From the Shoulders of Giants

by Za Raapini

It's Getting Real

Sugarcube Corner, Ponyville

Pinkie Pie hummed while she set everything up for the party. It had been quite a challenge to find the vodka the scowl-y men had asked for, but everything else was a success. She had even managed to convince Vinyl to come down! Sure, it took a barrage of talking to get the blue-haired mixer to do come DJ, but she was here and that was what counted.
A knock on the door interrupted her revelry preparation, and Pinkie went to go answer it. She opened it and was surprised to see Twilight sitting on the patio.

“Hiya Twilight! What brings you down here? The party doesn’t start for another half hour or so!” she said excitedly.

“I was hoping to talk to you for a minute Pinkie. Mind if I come in?” Twilight said, already moving her way inside. This was one conversation that would not be denied.

“Oh, sure Twilight come in but I won’t be able to talk very long because I’ve still got to set up the party!”

“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. I’m not so sure a party would be a good idea.”

“You silly filly! It’s always a good time for a party! When is it not time for a party?”

“Great question Pinkie. I don’t know, maybe when two hundred creatures from another world suddenly appear in our town with all kinds of machines that they themselves were purpose built for destruction! Ponies need time to adjust to this Pinkie. We can’t just throw a party to welcome them. There’s still too much we just don’t know about them. It’s too soon.”

“But…but…I worked so hard to get everything set up!” Pinkie said sadly.

Twilight looked around and saw the truth of the statement. Banners were strung up everywhere, most containing the names of the humans who had just come through the portal. A copious amount of snacks and drinks had been put out, and over in the corner Vinyl Scratch was setting up her equipment.

Twilight hated to rain on Pinkie’s parade, especially since this was her preferred method of cheering people up. But she felt it was simply too soon to begin trying to celebrate anything.

“Twilight, can I tell you something?” Pinkie said suddenly.

“Of course Pinkie. You know you can tell me anything,” Twilight responded, curious where this was going.

“I’m still scared. Terrified. The humans scare me a lot, they’re all angry and their machines are loud and they have these weird things they throw that make loud bangs and make a mess of things. But if I throw the party, maybe they won’t be so angry, and they won’t want to hurt us. If they come to a party there’s no way they can be all bad right?”

Twilight thought for a moment. She too had had somewhat favorable impressions of the humans after talking to a few. But she couldn’t dispute Pinkie’s statement in how angry they seemed. And bored. How could you possibly be bored in Equestria? Looking up she could see the party pony waiting expectantly for an answer, and Twilight began to respond.

“Pinkie, I think in time a party would be a great idea. Really, I do. Just not tonight. Not after what happened today. Ponies need to let this sink in, and I’m sure the humans will want to talk to each other about what they did today, and get some rest.”

“So maybe a party tomorrow? But if we have it tomorrow we might not get Vinyl!”

Twilight looked at the blue-haired DJ busying herself with her equipment. It did seem like quite a waste…but the right choice was not always the popular one. The day had simply been too raw for the town to begin having a party about it.

“Pinkie…it’s not the right time. You throw parties better than any pony in Equestria. You’ll know when that is,” Twilight said, unsure of how to proceed. She didn’t want to upset Pinkie, but there was simply no way a party could happen tonight.

“But…” was all Pinkie could get out before another Blackhawk came overhead.

“Oh, now what?” Twilight said exasperatedly. She just couldn’t get used to the feeling and sound produced by those things.

“Maybe they’re all coming by for the party and then they’ll see you wanting to stop the party and they’ll be angry because you want to stop the party…” Pinkie said. Twilight started tuning her out as she walked toward one of the windows. Peering outside, she could see the helicopter landing in the middle of the road with two figures running toward it.

Must be the pilots from earlier, Twilight thought to herself. She supposed it was better that they were gone. Twilight herself had been awed to learn that they had been flying the fast ones from earlier. It seemed there was no shortage of surprises with this group. Looking back to Pinkie, Twilight saw that she was slightly jittery.

“You alright Pinkie? You seem nervous,” Twilight said.

“I’m…I’m fine. Just…don’t like that noise. I don’t like that feeling. I feel like the world is ending every time one of them is coming by,” Pinkie said sadly.

Twilight stopped herself. She had never heard Pinkie talking like this before. Today had gotten to the pink mare more than she would probably like to admit. Twilight thought back to who Pinkie had talked to first…wait. The ones who never cracked a smile. She had met those ones? Even the other humans seemed slightly put off by them.

No wonder Pinkie was so shaken. For a mare so used to making ponies happy and smiling, seeing those…people, with their cold, uncaring faces, must have been quite a shocker.

Twilight could see now why Pinkie wanted to throw the party. To make everyone happy? Absolutely. But also to prove to herself that the cold men could smile, could have fun.

As the lavender unicorn looked around at everything, she noticed Vinyl looking at her, beckoning her to come closer.

“Pinkie, I’m going to go talk to Vinyl real quick, alright? Keep working on setting up the party,” Twilight said as she walked over to the DJ.

“Okie dokie lokie!”

As Twilight got closer, she could see the hint of a grin on Vinyl’s face.

“What’s so funny?” she asked.

“Nothing. I just think it’s interesting to see you think a party is a bad thing,” the DJ responded.

“How is it not? You weren’t here Vinyl, you didn’t feel the terror we did this morning. You didn’t see your perception of reality actively getting crumbled. You didn’t feel the raw power surging from those things,” Twilight said with anger she hadn’t realized she could feel.

“Hey, chill. So what’s a better alternative? Let those guys stay here with no one getting to know them? With everyone constantly suspicious of them? What kind of vibe does that set off?” Vinyl responded.

“Ugh, I don’t even know why I’m having this conversation with you. You’re just a DJ who doesn’t even really live here. You just pop in from time to time whenever it’s convenient for you. You don’t know us; we barely even know you,” Twilight spat out.

“You still didn’t answer my question.”

“You want an answer? Fine. Here’s an answer. This morning two dozen machines called helicopters come into our world from somewhere they still haven’t really explained. Inside of those machines were creatures called humans who speak a language that’s disturbingly exactly like ours. These humans, as they’re called, come around brandishing weapons, kicking in doors, and causing mayhem everywhere they go. Then they bring out even more terrible vehicles that frighten Rainbow Dash half to death and make a run at the Princess.

“And somehow we’re all supposed to all be okay with this. Somehow, we’re supposed to go with it, assume that they’ll be just as happy and carefree as us. We’re supposed to assume that even though they bring weapons of war, they’re here for peace.

“Some of them seem decent. Some of them are funny. The key word there: some. Some of them might not turn out to be all bad. But all it takes is one. And they’re soldiers; they follow orders. So if they get orders to attack us, what do you think they’ll do?

“If it were up to me, I wouldn’t let any of them stay anywhere. I don’t trust them. Not in the slightest. First impressions are hard to break, and they made one hell of a first impression,” Twilight finished.

Vinyl sat there for a moment, and Twilight interpreted this as the sign that she had won. With a triumphant feeling, she turned around to go talk to Pinkie Pie about holding off on the party. That continued to be a struggle, and Pinkie was likely to be unhappy after having just been told to continue with the set-up.

She didn’t get far.

“You didn’t answer my question. Again. All you did was vent. Which was impressive in its own way. But yeah, you didn’t answer my question. How is having these feelings going to change anything about the situation?” Vinyl asked.

“What…what are you talking about?” Twilight sputtered. She hadn’t quite envisioned the DJ to be this insightful.

“I’m saying, why not have a party? At the very least, if people see the Elements of Harmony talking to the humans, getting to know them, seeing what they’re all about, it’ll help people recognize that they’re not going to be a threat. It’ll let them know that everything will be alright. Who knows Twilight. You might even learn something from them. Have the party. I wanna see how these guys get down,” Vinyl finished with a grin.

“You’re simply unbelievable. Simply unbelievable,” Twilight said. Just then there was a light knock at the door.

“I’ll get that Pinkie, just…keep setting up,” Twilight said. She had been defeated and she knew it. Everything was going to blow up tonight, she just knew. Both literally and figuratively.

She opened the door and saw Major Picante standing outside.

“Good evening Ms. Sparkle, do you mind if I come in?” he said.

“Um, sure. Yeah. Come on in,” Twilight responded. She stepped aside to let him through, careful to keep her distance.

“You haven’t happened to see the Mayor, have you? I’m still trying to figure out where a good bed-down location for my guys will be. We’ve been discussing possible locations for a while now, and we wanted to have that taken care of before we set up a watch rotation and started rotating guys through to the party,” Picante said.

“You aren’t going to try and stay indoors? And what do you mean by watch rotation?” Twilight said.

“We don’t want to impose. I imagine today was a bit of a shocker. Plus, we’d like a modicum of privacy for the first few days. As far as the watch rotation, we need to leave guys back to watch the gear, and to make sure everyone gets a chance to come here and enjoy themselves. The men are excited; this’ll be the first chance they’ve had to let off some steam for a while.”

“So…you’re not going to try and stay with anypony?” Twilight said, slightly confused. She hadn’t expected to be quite so…gentle.

“Oh, absolutely not. No, I talked to the detachment commanders. They’re in agreement that we shouldn’t try to do that to you guys. Hell of a day, you know? For both our worlds. Washington is getting lit the fuck up with calls right now. Heh, bout time those bastards had to do some work,” Picante said.

“Well, the party should be starting soon,” Twilight said. She turned and shouted, “Right Pinkie Pie?” and got an enthusiastic head bob from the party pony.

“Alright, well cool. I’ll let the guys know. Know where I can find the Mayor? I really need to find out where an alright spot for us to bed down would be,” Picante said.

“I’m sure it’ll be fine if you and your men set up outside of town. That’s probably where she would tell you to go anyway,” Twilight responded.

“I’m not one to just let things go like that. I’ll get the spot nailed down, and I’ll let my men know to start coming here soon. By the way, we’ll have a special delivery coming in tonight, probably in about two hours,” Picante said.

“Special delivery?” Twilight asked.

“Yep. You’ll just have to wait for the proof,” Picante said with a slight smirk. He turned and walked out of the building.
Confused by the meaning behind the Major’s parting shot, Twilight turned back to see Pinkie Pie looking her usual excitable self, and Vinyl Scratch with the most annoying looking grin on her face.

“Party’s on.”

Gunny Johnson was unsure what to expect to come out of all of this. He couldn’t say that it would be fun; he had never been a particularly big fan of social gatherings. But who was he to pass up free alcohol? Being told to go also may have played a small part in it.

Walking into the building, he noticed small groups of the task force sitting in small groups together, talking quietly amongst themselves. How they could hear each other over the blaring music was beyond him.

As he took in the building’s interior, he noticed he didn’t see too many of the horses in there. Which was good. Johnson was just hoping to have a few drinks and get out of there. He made a beeline for the table with all the drinks on it and picked one up. He sniffed it, seeing if there was alcohol in it. By God, there was.

Smiling to himself, Johnson sat down. It had been too long since he had been able to enjoy a nice drink. Just a few was the mantra that was repeated over and over in his head.

“So, what exactly was this special delivery you were talking about earlier?” Twilight asked Picante.

“You’ll see in about ten minutes. Don’t worry about it,” Picante said dismissively. This was the seventh time the unicorn had asked the question in as many minutes. It was getting on his nerves.

“You’ll have to forgive Twilight, Major. There simply isn’t a question she can’t stand not knowing the answer to,” Rarity said, walking up behind them.

“Well, this is one answer she’ll just have to wait for,” Picante said. He turned away as a transmission went off on his radio.

“Gentlemen, I need five or six to help me offload some things. Finish your drinks and meet me outside,” Picante shouted to the group of men.

“Ladies, if you’ll excuse me. Turns out my little surprise is ahead of schedule. Shocking, to say the least. If you want Twilight, come out with us. You can help us offload too,” Picante said as he started walking out.

“Well, go on Twilight. Don’t let me keep you,” Rarity said.

“You going to be alright in here?” Twilight asked.

“Oh, quite fine. I’m going to try and talk to more of these ‘humans’, since I didn’t get much of a chance to earlier. I promised Pinkie Pie that I would try and be social to them,” Rarity said.

“Alright, well, I’ll be right outside if you need me,” Twilight said, walking out the door.

As Twilight stepped out, she saw the Major and a few others milling about, waiting for something. As she walked over to them, she felt it again. Another helicopter coming in.

Suddenly she tensed, and her pulse quickened. Maybe she had been encouraged to come out so that they could snatch her away!

Don’t be ridiculous Twilight. They just wanted you to come out to help unload. Not to foalnap you, take you back to their world and perform all kinds of experiments on you. Yeah. Just help, she thought to herself.

The helicopter landed, and the humans walked up towards it. She saw one of the doors open to reveal a crate sitting inside.

Wonder what’s in there? She thought.

“Well? You helping or what? This alcohol isn’t going to unload itself!” she heard Picante yell.

Walking up, she finally saw what was in the crate. Bottles with a brown liquid inside of them. Black labels. What was this?

“Is this the surprise?” Twilight asked over the roar of the spinning blades.

“Hell yeah! One hundred and fifty bottles of Jack Daniel’s Whiskey. Eighty proof,” Picante said.

Shrugging, Twilight enveloped the case with magic and lifted it out of the helicopter. She wondered what there was to be so excited about.

Just a few had lost all meaning at least eight drinks ago. Wherever that pink one had found the vodka, Johnson didn’t care. It was doing the trick. The Russians were mean-mugging the hell out of him; probably because out of all the vodka that had been procured, he had drank at least a third of it by himself.

Stumbling, he heard a cheer erupt in the room, and wondered what was going on. He looked to see that purple one, whatever her name was, bringing in a case of…was that more booze? Johnson smiled to himself as he walked over and grabbed a bottle from the case. The Major said something to him, probably telling him to slow down, but Johnson didn’t pay attention. Good, he had a bottle, now he just needed an audience. Those Harmony girls, whatever their names were, they would work.

“Hey, where are those, um, Harmony ones at? I got something to tell you. ‘Mere,” Johnson said out loud. Not bad for being sloshed off my ass Johnson thought to himself.

As the Elements gathered around Johnson, slightly confused as to what he had to tell them, Johnson’s fellow Marines looked on and knew what was going to happen. He was going to tell them The Story.

“So, check it out, cause I’ve heard how some of you have been talking about us, wondering why we’re here, wondering why we have all these guns and shit. It’s for a reason, and I’m going to tell you that reason. I wanna tell you a story about something that happened to me.

“I was sixteen when my country got attacked by a bunch of cowards who had the audacity to fly planes into buildings filled with innocent people. I was furious that day, and every day after I watched on the news how our armed forces invaded the country that harbored the ones who planned it.

“When I was eighteen, I joined the Marine Corps. Infantry, all that trash. I was ready to do my part. Sounds corny, but at the time, I was still a little super-patriot. I got through all the training and was assigned to a unit getting ready to deploy to Iraq, it’s a small, desert filled country. I won’t bore you right now with why we went in. Because I still don’t think we even know why.

“Anyways, I got sent over there. This was my first taste of combat other than video games and training. It was, well, it was a rush. It was exhilarating. It was everything I had hoped it would be.

“We completed a successful deployment, and when we got back we had about a year until our next one. A lot of guys were ready to go again, since the last time was so successful.

“A lot of guys sang a different tune the next time. When we next got sent in, it was to be part of what was called Operation Phantom Fury. We were part of a large unit that was to take back a city. Before I continue, any of you ever lost anyone close to you? That you knew a good bit? Really good friends with? No one?

“Let me tell you, it sucks. It sucks a lot. We spent a month in that city, and every day it seemed I was saying goodbye to another friend. I saw guys get fucked up bad. I watched guys bleed out right in front of me. I had to sit there and lie to my best friend and tell him that everything was going to okay.

“I…I…” Johnson choked out. He was starting to tear up. Goddamn it, I didn’t…I didn’t want to cry. I didn’t even want to tell this story, Johnson thought to himself.

With the tears barely kept in check, Johnson continued:

“I don’t really know exactly what the point I’m trying to make here is. But I do know that if the machines I use, the vehicles I operate, the portal we came through…if it has the slightest chance of making sure my friends in the service don’t die, if people I care about don’t get hurt, I’m going to use it. To the best of both my and its abilities. I’m going to use it before the enemy can.

“I saw a line in a movie, and it said something that’s stuck with me for a while now: there’s two men having a conversation before they go into a city for a fight. And one of them says, ‘you know what I think? Don’t even matter what I think. Once that first bullet goes past your head politics and all that shit just goes right out the window.’ And you know what? He hit the nail on the fucking head.

“Nothing I think matters. Nothing any of the people thinks matters. We just do our job for each other, and for the people back home. We don’t do it to further an agenda. We don’t do it to make others feel bad. We do it because it’s our job.

“I don’t know if what I said means anything to you. Hell, you probably don’t know what I’m talking about. Just know that we ain’t here to fuck up how you guys do things. We ain’t here for none of that. We’re here to make sure that our countries continue to live in safety, because we still don’t know what those portals can do.

“We just don’t know. We’re trying to find out. So just ease up off our shit, alright? We ain’t gonna hurt no one if we can avoid it. I give you my word.

“I promise.”

A/N: And that makes seven. Not going to lie, Johnson’s dialogue was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to write. Full disclaimer: I am not a Fallujah veteran. I have served alongside many while I’ve been in, and I can say with full confidence that they are fucking heroes. Every one of them. I have been deployed to Afghanistan twice, however. I’ll be honest, I’m not really sure how this chapter flows. I feel like I was trying to do way too much with it. I dunno. If you have any of the following: comments, questions, concerns, bitches, gripes, moans, groans, complaints, all that shit, you know what to do. This is Za Raapini saying stay classy. Good night, and good luck.