Applejack, Twilight, and Rarity gasped (and Frag Cat could almost feel himself get flustered... not for the same reason) when another flash of lightning hit the damaged tree in the same spot.

Applejack was already on Rarity's case. "Ya see? That's why we needed to take down all those loose branches in town, not spiffy 'em up."

Rarity actually looked guilty. "But I--"

"Outta my way, missy. Time's a wastin'." Applejack pushed open the window and readied her lasso (wherever the f*ck she got that from) in her teeth.

"Applejack...? What are you doing?" Frag Cat asked with a hint of fear, his voice edged with skepticism as he had a feeling he already knew the answer.

"Wait! Stop! Don't!" Rarity protested, but her pleas were ignored.

"No waitin'! No stoppin'! Doin'!" Applejack threw the loop forward, catching the branch in time before it fell over. "And that, my friends, is what we call gettin' 'er done," she smiled and pulled on the rope.

Frag Cat just deadpanned as tree fell through the window.

[Meanwhile...]

James was walking through a luscious green meadow, in which he'd never seen the likes of before. There were no trees nearby, but the grassy plain was completely surrounded by a forest. The meadow was very large, so the forest was very, very, very far away, but still in plain sight. The meadow was greatly complimented by the warm atmosphere that the sun gave off. He knew it was a dream though.

"It's so beautiful out here," James said out loud to himself as the sun reflected off of his dahlia-blue eyes. He was so tempted to spin around and around without a care in the world, that he Cheerfully did just that. He felt so happy right then, he almost didn't want the moment to end.

"I tried to tell you it would come crashing down in here," Rarity tried to shelter her mane from the wind that was blowing furiously into the house.

Applejack, who had been hanging off the second floor from the tree, climbed back up. "Well, ya should'a tried harder." She sighed as Twilight poked her head out from the plethora of leaves covering most of the floor. "Ah'm mighty sorry, Twilight."

"It's..." Twilight looked down. "Well, it's not okay! There's a giant tree branch in the middle of my bedroom. And the book doesn't say anything about having a giant tree branch at your slumber party. Or at least I haven't found that entry yet." She fretted as she flipped through the pages in her guide book.

Applejack navigated to the other side of the tree to see Rarity replacing books on the bookshelf they had fallen from. "What in tarnation are y'all doin' over there?"

"Cleaning up this mess somepony made. Who was that again? Oh, right, that's you," Rarity glared at the earth pony before going back to work at the books.

Applejack scowled and rolled her eyes before ducking back into the leaves. As she was making her way over to Twilight, her eyes caught a barely noticeable spot where the floor was bare of leaves. Looking more closely, she realized what she was looking at through the foliage was orange.

James had finally stopped spinning after a long period of time, and continued walking in one direction. He looked downward, feeling a little on edge subconsciously when he realized it was completely silent. No wind, no fluttering insects, no birds. Just the rustling of grass as he walked along.

He caught himself before he walked into a dirty-white wall that suddenly came into his vision. He looked up. There was what looked like a square tower... or what was left of it. The tower-- which barely reached up to his head-- was clearly torn off or destroyed, if the uneven and varying heights of the walls were any indication.

Looking to the right, he saw a set of stairs that led to the top. With nothing else to do, he went up the staircase, which revealed a hollow inside-- that was expected. The grass floor was lightly littered with... was that ash? However, his attention was turned to a white wooden chest. It looked plain from the distance he was standing, blending in incredibly well with its surroundings. If he wasn't paying attention, he might've missed it!

James looked around before walking over to the chest. It was fairly big, he could probably fit inside if he tried. "I wonder what's in here?" he thought aloud.

James decided to see what was inside. If it was anything bad, he was only dreaming, so it couldn't hurt anyone. He held his hand out and reached for the chest.

POW!

James quickly pulled his hand back as a gunshot ricocheted off the chest. He turned around in mild alarm to see standing at the top of the stairs, holding a sniper... himself? It couldn't be Conscience, he was completely opaque.

But there was a distinct difference... this other him had brown eyes. The emotion in them matched the one on his face: scorn.

"Step OFF!" Brown-eyed James shouted.

Blue-eyed James was caught off guard by his wording, stifling a laugh. So he was startled when Brown-eyed James Flashed right in front of him, grabbed him by the arms and threw him against the wall to his left.

Applejack separated the leaves with her forelegs to widen the gap, but what was revealed caused her eyes to widen.

Land sakes!" she cried. Frag Cat was pinned under the trunk of the tree, only his lower body sticking out. "Frag Cat! Sugarcube, are you okay?"

Upon hearing her voice, Frag Cat's tail started swishing. "Ah'm gonna get you from under there, alright?" In response, his tail started pointing in her direction. "What? What is it?" Applejack looked behind her and noticed his tail was pointing in Rarity's direction.

"Rarity?" she asked, in which Frag Cat's tail swished around again. "What about her? She's busy trying to put the darn books back on their shelves," she said, very exasperated.

Frag Cat's tail rose in the air for a moment before falling back to the floor, almost as if it was shrugging. "Well, one way or another, Ah'll get you unstuck likety split," the earth pony assured. The tail didn't respond as she tried to figure out a way to move the tree trunk.

Applejack tried kicking the trunk hopping on it, looking for any weak spots, but the tree wouldn't budge. Nothing she was trying was working. She grit her teeth in frustration. If she wanted to help Frag Cat, she was going to need some help.

Blue-eyed James picked himself up from the grassy floor (and was grateful that his overalls were surprisingly not stained with dirt). This wasn't funny anymore.

He glared at his Brown-eyed doppleganger. "You wanna tell me what the f*** that was for?"

Brown-eyed James scowled. "I don't have to tell you anythi--" He was cut off as as the other James Flashed behind him and elbowed him in the back of the neck, knocking him to the ground.

"Wrong answer," Blue-eyed James said darkly before grabbing the doppleganger by his feet and throwing him over his head, slamming him on his back.

After recovering from his pained daze, Brown-eyed James folded his arms behind his head as he continued to lie on the ground. "Is that all you got?" As the other James snorted in annoyance at his cockiness, he shot up and connected a powerful uppercut to his chin.

Blue-eyed James reeled back in shock, but couldn't recover quick enough to avoid the Violent kick delivered to the back of his head that grounded him. Or the next kick that sent him tumbling like a soccer ball into the brick wall.

He got up with little effort and turned around to face his brown-eyed self. "Of course not," he said answering the question while pulling out a hammer. "But I don't think I have anymore patience."

Brown-eyed James narrowed his eyes in disgust as he pulled out his own similar hammer. "You're so pathetic."

James blue eyes became red as he charged forward with a cry of anger. Brown-eyed James charged with a cry of his own. Upon approaching each other, they both swung their hammer. The resulting shockwave that occurred from their collision leveled the ground below them, creating a fair-sized crater.

Twilight wasn't going to put down her book until she found what she was looking for. The answer had to be in there somewhere!

Thus Applejack once again navigated past the tree's thick leaves to Rarity. "Rarity, for pony's sake, stop sweatin' the small stuff and help me get rid of this thing!" The white unicorn didn't stop replacing books to their shelves. "Ah said hussle over here and help me!" Rarity continued to ignore her and the wind seemed to blow harder as well. She looked down and said more quietly, "...Look. Ah'm sorry, all right?"

"What was that?" Rarity turned around, taken aback. She wasn't expecting an apology.

"Ah said Ah'm sorry!" Applejack shouted, not wanting to repeat herself. "Ah should'a listened to you when you noticed where this here branch would end up. Your annoyin' attention to detail would'a saved us from this whole mess. But right now, you need to stop bein' so dang fussy pickin' up all the little things and help me move the one big thing in here that actually matters! ...Please!" she said urgently.

Rarity looked at the tree with uncertainty. "But I'll get all icky."

The earth pony snapped. "Consarnit! What the--" she caught herself and started more calmly, "Ah mean, yes, ickiness is often a side effect of hard work. But y'all need to get over it, on account Ah just can't fix this mess Ah made myself. Ah need your help."

Rarity took a moment to steel herself before looking up in determination. "Let's do this."

Blue-eyed James paralyzed his doppleganger for a moment with a Pac-Man bell. His fists surged with electricity as he clenched them before gripping Brown-eyed James' neck, shocking him Violently. Blue-eyed James pulled his face chin-first into his knee, sending him reeling back.

Blue-eyed James made to run up to him to follow with another attack, but paused as he heard a faint noise that seemed to gradually get closer. The other James also looked around in confusion. Was that... a motor?

Before either of the two could react, a familiar Motorcycle suddenly rammed Brown-eyed James sending him flipping into the air and falling on his head with a Grief Grimace.

Blue-eyed James looked after the motorcycle (which had no driver) that disappeared in the distance. What was Blue Star's motorcycle doing here? "Um... thanks?"

Just then he heard another motor roaring to life behind him. Turning around he saw Brown-eyed James with a chainsaw, the blade easily half his size.

Blue-eyed James barely had enough time to pull out his hammer and deflect the swing thrown at him. His doppleganger of course wasn't a slouch though, and didn't allow much time for him to defend against his following attacks.

"I refuse to put up with this anymore!" Brown-eyed James swung again, but the attack was dodged. "You have been the plague of my life for long enough!" he shouted with an overhead swing.

"What the hell are you talking about!?" Blue-eyed James held his hammer in front of him to block the attack with the handle. But then Brown-eyed James started pressing down against it, slowly but gradually cutting the wood. What he said next left Blue-eyed James even more confused.

"I'm taking you down, once and for all. Both of you."

Rarity's horn sparked as she shut her eyes in concentration. She grunted with the effort she put into the spell she was casting. But her focus was not in vain as a couple of flashes later, the tree was no longer a tree, but several tinier potted plants with the leaves taking various ponies and other shapes.

As the fashionista levitated the miniature plants to the ground, she noticed Frag Cat picking himself up from the ground and shaking the leaves off himself like a dog. He had an annoyed scowl on his face.

"Oh my!" she gasped as she realized that the puppycat was trapped under the tree. "Darling, are you alright?" she asked in concern as she placed a hoof on his shoulder.

"I'm fine," Frag Cat answered rather forcefully as he brushed her hoof off. He walked over to the remaining part of the trunk that hung in the window and kicked it outside.

"There's nothing down there, believe me," he said before Rarity could protest. He proceeded to pull the window closed.

Applejack sighed in relief. "Well, I'm glad that's over with," she smiled. Rarity returned the smile, but it disappeared when she looked at herself and noticed the state she was in: her coat was caked with mud, and littered with leaves.

"Oh, I look awful," she said in dismay.

Applejack put her hoof to her chin in thought. Her face lit up as she got an idea. Getting two cucumbers, she placed them over Rarity's eyes. "Better?" she asked.

Rarity's expression brightened. "Heh. Thanks," she grabbed at thin air for a moment before reaching the farm pony, and the two shared a warm hug.

Frag Cat didn't bother to listen to what Twilight had said as he walked past the other two reconciling ponies and looked over the edge of the upper floor. He sighed in relief-- James was still sleeping soundly on the pillows. With no further delay, he headed downstairs and back up the tower of fluffiness. It was his duty as a head pillow to make sure James was as comfortable as possible.

When he got to the top he carefully shimmied under James's head. He spared one more glance at his companion's peaceful form before lying his head down and closing his eyes. What a night.

Blue-eyed James was running out of time, and the chainsaw was going to cut through the hammer's handle any second now.

Brown-eyed James furrowed his eyebrows as the handle started to give in. Blue-eyed James struggled to hold the hammer with one hand, as he'd taken his other one off. That struggle was short-lived as he pulled out a sniper and shot the chainsaw out of his doppleganger's hand.

Blue-eyed James fired another shot at his legs, but the shot was dodged and his arm was grabbed and Violently kicked, forcing the gun out of his hand. Brown-eyed James threw a kick at his head, but that was blocked with an arm and countered with a fireball aimed at his own arm, forcing him to let go of Blue-eyed James to dodge it. His arm surged with electricity as he threw a punch at the other's face, but that was dodged.

Blue-eyed James pulled out a katana and thrust it at Brown-eyed James' chest. However, Brown-eyed James had quickly pulled out a musket and caught the blade in it's hole, before kicking the attached weapons to the ground.

Blue-eyed James took the opportunity to strike, and jumped and threw a Violent kick at the head. Brown-eyed James barely had enough time to catch his leg and slam him to the ground, but not before Blue-eyed James pulled out a pistol and shot him in the leg.

He flinched with a wince, but didn't get time to recover as Blue-eyed James kicked him in the face while getting up, quickly pulled out another hammer and swung, sending him flying a good ten meters away.

Blue-eyed James pulled out and used an ice flower, and threw an iceball at Brown-eyed James while he was down and on his back, rendering him immobile in a block of frozen water. The doppleganger's eyes fixed on him with more hate than Blue-eyed James felt he had any business directing at himself.

James walked the moderate distance, which the fight had carried him and his double, back to the ruined temple. Without delay, he walked straight to the chest. But as he put his hand on it to open it, it started to glow brightly, James's blinded vision going completely white.

James's eyes snapped open and darted around. A wooden ceiling filled his vision, with orange along the edges of it. He sat up rather suddenly and looked around, subconsciously acknowledging the warm soft feeling that had left his neck. The soothing sound of rain hitting the window was no longer there. The storm had passed.

The absence of his weight had not gone unnoticed by Frag Cat, who woke up with a start and looked around. He noticed James sitting up. "James...?" he rubbed his eye.

Upon hearing his voice, James turned around. Frag Cat wilted for only an instant when he saw James's eyes were blue again, but James didn't seem to notice.

"Hey, Frag Cat," James smiled and rubbed his head. "You sleep well?"

"Yeah, I slept just fine," Frag Cat answered with a half-hearted smile. After a moment of silence, they realized the girls were talking to each other. Applejack and Rarity's voices respectively could be heard from below.

"Is it... a six-legged pony with a purple polka-dotted mane and shootin' stars comin' out of his eyes?"

"Who flies through the air all over the world to hide magic, sparkly eggs?"

"...The f***?" an utterly bemused James mouthed silently to an equally confused Frag Cat, who shrugged his shoulders. "You think we should keep these pillows?" he whispered. Frag Cat frowned and shook his head no. "Yeah, me neither," James sighed.

They agreed to put them back in the basement later.

"I declare my first slumber party, a success!" Twilight said happily. The other two mares cheered as she pulled out her guide book. "Have fun? Check."

WHACK!

The girls cried out in alarm as Frag Cat fell from above and landed on his face, the noise of the impact making Twilight shudder.

The puppycat picked himself up from the floor. Comically, it took a moment for his flattened face to take its initial shape. He turned around to see the three mares staring at him, their mouths agape.

Purposely not acknowledging the obvious reason for their shock, he smiled an innocent, sheepish smile... while a stray pillow from the tower bounced off his head. "Morning, girls. Don't mind me, I'm just getting some water." He didn't wait for an answer, and went into the kitchen, completely aware of the gazes that followed him until he was out of sight.

The ponies' attention was drawn back to the tower when they heard a yawn. James was walking down the decline of the tower.

Twilight broke the uncomfortable silence. "Oh, good morning, James!" she smiled. "Did you sleep well?"

"Heh, wow," he Cheerfully stretched his arms, bones popping audibly. "I haven't slept that good in years."

Rarity blinked before her expression brightened. "Really? Well that's wonderful, darling!"

"Yeah, I'll say." James turned around to see Conscience with his fist on his hip.

"Conscience, you missed the entire sleepover," James deadpanned. "I could tell, since you haven't said a thing since yesterday."

"Yeah well, sucks for me," Conscience didn't really seem to care. "Look, I'm gonna get some fresh air," he held his arm as he looked around the room. "I'm feeling kind of claustrophobic for some reason."

"Yeah, why not," James Epic Shrugged. "I'll go with you. Just don't cause a scene."

Conscience rose an eyebrow as they exited the library. It was no longer storming, but the dark clouds still remained in the sky above the town. "...Yeah... sure."

Frag Cat lie on the floor, watching from the corner of the kitchen as he watched them leave. His wistful sigh was drowned by the sound of the door closing. It was nice while it lasted...

Dear Princess Celestia,

It's hard to believe that two ponies who seem to have so little in common could ever get along. But I found out that if you embrace each other's differences, you just might be surprised to discover a way to be friends after all.

[Ending Song]

Author's Note

There are most definitely questions aroused. All will be revealed soon... eventually. But for now, I think I've done enough damage.
I'll let myself out now...

*shoots self in the head*