!"

"Pinkie!" Twilight shouted once more, this time getting right in front of her friend. "What in Celestia's name are doing?!" she demanded.

Having finally heard the unicorn's pleas, Pinkie Pie instantly stopped and resumed a neutral stance as if nothing had even happened. "I don't know!" she told Twilight with casual, happy smile.

Twilight scrutinized her friend, utterly baffled, before flatly asking, "What?"

"I don't know," Pinkie Pie said again. "When I told Mr. and Mrs. Cake I was heading over to your place, they gave me all this stuff and told me to sprinkle some of the water around while doing those weird dances and that chant," she explained. "I wasn't going to say no to that!"

"I'm positive that there's more than enough space," Spike said to James as they approached the library. "We won't even have to move anything around. We'll have them drop it all off in the bedroom, assemble the frame ourselves, and slide it into place."

"Alright. I don't think that the bedframe assembly will be any trouble either," James replied. "And we probably could have even taken the mattress back ourselves too, but hey, as long as they were offering the free delivery..."

Spike reached the door of the library and pushed it open. "Yeah, I-" His sentence broke off and his pace slowed as he entered, immediately noticing the obvious differences about the room.

Pinkie Pie and Twilight had been busy setting up the materials for the party. A long table had been positioned and covered in a cloth studded with colorful designs. On top was practically a buffet of party snacks, spread amongst bowls and trays. The most distinguished pieces on the table were a punch bowl surrounded by cups and a large, frosted cake which was ready to be cut up and served. Off to the side of the room, another table had be set up to hold less edible party paraphernalia. A record player, assorted equipment for party games, and different devices for making noise or flinging confetti about. All around the room balloons were scattered; some were rolling freely on the floor, others caught up on the ceiling, and still others had been tied together in bunches and tethered in different places about the room. Streamers weaved high around the room, with Twilight in the process of hanging up even more. Pinkie Pie herself was inflating more balloons to add to the growing collection.

"So... what's the occasion?" Spike asked as both he and James continued their way inside.

The balloon Pinkie Pie had in her mouth was set loose and it darted around the room, wild and delirious. The pink pony discontentedly stared at Spike as the missile made its fateful trip, until it ran dry of air and came to rest. Did anypony remember about this party? She shook off her negative vibes and brought back her smile. "This is for James' 'Welcome to Equestria' party, of course!" she informed the dragon.

"My party?" James questioned. But just after his puzzled inquiry the details quickly came back to him. He had forgotten the discussion they had on this matter at Sugarcube Corner. He didn't feel thrilled to remember, either.

Pinkie Pie's face washed over with confusion as yet another individual didn't acknowledge remembering the party. She tilted her head and asked in astonishment, "Was this supposed to be a surprise party?"

"No, Pinkie," Twilight said, tacking another streamer in place with her magic. She dropped the few more she was carrying and then moved towards Pinkie Pie and the others. "He was right there when we first talked about it."

"Oh, right," Pinkie Pie nodded, clearing up her befuddlement. She turned to James and assured him, "It's NOT a surprise party."

He gave her a funny look at having a question he didn't even ask answered. "Oh. Thank you. Good to know," he told her tentatively, for the sake of having something to say back to her in confirmation.

James gazed around the room to get a look at everything and assess just what kind of party this was intended to be. While the wide collection of snacks invoked some casual memories of hanging out and relaxing with friends, other elements of the set up tugged at his confidence. The large cake and flashy, colorful decorations struck him as more appropriate for a child's birthday party. The set up for playing music, complete with a wide open space for dancing, reminded him of school dances (or the ones he did attend, anyway.) Or maybe this whole set up was more like a wedding reception, though for those events he usually preferred to sit the time away and chat with only more immediate family and close friends. This whole thing could wind up resembling any one of those scenarios, except with a bunch of complete strangers for the other guests. And he was the focal point of attention no less, with it being "his" party and all.

What a pain. But this wouldn't be his first time drafted into an unwanted social spotlight, and he's survived worse anyway. At least these were a bunch of easygoing horses and not the tightly wound up, overly immature cliques of jerks from back in school.

Twilight bit her lip. James' response to Pinkie Pie didn't carry any excitement, nor did his demeanor exhibit any enthusiasm. This party was conceived as a measure to try and welcome him into his strange new environment, but she still couldn't comfortably predict his reaction. She trusted going along with the party because she believed in Pinkie Pie's abilities, but these signs weren't looking good.

But then again, this is just like before. She was running herself ragged with worry over something that probably wouldn't even be a big deal once it was over. Once the party was in swing and everypony was having an entertaining time, James would acclimate and her fears would wash away. It was only just a silly party. And who knows more about throwing fun, stress-free parties than Pinkie Pie?

Shaking off her anxieties, Twilight invited, "You guys want to help us finish setting up? It'll still be about an hour before anypony shows up, but there's no harm in making sure everything is in order as early as possible."

"Alright," Spike accepted. "The deliveryponies will be here with the mattress and parts for James' bed in maybe fifteen or twenty minutes, though. We'll have to stop for that."

It was recognized that they had quite a surplus of time to finish preparations, so that one interruption wouldn't be a problem. Pinkie Pie jumped and clicked her hind hooves together as she spryly went back to inflating balloons with Spike's assistance. Twilight magically snatched back up her dropped streamers and resumed stringing them up as James looked over a pile of unset decorations and other party goods.

"So... looking forward to the party?" she testingly asked him.

"It'll be interesting, I guess," he answered, turning about in his hands a party hat with a goofy circus design and a burst of silver foil on top.

With four hands and eight hooves working together, the party preparations were finished in no time. It was only a few minutes later that there was a knock on the door but, as predicated, it was the mattress and unassembled bedframe being delivered. James was quick to use this interruption to get away from the party room, directing the deliveryponies in. Spike had to accompany them however, as the three ponies carrying the delivery initially hesitated in following the odd looking stranger.

As fast as they arrived, the deliveryponies were gone. They dropped the materials off in the bedroom as instructed and then left. Spike and James stayed there to assemble the bedframe. Like they expected, it was a swift operation, taking only a few minutes to slide and lock all the wooden pieces together. The pair shifted the completed frame to a vacant corner of the room and then hoisted the mattress into place. Although Spike intended to rejoin the ponies in the main chamber, James' decision to stay away for awhile and sit down on the new bed encouraged the dragon to reconsider. He went over and hopped up onto the new furniture, taking a seat.

Aware, but not overly concerned, he asked the man, "Something the matter?"

James thought about it briefly but then dismissively responded, "Nah. Just... going to be seeing a lot of that party in a little bit, I'm sure."

Spike seemed satisfied with the answer and didn't give it a second thought. After a silence he asked instead, "So, what do you think of the bed?"

Positively responding to that question, the man impulsively bounced a bit on the mattress. A delightful vibration spread across the whole surface, lightly bouncing Spike as well. "Springy. But still cushy. Plenty of good nights' sleeps in it I'm sure."

Inside the main room, Twilight was just giving everything a requisite double-checking. Or triple-checking, where she felt the need. Actually, quadruple-checking never hurt anypony, either. Maybe the napkins would be used up too fast and she should put out more? There were enough cups and plates for everypony, but were there enough EXTRA in case someponies didn't want to reuse theirs? They did store an additional jug of punch under table in the event the bowl runs dry, right? Maybe she should take some measurements and adjust the position of the record player to be acoustically optimal? Were there any streamers that were so close a light that they might be a fire hazard? Was the bathroom clean enough, or would a guest feel it was too filthy to use causing them to restrain themselves for the rest of the party, making them uncomfortable for the whole experience, dragging down the mood for everypony they interact with and ruining the entire event?!

Pinkie Pie gleefully zipped past the consternated unicorn, humming a tune to herself. She was dashing from place to place, also giving everything the once-over. In contrast to Twilight's distress, it was quite obvious that her opinion on the state of preparedness was much more optimistic.

Letting go of her own concerns and turning things over to Pinkie Pie's expert analysis, Twilight gently sighed, "Is everything ready?"

"Yup! It all looks good!" Pinkie Pie happily reported. She took an extra second to inspect the cake, licking her lips, but she successfully resisted the urge to bury her face into it. That was for after the party started.

Twilight remarked, "All that's left, then, is to wait for the others to arrive." She again felt some nervousness for the whole situation welling up and sullenly questioned her friend, "Do you think this party is going to go off okay?"

"Oh, of course it will!" Pinkie Pie said. "Everypony loves a party!"

"Everypony..." Twilight mused to herself.

The sound of knocking came from the library's front door, causing Spike and James to leave the bedroom at the dragon's hopeful behest. Much to his delight, the pony at the door was exactly whom he wished for: Rarity. A casual eye wouldn't notice but she had spent several hours cleaning up from the previous day's escapade. She strutted inside, confident in her own restored beauty. Her fresh brushed curls, her shining coat, her refurbished makeup, all pristine and revised to perfection. But just in case she still carried a bag of emergency cosmetics with her.

Her friends greeted her warmly, and Spike in particular produced an animated salutation to her. Remembering the general, timid reserve which Rarity had displayed in most of their prior encounters, James kept several paces back and didn't offer a greeting. His hope was to avoid appearing imposing and simply to stay out of the way while the girls and dragon had their opening chat.

To his surprise, Rarity kept her words to the others brief and then greeted him directly instead. She gave a plain, "It's good to see you." There was still an ever so slight undercurrent of shakiness in her voice and he was almost sure she was putting a concentrated effort into her actions.

"Good to see you," he politely returned with a short bow of his head.

Twilight informed Rarity, "We're still waiting on all the others so go ahead and make yourself at home."

Thanking her friend, Rarity then turned to her favorite dragon. "Spike, be a dear and put this somewhere out of the way, would you?" Her horn glowed and she tossed her cosmetics bag right into Spike's waiting arms. He caught it, slipping on his feet slightly, and he had to rebalance himself before heading off to drop it somewhere safe.

The ponies began to move towards the food and punch table, but Rarity stopped after barely taking a few steps and looked once again in James' direction. She quivered with uncertainty, but then changed course and approached him.

"Listen," she told him. Her eye contact was unsteady and irregular as she moved her head about and looked around the room, but again there was a clear, determined effort on her part to try and be forward and engaging. Her voice wavered as she had to struggle momentarily to remember his name. "... James? Ah... how should I say this..." She took a breath, settling herself calmly, after which she was able to keep her focus on him and continue. "I... I feel I should apologize for the way I acted during our initial meeting the other day. I was rude and discourteous, which is completely improper for a lady of my refined sensibilities."

"Oh!" James shot out with surprise. Rarity's earlier, suspicious and evasive behavior had not been forgotten by him. Leery of his presence and agitated to the point of speaking aimlessly, even without reasonable volume control, the only things that had kept her head together was the encouragement from Twilight and her dedication to her craft. That meek reserve could have been easily anticipated given the circumstances, but this new attitude isn't what he expected at all. "That's alright. You don't need to apologize," he offered back to her.

"Nonsense," she countered, "There was no excuse for my behavior. Not in front of a guest, especially the guest of a dear friend. So... I just wished to say that I'm sorry. And, in the spirit of this party, I'd like to give you my formal and proper welcome to Ponyville." She graciously bowed to him with elegant poise and movement laced with noble dignity. Her trepidation had been mastered and she was back in complete control.

Still somewhat taken aback, James managed to say, "Thank you." But he just wasn't able to let the matter rest. He continued on, telling her, "But again, it's alright. What you did was perfectly understandable. And even then you still loaned me your boots... and got these clothes together so quickly." He ran a hand down the side of his top, not having lost any amazement for the garment that Rarity so casually regarded as only a simple prototype. It frankly looked better and felt nicer than most of the other things he had worn in his whole life. "Really, I should be apologizing for troubling you."

Rarity had mostly moved past her frustration with having had to let that ensemble go before its time and wasn't too bothered by its sight or mention anymore. She jumped right into a reply but, having summoned the courage to apologize directly to James, she didn't want to let the matter rest either. "That's nice of you to say, and I do appreciate it. But I must insist that I failed to mind my manners and behave politely in company."

Weary, James surrendered. "Alright. Thank you for the apology," he said.

"Yes, well... very good, then." Rarity realized that she had successfully gotten through everything she had planned to say and now there was suddenly nothing left to add. She stewed in the awkward silence before declaring with muddled haste, "Enjoy the party!" She disengaged from James and stepped swiftly towards the others at the snack table, striking up a conversation with them.

James shook his head, still confounded at her surprisingly forward presence and at her resilient insistence for what seemed such a small matter.

As more time passed, the man stay removed from the idle chit chat of the ponies and their dragon friend. Their conversations didn't strike as being of topics which were terribly important; they had all last seen each other only yesterday after all. They were just killing time. If he was to be sucked into the party later, the least he could do was get some time away right now.

It wasn't much longer before there was another knock at the door, this one faint and gentle. Fluttershy had arrived. The upbeat pegasus bore the same smile from yesterday, empowered by that day's success and the rebound in mood it provided her. She greeted those present with her uniquely benevolent and mellow enthusiasm and her friends reflected their own good cheer back, losing no time in inviting her into their continuing conversations.

Unlike with Rarity, James' prior interactions with Fluttershy had gone off much better and he didn't feel the need to be distant from her during her arrival. Their previous meetings had almost assuredly been colored by Fluttershy's distraction, caused by the stressful situation she had been in. Also, they were without a doubt influenced by the fact that she did not know about any of his actions prior to being assigned to Twilight. Those two things had allowed them to bypass that clumsy meeting period which came into play with Rarity.

James joined in with the others on welcoming Fluttershy to the library, but he still determined to stay out of the developing social atmosphere. His withdrawal mostly went unnoticed by the pegasus since she, unburdened by the responsibilities that had been present before, found she couldn't think of much to say to him. She didn't have any time to stop and think of things either, as the others often kept her engaged with questions and conversation. At one point she did manage to try and talk to the man, reporting to him on the much improved condition of Rocky, the squirrel reunited with his parents. The little squirrel was jubilant, active, eating properly, and playing with the other animals. To that, James was happy he could honestly tell her that he was glad to hear it. After that report, Fluttershy didn't have anything more to address him with and he drifted out of any potential involvement with the ongoing discussions.

A strong and sturdy knock heralded Applejack's arrival a few minutes later. The lingering soreness from her aches and bruises were evident by the way she moved, but overall she wasn't slowed down in the least. Nor was there any damper in her attitude as she said her hellos with abundant cheer.

Applejack's greeting to James was a cordial, "Howdy, Beanstalk." Although he returned her greeting politely, Applejack readily caught wind of his removed demeanor. She stared at him momentarily with a lowered brow, considering what to make of it, but she eventually thought it best to let sleeping dogs lie. If he didn't want to talk right now, he didn't want to talk right now. So she let him be and went to talk amongst her friends.

Having a fifth pony around pushed the chatter amongst them into an even higher gear. With so many individuals crowding one area, the conversations began to break down into several smaller threads with tighter groups of speakers. Twilight had a moment of isolation where she stepped back to grab a drink after finishing a chat with Rarity. Having been watching and contemplating, James was growing more bothered by the potential state of things with each arriving pony. He seized upon the open moment to speak with Twilight.

"Hey, Twilight? So, what's going to be happening here?" he asked her.

"A party?" she replied, confused. She couldn't pierce the vagueness of his question and wasn't sure what he was expecting in a response. "They have parties where you come from, right?"

"Of course they do. I mean, what's going to happen specifically? What are we going to do?"

His annoyance wasn't well masked and Twilight picked up on it immediately, setting her drink down. She understood his question now but the problem was that she had no real idea what his deeper concern was. "Dance. Play games. Eat some snacks. It's just going to be an ordinary party," she literally answered him, hoping it addressed his concern. "If you need the exact details you should ask Pinkie Pie, since she's the planner."

"Right," he said quietly to the open air. After a pause he added with detectable rhetorical sarcasm, "What kind of drinks do you have here?"

Twilight didn't answer. The seeds of worry sprouted in her mind again and she rapidly debated just what to say to him, or if perhaps she should even halt the proceedings.

Before she could do anything however, the whole room was sidetracked by the front door swinging open with a slam. Rainbow Dash appeared, having brashly let herself in, and with that the cycle of salutations began anew. Twilight looked back over to where James had been standing but he had already moved on. The unicorn heaved a burdened sigh but ultimately decided to go over and greet her newly arrived friend first, before taking any other action.

Amidst the exchanges between friends, Rainbow Dash looked around the room and spotted James. Glaring at him, she raised a hoof and gestured to her own eyes, then pointed right at him. He gave a nod back to her, still accepting and understanding of her feelings. That would have been all, but Applejack suddenly called for the pegasus' attention and James watched what unfolded with some curiosity.

"Hey Rainbow," Applejack opened. She dejectedly lowered her head a little, but kept her eyes on Rainbow Dash. "I wanted to tell you, I appreciated the apology you gave me yesterday. Even if'n I was all saddlesore to you about it when you gave it. I was just too riled up to be gentle-like about it." She let out a sigh, disappointed in herself, and closed her eyes with regret.

"Oh, hey, no problem Applejack," Rainbow Dash sincerely said. Then she drew a breath and lowered her head down to match the despondent pony's. In a low and honest voice, Rainbow Dash told her friend, "I really am sorry about leaving you behind without saying anything." She offered out a hoof to Applejack. "Pals?"

Applejack's spirits picked right up and she smiled while bumping the pegasus' hoof with one of her own. "Pals," she agreed.

Both ponies got a little exasperated when Pinkie Pie suddenly joined them and pulled them in for a tight hug, jamming all of their faces together. "Awwwww," the touched pony sweetly crooned.

With Rainbow Dash's attention being taken away, Twilight got back to musing over what she should do about James. But she hardly had the time to even think when she felt the others' focus falling onto her. The room was quieting down and slowly everypony seemed to be expectantly bringing their attention to her. She surveyed everything quickly.

"Well... looks like everypony is here," she stated weakly. Except for James, their faces looked eager and ready. She really didn't want to hold things off since all the others had taken the time to come out here, and she still hoped that once things got going the man would warm up. Putting on a smile, she took center stage and addressed the group, saying, "I want to thank everypony for coming out to the party today. Three days ago, Princess Celestia assigned James to my care because he's a newcomer to Equestria. With all our help, he's here to learn about who we are, what we do, and, today..." She took breath and put her faith in the enticing liveliness of her friends' company. Holding out a hoof, she continued, "... how we party! Now, let's get started!"

"Yahoo!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed. She kicked the table with the record player, causing the device to start up with a scratch before belting out a loud and jaunty dance tune. Then she effervescently dove across the room, landing at the snack table, and plunged her head into the base of the cake with a splat.

Chapter 16: Embarrass

Despite the party ostensibly being "his" welcoming party, nobody seemed immediately interested in interacting with James. Relieved with his freedom, he stood off to the side and merely observed everyone as they all began to drift into their own party activities. Pinkie Pie noisily ate straight from the cake, slobbering and slurping up as much as she could without taking the time to even cut out individual pieces. Spike and Rarity danced to the music; the elegant pony's lithe movements were in marked contrast to the steady but unorganized rocking of the dragon. By the front door Fluttershy and Twilight were giddily chatting and giggling with each other, but the unicorn's attention wasn't all there. Every now and again she'd carefully peek across the room, watchful. At the activities table, Applejack was with Rainbow Dash. The duo were ribbing each other with friendly challenges, eventually settling on hanging up a dart board. All the while Rainbow Dash didn't make any effort to hide whom she was monitoring, regularly turning to look at James.

Thankfully, everything appeared to be undirected. It didn't seem as if there was going to be a set schedule of activities to follow like one might find at an actual children's party, despite the juvenile appearance of this pony affair. Relieved, James made his way to the snack table and poured himself some punch. Pinkie Pie glanced up from her maddened feeding and gave him a smile, cream and frosting coating her snout and flecks of cakes dangling from her teeth. He returned a stifled, clumsy laugh and took a sip of his drink. Maybe it didn't have any alcohol in it but perhaps just having something he could hold in his hand and take nips at would be close enough in experience to help him relax and pass the time more easily.

In short order he caught sight of Applejack approaching him. Rainbow Dash stayed behind by the now hung dart board, watching the orange pony while wearing a grumpy expression. Hospitable and easygoing, Applejack wasn't the least bit worried about talking to James, testing him with some small talk to see if he was more receptive now that the festivities had begun.

"Hey there," she opened. "I hope Twilight hasn't been saddling you up with too many of her stuffy ol' books."

"Just three," James answered, taking another sip of his drink. "A couple of informational pieces and then a fantasy story. They seem as good a starting point as any."

"Yeah, well, that's swell and all, but I stand by what I said before. You gotta get your hooves dirty. Get out and about!" she insisted. "Did ya at least head out and take a gander around town yet?"

James shook his head. "No, not particularly. Went to the market and some stores, Twilight showed me some of the places you girls live and work... That's about it." He didn't blame Twilight for not giving him the complete guided tour of Ponyville. Maybe there was plenty to see, but there were other, more important things that had to be done first. And besides, he wasn't here to go sight-seeing anyway.

"Tarnation, is that all?" Applejack let out with disappointment. She took a step closer and questioned him, "You haven't maybe gone and seen the town square? Haven't followed the river 'round? Or maybe moseyed through the park for a spell?" All the rosy memories of her home town bubbled up as she reflected. Ordinary places, even to a local, but extraordinary in sentimentality. "You know, you could visit Creamy Scoops' for some ice cream. There's the Hitchhock Theater, which is a might old, but it has a right proper amount of history to it. The Galloping Gardens is worth a look, there's plenty a pretty thing there. Oh, and the Damsire District, it has the dandiest li'l homes you ever did see! You haven't gone to see none of that?"

"It's been three days," James complained. "Most of which I've been busy being dragged around, or drawn into things." But he quickly shrugged off any concern, telling Applejack, "There'll be plenty of time to see things later. If anything, time is something I'm not remotely short of. It's all I have right now, really."

She sized him up for a moment before deciding that he seemed pleasant enough to invite to the planned game of darts. "It don't matter how much time you got if you're always gonna be sitting on your rump like that. Say, lookin' to maybe play a round of darts with Rainbow and I? The way she kept eyeballing you I figure she was hopin' for a third player."

"... Maybe later." He cast a hand aside dismissively. In another time, at another place, with his old friends and a few drinks, sure. Even that one time at a lawn party with some neighbors to celebrate the dying days of a summer gone by. But he couldn't see himself tossing darts here.

Resigned and again disappointed, Applejack muttered, "Suit yourself." She had tried. But once again she would rather leave well enough alone if he didn't care to be involved. She backed off and returned to Rainbow Dash, grabbing a slew of darts off the activities table on the way.

James exhaled and then took another swig of his drink. Hopefully he could find something on the snack table that went with the flavor of the punch. He tried to inconspicuously move about and browse the selection.

The whole exchange between Applejack and James had been observed by Twilight, who grimaced at the ineffectiveness of the farm pony's gesture.

"Is something wrong?" Fluttershy asked the distracted unicorn.

"Oh. No. Nothing important. Everything's fine," Twilight responded unsteadily. "Hey, listen, Fluttershy... I'm going to go talk to James for a bit. Uh... if that's alright with you?"

Fluttershy stared back at her friend, innocent but still addled, and said, "Oh. Okay. Sure. Talk to you later then." She hesitantly stepped back before turning and going to join the others who were dancing.

Twilight delayed for a minute before walking over to the man in slow steps. He noticed her right away, set aside the snacks he was sampling, and prepared himself for another encounter.

"Hey," she greeted. "How're you doing?" Her voice twinged with mild uncertainty.

"I'm fine, thanks," James casually answered.

Stepping about her words oddly, Twilight rephrased herself, "Anything... bothering you?"

"No! No..." he blurted out. He had to look away and take another drink to get the time to refocus himself. "It's nothing important. Everything's fine. Just... not much of a partier, I suppose."

"Ah. Well, maybe if you give some things a try you'll enjoy yourself more," she carefully suggested. "Instead of just sticking with the food and drinks. Join some of the others."

"Maybe later," he echoed.

She would have thrown up her hooves in frustration if she wasn't so concerned. Thinking back, Twilight recalled her own first Ponyville party experience and began to relate it to him, saying, "You know, when I first came to Ponyville from Canterlot, Pinkie Pie threw me a welcome party. I didn't want it at the time... I secluded myself away in my bedroom. I was sort of... preoccupied. There were a few other things on my mind." The serious look in her eyes clearly demonstrated to him just how severe her burdens of the time were to her. "But, since then I've really come to love Pinkie's parties and I regret not being more involved in that first one she threw me." Twilight wouldn't have traded her responsibilities directly for that party, but she regretted not giving it at least the chance it deserved.

Her story triggered something inside of him and he admitted, "I am... there are some other things on my mind, yeah." However, he still stuck to his distant mood and told her, "But I'm fine with this party. There's no trouble."

"So... would you like to participate in something?" Twilight asked hopefully.

"... Maybe later," James loosely resolved.

"Aww, come on! There's plenty to do right now!" Pinkie Pie jovially hollered, charming her way into the conversation. Her words didn't have a single down, desperate, or remotely depressed syllable. There was a few stray napkins stuck to her face, however. She vigorously waggled her head to shake them off.

James put a hand up in resistance, saying to the lively pony, "No thanks. I don't-"

"Let's sing a song! I know a great one for parties! Okay, it goes like this!" Pinkie Pie cleared her throat, almost more as an intentional effect than out of necessity.

"No, that's... quite alright. I don't do much singing. Thank you," James interrupted.

"Alrighty," she said, not even stopping for a beat in changing gears. "Then let's play a game. I know all sorts of good party games! We can play 'Charades', or 'Truth or Dare'. I brought the stuff for 'Pin the Tail on the Pony'. Oh! Or let's hang the piñata that I brought!"

She pointed to the colorful papier-mâché object laying amongst the other items on the activities table. Shaped like a pony's head and bearing a big smile, it had a stylized and comically oversized nose. Perhaps almost twice as big it should be were anatomical correctness a concern. Lowering her voice down to a secret-revealing whisper, Pinkie Pie leaned in close to James and said, "I filled this one with only GREEN jelly beans." Her sentence was punctuated with a tiny fit of sprightly giggles.

Twilight's knees shook nervously, fearful that maybe her vibrant friend was being too aggressive in her approach. James was denying all the offers, but the worried unicorn thought that maybe it was only Pinkie Pie's overbearing excitement getting to him. That crazy pony can take some getting used to and perhaps that was influencing his decisions. Still, Twilight didn't want to completely shut down Pinkie Pie's enthusiasm because it did have it's own kind of infectious nature in the right circumstances. All Twilight wanted was only to exercise some control over it and remove some of the pressure it was placing on James. Putting on as stable a face as she could manage, Twilight jumped in, saying, "That does sound like fun, Pinkie. Why don't we see if any other ponies want to participate and then WHOEVER wants to take a swing can?"

"Really... I don't feel like playing any games right now," the man said forcefully. Withdrawing from the two ponies somewhat, he followed up with, "Thanks though. Don't let me stop you from playing." Quickly he drank down the last of his punch and set the cup down on the table.

"Well then," Pinkie Pie chirped, "the only thing left to do is dance! Let's go!" She slid around behind James, leveled her head, and charged into him, pushing him out onto the open floor.

"Wha... hey!" He stumbled a little when the pink bulldozer came to a stop, and Pinkie Pie bounced back around him while rolling into a dance. She hustled and shimmied about, bobbing along with the music. Invitingly she shouted to him to get moving.

Still trying to draw away some of the pressure on James, Twilight followed them out and quietly moved into her own simple dance. She hoped that with a small crowd now dancing he wouldn't feel so noticed and might be encouraged to join in.

It didn't seem to work though, as again James was dismissive and said to Pinkie Pie, "I don't want to dance, thanks." He tried to exit and head back to the snack table but, relentless, the pink pony sprang around and got in front of him while still doing her brisk jig.

"Don't you know how to dance?" she asked him. "It's not hard at all! All you have to do is move however the music tells you to move. Watch, see?" She twirled and stomped, timing her movements to match the beat of the music.

Again James tried to wave her off and excuse himself. He began to say to her, "No. It's not that, I just don't want-"

"Okay, okay," Pinkie Pie interrupted him, "here's any easy one to try! Anypony can do this one!" Sucking in a huge breath, she stopped her wild motion and returned to a more neutral stance. Then, leaning a little to the left and raising up her off side legs, she started to sing, "You put your right hooves in, you take your right hooves out, you put your righ-"

"No thanks," James curtly said. Once again he moved to get around Pinkie Pie and leave the floor but she hopped into the way to block him.

"Hey, come on! Why don't you want to dance?" Despite the sound of her complaint, she nevertheless carried herself positively. It was a call of encouragement, not the cry of a hurt hostess. Every innocent blinking of her eyes just reinforced the pure nature of her question. Here and now, not wanting to dance seemed to her to be the silliest thing in the world.

Starting up again with her shaking and swaying, Pinkie Pie instructed James, "Just cut loose!" A lift of the hoof, a turn of the flank, a spin and slide across the floor... it was hard to tell if she was trying to lead by example or if she was absolutely lost in the moment and the music.

Almost disoriented now, James tried to explain to the capricious, pink pony, "I don't do much dancing."

"Awwww, really?" she replied. If anything it sounded sympathetic, like she was sorry for him. But she rebounded into blissful cheer instantly, saying, "That's alright, though! You don't need to be a dancer to dance! It's all about having fun!" Pinkie Pie cocked her head in brief thought, her tongue jutting out of the side of her mouth. "Is there any kind of dancing you have done?" she asked him.

Confused and almost unsure, James answered the question in a mumble, "I've done... some slow dancing...?"

"Oh, okay! I guess we can do that instead. I'll be your partner!" In a flash, she positioned herself in front of him and considered her options. There seemed to be one obvious way to proceed, so she reared up a bit and threw her front legs out at him.

Reflexively, he caught her forehooves, wobbling backwards slightly with the shifting weight. But the surprise shook him back into his senses. "No!" he cried in an annoyed tone and pushed her hooves away to the side. Pinkie Pie wasn't expecting to be let go so suddenly and staggered in her landing, nearly toppling over.

At once, Rainbow Dash was in the air, blazing across the room. She blasted right up in front of the man, fiercely planting her front hooves onto his chest to push him back a little and then shoved her face in close to his. Angrily, she shouted, "HEY! What's the big idea?!"

James recovered promptly and, feeling abruptly resistant and determined, stood his ground. He firmly told his accuser, "I'm not going to dance." The reality of the situation then caught up to him and he realized just what had transpired. He turned to Pinkie Pie, who had gotten back up but now looked genuinely upset. Trying to apologize, he dropped the defiant tone he had taken with Rainbow Dash in the heat of the moment and said, "Sorry. I didn't mean to drop you like that. I just..."

All at once he felt the pressure of being watched, realizing that the scene had drawn the eyes of the entire room. Besides Rainbow Dash floating and watching with scorn in front of him, every other individual looked on, registering different, disturbed emotions at what they were seeing. Somehow even the record player had come to a scratching stop, bathing the room in an aching silence.

The bellicose pegasus wasn't satisfied with James' response and drew back into a fighting pose, ready to get ugly. Moving in, she said, "That's it, I oughta-"

"Rainbow Dash, please!" Twilight jumped in the way of her combative friend. "I-I'm sure this is j-just a... misunderstanding of some sort! Let's-"

"I'm going to step out for a second," James solemnly interjected. He hastily turned away and marched towards the front door, leaving the library.

"Hey!" Rainbow Dash went to swoop after him but Twilight caught her and held her back.

"No, let him go. Please, Rainbow," the unicorn pleaded. Rainbow Dash tried to justify herself but Twilight was insistent. "I'll go talk to him," she promised.

Sour and doubtful, the pegasus gave a long, hardened look at her friend but eventually relented. "Alright," she said, snorting once to expel some of her excess aggression. Rainbow Dash turned her attention to Pinkie Pie, making sure that her tumble hadn't hurt her.

Partially relieved from at least averting immediate disaster, Twilight rushed out the front door, following James. Once outside, she saw that he was only a few paces out, standing with his arms folded across his chest and facing away from the library. On hearing the sound of approaching clops he turned his head to peek over his shoulder. Seeing it was only Twilight, he just went back to staring at the row of houses away from the library.

At last he said, slowly and quietly, "Sorry about that."

Twilight inhaled like she was about to speak, but no words would come out. She was grasping for a place to start but she didn't think she understood what even really happened back there. A lot of things these past few days didn't go the way she expected them to, but everything eventually turned out better than she had predicted... except this. Somehow this had gotten very bad. Lost for a real starting point she eventually chose to ask, "Is everything alright?"

"... I wasn't going to dance," James answered. He shook his in a helpless way, as if he understood the worthlessness of the answer but simply didn't have anything else to offer.

Rattled at again being blocked, Twilight closed her eyes. She had to handle this somehow. Monitoring him was her duty. She had to figure this out. Nopony else was going to do it. Opening up her eyes, she straightened her posture and stepped forward.

"I realize you're in an unusual position," she told him determinately, "but you have to understand that Pinkie Pie has put together this party for you. She just wants you to relax and have a good time. Her... eccentricity... is only her way being friendly and trying to put you at ease and get you involved."

"I... appreciate what everybody is trying to do," he responded, still keeping his back turned to her. "But I'll have a good time by just sitting on the side. I don't need to participate."

"Nopony's asking you to be the life of the party. But I think that if you were to only take it easy and try something out, you'll find it could be more fun than you thought," Twilight emphasized. While this was about him, it affected everypony. It's not like Pinkie Pie wouldn't try to get him engaged again, even after what happened. And the others would notice he wasn't participating sooner or later, dragging the whole affair down if he resists their offers as well. Especially because the party was designated for him.

But still, James waved his hand off to the side and told her, "No thanks."

This was too much. Twilight knew she had to resolve this whole situation somehow, but her job was becoming so difficult because he wasn't even remotely willing to try to do anything. Agitated, Twilight stamped the ground and raised her voice. "It's... it's not fair to Pinkie Pie!" she nearly shouted. "That... that she put all this effort into getting the party together and you won't even TRY to give it a shot."

"Well, I didn't ask for it!" he suddenly said in a hostile tone. His folded arms tightened and his hands squeezed into fists. "I didn't fall through some magical portal to Wonderland so I could... so I could go and have parties!" He threw his right arm up, hoping maybe that he could throw away his frustration like discarding a used tissue.

Twilight was stunned into silence and she took a few careful steps back. Her ears drooped, her neck lowered, and looking at the ground she cursed herself wordlessly. What an idiot she's been. Stupid, stupid, stupid! She had misjudged this situation so badly and didn't even realize it. This wasn't AT ALL like her leaving Canterlot on assignment to spend time in Ponyville. This isn't analogous to that first party that Pinkie Pie had thrown for her. She had CHOSEN to go to Ponyville in order to fulfill her obligations to Princess Celestia. The party was to welcome her to where she had chosen to go, even if she didn't want it because she was preoccupied with other responsibilities. She had always had Canterlot to go back to, if she so desired. James, however, had been TAKEN AWAY from everything and brought to Equestria, against any of his own desires. There's nothing else out there for him and certainly nothing for him to go back to. Most importantly then, there's nothing for him to be celebrating. The spirit behind the party was well placed, but it was so out of tone for the position he's in that it was a horrible idea. And she hadn't seen it! How can she ask him to try and enjoy a "welcome" party when he had literally lost all that he had a few days ago?

"I'm... I'm sorry," Twilight said. "This was a mistake. We shouldn't have had this party."

The complete change in tone caught James' attention and he loosened up, very slightly tilting himself towards her.

Stammering, the flustered pony continued, "It's... uh... this is my fault for not... for misjudging..." The right thing to say just wasn't coming easily.

Looking over his shoulder again, James asked her, "What do you mean?"

"I wasn't thinking about the real position you're in, or your needs, and I let this party go forward." She shook her head dejectedly. "Despite the reservations I had in my head, even."

Sighing, James faced the houses away from the library again. Already regretting having gotten even a little belligerent with Twilight, his tone shifted. Now somewhat guilty, he was trying to compensate for his prior behavior, and told her, "You're doing the best you can with the strange assignment you've be given."

"But that's not good enough," she asserted, picking herself up out of her gloomy demeanor. "I was too preoccupied to notice... you know... that you've lost-"

"Forget it," James cut her off as soon as he recognized where she was going with her thought. "That's my problem. I'll deal with it."

His solitary resolution disturbed Twilight. Things may or may not have been harsher than he had been letting on, but she didn't believe for a second that just ignoring it was the way to handle things on her end. With the current situation already being as emotionally exhausting as it had been, she couldn't think of what she could say that he wouldn't just block again.

Her apology and mention of the subject had already unsettled him, though. The noiseless, dead air began to get to him, provoking his thoughts. If only to fill the void he told her, "Really, I should be taking the party for the distraction it is. Like everything else. Keep my mind off things..."

The perturbed unicorn didn't like the sound of that at all. In that instant, she resolutely decided that there were more important things now than trying to force him into being more participatory in some party. Twilight started to say to him, "While I don't want to discourage you from trying to enjoy the party or anything, or at least being more polite about it-"

"Polite? Polite..." The word oddly took James' attention away and he whispered it to himself. It brought to mind Rarity's apology for her own perceived failure in that very area.

"Well... yes... I just mean, you know," Twilight awkwardly tried to explain herself, thoroughly confused by his momentary fixation with the word. "It's... even if the party was a bad idea, it's kind of rude to Pinkie Pie to be so... discourteous?" Maybe that wasn't the best word choice. She watched his back for some kind of response but was again thrown for a loop when, after several seconds of stillness, he gave a weak laugh.

"Heh... that sounds like something my mom would say," James mused.

Twilight didn't respond. The swift diversion surprised her and got her thinking, but she continued to listen to him carefully.

Gazing over the housing in front of him, James started rambling, explaining his comment, in order to drown out the pained quietness. "Growing up and everything... you know, when someone would visit our home, Mom would make me put on nicer clothing than usual. Or if we were going out somewhere and it wasn't super casual, she'd dress me in really fancy stuff that she KNEW I hated wearing. Ties and things like that."

As he babbled on, trudging through his memory and experience aimlessly, a kind of nostalgic fondness crept into him, welling up from the depths of his memories. With a mild chuckle he continued, "I mean, I was just a kid and she was only trying to teach me how to behave. Of course I was chafing under the rules so it was, 'Why? Why Mom?' And if guests were coming over she'd put out these bowls of candy, and I mean... they're NEVER out... we weren't allowed to just have candy like that usually, see? But she'd put out the bowls for the guests and it'd be 'Why Mom? Why do the visitors get candy?' So she'd try to explain, 'They're our guests and we have to treat them nice.' Or going out, 'We're guests at their place and we have to behave respectfully for them.' She would tell me, 'You have to be considerate. Mind your manners. Go the extra mile to show them respect.' Just trying to be a good mom was all she was doing...

"But, I mean, with a kid like me... always with the questions. 'But why do I have to act different? Why can't I just be who I always am? If they don't like it, tough!' And she'd say, 'No,' and explain it all over again. And what I remember most is how she'd always get me in the end. Mom would eventually go, 'If you don't dress nice... if you're rude... if you misbehave in front of the guests...'" James picked up his hand and mimicked his mother's playful, accusing finger wagging at him. "'You'll embarrass me!' That's what she'd say. 'You'll embarrass me if you do that!' Heh. She'd always get so silly and guilty about it. 'You don't want to embarrass your poor mother, do you?'

"I remember it so well that even later in my life, when I went off to live on my own... when she wasn't around to directly watch over me anymore... if I had to go somewhere nice or meet anyone who wasn't an immediate friend... I'd still hear her voice in my head. 'You'll embarrass me!' it would say. So I'd put on nicer clothes than strictly required, clean my hair up more than usual... hell, I'd even put on a stupid tie." He shook his head and licked his lips, laughing to himself again. Telling Twilight all this was a dumb digression, but he almost couldn't help himself now. Bringing up the memories, the reflections, and sharing them... sort of had the effect of making them briefly, fleetingly more real.

"You know, sometimes when I would talk to her and she knew I'd been somewhere or done something recently, then she'd even ask me, 'You didn't embarrass me, did you?' I felt like, even though Mom wasn't always there physically anymore, she would somehow know if I didn't dress or act up to her expectations. Like wherever she was her mother's instinct was always connected to me and would pick up on my failure, and she'd suddenly sit up and feel embarrassed." James wiped a sleeve across his eyes and then dug some fingers between them and the bridge of his nose. "God, she must be so embarrassed right now," he muttered to himself in realization. In a way it was a nice thought. Imagining that, somehow, somewhere out there, she could still feel him, even if she was feeling embarrassment. It was a nicer thought than the what he knew the truth to be, anyway.

Twilight remembered seeing James for the first time, when he struggled with the other man. And she remembered the shock of witnessing their fight to the death. Her initial change of attitude into fascination when their first real dialogue began then came up in her mind. The little tidbits of information that came out of further conversations, the tiny details revealed from the experience with Fluttershy's animals, the slow drawing back of the curtain hiding who a stranger is. Her conception of him had bounced around a lot in the past few days... but maybe that wasn't really a result of miscalculations and poor guesses on her part. Maybe the real problem was that at some point, if even briefly, she hadn't been consciously respecting how complex any individual can truly be. That trying to pin them down with some simple description or small summarization was a disservice to the complicated pony that exists underneath the surface of anypony you meet.

Coming back from the trip through his memories, James said to her, "I'm sorry... I... just give me a few minutes to compose myself. We'll head back inside and finish out this party, and I promise to improve my behavior and be better about the whole thing."

"I appreciate the gesture, but we should cancel this party. It was a mistake," Twilight stated. This had gone on long enough. She WAS going to handle this situation, and part of that was not pretending that this was no big deal and then confronting her friends again with obscured truths or white lies.

"No!" he resisted. He thought again about the apology Rarity had given to him only shortly before and borrowed her words. "I... I failed to mind my manners and behave politely in company. It's my fault. Sorry. I'm not going to ruin this for the rest of them, though."

"But we really shouldn't-"

"No. No... Just... give me a minute here," James lightly demanded. He took some steady, deliberate breaths while he stretched his neck.

She looked at cautiously, thinking over the situation carefully. Slowly, she backed out and returned to the library door, stopping just in front of it to wait for him.

James continued to stretch his body and tried to clear his head. What a mess he'd created. Maybe he didn't want to be here, but these were still people... er, ponies that had pretty much rescued him from death, spared him after witnessing his involvement with what they regard as an utterly heinous act, and then even took him in and have done their best to take care of him given the circumstances. Of all the times to show total disrespect and ingratitude it had to be at a social gathering like this. He was going to dislike smiling through this party far more than clinging to the wall and enduring it, but that was part of Mom's lessons. Sometimes to be respectful you've got to wear the tie.

Feeling ready, James checked his clothes, straightening them out before turning around. He walked backed towards the door and joined Twilight. "Okay. I'm ready," he informed her.

Twilight pushed open the door and they stepped inside. Nobody had restarted the music and it appeared that no party-like activity had even occurred at all since the two had stepped out. Everyone was gathered in the center of the room, speaking to each other with different volumes and tones, depending on their level of nervousness, or intrigue, or fury. The earlier scene had gotten them all honestly discussing with each other their thoughts, feelings, concerns, and ideas about the whole entire situation of the past few days. When the two entered the library, the others all hushed midsentence and watched, a small crowd of ponies (and a little dragon) warily eying the entrants with no solid expectations for what was going to happen next.

Just as James was drawing one final breath before taking the plunge, Twilight cut in front of him and loudly addressed the room, "Everypony, listen up! I have an important announcement to make! I regret to inform you that this party is canceled."

There were some gasps and murmurs from the crowd as they exchanged befuddled looks amongst themselves. James was just as bewildered and he leaned in close, whispering to the pony, "Twilight, what are you doing?"

Flipping around to face him, she had a closed smile that stretched with confidence. "Don't worry," she told him, "I'm in charge, right? Let me handle it. Besides... I think I should take responsibility for this one." The intrepid unicorn gave him an assuring wink.

James stared at Twilight for an extended moment, not knowing what to do. Her smile didn't fade and her confidence didn't falter, so eventually he weakly said, "Alright. You got it." He took a step aside, grabbing a nearby stool, and sat down, letting Twilight stride forward to explain things to her friends.

Chapter 17: Friends

"Twilight, what's going on?" Rarity asked the purple unicorn who was coming forward to confront them.

Spike spoke to a similar concern, "Yeah. Why is the party canceled?"

"I'm really sorry everypony," Twilight honestly apologized to her friends, "but allowing this party to go forward was my mistake. When Pinkie initially suggested it, I believed that it was worth a try. But I hadn't fully thought through the entire situation." She shook her head, regretting again her miscalculation with this whole affair.

"But I don't understand..." Pinkie Pie complained.

"I know. I owe you all some explanations," Twilight admitted. "You see, I haven't been completely forthright with all the details these past few days." All of her gathered friends were giving her their full, thorough attention. Looking over their troubled faces, Twilight didn't feel the slightest itch or jitter of anxiety. Assured of what she was doing, her refreshed confidence pushed her to begin her account.

"Princess Celestia did assign James to me. Her specific orders were brief and undetailed. She only said that he would be staying here at the library with me so I could teach him about Equestria. There wasn't anything more to her instructions. Like you all, the only thing I had to go on was what we saw of him before. So, when he arrived, I began my task instead by simply talking with him, in order to learn about him. Who he is, where he's from. My thinking was that the more I knew about him, the easier it would be to teach him about us.

"Eventually, because we had to get clothes made for him by Rarity, I decided I might as well take him to meet all of you. If he was going to be staying here in Ponyville with me, that would be inevitable anyway." It was here in her recounting that she bowed her head with shame. "But... I hid from you some of the details of what I had learned about him. I tried to gloss over them, or skip them. Because... I guess, I was too afraid of how you all might react. Maybe some of you wouldn't like what you heard... maybe some of you wouldn't want to be involved with him because of it... maybe I wouldn't be able to complete this assignment on my own, without your help." Bringing her eyes back up to face her friends once more, Twilight openly confessed, "I'm sorry, guys."

Taking a few steps about, she declared with resolve, "But now it's time to let everything out into the open." She paused, considering which pieces of information would be most appropriate to divulge first. Finally, she settled on telling them, "I think the first thing that you should know is that James is, more or less, an interdimensional traveler."

There was a mixed reaction from the audience, mostly comprised of some puzzled glances between each other and low murmurs passing back and forth. Only Rainbow Dash and, to a lesser degree, Spike had muted responses, not finding anything particularly new with this reveal. The pegasus still followed Twilight's exposition with intent, despite the skeptical and almost bored look on her face.

"That large structure we saw the other day," Twilight continued, "was actually a device capable of opening holes in the barriers between dimensions and bringing things across. It's what brought James here."

Applejack interrupted, "I'm not sure I get it, Twilight. What's this 'dimensions' and 'barriers' nonsense mean?"

"Basically all it really means is that he's from a far away place," the unicorn answered. "A very far away place. An unimaginably, impossibly far away place."

"Soooo..." Applejack drew out, clinging to her confusion, "how far are we talkin'? Like... Neighjing, or...?"

Twilight tapped a hoof against her chin a few times in thought. "Picture spending your whole life walking off in one direction, trying to reach where he's from. Just walking, and never stopping," she instructed, mildly pantomiming the actions. "You'd wouldn't make the journey in your lifetime. You'd never make it in a thousand lifetimes of walking."

"That's... pretty dang far," Applejack said in surprised awe.

"Right. He's from a whole nother world, literally. Unreachable, except through whatever incredible means that tower structure was capable of performing. But unfortunately," Twilight's voice lowered, "what we witnessed happening back there was the tower destroying itself."

That line caught Rainbow Dash's attention and she snapped a step forward. She may have been able to deduce that detail earlier if only she had bothered to spend the time to put two and two together, but all her thoughts with regards to their visitor had been preoccupied with different concerns. "Wait, do you mean... he's trapped here or something?" she asked Twilight for verification.

There were more exchanged looks and bated whispers amongst the ponies at Rainbow Dash's insinuation, and it only intensified when Twilight confirmed the interpretation.

"Yes, precisely. That tower was only a prototype device. Successful enough to make a single trip between his universe and ours, but not enough to survive the very same trip in one piece. The whole event was an unusual accident that has stranded James here in Equestria." Twilight's gaze swept across her friends, meeting each of their eyes in turn as she appealed to them, "That's the importance of the assignment given by Princess Celestia: we have to be his guides now that he may be stuck here."

"But... why were you afraid to tell us about this?" Fluttershy questioned lightly.

A subdued groan emanated from Twilight. The fact was, there is much more to all this than how James came to Equestria. The manner of his arrival was only the beginning, and it had always been some of the other things about where he was from that was so arresting for her. Slowly, she told them, "Because he's from a different universe, there are some things about him that, to us, might be... difficult to understand." She could see recognition appear in the eyes of those who had witnessed the collapse of the tower.

"To tell you the truth," Twilight confessed, "I've talked with James quite a bit and I'm still having some trouble grasping it all. But..." She rotated around and stared at James, who was looking concerned. Perhaps he was just worried because he didn't know how her solution was going to turn out. But that kind of feeling was something she herself had known before. Over these last few days she had seen him be lost in his situation, show a strong trust in somepony else to see things through, recall a fond memory of his mother, hide a reserved embarrassment when put in the spotlight at the party, express a dutiful sense of justice, shake with angry frustration when something hadn't gone his way, have an open mind to a new experience, and more. "... But I'm beginning to see that the differences aren't as great as some things would seem to demonstrate," she said aloud.

Turning back to her friends, she addressed them with unabashed honesty. "I was afraid to tell you because I didn't understand him fully. That because I was... because I AM still am getting to know him, I wouldn't be able to bridge the gap between us and him for you all. But I was wrong to not believe in you guys, and to keep things hidden from you. You're all capable of making your own judgments, and I know that you are all able to see past initial impressions. That the first things you may learn about a pony won't be the last, as long as you don't let those first impressions stop you from getting closer to them. And despite what you've seen of him so far... what WE'VE seen so far, we can push past our doubts and understand that the differences don't really matter as much as we think. I know we can all befriend him together." As much as her voice was flowing with faith, Twilight held herself in a somber manner and again apologized to her friends, saying, "None of you need me to package him into a presentation for you... and I'm sorry for doubting you and thinking you did."

Quietly, the words sank in. Even Rainbow Dash, stalwart in being wary of their new guest, found herself backing down when weighing her friend's words. The collected ponies (and, as ever, one little dragon) reflected while looking at Twilight. After a moment, they turned to look at each other, not needing to speak in order to transmit their feelings between themselves.

Putting a hoof on Twilight's shoulder, Applejack gently told the unicorn, "That's okay, sugar cube."

Rarity added with warmhearted reassurance, "We know you always mean well. You wouldn't do something like that in some attempt to be underhooved."

"We trust you, Twilight," Rainbow Dash earnestly reminded her friend. Just yesterday, James had given the pegasus an open invitation to be suspicious. A promise to her that he wouldn't harm her friends and that she was free to monitor him until he proved his trust. Twilight was saying something different; she was saying that they should all freely give their trust instead. For Rainbow Dash, that would be hard to do as there were still parts of her that desperately didn't want to do so. But the friendship inside her had heard the sincerity of the unicorn's words, and it was enough to get her to try.

The others all spoke and nodded in agreement with what had been said already. Twilight smiled back at them, reinvigorated. Though, it wasn't relief that was restoring her. Their show of support had granted her truest beliefs validation.

It was then that Pinkie Pie spoke up. "But... what about the party?" she asked. The question was riddled with a tone of near alarm, masking any confusion she had.

"Well Pinkie, James has lost everything he's ever known just a short while ago," Twilight explained. "The feelings behind the party were right, but the timing really wasn't. I think he'll need some time first... time to come to terms with what's happened. Time to adjust. A celebration like this just isn't what he needs right now."

Pinkie Pie curled her lip, crumbs of dissatisfaction radiating out of her. She rolled her eyes down to the floor, swaying her head tepidly from side to side.

With no other questions from the ponies, Twilight felt that it was now time to move on to the next topic. Surely it would be the hardest to discuss with them: the darker and more vile things that James had related to her. The things that would give some insight to the reasons behind what they have already seen. Still, her friends' faith was encouraging to her and she readied herself without fear.

But before she could begin, Pinkie Pie bounced back in, clearly not finished reacting to the purple pony's declaration. "That's really Silly-Filly!" she declared. "With a capital S-F, even!"

"Pinkie. The party isn't in good taste," Twilight tried to reiterate. "There'll be another time for it. We can't-"

"No, not that!" Pinkie Pie countered. "I mean, there is a standard Pinkie Pie Party, but I've thrown all kinds of specialized parties before, too! I could have tailored this party to what he wants if you had only told me!"

"I... uh..." Twilight stammered, unprepared for this sudden turn. Did her irrepressible friend really have a workable alternative party in mind or was the party-minded pony just not getting what was being said?

Regardless, Pinkie Pie seemed to be more disappointed in herself for either not gathering the full details first, or for not anticipating the possibility of a misinformed party. Determined, she suddenly plowed past Twilight, who called after her in surprise. She marched right up to James and asked him directly, "What kind of party do you want?"

Just as unprepared as Twilight was, the man fidgeted slightly at being put on the spot. "I don't... um..." he let out.

Most of the others in the room moved a few steps towards the two, curious to see what their impulsive friend was going to try. Twilight got a little closer while faintly calling Pinkie Pie's name in embarrassed frustration, but it didn't catch the pony's attention.

"What kind of parties do you like?" Pinkie Pie tried asking James instead.

"Well, I don't know... not quite... this," he mused while gesturing around. "I mean, my dad stopped letting us... ah, my siblings and I... my dad stopped letting us have parties like this at a certain age. So I'm used to low key affairs. A few friends, no colored balloons or party hats..."

"What?!" Pinkie Pie was stunned at the unmitigated cruelty. The dreadful mention of such a fun-vacuum. The black-hearted, soulless misanthropy it would take to crush such joy. "What kind of mean old, grumpy old... old old... party-hating frumper dumper would do that?" she rhetorically questioned.

But James chuckled, loudly at first before quickly controlling himself. "No," he shook his head, "no, you don't know what you're talking about. Dad is the jolliest, most fun-loving guy I've ever known."

Pinkie Pie didn't understand and tried to protest, but James waved his hand and elaborated a bit more. "I guess I never really asked him about it," he said. "But I think he just wanted his kids not to... not to value the cakes and the presents more than the friends and family gathered, you know? So maybe taking away those flashy things was just the best way he could think of impressing that lesson on us."

"But... but... he TOOK AWAY THE PARTIES," the pink pony boomed in an ominous tone, wide-eyed and still shocked unto utter disbelief.

"Yeah," James admitted matter-of-factly, "But you shouldn't take that for who he is personally. Dad loves to have a good time. He always has a joke ready. I remember when..." He stopped himself. It might be better to not to get too deep into that right now, before he accidentally wound up having to take another time out to collect himself.

Seeing that Pinkie Pie still looked doubtful and almost upset, he tried to be consoling and said, "Maybe... there could have been a better way to teach that lesson? But Dad did the best he could. And it was worth it... I certainly appreciated what I learned after I grew up." James took a moment and thought about some of the close, important people in his life. Sometimes a lot of effort was put into keeping in touch with them or making the time to see them again, but nobody ever thought that the effort was too much to be worthwhile. "I really came to value my friends and the time I spent with them. Whenever we had the chance, what my friends and I would usually do was get together for a quiet afternoon or evening, sit around, share drinks, catch up on what's new, talk about old times..."

"A quiet party?" Pinkie Pie disbelievingly blurted out. One of her eyebrows raised in suspicion. This was surely a thing unheard of!

"That's one way to put it," James confirmed.

Of all the ponies who were standing around and observing the exchange, Fluttershy was the first to come forward. The skittish pony always enjoyed Pinkie Pie's parties; they were often a great opportunity to relax and be more extroverted than her normal self while still not really stepping outside of her comfort zone. But she had plenty of love for nice, tranquil times, whether by herself or with many of her little friends surrounding her. She settled herself down on the floor in a vacant space near the two, where she could easily listen and participate. "I like quiet parties," she softly stated.

Fluttershy's action emboldened the others. Rarity came forward and took her own seat near the shy pegasus. She was followed closely by Spike, who only made a rapid detour to grab some cake off the snack table. One by one, the others came in, filling out a rough circle with their chosen positions. It was obvious to Pinkie Pie what was happening now, even if she was skeptical of how one could have a fun and entertaining "quiet party." With no noise makers to grab, no music to start up, or anything of that sort, she simply parked her rear right where she stood, landing with a thud.

Twilight was the last to approach, curiously astonished. Maybe it wasn't what Pinkie Pie had intended to do, but it seems that she still had managed to turn around this event into something more positive. The unicorn wasn't looking forward to explaining the more violent details of James' world any more than before, though. With a setup like this, where she even might get some help from the man himself instead of having to do it alone, it wasn't going to be any easier.

At the same time, she was being distracted by her fascination with all these new details that were cropping up. Almost out of the blue, the man had mentioned his mother earlier. Now there was talk of his father and his own personal friends. They're things that should have been so obvious, but they had never come up in conversation before or even had been thought about by her. She was interested in hearing more.

"That's how you spent time with your friends?" she asked him.

"Well, later on. With my oldest friends. The ones I grew up with," James clarified. "We didn't get to see each other all that much. It was once a year usually, whenever everybody could make time."

Applejack made a quizzical face before inquiring, "What kept ya from seein' your friends a whole lot?"

But Twilight had already picked up what was implied, understanding immediately. It reminded her of the situation with her brother. She had to move to Ponyville to follow through on her study of friendship, but that meant she didn't see her brother nearly as frequently as she was used to. It took extra time and extra effort to keep in touch with him or see him again.

"We all grew up," James answered the orange pony with a shrug. It seemed like an obvious thing to him but that was all hindsight. Magic or not, it would be contrived to think they could just divine his history somehow. "Our paths took us separate ways as we went out to see what the world had to offer," he explained.

"You've lived in Ponyville nearly all your life, Applejack," Twilight chipped in. "Some ponies lives take them places far and wide, away from what they've known before."

"I know," Applejack nodded with emerging comprehension. She had just grasped what they were saying now. "That's why my folks have the Apple family reunion, I reckon. Makin' sure there's always some time for a get-together, regular as clockwork."

Rarity weighed in, saying to James, "Surely when you moved on to other places you socialized and made new friends?"

"Of course," he feebly responded, adding after a second of thought, "but they didn't replace my old friends or anything."

In response, Rarity bounced up faintly in abashment and shook a lifted hoof to dust away any unintended insinuations. "Oh, certainly not," she offered, "I just mean to say that there were others you must've spent time with more regularly."

"There were..." James said, but despite the honesty there was a lack of conviction in his answer. He had made plenty of acquaintances after growing up and moving out. People he associated with. People he called friends. And even later, comrades, amongst some of the other soldiers. It's not that there wasn't real elements to those relationships... real appreciation, real respect, real camaraderie... that was all there. But when he tried to hold them up to the strong ties with his old friends, the feeling that something wasn't the same couldn't be shaken. "I think there's something different about the friends I grew up with, though," he mentioned aloud.

"I don't know," Rarity replied unsurely. "You can meet marvelous new ponies at any time in your life." She glanced over at Twilight and a few of her other friends.

James gave a slow a nod to himself. Although he had grown up and everything, all things considered he was still relatively young. Maybe he just wasn't old enough, or hadn't given some of those new friendships the time they needed to mature into the same kind of thing he had built with his old friends. Thinking back to his parents, he had known friends of theirs who were originally their childhood friends, but he also had known of others who had started as neighbors or coworkers. Perhaps it was that element of shared experiences. That was what had helped him build relationships with his old friends while growing up. And later on, each experience he came through with the other soldiers, from training to action, brought them closer to him. It was probably the same thing with neighbors, sharing the experience of having to get by in an "adult" world. Death, taxes, and all that. Maybe with just a little more time he would have fully discovered those kind of "adult" friendships for himself. Now he had no way of knowing, though.

"It takes some time to build a deep relationship. I think the way you relate to people is different after you grow up, too," James concluded. "The friends I made and held on to while growing up are closer to me in a unique way. Learning life's lessons together, stepping into a larger world together." It was the only experience he had to go off of.

"You've become close in a way that makes it easy to just enjoy each other's company, no strings attached," Twilight interpreted.

"Yeah," he agreed. "It was always great just to see them. Be with'em." They had risen up to the level of family almost. A kid grows up and gets kicked out of the nest to fly on his own. That's the cycle of life. So he had always been prepared to be away from his family, and he always relished coming back into the folds of their love when the opportunity arose. They're the people who he spent the whole start of his life with. He didn't need common interests or stringent obligations to spend time with them. Being amongst them had a value all its own. It was pretty clear that over time his closest friends had reached that status, too. The level of brothers and sisters.

With her bright voice, Fluttershy commented, "Oh, I think I know what you mean. I always love sharing time with my little friends, even when I'm not playing with them or giving them special care." Her warm smile echoed her feelings visibly.

"Fluttershy, you have more pets than clouds in Cloudsdale," Rainbow Dash quipped.

The delicate pegasus didn't really catch the nature of her friend's tone and responded with some distraction, "I try my very best to give them everything they need, and I love each and every one of them."

Rainbow Dash gave a breathless, stifled laugh and a shake of her head. "Yeah, but you always have animals coming in and going out," she said. "How can you possibly have time to get so attached to all of them?"

"Oh. It's not so hard," Fluttershy answered. "Each one of them is a unique, special little friend that I want to get to know. I'm always happy to meet a new one and I try very hard to understand them." She lowered her eyes but didn't lose the hearty timbre in her voice as she continued, "I'm always a little sad when I have to say goodbye, too, but I love seeing them find their forever home. And I'm never sad that I got the chance to know them."

Twilight felt buoyed by the small speech. The austere purity of Fluttershy's feelings compelled the unicorn to share with her friends, "It's the same thing with us. You guys are the best friends a pony could ask for and I'm always happy to be with you all. That's easy right now since we all get to see each other whenever we want. However, there may come a day when all of us are not here together in Ponyville anymore." Like her friend, the thought of the goodbyes depressed her but she held strongly to the magic of their friendship. Candid and beaming, she told them, "But Fluttershy's right. If that ever happens, I'll never forget the differences you've made in my life. That friendship you've shared with me will always stay with me, wherever I go." It was hard to believe how far she'd come from the bookish and reclusive pony who studied dutifully under the tutelage of the Princess in Canterlot. That Twilight wasn't the Twilight who sat here now, the Twilight who had changed for the better. And the change in her was caused directly by all these friends gathered here. It's not something she could ever leave behind and it wasn't something she would ever want to.

After a second's hesitation the proud unicorn added with a smirk, "And I bet we would try hard to keep in touch anyway."

Around the partial circle there was nothing but concordance. Each expressed their own similar view while agreeing with the others: how lucky they were to have met, how important they were to each other, and how no time or distance would ever truly separate them.

James had sat quietly, listening to what they had to say to each other while reflecting on himself. His mother's words had an effect on how he presented himself, even after he was on his own. The values he picked up from his father helped him determine what things were important in his life. And those elements of character weren't nearly the end of the ways they had influenced him. His siblings and his friends, too, ultimately shaped a part of who he was, and even who he wanted to be.

"You're right," he whispered. Slowly raising his voice, he said, "You can't always keep the people closest to you at your side, but there's a part of them that goes with you if they really mean something to you." He wasn't completely without them.

With a tilt of her head, Pinkie Pie meditated on his words for a moment. In a sudden flash of pep, she said to James, "I've got a lot of ponies going with me then. But there's always room for more!"

Almost immediately, with the uneasy ice broken, it was as if the floor had been opened for questions. Spike wanted to know how many friends James had and what they were like, Fluttershy was curious about what other sorts of things they did together, and Rarity wondered something about whether they all wore the same kind of tacky clothing she had seen him in before. He tried to keep up with their questions and answer directly, silently embracing the chance to casually stroll through his memories without getting too mired in the emotional nuances. James talked about a friend who was very dependable and supportive but always so repentant that he would blame himself for things no reasonable person would hold him responsible for. And then spoke words about another friend who was intelligent and funny but could sometimes be a bit too haughty for his own good. He mentioned some of their common interests, how they had met, how long he had known them...

The conversation had Twilight grinning, but in the back of her mind she started to feel the grip of worry. She had made the decision to reveal everything to her friends, but they hadn't gotten to some of the darker details before everything had up and shifted direction. It was looking like it would be harder and harder to bring that topic up.

All the while, the others kept talking, either asking more questions or commenting on the things the man answered with. Applejack at one point made a comparison to her siblings, which got James to mention his own two brothers and two sisters. That got Pinkie Pie started on her two sisters, which in turn cascaded into discussions and comparisons about all their sisters in general, for every person and pony who had at least one.

Twilight couldn't help but giggle at the dynamic evolving between her friends and her charge. In that moment, it struck her. What she had planned to bring up, the topics that were worrying her... they weren't really that important. Here her friends were doing precisely what she had asked of them to begin with: they were getting to know him on their own terms and they weren't letting their ignorance or preconceptions of him get in the way. All of those other things which she wanted to mention... her friends would find out about them in time. Just maybe not today. They were details that shouldn't be kept hidden but they didn't need to be forced out right now. Instead, why shouldn't she enjoy this quiet party they were having?

Cheerily, Twilight joined in and told James, "You know, I can't believe I never asked you about your friends or family."

There was a delay while he thought about that fact. "I suppose it didn't seem important at the time," he finally replied. "After all, I never really asked you about yours either."

"At least not until right before I was taking you to meet some of them," she reminded him.

"Right. But anyway, none of this has been close to 'usual circumstances.' There have been more important things to worry about." James got distracted away right afterwards with a question from Rainbow Dash.

Watching and listening to him answer yet another question, Twilight mulled over his suggestion. Looking back now, she wasn't quite so sure about it anymore and thought to herself speculatively, "Were there really?"

For some time the group was engaged in conversation. Although a lot of questions were directed towards James, the back and forth nature of it allowed many details to be peeled out of the ponies as well. In time, things began to slow down and Twilight suggested taking a break, allowing anypony who needed it to stretch or perhaps grab something to eat or drink. Pinkie Pie used the opportunity to start putting away some of the party favors that they weren't using, to save on the time needed to clean up later. She was assisted by a few of the others, though Applejack and Rainbow Dash wandered off to complete their game of darts.

James poured himself another drink from the punch bowl, downing most of it immediately to ease his thirst. All in all, he was certain this had been a positive experience. It turned out better than his original plan of hanging by the wall, and definitely much better than his second plan of gritting his teeth and bearing it. In a lot of ways it had been reminiscent of other informal group meets, like a first floor meeting at a dorm, or the first exchanges with everyone in a youth group. The twinge of awkwardness is present but it slides away with the growing feeling of familiarity, and things seem to pick up quickly afterwards. It was much preferable to standing in front of the class and doing an impromptu introduction, anyway. At the same time it also felt like a good start at trying to sort out his despondent feelings, being able to speak about the precious ones in his life in a more directed, explanatory way, without being restricted to the confines of his own thoughts.

Yes, it had been a good encounter. Maybe, even, not so strange as he might usually think. That wasn't a talk with a group of naive children... He barely registered that they were magic horses that time, too. Oh, and a dragon, of course.

"Beanstalk."

He turned to face Applejack, who was standing a few paces behind him with the same inviting demeanor she had earlier. "Wanna shoot a round of darts?" she asked.

"Maybe..." he began, giving it some serious thought. Shrugging out a loose surrender, he continued, "Maybe just a few shots." James set his cup down, the small puddle of punch still inside settling rapidly, and he followed behind the farm pony. He mentioned, "I don't think I've ever played dry before. Maybe it will improve my aim."

Twilight was pulling down some streamers when she caught sight of the two joining Rainbow Dash. Checking and seeing that Pinkie Pie and the others had things well in hoof, she begged for pardon with a polite, "Excuse me for a few minutes."

She retreated into the bedroom. A busy junction of trains chugged through her head, crossing, charging, switching, turning. She was still for a time, nearly forgetting what she was looking for or where she should be looking for it. But the moment was right, she felt it. At last, order came to her thoughts and she reached out with her magic, grabbing some parchment off a desk and dipping a quill. Centering it in front of her, she wrote:

Dear Princess Celestia,

I am pleased to report that the special guest you sent arrived without incident and has already begun settling in. I can honestly say that the last four days have been an incredibly unique, and tumultuous, experience.

I have spent quite some time speaking with our guest James, asking him questions about himself and where he is from, and trying to get to know and understand him. At first, it was very difficult to accept many of the things he was expressing. The place he is from, and the things he believes, seem very different from anything I, and I suspect nearly all modern ponies, have ever seen or felt before. Some of the things James had mentioned even seemed to be absolutely terrifying in thought, and it was frightening sometimes how rationally he could accept it. To try and relate to somepony whose experiences are so different... whose whole existence seems so different... it made me ask, 'How much difference is too much?'

However, even in the brief time that he has been here, I've had the opportunity to witness several important things. Now, my friends and I have already learned in the past that judging a book by its cover is an unfair thing to do, and it never hurts to have such a lesson refreshed. But there is something deeper that is worth realizing, too.

There can be many, many differences between two ponies. So many that the differences can appear insurmountable, with nothing shared with which they can relate to, or no common ground for them to stand on. What separates those two ponies will keep them apart... but only if they let it. It is always important to never lose sight of what unites us. They must realize that, no matter what, there will always be something that they share. Everypony can feel happy, or sad. Everypony can be angry, or hurt at times. Everypony has others who they love, and everypony wants to feel loved by others. These needs and emotions are part of all of us. It can be so easy to imagine another as something else because of the differences you see in them. To disregard them as unable to be understood. To believe that there is no way for you to get along with them. But it can be much harder to do that when you really try to recognize all the feelings that you both share. No matter what you see on the outside, somewhere inside is that pony who can feel the very same things that you do.

I don't know what the comings days and weeks will bring. But I'm not afraid to discover what awaits. I believe that though there will be many new things to learn, some no doubt strange and unpredictable, there can't be anything that the strength of willing friendship won't overcome. I, with the continued help of my friends, will do my very best to teach our new student, and our new friend, about Equestria.

Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle

Hovering in the air, the thick scroll rolled up and a royal seal came over to bind and secure it. Twilight set the letter aside on the desk. Spike could send it off later. For now, she was eager to return to her friends whom she hoped wouldn't be breaking for much longer. Elated, she trotted out of the room, closing the door behind her.

END PART ONE

Chapter 1: Establishments

Chapter 1: Establishments

In the evening at the library in Ponyville, Twilight Sparkle stood outside her front door. The sun had already retired below the horizon, but it left enough fading light to make the streets and houses of Ponyville comfortably visible. She was watching the sky however, since earlier in the day she had been informed via mail by her mentor, Princess Celestia, that she would be charged with housing the new arrival and teaching him about Equestria. Princess Celestia had arranged for him to be brought to her this evening. The decision had Twilight nervous. She trusted the Princess' judgment but from what she had already seen she had a hard time keeping a positive outlook.

Twilight caught the shape of the Princess' chariot descending from the sky. As it approached it became clear the chariot wasn't carrying the Princess herself but only Twilight's expected arrival accompanied by the royal guard. The chariot gently glided down to make a landing outside the library, only a few feet away from Twilight as she drew a slow breath to ready herself. When the chariot came to a stop she took a step forward and prepared to greet the occupant.

His shape and features were cleanly visible in the dimming evening light and Twilight recognized him from when she had seen him yesterday, though he was wearing something different now. He wasn't a pony. Rather than having four legs divided between front and back, he walked only on two and had two arms instead. Each, legs and arms, had a set of five digits at the end, making him similar to several different types of creatures found around Equestria, but he wasn't one that she had ever seen or heard of before. He was wearing some kind of hoodless white robe with a distinct upper and lower half that looked like it was hastily thrown together out of table cloth. It was one piece but almost had the appearance of half a white cloak thrown over a white skirt. The crude robe covered most of his light skin, but his hands could be seen hanging out of the top half and his feet out of the lower half. His hair was medium brown, hanging down to just above his shoulders with a very slight natural curl. It stayed out of the front of his face because of a history of keeping it pulled back, leaving his light brown eyes visible.

The chariot guards stood stoically to either side as he stepped off and moved forward.

"Miss Twilight Sparkle?" he asked.

With only slight hesitation Twilight acknowledged, "Yes. So you must be James? It's nice to meet you."

James gave a quick bow of his head with a drained return of, "It's nice to meet you." It was a clean start that already helped set a more positive mood than the worse case scenarios Twilight had imagined, and she drew what confidence she could from that. She could tell by his tone that he had a sort of exhaustion in him so she invited him inside the library, giving a nod to the guards. Their task complete, they brought the chariot back into the sky to return to Canterlot.

Twilight opened the library's front door and proceeded inside. As he followed, James made to himself an observation regarding his fortune with scale. Princess Celestia, it seemed, was definitely larger than the average pony. All the others he had seen so far were similar in size to Twilight, whose eyes were at his chest level. If the average pony height was barely shorter than him then most structures and furnishing would be adequately sized for him as well. Or at the very least he wouldn't have to duck through every doorway. That was one less thing to worry about.

His thoughts moved on when he saw the inside of the library though. He had noticed that the building resembled a tree from the outside but he wasn't paying the town's appearance much mind on his ride over. The natural wood workings and earthy design of the library interior, besides being beautifully done, were a far take away from the stone, marble, and gold of Canterlot Castle. Either the library was, in fact, carved out of a tree or the builders of Ponyville had a very ornate nature of design that betrayed the simplistic description of the town that he had been given.

There was a short section of the far wall that recessed, beginning knee-high above the floor level, probably with the original intention to serve as a spot to place decor or shelving though now it was vacant. Next to it was a small square table with a single unlit candle. The table had a simple blue cloth covering, wrinkled slightly from having books left on it time and time again. There were no books now, as any that had been left there earlier were put away by Twilight's assistant before he retired early for the evening.

Twilight brought James over to the recess and asked him, "Would you like to sit down?"

James turned and lowered himself into the recess, resting his back against the wall. It was a good size to serve as a comfortable bench. "Thank you, Miss Sparkle," he said.

Although she appreciated the formality, she knew it would eventually start to grate on her. "You can just call me Twilight."

"Sure then. Twilight," he responded. Dropping the formality seemed to ease him a little as well.

Twilight was able to catch a better look at him in the library's lamp light and it seemed to her that he wasn't actually tired physically, but that the whole experience in general was wearing on his thoughts. She set herself down next to the table facing James and took a moment to pick her words. If she was to be the one responsible for him she wanted to start this right.

"So..." she began, leaving a momentary beat, "Princess Celestia has assigned me to be your caretaker and to teach you about Equestria. I apologize that I don't really have any space set up for you right now since this is still all kind of sudden, but I do have some pillows and blankets ready, at least."

"Oh," he replied, before immediately thanking her. But he was a bit a puzzled that her opening concern was sleeping arrangements. He asked her, "Is that all the Princess told you?"

"The Princess' letter said that you were stuck here in Equestria so she was assigning you to me so I could teach you about Equestria and our way of life. That was all it said really." Twilight was a little frustrated to admit it, but she did wish there were more details. It was that lack of knowledge that was making her nervous about this whole thing. All she had to go on was what she saw of him yesterday and that did not leave good impressions. Still, she completely trusted Princess Celestia and she told herself that would carry her through. "Perhaps," she started again after a pause, "you could tell me about yourself then?"

James dropped his gaze, turning his head slightly to the side. Princess Celestia had asked him to explain himself. With all he had told the Princess still fresh in his memory, he was trying to arrange it to be more coherent this time around in addition to maybe avoiding some of the trouble that came up the first time. But where precisely to begin?

"Now," Princess Celestia began as she turned to face James, "what are you doing here?"

They were in a large room in one of the towers of Canterlot Castle. The Princess was standing by closed glass doors to a balcony that overlooked the city. She had dismissed the guards awhile earlier since bringing him into Canterlot had proved no trouble and he seemed to present no immediate danger. He was unreserved and non-aggressive in answering the basic questions she asked on the flight to Canterlot, such as his name. At that she had decided that she wanted some time alone with him, to question him more directly before she would have to decide how best to handle him. She had him brought up to the tower for this purpose but had been giving him respite for a time so he could collect himself. Now she was ready to begin questioning.

He was sitting on a stool, rubbing a cloth the Princess had brought to him against any bruises, cuts, and burns he had gotten from his ordeal. It was soaked in a deep blue mixture that she had promised would help. It wasn't the kind of first-aid he was used to but, whatever it was, it certainly provided relief and seemed to promote swift healing. In order to apply the cloth James had removed the heavy armored jacket of his uniform and left it on the floor of the room.

Pressing the cloth against a bruise on his left side, he looked back at Princess Celestia with his mouth slightly open, but he wasn't saying anything. He took a moment to draw a deep breath. Everything was still coming at him so quickly. It wasn't much more than four hours ago that everything raced with life-or-death intensity and now he was still trying to process that he was looking at a talking unicorn with wings and flowing rainbow hair. The change was incredibly abrupt.

Finally he started, "We... didn't mean to come here. It shouldn't...," but he trailed off, wrestling with himself as to whether what he was going to say would make any sense to her.

Princess Celestia stepped closer. Removed from the initial chaos he came in, tending to his injuries, and lost in the situation that he now found himself in, the Princess thought it much easier to see him as simply a confused individual. She pulled some of the authority from her voice to try and emphasize her sympathy, but she was still intending to draw out answers. Her obligation to protect the ponies of Equestria was still what she was most worried about. "Can you start at the beginning?" she asked.

James thought to himself, "What beginning?" and let his eyes wander for a moment. When he had a better idea of where to start, he looked back at the Princess and asked, "Did you see that structure? The thing that we... that I came in?"

She knew was he was talking about. "No," she answered. "I didn't see it myself. Only what was left of it when I arrived."

"Alright. Okay," he nodded, reassuring himself that this would be the best place to begin. "Well, we called it the 'DT'. Dimensional Tower. I mean, the guys that actually built it had some real name for..." He shook his head quickly and focused himself. Stick to the relevant information. "It was the only thing of its kind ever built. Some decades of research, with more years of construction. It was for research into extra-dimensional... uh... stuff..." He couldn't really read if Princess Celestia was following him, but she was staring at him very intently and listening carefully.

He set the soaked cloth aside on a table next to him so he could use both his hands. "I didn't build it but, anyway, this is how one of the scientists who did build it explained what it was meant for to me once... what it was supposed to do." He held his hands up, fingers curved, demonstrating a shape in the air. "Dimensions, or maybe the word 'universes' might be better, are like islands in a giant ocean." Then he started waving his hands around the imaginary bubble he had made in the air. "Surrounded by water, without some kind of ship there is no access to other islands which might theoretically be out there." He caught what he just said; the word theoretically didn't actually apply any more. "Anyway," he continued, "the water in this case is some kind of... 'dimensional void', the scientist called it. Empty space where... universes or whatever don't exist. The DT was supposed to be the 'ship' for exploring that 'water'." He held an open palm over the imaginary bubble and "sailed" it out into the imaginary ocean. "It was a research effort to start investigating what they understood of that theory anyway. A structure with some massive energy output that, they said, could 'wade' out into the 'ocean' and return back to our 'island'. Our world. It was supposed to be for some kind of big test of the theory."

Princess Celestia was still only listening and watching, so after a moment he asked her, "Do you understand what I'm trying to say?"

She immediately replied, "Yes. Please, go on." Although she couldn't have known directly that this was the truth, she was already aware that his origins had to be something fairly extraordinary. After all, it's quite difficult to surprise somepony with something new if they have lived for over a thousand years. Never before in her history of ruling Equestria has anyone ever come along from another universe.

"Alright," James started again. With the key element in place, now was the time to explain the circumstances that had caused everything to transpire. "So, we... ah... my countrymen and I, were at war with-"

But the Princess' reaction to the word "war" was immediate. That was what she feared. There hadn't been a war, a real war, in Equestria for a very, very long time. Longer than her own age. Not a war in the way she knew he meant it. Armies moving against each other. Ponies killing other ponies they've never even met before all in the name of some supposed larger cause. From what had happened when James first arrived she almost knew that this would be the case, even if she had hoped not to hear it. And what seemed worst to her was the almost casual, accepted way he used the word.

She realized that he had picked up on her reaction since he immediately stopped speaking. Princess Celestia leaned in close to him and put the authority back in her voice, but she still tried as best she could to maintain and express her sympathy. Even if he accepted war she could not say he was a bringer of war. "Please listen to me," she said. She explained that Equestria does not have war. That war had long been forgotten. "As ruler of Equestria, I wish to never see war hurt my little ponies. I need you to understand that. To understand why I am taking your presence very seriously. Do you understand?"

There was a quiet silence before his response. "Yes." He supposed he understood. Nobody wants war but sometimes isn't it just inevitable? On the one hand that's how he felt but on the other he had a hard time imagining multicolored horses slaughtering each other on a battlefield, so he took her word for truth.

The Princess backed off. "Thank you. Please, continue your story."

James was hesitant to broach the subject of the war more directly, so he tried to eliminate some of the details and skip immediately to what seemed most relevant to Princess Celestia. "Alright. So... we were... in conflict. What the DT was built for wasn't important for the conflict itself, but the power output of the thing was still substantial, so that did make it important. In case-" but he realized he shouldn't go into all the "what if" fears that seemed critical at the time. "It was still important," he said. "That's why we were there. To hold onto it.

"But it got attacked," he continued. "They weren't trying to destroy the DT, they just wanted to take it. We tried to drive them back. Then..." He recalled a moment he remembered distinctly. "Somebody must have turned it on. I don't know who, or how, or why. But the DT just... lit up with energy. And it made this tremendous noise like... a growl increasingly harmonizing with itself over and over again. We looked outside and saw everything fade, replaced with... it's very hard to describe it..." He closed his eyes to see it again. "It was like an avalanche of storm clouds infinitely crashing against each other. It must have been the void. The ocean between the islands.

"Whoever was in the DT when it was turned on, like myself, was taken with it. Anybody outside would have been left behind in my world. I guess. We, the ones who were inside, organized ourselves as best we could to try and figure out what we could do and because there were still enemies-"

Princess Celestia's expression soured slightly, so he tried to rework his wording a little.

"... Because there was still fighting going on inside. One of the guys who was doing research at the DT was also there with us. He had refused to leave earlier even though we knew there was going to be a battle, so he stayed as a 'technical adviser' on the place, just in case. He was insistent we get to the control room. I think he said he could... 'turn the ship around' so to speak. We couldn't contact anybody who was supposed to be there, so we had to assume that e-... ah... that the people we were fighting had taken the control room.

"We never made it though. There was more fighting before we got there, and that's when somebody noticed something appearing outside again. We could see forests and mountains, but it wasn't where we had started. The technical adviser just started rambling. I mean, I tried to follow it as best I could."

He thought hard to bring the bulk of his interpretation to the surface. "He was saying that the DT couldn't move through local space, so if we appeared somewhere else it had to be somewhere in a different universe. But he said that it was unbelievable. A million to one chance." He raised his hands again to the imaginary bubble. "Going with the island metaphor, I guess it would be like sailing the ship out randomly into the massive unknown ocean and by sheer luck running aground on a different island. It shouldn't have happened. We didn't mean to come here."

James waited for a response from the Princess, still trying to gauge if she was understanding what he was saying. This time, after some silence, she acknowledged with an, "I understand." But again, she asked him to continue, waiting and listening patiently.

"Okay... so... while we were trying to figure it out, the DT started making a different noise. The energy moving through it hadn't died down either. And then it just started shaking, like a small earthquake. The adviser seemed pretty sure that the thing was going to come apart. I didn't catch what he thought was causing it. Maybe the ship just wasn't ready for its maiden voyage yet. It was serious though. I remember looking out one of the windows and seeing arcs of energy shoot out of the place. A few even whipped inwards, cutting holes in the walls and floors. That's probably what started collapsing the structure."

Shaking his head, James said, "I guess there's not much more from there." His own recollection of it was hazy. Everything had happened so fast it was hard to keep the chain of events straight in his head. "We tried to get out but there was so much chaos... and there was still fighting. At some point I got separated from my allies when one of the arcs tore through the hallway we were in and I got dropped a level or two. The only other person I found while trying to get out from there was one of... the people we were fighting. Before we could do anything, one of the walls gave way and the room started collapsing, but..." Only thinking about it now did he realize what had happened. "We got pulled out. One of those flying ponies must have grabbed us and dragged us out! I remember just being rapidly pulled through the air, avoiding all the sparking energy and being dropped in the grass a way off from the DT. When I looked back I saw the whole thing just fall in on itself. All the energy started folding in over it too. Like it was eating everything up. All that was left when the energy dissipated and the noise stopped were scattered fragments of the DT." It was an event that seemed to drag on for minutes as he was watching it, but he knew it probably didn't take more than a dozen seconds. He repeated exactly what was going through his mind as he witnessed it, "No one else made it out..."

He stopped with his story. "You know the rest from there. That's where you found me." But the Princess shook her head. There was one more important thing that had happened. And she was right, but James was omitting it after seeing her reaction to the idea of violence, hoping to avoid having to state it directly to her. Since she was quietly insisting for his complete account, he resigned to it.

"I killed the other soldier," he said. He immediately got defensive and tried to justify himself, "But he attacked me! I was just defending myself." The memory flashed through his mind. Still distracted from the sudden escape and witnessing the destruction of the DT, he had turned to look around and caught site of several unusual creatures not far off. Horses, but incredibly colored with stylized manes. Their form was strange too. Some even had wings and some had horns like a unicorn! He remembered especially the faces and the eyes. Different in a way from the horses he had always known. As if they were more expressive and emotive. More relatable.

That's when James noticed the enemy soldier a few feet from him. The soldier was clearly gathering his wits as well. Their eyes met and there was a vacant moment where neither was sure what to really do. But suddenly the other soldier made his decision. He drew a combat knife and rushed at James. In that moment, James reacted in the way he was trained to. Blocking the attack and disarming the other soldier, he then drove the knife back into the soldier's neck. "He lunged at me and I countered."

He remembered the ponies who had witnessed it were shocked and moved back. That was when Princess Celestia arrived in her chariot. Dismayed at what she found there, she had approached James, ready to invoke her power as necessary. But she gave him the chance to disarm and come with her. He wasn't responsive at first, which Princess Celestia wasn't sure if she should take as resistance to her offer but, in actuality, it was just him trying to comprehend what was going on. This horse was bigger than them all and it talked! He regained enough composure to accede to her command; he had no intention of fighting. He was only trying to make sense of everything that had just happened. After that, Princess Celestia had him brought on her chariot to ferry him to Canterlot Castle.

Princess Celestia wasn't moved by James' justifications of self-defense. She did acknowledge his finishing of his story as she had requested with a simple, "Thank you for your honesty." That was what she felt. She didn't believe he was concocting a ruse or trying to lay excuses out but that he had given her his best understanding of what had happened. And, though the idea was repugnant to her in conception, she felt that he did earnestly believe his own justifications even if he was pleading them in a defensive manner.

She asked him, "Are there going to be more of your kind who will cross into Equestria? Maybe to search for you?"

He shook his head no. He had already thought about the possibility earlier. At the mention of the idea again, he brought his right thumb and index finger to the bridge of his nose and rubbed, blinking his eyes. It was a preemptive measure, as it wasn't an appropriate time to tear up. After a second he elaborated, "The DT was the only one of its kind. They would have to build another one at great expense and even then it was only pure, dumb luck that the thing even came here to begin with. I don't think they could try and follow if they wanted to. How would they know which 'direction' the original went in?"

"So, how can you get back to your world?" Princess Celestia asked.

"I can't." He looked at the floor and held an open palm up. "But, oh well, right? I mean, I should probably be dead so be thankful for what you've got. Right?"

The Princess turned and walked over to the doors separating the room from the balcony, looking into the night sky with the lights of the city radiating up from below. Since he is now stuck in Equestria, she must decide what to do with him. There was a recognized danger in an individual who so willingly accepted killing in the right circumstances. There was, in him, the idea that it was okay to cross that line at certain times, even if they were extreme times. Someone who could, to themselves, justify those measures that no pony has ever believed even conceivable since antiquity. But she also recognized that he was an individual who had no real malice of his own. Violence was acceptable to him if justified, but he didn't seek to bring it about. Even though he accepted war, he was not a bringer of war. She needed time.

With her silence, James felt he saw the writing on the wall. Given her positions on violence it wasn't hard to imagine that she'd never take a risk. He was also drained from the entire experience so he didn't work up any resistance. "I suppose you're going to lock me in the dungeon, then."

It brought a small smile to the Princess, who was amused with his interpretation. She turned back to him saying, "I think that's enough for tonight. Let's get you something to eat and then I'll show you to a guest suite where you can stay for the night." She started towards the door of the room to head back into the castle.

Turning his head to follow her as she passed, he was genuinely surprised. It didn't sound like she was pulling his leg or just referring to a cell in a sarcastic manner. He reached down, grabbing the sleeve of his jacket on the floor when Princess Celestia turns back towards him.

"Please leave your armor here." Bizarre looking armor to be sure, but it was clear that was its purpose. "I don't want you keeping it, and you won't need it in Equestria. If you're going to be staying in Equestria, there are some things you'll need to leave behind."

He dropped the jacket and stood up. He could understand that, and he has been forced to leave everything else behind whether he wanted to or not so some clothes with no serious sentimental connection wasn't much more. But it did bring a concern to mind. "I'll need something else to wear, then."

Princess Celestia promised to take care of that. She would throw together something for him to change into before he turned in for the night. "Now please," she said, "Follow me." She took one more step before turning back slightly and saying, "Also, you should know that the castle doesn't even have a dungeon."