Unexplained Circumstances

15th 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."