//------------------------------// // New Threads // Story: Displacement // by hornethead //------------------------------// Chapter 41: New Threads In the shadows at the back of the theater, James smiled and began to clap as the rest of the audience seated in front of him erupted into cheers and stomped their hooves in praise. The finale of the Hearths Warming Eve Pageant had just wrapped up. The human had loved it, the play had really given him some insight to Equestria's past. He honestly never would have known that all the pegasus, unicorn and earth ponies had once been as separated as some of the races back in his world during darker times, some still were. Not too long ago, during some training down in Florida, Jackson had been denied entry to a bar just because of his skin color. James had nearly trashed the life out of a bouncer that had uttered a particularly despised word towards his friend. Scootaloo, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle departed the stage with the rest of their class as the audience continued to laud them for their excellent production. The curtains began to draw to a close and the audience started to file out from their seats. Taking this as his cue, James slipped out a side door and began the long walk back to his house. The night was especially chilly, his breath nearly freezing in mid air and falling to the ground in a dense mist. He had the house to himself for the next few days, having sent all his teammates home for the holiday. It would be the first time in a long time he would be living in a quiet house. As he crunched through the snow, a light shower of the fragile ice crystals commenced their gentle fall through the air to the ground. As he walked, his ears picked up the sound of multiple hoof steps coming up behind him. For a split second, his training almost took over, urging him to assess and stop a potential threat, but fortunately he was able to suppress the feeling. Glancing over his shoulder, James spotted three mares closing the gap between them. "Oh, hey guys. What's up?" James stopped to let Dash, Applejack and Fluttershy to catch up to him. "We were just wondering, um, where you were going, that is.... if that's, um... ok with you." The yellow pegasus said shyly. "Uh, yeah, I was just going home." "Alone?" Asked Applejack. "Yeah. Why?" James asked, turning around to face them. "Oh dear, aren't you lonely?" Fluttershy asked him in a concerned tone. "Nah, not really. I'm kinda used to it. Back home, we had a holiday around the same time as this one, kind of similar too, but for me it was just another day. Well, sometimes my friend, Jackson, would invite me to his place, but I always felt like I was intruding on his family." "But nopony should spend tonight alone! Oh, sorry." The pink maned mare exclaimed. James turned back around and resumed his walk, "Eh, it's fine. Like I said, it's just another day." Behind him, the three mares looked at each other. "He's lyin', I can tell." Applejack whispered. "You think so? But why would he?" Fluttershy asked her friend. "I dunno. RD, he's kinda sweet on ya, go talk ta him!" AJ gave Dash a slap on the rump to get her moving. "Ok, ok! You don't have to tell me twice!" Dash snapped back. Dash trotted forward, quickly catching up with the human. "Is everything ok?" James looked to his right, "Hmm?" "AJ said you weren't being entirely truthful, what's wrong?" "No, nothing wrong." He answered her in a calm neutral tone. "James, she tends not to be wrong about these kinds of things. Now quit it and tell me what's up." Her tone was flat and un amused. "Fine. I'm just not a really big fan of the holidays." "That's not all, c'mon, you can tell me, can't you?" James thought about it for a moment. He was never very trusting, even among his friends, but he was beginning to feel like Dash wasn't just a friend. He'd let go, just this once. A tiny bit. "Ahhhh, it's just that..." he started to rub the back of his head with his hand, "where I'm from, the holidays were all about getting together with friends and spending time with family and... I just didn't really have all that. My parents were never really around and I was kind of a loner. That changed with Jackson and my buddies in the service." "You miss them, don't you?" "Yeah... for the first time, I had friends that actually seemed to care. Jackson would sometimes invite me to come with him and visit his family during the holidays. Hell, they practically adopted me, made me part of their family. It didn't really feel right to me though, always felt like I was bothering them." "Why weren't you with your own family?" "Ugh, don't take this the wrong way, but that's something I don't really want to get into. It... it was bad..." As they started wrapping up their conversation, James' house was in view and just a stone's throw away. Eager to get out of the cold and the rapidly increasing snow fall, James quickened his pace. "Thanks for walking back with me. The day after tomorrow come meet me at our training grounds on the outskirts of town, we'll get started on teaching you the basics. Well, good night." James stepped up on the porch and unlocked the door. He began to cross the threshold, but stopped when he heard the sound of hooves on the wooden deck behind him. Turning around, he saw Dash approaching the door. "Do you mind if I stay here tonight? The snow is really picking up." She asked him. James looked past her and saw that she was indeed correct. It was really starting to come down, the wind was picking up and the snow was rapidly accumulating on the ground. "Yeah, sure. Come on in. House is empty, so make yourself comfortable where ever." "Thanks." James let her enter and closed the door to keep out the cold. Feeling very tired, he simply left the mare to her devices and retired to his room for the night. Stepping into his room, James didn't even bother closing his door all the way, opting to just strip down to his skivvies and hop in his bed after turning off the light. Tired as he felt, he did not quickly fall asleep. Instead, he just lay there, staring at the ceiling and thinking about the conversation he'd just had. When it came to his past, James was notoriously tight lipped. Jackson nearly had to shove slivers of bamboo under his finger nails just to get him to open up even a little and that was a man who he had lived and fought with for years . So why had he so easily done so with Dash, who he had only known for less than a year? James closed his eyes and attempted to relax and drift off into the realm of dreams, dreading what they might show him while he had a guest in the house. He was on the cusp of falling asleep when his hearing, heightened by the darkness, picked up the faint flap of wings outside his room. His door creaked open slowly. The muffled steps on the carpet made their way to where he was laying. The edge of the blanket on his right lifted up and a warm body slid in next to him. James just lay there, pretending to be sleeping. He was surprised when a warm leg went over his chest and a head nuzzled into his shoulder. From her breathing, James could tell she fell fast asleep fairly quickly. It had been a long time since anyone embraced him like that. He'd almost forgotten how it felt. Going with the moment, he put his arm around her. Finally feeling a strange peacefulness settle into his mind and his chest, he began to drift into that restful unconscious state called sleep. ===================================================================== "Alright, now do it again, only this time faster." James grabbed a hold of the large sand bag and held it in place as Dash landed a flurry of blows upon it, each strike jostling him again and again. He stepped out from behind the training tool when the mare finished her combination of attacks. On the other side, she stood there panting heavily from her effort, her breath billowing out in large white clouds in the cold morning air. "This is a lot more tiring than the workouts. Those were way easier." She said between breaths. James smiled, "That's because instead of using only one group of muscles at a time, you're using all of them at once in conjunction with each other. That's why you strike hard and fast, the quicker you end the fight, the better." "Got it." "You need a rest?" "No, I wanna keep going." The pegasus said determinedly, taking up the ready stance again. "Outstanding, let's get to it." James said happily while retaking his place on the other side of the heavy bag. He had her repeat the set of strikes five more times before taking a break. The rainbow maned mare went to take a seat while James fetched her some water. As he returned, he saw a white purple maned mare sitting with her, a package wrapped in brown paper and tied off with twine and a long thin box resting next to her on the bench. "Hey Rarity, what's up?" The fashonista turned her head at his voice, "James! Just who I was looking for! I've come by to deliver your uniform. I must say, you should look quite dashing in this outfit, all the mares will swoon at the sight of you!" A barely noticeable expression of jealousy and annoyance flashed across Dash's face at the comment. "What, a grizzled old man like me, all cut up and scarred? Ha, I was lucky to catch the eye of that one right there." James gestured to Dash. "Oh stop it, you're far too modest. Any bachelorette would be so lucky to land one like you, so considerate. And you cook!" "Ah ha ha ok, whatever you say Rarity." "By the way, have you decided who you're taking with you to the Gala?" "The Gala? How'd you know?" "Please darling, we got our tickets far in advance and I see no other reason for one such as yourself to be wearing something so decorative." "Oh. Ok. Well I figured I'd just go with Dash there." "Uh... I was already gonna take you with my ticket." The weather mare told him. "Ah. Alright then, I guess I'll just give away mine then." "Really!? Would you consider giving it to me? I think I know just what to do with it." Rarity batted her eye lashes at him. "Sure. I'll drop it off at your shop tomorrow." "Splendid!" James bent down and picked up the parcels, "Now if you two lovely ladies will excuse me, I have to go try this on. Dash, go ahead and take off, we'll pick this back up again the next day." "Sure thing, see ya later." Dash replied to him. James took off at a jog with both packages tucked under his arm. He made good time in getting back to his house. Bursting into the living room, James scanned the space until he spotted Sparks sitting in the corner reading a book. "Hey buddy, guess what!" The unicorn looked up from his literature, "Hmm?" He spotted the items his friend was carrying, "What're those? Hey, is that your uniform, it came in?" He put the book down and stood up. "Yup.wanna help me out?" "Yeah! Hold on...." The engineer rushed upstairs to his room and returned, levitating a large mirror down in front of him. Sparks set it up against the wall and took the packages away from James, opening the square one first. Inside were neatly folded garments. "Woah, looks like they even gave you pants!" Sparks remarked. "What, why so surprised?" "Well the top is the same, but we don't wear pants with the uniform." "Yeah, that would be a bit awkward to me..." Sparks pulled out a red wool top with a high golden yellow collar and a ton of shiny buttons going straight down the front. At the ends of the arms were cuffs the same color as the collar. Included were bits of shaped metal and a large breast plate featuring the emblem of the RSTG on it's face with two white straps running through the back of it and crossed, a darker red belt joined by a golden buckle and a nice pair of black wool slacks with a crimson red stripe running down the outsides of both legs. The unicorn assisted James in putting on the uncomfortable uniform and arranging all the pins and buttons, finishing with the breast plate. As James looked himself over he had to admit, he looked pretty sharp. Walking over to the table, he picked up the rectangular box and began to open it. "What's this thing?" Sparks walked over, "That should be your ceremonial sword." "Ceremonial sword?" "Yeah, you're an officer. At formal events like the Gala you'll be expected to go under arms." James removed an ornate thin straight blade with an intricately wrought cross guard. Upon closer inspection, he could see that the sword wasn't actually sharp, but in fact too dull to even cut a tissue. With it came a stylized sheath and holster to be attached to the belt. "Unless I need to bludgeon someone to death, this thing is completely useless." James complained. "Well of course it is, it's just a decoration." "No, hell no, homie don't play that." "Who's homie?" "Not important. What is important is that I'm already wearing a stiff uniform that limits my movement, I'm not tacking on another pointless accessory." James said while ascending the stairs to his room. "What're you doing?" "Getting my sword!" "Your sword? You mean that piece of crap you brought back with you?" James came back down with the cutlass he had earned during his time on the sea. Now, instead of the rusty old piece of metal it used to be, it was a shiny well oiled instrument, highly sharpened and free of corrosion. "Doesn't look so bad now, huh?" "Wow, you really cleaned that up good!" "Yup. Been spending time on it every day since I got back. Something to keep my hands occupied." "So, you're gonna wear that instead?" "That's right." "Heh, I don't think the palace guards will like that." "Meh, screw 'em. Can you do a couple of favors for me though?" "Sure, what do you need?" "I want you to make a sheath for the cutlass and turn my boots black." Sparks looked at him with a smug grin on his face, "That's all?" "Yeah." "C'mon James, I thought you were going to give me something challenging. The sheath will take a few days, but the boots I can take care of now. Let's go."