It has been five days since the whole Ursa Minor incident, but James was more than happy to look after Trixie. During her stay at the library he concluded that the reason the mare liked to speak in the third person was probably because of some tragic event. He didn’t want to pry at the reason because it wasn’t his place. Twilight easily calmed around the azure after the second day and even offered to help teach her some magic.

Using this time when she was training, he would go out to the smashed caravan and bring pieces back to the library and placing it in storage. After he collected the pieces he started to rebuild the caravan. He wanted this to be a surprise for the unicorn because for some reason that he couldn’t explain he wanted to see her smile. During his time of reconstruction, Twilight mentioned that the princesses were coming in two days to talk to him.

He thanked the lavender mare for the heads up, but on the inside just shivered at the thought of the princesses coming. It wasn’t that he hated the princesses, more that he didn’t like royalty. From his time in Elite Sniper they took out five corrupt royal families that wanted to start a war.

“James, may I ask you a question?” James knew that it was Trixie behind the door.

He kept the door locked so she couldn’t ruin the surprise for herself. He also started to take notice that when she talked to him, she spoke normally. He guessed that she trusted him enough to be herself. This made him feel happy that he could make her feel comfortable.

“Sure, just give me a few minutes and I will be right out,” James threw the cover over the almost finished caravan and headed towards the door. He opened the door and saw the azure unicorn and she looked a little down.

“Hey is everything okay? Has somepony been giving you trouble again?” James knew the town was still a little angry with her.

When he was with her no one really said anything to her because they didn’t want to make him angry like last time. Though the few times the unicorn went out with Twilight, the townspeople weren’t afraid to ridicule her. A couple of times the azure mare came back in tears. When she was crying he would just sit on the couch with her and stroke her silver mane and let her cry on his shoulder not caring that it ruined the fabric.

During this time he noticed that most ponies apparently had tails. He mentally smacked himself for never really paying attention to such a small detail especially since he has been in a town full of ponies he would have noticed. He was first surprised by the tail thing when he was comforting the azure unicorn one day and felt something wrap around his leg. He looked down to see a silver colored tail holding on and not wanting to let go. He allowed it thinking that it allowed the mare to calm down and feel secure.

“Actually everything is alright for now. Trix- I mean, I was wondering if tomorrow you would like to go on a picnic near the park?” Trixie then looked up at him, hope in her eyes that he would say yes. He couldn’t find the reason to say no to the azure mare and so he agreed to go on the picnic.

“If I may ask though, Trixie, what exactly is the special occasion for the picnic?”

“I was just wanting to show my thanks for saving my life from that creature and offering me a place to stay.”

“You don’t have to worry about that. I was just doing what I felt was right and I don’t like it when ponies gather around and start pointing fingers at somepony that meant no harm,” James smiled to the unicorn who blushed at the nice gesture to her.

Night started to come and he was nearly finished fixing the caravan. After his meeting with the princesses the day after tomorrow he would just need to put some wood finisher on the caravan to give it a nice shine. He went for the shower to get clean and get ready for bed. During the week, Rarity came over with some new shirts. One was with her three signature diamonds after the last one that got ruined with that manticore fight.

Then there was one with a magic wand with a star on top followed by a blue trail as though someone was casting a magical spell. One with a flame that seemed designed like a wing as some sort. The third one had a lightning bolt on it with three stars at the bottom. He accepted the shirts and thanked Rarity for her time and apologizing for ruining one of them. She said that it was alright, but he could see that she was a little hurt that it got ruined, but he knew that she also understood that it was probably going to happen when you fight a manticore.

James was given his bed back by Trixie, but he didn’t want to take it away from her. He didn’t mind sleeping on the couch. He just wanted the unicorn to be comfortable and safe. After a conversation that mainly resulted in him stuttering in his sentences because she used puppy dog eyes on him to take his bed back. He gave in because the look was too adorable for him to try and say no. He knew that if these mares found out that he would easily relent to such a tactic, he would be in for a world of trouble.

He finished his showering and let the azure mare go take hers. When he got his bed back and would fall asleep on it he would awake not long after to see the azure unicorn in bed with him. He felt a little uncomfortable with this, but let it happen anyway since it seemed to do her some good. The unicorn came out of the shower and was wearing a pair of short shorts and a tight shirt that stopped above her belly.

The human hid his blush by going back into the covers and trying to go to sleep. Before he could fall asleep though, the mare joined him in bed and got close to him. She laid her head on his shoulder and had her right arm on his chest and fell right to sleep. He just gave in to this and went to sleep himself.

The next morning was a great day. There were no clouds in the sky so all of the sun’s rays came pouring down onto the town. James got up and went for the shower. Sure he was going out on a picnic with Trixie, but it didn’t mean to at least not look and smell nice for it. After his shower he grabbed a pair of jeans and the shirt with the magic wand. He knew the azure mare would like it if he wore it. He left his room and saw the unicorn downstairs with a picnic basket in hand.

The azure unicorn looked very different today as well. She wasn’t wearing her signature cape and wizard hat that she wore so often. This time she was dressed in an autumn dress that was somewhat tight, but loose fitting enough that she could move freely. She had her hair done in a ponytail and her tail itself was shining and poofy more than usual. He just looked at her in fascination. He never thought that he would see the mare dress so freely. He guessed that he had a good impact on her. The mare couldn’t help but smile at what he was wearing, showing his appreciation for the mare by wearing a shirt with her cutie mark on it.

As they left the library Twilight wished them a good evening and to have fun. The human and the azure unicorn said their goodbyes to her and went on their way to the park. During their walk, the human saw a beautiful blue lily in the ground. He plucked it out of the ground and placed the flower in the unicorn’s ear. She saw what he put in her ear and couldn’t help but blush.

They reached the park and went for a spot near a tall oak tree. They sat there eating the lunch she had packed. She was eating a daisy and lettuce sandwich while he had a simple salad. Though the salad wasn’t all that simple because the taste was incredible. It didn’t taste just like a bunch of vegetables and fruit but had flavor to it.

“So, Trixie, what do you think of everything so far?” James asked wanting to start a conversation with the mare.

“I am enjoying the town and glad that some of the ponies have forgiven me. Some of your friends seemed to be giving me a chance. To tell you the truth this is the first time I ever felt welcomed here. I was always chased out of town after some of my performances.”

“Why would they do that? Don’t they see that you are just trying to bring joy to their lives especially the little foals?” James was just appalled that ponies would do such a thing.

“They felt that I was a danger to them because of my boasting that I would do.”

“Is that why you picked up speaking in the third person?”

“Yes, I used that as a way to keep myself distanced from ponies so I could stay safe.”

“Have you realized though that the six days you have been here you haven’t spoken that way to me at all and sometimes Twilight?”

“Kind of, but not fully. When I’m around you I feel safe. I feel like I can be myself and not have to worry about being hurt.” James felt happy that she was being so open with him.

As the time went on he and the unicorn laid on the blanket huddled against each other for warmth. They looked up to the sky and just enjoyed the peacefulness of the day. They told stories to each other that made them both laugh. As the day was nearing the end they started to pack up and head for the library. He noticed near one of the bushes that there was a trail left by a pegasus. The trail seemed to emanate lightning from it. He had a feeling that it was someone that he knew but just shrugged it off.

Lightning Dust

Lightning Dust was at the racetrack practicing and trying to make up for some lost training during her time in the hospital. During her training though she started to think about what Spitfire had told her. Spitfire wanted her to go and thank James who saved them both. Though she didn’t want to because she was too prideful. After a couple of days though she was starting to think about him. He was a human as Spitfire explained to her that risked his very life to make sure they made it to the hospital. She started to feel regretful for not thanking him so she made it her goal to thank him.

Lightning Dust woke up in the morning and took a shower. She had a dream last night of James letting her fantasies get the better of her. She dreamed of having a romantic night with her savior. Sure she was starting to feel something but she would never think that she would fall in love with him. As she thought about him more often her heart would flutter and she would feel weak in the knees. To see if she was truly in love though she would go to meet him and thank him personally. She left her home and went to Ponyville where she heard that it was the last place he was staying at.

Lightning Dust arrived to the town and started looking for James. As she looked around she realized she had no idea where to go at all. She laughed at herself for not getting some directions to where he was. As she walked around town she saw another friendly pair of pegasi. One was cream colored and the other cyan. She thought that maybe these two would know where the human might be.

“Excuse me you two but do you know where I might find James?” The two mares turned around shocked at the new pony here and why she may be looking for the human.

“Oh yeah and who wants to know?” The cyan pegasus asked as the cream colored one just hid behind her long pink mane.

“The name is Lightning Dust and I just want to thank him for saving me the other day from the manticore.”

“Y-you mean to say the you were the other pegasus that was hurt?” The cream colored mare said quietly and very timidly.

“Yes, I am. So do you know where he might be?”

“Yes, he is at Twilight’s library. By the way the name is Rainbow Dash and this is Fluttershy.”

“Thank you Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. Maybe we will meet again,” Lightning Dust left the two mares and headed for the library.

She reached the tall, wide oak tree that served as the library. She knocked on the door and when it opened it revealed a stunning looking lavender unicorn. Lightning Dust’s heart sank seeing this unicorn because he was living with her.

“May I help you?”

“Uh, yes you can actually. Is James in?”

“I’m sorry he isn’t here right now. I could leave him a message if you want me to.”

“Actually my name is Lightning Dust and I kind of really need to find him so I can thank him.”

“Oh, I remember who you are. You are that other pegasus that he saved with Spitfire. My name is Twilight Sparkle and he is currently out on a picnic with Trixie in the park.”

“Thank you for letting me know,” Lightning Dust turned around and took to the sky as she headed for the park.

As she flew through the sky she started to wonder why she was trying so hard to say thanks to this human. Every time she thought about him, her chest would grow tight and it would get hard to breathe. In order to figure out what was going on with her she needed to find him and know who he truly is.

The pegasus arrived at the park and saw a creature that didn’t look like a pony and assumed it was James. When she got a better look at his face from the sky she went down and landed behind a bush. What she saw made her heart skip a beat. This human was handsome. He looked strong and kind with the ability to know how to keep someone safe if they were in danger. She started thinking that she found her special someone.

She looked at him and couldn’t keep her eyes off of him. She never felt this way before for any male. She didn’t want to admit it, but she was truly in love. She stared for a few minutes trying to find the courage to go up to him. Once she found her courage she heard a second voice next to him. When she looked over she saw an azure unicorn mare with a silver mane and tail next to him. When she saw the unicorn her heart sank to the bottom.

She thought that she lost the only thing that she could truly love and started to tear up. She saw that the human and the unicorn that was called Trixie from what she heard start to clean up. Acting quickly she took off to the sky, crying that she will never find anyone to love or to love her. She vowed to get revenge on the azure unicorn for stealing the human away and she will have her revenge and win him back.

James and Trixie returned back to the library late at night. They saw Twilight reading a book but the human wasn’t able to see what it was. The azure unicorn blushed at what the lavender unicorn was reading because it was a romance novel on how to win a man’s heart. The azure mare knew that the lavender mare wouldn’t be reading such a book unless she wanted to win the human. Trixie was falling for James but was willing to share him with Twilight if she also loved him. This thought was a conversation to save for later. She and James went upstairs to get ready for bed. They just took their showers and went to bed without a word to each other.

The seventh day came and it was time to meet the princesses. James decided to go without a shower for today because he just wanted to get this over with. He went to the living room and had some tea with Trixie and Twilight while they waited for the princesses to show. Around noon there was a bright flash of light as the princesses showed up in the middle of the living room. He recognized Celestia immediately because of her alabaster white coat and multi-hued mane of pink, green, and blue.

He noticed that her mane and tail now that he decided to start looking for those were moving independently on their own whether or not there was a breeze. The second one was shorter than Celestia and had dark blue fur and her mane and tail were indigo with some dark blue with stars in it. The mane and tail looked as though he was staring into space. He was pulled away from staring at the new princess before him who also gave him an angry scowl.

“James, we have something that we need to discuss,” Celestia said in a kind of stern voice that made Twilight flinch a little.

“Apparently Twilight never heard her be stern before,” James thought to himself from seeing Twilight’s reaction.

“No she hasn’t, James and I hope to keep her from seeing me get angry,” James heard Celestia speak but her lips didn’t move. It was like she was speaking to him through his mind.

“I am currently talking to you through her head right now to tell you to keep your cool and warn you that you better answer all my questions before we have a problem.”

“I am more than happy to answer your questions, but you need to get out of my head. My head is for myself and my thoughts, no one else.”

“James, what exactly are these things that you were carrying?” Celestia held the dog tags in front of his face in her golden aura.

He felt himself cringe a little because he thought that he lost those in the forest and would go back later to try and retrieve them. Not liking that they were being held by anyone else even if it was the princess of the sun he quickly grabbed the dog tags and brought them to his side. Celestia stepped back a little out of fear of what he might do. Her sister stepped up as he went through the dog tags, taking his out and putting it around his neck.

“Who do you think you are for trying to attack our sister?” James remembered that Twilight mentioned that Celestia had a sister once named Luna that controlled the moon. So putting two and two together, he assumed that this was Luna herself.

“My name is James first of all and I don’t like it when people handle these with such poor care.”

“Do you know who you are talking to?”

“I do know who I am talking to and frankly I don’t really care,” Luna seemed to get furious at him and so was Celestia. He wasn’t scared though because he knew that they wouldn’t do anything yet.

“So then, what exactly are they?” Celestia asked giving him a cold stare. Twilight saw how she was acting and took Trixie out of the library so they could go practice some magic.

“They are dog tags of my fallen friends.”

“Why do you carry them?”

“I carry them so I remember who I am and who were with me through thick and thin.”

“So you were a soldier back in your world?”

“I believe that the answer to that question is pretty obvious,” James showed that by putting the other five dog tags on and pulling out his knife and setting it on the table. Celestia didn’t like that he had his knife with him and tried to take it away before he swiped it up and put it back in his pocket.

“Give the knife back to me,” Celestia stated in a stern tone.

“I will not because this belongs to me and is a memento of my friends. I also want to say that you may be royalty, but that doesn’t mean much to me since I dealt with your kind before,” the princesses were just now getting really pissed and Luna showed that very easily.

“How dare you talk to us like that. You should show respect,” Luna yelled in an amplified voice.

“I only show respect to those that deserve it. If you two weren’t so rude maybe you would get my respect.”

“You are right, James, maybe we are being a little unreasonable. We just want to keep our ponies safe from any harm is all.”

“I can understand that, but if you start jumping to conclusions then you are only putting them in more danger. I will admit that I have killed many people back in my world, but that was for the better of my country. I did what I had to and don’t regret who I had to kill since they were all deserving of death.”

“We will have much more to discuss about this, James, but I see since that you haven’t caused any real harm to the ponies I guess I can remain relaxed about you staying here.”

“Thank you, princess. I’m glad that we could come to an understanding,” James, Celestia, and Luna shared a smile with each other until the library door burst open with Twilight standing in the doorway, holding her head and saying that Trixie was in trouble.

He was quickly at the mare’s side asking what happened. Through ragged breaths she mentioned that she was knocked out, but not before she saw some green pegasus grab the other unicorn and fly away with her. She mentioned that this pegasus took the azure mare to the Everfree forest. The human ran past the lavender mare for the Everfree to save Trixie.

He could hear some screaming in the forest and started to run towards it. When he got to the noise he saw the green pegasus and Trixie. He recognized the pegasus as the one he saved. She had the azure mare hanging from the tree by some of the vines. He looked for the central vine that was holding her there. He saw the vine and pulled out his knife and threw it. The knife cut the vine and the azure unicorn started falling. He ran over and caught her before she hit the ground.

“James, thank you so much for saving me,” Trixie was crying out of fear and joy that he saved her.

“Trixie, I need you to get out of here and get back to Twilight. I can handle it form here.”

“But, James, I can’t leave you to take her on. She easily knocked out Twilight and took me away without anypony knowing,” Trixie looked at him with tears in her eyes, not wanting to leave him alone.

“Don’t worry Trixie, I will be fine and return safely. That is a promise I make to myself and my friend,” Trixie trusted him so she ran out of the forest while he looked at the pegasus.

“Who are you and why are you attacking my friends for?”

“My name is Lightning Dust and I only attacked them because I am the one that deserves to be with you,” she slowly started coming down before him while grabbing the knife from the tree.

Unexpected to him once she landed, she ran straight towards him going to stab him. He was able to grab her arm and twist it to drop the knife. Once it was dropped he wrapped her arm around her and held her. He didn’t hold her strong enough because he didn’t want to hurt her. After several seconds of her struggling she started to cry.

“Why are you crying? Are you hurt somewhere?” James was worried for her even if she hurt his friends and attacked him, he knew there was a reason behind it.

“I don’t know why, but after you saved me and Spitfire explained everything that happened I wanted to say thank you. As time went on though I started having strange feelings for you. To see if I was just having a fling or actual love I came to find you. When I found out where you were I went to give my thanks. I saw you in the park with that unicorn and felt my heart break. I thought that my one chance at happiness slipped by me and I couldn’t do anything,” Lightning Dust explained the whole situation and he couldn’t help but feel sorry for. He too was once in a situation like that, it hurt him for a long time.

“To tell you the truth Trixie and I aren’t really together. We’re just good friends though from what I can tell she has really strong feelings for me and I don’t think she is the only one.”

“Then is there a possibility for us to be together if you can forgive me for being such a foal.”

“I do forgive you and there may always be a possibility for us to be together, but I do want to check the rule books on interspecies dating,” Lightning Dust looked up to him and smiled.

He returned it in kind and released her. He told her that she can go back home and that he would explain everything. She gave him a hug and thanked him for everything. When she left he walked out of the forest, picking up his knife on the way out. He returned back to the library where Trixie and Twilight were waiting for him. They looked to him and he just smiled. He explained what happened, but left out the whole love part until he could figure out how to handle that. He then headed upstairs to take a shower. After he finished he went to bed and just fell asleep wanting to put this whole day behind him.

Author's Notes:

Thanks to ErikTheSoulReaper for his help with the picnic with Trixie and the thank you with Lightning Dust.