Unexplained Circumstancesby Iron McGalleyChapters14th Night in Equestria: Girl With A GunDaytime Equestria: Breakfast Short15th Night in Equestria: Medieval Dreams14th Night in Equestria: Girl With A Gun14th Night "Are you ready, James?" "As ready as I could ever be." She smiled and tossed her hair back. "Please pass me the shotgun." Rarity smiled back and hovered the weapon to James using her magic. It was an old-looking thing, but magically altered, it worked wonders for the young girl night after night. "You good to go, kiddo?" Rainbow Dash called from outside Carousel Boutique, where she flew around in circles, waiting. "We've only got about two or so hours left of sunlight, so I'd hurry if I were you!" "Coming!" James slung the weapon's strap over her shoulder and kissed Rarity's cheek goodbye. "Thanks for all the help!" She called out as she rushed out of the door and into Ponyville. Rainbow flew down from the roof of the boutique and landed next to James. The two of them passed through town rapidly as they could go, rushing for Golden Oaks Library. It was a short race and plenty of twists and turns later that they found themselves in front of Twilight Sparkle, the resident town librarian. Twilight and Rainbow exchanged a glance and a nod, and then the rainbow-maned pony flew off into the sky, where she dashed from cloud to cloud, gathering them together until they formed a large mass. Meanwhile, Twilight briefed James swiftly on what she assumed might be the situation for the night, while the young gal listened halfheartedly and toyed with the shotgun strap. "...so be careful when they swoop down and..." 'I wonder if RedBull really would give you wings here... things work differently...' "...and don't forget to feed the..." 'Do pigs fly here? Ponies fly. Why wouldn't pigs do so too?' "...if anyone offers you candy, you have to say..." "Yes, Twilight." James replied, eyes centered on her thumbs. "What? No! You say no!" Twilight placed both hooves on James' small shoulders, worry in her eyes. "Please, I know I say these things every day, but they're important!" "I know, I know. Sorry." James said as she brushed away a strand of golden hair from her face. "It's just... weird. I don't think there's even any consistency with what happens night after night. It's just random." Twilight sighed and walked to one of her bookshelves. "Maybe so, but it still doesn't hurt to try and be prepared." Using her magic, she levitated one of the books from the top-shelf down to James. The title read: 'A Survivor's Guide' in large, bold letters. The book was covered in scratches and the leather of it was badly torn. "Good luck, James." "Thanks." James took the book from Twilight's magic and tossed it inside a backpack filled with many other utensils Twilight had prepared beforehand. James looked up at Twilight, a smile forming on her mouth. "I'll try to bring back some-" The library was empty. James lost the smile that had formed on her face, and sighed. The sun shone brightly outside the library and the cool morning air brought freezing memories of the past, future, and present. It smelled of now, then, and tomorrow, with every whiff of oxygen making the imagination run wild. For James, it was just another night in Equestria. She slung the backpack on her back and checked to make sure the shotgun was at hand if she needed to use it, before moving out. The library's floor was dirty and covered in debris from the caved-in roof she walked under, and the front door was ajar, just as she'd left it the night before. "Post-apocalyptic Equestria, here I come." James pushed the door open the rest of the way, and stepped out unto the world. A ruined world. A post-apocalyptic world. Ruined buildings and shattered roads were the first thing she saw, and a clear, sunny day was the second. Dust and ashes flew to and fro with the currents of air as they passed, and the odd rat or two made their way through the rubble. James made her way through the ruined town of a Ponyville sometime in the far future. Not a soul was there to greet or even see her, so she kept walking. She walked until she stood before a large building, presumably a warehouse of sorts that had no presence in Day-Time Ponyville. She entered the warehouse. The metal doors screeched and groaned with every push and shove she gave them, until the entrance was finally clear and open. James looked around, eyeing her surroundings. “Hello? Anyone here?” She called out to the empty vastness of the warehouse. “I'm going to grab all the food now, okay?” James smiled and briskly walked into the warehouse, humming a tune as she went. Scavenging was not the most glamorous task, as Rarity might say, but it was a rather useful one, as Fluttershy might add. 'Sleazy little mare.' James thought, as she tossed canned goods into her backpack, which was already half full with other things. 'She seems like a calm enough pony, but beneath that mask lies a Bear Grills-type survivor.' James continued to scavenge anything she could get her hands on, and did so for a few hours more until the backpack was nearing the too-heavy-to-carry stage, and she sighed contentedly. “That's got to do it.” She said, hands on her hips. James nodded and left the warehouse with a smile. A smile that dissipated the moment she saw what waited for her outside. "Oi, lassy." Called the leader of the Diamond Dog clan. "We're goin' to hurt you now." The pack cackled madly at their leaders' words, and a cacophony of chainsaws being readied filled the air. "Oh, bugger." James dropped the backpack and pressed the butt of the shotgun to her shoulder. "Bring it, boys." Howling and squealing, the first of the Sawer Boys rushed forth from the ranks of his pack, tongue lolling out and spitting saliva as he swung the chainsaw around. His paws kicked dust behind him like a cloud, a cloud that concealed the ten or so many others whom had begun their charge not a second later. James flexed her fingers and took aim. The diamond dogs pressed forth. A hundred meters, ninety meters, eighty... James licked her lips. Aroooooooooo Yelps filled the air and cries of pain burst from the Sawer Boys within seconds of them halving the distance between the girl and themselves. Limbs flew into the air, blood splattered on the dry earth, and the howls of battle turned to screams of butchered swines. Bursts of magical light flew through the air, splinters grown to abnormal sizes impaled the dogs, and metal pellets tore their flesh apart and spilled intestines on the floor. Razors and boulders, shards of glass and fire, it was all fair game in the madness of magical battle. And in the midst of it all stood a bewildered James, with her hands holding a fully loaded shotgun, and her finger still hovering over the trigger, wondering when the command would come to press it. "What. The. Chicken nuggets." James croaked, as the dust dissipated. Three hooded figures danced around the battlefield, still tossing curses and incantations at the battered corpses of the Sawer Boys. One second a man, the next a dragon. 'Shapeshifters!' James turned on her heels and ran. She ran as far and fast as her scrawny legs could take her. The Shifters Clan members did not follow her, but the sounds of howling increased. Dozens of paws pounding the ground suddenly became all too apparent to James, and the Shifters would not be there to help. James jumped over a pile of rubble, darted in and out of alleys and ruined homes, and raced to the top of a small trash hill. She was heaving and panting by the time she made it to the top. "Oi, lassy. We-" James fired her shotgun from the hip. "-going to hurt me, yeah, yeah." She said as the still-twitching, decapitated corpse of the Sawer Boy fell off the side of the trash hill. "Here, doggy, doggy. Have a snack." Trigger Happy. Dozens of Sawer Boys rushed the hill, all losing limbs and sprouting new bellybuttons the moment they laid paws on it. James simply fired. The magically-fed weapon blasted away charge after charge of magical projectiles, all of them exploding upon leaving the barrel of the weapon and showering everything in front of James with ardent, explosive shrapnel. The Sawer Boys laughed and roared in agony at the same time. They pressed onward despite the losses, thrilled at the prospect of sinking their fangs on the soft, pale flesh of the gal, but their numbers did not amount to the quantity needed to swarm James. Bodies piled up in pieces at the base of the hill, but the stream that fed the river of snacks for the weapon could not be maintained, and eventually died when the last Sawer Boy lost his torso in a burst of guts and innards showering the nearby surroundings. "Holy teddy bear on a candy cross..." James gasped. Her shoulder ached badly, and her arms felt weak and trembled from the strain the shotgun had exerted on her muscles, despite its recoil having been reduced via Twilight Sparkle. "I'm too young for this." James walked away from the scene and kicked the rotten door of an abandoned building down. The place stank of mold and rot. James covered her face with her shirt and used some broken furniture to barricade the door, albeit slowly because of her shoulder and arms. Making certain that every window and entrance was either blocked or inaccessible from the outside, she sat down and pouted. "I forgot my backpack..." With a groan, James looked out of a crack on the wall. The sun was still high in the sky, but the battle still raged outside. Sawer Boys and Shifters ran around outside, battling, dying, and trampling anything that got in the way. 'There must be around a bunch of Boys out there...' James leaned against the wall and tried to not doze off as she waited for the battle to die off. 'I'll never get my backpack back...' By the time the war had died off and the victorious Sawer Boys had run off back into the desert with the heads of the Shifters, it was already too dark to go out. James sighed and laid back against the wall. She closed her eyes, and went to sleep. "James? Are you alright?" Twilight's voice resonated throughout her skull. "James, darling? Are you awake?" Rarity's was softer, but still rather loud. "Good morning, sleepyhead!" "Ah! Pinkie, why?!" The girl jumped up from her slumber and stared out at the old world. The normal world. It was early in the morning. The sun had just come out, and James was lying in Twilight's guest bed. "Good morning, James." Said Twilight, as she levitated a tray filled with food over to the girl. "Did you get anything to eat?" "No, actually. I'm starving." James replied with half a piece of toast sticking out of her mouth. "Thanks!" "Don't mention it, dear." James smiled. "What are we going to do today?" It was just another day. Daytime Equestria: Breakfast Short15th Day: Morning, Breakfast Short "Tell me what you remember." Twilight said, leaning forward with a scroll and quill levitated beside her. "As much as you can. The more the better!" "Hmm... Well, first it was the Sawer Boys waiting for me outside Big Shop." James said in-between mouthfuls of cereal. Twilight and the girl sat in the middle of the library's kitchen, sharing a small breakfast with three others. Rainbow, Pinkie, and a small purple dragon all sat around the table, listening with varying degrees of interest. "The Diamond Dogs?" Twilight scribbled notes as she spoke, always keeping her eyes on the girl. "They ventured into Equestrian territory again?" "Did they now? They had a full on showdown of epic proportions with the Shifters!" James said, arms raised and eyes wide. "Boom! They just showed up from nowhere! Bim! Bam! Whoosh!" Her hands fell to the table with a loud thud, and she shoved a spoonful of cereal into her mouth. "There were like, um... a bunch!" Pinkie Pie gasped and stuffed her mouth with popcorn of the caramel type. Crunchy sounds left her mouth with every movement of her jaw as James narrated her adventure. Rainbow heard her but kept catching herself zoning out and drifting off into daydreams within her own mind. The rest listened and stayed quiet, keeping themselves rooted to the spot. "Why, though?" Twilight mused out loud. "From what you've told me of the past twelve nights, these Sawer Boys— these Diamond Dogs have never seen any need to delve deeper into Equestria than, uh," She shifted her sight to a pile of scrolls behind her and pulled out one from the middle, using magic to stabilize the rest and avoid an avalanche. "Gah-Stee Yorshe before." "Ugh... Have you noticed the weird names they put things? Apool-Taon, Gah-Stee Yorshe, Do-Ohg Cee-Ti?" Rainbow Dash blew a strand of her mane from in front of her face. "I mean, isn't it a little bit weird to you?" She arched her brow. "Hmm?" "They're the names of Appleloosa, Ghastly Gorge, and Dodge City, but altered after, what I suppose were, hundreds of years of Diamond Dog occupation." Twilight replied without moving her eyes from the parchment. "It's happened to Los Pegasus as well. Canterlot too, but with different owners." "Don't be silly, Dashie!" Pinkie Pie giggled. "Even I got that one!" "That's not what I meant." Rainbow Dash sighed. "I mean, isn't it weird? Any of this?" "Uh, yeah, duh? There's a bunch of chainsaw-crazy dogs that try to kill me every day?" James replied, waving a hand in front of her face. "Obvious it's weird!" "What are you getting at, Rainbow?" Twilight's eyes left the scrolls alone and focused on Dash. The rainbow pony shrugged and exhaled loudly. "Nothing." "O-kay! So, what do you think is going on?" James focused on Twilight once more, setting her mindset to 'Concentrated'. "Well, for one, I think this means that the Diamond Dogs might be running low on some supplies, which means they have to search farther away to find them. This could also explain why the Shape-shifters have also started to expand southwards, but what I don't understand is how the Diamond Dogs got through Everfree Forest— um, Evef-Eefrest, on their own." Twilight gathered up the empty plates and levitated them to the sink, where they were dropped without much ceremony unto a growing pile that drew anxious looks from the small dragon in the room. "They most certainly aren't the brightest candles in the shelf, so how did they get through the magically unstable mess that is now the Everfree? I mean, from what you've gathered, James, that forest simply doesn't function anymore! Magical storms, detonations, fires, hurricanes... It doesn't make sense how a full pack of Diamond Dogs could get through that unscathed!" "Beats me-hey, do you have any jam?" James smiled, extending a piece of toast forward. "Pleeeeaaaaase?" "James! This is serious!" Exclaimed all present at once, with the exception of Spike, who was now battling desperately with the Leaning Tower of Dirty Plates in a battle to keep it from collapsing. As the babbling went on in the background about having to restore the conversation topic from jam to Diamond Dogs and the future of Equestria, Spike was sweating. The tower was leaning. Time was short. "You need to relax, guys. I mean, this stuff hasn't-" His claws gripped the base tightly. His brow was sweaty as he pushed with all his might. "It's the future of Equestria! We need to know how-" The tower loomed threateningly over the small dragon, jeering and mocking his attempts to contain the impending disaster. "You need to pay more-" Spike gasped. The tower groaned. All hell broke loose. "SPIKE!" Shouted the three ponies and a human of the apocalypse. "YOU NEED TO BE MORE CAREFUL!" Author's Note This is a little short while you guys wait for the nextest Night-time chapter. The idea is to release shorts every other day and post a new chapter each week. \O3O/ Tell me what think! Also, descriptions have been updated and I'm waiting on some cover-art. \O3O/ Kthnxbye! 15th Night in Equestria: Medieval Dreams15th Night James sighed as the sun rose above the horizon. Pines and snow adorned the landscape all around her, and the chilling cold of the air brushed against the bare skin of her arms and face. James shuddered and clenched her jaw. Her hands searched for the comfort of the weapon she always carried with herself, but they didn't find it. They couldn't, since the shotgun had been taken by the ponies who escorted James to their fortress city; deep within the farthest reaches of what would one day become Unicorn Range, but was then nothing more than a series of villages with a small keep in its center. The wooden cart in which they carried the trapped girl moved slowly across the stony paths and rocks that made up the fading road to Unicorn Fort, and James was not having the best of times. Truly, as she frowned and mumbled under her breath she could feel her body trembling, and the sneezing had only worsened. The ponies did not speak the language she had grown accustomed to hearing from the Day-time ponies. "Are we- aschew! Ugh... there yet?" She wiped her nose with her arm and tried not to lean on the cold, metal bars surrounding her. "Guys, I'm seriously catching a cold here..." Silence. The five ponies kept on walking; their armor clinking and clanking as they moved; the fur clothing covering them dancing as the air currents pulled on them and made them stretch. "Can I at least get my sweater back? I swear I don't have any more knifes hidden in there!" 'Don't go into the village, James. Keep your distance, James. Waah, waah, I'm student of Celestia, waah! You'll ruin history if they see you!" James kicked at the metal bars. 'We knew there were soldiers around the village, yes, and we knew they were looking for me, and guess what? We also knew I could avoid them if I went through the village instead of going around it, but nooo!' James glared at the sky, darkened and shrouded in gloom, with clouds and snow falling down from the grey canvas above. The procession moved forth into the darkness of La Forêt Liberté, slowly cleaving through the freezing bite of the winter. James forced herself to remain awake when feeling left her feet and hands. She gritted her teeth until her jaw ached, and she greeted it and clung on to the pain it brought. Her green eyes stared ahead into the ice blankets of the weather before her, and she entertained her mind from the frost and dread by counting trees until there were more trees than numbers, and she gazed at the clouds until there was but a single blanket of grey covering the entire sky. At the end of her patience she witnessed a structure of stone rising from the snow. "La tour du veilleur." One of her captors called out, voice cracking in the frost of the forest. "Nous sommes à la maison!" James trembled in the corner of her cage; hugging herself tightly as the tower grew ever closer to her eyes. Shadows and snow covered her alike under the dominant gaze of the structure, and she felt herself revived by a sentiment of anger. "I bloody hate history, and I'm not dying inside a museum for a bunch of nerds to study my bones." She growled, stopped, and smiled. "No offense, Twilight." The ponies pushed the cage inside the tower. James looked around. The inside of the tower was stone and wood, and while the chill of winter still bit harshly, it was diminished by the presence of a small fire in the middle of the tower, where six ponies lay. Eleven in total when joined by her captors, the ponies spent the better part of an hour arguing loudly and eyeing her with fright, disgust, and anger. While James could not follow the conversation, she could understand that they were discussing her and that there were at least three sides to pick from in the debate. The one that wanted to make money off her; the one that wanted to be rid of her, and the side that wished to move her somewhere else. None of the options made much to assure her of her own safety, but she wished one of them would be so stupid and kind as to give her a chance to reach for her weapon. It was just there; hanging by its strap from a nail stuck into the wall. Sitting inside her cage, she pondered on the hows of her capture, and realized it had been fairly humorous as to how it had happened; taking into account that she had a weapon of untold destructive capabilities and enough experience to eliminate five dozens of Sawer Boys on her own. Indeed, the way it had occurred was so incredibly interesting and exciting that she simply had to ponder on it for several minutes, all the while- "Huh- wha...?" James was broken out of her stupor by the sharp poke from one of the ponies wielding a stick. "What are you-?" "Elle parlé!" Cried the Earth Pony stallion and took a step back. Three more of them gawked at her from behind the one with the stick. "Est-qui'll morde?" James gave them a deadpan look and blew a strand of hair from her face. She eyed them one after the other and tried to see if anyone of them had the keys, but no such luck. They were most likely being held by one of the older ponies in the upper floor of the tower. She would have to wait longer to be free, but when she was... The ponies stopped making faces at her the moment the sound of their commander's voice echoing from the top of the tower reached their ears. James couldn't understand a word, but the old stallion sounded alarmed. He shouted some things and then said some more to the soldiers beneath. The ponies were in a rush afterwards. James watched from behind her cage's bars as the equines scrambled to get to position behind the murder holes with their crossbows at the ready. She could hear some howling in the distance; faint but powerful all the same. It was threatening, if a bit familiar. She arched her eyebrows and tapped her chin. "Huh. I wasn't expecting this." She said. "At least not this early in the timeline of Equestria." The howling got louder and louder; the warnings from the soldiers at the top of the tower grew more and more alarmed by the second, until the hollers of the newcomers became so audible and clear that James could hear them as though they were but a meter away. "Saw 'em! Saw 'em! Saw 'em good!" The voices chanted in a desynchronized cacophony of raspy, guttural voices that battered the walls of the tower and the ears of everyone present. "Cut an' crush an' bite an' pull! Twist 'em, break 'em! Pull 'em an' gnaw 'em!" James gasped and tried to reach her shotgun through the bars of her prison, but it was useless. The pony up top kept on shouting down at the approaching Sawer Boys with little effect. James stretched her arm through the bars as far as she could. She knew they were all dead unless she got her hands on her shotgun. Outside, the Boys sang louder: "Smash 'em an' bash 'em! Push 'em and slash 'em!" Their singing eventually stopped and the guard shouted once more. Then, a buzzing sound cut through the silence that followed, and a scream permeated the air. James winced as the rest of the ponies panicked and shouted at one another while they shot their bolts at the Sawer Boys. More buzzing sounds filled James' ears and the echoing noises of dying ponies and metal against rock told her all she needed to know about the battle going on outside her cage. The younger ponies were terrified, but they kept on shooting through the murder holes; blindly trying to hit anything. However, James knew the Sawer Boys were too far away to be within direct range of a crossbow. She knew the ponies were only wasting bolts, but she couldn't help but cheer them on inside her mind. If they could land a hit, it could prove to be everyone's salvation. Two of the ponies left to guard her screamed at one another and then rushed up the staircase to the upper levels. The third one trembled in his spot and waited. His bolts had run out; his friends had left him alone, and he only had her for company. James waved her hands and pointed to her shotgun, but the pony spat some words her way and kept on waiting; leaving the girl to mumble under her breath and lay back against the metal bars of her prison. In the distance, the howling became more intense. Then more buzzing sounds, screams, shouts, and a loud thud resounding from the outside as something fell from the top of the tower could be heard. The pony whimpered and barred the door of the tower with a heavy wooden beam. He shivered inside the stone walls and stared at the door. No more sounds filled the air. James gulped and sat cross-legged. She knew the battle was over for the ponies, but hers was just about to begin. Her hands were a bit sweaty, but she knew she could take them. It was only a matter of leaving the cage. She stole several more glances at her shotgun, but she didn't try to make the pony give it to her anymore. It would be pointless. In the distance, the growls of the beasts thundered across the snow-covered ground. They hollered with bloodthirsty rage in a single voice, and they called out James' name with guttural words that barely resembled a language. "Cut 'er! Bring 'er head to Storm Rider! Kill the Bald Boy! Storm Rider! Storm Rider! Chop 'er up!" 'Bald Boy?! I'm a girl, you mongoloids!' James ground her teeth together and kicked at the bars of her cage. 'Can't I get a good name around here?!' The Sawer Boys blasted the doors apart soon after. Two buzz saws burst through the wood and sent splinters flying everywhere, shattering the entrance with violent strength. The pony was doomed before he realized what had happened; not even gasp was able to leave him before one of the buzz saws tore into his face and shredded it beyond recognition. He wasn't able to even scream. James looked away and gagged, as chunks of flesh and brain splattered across the room and stained the walls. She crouched low and covered her head with her arms, as one of the buzz saws headed straight for the cage. The sound of metal against metal screeched throughout the tower as the buzz saw cut the bars and sent them flying, and in less than a few seconds the rooftop of the cage was completely separated from it. James looked around and smiled. "That's convenient!" She said and dived for her shotgun, being careful not to step on any squishy bits left over from the dead pony. Outside, the Sawer Boys fired more buzz saws at her and the tower, leaving deep gashes on the stone. James took a hold of her weapon and rushed the stairs, hoping to put as much stone between her and the Sawer Boys. The dogs laughed and roared outside, and James heard the first enter the tower as she reached the middle of the staircase. "This'll have to do." She fell to her stomach on one of the widest and longest steps and took her aim at the bottom of the stairs. Not a second passed. The Sawer Boys, two of them, crashed into one another in their rush to find her. Their mouths were open; fangs glistening with saliva and bloodied claws were their weapons, but the buzz saws were what concerned James. The beasts howled the moment they saw James, and then they died. James fired once, and the magical shot of her shotgun blinded the monsters before it tore them apart. The projectiles exploded upon impact and severed limbs, cracked ribs, punctured eyeballs and shattered fangs. The beasts, or what remained of them, were sent backwards in a splash of gore and dismembered pieces. The blood and guts from their carcasses mixed with that of the dead pony below. James sighed. "I'm too young for this stuff..." The young girl stood up and gazed at the carnage beneath. It smelled horrible, even if it still hadn't set to rot. She stepped over the chunks of meat and blood and bone scattered across the floor and started for the door, when a shiny object caught her eye. She turned around and put a hand to her chin. "Hmm... Twilight might find these interesting." She said and picked up one of the weapons the Sawer Boys had used to fire the buzz saws. James pulled a handkerchief and wiped away the bits of brain and liver stuck to the outside of the gun. "I think I'll call you Jeff the Chainsaw-Gun." James smiled and slung Jeff's leather strap on her shoulder. She made for the door and exited the tower. The day outside was beautiful, if a little ruined by all the pony bodies lying outside in the snow. The Sawer Boys had good aim, from what she could see. Mostly, at least. "Well. To home!" James said and pointed a finger to the horizon. Nothing happened for a while, and she started walking again. Her steps took her through the frozen ground and across a small patch of forest, but it was very cold and she didn't know how much longer she'd be able to go on. Her sweater had been with one of the ponies at the top of the tower, she knew, but she couldn't find the corpse. Well, not all of it. The lower part that had the saddlebags seemed to be missing. "That's it. I definitely hate history!" She said between chittering teeth. Her steps took her through an increasingly colder field of frozen grass and dirt, until she saw a village in the distance. "Thank God!" She said and her step quickened. James reached the village as the sun began to set. She was certain she'd have a horrible cold the morning after, but at least she wouldn't die. James neared the village and looked at it a bit closer. It seemed deserted, and most homes were empty and devoid of light, but she could still hear a few voices in the far distance. Cold and tired, however, she decided it didn't matter. James sneaked through the buildings until she found herself outside of a barn. She looked both ways and rubbed her arms before pushing the massive door open. "Hello?" She called out into the darkness. No one answered, and no noises could be heard, so she sighed contently and headed for the back of the barn. She piled up a bunch of straw she found and let herself fall down on the bundle. James felt sleep overtaking her, and she smiled at the knowledge that a good breakfast awaited her on the other side. James opened her eyes and yawned. She felt well-rested and fresh, the best way to wake up in another time and age. She relished in the softness of the bed sheets for a while, but opened her eyes eventually. "James? James! Thank goodness you're awake!" Rarity's voice she could hear, and it was pleasant to be around ponies that didn't want you killed or sold. James smiled and waved at her. "Hi, Rarity! I'm back! I brought some gifts to Twilight," She said, and dropped the heavy Chainsaw-Gun on the bed, which was now caked in dirt, blood, and sweat; the same as her. "and I also have weird news." She frowned and sat up on the edge of the bed. Rarity was gaping, terrified at the mess she was now being confronted with, so James just went ahead and talked. "Anyway, something weird happened to me while I was in Medieval Equestria. You see, I went around the village, like Twilight said, but I was right all along, and the ponies caught me and put me in a cage. Anyway, they dragged me to a tower, but some Sawer Boys barged in! Weird, huh? Sawer Boys in Medieval Equestria! We need to tell Twi-" "I know." Twilight said from outside the door, while Rarity looked at James with a fright and worry she hadn't noticed before. "They've been here too."
14th Night in Equestria: Girl With A Gun14th Night "Are you ready, James?" "As ready as I could ever be." She smiled and tossed her hair back. "Please pass me the shotgun." Rarity smiled back and hovered the weapon to James using her magic. It was an old-looking thing, but magically altered, it worked wonders for the young girl night after night. "You good to go, kiddo?" Rainbow Dash called from outside Carousel Boutique, where she flew around in circles, waiting. "We've only got about two or so hours left of sunlight, so I'd hurry if I were you!" "Coming!" James slung the weapon's strap over her shoulder and kissed Rarity's cheek goodbye. "Thanks for all the help!" She called out as she rushed out of the door and into Ponyville. Rainbow flew down from the roof of the boutique and landed next to James. The two of them passed through town rapidly as they could go, rushing for Golden Oaks Library. It was a short race and plenty of twists and turns later that they found themselves in front of Twilight Sparkle, the resident town librarian. Twilight and Rainbow exchanged a glance and a nod, and then the rainbow-maned pony flew off into the sky, where she dashed from cloud to cloud, gathering them together until they formed a large mass. Meanwhile, Twilight briefed James swiftly on what she assumed might be the situation for the night, while the young gal listened halfheartedly and toyed with the shotgun strap. "...so be careful when they swoop down and..." 'I wonder if RedBull really would give you wings here... things work differently...' "...and don't forget to feed the..." 'Do pigs fly here? Ponies fly. Why wouldn't pigs do so too?' "...if anyone offers you candy, you have to say..." "Yes, Twilight." James replied, eyes centered on her thumbs. "What? No! You say no!" Twilight placed both hooves on James' small shoulders, worry in her eyes. "Please, I know I say these things every day, but they're important!" "I know, I know. Sorry." James said as she brushed away a strand of golden hair from her face. "It's just... weird. I don't think there's even any consistency with what happens night after night. It's just random." Twilight sighed and walked to one of her bookshelves. "Maybe so, but it still doesn't hurt to try and be prepared." Using her magic, she levitated one of the books from the top-shelf down to James. The title read: 'A Survivor's Guide' in large, bold letters. The book was covered in scratches and the leather of it was badly torn. "Good luck, James." "Thanks." James took the book from Twilight's magic and tossed it inside a backpack filled with many other utensils Twilight had prepared beforehand. James looked up at Twilight, a smile forming on her mouth. "I'll try to bring back some-" The library was empty. James lost the smile that had formed on her face, and sighed. The sun shone brightly outside the library and the cool morning air brought freezing memories of the past, future, and present. It smelled of now, then, and tomorrow, with every whiff of oxygen making the imagination run wild. For James, it was just another night in Equestria. She slung the backpack on her back and checked to make sure the shotgun was at hand if she needed to use it, before moving out. The library's floor was dirty and covered in debris from the caved-in roof she walked under, and the front door was ajar, just as she'd left it the night before. "Post-apocalyptic Equestria, here I come." James pushed the door open the rest of the way, and stepped out unto the world. A ruined world. A post-apocalyptic world. Ruined buildings and shattered roads were the first thing she saw, and a clear, sunny day was the second. Dust and ashes flew to and fro with the currents of air as they passed, and the odd rat or two made their way through the rubble. James made her way through the ruined town of a Ponyville sometime in the far future. Not a soul was there to greet or even see her, so she kept walking. She walked until she stood before a large building, presumably a warehouse of sorts that had no presence in Day-Time Ponyville. She entered the warehouse. The metal doors screeched and groaned with every push and shove she gave them, until the entrance was finally clear and open. James looked around, eyeing her surroundings. “Hello? Anyone here?” She called out to the empty vastness of the warehouse. “I'm going to grab all the food now, okay?” James smiled and briskly walked into the warehouse, humming a tune as she went. Scavenging was not the most glamorous task, as Rarity might say, but it was a rather useful one, as Fluttershy might add. 'Sleazy little mare.' James thought, as she tossed canned goods into her backpack, which was already half full with other things. 'She seems like a calm enough pony, but beneath that mask lies a Bear Grills-type survivor.' James continued to scavenge anything she could get her hands on, and did so for a few hours more until the backpack was nearing the too-heavy-to-carry stage, and she sighed contentedly. “That's got to do it.” She said, hands on her hips. James nodded and left the warehouse with a smile. A smile that dissipated the moment she saw what waited for her outside. "Oi, lassy." Called the leader of the Diamond Dog clan. "We're goin' to hurt you now." The pack cackled madly at their leaders' words, and a cacophony of chainsaws being readied filled the air. "Oh, bugger." James dropped the backpack and pressed the butt of the shotgun to her shoulder. "Bring it, boys." Howling and squealing, the first of the Sawer Boys rushed forth from the ranks of his pack, tongue lolling out and spitting saliva as he swung the chainsaw around. His paws kicked dust behind him like a cloud, a cloud that concealed the ten or so many others whom had begun their charge not a second later. James flexed her fingers and took aim. The diamond dogs pressed forth. A hundred meters, ninety meters, eighty... James licked her lips. Aroooooooooo Yelps filled the air and cries of pain burst from the Sawer Boys within seconds of them halving the distance between the girl and themselves. Limbs flew into the air, blood splattered on the dry earth, and the howls of battle turned to screams of butchered swines. Bursts of magical light flew through the air, splinters grown to abnormal sizes impaled the dogs, and metal pellets tore their flesh apart and spilled intestines on the floor. Razors and boulders, shards of glass and fire, it was all fair game in the madness of magical battle. And in the midst of it all stood a bewildered James, with her hands holding a fully loaded shotgun, and her finger still hovering over the trigger, wondering when the command would come to press it. "What. The. Chicken nuggets." James croaked, as the dust dissipated. Three hooded figures danced around the battlefield, still tossing curses and incantations at the battered corpses of the Sawer Boys. One second a man, the next a dragon. 'Shapeshifters!' James turned on her heels and ran. She ran as far and fast as her scrawny legs could take her. The Shifters Clan members did not follow her, but the sounds of howling increased. Dozens of paws pounding the ground suddenly became all too apparent to James, and the Shifters would not be there to help. James jumped over a pile of rubble, darted in and out of alleys and ruined homes, and raced to the top of a small trash hill. She was heaving and panting by the time she made it to the top. "Oi, lassy. We-" James fired her shotgun from the hip. "-going to hurt me, yeah, yeah." She said as the still-twitching, decapitated corpse of the Sawer Boy fell off the side of the trash hill. "Here, doggy, doggy. Have a snack." Trigger Happy. Dozens of Sawer Boys rushed the hill, all losing limbs and sprouting new bellybuttons the moment they laid paws on it. James simply fired. The magically-fed weapon blasted away charge after charge of magical projectiles, all of them exploding upon leaving the barrel of the weapon and showering everything in front of James with ardent, explosive shrapnel. The Sawer Boys laughed and roared in agony at the same time. They pressed onward despite the losses, thrilled at the prospect of sinking their fangs on the soft, pale flesh of the gal, but their numbers did not amount to the quantity needed to swarm James. Bodies piled up in pieces at the base of the hill, but the stream that fed the river of snacks for the weapon could not be maintained, and eventually died when the last Sawer Boy lost his torso in a burst of guts and innards showering the nearby surroundings. "Holy teddy bear on a candy cross..." James gasped. Her shoulder ached badly, and her arms felt weak and trembled from the strain the shotgun had exerted on her muscles, despite its recoil having been reduced via Twilight Sparkle. "I'm too young for this." James walked away from the scene and kicked the rotten door of an abandoned building down. The place stank of mold and rot. James covered her face with her shirt and used some broken furniture to barricade the door, albeit slowly because of her shoulder and arms. Making certain that every window and entrance was either blocked or inaccessible from the outside, she sat down and pouted. "I forgot my backpack..." With a groan, James looked out of a crack on the wall. The sun was still high in the sky, but the battle still raged outside. Sawer Boys and Shifters ran around outside, battling, dying, and trampling anything that got in the way. 'There must be around a bunch of Boys out there...' James leaned against the wall and tried to not doze off as she waited for the battle to die off. 'I'll never get my backpack back...' By the time the war had died off and the victorious Sawer Boys had run off back into the desert with the heads of the Shifters, it was already too dark to go out. James sighed and laid back against the wall. She closed her eyes, and went to sleep. "James? Are you alright?" Twilight's voice resonated throughout her skull. "James, darling? Are you awake?" Rarity's was softer, but still rather loud. "Good morning, sleepyhead!" "Ah! Pinkie, why?!" The girl jumped up from her slumber and stared out at the old world. The normal world. It was early in the morning. The sun had just come out, and James was lying in Twilight's guest bed. "Good morning, James." Said Twilight, as she levitated a tray filled with food over to the girl. "Did you get anything to eat?" "No, actually. I'm starving." James replied with half a piece of toast sticking out of her mouth. "Thanks!" "Don't mention it, dear." James smiled. "What are we going to do today?" It was just another day.
Daytime Equestria: Breakfast Short15th Day: Morning, Breakfast Short "Tell me what you remember." Twilight said, leaning forward with a scroll and quill levitated beside her. "As much as you can. The more the better!" "Hmm... Well, first it was the Sawer Boys waiting for me outside Big Shop." James said in-between mouthfuls of cereal. Twilight and the girl sat in the middle of the library's kitchen, sharing a small breakfast with three others. Rainbow, Pinkie, and a small purple dragon all sat around the table, listening with varying degrees of interest. "The Diamond Dogs?" Twilight scribbled notes as she spoke, always keeping her eyes on the girl. "They ventured into Equestrian territory again?" "Did they now? They had a full on showdown of epic proportions with the Shifters!" James said, arms raised and eyes wide. "Boom! They just showed up from nowhere! Bim! Bam! Whoosh!" Her hands fell to the table with a loud thud, and she shoved a spoonful of cereal into her mouth. "There were like, um... a bunch!" Pinkie Pie gasped and stuffed her mouth with popcorn of the caramel type. Crunchy sounds left her mouth with every movement of her jaw as James narrated her adventure. Rainbow heard her but kept catching herself zoning out and drifting off into daydreams within her own mind. The rest listened and stayed quiet, keeping themselves rooted to the spot. "Why, though?" Twilight mused out loud. "From what you've told me of the past twelve nights, these Sawer Boys— these Diamond Dogs have never seen any need to delve deeper into Equestria than, uh," She shifted her sight to a pile of scrolls behind her and pulled out one from the middle, using magic to stabilize the rest and avoid an avalanche. "Gah-Stee Yorshe before." "Ugh... Have you noticed the weird names they put things? Apool-Taon, Gah-Stee Yorshe, Do-Ohg Cee-Ti?" Rainbow Dash blew a strand of her mane from in front of her face. "I mean, isn't it a little bit weird to you?" She arched her brow. "Hmm?" "They're the names of Appleloosa, Ghastly Gorge, and Dodge City, but altered after, what I suppose were, hundreds of years of Diamond Dog occupation." Twilight replied without moving her eyes from the parchment. "It's happened to Los Pegasus as well. Canterlot too, but with different owners." "Don't be silly, Dashie!" Pinkie Pie giggled. "Even I got that one!" "That's not what I meant." Rainbow Dash sighed. "I mean, isn't it weird? Any of this?" "Uh, yeah, duh? There's a bunch of chainsaw-crazy dogs that try to kill me every day?" James replied, waving a hand in front of her face. "Obvious it's weird!" "What are you getting at, Rainbow?" Twilight's eyes left the scrolls alone and focused on Dash. The rainbow pony shrugged and exhaled loudly. "Nothing." "O-kay! So, what do you think is going on?" James focused on Twilight once more, setting her mindset to 'Concentrated'. "Well, for one, I think this means that the Diamond Dogs might be running low on some supplies, which means they have to search farther away to find them. This could also explain why the Shape-shifters have also started to expand southwards, but what I don't understand is how the Diamond Dogs got through Everfree Forest— um, Evef-Eefrest, on their own." Twilight gathered up the empty plates and levitated them to the sink, where they were dropped without much ceremony unto a growing pile that drew anxious looks from the small dragon in the room. "They most certainly aren't the brightest candles in the shelf, so how did they get through the magically unstable mess that is now the Everfree? I mean, from what you've gathered, James, that forest simply doesn't function anymore! Magical storms, detonations, fires, hurricanes... It doesn't make sense how a full pack of Diamond Dogs could get through that unscathed!" "Beats me-hey, do you have any jam?" James smiled, extending a piece of toast forward. "Pleeeeaaaaase?" "James! This is serious!" Exclaimed all present at once, with the exception of Spike, who was now battling desperately with the Leaning Tower of Dirty Plates in a battle to keep it from collapsing. As the babbling went on in the background about having to restore the conversation topic from jam to Diamond Dogs and the future of Equestria, Spike was sweating. The tower was leaning. Time was short. "You need to relax, guys. I mean, this stuff hasn't-" His claws gripped the base tightly. His brow was sweaty as he pushed with all his might. "It's the future of Equestria! We need to know how-" The tower loomed threateningly over the small dragon, jeering and mocking his attempts to contain the impending disaster. "You need to pay more-" Spike gasped. The tower groaned. All hell broke loose. "SPIKE!" Shouted the three ponies and a human of the apocalypse. "YOU NEED TO BE MORE CAREFUL!" Author's Note This is a little short while you guys wait for the nextest Night-time chapter. The idea is to release shorts every other day and post a new chapter each week. \O3O/ Tell me what think! Also, descriptions have been updated and I'm waiting on some cover-art. \O3O/ Kthnxbye!
15th Night in Equestria: Medieval Dreams15th Night James sighed as the sun rose above the horizon. Pines and snow adorned the landscape all around her, and the chilling cold of the air brushed against the bare skin of her arms and face. James shuddered and clenched her jaw. Her hands searched for the comfort of the weapon she always carried with herself, but they didn't find it. They couldn't, since the shotgun had been taken by the ponies who escorted James to their fortress city; deep within the farthest reaches of what would one day become Unicorn Range, but was then nothing more than a series of villages with a small keep in its center. The wooden cart in which they carried the trapped girl moved slowly across the stony paths and rocks that made up the fading road to Unicorn Fort, and James was not having the best of times. Truly, as she frowned and mumbled under her breath she could feel her body trembling, and the sneezing had only worsened. The ponies did not speak the language she had grown accustomed to hearing from the Day-time ponies. "Are we- aschew! Ugh... there yet?" She wiped her nose with her arm and tried not to lean on the cold, metal bars surrounding her. "Guys, I'm seriously catching a cold here..." Silence. The five ponies kept on walking; their armor clinking and clanking as they moved; the fur clothing covering them dancing as the air currents pulled on them and made them stretch. "Can I at least get my sweater back? I swear I don't have any more knifes hidden in there!" 'Don't go into the village, James. Keep your distance, James. Waah, waah, I'm student of Celestia, waah! You'll ruin history if they see you!" James kicked at the metal bars. 'We knew there were soldiers around the village, yes, and we knew they were looking for me, and guess what? We also knew I could avoid them if I went through the village instead of going around it, but nooo!' James glared at the sky, darkened and shrouded in gloom, with clouds and snow falling down from the grey canvas above. The procession moved forth into the darkness of La Forêt Liberté, slowly cleaving through the freezing bite of the winter. James forced herself to remain awake when feeling left her feet and hands. She gritted her teeth until her jaw ached, and she greeted it and clung on to the pain it brought. Her green eyes stared ahead into the ice blankets of the weather before her, and she entertained her mind from the frost and dread by counting trees until there were more trees than numbers, and she gazed at the clouds until there was but a single blanket of grey covering the entire sky. At the end of her patience she witnessed a structure of stone rising from the snow. "La tour du veilleur." One of her captors called out, voice cracking in the frost of the forest. "Nous sommes à la maison!" James trembled in the corner of her cage; hugging herself tightly as the tower grew ever closer to her eyes. Shadows and snow covered her alike under the dominant gaze of the structure, and she felt herself revived by a sentiment of anger. "I bloody hate history, and I'm not dying inside a museum for a bunch of nerds to study my bones." She growled, stopped, and smiled. "No offense, Twilight." The ponies pushed the cage inside the tower. James looked around. The inside of the tower was stone and wood, and while the chill of winter still bit harshly, it was diminished by the presence of a small fire in the middle of the tower, where six ponies lay. Eleven in total when joined by her captors, the ponies spent the better part of an hour arguing loudly and eyeing her with fright, disgust, and anger. While James could not follow the conversation, she could understand that they were discussing her and that there were at least three sides to pick from in the debate. The one that wanted to make money off her; the one that wanted to be rid of her, and the side that wished to move her somewhere else. None of the options made much to assure her of her own safety, but she wished one of them would be so stupid and kind as to give her a chance to reach for her weapon. It was just there; hanging by its strap from a nail stuck into the wall. Sitting inside her cage, she pondered on the hows of her capture, and realized it had been fairly humorous as to how it had happened; taking into account that she had a weapon of untold destructive capabilities and enough experience to eliminate five dozens of Sawer Boys on her own. Indeed, the way it had occurred was so incredibly interesting and exciting that she simply had to ponder on it for several minutes, all the while- "Huh- wha...?" James was broken out of her stupor by the sharp poke from one of the ponies wielding a stick. "What are you-?" "Elle parlé!" Cried the Earth Pony stallion and took a step back. Three more of them gawked at her from behind the one with the stick. "Est-qui'll morde?" James gave them a deadpan look and blew a strand of hair from her face. She eyed them one after the other and tried to see if anyone of them had the keys, but no such luck. They were most likely being held by one of the older ponies in the upper floor of the tower. She would have to wait longer to be free, but when she was... The ponies stopped making faces at her the moment the sound of their commander's voice echoing from the top of the tower reached their ears. James couldn't understand a word, but the old stallion sounded alarmed. He shouted some things and then said some more to the soldiers beneath. The ponies were in a rush afterwards. James watched from behind her cage's bars as the equines scrambled to get to position behind the murder holes with their crossbows at the ready. She could hear some howling in the distance; faint but powerful all the same. It was threatening, if a bit familiar. She arched her eyebrows and tapped her chin. "Huh. I wasn't expecting this." She said. "At least not this early in the timeline of Equestria." The howling got louder and louder; the warnings from the soldiers at the top of the tower grew more and more alarmed by the second, until the hollers of the newcomers became so audible and clear that James could hear them as though they were but a meter away. "Saw 'em! Saw 'em! Saw 'em good!" The voices chanted in a desynchronized cacophony of raspy, guttural voices that battered the walls of the tower and the ears of everyone present. "Cut an' crush an' bite an' pull! Twist 'em, break 'em! Pull 'em an' gnaw 'em!" James gasped and tried to reach her shotgun through the bars of her prison, but it was useless. The pony up top kept on shouting down at the approaching Sawer Boys with little effect. James stretched her arm through the bars as far as she could. She knew they were all dead unless she got her hands on her shotgun. Outside, the Boys sang louder: "Smash 'em an' bash 'em! Push 'em and slash 'em!" Their singing eventually stopped and the guard shouted once more. Then, a buzzing sound cut through the silence that followed, and a scream permeated the air. James winced as the rest of the ponies panicked and shouted at one another while they shot their bolts at the Sawer Boys. More buzzing sounds filled James' ears and the echoing noises of dying ponies and metal against rock told her all she needed to know about the battle going on outside her cage. The younger ponies were terrified, but they kept on shooting through the murder holes; blindly trying to hit anything. However, James knew the Sawer Boys were too far away to be within direct range of a crossbow. She knew the ponies were only wasting bolts, but she couldn't help but cheer them on inside her mind. If they could land a hit, it could prove to be everyone's salvation. Two of the ponies left to guard her screamed at one another and then rushed up the staircase to the upper levels. The third one trembled in his spot and waited. His bolts had run out; his friends had left him alone, and he only had her for company. James waved her hands and pointed to her shotgun, but the pony spat some words her way and kept on waiting; leaving the girl to mumble under her breath and lay back against the metal bars of her prison. In the distance, the howling became more intense. Then more buzzing sounds, screams, shouts, and a loud thud resounding from the outside as something fell from the top of the tower could be heard. The pony whimpered and barred the door of the tower with a heavy wooden beam. He shivered inside the stone walls and stared at the door. No more sounds filled the air. James gulped and sat cross-legged. She knew the battle was over for the ponies, but hers was just about to begin. Her hands were a bit sweaty, but she knew she could take them. It was only a matter of leaving the cage. She stole several more glances at her shotgun, but she didn't try to make the pony give it to her anymore. It would be pointless. In the distance, the growls of the beasts thundered across the snow-covered ground. They hollered with bloodthirsty rage in a single voice, and they called out James' name with guttural words that barely resembled a language. "Cut 'er! Bring 'er head to Storm Rider! Kill the Bald Boy! Storm Rider! Storm Rider! Chop 'er up!" 'Bald Boy?! I'm a girl, you mongoloids!' James ground her teeth together and kicked at the bars of her cage. 'Can't I get a good name around here?!' The Sawer Boys blasted the doors apart soon after. Two buzz saws burst through the wood and sent splinters flying everywhere, shattering the entrance with violent strength. The pony was doomed before he realized what had happened; not even gasp was able to leave him before one of the buzz saws tore into his face and shredded it beyond recognition. He wasn't able to even scream. James looked away and gagged, as chunks of flesh and brain splattered across the room and stained the walls. She crouched low and covered her head with her arms, as one of the buzz saws headed straight for the cage. The sound of metal against metal screeched throughout the tower as the buzz saw cut the bars and sent them flying, and in less than a few seconds the rooftop of the cage was completely separated from it. James looked around and smiled. "That's convenient!" She said and dived for her shotgun, being careful not to step on any squishy bits left over from the dead pony. Outside, the Sawer Boys fired more buzz saws at her and the tower, leaving deep gashes on the stone. James took a hold of her weapon and rushed the stairs, hoping to put as much stone between her and the Sawer Boys. The dogs laughed and roared outside, and James heard the first enter the tower as she reached the middle of the staircase. "This'll have to do." She fell to her stomach on one of the widest and longest steps and took her aim at the bottom of the stairs. Not a second passed. The Sawer Boys, two of them, crashed into one another in their rush to find her. Their mouths were open; fangs glistening with saliva and bloodied claws were their weapons, but the buzz saws were what concerned James. The beasts howled the moment they saw James, and then they died. James fired once, and the magical shot of her shotgun blinded the monsters before it tore them apart. The projectiles exploded upon impact and severed limbs, cracked ribs, punctured eyeballs and shattered fangs. The beasts, or what remained of them, were sent backwards in a splash of gore and dismembered pieces. The blood and guts from their carcasses mixed with that of the dead pony below. James sighed. "I'm too young for this stuff..." The young girl stood up and gazed at the carnage beneath. It smelled horrible, even if it still hadn't set to rot. She stepped over the chunks of meat and blood and bone scattered across the floor and started for the door, when a shiny object caught her eye. She turned around and put a hand to her chin. "Hmm... Twilight might find these interesting." She said and picked up one of the weapons the Sawer Boys had used to fire the buzz saws. James pulled a handkerchief and wiped away the bits of brain and liver stuck to the outside of the gun. "I think I'll call you Jeff the Chainsaw-Gun." James smiled and slung Jeff's leather strap on her shoulder. She made for the door and exited the tower. The day outside was beautiful, if a little ruined by all the pony bodies lying outside in the snow. The Sawer Boys had good aim, from what she could see. Mostly, at least. "Well. To home!" James said and pointed a finger to the horizon. Nothing happened for a while, and she started walking again. Her steps took her through the frozen ground and across a small patch of forest, but it was very cold and she didn't know how much longer she'd be able to go on. Her sweater had been with one of the ponies at the top of the tower, she knew, but she couldn't find the corpse. Well, not all of it. The lower part that had the saddlebags seemed to be missing. "That's it. I definitely hate history!" She said between chittering teeth. Her steps took her through an increasingly colder field of frozen grass and dirt, until she saw a village in the distance. "Thank God!" She said and her step quickened. James reached the village as the sun began to set. She was certain she'd have a horrible cold the morning after, but at least she wouldn't die. James neared the village and looked at it a bit closer. It seemed deserted, and most homes were empty and devoid of light, but she could still hear a few voices in the far distance. Cold and tired, however, she decided it didn't matter. James sneaked through the buildings until she found herself outside of a barn. She looked both ways and rubbed her arms before pushing the massive door open. "Hello?" She called out into the darkness. No one answered, and no noises could be heard, so she sighed contently and headed for the back of the barn. She piled up a bunch of straw she found and let herself fall down on the bundle. James felt sleep overtaking her, and she smiled at the knowledge that a good breakfast awaited her on the other side. James opened her eyes and yawned. She felt well-rested and fresh, the best way to wake up in another time and age. She relished in the softness of the bed sheets for a while, but opened her eyes eventually. "James? James! Thank goodness you're awake!" Rarity's voice she could hear, and it was pleasant to be around ponies that didn't want you killed or sold. James smiled and waved at her. "Hi, Rarity! I'm back! I brought some gifts to Twilight," She said, and dropped the heavy Chainsaw-Gun on the bed, which was now caked in dirt, blood, and sweat; the same as her. "and I also have weird news." She frowned and sat up on the edge of the bed. Rarity was gaping, terrified at the mess she was now being confronted with, so James just went ahead and talked. "Anyway, something weird happened to me while I was in Medieval Equestria. You see, I went around the village, like Twilight said, but I was right all along, and the ponies caught me and put me in a cage. Anyway, they dragged me to a tower, but some Sawer Boys barged in! Weird, huh? Sawer Boys in Medieval Equestria! We need to tell Twi-" "I know." Twilight said from outside the door, while Rarity looked at James with a fright and worry she hadn't noticed before. "They've been here too."
