“Hey! Wait, nonononoNONO- OW! FUCK!” Jack cursed vibrantly as his nose cracked and crunched back into place as the doctors saw to his wounds. He snorted and sneezed, spattering the hospital smocks chest with mucusy blood. “Ow.”

The nurse smiled thinly with a hint of sadism. “Aw, I thought you were a big tough guy, did that hurt?” She only smiled further as Jack grumbled and cleared his nose loudly. The mare's horn flashed and she enveloped as much of his head as she could with magic.

Taven set his hoof over Jack's hand as he immediately tensed. “Easy big guy, it's just a spell to reduce the swelling…” Taven had been quite sure that he had been staring the end of his career dead in the eyes when the Royal party had descended upon them, but thankfully Jack and Ada had managed to take most of the brow beating. It had reached a point where Taven was half certain that Jack might have even enjoyed it. As Jack slowly relaxed and let out a muted sigh of relief as the swelling around his eyes went down, Taven found himself wondering again exactly how Jack had gotten so far out into the city without any supervision whatsoever. “Jack, where are your other guards?”

The large man grunted as he sat on the edge of the bed and held his eyes on the nurse. “Probably still guarding my door.”

“How did they not see you leaving?”

Jack smiled lightly. “Took a shortcut. Now, how much casheesh did we make off all of that little adventure?” He waited patiently as Taven dug through the payment of bank notes.

“Uhhm… Around twelve hundred.”

“That a lot?”

“More than I make in a month.”

A smarmy grin broke out across Jack's features as he fished a cigarette from one of his pockets and lit it. “Baller. Now let's get the fuck out of here, the smell of antiseptic is making me twitchy.” The pair swiftly moved to exit the hospital, only to run into Ada and the doctors struggling with her.

The woman cursed brightly from inside her hospital room, and not a moment later a unicorn orderly bolted from the room with a look of terror on his muzzle. “Let that fookin’ serve yah right!” A cackling laugh followed as Jack stuck his head in the room. The woman immediately looked away from the nurse at her side and toward Jack. “Well if it ain't the man o’ the hour! They fixed your face up nice didn't they?”

Smiling as he offered a hand to help her up and off the bed, Jack simply shrugged. “Fuckin’ horse magic, what can I say?” His smile turned to a grin as his two day guards cantered past Ada’s room and moved toward where he had been. “Man, I sure would hate to be those two in a minute.” He patted Taven's side lightly. “I'll see you tomorrow T’. Try not to stir up any trouble eh?”

The stallion smiled as exhaustion filtered through his body. “Without you around? Pretty much impossible. See you later Jack.” The pair saluted each other lazily before Taven split off and left to resume his normal day off.

With a groan, the woman on the bed hefted herself up onto her booted feet and winced as she favoured her injured leg. She gestured toward his legs as she spoke. “Nice clankers yah got. Thought they were real up til’ I kicked em’.” She winced again and shook her head, before pointing toward the door that led out of the hospital wing. Catching her drift, Jack grinned and nodded, helping her reach the doors. The pair swiftly exited the hospital, leaving Jack's confused guards behind to search for him.

Strolling leisurely through the gilded halls, Jack held a small ice pack against his face to keep the swelling down. He glanced toward Ada and considered his questions before speaking. “Where’s your charge?”

“Who, Gil? She's wither’ folks.” The woman idly scanned the artwork that adorned the walls. “Like the Royal palace. Wacked…”

Jack quirked a brow in curiosity. “You ever go inside Buckingham? Actually, what year were you taken?”

Pausing momentarily to consider his questions, Ada let out a slow sigh. “Yeah, got the George Cross over some tripe in Pakistan, awarded by the king ‘imself.” She seemed to chew her cheek as they walked. “Got taken right off the CQC course in Hereford, full kit and two mags for my L90, what good they fookin’ did for me.” Ada snorted lightly as she gazed out of one of the massive stained glass windows. “October first, twenty twenty.”

Stopping before his door, Jack gawked at the woman for a moment. “Then… you don't know?”

“Don't know what?”

“We got invaded!”

Ada rolled her eyes. “The fook are you on about marine? There's always someone getting fookin’ invaded-”

“Earth! Earth got fuckin’ invaded!” Jack shook his head as Ada jerked her head toward him and stared with wide eyes.

“You're takin’ the piss mate.”

“I'm not!” Jack opened the door to his room and began the arduous task of filling someone in on almost two decades of missed Terran history. With his armour and rifle as proof, as well as the videos in his helmets hard drive, his point was made, and Ada sat down heavily onto the bed.

“I missed it… biggest fookin fight in alla’ history and I fookin’ miss it to go play mute Sherlock Holmes in fantasyland…” She rubbed her face slowly as Jack grunted and nodded his agreement while digging out a fresh pack of smokes.

“So-” Jack paused to light his cigarette and take a seat at his workbench. “How the hell you know about the Longbow program? That was some pretty deep Secret Squirrel shit.”

Rolling her eyes as she snagged the smouldering cigarette from Jack's hand, Ada puffed and sat back with a content sigh. “Some Hades Corp. scumbag pitched the idea to the SAS, woulda took too if it didn't just up and kill perfectly healthy soldiers.” She shrugged, before looking over his armour. Her gaze remained for a long moment before she let out a long drawn out breath. “I fookin’ hate this place…” She took a short drag and scowled as Jack quirked a brow at her. “Don't gimme that fookin’ look marine. You couldn't ‘ave had it any better out here.”

Sitting back and idly fingering the magical tattoo on the inside of his forearm, Jack grimaced at the memory. “Hasn't been easy, but from what Sunbutt says there's no way home anyways. Make do, right?”

Snubbing her half finished smoke, Ada grunted at him and sat in a somewhat defeated position. “I need a fookin’ drink…”

“Now you're speakin’ my language, sister.” Jack smiled lightly as he stood and gestured toward the door. The woman at his side managed a grim smile, which quickly turned to guarded readiness when a pair of armour ponies burst through the door.

“There he is! By the sun and moon, Jack, where have you been!?” Mythic cried out as they approached. His hoofsteps faltered as both he and Baron registered the unamused looking woman sitting next to Jack. “Who's that?”

“She followed me home. Can I keep her?” Jack fought to keep his shit eating grin down and only received a cuff across the back of the head for his attempt.

“The only thing you're keeping marine, is the promise o’ booze. Come on now, march.” Ada prodded Jack along, earning pained grunts for her efforts as they passed by the two shocked guards.

As the door clicked closed behind the pair, Baron shuddered and let out a weak, defeated moan. “Now there's two of them…” Mythic shuddered and shook his head, before gently patting Baron’s side and leaving to follow the pair of humans before they could stir up too much trouble.

______________________________________________________________________

In the royal labs, the Royal party had arrived, and Petyr was in the middle of explaining how the extended range of the new radios was achievable to the Emperor and Empress. There was talk of placing at least one in every village for emergency purposes, even if the price would be high. To the side, Field was biding his time with his report of the progress of Sword and Shield. His eyes were immediately captured by Flitter as she stood at Luna’s side. He cleared his throat lightly, drawing the mare's attention. She smiled tiredly toward him as she spoke quietly.

“Hey Field, what's new?”

The stallion returned her smile readily. “Oh you know, our usual. You look very stunning in your uniform…”

Flitter's tired smile turned weak and embarrassed. “I look the same as everybody else Field.” She yawned quietly before rubbing at her face.

“Would you like some coffee? We just brewed a fresh pot.” Field offered, and found his smile returning as Flitter nodded.

In front of the Royal party, Petyr was doing his best to explain how the concept of radio towers to extend general range of radio signals would benefit everybody involved. The Emperor stroked his feathers in thought as Petyr fought passed his accent to get the point across. “I see… it seems so simple when put like that.” Wilhelm smiled toward the large man. “I should invite you to the capitol one of these days to show a thing or two to our scientists and engineers. I know my son would love to pick your brain on a number of subjects.”

As the others remained focused on the mundane radio and other projects of the science team, one member of the Royal party had grown bored and was idly snooping through paperwork as the others were distracted. Gilda’s brow slowly raised as she began slowly skimming through a collection of pictures involving some kind of golem and a strange musket. Under those pictures, was a conceptual breakdown on the complex interactions of a machinegun. The chemical formulas and technical drawings went far over her head. Soon enough however, she found something that pulled her attention away immediately. A detailed technical drawing, with the header SWORD. It was some kind of slopped box with a trio of long tubes protruding from it. If she could guess from the proposed scale, it was going to be big.

Petyr’s voice was growing closer, as was the click of talons and clop of hooves. Setting the drawings and pictures back down, Gilda did her best to look inconspicuous. “With the Martyr's help, the workings of the project have begun to move much faster-”

Ophelia smiled toward her daughter, before politely interrupting the human. “Forgive me, but who is this ‘Martyr’? I'm not familiar with that name.” Her husband nodded his agreement.

For his part, the large man seemed slightly embarrassed at his slip up. “My apologies, he's asked that I not call him that anymore. I believe you met Staff Sergeant Jack Kessle earlier? He is… somewhat of an idol among my people-” Petyr pointedly ignored the startled choke from Luna. “But I… may be somewhat biased toward him.” He admitted sheepishly.

Nodding their understanding, Wilhelm looked over the labs and nodded his approval. “We have been working on several projects of our own. I'll have Snowclaw send along our research. While I doubt you Equestrians have much use for weapons, I believe it will be a step toward our mutual goal.” He offered his talons to Celestia, who shook them readily.

“Mr. Field? Petyr? Please have copies of our current projects save for Sword and Shield sent to Ambassador Snowclaw.” Celestia smiled toward the Emperor. “It may come as a surprise that we have a weapons project of our own Wilhelm. With luck they won't be needed.”

Empress Ophelia treaded forward to nuzzle her beloved’s side. “And of Sword and Shield? Will you be sharing the works on them, whatever they may be?”

“Indeed we will.” Luna trotted to her sister's side. “When they are completed. You must understand that many of our officers may suffer a stroke if we went through with full military disclosure.”

Chuckling lightly as he nodded, Wilhelm looked to his wife and daughter. Letting out a soft sigh, he opened his beak to speak, only to be interrupted by a plume of dragon fire, and a tightly rolled scroll dropping into his outstretched paw. He took a moment to unroll it, and if the frown on his features was any indication, something was amiss. “I apologize, but we must take our leave immediately. Carolus has returned from the north far ahead of schedule.”

“What about Ada?” Gilda asked icily, noting the absence of her bodyguard to the others present.

Luna glanced to the others and smiled thinly. “I am quite sure she is wherever Jack is. Flitter, could you find them and inform Miss Ada that her group is leaving?”

Looking up from her cup of coffee, Flitter faltered for a second before setting the cup down and nodding. “I'll find him.” Field lowered his head in near dismay as the fresh coffee went unheeded. She quickly trotted out into the hall and paused to think of where Jack could be in the castle.

The first, most obvious location was his room, which stood empty and unguarded. The next was the dining hall, which besides from a few staff, was empty. A check in the spa and bathhouse was equally fruitless, and Flitter was about to employ the help of one of the guards when she was struck by the realization that he'd likely be drinking his face off. She immediately set off for the small guard tavern in the lower reaches of the castle. Passing by the forges and armoury, Flitter finally found the tavern door and pressed inside. Just as she entered, she heard Jack laughing.

“Oh God! That’s terrible!” He laughed raucously and drank as the woman across from him grinned and relaxed.

“Well, what about you marine? What’d you deal with? Couldn't have been any worse than everybody trying to season you for nummies and a human serial killer trying to smoke you.” Ada took a long drink and grinned at the marine, her cheeks flushed red. Flitter immediately disliked her.

Jack rubbed at his face as he stared at his drink. “Well, ponies, y’see, besides the whole treat you like a dog and casual torture crap, they got this weird bestiality kind of thing going. Little rapey.”

“What!? You're pulling me fookin’ leg! Oh lordy, that's nasty.” Ada laughed before pointing at him. “You go native? Eh marine? Maybe chase a bit of easy, literal tail?”

At the hot scowl Jack sent her way, Ada withdrew her teasing as he drank. “Not by any choice of mine. I'd rather never touch another pony if my life depended on it.” He leaned back into the booth and Flitter felt her hopes shimmer and die all in one fell swoop. With her ears pressed against her head she approached and cleared her throat. Jack perked and glanced over, only to grin tipsily and haul Flitter off her hooves and onto his lap before she had a chance to open her mouth. “If it isn't my favourite little commissioned pone! Flitter, this is Ada. Ada, Flitter, Flitter, Ada.”

Flitter squirmed in Jack's lap as Ada lazily lifted a hand in greeting. Grunting out her own greeting, Flitter fought to at least get comfortable as she spoke. “I'm supposed to tell you that the Emperor and Empress are leaving ahead of schedule.”

“Tsk, shite. A’ight then. Swear I can't go more than five bloody minutes before something goes arse up.” Ada levered herself up and stretched. Flitter felt her hackles rise as Jack watched the woman for a moment before getting up as well and setting Flitter down in the booth. Draining her mug of its contents, Ada hummed in thought before nodding in moderate approval. “Y’should come and visit Griffonstone. Maybe we’ll have some real drinks and see where the night goes.” She grinned and winked as she slapped Jack's shoulder. “See you around tinman.”

“Later Trouble.” Jack idly waved as he sat back down and finished his drink. His eyes followed Ada out, and lingered at the door for a long moment. He let out a light laugh as he shook his head. “Why's it always the women who can kick my ass who do this shit to me?” He looked over as Flitter ruffled her feathers and tried to appear not completely jealous and bristly. Naturally in his imbibed state, all he saw was a fluffy creature in need of attention. Flitter squeaked in surprise as he pulled her back into his lap and gave her ears rapid scratches. He ignored the looks his bodyguards gave him as he worked Flitter over with his fingers. “Who's a fluffy pone?”

“I-I am…”

“Yes you are! My favourite fluffy pone!”

Flitter squirmed in his grasp and felt her cheeks flush with embarrassment as some of the guards present chuckled at her suffering. “J-jack- I- I need to tell you something-”

“Hmm?” His attentions didn't cease, and a lot of attention was now falling on the pair.

“Stop!” His hands immediately stopped as he leaned forward to get a good look at her. His own features were etched with equal imbibed confusion and concern. Flitter pulled away from him and shot a scowl at him. “Just… Don't, okay? What's gotten into you anyways?”

Immediate regret slowly filled Flitter's conscience as Jack's good mood visibly faded to be replaced by his neutral unhappy expression. “Sorry. Won't happen again.” He pulled a cigarette from his pocket pack and stuck it between his lips. “See you around.” He pushed himself up and out of the booth and lit his smoke as he treaded toward the door.

Cursing herself, Flitter hopped out of the booth and chased after him. Once they were in the hall Flitter called out to him as she galloped to catch up. “Jack! Wait!”

He didn't stop. “Why?”

“I-” Flitter growled to herself and flapped her wings, gliding the last of the distance to his side. “What's gotten into you?”

“What's gotten into me?” He turned on his heels and shot an angry glare at Flitter that had her ears pressed against her head. “The hell’s gotten into me? Oh, what? Now that you're an officer you can't be seen spending time with your lowly enlisted buddy?”

Flitter suppressed a pained whine as his words struck deep. Anger began to well up in her chest toward the intoxicated bastard before her. “What was I supposed to do Jack? You were embarrassing me!”

“Since when did anybody else's opinion of us matter Flitter?” His anger turned to pain as his scarred features twisted with sadness. “We're supposed to be in this together and all you're doing is pushing me away …”

“We are in this together-”

“It’s becoming pretty obvious that we're not.” Jack dropped his cigarette under his boot and squashed it into the marble.

“Stop being so fucking moody!” Flitter burst. “The hell happened to you, that you can't act and reason like a normal person anymore!? You're a mess! Just man the fuck up and cut this shit out!”

The brand scar pressed deep into his shoulder twinged in pain as his hands clenched tightly at his sides. “this place happened.” He muttered hotly before turning on his heels and treading out of the undercroft. Flitter called out to him but he didn't turn. “Come talk to me when I'm sober or when you can make time in your busy schedule.”

As Jack left the undercroft and his guards trailed behind him at a safe distance, Flitter let out a frustrated scream and flew off in the opposite direction toward her room to vent.

Jack's hands clenched and unclenched at his sides as he walked, his previous good mood all but gone now. He paused briefly at his door to regard it. Mythic glanced toward Baron, and took a step forward. “Sir? Are you alright?”

“You're dismissed.”

The pair of guards blinked in surprise. Mythic tilted his head ever so slightly as he took another tentative step forward. “Sir?”

“You heard me. You're dismissed.” He pushed into his room and let the door close loudly behind him.

Baron looked toward Mythic and shrugged. “Well, orders are orders right?”

The stallion shook his head and took his position by Jack's door. “Last I checked his name isn't Princess Jack. I'm not leaving my post.”

“Well then we should probably take up positions inside, unless we want him to slip away on us again.” Baron smirked as Mythic shot a flat glare at her, before nodding in defeat and opening the door so they could enter. Outside, the sun had begun its slow descent and was casting long shadows over Jack's quarters. The large container that they'd retrieved on their first mission sat squared up against the corner of the room, and was slowly being converted into a secure storage locker for all the myriad of weapons and dangerous items they'd retrieved. Jack himself had stripped off his exo skeleton and had sat down at his workbench seat. He eyed the pair of guards as they entered, but didn't send them away. Instead, he lit another cigarette and puffed on it thoughtfully.

“Guess my words aren’t worth shit anymore. Either of you ever fired a gun before?”

The question caught the pair off guard as they shared a glance between themselves and shook their heads. Mythic stood by the door with Baron as she spoke. “No, we don't have any muskets in the Royal Guard.”

Jack chewed his cheek thoughtfully and shrugged. “Well, if'n you two are actually gonna be any good at keeping me in check, you're gonna need to know.” He wandered into his container and began rooting around.

Approaching the container to peer in, Mythic quirked a brow with interest. “But we don't have hands, how could we?”

The stallion jumped a bit as Jack tossed a small pistol at him. The weapon bounced off his helmet, and was promptly caught in Baron's magic. Jack treaded out and pointed at it. “That's how. I've been fuckin’ about with an idea for a kinda saddle deal for you non-magical fuckers, but I still gotta wait on the boys in the forge.” He hefted a large stand up that held a piece of perforated wood. Treading over to Baron, he picked up the fully armoured mare and ignored her cries of protest as he set her down in position. Righting the weapon in her magic, he pulled it closer and aligned it before her. “Okay, line up the front sight with your target, and gently squeeze the trigger.” Baron glanced to Mythic with open worry as she held the pistol in her magic and Jack held her shoulders to steady her. With Mythic's encouraging roll of a hoof, Baron swallowed nervously and slowly squeezed the trigger. The following gunshot saw the small block of wood fall over with little fragments of wood fluttering down around it.

Pushing her helmet up with a hoof, Baron found herself smiling happily in astonishment. “I hit it!”

Gently rubbing his abused face, Jack forced a smile and patted her head. “Congrats, you now know everything you need to know about shooting someone.”

“That's… that's it?”

Grunting, Jack pulled the pistol out of her magic with a bit of effort and ejected the magazine before racking the slide. Popping the errant round back into the stick, he held the pistol so the mare could watch what he was doing. “Safety. If it’s on, the weapon doesn't fire. Mag goes in til’ it clicks. Mag release is here.” He racked the slide again, and shot the board a second time. “Simple as that.” He set the pistol down on his workbench and winced in pain.

Mythic took a few cautious steps forward as he watched Jack gently touch his busted up face. “Are you alright Jack?”

His fingers had been brushing across the smooth plastic of the morphine case, but Mythic's voice stopped them in their tracks. He sighed quietly and patted the case gently. “Truthfully? I ain't been alright for a long time.” He smiled weakly toward the pair. “But I'll live. Now, I gotta get some sleep.” He glanced out the window toward the failing light of the day. “Sergeant Varenikov should be on board soon. You two can go if you want.” The pair shared a look, before nodding respectfully. They didn't realise he was lying. Baron was first to the door, while Mythic lingered. Jack rubbed his split cheek and waved away the stallions unvoiced concerns.

When his guards had left and the door had clicked shut, Jack allowed his anger to finally rear its ugly head. “Act like a normal person… I can't believe that shit.” He snorted hotly and rubbed at his face despite the pain it caused him. His eyes flicked back to the morphine case and the niggling little voice of desire returned. “Maybe… just one wouldn't hurt… to help me get to sleep…” His fingers soon found purchase on the small case and it popped open easily. He didn't want to use any of the syrettes, but he had to. The needle punched through his skin with ease, and he failed to hold back his moan of ecstasy as he slumped into his bed. His following dreams were twisted by the potent drug.

______________________________________________________________________

Luna's hooves made no sound as she trotted cautiously through the twisting and weaving paths of the dreamworld. The ocean beneath her rippled like water as her hooves touched it; every dream visible to her sat like a calm, pleasant ball upon the water. She could see a faint, distorted vision of each dream as she passed; if she were to focus her mind enough, she could hear the faint sounds of those dreams. As she monitored the dreams of all those under her rule, she eventually came across one that was slowly becoming a nightmare. The vibrations of the distressing dream slowly reached out across the ocean of dreams and called her to it, so with little effort she slipped into the dream like a ghost and set about righting it. The small foal within the dream was scared that they'd never find their cutiemark, and that they would be left behind by all of their friends. It was simple enough for the princess to see to that fear, and by the time she lifted herself from the dream, its distressed vibrations had all but ceased and the foal was sleeping pleasantly.

As she set her hooves back onto the dream ocean’s surface an echoing thump sounded out from across the dreamscape and a small wave washed up around her hooves. A deep frown overtook Luna's expression and she immediately set out to see to the disturbance. She knew who it belonged to long before she saw it. The dream sat on top of the ocean like the others, but it was pulsating and shimmering with the colours of violence. The perfect sphere of Jack's dream swiftly became imperfect as it twisted and pulsed like a dying creature. Luna frowned heavily and stared at the nightmare as she considered her options. While she had agreed to stay out of Jack's dreams, his dreams had been subdued as of late. This new one was beginning to create waves that could threaten her if she was uncautious. With her mind made up, Luna pushed into the chaotic nightmare.

Her hooves sank into hot sand that bit and burned at her fur and flesh; the acrid stench of spent gunpowder and smell of burning ozone made her fur crawl. She soon realized that she wasn't within a simple dream, or memory dream, but within a suppressed portion of the psyche. It was almost as dark as the dreamscape she had just come from, but in the distance the sky was deeply scarred by rippling towers of flames that further stained the sky black. Far off in the distance she could see a solitary figure plodding through the deep sands. Setting off as quickly as she could, Luna worked to catch up with the figure. She soon came up upon Jack, clad in his EOD bomb suit. He turned momentarily to regard her, his face was split and bloody under the thick visor.

“They're burning the rigs.”

Luna quirked a brow in question just as the sky split open and oily rain began to fall. Quickly copying Jack's protective clothing to keep herself safe from the burning rains, Luna tensed with worry as the sands shifted violently beneath them and the oily black rain began to pool. In the pools she could just barely make out memories playing within them; those she could discern made her fur crawl. She would have to be incredibly careful, delving into psyche’s was incredibly dangerous at the best of times. And right now was not the best of times. The best way forward was to simply work Jack through whatever new issue he was having.

“Jack, what is troubling you?” Luna shifted nervously as her eyes scanned the ever shifting horizon. Something just seemed off about the dreamscape, like something was influencing it in ways she was not used to.

“Hurts.”

His quiet, muffled answer caught her off guard. She watched as he sat down heavily in the oil pitted sands and allowed the rain to build up on his thick visor. “What hurts?” She sat down before him, and felt her flanks sinking into the hot sands.

“Everything… I just… want to not hurt…” He shuddered in his suit. “I want to go home…” He slowly laid back onto the sand and stared up at the oily black clouds overhead.

“I am sorry Jack… Everything has been moving so fast we haven't had time to try and help you.” She internally berated herself for the slip up, and made a note of speaking to Celestia about it. “We just thought that since you were doing so well, perhaps you didn't need as much help as we thought.”

“Distractions.” He mumbled quietly. “Just gotta drink, and smoke, and train, and fight… makes it go away for a little while…” The dreamscape pulsed and seemed to crush in on itself; the sand now whipping around as high winds threw them this way and that.

Sighing to herself as the high velocity sands blasted the protective suit she wore, Luna allowed a moment of silence to pass between them. She knew better than to push the inner psyche too hard; it was a finicky aspect. It would speak of things that the waking mind would rather die than speak of. It would share secrets, and inner desires. It could give a look into the most inner workings of somebody’s mind, but any move, any word taken the wrong way, and the aspect could react unpredictably. Its domain was chaotic by nature, and if it lashed out, it could seriously harm even a highly skilled dreamwalker such as Luna. She would have to tread carefully and appeal to his inner nature.

A chuckling laugh pulled Luna out of her musings and to another man, leaning against a large round stone. The other man wore no protective equipment, but seemed otherwise unaffected by the buffeting sands. Of course, if the new man was going to be worried about anything, it would be the sucking chest wound that was sitting just to the left of his sternum. “Appeal to his inner nature? Tsk tsk.” The well tanned man smiled down at Jack. “Do you even know what his inner nature is? Do you seriously think it's even intact? Ol’ Nasty Jack here’s all kinds of busted up inside, I don't even think he knows. “

Luna stood and faced off against the newcomer as Jack remained motionless in the sand, allowing it to slowly bury him. “Identify yourself.” She narrowed her eyes at the man.

“Where are my manners? I'm Mark Volk. Or at least, he knows me as Mark Volk. The real Mark died years ago, but he still carries him. It's adorable in a futile sort of way. To you though, I'm a wonderful little gift he was left with when the big man brought him here.”

“Why?” Luna growled as she secretly charged a spell. She would have to be very careful with her casting, one errant spell could mean disaster.

Mark grinned and showed off his pearly white teeth. “To make sure he does the right thing. Now, I think it's time for his sleep to return. Buh bye now, Princess.” His hands glowed brightly as he lifted them to point toward the princess. Acting quickly, Luna sidestepped the blast and returned fire with her own magic. The sands were now so agitated that it was growing impossible to see anything save for the brightly coloured blasts of energy as the pair traded shots. “You're only making things worse, Princess.” Mark teased as he detonated the crawling dune she was taking cover behind. The man grunted as a bolt of energy from the princess’ returning fire grazed his across the side. “Do you honestly think you can make me leave? His head is mine, Princess!”

“You hold no power here, Aspect of Discord!” Luna shouted back as she jumped to cover. Her magic was having little effect on the man. She would have to think of something else, and fast. Drawing a weapon she knew from Jack's dreams and levitating it in her magic, Luna began laying suppressive fire down upon the mental intruder. Mark moved with unnatural grace as the steel spikes slammed into the sand around him, but he couldn't escape the storm entirely. As the man disappeared from sight, Luna rushed forward and grasped the drag handle on Jack's armour and slowly began pulling him free from the sinking dune with great effort. “Come on Jack, fight!”

He slowly turned his head toward her as she fired away at the sand dunes beyond. “Fight? I… but I've already fought so much… I just want to go home and sleep.” He twitched as the staccato gun blasts going off around him buffeted his body. Mark's returning fire began stitching the ground around them; the skies above pulsed a furious red as a round plucked at Jack's protective suit. “I want to go HOME.” He snarled as he pushed himself up and away from Luna. He staggered into the center of their firefight and clutched his heavy helmet before letting loose a gut wrenching howl of anguish. “GO AWAY!”

The skies ripped asunder as all hell rained down on Luna and Mark, the intruders within Jack's mind. The sand heaved and Luna spilled over a dune as great howling machines descended upon them, nose mounted cannons roaring loud enough to make Luna believe that the very fabric of the dreamscape was being ripped apart by them. The sand dunes began detonating with monstrous force, sending Luna and Mark flying. As she hit the ground hard and rolled, Luna prepared her next spell as quickly as her mind could handle. It was going to be sloppy and rushed, but if it worked she'd be alive. The roaring machines overhead loosed underslung bombs that hit the desert and burst into walls of seething flames that curled her fur under the suit even as the spell went off. A sphere of incandescent white light swiftly surrounded Luna, and soon she found herself falling through the dreamscape.

The fall lasted a mere second, before her projected aspect landed hard inside her physical body. She jerked in her bed as everything came back far too fast, and she fell off her bed because of it. A gasping breath rattled her chest as she struggled to sit up and her guards burst into her room. Ignoring their cries of alarm, Luna shuddered and spat out a mouthful of oily sand and shook her head. “I must check on Jack…”

Her pair of guards perked in confusion, but ultimately they ceded to her whims. The trio began a swift trot down the halls toward Jack's room, and found the door perforated and ruined by prior automatic gunfire. Any of the guards present in the hall had taken cover behind anything solid they could get their hooves on. “How long has it been since he started?” Luna asked with worry as she scanned the guards for any wounds.

“About five or so minutes Princess. We heard screaming and then gunfire. We haven't been able to enter.” The night guard answered as her eyes flicked to the destroyed door. A human maid wandered past them, completely unaware of the danger. When the maid wasn't perforated, Luna stood and cautiously began moving toward the door.

“Jack? Are you alright in there?” When no answer came, Luna slowly pushed the door open with her magic and peered inside. The large bed had been kicked over in a hurry, creating an impromptu barricade against any perceived attacks. A pair of beady eyes stared back at her over the bed's edge. Noting the lack of weaponry pointed toward her, she continued forward and trotted around the soft barricade. “Jack?”

The man blinked blearily at her. “What?” He set the automatic carbine rifle down and kicked at the shell casings that littered the floor.

“Are you alright?”

He peered at her, before sticking a finger in one of his ears and wiggling it. “What?”

“I said are you alright!”

“I can't hear kinda.” He groaned and sat down against the wall while cradling the stubby carbine. He continued to poke at his ears in a futile attempt to regain a portion of his hearing.

Luna rubbed her muzzle idly in frustration, but she couldn't take it out on the man before her. After all, it was somewhat her fault. “Should I call a doctor?”

He waved her off as he made faces. “I kinda heard that, I'm alright… ugh, maybe not…”

“What do you mean?” Luna perked a brow at the man as he slowly flopped over onto the floor and warm shell casings.

“Kinda still drunk, kinda really hung over… face hurts… nuearg….” He slowly curled in on himself like a dying spider, and only managed to look somewhat more pitiful. The sight brought a mildly amused chuckle out of Luna as she laid down on the floor next to him and pulled him in with her wings. Jack sucked in a breath through his nose and tensed immediately. “What're yah doin?”

“I am hugging you. Calm yourself.” She wrapped her wings around him and hugged him to her side. “It is generally considered friendly.”

Jack grunted as he relaxed somewhat. “Uh huh…”

The pair remained as they were for some few minutes, before Luna spoke. “So has Flitter spoken to you recently?”

His features twisted fouly as he fidgeted. “Yeah. She made things pretty clear on where we stand.” Pushing himself up and off the ground, Jack rubbed his bleary eyes and grunted in disgust. He stumbled into his bathroom and began splashing water onto his abused features. As the princess crossed over to his bathroom to see him, Jack ran his fingers through his twisted knots of beard and stared at himself through the numerous shards of cracked mirror that clung to the cabinet.

“What happened to the mirror?” Luna asked curiously as she peered at it.

“We had a disagreement on what should have been there. Things got violent.” He closed his eyes and rested his forehead on the cabinet. “Does your world have aspirin?”

Luna nodded, and set off to have the guards bring him some. As she left earshot, Jack looked back over to his broken reflection and muttered to himself. “The hell is wrong with me?”

Author's Notes:

I kinda disliked this chapter, but It's required to do the groundwork for later story lines. Act 2 is also going to be considerably longer than anticipated. For those of you baying for blood and action, just keep calm, it's all coming in due time.