> Over There
>  by Paintbrush235
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1: Gas Gas Gas
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The sun shone through the broken grey clouds over the German Rhineland. It's rays glistened off the puddles of water that speckled the country dirt road that cut through the rolling hills and farm fields. Suddenly the smooth surface of the water was broken by the splash of a tire. This was followed by another tire, and then another, and then another.

Gunnery Sergeant Nathan Blackburn sat in the passenger seat of the truck carrying his squad of fellow United States Marines of B company, 1st Battalion, 5th Marines. The rest of the regiment were in the trucks behind him, followed by the trucks that made up the battalions of the 6th marine regiment close behind. Over 4000 men in total. Most of them were recent recruits who had only served about a month before the armistice had been declared. Armistice. Blackburn still couldn't believe he had lived to hear that word be said. He had been certain that he wouldn't make it out of Belleau Wood, much less Chateau-Thierry, Mount Du-Blanc and the Argonne. Most of his original squad had been lost within the first hours of the assault on Belleau Wood. All all except 4 of his 12 man squad were recruits that had arrived afterwards. Most were really new. Sometimes Blackburn hesitated in calling them "men" at all.

A sudden lurch broke Blackburn out of his thoughts. He looked up to see what had caused to abrupt stop to his ride. What he saw was a sight all too common on mudding narrow roads.

In front of the truck was another one identical to his except it had US army markings on it. In front of that truck was another truck, and another, and another, until the line stretched around the bend in the road and behind the trees that lined it.

"Just great." Blackburn groaned. He began moving to dismount the truck. "You wait here Corporal." He said to his driver.

"Aye aye Gunny." The marine replied.

Blackburn opened his door and stepped out onto the muck of the road with a splash. Sighing, he tugged at his collar and straightened his helmet. If he was going to confront the army, he damned sure was going to look presentable. 

"What's up Gunny?"

Blackburn paused. He instantly recognized the deep Bayou southern drawl that could only come from someone who had lived their life in the swamps around the Big Easy. Turning back towards the truck, he saw a marine leaning over the side with red corporal stripes on his sleeves, a small black mustache above his lip, and a Browning Automatic Rifle clutched in his right hand.

Blackburn chuckled to himself. "Like you Buckman, I just work here. I'll find out so sit tight."

Corporal Buckman smiled, nodded, and turned back to what appeared to be the tell of a story to a pair of fresh recruits.

Blackburn turned back towards the army trucks and was about to move in their direction, when the distinct sound of a car horn approaching from behind reached his ears. Turning back around he saw a small staff car coming up the side of the road with a familiar face in the passenger seat. The car came to a halt beside Blackburn and as it did, he snapped to attention and saluted.

"Captain Edson, sir." He said.

"At ease gunnery sergeant." Captain Edson replied, returning the salute as he stepped out of the car. Blackburn smiled. If anyone could sort out this mess it was B company's commander, who, like Blackburn, had fought at Belleau Wood.

"Well Nathan," Edson chuckled, "Have you ever seen a traffic jam such as this?"

"I've visited Chicago before sir," Blackburn replied, "And I can honestly say that this is worse."

Edson laughed. "I grew up in New York gunnery sergeant, so I can agree with you there." He paused to adjust his collar. "I was about to go and see who is in charge of this mess. Care to join me?"

"Aye aye sir."

And with that the two fellow marines made their way over to the mess that was the army.



As the duo approached the first truck, Edson made his way towards a Junior Lieutenant that was barking orders at two buck privates who ran off toward the front of the column.

"Excuse me, lieutenant?" Edson said as he reached the truck.

"What now?!?" the young officer snapped as he wheeled around to face this new headache, whatever it was. His anger quickly changed to fear as he found himself face to face with a US marine captain. He then snapped his hand up in a salute so fast that he nearly knocked off his helmet.

'I uh I b-beg your pardon sir!" The lieutenant stammered.

Edson returned the salute quickly. He didn't have time nor did he want to deal with the nonsense of a frightened army officer.

"Who's in charge of this column lieutenant?" He asked.

After composing himself, the young man pointed down the line of trucks. "That would be Captain Bartlett sir." He said, "He went down to sort out the mess."

"What's your name"

"Lieutenant George Freemont sir."

"Unit?"

"12th Field Artillery, Battery B."

"Do you know what the hold up is?"

The officer nodded. "Yes sir. Tankers, sir."

Edson raised an eyebrow. "Tankers?"

The lieutenant nodded. "Yes sir. Two light companies from the 301st tank brigade. Damn beasts got stuck in the muck. Captain Bartlett went down to talk to their commanding officer."

Edson looked down the column then back at the lieutenant. "Well why aren't you with him?" He asked.

"He ordered me to stay back with our supply trucks sir."

Edson sighed, then turned to head back to his own column. "Thank you lieutenant."

The officer promptly saluted Edson then turned towards his trucks. Edson shook his head and started walking back to his car, with Blackburn following close behind.

"I  guess we'll be sitting here for a while gunnery sergeant." Edson sighed. "See to your squad."

"Aye aye sir." Blackburn replied as he reached his truck. He then set his trench gun down in the seat reached into his left breast pocket and pulled out his lighter and a pack of Chesterfields. Soon he had lit one up sand was puffing away. 

Suddenly a slightly high pitched Boston Irish voice piped up. "You got any to spare Gunny?"

Blackburn was already pulling out another cigarette before he had even turned around. When he did, he came face to face with a young 19 year old boy with a wavy red swath of hair underneath his helmet. The freckles on his cheeks betrayed his youth.

"You doing alright O'Brien?" Blackburn asked as he handed him the cigarette.

O'Brien smiled. "As good as I'll ever be Gunny." He said, grabbing the lent smoke. "Once again I'm being screwed over by the army."

Blackburn laughed. The army did have a way of screwing things up.

He paused from his thoughts to stretch his back. His spine had plagued him ever since a shell blast had blown him onto it in the Argonne. Right now the aches were returning.

"Back giving problems again gunnery sergeant?"

Blackburn once again turned to look in the back of the truck. Facing him now was a young man in his early twenties with red cross armbands on his sleeves and ridiculously large round spectacles on his face that made him look more like a librarian than a corpsman.

"Not too bad Doc." Blackburn replied. "Not too bad. How about you?"

Doc shrugged. "I'm still in good health."

Again Blackburn chuckled to himself. Doc Hawkins always was a glass half full kind of guy.

Looking around, Blackburn couldn't help but admire how beautiful the countryside looked. It reminded him a little of the hills and valleys of the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia where he grew up. As he was staring off towards a hill to the right of the road, he began to see what appeared to be a cloud of fog creeping up over the top of the hill. This puzzled Blackburn, as the today wasn't expected to be foggy. Also, the "fog" was a slight shade of purple in color. To Blackburn that could only mean one thing, and a knot in his stomach formed at the realization of it.

"GAS GAS GAS!!!!"

In a flash, every marine in each truck was scrambling to open their box respirators and pull out their masks. Blackburn had just finished putting his on when the gas reached the convoy and began to swirl around everyones feet. Then to Blackburn's panicked confusion, he began to feel lightheaded and his vision started to blur. He couldn't understand why! He had his mask on before the gas got to them! Any further thoughts on that subject were dashed when his legs gave out and his vision turned to black.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Slowly, Blackburn began to stir. As he pushed himself up he groaned loudly. His head felt like it had been slammed by a sack of bricks. He reached up to rub at his head. When he did, he paused when he suddenly realized he couldn't feel his fingers. Bringing his arm down, he saw that instead of the hand he had only moments ago, he was now staring at what appeared to be a chestnut brown hoof. Trying to remain calm, Blackburn made his way over to a puddle to look at his reflection.

As he made his way over, it somehow didn't register to him that he was now walking on all fours. That didn't occur to him until he saw his reflection in the water. If Blackburn had been confused before, that was nothing compared to now.

Looking at the reflection, Blackburn saw that he still wore his forest green uniform, helmet and puttees. His webbing still wrapped around his body and his gas mask case still in from his neck. The only difference was the body that it all adorned, and that is had transformed to fit that new body.

The face staring back at Blackburn was much longer than a human face, it had a snout, and was covered in the same chestnut brown fur as the hoof he had seen. The eyes staring at him were quite large with the blue color he knew he had much brighter than before. His hair was still charcoal black, but it was much longer and ran down the back of his elongated neck. Looking behind him, as he had felt a slight twitch on his bum, he saw that he now had a tail of the same color of his hair that was swishing around. It was then that he realized that he had been walking on all fours before, and he now knew why. He had turned into some sort of horse or pony creature.

"Holy-"

"Gunnery Sergeant Blackburn!"

Blackburn's head quickly snapped around as he recognized the familiar voice of Captain Edson. The individual he saw when he turned around however, was not the Captain Edson he remembered.

Standing in front of Blackburn was another pony, except that this one had a white coat and a sand blonde mane that was cut short at the back. The pony also wore the same type of forest green uniform of all other USMC officers except, like Blackburn's, it had apparently changed to fit the pony's body. A M1911 pistol holster was strapped to his right hind leg.

"Captain Edson sir?" Blackburn asked in disbelief.

The pony Captain Edson nodded in reply.

"I don't think we are in Germany anymore gunnery sergeant."


> Chapter 2: Reconnaissance
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	
Blackburn shook his head. He had been in some strange situations before, but this topped them all. Looking around, he saw that Captain Edson was right; they certainly weren't in Germany anymore. The trees that had lined the road before had vanished. The fields that surrounded the road were dotted with blue bonnet flowers, or at least thats what they looked like to Blackburn. Up ahead, a few trucks down, a signpost now stood on the right hand (or hoof) side of the road with two signs nailed to it. One sign that pointed down the road of continuous trucks read Canterlot 50 KM. The other sign pointed down a road that jutted straight out from the side of the main road and read Ponyville 5 KM. 

Blackburn raised an eyebrow when he read the names. Ponyville? Canterlot? Those weren't any town names he had heard of before, nor did they sound German. 

"I see you took notice of the signs as well gunnery sergeant." Edson said, pointing with his hoof.

Blackburn could only nod.

Edson in turn chuckled to himself at his gunnery sergeants confusion. Blackburn usually had an answer to every problem they had encountered, and to see him speechless for the first time in his military career, was quite amusing.

"Well as you can see" he continued, "that is the only clue as to where we are. The only other landmark I can see is that mountain range over there." He pointed a group of white capped mountains that the Canterlot road led to.

"Yes sir, but what should we do now?" Blackburn asked.

"Well gunnery sergeant, as you can see, it appears that our entire column has ended up here with us." Edson said gesturing to the line of marine corps trucks, "So I am going to go and see if I can find Colonel Parker or Major Leroy. In the meantime, see to your squad. I'll be back shortly."

"Yes sir." Blackburn replied. Then, as if by instinct, he brought his right fore hoof up to his head in a salute. He almost stumbled when he realized it must've looked. But if the captain thought so, he didn't show it, as he mimicked Blackburn in returning the salute. After doing so, Captain Edson then turned around and headed towards the rear of the 5th marines column. 

Blackburn lowered his hoof from his head and, recalling the captain's orders, turned towards his own truck. Trotting around the back of the truck, he found a group of twelve other ponies dressed in forest green uniforms, standing around each other taking in their new forms.

"First squad!" Blackburn shouted as he approached the group of confused stallions. "Form a school circle in front of me!" 

In a flash, all confusion was replaced by the instincts of each marine to obey the order of a senior. Soon, they had all formed a semi circle in front of the gunnery sergeant.

"Alright now listen up!" Blackburn addressed his squad. "As you all may have noticed by now, these has been a slight change in plans. So right now, lets at least make sure everyone is here, so sound off when you hear your name called, alright!?"

"Aye aye gunny!" the marines all replied in unison.

Blackburn cleared his throat, and began his roll call.

"Corporal Buckman?"

"Here gunny."

A stallion with a light brown coat and shaggy black mane and tail stepped up from the line. Clutched in his right hoof was a Browning Automatic Rifle and a light black mustache adorned his muzzle. Yep, Blackburn thought, that's Buckman alright. He nodded and continued.

"HM Hawkins?"

"Here gunny."

Now a light grey stallion stepped forward. His mane was also black, but it had a few streaks of shale grey running in it. Blackburn noticed that this pony had what appeared to be a horn that was sticking out through a hole in his helmet. Blackburn already knew it was Doc Hawkins because the same large glasses rested on his snout.

"Private O'Brien?" Blackburn continued.

"Here Gunny." piped up a grey-white pony with a wavy red mane and tail, and freckles that adorned his cheeks.

Blackburn continued on down the list until all twelve men, or stallions now, were all accounted for. Again, Blackburn was perplexed that some of them had wings and some of them had horns like Doc. Any further thoughts on this were cut short however when Blackburn heard his name being called. Turning around he saw Captain Edson and another dark grey pony dressed in another officers uniform except he had eagles on his collar. 

"Colonel Parker sir!" Blackburn once again brought his right hoof up to a salute, The pony version of Colonel Parker returned it.

"At ease gunnery sergeant." 

"Yes sir."

"Gunnery sergeant," Captain Edson spoke up, "Colonel Parker has informed me that not only has the entire 5th marines undergone the same transformation as us, but it also appears that the the 6th marines are in the same boat."

Blackburn was stunned. How could over 4000 men suddenly turn into ponies?

Edson continued. "It also appears that our colleagues from the army have joined us in this little situation as well."

Blackburn turned to look back towards the army trucks and sure enough, he could see ponies clad in US army brown uniforms staring at their new bodies and officers trying to sort out the situation. "It would seem so sir." He chuckled.

Edson however didn't look amused. "This is serious gunnery sergeant!" He said sternly, "We have no idea where we are right now or why we now look like this!"

Blackburn immediately stopped laughing. "Sorry sir. What's the plan now sirs?"

Colonel Parker cleared his throat. "Well gunnery sergeant." he said, "We are gathering up all the unit commanders so we can discuss our next move."

Captain Edson picked up when Parker paused. "You however are going to take your squad on a patrol down the road that the sign that says 'Ponyville' points down." He gestured towards the signpost. "Specifically, we want you to find that town and see if you can find out anything from the locals."

"Aye aye sir." Blackburn replied. "We'll take care of it."

"Try not to get into any brawls gunnery sergeant." Captain Edson added. "We don't know if the local population will be hostile or not. We don't want to provoke a confrontation."

"Aye aye sir." Blackburn said. And with that, he turned back towards his squads truck to gather them up.

"Listen up 1st squad!" He bellowed. "We got our orders from the skipper!"

"What's goin' on gunny?" Buckman asked, slinging his B.A.R. around his neck.

"All unit commanders are trying to sort all this out. We are going to lend a hand by doing a little reconnaissance. We are going on a patrol down that road over there and see if we can't come across this 'Ponyville' or any of the locals."

"What do we do if we find one or the other or both gunny?" O'Brien piped up as he adjusted his webbing.

"You just leave that up to me O'Brien." Blackburn replied. "As for order of march, I'll take the right side with Kent, Doc, Sampson, Allan, Cross and Jergins. Corporal Buckman will take the left with Phillips, Antoni, Rogers, Porter and Wilson. Let's get going okay?"

"Aye aye gunny."

And with that, the patrol set off toward the unknown.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile in the town of Ponyville, Miss Cheerilee's class was just being let out for the weekend. As the bell rang, dozens of fillies and colts ran out of the schoolhouse to begin the beloved journey home.

As the crowd of children dispersed, a trio of fillies lagged behind as they discussed their plans for the weekend.

"How about we try and get our cutie marks in gardening?" Sweetie Belle suggested as she wrote up a list of potential cutie marks.

"Ah like that idea." Applebloom chimed.

Scootaloo rolled her eyes. "Um hello? Spring isn't for another two months. And besides, it sounds soooo boring!"

Applebloom and Sweetie Belle only shrugged and just wrote gardening down on the list as a possibility.

"Well, what do you suggest we do then?" Sweetie Belle challenged.

"Scootaloo put her hoof to her chin as she searched for an idea. After much pondering, she had one, and she knew she had to write it down because it was too complicated to remember in her head. 

"Let me see the list!" she said excitedly.

Slightly concerned, as Scootaloo's ideas tended to land them in puddles of mud and covered in tree sap, Sweetie Belle passed the list to her pegasus friend. Unfortunately, at that very moment, a gust of wind came along and snatched it right out of their hooves.

"Oh no! Don't let it get away!" Sweetie Belle cried.

In a flash, the trio of fillies began chasing the list as the wind carried it further away. As they did so, they failed to notice that it was leading them into the highly feared Everfree Forest.


> Chapter 3: Contact
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	All residents of Ponyville know about the Everfree Forest. They knew of it's unnatural dangers and creatures. Therefore any pony with a lick of sense knew that it was never wise to venture into it. For three little fillies chasing after a piece of paper, this slipped there minds.

The CMC had been chasing their list of possible cutie marks for about twelve minutes now. Sweetie Belle was desperately trying to keep up with it as the wind blew it further and further away. She had worked so hard on that list! Just as she was about to quit from exhaustion and start crying tears of loss, the breeze finally died down and the list settled in the middle of a small clearing. Sweetie Belle sighed in relief as Scootaloo quickly went up to the list and pounced on it, just in case the wind picked up again.

"Gotcha!" she exclaimed. 

"Thank goodness!" Applebloom panted. "Now let's go home."

Sweetie Belle froze, taking the moment to at last look at the trios new whereabouts. She saw nothing but dark trees and dense underbrush surrounding them all around. Soon the shadows began took take on menacing shapes and every noise caused each filly to jump and squeak in terror as they huddled together for protection. To them, every shadow, tree and bush concealed some unknown monster.

"W-we need t-to get out of-f hear." Sweetie Belle whispered

"Agreed." Applebloom squeaked. 

"Second." piped up Applebloom.

None of them moved. They had no idea where to go.

"Uh, how do we get out of here?" Sweetie Belle asked.

Before anyone could answer, a low growl penetrated the fillies ears. Turning their heads towards the source, the fillies saw three pairs of ghostly green eyes staring at them from the bushes.

--------------------------------------------

Blackburn kept his eyes peeled as he and the rest of the marines turned pony patrol trekked through one of the densest and swampiest forests he had ever seen. It had been twenty or so minutes since they had entered the mess of vegetation and trees and somehow managed to return to the dirt road. He had put Buckman up front, as Buckman was more at home in the swamps than any of them. So far no contacts of any kind had been made, but nonetheless Blackburn remained on the alert. 

"Gunny!" 

Coming out from his thoughts, Blackburn looked up front to see Buckman pointing with one of his new hooves to the right side of the road. Blackburn quickly trotted up.

"We're gettin' closer gunny." Buckman said as he pointed to another road sign that read "PONYVILLE 2 KM". 

Blackburn sighed in relief that they weren't lost. He adjusted his trench gun's strap that crossed the from of his barrel and chest.

"Alright" he said, after taking a look around to make sure all of the patrol was accounted for. "Lets keep going down this road until we reach this town. Then we'll....."

"HEEEEELLLLLPPPPP!!!!"

Every marine turned their heads at once towards the scream.

"That's a child screaming!" Buckman exclaimed. Then, without waiting for orders, he unslung his B.A.R. somehow stood up on his hind legs while gripping the light machine gun in his fore hooves, and took off running down the road towards the screams.

"Buckman!" Blackburn shouted after the Corporal. Seeing that he wasn't coming back, he cursed, then motioned to the rest of the patrol to follow him. 

Racing after Buckman, Blackburn began imagining the different scenarios that he and his fellow marines were getting into. What had Buckman run into? Germans? That didn't seem likely but still. His thoughts were answered when they finally caught up with Buckman, who was kneeling down behind a bush with his B.A.R. at the ready. The rest of the patrol fell in alongside the headstrong Corporal and mimicked his stance. Blackburn ran up to Buckman and settled in on his right.

"Corporal! What the hell were you....."

"HEELLLP US! SOMEPONY!"

Blackburn was once again interrupted by the sound of a child's scream. Except this time it sounded like more than one and he could tell they were coming from the bushes directly across from the bush that the patrol was behind. Then as if on cue, the bushes began to rustle and three figures came bursting out of it into the clearing. Blackburn could see they were ponies as well, albeit a lot younger. One was orange and had a purple mane and wings sticking out from it's sides. Another one was bright yellow and had a bright red mane and neither wings nor a horn like Blackburn had seen some of the marines grow recently. The last one had a horn and was white with a pink and purple mane. Blackburn could also see that she (he assumed it was a she by their screams) was limping on her right hind leg.

"Somepony! Help us!" the yellow filly screamed in pure fear.

This time, it was Blackburn who sprang into action. He could tell that these ponies were children, and if there was one thing he couldn't stand to see, it was children frightened and in pain.

"Buckman! O'brien! Cross! Allan! With me!" He shouted, as he and the marines he called out jumped out of their bush and ran towards the frightened fillies. Doc Hawkins followed close behind, gripping his medical bag in his teeth.

The three fillies froze on the spot at the sight of these strangely dressed ponies popping up out of nowhere. They hadn't expected any pony else to be in the forest.

"Get behind us!" Blackburn shouted to them. Quickly snapping out of their trance, the fillies shuffled behind the gunnery sergeant as he and the rest of the marine riflemen (or rifleponies now) formed a protective line in front of them. Doc immediately ran up to the white filly who was limping.

"Where exactly does it hurt?" He questioned. The horned filly pointed to her right ankle. Doc was just about to start examining when the yellow filly pointed towards the bushes they had come out of. 

"Look out!" she cried.

As she did, a loud growl came from the bushes. Suddenly they erupted as three wolf like creatures came storming out. However they didn't look like any wolves any of the marines had seen before. They were made entirely out of tree limbs and their eyes glowed a sickly green.

However to Blackburn, it didn't matter what the creatures were made of. They were threatening him and his fellow marines, but more importantly to Blackburn, they had threatened and harmed these children.

Doc could see what was coming. "Cover your ears!" he warned the fillies.

"OPEN FIRE!!!"

All at once the marines 03 Springfield rifles erupted into fiery life. Buckman's B.A.R. began thumping away in a steady rhythm as it blasted away chuck after chunk off the wooden creatures. Blackburn all the while was pumping out blasts from his m1897 shotgun, literally blowing the head of the creature directly in front of him into a shower of splinters.

In a matter of seconds, all three creatures were nothing but splinters and sawdust. All the marines stood there catching their breath, some wondering how they had been able to fire their weapons in the first place. Blackburn however turned his attention back to the three shaking fillies beside Doc Hawkins, who was tending to the white ones leg. He slung his trench gun across his back and sat down on his rump next to them.

"How is she doing Doc?" He asked.



Doc looked up from his work at the Gunnery Sergeant. "It's a minor fracture from what I can tell. She can't put any weight on it though. We'll have to carry her to someplace where she can get better treatment."

"Alright then." Blackburn sighed. He then turned to address the fillies.

"Alright you three okay beyond your friend's injury?" 

The fillies nodded shakily.

"Do you live nearby?"

"We live in Ponyville." the orange filly answered.

Blackburn perked up at this revelation. This was the first contact with a native population of wherever they had ended up.

"Is there a place where we can take your friend to get further help?"

"We have a hospital." The yellow filly was speaking now.

"Alright." Blackburn took a look around before continuing. "My names Nathan by the way. What are yours?" 

"Mah names Applebloom." The yellow filly piped up.

"I'm Scootaloo." said the orange one.

"And I'm Sweetie Belle." said the white filly.

Blackburn smiled. Those were beautiful names. "Well girls, we were just on our way to Ponyville ourselves. So can you show us the way? We also need to find your families and let them know that you are alright. Sound good?"

"Sounds good." The trio said in unison.

"Good. Now O'brien, you help get Sweetie Belle onto Doc's back. The rest of you, back in marching order on the road. Let's move."
--------------------------------------------------

Back in Ponyville, a large crowd of local residents had gathered at the town square. They were led by a familiar group of six mares. Three of them had been frantically searching for three fillies who had been missing since school let out two hours ago.

"Applebloom is never late comin' home!" Applejack fretted. "Ah just know somethin' ain't right!"

"I agree with Applejack." Rarity said as she paced nervously. "Sweetie Belle wouldn't go wandering off without telling me first!"

"Yeah! And Scoots was supposed to meet me after school so we could practice flying!" Rainbow Dash added as she hovered back and forth in the air with worry. 

Twilight was busy looking over maps of the Ponyville area. She had called all the ponies she could to organize search parties. She had just now divided up the search areas for each party.

"Ok" she addressed the entire crowd. "Now that every pony is ready, there is one last thing to remember. If a team finds the fillies, they are to send messengers to the other teams so they can return. Any questions?"

Suddenly, a pink hoof shot up into the air and started waving around frantically. 

"Yes Pinkie?" Twilight said.

Pinkie Pie immediately stopped waving and pointed behind her.

"Found them!" she said proudly.



Every pony turned their heads in the direction she was pointing. Standing less than ten feet away, were twelve stallions clad in dark green clothes, and hats that to the ponies in the square, looked like upside down bowls. They also, with the exception of one with white bands with red crosses around his forelegs, carried strange sticks slung across their backs. Among them were three little fillies the ponies all recognized.

"Applebloom!"

"Sweetie Belle!"

"Scootaloo!"
> Chapter 4: Brief Misunderstandings
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The three mares ran towards their respective filly in utmost joy. Rainbow Dash and Applejack both snatched up Scootaloo and Applebloom. However when Rarity went to hug Sweetie Belle off of the back of a stallion with large glasses, she was stopped by the same stallion as he held up his hoof.

“I’m sorry ma’am.” Doc said. “But this child has a broken leg and should not be moved.”

Rarity gasped at this statement and did so once again when her eyes fell upon the bandaged leg of her little sister’s leg. Her look of shock soon turned into a glare as she turned back towards the strange stallions. “Who did this?!? Did you all do this?!?”

Doc took a step back and the rest of marine ponies eyes widened at this accusation. “What?” Doc replied. “Of course we didn’…”

“Just who are you guys anyway?!?!” Rainbow Dash interrupted, “And just what are you doing around here huh?!?” 

“And why do ya’ll have our little sisters with ya?!?” Applejack shouted.

All three mares began launching accusations and harsh questions at the marines, so much that the intimidated stallions (as everypony knows there is nothing more frightening than a mare’s fury) couldn’t get a single word in.

“Stop!!” 

All the yelling ceased when the three fillies unified shouts rose above the storm.

“It wasn’t their fault!” Applebloom cried.

“Yeah! We were writing a list of different things to do to get our cutie marks.” Scootaloo chimed in.

“And when I tried to give it to Scootaloo, the wind blew it away and we chased after it into the Everfree Forest.” Sweetie Belle whined.

All three older sisters gasped in shock. “We’ve told ya’ll before ta never go in there alone!” Applejack scolded.

“We know.” Applebloom replied. “By the time we realized we were in the forest we were completely lost.”

The three fillies went on to explain how timberwolves had chased them, how they caused Sweetie Belle to break her leg, and finally how the stallions had come out of nowhere and blasted away the timberwolves to pieces with their sticks, or as the fillies called them, “boom sticks”.

All the while, the three sisterly mares began to feel guilty for making unwarranted accusations towards the clearly brave stallions. Rarity felt especially sorry for yelling at the stallion that Sweetie Belle referred to as “Doc”, when she told of how Doc treated her broken leg.

“Please accept my sincerest apologies for yelling at you kind sir.” She said. “It was highly unladylike of me when all you did was try to help our sisters.”

Doc bowed his head at the mare. “No apology is needed ma’am.” He reassured “I can understand your concern for your sister.”

Rarity fluttered her eyelashes and blush slightly at the stallions gentlecolty manners. As she did, she saw that Twilight had come up to the group while they had been talking.

“May I ask who you all are?” She asked, staring curiously at the clothed stallions. 

A chestnut earth pony with a black mane and red stripes on the sleeves of his forelegs stepped forward.

“My name is Nathan Blackburn.” He said. “Gunnery Sergeant of B Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, United States Marine Corps. These me.. uh, stallions are from my squad.”

Twilight took in the appearance of the 12 stallions and the information that the stallion had given her with intrigue. “So, are you all soldiers?” She asked further.

“Soldiers?” On of the stallions with a black mustache said, sounding a bit offended. “Didn’t you hear her lady? We’re Marines!” 

“Rainbow Dash’s face went back to showing anger in reaction to this stallion yelling at her friend.

“Hey buddy!” Don’t you yell at my friend!” she cried. “And besides, if you guys are soldiers, she outranks you all because she’s a princess!   

At this revelation, all the marines immediately perked up. All this time they were in the presence of the possible leader of the nation they had landed in. They then did something that caught all the ponies, especially Twilight off guard.

“Atten-hut!!!” 

Each stallion suddenly straightened up as stiff as a statue. The stallion called Nathan Blackburn brought his right hoof up to his head in a salute. “Our apologies your majesty.” He said firmly. “We did not realize we were in the presence of royalty.”

Twilight, who had not expected to be saluted in such a profoundly respectful manner, was at a loss for words. “Uh…I…uh…..” she stammered.

Rainbow Dash however recognized the gesture from her time in the Wonderbolts Reserve training. She also knew the proper response a superior, in this case Twilight, was supposed to use to acknowledge such a salute. She quickly flew over to her alicorn friend and whispered the response into her ear. 

“Oh..okay.” Twilight whispered back. She then turned back to the stallions and cleared her throat. “Um…as you were.”

Immediately the stallions posture relaxed and Blackburn brought his hoof back down. The one called Doc stepped forward and dipped his head in respect to the Princess of Friendship.

“Your Majesty.” He spoke calmly and steadily and Twilight could see a bright spark of kindness and concern in his eyes. “My name is Timothy Hawkins and I am these stallions’ doctor in a way. I must stress that we get Sweetie Belle here to a hospital for proper treatment.” 

Twilight nodded, then turned around to Nurse Redheart, who had been among the ponies called for the search parties. Immediately the medical mare in turn beckoned two ponies with a stretcher who trotted up to Doc and helped gently place the white wounded unicorn filly onto the stretcher. Once she was secure, the two ponies lifted the stretcher up and made off for the hospital with Nurse Redheart trailing behind.

Twilight meanwhile had turned her focus back on the stallion named “Blackburn” who had named himself the leader of the group of “marines”.

“Now that we have all that taken care of and have all calmed down, I have some questions for you gentlecolts. 

Buckman and O’Brien snickered when the purple mare said “gentlecolts”.  A disapproving glare from Doc silenced them both.

“So if you all would be so kind as to follow me back to my place so we can speak privately.” Twilight finished.”

“Of course your majesty.” Blackburn nodded. “Just lead the way.”

> Chapter 5: Introductions
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

        When Blackburn had visited his cousin in Chicago when he was a boy, he had been amazed by the towering buildings of the giant metropolis. None of them compared to the beast of a structure that stood before him. When Princess Twilight had said that she was taking them to her home, he had been expecting something like the chateaus that he had seen in France or a summer estate. He certainly never pictured a colossal, he wanted to say treehouse castle, made almost entirely out of crystal. 

As the group walked up the front steps, two massive golden doors suddenly began to glow in a yellow light. Blackburn and his squad all jumped slightly when the doors began to loudly groan open. From behind the doors appeared two grey unicorns clad in a golden medieval style armor. Blackburn guessed that these were the Princess's guards. The six mares all passed the guards without incident, but when the marines followed behind, they moved to intercept them.

Twilight saw this however and waved them away. "It's alright, they're with us." She reassured.

Looking back with at their princess with some concern lingering in their eyes, the guards nodded and slowly returned to their positions by the doors, all the while eyeing the strange group of stallions with suspicion.

Twilight gestured with her head towards a medium sized (in comparison with the front doors) pair of doors about three down the left side of a long corridor hallway. They too were enveloped with an aura of light, except this one was magenta not yellow like on the entrance. When they opened, the ponies found themselves in what appeared to the marines as a large private study, with a desk at the far left corner of the room, a large mounted telescope pointing out one of the windows a maroon colored cushioned sofa facing a small fireplace with a portrait of the six mares hanging over it, and the most predominant feature, the walls were lined with bookshelves filled with volume upon volume of books. Blackburn's eyes widened in wonder. He had hardly seen more than two books since he entered the trenches, and he loved to read. Another thing that caught his eye was what appeared to be a world globe resting on top of a table off to the side of the room, except he couldn't recognize any of the countries on it.

Twilight went over to one of the bookshelves and lightly tapped on it four times with her hoof. Then suddenly, the bookshelf swung out to reveal a short little purple and green, Blackburn wanted to say lizard, behind it.

"Yeah Twilight? Whats up?" The reptile said, much to the surprise of the marines watching.

"We have some new visitors Spike."

"Did that lizard just talk?" Questioned O'Brien.

"Hey I'm not a lizard I'm a dra..." Spike paused when his eyes fell upon the strangely dressed stallions in front of him. "Um Twilight, who are these guys?"

"We were just about to get to that Spike." Twilight answered. "Could you grab me my notepad and quill please?"

Spike saluted and ran over to the dest and pulled out the notepad and feather quill and quickly brought them over to Twilight. Then, much to the amazement of the marines, they were enveloped in the same magenta aura that had radiated from the door a few moments ago. And on top of that, they were floating in midair.

Blackburn raised his hoof. "Excuse me your majesty. But how are you doing that?"

Twilight looked perplexed. "Do you not have magic where you are from?"

Blackburn shook his head. As he did, Twilight began writing down something on the notepad. She then made her way over to the maroon couch and her six friends took their places beside her. She motioned for the group of stallions to sit in front of them.

"Now, I guess we should start with the basics." Twilight said as the marines formed a semi circle in front of her. "Starting with introductions."

Blackburn nodded. "Of course your majesty." He said. "As I already said, I am Gunnery Sergeant Nathan T. Blackburn." He then turned to the uniformed individuals behind him. "Gents, from left to right state your rank and name."

"Aye aye gunny!" 

Twilight and her friends jumped a little when all the stallions loudly spoke in unison.

A light brown earth pony with a small black mustache moved forward. "Corporal Pierre Gustav Buckman ma'am." He spoke with a deep accent that mimicked Applejack's with the exception of a smoother edge to it.

Next was the ash grey unicorn known by the mares only as "Doc." "As I said, I am HM Timothy Hawkins." His eyes passed over each mare so that he could show that he was addressing all of them. When his gaze fell upon the canary yellow pegasus mare, she hid behind her long pink mane.

Next was the grey white earth pony. "Private Patrick Erin O'Brien at your service." He said with a cheeky smile. "My friends call me Patty."

The rest of the marines, after rolling their eyes at O'Brien's cocky attitude, continued to list off their names.

"Private Sampson."

"P-private A-allan."

"Private Cross."

"Lance Corporal Kent"

"Private Rogers."

"Private Toni."

"Private First Class Phillips."

"Private Wilson."

"Private Porter."

Twilight, who had heard all the military terms from her brother being in the guard, and Rainbow Dash, from having gone through Wonderbolt's training, understood what the term private meant. Pinkie Pie however was confused.

"Wait a minute!" She squeaked. "How come you have eight detectives?"

All the marine ponies looked at the pink mare questionably. All the other mares and Spike however, only sighed at Pinkie being Pinkie.

"Pinkie Pie." Twilight groaned as she pulled out of her face hoof. "Private isn't short for Private Eye."

"Yeah Pinkie." Rainbow Dash piped up. "It means that on the list of who is in charge, they are at the bottom."

Blackburn nodded his thanks to the duo. The pink mare perplexed him.

"Now then," Twilight continued. "I guess it's our turn. As you have been told, my name is Twilight Sparkle. And yes I am a princess, but you don't have to bow or salute to me or anything."

Blackburn again nodded. "As you wish your majesty."

Spike was up next. "Hi. My name's Spike, Spike the dragon." He said, puffing his chest out with pride. O'Brien had to suppress a laugh at the ridiculous sight.

Next was the orange mare, Applejack. "Th' names Applejack, and ah want to thank y'all fer helpin' mah sister and her friends."

Blackburn waved his hoof. "Think nothing of it ma'am. Just doing our jobs."

Rarity stepped up to Doc as soon as Applejack was finished. "My name is Miss Rarity Belle." She spoke gracefully. "And I too want to express my gratitude and especially to you." She looked Doc straight in the eyes. "For treating my sister's injuries."

Doc smiled, and grabbed Rarity's. " It was nothing ma'am. Anyone would've done the same."

Rarity blushed at the stallion's gentlecolty manners. These, she had found, were truly rare qualities among most males.

Rainbow Dash now stopped hovering in the air and landed in front of the group of stallions, rubbing the back of her neck in slight shame.

"Names Rainbow Dash, and I'm sorry for snapping at you guys earlier. I'm just kind of protective of Scootaloo."

"I understand completely ma'am." Blackburn reassured. "I was always protective of my younger brother."

"Um, she's not actually my birth sister." Rainbow Dash corrected. "She's my adopted sister. But I do love her very much."

"I can tell."

The next pony was Fluttershy, but she was still hiding behind her flowing pink mane, and she had started to breath shallowly. All the stallions looked on with confusion. They didn't know the canary yellow pegasus was timid by nature, especially stallions. However, Doc could tell that the mare was clearly nervous, and understandably so. She was acting much like his younger sister, who was extremely shy. Remembering the way he would calm his sister down, he got up from his spot in the line and walked up to the now trembling mare and, as gently as he could, placed his hoof on her shoulder.

Fluttershy jumped a little at the touch, then slowly, she turned her head up to see who had come up to her. When she looked up, she saw, through a large set of glasses, a pair of warm hazelnut eyes that spoke volumes of kindness looking at her. They were enhanced by one of the most reassuring smiles she had seen in a while. Then the stallion before her spoke with a voice that would calm a tiger.

"If you want to, just say it to me." He said.

Somehow these words were calming enough for Fluttershy to trust the stallion. "Um..my name is Fluttershy." She said softly.

All the rest of the mares stared in shock. No single pony besides them had ever been able to make Fluttershy speak up so quickly. Smiling softly, Doc stepped back into his spot in the line of green uniformed stallions.

Last but not least was Pinkie Pie. "HI I'M PINKIE PIE AND I MMPPHH!!!!"

Rainbow Dash had shoved her hoof into Pinkie's mouth to stop the oncoming rant. "Let's just leave it at Pinkie Pie."

Pinkie's ears drooped. "Awww, no fun!"

"Alright then." Twilight cut in. "I guess we should on. Now I'm assuming that you are not from here?"

Blackburn shook his head. "No ma'am. We are from the United States of America."

Twilight scribbled on her notebook. "And is the United States a collection of individual countries?"

"No ma'am. It's a single country divided into 48 locally governed states answering to a central government."

"And does your princess head the central government?"

Buckman raised and eyebrow at this question. "Our government isn't a monarchy."

Twilight paused. "Then who is the head of your government?"

"We elect a president who serves for one or two four year terms." Blackburn explained.

"Ooohhh." Twilight understood. "That sounds a lot like the Canterlot Senate, except they are elected for six year terms instead of four years."

"Sounds a lot like England ma'am." Blackburn added.

"Is that another state in your country?"

Blackburn shook his head. "No, England is another separate country on our world."

"And what is your world called darling?" Rarity chimed in.

"Earth."

Twilight again jotted down some notes.

"Ok um..." She tried to remember the stallion's name. "I'm terribly sorry, I forgot your name."

"Nathan Blackburn your majesty."

Twilight nodded. "Were you ponies before you came here?"

Blackburn again shook his head. "No ma'am, we were a species called humans."

Twilight's eyes went wide at this information. "You were humans?!?" she exclaimed.

Blackburn flinched slightly at Twilight's sudden excitement. "Yes we were humans."

Twilight's eyes again lit up. Now she understood why the stallions were clad in so much clothing. That understanding turned to confusion as couldn't recall seeing any clothing like what these stallions were wearing when she was among the humans. "I've never seen clothes like the what your wearing and I visited your universe before." She said quizzically.

Buckman now spoke up. "These are our uniforms ma'am." he explained. "They set us apart from our enemies in combat."

The words "enemies" and "combat" caught all the mares off guard. "What do y'all mean by 'enemies' an' 'combat'?" Applejack asked, slightly afraid of the answer.

"The German Army, and other enemies of the United States during war. And combat against those enemies." Buckman replied.

"Is that what those weird looking stick thingys are for?" Pinkie Pie pointed.

"You mean our rifles?" Blackburn replied. "Yes they are our weapons that we use." Fluttershy cringed at the word "weapons".

"How did you all end up here?" Twilight asked.

"Well we were traveling with our regiment and our sister regiment, the 6th Marines, when we ran into a traffic jam of army units. Then this purple cloud came out of nowhere and we all blacked out. When we woke up, we had changed into this and were in a field outside of a forest." Blackburn explained.

"That's the Everfree Forest darling." Rarity informed. "And I'm surprised that all you ran into there were our little sisters." 

"Wait a minute." Twilight interrupted. "You said you were traveling with your regiments, but were you the only ones who were transported here?"

"No not just us ma'am." Blackburn replied. "Our regiment, our sister regiment, and both of the army units ended up in the same situation."

Twilight expression suddenly became nervous. "How many of you are there?"

"Well both Marine regiments number over 4000."

Each mare's jaw dropped to the floor. The Canterlot Royal Guard garrison only numbered about 900! These ponies two units had together over 4000 and that wasn't including the two other units that had also come with them!

Twilight was the first to recover. "I think it would be best if we somehow brought them all here." She suggested. "So we can make sure that there are no complications."

"Good idea ma'am." Blackburn nodded. "They are all probably tense being in an unfamiliar country and we don't want any violent confrontations."

"Can you tell me where they are located right now?" Twilight asked.

"On a road about five kilometers away from here." Blackburn replied.

"That's Whitetail Road." Applejack put in. "We use it to transport our apples to nearby towns."

Blackburn looked back at his squad and nodded. He then turned back to the group of mares. "Shall we take you there? It's an hour walk if you are all up for it?" 

Twilight smiled and shook her head. "It's alright. I can get us there quicker." She said.

Blackburn looked puzzled. "How would we get there quick...?"

Suddenly, he was cut off as every pony and dragon in the room was surrounded by a blinding purple light. In an instant, they had all vanished from the room.

When the light finally dissipated and Blackburn opened his eyes, he saw that they were now standing in the field that the marines had appeared in earlier that day.

What made Blackburn uneasy was that they were now surrounded by at least 30 marine ponies with their rifles raised, obviously startled and suspicious by the sudden appearance of the group in the middle of their ranks.

"Well shit." The gunnery sergeant muttered. 
       
> 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."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

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."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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!"

	
> Chapter 7: Bivouacked
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The residents of Ponyville stared with nervous curiosity at the recent arrivals to there quiet little town. They had known that something important was bound to be happening when Princess Celestia had arrived with the Royal Guard, but they had never expected to see these strange looking stallions ride into town on great hulking metal machines. Many of the townsponies decided to just stand clear of them until their leaders had made an announcement otherwise.

The marines and soldiers stared back at the residents of the town with equal curiosity. Aside from the one squad that had made contact with the natives and the senior officers who had spoken with one of their leaders, none of them had had any interaction with the local population until this current point. They too decided to wait until they heard from their commanders that it was okay to mingle.

-------------------------------------------------------

Inside the main room of Ponyville's town hall, probably one of the most important diplomatic meetings in Equestria's history was taking place. Seated on one side of a large square oak table were the primary leaders of Equestria; Princess Celestia, and her sister Princess Luna. Across from them sat the senior officers of the newly arrived Americans; Colonel Parker, Colonel Fuller, Major Patton, and Captain Bartlett. Seated at the head of the table were Twilight Sparkle and Gunnery Sergeant Blackburn. This was done so that they could help with piecing the story together for both sides. Right at that moment, Twilight had just finished telling that story to her former teacher.

"So you see Princess, they need our help to return to...." She turned her head towards Blackburn, "What was the name of your country again?" 

"The United States."

"Right. They need help getting back to the United States in their own world."

Celestia looked deep in thought, as did her sister. Neither of them had ever heard of the anomaly such as a cloud of purple mist in association with inter dimensional travel before. Also, though they had both been to the human universe, they had never encountered humans like the ones the stallions in front of them described and claimed to be. There was one thing they did know however. They could not turn a blind eye to these ponies' plight.

"Well gentlecolts." Celestia spoke in a calm tone. "From what Twilight has told me, you do not seem to pose any immediate threat to our ponies, so therefore, you shall be treated as welcome guests."

The four officers all dipped their heads in respect. "We thank you for your hospitality your highness." Colonel Parker said.

Celestia smiled. These stallions were definitely well mannered, that much she could see. "Well then." She continued. "I guess the next order of business would be to find a place for you and your soldiers to stay until further notice."

"Well I highly doubt all of our men could stay in this town your highness." Colonel Fuller spoke up. "And we also would have no place to store our vehicles, tanks, or artillery."

"Maybe half of them could camp out in the fields north of town and the other half could stay at Sweet Apple Acres?" Twilight suggested.

"Are you sure Miss Applejack would be alright with that dear Twilight?" Luna asked.

"I'll be sure to ask her, but I'm pretty sure she would be open to the idea."

Celestia nodded. "Very well, if that is alright with you and your uh 'men'. If you all don't mind sleeping outside."

Colonel Parker chuckled. "Ma'am, we have been through a lot worse than sleeping outside. Compared to the trenches, it'll seem like The Ritz to our men."

Celestia silently sighed in relief. "Very well. We should get started then."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

"So what's it like having hands huuuuuhhhhh?" Pinkie Pie questioned Lance Corporal George Kent, who was having quite the hard time keeping up with the hyperactive mare.

"Ummm. I'm not sure." Kent stammered. "I've never really thought about it before."

Buckman, who was watching nearby, leaned over to Applejack. "Is she always like this?" He whispered to the orange farm mare.

Applejack just shook her head. "We all jus' decided it was best not ta question it." she answered. "Don't get all hung up over it."

Buckman seemed to except this answer and looked back at Kent, who was still being questioned by Pinkie Pie. Buckman now thought it actually looked a little funny, as Kent usually always had straight answers to give to any question.

Just then the main doors opened to reveal the representatives of both parties as they emerged from their meeting. Immediately all the marines on the porch snapped a salute to the commander of their regiment, Colonel Parker, who returned it in kind.

"Gentlemen, our gracious hosts, the commonwealth of Equestria, have allowed us to bivouac here until they find a way to return us home." He spoke with his gruff voice. "In the meantime, Princess Twilight has an idea of where us marines will be staying." He gestured to the lavender alicorn who had trotted up beside him. "Your majesty."

Twilight nodded in acknowledgment. "Right, Applejack." The farm pony perked up upon hearing her name. "Is it at all possible if they could set up camp somewhere on Sweet Apple Acres?" 

"Well, the south fields are empty at th' moment so I don't see why not?" Applejack answered. The marines were a little surprised by this. People weren't always willing to let them into their homes back in Europe.

"Thanks Applejack." Twilight smiled. "This helps a lot. More than you know."

Colonel Parker then coughed to draw Twilight's attention. "Well, with your permission your majesty." he said, "I shall begin bringing my marines into town."

Twilight nodded. "You may proceed Colonel."

Colonel Parker returned the nod, then turned his attention to Blackburn's squad. "Return to your company gentlemen. We move out in 15 minutes."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Soon Blackburn and his fellow marines had finally returned to their regiment, which was waiting in the trucks on the outskirts of town. Blackburn was making his way towards his own truck, when a white hoof blocked his path. He looked to his right to see Captain Edson standing there. Blackburn by instinct, was bringing his hoof up to a salute, but the Captain stopped him.

"We don't have time for formalities Gunnery Sergeant." Edson said with a smile. "Colonel Parker and Colonel Fuller have ordered that the 5th and 6th Marine Regiments will march in formation to the bivouac site. All drivers shall follow behind with the trucks."

Blackburn's eyebrows nearly popped off his head in surprise. "You mean like a parade sir."

Edson smiled. "I believe the Colonel quoted William T. Sherman in saying 'I would like to march this regiment down Broadway in it's exact condition' and then said that this town will do just fine. He wants to show the native population that we are the best and don't need trucks to carry our asses around."

Blackburn smiled as his chest swelled with pride. "No sir. We'll show them that we can march our asses around." He said with a slight chuckle. Edson himself couldn't help but laugh at the statement.

"Form up Gunnery Sergeant."

Blackburn quickly snapped a salute. "Yes sir." He then swung around to face the opposite direction and took in a deep breath.

COMPANY!! FORM UP ON THE CAPTAIN!!! COLUMN OF FOURS!!

Instantly, all the marines of B company began to form a seemingly solid block of marines, four across, rifles slung over their backs. Up and down the column other companies imitated their movements, with stallions running into line and non commissioned officers barking out orders. Soon the entire 5th Marine Regiment was formed and ready for march. 

Soon, Colonel Parker appeared at the head of the column and looked back with satisfaction. 

"5th Marines!!!" He bellowed "FORWAAAARRRRRD, MARCH!" And all at once the column moved forward, each marine stallion in perfect rhythm with the other.

As they approached the entrance to Ponyville, Captain Edson, who was marching alongside Blackburn, got an idea.

"Blackburn." He said. "Start up 'Yellow Ribbon'."

Blackburn looked at his commander to make sure he understood. He then waited until his left fore hoof was just about to step down before taking in a breath and began to call out the cadence.

"THERE WAS A GIRL! SHE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON!"	He sang.

"THERE WAS A GIRL! SHE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON!" Came the unison reply.

-----------------------------

The residents of Ponyville all paused when they heard what sounded to them like singing. Looking in the direction it was coming from, they saw a sight they had never seen before in any of their lifetimes.

The marine stallions from earlier, marching in perfect sync, and in perfect blocks, came down their street, heads held high and their strange stick devices on their backs. And on top of that they appeared to be the ones singing.

"SHE WORE IT IN THE SPRINGTIME AND THE EARLY MONTH OF MAY!"

"SHE WORE IT IN THE SPRINGTIME AND THE EARLY MONTH OF MAY!"

"AND IF YOU ASK HER WHY THE HELL SHE WORE IT!"

"AND IF YOU ASK HER WHY THE HELL SHE WORE IT!"

"SHE WORE IT FOR THE YOUNG MARINE WHO'S FAR FAR AWAY!"

"SHE WORE IT FOR THE YOUNG MARINE WHO'S FAR FAR AWAY!"

"AWAY!"

"AWAY!"

"AWAY!"

"AWAY!"

"SHE WORE IT FOR THE YOUNG MARINE WHO'S FAR FAR AWAY!"

"SHE WORE IT FOR THE YOUNG MARINE WHO'S FAR FAR AWAY!"

> Chapter 8: Awkward Start
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	It didn't take too long for the men of the 5th Marines to arrive at Sweet Apple Acres. They were already catching whiffs of the sweet aroma of fresh apples before they even came in sight of it's orchard fields. When they entered the property, Blackburn's jaw just dropped in amazement. Never in his life had he seen such a large expanse of produce as this! The trees seem to be bursting with bright red apples that just encouraged one to just pick one off it's branch and take a bite. Blackburn however knew that as guests, the marines would pay the owners before even thinking of taking an apple. 

By 1300 hours, all the stallions of the 2 marine regiments had arrived in Sweet Apple Acres and were beginning to set up their bivouac. Shelter half tents were sprouting up like mushrooms, rifles were stacked like stands of corn and all the trucks were lined up in a row at the edge of the field. Marines milled around assisting their comrades with their tents, packs, weapons, supplies, basically anything that needed to be done to turn the field into a suitable military camp.

Blackburn had just finished setting up his own tent at the end of a line of tents that contained the rest of his squad. He then turned to see if the stallions at the trucks needed any help when he nearly ran right into Captain Edson. He was about to bring his hoof up into a salute when Edson quickly waved him off.

"As you were Gunnery Sergeant." He said calmly, and Blackburn loosened his posture and even cracked a slight smile.

"What song do you want us to sing next sir?" He chuckled. He was relieved when the Captain chuckled in return.

"No Sergeant, for now no more singing." Edson replied. "I have been told to give you this though." He then reached around to his back pocket and pulled out a piece of paper in his teeth. He then motioned for Blackburn to take the paper from his mouth. Blackburn did so, but instead of using his mouth, he took the paper in his hoof. He had found earlier that his hooves somehow could grip objects without the use of fingers. This made Captain Edson blush with embarrassment. 

"Yes uh..this is an invitation from Princess Twilight Sparkle and her friends for you and the members of your squad." Edson explained, "It seems that they wish to get to know you all better than simple introductions."

"Well sir we will certainly oblige." Blackburn nodded. "I'll gather up my squad and we'll get on over there. It says here that we are meet her and her friends at the castle. Am I correct sir?"

Edson nodded. Blackburn then saluted his commander and then turned back towards the row of tents that housed his squad. The stallions were all bunched together, conversing and swapping tales and their own opinions on the current situation.

"Listen up 1st squad!" Blackburn shouted, and the marine stallions all stopped their current actions and turned to face their gunnery sergeant as he approached. When he stopped in front of the crowd of stallions, Blackburn quickly surveyed the state of tents. He then turned to look at Corporal Buckman. 

"The squad living quarters up to standard Corporal?" He questioned.

Buckman nodded. "Yes Gunnery Sergeant." He replied in his usual deep Louisiana drawl.

"Good." Blackburn then turned to address the entire squad. "Gentlemen. We have been presented with a most gracious invitation from Her Majesty Princess Twilight Sparkle and her friends to partake in a sort of welcoming party with them." The squad all looked at each other and murmured their surprise. "This is an even better opportunity for us to make a good impression with them." Blackburn continued. "So I want all of you to shed your combat gear and grab your overseas caps, fourragères, marksman badges and ribbons. We need to look our best. Sound good?"

"Yes gunny." 1st squad replied in unison.

"We leave in an hour and a half gentlemen. Hop to it."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



By 1430 hours, Blackburn and his squad were making there way towards Princess Twilight Sparkle's castle. As per Blackburn's orders, they were dressed in the best attire that they could short of their dress blues. They had all sewn one their red square and Indian head patches on their uniforms before they had left for Germany back in Europe, and they were proud to have it displayed on their sleeves. All personal awards and ribbons hung from their chests and the French fourragères hung around their left sleeves. Their overseas caps, which had finally been issued to them in marine forest green, all sat smartly atop their heads. They must've looked dashing, Blackburn wagered, as quite a few mares heads were turned as they made their way through Ponyville. 

It didn't take them long to find the castle, as they had been their before and the structure was the most dominating feature of town. When the squad arrived, they saw the same two guards from earlier standing watch by the massive doors to the castle. Blackburn approached the two guards who eyed him curiously as he came near.

"Gunnery Sergeant Nathaniel Blackburn and company here to see Her Majesty Princess Twilight Sparkle." Blackburn spoke with confidence.

The two guards nodded in response and stepped aside to allow the marines entrance. "Welcome sir." The one on the left said. "They are expecting you in the grand hallway."

Blackburn nodded his thanks and then lead his men through the doors and into the massive halls of the palace. Once again, Blackburn marveled at the grand architecture that surrounded him and his men. It was definitely a different style than most American and European architecture he had seen in his lifetime.

His attention was quickly diverted from the architecture to the sound of hoof steps approaching from down the hall. He turned his head to see their host, Princess Twilight, heading straight towards them with a big smile on her face. Blackburn was about to instinctively bow in respect, when Twilight waved him off with her hoof.

"Their is no need for that." She giggled. "I'm not to comfortable with other ponies bowing to me."

Blackburn hesitated for a moment, thinking that this might be a test. But when he looked up and saw the sincerity in the princess's eyes, he relaxed and brought his head back up. "As you wish your highness." 

Again Twilight giggled. "You don't have to call me that either." She said. "Twilight is just fine."

Blackburn nodded. "Okay Twilight." He smiled. He liked this mare. She didn't seem to be to high and mighty about her position.

Twilight's smile widened as she saw that the entire squad had come with Blackburn. "Welcome everypony to my home. I trust that you have all settled in at Sweet Apple Acres?"

Blackburn nodded. "We have Miss Twilight. Your friend Applejack is most generous for allowing us to camp there, and we wish to extend our deepest thanks."

"Well Applejack is here so you can thank her personally." Twilight said. She then gestured down the hallway behind her. "My friends are all waiting for us in the dining room, so if you are all ready, we can head on in."

"Lead the way Miss Twilight." Blackburn smiled.

Twilight nodded in response then turned around and led the marines down the hallway towards the dining hall.

"I hope that you will like my friends." She said enthusiastically. "I just know that they will like you all."

Blackburn smiled. "I certainly hope so Miss Twilight. I know that we will do our best, right marines?" He looked back to face his squad behind him.

"Yes Gunny." They replied in unison.

Twilight continued to smile, and the latched onto the doors with her magic and opened them wide. "Then let's..."

"WELCOME TO PONYVILLE GUYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

BOOM!!!!!

The marines all flinched and ducked slightly as they were greeted with the screaming of a pink mare and the blast of what appeared to be a cannon of some kind. Blackburn and his marines relaxed however when they saw that it had shot only confetti at them.

"Pinkie Pie!" Applejack trotted over to the party mare displaying a disapproving look on her face. "Ah told ya not to do that. Y'all nearly gave them a heart attack!"

Blackburn quickly shook away the startle as he took in the room. Their were balloons and streamers hanging all over the place and a long table at the end of the room was covered with food. Hanging from the ceiling also, was a large banner with the words WELCOME TO PONYVILLE! printed in bold letters on it. Blackburn then turned his attention to the arguing mares.

"It's quite alright Miss Applejack." He reassured her. "We are used to being startled a lot. No harm done."

"Wait a minute." Doc's voice piped up from the group of marines. "Where did Allan go?"

Blackburn's smile faded. He quickly looked back to look for Private Allan. He knew that Allan had transformed into a light blue earth pony with black hair, and much to his worry, he could not see him. The rest of the marines looked around for their comrade.

"Oh dear." A slight posh voice spoke up. Blackburn turned his head to the front again and saw that the voice had come for Rarity, the white unicorn from earlier, who wore an expression of worry on her face. "I think he is under the table here." She pointed with her fore hoof.

Blackburn immediately ran up to the table while Doc pushed his way through the marines to join him. When they got to the table, they were greeted with a sight that filled them with pity.



Private Peter Joseph Allan, was curled up in a ball underneath the table with his forelegs curled up into his chest. He was shaking uncontrollably like a leaf in a strong autumn breeze and he kept whimpering and crying to himself. His eyes were paralyzed with fear and his teeth were clenched together.

"M-Momma." He whimpered to himself. "M-M-Momma, d-don't l-let m-me die. D-don't let m-me d-die."

Doc sighed, he was always worried that something like this would happen if Allan was exposed to any loud noises. Luckily, Allan trusted him and he knew how to calm him down.

"Allan?" He said softly. He reached out with his hoof and touched Allan's foreleg, causing him to flinch a little, but it got his attention. "Allan look at me. It's alright." Doc whispered. "It's all safe. No one is going to hurt you alright?" 

Allan gulped nervously, but his shaking started to go down. "It's s-safe?" He stuttered.

Doc nodded and smiled gently. "That's right Allan. Everything is okay. You're safe. Now come on out."

At first Allan hesitated, but then slowly but surely, he began to crawl out towards Doc until he finally emerged from under the table. Doc then wrapped his forelegs around his neck and patted him on the back.

"See it's ok." He whispered. He then broke the embrace and patted Allan on the shoulder.

Behind them, the rest of the marines looked on with understanding, while the mares wore expressions of worry and confusion. Pinkie Pie's mane had deflated from reaction to seeing that her attempt at fun had scared somepony and it now lay flat. 

"Oh my gosh I am so sorry!" She started blubbering. "I didn't mean to scare your friend. I was just trying to welcome you all and that is how I usually welcome new ponies to Ponyville and...." she was cut off when Allan raised his hoof up and gave her a shaky smile.

"I-its alright m-ma'am." he stammered. "I-I am f-fine now. No n-need t-to worry."

Pinkie Pie's hair inflated back up upon hearing that Allan was okay. But she still had a worried look on her face. "Are you sure?"

"P-Positive." Allan answered.

Blackburn sighed in relief. That had been a close call. "Well then." he addressed the room. "I guess we should start fresh now."

> Chapter 9: The Party
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	With the awkward start behind them, Blackburn's squad, minus Allan who despite his reassurances, had been taken by Doc over to a chair in the corner to fully calm down, began to mingle with Twilight and her friends. The tension in the room that had occurred due to Allan's shell shock slowly faded away. Blackburn was just explaining the whole situation to Twilight and Fluttershy in the best way that he could.

"So you see." He said. "Allan suffers from something we call 'shell shock'."

"Shell shock?" Twilight said confused.

"That doesn't sound very nice." Fluttershy said timidly.

Blackburn sighed sadly. "Believe me ma'am it isn't nice. You see people like Allan, they aren't wounded physically so to speak. They are wounded in the mind. It's like part of their brain had been altered and can't be changed back." He looked back at the nervous private sitting in the corner, sipping a glass of punch slowly while Pinkie Pie continued to apologize. "Allan is pretty lucky. Some guys just go blank. They aren't there anymore at all. Just gone. And there is no real way to help them."

Twilight looked towards Allan with a pitying expression. Fluttershy gasped and tears came to her eyes. The three ponies stood in silence for a few moments, before Twilight's eyes suddenly lit up in the manner they did when an idea came to her mind.

"I think there may be a way to help Allan." She said excitedly. 

Blackburn raised an eyebrow. "What would that be Miss Twilight?"

"My brother, Shining Armor, is an Captain in the Royal Guard." Twilight explained. "He has been on deployment before and has met other guardsponies who have displayed similar symptoms like the ones Allan displayed." She gestured to the nervous marine. "He is one of the heads of a group that helps them cope with such things. The Wounded Heroes Foundation. I think they could help Allan out. If that's okay with you all that is?"

Blackburn looked at Doc. "What do you think Doc?" He asked.

Doc shrugged in response. "I don't see any reason not to at least try. Anything is better than just letting Allan get worse and worse. If this group could help him in any way, I say we go for it." He then turned to look at Twilight. "Though I think it would be a good idea if Allan met with your brother before anything was firmly established. What did you say his name was?"

"Shining Armor." Twilight replied. "Prince Captain Shining Armor of the 1st Royal Guard Regiment."

"Would that be possible if Allan could meet him first?"

"Of course. I can arrange it."

Blackburn nodded. "Alright then. We'll talk to Allan about it, and if he is okay with it, we'll set up a meeting." He paused for a moment, before looking back at Twilight. "You said that your brother is a captain?" He asked.

"Yes. He's a Prince officially now, but he still maintains his duties as a Captain with the Crystal Guard Regiments." Twilight replied.

"Has he ever seen combat?" Blackburn asked.

Twilight looked down at her hooves and sighed. "He won't tell me about what happened on his deployments." 

Doc nodded. "I wouldn't take it too hard ma'am." He said kindly. "You probably wouldn't understand if he told you anyway."

Twilight nodded. "I guess so. But I at least want to try."

---------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile, the rest of Blackburn's squad were busy enjoying themselves and the hospitality of Twilight and her friends. Buckman was standing by a table, looking around as he sipped from a small glass of lemonade. He never was much for parties or anything of that nature. When the regiment had found leave time behind the lines, he always just went to the local bars and had a few drinks. It seemed to be that that was going to be the situation here until.....

"Howdy there mister!"

Buckman turned to his left and found himself looking into the face of one of the mares hosting the party. He recognized her as Applejack by her blonde mane, large green eyes, freckled face, and of course, her large stetson she wore upon her head. The way all these features came together, Buckman had to admit she was cute.

"Hello Miss Applejack." He nodded in reply. "How are y'all doin'?"

"Doin' just fine, Mister Buckman was it?" 

"Yes ma'am. Pierre Gustave Buckman." The corporal replied. "But you can just call me Pierre if'n you want to."

Applejack giggled. "Alrighty then Pierre. Y'all can just call me Applejack then."

"Alright then Applejack." Buckman smiled. "Now tell me, are you a southern girl? Cause I can plainly here the familiar twang of someone from Dixieland."

Applejack giggled again. "Well, ah reckon ah ain't ever heard of 'Dixieland', but yup', Ah'm a southern mare through an' through." She then raised an eyebrow curiously. "Why do ya ask?"

Buckman smiled. "Ah'm a souther boy myself." He answered. "Born and raised on a farm in the great state of Louisiana." 

Applejack's ears perked up. "Y'all are a farmer?" Buckman nodded. "Well shoot." Applejack extended her hoof. "It sure is a pleasure to meet somepony with an appreciation fer the soil. What kind of farm did you live on? What were your crops?"

Buckman looked down at his hooves. "Well, it wasn't much. At least it weren't like what y'all have on your farm." He said modestly "We grew tobacco, as much as we could, which again wasn't much." Applejack suddenly saw a look depression appear on the young pony's face. "Are y'all alright sugarcube?"

Buckman's eyes snapped back up. "Oh um yes Miss Applejack. Ahm fine." Applejack could tell that Buckman wasn't telling the truth. He wasn't fine. But she could see that whatever it was, it wasn't something she should press. Luckily for her, at that moment Rainbow Dash came up to them along with another marine pony. Applejack recognized the red maned stallion as O'brien.

"Hey AJ!" Rainbow Dash said excitedly. "O'brien here said that he could beat me at a race."

Applejack looked at the marine in surprise. "Y'all challenged Rainbow here to a race?" When O'Brien nodded in reply, Applejack just stood there with a stunned expression on her face. At first she wanted to warn the poor stallion what he was getting into, but she was stopped when O'Brien held up his hoof to hush her.  

"Before you say I'm a fool, I challenged Rainbow Dash to a foot race. Or I should say, a 'hoof' race." He chuckled to himself at the expression. "That means she can't use her wings at any point in the race."

Applejack was still suspicious, remembering the incident in the running of the leaves. She looked at her rainbow maned friend, who was grinning confidently, with scrutiny. "And you are gonna keep your word on that Rainbow?"

"Applejack!" Rainbow Dash said in a tone that implied she was offended. "Who do you think I am? I am always a mare of my word."

Applejack was still suspicious, but she could see no sign of dishonesty from her pegasus friend, so she simply shrugged. "Alrighty then. If'n ya think you can beat her, go ahead and try. Ah won't stop y'all." 

"Thanks Applejack." O'Brien smiled. He and Rainbow Dash went back over to where they had been earlier and continued to smooth out the details of their upcoming race.

Meanwhile, Pinkie Pie continued to talk with a still shaky Allan. Much to her friends surprise though, she was talking as calmly and quietly as she could so she wouldn't startle the marine. "Are you liking the party so far Ally Wally?"

Allan couldn't help but smile at the pink mare. He appreciated that she was showing concern for his happiness. Back on the front, a lot of other soldiers had simply called him a coward or insane whenever he went into his panic attacks. They had been getting better with the help of Doc and his other friends, but he was still prone to them when encountering loud noises. 

"I-I am en-enjoying th-the p-party P-Pinkie P-Pie." He stammered. "Th-thank you f-for doing th-this for us."

Pinkie Pie beamed at the thanks from the young stallion. She had really felt bad when she had seen that her surprise party cannon had scared him nearly half to death. She now knew that she needed to be gentler with him than she was with her other friends. Even now she was taking mental notes on Allan's personality so she could be better prepared for any future parties she may throw him. 

"Ooooh. I am soooo happy that you are. I was really worried that I had ruined everything after I scared you at the beginning." 

"L-like I said, i-its o-k-kay." Allan stuttered.

"I'm glad it is cuz I like you all a lot!" Pinkie Pie smiled even wider. "You're all new friends and I love to see my friends smile!" She then reached over and brought Allan into a gentle hug. Normally she would've nearly squeezed the life out of the recipient of one of her special hugs, but she decided the a much gentler one would be better for Allan. 

Allan flinched at first at the touch, but when his head made contact with the pink mare's chest and began to hear the steady rhythm of her heart, which he could immediately tell had the best of intentions for him, he relaxed and returned the hug.

"Thank you." He whispered.

"Your welcome Ally." Came the soft reply.

While this was happening, it was all being watched by Twilight, Fluttershy, Blackburn and Doc. The two mares sighed happily as they watched their friend do what she did best; make ponies happy. Meanwhile the two marines were standing with their mouths hanging open in shock. No one had ever been able to calm down Allan like that before, not even themselves. It was Doc who finally broke the silence.

"Maybe it would be a good idea that Miss Pie accompany Allan if decides to go through with the visit?"

Fluttershy smiled in reply. "I think that sounds great." She paused and looked down at her hooves before continuing. "Um mister um..."

"Hawkins ma'am. Timothy Hawkins."

Fluttershy blushed slightly. "Right um well. I was um wondering if you want to come over to my cottage some time soon and talk about medicine? But um if thats okay with um that is."

Doc smiled warmly. This mare was so shy he couldn't feel but feel warm when he was around her. "I would love to ma'am. And please, call me Timothy."

Fluttershy finally looked up from her hooves. Her face was red as a tomato but she had one of the happiest smiles she ever wore on that same face. "Then um, you can just call me Fluttershy."
	


	


	
> Chapter 10: Getting to Know You
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Two Days Later

Blackburn felt his left eye twitched involuntarily. This happened two more times before he finally opened his eyes to see who the culprit was. When he sat up in his shelter half tent and looked around, he could see no pony that would be close enough to have done the deed. After a few moments however, Blackburn began to feel a tickling on his nose. Looking forward at his snout, he saw that a sunflower yellow butterfly was standing right upon it fluttering it's wings. The butterfly apparently took notice that Blackburn had noticed him and turned to face the marine. Blackburn stared right back at the beautiful creature that he had not seen since he had first stepped foot into the trenches in France, for their was never anything so beautiful and full of life in the miles of death that had surrounded them before. As Blackburn looked at the butterfly's face, he could've sworn he saw it smile at him.

Suddenly the butterfly flapped it's delicate yellow wings and took off from his snout and out of the tent. Blackburn stood and followed it out into the open and watched it fly away into the distance. After it disappeared from his sight, he looked around at the camp, which was just beginning to stir awake as well. He couldn't help but feel a bit overwhelmed by how tranquil everything was here. His own world was almost always experiencing some sort of conflict, always fighting over land, or for just their own reputations. It was a stark contrast to this world which seemed to radiate with peace and tolerance that people had dreamed of back on Earth during the war. He admired these ponies ability to live in harmony with each other and all other creatures and wanted to learn more. 

It was that reason that had him excited for today. During the party yesterday, Twilight Sparkle had show interest in learning more about the human culture and specifically about his home country, the United States. He had agreed to do so and had also asked if she could teach him more about the culture and history of Equestria. Blackburn had returned to the camp with his squad after the party and had immediately requested a pass from Captain Edson. 

Remembering that they had agreed to meet at 8:00 that morning, Blackburn returned to his tent and grabbed his green service jacket, which now was without his ribbons and badges. He slipped it on, (the rest of the marines had been shown how to get dressed without hands) and then grabbed his overseas cap and placed it on his head. He then began to make his way towards the main gate of the farm.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Blackburn's trip to Twilight's castle was brief as he was now quite familiar with the route. When he arrived at the grand entrance, he found the same guards from the previous day, however instead of stopping to see who he was, they simply nodded, opened to door and simply said "The Princess is expecting you." Blackburn had thanked them and entered the castle expecting to see Twilight waiting to meet him in the foyer, but instead he found Spike standing there at the foot of the grand staircase that led to the upper floors of the complex. 

"Hello Spike." Blackburn greeted. "Where's Twilight? She and I were supposed to meet today."

"She's in her library right now." Spike explained. "She wanted to make sure she had all of the proper books and journals for your session today. I can show you where the library is."

"Sure. Lead the way." Blackburn smiled. And with that, the green and purple dragon turned up the staircase and was followed by Blackburn up the steps to the second floor.

Upon reaching the second level, Spike turned to the left down a long hallway until the had reached a large purple wooden door that was two doors down on the right from the staircase. 

"She's in there." Spike pointed to the door.

"Aren't you coming in as well?" Blackburn asked.

"Nope." Spike replied. "I love Twilight, but when she gets into student mode, she tends to get a little, lets say excited."

Blackburn nodded understandingly. "Well then I guess I'll see you later Spike. If you ever want to talk man to man, or I guess I should say stallion to Drake." He chuckled.

Spike smiled. "Sure thing, See you around." And with that, he went further down the hall towards a door that had a white sign with black letters that said SPIKE'S ROOM. He soon disappeared behind the door.

Blackburn smiled. He then knocked on the door three times with his hoof to announce his arrival.

"Come in." Came the reply. In response, Blackburn pushed down on the door handle with his hoof and pushed the door open. Stepping inside, he found himself in a room where the walls were gigantic bookshelves packed to the brim with books. They reached to the ceiling from which a large glass chandelier hung and illuminated the room with light. The shelves were not the only places Blackburn could find books in the room. They were also piled up in stacks on the floor and a couple of brown wooden chairs in the room. In the center of the room was a large oval chestnut brown wooden table, also covered in books. Sitting at the table in one of the two empty wooden chairs in the room was Twilight, who had apparently been writing in a leather-bound journal with a white feather quill. She smiled when she saw Blackburn.

"Oh hello Nathan!" She said excitedly. "I'm so glad that you could come!"

"Thank you for inviting me Miss Twilight." Blackburn replied with a smile. "The pleasure is all mine."

"Thanks." Twilight said. "And by the way, just call me Twilight, please?"

Blackburn nodded. "Alright then Twilight. What shall we do first?"

"Well, you already have given me a good overview of your country and government, so can you tell me some more about yourself?"

Blackburn paused for a moment. He hadn't really expected to be talking about his personal life during this visit. He had expected Twilight to have more academic questions for him. He cleared his throat before finally speaking. "Um well. What would you like to know?"

"Well, could you tell me a little more about the marines and why you joined?" Twilight asked.

Blackburn took a seat at the table while Twilight turned to a blank page in her journal and brought up her quill to start writing.

"Well, the marines have been around ever since America began." Blackburn started. "We have been involved in every United States conflict in history, from the revolution to today."

"Has your country been to war often?" Twilight asked. Blackburn could see that she had a concerned look in her eyes as if she was fearing the answer. He was fearing the answer as well, at least her reaction to the answer. 

"Um well. Yes we have. Our country alone has been involved in at least five major wars since it's founding and this recent war in Europe would make it six."

Twilight's eyes widened as big as dinner plates and her jaw dropped. In one of the few moments it ever happened in her life, she found herself at a loss for words. "H-how? Why?" She finally managed to stammer out. "Why would your kind fight each other so much? What gain could come from such a terrible thing as war?"

Blackburn looked down at his hooves in shame. "I don't know why for most of them Twilight. A lot of human wars have been fought for very petty reasons." He then looked back up Twilight. "Some of the wars the United States has fought were petty as well, but I like to believe that we have for the most part fought for noble reasons."

"What reasons could those be?" Twilight asked.

"Our first war was a fight for our freedom from oppression. We earned our freedom in blood from the country of Britain in the late 1700s. Our country was founded in that war."

"Was war really necessary though?" Twilight questioned. "Couldn't your ancestors have talked with their leaders?"

"From what I have been taught and learned myself, our founders felt as if they had no other choice. It was join or die." Blackburn explained.

Twilight wrote some notes down on her pad and paused before speaking again. "What other noble causes has your country had to go to war for?"

Blackburn spent the next half hour explaining to Twilight the history of his country up to the current point they had left their world in. From the writing of the Constitution through the war between the states up to what many around the world had called the war to end all wars. The entire time Twilight continued to scribble down notes in her pad and to ask follow up questions on certain points that caught her attention such as George Washington, the term "manifest destiny", and the current president, Woodrow Wilson. From time to time however, Blackburn would catch glimpses of Twilight showing a pained expression on her face, particularly when he talked about the subject of slavery in the Civil War and the subject of war itself. He decided that she needed some sort of reassurance that he was different than those from the past.

"Look." He sighed. "I know that our country's past is not all that honorable. No country's past is. But I like to think that for the most part, many from my country have done what they have done for the benefit of others."

Twilight looked at Blackburn and smiled. "I understand Nathan. I can tell that you all are different from your ancestors. You yourself seem like the kind of pony that would do things for the benefit of others."

Blackburn looked down at his hooves abashed. "Well I'm not to sure about that." He then looked back at Twilight. "So is there anything else you would like to know about my world?"

"Actually, I was wondering if you could tell me a little more about yourself."

Blackburn's eyebrows seem to rise a full two inches higher in surprise. "Um more about myself?"

"Yes." Twilight smiled. "I'd like to know a little more about you so I can get to know you better as a friend."

Blackburn suddenly found himself praying that he wasn't blushing. He had noticed before that Twilight was definitely pretty in both the physical and personality areas, so to hear that she had an interest in him, even if just as a friend, gave him quite a positive feeling. However, he wasn't entirely comfortable talking about his past with individuals, but he trusted Twilight enough to tell her a few points.

"Alright. What do you want to know?"

"Well to start off, what made you decide to join your nation's armed forces?" Twilight asked as she set her pad and quill aside.

"Well I was initially on track to study law, but then I decided that I wanted to get a better understanding of the world and it's many walks of life. I figured that the marines would be the best opportunity to do so. I enlisted in 1910 when I was 19. After I completed my training I was sent to marine barracks in Panama. I was then sent to a small country called Haiti in 1914 to help fight "Cacos" rebels. By then I was a corporal. I was given the rank of sergeant when my unit was involved in a firefight and my squad leader was hit by rifle fire."

"Oh my gosh!" Twilight gasped. "Was he alright?"

Blackburn sighed to himself at the young mare's innocence. "He didn't die, but he was sent home afterwards and I replaced him as squad leader. Not too long after that we were sent back to our barracks in Panama. In 1917 we were called back to the states due to our entrance into the war in Europe and sent to Parris Island to train new recruits. We eventually arrived in France in June and were sent to the front lines that next year. We remained in combat until the armistice that November."

"What exactly happened to you all in France?" Twilight asked.

Blackburn looked away towards the shelves of books on the wall. Twilight could see a pained expression spread across his face, as if he was recalling a bad memory. Meanwhile Blackburn started to see flashing images of a bombed out church and the altar inside. After a few moments, he turned back to face her.

"If you don't mind Twilight, I'd rather not talk about it."

An 20 second long awkward silence fell upon the room, eventually broken by Twilight clearing her throat. "Alright then. That's okay."

"Thank you." Blackburn sighed. "Now how about you tell me a little more about yourself?"

Twilight smiled brightly. She then proceeded to go into detail about her adventures from her entrance into Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns to the battle with Nightmare Moon, to Discord, her brother's wedding, finally culminating with her recent coronation and her battle with Tirek. By the end of the story, Blackburn was in awe of the mare. He could hardly believe that she had been through so much at such a young age.

"Wow Twilight." He said. "You've had quite the adventure filled life."

Twilight blushed at the comment. "Oh it was nothing, and I couldn't have done it without the help of my friends."

Blackburn smiled and chuckled to himself at Twilight's modesty. He then glanced up at the wall and saw a large wooden clock that read 2:30. His eyes widened as he realized that his pass ran out at 3:00.

"I'm really sorry Twilight but I have to go now." He said as he got up from his seat. "I have to be back at camp at 1500."

Twilight's eyes widened as well when she realized how long they had been going. "Oh I'm sorry Nathan! I didn't mean to keep you here too long!" She then followed Blackburn down to the front door of the castle. "Do you think I will be able to see you again sometime?"

"Probably. Actually, the senior officers are allowing us to hold a celebration in our camp to celebrate the armistice, and they have decided to allow citizens from Ponyville attend. If you want you should come."

Twilight smiled at the invitation. "Oh absolutely! I'll be sure to bring my friends along as well!"

"Alright. Well I hope you can make it. It's this Saturday. See you there." 

"Alright. Bye Nathan!" Twilight called out as she watched the stallion exit and close the door behind him.


	
	
	
> Chapter 11: Meanwhile in the North
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Somewhere back on Earth, at a place called Archangel in Northern Russia, a large cloud of purple fog swept in over a group of shacks that housed 5,000 men. Like with the Marines, this cloud was not filtered out through gas masks. Soon, all 5,000 men had simply vanished. Elsewhere in the same region, a similar cloud fell over the another group of 1,000 cold men who soon found themselves in a world of darkness. After the cloud dissipated, not a trace of either group could be found.


Crystal Empire

Deep within the hallways and chambers of the Crystal Palace, one room housed the duo that had been charged with leading the thousand year lost civilization of the Crystal Empire into the modern era. Their Royal Highnesses Princess Mi Amore Cadenza or Cadence as she liked to be addressed, and her husband Prince Captain Shining Armor were sound asleep in each others embrace. The royal couple had gone to sleep happy, happy to be together in love and happy in the knowledge that their citizens were safe that night. But above all, they were filled with joy from the news they had received the previous day. They were going to be parents. 

They had learned yesterday from a visit to the Royal Physician that Cadence was carrying their child. Cadence had not been able to stop smiling and Shining Armor had poured out many rivers of "liquid pride" from his eyes. They almost couldn't believe that they were at last going to be parents. It was something that they had dreamed of ever since the day they were married. Now it was going to become a reality.

As they slept together in their warm bed, a single crystal guard came rushing down the hallway that led to their bedroom. Once he arrived at the doors, he knocked on the door with his hoof as loud as he could. Normally a guard would not dare to do such a thing, but the news that he brought with him was not something the guard commander believed could wait until light. 

When the knocking finally broke the couple out of their sleep, they both groaned from having been awoken at such an hour. Shining Armor leaned over to his wife and smiled. 

"Don't get up." He whispered, leaning in and kissing her on the cheek. "I'll got see what it is."

Cadence returned the kiss with a smile and laid her head back down onto the pillow. After she had done so, Shining Armor climbed out and made his way to the door. Whatever the reason was, the guard had better have a good reason for waking us he thought. When he reached the door, he opened it with his magic to reveal Corporal Quartzite standing before him.

"What is it Corporal?" He asked.

The guard saluted his Prince. "Sorry to wake you sir." He said quickly. "But Captain Valiant thought it best not to wait. There have been reports of a large flash of white light coming from the north sir."

Shining Armor raised an eyebrow in confusion. "A large flash of white light?"

"Yes sir." Quartzite nodded. "It was seen by several guards on the city limits. And we have reports coming in from our pegasi patrols in that area of what appears to be some sort of activity. Large masses of creatures have been spotted in the foothills of the frozen mountains."

Shining Armor stood silent for a moment as he processed this information. For all purposes, nothing living should be present in the mountains to the north. Those mountains were trapped in year round winter and were only passable in late summer. The flash of light was a strange occurrence as well as that usually indicated a substantial output of magic somewhere and in the Crystal Empire's history that had not always been good for them. He needed to see this for himself.

"Rouse the 2nd Company." He said sternly to Quartzite. "Tell Captain Valiant that I will meet him and the Company by the city gates. We will proceed with one of the pegasi patrol ponies that will lead us to the sight of the incident. Got it?

"Yes sir. Right away sir." Corporal Quartzite saluted and made his way back down the hallway to deliver the orders.

Shining Armor sighed and turned around and headed towards his closet. After he opened it, he pulled out his armor and began placing it upon himself. Just as he was about to put on his helmet, he felt his wife place a hoof on his shoulder.

"What's going on honey?" She whispered.

"There were some signs of powerful magic off in the Northern Mountains." Shining Armor explained. "Reports are coming in of some kind of activity. I'm going with a patrol to check it out."

Cadence looked at her husband worriedly. She always felt uneasy when he went out on patrols. The Crystal Empire was a safe place but there were still many dangers beyond the city limits. Shining Armor saw his wife's worried look, smiled, and put a hoof to her face gently.

"Don't worry." He whispered. "I'll be fine. I just need to make sure that everything is safe for our citizens," he placed a hoof on Cadence's stomach. "And for you two."

Cadence smiled and kissed her husband on the cheek. "I'll be waiting for you." She whispered. Shining Armor smiled, placed his helmet on his head, and walked towards the door. When he reached it, he turned around, blew Cadence a kiss, and turned back down the hall and made his way to the city gate.

-----------------------------------------------------

Later in the Foothills of the Northern Mountains 

Eighty crystal guard ponies and two officers stood at the base of the Northern Mountains. The wind howled and the snow flew all around them. The were knee deep in the snow that had already collected on the ground. The two officers at the head of the group looked up into the hills with caution. One was Captain Valiant, commander of the 1st Battalion, Crystal Guard Regiment. The other was his superior and sovereign, Shining Armor, who stared up into the hills for a few more moments before turning back to one of the pegasus guards.

"You are certain that this is where you saw the occurrence with your squad member?" He called out above the wind.

"Yes sir." The guard replied. "One hundred percent certain. No question sir."

Shining Armor turned back towards the hills and let out a long breath. "Alright then. No sense in waiting any longer." He turned towards Captain Valiant. "Let's take a look up there."

"Yes sir." Captain Valiant replied and then turned back to his company sergeant, Long Lance. "Patrol formation. Two lines left and right. We're going up the hill."

"Yes Captain." Sergeant Long Lance replied in his characteristic rough voice. He began to direct the company to form two line 15 yards apart. After they were set, Captain Valiant gave the signal to advance and the patrol began to trudge their way through the thick snow up the hill.

Ten minutes later and they were nearly at the top. The wind stung at their fur as they had no real protection from it. Shining Armor had to squint his eyes into slits to protect them from the ice and snow that whipped about. Looking ahead, he saw something different that the usual grey mass of fog and snow in front of him. Ahead of him he began to see four dark shapes coming at him and the patrol. His eyes widened as he realized there was indeed something out here. 

"Captain Valiant!" He called out. "Defensive formation!"

"Defensive formation!!" Valiant called back to the patrol and immediately the guards began to form a semi circle that curved back down the hill. They then thrusted their spears out in front and waited for orders. Shining Armor and Captain Valiant stood in front of the guards and waited for the figures to come closer. They waited and waited and waited until.....

"Hold your fire! Don't shoot!"

The voice caught the ponies off guard. Shining Armor and Captain Valiant looked at each other with confusion. For a few moments the only noise that could be heard was the howling wind once again.

"Hold your fire! We're coming out!"

Shining Armor decided that whoever it was seemed to be lost and could possibly need their help. He nodded to Captain Valiant who turned back up the hill. "Come down slowly!" He called. "No sudden movements!"

Soon the shapes began to become more defined. Shining Armor could make out features that were definitely equine. Though when they finally came close enough to clearly see them, they didn't look like any ponies that Shining Armor had ever seen before.

Standing before him were four stallions, one all black coated and maned earth pony, one white coated and sky blue maned unicorn, another earth pony, this one dark blue with dark brown hair, and another unicorn with a lime green coat and ginger hair. They were all wrapped up in strange looking  brown and green fur lined coats, except for the dark blue earth pony who was bundled up in a strange coat that looked like it was made of goat fur. They all were wearing heavy pants and black boots and had hats on their heads that were similar to those worn in the Griffon Kingdoms. The black and the blue earth ponies had these strange pole like devices strapped to their backs and all of them were wearing some strange looking saddlebags.

After a few moments of staring at each other, Shining Armor took a step forward. "My name is Shining Armor. Prince of the Crystal Empire. This is Captain Valiant of the Crystal Guard Regiment. Who might you be?"

The two unicorns stepped forward. The white coated one nodded at Shining Armor and Valiant. "Colonel Nelson Smith. 339th United States Infantry. This is Colonel Andrew Porter of the Royal Fusiliers. We have 6,000 confused and cold soldiers back up the hill. So would you mind telling us where the hell we are?"

-----------------------------------------

Back on earth, all across the Atlantic Ocean, two transport vessels, four battleships, and six destroyers all sailed into mysterious purple clouds of fog and never emerged from them. And high in the skies above Europe, two groups of airplanes flew into similar cloud banks and were never seen again.

----------------------------------------

Meanwhile, in a distant land on the planet Equis, a nation was beginning to experience growing pains. The nation's citizens felt that their rightful place in the world had yet to be achieved. They demanded that action be taken to assert their place on the world stage. This nation was the nation of the Caribou, and they were about to get some outside help from an unlikely source.