Over There

by Paintbrush235

Chapter 6: Consolidation of Forces

Six mares, a dragon and thirteen Marine stallions stood huddled together staring down the barrels of about 30 U.S. Marine Springfield rifles. They had just materialized right smack dab in the middle of the 5th Marine Regiment's outer perimeter, after being teleported their from the town of Ponyville by Princess Twilight. Twilight had just focused on arriving at the field that Blackburn had described to her. She didn't expect that they would land right in the middle of the large group of Marine and Army stallions that had arrived their that morning.

Blackburn began to feel a nervous sweat form on his brow as his mind began to swirl trying to figure out a way out of the situation they were now in. These Marines were on edge already, and now a group of strangers just literally popped out of nowhere right in the middle of their defensive perimeter. Just as he was about to speak up, he heard the voice of someone he knew would be able to defuse the situation.

"Hold your fire! Stand down!" Captain Edson shouted. All at once the encircling Marines lowered their rifles and came to attention. Four of them parted to make way for the officer, who stepped forward up to Blackburn.

"Heh heh, hello Captain Edson sir." The gunnery sergeant said shakily.

"Hello Gunnery Sergeant. Good to see you have returned safely." Edson replied stressing the word "safely". His attention then became focused on the six colorful mares and the small dragon standing close to Blackburn's squad. "And who might these ladies be?" He asked.

Blackburn smiled, and then brought his hoof up into a salute. "Sir. I am happy to report that we have accomplished our objective." He said proudly. "These mares were our first contact with the native population."

He then gestured to Twilight with a sense of respect. "And this is one of their leaders, Princess Twilight Sparkle."

Edson's ears perked up at this. He then turned to face the lavender aileron and dipped his head in respect. "Your majesty."

Twilight quickly returned the bow. "Hello Captain...Edson I presume?"

"Yes ma'am." Edson replied. "Captain William Augustus Edson, Company B, 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment."

"A pleasure sir." Twilight said kindly. "Gunnery Sergeant Blackburn has told of your current situation here." She continued. "And my friends and I are here to help in any way we can."

"Has he now?" Edson glanced at Blackburn. "Well then you will probably want to talk to the senior officers next then. And I'm sure they will want to meet you as well."

Twilight nodded. "I'd be happy to meet them Captain." She said. "Just lead the way."

"Hold on Twi." Rainbow Dash suddenly zipped in front of her friend. "We next to nothing about these guys. What if its a trick?"

"I admire your staunch loyalty to your princess ma'am." Edson said respectively. "However if we meant harm to any of you, we would've done so when you appeared amongst our perimeter teams."

"Spike can come with me as well." Twilight reassured the cyan pegasus. "That way he can send a letter to the Princess if anything happens."

Rainbow Dash still looked unsure, but she trusted Twilight's judgement.

"Alright. But I'd like to be there too." Twilight was about to protest, when Rainbow Dash waved her hoof to silence her. "Just so you don't get confused by any military customs." Twilight nodded in recognition.

"Alright then." Edson said. "If you ladies and..." He paused when he saw Spike.

"Dragon." Spike said.

"Er right. And uh dragon, would come with me, I'll take you to the command truck."

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Twilight could barely contain her excitement. She had been the first pony in thousands of years to encounter humans when she had gone through the portal. Now she was among the first to welcome humans to Equestria. Well, they weren't humans right now but they had been, just like Twilight had turned into a human when she had traveled through the portal. She suspected the reverse effect had happened to this group when they had traveled to Equestria. She felt like she was just explode with enthusiasm.

Luckily her faithful assistant Spike was there to make sure she didn't lose it. "Don't freak out too much."

Twilight giggled at this. "Of course Spike. Don't worry."

As they passed through the makeshift camp of the 5th Marines, Twilight noticed all the different contraptions and gadgets that the marines had with them. The ones that caught her eye in particular were machines that appeared to her to be wagons but they had no attachments for ponies to pull them.

"What exactly are those machines?" She asked Captain Edson, pointing to one of the "wagons".

Edson was at confused at first, but then he remembered that Blackburn hadn't said that he saw any motorized vehicles among the native ponies.

"It's one of our transport vehicle we use. It's called a truck." He explained. "I'll have someone with a more extensive knowledge on motor vehicles explain how it runs later."

Twilight nodded and continued to follow the Captain as he led her towards another one of these "trucks". The only difference between this one and the others was that this one had a tent set up at the back with five stallions under it standing around a table. Two of them wore the same green uniforms of the marines Twilight had already met while the other three were wearing dark khaki uniforms. She assumed that they belonged to the "army" that Blackburn and his stallions had referred to. All of them were looking at what appeared to be maps.

Twilight watched as Captain Edson trotted up to a dark gray Unicorn stallion with a short, pale charcoal mane. He wore a helmet (Blackburn had said what they were earlier, though not what they were for) with what appeared to be a silver bird painted on the front. He also wore a green uniform.

The dark gray unicorn took notice of Captain Edson as he approached and took particular notice of the figures close behind him. When Captain Edson saluted him, he quickly returned it and walked up the new arrivals. "Captain Edson. To what do we owe the pleasure of your company?" He spoke in a low gruff voice that slightly intimidated Twilight.

Edson smiled. "Sir. The patrol I sent out earlier this morning has just returned." He glanced back at Twilight, Spike and Rainbow Dash standing behind him. "And they brought back with them a very important member of the native population. This is Princess Twilight Sparkle, one of the rulers of this land and these are her friends Mr. Spike and Ms. Rainbow Dash."

At the mention that one of the individuals present was royalty, all the other stallions in the tent turned their heads and straightened up. The gray unicorn that Captain Edson had been talking to immediately walked up to Twilight and dipped his head. "Welcome your majesty. I am Colonel George Tobias Parker, commander of the 5th US Marine Regiment."

"It's a pleasure to meet you Colonel." Twilight replied.

Up next stepped a pine green pegasus stallion with same bird image painted on his helmet. His mane was a dirty sand color and he also wore a green marine uniform. "Colonel Sampson Porter Fuller, 6th US Marine Regiment ma'am." He said dipping his head.

Twilight smiled. "Again, a pleasure sir."

Up next was an olive drab earth pony in a khaki army uniform. One other difference that Twilight could see besides the uniform was that the symbol painted on his helmet appeared to be a cluster of leaves instead of the birds from earlier. She made a mental note to herself to ask about that later.

The stallion stepped forward, but instead of simply dipping his head, he clasped on to Twilight's hoof, bowed deeply and gingerly kissed her hoof. Twilight blushed slightly at this gesture, for it seemed a bit forward.

The stallion looked up. "Major George Smith Patton, 301st Tank Battalion at your service your majesty." He spoke in a tone that was coated in respect. "It is an honor."

Twilight didn't know what to say other than, "Thank you." Nopony had ever done this to greet her before. Behind her, Spike and Rainbow Dash just stood with their mouths hanging open like loose mailbox doors.

Lastly came a light blue unicorn stallion with a medium black mane and tail in a khaki uniform. The symbol on his helmet was also different, as it was a pair of vertical parallel bars. He simply dipped his head. "Captain Jeffery Bartlett ma'am. 12th Field Artillery."

"Nice to meet you Captain." Twilight nodded back.

"Well gentle colts," She continued, "I realize that all of this must be quite overwhelming. But I think it would be best if we could bring everyone back to town so we can avoid any unfriendly encounters with the local ponies."

Colonel Parker raised an eyebrow. "Are you saying that your citizens would be hostile towards our men your highness?" He asked worriedly.

"Oh no no no." Twilight said quickly while shooting a warning glance back at Rainbow Dash. "It's just that most ponies have never encountered machines like these or ponies like you before."

The commanders all nodded in understanding. They could see that their appearance could be a little intimidating to those who were unfamiliar their presence. And from what they could gather, the princess seemed sincere in that they had never seen anything like the marines and army.

"Very well your highness." Colonel Parker nodded. He then turned to the rest of the officers present. "Well gentlemen," He said, "I suggest that we return to our commands and form them up for a march."

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Princess Celestia paced anxiously back and forth in the Ponyville square. Standing around her were the golden armored ponies of the 2nd Royal Guard Regiment's B Company, who were part of the Canterlot garrison. The urgency of Twilight's letter that she had received about an hour ago had convinced the Solar Princess that the elite company be brought along as a precaution.

"Your Highness."

Celestia stopped her pacing and turned to see First Lieutenant Alarm Bell, one the most respected officers in the Royal Guards Division, looking at her.

"My sentries have spotted a pegasus mare coming in fast from the west."

Celestia looked off in that direction and immediately spotted a cyan figure streaming towards the town leaving a rainbow trail in it's wake.

Celestia smiled when she recognized the pegasus, but she suddenly became concerned. "If Rainbow Dash is here, then where are Twilight and the rest of her friends?"

As she was thinking this, Rainbow Dash made a perfect landing in front of her. "Hey there your highness." She said with a smile. "Twilight will be glad to see you when she gets here."

"I am pleased to hear that Rainbow Dash." Celestia chuckled lightly. "But where exactly is Twilight?"

Before the pegasus could reply, a low rumble began to hum through the air, causing all ponies present, minus Rainbow Dash, to look around in confusion.

"She's almost here your highness." Rainbow Dash grinned.

Celeste furrowed her eyebrows into a confused frown. Her focus however, returned to the distant rumbling that was now growing louder and louder. She could also now see a cloud of dust rising from the the end of main street, that continued to get closer along with the rumbling. Soon, the princess could make out some objects at the head of the dust cloud approaching her. She wanted to say they were wagons, but they had no ponies pulling them.

As the "wagons" came closer, Celestia saw that they were made of metal and had short towers with short tubes sticking out the front. She could also see that there were ponies sitting on top of the vehicles just behind the towers. They were all wearing khaki garments that Celestia could only assume were uniforms and had strange dish shaped hats on their heads.

When the vehicles reached the square, they suddenly turned to the left of Celestia and continued in the new direction. Thats when Celestia saw what again she assumed to be some sort of wagon, but this one what different in that it carried more ponies, particularly five familiar ponies and a young dragon.

"Princess Celestia!" Twilight shouted with excitement as the vehicle pulled up to the sun monarch. When it did, the occupants unloaded from it and formed a line in front of Celestia, with Twilight in the center. Meanwhile a group of stallions, five of them, all clad in earth tone uniforms and metal hats atop their heads, formed up behind the members of the Equestrian Friendship Council.

Oh Princess!" Twilight squealed with excitement. "I have so much to tell you!"

Author's Note:

Hello again people!
Wow its been a while. Couple of reasons for that.
One: I was on vacation 2 weeks ago in Minnesota. There I visited historic fort snelling while they had their annual World War Two weekend. Lots of history, reenactors and fun!
Second: Immediately after I got back from vacation, I got my wisdom teeth taken out. Not fun.
Anyways this chapter introduces us to the various commanders who have been brought along with their units. Including the legendary George Patton. For those of you who may be confused, yes Patton fought in ww1 as a tank commander and eventually commanded the 301st tank battalion.

So anyway I hope you enjoy the new chapter and we'll what happens next soon.

Hope nothing goes wrong1

Comments

[totallynotabrony]

George Smith Patton

FANBOYGASM

[Americanwastelander]

Glad to know that their are others who knew that and excellent choice in using historical figures in this story great work can't wait to c what happens next.

[ThatBatJess]

Major George Smith Patton, 301st Tank Battalion at your service your majesty.

Well damn. Caught my attention.

[Da Fennec]

Dowside to using Patton is eitehr we are dealing with alternate history or you know somehow they get home

[The Cyan Recluse]

Okay, ignoring how calmly everyone (everypony?) is taking their sudden relocation and transformation....

Ahem...

You gave them Patton?!?

Well, crap. Now the allies are screwed when WWII rolls around.

[StubobNumbers]

8887748
We still would have Eisenhower at least! And Douglas MacArthur.

[Wir sind verloren]

Hope nothing goes wrong NO YOU FOOL MURPHY'S LAW SHALL BE ENACTED!

[Xenamare]

The stallion looked up. "Major George Smith Patton, 301st Tank Battalion at your service your majesty." He spoke in a tone that was coated in respect. "It is an honor."

Oh My CELESTIA ! Old "Blood and Guts" Patton is there ?

[Night Star the Scholar]

This story may be dead & most likely it is. If found the plot quite fascinated.

I have visited Patton Museum located at Chiraco Summit, California next to I-10 , 30 miles east of Indio. Vistied the museas more than a couple of times. the are where Patton trained his army for desert warfare to fight in Norhter Africa.

Anyways, Patton was one the first US units to use tanks in WW1. His choice tank being the French Renault FT-17. Hope the story continues, & probably how they humans return back to Earth, since Patton will be needed in WW2.