Textbook Soldier

Chapters

Chapter 2
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 1
Chapter 3

Chapter 2

The sky had turned to a brilliant orange and the sun had disappeared beyond the horizon by the time the uniformed man had been able to regain his composure. Holding him the entire time, Sunset had done her best to comfort him. . The bus had come and gone, with her still at CHS with the lost soldier. She didn’t mind. There was a late bus that came later. At that moment, James needed her more.

At some point, he had pulled himself together enough to just stare off absentmindedly. He politely shrugged Sunset off of him, muttering something that never reached her ears. She looked up at him, but his eyes never left the ground. All of the anger and sadness from before was gone, replaced with a numb indifference.

Eventually, James grabbed his rifle and racked the bolt. With a sharp ping, the remaining rounds fell to the ground. The soldier swept up the loose rounds, dropping them into his pocket along with the now empty clip. He glanced around, looking for something. Looking over his equipment, Sunset realized it was his helmet.

“Oh, here you go,” the girl said, remembering she was still holding the helmet. He nodded a small thanks before placing it on his head, returning to his equipment check. Sunset shifted awkwardly as her eyes watched him go over his gear again. “So, what are you planning on doing?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know. I just wanna get away from this damn statue.”

“Where are you going to go?”

“I’ll find somewhere.”

Sunset bit her lip nervously. A man walking around in a full vintage army uniform would attract attention. Adding on the rifle currently in his hands, attention would quickly become suspicion and a call to the police that would cause even more problems when they talked to him and he told them he was from a fictional country. Suffice to say, Sunset was not keen on the idea of him just “finding somewhere”.

“Well, you can stay with me... if you’d like,” she offered. “It beats being homeless, right?”

The man stared at her for some time before slowly nodding.

“I suppose,” James said slowly, his gaze dropping to the ground in thought. After a moment, he looked up and shook his head. “No, I can’t. I don’t want to be a burden.”

“No, no, really!” Sunset said, perhaps a little too quickly. “I’d be more than happy.” The Equestrian shrugged her shoulders and grinned sadly. “I know the feeling of being alone here without anything… it’s not pleasant.”

After a slight hesitation, he nodded again, offering no resistance this time.

“Alright. If you insist.”

Sunset’s grin warmed.

“Great. My apartment isn’t too far. Um…” She paused, “one more thing, before we head out.”

“Yeah?”

“You kinda need to hide your… weapon. I don’t think it’d be great for people to see a man waving a gun around the neighborhood.”

James looked down at the rifle in his hands and nodded with a half-grin, showing the first bit of emotion since the portal closed.

“Good point.”

He unclipped his ammo belt and swung the bag off his shoulders , as his pack was attached to the belt. He slipped off the jacket he was wearing and wrapped it around the rifle. After a little bit of adjusting, it managed to hide the shape well enough that, at a cursory glance, a passerby wouldn’t really be able to tell what it was.

“How’s that?” James showed her the bundle.

Sunset nodded apprehensively. “Let’s just get going. I don’t know how long that’ll fool anybody.”

James gestured for her to go. “I’ll follow you.”

Sunset grabbed her bag off the statue and tossed her books into it, careful not to let him see the cover of the novel. After zipping it up and swinging it onto her shoulder, she glanced down at her phone’s clock. The late bus was due any second now and they had to make it or take a long walk would await them. With a nod, she turned to James and found that the man had gotten distracted by looking at the high school.

“James.”

He turned around, and she waved for him to follow as she started walking towards the bus stop.

“Alright. We’re gonna take the bus back to my apartment.” Sunset hesitated as he fell in line next to her. “Um… you know how buses work, right?”

James stared at Sunset. “...Yes. I know how public transport works.”

Sunset’s face flushed with embarrassment. “Stupid question, I guess. Sorry,” she mumbled.

James sighed. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t trying to be an ass there. I’m just a little… stressed out.”

Sunset shook her head as she reached into her bag.

“I shouldn’t have assumed,” she mumbled bashfully. She reached into her bag and pulled out her coin purse. She counted out the right amount for the fare and handed it to James. “Here.”

He silently took the coins in his hand. As he kept looking over the array of coins, Sunset noticed his confusion.

“What’s wrong?”

“How far are we going?”

“Just a few miles into the city. Why?”

James counted the money again.

“You gave me a dollar twenty five.”

“Yeah, that’s how much a bus pass is.”

James stared blankly.

“Okay…” The man managed to say. “I’ll trust you here, I guess,” he looked away awkwardly.
“Um… Thanks, by the way. I appreciate this.”

Sunset smiled. “Of course.”

The city bus pulled up towards the stop, and Sunset went on first. Because of the distance between home and school, the school buses didn’t go out to her apartment. When she started riding everyday, costs started to pile up to pay for each individual ride, so she had bought a commuter pass, which meant she didn’t need to mess with change anymore, and it cut down costs over time too.

The bus driver nodded to Sunset as she scanned her ticket, recognizing her from her daily commute. The girl smiled and waved back as she stepped past. James stepped on next, dropping the coins into the payment bin. The driver gave him a sideways look, glancing at the soldier’s uniform. Thankfully, he didn’t say anything, and James nodded respectfully before taking his seat next to Sunset. As the bus started moving, the man’s eyes were caught on the advertisements plastered around the interior.

Sunset grinned to herself as she watched James’s wide-eyed reaction to the interior of the bus and realized that this must’ve been what she looked like the first time she rode the bus. She decided that being on the other side was much more amusing. His eyes roamed across the advertisement scroll on the ceiling, and he frowned. After staring long and hard at one particular ad, he turned to Sunset.

“What the hell’s a ‘tablet?’”

Sunset burst out laughing. She didn’t mean to laugh in his face, but the question caught Sunset so off guard that she couldn’t stop herself. James’s confusion only grew more at her reaction. The girl quickly pulled herself together to explain.

“It’s like a portable computer that you can take in your bag and use for a bunch of different things based off of the apps you get for it.”

“...What’s a computer?”

After Sunset’s basic, crash-course explanation of the computer and all of its variants, the bus slowed. James had gone quiet after absorbing the information, electing instead to resume his childlike stares. The younger girl smiled and shook her head, glancing out at the bus’s latest destination.

The current stop was situated in the middle of the inner-city area of Canterlot. There were lots of small tenements and townhomes lining the street, all in various states of repair. Not too far away, the sound of a passing train could be heard. Beyond those tracks were the nicer parts of downtown. Music from the bars and clubs could just barely be made out underneath the rumble of the train. Sunset stood, grabbing her bag from the floor.

“Here we are,” Sunset said, stepping out into the aisle, “Come on, this is our stop.”

James stood, still staring at the ads with an awe-stricken look on his face.

“James,” Sunset repeated.

The man in question turned back and realized she was already standing on the sidewalk outside of the bus. The glares of the annoyed passengers surrounded him, and he quickly stepped off behind her. He’d barely gotten both feet on the ground before the impatient bus driver pulled away.

“Here we are.” Sunset gestured to the building in front of them.

Night had just fallen, but they could see enough of the building thanks to the streetlight on the sidewalk in front. It was a two story apartment building situated in a row of similarly designed structures. Its walls were red brick, with grey concrete bricks framing the corners and the trimming. Like the rest of the buildings around it, it had an old-world feel to it that alluded to design styles that had long since fallen out of fashion.

“This looks more like what I’m used to,” James said with a half-grin. He tilted his head and squinted to get a closer look at the details he could make out. “It looks a bit rough, though.”

“Well, this building is about seventy-five years old.”

Sunset didn’t take notice when James frowned, and she started walking across the street.

“Come on. It’s getting late.”

James followed. As they neared the building, they could see just how old it really was. The brickwork was weathered, probably much darker than it was when it was built, and there were more than a few places where the facade had been replaced at some point. The concrete steps were in similar condition. Once a smooth white, they were now a coarse grey with a dozen filled cracks across its surface. Sunset punched in a code on the number pad and there was a beep and a click as the door unlocked. James reached over, grabbed the handle and held the door open for Sunset as they walked in.

The inside of the building looked like it had only fared slightly better than the outside. The wood floors were scratched and faded, but it looked like they’d been replaced at some point. However, that point was probably over thirty years ago. Faded green carpet lined the stairs and the creaky wooden floorboards groaned through the stairwell as the two started to climb.

Coming to the second floor, they rounded the corner to Sunset’s apartment. She slid the key into the lock and swung the door open as she walked inside, James right behind her. He closed the door behind him and stopped just beyond the threshold with a small grin.

“Homey looking.”

Sunset smiled as she looked at the place she called home. For one person, it was really quite spacious. The lofted portion that acted as her bedroom allowed for a large desk to sit underneath, on top of which was a large computer setup that took up most of the desktop along with a few bits of memorabilia Sunset had collected through her life. Along the stairs going up to her bed hung a traditional acoustic guitar, an electric guitar, and sharp, v-shaped red electric guitar with yellow flames along the bottom. There was a dresser by the door, right next to a tall window that spanned the two story height of the room. Beyond the window, a sleek, modern flat screen television hung on the wall. The back wall of the studio apartment was a small kitchenette where a few appliances sat on top of the counter next to some well-kept house plants. The left wall sat rather plainly, taken up only by an open door to the bathroom, a closet door, and a tall metal cabinet that sat next to the staircase.

“Thanks. It took awhile, but I think I’m finally happy with the place.”

Sunset walked over to her desk and set her bag on top. She looked back to see James standing awkwardly. He hadn’t moved from his spot from the door. In fact, it looked like the only thing he’d done was take his helmet off. Sunset grinned.

“You can sit down. You don’t have to just stand there by the door.”

“I don’t want to touch anything,” he laughed awkwardly. “It all seems so… nice. I don’t think a full kitted-out soldier like myself should even be allowed in here.”

Sunset raised an eyebrow. But then it hit her. He didn’t smell the best. Looking closer, she saw that his pants weren’t a camouflage pattern, and that was actually just dirt and mud. The same could be said for his shirt and the jacket that was currently wrapped around his rifle.

“Um… I don’t mean for you to take this the wrong way but,” she suppressed a gag. “How long has it been since you took a shower? Or washed your clothes?”

James’s face flushed in embarrassment.

“We get water to sponge off every few days when we can, but real showers are a bit harder to get in the field.”

Sunset stared at the man.

“How long has it been since you’ve had a… ‘real shower?’”

“That would be the last time we were pulled off the line.”

“And how long ago was that?”

“...Three weeks ago.”

Sunset tried to suppress another gag. Three weeks? Celestia knows what he’s tracking into her apartment right now.

“Right…” She said, trying and failing to keep the disgust out of her voice. “First off, let’s get you cleaned up.”

James nodded.

“Sounds good to me.” He pointed at the rifle in his hand. “Um… what do you want me to do with this?”

Sunset stared at the rifle. While she didn’t really want it out here, there wasn’t anywhere to put it right now, and the jacket hiding it was just as disgusting as the rest of his clothes. He could leave it wrapped up, or he could take it out for a bit until they found a place to stash it. She went with the option that didn’t result in a disgusting jacket sitting on her furniture.

“Is it loaded?” She asked. He shook his head. “Then I guess just put it down somewhere with your bag.”

James unwrapped the rifle and looked around for a place to set it down. He decided to lean it against the wall by her desk, and threw his pack in front of it along with his helmet. With that done, he sat on the floor and started undoing the string on his leggings.

“What are you doing?” Sunset asked.

“Taking my boots off. I gotta take the leggings off before the boots.”

“Leggings?” Sunset asked, even more confused.

James pointed at the laced canvas wrapped around his ankles and looped under his boots’ sole.

“O-Oh.” Sunset blushed. “Leggings means something slightly different to most people nowadays.”

“What does it mean?”

“Just… don’t worry about it.” Sunset definitely didn’t want to explain that right now.

After quite a bit of fiddling with the laces, James pulled off both leggings and his boots. Standing, he followed Sunset as she led him back into the bathroom.

“Okay, so here’s the shower and all the shampoo and stuff. Don’t use that, that’s conditioner and I don’t think you’ll really need it. Other than that, I think you’ve got it from here.” Sunset grabbed the handle on the doorway, but paused before she left. “...Do you even have something to change into?”

James looked up and grinned sheepishly.

“Yeah, about that. We only get issued one uniform usually, and uh…” He looked down at his mud covered pants. “This is it.” He looked back up. “I have spare socks and underwear in my bag, but that’s about it.”

Sunset thought for a moment. He’d need clothes eventually. She could deal with that later. Right now, they just had to make it work.

“Are they clean?” She asked. He nodded. “Good. Go get those, then. I’ll try to find something for you to cover up with while I wash your clothes. When you change, just throw them on the floor outside and I’ll handle them.”

James nodded once again and went to grab his clothes. When he came back, Sunset was holding a white bathrobe.

“This was all I could find.” She grinned. “For some reason, I don’t think a five-foot six girl’s clothes would fit a however-tall-you-are man.”

James grinned. “It wouldn’t be comfortable, I’ll tell you that much.”

With a nod of thanks, he took the robe in his hands and hooked it on the towel rack as he shut the door behind him. The remaining bits of his uniform, sans underwear, were quickly removed before he opened the door and tossed the dirty clothes onto the floor. With that done, the man reached over and turned the hot tap in the shower. With a gurgle, the water came spraying out of the head in a constant stream. After a few moments, James reached his hand in, and grinned as he felt the warm water run across his hands. Wasting no time, the remaining pieces of his clothes came off and he stepped in. A long sigh escaped him as he felt the dirt wash off his body.

“Oh, Lord, this is amazing.”

Sunset reached down and picked up the pile of clothes on the floor, holding them at arm's length as she carried them. The girl pushed the door next to the bathroom open, and flipped the light switch as she walked into the laundry closet. Setting the clothes on top of the dryer, she opened the washing machine and quickly slid the man’s clothes in. The knobs on the machine clicked as she turned the heat setting to cold. Once the water had started, she poured the detergent in and closed the lid, leaving the beat-up washing machine to run its cycle.

Stepping back out into the living room, Sunset sighed as she took a seat at her desk. She laughed and shook her head.

I’ve got a storybook character taking a shower in my bathroom while I do his laundry. This definitely takes the cake for weirdest thing to happen to me.

Sunset sighed as she slid deeper into her chair.

What am I even doing? What do I need to do? Long run, James needs to get home, obviously, but I don’t even know how he got here in the first place! All I know is that the book reacted with the portal… somehow, and he came through it.

She glanced over at her book bag and thought for a moment.

Wait… the portal to his world closed when I took the book off the statue. So that probably has something to do with it. She shook her head. But that still doesn’t explain why it opened to his world in the first place.

Sunset unzipped her bag and pulled out her journal and the novel. The pages flew by as she flipped through the pages of the novel she’d read already. They didn’t seem any different than before.

Not sure what I was even expecting there. She thought disappointedly.

Next, she grabbed her journal and inspected the outside to make sure it wasn’t damaged by the mystery magic. A weight left her shoulders when she saw it was completely untouched.

Wait! She jerked upright in her seat. What if it changed the portal completely?! What if we’re not connected to Equestria anymore?!

Sunset flipped open the journal and grabbed a pen from her desk, quickly writing out a brief message to Princess Twilight.

Hey Twilight. I know this is a bit weird,and kind of late in the night, but I was wondering if I could ask you a question real quick.

Sunset looked at the clock. It was already almost ten o’clock. There was a good chance that Twilight was either busy or asleep. But, as Sunset had learned in her past conversations with the mare, there was also a very good chance Twilight was not only still awake, but reading or studying something nearby. The thought put her a little more at ease. If there was a response to be had, it’d come soon.

But as the seconds rolled by, and no response came, the fear started to come back in spades. Sunset tapped her pen and bounced her leg impatiently as she waited for a response. Her mind started to wander towards the what-ifs. What if the connection really was severed? Would Twilight notice? If so, how long would it take? Would she even be able to fix it if she did?

Fear and worry swirled around in her head in force now. So much so that when the journal finally did glow with its familiar aura, she jumped in her seat as the vibrating shook the desk. She leaned forward to read the words as they appeared across the page.

Hey Sunset! I’d love to answer your question. What’s up?

Sunset allowed herself a small sigh of relief. Her journal still worked. At the very least, the connection wasn’t completely severed.

I just wanted to know if the portal’s on. It looked a little weird earlier and I wanted to make sure everything’s alright. She frowned. Not that anything’s wrong on our end, of course. I was just wondering if you tested it. Actually, I wanted to know if it was on. If it wasn’t, I wanted to know if you wanted to test it. Not that anything’s wrong on our end, though.

Sunset stared at the words on the age. As she read over them again, she cringed. With a groan, she dropped her head on the desk. Twilight had to be suspicious of something at this point. That was probably the least ‘nothing’s wrong’ message she’d ever written. The journal vibrated, and Sunset pulled her head up to read the response.

It isn’t right now, no. I try not to leave it open, just in case an animal or something gets curious and accidentally falls in. As for your other question, no I don’t really test it regularly. I can only see it from one side at a time, and it’s a bit of a pain to go through it, in more ways than one. I know it’s a bit late right now, and I’m assuming you don’t want to go all the way back to school on a Friday night, so we can test it tomorrow morning if it’s worrying you!

Sunset smiled to herself. Leave it to Twilight to completely gloss over about half a dozen warning flags, but remember her commute. Either way, Sunset would be able to make sure the portal worked.

Sounds great! I’ll meet you tomorrow morning.

Sunset nodded to herself. If the portal wasn’t closed permanently, that would mean that not only was she not trapped, but they could also enlist the help of Twilight to get James back home. The princess in Equestria would know more about this sort of thing than her friends at CHS. Sunset pushed her chair back from the desk and sighed as she spun the chair around. She stared out the window at the moon. Ever since school let out, time had flown by. First soccer with her friends, then James’s appearance, and now getting him here, she hadn’t really stopped since her talk with Rarity.

She was drawn from her thoughts as a familiar feeling resurfaced.

“Oh yeah, dinner,” she said to herself.

Sunset laughed quietly. She’d completely forgotten about food. After the day she’d had, something as mundane as dinner was a welcome change. Standing up, she wandered over to her kitchenette. Opening the fridge, she sighed at the dismal supply of foodstuff. Moving onto the cabinets, she swung them open and grinned.

No matter what, ramen noodles are always there for you.

She reached up and grabbed a package, and hesitated before grabbing a second. He’d probably eat whatever she made.

He’s not your child, why are you treating him like one?

Sunset shook her head.

“I’m just worrying too much,” she said to herself.

“Worrying about what?”

Sunset jumped, dropping the package of ramen on the counter. She turned around, and promptly blushed furiously. The robe that she got for him was a little shorter than she thought it would be. It barely covered the… important bits and she could see his underwear peeking through the bottom.

“You got done quicker than I thought you would,” Sunset said quickly.

“Oh, uh… sorry?”

“N-No, it’s fine. I just… wasn’t expecting you to be done yet, is all.”

“Well, I didn’t want to take too long and use all your hot water,” he peered over her shoulder. “Oh, are you cooking something?”

“Y-Yeah. Nothing fancy.”

“Need help?” He said as he walked up to the counter next to her. Sunset shook her head and turned back to the stove top.

“I think I’m fine. This stuff is really easy to make.”

James grabbed one of the packages and looked it over.

“What is this?”

“Ramen noodles.”

“Is this… Japanese?” He mumbled. Sunset paused.

“N-No. It’s Neighponese,” she said. Best not to open that can of worms today either.

James stared at the package and glanced back up at Sunset. He didn’t seem upset, which put her at ease.

“What is it?”

“It’s like a soup. It’s got noodles and a broth.”

“And this…” he held up a package. “Has everything you need to do that?”

“Pretty much. Just add water.”

“...How?”

“Here, let me show you.”

Sunset grabbed the other package from the counter next to him and tore it open. She pulled out the block of noodles and two small packets.

“This is the noodles. You drop this in boiling water, stir, and when they turn soft, you add these two packets to make the water into broth.”

“Ah. Clever,” he grinned. “Man, if we had this back home, I’m sure the army would’ve thrown about a hundred of them in a pot and called it dinner.”

Sunset grinned.

“Well, I don’t think I’d complain too much. They’re pretty good.”

“Most guys wouldn’t, probably. It’s hot and it sounds easy for the cooks to make,” James shrugged, “Everyone would like it.”

“I guess they would,” Sunset shrugged. “If you wanna hang out, this’ll be ready soon.”

James nodded and walked towards the couch.

“Oh, and your clothes should be done washing here in about twenty minutes, after that we have to let them air dry.” Sunset turned to James. “Sorry, but I can’t get you your clothes back until tomorrow.”

James waved a hand.

“It’s fine. I’ll just be glad to get clean clothes.” They laughed softly together. His laughter faded quickly and he grew more serious. “I really appreciate this. All of this. You really didn’t have to do anything for me.” He chuckled softly to himself. “I’m just a random guy that came out of a statue.”

Sunset grinned.

“You’re welcome.”

“I’ll find a way to pay you back for all this. I swear.”

Sunset shook her head.

“You don’t have to do that, James.”

“No, I do,” James insisted, “I don’t want to put any more strain on you. Staying financially stable just out of high school is hard enough, even without some guy mooching off of you.”

James paused. Sunset seemed to have frozen completely where she stood. He tilted his head. Then his eyes widened and he leaned his head back as he realized.

“You’re not out of high school… are you?” he said slowly.

Sunset said nothing. James nodded slowly.

“Right,” he said softly.

The silence of the room made James wish he was being shot at again.

“James…” Sunset started, “I promise you, you are not a burden.”

“Sunset… I can’t. Not only do I feel terrible enough already, I can’t expect a family to take care of me. I’m nineteen, I can handle myself out there.”

“I don’t have a family,” Sunset said quickly, “You’re not a burden at all.”

James stared at Sunset.

“You… live alone?”

“Yes. You won’t get in anyone’s way.”

“That’s not the problem, Sunset! How am I supposed to let you do all this and be a student and have to work to pay for an apartment?”

“James, it’s fine! Really!”

“Sunset… I just don’t feel comfortable letting you do all this.”

“James! It’s fine!” Sunset repeated, “I promise you, you are not a burden. Look around! Do I look like I’m on the brink of poverty here?”

“That’s not the point-”

“Then what is?!” Sunset threw her arms up, exasperated. “I was in your situation not too long ago. I came here with nothing, and I was from a completely different world. But unlike you, I had enough on me to keep myself secure until I could get a stable income. But you,” Sunset gestured at him. “You’ve got a gun. Which not only doesn’t help you, it’ll get you arrested and thrown in jail. And then they’ll find out you have no documentation. Then what? What happens then?”

“Sunset-” James tried to say.

“You can pay me back later, if you really need to. But I need you to get over whatever kind of dumb pride you have and just accept my help!” She threw the potholder in her hand down on the counter. “I just don’t understand why you would rather starve in the streets than accept my help!”

“Look, Sunset, I get that you want to help me and I appreciate it. Really, I do,” Sunset was taken aback by the force in his voice. It was the first time he’d spoken with really any sort of confidence since coming through the portal. “But I’m a grown man who can work for himself. You don’t need me coming in here and messing everything up for you just because I happened to fall out of that… thing, right in front of you. And I really can’t understand why you’re insisting so much that I let you do this.”

“Maybe you just need to see that friends can help other friends and not expect anything back.”

James frowned. “Friends? You don’t know me! You met me two hours ago!”

“Dammit, James, just let me help you. I will let you pay me back however you want when you can. But right now, you can’t. And I want to help you get there. Alright? And me leaving you on the streets is going to cost you way more than it would for you to just accept my help.”

James clenched his jaw and stared at Sunset. He realized there was no use in arguing, and he shook his head and sighed. He hated not having a choice.

“...Fine,” he relented. “But I am going to pay you back at some point.” He looked her in the eye. “And you can’t sto- oh shit.”

Sunset raised an eyebrow, but wasn’t able to get a word out before James ran over to the stove. She turned her head and gasped. The potholder than she’d thrown on the counter had slid near the stove’s flame and caught fire. He grabbed it from the non-burning end and threw it in the sink, reaching over it and hitting it with the taps on at full blast. The flames were quickly extinguished, leaving only a smokey silence. James stared at the soggy piece of fabric and looked up at Sunset.

“The potholder may have caught on fire a little bit,” James looked up at Sunset sheepishly. “And, um… sorry for cussing.”

Sunset grinned. “Consider part of your debt repaid.”

James frowned and pointed at Sunset. “I don’t count that.”

Sunset shrugged and grinned.

“I do.” She walked over and dropped a block of noodles in the boiling water. “Food will be ready in a bit.”

James shook his head, muttering to himself as he dropped himself down onto the couch.

Sunset grinned to herself as she stirred the noodles. She started thinking about what she’d said to James. Yes, he wasn’t going to bankrupt her any time soon, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t put a dent in her savings. Of course, she’d planned for things to come up at some point. She could easily provide for him for a good bit of time. Maybe a month or two without many lifestyle choices, especially since he wasn’t very picky, it seemed. But beyond that? Sunset wasn’t so sure.

If she picked up a few more shifts during the week at work, that should help keep things afloat a little bit longer. She hoped it wouldn’t come to that. Despite the fact that she'd told Rarity that very same day this was what she had dreamed of, she knew her first priority should be to get him home as soon as possible. Hopefully it wouldn’t take them more than a month or two at the most. Especially with Princess Twilight’s help.

Sunset shook her head. One thing at a time, she thought.

With a little more flair than was necessary, she poured the flavor packets into the noodles and stirred. When the broth was mixed, she poured the pot into two bowls and set it in the sink to be cleaned later. Then she dropped a fork and soup spoon into the bowls and picked them up.

“It’s ready, James.”

She got no response, and frowned. Sunset glanced over her shoulder and grinned. The soldier had fallen asleep on the couch. She grabbed the two bowls and set one down in front of him with a thud, and the man jerked awake.

“Somebody’s tired,” she teased.

James nodded as he sat up. “How can I not with a couch this comfortable?”

“Oh trust me, I know the feeling.” Sunset grinned as sat down next to him on the couch. “Anyway, there’s your food.”

James leaned forward and stared at the noodles. He picked up the fork and poked it around. He grabbed the ceramic spoon and lifted a spoonful of broth to his mouth.

“Dammit,” He cussed, dropping the spoon back into the bowl. “That’s really hot.”

“Sorry about that. Forgot to tell you,” Sunset apologized, “Just try to blow on it a bit before you eat it.”

James tried again, holding it to his lips as he blew on the spoon. Hesitantly, he tried the broth again.

“How is it?” She asked. He nodded.

“Well, when it isn’t scalding my tongue, it’s pretty good.”

“Glad you like it.”

The two sat in silence for quite a while, content with quietly eating rather than making conversation. The day wore them both down significantly, especially for James. Setting aside the fact he was in a different universe altogether, Sunset realized that if he’d gone through anything like what she’d read so far, he’d been sleeping in the dirt and hiking through the mountains without proper rest in awhile. He had to be exhausted. It almost made her exhaustion feel insignificant. In the end, she thought, exhaustion was still tiring, regardless of whether it was justified or not.

Sunset sighed in content. Warm ramen on a brisk fall day was always nice and left a warm feeling behind. Looking down, she was happy to find that she still had at least half of her bowl left. Then she glanced over to see how James was liking it.

“Did you seriously finish already?” She asked, mouth agape.

“What?” James glanced down at his empty bowl on the table. “Oh, uh… yeah?”

“...Did you even chew?”

“Yeah, but you don’t really need to chew noodles a whole lot.” James shrugged. “It was good, though. Thanks. I really appreciate it.”

Sunset just shook her head.

“Well, do you want to watch something?” She said, gesturing to the TV.

James eyed the thing skeptically. Sunset could tell he was still reluctant to believe that it really was a TV. Although Sunset had explained to him that screens didn’t need tubes anymore, he didn’t seem to completely believe her. But, to his credit, he seemed willing to entertain the idea and nodded.

“Sure.”

Sunset nodded and flipped the TV on, defaulting to the news channel.

“What do you want to watch?”

James’s eyes were wide with wonder as he watched the figures move and talk on the screen.

“It’s so clear…” he muttered. Sunset grinned.

“Little better than you’re used to, James?”

“Much.”

“Well, what do you want to watch?”

James stared at the screen a few seconds longer, and finally tore his eyes from it to face her, shaking his head.

“Uh… Anything’s fine. News is news. Doesn’t matter to me.”

“Well, we don’t have to watch the news. We’ve got plenty of options.”

“Do you not have evening newscasts?”

“Well, yeah. But it’s not like that’s the only thing on right now.”

“What? So... do one of the channels just not do the news or something?”

“...James, plenty of channels don’t do the news at night.”

“Plenty? Hold on, how many channels do you have?”

“How many…?” Sunset shook her head, “I don’t know, maybe a few thousand?”

“You… what?” James gaped, “A few thousand?”

Instead of answering, Sunset grabbed the remote and brought up the guide on the TV. James’s eyes widened as he stared at the TV as Sunset brought the guide up. The screen was plastered with various channels and a list of each of their scheduled programs. Sunset scrolled through the lists, grinning to herself as the channel numbers ticked up into the thousands. James stared all the while. When the guide looped back to the start, she turned and smiled smugly at him. He just shook his head.

“This place is gonna kill me…” He muttered, head in hands.

“What was that?”

“I said just pick whatever you like,” James said, sitting up.

“There’s a show on here about nature that I think you might like.”

“Sounds good to me.”

The TV flashed all kinds of animals and areas of the world. Sunset always liked these programs. It showed her the world that she now called home. Of course, given certain legal limitations, she’d probably never get to see these places.

Being an illegal alien, in two senses of the word, tends to make that difficult.

Sunset’s thoughts drifted to her legal status here. They’d flubbed enough papers for her to be made a citizen. She had even started the classwork needed for her driver’s license.

But would those papers hold up for a passport?

She was scared to find out, which is why Sunset had never tried to leave the country. Then there was James. A whole other ball of worries. He had even less documentation than she did. What would happen if he tried to get a library card, let alone a passport? The equestrian shook the thoughts from her head. A worry for another time.

“So how does this world compare to yours?” Sunset asked, setting her now empty bowl down on the table.

No response. With a furrowed brow, the girl looked to her side and grinned at the sight in front of her. James had his head back against the couch with his mouth open, completely passed out. Again.

Sunset stood, grabbing a blanket from the cabinet and throwing it over him. The man didn’t so much as flinch, and Sunset shook her head before going up to her own bed.

She grabbed her pajamas where she’d left them on her bed that morning and quickly changed into them. Then, coming back downstairs, she stopped into the bathroom to wipe off the little bit of makeup she wore before brushing her teeth. Once that was finished, she flipped off the light switch and stepped out of the bathroom.

“Goodnight James,” she spoke softly to the form on the couch as she ascended the stairs.

“Goodnight Sunset.” She heard a groggy voice mumble softly from below.

She grinned as she came up the stairs and climbed into bed. Sunset reached over and switched off her bedside lamp, plunging the whole apartment into darkness. The only light remaining came from the streetlights coming through the window, and the moon hanging in the sky.

Chapter 4

James let go of the girls and fell onto the couch with a sigh.

“Are you going to be alright, James?” Sunset asked.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine.” He smiled weakly. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll get along.”

Sunset smiled back and nodded.

“Alright. We’re here for you if you need anything.”

James’s smile grew stronger.

“Thanks.”

He sighed tiredly, dropping his smile.

“So. How long do we think it’ll take to get me home?”

Sunset and Twilight glanced at each other. Twilight cleared her throat.

“There’s no way we can be sure. We’ll have to research our options.”

James stared blankly at the wall, nodding absentmindedly.

“We’re going to try our best, James. I promise.”

James stopped nodding, and sighed.

“I know,” he muttered. He shook his head, coming back to the world. “Alright, well, there’s a possibility I might be here for a while. So I guess let’s do an equipment check and see what I’ve got to work with.”

“As good of a place to start as any.” Sunset nodded.

James stood and shuffled over to his pack. He brought it over to the open space on the floor by Sunset’s desk and laid it flat, spreading the belt out to the side. Sunset looked over the pack. The book called it a “Haversack”. It was an oddly designed piece of equipment, now that she looked at it. It wasn’t like a backpack, like she’d thought. It consisted of several flaps that wrapped around whatever was inside and held it together by tightening the straps around it. It looked extremely impractical as far as bags go, and from what she’d read, the soldiers who used it agreed. The haversack had straps that clipped onto the ammo belt he wore around his waist, simultaneously holding the ammo belt up and keeping the pack on his body. Attached to the belt was a canteen in its pouch and a small rectangular pouch with a flap on the top that was snapped shut.

“Let’s see what we’ve got,” he said, looking over everything in front of him.

James undid several straps on the side and took a shiny, muted-green colored roll off the outside of the pack. It was rather large and bulky. He unrolled the bundle, revealing a dark brown wool coat underneath the black material. He pulled it out, and set it aside.

“Overcoat and poncho.”

Reach back over to the haversack, he undid another strap on the top and opened the pouch, pulling out a metal tin.

“Mess kit,” he said as he set it aside. He undid a few more straps and set aside another tool that slipped out from beneath the pouch. “Entrenching tool.”

After undoing a few more straps and buckles he unfolded the pack itself. On the top of what was inside were a few boxes with simple labeling. Sunset could make out the words ‘US Army Rations’ on the side. Next to that were two pairs of socks rolled up into small bundles and another tin with soap and a washcloth inside.

Next was a small bag with a knot on the top, which James untied. He pulled out from inside a watch, a pocket Bible, a shaving kit, a crumpled envelope with assorted currency in it, his off-duty cap, and a folded photo from home. After laying everything out, he tossed the bag next to his personal items and reached around the side of the pack and pulled the bayonet out of its sheath.

“Oh!” Twilight jumped. James looked up, confused. “Is that… a knife?”

James nodded.

“It’s my bayonet. It goes on the end of my rifle like this.”

James reached over and grabbed his rifle from its spot by Sunset’s desk. Twilight subconsciously stepped behind Sunset and Sunset herself took a step back. James, however, didn’t notice. He lifted the rifle and slid the bayonet into place with a click. Turning back, he held the rifle in front of him with the muzzle point up and to his right.

“See?” James pointed to the bayonet with one hand while supporting the weight of the rifle with the other. “It clips on at the end of the barrel right there.”

“And… do you stab people with it like that?”

James nodded. “That’s the idea. I’ve never had to do it, personally, but my father did in the Great War. They climbed out of their trenches and charged enemy lines a lot. One of those times, he said he got a German with a bayonet while running.” James shook his head. “It’s not something he liked to talk about.”

“I can’t imagine why…” Sunset said absentmindedly while worryingly staring at the man holding a rifle in her apartment. James looked at the two, and his eyes widened.

“Oh, uh…” He set the rifle down next to his pack. “Sorry.”

Sunset smiled weakly. “It’s no problem. Could you just… um… take the knife off your gun?”

James nodded and quickly unclipped the bayonet and resheathed it.

“Sorry,” he said meekly. Sunset cleared her throat, trying to change the subject.

“You’ve got a lot of stuff there.”

James nodded and looked over his gear.

“I’ve actually got a pretty small load here. I’ve dumped a lot of unnecessary gear over time.”

“What is all this stuff anyway?” Twilight asked.

“This is all different kinds of field gear.” James pointed to a folded stretch of wool that still sat in his pack. “Just from my pack, that’s a blanket, that’s a wool overcoat, that’s a rain poncho, those are rations, those are socks, that’s a personal care kit, that’s a shovel, and that’s a bag of personal things from home. On the belt, I have my ammunition, my canteen, and my first aid pouch. That over there is a bandolier of ammo. I must’ve lost my second one somewhere.”

“And you live with this?”

“For the most part, yeah. I mean, we’ve got trucks and convoys that resupply us with food, ammo, and water. Even then, when we go through towns, we sometimes stay in the empty buildings.”

“I can’t even imagine living out of a backpack for a month.”

James chuckled.

“I’ve been in the army almost two years. You learn to prioritize the things you need.” James started repacking the haversack. “Anyway, yeah. I’m well equipped to live in wartime Europe, but I don’t think any of this is gonna help in the big city.”

“Well you have friends to help you with that.” Twilight smiled.

James grinned to himself and nodded.

“That I do.” He stood as he finished packing everything back together. “Well, I suppose I’ll make do until I can get home. Either that or get a job.” He laughed weakly and shrugged. “If you know anyone who needs a helping hand, I guess they can call on me ‘til I leave. Don’t know how much work I can really give with technology, though.”

“If it comes down to that, I’m sure we could find something for you to do,” Sunset said. “Regardless of that, I think we should at least go get you some more clothes to wear. You can only wear what you’ve got on for so long before it gets dirty again, and you can’t really wear an army uniform without getting attention drawn to you.”

“I understand. I just don’t want to make you spend any more money than you already have.”

“James, we’re not doing this again.”

“We’ll do this until I’m back to being shot at by Germans.”

“Well then do it quietly. Twilight,” Sunset turned to the girl in question, “Do you want to come with us?”

“If it’s okay with you, Sunset, I’d like to do more research on this problem, if I can,” Twilight said, “Maybe I’ll see if I can learn anything from the book.”

“Sure, Twilight.” Sunset grinned.

“Can I ask you a favor?” James inquired softly.

“Of course,” Twilight said, “What is it?”

“I understand what you’re doing and… I appreciate it. I really do, but… if you look a bit… ahead, shall we say, um… just don’t tell me how it ends. Good or bad. Okay?”

The mood turned somber once again as Twilight nodded.

“I promise you, I won’t.”

With that, James nodded and stepped back.

“Thank you.”

“Good luck, Twilight,” Sunset said to Twilight as she opened the door. “Come on, James.”

The purple-haired girl waved as the two left. With the click of the latch, the apartment was all but silent. Now alone, Twilight walked over to the desk, sitting in the chair in front of the computer as she grabbed the novel. The image of the helmet stared back at her as she paused, biting her lip. Reluctantly, she opened the book and started reading.

“I hope you know what you’re doing,” James said as he looked over the racks of clothes. “Cause I sure as hell don’t.”

“Those are women’s clothes, James,” Sunset said. “The men’s section is over here.”

“Why is there so much?”

“I don’t know, that’s just how it is here.” Sunset shook her head. “Anyway, look, here’s the stuff that I think might be more your style.”

After weaving through the racks, Sunset came to a stop in front of the men’s clothing section. On their left was a wall of jeans. In front of them was a myriad of athletic-wear, outdoor clothing, swimsuits, and more that was all hung up on a dozen or so racks. The red haired girl looked down at her phone. On the screen was her budget until her next paycheck. Thankfully, she’d left enough padding in her plans that they’d have a bit of spending cash for him. With a nod, she looked up at James.

“Alright, we can get you three pairs of jeans and a couple shirts for now.”

“Good Lord, those jeans are ten dollars!” James exclaimed.

“James, that’s a really good price for what it is.”

“Ten dollars? That’s what you call a good price?”

Sunset rolled her eyes.

“James, this place is a surplus store for the big-name department stores. Whatever they don’t sell, they send here to get sold at a huge discount. Look at the tag again,” Sunset pointed at the piece of paper hanging off the waistband. “These were thirty dollars originally.”

“That’s just far too much. There has to be a cheaper option.”

“Actually, we’re having a sale right now.”

James turned as a helpful looking employee walked up. He wore a pair of khakis with a tucked polo shirt and belt. The soldier reminded himself not to make any faces as he saw the man’s skin was green.

“Oh really?” James asked. Sunset could see James’s discomfort.

“Yes, sir. They’re two for 15 right now for our fall sale.”

“See, James, that’s a great deal,” she said. James looked at her, and nodded.

“Yes, of course,” he smiled to the associate. “Thank you for letting us know.”

“My pleasure,” the associate said. With that, he turned on his heel and left.

“See? Everything’s fine. Just trust me on this, James.”

“I seem to be getting that a lot lately,” the man muttered to himself. “Fine. But we’re still keeping it to a minimum. Just the essentials.”

“Deal,” Sunset said. “Alright. First things first. What size pants are you?”

“33 inch waistband, 32 inch pant length.”

“Light or dark colors?”

“...what, for Jeans?” James asked. Sunset nodded. “Uh, dark I guess.”

Sunset thumbed through the size tags on the waistband of the jeans until she found a few dark-blue pairs of jeans labeled “33x32”.

“Here.” The girl tossed the pants at the man, which he caught. “Find some shirts you like.”

The soldier looked out over the racks of clothing, passing over all of the athletic gear. His gaze landed a circular rack full of button-down flannel shirts in about a dozen different colors. He nodded to himself and pulled three shirts, each a different color off the rack.

“Done,” he said, turning to Sunset.

“...That’s it?” The girl was surprised.

“That’s it.”

“You didn’t even look at your other options.”

“Well, I… I dunno. This is pretty close to what I wore back home. I don’t see what’s wrong with it.”

Sunset tried to say something else, but shook her head.

“Alright, then. I guess we’re done, then,” She glanced at her phone’s clock. “I expected this to take a lot longer.”

“Well, better to have too much time than too little time, right?”

“I guess so,” Sunset grinned. “Well, alright then. Let’s check out, if you’re done.”

“Hi. Did you find everything you were looking for today?” The young woman behind the counter greeted with a smile.

“Yes, we did, thank you,” Sunset said with a polite smile.

“Would you like a bag?”

“Yes, that would be great.”

“Alrighty!” The girl pulled a bag out from underneath the counter, glancing up at James. “Hey, is that a costume of one of those guys from that war book series?”

Sunset looked up at James. The redhead thought she could see a light leave James’s eyes as he nodded.

“Yeah,” he nodded sourly, “A friend of mine made it for me.”

“Oh, that’s cool. Is there a convention in town or something?”

“A what?” James said, not understanding.

“A convention. For the book,” the cashier explained.

“Oh… uh, no. It’s just for fun.”

“Oh, neat.” The cashier nodded. “Well, anyway, it looks great.”

“Thank you.”

The young woman nodded at James before turning to Sunset.

“Total is $59.54. Cash or Credit?”

James gawked at the price, but tried to hide it by turning it into a cough. It didn’t work, and both Sunset and the cashier looked over at him, trying to see if he was okay. He waved them off, continuing to cough, lest he say anything bad. Sunset shook her head, pulling $60 in twenty-dollar bills from her billfold. The cashier nodded, counting the cash.

“Alright. Your change is forty-six cents.”

“Thank you.” Sunset smiled and pocketed the change.

“You’re welcome. Have a nice day.”

“You too.”

James grabbed the bag and shakily followed the girl out of the door into the main corridor of the mall. Now safe in the drone of conversation around them, James turned to Sunset.

“Jesus Christ, Sunset, that was way too much money for this.”

“James,” Sunset said exasperatedly. If she was honest, she was really getting annoyed with him worry about her money, “It’s fine. Seriously. Things cost more because we get paid more. It’s called inflation. Stop getting so upset by this, okay? I know what I’m doing.”

“Inflation or not, I don’t feel comfortable letting you spend so much money on me.”

“Figure out how to cope with it, ‘cause this is starting to get really annoying.”

Sunset immediately regretted how rudely she had said that once she saw James’s reaction. Sure, he’d yelled and been flustered or frustrated a few times already, but that was more at the world and things around them. But at that moment, he was angry. More so, he was angry at her.

“Hey, I didn’t ask you to ‘take me in’ or whatever ‘Holier than Thou’ belief you seemed to have adopted here.”

“Well I couldn’t just leave you alone on the street, James. Especially not under your circumstances.”

“Yeah, you could’ve!” James shouted. “You seem to forget that I’m not some helpless child here, I am nineteen fucking years old. I’m a soldier for my country. I was raised during the Great Depression, I know how to get by. I don’t need your handouts.”

Sunset’s guilt started to fade as she felt a fire replace it.

“I’m not giving you handouts, James, I’m giving you a chance.”

“A chance? Really?” he scoffed, “Oh well, excuse me Sister Shimmer. I didn’t realize things were so bad here. So bad that a nineteen year old man who’s killed people, couldn’t deal with it on his own!”

“And how would you have ‘dealt with it’?”

“I would’ve figured it out! I’ve got enough on me to live in the woods or find somewhere to be until I sorted things out!”

“Really? And what would you have done when you got arrested for carrying a gun around without any sort of documentation? How would you ‘figure it out’ then?”

James stared at Sunset, his anger burning in his eyes. Sunset could see he wanted to say more, but he didn’t. Instead, the soldier backed off and walked away from her in anger. Sunset grinned smugly to herself. Maybe now that she’d won that argument, he’d realize that he really did need her and he’d stop complaining. But the feeling of victory was short-lived as she watched the man drop himself onto a bench, head in his hands.

You idiot, She thought. He doesn’t need this right now. He’s just as scared as you were when you came here. He does not need you yelling at him.

Sunset walked over to James, taking a seat next to him. He didn’t acknowledge her aside from turning further away from her.

“James, I…” Sunset stopped herself and sighed. “I’m sorry for getting upset with you. I understand what you’re going through, and I’m scared for both of us. You have no documentation. If you get arrested for anything, or if they need any sort of government documents, I can’t do anything for you. You’ll be in jail and I…” Sunset paused, trying to figure out what she wanted to say. James glanced up as she stopped, but went unnoticed by Sunset as she pulled herself together with a deep breath. “I’d feel terrible for it. It’s my fault that you’re here and if you were arrested and stuck here forever, it’d be my fault too.”

“Sunset,” James sighed. “None of this is your fault.”

“No, James, it is. I had the book. I put it on the portal. I wasn’t careful and… well, this happened.”

“How were you supposed to know it was gonna do that?”

The girl shook her head.

“I should’ve been more careful. I’m the only one in this world right now besides Twilight who has even a basic understanding of magic. I shouldn’t have been so cavalier about being around the portal.”

James shook his head.

“Sunset, if everyone spends their entire life thinking of the things they could’ve done, instead of what they’re gonna do, then nothing would get done.”

“But…”

“No, no buts. Listen, you’ve read my story, right?” Sunset nodded in response to James’s question. “So you know what happened to some of my friends?”

“They didn’t go too far into the details of what happened,” Sunset shook her head. “The only mention was when someone was reading a list of deceased out loud for something or another.”

James nodded.

“Well, my buddy, Private First-Class Frederick Clark, he died during Dragoon on D-Day+1 during a German counter-attack. And I remember the moment it happened, too. We were marching along, and the Germans just come pouring over the hill, screaming and shooting immediately. And before all that, Clark had slung his rifle to take a drink from his canteen he’d asked me to keep an eye out for any Germans.

While he was drinking, some guy behind us starts mouthing off to Clark, just making some joke about him slacking or something. I turn around to say something stupid back, and right at that moment, the first German shot was fired.

I turned back around and immediately started shooting back, but while Clark was swinging his rifle back around he caught a round right in his neck and another in his chest. And like that, he was dead before he hit the ground. And all I could ever think about for weeks was: ‘What if I’d seen the Germans?’, ‘What if I’d warned him?’ And during all of that, I never stopped to think about what I was gonna do next. How I could keep it from happening again.

And then, when I was off in dreamland thinking of what I coulda done for Clark, another fellow named Matthews caught a round to the stomach during a patrol cause I didn’t see these two Germans sitting in the treeline waiting for us. That was when I realized that there’s nothing I can do about what’s already happened, but what happens next is all up to me.” James smiled. “So, take a long look at the past. See everything you did, think of all the things you could’ve done. Once you’ve got all that swirling around in your head, throw it all away and start looking forward. Otherwise you’re gonna make the same mistakes over and over again.”

Sunset smiled back.

“Okay,” She leaned forward, and hugged him gently. “Thank you, James.” the girl whispered.

“You’re welcome, Sunset.”

The two held each other for a few moments before James let go, falling back against the bench. Sunset laughed softly.

“That speech was great. It sounded like something from a movie.”

The soldier nodded.

“I’ve had to give that speech to replacements a couple of times,” James shrugged off the compliment. “Do it enough times, you get it down, I guess.”

The two sat quietly, letting the air settle for a bit. James nodded slowly to himself for a bit, thinking. Suddenly, he turned to face the girl next to him.

“Alright, let’s make a deal with each other, Sunset.”

“What kind of deal?” The redhead grinned.

“I’ll trust you, if you trust me,” Sunset tilted her head in confusion, prompting James to explain. “Okay, so I don’t trust you when you say that you know what you’re doing with money and all that stuff, and you don’t trust me to talk to people. So, we’re going to trust each other a bit more. That way, we don’t argue as much. You can teach me to be normal, and I can teach you… uh,” James paused. “To spend less money? I guess I didn’t think that part through very well.”

Sunset laughed and nodded.

“Okay. Sounds good to me.”

James reached out for a handshake and Sunset returned it. The soldier sighed contently, falling back against the bench, the young woman following suit. The two sat there in silence, watching the people go by. Sunset could see James slowly getting used to the colorful people as they passed by. He no longer reacted like he did inside the store. Now, he simply watched them go by. Every so often, his eyes would linger on a certain person a bit more than others, but not for very long.

Sunset quickly turned her eyes away from him as he looked over at her. She pretended not to notice him staring at her. To her relief, he wasn’t being lewd about his staring (as opposed to some of the underclassmen at school), he seemed to just be looking at her as he did everyone else. Mostly, he looked at her face and her hair. A few times, his eyes shot out into the crowd for a few moments before coming back to her.

After a while of this, Sunset watched the man turn back to the crowd. The soldier leaned forward, elbows on his knees, and stared at the ground, deep in thought. She took this time to do as he had done, and look closer at him.

Skin color wasn’t anything weird to her like it was to James, so by her standards he looked pretty normal, all things considered. He had beige colored skin, darkened just a little by the sun. With his sleeves rolled up, she could see several scars and scrapes trailing up and down his forearms, and his hands were rough and calloused, like Applejack’s brother, Big Mac. Her eyes rose to his face. His short brown hair was combed back, revealing his whole face to her. There weren’t any scars that she could see, but he still looked… rough, was the best way she could put it. The stubble he’d grown complimented the bags under his eyes and the lines etched across his face. All together he definitely fit the bill for a soldier. She thought it made him look sort of handsomely rugged...

“Sunset!” A voice shook the girl back to reality. “My goodness, what a pleasant surprise. I didn’t expect to see you here.”

The girl in question looked up, trying to act like she wasn’t staring at the man next to her.

“Rarity?” Sunset asked, “What are you doing here?”

“Well, I was out doing some shopping. My paycheck came through yesterday, so I thought I’d get some things I’ve had my eye on for awhile now. Oh, and by the way, darling, I started reading that book you suggested, and I think it really is quite fascinating. I thought that those dashing young men were quite the… um…” Rarity trailed off as she noticed the man sitting next to Sunset. “Oh, I’m terribly sorry. Are you a friend of Sunset’s?”

“Oh, uh, yeah. My name’s James,” The man reached his hand out, which Rarity shook.

“Wonderful to meet you, darling.” The purple-haired girl paused. “Your name seems familiar. Have we met before?”

The soldier glanced at Sunset, whose face had gotten noticeably paler.

“I don’t believe so.” James crossed his arms and put on an easy grin. “I’ve been told I’ve just got one of those faces.”

“No, it’s not your… face…” The girl’s eyes fell on the T-Patch on his shoulder. The man saw the light click on as the parts fell into place. He saw her lips mutter two words:

“The book…”

The fashionista looked over to Sunset, noticing the redhead’s fear immediately.

“Sunset…” Rarity said slowly, “What’s going on?”

“Rarity,” Sunset said, “I-I can explain.”

“I hope you can…”

“T-This, um… This is James Garrett. From that book I was telling you about.”

Normally, Rarity would laugh if one of her friends told her something like that, assuming it to be some kind of joke from a certain chromatic haired friend of hers. But since it was coming from a friend who she’d seen magically transform and grow wings twice now, she wasn’t so sure that the Equestrian was joking. When Sunset started looking more worried after her hesitation to respond, she knew she was serious.

“What happened?” The purple haired girl said simply.

“I promise you, this all makes sense with context, but I can’t tell you here,” Sunset pleaded, “Just come with us to my apartment, Twilight’s there too.”

“Our Twilight or the princess?”

“Princess Twilight.”

Rarity sighed, deciding not to argue.

“Alright, I’ll come with you. If Twilight’s involved, you must be serious.”

Sunset sighed in relief.

“Thank you, Rarity.” The redhead stood, and James followed. “Alright, we’ll meet you there. Do you still remember how to get there?”

“What do you mean?”

“Do you know how to get to my apartment?”

“No, I meant what do you mean you’ll ‘meet me there’?”

“Oh, well, we took the bus. So we’ll take it back and meet you there.”

Rarity scoffed.

“Absolutely not, darling! I’ll drive you both.”

“Rarity, you really don’t have to.”

“Sunset, darling, the bus is absolutely disgusting. Why on earth would rather take it than ride with me?” Rarity shook her head. “Absolutely not, you two are riding with me.”

Sunset sighed. First Rarity, now James. She relented, knowing there was no way she was going to beat Rarity in this argument.

“Lead the way, oh selfless maiden.”

“Thank you.” Rarity nodded, ignoring the sarcasm. She turned to James, holding her hand out. “First, I’d like to introduce myself properly. My name is Rarity. It is wonderful to meet you.”

James shook her hand, grinning.

“Hello, Miss Rarity. My name is James Garrett. Pleasure to meet you, too.”

Rarity smiled.

“Such a gentleman. Well, come on, you two. My car isn’t far.”

The violet-haired girl turned and walked towards the nearest exit. James and Sunset glanced at each other, James grinning.

“I like her.”

“Come on.” Sunset shook her head.

The two stood, quickly walking towards the fashionista and falling into pace next to her. The three pushed through the doors of the mall and out into the parking lot.

Sunset watched as James eyed the cars as they walked past. She grinned.

“Pretty amazing things, aren’t they?”

The man nodded.

“Definitely. They sure look a hell of a lot more slick than what we had back in Colorado, I’ll tell you that much,” he laughed. “The big thing for me is there’s just so many different kinds. I’m amazed that I’m still seeing new ones. I’ve barely seen two cars that were the same, and new ones just keep showing up.”

“Oh trust me, I still see new cars all the time here. It’s pretty crazy.”

“Here we are.”

Rarity opened the driver side door to a white sedan. Sunset walked over to the passenger side, and stepped in. James followed just behind her in the back seat. She watched his eyes go wide once he’d sat down properly. Rarity started the car, but James didn’t seem to notice. She grinned. The car belonged to Rarity’s parents, and it was a hybrid. The first time Sunset had been in the car, she hadn’t even realized the car was on until they started moving.

“Make sure you get your seatbelt on, James,” Sunset said. The man felt around for the seatbelt. Once he found it, he pulled on it and it extended. He stared at the belt, confused, and looked to Sunset for help. She grinned. “It clicks into that boxy-thing down there.”

He looked down, and found what she was talking about and with a click, the seatbelt was secure.

“Y’know, we have something like these back home,” James quipped. “Except we don’t actually use them.”

“Well, darling, it’s the law here.” Rarity said as she pulled out of the parking space. “Besides, if we get in an accident, it’ll keep you safe.”

“I’d rather get thrown clear of the crash, personally.”

“That’s not how it…” Sunset started. “Nevermind.”

“Sunset, do you want to play some music?” Rarity asked.

“Sure.”

James looked up towards the front console. Sunset grinned at him as he watched with confusion as she pulled out her cell phone. She connected to the bluetooth in the car and brought up her music app, playing one of her playlists. Suddenly, the music started playing all around the car, and Sunset laughed to herself as she saw James jump in surprise. He looked around the car looking for the source of the music, Sunset assumed.

“Um… Sunset, darling,” Rarity said softly, watching the man through her mirror, “Would you be able to explain at least some of what’s going on right now?”

The redhead sighed.

“There was a… thing. With the portal. And uh… well, James sort of came through.”

“Wonderful explanation, darling.” Rarity rolled her eyes, “Is the portal alright?”

Sunset nodded.

“Yeah, that’s how Twilight got here.”

“And how is her majesty doing?”

“Fine, I guess?” Sunset shrugged, “I left her with to study our problem, so I imagine she’s found plenty to occupy herself with.”

“Does James,” Rarity glanced through the rear view mirror at the soldier, who was still looking for the source of the music, before focusing back on the road. “Does he know he’s from a book?”

“Yeah, we told him. He’s dealing with it as best he can, but he didn’t take it too well at first. He seems to be doing better now, though.”

“I do hope he’s alright. I can’t imagine what it must be like to find out you’re a fictional character.”

Sunset nodded quietly, saying nothing in response. The rest of the car ride was uneventful, James eventually gave up on trying to find the speakers and just settled back into the comfortable seats, much to Sunset’s relief.

Before long, Rarity pulled into a parking space on the street in front of Sunset’s building and the trio exited the car before heading upstairs to Sunset’s apartment.

“Twilight, we’re back,” Sunset called as she swung the door open.

“Sunset,” Twilight called from the desk.

The redhead grew worried immediately at the look of worry on Twilight’s face.

“Twilight? Is everything okay?”

“We have a bit of a… situation.

“What kind of situation?”

“Just… read it,” Twilight said, thrusting the book forward, “Start at paragraph three on the left page.”

The redhead looked, down, reading aloud.

“James tore his eyes away from the mirror and unslung his rifle as he turned to leave. But then he paused. He took another look in the mirror, and gave the soldier one last grin and raised his hand to wave goodbye.”

“Wait. I remember that part,” James said as he walked in behind Rarity. “That’s what happened right before I came through the mirror.”

Sunset nodded before continuing to read.

“‘See you around,’ he muttered to himself. But the grin quickly faded and he dropped his hand to his rifle as he watched the reflection roll and wave like ripples in a pond. It started in the center and flowed out and before long the whole surface was moving.” Sunset frowned, and glanced up at James. “How accurate is this so far?”

“Pretty much exactly what happened,” James nodded solemnly. “I was, well, reminiscing about the past, is a good way to put it.”

“Even the mirror part?”

“Yeah. That was… yeah,” James shrugged. “I’m not sure what did it, or why, but yeah it started rippling.”

Sunset nodded thoughtfully, looking back down at the book. Things were getting worrying at this point. Unless this book suddenly turned into a fantasy novel halfway through, this was definitely not supposed to be there.

“He stared at the mirror in awe. Slowly, he reached out and touched the glass. His heartbeat skyrocketed as he felt his fingers dip into what should have been solid glass. James ripped his hand out, eyes going wide. Slowly, as if the mirror would lunge at him and attack, he raised his rifle to the mirror and poked it with the barrel. Like with his hand, the end of the barrel disappeared into the surface of the glass.”

Sunset trailed off, reading ahead through the rest of the page.

“James went through the portal in the book?” she thought aloud. She turned to Twilight, thinking. “Maybe that’s why the portal connected. Maybe he always went through the mirror, and the portal just made it a reality?” She looked to James. The man shrugged.

“I have no idea. If you’re asking me if walking through mirrors like it’s water is normal on Earth, then I promise you it isn’t.”

“Sunset,” Twilight said stiffly. She looked at the princess. “Please, turn the page and read the beginning of the next chapter.”

Sunset furrowed her brow, ice forming in her stomach. Twilight never acted like this. If she did, something was certainly wrong. She kept reading.

“‘That totally counted as a goal!’ ‘The hay are you talkin’ about? Pinkie blocked it!’ ‘No, that bag was the goal post!’ Rainbow pointed.” Sunset froze. Her eyes shot up to meet Rarity’s, who were wide eyed in shock. She turned to Twilight, who had an uneasy look on her face.

“Sunset… how much do you remember from yesterday afternoon?”

“I-I… I think I remember all of it.”

“Did James fall out of the portal onto his face?”

“Y-Yes.”

“Did you pick up his helmet and see something on the side of it?”

“Yes.”

“...did you two take the bus home?”

“Yes...” Sunset took a deep breath. “Is… is the book rewriting itself?”

Twilight nodded.

“I think it is.”

“Either that or someone predicted the future,” James joked, but everyone could tell his heart wasn’t in it. He shook his head, and turned from the group. “Sorry,” he muttered, hiding his face.

“W-Well, James does have a point,” Rarity said. “Perhaps something magical IS happening here. Perhaps the portal did make some bizzare book story a reality.”

“That would make us story book characters, Rarity,” Sunset frowned.

“Ah, y-yes… I suppose that rules out that idea,” she shook her head, “But perhaps the book is rewriting itself, as you said. Even so, we don’t know what is new and what isn’t.”

Twilight nodded.

“Rarity’s right. We need a second, untouched copy to be sure.”

“I have one at home I can bring,” Rarity offered. Sunset shook her head.

“No, keep that. You need it for class. Besides, it might end up in Equestria for all we know,” Sunset grinned. “Not sure how much Principal Celestia would like that idea.”

“So how do you plan to get another copy?”

“There’s a bookstore at the shopping center not too far from here. I could run down there and get one real quick.”

Twilight nodded.

“Good idea. Then we can get started on research.”

“I can help you with that once I get back,” Sunset agreed. “We’ll probably want to rule out possibilities of what caused it. But first, we’d have to figure out what the possibilities are.” she frowned. This was going to be a lot more work than she’d thought.

“How about this, darlings: I can get another copy, and you two can get started on research, yes?” Rarity offered. Sunset turned to Twilight and shrugged.

“That works.”

“I can go with her,” James offered.

The three turned to face him. The first thing Sunset noticed was his eyes were red, like he’d been crying. Her thoughts drifted back to the book and she made a note to read more into what had happened in France. She nodded.

“Okay,” Sunset reached for her wallet, and handed a couple bills to Rarity. “Take this and get another copy.”

“Oh, no thank you, Sunset. I can pay for it.”

The redhead frowned.

“Rarity, you don’t need to do that. Just take the money.”

Rarity reached a hand out to Sunset’s, but didn’t take the money, much to Sunset’s annoyance. Instead, she pushed her back towards her wallet.

“I insist,” Rarity said simply.

Sunset sighed. She knew she wouldn’t win that argument, so she dropped it. Behind Rarity, she could see James grinning like a cheshire cat at the whole ordeal.

“Fine.” She put the money back in her wallet. “I guess we’ll see you guys when you get back, then.”

“Of course, Sunset.” Rarity waved to Twilight and Sunset. “Ta!”

With that, she opened the door and left the apartment. James started out the door after her, but paused in front of Sunset, grinning smugly.

“Oh, how the tables have turned, dear Sunset.”

Sunset grinned back.

“You think I’m bad? Wait until she does it to you.”

James’s smile slipped from his face.

“Oh God.”

Chapter 5

“‘Their Darkest Hour: The 36th Infantry Division,’” James said, “It’s a novel about a war. Do you know where it would be?”

“I’m sorry, I don’t know off the top of my head,” the bookstore employee said. “If I had to guess, I’d say it’d be in the adult fiction area. I can look it up if you’d like?”

“I would appreciate it.”

The employee nodded and ducked behind a nearby counter. James turned around and sighed, leaning against a nearby column.

“How do you people do it?” James asked.

Rarity tilted her head. “What do you mean?”

“How do you do all… this?” He gestured at the dozens of shelves. “It’s so much! Hundreds and hundreds of completely different things, all left for you to just sift through on your own. How does it not just make your head spin?”

“Well, I suppose it can be a bit overwhelming at times, especially in new stores,” Rarity nodded. “But everything is organized well enough that you could find it on your own without too much fuss.”

The soldier shook his head. “Not like I know the organization system, though. Is it just trial and error?”

“I suppose it depends. A lot of modern establishments have signs hanging from the ceiling. I, personally, can find my way around well enough with just those.”

James shrugged. “I just like talking to the person selling me things.”

“There are quite a few stores still like that, certainly. Though those tend to be much smaller.”

“Hm,” James hummed. At that moment, the employee from before came back.

“It’s going to be on aisle 12, case 7 in the fiction section.”

James nodded. “Thank you.”

The employee smiled politely and headed off into the rest of the store as the soldier started walking.

“Alright, where’s the fiction section?” James said aloud. Rarity grinned to herself as she watched James wander off on his own. She debated letting him figure it out, but she didn’t want to make Sunset wait too long, if she could help it.

“Over here, darling,” she called.

James turned around. Rarity pointed to large sign that read “Fiction” over a section of bookshelves, which was in the opposite direction of where he was going.

“Right.” He nodded. “Follow the signs.”

Rarity started off towards the fiction section with James tailing right behind her. The pair weaved through the maze of shelves before ducking down a gap in between labeled “12”.

“Who’s the author of these books anyway?” James asked. “I assume my ‘creator’ has a name.”

“I believe our teacher mentioned something about how it’s a collaboration between many different writers. Though I’m sorry to say, I don’t know who wrote your book specifically.”

“So, how do we find them if they’re organized by author?”

Rarity paused.

“I hadn’t thought of that.” She shook her head. “We’ll manage, I’m sure. He did say seven, correct?”

“Yeah, bookcase seven.”

The fashionista’s eyes followed the numbers posted on the top of the bookcases.

“Here we are, darling. Seven.” She pointed at a nearby shelf.

The pair walked over and looked the bookcase up and down. It was tall and flanked on both sides with even more books with similar titles and designs. The shelves weren’t labeled alphabetically by author. Instead, they were all grouped together as one huge series.

“They have their own organization system,” James commented, “I can see why.”

“...There are quite a few books.”

“I’m betting well over a hundred. Maybe even over two.”

“I think you might be right.”

“Welp,” James clapped his hands, “Look for the one with the Fightin’ 36th on it. It’ll be the best one. I’ll start from the bottom”

The two sifted through the numerous books in front of them. It didn’t take long for Rarity to figure out the organization system.

It’s by their numbers! She thought to herself.

She started back up from the top.

1st Infantry Division, 2nd Infantry Division, 3rd, 4th… Oh good heavens, there’s a lot of them.

“Got it!”

Rarity looked down to see James proudly holding the book in question as he lay on the ground, T-Patch emblazoned across the cover. The fashionista grinned.

“Fantastic, darling.” She paused. “Why are you lying on the ground?”

“I was looking on the bottom.”

“...Of course. How silly of me.”

The purple-haired girl looked over the myriad of books in front of her as James jumped back to his feet.

“‘Big Red One’, ‘Indianhead’, ‘The Rock of Marne’, ‘Ivy’, my goodness there’s a lot of these.” She frowned. “Your home has quite a large army.”

James nodded.

“There’s even units up in the hundreds, like the 101st Airborne or the 108th Infantry Division.” He furrowed his brow and looked down. “I think I saw their books down here somewhere.”

“And how big is one of these ‘Divisions’?”

“Fifteen thousand or so.”

“My goodness,” Rarity gasped, “That’s… quite a lot of soldiers.”

“Well… yeah. There’s a reason why it’s called a ‘World War’.”

The fashionista looked over the shelves of books again, mentally doing the math. “Yes…” She muttered soberly, “I suppose there is…”

The soldier looked over the book cover and shrugged. “Right. I guess we’d better get back.”

Rarity nodded slowly, pulling herself away from the wall of books. Suddenly, she didn’t think the books were as fun as she once had.

The pair once again weaved their way through the shelves and found themselves at the registers.

“Hi. Did you find everything you were looking for?”

“Yes, thank you,” James said as he handed the book to the young cashier.

The cashier scanned the barcode on the book and paused as she glanced at the man’s outfit. “Oh, are you cosplaying the book?” she asked. Rarity glanced at James as he put on another forced smile. She felt a pang of sadness as she watched him struggle through the conversation.

“Yes,” he nodded with unease, “I’m a huge fan.”

“Oh, that’s great! I gotta say, you did a great job on it. It looks almost exactly like what I pictured in my head when I read it.”

James nodded again, stiffly. “Thank you.” His voice was strained, but the cashier didn’t seem to notice.

“You’re very welcome,” the cashier laughed. “Anyway, your total is ten eighty-three.”

“Here you are.” Rarity smiled as she handed the cashier her debit card.

The cashier tapped a few buttons on the screen of the register and then swiped the card through the machine. After a beat, a printer spat out a piece of paper which the cashier tore off.

“Alright, here’s your card and your receipt,”

“Thank you, darling,” Rarity said, stuffing the two back into her purse.

“Thank you,” the cashier repeated. “Have a great day.”

The fashionista walked forward and ran into James.

“Oh!” She exclaimed, smoothing her skirt, “James, darling, what are you doing?”

“Wait… what?” James looked between the cashier and Rarity. “We’re done?”

“Yes, darling.”

“But you…” James gestured roughly at the cash register, trying to find the words. “You didn’t…”

He waved his hands, but he came up with nothing. With a sigh of defeat, he shook his head and walked out the front door.

“This place is gonna kill me.”

The afternoon sun warmed the faces of the pedestrians chilled by the autumn breeze as the odd pair left the bookstore and stepped out into the parking lot. James was the first come out, holding the door open for Rarity as she stepped past.

“Darling, what’s got you worked up all of a sudden?”

He sighed. “Everything is confusing.”

“I’m sorry?”

“Don’t worry about it.” James shook his head. “What are we doing now?”

“I thought we could stop and get Sunset a few groceries. Now that she has another person living in that small apartment, I thought I might help out a little.”

“That’s pretty generous of you.” James nodded as he sat in the passenger seat of Rarity’s car. “I take it there’s some huge grocer nearby with thousands of different things in it, but don’t worry!” James pointed theatrically at Rarity, “They’ve got signs.”

“You learn quickly, darling,” Rarity giggled as she sat next to him. “But yes, that is precisely what we’re doing.”

James smiled and shook his head. The air between them fell silent, both content with the lack of dialogue. The soldier took this time to inspect the car. His eyes traced every line in the interior, and eventually came to rest on the steering wheel. Rarity noticed his staring and grinned.

“I take it cars from your home look rather different?”

“Much,” James chuckled, “They’re not nearly as comfortable as this.”

“Did you drive?”

“Pft,” James scoffed, “Of course I did. I started driving when I was tall enough to reach the pedals. We were better off than some other people during the depression, so we were actually able to have a truck and run it. Helped out a lot with me and dad’s work.”

“What kind of work did you do?”

“We were caretakers for the local cemetery.”

Rarity raised her eyebrows in shock. “Goodness me, darling. That sounds rather… grim. What did this job entail?”

“Oh, y’know, we trimmed the grass, cleaned up the headstones. Actually, with headstones, we’d occasionally have to raise them back up, ‘cause some of them have been there so long that they started to sink into the ground as it shifted over time.” The young man sighed, thinking. “Other than that, uh… I dunno. We’d rake leaves, repave gravel paths occasionally when the gravel got too washed away, repainted some of the buildings on site, and dig the graves for funeral ceremonies.”

“You dug graves?” The young woman exclaimed.

“Yeah. It was one of the more difficult things, too. You gotta dig a lot of dirt.”

“I can’t imagine having to do that,” Rarity shuddered. “It must be awful digging a grave for someone.”

“Not really, in all honesty. It’s just a hole in the ground when we dig it. After that, we’re just putting dirt on top of a wooden box.” James shrugged. “I used to be uncomfortable with it, but it’s really just how you think about it. Instead of thinking, ‘Oh, I’m digging a grave’, I just think ‘I’m digging a hole.’”

Rarity frowned, obviously uncomfortable with the discussion. As they pulled up to a stop light, she turned to James as she remembered something.

“From what I have read of your story, I believe it said you were seventeen when you joined your military, yes?”

“I was.”

“Was this an after-school job?”

“No. I stopped going to school in sixth grade.”

“You- I’m sorry, you left school in the sixth grade?” Rarity repeated.

“Yeah.”

“Why did your parents let you do that?”

“Rarity,” James deadpanned, “‘The Great Depression.’”

Realization dawned on her as she remembered. She felt silly now. How could she have forgotten something like that?”

“Was… was it really that awful?”

“We were relatively well-off compared to some of the other people in our town, so I’d say it was worse than that.” He shook his head. “I don’t wanna go into the details, but yeah, it was bad.”

Rarity turned her eyes back to the road as the light in front of them turned green.

“I’m sorry, darling. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”

“It’s not that it’s uncomfortable, I’ve just been talking about a lot of sad things recently and I’d like to keep things a little more cheerier.”

“I’m inclined to agree with you.” The fashionista nodded. “Well, were there any other professions you held before your enlistment?”

“Eh, I did a paper route in the mornings before heading to the cemetery and took some odd jobs here and there.” James shrugged. “What about you? Have you ever had a job?”

“I did, yes, and do. I work at a boutique near the shopping mall we met at earlier. During the summer our little friend group all found jobs at the mall together. It was quite fortunate, in my opinion, that we all were able to work so close to each other. I’m the furthest away, but only because it’s not in the actual mall itself. Sometimes during my lunch break, I’ll meet a few of our friends in the food court. Rainbow Dash often works similar times to me, so we see each other often.”

“...Rainbow Dash?”

“Oh yes, sorry, darling, that’s one of our other friends. She’s very much interested in athletics, sports, and that sort of thing, so she works at a sporting goods store.”

“Her name is actually Rainbow Dash?”

“Yes…?” Rarity trailed off, confused at first. After a moment of thinking, she realized what was going on. “Oh, right. Well, I’m sure it must be odd by your standards, but here it is a completely normal name.”

“Just gonna have to trust you on that one,” James nodded.

They turned into the parking lot of the grocery store, and she could already see the man eyeing the store wearily. Part of her felt sorry for him, but she reminded herself he was only here temporarily.

Soon he’ll be back home. Although it would be a home in the middle of a war… she frowned. Would he want to go back home? She wasn’t sure if she would, were she in his position. She pushed the thoughts aside for now. It wasn’t her place to decide for him.

At last, the purple-haired girl pulled the car into a space and shut off the engine. James unclipped his seatbelt and started to climb out. Rarity pulled the sunvisor down and checked herself in the mirror.

“You uh… gonna get out of the car?”

She turned to see James leaning down into the door of the car. She smiled. “In just a moment, darling.”

She gave herself one last look over. Satisfied, she nodded to herself and stepped out of the car. She found James standing at the back of the car, eyeing the parking lot. Upon noticing her, he grinned.

“Ready?” Rarity asked.

“Lead the way.” He gestured.

Sunset stared at the open book in front of her. Wearily, she turned the pages of the book on the right to an eerily familiar scene.

Is Twilight coming for a surprise visit or something? She thought to herself.

Eyeing the rest of the page, she knew it continued on much the same way. She didn’t dare read any further. Who knows what she might find? She didn’t want to find out.

“I just don’t get it. Why is it rewriting itself?” Sunset wondered aloud.

“Maybe when it connected to the portal, the magic embedded itself in the paper?” Twilight suggested.

“Maybe. I just can’t figure out why the magic would do that in the first place.”

“Magic does seem to act differently here. Maybe it wants to find something to reside in, instead of permeating the air like in Equestria.”

Sunset shrugged, and nodded. “That… actually sounds like a solid theory. Electricity always want to find ground, so maybe magic is operating the same way.”

“It would make sense. This world has never really had magic, so perhaps it adopted the characteristics of another force.”

Before Sunset could respond, her phone buzzed from across the room. She stood and walked over to where her phone was charging on her desk. Sure enough, there was a text from Rarity.

Rarity - Today at 3:43 PM
We’re on our way back! How do we get into your building without the code?

Sunset quickly typed out a response.

Me - Today at 3:49 PM
Just text me when you get here and I’ll come down and meet you.

Sunset set her phone down and sat in her nearby office chair. She looked at her computer screen. There were about twenty different Clickapedia articles open in her browser window, all having to do with the World of War book series James was from. The articles ranged from the World War 2 collection, all the way back to the fictionalization of their own history of the Neighpoleonic Wars, though they spelt it “Napoleonic”. Sunset frowned at that. She hadn’t heard of those before, and she didn’t know there was anything beyond the Second World War series. She pulled her attention away from the screen as her phone buzzed again.

Rarity - Today at 3:50 PM
Thuis james s. Rarity driving. well text soon

Sunset laughed to herself and she typed out a response.

Me - Today at 3:51 PM
Congratulations, James. You’ve sent your very first text.

She turned back to the screen, and clicked on the tab labeled “1940’s Earth.” From what she could tell, it followed the same pattern from the rest of the series: closely resembling their own world, but not quite the same. Once again, her phone buzzed, catching her attention.

Rarity - Today at 3:52 PM
Lookat me moom I didath ing

Sunset broke out laughing again, much to Twilight’s confusion.

“What’s so funny?”

“James just sent his first text messages and it’s exactly like when Granny Smith texted us when Applejack was sick.”

“What?”

The redhead handed her the phone and Twilight giggled at the man’s attempts at typing.

“I can’t be too hard on him. I was just like that when I first came here.” Sunset shook her head, taking the phone back. “I just wish I could’ve seen him do it. It had to be great.”

Rarity’s phone buzzed from its spot in the cupholder.

“Could you check that, darling? I don’t want to be on my phone while driving.”

“Uh, sure.”

Gingerly, the man picked up the phone.

“Hey, uh… how does this work?”

“Press the power button on the side, then just swipe the screen to unlock it.”

Holding the phone in his left hand, James pressed the power button with his right. The screen faded on, lighting his face. Using his right index finger, he swiped it across the screen with more force than was needed.

“James, darling, you don’t need to press the screen that hard,” Rarity said, glancing at him. She could hear his finger hitting the screen. “Just lightly tap it.”

He nodded, swiping again. Rarity heard a click from the phone as it unlocked.

“What did it just do?” James asked.

“You just unlocked the phone, James.”

“Ah.” James nodded, pretending to understand. “How do I get to messages?”

“Swipe the top down and tap Sunset’s message.”

Rarity glanced at the soldier and saw him staring at the screen, completely lost. He was repeating the instructions to himself as he tapped a few times on the screen. Eventually, the screen went white before loading a very simplistic looking interface that had several speech bubbles. Rarity smiled as he grinned proudly to himself as he read Sunset’s message aloud.

“It says, ‘Just text me when you get here and I’ll come down and meet you.’”

“Text her that we’re on our way.”

James stared at the keyboard in front of him.

There are no buttons. He thought before he mentally slapped himself. You idiot, you haven’t used any buttons so far. Just tap the glass thing or whatever.

He looked over the tiny keyboard, frowning at the seemingly random placement of the keys. With a shrug, he tapped out a response.

“This keyboard is too damn small,” he muttered to himself. “I’ve retyped this like six times,” Rarity could see his tapping group more and more erratic as he grew frustrated. “Oh forget it.” He held the phone at arm’s length and shrugged. “It’s coherent enough.”

“What did you send?”

“Well, I meant to send, ‘This is James. Rarity is driving, but we’ll text you soon.’”

“What did you actually send?”

“‘Thoo-ees James-ss. Rarity driving. Well text soon.’” he said, “The capitalization is all kinds of messed up, but I think the message got through. How do you even make the letters big?”

“Let me see.” Rarity took the phone after they stopped at a light. “My goodness, James, you text like my grandfather.”

Rarity could almost feel the deadpan stare.

“Right.” Rarity cleared her throat. “I apologize, James.” She handed her phone back to him as the light turned green. “Yes, it’s still legible. Thank you.”

Rarity could her him mumbled something about field stripping an M1 Garand in ten seconds but otherwise held his tongue. The phone buzzed in his hands.

“She responded.” He fiddled with the phone, turning it on again. “Oh, you-” He stopped himself. “Thanks, Sunset.”

“What did she say?”

“‘Congratulations, James. You’ve sent your very first text.’”

Rarity’s eyes lit up.

“I hadn’t even thought of that.”

“Don’t congratulate me.”

“But it’s a big moment!”

“I almost feel more offended that you’re completely serious right now.”

“Oh come now, James, I think you’re just overreacting.”

“Well hold your horses, I’m sending a second one.”

“What are you sending?”

“‘Look at me, Ma, I did a thing.’”

“...Why?”

He shrugged. “It was just something I said back home to be funny.”

Rarity shook her head, focusing on the road instead of responding. She heard the man muttering in frustration as he struggled to type what should have been a short message.

“Close enough! Send!” He tapped the screen aggressively. “I hate ‘texting.’ Why can’t we just call her? You’ve got these fancy new wireless phones, why not use them as phones?”

“We just needed to send a short message. It’s much simpler to just text her.”

“And yet it took me twice as long as it would’ve been for me to just say the words into the phone.”

“It’s just easier this way, James. That’s how everyone does it.”

He shook his head.

“I don’t understand you people.”

Meanwhile, back at the apartment, Sunset and Twilight were taking notes of everything they knew so far about the portal.

“Okay.” Sunset punched a few more keys on the keyboard before turning to the girl sitting next to her. “What notes do you have?”

“Well, we know that his portal is a mirror, just like the one from Equestria. He said it was wooden, right?”

“I think so, yeah.”

“Right, so we know it’s physically different, so maybe it operates differently, too. We’ve seen that nothing on him transformed when he came over, so maybe it doesn’t have the power to transform people. Either that, or since he’s similar enough to this world’s humans, it didn’t have to.”

“We kinda talked about that, actually.” Sunset paused in her typing. “Not about his portal, but about whether or not he’d turn into a pony when he went to Equestria.”

Twilight tapped a pen against her chin, thinking.

“He probably would, right? That’s just what it does. You turn into your human/pony counterpart when you go through.”

“Yeah, but he doesn’t have a pony counterpart.” Sunset pointed out. “So it either has to make up what he looks like, or leave him as he is now.”

“We could test that, if he wants to.”

“Maybe another time. I think he’s gone through enough for today. Besides, I’m not sure if he really wants to find out.”

Twilight nodded.

“Good point.” She flipped through her notes, clearing her throat. “Moving on. We know that he didn’t do anything to activate it on his side. That means there had to be something on this side. Is there anything you saw or did that could’ve activated it? I know you said your books were glowing, and they stopped when you took them off, but we don’t know why.”

Sunset thought back to the day in question.

“I was talking to Rarity at the portal, then when she left, I went and played soccer with Rainbow, Applejack, and Pinkie. Then I went back to the portal, and it was going crazy. That’s when James came out. Then the portal started getting more active and I realized my books were glowing.”

“James’s book?”

Sunset nodded. “When I went to go play soccer with the girls, I threw my journal and the book on top of the portal. When I came back, they were glowing and the portal was being weird, but they both stopped when I took them off.”

Twilight was struggling to keep up with her while writing legibly, but didn’t stop asking questions.

“Was your journal glowing, too?”

Sunset shook her head. “I can’t remember. The light was too bright to tell.”

Twilight nodded and finished writing with an extra flair for her punctuation. She winced and flexed her hand, the foreign muscles started cramping from her improper grasp on the pen.

“That’s quite a bit more to work with.” The Equestrian looked over her notes. “So the book making contact with the portal caused the connection, possibly with help from your journal.”

“It’s not a whole lot to go on, but it’s still quite a bit more than what we’ve had so far.” Sunset shrugged. “ I’m glad you’re here, Twilight. I’ve been going over everything in my head since things settled down last night, but I don’t think I could’ve done this on my own.”

“Sometimes you just need a second opinion.” Twilight smiled.

Sunset grinned back.

“I guess you do. Thanks, Twilight.”

“Of course, Sunset.”

Sunset’s phone buzzed, grabbing her attention. She picked her phone up and frowned.

“Rarity’s calling.”

“Is that bad?”

“No, she just usually texts.” She tapped a few buttons. “Hey, Rarity?”

“Sunset?” A male voice responded back, sounding vaguely far away.

“James?”

“Hey, Sunset.”

Another voice chimed in.

“James, darling, the microphone is down there, you have to hold it up to your mouth.”

The redhead smiled and shook her head as she heard the man mumbling curse words through the rustling as James shifted the microphone.

“Is this satisfactory, your highness?”

“I’m just trying to tell you how to hold the phone, there’s no need to be so rude.”

“Sunset?” James ignored Rarity.

“Yeah, I’m still here,” Sunset said, “How are things with you and Rarity?”

“Everything’s fine, I just need to know how to get into your place.”

“Where are you?”

“We’re outside in one of those parking spaces on the side of the road.”

“Alright, I’m coming down.”

“Alright, we’ll wait here.”

“Bye Sunset!”

“She’s just coming down the stairs.”

“I know, but it’s just poli-” The sound cut off abruptly and Sunset assumed James figured out how to hang up the phone. She shook her head, laughing.

“Alright, Rarity and James are outside. I have to open the door for them.” The redhead slid on her boots and walked over to the door. “I’ll be right back.”

“Sunset?” Twilight called apprehensively.

“Yeah?”

“Do we want to tell James our theories? He’s probably still dealing with his problems from this morning. I don’t want to overload him, but it is his life. He has a right to know.”

Sunset nodded reluctantly.

“Yeah, I think you’re right. Let’s just wait until we’ve got something more solid for him. I don’t want to lead him on if it doesn’t work out.”

Twilight frowned, obviously uncomfortable with the idea. Sunset sighed.

“I hate it just as much as you, but like you said, he only just learned where he’s from this morning, and if we start dropping things like this in front of him… I don’t know how he’ll react.”

“You’re right. It’s probably what’s best for him.” Twilight shook her head. “I just want to help him.”

“I know. Trust me, I know. But he’s already gone through a lot.”

Twilight nodded silently. Sunset shook her head.

“I’m gonna go open the door now. I’ll be right back.”

Twilight nodded and went back to her notes, waving to Sunset over her shoulder. The redhead in question stepped into the hallway, shutting the door behind her. The past twenty four hours had taken a toll on her, and she was starting to feel its effects. She shook her head. James needed her. And now that they had a second book, they’d finally be able to get some more answers. She only wished she’d read more in class.

Sunset pushed the apartment building’s front door open, stepping out into the chilly autumn evening. In front, on the side of the road, was Rarity’s white sedan idling with its two passengers. Sunset peered through the windows as she walked up, and James got out to meet her.

“Hey, Sunset. How are you doing?”

“I’m fine.” She smiled. “You two were gone for a long time. What happened?”

“I took the liberty of buying you some groceries, Sunset,” Rarity said as she opened the car’s trunk. “With James here, I thought it’d be nice to have some help.”

“Oh jeez, Rarity, you really didn’t have to do that.”

“Oh hush now, I wanted to. Besides, I’m sure you still eat all those ramen packages you always buy in Little Neighpon.”

“...They’re good though.”

“That doesn’t mean you should eat them for every meal.” Rarity shook her head. “Anyway, I’ve bought you just a bit to help out. And don’t worry, it’s all vegetarian.”

Sunset walked over to the trunk, peering inside. There were eight bags packed full of various foodstuffs and toiletries.

“Rarity…”

“No, Sunset. I wanted to.”

Sunset shook her head and reached to grab one of the bags.

“I’ve got it,” James said as he stepped past her. He snaked his arms through the various handles and grunted as he lifted all eight bags up at once.

“James! Are you serious?”

The man struggled out a response.

“Just get the door.”

“He’s been like this all day, Sunset. Just let him do whatever he’s doing.”

“Door please!”

Sunset walked over and unlocked the door for him, holding it open as he stepped through.

With a quick “Thank you!” over his shoulder, the man hurried up the stairs to the second floor, leaving Sunset and Rarity in the lobby. The two just looked at each other, grinned, and laughed.

“He and Rainbow are quite alike, I must say,” Rarity quipped.

“And Applejack, in some ways,” Sunset added.

They shared another laugh as they started up the stairs. They came into Sunset’s apartment where Twilight was helping James unload the bags and put everything away. The Equestrian was frantically opening and closing cabinets, growing more flustered at the random assortment of dishes and other stuff in them.

“Sunset! What is this organization system?” Twilight said as she turned to face Sunset.

The redhead was caught off guard.

“Uh… well, it’s kind of a work in progress?”

“You don’t have one do you?”

“I do! I just don’t cook enough to really… keep up with it.”

“What?!” Twilight threw her arms up in exasperation. “How do you find anything?”

“It’s not that bad, Twilight,” Sunset crossed her arms.

Twilight turned around and looked at the cabinets.

“I don’t understand how this is a ‘work in progress'. You’ve got dishes in that cabinet, that cabinet, and that cabinet and various foodstuff in that cabinet, that cabinet and that-”

“Twilight, do you just want to reorganize my cabinets?”

“Yes! I do!”

James turned around, extremely confused. He looked to Sunset and she just shrugged. He shrugged back and set down the foodstuffs in his hands and left the former alicorn to her own devices.

“Is she alright?” The man asked as he approached Sunset.

“She’s just a bit… particular, about things.”

“I guess that’s one way to word it…” He shrugged. “Are you doing alright?”

“I’m fine.” Sunset nodded. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

James shrugged. “I wouldn’t call any of this ‘standard operating procedures’. I’m sure this is stressful for you.”

“I’m fine,” Sunset grinned. “It’s stressful, yeah, but I’m happy to do it. Trust me, I know when to stop.”

“Glad to hear it. Oh!” James walked over to the pile of bags, carefully staying out of the way of the energized princess. After grabbing something from a bag, he walked back to Sunset and presented it to her. “We got your book.”

The redhead grabbed the item and smiled apprehensively.

“You found it?”

“Yup. Just looked for the ol’ T-Patch. You guys have a lot of divisions written out.”

“How many were there?”

“Well, it was up to at least 101st, but I’m sure there was more.”

“To be fair, this project has been going on for like twenty years.”

“Well, there we go.” James grinned. “Well?” He prompted after a moment.

“‘Well’ what?”

“Are you gonna check the book?”

Sunset dropped her gaze, staring at the book’s cover. The book was identical to hers, with the same T-Patch stamped on the front. James noticed her hesitation.

“Look, this book’s gonna give you answers, one way or another.” James placed his hand on her shoulder and she looked up at him. He smiled reassuringly. “It’s better to know and be upset than wonder and go insane, so just go for it.”

Sunset looked back down at the book, her heart pounding. She sighed, steeling herself, and flipped open the book to where Twilight had told her to read earlier that day.

James tore his eyes away from the mirror and unslung his rifle as he turned to leave. But then he paused. He took another look in the mirror, and gave the soldier one last grin and raised his hand to wave goodbye.

“See you around,” he muttered to himself.

With a deep breath to steel himself, the man started up the stairs, ready to carry on and fight another day.

The barrage had waved off by this point, and shouting and gunfire resumed in the streets. James peered through a window by the front door. Several friendly soldiers passed by the front of the building. He let out a sigh of relief. Opening the door, he ran out into the street, joining the fray once more.

Sunset stared at the pages, nodding to herself.

“So, that clears up a lot of our worries.” Sunset nodded. “That means that whatever magic brought you here, also messed with the book.” James laughed. She looked up at him. “What?”

“Did you all really think your English teacher would assign a book where one of his students is a main character?”

“I…” Sunset frowned. As much as she hated to admit it, she realized a small part of her had. She felt rather silly now. “No. Of course not,” She turned around, ignoring the skeptical look from the man as she walked towards her kitchenette. “Twilight! We have a second copy.”

The soldier shrugged as Sunset left, and walked over to the fashionista standing by the door.

“You look bored,” James stated. Rarity shrugged.

“I’m not bored. Those two just have a penchant for their research. I don’t understand what they’re talking about, so I just leave them be.”

“Oh Lord, tell me about it,” James laughed, “I listen in on their conversations when they think I can’t hear them and good Lord I think I understood the French better than those two.”

“The Prench?” Rarity smiled. “How exotic.”

“‘Exotic’ is one word, yeah. Anyway, the French speak so quickly in their weird language that I can’t understand anything they say. I tried to learn some basic phrases so I could talk to the people. First Frenchie I met, I tried to say hi to him. He said something back and I had literally no idea what he was saying, so I just smiled and left.”

Rarity giggled slightly, covering her mouth behind her hand. James grinned back.

“You think that’s funny?”

“I’m so sorry, darling,” Rarity said as she suppressed her giggles. “But I just pictured that scenario and…” She started laughing again. The man joined in.

“Oh, it was hilarious.” James laughed out. “My buddies were there and I was gonna show off to them that I could talk to the locals, and they bust out laughing the minute I turned around. Turns out, they paid the dude just to mess with me.” He shook his head. “They knew I’d been trying to learn French and one of them slipped the guy a dollar while I wasn’t looking. We all got a good laugh out of it afterward. Turns out, the guy spoke English perfectly, and so he was able to show us all the good places in town.”

James smiled at Rarity’s laughter, but the fashionista noticed his eyes grow distant. She tried to change the subject to something other than his home.

“I’ve just realized something, James.”

The man looked up, putting on an easy grin.

“It looks like you might be here for a little while. If you’re here until Monday, you’ll have to go to school with us or stay here in Sunset’s apartment.”

James looked down and furrowed his brow.

“I hadn’t even thought of that,” he muttered, “I didn’t even go to high school back home.” He looked up at Rarity again. “Wait, can I even just walk up to the school and start taking classes? I’d think there would be some paperwork involved.”

Rarity frowned.

“Good point. Sunset, darling?” She called.

“Yeah?” The redhead in question turned around.

“If James has to go to school with us, how is that going to work?”

“Oh.” Sunset looked down in thought. “Shoot. I’ll email Principal Celestia tomorrow about it. I’m sure she could help.”

“Uh, are you sure about that?” James asked, obviously uncomfortable with the idea.

“Don’t worry, James. She knows all about me and Twilight’s story.” Sunset grinned reassuringly.

“...Alright, then.” James nodded apprehensively.

“I’m glad I asked.” Rarity smiled.

“Yeah. I hadn’t even thought about that.” Sunset walked over to Rarity. “Speaking of thinking ahead, Rarity, do you wanna stay for dinner?”

“Oh, no, thank you, darling. I think you’ll be plenty occupied with the three of you here. In fact, I should probably be going home soon. I told my parents I would be home by three and it’s already after four.”

“Oh, Rarity, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to take up your whole day.”

“Nonsense, Sunset. I was happy to spend time with you and James. And Twilight, it’s always a pleasure to see you visit.”

“Thank you, Rarity.” Twilight smiled. Sunset turned to the princess.

“Twilight, do you need to get back to Equestria?”

Twilight shook her head.

“I don’t have to be back for awhile. The weekend is my time away from all that princess stuff, and Spike already knows I’m gone.” Twilight shrugged. “If you’ll have me, I’d love to spend the night. I don’t get many opportunities to just hang out with you all anyway.”

“Sure thing,” Sunset said, “I guess that settles that.”

The fashionista nodded.

“Well, I suppose I’ll take my leave now. James, it was wonderful meeting you. Best of luck to all of you. If any of you need anything, just call me. I promise you, I’ll do everything I can to help you.”

“Thank you Rarity.” James stood, holding a hand out. The purple-haired girl smiled and hugged the man instead.

“You’re very welcome.”

Letting go, she shared a few more goodbyes with Twilight and Sunset before leaving, insisting that they didn’t need to walk her out. As her footsteps descended down the stairwell, Sunset shut the door.

“She was nice,” James stated simply.

“That’s Rarity for you,” Sunset said.

“Well, now what?”

“I dunno. Food?”

“Sounds great to me.”

Sunset walked over to the kitchenette, various objects still strewn about. She sighed.

“I think we’re just gonna order food.” She turned around. “Pizza?”

The soldier perked up from the other side of the room.

“Pizza?” He repeated.

“Yeah, we’re gonna order pizza, probably. I don’t really wanna cook tonight. Are you guys alright with that?”

“Yes.” James grinned. “The food is pretty much the only good thing in Italy, and oh man was it good.”

Sunset smiled.

“You’re pretty excited for this, aren’t you?”

“Absolutely.”

“Alright,” Sunset laughed. “Twilight, what about you?”

“Sure! I haven’t had pizza since the whole Siren thing. I’ve kind of missed it back home.”

“What?!” James exclaimed, “Don’t tell me horse world doesn’t have pizza.”

“Ponies.” Sunset corrected, but James didn’t respond.

“Well, it’s not that we don’t have it, it’s just that Ponyville doesn’t have anypony that makes it. It’s pretty much only common in Manehatten.”

“Well, your majesty, you need to correct this heinous crime at once.”

“I can’t just make someone start a business, that’s not how it works.”

“Well, I’m sure there’s someone you can talk to in town. Just gently and royally ask them to add it to the menu.”

“I don’t think that would go over as well as you think.”

Sunset interjected.

“I hate to interrupt this very important conversation, but what do you guys want on your pizza?”

“Pepperoni and cheese,” James said.

“Whatever you want, Sunset, Just no meat for me.”

Sunset nodded and walked over to her computer to place the order.

“I just don’t think it’d be that hard to just ask.”

“It’s not that simple!”

The soft hues of the setting sun had long since faded from the sky, and the stars stood in their place as the unusual trio sat around Sunset’s computer desk.

“And it just lets you pull any video up? Like a TV on demand?” James asked.

“Pretty much, yeah.” Sunset nodded.

The trio had eaten quietly, with everyone having plenty to think about. Once everything was cleaned up, they ended up sitting around, mutual boredom setting in. Eventually, the conversation ended up on something more scholarly, and James was left behind in their discussions. Sunset had decided to try and bring him up to speed, showing him various educational videos on VideoCorral. Time had flown by, and unsurprisingly, so did most of the information to James’s head. He was more fascinated by the website itself. He’d asked Sunset dozens of questions about how it worked and what you could do with it all. After they’d ended up on several videos of a man with an accent in a red t-shirt talk about obscure facts and places, James started to notice a pattern.

“Does it do anything other than animals and learning stuff, cause that seems to be all that’s showing up under that part that says ‘Recommended’.”

“There’s lots of stuff. What do you want to watch?” Sunset asked.

“I don’t really care, I’m just along for the ride.”

James shrugged, stretching his back. Twilight cringed as dozens of his joints popped, the sounding resonating through his body. Sunset stared at the man.

“That was… disturbing,” Twilight muttered to herself. Sunset nodded slowly, disgust written all over her face.

“I’ll say…”

“Hold on…” James contorted his body again, several more cracks resonating. He laughed to himself as the girls cringed again.

“Dear Celestia, even Rainbow Dash can’t do it that loud.”

“Wait, I’ve got more I can pop…”

“No!” The two screamed at him. Their protests fell on deaf ears as neck joints popped.

Sunset reached over and swatted his shoulder. The man narrowly managed to dodge the attack, and rolled off his chair towards his pack, laughing the whole time.

“Doesn’t that hurt?” Twilight asked.

“Not really, no.” James laid his head on his pack, crossing his arms as he shrugged. “Kind of satisfying, actually.”

“It’s so disturbing,” Sunset shuddered. “How do you even do that?”

“I dunno. I started noticing I could do it in Rome. I couldn’t do it before that, so I guess that marching through Italy has something to do with it.” He shook his head. “I’m not a doctor, so that isn’t really my business to say.” He yawned, “‘Course, medics don’t really care what’s wrong with you unless you’re pouring out blood, so I never got an answer.”

Sunset noticed the man’s yawn and glanced at the clock. It was around eight o’clock. Normally she wouldn’t be tired, but given all that she’d gone through that day, she found herself yawning too. When the princess joined in, James laughed.

“Well, I guess we’re done for the night.”

Twilight and Sunset nodded. Sunset looked at the two.

“Before we get too tired, how are we gonna do beds?”

“Oh, right.” James looked at Twilight. “Take the couch.”

“Wait, what?” Twilight asked. “What are you gonna do, James?”

“I’ve got a perfectly fine floor right here.”

“James, you can’t sleep on the floor!”

“Why not?” James shrugged. “Hell of a lot better than what I was sleeping on back home.”

“James, I can’t do that.”

The man ignored her, instead rolling up his jacket and tucking it under his head before he swung his wool blanket over himself.

“Goodnight,” he said.

Twilight looked up at Sunset who just shrugged in response. That was an argument they wouldn’t win, apparently.

“Let me grab you some blankets, Twilight.”

The girl nodded. Sunset walked off, and Twilight crouched near James.

“James?” She spoke softly.

“I’m not moving.”

“No, it’s not that.”

The man looked up at her, confused.

“Alright. What’s up?”

“I… um, researched you a lot online while you were gone.”

The man’s expression sobered, but he let her continue.

“A-And… well, I just want to say… I’m sorry.” She shook her head. “I’m sorry for all that you had to go through.”

He nodded wearily.

“You don’t need to do that, Twilight.” He laid a hand on her shoulder, smiling reassuringly. “It was an honor to fight for my country, and I’d do it again in a heartbeat if it meant people like you can do the amazing things you do.”

The Equestrian smiled. She leaned forward to hug him and he responded in kind. He didn’t see her wipe her eyes behind his back.

“Alright, I’ve got a few blankets and a pillow here, Twilight,” Sunset said, coming down from the loft.

The soldier let go of Twilight and the princess walked over to the couch with Sunset. Together they spread out the blankets and Twilight changed into a loaned pair of pajamas. Once everyone was ready for bed, Sunset turned out the lights and headed upstairs.

“Goodnight,” Sunset called.

“Goodnight, Sunset. You too, James.”

“Goodnight, Twilight,” he whispered, “Goodnight, Sunset.”

Author's Note

Fun Fact: Grammerly says this story reads at a 6th Grade English level. Which means most of my audience can read it. ~~Not James, though.~~

Thank you all for reading, I hope you enjoyed. I'm gonna leave you all with a little bit of supplementary material, in case you never looked it up.

This is the 36th Infantry Division's Patch:

That's the T-Patch that James loves so dearly. And if you want to know what exactly a "haversack" is, or any other of James's equipment, I made THIS breakdown of equipment a long time ago for Imgur that somehow got front page.

History buffs, I do my best to make these as historically accurate as possible, even researching things like "What did grocery stores look like in the 30s and 40s?" and even what James's home town looked like. Yes, it's a real place in Colorado. No, I'm not telling where. ~~Mainly because if someone lives there and I get it wrong, I will be thoroughly embarrassed.~~

Chapter 6

The wind felt cold, even through Sunset’s leather jacket. She glanced over at James, who was leaning against the statue, dressed in the new clothes she'd had bought him. He had on his boots--minus the leggings--a pair of blue jeans, his belt, and a red flannel shirt. There had been a small cold front overnight, so he had thrown his field jacket on as well. She admired the jacket now that it had been clean. It was a light colored khaki material that was more than a little worn in a few places. The elbows and stomach had dark stains and the material had been worn down, presumably from crawling in the dirt and mud.

Sunset had insisted that Twilight borrow some of her winter clothes. After checking the temperature outside, the princess didn’t argue with her, which Sunset was grateful for. Twilight’s own clothes wouldn’t have provided near enough warmth, the portal having created them during a far warmer season. As a breeze blew past, she shivered slightly, drawing James’s attention. He stood up properly and looked over at the two young women huddled around a notepad as he walked up to them.

“Any updates?” James asked. Twilight shook her head.

“Nothing. We can’t see anything that would’ve made the portal change connections. Well, at least not from down here.”

“I thought the book was on top of the portal?”

“It was,” Sunset nodded. “But we can’t really get up there easily right now.”

“We’ll probably have to come back with a ladder,” Twilight said, “Although something like that, we may need to talk to Principal Celestia first. I wouldn’t want somepony thinking we’re vandalizing the school.”

“Why can’t you just climb up?” James looked over at the pedestal, sizing it up.

“Neither of us can reach,” Twilight admitted..

“I still don’t know how Pinkie got up there after the Friendship Games,” Sunset shook her head, remembering her eccentric friend’s antics.

James walked up to the side of the pedestal and looked up.

“What do you think that is? Six? Seven feet?”

Sunset nodded. “It’s taller than you, so yeah, at least six feet..”

James nodded and stared at the marble some more.

“Is he going to try and climb up there?” Twilight asked Sunset.

“I think he is,” Sunset nodded.

With a sudden burst of activity, the man jumped up the side of the portal, his boots barely finding traction. With a grunt, he hiked himself up over the edge and lay on his stomach on top of the portal before he pushed himself up onto his feet. He looked around the top of the pedestal and then back down at the girls.

“What are we looking for?”

“How did you do that?” Twilight asked, wide-eyed.

He shrugged lightly and grinned.

“We had to scale walls a lot in training.” He peered around the pedestal, his grin fading as he furrowed his brow, “What am I looking for?”

Sunset shook her head, setting aside her confusion, and walked up to the base of the statue.

“Just anything that looks out of the ordinary.”

James looked around.

“I see two little stubby things.”

“What do they look like?”

James kneeled down, squinting. He frowned and dropped lower onto his stomach as he looked at them.

“...Hooves.”

“There used to be a horse statue there, so that’s fine. Do you see anything else?”

The man stood back up. He sighed and looked around, kicking away the occasional bit of debris.

“Uh… nothing really. There’s some rocks, chewing gum, which is pretty gross, so thanks for that, random kid.” He shook his head but paused. “Hold on, there’s something here. It’s just some cracks, I think.” He kneeled, peering down at the top of the statue. “Yep, definitely cracks. Wow,” he whistled, “I thought it was just the light making it look that way, but these are kind of deep.”

“What do they look like?”

James frowned. “What do you mean what do they look like? They’re cracks.”

Sunset sighed. “Just describe them. Do they have any sort of pattern to them?”

“I don’t…” He shook his head, peering closer. “They’re… cracks. There’s a place where they start, I think, but they all branch out from that central point,” he shrugged, “They sort of look like cracks in a block of marble.”

Twilight facepalmed, sighing. Sunset shook her head, feeling the princess’s sentiment. James’s frown grew annoyed.

“Look, I’m not a scientist, alright? I’m just the guy who kills the bad guys. Do one of you want to just come up here and look?”

“We can’t get up there like you did,” Sunset deadpanned.

The soldier walked over to the edge and dropped to his knee. He shuffled into position and reached his hand out to her.

“Give me your hand.”

“What?”

“Give me your hand,” he repeated.

“Why?

“What do you mean ‘why’? I’m gonna lift you up here.”

Sunset glanced at Twilight and shook her head, grabbing the man’s hand.

“You holding on tight?” He asked, and she nodded.

With a sudden jerk of motion, James pulled her up. Sunset let out a cry of alarm and stuck her feet out. Her boot soles barely managed to find a grip on the polished marble’s smooth surface. When she neared the top, James wrapped his arms around her waist and used his legs to push himself into a standing position and pulled her up alongside him. She steadied herself and stepped back.

“I could’ve pulled myself up, you know,” she scolded him. The man shrugged.

“You said you couldn’t get up here.” He ignored the girl’s glare and peered down at Twilight. “Your majesty, would you like to join us?”

The Equestrian frowned at his choice of words, but she approached him anyway. After passing the notebook up to Sunset, she grabbed his outstretched hand and repeated the same motions as Sunset did. Once James set her down, she turned and slugged him lightly on the shoulder.

“Please don’t call me, ‘your majesty.’”

“My apologies, your highness.”

James ducked to avoid another hit, his laughter echoing off the school’s walls. Twilight looked at Sunset, and the redhead waved him off. The two Equestrians ignored him and crawled over to the cracks, inspecting them. Sunset frowned. James’s lackluster explanation may have been more accurate than they’d initially thought. It wasn’t much to look at, really. There was a small divot in the center, with various cracks splitting off from it. Sunset didn’t really see anything special.

“Are you getting anything from this, Twilight?”

“It looks like this was caused by an explosion or blast of some kind, rather than impact,” Twilight said, furiously jotting down notes. Sunset blinked.

“How can you tell?”

Twilight pointed at the divot. “There’s a distinct lack of pattern to it. Normally in an impact-based crater, you’d have conal streaks radiating from the center, indicating impact-ejection of matter, and there’d be a deeper point in the center for the projectile. However, this looks closer to an impact-detonation site. The impact point, here, has a random pattern to it with cracks radiating from the center. What this means is most likely that the explosion worked through the weakest points in the marble. When enough of these fissures joined together, the blast was able to remove bits and pieces of the stone. The rest of the force, I’d imagine, just dispersed itself through the rest of the stone, forming the cracks around the center point.”

Sunset stared blankly.

“Where do you have time to learn all this?”

The princess ignored her, tracing the fissures in the stone with a finger, and frowned. “Sunset, is there anything actually inside the pedestal?”

“I don’t think so. I was under the impression it was solid stone.”

“That’s odd…” Twilight inspected the cracks some more.

“What is it?”

“Put your hand near the cracks.”

Sunset did so and frowned. She could almost feel a slight breeze, but also a tingling sensation.

“What is that?”

“I don’t know.” Twilight shook her head. “If only I had my magic, we’d be able to get some clear answers here.”

“What if that is magic?” Sunset looked over at Twilight. “When Twilight- uh, our Twilight, was transformed by the magic, she blew up the Wondercolts statue that was here before.”

“She could’ve caused the cracks, which would then damage the portal.”

“So, what if that’s magic leaking out?”

“Then there’d be Equestrian magic just floating around this world…”

“Some of which may have gone into James’s book.”

“And your journal.”

“Which could have sparked a connection between the two of them.”

“Bridging the connection between the two worlds.”

“And bringing James here,” they said in unison.

“If we connect the portal with the books, we might be able to get James home,” Twilight said.

“But the portal is still connected to Equestria,” Sunset added.
Twilight sighed. “There’s that. We can’t test anything unless the portal is shut down.”

The former unicorn frowned, an uneasy feeling forming in her gut. She did not like this idea.

“Twilight, I don’t want to test anything unless you’re back in Equestria first.”

“What? Why?” Twilight frowned. “Why can’t I be here?”

“Because what if something goes wrong? Then you’d be stuck here forever. I can live here, but you can’t just disappear and leave Equestria without one of their princesses.”

The former Alicorn opened her mouth to argue but stopped. Sunset was right, she couldn’t afford to take the risk. Especially with all of the other things she risked leaving behind. With that, she nodded soberly.

“You’re right,” she sighed, adjusting her legs so she sat properly on the portal. “So, what do we do now? Do we test our theory?”

“There’s not a lot we can test.” Sunset flipped through the notes in front of them. “All we know is that either my journal or James’s book had some kind of reaction to these cracks on the portal, which may be leaking magic.”

The princess sighed, blowing the bangs out of her eyes.

“This would be way easier if we just had my magic equipment. We might be able to use it to find where the book’s magic is coming from or what this is.”

“Actually…” Sunset looked up apprehensively, “I may know someone who can get us magic-tracking equipment.”

“What? Who?”

“Well, you’ve met her…”

“I have? In this world?” Twilight furrowed her brow. “I didn’t think there were that many people here who even knew about magic, let alone have the equipment to test for it.”

“I promise you, you’ve met her. Just think about it.”

“...Trixie?”

“What?” Sunset shook her head. “No! Come on, Twilight. You’ve got this.”

The princess threw her arms up in defeat.

“Sunset, will you just tell me who it is?”

“It’s Twilight.”

“Me? How could I… Oh.” Realization hit the Equestrian. “You mean her, right?”

Sunset nodded.

“She successfully managed to track down magical signatures from your first visit and the Battle of the Bands back to this place. If anyone can do it, she can.”

“Oh, well… um… I guess so, yeah.” Twilight gave her best smile, but it wasn’t very convincing. “If she can help us, t-then I’d love to have her!”

Sunset sighed.

“You’re uncomfortable with this idea.”

“N-No! It’s not that, it’s just…” Twilight was at a loss for words and knew she wasn’t going to convince Sunset that it didn’t bother her. “Well, come on, Sunset. It’s not like you just see an alternate version of yourself walking around every other day! This is a little weird for me!”

“I know it is, and I’m sorry. But we need her help to get James home. Otherwise, we’re flying blind with nearly nothing to go on but theories and lucky guesses.”

Twilight looked like she wanted to argue more, but couldn’t. She sighed in defeat.

“Alright. I’ll admit that it would be nice to have her equipment.”

The redhead nodded.

“Let’s get down and I’ll call her.” Sunset turned to her side, “Hey Ja- Where did he go?”

“What?”

The two girls looked where they heard his voice. He was sitting on the steps up to the school.

“When did you… what?” Sunset shouted.

“I didn’t understand anything you two were saying, so I left.”

“How did you get down?”

“I jumped.” James shrugged casually. “What’s up? Do you need me?”

“Can you help us get down?” Twilight asked.

James grinned and stood, bowing theatrically.

“Of course, your majesty.”

Twilight pouted as James walked over.

“Seriously, stop that. I hate being called ‘your majesty.’”

James laughed as he stopped at the bottom of the pedestal.

“Sit down and let your legs hang off the edge,” He instructed, still grinning at her expense.

With her in position, he reached up and placed his hands around her waist. She leaned forward slowly before slipped off the edge completely. She cried out as she fell, but James caught her and lowered her safely to the ground.

“Hey, I got you,” he said to her, smiling reassuringly. Twilight laughed in relief as James set her down.

Sunset watched the spectacle, frowning. She watched James set Twilight down and smile as he talked to her. A pang of jealousy stabbed her heart for a brief moment. Realization struck her and she pushed the thoughts away and cleared her throat.

“James?” She called down. The man looked up.

“You too?” She nodded. He sighed theatrically. “Oh alright, fine.”

“Oh, stop being so dramatic.” Sunset grinned. “How many chances to do you get to feel up a girl like this, anyway?”

The man’s face immediately lit up red, and he stumbled over a response. Sunset laughed at his expense before the man managed to compose himself.

“Alright, I guess I deserved that,” he said meekly.

Sunset leaned off the edge, repeating much of the same actions as Twilight did.

“It’s a good thing you two are so light,” James said as he put Sunset down, “Otherwise I’d have to tell you two to just jump and hope for the best.”

“Sure you would,” Sunset teased. James shrugged.

“I can put you back up there and we can find out.”

“Try it.”

“Um, Sunset?” Twilight interjected, confused at the girl’s sudden attitude shift. The redhead looked back at her and seemed to remember what they were trying to do in the first place.

“Oh, right. James,” Sunset turned to the man. “So, James. Do you remember how I said everyone in this world has a counterpart in Equestria that’s a pony?”

James thought for a moment and nodded, prompting Sunset to continue.

“Well, Twilight’s counterpart is a friend of mine in this world, and she’s gonna help us get you back.”

The private looked at Twilight.

“There’s gonna be two of her?”

“Hey!”

Sunset shook her head as James laughed, but still managed a grin, much to Twilight’s disdain. The princess shook her head and walked off towards the portal side of the pedestal, leaving the two.

“They’re similar, but not the same person,” Sunset responded.

“Alright.” James nodded. “Is there anything I need to say or do to not… I don’t know. Is there some kind of thing I need to do to not make things hard between anyone, or what?”

“I think that would be up to Twilight. Well, this Twilight, at least. I can’t speak for either of them, but they’ve been together before without any issues.”

“Alright. Hey, Twilight?” The soldier called over his shoulder.

“Yes?”

“Is there anything you don’t want me to do in front of the other Twilight?”

The princess walked over and shook her head.

“Not really, no. She’s… well, me. I guess just don’t anything to her that you wouldn’t to me.”

“Right, but is there anything that’ll make you uncomfortable?”

Twilight shook her head again.

“Just don’t treat me like royalty and we’ll be fine.”

“As you wish, your highness.”

“You’re already off to a bad start,” Sunset stated. “Alright, let me call her real quick.”

The redhead stepped away, scrolling through her contact list. Tapping a few buttons, the phone dialed Twilight’s number.

“Hey Sunset,” The girl answered. “What’s up?”

“Hey Twilight, this is gonna be a weird question, but,” Sunset hesitated, “Do you still have your old magic tracking equipment?”

“My old magic tracking equipment?”

“Yeah, that stuff you had during the Friendship Games and stuff.”

“Oh, that. No, I don’t have any of that. I already pulled them apart to use their parts for various other projects of mine.”

Sunset’s heart fell.

“But I’ve got some new equipment. Ever since the mirror incident, I thought it would be a good idea to try and monitor things more, so I remade my old sensors to be more accurate.”

She perked up immediately. “Would you be able to meet me at school with them?”

“I guess so. What do you need them for?”

“It’s… kind of hard to explain. Have you read the book for English?”

“Their Darkest Hour?”

“Yeah, that one.”

“I finished it the week Mr. Synopsis gave it out, Sunset, but what does that have to do with my magic equipment?”

“Well… James is here.”

Sunset cringed immediately at what she’d said. It explained nothing and would only bring more questions. She was sure of it.

“...What?” Was all the studious girl said back. Sunset sighed.

“I said it was hard to explain.”

The normally highly articulate girl’s silence from the other end of the line was deafening in the redhead’s ear.

“...I’ll be there soon. Just… be ready to explain this a little more in-depth, please?”

Sunset smiled.

“I promise you, I will.”

There was a sigh from the other end of the line.

“Alright. I’ll hold you to that. Bye, Sunset. I’ll be there soon.”

“See you then.”

Sunset hung up, and let out a breath. With Twilight’s help, they’d be able to get more answers. Then James would be able to finally get home. He’d be with his family and where he belongs. The thought brought a not-insignificant chunk of sadness to her. He’d be gone forever. And she’d never get to see him again. She frowned.

What’s wrong with you, Sunset? This is great for him! She thought to herself.

But part of her knew it was because she didn’t want him to leave just yet.

A particular memory arose with that thought.

“I suppose that’s why it’s called the ‘man of your dreams’. He can only exist in your dreams.” Rarity’s voice echoed to her.

Sunset lowered her eyes to the ground. She knew that was the reason she was upset. She mentally kicked herself for being so selfish, but even she had to laugh. Her heart-to-heart conversation with Rarity had only been two days ago, but it felt like months to her.

“Hey, you alright?”

Sunset jumped at the voice and turned around to face a worried-looking James. She did her best to grin casually.

“I’m fine.” She waved a hand dismissively. “Good news, though. Twilight’s on her way.”

The soldier didn’t immediately respond, watching her face for any sort of crack. Sunset for once felt grateful that she had gotten so good at lying. Otherwise, she knew she wouldn’t have been able to keep up her act in front of him. He seemed to be satisfied, as the soldier nodded and grinned back apprehensively.

“I can only imagine this’ll be interesting.”

“Oh, I assure you, it will.”

The two walked back over to where the princess was standing. The redhead joined her while the private elected instead to retake his spot on the school steps. With nothing else to do, for the time being, the trio elected to wait. The girls went over their current theories again, and the soldier just sat and waited.

As time crawled by, Sunset found the man had resorted to his usual pastime of watching people. Not that there was a whole lot of them, admittedly, but there were still enough cars and pedestrians to keep him entertained, apparently. Sunset followed his eyes to the road. A grey four-door car, a white two-door car, a large, boxy-looking truck of some kind, and several dozen other cars drove by, no two quite the same. She understood the sentiment, of course. She’d done the same herself quite a few times while acquainting herself with the world..

Same with the pedestrians. A green-skinned man with yellow hair, a blue-skinned girl with a matching ponytail, a pink girl with green hair. Sunset did notice a few more familiar-looking skin colors. The occasional beige and tan colored person walking by made James grin slightly to himself. But only for a moment. There were even a few times where he frowned to himself like he’d seen a familiar face in the crowd, but it never lasted very long. Eventually, one of the faces split off from the sidewalk and started walking towards them.

Well, “face” was generous, given the large scarf wrapped around their head. Sunset could just barely make out the purple skin and hair that she’d grown used to the past couple of weeks.

“Hey, Twilight!” Sunset called to them. The person pulled down their scarf, revealing herself as this world’s Twilight Sparkle.

“Jesus Christ,” James muttered to himself as he walked up to the trio, “They really weren’t kidding.”

“Hey, Sunset,” The human world’s Twilight greeted with a smile. Said smile immediately grew much more strained when she noticed the princess. “H-Hey Twilight.”

“Hey… um, Twilight.” The princess returned the nervous gesture. Sunset could see the discomfort and tried to distract the two with the matter at hand.

“Twilight,” she said to her human friend, “This is, well, James Garrett.”

The studious human turned to the soldier and hesitated.

“Are you really from the books?” She asked. James nodded. The girl grinned nervously. “Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you, um… sir. I’m Twilight Sparkle.” She glanced at her counterpart, “T-The human one.”

The soldier grinned back and extended his hand.

“Pleased to meet you too, Miss Sparkle. You’re not royalty too, are you?”

The girl’s eyes widened, exaggerated more so by her glasses. “Oh no, definitely not. I’m just a high school student.”

He looked between her and the other Twilight. “Well, Miss Sparkle, it definitely seems like you got the raw deal here, I gotta say.”

“Oh, trust me, being a princess isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.” The Equestrian sighed. Her counterpart nodded.

“And I definitely don’t want to be a princess. I’d much rather just be a student.” Twilight shook her head, “Um, if you all don’t mind, would someone be able to explain what’s going on?”

Sunset perked up.

“Right, that.” The redhead showed her notes to Twilight, “We’re trying to track a magical signature around here, tying it to the portal and this book to get James home…”

And that was when James checked out. Twilight watched over Sunset’s shoulder as he walked off.

He stared at the school building as he walked towards the steps. His eyes seemed glazed over, never quite focusing on any one thing for too long. He seemed to mutter to himself a few times, but Twilight certainly couldn’t tell what it was. She barely knew how to read a pony’s lips. Humans? They may as well be speaking ancient Saddle Arabian.

He paused, staring up at the building, his back to Twilight. She glanced at Sunset and human Twilight. They were still going strong and hadn’t noticed her distracted just yet. Twilight stepped away from them and walked towards James.

“Hey, James,” Twilight greeted as James sat down. He looked up and put on an easy grin.

“Hello, Twilight. Aren’t you guys catching the other Twilight up on things?”

“Sunset can handle that,” Twilight waved, “I just… wanted to check up on you, is all.”

James shrugged.

“Doing fine, all things considered.”

Twilight frowned.

“James, you don’t need to put up a face around me. No one is going to think any different of you if you’re not a textbook soldier every second of the day.”

James’s grin fell and he grew much more uneasy.

“O-Of course. I know that, Twilight,” he forced the grin back on his face. “Trust me, I’ll let you all know when I need help.”

Twilight nodded. She didn’t believe him, but she knew it wouldn’t help to push him. He’ll talk when he wants to.

“Alright.” She smiled back. James relaxed and chuckled.

“Well, let me ask you something,” he gestured to Sunset and human Twilight. “You seemed pretty uncomfortable when she showed up. Are you really alright with her being here?”

“Well, yes and no, really,” Twilight shrugged, “It’s not like we don’t get along. I mean she’s, well… me. But she’s also different enough that she doesn’t feel like just a clone of me. She grew up in completely different circumstances. She’s had a whole life completely different from mine,” Twilight shook her head. “I don’t know. It’s more that I don’t want to make her feel uncomfortable. Magic is everywhere in Equestria. And while I do find it weird to see an alternate version of myself, I think I might be able to handle that better than she could. After all, it’s possible to make clones of yourself with magic. I don’t know of any technology they have that could do that, though.”

“I see what you mean,” James nodded. “Well, have you tried talking to her about it? Maybe she feels the same way about you. Or maybe that’s not what’s bothering her.”

Twilight grinned. “You know, you seem to know a lot about friendship.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that,” he laughed. “I think I’ve just got a good head on my shoulders, is all.”

“I guess you do,” Twilight giggled. She turned back to Sunset and the other Twilight. It seems they’d wrapped up the recap and they were now examing the face of the portal.

“Come on,” James said, standing. “Let’s head back over. I’m sure they’re gonna need your help.”

Twilight smiled and joined him as they walked over.

“...we’re hoping that we can find what caused the book to react like it did.” Sunset finished as they approached.

Human Twilight nodded. She swung the backpack off her shoulders and set it on the ground in front of her before she unzipped the back and pulled out a strange-looking device.

“This one will probably be the best for what we need.” The girl flipped the switches and pressed several buttons that were scattered all over the device. “It measures the exact wavelength given off by the magical field I scan, which we can record and use to track it. If we find similar wavelengths somewhere else, we can track it and possibly find the source.”

The scanner whirred as the fans kicked on and the screen lit up with various readouts and charts.

“Alright, I’m just going to run a benchmark test on the portal. If this is calibrated properly, the portal should be reading at precisely 1000.”

“1000 what?” Sunset asked.

“Just 1000. The wavelengths that magic produces isn’t on the electromagnetic spectrum or soundwaves. It’s sort of its own thing.” Human Twilight shook her head. “It’s annoying, but I just don’t have any units to assign to it right now.” She fiddled with the controls before she was satisfied. “Alright, I’m scanning the portal now.”

The device hummed and emitted a small light, like a laser pointer. The small red dot it was producing landed on the face of the portal. After a few moments, there were a few staccato beeps as it came back with results. She made a few tweaks on the device and scanned it again. Satisfied, the girl nodded to herself.

“Good. We’re all set,” She stated proudly.

“Okay.” Sunset nodded. “Do you want to start with the hard to reach place first? To get it over with?”

Human Twilight shrugged.

“Sure, why not.”

Satisfied, Sunset nodded and turned to James.

“Can you help Twilight get on top of the portal?”

“Sure.” James walked over to the side of the building. “I get what my part is now. I’m just here to look good and do the lifting. And it’s about time you called on me to do something. I can only look good for so long.”

Human Twilight frowned.

“It’s on top of the portal?”

“Yes,” Princess Twilight nodded, “There’s what appears to be several cracks in the top of the marble, but it might be leaking magic, which we think would be where the book got its magic from.”

James stood next to the portal as Human Twilight walked up. She was about to ask him how they were going to get up when he jumped and climbed on top of the portal. Once on solid footing, he turned to Twilight.

“Okay. This is gonna be nice and simple. I’m just gonna pull you up, you just need to hold on tight, alright?”

The girl nodded and handed her sensor to Sunset before taking James’s hand with both of her own.

“Hold on tight, alright?”

Twilight nodded and with that, he pulled her up. Twilight had never been good at physical things, and was glad that his strength made up for that. He carried her weight like it was nothing, and she soon found herself on top of the marble pedestal with him.

“T-Thanks.” She nodded, grabbing her sensor from Sunset.

“You’re very welcome.”

James pointed out the cracks to Twilight, and she kneeled down and started scanning them. The device in her hands hummed again. Before too long, there was a reading on her screen. It detected two different waves, signaling two different magical signatures. She recognized one immediately as the portal’s baseline signature, but there was a different one with a much shorter wavelength. The readings were extremely weak, telling her that it was probably only residual energy from something else, which made the scanner unable to get a clear answer.

“There’s another source here, but it’s too faint to measure. I’m getting a strong reading from the portal, however, which makes sense.”

“Any ideas what the other reading could be?” Sunset asked. Twilight shook her head.

“It could be any number of things, really. These sensors aren’t perfect, so it very well could be electromagnetic interference from lights or even someone’s phone.”

Sunset jotted down a few more notes, and nodded, satisfied.

“Well, there’s something, at least. We know the portal’s magic probably had something to do with it.” She looked up. “Anything else?”

“No, not that I can see.” Twilight stood, dusting herself off and turned to the man next to her. “Did you guys find anything else up here you want me to check out?”

“No,” Sunset shook her head, “Like I said, it’s the hardest place to reach, so it was best to get it out of the way.”

“I understand,” Twilight nodded and turned to the man on the pedestal with her, “Um, James? I think I’m gonna need your help to get down.”

The soldier threw a relaxed salute and walked over to the edge. With all the casualness of a man going downstairs, he jumped off the edge, bending his knees to absorb the shock.

“James!” The three cried.

“What?!”

“Is that seriously how you got down the first time?” Sunset yelled.

“Yeah?”

“You could’ve hurt yourself!”

“But I didn’t.” James pointed out.

“James!” Sunset glared at him.

James just grinned and looked up where Twilight peered over in fear.

“I don’t think I can do that,” the girl said meekly. James chuckled.

“I’m not gonna make you do that. Just sit down and swing your legs over.”

Twilight apprehensively did as he instructed. Same as with the princess and Sunset, James picked her up and swung her down onto the ground. She steadied herself when she back on her own feet. His sudden movement had taken her by surprise.

“T-Thank you,” she said and the man nodded in return. The girl looked over her scanner and cleared her throat. “Okay. Do you have the book with you?”

Sunset nodded and dug through her bag, producing the novel. She held it out for Twilight, who adjusted her glasses before holding the scanner up. The same whir and hum from before sounded and the results were up right after.

“1000. There’s definitely magic from the portal there.”

“Makes sense.” Sunset nodded.

“Wait, there’s another one here.” Twilight frowned. “It’s got a strong signal at 367.55.”

The princess frowned.

“So there’s another source of magic involved?”

The student nodded.

“I can’t tell you where it’s coming from, but it’s definitely there. In fact, I think it’s reading stronger than the portal’s own magic.”

“So now we just need to find out what this other wavelength is.”

“Whatever that is, I think it’s the key here.” Sunset shook her head. “Just one more mystery to add to the pile, I guess.”

She sighed. There had been a fair share of magical incidents around the portal, so there were plenty of potential patches of magic left around. And now that they knew the portal was leaking magic, there was a possibility that a new kind of magic was coming through.

“Can I see the notes?” Human Twilight asked. Sunset nodded and handed the notebook over.

“Sorry in advance if it’s unreadable,” The princess apologized, frowning at the notebook in Sunset’s hands. “I’m not quite used to writing with hands yet.”

“I’m sure it’s not that bad,” The student reassured. Taking the notes from Sunset, she glanced over them and cringed. “Oh.”

“Yeah…”

The student tried to flip the pages of the journal but struggled with the scanner in her other hand.

“Here, let me take that.” Sunset grabbed the scanner from the lavender girl.

“Thanks, Sunset,” The young woman looked over at the princess, “Um, could you help me read this?”

“Yeah, sorry.”

While the lavender skinned girls poured over the notes, James walked over to Sunset.

“Well, that’s not something you see every day, is it?” He commented, gesturing to the two. Sunset grinned.

“They look more like twins than counterparts.”

James nodded.

“I think it’s the glasses and the hair.” He glanced down at the scanner. “So, that little thing does what now?”

“It scans magic to get a reading of the wavelength it’s emitting, which identifies it as a unique number we can compare to other readings to identify it later on.”

“...I see.”

Sunset grinned.

“You have no idea what I said, do you?”

“I knew most of the words you said individually, but together they meant nothing to me.”

“Okay, let me try to say this in a different way,” She proposed, and the man nodded. “So you know your unit has a certain designation?”

“Yeah?”

“What is it?”

“Well, uh, how specific do you want me to get?”

“What would it say on your paperwork?”

“Uh, probably… ‘G Company, third battalion, 141st Infantry Regiment, 36th Infantry Division.’”

“Right. So it’s like that,” Sunset explained, “Except that it’s a number instead. The wavelength is like your unit. There are different ones, and each is unique. So the portal’s wavelength is 1000, meaning anything that matches that, has to have been from the portal. Just like any soldier who has the exact same unit as you on their paperwork has to be from your company.”

“So the number is a unit designation,” James nodded. “See, why don’t you guys just start with that?” He chuckled, “So whatever it scans, it’ll give out a magical number thingy?”

“If it has magic, yeah,” Sunset nodded.

“Aren’t you a magical talking unicorn normally?” James asked, “Wouldn’t you have a number?”

Sunset thought for a moment and shrugged.

“I might. We could try.” Sunset handed James the scanner, “Just point and pull the trigger.”

“I think I can manage that,” James grinned, “I might’ve done it a few times.”

Sunset laughed and stepped back. The soldier lifted the scanner and aimed it at her torso, and pulled the trigger, causing the scanner to hum once again before beeping.

“Well Miss Magic, you’ve got yourself a number thing.” James turned the scanner around for Sunset. “405.31.”

“Really?” She grinned. “I honestly didn’t think that would work.”

“Well, I never had any doubts,” James grinned smugly, “Mainly because I have no idea what any of this means.” He looked over at the two Twilights. “Do you wanna try them?”

“Sure,” Sunset laughed. “But I don’t think Twilight from this world is going to have a number.” She paused, “Actually, she might. She’s been in contact with Equestrian magic before. And with how randomly Equestrian magic acts in this world, I’m not so sure anymore.”

James shrugged and pointed the scanner at her.

“Well, I guess we’re fixin’ to find out.”

Another hum, whir, and a beep later, and the results were on the screen.

“...What?” Sunset stared at the screen. She glanced up at James who shrugged, “Hey Twilight?” She called.

“Yeah?” Two voices responded.

“Oh, um… Sorry.” The teen muttered to the princess.

“Oh no, I mean… well…” The princess turned back to Sunset, “Which one?”

“Um, it doesn’t matter.” Sunset shook her head, “What was that unidentified wavelength we found?”

Human Twilight frowned and flipped through the pages.

“367.55.” She looked up, “Why?”

James slowly turned the screen around, showing her. Reading clearly on the screen was the number “367.55.” Confusion and shock mounted in her.

“Did you find something else with it?” She asked, “Whatever you found might be the source.”

James cleared his throat.

“Uh, Twilight?”

The lavender girl looked up. The other three were staring at her. The teenager was suddenly very uncomfortable with the situation.

“What?” She muttered meekly.

“...It’s your wavelength.”

Chapter 7

“...It’s what?” Twilight asked, hoping that perhaps she had heard wrong.

Sunset stepped forward. “We scanned you. It’s your wavelength.”

The teen shook her head and plastered an unconvincing grin on her face. “N-No, it can’t be that. I’m not magical, I don’t have magic. I can’t have magic.” She grabbed the scanner, looking over the screen and hitting it with her hand. “It’s gotta be some kind of mistake!”

James gently, but firmly, tried to take the scanner back. The teenager clutched it, looking up at him in fear. His features were set in a grim determination.

“Twilight,” he spoke with a tone that left no room for argument, “Give me the scanner, please.”

The lavender girl closed her eyes but didn’t let go of the scanner. After a few moments of inner debate, she released the device.

“Thank you,” he whispered.

Without another word, he shifted so he was standing beside her. Carefully, he took her wrist and brought her hand up. The lavender girl could only watch as the red dot appeared on her hand, and the telltale sound of the scanner doing its work made itself known. With the resounding beep and the displayed results, her heart sank.

“Okay, so… I have magic,” she nodded shakily, “And it made your book… do that.”

“Are you alright?” Sunset asked.

“N-No, not really,” Twilight shrugged nervously, “But we did get answers.”

“Twilight, if you want to stop for today, we can.”

“I… um...” The lavender girl swallowed nervously as she glanced at James. The man frowned.

“Don’t push yourself on my behalf, Twilight.”

“I-It’s no big deal! Really!”

James looked her in the eye, his height advantage over her becoming apparent, and placed a hand on her shoulder reassuringly.

“We don’t need to rush things. I’m not jumping at the chance to get back.” He chuckled. “I mean, you’ve seen what I’ve got going for me when I go home. Now, I like getting shot at as much as the next guy, but I’ll take any time away I can get.”

The lavender girl stared back at him.

“But it’s my fault.”

Of all the responses she was expecting to get, laughing was not one of them.

“Oh, Lord, you and Sunset.” James shook his head, “Where do you two come up with these things?”

Twilight glanced up at her Equestrian friends for help, but they just shrugged.

“Oh, sorry.” James got himself under control, “I just think it’s hilarious that both of you managed to convince yourselves of this insane notion that somehow, you’re responsible for me being here.”

“Sunset did what?” The student gawked before looking up at the redhead, “How could it be your fault?”

“W-Well, I put the book on the portal,” Sunset explained, “That’s what made the connection happen in the first place.”

“And that’s just as ridiculous as your theory of everything being your fault, if not more,” James said to Twilight, “I mean, come on! Even after both of you did all that, I walked through the mirror. I don’t think you or Sunset made me do that.”

The two Canterlot High students stared at each other, both realizing the ridiculousness of the situation. Like embarrassed school children, they sheepishly lowered their eyes to the ground. James chuckled and looked at the Princess.

“Children,” he shook his head, “When will they learn?”

Equestrian Twilight giggled.

“James, we’re barely older than these two. Heck, I think Sunset is older than me.”

“Well… unless she’s older than 19, I think I win.”

“She might be. Age works a little weird with the portal.”

“Well… She’s gonna be whatever age she should be on this side of the portal.”

“You just want to be older,” Sunset interjected.

“I don’t need to explain myself to you.”

Sunset shook her head. “You’re an idiot.”

James crossed his arms. “Harsh, but probably fair,” he looked around, “So, I guess everything is settled? We’re calling it a day?”

“I think so,” Sunset nodded and turned to the princess, “Twilight, if you want to stay again, you’re more than welcome.”

“I’d love to, but I’ve gotta get back to Equestria. I told Spike I’d only be gone for the weekend.”

“Probably also got that whole ‘princess’ thing to do.” The private grinned.

“That too.” Princess Twilight nodded.

“Well, it was great seeing you again.” Sunset hugged her fellow Equestrian.

“You too.” The two broke off. “It was great meeting you, James, and, um, Twilight. It’s good seeing you, too.”

After exchanging their goodbyes, the princess stepped through the portal. The mood sobered quickly as the other Twilight started gathering her things.

“I guess I’ll be heading home, too.”

“We’ll walk you home.”

“Oh. You guys don’t have to do that, Sunset. I’m fine.”

“Well we want to.”

“And we gotta make sure you actually take a break,” James added.

The girl blushed, adjusting her glasses.

“I wasn’t going to do much…” she muttered.

“Come on, Twilight.” Sunset shook her head, “Just one day. Take a break.”

“I know, I will.” She relented, “I’ve just never been good at that sort of thing.”

“It’s easy.” James grinned, “Just pretend this is your bed,” He pointed to the steps of the school, “Get on it like so, and lay down like this,” he laid on the steps of the school stretching out theatrically, “And then stay there until it’s time to eat, then come back to this.”

“Um… I guess I can do that?” Twilight said, sounding unsure of herself.

“Or you could just watch TV and hang out with your parents,” Sunset added.

“A more modern solution, I guess,” James grumbled, “As long as you’re not working on this, I don’t rightly care what you do.”

“Didn’t you have TVs in the 30s and 40s?” Sunset asked.

“Not like you all do. I’ve seen them around, but no one had them in their living room like you guys do. Definitely not that big, either.” James shook his head, “How did we get to TVs?”

“I don’t know. But I think we were going to walk Twilight home.”

“Oh yeah.”

“I guess I can’t convince you guys not to?” The purple haired girl asked.

“Probably not.” James confirmed.

“If you really don’t want us to come with you, we’re not gonna force you, Twilight.”

“No, it’s fine. I appreciate it, really. It’s just… my dad.”

“Your dad?”

“He sort of… absolutely loves Their Darkest Hour.”

“...Oh.” Sunset blanked.

“Ooo, do I have a fan?”

“Well… the 36th isn’t his favorite book...”

“...Oh.” He frowned.

“B-But he still likes your story! He just… likes some of the others more.”

“May I ask who?”

“The 101st Airborne Division and the 3rd Infantry Division.”

“...Does he now?” James said with no small amount of indignation.

“James!” Sunset scolded him.

“I-I mean, uh, great for him!” the private said with forced cheer.

“What do you have against those groups?”

“I don’t… well,” James relented, “It’s just... they’re always in the news. Everyone knows about them. America’s golden boys or whatever.” He turned back to Twilight, “Why’d he choose them anyway?”

“Their stories were really successful. The 101st Airborne’s was made into a TV series following the main character, Richard Winters, and the 3rd Infantry Division got a lot of movies made based around Audie Murphy.”

“...I guess that’s a good enough reason,” James shrugged, “whoever those guys are. Do you think he would recognize me?”

“It’s a book, James.”

“Well, I don’t know.”

“Sunset’s right. And, well, I don’t think he’s read the book enough to remember every detail about you.”

“Well, then what’s the problem?”

“It’s…” Twilight sighed. “I guess you’ll see when we get there.”

“Always bodes well, doesn’t it?” James mused to Sunset.

“Night Light’s harmless, I promise you.” Sunset smiled, “I’ve met him a couple of times. It’s nothing bad, I’m sure.”

“I guess we’ll see, won’t we?”

“Hey, there’s my girl.”

“Hi, dad,” Twilight greeted.

The trio walked up to the lavender girl’s house and saw Mr. Night Light working on something in the garage. He wiped his hands and stepped out, his shirt stained with black grease and sweat.

“Oh, hey Sunset. Good to see you,” he greeted his daughter’s friend before turning to the unfamiliar young man, “I don’t think I’ve met you before. Who’s this, Twilight?”

“This is… um...”

“Eyes,” Sunset whispered to James.

“Eyes,” James repeated as he stuck his hand out, “My friends call me Eyes, sir.”

“Ah. Nice to meet you, Eyes.” Night went to return the handshake but paused. “Hey. Is that an M41 Jacket, by chance?”

The soldier froze.

Oh. THAT kind of weird. Sunset thought.

“Y-Yes, sir.”

“It looks pretty worn there, son. Do you do events?”

“...Events?”

“Role-playing events,” Twilight said sheepishly, blushing furiously.

“We like to call them tactical simulations, but I guess that also works.” Night Light frowned.

“Oh, uh… no, sir.” James inspected his coat, “I’ve just had this jacket for a while.”

“Ah, I understand. Does your old man do events?”

The soldier glanced at his companions, unsure of what to say. Sunset looked up at Night Light. His attention was still focused on James. She turned to James and nodded at him, mouthing the word ‘yes’.

“Uh… yeah, he does. Or used to, I mean. He’s got a bad leg these days, so he’s had to stop. I’ve been wearing his stuff since it fits me better.”

Sunset grinned and gave him a thumbs up.

“Ah, that’s a shame. Hate to see the old timers have to leave the hobby.” Night Light shook his head, “That’s the… uh. Shoot, I know this.” He stared at the patch, inspecting it for a few moments. “That’s… the 36th, right?”

“Yes, sir.” James grinned proudly, relaxing slightly.

“That’s pretty cool. Been a while since I’ve read that book, honestly, but I seem to remember it was pretty good.” He clapped his hands together as he seemed to remember something, “Hey, I’m working on something you might like.”

And with that, Night Light turned on his heels and all but ran back into the open garage. James shrugged and followed, the girls right behind him.

“Do you know what he’s talking about?” Sunset asked as she leaned towards Twilight.

“I do,” Twilight sighed, “Just… you’ll see. He’s really proud of it, and I wouldn’t do it justice.”

James came up to where Night Light excitedly stood. His eyebrows shot up in shock at what he saw.

“Wow. Is that an army motorcycle?”

“It’s a near-perfect recreation of the Harley-Davidson WLA.” Night Light said proudly, “I’ve been converting an old Buffalo bike through custom parts. It’s been a pet project of mine for a couple of years now.”

“Does it run?”

“Not yet,” Night shook his head, “These old Buffalo bikes started getting very popular after people found out that they were the basis for the WLAs. Parts for them are hard to come by. That’s why I’ve had to custom make a lot of the parts for this one. Like these here. This whole saddlebag setup along the tail was made by a friend of mine who has some experience with leatherworking, and the mudguards here were made by another member of our unit in his shop.”

“That’s…” James shook his head, shocked, “That’s amazing. I honestly didn’t think people cared that much.”

“Oh yeah, definitely. I’ve even seen guys go out and buy decommissioned tanks and convert them into American and British tanks.”

“Oh Jesus,” James laughed, “That could not have been cheap.”

“Oh definitely not, but the guy was a lawyer who had tons of money to sink into the project. Couple of us donated a bit of money or time to fix it. Ended up taking a year or so and cost us almost thirty thousand dollars.”

“Wow. That’s a real labor of love, right there.”

“Oh yeah. But when the audience for our shows see that tank rolling out of the woods, their cheers make it all worth it.”

James just laughed again in disbelief and covered his mouth with his hand as he turned away. Sunset frowned.

Is… Is he crying?

“Dad, I think Sunset and James need to get home.”

“Oh, right.” Night Light laughed sheepishly, “Sorry, kids. I sort of get a little excited about these things.”

“It’s fine, Mr. Light.” Sunset smiled, “It was great seeing you guys again, but yeah, I think we need to get going.”

“Alright. Take care, Sunset. And Eyes,” Night stuck his hand out, “It was good meeting you. If you ever want to get into doing shows, and you aren’t opposed to getting some new patches, give me a call.”

“I will. It was wonderful to meet you, too, sir.”

A few more goodbyes were exchanged and Sunset and James were off down the sidewalk. The suburban sprawl stretched for blocks as they headed back towards the school. Suddenly, the line of houses stopped abruptly and opened up into a large park. Sunset smiled as she looked up at the autumn trees. Most of the leaves were gone, but she still found beauty in the last few flares of color holding out. Her attention was drawn away when the redhead thought saw movement out of the corner of her vision, and looked over to see James rubbing his eyes.

“Hey, are you alright?” She asked.

“Hm? Oh, uh, yeah.” James nodded, “I’m fine. Just tired.”

“James…” Sunset frowned, “You looked like you were almost crying back there. Are you sure you’re alright?”

The man cringed.

“Was it that noticeable?”

“Well… not entirely, I guess. But I’m pretty good at reading people, and I sort of picked up when you tried to hide it.”

James sighed.

“Alright, yeah, I was getting a little... emotional, or whatever.”

“Why?”

“It’s just,” he shook his head, “I don’t know. I guess I just never expected people to really care that much about us. We’re just a bunch of idiots from some book that’s twenty years old. When I heard people cared so much that they were willing to spend tens of thousands of dollars and spend years of their time just so they could portray us? It got to me. If people back home care half as much about us in twenty years, then I’ll be blown away.” He shrugged sadly, “I guess it all depends on whether or not we win the war. Either way, if people care this much about us, my hopes for this war are pretty good. Either that or you guys like losers a lot more than you probably should.”

“Well I promise you, no matter what happens, there are plenty of people in this world who love the man: ‘James Garrett.’”

The soldier laughed.

“I’d believe that people love the 36th, but I don’t know if anyone loves me. I feel like I’m just an accessory to the main story.”

“Oh come on, James. I promise you, there’s at least one person out there who can force themselves to like you.”

“Oh you’re a real comedian, you know that, Ms. Shimmer?”

“I try.” Sunset grinned proudly, “But in all seriousness, I promise you, people really do love you.”

The private shook his head.

“I can’t see why. It’s not like I’m a model soldier or anything.”

“Oh come on, you can’t honestly believe that.”

“What? How do you not? What have I done other than carry a rifle and prance around Europe?” He chuckled darkly, “That does not make me a hero.”

“Really? ‘What have you done?’ Oh, I don’t know, how about leaving everything behind to go fight in a war?”

James scoffed. “Are you kidding me? I am not special for doing the bare minimum. Literally millions of other men did that. You wanna call me a hero for that?”

“They’re all heroes, too.”

“But then why me?” James stopped and faced Sunset, “Why am I so special that I get to live? Why am I the main character? Why do people like me? For being a coward? For being a moron? What is it? Because right now I do not understand why they like me at all.”

Sunset reeled back from the man, caught by surprise when the man stopped so suddenly. She frowned.

“Why would they not?” Sunset said sadly. The man shook his head, throwing up his arms in frustration.

“What kind of hero do you think I am? Captain America?”

“...Who?”

He shook his head, stepping off the path towards a nearby park bench. With a sigh, he dropped himself down. The redhead followed him, taking the seat next to him.

“I don’t deserve this, Sunset. I should be out there on the frontlines, not living it up here.”

“James, please. You can’t keep blaming yourself for all this. You are so much better of a man than you realize.”

“I just don’t get it, Sunset. Why do you have so much of this undying belief in me? What is it that keeps you believing I’m so great?”

The redhead recoiled. She hadn’t expected the question, and now her thoughts were racing on how to answer. A million excuses came up to her head, but she knew only one of them was the real truth. But should she tell him?

On the other hand, if his time here was as short as they were thinking, she’d lose her only opportunity to tell him soon. Then she’d have to live on wondering if he felt the same. She was running out of time as it was and now was as good a time as any. She had to tell him. But on the other hand, if he didn’t, then what time he was going to be here for would be very awkward. So, she still herself and took a deep breath.

“I… uh… James,” She ran her hands along her jeans, “Everything you did was just... inspiring to me. I went through some tough times of my own not too long ago and… it was hard to think about anything else when all that I had around me were reminders of my failures. When I read about all the things you went through, it just made everything I was going through so much smaller. I thought if you could go through all that and still keep going, then maybe my problems weren’t so big after all. You were a hero to me. You were my inspiration.”

“Sunset…”

“I just… fell in love with you, I guess.” She cringed, “N-No, I didn’t mean… w-well, I did, but…” She closed her eyes. “I… really like you, James. I think you’re wonderful and I enjoy being around you. And I’m sorry… I… I know you have to leave…” She trailed off, shaking her head. “I just… like you, James.”

And then… nothing. She clenched her fists, keeping her eyes shut. The silence was worse than any response he could’ve given.

“I’m sorry, James. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable or anything.” She shook her head, “I ruined everything. I’m sorry.”

“Sunset,” James said firmly.

She opened her eyes and slowly looked up. His face was set in a stoney line, betraying none of his thoughts. He opened and closed his mouth several times, but every time his words were dead on arrival. The redhead could tell he was struggling to find a response.

“I… I understand what you’re trying to say. I’ve felt the same before.”

Her heart nearly exploded out of her chest right then and there.

“You… you have?”

He nodded.

Sunset’s smile nearly split her face as she laughed in relief.

“Oh thank Celestia. I was worried you… well, that you were going to hate me, I guess.”

Her happiness faltered. He still wasn’t smiling.

“...James?”

“I… I can’t say I like you back.”

“O-Oh. Um…”

“It’s not you, Sunset, I promise, it’s not you.” He shook his head, “You are an absolute joy to be around and I owe you ten times over for everything you’ve done for me. But I don’t want to start something that I can’t finish…” He cringed, “Not the best way to word it, but… still. What I mean is more that… I don’t want to hurt you when I have to leave. That’s what I meant by I’ve been there before. It’s just… I’m just a visitor here. Just like I was in France and all the other places I visited back home. I’ve gotta go home at some point. And I can’t ask you to drop everything and come with me.”

Sunset’s heart fell. She knew he was right, but there had still been hope.

“I understand.” She shook her head, “I just thought… well, we could enjoy our time here and now and deal with the future later.”

James stared back at her. Sunset could see the pain and hesitation in his eyes, but there was something else there, she thought. Hope, maybe. But whatever it was, his mind was racing with something. He nodded slowly.

“Maybe… maybe. I just… it’s gonna hurt when I have to leave regardless, Sunset. And I don’t want to make it any harder. Things might change, and if they do… maybe. But right now, as things are now… I can’t. That wouldn’t be fair to you.”

“Okay.” She nodded weakly. “I understand.”

“I’m really sorry, Sunset.”

“No, I understand. I promise.” She wiped her eyes and stood, putting on a calm smile, “We gotta get going. I still have to email Principal Celestia about you.”

James nodded hesitantly and stood.

“Lead the way.”

Sunset held the door open as James stepped into the apartment. He walked in and sighed, running his hand through his hair. The redhead felt a stab of pain in her heart as she stared at him. She couldn’t help but think about what could’ve been. She shook her head, pushing it aside. She had her answer, and that was the end of it.

But there’s still a maybe…

“I’m just gonna send that email to Principal Celestia real quick.”

James nodded, letting her pass. Sunset dropped herself into the desk chair and reached over, pushing a button on the front of her computer case. The fans whirred as the machine hummed to life. She stared blankly at the monitor screen. She felt both as if a huge weight was lifted off her chest while also having another put on her shoulders. She’d put her feelings out there, and she got her answer. But, like he said, nothing they did could last. He had to go home, and Sunset could never go with him.

“Uh, Sunset?” The girl was roused from her thoughts by James, worry etched on his face. “I think your typewriter’s on.”

She looked at the screen, which now displayed a brightly colored landscape as her lock screen.

“Oh.” She nodded, “Thanks.”

“Look, Sunset... I’m really sorry.”

“It’s fine, James.” She didn’t look up, but his silence spoke volumes.

“Alright,” he muttered.

Sunset shook her head, trying to push the thoughts aside. She had done that a lot recently. Turning her attention back to the screen, she brought up her email inbox and clicked the plus button on the bottom right of her screen to begin composing a new message.

Dear Principal Celestia,

Recently there was a bit of a hiccup with the portal outside the school. Some things happened that are now under control, but we temporarily have a visitor. His name is James. I can explain more in person, but for now, let’s just leave it at he’s going to be around for a while and I was wondering if he could visit our school in the meantime.

As I said, I can explain more in person tomorrow morning. Sorry in advance for any trouble this might cause.

Thank you,
Sunset Shimmer

After giving it a quick once-over, the redhead nodded and sent the message.

“Now all we have to do is wait.” She spun her chair around to face James, “...What are you doing?”

“...Cleaning my rifle?”

“I can see that,” Sunset nodded. “...why?”

“It’s dirty. I haven’t had a chance to clean it properly in a while.” James held up a piece of the bolt mechanism, squinting at it, “I mean, look at this thing. It’s got dirt and grime all over it.” He shrugged and set the piece down, “Plus, the bolt started sticking. It doesn’t move as smoothly as I like.”

Sunset leaned off the edge of her chair, looking at the various parts strewn about on her floor. She had no idea how they fit together, let alone what they did once they got there. James, on the other hand, knew exactly what he was doing, and it showed. He took every part out of the rifle, inspected them, and then set them somewhere on the floor.

“Do you know what all that does?” Sunset asked.

“Of course.” James grinned, “I’ve taken apart and put together one of these rifles probably over two thousand times, and I’m not exaggerating. I can do it with my eyes closed in a minute, and about twenty seconds eyes open.”

“Right,” Sunset laughed, “Sure you can.”

“Oh, you don’t believe me?”

“Not really, no.”

“Well then, Ms. Shimmer. You willing to bet on that?”

Sunset grinned. She knew he was provoking her to get her mind off what happened earlier. Flash had done the same thing whenever they’d fought. She didn’t care, though. Because it was working.

He was confident, that much was sure. In her experience, someone as confident as him usually has the skills to back it up. On the other hand, those numbers seemed a bit exaggerated.

“I don’t think you have anything to bet, James.”

“I’ve got gloating rights?” He shrugged, grinning.

The girl mulled this over. “Okay. Fine.”

James smiled knowingly.

“Let me clean it first and then we’ll get started.”

“I think you’re stalling for time, Mr. Garrett.”

“Well, it’s gotta get cleaned before I can start messing around. Besides, I’ve already taken it apart, so I might as well clean it while I’ve got it like this. It won’t take long. If you want to help, it’ll take even less.”

“I don’t know how to clean a gun.”

“Taking it apart and cleaning it isn’t the hard part. Putting it back together, on the other hand...”

Sunset laughed. “Alright, fine. Show me how and I’ll try my best.”

The soldier scooted over and patted the spot on the carpet next to him. The young woman stood and carefully stepped around the parts to take the spot at his side. She dropped down, sitting with her legs crossed, and he nodded to her.

“Alright. So this is a fully dismantled M1 Garand rifle. To clean it, you grab one of these pieces,” He picked up a small metal part, “And a rag from my kit. Now, watch closely ‘cause this is a real complex concept here, alright?” Sunset nodded studiously. “Alright. Watch close.”

The man carefully took the part in one hand, and a rag in the other. Slowly and meticulously, he brought them closer. They touched, and he slowly rubbed the part with the rag for several seconds. Then, he stopped.

“...Is that it?” Sunset asked, frowning.

“Yep.”

“You- what?” Sunset grinned, “Are you messing with me?”

“A little bit,” James chuckled, “But in all seriousness, you just need to wipe off any dirt and grime with one of these rags. That’s it.”

“I think I can handle that.”

“Alright then,” He grinned back, handing her the scrap of cloth, “Here’s your rag, Ms. Shimmer.”

The redhead took the rag and grabbed a piece from the ones scattered in front of them. She wiped it down, taking care to ensure she didn’t miss any spots. Once she was satisfied, she showed it to James.

“How’s that?”

“Hell of a lot more than I normally do.” James grinned, “Looks great. Let me get another rag and we’ll get going.”

Once James joined her, the two made quick work of the rest of the small pieces. Sunset wiped her hands and looked over the parts. There was still one more thing to clean.

“How do you clean that?”

“Clean what?”

“The… barrel?”

“Oh, that.” James grabbed the item in question, “For this, we’re gonna need the cleaning kit.” He pointed to the wooden stock, “Grab the stock and look at the butt plate. There’s a little door on it that opens a compartment.”

The girl picked up the wooden stock in question. She flipped it around and opened up the door in question. Inside, there was a small canvas bag tucked inside along with several other tools she didn’t know the use for. She handed the stock over to James.

“Is this what you needed?”

“Yes, thank you.”

The private set the barrel to his side and took the stock from her. He overturned it and dumped the contents of the compartment out onto the floor. Inside, there was a small green pouch, an oddly shaped metal cylinder with holes drilled in it, a brush with threads on the bottom instead of a handle, a loop with the same threads, and a small jar of a black substance.

The soldier took the green pouch and opened it, revealing a set of small metal rods with threads one end. He picked them up and started screwing them together. Next, he grabbed the cylinder and screwed it onto the end, forming a T-shaped handle. Lastly, he picked up the brush and attached it to the end.

He ran the brush through the barrel a couple times before setting it back down and swapping the brush attachment for the loop.

Next, the man set the rod down and leaned over to grab his pack, dragging it towards him. He dug through it until he found a small bag tucked inside the outer pouch. He set it next to the rod and closed his pack.

“Alright,” James nodded, “The way you clean the barrel is simple, but a bit tedious. So all I’ve done just now is run the steel brush through the barrel, hopefully loosening anything that might be in there. Next, I’m gonna take this piece of cloth, which is called a patch,” he held up a small white, square of cotton, “We run it through this loop on the end of the push rod, and wrap it around like this. If I had the proper equipment, I’d put some solvent on the patch to clean it better, but… y’know. Unless my eyesight’s suddenly gotten really bad over the past few days, I don’t think this is an army base.”

“If we are, my eyes are just as bad as yours.” Sunset grinned, “I think it’s safe to say we’re not on any sort of military base.”

“Well, then I guess we’re using a dry patch.”

The man shifted his position so he could slide the push rod down the barrel, and it slid in without any trouble. When the handle hit the end of the barrel, James held it up to Sunset.

“Look at the bolt right there.” He pointed to an opening on the back of the assembly.

Sunset peered into the opening. Inside was the white cotton, but it was now a dark grey as it was covered in black gunpowder residue and dirt.

“That doesn’t look good.”

“It is what it is.” James shrugged, “You use anything long enough, it gets dirty. Like a car or anything made of brass, it’s gonna get dirty even if you just leave it sitting out.” He pulled the patch out, “Just gotta make sure you give it the love and care it needs.”

“So what do you need to do now?”

“Well, like I said, I don’t have any solvent, so I’ll just run a few dry patches through to get the big stuff off. If you wanna do that, I can start greasing the bolt mechanism.”

“Alright, I think I can do that.”

With a nod, he handed her the cleaning rod and bag of patches. Sunset grabbed a patch and looped it around the end of the rod, repeating James’s actions. She replaced the patch every time she pulled it back out. And each time, the patch came out with slightly less grime on it. Eventually, when the cotton came out as clean as it went in, she smiled in satisfaction.

“All clean.” She set the rod aside, turning to James.

The man nodded as he finished up rubbing a dollop of grease onto the rifle’s long spring. With that done, he turned to her. She held up the clean white patch.

“Oh, look at that.” He grinned, “Didn’t think it would get that clean. Nice job.”

Sunset grinned proudly.

“Although if we’re honest, there’s probably some still in there that we’re not gonna be able to get out without some solvent, but there’s not much we can do about that,” James shrugged, Sunset’s grin fell. He laughed, “I’m just messing with you. It’s great, Sunset. I really appreciate it.”

“You’re welcome,” She gestured to the array of parts in front of them, “So now what?”

“Now we can reassemble everything.”

“Are you going to prove you can actually put it back together as fast as you said?”

“In a minute,” James pointed at her, cutting off any potential remark she may have had. “And no, I’m not stalling, I’m just making sure it’s all good before I start messing around with it.”

“Sure you are.”

James gave her an unamused deadpan, to which she only grinned back in response. He shook his head and began meticulously reassembling the rifle. Like when he took it apart, there was a deliberate intent behind every movement. This was definitely not the first time the man had done this. With a satisfying click, the trigger guard snapped into place. He racked the bolt, and it locked back since there was no ammo in it. He braced the bolt’s hand with his hand and pushed on the spring loaded piece of metal inside, and the bolt came loose. He swiped his hand away, and the rifle gave a satisfying clunk as the bolt slammed back into place. There was then a click as he dropped the hammer, and he held the rifle out in front of him.

“And there she is. Ain’t she a beauty?” James smiled at the now fully assembled rifle.

“It does look nice,” Sunset nodded.

“Alright,” The private shifted, facing Sunset, “I guess now I gotta put my money where my mouth is. Do you have a stopwatch?”

“I’ve got one on my phone, gimme a sec.”

“...Uh, okay?”

Sunset pulled her phone out of her pocket, bringing up the stopwatch app. Peering over at her screen, he raised an eyebrow but otherwise didn’t say anything.

“I don’t really understand why you’d have that on a pocket telephone, but alright.”

“It’s just one of those things, James.”

“Right. Just let me know when you’re ready.”

“I’m ready whenever.”

“Well then give me a countdown.”

“Alright.” Sunset raised her phone, “3… 2… 1… Go!”

Taking off like a racehorse, James’s hands flew over the rifle in front of him. He repeated the same deliberate movements from before, but much faster. Before Sunset even realized what was happening, the rifle was completely apart, and she tapped the stop button on her screen.

“Wow…” Sunset gaped at her phone, “Ten seconds.”

“Told you.

“I’m really glad we didn’t put money on this.”

“It’s not like I had any money in the first place. You ready for me to put it back together?”

Sunset reset the stopwatch and nodded to him.

“3… 2… 1… Go!”

And once again, James’s hands flew like lightning, repeating the actions in reverse as the rifle came back together. With another click, the rifle was back together.

“Ten seconds.” Sunset shook her head, amazed, “Alright, Mr. Garrett, I guess you were right.”

James grinned.

“And I’m not even the fastest in the unit. There was this guy from Seattle who could do the whole thing, disassemble and reassemble, in ten seconds.”

“I don’t understand why it’s that big of a deal,” Sunset shrugged, “Is it just a bragging right to be fast?”

“A little bit of that,” James shrugged, “But it’s also a huge tactical advantage. There was this training video they showed us back in the states that summed it up pretty well. The gist of it basically was, something like: say your unit’s holed up in a barn for the night. You’re cleaning your rifle and you’ve got it all laid out on the table. Then some artillery hits, and you’ve gotta move out right then and there. You don’t wanna be sitting there trying to gather up the parts to your rifle. If you’re fast, you can throw it back together and get going. Now you don’t need to mess with small parts, and you have a working rifle to defend yourself with.”

“Makes sense when you put it like that,” Sunset shook her head, “I guess everything’s a lot more utilitarian over there, huh?”

The soldier nodded.

“Different circumstances, but yeah.” James shrugged, “Hey, by the way, has your principal responded yet?”

Happy to take the distraction, the redhead stood and walked back to her computer desk.

“Let me see.”

She sat down and refreshed the screen. Sure enough, there was a new email waiting in her inbox.

Dear Sunset Shimmer,

I got your email, and I have to say, I do have my fair share of questions. However, that can wait until our meeting tomorrow morning. If your friend needs to attend school at CHS for a bit, we can figure something out. Come to my office tomorrow morning before school and we’ll see what we can do. I cannot guarantee he’ll be put in classes right away, but I’m sure we can find something for him to do during school hours if we can’t. Be sure to bring any legal documents he may have and be ready to fill out some forms.

I’ll see you both tomorrow.

Celestia
Principal, Canterlot High School
(202) 555-0167

Confidentiality Notice: This email message, including all attachments, is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential student and/or employee information. Unauthorized use of disclosure is prohibited under the federal Citizen Educational Rights & Privacy Act (20 E.S.C. §1232g, 34 CFR Part 99, 19 TAC 247.2, Gov’t Code 552.023, Educ. Code 21.355, 29 CFR 1630.14(b)(c)). If you are not the intended recipient, you may not use, disclose, copy or disseminate this information. Please call the sender immediately or reply by email and destroy all copies of the original message, including attachments.

“Jesus Christ, that’s a lot of text there.”

“It’s the school district. They always have these ridiculously long footnotes on the end that you can’t get rid of.”

“...Why?”

“Legal stuff.”

James’s eyes scanned over the wall of text, frowning.

“God forbid if the United States gets this bad.” James shuddered.

“Either way, Principal Celestia is helping us.”

“And we’re gonna have to fill out paperwork,” James deadpanned, “Joy.”

“It won’t be that bad, I’m sure. It was pretty light when I had to do it.”

“You had to do this?”

“Yeah? Y’know… the whole unicorn thing?”

“...Oh. Right.”

“Either way,” Sunset stood, walking over to the couch, “You get to go back to school.”

“What are the odds I understand what’s going on?”

“History? None. Language, maybe. Math… depends.”

“On?”

“What was the last level of math you were in?”

“...6th grade.”

“That… doesn’t help. What were you learning?”

“...Multiplication and division?”

Sunset deadpanned back. She thought through her years of math in her head and cringed.

“Yeah… Seniors are supposed to be learning Pre-Calculus.”

“Pre… what?”

“Pre-Calculus.”

“What is that?”

“...Okay, then. You’re gonna have some problems,” Sunset stated. James suddenly looked much more apprehensive. Sunset smiled reassuringly, “Don’t worry, James. I can help you. I’ve taken all those math classes already.”

“Aren’t you a senior?”

“I tested out of a lot of classes. I learned a lot of math in Equestria. It’s one of my better subjects.”

“So… what do you take?”

“Differential Equations and Linear Algebra.”

James stared blankly.

“Sunset, time to be honest with you,” he said after a moment, “I have no idea what any of that is.” The soldier sighed, holding his head in his hands, “This isn’t gonna work, Sunset. Why don’t I just go get a job digging graves or something I actually know how to do?”

“It’ll be fine, James. I can help you, Twilight can help, and the rest of the girls, I’m sure, will want to help when they meet you. You’re not doing this alone.”

James looked up at her, still hesitant, but nodded.

“Alright. It’s only for a bit, right?”

“Right.” Sunset nodded.

He sighed and leaned back on the couch.

“I guess we’re doing this, then, huh Sunset?”

“That we are.”

Chapter 8

The morning sun warmed the dew that had gathered on the grass of the school’s lawn as James and Sunset stepped off the bus onto the sidewalk. The sight of the large school building put an uneasy feeling in Sunset’s stomach. Where it used to be from the guilt of her past, it was now out of concern about what would happen to James. A quick glance to her side showed her that James wasn’t faring much better.

The Colorado native looked as out of his element as a hawk in a coal mine. His eyes rarely stayed focused on one spot for more than a second and his head was on a constant swivel. Thankfully, Sunset thought, there weren't many people there yet. Classes didn’t start for a little bit, so there were only a few students scattered across the courtyard, with more probably inside, given the cold.

The pair stepped through the doors of the building, cherishing the warmth that flowed over them.

“Oh, that’s heavenly,” James sighed, “I’m definitely glad I’m not in the field right now.”

“Me too,” Sunset agreed.

The soldier glanced around nervously. Now that he was inside, he looked like a trapped animal. She saw him glance more than once at the door.

“Are you ready to go to the office?” Sunset asked, trying to keep James’ mind off his surroundings.

“Yeah,” he said, distracted, “Let’s get it over with.”

The redhead started forward, James right beside her. As the large foyer of the school contracted into the lower-ceiling hallways, Sunset could see James start to relax slightly. He must not like open spaces, she thought. She filed that thought away for later as they approached the door of the main office.

“Hello, Ms. Shimmer,” the office aid greeted, “How can I help you two?”

“We’re here to meet with Principal Celestia.”

The office aid smiled at James. “Oh, so you must be the new student,”

“That’s me.” James grinned weakly, pointing to himself.

“That’s great.” The aid gestured to the door, “Well, you two can go on in. She should be ready.”

“Thank you, Ms. Inkwell.”

“Of course.”

Sunset stepped forward and knocked on the door.

“Come in,” a motherly voice told them.

Sunset obliged and opened the door and was greeted by Celestia seated at her desk. Hearing them come in, Celestia looked up and smiled as she set her pen down.

“Hello, Sunset.” Celestia stood.

“Good morning, Principal Celestia. Thanks for responding to me. We didn’t really have a whole lot of options.”

“Of course, Sunset. We may owe you a favor after what you did at the Friendship Games.”

She blushed. “I didn’t really do that much.”

“I would beg to differ. But that’s not why we’re here,” Celestia turned to the man next to her, “And you must be James.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He nodded respectfully, gently shaking her hand.

“Please, have a seat,” She waved to the chairs in front of her desk, and the two took their places. “Alright. Well, first thing’s first, I suppose. As much as we love getting new students, something tells me you didn’t just move into the neighborhood.”

“Yeah, about that…” Sunset spoke up, “Principal Celestia, did you ever read Their Darkest Hour?”

The older woman glanced at James. Specifically, his jacket. Sunset could already see the pieces starting to fall into place, but the administrator didn’t say anything yet. She just nodded and turned back to Sunset.

“I’ve read a few of the books. It was never my favorite series, but it was well written, nonetheless. Although I did read the 36th edition when Mr. Synopsis requested to add it to his curriculum.”

“Well… this is Private James Garrett,” Sunset grinned weakly, “From Colorado.”

Celestia turned to the man, looking him over. The redhead could see the soldier straighten up subconsciously, like she was an officer inspecting him. It seemed the administrator picked up on this as well, and she grinned warmly.

“I did have my suspicions when you brought up Their Darkest Hour.”

James grinned sheepishly and nodded.

“If I may ask,” Celestia spoke directly to James, “How did you get here?”

“Uh,” The private stuttered over his response. “Well, I’m not really sure on all the details, personally. I don’t really know how it happened it just sort of… did?”

Sunset put her hand to her face, shaking her head.

“Sunset can explain it better,” James said, diverting attention to the redhead. She looked up, the principal’s eyes now on her.

“I don’t need to know exactly how it all happened, I’m just curious,” Celestia said.

“Well, it’s… complicated. We don’t know how, but the portal temporarily connected to his world through the book.”

“And I walked through a mirror in my world,” James added.

“Then he came out in front of the school,” the redhead finished.

“I see. And how long have you been with us?” Celestia inquired.

“Three days now, ma’am.”

The administrator nodded, shuffling the papers in front of her. The silence hung in the air like a weight on both the teenager’s chests. The principal looked to be deep in thought for a few moments before nodding again.

“Well, I suppose now we need to address the reason you’re here. Mr. Garrett, I believe you needed to attend our school for a bit. Presumably while Ms. Shimmer and her friends find a way to get you back home?”

“Yes, ma’am. We think it would be better for me not to be on my own, in case anything happens. If it’s not too much trouble, that is.”

“I understand completely,” her easy grin fell, “However, as I feared, we won’t be able to have you completely enrolled right away. Especially since I imagine you have no public records.”

“Yeah, I was afraid you were gonna say that.” James nodded, “I’ll do everything I can to help, but I don’t think my US Army identification card will help me a lot here.”

“I’m afraid not,” the principal nodded, “Well, let’s get started.” She shuffled her papers again, picking one out and setting the rest aside. “We’ll start with your basic information. You’re going to need a name.”

“I can’t imagine James Garrett would work, would it?”

“Technically, it would. But I imagine you’d want something a little more discreet.”

“Well, Sunset came up with a cover name yesterday. Eyes or something.”

The principal turned to Sunset.

“Well, it was more of an on-the-spot sort of thing. We met Twilight’s dad and had to come up with a cover name since he would know James.”

“Why Eyes, if I may ask?” Celestia tilted her head, grinning amusedly.

“He told me this story about how he has really good eyesight. How he saw somebody’s helmet from really far away,” Sunset explained.

James laughed as Celestia chuckled softly.

“I was wondering where that came from,” the private shook his head.

“A fitting name, then, but not a full name.” Celestia smiled, “Did you come with up with anything else?”

“Not really, no.” Sunset shook her head, “It was… a bit of a spur of the moment sort of thing.”

“Hm… how about Noble Cause?”

“I uh… don’t really know what that means,” James glanced at Sunset, “But I uh… I guess that works.” James shrugged, “You guys have a weird naming system here.”

“Yours is just as weird to us, I promise you.” Celestia grinned,

“You could always go by ‘Eyes’ as a nickname,” Sunset pointed out.

“I guess.”

“It’ll take some getting used to, but it doesn’t have to be for long.” Celestia turned her attention back to her paperwork, “Alright. Next is your birthday.”

“March 19th, 1925.”

The administrator looked up from the form, an amused grin on her face.

“Something tells me that we might have to change that.”

“Why?”

“Because that would make you about 90 years old.”

James chuckled.

“Yeah, I think you might be right.”

“How old are you? We can just change the year to work better.”

“Nineteen.”

The administrator frowned. “You’re too old to be attending high school, technically,” Celestia shook her head, “We’ll have to either change your age or hold you back two grades.”

“Uh… which one is better?”

“I suppose that depends on how well you can keep your story straight with your age. You don’t look eighteen, but then again there are more than a few students I can think of that don’t either, so that’s not really a problem.”

James glanced at Sunset, looking more than a little uncomfortable.

“What about the other option?”

“Well, it’s possible, sure. Legally, you couldn’t be held back more than two years, so you’re within a reasonable age bracket. But as far as a first impression goes, it’s not ideal.”

“If that’s alright, ma’am, I’d rather not tell any more lies than I have to. I don’t know if I can even keep my story straight with what we’ve got so far.” James shrugged, “Besides, I was a bad student even back home, so it would fit.”

Celestia bit her lip, obviously thinking things through.

“I suppose we can do that,” she nodded, “If that’s what you really want, then we can make that work.”

“Thank you, ma’am.”

Celestia glanced up at the clock.

“Sunset, it’s getting a little late. I believe you might need to start getting ready for class.”

The redhead checked her phone. “Oh, you’re right.”

“So, if I’m not going to classes today… what am I going to do instead?” James asked.

“Legally? I can’t technically let you do very much, since you’re not enrolled.”

“So… I get to sit here in the office?”

Celestia nodded apologetically. “I’m afraid so. If you’d like, I can try to give you things to do in the meantime, but it’ll be things like helping Ms. Inkwell with paperwork.”

The private nodded. “If that’s the case, then that’s fine with me,” he said simply. He looked up at Sunset, “I guess I’ll meet you after school?”

“Yeah. I’ll see you then.” She nodded, “Thanks again, Principal Celestia.”

“Of course, Sunset.”

The former unicorn waved goodbye and stepped out of the office, shutting the door behind her. Ms. Inkwell nodded to her as she passed, and Sunset gave her a polite wave back as she pulled the door open. Suddenly, the low hum of the students in the hallway became a loud rumble once she stepped out of the office.

“There you are, Sunset!” A familiar voice said to her.

“Hey, Rainbow Dash,” The redhead greeted her friend.

The chromatic-haired girl in question stepped out of the stream of bodies, joining Sunset by her side.

“What’re you doing in the office? You in trouble or something?”

“No, it’s nothing like that.” Sunset grinned, “I just had to deal with some things.”

“Well now you have to tell me. No one just says they’re ‘dealing with things’ unless it’s something juicy.”

The former unicorn shook her head. “I will, but… let’s just get to class first, alright?”

Rainbow crossed her arms. “You’re stalling.”

“No I’m not. Unlike you, I don’t have a reputation for showing up late for all my classes.”

“Hey! I’m not late to all of them! Just first period. ...And third period. And sometimes fourth period when people are being slow. And fifth period after lunch. Plus, y’know, it’s a long walk from fifth to sixth and then all the way back up to seventh. But that’s it!”

“You just named all but one class, Rainbow.”

“Like I said! Not all of my classes.”

Sunset shook her head, grinning. She decided it was best to ignore her friend, and started walking.

“Hey! You still owe me an answer!”

“If you beat me to class, then I’ll tell you.”

“Well that’s lame! You and I both know I’m gonna beat you.”

“Prove it.”

“I will!”

Rainbow slapped Sunset on the back and started off down the hallway. The Equestrian shook her head and kept walking normally. She made relatively short work of the rest of the walk as she turned the corner and found her classroom, where she was met by an irate Rainbow Dash.

“You didn’t run, did you?”

“Nope.” Sunset grinned as she sat next to her.

“Y’all sure took your time gettin’ here this mornin’.” Applejack nodded to Sunset, “But Ah guess you somehow managed to make Rainbow Dash on time for once.”

“Hey!”

“Sorry, Applejack. I had to deal with some stuff this morning”

The farmgirl nodded. “Dash was sayin’ somethin’ ‘bout you bein’ at the office.”

“And you said you said you’d tell us why you were there once we got here, so spill it!”

Sunset smiled, shaking her head.

“Okay, fine.” Her smile faded somewhat, “Before I start, have you two read the book for Mr. Synopsis’s class?”

“Can’t say Ah have.” Applejack shook her head. “Haven’t gotten around to it yet.”

“It’s not like you even have to read it anyway.” Rainbow added, “I mean, he basically tells you everything that happens in class during our ‘discussions’.”

“He does like to talk,” The farmgirl agreed.

“Do you at least know the main character?”

“James or somethin’, right?”

“Oh yeah! He’s like totally awesome. Pretty much the only part of class I actually listened to was when Mr. Synopsis was talking about when they invaded that country, Italy or whatever it’s called, and they were totally outnumbered. But then they managed to hold out for help to come. Totally awesome!”

“Ah remember that. Mr. Synopsis spent a long time on it. Made it kinda hard not to listen,” Applejack said, “Why’re you askin’ about him?”

“There was a bit of an accident with the portal.”

The blonde narrowed her eyes. “What kinda accident?”

“One that may have led to James being in the office to temporarily enroll in classes?”

“Sunset,” Applejack sat up, “What happened?”

“When we were playing soccer on Friday I threw my books on top of the portal. I guess there was some sort of reaction between the magic in my journal and the magic in the portal to make the book connect. We think it might’ve been caused by Twilight… uh… Midnight’s magic from the Friendship Games.”

“So wait, are you saying that James has been here since Friday?” Rainbow asked.

“Where’s he been stayin’ all weekend?” Applejack added.

Sunset felt her face flush. She was hoping they wouldn’t ask that.

“He’s been staying with me. At my apartment.”

“He’s been what now?”

“You’ve had a soldier from a book living in your apartment?” Rainbow stated, “That’s totally awesome! When can we meet him?”

“Now hold on just a minute,” Applejack raised a hand, temporarily halting Rainbow’s excitement, “Sunset, are you sure this is a good idea?”

“Well, what was I supposed to do? It was late and he needed a place to stay. Not to mention he came out of the portal carrying around a gun. I couldn’t just leave him.”

“He has a gun?” Rainbow asked excitedly.

“Rainbow, keep your voice down.” Sunset scolded her friend, “Yes, he does, and I don’t want to advertise that fact.”

“She’s got a point, Dash.” Applejack nodded, “Might be better if we don’t talk about that part.”

“Still. What’re you guys doing with it?”

“Right now? It’s just sitting in my apartment. I helped him clean it yesterday, but we still haven’t found a place to put it.”

“You got to mess with it? What’s it like?”

“Greasy? I don’t know. There’s a lot of small mechanical parts in it. Although he could take it apart and put it together again in twenty seconds.”

“Forty seconds?” Rainbow repeated, impressed, “The more you talk about this guy, the more awesome he gets!”

“I gotta say, he does sound pretty impressive. But I dunno ‘bout him staying with you, Sunset. Just don’t sit right. Ya hardly know him.”

“Well, I’ve read a lot about him. So in a way, I kind of know him. But still, he’s extremely polite, and I don’t think there’s anything to worry about from him.”

“If you say so.” Applejack shrugged.

“Ladies, I hate to interrupt, but I believe you three have a lab to work on.” The girls looked up at an annoyed looking teacher standing with her arms crossed, “If you want to discuss other classes, do it once you’ve finished the work in my class first.”

“Sorry, Ms. Zenith,” Sunset apologized. Ms. Zenith nodded.

“Just finish your work, then you can go back to whatever you all were doing. Oh, and Ms. Dash,” She looked at Rainbow, “Thank you for showing up on time today. I hope this pattern keeps up.”

“Yes, Ms. Zenith.” Rainbow nodded.

Satisfied, the teacher walked away, leaving the three alone again.

“I’m not late that often,” Rainbow grumbled.

Celestia had seen many things during her career. She once saw a student of hers learn to play saxophone in the school band without a right thumb. That was an impressive feat. Another student had built a cube satellite with the help of a few of his teachers that was launched into orbit. Again, impressive. And of course, there was the magical business in recent times from her own students and the visiting Princess Twilight Sparkle (as well as the other Twilight Sparkle from Crystal Prep). If she was honest with herself, she still didn’t understand Sunset and her friends’ explanations fully, but she thought it best to let it be. But despite all that, she was yet again astounded by what lay before her.

He was, by all means, a normal nineteen year old young man. He had his hair cut short, his face clean shaven, and his general personage seemed to radiate discipline and respect. He seemed to be what every educator wanted in a student.

And it bothered her.

Partially because she knew of his background, and partially because it was just not what students were these days. Most of her students respected her out of fear of being reprimanded. She hated it, but it seemed to be what it took for most students these days. Of course, there was once again the exception of Sunset Shimmer, who seemed to respect her based off of some experience she’d had with this fabled other version of herself in Princess Twilight’s world.

But this boy seemed to just respect her out of… well, respect. It made her feel… old. Of course, he technically had a few decades on her, and he’d seen and done things that would probably make her cower like a child. Regardless, he insisted on calling her ‘ma’am’ at any possible time and spoke as little as possible. And once they’d finished his paperwork, he’d sat quietly in the corner of the room, never saying a word. If he was going to be in her office, she thought she’d try and have a pleasant conversation, at least.

“James,” she said. The young man’s head turned to her, ready for whatever she had to say, “What was school like for you at home?”

The soldier frowned.

“Well… I stopped going to school in sixth grade, ma’am. I don’t think I would be the best person to ask about that sort of thing.”

“I’m just curious about your experience.” Celestia smiled, “Plus, I don’t think there are many other people to ask.”

“I guess you’re right.” James chuckled, “Well, most of my time in school was spent on the basic subjects. English, math, science, history and all that. It wasn’t anything fancy like algebra or geometry. It was more just multiplication and division. For everything else? I don’t really remember much. In history they talked a bit about The Great War, but most of that I learned from my dad.”

“Oh? Did your father study The Great War?”

“No, ma’am, he fought in it.”

“Ah, yes. I apologize. So he told you about his experience with it?”

“A little.” James shrugged, “He never liked to talk about it a whole lot when I was growing up, but before I left for training, he sat me down and told me some stories. It’s funny, actually, I remember exactly what he said before he started. He said, ‘Jimmy. What you’re about to see is your fellow man at its worst. You’ll see men do things that should be impossible. You’ll see men do things that are worse than any nightmare you’ve ever had. But at the end of it all, you’ll have made friendships that’ll last longer than the people themselves. Just fight hard, listen to your superiors, and you’ll get home in one piece.’”

“Your father sounds like a wise man.”

“I guess.” James nodded, “He wasn’t book smart, and he’ll be the first to tell you that. But he’d seen a lot of things. Especially in the War.” The soldier shook his head, “That man saw things that makes my generation’s war look like a schoolyard brawl. I don’t know how he did it. But he made it through the war and came home in one piece.”

The administrator frowned. It was like someone flipped a switch. The nineteen year old boy in front of her suddenly looked like the ninety year old man his birthday said he was. Every warning bell from her training as a school counselor was ringing, but she didn’t know what to do. It’s not like they had training for consoling combat veterans in high schools.

“Did you make those friends your father was talking about?” She said, trying to steer the conversation to a brighter light.

“Hm?” James looked up.

“The friendships your father talked about. Did you ever make friends like that?”

James paused, thinking. Slowly, he smiled, a little bit of youth coming back to his eyes.

“Yeah, I did.” He nodded, “I met the best friends of my life during training in Florida.” His smile turned sadder once again, “A lot of them aren’t with us anymore. But it’s like my dad said. Some friendships last longer than the friends.”

Celestia nodded. So much for her brighter topics.

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“It’s alright, ma’am. People die in war. That’s a fact I came to terms with a long time ago. They were great friends, though. They taught me a lot of things that probably saved my life a dozen times over.” James shrugged softly, “I just try to live a good life for their sake.” The soldier shook his head, grinning sheepishly, “I’m sorry. I sorta derailed that conversation, didn’t I?”

“That’s alright, James. I’m glad to hear about your friends.”

James nodded respectfully. He stayed quiet, and Celestia could see him regain that ancient look in his eyes. She looked away, distracting herself by shuffling the papers on her desk.

“Well, James. I’m afraid I do have a few meetings to go to here soon. You’re welcome to stay here, or I can see if Vice Principal Luna needs your help with anything.”

The young man looked up, nodding.

“If Miss Luna needs my help, I’d be more than happy to give it, ma’am.”

The administrator smiled. With a nod, she picked up the phone on her desk and dialed the number for Luna’s office, pressing the speakerphone button.

“Vice-Principal Luna.” A voice answered shortly.

“Luna, it’s Celestia.”

“Oh, hello, Celestia.” Her voice became much more cheery, “What can I do for you?”

“Well I’m in my office right now with our new student, and I have to get ready for a meeting with the superintendent. He’s offered to help out and I was wondering if there was anything you might need a hand with.”

“Hmm. I do have a few things I could use some help on. When do you need him out?”

“Not for a little bit longer, but I thought I’d walk him down to your office myself first. I need to bring some paperwork to you anyway.”

“More paperwork. Joy.” Luna sighed, “What’s this new student’s name, by the way?”

“Do you remember how Sunset said in her email that things were a bit ‘complicated’?”

“...Yes?”

“Well... I’ll explain when I get there. See you in a minute.”

“Celestia, wait, what does that mea-”

The administrator ended the call, a sly grin on her face. Across from her, James was sporting a confused but entertained grin.

“Sorry.” Celestia laughed softly, “Vice-Principal Luna is my sister. I enjoy messing with her a bit.”

James chuckled.

“I think I can understand that, Ms. Celestia.” James shook his head, “I was definitely terrible to my siblings. Especially since I was the oldest.” he smiled. “When my brother, John, was starting sixth grade, I told him, ‘Don’t worry, Johnny. Sixth grade is easy. It’s just me that was the problem.’ and then I did this dramatic pause and said, ‘Well, there was Mr. Harry, but… nah, I’m sure it’ll be fine.’” James laughed again with renewed vigor, “John was freaking out for a whole day. When he came home that night, he punched me in the shoulder and went to bed.”

“Was Mr. Harry strict?”

“No,” James shook his head, “He was the nicest teacher at the school. But I’d basically convinced Johnny that this guy was the strictest and meanest guy in the world and that he was the reason I had to drop out. And from what he told me, Mr. Harry asked him if he was my brother, and Johnny just completely froze and started crying.”

James’s story broke down as he started laughing again. Celestia smiled. “That’s a little mean, don’t you think?”

The American shooking his head.

“Oh, I’m sure it was. But it’s also hilarious.” He calmed down slowly, “Ah, uh… Sorry, again. I keep taking over the conversations.”

“That’s alright, James. I was just getting some papers together to take to Luna.” Celestia spoke reassuringly. “Let me finish up here and we can walk over.”

“Okay.” James nodded.

Celestia smiled and dropped her eyes back to the paperwork on her desk, shoving several stacks of documents into her bag.

Budget Proposals… Incident Report… Calendar Proposal… Bus Rentals… Student Release Forms… Substitute Teacher Requests...

“James,” Celestia looked up.

The soldier perked up. “Yes, ma’am?”

“Do you and Sunset have any idea of how long you’ll be with us?”

The man shook his head. “Not right now. It depends on how quickly she, Twilight, and… um… Twilight, can figure out what caused all this.” James shook his head, “I mean… There’s this… other Twilight. Not the same one…”

“That’s alright, James,” The administrator grinned, “I know about Princess Twilight and her counterpart here in this world,” She shook her head, “That was a long conversation I wasn’t ever planning on having.”

The American laughed. “I understand the feeling,” he nodded, “But to answer your question, no, I don’t really have any idea when I’m going home. Is that going to cause problems?”

“No, not at all. I was just asking because we have a camping trip coming up. If you’re still here by then, we’d love for you to come along.”

“Camping?” James shrugged, “I’d love to come along. I can talk with Sunset about it.”

“I think it’d be wonderful if you could make it, just let me know what you two decide on.”

“I definitely will, ma’am.”

The administrator stuffed the remaining folders into her bag, and stood. With a last check around the room, Celestia walked over and opened the door, stepping out behind James and starting off down the hall.

“Good morning, Celestia.”

“Good morning, Raven. I’m heading off a little early for my meeting with the superintendent, but I have to stop by my sister’s office first. James here is staying in her office while I’m out.”

Raven nodded.

“Alright. I’ll let you know if anything happens here while you’re gone.”

“Thank you.”

Celestia turned around to see James inspecting some portraits hung on the wall. They were the Fall Formal Princess pictures. A pang of guilt hit the administrator. She’d been meaning to have those taken down. The man frowned. She didn’t see any confusion, though. More of a cold understanding. She assumed Sunset must’ve told him.

“James,” she said, catching his attention. He turned to her, “Are you ready to go?”

The man nodded, falling in behind her as they stepped out of the office.

Now in the hallways of the school, Celestia took the opportunity to give a once over of the school. There were a few students here and there out of class, most of whom found somewhere to be as soon as they noticed her. She smiled to herself. It amused her how much students thought they were getting away with. Lucky for them, she didn’t have the time nor energy to go after every single one. Besides, that wouldn’t be enjoyable for anyone.

Celestia glanced over her shoulder at James. The soldier followed just behind her on her left side, and was taking the opportunity to look around the building as they walked. She looked back forward, and slowed her walk a bit, trying to let him come up to her side. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched as he noticed her slowing and, to her confusion, slowed his pace as well, remaining just behind her. She mentally shrugged. He must not want to talk, she thought.

At last, they came to a door set off from the rest of the classrooms. The window on the door had blinds pulled down over it. The nameplate next to the door read, “Vice-Principal Luna”. Celestia walked up to the door and knocked.

“Come in,” a voice called curtly from inside.

Vice-Principal Luna was seated at her desk, a mountain of paperwork similar to Celestia’s own sitting in front of her. Her authoritative glare softened as her sister stepped in.

“Good morning, Luna.” Celestia smiled.

“Hello, Celestia.” Luna’s friendly attitude hardened slightly as she noticed James behind her. “Hello. You must be our new student.”

“Good morning, ma’am.” James nodded respectfully.

“James, this is Vice-Principal Luna. Luna, this is our new student, James.”

“It’s nice to meet you, James. Welcome to Canterlot High.”

“Thank you, ma’am. I’m very happy to be here.”

“Now, Luna,” Celestia cut in, “If you remember, Ms. Shimmer said in her email that things were complicated.”

“I may have heard that,” Luna deadpanned.

“Luna… jokes aside, I promise you that this really is a complicated scenario.”

“Complicated how?”

“Complicated as in both Sunset Shimmer and Princess Twilight are working to resolve it.”

The vice-principal’s eyes widened, and she nodded, glancing to James.

“Ah. That kind of complicated.”

“It sounds much worse than it is, I promise you.” Celestia reassured her, “But you might recognize the problem if you hear Mr. James’s name.”

Luna turned to the man in question, who sat up slightly in response to being the center of attention.

“And what is your name, Mr. James?” She asked.

He glanced to Celestia.

“Full name, if you could, James,” Celestia prompted.

James nodded.

“Private James Isaac Garrett.”

“Private?” Luna frowned. Celestia could see the pieces falling into place. “You’re… you’re from Earth?”

James nodded grimly. “Yes, ma’am.”

The vice-principal sat back in her chair. Celestia thought she looked like she’d just been slapped across the face.

“So… does this mean that the portal in front of our school… leads to worlds other than Princess Twilight’s world?”

“I’m not confident on the details, ma’am, but Twilight and Sunset told me that this was some kind of accident. It was something to do with some magical… thing,” James explained, “It’s still connected to Ms. Sparkle's home, last we checked. She was still able to come and go through the portal.”

“That’s good news, at least.” Luna nodded. “Without Princess Twilight, I’m afraid Sunset Shimmer is the only one here with any sort of understanding on how magic works.”

“With the two of them together, I’m sure they’ll figure out a way for you to get home,” Celestia added.

“I hope so.”

Silence fell over the group, with everyone having plenty to think about. Celestia had spent most of the morning trying to make sense of the scenario presented to her. It was funny, in a weird way. A year ago, and she would’ve assumed this to be some sort of prank by her students. But now? She believed it utterly and completely. And her sister, who had always been the most skeptical and distrusting of students, believed it as well. They’d come quite a long way.

Tearing herself from her thoughts, Celestia glanced at the clock on the wall.

“Well, I’m afraid I have a meeting to get to.” Celestia stood, grabbing her bag, “Oh, and before I forget,” she pulled the stack of folders out, handing them to her sister. “Here you are.”

“Wonderful,” Luna grunted as she set the stack on top of the already massive mountain of papers on her desk. “Have fun with the superintendent.”

“I’m sure I will.” Celestia grinned. “Bye, Luna.”

Celestia stepped out into the hallway, shutting the door behind her.

Vice-Principal Luna watched the man in front of her. Private James Garrett. She was familiar with his story. She had also read it when Mr. Synopsis had proposed it over the summer. And because she knew his story, she knew that the man in front of her was trained to kill.

Of course, she held no expectations for him to act on that training. In the very same story, they’d made it very clear he drew no joy from what he did. Still, her first duty as an administrator was the security of her students. And as far as she was concerned, he was not one of her students yet.

“I’ve read your book, James,” she said curtly, “Where in the war were you?”

James sat up straighter, like he was under an inspection.

“I’m not sure what you mean, ma’am. Do you mean where I was in Europe?”

“Where were you and when was it?” Luna clarified.

“November, 1944. Ribeauvillé, France.”

Luna nodded. He was fairly far into the book, if she remembered correctly. She made a mental note to not mention anything after that point. If he did end up getting back, she didn’t want him to know what was coming next.

“Well, James, I believe I’m supposed to put you to work.”

James nodded.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Good. If you look behind you, I have several filing cabinets lined up against the wall. These are our physical copies of student records. They need to be organized alphabetically. Can you do that?”

“Yes, ma’am.” The man nodded.

“Good. The boxes on top of the cabinets have the folders inside. If you need help with anything, let me know.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

James stood, walking over to the cabinets. He opened the first box and read the name on the front before setting it aside. Luna grinned to herself as he diligently repeated the motions. She’d had students help her in the past, but they were usually students serving detention of some kind. Their helped tended to be a little more reluctant. She was lucky if they got through one box in an hour. James, on the other hand, seemed more than ready to help.

He certainly is an odd one. I’ll have to take another look at that book sometime, too.

Luna looked back to the pile of paperwork in front of her. Her smile disappeared. Students may be able to help out with meaningless tasks, but they can’t do everything. With a sigh, Luna picked up her pen and got back to work.

“Sunset Shimmer!”

The girl in question jumped, dropping her pencil. She looked up to see Pinkie standing in front of their desks. To her right sat Fluttershy, who had recoiled back in surprise. Rarity, who was seated in front of her, looked less than pleased at her friend’s volume.

“Pinkie Pie!” Rarity chastised, “Please, darling, there’s no need to shout. We’re right here.”

“But Rarity! My Pinkie Sense is telling me that Sunset here is worried about something. And if Sunset’s worried about something, then that means something must have happened with Equestrian Magic! And if there’s a problem with Equestrian Magic, then things are really bad!”

“Oh. I don’t think I want another magic problem.”

“Fluttershy, darling, there is no magic problem,” Rarity reassured her friend, “And Pinkie, why don’t we let Sunset explain before we start jumping to conclusions?”

“Okay!”

Pinkie dropped into her desk in front of Fluttershy, staring at Sunset expectantly.

“Uh…” Sunset glanced at Rarity. “Well, we did have a little bit of a problem with the portal. But there’s technically no magic problem. At least, not like we’ve had before.”

“I don’t like the sound of that,” Fluttershy muttered.

“It’s not bad, I promise,” Sunset reassured her friend.

“What happened? Is Princess Twilight here? Did our pony selves come through portal?” Pinkie gasped in horror, “Is the portal closed forever?!”

“No, Pinkie, it’s nothing like that. The portal just temporarily connected to a different world.”

“That doesn’t sound too bad…” Fluttershy said.

“Huh. I was totally expecting that to be worse!”

“Sunset?” Rarity frowned. “Are you sure something else didn’t happen?”

The redhead sighed.

“...And someone may have come through.”

Fluttershy’s eyes widened in horror, and she retreated behind her hair.

“Oh!” Pinkie smiled, “That sounds way worse!”

“It’s not, I promise!” Sunset said quickly, “He’s not going to hurt us or anything. He’s actually really nice.”

“I can attest to that.” Rarity nodded, “He is a true gentleman.”

“W-What’s his world like?” Fluttershy asked.

“It’s actually from a book, isn’t it, Sunset?” Rarity said. Sunset nodded reluctantly.

“It’s the book we’re reading in English.”

Fluttershy’s eyes widened. Pinkie frowned.

“Wow. I guess I need to start readin’, cause I have no idea what that means!” Pinkie said.

“Fluttershy, sweetheart, are you alright?” Rarity asked.

Sunset looked over at Fluttershy. She had retreated back into her hair, looking terrified.

“D-Does that mean he’s… k-killed people?”

Rarity and Sunset looked to each other.

“W-Well, Fluttershy, darling… he has…” Rarity started. Fluttershy flinched back, breathing harder, “But he truly is a gentleman! He would never hurt anyone!”

“Kiiinda hard to say he wouldn’t hurt anyone if we know that he’s killed someone.”

“Pinkie Pie! Not. Helping.”

“Fluttershy, I understand it’s scary, but he really is a nice guy,” Sunset reassured her, “I promise if you meet him, you’ll see what I mean.”

“I-I don’t know.”

“Just one meeting. If you don’t get along, you never have to talk to him ever again.”

Fluttershy whimpered softly and looked between her friends, all three of which now had their eyes on her. Sunset thought she looked like she’d rather be anywhere else in the world. Eventually she reluctantly nodded.

“Okay.”

Sunset smiled, relaxing the muscles she didn't realize she’d tensed.

“Thanks, Fluttershy. It’ll be great.”

“Where is James, anyway, Sunset?” Rarity asked. “I assume he came to school with you.”

“Yeah, he’s here. I emailed Principal Celestia about temporarily enrolling him in classes so he’d be close by in case something happened. The problem is, when we got here, Principal Celestia said she couldn’t get him in right away, since he doesn’t have any paperwork.”

“Oh. I hadn’t thought of that.” Rarity frowned, “I imagine that makes things quite complicated.”

“Hey wait! Sunset, you did the same thing! ‘Cause you weren’t born in this world,” Pinkie said.

“I’m guessing whatever she’s doing is going to be similar.” Sunset nodded.

“So, where is he in the meantime?” Rarity asked.

“He’s in Principal Celestia’s office.”

“Will he be joining us during lunch?”

Sunset stared blankly at the ground. Rarity frowned.

“You… You did talk to him about this, correct?”

The redhead looked up at the fashionista, grinning sheepishly.

“I was running a bit late.”

“Sunset! You could’ve at least mentioned it to him.”

“Well if he doesn’t have any food, then he has to come to the lunchroom at some point. ‘Cause if he doesn’t, then he’s not gonna have any food and that would be terrible, and I know ‘cause I skipped lunch one time and it was really bad cause my tummy was all rumbly for the rest of the day and I couldn’t focus on my work.” Pinkie drew a breath, “So he’ll probably get food and you can find him then!”

“...She does bring up a good point, Sunset,” Rarity commented.

“One that she’s proven to the whole class.”

The four looked up to see a very irate teacher staring down at them. He crossed his arms, and Sunset could see the rest of the class watching them.

“Sorry sir.” Sunset straightened up in her seat.

“Hm,” he grunted, “If it’s not inconvenient to you four, may I start class now?”

“Yes, sir,” they chorused.

He nodded, and turned around to address the class.

“Make sure your packets are turned in up front.” He stopped at the front of the room, “Alright. Last night, you should’ve read chapter 12, covering GDP, intermediate goods, durable goods…”

Sunset tuned out the lecture. She glanced over at Fluttershy. The animal lover was staring blankly at her notebook. Sunset leaned over to her friend.

“Fluttershy? Are you sure you’re okay?”

The pink haired girl jumped slightly. Sunset could see the hesitation in her eyes. Slowly, she looked up at Sunset.

“Do you promise he’s nice?” Fluttershy barely whispered.

Sunset smiled.

“I promise. In fact, I think he’ll be more nervous around you than you’ll be around him.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that,” Fluttershy giggled. She gave Sunset a small smile, and nodded. “Okay, Sunset. I trust you.”

“Thank you, Fluttershy.”

Satisfied, Sunset turned back to face the class, her mind now looking ahead to lunch. She felt confident the meeting would go well, now that Fluttershy seemed at least somewhat on board with the idea of meeting him.

We just have to find him first.

Chapter 9

Sighing, Applejack threw her backpack into her locker. She’d just gotten out of English, having spent most of the class hoping to glean anything she could on James’s past. What she got, however, was an hour long discussion on whether or not the entire war was a metaphor for corporations of today.

Setting aside her own beliefs on the matter, Applejack quickly decided that the entire discussion was a waste of time. She did find, however, that neither herself nor her classmates around her had actually bothered to bring a copy of the book with them to class. Not surprising, really, but inconvenient nonetheless.

So, she forced herself to listen and hope that the topic would turn productive at some point. But there was no such luck. After they’d finally moved on from that topic, someone else had sparked an equally mundane dialogue on the significance of the shoulder patch as a metaphorical device that lasted until the bell rang. Leading her to where she was now. Knowing as much as she did when she started.

Applejack shook her head as she entered the lunch room. It wasn’t like people could research each other before they met in real life, so this couldn’t be much different, right? She’d just have to get to know him the old fashioned way.

Usually those folks ain’t ever killed anybody.

Which, Applejack knew in her heart, was the real problem. Despite Sunset’s reassurance, she was worried he might be dangerous. If one thing was made apparent to her, it was that the war was much bloodier than anything humanity had ever experienced before. Who knows what he’d done?

“Excuse me, is this the line for food?”

Applejack was abruptly drawn from her thoughts as she turned.

Standing in front of her was a lost-looking young man. She didn’t immediately recognize him, but he definitely didn’t look like an underclassman to her. Of course, even at this point in her high school career, she was still meeting people in her class for the first time. She shrugged off the feeling and smiled politely.

“Sure is!” Applejack nodded.

“Great, thanks.” He smiled back, joining the line.

“Don’t think Ah’ve seen you ‘round here before. You new here?”

The young man smiled shakily. “Yeah. First day.”

“Oh? Well welcome to CHS. Hope your first day’s been treatin’ you well.”

“Well, it’s been an experience, that’s for sure,” he laughed, “I don’t have a schedule yet, so I’ve spent the day so far in Miss Celestia and Miss Luna’s offices.”

“Hah, Ah’d rather sit through one of Mr. Cranky’s lectures than spendin’ all day in the principal’s office.”

“Yeah, it’s not been a particularly interesting morning, but it’s not their fault I don’t have a schedule.”

“Lost in the system?”

He thought for a moment, and shrugged. “Miss Celestia said it’d be a bit before they could process my paperwork.”

“Yeah, Ah wouldn’t have high hopes ‘bout that, either. This school district can’t process anything faster than a blind snail could.”

The line shuffled forward, and the two grabbed empty trays.

“One time, Ah had to get a VOE for my drivin’ test. Took them two weeks to get it done.” Applejack shook her head, “All they had to do was print out a stupid piece of paper.”

“I know how you feel.” the young man laughed, “When I enli- uh, got a job, I had to fill out about a dozen different forms just to be told to fill out another dozen forms.”

“Shoot, seems like overkill to me,” the blonde laughed, “What’d you do back then?”

“I was…” he trailed off, “A groundskeeper. For a cemetery. I worked there with my dad.”

Applejack frowned.

Bit of an odd fellow, ain’t he?

“I’m sorry, I don’t think I got your name,” the young man said.

The farmgirl’s eyes widened.

“Oh, Ah’m sorry about that. That was mighty rude of me,” Applejack stuck her hand out, “Name’s Applejack.”

“Noble,” James shook her hand.

“Pleased to meet you, Noble.”

“Applejack! Yer holdin’ up the line!”

The two turned to see an irate Granny Smith watching them, her hands on her hips.

“Sorry, Granny.”

The elder woman muttered something under her breath. Applejack could barely make out the words “flirting” and “granddaughter”, and decided to ignore it.

“Well, what’ch you want, children?” Granny asked the two.

“Just the turkey sandwich,” Applejack said.

Granny handed her granddaughter a plate with a sandwich wrapped in plastic.

“An’ you?” She spoke to Noble.

“May I have the turkey sandwich as well, ma’am?”

Applejack furrowed her brow and stared at Noble. She’d never heard anyone talk to Granny Smith like that. Granny Smith, on the other hand, smiled proudly at him.

“Well, shoot. With manners like that, you can get anything you want,” Granny Smith handed Noble a plate as well, “You have a nice day, sonny.”

“Thank you very much, ma’am. You have a wonderful day, too.”

With a nod of thanks, Noble followed Applejack down the line. The farmgirl kept watch on him as they moved on down the line. Once they’d left the line, Applejack faced him, surprise clear on her face.

“Ah ain’t ever seen anyone talk to Granny like that,” Applejack said.

Noble looked at her, stunned. “I’m sorry, did I do something wrong?”

Applejack shook her head quickly.

“No! ‘Course not. Just… Most kids hardly give her the time o’ day ‘round here. Just wasn’t expecting you to be so polite.”

Noble relaxed, and smiled. “Oh, alright. I was worried that I’d accidentally offended her or something.”

“Ah appreciate seein’ someone treatin’ my granny with respect,” she stopped, and Noble did as well, “Say, you got any friends here to eat with?”

“Yeah, I’ve got a few.”

“Do ya know where they are?”

Noble thought for a moment, and shook his head.

“No, not really. Sort of… forgot to ask where they’d be, I guess.”

“Well, Ah might be able to help you find them. If not, y’all are more than welcome to eat with me and my friends.”

“I wouldn’t want to impose.”

“It ain’t nothin’, Ah promise. These girls are some of the nicest people you’ll ever meet.”

“I’m sure they are. But one of my friends was a little worried this morning and I’d like to make sure she knows I’m doing alright.”

“Ah understand,” Applejack nodded, “Well, who’s your friends? Might be able to send you their way.”

“Rarity and Sunset Shimmer?”

“...Are you James?”

Noble recoiled in shock, eyes widening.

“I… uh…” Noble, who Applejack now realized was James, swallowed nervously, “...No?”

“Don’t worry, Sunset and Rarity are two of my best friends,” Applejack smiled reassuringly “Sunset told me all about you this mornin’.”

James sighed with relief. “Oh,” he laughed, all of his terror draining from his body, “That’s great to hear.”

“Still want me to take you to them?”

“Absolutely, if that’s alright.”

“Sure can! Follow me.”

Applejack started walking through the lunchroom, weaving in and out of the rows of tables. She’d glance at the young man next to her every so often to make sure James wasn’t too far behind. Every time she did though, she saw his eyes scanning over the sea of students around him. As they approached one particular table, she saw his eyes light up.

“James!”

“Hey, Sunset,” James smiled in return.

“Well, it’s a good thing you found us, James,” Rarity commented as he sat down, “Sunset was worried sick that you wouldn’t be here.”

“I kinda forgot about lunch. Sorry,” Sunset apologized.

“No harm done,” James shrugged, “I’m here now, aren’t I?”

“How’d you find us?”

“Applejack,” James pointed to the girl next to him.

“Howdy,” Applejack grinned.

“I ran into her when I came in here. Turns out she was your friend. What are the odds?” He laughed.

“Ah thought it might be James when Ah saw him. Can’t be that many new faces ‘round here, can there? ‘Sides. Ah’ve seen new kids before. Ain’t none of them look that confused.” Applejack grinned at James.

They all shared a laugh at his expense, the man choosing to stay silent.

“So, what have you been up to all day, James?” Rarity inquired, “I can’t imagine spending all day in Principal Celestia’s office is very interesting.”

“Eh. It was definitely not the most boring thing I’ve done in the world. We spent about an hour filling out all the forms I needed to have to attend. Then I just sort of… sat around. She talked to me a bit, but she does have a job to do, after all,” James shrugged, “Then around… ten thirty, she had to go to some meeting, so I ended up helping Miss Luna organize some files. Then I came here.”

“You say that that’s not the most boring thing you’ve done, but it sure sounds like it,” James turned to face the speaker. A blue skinned girl with a very colorful head of hair grinned back. James smiled politely.

“I don’t believe I’ve met you.”

“Rainbow Dash,” she said proudly.

“A fitting name,” James chuckled, “My names James.”

“Oh trust me, I know who you are,” Rainbow’s pride shifted to excitement, “Sunset’s been telling us about you all morning!”

James glanced to Sunset, who blushed.

“I mentioned you were here and she happened to remember the one scene in the book she paid attention to.”

“What part?” James asked Rainbow.

“The invasion of that one country.”

“Oh! Right. Uh… France, right?”

“No, the other one. The one with the pasta and stuff.”

“...Italy?”

“That one!” Rainbow grinned excitedly, “There was that part where you and those para-whatevers were holding that huge line with, like, half as many as you were supposed to have. It was totally awesome!”

James grinned as he understood. He glanced at Sunset with a knowing grin before turning back to Rainbow.

“Well, Miss Dash. I’m afraid to say that you heard the story wrong.”

“What?” The athlete was caught off guard.

“Yep,” the man nodded, “We didn’t hold the line with half the required men.”

“Oh,” Rainbow said dejectedly.

“We held it with a sixth of the men required.”

Rainbow’s smile came back in spades. “Awesome,” she said, almost to herself. “How did you do it?”

“A lot of coordination. We were trained well and we used it. It was our first time in combat,” James paused and leaned back in a dramatic thought, “And, of course, we were the first Allied unit to set foot in Europe, so there’s that, I suppose.”

“No way!”

“Yeah, you know, it was pretty ‘awesome’, I guess,” James said smugly, pride for his unit rolling off of him. Sunset scoffed and shook her head. The man grinned at her antics, but said nothing.

“Wait, so what kind of training did you use? How did you do it?”

“Teamwork,” James explained, “Like I said, it took a lot of coordination. I was a rifleman, so I just kept putting’ rounds down range as much as I could. A couple times I had to run up and down the line to get ammo for the 1919s. I had these huge ammo belts wrapped around my body, too. I looked like a cowboy from one of those John Wayne movies.”

“How many people did you kill?”

“Rainbow Dash!” Rarity gasped. Sunset and Applejack shared an uncomfortable look. Fluttershy sunk behind her hair, next to Rainbow Dash.

“What?” Rainbow frowned.

“James, darling, you do not have to answer that. I apologize on Rainbow Dash’s behalf,” Rarity quickly said.

“It’s alright,” James reassured the rest of the girls. Rainbow Dash just looked confused, and slightly guilty. James’s smile became much more reserved and forced, and he shrugged, “For future reference, Rainbow, most guys who’ve killed people don’t like talking about it. It’s... a horrible thing to take another man’s life. They just try not to think about it.”

“O-oh. I’m sorry, James,” Rainbow’s face was flushed with embarrassment, “I didn’t know…”

“It’s alright. Really, it is,” James’s smile grew more sincere again, “Besides, you’re not the first person to ask me. My kid brother asks me all the time in his letters, and the kids back in England asked us all the time when we got pulled off the line,” James shrugged, “Kinda got used to getting the question asked, to be honest.”

“Still, I’m really sorry about that. I guess I just wasn’t thinking.”

“Eh, it happens,” James shook his head, “I’m not offended at all, trust me. Like I said, I get the question all the time. If I got all bent out of shape every time someone asked me that, I’d have a pretty miserable life,” James shrugged, “But, if you really want to know, I think it was something around ten or twelve in that battle. I got a couple lucky grenade tosses that added a few to the tally, but most of it was with my rifle.”

The girls grew much more uncomfortable than they were before. Even Rainbow Dash looked slightly disturbed.

“Twelve?” Rainbow asked. James nodded.

“Give or take a few.”

“In just that battle?”

“It was a long battle, yes.”

Rainbow sat back in her seat. “Wow.”

“How do you… I dunno. Deal with it?” Applejack asked.

“It’s not easy,” James admitted, “It’s just something you come to terms with eventually. You just stop thinking about it. No one ever really gets used to it. That was my first battle, a year ago, and it’s not any easier. Like I said, you just reach a point where you stop thinking about it. Now and then it’ll come back, sure, but then it’s the same deal all over again: you just stop thinking about it. But that’s just my view on it. Every man will tell you something different, I’m sure.”

An uncomfortable silence settled as the girls processed what he was saying. So focused was each girl, they hadn’t noticed one of their numbers had a very different reaction to James’s claims. It wasn’t until a certain fashionista looked up that anyone realized.

“Fluttershy, sweetie, are you alright?”

The group turned their attention to the girl in question. She’d kept silent this whole time, electing to listen rather than speak. But Rarity noticed she had been looking much paler than usual and was shaking like a leaf.

Fluttershy mumbled something the rest of them couldn’t quite hear. Sunset and Rarity shared a glance, remembering what she’d said during Economics. James stared guiltily at the animal lover, only tearing his eyes away to give Sunset a look pleading for help. Sunset leaned across the table, whispering to James directly.

“She was pretty apprehensive about meeting you. She’s… well, she’s really shy.”

James nodded solemnly, understanding dawning in his eyes.

On the other side of the table, Rarity had leaned over and whispered to Fluttershy directly.

“Sweetheart, there’s nothing to be scared of. James would never hurt you, I promise.”

“I-It’s not… It’s not t-that...”

“Well, what is it, then?”

Fluttershy still wasn’t sure. She glanced up at the table, and immediately averted her eyes. Everyone was looking at her, concerned. And James was watching her too. A large part of her knew he was a good person, that much was made clear from not only their conversation, but from the very book that was causing her fear. But the rest of her, a much, much larger part of her, was screaming quite loudly to run as far away from him as possible.

“Fluttershy? What is it about him that you are afraid of?” Rarity asked again.

“...H-He talked about... k-killing people so… so… H-He just… Like it didn’t even… b-bother him.”

Rarity frowned. She glanced up at James briefly before whispering a short message to Sunset. The redhead nodded in understanding, glancing at James as well. When she was finished, Rarity stood up and led Fluttershy away.

“If you’ll excuse us for just a moment,” Was all the explanation Rarity gave to the group as she left.

Those remaining watched the two leave. James had a guilty look on his face, any semblance of pride now gone.

“Jeez. I didn’t mean to freak out ‘Shy like that,” Rainbow frowned, her expression similar to James’s.

“Well, I reckon you askin’ ‘bout how many people he’s killed when she was already scared o’ him didn’t help,” Applejack said, annoyed.

“I didn’t mean to scare her,” James said to Sunset.

“No, I know. It’s just… she’s read the book, James. She kinda knows the nitty gritty details.”

“...Oh.”

“But… Rarity said the thing that scared her the most was how…” Sunset cringed internally. There was no good way to say it, “How casual you were about it.”

James sighed, and shut his eyes. He leaned forward, head in hands.

“...fuck,” he muttered to himself. He immediately cringed as he realized what he said, “Sorry, I didn’t… I didn’t mean to be crass.”

“It’s alright, sugarcube. We’ve heard plenty worse, trust me,” Applejack reassured him.

“Doesn’t make it any better,” James mumbled. He looked up at Sunset, “Maybe this was a mistake.”

“What?” Sunset was caught off guard, “What was a mistake?”

“Me coming here. To school,” James clarified, “I’m a soldier, Sunset. I’m not supposed to be here. I was never supposed to be here. That’s why I dropped out.”

“Now let’s not be so quick here, James,” Applejack interjected, “‘Shy may be a little bit… well, shy. But she’s the sweetest lil’ thing you’ll ever meet. I’m sure she’ll talk to you at some point, just give her some time.”

Sunset and Rainbow nodded in agreement.

“I still feel awful. I just want to apologize,” James sighed, “I didn’t mean to sound so casual, I just didn’t want anyone to feel bad about asking me. I really meant it when I said I prefer not thinking about it. It really isn’t easy to deal with, and I sometimes disgust myself with how cavalier I am about it sometimes. I just… I just want to explain that to her.”

“Why don’t we just wait and see what happens when she and Rarity get back?” Sunset suggested. James nodded solemnly. “I’m gonna go check on them. I’ll be right back.”

The girls remaining at the table nodded, the soldier choosing to remain silent instead. Sunset stood and followed the two girls out of the cafeteria’s doors.

“Rarity? Fluttershy?” Sunset said as she walked into the hallway.

“Sunset?”

“Hey, Rarity,” Sunset greeted. She frowned when she saw Rarity help Fluttershy with cleaning the little bit of makeup she wore, as it had started to run down her face. She’d been crying, “Are you alright, Fluttershy?”

“I-I’ll be okay. I-I’m sorry. That wasn’t very nice of me, w-was it?”

“Don’t worry about it, Fluttershy, James isn’t offended,” Sunset bluffed. She had no idea what the man was feeling right now, but she was sure he’d be more than willing to make up with Fluttershy.

“I-I didn’t mean t-to… um… it was just… he talked about… k-killing people so easily. It just… it was disturbing.”

“He… well, like he said, sweetie, he said he’s had to deal with it,” Rarity said, glancing to Sunset, “I imagine someone in his situation must come to terms with death rather quickly, wouldn’t you agree?”

Whatever Rarity was trying to do, it didn’t work, as Fluttershy’s tears started again in earnest.

“I-It’s just s-so… sad!” Fluttershy sobbed, “I-I don’t know what I’d do if I-I h-had to do that. H-He didn’t even get a choice.”

“Well, yes, I suppose he didn’t,” Rarity was unsure what to say, but tried her best to comfort the girl, “B-But, isn’t it amazing that he can still be happy?”

“I guess so,” Fluttershy agreed, “But then I had to go and be… a big meanie to him!”

So distraught was she, that the pink-haired animal lover didn’t notice the door to the lunchroom open. Her friends did, however, and Sunset quickly stepped in front of the newcomer, halting them in their tracks.

“What are you doing here?”

“I just wanted to apologize to her,” James said solemnly, “I should’ve handled that better, and I never meant to scare her.”

Sunset wanted to protest, but she could see the pain in James’s eyes. He truly did feel bad about what he’d done, and wanted nothing more than to be able to apologize for it. It was a feeling Sunset understood well.

“Alright. But if she doesn’t want to talk to you, don’t force it.”

James nodded, and stepped forward. Rarity eyed him worriedly, but made no effort to stop him.

“Miss Fluttershy?” he leaned down slightly, trying to make himself less intimidating.

The girl in question looked up, and immediately let out a small whimper, and hid her face behind her hair, mumbling something inaudible. James frowned, but didn’t stop.

“Miss Fluttershy… I just wanted to say I’m sorry. I’ve been on the line far too long and I… well, I guess I forgot that most normal folks have never seen anything like we did. I’m truly sorry. I shouldn’t have been so crude.”

Fluttershy looked up at James, a small frown on her face.

“B-But... Mr. James-oh, uh, I’m sorry, Private James, um, sir,” Fluttershy stammered out. A grin tugged at the corner of James’s mouth, but he quickly snuffed it out as Fluttershy started speaking again, “I-I should be apologizing. It was rude of me to… to assume you were a bad person and all. I-I’ve read your book and I should know that you didn’t... want to do… that.”

James furrowed his brow in confusion.

“Miss Fluttershy… you have nothing to apologize for.”

The pink haired girl was taken aback. She was used to people telling her she didn’t need to apologize; Rarity often told her she did it too much. Usually, they had a polite tone that said they thought she was being silly while being dismissive. But James’s tone was well and truly confused. He really didn’t understand why she would be apologizing.

“B-But… of course I do!” she retorted, her voice barely rising in volume, but passion imbued every word, “I shouldn’t blame someone for doing something they didn’t have a choice in. That’d be like being angry at a bear for eating fish! They didn’t get to choose, and that doesn’t make them any worse than anyone else.”

James gaped at the girl, only partially understanding her analogy. “...I’m sorry for the misunderstanding, Miss Fluttershy, but I assure you you have absolutely nothing to apologize for. I appreciate your concern for my feelings, but I should’ve handled myself better. Nobody can blame you for anything,” James shook his head, “It was my big mouth that had to get the final word in. You reacted more than appropriately.”

“Private James, sir, um… I mean no disrespect, but you’re wrong. You shouldn’t be ashamed of talking about your past. It was my fault.”

He stared at the young girl, surprise evident on his face. Even Rarity and Sunset seemed to be taken aback by the sudden turnaround in Fluttershy’s behavior.

“Well… Be that as it may-”

“No, Private James, sir. If you blame yourself everytime someone gets upset about talking about your past, you’re going to never want to talk about it at all, and that would be worse,” Fluttershy said firmly. Everyone else had surpassed surprised at this point. Shocked would be a more apt description of the look on their faces. Fluttershy’s face glowed red, and she receded back into her hair somewhat, “I-I may have some experience with that sort of thing…” She mumbled bashfully.

James glanced to the other girls, unsure what to do. Rarity just shrugged helplessly, feeling just as lost as he looked. Sunset laughed softly to herself.

The only two people in the world who can get into a competition over who is more at fault.

“...Alright. Apology accepted,” James said reluctantly, “You can just call me James, by the way. No need for all the titles.”

Fluttershy smiled softly. It was a nervous, uncomfortable smile, but Sunset could tell it held a deeper understanding behind it. Then, to everyone’s surprise, Fluttershy leaned forward to embrace the taller man. Rarity and Sunset’s eyes widened in surprise and James stared down at her with an almost fearful confusion. Slowly, he returned the embrace. He looked to Sunset and Rarity for help, but when Sunset saw the terrified look in his eyes, she couldn’t help it. She burst out laughing. Fluttershy jumped in surprise and released the man. She looked and immediately blushed and hid behind her hair when she saw his expression.

“O-Oh. Um, I’m sorry. I was just trying to give you a hug…” she mumbled. James shook his head.

“N-No, it’s alright. I just wasn’t expecting it, is all,” James quickly reassured her.

“Well, I suppose we can start heading back now, if you all are ready,” Rarity smiled, “I imagine our friends will be wondering what’s going on already. Any longer and they might just come over and see for themselves.”

With a collective nod, the group started off back towards the rest of their friends.

When the four came back to the table, the remaining two friends were engaged in a hushed conversation. Upon seeing the group approach, Rainbow Dash quickly waved off the conversation.

“So... everything alright?” Rainbow asked.

“Jus’ come right out the gate with it, Ah guess,” Applejack mumbled to herself.

“Oh, um, yes,” Fluttershy sat down and nodded, “I didn’t mean to make Mr. James feel bad. I’m sorry to you all, too. I shouldn’t have made you all feel uncomfortable.”

Applejack and Rainbow glanced at each other, and then to Rarity and Sunset. Sunset just shrugged and smiled. Rainbow frowned.

“Uh… I mean, it’s alright, ‘Shy. It was kinda my fault that all that happened anyway.”

“But that doesn’t give me a right to make you feel bad,” Fluttershy said firmly, yet softly, “You were curious and Mr. James was willing to answer.”

“...Alright. Glad to see you guys are cool, then,” Rainbow said.

Silence fell over the group again. Unlike before, it wasn’t nearly as uncomfortable, but still enough for Rarity to glance around, looking to see if anyone wanted to start talking. When no one did, she softly cleared her throat.

“Um, James, darling?”

“Yeah?” The man looked up from his food.

“You said you relied a lot on your training, is that correct?”

“Oh… uh, definitely,” James nodded, taking the cue to fill the silence, “I mean, shoot, we spent months drilling and doing exercises and whatnot. By the time we got to combat, we just immediately fell into instincts after the shock went away.”

“What did you do in training?” Rainbow spoke up from her side of the table.

“Oh, lots of things really,” James shrugged, “A lot of it was physical training, just getting your body in shape for combat. If you can’t hold a rifle and run, you’re not gonna do very well in the field,” he chuckled,” Other than that, we trained with weapons, tactics, teamwork, and other stuff we might have needed in the field.

“What was your physical training like?”

“Well, we’d do a lot of things, I guess. Thirty-two mile marches, speed marches, double time marches, that sort of thing.”

“All endurance training, huh?” Rainbow grinned.

“Not all of it, no, but most of it. They wanted us to get used to running around in our combat gear so we’d be okay in battle,” James said, “Whether you can run that extra hundred yards in battle can mean life or death.”

“Are you telling me they made you run with all of your equipment?” Rarity gaped.

“Uh, well, yes?” He frowned, “Hold on, are you thinking about that pack I’ve got back at Sunset’s?”

“I am, yes. I can’t imagine carry that around school, let alone on a ‘march.’”

James chuckled and shook his head. “Our training gear was nowhere near that heavy. Just a bag and our water and ammo,” He paused for a second, “Uh… if you all don’t mind, would I be able to ask all of you some questions?”

The girls glanced at each other.

“Well, of course!” Rarity said, “I do apologize, James, it seems your time here so far has been us asking you, but I’m sure you have plenty of questions of your own.”

“Well it’s just something small that’s been bothering me, I guess.”

“What is it?” Sunset asked.

“Well… my world’s a book, right?”

“Right,” Sunset nodded.

“And it’s all based on your… this, world,” Sunset nodded again. James continued, “If humanity here didn’t have the wars we did… what was your history like?”

“Our… history?” Sunset asked.

“Yeah. I mean, it was 1944 when I left and by that point we were in our second world war, plus we had the Great Depression, which I guess isn’t war-related. But I was just wondering, what’s this world’s history like?”

Sunset looked to her friends and shrugged. “Do any of you want to take this? History isn’t really my strong suit.”

“Might be just about the only subject Ah know anything about,” Applejack shrugged, “What part’a history you curious about?”

“Well, I guess ‘all of it’ is a bit too broad?” James grinned.

Applejack laughed.

“Yeah, might be. Wanna get a little more specific?”

“How about… well, how about the 20th century? 1900s back home has been pretty… not great, so far. Just wondering if you all had the Great Depression or The Great War or anything like that.”

“Ah can do that, yeah,” Applejack nodded, thinking. The rest of the girls watched, interested in the conversation, “Well, a lot of what goes on in the books happened in real life, too,” Applejack cringed, “Uh… Ah mean…”

“It’s alright,” James waved a hand, “I get what you mean,”

“Sorry,” Applejack apologized, “Just might take me a bit o’ gettin’ used to,” she shook her head, “Anyway. A lotta towns were still growin’ back then, like Canterlot. Folks started settlin’ west early on in the 1800s. That’s how mah family got here. The Apples were some of the folks who settled this town back in 1862. Part of the Homestead Act.”

“I didn’t know that,” Fluttershy said, “I-I mean, I knew the Apples had been here awhile, but I didn’t realize they settled here.”

“Sure did! It’s how we got all our land. 160 Acres. We’ve bought some and sold some over the years, but most of it is 100% sixth generation Apple Family land!”

“We had that back home, too. It’s how a lot of towns around Colorado Springs were founded.”

“‘Colorado Springs?’” Rainbow repeated the foreign name, “What’s that?”

“Wow, you didn’t even read the first chapter,” Sunset said disappointedly.

“I’ve never read any of the books we’ve been assigned, okay?” Rainbow crossed her arms, “I sure as heck wasn’t gonna start now.”

Sunset looked at James with a sly grin, silently waiting for his take on the situation. The man just shrugged.

“I’ve got no room to judge. I was even worse.”

Sunset sighed, ignoring Rainbow’s smug grin. Her play pouting broke when Rainbow high-fived James.

“Don’t encourage her!”

“You’re cool, James. But cool in that kinda ‘Cool Uncle’ way.”

“...Wouldn’t I be your grandfather, technically? I’m told I’m supposed to be ninety years old.”

“Ninety?” Rainbow gaped, “Dude… what?”

James shrugged.

“March 19th, 1925.”

“...Wow.” Rainbow laughed, “That’s gonna be weird.”

“Well, darling, I think you look marvelous for ninety years old,” Rarity joked. James grinned and shook his head.

“You’re only ninety according to our current year,” Sunset pointed out, “Your current year makes you 19.”

James shrugged.

“Probably better to go with that. I’ve only got nineteen years of life behind me. Don’t think I can pull off ninety just yet.”

“Um, I-I’m sorry to interrupt, but, um… weren’t we talking about history?” Fluttershy said.

“Oh, I’m so sorry, Applejack,” James apologized, “We sort of stole the conversation, didn’t we?”

“Nah, s’alright.”

“Please, continue,” James said humbly.

“Alright. Where was ah?”

“Homestead Act.”

“Oh yeah, ah remember now. Well after that, the town was pretty small. We didn’t have any kinda world war or nothin’, but we had a few little skirmishes over land. There was this town that ain’t too far from here called Appleloosa. T’Was also founded by the Apple Family.”

“You all travel far, don’t you?” James grinned.

“Well, Ah wouldn’t say that, but you can find Apples just about anywhere ‘round here,” Applejack grinned proudly, “So anyway, there was a lotta skirmishes over who owned what out in the new country. All the native tribes didn’t like us comin’ in and settlin’ new land. Lotta those fights were mostly petty little things. Steal an animal here, drop a tree on a huntin’ trail there. Small things to just annoy each other.”

“Hell of a lot better than what went on back home, from the sound of it.”

“Y’all had native problems too?”

“From what I’ve heard, yeah. Most of what I know comes from westerns, but basically the Indians started attacking towns and killing the settlers. A lot of towns had militias and the army got involved a few times.”

“Well, none of the skirmishes ever got near that bad. Like Ah said, it was mostly jus’ petty little things to make life difficult. Ain’t never wanted to hurt nobody.”

“Well, what ended up happening?”

“The settlers all over sorta came to agreements over time. Last ones were sorta ‘round 1924.”

“What kind of agreements?”

“Mostly jus’ ‘Ah won’t bother you if you won’t bother me’ sorta things. A few, like in Appleloosa, they made a deal that the settlers wouldn’t take any more land and the Buffalo tribe would help out with harvestin’ the crops.”

“Uh… AJ?” Rainbow said, “I don’t think that had anything to do with what James asked. Kiiinda sounded a lot like the history of the Buffalo tribes.”

“Hey, I asked about history, and I got history,” James pointed out, “I’d say she answered exactly what I asked.”

“Thank you, James,” Applejack grinned at Rainbow smugly.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Rainbow grumbled. She perked up afterwards, “Hey James, I thought of something while AJ was talking.”

“Did you?”

“You should totally join the soccer team! You were talking about how much endurance running you guys did. Running for a long time is perfect for soccer!”

“Ah. Well… I’m not sure I’ll be around that long. I don’t wanna join a team and have to leave immediately after.”

“Oh, have you found a way home?” Fluttershy asked.

James glanced at Sunset.

“Not yet. But we’re working on it,” James shook his head, looking back to Rainbow, “But if you want to play a small game, I’d love to join in.”

“Awesome! Do you know how to play?”

“I’ve played a game or two in my life,” James laughed, “A lot of the Limeys in Africa played it. Couple of times some of us Americans joined in.”

“Awesome!” Rainbow said again. She turned to the rest of the girls, “You guys wanna hang out after school and play a game or two?”

Applejack shrugged.

“Sure. Just gotta text Mac first.”

“I’d be fine with staying.” Fluttershy nodded.

James glanced at Sunset. Sunset raised an eyebrow and James shrugged, grinning.

“We can stay,” Sunset said, “Our bus doesn’t leave until later anyway.”

“Yes!” Rainbow pumped a fist victoriously, “Hold on, lemme just text Pinkie real quick,”

“This is rather last minute, don’t you think?” Rarity frowned.

“I mean, yeah. But come on, Rarity. We don’t know when James is gonna go back home. We should hang out with him while we can!”

“Rainbow Dash, don’t try to insinuate that I don’t want to spend time with our visitor,”

“So you’re down for after school?”

Rarity sighed exasperatedly.

“Yes,” She pointed a finger accusingly at Rainbow Dash, “But I’d appreciate a little bit of warning next time!”

“Awesome, Pinkie said she’s down!” Rainbow said as she pocketed her phone, “Anyway, Rares, it’s not like we knew this was gonna happen.”

Rarity huffed and crossed her arms.

“Say, where is that girl anyway?” Applejack frowned, “Figured she’d’ve shown up by now. And Twilight, too.”

The group glanced around at each other, shrugging. James leaned towards Sunset.

“You don’t think Twilight’s skipping school, do you?”

The redhead sighed.

“Honestly? I think she is.”

“What do we do?”

“If you’re alright walking home, we can stop by her house instead of taking the bus.”

“Are you sure? Don’t you have homework to do?”

“I’ll be fine, James. It’s more important that we make sure Twilight will be, too.”

The soldier nodded.

“Alright.”

The two rejoined the conversation at the table.

“She was in Economics with Fluttershy, Sunset, and I,” Rarity said.

“Um. I have her again fourth period. I’ll see her then.” Fluttershy added.

“If you could let us know if she’s alright, darling, I’d appreciate it.”

“I will.” Fluttershy nodded.

Before anyone could say anything else, the bell rang.

“Welp, lunch’s over,” Applejack stood, grabbing her tray, “If any of y’all see Twilight or Pinkie, let us know. Ah’ll see y’all after school.”

After giving their goodbyes, Sunset and James walked out of the lunchroom.

“What class do you have next?” James asked Sunset.

“Art. Actually, I have that class with Pinkie.”

“Oh, that’s good. I guess you’ll… uh, telegram-thing everyone if she’s there?”

Sunset nodded.

“Pinkie’s kind of a weird person. She has a lot of weird hobbies and clubs she’s a part of. She’s probably fine.”

“Well that’s good,” James nodded. The two came to a stop in front of Vice Principal Luna’s office, “Well, I’ll see you after school, I guess. Where do you wanna meet?”

“Well, originally I said let’s meet at the portal, but if you’re stuck in the office all day, I might as well meet you there.”

“Alright. I’ll meet you where we were this morning. I don’t know if I’ll end up somewhere else later.”

Sunset smiled.

“See you then.”

Chapter 10

Vice Principal Luna threw aside the latest form she’d finished and sighed. She leaned forward, rubbing her eyes. Looking back to the pile, she saw she still had quite a ways to go, but she’d put a sizeable dent in what was there already. With any luck, she’d be done with half of the stack by the end of the day.

“Miss Luna?”

She looked up at the other occupant of the room. James had paused sorting files for the Vice Principal.

“Yes?”

“May I ask you a few questions?”

“You may. What about?”

“Well,” James paused for a moment, unsure how to word the question, “It’s mostly just a few things I’m not comfortable asking Sunset or her friends.”

“I understand,” Luna nodded. She tilted her head, “Are they anything the school should be worried about? Something that involves the safety of a student?”

James shook his head. “No, it’s just a few questions about… well, this world, I guess.”

“Ah, I see,” Luna gestured to one of the chairs in front of her desk, “Take a seat. I’ll try my best, but I’ll admit, I’m not as up to date on what kids their age do as some other staff might be.”

“‘Kids my age,’” James chuckled, lowering himself into the chair.

Luna laughed as well. “Well, compared to you, I suppose I would know more, wouldn’t I?”

“It’s not like it’d be very hard. You were born decades after me. Well, I guess after when I would have been born, were I....” He trailed off.

Luna frowned, uneasy with the sudden change in tone. She tried to steer the conversation away from that particular topic.

“You were born in 1925, correct?”

James shook his head as if clearing the fog from his mind as he sat up straighter.

“Yes, I was. March 19th.”

“What a coincidence. My grandfather was born on the same day.”

“Oh really?” James chuckled. “Well, wish him a happy 90th for me.” He paused. “Well, actually, that kind of goes right into one of my questions: Wouldn’t I technically be ninety years old? I mean, I was born in 1925, but if that book is supposed to have taken place seventy years ago…”

Luna thought for a moment.

“That depends, I suppose. It’s been debated, mostly in the science-fiction community, how a person ages when time traveling. The most common theory is not that you’re the age of the year you’re in, but that you’re just the age of the life you’ve lived.”

“But that’s all fiction, right?”

“It is. But that’s the only real avenue we have to discuss this sort of thing. It’s not like this is something that happens… well, ever. We only have hypotheticals to deal with.”

“So how old, hypothetically, would you say I am?”

“How old were you before you came to our world?”

“Nineteen.”

“Has it passed your twentieth birthday yet?” Luna asked. James shook his head, “Then I’d say you’re nineteen. When time-traveling, people like to associate your age with the life you’ve truly lived, not with dates. Even if they did use dates, it gets rather interesting if you travel back in time. For example, if I was in your time, I’d be roughly negative forty years old.”

James laughed. “I see your point. But, on a separate note… you say ‘time-traveling’, but did I even time travel at all? Princess Twilight said she thinks I came from a different universe. Maybe there, the year is still 1944.”

“It very well could be. Even on this very planet, some places don’t use the same calendar as everyone else. While it may be 2015 for us, some places say it’s 223, 1394, 1436, or even 5775 or 6765. The current year is relative to the calendar you’re referring to. Who knows when your calendar started. Even if the numerical year is the same, who’s to say the universes started at the same time? Maybe yours is millions of years younger than ours. Maybe it’s millions older. Do you understand?”

“...I can certainly tell there was a lot of thought put into it if that’s any consolation,” James grinned sheepishly. “It’s certainly not lack of trying on your part that I don’t understand. This is just a little over my head.”

Luna laughed softly. “If I am honest, most of what you heard has little to no basis in reality. It is purely theory based on science fiction, which quite often is more ‘fiction’ than ‘science’ based.”

“Well, it certainly sounds like it from my end.” James fell back in his chair and sighed. “This timeline is getting pretty convoluted, isn’t it?”

“When you’re talking about hypotheticals on the scale we are, it often does.”

“What if I made it a little simpler.”

“How so?” Luna grinned and tilted her head.

“Princess Twilight had a thought that maybe our worlds were similar, just with a different history, or something like that.”

Luna hummed as she mulled over his words. “Well, time-traveling between alternate timelines is not usually explored in science fiction as much. And if it is, they leave out the nitty-gritty details like this. It makes it easier for the authors that way. With that being said, I will say that Princess Twilight Sparkle may be the better person to talk to. It seems her world deals with these impossibilities a little more often than we do.”

James nodded slowly. He didn’t speak right away. He was thinking deeply over the large amount of information she’d just given him, so Luna let him think. She took the time to resume finishing up some of her paperwork. The latest in the stack was a district bus request form that she needed to sign alongside Celestia. Simple enough, she thought. A quick signature now stood proudly on the page below her sister’s.

“Miss Luna?” She looked up. “May I ask another question?”

“Of course.” She set the pen down.

He shuffled uncomfortably in his seat. “...Was it all fiction?”

Luna took a deep breath. She had to consider what the best way to go about this was. She could answer his question as a teacher, giving him exactly what parts of Their Darkest Hour was based on facts and what parts were fiction. But she knew better than that. He wanted confirmation he was fighting for something real. If his own God was real. He wanted to know there was some kind of higher power out there and not just some writer.

Luna gently closed the folder in front of her as she sat up straighter. “James, before I answer that question, I would like to ask you one instead.” James squinted his eyes slightly and crossed his arms.

“And what question would that be?”

“I want you to consider everything you’ve been through. Do you think it was real?”

“I don’t know what I think, Ms. Luna.”

“I think you do, James,” Luna leaned forward. “And I think what’s more important is that to you, it was real. Everything you saw and did truly happened, and you have the very real scars to show for it.”

James stared at Luna. She could see the uneasiness on his face. He mumbled a few incoherent things as he tried to dodge the question. Luna leaned back in her chair.

“You don’t need to answer, James. But I want you to consider what I’ve said to you. Your reality is different than ours, and I think that’s more important right now. I can give you a history lesson, but it won’t be your history.”

“M-Ms. Luna, I don’t… I’m not…” He paused, taking a deep, shuddering breath.

“W-When Sunset and Twilight told me I wasn’t... Real. Or that I was from a fictional novel, rather. I…” Tears started running down his face. “I started doubting things. I was so… so scared. I was terrified. I was confused and angry. Everything just…” he shook his head.

Luna came around to the front of her desk and sat in the empty chair beside him.

“It’s okay, James,” Luna reassured him, putting an arm on his shoulder.

“I lied to her… I put on a face, f-for them.”

“Why do think you did that?”

“B-Because a man has to be strong in hard times. So I acted like everything was fine. I told them I was okay,” He shook his head again. “But I’m not. I just… I didn’t want them to worry about me.”

“Why do you think you have to put on a face, James?”

“I just… It’s what a man has to do.”

Luna frowned at his reasoning. She wasn’t surprised, not by a long shot. Many male students even in modern times believed the same thing, or at least something similar. There was no reason why a man from 1944 of all times should be any different - if anything, such traditions would be stronger.

“Well, that may be what you were raised to believe, James, but that’s not always the case. It’s okay for men to be scared,” she reassured him.

“I-I know. I’m not afraid to look s-scared,” James shook his head. “But Sunset tells me all about h-how amazing she thinks me and the other guys were. How we’re… heroes or something.”

Luna was taken aback by the disgust in his voice as he spoke. Sure, most people were reluctant to accept themselves to be called heroes, but he seemed to be almost offended by the notion.

“Why don’t you think you’re a hero?”

James laughed grimly through his tears. “Ma’am… if you’d seen the kind of stuff we did in that war… we were never heroes.”

“James…do you know what the… Nazis?” She looked to him for confirmation, and he nodded. “Do you know what the Nazis are doing in their camps?”

James closed his eyes and lowered his head. He nodded again.

“Tell me, James: what are they doing in these camps?”

“...they’re killing Jews by the millions.”

“Yes, they are. And you’re liberating them. Isn’t that heroic?”

James stared at the floor. His shaky breaths were the only sound in the room for a while. Luna was worried she’d offended him until he finally spoke. “Do the ends justify the means?”

“Yes.”

Luna’s voice was firm, more so than she’d expected it to be. He looked up at her, taken aback by her tone.

“Yes, James. They do. This isn’t a pointless war. It’s genocide, James. You are there for a reason. There is a great evil in your world. An unspeakable injustice that you are fighting to end. And if you don’t, millions more will die.”

James slowly lowered his head, and closed his eyes. He slowly shook his head.

“No… I only do that if I get back,” He looked up at Luna. “Miss Luna, I… I don’t know what to do. I gotta get home, but… I don’t know how.”

Luna’s face softened. “That’s alright, James. You don’t have to have all the answers. Sometimes, you have to put your faith in others.”

“I’ve been doing that a whole lot more than I’d like to, lately.”

“Sometimes, we don’t have a choice,” Luna grinned sadly. “My sister and I find ourselves putting faith in Sunset Shimmer and Princess Twilight Sparkle a lot more than we’d like to, as well. But ever since they started working together, they haven’t let us down yet.”

“I just wish I could know for sure it’ll be all okay,” James laughed weakly. “It’d make it a whole lot easier to put my faith in strangers.”

“That’s the thing about faith, James. If you know it’ll all work out, that’s not faith.”

He nodded slowly but didn’t respond. She stayed there for a few more moments, just to be sure. After a few minutes of silence, James wiped his eyes and stood, facing the wall of filing cabinets again.

“I’d better get back to sorting these papers.”

“James, you don’t have to do that if you don’t want to. I’ll understand if you want to take a break.”

“No. It’s fine. I want to.”

Luna nodded apprehensively. “Alright, then.”

She stood and returned to her chair behind her desk, picking up another form to get started on.

For Luna, her work was slow going after her conversation with James. She couldn’t get what he’d said out of her head, and she was, unfortunately, intimately familiar with hiding one's emotions.

Her thoughts lingered on his fear in particular. James’s uncertainty ran deeper than just simple worry for the future. That, she could help with. A life plan, a pep talk about their future, that was the sort of thing she was used to dealing with. Delinquent teenagers more often than not just needed to be shown that the road to a good life is easier than they think. But James? His was an existential fear, and that sort of thing wasn’t so easily quelled. That was the sort of thing that required years of therapy and soul searching. Something Luna was nowhere near qualified to handle.

So there she sat, pondering the best course of action to take. Realistically, there wasn’t much she could do. The first step would be convincing him to accept help at all. Something he’d clearly shown wasn’t going to be easy. Then there would be finding someone who was willing, and more importantly, even able to see him. Therapists were, more often than not, selfless people who would like to help everyone they could, but there were laws in place. There’s not a lot they could do without proper documentation for identity and release forms.

Lastly, there was just a matter of time. If all went well, then he’d only be here for a little bit longer. After that, he was on his own to deal with his problems. And what she knew of mental health in the 1940s, even the most forward-thinking psychologists would most likely institutionalize him in a heartbeat if he told them what he’d seen here. Even then, that would be assuming he’d even ask for help in the first place.

And so, she was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Let his demons run wild, or tackle the bureaucracy and risk his security for something that may not even work.

Luna sighed. There was no easy answer here.

A buzzing noise vibrated across her desk, shaking her from her thoughts. She looked up at James; he didn’t seem to even hear anything as he steadily worked through the stacks of paper. Luna frowned and grabbed her phone.

Celestia - Today at 1:54 PM
Just got done with the meeting with the superintendent. On my way back to campus. How are things?

Luna typed out a short response.

Me - Today at 1:55 PM
That depends. Where do you rank an existential crisis?

Luna bit her lip after she’d sent the text. Perhaps that was a bit too harsh. Though, to be fair, not untrue. Her phone buzzed again.

Celestia - Today at 1:57
That’s not good. Is he ok?

Me - Today at 1:58
I don’t know. You’d probably know better than me. Would you want to talk to him when you get back?

Celestia - Today at 1:59
Sure. I’m about to drive. I’ll see you when I get there.

Me - Today at 1:59
See you then.

The engine shuddered to a stop as Celestia removed the key. She sighed and glanced to her side, where her now-much-heavier briefcase sat. Her meeting with the Superintendent had gone well but still resulted in quite a bit of additional paperwork that she certainly did not need added to her already considerable pile of things to get done.

She shook her head and climbed out of the car.

Such is the life of a principal these days.

Shutting the car door, she rolled her shoulders, shifting the weight of the briefcase to a more comfortable position as she started towards the school building. The groundskeeper smiled and nodded to her as she passed. He was an older man, probably much too old to be doing the kind of labor he did, but that never slowed him down.

“Good afternoon, Ms. Celestia.”

“Hello, Mr. Topiary. How are you today?”

“Very well, I’d say. And you?”

“Oh, you know. Meetings, paperwork, and the like.”

He hummed amusingly. “Feels like it don’t ever end, does it?”

“Well, I suppose that’s more likely because it doesn’t.”

“Oh, you’ve got that right. Had to do all that back when I ran my landscaping business. Don’t miss it at all.” He chuckled. “But hey, I’m livin’ proof there’s a light at the end of the tunnel, don’t you worry!”

“You’re quite the optimist, aren’t you Mr. Topiary?”

“Oh, well, y’know. You gotta have faith that it’ll all get better. Oh, I tell you what, I wouldn’t be here now if it weren’t for my faith!”

“Oh really?” Celestia asked, stopping next to him.

“Yep! I’ve certainly seen my fair share of hardship, don’t you worry. But that never stopped me from getting to tomorrow.”

“I didn’t see you as the kind of man to have been through a lot, Mr. Topiary.”

“Oh, I have. Trust me. I lost my business back in ‘08. Some real good people were workin’ there that lost a lot of money. I tried to keep them going as long as I could, but the Recession was hard, y’know? Just didn’t have the money. Had to let them go. Eventually, I just had to shut the whole thing down.”

“Well, I’m sorry to hear that. I remember your business doing quite well there for a while.”

“Oh, we did good for a long time, sure. Y’know, I started that place back in 1970 with my first wife, Ledger. She handled the business, I handled the labor,” The man’s face fell slightly and his speech slowed to a tone of solemn remembrance. “Sadly, though, I lost her in ‘79. Car accident. Absolutely tragic. Y’know, I’d say that was one of the hardest moments in my life.”

“I can’t imagine, Mr. Topiary. I’m so sorry to hear that.”

“Ah, well. It was a long time ago, don’t worry about it. She wouldn’t want me to go around being sad about it. I’ve got plenty of good memories with her. Anyway, I got married again, to my current wife, Violet, years later. She certainly helped me get back on my feet, let me tell you. And she has a way with kids, hoo boy. After we got married, my daughter did not like her, let me tell you. But Violet’s just got this way with kids, y’know? After a month, they were best buds.”

“I didn’t know you had a daughter, Mr. Topiary. Did she go to this school?”

“Oh. Well, no. She never went to high school, Ms. Celestia.”

“Oh, my mistake. Was she homeschooled?”

“No, ma’am, she passed away from cancer back in 93.”

“Oh my goodness, Mr. Topiary… I’m so sorry.”

“Now Ms. Celestia, it was a long time ago. I’m fine, alright?” He smiled warmly, his mustache curling around his lip. “Now, I only tell you this because I want you to know where I’m coming from. You gotta have faith to carry onto the next day. Faith that things were gonna get better. My wife and child may be gone, but I’ve got the memories we made together. I’d like to remember their life, not their death. Now, think like that all the time? Makes it a heck of a lot easier to get up in the morning. Who knows what tomorrow will bring? I thought I’d never love a woman again, but then I met Violet. I never thought I could give my love and experience to a child ever again, but then I started working here. Now, I can give my love to the school so these fine children can go on to do great things. And every so often, when I’m lucky, I get to pass on my experience to someone who may need it. Like you, Ms. Celestia.”

Celestia stared at the peculiar old man for a moment while she processed all he’d said. She grinned slightly, and nodded to the man.

“Well, Mr. Topiary. Thank you for all you do around here. You’ve certainly given me quite a bit to think about.”

“It was my pleasure, ma’am. I hope you have a good day, now. And if not, just remember what I said.”

“Who knows what tomorrow brings?”

“Exactly!”

She laughed. “I will certainly remember that. Have a nice day, Mr. Topiary.”

“You too, Ms. Celestia.”

With that, she adjusted her briefcase’s strap and walked into the building. The words he’d said were playing through again in her head. She had no idea that the man had gone through so much in his life. Especially for a man as happy as he was. She shrugged it off. You never knew other peoples’ stories. In her line of work, she shouldn’t be surprised.

After a few turns through the corridors, Celestia approached the door to Luna’s office. She paused just short of the door. She thought for a moment, and then reached into her jacket and pulled out her phone.

Me - Today at 2:14 PM
I’m outside your office. Do you want me to come in?

After a moment, she got her response.

Luna - Today at 2:15 PM
Wait there, I’m coming out.

The text was abruptly followed by the door opening, and Luna stepping out into the hall. Celestia glanced inside and saw James standing over a box of files with his back from the door. Luna quickly shut the door behind her.

“Hello, Celestia. How did the meeting go?” Luna asked, keeping her voice low. Celestia frowned.

“It went fine. Luna, what’s going on?”

“He’s… There’s quite a bit bothering him, from what he told me. He asked if anything from the book was true. I think he’s questioning whether or not his life is real.”

“Oh dear.” Celestia sighed. “I was afraid of that.”

“What can we do to help him? Pretty much everything I was telling him was from science fiction and he knows it.”

“There’s not much we can do, no. As much as I hate to say it, the only people who can prove to him he’s real is Sunset and Princess Twilight. At least, I hope they can.” She shook her head. “This isn’t good. This is something that I’m not even sure therapy could fix.”

“Sadly, I think you’re right. Even if they could help him, it’d take quite a long time. Something we don’t have a lot of if all goes right. And I’m afraid he'll struggle with this even once he returns home. He may think it’s all just fiction, even then.”

Celestia nodded sadly. “That’ll just have to be something he’ll have to come to terms with.”

“Well, if we can’t fix the problem, can we at least help the symptoms?”

“We could, yes, but it’d be like fighting a fire with an open gas line. It’d never truly go away unless we can stop what’s causing it all in the first place.”

Luna sighed. “I just hope he doesn’t do anything rash.”

“What do you mean? Like what?”

“He’s a severely depressed young man questioning his reality and he owns a gun,” Luna said, grimly. “I don’t think I have to say what that could mean.”

“Luna he’s not-” Celestia stopped herself. She desperately wanted to tell her sister that he wouldn’t, but as she worked through the information in her head, she knew she couldn’t say it. Whether they liked it or not, there was a very real possibility that he would, and they both knew it. Luna shrugged sadly.

“It’s a very real possibility we have to consider here, sister. We’re treading on very delicate ground.”

“We do.” Celestia agreed. “This… this is well beyond either of us, Luna.”

“I know. But what else can we do? A therapist would need all sorts of legal paperwork to see him even once. Not even just for James’s confidentiality, we’re talking about their license, here. Outside of an introductory meeting, we may be able to get a meeting or two, more if we’re lucky. But regularly seeing him? I’m not so sure.”

Celestia bit her lip, thinking. This was a tough situation. Stuck between a rock and a hard place: leave him to deal with it on his own or risk finding a therapist?

“I suppose we’ll just have to do our best, then.” She said, reluctantly. It wasn’t the solution she truly wanted, but it was the only feasible situation. As Luna said, they simply couldn’t risk a therapist, nor did they have the time. “Is there anything else?”

“Yes, actually,” Luna sighed. “It seems that Ms. Shimmer and her friends seem to see him as a sort of hero.”

Celestia was taken aback.

“A hero?” Luna nodded. Celestia shook her head. “I’m sorry, what’s the problem with that?”

“He doesn’t agree.”

“Why?”

“From what he’s told me, it’s because of what he and his fellow soldiers did. He doesn’t think they acted very heroic.”

“Didn’t they free those people from those camps? Isn’t that what the whole war was for?”

“Yes, they do in the book, but he didn’t. At least, he hasn’t yet. I mean, he knows they exist. He knows, vaguely, what they’re doing. But I don’t think he really understands the severity of the situation. I think he’s forgotten, or just simply didn’t know in the first place.”

Celestia nodded absently. There was certainly a lot there, and it was all certainly nothing two high school administrators could ever hope to deal with. A therapist? A priest? Maybe. Regardless, it was beyond them. They were going to have to get help if they wanted to make any real progress.

“Maybe we could find someone to help him.”

“Celestia were you not listening? I told you we ca-”

“I know, Luna. But the alternative is either leave him to figure it out himself, or we try to help him. And I’m sorry, sister, but I am not ready to even attempt that sort of thing right now. Not with this volatile of a situation.”

“So now what? Do we find a therapist who is willing to forgo any sort of legal release forms? And how is James going to pay for it? He doesn’t have insurance, a job, and I’m certain Ms. Shimmer can’t afford to pay it for him.”

“I’ll pay for it.”

Luna was taken aback. “Sister, you understand this isn’t a small fee, right? This could cost you quite a lot of money.”

“And I’m happy to do it. Luna, I make more than a liveable salary with this job. A little less spending cash isn’t going to hurt me, trust me.”

“Well. Good.” Luna nodded, almost convincing herself it was. “Good. That solves that. That still leaves the very pressing issue of finding someone willing to do it.”

“I think that may be easier than you think.”

“What?” Luna exclaimed. “You think finding someone willing to risk their license is going to be easy?”

“But are they risking their license, Luna?”

Luna recoiled back with a shocked expression. “Yes! Yes, I do!”

“Well, I don’t think they are. What forms are standard when you go to therapy?”

“A consent form, a record release form, insurance information, medical history,” Luna rattled off several responses rapidly.

“He doesn’t have insurance, nor will he be using it. That’s not an issue. The medical history he can give voluntarily and it’s not like they have you prove it. The record release form and consent aren’t being put through any sort of government system, they’re just on hand in the office, right? So it’s fine! Even if he did fudge the information on it, the therapist isn’t at risk.”

Luna stared at Celestia.

“...how long have you been thinking about this?”

“Not long. But I think this is too important to be hung up on what-ifs.”

“Those ‘what ifs’ could get us in some serious legal trouble.”

“Possibly, yes.”

“Is that a risk you’re willing to take?”

“Absolutely,” Celestia said without hesitation. “Under normal circumstances, I’m not sure I would. But we have a young man who needs quite a bit of help here. I don’t think this is something we can risk.”

“Fine.” Luna sighed. “But I have just realized yet another hurdle.”

“What?”

“We need to find someone who’ll even believe us. I mean, seriously, sister. This will sound insane to anyone else but us. We saw a teenager rip holes in reality to another dimension, and we were still skeptical when Sunset told us what was going on.”

“I can deal with that, don’t worry.”

“Really?” Luna said skeptically.

“Really. How do you think I managed to convince two thousand students to pretend that the holes in reality just didn’t happen? Or better yet, that the front of our building collapsed due to structural damage after a student just magically blew it up?”

“...point taken. Fine. You can deal with it.” Luna fiddled with a bracelet on her wrist. She suddenly felt exhausted. “Better you than me.”

“Thank you, Luna. I’ll ask around and let you know what I find.”

“Alright.” She nodded. “I’d better get back in there. Are you taking him back to your office?”

“Not just yet. I’m going to make a few calls first if that’s alright.”

“It’s fine with me.”

“Okay.” Celestia smiled. She leaned forward and hugged Luna, who smiled and hugged her back. “I’ll come get him when I’m done.”

“Of course. No hurry.” The two separated. “Good luck.”

“You too.”

With their goodbyes done, Luna opened the door and stepped back into her office, shutting the door with a soft click. And with that, the halls were empty once again.

Author's Note

The line at the store was really long, you guys.

I'm trying a new system where instead of trying to hit around 6k or more, like I have been, I'm just going to go as long as it takes to get the story for the chapter done. If I have nothing more to say, it'll be short. If it's longer, woohoo. ~~Thank you, Holy, for that advice.~~

Let me know what you think!

In all seriousness, I will be posting a blog post at some point explaining my absence.

Chapter 1

“...Then they charged up the beaches of South France, in what the boys in the army later called ‘The Other D-Day’. That nickname is actually a reference to a different operation that went on earlier in the book. If you’ll remember when the allies took Rome earlier on in the book, the next day there was the invasion of Northern France, Operation Overlord. That event ultimately came to be called ‘D-Day’ due to the massive scale of it all. If you’re interested, there’s more on that event in some of the other units’ books. Now, back to the 36th. So, James is a part of the 141st Infantry Regiment, one of the units under the 36th. But there were others, of course. The 141st’s sister regiments are the 142nd and the 143rd...”

Mr. Synopsis didn’t take any notice to the kids of his class that had completely zoned out. Most of them weren’t doing it to be rude, of course. It was just that his passion for the book was just a bit much for them. To make it worse, he was hard to follow. He’d think of something and go off on a tangent about that until he somehow found himself back to the original topic. Those who managed to stay with him, however, tried their best to read along with him as he spoke. Even someone like Sunset Shimmer found it difficult on a good day. At first, it had been overwhelming. Coming to class was, to her, like standing in a hurricane with nothing more than a lace parasol to keep her dry. The minute she left the class, she wanted nothing more than to never speak of the Their Darkest Hour book series ever again.

But the passion radiating from Mr. Synopsis as he described their hardships in the country of Italy had worked its way into her head. When she found she couldn’t sleep the night before, she had picked up the book and started reading through it to pass the time. But before long, she’d read past the next two weeks’ reading assignments and had to force herself to put down the book to get at least some sleep. She didn’t end up getting very much, but she did discover that Mr. Synopsis’s ‘lectures’ were no less difficult to listen to when one was sleep deprived.

“Now, while in France, the 442nd Infantry Regiment was attached to the 36th,” Sunset blinked at the board as she realized Mr. Synopsis had written a list of all the units inside the 36th Infantry in a bizzare looking family tree while she'd zoned out. “This was a unit entirely made up of Japanese-Americans who volunteered for service in Internment Camps back in the United States. The 442nd would become the most decorated unit in their nation’s history...”

Just before he launched into another tale from the book, the bell rang, and all his enthusiasm came to a grinding halt. With a sigh, all of the energy from before left his mannerisms as the students jumped to their feet, grabbing their bags as they left.

“Alright, make sure you finish up to Chapter 12 for next class discussion,” he shouted over the noise and dropped his book on his desk. “There will be a quiz two weeks from now, so make sure you keep up with your assignments!”

All of the students shuffled out of the door, wasting no time in leaving as soon as possible. Mr. Synopsis grabbed the spare copies of the book from the desks where students left them and stacked them on a table by his desk. Sunset stopped just shy of the doorway, and turned over her shoulder, glancing up at Mr. Synopsis. She paused to think for a moment before she walked back to his desk.

“Excuse me… Mister Synopsis,” Sunset said. He looked up and grinned.

“Hey, Sunset,” He nodded in greeting. “What can I do for you?”

Sunset smiled back politely. “Well, I just had a question about the book we were reading.”

Mr. Synopsis’s grin grew wider at her question. “Great! I’d be happy to talk to you about it.”

Sunset nodded.

“Well, I was just wondering… did any of that really happen?”

Mr. Synopsis’s smile faltered slightly and Sunset mentally kicked herself. She had forgotten that he was a new teacher and he didn’t know about her lack of history lessons. To his credit, he seemed to take it in stride, even if Sunset felt she got knocked down a few pegs in his mind.

“Well… no. The Their Darkest Hour book series is part of the ‘Earth’ writing project. It’s all a bunch of authors writing an alternate history of humanity with more divides and violence. It, thankfully, never happened. And hopefully, it never will,” he grinned. “The bad stuff, I mean. I don't think I'm alone in my wanting to someday see a generation of young men and women as selfless as those portrayed in Their Darkest Hour. Just, hopefully, under different circumstances,” He chuckled to himself as he finished. “Is there anything else you wanted to ask?”

Sunset shook her head. “No, that’s all, thank you.”

He nodded again. “Alright. I’ll be here if you ever have any more questions.”

Sunset nodded and left his class. She wasn’t really paying attention to the world around her, beyond not running into people in the hallways. Her mind was filled with thoughts, most of which were centered around the events of the book.

Her thoughts stayed on that particular piece of literature all through the rest of her day and past the final bell. After the larger crowd of students had cleared out, she sat down against the side of the statue, waiting for the city bus to come along. She stared absentmindedly at where Rainbow and Applejack were passing a soccer ball back and forth on the school’s front lawn. Pinkie watching and cheering both of them on simultaneously. Sunsent didn’t take notice, however, as her mind was still wrapped up in her daydreaming.

But what if it had been real? What would they be like? Sunset thought, Brave enough to leave their families so young. Young enough to be a student here at CHS.

She thought of the main character in the book, Private Garrett. He was a rifleman from the 36th Infantry. Each book in the Their Darkest Hour series, supposedly, had a theme to it that reflected different aspects of the war, but none of the authors ever told what they were. According to Mr. Synopsis’s theories, The Fightin’ 36th was written to show the selflessness of those who volunteered to fight. If that were true, then James was the poster child for those volunteers. The entire book followed him from when he joined the army to the end of the war. She assumed so, at least. Sunset hadn’t finished the book yet, so she didn’t know for sure. But even in what she’d read, he wasn’t a model soldier by far but he did his duty and he never asked for special recognition for it.

Sunset connected with the character instantly. Once upon a time, she’d have called someone like him weak: a mindless drone who bends to anyone with enough authority to tell him what to do. But that person was gone. Her friends had shown her that. Now, once she’d read his story, she realized he was anything but that. She’d been in his mind as his home country had been attacked. She’d felt his grief when he learned his fellow Americans had been killed. She knew that when he signed his name on his enlistment papers, it was anything but mindless. All Sunset had to do was imagine if someone had hurt one of her friends, and she could understand exactly why James did what he did.

The more she understood of James, the more she found herself drawn to his character. He was kind, compassionate; friendly, if a bit awkward; and in everything he did, he wanted to do his best. Sunset grinned fondly to herself. He was a gentleman, but not perfect. But of course, who really is ‘perfect’? She herself was evidence enough of that. James was the kind of person to look past that though. And that’s why Sunset had fallen in love with him.

Wait, love? Sunset thought to herself.Where had that come from?

She frowned, repeating her thoughts in her head. No, that was ridiculous. There was no way she was falling in love with a fictional character. That’d be silly.

...Right?

“Hello, Sunset!”

She jumped. Rarity smiled brightly at Sunset as she walked up and sat down beside her. Sunset tried to grin casually.

“H-Hey Rarity.”

“You seem to be quite deep in thought, darling. Is something the matter?”

“No, I was just... Well…” Sunset hesitated. “...Have you read the book for English?”

“The one with all the fighting and stuff?” Rarity asked. She shook her head. “No, darling. I can’t say I have. It seems awfully depressing. I’d much rather read my own books, thank you.”

Sunset had to agree, Rarity had a point. The books weren’t exactly a shining ray of joy, but she thought that was what made them so much better. It makes it more real when not everyone gets a happy ending. And boy did a lot of people not get happy endings.

“I guess it can be at times. But still, I think you might like it. The characters in the story are a lot like the ones in your books. Almost like those ‘knights in shining armor’ in those old fairy tale stories.”

“Oh? Are they now?”

Sunset grinned. She knew she’d get Rarity’s attention with that one.

“Oh absolutely. Brave and selfless young men who volunteered to leave their families back home and risk their lives every day for their country. Some even lied about their age to fight early. All so that they could protect their families back home. It just amazes me to think about what they went through.”

Rarity smiled and nodded knowingly.

“I suppose it does, darling. When you describe it like that, I suppose I might try to read the book. It certainly has you quite smitten.”

Sunset blushed as she realized Rarity had seen right through her.

“W-Well... I guess. I mean, it’s just…” Sunset sighed. “The more I read, the more I want to meet one of them. Just to get to know them. To find out what kind of person does that sort of thing. To be that brave and selfless and to put others before yourself...” Sunset trailed off with a grin on her face. “Just think of how amazing they must be.”

Rarity’s smile turned into a knowing grin.

“Looks like your ‘Knights in Shining Armor’ comment may have come from somewhere a bit more personal,” Rarity smirked.

“It wasn’t that obvious... was it?”

“A little,” Rarity giggled lightly. “Lucky for you, I don’t believe anyone else saw it but me. But don’t worry, Sunset, I won’t tell anyone about it.”

Sunset shook her head.

“I don’t know why I’m obsessing over this so much. It just completely roped me in. Way more than any other story has before. What they did was just so... awful. And the fact that a lot of them did it willingly for so long. It’s just incredible to me.”

Rarity took a seat in front of the statue beside her friend, pulling her makeup bag out of her backpack and digging through it as she spoke.

“Well, it seems to me that it’s less the story and more the characters in it.”

Sunset nodded reluctantly.

“I suppose it is…” Sunset sighed. “It just feels wrong to like a story because of… that, rather than the story itself.”

“Sunset, there’s no wrong reason to enjoy something,” Rarity pulled out a selection of nail polishes and was now deciding over which one she wanted to use. She paused, and shrugged. “Well, most of the time, anyways. Though believe me when I say what you are doing in your case is perfectly fine.”

“I just don’t get it. Why am I so ‘in love’ with a fictional character?”

“It’s not exactly uncommon. I’ve seen many girls do the same thing, myself included,” Rarity set a nail polish aside and put the rest back into her bag. “Do you think it might be because you’re lonely?”

Sunset furrowed her brow.

No, it couldn’t be, She thought. ...Could it? She shook her head, No, of course not.

“No, I don’t think that’s it. I mean, I have all of you, and we hang out almost every day,” Sunset shrugged. “Even without that, I’m still around plenty of people.”

“Not lonely like that, darling,” Rarity giggled as she painted her nails. “I mean lonely in the more… romantic definition.”

Sunset’s face flushed a deeper scarlet than her hair.

“W-Well I-I mean…”

Rarity grinned.

“I believe that is enough of an answer for me. You’re yearning for the touch of a big strong gentleman as he comes and sweeps you off your feet,” Rarity held a hand to her forehead as she swooned. Sunset’s blush only grew stronger. Rarity giggled, “I do apologize, darling, I’m only teasing. There’s nothing wrong with that, of course. It’s just… well…” Her smile faltered, “These men aren’t real. And, I’m sorry to say, there isn’t anyone at this school I can think of that would fit the bill. I just would hate to see you fall in love with something you might never get.”

Sunset shook her head, blush subsiding slowly.

“I guess that’s the hard part, isn’t it?” Sunset nervously ran her hands up and down her jeans. “Your dreams are always better than reality.”

“I suppose that’s why it’s called the ‘man of your dreams’. He can only exist in your dreams,” Rarity shook her head, remembering a previous tragedy of her’s involving a young man from a private school who was a bit more ‘pompous’ than she’d imagined. “I know the feeling all too well.”

Sunset nodded slowly, her excitement from before fading fast. Now that she understood the real reasons behind her obsession, she felt… guilty, like she wasn’t enjoying the story for what it should’ve been enjoyed for. She shook her head. Whatever. It was just a book. She was allowed to dream. Even if that was all it would ever be.

“I guess I’ve never really had a real love interest. Not for a long time, at least. I mean, you all know the story of Flash, and that was pretty much my thoughts on love and romance ever since I realized it was a thing,” Sunset looked down in shame and sighed. “Just another tool to use against people.”

“Sunset,” Rarity said. “We all know that that part of you is gone. You’ve more than proven that after the battle of the bands and the Friendship Games. Plus, you even forgave us after we were so horrible to you during winter break. If anyone deserves love, it’s you.”

“Thanks, Rarity,” Sunset smiled.” Hopefully I’ll find someone who will love me back a little more than ink and paper will.”

The fashionista laughed as she closed the lid on her nail polish. “Yes, well, I hope so too. And who knows? Perhaps you’ll find your knight in his shining armor.”

"Yeah," Sunset laughed. "Maybe."

The sound of a car horn shook both girls out of their reverie.

“I believe that is my ride home.” Rarity zipped her bag up and stood. “Are you going to be alright? If you need to talk some more, I can stay a little longer.”

“I’ll be fine.” Sunset smiled. “Have a great weekend, Rarity.”

Rarity smiled back. “You too, Sunset.”

She watched Rarity as she got into the car with her father, the two waving goodbye to Sunset as they drove off. Sunset waved back before they turned off one of the many streets in the surrounding neighborhood. With a sigh, she leaned back against the side of the statue. She went back to staring off into space and thinking again. After a while of this, she reached into her bag and pulled out a large book with her sun cutie-mark emblazoned across the front. She stared at it for a few moments, debating whether or not Twilight deserved the wall of text as she tried to explain her love of a fictional character that her message would no doubt become. The sound of something falling over caught her attention, and she looked down to see the book in question had slipped out of her backpack as the whole thing fell over.

“Yo Sunset! Watch out!”

Sunset looked up and yelped as she ducked out of the way. Shortly after, a soccer ball bounced off the statue right where her head had been a moment ago. Her eyes fell on where the offending ball rolled through the grass. Looking up, she saw the ball’s owner standing on the lawn, cringing in embarrassment as she grinned sheepishly and waved. Standing behind her, Applejack shook her head in exasperation, and Pinkie was laughing at Rainbow and Sunset’s expense.

“H-Hey Sunset.”

Sunset shook her head and sighed, grinning. “Hello, Rainbow.”

“U-Um… you wanna play?”

Sunset scooped up the loose items from her bag and threw them on top of the statue with her backpack. She ran over kicked the ball back at Rainbow, who was more than happy to catch the ball.

“Aw yeah!”

“Is Sunset playing with us now?” Applejack called from across the field.

“Ooo! Now we can do teams!” Pinkie shouted.

“Dibs on Sunset!” Rainbow yelled.

“Alright, then. Looks like me and Pinkie are on the other team,” Applejack grinned.

Rainbow dribbled the ball between her feet, grinning at Sunset.

“Alright, we’ve gotta beat Applejack and Pinkie. You got it, Sunset?”

“Got it,” Sunset’s face set in a determined grin. She shouted to the two across the field. “Ready when you are!”

Applejack and Pinkie each gave a thumbs up, signaling they were ready.

“Alright, on the count of three,” Rainbow yelled. “One, two…”

“Three!” Pinkie screamed, already running towards the two.

And the four started their game, their laughter echoing off the school building. Rainbow was barking plays to Sunset, and screaming at Pinkie when she stole the ball. Applejack would throw a taunt at Rainbow, and she’d respond in kind. Pinkie was giggling nonstop, and Sunset smiled as she was just along for the ride.

As they played, however, none of them noticed the glow emanating from a crack beneath the books laying on the pedestal. Shortly after, the small novel began glowing brightly. And with a bright flash, it stopped completely. The portal shimmered and wavered slightly before returning to its normal tranquil calm as if nothing had happened at all.

The sounds of battle echoed around James in a deadly symphony as he charged through the streets. Orders were being thrown every way by dozens of people trying desperately to maintain some semblance of order. A stray shot zinged off the wall next to him.

“Fuck!” he cussed.

In front of him, a section of a building had collapsed forward onto the street. As another round whizzed past his head, he slid on the ground behind the rubble, just barely concealed behind it. Looking back, he saw the rest of his unit half a block behind him dive for cover as an MG42 lit up over him. The rest of the men who’d been ordered ahead with him lay bleeding on the ground, most already dead. He was alone.

Before he had any time to dwell on the matter, an explosion shook the earth around him and rubble rained down into the streets.

“Artillery! Get inside!” a voice screamed, “Get off the streets!”

As more explosions rattled his head, James’s eyes scanned the buildings around him. To his right lay what was more rubble than building. To his left was what seemed to be a completely intact building. More rounds flew overhead, and he steeled himself for what he was about to do.

With a burst of motion, James jumped to his feet and sprinted towards the nearby building. He slammed into the door with his shoulder and tried to twist the knob. It was locked. He cursed to himself and stepped back. He raised his leg and let his body fall forward as he kicked the door open. There was a splintering crack as the door swung inward, and he ran inside.

He paused as he came in. To his shock, the building looked completely untouched on the inside. Apart from a layer of dust that had built up, most likely from sitting empty for so long. It was as if the war outside never reached this place.

The battle outside reared its head back into his world when a nearby explosion rocked the foundation, knocking pictures off the wall as dust up from the furniture. Looking up, he realized that there was nothing between the ceiling of the foyer and himself, and that a well-placed shell could bring the roof down on top of him.

James’s head spun around, looking for a more secure part of the building. His eyes fell on a door underneath an archway into the kitchen, and he ran towards it.

He threw the door open and found it was opened to a staircase to the basement. As the next volley found its mark on the town, he all but threw himself down the stairs, his boots hitting with a heavy thud as he landed on each step.

The explosions outside rocked the upstairs floorboards, but the blasts were now muffled. He thanked the Lord that he had found the basement. Deciding that he was safe for now, James only then allowed himself to relax. With a sigh, he felt some of the tension in his shoulders fall.

He slung his rifle over his shoulder and grabbed the canteen off his belt to try and calm his nerves with a drink of water. He was breathing heavily, more from fear than exertion. Not that the forty pounds of gear he wore was helping, but he’d grown used to it in combat. He absentmindedly reached to twist the canteen’s cap open but found he couldn’t get his hand around the top. He looked down and finally noticed his canteen shaking aggressively, the cap rocking back and forth as it evaded his similarly shaking hand.

The stress of combat hit him all at once, and he lost any sense of the self-composure he’d had before. After stealing a glance up the stairs and around the room confirming he was alone for the time being, he fell back against the wall and slid to the floor, breathing heavily again as he held his head in his hands.

As the dust was shaken loose from the ceiling by the latest shell, James closed his eyes and took a long drink of water. Once his canteen had been emptied, he slipped it back into its cover and stared blankly at the wall. Everything was numb to him. Even the rattling walls grew distant as he let his thoughts drift.

The 141st had been on the line for months at this point, constantly pushing through the French Alps. It was nothing but battle after battle. They had pushed hard, securing one town after another, but it hadn’t come without its fair share of casualties. Since their landing in southern France, he’d lost a lot of friends, but he’d always been able to shake it off after a day of mourning. He had a war to win and he was damned if he was going to let his fallen brothers down. But as he sat there, listening to the world tear itself apart above him, they’d all come back to him and he’d realized he hadn’t quite held up as well as he’d thought as he felt tears streak down his face. Checking once again he was alone, he took his helmet off and let it clamber to the floor as he began crying in earnest.

“I’m sorry,” he said to himself, “I’m sorry.”

He repeated the two words to himself as he cried for a long time, thinking about every man that would now be laid to rest forever under a white cross, never to see his family again. He thought of the promises they’d made, the laughs they’d shared. From training, to Africa, to Italy, he cried for the times that would never be.

From Clark, the kind, God-fearing, bible-thumping man from Florida, to Dove, a handsome young man out of Texas and an aspiring musician. Then there was May, an unassuming lad from the north who could talk to anyone. Even the replacements, Floyd and Miles who’d fit in with the older vets perfectly, and all the others James couldn’t bear to think of. They were all gone. Some had gone to cemeteries around the world, others had gotten shipped off to the hospitals in England where they’d soon get a one-way ticket home, as they were too wounded for the army to have any use for them anymore.

Eventually, though, his tears slowed and stopped altogether. He wiped his eyes and shook his head, pushing his darkness aside to deal with at a later date. What’s done is done, he’d always told himself. No use dwelling on the past when the present was right there, shooting at you.

So, James stood, and took stock of the room he was in for the first time. It was a small basement, full of things one might expect to be in a basement. There was old furniture, crates of books and other belongings, and a large object with a sheet draped over it. His curiosity drew him towards it, and he pulled the sheet off with a light tug.

Underneath was a large, ornate mirror. It was easily six and a half feet tall, and four feet wide at the widest point in the middle before it rounded off at the top. It had a wooden frame, intricately carved with flowing lines and flowering curls.

But James’s eyes fell on the man in his reflection. James thought that the man in the mirror bore a striking resemblance to the men in the posters that hung all over the place. He stood up straight, grabbed his strap with his left hand and threw sharp a salute with the right. He grinned.

Yep, He thought. Just like the posters.

His smile faded as he remembered the times long past when he and his classmates would stand around in the hallways, trying to salute like the men in the posters did. Many of those boys were gone too, he realized. He dropped the salute.

James looked at the man in front of him again, but suddenly saw a very different soldier. This one looked nothing like the posters. Instead, the man looked tired. The boy from the poster’s eyes were sharp, and proud with eyes like polished steel. Ready to defend his country at all costs. But all James could see in this soldier’s eyes was fear. The steel had dulled and tarnished, and all the confidence from before was gone, replaced with fear and worry.

“See you around,” he muttered to himself.

But the grin quickly faded and he dropped his hand to his rifle as he watched the reflection roll and wave like ripples in a pond. It started in the center and flowed out and before long the whole surface was moving.

He stared at the mirror in awe. Slowly, he reached out and touched the glass. His heartbeat skyrocketed as he felt his fingers dip into what should have been solid glass. James ripped his hand out, eyes going wide. Slowly, as if the mirror would lunge at him and attack, he raised his rifle to the mirror and poked it with the barrel. Like with his hand, the end of the barrel disappeared into the surface of the glass.

“What in God’s name…” he muttered.

Pulling out the barrel, James inspected the part that had gone into the mirror. Nothing. It was a completely normal and functional M1 Garand gas valve, as far as he could tell. He looked down at his hand where his fingers had gone through. Nothing wrong with them, either. He looked at the mirror again and stared at the shimmering reflection. He swallowed nervously, and raised his rifle again. Slowly, he started walking forward.

He watched, wide-eyed in wonder, as more and more of his rifle passed through the surface. He paused when it came just before his left hand. He took a deep breath, and resumed his march forward. His left hand sunk into the glass, then the right, then his boot as he lifted his leg and stepped into the mirror. His foot found nothing, and he screamed as he fell completely into the glass.

“That totally counted as a goal!”

“The hay are you talkin’ about? Pinkie blocked it!”

“No, that bag was the goal post!” Rainbow pointed.

“No, it wasn’t! That ain’t even one o’ our bags!”

“Of course it is!”

Sunset shook her head as the two of her friends argued over the legitimacy of Rainbow’s goal. She pulled her phone out from her jacket pocket and checked the time. The bus was due to show up soon. Pocketing her phone, she walked over to where the two were still arguing.

“Does too!” Rainbow yelled.

“Does not!” Applejack yelled back.

“Girls, I hate to interrupt this, but my bus comes by in ten minutes,” she said.

“What? What time is it?” Applejack checked her phone. “Ah, horse apples! Ah didn’t realize it was that late! Sorry to cut this short, but Ah’ve gotta get home. See y’all later!”

Applejack grabbed her bag from where it was functioning as a goal post and ran off towards the student parking lot. Rainbow checked the time and frowned.

“Yeah, I probably gotta get home too. My parents had a movie night planned for tonight, and I’ve missed the last three, so I don’t really wanna miss another” Rainbow grabbed her bag and waved as she ran to catch up with Applejack. “See you later, Sunset! Bye Pinkie!”

“Bye Dashie! Bye Sunset!” Pinkie shouted as she too left the schoolyard.

“Bye girls!” Sunset shouted back. Once they’d all gone, she walked back over to the statue to get her stuff as well.

She stopped as she neared, however. The portal to Equestria seemed to be much more active than usual.

Is Twilight coming for a surprise visit or something? She thought to herself.

Her question was soon answered as a human form fell out of the portal. Unlike her purple friend, however, there were a lot more browns, greens, and khaki. She gasped as the form hit the ground. A green, steel helmet rolled off its head and towards her feet. She stared at it. Slowly, she reached down and picked it up. She flipped it over and gasped. Sunset immediately recognized the insignia painted on the side. She looked over at the man on the ground and watched as he groaned as he pushed himself off the ground.

“Fuck me, what in the name of God was that?” he muttered.

Sunset heart was racing. This couldn’t be real. This couldn’t be happening. What was he doing here? And why did he come out of the portal to Equestria?

The man shakily got to his feet and looked around, confusion and fear painted on his face as he took in the world surrounding him. His eyes fell on Sunset, and he visibly jumped.

“Oh shit… Oh, uh… sorry,” he stammered. “I-I’m sorry, I-I didn’t mean to cuss in front of a lady like you. I’m just a little... “ he glanced around and smiled nervously. “Lost.”

Sunset stared at the man. When he heard no response, he visibly grew more uncomfortable and his eyes darted around in fear. He tried his best to smile at her, but it was obviously forced. Then, his eyes lit up as he seemed to realize something.

“Oh! Uh… Bon...jour? France-wah voo parlay?” He said hopefully. When this got nothing, he shook his head. “No? Uh… okay, how about, um… Hah-lo? Spreck-en Deutsch...en?”

Sunset snapped back to reality.

“Oh… uh, sorry. I speak English,” she said at last. The man visibly relaxed.

“Oh, good. I was really struggling there.” He grinned weakly. “U-Um… this may seem a bit… odd, but… where am I?”

Sunset gripped the helmet in her hands nervously.

“W-well... that’s a bit… difficult to explain.”

James’s grin grew much more strained.

“O-Oh?”

“Well… This isn’t your home.”

“...Right, I-I’m aware of that... But where on Earth am I?”

“W-What I mean is... This isn’t your world. You aren’t on Earth anymore.”

James stared, his eyes widened in worry. He looked around again. His eyes passed over the houses, the street, and the school building.

There was a distant and loud whooshing noise that grew louder, echoing off the buildings around them. He looked up and squinted, and Sunset followed his gaze. A jet plane was flying over head, most likely headed to the nearby airport.

Then there was the sound of an engine and they turned to see a few students pull out of the student parking lot and drive past. He turned back around to Sunset. She had a look of deep sympathy on her face. She took a deep, shaky breath.

“I’m sorry.”

James’s breathing picked up.

“I couldn’t have…” He said turned to her. “I couldn’t have gone to a whole different fucking planet! From a mirror! I mean… I don’t know what the fuck that thing is or what it just did but...I was in France! France!” he stopped. During his rant, he’d started walking towards her and was now towering over her as Sunset stared in fear. He stepped back, shaking his head, “I-I’m sorry. I’m sorry, I… I lost my head there. W-Where did you say I am?”

“C-Canterlot,” Sunset said in what she hoped was an encouraging tone.

“Canterlot…” James repeated softly. “Okay. Look, uh… don’t take this the wrong way, but… that doesn’t really tell me very much about where I am if I’m not on the same planet.”

“I-I know. Trust me, I do. But you wouldn’t know where you are even if I told you everything.” Sunset said. To her credit, James recognized the immense sympathy in her voice. But that didn’t give him any answers.

“Right, well, Ms….” James frowned. “I’m sorry, I never got your name.”

“Oh, right, uh… my name’s Sunset Shimmer.”

“...R-Right,” James nodded. “Not Earth, anymore,” he muttered to himself. He extended a shaky hand to her, “Well… uh, Ms. Shimmer, my names James Garrett. It’s a… it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Sunset tentatively reached out and shook his hand.

“N-Nice to meet you too, James.”

The sound of wind chimes blowing aggressively caught the two’s attention. James turned his head to the source of the noise they found it to be the pedestal he’d just come through. The light shimmering and waviness of before was replaced with a torrent on the surface of the marble.

“What is that thing doing?”

“I don’t know.” Sunset grew worried. “It’s never done this before.”

Sunset watched the waves grow more erratic and aggressive. She looked around for anything that might be causing it. Some kind of Equestrian artifact, maybe, or someone who’d found Equestrian magic. Then her eyes locked onto a glowing book on the top of the pedestal.

“My journal!” She shouted, running towards the glowing book.

“Hey, Sunset, what the hell are you doing? Get away from that thing!”

Sunset paid him no mind as she grabbed the glowing book from its spot on the marble and ran back to James. Immediately, the light faded and the shimmering of the marble ceased.

The two stared at the marble, expecting something else to happen. When nothing did, James tentatively took a step forward. He reached down and grabbed his rifle, facing the barrel at the marble. As his steps brought him to the face, he pushed his rifle forward, poking experimentally at the marble. To both of their surprise, and subsequent dread, the barrel just clanked off the smooth, now tangible, surface.

“What?” He exclaimed. He poked it again, with the same results. “No, hold on. What?”

He dropped his rifle, letting it clang to the ground by his side as he ran up to the pedestal. He felt all over the face, desperately searching for a soft spot where his fingers went through.

“No. No, no, no, don’t you do this. Don’t do this to me!” His movements grew more erratic. “Come on, it’s gotta be somewhere here. Just turn back on. Please, God, just let it turn back on!”

Sunset looked down at her journal to make sure it was okay. But instead of her sun emblem, she was greeted by the image of a steel helmet with a ‘T’ on top of a blue arrowhead painted onto it. Ice formed in her stomach a sobering realization settling in.

“James?” Sunset asked.

“Goddammit, just give me something!” James whispered.

“James.”

“Anything! Just turn back on!”

“James,” Sunset repeated more firmly, placing a hand on his shoulder.

He froze in place, breathing heavily.

“The portal’s gone, James,” Sunset said softly.

The man squeezed his eyes shut, letting his head fall forward against the marble of the statue as he let out a shuddering breath. He said nothing, the thundering silence more overpowering than a scream. Eventually, he turned around and sat on the stairs, his shoulders sagging, defeated.

It broke Sunset’s heart to see the man like that. She’d read all about what he and his unit did. All they endured. She’d always pictured them as these supermen that were impossibly brave. And when she finally got her wish to meet one, she had to be the one to tell him that everything he knew and loved was gone. Possibly for good. She sat on the steps next to him and did the only thing she could think to do. Leaning over, she put an arm around the man and leaned against him in what she hoped was a comforting gesture.

“I’m so sorry, James.”

He said nothing in response. He just cried softly as he cradled his head in his hands.

“I am so sorry.”

Author's Note

Welcome to the rewrites! Hopefully won't need to do this again, but we'll see what happens.

Original chapters will be linked in the description of this story as Google Doc files.

Thanks for y'all's patience, see you all again with Chapter 10!

Chapter 3

“Hey. Sunset.”

“Hrmmm…” Sunset groaned, “James?”

“Yeah, it’s me.”

Sunset opened her eyes slowly. James stood beside her bed, a few feet back, grinning awkwardly at her, and she smiled back.

“Morning James.” She took notice of his outfit. He was wearing his now cleaned uniform. “Looks like your clothes dried off.”

“Yeah. Thanks for washing them, by the way. Didn’t realize how bad it had gotten until this morning,” the man chuckled. “Turns out that that wasn’t the color it’s supposed to be.”

Sunset laughed and shook her head.

“That’s good.” The girl rolled over, facing James. “So, what’s up? Is everything alright?”

James nodded. “Yeah, everything’s fine. I just… well, I made breakfast for you. As a way of thanking you for last night. It’s not nearly enough, I know, but I hope it’s a good start.”

“It’s more than plenty.” Sunset grinned.

James shook his head. “We’re not doing this again, Sunset. I’m going to pay you back for your kindness, one way or another.”

Sunset rolled her eyes, grinning as she shook her head.

“If you say so.” Sunset sat up, letting her feet touch the floor. “I’ll be down in a minute. Let me change first.”

James nodded and silently made his way down the stairs. From below, Sunset could hear the sounds of the cabinet doors opening and closing, and plates being set out. After a few moments to clear the sleep from her head, she stood and walked over to her dresser. She dug through the drawers and picked out a pair of jeans and a blouse, tossing them on her bed as she undressed.

“Oh, and by the way, one of those electric typewriter things on your desk was making noise earlier. The one that looks like a book,” James called from the kitchenette. “It’s supposed to do that, right?”

Sunset giggled to herself.

Electric typewriter may have been the worst description of a computer I could’ve thought of. She thought. Too late now, though.

“Did it sound like a buzzing noise?” She responded.

“Yeah?”

“That just means someone sent me a message.”

“Ah, right. Like those telegrams you got on your typewriter telephone?”

“Yeah, those.” Sunset slipped her shirt on. “How long ago did it vibrate?”

“Not too long ago. Maybe ten minutes or so.”

“Alright, I’ll check it out. Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

After quickly smoothing over her outfit, Sunset walked down the stairs to her desk. Sure enough, her journal sat out on the desktop where she left it last night. As if on cue, the journal glowed purple and vibrated. Sunset sat down and flipped it open to the latest entry.

Hey Sunset. I’ve got everything set up for testing! Just let me know when you’re at the school and we can get started! I’m excited to see you again. I haven’t been able to visit in ages! It’ll be great to catch up in person.

Sunset quickly wrote back her reply.

Hey Twilight. Sorry for the late response. I’m not sure how long you were waiting, I just woke up. I’ll head over soon! I’m just going to get some breakfast first. I’ll tell you when I’m ready for you to test it.

The journal buzzed immediately after with Twilight’s response.

See you then!

With that taken care of, Sunset smiled to herself and stood. As she turned around, she saw James standing in front of the stovetop. The girl noticed he wasn’t wearing his jacket. Instead, he had rolled up the sleeves of his shirt and his jacket was strewn over the back of the couch. She grinned. Already she could tell the difference. The wrinkles in the shirt had smoothed themselves out somewhat and the knees of his pants weren’t nearly as muddy as before. He’d also put on the leggings (Sunset chuckled to herself as she remembered what they were called) over the boots. The boots themselves looked like they needed a good shining, but they were missing a lot of dust and mud from the night before. She wondered if he had cleaned them that morning.

James finished dressing the plate in front of him and turned around, frowning. He seemed to be looking for something.

“What’s wrong?” Sunset asked.

“I forgot you don’t have a table.”

Sunset grinned sheepishly. “Yeah, sorry about that. No real point when you live alone. I usually just eat in front of the TV, like we did last night.”

James shrugged.

“Hey, whatever works.” He handed Sunset a plate of eggs, hashbrowns, and toast. “Here you go. A good old fashioned American breakfast, without the bacon. I couldn’t find any in your fridge. I guess you’re out or something.”

“Actually, I’m vegetarian.”

“You… what?” James asked.

“A vegetarian,” Sunset repeated, “It means I don’t eat meat.”

“W-Well, yeah, I know. I just meant… well, I’ve never met a… vegetarian, before.”

“Well, I’m happy to be your first.” Sunset’s grin faded. “You don’t have a problem with that, do you?”

“N-No, not at all!” James shook his head. “I mean… Folks back home didn’t do it too often, given that we were in the depression and all that. I’ve only heard the word around; I don’t know anyone who’s actually vegetarian,” James shook his head again. “Anyway, um, here is your food.”

“Thanks,” Sunset laughed. She took a fork from James and took a seat on the couch in front of the TV. James dropped down on the couch next to her. Sunset started picking at her food with one hand while grabbing the remote and flipping the TV on with the other. It automatically turned on to the local news. She opened the guide to browse her other options.

“What is this thing anyway? I saw it last night,” James frowned at the screen. “I’m assuming those are all the channels, right?”

“Yep! It can show you the channels and their schedule.”

“Really?” James laughed. “That’s pretty handy. We had to get actual paper guides back home if we wanted to know. I guess it’s pretty helpful with this many channels, though.”

“Very,” Sunset nodded.

“Well, um, could we watch the news for a bit?”

Sunset raised an eyebrow. James shrugged innocently.

“I’ve never been here before. I just want to see what it’s like around here.”

Sunset nodded understandingly, and set the remote down. Disinterested in the local news, she absentmindedly pulled out her phone as the news anchor droned on in the background, scrolling idly through the various apps on her phone as she thought to herself.

If the portal wasn’t affected by the book changing its destination, then we may be able to replicate its effects without the risk of breaking the portal. But what caused it in the first place? She thought to herself. The book was glowing, that much is for sure. But why did it do that in the first place? Was it because of my journal? Or was it something that James did on the other side? Sunset sighed. Twilight might know more about this than me. She’s the one with the library of all recorded magic-related knowledge. If I can talk to her about this today, we might be able to get him home by the end of the weekend, if we’re lucky.

The young woman looked up from her phone, ice filling her stomach as she realized she was going to have to explain Equestria to James. That was not a conversation she was looking forward to. James barely scratched the surface of even having the slightest understanding of computers and cell phones, let alone magic portals and pony society.

“Are you okay?”

Startled from her thoughts, Sunset jumped slightly and when she looked over she found James was staring back, face slightly worried. Sunset hesitated.

“O-Oh. Um. Nothing?” She tried. James frowned.

“That’s not an answer to my question.”

Sunset bit her lip and looked away. Might as well get it over with, she thought.

“James… I don’t really know how to say this, but…” she sighed. “Do you remember when I said I know the feeling of being stuck somewhere alien to you, with nothing?”

“Yeah?”

“Well… that’s because I came through the portal, too.” Sunset shook her head. “I just didn’t know how to tell you. It didn’t seem right at the time, given how freaked out you must have been coming through the portal and seeing all this.”

“...huh.”

Sunset frowned and looked up. She expected him to be more angry with her or offended by her lack of trust. But instead, he just seemed confused. She could see the cogs turning in his head as he tried to work through what she’d said.

“So… you are French?”

Sunset stared, now equally as confused as he was.

“What?”

“You came through the portal right?”

“Yes?”

“So you’re from France? Or somewhere else in Europe? I was just thinking France because that’s closest to where I came in.”

She shook her head. “No, I didn’t come from your world. Normally, that portal leads to my home world. Not yours.”

“...so they’re different?” James asked. Sunset nodded. “How so?”

Sunset smiled nervously. “Can you promise me you won’t freak out when I tell you?”

“...Sure?” James said skeptically.

“Okay.” Sunset took a deep breath to steady herself, and then spoke. “My world is pretty similar to this one, but without most of the technology. We get around on airships and steam engines, not cars and planes. However the major difference is… well…” Sunset hesitated. “Everyone there is… ponies.”

James stared back.

“Uh…” He opened and closed his mouth, trying to form a response. He furrowed his brow, and eventually settled with: “Okay.”

“...What?” Sunset asked.

“W-Well I’m not sure what to say to that, if I’m honest.”

Sunset stared, stunned. To his credit, he wasn’t freaking out. But at this point Sunset would rather he WAS freaking out. At least then there’d be something to talk about. But now? She didn’t know what to say either.

“Well, isn’t that… I don’t know. Weird to you?”

“Oh, well, I mean, yes, it’s extremely weird.” He shook his head, taking a shaky breath. “W-Well… I guess you can… u-um… tell me about it, if you’d like. I don’t really know what to say other than that.”

“So... you believe me?”

“Well, um… not really?”

Sunset frowned. “Well, how can I prove it to you?”

James frowned. “I don’t know,” he said, “Maybe just… tell me about it?”

“Okay, I guess I can do that,” Sunset nodded slowly, “What do you want to know?”

“Well…” he thought for a moment. “Tell me about your house.”

“My… house?”

“Yeah. Where did you live in... ponyland?”

“First of all, it’s called Equestria,” Sunset corrected, “And second, I lived in a castle.”

James crossed his arms.

“...you’re messing with me, aren’t you?”

“No, I swear I’m not,” Sunset reassured him.

“You were a pony princess in a magic castle?”

“No, I was student to a pony princess in a magic castle.”

“...Right,” James nodded skeptically.

“It’s true!”

“Sunset, please… I just…” he held his head in his hands, “Come on, that’s ridiculous.”

“James, I’m telling you the truth!”

“Alright, fine then! What did you learn under the magic pony princess?” he asked. “Actually, wait, no. First, what was her name?” he corrected himself.

“Princess Celestia,” Sunset said, “And I was learning magic under her.”

James gave Sunset a flat stare. She crossed her arms defensively.

“Stop giving me that look, I’m telling you the truth.”

“...did you sleep on clouds and braid your long golden hair for your Prince Charming to come rescue you on?”

“I see you have Rapunzel in your world, too,” Sunset muttered angrily, “No, James, I didn’t. Only pegasi can sleep on clouds, and the only Prince was Prince Blueblood, who was a cocky stuck-up noble who needed a swift kick to his flank.”

James gaped at her.

“They… they can actually sleep on clouds?”

“Yes.”

“No,” James shook his head violently. “No. No. No, Sunset. This is… this is insane! You have to know that, don’t you?”

“James! Please, believe me. I swear to you it’s true!”

He stared at her. Sunset could see fear in his eyes. Whether that was because he was starting to believe her or because he thought she was insane, though, she wasn’t sure. She could see the gears running in his head. Slowly, he started nodding. The fear didn’t subsided completely, but it certainly dulled.

“Okay. Fine. So… you were a pony?” He pointed.

“Yes,” Sunset nodded.

“A unicorn pony?”

Sunset nodded again.

“A little horse with a horn on your forehead?”

“Yes, James,” Sunset said, sighing in exasperation. She massaged her temples. “Is that all you took from that?”

“It’s a big part of it, yeah!” James yelled. He sighed tiredly and rubbed his face. “So... you’re telling me… that you,” He pointed again. “Came through the portal, from a world of ponies, and now you just live here. No problems or anything?”

“Yes,” Sunset said simply.

James stared back. His eyes scanned her face. When he didn’t find anything, he dropped his head into his hands and gave a shuddering sigh.

“I’m being shown how to be a normal human by a goddamn magic unicorn from fairyland.”

Sunset grinned sympathetically. “At least you only have to adjust to technology and culture differences. You didn’t have to learn how to be a human from scratch.”

“I’m just going to pretend that I didn’t hear that.” James sat up. “Okay then. So. You’re a unicorn,” He looked at her again, as if seeing her for the first time. “Well… What happens now?”

“Now? We’re going back to the statue to see if the portal to my world still works. If it does, then we’ll meet with a friend of mine from the other side who should be able to help us get you back home.”

“Is she a unicorn too?”

“No, she’s an Alicorn. She has both a horn and wings. She’s a mix of all three.”

James gave her a blank stare for a few moments before nodding slowly.

“Okay. What’s her name?”

“Twilight Sparkle.”

“‘Twilight Sparkle…?’” James repeated.

“Yes.”

“Right. We’re going to meet… Twilight Sparkle, at the portal.”

“That’s the plan,” Sunset nodded. “Unless you don’t want to do that today...” She corrected.

“...If I went through the portal would I be turned into a horse?”

Sunset was taken aback by the question, but nonetheless answered.

“Honestly? I’m not sure. There have been stories of humans from this world going through the portal and they turned into ponies on the other side. But there were also legends of humans in Equestria that got passed around back home, but that was mostly mythology. For all we know, it may have been completely twisted from stories of ponies going through the portal. But as far as I know, people in this world get turned into ponies over there.”

“But I’m not from this world,” James pointed out.

“True. That’s why I’m not sure. You might be a pony, you might not.”

James leaned his head back against the couch and sighed.

“Alright. I’m fine with meeting your friend at the portal.”

“Good. If all goes well, she’ll be able to help you get home way more than I could by myself.”

He had nothing more to say, and Sunset was fine with that. She leaned back against the couch as well, content with eating her food and watching the news while James processed the information. Understandably so. In less than twenty-four hours, his world had shattered around him. She could only assume what that was doing to him.

“Were you… cute?”

“...What?” Sunset’s head snapped over to James.

“W-When you were a pony,” James clarified quickly. “I-I just meant that… w-well, ponies back home are these tiny little horses that barely come up to my waist. But picturing that they can have wings and horns and stuff?” He shrugged, “I-I just thought they might be cute. Or, uh, you all… uh… might be cute.”

Sunset blushed furiously. James noticed this and reeled back slightly.

“I didn’t mean to offend you…” James shook his head. “Oh shit, that was a really stupid question, wasn’t it?”

Sunset tried to hide her blush but knew it was a losing battle. James was avoiding eye contact as well. Not even the drone of the news anchor from Channel 8 news could break the awkward silence between the two on the couch.

“I-I guess so... “ Sunset stuttered. James looked up. “W-Well… I thought I was good looking, I guess?”

“Oh, I didn’t mean attractive- n-not that I don’t think you weren’t or anything, I was just…” James closed his eyes, holding his head in his hands. “I’m sorry.”

“I-It’s fine,” Sunset reassured him, not quite able to look at him.

James nodded awkwardly, not looking up.

“Alright then.”

Sunset finally started feeling her blush subside. She nodded to herself and stood, taking her plate over to the sink to try and give the two some space. Coming up to the kitchenette, she glanced at the clock on the stove she became aware of a problem.

“Oh, horseapples,” She set her plate onto the counter and ran over to her desk, quickly shoving her books into her bag. “I told Twilight we’d be there soon when I woke up half an hour ago.”

“Do I need to bring anything?”

“No. In fact, don’t bring anything. No gun, no backpack, no bullets. Nothing that might get you arrested.” Sunset snapped her bag shut.

“What about a wallet and a lighter?”

“Sure, you can take that.” Sunset grabbed her boots, slipping them on. “Just hurry so we can get going.”

James shook his head as he grabbed his jacket and walked to the door, having already gotten dressed.

“Yes ma’am.”

“This place is a high school?” James asked as he stepped off the bus. “Seems a little too nice for that. Looks a lot more like those big city universities from back home.”

“This is pretty much how all of the high schools in Canterlot look.” Sunset pulled out her journal. “But this is nothing. Back home, in my world’s Canterlot, the buildings there are hundreds of years old and fancier than these. Maybe you’ll get to see them one day.”

James nodded and stuck his hands into his pockets as he followed after Sunset.

“So… Princess Twilight is going to come through the same portal I came through?”

“She should, unless the portal lost connection to Equestria. If that happens… I don’t know what we’ll do.” Sunset snapped her journal shut as she finished writing her message. “But let’s not think about that. She should be opening the portal any second now.”

James walked around to the front of the statue, and stared at the smooth marble. The two of them watched, waiting for something to happen. Minutes ticked by, and nothing changed.

“Give it a second,” Sunset said, more to herself than James.

James took a few steps back and sat on the steps to the school. He looked back up at the portal. Still nothing. Not even the slightest twitch. James’s eyes rose to the back of Sunset’s head. Sunset shook her head, her smile gone completely as a sense dread overcame her.

“It’s fine,” She muttered. “She’s just taking a bit longer than usual.”

As time dragged on, there was still nothing from the portal. Sunset hadn’t moved from her spot. She glanced at her phone. It had been almost ten minutes since they’d arrived. Nothing from the portal, and nothing from the journal. James tried to distract himself by flicking his lighter, but it wasn’t working very well. After a few more minutes passed, Sunset knew the portal wasn’t opening. She shook her head and backed away from the statue. The young woman fell beside James on the stairs, staring blankly at the ground. He leaned over and pulled her into a hug. Sunset didn’t resist.

She’d forgotten how it felt to be stuck in the human world without Twilight on the other side to open the gateway between the worlds. Now, she was well and truly stuck for another two and a half years, if the portal even opened at all. Sunset knew she couldn’t wait that long. Something had to happen. She looked back up at the portal. When she found nothing but a pristinely polished marble surface, she looked away and buried her head in James’s shoulder. She wanted to cry, but no tears would come out. Just the painful, sobering sense of reality.

“Sunset…” James whispered.

Suddenly, the surface of the marble began to wave and ripple aggressively. A human form stepped through the portal, drawing both Sunset and James’s attention back to the portal.

“Sunset!” Twilight shouted.

“Twilight!” Sunset cried as she ran forward. “Oh thank Celestia, it still works!”

“I’m so sorry, Sunset. I didn’t mean to scare you. I just stepped out of the room for a minute and didn’t see your message.”

Sunset shook her head, smiling.

“You don’t need to apologize. I shouldn’t have gotten all dramatic like that.” She pulled Twilight back into another hug. “I’m so glad to see you.”

Twilight closed her eyes as she smiled and hugged her back.

“Me too.” She laughed and shook her head. She opened her eyes as they let go. Her smile faltered when she opened her eyes and looked over Sunset’s shoulder. “Um, Sunset. Who is that?”

Sunset turned around. James staring blankly, mouth open, pointing at Twilight.

“James?” Sunset asked, walking over. “What are you doing?”

“Sunset…” James whispered to Sunset, eyes never leaving Twilight. “She’s purple.”

“What?”

“That girl… is purple.”

“...Yeah?”

“She’s purple,” James said, turning to face Sunset.

“James, where are you going with this?”

“Why is she purple?!” James whispered loudly.

“Um. My coat in Equestria is purple, so the portal made my skin purple,” Twilight said. James’s eyes snapped back to her. Twilight coughed awkwardly. “I’m assuming. It’s worked that way so far…”

James smiled uncomfortably wide, nodding slowly. He turned to Sunset.

“What. The. Fuck?” He said through a strained smile.

“James, you’re acting like you’ve never seen anyone who was purple.”

“I haven’t!” His smile was gone, instead replaced by the look of a man who had had his whole world turned on its head. Again.

That was when it dawned on her. Humans on his world were more... monochromatic. He was acting like he hadn’t seen someone with purple skin because he hadn’t. Sunset slapped her forehead.

“How did I forget that?” She muttered.

“Weeell, I see the portal works fine.” Twilight smiled awkwardly. “I’ll just... head back home now. It was good seeing you, Sunset!”

“No, wait!” Sunset ran forward, grabbing Twilight’s wrist. “Twilight, I need your help with him.”

“Sunset, it seems like he needs a psychiatrist’s help, not mine,” Twilight whispered. “What in the name of Celestia do you expect me to do?”

“Okay, I know how it looks. But trust me, he’s completely justified. He’s not from this world.”

Twilight looked between Sunset and James.

“Is he Equestrian?”

Sunset shook her head.

“He…” Sunset glanced at James before leaning closer to Twilight. “He’s from a book.”

Twilight’s eyes widened.

“How is that even possible?”

“I don’t know! One day after school, the portal started going crazy and he just... fell out.”

“Things don’t just come through portals for no reason!”

“I know! That’s why you’re here!”

“You told me I was testing the portal!”

“Well I was going to tell you about him only if the portal worked.”

“Portal works! Start talking!”

“I’ve already told you everything I know. The portal started acting… weird, and then he just fell out.”

Twilight sighed and glanced at James, who waved awkwardly. She gave an equally awkward wave back and turned to Sunset, shaking her head as she stared at the ground.

“Okay, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to get mad, I just... wasn’t expecting this.” Twilight looked up at Sunset. “How much do you know so far?”

“How he got here? No idea. But…” Sunset hesitated, and glanced at James. He waved again, and she turned back to Twilight, dropping her voice to a whisper. “But I’ve read some of the book he came out of. It seems like he’s from further into the book than I got. I haven’t even opened it since he came through, but I don’t think him falling through a portal into our world would be in the story.”

“Have you talked to him about what he was doing before he came into the portal?”

Sunset shook her head.

“Not yet. With all that’s happened, I felt that it might be best for him to adjust a bit before we bring it up.”

“Well, it may still be a little early, but the sooner we can get him home, the better for him.”

Sunset nodded slowly.

“I know,” Sunset sighed. “But we can’t do it here. We can do it back at my apartment. We’ll have some more privacy there. I don’t want to risk anyone hearing about this and freaking out. Who knows what’ll happen then.”

“Sounds good to me.” Twilight fidgeted awkwardly. “Um, have you told the rest of the girls? Y’know… in case we can’t get him back right away?”

Sunset shook her head.

“Not yet. I’m hoping I can get him home before school on Monday. I don’t even want to imagine the headache that would cause my friends, or the principals.”

“Fair point.” Twilight nodded. “I promise you, Sunset, I’ll do everything I can to get him home and out of your mane.”

Sunset smiled.

“Thank you, Twilight. Let me just tell James what’s going on and then we can get going.”

Twilight nodded, letting Sunset walk over to James.

“You doing alright?” Sunset asked James as she sat down beside him.

“How many colors can people be here?” James wondered aloud, his voice an odd mix of tiredness and hysterics.

“Just about any color you can think of,” Sunset said gently, “But please, it’s completely normal here, and you might offend someone if you do what you did here again. I promise you, I understand it’s going to be a little weird at first, but I need you to do your best.”

James shook his head.

“You’re right, that was awful of me.” James sighed, rubbing his eyes. “What’s the plan now? Can she help me?”

“She might, be we need to ask you some questions first.”

“Okay.” James stood. “I’ll try my best.”

Sunset shook her head as she stood with him.

“We’re going to do it back at my place to give us some more privacy.” Sunset smiled reassuringly. “Come on. Maybe you can redo your introductions to Twilight on the way.”

She walked over to Twilight, James right behind her. Twilight smiled to Sunset, but accidentally let it falter slightly upon seeing James. She recovered quickly, but it was enough for James. He smiled as politely as he could, doing his best to look like a man meeting the King of England.

“Hi there. My name is Private James Garrett, US Army. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Princess Twilight Sparkle.”

Twilight’s smile became far more genuine then.

“Oh, you don’t need to use my title. It’s more of a formality, really.” Twilight laughed awkwardly. “Um… It’s nice to meet you too, Private Garrett.”

“In that case, James is fine as well.” James dropped his act, and became much more apologetic. “I’m sorry for what I said earlier. About the whole… skin thing. I didn’t mean to be racist or anything, I swear.”

Twilight giggled softly.

“It’s alright. Sunset told me about your situation. I understand completely.”

James nodded his thanks, and stepped back, allowing Sunset to take over. She smiled at the two, happy they were able to reconcile. Twilight wasn’t the princess of friendship for nothing, after all. She nodded.

“Alright. Let’s get going.”

Sunset pushed the door to her apartment open, allowing her two companions to follow her in. Twilight and James took a seat on the couch, and Sunset pulled the chair from her desk over. Once everyone had settled in, the questioning began.

“Alright, James. I’m going to ask you a few questions about how you got here, is that alright?” Twilight asked gently. James nodded apprehensively.

“Yes ma’am. I’ll try my best but… I don’t remember much. And, well, what I do remember doesn’t really make any sense to me.”

“That’s alright, you don’t need to tell us anything you don’t want to,” Sunset reassured him. He nodded again.

“What were you doing before you came through the portal?” Twilight asked.

James dropped his gaze to the floor.

“We were taking the town of Ribeauvillé, France with the French First Army when we started taking heavy artillery fire from the Germans to the East. I ran into a house to get some cover, and I ended up in the house’s basement,” James explained, “I took a few seconds to pull myself together and rest for a bit while waiting out the barrage. After that, there was still artillery dropping on us, so I decided to look around.”

“Isn’t this someone’s house?” Sunset asked skeptically.

James shrugged, looking up.

“No one was there, and I wasn’t gonna take anything. Some of the other guys looted houses but it never sat right with me.” James shook his head, returning his gaze to the floor. “Anyway, I saw this big thing covered in a sheet and I pulled it off. It was this old wooden mirror. I was just looking at myself, and I was about to leave, until I saw that the mirror kind of looked like water for a second. I thought I was just going crazy.

“For some reason, I don’t know why, I reached out and touched the glass. My fingers sunk in, and… I dunno.” James shrugged. “I just decided to go for it and step in, just to poke my head in and see what was on the other side. But instead I fell in and ended up going all the way through. After that… I guess then I was on my face with Ms. Shimmer here standing in front of me.”

Twilight and Sunset glanced at each other. Twilight turned back, and cleared her throat.

“So, you just found this mirror? You didn’t do anything to activate it?”

James shook his head.

“Unless posing in the mirror turns it on, no. I didn’t do anything to my knowledge.”

Twilight leaned over to Sunset, and lowered her voice so James couldn’t hear what they said.

“Did anything happen over here around then?”

Sunset shook her head.

“I was playing soccer with some of the girls, so I didn’t see everything, but when we were done I saw the portal was being weird. That was when James came through.”

“Can you think of anything that might have caused it?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t do anything. I just put my backpack on top of the portal and then I came back and the portal was being… weird,” Sunset trailed off, thinking. “Actually… my books were glowing. I thought it was my journal, so I tried to save it, but I think it was actually just the Their Darkest Hour book.”

“And did the glowing stop?”

A pit grew in Sunset’s stomach as she remembered, and nodded.

“Yeah. And so did the portal.”

“The portal stopped being weird?” Twilight asked. Sunset nodded. “Do you think the book could’ve caused the portal to open to his world?”

“...Oh.” Sunset took several deep breaths, steeling herself. “It was my fault…”

She shook her head, guilt overtaking her. It was her fault the portal connected to his world. It was her fault he was here.

“Is everything alright?” James asked. Sunset shook her head.

“I’m so sorry James.” Sunset avoided eye contact with him. “I am so sorry.”

“What is going on?” James asked, looking to Twilight for an explanation.

“I-I… I have something to show you.” Sunset said, pulling something out of her book bag. James stared at it as Sunset handed it to him.

His heart stopped, and his stomach dropped as he saw the cover. The familiar graphic of a T-Patch painted on the side of a helmet stared back at him.

“Is this… a history book?”

“James…” Sunset choked.

“How long has it been?”

“...It’s not a history book.”

He stared back.

“It’s not a history book, James,” she repeated, “It’s a fiction novel.”

He froze.

“No.” He shook his head. “No, you’re lying.”

“James, please,” Twilight said.

“No!” James shouted. “I’m not some kind of… character… in a story. I’m a person. I have a family. I have friends who have lived and died next to me. Don’t you even try to joke with me that it’s all fake. I’ve trusted you on your crazy insane stories, okay? I trusted you on when you said you were a horse. I trusted you when you tried to take me in. But this is bullshit. This isn’t real, Sunset!”

“Open the book to page 3.” Sunset muttered, her eyes fell to the floor.

“What?”

“It’s when you’re first mentioned.”

James shook his head, grabbing the book and flipping it open. He made no attempt to hide his anger as he read aloud.

“‘The private was laughing with some friends of his within the division as he dealt his deck of cards. His name was James Garrett. He was from Colorado.’” He paused, obviously taken aback. He glanced at the two, reclaiming his angered demeanor as he shook his head. “Doesn’t mean I’m him. Neither of those are exactly uncommon names. Besides. Maybe this actually IS a history book and you’re lying.”

“Keep reading, please,” Sunset muttered. James raised the book, trying to hide his shaking hands.

“‘Garrett was the oldest of seven children. His parents, Martin and Catherine…” His voice hitched. He forced himself to continue. There had to be an error somewhere that would betray it’s illegitimacy. “Martin and Catherine lost their jobs due to the Great Depression, as did many other Americans. Because of this, Garrett dropped out of school at age twelve and, with his father, found work as a caretaker at the local cemetery. However, when the call of duty came, Garrett enlisted at age 17 to fight in the war, receiving permission from his parents… to enlist early in the army. He hoped… he hoped his enlistment would save his brother from being drafted...’” James trailed off, on the verge of tears. “I never… I never told anyone about that…”

He looked back to the pages and dropped the book, staring at his hands like he’d never seen them before. He turned them over, his eyes tracing every line and scar on his skin.

“I’m not real...”

“James…” Sunset said softly.

“I’m just some… ink. Just something out of some sick bastard’s head that he dreamed up,” he said, “All of that violence and death… for fucking nothing!” James shook his head, sobbing. “Just for a little bit of light afternoon reading! I’m nothing!”

“No, you’re not.” Sunset stood and walked over to him. She grabbed his hand, but he didn’t turn to face her. “You’re here with us, you’re just as real as we are.”

Sunset waited for something, anything, but she got nothing. He held his gaze on the floor. His hand was limp, not even registering Sunset’s presence. She looked up at his face. He was crying softly now. He shook his head softly.

“I may be here…” He whispered. “But does that mean my family, and all the people that died next to me… they’re not real? They’re still just ink on paper in that book?”

“W-Well, I have a theory,” Twilight said from James’s side on the couch, “I believe that your world exists, just in a different universe. That book, when used with the portal, somehow opens a gateway from our world to yours. Your world may be a story here, but maybe we’re a story in your world.”

James took a deep, shuddering breath.

“That sounds like a load of bullshit,” he muttered, shaking his head.

James stood up, pacing the room for a moment, shaking his head as he came to grips with what he’d been told. He leaned against the windowsill, staring out into the world. The soldier shook his head again, and raised his head up, staring at the afternoon’s blue sky. His eyes traced the clouds and followed the occasional bird. Tears ran freely down his face now, but he didn’t seem to care.

The two girls tore their eyes from him, staring at the floor. Sunset felt nothing but hot shame and guilt. Her negligence brought a man to their world, ruining his life. And she had to be the one to ruin it for him every time. They heard a muttering from James behind them. Sunset listened, trying her best to make out the words.

“...give me the strength to carry on. Give me the strength to make it home to my family. Dear Lord…”

Twilight heard the words as well, and looked at Sunset, confused. Sunset nodded sadly as she listened. She recognized the words as a prayer. She’d read something similar in the book. An army chaplain gave a service to the men before they boarded the landing craft on their way to Operation Dragoon. She leaned over to Twilight and whispered to her.

“He’s praying to his god.”

Twilight nodded somberly. She’d heard him, and with the extra clarification, it was much more saddening to her.

“...Is it a good story?” James spoke softly from the window. They turned to him. He hadn’t looked away from the window. Sunset looked to Twilight, not sure what to say. She swallowed nervously.

“Yes,” Sunset said, “It’s got a lot of great ratings by some notable reviewers.”

“What do you think of it?”

“It’s… um… I like it. I’ve been reading it a lot recently.”

“...do I get to kick some German ass in Berlin?”

He let a small grin spread across his face. Sunset laughed weakly.

“I never got that far.” Sunset shook her head. “I’ve basically read up to Operation Dragoon, in Chapter 11, and you were talking about stuff in the French mountains.”

James nodded tiredly, his already small grin fading somewhat.

“What’d you think about Dragoon?” He asked.

“We actually went over that yesterday in class.”

“Are you kidding me?” James laughed softly. “A story about me is being taught in schools? I’m so sorry for you all.”

“It’s not that bad. I think it’s great.”

James shook his head, smiling. His expression quickly grew uneasy.

“Your theory… how solid is it?” He finally turned to face Twilight.

“Well… I’m fairly certain it’s true,” Twilight said, “I mean, even between this world and Equestria, we have similar instances of things being stories on either side of the portal. In this world, unicorns and pegasi are just stories. Over there, it’s our entire life.”

James nodded, sighing tiredly.

“Well, I can’t say this isn’t going to be hard, but… I guess I can believe that,” James said. “Do you think I’ll ever be able to go home?”

Twilight shook her head.

“I’m not sure. But I promise you, I will do everything I can to make sure you do.”

James nodded again.

“I suppose that’s all I can ask for.”

He looked between Sunset and Twilight.

“Thank you, both of you.”

Sunset stepped forward, pulling him into a hug.

“Anything you need, we’ll be here for you.”

Twilight followed shortly behind. James accepted them, and grinned weakly.

“You two are acting just like my sisters did when I left for the army.”

“I’m sure they’d love to hear that when you get home,” Sunset said reassuringly.

She didn’t see James’s smile fade as he held them.

“I’m sure they would.”