With the hundreds of armed escorts, the trip back to Fort Platinum was uneventful. Once the four humans had finally stepped foot inside the fort, ponies had swarmed around them to see what the scourge of the griffon and minotaur army looked like. Who cared about the war party or the war chief that they had captured; these four were far more interesting.
Some thought that they were minotaurs in disguise due to their tall and bipedal nature. The rest were more focused on their weapons. Specifically, they were focused on the fact that they were allowed to have their weapons. If the rumors were true, those four were capable of taking on anything and winning. What's stopping them from taking on the Equestrian Army?
But
They had saved the lives of many ponies, wiped out several of the biggest threats to the Equestrian military, and had taken out one of the griffon's generals. Perhaps they were truly on their side.
For now.
Twilight had then taken over a conference/briefing room (much to the dismay of several officers who were currently using it) and everyone important sat down inside at the table. In terms of Equestrians, Twilight, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Spitfire were the only ones in there. Outside of the conference room, on the other hand, hundreds of ponies of varying ranks and positions were quietly listening in. On the human end of the spectrum, Tran, Eric, Wilson, and Logan had made themselves home inside the room. They had removed their helmets and had their rifles sitting on the conference table inside the room.
"I honestly have no idea in the terms of what to do with the four of you," Twilight started. All four of them had essentially poofed into existence and their species was entirely unknown. The four of them couldn't be left to wander on their own. There'd be hell to pay, especially with a war going on. "I doubt this has ever happened before in Equestrian history."
"But we cannot simply leave you on your lonesomes and we'd like to give our thanks," Rarity added in.
All four humans shared looks with each other. "So now what?" Logan asked.
"We'll have to migrate the four of you to a safer town or city. Once there, we'll try to figure out how to deal with your situation," Twilight explained.
The four humans looked amongst each other before looking back to Twilight. "It'll do," Tran said.
Rarity smiled. "Do try to keep out of trouble! While we appreciate the help the four of you have given us, the four of you are still a bit... Alien to everypony."
Tran shrugged. "No promises."
Rarity shrugged in response to Tran's shrug. "Well, at least you tried your best." Rarity's dug through her coat and pulled out several pieces of paper. "I'll start on finding the four of you a barracks room to accommodate you."
Elsewhere in Fort Platinum
A particularly unimportant REA captain sat at his measly desk in a small room in a nondescript building, looking at various field reports and maps. He was simply the commanding officer of a small infantry company. Most of his day involved dealing with paperwork and dancing around bureaucracy. In the grand scheme of things, he didn't play too much of a crucial role.
The door to his office was bucked open and the smallest of small soldiers walked into the office. Both her worn uniform and her slung weapon were covered in grime and lightly damaged, unacceptable in normal situations. The captain immediately recognized her as one of the soldiers under his command, one that had been part of a patrol that had been sent out in the morning of this day. The captain checked his watch and looked back at her. "What are you doing here and where the hell is the rest of your squad?"
Scootaloo suppressed a growl as she dug through a pouch from her gear and pulled out several flag patches. The captain picked up one blood stained flag patch and immediately dropped it back down after he read whose name was stenciled into it. He dug through the other flag patches and recognized the other names among them. He pushed every flag patch to one corner of his desk and closed his eyes. "Dismissed for...I'll send somepony to retrieve you if you're needed."
-X-X-X-
Rainbow Dash shifted in her sleep.
"Wake up you flightless chicken!" yelled a rather lively voice (a barely suppressed giggle followed).
Rainbow shot up from her bed. "Who are you calling a flightless chicken?!" she demanded whilst reaching for her sidearm. When her hoof met nothing, she looked down at herself. Her uniform, her gear, and most importantly, her gun was missing.
Applejack chortled for a short instant. "Ah told yah that'd wake her up." Applejack was currently occupying her own bed. Her right leg, the one that had been hit with a bullet, was currently bound by several rolls of gauze and bandages.
Looking around, Rainbow Dash found herself in an infirmary bed (again) and surrounded by her five best friends. She jumped into the air and attempted to hover in the air. A second later, she face planted into her bed. Apparently, she could no longer feel her wings.
"And ah told yah that'd be the first thing she'd do."
Rarity rolled her eyes at Applejack. "Darling, all of us knew she would try to fly."
Rainbow Dash looked at her feathery appendages. "What's wrong with my wings?!" She tried to flap them with as much effort that she could muster but they stayed against her sides. A yellow hoof appeared in Rainbow Dash's vision and it jabbed her in the side, causing a slight jolt of pain to shoot through her body. "Ow!"
Fluttershy drew her hoof back. "Some of your ribs are broken, Rainbow. I had to administer a paralytic that only affected your wings."
Rainbow Dash froze for a short moment. "What?!"
Fluttershy sighed. "Flying is only gonna slow down the healing process so I had to do it."
"But, wings! Flying!" Everypony present, minus Rainbow Dash, facehoofed.
Twilight was the first to recover. "Anyways, there's an issue that I'd like to address with the two of you."
Rainbow looked at herself. "Two?"
Twilight eyed Applejack. "Both of you keep ignoring orders and running off on your own to do your own thing. And the only reason anypony lets you do this is because I let it." Applejack and Rainbow Dash shared a look. Both of them knew this was gonna be bad. "So now, both of you are being restationed."
"And what's stopping us from just fighting on ahr own?!" Applejack asked.
Rarity and Twilight looked at each other. "Literally, the entire Royal Equestrian Army," Rarity said.
Applejack narrowed her eyes. "Yer gonna do that to us, your best friends?"
Rarity frowned. "Yes, especially to keep our best friends alive."
Applejack looked down at her hoof. "Yah make a good point there. So are we just gonna sit on ahr flanks all day until the war ends?"
Rarity smiled. "Of course not! Both of you will be providing guard duty to some VIPs in Ponyville."
"Who?" Applejack asked.
Rarity and Twilight shared a mischievous look.
-X-X-X-
Rainbow Dash knocked on a door. No answer. Rainbow stepped out of the way as Applejack bucked down the door with her one good hoof. Applejack immediately found a saber on her throat. "How rude," said Prince Blueblood.