Spring is nearing and James was glad that it was finally starting to get warm outside. Thanks to the cold it hinder some of the outside training that he wanted to do. Now that the sun was out and the air was nice and warm James went back to free running once again. James was learning his magic and preparing himself for when Shadow appeared. Even with all the things that Twilight helped taught him along with the others he knew that he was going to need stronger magic. James promised that he would not delve deeper than the basics of his illusionary magic but he knew that he was going to need advanced versions of the spell. James was doing fine on his defensive magic but felt that there was more that he could learn and he needed to know what that could be.

James took a trip to Canterlot to ask Celestia for help with his problem with Shadow. She was helpful enough that she would get James what he needed but not the weapons that he wanted from his mind. James knew that there was no point in arguing with the sun goddess since she made it clear that she wouldn’t bring those weapons. As James was leaving the castle he made sure to take pictures of the places that he passed. He was not allowed to enter the archives without Celestia, Luna, or Twilight was with him. Thought with what he had planned he was going to do this without them. Once James was done walking around the castle and had the pictures that he needed he went back to the library to plan out with what he needed to do.

James was starting notice that some of the stallions were missing and the mares were acting slightly different than they used to. James was out with Soarin and Big Mac having a couple of drinks and having a guys night out. The mares were out with each other having their own little mares night out and James didn’t know what that meant. James making sure that they would stay safe where they were going and as an answer he got a few teases and a bunch of giggles. James learned during the night that Ms. Cheerilee and Big Mac were now finally dating. As they partied through the night James asked Soarin and Big Mac where all the stallions and they just shrugged unsure of where they went. After that answer James asked why the mares were acting strangely than they used to and that was when he saw them advert their gazes.

James was determined to get an answer out of them and to do that he was going to need to out drink them. That was the worst idea James ever had since he couldn’t keep up with Big Mac. Soarin was easy to get drunk and when James was about to learn something Big Mac knocked Soarin over and he went out like a light. James looked at Big Mac a little angry for doing that and then was going to get at Big Mac next. James was pouring down his drinks and so was Big Mac. After ten shots James was feeling light headed and his speech was starting to slur. Big Mac on the other hand still himself in a way but was a little inebriated. James was about to shoot down his eleventh shot but as he reached for it he fell off of the stool and on the floor. When James fell on the floor he was out like a light until next morning.

James was now awake in his room and Rarity was sitting next to him stirring a drink. Rarity heard the man groan and she turned around and smiled at him as she handed him the drink. James was familiar with the drink now since he got some of his life sorted out that this drink helped with hangovers. James was never much a heavy drinker unless he was with friends and could care less about his actions. James took the drink and laughed as he looked at his little friend in the glass. James was taking sips of the drink trying to make sure that everything it was supposed to do it did. As James was sitting up taking the drink Rarity just sat next to him with an arm looped around his. James could detect a hint of something in the air but couldn’t tell what it was. The smell was slightly sweet but had some spice to its smell. James couldn’t tell what it was but just shrugged and finished his drink.

Once James was done Rarity took the empty glass and left his room so he could get showered. Rarity hinted that he smelled bad when he heard her finally release her breath. Now that his hangover was going away James could get a good smell of himself and it was not pleasant. He smelled of sweat and alcohol which were never a good combination. James headed for the bathroom to take a long shower so he could get rid of the smell. As he showered he heard his bedroom door open and could hear some shuffling going on. James was certain that Rarity came in and cleaned up the room a little so that it was a little easier to be in. James heard his bathroom door open and he kept his curtains closed so that they wouldn’t see him. Silly as it was this was a little bit about having some sort of privacy so he could get clean.

When James heard the bathroom door close he got out of the shower and dried himself off. James saw that there was a set of clothes for him on the bathroom counter and a new hoodie. Once James was dried he picked up the shirt and noticed the designs on it. The front and the back looked the same as Spitfire’s cutie mark was in the middle and surrounded by the other thirteen cutie marks of the mares. In the four corners was a design of James’ knife pointing towards the cutie marks. This represented that the mares were with James and that he was going to protect them no matter what happened. James put the shirt on and wore it with pride as he put on his jeans. James looked over his hoodie and it was a simple black but James wanted it to look like that. Even after that night of partying James still had to go to Canterlot and get into the archives.

James took his hoodie down with him as he joined the mares in the living room. James could smell that pasta that was being cooked and saw that it was lunch time. The plan James had decided on was to go to Canterlot during the night and enter through a side wall that was a little shorter than the others that he could jump. He would then sneak his way into the archives and find the magic section there. He would grab books that would help teach him better illusionary magic and defensive magic. James was mentally kicking himself that he was doing this especially since he was finally getting on better terms with Celestia now. The worse that could happen is that he would be locked up in the dungeon and that was better than putting the mares in danger. Fluttershy brought out lunch and was helped by Trixie and Rose as they brought out plates and glasses. James enjoyed his meal until he started staring off into space to make sure that he remembered the pictures exactly. Rainbow pulled him from his thoughts as she talked to him.

“Hey James are you feeling okay? You seem like you are spacing out there.”

“Yeah I’m fine I was just thinking about the party last night.”

“Yeah you seemed to have a lot of fun since you drank yourself asleep for an entire day.” Upon hearing what Pinkie said James looked at the calendar and saw that it was the day after tomorrow. James was now silently cursing at himself that he was a day behind on what he wanted to do. He now had two choices to make and neither of them ended well in anyway. He could back out of the plan right now and hope for another good opportunity to break in or he could go for broke and try to break in later in the night. If he went with choice two he would have to deal with a little more security because Celestia ordered more guards for the next couple of weeks. Since both options offered little encouragement to do them James went with the latter and was going to go ahead with the plan.

Lunch was finished and James was helping Lyra and Octavia to clean up the dishes. As they were cleaning James could see that they were acting a little more differently than they used. Actually that could be said about the rest of the mares in his house. James didn’t think about it but they were wearing more revealing clothes than they usually wear. They also shivered for some odd reason like they were hit with some cold air. James tried to see what was wrong but he was assured that everything was fine. James could tell that everything wasn’t fine but he knew better than to argue with them. Last argument got him cleaning the gutters for an entire week. After dishes were cleaned and put away James headed for the library door and before he left he turned around to tell the mares where he was going.

“See ya everypony I’m headed to Canterlot for some business with the princesses.” James was kind of telling the truth since he still went to see Celestia but that was usually to have some small talk.

“Why must you be gone so constantly? Do you think that Shadow is going to come out at some point because that is very unlikely. You have us to help you deal with him and when you leave you are gone for such a long time. You have mares here that need your attention and would like it if you stayed.” Twilight responded as she was ending her response she bent over slightly so James could the line in between her cleavage. James tried to keep his eyes on hers but found it very hard not to get a few glances down her shirt.

“I sorry that I have to but Celestia really likes our talks. I also know that I can count on your help and I do know that I have been neglecting some of you but I promise that I will make it up to you.” James smiled hoping that he could get out of the house faster and get on the train before it left.

“You better keep your promise James or we will have a problem.” Pinkie said shaking a finger in his face.

“Do you know how long you will be gone?” Spitfire looked at him a little worry that he might not be coming back for a long time. James just smiled to make her feel a little better.

“I will only be gone for a couple of days is all. I am taking one of the teleporting crystals so I can get back here faster.” James showed the crystal showing that if he was needed back sooner he could get back faster than taking a train. James was then hugged by the fourteen mares as he tried to return the hug back as best as he could. As they stood near the door hugging that strange smell that James smelled before in his room came back in stronger force and had different scents. It smelled sweet, spicy, tangy, and even minty. James really wanted to know where these smells were coming from but he didn’t have time since he had a plan to go through with.

James gave one final wave goodbye as he exited the house. Once the door was closed Spitfire gave a little cough to get everyponies attention. Once all eyes were on her she gestured them to the couches in the living room and took a seat of her own on the reclining chair. Once they were all seated as comfortable as they could get Spitfire brought their attention back at hand with what needed to be done.

“Okay we are going to discuss how we are going to get closer to James. I know there are many different things that we can do but seeing as how it is almost spring I think we have another issue to deal with.”

“You have no idea how I currently feel. My heat used to be bad before but now that James is here it is stronger than it ever was before.” Rainbow stated trying to keep herself seated and not thinking about the wet spot that was forming.

“I know that is why we need to come up with a way to deal with it and I think that the only way to deal with it is if we take an entire day with James and just have sex. Knowing that how exactly can we get James to go along with it so we can strengthen our bonds and deal with our heat?”

“Well I think it is best decided if we just in a specific pony order of whatever you choose. Though there is a problem since Aloe and Lotus don’t ever like being away from each other.” Trixie said as she pointed to the two spa ponies that were trying their hardest from thinking about their heat.

“So then I guess we can go one at a time or bring in a partner if we want to since it would be unfair to only allow them that privilege.” Spitfire suggested to the mares that took a few moments to think it over. After several minutes of hard thinking all the mares nodded their heads in agreement to the idea. The only thing left to do was to make sure that they could keep James full of energy for the entire day that they would have him.

Outside

James was walking to the train station as he saw that some mares were giving him slightly lustful looks. James just quickened his pace to the train station. James looked at his watch to see that the train is arriving in five minutes. James took off in a sprint to get to the train station on time. James was on the train and headed for Canterlot and he pulled out a piece of paper that gave a rough look on how he was going to break in. James arrived in Canterlot and headed for the hotel that he was staying at. James was able to get a room that was near a fire escape so he could get to the roof easily. James set down his bag and pulled out his hoodie and knife.

After waiting several hours night has finally arrived and James headed onto the roof of the hotel. Once on top James took a look around his surroundings and found the castle. James took off running and jumping from roof to roof getting to the left side of the castle. James reached the small wall and looked at the distance that he needed to jump. James took the chance and ran full sprint from the end of the roof and jumped. James landed on the ground but forgot to roll on his landing. James could feel the pain that he had but was able to get over it fairly quickly. As James was going to the backside of the castle he noticed that there were a different set of guards around the castle.

The new guards wore dark armor and had bat wings. Their eyes were slitted and James knew that this gave them better vision in the dark. James knew that this mission became a lot harder since he never knew about these guards. Though it also didn’t help since he never saw the castle during the night. James was able to change some things around so he could get this to work. James picked up a rock and threw it at the wall behind on the guards. The guards left their posts to investigate the noise and James slipped in through the back door. James was looking around the basement for a way to get inside the castle.

James saw an air ventilation system and went straight in. James crawled around the air vent looking for the archives. After forty five minutes of crawling around he finally made it to the archives. James moved the cover silently and crawled out of the air system. James pulled out his flashlight and looked around for the magic section of the archives. After twenty book rows later James found the magic section and started skimming the spines for books that would be helpful. James found two books that would come in handy as he trained. The first book was on advanced illusionary magic and the second was on advanced defensive magic. James couldn’t find any other books on what he wanted to learn so he left the castle the same way he entered.

James returned to the hotel and went to his room to get some sleep. In the morning he was going to use the crystal to go to the special magic training room that Twilight had made. When somepony entered the room you would see that it was an empty space room. The room was endless so that if a spell went wrong it couldn’t cause any harm. James packed away his things and went to sleep. It was a good thing that the mares were going to be gone for the day so James could at least have a chance to read the books.

Morning came and James woke up with the lifting sun. James stretched as he went for the shower to get cleaned. Once he was done showering he got dressed and grabbed the crystal. James took a deep breath and crushed it in his hands. James could feel the pulling force of the teleportation as he was brought to the magic training room. James was able to get his surroundings back and got straight to work. James pulled out the illusionary book and started reading it. As James looked over it he learned that he could bring these illusions to life if he wanted to and he could also materialize any object as long as he offered blood for it. After James was done reading through that he opened the defensive book and learned about a few high end defense spells. The was a wall of fire that he could summon that would cut off any enemies from advancing and burn them if they tried to cross. One that really caught his attention was an absorption shield where he could absorb an attack and combine it with the deflection shield he could send it back at full force.

James started with his illusionary magic since it was going to cause a little pain. James followed the steps to get the objects to be made. James closed his eyes as he entered a meditative state to focus on the object that he wanted. James imagined his double daggers that he kept stored in a safe and an old revolver that his dad left him. With the images now in his mind he was pulled into the dream realm so he could grab them. James’ left hand glowed an eerie black and dark red as he grabbed the weapons. Once the weapons were in his hands he cut his left palm and let the blood come out and spin around the weapons. The pain was excruciating as it pulled the blood from his body to make the weapons real.

James was pulled back to the real world after a bright light flashed before his eyes nearly blinding him. James blinked his eyes a few times as he tried to get his sight back. Once James could see clearly and not anymore spots he looked in his left hand to see the revolver and double daggers. James smiled that he was able to get the weapons to materialize but was quickly replaced as he could feel pain course through his hand. After the pain subsided he looked at his palm and saw that there was a black six pointed star covering where he cut. This was one of the payments needed to be made in order to create objects from illusions. James was going to need to hide this so that the mares and especially the princesses couldn’t find out about what he did.

James left to put his stuff back in his room and after he did he came back downstairs to try the firewall spell. James focused the power that he had into his right hand since it was now decided that his left was for illusion. James started with a small wall of fire and slowly worked up. It was tough to begin with but he had all day to get it to work. As James focused more and did some of his beginner defensive spells to help mediated the training his right hand started to glow green. James took this as a sign that he could probably make a bigger firewall than what he has been before.

James stood in the center of the room and concentrated with his right hand pointing out. James could feel the burning sensation in his right palm like he did in his left. When the pain was gone and James opened his eyes he nearly closed them in disbelief. Standing in front of him was a wall of fire but it wasn’t just a wall. The wall took the form of a person that was about James’ height. It looked at James and then cocked its head to the side in confusion. Before James could speak it exploded and wrapped James in a veil of fire but not touching his skin. As the flames circled around his body James moved his right hand and the fire spread out into a wide circle. James looked around and saw that it covered all sides. James smiled at his accomplishment and then looked at his right hand. On his right palm was an orange shield in the center.

As James admired the symbols on his hands he heard the front door open. He could hear the mares laugh as they came into the house. James quickly gathered his stuff and put away for later when he was going to train more with the books. James went upstairs and smiled at the mares who gave him all smiles in return. James headed towards his room and grabbed some covering paint for his hands. Once his hands were painted and there was no sign of the symbols on his hands James went back and joined the mares in the kitchen. They ate dinner all together sharing stories about their days and little plans that they had and James couldn’t be happier. That happiness though had a little worry though because the mares were staring at him intently and giving him bedroom eyes. James knew that he should probably be worried about it but felt like he didn’t need to since he was too busy being happy at his accomplishments. James knew he was far off from being anywhere good with his magic but with what he was able to do now was at least a good start for now.

Author's Notes:

Thanks to ErikTheSoulReaper for the idea on this chapter. I do have sad news to share that I feel a blog post won't do much. Sadly 'Somewhere I Belong' by Silentpegasus has been cancelled. Do I feel sad yes. Do I hope for a reboot of the story yes. Even if there is or isn't a reboot I was glad to have read the story. I will miss it as I found it to be very good. Now the next part is something that I posted in a blog post and have been happy with the comments that I got. Though there are some that don't see it but you do enjoy this story. I have kind of become a little self-conscious on this story. I feel that there is a plot but I am unsure if I have made it clear at all. I kind of feel that most of it might be rambling but I am unsure. If you feel that there should be some king of change on this story please comment in the last blog post I made or PM me. I do have a second story that I want to bring out but before I do I want to make sure that this story stays ok. So thanks for everything everyone and once again I will miss 'Somewhere I Belong' and will forever love that story since it got me into writing HiE stories. Thank you everyone for your time.