//------------------------------// // Ghosts. // Story: A Marine and His Ponies // by USMC517 //------------------------------// A/N: It's a little lengthy with text first, but will get better on down the line. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- James had been trudging through the Everfree forest for quite some time. A stream was hidden by the dense green foliage that he stepped into, causing him to fall down and almost twist his ankle. He got back up and started cursing everything as loud as he could. After packing up the few things that had fallen out from his pack, he moved on deeper and deeper into the woods. He had no idea where he was or where he was going, the only thing he knew was that he was still angry at the princesses. "God! They couldn't even let me die! Then they tell me that they need me because I can do my job, unlike their little panzee ass guards! This is bullshit!" He yelled out as he kicked a slim tree, making it rustle violently back and forth. He then started to think back to Dash and how she looked at him once he told her to leave him alone. It was sad, even heart breaking to him because he made her cry. This made him even angrier. He threw his pack down, making a loud thud as it hit the dirt, then pulled out his pistol and pulled the slide back and let it go. With the round chambered he fired every round in the magazine into a wide tree. Bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang. Splinters flew off of it as the bullets impacted and buried themselves deep inside of the trunk. He dropped his weapon hand and stared at the tree, envisioning himself and the princesses. He clenched his pistol tightly as he continued to stare. He picked up a nearby rock and hurled it at the tree as well, letting out a loud yell as he did so. Just after the rock hit the ground, he noticed something was rustling in the bushes. He moved over to the sound and looked in to the bush trying to find the source. He could see a tail of some sort move out of his view, then the whole thing stepped out from the bush. "One of you little pricks again!?" He yelled at the creature, it only stared at him; "I know what you are now, and you're going to regret coming out here you little bastard!" He continued shouting at the cockatrice. It let out a squawk and then James charged at it. He let his foot fly into it, sending it flying into some more brush. It returned however and came flying back as quick as it had left. James wasted no time and picked up a hefty stick laying on the ground, then brought it back like a baseball bat. He let it sail into the animal's chest, causing the stick to break and a piece go flying into the distance. The blunt force the animal sustained was more than enough to kill it. To finish it off he stood over it then stabbed the stick into its chest, pinning it to the ground. After his anger attack subsided, he took his ruck sack and continued on. He hadn't noticed that the day had became overcast with clouds, when he did he started thinking of a place to shelter in case it started to rain, even though he had been out many times when it was a torrential down pour. He hiked for a half an hour longer, all the while it got darker and darker. He still couldn't keep from thinking back to how it all had gone. From him being told he was dead, then to why they needed him, then to the fact that heaven and hell really existed. He thought hard at how it was possible because he had never truly believed in such a thing, he had even thought it was a stupid idea to be worshiping some guy who claimed to be the creator of everything. His thoughts were interrupted once more as he fell down to the ground, being tripped by a tree root. His hands had been looped under the straps of his bag and allowed him no time to catch himself. He fell face first into the mud of a small brook, his pistol had come out of his holster and landed in the water. "Goddamn it! Is there anything else!?" He yelled as he got up half covered in black mud, cursing the god he didn't believe. He cleared the mud from his eyes then looked down to find his pistol. "Great! Now I have to clean that!" He shouted out as he swiped it back out of the water. He drained the water then stowed it back in the holster, making sure that it was secured properly. He wiped what was left of the mud from his face, then started walking again. He rounded a bend where the brook was coming from, and in the distance he spotted a cave that was slightly off the ground where the water was coming out of. He picked up his pace and headed for it. He made it to the cave and looked at the opening, it was about twenty feet high at the opening, then about fifty feet in it tapered off to roughly ten feet from what he could see, a small water fall was coming from the center of it. He swung his pack off and rummaged through it to find his flash light, and once he found it he zipped his pack back up and threw it inside the opening. He stowed the light on his vest and proceeded to climb up into the cave. The whole thing was about six feet off the ground, but luckily there was a rock that gave him a high enough boost to get up onto it. Once inside he clicked the light on, bathing the cavern in a bright white tone, in the far back he was able to see a pool of water being fed by another water fall. He took out his pistol and put in a new magazine, disposing of the other one in his bag. He slung his pack over his shoulders and slowly moved further into the cave, the light reflected off the water and cast a white, wave like appearance on the walls. As he got further in he noticed that it opened up to an even larger area, the pool of water taking up only a third of it. "Well, this is a rather nice treat after a shitty day." He thought as he set his pack down again. He put his pistol away and went searching around the cave more to try and get a sense of where everything was. The water fall that dumped into the pool was about fifteen feet up and it came out of a hole in the roof with stalactites around the opening. He ventured around more, finding only small nooks and crannies of no importance. "I'll need to make a fire before it starts raining and get's that wood wet." He thought as he headed back to his bag. He quickly packed up and headed back to the entrance to find firewood. It had gotten darker as the day progressed, he looked at his watch to find that it was already five thirty. He quickened his search for wood and soon returned with a bundle in both arms. He threw the two bundles up into the cave with his ruck sack, then climbed back in and went to the pool area. He set everything down and took off his vest, his shirt was damp from the water he fell in along with the vest. He began to set up the fire starting with the tinder, he took the smallest dry stuff and made a base, then he took a pistol cartridge and emptied the powder out onto the small tray he made with the dry tinder. Then very carefully he took his knife and placed the tip on the primer to set it off, he then took his pistol to smack the knife and ignite the bundle, but before he brought the gun down he heard a whisper come from somewhere within the cave. A clear voice was heard, but the words were indistinguishable. "What was that?" He asked out loud as he turned around with his flashlight to try and find the source. After looking for a while longer he went back to starting the fire. He carefully set the objects back up and struck the primer, igniting the powder and making it burn the small, dry tinder of moss and thin strips of bark. He quickly added more small tinder to it as the flame caught more and more. After blowing on it to get it burning more, he had a decent fire burning and could soon add bigger branches to it. Ahhsh maaahh ames. "What?" He asked himself quietly as he snapped around to face where the whisper had come from. He flicked his light on to see better, but nothing was there. He went back to tending the fire, building it bigger and bigger until it was big enough to where he didn't need to add wood to it. He sat down and leaned against the cave wall and thought more about how everything transpired. "I can't believe that I'm dead. Ha, well we go to hell to regroup, but I guess I don't get to." He laughed at himself. He let his mind wander to anything and everything; Rainbow's face kept coming up time and again, just how she looked, so heart broken, maybe even betrayed by those few words he had said. He thought for a while longer and slowly dozed off to sleep. This time his dreams were pleasant, days back on the farm with his parents and brother when they were younger. Although James was dreaming, he remembered it all very clearly and felt as if he was there. He was ten and his brother was eight, they had been playing 'war' outside with their toy cap guns that they had gotten for Christmas a while back. Pap "Ooohhhh you got me, bleh". James said in an adolescent tone as he 'died'. His brother went and hid somewhere, and soon James was back up and looking for his younger brother. "I'm gonna' find you Andy!" He cooed to his brother who was hiding just a few feet away in some tall brush. He walked past Andy three times before he slightly noticed him. James played it off like he hadn't notice him, then he crept around a tree and got closer. Andy didn't want to move, he liked to hide from his brother, then when he felt the time was right, he would jump out and surprise him. James snuck up on him more, then when he was just a few feet away he shot his imaginary bullet at Andy Pap pap. It scared him and made him jump up, only to realize that it was just his older brother, he quickly went into his most honorable 'death' pose and fell over with his arms at his sides. James couldn't help but giggle at his brother's action. "James, Andrew! Time for dinner!" Their father shouted out to them from the back deck. They sighed as their play time was over. James helped his brother back up and they both walked inside for their meal. "James... what if we joined the Army? That would be so cool!" Andy exclaimed as he walked closer to his brother's side. "Yeah it would!" James agreed as he put his arm around his brother, pulling him closer in. James woke up just after the dream ended, he squinted and looked around, it was hard to see anything past the orange light of the dying fire, but he was still able to see some things. He sat upright and stretched his arms, then got up to do the same to the rest of his body. "Wow I'm thirsty, hopefully that pond isn't contaminated with anything." He said to himself. He then walked over to the pool of water and bent down to look into it. "Looks clean, not green or anything, no fish to pollute it, maybe I'll get lucky and not get Giardia either." He thought as he pressed his face to the surface, making a slight slurping sound as he drank. He got back up after drinking the cool, clear water and slowly made his way back over to his pack, taking in the cave and it's stunning beauty. As he went back over to his spot, he looked down the length of the tunnel that lead to the main area he was in, and noticed that it had become pitch black outside. He made his way to the small wood pile and picked up a few small branches to stoke the fire with. He threw the sticks on and watched as the flames slowly grew. "Oh crap, I still need to clean my gun." He said to himself as he looked around for his pack which contained a few things to do so with. He searched around and looked to where it was before he had fallen asleep, but did not find it in that spot. "Weird, I don't recall moving it anywhere." He looked around the small site more, only to find that his pack was gone. "This is getting really weird, first whispers, and now my pack is missing. Well at least I have my torch and pistol." He thought as he frowned, wondering just where his pack had gone. He threw a few more branches on the fire to get the flame brighter and light up the whole cave. After the wood had taken, he searched more around the cave for his pack. He walked with the flashlight under his pistol hand, checking every small space that he found. He searched for ten minutes then took a break to gather his thoughts on where it could possibly be. He turned his head and caught a glimpse of a small dug out pit in the side of the cave wall and walked to it. He approached it cautiously because the light only cast itself a few feet into the pit. He got closer and decided that it probably wasn't inside, but as he looked in he could see the bottom part of his pack facing him at about eight feet in. "How the hell did you get in here? I know I sure didn't move you." He said as he looked around to find the culprit, but to no surprise he found nothing. He then dropped down and tried to squeeze inside of the small opening. He had barely made it to his shoulders when he realized that he could not make it any further in, due to his vest being too bulky on the front and back, so he wriggled back out and took it off. He put the light in his mouth and crawled on his back further and further inside, slowly making his way to his hips, then to his feet. He finally made it to his boots and then found that much like the cave, the pit opened up to a larger area in the back. He tried to stretch his arms to grab it so he didn't have to go all the way into the cramped space, but to no prevail he could not reach it, so he squirmed closer to it. As he moved closer he looked at it again and saw something crawl over it quickly. "What was that!?" He quickly said to himself as his eyes widened, he stared at the bag for few moments, then movement on the wall caught his eye. A long legged, black and tan striped cave spider scurried up the side and into the blackness of the ceiling. James let out a little shiver from fear. "You're kidding? Oh I hate you, ooohhhhh I hate you!" He quietly exclaimed to himself as he closed his eyes, trying to make the sight of the arachnid go away. He looked up at the ceiling and found that a web had been built, and lying in the center of the web were two more of the same type of spider, the one previously on his pack was scurrying its way to its friends. "Ooohhhhh I really really hate you!" He said out loud as he quickly reached for his pack and brought it to himself, not taking his eyes off of the spiders. One of them started moving to the outside of the web and started coming down to where he was at. He wasted no time and immediately started to make his way back out again, about half way through he heard something. Crumble crumble... thud thud thud thud thud James snapped his head to look outside the pit and saw a black mass run by, then grab his vest and take off with it whoosh. "What the hell is going on!?" He thought as he tried to explain the sighting to himself. He quickly got out of the hole in the cave and looked around for the thing that stole it, but much like everything else, he was unable to find it. "Shit, it took my gun, and my knife!" He shouted out. He quickly broke off a stalagmite to use as a weapon and ran back over to the fire. It had burnt out. "What!? That should still be burning!" He said in disbelief; "Screw it, I'm gone!" He shouted to whatever was in the cave with him. He threw on his pack, not checking or even caring to see of a spider may have stowed away on it, and ran to the mouth of the cave. Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh another whisper was heard making it's way through the cave. James' hair stood on end as he heard it creep into his ear. Jaaaammeesss. "What the fuck!?" He shouted as he turned around at the mouth and scanned back and forth with the light. A black silhouette crossed from one side of the cave to the other, and disappeared from view. His mouth dropped open and his eyes spread wide open as he saw the black shadow move, the light then went out. "Oh shit." He said as he stood there, too struck with fear to do anything. Aaaannnnddyyyyyyyy. Another whisper echoed through the cave, James stopped dead in his tracks as he heard the unmistakable announcement of his brother's name. "How do you know my brother's name!?" He shouted back into the darkness. It stepped out of the shadows, the dim light of the moon barely making it visible. He was still frozen with fear and did not dare move, and neither did the silhouette, it only stood facing in James' direction. He looked closer at it and could tell by the outline that it had on a vest and helmet similar to his. "What are you?" He whispered to the apparition. "Andy." Was all it said. "B- brother?" He asked in total disbelief. "Yes." "Bu- how!?" He asked. "Do not worry about it James." "Andy if that's you, then prove it." James told the shadow. "I was born October twenty eighth, nineteen eighty two." It said back. James' hair sprang up on the back of his neck as he heard the valid information come from the apparition. "Andy if that is you, why are you here!?" He asked it, still not convinced that the thing in front of him was his long since deceased brother. "To help you." "H- help... help with what?" "To understand." "To understand what Andy!? Tell me!" He yelled back. The silhouette flew at him, immediately making him go unconscious. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- James' vision went from the cave and the shadow, to a blinding white. After a few moments of the whitewash, he could see some things starting to appear in the distance. He squinted to try and focus on the objects but it was still hard to make out the objects. Soon other things began to appear, then very quickly it all came together. He was back at his new house in Ponyville, the meeting with Celestia was taking place again. James was standing next to himself in the new world, while Andy stood by his side. "James, what happened today?" Andy asked him. "Gah! Andy!? Okay now I can see you clearly, what is going on!?" James asked his brother whom had startled him. "Do not talk, look onward at what is taking place." Andy said to him. James obeyed and focused on the situation, even though he knew what was going to happen. They were all talking, then it got up tot he point when Celestia told James the news of his death. Then immediately after she finished talking, the whole scene stopped. "Whoa! What's happening?" He turned and asked Andy. "James, what happened right there?" "Sh- she told me that I was dead, after skirting around the whole damn thing for half an hour. I swear, trying to get an answer out of both of them was impossible!" He stated to his brother. "Yes, but there was no need to yell at them or get angry, they simply told you the truth; and as you and I both know, sometimes it hurts." He told his older brother. "Andy! If you let this go on a little longer, you'll see that they they tell me I could have been with you and my whole damn team! Instead they bring me here!" He threw up his hands at Andy, wondering why he was siding with them. "Yes James, but someone else may have been brought to this world, and they may not have been able to do the things that you have been able to do, like surviving that forest when you first arrived, or being able to make friends with the local populace. If any lesser of a man than you were to be brought here and attempt to accomplish what you have, they more than likely would be dead by now. All of the effort that they put in to you getting here took a lot, but if someone unlike you was brought here, everything that they worked for would have been for nothing." Andy said staring straight into James' eyes. James had never heard his brother speak the way he had just done, and it sent a chill throughout his body. "Maybe so Andy, but I know that someone else out there could do the same as me, maybe even better." "True, but they aren't here James, it's you. You were chosen, you were picked, then you sealed the whole package with your death. Now James, I know it sucks, believe me I am still dead, unlike you. All of the others that are still dead envy the life that you have been given. James, heaven is wonderful, but life is even better, use yours for what it's worth." "I could have been with you, and everyone else, but I was sent here as a freakin' teacher. I didn't join the Corps to be a DI, you and I both know what we signed up for. They couldn't have gotten a few of us together is the space time continuum or whatever, and had a little meeting on who wanted to go and who didn't! Instead they just said nope, get your ass in here James, we don't care about your opinion." He said back getting angry once again. "James as much as I love you, I need to say this. You are so damn selfish sometimes, I know that you think about the greater good of the people, but sometimes when you really truly need to help someone, you don't think that you should have to be the one who has to do it." "What!? That is such crap Andy! I mean... goddamn we both went to war to protect the US, but in the end we both ended up getting killed! We both paid the ultimate sacrifice, don't you think that's enough to ask of someone?" He argued with his brother. "Yes James, but you were called on to do more than to just protect America. These beings need you to help them, to overcome what they fear just like when those cowards attacked us. James they need you, and believe me I am not the only one who thinks this." He argued right back. "What do you mean you're not the only one who thinks so?" "Even Patton thinks so, even your fire team thinks so!" "My team and old blood and guts? How were you able to talk to them?" "When people like us die, we have our own little slice of heaven you could say, but that's not the point here. I'm trying to tell you that your selfishness has gotten the best of you again. Remember when you got angry at dad when he told you to clean up the house for when mom got home from aunt Clarissa's? You felt that it shouldn't be just your job to clean the whole house, then you yelled at dad then ran away for a few hours." Andy brought the memory back to James. "Yeah, because it shouldn't have been just my job, it should have been all of ours." He stated. "You're right, yes, but dad needed to take the cows over to get branded, and he was going to teach me the process of it because you had already learned it." He said to James, still trying to make him see what he was saying. "There were plenty of other days for it!" "When mom got back, what happened to everything?" "Ugghhh, the house was still messy, the cows didn't get branded, and it costed us a lot of money to pay the guys who had come out to help." "Why was that James?" "Because I was too selfish to see that it needed to be done, that my contribution to the family was more import-" He stopped short of finishing his sentence. "Go on." Andy encouraged him. "Was more important than just me doing what I wanted, and not caring for us as a family as a whole. Just because I didn't want to clean up, my selfishness cost us all time, money, and pain." He continued. "Yes James." "What have I done? I yelled at them, called them horrible names, and above all, I hurt someone that loves me. Well loved me anyway." James said as he sat down on the couch and dropped his face into his hands. "I remember that James, I saw the look on her face, you hurt her. Believe me when I say this, make things right with all of them, and forget what had happened in the past. Use what you have learned here today to your advantage, and vanquish all of the obstacles in your way. Let nothing stop you now for you know what you must do." He told him, then extended his hand to his brother. James grabbed it tightly and his brother pulled him up. "Thank you Andy. Thank you for coming back to me and showing me what to do." James said as he pulled his brother in for a hug, a tear dropped from both of their eyes. "You're welcome James, unfortunately I must go now for I only have an extended amount of time, but believe me, we will all be watching over you." Andy said as he broke away from their embrace. "Thank you again brother, hopefully we will meet again one day." "As do I James. Oh and before I go, Patton wanted me to tell you to cut those rat-bastard-sons-of-bitches guts out, and strangle their leader to death with them." "You bet your ass I will, and I'll kill everyone of those motherfuckers with my bare hands." He said back coldly. "Good, I'll let him know. Until we meet again James, goodbye." "Wait... if you see Chesty up there, tell him Semper Fidelis for me will you?" "I will, once again, goodbye." Andy said stepping back. "Goodbye Andy." He told his brother for the last time, the two saluted each other and then Andy disappeared. James experienced another bright flash of light, then awoke in the cave again. He opened his eyes and could see light coming in from somewhere. He got up and looked around, all of his gear was back at his side, dry, and everything was stored properly. "Miss ya already Andy." He said as he looked up at the ceiling of the cave. He walked to where the tunnel lead to the main area and looked out, morning had for sure come, but much like the prior day it was overcast. The clouds were hanging low and were a light gray. "Well, no time like the present James, you know what you did, fix it." He told himself, then headed back inside. He bent down and put all of his gear on, checked his pistol which seemed to be clean enough, then began his journey back to Ponyville. as he got to the mouth of the cave, he looked back once more. As he turned around he was startled again but quickly regained his composure. Standing in the tunnel and extending back into the main cavern, was every man from his platoon that died on their last operation. He stared at them all for a moment; "Oorah Marines!" He shouted out to them. "Oorah captain James!" They all shouted back, their voices rumbled loudly as the sound traveled down the tunnel. They all saluted James, and he saluted back. After a minute had passed they disappeared, he then turned around and left the cave to do what he had been asked to by the princess. "On this day the fourth horseman rides Chrysalis, his name is not Death, it is James Crossland, and hell will follow behind me!" He shouted with a wicked grin just before he left the tunnel.