//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2; Judgement 
// Story: The Specter 
// by HonestAJ4President 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 2
Judgement

While Celestia and Twilight led me to my room, I asked why such a sudden change of heart. Celestia responded with something I never thought I'd hear "Operation Gatebreaker."
"How do you know about that?"
"My sister has the ability to view into dreams and memories. When you were unconscious, my sister viewed your memories to try and figure out why you killed that man. After you told the story of the Specters, I asked if there was a memory of such a battle. She told us that she had seen the man in a memory. She has a spell that can have ponies relive other ponies memories. In the minutes you were alone, we were experiencing Operation Gatebreaker. We don't agree with your method, but we found killing your closest friends is reason enough to want revenge."
"And what does that mean for tomorrow?"
"We have a new way of looking at why you did what you did. However, it's unfortunately we have no way to send you back immediately. You will have to wait 30 moons for the portal to reopen."
"Ho-, how long is that?"
"2 years." 2 years. I'm stuck in a world of magical fucking ponies for 2 goddamn years. 
We arrived at my room in complete silence. I hated silence. On mission, it made my margin for error even larger. Anywhere else, it made me fell like someone was out to get me, which there probably were. Before I went inside, Celestia stopped me and said "We have done this due to the memory that revealed what that man did to you. However, we need your word that you will not harm anypony."
"I only harm in self-defense. I only kill if on mission or if someone attacks me with intent to kill me. I surrendered to you because you didn't attack." Twilight and I went inside, with Twilight wanting to interview me about my world. We went to the balcony and I looked over the Crystal Empire as she asked her questions and wrote down my answers on a piece of paper.
"What year is your world in?"
"2017."
"Country of origin?"
"United States of America."
"Name?"
"James Harrison MacTavish."
"Age?"
"29."
"Profession?"
"I think it's obvious, but soldier. Officially, United States Navy SEALs. Unofficially, United States Military Specters."
"How many wars have your species had?"
I sighed and said "Too many."
"What was your mission when you came here?"
"Most of that is classified. But, what I can tell you is that the Panamanian Rebels from Gatebreaker were preparing a come back. And the personal matter."
"Why were they rebelling?"
"I don't know, I don't care. All I know is that they kill civilians, I want anyone who kills civilians in the sight of my rifle."
"I believe that will be all Mr. MacTavish. However, it is much too early to go to bed. Would you like me to give you a tour of the Empire, meet my friends, something?"
"Um. sure yeah. You know what. Sure, I'd like that. But why? The only thing you've seen me do is kill."
"No. What I've seen you do is something for your friends. You've done something for your friends that I don't think I could do." Then she spotted my tattoo, that was half covered by my sleeve, and said "What's that on your arm?"
"Oh, my tattoo. It's just something that I got after Gatebreaker." The tattoo in question was a scroll with the words Never Forgotten above the names of my teammates that became KIA during Gatebreaker next to their mask pattern.
We left and I nearly broke the door down as I was tackled by an all pink pony. "Oh my gosh! A new pony or what ever you are. What's your name? What are you? Do you like parties? Wait let me guess. James Harrison MacTavish, human and yes." Then she gasped and said "I need to prepare a 'Welcome to Equestria' party." Just as quickly as she came, she left in a pink blur.
"Who or what was that?"
"That was Pinkie Pie. One of my friends.
"Ok but how did she know all that?"
She was about to answer when she said "I don't know." Then we ran into Twilight's son, Dusk Star, and Twilight made an offer to join us. He accepted and we toured the Empire with me getting most ponies stopping when they saw me and I met all of Twilight's friends, none of which had seen what I had done. Then we needed to go the guard training area because Twilight needed to find her brother and I felt right at home. The only thing that was missing was modern weaponry. I was sitting on a box with Star when 2 of guards walked up to me and said
"So your what was making those loud bangs last night. Heard you're military in your world."
I responded "Best of the best."
"What are waiting for?"
"Princess Twilight is giving me a tour and she's looking for her brother."
"Why don't we kill time by you teach us some cadences."
"Why not. Alright, my country has 5 military branches. Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard. This is a Marine Corps one called Marines for Me. After every line I say, shout 'Marine Corps'. Ready, set, go.
A 1, 2, 3, 4, MARINE CORPS, A 1, 2, 3, 4, MARINE CORPS, A ARMY, NAVY WAS NOT FOR ME, MARINE CORPS, AIR FORCE WAS JUST A TOO EASY, MARINE CORPS, WHAT I NEED WAS A LITTLE BIT MORE, MARINE CORPS, I NEED A LIFE THAT IS HARDCORE, MARINE CORPS, PARRIS ISLAND IS WHERE IT BEGAN, MARINE CORPS A LITTLE ROCK WITH LOTS A SAND, MARINE CORPS I CAN'T FORGET ABOUT HOLLYWOOD, MARINE CORPS SAN DIEGO AND IT'S ALL GOOD, MARINE CORPS, PT DRILL ALL DAY LONG, MARINE CORPS, KEEP ME RUNNING FROM DUSK TO DAWN, MARINE CORPS, A 1, 2, 3, 4, MARINE CORPS, TELL ME NOW WHAT YOU WAITING FOR, MARINE CORPS, A 1, 2, 3, 4, MARINE CORPS, MOMMA NOW I'M GONNA SING YOU SOME MORE, MARINE CORPS, FIRST PHASE IT BROKE ME DOWN, MARINE CORPS, SECOND PHASE I STARTED COMIN ROUND, MARINE CORPS, THIRD PHASE I WAS LEAN AND MEAN, MARINE CORPS, GRADUATION STANDING TALL IN MY GREEN, MARINE CORPS, TO ANYBODY WHO ASKED ME WHY, MARINE CORPS, HERE'S THE DEAL I GAVE MY REPLY, MARINE CORPS, I'LL BE A MARINE TIL THE DAY I DIE, MARINE CORPS, MOTIVATED AND SEMPER FI, MARINE CORPS, A 1, 2, 3, 4, MARINE CORPS, TELL ME NOW WHAT YOU WAITING FOR, MARINE CORPS, A 1, 2, 3, 4, MARINE CORPS, LISTEN UP I'M GONNA SING YOU SOME MORE, MARINE CORPS, MAKIN HISTORY SO IT'S UNDERSTOOD, MARINE CORPS, IWO JIMA TO THE GUADAL CANAL, MARINE CORPS, KICKIN BUTT JUST EVERYWHERE, MARINE CORPS, FROZEN CHOSEN TO THE HO CHI MINH, MARINE CORPS, I THINK ITS TIME THAT WE DO IT AGAIN, MARINE CORPS, BEIRUT LEBANON, MARINE CORPS, I THINK ITS TIME THAT WE GET IT DONE, MARINE CORPS, A 1, 2, 3, 4, MARINE CORPS, TELL ME NOW WHAT YOU WAITING FOR, MARINE CORPS. By the time we finished, Dusk had joined and we had formed a crowd of guards, some of which had joined in. Then someone shouted "Another!" and others shouted "YEAH!". So we sang cadences more until Twilight and her brother pushed through the crowd. Then we returned to my room, I thanked Twilight for giving me the tour and I went to bed.
I was awoken from the best damn sleep I've had since Gatebreaker by a knocking at my door. When I opened the door, I was greeted by the guards that asked me to teach them Earth cadences yesterday. They said they would escort me to my judgement. When we arrived, I saw Twilight, her husband and friends, Celestia and Luna, and Shining Armor and his wife sitting at a large circular table. When I took my seat, Celestia said "2 nights ago, you arrived in the middle of the night without warning chasing a man. When you had him cornered, you didn't attack him until he attempted to attack you. After he tried, you killed him without hesitation and surrendered to the guard without a fight. However, yesterday it was revealed to us that he had killed your closest friends when they were defenseless and you made a vow in your words to 'Not rest until that bastard is dead.' However, and you can refuse this at anytime, I wish to see the battle you described."
I responded "Sure, but only the last day. I didn't lose any brothers that day."
"Of course. My little ponies, what you are about to see is horrifically violent. If you wish, Luna will leave you out of the spell." Only Fluttershy backed out and Celestia said "As you wish. Luna are you ready?" Luna nodded and she preformed the spell.

Operation Medicine Man
2nd Lt. James H. MacTavish
JSOC Strike Team 5
May 15, 2015
8:45 p.m
Atacama Desert

The final 15 American soldiers were gathered in the the ER wing of a nearly destroyed hospital. Col. Yellowstone was briefing us about what we are about to do. "Gentleman, I'm not going to lie to you. We probably aren't going to survive tonight. Comms are down and the predator drone is out of AGMs. That is why we are evacuating the hospital. Sergeant Stuck will lead the civilians to safety while we hold them off. The UAV says the enemy will be here in about an hour. Stuck, go tell the civilians. The rest of you, get into position. If none of us make it out of this, it was an honor serving with you." He ended his speech by grabbing his SCAR and walking towards the door. Everyone followed suit and followed him. I took my grandfather's M1911 from it's holster and chambered a round. I had 3 mags for my rifle, 4 for my pistol, 2 frags and 1 flashbang. I got up from the box I was sitting on, grabbed my M4 and pulled the charging handle before looking in the chamber. Seeing a fresh round in the chamber, I walked out into the ruins. Seeing all 14 of us here, Yellowstone began "I know it's morbid but we need to hide among the dead to ambush the enemy. Don't engage the enemy in the open. Ambush them." None of us argued, we needed every advantage against the enemy which we estimated was still 103 strong. I hid by lying on top of a pile of corpses that by the uniform, used to be Delta Force.
We hid among the dead for an hour, the blood soaking our uniforms and washing any face-paint we had on off. When the winds picked up, the sand blew into our faces and stuck there. After an hour of waiting, we could the feet of the enemy. When they saw what they thought was us giving up, I could here some cheering. Then I heard the first of many screams. Then I saw the boots of an enemy. I used my rifle to trip him before drawing my pistol and shooting him. Out of the corner of my eye I saw 2 more. I turned and put 2 rounds into both of them.
At first, the battle went like that with us hiding among the dead before briefly rising and shooting the enemies in our sight. Then I ran out of ammo. I slung my rifle over my shoulder and drew my knife. After my knife became dull, I sheathed it and used my bare hands.
8 hours later, the dust and sand settled and I saw the final enemy running away. Most of the men were shouting "We did it! We fucking did it!" as the sun rose over the desert. Then someone shouted "Colonel, we got signal. Comms are up." The colonel walked to the person who shouted it and grabbed the radio.
"Overlord, Overlord this is the Colonel Yellowstone of Hunter 2-2. We did it, we fucking did it! Send Blackhawks, Humvees, send us a fucking rowboat just send us something to get us the hell out of here." After a few seconds of silence, we got a response.
"Hunter 2-2, this is Overlord. We read you, loud and clear. The civilians have arrived at Plaza Guemes and Blackhawks are on the way. Stay put. Good job out there."
An hour later, we could see the Blackhawks in the distance. Many of us started cheering and the the Blackhawks landed. My friend, 1st Lt. Porter walked up to me and said "Come on man, let's go."

A Bar Somewhere in NYC
36 hours later

The 15 soldiers that survived Operation Medicine Man sat at a bar, celebrating the fact that there was still oxygen in their lungs and blood in their veins. JSOC Strike Team 5 sat a table. Only one member of my team was killed, Cpt. Green. The final member of Strike Team 3 was with us, Cpl. Howard. Then Col. Yellowstone walked in and called us to a table. "Gentleman, I have a proposition from the top. Apparently, one of the enemy got out alive. He was picked up in the desert and he expressed words of warning about a force that could only be described as supernatural. He called them, us, Specters. The proposition from the brass, is to make such a force a reality. This is top secret. We will wear masks and take the most dangerous of missions. Hooah?" he asked and got a resounding HOOAH, OORAH OR HOOYAH depending on the branch the soldier was from.

Cpt. MacTavish

I awoke in the chair I was sitting in before the spell took affect. I rubbed my eyes and looked around. Everyone was in the same position they were in before the spell. "Now that itch is scratched, before you arrived, we decided what to do. While you wait for the portal to reopen, you will be the captain of the guard at Princess Twilight's castle in Ponyville. You are leaving tomorrow. That is all. You can claim your items as soon as you leave this room." We left the room and I diverged to get my items. I put on my outer shirt and body-armor on before placing my all my ammo and grenades on my vest. I put my M1911 in it's holster and slung my M4 and VECTOR over my shoulder before tucking my mask into my waist and leaving to my room to place my rifle, SMG and frag grenades. After loading a magazine into the M1911, putting the safety on and writing a quick note that I placed on the frag grenades, that said 'Don't pull the pin. No seriously if you pull the pin you will die.', I left to meet up with Twilight and her friends. 
Upon greeting them in the throne room, I said to Twilight "So, I guess your my commanding officer now."
"Yep." she responded to me and turned to the group "So, what are we going to do."

The Next Day
Main Gate of Crystal Empire

We waited on the train platform for the train. I was using the time to clean my guns and was taking a million questions from Dusk and his cousins. After a while, the train arrived and after boarding, it went down to a thousand questions from just Dusk. After everything was clean, a question popped into my head and I asked Flash "So, what's your guard like?"
"Well, we didn't until a few months ago when some Diamond Dogs got bold. We have around 30, all of them new recruits. I was captain until you came along. Why you ask?"
"Well, they're gonna receive some new training. Training that has come from thousands of years of conflict. Humanity has perfected the art of war. We got so good at killing each other that we created a bomb that can destroy an entire city. Luckily, we realized what has become of us and after World War 2, we created the United Nations. Now, there is a line to cross. Weapons Mass Destruction are illegal. Use nuclear, chemical or biological weapons and every nation available will be knocking on your door with their armies. Get ready, Ponyville. Cause I'm bringing human culture to ya."
Twilight asked "Thousands of years of war. How could a people be so cruel."
"Homo Homini Lupus, Man is a Wolf to Man. The thing your missing, is that there isn't just one people. There's one species, but many different nationalities, religions and cultures. People disagree and and some people think the only way is their way and anyone with a different mindset is inferior and that those people must be conquered. It's a sad but true fact in my world"
We sat the rest of the ride making the odd conversations. The train came to a stop at 8:45 and we prepared to leave. During the ride, Dusk had decided that my shoulder was a good place to take a nap and as I exited, he stirred and decided that this was a ride that shouldn't be given up. We walked to Twilight's castle, getting odd looks but if you saw a creature nearly twice as tall as you following a princess with said princess's son on that creature's shoulder, wouldn't you look twice. We arrived at the castle and Flash called the guard after I gave Dusk to Twilight. After everyone was gathered he said "Good evening men. This is James MacTavish, Captain James MacTavish. YOUR Captain." He motioned for me to start talking and I said
"Good evening, this may come as a shock that a creature you've never seen before is now your captain but, I'm a captain in my country's military. Not only that, but I'm part of the Specters. That may not mean much to you, but in my world, to those that know it exists, we are the roughest, toughest, and meanest sons of bitches to ever join the military. I'll tell ya the story of its founding tomorrow, as well as showing you what my gear does. The day after that, your new training begins. And this training comes from the species that has perfected the art of war. Dismissed." I said with a salute. And with that, I began my new job as captain of the Ponyville guard. Half-way through, Twilight had joined and after I finished, she said she'd show me to my room. I propped my rifle and SMG against the wall, hung my holster, bandolier and mask on a hat rack, laid down in my bed and fell asleep.