//------------------------------// // 36: Revelations // Story: The Jolly Rogers // by lockheed //------------------------------// ~~~~~ 19:00 Hours October 31, 1987 Ponyville, Equestria ~~~~~ I sat in my chair and ran my tongue along the fake fangs in my mouth as I flipped to the next page in the evening news paper. "James, sweetie." Thunderstreak said as she trotted out of the kitchen. "Did you get the grill outside already?" "Yes dear. I also got the fruit for the kebabs and the steaks for the guys." I replied as I set my paper down on the coffee table and stood up. She smiled at me and I grinned at her dressed up in a white apron and poofy white hat with fake chocolates sticking out. "Now Lucy," I said in my best Ricky impression "I think we ought to go welcome our guests." I walked down the hallway to the back door and opened the door for her. She flew up to give me a peck on the cheek as she passed and I followed after her. We walked into the backyard and smiled to all the ponies and humans gathered in the backyard. The smell of popcorn emanated from the popcorn machine by the back fence. I walked over to the grill and fired it up as the guys gathered around me in their own Nightmare Night costumes and among the men present were the surviving members of Charlie's original crew. As I grilled up the kebabs and steaks I felt a gentle tug at my cape. Looking down, I saw Black Lotus staring up at me. "Need something, Lot?" I asked as I knelled down to be eye to eye with him. "Actually, I prefer Blackie." He said in a quiet and polite voice. I looked at him in surprise as these were the first real words I'd heard him say. “Hey, that’s my name!” One of the guys said and I turned around to see Charlie’s ball turret gunner grinning at us. “So you’re Blackie too, huh?” He asked as he kneeled down next to me and the colt nodded. The man’s brown eyes lit up as they seemed to talk without saying a word. “So what was it you wanted bud?” I asked Lotus and he looked away from Blackie and pointed a hoof towards the house. I stood up and walked inside where a knocking at the front door echoed through the house. I stopped in front of the door and grabbed the door knob. Opening up the door, I saw an older, white unicorn stallion with a slicked back mane and a mustache. He held a briefcase in his magic and reached a hoof up to remove the grey fedora that sat atop his head. “Mister Jones, I presume?” He asked and I nodded as I stepped aside to let him inside. He levitated his hat up to hang on the hat rack and stepped inside the house. The stallion raised a hoof and ran it through his greying mane before extending it towards me. “Allow me to introduce myself. I’m Mister Mouse.” He said as I shook his hoof. I looked back at his cutie mark and saw it was Mickey Mouse. “Uh huh.” I replied as I raised an eyebrow at him. “You must be here with the movie.” I said, pointing to the briefcase in his magic. He nodded and I waved a hand towards the back door. “Right this way, Mister Mouse.” We walked to the back yard and I saw the eyes of every kid there light up at the sight of the stallion. He smiled to all the kids and made his way back to the projection equipment. I went back to the grill where the other guys were still standing around, Black Lotus and Blackie carrying on a quiet conversation near the back. “Hey, guys.” I said and the men looked at me. “Does that stallion remind you of anyone?” Pointing a finger in the stallion’s direction, they turned their heads to look at him. “He kinda reminds me of Walt Disney.” Doc, Charlie’s navigator, said as he turned around to look at me. “Ja. I bet Galland would agree too.” Franz commented as some of the others nodded, apparently seeing it too. “If anyone would know Disney, it’d be Galland.” “Does he really have Mickey painted on his plane?” Charlie asked and Franz nodded. I removed the steaks and kebabs from the grill and set them on plates. “Food’s ready!” I announced and several ponies stood up from their blankets and trotted over to get their food. In the back, Mr. Mouse finished putting the film reels into the projector as everyone took their seats. I set a steak on a plate for myself and walked over to sit next to Thunderstreak on a large blanket. I saw her scrunch her nose at the smell of the meat but she didn’t say anything as I sat down and removed my false fangs. I began cutting the meat as the projector clicked on and the film began to roll. The side of the house suddenly lit up from the projector I took a quick glance around us and saw Charlie and his crew sitting together towards the back while Franz and August were in the front row, laying on their stomachs with their chin on their hands like anxious kids. Next to us sat John and Applejack who was leaning on John’s shoulder as he wrapped an arm around her. Lancaster sat with the Crusaders and I glared at Rumble as I noticed his hoof on Lancaster’s. “James.” Thunderstreak whispered and I turned to look at her. “Relax. They’re just holding hooves.” “So?” I inquired. “He’s still my son. And hoof holding leads to kissing which leads to the Serta Samba.” I told her as the opening for the movie started. She rolled her eyes and leaned on me as I raised a fork with a piece of steak to my mouth. As the opening credits ended, I settled in for the movie. ~~~~~ 21:05 Hours October 31, 1987 Ponyville, Equestria ~~~~~ As ponies and men made their way out the side gate to head home for the night, I walked over to the projector where Mr. Mouse was packing up his films and the records for the movie. “That was a good movie Mister Mouse. In fact, that was pretty well identical to the Earth version of Sleeping Beauty. Same title and everything.” I said and I saw him glance up at me as he put the reel canisters in the briefcase. “Of course I’m sure that it wasn’t very hard for you to make the transition to ponies from humans was it, Mister Disney?” He stopped and turned his head to look up at me. His mouth turned up into a grin which turned into a smile. “That obvious, huh?” He asked and I smirked as I nodded. “I was pretty suspicious when I saw a picture of you a few months ago but seeing you in person and watching your picture tonight just confirmed it. Actually, Sleeping Beauty is the first full-length film I ever saw. We went to the theatre for my sister’s birthday.” I told him as I sat down on the chair for the projector operator. “I must say, I’m a big fan of your work. Now that I’m thinking about it, the first movie of any sort I saw was one of yours.” “Which one?” He asked as he sat down in front of me with a smile. “Johnny Fedora and Alice Blue Bonnet with the Andrews Sisters. The theatre in Carlinville was having a short-film day when I was about six and that was the first one they played. Of course, I loved it. I thought that was the greatest thing I’d ever seen.” I said with a smile. Walt nodded with a grin at my story. “Well, it’s been an honor to meet you Mister Disney.” I said as I stood up. “I suppose I should let you get going. You’ve still got to catch a plane and I have a meeting tomorrow morning.” I shook his hoof one last time and showed him to the front door. He grabbed his hat and gave me a smile and a parting nod before trotting out the door and into the night. ~~~~~ 12:20 Hours November 1, 1987 Canterlot, Equestria ~~~~~ The princesses, the other top generals, and I all walked along the war torn streets of Canterlot. We stopped to look at a burned out home that had been caught in a fire fight between Rommel’s tanks and an SS Panzer division. As we continued on our trip through the city, I took a sudden turn and walked up a lane towards a barbed wire fence. The gates at the entrance were open and I looked up to the metal sign above the gates and read it aloud as I heard others coming up behind me. “Work brings freedom.” I walked through the gates and removed my hat as I realized what the camp was. Around me, soldiers held their machine guns close as captured griffins cleaned up the camp and prepared it for demolition. I walked up to a large building that had tall chimneys jutting from the roof. Stepping inside, I felt my blood run cold as I saw that the building was the camp crematorium. As I walked further inside I passed a table that was sitting next to one of the crematory doors. I looked around the building and could feel rage building up at those responsible. “What is this?” A voice asked and I turned around to see Celestia and others looking at ashes on the table I'd passed. “Ponies. Innocent civilians who were slaughtered simply for being different.” I replied and my voice was filled with bitterness and anger. As soon as I told them what it was I saw several officers step outside in in shock and I could hear at least one throwing up. Walking back outside again, I looked around at the griffin inmates and realized that most of them were Luftwaffe or army personnel. The realization hit me that these griffins weren’t responsible for this. They were mere bystanders being blamed for the crimes of the SS. “We need to stop this.” I said. A nearby guard looked at me odd and I pointed around at the griffins. “These griffins aren’t the ones responsible for this. Send word around to bring all the SS prisoners here.” He nodded and set off to spread the order to all guards. Within fifteen minutes, twenty three SS prisoners were standing in front of me. I turned to the guards who had their guns trained on the prisoners. “How many of them were guards at this camp?” I asked and the guards pulled back only two. “All of these are former guards.” One of the MPs said as he waved a hoof at all of the remaining griffins in black uniforms. “Good. I want them to be the one’s cleaning up this place and then I want them to be hanged in the city square. Understood?” I asked and the guards nodded in understanding. At this, several of the guards’ eyes widened in fear at what else might happen to them. All of a sudden, an SS lieutenant lunged forward and grabbed a guard’s machine gun before the MPs could react. He began firing and I dropped to the ground and I heard the MPs open fire before all went silent. I went to stand up after the guards shouted an all clear but dropped back down to the ground as I felt a deep, burning pain in the side of my chest. Reaching a hand over to the spot, I felt a warm liquid running down my chest. Raising my hand up I saw it covered in blood as a metallic taste formed in my mouth. “Son of a bitch.” ~~~~~ 12:45 Hours November 1, 1987 1019th M*A*S*H*, Canterlot ~~~~~ The doors to the operating room swung open as the gurney I was on was pushed inside. “Blood pressure is sixty over eighty!” A nurse shouted as the gurney stopped and a blood pressure cuff was ripped off my arm. “I certainly hope you all know what you’re doing.” I said with a weak chuckle. “For today sir, we’ll certainly make it look like it.” One of the doctors replied and they all gave me a reassuring smile before slipping their masks up over their snouts. A nurse placed a mask over my mouth and nose and I began breathing in deeply as another nurse brought in blood and I.V.s. As I breathed in I began to feel extremely tired and I let my eyes slip shut. ~~~~~ 13:00 Hours November 2, 1987 1019th M*A*S*H*, Canterlot ~~~~~ I lay on my bed and was reading a book when I heard smacking on the floor. All of a sudden the curtain for the post-op slid open and a doctor walked in wearing swimming fins and the famous fake glasses and moustache styled after Groucho Marx. “So, how’s my top patient doing today?” He asked as he grabbed the chart off the end of my bed. “Still a bit sore.” I replied as I set the book aside and removed my reading glasses. “I would expect so. You had a cracked rib and a collapsed lung. You’re lucky you got here as fast as you did, too. You lost almost half the blood in your body. Good thing we’ve got a fair amount of your blood in the national reserve.” He replied as he hung the chart back on its hook. “Good news is that I think you’ll be out in a week.” He said as he sat down on a stool next to my bed. “Bad news is that I noticed something while we were operating.” He sighed and removed the comedic face wear. “You’ve got a bad ticker, General. I’d say you’re not too far off from a heart attack. One good tantrum and you’ll certainly be feeling it.” I sat up and looked at him. “I’ve got a bad heart?” I asked in concern. “It’s not just a mistake on your part?” “General,” He started as he stood up. “I haven’t been wrong yet.” “So you’re serious that I have a crap heart?” “I’m always serious.” He said as he placed the Groucho glasses and mustache back on. He began to trot away, his flippers making a plap plap, plap against the floor, but as he grabbed the curtain to leave I stopped him. “I never did get your name, doc.” I said as I looked over to him. He reached back and lifted up his lab coat for me to see his cutie mark. I looked at it and saw it was an eye like on a bird of prey. “The name’s Hawkeye.” He trotted out and I stared after him, in awe of the stallion. ~~~~~ 15:30 Hours November 26, 1987 Royal Mountain House, Location Classified ~~~~~ I pushed away my plate as I patted my stomach after Thanksgiving dinner. “Oh geez.” I groaned as I felt like I might throw up. “Dinner was amazing.” I said as I turned to look at Thunderstreak. From the table were mutters of agreement by all of Charlie’s crew, Franz and his brother, and every other human in Equestria. I reached over and patted a hand on Thunderstreak’s hood and gave her a small smile. She smiled back and looked like she was about to say something but dad interrupted her before she could begin. “So, who wants to join in a Jones family tradition?” Dad asked as he stood up and produced a Colt .45 revolver. Some of the people at the table looked at dad in alarm but I smiled as I looked towards the back door. “You got the targets set up out back?” I asked him and he nodded. “Then let’s go!” I stood up and grabbed my uniform holster off a shelf by the door. I put on the belt and walked out the back door as I heard everyone else get up from the table. I stepped outside and saw several targets lined up on top of the deck railing. “Still think you’re gonna hold your title, old man?” I asked as I turned around to see dad had his belt and holster on. “I’m only five years older than you, you know.” He said as we walked up to the targets. We turned and placed our backs to them and each walked ten paces back towards the house where everyone was looking at us with raised eyebrows. We stopped after ten paces and turned on our heels to face each other. As was tradition, we shook hands and turned again but this time it was to face the targets. “Alright.” Dad said as we stood there with our right hands hovering over our holsters. “Draw!” He shouted and as quick as I could, I grabbed my revolver from the holster and fired all six rounds at the target. The combined noise from our guns echoed off the surrounding landscape and I smiled as I twirled my Colt and slipped it back into my holster. As we walked up to our own targets I grinned when I could finally see mine well. “Still think you won?” I said as I snatched the target paper off the plank it’d been nailed to. I held it up for him to see six holes in the bullseye of the paper and I looked to his to see only five in the bullseye. “Looks like you won this year. You’ve certainly improved.” He said as we shook hands. “And that’s without doing this last year.” I replied as we walked back towards the group where they were still looking at us confused. “What was that about?” Franz asked. “Well, you see, every year when I was younger our family would have a so-called ‘gunfighters competition’ where we would see who could get the most bullseyes with old Colt .45s. Before he disappeared, dad was the champion for six years. I started joining in the last two years he was on Earth and ended up sixth and fourth. Now,” I chuckled a little as I looked over at dad for a moment “I’m the champion.” “How did you get so good anyway?” Dad asked as he turned to me with a raised eyebrow. “Well, you remember that Old West show that traveled around the area when I was little?” He nodded and waited for me to continue. “Well during the winter a couple years after you were gone, I went and joined them as a gunfighter. Then there was the practice that I used to get by shooting bad fruit from the trees at Me-ma’s certainly helped too.” “Wait, wait, wait; Me-ma?” Thunderstreak asked and I felt my face get warm as I rubbed the back of my neck. “Yeah. That’s what I call my grandma.” I said and I heard Doc and Andy snickering. I shot a glare at the bombardier and navigator and they both cleared their throats and looked around as though they were searching for something of interest. After my face cooled back down I remembered another tradition of the family. “Hey dad.” He looked over at me and I reached into my pocket. I grabbed the slender object inside and removed it to hold it in the air. “How about Five Finger Fillet?” I asked as I flicked open the switchblade. ~~~~~ 16:45 Hours November 26, 1987 Royal Mountain House, Location Classified ~~~~~ “Alright, now give me the cloth.” I said as I tied a shoelace around the base of Austin’s pinky finger. Thunderstreak stood aside and supervised me and Franz after our insisting that we could handle it. Franz handed me a piece of cloth to put on the end of Austin’s finger to try and cover up the spot where the finger was severed. “Good news is that the royal helicopter is coming to take you and your finger to the closest hospital.” “So how’s it going, Nubs?” Dad asked Austin as he walked into the dining room from the kitchen with a bottle of soda in hand. Amelia delivered dad a backhand to the chest for the comment but I head Patton chuckle at the comment as everyone stood around us and watched the ‘procedure’. ~~~~~ 06:00 Hours December 8, 1987 Ponyville, Equestria ~~~~~ A shrill ringing snapped me from my sleep and I quickly rolled over to grab the phone on my nightstand. “Hello, General Jones speaking.” I sat up and pulled the string for my lamp as Thunderstreak rolled over and looked at me still half asleep. “Happy anniversary and happy birthday, shithead.” A voice said and I immediately slammed the receiver down before shutting the light off and lying back down. “Who was that, sweetie?” Thunderstreak asked as I pulled the blanket up over my head. “My ever glorious father.” I replied as I buried my face into the pillow and sighed. Just as I felt like I about to fall asleep for an eternity and then some, the bedroom door burst open and I heard two colts and three fillies shout in unison. “Happy anniversary!” They yelled and I ripped the blanket off of my head and sat up in bed. I looked over at the doorway and saw Lancaster, Orchid, Black Lotus, and the Crusaders standing there with trays filled with burned food. I cast a sideways glance at Thunderstreak and saw she was looking at me from the corner of her eye. They set the trays on our laps and smiled at us. I looked down at my tray and saw burnt pancakes, burnt hay bacon, burnt eggs, a burnt cupcake with a candle in it, and somehow they had managed to burn the orange juice as well. “This looks fantastic.” I lied and I saw they all smiled at my ‘compliment’. “Although, we’d like to eat alone if it’s alright.” I said and they all nodded and trotted out, shutting the door behind them. Looking over to Thunderstreak I saw her looking in her glass of juice and muttering a “how in the hell?” at the burned liquid. “Well, would you like me to call in an order at Sugarcube Corner? I need to go into town anyways to pick up my dry-cleaning.” She nodded and I grabbed the phone off of the nightstand. I held it up to my ear and was reaching to dial when I heard a voice on the other end. “Well how soon is the cake going to be done, Pinkie?” Orchid asked over the phone and I held the receiver away from my ear and looked over to Thunderstreak. “Do you know anything about Orchid ordering a cake from Sugarcube Corner?” I asked and she shook her head. I put the phone back to my ear and could hear Orchid again. “Alright. Look, the party’s at five. Can you have it over here by then?” He asked and I looked at Thunderstreak before setting the phone down. “He’s having a party.” I said and Thunderstreak looked up from poking a charred pancake in confusion. “A party? What in Equestria for?” She asked and I shrugged my shoulders. “Maybe our anniversary?” I suggested as Thunderstreak dumped the contents of both our trays into the small trash can by the bed. “Be sure you put some stuff on top of that so the kids don’t notice.” I said as I swung my feet off the side of the bed and stood up. She grabbed a couple pieces of paper laying on her nightstand and set them over the burnt food as I grabbed my uniform from the closet. Walking over to the doorway, I peeked out into the hall and hurried over to the bathroom while it was clear. I stepped inside and turned on the shower and stripped down before climbing into the shower. After a few minutes I heard a knock at the door and heard someone step inside. “Who the hell is in here?” I asked as the door shut. “Who do you think?” Thunderstreak said. “What d’ya need?” I asked as I put a glob of shampoo in my hair. “I gotta take a crap.” She said and I stopped scrubbing my head for a moment at her statement. “You couldn’t have waited until I was done?” I asked as I poked my head out from around the curtain to see her reading a magazine on her ‘seat’. “Possibly but I know it annoys the shit out of you when I do this.” Thunderstreak replied as she flipped to the next page in her magazine. “No, it just annoys me. The shit part here is all you.” I replied as I stuck my head back in the shower and into the spray of the showerhead. I quickly washed the rest of myself, carrying on a conversation with Thunderstreak all the while, and climbed out to dry off. We continued to talk as I dried myself off and got dressed. “So I was thinking about leaving the base a little early this morning so we could have an anniversary lunch somewhere. Where’d you like to go?” I asked as I gelled my hair into a pompadour style. “Well, there’s one place I would like to go but it’ll take a while to get there. Even if we fly.” She said as she finally stood up and flushed. “That shouldn’t be a problem. I can just call Canterlot for some fuel and we can take the Tomcat.” ~~~~~ 16:45 Hours December 8, 1987 Ponyville Aerodrome ~~~~~ Thunderstreak and I walked away from the olive drab F-14 and we both removed our aviator sunglasses. “So how’s it feel being only the second pony in the world to go faster than sound?” I asked as we climbed into a jeep near the hangar. “I honestly don’t think I’ll ever get used to it.” She replied as she unzipped and removed her flight suit. “I actually just approved a project to build a supersonic research plane. I thought about finding a mare to be the first pony to pilot a plane past the sound barrier.” I said as I started the jeep and began to drive for the base gate. “Really? Who were you thinking?” Thunderstreak asked as I waved to the gate guard. He waved back when I drove through the gate and I turned onto the road leading to the town square. “Well, I was thinking maybe Rainbow Dash considering the princesses allow mothers in the reserves.” And then a thought hit me and I pulled the jeep onto a dirt trail before stopping the jeep. “What’re we doing?” She inquired as she looked around and then over to me. “If mothers weren’t allowed to join the service, how’d you get in?” I asked as I turned off the vehicle. “Oh. Well, about that. You see, it’s only mares who’ve given birth that couldn’t go in.” She replied as she rubbed her hooves together. “What?” “The truth is,” She sighed and placed her head in her hooves “none of the kids are biologically mine. You of course know that Typhoon and Lancaster were adopted from the Crystal Empire. But Sabre is adopted too. He’s technically my nephew.” “What?” “I’ve told you my sister sees a lot of stallions. She got pregnant and mama was actually smart for once when she realized that it wouldn’t be a very good home for Sabre. So she told my sister to give the foal to me and we’d pass him of as mine. My sister didn’t mind cause then she’d be free to go running around again.” “Does he know?” I asked without looking at her and I realized that my voice had gone ice cold. “No. No one’s ever told him.” She said as her voice broke from emotion. I looked over at her and wrapped my arm around her. She sniffled and buried her face into my side and I rubbed her shoulder with my hand. “It’s fine. It’s alright. I’m sorry I asked about it.” I said. “Hey, look at it this way. You raised him from a foal so really, he’s all yours. He was never your sister’s. He’s always been your son.” I said as I looked down at her. She removed her face from my side and looked up at me as she wiped her eyes with her hoof. I smiled at her and she returned it with a grin. “Now let’s see you smile because if we were right this morning, we’ve got a party to go to.” ~~~~~ 20:55 Hours December 8, 1987 Ponyville, Equestria ~~~~~ I stood in the living room and smiled as ponies and humans wandered around and conversed together at our anniversary party. In the corner of the room was a record player blasting Glenn Miller and Swing Sisters records for partygoers to dance to. As I stood there I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned around to see dad standing there. “James, we need to talk.” He said and I waved a hand for him to follow me. I walked down the hallway and into my home office. Dad stepped inside and I shut the door behind him. Grabbing my key for the desk drawer, I opened it up and removed a bottle of bourbon and a couple glasses. “Jimmy, I think you need to sit down for what I’m about to tell you.” Dad said as I opened the bottle and I looked up at him in surprise. “Must be big news.” I said as I put the top back on the bottle and sat down at the desk. Dad sighed and looked around the room as though he were trying to find an escape route. He placed a hand up to his temple and rubbed. “Amelia and I have discussed this and we’ve concluded that it’s time you knew. James, your mother and I raised you with all of your sisters. And we were barely able to afford that. The truth is, you weren’t the only son we had.” He said as he looked away from me. I looked at him and stood up from my seat as my hand balled up into a fist. “What?!” I shouted and, though neither of us noticed, the music and conversations outside stopped. “You have a twin brother, James. We gave him up for adoption. Last I knew, he went to a family near St. Louis.” He explained as I walked around the desk and towards him. He began to back up until his back hit the door. “I have a twin brother and you waited thirty seven fucking years to tell me?!” My voice seemed to thunder through the house and outside several guests looked at each other in concern. Just as I was about to continue my shouting I felt a painful pressure in the left side of my chest and pain shooting down my left arm. I stepped back and attempted to catch my breath but found it impossible. Leaning on my desk I attempted to get around to my chair but sat down against it in exhaustion. Dad was almost immediately next to me and looking at me with the most concern I’d probably ever seen. “James, what’s wrong?” He asked me as I looked over at him and held a hand up to my chest. “I’ve got a pain in my chest. And I can’t breathe.” I replied with what little breath I could muster. Dad immediately stood up and ran over to the door and flung it open. “Somebody call an ambulance! James is having a heart attack!”