A Life I Lived

I was looking at the little shack the three fillies were huddled up in. I could hear their small whimpers and cries, must’ve been scared as all hell. I walked up to the door, moved the little door stopper we used to keep it shut. I swung the door open and saw the three little girls holding onto each other. They were looking at me, all in horror and shock, too scared to move or even whisper. I could feel the tension in the air get heavier with every passing second.

I got onto one knee and looked them straight in the eye.

“Do you know how to get back home,” none of them responded, they still looked at me as though I were a monster.

“Girls, I don’t have time for this, do you know how to get back home?” I asked, putting more emphasis on my voice. They still looked like scared kids, but one of them answered.

“Ah… ah do…” Said one of them, her southern accent giving her away.

“Okay, I have an idea, but you’re going to have to trust me.”

“Trust you?! You kidnapped-”

“Shut up!” I say in a loud whisper. I turned around to make sure no one would check up on them.

“What’s your name, shortstop.”

“Scootaloo…” She said, a bit of anger appearing on her face.

“Name’s James, what about your friends?”

“Ah’m Applebloom,” the southern pony said, still not moving her spot.

“S-S-Swee-Sweetiebelle…” Said the pure white pony.

“Pleasure to meet you all, I’m not going to hurt you,” I say as calmly as possible.

“Yeah, sure you’re not,” replied Scootaloo.

“I”m trying to help you,” I said, a bit of anger bubbling to the surface.

“Yeah, a lot of help you’re doing, shoving us all into this place.”

“You don’t understand, everyone else is-”

“YOU KIDNAP-” At this point, I grabbed Scootaloo by her mouth and clammed it shut. The rest of her friends let out their own shrieks but I put a finger over my mouth to tell them to shut up. Who knew that was still a universal language.

“I need you all to listen-” I say as I finally let go of Scootaloo.”- there’s a man outside of this shack who is not very nice and he is planning to kill you all,” Their faces stop and look at me with even more horror.

“I’m trying to stop him, but I don’t know if he’ll listen to me. He probably won’t. And despite what you might think of me, I don’t want the thought of dead kids on my conscious… I have enough of that.”

“So why are ya tellin’ us?” Asked Applebloom.

“Because, if you know how to get back to your place, I can offer you help to get there.”

“Why help us?” Asked Scootaloo.

“Again… I can’t stand the thought of getting kids killed.”

“But… you hurt Twilight…” Said Applebloom.

“I was defending myself.”

“That’s not what I heard,” Pipped up Sweetiebelle.

“Well that’s a lie.”

“I don’t believe you…” Said Scootaloo.

“Then don’t, I’m not trying to prove anything, I’m trying to save your lives,” They all went quiet after that.

“What do we do then?” Asked Sweetiebelle.

“Everyone’s still awake right now, I’m coming here to tell you that in a couple hours, I’ll get you up and we’ll start heading back through the forest.

“Bu’ i’s dangerous a night.”

“We don’t have a choice.”

“Oh, Rarity is gonna kill me…” Said Sweetiebelle.

“I think we’re all gonna be getting yelled at when we come back,” Scootaloo said.

“It’s going to be scary, I get that, but right now you guys shouldn’t try to get out. If Howard sees you he won’t hesitate. You need to stay here and wait, just be quiet and pretend to be asleep.”

“But what if he comes in here and then-” Sweetie belle said.

“Trust me, he won’t.”

“How do you know,” asked Scootaloo.

“Well, after our little spat, I don’t think he’d be stupid enough to try and pull this shi-”

I stopped mid sentence as I heard the sound of rustling footsteps from outside, I waited for the sound to go away and sat still as the girls were listening with high intent as well. When the noise finally went away, I looked back at them.

“I don’t have much time, just stay put and I promise everything’ll be alright,” Without another word I got up and went outside, closing the door behind me and putting the wedge back in place. I thought I was about to make it back to my own shack scot free, but the second I looked around I could see Nicole looking at me.

She didn’t move, didn’t scream, didn’t even flinch. She stared me dead in the eyes as I walked out of the shed.

“What were you doing?” She asked. I didn’t give a response. Instead, I looked back at the shed and back at her, contemplating what to say to get her to not tell anyone about this little meeting I had with the other side of this door. I walked towards her, making sure my steps didn’t seem menacing, and said.

“I was just making sure they weren’t causing trouble, that’s all,” I said, hoping to god she would believe the lie. She stared me up and down, her eyes judging my every move. Before suddenly, she walked away towards her own shack. I watched as she left. She didn’t dare change course, but she looked tired as all hell. Without much else to do, I started walking back to my own cabin, ready to be done with today and get ready to sneak out at night.

That was before I saw Durham.

Durham was sitting outside of his cabin, passed out on the dirt, letting out a chuckle or two. I was tempted to just leave him there but thought better of it and decided to go check out what was going on. As soon as I was close enough, he sprung up from the ground like a bat out of hell and greeted me.

“James! James! Pleasure to meet you! I am SO SO happy! To have you here!” He said rather excitedly. I just stood there as he continued to shake my hand over and over and over again.

“You too Durham… You okay?” I asked, genuinely concerned.

“Okay? How could I not be okay?! I feel as though I could fight off a million of those damn lion things!” He said, as he finally stopped shacking my hand and started throwing punches into the air.

“... Sure you could.”

“Why? Do I look sick? I don’t feel sick… NO I know what it is!” He said excitedly.

“... Yeah?” I asked hesitantly.

“I think it’s obvious that I am just feeling the high of life!” Durham said as he sat back down onto the ground.

“I’m sure you’re feeling real good about it. Listen man, it’s getting late and you should really get to bed. Come on-” I placed my hand on the door, but the second I did, Durham sprung up from the ground again and pushed me away front the door, a lot harder than a man of his build could conceivably do.

“DON’T GO IN THERE!” He screamed out.

“What are you doing?” I asked

“I… I… I don’t know…” He said, calming down from his random bout of rage.

“... Durham, you need to go inside, it’s not good to sleep out here.”

“Y-... You’re right… Sorry.”

“It’s alright, just don’t do it again.”

“R-Right… I promise,” Durham said, before turning around. I knew what he was doing, it’s a real shame, but I couldn’t really do anything, not when I needed to get a couple kids out. So, before he went through the door, I called out to him for something to give us a little bit of edge.

“Hey, you wouldn’t happen to know where my guns are, would ya?” I was hoping in his state, he’d let something slip. Thankfully I was right.

“Oh! Howard has them! Keeps them with him when he goes to sleep… Doesn’t trust… anyone…” With that, Durham went into his little hut and shut the door behind him. I stood outside his door, not bothering to move as I started to think about what caused his little spout. But I already knew the answer. I just didn’t wanna say it.

Twilight Sparkle sits in her hospital room. Her foreleg numb to the pain and her vision slightly hazy. It was late in the night, she knew that much, but she was unaware of how long she’s been out for. She could smell the bleached floors and feel the bandages that wrap around her leg. She was in a hospital. She took in a shaky breath bun then started to cough. Her throat was dry.

Before she could do much, she was soon being crushed by a giant, white stallion.

“Twily!” The voice of her brother was one no one could mistake.

“Sh...Shining?” Twilight asked confused. Shining got off of her to reveal that her mother and father were there as well.

“Oh thank goodness you’re alright! When I heard the news I thought… I...” Said Twilight Velvet, tears brimming on the edges of her eyes.

“Sweetie, it doesn’t matter now, she’s safe,” Night Light said, hugging her wife.

“Wha… What happened?” Twilight said.

“You don’t know? You were attacked by a human!” Shining said, his anger starting to bubble up to the surface.

“Yes dear, you were very lucky to make it out alive… From what the doctors said, the thing they found almost hit an artery,” Velvet said.

“Oh… right…” Twilight said, suppressing her own shock at almost dying, her brain not being able to process what she went through.

“Those bastards…” Shining said in a whisper, his angry demeanor starting to come out more and more as the conversation went.

“If you don’t mind us asking honey, what exactly happened?” Night Light asked.

“I uh… I was chasing after him… He… He was running away from Applejack and me… I thought… I thought… I thought he was gonna get away, so I used my magic on him… But it didn’t work… So I grabbed the rope around his neck and… I didn’t realize I was choking him… I was… strangling him…” Twilight stopped her train of thought as she realized what she had done to the man. His look of fear, the way he so desperately tried to run away and the panic he had as he was being choked.

“Twily?” Shining asked, unsure of what to do.

“I… I’m sorry… I just-”

“Sweetie, it’s alright, you don’t have to say anything,” Night Light said, coming over to put a hoof on her shoulder.

“... I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. We’re just happy that you’re alive, thank Faust.”

“We’re gonna find them… No matter how long it takes, we’re going to find them and bring them to justice,” Shining interjected.

“But honey… Your wedding,” Velvet said.

“What?!” Twilight said, almost getting out of bed, but Night Light pushed her back down.

“It’s not for another couple months, we’ll find and kill them long before I have to get married,” Shining said, determination on his face as a stern look adorns his features.

“You’re getting married?!” Twilight said, ignoring the pain.

“I… Did I not send you a letter?” Shining said.

“Shining Armor, I thought you sent one,” Velvet said, now with her own stern glare.

“I thought I did! I… Must’ve forgotten…” Shining said, an embarrassed blush poking through his cheeks. “Regardless, I can still handle this human threat before the wedding.”

“Who are you marrying?” Twilight asked, still unsure.

“... Well, I think you know her very well. After all, she babysat you all the time,” Shining said, a smile on his face.

“Princess Cadance?!” Twilight said, screaming it out.

“I mean… yeah?” Shining said, unsure of how Twilight would respond.

“I… I… I guess you’re good for each other,” Twilight said, finally relaxing again.

“Well, regardless of my soon to be wife, we still have to deal with the humans. Twily, I know you’re not in any condition to move or… even read… wow really sucks to be you, but when you get the chance, I’m going to ask that you study as much as you can on humans, alright?” Shining asked, thinking he knows full well about Twilights answer.

Twilight just sat there, not really saying much if anything at all. She was too busy trying to process everything. From her almost killing somepony to almost being killed herself, and to top it all off her brother’s getting married to her foalsitter. She has a lot to think about and catch up on.

“Twily?” Shining said, managing to gain her attention.

“Wha? Oh… yeah… I promise I will,” twilight said, not really paying attention to what her brother said. Night Light and Velvet both looked at each other and nodded.

“Hey son, we should give her some space, for rest and all. Come on, tell me about your master plan for the humans,” Night Light said, wrapping an arm around Shining and slowly dragging him out of the room.

“Uh… sure?” Shining said, as the two unicorns exited the room. Velvet watched as they left and soon walked up to Twilight and kissed her forehead.

“We love you sweetie,” Velvet said, soon walking out of the room and joining the rest of her family. Now leaving Twilight to think about what happened…

And the more she thought, the more she started to think about what she could’ve done better. The more she realized how she could have done things in a much more diplomatic way. She looked up at the ceiling and started to drift off back to sleep. Those thoughts were for another day.