Chapter 56: Hoot 'n a Holler

"Are you sure this whole thing is necessary? I mean, we have the weapons, the explosives, a goddamn delivery system! We can just bomb their asses from the sky and be done with it, why do we need the fleet, this whole unwieldy army?"

"Because we can't just trample over them like unorganized peasants Kraster, we have to crush their spirit, their willingness to fight back."

"You sure that's gonna work? That other asshole you brought through was supposed to join us, instead all he's done is put a hitch in your plans and cost us troops. He's only lost a few of his!"

"A slight hiccup. He was far away from Ponyville when I brought him in, I did not expect him to find his own way to the elements."

"Yeah, sounds like your plans aren't as flawless as you make them out to be."

"Watch your tone human. Should you fail, I have other options. Remember, you are expendable, so it would behoove you not to let me down."

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

"Alright then, which one do you wanna try first?"

James and Garth stood at a wooden table on the grass in the middle of the training grounds. Arrayed across it were several weapons from the Fixers' armory; some pistols, a couple of old assault rifles, the two sniper rifles James had salvaged from Celestia's vault and a couple of shotguns, including the Saiga 12. Garth hefted one of the assault rifles, studying its form before replacing it on the table.

"I prefer to fight close, which would be suitable for such a task?" The Lotkin asked.

"The pistols and all of these right here." James gestured to the shotguns.

"I should like to try these." Said Garth, picking up an worn Mossberg.

"Ok, pretty much all of these fire a 12 Gauge shell, that one is a pump, you have to 'pump' the slide under the barrel to load a round every time you fire. We also have a few semis, no pump action, just pull the trigger." James informed.

Garth walked over and picked up the Saiga, "What of this one?"

"Ah, that's a good one. The Saiga 12, semi automatic, detachable box magazine, very reliable. Used it myself last year during the 'Whitecrest Incident'. You weren't there, were you?"

"No, I was not."

"Oh, good. It wasn't a very good experience. Alright, now come over here with me, we have some targets set up for you..."

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

James sat at his desk, scribbling out words on a piece of parchment. He was writing something he had written years before, only altered for his current situation. Something that ensured that no matter what, he wouldn't have to worry too much about anything. There was a knock on his door.

"Hey buddy, you almost ready to go?"

"Just a minute!" James called back, "I'll meet you guys outside in a sec."

"Ok, got it..." Hooves stomped away down the stairs.

James quickly finished up his last sentence, folded the paper and stuck it in an envelope before stowing it inside his desk. Then he got up and went to his closet. He picked out a white undershirt with a black long sleeve button down. He put both of them one, rolling the sleeves of the button down up to his elbows. The last thing he did was pull on his boots, fixing the hem of his pant legs so they rolled comfortably down the high tops. Finally ready, he left his room and strolled down the stairs and out the front door to the porch where his friends were waiting for him.

"What took you so long, you writing in your diary or something?"

"Gotta look fresh, right Flash?"

"Maybe so, but we still gotta walk all the way to the other side of town."

"You could fly."

"Yeah, but you can't. So I'll walk."

"Thanks brother."

"Anytime."

The human and pegasus set off towards the town, walking with a leisurely pep in their step. The sun was dropping low, dying light playing off the scattered fluffy clouds in the sky. Together they walked across the river and through the town, vendors shutting down for the day and lights switching off in the street corner stores. After traveling for a while, they exited the for side of the town, signs of civilization petering out as the scenery took on a more rustic look. Before long, they came to a stretch of dirt road bordered on one side by a sturdy wooden fence. Arriving at the Apple Family Homestead. Rather than going to the house, James and Flash took a left and began heading through the apple trees, the sounds of music an reverie growing steadily louder.

"Sounds like they already got the party going." James commented.

"Meh, sometimes it's good to arrive fashionably late." Flash replied.

"True, true."

Soon, they came to their destination, the old barn the human had called his home during the first weeks of his arrival to this new and strange land. The front right door was slightly ajar, letting warm light and lively music leak out into the deepening twilight.

"You ready, partner?" Flash asked merrily.

"Always ready!"

Flash reared up and kicked in the door, allowing him a and his human friend to stride confidently through the now wide open portal. Inside the large building was close to a hundred ponies, all dancing, drinking or participating in some other kind of party activity. All briefly stopped what they were doing, heads turning to Flash's unorthodox entrance. A cheer went up when they saw who it was, the two gave a short wave and the party goers went back to what they were doing.

"Uh-oh, incoming!" Flash warned, ducking down.

James followed his lead and ducked as well, an energetic Pinkie Pie came swinging down from the rafters on a length of rope, flying right over their heads.

"Woohoo! About time you two showed up, now get PARTYING!" She swung back around, tossing a couple of beers she produced from seemingly nowhere to the two arrivals.

James caught both bottles and used the edge of a nearby table to smack the caps off before handing one to Flash.

"Where do you think Sparks is at?" James asked his pegasus friend.

"Not a damn clue. He did say something about getting Myst first, so he might not be here yet."

"Yeah, probably. Well, let's go work the room, see who is here."

"Uh, you go ahead. Imma go chase down Pinkie."

"Heh, good luck."

Flash took flight, leaving James to his own devices. Taking a swig of his beverage, James started meandering around the barn, shaking hooves with acquaintances and giving polite nods to those closer to friends. He had just finished a polite exchange with the local florist when something suddenly impacted his back and latched on.

Soft lips lightly brushed his ear, "You come here often, stud?"

James reached a hand over his shoulder and grabbed a foreleg. Quickly and unexpectedly, he bent down, pulling the leg as he did so. Dash flipped over his shoulder, James caught her with his other arm before she hit the ground, dipping her and pulling her back up to his face, she placed both forelegs on his shoulder.

"Only when you come here..." James replied smoothly.

"He he he," she gave him a peck on the cheek, "what's that supposed to mean?" She cocked an eyebrow in askance.

James chuckled, "Honestly, even i have no idea. How's the swimming going?" He took another sip of his beer.

"Really well! I've gotten a lot better ever since you showed me that 'doggy style'."

James almost choked on his drink as he began to laugh at the unexpected use of the phrase.

"What's so funny?" RD asked skeptically.

James struggled to catch his breath, "That's-- that's not-- The phrase you're thinking of is 'doggy paddle', 'doggy style' is an entirely different thing!"

"What, what does it mean?"

"It's uh.. it's um... I'll- I'll tell you later..." James said while nodding his head rapidly.

"Ok, but it better be good."

"Uh.. it will.

"Hey you two! Ain't this a hoot 'n a holler?"

"Hey AJ, thanks for having this here, made it a lot easier to pull off." James said gratefully.

"Aw shucks, 't weren't no thang, jus' glad to see y'all enjoyin' yerselves."

"How's Granny Smith doing?"

"Jus' fine, jus' fine. Gettin' on in her age, but she's a fighter."

"Good to hear. Looks like the farm business is still doing great."

"Yup. Jus' last week, Big Mac broke his buckin' record--

*GASP*

The entire party came to a sudden and unexpected stop. James, Dash and Applejack looked around for the source of the disturbance. James finally spotted it. At the door, Fluttershy stood with a great hulking, masked figure in plain, yet stylized clothes. James instantly knew what and who it was and rushed over to the pair.

Quietly, kindly, yet sternly he said, "Fluttershy, if Garth finally decided he wanted to come, you should have told me first. Nobody else here even knows he exists!"

"I- I- I'm sorry, he just said he wanted to go a-a-and I did'nt want to stop him since he's your teammate and a friend of-- a- a friend of..." she seemed almost close to tears.

"Hey, hey, it's fine. I'm not mad, we just gotta do a little damage control is all. Cheer up--"

"Yeah, smile!" Pinkie shouted cheerfully, suddenly appearing next to James and causing him to flinch.

She was gone just as quickly as she appeared. James stepped to the side and put a hand on Garth's shoulder.

"You know you're always welcome with us buddy, even if everyone else here might not understand. Well, might as well take off your mask and say 'hi'."

The large warrior nodded to him and slowly removed the fabric covering his face. The townsfolk shrank back in fear at the sight of him, in the back, someone screamed. James turned around to face them, just a little bit angry at their reaction to his teammate, even if he did understand why.

"Hey! This is Garth. He's one of my team members and a good friend of ours, any of you got a problem with him, you can leave."

The crowd started grumbling, "He's friends with that thing?" "Aren't those dangerous?" "I don't think we can trust it." "Can we even trust the human?"

James was becoming a little worried at the crowd's reaction, but then; "He's a member of the Guard and my friend too! You got a problem with them, you got a problem with me, does everypony understand that?"

The crowd fell silent, many of them simply nodding. James turned around and was surprised to see Shining had walked up behind them. The party slowly resumed as the attendees shifted their attention away from the uncomfortable situation and back to whatever they had been doing. Shining walked closer to James, Fluttershy and Garth and held up a hoof which James took with both hands and began to shake vigorously.

"Hey, thanks man, that means a lot."

"Don't mention it. We might not see eye to eye often, but members of the Guard stick together, no matter what."

"Good to hear brother, you want a drink?"

"Just a water please, I have to work tomorrow."

"No prob, you got it."

The four of them entered the party together, James was rejoined by Dash and Twilight trotted over to chat with her big brother while he was there. For the most part, Garth stuck close by Fluttershy, the rest of the party giving them a wide berth where ever they went, which Fluttershy was just fine with, being uncomfortable in large crowds. Sparks and Myst finally showed up, spouting some excuse about one of the bridges being temporarily closed for some reason, though James knew the real reason and kept it to himself. To all their amusement, Fluttershy tried getting Garth to dance. The situation was made even more humorous when Rarity, who had incidentally also made his clothing, got involved and began instructing him in proper ballroom dancing.

Dash began chasing Pinkie around the barn after the pranking mare had replaced her mixed drink with pure lemon juice when she wasn't looking.Flash was sitting up in the rafters, laughing at the spectacle while Sparks and Myst were busy getting their own groove on over by Garth, Fluttershy and Rarity. James walked around for a bit until he found an old wire spool that had been flipped on it's side in the corner. Behind it sat Big Mac, sipping on a mug of cider. James took a seat on a hay bale next to him, setting his own beer on the makeshift table.

"Shaping up to be a fun night."

"Eeyup."

"AJ told me the farm business is still going strong, not to mention you breaking some records, workin' hard, huh?"

"Eeyup."

"Still not much of a talker, eh?"

"Nnope."

"Alrighty then."

Having nothing else better to do, James just sat there with Big Mac, watching the crowd and enjoying the ambiance of the party. For a short time, they both sat in silence, sipping on their drinks and relaxing. James was surprised, however, when the big, orange maned, red coated stallion started a conversation instead.

"Fluttershy doin' all right?"

"Yeah, she's doing a lot better. Got her chicken coop fixed up, made some extra housing for a lot of her animals. Garth helped out a bunch with the woodwork."

"That's good ta hear."

James thought he saw a flicker of a smile on the stallion's normally stoic face. The rare conversation was abruptly interrupted when the music changed its beat and a mass of feathers and multicolored hair dropped down from the space above.

"C'mon, let's go dance!"

"Oh, I don't know Dash, dancing's not really my thing..."

"Too bad, it's one of my favorite songs. Let's go!" She gripped the front of his shirt with her teeth and pulled him forcefully to his feet.

James looked back to Big Mac, "Sorry, doesn't look like I have a choice."

He could have swore he saw an amused smile begin to grow on the huge pony's face, "Nnope."

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

Sparks, Myst, Flash, Pinkie, James and Dash were staggering back home late in the night. Except for Pinkie, she bounced as she normally did, alcohol seemingly ineffective to the pink party mare. Together, they all helped each other get back to the house, Flash barging through the front door as soon as they reached the porch. James broke off and slumped down to the wooden deck, leaning his back against the house as he took a swig from one of the beers he had liberated from the party as it began to end. The rest of the group followed Flash in, Sparks was bringing up the rear and spotted the human, stopping before going across the threshold.

"You coming in?" The unicorn asked.

"Just as soon as we take a look at this."

From under the short wooden table that sat on the porch he produced a small box. On the side was written simply: 'From your buddy, Hank.'

"You want me to go get Flash?"

"Nah, we'll fill him in later. Tell him to keep the girls busy though, it might be bad news."

"Got it."

James waited briefly while Sparks ducked inside real quick to pass on the message. As soon as he returned, James broke the seal at the top of the box and opened it up. Inside were two envelopes, one small and one large. James opened the small one and quickly read through the letter it carried before tearing into the large one.

"So, what is it?" Sparks inquired.

"Well, it's not bad news, but it ain't good news either."

James took the contents of the large envelope and tossed them onto the ground. "We still got some time, but we're up against some heavy stuff."

Sparks bent his head down to examine the papers James had thrown on the deck. They were pictures, a lot of pictures. In them was a sizeable fleet of sailing ships with barges identical to the one they had attacked tethered to them. A dark shadow fell over the mass majority of the fleet, which the engineer found strange as the sky in the photo was clear. Whatever it was certainly didn't have the shape of a normal cloud.