-changing to John’s viewpoint, five minute after-
“The V-TOL is here, let’s head out. Bring the ponies.”
“We are right here you know.”
“Well then ma’am, you’re up here with me. Doa, you’re in back.”
I walked out, Fable next to me the whole time.
What happened next, I did not expect, and neither did anyone else.
I swear I heard Aigi utter “Bastards.”
The V-TOL was not a single bird.
It was a wing.
The commander jump out of the lead V-TOL before it hit the ground and approached me.
“Good work Dol.”
“I though you said only one bird.”
“Change of plans. President wants a small base at the shore. Oh, you might like to know something: we made suits for the ponies, several dozen in fact. They let them stand up on their hind legs and it also gives them some fingers and thumb.”
“Like us?”
“Like us. Don’t worry; the testing has been done already on exact replicas, no danger.”
Fable came up to the commander, to which he responded by kneeling down.
“I’d like to try one of these suits sir.”
“You really can talk. Very well. Bring out a unicorn suit!”
I watched as a few soldier brought out what looked like a robotic unicorn on its hind legs from the V-TOL, and they set it down in front of Fable.
She inhaled deeply and carefully stepped in, sliding her horn through a small hole in the head of the suit.
It closed around her, metal coming up around the horn, and the visor became translucent, allowing us to see her face.
She was about twice as tall now, and she took a few clumsy, but stable, steps forwards, getting used to the new method of walking she had to use.
“This is…”
“New, ma’am?”
“Yes…”
I saw her fingers flex individually.
“Awesome! I want one!”
“Well then, Blitz was it? Dreams can come true.”
A suit that had wings came out and she did the same that Fable did; only sliding her wings into the appropriate slots instead.
As the suit closed, I heard what one could describe as a ‘squee’
He visor became translucent as well, and Blitz took her ‘first’ steps with somewhat better balance.
I turned to check on Fable, and found she was busy walking about, examining our equipment.
“I might want to try… if…”
I turned to see Shy, with Doa crouched down next to her.
“It’s okay, you’ll get one too.”
I turned to the commander, who was busy smoking a cigarette.
“I thought smoking was forbidden on this mission.”
“Not for me. Now let’s move out.”
“Not so fast.”
We all turned around to see a large, about our height, regal looking pony, white with a tinge of pink, large wings and a thin, long, sharp horn.
She was wearing royal looking jewelry; her mane and tail were long, free flowing despite the lack of wind, and of the colors of cyan, turquoise, azure, and purple.
She had beautiful magenta eyes.
“Celestia!”
Celestia laughed slightly.
“Fable, what are you in?”
Fable was at Celestia in an instant, almost eye level with her, hugging her around the neck.
“This suit these humans made, it gives us bipedal capabilities and fingers!”
“But at what cost?”
“Nothing!”
“She’s right ma’am, these first few dozen are free. Least we can do for making your universe an unexpected host of ambassadors of humanity.”
Fable broke from the hug and went back to examining our equipment, and the commander approached Celestia, giving her a salute.
“At ease, this is informal.”
“A lack of guards.”
“A goddess does not need protection.”
“A goddess, really?”
“This is a different universe.”
“Different rules sir.”
“Shush, Dol.”
“Your kind can set up in a much better place than the beach. There is a nearby flatland that is rarely ever used, due south. I will alert my people of you.”
“I just received orders from the President to come out of hiding, so this helps us. Than you, ma’am.”
“My pleasure. One last question, what are you planning on doing?”
“Mixing together the two species, living as one large nation.”
“There are more than one species of intelligent life here. We have Dragons, Griffons, Zebra…”
“We have zebra where we come from!”
“Not intelligent, I bet.”
“Hardly. Go on.”
“These creatures I regret making known as Diamond Dogs, Sea Serpents…”
“I think I get it now. Massive numbers of different intelligent species.”
“Correct.”
I motioned to the birds to head out to the field mentioned, and my squad followed suit.
I turned to go, and saw that Shy had just gotten her own suit, and had quickly adapted, walking beside one of our biologists, chatting about the animal life, the biologist taking notes.
“No longer scared?”
“You seem to have good intentions…”
I approached her.
“That’s because the worst we might do is spread a new disease to your kind. However, that is very unlikely, given how we decontaminated ourselves thoroughly. We are in more danger.”
I felt a blur go past me, and saw Aigi at the head of the group, his shotgun at the ready.
“If one of those Diamond Dogs arrives, BOOMSTICK!”
“At ease, I doubt they would come around here.”
“Where did I put my jeep?”
I turned my head and saw the commander looking about the boxes, then kept going.
“Hey, not so fast Aigi!”
“Blitz, get used to it.”
“Make a friend?”
“Not yet Princess.”
I laughed as Blitz tripped over her own foot.
It was then I noticed how they were walking.
Rather than swinging their arms to balance themselves, they were walking wide legged, shifting their center of gravity directly over each foot, one at a time.
I slowed down to let Fable catch up.
“You know there is a better way? Walk like us instead.”
Fable slowly adapted once I said this, and the other two did as well when they saw how she was walking.
We picked up the pace and went into a jog, leaving most of the soldiers in the dust, only the ponies and a few others could keep up.
Celestia just maintained a slightly faster walking pace, ending up beside me.
“Be careful of what your species chose, one wrong move could end both nations.”
“We all know that.”
-6 hours after-
I looked about at the now mostly set up camp, a few structures still digi-tizing, their quiet hum calming.
“Think it’s ready for us Princess?”
“If you’d like to wait another hour, go ahead. My people know of your kind now, just not what you are like, or where.”
“Well troops, time for our nation’s anthem! TUSSRAEAA*!”
*(Tuss-Ray-ah) The United Soviet States of Russia, America, Europe, Africa, and Australia.
I sat down, my back against a jeep, and close my eyes, listening.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rbSfCfa2-M&feature=related
“My… no… OUR nation’s anthem. It’s year 2142, the president has this very, very old game where this was its theme. Put two and two together.”
“It sound like you had to fight for what you have, with many hardships and battles, well fought, but worth it, and you are proud of it.”
“Yes ma’am, that’s the official story, and what really did happen, but more occurred. Most of our kind lost friends and family to not only unite us, but to hold us together. There are still three or four other nations, such as the Middle East, and most of Asia, along with most of Oceania. Australia is with us though.”
“You killed to make order?”
“Not order, peace. One must be willing to sacrifice for what they believe is right.”
“Are you going to forcefully invade Equestria if we refuse allegiance?”
“No. We will recognize your difference, and attempt to maintain relationships. We would fight however, if you attacked us.”
I enjoyed to peace and quiet after our anthem ended.
I also enjoyed the method of awakening.
Rather than a normal, slow wake up, I was awoken with a prod from a small child.
Only it wasn’t a child, as I found out when I opened my eyes.
It was a pink Earth Pony, large, puffy, pink mane and tail, and a cupcake tattoo. Her eyes had large pupils and were also pink.
“So… much… pink…”
“Why are all you humans big things of metal?”
“That’s our armor. So, who are you?”
“Seka!”
She jumped onto my helmet and held tight, even as I stood up.
“Dol.”
“Well then Dol, what are you here for? I fell asleep as the Princess was explaining!”
“Peace, trade, spread of culture, research.”
“Boring!”
“What do you have in mind?”
“A great big ‘Welcome to Equestria Humanity!’ party!”
“I think we should just blend in to your people.”
“We’re ponies.”
I slowly brought the palm of my hand to my visor.
“To humans, you’re people.”
“Have you encountered aliens before?”
“Yes, the Ensidians. Soon after there was a large war, they almost died off, we slowly bought them back. They’re large, bipedal, carnivores bugs with twelve, yellow glowing eyes, two fingers and a thumb. Major food supplies for them are horses, cattle, and during the war, humans.”
“Horse?”
“Think pony, but bigger.”
She slowly slid off my helmet.
“If you’re done terrorizing my friend with aliens…”
“…Which we are Miss Fable.”
“…then maybe we could get on with what we were going to do?”
“Perhaps soon. Tell me, what was the town’s reaction?”
“They slowly came in, one or two, sometimes as many as four at a time while you were asleep. Many grabbed some of those suits, and everyone who got one loves them.”
“Great, in that case, when every one of you GODDAMN PONIES GETS ONE WE’LL FALL TO YOUR FUCKING CUTENESS!”
I turned to see Aigi gently pinching the cheeks of Seka as she gently batted at his head.
His helmet was off.
“Aigi, what was with that outburst?”
“They are so FUCKING ADORABLE!”
He added a tossing of Seka into the sky to help add to his vulgarity, and caught her as he finished his sentence.
“Would you explain to me what he means by ‘fucking’?”
“A swear word, means many things. The act of sex, and it can be used as an adjective in many ways.”
“…um…”
“We humans have a ‘colorful’ vocabulary ma’am.”
“…”
I walked off to the town, waving a Free Roam pass as I did so.
I soon found out only a small group of soldiers and a member of the Government run newspaper were in town, besides a now slightly lower than normal amount of ponies, the ones away all at our camp.
Very few ponies were using suits, and those that were had an aide with them as they learned.
I tapped the side of my helm, making my visor become completely transparent.
This seemed to calm the locals a bit more, now that they could see my face.
I had dealt with Xenophobia before, when I encountered my first Ensidian colony.
They were frightened, cowering in fear.
That I could stand.
These ponies had another reaction though, one that scared me.
They either ignored you, or worse.
Tried to make friends with you.
I had managed to avoid most of the ponies in my attempt to get to my goal.
A center of learning.
The town’s library.
-switching to Aigi’s view-
“Blitz, that’s awesome! Hit me with another!”
I had taken off my armor and most of my clothes, leaving on only my Skin Mesh Weave: my replacement for most of my skin, and boxers.
Blitz’s suit was nearby.
I cringed as another cloud hit the ground beneath me, exploding into water droplets.
“How can you do that?”
“All Pegasi can.”
“I still don’t understand how.”
I bought my arms up and looked to the sky, slowly turning.
“The great airs are your playground; there is little that can conquer you. We need machines for that, you just do it.”
“But your machines are unlike any I’ve seen!”
I laughed as she landed on my back, her front hooves going over my shoulders, her wings wrapped around me.
“So, where are you from?”
“You mean region, like city?”
“Yeah.”
“Manhattan.”
“Manhattan? That sounds like Manehattan.”
“What? Seriously? Let me guess, you are not from there?”
“I’m from Cloudsdale.”
“That could be similar to I dunno where. Watchout!”
“Wait what?”
I twirled about and made us both land in the lake next to us.
“HEY!”
When I brought my head above the surface of the water, I could swear that Blitz was blushing slightly.
“You blush?”
“What?”
“You blushing?”
“No!”
“Sudden denial is great evidence for.”
“Fuck that you bastard!”
I wasn’t prepared for her to dunk my head under the water.
When I did surface, I couldn’t see her anywhere.
Or my armor.
Or her suit.
Or my weapons.
“THE BITCH STOLE MY STUFF!”
I quickly made my way to shore and ran, following the slightly wet trail that was obviously from Blitz’s escape attempt.
Fortunatly, I was built for running in the overcrowded Manhattan district, quickly overtaking her, mostly because she was weighted down by my stuff.
“GET BACK HERE!”
“NO!”
“WHY NOT?”
“BECAUSE I DON’T FEEL LIKE IT!”
I leapt, and tackled her out of the sky, tumbled, and ended up pinning her down, my stuff landing a short distance away.
“How about now?”
Her helmet opened up and revealed her head to me, fully.
“Shut up.”
I felt her forelegs break free of my grasp and grab the back of my head, then force my lips to hers.
-switching to Doe’s view-
“Gagh, cross species romance. Well, at least they aren’t effing each other up.”
I was spying on the two.
Given their odd behavior together, I decided to check it out.
What I found hadn’t surprised me.
They were both reckless, somewhat violent.
Wild.
Why wouldn’t they take the chance and go at it?
Given the fact that only pegasi can stand on clouds, I had to believe they would find somewhere else to profess love.
I was wrong.
If I had wings, I would have had what the locals call a ‘wingboner’
But I don’t, so I didn’t.
I instead continued to watch.
They continued their kiss.
-swap to Aigi-
This was the best kiss I ever had.
Even better than the one that this cute Japanese girl gave me in my senior year of college.
I still do daresay that this one was better than the first time I scored a kill.
Maybe even better than when I locked vision with her for the first time.
I had my lips locked to her, both our eyes closed; in a tight hug in which both of us would need to give consent to get out of.
I didn’t want out, but Blitz did, so I let go and slowly drew my head back.
“That was…”
She eyed me somewhat seductively.
“Unexpected?”
“Great…”
I rolled off her and stared at the sky.
“It’s beautiful. Almost like you.”
“Don’t try to flatter me.”
I laughed gently.
“Alright, fine.”
She stood up slowly.
“You might want to get going, it’s almost night.”
“What’s so bad about night?”
“It’s not just the time, it’s the place. Near the Everfree Forest, it gets dangerous at night.”
She took off and flew over to her cloud home, and I stood up, got in my armor, got my stuff, and went back to base.
-Doe swap-
I was at base by the time Aigi arrived.
I wasn’t about to tell anyone his little secret.
Yet.
I retired to the mess hall, and found that a few ponies were there too.
Apparently, with the consent of the Princess, they joined our military, primarily to learn to protect themselves, and to manufacture and use guns.
They were all in suits, and had learned how to control their visors and make them rise.
A few were Pegasi, one or two were Unicorns, but the vast majority were Earth Ponies.
Most were complaining about the mush that we were giving them, until I explained that until we can scavenge or otherwise acquire supplies, the mush is the best we can work with.
I also told them that it strengthens them, which was not a lie.
This caused most to ask for seconds, to which almost everyone else laughed.
After I had my mush, and vomited gel put in it as a joke, I took some of the Earth Ponies to the side and brought them to the target range.
I gave them some BB guns to see how they did, and I did not expect them to be good shots.
The commander came by, and silently recommended I give each of them an unloaded pistol.
-John’s swap-
I had arrived at the front door of the library at the same time as Fable.
Rather than magic the door open, she used its handle with her new hands.
“You like the suit?”
“A lot. You hungry?”
“Very.”
“The come in, I’ll make some ramen.”
“Ramen… I haven’t had that in two years…”
I looked at the shelves as she cooked, checking for books on weaponry.
They had none, as I soon found out from a simple check.
“Nothing on weapons?”
“Sticks, stones, knives, spears, that’s all we have.”
“Then say hello to guns, high explosives, and lasers.”
I checked for books on the government.
This allowed me to find out it really was run like a monarchy, but with two leaders.
“Do the people have a say?”
“Both Luna and Celestia take into consideration their subjects wants and needs before deciding. If they cannot agree, then they call a vote.”
I then looked out the window and saw the night was rising, over taking to land given by the sun.
Most ponies were off the streets, and the other humans in town were leaving.
There was a knock on the door, and I watched a Pegasus mare fly away before I could get a good look.
I checked what was there.
The Equestria Daily Newpaper.
I grabbed it and brought it inside.
“Mythology Turned Real: Human Contact, Military Force Encountered. Find out more on page A5.”
“I hope it’s unbiased. They usually are, but sometimes they have a bad writer and a bad editor.”
I turned to A5 and took it over to Fable, then set it on the table.
“The Ramen is just about done; I can let it sit for a minute or two to cool down. Let’s see what they have to say…”
She magic’d the paper into the air and began reading.
“They said they came in peace, yet they performed kidnapping on three innocent ponies. These ponies later forgave, and they were pardoned by the Princesses themselves. They brought with them technology and weapons, ideas, new possibilities. They traveled from their universe to ours, all to meet us.”
“True that.”
Fable gave me an annoyed glance before going back to the paper.
“They gave away several dozen suits, perfectly built for our kind, granting us hands and bipedal capabilities. Many ponies have begun to love their species, some have spoken out. No conflicts have arisen however. A full report shall be made in one week Equestrian Time, for you humans who may be reading.”
I chuckled slightly.
“I detect no bias.”
“Same.”
She got us both ramen, I enjoyed it, thanked her, and left.
I slowly walked back to the camp.
-Doa swap time-
I was enjoying my R&R like no other R&R I ever had.
I had just read a copy of the Equestria Daily, drank a cup of coffee, and enjoyed watching some recruit ponies duke it out in our unarmed arena over a minor dispute.
Far better than a massage, at only $2.99 as well.
I watched as the ponies were split up according to their skills, and sent to bunk rooms that way.
Pretty soon it was just me, some night guard, and a few soldiers who were practicing their hand-to-hand in the unarmed arena.
All in all, I had a pretty good break, and I was ready to turn in for the night.