James was sitting around at one of the many tables that were set up. He was bored out of his mind since there wasn’t anything to do while everypony waited for more guests to arrive. To overcome his boredom he went for a little walk. James walked around the foyer and through the kitchens trying to find something to pique his interest. He was also planning things out in case shit hit the fan but he really hoped that didn’t happen. James walked out into the garden where Fluttershy was sitting on a bench with the other animals. The animals scampered away when they saw James walking over.

Fluttershy pouted a little at James for scaring away the animals. James just put his hands up defensively showing that it wasn’t entirely his fault. James took a seat next to Fluttershy and cuddled closely together. Fluttershy laid her head on his shoulder sighing contently at his presence. As they sat at the bench together the animal critters that ran away were returning. They watched from afar trying to get a reading on James. When they saw that he wasn’t a threat to them or the nice pony they started coming back. James smiled as the animals gathered around their feet looking up at them.

Braveheart and Lightning Bolt came out from the bushes to say hello to James. They jumped up on the bench and James pet them both on the head. The two animals laid down on the bench next to James wanting to catch some shuteye. They were becoming more like James every day and that was both good and bad. It was good since they knew right from wrong and would protect those that were weaker than them. Bad though since they were also becoming somewhat lazy wanting to sleep more often than anything else.

James looked down at his two animals and they looked back at him. James told his animals to keep Fluttershy and the others safe from any kind of harm. The animals nodded to James and he gave them one last pet before leaving. Fluttershy looked at him sadly as he left but gave her a kiss on the lips that made her happy. James walked back inside the building to see Lyra, Vinyl, and Octavia getting setup on stage. James walked over to them to see how they were doing. As he approached the stage he was stopped by a gray stallion with charcoal black mane and tail. The stallion was looking him up and down for a few moments before stepping aside to let James through.

When James reached the mares they all released a sigh of relief that nothing got out of hand. James asked who the stallion was and Lyra told him that he was the conductor for the symphony. He was a little overprotective of his orchestra but that was because he saw all the members as his own children. James assured them that it was fine and that he understood where he was coming from. Heck if James did something like that stallion he would make sure that his own orchestra was safe.

James helped around the stage getting most of the chairs and stands in the proper place. That was really hard to do that when you have a perfectionist cellist and a rowdy DJ trying to tell you where to put them. Even with them being together in this relationship they still had to argue finer points. It was funny to James since they fought like he and Rarity did sometimes if he did something inappropriate. Even when they fought the love was still there and James couldn’t be happier. As he was setting up the last of the percussion section Octavia excused herself to the bathroom. It was a good thing too since she was starting to look a little sick.

As Octavia speed walked over to the bathroom, Twilight joined her and was looking a little sick. James just set it aside to them being nervous with the Gala. James left after everything was in place and was given a hug by both Lyra and Vinyl. James returned the hug and started to walk away. James was walking off stage to only be stopped by the stallion again. They stared at each other for what felt like an eternity until he lifted his hand. James grabbed his hand and gave a hearty shake as the stallion smiled at him. James returned the smile and went on his way.

During his walk he ran into Pinkie Pie that seemed to be a little bored right now. She had her head on the table and was blowing her mane out of her eyes. James walked over to where she was sulking and sat down next to her. Pinkie didn’t notice James sit down next to her until she felt his hand on her back. She looked over at James and smiled at him. James asked what was wrong and Pinkie just said that she was bored of waiting for ponies to show up. James gave a heartfelt laugh because this was normal for Pinkie. She could never stand holding still and didn’t like to wait for a party to get started.

James offered her a chance to possibly help out with the party if she wanted something to do. Pinkie perked up at the idea of doing something. James told her that if she asked Celestia nicely than she might let her make some desserts for the party. Before anything else could be said Pinkie zoomed off but not before giving James a kiss. James had to do a double take on what just happened and when his brain finally caught up he just laughed. James got up out of his seat to go find Rarity. He remembered the time that Rarity was talking about finding her prince charming and going to live off happily ever after. That changed somewhat for her since he wasn’t much of a prince charming but she was happy so far.

The only problem was that Rarity had that natural beauty that she could only achieve and that worried James a bit. James walked around until he could hear a mare in trouble. Being the nice guy that he is and god did it make it painful sometimes he went to go help. When he rounded the corner he saw two stallions a little too close to Rarity. Rarity was trying to get away from the two stallions but they kept pressing forward. James only promised that he wouldn’t cause anything with Blueblood, but he never said anything about other stallions that gave his mares trouble.

Rarity saw James as he silently walked behind the stallions. Rarity kept her gaze away from James so she wouldn’t give him away. James was now standing behind the stallions and tapped them on their shoulders. They turned around and were staring at James. James took a steady breath as he spoke to the stallions.

“I believe you two are disturbing this lovely mare.” James said keeping a neutral expression.

“Come on man we are just trying to show the lady a nice time.” The stallion on the left said as he grinned a bit. James raised an eyebrow to this curious as to what this ‘nice time’ was.

“What kind of nice time do you have in mind?” The stallion on the right then leaned in close and whispered in his ear.

“We are going to get her drunk and fuck her brains out later in the night.” James kept his cool as he pulled the two stallions in close so he could whisper to them.

“You know that wouldn’t be such a bad idea. Especially since she is my marefriend.” James was now staring daggers at the two stallions. The two of them gulped as they could feel the murderous intent that he was giving off.

The stallions quickly walked off and James was left with Rarity. She walked up to James and gave him a kiss on the cheek for saving her from those brutes. James rubbed her back as he smiled at her glad that went better than expected. With one final kiss James went back to one of the many tables and pulled out his phone. To pass the rest of the time he opened up his zombie killing app and tried to get to the next level.

Eight Hours Later

After eight grueling hours later the party finally started. It was touch and go for a while but Night Slash was able to get the last of the things needed to be done. He and the unicorn mares were given explosives by the hooded figure and were shown where to plant them. They went about the castle placing the explosives where they needed to be. Night Slash had to incapacitate a few guards that almost caught him. With all of his explosives placed he joined his mares and hit the button. The timer on the explosives turned on and started counting down. Night Slash burned away the button and walked with his mares to enjoy the party for a bit.

James was shaken awake by Trixie who found him on one of the tables. James fell asleep from complete boredom. He thought that was impossible but this just proved him wrong. Trixie took a seat next to James as she brought along some food and drink. They ate together enjoying each other’s company watching the guests have a little fun. Once they were done eating they got up from their seats and walked around to see if they could mingle with anypony. Many of the noble snobs ignored James until he ran into a friendly stallion.

James met Fancy Pants and his wife Fleur. They were a nice couple and very friendly to James. They shared his view that most of the ponies that were here were just trying to kiss up to the princess’s. The only reason Fancy Pants and Fleur were there was to make appearances. Fancy Pants ran a respectable business in fashion and his wife was a model. Not hard to believe since Fleur radiated beauty and brilliance. If James didn’t already know any better he would have guessed that Fleur and Rarity were somehow related. Wanting to help out Rarity a little James dropped some information that he knew about Rarity’s designs to Fancy Pants and he seemed intrigued.

Fancy Pants left to go find Rarity and probably make a business deal with her. James continued to walk around the castle until he came to the dance hall. The musicians were getting off stage and Vinyl was setting up one of their recordings. The recordings were some of their old songs that they played but worked for the Gala. As James stood in the center of the dance floor he was slowly being joined by his mares. They all held out their hands wanting James to join them all for a dance. James looked behind them and saw Rainbow standing alone. James declined their offers and they were getting a little upset.

He told them that he promised Rainbow that she would get the first dance with him since he promised her. James walked over to Rainbow and held out his hand for her. She grew a slight brush at what James was doing and tried to tell him that he didn’t need to do it. He told her that he should and would do it since he promised her that she would get the first dance. Rainbow grabbed his hand as he took her to the center of the dance floor. They waited for a new song to start up since Rainbow deserved a full song to dance to. The other mares watched as they waited for James and Rainbow to finish dancing.

A new song started up and the two of them were off. They started off sloppy but that was because James didn’t know how to dance. After a few seconds he was able to catch on with Rainbow’s footwork and follow her step by step. There were a few ponies that stared at them as they danced but they didn’t care. They enjoyed the dance that they shared together. When the song finally ended James gave Rainbow a passionate kiss and she returned it with one of her own. They both walked off and the mares joined them for another dance.

The mares and James danced for another few songs enjoying their time together. During the dance Rarity thanked James for mentioning her designs to Fancy Pants. James played it off like he didn’t know what she was talking about. Rarity gave James a kiss knowing that he did it even if he acted like he didn’t. After the fourth song they all retreated to a table to get some stuff to drink. They sat at the table having fun filled conversations and sharing a few laughs. James finished off his drink and got up to get a refill. James filled his cup with more punch and headed back to the table. Once James took his seat he was knocked out by an explosion.

Explosions were going off everywhere and all the ponies were panicking. Celestia and Luna were able to cast a shield spell to protect the ponies from the worse of the explosions. When the explosions were finished Celestia and Luna helped get the guests out of the castle. James was helped up by his mares to his feet. James grabbed his head as it throbbed in pain. They set James down on a chair as Trixie started to look him over. He was bleeding slightly from his head and arm. Trixie quickly healed his small wounds as Vinyl wiped away his blood.

Celestia and Luna walked over to them and Applejack, Soarin, Spike, Carrot Top, Bonbon, Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo followed behind them. They were looking each other over as James did a once over on his body. As the mares were talking and making sure that they were all okay there was a malevolent laugh. Everpony was looking around for the noise but it seemed that Celestia and Luna knew who it was.

“Discord show yourself this instant.” Celestia growled as she looked for the source of the laughter.

James took of the tuxedo jacket as it was completely ruined now. James sighed that the tuxedo was ruined since Rarity took her own time to make this. James threw the jacket to the side and there was a cloud of smoke that appeared. Out of the smoke came a creature that James had never seen before. He had the head of a dragon, wings that were both a bat and a pegasus, a leg of a dragon and a buffalo, the arms of a gryphon and a manticore. James stared at the strange creature slightly scared at what it could do.

“Who are you?” James asked not taking his eyes off of the creature.

“My dear human my name is Discord and I am the Lord of Chaos.” Discord answered as a random lightning bolt came out of nowhere.

“So what are you Celestia’s boyfriend or something?” James snorted as he teased Discord. There was a few seconds of silence from both Celestia and Discord. James face palmed that he was right about this random statement that he said.

James gave Celestia a sincere apology and one to Rarity as he ripped off the bad tuxedo pants and grabbed his revolver. He lifted the revolver into the air and fired at Discord. The bullet was stopped by another from his right. James looked over and saw that unicorn from the train. The unicorn walked over next to Discord and smiled at him. Discord thanked the unicorn for showing up just in time. The unicorn looked over to James and smiled. James kept his eyes on the two figure standing in front of him. His attention was pulled from the two of them by Twilight.

“James were you carrying that the whole entire time that we were here?” Twilight asked tears starting to fill her eyes.

“Sorry Twilight that you saw this but I am glad that I brought this.” James answered not making eye contact with the unicorn. James took off the dress shirt and was now in his regular clothing.

James asked Lyra to summon his shoes and socks so he was wearing something more comfortable. Not really wanting to do it Lyra summoned a pair of black socks and a pair of white shoes. James sat in a chair putting on his shoes as the figures just watched. James got up from the chair and holstered his revolver. James felt that the unicorn was familiar and he needed to know.

“Who are you unicorn and why are you with that monster?” The unicorn just laughed at how dense James was.

“Really James and here I thought that you would relish in meeting me here in the real world.” The unicorn answered chuckling to himself still.

The unicorn was able to collect himself and looked back at James. James was still staring at him confused trying to figure out who he was. Night Slash just sighed and started changing his form. As the unicorn changed forms James grabbed the hilts of his daggers ready for an attack. When the unicorn finished changing James could feel his anger boil over as all the mares gasped. James was now staring down at Shadow and fought the urge to charge at him and take his head off. As they were all staring at each other there was a bright flash of light and Nightmare Moon appeared.

“Nightmare Moon how are you still alive?” Luna asked as rage burned into her eyes.

“You were only able to separate me from your body. I just waited for the right moment when my power came back to attack.” Nightmare scoffed at the lunar princess. Shadow took this time to summon his mares so that they could get started.

James was now staring down at Discord, Nightmare Moon, Shadow, and for some reason a plethora of mares. James looked back at the ponies standing behind him. James then looked to his hands as he contemplated on what to do. James took one final look at the situation that he was in. Everypony could deal with Discord, Nightmare Moon, and the mares that showed up but he needed to deal with Shadow himself. For a few more seconds James took a deep breath and released as he made up his mind. He turned around and looked at the ponies standing behind him. After looking at their faces he turned back around ready to face his decision but not before saying something.

“I’m sorry everypony.” James said as there was a bright flash that blinded everypony in the room.

Author's Notes:

Thanks to ErikTheSoulReaper for the idea on this chapter and I left you all with that lovely little cliffhanger. Happy New Year Day.