James awoke in the morning feeling slightly different than he used to feel. James would wake up in the morning feeling refreshed and energetic. Now though James was feeling down low in the ground. He was so low in feeling it was like that he was digging a hole and it just kept getting refilled. James went to the bathroom and looked at his scars in the mirror. He looked at the one on his sternum, then the one along his side running his finger on it. Then James turned his back to the mirror and looked at the biggest scar on his body that was the X on his back. James looked at the scar with sorrow remembering all that he has done and what has happened. James headed into the shower to wake himself up further before he tried to think this through.

James finished his shower and walked back into his room and put on a pair of jeans. James sat on the edge of his bed and started thinking through everything that has happened. The night from before kept popping up. James ran the words of what Filthy and Blueblood said over and over again. After everything that has happened James knew that what they said was true and that he couldn’t hide from his past. James knew that his past was something that he couldn’t run away from and he certainly didn’t want to drag his marefriends down with him. James got up from his bed and grabbed a red t-shirt. James walked over to the coat rack and grabbed his hoodie. James walked over to his dresser and grabbed his knife and stuffed it in his pocket. James then opened one of the drawers and opened the secret compartment grabbing his gun. James then walked over to his desk and began writing a note.

Dear Spitfire and gang,

It pains me to say this but I am leaving. I have taken some time to think this through and I believe that Filthy is right. I don’t wish to bring you all down into the dark pit that I have lived in. I truly love you all but I think it is for the best that I left. Please don’t look for me as I don’t want any of you to get hurt. I also want to admit that during the dates that I drugged some of you so you would fall asleep. If you want to know where I learned to do that then grab the book on herbs and plants. Twilight should know where it is since she organizes the library.

Love,

James Redfield

PS- Dash I’m leaving you your feather from when you were spying on me.

James folded the note and put Spitfire’s name on it. Once the note was placed for any of the mares to notice James walked over to his bookshelf and pulled out the cyan feather. James place the feather with the note and just took a deep sigh. As James went over to his bedroom door he stopped. James looked at the door and the possible mares that were behind it downstairs waiting for him. James didn’t want to face them with everything that happened. James turned around and walked towards his window. James opened his window and climbed down the tree. James looked around and saw that there was no true place to go. If the other ponies saw him and he was acting strange they would go running for Twilight to get her to help. So there was only one choice left to go. James looked at the forest and started his walking to nowhere in particular but just far away.

James had been walking through the forest for god knows how long but he really didn’t care. He could never tell what time it was in the forest since it was always dark. James had no real direction on where to go so he just let his feet do all the thinking for him as they just walked on deeper into the forest. As James walked on he heard a low growl coming from his left. James looked over to see a manticore looking at him trying to get a reading on him. James didn’t flinch or even make a sound. Instead James pulled out his knife and held it reverse style. James spread his feet a little as he got in a defensive stance to fight the creature. James brought up his right hand and did the bring it on gesture making the creature charge him.

James had no feelings at all as the creature came running towards him. James wasn’t afraid to die by this creature but he also wasn’t afraid to take its life. James ran many scenarios in his head as he waited for the creature to get closer to its own death. One of James’ favorite scenarios was where he stabbed the creature in the back severing its spine and paralyzing it. As it laid on the ground whimpering from the pain James would walk over to it and start cutting its back open to show its spine to him. When the spine was completely bare for James to see he plunged his hand in and grabbed it. When James had a tight grip on the spine he pulled with all of his might. The creature would roar in agony as its spine was slowly pulled out. After several seconds of pulling James had succeeded in ripping the creature’s spine out and being splattered by its blood. James grinned at his success as the creature laid dead at his feet.

James saw that the creature was almost close enough for a counter strike. James wanted to make that dream a reality and got ready. James was grinning, as the creature was now two steps away and fulfilling James’ fantasy. Once the creature was close enough there was a large plume of smoke that came out of nowhere. James was coughing from the smoke as it chocked him. When the smoke cleared and James was done having his coughing fit he saw that the manticore was asleep on the ground. James groaned as he saw the sleeping creature now before him. James could of still done what he wanted but there was no thrill in it if the creature wasn’t awake to feel it. Even with the manticore asleep James needed to know who threw that smoke bomb.

“Whoever you are you better show yourself and not cause any problems.” James waited for a response from whoever was in the forest. As James waited for an answer he put away his knife and pulled out his gun. James did a quick check to make sure the safety was off and that the bullets were still loaded. As James waited for an answer he heard a twig break from behind him. James turned around quickly and had his gun pointed at a hooded figure.

“Who are you?” James asked as he kept his gun pointed at the figure. James was slightly hoping that the figure would do something so he could test his gun out in this world.

“A good friend or a possible enemy. Either one could be true and if you want to know then I suggest you put that thing away.” The accent sounded thick almost like someone from Africa. James looked at the hooded figure one last time before holstering his gun but leaving the safety off in case the figure tried anything funny.

“May I ask your name mystery person?”

“But of course. Though if I tell you my name then you must tell me yours.”

“Very well since you are being kind enough to tell me you name.”

“My name is Zecora and I live in these woods.”

“The name is James and I am here just taking a leisure stroll. What are you doing here?”

“I am collecting plants for a potion that I am making.”

“Would you like some help gathering those plants? I saw that you can handle yourself but would you like some help looking for the flowers?”

“I could use the company and an extra pair of ears and eyes is always nice to have around for help.” James and Zecora walked around the forest gathering various plants and bugs for the potion that she was making. When they finished collecting the flowers James followed her back to her hut. As James saw where the hut was located he noticed that it was near some of the areas James went to when he was in the forest.

“How the fuck did I not notice a giant hut here in the middle of the forest.”

“I am confused as well. I was certain that you saw my home and when you were there at the waterfall you were putting on a show for me.” James couldn’t help the blush that formed on his face. Not only did Dash spy on him that one time but he even got naked in front of Zecora on complete accident. When they entered the house James took the time to take in his surroundings. The hut was definitely African style and it appeared to be a healer type hut with all the artifacts laying around. James set the flowers down on a nearby table and when he turned around he got to see who Zecora was. Zecora was a zebra with a Mohawk that was both white and black like zebra stripes and she were many bracelets around her arms and legs. She wore little clothing probably because she was the only one out here. It was also probably culture to wear a loincloth and a little top to keep yourself covered. Zecora came over to James and gestured to the couch for him to sit on. James took a seat on the couch and relaxed a little.

“So care to tell me what makes you feel so ill?” Zecora asked calmly as James just looked left and right trying to see if he should tell her or not about his problem. She was new to James and he couldn’t tell if she was that trustworthy. James put that thought to the back of his head as he remembered that she saved him from a manticore even though he may not have needed saving. She could have also killed him at any point when they were collecting flowers and had his back turned to her. James thought that it would be safe and that he could tell her.

“I think I’ll start from the beginning.” James started telling his tale of when he first arrived to his current situation.

Library

The girls were all waiting in the library foyer waiting for James to come down. Twilight was the first up along with Spike. While everypony was still asleep Twilight and Spike started to cook some breakfast. As they were cooking the aroma of the food was slowly waking up all the other girls. Fluttershy was the next one up as she came into the kitchen and helped put coffee on the pot. Rainbow Dash, Spitfire, and Lightning Dust came in and help set the table. Octavia, Lyra, and Vinyl came in and just took their respective seats at the table as they waited for everypony to finish. Trixie came in with Pinkie who could wake up with a ton of energy not matter what. Last to come in was Rarity and as she did she was busy fixing her mane and tail. Everypony just giggled at her for trying to make herself presentable.

“What is so funny about a lady making sure that she looks beautiful every morning that she wakes up?”

“Nothing Rarity its just that you do it every morning and we’re all surprised that you haven’t driven yourself mad trying to make sure that you stayed beautiful.” Twilight answered her question still giggling. Breakfast was finished and everypony set in and left a plate for James when he would come down. They sat at the table waiting for James to show. After a few hours they were starting to get worried that something was wrong with James. They all knew that James would be up for breakfast and now it was coming close to lunch and they had no idea where he was.

Rainbow Dash quickly flew up the stairs to James’ room and knocked on his door. When there was no answer she opened the door and went inside. When she was inside she was given the sight of nothingness. Rainbow started frantically going through his room trying to find any sign of where he might be. Not finding a single clue she turned around to head back downstairs and tell her friends that James was missing. As she was about to leave she saw a piece of paper wit Spitfire’s name on it. Rainbow picked it up and headed back downstairs.

“Dash where is James?” Lyra asked worried that the rainbow pegasus came back without the man in tow behind her.

“I don’t know Lyra he wasn’t up in his room but I did find this note for Spitfire.” Rainbow handed the note over to Spitfire and she opened it to read the contents. After her first read through Spitfire had to look it over again to make sure that she was not making up the words up in her head.

“So what does it say… If you don’t mind me asking?” Fluttershy asked nervously as tears were slightly welling up in her eyes that something might have happened to James. Spitfire looked over at the shy pegasus that was hiding behind her pink mane and took a breath.

“First off I’ll do the last part of the letter. Here Dash I think James wants you to have the feather back that you left behind when you spied on him.” Dash quickly took the feather back blushing intensely that James knew that she was watching him on that day.

“What were you thinking spying on him Dash? He was still new to Equestria and could have hurt you if he caught you.” Twilight said to her friend as she looked disappointed at her friend for doing such a reckless act.

“Twilight calm down. I believe that you need to save the rest of your emotions after I tell you the first part.” After Spitfire read the note aloud to everypony she heard the sound of something deflating. As she looked around she was that Pinkie’s mane had gone flat and she was about to let loose a waterfall of tears. Twilight was quick to act and wrapped Pinkie in a hug as she trembled.

“How could he think that we would be better off without him? Didn’t he see that we stood up for him and were willing to defend him at all costs because of out love?” Vinyl asked as her eyes glistened with tears that were about ready to fall.

“I don’t know Vinyl but we need to find him before he gets seriously hurt or worse.” Octavia stepped in hugging Vinyl trying to keep her from breaking down. After her words all the mares nodded in agreement and set out on their search for James. He may not have wanted them to look but they were going to find him no matter what.

Dream Realm

Shadow was slowly gaining his powers back over time. Shadow was glad that James was never able to finish gathering enough energy to use this attack. Since it didn’t have enough energy it was mainly there to keep Shadow bound. The chains of light were slowly losing their luster as the energy was starting to wear off. Shadow tested his powers every once in a while to see how strong he was. This probably would have taken longer if it wasn’t for the nice visit that he got from a mysterious figure. As Shadow was able to make more and more darkness appear he couldn’t help but laugh, as he was almost free.

“Soon James very soon I will be free of this prison and you won’t see the hell that I am going to bring.” Shadow continued to laugh as his left arm became free.

Zecora’s Hut

After James was finished telling his tale of everything that has happened Zecora just sat there looking at him. Zecora seemed to understand where James was coming from. She offered some advice on what he could do and James took it to heart but wasn’t sure if he could do what she advised. James got up from the couch and started walking towards the door. Zecora didn’t stop him but she knew where he was going. James headed back into the forest and started off walking once again in some random direction.

As James walked he came across a pile of old ruins. James saw that it was a castle and walked inside. James looked around at what was left of the building and just took in the sights. As he walked around he couldn’t help but stare at a pair of doors that had a different looking crescent looking moon than what Luna had as a cutie mark. James thought that this room probably belonged to Nightmare Moon during her time. James pushed the doors open and walked inside. James then regretted his action as he heard an evil laughter before becoming unconscious.

Canterlot

“Sister I believe that an old foe had reared its ugly head once again.”

“I can feel it Luna and I don’t think that is our only problem either.” Celestia looked down at the garden and at the pedestal where the statue of Discord stood was no longer there.

Author's Notes:

Sorry everyone but I can not do Zecora and have her rhyme so she is just going to talk normally. Thanks to ErikTheSoulReaper for the idea on the chapter.