The mares were running all over Ponyville trying to find James but with no luck. They returned back to the library to try to come up with a new plan on finding James. When they returned though Fluttershy went to the couch and just broke down. She was just crying her heart out because they couldn’t find James. As Fluttershy was crying she was joined by Rarity and Trixie who finally let the flood of tears free from their eyes. James was nowhere to be found and the mares were starting to lose hope of ever finding him. Twilight who tried to remain optimistic of finding James was beginning to doubt that they would ever find him. The note that was left by James was laying on the coffee table mocking them that he left and could never be found. One by one the mares were all clumped together as they just let the waterworks flow. Twilight was no longer able to keep her calm demeanor and just started crying herself joining the other girls.

Castle Ruins

James woke up on the cold stone floor grabbing the back of his head as it throbbed in pain. James pulled his hand away and saw that there was a little blood on his hand. James returned his hand to the back of his head to put pressure on the bleeding wound. James turned to look behind him and saw a rock the size of his fist covered in what he guessed was his own blood. As James looked at the rock he did a self check to see if he had any other wounds on his body. James couldn’t find any wounds on his body and sighed in relief that the only injury was the one to his head.

James got up from the cold stone floor and stretched his aching muscles from laying on that accursed floor. James pulled out his magnum and saw that the magazine and spare was missing. James then pulled the slider back and saw that it still had one in the chamber. James laughed a little at the irony that he had one bullet left. James couldn’t help but remember that time when he was alone and had one bullet left. As James looked at the gun and thought about his past events he saw that one bullet as a god send to relieve him of his problems. James only once ever thought about doing this and it was during when he was captured and wasn’t sure if he would ever be saved.

James pulled the gun up to his head after he reloaded his gun with the one bullet. James held it to his head and slowed his breathing. James was ready to end his problems and keep his friends safe at the cost of his life. James stood his ground as he held the gun to his head and slowly pulling the trigger. As James was a quarter of the way pulled he started to cry a little. Half way pulled and James was now bawling like a little kid and shaking like crazy making the gun shake around. Only a little left to go and James was now shaking like he was in Antarctica freezing to death as he studied polar bears. James was stuck now and couldn’t move the trigger any more.

“Ahhhh fuck why can’t I just end it all. I just want to go back and make it all better.” James threw his gun across the bedroom and fell to his knees crying his heart out. James had no idea still why he was feeling this and just wanted it to stop. James took deep breaths as he tried to collect himself and get his head straight. James was able to stop the tears but he couldn’t stop the shaking of his body. James knew that he couldn’t go back to change events even if he wanted to. He lost his friends and now he was going to lose the ones he loved. The thought of leaving them behind hurt James but being with them and trying to get them to understand what he did hurt even more. James looked around the bedroom and when he spotted his gun he went to retrieve it.

“I may not be able to end my problems by shooting myself but I can keep everyone happy if I just stay away. I’m sorry everyone but this is only for the best as I know that you could never forgive what I have done.” James was now silently apologizing to all the mares in his head as he headed out of the bedroom. James continued walking down the corridors until he reached the front of the castle again. James looked at where the huge doors used to be on the castle and took a deep breath. James walked out of the castle to look for another place to lay low.

Dream Realm

“I see that you are back good sir and that you have brought a friend with you as well.” Shadow greeted the hooded figure as it brought out another friend from behind its back. The hooded figure brought out a mare of dark fur color of the night. Her eyes were filled with much anger as shown by the slits that her eyes made. Her mane and tail flowed freely of the breeze and she just bared her fangs at Shadow.

“The name is Nightmare Moon and you will show your true princess of the night proper respect.” Nightmare said to Shadow putting venom into each word.

“Of course my princess. If it wasn’t for your friend here introducing us I don’t that I would ever be getting this free so early.” Shadow grinned at the mare showing how happy that he was to be able to get his powers back faster than before.

“You two are to stay here and regain your powers as I get everything else set up. I will come and get you when the time comes and when it does then you can have your revenge.” The hooded figure spoke in a solemn tone as it stared at the two entities that would help him.

“I believe I speak for the princess and I when I say that we are more than glad to have our revenge.” Shadow told the hooded figure as he looked at Nightmare Moon as they shared an evil grin with each other. After that was decided the hooded figure left Nightmare and Shadow to regain their powers.

Library

Spike returned to the library to see eleven distraught mares on the couch hugging and crying their hearts out. Spike looked at them and before he could say anything Twilight levitated the note over to him. Spike looked over the note and gave a slight chuckle at what the note said. He then walked over to Twilight and did the one thing that he never thought that he would have to do. Twilight had always been able to find the answer to anything there was a problem to. She never gave up and would never let it get her down to where she gave up. Spike pulled his hand back and slapped his foax mother across the cheek. Twilight looked at him in surprise at what he did and so were the others. Spike never raised his hand against anypony no matter the reason.

“Spike why the hell did you slap me across the face for?” Twilight yelled at Spike as she was both angry and sad that Spike would do such a thing.

“Somepony needed to smack some sense into and since James isn’t here I guess I have to be the one to do it.” Spike kept his feet planted to the ground because he wanted to make sure that Twilight understood her actions.

“Even so Spike that doesn’t give you the right to slap me across the face as the guy I loved left me and everypony here. He left without a proper good bye and didn’t even try to talk to us about it. Its like he doesn’t even trust us to share his problems. We don’t know what to do and I don’t think that I can-“ Twilight’s sentence was cut off as Spike slapped her other cheek. She just looked at the young drake in surprise more than she did before and the same could be said the same for the other mares.

“Twilight I have a few things that I need to say. First is that you eleven girls need to get your damn act together. Second you need to get up and get back out there looking for James. Also you need to stop thinking so badly of yourself and James as he did this because he thought that this was the best. While it may be true that it was stupid of him to walk off like that he shouldn’t be blamed. He was willing to let your hearts break in a state of worry than loss because he doesn’t want to see any of you hurt. So if you want to think ill of James for leaving then you need to look in the mirror and give yourself a slap in the face. So I want you all to go back out there and go to the one place that you have yet to check.” Spike finished explaining his actions as he told the girls what they needed to do and that they needed to stop feeling bad for themselves. It was true that they haven’t looked in one place but they didn’t want to think that James was there all alone without anypony to help him. The mares got up and while tears were still flowing they went out to continue their search.

Everfree

James was walking around the forest just trying to find a cave or something that he could hide in. The forest looked like it was ready to start raining and James needed to find shelter to keep himself warm. As James walked around he spotted a cave and went inside. James stayed near the entrance so he could stay in the sunlight. James was right to go inside the cave because as soon as he did it started to rain. The rain was coming down hard but James just relaxed to the sound of the water hitting the cave entrance and the ground. The sound was calming to James as he relaxed to the sound of it all. As it rained James started to think about what to do. If he could get to the train station and nopony saw him then he could board a train for Manehattan. From Manehattan James would take a boat and head for Catro. James would then just lay low there as he tried to make a new life for himself.

As James was listening to the sound of rain he heard a twig snap from outside. James quickly turned around and what he saw surprised him. Outside in the cold rain was a baby manticore and wolf. They both looked very hurt and cold from the rain. James got up from the cave floor and walked over to the two animals. As he got closer they both just sunk to the ground waiting for their end to come. It hurt James to see that animals in so much pain. He wrapped both of them up in his hoodie to dry them off and keep them warm. He brought them back into the cave and looked them over. The manitcore was hurt badly as its scorpion tail was gone and it had a few cuts along its body. The wolf was no better as one of its legs was dislocated and was also covered in scratches.

The two little animals were breathing very shallow and James knew that he needed to help them. James knew the route that he took to get here so he picked up the two little animals and ran through the forest for Zecora’s. James burst through the door panting heavily as he ran all the way to the mud hut to get help from the herbalist. When James opened the door he was greeted with a sight that he thought that he would never see.

Everfree Mare Side

Twilight and the gang were walking through the Everfree heading for Zecora’s to see if she has seen James. After the whole incident with the poison joke and everypony calling her a monster. Twilight and everypony became great friends with her as she came to town to get plants that she couldn’t find in the Everfree. They walked through the forest and finally reached their destination. Twilight knocked on the door and after a few seconds Zecora opened the door smiling at all the mares. She gestured for them to come into her home and they all crowded inside.

“So Twilight to what do I owe the pleasure of you and your friends visiting my lovely home?”

“Sorry to bother you Zecora from whatever you were doing but I was wondering if you have seen James around here?”

“Do you mean the human that has been living here for quite some time?”

“Yes I do but how do you know that he is a human though?”

“He helped me gather flowers after I helped him with his manticore problem when he was here.”

“So where is he now then?”

“That I do not know. After he left my hut I am not sure where he went. He has a heavy burden on his shoulder and seems to be stubborn, as he wants to take it on alone. I also have this weird feeling that there is more to him than what he let on. When I took care of that manticore he seemed ready to fight it himself. It was like he wasn’t afraid if he lived or died as long as the beast was dead. Not wanting him to do that I threw one of my smoke bombs and put it to sleep. He wasn’t very happy that I did such a thing but calmed a little as we talked for a bit.” When Zecora was finished sharing what she knew her door burst open. The mares all turned around and when they did they felt their chests tighten up. James came through the door carrying a small wolf and manticore as he was trying to catch his breath.

Zecora’s Hut

James was now feeling anxious as he saw the mares before him. He was about ready to cry but he held the tears back as he needed to help the animals first. James walked over to one of the counters and placed the little creatures down on the table. When James unwrapped the animals he could hear the collective gasps from the mares. As soon as Fluttershy saw the state of the animals she quickly ran over and pushed James out of the way. James fell to the ground but was okay as it was understandable that Fluttershy would go into that caring mood when an animal was hurt.

“Hey Zecora do you have any ointment for the cuts and some bandages. I also need a splint for the wolf.” James asked for some supplies and Zecora went to her cupboards to retrieve the medicine. She returned and James tended to the manticore first. When the ointment was evenly coated on the manticore and his tail stub was bandaged James moved over to the wolf. James applied the ointment before moving on to its leg.

“Fluttershy I’m going to need your help on this. I need you to push on the backside of the wolf as I try to put its shoulder back in.” Fluttershy nodded as she got into position behind the wolf. James grabbed the leg and the wolf began to whimper. James could say anything that he wanted but he knew that this was going to hurt. James moved the leg as Fluttershy pushed. James felt the bone pop back into place and James wrapped the leg in the splint. James sat on the couch glad that the animals were okay for now.

After half an hour of silence as everypony wanted to make sure that the animals were okay were able to breathe again as the animals got up. Once they were up James picked them up off the table and place them on the ground. James returned to the couch and sat down. Once James was seated the animals came over and pawed at his leg to get his attention. When James looked down at them they looked at him with pleading eyes. James knew what they wanted and lifted them up onto his lap.

When the animals were on his lap they place their front paws on his chest and gave his cheeks a few good licks. James laughed at the display of affection. James could only think that they thought he was some kind of mother for them and felt safe around him. Once the animals were done licking they laid down in his lap and went to sleep. James couldn’t help but smile at their cute little yawns as they slumbered off. James gave a sigh of relief knowing that these animals would be okay and live happily.

“They seemed very attached to you James.” Lightning Dust said as she looked happily at the little animals.

“Yeah I guess after saving them from the rain and helping them they really grew affectionate towards me.” James just kept smiling at the little warm bundles of joy that were sleeping. It felt good to have an animal like him like that. James remembered the dog that he had as a kid and how much he and that dog loved each other.

“I don’t think that they want to ever leave your side James. After everything that you did for them it looks as though they want to stay and keep you safe.” Lyra said as she pet the little wolf on its head as it just slept.

“So do you have any names for them since they are now with you through thick and thin?” Vinyl asked as she pet the manicore on its back making it shake its leg. Everpony couldn’t help but just aww at that cute reaction.

“Actually I want Spitfire to name the manticore and I want Dash to name the wolf.” James looked at the two mares who were stunned that he wanted them to name them. Dash was the first to answer as she had a name for the fast little creature.

“The wolf should be called Lightning bolt.” Dash smiled at the name that she gave the wolf and James agreed to the name. All eyes were on Spitfire as she came up with a name for the manticore.

“I want him to be known as Brave heart.” James smiled at the names for the two animals and was happy that he would be there for another pair of pets that loved him and that he loved. James was quickly pulled from his thoughts though as Twilight spoke.

“James I think we need to talk about what we are going to do here.” James could hear the hurt in her voice and when James looked at the other mares they all had a collective sad look on their faces as tears started running down their faces. James felt his chest tighten as this was the situation that he was trying to avoid and now here he was in a situation that he probably can’t worm his way out of.

Author's Notes:

Can James handle the conversation. What does this mysterious hooded figure have planned. When will Pinkie finish my cupcakes so I can have my dessert.