Chapter 51: A Chance Meeting

"So... you gonna tell me what's in the box?"

Dash was referring to the small brown box that James had placed by his chair once they had arrived at the restaurant. She had already asked several times before, but James had been keeping quiet about it which had been getting on her nerves a bit. Which was amusing James way too much. Which in turn annoyed Dash more.

"Dash, I said I'd show it to you at dessert."

"I know. That's why I ordered some while you were in the bathroom. Ah, here it comes now!"

Sure enough, one of the waiters came to the table with a small slice of chocolate cake.

"Oh, c'mon, we've barely finished the appetizer!" James said with a disbelieving laugh.

"Don't care, dessert's here, now what's in the box?" The pegasus said with a smirk.

"Alright alright, you've forced my hand." James bent down and retrieved the parcel, placing it on the table.

He began unwrapping the paper, Dash was hunched forward in anticipation. With little flair, but a big smile, James opened the box and pulled out a small trinket of dark, flat polished stone a little smaller than half the size of his palm. It had the peculiar feature of almost being transparent, but the color of the stone quickly absorbed the light, making it appear as if one was staring into a dark bottomless abyss. In addition to this, the light that did make it through cast a spectrum of colors all about. Carved into the face of the stone was a swirling script familiar to James, but not to the world he now resided in. It looked like this: ح ﻭﺭ ش ﺗﺂ

"Here, I saw this and thought of you." James slid the stone over to Dash.

"It looks awesome! What are theses squiggles on it?"

"It's a language from back in my world. It's actually one I know, I was very surprised to find it here. Especially because I've never seen that kind of stone before. The squiggles are actually two words, 'Atash e Rooh', Fire of the Soul. When I get back home, I'm gonna have it turned into a necklace for you." James explained to her.

Suddenly, Dash leaped across the table and tackled James in a tight hug, knocking him out of his seat and to the ground.

"I take it you like it...." he said as she squeezed tighter.

"Mmhm." Was her reply, head nuzzling into his neck.

"Alright, well I appreciate the affection, but I'm still hungry and we're getting stares."

"Let 'em stare." She refused to let go.

"Alright."

With some difficulty, James got up off the floor, a persistent Rainbow Dash still hanging on his neck. With a grunt, he returned to his seat. Dash repositioned herself to sit more comfortably on his lap. Just about then, the rest of their food arrived.

"So I guess we're eating dinner like this, huh?" James said to her.

"You betcha!"

=====================================================================

Bags packed, all dressed, equipment accounted for, James picked up his rucksack and duffle bag and headed for the door. Before he left, he turned around and took one last look around his room. Barely any light came through the balcony windows as it was still extremely early in the morning. Back in the bedroom, Dash was still sound asleep. He had tried waking her to say good bye, but she was still out cold from last night. So he had left a note and a kiss on her head. With a deep breath, he stepped out into the doorway and gently shut the door.

With conviction, he went to the stairs and made the long climb to the top. It was time for his trip to the west coast with Shining and the rest of his own team. The Fixers were soon due to arrive and pick up their passengers. Dash had been unhappy about the whole thing, but James had assured her that he shouldn't be doing any fighting, it would be more like a camping trip, and he would see her again in Ponyville in only about a week.

As he trudged up the old stone steps, the human was joined by a large white, blue maned unicorn.

"Morning."

"Morning."

"You ready to get this shit done?"

"Let's just get it over with, I need to get back to my wife. She's starting to send weird 'lovey dovey' letters."

"At least they're not the other kind of letter."

"Yeah, at least they're not that."

Their brief exchange over, the two climbed the rest of the way up, emerging out into the marketplace and marching to the wide stone shelf Silus had taken the both of them to the day before. It was the safest and most convenient place for the airship to land and pick up their load. Both James and Shining waited in silence for their ride, the sound of a propeller gradually growing from a distance in the weak morning light. With speed, the flying contraption soon came into view and landed on the wide open stone.the side door slid open and James and Shining hurried forward, both of them jumping into the aircraft, James shutting the door behind them. Inside were Sparks, Flash Feather and a strange masked hulking figure clothed in the same uniform as the others and a hand made boonie hat seated in the back corner near the engine compartment. Sparks hit the bulkhead the cabin shared with the cockpit twice with his hoof. With a jerk, the Clipper quickly took to the sky, angling away to the west.

"Who's that in the back, it's not another human is it?" Shining ask suspiciously, eyeing the other passenger in the back.

James was busy stowing his bags, "He's a new member of our team, give me a minute and I'll introduce you."

"If you say so..." Shining sat down, still keeping an eye on the passenger in back.

James finished putting everything away before stepping over to their mysterious passenger. He placed himself between the large sitting figure and Shining, he thought it might get violent and he didn't want any one getting hurt.

"Shining, this here is Garth. He's a new addition to the team, a skilled fighter and a valuable source of insight in our fight." James turned to the passenger, "Garth, go ahead and take of your mask."

At the human's command, Garth reached up with a gnarled hand and pulled off the fabric covering his face. Shining immediately jumped up, horn charging with magical energies in preparation for a fight.

"What the hay is that thing doing here!?" He yelled angrily.

James put his hands up and stood in the fiery unicorn's way, "Calm down now, he's a friend. He's here just to help us. I know we often don't see eye to eye, but Garth is a member of my team and he's here to stay, so you might as well get along."

Behind him, Garth emitted a low growl. Shining still looked ready for a fight, but eventually he sat down, the dangerous aura around his horn fading away.

"Fine," the unicorn huffed, "I'll work with 'him', but I still don't have to trust him."

"As long as we get the job done, that's good enough for me." James said, feeling some weight drop from his shoulders as the tension lessened.

Shining took a spot at the other end of the compartment and sat down, getting comfortable for the long trip. However, he kept glancing over to the corner Garth was sitting in. James sat down on a bench next to Flash.

"That went well..." the pegasus said to him.

"Yeah. Maybe if Shining gets to know him like we did this trip might not be as rough as it looks like it might be."

=====================================================================

Shining made another mark on the map. A slight rise at the top of the north river bank that could make for good cover. James was on the top deck with Garth and a pair of binoculars. The two of them were looking down on the coast and the ground from the Clipper's high altitude, discussing the attack and formation strategies of the Lotkin Clans.

"My kin do not function well on water, but once they make land fall, their strength and vigor will rise. Once that happens, we will be hard pressed to repel them. They will surge forth like the tide of a full moon."

"Good thing I'm such a good swimmer. Though it's too bad I don't have my SCUBA gear, that would come in handy." James replied.

"What is skoobah?"

"Nothing, just equipment I used to breathe underwater. It wouldn't really be all that effective anyway unless we had enough tanks, masks and fins for all of us." James raised his binoculars again, gazing at a wide flat beach to the north. "There, check that out," he handed the binoculars to Garth, "see that beach? Look at the water going out from it. It's shallow right where it meets the sand, but just twenty feet out, the water abruptly becomes a deep blue. It just drops off. They could get landing ships in real close and dump soldiers straight on the sand."

"Aye, that they could. It is here they must be defeated before reaching the rushing river." Garth said with authority.

"Why's that?"

"Long ago, my kind discovered that rivers are often the quickest way to travel between the camps of our enemies. Especially one such as this, with it's wide banks, devoid of the foliage. They would swiftly march to the interior lands."

James looked down at the river below and saw that what the large warrior had said was true. Then he looked down at the map and saw something that shocked him. It was something he should have seen before. When he traced the river in the map with his eyes, he saw that it ran past White Tail Woods, through the Everfree Forest and right by Ponyville before terminating at the tall mountain that bore the capitol city of Canterlot.

"Shit."

"What is wrong?"

"There are a lot more lives in immediate danger from this than just those living in Los Pegasus. If they make it up that river, not only will they reach Canterlot with little difficulty, but Ponyville might very well be annihilated as well." James explained.

"Ponyville. House of Fluttershy?" Garth questioned in his gravelly voice.

"Yes Garth, House of Fluttershy and everyone else."

"I shall receive my final honor before they are allowed to pass." Garth said with conviction in his voice.

"Glad to see you finally have something to fight for brother." James brought the binoculars back up to his eyes.

"Why is that, Ahrhati Khot?"

"Because it means you'll fight harder. And stop calling me that, I don't like it. I told you, 'James' is fine."

James' earpiece crackled, "Hey boss, light's burnin' up. I'm gonna have to set her down soon unless we break out the NVGs and strap up." Myst said informatively.

"No, you've been flying for almost the whole day now. Go ahead and pick a spot, we'll set up camp for the night."

"You got it."

James folded up the map and jumped down to the cabin where the rest of his team was helping Shining with his task of marking defensible positions. With a great expulsion of air from his lungs, he sat down on a bench and took out his iPod, putting his headphones in and flipping to a random song. He then laid back on the bench, tired and already wanting to go home, but took solace in the fact that he had only three more days to go.

=====================================================================

Eyes shot wide, a chill on his skin. James sat up, suddenly wide awake. His iPod was still blasting Korn into his ears. He rubbed his eyes with his fingers and looked around. He was still in his makeshift tent, just a tarp thrown over a low hanging branch, the edges pinned to the ground with some rocks he had found. The fire was slowly dying, the wood nearly entirely reduced to a pile of embers. Spaced out around the fire were the rest of his teammates, still sleeping soundly, except for Feather who was on watch.

James didn't know why he had woken up, but he was incredibly thirsty. So he grabbed his canteen and took a few large gulps. Wiping some water from his chin, James lay back down and tried to go back to sleep. In two hours, it would be his turn to stand watch and he needed all the sleep he could get. As it was, he'd only been asleep for about four hours. For fifteen minutes he lay there, willing his mind to fade back into oblivion, but it was useless.

Getting back up, James sighed and pulled on his boots and a shirt to supplement his pants and crawled out from his tent. He was about to walk off, but tuned back and snatched his canteen and his M1911A1 from inside his tent. Standing up to his full height, James stretched, arms reaching to the abundance of twinkling stars high above.

"What are you doing up, you still got an hour and a half." Feather was sitting near the fire with his front legs tucked under a short distance away.

"Eh," James twisted his neck with a loud crack, "couldn't sleep. If you're tired, I'll take over now."

"Nah, I'll finish out my watch."

"Suit yourself." The human bent down and picked up a radio, "I'm going for a little walk. Hit me up if you need anything."

"Will do."

Without another word, James wandered away into the darkness. The moon was full, but waning, providing a soft pale light by which to navigate the rolling terrain. As he walked, the faint noise of crashing waves grew. He began to gravitate towards the sound. He came to a beach, likely the one he had seen from the air hours earlier, and sat down in the cool sand, looking out over the ocean.

James sat there for a while, taking swigs from his canteen, not particularly thinking of anything. As he sat there, he almost thought he could hear another sound, the sloshing of water. It wasn't like the sound the waves gently emitted as they barreled onto the shore. It was, James thought, something akin to oars splashing through the swirling surf. James' senses perked up and he squinted into the night, trying to detect any movement. Soon, his eyes could see a mid sized row boat riding the waves to shore.

Quickly and quietly, James retreated from the beach. He found a patch of tall grass and dove in, melting into the environment. From there, he waited and watched. The boat landed and disgorged about seven four legged shapes onto the sand. Suddenly, the rasping sound of unsheathing swords echoed across the sand to where he was hiding. James' brow furrowed, transforming his face into a scowl as he pulled out his sidearm and flipped the safety off. He waited a moment to see what they would do. His muscles tensed as they began making their way across the beach in the direction of his camp. Whispers floated through the air, James strained his hearing to try and understand them.

"You sure you it was over here?"

"Aye, I could see the flames of a fire."

"You sure it wasn't just a wildfire?"

"You doubt my skill in sight?"

"Well, you do only have the one eye..."

"Yes, but my one eye it twice as sharp as the both of yours."

"Whatever you say. Just as long as these wayward campers have some good loot."

"Remember! Try not to hurt them unless they get rough, just scare them into handin' over their goods."

James had heard enough, "Fucking thieves." He muttered to himself.

Stealthily, James removed himself from the tall grass and crept up behind the group. They would soon near the campsite, so James decided to make his move. He stood behind them and raised his weapon, cocking the hammer.

*click* "That's about far enough. Let me just warn you that these aren't the kind of 'wayward campers' you want to mess with."

At his words, the band of thieves whirled around, blades up and ready for a fight.

"Oi, it's jus' one bloke."

"Yeah, what's you gonna do against th' seven of us?"

James smiled, "Good thing I got seven in the mag..."

"Wot's that supposed ta--"

"It'd be best if you would all lower your swords 'fore the Commander make short your life." One of them, who seemed to be the leader, said to the rest.

"Boss, you know this guy?"

"Don't ya recognize the salty two legged dog that helped us run th' Captain's ship?"

James thought he could recognize the voice, "Ken? Is that you?" He lowered his firearm.

"Aye, that'd be me."