//------------------------------// // Preparing // Story: Survival of The Free World // by BiasedAmerican //------------------------------// Rainbow-Dash was starting to get curious about the Memorial and asked Twilight, "Should we follow Princess Luna? I'm itching to see how they're going to do it. And besides, we're going to Canterlot anyways for the Memorial." Twilight was surprised that Rainbow-Dash was becoming interested, "Uhhh.... Sure? I guess we're heading to Canterlot since we're supposed to watch over the preparations to see if they needed any help." Twilight then remembered something and made a surprised face as she did, "Well then, we better catch the train before we leave!" She ran to make Spike tell everyone to get onto the train before it leaves. Meanwhile, Dr. Schmidt has been gathering the reports of the underground cave that the staff had been studying since the wedding incident. As he was getting back to the Huey stationed outside of the outpost, his radio bursts with a static voice. "Doctor, we need you to plan where the memorial will be. Your pilot has been briefed while you were in the outpost." A voice with a layer of static said from Schmidt's radio. Dr. Schmidt replied with a German accent as he acknowledged his orders. "Understood. I do have one question though, who stole my sandwich from the fridge?" He asked. A voice came from the radio, "Uhmmmmm... see you later Senorita!" it yelled and no further communication was no longer available for the time being. Dr. Schmidt hurried through the different labs and samples to reach the awaiting Huey. As he got in, the Huey lifted off and was in a direct course for Canterlot. He put on a headset to listen to the intercoms on the Huey. A few minutes later, he saw 2 other Hueys start to follow him and he heard on the intercom. "Doc, this is Viper 2. We're here to escort you and now apparently your colleague to Canterlot to prepare for the Memorial." Schmidt replied with, "Understood Marine, now, lets get to Canterlot without any incidents this time." He said in a sarcastic voice. "And what do you mean by my colleague?" He asked. "Look to your right doc." The Pilot replied. As he looked through the glass, he saw a unmistakable figure of Princess Luna and he immediately knew who his 'colleague' was. Schmidt noticed something from her pace, he thought to himself, 'Something is stressing her out, probably internal affairs with the kingdom.' He then started to map out the preparations. Meanwhile in the train... The Mane 6 were on the train and caught the train on time. But a few minutes later, spike asks, "Twilight? What's a human?" Everyone gasped as they were confused on how Spike didn't know what a Human was. They all yelled in unison, "WHAT!?" Spike was spooked on what was happening, and so he asked. "What? I didn't do anything wrong? Did I?" They all took turns in talking to him after they finish their sentences. "The loud noises in the air?" "The Wedding?" "The creatures who can bring down Equestria?!" They all exclaimed to him. He was shaking after he heard them speak, "They can take down E-equestria?!" He yelled. "Why haven't I heard of them? If they're this powerful, why haven't we defeated them before?!" He yelled again and again. Twilight tried to calm him down by saying, "They were just discovered recently, they wanted to keep themselves a secret. They protected us many times, including the wedding incident." Spike was peaking in curiosity, "So they saved you guys? Then why do they have the power to destroy Equestria? Are they powerful than Celestia herself?!" He yelled. "From what it looks like so far, yes." Twilight said in a depressing tone. As the train headed towards Canterlot, they heard distant but mistakable explosions. "Speaking of which, that might be them testing one of their many weapons. And Spike, if you're curious, they lost their world to a war. And led them here, to our world. And I do not suggest that we not offend or insult them. Is that understood Spike? I don't want to cause a war." Twilight said in a shaky and worried voice. "Well geez, I couldn't imagine what a war between us and the Humans are then." A closer and a louder explosion was heard, shaking everyone's calm. The Mane 6 already knew some of Human weaponry and remembered that they have a lot of explosive equipment. Twilight looked outside the window and saw explosions coming out of nowhere and immediately knew it was the Humans. She pulled out a pair of binoculars and looked intensely into them to try and find the Humans. "What do you see, Twilight?" Apple Jack asked. "Nothing... nothing.. nothing..." Twilight replied. "Found something!" She then yelled. "What is it?" Rarity asked in a worried voice. "It's their tank! Multiple of them! It's one of their newer tanks!" Twilight screamed. "Are they firing at us?!" Rarity cried. "No, it seems like they're practicing! I guess we're safe. I guess they didn't know that there was a train near their practicing fields." Twilight added. Meanwhile at Fort Liberty... A Abrams platoon has been practicing with their new tanks and are surprised about the upgrades they have compared to the older M60 models. The tank crew's radios blew out, "Is- is that a train?! Hold your fire! They have a train!" The tank platoon leader yelled over the intercom. One of the gunners yelled, "Shit, they have a train? We really need more intel on them." The Tank platoon halted their firepower that Equestria couldn't match. (U.S. Tank Platoon firing.) Canterlot a few minutes after... "Doc, we'll be landing in 30 seconds. We're seeing a big opening that I suggest would be the main area for the memorial. It can fit multiple divisions! This place is huge!" The pilot yelled on the intercom. "Then I guess I'll get to work, I need 2 Marine Squads to follow me, we don't know what to expect anymore." Schmidt added. The Huey landed and Schmidt opened the door, an exhausted Luna rushed over to meet Schmidt to ask, "W-what's happening? Why are you here? Are you here to attack us?!" She yelled frantically. Schmidt was confused and figured out what she was worrying about. " Oh, Princess Luna.... we're just planning the Memorial. Nothing to worry about, and besides, we thought you guys would attack us first." He said in a casual tone. Luna sighed in relief as all her stress began to fade away. "So nothings wrong?" She asked. "Do you happen to know any large spaces around this area connecting to that road?" He pointed to a dirr road that hasn't been used in ages. But the dirt road led to Fort Liberty, it gave Luna a general direction and she began speculating on where it led to. "Oh, why yes, follow me. I'll show you the largest open areas you can use." She replied after getting lost in her thoughts. As a few hours passed, Dr. Schmidt was finishing up on the planning for the humans but gave Luna the authority to do whatever with the remaining spaces that isn't being used by humans. They were in the middle of a large opening with what seems to be a town square, with marbled tiles covering the ground and medieval like buildings covering a long pathway, big enough for several columns of tanks to fit through. Dr. Schmidt looked at Luna as she was thinking, he noticed her cutie mark and became curious on what it meant. So he spoke, "Uhm, Princess? What does that symbol represent?" Luna became confused and looked around, she then noticed what he was staring at. "Oh, my cutie mark. It symbolizes what we our special talents are. Mine is the moon, hence my name and my responsibility of raising and making the moon descend. Making way for Celestia to rise the sun." She explained. Dr. Schmidt was surprised at the explanation about cutie marks. He began thinking if the ponies were making this up to give her and her sister power over the kingdom or they just don't know about their solar system. But they're in another world or dimension, so he thought of this being true at some extent. Luna became curious about Humans, so she asked Schmidt, "Doctor, do you humans have cutie marks yourselves?" She asked in a shy tone. Dr. Schmidt was very confused and tried to hold back a chuckle. "No no, my princess. Us humans don't have cutie marks, if we did, then it would change history of our species. And besides, the only thing we have similar to your world's inhabitants is a pony that doesn't speak, and isn't that intelligent. It's usually a farm animal from our world, so you can see our surprise." He explained. Luna was in shock about what the human world was like and their version of them. She then heard more helicopters arriving. It was the Marine Squads that Dr. Schmidt had requested. As the CH-53 Sea Stallion's sounds of its helicopter blades became closer and louder, it finally landed. The door behind it's frame lowered, a muffled but loud yell was heard. "Move your asses marines!" The Sergeant yelled as he put his rifle at bay. After his yell, a formation of 2 columns of 20 Marines in a green camoflauge holding M16's run in the opening and getting into a shoulder-to-shoulder formation on the left side of Dr. Schmidt. As the Sergeant got in front of the formation, he put his rifle on his back, and yelled. "Sir, 2nd Marine Division awaiting your orders, Doctor!" The Sergeant yelled. Luna was surprised that they are so stiff and loyal to their commander, even though he isn't part of their branch. She began getting ideas for the Royal Guard. "Sergeant, move your troops into defensive positions around this area and scout the area for any threats." Schmidt ordered while raising his voice in a German accent. After his order, the Sergeant ordered his squad leaders to certain positions and showed the chokepoints for any attackers. As the German scientist studied and explored more of Canterlot while marking strategic positions for the city. He took advantage of the powers he was given to map out the entire city. Meanwhile at the train station..... Everyone was scared and still shocked from the encounter they had with the Human tanks during their train ride. As they all got down their trains, they all hears the unmistakable sounds of helicopter propellers. At this point, spike only hears of rumors that Humanity exists, but after this train ride, he fully believed and feared Humans. As a CH-53 flies over them, spike asks Twilight, "Um... Twilight? Is that Human?" Twilight looked up in the sky, "Yes Spike, it is human. Last time I saw it, it carried a very important person to the humans." Twilight replied. Rarity jumped out of the train and yelled, "So they're not attacking us?!" She panicked. "No, they aren't." AppleJack answered. Rarity and the rest sighed a breath of relief. "Maybe we should help them plan!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed. Everyone shrugged because they didn't know what to do. Pinkie Pie ran, following the Human vehicle in the sky to see where it leads. As the Lance Corporal got up from resting in the corner of an empty wooden house, he loaded his weapon as the Machine gunner signaled that it was his turn to provide overwatch on the rotation schedule they have to watch over Dr. Schmidt. As his clumped up equipment was moved to a comfortable position, he aimed his M16 through a window with 4 square holes. The Lance corporal saw a colorful group, and what seemed to be a moving rainbow running towards Dr. Schmidt. He moved his goggles from his face and stuck it on his helmet. He turned on his radio on his shoulder and notified the personnel in the area, "Be advised, fast moving natives towards the doctor, permission to fire warning shots?" Schmidt look behind him and saw the diplomats, he ordered on his comms. A German voice exploded from the Lance corporal's radio, "Stand down, those are the diplomats! Hold your fire." "He's over there!" Pinkie Pie yelled. Twilight saw the white cloak of the Scientist, and thought to herself, 'Its just him, didn't he bring their Marines to protect him?' As their running came to a halt, they saw princess Luna standing near the Human scientist. "Princess Luna, do you need any help from us?" Twilight asked. Luna looked at the group and replied, "Its not me you need to help." Twilight looked at Schmidt, and awaited his response. Dr. Schmidt had a confused face as he was holding his checkbook and leaned towards Luna and asked, "What exactly do they do?" Luna stared at the group and leaned back to Schmidt, and whispered, "They usually fix friendships, and fix problems." She replied. Schmidt was still confused and told the group, "Do whatever you guys do, we're all pretty set for now, but we'll call you when needed." He told them. Twilight was still feeling that all of Equestria was still in a massive debt after changing the fate of Equestria. She kept thinking that Equestria, and even herself owes them anything they can offer for saving them. She looked to her group of friends and said, " The least we could do is throw them a welcome party, right?" Pinkie Pie was excited as she hasn't been able to find a reason to throw a party. She was so excited that she flung into the air at supersonic speeds. Meanwhile in recently moved NORAD building... "The fuck?!" The commander yelled, "I THOUGHT THERE WEREN'T ANY NUKES THOSE PONIES HAD!" Back in Canterlot.... A voice blasted through the radios, "Possible nuclear attack, origin, native capital. All units, stay at ready." Schmidt got on his radio and told NORAD, "It's our diplomat, she uhh.... Jumped into the air. If you ask me, I don't really know either." A minute later, NORAD declared a false alarm at the same time the Australian prime minister shat himself in a rations building, "all I saw was a fucking mutant spider covered in shit." A witness said about the situation. As an hour passed, Pinkie Pie finished getting the party ready. It was an open open field with decorations set up with tables holding cakes. Schmidt and the Marines had a surprisingly good and chilling time, considering what happened a month before. Schmidt rose up on a table and gathered everyone's attention, he made a speech. "History has proven us that Humanity will surpass any event that may make us extinct. But as humans, we are unpredictable, the soviets never thought that we'd be hanging out with magical ponies. And for what is to come next, we will prevail after what hits us." It was silent after his speech. "And we'll blame nuclear war on the soviets!" Schmidt added. "OORAH" The Marines cheered. "Americans...." Schmidt muttered to himself.