I blinked several times as the blinding light faded away. An orange, apple shaped shield with a silver triquetra now hovered where the light had once been.

"What...what just happened?" I turned to see Silvermelody shaking her head.

"I...I don't know, there was just a bright flash of light and that shield appeared. Where did Blackheart and Pippin go?" I asked and looked around for a moment until I caught sight of Blackheart holding his shoulder with a hoof. Pippin was on the opposite side of him, glaring at the black stallion. I turned my attention back to the shield that still hovered in the air.

"Is that a Charm?" I asked Blackheart who remained silent, his teeth bared back in a snarl. The shield then lowered itself in between Pippin and Blackheart, intent on keeping the stallion safe. "Blackheart?" The stallion brought his blades to his side and pointed a hoof at Pippin.

"Pippin, I am only going to ask once, get out of the way, please?" Pippin didn't budge, he just stared at the Blackheart with a defensive fire in his eyes. "Pippin, get out of the way, I don't want to hurt you." Blackheart tried again, this time taking a step forward. I looked at Gina, who was just hovering above Pippin.

Why hasn't she left yet, this would all end if she just left. I thought as Blackheart took another step forward.

"I'm done asking, Pippin, move...now." Blackheart growled. Pippin put one hoof on the shield and braced his shoulders.

"Gina, Ah think you should go, before this gets any further." He told the changeling mare behind him. Silvermelody went to stop the fight, but I grabbed her tail with my magic.

"Don't, if things get ugly," I swallowed and prayed that things didn't. "we may need your help taking Blackheart down." I whispered as Neo appeared next to me.

"But we need Pippin too, don't we?" She asked, her eyes filled with concern.

"Well, let's hope Gina decides to repay Pippin by helping us." I told her as Blueblitz glided over. Blackheart shifted his eyes over when he saw the movement, but returned his focus to Pippin, who was clearly sweating.

"Pippin, this is your final warning, step aside, now." Pippin held his ground.

"No, Ah'm tired of you bossin' me and mah friends around, especially since Ah have no reason to trust you." Blackheart chuckled slightly.

"Says the one protecting a changeling." Blackheart taunted him with a newfound smirk. "You talk about trust as if you own it, yet you released a prisoner without talking to everypony else. We could have held a vote, but instead you took matters into your own hooves." Blackheart took another step forward. "I understand not trusting me, but your friends, the ponies you grew up with were left in the dark as well." We all looked at each other with concern.

"He's right." Blueblitz stated. "What he did was wrong guys. Think about it, he trusted her willingly without even trying to talk to us about it." I glared at Blueblitz.

"What? You're siding with him?" Emeraldlight questioned, his eyes on Blueblitz now. "What in Celestia is a matter with you? He's our friend."

"But are we his friends? He doesn't even trust us enough to side with him, when we would have come to him first if it was the other way around." Blueblitz argued back.

"That's enough." Silvermelody cut in. "In some weird way, I understand why Pippin did it. It was reckless, but would we have voted with him? I know I wouldn't have considering all the stories, Dusk's father used to tell us.

"You'd be right to side with your friend there, Pippin, changelings are not our friends, they feed off our love for each other and use it against us." Pippin looked back at Gina for a moment as she landed behind him.

"That was Queen Chrysalis' view of it, not my mother's." She told the stallion.

"Your mother? What are you talking about?" Blackheart asked.

"My hive was not apart of Chrysalis' army, nor did we care to join her, and yet you still killed her in cold blood. I still remember her pleading for mercy as your general stood over her." Blackheart lowered his guard.

"Now I see, you're the princess out for revenge." Pippin kept his guard up as Gina stepped in front of him.

This is just getting worse.

"We were peaceful, we let all of you into our hive to learn about us, and you...you betrayed our trust...and one pony always stood out to me, the one who defeated my mother. You the Pony of Shadows killed her!" Gina yelled, tears now sliding down her cheeks.

"So this is why you freed her, Pippin, because she told you a story about me."

"It's not a story Blackheart, you forget who mah mother was, and just like her, Ah can tell when a pony is tellin' the truth." Pippin stood proud as he spoke of his mother. I couldn't help but smirk at his confidence.

"Oh no, I haven't forgotten, but I can see that this changeling didn't tell you the full truth." Blackheart remained in his relaxed state and sat down.

"Ah don't need the full story, all Ah needed, was to know what you've been hidin' and thanks to her, Ah now know what, you monster."

"He isn't a monster," a soft, but loud voice said above us. Fluttershy glided down until she landed in between Pippin and Blackheart. "What he is, is a weapon of a war long over." She told Pippin and the rest of us.

"Thank you-" Fluttershy cut him off by holding up a wing.

"Don't thank me, really." Blackheart opened his mouth to argue, but Fluttershy glared back at him. "You are just as guilty as them for losing control."

"Hold on mom, you are actually defending him?" Silvermelody asked. Fluttershy looked at Blackheart and then at her daughter.

"He may not look like it, but he's not a villain, even now what he is doing is his job, protecting all of you. The war he was apart of is in the past, and I have and still believed he was more of a hero than a villain." She explained her reasons calmly almost as if she had done this before. "I won't defend his recent actions, but if you let him explain I'm sure he would-"

"No, those events are something I am willing to talk about, it already backfired once." Blackheart stood up and walked away. "So I am not telling them anything, especially with one of them around." He walked into the captain's quarters not too long after he spoke. Fluttershy sighed and sat down. Pippin finally relaxed and looked at Gina with a smile of relief as he sat down as well. Gina sat down next to him as we moved closer to hear Fluttershy. The shield hovered for a few more seconds before disappearing, now that there wasn't any danger around. Gina wiped the tears from her eyes as we finally sat down in front of Fluttershy.

"I can't give you the full details, since I only found out about it before we...um...left, but I can at least tell you some things about it." Fluttershy told us in advance. "Has any of you heard of the Canterlot Wedding?" Blueblitz sat up straighter.

"What makes you think we haven't, it's one of the best stories we were told about our moms!" He said excitedly, a sparkle in his eyes. Fluttershy smiled warmly.

"That's good, well this war happened after that, but not too long after it." Fluttershy started. "It all started with a threatening letter sent to Princess Celestia and Luna by Queen Chrysalis. At the time the only information they had was from their niece, Princess Cadence, who had mentioned that it was possibly the changelings. After finding out about the changelings, it was revealed that Queen Chrysalis was the one behind everything." I looked at her.

"Wait, my aunt is the cause of this?" I asked her. Fluttershy shook her head.

"Oh no, in fact if it wasn't for her and your mother, Queen Chrysalis may have taken over Equestria." She reassured me. "But when we found out that Cadence had been replaced by Chrysalis, the Canterlot Wedding had already started and a huge battle broke out. We did win in the end, but Luna took this as a declaration of war between our races. With Celestia's approval, she created a secret army, as to not worry anypony, and Blackheart was apart of this army along with Flash Sentry."

"That explains how your dad knows him, Dusk." Silvermelody told me. Fluttershy nodded and her smile faded.

"Yes, in fact they were once really good friends, but something happened during that war that changed Blackheart from who he once was to what he is now."

"Wait, Blackheart used to not be, Blackheart?" I asked, confused.

"Yep, Blackheart didn't look like he does now and went by a different name. Not that we ever saw that him, I didn't meet him until after the war. This war changed him for the worse though, I do know that. He has a hatred for changelings that can cause him to...lose control."

"Like PTSD?" Gina questioned. Fluttershy shook her head.

"No, if it was that, he wouldn't be fighting them still, but it doesn't help that some changelings remember him from the war, and know who he is and was. I guess all in all his distrust of changelings brings back painful memories."

so that's why those the changelings from the forest were those ponies, but i didn't recognize one of them, so who was that?

"Speaking of which, when we were attacked by some of them, there was one pony I didn't recognize." I asked her. "Do you maybe know who they are?" Fluttershy looked at me.

"That's not a question I can answer. I don't know as much about him as some of the others do, so maybe you can ask them. Actually now that I think about it, he and your mother-"

"No need to go that far, Fluttershy. They don't need my whole life story." Blackheart told her as he reappeared.

"Sorry, but you wouldn't tell them, so I thought I would tell them what I knew." Blackheart sighed.

"That war isn't something to just be talked about, Fluttershy, it was supposed to remain a secret for a reason, and even though I have my problems with the princesses, that was a good choice for them to make." He said, walking over. Gina stood up and glared at him.

"That doesn't change that it happened." Blackheart sat down.

"Relax kid, I'm not here to fight, if anything, I'm here to put some more light into what had happened, even though I don't want to." He told her. Gina sat back down, but kept her eyes on Blackheart. "The war lasted for about two years, there was casualties left and right on both sides, and eventually we started to win. It would be two months before the war ended that I would become-" he gestured to his black fur and mane, "-this. Your hive was the second to last hive to be destroyed. Since it was considered an ally, and we had planned to leave it alone. But...we then discovered something that would change that." He started to stare off as if he was there and began to shake. "The Queen had plans to invite us to a victory party, only it was actually a trap. So, we took it upon ourselves to destroy what was left." He looked down and sighed before looking at all of us.

"My mother would never-"

"I know! I know. Once the war was over the General got a little tipsy and revealed that he had set it up, because he hated them for killing off his soldiers. He even got me to side with him at the time. Never have I felt so stupid before.

"Why, why would you side with a liar, a pony who mercilessly killed my mother...my family-"

"Because of what your kind did to me." Blackheart cut her off calmly. His expression hadn't changed a bit.

"What did they do to you?" Fluttershy asked, reaching out a hoof. She pulled it back when Blackheart stood back up and shook his head.

"That's none of your concern..." he shifted his eyes around for a second. "...I mean, it's not something I am willing to talk about, not right now anyways." He said before heading up to the steering wheel and leaving us somewhat alone.

"Now what were you saying about him and my mom?" I asked Fluttershy who in return smiled

"Let's just say they were close." She told me as she stood up. "But I think that's enough stories for today, so I think I'm going to go get some rest, but please, no more fighting amongst yourselves." She told us before yawning.

"As if, we have some training-" Fluttershy glared at Blueblitz, cutting him off. She then smiled and walked down the stairs to the lower decks. Blueblitz looked at Silvermelody. "I always thought you got your anger from your dad, but your mom is...scary."

"It's always the quiet ones." I mentioned before looking at Gina. She was quiet and was looking at Pippin.

"You alright?" I asked.

"Huh?" She shook her head and looked at me. "Yeah...I'm alright, just confused is all."

"How so?" I questioned sitting back down in front of her.

"Your friend, um...Pippin, he seems exhausted even though he barely jumped." I looked at Pippin who was walking slower than usual to one side of the boat.

"Oh yeah, he summoned his Charm for the first time, so he should be pretty tired, especially since he held it out as long as he did." Gina sighed in relief.

"Well, that's good, I didn't know if I had accidentally fed off of him or anything."

"You can't control it?" I asked, scooting away alittle.

"I can, but if my own emotions take control I lose that focus I need to control it." She explained it with a few hoof gestures.

"My dad did tell me that love is not only a changeling's strength, but their weakness as well."

"How do you know that when you didn't know what they were in the Everfree?" Neo asked behind me, scaring me.

"Well...I had read about them, I just never knew what they actually looked like." I told her. Neo smiled.

"Okeydokey." She then started to climb up the ladder to the lookout. I turned my attention back to Gina who had gotten back on to her hooves.

"I think I'm gonna head back to my cell, I don't want to step on any more hooves." She told me and trotted off.

The rest of the day was spent on us doing our ship duties, mainly staying on track and looking for objects in the water that could sink us. It went by rather quickly, the sun was now beginning to set and my eyes were just starting to hurt from looking around too much. Fluttershy was now standing next to Blackheart, discussing something unimportant with him. Silvermelody was chewing on a sandwich while Neo was talking to her and Blueblitz was fixing the sails. Pippin had disappeared not to long ago to the lower decks and Emeraldlight was looking at himself in the water. Gina had not come back from her cell so I assumed she was sleeping.

"Hey, Duskshine, do me a favor and go check on Pippin, I don't want him any where near the changeling." Blackheart called down from the wheel. I sighed.

"Will do!" I sighed and made my way to the lower decks to see if Pippin was in bed. Which he wasn't. "Uh oh, Pippin please don't be where I think you are." I walked down the next flight of stairs that led to the dungeon and froze at what I saw.

Gina was standing outside of her cell, her mouth was open with a pink aura going into it. The aura was being taken from Pippin who had his eyes closed and was glowing. I felt anger surge through me and let it go to my horn.

"Get...away from...him!" I growled as I felt the power grow on my horn. Pippin opened his eyes quickly and turned towards me, his eyes widening.

"Dusk, wait!" I glared at the two of them. Gina had stopped feeding and had backed up into the cell, her eyes filled with fear.

"Why should I, she was taking advantage of you resting!" I yelled. "Blackheart was right, these creatures are monsters!" Pippin took a step in front of me and his shield reappeared.

"She wasn't takin' advantage of me, Ah let her feed on me." He told me calmly.

"Your brainwashed, no pony would ever let a changeling feed off of them, now step aside, so I can blast her to bits."

"You know Ah can't do that. Listen Dusk, I willingly let her feed off of me, she needs it to survive."

"Then how has she survived on her own all this time?"

"I...I ate chocolate and other food items made by ponies, but those only work for so long...I needed love from the source, so when he offered...I took it, I was almost done too. I didn't want to hurt him so I only took a small portion, I swear." I looked at the changeling, she was shaking and didn't show any signs of hurting Pippin, but that didn't matter.

"She's tellin' the truth, Dusk, and you know how Ah am. Trust me, she only needs a little more." Pippin tried to convince me. "Come on Dusk, you know me."

"Dusk, calm down, do you forget where we are." Silvermelody said behind me. "If you let a blast that big off, this ship will be under the water in seconds."

"Thank you, Silvermelody, I-"

"Don't mention it, you'll have some time to explain later, for now, back away from Gina and I will handle Duskshine." She told him as she approached me. Pippin shook his head.

"Not 'til he backs off, Ah don't want Gina's blood on my hooves." Silvermelody sighed and came into view, blocking my sight.

"Dusk, I'm going to ask you one time, please let them go." I looked into her eyes and saw something I had never seen in them, fear.

Is she scared of me? I thought as I let my guard down, my anger slowly fading away.

"You definitely have your mother's temper, that's for sure." Blackheart said behind me. I turned to face him, his horn was glowing bright.

"As for you, Pippin," Blackheart looked away from me. "you come with me, now." He told the stallion, firmly. I turned my attention back to Silvermelody whose eyes now looked more calm than before.

"Have you calmed down?" I sighed and nodded. "Good, now let's head back up top and get you some air." She smiled reassuringly at me and grabbed my foreleg. She then pulled me out of the room and back up to the main deck.

"Dusk are you alright, you look sick?" Emeraldlight came over to me and put a hoof on my forehead. "You're not running a fever, are you seasick? No that wouldn't make sense."

"He just saw something he didn't want to Em, now can you back up a little, he needs some air." Silvermelody answered for me. Emeraldlight nodded in confusion and left, leaving Silvermelody and I alone for a minute.

"I...I don't know what came over me Sil, I just-"

"Wanted to protect Pip, I know. I honestly would have done the same, but right now...right now you need to let Blackheart and my mom handle this." She told me. "And please try not to get angry again, you looked pretty scary back there." She chuckled.

"Why are you laughing, I could've seriously hurt some pony." Silvermelody glanced at me.

"You don't get to see it often, but I laugh when something scary happens, I don't know where I get it from, but I tend to laugh at it."

"Yeah, I think you're just a little too crazy sometimes, I mean you did stand in front of an angry unicorn." I laughed and she hit me with her hoof.

"Hey, don't push it, buddy, you still could've hurt me and then I would have been really mad at you." She glared at me. I smiled back in return.

"Oh come on, what makes you think I would hurt you, you're basically my best friend." She rolled her eyes and smirked.

"Yeah, well let's keep it that way." She told me.

"I hope Pippin's alright." I brought up as Blackheart reappeared from the lower decks.

"I'm sure he's fine, Dusk," Silvermelody assured me as Fluttershy walked out. "see my mom was down there, I doubt she would let Blackheart do anything harmful to Pippin." I nodded and decided to go talk to her.

"Is everything good down there?" I asked her as Silvermelody followed me.

"He's fine, from what we could tell, he isn't totally exhausted and both of their stories add up. But that still didn't stop Blackheart from punishing him." She told us.

"What's his punishment?" Silvermelody asked before I could.

"He will be put through an extensive and harsh training program that Blackheart went through...I don't necessarily agree with it, but Blackheart is in charge here, and he did aid her when he wasn't supposed to." I sighed in relief.

"At least he doesn't have to sit in a cell." Fluttershy raised an eyebrow.

"I wouldn't be happy about that, Blackheart was trained by Luna's and Celestia's elite guard, which means he will be in pain for several months before he gets used to it."

"He would probably be in even more pain if you hadn't been down there though, right?" Fluttershy shook her head.

"No, this was the harshest punishment, and I agreed with Blackheart on it. Pippin should have known better and although I commented on his kindness, I still think he shouldn't have done it without talking to all of us first." I groaned in defeat.

"But mom, don't you think that might be a little too harsh?" Silvermelody questioned. Fluttershy shook her head once more.

"No, I really believe this is perfect in two ways. For one, the beginning of it will be a good punishment for him. For two, this will make him stronger and able to hopefully control his Charm better." Fluttershy explained. She was right, this would be the best of both worlds. "Plus this will keep him away from Gina at all times, so it's a win-win." She was more than right now.

"Hey, did he do the same thing to you or something?" Fluttershy nodded in response to my question.

"Yes he did, after I was too kind towards Sombra, who had used my kindness against me...it took Thunderlane and the girls to fix the situation as I was close to marrying an evil king. Unfortunately I had broken another creature's heart that day."

"Who?" Silvermelody pressed on excitedly, wanting to learn about her mother's love life I presumed.

"A good friend of mine, Discord."

"Wait THE Discord, as in the Lord of Chaos." I confirmed. Fluttershy smiled and looked around for a moment before sighing in defeat.

"Yes, that Discord, usually he would pop up, but, unfortunately our last meeting didn't go well. He hasn't come back since. I just hope he's alright." You could hear the sadness and concern in her voice as she spoke.

"Still that's crazy to think my own mother had all the villains after her." Silvermelody said as she sat down.

"Well, hopefully the same doesn't happen to you, dear, otherwise I would have a heart attack." Fluttershy told her daughter. Silvermelody giggled and looked at me.

"Should we go check on Pippin, I think I've heard enough about my mother's weird love life." I nodded and we left Fluttershy to her own business as we made our way to the lower decks to check on Pippin.

_______________________________________________

"I don't think I have ever heard you talk about Discord before." I told Fluttershy as I kept the boat on track.

"What happened between him and I is in the past, I still wonder if it was him that turned Silvermelody's hair silver just to spite me." She told me as she sat down next to me.

"But that's enough about that topic, are you certain this training will work for him like it did me?" I shook my head.

"Nope, especially now that I have seen what's going on." I answered her as I steadied the wheel. "Hey, Blueblitz, fix the sails a bit, we are drifting a little too far to the right!" I called to the pegasus who was gliding behind the sail.

"What did you see?" Fluttershy asked.

"It's weird to say this, but I think their Charms are one in the same." Fluttershy's eyes widened.

"You mean...they share a Charm." Fluttershy almost said too loudly. I nodded.

"Yes, and there is more to this theory, I think that country stallion has fallen for her and doesn't know it." Fluttershy stood up this time.

"What makes you think that?" She questioned.

"He does what I do for Starlight and did for another pony, I'm very protective of her, and back during our stand off, he flinched slightly when she stepped in front of him. During his and Gina's feeding time, there was more than enough time for her to drain enough of his love to exhaust him for days at least." I put forth more evidence. "Even if she was holding back. So that makes me think they were exchanging love rather than him just giving it to her. The funny thing is, I don't think either of them realized it." I looked at Fluttershy. "That's why I let them off easy this time, and I'll probably do it again, considering the fact that Gina hasn't done anything wrong since trying to attack Duskshine."

"Even if that is all true, what makes you think Applejack will be ok with her son dating a changeling?" Fluttershy questioned me.

"I don't know, did your parents stop you from dating not one but two villains?" Fluttershy rolled her eyes.

"One of those is an ex-villain, ya know."

"I rest my case." I smirked in victory.

"Don't think you have won just yet, there is somepony in your near future that's gonna ask you and Starlight the same questions about love later." I glared at her.

"Don't start with me on that, it is way too early to be talking about it." Fluttershy smiled.

"Oh, but it's so fun teasing you now that it has come, although I'm sure Twilight will be glad to hear a former student of hers is having a foal with you." Any happy thoughts in my head were now gone.

"We both know how she will react, Fluttershy, I am not gonna have any fur left by the time she is done with me." I pointed out. Fluttershy's own smile was gone now.

"I am sure she has forgiven you by now and should considering you kept her son safe from one of the biggest problems in Equestria's history since Tirek first reappeared." I sighed.

"I don't know...I don't know."

"Did you really kill that poor Changeling's mother." She looked at me.

"No, my General did, and I didn't kill any of the foals either. I can't say the same for them though...we had our orders, and not following them meant death."

"From what it sounds like, the military was very corrupt." Blackheart shook his head.

"I couldn't tell you, I was too busy dealing with my own problems by then to care."

_______________________________________________

"Listen you two, Ah don't wanna hear anything else from you two, not about Gina, not about me. What happened is in the past." Pippin told us.

"We are just here to make sure you are ok, Pip, calm down." Silvermelody replied.

"I'm perfectly fine, other than your Ma giving me the scariest stare in my life." He told her.

"Yeah, my dad always told me about mom's stare. It could make him shut up in seconds."

"Yeah, well, if you ever figure out how to use it, don't use it on me." Pippin added as he sat back down.

"Now, Ah need some rest. Ah have to train the minute Blackheart talks to me." Silvermelody and I looked at each other.

"Good luck, from what Fluttershy told us this is extremely difficult training that was taught by both Luna's and Celestia's elite guard." I told him before we turned away and started making our way back to the main deck. That's when the boat began to shake and a loud roar filled the boat.

"What's...going on?" Silvermelody asked grabbing my hoof to try and keep herself from falling over.

"I don't know, but we better go find out." I levitated my sword from my bag and quickly made my way to the main deck. When I got up there, I smiled. A dragon was hugging Fluttershy up in the air, as several more dragons were flying circles around the boat. A large mist was surrounding the boat otherwise. "Uncle Spike!" I called out to the purple dragon who took notice of me immediately. He flew down and landed in a superhero pose in front of me.

"How's it going kiddo, it's been awhile." He held out a claw. He was about four feet taller than me and his claw was the size of two of my hooves. I put the sword down and took his claw and shook it. "I would hug you, but you seem...occupied." he pointed at my hoof who was still holding Silvermelody's

"Oops." She said and let go with a blush. I hugged my uncle before stepping away.

"It has been a long time since I have seen you, you are at least a good three feet taller since the last time I saw you." He told me as looked at me.

"I would give you a birthday gift, but I left it at home." He said as Blackheart approached.

"I hate to break up this reunion, but we are on a deadline." Spike crossed his arms and glared at Blackheart.

"What are you doing here, Blackheart." His tone was now unpleasant.

"Guiding these kids to their mothers, which from what our past hint said, Rarity is here." Spike smiled suddenly.

"Oh thank Celestia, Ember has been watching me like a hawk since she's been here..."

"And I can understand why, Spikey Wikey." Fluttershy teased as she glided down. Spike blushed in response.

"That's in the past, but Ember doesn't think so, even now those guys above me are watching my every move." Blackheart chuckled.

"What's so funny, punk, at least I don't go and chase her way." Spike remarked with a gesture of his claw.

"Never change Spike, never change, now can we please get to Rarity before an entire army of changelings storms Ponyville." Spike growled and flew into the air, "follow me to the dock and a few dragons will help you anchor it until you leave." He told him before taking off. I looked at Silvermelody as Blackheart trotted off.

"I don't think I have ever seen Spike angry until now." I told her as I picked up my sword that I had put down earlier.

"That's because Spike doesn't get along well with Blackheart. Then again none of the girls do either, but you'll get used to it." Fluttershy told us.

"And why is that?" Silvermelody asked.

"That's not something I can answer, sorry." She answered as she flew off. I looked at Silvermelody and shrugged. It wasn't long before the moon had began its ascent into the sky and not too long after that, did we dock the boat and get off of it on to a hard stone dock. Spike was now in front of us all and was smiling wide.

"Welcome to The Land of Dragons!"

Author's Note

so I mentioned in a recent blog that I restarted this chapter, and well I restarted it twice to fix some errors that had screwed with continuity. So I went back and fixed it again. Otherwise I hoped you enjoyed the chapter. Next chapter will be a big one since I now know what I want to do with it. This is Silvermoon signing off...PEACE OUT!

P.S. Blackheart is honestly a difficult character to write, since I wanted him to be a hero in a different light than friendship and a war seemed like the best way to fit him in.