A Marine and His Ponies

by USMC517


Moving Out.

The rest of their night had gone well; the two bullies had not returned to retaliate against James for humiliating them, and everypony accepted James into Ponyville and their pony culture. Both Rainbow Dash and James danced for long into the night; they laughed, made new friends, or at least James did. James even gave into Dash's persistence about trying the hard apple cider. "Oh come on. You just stood up to the biggest bullies in Equestria, you took out a cockatrice, spent an entire night in the Everfree forest, and you just walked into Ponyville like you owned the place, and you wont take a drink!?" Dash complained to James about his stubbornness.

"I've done more hardcore stuff than that, I can assure you!" James boasted with a slight chuckle.

"Just try it!" She said nudging him towards the bar.

"Damn it! Fine!" He said giving in to her. She stopped pushing, and walked next to him. They made their way over and ordered two shots of hard cider.

"Here you two go!" The bar tender shouted over the music. They toasted and drank it down; Dash made a face that looked like it was hard as it went down, James laughed at her.

"What are you laughing at?" She asked as the cider still had some burn going down.

"Nothing, just that I didn't feel any sort of effect from it on the way down. In fact, that was pretty smooth!" He exclaimed.

"No way!? That was some pretty hard stuff I ordered!" She said with an astonished look.

"Yeah that didn't burn at all!"

"Liar! I'm gonna' order some more, you want one?" She asked still not believing him.

"Sure that was pretty good!"

"Hey, up the hardness of that cider, he said he didn't feel anything from that last one, and I don't believe him." She said to the bar tender.

"Really!? Wow. If you want me to, I'll give you the second hardest I have." He said back to her.

"Cool, thanks, how much will that be?"

"Twenty bits total." He told her. She chipped out twenty bits, but didn't care that she had to pay out the amount, she just wanted to prove that James was lying to her. She walked back over to him with both mugs and they toasted again, Dash had gotten a lighter cider because she didn't like the previous one too much. She had a mischievous look on her face as James drank his down, he expressed no sort of discomfort from the harder cider.

"Wow, that was even better than the last one!" James said with a joyful grin.

"There is no way that didn't burn a little!" Dash shouted back at him with an even more astonished look.

"That was still pretty smooth, how much was that because I kind of want more."

"Okay, you want more!? You're crazy!"

"I've been called that once or twice, worse many other times!" He said back with a laugh.

"Come with me to the bar, I still don't believe you!" She said as she motioned with her head to the bar. They walked back to the bar tender and Dash told him to give her the hardest cider he had.

"I don't think that's a good idea, I have eighty seven proof and that's for blending with other drinks!" He said with a concerned look on his face.

"James here still didn't feel anything from that last drink I got him!"

"Really!? Well still I'm not going to do it" He refused.

"Oh come on! Please please please!" She tried to annoy him into doing it, after a while he did.

"Okay, I'll give you this one for free because I've made plenty of bits tonight, but only a small amount." He said as he poured another shot that would make most ponies throw up and maybe even pass out.

"Here you go." He said with a look of concern, as he didn't want to make James sick. James took it off the counter and smelled it. It smelled sweet, almost like it was made out of only squished apples and no additives like the cider he used to buy from the store back home.

"Smells good!" He said as he turned the mug upside down and drank. Both the bar tender and Rainbow watched with their mouths hanging open.

"Well... how was it?" The bar tender asked when he finished.

"Wow! That was delicious, that was like pure true cider!" James said as he licked his lips, trying to get anything he may have missed.

"You felt nothing!?" The bar tender asked bewildered.

"Still smooth like the barrel of my rifle, wait you don't know what that is. Well either way it was still smooth!" James said as he set the mug down.

"I'll have whatever he just had!" Somepony butted in, it was Vinyl Scratch.

"You don't want to drink that! I just gave him enough cider to make anypony sick, and he's just fine!" The bar tender denied the concert performer.

"What was it?" She asked confused.

"Eighty seven proof Applejack Daniels!" He said looking back at the bottle still on the counter.

"No... way!?" Vinyl asked as she too was astonished by the high content.

"I'm still alive aren't I?" James said to Vinyl.

"Do it again!" She said in disbelief.

"No I wont do it, I wont give him anymore, I don't want to kill him!" The bar tender refused.

"Guy, I've been shot in the chest numerous times; I've taken a shot to the arm, and even in the head, but the bullet glanced off my helmet luckily. I also just drank those other drinks, do you really think that this will kill me?" James said back, getting rid of any thought of him being harmed by a simple drink.

"Okay, but if something happens I'm not responsible for it." The bartender finally agreed.

"I wanna' see this guy drink his bucking face off!" Vinyl cheered, some ponies around them heard her and turned to see what the commotion was about. The bar tender poured another small amount into the mug and served it, James just looked at him with a 'really, that's all?' face. James pushed the mug aside and grabbed the bottle left on the counter. He was feeling butterflies in his stomach as endorphins rushed about in his system. The feeling became greater as more ponies turned around and looked at the mad man in front of them, whom was about to drink the hardest cider made made without a second thought. He tilted his head back and drank the rest of it, there was about half of a bottle left before he started.

"Damn that's good!" He shouted out to everypony when he finished. They all looked in awe at him, there was no way he was still standing from that much cider, however, tall and strong he did stand. "How much for another?"

"Just take the bottle, if you can live through that without even throwing up, you have a liver of steel!" The bar tender told him as he set the bottle on the counter.

"Not steel... kevlar, and I've been getting a lot of free stuff today, are you sure?"

"I'm getting a new shipment in this week anyway, it's fine. Consider it a welcoming gift." He said nudging the bottle a little closer to James.

"Alright, if you say so." James said as he took it and out it in his ruck sack for later.

"You are the craziest motherbucker in Equestria!" Vinyl shouted to him after he put the bottle away.

"Vinyl... you don't even know the half!" James exclaimed. He made his way back through the crowd with Dash, and started dancing to the recurring beat Vinyl had put on before coming over to the bar. The night continued on with more laughter and cheering and dancing. When they finally left the party it was two in the morning. Rainbow did not feel like flying to her cloud mansion, and James would not let her either due to her being slightly drunk, luckily they weren't too far from Fluttershy's cottage though.

"James, you're awesome!" Dash said with a slight slur in her speech.

"Thank you, but I think you had a little too much to drink."

"No no no no, really you're awesome... and pretty good looking too." Dash said the last bit quietly and quickly so James wouldn't quite here it.

"Come again?" He asked trying to hear the last part again.

"Nothing, nothing." She played it off. They kept walking, but both stayed in silence; enjoying the early morning darkness, Dash walked close to him. They made it to Fluttershy's cottage and went inside trying to be as quiet as possible. They went up to the guest room and shut the door so they wouldn't wake Fluttershy, if they hadn't already. Rainbow was still acting funny from the cider so James wanted to make sure that Dash got to bed alright.

"You gonna' be alright there Rainbow?" James asked concerned.

"Yeah, I'll be alright. Just a little too much to drink." She said as she climbed into bed. James took off his pack and detached his pistol from it, then put the pack in the closet.

"You sure you'll be okay?"

"Yeah I'm good... but, will you stay up here tonight?" She asked him as he almost started for the door.

"O- oh, yeah sure if you want me to."

"Please?" She asked again.

"Alright, but it's pretty late so we're gonna go dark here in a second." He said as he walked to the light switch and flipped it off. He walked back over and laid down on the floor, not caring that it was hard, he could sleep almost anywhere.

"James... I'm glad I met you." She said in the darkness.

"As am I Rainbow, I'm not sure how I got here, but if this is where I spend the rest of my life... well that's just fine with me." He agreed with Dash. The two didn't say anything more, and both drifted off to sleep. Dash dreamed about flying with the Wonderbolts, and James dreamed about home. James woke up just a few hours later, but didn't get up, much like the morning before. He didn't try and go back to sleep because he was too used to getting up at such an early time; many of the operations he had been on required him to be up that early and sometimes sooner than that. Instead of stirring about in the quiet house, he laid on the floor and thought, thought about anything and everything. He thought back to the night and the two bullies, then he chewing them out, he quietly laughed to himself. Then he though about Fluttershy's cottage, could he really keep living there for the rest of his life? No, he would definitely move out at some point, but to get a place of his own he would need to get a job and make money. He cast the idea aside for a later time. He rolled onto his back and was met with a light blue face and rose colored eyes.

"Well good morning Rainbow." He said after a few moments of silence and staring at one another.

"James... how are you up so early, it's still sorta' dark out." She asked with a yawn.

"Years of practice." He joked. They both laughed quietly.

"Thanks for standing up for me last night." She said after a minute of silence between them.

"I'm loyal to my country, constitution, and my people. Well ponies now, but all the same, and when anyone dares mess with any of those three, I will defend it with teeth and claws until the problem ceases."

"I think it's cool that you and are I kind of the same, both loyal and we're pretty awesome."

"Thanks Rainbow. You know what I just realized, I've skipped my PT the last two days, wanna' join me for a nice morning run?" He invited her to join him.

"You want me t- to go with you?" She asked surprised.

"I don't see why not, but I'll tell you since I've skipped the past few days I'm going to be going hard; so bring your game if you want to join me, but you don't have to, it's no big deal." He said as he got up and stretched.

"No! I mean... I want to." She said as she sat up in bed.

"Alright, but we need to be quiet about it, I don't want to awake miss Fluttershy."

"I'll be as quiet as the breeze." She said as she flapped her wings. James kept his boots off so he didn't make any clacking sound on the hard wood floor. They made it to the front door and went outside, James closed the door then put his boots on. The early morning air was cool and crisp, it was still dark but the sun was seen barely rising in the distance. James looked around for a few moments to drink it all in, he set his watch for forty minutes, then started his exercise. Dash wasn't in the mood for running, so she flew instead. They didn't run through the Everfree forest this time because mostly everypony knew he was there; so instead they took a path to town. After a while however, Dash started complaining about her head hurting.

"Ah, my head hurts from last night, probably shouldn't have drank so much." She groaned.

"That may have been a good idea." He said through a few breaths, he didn't stop though and just kept running along.

"I'm still surprised you're not dead from that much cider!"

"I guess your type of alcohol doesn't affect me, maybe the kind that we have on earth wouldn't do anything to you?" He wondered.

"Maybe, but I don't know. Where are we heading anyway?" She asked not sure of the place they might be going.

"Don't know, but when my timer hits twenty minutes, we're going to turn around and head back the exact way we came." He said still chugging along, they had been going for ten minutes. The sun had risen further in the sky, casting an array of oranges and reds throughout. They soon reached the twenty minute mark, James didn't waste anytime in turning about. Rainbow did not expect the sudden turn and flew past him a few feet, but quickly caught up with him.

"You didn't even warn me!" She said in a playful tone.

"My bad, thought you were paying attention. Hey, listen to this. I've been thinking about this all morning." He said changing the topic.

"About what?"

"I was thinking about moving out of Fluttershy's house and into my own, seeing as now everybody knows I'm here."

"Really?"

"Yeah, but the problem is that I have no idea where I could live at. I could just build a little crack shack in the forest, but that will only work for a little while." He said doubting there was any way to pull it off.

"Well, there's a few abandoned houses around the Everfree, I bet if you talked to the mayor she would let you move into one without having to really pay for it!"

"Not a bad idea!" He agreed. They were approaching the outskirts of Ponyville, a few residents had seen them and waved. One of them they noticed was minty green unicorn named Lyra and her friend Bon Bon, James couldn't figure out what it was about them, but it seemed like they really enjoyed each other's company.

"Hey Dash, what's up with those two?"

"Who? Lyra and Bon Bon? They haven't said it yet but everypony can tell that they're dating." She said knowing full well what was going on.

"Hmm, interesting."

"Why did you want to know?"

"Just curious is all, I had a suspicion that they were." He shrugged as he ran.

"Oh... is there anything wrong with that?"

"No there's nothing wrong with it, I was just wondering is all. Hey we got about a hundred meters left, wanna' race the rest?" He said as he picked up his pace.

"You know I do!" She said as she took off with her wings, leaving James far behind her.

"Ya cheater!" He shouted as he started a dead sprint, however he was catching up. They made it to Fluttershy's cottage and stopped on the porch, both were panting heavily. The morning had ramped up, and the orange sky turned to a light blue like it usually did. Some clouds were coming over head, but didn't block the sunlight.

"You are such a cheater Dash." He joked.

"I didn't cheat, I just used what I was born with." She threw back at him.

"Whatever." He said as he stuck his tongue out, they moved towards the door and quietly opened it. They went inside trying not to make any noise, but was not necessary because Fluttershy was already up tending to her rabbit Angel.

"Well good morning miss Fluttershy, we didn't wake you up earlier did we?" James asked hoping that they hadn't on accident. She slightly jumped when she heard him speak because she hadn't heard them come in.

"Oh my I didn't hear you come in, you scared me. No you didn't wake me, but Angel did, he's feeling a little sick this morning." She quietly peeped out.

"That seems to be a recurring event with you and I."

"Yes, but I forgive you." She said as she gave Angel some medicine.

"Good... well, what's on the agenda for today?"

"I'm not sure, just tending to my critters mostly, did you have something in mind?" She asked as she turned away from Angel.

"Well miss Fluttershy, I was thinking about moving out so you can have your place back to yourself." He said laying out his plan.

"Moving out? But where will you go?" She asked as she turned her full attention to him.

"Rainbow here suggested I could talk to the mayor about an abandoned house near the edge of the forest, and honestly I think it's a pretty good idea."

"I guess that would be a good idea, but most of those houses are rundown and need a lot of repair." She said concerned about the state of the structures, and the fact that nopony could ever live in one.

"I don't really need anything that's built up at all, I can live just about anywhere, the middle of the desert, the swamp of a jungle, even the dense woods of the forest as you've already seen." He stated.

"Well maybe so, but why do that when you can just live here in an already working house!?"

"Well that is a valid point, but honestly miss Fluttershy, it's been hard to keep coming in and out at these odd hours for myself. I'm usually up at the ass crack of dawn, and in bed at about 2300 hours. You're usually in bed at those times and I don't want to wake you up, and I know I have, especially when I have those damn nightmares!" He argued.

"Well it's okay with me really James, I don't mind."

"Miss Fluttershy, it's really for the best, I need to have a place of my own for my certain reasons. Plus I sort of feel like a free loader because I can't even pay rent, seeing as though I don't have a job." He continued his argument. Rainbow stood behind James, looking around trying to pass off not being the awkward third wheel. She slowly wandered around until she got to the stairs to the guest room. She then went up stairs to do something, anything to pass the time. She could still hear them arguing downstairs, it made her laugh a little at the fact Fluttershy was arguing with somepony. She wouldn't haggle over the price of cherries, but she also wouldn't let somepony just walk out into the world without any housing.

"Look miss Fluttershy, this really is the best option; I just need a bunk and roof over my head to keep off the rain, I don't even need walls. A dumpy old house is even better than the sleeping quarters we got at some of the forward operating bases in Afghanistan, I can assure you." James stated. Dash was still listening closely, but was occupied with looking at James' gear in the closet. She attempted to pick up his vest to see what it was like to wear it, but had a hard time because of its weight. She tried getting a better hold of it by one of the many pouches that held whatever tool one may have needed; little did she know it was the hand grenade pouch, it unbuckled but the grenade didn't come out. she got a better hold at the bottom of the vest, it was still held together by the velcro side straps so it wasn't hard to get on. She got down low and wiggled into it, then slipped her forelegs into the large arm holes, her wings didn't come up far enough so they were stuck inside. She tried to push up after getting it on, it was difficult, but she managed to stand.

"Wow, how does he walk around with this on all day?" She wondered to herself. She looked around and found a mirror to check herself out in. She found the one on the dresser and struggled to get herself up to look in it. She looked at her reflection and giggled, she looked odd with it on. She let out another giggle then got down, but when she did she bumped the grenade on the top of the dresser and it popped out, rolling around the room then down the stairs. I thumped all the way down.

"Look Fluttershy I'm moving out today, I'll be just fine. You know you sound almost like my mom right be-" clunk clunk clunk clunk clunk. James stopped in the middle of his sentence and raised his head up trying to hear the sound better, it seemed oddly familiar to him. Clunk It smacked the landing and rolled slightly more.

"GRENADE!" He shouted as he flung himself at Fluttershy and threw her behind him, then landing down on top of her to protect her from the soon to come explosion, followed by hundreds of pieces of shrapnel. He waited for it to come, knowing this was last thing he would be doing, saving a friend. It never exploded and Dash came down the stairs after it. James saw her with his vest on.

"Dash get back, take Fluttershy behind the couch. Now!" He shouted as he approached the explosive with extreme caution. She did as she was told and hid behind the couch with her friend. James got closer, he could see that the spoon was still on it, and the safety pin was in, but he still treated it with the utmost caution and took it outside through the back door. He set it down away from anything it might damage, and waited another minute. When he was done waiting he went back to it slowly and picked it up. He looked at it closer and declared it was intact and would not explode. He held it in his hand and went back inside, but kept it so if it did go off, the majority of it would hit him and not the house or possibly his friends.

"Is everything alright James?" Fluttershy asked him concerned and confused.

"It's alright, this must have come out of its pouch when Dash put my vest on." He said as he looked at the blue pegasus.

"Sorry, I just wanted to try it on." She said as she turned away in embarrassment.

"It's alright just do be careful, almost everything on there is meant to hurt someone; so if you don't know what it is, don't touch it." He warned.

"Okay, I'm just going to take this off now, it weighs a lot. How do you even wear this thing all day?" She said as she tried to slip out of it. James put the grenade on the kitchen table, then assisted her.

"Arms, er, legs up. This thing has some weight to it, but it's not too bad. I've worn one for the past decade, so it's just another part of my body." He told her as he lifted it off. He went back to the table and put the explosive back into its respective pouch. Then put the vest on so Dash wouldn't get more curious as to the items that were on it.

"I'm really sorry about that." She apologized again.

"Like I said, it's okay. Just do be careful, if something happened to you because of something on here, I don't know what I would do, but it wouldn't be good."

"You really care about me don't you?"

"Very much Rainbow Dash, you and everyone else that I've met." He said with a very serious tone. He turned away then went upstairs without saying anything else. He came down several minutes later with all of his gear he came to Equestria in. He walked up to Dash and put the hat she loved so much on her head.

"You don't have to go James, really you should stay until something else comes up." Fluttershy told him again.

"I'm not going to back down from it Fluttershy, it's going to happen today and that's all there is to it."

"I really don't think it's a good idea, but if you insist." She said finally giving up on making him stay.

"Alright, now since I'm house hunting I'm going to get an early start this morning. Do you know what time the mayor arrives at town hall?"

"She's usually there at about seven."

"Alright then, it's about half past that so I'm going to get a move on. I'll let you know when I find something." He said as he turned to walk out the door to find a new home.

"If you don't find anything you're always welcome to come back here." Fluttershy said as she walked to the door to say her farewell.

"Thank you for your hospitality miss Fluttershy." He thanked her as he turned and walked down the small path that lead to her cottage. Dash followed him.

"So you're really doing it? Do you mind if I come with you?" She asked flying closely to him, her hat almost blowing off her head from a slight gust of wind.

"Actually I think you should go home and get some more rest, you had quite a bit to drink last night and it seems you still have somewhat of a hangover."

"Oh come on it's not that bad, and what about you, you had a LOT to drink last night!" She protested.

"That didn't affect me at all, quite literally that was cider to me."

"Whatever!"

"Really though, you should get some more rest."

"Fine!" She gave in. She turned towards her cloud home and said goodbye to James. He turned away after watching to make sure she did indeed go home. He declared that she did and walked to town. The morning was starting to heat up, and the clouds that had formed earlier dissipated, making the sun shine bright over the whole town. He walked for a while taking in the scenery.

"Wow it's beautiful here." He thought as he entered town. He walked down the main street; everypony was bustling about and doing their own things, most of them greeted him with hellos or by some other means, he just waved back or gave a head nod. None of them noticed or really cared about the stuff he had on, they just assumed it was nothing to be worried about and went on with their business. James kept walking on and went to the town hall, then entered and talked to the receptionist at the front desk. It was a different pony this time, but she had seen him before so she did not run away.

"Hello mister, how may I help you?" She asked putting down her paper work.

"Howdy, can I please speak with the mayor about housing?"

"Sure thing mister..."

"James."

"Sure thing mister James, I'll be back in just a moment." She said as she got up and went in search of the mayor. They both returned a few minutes later.

"Ah! Hello again mister Crossland, I trust everypony is treating you well?" The mayor asked as she extended her hoof. James grabbed a hold of it and they shook.

"I've been shown the utmost courtesy by the folks here ma'am." James said, not including the incident the night before.

"Excellent! Now what is this I here you're looking for a house to live in?"

"Yes ma'am, preferably one that doesn't require myself to pay for, as I have no money." He said with a disappointed look.

"Hmmm... I'm not sure where you might be able to find anything of the nature." She said doubtfully.

"Miss Dash and I were talking this morning, and she said something about one of the abandoned houses near the edge of the Everfree forest. Now is that a possibility?" He asked with some hope.

"I completely forgot about those! Why would you want to live in one of those for though?"

"So I don't have to live with miss Fluttershy, she says it's no problem but I can tell I've been keeping her up at night."

"Oh I see, well I suppose if you want to. There are a few around there so if you want to go pick one out and come back later, we can get you registered in our system." She said as she turned to the receptionist, motioning for her to write down the actions that would take place.

"Excellent, I'll be back as soon as I find one ma'am." He said starting for the entrance.

"Very well mister Crossland, happy hunting!" She said turning to go back to her office. As James walked out he stifled a laugh.

"Happy hunting, haven't heard that in a while." He thought. He made his way back through town, then sat down at the same table he had the evening before when Pinkie bounced up to him. He slung his pack off and looked around trying to formulate a plan on where to begin his search. He thought for a while and decided to just ask the locals if they knew of any places that he could move in to. After sitting for a while longer, he got up and made his way to Sugar Cube Corner, Pinkie may have an idea as to where he could begin his search seeing as though she knew almost everypony in town. He walked in the front door and a bell rang, Pinkie immediately shot up from behind the counter with a giant grin on her face.

"Hi James!" She greeted him.

"Hello Pinkie, how are this fine morning?"

"I'm great! I was just about to go and give Gummy a bath." She said as she held up the baby alligator.

"Oh I see. Say Pinkie, do you know of any houses that are abandoned around the edge of the Everfree?" He asked her as he scratched the back of his head.

"Actually there is one that I know of! It used to belong to Cranky Doodle, he moved out with his wife a year or so ago when they got back together." She said as she put gummy down, then walked over to him.

"Really? Could you by any chance show me where it's at?" He asked her hoping that he might catch a break.

"Okie dokie lokie!" She said as she turned to her pet; "Looks you'll just have to wait until I get back." The alligator just looked at her with a blank stare. Pinkie started her bouncing again and the two walked out the front door. They walked back through town, all the while Pinkie kept bouncing.

"How do you do that and not get tired?"

"What, this? This is how I've always walked." She said gleefully.

"You have a lot of energy."

"I know, it's just how I've always been." She said still bouncing up and down. They reached the edge of town, Pinkie kept talking about everything that she saw and thought of.

"Okay, I've endured some pretty bad shit, but this is the worst." He thought to himself, luckily he was able to slightly tune her out. They went by the park before they turned off to go to the house. There were a lot of ponies there, the children had a soccer game going on and many of their parents were watching. One of them James noticed was young a copper colored pegasus who was being very competitive; she ran across the field and stole the ball from an opponent, then brought it to her team's scoring side and kicked it in for a goal. They all cheered and the game continued on.

"Who is that?" James asked looking at the filly.

"Who, the one that just scored? That's Scootaloo."

"Oh, she reminds me a lot of my brother when we were young." He said as the old memories of his only brother came back to him, however he showed no emotion to it.

"Who's your brother?"

"His name is Andy." James said, acting like his brother was not deceased.

"Ooo, I'd like to meet him!" She exclaimed.

"Yeah, he's pretty awesome."

"Did he used to play soccer?" She asked, not thinking anything was wrong.

"Yeah he did, he was pretty good too!" He boasted.

"Did you ever play a sport?"

"Not really until high school. Even then I just ran cross country, never was good at football because I was too tall and lanky, just not the right type of build for getting hit or the reverse." James reminisced about his days of schooling.

"What's football?"

"You talk a lot, you know that right?"

"Yup!" She said with a large grin.

"Anyway, football is basically soccer but you run with the ball and hit other people instead of kick it."

"Well that sounds mean." She said confused by the way humans played games.

"It can get rough sometimes, that's why I just went with running instead, plus it takes a major amount of focus and dedication to do it!" James explained the toughness of it.

"Wow, that seems hard."

"The first two weeks always suck, after that though, it's cake."

"Oooo cake! I love cake!" She said thinking about the many sugary sweets she had at Sugar Cube Corner.

"You don't say?" He laughed. They had walked a distance past the park, and were getting closer to the new house Pinkie had been telling him about. The trees of the Everfree forest were getting closer to them, and the sun showed bright off of their trunks. A few more minutes had passed, the whole time Pinkie jabbered away about random things.

"Here we are!" She shouted to James, it took him a few seconds to comprehend what she was saying because he was trying hard to phase her out of his hearing.

"This is the place?" He asked taking a good look at the building.

"Mmhmm!" She said shaking her head up and down. James looked over the outside of it more. The outside of it was in decent condition, some vines had grown around the outside of it and the gray paint on the siding was starting to peel off. Two of the windows were cracked and one was broken, but other than those few things it seemed to be in good shape. The two went inside to have a look, but the door was locked.

"Well what do we do now?" Pinkie asked disappointed.

"Stay here, I'll be at the door in just a moment." He said as he took off his ruck sack and headed around to the other side. He went to a broken window and smashed out the rest of it, then hauled himself inside. He dropped to the ground and stood up, it was hard to see inside due to the little light that made its way in, but enough came through to make him see to the door. He found the the lock and turned it to open, he let her in and grabbed his bag. He took out the flashlight he had and flicked it on, bathing the dark living room with a soft orange- yellow glow. It was a very good size, much bigger than what he actually needed. There was no furniture left behind from the previous owner, Cranky Doodle. There was a fireplace, that looked like it was never used, and on the right of it was the kitchen that had only a stove and some cupboards. They ventured further into it and found the upstairs part. There were two bedrooms and a full sized bathroom, the master bedroom was large enough to fit four men easily, and the other one was much smaller, obviously meant for one or maybe two guests. The walls were all painted a grayish tone, and wood beams spanned across the ceiling. The place was very nice and didn't require much for fixing up, just some minor stuff here and there and getting the water running again.

"Wow Pinkie, this place is great!" He joyfully said.

"Yeah it kind of is, when you look past the old dust and stuff."

"That doesn't even bother me." He shrugged it off as he started to set up shop.

"That might bother Dashie though."

"What?" He asked confused by her meaning.

"You know, Rainbow Dash silly!"

"Yeah what about her?" He asked still very confused.

"She might not like the dust and stuff all that much, unlike you." She tried to explain to him.

"Why would she mind Pinkie? What are you trying to get at?"

"Well when she comes over here silly filly, duh!" She said prancing past him.

"Well I'm sure she will, but what does it have to do with anything?" He asked following her, anxious to get a straight answer from her.

"Well she likes you!"

"Okay that was obvious Pinkie, but still what are you hinting at?"

"Since you have a place of your own, she might come over more often." She explained the situation to him, he finally got it.

"Well I reckon you're right, but how much does she like me?" He asked intrigued.

"She likes you a lot actually."

"Oh shit, not good." He thought; "Pinkie this isn't good."

"Why not? You two seem almost meant for each other!"

"Considering that I'm not a pony!"

"Oh... right." She said with some sadness in her tone.

"I was afraid this would happen, shit.. I'll talk to her later about this after I move in, right now I want to get this squared away." He said while rubbing his head trying to think of what to do about the situation.

Do you like her?" She kept prodding at it.

"Well I do yes, but not- not exact- I'm at a loss for what to say, really." James stuttered.

"Well, it's okay, just tell her how you feel and I'm sure she'll understand." She tried to help.

"Thanks Pinkie." He said as they headed down the stairs. He grabbed his bag and met Pinkie outside, not bothering to lock the door again. They began the walk back to town, Pinkie didn't do her usual bouncing. They passed the park, and the game was still going on. He told her to keep going and that he would catch up later, he wanted to watch the game for a while, mostly the copper pegasus named Scootaloo. He watched for a long time, almost until the game was over, then walked back to the town hall to register his new home with the mayor. Afterwards he made his way back to his new home and officially moved in. He ventured into the forest and collected some wood for his fireplace, then attempted to get his water working. After banging on the pipes and searching each one inch by inch to find the problem why it wouldn't work, he finally got it to come back on. He made a small bed by the fire and then pulled out his MRE from his pack and ate. They day seemed to move by fast, when he started out it was about 0700, when he sat down and ate it was 1800. He decided to finish the rest of his day with some PT, he did push ups and sit ups; then thought about the situation with Rainbow Dash. How would he be able to tell her how he felt without seeming like a jerk. Was there even a nice way to do it? He didn't know and just decided to let time and the moment take care of it. After thinking about it for a while, he dozed off to sleep. His dreams were unpleasant
as usual, but this time he he felt something in it; not like usual, almost as if there was another sentient, conscious being there... watching him.