Fluttershy stood on the tarmac of the human's airport outside of Appaloosa, human soldiers patrolled on the outskirts of the airfield, staying on their side of the fence. Ponies dressed in their guard armor and holding spears were on the other side of the fence, patrolling their own side. The towers and hangers were all built out of concrete and steel, something Equestria didn't use very often. Ahead of Fluttershy sat her transport, a large green aircraft that was to take her halfway across the world to the US.
Behind her stood the Elements of Harmony, all of whom were accompanied by several soldiers, both Equestrian and American. Fluttershy had a saddlebag on her back, filled with a few personal objects she was taking with her. She was absolutely terrified of this, she was leaving her home, her place of birth, and headed to an entirely new land filled with many things she knew so little about. The United States of America, Equestria's Ally.
Fluttershy had heard many things about the country, and the others populated by humans. They were said to be dangerous, war mongering psychopaths. And she was scared, because she was asked by Princess Celestia herself to be the first of many ponies to live in the country as a part of Project called, The Interspecies Friendship Project. There were so many other ponies that would have jumped at the opportunity to live in America. Fluttershy knew Lyra was a human fanatic, but apparently the poor mare had come down with something and couldn't go.
So... for some strange reason, that left poor Fluttershy. Out of the hundreds of thousands of ponies, Celestia choose Fluttershy for this project. And her friends, while they were said Fluttershy was moving - temporarily it seemed - they were happy she was getting a once in a lifetime chance. And so, here she was, standing just a few feet away from the stairs that would lead her to a whole new world.
"Are you alright, Fluttershy?" Twilight asked her friend, coming up to stand beside her. She had been a bit worried about Fluttershy, as the pegasus was acting more scared than usual. The Princess of Friendship only hoped the younger mare was going to be alright, she knew humans tended to be rather aggressive - something they shared with Griffons - but from the very few she had met personally, they could be very nice and helpful individuals.
After a few seconds, Fluttershy nodded her head. "Y-yes, Twilight," she said, gulping as she stared at the aircraft. "Are you sure you wouldn't mind taking my place?" She asked with a nervous smile, she desperately wanted to be home with Angel Bunny, possibly hiding under her bed with some snacks and a good book to read.
The lavender mare giggled. "As much as I would love to go in your place, the princess said it had to be you." Twilight chided, her eyes drifted skyward for a moment, as she started saying, "the advanced technology, the hundreds of books on their history and species, the fountains of knowledge and the diverse cultures!" She looked back at her friend, "you're getting such a rare chance here!"
"I-I know, Twilight." Fluttershy squeaked, she knew only a little about humanity's culture and their ways, most of which involved mornings scrambling baby chickens over a pan and deep frying their parents in oil...
She was not looking forward to such a morning.
"I'm just not really as excited as you all are." She whispered, shuffling from side to side.
One of the soldiers standing by the plane spotted the group, waving his hand and jogging over. The man was dressed in simple light olive green combat armor, and had a firearm in a holster by his side, dark green eyes stared at Fluttershy from under the helmet. "You're..." He looked down at a clipboard he was holding, murmuring to himself before asking, "Fluttershy, right?"
Fluttershy, being the ever so adorable pony she was, eeped, hiding behind Twilight. "Please don't eat me!" She squeaked.
That poor soldier's heart melted.
He made a tsking noise, taking off his helmet and showing brown hair. He knelt down, showing a soft smile. "I wouldn't eat you Miss Fluttershy," he said, giving her an honest look. "No one is going to eat you, so you don't worry about that."
Twilight smiled sheepishly, she expected this to happened, and decided to take over. "I am Princess Twilight Sparkle, might I ask who you are, sir?" She was curious about this human, his rank - from what she saw on his uniform - showed he was a Sergeant in the US Armed Forces.
The man held out his hand to the princess, "I'm Sergeant Samuel Conner, you can just call me Sammy." He told her with a smile. "I'm Fluttershy's guard during her stay in America."
The mare returned his smile, he had a distinct southern air about him that she couldn't help but notice. Twilight friend's also noticed it, Applejack in particular. The mares all approached the man, Applejack at the front. The country mare tipped her hat back, grinning at the human. "Say partner, where're you from?"
Sammy thought for a moment. "I'm from Texas originally," he chuckled, rubbing the back of his head as he thought of his home, it seemed so far away. "From the city of Austin! But I did grow up on a farm before I moved there, growing potatoes and what have ya."
Applejack grinned wider, eyes twinkling with merriment, she hadn't expected the human soldier to have been a farmer! "That's pretty interestin'! Ah'm a farmer myself!" She said, crossing one leg in front of the other. "We grow apples on my farm, nothing but the best in all of Equestria!" It was true in a sense, they did grow some mighty fine apples, and she could attest to them, as well as her friends and... well, pretty much any pony in Equestria could.
The soldier widened his eyes, "I love apples, I have to try yours sometime." He said, turning back to Fluttershy, eyebrows furrowing and a thoughtful frown on his face, "Is she going to be alright?"
"Yeah," Rainbow chimed in, a playful grin on her face. "She's always like that, she'll come around in a second or two."
As the group decided to ask Sammy several questions, most of which consisted of his home, family, and what he thought about the project, to other random things like when his birthday was, how many people has he killed, if he liked cupcakes or not, and his choice in military fashion. The last four courtesy of Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy was taking one last look at Appaloosa, the airfield blocked off most of the view of the town, but she could see several ponies standing on the other side of the far northern fence, most of them holding up signs and yelling things she couldn't make out.
Sammy seemed to have caught her line of sight, saying, "Protesters." He said aloud for everyone to hear, the girls all stopped talking to look at the fence, the fence was knocked against by angry earth ponies, all of which were protesting something.
"What are they protesting?" Fluttershy asked, eyes darting from side to side.
"Us," Sammy pointed to himself, then the area around them. "First contact between our two nations didn't exactly go so... smoothly." He admitted, remembering what almost happened between Equestria and America when they came into contact with one another sixty years ago. It was hectic, and almost led to World War III. "Ever since then, some of Equestria's population haven't been to... happy with us establishing bases and facilities on your soil."
"I'm afraid that's true," Twilight nodded, she had heard about how some ponies didn't take too kindly to humans and their ways. She had heard that there have even been a few attacks done by ponies, something she couldn't believe. Celestia had informed Twilight of the ponies that were against humans being on Equestrian soil. It was disheartening to hear about. "Some ponies don't like the humans all that much," the mare admitted, much to her friend's shock.
Specially Pinkie's.
"They don't!?" The pink mare gasped, Rainbow and Rarity had similar expressions on their faces. "How could they not! Humans are like, super interesting!" She bounced over to Sammy, then grabbed at his face. "Look at his face! Its so squishy!" She emphasized her point by squeezing Sammy's face, much to his and the girls' amusement and Twilight's annoyance. "And he's so cute!" Pinkie added, pulling the human into a quick hug. "How can they not like them!"
Sammy shrugged, patting Pinkie on the back. Good thing my superior isn't out here, jeez. Sammy thought with a slight smile on his face. "Some just don't like us... who are you?" He asked the pink pony hugging him.
Pinkie Pie pulled away for a second, staring him in the eyes with a large smile on her face. "I'm Pinkie Pie!" Quickly she moved away from the human, going over to her friends. "This is my friend Rarity!" She pointed to the mare, who bowed her head, then to Rainbow Dash. "And this is Rainbow Dash!" She then pointed to Applejack finally, "And this is Applejack!"
"Hehehe, well it's nice to meet you six," Sammy nodded to them all as an air horn sounded. "Whoops, looks like it's time for us to head out." He stood up, putting his helmet back on and nodding to Fluttershy. "We should get going Miss Fluttershy, don't want to be late, eh?" He questioned the mare, who looked up at him with a pleading expression.
The mare trembled, walking out from behind Twilight. Suddenly she found she was on the receiving end of a hug from her pink friend, followed by Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow and Twilight. She returned their hug as best as she could, eyes stinging from tears. "We're gunna miss you sugarcube." Applejack said, Fluttershy couldn't say anything, only returning the hug tenfold and wishing she didn't have to leave.
But she had to...
Letting go of her friends, Fluttershy turned to Samuel. "I'm ready." She muttered, steeling herself. She told herself she couldn't be scared now, she wanted to be strong for her friends, and strong for whatever new friends she might make in the new world she was headed into, called the United States. She started forward, the soldiers behind her giving her encouraging glances, and her friends giving her heartbreaking but happy smiles. Samuel trailed beside her, walking by her side and leading her to the stairs.
The plane was fueled up, and both pilots were getting ready for take off. Samuel went up the stairs first, opening the side door and letting Fluttershy in. The pony carefully made her way up the stairs, the metal feeling odd and foreign against her hooves, each step produced a clank noise until she reached the top. She gulped, staring at the inside of the plane before turning around, she saw her friends waving to her, she smiled faintly, waving back to them, she made her way inside the plane.
Samuel gave a salute to the soldiers looking his way before disappearing into the plane, closing the door and locking it behind him.
As Fluttershy went inside, she saw most if not all of the seats were empty. She felt cramped inside of the massive airplane, and briefly wondered where she was going to sit. Can I sit anywhere?
Samuel came up behind her, startling her slightly. "You can just sit anywhere, though if you want a nice view of the outside you can sit near a window seat and get a nice look outside while we fly." He suggested, "want me to put your bag away?" He asked her politely.
Looking back at her saddlebag, she slid it off of her back and presented it to Samuel, the man picked up the bag and proceeded to put it away while Fluttershy looked for a nice seat. All of the seats were made of soft cushy material, and a distinct smell lingered in the air, it wasn't a bad smell however. Eventually she settled for a seat where Samuel was standing, putting her bag above in an overhead compartment. She hopped up into the seat, kneading it with her hooves before settling down, her gaze turning to the window.
Next to her, Samuel turned to face her, kneeling down, "I'm going to have to strap you in," He told her as he reached for the seat straps.
"Straps?" She questioned curiously, watching as the human grabbed some straps attached to the seat and began wrapping them around her waist and shoulder.
She was about to protest, but Sammy's next words destroyed it. "These will keep you safe, more or less if something goes wrong with the plane."
Straps stay on! STRAPS STAY ON! Fluttershy cried mentally, gulping down the possibility of something going wrong with the plane. She didn't know much about aircraft, only that through some kind of magic and technology that these massive beasts of steel could fly through the skies as effortlessly as a Pegasus. It felt somewhat unnatural to her, but she reasoned that some ground bound species had to travel somehow. After being strapped into the seat, Samuel took a seat next to her and strapped himself in, taking off his helmet and setting it aside.
With a grin, he said, "don't worry, the take off might be a bit rough, but the flight will be smooth as a baby's butt." He told her as his grin morphed into a smile.
Fluttershy felt confused about his terminology, her face scrunched up and her brows furrowed. She shook her head, deciding not to question it. The pegasus felt the plane tremble beneath her, and she felt the beast was moving. The engines on both sides turned on, the blades slicing through the air and propelling the aircraft forward.
"Attention all passengers, departing from Appaloosa, Equestria, for the Columbia Commonwealth, United States." A voice over the intercom system of the plane, Fluttershy tugged on the straps holding her in the seat with a fearful gaze as the plane started moving.
She hoped she knew what she was getting into.
