Slowly but surely, Patrick opened his eyes to a face full of hay. Slowly sitting up and brushing off his face, he looked around the barn where he and his comrades had taken up residence. For a moment he forgot why he was in the barn, but then all at once it came back to him, the storm, Caroline talking, the pony people, and Miss Applejack's cider. That hit him the most. Right in the head.
Before he could fully wake up though, the blare of a trumpet began to pierce his eardrums and within seconds, the rest of the troopers laying around him began to groan awake. Patrick even heard the groans of the horses that were below them on the ground floor. As the bugle began it's repeat of reveille, the doors to the barn were thrown open and there standing in the door was Sergeant McMann already fully dressed and kitted out for the day.
"Alright yah ladies!" He shouted. "Wake up the lot of ya! Lot's happening today and I want all troopers out for assembly on the double! Move yer arses!"
As he finished his commands, the dragoons heard the bugle now call out the assembly and the men began to move with much more haste. They threw on their jackets, tied up their boots, and grabbed their caps as they made their way down from the loft towards the door. As they did, Patrick nodded towards his mount Caroline with a short 'see you at stable call' to her. The dragoons soon reached the outside where Sergeant McMann continued to bark commands in his thick Irish accent.
"Form two ranks on Corporal Jameson on the double! Move it!" Then all 48 men soon created two ranks of 24. Standing in his place in the line, Patrick could see Captain Hamill and Lieutenant Gordon standing nearby with the Apple Family close behind them. Captain Hamill appeared to be talking with Big Macintosh and Miss Applejack who both seemed very curious about the whole proceedings, while Lieutenant Gordon was bent down talking to little Applebloom. Patrick smiled. He always liked seeing that side of the young Lieutenant when he was with his daughter Julie.
"Quiet in the ranks!" Sergeant McMann's shout caused Patrick to return his attention to the roll call that he knew was coming up. This was confirmed when he pulled out his clipboard and pencil and began to list off the names of the company. Each man when called responded simply with here, which Patrick did when his own name was called. Soon all 48 men of Company A were listed as present. As soon as Sergeant McMann tucked his clipboard under his arm, he turned and walked over to Captain Hamill and saluted, which was returned.
"All men present Sir." McMann stated.
"Thank you Sergeant." Captain Hamill replied. He then turned and nodded to the bugler, a young 16 year old lad from St. Louis Missouri whom Patrick knew as Private Thomas Crane dressed in his red jacket, who then in response brought the bugle to his mouth and played out stable call. The men soon fell out of line and made their way back to the barn to feed and water their horses.
By around 9:00, the men of Company A had fed their horses and fed themselves and were ready for the days tasks ahead of them. For Patrick, his friend Billy, and the rest of the dragoons chosen to receive the Equestrian Royal Entourage later that day, the morning was now being spent polishing and cleaning their uniforms and equipment. Patrick himself at this point was just finishing up cleaning his white buff leather saber belt and polishing the brass buckle to the point where it gleamed in the sun as he sat against the outside wall of the barn with his fellow troopers. He was proud of his appearance as a dragoon and therefore took great care to show it whenever others came to observe him and his fellow comrades.
Out of the corner of his eye just then, he saw a large pink bow peak around the corner. Looking up, he saw that it was little Applebloom dressed in her bright blue dress and bonnet standing their peaking at him and the other dragoons as they cleaned their equipment. He smiled when she ducked back behind the corner when she saw him looking at him.
"Hey now," he called out. "We won't harm a hair on your head." She peaked out again. He then held up his belt. "Would you like to take a look?"
Applebloom smiled and walked over until she was standing in front of Patrick. She then pointed to his belt in his hand. "What do those letters stand for on that buckle?" She asked.
Patrick looked down then brought the buckle up closer so that she could see it better. "It stands for 'United States'. Thats the country we live in, the United States of America."
Applebloom nodded in recognition. "What's the belt for? Y'all don't where them around your trousers."
Patrick chuckled. "They are used to hold our sabers up." He answered.
"Whats a saber?"
Patrick paused for a moment considering whether or not he should show her his primary horseback weapon, but decided it wouldn't be harmful as long as only he held onto it. He therefore grabbed the weapon and brought it up to his lap.
"A saber is like a long knife. We use them to defend ourselves against enemies. It's one of the things that sets us apart as dragoons."
"What else makes y'all different?" Applebloom asked.
"Well..."
"Applebloom!"
Patrick looked up to see Big Macintosh making his way over to where he and Applebloom were. As he approached Patrick quickly stood up. However Big Macintosh didn't even pay attention to the dragoon, and rather focused on his little sister.
"Now y'all now we got chores to do today. We can't have ya bothering these soldiers here when theres work to be done."
"Aww. But Big Mac!"
"No buts young lady." Big Macintosh said sternly. "Now go on out and find yer sister in the south fields. She'll be needing help collecting the apples for today. Now get along."
Applebloom sighed and walked off towards the fields, leaving Patrick sitting there smiling. He would've liked to talk more with Applebloom but he understood that her family needed her help.
"I hope she wasn't bothering y'all too much now." Big Macintosh addressed the dragoons.
Patrick shook his head and smiled. "No harm done Mister Macintosh. She was really sweet actually."
Big Macintosh smiled and looked down the path that Applebloom had disappeared down. "She's a sweetheart alright. But sometimes she and her friends get into heaps of trouble. She wants to grow up too fast." He then looked back at Patrick. "How old are you Mr....?"
"Patrick sir. Private Patrick Harris. And I am 18 sir."
Big Macintosh's eyes widened slightly at this. He then nodded as he began to walk away. "Take care of yourself Mister Harris."
"You too sir." Patrick replied. As soon as Big Macintosh was out of sight, he went back to his task.
Ponyville, Later That Day
By around mid day, the men selected to be part of the guard receiving the leaders of Equestria, who Princess Twilight had referred to as the Royal Sisters, was spit polish as much as they could be in their fatigue gear and had formed up in the town square. Standing in line sitting atop their horses, the dragoons waited in anticipation. They had never received any sort of dignitary at Fort Scott before so they wanted their first time to be the absolute best. Standing in front of them were the six ponies that Princess Twilight had referred to as the Elements of Harmony, Miss Applejack, Miss Fluttershy, Miss Rarity, Miss Pinkie Pie, Miss Rainbow Dash, and lastly Princess Twilight herself, with her son Spike by her side. Around them at the edges of the square, Patrick could've sworn that the entire population of Ponyville had turned out to greet their princesses. Captain Hamill had sent the rest of the company back to Fort Scott to inform the fort of the current situation and to prepare the post for the arrival of the royal party.
After about a five minute wait since they had formed up, a little calico earth pony in a mechanics hat came running around he corner of the local bakery that Miss Pinkie Pie had called Sugar Cube Corner.
"Their coming!" He shouted. "Their here!"
Every pony in the crowd began to murmur in excitement at this announcement and Captain Hamill gave a nod to Lieutenant Gordon. Lieutenant Gordon then turned back to the line of dragoons.
"Dragoons!" He commanded. "Draw Sabers!"
With a metallic ring, Patrick and the rest of the troopers drew their sabers from their scabbards in almost perfect unison. Looking back town the road that the little colt had come from, Patrick began to hear what sounded like the rumble of a horse drawn carriage. Within seconds, the source of the noise appeared around the corner, though what Patrick was expecting was not what appeared. He certainly expected the bright white and yellow trimmed coach that appeared, but the four gleaming white six point bucks with golden antlers pulling the carriage he certainly did not expect. He had hunted dear before back home, but nothing like these deer. Along with their unusual color scheme, the bucks were massive, slightly larger than the dragoons' own mounts. Walking ahead of the coach were four similarly sized brown bucks with four white unicorn stallions riding on their backs dressed in golden trousers and tunics with silver armor chest plates and helmets upon their heads with blue crests. Each stallion carried a wooden lance with a blue pennant on the top of each. Four more guards on bucks followed behind the coach which were then followed by a tall blue alicorn mare with a mane that seemed to flow with the wind and sparkle with stars. The mare wore a bright white double breasted short jacket with bright gold epaulettes on her shoulders. She also wore dark blue trousers tucked into knee high riding boots. Slung across her chest and hanging down her left was a black leather baldric with a silver crescent moon plate on the front carrying what appear to be a cavalry saber. To top off her whole ensemble was a black tiara sitting atop her head above her horn with a white crescent moon in the center.
"Present! Arms!" The command from Lieutenant Gordon to salute snapped Patrick out of his concentration. As soon as he hear the order, he and the rest of the dragoons brought their sabers up the the faces with the blades facing flat. Within seconds of the motion being completed, the coach came to a halt in front of the dragoons. As soon as it did, the driver, a light grey unicorn stallion dressed in a top hat and black coat with a white cravat around his neck and white gloves, jumped down from his seat and walked over to the door to the coach and pulled it open. Out stepped a tall white elegant alicorn mare dressed in a gorgeous gold and white dress. The dress was simple in that it was solid colors with no patterns but grand in it's beauty. The bottom hem of the skirt was trimmed gold along with the area around the neck. The mare's hair was similar to the one who rode atop the buck, except that hers was rainbow in appearance. Atop her head was also a tiara, but this one was gold with a purple diamond in the center. For a moment, Patrick almost broke composure in his salute at the beauty this mare radiated.
As soon as the white mare stepped out of the coach, Patrick saw Princess Twilight Sparkle run up to her with a huge smile on her face, and wrapped her arms around her waist in a hug. This seemed out of turn until he heard the following exchange between the two mares.
"Oh it's great to see you Princess Celestia!" Twilight exclaimed.
Princess Celestia smiled and returned the embrace. "Twilight Sparkle, my dear. How have you been? You look lovely."
Princess Twilight blushed at the comment. "Thank you Princess. And I have been doing well. It's been quite exciting recently actually as you can see behind me." She gestured to the dragoons behind her. "These are the visitors I told you about."
Princess Celestia looked back at the horsemen with a curious smile. "I see. And do they have a leader among them?"
"Ah yes they do. Captain Hamill?"
Captain Hamill took this as his cue to sheath his sword and dismount Horatio. "Stay put old boy." He said to the brown stallion.
"Yes Sir." Horatio replied. Captain Hamill then made his way over to where the two alicorn mares were standing and bowed and removed his cap when he stopped in front of them.
"Your royal highness." He said as he came back up. "Captain Henry Hamill of the 1st United States Dragoon Regiment."
Celestia smiled and dipped in kind. "It is a pleasure to meet you Captain Hamill. I am Princess Celestia. And this is my sister Princess Luna." She gestured to the blue mare, who had by this point dismounted her buck and was now standing beside Celestia. Captain Hamill turned to bow but was caught off guard when Princess Luna snapped her hand to her head in a salute, which after a few seconds of obvious confusion, Captain Hamill returned.
"A pleasure Captain." Princess Luna nodded. Patrick noticed however that she appeared to be staring at all of the dragoons with what appeared to be, suspicion? Patrick really couldn't tell. Any further thought on this however was cut short as Captain Hamill continued speaking with Princess Celestia.
"My faithful student and peer Twilight Sparkle has told me that you all have not arrived in our land alone."
"That is correct ma'am." Captain Hamill nodded. "The night before last our post experienced a most severe storm. When morning came we found that our entire post and all of it's personal and buildings had been transported to a field about 15 miles from here. We also found that whatever had brought on the storm had also caused all of our horses to gain the ability of speech. After we had collected ourselves and secured the post, our commander ordered us to conduct a patrol to see if we could establish any sort of contact with any settlement we could find. It was then that I led A Company down what was the Military Road and we came upon this village, who showed us much hospitality, for which we are grateful."
Celestia nodded as she took in the information. "And where did you say your post was before you arrived? Where was it that you came from?"
"Fort Scott in the Kansas Territory of the United States of America ma'am."
Celestia shook her head. "I am afraid that I am not familiar with that nation." She said. "Though we shall do everything in our power to help you in returning to your homes. Won't we sister?" She finished turning to Luna.
"Of course dear sister." Luna nodded. She then turned back to Captain Hamill. "If it would be alright though Captain Hamill, would you and your soldiers please show us to your post so that we may assess the situation first hand. We are also quite curious to view the operations that your military performs under."
Captain Hamill nodded in response. "Of course ma'am. If you will permit us, we shall escort you back to our post, though I ask that I send a fast rider back ahead of us to inform the commander of your arrival."
"Permission granted Captain."
Captain Hamill nodded then walked over to the line of troopers. He then moved straight to Patrick.
"Private Harris." He said as he scribbled a note onto a small piece of paper from his pocket.
"Yes sir." Patrick responded. Captain Hamill then handed him the paper after he had finished writing.
"Please deliver this to Colonel Matthews with haste." Patrick grabbed the paper and shoved it into his pocket.
"Yes sir at once sir." He said with a salute. "Let's go Caroline!" He said with a smile. Caroline herself smiled as she pushed off from the ground and galloped down the street towards the rode. As they passed the crowd of ponies, Patrick could hear some oos and awes at the display of power from Caroline. Patrick even thought he could make out the familiar voice of a girl who said.
"Wow mama. He sure is fast."
Fort Scott
Within the hour, Patrick and Caroline had returned to Fort Scott. When he arrived, he was challenged by the guard, before he and Caroline were permitted onto the grounds. He found that the fort had been quite active while he and the dragoons had been away. The infantry that weren't on guard or fatigue duty were out on the parade ground drilling with the sergeants commands echoing around the post. Other soldiers walked to and from the Quartermaster's shop carrying the days supplies back to either the barracks or to the stables or to the hospital. Patrick however was heading to one building in particular though. Next to the officer's quarters was a single white house that quartered the post commander, Colonel Richard Matthews and his wife and three children. It was there that the guard had told him that the Colonel was at the moment.
Riding up to the steps, he pulled Caroline to a halt and dismounted. After telling Caroline to stay put, he made his way up the steps and approached the guard posted outside the Colonel's door.
"State your business." the guard challenged.
Patrick reached into his pocket and produced the message from Captain Hamill. "I have this message for the Colonel. From Captain Hamill."
The guard took the paper and looked at it for a few moments. He then handed it back to Patrick. "You may enter." He said. Patrick nodded then entered the front room of the house. Upon entering, he then encountered another soldier dressed in an infantry uniform. This man was the Colonel's aide of the day, who he chose each day at random.
"I have a message for the Colonel." He said.
"Wait here one moment." The soldier said before he turned around and walked to the door to the Colonel's office and opened it. After a few moments, Colonel Matthew stepped out from behind the down in his double breasted dark blue coat. The Colonel had dark black hair and thick muttonchops. His face was aged from the years that he had spent in the service of the USA. Coming from Pennsylvania, he had an understanding with many of the farm boys and immigrants under his command and his soldiers appreciated him for it. Even now, Patrick was proud to salute him as he approached. The salute was returned as the Colonel reached him.
"Sorry to disturb you sir." Patrick apologized.
"It is fine Private." Colonel Matthew reassured the trooper.
"A message from Captain Hamill sir." Patrick said as handed the Colonel the paper. The Colonel took the paper, read it for a few minutes before folding it back up and turning to his orderly.
"Private Hatch."
"Yes Sir."
"Please find Major Latham and inform him that I wish to see him in my office at once."
"Yes sir." Private Hatch replied with a salute, then made his way out the door. Colonel Matthews then turned back to Patrick.
"Thank you for delivering this Private." Colonel Matthews thanked. "I suggest you go and report to Lieutenant Rogers over at that barracks. You are dismissed."
"Thank you sir." Patrick replied, also giving a saluted before turning around and exiting the building. He then made his way down the steps to Caroline who still stood where he had left her patiently waiting. As he approached she had the most excited smile on her face.
"Well?" She asked eagerly. "What did he say?"
Patrick smiled as he took hold of her reins and began to lead her towards the stables. "He didn't say much to me. But I have a feeling it's about to get busy here real soon. Now come on. Let's get you watered and fed. You need it after that run."
Later
Within the hour, the rest of the dragoons under Captain Hamill had returned to Fort Scott along with the royal entourage that included both Princess Celestia and Luna, Twilight Sparkle and all of her friends. When they arrived in the coach, they were greeted by Colonel Matthews and a fully dressed honor guard. Both companies of the 4th Infantry had turned out in their full battle kit for a salute. After Colonel Matthew had been introduced to the Princesses and the other mares and been notified of the situation at hand, he offered to give them a tour of the post, which they accepted. As they went from structure to structure, Colonel Matthews explained each building's purpose and the history behind them. Miss Fluttershy took particular interest in the post hospital while Princess Luna payed close attention to the barracks and magazine. All the while Miss Twilight was asking extensive questions on American culture and society, which Colonel Matthews tried his best to answer. After a while, the group found themselves back on the parade ground.
"We are most intrigued by the system that your military operates under here Colonel." Princess Luna commented. "Perhaps sometime in the near future, you could give us a demonstration of your tactics?"
Colonel Matthews nodded. "Of course ma'am. Perhaps sometime...."
"Rider coming in!"
All heads in the group turned towards the shout and saw that it came from one of Celestia's guards. Looking down the road that he was pointing at they saw a cloud of dust trailing behind another Equestrian Guard riding on the back of his own brown buck. After a few moments he finally reached the group and came skidding to a halt. He quickly dismounted his buck and came up to the Princesses and bowed before them.
"Your Majesties." He gasped as he reached into his brown leather satchel that hung on his left side and produced a tied up scroll. "A message from Captain Strongback at Fort Redoubtable along the Tranquil River."
Celestia took the scroll while casting a perplexed glance to her sister. She then unrolled the scroll and read it over along with Luna. As she did her eyes grew slightly wider. After she had finished reading it, she turned to Colonel Matthews.
"Is there something wrong your majesties?" Colonel Matthews inquired.
Celestia paused for a moment before responding. "We don't know whether it is wrong or right Colonel. What we do know is that our own military post along the river that leads past Canterlot straight to Ponyville has reported sighting six large riverboats all bearing the flag that flies above your Fort steaming down the river."