The God Particle

Chapter 11: Meeting the Ponies

"You can't go back home to your family, back home to your childhood ... back home to a young man's dreams of glory and fame ... back home to places in the country, back home to the old forms and systems of things which once seemed everlasting but which are changing all of the time — back home to the escapes of Time and Memory." — Thomas Wolfe

The chariot carrying James and Twilight arrived over Ponyville and circled for a landing near the library. James had been off in a near trance like state for the entire flight to the point where he didn't even really remember it. As they got out of the chariot, Twilight thanked the pegasi that had flown them back. James simply nodded slightly and walked into the library. A short while later, Twilight followed him inside and closed the door. She turned and looked at him.

"James, you haven't said a single word all morning. And you almost look like you are in some kind of shock or something. What's on your mind?"

James stared at her for a moment and then shook his head gently, as if trying to clear his thoughts. "Everything ... I saw ... I don't know what I saw," he said almost a little bit incoherently.

"You saw what? Where did you go this morning anyway?" she tilted her head at him and raised one forehoof off the ground.

"Princess Celestia woke me up ... Before dawn. She took me up into one of the towers and out on the balcony ... I saw ... It was like the sun was on the balcony ... Like being inside the sun ... The heat was so intense ... and the light ... although it did not burn me or harm me ... Most of it is a big haze ... It was like ... like time had no meaning there ... I ... I don't know exactly what I saw," he stared back at Twilight.

Twilight, of course, knew exactly what he had seen. For a moment, she just stared back at him, mostly out of surprise, before speaking again. "She took you up there and let you watch her raise the sun? James, she almost never does that. Normally the only time anypony gets to see her do it is during the Summer Sun Celebration, which only happens once a year. You are very fortunate she allowed you to see that in private like that."

James blinked, and started to come out of his trance like state, her mention of raising the sun starting to bring back more of what he had seen, the event becoming clearer in his mind. "Raising the sun ... Yes, that's it. That is what I saw," he fidgeted a bit as he said it, clearly still unnerved by the experience, even though it was now much clearer in his mind.

Twilight smiled at him. "I know it's a lot for you to absorb. But you might have to let it sink in later. You have to talk to Cheerilee's class tomorrow, remember?"

"Oh shit!" James cussed causing Twilight to frown. She hated it when he cussed. "Uh ... Sorry, he apologized. "I still have to get all the supplies I need!"

"Maybe I can help? What do you need?"

"Batteries and copper wire?" James looked at her.

"Got them. In the lab downstairs."

"Salt?"

"Of course, in the kitchen."

"A couple of flasks and some plastic tubing?"

"Got those too. In the lab downstairs."

"Balloons?"

"Uh ... Don't have them, but you can pay Pinkie Pie a visit. She'll be able to give you as many as you need," she looked at him oddly, wondering what he would want balloons for.

"Pinkie Pie. Right. Uh ... liquid Nitrogen?"

"What!" Twilight stared at him.

"Work with me, Twi," he pleaded.

"Uh ... I don't have any here, of course. But you might try Ponyville Urgent Care. I think Nurse Redheart keeps it around there for cyropreservation of blood samples and such."

He nodded and smiled in relief. "Alright then. Sounds like that should be everything I need for what I have planned. Can you give me directions to Pinkie Pie's? I know she works at Sugarcube Corner."

"She also lives there actually. In a loft above it," she said and then gave him directions on how to get there. "You want me to come with you? Pinkie Pie can be a little bit ... overwhelming ... for lack of a better term. Until you get used to her."

"It's alright. I'll be fine," James said as he rushed out the door in a hurry.

"Alright ... But don't say I didn't warn you about Pinkie Pie," she shook her head and giggled as she watched him go. "Well, I'm sure that's going to be interesting," she giggled to herself as she imagined James and Pinkie Pie interacting for the first time.

James quickly hurried through the streets of Ponyville, glancing down at the directions Twilight had written down for him once in a while. Several of the ponies blinked and stopped to look at him. All of them knew he was there by now, but there were still some looks of uncertainty and fear. Some looked very curious and interested in stopping him to talk to him. But since it appeared he was in a hurry, they all managed to resist the urge to do so. Eventually, he saw a building that looked, quite literally, like it could have been a life size gingerbread or graham cracker house. "Well, this has to be the place," he said to himself as he walked up to the door and entered.

As he opened the door, a bell hanging above it announced his entrance. He found himself in a very colorful, obviously very candy themed room. Shortly after, a pink pony who looked like she had a lot of very bad hair days ... or mane days for that matter, came bounding out of the back room. She stared at him for a moment before giving a large grin that almost scared James. Then she charged towards him. Just as he started to take a defensive stance out of fear she was going to plow into him, she suddenly stopped and then started bouncing around him in circles as if she had springs built into her, or were riding a pogo stick.

"Oh you must be James I'm so happy I finally get to meet you well I guess I sort of met you once before but I never got to talk to you cause you were asleep the whole time so this is the first time I've really gotten to meet you do you want a milk shake or some candy or just some raw sugar cause I will give you some for free as a welcoming gift since you are new here."

She stopped long enough to take a deep breath, while James started to get dizzy from watching her bounce around in circles in front of him. Then she continued.

"Of course I have to do more than just give you a welcoming gift I have to throw you a welcoming party because I throw welcoming parties for any new pony that arrives in Ponyville and I am the best party planner and party thrower in all of Ponyville and what kind of candy do you want?" she finally stopped bouncing around him and just stood in front of him, staring at him now.

He stared back at her for a moment, a little confused and bewildered by her behavior. He briefly wondered whether she had been snorting cocaine in the back room before coming out to greet him. Then he caught himself, and spoke. "Uh ... Yeah. Hi. It's nice to meet you too. Actually, I'm a little pressed for time so I may have to take a raincheck on the candy. But—" she cut him off before he could finish, rushing over to the window and looking outside.

"Raincheck? I just checked and it's not raining but you should have already known that because you just came in from outside you silly filly!" she said while bounding back to him and stopping in front of him, staring at him again.

"That's uh ... not really what I meant by raincheck. But anyway, I don't have time for candy right now. I actually came by because Twilight told me I could probably get some balloons from you."

"Of course I have balloons! Do you want the regular round ones or the long ones you can make balloon animals out of? Red ones? Green ones? Blue ones? Yellow ones? Do you want ones that have designs on them? Do you need any helium? Do you want—"

"Whoa, slow down there," he cut her off as the hyper pink pony bombarded him with questions. "Just a couple of normal round ones are fine. It doesn't really matter what color they are. I guess, maybe a red one and a green one would be good."

"Okie-dokie-loki! I'll be right back!" She disappeared into the back room again. It wasn't long before she came back with a small bag in her mouth that had eight balloons in it. He reached out and took it from her as she held it close to him. "I brought you four of each color, in case you break some of them," she smiled.

"Thank you, Pinkie," he smiled and reached into his pocket to get some money to pay her with, forgetting that the only money he had on him was a few a few U.S. dollars in his wallet. "Uh ... I can't pay you for these right now," he said apologetically.

"Oh you silly filly!" she laughed "I have thousands of balloons! You don't have to pay me for just eight of them!" she smiled.

He smiled and thanked her again. "As much as I would love to try some of your delicious looking confections, I'm afraid I have some other places I have to go, and some work I have to get done. But I will definitely be back soon to try out some of what you got here. It all looks very delicious."

"Okie-dokie-loki!" she said again. "See you soon!"

James smiled and then turned to leave, stopping and turning back to her again. "Do you know how to get to Ponyville Urgent Care?"

"Why are you sick? Cause if you need to see the nurses I can take you over there or you could go visit Fluttershy if you prefer natural healing or you want some herbal teas or something she also makes good soup that will help you feel better if you have a cold of the flu or something and she ..."

He had to cut her off again. "No, I'm not sick. I actually need to pick up something from her, for a presentation I am giving at the school tomorrow."

"Oh. Okay!" she smiled and gave him directions, after which he thanked her again and left.

He looked around for some of the landmarks she had mentioned to him as he walked, finally spotting the urgent care center by virtue of the red cross on the sign in front of the building. He walked into the building—a white pony with a nurse's red cross cap coming out from behind a curtain a few seconds later.

"Can I help ... Oh! You must be the ... visitor from another dimension I have heard about? James was it?"

"Yes, you got the name right. As far as whether it's another dimension, or another universe, or something else entirely, well I'll probably never know. You must be Nurse Redheart? It's nice to meet you," he smiled.

"That's right. And likewise," she smiled back. "So what can I do for you? You aren't sick are you?" she raised an eyebrow.

"No. Actually, Twilight told me you might have some liquid nitrogen. And I was wondering if it would be possible for me to get some."

She blinked and thought for a moment before responding. "I have some, yes. But that stuff is rather dangerous if not handled properly. I'm not going to just give it out to anypony who comes in here asking for it. What do you want it for?"

"Well, I'm a scientist who has worked with it before. You don't have to worry about me not knowing how to handle it safely. As far as what I want it for, Cheerilee ... I think that's what Twilight said her name was? Wants me to give a guest talk about science to her class tomorrow. I want to do some fun demonstrations rather than just lecture them."

"Hmm. I suppose I can give you some. But the only containers I have right now for it will only keep it in liquid state for four hours or so before it all boils away. So I'm afraid you will have to come back tomorrow before the talk and get it then."

"Thank you... Uh, how many ... bits is it? Will it cost?"

Nurse Redheart shook her head slightly. "Since it's for science and education, and it's helping out the school. Consider it a donation. I won't charge you anything for it."

"Thank you, Nurse Redheart," James nodded respectfully and turned to leave. "I will stop back tomorrow and pick it up then."

"Oh, James wait," she put a forehoof on his arm to stop him. "As long as you are here, you really should let me give you a check up and get some information about you. So if you ever do get sick, I have some baseline data to go on about what is normal. After all, we have no medical data on your species at all. So I wouldn't know what your normal vital signs should be and such."

James thought about that for a moment. The idea of letting a nurse who was a pony give him a physical felt extremely strange to him, but she did have a valid point. It would be hard for her to treat him in the future if he ever did need it and she didn't have any baseline data to go on regarding what was normal for the human species. "Alright, I suppose I have some time for a quick checkup."

"Oh good," she smiled. "Please come to the back then," she lead him behind a curtain to a large room with several cots in it.

To him, it looked more like an army field hospital set up in a tent then it did any kind of actual medical clinic he was used to in Chicago. It was fairly primitive by the standards he was used to. But then again, it was just an urgent care center—probably not equipped to handle serious medical problems or treat complex conditions. He supposed ponies who needed that had to travel to Canterlot, or one of the other larger cities such as Manehatten. Fortunately, other than himself, there were no other patients in the room right now—which would have made him feel even more awkward about the situation.

"Please, have a seat on that cot over there," she pointed to one. He sat down on it. She then proceeded to go through the standard check up procedures, getting his pulse rate, blood pressure, and finally his temperature. "Interesting. Your normal body temperature runs almost exactly the same as ours does," she said as she wrote down the information on his chart.

James just watched her, using the opportunity as a learning experience of his own. The scientist part of him paid attention with interest to how medicine seemed to have independently evolved here much they same way it had on Earth. She checked the same vital signs that any nurse of Western medicine on Earth would have checked. He was just about to comment on it when she started getting a needle and some vials ready.

"Uh, what are you going to do with that?"

"Just draw some blood. Why? You aren't afraid of needles are you?"

"No, of course not," he responded. He wasn't afraid of needles. That wasn't it at all. It was more that he was slightly nervous about letting somepony from an entirely foreign country stick an IV needle in him when he knew nothing at all about the quality of medical sanitation procedures in Equestria. "But you aren't a vampire or something are you?" he grinned.

"Of course not!" she giggled a bit. "But I have no idea what baseline normal would be for any of your blood parameters. So I want to run a complete blood workup on you so I have a record for future reference."

He thought about it for a moment. Her reasoning made sense. And further, he reasoned that as long as she was taking something out of him and not injecting something into him, the risk of contracting an infection from the procedure was relatively low.

"Alright ... I guess then ..." he said as he rolled up his sleeve and gave his arm to her.

"Do you know where they would normally draw blood on your kind?" she looked at him.

"Normally from one of the veins here," he pointed to the part on the inside of his elbow where blood is normally drawn from human beings.

She nodded and started to feel around for a vein in the area James had indicated. Given she had obviously never drawn blood from a human before, James prepared himself for the worst, expecting she would have to stick him with the needle multiple times before actually hitting the vein. But he was pleasantly surprised when she hit the vein perfectly on the first stick and blood started to flow into the vial.

"Well, maybe after you get the blood sample, you can tell me how many nutritional deficiencies I've developed since getting here and eating your strange diet," he gave a brief nervous laugh.

"Strange diet? What do you mean by that?" she said as she removed one vial of blood which was now full, and replaced it with another vial, starting to fill the second one.

"Well, most of my kind tend to be omnivores. We eat vegetables as well as meat. I've never seen meat on any of the menus anywhere here. Not even at Canterlot Castle. And Twilight doesn't have any in her house. I've just kind of assumed since I have never seen it, that it is probably a taboo here for sentient animals to eat meat. I thought it was probably best not to bring it up with Twilight."

Nurse Redheart nodded understandingly, and didn't seem surprised, shocked, or disgusted by the revelation. "It's not natural for ponykind to eat meat. And it is a cultural taboo for sentient beings to eat meat if they don't have to in order to survive. It might even be illegal. But it's such an accepted and followed part of culture that even if there is a law against eating meat, I've never actually heard of it having to be enforced. However, we do feed meat of non-sentient creatures to our pets sometimes. Some types of pets pretty much need it to survive. Does your kind need meat to survive, James?" she asked as she pulled the second vial off and replaced it with a third one that started filling up with blood."

"Well, technically we don't have to. Some humans do perfectly well as vegetarians or even vegans. They won't even eat dairy products. Although ... well... I'll admit I wasn't one of them that was a vegetarian. Not until I got here anyway and found that meat is pretty much unavailable. I haven't eaten any since I got here."

"Well, don't worry, James. Your secret is safe with me. Doctor-patient confidentiality," she smiled.

He smiled back at her, "Thanks, Nurse Redheart," he said as he looked down at the third vial of blood filling from his arm. "You know, I'm pretty sure I need to keep some of that stuff in me," he chuckled a bit.

She laughed briefly. "Don't worry. I've only got one more. I'm taking four vials to make sure I have enough to get all the data, as well as ship some samples off the Canterlot Royal Hospital to run the tests I don't have the capability to run here," she said as she removed the third vial and replaced it with the forth one. Once the fourth vial had finished filling, she removed the needle and quickly put a cotton ball over the spot, placing tape on it to hold it in place. "Leave that on for at least the next thirty minutes, just to make sure you don't bleed on that beautiful shirt. Otherwise Rarity will be mad at both of us," she laughed.

"Ok. I will," he pulled his shirt sleeve back down. "We are done then? I can go now?"

"Yes, we are done. You can go now. Thank you letting me get all of this from you, James," she smiled.

"I'm pretty sure I should be the one thanking you actually. Free medical check up and all that. I'd love to stay and chat longer, but I've got a science lesson to plan for tomorrow," he said as he stood up and headed for the curtain.

"Oh of course, I won't keep you any longer," she said as she walked him to the door. The two of them exchanged partings as James got his bearings again and started walking back towards the library.

"Oh, you are back!" Twilight smiled at him as he entered the library. "I was starting to think you got lost or something. What took you so long?"

"Well, when I stopped to talk to Nurse Redheart, she couldn't resist the urge to stick a needle in me," he chuckled. "And give me a physical exam. She wanted to have the information on hand so she would know what normal was when I am healthy, in case I was ever not healthy later and she had to treat me."

Twilight blinked, "I'm surprised you went along with it."

"Well, she had a good point, about not having any baseline data for my species that she could reference for what is normal."

"True, that makes sense. I suppose I should leave you alone since you probably have a lot of work to do getting ready for tomorrow."

"Thanks, Twilight," he smiled and started to work on his talk for tomorrow, spending most of the rest of the day on it before finally retiring to bed.

o.O.o

"James?" he heard Twilight calling to him fairly loudly from another room, waking him up from his sleep. He looked out the window and saw it was still completely dark out. He groaned and rolled over, trying to go back to sleep.

"James?" she called out again from the main room. "Rainbow Dash is here and wants to see you!"

He groaned again and finally fumbled for the switch to turn on the light, looking at the clock on the wall and noticing it read 5:00 in the morning. "Honestly? At this hour in the morning? What does she want?" he turned the light back off and rolled over in bed again.

Twilight called out again a few seconds later. "Something about whipping you into shape."

James was fully awake now after hearing that. "Oh gods! I thought she was joking about that!" he called out loudly in an exasperated tone of voice before grabbing the pillow and pulling it over his head, still laying in the bed.

A few second later, Twilight called out again. "James, she says she's not leaving until you come out here."

"Tell her to at least wait and come back at a reasonable hour. Like, you know, when the sun has at least started to rise," he called back to Twilight, pulling the pillow tighter over his head.

Rainbow Dash, however, had enough, barging into the library and shoving past Twilight, causing the unicorn to stumble a bit and blink. She watched as Rainbow Dash looked around, spotting the room James was in and trotting towards it.

"Oh you want to do this the hard way? We'll do this the hard way!" she yelled out as she reared up on her hind legs, placing her forelegs on the bed and shoving James with her forehooves, forcing him to fall out of bed and onto the floor.

"Damn it!" James cursed as he hit the floor, scrambling around to get himself untangled from the sheets which had fallen to the floor with him. He looked over at Twilight, only to see her looking back at him apologetically. Then he felt himself being dragged across the floor, looking down at his feet to see that Rainbow Dash had the bed sheet he was tangled up in her mouth, and was dragging him out of the bedroom.

"Alright! Alright! I give up! I'm coming! At least let me get dressed first would you?" he struggled again to get untangled from the sheets and get back to his feet.

Rainbow Dash finally let go of the corner of the sheet. "Hurry up though would you? We are meeting up with AJ and we are gonna be late cause it took you so long to get out of bed!" she scolded him.

James shook his head in response and quickly got himself untangled, standing up and going over to the closet, grabbing one of his shirts and throwing it on quickly. "Do you two have to watch me get dressed? Really?" he said in frustration, facing away from them as he noticed they were still in the room.

"Oh ... Right ... Sorry," Twilight said, embarrassed as she and Rainbow Dash left the room, closing the door.

"These ponies are gonna drive me to ... I don't know what they are going to drive me to," he grumbled to himself as he finally changed his pants now that he had some privacy. Once he was dressed he finally left the room, to find Rainbow Dash tapping her hoof on the floor as if she were annoyed that he was taking so much time. Twilight, on the other hand, was just giving him a glance of pity.

"Come on, would you?" Rainbow Dash said and glared at him.

He glared back at her a bit, but didn't say anything in response, instead just heading out the door and casting a glance back at Twilight.

"Uh, I guess I will see you when you get back, James? Don't forget your thing at the school is in three hours. Make sure you get back here in time to get yourself cleaned up after ... whatever calisthenic tortures Rainbow Dash is going to put you through."

James looked at Rainbow Dash, "You hear that? Make sure you get me back here in time to get cleaned up and ready for the thing I have to do at the school," he echoed as the two of them walked out the door.

"Yeah, yeah," she said boredly. "You're with me. What could possibly go wrong?"

James shook his head again. "That's what I'm worried about," he mumbled to himself as Rainbow led him to the edge of town. For now they were just walking. Eventually, he could see an orange pony standing under a street lamp in the distance. She was wearing a cowboy had and obviously looked like she was waiting for someone. She spotted them about the same time and started trotting towards them.

"You must be Applejack?" James nodded to her and smiled.

"Yep, that would be me, sugarcube. Nice to meet ya, James. Sorry our last meeting was a little uh ... well tense?" she said in a charming southern voice.

"It's nice to meet you too. And don't worry about that. There was fear on both sides ... So dare I ask what you two have planned?" he looked back and forth between the two of them.

"Oh I figured we'd start with a 5k run and see how it goes from there," Rainbow Dash responded, causing James's jaw to drop a bit.

"Ah brought some fresh apple cider for ya'all. Reckon we're gonna need it by the time we get done."

"5k?" was all James could manage to say in response.

"Don't worry sugarcube," Applejack responded with her southern charm. "We ain't running a marathon here. We will pace ourselves."

"Uh huh..." James still looked nervous. He had never successfully been able to complete a 5k run. After all, he was a nerd. Not an athlete. He couldn't remember the last time he had even tried to run 5k. It had been years. He knew that much. Probably the last time had even tried was during his high school days.

"Well, lets get started then," Rainbow Dash started trotting slowly, along with Applejack, James in between them and flanked on either side. After a short warm up, they had both picked up speed to a canter—James having to move at a fast jogging pace to keep up with them now.

It wasn't much longer before a small amount of light started to show in the sky as the sun began to rise. By the time the first rays were shining over the horizon, James already felt like his legs had turned to rubber and were going to give out any moment now. He started to slow down a little bit only to have Rainbow Dash yell at him as if she were some kind of drill sergeant.

"Come on! Pick up the pace, James! We're half way done!"

Somehow, that helped him find the motivation to speed up just a little more so he was keeping pace with the two ponies again. About five minutes later however, he was starting to slow down again, breathing heavily. He could barely even feel his legs anymore.

"Come on! You can keep going! We're half way there!" Rainbow Dash yelled out to him again.

"You ... said that ... five ... minutes ago ..." James managed to get out between pants. Although once again, he somehow found the energy reserves to pick up the pace again and keep up with them.

"So I was a little off last time! Just keep going!" she yelled out to him.

Still he managed to keep up with them, although he felt like his legs were going to give out any second now. But he kept pushing himself. After a while, he noticed that the sun was fully up now. He had last track of time and was unsure of how long they had been jogging. Finally, he started slowing down again, sure he was completely out of energy now and simply couldn't go any further.

"Come on James! Don't quit now! It's only one hundred more meters!" Rainbow Dash yelled at him again. "You've got one hundred more meters in you! I know you do! Now pick it back up!"

One hundred more meters? Is that really all? The fact that they were almost there, combined with Rainbow Dash's motivational shouting helped him find yet another reserve of energy he didn't know he had. He managed to keep up pace with the two ponies again, just when he thought that last energy reserve was gone, Rainbow Dash called out again.

"And, we are done! You can slow it down to a walk now," she said as both she and Applejack slowed down.

James, of course, slowed down as well. He felt like he had never been more relieved to hear someone tell him he could slow down than he was right now. But although he felt like he was about to collapse from exhaustion, he also felt a great sense of accomplishment. Dash really had helped him accomplish something he was sure he would not be able to do, and never had been able to do before. The fact that he had just pulled off a 5k run ... Before he started, he had doubted he would even be able to make it 2k, yet he had been able to pull off 5k. Despite his exhaustion, and the fact that the numbness in his legs was slowly starting to be replaced by pain now as the feeling came back them, he still started to smile.

Applejack reached in the saddle bags she had strapped to her and removed the bottles of apple cider she had brought along, holding the tops with her mouth as she gave them to James and Rainbow Dash. "Ah reckon we all could quench our thirst right about now, as well as use some electrolyte replacement."

"Thanks, Applejack," James panted as he kept walking between them. He looked at the bottle she had handed him. It contained an opaque, cloudy amber liquid. He smiled realizing that what he had been handed was REAL unfiltered, unpasteurized, and unsweetened apple cider. Not the piss colored, filtered, highly sweetened, from concentrate apple juice that they sold in super markets back home. This was the real stuff that he had not had since he was a child. The stuff you could only get by going to an independent apple orchard and getting it directly from the onsite store. He opened the bottle and took a sip, savoring the tart taste on his tongue. It was even better than he remembered as a child.

Unfortunately, it also brought back memories of his childhood—of the family he would never see again now that he was stuck here, apparently for the rest of his life. His euphoria from the run, sense of accomplishment, and wonderful apple cider, was suddenly tempered with a healthy dose of depression as the memories and sense of loss flooded his mind and his heart. After a long period of silence, he was finally brought back to the situation by Applejack speaking to him.

"James? Ya alright there, sugarcube?"

James stopped and looked at her, causing both her and Rainbow Dash to stop as well. He stood there in silence for a bit, looking at the ground now and just thinking to himself. He was hesitant to tell either one of them what was bothering him. After all, he didn't want to hurt Applejack's feelings by revealing to her that her wonderful apple cider had brought back memories for him that were painful for him to think about now that he most likely would never see the people in those memories again. And when it came to Rainbow Dash ... well, he still felt somewhat intimidated by her. He was hesitant to show anything that she might take as a sign of weakness.

"Come on, sugar. We know something is wrong. Talk to us," Applejack prompted him again.

James blinked and looked at her, finally giving in and deciding to just be honest with them—hoping Applejack wouldn't be offended, and Rainbow Dash wouldn't see it as weakness. "Well ... it's just that ... this is the best apple cider I have ever tasted ... And well ... It kind of brought back memories of my childhood. From when I used get in the car with my parents, and drive out to rural apple orchards. We'd buy freshly made cider right off the farm... Sometimes we'd even pick our own fresh apples right off the trees," he managed to force a smile, even though it was obvious he was trying, unsuccessfully to be sure, to hold back tears at the same time.

Applejack placed a reassuring hoof on his arm and looked at him compassionately. "I'm glad you like the apple cider. But I'm sorry I dun stirred up memories in ya that seem painful for ya to think about now."

James shook his head and sniffed a bit. "No, Applejack. It's not your fault at all. Don't be sorry. It really is delicious apple cider," he forced another smile. He also hazarded a glance over at Rainbow Dash. She hadn't said anything yet, but she did seem to be looking at him with compassion, rather than with any sign that she thought he was being weak for showing his emotions.

"Come on, sugar. Sit down," Applejack motioned to the side of the road, which was still deserted this early in the morning.

James nodded and went over where she had motioned, sitting down on the grass. The two ponies sat down on either side of him. They could both see the depression still obvious in his face.

"Look sugar," Applejack spoke again, placing a comforting hoof on his shoulder, "I can't tell ya ah know how ya feel. Cause well ... ah reckon ah rightly don't. But ah do know what it feels like to miss your family and friends and be stuck in a foreign city and culture ... At least for a little while. And we ain't gonna let ya go through this alone. We'all are here for ya."

He felt another hoof on his other shoulder as Rainbow Dash did the same thing. "That's right, James. And hey, I'm the Element of Loyalty. I'd never leave you hanging. I'm always gonna be there for you when you need me."

"That's right sugarcube," Applejack spoke again. "And if'in there's ever anything you'd feel more comfortable talkin to another stallion ... uh ... guy about ... than talkin to one of us girls about? You can always talk to ma brother, Big Macintosh. He'd be more than willing to listen and help ya."

James looked first at Applejack, then at Rainbow Dash, before wiping away a few tears and forcing another smile. "Thank you. Both of you. It's ... overwhelming how supportive, understanding, and friendly everypony I have met has been ... Even if I did get off to a rough start with Rainbow Dash," he taunted and grinned at her.

"Oh you don't know the meaning of rough yet pal!" she shot back. "Group hug!"

James quickly found himself sandwiched tightly between both ponies as they wrapped their forelegs around him and squeezed tightly. He made an "akk!" sound and squirmed as best he could to wiggle free—quickly finding he had no chance at all of escaping from what were certainly two of the strongest ponies in Ponyville. "Too ... tight! Can't ... breath!" he managed to get out.

They giggled and loosened their grips enough so that he could breath easier, all three of them giggling a little bit now and hugging for a little while longer before they finally let go of him. The sun was now well above the horizon, although James had no idea exactly what time it was. He didn't wear a watch, and his only portable time piece had been on his iPhone, which Twilight had taken apart.

"You two have both been amazing," he said as he got back to his feet. "I'd love to stay and talk more right now, but I promised Cheerilee I'd talk to her class today. And I probably should head back so I can get cleaned up before then."

"It was nice meeting ya, sugarcube. I'll see you again in two days," Applejack smiled.

"That's right," chimed in Rainbow Dash. "I'll let you have tomorrow off, but I'm gonna come get you at the same time the day after that. Make sure you are up and ready this time, or you're gonna be doing one-hoofed pushups with me standing on your back!"

James started to walk back towards the library. "Yes, Ma'am!" he called back to her in a slightly sarcastic tone that made it obvious he was ribbing at her, but that it was all in good fun.

As he walked back to the library, his legs started to become even more sore. "I'm really going to regret this tomorrow," he said to himself as the library became visible ahead. He opened the door and entered, Twilight looking up from a book she had been studying.

"Welcome back, James. Good to see you survived," she chuckled.

"I survived, yes. Although tomorrow morning I have a feeling I'm going to wish I had not," he chuckled. "I think I can feel my legs getting more sore by the minute. And I haven't even sat down for a long period of time to give them time to stiffen up yet."

"You might want to talk to Fluttershy about that. She makes some kind of oil out of plants she finds in the woods. Helps with muscle soreness and swelling."

"Fluttershy ... The one I scared when I first got here ... Yeah, I have a feeling that meeting is going to be a little ... awkward," he sighed.

"Don't be nervous about it, James. I've already talked to her. She knows it was a misunderstanding and that you had no intention of hurting her. And that the thing you pointed at her ... that iPhone I think you called it? Didn't have any capability to hurt her anyway. Only make stupid noises."

"Right ... The stupid noises from the phone," James laughed slightly, with an uncomfortable undertone to it at the reminder of how stupid he had been with the phone.

"You better start getting ready. Your talk is in two hours," she said, pointing at the clock with a hoof.

"Oh damn! I didn't realize that much time had past already! And I still have to stop back at urgent care and pick up the liquid nitrogen!" he responded as he rushed to the bathroom to get himself cleaned up and change out of the sweaty clothes he had been working out in. Not long after, he came running back out, grabbing the saddle bag that Twilight had been letting him use. "Gotta run! I'll see you in ... a few hours I guess."

"James! Don't forget the map I made for you on how to get to the school!" Twilight called out.

He rushed back from being half way out the door, grabbing the map. "Thanks, Twilight. Oh I'm late! Gotta go!" he said as he rushed towards the door again, scrambling out of it like he was a man late for an important business meeting or something.

Once he had left, he quickly hurried over to the urgent care center, entering and spotting Nurse Redheart. "Sorry, I'm late," he panted a bit from running.

"Oh, there you are James. I already got it ready for you. Hold on and I will go get it for you," she said as she disappeared into the back, reappearing not long after with a sealed insulated metal container. "Of course you know to be careful when you open this. It's under pressure. And there's enough of it there I hope?" she said as he took it from her.

"Yes, it's perfect. Small enough for me to carry, in this backpack ... Or saddle bag ... But enough to do what I need. Thanks again Nurse Redheart."

"You are welcome. And James, your iron levels are low according to your blood workup. I'm sure that's being caused by your recent drastic dietary change, and the fact you aren't eating meat anymore. Make sure you eat plenty of foods high in iron such as broccoli, beans, and lentils. Come back and see me again in a week so I can retest your iron levels."

James blinked. "A week? Ok. Right. And plenty of iron rich foods. Broccoli, beans, lentils ... Got it. Thanks again Nurse Redheart," he smiled as he left in a rush again, heading towards the school. "Great ... So now I have a pony teacher, a pony personal fitness trainer, and doctor's orders from a pony ... What's next?" he said to himself as he continued towards the school, glancing over at the clock tower which was visible from here. "Oh good. I'm not late," he said to himself as he rushed into the building.

He stopped and winced once he had completed his rude entrance. He had expected to enter a hallway, or find a reception desk. Instead, he had wandered into a one room schoolhouse that would have been at home in Little House on the Prairie. And it appeared he had barged in on a class that was in progress, given the look he was getting from the maroon colored pony at the front of the room, who was obviously the teacher.

"Uh ... Sorry ... Miss Cheerilee," he said sheepishly. "I didn't mean to interrupt."

"It's alright, James," she smiled. "We were just finishing up our first lesson, and then we will be ready for you. Please, sit down. Maybe you will learn something."

He nodded, finding a chair in the back and sitting down. Of course, most of the colts and fillies in the room had turned to look at him when he made his rude entrance. Some just stared at him. Others whispered excitedly among themselves. Still others, seemed to fidget around a bit nervously.

"Now pay attention class," Cheerilee called out. "You will get to see whatever it is he has planned for you soon enough. Now where were we. Oh yes ..."

James watched and listened as she continued the lesson she had been giving. She was talking about something called a cutie mark. She turned a page on a display stand and pointed to a much younger picture of herself on a dance floor. James had to cover his mouth to prevent himself from laughing. Her mane and tail were styled very similar to the glam rock style that was prevalent in the 1980s where he was from. Once he got over the picture, he listened more closely to what she was saying. As she talked about cutie marks being earned and appearing when a pony finds their special talent, he felt a little foolish for his assumption until now that they were simply tattoos that were part of Equestrian culture. Of course, what she was saying also raised many additional questions in his head. He made a note to talk about them with Twilight later since it didn't seem appropriate to ask a lot of questions now.

A couple of minutes later she finished with her lesson and introduced James to the class. He walked up to the front with his saddle bag, which was quite heavy and near bursting giving all the stuff he had in it. All of the students politely clapped, for their guest speaker and he smiled and nodded politely before speaking.

"Thank you. And thank you for that introduction, Miss Cheerilee. I'm glad I get the chance to talk to you all today. I guess I should start with introductions. My name is James Peterson. Uh ... obviously, I'm not from around here," that got a few giggles from some of the class. "Before I got here I worked as a physicist as Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. I also often taught classes at Northwestern University ... So I'm used to teaching college level science, But I've been told you are all really smart. So we will see how this goes."

He paused for a moment to look at the blackboard behind him, which still had writing on it. "Miss Cheerilee, is it ok if I erase this?"

She nodded at him. "Yes, we don't need it anymore."

He nodded and erased the blackboard while addressing the class again. "I've been told, that you have just started studying science, a few days ago, and that you plan to focus on chemistry this semester. So I figured that's what we'd talk about."

That got a collective groan from the class, and an admonishment to said class from Cheerilee reminding them to behave, and that they had a guest.

James chuckled a bit at the groaning as he grabbed a piece of chalk and started writing on the chalkboard. "Now, can anypony tell me what the first element on the periodic table is?"

"Hydrogen?" a filly voice called out.

"That's right. Hydrogen. Very good. It has an atomic mass of one, and it has one electron. Can anypony tell me what the second element on the table is?"

"Helium?" called out the voice of a colt.

"Very good. It has an atomic weight of two and it has two electrons. The other two elements we are going to look at today are nitrogen, and oxygen. I don't expect any of you to know these two yet. Nitrogen has an atomic mass of fourteen, and seven electrons, and oxygen has an atomic mass of sixteen and eight electrons," he said as he wrote all of this down on the board. "We are also going to talk about water, which as you may know, is a compound element made up of two hydrogen atoms for every one oxygen atom," he wrote that down on the board as well before turning around to face the class again.

"Now that brings up the first chemistry question we are going to talk about today. What if we want to separate water into its two components: hydrogen and oxygen. How could we do it?"

The class looked kind of bored with his talking and writing on the board. No one volunteered an answer so after a few seconds he continued.

"One way we can do it is through a process called electrolysis, where we pass an electric current through the water. This is an example of a chemical reaction. Of course, I know you are bored listening to me talk about this. I think you will find it more interesting, and I probably will as well, if I show it to you instead."

The interest of the class perked up as he started to pull out batteries, wires, various flasks and a bottle of water from the saddle bag. He filled one of the flasks and then added the electrode setup, which was itself connected to some corked tubing to seal the flask. "Of course, I have to say it ... Kids? Don't try this at home. I am a professional," he grinned, although it didn't seem like any of them got the joke or the reference. No, of course they wouldn't? Why would they? He let it go as he connected the wires to the battery and attached one of the balloons to the top.

"Now as you can see, not much of anything interesting is happening right now. That's because water, by itself, doesn't conduct small amounts of electricity very well. So we are gonna add some salt, which is an electrolyte, to the water to make it conduct better."

After adding the salt to the water and replacing the cork, the water started to bubble, and the balloon slowly started to fill. "Now we have a reaction going. The bubbles you see in the water are hydrogen that has been separated from oxygen. And since hydrogen is a gas at room temperature, it bubbles to the top, and slowly starts to fill the balloon. This is going to take awhile, so lets move onto the other thing we wanted to talk about. Nitrogen."

He took a bowl out of the bag and put it on the table in front of him then removed the cap from the container of hydrogen and poured it into the bowl. As the liquid nitrogen boiled and released steam, the class definitely got more interested in what he was doing.

"This is liquid nitrogen. Nitrogen boils at -196 degrees Celsius. I'm not quite sure how that translates into temperature units that you use here in Equestria. But in the Celsius scale, it's almost 200 degrees colder than water freezes at. So that's why this liquid is boiling even at room temperature. Because it is nearly 200 degrees below 0. Now I can pour some of this on the floor," which he stopped and did, "and you will notice the floor is not wet at all. That's because the liquid evaporated before it even hit the floor."

The reaction from the class over that definitely indicated they were getting more interested now. Then he took a rubber ball and some tongs out of the bag.

"This is a normal rubber ball. Of course, normally, we throw this on the ground, and it bounces back," he said as he demonstrated that was, in fact, what it did. "However, as rubber becomes cold, it becomes rigid, and loses the flexibility that allows it to bounce. What happens if it becomes really cold? Lets find out," he said as he dropped the ball into the liquid nitrogen. He waited for a little bit and then took the ball out using the tongs. He dropped it on the floor, causing it to shatter into hundreds of pieces instead of bounce back up like it had before. "Well, so much for our bouncing ball."

This time the class actually clapped. All of the fillies and colts were intently watching him now.

"Ok, that was interesting, but I think we can come up with some things that are even more interesting," he said as he filled another bowl with water. Then he started to pour some of the liquid nitrogen into the water, creating massive amounts of steam that spilled over the edge of the table and rolled down onto the floor, creeping along it. Before long, the entire floor was covered in these rolling clouds of steam such that it couldn't even be seen anymore, as if the desks were all sitting on-top of a cloud. "And I assure, you, this is steam, not smoke. And it is harmless."

By now he had the class pretty excited about the demonstrations he was doing, they clapped again as he went back over to his other demonstration.

"And it looks like our red balloon here is full," he said as he took it off the pipe and tied it shut, attaching a string to it and tying the other end of the string to the table so that it could float. "This balloon is now full of hydrogen, which is lighter than the normal air around you. So much like the helium balloons you see at parties, this balloon rises into the air. However, hydrogen does have one ... small problem. Can anypony tell me what it is?"

"... It's flammable ... isn't it?" said a filly, with some uncertainty in her voice.

"Very good," he smiled. "Yes, it is," he said as he taped a candle to the end of a long measuring stick. He then reached under the counter and pulled out a fire extinguisher, placing it near him. "Just in case," he said as he proceeded to light the candle. Of course, by now most of the class had already figured out what was going to happen. Even Cheerilee had a slightly nervous look on her face.

He stepped backed a bit and held the measuring stick with the lit candle out to the balloon, gradually moving it closer... Suddenly there was a loud BOOM as the balloon exploded into a brief ball of flame, causing nearly everyone in the schoolhouse, including Cheerilee to jump a little bit, even though they had been expecting it. Of course, within a second or so, there was clapping, and gasps of "wow" among the class. Fire, explosions, and loud noises always went over well with kids, and apparently young ponies too.

"And that ... is why Pinkie Pie fills her party balloons with helium, and not hydrogen. And this concludes my science lesson for the day."

The class responded with more clapping, with Cheerilee clapping as well, James smiling and thanking them as he started to clean up everything he had on the counter.

"I'll stop by tomorrow with lesson plans so that Miss Cheerilee can go into more depth about the how and why of everything I demonstrated today."

Cheerilee approached James again and thanked him for coming, then turned to her class. "Alright class, lets all thank Dr. Peterson for his interesting and exciting demonstrations. Then we can take a short ten minute break."

James finished packing everything back into the saddle bag he had brought, disposing of the remaining liquid nitrogen. The students in the class thanked him and then started filing out for their break.

"Thank you for coming James," Cheerilee smiled. "It seems you got them really excited about some of the things they are going to learn."

"You are welcome. I had fun with it. I hope the exploding balloon wasn't too much. But back where I'm from, that's everyone's favorite."

"No, it wasn't. It seemed like you were safe about it. And they definitely loved it. I think I will definitely have to have you back again."

"I'd like that."

"The school sends payment once a month, so I'll make sure you get your guest speaker's payment then," she smiled.

"Payment? Oh no you won't. There is no way I'm letting you pay me for this."

"But James, it's standard school policy to—" he cut her off before she could finish.

"I'm not budging on this, Miss Cheerilee. Nopony here has charged me for anything they've given me yet. Rarity made these clothes for me and didn't charge me. Twilight is letting me stay at the library for free. You aren't paying me for this. Not now and not ever. Donating my time to help your students get excited about learning is the least I can do to thank Ponyville for the hospitality they have collectively shown me. It really is."

"Alright. If you insist," she smiled. "Thank you. Oh and James ... You can just call me Cheerilee when the students aren't around. I know you are trying to set a good example for them by calling me Miss Cheerilee. But really, when they aren't around, it's not necessary. Just Cheerilee is fine."

He nodded as they both exchanged goodbyes and he left the schoolhouse and started heading back to the library.

"Hey! Wait up!" he heard a filly voice call out behind him. He stopped and turned around to see three young fillies running at him—a small yellow earth pony, white unicorn, and orange pegasus.

"That was 20% cooler than anything else I've seen all year!" the little orange pegasus said ... in a way that sounded suspiciously to James like she was really trying to emulate Rainbow Dash. "Especially the exploding balloon!"

"Thank you. I'm glad you all enjoyed it ... And you three are?"

"I'm Scootaloo!"

"I'm Apple Bloom!"

"I'm Sweetie Belle! And we are ..."

"The Cutie Mark Crusaders!" they all said in unison.

"Maybe you can help us get our cutie marks?" Apple Bloom asked as all three looked at him.

"Me?" he blinked. "But I don't even really know what a cutie mark is. I only heard the very end of Miss Cheerilee's lesson. And I ..."

Apple Bloom cut him off. "Please?"

"But I ... Don't do that ... Not the sad puppy look ..." he protested as Apple Bloom started to give him that look.

In response, of course, Apple Bloom only turned up the charm even more.

"Stop that ... I don't even ..."

Apple Bloom was really pouring on the charm now, even making those tears start to form in her eyes.

"But I—" James sighed in resignation as he couldn't take the look she was giving him anymore. "Fine ... I'll try to help."

"Yay!" they all called out in unison.

"But I can't promise anything. And I need to talk to Twilight first. How does Saturday sound? Sometimes after noon?"

All three of them nodded excitedly. Then Cheerilee started calling them back to class.

"Oh, we gotta go," Scootaloo said. "But Saturday it is! Thanks!" she said as the three of them turned and trotted back to the schoolhouse.

James turned around and started heading back towards the library, stopping back at Ponyville Urgent Care to return the nitrogen bottle he had borrowed.

o.O.o

"Oh, hi, James," Twilight said as he entered the library again. She looked up from a journal she was writing in. "How did things go at the school?"

"They went well," he smiled. "Everypony seemed to really enjoy it. Cheerilee wants me to come back again later in the year and talk to them again. The exploding hydrogen balloon really got them excited about learning."

"Exploding ..." she blinked. "What else did you show them?"

"Well, I froze a rubber ball in liquid nitrogen and then dropped it on the floor so it shattered into hundreds of pieces. Uh ... I poured liquid nitrogen into water until I had the floor so covered in clouds you couldn't see your own feet ... or hooves anymore ... after all, kids where I am from get more excited about learning when you show them cool demonstrations of the principles you are talking about in action, rather than just lecture them. I assume it's the same here?"

"It is," she smiled. "I'm glad they enjoyed it. And I'm glad you enjoyed the experience as well."

James paused for a few moments before asking. "Twilight? What exactly is a cutie mark?"

"Well, it's a mark that ponies get on their flanks when they find their special talent. Like mine," she turned a bit and showed it to him. "I got mine when I discovered that my special talent was magic. Why do you ask?"

"These three young fillies from the school that called themselves ... the Cutie Mark Crusaders I think? They asked me I could help them find their cutie marks."

"Oh Celestia, You let them rope you into that?" Twilight couldn't suppress a giggle.

"I couldn't help it, Twi," he protested. "This little yellow one named Apple Bloom manipulated me with the most heart grabbing sad puppy impression I have ever seen."

"Ah right. Applejack's little sister. Don't feel too bad James. She had that effect on me too when I first arrived in Ponyville. The problem ... well, the thing those three fillies don't understand, is that you can't force the appearance of a cutie mark. No matter how many times you try. It doesn't show up until it's ready to happen."

"So ... it just appears? It's not like ... tattooed on or something once a pony discovers a talent they are good at?" James asked.

"Right, it just appears," she nodded. "But the thing is, some fillies and colts try to rush it. They will try all kinds of different things—including some things they really don't have any interest in, just because they want to get a cutie mark. It's kind of ... well, young ponies who already have their cutie marks often tease ponies who don't have one yet. We try to stop them from doing it when we catch it happening, but it still goes on anyway. It's just part of growing up as a pony I guess. But it does put pressure on young ponies who don't have a cutie mark yet to try and rush the process of getting one. But it doesn't work that way ... You see, you don't just suddenly get a cutie mark. You have to find a talent, and practice it for a while."

"What about you? You said you got yours when you discovered your special talent was magic?"

"Right, but I practiced and studied magic very hard for a very long time before my cutie mark appeared. That's one thing I'm afraid these three fillies don't realize. They think they will try a new skill once, and suddenly their cutie mark will appear if that new skill happens to be their special talent. They don't realize it requires practice and dedication. And it has to be something they really want. Do you understand what I am saying, James?"

He nodded a bit, "I think so, yes."

Twilight continued. "It's fine if you want to try and help them out, but please make sure they remember that. Otherwise they will just end up disappointed again if their cutie marks don't appear. Make sure they remember that even if they do find something they really love, that their cutie mark may not show up instantly. It sometimes takes practice, dedication, and a lot of hard work at a talent before it results in a cutie mark."

"Alright. I will," he paused for a few moments and then looked at her again. "So once a pony gets their cutie mark, is their future kind of fixed? I mean what happens if they find their special talent, but then some time later, when they are adults, decide they don't enjoy it anymore and want to do something else? I guess, where I am from, we would call it a mid-life career change."

Twilight thought for several moments before answering. "That's a good question, James. And I honestly don't know the answer. I've never heard of it happening before. I'll do some research on it and see if I can find an answer though."

"Alright, thanks, Twilight. Well, I guess I am going to go visit Fluttershy and see if I can get some of that oil you were talking about. I think I might need another map though. I know she lives somewhere on the edge of the forest, but I don't know exactly where."

"How about I just give you a town map of Ponyville," she opened a drawer in one of the bookshelves with magic and fished a map out of it, unrolling it and placing it on the table, pointing to one of the dots on the edge of the forest. "This is Fluttershy's house here, And you are currently right..." she traced a line from the house to the library. "Here. It's a bit of a hike really," she said and then rolled up the map again.

"That's alright," he took the map from her. "It will give me a chance to see some more of the area. Thanks, Twilight," he smiled.

"You're welcome. Remember, her cottage is on the edge of the forest. So try to leave before it gets dark. I still don't want you near the edge of the forest after dark."

"Don't worry. I will," he said as he headed out the door.

He walked for a while, eventually reaching the edge of town where he continued walking further. Oh, how he missed the GPS on his iPhone right about now. Just as he was starting to think that he was going the wrong way, or worse, had gotten himself lost, he finally saw the cottage off in the distance. He walked up to the door and stood in front of it for several minutes. A few times he almost knocked on it, but then stopped himself, still nervous and trying to work up the courage to face the pony who he had scared so badly earlier. Finally he sighed and decided he simply had to suck it up and get it done with. He raised his hand again to knock.

Just as his hand was about to connect with the door it suddenly opened, and he was met with the yellow pegasus—giving him the most frightening stare he had ever seen in his life. "Ahh!" he cried out, stumbling backwards, tripping over his own feet and falling on the ground, raising his hands defensively to shield his face as the pony started stalking closer to him, still giving him that stare.

"Alright you ... whoever you are! You've been standing in front of my door for several minutes now without knocking, or saying anything! What is it you are here for?" she questioned in a rather intimidating manner as she continued to stalk closer towards him.

"I'm ... I'm sorry ... It's me ... James ... the ... the human you found a while back ... I didn't mean to ... to ... I was just here to see if I could get some oil from you ... and too apologize ... well for ..." he stammered, still shielding his face and leaning further backwards away from her as she stalked closer to him, still giving him the stare. She was standing over him now, her face mere inches away from his.

Suddenly she blinked and stopped staring at him, her eyes going back to normal size and the angry expression leaving her face, voice going from angry and authoritative to soft, comforting, and somewhat shy again—like the voice he had heard her use when he first ran into her in the forest. "Oh ... It's you, James. I'm ... I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you."

James managed to finally slow down his breathing and lower his hands from their shield position. "Well, I guess that makes us even then," he chuckled uneasily, still a bit unnerved from the stare. I'm sorry I scared you when you first saw me as well. I never would have actually done anything to hurt you."

"Oh. It's ok ... Twilight told me all about it. I understand you were afraid. And that whatever it was you were holding wasn't even capable of actually hurting me ... You should come inside. I was just making some tea. It's herbal tea. Soothing and good for you," she moved to his side, offering her shoulder as a support to help him stand back up.

He accepted her help and pulled himself back up, wincing as the muscles in his legs protested about having been used way too much already, thanks to the run earlier in the morning.

"Oh ... are you hurt?" she looked at him with a look of concern in her eyes.

"No. Not hurt. Just sore. Rainbow Dash made me run further than I have ever run in my life this morning during a morning exercise routine ... How did you know I'd been standing in front of your door for that long anyway?"

"Oh ... Well, you see ... It has a peephole in it. And I noticed the light was blocked and not shining through it."

"Oh ... right," James looked at the door and noticed the peephole, which he had failed to notice the first time when he was standing in front of it.

Fluttershy started walking into her cottage and James followed her in, looking around and noticing it had a very traditional cabin look. He also noticed that it was full of small animals—mostly wild ones that would not normally be considered pets. She lead him over to a small coffee table. "Please, sit. I'll get tea for us," she said as she headed off to the kitchen.

There were no chairs by the coffee table, so James made the best of it and just sat on the floor. I guess maybe it's one of those Japanese style tea setups he thought to himself as he looked around a bit more. "You have a lot of animals here," he called out to the kitchen, trying to make small talk.

"Yes ... Well, you see, most of them are sick or injured. And I;m taking care of them and nursing them back to health. Except for my Angel bunny. He's not sick or injured. He lives with me all the time."

"So can all of these animals talk too?"

"Of course not silly," she giggled. "Animals can't talk. Well, not in a language we can understand anyway ... Are you sure you didn't hit your head when you fell or something?" she asked with concern in her voice.

"Uh ... No, I didn't hit my head. I just meant ... actually, never mind," he breathed a sigh of relief that he had caught himself before he said the first thing that came to his mind. That would have been a question regarding why ponies could talk, but other animals could not. It was clear from Fluttershy's response that they did not consider themselves 'animals'. Of course, this also raised many more questions in his mind. Why was it that most animals here were virtually identical to animals where he was from? The only exception he had run into so far were the ponies, which obviously were the dominant, sentient species here that had evolved human like reasoning abilities. They had also developed human like technology, although on a scale that was several decades behind human technology, with a couple of remarkable exceptions.

Fluttershy returned a few minutes later, holding a tray in her mouth. On top of the tray were a teapot, two teacups, and a small glass of some unidentifiable greenish brown liquid that looked very unappealing—as if could have been taken from a very dirty pond infested with algae, for that was what its color resembled. She set the tray down on the coffee table and put one of the teacups in front of him, as well as the small glass of vile looking liquid and a small glass of water he had not noticed on the tray at first.

"Drink that first. It helps reduce muscle pain and will make sure you aren't as sore in the morning," she said softly to him.

James stared at the odious liquid in front of him for a few moments. But finally decided to trust the yellow pegasus. He picked it up and quickly downed it in one large gulp, figuring it was best to get it out of the way as quickly as possible. Once he had swallowed it he nearly started gagging, thinking for a moment he was going to lose his lunch as his stomach tried to reject the offensive substance he had just ingested.

"Ugh ... That was awful," he coughed on the taste again. "What was in there?"

"Well, lots of things. You should wash it down with the water," Fluttershy responded quietly.

"Like what?" he coughed again as he quickly drank the water to wash the taste out of his mouth.

"Well, actually, it's probably better if you don't know."

James thought about protesting again, but decided she was probably right and he probably would be better off, and happier, if he didn't know what he had just consumed. Fluttershy then poured two cups of tea and placed one in front of him.

"Careful. It's still very hot," she said.

James nodded and carefully took a small sip of it. "This is delicious, Fluttershy."

"Oh, thank you," she blushed and responded shyly. "I'm glad you like it. I collect the herbs in the forest and make it myself."

"It really is very delicious," he sipped it again and smiled.

"Thank you," she said again. "So ... How have you been adjusting to life here? And how have you been handling things in general?" she asked shyly.

"Well ... there are good times, and bad times," he confessed. "Everypony has been extremely friendly and helpful. But ..." he sighed, "there are times when the memories from my homeland hit hard. And when that happens, it can be very difficult to deal with the emotions."

Fluttershy nodded and gave him an understanding and compassionate gaze. "Oh, you poor thing," she said, causing him to blush a little bit. "I know it must be hard for you. You should never give up hope though. Twilight Sparkle is a very talented magician. She might figure out a way to send you home someday."

There were a few moments of silence as James contemplated that, and both of them sipped their tea, which had cooled off to the point where it was more drinkable.

"Well, Princess Celestia said there would be no attempts to send me home. And that all her advisors agreed it wasn't possible to do so. So ... I don't even think Twilight is trying to figure out how. At least she has never said anything to me about it."

"Well, even if you can't go back home ... You have already made several good friends here ... And I'm your friend too," the yellow pegasus responded in a calming voice. "I know we can't replace your family or your old friends back home ... But you can have a good life here surrounded by good friends."

"Thank you, Fluttershy, for your kindness," he smiled.

"Well, I am the Element of Kindness," she said shyly.

James looked out the window and noticed the sun was just barely starting to set. He also couldn't help but notice that he was suddenly starting to feel unusually tired—more so than normal for this time of day. It was as if a feeling of drowsiness had come over him fairly quickly. He was also feeling strangely calm and relaxed as he finished the last of the tea.

"Fluttershy? Did you put something in that tea?" he asked with a hint of concern in his voice—concern that she might have just drugged him and that she might be some kind of crazy hermit pony living near the edge of the forest with too many pet animals. An image of Annie Wilkes from Stephen King's novel Misery briefly entered his mind, but he quickly pushed it out.

"Nothing that isn't normally in it," she responded, looking at him curiously.

"It's just that I suddenly feel strangely tired, and calmer and more relaxed than normal."

"Well, I make the tea from chamomile and valerian. They are both natural mild sedatives. And they also tend to have a calming effect."

So basically, yeah, she did drug me, he thought to himself.

She suddenly had a look of concern on her face again. "Oh, I'm sorry! I drink it every night. I thought it would help you relax and relieve some of your stress. The effect usually isn't that potent though. I should have told you. Please don't be mad at me," she looked nervous now.

For a brief moment, James was upset that she had given him something with sedative properties and not warned him about it first. But seeing the look on her face, he found he couldn't stay mad at her for more than a second. "I'm not angry with you, Fluttershy. The enhanced effect is probably just because I've had a really long day already, and the fact that Rainbow Dash got me up at five in the morning and made me do that 5k run. I should probably get going though. Twilight wants me back before dark."

"Oh yes, of course," she smiled in relief now that she was sure he wasn't mad at her. Just let me get something from my kitchen that I want you to take with you. It will only take me a moment," she said as she disappeared into her kitchen again. She returned a few moments later holding a cloth sack in her mouth. "This has the oil in it you wanted. I think you almost forgot it. Also, I put some more of that tea in here. You should drink it in the evening. It can help relieve stress. And once you get used to it, I don't think it will make you so drowsy."

"Thanks, Fluttershy," he smiled and took the bag from her. "I'll see you again soon," he said as he left through the door, Fluttershy waving to him with a forehoof as he headed back towards town.

The sun had nearly completely set by the time he got back into town. As he got closer to the library, he walked past a newspaper stand and glanced at one of the newspapers, stopping and doing a double-take. At first, he thought he saw a picture of the United States Navy Blue Angels on the cover. Of course after looking again, it turned out not to be that. It was a team of flying pegasi ponies in a tight diamond formation, along with the caption Interview with a Wonderbolt. James picked up the paper and started to read the subtitle of the article:

She has become a legend in Equestria. Spitfire, or Captain Spitfire as she is known to her team and in government circles, is well known throughout the land as the founder and leader of the world famous Wonderbolts flying demonstration team—the official symbol of Equestrian air supremacy. But the Wonderbolts almost never happened. We sat down with Spitfire for an exclusive interview. See the entire story on page 4.

"Would you like a copy of that paper?" the pony attending the news stand asked.

"Thanks, but I'm afraid I don't have any bits on me right now," James answered.

"Oh, but that is the Equestrian Royal News. It's the official royal news service. It's always free."

"Really? Sure, I'll take a copy then. Thank you," he said as he folded the paper and continued back towards the library.

"Have a good evening!" the news attendant called out.

"Thanks, you too," James called back, nearing the library and entering it.

"James, I was starting to get worried when it got dark and you weren't back yet."

"Hi Twilight. Don't worry, I left Fluttershy's just as the sun was beginning to set. Was away from the edge of the forest long before it got dark."

She just nodded at that. "Are you hungry?"

"No thanks. I think I'm just going to go to bed a little early actually. I've had a long and somewhat tiring day."

"Alright. Good night, James."

"Night, Twilight," he said as he retreated into his room and closed the door, setting the bag down, slipping out of his shoes and shirt, and flopping onto the bed. After laying for a few moments, he grabbed the newspaper he had picked up and opened it to page four, finding the interview with Spitfire. He skipped the title and subtile, having already read it on the front of the paper and found the main interview:

ERNS: Thank you for taking the time to talk with us today, Spitfire.

Spitfire: Thank you, I'm glad to be here.

ERNS: Well, lets start at the beginning I guess. Originally, you never had any intention of becoming an aerobatic flyer, is that right?

Spitfire: That's right. Originally I wanted to join the Royal Pegasus Guard, and I spent most of my fillyhood training for that. But well, as you can imagine, Royal Guards have to have a fairly substantial build and size. And when I applied, I was rejected because I didn't meet the physical build requirements.

ERNS: That must have been very hard for you.

Spitfire: It was devastating at first. Everything I had worked for since practically the day I was born was suddenly shattered in that one moment when they rejected me.

ERNS: What was the worst part for you?

Spitfire: I think ... knowing that there was nothing I could do to change it. No amount of practice or training would be able to get me into the Royal Guard. It was the first time I realized that the cliche phrase "You can be anything you want to be if you work hard" was a lie. Because no matter how hard I worked, I was never going to become a Royal Guard.

ERNS: You mentioned before the interview, that you went into a deep depression for a while after this. What brought you out of it?

Spitfire: Eventually ... I finally realized that sitting around being miserable and feeling sorry for myself wasn't going to make the situation any better. That's when I decided to start taking some real risks. I figured it was all or nothing at that point, and I had little left to lose. So I started doing aerobatics and teaching myself flying tricks. Some of them, in retrospect, were rather reckless. But again, at that time, I had a nothing to lose attitude. It turned out, I had a real talent for aerobatics. This was also right around the time I finally got my cutie mark.

ERNS: And then what happened?

Spitfire: Well, I started performing for small crowds, mostly in smaller towns—sometimes in exchange for nothing more than free room and board and maybe some food. Those were tough times. I got mentioned in a few smaller newspapers. But nothing really big at that point. I started to feel like I had hit a limit, and I couldn't go any further just doing solo performances and solo tricks. That's when I started trying to put together a team. I found two other talented fliers—Soarin and Ice Wind. We came up with the name 'Wonderbolts'. And that's pretty much where it all started. The three of us were the original Wonderbolts.

ERNS: So things just kind of, if you will pardon the pun, took off from there?

Spitfire: Pretty much, yeah. We started getting more press coverage, which got us invited to fly at larger events. It was overwhelming really. It wasn't long before we were on the cover of popular magazines. We even had paparazzi following us. We added Fire Streak, High Winds, and Lightening Streak around this time as well, creating the team of six that everyone knows as the Wonderbolts today.

ERNS: And this was right around the time that Princess Celestia herself took notice, wasn't it?

Spitfire: I think so, yes. I don't remember exactly when The Princess noticed us, but the next year, we were invited to perform at the Grand Galloping Gala.

ERNS: What was that like?

Spitfire: When we got the invitation, it was a combination of ... well, overwhelming excitement, but also overwhelming stress and pressure. Obviously, we were terrified of messing up. And we had tons of questions going through our head. What if they didn't like our performance? We were worried that everything we had worked for and achieved up to this point could be destroyed in one just one performance if we messed up at the Gala.

ERNS: Of course, those concerns turned out to be unfounded. The Princess was so impressed with your performance that she made the Wonderbolts the official flight demonstration team of Equestria.

As interesting as the article was, James was starting to fall asleep from the long day, combined with the sedative effects of the tea Fluttershy had given him. He put the newspaper aside and made a mental note to finish reading the article before turning out the light and quickly falling asleep.

o.O.o

James awoke early the next morning, trying to fall into the routine of getting up well before sunrise, knowing Rainbow Dash was going to force him into that routine whether he liked it or not. But this day, he also wanted to make sure he was up before Twilight. He quietly went out into the main room, finding that he had succeeded. Twilight wasn't around and he presumed she was still asleep upstaris—just like he had wanted.

Twilight woke up as the sun was just starting to rise, sniffing the air curiously. Whatever the smell was that came to her nose smelled delicious. She crawled out of bed and went over to her dresser, looking at her mane and giving it a quick brushing so she at least looked half way presentable before starting to climb down from her loft, sniffing the air again as she made her way into the kitchen, noticing that James had already set the table and was in the middle of preparing breakfast.

"Morning James ... You're making breakfast?" she blinked. "Do you need any help?"

"Nope! No help needed!" he said in a cheerful tone. "You just sit down and make yourself comfortable," he said as he continued working. He flipped some pancakes he was making on the stove and then quickly went to pour Twilight a cup of tea since he didn't find any coffee in her kitchen. "Breakfast is almost ready," he placed the tea in front of her and then went back to work at the stove.

"Thanks?" she said blinking at him again, before just watching him curiously as he finished up at the stove.

He continued working for a little bit longer before placing pancakes, eggs, hash-browns, and toast on one of the plates, he took it over to her and set it down in front of her, along with a fresh glass of apple cider. "Breakfast is served," he smiled.

She blinked again and gave him a confused look, before smiling. "Thank you James ... This was really nice of you ... But I have to ask ... I don't know what it's like where you're from, but here? If a stallion makes a full breakfast for a mare? It usually means he's trying to make up for something he feels guilty about," she gave a bit of a nervous laugh and looked at him again.

James looked at her with a sheepish expression before responding. "Well, first, I just did it cause I wanted to thank you for everything you have done for me since I got there. And second ... I should have taken your feelings, beliefs, and ideas more seriously. Not just flat out reject them like I was doing. I was being a jerk ... and I'm sorry," he said as he sat down at the table with her.

She blinked again, not really having expected that from him. Then she smiled. "Oh James, I appreciate it. But you don't need to apologize for—" she stopped as he cut her off.

"Yes, Twilight, I feel like I do. I was being closed minded."

"Well, alright. Apology accepted then," she smiled and continued eating the breakfast he had made. "This is really good, James. These pancakes especially."

"I'm glad you like them. They're one of the few things I know how to cook well. You know, like I said before, what with the fast food lifestyle and all of eating on the run most of the time on the way to work," he started to eat from his own plate.

There were a few moments of silence as Twilight continued to eat and appeared to be thinking about something, her tail swishing every once in awhile as she appeared to be lost in thought. "James? What do you think things would be like if our roles had been reversed? If I had somehow ended up in your world, instead of you ending up in mine?"

James frowned at the question, which caused Twilight to instantly get a look of concern in her eyes. "Oh James, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring up," she stopped as he cut her off again.

"No, it's fine really. It doesn't have anything to do with that. It's just that ... sadly, I don't think they would have gone nearly as well. I don't think you would have been nearly as welcomed or accepted in my world as I have been here."

"Why not?"

"Fear mostly. You probably would have been quarantined as soon as you were found to make sure you didn't have any parasites or viruses or anything that could infect species on our planet. And who knows how long that would last, or how many tests they would run on you. If they ever found out you could perform magic, that would just take things to a whole new level. You'd have every scientist in the world trying to study you. And the government ... well, they wouldn't know what to do with you. They would probably consider you too much of a threat to simply let you live free in our society, given your magical abilities."

"Oh..." she responded, not really sure how to respond to that. She looked down at her plate for a minute, fidgeting and swishing her tail a couple of more times before looking back up at him. "And what about you personally? What would you have done?"

"Me? I probably would have been a little frightened at first when I found you. Just as you were of me when I arrived here. But then I would have hidden you away to protect you from the treatment I fear you would have received if the government found out about you. I'd probably have to be the only one who knew about you. I don't know if I would have trusted even my closest friends back there to keep a secret that big ... probably not even Eric ... So yeah ... I think it's probably good that things worked out this way and not the other way around," he forced himself to smile, although, this conversation had gotten him thinking about home again, along with the feeling of loss that came from those thoughts.

The sun had was half way above the horizon when they both finished their breakfast and James got up and started to clear the table.

"Thank you James, that was really good," Twilight smiled.

"Oh you are quite welcome. I'm glad you enjoyed it," he said as he finished clearing the table and started to wash all the dishes he had used. Twilight started to try to help him, but he stopped her. "No, I got this. You just go relax or get started on your work, or do whatever it is you normally do at this hour in the morning."

"Well, actually, I have a full day for you, James. I got a letter from Princess Celestia, and there are some specific things she wants me to be teaching you. So we'll be starting to work on all of that. I hope you are ready for some serious learning."

"Oh you know me, Twilight. I'm always thirsty for more knowledge," he grinned. "I'll be out as soon as I get the dishes finished up here.

Twilight nodded and trotted out to the main area of the library to find the books she needed as James finished up the dishes.

After finishing up the dishes, he went back out to the main room. Twilight had already taken a few books off the shelf. They spent most of the rest of the day studying. James asked a lot of questions, but didn't start anymore arguments with her. He seemed much more willing to listen to her and take things she said seriously. Although Twilight was still unsure whether he actually believed anything she was telling him or not.

They finished up their day of studying, and were about to start dinner. Twilight looked through her cupboard where she kept the dry goods, then stomped a hoof lightly in annoyance.

"James? Can you do me a favor?"

"Of course. What do you need?"

"Can you run to Sugarcube Corner and get ... well, some sugar? Apparently, we are out of it. I'll give you some bits to pay for it."

He nodded. "Sure. I can do that." Then he watched as her horn started to glow, along with one of her saddle bags hanging over the back of a chair. A small pile of bits floated out of it and over to him. He opened his hand and she let them drop into it.

"Thanks, James," she smiled.

"Of course. Not a problem." He turned and walked for the door, going out into the night on his way to Sugarcube Corner.