Chapter 43: Unexpected Guest

Myst dropped off the group of ponies and one human in a clearing where they tramped through the forest to the location where they had first discovered James. As they drew near the clearing a large translucent magenta bubble covering the area. The group marched up to where the bubble met the frozen icy ground. Together they all peeked inside and surveyed the clearing.

The damage was horrific. Everywhere, the scenery seemed to be melting slowly. Rocks, snow, dirt and trees alike were melding into each other like a great melting pot. The entrance of the cave he had used as a shelter was sagging and drooping towards the ground.

"What in tarnation is goin' on here!?" Applejack exclaimed

"Holy shit, is this what you were talking about Twilight?" James asked her.

"Oh my, all the poor plants and animals," Fluttershy softly said sadly, "Twilight, is there anyway we can help?"

"I'm afraid not Fluttershy. This barrier I put up is the only thing keeping it contained and even then, I have to return every once in a while to renew the spell."

"Twilight, I am so sorry about burdening you with this." James apologized.

"It's ok, there was no way we could know this would happen."

"Just one question though. Why is this happening here, but no where else? I mean, I found plenty of other items in the forest before, but nothing like this was happening near them."

"I don't know, I just don't know James."

"Is there any way we could stop or reverse it? Besides the other option we discussed."

"I'm sure there must be some kind of spell, but if there is it'll be extremely difficult and there's no guarantee it would last."

"Well, we have to try."

"Yer darn tootin' we do. Twi', do ya think ya could find somethin' ta help? There's no tellin' what could happen if this spreads."

"You're right AJ. Everypony, I think I need to make another trip to Canterlot."

Rarity started positively beaming, "Ooh! I'll go with you! I just must get my hooves on some more choice fabrics, among other things."

"Rar', ya ain't gettin' no fancy idears like last time, are ya?"

Rarity was taken aback at the farm mare's question, "Applejack... well... I never! The very thought!"

"Jus' checkin', heh heh heh."

Before they left, Twilight renewed the barrier spell to make sure it would be secure until the next time she could visit. Then together, they walked back to the Clipper. As they all piled in, Myst spun up the engine and took to the sky. As they flew back to Ponyville, James sat down with them to have a little chat.

"Girls, I appreciate everything you've done for me, but I need you all to do me a favor."

"Aw shucks, jus' name it."

"I want you guys to keep this from RD, I don't want her to worry."

The four mares just looked at him in an appalled silence.

"Hun, I understand yer reasons, but that ain't a good idea sugar."

"Why, that's absolutely ghastly."

"James, um, please listen, uh, I mean, if that's ok with you, lying to Rainbow Dash wouldn't be very nice. I think you should just tell her."

Twilight stepped in, "Fluttershy's right James. You should just come clean with her. She'll be more upset if you lie to her and she finds out on her own."

James looked down at the deck dejectedly, "Ughhh... alright. But I do it myself and on my terms, none of you are allowed to jump the gun and warn her, ok?" He asked kindly.

"You have our word." Rarity promised.

"Pinkie Promise."

"Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in our eye..." They said in unison while going through the motions.

"Myst?" James called to the cockpit.

"Don't worry about me boss, I'll consider it an order." She replied.

"That's why I love ya sister. So we are all in agreement?"

They all nodded.

"Outstanding. Myst, why don't you go ahead and drop me and AJ off in Ponyville before taking Twilight and Rarity to Canterlot. I'll throw in a bonus for you, drinks on me when you get back."

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"...and so that's where we stand on the issue. This guy Kraster is now an HVT, if he wasn't already. However, he is still highly dangerous. If he is located by any of you, you are to call it in and sit tight until reinforcements arrive. No matter how few hostiles are with him, you must always assume there are more out of sight near by. Now, are there any questions?"

James was standing on a high stage in a large auditorium in the castle of Canterlot, concluding his briefing to the whole of the RSTG, save one team whose where abouts he was currently unaware of. He had gone against Celestia's wishes in informing them all of the dire situation. In his opinion, he felt that these would be the soldiers bringing the fight to the enemy, so they deserved to know everything about them. Not a single stallion raise their hoof at James' askance for questions, so he decided to wrap it up.

"Outstanding, now return to your divisions and remain alert. We will have nine different patrols on task at all times with three in reserve. You will all rotate out of your patrol patterns once a month, that's three on, one off. Your team leaders have the maps, dismissed."

All the ponies stood up and began to shuffle out of the lecture hall, murmuring to each other about what they had just heard. James exited through a side door by the stage and began walking back to his castle quarters that Princess Celestia had assigned him to begin packing for his return trip to Ponyville. He was eager to get back as Spring was only just around the corner and the girls had been explicit in insisting he be home for something they called 'Winter Wrap-up'.

From what he could discover, it was the time of year that all the townsfolk of Ponyville chipped in and helped clean up all the snow and such in order to allow the season to change into Spring. James was still amazed at how involved the ponies were in the cycle of the weather and the seasons.

As he closed the distance to his room, James felt as if he was being watched. While keeping his pace, the human looked over his shoulder to check the passageway behind him. Nothing. Shrugging it off, James continued on, reaching the door to his room in short order. As he reached for the handle, he suddenly noticed that something was off. Slightly, just ever so slightly, the door was cracked ajar.

Drawing his knife, James put his back against the adjacent wall and quietly listened for any sign of an intruder. After a minute, he thought he might just be too paranoid and was about to sheathe his weapon when he heard the sound of a hoof on the wooden floor inside. Hands and weapon up at the ready, James backed away from the door, took two steps and kicked the door wide open on the third.

"SURPRISE!" A bubble gum pink earth pony was jumping up and down on his bed.

Instead of a room full of enemies, James barged into a room full of friends. Thinking quickly, he tossed the knife in the trash can by the door and threw on a smile.

"Oh, hey everyone, I wasn't expecting you all to be here, what's up?"

Pinkie began to throw a rapid fire explanation at him, "We came to see how Twilight was doing with all her researching, sometimes she gets carried away and forgets to eat or go outside and we thought she might be lonely 'cause Rarity said she'd been in the library for the past two weeks and maybe she would like some company to ride home with 'cause she's needed for the Winter Wrap-up 'cause she's the only mmmph mmh mmmhhmm fiphim mmmfmph hmm--"

Pinkie's seemingly unending speech was brought to a halt when Applejack stuck her hoof in her mouth.

"Excuse her, she's jus' a might exited about bein' here. We're here ta get Twi' and thought we'd drop in on ya 'fore we grab 'er ta see how you was doin'."

"I hope you're not angry that we're in your room, we were just bringing some lemonade for you, that is, if you're thirsty, but if you're not, that's ok...." Fluttershy added.

"No no no, I'm glad you guys are here, it's been a long day and it still ain't over yet. Where's RD at?" James asked the three mares.

"She's busy organizin' all the pegasi fer the Wrap-up. She wanted ta be here, but itsa demandin' job." AJ informed him.

"Ah, well. I'll see her tomorrow. You all took the train here, right? Why don't you guys save some money and ride back with me in the morning, Myst'll be flying us back."

"That's mighty kind of ya, we jus' may as well do that."

"You three need a place to stay?"

"No, we'll just stay with Twilight and Rarity. *GASP* It'll be like a sleep over!" Pinkie began to bounce around.

James grabbed a bottle of lemonade off a near by table and opened it up to take a sip, *gulp* "Mmm... damn, that's good. Alright then. Thanks for the lemonade, it's delicious. Right now, I think Twi' is in the library, still, and I have a meeting I have to attend soon."

"All right then James, Ah reckon we'll go see ta Twilight, see ya later."

The farm pony led her two friends out of James' room and on to the library, leaving the human by himself. With a tired sigh, James flopped onto the bed and closed his eyes for a second. He had been in the capitol for four days now, inspecting all the teams that had been formed in the past year. He was glad to see that every single one of them were well trained and ready for tasking. He had even learned that some of them had been instrumental in dismantling a few criminal organizations in a couple of Equestria's major cities.

All in all, it had been a productive, but draining, visit and now all he had left to do was meet with his bosses, the Royalty. Fortunately, he still had almost an hour before the meeting. So, after first retrieving his knife from the trash can, he kicked his boots off and set iPod alarm for thirty minutes, James inserted his earphones, put on some Gorillaz and sank into the bed for a nap.

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*GASP*

He sat up in the bed, breathing heavily with a cold sweat. He had just had a dream. One of those dreams, the first one in over a month. This one was particularly bad. The damn kid had lined up his old squad mates in front of him and mowed them all down with that fucking automatic rifle. James had just stood there, helpless, somehow unable to move or even scream in rage and sorrow. The worst part, he couldn't look away from their faces, filled with accusations and betrayal, as their flesh was stripped from their bones in the onslaught of copper and lead.

James shook his head, trying to rid himself of the images, but they wouldn't leave his mind. Picking up his iPod, James saw that his alarm was due to go off in only a few minutes, which meant that his meeting was in ten. He jumped up out of bed and moved to the bathroom, checking himself in the mirror. He looked like absolute hell, the nap maybe not being such a good idea. However, he still had somewhere to be, so he splashed some water from the sink on his face and dried of with a towel before pulling on his boots and rushing out the door.

James trod quickly through the high vaulted passageways towards their usual meeting place. When he reached the large double doors, he saw two guards on duty, standing on either side. James increased his pace. When he reached the entrance one of them stepped in his path to block the way.

"Commander, please excuse me, but I've been instructed to inform you that the meeting place has changed."

"Where to?"

"Princess Celestia said that she is 'making a withdrawal'. Her majesty said you would understand what that meant."

"Alright, thank you."

Turning on his heel, James stepped off in the direction of the spiraling stone staircase the descended into the depths of the castle. On the way down, he wondered why the meeting place had been changed at the last minute, for whatever reason. As he came around the final turn, he was a bit surprised at the large number of guards stationed in front of the huge thick iron bound doors.

"Who goes there?" One of them challenged.

"Commander Kaughn, Royal Special Tasks Group. I was told to meet the princesses here." James replied.

"Enter."

The towering doors swung open on eerily silent hinges for such a large portal. James passed through and was again astonished at the amount of guards also within the secret vault, all armed and standing at the ready. The human continued all the way to the back where he had first removed the weapons from Celestia's private vault. He cut around a corner and spotted her speaking in hushed and hurried tones with her sister.

"Tia! I still think you shouldn't have gone over his head like that!"

"Luna, everything went fine, besides, the ends justified the means. These are troubled times, we must take risks to protect the citizens of our lands!"

"But what if one of them had died!? I have only spoken with this human a few times, but he does not strike me as one to take something like this lightly."

"I'm sure he will understand. From what I have gleaned from his origins, humans in his line of work make grave sacrifices all the time, it's practically in their job description."

"Shh shh, Tia, he's here!"

James strolled across the gargantuan chamber to them.

"Your Highnesses, please excuse me if I'm interrupting anything."

Celestia stepped forward to greet him, "Not at all, Commander! Please join us, we have some very important issues to speak of."

Behind her, Luna wore an expression of worry on her face.

"What is it ma'am?" James asked her seriously.

"Please, come with us..."

Both princesses of the sky led him to the far north wall of the large space to a wide passageway he had not noticed before. Marching down the corridor, James saw that here and there were side passages. In each one, he thought he could see what appeared cell doors.

"Excuse me ma'am, but is this a prison or something?"

"It once was, hundreds of years ago. But no more." Celestia explained.

"In the early years of my absence, I was told Tia tended to be somewhat.... emotional." The moon princess teased.

"Luna!"

"Hm hm hm!"

"Not funny!"

Soon enough, they came to a lone cell at the very end of the passage. It was guarded steadfastly by two members of the RSTG. A unicorn and a pegasus, members of the missing team. James recognized them both as members of Captain Alister's team.

James was alarmed at the thought of what they could be guarding, "Ma'am, what the hell is going on here!?" The human ran up to the cell and looked inside, as horrified as he was puzzled by what he saw.

"James, wait!" Celestia called after him.

In the center of the cell, sitting in an iron chair and lashed to the ground with so many chains as to obscure his view of the creatures body, was a member of the violent species he had been fighting against for the sake of the beings that lived in this peaceful land. Lotkin.