Meeting of the Commanding Officers
Friendship is G.I.
Chapter 4: Meeting of the Commanding Officers
by Jonathan “KnightMysterio” Spires
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
G.I. Joe base...
Undisclosed Location...
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
“We figured it'd be best to end the tour with a visit to our commanding officer's office,” Duke said, smiling at Twilight.
“That'd be wonderful, thank you!” the alicorn princess said.
“Are you sure Pinkie Pie's going to be okay?” Lady Jaye asked.
Rarity chuckled. “Darling, don't worry,” she said. “She's taken worse hits than that.”
Applejack nodded in agreement. “A stomachache from a bad pepper won't keep her down long,” she said.
Duke nodded, leading the tour group over to Hawk's office. The general greeted them outside, clad in his dress uniform, a dark blue suit with medals all over it. The office itself was sparsely decorated, file cabinets filling up one corner, a bookshelf with various military manuals and novels on it. A small TV was balanced on another set of filing cabinets, pictures of various military leaders and Hawk's family member's lining the walls. The ponies looked around curiously as they entered, Rainbow Dash looking oddly disappointed.
“Your highness,” Hawk said, bowing. “I'm General Clayton Abernathy, leader of G.I.Joe.”
The ponies gave him a blank look for a moment. “...I'm sorry, but could we stick to callsigns? Your real names aren't translating for some reason,” Twilight said, grinning sheepishly.
Hawk smiled. “That's fine. I'm used to going by it anyway. General Hawk,” he said, motioning them all inside. “Shall we?”
The ponies all followed General Hawk into his office, Duke standing at attention in one corner. Several folding chairs were gathered there. “I'm sorry for the accommodations. I'm not used to receiving so many in here at once,” he said. Standing near the General's desk was a redheaded woman in a yellow leotard with gray leggings and sleeves, yellow boots and gloves adorning her hands. “This is Scarlet, who's with our Intelligence division.”
“Spyin' on us?” Rainbow Dash asked.
Scarlet quirked an eyebrow. “Miss Dash, I...”
“It's okay,” Twilight said, holding up a hoof as she got into one of the folding chairs. “I understand.”
Scarlet just nodded, smiling pleasantly. General Hawk sat down. “Incidentally, Miss Dash, thank you for not breaking Gung-Ho's jaw,” he said.
“Thought about it,” she muttered. “Anyway, she's back home now and her family's looking after her. Spike will report back to us if anything goes sideways.”
“That's good,” Scarlet said, brushing her long red ponytail off of her shoulder. “We are deeply sorry this happened...”
Rarity shook her head, tsking. “Your soldier meant well. Pinkie simply overestimated her ability to tolerate heat.”
“Again,” Rainbow Dash said, a smirk crossing her face. The ponies all giggled.
“This has happened before?” Scarlet asked.
“First time Pinkie came up to my cloud house,” Rainbow Dash said. “I got wells of pure liquid rainbow set up for effect. She had pretty much the same reaction.”
“...I’m sorry, pure liquid rainbow?” Scarlet said, trading confused looks with Duke and General Hawk. “I was under the impression that rainbows were born from the refraction of light through prisms or rain.”
“...Interesting,” Sunset said. “There are rainbows like you said, but we mainly just call those color bands. Rainbows are a big part of magic in our world. A sacred power that my friends and I have wielded at one point is called the Rainbow of Light.”
Scarlet stroked her chin thoughtfully. “Fascinating.”
Outside, several other soldiers had gathered and were listening with rapt interest. Mainframe, for his part, was very curious about the ‘cloud house’ Rainbow Dash mentioned.
“What’s fascinating to me is how far science has advanced here!” Twilight said, grinning widely. “Your people have come up with so many innovations that we’re only just starting to think of!”
“The lack of magic concerns me,” Sunset said, frowning. “It’s a vital component to nature. Is it true that magic has been demonized in this world?”
Hawk nodded. “I’m afraid so. We have come up with many innovations, yes, but many tend to be frightened by what they don’t understand. And then they start listening to whomever is talking the loudest.”
Applejack giggled. “That ain’t a problem for the Queens,” she said. “They can shout so loud that an entire city can hear them.”
“Interesting,” Hawk said noncommittally. Although a part of him truly was curious.
“We hope you’ve been enjoying the tour so far,” Scarlet said. “We know it’s a lot different than what you’re used to back home. And I apologize that we had to steer you away from several areas. Military secrets, you see.”
“Hey, perfectly all right. And different? Boy, I’ll say,” Applejack said. “All this here newfangled technology… And that’s just the military stuff!”
Twilight smiled. “We’re mainly interested in seeing your communication and farming equipment. We in turn will share our own cultivation techniques, as well as introduce methods of teaching magic. Hopefully, there will be enough who are for it and not like poor Lifeline’s father...”
“Ah,” Hawk said. “That story came up…”
“I feel sorry for him,” Fluttershy said softly. “Lifeline’s so very nice, and he just wanted to serve his country… He’s a lot braver than I am...”
Sunset nuzzled her. “Fluttershy, you took a chance on Discord when the rest of us wanted to just leave him trapped in stone forever,” she said. “Now, he’s one of our mightiest allies.”
Fluttershy shook her head. “Honestly, all he needed was a friend...”
“I’m sorry… Discord?” Scarlet asked, confused.
“Reformed chaos god, darlings,” Rarity said, Duke, Hawk, and Scarlet looking rather surprised at how casually she said it. “He’s still a troublemaker, but he’s much kinder now than he used to be.”
“Debatable,” Rainbow Dash muttered.
“Hey, you’re the one who decided to try and prank the God of Pranksters,” Applejack said.
“He turned me into a catfolk for a month!” Rainbow Dash protested, the others giggling.
“...An actual god,” Scarlet said slowly. “You’ve ‘reformed’ an actual god of chaos.”
Twilight smiled. “We’ve actually managed to reform several major villains, and make them allies of Equestria, our home nation.”
Sunset nodded. “The Queens firmly believe in the principles of Harmony, of love and tolerance. Of true balance. They may have been enemies before, but now they’re some of the staunchest allies our nation, our WORLD has.”
Hawk, Scarlet, and Duke stared at the ponies. “Okay… What exactly did some of these enemies do?” Hawk asked.
“Well, there’s the changeling hive,” Sunset said. “They’re emotion-eaters. Shapeshifters who feed themselves by absorbing positive emotions, primarily love. Their queen, Chrysalis, led an invasion of our capital, Canterlot. But a rebel named Thorax, who was one of the only members of the hive capable of feeling compassion, eventually helped us change the changelings into a form where they could feel emotions for themselves, could be self-sustaining without having to kidnap other species. Heck, even Chrysalis was reformed.”
“It helped that you thought to create a barrier spell to keep her from leaving after Starlight and Thorax went up to make their pitch,” Rainbow Dash said. “I swear she was just gonna smack Starlight and run off after we were all freed.”
“Hey, it worked, didn’t it?” Sunset said, amused.
“It did,” Twilight said. “And now Chrysalis’s hive is one of the greatest allies Equestria’s ever had. Queen Chrysalis and her young king, Thorax, rule with compassion and caring, helping build a society the changelings never had before.”
“...You converted an ENTIRE ANTAGONISTIC RACE into your allies?!” Hawk asked, incredulous.
“Uhuh!” Twilight said, nodding. “There was also Starlight Glimmer, who once led an anti-individuality cult and then tried to destroy time after we broke it up. She’s now MUCH more emotionally stable and is training to be a guidance councilor at this school I want to build.”
“There’s also Trixie Lulamoon,” Rarity added. “Lovely girl, if a bit on the egotistical side. She’s a performer of stage magic, and after a show gone wrong that left her destitute, she found a magical amulet that corrupted her and made her want to take revenge on all of us for fall. She took over the town we all live in, bu thankfully we were able to get the amulet off of her. She and Starlight are friends now.”
“There’s the Sirens,” Sunset said. “They’re sea monsters that can take on pony form, and have the most beautiful singing voices. They feed off of negative emotions, or they did until Twilight, the girls and I used a special magic to purge all the evil out of them. They still have all their powers, but they don’t need to eat conflict anymore, and are much kinder.”
“My fav is Tempest Shadow,” Rainbow Dash said. “She’s a unicorn with a broken horn, but she’s also a freaking badass. She led an invading army at the behest of a psychopath named the Storm King, who pretty much raised her and lied to her about being able to restore her horn. Once she finally realized he was full of horseapples, thanks to Twilight, she turned on him and helped save Equestria, personally leading the efforts to return all of Storm King’s territories to their rightful owners.”
“Once she helped free every nation she’d enslaved, she came back to work as the captain of my personal guard!” Twilight said proudly.
Duke, Scarlet, and General Hawk were dumbstruck by this. “That’s… impressive, honestly,” General Hawk said. “You’ve managed to reform EVERY villain you’ve come across?”
“Not all,” Twilight said, shaking her head sadly. “We’re still working on Tirek, the demon centaur. Right now we’re trying to hold off Grogar the Necromancer. King Sombra…” She frowned. “I wish we could have saved him…”
“Cozy Glow,” Sunset said softly. Twilight’s head drooped.
Scarlet frowned. “...That particular failure seems to sting the worst.”
“She’s a sociopath,” Rarity said sadly. “She attended school in our hometown of Ponyville, but because of her genius became a secondary personal assistant to Twilight...”
“Cozy cooked up a scheme to steal all of Equestria’s magic for herself and become its supreme ruler,” Rainbow Dash said, clearly unsympathetic towards Cozy. “Would have succeeded, too, if it weren’t for some of our students.”
“When defeated, at trial she showed no remorse, stating that her only regret was that she got caught,” Sunset said. “She gave every indication that she would try this again, and had to be exiled to Tartarus, the supervillain prison.”
Twilight shook her head. “...The worst part? She was a filly. I couldn’t save one little filly.”
Duke blinked. “A KID tried to take over the world?”
Twilight nodded. “It’s why we value reformation over incarceration. If we had just locked up most of our villains, they’d eventually escape and try again. And the idea of killing any of them is… unacceptable.”
The three soldiers looked uncomfortable. Applejack frowned. “I’m guessing you do things differently,” she asked, smiling sadly.
“...Yes,” Scarlet said, deciding to be blunt. “In our world, Tempest would be executed for treason, the Sirens for terrorism, Cozy tried as an adult for terrorism, and Starlight and Trixie would be locked up, most likely forever. We’d be at active war with the Changelings, and most likely attempting to wipe them out. And I don’t like saying this about our species, but in that war, paranoia about Changelings would be so high that someone would probably kill this Thorax you mentioned.”
The ponies look shocked at this.
“Your society sounds… honestly, it sounds idyllic, considering you can take criminals and enemies and make them your friends. But humankind has a long history of warfare with each other, usually for the most inane reasons. Once, we had a man who wanted to exterminate any who didn’t fit his ideals for a perfect society. He targeted one religious group in particular, using them as scapegoats for his country’s problems,” General Hawk said. And now the ponies began to look ill.
“Humans are capable of getting along with each other, and I’d like to believe that most of humanity is good,” Scarlet said. “But there are those out there who thrive on hate. For instance, there are those who’d hate Roadblock for the color of his skin.”
“...Why? He’s so nice, and he’s an amazing cook! How could anypony hate him?” Fluttershy asked.
Scarlet shrugged. “Because they believe those who are ‘white’ instead of ‘black’ are the superior race,” she said.
“...That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard of,” Fluttershy said. The other ponies looked shocked, while the humans just grinned. Fluttershy continued, looking honestly baffled. “For one thing, you’re all varying shades of brown. Secondly, how does skin color determine race? That’s so STUPID! It’s like… it’d be like me hating Twilight because she was purple! I could never hate Twilight! Especially for so stupid a reason!” Fluttershy took a moment to calm down.
The others seemed surprised at her outburst. “...Wow,” Rainbow Dash said eventually.
“I’m sorry,” Fluttershy said, huffing, “but this just bothers me!”
Hawk chuckled. “If only more people thought like you, ma’am,” he said, making Fluttershy blush. He then continued. “In any case, we’re glad to have met you all. But we have to ask – what is your overall intent with these visits?”
Twilight brightened. “Well, we hope to meet up with your world’s leaders, and perhaps establish trade relations!” When Duke snarled, looking away, and Scarlet and Hawk traded uncomfortable looks, Twilight’s ears drooped. “...Is there a problem with that?”
Scarlet sighed. “Yes, actually. The current president of our country is-”
Duke, not changing his expression or stance, interrupted her. “A moneygrubbing shit-brained fuckwallow who whores his services and power out to whomever pays him enough,” he said.
“Out of line, soldier,” Hawk said, glaring at him.
“I’m sorry, sir,” Duke lied.
Hawk sighed. “...You’re right, but you’re out of line.”
Scarlet shook her head. “Our country’s current president, Roy L. Flush, is… ridiculously corrupt and frighteningly incompetent. We’ve begun the process of impeachment, but with as many senators, state representatives, and other lawmakers he has in his pocket, it’s… difficult,” she said. “In addition, he is very much in bed with corporations who would exploit the environment for money.”
“The gist of it is, while we at this base are fond of you, we’re afraid that if we introduced you to him, he would exploit you and your world,” Hawk said.
The ponies looked disappointed, and more than a little disturbed by the idea of so corrupt a leader. “...So we’ve picked a bad time to come, then?” Sunset said, frowning.
“I’m afraid so,” Hawk said, smiling apologetically. “This entire encounter is going to be filed Top Secret and hidden away so he doesn’t find out about it.”
Fluttershy flew up onto the table and gave the old general a hug. “Still, you thought to warn us instead of letting us make the mistake of moving forward. We’re very grateful.”
Hawk blushed brightly, nervously hugging Fluttershy back. “Um… Thank you ma’am.”
Oh my God that’s SO PRECIOUS!! Scarlet thought, unable to fight a grin.
My kingdom for a camera, Duke thought, lamenting the thought that his own cell’s camera was damaged. This is so friggin’ cute.
Fluttershy broke the hug after a moment, rejoining the group, while Hawk coughed and recovered himself. Twilight smiled. “Well… if nothing else, I’d like to offer a chance to visit our world. You may not be able to share the experience with your leaders, but at least it’ll be an experience.”
Hawk, Scarlet, and Duke looked at each other, mentally considering it. “...I don’t see the harm in it, really,” Scarlet said.
“It wouldn’t be fair to the men to not give them this chance, considering that they were willing to visit us,” Duke offered.
Hawk nodded. “We’ll arrange something,” he said. The ponies seemed pleased by this. “Is there anything else? Or can we push the people snooping at the door out of the way and let you get home?”
There was a loud thumping as the snooping Joes tripped over themselves while trying to flee. Duke snorted laughter while Scarlet just shook her head in amusement. The ponies looked amused as well.
“Thank you for your hospitality,” Twilight said. “We’ll contact you when we can work things out on our end.”
“Much appreciated, ma’am,” Hawk said. He then paused, asking, “...Will we be allowed to bring weapons?”
Twilight blinked, the other ponies looking worried. “What?” she asked.
Scarlet knew where Hawk was going with this. “As you’ve noticed, we have no personal magic. I know you’ll try to keep us safe, but you’ve said you’re in open conflict with a necromancer. We’ll need something to defend ourselves if worse comes to worse,” she said.
Rainbow Dash and Applejack looked doubtful, while Rarity and Fluttershy traded concerned looks. Sunset and Twilight spoke quietly to one another for a few moments before Twilight said, “We’ll have to ask Queen Celestia and Queen Luna, our rulers, if you can. With the reasoning you’ve given, you’ll probably be given permission.” The others seemed to relax at this statement.
Hawk nodded. “I just want my men to be safe, is all,” he said.
“Understandable,” Twilight said, smiling. “And thank you for asking first.”
Hawk nodded. “Duke? Escort these fine ladies back to the portal,” he said. “Scarlet, you stay here so we can discuss this.”
Scarlet nodded, Duke saluting and then leaving with the ponies. Before they left, the ponies turned to Hawk and Scarlet and said, in perfect unison, “May Harmony forever be your guide.” They then turned, walking out of the office, chatting amiably with Duke and one another.
Once they were out of earshot, Hawk closed the door to his office and sighed. “Well. Impressions?” he asked.
“Their society, based on what I’ve heard, feels… distressingly naive to me,” Scarlet said. “Maybe it’s just my own cynicism showing, but I think keeping away from President Flush is the right idea. We’re still investigating his possible connections to Arbco Industries...”
Hawk nodded. “The fact that they’ve made so many terrorists into their allies, though, says something for their philosophy,” he said.
“It says that their world is a freaking Saturday morning cartoon and all of their villains probably just needed a hug,” Scarlet said. After a moment, she amended, “Well, except for Tirek, Cozy Glow, and King Sombra, apparently. Whomever or whatever they are.”
Hawk nodded. “Still, it couldn’t hurt to have them as an ally. We learn about their world, examine the odd similarities we’ve noticed so far, see what these ponies are capable of, and do what we can to stay in their good graces,” he said.
“I agree,” Scarlet said. “I think a small unit would be best, though. Ten or eleven max.”
Hawk nodded. “Duke should lead it. He’s always been good at diplomacy, and did well in the Star Brigade program,” he said.
“I want to send Snake Eyes and Spirit as well,” Scarlet said. “Both of them are borderline supernatural anyway, so their input will be invaluable on the nature of magic in that world.”
“That private that met Sunset Shimmer, he should go,” Hawk added, thinking aloud. “And Rock n’ Roll. He fell in love with them instantly.”
“Mutt and Junkyard,” Scarlet said. “While on the tour, they all seemed to bond well with the animals. Junkyard especially was a hit.”
“Lady Jaye should go to act as our intelligence officer for the unit… Mainframe and Lifeline should go to get a technical and medical perspective for us… Roadblock will probably insist on going, wanting to sample their cuisine,” Hawk said, looking thoughtful. “And it wouldn’t hurt to have a heavy gunner on the team.”
“Beach Head,” Scarlet said, suddenly getting inspiration.
“...You want to send Beach Head, who lives on a steady diet of the pain and fear of greenshirts all over the base, who is worshiped in a small Polynesian island as a god of Discipline, to Magical Happy Doodle Friendship Pony Land.”
“Yes,” Scarlet said, grinning widely. “One, because it will be hilarious, and two, because seeing how they deal with him will be a perfect way to test their philosophy.”
“...Anyone ever tell you that you have a sadistic streak?” Hawk asked.
“Kamakura did when he walked in on Snake Eyes and I last week,” Scarlet said, grinning and blushing a little.
“...Do I want to know?” Hawk said.
“Probably not. We were violating some major fraternization regs that night,” Scarlet said unashamedly.
Hawk just facepalmed.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Equestria…
Later…
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Twilight Sparkle sat before the Thrones of the Sky, reporting on her current trip to the G.I. Joe base to Queen Celestia and Queen Luna.
“...And that’s it,” Twilight finished. “Meeting their leaders seems like a bad idea. They do want to come visit us, though.”
Queen Luna, the dark alicorn lounging on her shadowy throne, frowned. “They will probably be wanting to examine our own military capabilities...” she said.
Queen Celestia nodded, the bright alicorn sitting up straight on her shining throne. “Still, they’ve given us no reason to distrust them. They’ve treated us kindly, and from what we can see, their troops are friendly.”
Queen Luna sighed. “True, true… I am just bitter about our attempt to contact another world and establish a cultural exchange with them not working...”
Queen Celestia leaned over to nuzzle her sister. “Still, we’re getting something out of it – we’re making new friends,” she said.
Queen Luna chuckled. “Indeed,” she said. “We’ve ruled together for over a thousand years, Celestia, and always, Friendship and Harmony have brought great things to our nation and our world.”
Queen Celestia nodded, turning to Twilight. “When the portal has recharged,” she said, “let the G.I. Joes know that they may bring SOME weapons over, enough to defend themselves. They are welcome in Equestria, and shall be treated as our guests.”
Twilight grinned happily. “Thank you, your Majesties!”
TO BE CONTINUED...
Stats
Page generated in 0.018 seconds
Total duration
660 users online
1,002,922 hits today, 2,561,572 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
YES! The story lives! I'm so glad you updated, cause I love this idea!
I'm dying to see what happens if Cobra gets involved somehow.
I kinda hope G.I. Joe recruited Megan Williams, cause seeing that can of worms busted open would be fun.
9420782
Going by the blogs, author ran into some financial issues, got stressed hard, ran into further issues, got stressed harder, had no energy or chill left for anything but essentials.
9612449
"COBRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
"COBRA RETREAAAAAAAAAAAAT!"
Wait... that bit at the end... They really are queens?!? I thought that was a translation error.
It lives! And got an awesome update to boot! Great job
Huh. Seems like this Equestria's got more than a few differences from canon. Intriguing.
Look forward to seeing how the Joes react to Equestria. Do they get transformed through the portal?
Best they not meet the president.
Error spotted: Twilight said Starlight was training to be councelor of school Twilight was planning to open, yet they also mention Cozy Glow and the students.
Glad to see another chapter. I don't remember the GI Joe cartoon, but this is endearing me to characters and world you are setting up.
9612818
More than you think has changed.
9612832
Things are very different here. It's not the Friendship School Cozy was attending.
9613103
Like Sunset never being to a human world before, I'm guessing?
... Are we sure this guy isn't actually a Captain Planet villain?
People in cel-shaded houses shouldn't throw stones, Scarlet.
Very interesting to see the differences on the Equestrian end of things. I have to wonder how the girls came together in the first place if Luna's been on the throne the whole time. Still, looking forward to more. This is going to be a truly fascinating cultural exchange.
And there's always the hope of the next election...
Lol beachhead.... he will be wanting to kill pinkie in under one minute.