Just before the episode finished James noticed the girls were yawning and having trouble keeping their eyes open.
“Tired are we?” James asked. The girls gave a small nod, James got up and went upstairs to see if his mother had set up the beds.
“Are the beds ready mum?” he asked.
“The spare room bed can hold two of them,” said his mother, “But if you remember, Rod broke the air bed from his idiotic little stunt.”
James knew Rod, an annoying little kid who lived a couple of houses down his street. James met him during the pool party and after a five minute conversation, hated him. Rod was one of the worst kids on the street; he always though he owned the place, never cared about anything other than himself, was obsessed with Webkins even though the sight had been shut down and kept bugging James to play Halo 3 with him. James though that this was nice until he learned that he wasn’t allowed to kill anyone while playing online and that he wasn’t good in 1V1 matches. James from then on refused to socialize with Rod and in an act of revenge for breaking his most treasured ornamental sword, tracked him down in each online game and killed Rod twenty times over.
“I’ve never known anyone stupid enough to think that bursting a fully inflated bed would produce the same results as popping a packet of crisps,” said James.
“This might sound weird but one of them will have to sleep in your bed,” Katherine said.
“So long as they don’t move a lot in the night I’m fine with it,” said James.
“I’ll go tell them,” said Katherine, “You get your bed ready.”
James went into his room and saw Dart looking up at him from his bed.
“No Dart,” said James walking over to the dog, “You can’t sleep here tonight.”
Dart made a huffing noise and stood up, James led Dart to his bed in James' parents' room. After that deed was done James deiced to get a shower while his mother told the girls what was going to happen.
“Alright you three,” Katherine said to the trio as were standing at the bottom of the stairs, “Here’s what is going on: we have a spare bed but only two of you will be able to fit, if we had the inflatable bed then one of you would sleep on that in James' room. Unfortunately because we found it broken you’ll have to sleep in James' bed with him, it may sound strange but rest assured, he’ll probably not even know you are there.”
“So who do we decide who gets the bed?” Sweetie Bell asked.
“Can we work this out tomorrow?” said Apple Bloom, “I’m too tired to really care.”
“I’ll sleep in his bed,” said Scootaloo, “I don’t really move much when I’m sleeping.”
As they went upstairs the water had been shut off and then some loud noises came from the bathroom.
“CHYORT!” James shouted a curse in Russian.
“James,” his mother said sternly through the bathroom door, “What did I tell you about cursing?”
“Sorry, bashed my knee on the sink,” said James.
“What did he say?” Apple Bloom asked.
“I don’t know but it sounds bad,” replied Katherine.
Katherine showed Apple Bloom and Sweetie Bell the spare room, the bed was a double with red sheets and an orange quilt, the walls had a mix of book shelves and bedside tables stacked with book and magazines.
“I like the color,” said Apple Bloom.
“The bed’s real soft,” said Sweetie Bell sitting on the end and pushing down on the mattress.
“Let me see,” said Apple Bloom jumping on it. Seeing the two were satisfied with their sleeping arrangements, Katherine led Scootaloo toward James room. They passed a doorway that was blocked off by a large sheet of plywood.
“What’s behind there?” Scootaloo asked, Katherine ignored her and opened the door.
James was clad in a pair of sport shorts and a t-shirt, he looked up from the book he was reading and slid off his bed.
“A volunteer as tribute?” James asked.
“She chose to since the others were too tired,” his mother replied.
“I don’t blame them,” said James, “Welcome to my bedroom.”
James' bedroom was awash with military gear and books, there a cabinet with a flat screen TV, a small bookshelf that had an iHome sitting on top of it was next to James' bed. The large chest of drawers had several Lego models covering the top, there were a few pictures that were hung on a few walls, above James' bed was the golden AK-47. As Scootaloo slowly walked into the room, James' mother left and James jumped back onto his bed, Scootaloo was amazed with the bedroom, stuff she had never seen before adored the walls and she wanted to know about them all.
“I see you like it in here,” said James hitting the play button on the iHome which then blasted out “Fortunate Son”.
Scootaloo looked at the book James was reading.
“What’s that you got there?” she asked.
“A World War Two history book,” replied James, “You wanna see it?”
Scootaloo sat next to James and read it with him, James recited all the important dates and battles that happened throughout the world war. Scootaloo would constantly ask him about the planes.
“And that one?” she said pointing to one picture.
“That’s a British Supermarine Spitfire, the plane that saved Britain,” James replied, “I’ve been in one, heck I got to fly it.”
“I wish I could fly,” Scootaloo said sadly. James remembered that in Equestria, Scootaloo was a pegasus filly who hadn’t actually flown properly yet. James knew that his dad was a pilot and there was an air show coming up in August, an idea formed in his mind.
“One day you will,” said James holding Scootaloo closer to him. Several minutes passed and James saw Scootaloo was falling asleep, James nudged her awake and she looked up at him.
“I think you should get some sleep,” said James.
“I not tired!” Scootaloo said, “You see? I’m awake and everything, please keep reading about the planes.”
James chuckled as Scootaloo slowly lapsed between falling sleep and jerking awake, as James slid the book back onto the shelf Scootaloo huffed with annoyance.
“Scoot, you’ve been wandering around with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Bell for the past few days. You will need to sleep sooner or later,” he said.
Scootaloo weakened and agreed to get some sleep, after all she was too worn out to argue any longer. James showed her the side of the bed she was sleeping on, and as Scootaloo dragged herself to her side of the bed, she buried herself under the sheets and fell asleep. James' heart once again stopped dead for a second, he had never seen anything else so peaceful and adorable. James went to switch the lights off and decided to check up on Apple Bloom and Sweetie Bell.
“What do you think of him?” Sweetie Bell asked Apple Bloom.
“He’s real nice,” said Apple Bloom.
“I know that,” said Sweetie Bell, “But what if we break something again?”
“Well we’ll make sure we won’t, and he doesn’t seem like someone who’ll throw us out because of one busted plate,” Apple Bloom said and flicked the lamp off next to her.
As she fell asleep Sweetie Bell looked up at the ceiling and wondered what James would do if they broke anything or became a nuisance. Apple Bloom might be right, James would never get rid of them, maybe get a little angry with them but he seems like he would forgive them on the first “sorry”. Sweetie Bell turned the lamp next to her off just before James had peeked through the door to their room.
“So precious,” James said quietly, he shut the door and went back to his room. Careful to not wake Scootaloo he crept up to his side of the bed and slipped under the covers, he though about what he had done, bringing the girls into his home to keep them safe and fed.
“Is this considered fostering?” he thought to himself.
He decided against that because they technically had families, far as Apple Bloom and Sweetie Bell were concerned, as for Scootaloo no-one knew who were her parents. James knew that Rainbow Dash wasn’t in any way related to Scootaloo. James thought about that more but stopped when he felt himself drifting off to sleep.