• Published 5th Oct 2018
  • 8,956 Views, 208 Comments

Textbook Soldier - Backslasherton



Sunset meets the man of her dreams. The problem is, that should've been impossible.

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Chapter 8

The morning sun warmed the dew that had gathered on the grass of the school’s lawn as James and Sunset stepped off the bus onto the sidewalk. The sight of the large school building put an uneasy feeling in Sunset’s stomach. Where it used to be from the guilt of her past, it was now out of concern about what would happen to James. A quick glance to her side showed her that James wasn’t faring much better.

The Colorado native looked as out of his element as a hawk in a coal mine. His eyes rarely stayed focused on one spot for more than a second and his head was on a constant swivel. Thankfully, Sunset thought, there weren't many people there yet. Classes didn’t start for a little bit, so there were only a few students scattered across the courtyard, with more probably inside, given the cold.

The pair stepped through the doors of the building, cherishing the warmth that flowed over them.

“Oh, that’s heavenly,” James sighed, “I’m definitely glad I’m not in the field right now.”

“Me too,” Sunset agreed.

The soldier glanced around nervously. Now that he was inside, he looked like a trapped animal. She saw him glance more than once at the door.

“Are you ready to go to the office?” Sunset asked, trying to keep James’ mind off his surroundings.

“Yeah,” he said, distracted, “Let’s get it over with.”

The redhead started forward, James right beside her. As the large foyer of the school contracted into the lower-ceiling hallways, Sunset could see James start to relax slightly. He must not like open spaces, she thought. She filed that thought away for later as they approached the door of the main office.

“Hello, Ms. Shimmer,” the office aid greeted, “How can I help you two?”

“We’re here to meet with Principal Celestia.”

The office aid smiled at James. “Oh, so you must be the new student,”

“That’s me.” James grinned weakly, pointing to himself.

“That’s great.” The aid gestured to the door, “Well, you two can go on in. She should be ready.”

“Thank you, Ms. Inkwell.”

“Of course.”

Sunset stepped forward and knocked on the door.

“Come in,” a motherly voice told them.

Sunset obliged and opened the door and was greeted by Celestia seated at her desk. Hearing them come in, Celestia looked up and smiled as she set her pen down.

“Hello, Sunset.” Celestia stood.

“Good morning, Principal Celestia. Thanks for responding to me. We didn’t really have a whole lot of options.”

“Of course, Sunset. We may owe you a favor after what you did at the Friendship Games.”

She blushed. “I didn’t really do that much.”

“I would beg to differ. But that’s not why we’re here,” Celestia turned to the man next to her, “And you must be James.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He nodded respectfully, gently shaking her hand.

“Please, have a seat,” She waved to the chairs in front of her desk, and the two took their places. “Alright. Well, first thing’s first, I suppose. As much as we love getting new students, something tells me you didn’t just move into the neighborhood.”

“Yeah, about that…” Sunset spoke up, “Principal Celestia, did you ever read Their Darkest Hour?”

The older woman glanced at James. Specifically, his jacket. Sunset could already see the pieces starting to fall into place, but the administrator didn’t say anything yet. She just nodded and turned back to Sunset.

“I’ve read a few of the books. It was never my favorite series, but it was well written, nonetheless. Although I did read the 36th edition when Mr. Synopsis requested to add it to his curriculum.”

“Well… this is Private James Garrett,” Sunset grinned weakly, “From Colorado.”

Celestia turned to the man, looking him over. The redhead could see the soldier straighten up subconsciously, like she was an officer inspecting him. It seemed the administrator picked up on this as well, and she grinned warmly.

“I did have my suspicions when you brought up Their Darkest Hour.”

James grinned sheepishly and nodded.

“If I may ask,” Celestia spoke directly to James, “How did you get here?”

“Uh,” The private stuttered over his response. “Well, I’m not really sure on all the details, personally. I don’t really know how it happened it just sort of… did?”

Sunset put her hand to her face, shaking her head.

“Sunset can explain it better,” James said, diverting attention to the redhead. She looked up, the principal’s eyes now on her.

“I don’t need to know exactly how it all happened, I’m just curious,” Celestia said.

“Well, it’s… complicated. We don’t know how, but the portal temporarily connected to his world through the book.”

“And I walked through a mirror in my world,” James added.

“Then he came out in front of the school,” the redhead finished.

“I see. And how long have you been with us?” Celestia inquired.

“Three days now, ma’am.”

The administrator nodded, shuffling the papers in front of her. The silence hung in the air like a weight on both the teenager’s chests. The principal looked to be deep in thought for a few moments before nodding again.

“Well, I suppose now we need to address the reason you’re here. Mr. Garrett, I believe you needed to attend our school for a bit. Presumably while Ms. Shimmer and her friends find a way to get you back home?”

“Yes, ma’am. We think it would be better for me not to be on my own, in case anything happens. If it’s not too much trouble, that is.”

“I understand completely,” her easy grin fell, “However, as I feared, we won’t be able to have you completely enrolled right away. Especially since I imagine you have no public records.”

“Yeah, I was afraid you were gonna say that.” James nodded, “I’ll do everything I can to help, but I don’t think my US Army identification card will help me a lot here.”

“I’m afraid not,” the principal nodded, “Well, let’s get started.” She shuffled her papers again, picking one out and setting the rest aside. “We’ll start with your basic information. You’re going to need a name.”

“I can’t imagine James Garrett would work, would it?”

“Technically, it would. But I imagine you’d want something a little more discreet.”

“Well, Sunset came up with a cover name yesterday. Eyes or something.”

The principal turned to Sunset.

“Well, it was more of an on-the-spot sort of thing. We met Twilight’s dad and had to come up with a cover name since he would know James.”

“Why Eyes, if I may ask?” Celestia tilted her head, grinning amusedly.

“He told me this story about how he has really good eyesight. How he saw somebody’s helmet from really far away,” Sunset explained.

James laughed as Celestia chuckled softly.

“I was wondering where that came from,” the private shook his head.

“A fitting name, then, but not a full name.” Celestia smiled, “Did you come with up with anything else?”

“Not really, no.” Sunset shook her head, “It was… a bit of a spur of the moment sort of thing.”

“Hm… how about Noble Cause?”

“I uh… don’t really know what that means,” James glanced at Sunset, “But I uh… I guess that works.” James shrugged, “You guys have a weird naming system here.”

“Yours is just as weird to us, I promise you.” Celestia grinned,

“You could always go by ‘Eyes’ as a nickname,” Sunset pointed out.

“I guess.”

“It’ll take some getting used to, but it doesn’t have to be for long.” Celestia turned her attention back to her paperwork, “Alright. Next is your birthday.”

“March 19th, 1925.”

The administrator looked up from the form, an amused grin on her face.

“Something tells me that we might have to change that.”

“Why?”

“Because that would make you about 90 years old.”

James chuckled.

“Yeah, I think you might be right.”

“How old are you? We can just change the year to work better.”

“Nineteen.”

The administrator frowned. “You’re too old to be attending high school, technically,” Celestia shook her head, “We’ll have to either change your age or hold you back two grades.”

“Uh… which one is better?”

“I suppose that depends on how well you can keep your story straight with your age. You don’t look eighteen, but then again there are more than a few students I can think of that don’t either, so that’s not really a problem.”

James glanced at Sunset, looking more than a little uncomfortable.

“What about the other option?”

“Well, it’s possible, sure. Legally, you couldn’t be held back more than two years, so you’re within a reasonable age bracket. But as far as a first impression goes, it’s not ideal.”

“If that’s alright, ma’am, I’d rather not tell any more lies than I have to. I don’t know if I can even keep my story straight with what we’ve got so far.” James shrugged, “Besides, I was a bad student even back home, so it would fit.”

Celestia bit her lip, obviously thinking things through.

“I suppose we can do that,” she nodded, “If that’s what you really want, then we can make that work.”

“Thank you, ma’am.”

Celestia glanced up at the clock.

“Sunset, it’s getting a little late. I believe you might need to start getting ready for class.”

The redhead checked her phone. “Oh, you’re right.”

“So, if I’m not going to classes today… what am I going to do instead?” James asked.

“Legally? I can’t technically let you do very much, since you’re not enrolled.”

“So… I get to sit here in the office?”

Celestia nodded apologetically. “I’m afraid so. If you’d like, I can try to give you things to do in the meantime, but it’ll be things like helping Ms. Inkwell with paperwork.”

The private nodded. “If that’s the case, then that’s fine with me,” he said simply. He looked up at Sunset, “I guess I’ll meet you after school?”

“Yeah. I’ll see you then.” She nodded, “Thanks again, Principal Celestia.”

“Of course, Sunset.”

The former unicorn waved goodbye and stepped out of the office, shutting the door behind her. Ms. Inkwell nodded to her as she passed, and Sunset gave her a polite wave back as she pulled the door open. Suddenly, the low hum of the students in the hallway became a loud rumble once she stepped out of the office.

“There you are, Sunset!” A familiar voice said to her.

“Hey, Rainbow Dash,” The redhead greeted her friend.

The chromatic-haired girl in question stepped out of the stream of bodies, joining Sunset by her side.

“What’re you doing in the office? You in trouble or something?”

“No, it’s nothing like that.” Sunset grinned, “I just had to deal with some things.”

“Well now you have to tell me. No one just says they’re ‘dealing with things’ unless it’s something juicy.”

The former unicorn shook her head. “I will, but… let’s just get to class first, alright?”

Rainbow crossed her arms. “You’re stalling.”

“No I’m not. Unlike you, I don’t have a reputation for showing up late for all my classes.”

“Hey! I’m not late to all of them! Just first period. ...And third period. And sometimes fourth period when people are being slow. And fifth period after lunch. Plus, y’know, it’s a long walk from fifth to sixth and then all the way back up to seventh. But that’s it!”

“You just named all but one class, Rainbow.”

“Like I said! Not all of my classes.”

Sunset shook her head, grinning. She decided it was best to ignore her friend, and started walking.

“Hey! You still owe me an answer!”

“If you beat me to class, then I’ll tell you.”

“Well that’s lame! You and I both know I’m gonna beat you.”

“Prove it.”

“I will!”

Rainbow slapped Sunset on the back and started off down the hallway. The Equestrian shook her head and kept walking normally. She made relatively short work of the rest of the walk as she turned the corner and found her classroom, where she was met by an irate Rainbow Dash.

“You didn’t run, did you?”

“Nope.” Sunset grinned as she sat next to her.

“Y’all sure took your time gettin’ here this mornin’.” Applejack nodded to Sunset, “But Ah guess you somehow managed to make Rainbow Dash on time for once.”

“Hey!”

“Sorry, Applejack. I had to deal with some stuff this morning”

The farmgirl nodded. “Dash was sayin’ somethin’ ‘bout you bein’ at the office.”

“And you said you said you’d tell us why you were there once we got here, so spill it!”

Sunset smiled, shaking her head.

“Okay, fine.” Her smile faded somewhat, “Before I start, have you two read the book for Mr. Synopsis’s class?”

“Can’t say Ah have.” Applejack shook her head. “Haven’t gotten around to it yet.”

“It’s not like you even have to read it anyway.” Rainbow added, “I mean, he basically tells you everything that happens in class during our ‘discussions’.”

“He does like to talk,” The farmgirl agreed.

“Do you at least know the main character?”

“James or somethin’, right?”

“Oh yeah! He’s like totally awesome. Pretty much the only part of class I actually listened to was when Mr. Synopsis was talking about when they invaded that country, Italy or whatever it’s called, and they were totally outnumbered. But then they managed to hold out for help to come. Totally awesome!”

“Ah remember that. Mr. Synopsis spent a long time on it. Made it kinda hard not to listen,” Applejack said, “Why’re you askin’ about him?”

“There was a bit of an accident with the portal.”

The blonde narrowed her eyes. “What kinda accident?”

“One that may have led to James being in the office to temporarily enroll in classes?”

“Sunset,” Applejack sat up, “What happened?”

“When we were playing soccer on Friday I threw my books on top of the portal. I guess there was some sort of reaction between the magic in my journal and the magic in the portal to make the book connect. We think it might’ve been caused by Twilight… uh… Midnight’s magic from the Friendship Games.”

“So wait, are you saying that James has been here since Friday?” Rainbow asked.

“Where’s he been stayin’ all weekend?” Applejack added.

Sunset felt her face flush. She was hoping they wouldn’t ask that.

“He’s been staying with me. At my apartment.”

“He’s been what now?”

“You’ve had a soldier from a book living in your apartment?” Rainbow stated, “That’s totally awesome! When can we meet him?”

“Now hold on just a minute,” Applejack raised a hand, temporarily halting Rainbow’s excitement, “Sunset, are you sure this is a good idea?”

“Well, what was I supposed to do? It was late and he needed a place to stay. Not to mention he came out of the portal carrying around a gun. I couldn’t just leave him.”

“He has a gun?” Rainbow asked excitedly.

“Rainbow, keep your voice down.” Sunset scolded her friend, “Yes, he does, and I don’t want to advertise that fact.”

“She’s got a point, Dash.” Applejack nodded, “Might be better if we don’t talk about that part.”

“Still. What’re you guys doing with it?”

“Right now? It’s just sitting in my apartment. I helped him clean it yesterday, but we still haven’t found a place to put it.”

“You got to mess with it? What’s it like?”

“Greasy? I don’t know. There’s a lot of small mechanical parts in it. Although he could take it apart and put it together again in twenty seconds.”

“Forty seconds?” Rainbow repeated, impressed, “The more you talk about this guy, the more awesome he gets!”

“I gotta say, he does sound pretty impressive. But I dunno ‘bout him staying with you, Sunset. Just don’t sit right. Ya hardly know him.”

“Well, I’ve read a lot about him. So in a way, I kind of know him. But still, he’s extremely polite, and I don’t think there’s anything to worry about from him.”

“If you say so.” Applejack shrugged.

“Ladies, I hate to interrupt, but I believe you three have a lab to work on.” The girls looked up at an annoyed looking teacher standing with her arms crossed, “If you want to discuss other classes, do it once you’ve finished the work in my class first.”

“Sorry, Ms. Zenith,” Sunset apologized. Ms. Zenith nodded.

“Just finish your work, then you can go back to whatever you all were doing. Oh, and Ms. Dash,” She looked at Rainbow, “Thank you for showing up on time today. I hope this pattern keeps up.”

“Yes, Ms. Zenith.” Rainbow nodded.

Satisfied, the teacher walked away, leaving the three alone again.

“I’m not late that often,” Rainbow grumbled.


Celestia had seen many things during her career. She once saw a student of hers learn to play saxophone in the school band without a right thumb. That was an impressive feat. Another student had built a cube satellite with the help of a few of his teachers that was launched into orbit. Again, impressive. And of course, there was the magical business in recent times from her own students and the visiting Princess Twilight Sparkle (as well as the other Twilight Sparkle from Crystal Prep). If she was honest with herself, she still didn’t understand Sunset and her friends’ explanations fully, but she thought it best to let it be. But despite all that, she was yet again astounded by what lay before her.

He was, by all means, a normal nineteen year old young man. He had his hair cut short, his face clean shaven, and his general personage seemed to radiate discipline and respect. He seemed to be what every educator wanted in a student.

And it bothered her.

Partially because she knew of his background, and partially because it was just not what students were these days. Most of her students respected her out of fear of being reprimanded. She hated it, but it seemed to be what it took for most students these days. Of course, there was once again the exception of Sunset Shimmer, who seemed to respect her based off of some experience she’d had with this fabled other version of herself in Princess Twilight’s world.

But this boy seemed to just respect her out of… well, respect. It made her feel… old. Of course, he technically had a few decades on her, and he’d seen and done things that would probably make her cower like a child. Regardless, he insisted on calling her ‘ma’am’ at any possible time and spoke as little as possible. And once they’d finished his paperwork, he’d sat quietly in the corner of the room, never saying a word. If he was going to be in her office, she thought she’d try and have a pleasant conversation, at least.

“James,” she said. The young man’s head turned to her, ready for whatever she had to say, “What was school like for you at home?”

The soldier frowned.

“Well… I stopped going to school in sixth grade, ma’am. I don’t think I would be the best person to ask about that sort of thing.”

“I’m just curious about your experience.” Celestia smiled, “Plus, I don’t think there are many other people to ask.”

“I guess you’re right.” James chuckled, “Well, most of my time in school was spent on the basic subjects. English, math, science, history and all that. It wasn’t anything fancy like algebra or geometry. It was more just multiplication and division. For everything else? I don’t really remember much. In history they talked a bit about The Great War, but most of that I learned from my dad.”

“Oh? Did your father study The Great War?”

“No, ma’am, he fought in it.”

“Ah, yes. I apologize. So he told you about his experience with it?”

“A little.” James shrugged, “He never liked to talk about it a whole lot when I was growing up, but before I left for training, he sat me down and told me some stories. It’s funny, actually, I remember exactly what he said before he started. He said, ‘Jimmy. What you’re about to see is your fellow man at its worst. You’ll see men do things that should be impossible. You’ll see men do things that are worse than any nightmare you’ve ever had. But at the end of it all, you’ll have made friendships that’ll last longer than the people themselves. Just fight hard, listen to your superiors, and you’ll get home in one piece.’”

“Your father sounds like a wise man.”

“I guess.” James nodded, “He wasn’t book smart, and he’ll be the first to tell you that. But he’d seen a lot of things. Especially in the War.” The soldier shook his head, “That man saw things that makes my generation’s war look like a schoolyard brawl. I don’t know how he did it. But he made it through the war and came home in one piece.”

The administrator frowned. It was like someone flipped a switch. The nineteen year old boy in front of her suddenly looked like the ninety year old man his birthday said he was. Every warning bell from her training as a school counselor was ringing, but she didn’t know what to do. It’s not like they had training for consoling combat veterans in high schools.

“Did you make those friends your father was talking about?” She said, trying to steer the conversation to a brighter light.

“Hm?” James looked up.

“The friendships your father talked about. Did you ever make friends like that?”

James paused, thinking. Slowly, he smiled, a little bit of youth coming back to his eyes.

“Yeah, I did.” He nodded, “I met the best friends of my life during training in Florida.” His smile turned sadder once again, “A lot of them aren’t with us anymore. But it’s like my dad said. Some friendships last longer than the friends.”

Celestia nodded. So much for her brighter topics.

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“It’s alright, ma’am. People die in war. That’s a fact I came to terms with a long time ago. They were great friends, though. They taught me a lot of things that probably saved my life a dozen times over.” James shrugged softly, “I just try to live a good life for their sake.” The soldier shook his head, grinning sheepishly, “I’m sorry. I sorta derailed that conversation, didn’t I?”

“That’s alright, James. I’m glad to hear about your friends.”

James nodded respectfully. He stayed quiet, and Celestia could see him regain that ancient look in his eyes. She looked away, distracting herself by shuffling the papers on her desk.

“Well, James. I’m afraid I do have a few meetings to go to here soon. You’re welcome to stay here, or I can see if Vice Principal Luna needs your help with anything.”

The young man looked up, nodding.

“If Miss Luna needs my help, I’d be more than happy to give it, ma’am.”

The administrator smiled. With a nod, she picked up the phone on her desk and dialed the number for Luna’s office, pressing the speakerphone button.

“Vice-Principal Luna.” A voice answered shortly.

“Luna, it’s Celestia.”

“Oh, hello, Celestia.” Her voice became much more cheery, “What can I do for you?”

“Well I’m in my office right now with our new student, and I have to get ready for a meeting with the superintendent. He’s offered to help out and I was wondering if there was anything you might need a hand with.”

“Hmm. I do have a few things I could use some help on. When do you need him out?”

“Not for a little bit longer, but I thought I’d walk him down to your office myself first. I need to bring some paperwork to you anyway.”

“More paperwork. Joy.” Luna sighed, “What’s this new student’s name, by the way?”

“Do you remember how Sunset said in her email that things were a bit ‘complicated’?”

“...Yes?”

“Well... I’ll explain when I get there. See you in a minute.”

“Celestia, wait, what does that mea-”

The administrator ended the call, a sly grin on her face. Across from her, James was sporting a confused but entertained grin.

“Sorry.” Celestia laughed softly, “Vice-Principal Luna is my sister. I enjoy messing with her a bit.”

James chuckled.

“I think I can understand that, Ms. Celestia.” James shook his head, “I was definitely terrible to my siblings. Especially since I was the oldest.” he smiled. “When my brother, John, was starting sixth grade, I told him, ‘Don’t worry, Johnny. Sixth grade is easy. It’s just me that was the problem.’ and then I did this dramatic pause and said, ‘Well, there was Mr. Harry, but… nah, I’m sure it’ll be fine.’” James laughed again with renewed vigor, “John was freaking out for a whole day. When he came home that night, he punched me in the shoulder and went to bed.”

“Was Mr. Harry strict?”

“No,” James shook his head, “He was the nicest teacher at the school. But I’d basically convinced Johnny that this guy was the strictest and meanest guy in the world and that he was the reason I had to drop out. And from what he told me, Mr. Harry asked him if he was my brother, and Johnny just completely froze and started crying.”

James’s story broke down as he started laughing again. Celestia smiled. “That’s a little mean, don’t you think?”

The American shooking his head.

“Oh, I’m sure it was. But it’s also hilarious.” He calmed down slowly, “Ah, uh… Sorry, again. I keep taking over the conversations.”

“That’s alright, James. I was just getting some papers together to take to Luna.” Celestia spoke reassuringly. “Let me finish up here and we can walk over.”

“Okay.” James nodded.

Celestia smiled and dropped her eyes back to the paperwork on her desk, shoving several stacks of documents into her bag.

Budget Proposals… Incident Report… Calendar Proposal… Bus Rentals… Student Release Forms… Substitute Teacher Requests...

“James,” Celestia looked up.

The soldier perked up. “Yes, ma’am?”

“Do you and Sunset have any idea of how long you’ll be with us?”

The man shook his head. “Not right now. It depends on how quickly she, Twilight, and… um… Twilight, can figure out what caused all this.” James shook his head, “I mean… There’s this… other Twilight. Not the same one…”

“That’s alright, James,” The administrator grinned, “I know about Princess Twilight and her counterpart here in this world,” She shook her head, “That was a long conversation I wasn’t ever planning on having.”

The American laughed. “I understand the feeling,” he nodded, “But to answer your question, no, I don’t really have any idea when I’m going home. Is that going to cause problems?”

“No, not at all. I was just asking because we have a camping trip coming up. If you’re still here by then, we’d love for you to come along.”

“Camping?” James shrugged, “I’d love to come along. I can talk with Sunset about it.”

“I think it’d be wonderful if you could make it, just let me know what you two decide on.”

“I definitely will, ma’am.”

The administrator stuffed the remaining folders into her bag, and stood. With a last check around the room, Celestia walked over and opened the door, stepping out behind James and starting off down the hall.

“Good morning, Celestia.”

“Good morning, Raven. I’m heading off a little early for my meeting with the superintendent, but I have to stop by my sister’s office first. James here is staying in her office while I’m out.”

Raven nodded.

“Alright. I’ll let you know if anything happens here while you’re gone.”

“Thank you.”

Celestia turned around to see James inspecting some portraits hung on the wall. They were the Fall Formal Princess pictures. A pang of guilt hit the administrator. She’d been meaning to have those taken down. The man frowned. She didn’t see any confusion, though. More of a cold understanding. She assumed Sunset must’ve told him.

“James,” she said, catching his attention. He turned to her, “Are you ready to go?”

The man nodded, falling in behind her as they stepped out of the office.

Now in the hallways of the school, Celestia took the opportunity to give a once over of the school. There were a few students here and there out of class, most of whom found somewhere to be as soon as they noticed her. She smiled to herself. It amused her how much students thought they were getting away with. Lucky for them, she didn’t have the time nor energy to go after every single one. Besides, that wouldn’t be enjoyable for anyone.

Celestia glanced over her shoulder at James. The soldier followed just behind her on her left side, and was taking the opportunity to look around the building as they walked. She looked back forward, and slowed her walk a bit, trying to let him come up to her side. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched as he noticed her slowing and, to her confusion, slowed his pace as well, remaining just behind her. She mentally shrugged. He must not want to talk, she thought.

At last, they came to a door set off from the rest of the classrooms. The window on the door had blinds pulled down over it. The nameplate next to the door read, “Vice-Principal Luna”. Celestia walked up to the door and knocked.

“Come in,” a voice called curtly from inside.

Vice-Principal Luna was seated at her desk, a mountain of paperwork similar to Celestia’s own sitting in front of her. Her authoritative glare softened as her sister stepped in.

“Good morning, Luna.” Celestia smiled.

“Hello, Celestia.” Luna’s friendly attitude hardened slightly as she noticed James behind her. “Hello. You must be our new student.”

“Good morning, ma’am.” James nodded respectfully.

“James, this is Vice-Principal Luna. Luna, this is our new student, James.”

“It’s nice to meet you, James. Welcome to Canterlot High.”

“Thank you, ma’am. I’m very happy to be here.”

“Now, Luna,” Celestia cut in, “If you remember, Ms. Shimmer said in her email that things were complicated.”

“I may have heard that,” Luna deadpanned.

“Luna… jokes aside, I promise you that this really is a complicated scenario.”

“Complicated how?”

“Complicated as in both Sunset Shimmer and Princess Twilight are working to resolve it.”

The vice-principal’s eyes widened, and she nodded, glancing to James.

“Ah. That kind of complicated.”

“It sounds much worse than it is, I promise you.” Celestia reassured her, “But you might recognize the problem if you hear Mr. James’s name.”

Luna turned to the man in question, who sat up slightly in response to being the center of attention.

“And what is your name, Mr. James?” She asked.

He glanced to Celestia.

“Full name, if you could, James,” Celestia prompted.

James nodded.

“Private James Isaac Garrett.”

“Private?” Luna frowned. Celestia could see the pieces falling into place. “You’re… you’re from Earth?

James nodded grimly. “Yes, ma’am.”

The vice-principal sat back in her chair. Celestia thought she looked like she’d just been slapped across the face.

“So… does this mean that the portal in front of our school… leads to worlds other than Princess Twilight’s world?”

“I’m not confident on the details, ma’am, but Twilight and Sunset told me that this was some kind of accident. It was something to do with some magical… thing,” James explained, “It’s still connected to Ms. Sparkle's home, last we checked. She was still able to come and go through the portal.”

“That’s good news, at least.” Luna nodded. “Without Princess Twilight, I’m afraid Sunset Shimmer is the only one here with any sort of understanding on how magic works.”

“With the two of them together, I’m sure they’ll figure out a way for you to get home,” Celestia added.

“I hope so.”

Silence fell over the group, with everyone having plenty to think about. Celestia had spent most of the morning trying to make sense of the scenario presented to her. It was funny, in a weird way. A year ago, and she would’ve assumed this to be some sort of prank by her students. But now? She believed it utterly and completely. And her sister, who had always been the most skeptical and distrusting of students, believed it as well. They’d come quite a long way.

Tearing herself from her thoughts, Celestia glanced at the clock on the wall.

“Well, I’m afraid I have a meeting to get to.” Celestia stood, grabbing her bag, “Oh, and before I forget,” she pulled the stack of folders out, handing them to her sister. “Here you are.”

“Wonderful,” Luna grunted as she set the stack on top of the already massive mountain of papers on her desk. “Have fun with the superintendent.”

“I’m sure I will.” Celestia grinned. “Bye, Luna.”

Celestia stepped out into the hallway, shutting the door behind her.

Vice-Principal Luna watched the man in front of her. Private James Garrett. She was familiar with his story. She had also read it when Mr. Synopsis had proposed it over the summer. And because she knew his story, she knew that the man in front of her was trained to kill.

Of course, she held no expectations for him to act on that training. In the very same story, they’d made it very clear he drew no joy from what he did. Still, her first duty as an administrator was the security of her students. And as far as she was concerned, he was not one of her students yet.

“I’ve read your book, James,” she said curtly, “Where in the war were you?”

James sat up straighter, like he was under an inspection.

“I’m not sure what you mean, ma’am. Do you mean where I was in Europe?”

“Where were you and when was it?” Luna clarified.

“November, 1944. Ribeauvillé, France.”

Luna nodded. He was fairly far into the book, if she remembered correctly. She made a mental note to not mention anything after that point. If he did end up getting back, she didn’t want him to know what was coming next.

“Well, James, I believe I’m supposed to put you to work.”

James nodded.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Good. If you look behind you, I have several filing cabinets lined up against the wall. These are our physical copies of student records. They need to be organized alphabetically. Can you do that?”

“Yes, ma’am.” The man nodded.

“Good. The boxes on top of the cabinets have the folders inside. If you need help with anything, let me know.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

James stood, walking over to the cabinets. He opened the first box and read the name on the front before setting it aside. Luna grinned to herself as he diligently repeated the motions. She’d had students help her in the past, but they were usually students serving detention of some kind. Their helped tended to be a little more reluctant. She was lucky if they got through one box in an hour. James, on the other hand, seemed more than ready to help.

He certainly is an odd one. I’ll have to take another look at that book sometime, too.

Luna looked back to the pile of paperwork in front of her. Her smile disappeared. Students may be able to help out with meaningless tasks, but they can’t do everything. With a sigh, Luna picked up her pen and got back to work.


“Sunset Shimmer!”

The girl in question jumped, dropping her pencil. She looked up to see Pinkie standing in front of their desks. To her right sat Fluttershy, who had recoiled back in surprise. Rarity, who was seated in front of her, looked less than pleased at her friend’s volume.

“Pinkie Pie!” Rarity chastised, “Please, darling, there’s no need to shout. We’re right here.”

“But Rarity! My Pinkie Sense is telling me that Sunset here is worried about something. And if Sunset’s worried about something, then that means something must have happened with Equestrian Magic! And if there’s a problem with Equestrian Magic, then things are really bad!”

“Oh. I don’t think I want another magic problem.”

“Fluttershy, darling, there is no magic problem,” Rarity reassured her friend, “And Pinkie, why don’t we let Sunset explain before we start jumping to conclusions?”

“Okay!”

Pinkie dropped into her desk in front of Fluttershy, staring at Sunset expectantly.

“Uh…” Sunset glanced at Rarity. “Well, we did have a little bit of a problem with the portal. But there’s technically no magic problem. At least, not like we’ve had before.”

“I don’t like the sound of that,” Fluttershy muttered.

“It’s not bad, I promise,” Sunset reassured her friend.

“What happened? Is Princess Twilight here? Did our pony selves come through portal?” Pinkie gasped in horror, “Is the portal closed forever?!”

“No, Pinkie, it’s nothing like that. The portal just temporarily connected to a different world.”

“That doesn’t sound too bad…” Fluttershy said.

“Huh. I was totally expecting that to be worse!”

“Sunset?” Rarity frowned. “Are you sure something else didn’t happen?”

The redhead sighed.

“...And someone may have come through.”

Fluttershy’s eyes widened in horror, and she retreated behind her hair.

“Oh!” Pinkie smiled, “That sounds way worse!”

“It’s not, I promise!” Sunset said quickly, “He’s not going to hurt us or anything. He’s actually really nice.”

“I can attest to that.” Rarity nodded, “He is a true gentleman.”

“W-What’s his world like?” Fluttershy asked.

“It’s actually from a book, isn’t it, Sunset?” Rarity said. Sunset nodded reluctantly.

“It’s the book we’re reading in English.”

Fluttershy’s eyes widened. Pinkie frowned.

“Wow. I guess I need to start readin’, cause I have no idea what that means!” Pinkie said.

“Fluttershy, sweetheart, are you alright?” Rarity asked.

Sunset looked over at Fluttershy. She had retreated back into her hair, looking terrified.

“D-Does that mean he’s… k-killed people?”

Rarity and Sunset looked to each other.

“W-Well, Fluttershy, darling… he has…” Rarity started. Fluttershy flinched back, breathing harder, “But he truly is a gentleman! He would never hurt anyone!”

“Kiiinda hard to say he wouldn’t hurt anyone if we know that he’s killed someone.”

“Pinkie Pie! Not. Helping.”

“Fluttershy, I understand it’s scary, but he really is a nice guy,” Sunset reassured her, “I promise if you meet him, you’ll see what I mean.”

“I-I don’t know.”

“Just one meeting. If you don’t get along, you never have to talk to him ever again.”

Fluttershy whimpered softly and looked between her friends, all three of which now had their eyes on her. Sunset thought she looked like she’d rather be anywhere else in the world. Eventually she reluctantly nodded.

“Okay.”

Sunset smiled, relaxing the muscles she didn't realize she’d tensed.

“Thanks, Fluttershy. It’ll be great.”

“Where is James, anyway, Sunset?” Rarity asked. “I assume he came to school with you.”

“Yeah, he’s here. I emailed Principal Celestia about temporarily enrolling him in classes so he’d be close by in case something happened. The problem is, when we got here, Principal Celestia said she couldn’t get him in right away, since he doesn’t have any paperwork.”

“Oh. I hadn’t thought of that.” Rarity frowned, “I imagine that makes things quite complicated.”

“Hey wait! Sunset, you did the same thing! ‘Cause you weren’t born in this world,” Pinkie said.

“I’m guessing whatever she’s doing is going to be similar.” Sunset nodded.

“So, where is he in the meantime?” Rarity asked.

“He’s in Principal Celestia’s office.”

“Will he be joining us during lunch?”

Sunset stared blankly at the ground. Rarity frowned.

“You… You did talk to him about this, correct?”

The redhead looked up at the fashionista, grinning sheepishly.

“I was running a bit late.”

“Sunset! You could’ve at least mentioned it to him.”

“Well if he doesn’t have any food, then he has to come to the lunchroom at some point. ‘Cause if he doesn’t, then he’s not gonna have any food and that would be terrible, and I know ‘cause I skipped lunch one time and it was really bad cause my tummy was all rumbly for the rest of the day and I couldn’t focus on my work.” Pinkie drew a breath, “So he’ll probably get food and you can find him then!”

“...She does bring up a good point, Sunset,” Rarity commented.

“One that she’s proven to the whole class.”

The four looked up to see a very irate teacher staring down at them. He crossed his arms, and Sunset could see the rest of the class watching them.

“Sorry sir.” Sunset straightened up in her seat.

“Hm,” he grunted, “If it’s not inconvenient to you four, may I start class now?”

“Yes, sir,” they chorused.

He nodded, and turned around to address the class.

“Make sure your packets are turned in up front.” He stopped at the front of the room, “Alright. Last night, you should’ve read chapter 12, covering GDP, intermediate goods, durable goods…”

Sunset tuned out the lecture. She glanced over at Fluttershy. The animal lover was staring blankly at her notebook. Sunset leaned over to her friend.

“Fluttershy? Are you sure you’re okay?”

The pink haired girl jumped slightly. Sunset could see the hesitation in her eyes. Slowly, she looked up at Sunset.

“Do you promise he’s nice?” Fluttershy barely whispered.

Sunset smiled.

“I promise. In fact, I think he’ll be more nervous around you than you’ll be around him.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that,” Fluttershy giggled. She gave Sunset a small smile, and nodded. “Okay, Sunset. I trust you.”

“Thank you, Fluttershy.”

Satisfied, Sunset turned back to face the class, her mind now looking ahead to lunch. She felt confident the meeting would go well, now that Fluttershy seemed at least somewhat on board with the idea of meeting him.

We just have to find him first.