//------------------------------//
// Chapter 14: Still Making History 
// Story: No Better Friend, No Worse Enemy 
// by Green Hills 
//------------------------------//

	A large open field sways with the wind as Celestia’s sun rises on another hot summer day. Its rays gently paint the field of bright green grass in a golden color. The morning dew now subsides and vanishes as the temperature rises quickly, and the day critters start their usual routine. Large, puffy cumulus clouds partially block the sun now hanging a foot above the horizon from one’s point of view, making the rays shine through every crack of the condensed vaporized water in a breathtaking fashion. 

Through the rolling green hills and the slowly awakening forest, a railroad track cuts through the terrains. Not too far away, there is a station labeled MEADOWLAND. A mail-pony struts through the dirt road, with a cart full of today’s newspapers towards the empty station, and stops just at the entrance door. Humming to a song, he levitates a stack of newspapers with his muzzle from the cart to the newspaper stand without a struggle, and drops them in the box. Pleased with his talent, the stallion hooks himself back up to the cart, and carries on down the dirt road while whistling.

A minute later, another pony, dressed up with a light purple hooded cloak and dragging a poorly fixed yellow carriage, walks up to the stand and takes out the first paper. The first thing the pony sees is the head title. PEACE AGREEMENT BETWEEN EQUESTRIA AND NEW INTELLIGENT SPECIES.
“Hmm, now that’s interesting,” the pony, a mare, says while scanning at the main photo of Princess Celestia and a bipedal creature at a stand in front of the Canterlot Castle, to her belief, might be the intelligent species. The mare begins reading the article on the next page.



On August 28th, the Royal Sisters made an announcement in Canterlot regarding the fallen objects in Canterlot and Ponyville, and the unknown ship-like structures docked in Manehattan harbor, along with an unexpected guest by the princesses’ side.
During her speech on that day, Princess Celestia announced of a peace agreement between Equestria, and a new intelligent race called ‘Humans’. And stepping up to the podium, was one of them that put all ponies in town to shock. One of the humans, named Commander Gaines, claimed the fallen objects and ‘ships’, as he called it, belonged to property of his country, called United States. Commander Gaines also explained more about his race, saying they do not use magic. No further information was given to the reporters.
Despite the speech, many ponies still have suspicion over the new race, as of a day prior, one of the humans and a Royal Guard engaged in a violent wrestle during the royal conference. Princess Celestia later explained to the witnesses that one of her guards provoked and attacked the humans first, before returning to the negotiations.
The Royal Sisters made an announcement before concluding their speech; they will be visiting Ponyville on behalf with the humans, to repossess one of their lost objects (which fell from the sky unknowingly six days prior) on Saturday, August 30th. They also will give out more information of the new species on that day, after having the humans’ consent.



The mare stops almost three-fourths down the article, which took up half of the paper. She looks at the four black and white pictures back on the top, each with a number at the corner, and a description below before the report starts. The first shows a line of the humans, possibly ten or more, each looking bulky with a dozen tiny pockets and pouches.



(1) A line of humans, who claimed are marines (soldiers), lined up while Princess Celestia gives her speech in Canterlot.



The next photo shows Princess Celestia on the podium giving her speech. Standing behind, is her sister Luna, and a human.



(2) Princess Celestia (center) gives her speech, with Princess Luna (BG right) and human Commander Gaines (BG far right).



The third depicts of what appears to be a large winged beast, but doesn’t resemble anything related to a dragon or any other large creature the mare has seen. Its wings are straight with two large double-merged irregular tubes at each end of the wing, and what appear to be three long thin rectangular sticks extending perpendicular to the merged tubes atop. Baffled by it, the mare reads the description.



(3) One of the two contraptions the humans (marines) briefly explained is used for transportation.



The mare shrugs at the short and boring explanation, and moves to the final picture, which reveals four humans standing between Princess Celestia and Princess Luna holding a signed treaty.



(4) Left to right: Princess Celestia, humans Commander Gaines, Commander Harbort, Commander Ketcher, Commander Cullens, & Princess Luna with the signed peace treaty.



The mare ponders at the exotic names in the last description, before looking back at the new species in the photo, the humans, standing almost as tall as the princesses. She smiles through her hidden face under the hood.
“Looks like I’ll be visiting Ponyville again. Except this time, Twilight will not be on my list.”


LCpl. Kevin Brooke
2nd Battalion 1st Marines
Ponyville, August 30th Day 8 14:42:08 PM




There have been many days where I count that is excruciating hot, especially during my combat training in Camp Pendleton. A day like right now is one of them. The sweat never stops from running down my face, stinging my eyes and soaking the uniform to where it sticks to the skin. I remember being in a situation like this before, at my high school graduation in New York City. We would sit there for God-knows how long, listening to the principals and faculties make their speeches about how we all came so far and how we will succeed in the future, while the heat and air pollution bears us down like weights.

I try to remember how it all ended up to this. It was supposed to be simple mission, according to my memories. Get in, trade the four Royal Guards for Michaels, and get out. It never mentioned of having a detour by making peace agreements and making speeches in two different towns. Frustrating as it is, though I admit, it was necessary for our commanders to be present, not to mention we need these ponies to help how we got in this world and how do we get out.

I groan internally, blinking my eyes to block the sweat from entering, listening to Princess Celestia standing a couple meters in front giving her speech to the residents of this town called Ponyville. I’ve been in this town before; the only thing is I was hiding in a sack while on a search and rescue mission at least four days ago. I turn back to the crowd; all of the ponies are in different sizes, colors, but pretty much have the same features and expressions when they first lay eyes on us. Not to mention the press and reporters have been nonstop taking pictures at us since we first arrived with nineteenth-century cameras. Putting it aside, the town itself is vibrant. Even though the houses looks like a few centuries old, it is well maintained to my surprise. I turn my head slightly to the line of marines of my squad standing still like statues, while the Navy commanders are grouped up next to Celestia to the left, just like what they did when the princess made the announcement two days ago. Still, the ponies in this town seem more understandable than the ones at Canterlot, who almost all had a look of disgust when they first saw us.

Before my eyes start drifting away from the blinding sun and intense heat, Celestia finally closes her speech, followed by loud stomping and cheering from the crowd, and more camera flashes from the media. As if it only gets worse, my head starts to spin from the amount of bright flashes thrown at us.

After the speech, I plop down on a bench inside the large carousel building that is the town hall, finally relieved to be away from the sun that has been beaming on me for the past hour, along with the rest of the squad rushing in to get away from the heat. Even still, inside the town hall it’s as hot as a sauna mixed with the smell of hay. Never will I go again to a public speech like this again, hopefully. Second Lieutenant Martins, Staff Sergeant Alcatraz, and the two Navy SEALs Cutup and Honeydew, volunteered to stay outside with the four commanders to answer the heavy amount of questions the media is throwing at them.

It’s a good thing the mayor allowed us to be present instead of just the commanders, but we all didn’t expect for us to land right in the town square. No wonder we had to wait one extra day after the speech in Canterlot. Luckily, the square has enough room to land both MV-22s. The Royal Guards are told to keep the civilians at a distance from our aircraft; hopefully they too can stay away after the incident with Lieutenant Wind Strike two days earlier.

“Not used to it, huh?” I open my eyes after taking off my helmet and wiping off the excess sweat on my face to see Twilight Sparkle standing in front of me.
“No, not really,” I reply shaking my head.
“Yeah, me too.” A quick dead silence falls between the lavender unicorn and I, except for the squad of marines gathered in a certain area of the large room having a conversation about today’s event and before.
“So, uh,” Twilight breaks silence between us, “some speech, yeah?” The unicorn gives away a nervous smile, something I can easily tell she is having trouble coming up with a proper conversation, especially with a new species like us. Before I could answer, a marine walks to us. Not saying a word, he offers himself a seat next to me on the bench. I whine internally when I recognize it is none other than Sergeant Hernandez.

Raphael Hernandez is probably the second or third oldest in our squad, next to First Sergeant Keane and Staff Sergeant Alcatraz. Born in New Mexico, and that’s all I know. According to Sergeant Mendez, Hernandez has an attitude like a nagging wife. Not to my surprise, I’ve been even hearing rumors of him nearly getting arrested for possession of drugs with some other guy close to the southern Californian border.

It didn’t occur to me that I have been staring at Sergeant Hernandez for too long. Luckily, he didn’t notice as he lights up a cigarette. As he slowly blows out the smoke, he stares at the startled Twilight for a moment, then turns to me.
“Aren’t you gonna say ‘hi’?” I ask the sergeant raising my hand to the unicorn.
“It’s a caballo, man,” he replies almost instantly. “Why would I?” Twilight clears her throat before speaking.
“W-well, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Twilight Sparkle.” Hernandez stares like he is not amused by it.
“Whatever.” Hernandez turns his head away at the marines huddled while First Sergeant Keane praises them over today’s event. I elbow the sergeant to get his attention, and he immediately turns his head almost annoyingly. “What do want, gringo?”
“Aren’t you going to say your name?” I ask with a serious tone. Hernandez rolls his eyes and moans.
“Fine. I’m Sergeant Hernandez.” Twilight’s ears flicker and her eyes glisten.
“A pleasure to meet you,” she says, before Hernandez stops her short.
“Now leave us alone. I don’t talk to animals.” The unicorn’s expression immediately turns to shock.
“Really, Hernandez?” I say sharply. “Come on. At least have some consent.”
“Yeah, I’ll do that when I get back home, or at least kill some—!”
“Sergeant Hernandez.” All three of us turn our heads to see Sergeant Mendez walking over with his arms crossed. “What’re you trying to do to our new friend?”
“Pfft,” Hernandez scoffs rising to his feet. “New friend my culo! Estamos atrapados aquí con un montón de mierda hablando caballos!”
“English, Sarge! We don’t speak Spanish!” Mendez says.
“Me importa una mierda!” Hernandez marches furiously back to the group, leaving Twilight with an open mouth.
“Sorry ‘bout that,” Mendez says turning to the lavender unicorn. “He always has a bad attitude.”
“Um, wh-what was he speaking?” Twilight asks.
“It’s called Spanish. We have many languages in our world.” Twilight immediately perks her head up to the sergeant taking a seat next to me.
“How many?” she asks.
“I… I really don’t know. Brooke, you’re the smartest in our squad, how many languages do we have?” I turn my head to the smiling Mendez, unprepared of his question.
“Um, let’s see,” I take a wild guess in my head, but try to make it accurate enough. “I’m thinking… six thousand, or so.” Both Mendez and I hear and audible ‘gasp’ coming from Twilight. We notice the unicorn’s mouth as wide as her expanded eyes. Her horn lights up, and a notepad and a quill hover in front of her before she jots down notes.
“Very interesting,” she mumbles. Both Mendez and I turn to each other with stumped look on our faces.


*****


“Pinkie dear, why are you holding that sign?” Rarity asks, as the five mares plus the baby dragon Spike wait outside of the town hall, staring at the two gigantic flying contraptions sitting almost in the middle of town square in a diagonal position, the open ramps almost facing each other. However, all five of them turn to the party pink pony holding a white sign written MEANWHILE… in the center.
“It’s to show our viewers,” Pinkie replies with a big grin across her face.
“What viewers?” Applejack asks looking at their surroundings, before settling her eyes on one of the humans, the crew chief, waving at the crowd. “Ya’ mean the humans? They seem to be occupied with the crowd.”
“No, silly. Them.” Pinkie points her hoof in the direction where Applejack was staring not even a second ago, then moves it upward to the sky.
“I… don’t get it,” Fluttershy hesitantly says looking up.
“Oh, never mind,” Pinkie grumbles, and tosses the sign into a garbage bin.
“So,” Rainbow begins, making circles in the dirt with her hoof. “Anypony know what to do?”
“They seem to be done with the speech,” Spike replies looking through the window while standing on top of Fluttershy. “Princess Celestia and the leaders seem to be answering questions now.”
“Well, no wonder the crowd is goin’ crazy!” Rainbow Dash throws her hooves in the air exaggeratingly, before extending her wings and lifts off over the sitting group. “Did you see their faces when they first arrived?” The cyan Pegasus imitates the facial expressions of almost all ponies had when they first laid eyes on the humans’ flying contraptions. Sadly, the six mares and dragon were escorted by the royal carriage rather than having a first time experience in an alien craft.

After finally finishing on possibly the fifth face, even though most of her friends are not paying attention, Rainbow swings her fore hooves down in stress.
“Ugh! This is so boring! Why do political speeches have to take ‘so’ long?!”
“Maybe we can find something to do!” Pinkie suggests. She scans the surroundings carefully, shading her eyes with her hoof. After almost thirty seconds, she lands on the humans’ flying contraptions resting ten meters in front of the group, which pretty much took up most of Pinkie’s view. “How about we look inside their flying thingies?”
“We already did, Pinkie,” Applejack protests with a bored tone.
“No silly! I mean we ask one of the humans to have a look inside!”
“Please,” Rarity jeers waving her hoof. “These humans have no taste in design. Have you ever seen how filthy inside those flying contraptions are?” When she opens her eyes, she realizes she is completely alone. Turning her head, the marshmallow mare spots her friends already making their way to the two contraptions. “Are you really ‘that’ desperate?!” Rarity sighs. That’s when curiosity starts to kick in, as usual for the fashion mare.

“Um, excuse me?” Rainbow says in a normal tone, catching the attention of crew chief Staff Sergeant Barnes.
“Can I help you fellas?” he says with a smile. “Hey, you’re the, uh… we met before, right? At the castle.”
“That’s correct, partner,” Applejack replies, followed by a nod from the others. “Name’s Applejack, by the way.”
“Rainbow Dash. Fastest pony in all of Equestria!”
“Pinkie Pie! Friendliest pony in Ponyville!” Pinkie springs in the air.
“Uh, um… Fl-Fluttershy.”
“And this here’s Rarity,” Applejack says, pointing her hoof behind at the marshmallow-colored pony cautiously walking up.
“And I’m Spike,” the baby dragon introduces. “And for the record, I’m a dragon. ‘Not’ a lizard.” Staff Sergeant Barnes chuckles a little, before removing the large black visor covering the top half of his face.
“Okay, little guy. I know we met before, Staff Sergeant Barnes of HMM-165 Squad, USMC.” The five ponies and dragon look at each other with a puzzled look, before turning back to the human, each with a crooked smile. “Just call me Barnes.”
“Yeah, we kinda’ figured,” Rainbow says scratching the back of her head.
“So, what can I do for you?”
“W-well, um…” Still hovering above ground, Rainbow faces her friends, who all stare back. With a deep breath, she turns back and speaks hastily. “Can we please have a look inside?” The crew chief arches an eyebrow.
“There’s really nothing exciting in an Osprey, fella’. Just pipes, wires, seats... Plus, I’m not sure whether or not the captain up front will allow you to look inside.” As the staff sergeant turns around, he spots Sergeant Volper walking away from the cockpit in their direction. He stops for a glance at the ponies, before turning to Barnes.
“What’s going on?” Barnes asks.
“Captain Berns wants me to head to Three-three, then to Commander Gaines. We got a situation in the cockpit.”
“Power fluctuation?” Volper shakes his head.
“Alright, I’ll ask him. Mind if I let these fellas in?” The sergeant faces the five ponies and dragon, developing a frown.

Even though his large visor is blocking his eyes, the mares can feel he doesn’t like having them nosing around their technology.
“Just don’t let them touch anything,” Volper finally says after a sigh. Rainbow Dash has the need to do a contented loop in the air with a cheer. Instead she keeps her cool. Her expression, however, gives way as she shows an eager grin. “I’ll go inform the captain.”

The sergeant races back to the cockpit, before returning back after an eternal long minute. Rainbow Dash, already impatiently waiting, has been staring deeply at the interior of the MV-22, which is only comprised of lightweight metal, pipes and wires on the ceiling, and the twenty-four folded plastic-covered seats against the walls. When Sergeant Volper returns, the rainbow-mane Pegasus flickers her ears, excited than any other pony to have a look inside.
“Captain said it’s alright,” Volper says.
“Yes!!” Rainbow shoots her hoof in the air, stopping both the humans. When she opens her eyes, Dash notices a good amount of stares from her friends and the two crew chiefs.
“Right…” Volper mumbles. “I’ll be heading over to Three-three, then report the situation to Commander. Keep an eye on them.”
“You just do your thing, Sarge,” Barnes says, and Volper rushes off to the next Osprey. He then turns his head to the embarrassed Pegasus now fluttering back on the ground. “Alright, here are the rules. No touching ‘anything’ unless I say so, and no bothering the pilots in the front. Got it?” The five mares and baby dragon nod their heads in unison. “Okay, let’s head on in.”


*****


Bored out of our minds, and trying to get rid of the heat in our thoughts, Sergeant Mendez and I continue to stare at the lavender unicorn, Twilight Sparkle, continuing to write down notes as we explain more about ourselves. Even though we told her much about ourselves three days ago, she comes up with more questions than one could imagine.
“You know,” Mendez interrupts Twilight from her writing trance, “You could’ve stayed outside with the crowd while our commanders answer the questions.”
“I know,” the mare replies. “I prefer to have personal interviews with you. I get better information than with a crowd.”
“Well, I can understand that,” I say rolling up my sleeves until they reach beneath my elbows.

It has been a long day for us, probably the longest three days I ever had since the Crucible at boot camp; except on that day was the most stressful. All we ever did is just stand in the background whilst the princesses and commanders make their speech to their citizens. Still, I never expected to see so many of the ponies to have a lot of respect to their leader. Normally, most of us would hate our leaders for whatever reasons they do, or just hate them in general.

“Okay,” Twilight says after finishing writing. It still ponders me to see a piece of paper and quill floating in midair in front of the pony, even though I’ve been reminded countless times they use magic in this world. “Let’s see… oh, anything you eat?”
“We’re omnivores,” Michaels answers standing next to the unicorn. Twilight shoots her head up to the marine with an almost surprised look.
“So, you eat meat as well?” The three of us nod, giving Twilight a small shudder. “Okay…” Before Twilight could ask us another question regarding ourselves, the back door opens, and enters crew chief Sergeant Volper. I can still see that giant bruise on his left cheek as he swiftly passes us to First Sergeant Keane looking out through the window at the commanders still answering the questions.
“What’s going on?” Mendez asks curiously as he leans to the side to get a better look. We all watch as the crew chief finishes speaking with Keane, before the first sergeant walks outside to the podium. Less than a minute later, we see both of them reentering, followed by Lieutenant Martins, Commander Gaines and Princess Luna. They walk past us rather hastily, as if they are responding to an emergency, before exiting out the door where the crew chief entered minutes earlier.
“Well, let’s go see,” Michaels says, throwing his M14 rifle over his back. “Let’s get some air.” I let out another internal groan of annoyance. In all truth, I really hate to go back out in the summer heat. Then again, I have nothing else to do, plus I could go out to have a good look at the town.

I swing my M16A4 over my back after putting on my ILBE, letting it bounce against the forty-pound backpack.
“You wanna come?” Sergeant Mendez asks Twilight, who has eyeing on my rifle most of the time.
“O-oh, ah, what are we doing?” she asks after shaking her head.
“We’re going outside to check on our birds. Wanna join?” Immediately, Twilight’s ears perk up and a grin appears.
“Sure!” I figured the unicorn might be interested in seeing our equipment up close. With a quick smile, the three of us plus the unicorn prepare to head out the back door. The bright sunlight nearly blinds us as we exit the town hall, back into the summer heat. Luckily, I feel a gentle breeze flowing by.


*****


“How much do we have left?” Commander Gaines asks one of the Osprey pilots, who is checking on one of the dials in the control panel.
“Don’t know, sir,” the pilot replies pressing a couple switches. “All I can say is… about forty-three percent. Not enough to get us back to the Anchorage.” The commander lets out a frustrated sigh, and wipes the sweat off his forehead. If it weren’t for the detour to this town, they would have just enough fuel to get back to the small fleet, which is roughly almost a five-hour flight. He rubs his eyes after being blinded a dozen times from the medias’ cameras, eventually ending up to a small headache.
“I’ll see what I can do,” the commander finishes, and exits the cramped cockpit. The first thing he sees is Princess Luna inspecting carefully at the dozens of wiring and pipes running down the ceiling like a technician close to the open ramp, while Rainbow Dash hovers and stares intently at one of the turret window guns with Staff Sergeant Barnes keeping an eye on her. The rest of the four ponies plus the small dragon are all sitting on the folded seats, while Second Lieutenant Martins explains about the aircraft.
“It’s amazing how a heavy piece of machinery like this can fly,” Luna compliments to the commander, who merely nods.
“One of the finest piece of equipment in the US Military.”
“Hey, what are these?” Both the commander and the night princess turn to Rainbow Dash pointing at the ammunition box full of .50 caliber bullets attached to the M2HB machine gun.
“Fifty-cal rounds,” Staff Sergeant Barnes replies, and walks over to the Pegasus. “Able to punch through two inches of steel.” Rainbow turns to the crew chief, then back to inspecting the shiny bronze bullets in the metal container.
“These look like something Rarity would like,” the Pegasus leans and whispers with a smirk across her face.

Commander Gaines faces back to the other four ponies and the small reptile, who are all sitting in the seats while Second Lieutenant discusses about the aircraft.
“Is there a way for you to, you know, at least cover up these things on the ceiling?” a white unicorn with a curly purple mane asks. “It looks like you did a poor job on the interior designing. At least do something more vibrant instead of these plain colors.”
“Well, you’ll understand when you’re in our shoes,” Martins replies crossing his arms. “This is not some luxury thing you’re in. This is for military purposes.”
“Well, we can see that,” an orange pony with a cowboy hat says looking around. “Amazin’ how big this thing is. And how it can fly.”
“This thing is able to fly at about… three-hundred twenty miles per hour.” The ponies’ eyes widen in surprise.
“And… how fast is that?” the white unicorn asks scratching her head.
“Quite fast.”

“Excuse me, commander?” Princess Luna taps on Gaines’ shoulder.
“Yes?”
“If I may ask, I would like to see how your ships operate. If that is okay?” Gaines stares at the dark blue alicorn for less than a minute, thinking about the situation he is in now, and how his crew would react if they see a talking horse. Finally, he makes his decision.
“I will have to a word with your sister first, because we’re in a bit of a bind right now.” Luna nods her head, and makes her way out of the aircraft, leaving the commander and the other two marines with the other ponies.


17:38:28 PM


Majority of the ponies have finally subsided and left after our presentation, leaving only a handful left still standing; most of them are regular citizens than reporters. I never thought a political speech would last this long, especially the questioning. That one was almost a nightmare with every single pony screaming out pointless and random questions while taking pictures all at once. Luckily, I wasn’t there, but it was a pain for me to ignore the others when I went outside to check on our birds.

“What do you mean, ‘we don’t have enough fuel’?!” I hear one of our men scream from inside the town hall, as I sit on a crate with Mendez and Michaels watching at least a third of our squad setting up perimeters around the two MV-22s. The three marines from Charlie Company and the two SEALs are also inside the town hall, along with the Royal Sisters. Twilight and her friends are inside one of the Ospreys, with Staff Sergeant Barnes still giving them a tour. Although, Pinkie Pie has decided to run off to somewhere and has been gone for a couple hours. As for the rest of them, they seem to be enjoying browsing inside an aircraft that makes the world’s cheapest airline look good.
“You think it might be one of the commanders?” Mendez asks nudging my arm, putting me out of my thoughts.
“What again?” I ask.
“One of the commanders. Did you hear?”
“Yeah, yeah I did.” I lean my arm on top of my helmet resting on my knee; the heat from earlier today is still taking its toll on me. I still remember when our Lieutenant informed us about our fuel situation when the princesses finally finished their speech about our negotiations. It did cause some commotion between us; Sergeant Hernandez had it the most.

“You always wonder,” Mendez begins, and I lazily turn my head to him.
“What?”
“You always wonder how we got into this situation.” He looks down on me.
“What? How we got from a rescue mission to presenting ourselves to pretty much the whole country, or how we got into a world like this?”
“I would say both.” I look at the sergeant with an agreeable look, sitting back up and press against the wooden wall.
“I know what you mean. We just have to wait.” I veer my eyes towards the remaining crowd. There is not much left, but there is still a lot of ponies. And the Royal Guards seem to be doing a good job in keeping them away from our Ospreys ever since we arrived. However, I would like to explore more of the town, maybe catch Banana Peel and his grandson if I get the chance. Without further ado, I place back on my helmet without clipping it, and walk away from my two friends.
“Where you going?” Michaels asks taking a cigarette out of his mouth.
“Checking out the crowd!” I shout back as I swing my M16 over my shoulder.

As I close in to the wall of pony guards preventing the civilians from entering, one of them turns his head to face me when he notices most of the town’s citizens widening their eyes with awe. Some of them have a slight look of fear, while others gaze upon me like I am some idol.
“Can I help you?” one of the guards asks who turned to me. I shake my head and continue walking down. A few other guards twirl their heads to have a glimpse, some of them giving me snarly looks, probably from the incident back at the beach. I couldn’t blame them to hate us. I would feel the same if we were in their perspectives. I look around at the surroundings; almost all of the cottages here are relatively the same, there are some buildings that are carousels and tents one would see at a circus or a fair. To my surprise, the whole town seems tidy. Even after such a hefty event like today, the town square looks as if nothing has ever happened, except for a few straws of hay and paper lying about. Before I could start getting a look at the pony crowd, a certain call enters my ears through the desperate shouts.
“Hey! Mister Brooke! Hey! Over here!” I move my head in to the source, when I lay my eyes on a pearl white colt with a messy dark yellow mane, waving its hoof frantically in the air while sitting on another pony’s head. “Hey! Over here!” I recognize that cheery little colt, Banana Seed. I smile, and wave back. The little colt returns the favor, hopping off his granddad’s head and squeezes himself through the crowd to get to me, but is cut off from the Royal Guards.
“Hold on there, kid,” one of them halts Banana Seed. “You can’t get through here.” I walk up to the guard and tap on his golden helmet.
“You can let the fella in,” I say. The guard rotates around with a suspicious look on his face.
“I’m sorry. It’s under Princess Celestia’s orders that we let nopony in.” I cross my arms with a disappointed look, veering my eyes to Banana Seed pouting his lips.
“You know,” I say to the guard, “the princess also mentioned that if you agitate one of us, you know the consequences.” The guard raises an eyebrow, catching the attention of two more. I slowly wrap my M16 over in front of me, showing off the different attachments that are unfamiliar to the ponies. “Well?” I ask once more, steadily moving my hand down to the trigger, just to at least get them a little frightened. The guard I just talked to turns to his two comrades, who both nod.
“Fine. Who do you want?” I point to the little colt then to the old stallion standing in the background.
“These two.” The guard nods, and sends the other two through the crowd, who are all now complaining why he lets those two ponies in. In truth, I do enjoy looking at the ponies’ annoyed, confused and angry expressions. It makes them look cute. As I watch, Banana Seed races through the wall of the princesses’ guards.
“Brooke!” he cries cheerfully.
“Hey, buddy!” I reply, kneeling down as the colt places his fore hooves on my lap, and I start rubbing his hair and ears. Never in my life have I missed those soft ears, or the cute little pony. “How you doing? You behaved?” Banana Seed smiles brightly when I see Banana Peel enter the perimeter with the two other guards.
“How ya’ doing, Broone?” Seed asks with a smile. “You get ya’ buddy back?”
“Sure did,” I reply. “It’s ‘Brooke’ by the way.”
“See? Told ya’ pops,” Seed rubs in, to which Peel just smiles.
“Now, that’s some thing you got there,” the old stallion describes looking at the Osprey behind me.
“Yeah,” I say standing back up. “Gets us to pretty much anywhere.”
“Can I have a look?” Banana Seed eagerly asks jumping up and down. Before I could answer, I see Carter walking up.
“Hey, Peel!” he calls, and Seed races towards him. “Hey! Seed! How you doing?!” Carter drops down to his knees, grabbing the young colt and launching him up in the air. Banana Seed squirms in the marine’s hands full of excitement like any other child would when being launched into the air the way Carter did. Finally, Carter sets the colt down, and makes his way to Banana Peel and I. “Wow, didn’t expect to see you here.”
“We decided to stay here a little longer when we saw those things fly over Ponyville a couple days ago,” Peel explains pointing at the Ospreys.
“Well, it’s good to see you,” Carter chuckles lightly, before lowering back down to Banana Seed. “Hey, Seed. Wanna have a look?” As fast as ever, Banana Seed’s eyes glisten and his ears flicker, not to mention a smile as big as Pinkie Pie’s. The colt turns to his grandfather.
“Can I, pops? Can I? Can I?” he pleads.
“If that’s alright with the humans,” Banana Peel replies, facing me.
“I’m pretty sure our crew will let you in,” I say with a shrug. Carter swings his rifle over his shoulder, picks up Banana Seed, and lets him sit on his arm like he is carrying a toddler.
“Wanna join?” I offer to Peel, and his ears too, flicker.
“Do I ever,” he answers, showing his crooked teeth as he smiles.

I remember when I was in the School of Infantry, and during that time, I sometimes vision myself giving tours to groups, showing them our equipment and explaining their specifications. Even though most of the marines hate giving tours, I personally enjoy leading a large group of people who don’t know much about our military. That’s why I studied most of the infantry vehicles and weapons used in the Marine Corps. However, I knew that I wasn’t able to fulfill that. Still, studying and looking over the weapons and vehicles of the Marine Corps has always kept my mind going; learning something different helps expand my knowledge. That was one of few good things my father said to me.

It does feel exciting when someone like myself wants to show other people, or in this case ponies, our equipment, especially to children. It makes me proud to see others gaze with amazement at something they rarely get to see.

“Wow!” Banana Seed gasps as he twists his head left to right and back to get as much as his eyes could see at one of our Ospreys. Carter enters the aircraft through the ramp, when the little colt stops him and points to the M240D leaning against the fuselage. “What’s that?!”
“That,” Carter begins answering, but hesitates for an extended moment. “That’s something we defend ourselves.” I mentally face palm myself. Way to go, Corporal.
“Ooh, what does it do?” Carter turns to me with a look meaning he needs help. Seed also does the same. All I could do is smirk and shrug.
“He’s asking you, Carter,” I say shaking my head. “Go ahead.”
“You’re ‘very’ helpful, buddy,” Carter says sarcastically, and enters the MV-22. I lean against the fuselage, with Banana Peel standing next to me, both of us watching the excited little colt Banana Seed pointing and aweing at all the different features this aircraft has to offer.
“Thank you,” Peel says. I turn to face him with a perplexed look.
“What do you mean?”
“For showing my grandson. Ya’ know, ponies like us rarely get to see something extraordinary. Not like this. I wish I could do the same when I was younger to my grandson, then you came.”
“What about your son?” Peel scoffs.
“Heh, he wasn’t into that. My grandson, however, was just like me.” I smile, feeling grateful for a positive comment.
“No problem. If you need anything, don’t be afraid to ask.”
“Heh, no prob’ ol’ fella. Stop by at the banana farm if you have free time.”
“Maybe…” I think for a moment, wondering how long we will have to stay, and how long it will take for the princesses to find a way for us to return home. How long? “Yeah, maybe.”


20:09:18 PM


Princess Celestia watches as her sun starts to set, soon replaced by her sister’s moon in the now dark and star-sprinkled sky. The moment her horn ceases glowing, the sun princess returns to her work desk, littered with letters, documents and a few small books. One book, in particular, sits in the middle wide open to a page she on purposely left. It is the largest out of all the books on the desk, though, small enough to create room for the rest of her papers and other things to tightly pack together.

Celestia sits down and massages her temples to relieve some stress she was just given earlier today. Thankfully, it is over, and she will never have to deal with such a clustered crowd like today ever again. Hopefully. She stares down at her half-melted candle flickering against the invisible air, before moving her eyes at the open book in front of her, along with written notes on a few sheets of paper lying beneath it. On the first page, shows a drawing of a mermare taking up a quarter of it, while on the next page, displays the same mermare, except presenting its side. The princess sighs softly, looking at her tower of papers. She wonders if this will ever stop.

The door knocks twice, putting Celestia out of her train of thought.
“Enter.” The creaks, and steps in her younger sister, Luna. “Greetings, sister.” The night princess nods her head as she closes the door behind, and makes her way over to her older sister.
“Have you ever heard of organization, sister?” Luna asks, scanning the paper pile then at Celestia’s cluttered desk.
“Is that the reason why you showed up?” Celestia jokes, a thin smile appearing across her face. She hops off her comfortable chair and trots to where Luna entered, grabbing a tray of a teapot and two cups with her magic. While doing so, Luna has the chance of taking a glance at the open book.
“What is this?” she asks as Celestia returns with the tray, and lowers it to their level.
“It’s a book about mythical creatures.” The sun princess pours the tea in the two cups, and levitates one to her sister. “It is quite interesting. It shows a lot of things I did not realize nor know.”
“Interesting,” Luna comments taking a sip. “And here, ponies say you know everything.”
“Not everything,” her sister replies with another smile. “You learn something new everyday. You should try it.”
“I think I’ll pass.” Luna lowers her cup, and glances at the book again. “Does it mention anything about humans?” Celestia shakes her head after taking a drink.
“Sadly, no. I’ve searched through the library related to them. The only things closely related to them are monkeys and apes.”
“We still know close to nothing about them. The only thing we got from them are the pirates, remember?” Celestia nods her head in agreement, and closes the book with her hoof.

Silence quickly settles around the two sisters, the only thing audible is the soft ‘slurp’ as they finish their warm drinks.
“Oh,” Luna speaks as she remembers something. “What are you going to do for the Grand Gala?” As if she is seeing the most terrifying and ugly thing in Equestria, Celestia’s eyes dilate in a flash, and she stands freezing with the teacup floating over her mouth. How could she forget the annual royal ball? How did she not know it’s coming anytime sooner? The princess scrunches her muzzle as she mentally scolds herself repeatedly for being an idiot not to notice about the Grand Galloping Gala.
“Oh, for me’s sake!” she bellows.
“Um, sister?” Luna says, now with a nervous look. “Let me take care of the Gala.” Starting to calm down, but not fully, the sun princess opens her eyes after she hears her sister’s offer.
“Are you sure, Luna?”
“Tia, you must handle where the humans will stay. I’ll handle the Gala. Besides, I already mapped out the perfect location for them.” Celestia sighs. She cannot afford such a big event like the Grand Galloping Gala be cancelled. Then again, if it weren’t for her Luna’s generous offer, she would be stuck in between pulling her mane out from the stress.
“Thank you, sister.” Both princesses wrap their heads around in a warm embrace.
“I am always here, no matter what. By the way, have you heard about the crystal shard?” Both sisters pull away, but not hastily.
“No. I haven’t heard from our scientists.”
“Not even the weapon you held from Michaels before you gave it back?”
“They have done some tests, but I haven’t seen the results. Shall we have a visit?” The night princess nods, and the two Royal Sisters exit the bedroom.