A Marine and His Ponies

by USMC517

Rating: teen
Tags: Queen Chrysalis, Adventure, Princess Celestia, Human, Sad, Main 6, Gore, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Rainbow Dash, Other
Length: 83025

A U.S. Marine is somehow sent to Equestria after a special operation involving a high value target goes wrong. He finds himself alone, wondering just how he will get home, if he can get home.

STORY CANCELLED, CHECK USER PAGE
Second note, pay Spartan-117a vist. He's a poser and giant liar
A U.S. Marine is somehow sent to Equestria after a special operation involving a high value target goes wrong. He finds himself alone, wondering just how he will get home, if he can get home. Can he figure out how he got there, and if so, will he like the answer to his question?

Just a little shout out to our men and women in uniform who defend our nation from tyrants, and those who wish to corrupt and interrupt our very way of life, thank you and stay safe. (You too Bronies who are currently serving).

A/N: This isn't some Call of Duty/ video game crap. The places mentioned are real and do have significance, along with some people. Also to note is if you're here to read this because you think it's video game related, I pity you, please leave. Other than that, enjoy.

Published 2013-01-03 05:40:02 UTC
Last updated 2013-08-16 05:34:58 UTC

A Bad Op.

It was mid afternoon and about ninety five degrees in the wonderful part of Afghanistan known as the Helmand Province. There, two special operations forces squads of United States Marines, about six in each squad, were on the move down a street leading to a compound that supposedly housed a man by the name Ayman al-Zawahiri. He took over as Osama bin Laden's second in command after he was shot and killed by Navy SEAL team Six on 1 May, 2011. The leader of the first squad moving down the street was Captain James Crossland, from Marine Special Operations Team 8322 under the command of SOCOM. His team moved fast and swift up to cover and dug themselves in, then gave the other squad the 'all clear' sign to move up and leap frog them to the next cover. The street and the neighboring ones as well, were completely barren of people except for the occasional person who walked by quickly, as they knew what was going to happen. After being in conflict for even god knows how long, one could easily pick up that shit was about to hit the fan. "Ghost Rider, this is Ghost Rider One, how copy?" James said into his radio headset.

"Ghost Rider One, this is Ghost Rider, solid copy, what is your SITREP, over." Replied the operator on the other end.

"Ghost Rider One and Two are within one hundred meters and have encountered no hostile forces yet, over." He replied, wondering to himself why there weren't any people at all on the street. Nothing about the whole operation seemed right to him, the bazaars were all open but no one was out, even before they had arrived in the area.

"Roger that Ghost Rider One, keep it tight and stay frosty, out," The radio operator told him.

"Ghost Rider Two, this is Ghost Rider One; move up until you are twenty five meters away from the entrance over," James commanded the other unit.

"Roger that, moving to cover and will wait for orders once in position." The second team's leader said back.
They all moved with extreme caution and attention; empty streets are mostly where insurgents are found.

The second team moved in and took positions. James's team moved up to them next, their weapons trained on the windows of the main target and some of the other ones around it. Once the two teams had linked up they made a plan. The first team would breach the inside and flash bang it, while the second took up security positions to ensure no one snuck up on them during the fire fighting. The teams moved into position, two SAW gunners placed at the sides of the streets, cutting off anyone who might come down it while the others stacked up with them or near them. With security in place James's team moved in and stacked up to flood the compound and take the terrorist captive. James stood ready with the grenade in hand, his team mate moving up to kick the door in. "Go!" James told him. CRASH...BOOM. The team of Marines moved in, laser sights on and rounds in the chamber. Some of the al-Qaeda insurgents screamed as they had been blinded. The team moved fast taking down anyone who stood up with a Kalashnikov. "Clear!" James shouted as well as another, signaling he was too. They moved up a flight of stairs checking them with the muzzles of their weapons pointed up. The building was about three stories high, one down, two to go. "How we lookin' outside Ghost Rider Two?" He asked into his radio.

"All clear, just a few of the locals popping their heads out now and then." The second team's leader replied.

"Copy that, out." The team moved again just as quick as before, but this time there were no hostiles to oppose them. "Clear!" He shouted again. They moved up to the next flight of stairs but were interrupted by gun fire outside. "Ghost Rider One! We are taking heavy fire from the right and left flanks...scratch that now at our twelve o'clock! They are getting close and fast guys, move it!" Ghost Rider Two's team had yelled at them through the comms.

"Damn it! Let's move it, double time Marines!" James shouted to his squad. The team formed up and got ready again, they threw another flash bang up the stairs but didn't hear any yelling. They charged up the stairs and through an open doorway. Once again, nothing. "Fuck! We are negative on the package I repeat, we do not have Zawahiri!" James shouted in disbelief into his radio.

"Ghost Rider One are you positive on that!?" Shouted back the radio operator back at base.

"That is affirmative Ghost Rider!"

"Ghost Rider One, pull your men out of their and double time it to rally point Hotel and await for EVAC!" The operator commanded.

"Roger Ghost Rider I read your five by five, teams One and Two are Oscar Mike to rally point Hotel, how copy?" James affirmed as his squad moved to shoot at the now growing threat.

"Solid copy on your last Ghost Rider One, over and out!" The operator exclaimed.

"Ghost Rider Two, get your guys ready to move to rally point Hotel, we will provide covering fire for your egress!" James shouted into his microphone headset.

"Ro-" the signal had cut out before he could finish. James ran to a window and helped set up a machine gun nest with one of the SAWs. The machine-gunner started laying down a base of fire on the enemy that was fast approaching; but just as he started a few moments later he was down with a shot to the throat and was killed instantly. "We are losing men Ghost Rider! I need CAS now!" James yelled to the operator.

"That is a negative Ghost Rider One, there are too many civilians, get out more in the open." He replied.

"Are you kidding me!? We aren't going to last another five minutes without it!" James shouted back in anger as a bullet whizzed past his head.

"You will have to make due Marine!"

"Damn it!" James shouted in frustration, letting loose ten rounds from his M4A1 SOPMOD carbine. They had moved down to the first floor where they had entered, one man carrying the fallen comrade on his back while James took his ruck sack.

"Ghost Rider Two we have to move out the back now!" He yelled at the other team from the door way; when he looked over to his left he could see that three more of his men had fallen, leaving just two. Those two were running back as fast as they were able to while taking shots from the rear, and their fellow Marines shooting back at the enemy from their front. However one had been taken down by a shot from some where unseen, as all the enemies were hunkered down in cover.

"Sniper!" James yelled as his team got down behind other cover, then shooting the last round in his magazine. He did a quick change and sent the bolt flying home. The last man from Ghost Rider Two had joined them and became a part of Ghost Rider one.

"Ghost Rider! All of Ghost Rider Two is down!" We need CAS NOW!" He screamed into his radio.

"That is still a negative! We have no idea how many civilians are down there." Replied the radio man, shutting down any hope of being saved.

"Guys we are getting the short end of the stick here, we need to get out of this area and to the rally poi-" BOOM...BOOM...BOOM BOOM He was cut off as mortars and Rocket Propelled Grenades had started coming down on the building. Then one made a lucky shot right through a window and exploded in the back, killing three more and sending one flying. His screams of pain had almost drowned out the noise of automatic fire. The team's corpsman had crawled over to him to stop the bleeding, but was cut down by the unseen sniper as well as the wounded one, ending his painful suffering. The only two who were left were the Marine from Ghost Rider Two and James Crossland. The enemy knew this and started moving at them fast, but not before the two Marines shot down several of them. The sniper shot the other man in the arm producing a gut wrenching scream from him, but was finished off as the insurgents moved through an open window not being covered. James shot them down, and realized he was the last one of the whole platoon alive.

"Ghost Rider, this is Captain James Crossland, both fire teams are down, will need body bags, over and out." James said into his radio before switching it off. He stood up and fired hard as he moved out through the door just evading enemy fire. He made it to cover and kept firing. Boom Boom BOOM. Were the last things that he had heard before being killed by enemy mortars.

The funeral at Arlington had been beautiful, aside from the sadness that loomed over the somber crowd. The tombstone of the Captain had read

Here lies a dedicated Marine, May God be with you.

Author's Note

I'm back, bitches!!! >:D

Who? What? Where?

James Crossland awoke with a sudden, violent jerk upwards. He gasped for breath as the moments of what had just happened played into his mind. He laid on his back for a while until he sat up half way and looked around. "What!? Where am I?" he shouted to himself panicked. He shot up onto his feet and took in his surroundings more. He was no longer in the sandy terrain of Afghanistan, but was surrounded by tall trees on all sides. Struck with fear, he reached for his rifle but didn't find it and began to panic. He frantically looked all around himself but still did not prevail in his efforts. He looked down at himself; he still had all of his combat gear and ammunition, but no rifle which made him worry a great deal. He did however have his side arm which was a .45 Colt Marine Corps model 1911. He quickly pulled it out and racked a round into the chamber. He looked around for a few more minutes trying to figure out what to do as he had no idea where he was.

He pulled out a compass from his ruck sack to try and get some sort of a bearing to which way he was facing. He found the direction north and started heading that way to try and find some sort of establishment. He walked for about half an hour; staying on the highest alert level, checking out every sound.

Taking a small rest he sat on a fallen down tree, and looked once more at his compass. He looked around for a few more minutes wondering how he had gotten there, in a forest, with no people or buildings around. "Wait a minute, my radio!" He shouted to himself hoping that the operator was still on the line.

"Ghost Rider, this is Ghost Rider One! Do you copy!?" James quietly yelled into his headset.

Silence

"Ghost Rider, this is Captain James Crossland, do you copy!?"

Silence

"Damn it Ghost Rider! Do you read me at all!?" He shouted to no one through his radio. He left it on for another minute or two before shutting it off giving up hope of reaching his base.

"Well James, looks like we have to make it on our own; but that's okay, we've been through worse, right? Right," he said to himself accepting that he was the only person around. CRACK He shot up and spun around with his pistol raised at half ready. He looked into the forest and examined everything, but came up with nothing that pointed to what made the noise.

Just a second after he deemed the area to be clear for the moment, the bushes started to rustle. What came out of the bushes he was not prepared for. At first it looked like a chicken, but when it stepped out of the bush completely, he saw it was not so.

"GAH! What are you!?" James yelled at the beast knowing full well it wouldn't respond. The creature just stared at him with angry, blood red eyes. James then started feeling his right leg become heavy and immobile. When he looked down he couldn't see anything because his uniform was in the way; but when he pulled up his pant leg, he went into shock as it turned from his normal tan skin color to a concrete grey. He looked back up at the beast, his eyes wide with terror. The creature was going to turn him into stone like the Greek goddess Medusa! Not knowing what to do, he did the only thing he knew he could... pull the trigger. He took aim. Bang The creature was blown back a few feet due to the immense power of the weapon.

"What the hell is going on!?" He shouted to no one trying to get an answer. Still there was no response from anyone. His leg did not return to normal after killing the animal... whatever it was, and had to hobble along as best he could. He moved along in the northern direction his compass pointed him in. He approached a clearing and sat down at the edge of it. Slinging off his ruck sack, James pulled out a pair of binoculars and drank some of his water that he had been lucky enough to end up with. Looking through the binoculars he found another clearing about one hundred and fifty yards away. This was different though, he could see smoke coming from somewhere out in the open. He put his pack back on and moved forward quietly so he had the jump on anyone who might show up.

After moving through the first clearing he slung his pack off once more and went into a prone position and looked out through some bushes with his binoculars. Even though he had camouflage, the type he had did not make him blend in well with the environment so he had to stay very concealed. What he saw next he could not even begin to fathom as what looked like a sky blue horse with a bright, vibrant mane holding the colors of the rainbow, come flying by at fast speed. He stared at it with his mouth and eyes wide open and his hair standing up, as he tried to piece together what he was seeing. The only thing that left his mouth was, "what... the... hell?"

~~-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------~~

Rainbow Dash was flying fast over Ponyville as she tried out a new trick she called the "Show Stopper de Rainbow". It consisted of three things: the super strut; creating a tornado of clouds high in the air, and through the center of the twister she would dive from high above and do a sonic rainboom as she hit the very center of it; sending the clouds and the visible light spectrum flying out in all directions. This was sure to get the attention of the Wonderbolts, and they would sign her on to the team in ten seconds flat, she thought to herself. However she made the tornado too big and got thrown out of it, but being in the air it did no damage and soon spun its self out. Rainbow Dash was still spinning though, and she crashed into the ground. When she got up she shook her head quickly then brushed herself off.

"Wow, didn't think that would happen." She said to herself as she took to the air again,flying off before any pony could see her failed stunt. She did not have to worry about any pony seeing her, but some one did.
~~-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------~~

James kept staring at the creature in front of him, absolutely baffled that this thing whatever it was had just spoken plain and clear English that he could understand. He didn't move for a long time as he tried to think through logically what had happened just a few hours earlier. He was on a mission to kill a high ranking al-Qaeda official, his team had been overrun by enemy forces and were all killed; the last thing he remembered of Afghanistan was explosions and then nothing. After that he had woken up in a forest with no contact to his commander or team and a Medusa chicken had tried to kill him, and now a bright blue horse with wings had just flew by him; and on top of all of that, it had spoken in clear English! James got back on his radio to see if he could just maybe get in contact with his commander.

"Ghost Rider, this is Captain James Crossland, I have eyes on what appears to be a village or town in some wooded area. Sir, I don't even think I'm in Afghanistan anymore, scratch that I don't even think I am on... earth anymore, how copy my last?" James said into his microphone, hoping that anyone would answer. Once again though, he got nothing more than silence. A sudden wash of loneliness and despair poured over him and did not leave for several minutes.

"Well I guess that confirms it then; I'm not even on my planet," He said staring blankly where the blue creature had just been. He soon gathered himself and prepared himself to fight anything he may encounter. He turned back and looked through his binoculars to where the town was at. Most of the houses were painted pink or a creamy white color. There was one house that stood in the middle of town that looked like a tree and had a picture of a book on a sign hanging from it. There was one more house that was a tree and sat just a hundred or so yards away. He put away his binoculars and formulated a plan. He decided to go to the house that was close by and try to interrogate the occupants for any useful information.

He slung his pack onto his shoulders took a step down the small hill he was on, stumbling for a foot hold most of the way down due to his immobile leg. When he reached the bottom of the hill he moved as fast and silently as he could to the back of the tree house. He looked around and saw what looked like chicken coups. "Oh sweet, it looks like they keep those chicken things as pets." He thought to himself. He looked in through the back window and found another horse inside that looked very much like the one he had just seen, except it was a butter yellow with a long, pink mane. He quietly went through the back door and crept up on the unsuspecting creature.
~~-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------~~

Fluttershy was tending to her pet rabbit named Angel; he was being stubborn as he usually was and gave her the hardest of times trying to feed him. He was picky about every little thing, but she was not irritated by it, it just wasn't in her nature. She was trying to make him his special salad that he wanted, and would only eat. She could slightly hear her back door opening and thought it was one of her little critter friends just coming in for lunch.

~~-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------~~

James was just a few feet away from the horse-looking animal that he could have just tapped it on the back. He ever so quietly snuck up and put his hand over its muzzle. The animal let out a quiet scream and began to kick as he put his weapon up to its head.

"I want you to listen very closely to me who- whatever you are. I know you can understand me because I could hear the blue one speak my language. Nod your head if you understand," He said quietly to it.

It nodded.

"I'm going to take my hand off of your mouth after I ask you a few questions, understand?"

Another nod was felt.

"I am a Marine from the United States of America, I do not wish to harm you, but if you make any sound I will." A small peep was heard. "Where am I; what are you; how did I get here?" He asked the trembling animal, as he he let go the creature dropped down immediately, and put its face into its legs trembling violently. He looked down at it with his weapon raised.

"What is your name?" James asked irritated that he was not getting a response.

"F-Fluttershy." She said being just barely audible.

"Okay Flutter-shy? Where am I?" He asked quietly hoping it would make her put her head up. She only whimpered.

"If I put away my weapon will you answer me?" James asked very hesitantly.

"O-okay." She said just as quiet as before.

Shh-ckck

"There, it's away," He said calmly hoping that she wouldn't scream out. She lifted her head and spoke. When she looked up she did not known what would be standing in front of her, she had though it was just some pony from some weird place judging by the fact that he said the United States of America, or one just high on hay seed and was going to try and rob her. When she saw this she put her head right back where it had just been.

"Damn it... please, I won't hurt you. Can you just tell me where I am?" He pleaded with her. This time she looked up and muttered...

"P-Ponyville."

"What country are we in Fluttershy?" He asked hoping the she might just say the U.S.

"Equestria," She answered.

"What did you just say?" He asked in absolute confusion.

"Equestria," She said even quieter, but still audible. James hadn't asked another question and just ran out the way he had come in. Once outside he dropped to his knees and tried to collect himself. A single tear had escaped his eye. His team was gone, he was in a different world and he had no way of knowing how he got there or if he could get back home. He heard the door open he had just come through and snapped up quickly, drawing his pistol again and aiming at the creature called 'Fluttershy'.

"Stay back!" He yelled at her. She stopped and hovered with her wings for a second and then touched down. Slowly she stepped back inside not wanting to get hurt, and out of absolute fear. James stood looking at the door for a minute longer while Fluttershy stared at him through a window in the upstairs part of her house. After a few more minutes of staring in disbelief, confusion and terror he turned away and ran as fast as he could with his bum leg back toward the forest where he had just come from.

Sitting on a log just a few yards away from the edge of the forest he slumped his head down into his arms, his pistol still clenched in his hand. He sobbed for a few minutes still trying to figure out what to do, where to go, how to get home. After thinking for a while he decided to sink back deeper into the forest, knowing full well he could survive there. He got out his compass again and got a general direction of where to go, this time south west. He decided going back about a mile or so into the dense woods would be perfect, far enough for no body to find him and just close enough for him to get to civilization in the very slim case he might need to.
~~-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------~~

"Twilight! Twilight!" Fluttershy shouted in a quiet voice as she practically knocked down the door to Twilight Sparkle's house. Spike had been stacking books and trying to organize the place after another one of Twilight's up-all-night reading habits.

"What is it Fluttershy?" Twilight asked with little concern in her tone of voice.

"Darn it Fluttershy now I have to reorganize all of this again!" Spike complained as books lay strewn about and papers floated around him.

"Oh, sorry I'll just go, I d-din't mean to bother you." She said back slightly cowering.

"Well you're already here Fluttershy, so you might as well tell me what is so important!" Twilight exclaimed knowing that any pony such as Fluttershy wouldn't even knock on a door without a good reason let alone break the door down.

"There was some pony, er some thing that was just at my house. It came in through the back door and put something hard up against my head, oh Twilight I was so scared." Fluttershy said quivering in fear from remembering it.

"Did it say anything to you?"

"Yes it did, it told me that if I made any noise it would hurt me." She answered, Twilight's face had gone from intrigued to scared in less than a second.

"We need to send a letter to the Princess right away! Spike take a letter, this is important!" She barked at spike.

"No!" Fluttershy shouted in refusal.

"Why not, somepony said they would kill you, we can't just let a murderer run around in Ponyville!" She shouted in protest.

"No Twilight, let me tell you what else it said. It asked me where it was, and I told it Ponyville; then it asked what country it was in and I said Equestria. After that it just ran out of my house but stopped at my chicken coups." She continued the story.

"It asked where it was at, everypony knows that this is Equestria so clearly it's not from here," Twilight deduced.

"It told me where it was from too,".

"Where?" Twilight demanded.

"It said it was a Marine from the United States of America," She answered.

"A what from where?" Twilight asked confused.

"I don't know, but I can say that one thing is for sure, it doesn't know where it's at, or how it got here. It looked so scared and just ran away into the Everfree forest!"

"Well if you don't want to tell the Princess then what do you think we should do?" She asked somewhat annoyed that they wouldn't inform any authorities about the subject.

"I think that we should try and help it, I could see just by look in its eye it was absolutely terrified. I mean just think, wouldn't you be if you were out of place in a different world?" Fluttershy said back feeling empathy for the creature that had just threatened to end her life.

"Okay, but we should at least tell the girls about this," Twilight said hoping at least she would agree to that.

"No Twilight we can't, an unstable creature such as that might do something drastic to save itself if it were surrounded by two of us that it didn't even know existed until just a bit ago, let alone six of us!" Fluttershy said shooting down her idea.

"Fluttershy this is very dangerous, we need to tell somepony!" Twilight argued.

"Twilight we can't tell anypony at all; the reason why I came here was because I thought you would understand this whole thing the most,".

"UGHH! Fine Fluttershy, but can we at least go in the morning, then we can have a little more time to prepare for this, I would like to do a report on what we find and send it to Celestia." Twilight said hoping that Fluttershy would this.

"Okay, but please don't send it; we can't let anypony know about it!".

"Fine,".
~~-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------~~

It was getting dark, almost pitch black in the Everfree forest as James set up a small camp. He made a small fire and roasted a few critters he had hunted over it. It provided warmth, along with the dense forest was surprisingly warm at night. He sat with his back turned to the fire so he could see if anything tried to sneak up on him. He had taken off all of his bulky equipment and left himself in his fatigues, but not without his weapon. He had set up a bed between four trees about six feet off the ground so no creatures could get at him easily. After eating and cleaning up he crawled into his makeshift bed and stared up at the barely visible sky for an hour or so. He looked down at his watch and it read 21:00 hours; he made sure a round was loaded in case something tried to get him. After stowing it with the safety on, he drifted off to sleep, but his dreams were unpleasant to say the least. He was plagued with images of the past day playing over and over in his mind, not knowing when it would end. When the dreams did, it was morning, but it was not a natural waking up moment, rather some rustling and quiet voices were heard a few yards away that snapped him out of it.

First Time For Everything.

Twilight Sparkle the Unicorn and Fluttershy the Pegasus walked through the dense foliage of the Everfree forest, searching for an unknown creature called James Crossland. They had walked for what seemed like hours from stopping and listening to every sound that was made, in hopes of finding the mysterious being. As they walked deeper into the forest it grew denser and denser. The two walked close to each other for comfort.

They approached a small clearing and walked into the middle of it. After taking a small rest they continued on forward, but after just a few more minutes of walking they spotted what looked like a camp site. They approached it with caution. Snap Fluttershy dropped onto her stomach and started shaking from fright. "Relax Fluttershy, it's just me," Twilight tried to comfort her.

"Sorry, Twilight," she said a little embarrassed. The two walked a little closer trying to get a better look, then they spotted something big move quickly behind the trees.

~~--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------~~

James shot up out of his bed fast and turned in the direction of where he heard the sound come from. He grabbed his pistol and quietly racked the slide back, then slithered out of his "bed", watching for any movement. Then he spotted them, another horse-looking thing that was purple and had a horn coming out of its head. "Okay I know that's a unicorn; so this place has some really weird shit going on! First they talk and fly, and now... this," He thought to himself, keeping a very close eye on the purple unicorn. He then spotted its companion; the yellow one from the day before. He moved for a better view of the two but was seen by them in the process. He darted back to cover hoping that they hadn't seen him, but was proven wrong when he heard them come closer in his direction.

"I saw it over there!" He heard the purple one say.

"Be careful Twilight!" warned the yellow one. Knowing that he was compromised he rolled out to the side and aimed his weapon up at the two of them.

"AHHH!" Twilight shouted when she saw James roll in front of her.

"Don't move, drop the bags, and back away!" He shouted at Twilight.

"Okay, please don't hurt us!" She cried as she did what he said.

"You, yellow, get over here now and put your hands where I can see them!" He shouted to Fluttershy who was now cowering in a bush. She got up and moved over to where Twilight was sitting at. He approached the odd looking packs with caution, making sure not to set off any I.E.D.s that could be in them. When he opened the flaps all he found was paper, and ink jar, and feather.

Confused, he shouted, "what is this and what do you two want from me!?". They didn't answer out of fear they may be hurt.

"How did I get here!?". Still no answer.

"Where are my Marines!?" He yelled hoping they might just be there too.

"Answer me, damn it!" He shouted out of rage.

"Can you put that away, please?" Twilight asked trembling with fear.

"Not until you answer my questions!".

"We wanted to find you to make sure that you were safe," Fluttershy squeaked.

"Well I'm fine thank you," He said sarcastically, "now how did I get here!?"

Twilight answered the next question "We don't know...even I don't know, and I have the power to teleport!"

"What? Don't bullshit me, how did I get here!?" he yelled again, shocked that she had even suggested such a silly thing, not knowing her true capabilities.

"Yes, I can teleport; as well as lift objects, and well... a lot of other things," She said, slightly showing off.

"Don't play fucking games with me!" James exclaimed in defiance. She stood, and with a bright purple flash she teleported behind James. He slowly turned as he heard her paw at the ground. A shiver went up his spine, his mouth dropped wide open, and his eyes grew to the size of dinner plates. He looked back to where she had just been sitting next to the yellow one, then looked at her again.

"I- I don't believe it," He continued, still in disbelief.

"I told you," Twilight snapped him out of his trance. She knew that he had no idea of the way her world worked.

He looked for a place to sit down not knowing what to do, and stared at the ground trying to figure out what to do.

"How did you do that?" He asked still awestruck.

"There's no scientific term for it, it's just... magic,".

"I don't understand, magic is just smoke and mirrors,".

"Maybe where you're from, but here, magic is just the way we live our lives. Well some of us anyway," she said looking at Fluttershy who was still shaking with head in her hooves.

"If you can teleport, then what else can you do?" He asked as he gripped his weapon a little tighter. Twilight didn't notice it and moved a little closer, thinking she was making progress in getting him to open up. When she got one leg closer, James reacted, "get the fuck back! Do not come any closer!" He hissed.

"It's okay, we understand that you are scared and you have every right to be." Twilight said trying to calm him down.

"No, it is not! Do not approach me again! I am a very lethal machine, I am scared, I am not at home, I am not on Earth, I am not in Afghanistan, I am the ONLY goddamn human being on this planet as far as I know, and I will keep it that way until I can't possibly anymore! Do you understand!?" He exclaimed, keeping his weapon trained on both Twilight and Fluttershy.

She quickly stepped several paces back to give him plenty of space, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean that. Please, we are not here to hurt you, we just want to get a better understanding of what and who you are," she said, trying to comfort him again. All the while, Fluttershy kept backing up into the brush to further hide herself.

"Understood, but don't come any closer, you're fine right there. I will not put my weapon down though, as far as I know you're still a possible threat," He warned.

"Alright, fair enough. Is it okay if I ask your name?" She said, trying to get him to do something other than threaten her.

"You first,".

"My name is Twilight Sparkle, and I believe you and Fluttershy have already met,". Fluttershy let out another barely audible peep.

"I'm James Crossland, Captain of United States Marine Special Operations Team 8325,".

"Well James Crossland, it's an interesting chance to get to meet you. You're the first and only one of your kind to end up here as far as I know,".

"Alright, now that we've been properly acquainted, now what?"

"Well, my main purpose was to find you and study you since Fluttershy told me about this new sentient creature that came into her house," She said plainly.

"I guess I'm okay with that, but no funny business. Just because we know each other's names doesn't mean we're gonna swap spit in the shower,".

Twilight was unsure how to handle his response, so she gave a head bow, let it be, got out her quill and paper from her saddle bags, and got on with her questions. "So... what are you exactly, James?" Twilight said hoping to get information from him for her report that she had promised not to send Celestia.

"Well...," He started, caught off guard by a such a question, "I'm a human from the planet called Earth, water is the primary thing that keeps myself and other humans alive."

"Very interesting...," She said writing with her quill using her magic, "Continue please,".

"Well... I'm not sure what else to say, I don't usually bullshit with people I don't know or just met,".

"What you like to do, what other humans are like; just tell me about a day in the life of yourself," Twilight told him. As he told her about a day in his boots, she began to question herself about asking him about his world. After he had told her about a small firefight he had with some Taliban fighters she told him to stop.

"What's wrong?"

"Y-you... killed somepony?"

"Well yes, Twilight, we didn't initiate the attack, we were helping the people of this village and we were ambushed. We're not gonna' sit there and just get shot to pieces, that's stupid," He said as if it was actually a question. She didn't know how to take it.

"Wow... I-I just can't believe that I'm staring into the face of somepony, er, someone who has ended the life of another," She said in a mono-toned voice.

"Well, that's what happens in combat, simple fact. You either kill or be killed; you at least know what combat is like, right? Or at least what happens?" He said to her.

"Yes, I can say that my friends and myself have engaged in 'combat' with our enemies, but we never killed them!"

"How?"

"In our world where magic is a daily use, we don't need to kill them, we can just put them somewhere that they won't hurt anything,".

"Okay, fair enough. In my world, we don't have any 'magic', so the only thing to stop our enemies is ending them,".

"I think that's enough information for today James," She abruptly ended the conversation. She was not used to talking about death, and never liked it in the first place.

"Wait, what? What's the problem?"

"Listen, I'm sorry to have to cut this short, but we must be getting back soon, it's getting late," She lied, the day was only in the early afternoon. James nodded and she began to head back towards Ponyville.

"Twilight we can't just walk away and leave him here, it's not safe!" Fluttershy said urgently.

"Well what do you suggest we do with him then, because we can't take him to town, nobody even knows about the existence of humans, even I didn't until just a while ago! Think of how everypony else will react to him, plus you even said that I couldn't send my report to the princess; word of him will get out quickly," She shot back in a loud whisper.

"Well he can stay at my house. Nopony really ever comes by my house anyway, and if he needs to hide he can go into the forest and hide there until it's safe to come out,".

"Well that might work, but he would have to do that for the rest of his life,".

"Oh... you're right. I'm sorry Twilight, but we just can't leave him here," Fluttershy still defended.

"Well you're going to have to figure out something, but really he seems like he could live out here and everything would be scared of him," She said growing more irritated.

"You don't want him to because of what he said, don't you, Twilight?" She said knowing exactly why.

"Well yes, he could be dangerous to others; in fact he is dangerous. We can't put everypony's lives in jeopardy because we are afraid he might be harmed out here," She defended herself.

"Well I won't let him stay out here; he will stay at my cottage until we figure out something to do with him," Fluttershy stated, slamming her hoof on the ground.

"Okay, but watch out; somepony might see him and if so, it will all be for nothing," Twilight said back. As the two had been arguing James had slipped away and started grabbing his gear. Just as he was about to sling on his ruck sack he heard a soft voice come from behind him. Knowing full well who it was he turned around and looked at the buttery yellow Pegasus.

"Yes?"

"W-would you like to come with me to my cottage, James?" She asked timidly.

"U-um, sure of you want me to; but I was thinking I would just go set up camp a little further back from here," He told her not trying to be rude and reject her offer, after all, she and her Twilight are the only friends that he had in this world that she had called Equestria.

"Oh no, I couldn't let you do that, it's much too dangerous out here,".

"I think I could handle myself, ma'am,".

"No, I won't allow it,".

"Alright, but I don't want something bad to happen to you because I'm at your house," He tried one last time to change her mind.

"No James, please come with me, you don't know what things are out here," She said as she looked around nervously.

"I don't really have a choice do I?" He asked her knowing what the answer would be anyway.

"No,".

"Alright then, let me make sure I have everything then we can go," He told her, finally giving in. He concluded that he had everything and walked with her over to a waiting and irritated Twilight Sparkle.

"It's about time!" She exclaimed, the tone in her voice making it clear that she wanted to go very badly. The three of them walked in silence for a while. When they reached Fluttershy's cottage James checked his watch, it read 13:00 hours.

"Wow, that took quite a while," He thought to himself as they entered the back of her home. Fluttershy told him to put his things upstairs in the guest bedroom. He did as he was told and set up his room; really he just took off his pack and set it down on the bed and looked out the window, trying to formulate several plans of escape in case he had to bail out quickly. After he made his plans, he returned to the main floor. Twilight had left them. It was awkward at first because neither of them really knew what to say, but after a while though, they lightened up and started to converse. They talked about each other's species, what Equestria was like, the other types of ponies there were, which were only two, not counting the alicorns like the princesses. She didn't tell him about the Elements of Harmony though, afraid that he could in the slightest chance that may want to do harm to her and everypony else. When they ran out of things to talk about, James looked at his watch it read 20:00 hours.

"Well, today was rather eventful," James said to her, "It kind of reminds me of my first day of basic training, not as physically exhausting, but very eventful,".

"Yes it was, James," She agreed.

"Thank you very much for letting me stay here as well,".

"It is more than my pleasure,".

"One more thing... sorry about breaking in and putting my gun up to your head, I really do feel awful about it now that I've gotten to actually know you and what this world is like,". .

"James it's alright; I can understand," She told him finally putting the matter to rest.

"Thank you Fluttershy... thank you for everything," He said one last time. The two decided it was time to go to bed, and with that, Fluttershy turned off the lights and went to bed. James however stayed up for quite some time afterward, still trying to think as to how he got there. After finding out about how the pony world worked, he thought that somebody with a high power of 'magic' might be able to pull off such a thing. Fluttershy had assured him that not even that Celestia had the ability to do that though, especially if she had not known about the human race. He concluded finally that he didn't know and probably never would, and just let it be. He drifted off to sleep and dreamed of his family, how they were doing, what they were doing. He dreamed of his team again as well, this time wasn't as bad as the previous night, but it was still rough. Morning came and it started off rather similar to the previous one, there was a loud banging at the door.

"Fluttersh- oww... can you open up please, I need your help... I messed up on a new trick and hurt myself!" An unknown pony shouted to Fluttershy.

Author's Note

In case none of you guys are not getting the time thing, in relevance just take whatever the time is in 24 hours like 1300 hours, just chop the zeros off and subtract 12 from it, so like this: 1300-1200=100, chop the zeros and you get one so it would be one o' clock.

Hide and Seek.

The morning air was cool and comfortable, in fact just all around perfect; the sun had shown bright but not too bright, no breeze, just the best possible weather it could be. Rainbow Dash was out enjoying it, which wasn't normal because she was never up in the morning. Today though, she just felt like getting out and doing something. She noted that it was strange, but didn't care because the morning was so perfect this day. She jumped out of the tree was sleeping, no surprise as it was one of Applejack's, but she didn't mind Rainbow sleeping in them all that much. After touching down on the ground she stretched a little, a few joints popped and she declared she was ready. She took flight with a thunderous beat of her wings and was off. She did a few barrel rolls at first then moved onto some other tricks that were a little bit harder. After about fifteen minutes of just messing around, she decided to get serious and try her new trick that she had thought of again, the "Show Stopper de Rainbow". She liked the name she had given it, thinking that it was cute and clever.

She moved to a more open area where she could perform the first part of her trick, her "Super Strut". Landing and looking around she noted that it was a perfect spot, on a perfect day, for a perfect trick for everypony to watch her awesomeness. Taking a small running start she lifted off the ground and went up for a couple of back flips to gain more speed, she reached her needed velocity and descended like a missile, then pulled up just before she hit the ground and strutted her stuff. She flared her wings and pulled up off the ground and went up for the second part of it, spinning the clouds into a tornado. "Not too big this time," she told herself. She looked around for the nearest clouds and started to spin them together. Once she thought they were perfect she let it spin by its self then went up to an amazing height to complete it with her signature and one in a million trick, the sonic rainboom.

She went up to about five thousand feet above the cloud tornado, the houses below looked minuscule; then looked at her spinning target and where she had to be for the whole thing to work out just right. Deciding where to go she took a deep breath and jumped off the high flying cloud, tucking her appendages in to be the most aerodynamic as she could. She dropped the first three thousand feet a little slower than she had wanted to, but quickly made up for it and the sonic cone had started to form around her. She dropped another one thousand feet, the cone became sharper and thicker. "Almost there!" she thought as she moved at break neck speeds downwards. She dropped another thousand and just a second later she was only a few hundred feet above the target. The cone was thick and pointed like the tip of a spear and was visible even if one was on the ground. She entered the cloud funnel and hit the speed of sound right where she wanted to. BOOM. The sound was tremendous and the sight was absolutely spectacular, the white clouds had exploded outward and spun, looking almost like the clouds of a hurricane; and behind it shot out the bright vibrant colors of the visible light spectrum. Her trick had gone even better than she had hoped it would and she smiled a wide toothy grin; but she didn't have enough time to bask in her glorious stunt as the ground was approaching quickly... too quickly. Crash... Snap... Crack...Thud.
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BOOM "What the hell was that!? That sounded like an F-18!" James shouted as he heard the report of Rainbow Dash's sonic rainboom. He jumped up fast out of bed practically throwing the covers against the wall adjacent to him. He ran to the window and looked out in the direction of where the sound had come from and just happened to catch a glimpse of what looked like a rainbow rushing out in all directions. He then heard footsteps, or hoofsteps rather, coming up the stairs.

"J-James, was that you?" Fluttershy asked timidly, but quickly turned away blushing. "Oh- oh my, I'm sorry I didn't mean to intrude, I- I thought that you were dressed," she continued growing more red in her face. James looked at her with a confused look wondering what she was talking about. Then he felt a breeze come across his bare chest from the open window.

"Wha- oh, I...um...," he tried to speak but was also taken over by embarrassment. He quickly dived back onto his bed and wrapped himself up with a blanket, but Fluttershy had already scurried downstairs.

"I suppose that's not the worst way I've had a day start off," he said aloud to himself, reminiscing about his days when he first got to basic. He put on his camouflage quickly and headed downstairs and ran out the back door, not forgetting about the reason why he was out of his bed in his underwear in the first place. He ran to the chicken coops because they provided a good view of the sky, and started scanning frantically to find the fighter craft he thought he heard. To no surprise though he didn't find the fast flying craft, which made his heart sink a little lower from realizing that he was still the only human in the land of 'Equestria'.

"There is nothing fast enough to make a sonic boom other than a plane, one with a jet for that matter," he said to himself, still trying to figure out what could have possibly made the unmistakable noise.

"James, what are you doing out here? Somepony might see you!" Fluttershy shouted quietly through the open back door.

"That loud noise, that sounded like an F-18 fighter jet from earth, er my earth. There is no way that anything could have have gone faster than the speed of sound, and that was unmistakably, without a doubt, what we just heard," he explained to her still looking around for the multimillion dollar piece of military might.

"It was probably just Rainbow Dash doing a sonic rainboom," she assured him, almost making it seem like nothing unusual.

"Rainbow Dash? Is that the one you were telling me about who is a really good athlete?" he asked.

"Yes that's her,".

"Wait a minute, I think I may have seen her before," he said back trying to put together a picture of this so called 'Rainbow Dash'.

"Really? How? Where?" Fluttershy asked intrigued.

"In the forest before I came and... invited myself in," he said to her, still feeling bad for the unexpected visit he had first paid to the yellow pegasus.

"Did she see you?"

"Well I'm trying to think here; does she have a blue coat and her hair looks literally like a rainbow?"

"Yes that's her,".

"Okay, well she didn't see me, but I saw her and she was muttering something about how... whatever it was she was doing, not working out for her,".

"Well whatever it was she didn't see you, she might not have taken the whole thing like Twilight and I did," she said with a sigh of relief. "It might be a good idea to come back inside though, before somepony sees you,".

"Good idea," he agreed. The two went back inside and talked for a few minutes, but were soon interrupted.
~~--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------~~

Rainbow Dash had gone too fast and didn't have enough time to pull up and stop, she hit the trees of the Everfree forest and crashed hard into the ground. After being unconscious for for about five minutes she awoke with a pounding headache and a sharp pain in her side. "Owwwww," she whined. She got up to observe the damage done to her. Nothing seemed to be out of place, but she was still hurting badly on her side. She looked down the length of her back and side but nothing seemed to be wrong there either.

"Ah! Celestia why does this hurt!?" she shouted out. She tried to flare her wing out to inspect it closer but felt pain shoot up her back side and she shouted out again.

"AHH! Well at least I don't think it's broken, maybe just a bad sprain or I pulled something," she reassured herself in an attempt to calm down; after all if she hurt her wing too badly and couldn't join the Wonderbolts, she couldn't even imagine what she would do.

"Wait... that looks like Fluttershy's cottage over there!" she exclaimed to herself, focusing her vision on the not too distant tree looking house. She confirmed that it was her friend's house and started to head that way. A few minutes later she arrived at the front door, James and Fluttershy were still talking. Rainbow Dash could hear the two inside and wondered who this pony could be, his voice didn't sound familiar.

"Does she have a special somepony that she hasn't told us about yet?" she wondered as she knocked on the front door.
~~--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------~~

Knock knock knock Fluttershy and James both stopped and shot a glance at the door then turned back to each other, both knowing what had to be done.

"You stall whoever it is and I'll slip out the back door, Fluttershy," James told her, she shook her head quickly and waited for him to go up the stairs, by the time she got to the door and looked back to the stairs, James was already in his room throwing everything in his ruck sack.

"Wow, he's as fast as Rainbow Dash, maybe even faster," she thought as she opened the door. There before her stood the very pony she was just talking about.

"Hey, Shy," Rainbow said with a forced grin on her face as she tried to work through pain in her side.

"Rainbow Dash! Is everything okay? You look like you just rolled around in the forest for an hour," Fluttershy exclaimed as she looked the cyan pegasus over, taking note of the small amounts of foliage stuck in her mane and body.

"Yeah I'm fine... just got a little carried away with a new trick. Can I come in for a second?" she asked still wincing from the pain. James could hear them talking downstairs, he listened closer and could tell that this new voice sounded somewhat familiar. He finished packing his gear quietly, then threw his armor on loosely, and over that, his pack. He went to the top of the stairs and listened a bit longer.

"Rainbow are you sure you're okay, I mean you look horrible and you seem to be in pain," she asked Rainbow with a very concerned look.

"Well... actually... no, I hurt myself pretty bad after doing a sonic rainboom and crashed into the Everfree forest," she confessed to Fluttershy.

"Oh so that was you that we heard," Fluttershy said not realizing until a few seconds later that she had just practically told her blue friend about the new 'visitor'.

"Who do you mean we, Shy?" Rainbow asked with a raised brow. James was listening very closely and felt his stomach drop the second she asked.

"Shit," he thought as he moved silently to the window he was standing at not too long before in his boxer briefs. He unlatched the window lock and slipped off his ruck sack, but didn't jump.

"O- oh um, A- Angel and I. W- we could hear it and it gave both of us quite a startle," she forced out a lie.

"Uh huh, you and Angel," she threw back at Fluttershy, seeing right through her lie.

So what's hurting on you Rainbow Dash?" She asked trying to move the conversation to something else.

"Well, it's not too bad but my head and wing hurt," she said back still skeptical about Fluttershy's story. Fluttershy moved to look at her friends' wing and lifted it up a little bit. Dash let out a small whimper, even though it hurt badly she wouldn't show any sign of weakness, she couldn't, not with the high pride she had.

"Oh my, Rainbow you really should be more careful, anything more like this could really be bad," Fluttershy said concerned, still giving her a good look over. She concluded that Rainbow had pulled a muscle in her wing and that she should stay off of it for a while until it healed.

"What!? A few DAYS!?" she practically shouted.

"Yes, Rainbow; if you don't you might hurt yourself even more, then you really wouldn't be able to fly," she said trying to calm the frustrated pegasus down. James had moved back to the top of the stairs and was listening to what they were saying. He could hear their hoofs clopping around on the floor and hoped that they wouldn't come in his direction.

"Here, Rainbow, lay down on the couch, I have something that will help you," she said, going to her medicine cabinet. Rainbow Dash sat down and waited for for Fluttershy. She was still wondering just who the pony had been that Fluttershy was talking to, she still couldn't place the voice which only irritated her more. She decided to just ask her instead when she came back.

"Here you are!" Fluttershy exclaimed as she trotted back to her friend. She was carrying a pill and ointment of some type. She told Rainbow to take the pill to ease the pain for now and to put the ointment on the opposite side of where her wing hurt at.

"Why on the opposite side?"

"Well I have to use this on my birdies sometimes and I've found that it works better like that,"

"Oh, well I guess whatever makes me get back in the air faster, I'm already starting to feel ground sick!" Rainbow said showing how very badly she wanted, no, needed to fly.

"Hey Shy, can I ask you something?"

"Sure Rainbow, anything you want," Fluttershy happily replied.

"Who's the pony that you were with just a few minutes ago?" Rainbow asked knowing that she had to give her an answer. At this moment both James and Fluttershy had their fear come to life... someone knew. Their expressions went from anything that looked normal to shock and worry in half a second. Rainbow saw this and knew she had Fluttershy right where she wanted her.

"What pony? T- there wasn't anypony here a few minutes ago, l- like I said before it was just Angel and me," Fluttershy lied again shaking a little. James stayed for a second longer to hear what this pony named 'Rainbow Dash' would say. Maybe she would just give up and go home, and he would be able to spare himself from jumping.

"Oh come on Fluttershy! Just before I knocked on your door I could hear you and somepony else talking and we both know Angel can't do that!" She almost shouted. Fluttershy backed down a little and put her head between her forelegs trembling, showing that she was defeated.

"I knew it! So who is he; and also, where did he go?"

"He- he's nopony really, you've never met him before," Fluttershy confessed. James started moving back to the window, ready to go at a moment's notice.

"Well maybe I'd like to meet the stallion who's showing my pegasister a 'good time'," she said with a wink and a nudge, then started moving towards the stairs. James heard the hoof steps coming his way and didn't waste a single second, he jumped out the window. There was only a "thud" as he hit the ground, his noise control being outstanding. However, he left something behind but didn't notice it- his gloves that he always wore during any combat mission were attached to the back of his vest by velcro, and when he jumped they came off and fell on the floor by the window. His shoulder had also caught the window and caused it to come crashing down and make a Bang sound. The two pegasi both looked up in the general direction of it. Rainbow Dash looked back to Fluttershy and raced up the stairs hoping to catch the stallion. When she got up there though, nopony was in the room, and James had already ran into the forest and hunkered down, just like he was taught to do.

"Wait, but I just heard something up here?" Dash said aloud, a look of confusion on her face had formed. She looked under the bed for anypony at all, in the closet, and even in the drawer just in case he might be small enough to fit. She came back empty handed but as she looked around she found something she had never seen before on the floor. Fluttershy had came up the stairs expecting James and Rainbow Dash to be staring at each other. To her surprise though, James was not there, but when she looked at Dash, her expression changed.

"Um... Fluttershy... what are these?" Rainbow pointed at the gloves.

"Oh, those are um... wing covers! Rarity made them with some extra fabric the other day because she said she was bored," Fluttershy lied again. She picked them up and held them over her wings; the gloves only took up about a quarter of the area of them, and clearly didn't look like they belonged there, especially with a few of the fingers removed and looking torn.

"Really, Fluttershy?" She asked with an expression on her face that made it obvious she wasn't buying it.

"Oh ye-" she was cut off.

"Oh come on Fluttershy you're not fooling me at all!" Dash yelled at her, making her shake more and put her head down further than before in her forelegs.

She let out a heavy sigh, "Okay, Dash, you win, but you can't tell anypony. His name is James, James Crossland," she finally confessed, breaking under the stress that was put on her. A second of silence followed as the two stared at each other.

"Bwahahaha!" Laughed Rainbow Dash, "Really!? Hahah- you... you expect me to believe that!?" she continued while laughing hysterically.

"That is his name," Fluttershy told her again.

"Okay, now you're just trying to make me laugh!"

"No Rainbow, that's really his name," Fluttershy defended.

"Really?" She deadpanned.

"Yes," Fluttershy said quietly.

"Well... that's a weird name for a pony," Rainbow said, her laughter fading away quickly.

"Well, how long have you two been together?" she tried to pry more information from the shying away pony.

"She still thinks we're dating! This is good," Fluttershy thought, seeing that the tables had turned. She thought of another lie, she hated having to do it but it was the only way to make her stop asking questions.

"Th- three weeks,".

"Wow! Three weeks and we didn't notice!? You're good, Shy. Where did you meet him at?" she asked, turning the tables yet again. Fluttershy froze.

"Oh no." She thought; "Um... w- we met in the Everfree forest when I was out helping one of my squirrel friends.

"Really? Seems like an odd place to meet somepony,"

"That's what I thought too, but we started talking and then one thing lead to another,"

"Hmm, will we get to meet him sometime?"

"M- maybe,".

"Oh come on! Why can't we meet him!?" Dash asked angrily.

"He's really shy around new ponies," she said playing out the lie even more. Rainbow Dash was getting tired of the games she was playing and just decided to go with it; if she wanted to get a look at this mysterious stallion she would have to do it by herself.

"UGH! Fine!" Rainbow groaned, finally giving up; "You know I think I'm gonna go Fluttershy, thanks for fixing me up," she continued on, heading down the stairs.

"Okay, Rainbow, remember don't fly for a few days and let it heal," she said, hurrying her out of the house. Dash turned around to say something else but was shut up by the door practically slamming in her face.

"Well never mind then," she said to herself still irritated by how Fluttershy was acting. She turned and trotted back to Ponyville to go hang out with Pinkie Pie since she couldn't fly for the next couple of days. James had been watching the whole thing from a short distance away through his binoculars. He could see right through the window and make out the majority of what was happening. He saw them look down then he saw one of his gloves come up in Fluttershy's mouth. His eyes went wide when he saw it and searched the back of his vest trying to find them. He didn't.

"Damn it." He said to himself as he closed his eyes, feeling as though he failed in trying to keep himself hidden. When he saw Rainbow Dash trot off he packed up his ruck sack again and moved quietly back to the cottage.

"Fluttershy? Fluttershy? Where are you?" he whispered into the house.

"I'm upstairs," She reported back just barley audible. He walked up the stairs and found her looking out the window making sure that Dash had for sure left.

"Did you tell her?"

"N- no."

"Oh than-"

"Yes."

"What?" he asked with fear flooding back in.

"Well, I sort of did. I had to tell her that you were a pony and that we were a couple," she told him, making his feeling of fear decrease a little.

"Oh thank God," he said as he hugged her having to get down on one knee. She returned it.

"Hopefully it threw her off enough so she doesn't keep asking about you,".

"We'll see, but don't count on it, the way that you two were going at it, it looked like she really wanted to get a good look at me," he said being suspicious of the Rainbow maned pony.

"We'll need to be extra careful now," she said quietly.

"What if we don't, what if we just tell her and everybody else, er, everypony else. Wouldn't it just be easier?" he asked.

"Yes it would, but how will they take it? I mean, some ponies might not be too receptive of you," she told him.

"Fluttershy, let me tell you something. Back in Afghanistan, some of our missions had been to just get intelligence on the enemy; and what we had to do was go into a village where we believed we could get a good amount of information about enemy positions, key places to strike, their leaders, all of the necessary things to cripple them and make for a swift assault. Almost every time we had no idea how the village elders would react to us, if they would just sell us out to the Taliban or al- Qaeda or accept us and let us do our job; but we still went in and made a good impression of ourselves and tried to be helpful and gain their trust. Really I see no difference here, well except there's no war going on." he told Fluttershy, knowing that she couldn't refuse what he had just said.

"W- well, I guess that does seem similar, and you are still here so I guess they liked you," she said back understanding where he was coming from.

"See, it will be alright. One thing though, I would like to meet this Rainbow Dash character myself, she seems rather interesting," he told her, wanting to get a one on one social event with her.

"I don't think it would be a good idea, she might fly off and tell everypony," she warned.

"That's a risk I'll be willing to take," he said with confidence. He looked at his watch for the first time that day, it read 1135 hours; "Wow, that time went by pretty quick. Fluttershy I'm going to go out for quick little run in the forest, I didn't do much for a daily workout yesterday so I need to today,".

"Okay, just don't let anypony see you," was all she said, no protesting or telling him it was a bad idea.

"Well, alright, I'm taking my pistol with me just in case something jumps me like that chicken thing before. I'm glad Twilight knew how to take care of my leg problem," he said to her, then went upstairs to get ready for it. He left the house and started his watch's timer. It was set for an hour, he hit the start and was off.

Well Howdy Miss Dash.

Three days had passed since the issue with Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. James was still going out and doing his daily PT. This morning he planned for a three mile run and then would loop back around to the campsite he had made before he met Twilight, and do pull ups and push ups, then make the mile or so run back to Fluttershy's cottage. "Fluttershy I'm going out for a run," he said coming down the stairs from his room.

"Oh James, I'm going to town in a few minutes so I'll leave the back door unlocked for you," she told him as she prepared her saddle bags.

"Thank you ma'am."

He started off, moving at about 5:30 minute mile pace. He loved to run, to exercise, just to get outside and do something; plus the Everfree was always full of some sort of new creature that absolutely boggled his mind about its existence. In truth though everything boggled his mind; talking ponies, this magic thing that he just couldn't quite wrap his mind around, and even just the existence of another planet with living beings that he could speak to. However, it started to just become normal life.

The sun was bright today just like all of the others and it was always just the perfect temperature outside, never too hot, not ever too cold. "Why couldn't earth be like this?" He asked himself not really looking for an answer. He continued through the forest singing the running cadences they always sang during their PT drills.

"One, two, three, four... Marine Corps; one, two, three, and four... Marine Corps. Back in 1775... Marine Corps, my Marine Corps came alive! Marine Corps. Paris Island where it all began... Marine Corps; a little rock, with lots of sand... Marine Corps; you can forget about Hollywood... Marine Corps; San Diego, and it's all good! Marine Corps." James imagined his drill instructor being there, singing the sweet words to him. He fell instep with the rhythm and mental beat. He continued singing to himself, unbeknownst to him though, he had a watcher; and she gave him much the same expression he had given her.
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Rainbow Dash for the second time that week had gotten up early which really wasn't like her, but considering she could fly somewhat again, she decided to get out. She took it easy so she didn't put herself back in the same situation she was in three days prior. As she was flying from cloud to cloud she thought back again to how that day and her new stunt went. "Well the trick was good, but next time I'll just have to make it higher." She thought, then she remembered Fluttershy had a special somepony and she still didn't have any idea whom he was or what he looked like. She decided to be sneaky and hop around on the clouds around her friends' house. She had arrived just in time to see something dart off through the bushes heading into the Everfree forest.

"That must be him! She said that he lived in the forest so it's gotta' be!" She said aloud to herself giving chase to the unknown 'stallion'. She flew into the forest just high enough to where she could see down and get a good look at the ground, even though the majority of it was covered by the tree canopy. She looked around for a few seconds then spotted something moving, something tan, but it didn't look very 'pony like'.

"Was that him? It's gotta be... but... that didn't look like a stallion or even a pony." She said confused to herself. She gave chase again but this time saw the direction he was going and went down into the trees to hide on a branch. She found the perfect one and hunkered down, waiting for the stallion to come by, then she would surprise him. He came by but Rainbow's plan didn't go into action. She just laid on the branch, watching with her eyes as wide a dinner plates and her pupils the size of pin heads. She just continued to stare at him as he ran past, her mouth agape. She couldn't believe what she was seeing, it wasn't a pony; it was nothing she had ever seen before, not even something from the Everfree. She just stared where he had been for a while before snapping out of her trance.

"What... was...THAT?" She said trying to search her mind for anything that would make sense. She didn't find any explanation for what it was, she did however realize that Fluttershy wasn't dating anypony.

"Wait, those definitely weren't some sort of wing covers, they were waay too small to even fit on a wing. Did they belong to this... thing?" She asked aloud to herself. She decided what to do next, follow it, or tell somepony about it?

"Well I guess if it hasn't hurt Fluttershy at all then it might not hurt me. I'm gonna follow it, but just in case I might need a weapon." She said to herself then broke off a small, thick branch that seemed like it would work as a dagger if she had to use it. She sharpened it a little by grinding it against a rock and went on again, chasing it down.
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"Knew she would come out." James said as he ran past Rainbow Dash who thought she was being covert about following him. He kept running, but took a detour and headed west to his first establishment. He slowed his pace to allow her to catch up and get close. He acted as if though he didn't see her, even though her light blue skin stood out against the dark green foliage. He rounded a large tree that was about twenty feet around and dashed for his little campsite. He waited for her to come around and then he would surprise her, just how he planned the whole thing out. He took off his camouflage jacket and tried to make it look like he was standing in a place that he wasn't. He set it up and waited in some dense brush for her to come out.
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"Where is it going?" She thought as it rounded the tree; "This is getting kind of weird, if it goes any deeper into the forest I'm just gonna' go." She continued coming around the tree after it.

"Wait, where did it just go, it was right there!" She said aloud to herself. Little did she know 'it' was watching her movement.

"There it is!" She reassured herself moving closer to the jacket. James couldn't help but snicker in the back of his mind from how she looked approaching the jacket. She was just a feet yards away now, getting ready to jump out and surprise it.

"Okay Dash, now or never!" She thought as she got just a little bit closer to the jacket. She jumped at it and shouted out an awkward "Hi!" She didn't get a response though, so she moved closer.

"Umm... hello?" She asked it again. As she moved a little closer she had realized she had been tricked.

"What? What is this, that's not what I saw." She said out loud not caring if anything heard her.

"Looking for something?" James said from behind her laying against a tree with his hands in his pockets.

"Huh!?" Dash yelped out as she turned around quickly meeting the creatures' eyes and dropping the dagger stick she had made.

"I said, are you looking for something?

"Who... wha-... what are you?" Rainbow asked not sure of what else to say.

"Well let me introduce myself first, I am Captain James Crossland, USMC. I am a human, and I have not the slightest idea as to how I got here." He replied with a happy tone, acting like they had met before and nothing was out of the ordinary.

"Are you a spy or something?" Rainbow asked with a small amount of anger showing.

"Time to have a little fun." James thought to himself; "Yes I am a spy, I am here to sabotage your Princess and bring all of Equestria to its knees so my kingdom can rule the whole world! Ha-ha-ha!" He lied to her, trying to hold back a laugh. Rainbow inhaled and her eyes went wide with fear.

"No, I wont let you hurt the Princess or my friends!" She spat at him.

"Rainbow Dash... I'm just kidding." He said trying to calm her down.

"What!? How do you know my name!?"

"Remember the other day when you came over to Fluttershy's cottage, and you found those things Fluttershy put over her wings?"

"Yeah why, were you spying on us or something?" She spat again.

"Okay well that time I kind of was, but anyway those were mine."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Well those were in her house right?"

"Right."

"And they belong to me right?"

"Right."

"So how do you think they got there?" He asked trying to make her see what he was saying.

"Well you would have had to be ther-" She stopped finally getting it; "Oh, so you were just kidding about the spy thing then?" She asked still on edge.

"That is what I said, no?" He said back in a smart-ass tone as he walked over and picked up his jacket.

"How long have you been here for?"

"Six days, and four hours."

"How did you get here?"

"I'm not really sure, one minute I was shooting at Hadjis and my platoon was taken down by the bastards, then the next I woke up here. I can't explain it, but my guess is that it was done by some sort of magic that unicorns have." He told her still very unsure how it happened.

"What's al... whatever you said?" She asked confused by what he was telling her.

"You have a lot of questions for me don't you?" He asked even though he knew the answer.

"Well DUH! Everypony is gonna have a question to ask you." She exclaimed, forgetting about the whole spy thing.

"Whoa, no no no, I can't go into Ponyville if that's what you're implying, not yet."

"Why not? You know Shy and me so what's the problem just stick with us and we'll show you around." She tried to get the stranger in her land to go with her.

"Well for one, just going out into your world and saying 'Hey guys! What's goin' on?' Wouldn't that freak you out, sure would scare the piss out of me. Plus, we barely even know each other; what if I actually was spy and I just tricked you into bringing me into town and gave me a perfect shot to hurt someone." He noted trying to convince her otherwise, her thick head getting the better of her.

"Oh, well you aren't... are you?" She said with a gulp.

"No miss Rainbow Dash, I'm not, but still you should always be skeptical of anyone no matter how innocent they may seem, I've come across people like that and it ended up bad for both them and myself; but I can assure you though, I have no intentions of harming anyone unless they initiate the first blow." He reassured her with a serious face, showing that he wasn't afraid of having to hurt somepony. She hung her head a little, showing that she felt bad that she could have endangered her friends, she perked back up though and asked him a question.

"Who are you?" She asked completely mystified.

"Miss Fluttershy tells me that you are very athletic, can you run pretty well?" He asked throwing her for a little spin.

"I'm only the fastest pony in Equestria, so I'll let it speak for me. Why, are we gonna' RACE!?" She said as she started prancing at little then lifted off the ground a few inches.

"Yes, and I would like to continue our conversation; the thing is is that I was out for my daily PT when you just happened to... drop by for a visit. So I would like to continue my run at least; how about a small race back to Fluttershy's house?" He said with a grin growing on his face.

"I'm gonna beat you so bad!" She said with no doubt in herself, her wings buzzing as she got ready.

"Whoa whoa whoa! Who said you could use your wings? And last I checked Fluttershy told me you hurt them?"

"Oh... right... I'll still beat you with one hoof tied behind my back though." She boasted, still trying to show her new friend how good she was.

"Okay let me make some rope real quick." He jokingly shot back at her.

"Kidding... totally kidding." She said back with a slightly startled look, thinking he would actually do it.

"Alright then, first one back to Fluttershy's cottage wins, and I'm not gonna hold back since I'm cutting my routine short by about two miles." He said drawing a start line in the dirt.

"On your mark!" He started off then Dash joined in.

"Get set!"

"GO!" They said at the same time. They started off fast, dodging trees, ducking under low hanging branches, jumping over holes and rocks that would twist an ankle without a problem. The two battled to get a lead on the other, the first half mile had gone by quickly, almost two minutes, but they started slowing down a little as it almost seemed like a sprint. Rainbow had never ran that quick in her life, even during the running of the leaves race she had with Applejack. James was taking the next quarter mile a little easy and when they came up to the last quarter he would pour on all of his energy and leave her in the dust. To his surprise though she was gaining a lead on him, so he stepped it up and turned it on earlier than he was thinking.

"Home stretch! Let's see what you've got!" He shouted to her when he caught up. She gave him a look that showed she wasn't going to let up the slightest bit, then started running faster; James saw it in her eyes, she wasn't a quitter and she wouldn't ever let someone beat her. He picked up his step as well and passed her; she just looked on at him dumbfounded as to how somepony could beat her. She tried to catch up but his longer legs would take up more ground than hers which kept putting distance between the two. They ran onto a small hill which turned out on the other side was a long way down. James stopped for a second to look back at Rainbow to tell her that it was a bad idea to go that way, he only had a second or two lead on her so he had to be quick. He could hear her coming up and tried to warn her, but she didn't hear any of it as she was dead set on beating her opponent, and ended up crashing right into him, shooting them both over the edge. They flew out about four feet horizontally, then James dropped down a rough eight feet while Rainbow hovered in the air. James hit the side of the hill and had the wind knocked out of him, then tumbled about ten more feet to the base of the hill.

"James!" Dash shouted to him when he hit the bottom.

"Oh-ho man." He said with his eyes closed making an expression that showed he wasn't in great condition. When he opened them he saw Rainbow Dash hovering just barely above him looking at something.

"James are you okay!? I didn't mean to-"

"It's okay, no biggie." He struggled to say as his breath returned to him. She offered a hoof to pull him up. He got up and brushed his pants off, then looked at his arm.

"Damn, looks I'm gonna have to roll up my sleeves now." He said with a small chuckle, knowing that rolled sleeves were against military policy now, and if his DI had seen it he would be scrubbing the latrines with his tooth brush . He took a closer look at the tear in the fabric and found that his arm was bleeding.

"Are you okay James?" She asked again.

"Yeah I'm fine, I don't really even feel it." James told her while taking off his jacket, exposing his muscular upper torso. James wasn't a bad looking guy, he had even gotten a few looks from some of the random ladies he would pass down the street when he wasn't on base. Rainbow couldn't help but notice this and stared at him for a second while he took it off and wrapped his jacket around himself.

"Wow, you're a lot bigger than you look when you take that off." She said without realizing she was still staring. He had to snap her out of it which he thought was rather funny because of the way she was gawking at him. When she did she turned away quickly and blushed trying to hide it as best she could.

"Come on DASH! He's a different species than you, what are you thinking!?" She shouted in her mind. James understood what was happening and to spare her the embarrassment he just went to looking at his arm, which was actually in a lot worse condition than originally thought. He had a gash going down his arm about six inches long and it was bleeding.

"Hey Dash! There's still a few feet to her house, still think you can beat me?" He asked her changing the subject.

"You're on!" She shouted back and the two took off once more. They made it to the back door, laughing at how the whole thing went, even though James got hurt in the process, it was still fun. They went inside and sat down, still giggling a little, Fluttershy hadn't returned yet from the market and the other places she was going to.

"I'm gonna go wash up a little bit and fix up my arm, Fluttershy is still out in town so I guess make yourself at home, I'm sure you've been here plenty of times right?" He asked Rainbow as he headed to Fluttershy's powder room. He took off his desert camouflage T-shirt and threw it on the stairs going up to the guest bedroom. Rainbow Dash sat patiently in the living room listening to the running water in the sink. James grabbed a wash cloth out of the linen closet and washed his arm off. The adrenaline from the race had worn off and he could feel the stinging pain of the cut.

"Huh, it's only 1300, seemed a little later than that." He said looking at his watch. He looked through the medicine cabinet and found some bandages to wrap his wound in. Dash was still waiting in the living room but she had gotten up from the couch and was looking out the window, she still couldn't get the image of James out of her head from when he took is jacket off. Her train of thought was interrupted when he came back into the living room.

"Hey, sorry about that, just wanted to give my arm a quick clean up, it was actually a lot deeper than it looked." He apologized for leaving her alone in sort of an awkward situation.

"It's cool, and I kind of feel like I should be the one apologizing anyway. You know, for knocking you off the hill." She said back looking at the floor.

"It's alright miss Dash, believe me I've had a lot worse happen to me." He said recalling a few things that he had experienced over the years.

"Like what?"She asked with an excited jump.

"Well just recently for example, before I met Fluttershy when I had first just awoken here. I had walked for a bit in the Everfree forest, then out of nowhere this goofy chicken thing popped out of the bushes and stared at me. I felt my leg go numb and I looked down and saw my leg turning a different color. So I took out my weapon and shot it." He said, his words flowing into Rainbow Dash's ears as she stared wide eyed at him again.

"So you had a run in with a cockatrice!? And lived!?" She practically shouted at him in disbelief.

"If that's what it's called, but yes... I am right here in front of you aren't I?" He answered her with a question.

"How though? The only pony to ever escape from one was Fluttershy and she just BARELY made it!"

"Well like I said, It was staring at me and trying to kill me in some fashion, so I took out my pistol and shot it."

"Your what now?" She asked confused for the hundredth time that day.

"I'll show you, come with me upstairs." He motioned for her to follow as he got up. She followed him up the stairs and entered his room, she stared in wonder at him the whole time until James turned around with his pistol he had stowed just before going into the powder room.

"This is what I was talking about." He said taking out the magazine and checking to make sure there wasn't a round chambered, then lowered the pistol to her to get a better look.

"So what is this again, a pis-tol?

"Affirmative."

"Bwahaha, you kind of sound like Twilight when you say big words like that." Dash laughed at him. He just looked back confused.

"What's so funny? This is how I was taught to speak in the Marines, clear and precise."

"Well it just kind of sounds like how an egghead would talk is all." She said back still laughing; "But the funny things is you don't really look like an egghead like Twilight." She continued, trying not to offend him.

"And what's the Marines, some ponies that tell you how to use that thing?" She asked getting back to the topic.

"Well essentially yes, but not just this. There is a whole arsenal of weapons we are trained to use.."

"Wait, weapons? Like spears right?" She asked not sure what he meant.

"Sort of... actually Rainbow Dash, I'm going to tell you something that I've told only two other ponies in my life, and even then it was just half of the story"

"Okay, what is it?" She asked with a look of interest.

"By some people's standards, what I've done is bad, so I need to know Dash, are you prepared for anything that I might tell you?" He asked, not able to be anymore serious about the matter.

"Anything?"

"Absolutely anything even something that might be your worst fears."

"Not joining the Wonderbolts!?" She said with a fearful gasp of air.

"I'm not even going to ask about them, but Dash... basically what I do for a living... is end lives. I am trained by people for that purpose, and almost that purpose alone. This... what I'm holding, is used to do that job. I have other weapons at my disposal to get said job done, and I am not afraid in the slightest bit to do it. Really though, it's not about how many lives we have to take, but how many we get to save." He stared right into her eyes and she understood every word he was saying. She stepped back a little with her eyes wider than they had been previously in the day.

"So you kill things as your job?" She asked horrified.

"I do indeed miss Dash, but let me tell you why I joined." He continued on trying to show her the other true part of it.

"Okay James." She said with no tone in her voice.

"The organization, for lack of a better word, that I work for is called the Marine Corps. I joined them because I wanted to serve my country and protect the people of the United States of America from tyranny, and terrorism. On 11 September 2001, there were some airplanes... flying machines... that were purposefully crashed into some high standing buildings as a deliberate act to kill American citizens. My brother and I both joined the military after that, he chose the Army and I chose the Corps. He got shipped out just before me, and after he did he was shot by al-Qaeda operatives in Kandahar, Afghanistan. After both of those events I vowed to myself and the people of my country that I would not sleep until every single one of those bastards was exterminated; and we no longer had to live in fear of those cowards that had the audacity to try and pull anymore of that bullshit." James said not looking away for one second, not even to blink. Dash just stared right back at him their eyes glued to one another.

"So you kill other humans to protect the humans in your own country?" She asked finally breaking the silence.

"That is exactly what I do, as well as the people of other nations; and whether it be humans, ponies, or whatever else may exist out there, I WILL defend to my very last dying breath they're right to live without fear. The ones who wish to cause harm unto other innocent civilians will not have the right to live that way though." James explained further as a tear started to well up in his eye from thinking back on everything he had lost again.

"Wow, I thought that I was loyal to my friends, but somepony who will even lay down their own life for others he doesn't even know; I don't even compare to that." Rainbow Dash said as she hung her head once more, feeling kind of bad that she was the element of loyalty, but didn't have the courage to do such a selfless act by sacrificing herself for some stranger. James kept thinking back when the planes had first crashed, then his brother being shot down, the the last thing he remembered of earth; his last operation with the best Marines he had ever known. All of the memories of past battles and losing his fellow brothers in arms made the dams that held back his tears burst, and all of the emotions that he really never had shown before, not even to his own family, came with it. He sat down on the bed and threw his face into his palms letting them flow like a flood gate had opened. Dash came and sat down next to him putting an arm around his shoulder. He turned and embraced her in a hug and she returned it. He sobbed a little which made Dash start to feel the pain he did. She knew what it was like to lose family, her parents had been killed when she was little by a powerful storm, only parts of their bodies were found. When she thought of them again she started crying too. They embraced each other for a few minutes longer letting all of their emotions go. When they let go they looked at each other and knew that right then and there, a powerful bond between the two had been formed that neither would ever forget. After they had let their emotions go, they conversed for a long time afterwards; telling each other tales of adventures they had, the people or ponies they knew, family, life on both earths. James even told her about the training he had to go through, and she couldn't help but stare in amazement at him as he told her things that were almost unimaginable. They had become friends, maybe even more one might say, and it would only flourish from that point.
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Fluttershy was done with her errands and decided to go over to see Rarity at her boutique. She hadn't gotten the chance to get out all that much having to watch James to make sure he didn't do something foolish. She opened the front door cling. "Oh Fluttershy darling! How have you been I feel like I haven't seen you in ages!" The white pony said to her yellow friend.

"Hello Rarity, sorry that I haven't been in town so often, I've been a little occupied at home with a new critter." She lied again to one of her friends.

"Oh well what's wrong with the poor thing?" Rarity asked slightly concerned it might be something bad.

"Oh it's nothing really, he's just a little lost from his home." She said not truly having to lie this time.

"Deary do you mind if I ask what it is?" She chimed to Fluttershy.

"O-oh... i- it's... uu- um" She stumbled for a quick lie; "It's a bird, a really big bird." She finally spat out.

"Just a bird is all? No special breed or... just a random bird?" She asked wondering what was so special about it that made Fluttershy stay home for so long, and to even miss their usual spa day together.

"Yes, just a bird, but he's really lost so I'm trying to help him find his way home." She said with a fake smile as she backed towards the door to leave.

"Well I hope you find its home dear, it's not good to be lost from home for too long." Rarity said surprised as to how she was acting.

"Oh, yes very much so rarity; well I better get going back to the big guy before he tries to do something foolish." Fluttershy said as she was already half way out the door. She turned away immediately and ran back to her cottage. When she had gotten back she heard laughter from somepony and James.

"Oh no, somepony found out about him!" She said as she unlocked the front door.

"And then the guy turns to me and says 'you know James, I don't know you, and I don't know where this place is that you're from, but I like you, you're a funny guy, I like funny guys." James said to Rainbow Dash in his best fake Italian accent. The two erupted with laughter and didn't stop until they saw Fluttershy standing in the doorway with her mouth practically dropped on the floor. Rainbow Dash had been wearing James' boonie hat that he said was good luck, and every time he had it with him, nothing bad would happen. She liked how it looked, it was a different shade than the camouflage he had on; it was dark green and black and looked like it belonged in the woods rather than the desert. He had shown her all of his equipment and what everything did, but the thing she liked most was that hat, so he let her wear it.

"Oh hello miss Fluttershy! Did you get everything you needed from town?" James asked as he put the chair he had brought out, back.

"U- um yes I did." She said back not sure of what else to say.

"Hey shy, thanks for helping me with my wing it's a lot better now." Dash thanked her.

"Y-you're welcome." She said still trying to formulate what to say.

"Sorry about the mess Fluttershy, I thought I would let miss Dash here have the couch to herself." He said trying to be courteous.

"O- oh that's quite alright, but what are you doing here Rainbow Dash?" She asked her blue friend.

"Just hangin' out with James." She replied as if nothing was wrong with it.

"James, nopony can know you're here, we decided on that remember?" She said to him trying to show that the whole scene shouldn't be happening.

"Miss Fluttershy with all do respect, I think it might be a good idea to introduce myself to your wonderful friends." He suggested.

"Yeah Shy, there's no harm in that is there? Just you, me, Twi, AJ, Rarity, and Pinkie; I mean come on, how many things have we gone through that most other ponies wouldn't understand?" She pleaded to Fluttershy.

"Well quite a bit actually." She thought about it for a second.

"See shy, it will be fine, they would understand." Dash said adding more confidence to it that they would.

"Are you sure this is okay with you James?" She asked him.

"Well, I'm not too worried about getting shot, so yes." He affirmed. The time had passed from one to four thirty, so it would be better to do it tomorrow after lunch sometime the three agreed. So it was set, James would meet all of them tomorrow and what ever happened would happen.

Author's Note

Sorry about changing up the tags if that bothers anyone, after going through this chapter I felt that the ones there didn't do it justice; so here we go, probably wont change them after this. Enjoy the rest as it comes my friends.

The First Formal Meeting.

Morning came and James awoke to smell eggs being cooked. He got up, dressed himself, and checked his watch, it read 0900, "Hmm, slept in a little later than usual". This morning he was feeling exceptionally jovial; he didn't know why, maybe because he was meeting new friends today, hopefully they would accept him. Maybe it was because the torturous dreams he had been having the previous nights didn't plague him, or maybe it was because he had made a very good friend. He didn't know or cared, he was just happy to be happy, and with that he headed down the stairs to greet Fluttershy.

"Morning miss Fluttershy, how are you?" He asked surprising her. She jumped up and let out a squeak of fright, then turned to him while hovering in the air.

"O- oh, good morning James, you scared me." She said with her calmness coming back to her. She slowly came back down to the ground and resumed what she had been doing before.

"Sorry about that, after a few years of creeping around in the bush it just happens." He apologized with smile forming on his face.

"Oh that's quite alright James, that's not the first time you've scared me." She said back, a smile forming on hers as well.

"Right, sorry about that by the way, I do feel bad that I did that." He apologized once more.

"Oh, I wasn't talking about that, I forgive you though; what I meant was last night." Fluttershy assured him that she had truly forgiven him.

"What do you mean? What happened last night?" He asked as his smile disintegrated to confusion.

"Oh last night I could tell that you slept rather well; you were snoring and it woke up Angel and me. He even kicked your door with his foot a few times to try and make you stop, but I guess you didn't hear him." She said with a giggle.

"Wow, I guess I really did sleep good last night." He joined her with a chuckle. They laughed for a few moments longer; Angel had hopped his way into the dining room and looked up at James with an irritated look, much the same one he usually gave Fluttershy when she did something he didn't like. He looked down at the white rabbit and gave him a smile and wave. Angel didn't let him off the hook for waking him up and slapped James on the boot with his long foot. Both James and Fluttershy shared a laugh as he tried to punish James. Angel left after a few good raps and went outside.

After their laughter died down James asked, " So what's on the chow menu this morning?"

"Well I have some eggs cooking that should be done in a few seconds."

"They from out back?"

"Yes, my little chickens laid them this morning." She happily replied.

"Wow, fresh from the hatch, been a while since I've had some of those." James said rubbing his stomach.

"Did you live on a farm before?" She asked, her ears perking up to listen attentively.

"All my life until I joined the Corps."

"Wow, that must have been fun; especially with all of the critters you got to be with." She said, slightly day dreaming about all of the wonderful and different creatures she had the pleasure of taking care of.

"Eh, it was alright, but the animals that we had weren't like the ones you do. If they were half as nice as yours I might have just stayed on the farm and I wouldn't even be here right now." He said complementing her on how well behaved her animals were.

"Well, sometimes they aren't the most obedient, but I have my ways of getting them in line." She confessed as she looked out the window to her chickens who were running around in the pen.

Ding

"Oh, the eggs are ready." Fluttershy said with glee. She scraped them onto the plates and sat them at the table. James licked his lips as she brought them over.

"Thank you miss Fluttershy, you don't even know how long it's been since I've had real food, other than these past couple of days of course." He said as he began to cut into the eggs, the the golden yolk spilling out.

"What do you mean?" She asked confused because the only things that ponies ever ate was organic.

"Well the things that I get to eat most of the time are MREs, or meals ready to eat; it's food and it tastes okay I think, some would argue otherwise though. Really in a nutshell, they're just packs of square food that have an insane amount of calories in them to provide energy." He stated as he cut another piece of egg.

"Wouldn't it go bad after a while though?" She asked still slightly confused.

"Well you would think! Those things have a shelf life of almost as long as me, so I guess they would, but not for years on end."

"Oh my, that's a long time, how do they make food stay that long?"

"Well, like I said... it's not real food." He winked at her as he took a bite.

"Oh you poor thing, not eating real food is bad for you." She said with a look of sympathy and worry.

"You get used to it after a while, in fact I still have mine from when I got here. I always throw one in my pack just in case." James said as he looked up and to the right in a quizzical gesture.

"What do they taste like?"

"The crackers taste like butter and are almost like a brick; sometimes I think they put them in there in case you don't have a weapon. The rest of it doesn't taste too bad though; except for the beef stroganoff, had one bad experience with that... never again will I eat it." He said with a slight intentional shaking just to show how bad it was.

"What happened?"

"I'd rather not say... not appropriate table manners."

"Oh that's okay, I think I know what you mean." Fluttershy said as she lifted her plate to take back to the sink.

"Here, allow me, you've taken care of me since I got here; the very least you can do is let me wash these." He pleaded to her.

"O-oh, okay if you really want to."

"Thank you." James said as he grabbed the plates and took them to the sink. He had washed dishes before, especially when he had kitchen duty as an enlisted man, he wished he had attended the ten week officer training course before joining, so he didn't have to do the low level jobs of an enlisted man.

"Man, this brings back memories." He thought to himself as he opened the tap. As he worked, Fluttershy had begun to do her daily tasks with her critters; cleaning out the chicken coups, feeding Angel, giving the large bear named Harry a back massage. He nearly ran upstairs to get his pistol when he first saw the enormous animal come up to her; but when it stopped and turned its back to her and she started popping its appendages, his jaw dropped at the sight of this giant eight hundred pound killing machine being yanked in all different directions by such a shy, quiet, and much smaller being. He decided that it wouldn't be necessary to do so, so he returned back to work and put the dishes away. He didn't know what else to do after asking Fluttershy if he could help some more, she told him no so he went upstairs to his room.

Once up there he looked out the window for a while still wondering how he had come to such a beautiful place, why he was there, what his purpose was for being there. He stopped thinking about it and decided that when the time came for him to find out, he would fulfill his duties. So with absolutely nothing to do he took out his pack and equipment for inspection. He dumped everything out onto the bed; magazines, a few extra rounds, his radio, knife, armor plating from his vest, everything he had with him during his last operation. "Well, better do an ammo count, check the plates to make sure they're not cracked." He said as he made a mental check list. He looked over the rest of his stuff and came to his hat that he let Dash wear, why did she think it was so cool?

"Wait that's a dumb question." He thought to himself; "It's camouflage, duh, that's why it's cool." He continued as he put his hat on top of the dresser. He went back and dumped all of the ammunition he had. He counted twenty four cartridges for his pistol, the only shot he made was on the cockatrice. He then dumped his M4 rounds, one hundred eighty were present, minus the magazine that was in his rifle.

"Well that's weird, I have all of the ammo I started the op with, but I shot up almost four mags. How the hell did I get these ones, the ones in my mag dump pouch were all empty. Also what happened to my rifle?" He asked himself. He didn't know the answers to either, so he just let it be and put the ammunition back in the magazines. After it was all stowed on his vest he took out the weapon he did have and cleaned it, taking out every pin and mechanism to give it a very well looked over proper cleaning. He oiled the barrel and the trigger group and started to put it back together. Knock knock knock. When he heard the noise he almost dropped his pistol, scattering the parts every where.

"Oh... shit." Was all he said as he looked around to all of his gear spread about the room. There was no way he could pack all of his stuff up in time to bail; "Wait, I'm going to meet some people, er ponies, still not used to that, today anyways, what does it matter?" He calmly told himself. He went down to the living room to see who was at the door. When he opened it a familiar face showed its self to him, make that two as another came flying down from the sky, landing next to the other.

"Oh, hello miss Twilight, miss Dash how are you two." He politely asked as he ushered them in.

"I'm doing well James, is Fluttershy around?" Twilight asked somewhat uncomfortably, due to how James unintentionally portrayed himself the last time they had met.

"She's in the back giving a bear a massage." He said with a look of bewilderment on his face.

"Thank you." Was all she said as she walked away quickly.

"So you two know each other already?" Rainbow asked surprised.

"Indeed we do, but I don't think she likes me all that much." James said with dissatisfaction.

"Oh well she's just an egg head, she'll come around eventually." She assured James with a smile.

"So, who else is coming today?" He asked.

"Well AJ should be here here when she is done with her chores at the farm; and Pinkie and Rarity should be here in like half an hour."

"Okay so we have a little while before they show up, not counting when Applejack will be here."

"Yeah... you know what we should do!?" She asked with a large toothy grin on her face.

"What?"

"We should totally race!"

"Oh you want to race? I'm not sure if I can trust you, considering what happened last time." James said casting a look of disappointment at her then looking at his arm.

"What!?" She said with a heart crushing look.

"I'm just giving you a hard time, but I wouldn't mind just going for a nice little walk to stretch out the muscles a bit." He said cheering her back up.

"Okay... I guess I could do that." Dash said slightly rolling her eyes.

"Before we go though I need to tidy up my gear, I left it all strewn about when you and miss Twilight came knocking."

"Ugh, lame. I just throw all my stuff on the floor and pick it up later if I feel like it." She laughed as she flew into the air and made it look like she was laying down, not a worry in the world.

"Well that's you; but hey come with me I'd like to talk for a little bit."

"O- oh okay." She said coming down from her position. James lead her up the stairs and into his room, she took a look around at all of his stuff.

"Wow, that is a little messy."

"Yeah give me a sec to throw this all away." James told her as he threw it all in the small closet, then put his pistol back together in a flash, Rainbow just stared at him, amazed at how fast he had done it, but also because she liked to look at him. He was very toned, muscular, chiseled, had shortish black hair. She took in all of his features, but was snapped out of her trance when she noticed he was looking at her.

"See anything you like?" James said with a slight wink. She turned away again like before and blushed. He stowed his pistol in its holster and threw it in the closet with everything else. The two went back downstairs, Rainbow Dash in the lead. They were about to go out for a walk when they were stopped by Fluttershy and Twilight.

"Where are you two going?" Twilight asked with slight concern.

"We're just gonna' hang out until Pinkie and Rarity show up." Dash answered back to her.

"Where at, in the forest or something?" Twilight pressed, her tone changing from concern to baffled.

"Is there something wrong miss Twilight?" James asked not knowing what the problem was.

"Well no, it just seems weird to me is all, going out into the Everfree forest is just something nopony really does." She stated, making it look like that was the issue.

"Okay cut the crap, what's the deal?" He asked her, shocking everyone at how he had just turned from the nice guy that he seemed, to something different.

"Excuse me?" Twilight said back, feeling offended.

"Miss Twilight I can tell that you don't like me, I'm not stupid even though I'm called a 'Jar Head' by some. What's the deal?"

"Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, do you two mind giving us a little privacy for a second?" She asked the two of them getting ready to let out the reason why she disliked him. They complied and headed up the guest bedroom so they could listen but not make it seem as if though they were.

"Okay what's up; I've done enough unit rotations to know that if something is bothering one of my men it's not good to keep it in, so we all gather and let out what needs to be said. Don't hold back, tell me straight up." James told her being as honest as he could.

"James I don't like you because you are a killer: there is nothing good about it, and there is nothing good about you." She said to him waiting for the angry words to come flying at her. They didn't though, he just answered her with how he felt about it.

"I thought that was why. Well I'll tell you something Twilight, I don't enjoy having to take others' lives, it shouldn't have to happen, but it does."

"You're not really helping your case in trying to convince me to like you."

"I'm not trying to because you are right about me, I am a killer and it is what I do; but really you barely know half of the whole thing, so I'll just give you a shortened form of what I told miss Dash last night."

"Okay I'm listening." She said giving him a chance to redeem himself in her eyes. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were at the top of the stairs listening closely.

"Twilight, the reason I do it is because it's my job to. Fluttershy told me about your brother Shining Armor who is a Captain as well. Much like him I defend people from bad happenings, not kill random people because I feel like it. Although your brother protects your princess, his commander in chief, instead. What I do is protect the people of my country and the people of other countries. The only time I have to kill someone is if they decide to hurt innocent people or my fellow Americans. Do you understand what I'm saying Twilight?" James explained to her. The two at the top of the stairs were staring into space but listened to the conversation with absolute attentiveness.

"You are not like my brother, he wouldn't kill anypony for any reason at all." She said defending her brother's honor.

"Well then why is he a Royal Guard?"

"To protect the princess."

"Which means Twilight , that if someone were to try and hurt Celestia, he would have to kill them... right?" James shot right back at her. She looked at him stuttering for words to say, knowing that she had been defeated.

"Well?" He asked her waiting for a response.

"James... I'm so sorry for misunderstanding you, that was so very wrong of me. I should have learned not to judge a book by its cover back when I met Zecora." She apologized feeling embarrassed for her hostile actions.

"It's okay Twilight, I forgive you... plus you're not nearly as bad as some. Back in America there is a place called Westboro, and the fools there go to the funerals of dead soldiers and protest about them, and just say nasty things about us. They do all sorts of other stupid stuff but a big one from them is that. I even had to fight one of the crazy people from there when he jumped me out of nowhere. I kicked his ass back to his car and her sped off." James stated to her,letting her know that he forgave her and had no hard feelings.

"Wow James I- I had no idea that humans could do such things."

"Believe me Twilight, it's okay." He forgave her once more.

"No hard feeling between us?" Twilight asked hoping to redeem herself.

"Not a one." He said with a smile. Rainbow and Fluttershy came back downstairs when the whole thing was over, an awkward silence had fallen about the room.

"How much longer until they show up?" Dash asked breaking the silence finally. James looked at her and hadn't noticed that she had been wearing his hat again. James just smiled at her and looked at his watch.

"I'd say about five minutes, give or take a couple." James replied back to her. They all tidied up the house a little bit for the soon to arrive guests. James went to the bathroom to give himself a quick wash up as he hadn't taken a shower yet. James had his own towel that was distinctly different from all of the others, as it had been sewn to another because they were too small for him. He turned on the faucet and stepped into the shower. The three mares in the house started chatting, passing the time. They talked about the new things happening with them, how their pets were doing, the latest gossip around town. They heard the water shut off and a few minutes later James came out.
~~--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------~~

Pinkie Pie and Rarity had met at Sugar Cube corner to decide the plans for the welcome party for this new stallion Rainbow Dash had talked about when she had come over that morning. They didn't have time to set one up because he was already where they were going to meet at. Pinkie just decided to bring the party cannon instead for instant 'partyization' according to Pinkie.

"This will be perfect for sure!" Pinkie exclaimed as she bounced up and down.

"Darling are you sure about this, I mean what if this new stallion doesn't like loud noises?" Rarity said thinking about the possible scenario.

"Who doesn't like a party in their name?" Pinkie asked the white unicorn.

"Well I'm sure anypony would like it... but what if this one doesn't?" She still challenged.

"Hmm, good point, but what if he does like parties like a lot and he would be sad if we didn't throw him a party and then we don't become friends and then he's mad at us forever because we didn't thr- mmmm, mmmm, mmmm!" Pinkie tried to get out in a run on sentence but was soon shut up by rarity's hoof.

"Darling it might not be a good idea is all I'm saying." She said, the pink pony still rambling in stifled muffles. Rarity removed her hoof when she had stopped talking.

"Okay... I'm still going to bring it just in case though." Pinkie pouted as she turned the bright blue cannon to go out the door.

"Alright deary, but don't do anything until we say you can." Rarity tried one last time to make her friend think before she acted on it.

"Okie dokie lokie!" She said back in a joyous confirmation. The two packed up their things and headed to Fluttershy's cottage, both were anticipating meeting the new 'pony'. Pinkie hadn't shut up the whole way over and rarity was getting annoyed by it, as would anypony who spends more than a minute with her. They arrived about ten minutes later and knocked on the door, Pinkie had her cannon ready just in case she was aloud to use it. Rainbow Dash answered the door.

"Oh hey everypony! Come on in, he's in the shower right now so we'll just have to wait a minute." Dash said as she brought them in and sat them down.

"Rainbow Dash, what is that horridly drab thing on your head?" Rarity asked with a look of disgust on her face.

"Oh this? This is James' 'boonie' hat, as he called it." She said back as if she had worn it her whole life.

"It's... rather... umm... interesting." She tried to stifle herself from snatching it off her head and stomping on it, as it was an abomination to fashion. They heard the water shut off and decided to surprise James whom would also be surprising the two new comers. Pinkie decided to hide in the pantry, and when she heard the secret word to surprise him she would burst out with the party cannon and fire it.
~~--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------~~

"They here yet?" James asked hoping he hadn't missed them on accident.

"Not yet but soon I'm sure." Twilight answered him with a smile.

"Alright well I'm gonna' go get a drink real quick, so if anyone needs me you'll know where I'll be." He said to no one in particular. He turned and walked into the kitchen rummaging for a glass. It was kind of hard to maneuver around because everything was built for a pony, but he didn't mind. He found a glass and put it under the tap BOOM- SQUEEE.

"Mortars! Get down!" He shouted to everyone in the house as he dived for cover, dropping the glass in the sink.

"SURPRISE!" An unidentified pony with a high pitched voice shouted. James shot up and scrambled for any weapon he could use; he found the knife block and removed the the first one he could grab and got into his stance to do battle with this unknown threat. Four ponies ran into the kitchen to see what the problem was, knowing the very familiar sound of Pinkie Pie's party cannon. James saw the two new ponies and gripped the knife tighter waiting for one of them to make a move of hostility. The white and pink pony were both thrown aback by the gesture, and then they realized that he wasn't even a pony which sent them reeling even more. The white one fainted while the other one's curly hair had went straight and tears started welling in her eyes.

"Don't move! Hands up!" James shouted at them thinking that he was in the middle of a firefight again, the memories of his last operation coming back to him somewhat.

"James! It's okay they're not going to hurt you!" Dash shouted to him, his face had the look of fear and anger on it, ready to do battle with anything. He stared at the one who had fired the loud cannon not sure of what to do; after a few seconds of staring he dropped the knife on the floor and backed up to the wall. Dash ran to him while the other two helped Pinkie and Rarity. Rarity had woken back up and looked at James who was still staring at Pinkie, she wasn't sure what had happened but she knew that it wasn't good. Rarity still wasn't sure who the new creature was, but she composed her form and stood up to introduce herself.

"My name is Rarity! And you are?" Rarity asked the stranger with a flip of her hair, hoping to distract him from the whole ordeal. James snapped his head in her direction and stared at her for a moment as well, then snapped out of his trance.

"Uh- uh, m-my name... my name is James Crossland, Captain in the United States Marine corps ma'am." James said back, dropping the knife, confused as to what was happening. He got up off the floor and looked at each of the five ponies before him.

"Sorry about the scare darling, we just tried to throw a surprise party for you is all." Rarity explained to him. James kept looking around to them, then answered Rarity.

"W- well you did give me a surprise, that's for sure." He said back, still coming out of the mental battle. He picked up the knife and put it on the counter, then went over to apologize to Pinkie who was still standing up with her hair hanging straight.

"I assume that you're Pinkie Pie?" Offering her a hand of apology. Pinkie's hair went back to its normal curliness and she jumped at him, knocking him down, then stood over him.

"You betcha! Who are you!? What are you? Where did you come from? How did you get here?" She asked him all at once just mere inches from his face.

"Darling, do you mind giving him some room to breathe?" Rarity asked the pink hyperactive pony. She did as she was asked and let James back up.

"My guess is that you are Rarity then?" James asked the white unicorn.

"Indeed I am darling!" She said with another flip of her hair; "May I ask though, what are you?"

"I am a human from America, and like I've said numerous times, I haven't the slightest idea of why or how I am here in your beautiful land."

"What's America!?" Pinkie chimed in.

"Much like your Equestria it's is a country." He happily replied back.

"So there are more of you!?" She asked hopping up and down with joy.

"Oh yes, almost seven billion of my species." He said back putting emphasis on the number to show the enormous amount. Pinkie stopped in the middle of the air and hung there for a second before coming back down.

"How did you do that?" James asked bewildered by Pinkie's ability to defy Newtonian physics.

"What? This? I've always been able to do this." She replied back, resuming her jumping.

"Is she always like this?"

"Always!" All of the ponies in the room said at once.

Knock knock knock knock. James looked at his watch, "That's probably Applejack?" James asked walking to the door, he opened it to reveal an orange pony with three apples on her flank. She looked up at, him her eyes growing wide and mouth dropping down.

"Well hello! You must be miss Applejack I presume." He said stretching his hand out for a formal shake. He didn't get one in return because she fainted. Twilight had come over to see what was going on; she took a look and scolded James.

"The last one of my friends that you meet, and you scare the apples out of her." Twilight said to him with a look of 'really?' on her face.

"Hey don't blame this one on me, I just offered a hand shake to her and she fell over." He pleaded his case to her. They looked at each other for a moment then giggled a little. James went back inside while Twilight and Fluttershy helped Applejack back to her hooves.

"Oh my, ah don't know what happened. Somepony answered the door and ah fainted, actually it didn't look a pony at all!" Applejack confessed looking around for the stranger.

"Oh you mean me?" James got up from the couch and knelt down to her.

"Uh yeah, and who might you be?" Applejack asked still unsure of what she was looking at.

"Well for the third time today; I am James Crossland, I come from America, I am a Captain in the Marines." He answered her with a slight hint of irritation.

"Well ya certainly gave me quite a scare there mister." She said still unsure what to make of him.

"Yeah I've been having that effect lately, receiving my fair share of it as well." He said looking back over to Pinkie who giggled a little.

"Ah bet so; so how did ya'll get here exactly, mister James?"

"Well like I've been saying, I have no clue. One moment I'm in one place, then the next... here." He said smoothly.

"Well mister, I s'pose that if you're a friend of their's then yer of friend a mine." Applejack said still unsure of how to handle the situation, so she decided to just let whatever happen, happen.

"As are you miss Applejack."

"Well, what should we do now?" Rainbow Dash asked getting bored. Applejack took notice of what she had on her head when she spoke up.

"Uhh, Rainbow... what's that on yer head?" She asked the blue pegasus.

"It's a hat AJ, haven't you seen one before?" She asked with a snooty tone in her voice.

"Well I do wear one, but yers just looks... different is all." Applejack said back not trying to be rude.

"That's cause it is, but mine is waaayy cooler than yours." Rainbow said back trying to one up her orange friend. James just looked at the two and chuckled quietly. Applejack let it go and let Rainbow have the win on this one.

"Well I guess since we're all here, let's just get to know each other." James said deciding for all of them on what to do.

"Sounds like a mighty fine idea." Applejack agreed.

"Well let's find a spot and tell a little bit about each other." James said as they all found their seats.

"Alright, since I suppose I'm the newest here I'll start us off. I'm James Crossland, I lived in America, I am a Marine and I arrived here seven days ago." James stated throwing out the basic information he had. The next to speak was Rainbow Dash.

"I'm the one and only Rainbow Dash! I'm the fastest flyer in Equestria, and I've lived in Cloudsdale all my life." She happily stated as she looked at James, holding his gaze. He smiled back at her.

"Mah name's Applejack, I work and live on Sweet Apple Acres, ah've lived here all mah life."

"I am Twilight Sparkle, I'm a student of princess Celestia, and I moved to Ponyville about two years ago."

"I- I'm Fluttershy, a- and I take care of the local creatures." Fluttershy stopped shorter than the others because all of their attention was focused on her.

"I am Rarity, and I make the most fashionable dresses in all of Equestria, I have also lived here my whole life." She stated in a regal tone. James took note that she was a tailor, and that she might be helpful if he needed to update or repair anything. The last one was Pinkie Pie, she opened with a large intake of air.

"I'm Pinkie Pie, and I like to throw the bestest, bestest parties for anypony who is new, or whenever they seem like they need one!" She practically shouted at the new comer.

"Well ladies, it is a pleasure to meet your acquaintances finally." James stated, knowing that he had been accepted by the six of them, even though he was a completely different creature all together. Once the introducing had finished, they all began to talk, James about earth and America, the six ponies about what they did for a living and all of the things it brought with it. Twilight then spoke up about the Elements of Harmony. Twilight gave him a full report on the history of them, how they had been used to defeat Nightmare Moon and transform her back into Luna.

"Oh so you have two princesses, what does this other one, Luna do?" He asked interested at how the whole governmental system worked with two officials in charge.

"She raises the night for us, and can even peek into your dreams." Twilight said in a mystical tone, trying to enhance the feeling of it.

"I hope she hasn't been in my dreams because she probably wouldn't like them, and that would mean that she knows I'm here." He stated with a look of worry.

"Well it's hard to say, but I suppose if we haven't heard anything yet then we might be alright." Twilight reassured him.

"Alright, but I'm still skeptical." James said to her, not totally convinced about it. Twilight then continued on about the elements and how the very ponies in front of him were the new bearers of them, and that they had defeated many foes with its magical powers. James wore a look of amazement and awe on his face.

"Wow, these ponies are defiantly something different." James thought to himself; "Twilight.. isn't what you do with the elements of harmony rather similar to what I do in the Corps?" James interrupted her lecture.

"Well actually, yes!"

"So why did you get mad at me then for when I told you about what I do?" He questioned further, even though he forgave her for her hostility.

"I thought we moved past this?" She asked confused as to why he brought it up in front of everypony.

"We did, but I just kind of want to know is all." He justified his questioning to her. All of the other ponies were listening to what they were saying with their ears perked up.

"Well I suppose that my emotions got the better of me when I found out is all." She said with a little blush of embarrassment washing her face.

"Oh I see, well no hard feelings still." James said with a smile, letting them all know that it was alright and nothign bad was going to happen.

"Good... say does anypony know the time?" She asked looking out the window and noticing the light had faded and was almost dark.

"It's 1900 hours, er sorry, seven P.M." He said correcting himself.

"Wow! That time went by quick!" Twilight exclaimed, packing her things into her saddle bags and starting for the door.

"Where ya headin' sugar cube?" Applejack asked the purple mare.

"I gotta get back home to spike to make dinner." She said back to everyone with a wave, then closed the door racing off toward home.

"Well I do suppose it's rather late everypony." Rarity said next as she got up and left.

"I agree." Applejack nodded to the white one just about to leave.

"Wow, lame!" Dash said to Applejack as she left. The only ones left were Pinkie, James, Dash, and Fluttershy. They stayed and talked for a while longer, then Pinkie decided to go home at about ten o'clock.

"Wow, I'm surprised she left." Dash stated to the other two, who really couldn't go anywhere because that's where they lived.

"Yeah me too, she's rather... talkative." James agreed.

"I think I'm going to go to bed as well you two, Rainbow if you want to stay here for the night you're more than welcome." Fluttershy told Dash who looked like she wanted to stay badly.

"O- okay, thanks Shy." She said to the butter yellow pegasus.

"Well... what's your move soldier?" James asked playfully.

"Oh, weeell... I should be getting back home to Tank, but if you want me to stay I might." She said right back in just as playful a tone.

"Your move, but I might hit the rack here in a few minutes myself." He said while stretching his arms out and yawning.

"I guess I'll stay, Tank can do without me for a night." She said getting up and stretching too.

"Well then, I'll sleep down here on the couch and you can have the guest room."

"Okay." Dash said with joy because she got to hang out with James for a little bit longer. She still couldn't help but feel something for him; she wasn't sure what it was, but she could feel something down deep for him. They went upstairs and talked a little until they decided that it was late. James gave Dash a hug and said good night to her, then went to set up his bed on the couch. He dozed off after looking at the ceiling for a while, recapping the day's events, and how pleasant it had been. When he closed his eyes though, everything went from being fine and dandy to absolute hell.

Author's Note

Well, here you guys go, thanks for looking at my story. Sorry I'm a day later than I had hoped to get it out. The next chapter will be out very soon, but it'll be a little shorter so, yeah. Once again thanks for the views and the favorites, much appreciated.

Just A Dream.

James stared up at the ceiling for a while before going to sleep. He listened to the noises the house made, and the sounds of Fluttershy's animals breathing as they slept. The wind had picked up outside which caused the house to make a slight creaking sound. He liked it when the weather started acting up, it made him feel cozy and warm even if it was cold and dismal outside. He thought back on how well the day had gone, even though he had scared some of his new friends, and Pinkie had scared him. He kept staring for a while longer as the warm feeling built up inside, making him sink lower into the couch. He was thankful that these new beings had accepted him and didn't try to harm him because he was an unknown creature. As the warm feeling crept over him more and more, he let his mind wander into the dream world. He then drifted off to sleep.

James was out on patrol with the first squad he was assigned to when he was first sent to Afghanistan in 2002. It was about one o'clock and clouds had started rolling over head, making for excellent weather. James' squad was in formation, all members were keeping a watchful eye out for any enemy activity.

"Hey Rodney!" James shouted to the teams' machine gunner, whom he had been with since basic training.

"Yeah James!?" Rodney shouted back.

"Beautiful fuckin' day, isn't it!?"

"Rah' brotha', wouldn't trade any other day in the world for it!" Rodney agreed with a hearty cheer. The team was spread out in a traditional patrol formation, three men in front and three in back for security; whilst alongside another fire team. They were on the outskirts of a village called Nawabad that was suspected to have a high number of Taliban insurgents. They hadn't experienced any hostile activity yet; James was keeping a very close eye on one building that looked as if it could house a possible sniper. The patrol kept moving onward and James hand't seen any sniper; so he laid it to rest, but still remained skeptical of the building. They crossed over a small bridge that spanned a ditch that had once held water, then began to move closer to the main road that went through Nawabad. The road through it was also filled heavily with mines and IEDs; so it was no surprise for them to see an explosive ordinance disposal team working just a quarter mile up the road. Pit pit pitpitpitpit pit pit pit.

"Get down!" The team leader named Eric Shealey shouted to everyone. The familiar sound of bullets hitting dirt was confirmed by everyone. A muzzle flash was seen from the side of a hut with a noticeable hole in it, then another popped up, then another after that.

"Two o'clock! Building with the hole!" James shouted as everyone directed fire onto it; Rodney especially with his M240 machine gun, the 7.62 projectiles cutting down anything in their path. James turned his head to see if anything was in the building he kept looking at. Punk. Someone fired a grenade from a grenade launcher at the building with a now growing hole in it. Boom. The sound of it hitting was satisfying, and a few Marines cheered as it took out half of its target. The villagers of Nawabad were running for cover and getting inside their huts as more Taliban fighters came flooding out.

"Contacts at ten and eleven!" A team member shouted, their fire switching targets and exterminating them. James swung his rifle into position and let several rounds fly down range. He looked through the scope to find other targets, then saw four more insurgents running out from behind cover.

"Back at two!" He shouted to everyone, the only person that heard him was Rodney who started laying down another base of fire when he ran out of ammo in the magazine.

"Reloading!" He shouted frantically, grabbing for fresh one. James took over and shot at the still running men, burning up all of the rounds left in his magazine, then reloading himself. Still more insurgents were coming out, but not into the open. They stayed hidden inside the village, popping out when they felt no one was watching them.

"AHHHH!" One team mate shouted as he rolled around in the dirt, he had been shot in the shoulder. The medic ran over to him and started working on his patient. James and Rodney both looked over at him then back to the field, laying down more suppressing fire.

"We need to find better cover!" Shealey shouted to them all, immediately everyone looked around but could not find any.

"James, Rodney!" Shealey shouted to the pair as he ran over to them.

"Yes sir!?" They shouted in unison.

"We need to get to cover before we get blasted to pieces! You two and and another pair are going to stay back and provide support as we run up to the buildings, we're gonna flank em'! Then once we're in position you'll move up to us!" He yelled the plan to them.

"Roger!" They both shouted again as they ran over to where the other two were waiting.

"Ready Marines!? Let's get there fast, double time!" Shealey yelled as eight Marines charged toward the enemy, himself included; the man who got shot stayed behind with them, he was still able to move but his left shoulder was in very bad shape. They were all shooting at anything that popped up, the cartridge casings spilling out all around them.

"Yeah baby, get some!" Rodney shouted at his foes while letting a ten round burst go. The eight that had run up to the village, stopped and dug themselves in.

"Move up guys, we got you covered." Eric said into his radio, and then signaling them with his hand to move up.

"Alright boys, let's keep it tight!" James shouted to the four remaining Marines. The first three got up and ran, shortly followed by James and Rodney. The five of them were staggered a few feet but were still close to one another. They came running in as fast as their gear and legs would allow them. Their legs pounded the ground step after step; shots were heard being exchanged up ahead, so they got ready for an immediate firefight as soon as they hit the village. Rodney was running right behind James.

"You ready Rodney, 'cause they're coming up!" James shouted back to his friend.

"Damn straight! Let's beat their asses up one side of the street and down the oth-" Zzz... puh... thud. James heard the sound of something go past his head at high speed, then looked back to Rodney to see if he heard it too. He didn't see Rodney standing up, but on the ground, his machine gun dumped a few feet behind him.

"Fuck! Rodney! I need a Corpsman now!" James shouted at the top of his lungs to the teams' medic. The medic was unable to move as he was pinned down, so James decided to bring his fallen comrade to the medic himself. He slung him up over his shoulder, doubling his own weight. He left Rodney's weapon as they could always come back and get it before moving into the village, or even after it was secured. There were fifty yards left to run, but with the added mass it felt like fifty miles. James didn't stop though, and kept putting one foot in front of the other in a desperate attempt to make it to cover; all the while Rodney was bleeding profusely from his wound on James' back, but he didn't care because he wanted to save his friend. He kept chugging along sucking in air as his muscles burned with unimaginable pain. He was within twenty five yards now getting closer by the second Boom. Everyone turned around as they heard the explosion, expecting it to be just a hand grenade or RPG.

"IED!" One of the Marines shouted. James and Rodney were almost nowhere to be found.
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"RODNEY!" James shouted into the dark as he awoke still on Fluttershy's couch. He looked around frantically trying to find his friend, but to no prevail he was alone without him. He threw the covers off of him and looked around more in the dark, still trying find Rodney. His search continued to come up empty. He continued his search for a few more minutes, not caring if he woke anyone up. He did though, Rainbow Dash was sitting at the top of the stairs to the guest room, she had awaken when James shouted out, Fluttershy was awake too, but no one knew it.

"Rodney!? Rodney, where are you!?" He shouted again, still thinking he was in the village of Nawabad. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy didn't know what to do so she they just stayed where they were. After looking all through the house and coming up with nothing, he stopped at the couch again and sat down. He laid against the back rest with his hands on his head; trying to get the image of what just happened out of his mind, tears were streaming down his face. After sitting down for several minutes, he got up and walked to the front door, opened it, then stepped outside onto the porch. It was still dark outside and fairly cool; James slumped against the side of the house, the tears were still coming down as he stared blankly into space. He thought back again on his last operation, going over every face and small detail about his comrades. Then he thought of his brother and the funeral, James smacked his head against the house a few times. He then thought of his mother and father and how they were doing; what they were doing, if they missed him, or were even aware that he was not on earth.

Rainbow was looking out the window of her room trying to see what James was doing, she saw him sit down. She decided to go and comfort him. James heard the door open, but didn't look over as he didn't care who it was that came out.

"J- James? Are you okay?" Rainbow asked unsure of what to say. He didn't acknowledge her, and just kept staring at nothing. She came and sat down next to him, she looked closer at him and could see his tears coming down, It was quite obvious that whatever had happened was serious, so she pressed a little further.

"What happened to Rodney?" She asked, trying to get him to open up. He just kept staring, still not acknowledging that she was there. Rainbow went silent and waited for him to say something, several minutes passed before he did.

"He's gone." Was all he said, then looked over at her.

"What happened to him?" She asked trying to go deeper. There was another long pause.

"He was shot in the chest right above his armor. I picked him up and tried to run us both to cover, after that I don't know, there was an explosion I remember though." He said in a monotone. Dash just kept looking at him, unsure of what to say or do.

"I- I don't know what to say." She confessed how she felt to him.

"Don't say anything... just give them a moment of silence." He said as more tears fell. She didn't know whom he was talking about, other than this Rodney person she just heard of; so she just sat silently, waiting for him to do something. It was while before either did.

"Sorry about waking you up miss Dash." James apologized.

"It's okay, I wasn't sleeping all that well anyway." She lied to him, trying to cheer him up.

"What happened with you and Rodney? D- did he die or something?"

"We both did, it was only a dream though... but he actually did that day." He answered her question.

"I'm sorry that it happened."

"You don't need to be, we all eventually meet our fate in one way or another, he did that day in Nawabad." James said turning to her again. They looked each other in the eye, Dash offered him a hug.

"Do you want to tell me about what else happened?" She tried to take the emotional burden off of him more.

"No miss Dash, I've said too much about the matter already, I don't want to speak anymore about it." He said turning away. She didn't want him to feel like this, so she tried a different tactic.

"Alright, well if you don't want to talk about it anymore, I'm goin' back to bed." She said with a fake yawn, then got up to leave.

"No... wait... it's nice to have some one here, please stay." He beckoned for her to come back. She came and sat back down by him, they didn't say anything though. James had stopped crying, but still stared out into open space. Dash draped her wing around him for comfort, he accepted the gesture and let it happen. The two sat that way for a while longer before going back inside.

Meeting The Populace.

Meeting The Populace.

Warning to all readers: there will be some very strong language used at the near end of this chapter, if you don't like it, well too fucking bad sweetheart. Also the blue words are links to music in case you didn't know.
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The sun of a new day arose, fog had slowly crept in and the sun made it glow a soft orange. James had recovered from his nightmare and was laying on the couch, watching the sun rays peek through windows. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were still asleep; or at least it was obvious Rainbow was, as her snoring was heard upstairs, James laughed whenever she slightly woke herself up from it. He looked at his watch, it read 0630; he didn't get up from his position even though he was awake already. He just wanted to wait for them wake up, then he would mosey about. He looked over at his arm, it was starting to heal nicely, no visible scarring had occurred yet, so it would go smoothly he thought. He was still a little mad that his jacket had been ripped, but he forgave Rainbow because it was an accident, plus Rarity could probably fix it up. He lied on the couch for quite some time until one of his friends woke up, he could easily guess who it was, as a loud whinnying like sound was still heard upstairs.

"Good morning miss Fluttershy, how did you sleep?" James asked finally getting up and stretching out.

"Oh good morning James, I slept well thank you. I assume Rainbow Dash stayed last night?"She asked with a warm, friendly smile on her face.

"Indeed she did." He returned the smile. Both could hear her snoring upstairs.

"Did you sleep well last night?" She asked even though she knew the answer to it.

"Not the greatest, but I still feel rather rested, thank you." James truthfully answered her, thinking back just hours before.

"James, do you have those nightmares often?" She asked after a few minutes of silence.

"Not all the time, but it does happen; and I'm sure that you heard me last night too."

"I did, but it didn't bother me. Though it seems like it bothers you quite a bit. You know if you ever want to talk about it, I'm always here for you James." She comforted him, letting him know that she would always be there to help. James just gave a friendly smile back, letting her know that he understood.

"Anyway, what are you serving up this morning?" He asked changing the subject.

"Actually, I don't really have anything this morning, unless you don't mind eating hay and daffodils." She said back with a disappointed look.

"No eggs this morning?" He asked looking out the window to the chicken coops.

"Sorry James, they didn't want to give me any this morning." She said with an even more disappointed look.

"Oh... well that's okay, I have my MRE, I'll be just fine." He said shrugging it off.

Well, I could go to town and get some for you, i- if you would like that." Fluttershy said feeling bad that she didn't have anything for him to eat.

"Well actually miss Fluttershy, I wouldn't mind going to town, but later today. Right now I'm perfectly content with what I have."

"You want to go into town, but what will everypony think when they see you?" She asked shocked.

"Well... we'll just have to see what happens then." He said with little concern.

"But Jame-"

"Fluttershy, it's alright. If anyone asks, we'll just tell them what I've told all of you." He said with another shrug.

"What do you want to go into town for anyway?"

"Well, the other day when miss Dash had dropped by for a visit, we had a race back here, then we went flying off of that hill over yonder. I fell down it and ended up with a gash and a rip in my sleeve; so I wanted to see if mis Rarity could fix it up for me." He explained to her, showing the cut and unrolling his sleeve.

"Oh my, are you two alright?" She asked worried.

"My arm didn't fall off yet, so I think it's alright. Miss Dash though, I'm not very sure; if I had to guess, I'd say she's fine. Speaking of her, good morning Rainbow." He said without turning around; the cyan pony standing at the bottom of the stairs. Neither had heard her come down.

"How did you hear me? Even I could barely hear me!" She said wonder.

"I didn't hear you come down; but I heard you stop snoring, quite literally like a horse, a few minutes ago. So I just yelled out to you, and you happened to be right here." He explained showing that it was no special talent he possessed.

"Was I really that loud?" She said rubbing the back of her head while a blush came on.

"Loud? You make more noise than an Abrams tank!" James busted out laughing as Rainbow blushed harder.

"I'm kidding! You really weren't that loud. Now someone who is bad is my father; if you are near him when he's sleeping, you better have ear plugs!" He laughed harder.

"Oh my, that sounds serious." Fluttershy quietly said.

"You don't even know." James replied back to her with another chuckle.

"Well... I think I'm gonna get going you guys, I'll see ya later." Rainbow said starting for the door.

"Really? We were gonna' head into town here in a little while, if you want to join us?" James proposed the idea to her.

"I thought you said that was a bad idea?" Rainbow recalled his words.

"It was then, but now that I have a few locals to walk around with it wont be as weird."

"Well... I guess I could stick around until then." She played it off, not trying to make it seem like she really wanted to go with him.

"Cool."

"I know I am." She boasted to the them; "It's cool if I come along with you, right Shy?" She asked almost forgetting her manners.

"It's fine with me, it might even be better if we had somepony else to join us too." Fluttershy said, adding to the idea.

"The more the better. When do you guys want to go because I'm ready whenever you are."

"Whenever you want to." Fluttershy said also not caring.

"Well how about twenty minutes so we can get our stuff together." James set the time.

"Okay." The two pegasi said together. They went about their business in preparing for the trip. James went upstairs followed by none other than Rainbow Dash.

"Are you really sure you want to go into Ponyville? I mean this might not work how you want it to." Dash asked James, concerned that the ponies wouldn't take warmly to him.

"Affirmative, and there is only one way to find out if they will like me or not. And if they don't... well I guess I'll double time it to the Everfree forest and figure something else out." He said with a shrug as if there was no other way of going about it.

"You don't really care, do you James?" She deadpanned.

"Not at all, like I said before I'm not going to get shot at so it doesn't bother me at all." James shrugged as he got his rucksack. He dumped out the old contents and put in what he thought he might need. He put into it a small medical kit he always brought along during an operation, the only MRE he had, and some ammunition. He secured his pistol to the webbing on the outside so it was accessible, and didn't have to wear his leg holster; plus nobody knew what it was, so it didn't matter even if he flashed it around in plain sight. He turned around and saw Rainbow with his hat on again, she was looking out the window. James let out a barely audible chuckle.

"You really like that, don't you?" James asked with a smile.

"What? Oh hehe, I didn't even realize I had this on." She giggled because she really didn't. She proceeded to take it off but was interrupted by James.

"I don't mind that you have it on, it looks good on you. Actually, you know what... I want you to have it." James said to her with a smile. Her face lit up with joy and excitement; she jumped on him and gave him a hug.

"Thank you!" She said with a large grin. She stepped back a little bit and into the shimmering sun, it glanced off of her mane and made it shine bright and vibrant. She looked gorgeous in the light and the hat just made the moment even more special for James. She noticed that he was staring this time, and decided it was time to get him back.

"You alright there big guy?" She asked with a small giggle, thinking that her revenge for the way he got her was achieved.

"Oh I'm fine, just admiring how you look in the sun is all." He said truthfully.

"Dang it! I didn't get him!" She shouted in her mind, but let it come out as a smile; "How do I look?" Was what she said in place of her mental language.

"Beautiful." Was all that he said while moving closer to her. She didn't know what to do, so she just let whatever might happen, happen. He walked up to her, gave her a smile, then went to the window. He looked out of it for a few seconds then Rainbow joined him, putting her hooves up on the window sill. They both looked through it and didn't say anything until Fluttershy came up the stairs.

"James, I'm ready when you are." She said coming into the room. They both turned and looked at her and replied, "Okay" in unison. They snapped out of their trance and moved to the stair well. James picked his rucksack up as he passed the bed he left it on. They went down the stairs and out the front door. When he heard the door close James got the feeling of excitement and dread as he was about to meet the populace of Ponyville.

"Feel like I'm about to do my first HALO jump again!" James exclaimed with a forced nervous chuckle. Both Pegasi looked at him with confused expressions.

"What's halo?" They both asked.

"It's an acronym for High Altitude Low Opening; basically we go high up in the sky with the help of a plane, usually a C-130 Hercules, and jump out of it."

"You can fly!?" Dash shouted with excitement.

"Me personally, no. However the machines we have can, and they can go up very high sometimes. So we decided to jump out of them, not being able as humans to fly." He said like it was nothing out of the ordinary.

"Why would you do that if you can't fly?" She asked dumbfounded.

"We do it because it's quick and quiet. We use it a lot on our night time operations to get in to position, undetected."

"I still don't get why you jump out of the thing that would save your life?" She asked again, still confused by the madness of humans.

"Well we can live through it by using a parachute, a good description of it would be a big bed sheet and some strings attached to a backpack, kind of like this. Then at the right altitude we pull on another string to activate it; we then slow down to a speed that wont kill us, and float down to earth after falling almost thirty thousand feet." He explained the basic idea behind it. Rainbow's mouth dropped at hearing the elevation, not believing such a crazy act took place at.

"So you go waayyy up there, then jump out and fall down for thirty thousand feet? What kind of crazy are you, you can't even fly!" She exclaimed trying to figure out why someone would do such a stunt.

"In a nutshell, yes."

"And it doesn't bother you at all?"

"Not really, I've done it enough to where it's just another part of my day." He said like nothing was the matter.

"Well, I bet you couldn't go as fast as me!" She stated.

"I have fallen at about 530 miles per hour, close to the speed of sound, but still a ways off."

"I've broken the sound barrier." She stated plainly.

"Oh that's right, you scared me half to death with that sonic boom that somehow made a rainbow. I thought that it was an F-18 at first." He said almost forgetting the spectacular show that was put on, but only got to see the last bit of.

"Hehe, sorry about that." She giggled.

"For you to do that though, you have to be going pretty fast, so that's something to be proud of." He complimented her on the extraordinary achievement.

"Well that is how I got my cutie mark!" She said looking at her flank.

"Oh yeah, you have that thing that appears on you when you find out your special talent or whatever, right?" James said also looking at her mark.

"Hey, eyes up here." Dash joked as he looked at her rear.

"Ha-ha, you're funny." James said with a smart ass tone. All three of them laughed. They walked for a while longer, slowly approaching the town; Dash hadn't taken the hat off and didn't show that she ever wanted to. They then turned and took a path that ran parallel to Ponyville.

"We gonna' pick someone up I assume?" James asked wondering why they were heading this way.

"Yes, Applejack." Fluttershy answered him.

"Alright, think she's home?"

"I'm not sure, she might be in town selling apples at the market."

"Well if she's not, let's just head to town." James said coming up with a plan. They all nodded in agreement, and continued walking to Applejack's apple orchard. As they approached James looked around at the vast area of apple trees, acres and acres lie before them with large red, green, and yellow apples. They went further in, looking around to see if they could find her bucking apples somewhere around the massive orchard. Their search came up empty, so they went to see if she was in the house.

"Wow, that looks similar to my parents' house... weird." James said to himself, thinking back to the wonderful days on his family's farm. They approached the house and walked up onto the deck, then Rainbow knocked on the door. No one had come; but a few seconds later hoofsteps were heard coming to the door, they sounded big and heavy. The door opened and a large red pony stepped out.

"Howdy miss Dash, miss Fluttershy, and... James ain't it?" Big Macintosh asked the stranger, but with no change in his emotion or posture, almost like James wasn't anything of interest.

"Correct, my name is James, I suppose miss Applejack told of me; you must be Mr. Macintosh then. Miss Applejack told me about you, and she certainly wasn't lying when she said you were a rather large fellow. It's nice to meet your acquaintance." James said introducing himself.

"Eeyup, ah assume ya'll are lookin' for AJ?"

"Indeed, does she happen to be around?" He asked, still surprised that he hadn't run away in fear of James.

"She's in town, selling apples at her stand in the market."

"Thank you, we'll be on our way then." James thanked big Mac and turned around, but was stopped mid-stride by the large stallion.

"Hold on just a second there mister, ah don't know who you are so ah don't trust you just yet. If ah see you acting funny around mah sister and her friends, ah wont hesitate to protect them." Big Mac warned him.

"Understood sir." James told him, then stepped off of the porch with the two mares. Big Mac closed the door and watched them from the window for a moment to see if James pulled any funny business. He concluded that nothing would happen, but was still skeptical of the stranger. He also could not figure out what the silly looking hat was on Rainbow Dash's head.

"Well I guess we'll just meet her there then." James said, unsure of what else to do. They walked on for a while longer and eventually approached the town. The day was perfect for being out, it was about seventy degrees and the sun was shining bright with no clouds to block it out, the whole mood just felt good. As they got closer ponies were seen scrambling about and doing their usual business.

"Are you sure you still want to do this James?" Fluttershy asked nervously.

"Positive."

"Alright then, how do you want to do it?"

"Well what we used to do was find the group elder and get on his good side, as everyone looked up to him above all. So let's meet the head official and do just that." He stated simply.

"The mayor? Do you think that's a good idea?" She asked still nervous about it.

"With all due respect, do you have any other ideas miss Fluttershy? If so I would like to hear them."

"W-well not really."

"Alright then, let's do this, but first we should see miss Applejack, I still haven't eaten and apparently she sells food." James said as he began walking into town. They entered Ponyville and walked down the main street, no one had seen them yet. Then all of the sounds had stopped suddenly. Every pony looked at James with wide eyes and awe stricken faces, unsure of what to make of the new comer. The three kept walking as if nothing had happened until they found Applejack's stand. They walked up to it and greeted her.

"Howdy ya'll, you do realize everypony is staring at us right?" Applejack asked as if they couldn't see the situation before them.

"I think we're aware of this. We figured it would be a good idea to have a fourth member of our little posse to show that I was friendly. Also, how much for one of those apples? I haven't eaten yet today." James answered her.

"I s'pose ya'll can have one for free this time." She said giving him a big red apple. All of the ponies just kept staring at him, then flinched from the sound James made when he took a bite of the apple. Some had gone inside their houses and shops to hide from the newcomer.

"Wow, this is delicious!" James said as he took another large bite. Silence still loomed over the town as nopony dared move.

"I reckon ya'll are trying to introduce yourself to everypony?" Applejack asked.

"Yes, we were going to head over to talk with the mayor in just a moment. You're welcome to join us if you want." James offered.

"Thank ya kindly, but I have to stay and watch the cart, don't want anypony stealing from me."

"Alrighty then. I suppose we'll get going and get it over with." James said as they walked away, everypony was still staring at James. Then he finally said something to them.

"Hello everyone! My name is James Crossland and I am from America. Carry on with your daily events." He announced to all of them. None knew what to do, so they took his advice and went about their business. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash both looked at him with their mouths wide open.

"How did you do that?" Dash asked.

"What? That. Easy." James said with a shrug.

"Yeah okay, the whole town has never seen anything like you; they all stopped what they were doing and stared at you, then just went back to what they were doing like they have seen you before." She said, still dumbfounded by all of it.

"When one is scared and unsure of a situation, it takes one being to step up and make a call with confidence; and all that are overcome with such emotions will follow that leader to the ends of the earth."

"Wow, you've done this before haven't you?"

"In combat, fear and uncertainty is a common thing. So yes I have once or twice." James stated as they walked to the mayor's building. Some of the ponies were still giving him looks of wonder, and they whispered somethings to each other. They walked up to the front door and went in, but James stayed behind on the outside.

"I'll wait here for a moment and you two go and get the mayor to set up a meeting. When she is ready come and get me." James told them the plan.

"What if she doesn't want to see you though? What if she just thinks your another pony and not worth her time?" Fluttershy asked.

"Well don't let her think that. State your business and make it clear and simple why you need to meet with her. I guarantee it will work, trust me." James reassured her with a serious look. The two mares went inside and found the receptionist at the front desk.

"Welcome to city hall, how may I help you?" The stallion receptionist asked.

"We were wondering if we could meet to the mayor about somepony new to the area. He's not from here, or even Equestria for that matter." Fluttershy stated her case.

"You're joking right? Somepony not from Equestria? Here? Please... the both of you leave, the mayor does not have time for silly games like this." He shunned them away. Unsure of how more precise and clear they could be they left; but not before the new man to the land came walking right up to the receptionist who had not seen him enter, as he went back to doing paper work. James walked up to him with purposeful stride and slammed his hand down on the hard desk, making the stallion jump.

"Just like your mayor I don't play games, so let's cut the bullshit. You can see that I am not from Equestria. I am a human, and I would like to meet with the head government of your town. Understand?" James said as he starred into the stallion's eyes.

"U- um... u- uh... uhhh right away!" The receptionist agreed as he ran away quickly to get the mayor.

"Some people, I tell ya!" James exclaimed to his friends as he turned to them. A few moments later the mayor and the receptionist came around the corner, then the mayor stopped in her tracks and stared with wide eyes at him. James ignored her expression as he was getting tired of the shocked look from everyone, and just walked up to her.

"Hello, I assume you are the mayor of Ponyville. My name is James Crossland, I am a human from the United States of America, and a member of the United States Marine Corps. Is there somewhere we could talk more privately?" James asked, cutting to the chase because he was tired of explaining himself to everyone.

"I- I... um, y- yes follow me." The mayor stuttered. James looked at his two companions and told them to not wait for him while he and the mayor conversed, as it would be a while before they were done. They arrived in a small conference room and sat at the table; James slung off his ruck sack and set it next to the table with his weapon facing him, just in case he might need it. A slight awkward silence had fallen over the room, but James washed it away.

"I know you have a lot of questions so let's here them, I wont leave until I have answered them all." James stated knowing that he would be there for a while, though he was used to it from the many times he had to do the same procedure in Afghanistan. He looked at is watch and noted it was 1300.

"What are you, mister... James it was?" She asked getting the most obvious question out of the way.

"That's right, and I am a human. I am not from your world and I have yet to figure out how I got here."

"When did you arrive here?"

"About a week or so ago." James replied. The two of them talked for quite some time, but eventually they emerged from the conference room, both with smiles on their faces. Everypony that was in the building had been waiting in the main reception area, hoping to get a glimpse of the newcomer.

"Everypony, this is James Crossland. He is new here, so do be kind and help him out if he needs it." The mayor told all of them. She walked with him to the front door and showed him out; once outside they shook hand and hoof and bid each other goodbyes. Everypony who was around had noticed this and thought that if the mayor and he were shaking hooves, then he must be good, and therefor a friend to them as well. James walked down the front steps and onto the streets of Ponyville. It had gotten much later, he looked at his watch again and it read 1700.

"That took a lot longer than I was hoping, my guess is that Fluttershy and Rainbow went back home. Oh well, I'll catch up with them later, I have some errands to run first." He said to himself as he walked the streets. The looks he had gotten before had disappeared from the wandering ponies; "It works every time." He continued talking to himself. He walked more around town, some ponies had even talked to him. One unicorn in particular named Lyra, was exceptionally interested in him. They talked for a few minutes, then he asked where he could find Rarity's boutique because he had a question for her. She guided him in the general direction, then went on her way to meet her friend Bon Bon. He found the way and walked in the front door.

"Hello? Miss rarity are you here?" James asked in a loud voice, in case she might be elsewhere in the building.

"Just a moment please!" She shouted down to him from upstairs. She came down a few moments later with her hair in a fringed mess, rather than the toiled, curly way it had been the day before.

"Hello miss Rarity, I hope I'm not bothering you." James apologized for his actions if he was.

"Oh not really darling! I'm just making an order for a client named Fancy Pants is all, and he wants it done by tomorrow morning."

"Interesting name, but listen could you do me a huge favor if you're not super busy?" He asked her while unrolling his sleeve to show the damage done to it.

"I suppose I could, what assistance do you need of me?" She said taking on whatever challenge she may have to face.

"Well the other day when miss Dash and I had first met, we had a race and eventually it ended up with me having a gash down my arm, and a rip in my sleeve." He said showing her the long rip.

"You know sweetie, that thing you're wearing is absolutely hideous right?" She said with a disgusted look.

"Well it's not meant to be pretty, it's supposed to be used, and meant for concealment." James defended the honor of his camouflage.

"Darling really, you should let me make you something new to wear other than that." She practically spat at it.

"That wont be necessary, I just need a quick patch and I'm fine; but... if you want to make another pair of these in a drab green and black with some spots of brown in it, in this same square looking pattern, you would make my day." He said to her. She almost fainted at hearing him say the words drab and green, not even hearing the rest of it.

"Oh no no no darling, you can't be serious? I simply will not do it! It is a crime to fashion and I will not stand for it!" She protested slamming her hoof on the ground.

"Alright, sorry, but can you just sew this up please; I'm tired of having to keep my sleeves rolled all the time." He quickly apologized.

"Well I suppose I could, but I really don't think you should be wearing something like this." She agreed to it even though she didn't want to, her generous nature didn't let her say no.

"Excellent, but first how much will this cost me?" He asked while digging through his pockets to find some type of currency.

"For you darling, not a thing."

"Really? Thank you miss Rarity, you're very generous."

"You're welcome deary, just give me a moment to patch this up and it will be all yours, just wait down here a moment." She said rushing up the stairs. She came back down a few minutes later with the jacket hovering in front of her and displaying the now fixed sleeve.

"Wow, that looks amazing! The thread color even matches, thank you very much miss Rarity." He thanked her while looking over it closer to see if anything was out of place. It was impeccable.

"You are very welcome darling, now don't go and rip it again. It's one thing if it looks drab and distasteful, but if it is ripped... well I can tell you that I will not let it go unfixed!" She exclaimed while striking a pose that showed she would never let such an atrocity happen.

"Well thank you again miss Rarity, I'll be on my way as I must be getting back to miss Fluttershy's cottage. I believe her and Rainbow Dash went back to their homes." James said as he made for the door.

"You're welcome darling." She said with a final wave goodbye. James stepped back into the streets and noticed that the sun had started its decent behind the trees of the Everfree forest. He looked at his watch again and it read 1800.

"Well I suppose it's dinner time, luckily I have my MRE on me." James said as he looked through his pack to make sure he did have it. He found it and zipped his pack up, then found an empty table by one of the various shops. He sat down and looked around, admiring the town and its scenery. The houses were not big but they were decent sized, and most were painted a creamy white or pinkish color. The shingles looked like cedar or some other type of wood slats, and were a dark brown. The moment was amplified even more as the sun turned the sky a beautiful red, orange, and purple. He kept looking around for several minutes longer before taking out his brown, plastic bagged meal. Before he tore off the top of it, he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. It was pink and was bouncing up and down, he turned to look and saw it was the bubbly, hyper pony named Pinkie Pie. She kept bouncing along the street, until she saw him.

"Oh boy, here we go." He though to himself.

"Hi James! What are you doing here!?" She said still jumping up and down.

"Hello miss Pinkie, I'm just sitting down to a nice meal and enjoying the town. I came here earlier in the day to get acquainted with everyone."

"Hehehe, it sounds funny when you say miss Pinkie! Like I'm an old mare or something!" She continued laughing for a while longer.

"Just trying to be formal ma'am." He said back. Pinkie just laughed harder at this because she had never been called anything like it before.

"I- hehehe, I'm sorry, i- it's just sooo funny to hear you say that it is all!" She said through bursts of laughter. After a few moments passed, her laughter died off, and she continued the conversation.

"Well like I was saying, I was just sitting down to a meal."

"A meal, that doesn't look like a meal, that looks like... well... not even food!" She said wondering how he ate such a strange looking thing.

"Well it's inside of here, now if you'll excuse me I am starving." He said, getting irritated by the hyperactive pony and her bouncing. He couldn't figure out how she did it without getting tired at all.

"Oh silly filly, you can't eat that. Come with me to Sugar Cube Corner, I've got something that will fill you up! Plus Dashie is there right now!" She said as she bounced down the street again.

"Well at least I don't have to eat my emergency rations, and one of my friends is there." He said to himself as he threw the kit into his bag, then ran off to catch up with her. A few minutes later they arrived at their destination, it looked almost like a giant gingerbread house. The two walked through the front door, some of the ponies at first jumped up at the sight of James, but quickly sat back down as they remembered who he was. Pinkie bounced into the back room, then returned shortly afterward with a cupcake.

"Just a cupcake? Honey it takes a lot of fuel to power a big rig, and this wont cut it." He joked with her, but Pinkie knew that it wouldn't be enough already, so she brought out a full cake for him. Dash saw James and Pinkie enter but didn't get up because she wanted to see what they were doing.

"That was just the appetizer silly!"

"Dear lord that is a lot of sugar. Pinkie, I might get diabetes from that much sugar. Also, how much will this cost me because I have no money." He stated to her.

"It's on the house!" She gleefully replied.

"Thank you Pinkie, you are very kind." He said as he had the cupcake stuffed into his mouth. He was startled by it at first because it was unexpected, but chewed it after realizing what had happened.

"Wow... that was amazing." James complimented her. She just gave him a large tooth grin and slid him a plate of half the cake she had brought out. He thanked her again, then went to sit down with Dash. He turned around to find her and noticed she was already looking at him. She quickly turned away and blushed for the hundredth time that week.

"This seat taken stranger?" James flirted with her.

"Yeah by this one guy that I know, he's pretty cool." She tried flirting back.

"Do you think he'll mind if I sit for a moment?" He continued.

"I don't think so." She played with him.

"I've got a lot of cake and two forks, wanna' help me finish this thing?" He said while offering up the other fork.

"I can't really use a fork you know right?" She asked as if he didn't know. He face palmed.

"Give me a second." He said as he went back to the counter and asked Pinkie for a knife. He returned and cut the cake into two parts. Giving one piece to Dash, and one to himself. They conversed as they ate and when they were done, James brought the plates back to Pinkie and thanked her once more.

"We should totally do something tonight!" Rainbow blurted to him as soon as he sat back down.

"What like a date or something?"

"W- well, not like a date... j- just hanging out is what I meant." She stuttered not trying to make it seem that way, even if she wanted it to be.

"Well either way, sure. Did you have anything in mind?" He asked interested that she wanted him to hangout with her.

"Well we could just walk around or whatever, but I heard Vinyl Scratch is having a concert at the park and it's free tonight. We should totally go! If you want to that is." She said coming up with something.

"Okay, tell me about this Vinyl Scratch as we walk there, when does it start by the way?"

"I think it started like twenty minutes ago." She said as they got up and headed for the door. On the way out they both thanked Pinkie for the cake again, then walked to the concert.

"So how did it go with the mayor?" She asked, almost forgetting why he had come to town.

"Excellent, she trusts me, I trust her, and it all worked out how I had hoped."

"Cool. So no having to worry about everypony staring at you again?"

"Well I can't guarantee that, but not as much anymore." He assured her. The two walked for a while longer, the night had fully set in, and in the not too far off park, lights could be seen flashing and some noise could also be heard.

"There it is!" Rainbow said as she flew slightly into the air. They kept moving towards it and the sound became clearer. They could also hear a voice saying something over the microphone but was not understandable. As they got closer they could see that a large amount of ponies had gathered. The DJ was gone, but a reoccurring beat was playing so they didn't lose the attention of the audience. Some ponies were dancing, others were at the bar getting drinks, and everyone was having a good time. There were two male pegasi that were harassing a female unicorn, some took notice to it but didn't do anything, and others just ignored it so they didn't get involved.

"Who are those two assholes over there?" James said as he stared coldly at the two trouble makers.

"Hoops and Dumbbell, I went to flight school with them." She said as the memories of her bullies came back.

"You alright Dash?" He asked concerned.

"T- they used to bully me back then and whenever they see me they call me Rainbow Crash." She confessed to him.

"Well if they even try messing with you, come find me and will put my size twelve boots up their narrow asses." He tried to comfort her.

"Thanks, I'll just try and avoid them."

"Alright but if they do, I'll teach them to quit messing with you and everyone else they are picking on." He said with a serious tone. She nodded, and they walked into the crowd of ponies. James stuck out like a sore thumb because of his height, but no one seemed to care, or really notice. They all just kept dancing to the beat. The DJ finally came back and began to set up for new songs. When she did, she got back on the microphone and told everypony that they were going to kick it off in just a second. Then she saw James and called out to him, everypony looked at who she was talking to.

"Well, looks like we got somepony new here, what's your name stranger?" She asked, putting him on the spot.

"James Crossland, I'm a US Marine." He halfway shouted because of the distance to the pony he was speaking to.

"Well mister James, I'm Vinyl and I want to welcome you to Ponyville my friend!" She shouted as she started the music back up. Everypony cheered as it began, then even louder when the bass dropped. They all went back to dancing, even James did. He was never a dancing person, but at that moment he didn't care, he just shook and moved his arms and legs in an attempt to dance. The song went on and the bass dropped again, and everypony cheered again. Dash was dancing with James, but couldn't restrain from laughing at his attempt.

"I'm gonna' get a drink, do you want one!?" She shouted over the loud music.

"Nah' I'm good!" He shouted back. She escaped the almost mosh pit like crowd and made her way to the bar. Once she got there she looked to see if her past tormentors were around, she didn't see them so she ordered herself a drink of hard cider. She drank some and looked back over James who was dancing with somepony. He was moving his legs and feet backwards in an attempt to do the moon walk, but came out unsuccessful. He caught her looking at him so he waved, and Dash raised her mug to him.

"Hey Rainbow Crash!" Somepony shouted at Rainbow.

"Oh no." She said as she turned in the direction of where it came from. Just a few feet away were the same two ponies that bullied her so many times. She didn't know what to do so she stood where she was and let whatever mean things they wanted to say, be said.

"How did you get here? Let me guess, you crash landed!" The one with three basketballs on his flank teased.

"N- no I walked here." She said looking at the ground. James looked back to her and saw she was looking at the ground, and wondered why she was doing that. He moved around a little and saw the same ponies who were harassing the unicorn earlier. When James saw them he went into drill instructor mode, and marched over to their position. It was obvious to everypony else that something was bothering him, and they looked at what he was going to do. He had anger building inside of him, waiting to let it go and unleash it upon the two pegasi. He got within ten feet of them and ripped into them with a very loud voice that made everypony stop what they were doing.

"What the fuck is going on here!?" He shouted with absolute rage at the two. They were caught off guard by him and weren't sure how to react, exactly how James planned it.

"U- umm... I u-"

"Did I say you could talk you scroungy little fuck!?"

"Uh- uh-"

"No I didn't! Get on your stomach! Now!" James yelled even louder. He immediately dropped down.

"I'm sorry for what I said" He barely said out loud as he trembled.

"You're not getting off that easy! Now get off your ass and on your feet! Now get back down! Get up! Get down!

"Shut up, you're not even a pony!" The one with a dumbbell said to him. The music had stopped and everypony was looking at the scene in front of them.

"Well, what do we have here? A fucking comedian!?"

"Some ponies call me that." He shot back at James.

"Do they now? Fucking humor me then!"

"What's tan and red all over?"

"I don't play games asshole!" James shouted not amused by his joke.

"Well it's you when I'm done bucking your flank!"

"So you're a fighter!? I like fighters, you think you can take me down!?"

"I'll buck your flank back to where ever you're from!" Dumbbell shouted at him ready for a fight.

"You've got a lot of ambition, hell I like you, you can over to my house and fuck my sister!" He shouted right back. Dumbbell then spun around and kicked his hind legs at James. He saw it coming and stepped to the side, letting his legs fly past him. James wasted no time in letting the hostile get ready for another kick. He dived at Dumbbell and crashed into his side, which sent both of them tumbling. The crowd gasped at what was happening before them, and started cheering for James because they had all been bullied by the pair, and were tired of them. James got back up and punched the pegasus in the side three times, then got off of him.

"You little scumbag! I've got your name, I've got your ass! You will not laugh, you will not cry, you will not breathe unless I fucking say so! Now get up! Get on your feet!" James yelled as loud as he could and pointed at him to get up. Dumbbell did as he was told.

"Oohhhh that hurt, please no more." He pleaded to James through clenched teeth of pain.

"You had best unfuck yourself, or I will unscrew your head and shit down your neck!"

"Okay, I'm sorry."

"You will address me as sir! Do you understand!?"

"Yes sir." He said through jolts of pain in his side.

"Now tell me, what's your name queer bait?"

"Dumbbell sir."

"Dumbbell!? Are you sure your mommy didn't name you dumbass!" James insulted him.

"Why are you doing this?"

"Why are you picking on these ponies!?" James threw his question right back at him.

"I don't know, it's fun to me." Dumbbell said quietly. Everypony was still starring, their mouths were dropped almost to the ground as everything unfolded before their eyes. The two had picked on them all before but no one ever had the courage to stand up to them.

"Because it's fun. Well let me tell you something, no one here likes you, especially me!"

"Look we're sorry we wont do it again, can we just go please?" Hoops asked him.

"Well what's your excuse for leaving the party!?" James turned to the one still laying on the ground.

"Excuse sir?" He asked confused by everything that was happening.

"I'm asking the fucking questions here sweetheart, now answer me!"

"I- I don't know sir."

"Are you shook up!? Are you scarred!? James shouted just inches from his face, Hoops could feel James' hot breath whip across his face.

"Yes sir." He said as he was on the verge of crying due to so much stress.

"Are you gonna' cry!? I've seen fucking children get yelled at worse than this and they didn't even change the expressions on their faces!" James intimidated him even more. Hoops then began to cry.

"You can pick on adults but you act like a child!? How fucking pathetic!" He continued.

"Look sir we're sorry, can we please go?" Dumbbell pleaded again.

"I don't know, let's see what everyone else has to say." James told them both as he turned to the crowd; "Do you all feel they learned their lesson!?" He shouted to everypony there.

YES They all shouted in response.

"Well, it looks like the jury has reached a verdict; and if I ever see you pull this shit again, I will gouge out your eyeballs and skull fuck you! I'll be watching you! Now get the fuck out of here!" James yelled one last time as he chased them off. Behind them the thunderous crowd boomed with cheers as they watched their tormentors run away. James turned to Dash who was staring at him with her mouth wide open.

"Sorry about the language miss Dash, that was rather unprofessional of me." James apologized. She didn't say anything and leaped at him, embracing him tightly.

"That was the coolest thing ever!" She said doing a back flip; "Let's hear it for James the human!" She shouted to everypony.

"No cheering folks, please. I just wanted to teach them a lesson of empathy and respect." He stated to them all. Vinyl would not let it go without some sort of recognition though. She had been bullied many times by them, as they called her work horrid and trashy even though many ponies attended her performances.

"Well James, you seem like a pretty cool cat. Especially for you to just stand up for anypony you don't know like that. So this next song goes to you!" She said as she started hitting buttons on the console in front of her. As the music started everypony began to dance again, but at a slower pace than before. James looked at Dash and offered out a hand.

"Join me for a dance?" He asked as he lead them both to the dance area. James got a few random cheers but swatted them away with a 'not necessary' wave of his hand. They arrived at the floor and began a slight slow dance; though it was kind of awkward with Rainbow standing on her back legs, but she managed to do it. They danced and laughed with each other long into the night. Early the next morning, they awoke in Fluttershy's cottage.

Author's Note

All music rights belong to Excision. Hope you all liked this chapter, it took forever to do. Then next one is in the process as well.

Moving Out.

The rest of their night had gone well; the two bullies had not returned to retaliate against James for humiliating them, and everypony accepted James into Ponyville and their pony culture. Both Rainbow Dash and James danced for long into the night; they laughed, made new friends, or at least James did. James even gave into Dash's persistence about trying the hard apple cider. "Oh come on. You just stood up to the biggest bullies in Equestria, you took out a cockatrice, spent an entire night in the Everfree forest, and you just walked into Ponyville like you owned the place, and you wont take a drink!?" Dash complained to James about his stubbornness.

"I've done more hardcore stuff than that, I can assure you!" James boasted with a slight chuckle.

"Just try it!" She said nudging him towards the bar.

"Damn it! Fine!" He said giving in to her. She stopped pushing, and walked next to him. They made their way over and ordered two shots of hard cider.

"Here you two go!" The bar tender shouted over the music. They toasted and drank it down; Dash made a face that looked like it was hard as it went down, James laughed at her.

"What are you laughing at?" She asked as the cider still had some burn going down.

"Nothing, just that I didn't feel any sort of effect from it on the way down. In fact, that was pretty smooth!" He exclaimed.

"No way!? That was some pretty hard stuff I ordered!" She said with an astonished look.

"Yeah that didn't burn at all!"

"Liar! I'm gonna' order some more, you want one?" She asked still not believing him.

"Sure that was pretty good!"

"Hey, up the hardness of that cider, he said he didn't feel anything from that last one, and I don't believe him." She said to the bar tender.

"Really!? Wow. If you want me to, I'll give you the second hardest I have." He said back to her.

"Cool, thanks, how much will that be?"

"Twenty bits total." He told her. She chipped out twenty bits, but didn't care that she had to pay out the amount, she just wanted to prove that James was lying to her. She walked back over to him with both mugs and they toasted again, Dash had gotten a lighter cider because she didn't like the previous one too much. She had a mischievous look on her face as James drank his down, he expressed no sort of discomfort from the harder cider.

"Wow, that was even better than the last one!" James said with a joyful grin.

"There is no way that didn't burn a little!" Dash shouted back at him with an even more astonished look.

"That was still pretty smooth, how much was that because I kind of want more."

"Okay, you want more!? You're crazy!"

"I've been called that once or twice, worse many other times!" He said back with a laugh.

"Come with me to the bar, I still don't believe you!" She said as she motioned with her head to the bar. They walked back to the bar tender and Dash told him to give her the hardest cider he had.

"I don't think that's a good idea, I have eighty seven proof and that's for blending with other drinks!" He said with a concerned look on his face.

"James here still didn't feel anything from that last drink I got him!"

"Really!? Well still I'm not going to do it" He refused.

"Oh come on! Please please please!" She tried to annoy him into doing it, after a while he did.

"Okay, I'll give you this one for free because I've made plenty of bits tonight, but only a small amount." He said as he poured another shot that would make most ponies throw up and maybe even pass out.

"Here you go." He said with a look of concern, as he didn't want to make James sick. James took it off the counter and smelled it. It smelled sweet, almost like it was made out of only squished apples and no additives like the cider he used to buy from the store back home.

"Smells good!" He said as he turned the mug upside down and drank. Both the bar tender and Rainbow watched with their mouths hanging open.

"Well... how was it?" The bar tender asked when he finished.

"Wow! That was delicious, that was like pure true cider!" James said as he licked his lips, trying to get anything he may have missed.

"You felt nothing!?" The bar tender asked bewildered.

"Still smooth like the barrel of my rifle, wait you don't know what that is. Well either way it was still smooth!" James said as he set the mug down.

"I'll have whatever he just had!" Somepony butted in, it was Vinyl Scratch.

"You don't want to drink that! I just gave him enough cider to make anypony sick, and he's just fine!" The bar tender denied the concert performer.

"What was it?" She asked confused.

"Eighty seven proof Applejack Daniels!" He said looking back at the bottle still on the counter.

"No... way!?" Vinyl asked as she too was astonished by the high content.

"I'm still alive aren't I?" James said to Vinyl.

"Do it again!" She said in disbelief.

"No I wont do it, I wont give him anymore, I don't want to kill him!" The bar tender refused.

"Guy, I've been shot in the chest numerous times; I've taken a shot to the arm, and even in the head, but the bullet glanced off my helmet luckily. I also just drank those other drinks, do you really think that this will kill me?" James said back, getting rid of any thought of him being harmed by a simple drink.

"Okay, but if something happens I'm not responsible for it." The bartender finally agreed.

"I wanna' see this guy drink his bucking face off!" Vinyl cheered, some ponies around them heard her and turned to see what the commotion was about. The bar tender poured another small amount into the mug and served it, James just looked at him with a 'really, that's all?' face. James pushed the mug aside and grabbed the bottle left on the counter. He was feeling butterflies in his stomach as endorphins rushed about in his system. The feeling became greater as more ponies turned around and looked at the mad man in front of them, whom was about to drink the hardest cider made made without a second thought. He tilted his head back and drank the rest of it, there was about half of a bottle left before he started.

"Damn that's good!" He shouted out to everypony when he finished. They all looked in awe at him, there was no way he was still standing from that much cider, however, tall and strong he did stand. "How much for another?"

"Just take the bottle, if you can live through that without even throwing up, you have a liver of steel!" The bar tender told him as he set the bottle on the counter.

"Not steel... kevlar, and I've been getting a lot of free stuff today, are you sure?"

"I'm getting a new shipment in this week anyway, it's fine. Consider it a welcoming gift." He said nudging the bottle a little closer to James.

"Alright, if you say so." James said as he took it and out it in his ruck sack for later.

"You are the craziest motherbucker in Equestria!" Vinyl shouted to him after he put the bottle away.

"Vinyl... you don't even know the half!" James exclaimed. He made his way back through the crowd with Dash, and started dancing to the recurring beat Vinyl had put on before coming over to the bar. The night continued on with more laughter and cheering and dancing. When they finally left the party it was two in the morning. Rainbow did not feel like flying to her cloud mansion, and James would not let her either due to her being slightly drunk, luckily they weren't too far from Fluttershy's cottage though.

"James, you're awesome!" Dash said with a slight slur in her speech.

"Thank you, but I think you had a little too much to drink."

"No no no no, really you're awesome... and pretty good looking too." Dash said the last bit quietly and quickly so James wouldn't quite here it.

"Come again?" He asked trying to hear the last part again.

"Nothing, nothing." She played it off. They kept walking, but both stayed in silence; enjoying the early morning darkness, Dash walked close to him. They made it to Fluttershy's cottage and went inside trying to be as quiet as possible. They went up to the guest room and shut the door so they wouldn't wake Fluttershy, if they hadn't already. Rainbow was still acting funny from the cider so James wanted to make sure that Dash got to bed alright.

"You gonna' be alright there Rainbow?" James asked concerned.

"Yeah, I'll be alright. Just a little too much to drink." She said as she climbed into bed. James took off his pack and detached his pistol from it, then put the pack in the closet.

"You sure you'll be okay?"

"Yeah I'm good... but, will you stay up here tonight?" She asked him as he almost started for the door.

"O- oh, yeah sure if you want me to."

"Please?" She asked again.

"Alright, but it's pretty late so we're gonna go dark here in a second." He said as he walked to the light switch and flipped it off. He walked back over and laid down on the floor, not caring that it was hard, he could sleep almost anywhere.

"James... I'm glad I met you." She said in the darkness.

"As am I Rainbow, I'm not sure how I got here, but if this is where I spend the rest of my life... well that's just fine with me." He agreed with Dash. The two didn't say anything more, and both drifted off to sleep. Dash dreamed about flying with the Wonderbolts, and James dreamed about home. James woke up just a few hours later, but didn't get up, much like the morning before. He didn't try and go back to sleep because he was too used to getting up at such an early time; many of the operations he had been on required him to be up that early and sometimes sooner than that. Instead of stirring about in the quiet house, he laid on the floor and thought, thought about anything and everything. He thought back to the night and the two bullies, then he chewing them out, he quietly laughed to himself. Then he though about Fluttershy's cottage, could he really keep living there for the rest of his life? No, he would definitely move out at some point, but to get a place of his own he would need to get a job and make money. He cast the idea aside for a later time. He rolled onto his back and was met with a light blue face and rose colored eyes.

"Well good morning Rainbow." He said after a few moments of silence and staring at one another.

"James... how are you up so early, it's still sorta' dark out." She asked with a yawn.

"Years of practice." He joked. They both laughed quietly.

"Thanks for standing up for me last night." She said after a minute of silence between them.

"I'm loyal to my country, constitution, and my people. Well ponies now, but all the same, and when anyone dares mess with any of those three, I will defend it with teeth and claws until the problem ceases."

"I think it's cool that you and are I kind of the same, both loyal and we're pretty awesome."

"Thanks Rainbow. You know what I just realized, I've skipped my PT the last two days, wanna' join me for a nice morning run?" He invited her to join him.

"You want me t- to go with you?" She asked surprised.

"I don't see why not, but I'll tell you since I've skipped the past few days I'm going to be going hard; so bring your game if you want to join me, but you don't have to, it's no big deal." He said as he got up and stretched.

"No! I mean... I want to." She said as she sat up in bed.

"Alright, but we need to be quiet about it, I don't want to awake miss Fluttershy."

"I'll be as quiet as the breeze." She said as she flapped her wings. James kept his boots off so he didn't make any clacking sound on the hard wood floor. They made it to the front door and went outside, James closed the door then put his boots on. The early morning air was cool and crisp, it was still dark but the sun was seen barely rising in the distance. James looked around for a few moments to drink it all in, he set his watch for forty minutes, then started his exercise. Dash wasn't in the mood for running, so she flew instead. They didn't run through the Everfree forest this time because mostly everypony knew he was there; so instead they took a path to town. After a while however, Dash started complaining about her head hurting.

"Ah, my head hurts from last night, probably shouldn't have drank so much." She groaned.

"That may have been a good idea." He said through a few breaths, he didn't stop though and just kept running along.

"I'm still surprised you're not dead from that much cider!"

"I guess your type of alcohol doesn't affect me, maybe the kind that we have on earth wouldn't do anything to you?" He wondered.

"Maybe, but I don't know. Where are we heading anyway?" She asked not sure of the place they might be going.

"Don't know, but when my timer hits twenty minutes, we're going to turn around and head back the exact way we came." He said still chugging along, they had been going for ten minutes. The sun had risen further in the sky, casting an array of oranges and reds throughout. They soon reached the twenty minute mark, James didn't waste anytime in turning about. Rainbow did not expect the sudden turn and flew past him a few feet, but quickly caught up with him.

"You didn't even warn me!" She said in a playful tone.

"My bad, thought you were paying attention. Hey, listen to this. I've been thinking about this all morning." He said changing the topic.

"About what?"

"I was thinking about moving out of Fluttershy's house and into my own, seeing as now everybody knows I'm here."

"Really?"

"Yeah, but the problem is that I have no idea where I could live at. I could just build a little crack shack in the forest, but that will only work for a little while." He said doubting there was any way to pull it off.

"Well, there's a few abandoned houses around the Everfree, I bet if you talked to the mayor she would let you move into one without having to really pay for it!"

"Not a bad idea!" He agreed. They were approaching the outskirts of Ponyville, a few residents had seen them and waved. One of them they noticed was minty green unicorn named Lyra and her friend Bon Bon, James couldn't figure out what it was about them, but it seemed like they really enjoyed each other's company.

"Hey Dash, what's up with those two?"

"Who? Lyra and Bon Bon? They haven't said it yet but everypony can tell that they're dating." She said knowing full well what was going on.

"Hmm, interesting."

"Why did you want to know?"

"Just curious is all, I had a suspicion that they were." He shrugged as he ran.

"Oh... is there anything wrong with that?"

"No there's nothing wrong with it, I was just wondering is all. Hey we got about a hundred meters left, wanna' race the rest?" He said as he picked up his pace.

"You know I do!" She said as she took off with her wings, leaving James far behind her.

"Ya cheater!" He shouted as he started a dead sprint, however he was catching up. They made it to Fluttershy's cottage and stopped on the porch, both were panting heavily. The morning had ramped up, and the orange sky turned to a light blue like it usually did. Some clouds were coming over head, but didn't block the sunlight.

"You are such a cheater Dash." He joked.

"I didn't cheat, I just used what I was born with." She threw back at him.

"Whatever." He said as he stuck his tongue out, they moved towards the door and quietly opened it. They went inside trying not to make any noise, but was not necessary because Fluttershy was already up tending to her rabbit Angel.

"Well good morning miss Fluttershy, we didn't wake you up earlier did we?" James asked hoping that they hadn't on accident. She slightly jumped when she heard him speak because she hadn't heard them come in.

"Oh my I didn't hear you come in, you scared me. No you didn't wake me, but Angel did, he's feeling a little sick this morning." She quietly peeped out.

"That seems to be a recurring event with you and I."

"Yes, but I forgive you." She said as she gave Angel some medicine.

"Good... well, what's on the agenda for today?"

"I'm not sure, just tending to my critters mostly, did you have something in mind?" She asked as she turned away from Angel.

"Well miss Fluttershy, I was thinking about moving out so you can have your place back to yourself." He said laying out his plan.

"Moving out? But where will you go?" She asked as she turned her full attention to him.

"Rainbow here suggested I could talk to the mayor about an abandoned house near the edge of the forest, and honestly I think it's a pretty good idea."

"I guess that would be a good idea, but most of those houses are rundown and need a lot of repair." She said concerned about the state of the structures, and the fact that nopony could ever live in one.

"I don't really need anything that's built up at all, I can live just about anywhere, the middle of the desert, the swamp of a jungle, even the dense woods of the forest as you've already seen." He stated.

"Well maybe so, but why do that when you can just live here in an already working house!?"

"Well that is a valid point, but honestly miss Fluttershy, it's been hard to keep coming in and out at these odd hours for myself. I'm usually up at the ass crack of dawn, and in bed at about 2300 hours. You're usually in bed at those times and I don't want to wake you up, and I know I have, especially when I have those damn nightmares!" He argued.

"Well it's okay with me really James, I don't mind."

"Miss Fluttershy, it's really for the best, I need to have a place of my own for my certain reasons. Plus I sort of feel like a free loader because I can't even pay rent, seeing as though I don't have a job." He continued his argument. Rainbow stood behind James, looking around trying to pass off not being the awkward third wheel. She slowly wandered around until she got to the stairs to the guest room. She then went up stairs to do something, anything to pass the time. She could still hear them arguing downstairs, it made her laugh a little at the fact Fluttershy was arguing with somepony. She wouldn't haggle over the price of cherries, but she also wouldn't let somepony just walk out into the world without any housing.

"Look miss Fluttershy, this really is the best option; I just need a bunk and roof over my head to keep off the rain, I don't even need walls. A dumpy old house is even better than the sleeping quarters we got at some of the forward operating bases in Afghanistan, I can assure you." James stated. Dash was still listening closely, but was occupied with looking at James' gear in the closet. She attempted to pick up his vest to see what it was like to wear it, but had a hard time because of its weight. She tried getting a better hold of it by one of the many pouches that held whatever tool one may have needed; little did she know it was the hand grenade pouch, it unbuckled but the grenade didn't come out. she got a better hold at the bottom of the vest, it was still held together by the velcro side straps so it wasn't hard to get on. She got down low and wiggled into it, then slipped her forelegs into the large arm holes, her wings didn't come up far enough so they were stuck inside. She tried to push up after getting it on, it was difficult, but she managed to stand.

"Wow, how does he walk around with this on all day?" She wondered to herself. She looked around and found a mirror to check herself out in. She found the one on the dresser and struggled to get herself up to look in it. She looked at her reflection and giggled, she looked odd with it on. She let out another giggle then got down, but when she did she bumped the grenade on the top of the dresser and it popped out, rolling around the room then down the stairs. I thumped all the way down.

"Look Fluttershy I'm moving out today, I'll be just fine. You know you sound almost like my mom right be-" clunk clunk clunk clunk clunk. James stopped in the middle of his sentence and raised his head up trying to hear the sound better, it seemed oddly familiar to him. Clunk It smacked the landing and rolled slightly more.

"GRENADE!" He shouted as he flung himself at Fluttershy and threw her behind him, then landing down on top of her to protect her from the soon to come explosion, followed by hundreds of pieces of shrapnel. He waited for it to come, knowing this was last thing he would be doing, saving a friend. It never exploded and Dash came down the stairs after it. James saw her with his vest on.

"Dash get back, take Fluttershy behind the couch. Now!" He shouted as he approached the explosive with extreme caution. She did as she was told and hid behind the couch with her friend. James got closer, he could see that the spoon was still on it, and the safety pin was in, but he still treated it with the utmost caution and took it outside through the back door. He set it down away from anything it might damage, and waited another minute. When he was done waiting he went back to it slowly and picked it up. He looked at it closer and declared it was intact and would not explode. He held it in his hand and went back inside, but kept it so if it did go off, the majority of it would hit him and not the house or possibly his friends.

"Is everything alright James?" Fluttershy asked him concerned and confused.

"It's alright, this must have come out of its pouch when Dash put my vest on." He said as he looked at the blue pegasus.

"Sorry, I just wanted to try it on." She said as she turned away in embarrassment.

"It's alright just do be careful, almost everything on there is meant to hurt someone; so if you don't know what it is, don't touch it." He warned.

"Okay, I'm just going to take this off now, it weighs a lot. How do you even wear this thing all day?" She said as she tried to slip out of it. James put the grenade on the kitchen table, then assisted her.

"Arms, er, legs up. This thing has some weight to it, but it's not too bad. I've worn one for the past decade, so it's just another part of my body." He told her as he lifted it off. He went back to the table and put the explosive back into its respective pouch. Then put the vest on so Dash wouldn't get more curious as to the items that were on it.

"I'm really sorry about that." She apologized again.

"Like I said, it's okay. Just do be careful, if something happened to you because of something on here, I don't know what I would do, but it wouldn't be good."

"You really care about me don't you?"

"Very much Rainbow Dash, you and everyone else that I've met." He said with a very serious tone. He turned away then went upstairs without saying anything else. He came down several minutes later with all of his gear he came to Equestria in. He walked up to Dash and put the hat she loved so much on her head.

"You don't have to go James, really you should stay until something else comes up." Fluttershy told him again.

"I'm not going to back down from it Fluttershy, it's going to happen today and that's all there is to it."

"I really don't think it's a good idea, but if you insist." She said finally giving up on making him stay.

"Alright, now since I'm house hunting I'm going to get an early start this morning. Do you know what time the mayor arrives at town hall?"

"She's usually there at about seven."

"Alright then, it's about half past that so I'm going to get a move on. I'll let you know when I find something." He said as he turned to walk out the door to find a new home.

"If you don't find anything you're always welcome to come back here." Fluttershy said as she walked to the door to say her farewell.

"Thank you for your hospitality miss Fluttershy." He thanked her as he turned and walked down the small path that lead to her cottage. Dash followed him.

"So you're really doing it? Do you mind if I come with you?" She asked flying closely to him, her hat almost blowing off her head from a slight gust of wind.

"Actually I think you should go home and get some more rest, you had quite a bit to drink last night and it seems you still have somewhat of a hangover."

"Oh come on it's not that bad, and what about you, you had a LOT to drink last night!" She protested.

"That didn't affect me at all, quite literally that was cider to me."

"Whatever!"

"Really though, you should get some more rest."

"Fine!" She gave in. She turned towards her cloud home and said goodbye to James. He turned away after watching to make sure she did indeed go home. He declared that she did and walked to town. The morning was starting to heat up, and the clouds that had formed earlier dissipated, making the sun shine bright over the whole town. He walked for a while taking in the scenery.

"Wow it's beautiful here." He thought as he entered town. He walked down the main street; everypony was bustling about and doing their own things, most of them greeted him with hellos or by some other means, he just waved back or gave a head nod. None of them noticed or really cared about the stuff he had on, they just assumed it was nothing to be worried about and went on with their business. James kept walking on and went to the town hall, then entered and talked to the receptionist at the front desk. It was a different pony this time, but she had seen him before so she did not run away.

"Hello mister, how may I help you?" She asked putting down her paper work.

"Howdy, can I please speak with the mayor about housing?"

"Sure thing mister..."

"James."

"Sure thing mister James, I'll be back in just a moment." She said as she got up and went in search of the mayor. They both returned a few minutes later.

"Ah! Hello again mister Crossland, I trust everypony is treating you well?" The mayor asked as she extended her hoof. James grabbed a hold of it and they shook.

"I've been shown the utmost courtesy by the folks here ma'am." James said, not including the incident the night before.

"Excellent! Now what is this I here you're looking for a house to live in?"

"Yes ma'am, preferably one that doesn't require myself to pay for, as I have no money." He said with a disappointed look.

"Hmmm... I'm not sure where you might be able to find anything of the nature." She said doubtfully.

"Miss Dash and I were talking this morning, and she said something about one of the abandoned houses near the edge of the Everfree forest. Now is that a possibility?" He asked with some hope.

"I completely forgot about those! Why would you want to live in one of those for though?"

"So I don't have to live with miss Fluttershy, she says it's no problem but I can tell I've been keeping her up at night."

"Oh I see, well I suppose if you want to. There are a few around there so if you want to go pick one out and come back later, we can get you registered in our system." She said as she turned to the receptionist, motioning for her to write down the actions that would take place.

"Excellent, I'll be back as soon as I find one ma'am." He said starting for the entrance.

"Very well mister Crossland, happy hunting!" She said turning to go back to her office. As James walked out he stifled a laugh.

"Happy hunting, haven't heard that in a while." He thought. He made his way back through town, then sat down at the same table he had the evening before when Pinkie bounced up to him. He slung his pack off and looked around trying to formulate a plan on where to begin his search. He thought for a while and decided to just ask the locals if they knew of any places that he could move in to. After sitting for a while longer, he got up and made his way to Sugar Cube Corner, Pinkie may have an idea as to where he could begin his search seeing as though she knew almost everypony in town. He walked in the front door and a bell rang, Pinkie immediately shot up from behind the counter with a giant grin on her face.

"Hi James!" She greeted him.

"Hello Pinkie, how are this fine morning?"

"I'm great! I was just about to go and give Gummy a bath." She said as she held up the baby alligator.

"Oh I see. Say Pinkie, do you know of any houses that are abandoned around the edge of the Everfree?" He asked her as he scratched the back of his head.

"Actually there is one that I know of! It used to belong to Cranky Doodle, he moved out with his wife a year or so ago when they got back together." She said as she put gummy down, then walked over to him.

"Really? Could you by any chance show me where it's at?" He asked her hoping that he might catch a break.

"Okie dokie lokie!" She said as she turned to her pet; "Looks you'll just have to wait until I get back." The alligator just looked at her with a blank stare. Pinkie started her bouncing again and the two walked out the front door. They walked back through town, all the while Pinkie kept bouncing.

"How do you do that and not get tired?"

"What, this? This is how I've always walked." She said gleefully.

"You have a lot of energy."

"I know, it's just how I've always been." She said still bouncing up and down. They reached the edge of town, Pinkie kept talking about everything that she saw and thought of.

"Okay, I've endured some pretty bad shit, but this is the worst." He thought to himself, luckily he was able to slightly tune her out. They went by the park before they turned off to go to the house. There were a lot of ponies there, the children had a soccer game going on and many of their parents were watching. One of them James noticed was young a copper colored pegasus who was being very competitive; she ran across the field and stole the ball from an opponent, then brought it to her team's scoring side and kicked it in for a goal. They all cheered and the game continued on.

"Who is that?" James asked looking at the filly.

"Who, the one that just scored? That's Scootaloo."

"Oh, she reminds me a lot of my brother when we were young." He said as the old memories of his only brother came back to him, however he showed no emotion to it.

"Who's your brother?"

"His name is Andy." James said, acting like his brother was not deceased.

"Ooo, I'd like to meet him!" She exclaimed.

"Yeah, he's pretty awesome."

"Did he used to play soccer?" She asked, not thinking anything was wrong.

"Yeah he did, he was pretty good too!" He boasted.

"Did you ever play a sport?"

"Not really until high school. Even then I just ran cross country, never was good at football because I was too tall and lanky, just not the right type of build for getting hit or the reverse." James reminisced about his days of schooling.

"What's football?"

"You talk a lot, you know that right?"

"Yup!" She said with a large grin.

"Anyway, football is basically soccer but you run with the ball and hit other people instead of kick it."

"Well that sounds mean." She said confused by the way humans played games.

"It can get rough sometimes, that's why I just went with running instead, plus it takes a major amount of focus and dedication to do it!" James explained the toughness of it.

"Wow, that seems hard."

"The first two weeks always suck, after that though, it's cake."

"Oooo cake! I love cake!" She said thinking about the many sugary sweets she had at Sugar Cube Corner.

"You don't say?" He laughed. They had walked a distance past the park, and were getting closer to the new house Pinkie had been telling him about. The trees of the Everfree forest were getting closer to them, and the sun showed bright off of their trunks. A few more minutes had passed, the whole time Pinkie jabbered away about random things.

"Here we are!" She shouted to James, it took him a few seconds to comprehend what she was saying because he was trying hard to phase her out of his hearing.

"This is the place?" He asked taking a good look at the building.

"Mmhmm!" She said shaking her head up and down. James looked over the outside of it more. The outside of it was in decent condition, some vines had grown around the outside of it and the gray paint on the siding was starting to peel off. Two of the windows were cracked and one was broken, but other than those few things it seemed to be in good shape. The two went inside to have a look, but the door was locked.

"Well what do we do now?" Pinkie asked disappointed.

"Stay here, I'll be at the door in just a moment." He said as he took off his ruck sack and headed around to the other side. He went to a broken window and smashed out the rest of it, then hauled himself inside. He dropped to the ground and stood up, it was hard to see inside due to the little light that made its way in, but enough came through to make him see to the door. He found the the lock and turned it to open, he let her in and grabbed his bag. He took out the flashlight he had and flicked it on, bathing the dark living room with a soft orange- yellow glow. It was a very good size, much bigger than what he actually needed. There was no furniture left behind from the previous owner, Cranky Doodle. There was a fireplace, that looked like it was never used, and on the right of it was the kitchen that had only a stove and some cupboards. They ventured further into it and found the upstairs part. There were two bedrooms and a full sized bathroom, the master bedroom was large enough to fit four men easily, and the other one was much smaller, obviously meant for one or maybe two guests. The walls were all painted a grayish tone, and wood beams spanned across the ceiling. The place was very nice and didn't require much for fixing up, just some minor stuff here and there and getting the water running again.

"Wow Pinkie, this place is great!" He joyfully said.

"Yeah it kind of is, when you look past the old dust and stuff."

"That doesn't even bother me." He shrugged it off as he started to set up shop.

"That might bother Dashie though."

"What?" He asked confused by her meaning.

"You know, Rainbow Dash silly!"

"Yeah what about her?" He asked still very confused.

"She might not like the dust and stuff all that much, unlike you." She tried to explain to him.

"Why would she mind Pinkie? What are you trying to get at?"

"Well when she comes over here silly filly, duh!" She said prancing past him.

"Well I'm sure she will, but what does it have to do with anything?" He asked following her, anxious to get a straight answer from her.

"Well she likes you!"

"Okay that was obvious Pinkie, but still what are you hinting at?"

"Since you have a place of your own, she might come over more often." She explained the situation to him, he finally got it.

"Well I reckon you're right, but how much does she like me?" He asked intrigued.

"She likes you a lot actually."

"Oh shit, not good." He thought; "Pinkie this isn't good."

"Why not? You two seem almost meant for each other!"

"Considering that I'm not a pony!"

"Oh... right." She said with some sadness in her tone.

"I was afraid this would happen, shit.. I'll talk to her later about this after I move in, right now I want to get this squared away." He said while rubbing his head trying to think of what to do about the situation.

Do you like her?" She kept prodding at it.

"Well I do yes, but not- not exact- I'm at a loss for what to say, really." James stuttered.

"Well, it's okay, just tell her how you feel and I'm sure she'll understand." She tried to help.

"Thanks Pinkie." He said as they headed down the stairs. He grabbed his bag and met Pinkie outside, not bothering to lock the door again. They began the walk back to town, Pinkie didn't do her usual bouncing. They passed the park, and the game was still going on. He told her to keep going and that he would catch up later, he wanted to watch the game for a while, mostly the copper pegasus named Scootaloo. He watched for a long time, almost until the game was over, then walked back to the town hall to register his new home with the mayor. Afterwards he made his way back to his new home and officially moved in. He ventured into the forest and collected some wood for his fireplace, then attempted to get his water working. After banging on the pipes and searching each one inch by inch to find the problem why it wouldn't work, he finally got it to come back on. He made a small bed by the fire and then pulled out his MRE from his pack and ate. They day seemed to move by fast, when he started out it was about 0700, when he sat down and ate it was 1800. He decided to finish the rest of his day with some PT, he did push ups and sit ups; then thought about the situation with Rainbow Dash. How would he be able to tell her how he felt without seeming like a jerk. Was there even a nice way to do it? He didn't know and just decided to let time and the moment take care of it. After thinking about it for a while, he dozed off to sleep. His dreams were unpleasant
as usual, but this time he he felt something in it; not like usual, almost as if there was another sentient, conscious being there... watching him.

One Last Test.

The night was clear and bright, no clouds covered the moons' light that were cast down upon Canterlot. The only light came by a lit candle and a glow of purple and yellow aura, deep within in the heart of Canterlot palace. Two alicorns were inside the chamber, a white one by the name of Celestia, the ruler of Equestria, and the raiser of the sun. The other was a deep purple named Luna, whom had been cast out of the palace and Equestria for a thousand years; only to return and cause trouble for Equestria and Celestia, she was the bringer of night. The two were kneeling down directly across from each other, both of their auras were cascading around the room and colliding between them. Several spell books were arranged in front of them , but the only one who was reading was Celestia. Luna had her eyes closed, she was in somepony's dream, watching their movement, noting everything they did. However this was no ordinary pony, it was not even a pony at all, but rather a human named James Crossland. Although Luna was able to see into anypony's mind while they were in deep sleep, she was not able to see into James' due to him not being a pony, and had no sort of magic intertwined with his DNA and cells. Therefore she needed the help of Celestia's magic to amplify her own, and when James' subconscious became more active, she was able to slip into his brain and see within it. When she finally reached his dream world, James was in a bad position so she stood as far back as she could; no one was able to see her though because the figures in front of her were not there physically, but it was possible for James to feel her presence.

The room that James sat in was dark and barely lit with one light bulb in the center of it, he sat in a wooden chair with his hands bound to the back side of it. He could hear voices outside the room speaking some sort of native Afghan language, possibly Pashtun he thought, trying to get a sense of where he was. Although Luna was in the room with him, James could not see her, but he could feel her presence. She was unsure of where to go, so she sat in the corner and waited for whatever events that would come, play out. Several minutes later the voices stopped and then the door burst open, four men came into the room and started yelling at him. "Who else are you with!?" One of the men shouted in a heavy accent.

"My name is James Crossland, Captain, Unites States Marine Corps, 811- 73- 5239." He said back. He was doing exactly as he was taught; tell the enemy your name, rank, and serial number, and nothing else.

"Who else was you with!?" The man asked again, James repeated his previous statement.

"Okay, you do not want to talk. That is fine, we have other ways to do so." He said with a smile, then signaled for someone. Two men came over, one with a camera, the other with a small dark blue duffel bag. The one with the camera set up it and began to video tape the scene. The other one with the bag handed it to the main interrogator, he then unzipped it and put its contents on a makeshift wooden table. The man made another signal and a few more lights flashed on, one had burnt out as it was turned on, sending a bright flash throughout the room. The man made sure that James had seen the instruments that were being placed on the table. He set out a pair of rusty looking channel lock pliers, James' Ka-Bar fighting knife, a small razor blade, table salt, and a butane gas torch. All of the items by themselves seemed harmless, but together on a table in an unknown place, they were the most evil looking objects ever to be created.

"I will ask one last time mister James Crossland, Captain of the United states Marine Corps... why are you here, and who else were you with?" He asked as he picked up James' knife. James did not answer his question.

"Okay then, have it your way." He said after a few moments of silence. He took James' knife and slammed it down into his foot, then looked up at him with an evil grin. James screamed with pain and tried rocking back in forth in his chair, but to no use as it was held in place by one of the other interrogators. When he stood again, James saw that the knife was stuck into his foot up to the handle, blood had started seeping out at the bottom and his boot was beginning to turn red. Luna had turned her head away when she heard the screams, but looked back soon after because she knew that she had to watch, as much as she hated it.

"You could just tell us what we want to know, and the pain will stop." The man tried to persuade him, but James just looked at him with rage in his eyes.

"I will tell you nothing, not now, not ever you fucking hadji!" James spat at him with clenched teeth.

"Well then, shall we continue my brothers?" He asked the other men in the room. They all cheered and said to keep going. The next thing that he took was the torch. He cracked the valve open and ignited the gas, then turned it up so a four inch flame was projecting out from it.

"I know how you Americans operate, I know that you do not go somewhere alone. So I'll ask again, where is your friend?" He asked again as he brought the torch closer. James still did not answer him, so the man brought the torch closer to his face; then quickly dove down to James' foot, placing the flame on the knife heating it up. For a minute or so he didn't feel the heat, but it slowly began to got hotter and hotter. When he finally did feel his foot start to cook he let out another scream of pain, Luna did not turn away this time. The man left the torch on the knife for a while, the rubberized grip on the handle had melted and dripped onto his boot.

"When you tell me where your friend is, I will take it away."

"Okay! Okay... I'll talk." James said defeated. Luna was shocked but not surprised at what he said.

"This is not good, the human has broken , he cannot be trusted." Luna thought, but she did not leave; she stayed and watched, hoping that she was wrong. The interrogator had taken away the torch and closed the valve, then with a rag he removed the hot knife from James' foot, luckily from the heat the wound had cauterized.

"Well then mister James, what do you have to tell me?"

"The other person I was with... it... was your mother." James said with a slight laugh through tightly clenched teeth. The man back handed James hard across the face, but James just laughed back at him.

"How dare you insult my family!" He screamed at James as he hit him again. He then snatched the razor blade from the table and held it within millimeters from James' eye.

"You know we have killed many of you Americans, you are in no position to try and play with us." The man holding his chair said into his ear.

"You still haven't killed me you piece of shit." He said right back. Luna was surprised at the event, he had not broken under the torture, and even laughed in the face of his tormentors.

"Insult me again, and I will cut out your eyes!" He yelled at James.

"I will not tell you anything. Not now, not later, not ever!" James shouted right back. The interrogator was fed up with his games and brought the razor blade down to James' left eye. He drug it from left to right, going right across the cornea, then across the skin on his face. He did the same thing down his eye as well, slicing through it and completely destroying his left eye. James let out a blood curdling scream of agony as he sliced deep into it; the skin on his face was flayed open and blood ran down his cheek, dripping on to the floor. He kept trying to wiggle free of the chair but the man behind him held the chair steadily in place. Luna had to turn away again, the sight of such a horror was hard for her to bear.

After a few minutes of writhing around and screaming, James stopped his movement and looked back up at his captor, his chest was heaving in and out from expelling so much energy.

"It can stop, just tell us what we want to know." He tried to persuade James again.

"D- do... you... really think that... that I will tell you?"

"We have many other ways of doing this."

"Do your fucking worst you dirka dirka piece of shit." James insulted him again. The interrogator grabbed the table salt and poured a large amount into his hand, then threw it all at James' sliced eye and face.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" James screamed again. The tiny granules of salt lodged themselves deep into his eye acting like a grinder and sending an unbearable flame of pain to his brain. The gash on his cheek did not fare well against it either, both things together caused so much pain that James lost consciousness. He awoke ten minutes later, the interrogator got up from his own seat and walked back over to him when he saw James was awake.

"Did you enjoy your nap mister James?" He cooed to James. James just looked at him with absolute disgust, the pain he had felt previously was starting to come back again. He had gone blind in his left eye from the damage it had received, so it was hard to gauge the distance of some things.

"By the way, we decided to clean up your eye." The man behind him said.

"I still can't see jackass."

"Oh I know, we took it out. Here is a little souvenir to show your children if you get out of here alive." He laughed as he held up a small jar with James' eye in it. Luna had seen the grisly sight and had to turn away from it before she vomited. James stared at his eye in the container, it was sitting at the bottom in a blobbed mess, some blood had collected at the bottom of the jar.

"Oh, do you not like what we did for you?" The interrogator asked.

"We even left the nerve in just for you." Another one said.

"Fuck you both! And I don't even have children, so you can take that and shove it!" He said as he turned away in disgust.

"Watch your language, I will remove your tongue if you do not." He said as he held up the rusty pliers. They had been used to remove his eye and some blood was still on it.

"Don't, I'll talk this time... please."

"Do not play games with me."

"You mean like the ones I played with your mother last night!?" James insulted him once more. The interrogator wasted no time and went right after his tongue. He snatched it at the tip and pulled out his own knife, then cut it off as far down as he could. Luna once again turned her head, but could hear everything that happened. James let out a gut wrenching scream as he cut through the flesh, then ripped the rest out once he was three quarters of the way through. A sickening popping and ripping sound was heard, the pain for him was excruciating; Luna held back her vomit but just barely, however, James let it all go. The hot burning vomit came up his throat and passed over his wounded tongue, this produced and even louder gurgling scream as both vomit and blood went onto the floor. The camera had been rolling the whole time as it happened.

"I warned you what would happen soldier boy." He said to James who was in a hunched over position, tears were streaming down his face along with other fluids. He coughed a few times then answered his captor.

"I -on't fucking care, wha you do oo me. I wiw neva tehw you anying." James struggled to say with more than half of his tongue gone.

"Well then mister James, it seems we have no use for you." He replied to the now shaking James.

"Shall we shoot him?" One of his men asked.

"Yes, one bullet in each lung, I want him to die slowly." He ordered them. They cut James from his hand cuffs and dragged him onto his knees in front of the camera.

"You Americans have people who are faithful to their country and people, I admire that. Not many people would endure so much so their comrades would be safe. However, if you want to send someone to kill me or my comrades, make sure that they are professionals." The man said into the camera, then turned to face James. He looked up at the man who was about to kill him, he had an evil grin on his face. Luna watched as one of the men pulled the charging handle back on his Kalashnikov, but when James heard it he shot up directly in front of his captor with the last amount of strength he had.

"Ah, I see our friend is not done fighting just yet, this is another thing I like about you Americans, you fight until the very end." He said a few inches away from James' face. James did not answer back and instead headbutted him hard on the bridge of his nose. The man behind James with the Kalashnikov fired three rounds into him, sending James forward a few feet before collapsing next to the camera. With the little energy he had left he knocked the camera down, it landed just barely facing him. The interrogator walked over to him and pulled out his pistol, James rolled onto his back and presented his captor his middle finger and a large grin, then the man pulled the trigger. Both the camera and Luna watched it until the end, then she slipped back out of James' mind and into her own to tell Celestia everything that happened.

A few moments later, Luna was back in Canterlot castle with her sister, their aura had stopped flowing, and now only the candle lit the room.

"What else did you see Luna?" Celestia asked.

"Horrors my sister, they tortured him with no remorse; however he did not falter from such acts." She reported.

"Excellent, do you believe that he is ready?"

"I do, he did not speak of his 'friend' that he was with, whomever they may be. I believe he can be trusted." Luna confirmed.

"Very well, we shall pay him a visit in the morrow." Celestia added. The two alicorns nodded and left, each going out a different door that lead to the chamber, and retiring to their respectful bedrooms for the night.

Author's Note

This was sort of a short dry spell chapter, so I cut it off where it's at now. The next chapter is coming out very soon, maybe the end of tonight or tomorrow night.

Answers Please?

James automatically thrust himself up as he awoke from yet another nightmare. The sun was barely peeking through the windows of his new, new home. He had been sweating profusely before he awoke, and his left arm was numb and unresponsive to any sort of stimulus it was given. "Jesus Christ, that was the worst one yet." He said to himself as he stroked his arm. He attempted to look at his watch on his left wrist, but had to flip his arm into the right position to look at it. After a few minutes of it not moving, it began to come back to normal. He was awake and did not want to go back to sleep, his dreams had gotten much worse the past few days from when Rodney was killed, then to the night he had been captured on his first time out as a special operator. He still did not know how his team mates found him.
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James' team went by the call sign of 'Black Widow actual', only one fire team was sent in to sabotage an I.E.D. factory that was located in tunnels that ran underneath a village, then to specifically capture the man that made them. James had been moving up alone to cover, his three team mates stayed behind to provide security as he crossed some open ground. However as he was sneaking around, he passed by a small pen of goats, one of them was startled by his sudden appear-ance and let out a screech, alerting an insurgent that had not been seen from their observation point by the pen. He quickly turned around and saw James just as he dashed for cover. The insurgent shot his weapon into the air, alerting everyone of imminent danger. James knew it was over, but he did not allow himself to be captured without a fight; he shot the insurgent and signaled for his team to stay back so they would not be caught in any fire, they had fallen back a distance so they would not be seen. As some enemies rounded a corner coming to his position, he let go a burst from his suppressed rifle, dropping the insurgents where they stood. Unseen to James and even his team, some enemies came around the corner and shouted at him to drop his weapon. Even though he could not understand what they were saying, he knew it was over; so he complied and got down on his stomach, but not before smashing his radio so they had no way of hearing incoming chatter over the line.

His team had seen it all go down from their position and could not help at the moment, but after the insurgents knocked him out and drug him off , they formulated a plan to both accomplish the mission and get James back. If their intelligence was correct, then the target they were going after would more than likely want to see James; if they caught up quickly with the prisoner takers, they could follow them to the target and also get James back, killing two birds with one stone. They stayed close to one another, leap frogging their way up to the group that held James captive, lead by their night vision devices. The captors rounded a corner and headed inside a building, unfortunately Black Widow actual had not seen which building it was. They went closer in to the village they had been sent to, looking around for some sign of where they had taken James. They looked at the sand to see if any marks could point to James' whereabouts, but it came as no prevail because all of it had been scuffed and kicked at recently.

"Anything yet boys?" The team leader Chester 'Chesty' Petersen asked the rest of Black Widow actual.

"Negative." The other two replied.

"Damn it, we need to look harder." He ordered. They decided to start room clearing and if any hostiles were met, they would be expunged from existence. Regardless of James' condition, they still had a job to do. After looking for the building for several minutes longer, they heard a loud scream coming from one of the buildings they had already cleared.

"Anybody else catch the direction of that?" Chesty asked.

"At my seven." One of the others reported, they all went over to the building with their weapons raised. The three stacked up on the door with Chester at the head of the chain. They did not have flash-bangs this time, so they went in quietly, Chester went forward, the other two went left and right scanning for hostiles. They searched the building but came up empty. Another scream was heard from underneath them, giving away where they were holding James. They found the hatch they had brought him down, it was very well hidden, even though it was in plain sight.

"We'll need to do this fast and quiet, no one here leaves alive, and we get our boy back, understood?" Chester asked the team.

"Roger." They both replied in a whisper and a nod.

"When he screams again, we go. Alex, you take point and drop any of those assholes you see."

"Understood." He replied as they stacked up once more.

Ahhhhhhh! "Go, now." Chester said to Alex with a tap on his shoulder. He lifted up the wooden hatch slowly, scanning for any immediate threats, luckily there were none in the small room that the hatch lead to. All three went quietly down the steps, Alex was in the lead, Chester was behind them, and the teams' corpsman Paul Mullaney was at the rear, watching their six o'clock. The whole tunnel system was lit by a few lightbulbs placed about every twenty five feet, casting a soft yellow glow along the hallway. They were moving quickly down the one hundred foot long tunnel, approaching a dug out room. Alex moved up to the side of the doorway and leaned into it while aiming down the holographic sight on his weapon, searching for hostiles and his comrade. The only thing in the small room was a work bench and what appeared to be explosives of some sort. Since it was clear he motioned for his team to keep moving forward, and after they passed, Alex dropped in behind. They continued down the hall, clearing three more rooms of the same nature, one of them had blasting caps and detonation cord, another had suicide vests, and the last was a weapons cache with several Kalashnikovs, two RPG launchers, and one RPD machine gun, plus ammunition for all of the weapons. They had done a full rotation in the group, putting Chester back in the lead. All three men had their suppressed, short barreled M4A1 carbines raised and pointed to the front, left, and right, waiting for anyone to step into the sights. They moved down to the end of the tunnel in a total of thirty seconds, moving like a well oiled machine. The tunnel split left and right leading to two separate doors.

They stopped where it split at, listening for a moment to try and pick up on James' location. After ten seconds of no noise, they made another plan to take the two doors. "Alex, you take the left door. I'll take the one on the right, and Paul, you're on security right here." Chester told them. They both went to their positions and waited for Chester to give the signal to breech the door. Three seconds later he nodded his head and the two went into action, they kicked down their doors and quickly swept their weapons side to side, scanning for hostiles. Chester's door housed the bomb factory they were sent to destroy, although it was a small room, only a rough fifty square feet, it housed a major amount of explosives; including mortar shells, stolen plastic explosives, hand grenades, several vats of highly volatile nitroglycerin, and other things that could be made into explosives such as bottles of oxygen gas. Four men were inside working on making pressure activated IEDs, they snapped up as soon as they heard the door break down, and after a few seconds of confusion, tried to grab for their weapons, but were cut down by Chester's rifle. Paul could hear the fire coming from his right and recognized the familiar sound of a suppressor.

"Clear!" Chester shouted at his two comrades. Paul heard him but Alex did not because he was already engaged in a firefight.

"I have eyes on James!" Alex shouted to his team. Chester ran back over to where they were at before, yelling at Paul to give Alex back up. He slid into Paul's position to take over on security as he ran to help his team mate.
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James was sitting down and tied to chair, completely stripped of his combat armor and equipment, leaving only the undershirt of his uniform, pants, and boots. The terrorist that they had come for had entered the room.

"Well my brothers, we have a new guest... I believe we should show him how we treat new guests!" The man said to everyone in the small room. He withdrew a knife from a sheath attached to his hip, then slowly sliced across James' chest, cutting his shirt and flesh. James let out a scream as the burning pain traveled to his brain.

"Why are you here American?" He asked as he wiped the blade on James' shirt.

"My name is James Crossland, Captain, Unites States Marine Corps, 811- 73- 5239." He said back, not giving up any information.

"I do not care! Tell me why you are here. To kill me? To sabotage me? WHAT!?" He shouted in absolute frustration at James. He repeated himself, still not giving up the information. His captor became even angrier and took a fast slash at James' chest once more, producing a deep gash in his chest and an ear piercing scream from his mouth.

"Do not play games with me soldier, I will kill you and your friends, I know they are here!" He shouted just inches from James' face. He still repeated himself, enraging his captor even more. The terrorist signaled to someone in the back, the person brought out a car battery and hooked up the leads to some metal contacts on the chair.

"Tell me what I want to hear, and I will not have them touch you two together." He tried to bargain with James.

"Do it!" James shouted at him. The one holding the positive lead clamped it down, sending the current through the chair; luckily though, the chair was insulated enough to block out a large portion of the current, but the pain was still excruciating. He screamed out again as his body snapped up and his back arched. The interrogator gave a hand signal to stop the electrocution.

"It can all stop you know, just tell me." He tried once more.

"You can go fuck yourself." James spat back at him as his chest heaved up and down as he tried to breathe again. His captor cocked his arm back far and let his fist fly into James' eye.

"Do you really think anyone cares if you die!? Maybe your mother and father, but no one else does; you are just another soldier to them, another fly on the pile of swine shit that is America." He tried to break James mentally.

"I don't want to be brought to the light in glory, I would much rather stay the silent warrior that I am!"

"Well then... I will make you die silently and alone soldier boy." He said with a devilish smirk.

"Make my day." He said back, trying to show he cared none at all if he did die.

CRASH. "Get down!" Alex yelled to everyone in the room. It took the insurgents a few seconds to realize what was happening, then one of them grabbed a weapon and shot at him, causing him to take cover. He shouted for his team to give him back up and was soon met by Paul.

"He's in there!" Alex shouted to Paul over the sound of assault rifle fire.

"You go and then I'll get in right behind you!" He shouted back to Alex. Alex popped out and fired at where he remembered seeing his enemies at. He took out two of the five, then Paul moved in right behind him, clearing the left side of the room, both of them had seen the interrogator and immediately recognized him as their target. Paul shot at his knees so he would not be able to move if something happened, then they both rushed over to him and kicked his rifle away. Alex worked on getting James free from the chair while Paul zip cuffed their target. After he had taken care of the bomb maker, Paul went over to James to patch up his wounds with his medical kit.

"Hey, you're gonna be all right man, but they fuckered you up pretty good." He said to James for comfort.

"They tried to kill me... but they couldn't." James joked in an attempt to show that he was okay.

"Think you can carry on Marine?" Alex asked him.

"Yeah I'll make it, where's my kit at?" He confirmed looking around the small room.

"Well luckily they're stupid and just left it right here, so you really lucked out today partner!" Alex exclaimed. James stood back up and stretched, after his chest wounds were dressed, then put on his equipment.

"Looks like they smashed your radio." Paul said to him.

"No that was me, didn't want 'em listening to friendly comms if they sent me side straddle hopin' to the pearly gates!" He joked again as he loaded a round into the breach of his carbine. He had a slight limp and a hard time seeing out of his eye, but other than his chest wounds, he was able to walk.

"You're a hard motherfucker James." Alex complimented him.

"Did you find the bomb factory yet?"

"Affirmative, just next door to us. If they hadn't knocked your goofy ass out, we probably wouldn't have found it since we had no positive intel on the exact location." Paul said to him as he slung the wounded bomb maker onto his back using a new state-of-the-art injured personnel carrier.

"Any ideas on how we'll blow this thing?" James asked as they all moved to the doorway Alex had busted through.

"One of the rooms had det cord and some caps, probably use those and also throw their cache into it as well for some extra bang." Alex told him. They went through the doorway and met up with Chester.

"You look like shit James!" Chester teased him.

"Missed you too Chesty." He shot back.

"Now that we have you and him, we can send this whole cave to Allah and be back in time for tea!"
He exclaimed as he pointed at the bomb maker on Paul's back.

"'Rah, let's do it!" Alex exclaimed as he went to the room with the detonation cord and blasting caps. He returned a few moments later and began laying out the long orange roll of shock cord that was found behind the rolls of detonation cord, the rest of the team had moved to the entrance of the tunnel system. James was guarding the bottom of the stairs and Chester was in the building at the top, daring anyone to come through the door and try to sabotage their operation further.

"Hey, we got extraction in three zero mikes, let's move it down there Black Widow!" Chester yelled down the stairs as he looked at his watch.

"Throwing the fuse on the shock cord, give me a second and we'll move it!" Alex yelled back up to him.

"Copy that!" He acknowledged. Two minutes later the explosives were primed and ready to go. There were five bombs laid out, one in each room linked to another one in a chain by the detonation cord; they had carefully packed the nitroglycerin containers on top of each one of the bombs as a booster, along with other explosive materials to completely bury the tunnel system in the final sequence of the charge.

"Explosive is armed, move up the stairs, we have one mike on the fuse before it all goes up!" Alex shouted to Chester as he unrolled more of the orange cord.

"Roger!" Everyone acknowledged him, then moved up the stairs waiting for him. After he played out the last bit, he moved up the stairs, James was scanning outside while everyone else waited for Alex.

"We clear out there?" Chester asked James.

"Affirmative."

"Move out to where we entered at and wait for Alex to bring up the rear, then we move to extract, understood?"

"Roger." They all replied, then moved out. Alex waited until they were about one hundred yards away then started the timer fuse and ran fast to catch up with his team, all the while scanning for enemies. One minute later the tunnel exploded, destroying several huts and caving in the ground while sending up a large plume of dust where the tunnel used to be.

"Black Widow, this is Black Widow actual do you copy?" Chester asked operator.

"I copy Black Widow actual, give me a SITREP, over."

"Tunnel is buried and we are moving to the pick up, ETA is two five mikes, how copy over?"

"I read your five by five, moving to extract, ETA on your pick is two eight mikes, out." The operator told them. Twenty four minutes later, they arrived at the extraction site and were airlifted back to their forward operating base. James was treated for his injuries, and three weeks later was returned to active duty with his team after being cleared for any mental and physical conditions.

James' reminiscing was interrupted by a quiet but audible whsshhhhh. He snapped up from his makeshift bed, searching for the source of the noise. He spun his head around and located it, it was coming from the kitchen. He quickly ran to the area and looked around more, then he spotted the location of the problem. The water pipe under the sink had burst open. "Damn it." He said to himself with an unamused expression. He went over to the water shut off valve and turned it, the leak stopped but water was still everywhere. "It's gonna' be one of those days." He sighed as he started cleaning up the mess. The sun had come up and was shining bright through the windows.
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The two princesses of Equestria were up and getting ready for their visit with the human. They had a carriage waiting for them, everything that they would need for James was already packed. The only thing they were waiting for was a message from her personal student Twilight Sparkle, informing the princess that she was indeed ready for her arrival and that a formal town parade was not necessary. Moments later, the letter arrived.

Dear Princess Celestia,

I was not aware that you knew of the human and his existence, I assume that you will explain all when you get here. I will be expecting your soon arrival, and as such, I will summon the others to meet me at my home. I cannot for sure say about the human, but I am sure that he will understand.

Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle

The two princesses boarded the carriage and departed for Ponyville to meet with James.
~~-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------~~

"Spike, send a letter to each of the girls, I'm sure James will come with Fluttershy." Twilight ordered.

"You know, I haven't even seen this human guy, what's he look like?" Spike inquired as he began writing the letters.

"Well... he's tall, and he's kind of big, really big actually. He has something called a pistol, and has a vest of some type that has a bunch of stuff on it. Really that's all I can say, you'll just have to meet him yourself." She explained to the dragon.

"Hmm, well I guess I'll just have to wait and see then." He said aloud as he sent a letter, it was going to Rarity. A few minutes later, all of the letters were sent and now they were waiting for them to show up. The first to show up was Rarity, then Pinkie Pie, then Rainbow Dash, then finally Fluttershy and Applejack.

"Howdy Twilight!" Applejack greeted as she came through the door with Fluttershy.

"Hello everypony, you know why I have brought you here right?" Twilight asked.

"Spike sent us somethin' about the princesses comin', so ah guess it's important?" Applejack asked.

"Indeed... she is coming to meet with James."

"Well I s'pose it would happen sooner or later." She said back. "Speakin' of him, where is he?"

"I don't know, Fluttershy he lives with you, do you know where he is?" Twilight asked.

"I- I don't know, he said he was going out to find a new place to live yesterday and I haven't heard from him since." She said with a very worried tone. "Rainbow, do you know where he is?" She continued.

"He sent me home yesterday after we left, and I haven't seen him since." She shrugged.

"Has anypony seen him since yesterday?" Twilight asked them all. They all replied no, but Pinkie had not heard them worrying over James' well being, she was occupied with Owlowiscious and his head turning 360 degrees that she tried to mimic. Then when she did she immediately answered them.

"I know where he is! He's over in Cranky Doodle's old house, he got it yesterday! Ooo oo ooo! Do you know what this means!? A housewarming party!" She said with absolute glee.

"Oh no, that's too far away! The princess will be here any minute and she'll be expecting him to be with us!" Twilight worried as she began to pace back and forth. Applejack trotted over to comfort her.

"Twilight, it's okay, we'll just tell the princess when she gets here, and we'll all go together." Applejack tried to calm her down.

"But... she is expecting me to not let her down, especially with something as important as this!" She bawled.

"Twilight, it's alright, ya know that not all the time ya can expect things to go as planned, ya'll will just have to manage with it and tell her the truth about the matter. Shoot ah bet ya'll can stretch that into a lesson about friendship, then she might not even care!" She tried once more to calm down the nervous unicorn.

"Well I suppose that I could, but still what if she doesn't forgive me for it?"

"Twilight, stop yer worryin', everythin' will be just fine."

"If you say so." She said as she sat down. Knock knock knock.

"That must be her." Rarity said as she went to the door, Twilight immediately shot up from her position and tried to tidy up a little bit. Rarity opened the door and was met by the alabaster alicorn named Celestia, and behind her was Luna.

"Hello Rarity, may we come in?" Celestia asked in a calm and almost soothing voice.

"Yes of course!" She exclaimed with a bow, as did all of the others. The two princesses stepped in and Rarity closed the door.

"I am sure you are all wondering why we are here, yes?" She asked them all.

"Is it for James!?" Pinkie asked as she bounced up and down.

"So I can just assume that everypony knows of his existence then?"

"Yes princess." Twilight spoke up.

"Is he here?" She asked looking around the room trying to spot him. Twilight was starting to get nervous shivers.

"N- no princess.. he is not." She confessed as she drooped her head.

"Well, where is he?"

"He's at Cranky Doodle's!" Pinkie exclaimed as she pranced around Celestia and Luna.

"Do you mind summoning him for us?"

"Well, he's sort of... far away... too far away." Twilight said sheepishly.

"Oh I see... well, I would like to see what my faithful student has learned."

"What do you mean princess?" She asked confused.

"Have your magic abilities increased since the last time we met?" She asked as she moved closer to Twilight.

"Well yes of course princess, why do you ask?" She asked still confused by what she meant, and partially from her nervousness.

"Have you practiced the teleportation spell enough to being able to send more than just two or three ponies at a time?" She asked trying to get her student to see what she was getting at.

"Oh! I see what you're saying, sorry. I have done the six of us before when discord first came back, but that was a small distance." She said as she rubbed the back of her neck.

"Shall we see if you can my student?" Celestia asked with a smile, trying to make herself not look all that intimidating.

"Yes princess, can I get everypony to stand in the middle of the room here?" She asked all of them, they obeyed and stood in a semi circle in front of her, Luna and Celestia were in the middle of the bunch, Spike was not included in it. Twilight's horn began to glow purple, and after a few moments of charging her aura up, they all disappeared in a brilliant white flash.
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Shh... shh... shh... slick smack! "Ahh, I need a different set of tools." James cursed at himself after he hit his hand on the inside of the cabinet that housed the plumbing of the sink. He sat up and looked at his hand, it caught an edge in the wood and with his hands being soaked with water, a portion of skin had been torn off of his knuckle. He shook his hand for a second then looked at the damage done. He concluded that it was nothing and to just get back to working. He leaned back under the sink and with his multi-tool pliers, he tried to once again unscrew the drain from the sink. Knock knock knock.

"Ah damn it, who the hell is it, probably just Dash or Pinkie dropping by." He thought as he climbed out from under the sink, he took a quick peek at his watch; "Wow, 10:30? That time flew."Knock knock knock. "The door's unlocked you can come in!" He shouted from the kitchen to whomever was at the door. The door cracked open, then Pinkie Pie burst in.

"Hi James! Happy housewarming!" She cheered as she bounced up and down. Then the rest came in, Rainbow Dash was of course in front of them.

"Hey James! You got a new place and you didn't even invite me over?" Rainbow said trotting over.

"Hello Dash, I actually just got this yesterday evening, and really didn't have time to tell you or miss Fluttershy that I was here, my apologies." He said to Dash and then spoke up at the last part so Fluttershy could hear him.

"I know, I'm just giving you a hard time." Rainbow said as she elbowed him in a playful manner.

"James you had me very worried last night, Angel had to stay with me all night just to calm me down." Fluttershy said.

"I am very sorry for the emotional stress I caused you miss Fluttershy, that was wrong of me, can you forgive me?" He asked.

"Yes I can, I could never stay mad at somepony. To me it was just as if you were my child and you just left all of a sudden is all."

"O- oh, I see, well really I don't know what to say other than I am very sorry for my actions." He apologized again. As soon as he finished his sentence, the two princesses walked in, catching James off guard. Both princesses stood and looked him over for a minute.

"You must be princess Celestia I presume?" He asked the tall white alicorn.

"Yes I am, and you are James Crossland, a human, a Captain in the United Stated Marine Corps, and you have been in over forty different combat missions over the past decade on your planet." She stated, showing that she knew a great deal about him.

"Well let's not beat around the bush then. You, I'm sure know why I am here, and as for the one on your right who is Luna correct?" He asked as he cocked his head to the side.

"Indeed I am Captain James." Luna replied.

"Very good, and sorry about the mess in here, I wasn't expecting any guests and had no time to clean up, especially since the kitchen sink broke and water got everywhere." He apologized once more while putting away his multi-tool.

"It is nothing of worry to myself or my sister, we did not expect any sort of formal greeting." Luna answered him.

"Well alright then, now if you don't mind me asking, how and why am I here?" He threw out immediately, not looking for a social event.

"Everypony I suggest you find a seat, we will be here for quite a duration of time." Celestia told them all as she tried to find a seat, Dash sat next to James and once all of them had found a seat, Celestia began to explain James' existence in their world.

Answers.

They all found their respective seats, and after a long inhale from Celestia, she began to tell James what he wanted to know. "James, there is no easy way to say this to you or anypony; I will understand if after this, you find my presence a bother." She said as she held his gaze.

"I've been through a lot in my time, I'm sure whatever it is, I can handle it." James assured her.

"Well then, shall we begin?"

"If you don't mind." He asked getting agitated.

"James, the reason you are here is because we need you, your knowledge, and your abilities. Equestria needs you for it's survival, and quite possibly the survival of the entire world." She laid out the situation for James letting it sink in to everyone in the room. After a moment of silence, Twilight spoke up.

"Princess, what do you mean that the survival of the entire world rests on you bringing in a human from a different world, what is the problem? Is Discord coming back? Is king Sombra going to return!?" She asked as she got up and began to pace nervously.

"No my student, it is much worse; and believe me, king Sombra has no way of returning, he has been trapped for all eternity in his prison."

"What is it then Celestia?" James asked as he turned all of his attention to her.

"Chrysalis, she is returning with a force that even the Elements of Harmony cannot stop." She said to them with the utmost seriousness.

"Enlighten me on this enemy of yours princess, and could you excuse me for a moment to grab something to write this down with?" James asked.

"Very well." She told him. He got up and rummaged through his ruck sack for a few moments, then returned to where he and Rainbow were sitting.

"Alright princess, fill in the blanks for me." He said as he sat back down.

"One year ago, the queen of the Changelings, Chrysalis, attacked us from within. Changelings take the form of living things such as another pony, and feed off of the love you have for them. Twilight's brother, prince Shining Armor, was soon to be wedded to princess Cadence; however, she was abducted by Chrysalis and sent to the dungeons located underneath Canterlot Palace, then transformed into her. Shining Armor as well as everypony else was unaware of this, she slipped through our defenses and made it appear as if though she was Cadence. As Shining Armor's love for Cadence grew, Chrysalis' powers began to strengthen, and eventually lead to her army of Changelings breaking thorough our defensive barriers and attacking us. However the Elements of Harmony cast her out of Canterlot." Celestia explained to James, all the while he was jotting down notes.

"A Trojan horse, no pun intended, classic tactic, what was their motive for this?" He asked trying to deduce the reason behind their thinking.

"We still are unsure of her true intentions, but we believed that she wished to take over Equestria in the long run, starting with Canterlot as their first place due to the amount of love we have for one another, as she stated." She answered.

"So she was trying to increase the power of her forces, then take the surrounding areas?"

"Yes."

"Do you know why she wanted to take over Equestria?"

"Unfortunately we cannot say."

"Okay, so what else should I know about her physically and mentally, what makes her clock tick?" He asked as he stood up to stretch a little. Dash couldn't help but to look at him as he did so.

"She is an alicorn like myself and my sister, but does not appear in the same way. Her body is black, and has transparent green wings similar to that of a bug, her horn is twisted and mangled, and has many holes throughout her body, mostly in her legs. She wants nothing more than to harm others, however she is not the most intelligent, but she is very loyal to her subjects." She explained, James tried to hurriedly sketch Celestia with holes and bug wings on his paper so he could identify her, then wrote below it her personality.

"Okay, so why do you need me here if she was defeated once before?"

"She has gathered an even larger army of Changelings... as well as others to support her cause."

"What do ya mean by others princess?" Applejack of all the ponies asked.

"About a four months ago, the land of the griffins went under siege by the Changelings. They attempted the same thing as they had done in Canterlot, but this time they managed to capture the area and imprisoned the griffons to gain strength off of them. Now that they have been stripped of any sort of feeling from being in this state, they have decided to allie themselves with the Changelings. This is just the first part of their plan, their next objective is to once again try and take Canterlot as they had before."

"Celestia, how do you know this information, and why haven't you sent a task force in to bring her down, especially if you know her location?" He asked bewildered by her actions.

"After her attack on Canterlot, we sent in a spy, he was actually a prisoner before hand; but in exchange for him keeping us up to date on Chrysalis' whereabouts, he was allowed to live a free life disguised as a changeling. We lost contact with him just a few days after the griffon's land went under attack, he had filled us in on what he could get close to, but we believe that he had been discovered. The reason we need you is because we have no one of ability to either lead a strike against them, or to even train our forces to carry out the action."

"What about Twilight's brother? He's a soldier like myself, why not have him do it?" James asked as he raised an eyebrow.

"As much as it pains me to say it, especially in front of Twilight, he is not, nor is anypony else nearly qualified to accomplish such a task. We have never had a problem such as this happen, our lands have always remained peaceful to where any conflicts could be met with negotiations." She stated.

"So you just decided to bring in someone of expertise such as myself. Okay well that does make sense, but out of everyone on my planet, you chose me. Why not a Navy SEAL, or a Delta operative? I mean Delta boys are meant specifically for counter-terrorism, exactly what you would want for this job!" James exclaimed as he threw up his hands in 'why not do that?' gesture.

"Well James, we have looked at countless individuals. All different ones of all of the countries in your world, we had the opportunity to observe approximately one hundred and fifty different soldiers from all walks of life, and you were one of them that was included." Celestia stated simply with a shrug, unsure of what else she could say.

"So then why did you not choose one of them?" He asked starting to get angry because she would not give him a straight answer.

"Because you were a better candidate for the job." She said still trying to weasel around the true reason.

"Okay that doesn't quite explain it, I was on an operation in Afghanistan shooting at Jihadis, then the next thing I know I'm here shooting at a lizard chicken. So please tell me why I am here." He asked becoming rather agitated by her dodging the question.

"Like I said, we needed you and we brought you here." She sated still trying to dodge his question.

"Bullshit! I know that there are better men out there to do such a job other than me! Quit with the goddamn games and tell me why you chose me and not someone else!" He shouted at her.

"Because you were the first one to die!" She shouted back. The room fell under an uneasy silence while James sat and let the words that Celestia had told him, sink in. After several minutes of them all staring at James in the bitter silence, he finally spoke.

"So you're telling me that I am dead, deceased, six feet in the ground with a bullet in my fucking skull? Excuse my language that I have and am about to use, but what in the fuck kind of bullshit answer is that!?" He raised his voice again.

"Captain James, 'tis true. You are quite physically deceased, I can assure you of this fact for I am the one whom had to bring you to our world, to help us defeat thine enemy." Luna said taking over for her sister. James got up and walked off into the kitchen, the only sound being made came from his boots clacking on the floor. None of them dared to see if he was faring okay, not even Rainbow Dash. He leaned over onto the counter top and rubbed his hands through his hair as he tried to make sense of everything; then out of pure anger he clenched his hair, making his knuckles turn white. He then sent a quick punch into one of the cabinets, making a large hole in it, the sudden sound made all of the ponies jump, even the princesses. He came back in a few minutes later with a small bandage over two of his fingers, some blood had slightly seeped through the dressing on his middle one. He sat down and closed his eyes trying to formulate a question.

"If I am dead, then how am I here? I can feel you, you can feel me, I can feel me!" He asked a few moments later as he touched his arm where he had been injured just a few days prior, just to make sure that he could indeed feel himself.

"Captain, the soul inside of you lived on. That is how you were brought here, your physical body was left behind in Afghanistan as you call it." She explained, then let it settle in to him.

"When my Marines and I went under fire just over a week ago, the last thing I heard was mortar fire. Then everything went black, then I woke up in the Everfree forest. So why didn't they come with me, we all died didn't we?" .

"Yes James, but they were not the desired ones, it was you; and only one being every five thousand years may be brought through the spiritual world to live again, without disrupting the natural flow of all things throughout every world and universe."

"So your telling me that every living thing has a soul... next your going to tell me that heaven and hell exist as well!?"

"Very much so captain James! They exist in every realm, as dictated by the actions in your life, they decide where you go in the after life. In our world when our souls leave, we either go to the Botanical Pastures, heaven basically, or an evil place known as Tartarus." She described their heaven and hell.

"How do you know this? Do you talk with God or something, do you guys have a little get together over noon brunch!?"

"No, we have never truly spoken, but it is known very well and documented in several cases, however those individuals that did so, had to be sent to Tartarus. They however still did such a task to prove it's existence, even though it caused them an eternity of pain and suffering."

"So instead of being here, I could have possibly been with my brother!?" He yelled at her.

"Possibly James, however there is an upside to this, when you do pass on officially, you will be with your species."

"So I can still die?"

"You are no different here now than you were on earth."

"Okay that clears one thing up. Still though, of the billions of people on earth, why me?"

"When we first heard of the attack on the griffins, we knew right away that we had to do something to stop the Changelings. We knew that it could not be done by forces of our planet, even though we have extraordinary powers compared to humans."

"You're still beating around the bush Luna, get to the damn point!" He said to her with a scornful look. The ponies in the room had all been shocked by the way he spoke to the princesses.

"When news of the siege reached us, we immediately began to look at your world for warriors because we knew that your species has had many conflicts, but still managed to stay peaceful enough to keep surviving and thriving. We looked at members of all different militaries in your world. We had many candidates that were unaware that they had been picked for such a task. However, the only way for them to come here was by their demise, no other way. While I was monitoring for any signs of this event, I felt something happening that was different from everything else."

"That was me coming through space for a lack of a better term, and ending up here?"

"Essentially, yes." Luna stated plainly.

"So if at any other time someone else was killed before me, then I would be somewhere else?"

"Indeed."

"So what made me right for the choice of a new world protector?"

"You are a being of great strength and stature, a natural born leader, you will not falter under any circumstances for I have seen such an act myself; and you have a fire of dedication that burns inside of you that would bring any other being to their knees."

"Thank you for the compliments, but that doesn't quite sell it for me. Truly, what made me such a perfect candidate for a job I wasn't looking for?"

"James... it is because you have the ability to take a life and not think twice about it, you can kill one and then kill another. You are not afraid to carry our such an act, and simply keep on moving until your objective is complete. W-" She was cut off by James.

"With all due respect, fuck you Luna, and fuck you Celestia. You have no idea what I have gone through in my life time. You think that I am just a mindless killing machine!? I'm not, every person that I have to kill, I feel another bullet rip through my chest, every man I have to put down I feel that same round puncture my heart. The only reason you brought me here was because I can teach your little guards to do their damn job!" He shouted as he stood up, Twilight's ears perked up she heard him say 'guard'.

"James this is not the only reason, we needed someone who was seasoned, mature, and a critical thinker that will accomplish their task the first time with no mistakes. Captain James Crossland, of the United States Marine Corps, this is why we need you. We need you to lead our forces into battle against the Changelings and defeat her once and for all." Luna said to him as she too stood up as straight as she could.

"You know what, goodbye. I'm tired of your crap. You come in here and try to become my friend which I was totally open to, then turn around and insult me. Sure it may be true that I can disengage myself from the rest of the world to do my job correctly, but that's only on the battlefield. When the whole thing is over, I still have the images of those people burned into my mind! I can kill, you bet your ass I can and I am damn good at it, but it does not stay on the field. It stays right here in my brain, permanently etched into it. Just during my time as a CSO, I have ended the lives of over sixty human beings, and each and every one of them is still in my mind when I am awake and when I am asleep." James spat at the two princesses. everypony in the room was silent with their mouths agape. No one had ever spoken to the princesses in such a way before, and some did not even know of James' life. He didn't wait for any sort of a response and simply went to his ruck sack, packed all of his gear up and headed for the front door.

"James wait!" Rainbow Dash shouted to him right before he left.

"Not now miss Dash! Just leave me be." He told her while putting up his hand and motioned for her to stop.

"But... where are you gonna' go?" She asked hurt by his words, a slight tear started to build up in her eye. He looked at her with an unchanging expression of anger. Then simply turned and walked out the door, knowing that the damage had been done and nothing could change it. He went through the doorway and shut it with a loud bang. He went along the side of the house and disappeared into the dense foliage of the Everfree forest, not wanting to look back. Even after he left, Dash had stayed staring at the door, tears had started dripping down her face, making a small wet spot on the floor. None of them had expected the reaction that they got. Rarity got up to comfort her.

"Darling it's alright, we're here for you." Rarity said as she hugged Rainbow. She returned the hug and let her tears drip down onto Rarity's coat. The two princesses had moved into the kitchen to talk about what had taken place, Celestia noticed the hole in the cabinet door.

"My sister, do you believe we have made the right choice?" Luna asked.

"Yes I do. He may have reacted differently than we had expected; but I can see that within him, he has a heart of caring, love, and compassion. We must allow him time to recuperate, believe me, he is the one we need." Celestia assured her.

"Very well sister, but we no longer can bring a human through to our world. If he is to fail us, then we have no chance of stopping Chrysalis."

"Trust me sister, he will pull through." She assured Luna. They walked back into the living room to see how the rest were doing. Fluttershy, Twilight, and Pinkie were trying to comfort Rainbow Dash who was sitting down where James had just been moments before. Rarity and Applejack were talking to each other about what the Princesses had told them.

"My little ponies, I know this was not how any of you expected today to go and neither did we. Rainbow Dash I am very sorry that he spoke to you in such a tone, are you going to be alright?" Celestia too tried to comfort her.

"Y- yes princess, I'll be alright. I'm not crying by the way, it's just that when he closed the door something came off of it and hit me in the eye." She blatantly lied to the princess, just to try and show that she wasn't affected by what had happened.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes princess, I'll be fine. I just can't believe that he said those things to you! He never seemed like somepony who would do that, well except for when ponies treat other ponies really badly."

"How so?" Celestia asked intrigued.

"The other night, Vinyl Scratch had a concert and the two of us went to it. My two old bullies from my flight school days were there as well, and were picking on some ponies... then me. He saw them and came over and started yelling at them to stop being mean to everypony, he even hit one of them! When it was all done, they ran away." She told the princess, her tears had stopped coming out.

"So he stood up for everypony there, even though he did not know any of them?"

"Yes princess, but now he did this, and really I just don't know what to think of him anymore." She said looking at the ground.

"Do not think much of what has transpired today, all of you. The only thing that you must keep in mind is the problem we have at hoof with the Changelings; as for James, do not worry about him, especially you Rainbow Dash. He will be okay. Before James left, we had planned on telling all of you that there was time before Chrysalis plans to attack us. More of this will be explained at the Grand Galloping Gala this coming weekend. All of you including James have tickets to it, I have left them at Twilight's dwelling as well as a case that is meant only for James, you are not under any circumstances to look in the case Twilight. Do you understand?" She told them.

"Yes princess, and when James returns?" Twilight asked.

"Treat him no differently than before, as perfect as we try to be, sometimes it is difficult to do such a thing. We told him many things today that probably nopony on his planet ever thought of, or could have believed. The way that he took it was very much how we expected, but not to the degree we had hoped. Give him time to settle back down, once he accepts what has happened, he will be okay."

"Very well princess, I'm still just shocked that Chrysalis is coming back and with the help of the griffins."

"Like I said before my student, do not worry much about it for now, there will be time later. Enjoy the rest of the week, she is not ready to attack yet, therefore we have time to prepare and decide the best way to handle the situation." She told her.

"Alright princess."

"Are you all going to be okay?" She asked them. They nodded their heads, including Rainbow Dash. "We will be heading back to the castle in a few moments, if any of you need us, do not hesitate to send a letter." She continued, once again they all nodded. The two princesses stepped outside and disappeared with a bright white flash. Several minutes later, a chariot was seen flying towards Canterlot.

"Poor guy, I sorta' feel bad for em', even though he... killed somepony." Applejack said.

"I was shocked as well when the princess announced it. I don't think he has the intention of hurting any of us though." Rarity agreed.

"He's a good guy! Just... I don't know." Dash said in James' defense.

"You don't think he'll hurt us, do you?" Pinkie asked even though the question had already been answered.

"No darling. I think if he did, he would have by now. Besides, if the princesses brought him here, he must be good otherwise they wouldn't have done it, right?" Rarity said back.

"Yeah I guess, I just didn't think anypony could do that is all. I mean, we turned Discord to stone, but we didn't hurt him like that!" Pinkie exclaimed to them.

"Very true Pinkie, but his world is different all together, they have had many conflicts since they first existed." Twilight said stepping in.

"Since I've gotten to know him, he has told me many of the things that he has gone through. Not once did he harm somepony unless they tried to first." Fluttershy told them as she too stepped in.

"I honestly believe he can be trusted." Twilight agreed the yellow pegasus.

"Ah agree, if he hasn't done anything yet, I don't think he will or even want's to." Applejack also agreed. They all nodded their heads and went silent for a while. Dash left them after few moments and began to walk around the house because she had gotten bored. She traveled upstairs to see what the rest of the house looked like. She made it to the top of the stairs and looked around, all of the doors were open, but one of them looked like the door was broken where it met the frame, she approached it and looked closer. It had been kicked off the hinges.

"Wow, he must be really angry or something because there shouldn't any reason to kick a door open if all of them are unlocked." She though as she entered the room. She looked around more and then at the door again, she noticed that the other side of the knob was partially broken so she tried to turn it. However it didn't want to turn, even the slightest. "What if it just wouldn't open because of this?" She wondered as she tried harder to turn it. She gave up and walked to the window that looked out at Ponyville. "Where did you go James?" She thought out loud.

Author's Note

I had a hell of a time with this chapter as some of you may have seen in my blog post. I tried my best to explain the shit so here you go. I will try and get the next chapter will be coming out tomorrow sometime because I'll probably be staying up all night working on it (no school tomorrow!) So stay tuned for an update soon.

Ghosts.

A/N: It's a little lengthy with text first, but will get better on down the line.
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James had been trudging through the Everfree forest for quite some time. A stream was hidden by the dense green foliage that he stepped into, causing him to fall down and almost twist his ankle. He got back up and started cursing everything as loud as he could. After packing up the few things that had fallen out from his pack, he moved on deeper and deeper into the woods. He had no idea where he was or where he was going, the only thing he knew was that he was still angry at the princesses. "God! They couldn't even let me die! Then they tell me that they need me because I can do my job, unlike their little panzee ass guards! This is bullshit!" He yelled out as he kicked a slim tree, making it rustle violently back and forth.

He then started to think back to Dash and how she looked at him once he told her to leave him alone. It was sad, even heart breaking to him because he made her cry. This made him even angrier. He threw his pack down, making a loud thud as it hit the dirt, then pulled out his pistol and pulled the slide back and let it go. With the round chambered he fired every round in the magazine into a wide tree. Bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang. Splinters flew off of it as the bullets impacted and buried themselves deep inside of the trunk. He dropped his weapon hand and stared at the tree, envisioning himself and the princesses. He clenched his pistol tightly as he continued to stare. He picked up a nearby rock and hurled it at the tree as well, letting out a loud yell as he did so.

Just after the rock hit the ground, he noticed something was rustling in the bushes. He moved over to the sound and looked in to the bush trying to find the source. He could see a tail of some sort move out of his view, then the whole thing stepped out from the bush. "One of you little pricks again!?" He yelled at the creature, it only stared at him; "I know what you are now, and you're going to regret coming out here you little bastard!" He continued shouting at the cockatrice. It let out a squawk and then James charged at it. He let his foot fly into it, sending it flying into some more brush. It returned however and came flying back as quick as it had left. James wasted no time and picked up a hefty stick laying on the ground, then brought it back like a baseball bat. He let it sail into the animal's chest, causing the stick to break and a piece go flying into the distance. The blunt force the animal sustained was more than enough to kill it. To finish it off he stood over it then stabbed the stick into its chest, pinning it to the ground.

After his anger attack subsided, he took his ruck sack and continued on. He hadn't noticed that the day had became overcast with clouds, when he did he started thinking of a place to shelter in case it started to rain, even though he had been out many times when it was a torrential down pour. He hiked for a half an hour longer, all the while it got darker and darker. He still couldn't keep from thinking back to how it all had gone. From him being told he was dead, then to why they needed him, then to the fact that heaven and hell really existed. He thought hard at how it was possible because he had never truly believed in such a thing, he had even thought it was a stupid idea to be worshiping some guy who claimed to be the creator of everything. His thoughts were interrupted once more as he fell down to the ground, being tripped by a tree root. His hands had been looped under the straps of his bag and allowed him no time to catch himself. He fell face first into the mud of a small brook, his pistol had come out of his holster and landed in the water. "Goddamn it! Is there anything else!?" He yelled as he got up half covered in black mud, cursing the god he didn't believe. He cleared the mud from his eyes then looked down to find his pistol. "Great! Now I have to clean that!" He shouted out as he swiped it back out of the water. He drained the water then stowed it back in the holster, making sure that it was secured properly. He wiped what was left of the mud from his face, then started walking again. He rounded a bend where the brook was coming from, and in the distance he spotted a cave that was slightly off the ground where the water was coming out of. He picked up his pace and headed for it.

He made it to the cave and looked at the opening, it was about twenty feet high at the opening, then about fifty feet in it tapered off to roughly ten feet from what he could see, a small water fall was coming from the center of it. He swung his pack off and rummaged through it to find his flash light, and once he found it he zipped his pack back up and threw it inside the opening. He stowed the light on his vest and proceeded to climb up into the cave. The whole thing was about six feet off the ground, but luckily there was a rock that gave him a high enough boost to get up onto it. Once inside he clicked the light on, bathing the cavern in a bright white tone, in the far back he was able to see a pool of water being fed by another water fall. He took out his pistol and put in a new magazine, disposing of the other one in his bag. He slung his pack over his shoulders and slowly moved further into the cave, the light reflected off the water and cast a white, wave like appearance on the walls. As he got further in he noticed that it opened up to an even larger area, the pool of water taking up only a third of it. "Well, this is a rather nice treat after a shitty day." He thought as he set his pack down again. He put his pistol away and went searching around the cave more to try and get a sense of where everything was. The water fall that dumped into the pool was about fifteen feet up and it came out of a hole in the roof with stalactites around the opening. He ventured around more, finding only small nooks and crannies of no importance. "I'll need to make a fire before it starts raining and get's that wood wet." He thought as he headed back to his bag. He quickly packed up and headed back to the entrance to find firewood.

It had gotten darker as the day progressed, he looked at his watch to find that it was already five thirty. He quickened his search for wood and soon returned with a bundle in both arms. He threw the two bundles up into the cave with his ruck sack, then climbed back in and went to the pool area. He set everything down and took off his vest, his shirt was damp from the water he fell in along with the vest. He began to set up the fire starting with the tinder, he took the smallest dry stuff and made a base, then he took a pistol cartridge and emptied the powder out onto the small tray he made with the dry tinder. Then very carefully he took his knife and placed the tip on the primer to set it off, he then took his pistol to smack the knife and ignite the bundle, but before he brought the gun down he heard a whisper come from somewhere within the cave. A clear voice was heard, but the words were indistinguishable. "What was that?" He asked out loud as he turned around with his flashlight to try and find the source. After looking for a while longer he went back to starting the fire. He carefully set the objects back up and struck the primer, igniting the powder and making it burn the small, dry tinder of moss and thin strips of bark. He quickly added more small tinder to it as the flame caught more and more. After blowing on it to get it burning more, he had a decent fire burning and could soon add bigger branches to it. Ahhsh maaahh ames. "What?" He asked himself quietly as he snapped around to face where the whisper had come from. He flicked his light on to see better, but nothing was there. He went back to tending the fire, building it bigger and bigger until it was big enough to where he didn't need to add wood to it.

He sat down and leaned against the cave wall and thought more about how everything transpired. "I can't believe that I'm dead. Ha, well we go to hell to regroup, but I guess I don't get to." He laughed at himself. He let his mind wander to anything and everything; Rainbow's face kept coming up time and again, just how she looked, so heart broken, maybe even betrayed by those few words he had said. He thought for a while longer and slowly dozed off to sleep. This time his dreams were pleasant, days back on the farm with his parents and brother when they were younger. Although James was dreaming, he remembered it all very clearly and felt as if he was there. He was ten and his brother was eight, they had been playing 'war' outside with their toy cap guns that they had gotten for Christmas a while back. Pap "Ooohhhh you got me, bleh". James said in an adolescent tone as he 'died'. His brother went and hid somewhere, and soon James was back up and looking for his younger brother. "I'm gonna' find you Andy!" He cooed to his brother who was hiding just a few feet away in some tall brush. He walked past Andy three times before he slightly noticed him. James played it off like he hadn't notice him, then he crept around a tree and got closer. Andy didn't want to move, he liked to hide from his brother, then when he felt the time was right, he would jump out and surprise him. James snuck up on him more, then when he was just a few feet away he shot his imaginary bullet at Andy Pap pap. It scared him and made him jump up, only to realize that it was just his older brother, he quickly went into his most honorable 'death' pose and fell over with his arms at his sides. James couldn't help but giggle at his brother's action.

"James, Andrew! Time for dinner!" Their father shouted out to them from the back deck. They sighed as their play time was over. James helped his brother back up and they both walked inside for their meal.

"James... what if we joined the Army? That would be so cool!" Andy exclaimed as he walked closer to his brother's side.

"Yeah it would!" James agreed as he put his arm around his brother, pulling him closer in.

James woke up just after the dream ended, he squinted and looked around, it was hard to see anything past the orange light of the dying fire, but he was still able to see some things. He sat upright and stretched his arms, then got up to do the same to the rest of his body. "Wow I'm thirsty, hopefully that pond isn't contaminated with anything." He said to himself. He then walked over to the pool of water and bent down to look into it. "Looks clean, not green or anything, no fish to pollute it, maybe I'll get lucky and not get Giardia either." He thought as he pressed his face to the surface, making a slight slurping sound as he drank. He got back up after drinking the cool, clear water and slowly made his way back over to his pack, taking in the cave and it's stunning beauty. As he went back over to his spot, he looked down the length of the tunnel that lead to the main area he was in, and noticed that it had become pitch black outside. He made his way to the small wood pile and picked up a few small branches to stoke the fire with. He threw the sticks on and watched as the flames slowly grew. "Oh crap, I still need to clean my gun." He said to himself as he looked around for his pack which contained a few things to do so with.

He searched around and looked to where it was before he had fallen asleep, but did not find it in that spot. "Weird, I don't recall moving it anywhere." He looked around the small site more, only to find that his pack was gone. "This is getting really weird, first whispers, and now my pack is missing. Well at least I have my torch and pistol." He thought as he frowned, wondering just where his pack had gone. He threw a few more branches on the fire to get the flame brighter and light up the whole cave. After the wood had taken, he searched more around the cave for his pack. He walked with the flashlight under his pistol hand, checking every small space that he found. He searched for ten minutes then took a break to gather his thoughts on where it could possibly be. He turned his head and caught a glimpse of a small dug out pit in the side of the cave wall and walked to it. He approached it cautiously because the light only cast itself a few feet into the pit. He got closer and decided that it probably wasn't inside, but as he looked in he could see the bottom part of his pack facing him at about eight feet in. "How the hell did you get in here? I know I sure didn't move you." He said as he looked around to find the culprit, but to no surprise he found nothing. He then dropped down and tried to squeeze inside of the small opening.

He had barely made it to his shoulders when he realized that he could not make it any further in, due to his vest being too bulky on the front and back, so he wriggled back out and took it off. He put the light in his mouth and crawled on his back further and further inside, slowly making his way to his hips, then to his feet. He finally made it to his boots and then found that much like the cave, the pit opened up to a larger area in the back. He tried to stretch his arms to grab it so he didn't have to go all the way into the cramped space, but to no prevail he could not reach it, so he squirmed closer to it. As he moved closer he looked at it again and saw something crawl over it quickly. "What was that!?" He quickly said to himself as his eyes widened, he stared at the bag for few moments, then movement on the wall caught his eye. A long legged, black and tan striped cave spider scurried up the side and into the blackness of the ceiling. James let out a little shiver from fear. "You're kidding? Oh I hate you, ooohhhhh I hate you!" He quietly exclaimed to himself as he closed his eyes, trying to make the sight of the arachnid go away. He looked up at the ceiling and found that a web had been built, and lying in the center of the web were two more of the same type of spider, the one previously on his pack was scurrying its way to its friends. "Ooohhhhh I really really hate you!" He said out loud as he quickly reached for his pack and brought it to himself, not taking his eyes off of the spiders. One of them started moving to the outside of the web and started coming down to where he was at. He wasted no time and immediately started to make his way back out again, about half way through he heard something.

Crumble crumble... thud thud thud thud thud James snapped his head to look outside the pit and saw a black mass run by, then grab his vest and take off with it whoosh. "What the hell is going on!?" He thought as he tried to explain the sighting to himself. He quickly got out of the hole in the cave and looked around for the thing that stole it, but much like everything else, he was unable to find it. "Shit, it took my gun, and my knife!" He shouted out. He quickly broke off a stalagmite to use as a weapon and ran back over to the fire. It had burnt out. "What!? That should still be burning!" He said in disbelief; "Screw it, I'm gone!" He shouted to whatever was in the cave with him. He threw on his pack, not checking or even caring to see of a spider may have stowed away on it, and ran to the mouth of the cave. Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh another whisper was heard making it's way through the cave. James' hair stood on end as he heard it creep into his ear. Jaaaammeesss. "What the fuck!?" He shouted as he turned around at the mouth and scanned back and forth with the light. A black silhouette crossed from one side of the cave to the other, and disappeared from view. His mouth dropped open and his eyes spread wide open as he saw the black shadow move, the light then went out. "Oh shit." He said as he stood there, too struck with fear to do anything.

Aaaannnnddyyyyyyyy. Another whisper echoed through the cave, James stopped dead in his tracks as he heard the unmistakable announcement of his brother's name. "How do you know my brother's name!?" He shouted back into the darkness. It stepped out of the shadows, the dim light of the moon barely making it visible. He was still frozen with fear and did not dare move, and neither did the silhouette, it only stood facing in James' direction. He looked closer at it and could tell by the outline that it had on a vest and helmet similar to his. "What are you?" He whispered to the apparition.

"Andy." Was all it said.

"B- brother?" He asked in total disbelief.

"Yes."

"Bu- how!?" He asked.

"Do not worry about it James."

"Andy if that's you, then prove it." James told the shadow.

"I was born October twenty eighth, nineteen eighty two." It said back. James' hair sprang up on the back of his neck as he heard the valid information come from the apparition.

"Andy if that is you, why are you here!?" He asked it, still not convinced that the thing in front of him was his long since deceased brother.

"To help you."

"H- help... help with what?"

"To understand."

"To understand what Andy!? Tell me!" He yelled back. The silhouette flew at him, immediately making him go unconscious.
~~---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------~~

James' vision went from the cave and the shadow, to a blinding white. After a few moments of the whitewash, he could see some things starting to appear in the distance. He squinted to try and focus on the objects but it was still hard to make out the objects. Soon other things began to appear, then very quickly it all came together. He was back at his new house in Ponyville, the meeting with Celestia was taking place again. James was standing next to himself in the new world, while Andy stood by his side. "James, what happened today?" Andy asked him.

"Gah! Andy!? Okay now I can see you clearly, what is going on!?" James asked his brother whom had startled him.

"Do not talk, look onward at what is taking place." Andy said to him. James obeyed and focused on the situation, even though he knew what was going to happen. They were all talking, then it got up tot he point when Celestia told James the news of his death. Then immediately after she finished talking, the whole scene stopped.

"Whoa! What's happening?" He turned and asked Andy.

"James, what happened right there?"

"Sh- she told me that I was dead, after skirting around the whole damn thing for half an hour. I swear, trying to get an answer out of both of them was impossible!" He stated to his brother.

"Yes, but there was no need to yell at them or get angry, they simply told you the truth; and as you and I both know, sometimes it hurts." He told his older brother.

"Andy! If you let this go on a little longer, you'll see that they they tell me I could have been with you and my whole damn team! Instead they bring me here!" He threw up his hands at Andy, wondering why he was siding with them.

"Yes James, but someone else may have been brought to this world, and they may not have been able to do the things that you have been able to do, like surviving that forest when you first arrived, or being able to make friends with the local populace. If any lesser of a man than you were to be brought here and attempt to accomplish what you have, they more than likely would be dead by now. All of the effort that they put in to you getting here took a lot, but if someone unlike you was brought here, everything that they worked for would have been for nothing." Andy said staring straight into James' eyes. James had never heard his brother speak the way he had just done, and it sent a chill throughout his body.

"Maybe so Andy, but I know that someone else out there could do the same as me, maybe even better."

"True, but they aren't here James, it's you. You were chosen, you were picked, then you sealed the whole package with your death. Now James, I know it sucks, believe me I am still dead, unlike you. All of the others that are still dead envy the life that you have been given. James, heaven is wonderful, but life is even better, use yours for what it's worth."

"I could have been with you, and everyone else, but I was sent here as a freakin' teacher. I didn't join the Corps to be a DI, you and I both know what we signed up for. They couldn't have gotten a few of us together is the space time continuum or whatever, and had a little meeting on who wanted to go and who didn't! Instead they just said nope, get your ass in here James, we don't care about your opinion." He said back getting angry once again.

"James as much as I love you, I need to say this. You are so damn selfish sometimes, I know that you think about the greater good of the people, but sometimes when you really truly need to help someone, you don't think that you should have to be the one who has to do it."

"What!? That is such crap Andy! I mean... goddamn we both went to war to protect the US, but in the end we both ended up getting killed! We both paid the ultimate sacrifice, don't you think that's enough to ask of someone?" He argued with his brother.

"Yes James, but you were called on to do more than to just protect America. These beings need you to help them, to overcome what they fear just like when those cowards attacked us. James they need you, and believe me I am not the only one who thinks this." He argued right back.

"What do you mean you're not the only one who thinks so?"

"Even Patton thinks so, even your fire team thinks so!"

"My team and old blood and guts? How were you able to talk to them?"

"When people like us die, we have our own little slice of heaven you could say, but that's not the point here. I'm trying to tell you that your selfishness has gotten the best of you again. Remember when you got angry at dad when he told you to clean up the house for when mom got home from aunt Clarissa's? You felt that it shouldn't be just your job to clean the whole house, then you yelled at dad then ran away for a few hours." Andy brought the memory back to James.

"Yeah, because it shouldn't have been just my job, it should have been all of ours." He stated.

"You're right, yes, but dad needed to take the cows over to get branded, and he was going to teach me the process of it because you had already learned it." He said to James, still trying to make him see what he was saying.

"There were plenty of other days for it!"

"When mom got back, what happened to everything?"

"Ugghhh, the house was still messy, the cows didn't get branded, and it costed us a lot of money to pay the guys who had come out to help."

"Why was that James?"

"Because I was too selfish to see that it needed to be done, that my contribution to the family was more import-" He stopped short of finishing his sentence.

"Go on." Andy encouraged him.

"Was more important than just me doing what I wanted, and not caring for us as a family as a whole. Just because I didn't want to clean up, my selfishness cost us all time, money, and pain." He continued.

"Yes James."

"What have I done? I yelled at them, called them horrible names, and above all, I hurt someone that loves me. Well loved me anyway." James said as he sat down on the couch and dropped his face into his hands.

"I remember that James, I saw the look on her face, you hurt her. Believe me when I say this, make things right with all of them, and forget what had happened in the past. Use what you have learned here today to your advantage, and vanquish all of the obstacles in your way. Let nothing stop you now for you know what you must do." He told him, then extended his hand to his brother. James grabbed it tightly and his brother pulled him up.

"Thank you Andy. Thank you for coming back to me and showing me what to do." James said as he pulled his brother in for a hug, a tear dropped from both of their eyes.

"You're welcome James, unfortunately I must go now for I only have an extended amount of time, but believe me, we will all be watching over you." Andy said as he broke away from their embrace.

"Thank you again brother, hopefully we will meet again one day."

"As do I James. Oh and before I go, Patton wanted me to tell you to cut those rat-bastard-sons-of-bitches guts out, and strangle their leader to death with them."

"You bet your ass I will, and I'll kill everyone of those motherfuckers with my bare hands." He said back coldly.

"Good, I'll let him know. Until we meet again James, goodbye."

"Wait... if you see Chesty up there, tell him Semper Fidelis for me will you?"

"I will, once again, goodbye." Andy said stepping back.

"Goodbye Andy." He told his brother for the last time, the two saluted each other and then Andy disappeared. James experienced another bright flash of light, then awoke in the cave again. He opened his eyes and could see light coming in from somewhere. He got up and looked around, all of his gear was back at his side, dry, and everything was stored properly. "Miss ya already Andy." He said as he looked up at the ceiling of the cave. He walked to where the tunnel lead to the main area and looked out, morning had for sure come, but much like the prior day it was overcast. The clouds were hanging low and were a light gray. "Well, no time like the present James, you know what you did, fix it." He told himself, then headed back inside. He bent down and put all of his gear on, checked his pistol which seemed to be clean enough, then began his journey back to Ponyville. as he got to the mouth of the cave, he looked back once more. As he turned around he was startled again but quickly regained his composure. Standing in the tunnel and extending back into the main cavern, was every man from his platoon that died on their last operation. He stared at them all for a moment; "Oorah Marines!" He shouted out to them.

"Oorah captain James!" They all shouted back, their voices rumbled loudly as the sound traveled down the tunnel. They all saluted James, and he saluted back. After a minute had passed they disappeared, he then turned around and left the cave to do what he had been asked to by the princess. "On this day the fourth horseman rides Chrysalis, his name is not Death, it is James Crossland, and hell will follow behind me!" He shouted with a wicked grin just before he left the tunnel.

Apologies.

Apologies.

Rainbow Dash was sleeping in her cloud home, she had been crying for some time the night before, but after a while fell asleep. She awoke on her side and lied there for a while, letting her eyes adjust to the light that had been getting brighter as the sun rose above horizon. Her eyes were a slight red from the previous night, making them appear bigger than they really were. She rolled over after her position had become uncomfortable, and was met by the gaze her pet tortoise, Tank. The two stared at each other for a long time, then Rainbow broke the silence, "What Tank?" She groaned, the reptile only looked at her with its beady eyes. "What are you looking at!?" She demanded, he still blankly looked at her, then slowly made his way over and rubbed his head against her cheek. After a few moments of showing his affection, he lifted off into the air with his helicopter-like propeller, and flew around Rainbow's bedroom. She started to get annoyed by his actions and got out of bed to stop him. She threw off her blue blanket that depicted the aerial acrobats known as the Wonder Bolts on it, then lifted into the air to grab Tank, and put a stop to his shenanigans.

He buzzed around and past a window, then right past Rainbow's nose. "Tank! Enough, I'm not in the mood." She pleaded with him, but he didn't listen to any of it. He swooped down low to the floor, then back up and into the next room, all the while Dash gave chase. She slowly began to give up and let him go, but then he spun back around and flew directly at her, causing her to duck out of the way. "Will you knock it off!?" She yelled at the increasingly annoying tortoise. He simply continued with his games and dived back at her, only forcing her to become more irritated. After a few more seconds of chasing him around her house, she finally caught him and gave him a stern talking to. The animal was unfazed by it and simply went on his way when she put him down, but as she did so, she looked out one of the small windows that offered a view of Ponyville. She gazed out of it for a while, thinking of what she was going to do for the day. She thought back again to the previous day, how James had taken everything the princesses told him, how he reacted to both the alicorns and herself. "Well I suppose most ponies would have acted that way." She sighed.

She stared at the ground for a moment, then heard a buzzing sound outside the window and snapped her head back up, but soon recognized the sound of the small propeller spinning on her pet's back. Although he was not of higher intelligence such as Rainbow Dash or James, he was still able to think and feel. He motioned for Dash to come outside for a nice morning flight. She obliged his tiny head gesture and went out to join him, forgetting about James, forgetting about the new threat of the changelings, forgetting about everything that didn't have to with flying in the blue, open sky.

The sun had risen up higher and lit up everything in its morning rays, signaling for the day to begin. As the two flew up higher and higher, they could see others coming of their houses and greeting one another. Dash decided to take it slow and just enjoy the beautiful scenery that was Ponyville. They flew side by side at a nice pace, slowly dancing their way around clouds that stood in their way. They came to a stop on a cloud above the lake that Rainbow and Pinkie Pie liked to swim at. "Thanks for getting me outta' there buddy." She said to her small, green friend. He walked over and for the second time, rubbed his cheek on hers, causing her to giggle from his affection. She peered out over the cloud and down to the water some two hundred feet below, she hung her hooves over the edge of it and was soon joined by Tank. "I wonder if he'll come back?" Rainbow asked Tank, he only looked back at her with a blank stare.

She came back from the edge of the cloud and sat in the middle, letting the sun warm her back. Tank, once again, slowly crawled over and sat down next to her. She turned her head to him and asked, "Tank? Why do I like him? He's not even from here, from this world!" The tortoise only looked up at her with a blank stare again. She popped back over the cloud and hung her whole upper body over it. "I'm gonna' take you home and see if James came back yet." She said as she got back up from her position, then lifted into the air once more. They took their time to get back and even stopped to talk with one of the other pegasi residents of Ponyville, Cloud Kicker, whom was out for a morning flight as well. "Hey Cloud Kicker! What's up?" She asked the light blue, and blonde maned mare. They landed down on a good sized cloud so they could chat.

"Hello there Rainbow Dash, I'm jut out for a nice flight on this wonderful morning. How about yourself?"

"Right on, I decided to take Tank out with me this morning, well more like he took me out." Dash said with a slight laugh.

"Oh? Who's Tank?"

"My pet tortoise!" She stated proudly, Tank then came out from behind her legs.

"You brought yer pet tortoise out for a flight? "That's a little odd I'd say." She said back with a look of bewilderment on her face.

"Yeah I know, Twilight gave him a special thing so he could fly. Here, look!" She exclaimed, Tank then rose into the air once he heard his name get called. He hovered for a moment to let Cloud Kicker get a good look at him.

"Well I don't think I've ever seen an animal like that fly, that's pretty amazing! You said Twilight did that for him?" She asked.

"Yeah, it was totally awesome!"

"Why did you want him as a pet, I would have thought, knowing you, you would have wanted something that was naturally able to fly, and fast too?"

"Well I did, but this little guy has a lot more abilities than you may think! I was trapped under a rock, my wing actually, then he came along and pushed the giant boulder off of me! Right there it was pretty much an instant friendship." Rainbow explained, both pet and owner moved closer together and smiled.

"Interesting Dash, I never would have thought you for a pony to even own a pet, let alone one like this."

"Well just like me, he's pretty awesome, so it just worked out how it should have naturally." Rainbow said, slightly gloating about herself.

"Yeah I guess so, well Dash it was nice catching up for this brief moment, but I'm gonna' get going." Cloud Kicker said as she began to turn away from Dash.

"Alright, well it was good talking to ya', have a good one!"

"Actually wait one second, did you see what happened with that new pony in town to other night?"

"New pony? Who moved here?" She asked confused.

"You haven't seen him yet? That new pony, well not exactly a pony? Wow you're really out of the loop Dash, you been up in the clouds this whole time?" She asked Rainbow, looking at her wondering just how somepony could have missed the new creature that had come to their world.

"Umm, no? Who is this stallion?" She asked again, still very confused.

"You haven't seen the giant pony walking around town? What was he anyway, I think he said he was a human when everypony first saw him." Cloud tried to remember back the other day.

"Oh James! Yeah he's a human. I guess I've been around him so much that he didn't seem any different from anypony else!" Rainbow laughed.

"Really, you've gotten to be with him that much? Well, it seems like someone may have found a special somepony." She winked at Dash.

"No, it's not like that!" Dash defended.

"Sure... sure." Cloud kicker teased.

"I like him, but not like that, you know I'm not a lovey-dovey pony."

"Whatever you say. Hey, were you at that concert the other night?"

"Yeah, with Vinyl?"

"That one! I thought I saw you there, you were dancing with him after he ripped into those jerks who were messing with that unicorn."

"Oh yeah, those ponies were mean, but I think James set them strait." Dash said confidently of James' work.

"He was pretty brave in taking them both on, I don't think anypony else would have done so."

"Yeah, he is pretty brave, and strong-"

"And good looking." She finished off Dash's sentence with a playful nudge and wink.

"What? Oh get out of here!" Dash said, chasing her friend off the cloud.

"Alright Dash I'll catch ya' later."

"See ya!" Dash said, then turned away with slightly red cheeks. "He is good looking though." She thought, "Alright Tank let's go home, I'm gonna' check on James, I need to see him." The two flew back without any distractions this time. She locked Tank inside so he didn't accidentally fall out and and hurt himself. She took off again and made her way to James' home. She went quickly, but not too quickly, that way it didn't seem to anypony that something was wrong, and she wanted to think of something to say to him when they met again. She made it there, but had thought of nothing to say. "Darn it, maybe he'll say something first." She hoped. She touched down just outside of the door and proceeded to knock, the door slightly creaked open when she did, but revealed no one inside.
~~-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------~~

James had been trudging through the forest for a while, the sun was up and was shining bright like most mornings. The air was warm and the sky was dotted with a few clouds. James had been changed by the encounter with his brother and his Marines, he now knew what he needed to do. Although he was still a little mad from how the princesses had handled the situation, he forgave them. He walked with his head held higher than before, and with the usual swagger a Marine would strut with. He thought to himself of his new enemy and how he would bring her down. "Well if she's planning on an invasion, we'll need to counteract her somehow, but if I'm understanding correctly, our forces are much too little to match theirs. They're an army of two species, one part is made of griffins and the other are changelings. Looks like we're going to have to fight like Vietnam and use guerrilla warfare. Probably is a good thing that they brought me here then because I doubt any of these guys have had to kill before. This is going to be rough training them, but if a DI can take a civilian right out of high school and turn him into a highly motivated, critical thinking, professional killer, then I can too. With them not having hands though, it could be an issue, but we'll work through it." James conversed with himself. As he walked he heard another rustle in the bushes, "Oh hey, another one of you pricks!" He shouted out, thinking there was another cockatrice in the brush.

He walked over and quickly kicked through the bush, trying to take it by surprise this time. Nothing was in the bush though, he searched through it more, but after a moment he heard another rustle, this time further off to his left about twenty feet away. He crept up to it with his pistol drawn, waiting for it to jump out at him like the others did. He got to the bush and kicked at it again, only to hit nothing. Behind it was another bush much larger than the one he was kicking in. "Any one on the other side?" He asked out loud in case another pony was there with him. There was no answer. He brought up his pistol and aimed it in a random spot Bang. "Did I get it?" He asked himself. He waited and listened for a few seconds.

He knew he could leave and not waste anymore precious ammunition, but something kept making him want to see what was on the other side of the bush, so he took a few steps back and prepared to charge through the bush. He crashed through to the other side and quickly started to look around for the suspected animal. A cloud had crossed in front of the sun, causing the area to become darker. He searched hard for the cockatrice, but in all of the places he looked, he could not find it. Then the sun came back out. He looked around more and then up in the trees remembering that the strange creature was able to fly. Up in one of the trees about teen feet away, a wolf looking beast was perched on a branch, staring directly at him, not moving or making a sound.

James was not expecting such a fierce looking creature to be peering down at him. He quickly brought up his pistol and aimed at the animal's chest, daring it to move; but the creature did not, it only stared at him. Its eyes were dark blue with a slight silver tone, the hair on its neck and head was a dull white and stood out on its black and sparsely white speckled body. Its claws were sunk into the branch it was on, and its sleek, black wings were tucked up tight against its side. It watched James' movement so closely that it could see his chest expanding and contracting from his breathing. The two stared at each other for several minutes, unsure of what to make of the other. "What are you?" James whispered. Before James could do anything, the large wolf-like creature pounced off of the branch with a powerful jump and flared its wings, taking flight and leaving James staring at it in wonderment and awe. "Man this a strangely beautiful place." He stated to himself.

After the run in with the wolf, James remained on edge and listened for any little movement that sounded out of the ordinary. He got the feeling of being at war again and went into his usual 'patrol' mode, watching for anything that looked suspicious. Clouds came and went as he made his way back to his new home, and nothing else gave him a surprise, only a few very small animals scurried across his path every now and then.

He reached the edge of the forest that butted up against his home. "I wonder if anyone came knocking... doubt it." He thought to himself. He came up around the right side of the house, then noticed a familiar cyan pegasus standing at the door. "Well I guess someone did come to pay me a visit." He thought. Rainbow went inside and he followed her in.
~~---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------~~

Rainbow Dash stepped inside the darkened living room, leaving the door open so she could see somewhat, "Hello!? Are you here James!?" She called out to him. she was met with no answer though. James was standing in the doorway behind her, but Rainbow was unaware of it. She ventured further into the house, looking everywhere to find him. After checking all of the downstairs area, she moved to the upstairs to see if he might be trying to fix the broken door she had seen before. James watched her ascend the staircase, but did not go after her, he simply found a seat and waited for her to return.

Rainbow searched around in all of the rooms and even went back and checked them all again. She gave up and went back downstairs, unsure of what else to do or what she would want to do; just wait for him, who knows how long that will be, or wait for him to come back into town. "Hello Rainbow Dash, how are you doing?" James asked when he saw her come back down, she immediately stopped her thinking.

"Ahhh!" She screamed out, but then realized that it was just James.

"Sorry about that, I didn't mean to startle you. Well, maybe a little." He apologized.

"Jeez James, you almost made me jump out of my skin!" She yelled at him.

"I'm sorry." He said again as he got up. Dash slightly backed away from him, but then moved closer to him.

"Are you alright James?" Dash asked.

"Dash, before we get into anything about me, which there will be a lot to tell from last night, I want to apologize for my behavior. I acted like a jackass" He began his apologies.

"It's okay James, I forgive you, don't worry about it."

James squatted down in front of her, "No it's not, I acted like an ass, and stormed out like schmuck. I hurt you, I could tell I did, and I cussed like an ignorant fool at your princesses. That was probably one of my least professional moments, and honestly, I was a selfish jerk. Rainbow Dash, I am so, so sorry for what happened yesterday. Can you forgive me even the slightest?" He begged her.

"Yes James, I can, and I did. You did make me feel bad, and... and I actually cried for a few hours last night." She told him, even though she didn't want to admit she let tears come out of her eyes.

"Dash I am so sorry I caused the pain you felt." He apologized once more.

"Let me finish, I realized while this was happening, that what you must have been feeling everything I was, except a hundred times worse. I mean, I don't know of anypony who would just be alright with them being dead, and then yanked to another world to live again and protect those ponies too! I think we all decided on that yesterday after you left. So let's just put it behind us James, I forgive you." She told him. James immediately lurched forward and wrapped his arms around her, she returned the hug and the two embraced each other for a while. When they broke away, they looked at each other for a minute, then randomly began laughing. James stood up and went over to where he dropped his ruck sack. "So what were you saying happened last night?" She asked.

"Oh, right! Well, where to begin?" He asked out loud. He decided to just begin after he stormed out. He told her about tripping and falling down, then shooting the tree. After he told her about it, she realized how bad he actually felt. He then proceeded to tell her about the cave and the strange happenings at first. Then about his pack disappearing without him moving it, and then the spiders crawling around just a few inches from his head. She twinged a little bit at hearing the mention of spiders, she was terrified of them as well, and even when just the word of them was mentioned, it made her skin crawl.

"So you were stuck in a hole, with a bunch of spiders right next to your face!? You really are fearless!"She exclaimed.

"I was terrified!" He said back, "But that wasn't even the scariest part."

"What, was there like, a hundred more spiders that came at you!?" she asked, astonishing herself with the number.

"No, much worse. My brother came back." He said in a flat monotone.

"Y- your brother? You said he was dead though."

"Allow me to finish." He said. He continued telling her about the experience, about Andy practically flying at him and then the two ending up back in the room with the princesses. The whole time Rainbow listened attentively, amazed by the encounter that James had. He finished his tale with telling her about the wolf-like creature hidden in the tree. He asked Rainbow if she had ever seen such a creature before. She told him that she never had, but of all the things in the Everfree, it didn't surprise her. The two sat in silence for a moment, then James spoke up. "Dash, let's get out of here, I'm starting to feel a weirdness coming on." He said as he began to rummage through his rucksack, just to make sure all of his stuff was there.

"Yeah I kind of feel it too, where do you want to go?" She asked, finally happy that she was able to spend time with him again.

"Doesn't matter, just not in here, plus it's a nice day!"He exclaimed as he pushed some of his gear around in his bag.

"Well, Applejack said she needed some help today with apple bucking, if you don't mind doing a little bit of work?" She offered.

"Doesn't really bother me, we gotta' head through town to get there though right?"

"Yeah, I haven't even eaten yet, do you want to stop by Sugar Cube Corner on the way?"

"Sounds good to me, I could go for some chow too." He agreed. James checked his pistol and stowed it in his holster, he was down one full magazine now, leaving just two left to defend himself if the time arose. "Gotta conserve it, man." He thought. He declared that everything was in order, and the two walked out of the living room, and through the door. James didn't bother locking it behind him.

The two walked on for a while, making their way into Ponyville. They passed the park James had seen Scootaloo at, thinking back to it brought up memories of James' childhood once more. As James day dreamed, he became unaware of what he was doing and where he was going, and ran face first into a tree and fell down. He quickly snapped out of his trance and blinked a few times, only to be met with the face of a laughing Rainbow Dash. "Bwahahaha! That was so funny, you just went face first into that tree, and then whoop! You were down on the ground!" She roared with laughter.

"Ha-ha-ha, laugh it up!" He said as he got up, "hey is my nose bleeding at all? It kind of feels like it is." He asked her. Dash had a hard time controlling her bursts of laughter, but eventually got it enough under control to where she could observe him. She leaned in close to him as he bent down so she could see better, their faces were just inches apart and Dash's face began to flush a little.

"What if I just... leaned in a little more?" She thought. She had been staring at him blankly for a few moments and James took notice to it.

"So what's the assessment there doc?" He asked, feeling awkward in the position.

"Huh? Oh um, your fine, I-uh, just wanted to be really, super, extra sure that you were alright." She said quickly to try and fool James in case he had caught on to what she was thinking.

"If you say so. You okay?" He questioned with a puzzled expression.

"Yeah I'm fine! I great actually!" She said quickly again.

"Alright... you sure?" He asked doing a double take at her.

"Yeah I'm sure, let's get going." She demanded, trying to hurry them along. James stood up again and they continued down the small path that lead to town. About five minutes passed before either of them said anything.

"Hey Dash, can I ask you something?"

"What's up?" She asked, what she was thinking was, "Ooo maybe this is it, when he finally asks me to be his special somepony!"

"How do you stand being around me?" He asked plainly.

"Ahh come on!" She thought, but it came out instead as, "What do you mean?"

"Well I just realized that I smell horrible and I haven't gotten to take a shower yet, how can you stand my stink? I can barely take it!" He admitted.

"I didn't notice you smelled like anything, not that it would matter how you smelled." She told him, saying the last bit quietly under her breath.

"How can you not smell this!?" He asked as he fanned his hands in her direction, blowing his sweaty stench at her. After a moment, she smelled it.

"I don't know why you have a problem with that, you smell good actually!" She exclaimed, the smell of him caused her heart to slightly flutter.

"How do I smell good, I smell like popcorn and dirty socks!" He asked very confused by her sense of smell.

"You actually smell like a cupcake from Sugar Cube Corner."

"You're telling me I smell sweet!? Thanks for the compliment, but there is no way I'm buying it!"

"I'm serious you smell good, which is weird I think too, and I kind of like it." She said, her face flushing red again. She turned her head away quickly so he wouldn't see it.

"Bull corn, I still do not believe you!" He disagreed.

Okay, when we see somepony else, we'll ask them. I'm not lying to you, really." She told him, the redness had gone away luckily. They walked on for a few moments and then one of Ponyville's earth pony residents came strolling by.

"Excuse me, can you tell me how he smells?" Rainbow asked the random citizen.

"I beg your pardon? You want me to smell him? Why?" The earth pony asked.

"Just, can you, please, he doesn't smell bad I swear." She told the earth pony. James was unsure of what to do, so he stood where he was awkwardly as the pony walked up to him with a skeptical grin, and began to sniff around him.

"Wow, you weren't kidding, he does smell good! What do you have on?" The earth pony asked.

"That's my sweat actually." James stated. The stranger looked up at him then turned away in disgust.

"I just smelled your sweat, why would you do that to me?" The earth pony asked.

"So I smelled sweet to you?" He asked.

"Well yes, but why did I have to do that?"

"Just to see really." He stated bluntly. The earth pony turned its head up and strode away in frustration and disgust. The two looked at each other and shrugged, then continued on their way to Sugar Cube Corner to get something to eat. On the way they passed by Twilight's home, also known as the local library. Dash immediately stopped.

"I thought there was something that involved you and Twilight that you needed to know about." She said to James whom also stopped.

"Can't remember what it was?"

"Umm, not real-"

"James!" Twilight shouted out from her second story window, cutting off Rainbow.

"Oh, hey Twilight we were just talking about you! What do you need?" He asked up to her. Twilight teleported down to the both of them.

"Hello James, Rainbow Dash, how are the both of you doing today?" She asked them. They both replied with a 'good'. "James I need you to come inside with me, Rainbow you can come too, the princess left something for you and told me specifically not to touch it." She continued.

"Oh that's right! Now I remember what the princess brought for you." Dash said as the memory of the princess came back to her.

"What is it Twilight?" He asked caught off guard by the sudden urgency.

"I don't know, but my guess is that you will, so come on." She explained as she lead the other two inside. James had not been inside the literal tree house before. The sheer size of it made him look upon it with awe, bookshelves lined all of the walls and many books were missing from them. Some were stacked up on the floor and on a few tables. He looked up and saw the second level catwalk, also lined with bookshelves.

"You're quite a book worm aren't you Twilight?" He asked.

"I've been told that once or twice before." She said with a smile.

"She's also an egghead." Rainbow whispered to James.

"Did you say something Rainbow?" Twilight asked as she lead them over to the kitchen.

"No, nothing." She answered back. They entered the kitchen area and on the table was a wooden box about three feet long and two feet wide.

"Is this the thing you brought me in for Twilight?" He asked.

"Yes, I have no idea what it is or what it might be, but it's kind of heavy." She said, thinking back to her having to move it after the guards set it down in the library. The three of them approached the box, James looked over it for a moment.

"Where's the lid?" James asked.

"There's no lid? Why would the princess do that?" She asked out loud to herself. James picked it up and felt the weight of it.

"Wait a minute, i- is this what I think it is?" He asked himself.

"What, what is it?" Twilight asked, the suspense was getting to her.

"Well you had the box upside down just so you know, and if you'll give me a moment, I'll unclasp these latches and I'll show you." He said. He undid each one and it came loose with a jangling sound. He popped off the lid and peered inside, "I was right!" He shouted out.

"What is it!?" Twilight asked, her eyes had lit up with delight as she waited just a moment longer to see what was so important.

"Oh I missed you baby! I don't ever want to part with you again." He said as he looked down into the box.

"Well what are you waiting for, show us!" Twilight demanded.

"Hey, not just anybody gets to see Loranda!" He barked back.

"Loranda!?" Both ponies asked with very confused looks. James reached in and picked up the contents of the box and held it up for both mares to see. Twilight's face went from excited to crushed and uninterested in a flash. "Girls, meet Loranda, this is my M4A1, and she will reach out and bitch slap any man who dares back talk or disrespect her!" He exclaimed with a delightful grin.

"Your what?" Twilight asked still confused.

"This is my rifle, similar to my pistol on my side here, but it shoots much, much faster." He said. He looked it over and saw the magazine was still in it, then removed it and pulled back the charging handle to clear any rounds in the chamber. One round popped out of it and landed on the floor with a metallic clink. He then flipped it over to the other side of the receiver and flicked the safety on, then picked up the loose round on the floor and put it back in the magazine which he set on the table.

"So this is another thing that you use in... your field of work?" Twilight asked.

"Yes ma'am. This beautiful weapon has been through more than you could imagine!" He exclaimed.

"Do you mind telling me about it so I can write a letter to the princess about it, as well as take notes and the like?"

"Gladly, I'd like to inspect this too and make sure everything is okay inside."

"Very well, allow me to grab a quill and paper." Twilight said as she dashed out the room. She returned just a few moments later, James had already cleared a spot for the three of them. They took a seat, with of course Dash sitting next to James.

"Tell me about your 'Loranda', James."

"Well I'll start with a quick history lesson. The first type of this rifle was made in the 1960s by a man named Eugene Stoner, and a company called ArmaLite, it was originally semi-automatic like my pistol. It started out as the AR-15, but then, get this, a company by the name of Colt, bought the weapon and produced the first M-16, which is what this weapon is based off of."

"Well, that is sort of ironic." Twilight said.

"It's pretty funny I think, anyway through the years, the M-16 went through many modifications starting with the M-16A1, then the A2, all the way up to A4. Now, where this came along was when the M-16A2 was built, then in 1994 it came on scene as just an M4 carbine. That was a three round burst, meaning only three rounds would shoot when the trigger is pulled." He explained, all the while taking his gun apart and inspecting it. He reached into his bag and pulled out some cleaning supplies.

"Wow, humans have created some very interesting and complex objects throughout your time. I'm interested to know what other things you have accomplished."

"Well a big one is that we have put someone on the moon, and sent satellites out into space."

"I thought you didn't have magic though, how did you get a human to the moon."

"Easy, smart scientists, mathematicians, and hard workers. Plus a big rocket to get the people there." He smiled as if it was no big deal. Twilight's mouth dropped open in astonishment.

"I know what a rocket is because we have fireworks to shoot off during celebrations, but you used one to get somepony to the moon?"

"Well it's actually a really big one, with some other smaller ones, it's lengthy to explain. Anyway, what I was saying about my rifle here, it basically went from the M4 to the M4A1 and the SOPMOD version as well. SOPMOD stands for special operations peculiar kit, so just more updates have happened. This one is a SOPMOD M4A1. All of the things on here are to help me see better and acquire a better target aperture on my enemy. Luckily it doesn't look like anything is broken so that's fantastic." He continued his lecture on his country's weapon. By this time he had taken the whole weapon apart and cleaned it. He put all of the internal parts back in and placed the two receivers together, put the two pins back in and pulled back the charging handle to make sure everything was in its place, then pulled the trigger to make sure it would fire. It made a definitive click and let him know that it was ready to go.

"Is that all James?" Twilight asked him.

"In a nutshell, pretty much, I could go on for hours on this, but that would get dull and boring." He stated.

"Well... alright, I'll send a letter to the princess and let her know that you got what you needed."

"Very well, do you need help with anything while I'm here?" He offered.

"Not with anything I can think of, if I do though, I'll let you know."

"Cool, well, I guess we'll just be heading out, not really sure what else to say. So, have a wonderful day and we'll see you later. Oh, in that letter, could you send my deepest apologies to the princesses for what happened yesterday." He asked.

"I most certainly will, James." She assured him.

"Thank you, and have a wonderful day." He said as he got up with Rainbow. He slung his rifle over his shoulder and then his rucksack, and showed themselves out the door. Just after they left, Spike came running down the stairs.

"Was the human just here!?" He asked Twilight.

"He was Spike, I'm afraid you missed him, maybe you'll get a chance to talk to him later." She tried to reassure the baby dragon.

"The one time I don't want to sleep in, and I do!" He cursed himself. Deciding that he could do nothing, he went back to bed.

Author's Note

The character mentioned in the beginning was thought up and created by Wolfoftheabyss, this character will be mentioned in a later chapter, and possibly others as well. Sorry I didn't get a chapter out any sooner, I was hoping for two this time around, but a long one does it better for me. Next chapter will be out next week I'm hoping, that's counting on if my chemistry teacher doesn't decide to be a jerk and give us an ass load of work. Until then, Semper Fidelis. Random question, does anyone else eat crunch berries, or am I the only one?

Apologies: Part Two.

The morning had turned to noon and all of Ponyville's residents were bustling about, including Rainbow Dash and James Crossland. They strode through town on their way to Sugar Cube Corner to find something to eat, and then later on to Applejack's apple orchard. Clouds were brewing off in the distance, slowly bubbling up and growing darker as they began to form into cradles of rain.

"Hey Rainbow, how is the weather looking for later on today? Looks like we might be getting some rain over on the east." James said to his cyan companion trotting by his side.

"Well, later on we're calling for some rain, how bad though I don't know." Rainbow Dash replied.

"Looks like a storm might be rolling in here in a few hours." James stated. Rainbow looked up and scanned the skies in the direction James had pointed out.

"Hmm, yeah maybe there will be some rain later, I didn't have weather duty today so I'm kinda' out of the loop." Dash agreed.

"It rained a little last night too, you think it will continue like this for the rest of the week?" He asked trying to keep the conversation going.

"Maybe... I dunno though, maybe with you being here you're messing up the weather pattern!" Dash joked with him. The two shared a laugh as they continued walking down the stone streets. As they walked, James still could not help himself but look around in admiration at the beauty of Ponyville. They soon made their way to Sugar Cube Corner for a quick bite to eat. They approached the front door of the bakery, James held the door open for Rainbow and she walked followed by James. She waited for him to catch up, then went over to the front counter where the Cakes were serving a customer. The two waited for a few minutes as the customer and the Cakes haggled over the price for the catering service the Cakes provided, but decided to just find a seat and wait for them to be done.

They made their way over to an empty table, and as they walked, they spotted Pinkie in a back room tending to the Cakes' two foals, Pumpkin Cake, and Pound Cake. James made a disgusted face when he saw the two babies, Dash caught him making it. "What was that for?" She asked very confused by his expression.

"I hate babies, I just simply cannot stand them." He stated.

"Why though? I mean, look at them, they are so cute, especially Pumpkin Cake, he's the pegasus." Rainbow proclaimed with sheer delight in the two foals.

"They're nasty, they smell bad, they drool, and.... do I really need to continue?" He asked with a deadpan tone. They had finally sat down at their seats; James took off his rucksack and slung off his rifle.

"Well no, but still, I don't get how somepony could not like little kids or babies?"

"I'll crawl through the nastiest, stagnant water there is and not care. Hell I will mouth siphon gasoline to get a vehicle moving if need be, but I will not handle a baby." He continued, trying to further state his point.

"I don't know what gas-oh-leen is, but you are the strangest and only human I've ever met."

"You're the first other speaking species I've ever met." James half joked. He scooted back slightly in his small, disproportionate chair, hitting the stock of his rifle and causing it to fall over with a clattering sound. However, it wasn't loud enough to make the ponies at the front counter notice. James quickly set it back up, making sure that it wouldn't fall again.

"Hey James, what did you call that thing again?" Dash asked, breaking the slight silence that had fallen upon them.

"The name I gave her, or the actual thing it is?"

"Both. I know it's a gun from what you've told me about that stuff before, oh, and what's that big thing on the end?" She replied.

"Well it's an M4A1, it shoots a bullet five point five six millimeters in diameter. I gave it the name Loranda a long time ago as a joke mostly, but it just stuck, so I kept it. The big thing on the end is a sound suppressor, and just like the name says, it makes the shots a lot quieter, although it's really just to disguise it to sound like something else." He happily explained to Dash.

"Really? Wow, does this one shoot really fast like you told me about before, or is it like the pistol?" She inquired.

"Excellent question, it does both actually." He said as he took the weapon off the floor, then collapsed the polymer stock to make it fit on the table for the demonstration. He turned it over to show the side of the receiver that housed the fire selector switch. "This little lever switch right here is what makes the weapon able to shoot, aside from the trigger. Flick it once and it's on semi-auto like my pistol; flick it twice and you get full-auto, one pull of the trigger keeps the system going." He lectured.

"Wow, humans have made some really cool stuff without magic." She complimented him on his specie's achievements.

"Oh hell, this isn't anything compared to all the other things we've done, just like the vehicles we send into space I talked about before."

"I still can't believe you can do that." She stated once more, her ears slightly tucking back against her head in astonishment.

"I love it when you do that." He slightly flirted.

"Do what?"

"When you tuck your ears back, it's cute." He chuckled.

"Shut up, no it isn't!" She quickly said as her face flushed a slight shade of red.

"Oh come on, those cute, little, blue, fuzzy ears are too cute when they twitch." He teased her with a wink. As he finished his sentence, Pinkie appeared right next to Dash, slowly coming up from the underside the table.

"Hi!" Pinkie shouted at the two of them. They both recoiled with a slight startle, they had not noticed her approach the table at any time since they had sat down; however, they quickly regained their composure.

"Hello Pinkie." James answered, "You gave us quite a scare!"

"Yeah you did!" Dash agreed, both her and James laughed, then Pinkie joined in.

"I saw you two come in and sit down and just thought, oh I have to say hi! And well, HI!" Pinkie shouted with glee at them.

"Well once again, hello Pinkie. How are you doing this afternoon?" He greeted the pink mare, "Wait, it is afternoon right?" He asked as he took a quick look at his watch, it read 12:36.

"Umm, yeah I think so. What are you two going to do today huh!?" Pinkie inquired with a large grin as she put her hooves on the table.

"Well, I believe we are going over to miss Applejack's to help her pick apples, right?" He asked Dash as he took his rifle off the table, and set it back up on the floor of the bakery.

"Yeah, we were gonna' head over there after we got something to eat. Speaking of which, do you think you could get us two slices of coffee cake, and two cups of hot cider?" Dash ordered for the two of them.

"Sure! Anything for two of my bestest friends! Well actually, you two are two of my bestest friends, but so is everypony else-"

"Pinkie! Could you please?" Dash asked, cutting her off. She nodded her head then shot off her mark into the kitchen. Dash and James sat quietly as Pinkie created the coffee cake then baked it in the oven. James gazed out the window next to him, taking in the wonderfulness of the peaceful town and it's residents. He stared out of it for a while, then a brown coated stallion trotted by the window and quickly glanced in. James looked at the unknown pony and he stared right back, the two looked at each other for a few seconds, then James quickly turned his head away from the window and looked around the bakery. After that, he noticed the light brown stallion had begun to leave the window, he looked back again and got a glimpse of his hourglass cutie mark. After a moment more of staring, he was quickly snapped out of his daze as Pinkie came back and practically threw the plates of light, fluffy cake on the table.

"I'll be right back with the cider, don't go anywhere you two!" She said with a giant grin on her face. Just a moment later, she returned with two mugs of hot apple cider, steam slowly rolled off the top of the light, caramel colored liquid. Pinkie stayed where she was for just a moment, waiting for them to try the brew. Dash was the first. She put her hoof through the handle and picked up the mug, pressing it to her lips for a quick temperature test. Deeming it was okay, she took a sip.

"Mmmm, that's pretty good Pinkie! These taste like apples from AJ's orchard." She exclaimed.

"That's 'cause they are silly filly!" Pinkie replied, bouncing up and down slightly as she spoke. "Well, I'll let you two eat, I just wanted to see how the cider turned out, I've never made it before." She continued, then simply turned and trotted away.

"Hey miss Pinkie Pie, wait up a second!" James said to her after taking a drink of the cider himself. She quickly ran back over in the blink of an eye.

"Yeesss?" She asked.

"I'd like to apologize for my actions yesterday, I shouldn't have gone off like that. I'm sorry for any upsets I caused you." He said as he slightly dropped his head down in shame.

"It's okay, I forgive you, you're not the first pony er human, well actually the first human, but either way you're not the first I've seen get mad before, it's okay." She said forgiving him. She then happily turned and trotted back over to the cakes' foals to play once more. James looked down and took a piece off the cake he had been given, then dunked it in the cider.

"Whoa, that looks good!" Dash said breaking the slight silence that had befallen them.

"What? This? I just dipped it in here is all, nothing special." He said with a shrug.

"Well I don't have hands like you, and I'm not a unicorn so that's out of the question."

"Well here, try a piece." He offered. He picked off another piece and dunked it in once more, then motioned for her to lean in closer. She didn't hesitate. She opened her mouth and James popped the warm, soggy piece of cake in. She relished in it, taking her time to savor every little bit. She came back to reality a minute later, James was looking at her. "Enjoy it did you?" He asked with a smile.

"I did very much." She said back in a flirting tone, her cheeks flashed a faint shade of red.

"I can tell, want another piece?"

"Yes please." She immediately said. James repeated the same thing, and Dash once again savored the wonderfulness of it. The two sat and finished their late brunch, then asked Pinkie how much the meal would cost. It was only four bits for the whole thing, Dash paid and James apologized for "being broke" as he put it. They got up and James put his ruck sack on, then slung his rifle back on, checked to make sure he had everything, then the two walked out the door with a wave to Pinkie and the Cakes.

"Over to miss Applejack's now? Or do you need to stop anywhere else?" He asked as the two strode through town.

"Nah, I don't need to, unless you do or something?" She asked right back. He shook his head no. The rain clouds in the distance had moved closer in, still growing larger and darker as the neared.

"We better get this posse moving if we're gonna get anything done before we get drenched." He said as he pointed to the clouds.

"I thought you were the big bad Marine who would 'go through the nastiest, stagnant water, and siphon gasoline' as I recall? But you're scared of a little rain." Dash quipped.

"Hey, shut up!" He joked back. "I'm not just for the record. When I was stationed in Okinawa, Japan, there was a massive rain storm coupled with a mud slide that buried almost twenty people in an apartment complex. The majority of the base went to dig them out and help all of the other people in trouble, with nothing more than our E-Tools, and it still rained like a mother the whole time! Got everyone out though."

"Wow, really? That's amazing! How big was the apartment?" She asked astounded.

"It had two floors, each floor was about thirty thousand square feet. It was right up against a pretty good size hill, so when it rained, it all came down onto that complex." He continued for her.

"So what happened? I want to hear the rest." She asked getting very excited and lifting into the air.

"Well, the whole damn building practically turned itself around, split in half, and was sitting at a steep angle. First we dug out a hole where we figured one of the exterior windows was, then got a couple of guys ready repel down the long corridor it let in to. At this point we were all drenched, but it wasn't anything we hadn't been through before, hell, in Japan the heat never ends and typhoons only seemed to come on weekends!"

"What's a typhoon, and where is Japan? And what is an E-tool?" She asked trying to get a better grasp on what he was saying.

"Mind if we hold up a sec? My boot lace came untied." He asked her, they stopped and happened to be by a bench, surprisingly as James was telling his story, they had walked almost halfway to Applejack's orchard. He sat down and began to retie his boot as well as checking the other one just in case. The sun was shining down on the two as the incoming rain clouds slowly marched on. They had grown from heavy gray, to a sinister looking dark purple, and were getting thicker by the minute. "Alright, as I was saying, we had guys coming up to repel down the corridor of the building, we went in with six teams, two guys in each one. One corpsman, and one guy to go along with him." James continued. they got back up and resumed walking to the orchard, James' boots now tied and ready for anything.

"You didn't answer my question though." Dash interrupted.

"Oh right, sorry about that. Japan is an Island with a very large population, and a typhoon is a tropical storm that will bring in floods, fast winds, and one hell of a problem for anything in its path. An E-tool is a shortened way of saying entrenching tool, a tiny spade shovel really." He answered her.

"Oh I see, and you lived in Ja-pan for a while?" She said, sounding out the syllables in the name.

"Affirmative. As I was saying before, what we did was go down into the hallway of the second floor on this place. We sent in a couple guys before one of our corpsmen, Chuck, and myself went in. We dropped probably twenty glow sticks in there I swear, then we put our head lamps on, some of the guys brought night vision, but we all had our preferences. Anyway, my teammate went up to the window and dropped down to an open doorway where we then met up. We had to be sent down some crowbars so we could get into the rooms where some people were at. The funny part about this whole thing I thought, was that we had to swing on our ropes so we could hop down to the rooms, we would swing, jam the bar into the door frame, then check to see if the rooms were clear. We cleared about six rooms then came upon our first victim, it was a man with a broken leg, and a really badly broken arm. Getting him out was difficult because he was trapped under the bed, and the entertainment center, so we had to muscle that off of him."

"Wait, hold on, you had to lift practically half a room off of him!?" Dash asked with her mouth agape.

"Pretty much."

"You are something else, you know that?" She asked with a smile.

"Thank you Rainbow Dash, you're definitely something different all together I must say." He said back with a smile just as big as hers.

"Please continue, I kinda' like hearing you talk, especially about these adventures that you have been on."

"Is that right? Don't think I've ever had that said to me before, usually it's 'don't talk and move your ass' instead. Well, anyway, where was I? Oh yes, we got to this guy who had no idea what was going on, luckily my corpsman could speak some Japanese and told him to calm down. We threw the television off of him, then the entertainment piece, then the bed and all of that. The one saving grace we had with us was an injured personnel carrier, or IPC. We lifted up the guy and strapped him into the loops on the rig, then pretty much wore him like a back pack. So after we got him packed away, my corpsman got ready to climb up and I had him on belay because the guys at the top were unable to do it safely, then he began his awkward climb up. He managed to get up there though; I got to serve with him on one tour before I came here, definitely a dude I would go into battle with any day. After he got the guy up to the surface and he was treated, he came back down and we continued the search. We found six more people on our floor and the guys on the lower level found the rest. The person in the worst shape had a chunk of steel go through the left side of their chest, and got a really nasty burn on most of their body. None the less though, it brought the Marine Corps and Japanese community closer together." James said, finishing his story.

The whole story had taken up most of their walk over to Applejack's apple orchard. James looked down at his watch to try and gauge when the impending rain clouds would take over the sky above Ponyville. It read 15:23. James thought to himself and figured the clouds would move in in about two hours. He told Dash what was on his mind and she nodded her head, then they picked up their pace until they got to the front gate of Applejack's property.

No one of the Apple family was anywhere to be seen so they walked to the front door, James knocked on it. No one came to the door so he knocked once more. Still no answer. "You think they're home at all?" He asked Dash, she only gave a shrug. He knocked a third time, and just as he finished a light green mare that looked like she had seen many events in her lifetime appeared at the door.

"Oh hello there sonny boy! You must be that new fella' in town I've been hearing about from Applejack! How do ya do stranger, I'm Granny Smith."

"Hello ma'am, I'm Captain James Crossland of the United States Marine Corps. How do you do?" He asked with a hearty smile.

"Oh ah'm doin' just dandy, ah suppose ya'll are lookin' for Applejack?" Granny Smith asked the two.

"Yes ma'am, is she here today? We were going to give her a hand with her work." He stated.

"Yeah she's out in one of the fields, ah think in the fourth one, over on the east side, if ya see Big Mac he can show ya where. That's nice of ya ta come and help us out, especially a new thing like yerself!" Granny Smith told James with a smile.

"Excellent, thank you very much, if there is anything else I can do to help you out, don't hesitate to ask me." He said with a friendly smile.

"Well thank ya sonny, ah appreciate a pony, er, what are ya again dear, I'm sorry." She asked with an embarrassed expression.

"I am a human from earth ma'am, you can refer to me me as a person in what you were about to say, or somebody in another case." He told her.

"Alrighty there James the human, person, somebody, thank ya'll for the help!" She said before shutting the door and walking over to her chair for a nap. James and Dash walked off the front porch to find their friend. James was unsure of where Granny Smith was talking about, even though he knew which way east was, so Dash just led the way. The trees in the first field were completely barren of apples, but flourished with healthy green leaves.

"Damn, today is just gorgeous!" James said aloud as he looked at everything that surrounded him. The trees were healthy and stout, the sky was clear of clouds except for the ones off in the distance, the sun was shining bright and yellow and warmed everything it touched.

"Yeah it is, it's a great day to fly too!" Dash acknowledged him.

"And I get to spend it with my favorite pegasus." He said as he turned his head to Dash, then gave her a wink. She only looked back with a cute smile. She walked a little closer to him afterwards. The two weaved in and out of the rows upon rows of trees as they went to find Applejack; the trees had gone from being cleared of apples, to ones with some apples that were mostly small and still growing, then to ones with big red, yellow, and green apples dangling down from the tops of the trees. Whack... plop plop plop. "What was that!?" James said as he quickly spun in the direction of the abrupt noise, slightly forming into his fighting stance and putting his right hand on his rifle that lay slung on his back.

"It's okay, it's just AJ, I'd recognize the sound of her bucking apples anywhere." Dash reassured him.

"You sure?" He asked still looking around for the source, slowly putting his hand down from his weapon.

"Yes James, it's okay, nothing to worry about."

"You're probably right. Sorry, I'm just always suspicious of unknown noises, they tend to be bad every time I hear one. Plus with this new threat that we have to face from this Chrysalis chick, so you can see where this was going." He apologized.

"No big deal, I'm not mad or anything, just do be careful not to hurt somepony is all."

"Don't worry, I identify my target before I pull the trigger, nothing bad would happen to a friend of mine or yours, that's a promise." He informed her. They walked in the direction of the noise and sure enough, Applejack was there with two barrels of apples on the ground, Big Macintosh was with her. Applejack ran up to the tree the barrels were placed under, then reversed her stance and let her powerful legs fly into the still tree. It waved back and forth, then the tree rattle back and forth, dropping the bright colored fruit perfectly into the barrels.

"Hey AJ, hey Big Mac! What's up?" Dash asked the brother and sister as she and James approached.

"Well howdy miss Rainbow Dash, mister James, how are ya'll doing?" Big Mac's deep voice boomed.

"Good." They both answered. "We came over to offer you some assistance, what can we do?" James continued.

"How good are ya'll at bucking apples?"

"I've never bucked apples before, in fact the only thing I've done that comes close to bringing down a tree full of apples the way you do is kicking down a door. I can sure as shit lift those barrels though!" He told Mac.

"That'll work just fine, Dash ah know ya'll can buck apples, so if ya don't mind getting started on that I'll show James here where to put the apples at." Mac said, laying out the plan for the four of them. They all nodded their heads in understanding. Big Mac motioned for James to follow him. They walked off over to a nearby cart, on the way they conversed. "Ah do appreciate the two of ya coming out and helping us, 'specially a stranger like yerself James, shows me that ya'll are a good character."

"No problem mister Macintosh, anytime when I can help someone out I gladly will." He told him.

"Good, we could always use a hand 'round here, 'specially now that we have been losing some of our apples."

"How do you mean? Not able to keep them watered and they're dying out, or what?" He asked concerned.

"Not a problem with keeping them alive, ah'd actually rather have that be the problem because then ah would know that ah could fix it. But no, the problem is that somepony keeps stealing them at night, hay even just last night we had some go missing!" Mac told him the problem.

"Have you found any reoccurring signs that may hint at what the problem is?"

"Well before we get into that, this is where we put the buckets of apples when they're ready." He said as he pointed to the wooden cart they had walked over to.

"Alright, I'll put them here when they're ready to go."

"Good, now as ah was sayin' before, they usually go missing during the night, and when ah find out they have gone somewhere, there are usually patches of dirt that have been riled up, but they look like they may have been holes before, then were covered up." He told James whom listened closely to the details.

"Sounds like you have a vermin problem, possibly a mole or some other burrowing animal judging by the holes in the ground?"

"If so it's a big mole, ah'll tell ya that; here ah'll show ya how big the holes are, follow me." He told James. They strode over to where the crime had taken place the previous night, and sure enough, three large, filled in holes were visible around the trees. The two of them walked over to where the earthy, brown holes were and inspected them closer. Two of the holes measured about two and a half feet around, and one about three and a half feet lay just a few yards away. "Ah asked AJ if she knew what they could be, but she didn't really know. She thought it could have been diamond dogs, but was unsure because she had run into them so long ago. She remembered the holes being higher though she said." Mac told him. James simply nodded his head.

"What are these diamond dogs you speak of?" He asked.

"They're animals that stand upright like ya do, but they look like a dog does, only bigger." He told him as they then headed back to help out, seeing as though they couldn't do anything about the problem at the moment. James tried to conjure an image in his mind of a large dog walking on two feet. They walked back, Big Mac slightly bobbed along as he strode with James; they soon got back to the mares that were bucking the trees. James broke off from Big Mac to set down his equipment on a nearby tree, he set down his rifle and propped it up against his pack which he leaned up against a tree. He turned around and saw Big Mac muscle one of the barrels of apples onto his back and begin the short trek to the wagon, James quickly went to grab the other barrel, then joined Big Mac for the walk.

The four of them all worked away for an hour clearing the rows of trees, not saying much except for every now and then when they needed help with something. After James took back the last barrel of apples to the cart, they all took a break for a minute to admire their work and to get something to eat. Applejack slightly bucked another tree, causing about six apples to fall down.They all picked up an apple and began to munch on the sweet fruit. They ate in silence. As James ate he could not stop thinking about the animals that could have made the three large holes next to the trees, but his train of thought was interrupted when he heard Big Mac coughing. He looked up from his apple and saw that the large, red stallion was choking on part of his apple, Dash was standing still, staring at him, unsure of what to do, Applejack was attempting to assist him, but due to his size was unable to do so. James immediately snapped out of his daze and went over to help Macintosh. He pushed Applejack out of the way, told Macintosh to lean back and muscle through his coughing, then wrapped his arms around where he suspected the stallion's midsection to be, and squeezed hard a few times, causing the piece of food to dislodge from his throat.

"Ughhuhuh! Ghuh! Thank- thank ya fer gettin' that apple outta' me!" Big Mac thanked James for saving him.

"Not a problem guy, but do be more careful when you eat next time." James teased.

"That's a mighty fine idea!" Macintosh laughed with him. Everyone laughed and was thankful that it was over.

"Yeah, 'cause if ah can't help ya, then ya might be in a little bit a hot water!" Applejack teased him too, they all shared in a laugh again. "Alright now ya'll, play time's over, we gotta get back to work before those clouds roll in, at that point we'll be bobbin' fer apples rather than buckin' 'em." She continued, leading the way and getting back to work.

"I almost forgot about the weather coming in, I agree, let's get this party moving." James said. All of the barrels had been used up so they had to bring the cart back to the barn near the house for storage; James went and grabbed his pack, rifle, and other gear that was laying on the tree, then joined the three ponies as they walked back to the barn, not wasting anytime. Big Mac pulled the cart easily along without showing so much as any sort of strain, James looked on at him in awe from his brute strength. They walked on for a few minutes longer and finally got to the barn, then emptied the barrels as fast as they could so they could get another load in before the weather came in to shut the day down for work. The barn was large on the outside, but on the inside it was a completely different realm. The roof went up to almost thirty feet, and was lit inside by a few windows. As James' eyes adjusted, he could see that there were three levels to the barn: the main floor, the second floor tool storage, and the third floor hay loft. All three floors were connected by a flight of stairs that went up to the next one, a five foot by six foot rectangle was cut into the floors which allowed one to see up into the areas above.

The four of them stepped into the barn and were immediately hit by a wall of warm air, and the smell of hay, dirt, and dust encircled their noses. James was still in awe by the size of the barn and moved very slowly, taking in the sight of wooden beams that crisscrossed around the inside structure; he became so lost in the sight that he had not noticed the other three had gone to the back storage area, and began unloading the barrels of apples. He snapped out of the trance and went back to work, but still looked around when he could. They unloaded all of the barrels and went back to work.

"Hey Macintosh, do you mind if I put my stuff down in the cart for a bit?" He asked the red stallion pulling the cart.

"Nope, go ahead!" He replied. James quickly slung his stuff off once more and loaded it evenly in the cart, then resumed walking with the group on Applejack's side. When they got outside of the barn, the colder air had came back to them, even though it was a wonderful seventy degrees James thought. He looked down at his watch and back at the clouds again, he figured they had about forty five minutes or so until the clouds were on top of them. They were holding back a large amount of water, and off in the distance a gray mist was seen coming down from the deep purple thunder clouds, covering the ground with water.

"We should pick up the step a little if we're gonna' get this done guys! Those clouds are gonna be on top of us in about forty five." James hollered at them to pick up the pace. They all shifted into a higher gear and got moving to get it done quickly and efficiently. They made it back to the spot they had been working in before and started working right away, Applejack and Rainbow Dash bucking the apples while the two males heaved the barrels into the cart, working as a well oiled machine, something James was all too familiar with.

After a hard working half hour, they had gotten all of the barrels filled and were taking them back to the barn once more. As they walked back James poked Applejack on the back and motioned for her to follow him behind the other two ponies. She followed, leaving her brother's side. "What's the matter James? Somethin' wrong?" She asked concerned what it could be.

"Yes, something is. It's about yesterday when I stormed out like a teenager angry at their parents. I'm sorry that I acted in such a manner that was unbecoming of myself, really I am. I feel bad about the whole thing and I want to apologize for my childish behavior." He stated.

"It's alright sugar cube, ah understand why ya'll did what ya did, hay, ah'd be as mad as a cowpony with no rope during a rodeo if ah found out that ah was supposed to be somewhere that nopony else had ever been before! Ah forgive ya, don't worry about it from now on ya hear?" She told him with a serious look in her eyes.

"Very well miss Applejack, as you wish, let's bury the hatchet and be done with it." He agreed.

"Sounds mighty fine to me mister James." She concluded. They both nodded to each other then caught back up to the other two. James walked back to the side of Rainbow Dash who was walking along and enjoying the current state of weather that was soon to cease to be. A few minutes later they made it back to the barn and began unloading the barrels of apples. Crack... CRA-CRACK.

"Well it looks like we made it here just in time!" James shouted out of the loud boom of thunder.

"Yeah we did!" Rainbow concurred. The lightning and thunder kept crackling in the sky and lighting up the world with its bright, white light, but the rain had yet to come. They kept unloading the barrels until it got too dark to see. The problem was soon fixed by James who took the flashlight positioned underneath his gun off the mounting rail, then used that to light the way for them all. Soon enough they were done and ready to go, but the large amount of rain that was soon to come down, it was going to be a bother for James and Dash to go home, although the rain didn't bother James very much.

"So what are ya'lls plans for this evening? Ya'll are more than welcome to stay here if ya like, you can rest up in the guest bedroom." Applejack offered Dash and James.

"Honestly for me the rain is no big deal, I could walk back with no problem and get a fire going at home. But Dash I don't know what your plans are." James said as he put the flashlight back onto his rifle. As he turned back up to see what his cyan friend was planning to do, they were interrupted by a younger voice that James could not recognize. A few seconds later a small, darkish yellow filly with a light red bow in her mane trotted in.

"Hey sis! Granny Smith wants to know if everypony is gonna' stay for supper." Apple Bloom yelled to them at the entrance of the barn. "Wait... who in the hay is that down there with ya sis? Somepony new?" She asked, unsure of what to make of the new stallion standing with them.

"Who ya talkin' about, James here? Well yeah, he's new, come on down here so ya can meet him Apple Bloom!" Applejack shouted back to her younger sister. "So, are ya'll gonna stay for supper or do ya'll have other plans this evening?" She asked James and Rainbow.

"I don't really have any plans, although I was planning on just going home to do some work on the house, the water line is still busted. Plus I need to think about our little up coming event with this Chrysalis thing the princess spoke of. So I will have to respectfully decline this time, take a rain check maybe, no pun intended." He told Applejack with a chuckle. She nodded her head in acknowledgement.

"I don't really have any plans either, just gonna' go home and hang out with tank I guess, maybe go with James back to his house to make sure he gets there. Maybe next time AJ?" Dash told her friend.

"That's alri- Crack... that's alright, no problem. Well ya'll may want to get a move on before it starts rainin' apples out there! But before ya'll go runnin' off, this is Apple Bloom, Big Mac and ah's sister." She announced to James who started throwing on his gear again. Apple Bloom walked up to him hesitantly.

"What, you never seen anybody like me before?" James asked with a small chuckle as he dropped to a knee. She stepped back a little ways and didn't talk for a moment.

"Applejack, Big Mac... is this the pony you were talkin' about before, the uh... the... the human?" She asked still hesitantly.

"Sure is little sis, he's a mighty fine fella' in my book. James, I'd like ya'll to meet Apple Bloom; Apple Bloom, this is James Crossland." Applejack said, introducing the two.

"Well hello there Apple Bloom, how do ya do?" He asked politely with a friendly smile.

"H- howdy there mister James." She said quietly. A silence fell over them quickly.

"So uh, how old are you?" He asked, trying to get rid of the silence that loomed in the barn.

"Ah'm ten and half, h- how old are you?" She asked still hesitant of what to make of the new creature.

"You're the first pony that's asked me, you know that? Well, I'm thirty eight to be exact, turned that old about four months ago!" He exclaimed.

"Wow really? You're kind of old."

"Apple Bloom!" Applejack snapped at her sister for being rude.

"Hey it's okay, no harm no fowl, actually that's the first time I've been called old! Well either way, pleasure getting to meet your acquaintance, you better run back inside and tell Granny Smith that we won't be staying before you forget." He said as he stood back up, towering over the little filly. She quickly turned around and did what she was told.

"Do you think she likes me?" He asked after she had gone.

"Ah'm not really sure what to make of it. It was a little bit of a shock to all of a sudden see a new pony of some other kind standing in front of her. She'll warm up to ya sure enou- CRACK... sure enough. Well you two should be gettin' home soon before it rains. Thanks for the help this afternoon, it really made a difference today." Applejack said as they started for the barn door, James led the way with his rail-mounted flashlight, they then turned and walked away from one another after Macintosh locked up the doors.

"Good night ya'll!"

"Good night miss Applejack, mister Macintosh!"

"See ya AJ!" Dash shouted back as they all bid their farewells. Dash and James began a hurried walk back to James' house to get some shelter before it started to rain.

Author's Note

Well then everyone, I'm back. Hope you liked the chapter, and once again, thanks for being so patient with me being gone. Have a good one!

The Aftermath.

The Aftermath.

The dawn of a new day had come again. Everyone that stayed the night, slept soundly throughout Twilight's house. It was early still and the sun was just starting to peek out and signal for all to awaken from sleep. The only one who was up though, was James. He had had another nightmare just a few minutes before, and did not want to go back to sleep. He sat looking out the window at what the storm the previous night had caused, but it was unclear to him because a thick fog had formed outside and covered everything in a dense, grey blanket. He continued looking out the window for a long while, trying to settle back down from his horrific dream. After finally calming down, he went back over to where he was sleeping at and laid down for an hour or so more.

He woke up once again, laying in his bed and listening to the sounds of everyone sleeping. Both Rainbow and Spike snored, but Twilight was quiet. James liked his friends, even if one of them was a little spiteful at first he thought. He got up after a few minutes and quietly walked around so as to not disturb anyone. He picked up a chair from the kitchen table and brought it to the window he was gazing out before. He sat down and propped his legs on the window sill and got comfortable. The fog was still outside, but it had cleared up slightly and exposed some of the landscape.

Some trees had been blown over and the twisted roots exposed, leaving a large earthen hole where they had been previously glued to the ground. The tips of some had been blown off and littered the ground, along with countless branches. Many pony's houses were covered in debris and other things such as trash and shingles from other's houses; a few windows had been broken as well, and the streets were covered in puddles. The storm had certainly done a number on the town and possibly other places as well.

"Hope my little crack shack is still standing." He said quietly to himself. He looked around for a little longer, then got up to stretch. He bent down and touched his toes, then went back up and stretched his back and arms. With a yawn and neck crack, he went over to where he piled his gear on the floor and began to sort it out. He put his rifle and pistol aside and checked them individually to see if any rust was starting to form on them. Luckily he hadn't seen any so he put them back together. He then went to his rucksack, which was damp but fairly dry inside, to sort out the rest of his gear and make sure everything was still in its place. These were the only things he had left that would keep him alive and his weapons working, so he wanted to make sure at all times he had everything.

He laid it all out and perused it with a keen eye, everything was there and accounted for, except one little piece of equipment; his Oakley sun glasses. "How the hell did I miss those? This whole time I've been here and I haven't put them on once, and now I just realize that I don't have them... fuck." He sighed. He put everything back in his bag and zipped it up, still mad that he hadn't noticed the glasses were missing. He laid out his jacket and hung it up on the back of his chair after putting his plate carrier on the backrest. He turned around to put the rest of it on the chair and it all fell backwards from the unbalanced and excessive weight. It fell to the floor with a loud crash. James quickly and as quietly as he could, went back over to it and set it back up properly. He turned back around after fixing it to see that he had woken Rainbow Dash up. She was laying on her side, propped up on her foreleg, looking at him with a friendly smile and soft eyes, even though she had been woken up, which she hated.

"Hey, James. What's up?" She asked in a soft, quiet voice.

"Oh... sorry Rainbow, I didn't mean to wake you up."

"It's okay, no biggie. What are you doing up this early though?"

"Couldn't sleep." He said thinking back to the nightmare he had.

"Oh. Something wrong?" She asked concerned for him.

"No, it's just that I had another bad dream. Not a big deal, it happens." He played it off, even though they tormented him while he slept some nights.

"Really? They seem to be a problem, to me anyway. I mean, from what you've told us all, you've been through a lot of bad stuff."

"Well, yeah, but it's really not a big deal, they're just dreams is all. Nothing real about them." He stated as he propped his rifle up on the chair and holstered his sidearm.

"Well, if you say so, James." She said giving up on it.

"You can go back to sleep Rainbow, I'm just getting my stuff ready to leave here in a few hours or so, it's about 0630 right now, probably head out at 0700 or 0730, I need to get back and see if my house is up or a pile of Lincoln Logs."

"Oh, yeah, I kind of forgot that there was a storm last night. What are Lincoln Logs by the way?"

"They're just a toy for kids to play with, basically just a pile of sticks to make a house. But anyway, if you're up or not I'm rolling out. I'm not trying to be mean, I just need to get back there is all. From the looks of it out there, it more than likely got blown over." He said as he put his boots next to the chair. He then walked back over to where his bed was at, and began to fold the blanket .

"Oh, that's okay, I'm not worried about it. Well then, if you're cool with it, I'm going to go back to sleep. It's been a while since I slept in. Wanna' meet up later today?" She asked as she yawned.

"Sure, I'll probably be at home fixing all of my broken shit, though."

"Okay, well, I'll see ya' later then." She said with a smile, then collapsed back into the couch and closed her eyes.

James waited around for another hour then began to put his gear back on to get ready to leave. He clipped his helmet to his rucksack and let the goggles dangle off the chin strap. He put his jacket on, then cinched the leg cuff strings tight on his pants. He tucked them into his boots then put them on tight, wrapping the laces around at the top. He put his drop leg holster on his belt then secured it to his leg, then stowed his pistol in it. He slung his pack on, then put the sling of his rifle over his shoulder and secured it and headed for the door. He looked at Rainbow for a brief moment as she slept. Her chest rose up and down and her sides expanded as she breathed quietly. "See ya' around, Rainbow." He whispered, then walked out the front door of Twilight's house.

The fog was still thick, the air was cold and the ground was very wet with puddles and mud everywhere on the streets. The humidity in the air quickly began to produce condensation on his face and everything else. As he walked, all of the sticks and other debris would crunch and crack under his weight, sending an echo down the streets that were barren of ponies. It had become slightly easier to see as the sun crept up, but the grey swallowed most of it, along with everything else around it. "Fuck, how in the hell am I going to get out of here, let alone back home? I couldn't see a damn Abrams if it was painted red in this shit!" He said out loud to himself. He continued on and looked around for a street to head down and possibly lead him out of town, but it was nearly impossible. He tried to remember what houses he had passed by that had lead him through town, but they were hard to recognize with being covered in mud, dirt, missing siding and chipped paint.

He stopped to think for a moment and get his bearings on the situation. After a few moments of thinking, he realized he had his compass and quickly grabbed it from his rucksack. His house was towards the southeast and roughly a half mile from the main part of town. He closed his eyes to try and envision his way back through town and soon got his route, but still needed to navigate the dense fog and structured town. With no map it was difficult, but with knowing his way around slightly, he soon found a path to take. He walked down it for a while, following where the compass pointed.

After walking for a few minutes, and running into a few unseen buildings, he came to the outskirts of Ponyville. As he got closer to leaving, the amount of stuff left behind from the storm became more intense with more and more trees being blown over and thicker branches laying on the ground. He approached a small intersection close to where the town emptied out to the rest of the surrounding area, but a large tree had fallen over and blocked the path. "Damn it." He said getting annoyed.

He went to the left where it looked like the street would let out, but as he got closer he could make out what looked like to be a building, half smashed by another large tree. The branches draped on the ground and pieces of wood and other housing material lay scattered everywhere. He could slightly see the bedroom upstairs, but noone was in it. "Well that's good, I guess.." He thought. As he got closer he could hear sounds coming from inside the house. He quickly turned his full attention to it to find out what it was. "Someone in there?" He asked aloud. Hhhuuhhhhh... guuuuhhhh he got in response. He could clearly tell somepony was in distress.

"Oh shit. Whoever is in there, I'm captain James Crossland of the U.S. Marines, I want you to knock loud once for me if you are okay and able to move, knock twice if you can't and need medical assistance!" He yelled in at the building. He quickly unslung his pack and everything else off. Knock... knock. "I hear you, just keep making sounds so I can locate you!" He yelled back. "Corpsman, corpsman!" He yelled out into the town for anypony to hear, but noone came to assist him. He quickly whipped out his pistol and aimed it at a small garden patch, firing two shots at the dirt to avoid ricochet. Bang bang! "Corpsman! Medic! Doctor!" He yelled once more, then turned back to the trapped victim. "Keep talking to me! Knock once if you are a male, twice if female!" Knock knock "Understood, I'll get you out of there ma'am! Just hang tight and I'll make my way in to you, just keep talking to me!" He said once more. The mare would knock randomly to let him know where she was, but it was hard to hear sometimes because it was so faint.

He undid his helmet and strapped it to his head as a safety measure, then detached his rail-mounted flashlight and clicked it on. "Fire! Fire! Fire!" He yelled out to see if anypony would respond to that. Finally somepony did.

"What is all the ruckus going on out here!?" A purple mare with a swirling light purple and white mane and tail asked as she stepped out from her own house. It took her just a moment to realize what was happening. "Oh my, is everything okay!?" She asked now very alert and surprised.

"What's your name?" James asked quickly as he snapped his head up.

"I- I'm Cheerilee, the local school teacher. W- what happened here?" She asked as she quickly trotted over.

"I'm James; someone is trapped in here and she needs help. I need you to get some of your friends or whoever and help me with the lady in here! What is her name?" He ordered.

"Lyra lives here. I have a few friends close by I can get." She offered.

"Go get them Cheerilee, hurry! Lyra, I'm coming in for you, just keep making noises for me!" He yelled as he began to crawl through the barely openable door, having a very hard time with it and almost getting stuck. He turned back around and got back into a good position to try and force it open more. He let go a powerful kick, causing the door to crack; he let another go, and another until there was just enough room for him to squeeze through. He squirmed inside and began to crawl around in the rubble, shining the light over everything. He caught a glimpse of what he thought was Lyra, but it turned out to be just a blanket. "Lyra, I know it might hurt, but I need you to keep making noise so I can get to you!" He called out to her. She had become even quieter with the sounds that James wasn't able to tell if she had stopped or not.

"H-hee-eeellpp." She said very faintly. James quickly went in the direction of where he heard the voice, banging his head a few times on the broken, wood beams; he could tell that she was in very poor shape. He finally found her after a few more minutes of digging and searching. Cheerilee had gotten some of her friends and was back at the house.

"Mister James, we're here! What do you want us to do!?" She asked.

"I need you to make a stretcher to lay her on, and get one of your friends to start clearing out a path for me and her to get out of! Got it!?" He directed.

"Doughnut Joe, Time Turner, start clearing out a path for them. Berry Punch and I will make the stretcher." Cheerilee ordered.

"How will we make it though?" Berry Punch asked looking around.

"There's plenty of shit around ladies, get some sticks from the trees and find some cloth in all of the trash! Lyra keep making noise for me dear, don't stop at all." He said as he dug as fast as he possibly could to get to her. He finally got down enough to do something, but he found that the turquoise mare had a large piece of wood sticking out of her stomach and was very pale in color. "Fuck! She's got a puncture wound to her left abdominal cavity! We're gonna need a doc immediately, how are we looking out there guys!?"

"We're getting the entrance dug out enough for you, those two are still getting stuff for the stretcher thing!" Joe answered.

"Copy! I'm gonna' move her in just a second and we'll head your way, don't stop digging until we're out! Come on Lyra, I didn't tell you to stop, now keep on talking to me. What's your name?" He asked as he moved a few more boards out of the way.

"I- I don't- don't know." She very weakly said. As he moved another board he could see where she had bled at. A large red spot was seen on everything underneath her.

"That's good enough. She's got a concussion!" He yelled out to them, "what day is it Lyra?"

"I don't kn- know."

"That's okay, just stay conscious and focus on me. Now Lyra, I'm going to move you and it will probably hurt. But whatever you do, don't fight me on it, I'm going to get you out of here before this whole thing comes down on us." He warned her. Immediately after it, the two stallions moved a large beam, causing the house to collapse more, a loud crash was heard coming from inside.

"Are you okay!?" Time Turner asked.

"Fine! Just don't let that happen again!" James yelled back. He turned around to find his way out, which had been luckily opened up much better by their digging accident. "Hold up guys, stop! I have a clear shot out, don't do anything!" He shouted out to the stallions. They immediately stopped what they were doing and began to look for the two inside. James turned back around and propped his light up so he could see and take Lyra at the same time. He worked around her and lifted up one of her arms, then the other and began to slowly pull her out. "Aaaaaahhhh!" She screamed, but soon lost consciousness and stopped. "Goddamn it! She slipped out, get that stretcher ready! We're moving the second she's on there!" He yelled out to them as he began to drag her body out.

"They're not ready yet." Joe said as he looked around to see them still trying to get at a piece of cloth to use. He quickly ran to help them, leaving Time Turner to help James when he got out.

"Tell them to be ready when we're out!" James barked. He took the light and looped it uncomfortably in the straps of his helmet so he could use it better. He didn't care that it hurt though and continued to pull Lyra out of the destroyed house. They made it to the exit finally, and waiting there with a partially made stretcher, stood all four ponies. "That thing ready?" He asked.

"Not quite, we don't have enough materials." Cheerilee said. James wasted no time and got on the task.

"Doughnut Joe, support her head so it's not on the ground. Cheerilee and Time Turner, hold this thing up tight, I'll put my jacket on it. When that's done I want Joe and Turner to get on the stretcher to move it to the hospital. Got it?" He asked as he took off his jacket turned it inside out and slid the branches they had gotten through the arm holes, they all nodded and got into position. Once he finished and got it tight, he told the stallions to move the stretcher into place. They brought it over next to her and James rocked her side up to let the makeshift piece of medical equipment slide under, then he rocked her the other way to let it get under her entirely. She was getting more pale by the minute.

"Are we going to the hospital now?" Berry Punched asked in nervous tone due to the stressful nature of the event.

"Yes, start kind of heading there and I'll catch up, just let me throw on my stuff and we'll get it moving quick. If she wakes up on the way there, keep her on there and don't let her fall; she might freak out as soon as she wakes up, if she does, hold her down." He said, directing as he went to quickly strap his gear on. He wasted no time and dove into his vest and holstered his pistol as he ran with his rifle halfway slung over his shoulder and his pack in his left hand. The group had moved just out of his sight, so he started running where he thought they were as he tried to put his vest and bag on. He called out to them and quickly rejoined the band as he still fiddled with everything.

They thundered through the town, trying to dodge the buildings and other obstacles that were in their path as they made their way to the hospital. Mud and water would splash on them as they ran through the puddles. James ran in front as the scouter with Berry Punch as the navigator; James would look out for anything that may slow them down or possibly stop them from moving, Berry Punch directed them all to the right place. Several times they came close to spilling their patient due to turning corners too quick and running into objects. After making it about halfway there, James finally had everything retained so it wouldn't come off, but it was not tightened down; however he was now able to focus on getting Lyra help faster.

They finally made it about one hundred yards from the hospital, so they all began to yell for anypony who might be there to hear and give them help. Noone came out to help them though, and as soon as they made it to the door, Lyra woke up. "Huh, wha-what's going on? Where am I?" She asked as she rolled her head around at them all, then as she began to feel a throbbing pain in her stomach, she looked down to what was causing it. Her eyes grew wide and her mouth went agape, she tried to say something, but was too dumbfounded by what she saw. Blood had crusted over on her fading minty green coat and fresh blood would leak out from the wound when she moved. She very quickly went unconscious again.

"Is she going to be okay? She just woke up then went back out again." Cheerilee said as she trotted to Lyra's side. James paid no attention to her because there was something more important to do: find a way to get through the locked hospital door.

"The fuck, is anyone here!?" He yelled at the double doors as he sent a hard kick into them. His foot connected solid with it, but it didn't open. "Who the fuck locks a hospital!?" He yelled again, "get back and cover your ears if you can." He continued as he pulled out his sidearm. They all looked at him confused, but James didn't wait for them to see what was happening, a life was on the line. He went to the nearest window and pressed the weapon against the glass, firing towards the floor. Bang. Most of the glass fell out as the bullet smashed through it, but some still remained, however, he used the grip of his gun to clear out the rest. He thew his pack inside with his rifle, then vaulted into the building. He cut himself on a few pieces of glass, but he paid no attention to it.

Once inside, he grabbed his rucksack and weapon and went to find the door. He dodged hospital beds and counters and other various things found in such a place as he ran, but the one thing he noticed that was not quite right, there were no patients in the large infirmary. He ran through the room and into the hallway, almost slipping on the dusty laminate floor. He crashed into the wall and made a slight hole in it from his shoulder, but was unfazed by it. He sprinted down the corridor leading into the main entrance and the double doors, crashing through another set of double doors in his way. As he made it to the main receiving area, he found the reason for the door being locked.

The black and white checkered floor had been ripped up, exposing the grey, concrete foundation underneath. White sheets hung from doorways and draped all entrance ways including the door he needed to open; most of the ceiling tiles were missing and showed the latticework pipe running through the complex. He tore the sheet from the door and yelled at everyone to stand back. They all complied and James went to crash it open. The door swung wide and allowed them access. They rushed Lyra inside and resumed running through the halls of the hospital in search of someone.

Cheerilee lead the way as she knew her way around better from the many field trips she and her students had taken there to learn about pony anatomy. As they followed, James would shout out for a doctor, but after winding through more of the construction zones and getting no response, they felt their attempts were feeble and decided to find an operating room with a table. James knew a small amount of medical procedures from what one of his corpsman friends had taught him while on deployment, however, he was not a professional.

They found a door that was open and had a table to work on Lyra with. "Alright, get her up on the table, we're going to tip her just like we did to get her on here. Ready?" He said to them as they prepared the patient. Once they were, they all nodded. "Okay; one, two... three!" He counted, they all lifted her onto the table and James rocked her off; she was still unconscious. "We need to find medical equipment, look through the cupboards, if we can't find anything, I always keep a blowout kit on me and wed can use that."

"If you don't mind me asking, what's a blowout kit?" Time Turner asked as he began to search.

"It's just a med kit used to treat any sort of combat sustained wounds such as gun shots and the like. Most guys have one on them, such as myself." He answered as he too opened up a cupboard, finding rubbing alcohol and a sterile gauze dressing.

"What in the name of Celestia is a... gun?" He asked, absolutely baffled.

"We'll talk abou-"

"What in Equestria is going on here!?" A member of the hospital staff asked as she stumbled into the room they were all in.

"Nurse Redheart! Thank goodness you're here, Lyra has been in a terrible accident and we need help!" Cheerilee explained to the white earth pony.

"What happened to her?" She asked as she trotted to Lyra's unconscious side and perused her over. Very soon after, two more nurses and a doctor rushed into the room.

"She was impaled by a wooden beam and has been bleeding for quite sometime, possibly several hours. It looks like it hit her in the stomach and almost went to her dorsal side. She lost a lot of blood on the way over too, and she possibly has a concussion." James said giving the nurse a diagnosis. She looked Lyra over further as the other staff rushed to look at her as well.

"Nurse Tenderheart and Redheart, Go back to my office and grab my scalpel, forceps, the big tweezers, some cotton swabs, a bottle of antiseptic, local anesthetic, a compression bandage, sterile table paper, and an I.V. to top it off. Hurry!" A brown unicorn with a short, buzzed, brown mane and glasses told the two nurses. He and nurse Sweetheart stayed behind to look after the patient with everyone else. "Alright everypony and... um... I'm sorry I don't know who you are. I've heard of you though, the human that has come to stay with us." The doctor asked James.

"I'm James, James Crossland."

"Well mister James, I'm doctor Strong Hale, pleasure to meet you. Unfortunately it is under these conditions, though." He formally stated, "now, if you all could stand outside when the nurses come back, that would help very much. Alright, I need you to tell me exactly what happened to her, James."

"I was staying the night at Twilight Sparkle's house and had woken up, so I started back for home and I came upon Lyra's deconstructed house with her in it. I climbed inside to get her and found her under a large pile of debris and a pretty good sized splinter in her abdominal section. We brought her over on the stretcher you see over yonder where she had passed out at, and with your doors being locked I broke a window to get inside, that brings up to this point. Look, doc, she is in really bad condition and I don't thunk she'll make it much longer. I've dealt with death in combat before and she looks like someone who has been shot and left to die slowly. If we don't do something quick, she will die."

"I agree with you. The wood is fairly deep in her and she looks pale. Was there a lot of blood where you pulled her out at?" He asked.

"There was some, but it didn't seem like enough to turn her so pale, there's some on my jacket, but still not enough; possibly internal bleeding." He added to the diagnosis.

"Very possible. This may have hit some other vital organs as well, in which case those two need to be back here right now." Hale added, gathering more valuable information. The two nurses came running back in with the supplies and quickly began to set up a sterile working environment, Nurse Tenderheart began the I.V. drip to keep her fluids and blood level up, along with the anesthetic to numb the pain. Everyone else stepped outside, James picked up the makeshift stretcher and brought it out with them. He dismantled it and took his jacket and the piece of cloth, then threw the pieces of wood outside the hospital. He returned to the others a few minutes later with his jacket draped over his arm, blood was stained around the collar and upper chest area, but he wasn't bothered too badly by it.

They all stood crowded around the door, waiting to see how the operation turned out. At first, they weren't able to hear much, other than the staff talking. But after a few minutes, Lyra woke up again. Her weak screams of pain and confusion barely escaped the door as the doctor removed the large piece of wood. Blood spilled out as it was removed, further staining her very pale coat. When it finally came out, the doctor set the wooden stake aside and looked the wound over. Indeed it had almost gone through her backside, and in the process of it being shoved through, it had caught part of her stomach and a large portion of her appendix, tearing them and leaving small splinters in the gnarled tissue.

As the pain medication kicked in, she quieted down more, but she was weak and growing weaker and had trouble forming coherent sentences. The doctor quickly grabbed one of the forceps and tried to close the hole in her stomach, luckily she was unable to feel any pain it may have caused. He was unable to do anything for the small appendix that had completely broke open, spilling out all of the lethal bacteria contained inside. He looked at it for a second and realized what this meant for Lyra. "Oh no." The doctor whispered as his eyes went wide with horror and his heart dropped to his stomach.

"What is it?" Nurse Redheart asked as she moved to where he was standing.

"Her appendix has ruptured..." He said, still staring at the open wound.

"No... d-does that mean..." She asked nervously as she too knew what it meant.

"I-I'm afraid it does." He replied. The whole room fell silent and the world seemed to stop spinning as the sudden realization of Lyra's fate became known.

"How long do you think she has?" Redheart asked after a few moments.

"I don't know, I'm surprised she's lasted this long." He said looking her over further, she had become even more pale, almost light grey, as her life slowly left her. Her breathing was shallow and she was very quiet.

"W-what should we do?"

"I... I don't know, I've never lost a patient bef-" He was cut off by a very soft female voice.

"P-please, t-tell BonBon th-that I l-love her." Lyra said just barely audible enough for the doctor and nurse to hear.

"No-no! Stay with me Lyra! Listen to my voice, stay with me!" The doctor shouted at her as he frantically searched for something to do that would miraculously save her life. His attempt was futile, and with one last breath and bright flash of yellow aura from her horn, Lyra Heartstrings passed away on the operating table. The last thing that she though of was the smiling face of her beloved marefriend, BonBon. The doctor closed Lyra's eyelids and pressed his forehead against hers as tears dripped from his eyes; he muttered a prayer in Celestia's name, then accepting her passage, regained some composure.

James and the others crowded around the door to better hear what the commotion was. They all looked at each other with confused faces when they no longer heard anything. After a few minutes of silence, the doctor opened the door, his white apron had minute splotches of blood on it. He looked at them all with a disappointed and ashamed expression as tears came back to his eyes. "Fillies and gentlecolts, I-I regret to inform you- I regret to inform you... th-that Lyra Heartstrings... has- has passed away from a ruptured appendix." They all looked at him with shocked faces as their hearts sank as well. They stepped back and gave the doctor some room to breathe, then took a long moment of silence to let the news to settle in.

After a few minutes had passed, Doughnut Joe broke the silence. "So what's going to happen now?"

"Now... we have to open the morgue and bring in her family to identify her, then set up funeral arrangements. Listen, this is hard for anypony, especially when you see somepony right before they die, but for all of your sake, there is a counselor here that you can see ." Strong Hale stated.

"Thank you, doctor." James said, he had been through death before and was better prepared for it, although he still did not like it. All the others were still in too much of a shocked state to do much.

"Doctor, why did she have to die?" Berry Punch asked devoid of any emotion.

"I don't know Berry, but it so very unfortunately happened. There was nothing we could do for her, no matter what we could have tried, nothing would have saved her."

"Nothing? Not anything at all!? It was only a stick though! How come something like that killed her!?" She yelled at him as tears began to stream down her face. Berry Punch and Lyra had been decent friends, and with her death so suddenly, she could still not cope with what was happening.

"I know this hurts, it hurts us all in so many ways, but you must understand that everything that happened to her caused her a fatal wound that even the strongest stallion could not live through. When it happened, it happened, and nothing could have been done to prevent it." He said trying to calm her down

"Why did it have to be her though!?" She yelled once more as she cried. Cheerilee turned and embraced her to give her some form of comfort. She quickly returned the gesture and started sobbing all over Cheerilee. The others stood and looked at each other, not knowing what else they could do. Doctor Strong Hale had excused himself to let the other staff know what had happened and to get a coroner for the body.

James slightly distanced himself as well to look at his watch, it was only eight thirty. "It's going to be one of those days." He thought.

Author's Note

I may have pissed some of you guys off with Lyra being killed, but that's how I wanted the story to go and to set up things for the future installments.

A Rainy Night.

Rainbow Dash and James walked through the front yard of the Apple family's orchard, led by only a single beam of light coming from the flashlight affixed underneath James' weapon. The Apples had all gone inside and watched as their company left out the front gate and onto the pitch-black path that would take them back through town, and eventually to where James now lived. The night had set in and the wind had picked up from the impending storm. The bright, full moon was blotted out by the dense, black rain clouds that loomed overhead, waiting to drop its load of water over the land.

Everypony that lived in the Apple household who was watching the two friends go, soon left the window; all except for the youngest one, Apple Bloom. She was still very curious about the new creature that everypony she knew seemed to know well enough about. She watched him walk away into the night, the whole time her mind raced to find an answer to so many questions she had. "Ah have got to tell the girls about this!" She said snapping out of her trance. She then ran up to her room, blowing past her sister on the stairs leading up and almost knocking her stetson hat off her head.

"What in the hay was that all about?" Applejack thought aloud. She went to go see what was on her sister's mind that made her rush so quickly to her room. "Apple Bloom, what's gotten into you? You just ran past me faster than Rainbow Dash trying to get in line when cider season starts!" She said to her little sister.

"His name was James right?" Apple Bloom asked as she stopped what she was doing.

"What? Oh, uh, yeah. But what's that got to do with anything?" She asked still very puzzled.

"Don't worry about it sis', ah just wanted to know is all." She said back.

"That doesn't really answer what ah want to know though, Sugarcube. You seem to be all hyped up over something, and ah can see it's over our new friend James."

"Well... yeah, ah just can't make heads or tails of 'em. Ah mean, what's a human doing here anyway, he ain't no pony!" Apple Bloom exclaimed.

"Well ya'll are right, he ain't, but apparently the princesses brought him here to help us."

"Help us with what? Buckin' apples? Because that's all ah've seen him do!"

"Ah don't really know Sugarcube, ah only got a small bit of information when we all had a meeting together. Don't worry yerself about it for now, if anything happens, ah'll let ya' know, ah promise." Applejack said as she looked straight into Apple Bloom's eyes, letting her know everything would be okay. The two hugged each other, then Applejack turned to leave her sister's room.

"Hey sis... can I tell mah friends about him?" Apple Bloom asked just before her sister was out the door.

"Well, ah don't see why not, most everypony else knows about him on accounting the fact he just showed up an walked around in the middle of town like nothing was wrong." She reassured her sister.

"Really? Wow. Why would he do that?"

"You'll just have to ask him I s'pose." She said back. She then turned out the door and went to her own room where she eventually fell asleep after hearing a mighty crack and boom from outside. The rain had finally descended on the town.
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"Well that certainly was nice today." James said with a smile. The wind was starting to pick up and every now and then would whistle and a small drizzle had begun along with it. The impending rainstorm would come soon.

"What do you mean? We just bucked apples is all, not that special, or at least I don't think so. But I guess it was kind of nice getting to hangout with my friends though." Rainbow admitted.

"I would have to agree with that. But I meant more that I gained the trust and like of mister Macintosh from making him cough up that apple, plus I got to meet Apple Bloom, did a little bit of work, beautiful day out too. Well, until the clouds rolled in, but still, it was a good day all in all." He told her with an even larger smile as he recalled the day. "Oh, before I forget, what the hell are diamond dogs?"

"Wait... hold on, how do you know about them? You've barely been here for two weeks and you're wondering about something someponies have never heard of and they've lived here forever!" Dash exclaimed.

"Well, I find it odd as well. When Big Mac and I went over to grab the cart for the first time, he took me over to look at some holes in the ground that may be linked to someone er somepony er some...thing that was stealing apples out of the orchard. Mac told me that the possible culprits were diamond dogs. He just gave a brief description, so I'm a little lost. Can you tell me what you know?" He asked as they continued down the path.

"Well yeah I could do that for one of my friends! We had a little run in with them a while back, and by little I mean they kidnapped Rarity. They needed somepony to find diamonds for them because they only had a slight ability to find them. They happened to see her and Spike out looking for some too, so they took her. Long story short, Rarity saved herself, she didn't even need us!" Rainbow told him with a bit of laughter.

"So these dogs, which is what I assume they look like, do they eat these diamonds... or do they just like to look a them? And what do they have to do with the Apple's apple orchard?"

"I don't know, maybe they just got hungry is all?" She asked with a shrug.

"More than likely, but from what I understand, this is something new to this area, and new to me all together." He said back, still trying to figure out yet another problem on his growing list.

"Well, what should we do about it? You know, if it comes down to it, I'm always ready for a fight!" She said as she took off and hovered just above the ground, then put her hooves up in a fighting stance and waved them in circles at James.

"Easy there, Gorgeous George. We don't even know why they keep taking apples, granted it is them, or even if it should be that much of a concern. I mean, it is food and revenue, and it is stealing, but it seems so low of a crime to just not bother with it."

"But.. but... they're stealing from her! How could you just say that you wouldn't help!?" Dash asked with a very surprised and angered tone. She then stopped him in his tracks so she could lay into him more.

"I didn't say that I wouldn't help, I said that it seems too insignificant to be much of a bother, I think they can handle it. You need to learn how to pick and choose your fights because you could get hurt bad over something small and not worth it. But if it does get violent though, I will be there with a fresh mag and a body bag for clean up, I promise you that Rainbow." He said to her. she was unsure of how to counter his argument, so she just let it be and went back to walking by his side.

They had made it a little ways back towards town, even though they walked at a quickened pace. The wind whipped at their faces and the rain had started coming down harder, lightning would flash in between the black clouds and light up everything for a brief moment, but then fade away only to be replaced by thunderous booms. "You know, for a minute there, I thought you didn't actually care about AJ, or any of us for that matter." Dash confessed after a few moments of silence.

"Really? Wow, I didn't mean to sound like that much of an asshole. You guys are the only friends I have and I plan to keep you all as such. Shit, I'd probably consider you to be my best friend in this world, Rainbow Dash." He said as he looked over at her. Her eyes lit up with delight, even though in the dark it was unable to be seen.

"You... you really do?" She asked in a tone of bewilderment, and absolute joy.

"I do, Rainbow." He said back with a smile. After that, the two walked closer together. Lightning flashed again, but struck the ground a few miles from where they were, it was very soon followed by a c-crack... boooomm BOOM. All of the water pent up in the rolling clouds above, finally gave way and came down with all its might. Instantly drenching the both of them and anyone else who might be outside. "There it is!" James shouted with a laugh as he looked up at the sky, Dash was barely able to hear him from all of the noise being created. "God, this is wonderful!" He laughed more. Rainbow simply stood and stared at him. The two did not move for a long time; James because he was enjoying the shower, rainbow Dash because she didn't know what else to do. He only looked up with his eyes closed and a wide grin on his face.

"Hey, James; I hate to rain on your parade, but we should probably get going soon." She shouted over the sound of wind, rain, and thunder.

"Just a minute, the last time I felt rain was a long, long time ago, it doesn't rain that much in Afghanistan!" He said as he let the droplets splash his face. As far as he cared, the world could be ending and he would still be entranced by the magic of it.

"I really don't want to sound mean, but I really think we should get going." She yelled once more. He slowly dropped his head and reopened his eyes. The night was black and wet, and only Dash and he stood illuminated on the path by his single light source.

"Alright, I guess I've had my fun. Let's get it going then, shall we?" He said as they started towards the downtown at a quick running pace; Dash flew while James ran with his gear clattering against his back. The two soon made their way to the edge of the downtown area where a good population of the townsfolk lived.

"Is your stuff gonna' be okay since it's getting all wet!?" She asked.

"Yeah, it should be okay, pretty much everything is water proof or resistant." He said with a reassuring thumbs up. She replied with a simple nod. The two made their way deeper into the center of town, and soon came upon Twilight's home, all the lights were off and the house was dark for the most part. Little did the two know that they were being watched through a window.
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Twilight Sparkle sat hunkered down with a blanket on top of her as she indulged in one of her favorite things in the world, reading. She sat with a cup of hot chocolate, and a few small candles scattered about to shine light upon the text that she so much enjoyed, as well as being light for the entire house, due to the power having gone out from the electrical storm occurring just outside. Her roommate, assistant, and friend, Spike was in the upstairs of their home, gazing out the window of their bedroom at the spectacular show nature was putting on.

"Hey Twilight!" He yelled down to his sisterly figure, he did not get a response. After having her name called several more times, Twilight finally looked up to where he was standing, barely being able to see his figure from the soft, orange-yellow glow the flames cast about the room.

"Yes Spike, what is it?" She asked rather irritated due to being yanked out of the world her novel created.

"Well miss Grumpy, I was wondering if you wanted to come watch the lightning with me?" He asked in a friendly tone, a hard but quiet pitter-patter from the rain falling on the roof mixed with his voice.

"Maybe in a bit, Spike. I want to find out what happens next! This is the newest book in the Daring Do series!" She exclaimed, then quickly went back to reading.

"Awe, come on Twilight, you can read that whenever. I heard that this was supposed to be the worst storm on record since the one twenty years ago! It's gonna be fuuunn!" He said trying to persuade her into watching the spectacular show with him. She simply shook her head in refusal. "Fine, but don't say I didn't tell you." He retorted as he leaned back up over the banister, then went back to the window. The sound of wind howling just outside the window could be heard as the force picked up. The house began to sway slightly and creak as it did so back and forth.

He watched the purple and white and blue lightning bolts zap throughout the sky and light up the night. "Are you sure? It's really cool!" He tried again. She still said no, so he finally gave up and returned to watching out the window that was being pelted hard with rain. He watched the light show for a short time more, then turned around to ask Twilight again if she wanted to join him, but as he reared his head, a different light caught his eye. "What is that? Who would be out on a night like this?" He asked himself. He watched the strange, bobbing light continue to come closer until it was just a block away.

The lightning outside would flash furiously, briefly exposing two figures around the glowing orb, but it was still too hard to tell. Spike was too entranced and mystified to tell Twilight about it, so he watched its every move. As it came closer, he was able to make out the two beings; one was Rainbow Dash, easily seen by her rainbow mane and the colors that would shine vibrantly in the light. However, he could not make out who was next to her, it looked like a pony walking upright on two legs, and was much larger than any usual pony. When he saw the new figure, he immediately called down to Twilight. "He-hey Twilight! Somepony's outside!" He quickly spurted.

"What!? Are you sure Spike?" She asked as she snapped her head up and out of her book.

"Yeah! One of them looks like Rainbow Dash, but there is somepony else with her!" He said back. Twilight threw the blanket off of her and thundered up the dimly lit stairs to see what Spike was looking at. She pressed her face up against the glass and peered out in the direction Spike pointed; she quickly located the bright light that was almost at their house. As the lightning flashed again, she got a glimpse of Rainbow, and the bulky figure of James running in their direction.

"Oh! That's James and Rainbow Dash!" She said excitedly, "but why are they out in this weather?"

"Who's James? Wait, is that the human!?" He asked her with absolute glee. She ignored him and proceeded to open the window. It blew open immediately after she undid the latch, almost hitting her in the face.

"James, Rainbow, get in here!" Twilight yelled over the sound of thunder, howling wind, and rain. The two of them snapped their heads in the direction of the familiar voice. Twilight was met with a bright light to her face; she quickly put her foreleg up and turned her head away. " What are you two doing out there!?" She asked them as if they were insane.

"Going home!" James yelled back.

"Get in here!" She ordered. They looked at each other and obliged, the two were relieved to get out of the cold rain. They went quickly to the door and waited for it to be opened. Soon, Twilight stood in the doorway and motioned for them to come in. They entered the dimly lit tree home and wiped their feet and hooves on the mat that read 'welcome'. James dumped his gear next to the door and began to take off his soaked boots and while Dash ruffled her wings and fur to dry off. Spike watched them all from upstairs, not making a sound. Dash had dried off for the most part, but James was still soaked all the way through and had nothing to change into. "What were you two doing out there!?" Twilight asked them after she closed and locked the door.

"Heading back to HQ, why?" He answered.

"There's a storm going on out there." She deadpanned.

"We know. We tried to get back before it started to rain, but we didn't quite make it." He said as he went to stow his rifle, first opening the breech to make sure it was clear, then put it down on his rucksack.

"Oh, were you coming back from Applejack's?"

"Yeah. James is a newbie, but he did pretty good at bucking apples." Dash butted in.

"Damn, it's been a while since I've been called a newbie." He laughed.

"Well you kind of were one." Dash teased him more.

"Hey, are either of you going to answer me?" Twilight said getting angry at them.

"I said yeah Twi, lighten up." Dash said trying to calm her friend down.

"Sorry, I must have misheard you. All the same, why didn't you just stay at Applejack's? That would have been the most logical thing to do, at least I think." She said, still chastising them.

"Miss Twilight, with all due respect, it's just a little bit of rain, this really isn't anything at all. Now the lightning is dangerous, but it's mostly cloud to cloud and not much to worry about. I have a question though. Do you mind if I just leave my stuff next to the door?"

"Yes, that's fine. Really though, you could catch a cold running around out there."

"Twilight, I've been in plenty of bad rain storms, I was telling Rainbow over here about one such storm in Japan where it really messed up a hotel and practically turned it inside out. Shit, I have been shot before, it hurt like hell; I've swam for miles through the ocean before too with plenty of sharks to boot; but a rainstorm is so insignificant to me and probably Dash too that it seemed more like shower time than 'get the fuck inside' time. Now, if you would be so kind as to not worry about it, and let it be." He said to make her stop being so uptight about it.

"Fine, James. I'll let it go." She said in defeat, an expression of disappointment on her face. She motioned for them to sit down and asked if they wanted anything to drink. James asked for water and Rainbow decided on some hot chocolate. Spike still hadn't moved from his spot upstairs and only watched James as he moved about the house.

"Hey Twilight, do you have a towel or something I could use to sit on? I don't wanna' get your couch all wet." He asked right before sat down next to Dash. She pointed him in the direction of the bathroom where all of the towels were. He got up and walked over to it, then looked in the closet. He grabbed a large towel and turned to leave, but caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. He looked himself over. His black hair was a sloppy, wet mess, his arm still had a gash that had scabbed over from when he and Rainbow went flying over the hill from their race, and his chin had a scraggly beard developing on it. "Jesus I look like shit!" He said to himself as he rubbed his chin and facial hair.

He came back out a few minutes later after he perused himself over more. Rainbow and Twilight were conversing with Spike who had finally come down the stairs. "Ah, I see there is someone I have yet to meet." He said as he approached the three of them. They all looked back at him, slightly startled by the unexpected voice.

"James, this is Spike, he's a dragon; Spike, this is James, he is a human." Twilight introduced the two then stepped aside. Unlike Apple Bloom, Spike went up to James with no hesitation.

"Hello mister James, I'm Spike, fine weather we're having." He said, trying to be as calm and unafraid as he could be, though it was still noticeable in his voice. James was taken aback by the talking dragon. He was unable to make out what it was at first and assumed it was just another pony, but when he got closer he saw he was very wrong.

"You're... you're a dragon! Wow, now I've seriously seen it all." James laughed to himself. He was so hysterical he had to sit down on the couch.

"What's wrong, James?" Twilight asked.

"Just about everything that you guys all are, are myths and legends on my home. Pegasi, unicorns, sure, they're all mystical fantasies and I happened to find you; but a dragon!? Biggest legend back home, and here I am... talking to one!" He said, still very hysterical about it.

"Well he's not the only one, there are actually thousands of species of dragons here in Equestria. Every one thousand years they migrate to a new spot, and even just a year or so ago, Spike joined them for the migration." Twilight reported.

"Hey, Twi, could you just leave it at that and not go into further detail?" Spike asked, she nodded her head. James still could not believe it, even though he had been living among talking animals the past week and a half, he was talking to a dragon, a young one, but still one nonetheless. He snapped out of his trance and properly greeted the newly met acquaintance.

"Well hello Spike, do excuse me for my behavior just now, I guess I'm not as used to seeing new, talking creatures that were thought to not exist on my planet, yet."

"It's cool. Honestly, I watched you for a while until I got up the courage to come down and introduce myself." He admitted.

"Really? Well Spike, you are certainly more together about this whole thing than I am!" He replied. They all shared a little laugh to try and lighten the mood. They all sat down on the various pieces of furniture in the house. Twilight had gone to find a few more candles and to gather refreshments. Soon, they all had a warm cup of hot chocolate or a glass of water. "I am assuming that you aren't letting us leave tonight, miss Twilight?" He asked.

"Why would you want to leave at this time of night, during this weather?" she asked, dumbfounded by his question.

"So I reckon it's a no; and by the way, it's only ten thirty, and we've been over the weather thing."

"It certainly is a no, and there will be no arguing about it!" She snapped.

"Yes, staff sergeant." He replied. None of them except James knew what he was talking about, so they all fell into silence, but was soon broken when Rainbow looked at the book Twilight had been reading before they had come in. It was the latest addition to the 'Daring Do' novels, ever so popular with the two mares. It was titled 'Daring Do and the Sands of Time', Twilight had read through the first quarter of the new novel.

"Is that the newest one!?" Dash asked her friend very excitedly, breaking the silence that had befallen them.

"It is, and it is sooo good!" She said back, basking in the sweet visions it had created in her mind up to where she had left off.

"What happens? Wait, no, don't tell me, I want to find out for myself."

"You can certainly borrow it when I'm done, but for now it's mine." She stated. James simply looked at the two, confused.

"It's a book series that they really like." Spike told him. He nodded his head. The two mares didn't notice James or Spike talking because they were too engrossed in the brilliant works of the Daring Do novels. The two males just sat back and listened to them go on about it. Then Dash got an idea.

"What if you read some of it out loud tonight so we can all hear awesome it is?" Dash asked with big 'puppy dog' eyes in hopes that she would agree.

"Well, I don't see why not. Everypony, gather around. James, some of this might not make sense to you, sorry." She said to all of them, then realized that they all were already there. James simply shook his head and rolled with it. Spike sat near Twilight on a rocking chair and James and Dash sat together on the sofa.Twilight inhaled deeply and delved into the book.
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Daring Do sailed through the hot desert sky on her way to the long forgotten city of Roenik in search of a new item Daring heard of from an acquaintance she had met recently named Dust Devil. This new treasure she was told, lied somewhere within the five pyramids of Roenik, and the only clue that she had to finding it was a single piece of a thin, gold plate with three hieroglyphic markings on it. Daring had luckily caught a break when Dust Devil had found it while bartering in a local market, and had done some researching on the beautiful piece of dishware. Daring had just happened to be passing through on her way to the capital of the country, hoping to come upon something just as lucky of a find as Dust Devil's. They spotted each other on the streets of the town and decided to meet up at the local watering hole. Dust Devil told her friend from a previous adventure the she had just scored something very worthwhile.

The two met up later in the afternoon at a canteena, but there was another pony with Dust Devil, a male Zebra that never spoke. Dust Devil simply introduced him as being a partner of hers, a 'simple business associate' as she had put it. The zebra was slightly shorter than the two mares, with a short mane and tail and a scar running from the back of his head to the tip of his nose. He sat at his chair, showing no emotion at all, listening to the two mares speak about this new treasure. Daring listened attentively to what the light tan and brown maned pegasus said, writing down every detail she said on a notepad she carried in the pocket of her olive colored jacket. She told Daring that Roenik was almost three hundred miles to the north east of where they were, and that this would be the last place of civilization between the two points.

She pulled a map from her saddlebag and circled the possible whereabouts of the ancient city. Daring and the zebra both just watched and listened. Daring did not like the looks of the zebra, and the scar he had helped none with her judgement. She had met some players throughout her travels and was pretty well able to spot one when she saw one, and this zebra sure did set off red flags in her mind.

Dust Devil finished going over where she believed Roenik was located and started to make a game plan with Daring Do, leaving the zebra out of it. He simply sat back and took sips of the drink he had ordered, watching and listening to the two mares discussing their business. "Okay, so now that it's located, roughly anyway, when do you want to start off on this journey?" Daring asked.

"Well my friend, Daring Do, I would have to say soon; possibly tomorrow morning at the break of dawn so we can make it there with enough time to set up a camp site." The dark brown pegasus named Dust Devil replied in a heavy Saddle Arabian accent.

"Excellent. I'll get some supplies rounded up this afternoon. Will there be anyone else coming with us?"

"Not that I know of, I do believe that it will be only you and I." Dust said.

"What about him?" Daring asked as she looked over and nodded her head at the zebra, still staring with an unchanging expression.

"He is not of any concern, like I said, he is just a friend of mine."

"Alright, I'll take your word for it because you saved my life back in Germaney, but if I see him anywhere around me after this point, we might have an issue." Daring warned as she leaned over and gave a hard look at the zebra. He only stared straight back.

"I see where you stand with his presence." Dust said with a nod, "So, we shall meet tomorrow as the sun rises and begin our trek?"

"Sounds like a plan to me." Daring agreed.

"Zulu, sowa kowick!" Dust said to her zebra friend as she got up to leave. The zebra looked one last time at Daring and gave a slight smile, then left with Dust Devil. Daring stared at the front door they left out of, wondering just what that zebra was up to. She didn't like him at all, not one bit, so she decided to keep a close eye out for him.

She got up and left a few minutes afterwards to get all the equipment she needed for this new adventure she was embarking on. She made sure that her map was up to date and circled where she remembered the pyramids to be, bought some food, and she also bought something she usually didn't carry on her, although an adventurer should always have one, a knife. She got a few more objects such as rope and a pressure activated flashlight, the only one that any of the traders had. With everything she needed, she put her saddlebags back on and went back to the middle of town to find a place to sleep as night befell the small city.

When the sun had begun to rise the next day, Daring had rounded up all of her equipment and went to meet Dust Devil at the location they had settled on. When she had arrived, Dust was already there waiting for her. They greeted each other and soon took to flight, soaring through the cold, morning air. The desert wind had picked up and began to create small sandstorms, making them fly over the tops of them. When they reached the halfway point to Roenik, the sand storms had calmed and died off. They touched down to take a break from beating their wings over the long distance that they had come. Quite fortunately they had found an oasis and set down next to it and laid down in the shade of the few palm trees there. They drank from their water canteens and refilled them at the water source. Soon they took flight again and did not stop until they reached Roenik.

Their hooves touched the sandy ground of Roenik in the late afternoon, the sun was blazing hot, but it did nothing to stop the two adventurers from achieving their goal. Before them, a once great city stood, but now only old shambles and decaying streets covered in dust and sand, slowly being eaten away at by the sands of time. They looked at each other and nodded, then hopped over to the outermost building. Most of the infrastructure was small, but well sized and decrepit. The two were able to see the pyramids in the distance. They decided to embark upon their journey the next morning, and look for clues that night. They set up a shelter in one of the old buildings, but was unknowingly littered with large camel spiders. They were chased out by the creatures and decided to take shelter elsewhere. After their episode with the arachnids, then setting up camp, they began their search for clues in the city that began to grow dar-
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A snorting sound had ripped them all out of Twilight's reading. They all looked over in the direction it was coming from. Next to Twilight sat Spike, leaned back against the rocking chair snoring, fast asleep.

"Little guy seems to be tired." James joked.

"I'm just surprised he stayed up this late!" Twilight added.

"Speaking of a nice nap, it's after eleven! Might be a good idea to hit the rack soon here, I still need to get home and fix the pipes, granted it hasn't been blown away from the storm." He said as he listened to the rain still tapping on the roof and the wind blowing around.

"Yeah, that would kind of stink if that happened. But, you could always come live with me ya' know!" Dash said with a large smile.

"Maybe so, but I don't really think I'm able to walk on clouds like yourself Rainbow."

"Oh... right, kind of forgot about that part."

"That would be pretty neat though, walkin' around on the clouds and shit." He laughed as he thought about the act. Soon after, Rainbow and Twilight both yawned, signaling that they too were quite ready for rest. "Yeah, it's about that time!" He exclaimed as he too yawned and stretched out.

"Yeah, Twi, I think we should get to bed here soon. I guess bucking apples wore me out more than I expected!"

"Well then, I can get you two some blankets and pillows, you can sleep wherever you would like." Twilight said as she went to grab the bedding. She came back down after a few minutes, the blankets levitating in front of her, surrounded by a purple aura. She set one pair down on the sofa and the other on the floor and made them look as comfortable as possible. "Will that work for the two of you; oh, and are your clothes still wet, James?" She asked.

"They're pretty dry actually!" He said. Twilight nodded and gave him a smile.

"Good enough for me." Dash replied with a shrug.

"Okay then, if there's anything else I can get you, let me know. If that's all, I bid you both a good night." Twilight said. They both shook their heads 'no', so Twilight picked spike up using her magic and they both went off to bed, Spike snored all the way up.

"Well, I don't know about you, but I'm gonna' hit it." He said to Dash.

"Yeah, I agree."

"Well then Rainbow, goodnight, and I'll see you in the A M."

"Night James." She said back a large smile. They both went to their 'beds' and snuggled in for the night. James took the floor and Dash was on the couch, and soon they were fast asleep; Rainbow joined in with Spike on snoring, but it wasn't much of a bother to James or Twilight. They had all drifted off into their own dream worlds; some had been more pleasant than others.

Author's Note

Sorry if this chapter wasn't one of the better ones, I hit a writer's block the size of a damn freight truck. I was stuck on it and just tried to get it out and move on. The next chapter will be out much sooner than these last few have been, it used to be weekly but I don't know what happened (maybe I'll hop back to it). Well I'm done ranting, look out for the next one and thank you guys so much for reading what I have to write.