Pony of a Different Color

by Sparky Brony

Chapter 12.

I turn and look at the assembled guards. All three different races. All of them are a little older. One or two try to slip in right on time. They seem shocked to find themselves in a meeting already started. Once everyone is is settled in. I start again.

“The enemy you may end up fighting is from my world. They are all humans.” I grab a stand and a large sheaf of paper from the table, with a few pencils, I use Air to draw a basic human form. “But by coming here, they turn into ponies, the same way I did when I came here myself. Apparently none of them knew enough about the show to be thinking of other pony types as they came through, so they all became earth ponies by default. I have no reason to think that will continue if they invade again. The leader that I've met before, La Rouche, is very smart. So, any further attempts will probably have all three races of ponies involved. I just hope it's not possible to be an alicorn by stepping through a gateway.”

I start pacing back and forth. “These are members of military's from several countries in my world. But primarily former members of the United States military. Now, a little information about me. I was a member of a branch of that military. The Marine corps. I trained with them, and served for several years. I will go over specifics of their tactics with individual units. But I will give you the overview here.”

My pacing has led me stand behind the podium. “The US Military is relatively small, but is well funded, and most of all, very well trained. They have been trained to deal with insurgent forces, they have been trained to deal with forces like themselves. They have not, however, been trained to deal with Pegasi and the magic unicorns can command. We have horses and ponies in our world. But they are not sentient. They can be devastating when it comes to taking land. Small units, smart tactics, and they are trained to attack the enemies leaders.

“Their tactics are to use their weapons. Specifically pistols, rifles, and other weapons that use gunpowder to shoot lead bullets at their enemies. They may be small, but bullets move faster than the speed of sound, for the most part. And they are designed to expand upon impact. As Rainbow Dash here can tell you, they can do a lot of damage. She took nearly a dozen bullets, and required very dangerous magic to save her life. Best thing I can tell you, don't get shot. But some of you will have a natural advantage, unicorns can use your magic to make a shield to protect yourselves from the bullets. For Pegasi, you will have to use your dexterity and speed to avoid being shot. And Earth ponies, you will have to carry some sort of shield to keep from getting shot. Now for the good news, in the history of war with guns in my universe, many, many rounds were fired without hitting anything living. The fact is, most times the trigger is pulled, it's to make your enemy duck. It's called covering fire.”

I think I've got their attention. “Those weapons are devastating, and the fact is, the hand to hand tactics, as they are called, here it would be hoof to hoof.” I chuckle, “those tactics are designed to get enough space away from an enemy to use their gun. Our goal will be to make the use of their guns useless. For example, when Princess Twilight Sparkle joined me in attacking the invaders, I focused on the soldiers themselves. She, however, focused on rendering their technology unusable. She used heat and force to melt and alter the shape of the heavy weapons. Rendering them unusable as weapons. A bent gun barrel is a useless gun barrel. The Ponyville weather ponies did what they could. They grabbed the soldiers and removed them from the field of battle, simply by dropping them from a fatal height. That poses it's own risks, in that battle, every pony casualty was a Pegasus pony, because attacking that way left them open to counter attack. We will work on making the danger to the Pegasi less when it comes to that.”

“When they first came to this world, they were disoriented, they had to deal with never being ponies before. They had to deal with using hooves how they would typically use their hands. In the time between that attack, and when they come next, and believe me, they will come again. They will train, they will modify their weapons and equipment for use by ponies. Our best strategy will be to get them as they enter our world. We will have to devastate their equipment, and kill as many of them as possible.” I pause as a Unicorn clears his throat, I have to stop for a second, it's Shining Armor, wife to Princess Cadence, and brother of Princess Twilight Sparkle.

“Yes, Shining Armor, do you have something to say?”

The white stallion stands up. “Are you saying that the only option is to kill them?”

I sigh. I knew this question was coming. “That is a very good question, Shining. I would like to say no. I really would. But I don't think that these soldiers would follow the Geneva Conventions.”

A quizzical look. “The what now?”

“The Geneva Conventions, those are rules that were hammered over a century ago regarding rules of warfare. And among those rules are what to do in case of soldiers surrendering. Now, I think we should prepare contingency plans. If a soldier throws down his weapon, and raises his hooves, or waves a flag or banner that is white. That is to signify a lack of desire to fight, we should accept their surrender. But the problem I am thinking of, once they surrender, will they follow the rules of prisoners of war? I sincerely don't know. We should prepare a way to hold captured soldiers without killing them. And we can set up something. But I am not going to focus on that. We can have some of you come up with a viable way to secure, house, and feed those soldiers.” Shining sits back down.

“Now, about most soldiers, the military's that I'm talking about are all volunteer situations. Soldiers, in general, may be very well trained, and may fight very hard, but in the end, they want to go home at the end of the day. Now, that may not be one hundred percent correct. These soldiers that are searching for adepts are not regular members of those military's. They are not driven by patriotism, they are not driven by wanting to protect others. They are driven by greed. They are driven by a desire to claim the power that an adept has and pervert that power to their own ends. I am hopeful that most of the soldiers we would encounter are more like typical soldiers, attracted by the money involved, and not the idealism of La Rouche and the other leaders of their organization.”

I turn and start pacing in front of the assembled leaders of the Royal Guard. “I know Equestria does not have a full fledged military compared to many nations of this world. Your world is peaceful, your world is far more harmonious than the world I come from. The few hundred ponies here represent a good portion of your entire guard force. You don't need many guards in a peaceful world, and that is one thing I love about Equestria. But you guards are primarily there for what our world would call as a police force. You protect Celestia's subjects from outside forces, but more importantly, you investigate the small amount of crime that happens here, you assist those in need, you are not soldiers. And no amount of training I give you can change your mind set enough to make you a true military. The best I can do is to make you a rapid response force, one that can repel most of what these soldiers can throw at you, but I don't think you can defeat them in a real pitched battle.”

I don't like having to tell them the hard truth here, but it must be said. “I will work with individual units, and help you learn how to fight. Once Twilight really started devastating them en masse, the soldiers did break, and run, so, I can be hopeful that the forces can be defeated that way. But I'm not counting on it. Our mission will be to wipe out the enemies as they show up, and then worry about survivors. Are there any more questions?”

I look around expectantly, the assembled ponies look at each other, there are less than twenty ponies, not counting the various assistants on the periphery waiting for this to end.

I turn and move over to Rainbow Dash while the ponies are heading out. I'm chatting with her quietly when I hear a voice behind me.

“Excuse me sir.” I turn around.

“Yes, what is it?” I look at the three ponies before me, a Unicorn, a Pegasus, and an Earth Pony.

The Unicorn speaks up. “Sir, we are the commanders of each branch, the Unicorns, the Pegasi and the Earth Ponies. We will be working closely with you when it comes to the training. I am Colonel Swiftwind.”

“Good to meet you Colonel. I do have one question though.”

“Ask away, sir.”

“This invasion may affect more than just the ponies of Equestria. What about other races?”

Shining Armor apparently heard, he's trotting up. “Actually, myself and Cadance are just about to get on our way to the Griffon's, and I know emissaries are being sent to the Dragons, and a few other nations nearby.”

“And do their orders include how much of a danger that these invaders represent?”

Shining Armor stiffened. “Mister Sparky, Princess Luna and Celestia are quite aware of the danger. The orders they signed impressed upon our representatives that this is a very high national priority. I assure you.”

“I know you are the husband of Cadance, and you are a prince now. I will defer to you, Sir. But I know that danger that is represented here. And I'm not looking forward to combat. But I need your help to get this done.”

“Of course you have my help Sparky. Nopony wants to be at the mercy of these animals.” As he turned and trotted off.

“Alright, let's get started.” I lead the individual unit heads outside, it's really time to get down to business.

Author's Note:

I've been doing some writing this weekend, I hope you enjoy the new chapters.