Tala’keer murmured a few more words as her mind focused its energy into the completion of her work, a faint blue glow visible even through closed eyelids. The glow faded and her warm eyes opened to behold the green bauble in its golden cradle and the little golden chain that would allow it to be worn around neck or wrist. It has taken her almost six months as her husband measured things to create this for him but it was worth it.

Despite her worries the timing could not be better with their one year anniversary coming up in just a few days and she was glad to have finished it. In her mind flashed the vision from six months ago, the one that ended in John’s death and the reason for the delay in finishing this gift. Originally it had merely been meant as a valued item, one holding memories of their time together, with more recent memories with their daughter Auriala, newly born just a month prior added in.

Smiling she looked down where little Auriala lay wrapped close to her body sleeping with the lack of care all children start with. Singing softly she stroked the little girl’s head with her fingers as the happiness of having a family once again filled her. Auriala’s birth had not been the real delay in finishing his present but rather the need to try and guard against the future she saw. Now the present contained not only memories but also, should the need arise, a message. “Now my little one, we can only pray…pray that the future either does not come to pass or if it does, that my actions are enough to stay his hand in the end.”

Fuck forests.

No seriously, fuck forests right up their leafy asses. If I were to somehow ever get back to Earth I’d punch out the next person to yell ‘save the forests’ then maybe kick them in the nuts while they were down. Should they lack nuts for me to kick I’d aim for the stomach instead, I’m easy. Despite what it might sound like my hatred for forests wasn’t anything anti-environmental but rather borne out of annoyance.

I’d had more than one drug lab or weapons stockpile that I had to take out that had been located deep in a forest before and operating in forests sucked. Cover was good but that worked both ways and I had nearly lost the element of surprise by running into a guard I couldn’t see more than once. The amount of foliage also was great for slowing down any speedy intentions especially if you liked to wear a trench coat, which I did. Yeah, I could have gone without it but fuck that, the trench coat is part of my thing that makes me me ok?

Add in humidity and plenty of dangerous flora and fauna and I came to deeply loathe forests over the years. The Everfree forest was surprisingly not humid compared to most forests I had been in however what it lacked in humidity it made up for in dark spookiness. My nerves were also taught at the prospect of running into one of the dangerous denizens that Windfall had told me about prior.

Speaking of that pegasus pony I could feel her fearful breathing on the back of my neck and her forehooves were somehow clutching my shoulders as she flapped along close behind me, ears and eyes alert for anything dangerous. My senses were also on high alert and I heard every rustle of leaves and cracking of branches, every animal noise both familiar and alien. Our progress wasn’t very fast despite there being a path, somewhat overgrown now that led through the forest.

We stuck to that path but our steps were cautious so we could maintain awareness of our surroundings and I held my shotgun ready for anything. Yes I wanted to die however death by mauling was not on the list and I wanted to finish my mission then die on my own terms in a quick and clean manner. “S-shouldn’t we let somepony know about this? Maybe get some help instead of trying this on our own,” Windfall stammered out.

That would be the smart idea however I didn’t want to let on just yet that my intention was to use the ship to leave the planet. If there were more ponies along then it might become obvious really fast what my intent was and they might try to stop me and also if we waited and the pilot died, assuming he wasn’t dead already then his ship might not respond to me if it was locked to him in some way. I told Windfall the last part, more or less, “We might but right now I’m worried about the pilot. The sooner we can get to him help him the better odds he’ll have of surviving whatever injuries he may have.”

My answer seemed to satisfy her and she went silent again. Given that we had just decided speed was of the essence we both unconsciously picked up speed. At one point the path branched off and I had to use my directional point on my gauntlet to pick the right path. Within the hour however we stood at the base of a mountain, or cliff I couldn’t tell too well from down there and through all the vegetation. There were stairs carved into the stone though which I began to mount.

Windfall opted to fly up, keeping herself level with me and watching my progress for any potential problems. Once the edge of the stair I had stepped on crumbled and I fell against the side of the stone as Windfall was there to grab me in case I fell. In my chest my heart was hammering at the near drop and I found myself grateful for Windfalls presence. Taking a moment to catch my breath and nodding assurance and thanks to Windfall I got back on my feet and began to climb again.

The trees disappeared beneath us as we climbed higher, the moon and stars shining brightly tonight and giving me greater visibility. As we climbed I asked, “Hey Windfall, do you know anything about this place we’re climbing?”

She shook her head, “No, I don’t. It’s not the Castle of the Royal Sisters I can tell you that.”

“The Castle of the Royal Sisters?”

“Yeah, it used to be the castle Celestia and Luna ruled Equestria from.”

“Why don’t they rule there anymore?”

She looked surprised, “Oh, you don’t know the tale of Nightmare Moon?”

“No, I don’t.”

Instead of telling me as I was expecting her too she looked embarrassed, looking away from me, “I’d tell you but…well you should ask Luna.”

“What does Luna have to do with Nightmare Moon?”

“You should ask her yourself, that is all I’ll say,” And she shut her mouth tightly no matter what I asked so I stopped asking. Looking up at the moon as I continued my climb I wondered if Luna was aware of the crashed ship. She had been aware of Windfalls accident when I first got here after all. My heart sank as the thought hit me that she might already be there. With my luck she was indeed and I might just lose my chance to get off this planet.

A few minutes later I saw an end to the stairs; a landing cut into the cliff. About fucking time, I thought as I silently cursed whoever decided to build such a large staircase. I took a minute to stop and regain some strength, my breathing deep and ragged. Windfall didn’t even look winded with her wings flapping slowly. Her face showed concern for me which I waved away.

My strength regained I made for the landing which was wide enough for a tractor trailer to comfortably sit on. Four large pillars went from the back of the landing to the ceiling high above me and inside I saw what looked like a small library rotting away. If there had been anything to keep out the elements I saw no sign of it now. The ship wasn’t on this level but at the back of the room I saw more stairs Fuck cut into a tunnel curving upwards.

Another minute spent sprinting up those stairs brought me to what looked like an observatory. In the ceiling was a hole that was obviously made and not natural where a telescope could easily have fit out. Another landing dominated the right side of the room, held up by more pillars though one was gone now along with part of the ceiling. Following the natural direction it seemed to point at I was drawn to where the platform for the telescope would have been.

When I say it would have been there I meant that it was now crushed under a couple tons of spaceship. It was a silver arrow headed spaceship that was crumpled on the front. That made sense at least since that was the part that had the privilege of meeting the ground first. As I was getting ready to go forward to see if the rest of the ship was ok I saw a figure checking out the engines at the back.

With the nice enlargement in the wall made by the ship the moon provided sufficient light for me to see who the figure was. The figure was tall, well muscled with a dark furred tail, a dark furred lupine head and a scar running over one eye. I was literally so shocked that I couldn’t move for a few seconds. Then I began to laugh, loud enough to make Windfall and the figure leap back in surprise as I held my gut and my whole body shook.

He blinked a few times, nose moving as it sniffed the air involuntarily and a low, surprised, throaty growl emerged, “John?”

While being doubled over laughing I managed a wave. I must have been quite the sight since no one did or said anything but watched me laugh for a few more moments. When I could calm down enough I straightened up and threw my arms wide, “Wilhelm! For once I can honestly say I am happy to see you!”

A huff escaped his muzzle and he grinned, “Actually, so am I John. I’ve been looking for you for a while now.”

“No kidding! Small galaxy then because I’ve been looking for you too!”

“For what reason? Is that why you’re carrying a gun?”

I grinned, “All the better to kill you with my dear!” My arms were a blur as I raised and fired the shotgun, the loud noise almost deafening. Windfall closed her ears with a shriek while Wilhelm dodge rolled to his right. He turned that roll into grabbing the side of his ship and vaulting himself over to the other side as a second blast bounced off the ship. Knowing he would be ready to counter attack almost instantly I began running for the cover of the nearest pillar.

As I ducked behind the pillar I heard a loud whining noise and kept running. My peripheral vision was practically blinded by a searing white light and the pillar I had about to use for cover exploded. Wilhelm had always preferred the most powerful plasma pistols on the market I recalled at that moment. My sprint carried me behind and past the second pillar which disrupted his sightline long enough for his aim to fail.

Rubble falling around me I was now sprinting in the open, his ship having taken out the next nearest pillar. Looking to the side and raising my shotgun I began firing as fast I could pull the trigger. One of my favorite features of the SPAS-12 is that it can be set to either pump action or semi-automatic and I always had it set to semi-auto. Wilhelm ducked back behind his ship as a small torrent of buckshot filled the air in his general direction.

With a slide that would have made a pro baseball player proud I made it behind the final pillar and frantically reloaded my shotgun. Another loud whining noise was all the warning I had before the pillar exploded above me forcing me to roll out from behind it and come up sprinting. The nearest available cover was his ship which I headed for without hesitation. It suddenly felt like a day in mid-summer as another plasma bolt flew behind me, missing me by no more than a foot.

Instinctively I decided to end this fight and instead of hitting the ship and pressing myself against it I instead leapt, my foot hitting and pushing against one of the metal wings. This took me up the side of the curved hull as did my next footstep. One more and I was leaping in the air over the top of the ship, shotgun pointed in his direction. A surprised look and a too slow raise of his pistol was what awaited me as I fired as fast as I could.

Any triumph I felt was short lived as the air around him flared with light, A shield! Powerful but short lived personal shields only lasted about a minute when constantly used which would be more than enough time for him to kill me. Without thought my body swung the butt of the shotgun down like a club, smacking his pistol just as it discharged. My lungs were emptied with a scream as a searing heat claimed my left side.

Almost as quickly as the pain came it numbed as shock kicked in and I was able to recover before he could bring his pistol back to line up a shot. One thing personal shields could not block was slow moving attacks like melee attacks so when I brought the butt of my shotgun up under his chin he took the full brunt of the hit. His head snapped back and he dropped the pistol.

I made to smash my weapon into his face however he surprised me with a sudden snap kick to my stomach, doubling me over. A follow up snap kick hit my wrist and the incredible pain unleashed another scream and caused me to drop my gun. Without thinking my body tensed to receive the next blow however it never came. What I first thought was my legs quivering from pain soon turned into something else as rumbling filled the air.

The structure we were fighting in began to sway and shiver now that it had no pillars to help support the weight coming from above. Wilhelm and I took off running for the platforms edge as chunks of the ceiling began falling down around us. Right as my right foot hit the edge the floor gave way from all the weight falling down onto it. Fortunately the lower landing was further out from the cliff than the one we were one so we had a relatively close landing site.

The height was still enough to break bones if not careful so I forced myself to go limp and roll before I hit the floor. Pain drove a spike through my brain when my side rolled across the rough floor and I saw red. My body however just pumped out more natural painkillers and the pain subsided though I saw a slick of blood where I had rolled. Rather more immediate though was Wilhelm getting to his feet, his teeth fully bared and legs spread like he was going to take a run at me.

Thinking that his shield generator might have been damaged in the fall I got up pulling out Tala. The kick felt I was trying to stop a moving car thanks to my damaged hand and the size of the round being fired. Wilhelm was charging at me without taking notice of the shot so I must have missed. His shield flared on the second shot though which was all I had time for before he cannoned into me and we went rolling across the rubble strewn floor.

I gagged at the smell of his breath which I got a good whiff of when he tried to snap his jaws around my face. Well I dodged but only barely but then I tried to bite his nose, don’t ask why it just seemed like the right thing to do at the time. Some of his weight stopped pressing me down but that was quickly replaced by the hammering of his furry fist against my face. Several hammer blows later I tasted blood and I was pretty sure I heard a cracking noise.

Suddenly his hands were wrapped around my throat, his fur tickling me a bit as my air intake was suddenly lessened severely. The only thing my eyes could focus on was his lupine face, growling and glaring down at mine. His lips began to move though I barely could make out what he was saying. Growling and full of hate he said, “I always hated you, from the first time I laid eyes on your pathetic naked monkey body to having to train your worthless ass to make you worth something even as just cannon fodder. About the only thing I liked about you were the screams you made when I punished you in your ass.”

Red began to creep into my vision as his words awoke fury within me, mixing with the blackness of oncoming unconsciousness from lack of air. However he wasn’t finished yet, “The Stringent Income was my home, its crew my family. I’m glad you decided not to become part of that family but I hate you even more for taking that family from me. Revenge, it’s all I care about anymore and now it is mine.”

With a sudden lunge my hands closed around his pointed furry ears, squeezed hard and turned them almost 180 degrees around. A shriek escaped his lips and his grip on my throat lessened as he involuntarily leaned back. My fist flew into his face a few more times driving him back until he tried to stand up to escape my fists. Instead his face met my boot once, twice, three times until he was falling onto his back.

Without giving him time to recover I leapt onto him, straddling his torso and began to hammer my right fist into his face over and over and over. For ten years now I had waited for this moment, I had saved my hate and now it spilled out of me. There was no thought behind my blows only hate and the need to hurt this mother fucker who ruined my life. Each time I felt the small pain of hammering his face into a sticky mess it was like a drug that had no equal.

Words erupted from my mouth now, “Fuck you Wilhelm, you and your god damn family! You stole me from mine remember? Know what else you stole? My innocence! My future! My dreams! I can never go home again, never be among my own kind because the government thinks I’m a fucking alien! After all the killing I’ve done do you think I can just quit and live the quiet life now? No! Every criminal organization in this arm of the galaxy has a bounty on my head so no retirement for me!”

“Do you get it now Wilhelm? YOU!” Hammer blow to his face, “RUINED!” hammer blow “MY!” hammer blow “LIFE!” At that moment my energy finally ran out and I knelt there breathing heavily looking down at the man I hated the most. His face was now a ruin of blood and broken bone but he was still breathing. Throbbing pain was making my right hand feel about 10 times bigger than normal. Looking at it I could see I had heavily abraded the skin there and blood ran all over the skin and I…I felt the best I had in fucking years.

Finding his shield generator I tore it off and threw it away, slowly standing up and withdrawing to a safe distance to shoot him where he couldn’t lash out with a foot or anything like that. As I bent to pick up Tala I saw my shotgun had made the trip down with the rest of the rubble and was lying against the edge of the landing. Putting Tala away I picked up the shotgun and reloaded it with shaky hands.

Slowly I walked back over, shaking more and more as the adrenaline was starting to ebb allowing the pain to come back to me. Taking a deep breath I carefully aimed the shotgun at his head only for a scream to interrupt me, “DON’T DO IT JOHN!” Looking over I saw Windfall flapping hard to get to me carrying Tough Hoof in her forehooves. Judging from the look on their faces I must have looked like quite a mess, or a monster, or both.

Ignoring her scream I turned back to finally finish the job when I noticed his eyes were looking directly into mine. In them I saw the hate, the anger, pain and finally…pride. He coughed up some blood and croaked out, “Well…who knew…when I trained you…all those years ago…you’d go…from that pathetic…monkey to…this. Heh. I’m…proud of you…my boy.”

I looked for the sarcasm, the lies but there was none. It was all genuine; this man I hated, who hated me, was proud of what I had become. Because, I realized, Because I was just like him now. The realization shook me and I roared as loud as I could to blot it out as I fired, blowing his brains out onto the rubble floor. Inside I still shook from the revelation but alongside that came another feeling; one so alien that I didn’t realized what it was at first.

That feeling was freedom. My mission was finally complete and the last of the criminals who had personally caused me harm was dead. With that out of the way there was only one thing left to do. However I did feel that I owed Windfall and Tough Hoof one basic courtesy so I told them, “You guys might want to leave. I doubt you want to see what is to come next.”

Their big eyes filled with great fear and desperate pleading. Windfall stepped forward, “Please John no, please don’t do this. I beg you come back with us, let us help you!”

Tough Hoof joined her, “Please be reasonable John, you can’t just throw your life away like this. It’s not worth it, not right and despite what you might think there are many who would be hurt by you doing this.”

I almost smiled; it was exactly what I expected from them and it was actually touching to think they still would try even now to save me. “Sorry guys, but I’ve waited too long for this. As for those who’d miss me…they’ll get over it one day.” Heat and metal touched the skin of my chin as I shoved the barrel of the shotgun under it and prepared to fire.

The sensation was suddenly gone and my arms were pulled away from my body. My eyes opened to look directly into the angry, tear filled eyes of Windfall. Her forelegs were wrapped around my shotgun and had pulled it to now point into her chin. “I’m not letting you do this to yourself John,” She declared, “If you want to kill yourself then you have to kill me first!”

Angrily I yelled, “I can do that you know! You saw me just now, I can kill no problem!”

“Then why don’t you just do it and get it over with?!” My brain racked itself trying to recall if she knew about my inhibition to killing innocents even as I tried to force myself to pull the trigger. Every time my finger so much as twitched against the trigger I found myself full of guilt and the desire to throw down the gun. Instead I tried to wrestle the gun from her grip but she was a lot stronger than she looked, stronger than me in fact and I couldn’t get it.

Through clenched teeth I said, “Give…me…the gun.”

“NO!”

“Fine then,” I yelled as I let go of the shotgun and grabbed Tala from its holster, rapidly backing up as I did so. Before I could use it Tough Hoof was suddenly there, looking more serious than I had ever seen him look before as he grabbed my arm in a lock and twisted, causing me to drop Tala. Anger boiled inside me; this couldn’t be happening! Not now, not when I was finally free and I could bring myself to die.

Another voice cut in, “It’s over John. You will not die this night for your friends refuse to let you.” Standing on the edge of the landing was Princess Luna, her serious face on and looking steadfastly into my eyes. She continued, “Please do not dishonor them any further by continuing your suicidal attempts.”

I bit out, “It’s my right to die if I choose.”

“Perhaps, but it is also our right to try and prevent you, if we so choose.”

Before I could reply my shirt lit from within and I felt a warm presence suddenly fill my mind and body, pushing back the pain and emotions of the time. The ponies looked as surprised as I was but what surprised me even more was that I knew this presence though it had been years since I felt it. Tala, I thought, How can this be? From under my shirt levitated the necklace Tala had given to me years before, just a few days before her death.

Suddenly she was standing before me, taller than me by a foot at least, thinner than a human but not too much so and her proportions matched to make her look very lovely. Her skin was pale but not unpleasantly so and her features were similar to a human’s yet different. Those hazel eyes held a depth to them that no other species I had encountered ever had. Unlike human ears her ears had no lobe and were pointed. She was Elediel, known more commonly among humanity as Elves.

Soft lips parted in a smile she began to speak, “John my beloved I see we have come to a crossroads I hoped you would never have to walk.” Her hands reached for mine and without thinking I reached out to take them. To my surprise her hands made solid contact with mine and I felt her presence even stronger. Still smiling she continued, “When I began making this gift for you my father’s talent, divination, suddenly emerged in me and I saw the future, one where you took your own life. Well, if you are seeing this than that future has come to pass.”

There was a pause and then she continued, “After that I began to think on how I might prevent it from happening though my vision included no details on exactly why you were like this. What I could tell was that neither I nor Auriala were there so I surmised we must be dead or somehow separated from you. This message, with just enough of my soul to contact you, was the best I could really do without more knowledge.”

“John, my beloved I beg of you to live. Whatever has befallen you since I gave you this I want you to know that my love for you will not have changed even in death. It is this love that wishes to see you live that you may one day find a happy future. Do not say there is no such future for you for even with the talent of divination no one can fully see the future. Take comfort in the piece of myself I leave with you for through it I will always be there for you.”

Then she was gone and I felt her withdraw from me and I began to shake, “N-no. Please…come back! Don’t…don’t leave me again…please come back.” There was no response and for the second time it felt like she had died even though I still had the necklace. Grief welled through me, so much so that this time I could not stop the hot tears from flowing from my eyes and I began to wail like a child.

Warmth and softness surrounded my neck and face and I saw Windfall crying and hugging me, telling me it would be ok as she nuzzled my face and rubbed my back with her hooves. Tough Hoof and Luna soon joined the hug, surrounding me and whispering assurances as I cried like I hadn’t in years. I don’t know how long it was that we sat there all I know was crying until the blackness overtook me.