Princess Luna turned away from the enchanted mirror in which she had been watching her charges meet the strange species known as man. She turned to one of her nearby guards. "Awaken my sister and the captain of the guard. If my sister tries to turn you away tell her I said The hoofball has been thrown.”
If the guard thought the order strange he gave no indication. The guards were trained to obey orders and they carried them out well. It was an amusing distraction from her troubles for the princess of the night to imagine what would happen what would happen if and when the royal guards met their American counterparts.
The Americans were so utterly different than anything she had ever dealt with in a military. When last she had been to war her ponies all marched in single file, lances outstretched like a living wall of spears. The unicorns would shower magic projectiles from behind the earth ponies while the pegasi rained spears from above the enemy line. She or her sister would give all commands from their positions above the battle space. In their day these tactics had been devastating and brutal to all their foes, but unfortunately those days were long since past. The ponies of Equestria needed a new military with new tactics or there might soon be no Equestria to defend.
Several weeks ago Princess Luna had one of her visions of the current future. That is to say she was shown what would come to pass if events were left to unfurl as they currently were. She had seen the deaths of her and Princess Celestia, had watched as if there while Equestria's cities burned, and there people slaughtered or enslaved as toys for the monsters who had just destroyed their world. Like all her visions she had been shown the key to changing the fate upcoming, and like most of her visions the key was hauntingly out of reach.
The key to their survival according to her vision was the people of Earth. When she shared her vision with Tia they had both feared the worst. That this time the key was simply unobtainable and impossible to accomplish. First off Earth was on the other side of the galaxy how in the name of Celestia would they get there, and secondly the vision had given no hints at what they should do when they were there. Would the humans fight beside the ponies? Would they merely give material support and supplies? By Tartarous was Earth supposed to be Equestria's evacuation destination?
So many questions so very little answers. The first and most important question had been answered for them by the most unlikely of sources imaginable. A common street magician named Cauldron had stumbled upon one of the sacred circles long thought lost to this world. He had dreams of being on the thrown, and might have stood a chance with the spirits help. However like foal who had found his father's spear cabinet unlocked had used gratuitous amounts of their power to show off to himself, and that thoughtless power use had immediately caught the princesses attention. It didn't take long to understand his basic plan was to send Twilight to Earth, with the elements unusable launch an attack, and than seize the thrown.
From there it had been simple enough to manipulate the scene in the forest last night. Princess Celestia had sent a few letters to spike ensuring all the elements of harmony were there that night to catch their intergalactic flight, and a couple of moments of intervening in the struggle. In all the days she had been back from her exile on the moon nothing had been as hard to do as force herself to keep Pinkie Pie in that circle and knock her friends over ensuring their capture by the circles spell. Sometimes being a Princess comes with a high cost, but the looks of terror on the faces of those seven had nearly been too much.
When Shining Armor arrived Cauldron would be arrested and imprisoned, and his foalish plan ended. That was a conversation she was dreading very much. “Hello Shining Armor we just wanted to let you know we just made sure your sister Twilight Sparkle was teleported across the galaxy as an ally seeking emissary with no idea what just happened or why.” Sigh this was gonna be awkward.
As things like this have a habit of doing no sooner was that thought in her head than Shining Armor entered the thrown room his wife Cadence beside him, their newlywed glow still firmly in place. They came to the foot of the dais and bowed to their sovereign. Princess Luna greeted them, and asked them to await Princess Celestia's arrival. This wasn't exactly necessary but anything to delay the coming confrontation was welcome in her book.
The newlyweds made small talk while Luna desperately tried to formulate some way to tell her captain of the guard what had been done in a positive light. It wasn't long before her sister appeared, and Luna met her halfway down the room with an affectionate nuzzle.
Princess Celestia's seriousness dropped a little bit as it always did when it came to Luna, but still this was a matter of grave importance with nothing less than the survival of their species on the line. With this in mind the two alicorn sisters took their seats upon their throwns, and bade all present come and hear what they had to say.
“My fellow ponies it pains me greatly to inform you that dark times lie ahead. Princess Luna has had a vision of Equestria's fall, but we shall not sit idly by while our doom approaches. For the last few weeks we have been making war preparations in secret throughout the country. We now have the plans for a defense in depth against any foreign nation currently on Equis. THIS IS NOT ENOUGH BY FAR.” She took a few moments to let the gravity of her statements sink in to her audience.
“The royal guard is hopelessly outponied and out matched by our foes. From what we have seen in Luna's vision they use projectile weapons not unlike a unicorn hurling a rock, but their rocks are launched at such high speed and force as to rend our armor like cheese. They are bipedal and have armor designed to fight weapons similar to their own though we have no measure of how effective they might be. They have monstrous machines impervious to any weapon we have in our armory or any we could hope to create in the roughly one year we estimate to have before their arrival.” Nopony had any idea what to say for a long time after the princess finished till Shining Armor spoke what was on his soldiers minds.
“Then what is being done your majesty and what are our orders?”
The princesses both held their heads a little higher when he finished speaking. Everypony present was terrified, but not one was willing to flee. They trusted the princesses and would die fighting for Equestria without hesitation. The bravery of their subjects never failed to bring pride to the alicorn sisters. After taking a few moments to collect her thoughts Luna gave the awaited reply.
“We have arranged for the bearers of the elements of harmony to seek out some very powerful allies. They use similar technology to our aggressors, but we believe they will stand with us in defense of Equestria. Furthermore we are hoping to emulate their technology and seek their training and guidance in how to run a modern army with such varied technologies.”
Princess Celestia gave her sister an upset look that conveyed much more than anypony else in the room was privy too. Luna had deliberately avoided the issue of where exactly Twilight Sparkle and the others where and how they had gotten there. Celestia couldn't really get angry with her sibling, because when Luna had been released from Nightmare Moon the Royal Guard had taken the longest to forgive and trust her. Her sister was terrified of losing that trust, but Celestia knew all to well the information not said or misconstrued between allies was just as deadly as an enemy's spear.
The guards had been quiet while the sisters had there wordless conversation, but it didn't take them long to put two and two together. One of the guards about halfway in the back of the loose formation spoke up and shattered all of Luna's attempts at concealing the truth. “I beg pardon you majesties but I'm confused. If you say we have plans against everyone on Equis then where are these foes you say are coming, and for that matter where are these allies supposedly capable of helping us? If there where two nations capable of the technology prophesied I'm pretty sure we'd have known about them long before this!”
This time Celestia fielded the question, and unlike Luna who had purposefully muddied her words in unrealized self protection answered the question with the subtlety of a wrecking crane. “It's rather simple I’m afraid. The invaders are coming from outside our solar system in their machines, and the Allies we have sent for are on a planet named Earth which lies about 7 million light years from here.”
As Luna's doomsday prophesy was met with stoicism and bravery this new input was meet with panic and chaos. Questions and shouts poured from every corner of the room.
“You sent Twily across the GALAXY!?”
“How can aliens help us fight aliens?!”
“Why don't you simply hit them with the sun or the moon?”
“Please remain calm and let us finish what we need to say.” It took awhile but eventually everyone managed to regain their senses and under Shining Armor's example managed to go back to attention.
“I realize how terrifying this must be but panicking will solve nothing. We did not come to this plan without first knowing there are no other options. We have sent the elements of harmony to earth in order to enlist the help of a sentient race known as humans. They are just as intelligent as we are if not more so and they have what we do not. They have tools of warfare far beyond what we have and they have the knowledge of how to use them.”
“Luna and I believe the invaders are even more advanced than our hopeful allies, however I still believe this to be our only hope. We were forced to send the elements to earth with no knowledge of how or why they were sent, because the humans would likely have arrested them as spies if they were found on foreign soil trying to ask for war machinery.”
“We have the use of enchanted mirrors to watch over the elements, and they have Spike with them as well so we have good reason to believe we can establish communications with our envoys within the hour or sooner. We can give them our orders, but it is still the bearers that must secure our allies. Without the people of Earth we are bound to a fate of extermination. We wish the elements luck on their mission and the knowledge that all of Equis is in their hooves.”
“Finally there are preparations we can make here and now that can only help if and when our new allies arrive. We want members of the guard to travel to every town in Equestria informing the populace of the situation, and draft notices published and distributed to the same. Every capable male and any volunteering female from 21-45 will report for duty in the Equestrian Army, and any pony claiming themselves incapable of service must be given a note of pardon by their town recruiting guard.”
“Let it be known that from here till further notice all food and electrical power will be rationed with the rest being stored as preparations for the war effort. Until such time as we can establish a proper chain of command all current members of the Equestrian Royal Guard are hereby commissioned as officers of the Equestrian Army with Shining Armor taking the rank of commanding general. He will assign you all ranks and positions first based on your merits as leaders and secondly by seniority.”
“You are all dismissed until 7 P.M. tonight when Luna and I will convene a war counsel with our generals to plan a seize and capture mission on an enemy combatant any and all further needed measures. His capture is absolutely vital to our efforts and will hopefully be a good gauge of where we stand in an operational capacity. Anything you would like to say to your officers General Shining Armor?”
“Yes your majesty. Formation at 5 P.M. tonight in order to let everyone know their knew ranks and titles in time for the war counsel. All placings will be done fairly to the best of my ability, but I'm only pony. Anypony receiving a position they believe below or above their abilities will have the opportunity to address their concerns at the formation. Lastly I want to stress that all information said here today is classified and anypony releasing this information before we are ready to do so will be found guilty of treason. Report to your regular duties until formation and be sure to let everypony who isn't here right now about the formation. Dismissed.” This was followed by a loud chorus of affirmations and the sound of dozens of ponies leaving the hall.
“With your leave your majesty I will now go and start my new duty.”
“Yes General by all means... and we're sorry. For everything.”
For the first moment since he joined the Royal Guard Shining Armor didn't acknowledge his rulers words. He turns and leaves the hall his shoulders burdened with the unseen weight of the world.
xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Could this day get any worse? First I had a 14 hour work day, got two hours sleep before an explosion went off in my room, found seven creatures of alien origin in said room, and now seven hours later I'm standing in a room with multiple high ranking officers and NCOs trying to look inconspicuous while standing beside the alien creatures known as ponies. Did I mention we're now waiting for the president to video conference with? Some days it just isn't worth the hassle of waking up.
“Excuse me where is the bathroom?” The purple one asks me. It still shocked me that they spoke perfect English, but then again they seem certain that we are speaking Equestrian . She had never said so but it seemed obvious she was the defacto leader of the group with the others all deferring to her without seemingly realizing they were doing so. Case in point The yellow and pink one, I think they said her name is Fluttershy, was the one who needed to use the bathroom judging by her fidgeting, but the purple one was the one that tried to fix the problem.
“Its this way miss Sparkle. Please all of you follow me so I only have to so you once.” I had been put in charge of the ponies until their meeting with the president (god it fells weird and nerve wracking to say that!) and I had been informed rather pointedly to make them comfortable in every way possible. That in itself was rather strange cause the battalion commander had looked about ready to lock them all up after hearing they were teleported here from space unknown, but Twilight Sparkle had pretty much talked the ponies way out of danger.
After a few corridors and a couple of turns we arrived at the bathrooms. As I suspected Fluttershy immediately entered the female lavatory. This caused me wonder how four legged ponies could use a toilet (not to mention their tails) but I then decided somethings were better left unknown. Meanwhile the other ponies were studying me just as subtly as I was studying them. Which is to say not at all.
In fact the only ones that went staring at me like I was the creature from the Lagoon was the orange coated one and the blue coated one. I think their names were AppleJack and Rainbow something or other (I'm bad with names so sue me) and they were to busy having some kind of quarrel to give the scary human much attention. I couldn't hear much of their conversation so I mostly tuned them out. A few minutes of awkwardness later and Fluttershy emerged from the bathroom and joined her fellows.
“Spike you'll find the men's room around the corner so I trust everyone knows where the bathrooms are now?”
After I received seven nods of agreement we headed back to the conference room to find everyone waiting for us rather impatiently. My First Sergeant sent me a look promising painful death which I didn't understand until I turned to the monitor and found myself face to face with President Smith. I brought the ponies to their predetermined spot and made the introductions that I was told to make.
“Mr. President, my name is Specialist Samuelson and I am here today to present to you seven esteemed guests of the United States. These beings speak the language English but appear to have a different alphabet than our own. They refer to themselves as ponies and say they are from the country Equestria on the planet of Equis.
They claim a circle of magic captured them while trying to rescue Pinkie Pie. They were rendered unconscious and awoke inside my barracks room after a non incendiary explosion leaving me the de facto subject matter expert. Their names from my left to right are Twilight Sparkle with Spike on her back, Rarity, AppleJack, Rainbow Dash (I asked on the way back from the bathroom), Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy.
As you can see Mr. president the ponies are divided into the tribes.”
“Magic?! Tribes?” The president asks. I see Twilight open her mouth and hurry to intervene lest she try to lecture the president.
“It is very difficult to believe Mr. President, but the ponies with horns, called unicorns, are capable of telekinesis and a range of other abilities seemingly impossible by all known laws of physics. With no other fitting word we were left no option but to use theirs, magic. Ms. Twilight Sparkle has agreed to give you a demonstration of her abilities after the conclusion of the brief. As for the tribe issue that is the word they used to describe it Mr. President, and they became slightly upset when we tried to use the word subclass.”
“If I couldn't see them with my own eyes I..very...very well proceed specialist.”
“Yes Mr. President. The three tribes are unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies. Each tribe is characterized by the presence or lack of horns or wings. The unicorns have horns and are capable of using magic. The Pegasi have wings with which to fly, and have the ability to manipulate the weather. We have verified this claim Mr. President when Mrs. Rainbow Dash flew to the cloud layer and brought one down to within ten feet of the ground and proceeded to empty the water in that cloud on an unfortunate soldier she had heard making under breath jokes about her sexual orientation. Finally the Earth Ponies have no wings or horns, but have a natural ability for agriculture and making things grow.
It is important to note Mr. President that the ponies have informed us that Equestria is ruled by a Diarchy of two sisters. These sisters are supposedly the only known members of a fourth tribe that have both wings and horns known as alicorns. I hesitate to make this final statement Mr. President, but it was decided it must be done. The ponies inform us that Equis doesn't revolve around their sun, but rather their sun revolves around Equis. The sun is supposedly moved around Equis by the elder of the sisters Princess Celestia, and the younger sister Princess Luna moves the moon around Equis. Do you have any questions Mr. President?
“I'm not even gonna touch the sun and moon thing my head hurts already.I have just one question specialist. What are their intentions.”
Before I could stop her Twilight spoke up from behind me. “Mr. President we just want to go home. We realize this may be impossible and definitely is in the immediate time frame. Therefor we humbly ask that we be given a place to stay and food to eat. We will of course do any and all work asked of us in return.”
“Well spoken Ms. Sparkle. If you were thought to be a security risk you wouldn't be speaking to me right know so I can already lay that aside. My real concern is if you managed to wind up here on Earth than perhaps more of your kind may follow. It is possible that diplomatic and economic relations with Equis may be established one day, and as unorthodox as it may be, for the sake of that possibility I declare you, Twilight Sparkle, to be Equestria's official ambassador to the United States.
General Livengood I want these ponies in Washington within two weeks. I also want Specialist Samuelson to join them as the subject matter expert and because the ponies seem far more at ease with him than anyone else. Use your two weeks to get him ready for escort and bodyguard detail.”
“Yes Sir Mr. President.”
His affirmation received the president turned off his monitor leaving absolute silence behind him. Everyone seemed stunned at what just happened. We had expected to be meet with disbelief and scorn, and had prepared extensively to argue our case. Never had we expected such easy acceptance not to mention declaring her ambassador. Not surprisingly it was General Livengood that recovered first. He turned to me and said.
“Specialist go grab your range gear your life just became hell for the next two weeks.”
The only thing that ran through my mind was FUCK!