Chapter 68: Finally Finding Peace

Swift rushing wind, the feeling of vertigo, the sounds of battle below. After a short free fall, Sparks released his chute, his descent instantly slowing with a violent jerk. He floated there in the air, using his magic to steer. While he did that, the engineer scanned the ground beneath him for a suitable place to land. The fight had past the beach now. Several waves of invaders, Lotkin and pony alike, had landed and were quickly overwhelming the defenders. From his floating vantage point, Sparks could see even more on the way. If they weren't stopped soon, the war might very well be lost.

"Hey James, it looks pretty bad down there, what do you think we should do?" Sparks asked over the comms. Instead of a response, all he got was static. "James, are you up there buddy?"

"Sparks..." Myst interjected, "He's not coming..."

"What do you mean he's not coming?"

"He's not coming, he didn't jump! The guy practically threw me out of my own aircraft!" She said with a hint of anger.

"No, c'mon, you're kidding!"

"Uh, Sparks... she's not kidding." Flash interrupted, "Look up, over the ocean."

Sparks followed Flash's direction. He was shocked when he saw the Clipper, sputtering and in bad shape, shoot out over the water and head directly at the bomber they had all just failed in bring down.

"What the hay does he think he's doing!? Garth's on there too, isn't he?"

"He hadn't jumped yet when James shoved me out." Myst informed.

The three of them watched as the Clipper gained speed, aiming directly for the bomber. To Sparks, it looked as if James was aiming to crash into the top decks, crazy bastard was going to try and take on the massive thing by himself. Closer and closer the Clipper got. The bomber loosed another salvo of the explosive shells and the unicorn's breath caught as the small airship briefly disappeared in the resulting cloud of acrid black smoke.

He started breathing again when the Clipper emerged from the cloud of destruction, seemingly unscathed. But something was wrong. Sparks watched in horror as the Clipper began to dip. It kept it's speed, but soon it was losing more altitude. The most terrifying moment was when the Clipper finally impacted the bomber. It had lost so much altitude that instead of hitting the top decks, it smashed into the bank of broadside hatches that housed the cannons. Myst audibly gasped over the radio at the spectacle, splinters of wood beams and large pieces of metal exploded out from the impact site, raining debris to the earth below.

"Horseapples and hay stacks! Myst, could he have survived that?" Sparks demanded.

"I don't- I don't know.... My airship was designed to withstand crash landings, but n-nothing like that!"

Sparks tried his radio again, "James can you hear me? James! You fucking crazy bastard, answer me!" He screamed angrily.

"Sparks..." Flash started.

"Shut up, he's alive!"

"No, Sparks, the ground."

The unicorn looked down and saw that they were very close to landing in a hotly contested spot. None of the fighters below had noticed them yet, but once they did, the three ponies would be sitting ducks for crossbow bolts. With a tug of the steering cords, Sparks angled his parachute, aiming for an open patch of ground near the top of the ridge, Flash and Myst following close behind. As he alighted on the ground, Sparks hit the quick release, causing the billowing fabric to drop to the dirt on it's own. Flash and Myst followed suit shortly after.

"Ok, Myst, you and Flash go find one of our teams that still has an operational airship and help them fix it up. Flash, once Myst is safe, I want you to head to the triage and get checked out." Sparks ordered as he un slung his rifle and chambered a round with his magic.

"Uh-uh. I might not be able to fly, but I can still fight."

"You sure?"

"Damn right I am."

"Fine then, but stay safe and don't take any unnecessary risks." Sparks ordered.

"Right." The two ponies replied. Myst pulled out her pistol racked the slide while Flash unsheathed his blades.

"What are you gonna do?" The pegasus asked.

"I'm gonna go find the Princess and Captain Armor. We need to try and help James, but it won't matter if our forces on the ground are overrun."

"Ok, but don't get hurt out there..." Myst said, worry briefly twitching across her face.

"Don't worry, we've been trained well. See you both soon."

With that, they parted ways. Flash and Myst went back towards the camp where they had seen a couple airships touch down while Sparks waded deeper into the fray. Before he could even get very far, a Lotkin with a large sword and a lust for blood rushed him. Without even thinking, Sparks put two in his assailant's chest, causing the attacker to slump to the ground, lifeless. Not a beat missed, the unicorn continued on, ventilating any invader foolish enough to get too close. One time, he came to a trio of Guardsponies locked in vicious hand-to-hoof combat with a superior number of foes. Sparks didn't hesitate, dropping two hostiles with head shots. A few of the others shifted their attention to him and charged. Rifle kicking in his magic's aura, he felled three more with rounds to the chest, on the fourth his weapon clicked empty. Sparks gave a frightening war cry and charged the warrior, galloping at full speed. With a mighty surge of magic, he thrust the barrel of his rifle into the chest of the Lotkin, surprising the fighter and knocking him to the ground, on his back. Before his opponent could recover, Sparks drew his knife and slashed his throat, producing a sickening splatter of blood.

The unicorn got up and quickly reloaded, then he turned to the Guardsponies who had also dispatched their opponents, "Wow, where'd you learn all that?" One of them asked with awe.

"My team leader taught that to me." Sparks said with a hint of sadness, "I need some help, do any of you know where I can find the Princess or Captain Armor?"

"Sure can," one of them piped up, "Princess Celestia and our CO are both down at the beach head, trying to figure a way to stop more boats from landing."

"Thanks!" Sparks shot off before galloping down to the beach.

He galloped hard to the beach head where the fighting seemed to be at it's thickest. With skill, he weaved, ducked and dodged through the fierce battle. All around was the clashing of metal, the cries of the wounded, explosions and detonations, dirt, sand, sometimes blood, raining down from above after it was thrust into the air by powerful forces. Sparks paid no heed to all this, intently focused on his goal, he only stopped to take down an enemy when he had no other choice.

After a hard run through the chaos of combat, the engineer finally reached his destination. The fortifications of the beach head were in extremely bad shape, having been shelled and quarreled over for some time now. Up on the ramparts stood Celestia in gloriously crafted armor with the Captain at her side, directing the troops around them and helping defend from attack with great bursts of magical energy.

With a kick and a jump, Sparks broke through the groups of quarreling fighters and landed amongst the defenders of the beach head. The Guardsponies fighting there glanced at the new arrival, but returned to their duties once they saw he was one of them. With great haste, Sparks galloped up to the top of the rampart where both Celestia and Shining stood.

"Captain! Your Highness!" He called out to them.

Shining turned to the stallion, Celestia stayed focused on her task, "Lieutenant! What are you doing here? Where's James at?" He asked aggressively.

"Sir, James and Garth left on their own, they went to take down the bomber by themselves, we have to find a way to help them!"

"What!? Are they crazy!?" Shining exclaimed, his face frozen in shock.

"Well... it is the Commander. Seriously though, we need more troops and we have to call back Admiral Darkwing's ship and mount an assault on that airship!"

Shining's expression dropped to one of concern and compassion, "I'm sorry... we can't spare the soldiers. Our situation here is very dire. As for the Admiral, well... his carrier eventually went down, it sustained too much damage from it's earlier attack and crash landed some distance away."

"Captain, please inform me of what news we now have." Celestia had redirected her attention to the conversation between the two unicorns.

"Uh, Princess! It seems that the Commander and another member of his team have attacked the large airship on their own."

"On their own!?" The princess looked up to the sky, focusing on the gargantuan aircraft over the ocean, "No... he's not ready. He needed more time." She half whispered with worry.

"Princess?"

Celestia's mind snapped back to the situation before her, "Lieutenant, I'm sorry, but he's on his own. I can no longer hold the movement of the sun, it must be allowed to set and we must finish this soon. Captain, what are our options?"

Shining stood stoutly at her request for his council, "We have to clear the beach, that's our number one priority at the moment. However, we must also somehow stop more of our attackers from landing. That second part, well I don't know how we'll—"

*BOOM* *KRA-KOOM* *DU-DU-DOOM*

All three of them jumped a little at the sudden burst of cannon fire. Fearing another bombardment, they all ducked and took cover, Celestia once again projected a protective barrier above them. When nothin impacted their position, they all stood back up and looked to the sea in puzzlement. Almost immediately, they got the answer to their shared mental query. Out amongst the frothing waves, a new ship charged into the fray. It barreled through the water, firing upon any and all vessels within it's weapons' range. As he studied it, Sparks began to recognize the newcomer.

"It's the pirates! Those crazy mother fu-" Sparks checked himself when he remembered who he was with, "Those crazy pirates, they're actually helping us!"

"Please excuse my ignorance, but what is going on?" Celestia asked.

"It's the pirates, Your Majesty, the pirates the Commander was with when we picked him up after he was kidnapped! Their ship is named 'Luna's Revenge'."

"Oh...?"

They watched as the rogue ship maneuvered back and forth, sinking many a ship while taking an amazing amount of damage itself. Before they knew it, half the invading fleet was in shambles and the landing barges were very hard pressed to make it to shore. Before long, the flow of invaders dropped from an inexorable rising tide to a pitiful trickle. Quite unexpectedly, the defenders had been given a slight edge.

"That takes care of that problem!" Sparks said enthusiastically.

"Yes it does. But we still have to take care of the hostiles still on the beach and we're surrounded on all sides." Shining reminded him.

Sparks made sure his weapon had a full mag and gave Shining a confident look, "Good, then we can attack in all directions." He stated with a grin.

"What has that man done to my little ponies?" Celestia commented uneasily to herself.

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

Darkness, darkness all around, devoid of even the faintest warmth or the basest comfort. The echoes of fey lunatics bouncing through the void. James spun around in all directions, looking for something, anything that could tell him where he was. The last thing he remembered was the crash, yet he was not in the Clipper and he felt no pain. Then he studied the swirling midnight madness and knew.

"Why...."

James whipped around at the word, right hand automatically snapping up with his 1911, training the sights on the small boy that continually haunted his mind. But how did the pistol get there, he wondered. He remembered passing it off to Sparks before the bailout. James gingerly pulled the slide halfway back and saw that it was loaded. In confusion and anger, he tossed it away, but when he brought his hand back up, the pistol was still there. Again he tossed the weapon into the inky void and again it reappeared in his hand.

Dropping his hand holding the firearm to his side, James confronted the apparition, "Why are you still here? Why do you keep coming back and tormenting me? I'm done, I swear after we finish this, I'm done!"

"Why...."

"Why? What do you mean why? Why what? Why am I done?" James asked at an angry rapid fire pace.

"Why stop... MURDERING?" the boy's voice took on a demonic tone.

"What the fuck?" James' temper flared with his surprise and his pistol shot up, sights on the little boy's forehead, finger slowly squeezing the trigger. But something stopped him from firing.

His mind dove unexpectedly into his memories, to the time spent in his new home. The friends he had made, the peace he had found. Hot anger cooling, he reflected on himself, what he had become during his brief time in the strange land he had ended up in. Then a new feeling. A feeling of wanting, wanting to remain in his new home rather than just settling for it. He felt something around his neck. The warmness of the small strange stone that was given to him resting on his chest. James lowered his weapon. Still staring his soul's enemy in the face, he began stripping the pistol down; dropping the mag, ejecting the round, removing the slide and letting the whole mess of parts fall to his feet where they stayed.

With a confident stride, James walked up to the small boy. The spectre's expression changed from one smug accusation to one of confusion and fear. Slowly and un aggressively, James approached his tormentor, arms spreading wide. Then he did something he had not thought ever to do to one of his enemies. He knelt, leaned forward and pulled the boy into a hug.

"I can never change what I did in my past, but I can still make a better future. I'm sorry for what I did to you, but there's nothing I can do to fix that. Just know that I won't ever let something like it ever happen again within my power. No child should suffer like that." James said softly over the boy's shoulder.

He pulled away from the hug and looked the boy in the face. James was surprised to see that the child's face was full and whole, he now had both eyes and his skin was free of breaks and tears. The boy's mouth twisted into a smile, if somewhat wanly. All at once, the space around them seemed to brighten and it did not feel so cold as before. Then the boy disappeared. The light around grew brighter and brighter. James felt an alien sensation, like he was fading away.

*BOOM BOOM* *BOOM*

James jerked back to consciousness at the loud detonations and tried to get into a fighting stance, but found he couldn't move. In addition to the painful noise, he could feel harsh throbbing aches throughout most of his body and something hot and sticky was running down a small rivulet into his left eye. His eyes adjusted and he looked around seeing that he was back in the Clipper, though the interior had transformed into a twisted and warped mess. To his right was a large hole where the side door had been, in front of it was a small pile of corpses. Suddenly, a Lotkin warrior charged through the gap, only to have his head taken off with another loud blast from a shotgun. James looked up to the source of the weapons fire and saw Garth suspended comically in his seat above. It seemed as if on impact the frame of the aircraft had warped to the point of changing their seating positions.

Garth looked back down, now noticing his teammate had returned to the land of the living, "Ah, my friend, you are back. I beg your assistance as the fates have seen fit to lodge me in place. Please hurry, as we are in great peril here."

James shook his head and fumbled for the quick release on his chest. Thankfully, the harness disengaged, allowing him to stand on the un even deck. Carefully, he climbed up to Garth and tried to release his teammate's harness. Unfortunately, the quick release looked to have taken some damage in the crash and would not budge.

"Hold on, brother, I'm going to cut you loose." James said while pulling out his knife.

Garth gripped a hand hold above his head while James went to work on the harness straps. In a matter of seconds, he had slashed enough of them to allow the big warrior to swing down onto the deck where he immediately took point with his shotgun.

"Hurry and find your weapon," Garth urged, "we have much work to do."

The liquid flowing into his eye becoming extremely annoying, James wiped it away with a sleeve and was alarmed when his arm came down with blood on it. He tentatively touched a particularly tender spot on his head and discovered a small cut in his scalp. Thinking quickly, he ripped a strip of cloth from a shirt he found laying under a bench and tied it around his forehead. It would not stop the bleeding, but it would keep the blood from dripping into his eye and obscuring his vision. Next he searched his rifle. After a few seconds of pawing through the clutter all over the deck, he found it, but looked upon it with dismay. The optics were shattered and the muzzle was bent upward at a sharp angle rendering it useless. He was saddened to see a rifle that had survived so many engagements with him in such a state.

He could not keep it with him, however, it would just hinder him at this point, so he left it, hoping that he could retrieve it at a later time. Reluctantly, he put it down and searched for another weapon, eventually coming back up with the P90 he had in his collection. James inspected it, finding some cracks here and there in it's plastic casing, but in overall good condition. He scrounged a few mags for it and loaded up, tossing the rifle rounds from his tac vest and replacing them with th3 submachine gun's 5.7mm rounds. He then checked his vest to see if the revolver was still where he had secured it. Finding it was, he found his pack and grabbed some of the speed loaders Sparks had put in there for him and went to the explosives locker.

"Hurry James, more are coming!" Garth complained.

"Just a sec!"

With his knife, James pried the door open and pulled out some of the charges inside. Having everything he thought they needed, James joined Garth at the hole in the side of their aircraft.

"Are you well? You seem... changed." Garth commented

"Yeah, I feel better." James replied with a calm smile. "Now, we have to end this and end it quick, so here's the plan." He handed the explosives over to Garth. "I need you to plant these at critical points; I'm talking structural weaknesses, the ship's magazines, engine room, pretty much anywhere that'll guarantee a splash."

"And what shall you do?"

"I'm gonna find the bridge, take control of the ship. Once I do, I'll pass instructions over what ever mass communication system they have here telling you not to blow the charges."

"And if you fail? If you are forced to tell me this?"

"If I specifically say 'don't blow the charges', burn the mother fucker."

"Mmmh, right."

"Ok, let's go."

Together, they left what remained of the cabin of the Clipper and entered the space they had crashed in. The first thing they were greeted by was a trio of hostiles, hell bent on repelling the boarders. They were quickly dispatched with a blast from the shotgun and a burst of the submachine gun. The immediate threat dealt with, James looked around at their surroundings. They were in a long bay, the outboard bulkhead was lined with cannon after cannon, extending far down the ship. He noticed that the bulkhead that contained the cannon hatches was thin at the middle, where they had crashed through, but much thicker. They probably wouldn't have survived the crash had they hit anywhere else.

Moving on, James and Garth found a door on the inboard bulkhead and gently pushed it open. The passageway beyond was empty at the moment, but that was subject to change at any time. They entered, James looked forward to where he thought the bridge might be, Garth looked aft. They looked back to each other and with a nod, parted ways. Weapon raised, James trod down the p-way, carefully checking any corners he came across. After a few minutes of doing this, a thought struck him. For a ship that large, there should be way more crew members running around. He advanced more carefully, trying to keep as quiet as possible.

It was eerie, the absence of sound in such a gigantic vessel. Then he heard the scuff of a boot on the deck somewhere behind him. James spun around and shouldered his weapon, but there was nothing to shoot at. Now he was a little spooked. His guard now higher than ever, James turned back around and continued stalking down the passageway. After a moment, there was another sound behind him. This time when he turned around, James fired a short bust down the passageway. The rounds just passed through empty air, never finding their mark.

Not content on sticking around, James turned and took off down the passageway towards the bow of the ship. He cleared the next corner ducked into the side passage. Down one side of the bulkhead, he spotted a door. He kicked it open and stepped inside, closing the door behind him.

"Gah! You're not supposed to be in here!"

James turned and snapped his weapon up, ready to fire.

"Woah, please, don't shoot!"

Cowering behind a small table was a pale yellow earth stallion. The room James had entered was like a stateroom on a navy ship, only more lavish and large. Thinking quickly, the human leaped over the table and clamped a hand around the pony's muzzle. The stallion struggled for a second, but stopped when James jabbed him hard in the side.

"Listen to me. I need some questions answered without superfluous noise. Yell and I might have to hurt you, understand?"

The stallion nodded frantically, eyes wide with fright, breaths coming ragged through his nostrils.

"Good. Now, tell me where I am." James demanded, taking his hand off the pony's mouth.

"You're in the General"s private quarters, I-I'm just part of his personal staff, please don't hurt me!"

"The General? General who? Who do you work for?"

"G-General Kraster-"

"Kraster! Where is he!?"

"I don't- I don't know," the earth pony stuttered, "I think he left for the bridge when we were first attacked."

"Perfect, how do I get there?"

"I uh.. I don't uh... I can't-"

James gave him a few light slaps on the side of his face, "C'mon, we don't have a lotta time, pal."

"It's, uh... it's one level down, a-and then a hundred and forty frames forward. When you get close ther'll be signs, go left down the hall from here. Please let me go now." The stallion pleaded.

"There, that wasn't so bad now, was it?"

Going back to the door, James cracked it open and peeked outside. So far, the coast was clear, so he stepped out and went left like the stallion had told him. Up ahead, he could see the top of a ladder well that led down to another deck. Behind him, the door opened then slammed shut just as quickly, the sound of hooves galloping down the deck in the opposite direction. James paid the fleeing pony no heed and rushed to the ladder where he began to descend. About half way down, he heard something that demanded his attention. The alarming noise of heavy feet pounding down the passageway above, accompanied by the jingle jangle of armor and weapons.

James briefly popped back up to the deck he had come from and saw a host of Lotkin jogging down the p-way. One of them spotted him and fired a crossbow bolt which plunked into the bulkhead just above James' head. Cursing to himself, James brought his weapon up and fired several short bursts from the submachine gun. All the hostiles were felled in short order in the tight space of the passage way, the weapon's report unusually loud between the close walls. That wasn't the end of them, however, James could hear even more coming, the deck vibrating with their weight.

Thinking quickly, James reloaded. Then he removed a grenade from his vest and wedged it in the space between the ladder and the deck, making sure the spoon was clear. Pulling out a small ball lf twine from his pocket, the human cut a length and tied one end to the grenade's pin and the other to a hard point on the opposite bulkhead, ensuring the line was taut. That task completed, he scuttled down the ladder and to the deck below. Without looking back, he bolted down the passageway, mentally counting the frames as he went.

Halfway through his count, a Lotkin stepped out in his path, perhaps investigating the noise. James broke into a sprint and rammed the enemy into the bulkhead with his shoulder, knocking them both to the ground. The Lotkin instantly countered by punching James hard in the jaw, hard enough that James thought he felt a molar pop out. Then the hostile made the mistake of grabbing the human's weapon, pulling it to his chest. On reflex, James reached down and pulled the trigger, resulting in a spray of blood and gore that splattered the human's uniform and turned the Lotkin's chest into a pulpy mess.

James stood up from the now lifeless body, spitting out a tooth onto the deck, along with some blood.

"Son of a-"

*BOOM*

James dropped back to the deck at the blast. He looked down the passageway, back the way he came. A cloud of dust and debris obscured the passage, his booby trap had gone off, destroying the ladder and slowing the progress of his pursuers. Focusing back on task, James made like mad for the end of the passageway, he needed to secure the bridge before things got out of hand. As he neared, he began to see signs pointing towards his destination. In no time, he came to an armored door. James put and ear to it and listened closely. On the other side, he could faintly hear a multitude of voices speaking fast and in frantic tones.

James tried the door and found it unlocked. Skillfully, he opened it, stepped inside and shut the door behind him without a sound, locking it from the inside. Fortunately, none of the bridge personnel noticed his entry. The crew on the bridge consisted mainly of various kinds of ponies, most likely the ones that had experience in piloting a large airship. There were a few Lotkin guards as well. Taking a deep breath, James raised the submachine gun over his head and fired into the ceiling.

*TA TA TA TA TA TA TA TA TA TA*

"DOWN DOWN, EVERYONE DOWN!" James bellowed at the top of his lungs.

One of the guards rushed forward to stop the human, but James dropped him with a few rounds to the skull. While the bridge crew cowered behind their consoles and stations, the second guard moved to confront the human, but stopped when James put his sights on him.

"Hey, slow down there buddy. Drop your weapon and put you hands to your head."

The Lotkin let the sword in his hand clatter to the deck and raised his arms up, hands reaching for the back of his head. James lowered his guard slightly at the Lotkin's compliance, which turned out to be a mistake. From a slot in the armor on his back, the large warrior gripped a small handle and pulled out a knife, flinging it at the human. James dodged the blade, but was thrown back against the bulkhead when the guard charged him. James tried to bring the submachine gun up, but it was smacked from his grip with a powerful blow, Lotkin warrior bellowing in his face with rancid breath.

Training kicking in, James unsheathed his own knife and attempted to slash at his attacker, who tackled him down to the ground. The Lotkin grasped the hilt of James' knife and together they struggled over control of the blade. The Lotkin reversed the point of the knife, the business end now getting closer and closer to James' chest. In a desperate move, James bucked his hips, causing the Lotkin to lose some balance. James seized the opportunity, planting his feet on the Lotkin's stomach and rocking back while kicking up, propelling the hostile over his head. Not to let this momentary respite go to waste, James pulled out the revolver and cocked the hammer back. The Lotkin got back to his feet and prepared to charge again. James just simply aimed and squeezed the trigger, putting a large hole in the hostile's head.

The body slumped to the deck and James walked over to retrieve his blade, "That's mine, asshole." He said, picking up the knife and placing it back in it's sheath.

Scanning the room, James saw that none of the bridge crew had scarcely moved from where they had sat in fright. One thing worried him though. Kraster wasn't there. He stormed around the bridge, checking every corner and under every table. When his cursory search turned up nothing, he returned to the center of the room.

"Where is he!? Where's Kraster, I was told he was here!"

"I'm right here..." said a voice behind him.

James suddenly felt a sharp pinching pain in the back of his neck. Then darkness again closed in around him.

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

"Over here! We need more spears over here!" Sparks shouted as he held the line on the north side of the beach head.

Returning his attention to the fray, the unicorn hosed down another line of hostiles with lethal lead. On a high wooden stand behind him, another unicorn was carefully picking off any enemies armed with a crossbow with a .50 caliber sniper rifle.

In the sky, the light was dying, the sun sinking towards it's nightly rest. Several spear ponies answered the engineer's call and rushed to the burm he was fighting from, successfully fending off another wave of attackers. The fight against the invading army was slowly being won with the pirates' help, but it was still a desperate battle. Celestia also hadn't yet stopped fighting. She remained up on the ramparts, shooting paralyzing beams of magical energy at sizable clumps of enemies, allowing her subjects to move in and finish them off more easily. She was running out of steam, however, as she, like many others still fighting, hadn't eaten since earlier that day, and using magic for any lengthy periods of time was taxing on the body.

On the opposite side of the fortifications, Shining was steeped in similarly trifling combat. With unrivaled skill, he hacked, slashed and stabbed with a trio of sharp blades that he wielded with his own magic. Many a foe fell before him in his savage defense of his compatriots. After cutting down another two warriors, he briefly fell back for a rest and allowed some of his troops to move forward and resume the battle. It was at this moment that a stallion, battered and bloodied, broke though the line and into the relative safety of the beach head. He glanced around before locating the captain and galloping over.

"Sir! A messenger has arrived and we've received word from Canterlot. Princess Luna has sent a contingent of her Night Guard here to assist us and supply reinforcements. They should arrive here shortly."

"Great, that's great." Shining panted, "I'll inform Princess Celestia myself."

Shining stood back up and climbed the ramparts to where his princess was, dodging a few crossbow bolts on the way.

"Your Highness," he called to her, "I have news!"

Celestia paused in her efforts, lending her ears to the guard captain, "Yes, what do you have to tell me?"

"Princess, Your Royal Sister has sent reinforcements, I'm told they'll arrive soon."

"Oh, good," she sounded absolutely exhausted, "we can finally end this dreadful fight."

"Yes, but we still have that gargantuan airship to worry about." Shining pointed out.

"You are correct, Captain. But maybe our dear friend can somehow find a solution to that." Celestia said tiredly, looking worriedly to the behemoth that still made it's way to her land.

Then to her's and Shining's horror, they watched as a great number of explosions blossomed out from the airship. Mortally wounded, the massive aircraft listed into a slow bank, turning sluggishly away from the shore. Seconds later, thunder and rolled to the beach in an earsplitting din. Nearly all the fighting on the beach stopped as all the soldiers and warriors locked in battle had their attention stolen by the sight. They all watched in awe, minutes crawling by in agonizing slowness as the ship started losing altitude. Fifteen minutes later, the airship was torn asunder by a massive explosion that originated at it's belly and separated it into two large burning chunks.

"Oh no..." Celestia cried softly. Her eyes went wide and she brought a wing around to cover her mouth.

"Hey, what's going o- No. No no no!" Sparks screamed as he climbed the ramparts, disbelieving what his eyes told him. "Maybe they got out! He always finds a way out!"

"Sparks, I'm sorry." Shining consoled

The three of them stood up there, frozen in shock. All around them, a massive cheer arose from Equestria's soldiers. With renewed vigor, they resumed their fight, driving the hordes of invaders back with new found energy. But the three leaders up on the ramparts remained fixed in place, staring out at the end of two of their friends. High above them all, another detonation went unnoticed. If one were to look up, a streak of rainbow lancing towards the still falling wreck might have been seen.

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

Pain returned, washing over his body, his neck hurt the most. Pain was good. Pain meant life. James' eyes flickered open and he found his world turned sideways, he was still on the bridge. He tried to move his hands and discovered they were being held firmly to his back. All attempts to use them were stopped by two pairs of strong, rough hands. He was also stripped of his armor and weapons.

"Oh good, he's awake. Haul him up to his knees."

James felt the rough hands of his captors pick him up and shove him back to the ground in a kneeling position. Unexpectedly, a boot appeared in his field of vision and flew up into his stomach, causing him to cough as a burst of pain exploded in his innards. Next, a fist slammed across his jaw, exacerbating his already sore mouth. A hand reached down and balled James' short hair up in a fist and yanked his head up. James was now face to face with Kraster.

"You know, you've really got some balls there, I have to give you that. The little operation you launched against my ship made a good dent in my plans, but nothing that can't be fixed. Still, you caused considerable damage. Impressive, but you're a fucking DOUCHBAG."

Kraster punctuated his last statement with a strike to James' throat, making him cough more and spit out some blood.

"I see you've added to your equipment since we last met. Looks like you got a new knife. And what's this? Bellis' revolver?" Kraster said in a mocking tone, producing the sidearm and waving it in his captive's face. "I really think I'll keep this one. Sort of a... victory trophy. The knife you can have BACK!"

Kraster stabbed the blade into James' thigh and twisted, eliciting a growl of pain from the man. Blood swiftly began welling up, soon soaking his pants.

"The revolver will be a nice addition to the knife I pulled off you last time. Ah, mister Kaughn," Kraster released James' head and rose to his full height. He started pacing back and forth in front of his captive, "you've given me some headaches in the past, but this really takes the cake. Oh, I wish you knew just how much I'd love to torture the ever loving shit out of you, maybe even literally! But I think we both remember how that ended last time, so I think I'll just kill you. Goodbye."

James looked the foul man dead in the eyes as he stopped and pressed the end of the icy cold barrel of the revolver to his head. With a painfully slow speed, Kraster cocked the hammer back, a move clearly designed to torment James even more.

"Johnathan," came a sickly voice from somewhere off to the side, "we must speak."

Kraster huffed in annoyance and dropped the pistol to his side, "You'll have to excuse me a moment. For some reason, the boss wants to interrupt this delightfully perfect moment."

James watched as Kraster walked out of view. Out of sight, a door closed. It was followed by the sound of a muffled voice crying out in surprise. After this came a heated deliberation between Kraster and the unknown being. A few minutes later, the door swung back open, slamming on the bulkhead adjacent to it.

"You're not alone, of fucking course! Where is he?"

James remained his silent self.

"Oh, not this fucking game again," Kraster yanked the knife from James' thigh, "tell me or I'll start slicing you to ribbons!"

James started laughing. It began with a light chuckle, them moved to a chortle. Soon James was laughing full on like a deranged maniac.

"What, why are you laughing?"

"Ha ha ha ha, your fucked! You're all fucked! You won't find him. Anyone that ran into him is dead now. So why don't you bend right over and kiss your own ass goodbye!" James ended by spitting a glob of blood at Kraster's feet. This earned him another smack across the mouth.

"Don't fuck around with me! You came here with a purpose, he went the other way for a different one." Kraster reached up to the bulkhead, his hand returned with a large microphone. "Here, why don't you tell him what he needs to hear to end all this. C'mon, be a good boy."

"You really want me to tell him? I don't think you'd like that very much." James laughed once more.

"I don't care what you think, just tell him."

"Well ok, if you say so." While Kraster held the mic to his face James spoke into it, his voice echoing through the passageways, "Garth, it's James. The bridge is secure. Don't blow the charges."

"Charges, huh? What, did you think the two of you could've taken this whole thing down by yourselves?" Kraster scoffed.

An explosion suddenly rocked the ship, putting a stop to Kraster's smugness. Down on the floor, James started laughing again, amused at the turn of events.

"Don't think this is over you piece of shit!"

Kraster moved forward, knife hand raised high for a stab. He never got to complete the strike. Next, a full series of explosions tore through the ship, it's frame twisting and groaning in protest. The tremor created was strong enough to knock Kraster to the deck, weapons skittering from his hands. Similarly, the two Lotkin holding James down also slipped up. Momentarily free of their grip, James dove for the gun. He grabbed it and came up shooting, putting three in the chest of one Lotkin and the last two in the second one's head.

Anticipating an attack from Kraster, James turned and raised hi guard, but no attack came. James watched, stupefied, as the other human bolted out the room through the door that had had the mysterious voice behind it. James popped the cylinder on the revolver and shook out the empty shells. Spotting his vest in a corner, he went over and pulled out a speed loader, filling the cylinder with fresh rounds. Then he left in pursuit of Kraster, scooping up his knife as he went.

James burst into the room, pistol up, eyes scanning the room for the mysterious occupant. However, the space was empty, just another door on the other side. Shaking his head, James continued on, determined in his task, limping slightly due to the painful wound in his leg. James emerged into a passageway and looked both ways. Down one end, he briefly caught the sight of Kraster's boot disappearing around a corner. James quickly limped down to the junction and rounded the corner. He spotted Kraster and raised his pistol. With practiced ease, he squeezed the trigger and launched a round. The bullet flew down the p-way and smacked into the back of Kraster's right shoulder. James cursed, his aim was off.

Kraster disappeared around another corner, James went to follow. The tremors were getting more and more violent now, the ship was falling apart. The passageway began to fill with fleeing crew members, but they all ignored James in their panic, and he ignored them, so focused was he on taking Kraster down. James' enemy tried to lose his pursuer, but all James had to do was follow the blood trail. Droplets of the fluid created a path that wound through several different passageways.

James pushed on, pistol out in front, knife held ready. He came to a corner and a hand suddenly shot out from behind it. On reflex, James squeezed the trigger, but the round went high as the hand smacked the pistol up. Kraster appeared with a two-by-four. With a baseball swing, Kraster knocked the revolver from James' grip, sending the weapon clattering down the p-way. Kraster swung again, at James' head, but he blocked it with a forearm, it stung. James lashed back with his knife, slashing at the air. Kraster jumped back, dodging the long blade.

James lunged in for a stab, at the same time, Kraster swung the two-by-four up. The result was James stabbed his knife into the wood. Seeing the opportunity, Kraster wrenched the two-by-four away and threw it down the p-way before pulling out James' old knife from a sheath on his belt. He stepped forward for a slash, but James ducked into his guard and blocked the attack. Kraster moved to knee his opponent in the gut, on instinct, James twisted and brought his left thigh up to block. Kraster's knee impacted on the knife wound.

Stars exploded in James' vision, eyes tearing from the pain. Kraster took the advantage and pulled back, readying for a stab to the gut. James caught the strike again, the point of the blade halting mere centimeters from from his torso. Kraster threw a punch with his free hand, which James caught also. The two struggled, each trying to over power the other.

"Why don't you just give up?" Kraster asked angrily through clenched teeth, "Why do you persist in this fight? Why do you continually defend this nation of weaklings?"

"They're not weaklings. They have a strength you couldn't even begin to know with the way you treat them!" James shot back.

"Oh yeah? Then why did they send you to fight for them, huh? Why can't their 'powerful leaders' come out and face us themselves?"

"I came out on my own. I came to do what I have to, for my sake as well as theirs."

"Oh, how fucking noble of you! You waste your life for them and what do they sacrifice in return? Nothing!"

James began laughing like a lunatic again. Laughing like mad because of the pain, laughing because of his fucked up situation.

"Sacrifice? You wanna talk about sacrifice? I came here lost and alone, and what did they do? They took me in. When the nightmares came and tortured me in my sleep, even inconvenienced them, they talked to me, calmed me and listened when I needed them to. They showed me that I wasn't just some hollow husk, who's only purpose in life was killing! When one of your soldiers tried to kill me, my teammate and FRIEND gave his own LIFE so I could live WITHOUT HESITATION! FUCK YOU!" Bloody spittle flew into Kraster's face at the end of the tirade, but he didn't flinch.

"And what, that deserves anything?" Kraster sneered.

"It deserves at least this much."

James released his grip on Kraster's knife hand, allowing the blade to plunge into his left torso and Kraster to move closer. James gasped at the intense pain, but he gritted through it. He gathered all his strength and with a vicious war cry, head butted the scar faced man. Kraster reeled back, blood gushing from a broken nose. James wasted no time and pulled the knife from his body. At last, in one swift move, he gripped Kraster's throat with one hand and with the other, shoved the blade up to it's hilt into his chest just below the sternum.

Kraster's eyes shot wide, adam's apple bobbing up and down like he was trying to say something. James twisted the blade and those words never got out. Finally, Kraster's eyes glazed over and his last breath escaped from his lungs. James left the knife lodged in the man's body and let the corpse slump to the deck. He just stood there for a moment, staring down at the dead pile of meat and bone that had caused so much trouble in this chapter of his life.

Then the adrenaline started wearing off. It came slow at first, but then great pain began radiating through James' body, the strongest sources being his knife wounds in his leg and abdomen. Doubling over from the severe trauma, James staggered over to where the gun was laying on the deck. With effort, he picked up the revolver and stuck it in his right cargo pocket on his pants, it was covered in less blood than the left one.

Clutching his abdomen, the human swerved down the passageways, which were now almost devoid of all traffic. More explosions tore up the ship, throwing James against a bulkhead where he left a bloody smear. Looking up, he thought he recognized the area, he thought the Clipper's crash site might be close. He was definitely near the hull of the ship, he could see dim sunlight through some of the doors. If only he could make it back to the Clipper, he might be able to strap into one of the remaining parachutes and bailout before the ship went down. Maybe Garth was there wai-

*KRA-KOOM*

An eruption of intense heat and light destroyed the airship, sending large chunks flying everywhere. James suddenly found himself weightless. Howling wind surrounded him. He felt the warm light of the dying sun on his face. Above him, all he could see was the darkening sky. Droplets and globules of blood lifted from his body, forming perfect little spheres that floated serenely before his face, revolving around each other like a little system of scarlet planets.

The pain started fading. The growing light of stars above him twinkling and wavering in strange ways. James had heard that at moments like these, your life was supposed to flash before your eyes. In a way, that sort of happened. Only instead of seeing his life played out before him, memories sprung to mind. At first they were painful, memories of his past, of the hardships he was forced to endure so early in life. But a different kind butted in, pushing the unpleasant ones out.

Memories of his old team flooded in, of Feng and Nix, Bellis and finally Jackson. The man that had accepted him as a brother and ended his cold lonely walk through life. His arrival in Equestria, the kindness it's inhabitants were so quick to show him, the bonds he had made with those that chose willingly to fight along side him, the special kind of peace he was able to find in one of them that calmed his mind and soul. At the thought of her, the stone he wore around his neck fluttered out from his undershirt and snapped taut on the line it was attached to, catching the sunlight and throwing the most beautiful colors James had ever seen.

James smiled and felt a warmness in his chest that may or may not have been an excess of internal bleeding. At that moment, for the first time in his life, he felt completely content with himself. Creeping darkness started to cloud around his vision while he fell through the air. Before he passed out, he felt his chest vibrate with a far off detonation. High above him, he saw a wreath of ethereal muti-colored flame spread out across the sky. James' vision dimmed and his mind went dark, a goofy smile of warmth and happiness still on his face.

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

"Where the hell did you go man?"

Jackson was a large man. Large enough that he made the head stones in the lush grass around him look way too small in comparison. The one he stood in front of was cast in shadow by his frame, the sun to his back. Kneeling down, Jackson placed a bottle of rum, his friend's favorite, at the base of it. The face of the headstone read;

IN MEMORIAM

SO2 JAMES KAUGHN

1990 — 2017

A LOYAL AND STEADFAST FRIEND THAT GAVE

ALL OF HIMSELF FOR WHAT HE BELIEVED IN

RIGHT TO THE VERY END

"We looked everywhere for you, brother."

Behind him, another man walked up and put a hand on the big man's shoulder, "C'mon, Jackson, it's been more than a year, he's gone. We did all we could."

"I know sir, but I don't remember buryin' no body. He's gotta be out there somewhere, I can feel it."

"Well, me and the rest of the team are gonna head out for some drinks soon, wanna come?"

"I a little bit sir, I think I need just a little more time."

"Take your time, buddy, we'll be waiting in the car."

Solemnly, Bellis turned and headed down a hill to a car waiting below with two more men inside.

Jackson stood looking at the headstone, hands clenching into fists, "I don't know where you went brother, but where ever you are, no matter where that is, I promise, I'll find you."