**5 Days Later**

Twilight was laid out on the bed, her bed, and bored out of her mind. After the meeting with Lester earlier in the week, she hadn’t pursued the idea of helping Blake and James with their work since it would mean the possibility of somepony getting hurt during the job. Twilight had pondered the idea of any other ways of helping, but besides learning how to drive properly (she had read about it plenty) there wasn’t much she could do.

With a groan, she slid off the bed, lazily looking around the room for something, anything, else that she hadn’t yet read. All the automotive books, engineering, astronomy, biography, fantasy, and even geology books have been read through already, twice! Without so much as a newspaper to keep her occupied, Twilight reluctantly opened her door to the living room, hearing the TV on as some show about how ‘Moorehead rides again’ was playing. Looking at the couches showed James passed out on his in the corner, a TV remote rising and falling on his chest with his breath.

James had taken the day off after working for a week straight, so Blake was picking up jobs today in order to have enough money to pay for the three of them, of which, Twilight was sure her food costs were the highest, mainly due to the fact that ‘Sprunk’ tasted so good to her. Speaking of which…

Twilight moved over to the kitchen, opening the fridge and ruffling through it, although there wasn’t much to rifle through currently. After Blake and James went grocery shopping the day after her arrival, Twilight had ended up eating most of that supply, leaving her with only some beer, or ‘meat based’ products. While Twilight would normally just give a call to Blake to tell him about it, the issue was he was out of town, up in ‘Blaine County’ and wouldn’t be back until the next day, and unless it was an emergency, or Twilight needed info, Lester wasn’t an option. This situation only left her with two options, starve, or talk to the one po– human that didn’t really like her all that much.

A rumbling stomach told her which choice to pick, even though she really, REALLY, didn’t want to.

Hesitantly approaching the sleeping man, Twilight debated with herself on how to approach such a situation.

Why not just simply ask? ‘Hey James, can you go to the store for me and get some food for me to eat?’ I’m sure that’ll work, it’s not like he hates you, or the fact that you’re just standing here, about to ask him to get you food like he was a servant… Oh Faust, why couldn’t Blake have gotten some food before leaving?

Poking him with a hoof, James simply shifted while letting a snore escape from him as Twilight stood quietly next to him. Reaching out to poke him again, James snorted as he turned his head towards her, an eye flicking open for a fraction of a second before he resumed his sleep.

Twilight gritted her teeth, taking a deep breath before poking James one more time, hard enough that he flinched from the pressure on his rib as he opened his eyes and glared at Twilight, clearly not happy that his sleep was being disturbed by the purple mare.

“I-I know you’d rather not talk to me, b-but, well…”

Twilight looked away from James, avoiding his gaze as she spoke.

“There isn’t any food or drink that I can eat… And I was wondering…”

Twilight shifted nervously on her hooves as she spoke, lowering her head more and more with each passing second.

“If you… If you could get some food for me…”

In a perfect impression of Fluttershy, Twilight finished her request, her eyes screwed shut in fear as she heard James take in a deep breath and sigh.

Nothing happened for nearly a minute afterwards, until eventually the sounds of the TV shut off and the squeaking of the couch’s worn springs could be heard. Cracking open her eyes, James was now sitting up on the couch, a frown matching his mood as he cradled his face. A simple grunt was all he did before standing up and moving over to the door, looking at Twilight expectantly while she stood still by his couch.

An angry grunt and nod of his head towards the door was enough for Twilight to realize he was telling her to follow him, even though he seemed to loathe the fact he had to do foal sitting duty.

“OH, sorry, sorry…” Twilight quietly mumbled out as she quickly rushed over to the door, following him out and down into the garage that sat empty. A quick sneer from James was all Twilight heard before he moved towards the garage door itself, opening it and walking outside, letting Twilight follow slowly into the mid-afternoon sun.

As they stepped outside into the daylight of Los Santos, Twilight looked around in slight wonder at the sights before her. While the city was normally quiet(ish) at night, it was a different story during the day.

The city itself jutted out into the sky still, its dark building in juxtaposition to the bright and sunny day, with light cloud cover hiding the baby blue sky beyond. Cars passed on the main road to the west, dozens of different cars passing by every second in a rush to get to their destination. One pulled off of the main road and started driving towards them, a black four door car with a driver behind the wheel.

James took a single look at him and ran into the road, causing the man to stop, honking his horn until James pulled out a pistol from his hoodie and aimed it at the driver. Nodding his head to the side, the driver quickly got out of the car and ran away, screaming as he did so, letting James walk up to the car and hop in before looking to Twilight who stood aghast at the fact James had just car-jacked another person!

The honking of the horn was enough to snap Twilight out of her mini-freak out, spotting James glaring at her from the driver seat as he pointed at her before pointing to himself. Twilight tensed up as she quickly trotted over to the car, hopping into the passenger seat as James sped off without a care for any rules or regulations. Safety laws be damned!

SWEET CELESTIA WHAT HAVE I DONE!?

**1 Hour Later**

Twilight sat in the passenger seat of the stolen car, quietly eating her salad and attempting to ignore the fact that James had probably violated almost every motorist law in the state, and probably the country, with his reckless driving. They had plowed through red lights, traffic signs, even a pedestrian more than once! All the while James went about it without a care in the world while Twilight screamed every time they hit something (and someone) during their quick trip to the local Burger Shot.

After getting the food, James had to make a quick getaway due to the fact that the police were out in full force searching for them after violating so many laws (and people), sending them across town in a wild car chase and that added even more destruction! James had ended up jumping onto the highway at some point, then veering off towards a large building under construction alongside it. Behind said building was some kind of dirt racetrack, with a small parking lot in the center of which they now sat parked.

I just wanted a meal…

Eating the last of her salad, Twilight turned to look at James who was quietly sitting in the driver seat still, munching on his own meal, some meat burger that left Twilight with a distaste for the smell.

Twilight knew Blake trusted James, but was that just because Blake trusted everypony? Just going to get a meal was a mess that involved the cops, at least a dozen cars, 10 street lights, four stop signs, and six pon– people who had probably DIED!

Twilight coughed into her hoof while looking away from James to break the ice that had settled between them.

“Thanks for getting me some food…”

A dismissive grunt was her only reply as he balled up the wrapper and tossed it out the window, along with the greasy bag it had come in. Twilight narrowed her eyes at the casual littering as he readjusted his seat and went to start the car, a bored look on his face.

“Before we go back…” James didn’t so much as move, but simply paused as he looked at her out of the corner of his eye, “Just… Why did you threaten that pon– person with a gun? Just to steal their car? A-And then, on the way to the restaurant, you– you– you violated every law in regards to motor vehicles! You even killed those people who were just…! They didn’t even do anything wrong! They were just–”

Twilight was cut off as James growled, a low guttural growl of anger like that from a lion when an upstart challenges its reign. His knuckles turned white from how hard he was grasping the steering wheel while he glared straight ahead at the abandoned stand in front of them. If looks could kill, James would have murdered half the city with the stare he was giving that building. Breathing heavily, it was obvious he was working to keep his anger under control to Twilight, deep, heavy breathes as he closed his eyes and twitched his arms and neck ever so slightly. After a minute of repeating that, James let out one final breath before loosening his grip on the steering wheel and relaxing his shoulders. His anger contained, he turned to Twilight and silently glared at her, all the while Twilight scooted as far from him as she could due to fear.

Satisfied with how Twilight had backed down from her little tirade against him, James looked away from her as he sighed in contempt, pinching the bridge of his nose in silent exasperation. Twilight, shied away from him, knowing that she could potentially make the situation even worse if she spoke, but if she didn’t… When would they be able to talk again? James generally worked jobs most of the week, only taking a day or two off every now and again according to Blake, so it would be some time, but would letting him stew in his anger allow her to, at the very least, avoid a confrontation? Probably not…

I can do this, I’m Princess Celestia’s student, I’m sure I can make one friend? Just have to avoid making him even more angry… How could I do that? Talking to him about what he did just made him mad, so then… Wait… If Blake showed him kindness, and that’s how…

Twilight tentatively reached out a hoof, poking James’ shoulder enough for him to notice, again as he was trying to start the car, causing him to snap his glare at Twilight again who flinched back reflexively before sucking in a breath and start speaking.

“I-I’m sorry, I just… I know you don’t like me, you probably hate me, but you’re Blake’s friend, but when you do things li–”

Twilight was cut off as James clasped his hand around her muzzle, his brows furrowing as a scowl sat on his face. After a few seconds he let her go, still glaring at her.

“Sorry, sorry, I won’t talk about that. I just… You’re Blake’s friend, and he trusts you, and I want to too, but… The… The things you do, like today–” James started reaching towards her muzzle again in anger, “I won’t, I swear, just give me a second please!”

James paused, his hand hovering a few inches away from her mouth, ready to grab her again if need be.

“My friend Applejack always says honesty is the best solution to a problem, usually, so… You scare me… N-Not just because of what you do and how you do it, but because you just… You don’t even seem to care, and I’m scared that the only reason you don’t kill me is just because of Blake…”

James snorted as a sinister grin spread across his face, making Twilight blanch at the potential meaning.

“I… I just want to know, why do you hate me so much? I know I’m making you and Blake run around and get me food and house me, but that doesn’t seem like enough for you to– to– to be so, angry, with me…”

James groaned in anger as he rolled not only his eyes, but his entire head as well, loathing the idea of having to deal with Twilight any longer than he had to.

“I don’t want to start off on the wrong hoof with you, more than we already are, even if we can’t be friends per say, I still want us to be amicable to each other, or, at the very least make it so you aren’t angry with me…”

Twilight steeled her nerves, every part of her pony mind was screaming at the predator that was glaring at her with not hunger in his eyes, but apathy. The fact that he could kill her and not even think twice about it kept Twilight on edge even now.

After a few tense seconds, James lifted up his hand and stuck out a finger before poking Twilight on her chest, not enough that it hurt, but just enough to push her back an inch. Twilight looked at where he had poked her, confusion on her face as she looked back at him.

“Me? Because I’m a pony?”

A dismissive snort was all it took before James pulled out his pistol from his hoodie, aiming at Twilight whose eyes shrunk to pinpricks as she stared down the barrel of the gun.

“S-S-S-So-Sorry, I’ll sto–”

Twilight was cut off as James flipped the gun in his grasp before shoving it into her chest, hard enough that the metal dug into her skin and left an impression on her chest.

“W-WH-WHat?! Why are you giving me your gun? I don’t want one of those near me!”

And that was the moment James grinned, not a sinister grin, nor malevolent, just a grin as one would when they won a game of poker. Letting the gun go to slide down her barrel; he poked Twilights chest again before pointing at the gun and shaking his head, then bringing his hand towards his neck and jutting out his thumb, sliding it along his neck as a sneer flashed across his face.

Twilight looked between him and the gun, confusion on her face as she played catch up. Luckily, Pinkie had insisted they play charades at a slumber party, but all the girls voted to never doing that again since Pinkie always figured it out before anypony had even read their card.

“Me? And the gun? What was that last part? Are you saying that you want to kill me because I don’t want to be near guns?” Twilight looked at James in both worry and confusion, trying to piece together the conversation that she was having to watch.

James pointed to himself before chuckling and shaking his head in denial, but instead gestured to the empty parking lot around them and repeated the motion with his neck.

“Outside the car? Surrounding us? What’s outside of…” then it dawned on Twilight, he wasn’t talking about their surroundings...

“You mean… Everypony else, would kill me?”

Nodding his head, he then pointed to her, then himself, then back to her, the gun, then himself and drew his thumb across his throat.

“So you and me, and I don’t want to be around guns… But then, you die? B-But how does that make sense? But if you die… Why would you die? From someone else, like Merryweather?” Twilight looked quizzically at James.

He nodded his head as he then jabbed his finger into her chest, leaving it there as his nail dug into her fur and skin while he glared at her expectantly.

“Y-You don’t hate me because Blake is letting me stay with you, you hate me because I’m a burden on you and Blake, who’ll end up getting you killed…”

James’ glare softened as he pulled his hand away from her, grabbing his pistol from where it had slid down and came to rest on her legs. Leaning back into his chair, James’ frown didn’t leave his face, but at the very least it wasn–

“I… I know you see me as a burden, b-but I can handle myself!”

And now he was glaring at her again, not entirely filled with hate, but instead looking at her like she had just tried to sell him a pile of turds and call it a miracle. It was a look of someone who knew they were being lied to, and did not want to hear more of it.

“I can use telekinesis now, when they had me underground, it was hard for me to gather enough magical energy to cast the spell due to being exhausted, but as long as they don’t take me by surprise, I’ll be fine, I promise! I won’t get you or Blake killed!”

Twilight smiled nervously, not entirely believing herself at this point, but trying to put on a brave face to James to show she wouldn’t back down in their time of need.

James sighed, before exiting the car and walking behind it while Twilight watched. After he stepped out to the middle of the empty lot he waited for five seconds before grunting angrily and pointing at Twilight. Confused, Twilight hopped out of the car before approaching James with an eyebrow raised.

James pointed to her, and then at a spot on the ground, opposite to him so they’d have 30ft between the two of them in the lot. Hesitantly, Twilight moved to her designated position before turning to look at James who simply stood there holding his gun.

“What are you trying to d–”

Twilight dropped to the ground, her sentence cut short as she screamed in fear from James who had raised his pistol and fired a shot in her direction, the snap of the gunpowder going off was the only warning she had as the high pitched squeal of the bullet breaking the sound barrier passed her nearby. Another shot rang out, another squeal of air splitting even closer this time. Cracking an eye open, she could see James just standing there, aiming the gun lower towards her. A third shot rang out, a flash of fire from the barrel while the bullet came close enough to her head that she could feel the air pressure on the tips of her ears. Moving again, he fired the fourth shot, this one close enough to not only be felt on her fur, but leave a slight ringing noise as it passed her head. Attempting to stand and dash behind the car caused another shot to fly just in front of her, nearly hitting her as the bullet impacted on the concrete to her right, ricocheting off into the distance.

Twilight realized she couldn’t wait to see where the next shots would land, either they’d stay near her, or one might actually hit her! Reaching out with her magic, her horn started to glow as she concentrated on the gun in James’ hand, attempting to dislodge the gun and stop whatever he was doing.

The gun glowed a slight pink field of magic, James looking down in confusion for a split second before Twilight attempted to yank the gun from his hand, causing the gun to jerk upwards as James held firm with his grip. Twilight’s face contorted in concentration, her eyebrows furring as she braced herself to try and get a better hold on the gun.

It shouldn’t be this hard to use telekinesis at this range, it isn’t even an Ursa Minor! Is it because of this world’s magic field being so–

Twilight’s inner dialogue was cut short as James lifted his hand with both of his arms, aiming the gun to the sky and pulling the trigger. Twilight could feel him pull the trigger, she could feel the gun kick back as the bullet was fired from its casing and sped down the length of the barrel. She could feel her magic catch the bullet and stretch without her command, following the bullet as a pink contrail extending out over 20ft into the air before popping like a balloon. Air rushed back into the vacuum created by the magic in the split second it stretched further and longer than it had ever intended to, causing James to stumble back as Twilight let out a shrill scream of pure pain, dropping to the ground in a heap as she clutched her head and horn.

Twilight laid on the ground with her eyes shut, tears streaming down her face as she curled up upon herself reflexively in response to the pain that now plagued her. Twilight knew what magical backlash was, every unicorn would go through one due to a mishap during practice or overuse. But that was just a normal backlash episode, Twilight had felt the power of a Magic Flare, when one's magic goes out of control in an attempt to use it going wrong. Flares themselves were rare, but because they accessed all the magic a unicorn had, along with all the ambient magic to fuel it, the backlash on the pony would be immense, rendering them magic-less for a few days at least, and with a major headache throughout the time afterwards until they recharged their inner reserves.

That was as painful as counting to 100 compared to what she was experiencing now. Her horn felt like it was on fire, the bone itself feeling like it had turn into a hot nail of lead that had been hammered into her forehead, digging straight down to the center of her frontal cortex, and embedding itself in her brain with fiery nails that left her immobile and near mute except for her screams and whimpering.

Twilight lost track of time as she attempted to soothe the hot nail of pain that had become her horn, letting it naturally relieve itself as she laid there, not caring if she looked like a foal who had tripped and hit their horn for the first time, hard. Such a concern was nothing compared to letting nature take its course and slowly cool down her horn.

Eventually, after enough time had passed for the pain to simmer down to just a hot throbbing ache of iron that pulsed with every heartbeat, Twilight could feel a hand petting her, from the back of her head to her back in a soothing manner. Cracking open her eyes revealed it to be James, kneeling down on one knee and looking at her in concern as he continued to pet her, reminding Twilight of how Rarity would pet Opal whenever the cat would allow itself to be petted. It was demeaning in the sense that somepony would normally do that to their pet, but at least he wasn’t looking at her in anger.

At least– Ow. He doesn’t seem t– Ow. To hate me as mu– Ow. Much anymore… Ow…

Twilight closed her eyes and let herself be petted as her horn slowly stopped hurting, focusing instead on the feeling of her breathing and James’ hand until the pain became a dull ache. Opening her eyes again, the mid-afternoon sun had lowered until it was dusk, twilight almost being upon them. Looking back at James, his face had become neutral during the time it took for her horn to become bearable again, looking more bored than anything. Pulling away from the hand and slowly standing up, Twilight turned to him with a depressed look.

“S-Sorry for making you wait and care for me, but I think I know what you were trying to do, or at least see if what I was talking about was true or not. Normally, at that range, I should have been able to grab your gun easily, but I guess magic is that subdued even when actively using it, although the backlash isn’t normally that… severe… Thanks for that, at least I know not to hold a gun like that before it fires.”

Twilight held out a hoof shakily as she looked at James, a small smile creeping on her face even as her horn ached. James gave a slight grin as she ruffled her mane, ignoring her outstretched hoof and stood up himself to stretch his legs and back. Giving a sigh of relief as the cramp in his leg went away, he looked at Twilight before gesturing towards the car.

Twilight nodded her head as she dejectedly lowered her hoof. Twilight started to move towards the passenger door while James moved towards the driver side, until Twilight spoke.

“Umm, could you give me a hoof? I can’t really use my horn right now…”

James simply sighed in annoyance as he looked at her while she gave a sheepish smile.

Author's Note

After a month of no updates, IT’S ALIVE!!!

I want to fully apologize if this chapter isn't that good, I was struggling because I want to flesh out each character and show not just who they are, but their goals, worldview, ethics, etc.

This is my first attempt at that, and I’m probably going to cut back on the action as I can’t really write it well (there was an action scene in this chapter, but I cut it cuz it was very bad, like bad bad)

Also, I have found an artist to draw a cover piece for this as I do plan on putting some more effort into this, so I felt a custom cover was worth it.