//------------------------------// // Hold Up, Get Down (Part II) // Story: Modern Warmare // by Beatleboy62 //------------------------------// Chapter 6 Hold Up, Get Down (Part II) As Yuri walked behind Applejack down the country road, he noticed that she was very quiet, but not scared. She looked like she was very deep in thought, probably about the fact that she was bringing what was basically an alien to her home. As they got closer, Yuri could faintly smell apples in the distance. It was only a few more minutes before he could see a large barn and house in the distance. He read a sign above the entrance way, 'Sweet Apple Acres.' As they got close to the house, Applejack suddenly turned around, with a defiant face, looking at Yuri. "Look, I'm the Element of Honesty, so I'm not gonna' beat around the bush here. Ah' know your friends can vouch for you, and you seem like an honorable person Mr. Yuri, but I'm sorry, ah' just can't trust you. Not yet at least." Yuri wasn't sure what to say, so he let her continue. "In the past six months alone, we've dealt with a swarm of Parasprites that nearly ruined our whole apple crop, a dragon that almost blocked out the sun with it's smoke, two greasy sales-ponies that tried to cheat their way into buying our farm, and a conniving Draconequus that turned most of Equestria on it's head." She sighed, wiping her brow with her leg, "And that's just on the good days." She looked at the human, who was still silent. "Look, all I'm saying is that I really don't know what to make of you and your friends, who just seemed to wander out of the forest for no good reason. While I am kind to all by nature, I'm only doing this because the Princess asked. If I had a say in the matter, I would have half a mind to ask you to go somewhere else. For my sake and my family's sake, I have to keep an eye on you, even if that means keeping you under lock and key. Got it?" Yuri nodded. "Good. There's a cot and water pump in the barn, and I'll bring by some food for you in the morning. Once you're in I'll lock it up. Not just to keep you in, but to keep my sister out, that nosy little filly would be up to absolutely no good with her friends if she found out someone like you was in the barn." Yuri turned to walk to the barn, but was stopped one last time by Applejack. "Uh, do you plan on saying anything? Anything at all?" Without turning back, Yuri replied, "There's nothing to be said." Shaking her head at this confusing creature, Applejack walked behind Yuri, locking the barn door behind him. 'Why can't any visitors to Ponyville ever be normal?' After tripping over many farm tools and slowly edging his way along the edge of the wall, Yuri eventually made his way up to the loft of the barn. A small vent gave him a bit of moonlight to examine his surroundings. A cot, some rough blankets, but not much else, and he was pretty sure one of the things he tripped over was the water pump that Applejack had been talking about. As he lay on the cot, he began to take note of his current situation which seemed to get worse by the minute: 'Let's see, I'm being hunted by Makarov, I have to hide from my new allies the fact that I used to be Makarov's friend, the allies I'm with themselves are being hunted down by their own government, so I'd be hunted down for aligning myself with them, we're stuck in a foreign land with no clue how we got here or how we can get back, said world is occupied by talking ponies, ponies think we're dangerous, and probably worst of all, we have to listen to what they say.' Needless to say, Yuri thought things would be better if they were still in Tajikistan getting shot at. --------------------------------------------------------141------------------------------------------------------ Meanwhile, Soap was being led by Rarity to Carousel Boutique... "So Captain MacTavish, what do you think?" "Er, well, it's very..." "Yes, go on, say the first thing that comes to mind." "Sparkly." Right away, Rarity began taking his measurements, trying to figure out how she would clothe such a creature with strange dimensions. "Oh, surely you have more to say than that, Captain Mac-" "Please, call me John." "Oh yes, John." After a few moments of Rarity fantasizing what Soap would look like as a stallion, Soap snapped her back to reality. "Uh, Miss Rarity," using her magic, she had her measuring tape wrapped uncomfortably around his neck, "I enjoy breathing." "Oh, excuse me," Rarity said, blushing. After taking a few more measurements, she guided Soap to a privacy screen, waiting in the other side. "Now, if you could just hand me your clothes." She waited as Soap dropped his shirt on the other side of the screen. Rarity furrowed her brow at the shirt. "All your clothes." Grumbling, Soap dropped his pants outside the screen as well. Satisfied, Rarity levitated the clothes next to her and began walking to her sewing machine. "This should only take a few minutes dear, these rips look manageable to fix." As she began sewing, she also began to question Soap: "So, John, does everyone back where you come from wear clothing like this? It's very durable, at the price of also being very rough." She held the denim jeans before her eyes, wondering what it was made from. "No, the style of clothing my friends and I wear are more durable than clothes I'd wear on my day off, because the job necessitates it, like I said, getting people out of tough situations." Soap was thumbing through a pony magazine behind the screen, 'Cosmoponyton.' "Well, what's the clothing like that you would wear?" "Comfortable." "Well, hopefully this is up to your expectations." She levitated a brand new pair of pants and shirt behind the screen to Soap. He tried them on, and they fit perfectly. A black pair of pants and a white button down shirt, with 'John' monogrammed on the pocket in purple. Soap felt the material, and it felt light, yet strong enough to resist even the roughest of tumbles. It was especially comfortable too, like silk. He tried it on, it was a perfect fit. "This is, this is amazing!" Soap excitedly said, "How did you make this?" Rarity winked, "While I do have my trade secrets, I can tell you this: You said you had to sacrifice form for function. I thought, 'Why can't you have both?'" Soap was about to thank Rarity again, when he felt something poking at his ankle. He looked down and saw a tiny white unicorn with a light purple and pink mane trying to ram it's horn into his leg. "Run Rarity! I'll hold the monster off!" Soap could only smile as the tiny filly's voice cracked as what he assumed was Rarity's sister tried to 'protect' Rarity. "Aww, well aren't you just the littlest spitfire?" She flailed around as Soap picked her up. "I'm not afraid of you!" Rarity was visibly agitated, "Sweetie Belle, that's enough, what are you doing to our guest?" Sweetie Belle stopped, "Guest?" She stopped wriggling and let Soap put her down. "I thought he was an evil monster trying to attack you, like when you and the others had captured the whole group of them this morning!" "Sweetie Belle, he's not a monster, he's a gentleman, right John?" Soap nodded, close to laughing at the whole absurdity of the situation, "Anyway Sweetie Belle, what did you hope to accomplish by doing that anyway?" Sweetie Belle suddenly beamed, "I was trying to get my Monster Hunter Cutie Mark!" She looked at her flank which was still blank, sighing. "Nope, not this time either. Sorry Mr. John." He patted her on the head, "That's ok, mistakes happen," still laughing. As the others joined in on his laughter, a figure stood on the edge of the Everfree Forest, looking into Ponyville, her dark blue eyes lit by the moon in the sky. 'These creatures are...interesting. We must keep an eye on them before anything happens to thy subjects.' She flapped her wings and began flying away, back towards Canterlot, 'Their intentions seem benign, but we must talk to Tia before taking any action, hopefully she knows more about these creatures than we do.' --------------------------------------------------------141------------------------------------------------------ A/N:For those wondering about Applejack's extreme apprehension towards Yuri and the Task Force, just think, she's the element of Honesty, and she would have easily seen through Soap's description of 'Tactical Specialist.' Certainly an alien lying about what they really do would put most on edge. Also, if anypony has ideas for anything that would happen to the Task Force while in Equestria, send me a PM, I have a few ideas, but I want to see what you can come up with! And don't worry, a chapter with actual action will be coming soon.