Nearing the Edge

by Eagle


Somewhere Over the Rainbow

August 30th, 2005
1220 Hours
Ponyville, Equestria

A man who is tired enough can sleep anywhere, at least that is what Cole believed. He was a practitioner of this, in his career field one had to be. Though he had not taken part in one yet, a war would turn every second, minute, hour, and day into a vital one. As such, it would leave very little free time, something training had made very clear. Sleep, and other such basics, would be taken when and where it could.

Though war had not officially broken out in the time since the squadron’s first battle, the tension still kept the pilots on edge. Cole’s own sleep was supplemented by occasional napping, which served to break up his Circadian Rhythm rather badly, causing problems with waking up before he had to, or having trouble getting to sleep in the first place. That had finally been halted in the last few days, with the work keeping him from sleeping much at all.

Working vigorously around the clock, engineers had succeeded in establishing the first true air base on Equestrian soil in a field to the south of the town of Ponyville, Everfree Air Base. The squadron flew from the Academy to it as soon as the runway and hangars were done. It was not a fully operational base yet, with some more non-vital things needing to be built, but when it was it would offer an excellent base to conduct flights from, giving much more room and necessary facilities the Academy could not provide yet.

The squadron had flown in yesterday and had spent the night in a small barracks that lacked its roof, though thankfully the temperature and weather were rather pleasant. Cole, despite getting quite a few hours after the flight and a long day, still felt tired when he woke in the morning. He had slept well and without interruption, yet still felt tired, wanting to get another hour or two of shut-eye.

He intended to catch that now, during a trip to visit the town for the first time. Head shoved between a belt and his shoulder, body rumbling from the bumps on the dirt road, he kept his eyes shut as the drive progressed. It would only take a few minutes to reach Ponyville from the base, but some rest was better than none.

The official purpose of the visit was an informal introduction to the town’s new neighbors, meet some of the squadron’s new allies, give a good first impression of the U.S. military to them, and some other objectives. Cole simply wanted something to do, as the next few days were actually rather empty as the construction unit continued working on the base. Some minor patrols would be flown, but nothing major could go until the end of the week when the control tower was complete. Not that anything major was planned, but they still had to be ready.

Even as he rested he was thinking about the visit. He was not worried, just curious on how it would go down. Eventually he gained his fill of sleep and returned to the cramped world of one of the Humvees they borrowed from the engineers to make the journey. He was never entirely separated from it, as he could feel the bumps from the uneven dirt road they traveled by, as well as faintly hear the discussion among the other passengers. The latter became much clearer as he came to.

“Because it has to be the band.”

“Has to? What makes you think that?”

“Well, he does listen to their music.”

“Yea, but that doesn’t mean that’s what it is. Think of what the band was named after.”

“What’s the bet up to now?” Cole groggily asked Cowboy and another member of Charlie Flight, ‘Ramone’, who were debating in the back seat.

The bet Cole was referring to was a wager over the origin of their flight commander Elijah’s nickname, ‘Zeppelin’. Ramone swore it was from the rock group, while Cowboy insisted it came from the type of blimp. First Lieutenant Elijah, who was also the one driving, had never even hinted how he got it before, and refused to tell so. He seemed to enjoy dragging the bet out.

“It’s up to twenty bucks now, Sir,” Cowboy answered.

“How high are you planning on letting them go before you tell them?” Cole asked Zeppelin.

“I won’t let them go bankrupt, Sir,” he replied in a cheeky tone.

“Glad to hear you’re taking care of your flight.”

“He’s never gonna tell us,” Cowboy groaned. “He’ll take it with him to the grave.”

“Well, argue about something else,” Cole suggested, giving a topic. “Wayne or Eastwood?”

Lieutenant Sylvester deflated a bit and slouched in his seat. “Jesus, not that again.”

“Yea, you never did answer that, huh?” Zeppelin remembered, recalling the question he had asked his Lieutenant a few weeks ago.

“I answered it,” Cowboy replied in an annoyed tone. “I just said both.”

“You can’t pick both!” Ramone spoke up.

“Why not?”

“You’re just dodging the question.”

“I’m not dodging it, I just think they’re both great.”

“But who’s better?”

“Neither!”

Zeppelin gave a fake sigh that devolved into a half-hearted laugh.

“Well what’s your choice Ramone?” he asked.

“I don’t know; I’m not into Western stuff.”

“Then why’d you ask!?” Cowboy shot back, shooting back up in his seat.

“Relax, I was just curious,” he said calmly.

Cole now echoed Zeppelin’s light laugh, and repeated the question to him.

“And which do you think is better, Lieutenant Elijah?”

“Neither,” he replied, the smirk giving away devious intent. “Gary Cooper’s the best.”

“Really now?”

“Yea, I think he’d beat both in a gunfight.”

“At’ll be the day,” Cole replied in a deep, exaggerated accent.

The small convoy continued at a steady pace down the trail until the town came in sight. They followed the train tracks into town, entering and passing through the houses and inhabitants. Their driving slowed a bit to ensure they did not hit any of the ponies, but most of them were wise enough to move out of the way.

Cole took in the town as they passed the train station and turned right towards the town square. It was a simple, quiet town, with the look of some quaint village in the English countryside. Despite how much the conflict seemed to affect Equestria, Ponyville seemed to have been untouched by any aspect of the war; since it did not seem to hold any military significance, it did not seem to have a reason to be attacked.

Every eye in the town seemed to be on them as they entered the square. It was understandable, as they had clearly not seen anything quite like this. Back home, soldiers driving by in their respective vehicles had become a rather generic sight through the media, but such a sight was foreign to them; it was humbling in a way.

Most of the ponies in town were gathered around the square, where the convoy stopped. The congregation of observing citizens did not cause any deviation from the regular formula of procedures the men followed. As soon as they stopped the squadron was formed up into their respective flights, first at attention, and then brought to ease. Cole kept them this way as he turned to see a pony trotting up to him, wearing the armor of their guards.

“Morning! Are you the commander of this unit?” he asked.

“Yea, Captain John-”

“Just follow me, Sir,” the guard said, cutting him off, “you’re a little late.”

“One minute,” Cole asked before looking to his XO, who had joined him when the men formed up. “Lieutenant Walker, take command of the squadron until I return.”

“Yes Sir,” he responded, returning the salute and taking over the group, allowing the Captain to be lead off around the crowd that was fixated on the pilots.

“Sorry for being late, but it was a little difficult finding our way here,” Cole mentioned to the guard as they moved. “Plus we didn’t know there was something to be late for to begin with.”

“It’s not a problem. The mayor heard about your visit sent a message out earlier this morning with some details about the gathering, but I guess it got lost somewhere along the line,” the Guard explained. “You’re not to blame, but it doesn’t make it easier to keep up the timetable.”

“Well, we’re here now.”

“And thank goodness for that.”

The two moved around the edge of the crowd, hugging the border until they reached the other side, near a small, wooden stage. By itself it would have seemed generic, but it was fully decorated with flowers and streamers of every bright color, arranged in beautiful fashion that made it look special from any angle. The final piece was a large banner showing ‘WELCOME’ in dark blue against the plain white.

“Mayor, he’s here,” the guard called to a mare who was talking with one of his comrades.

She looked over and, upon seeing the American, let out an audible sigh of relief. Cole examined her a bit as she trotted towards him. He could understand her being the mayor, there was just something that gave off the official feel. Maybe it was the white hair and glasses that gave off the look of a librarian.

“I’m glad you were able to make it!” she said happily, raising a hoof up to him.

“Our pleasure, ma’am,” he replied, shaking her hoof. “Captain John Cole, U.S. Air Force.”

The pony looked at her hoof for a moment with a bit of confusion before returning to her guest.

“Well, it’s wonderful to have you! If you don’t mind, I’ll let my associate here explain some things,” the Mayor explained, referring to the same guard who had fetched Cole from the front of the crowd. “I would like to give my speech. I assume you’ve got one yourself?”

Since he had never gotten the notification, he did not know that he would need one. However, he figured he would be speaking anyways, so one was prepared. It was nothing special, not being very long or detailed, as he did not have much time to devote to it. Still, it was better than having to improvise on the spot.

“Of course.”

“Excellent! If you’ll excuse me, Captain,” she said, trotting off and up the stage, leaving Cole with the guard once again.

“So…what ‘things’ was she talking about?” he asked the gold-clad pony.

“Not a lot, actually; she talks then you talk, then everypony will go off and do whatever they feel like for a bit. I think there’s a party or something scheduled for later in the evening, too.”

“Sounds simple enough.”

A voice sprang up from the stage, gaining the attention of Cole, and the rest of the crowd. The mayor, now standing up at the podium, urged the group to silence. They all complied rather quickly, changing their focus from the Airmen to the stage as she began her speech.

“As Ponyville’s Mayor, I am happy to give a warm welcome to our new allies from the Air Force of the United States!”

There was a pause for a brief but powerful cheer from the elated gathering.

“They are the first American military unit to have arrived in Equestria, and have already fought the enemy in our skies,” she pronounced proudly with a wave of her hoof. “I cannot begin to describe how thankful we are for their service.”

“Well, we won’t have to worry about the hearts and minds part here,” Cole thought.

“As you may know already, they have recently been stationed at a brand new airbase nearby, very close to our town,” the Mayor explained. “This means that our little town of Ponyville will be hosting many American soldiers in the future, an honor that we will be proud to take up!”

The crowd let loose another applause in agreement, this one slightly louder and more prolonged.

“I am hopeful that everypony here will do their best to make our home feel like theirs as well.”

Looking at her in this way, she seemed a bit different than from what Cole first thought. Of course she was an official of the governmental system, but she gave of a different vibe from the ones back in America, and the rest of the world that he had seen. Those politicians, at least the majority he had witnessed, always had a rather official look to them, if they were good at what they did at least. Always in a suit or dress, they seemed steadfast, focused, and able to control themselves and their surroundings.

This mayor was different; it would need some more investigating but he could tell it was so. Rather than being stern, she seemed quite happy, as if there was nothing to worry or ponder over, though not being entirely careless. She still had the old official look about her, as he first saw, but it was in a dissimilar form. She looked pleased, delighted, and rather energetic, a bit different from what her initial look told him. She certainly seemed unique.

Although, on another hand, he had never met a mayor before, nor paid much attention to them; his focus never had been on local politics. Perhaps she was just overjoyed at their arrival and was unable to hold it in, not that she had to contain it to begin with. Cole enjoyed feedback.

“And now, I would like to hand the stage over to the commander of this squadron, United States Air Force Captain John Cole!”

The Airman took this as his cue and stepped up to the stage, smiling to the Mayor as he passed her on his walk to the podium amid another large applause.

“Thank you all for the kind reception,” he started once the cheers subsided. “Well, I can certainly say you all have made us feel welcome, and I would like to thank you all for that.

“My squadron has been placed under the joint command of the Equestrian military, along with that of the United States, and, as you know, we have already fought the air force of the Shadow Empire in the skies over Equestria. There we delivered a major blow, shooting down several of their bombers and protecting Equestria’s territory and populace.

“Our mission is to continue doing that, and I promise you that we will give our all to ensure your sovereignty is defended. I assure you that any time the Bloc tries to attack we will be up there to meet them and throw them out. I am proud that we have been given this task, and the honor of helping defend this nation.

“We will do our best to ensure your safety. I will be truthful, it could get difficult, it could get bad, and we all may be hurt during this. I cannot tell you what will happen, but I can promise you again that we will do everything in our abilities to stop those who would assault you. This may end without conflict, or we may fight the greatest fight in history. Either way, they’ll have to beat us before they can get to you.”

The townsfolk began to cheer again before Cole concluded with a ‘thank you’ and stepped off the stage. There were no other major events the ponies had planned until later in the evening, so that meant the squad could simply explore the town and relax until then. He told this to the men upon returning to them, letting them fall out and go amongst their own activities while leaving him without anything to do but think.

“Not much of a speech, and a bit short,” he thought to himself as the crowd dispersed, “but it seems alright for a last-minute scribble.”

“Captain?”

Cole looked down to find a familiar-looking mocha-colored pony staring up at him.

“I… I remember you… I think,” he said. “One of the ones I met back at the Academy right? One of… the Stars, right?”

“Compass Star,” the pony clarified.

“Right, Compass,” Cole repeated more clearly. “Nice to see you again. What are you doing here? This place your home?”

“Yea, it is. I heard you guys were coming for a visit, heard about your fight with those Shadows that tried to bomb the Academy, too,” he brought up. “Thanks a lot for that! I would’ve thanked you earlier, but we left before the raid happened.”

“It’s what we’re meant to do,” the fighter replied with a grin.

“Mind if we talk a little more? We never got to finish our conversation, and I had a few more things I was curious about.”

“I’d… kind of like to look around town a bit,” Cole replied honestly, having some alternatives in mind, “but maybe you can talk to some of the others. I remember you liked geography, right? Is there anything else? Maybe art or sport or space stuff?”

“Yea, I really like space too! I’m even part of the Ponyville Amateur Astronomer’s League, along with the others you met when we were talking at the Academy,” he said proudly.

“Huh, lucky guess,” Cole thought.

“Do you know anything about it?”

“Space? Yea, a little; it’s certainly my favorite science, but I’m not very good with science in general,” the pilot stated. “I do know someone who knows a lot more. Hang on a sec.”

He turned away from Compass and scanned the area, looking for the man with a furrowed, pensive look, and locating him talking with the rest of Alpha Flight.

“Lieutenant Hauser!” he called, gaining his target’s attention. “Hey, Orion, come over here!”

The young pilot did so, hustling away from his conversation immediately and jogging over to his commander. His face always gave the look of being enveloped in thought, not so much philosophical, but more practical, immediate issues such as the squadron’s state, or some technical development; not usually politics or people so much as numbers and connections. That was not to say he was always worried, as he was usually in a positive mood, he simply always had the feel about him, even when smiling. It was something Cole could respect.

“Sir?”

“I got a friend here who’s interested in astronomy. Think you can talk to him about it some?”

“Oh yea, yea!” he beamed. “I’d love to, I’ve been wondering how much they know about it.”

“Alright, cool,” he said, moving closer a bit to whisper. “Thanks, Lieutenant; I’ll be off now.”

“No problem, Sir,” he replied, letting Cole go off on his own business again.

He spent much of the time simply looking around town, talking to a few of the townsfolk, but not getting into any engaging conversation. Most of it was just answering questions of a wide range from what his home was like to what flying was like and ‘what kind of prey humans hunted’. It was interesting to see what they thought of the outside world, to say the least.

After a while, once most of the informal question and answer session was finished, he thought about going to the town library. He did not see much around that appealed to him, so it seemed like reading up on the place would be a good way to kill time. One of the citizens pointed him towards a large tree nearby and, after ensuring he was not being duped, went to knock on the front door of what at first glance, looked like a nature-lover’s architectural jewel.

“Coming!” a voice called from inside before the door was answered by another familiar pony. “Oh, hello Captain! It’s nice to see you again.”

“Twilight? Well, I didn’t expect to run into you,” he commented blandly, quickly worrying that it came off in a negative tone. “I-it’s certainly a great surprise! It’s nice having some new world friends close by.”

“Same to you!” she replied happily. “So why did you come over? Did you want to visit?”

“I actually came to look around the library… I… couldn’t really visit when I didn’t know you were… well, here, you know?”

“Oh, oh yea,” she replied through a slightly red face.

“But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to,” Cole reminded her. “I mean I did just come to look around, nothing very important.”

“Well there’s plenty to look at,” she said, moving out from the doorway and allowing him to enter.

“What specifically would you like to find? Something involving the military? Or flying maybe?”

“I guess I wouldn’t be a good fighter if that wasn’t on the list, but something tells me your books on flying aren’t quite the same as ours.”

“Heh, yea… that’s probably true,” the unicorn admitted. “What else do you like to do? Do you do anything outside of your… job, or does it take up all your time?”

“Well, it is my main focus, so to say, but there is other stuff outside of it. Nothing all that different from normal stuff, I guess.”

“What would you want to do if you weren’t doing…this?”

“If I wasn’t able to fly? Join the Army I guess, I can’t-”

“No, no, I mean if you weren’t a soldier.”

“If I wasn’t an Airman,” Cole repeated. “I’m not sure honestly. I mean, this wasn’t exactly what I studied in school, but I can’t really imagine doing much else.”

“You didn’t study for this job?” Twilight asked, continuing the barrage of questions. “What did you study? What were you trying to be?”

“I was trying to be what I am now,” he clarified, taking a look at the bookshelves. “Just that this major was something on the side, if I wasn’t able to get into the military.”

“I thought you said you couldn’t do anything else?”

“I said I couldn’t imagine myself doing anything else.”

Twilight shook her head a bit in frustration.

“Ok, can you tell me what you could be other than this?” she asked in annoyance. “What did your studying give you?”

“Hm… with my major, you could say I’m a sort of… guardian of timeless secrets.”

“A what?” Twilight asked, thoroughly addled by the needlessly cryptic response.

“I’m a historian,” Cole chuckled.

“Oh, ok… I guess that makes sense.”

“Sorry, I was just trying to have some fun. It’s not easy being so serious all the time with this career; I didn’t mean annoy you.”

“It’s fine, I’ve had worse pranks played on me” Twilight assured him. “So, find anything interesting?”

Cole continued to pick his way over the books, reading the titles but not pulling any out.

“Eh… sort of; I’m not… too sure what I’m even looking for, honestly,” he admitted. “I mean, this is a whole new world, you know? I’ve uh… got no idea on where to start.”

“Gee, I… don’t really know either. It’s a really big field of stuff, and it’s not really the one I’m interested in.”

“What field would that be?”

“Science,” she replied with a smile. “I know a lot of history too, but not as much as I know about science; and with military stuff… well, the closest I’ve ever studied something like that is with strategy in a few chess games.”

“You guys have chess here?” Cole asked, turning to face her.

“Yea, humans do too?” she asked rhetorically, continuing before he could respond. “Wow, that’s awesome! I didn’t expect our cultures to have very much in common.”

“Besides having the same language?”

“And a few other things, but it’s still fun to find the similarities-oh, do you play any?”

“A little bit; I used to play a good deal but I was never a pro at it. Mostly just another simple hobby,” the pilot said. “I always did find it fun though.”

“I haven’t played in a long time either. Would you like to play a few games?”

“Sure, I was thinking of that too,” Cole admitted. “Though I’m not sure how much of a challenge I’ll be.”


It had been several months since Rainbow had been in Ponyville. Her duty to the Wonderbolts and Equestrian armed service had become the center of most of her life, even if she hardly ever flew with them to begin with. Meanwhile her cloud home, including her pet tortoise, Tank, was left in the care of her friends, particularly Fluttershy. She insisted on paying them for their help, but, being the friends that they were, it was refused outright.

Now, after what felt like an eternity and a half to her, she was returning, having been granted an extensive leave. More than likely this was due to the American squadron’s overwhelming victory against the Shadow bomber force. Yet at the same time, they did not call it leave, nor was she released from the team, either. They were unspecific, telling her to ‘take a vacation until some things could be sorted out’.

However, she was not worried about that at the moment. What mattered to her right now was coming home, and more than that, Cole’s squadron had already been relocated to a base close to town. She would get to see her friends again, new and old.

The first order of business was still to stop by her house, checking up on everything and dropping some of her things off. As expected, everything was the same as she had left it. Tank was particularly happy to see her, moving faster than she had ever seen him just to say hello, and she spent a full hour playing with him before he was worn out.

Flying into town, she noticed the hefty amount of commotion on the ground, which worried her that something was amiss. To her delightful surprise, it was actually quite the opposite; the ponies were actually in the middle of celebrating the first visit of the Americans. Whether it was by chance or luck, or a combination of both, Dash did not care. They were all here, in one place, and now she could join them.

Upon arriving, the first thing she asked of both the humans and ponies was where Cole was; it seemed a bit odd to ask for his location first, yet it was still the first thing to hit her mind. Still, she did not worry about it, as she still wanted to see all her friends regardless. They had plenty of time to relax and hang out together, and from what the ponies said, Pinkie was throwing one of her welcoming parties for the pilots later in the evening; that would give plenty of bonding time.

Finding the Captain’s location proved challenging, with her having to ask multiple people and ponies until one of the humans pointed her in the direction of Twilight’s home, saying that he had been looking for the library. Overjoyed at the thought of seeing the two again, she sped right towards the house. In her haste, she failed to slow down in time, and burst through the door and into the main room as she had done many times before in the past.

“Hi Rainbow! I forgot you were coming home this afternoon,” she heard Twilight say as soon as the dust had cleared.

Apparently crashing into her home had become the tell-tale sign of her arrival, in addition to giving Twilight the habit of leaving her door unlocked.

“Dash? I wasn’t told you were coming,” a familiar voice spoke up.

“Hey Cole!”

She immediately regained her balance and dived into him, giving him a tight hug before breaking off.

“Rainbow, you really need to give me some warning before you do that,” he said, pausing to cough a couple times. “You’re a lot stronger than you look.”

“Heh, yea, I guess I am too tough for my own good,” she smirked, giving Twilight a hug as well. “So what are you guys up to?”

“Not much, just playing chess, but I’m getting a little tired of it,” she replied.

“Hey, I’m getting better,” the pilot stated quickly from the other end of the table.

“I’ve beaten him five times in a row,” Twilight sighed.

“How many have you guys played?”

“Five.”

“I am improving,” Cole persistently repeated.

“Alright, I guess he’s getting a little better,” the unicorn relented.

“I can’t judge; never got into nerdy stuff like that,” Rainbow responded. “But I didn’t think you’d be into that kind of stuff, John.”

“What can I say? I’m an old man.”

“Really? You don’t look old,” Rainbow commented.

“Is your age considered elderly to humans?” Twilight asked. “I think I’ve seen pictures of older humans than this, at least they look old in comparison.”

“Eh… never mind, it’s just an expression.”

“I don’t get it. Are old people nerds?” Rainbow guessed.

“I’ll explain another time Rainbow.”

“Alright, so… how do you like the town?”

“It’s nice. Humble, small, quiet… it gives off a feeling of innocence and welcome,” he explained. “Though I kind of wish I’d get to sit down and talk about normal life; most of the ponies I’ve come across just ask me about what the U.S. is like, what people are like, big stuff like that you know?”

“Have you met the rest of my friends? I’m sure they’d like to talk with you!”

“Besides Twilight? I don’t know, don’t think so. I ran into a pegasus that I met at the Academy who came for the questioning,” he recalled. “Star-uh, sorry… Compass Star. Big deal about his name being different or something; good kid though. You know him?”

“Not a lot; I’ve chatted with him a few times but that’s all,” she said. “But that’s ok, you’ll get to know everypony better at Pinkie’s party tonight!”

“Sorry, I’m not really a party kind of guy, Dash. I kind of prefer to keep to myself most of the time.”

“What!? Don’t you want to… hang out with us, or something?”

“Of course I would, I’m just not… social, I guess,” Cole replied, struggling to think of the right word. “I just like being a loner, nothing personal. I’d still like to hang out; I’m just not into parties and such.”

“Aw, come on! Please!?”

Rainbow put on a very pouty sad-face, drooping her ears and quivering her lips a good deal. The intended effect of sadness did not work on Cole. To the contrary, the degree at which it was overplayed nearly made him laugh. Regardless of either, it did convince him to change his mind; it turned out to be more cute than either of the other two. Perhaps that was the reason.

“Heh, alright, alright, I’ll go.”

“Awesome!”

“But if I’m going can we chat there instead of here?” he asked. “I like talking with you, but I was having a conversation with Twilight before you barged in and everything.”

“Oh, yea, that’s fine,” Dash agreed. “It’ll give me time to finish some other stuff and say hi to everypony else.”

“Sounds good.”

“Cool, I’ll see you two later,” she said, flying to the door before stopping and turning back to them. “Oh, hey Twi, I’ve got a quick question.”

“What is it?”

“Who’s Will Smith?”

Before either of them could answer, Cole let out a deep laugh, confusing both ponies.

“What’s so funny?” Rainbow asked.

“W-where in the world did you hear that name!?”

“One of your pilots called me that when I wanted to see his plane,” she recounted. “Is it supposed to be an insult?”

“Ah, right, I remember now; but, no, it’s not,” the pilot assured her. “But why’d you ask Twilight? Why not me?”

“Uh… I don’t know… I mean she usually knows more than me… so I guess-”

“Force of habit,” the unicorn interrupted.

“Yea, I guess that’s it,” Rainbow said. “So can you tell me who that is, John?”

“I think I’ll let Twilight answer,” he said with a devious smile. “I’d like to see where this goes.”

“Oh… well… I think I’ve run across the name a few times,” Twilight said, trying to remember where she had seen it. “I think he was a British man who wrote a story about some Italians that fell in love and died.”

“What!?” Cole jumped, laughing even harder now.

“Hey, it’s not easy remembering all you important humans when your names are so weird!” Twilight defended herself. “They all sound the same! You know how many times Will and John and a bunch of others have been used?”

“Can you just tell us?” Rainbow demanded.

“No, no, try again!” Cole responded, calming down.

“Ugh… fine,” Twilight moaned in aggravation. “Will Smith was… um… an American who started a religion… and… they all moved out west and he got killed… I think.”

Cole let out a sigh that quickly turned into chuckling as he bowed his head and covered it with his hand.

“Nevermind,” Rainbow grunted. “I’ll see you two at the party tonight.”

“Alright, bye Rainbow,” Twilight responded as the pegasus flew out the door.

“Sorry about that,” Cole apologized, regaining his composure.

“It's fine, I suppose it is a little funny. But what were we talking about before Rainbow interrupted?” Twilight asked her guest, who had redirected his focus to the game board.

“You just finished telling me about the first time you and your friends defeated Sombra the first time, along with your brother and his wife,” Cole reminded her. “It’s tough to wrap my head around it, guess I don’t have too much of a choice though.”

“We both have a lot to get used to.”

“Yea, can you guys can’t use your friend magic thing because they’re not bad enough?”

“Kind of; ponies on Sombra’s level are some of the worst. They’re greedy and spiteful and just plain mean. But most of the Shadows themselves… they’re certainly… angry to say the least, but their hearts aren’t totally black. Some aren’t doing it for greed, they truly think what they’re doing is what’s best for the world.”

“Doesn’t excuse the actions themselves,” Cole replied, shifting a pawn forward to allow his rook passage.

Twilight did the same with another of her pawns, only for it to allow the bishop its path of movement.

“It’s hard change somepony’s heart when it’s focused on ideals instead of greed,” she commented. “Most of them are innocent, and a lot could probably have their mind changed still. They’re not zombies; they could even do it themselves. Like the immigrants who fled before Sombra’s first banishment.”

“I guess the best course is the one that saves as many lives as possible,” Cole philosophized, moving the rook to the edge of the board while Twilight moved another pawn further down the line.

“That and between magic getting weaker and their army growing, it’d be… pretty hard for us to banish him again if we tried, at least I think so.”

Cole moved the rook up along the side of the board to knock over a pawn on the penultimate row. One more move forward and he would have Twilight’s king trapped in its spot between three other pieces. It could move out diagonally if he did get in position, but there was a knight nearby that could deal with that.

“Ha, I got you this time missy!”

“Checkmate!” Twilight replied with a grin.

“What?”

Cole looked over and saw the bishop had slid across the length of the board to position to attack his king; he had made the same mistake of blocking it in, only with one unit too many and no room to move out of the way.

“Damn it,” he thought, looking up at the smug unicorn. “You know, you sound aggravated that you’re always winning, but it sure doesn’t seem like it’s getting old for you when it actually happens.”

“Well, you almost had me that time, so I guess you are getting better.”

“You think?”

“Just not better than me!” she joked with a giggle.

Twilight and Cole spent a few more hours in the library, doing more talking than playing chess, and by the time they had run out of things to talk about, the party had already started. The two were initially going to walk down to the town hall together, where the party was being held. Unfortunately, within sight of the building, Cole was stopped again by another two ponies who wanted to ask questions.

Initially Cole agreed, telling Twilight to go on and that he would follow as soon as he was done, which he predicted would not be any more than a few minutes. However, the group grew from two to about ten and from a few minutes to over thirty. They were nothing different from ones he had already heard, but after being held up to answer them for what felt like the twentieth time that day, he was not in any mood to do so any further.

He was not noticed as he walked in due to the large, noisy crowd assembled. He preferred it that way, being like a ghost. It was easy in this environment. He did stick out from most, being human, but there were a few humans there, as well. Between the band that played an older, classical style of music, and the banter amongst the guests, there was plenty of sound filling the air. He was not bothered by it as much as his growling stomach and the closest food in reach was a plate of cookies sitting on the end of a long table of food.

Back when he was just training, his flight lead had commented that for every cookie a member downed when away, it was best to run a mile. He never really kept count of that, preferring to just run as normal or run a little more. He would run however much he needed to, and if there was some issue, he would just try a little harder. That was the logic that he eventually came to apply every time; no matter what was in the way, just bull through it and get the job done. It was this simplification that helped carry him through the more difficult times, and it gave him a determination that became an essential part of himself and his job.

“Evening Sir,” Runner greeted from behind him, nearly causing his Captain to choke.

“Evnin’” Cole replied with a full mouth, swallowing the rest of a cookie before continuing. “Enjoying the party, Lieutenant?”

“Yep, and you?”

“Well, I just got here, but it seems nice so far,” he continued. “You haven’t seen a blue pegasus? Got rainbow hair?”

“Rainbow Dash?”

“Wait, you know her?”

“Not personally, but her name’s pretty big around here,” Runner explained. “That and I heard she had a run in with a few of the guys at the Academy.”

“Ah, yea. Which one told you that? Sylvester or Maurice o-”

“All of them.”

“Oh, well I hope it wasn’t anything too bad,” Cole commented. “She’s good at heart, maybe a little hot-headed.”

“Nah, it wasn’t too bad; they all seemed to think it was funny.”

“Good, good. But have you seen her around here?”

“Not around the party, nope,” Runner specified. “Like I said, only mention of her was from Cowboy and the others.”

“Where are they, anyways?”

“Playing cards over there,” Runner said, gesturing to a table on the other end of the room.

“I figured as much,” Cole said, forcing it through a yawn he’d been trying to hold back. “I think I’ll join them.”

“Really? You don’t want to come dance with me?” Runner joked.

“To that tune? Nah, I’m too tired for that. I’d need something with some groove in it.”

“Heh, see you later Captain C.”

Cole made his way over to the table, wolfing down another cookie on the way. At the table sat three members of the squad, Lieutenants Maurice, Sylvester, and another member from Charlie flight, a quiet one named Chuck ‘Garlic’ Svenson. There were two other ponies sitting with them, both pegasi, one with a light-brown coat and dark mane, and the other with a bizarre jet-black coat and mane with a light yellow stripe, giving the feeling of a backwards bumblebee.

“Evening gentlemen. I assume you’re not playing Go-Fish, now are you?” he asked.

“Nope, Blackjack!” the darker pegasus answered in a light, innocent-sounding voice.

“Really? My first guess was poker,” Cole said, casting an eye over to Maurice. “You’re not teaching them to gamble are you? You guys shouldn’t be doing that in the first place.”

“Why would you think that?”

“We gave you the name ‘Keno’ for a reason, Lieutenant.”

“Because I only play cards and the only time I tried a lottery game I lost a thousand dollars to it,” he annoyingly replied. “And you all take great joy in reminding me of it.”

“Yes, but you still shouldn’t gambling.”

“I’m not, Sir,” he repeated. “It’s just a normal game, no stakes. I play like this all the time.”

“I know you do, and I trust you; I’m just making sure, it’s my job,” Cole assured him. “Besides, I came to play a couple rounds with ya’ll anyways.”

The First Lieutenant’s mood quickly reversed, breaking out a hearty smile.

“Great! Take a seat, Sir; there’s still a spot open.”

Cole did this, sitting in the last chair available at the circular table in between Sylvester and the dark pegasus.

“Hi there, my name’s Midnight Strike,” she replied in a happy voice, the immediateness of it feeling more odd than welcoming.

“Uh, hey. I’m Captain John Cole, USAF,” he replied in an awkward, semi-formal tone.

“Cool, are you the leader of the squadron that go stationed nearby?”

“Yea, that’s me,” he confirmed. “Are you going to ask me some questions?”

“No… why would I?”

“I’ve just been getting them all day from ponies is all.”

“Oh, I understand. Well don’t worry, we won’t bug you!”

“I’m sorry, who are you, by the way?” Cole asked the second pegasus on the other side of Midnight.

“Wild Fire,” she grunted through her annoyed face.

“She hasn’t quite caught on to the game yet, so she’s a little upset,” Midnight explained. “Nothing personal.”

As she finished, Maurice started dealing the cards out, tossing two for each player and two for himself. Cole got a hold of a Two and King giving him a sum of twelve to start with. Everyone around the table seemed rather relaxed, save for Wild Fire, who kept her vexed glare at her set, and Sylvester, who had a serious demeanor over his fresh-faced stare, directed at Keno.

The two of them had a fascinating rivalry when it came to cards, with the two of them laying more than any other member in the squadron. Each time a game of Blackjack was played Lieutenant Maurice would have the upper hand. Every time the two played Poker it was Sylvester who had the advantage. Yet every time one would try to get the edge over the other.

“Fold,” Svenson called from across the table, tossing two queens down.

“Hit,” Cowboy called, the dealer giving him another card.

Cole simply tapped the table, signifying the same intent, with the two pegasi following in suit. He gained a Five of Hearts, making seventeen in total. It was not long after that Wild Fire groaned, simply tossing her three cards, which added up to twenty-four, onto the table and dropping her head down along with it. Midnight kept the same look she had on her face before, holding her cards close.

“How are you holding those cards up?” Cole asked.

“Hm? You haven’t learned how ponies hold things?”

He shook his head in the negative response.

“It’s real simple,” she assured him. “You see, all ponies have a little bit of natural magic in them. It’s what gives earth ponies their strength and unicorns their… well… better magic, and so on. And there are some traits that all ponies share.”

“And this is one of them?”

“Yep! Basically when a pony wants to grab or pick up something with their hooves, there’s a kind of magic, similar to the kind unicorns use to levitate and move things with their horns, that activates. It gets focused on what the pony is focusing on and attaches it to the hoof when contact is made, and can be stopped when we want to let it go.”

“I think Sparkle summed it up like a ‘controllable magnet’ or something like that,” Wild Fire quipped, still looking at her deck.

“Huh, wonder why she never told me that,” Cole thought. “But I guess I never really asked.”

“It kinda is a controllable, focused magnet. A few times you’ll see unicorns levitate stuff with their horns, and sometimes ponies will work with their mouths, but anypony can do it, really.” Magic’s a neat little thing, huh?” Midnight asked.

“Tell me about it.”

“What’s the call, Captain?” Maurice asked, returning their focus to the game.

Cole looked down at his cards one more time to remind himself of the number.

“Hold.”

“Same,” Midnight followed.

“Hit,” Sylvester called, growling when he saw the new card signify another defeat. “Damn it… busted again.”

“You should learn when to stop,” Maurice commented.

The Lieutenant dealer turned over his own cards, showing two fives. He threw down a seven and a four, adding up perfectly to twenty-one. Regardless of which of the remaining two had the higher number, he had hit the necessary number. Keno had won from reaching the objective of the game.

“Would you like to try again?” he asked through a grin.

Each of the players at the table answer in the affirmative, and each received two new cards from a freshly shuffled deck. This time his sum added up to ten, giving him a bit more room than the previous round. Cowboy made a quiet comment to himself, with Cole only catching a few rough swears and the word ‘crash’, which reminded him of the reason he was here to begin with.

“Have any of you seen Dash around?”

“The pegasus?” Sylvester asked. “Nope. Why? Did you need to talk to her about something, Sir?”

“Kind of; I promised her I’d come to this party,” Cole clarified. “It’s sort of the reason I came at all.”

“I was wondering what you were doing here,” he replied. “But no, I haven’t seen her.”

The rest of the table gave similar replies, with the exception of Lieutenant Svenson.

"Yea, actually. She asked me where you were, but she said it wasn’t too important,” he said, tossing his cards down again after receiving a third. “Said she was going to head out to look for you.”

“When was this?”

“About... hm… about a few minutes before you first got here, I think, if you came straight over to play with us.”

“And how come you didn’t tell me about it?”

“Sorry Sir, I forgot, honest,” Svenson responded. “Like I said, she told me it was nothing major… though I guess she did seem a bit upset.”

“Damn me,” Cole cursed himself.

“I’m sure she’ll be back,” Midnight spoke up. “You did come, right? I’m sure she’ll be happy about that.”

“You think I should just stay here till she gets back?”

“Sure, might as well,” Cowboy commented.

“I’d stand right out at the front doors, Captain,” Keno commented. “It’s not like a gentleman, or an Officer, to be late for a date.”

“She’s not a date,” Cole specified, annoyed even though he knew it was a joke. “Besides, this officer was being a good representative and doing yet another spontaneous Q and A with the locals.”

“I’m just saying what I’d do, Sir; trust is an important part of honor.”

“Honor coming from the gambler?” Cole thought to himself.

“Yea, I-”

Cole let out another long yawn, first covering his hand with his mouth and then running it over his face in an effort to wipe away the sleepiness.

“Well here’s a suggestion, Sir,” Sylvester brought up. “Why don’t you go get some rest, ‘cause I’m pretty sure if you stood outside for too long you’d fall over and pass out. Whenever Dash gets here, we’ll just tell her where you are and she can come wake you up. How’s that?”

Cole was not quite sure of the validity of the plan, or if it was really the best option, but was too tired by this point. He had tried to get there on time and between Twilight and answering questions was held up. What was important was that he would get to see Rainbow, provided his wingmen did what they said they would do, which he trusted.

“That sounds fine,” Cole agreed, tossing down the cards before the next hit. “I’m gonna go take a nap-”

“Yes! That’s it!” Wild Fire loudly interrupted, slamming her cards on the table. “Twenty-one, right there! That’s how you win, right?”

“Uh… yea,” Keno confirmed, examining the cards. “So you win-”

“Yes! I finally won! I was the lucky one this time! You lose fate!”

“Wouldn’t it still be fate if you won?” Svenson pointed out.

“Wha-no! I won because I was good enough this time… right? I mean it was a mix of luck and skill.”

“The whole game is based on chance,” he retorted.

“I’ll be in one of the Humvees,” Cole grunted, shuffling off from the table.


There were several things happening at once, but Cole could not comprehend any of them. Some looked like flashes of dull, small lights and other looked like things were rattling, yet he could not actually feel anything. Nor did it feel like he was in control of his body. He could not hear either, but the sounds seemed to register as if they were already implanted in his mind.

All he could tell was that he was flying his jet, with the idea that he was running away from something, and as soon as he came to realize that, his sense returned and everything broke in the space of a second. There was a small flash at the bottom of his vision, and his plane shook violently. It quickly dipped down, heading towards the ground at a steep angle with increasing speed.

Cole did not do anything; he did not feel like he could do anything. In fact, he felt little of anything at all. All he could feel was a growing anxiety mounting and piling up as he neared the ground. Yet it was all suppressed, and he felt no panic. His body felt numb, as if no blood was in it, and he pulled back on the flight stick with nothing happening. The bottom drew closer and closer, and before long the jet smacked nose-first into the grass and dirt of the world.

It did not end there, as he thought it would. There was no pain, nor shock, or any true feeling, but a good deal of spinning. When things cleared up, he found himself lying on the ground, surrounded by the grass, wreckage, and a spreading fire overtaking the area.

This time, his body, save for his head, barely responded at all. As he examined things, his attention finally turned to his body to see a jagged piece of metal piercing through his side and nailing him to the earth like a thumbtack. Once again, he felt nothing from it; no sense of pain or trauma at its discovery.

He suddenly gained control of his right arm, and reached it up to grab hold of the metal. He took a hold of it and pulled up, but the shrapnel did not move a bit. He continued to do so, but it felt like there was no strength behind the yank, with no muscle responding as if his body had resigned itself to its fate. He continued to focus on this, but made no progress as the flames crept in.

Before long, the fire had reached him, and he watched as it crawled across his body and consumed him. Once again, there was no feeling behind it, and it felt as though he was watching through another pair of eyes. As the fire filled his vision and became the solitary thing, he finally felt something come into play. He felt fear, not anxiety or worry, but pure fear that quickly filled his mind. The fear took over piece by piece until he let out a yell for it to stop.

“Please, relax yourself, John.”

Cole felt everything stop, and his mind filled with peace and his body covered in warmth as if wrapped in a blanket. There was nothing to see anymore; only a light dark that was more calm than it was scary, punctuated by small lights of light color at times. The only thing left was a soft, feminine voice that brought the tranquility. He now felt as if he was in a different state now than before, as if he had some control and consciousness about him.

“Your nightmare is over. My apologies for being late.”

“It’s alright, thank you for your help,” he responded in his head, as if he were thinking rather than talking. “Who are you?”

“Princess Luna, of the night,” she answered. “It is my duty to ensure all in Equestria have pleasant dreams, but it has become more difficult to do with the reduced magical abilities, hence my tardiness.”

“You seem quite busy,” Cole guessed, recognizing the Princess from the news over the years. “This is nice though; I feel good, eased. Shouldn’t I be speaking to you more formally?”

“Not here, John; this is your mind. All subjects speak this way here."

"It feels motherly... comforting."

"Indeed, there is no need for such unnecessary complexity in your mind, I am only here to protect it and help you analyze it.”

“Analyze it? The dream?”

“The nightmare,” she corrected him. “In Equestria, nightmares can be different from regular ones at times, due to the natural magic of the land. They can be many things, fears, warnings, threats, attacks. Yours seemed to be some kind of warning.”

“Sent by who?”

“Not a warning as in a threat, a warning as in a prediction,” Luna clarified. “It is like a prophecy, a telling of what the future could hold for you.”

“Is it my death?”

“I cannot tell, John,” she stated simply. “I can only control the dreams, but this came from your mind. Only you know, or can discover, its true meaning. It seems to be that from first glance, but be warned that dreams can be deceiving.”

“I don’t know what else it could be. Someone else, maybe?”

“Perhaps, but remember that I said it may only be a warning. It may be written already, but it may be a caution to prevent such a loss from being written.”

“I should keep my eyes open, then,” he said. “Thank you or the help, Luna; do you have any advice for me?”

“Beyond what I have said already, I can only say what we ponies practice: keep your friends close, and your bonds will carry you through anything,” the Princess stated. “I must be going; I believe one of them is about to shake you from your slumber.”


“Wake up!”

The pilot did just this, coming to in the passenger’s seat of the vehicle suddenly but without rustle. Wrest from his rest, he grunted a few times and cracked his neck a bit, wiping away some sweat on his forehead. It was dark out, and after blinking a few times his eyes began to adjust. As it cleared up, the first thing to catch his attention was a bit of rainbow hair and two large, magenta eyes.

“Hey Dash,” he said, coming back to the real world. “Sorry I’m late; I got caught up talking with Twilight and answering some more questions for some folks.”

“Oh, that explains it,” Rainbow responded in an understanding voice. “Once you start talking with Twilight about smarty stuff, it’s hard to get her to stop, hehe.”

“Mhm, but I’m here now,” he said with a weak smile.

“Yea, but are you ok? One of your friends told me you were out here, and I found you squirming and grunting while you were asleep. Did you have a nightmare?”

“Yea… yea, I did.”

“What was it about?”

“I died,” he thought. “No, don’t say that.”

“Nothing,” he replied.

“What? You do know that nightmares here mean more stuff than in the human world.”

“I know, the Princess visited me and all that jazz,” he spoke ahead of her. “But I’m fine, really, still need to figure it out; I just need to… recover, you know?”

“Yea, I can understand,” the pegasus replied. “But take your time, alright? It looked kinda rough.”

“You don’t want me to go back to the party?”

“Not like this,” she said. “Just chill out here until your head clears up. I’ll keep you company, ok?”

“Yea, that sounds good, thanks,” he agreed. “So… how’s… stuff?”

“Stuff? There’s a lot of stuff,” Rainbow giggled. “What kind of stuff?”

“Uh… what about your flying with the Wonderbolts? Did they give you leave or something?”

“Kind of, it’s a little complicated,” she said. “I think they’re trying to restructure everything, but either way I get to come back here. It’s nice to sleep in my own bed again.”

“That’s always nice, being able to sleep in your own bed on your own ground instead of a wooden pallet in the middle of nowhere,” Cole agreed.

“Yea? My house isn’t even on the ground,” Rainbow proudly stated. “It’s up in the air!”

“Huh?”

“Yep, since I’m a pegasus I live in a house made of clouds! Pretty sweet, huh?”

“Wow, that sounds pretty amazing. I bet the view is nice from up there.”

“It is! You want to check it out someday? I can fly you up and you can see for miles up there!”

“N-no, that’s alright Rainbow.”

“What? You’re not going to fall through or anything, I’ll just drag you up-”

“No!” Cole quickly interrupted. “Sorry, Dash, I’d… just rather not, ok?”

“A-alright,” she relented. “Anything else you want to talk about?”

“Honestly, when you mentioned the clouds, it got me to notice how nice the sky looks,” Cole commented. “I always appreciate a pretty sky.”

“Same here,” Rainbow agreed, leaning against the car as Cole hung out a bit to see it. “You should see the ones we had back in Equestria, back when the Princesses could control the moon and sun. They’d make the coolest sunset and sunrise.”

“I bet, but these are pretty nice all the same; nice stars, not a lot of wind, just the right amount of clouds,” the pilot examined. “Y’know, I actually like it when there are some clouds around; not too many, just the right amount. They can be in all sorts of shapes that make of a moment worthy of a painting.”

“I always have fun making cool shapes out of clouds,” Rainbow said. “Especially when they’re over a big area, and there’s more room.”

“Too bad I can’t control clouds,” Cole commented. “At least I can fly, too.”

“Yea, you guys weren’t meant to fly and you do anyways.”

“What can I say? We humans are brilliant and imaginative.”

“And weird,” Rainbow teasingly added. “With your crazy clothes and weird skin and your dumb chin fur.”

“Chin fur?”

Rainbow reached a hoof up and tapped it under Cole’s chin, causing him to notice the prickly bits of hair that were growing there.

“Damn it, is it growing back again?” he thought, stroking the scruff hair. “I just shaved!”

“It won’t be there for long,” he promised her. “But hey, you guys can be weird too with all this magic and stuff. But like I said earlier, I still love it here.”

“Ponyille, or Equestria?”

“Mostly just the town; I haven’t seen much of the rest of the country,” Cole said. “But it’s nice here. It’s friendly and bright and pure; a little slice of paradise, y’know.”

“I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else,” Rainbow added.

Cole stretched a bit more and pushed himself out of the seat and onto the ground.

“Feeling good enough to go back inside?” Dash asked.

“Yea, I’d kind of like to go back to the party,” Cole admitted. “Hey, have you ever played Blackjack before?”