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// First Impressions Are Important 
// Story: Operation: Ponies 
// by Sammy LeDerp 
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	The following morning was a wonderful one. The grasslands of Equestria were growing wild as the sun beat down and warmed them. There wasn’t a single cloud in the sky. Through these fields, train tracks were placed, helping lead the familiar pink train of the land to its next destination. Upon this train, in a private car, the Gundam ponies sat conversing with themselves. They had been on the train for an hour already after leaving the station from Canterlot. Each individual had their own black pony satchel Princess Celestia had given them, along with enough Bits for a week and food for the day.

While four of the pilots sat on one side of the car talking, Quatre was opposite to them doing his own business. He was lying down on the train bench with his legs folded underneath his body. Resting on the bench in front of him was a small black book which he was reading, flipping the pages with the blue magic emitting from his horn.

Suddenly, the speakers on the train crackled.

“Ponyville! Our next stop is Ponyville!”

The four jabbering pilots were silenced by the announcement, as the speakers crackled again to end the transmission.

“Ponyville is right around the corner,” said Trowa. He turned his head to face the window behind him, gazing at the scenery of the hills. “I wonder what the town will be like?”

“It’s probably nothing but smiles and rainbows.” replied Wufei. “I wouldn’t be too concerned about the town. This is only a temporary situation in this world.”

“We should try not to stand out as much as possible.” said Heero. He moved his satchel so that it was in front of him, and pulled out a piece of paper from inside. “Here is the deed to the house Princess Celestia has given us. Our first objective is to locate our lodgings.”

“Speaking of the princesses, I think Princess Luna has a thing for me.” said Duo, leaning his head into Heero’s personal space, as they were sitting next to each other.

Wufei, Trowa, and Heero turned their attention from their serious conversation to the black pegasus. Duo leaped off the bench and began strutting around with a big smirk on his face.

“We had some alone time talking last night, and I think she was totally digging me." Duo continued, flapping his wings in pride. 

He walked right passed Quatre, swishing his tail, which hit Quatre’s nose, causing him to wrinkle it. Once he reached the end of the car, he spun himself in the air with his wings and landed dramatically so that he could face his fellow ponies.

“Can you not see it? The God of Death and the Princess of the Night!” Duo exclaimed. His smirk quickly left his face and was replaced with a look of fear in his eye. “Oh my God, what the hell am I saying?! She’s a pony!”

To that, he began repeatedly banging his on the wooden train floor. As the audience of three watched, Quatre was the only concerned one to break out of his trance and say something.

“Duo, it’s ok!” he said. “Please, stop before you hurt yourself!”

Duo rolled himself on to his back, wings spread out. “I have so many issues right now…”

“Quatre, since Duo had mentioned private time with one of the princesses, didn’t you have some time alone with Princess Celestia last night?” asked Trowa, drawing everyone’s attention away from the weeping pony on the floor.

Quatre at first stared blankly at the question. Then he put on a smile and nodded. The book he was reading was then completely highlighted with his magic, as he lifted it up into the air.

“Yes, that’s right! She gave me this book!” he answered. The book went back on to the bench and he flipped another page. “Princess Celestia had given me this book of spells. She said that since I can use magic, it would be best for me to start learning how to use it, so that I’m able to perform certain tasks like the unicorns.”

The answered seemed sufficient to the other pilots, as all three nodded in unison. They then continued to discuss the things that should be taken care of upon arrival to Ponyville. Quatre looked away from his friends as his magic book was lifted again and brought closer to his face. It was to hide the fact that he was riddled with concern, and he knew he was showing it; with his ears flattened and his mouth quivering, it was obvious. He didn’t want to tell them the other part of the conversation that he had with Princess Celestia.


“Quatre, if anything were to happen, there is a certain white magic spell in this book that can be used for attacking. I want you to study it and learn it. And Quatre, please remember…there is nothing more important in life than the bonds of cooperation and friendship within your group.”


Reflecting on the conversation now, he still wasn’t sure what Princess Celestia had meant. All he knew was that there was always friction between the Gundam pilots, even when they were working together. Sometimes going solo in battle without listening to what anyone else had to say was more important to certain ones than anything else. If the bonds of their friendship were going to have some sort of factor in their mission, Quatre was sure that there was going to be trouble.
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The train finally reached its destination: Ponyville. As it came to a screeching halt, Quatre quickly put his book back into his satchel. The Gundam ponies lined up at the door and flitted right out into the open air, avoiding the gap, and landing on the platform. Many different kinds of ponies were in the surrounding area doing a variety of activities; boarding the train, leaving the train, buying tickets at the booth, or just standing around chatting. There was a broad dirt path behind the station that led to the actual town.

Quatre chuckled with excitement and flew up into the air. He instantly took the lead to the path as his friends just watched him. He hovered in the air and turned to look at them.

“Come on, guys, Ponyville’s this way!” he said. “I’ll race you guys to the first set of buildings down there!”

As no one else seemed to want to take that challenge, Duo flew up into the air next to Quatre. “You’re on, blondie!”

The two of them darted through the air at great speed, kicking up debris that was on the ground. The other three pilots didn’t seem to really care about racing, and so trotted down the path in their wake. It didn’t take long for Duo and Quatre to reach the first shops on the border of Ponyville. In the end, they both tied, gasping for breath. Other pegasi that flew around them gave them strange looks, as they wiped sweat off their faces. To any other pegasus, the distance between the station and the border of town was nothing. However, the pilots were still getting accustomed to their bodies, and flying with wings was a very new thing to them.

The town below them was bustling with activity. From the town hall to the library, to the bakery shop and markets, ponies were actively being one with their community. Laughing was all that could be heard from the sky above.

“Well, that was a great race!” said Quatre, once he finally caught his breath.

“Sucks that we tied though,” said Duo.

“Hey! Will you guys come down from there?”

Quatre and Duo looked down to see that Heero was calling for them directly below. The small group on the ground gave space as the racers dropped to earth.

“We agreed to try and not draw attention to ourselves.” said Heero.

Duo shook his head. “I agreed to no such thing! If I’m going to be stuck being a pony for who knows how long, I might as well try to like it!”

“Well, we’re agreeing to it now.” said Heero.

Duo sighed and shook his head. Quatre looked down at the ground, feeling guilty for initiating the race. The group continued their walk into the town, glancing at the inhabitants and the buildings. Even though Heero had thought they were just grabbing everyone’s eyes, no one actually seemed to notice them at all. They had quickly adapted to the easy-going pace of the ponies in the area.

“Anyway, the deed says that it’s a large two-story house located around town hall.” said Heero. He examined a few of the houses that they were passing. “I suppose we just look for a house with a for-sale sign. Looks like all of these homes have two floors. It might be a common theme.”

As they continued on their trek to town hall, Duo had slowed his pace down to the back of the gang, as he mumbled about Heero being a “lousy good-for-nothing.” A chill went down his back and his ears perked up. Stopping in his tracks, he glanced over his shoulder. Nothing was too out of the ordinary, except for ponies selling apples and other fruits in carts. However, battle combat told him that he was being followed. He looked back up at the group and noticed that Heero was paying particular attention to him as he continued to lead the way. Heero then turned his head forward to see where he was going.

“He feels it too,” mumbled Duo, cautiously looking around. “But why isn’t he doing anything?” Duo nervously laughed to himself. “Maybe he’s offering me as a sacrifice?”

With that, he picked up speed to catch up to the gang. Eventually they were able to find town hall and all of its beauty. It was a three-leveled, dazzling tower with the colors yellow, pink, and brown. To them, it almost resembled a cupcake.  Fountains with pony statues were implanted on its grounds, and flagpoles decorated the area. Out of nowhere, Trowa pointed to one of the homes that stood out in the fore-front.

“That’s the only for-sale house around here,” he said. “It must be ours.”

As the pilots walked up to the house, the feeling of being watched had finally passed Duo’s body. He shook it off with great relief as the ponies stopped in front of their new house. It was most definitely a two-story house, with its wooden walls and thatched roof. There was a small balcony on the second floor. A stone fireplace was seen peeking out from the roof. It resembled the homes that had been depicted in more colonial times, before mobile suits were ever invented. A brown porch with stairs led up to the finely painted red door.

Wufei walked up to the for-sale sign and gave it a good kick. He sent the sign flying, broken in half. Both pieces landed in a nearby fountain. A few ponies in the nearby area stopped to stare at them.

Duo walked up to Quatre and nudged him in the side. “You think he took his aggravation out on the sign or what?”

The white alicorn gave off a nervous smile. To avoid the staring, the pilots quickly entered their new home. The home wasn’t furnished at all. As the ponies took off their satchels and left them in the large living room, they explored their new home. There were no beds, no couches---not even a tub to bathe in. Even though the home was bare, it was still quite large and would easily be filled up. Besides the living room, there was a room where it could be perfectly turned into a kitchen, a washroom on the first floor, along with three bedrooms there and two more on the second floor. Only one of the rooms upstairs led to the balcony. The walls were painted a faint yellow and the entire house smelled of flowers.

After the inspection of the house was done, the ponies congregated to the fireplace that was jutting out of the wall. Duo propped his head against it with Heero by his side. The others stood right by the fireplace’s opening.

“I think what we should do now is get some furniture,” said Trowa. “At least beds for tonight, if possible. We have enough money to do that, and Princess Celestia will be sending us care packages with food and Bits weekly.”

Wufei scuffed at the floor. “You’d think royalty would have this place set up for us, considering what we’re doing for them.”

“Yes, that’s a great idea!” shouted Quatre with glee. “We’ll decorate this place up right so that it looks like we’re just normal ponies! We’ll get some paintings, and vases, and…”

As Quatre went on and on with his list of future purchases, Duo had gotten the same feeling from before again. His eyes widened and he looked all over the room. Suddenly, pieces of soot crumbled from within the fireplace, and a large object fell down. It kicked up dust and a large cloud of soot, causing everyone to cough and back away. Out of the cloud of blackness popped out a pink pony, with cotton candy-like pink hair and balloons for her cutie mark. She had on the biggest smile ever. She got on her hind legs, took in a great breath and started to bellow.

“Wel—“

It didn’t take long for this surprise pony to be surprised herself, as Heero pinned her body to the floor within two seconds. Right before he lifted a hoof up to send a pummeling blow to this pony’s face, Quatre levitated Heero into the air. The green pegasus was now nothing but a helpless lump of hate, glaring at the pink pony and at Quatre.

“Heero, don’t hurt her!” ordered Quatre. “That’s just Pinkie Pie!”

The Element of Laughter, un-phased, hopped on to her legs and started bouncing around the entire floor. Duo, Trowa, and Wufei huddled into a tight pack in the middle of the room as Pinkie Pie started encircling them with her bouncing.

“Oh boy, how do you know my name? Did somepony tell you? How do you know anypony here? Because you’re new! And I know you’re new, because I saw you all walking around in town, and I was like ‘Wow, these ponies are new!’ only because I’ve never seen you before, so I followed you guys to your house and decided to surprise you!”

“That was probably not in your best decision considering we have Heero.” mumbled Trowa, making Duo snicker.

Quatre decided to put Heero back down. As soon as his hooves touched the floor and the magic went away, Pinkie Pie bopped her way up to Heero. She ‘oohed’ at the cutie mark on his hip, sticking her face right into it.

“I like it!” shouted Pinkie Pie. She perked her head up at Heero. “What kind of cutie mark is it?”

“It’s a gun.” Heero simply answered.

“A gun? What does a gun do?”

“It’s something I’m going to use to blow your brains out if you don’t leave right now.”

Trowa walked up to Pinkie Pie, who had cocked her side to the side, staring at Heero.

“Maybe it’s best if I show you to the door.” he said.

“Okie-dokie-lokie!” giggled Pinkie Pie.

With that, Trowa calmly walked out the door first, as Pinkie Pie followed, still hopping. Within a few seconds, Trowa ran right back in and closed it shut. All of a sudden, there was a knocking to door. Before Trowa could do anything, Heero had smoothly run up and pushed him out of the way. With his one obstacle gone, Heero answered the door to find Pinkie Pie sitting right outside, holding a tray filled with dozens of chocolate cupcakes with rainbow sprinkles.

“How did you get back here so quickly with those?” asked Heero.

Pinkie Pie completely ignored his question. She jutted out her arms so that the cupcakes would be right in Heero’s face.

“Since you guys don’t want to hang out right now, I thought I would still bake you cupcakes!” she squealed. “I work at Sugarcube Corner! It’s the greatest bakery ever!”

“I’ll kill you.”

Duo popped his head in between the tension arousing and sniffed at the cupcakes. “These smell great! Thanks a lot!”

He grabbed the tray with his mouth and quickly backed up inside. Heero slammed the door on Pinkie Pie’s face as she started to say something else. Bringing the tray back to the fireplace area, Duo picked up a cupcake with his hooves and chomped right into it. Quatre walked over to the fireplace and used his magic to start getting rid of the gunk that was now all over the floor. Trowa and Wufei just looked at each other, shaking their heads. As Heero stood at the door, boiling with rage, Duo sat on his rump, laughing with his mouthful of food.