Almost after the last girl said her name did James' heart, well and truly, stop dead. He knew almost instantaneously that those were the names of the Cutie Mark Crusaders from My Little Pony. Apart from the main six characters, the Cutie Mark Crusaders were James' favorite characters, the way they would try to achieve their cutie marks by any means necessary. But this seemed like it was unreal: Could the real Cutie Mark Crusaders be right in front of him in human form? Were they three girls who took up the appearances and names from the show because they loved them so much? Or could this be a trick set up by Jason or Darryl. James however kept his cool and kept asking questions to see if it really was them.
“Where were you born?” asked James.
“We were born in the land of Equestria,” said Sweetie Bell.
“No seriously, where were you born?” James asked again.
“But that’s where we are from,” said Scootaloo.
“Never heard of it,” said James, he knew he was lying to stop the girls from freaking out if they really were from Equsetria, which was the main setting for the show. If they found out they were characters from a fictional TV show who knows what could happen.
Scootaloo and Sweetie Bell started groaning and holding their stomachs.
“Hungry?” James asked.
“Kind of,” said Scootaloo.
“We haven’t eaten for several hours,” said Apple Bloom.
“Is there anything to eat?” Sweetie Bell asked.
James looked over at the box of donuts that Scootaloo was sitting next to. He walked over and flipped the lid open, there were still ten donuts left out of the fourteen he brought in.
“Well there goes twelve dollars,” he said with irritation, “Another partially used box.”
“Are those donuts?” Scootaloo asked excitedly.
“Help yourself,” said James. He backed away as Apple Bloom and Sweetie Bell converged on the box, Scootaloo was already helping herself to a chocolate donut. James was heading out the door when he turned back to the girls.
“I’ll be back soon,” he said, “What I want you to do is stay here, this is for your own safety, you got that?”
The three nodded in response, they couldn’t say anything because they each had a mouthful of donut. James left the girls to enjoy themselves, he went over to Darryl who had just finished talking to Ed.
“Sup James,” said Ed.
“Evening,” James replied.
“I’ll see you later Darryl,” said Ed. Ed started up his pickup and drove off.
“Did I scare him away?” James asked.
“Very funny,” replied Darryl, “By the way, Tony called and said that you don’t have to collect the keys from the cars, there are none.”
“That’s good,” said James.
“Why?” Darryl asked, “I thought you liked collecting the keys from the vintage cars.”
“Wait until you see what I found,” said James.
“What did you find?” asked Darryl.
“You have to see it to believe it,” replied James.
“James, I don’t care if you found another interesting piece of garbage,” said Darryl.
“No no no,” said James leading the way inside, “I found them behind that shipping container.”
“That’s even worse about what you found,” Darryl said, “And who’s they?”
James led Darryl to the mechanic bays where he opened the door and looked to see if the Apple Bloom, Sweetie Bell and Scootaloo were still there eating the donuts.
“This is what I found,” said James pointing to the girls. Whatever Darryl was expecting, it sure wasn’t that.
“What?” was all he managed to say.
“Like I said,” said James, “I found them behind the shipping container.”
Darryl was taken aback, he had expected James to find a turbocharger from an old Corvette or some slightly used NO2 bottles for his truck. He had never expected that James would find anything like this.
“You found them?” Darryl asked.
“Yes,” James said, kind of annoyed that Darryl hadn’t gotten over the shock.
“Why were they back there?” Darryl asked again.
“Your guess is as good as mine,” replied James.
“Is this your friend?” asked Apple Bloom.
“This is Darryl,” said James, “He works with me.”
“I’m gonna go turn the outside lights on,” said Darryl, walking past Sweetie Bell.
“Hey you want this?” Scootaloo asked holding a donut out for Darryl. Darryl looked at it then took it, his mood brightened.
“Thanks kid,” he said taking the donut.
As Darryl shut the back door to the fuse room James looked at Scootaloo.
“That was extraordinarily kind of you,” he said, “Reminds me of myself.”
“I thought he might of needed it,” said Scootaloo. James looked at his watch and then outside where the lights were just coming on.
“Only fifteen minutes until my shift ends,” he said.
“What do you do?” Apple Bloom asked.
“I fill cars with gas, well used to,” said James.
“What do you mean by that?” asked Sweetie Bell.
“Well before the war with Iran flared up this place used to get cars pulling in for gasoline,” James explained to the three girls, “Now however since the price had gone up, most people don’t really go out in their cars.”
A truck with “Kill all Iranians!” painted on the side drove past the gas station.
“It’s really affected the United States badly,” said James.
“Why did those people go to war with you?” Apple Bloom asked.
“I don’t know,” said James, “Maybe the rulers of Iran thought that they could control the west by cutting of their oil, not a chance. You know the British SBS managed to take out an Iranian battleship which opened the Persian Gulf to NATO forces.”
“But why fight over something like oil?” Scootaloo asked.
“Yeah,” Sweetie Bell said in agreement, “Why not work out your differences and work together?”
“Because the world doesn’t work like that,” said James, “There are people out there who will kill us because of something that happened over thirty years ago.”
“But we’re safe here right?” Apple Bloom asked fearfully. James sensed the fear in her voice and put his hand on her head, she looked up at his smiling face.
“I’ll make sure of that,” said James, “I promise.”
Apple Bloom smiled back and hugged him, just as she let go Darryl came out the back.
“Where were you?” James asked.
“Trying to get rid of a squirrel,” Darryl said irritably.
“Got away huh?” asked James.
“It’s behind a desk,” said Darryl, “You’re allowed to shoot it if it becomes a problem.”
“Hopefully not, I don’t want to waste bullets,” said James.
Darryl went into the waiting room and sat on one of the stools, James followed. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Bell and Scootaloo went to where James was looking through a pile of magazines.
“Where should we be at?” Apple Bloom asked. James looked around.
“I know,” he said, “Go back through that door and then go through the first one you see and that’ll lead you to the office behind the desk, wait there.”
“First door you see,” repeated Apple Bloom.
“I saw it earlier,” said Sweetie Bell, “I know what he means.”
The three girls followed James' directions and ended up on the other side of the front desk.
“One more thing,” said James, “Don’t touch anything.”
“Ok then,” said Apple Bloom.
For the next several minutes nothing happened at the gas station, it was about six fifty-two before anyone said anything.
“What’s that you’re reading?” Apple Bloom asked James. James looked up from the gun magazine he was reading.
“A firearms magazine,” he replied.
“It’s all he reads,” said Darryl.
“What’s in it?” Scootaloo asked. James span the magazine for them to read.
“Guns,” said James, “Lots and lots of guns.”
Apple Bloom and Sweetie Bell looked through the list of pistols while Scootaloo looked over their shoulders, they flipped through the pages until they reached one particular article.
“Fifteen year old British boy receives solid gold AK-47 assault rifle for assisting rebels in overthrowing dictator,” Sweetie Bell read aloud.
“Wait a second,” said Apple Bloom pointing to the picture of the teen holding the rifle into the sky, “That’s you!”
“Sure is,” said James.
“What!?” Darryl said quickly, seizing the magazine and read the article so everyone could hear.
“James Rogers, a fifteen year old British tourist was hailed a hero by the rebels after he gave information that led to the dictators capture and execution. In honor of the rebellion hero, the rebel general gave James a solid gold and fully functional AK-47 assault rifle. James said ‘I wonder if this actually works’ unto which he fired off a few rounds for the crowd, after he arrived back in Philadelphia airport, reporters asked him how he ended up there and how he helped the rebels capture the dictator: James replied saying that his plane was diverted and had to land because of the risk of loyalist anti-aircraft fire. He knew the dictators location after studying the country he said to the rebels that the past rulers of the country would escape by mountain pathways during wars or rebellions. The rebels used this information to find and cut off the dictator on his escape path, after the dictators execution James was given the rifle, which had been looted from the dictators home the previous night.”
Apple Bloom, Sweetie Bell and Scootaloo stared at James.
“You helped end a revolution?” Scootaloo asked.
“Best part is that I still have that gun,” James said, “It’s worth about fifty thousand dollars.”
“Why didn’t you tell anyone about this?” Darryl asked.
“I don’t want to make myself any more famous than I am now,” said James.
James looked up at the clock and saw that his shift ended in a few minutes.
“I think I’ll count my takings,” said James. He went over to the cash register and took out some bills from his pocket, he looked at the few twenty dollar bills he had and sighed. James took and envelope out of a box and wrote his name and the amount of money he had made, he then put the money in the envelope and sealed it, then he clutched at his mouth and spit into the trash can.
“Ah! Cut my tongue again,” said James, spitting again.
“Are you alright?” Sweetie Bell asked.
“Yeah,” replied James as he tasted for blood, “I’m fine, I just got that feeling that I cut my tongue. I really hate it.”
James put the money into the safe and walked outside, he then went back inside and looked at the three girls, he couldn’t leave them here, Darryl was working until nine and James knew that he wouldn’t take them back to his house, nor would Ed or Tony. James decided to take them in, but how would his parents react to him bringing in three girls that had come from an entirely different world.
“So,” James said slowly, “Do you have anywhere to live?”
“No,” Sweetie Bell said sadly, then sniffed as if she was going to cry.
“We’ve been wandering around for hours,” Scootaloo said putting her hand on Sweetie Bell’s arm, “We asked for help from some people but they all ignored us or didn’t want to.”
“How could someone do that?” James asked.
“People who probably don’t want to have annoyances like us around,” said Apple Bloom. Tears started forming in her eyes, James saw this and leaned over the desk.
“How’s about this?” he said, “Why don’t you live with me? I’ll take good care of you, I promise that you’ll be happy, safe and healthy.”
“Really?” asked Scootaloo, her spirits lifted, “You’ll do that for us?”
“There’s something about you I really like, and you deserve the best. Believe it, with me you’ll get the best of the best,” James said.
“Thank you,” said Sweetie Bell.
Apple Bloom wiped off her eyes and smiled up at James