Prologue

North America
Stafford county Virginia
6:30am

I was almost done getting ready for school, I had just finished putting everything in my bag and put in the backseat of my truck. I just had to grab my keys, preheat the glowplugs and start her up. After about 2 minutes I turned the key and listened to the spluttering of the Diesel engine in my new ford. After the engine was started I pulled off the curb and was on my way to school.

It was roughly a 10-minute drive from where I lived considering I was taking the backroads to avoid rush hour on the main roads and avoid some cops that could be sitting and waiting to catch me. It was only 6:35 and it was still storming very hard. because of an electrical problem within my truck, the original radio was fried so I replaced it with a NOAA weather radio. upon approaching a red light, the radio started blasting its loud and deafening warning alarm notifying me of an update to the severe storm. the storm had combined with others and had formed a squall line that had stalled out over my area. I was pulling into the school and couldn't see more than 20 to 30 feet in front of me even though I had turned on my auxiliary lights.

I could hear storm sirens in the distance but as I was about to turn into a row of parking spots, a massive lightning bolt struck a tree next to me, causing it to fall. I floored the accelerator and jerked the steering wheel to the right to avoid the tree hitting my truck but at the same time, I also had to swerve to avoid hitting another vehicle that was coming right at me. I immediately spun out losing control of the vehicle and flew off the hill but what happened next shocked me entirely. A bolt of lightning hit the ground in front of me and stayed there. I thought I was good as dead once my truck got close enough for the lightning bolt to arc to my truck but when it did hit something happened that I wasn’t expecting. I opened my eyes to see a mix of white, purple, and blue colors spiraling all around me as I was in a very big state of shock and confusion.

It looked as if I was in a wormhole of some kind from a sci-fi movie. Just as I thought I was dead, I was flung out of the wormhole and my speedometer was reading that I was doing more than 140mph. I noticed something strange and even a little bit unsettling. Wherever I was appeared to be a town but what really had my attention was the fact that there wasn’t a single cloud in sight. The houses looked like they were from medieval times with stone walls, thatched roofs, and doors. But what really startled me was the fact that I appeared to no longer be in Virginia anymore, probably even on my own planet.

I saw that the inhabitants of this town were not human. But rather they were cartoon-like ponies with bright and colorful manes, tails, and coats and had some pretty big eyes. I was immediately snapped out of my thought process as I felt the left side of my truck lift up off the ground. Instinctively, I tightened my grip on the wheel and slammed on the brakes but it was too late. I soon found myself flipping over into the air and landing almost perfectly only to sideswipe part of a building and begin rolling multiple times before finally landing on my side and smashing into a tree.

I couldn’t feel my legs or my back and I could feel blood trickling down my face as I struggled to stay awake and not pass out but it was useless. My head hit the steering wheel and I could hear the horn blaring as I saw what looked like two unicorn Pegasus hybrid things rushing over to my truck right before I blacked out.

Twilight POV
20 minutes earlier

I was in the process of testing out a new teleportation spell that could allow for large objects to be teleported long distances without the use of multiple short-range teleportation spells. Princess Celestia had asked me to run test trials on the edge of ponyville near the everfree and came along to see the results for herself.

I had been practicing for a week now and had gotten pretty good at it despite it being such a complex spell and told the princess about the process I’ve been making and she came to see it first hoof today.

I began to concentrate my magic onto teleporting a rather small, destroyed house out of ponyville that was beyond repair. Everything was going according to plan until I lost my concentration and it all went horribly wrong.

Instead of teleporting the building away, I instead teleported what looked like a carriage without harness’s at the front and had a lot of lights attached to it and some sort of tub attached to the back with two pipes sticking up out of it. it also had some very bright and white lights in the front along with some dimmer amber lights on the top and sides and it had red lights in the back

The object came speeding out of nowhere and flipped into the air and landed almost perfectly only to hit part of a house and begin rolling only to land on its side before it slamed into the front of a tree. It started making a loud noise after hitting the tree. It now had a pair of flashing amber lights and red lights in the front as well.

“Twilight there is something in there. It looks badly injured. Come on we have it to help it!”

Princess celestia immediately shouted to me before we both started running towards whatever that thing was. It hard darkened windows so I couldn’t see inside very well but once I got closer I noticed that it had some sort of unusual type of doors on it. I climbed on top of it since it was now on its side pulled the handle on the front left door and it opened. Inside was a creature unlike anything I had ever seen before; it had no tail, only a small patch of hair on top of its head, it wore lots clothing, it’s face was flat and had two small eyes that were closed, only 2 legs, and what looked like arms that ended in some sort of claws.

“Be careful, we don’t know what this thing is or if it’s dangerous. We have to be Cautious when trying to get out to avoid worsening its injuries.” Celestia said.

Carefully, we both used our magic to try and pull it out but was being restrained by some sort of strap. It ended in some sort of clip that protruded out from the seat it was sitting in and had a red button. Pressing the button released the strap and retracted back. We gently laid it down on the grass and figured out what to do next

“Stay here with this creature twilight. I’m going to get help. If this creature wakes up then try to keep it still. I’ll be back as soon as possible.” Celestia said to the younger alicorn.

I decided to get a closer look at this unusual ape-like alien. As I looked at its clothing, I noticed it had a lot of pockets. Curiously I decided to see what it had in those pockets. In the first one, it looked like a mess of plastic string connected to a black brick. In the second there was a little clear box with little white cylinders in it and had the words “tic tacs” written on it. And in the third, there was an unusual black box no bigger than a brick and looked to made of aluminum and glass and had a picture of an apple with a bite taken out of it on the back and had the words "iPhone SE" written on it, but most interestingly was when I brought it up to examine the strange object, it light up. It had the time written on it with an image of this creature standing next to another one with their arms on each other's backs and were holding what looked like black sticks with smaller black sticks poking out from different parts of it and had holes drilled in it halfway down and they both had a look of happiness on their faces, it wore a type of shirt that looked like it was made out of cotton and had the words "Diesel, I wash my truck with the tears of environmentalists" written on it with a skull and crossbones, it was wearing pants made from a strong durable material which I assumed was denim, it had some sort of wristband on its left arm, it wore what looked like shoes on its feet, it had a hat on that said "Alaska USA" on it, and had a set of mirrored glasses on its eyes, and finally it had a black vest on over its shirt.

“What are you?” I questioned out loud.

I was snapped out of my thought process as I could still hear a noise coming from the inside of the carriage like object that this creature arrived in and it sound like an unusal door bell type of chime that kept ringing. walking over to it cautiously. it had a lot of writing on it inside and outside. On the outside, it had words such as "Super duty, Turbodiesel, FX4 offroad, Powerstroke, platinum, limited, lariat, and king ranch". I got a better look inside of it and there was simmilar writing inside as well. I climbed in through a window on the roof that was open and there some weird music playing as well. There was the words Super duty written on what seemed to be the passenger side. There was buttons, switches, knobs, gauges, all sorts of different things inside. there was a wheel protruding out from a type of a column in front of the seat the creature was in and had in the center of it there was a blue oval with the word "ford" written on it. looking in the back I saw that there was a large bag with the words "Under armor" on it and a long strap. going over to the back, I used my magic to get it out and it was heavy. opening it up I saw that there was a couple of different books, binders, folders, and a smaller bag inside of it. pulling the books out first I decided to look through them a little bit. there were 4 books in total and each one had a different title. the first one said "woodworking" on it, the second said "geometry", the third one said "astronomy", and the fourth said "world history".

from the way the books looked, I assumed this creature was attending a school of sorts. I put the books and was about to look through the bag some more until I heard the flapping of wings and saw Celestia returning with a couple of guards and a carriage.

"Twilight I need you to help me load it into the carriage so we can transport it to the castle infirmary." Celestia ordered. doing as she said, I helped her load it's body into the carriage. after that, we were off to canterlot.

Awakening

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Dakota POV

5 days later

I awoke in a rather small hospital bed feeling sore and pretty cold. why do these damn doctors always have to blast the ac? is it cause of how hot they always look? opening my eyes, I was in a rather normal-looking room aside from gold trim and accents here and there.

I saw my clothes sitting in a chair a couple of feet away from me. I got up, disconnected myself from all of the different machines, and got dressed, making sure I had everything, I checked all my pockets. I still had my phone, chargers, earbuds, mints, wallet, and even my gun. after recalling what happened, I was shocked by the fact of where I was. I had been teleported into the land of Equestria from the TV show My Little Pony. With the extensive knowledge, I have about the show, I found out that I was also saved by none other than Princess Celestia and Twilight sparkle when I made a rather sudden and somewhat destructive entry into their world. I was about to leave but as soon as I opened the door I was greeted by a group of doctors and nurses that were about to enter and they all were looking at me with wide eyes that had a mix of fear, nervousness, and just flat out shock. "Um, why are you all looking at me like that? do I got something on my face?" I said jokingly trying to lighten the mood. one of the nurses almost fainted at the fact that I could talk. "Uhh...sir you should go back into your room. We don't know if you're still hurt." One of the doctors said as I noticed that one of the nurses disappeared around a corner for some reason. "I feel fine. I doubt there is anything else wrong with me then what you fixed on me." I said. "That may very well be because the medicine we gave you is still in your system." one of the pony nurses said to me.

Not wanting to test my luck and try to fight with them about it, I did as they said and went back into the room and closed the door. deciding to kill some time, I pulled out my phone, put my earbuds in and listen to some music.

The hospital staff had come to check on me every hour just to make sure I was doing alright. I even tried to make small talk them and confirm my suspicions of where I am and just to get to know them a little more. I would tell them about my life and they would tell me about theirs. I looked at my watch and saw that it was 12:10 pm when one of the nurses came in and told me that Princess Celestia would like to speak with me and told me that she would be here in about 10 minutes. That gave me a little bit of time to make sure I look decent before she arrived. looking at my reflection in a nearby window. Even though I was dressed casually I still looked rather nice in A pair of cargo pants, a T-shirt with a vest, and a hat with glasses. I still had 5 minutes left before she arrived so I decided to play a game on my phone but as I was about to click on the one I wanted to play, I noticed something unusual. My phone battery was still at 100 percent as well as I had all 5 bars of service and I was even connected to the internet. upon seeing this I clicked on safari and typed youtube into the search bar and it actually loaded. shocked by this I just continued looking at my phone in disbelief. "fucking pony magic" was the only thing I could think of as to why I had an internet connection.

I was snapped out of my confusion as I heard I heard a knock at the door. "Door's open" I yelled out. "she's here for you" the nurse whom I learned was named red heart said to me. "Okay. I'm ready for her." I replied. nodding her head, she backed out and a minute later, entered Princess Celestia. Even though I had seen her in the show, she was even more breathtaking in real life. She had a pure white coat of fur, deep magenta-colored eyes, a flowing pastel rainbow-colored mane and tail, a massive set of wings folded to her sides, and a long sharpened horn protruding from her forehead.

"Hello there." she said to me. "Hello princess. it's a pleasure to meet you." I replied while bowing. "please rise, there is no need for that." she said. rising from my bow, I introduced myself to her and got to talking with her about everything that has happened and answering any questions she had and asking any questions I had. Our conversation carried on back and forth for about an hour as we told each other more about our lives and things we had in common. It finally came to an end at around 1:15 but Celestia still had one thing left to say. "if you don't mind me asking, what was that unusual carriage like object that you showed up to our world in?" I immeadetly knew that she was talking about my truck. "You mean my truck? that was what you saw me in." I told her. "After you brought me here to this hospital, What did you do with my truck?" I asked with some concern in my voice as I loved my truck greatly and took great care of it and had even finished installing a second engine in the bed.

"I had it brought it back here to the palace for examination a day after you were hospitalized. We haven't tried to take it apart because of how complex it is and didn't want to end up damaging something important on it." Celestia replied which made me breathe a sigh of relief. I asked her if she could take me to see it so I could make sure the damage wasn't too severe. She agreed to take me to my truck. She told me it was being kept in a storage building at a train station on the other side of canterlot. A carriage was waiting for us outside of the hospital. I let Celestia enter first then followed suit and entered behind her. Once we were both inside, We set off for our destination. The ride was only about 20 minutes long but with all of the ponies in canterlot stopping to look and point it felt longer because I did not like all of this attention I was getting. Once we arrived at the station, Celestia took me towards the building where my truck was being kept. Once we were inside I saw a whole bunch of scientists and royal guards all over the place with them examining my truck. The guards looked at me uncertainty while there lab coat wearing companions just looked on with curiosity. "I believe this belongs to me." I said out loud to no one in particular while walking over towards my Ford. "How exactly does it work?" I heard Celestia say. "I'll show you. hop in" I replied while opening the passenger side door for her. Upon opening the door, i heard the nice sound of the door chime as I got in stuck the keys in the ignition. Walking around the front to get in my side, I took a quick glance at the damage. It wasn't too severe, I could probably bang it out later since I paid to have titanium reinforcement bars installed and a roll cage. The driver side of the truck however, was scraped up and the mirror was gone, the windows were cracked, and my suspension was messed up from the crash. getting in on my side, I looked over the gauge cluster to make sure everything was in working order. Once the glowplugs were hot enough, I started it up and listened to the Powerstroke engine rumble and roar to life as clouds of black smoke quickly blasted out of my exhaust stacks. "Oh my, I've never seen anything like this before." Celestia said next to me. "If you think just starting the engine is amazing you should see the other stuff I've done to it. Care for some music?" I asked her. "I wouldn't mind something to listen to." she replied.

Pulling my phone out of my pocket, I connected it to the charger and proceeded to play a tune that reminded me of home. Before I knew it I found myself singing along as Celestia just smiled while the kicker solo X18 subwoofers underneath the backseats continued to pump out some nice music. I also noticed that some of the guards and lab coat ponies were also swaying slightly to the music. Before long, Celestia started singing as well since im assuming she learned to guess the lyrics. Once the song ended, I noticed that the red warning light on the NOAA radio was still illuminated as well. pressing the up arrow button I noticed that a tornado warning was issued for Stafford before I was ripped from Earth and deposited into Equestria. Celestia noticed this and asked what I was doing. I told her about the veritable superstorm that was hitting my area and explained what an emergency alert and what the emergency alert system was. I even went as far as to play an eas scenario that one of my buddies made.

After another hour or so of explanations and questions, we finally wrapped things up and were about to leave until Celestia asked me something. "I hope you don't me asking this, but where will you stay after leaving?" she asked me with some genuine concern. "I suppose I could just sleep in my truck and travel from town to town and work some jobs for a while until I have enough money to buy a decent house." I replied but Celestia decided otherwise. "That won't do at all. I would feel better if you had a nice place to stay at all times without having to do back-breaking labor. I would like for you to stay with me at the castle and I could help you find a good-paying job within the city." she said more with a demanding tone. "Well if you insist, I can drive back and follow your carriage back to the castle and get settled in." I said. That seemed to make her happy and she agreed.

Getting everything packed up, the scientists went back to the castle while the guards got into formation alongside the carriage. I offered some of them to ride in my truck if they didn't feel like walking and surprisingly, they did. 3 of them got in and I showed them how to put on the seat belts for their safety. After the warehouse doors were opened, I turned the key all the way and listened to the loud rumbling of the 7.3L Powerstroke engine. Now came the hard part of backing out of the warehouse and it's hard because my rear window is almost completely obscured by the second engine that I have yet to test in a vehicle other than the one it was designed for. I had to rely solely upon on the backup camera and my side-view mirrors to back out without hitting anything. Once I was out, we were off.

It took longer to get back to the castle since there were more ponies out and about now than there earlier. looking at the clock I found out why, midday lunch rush. There were ponies of all 3 tribes out and about getting their shopping done, seeing their friends, getting something to eat, and trying to sell stuff but every last one of them stopped what they were doing to stare at us as I drove by. Thankfully there weren't a whole lot of nobles out to insult and mock me for existing. A small group them, however, decided to jump out in front of me, forcing me to slam on my brakes and hit the horn. "You must be really fucking retarded to go and jump out in front of me like that you jackasses!" I yelled out the window at them "Silence ape! you will show us respect. You are not welcome here. Go back to the jungle which you came from and don't come back!" one of them said. "alright but let me ask one thing sir douchebag, How often to you get physically assaulted?" I simply asked waiting for a response. "That's none of your business." he growled. "Well ok then, because I got a batton with your name on it." I said as I locked the doors and pulled out my collapsable batton and swung it out the window and brought it across his face. I pressed the accelerator to roll coal on the group of assholes as soon as that one dickhead hit the ground. After that, it was clear that they were pissed as I drove off to catch up to Celestia's carriage leaving them behind in a cloud of black smoke.

It was about another 5 minutes before we got back to the castle. Once we were there, I turned off the engine and allowed the guards to hop out of the truck but before I went inside, I noticed that my bag was still in the back and grabbed it before heading in.

Celestia showed me to the room I would be staying in and told me that some tailors would be coming by within the hour to take my measurements to make me some new clothes. In the meantime, I decided to take a look around the room. First thing I noticed was how large the bed was. If I had to guess, I would assume that it was a California king size bed. There was a dresser made out of velvet and had a lot of drawers as well as a mirror on top of it. there were two nightstands on either side of the bed. There was a bathroom opposite the bed as well. Going in to check it out, I flipped the light switch on and it was a big bathroom. there were a shower and a bathtub sitting next to each other. It had two sinks with their own individual mirrors. And finally, there was a toilet in a sort of stall with a shelf sitting next to it stocked with different toiletries. Turning off the light and walking back out I noticed that there was also a fireplace next to the bed. I'm not sure how I missed that though. I decided to take my shoes, hat, and sunglasses off and take a nap for a bit.

1 hour later

*Knock Knock Knock*

I was woken up by knocking on the door. getting up and letting out a yawn, I opened the door to reveal the tailors standing there. "Hello, you must be the group that will make some clothes for me in the near future, correct?" I asked. "Indeed sir, may we come in?" one of them asked. "Of course. I'm not gonna stop you from doing your jobs. come on in." I let in the group of mares and let them get to work while making small talk with them as well, Telling jokes, gossiping, and even talking about everyday life. After about 20 minutes, they finished up and left. celestia told me that dinner would be ready at 7:15. looking at my watch I saw that it is 4:30. Deciding to kill some time, I looked through my bag to see if I had my laptop. Sure enough, I did. Pulling it out along with my JBL speaker, I decided that I would listen to some music and try to sing along to some rap songs. Not surprisingly, just like my phone, my laptop was also connected to an unknown wifi network with access to the internet and a constantly charged battery. I didn't complain about it though, I just selected a song and hit play.

meet and save

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Equestria
Canterlot castle 7:00pm

I was walking towards the dining hall as Celestia stated that dinner would be at 7:15 because she wanted me to meet her sister, niece, and former student. Being the brony that I am, I already knew exactly who she was talking about but I wasn't gonna pass up the opportunity to meet the other three princesses. I rounded a corner and was stilling thinking about how this would pan out. Would Luna still be socially awkward, How many questions would twilight have? Would cadence be asking about if I was ever in a relationship or if I have plans to? I continued down the hallway and turned a few more corners and arrived at the dining hall. I thanked the guard escorting me and dismissed her for the evening. I went inside and saw Celestia sitting at the head of the table and a plethora of different dishes on the table. There were even a small bit of different meats on the table since the doctors must have told her that I'm an omnivore.

"It's nice to see you again Dakota. My sister is currently on her way down to the dining hall and twilight and cadence will arrive shortly." she said to me. "That's nice to hear Princess." I replied. "Please, calling me by my title is not necessary. After getting to know you, I already consider a good friend of mine, so you may just call me by name." she replied. "Well ok then, Celestia." I simply said with a small chuckle. Just then, the doors to the dinning hall opened up to reveal 3 other alicorns along with a certain white unicorn that was captain of the guard and the older brother to one of the 3 aforementioned alicorns.

25 minutes later

"That was a great dinner sister, and it was nice to get to know this new being a little more." Luna said. "Thank you sister. I only have the best prepared for all who are in the castle and for you." Celestia replied to her sister. I was talking with shining armor and he was pretty relaxed around me after we got to know each other. I had gotten to the other alicorns as well and was waiting for the desert to be brought out until I heard one of my phones ring. Answering it I was schocked by what I heard on the other end. "Gerson!?" I partially shouted. "Dakota!? oh thank god you answered. I tried calling everyone else but you are the only one who would answer. I'm with brian and were in the middle of some random ass forest and there is some creepy ass castle near by." I immediately knew exactly where they were "Alright stay put and stay in your car or cars and stay out of sight. im coming to get you just hold on." I replied and hung up the phone and without a second thought, I bolted out of the dinning hall as fast I could and was hurrying as fast as I could towards the castle gates to get to my truck and save my friends. Starting the Powerstroke engine and putting it in gear, I was about to pull out and floor the accelerator until I saw the alicorns running up behind me.
rolling down my window, I told them what I was doing.

"Two of my friends just got pulled into this world and are in the everfree forest close to your old castle and I got to go an save them. I'll be back as soon as possible but not without them." I told them before driving away towards that dreaded forest.

20 minutes later

I was on the outskirts of ponyville but I kept my distance from the town even though a lot of the towns residents were still out and about. I saw all of them looking right at me as I was making a beeline for the entrance to the forest. Once I was at the edge of the everfree, I immediately hit a button and raised my ford up by about 6 inches and turned on all of the light bars and other auxiliary lights. I saw the ponyville residents looking at me with a look of worry on their faces. I got out of my truck and primed the second engine just in case I needed it. I pulled out my phone and called Gerson to make sure he was alright. "Gerson, ive entered the forest and im on my way. Just hold tight." I told him "Alright but hurry up, There are these wooden wolves that have been walking by and might try something soon." I already knew that he was talking about the timberwolves. "Alright, Keep your head down and if they are looking at you then play dead." I hung up the phone and entered the forest.

I was driving for about roughly 1 hour now and I finally found the old castle. I called Gerson one more time and he guided me over to him. "Oh thank god you found us man. Come on, lets get out of here." Gerson said. "Alright, but I'm gonna check on brian first." I told him while walking over to Brians car. Brian drove a 2010 ford ranger while Gerson had a 2014 Cadillac Escalade EXT. Checking on brian, he was unconscious but he was alive. I got Gerson to help me move him to my truck and grabbed the towing ropes I had in the toolbox and hooked both of their cars. We were about to leave until I heard a low growl from behind me. I knew that it was a timber wolf and went to grab my Ithica shotgun from the little storage compartment under the toolbox but when I opened up the second compartment of the toolbox all I saw was a black void. I thought about it but decided to reach in any way without thinking and it didn't stop. I was shoulder deep until I felt something and pulled it out. Surprisingly, it was what I was looking for. I pulled out my shotgun and reached back in to see if I had any dragonsbreath rounds. pulling out 8 of them, I unloaded the slug rounds and loaded the incendiary shells. I also pulled out a helmet with a flashlight attached to it and stapped it on. I saw about 5 timberwolves emerge from a nearby bush. I handed my FN Five-Seven to Gerson and told him to wait until these wooden pricks got closer. Once they were about 15 feet away from us, we opened fire.

letting lose a spray of white hot pellets, the incendiary rounds found their first target and engulfed the timberwolf in flames as it burnt to ash. The other four wolves then proceded to charge as more of them popped out from the bushes. Gerson got knocked down by one of them and was about to get his throat bitten out until I tackled the wolf and fired another incendiary round. I got some pretty decent cuts and scratches from the wolf but got back up and continued firing.

5 minutes earlier
Celestia POV

I was worried about him. The everfree was a dangerous place, especially during the nighttime. Luna, Cadence, Twilight, And shining armor all came with me to make sure he was ok. Even though cadence had to carry him, they all still came with me none the less. We arrived in ponyville about 10 minutes later and asked if they saw Dakota. I was told that they saw him enter the everfree 20 minutes ago and they heard loud booms coming from the forest 10 minutes ago and they continued for about 3 minutes before they stopped. That immediately worried me and we were about to fly over the forest until I saw his truck emerge from the forest pulling two smaller vehicles behind it. He proceeded to keep going until he arrived at ponyville general hospital. I saw him exit with another human and they pulled a 3rd human out of the back and carried him inside. Rushing inside, I made sure they were ok. The one that helped dakota carry the other human had some deep cuts on his face, arms, and chest while Dakota himself had similar cuts and scratches. I watched the nurses carry the other human away to a hospital room. "Dakota are you ok?" I asked with a lot of worry in my voice. "I'm fine. I've had worse injuries before." He told me while I watched him remove a long brown and gray stick like object from his back while the other human handed him a smaller black L shaped object which he then proceeded to put in some sort of holster in his vest.

I asked him what those objects were and he told me they were called guns and that they were common weapons back home on his world. "I'm just glad you're ok." I told him "Well that's nice to here. Oh, and by the way, Celestia, Gerson. Gerson, Celestia." He told me while introducing me to the other human. "Well, it's nice to meet you, Gerson," I said to the other human.

I saw a nurse walk out with that 3rd human 10 minutes later after we got here. He told me his name is Brian and then Gerson and Brian explained to me how they got here and what happened in the everfree. I was even more concerned about all of them. They lived through a pack of timberwolves and got out with only minor injuries. After they left the hospital. I watched Dakota unhook these yellow straps from the other vehicles and watch them get in. They offered us to ride with them back to the castle. We accepted and got in their vehicles. Naturally, I got in Dakota's truck with him and Luna got in as well. Twilight and Cadence got in with Gerson, and shining armor got in with Brian. We then proceeded on our way back to canterlot.

When we exited ponyville, Dakota asked me a rather interesting and serious question. "Hey Celestia, whats up all of these mares? they've all been looking at me with bedroom eye's like they have a crush on me or something." he said. "Well, in Equestria, a lot of mares are naturally attracted towards other beings that are rather odd. I think all of these mares like you. I even noticed a significant change in the royal guards ever since you showed up. I think they might want to get together with you in a long term relationship. Some of them will even herd so there if there is more than one mare that likes a stallion and they can get along well." I told him "Huh, well if that's the case then I might finally be able to start a relationship. I just wonder which mare or mares will get lucky if and when I make a choice." He replied with a humorous tone. I just laughed a little at his comment even though I was a little nervous about who he would choose because even though ive only known him for a day I already feel something else towards him, something more than friendship. Could it be possible that I have a crush on him? I just pushed this thought to the back of my head and would figure it out later on when I have time.

Crazy mares driving me crazy

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2 weeks later
Dakota POV

I can't take this for much longer. All of these mares have been looking at me with bedroom eye's like they want a piece of me. Even Celestia her self has started to display an interest. This can't go on any longer. grabbing my duffle bag, I packed all of my clothes and other personal belongings. I grabbed my keys and left a note on the dresser for whoever came in and read it. Heading towards the castle gates, I noticed a lot of the guards just smiling at me but something was off and felt wrong. There was a sweet scent of vanilla in the air and it was very potent. Ignoring it, I continued on my way. Getting to the gates, I through my bag in the back of my truck, got in, started the engine, and left. Once I was out of canterlot I decided to make a drive towards manehatten. All of these mares wanted me, I could see it in their eye's. At that moment I knew why; the mares of Equestria were in heat. Upon realizing this, I steered away from the direction of manehatten and had to think of a place to hide that was very isolated so I wouldn't be found. I decided on the old castle of the two sisters near the center of the everfree forest. I was already by the forest so I would just need to find a way in and continue driving until I was back at the castle.

I was about to enter the forest until I heard my iPhone ring. answering it, I heard Brian on the other end. "Dakota, Where are you? Gerson found a note on your dresser and brought it to me. This Celestia pony you know has been freaking out ever since you left." He said. "Is Gerson with you right now?" I asked him. "Yeah he's sitting next to me." he told me. "Ok, is there anyone around you guys right now?" I asked him. "No it's just us." he replied. "Alright then. What I'm about to tell you is not a joke nor is it a prank. take this seriously and do not tell anyone other than Gerson. The mares of this world are currently in heat. If you don't know what that is, It means that their sex drives are in overdrive right now and will try to find a guy to relieve them but they don't stop after just one time. They will keep you trapped and force you to have sex on them until you are either sterile or they break your damn pelvis." I told him. I heard him tell Gerson in the background. "Alright. What do you think we should do?" he asked. "Grab Gerson, pack a bag full of clothes and drive down to ponyville. We're going to stay in that old castle in the forest that you guys showed up next to. DO NOT tell anyone else about this otherwise, we are fucked, quite literally." I told him. "Alright. we'll be there in about half an hour. We'll be waiting for you." he said and hung up the phone.

I had entered the everfree once again and had driven in far enough so I couldn't be spotted but also was close enough to the exit for when Brian and Gerson showed up. Speaking of them, I saw them pull up and enter the forest.

1 hour earlier
Celestia POV

I asked cadence about these feelings I've been having towards Dakota. She told me that it was possibly love at first sight. I thought about it closely and decided that I should tell him how I feel about him when the time is right. I was walking down the hallway and reached his room when a maid emerged with a look of worry on her face and was holding a note in her magic. "Princess, you need to see this. I think something has happened or is about to." she told me frantically while she passed the note to me. Reading it, I was shocked at what I saw. He fled the castle and has gone into hiding somewhere in the everfree forest. "The other 2 humans were spotted leaving just 15 minutes ago and are outside of canterlot now."

I was beyond nervous or worried now. I was completely scared for him. The everfree is a very dangerous place and they are all in grave danger so long as they remain in there. acting as fast I could, I teleported back to the throne room after thanking the maid for informing me. I called for a squad of pegasi guards to assemble in the throne room as soon as possible. Among the guards before me was lieutenant firefly. Firefly was one of the most reliable guards I had ever known. "Whatever is bothering you, princess, we can handle it. You have only the best of the best at your disposal." firefly said. "Thank you, lieutenant. As all may know, three humans reside in Equestria now. But recently, they have gone missing. The first one you all know as Dakota Rodriguez has been missing for about an hour now. The other two known as Brian and Gerson were reportedly seen leaving the city about 15 minutes ago and heading in the direction of ponyville. I fear for them and need you to find them and try to bring them back to the castle without hurting them." I instructed the guards. "Understood princess. You heard her, ladies. We got some humans to find! let's go." "Yes, ma'am!" And just like that, all of them were out and flying towards ponyville. I can only hope that they will be alright and they find them.

Present time
Dakota POV

We had been driving for about 2 hours now and had finally reached the old castle. There was a small stone bridge leading across a deep gorge that looked to be at least 80 feet deep that we would have to cross to get to the front of the castle. it looked like it would hold up if we drove across one at a time. I went first. I made it across the bridge and turned my truck around so the front was facing the bridge. I grabbed my winch and threw it across the bridge to Gerson. He secured it to a towing hook on the front bumper of his Escalade and put it in neutral. I started the winch and pulled him across without a problem. I was doing this because the bridge was looking unstable and looked ready to collapse at any time. Unhooking my winch from his escalade, I threw it across to brian and hooked it onto his ranger and then proceeded to pull him across. We all made it across and parked in front of the main entrance to the castle. "Alright guys, this is where we will be staying for a couple of months until all of this heat bullshit blows over. We need to make sure this place is clear first before we can get settled in. Alright? Gerson, I want you on sniper overwatch in case something tries to get inside while were still clearing the place out. Brian, you're with me."

I said. Going over to my truck, I opened the black void compartment in my weather guard tool box and pulled out an Armalite AR30A1 sniper for Gerson and 2 M4A1 SOPMOD rifles for me and Brian. I also pulled out some plate holders along with some level 4 plates. I reached in once more and pulled out 3 Beretta M9A3 handguns and distributed them amongst my classmates. Reaching in again I also pulled out 3 DevTac Ronin helmets and some clip on lights for them. The final time I reached in, I pulled 3 Motorola MTH800 2 way radios so we could communicate with each other.

5 minutes later.

After gearing up, We helped Gerson get into a sniping position above the main entrance. After that, Me and Brian went inside and started clearing the castle. We turned on the Flashlights on our helmets and our rifles so we could see where we were going.

30 minutes later

"What the fuck are changelings doing here!?" I quietly shouted. "Is that what these bug-like things are called?" Brian said to me. "Guys I don't want to interrupt or anything but some sort of white hole or something just opened up and spit out a car as well as a bunch of ponies wearing armor just showed up and are looking around." I heard Gerson say over the radio that I forgot to lower the volume on. Upon him finishing his sentence, These black bug fuckers spotted us and used their magic to bring us out of hiding. They dropped us right in front of their leader who I already knew as queen chrysalis. "So, You two are the strange Bipeds I've been informed about that were wandering around here. Tell me, whatever made you come here?" she said while trying to be intimidating. "Guys, more of these armored ponies just showed up and are entering the castle and they look pissed about something." Gerson said over the radio once again. "No, You led them right to me! You've ruined my plans!" Chrysalis shouted. "Bitch, I already knew that your plans would fail. you try and do the same thing every time." I shouted back at her. "Kill them!" she said. Pulling my phone out of my pocket and the JBL flip 4 speaker that I always have with me, I decided that some fighting music was needed. Once I hit play, Me and Brian got straight to fighting and killing these bugs. "Gerson get to us now. We're gonna need your help!" I shouted into the radio as another changeling charged me. I grabbed my M9 and blew his brains out all over the floor and got back on my feet. I fired another 3 hollow points into one that had tackled brian killing it before he got back up and my gun was knocked out of my hand. Instead of trying to get it back, I pulled out my bowie knife and stabbed the changeling about 3 times before he was dead.

It was looking bad until Gerson came in with his M9 drawn and about 15 royal guards behind him. Joining us in the fight, we kept the changelings from completing their objective of killing us. Grabbing my M4 and M9 I started unloading rounds into the changelings once more. I was sure that was all of them until I got hit by a beam of green magic. I got burned pretty decently and was in a decent amount of pain. "You fools! this isn't the last time you will see me. I have made a new ally and with his help, I will destroy you all!" I heard Chrysalis shout before attempting to fly away. She made it about all of 30 feet before I let loose a high explosive round from the 40mm M203 mounted on the underside of my M4, hitting her square in the chest and blowing her body parts everywhere. "You can't kill me, you whore. no one can." I said before blacking out. but not before I saw all of the guards, as well as Brian and Gerson, running over to me while I saw two guards moving a 4th Human on a stretcher away from the castle. Not how I thought today would go.

recovering and escaping

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everfree forest
castle of the two sisters

Firefly POV
5 minutes earlier

I was tasked with finding and bringing the three humans back to canterlot at the order of Princess Celestia. I and my squad were already at the castle of the two sisters, deep within the everfree forest. We landed and were about to enter until some sort of portal had opened up and spit out an object similar to the ones that the humans had owned that were parked nearby. I ordered two of my squad to help the human inside while the rest went in with me. One of the humans we were looking for was climbing down a column and faced us to say something. "Follow me. I can take you to the others. We gotta move fast, they're in trouble." He said to us while leading the way. We followed him and as we got closer to the throne room, we could hear what sounded like music. When we got to the throne room I was shocked by what I saw as well as sickened and kind of horrified. All around were dead changeling bodies and the other 2 humans engaged in melee combat with the other changelings. The human that led us here charged in and helped his friends. naturally, we did the same and helped them. all but queen chrysalis was left and she decided to fire a beam of energy at one of the humans, hitting him right square in the chest and throwing him back by 15 feet and knocking him down. Chrysalis was going on about how some plan of hers was ruined and she would have revenge and tried to fly away only to get blown up by the human she shot. "You can't kill me, you whore. No one can," he said before passing out.

I told one of my squad members to Inform Princess Celestia and to bring a medical team to the old castle. it was about 10 minutes later when the Princess had teleported with my squad member right into the middle of the throne room. She walked over to the downed human and proceeded to pick him up and rush him over to the old medical wing. I went with her just to be safe and make sure that this human isn’t a threat especially after what I just saw unfold.

The princess had put him in a medium sized room and proceeded use her magic to clean and fix his clothes, remove his strange helmet, and use her magic once more to make sure his condition was stable. I was about to walk away until I saw her kiss his forehead And say a quite prayer hoping that he will be ok and awaken soon.

Gerson POV

Me and Brian were in the room with Dakota waiting to see if he would wake up anytime soon. Brian said he was going to check on the 4th person that came here and that if they were awake he would be back within 10 minutes. After he left, I was left alone with Dakota’s unconscious body and my own thoughts. I was actually pretty concerned about if he would make it. Even though he survived numerous other things, I don’t know if he would be able to walk away from this one. I know that he had survived a whole lot of shit back home on earth from being caught up the crossfire of a gang war to taking a bullet to the arm after he fought with someone that tried to shoot up our school. I still remeber like it was yesterday. I was snapped out of my thoughts when I heard the door open and saw Brian walk back in with the 4th person who I thought I would never see again, My child hood freind kevin menendaz. Kevin was roughly 5 feet 10 inches tall, was from mexico city, had a gold chain on with a cross on it, was wearing a black and red sweater, a pair of blue jeans that he would always sag with a pair of under armor sweat pants on underneath, and was wearing a pair of nike air force one tennis shoes. "Gerson? How the hell did you get here?" He asked me. "Same way me, Brian, And Dakota did, through some sort of car crash. Is that how you got here?" I simply replied to him. "Yeah man. School got cancelled because the storm was only getting worse. I left almost as soon as I arrived since the RSO kept shouting through his loud speaker that the school is closed because of the storm and is going to be used as a storm shelter until the whole thing blows over." He told me. "What the hell happened to Dakota, man? did he try and chug a bottle of russian vodka again?" He asked. "Nope. You didnt see all of the bodies out there? I asked. "I did see them but im not entirely sure...WAIT A DAMN MINUTE!!! You mean to tell me that he is the one that murdered all of those wierd bug horse things out there!?" He shouted while me and brian just whinged from how loud he was. "Not just him but brian and I as well, you fucking dick." I replied "He'll be alright but as to when he wakes up, there is no telling when he will though."

2 hours later
Dakota POV

I had regained my senses after that little black out I had but I hadnt opened my eyes yet. Everything felt sore from my neck all the way down to my femur's. I could hear Brian and Gerson talking in the background as well as a very familier voice that I know but couldnt quite figure out. I turned to move my arms but they felt stiff as morning wood which was still sore and made me let a quite but audiable whince. "Oh shit, guys he's waking up!" I heard Gerson say. I finally opened my eyes and saw who the forth voice belonged to; my buddy kevin. They all helped me sit up and got me up to speed on everything that happened ever since I passed out. apparently I had only been out for 2 hours but already, Princess Celestia had found us. We would need another plan for riding out this heat season. After informing kevin about this, We started to think of an escape plan. The room we were in had a window right above the bed I was sitting on that we could use to get out of but there were guards everywhere. Getting to our vehicles would prove to be a challenge. After kevin told me that his car wasnt very damaged and would hold until we were out of the forest, We made our move. Before we exited through the window, I left a note on the bed for celestia to read in the event that she came in here.

I made sure to tell 3 idiots I that I call friends to use non lethal take downs only if they were spotted. I had a pipe that I ripped out of the wall that I could use to incappcitate any guards in my way. I would most likely still feel bad about it though because if I had to knock somepony out, chances are that I already knew them and I'm breaking some sort of moral code from back on earth that says dont hit women, Or in this case, Mares. Seeing as most of the ponies that make up the royal guard are mares, This would be extra difficult because I don't wanna branded as an asshole women beater for trying to escape a creepy as castle in the middle of a forest that has creatures living in it that are so dangerous that you would need a fucking JDAM to kill. I made sure to distract any guards in my way buy throwing rocks at areas that I wanted them to move to so we could get away. It took roughly about 20 minutes to get to the front gates where our vehicles were at. Once we were there, I noticed that Kevin's car had actually hit Gersons truck at a pretty sharp angle. There was black paint on Gersons caddilac and white paint on Kevins Chevy. Kevin drove a 2014 Chevy suburban Z71.

Once we were all back in our vehicles, I turned my key half way to turn on the electronics and grabbed the cobra CB radio I had. "Alright guys listen up and listen good. We need to be fast about this to put some distance between them and us so we all are gonna start our engines at the same time. Be sure that you're already in gear and your parking brake is disengaged before starting it up. I'll go first then Brian will follow behind me, then Gerson will follow behind Brian and finally Kevin will follow behind Gerson. We move quick and stay close until we're out of this forest, then after that, We split up, Lose any guards that might be following us, And then we regroup somewhere, Alright?" I said laying out the instructions for them. After they said yes, I gave the order to start the engines. I could see multiple guards in my mirrors turn their heads towards us as the engines roared to life, esspicially mine since I had larger exhaust stacks on my truck and I had also cut the muffler off. One of the guards ran back inside, most likely to inform celestia, While the others tried to rush towards us but they weren't fast enough. Once the engines started, We all floored it out of there, across the bridge and into the forest. I made sure to tell my fellow escapees to use low beam headlights only but switch to high beams if they cant see anything.

As we got further and further away from the old castle, The path got wider and wider. The sunlight was even able to peak throught the thick cannopy in some places. I grabbed hold of my CB once again and told them its safe to spread out a little if they want to and that we dont need to drive in a single file line. We came to a fork in the road after about 30 minutes and we were trying to decide which way to go. I had a compass in my glove box that I would use whenever I was lost in the woods and it hadnt failed me yet. Had the option of going south if we went left and north if we went right. Remebering a lot of the maps of equestria that I had seen once as fan art, I was glad I did see that and even had printed off a copy and had in my truck as well. If we were to go right and head north, we would come out of the forest close to ponyville. If we went left and headed south, We would Brexit the forest somewhere in between Dodge city and Appleoosa. After talkin it over with the others, We decided we would go south and see where we would exit.

It was about another hour or so before we finally saw an exit to the forest. I stopped us at the first sight of exit and looked towards the skies to make sure we werent followed by air. Last thing we need is for some nosey ass pegasus to report our location back to Celestia and for her to find us again. I also made sure we didnt leave any deep tire tracks behind either. There were faint tire tracks but they were not very noticable. Supprisingly, even my truck didnt leave any tire tracks either and I own a dually so thats saying something. Getting back in, I grabbed the CB one more time and told my friends to get ready to floor it and to split up once we were out. We would need to be fast so I took a moment to prime the secondary enigne I had pulled out of an abrams tank and put into the bed and proceeded to start it up for the first time after its restoration was complete. Listening to the whine of the gas turbine engine in the bed starting up was loud as hell but also signified that I am packing some monsterous amounts of horse power. Sure even though I had gotten work done to my truck before to remove the factory turbo and put some BorgWarner tripple turbos in and some larger fuel injectors amongs other things, I still wanted to be fast. With the work done to the powerstroke diesel engine in the front and the Honeywell AGT1500 gas turbine now idling in the back, this would be the first time ive run both engines together that wasnt on the dyno. The dyno results showed that I was making 4152HP and 5272FTLBS of tourqe, Which would be more than enough to get away from any pegasi guards that decided to trail me.

I gave the order to burst out of the tree line and came up with a smart idea. I told my buddies that we need to do burnouts and donuts to create tire marks that would throw off any guards that were following us because if we did it close to each other, They wouldnt be able to tell who went in which direction. They liked the idea and just like that, we tore up the terrain. We all had toyo tires so it would be very hard to tell the difference. I thought my plan was great even though im not the first one to thing of it but as we finished up, I saw 4 pegasi guards mares in my rearview mirror. We all split off into different directions. Kevin went west, Brian drove off to the southwest, Gerson broke off to the south east, And I blasted off east towards dodge city. There was only guard following me now but I could tell that she wasnt going to give up at all. I decided that I needed to do something that throw her off. I could only hope that I can lose her before I reach the city.

Hostage situation

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white text=me

blue text = aqua. Name of the guard chasing me
Equestria
West of dodge city
18:00pm

Dakota POV

That pesky Pegasus mare was still following me. She had been after we escaped the forest and broke off into different directions to lose any other guards that were potentially following us and did not show any sign of giving up. I grabbed my CB and told the others about four Pegasi that were trailing us. I would say I was roughly 20 miles from dodge city and at this speed, I would be there in just 7 minutes since I was going faster than 150MPH. “This is not gonna end well at all for anyone.” I said out loud.

I was 1 mile from the outskirts of the city and started to slow down until I was at 45MPH and entered the city limits. I saw all of the ponies around stop what they were doing to stare, most likely because they have never seen a truck or a human before in their lives. They most have also noticed the guard following me as well because they started pointing at me and saying things. I could read lips but I’m assuming that these ponies were talking some shit about me.

I rounded a corner but immediately had to drift because there were a bunch of foals out in the road. Upon drifting, I ended up hitting a building and didn’t have enough time to through my truck in reverse as I saw the guard landing about 40 feet away from me so I did the only thing I could and got out and ran inside of the building. It looks like I had crashed into a hotel because the lobby had some rather nice furniture in it, there was a receptionist desk, and there was a hallway with doors every 30 feet in either side. I quickly snatched up a key from the pony behind the front desk and took a quick look at the number on it. I had grabbed the key to room 922 so that’s where I would make a move. As soon as I ran down the hallway towards the stairwell, the Pegasus mare rounded the corner and was hot on my ass.

I was on the 9th floor and completely out of breath but I didn’t care at this point. I had to keep moving otherwise she would catch me. I found the room that the key I had went to and went inside just as she rounded the corner and I quickly ducked under one of the beds. The mare that was making me run a marathon entered the room and started looking around. She was checking the bathroom when I rolled out from underneath the bed and proceeded to sneak up on her. Had my collapsable batton in my right hand and tapped on her shoulder with the other.

“Sorry about this” was all I said before I brought the batton around and it made contact with her head, thus knocking her out. I immediately shut the door to the hotel room and locked as there was no doubt more ponies on the way upstairs to see what happened out of curiosity. Looking out through the balcony window, I had a good view of the city and the everfree in the distance. But more importantly I could see the ponies down below on the street looking at my truck and some were even looking inside of it. There was an empty glass bottle on a desk in front of the bed. Grabbing the bottle, I looked around for anything I could write on and found a notepad inside of the desk. I pulled a pen out from one of the pockets on my cargo pants and proceeded to write on the peice of paper.

“Get Princess Celestia over to this hotel immediately. I want a clear path to my vehicle and no Pegasi to follow me. I have a hostage and I will release her once I get what I want. If my demands are not met by this Thursday, there will be consequences.
PS stay out of my truck because it can cause harm if used wrong.”

That was all I wrote before I put the note in the bottle and dropped it off of the balcony towards the ponies below. The bottle shattered once it hit the street below and one of the ponies down there read the note before they scattered. Moving back inside, I inspected my temporary prisoner for any signs of physical damage. She was fine aside from a bruise on her head where I hit her. I removed her armor to see if I knew who she was. Once I did so, her true colors were revealed. The mare chasing me was a guard named aqua lance and was one of the first few guards that I got to know personally when I first came to this place. She had a deep blue coat of fur, a silver mane and tail, eyes that were green as grass and she was in her early 20’s. I felt like a real asswipe for doing that to her but I had no other choice. I picked up her body and placed her on one of the beds and put her under the covers. The least I could do was make sure she was comfortable when she woke up. I saw a mini fridge next to the desk and opened it up to find all sorts of drinks and snacks inside. I hadn’t eaten for 2 days now and started to devour whatever was good until I was full. There was also an ice maker in the freezer. Grabbing a plastic bag, I filled it up with ice, closed it up and proceeded to put it on the part of aqua’s head that I had hit her on. I may be holding her against her will but that doesn’t mean I’m gonna be an asshole about it. She is still a living, sentient creature just like me and she deserves to be treated equally. I would have to explain things to her when she woke up. But for now, all I could do was play the waiting game, knowing that I would be here for a while, I sat down on the other bed and forgotten that I still had my backpack on from when we were at the old castle. Taking it off and opening it up, I rummaged through it until I found what was looking for. “Jackpot” was all I said to myself as I pulled out my dell inspiron 15 laptop. If I was going to be here for a while, at least I would have Hulu and Netflix to pass the time.

4 hours later
Aqua POV

The last thing I remember before I got knocked out was that I was chasing after one of the humans that was in the castle that had escaped and split up. I felt a sore and cold feeling on part of my forehead and something heavy over my body. I was tired after chasing that human up 9 flights of stairs but I wasn’t complaining. I had guessed that whatever was on top of me was a blanket because it was heavy, soft, and warm. I finally opened my eyes and saw the human in question who I was to follow sitting in a chair looking at something bright that covered the whole room in a dim light while he was holding what looked like a bag of popcorn and a soda if I had to guess. I freed up one of my hooves from under the blanket and made to remove the ice pack on my head and touched the spot on my head which was still sensitive to touch and made me whince in pain as I drew my hoof back. That apparently got his attention.

“Hey hey hey easy now, you’ve been out for 2 hours and it’s already night time. We’re going to be here for a while so you might want to make yourself comfortable.”

”Where are we? How did i get here?”

“Long story short, you are technically a hostage now but I’m not gonna treat you like one and make you suffer. I’m not an asshole like that.”

”Hostage? How and why would you take a member of the royal guard as a hostage? And what do you mean by your not gonna treat me like one?”

“You wouldn’t stop chasing me so I did something that I still regret doing and knocked you out. Sorry about that aqua, I’ll make it up to you I promise. But for right now. Neither of us are gonna leave this room until I get what I want from the princess. Once I do, I’ll let you go.”

”That’s got to be the dumbest thing anypony could ever do. Hold a hostage and issue a ransome from the ruler of the sun.What are you even demanding from her anyways?”

“I’m bargaining my freedom for yours. If I’m allowed to ride out the rest of this heat season in hiding without sunbutt chasing me down, then I’ll let you go. if not, the. I’ll have to figure out something else because I’m not going to be strapped down while a line of mares have their way with me one by one.”

“Regardless, it’s going to be a while. So you best get settled in because we are going to be here for a day and half at the very minimum. And like I said, I’m sorry for hitting you like that back there, aqua. Can we still be friends?”

Yes we can. I get why you did it and I’m not gonna hold it against you. This bruise might be around for a while but I forgive you. Also can I ask you something? What is that thing on the desk you were looking at?”

“That is my laptop. I figured that if I’m gonna be here for a while, I might as well do something to pass the time and decided to watch some movies to pass the time. I’m currently watching a movie called Jarhead. It’s almost over but you can watch it with me if you like.” I thought about his offer and decided I would watch it with him. If I was gonna be here for a while then I would at least do something productive. I got up out of the bed and somehow I didn’t notice until now but my armor was removed. It was sitting in a pile over by the balcony next to his armor. He told me he took it off to see if he could identity me since we all look the same when we are wearing our armor since it was enchanted with a spell that changes our colors to hide our identities. I made may over to him on the other bed and sat down next to him and watched this so called “movie” with him. I simply saw this as a way to strengthen our friendship since we had a lot in common such as we both like jokes and pranks, music, comedy, and other things. I new him as a friend but something in the back of my mind told me that he was more than just a friend. I ignored it and would worry about it later. For now I just watched these movies with him. I wasn’t going to try and escape since I knew why he did what he did and most stallions would do the same thing during heat season. I wasn’t even mad at him. If he wasn’t going to be awful and torture me until he got what wanted, then I wouldn’t screw him over. For now we just watched more movies on his laptop and enjoyed the night, I couldn’t help but feel like this was a really awkward first date but I would worry about it tomorrow.

Confessions, Emotional breakdowns, and more rescues

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1 day later
Dodge City
8:30 AM

Dakota POV

I don’t know how long me and aqua were up last night but I’m usually already awake by 6 am because of school, i had also left some music going as we were talking last night but that’s not important. I was woken up by the sound of knocking on the door. Looking through the peephole, there was a pair of carts left outside the room we were in. Cautiously, I opened up the door and drew my handgun and approached the carts, only to have 2 bat pony night guards spring out from the carts and tackle and pin me to the ground.

“You think you would get away with this!?” One of them half shouted at me. “I didn’t think I would, I knew I would.” I replied before kicking out of their hold on me and sprang to my feet and got into a fighting stance. “You better be ready for the Ass kicking I’m about to bestow on both of you. You are choosing to fight a 4th-degree black belt.” I simply stated before they charged at me. I sideswiped both of them and grabbed the leg of one then and proceeded to throw him into a wall while the other one charged me again. He kicked me in the rib cage but I was able to block most of his attack and counter-attack. All of the noise must have woken aqua from her sleep because she dashed out of the room in her armor and proceeded to beat the shit out of the other bat pony that had gotten back up “aqua!? What are you doing!?” I shouted “I couldn’t let you have all the fun now could I!” She replied. I punched the bat pony that I was brawling with In the face and hit him square in the torso with a back leg round kick followed up with a reverse sidekick to the torso. Focusing back on the guard that I was working on, He had gotten back up and charged at me once again. I side stepped him and grabbed his head and proceeded to smash it through a mirror nearby next to the elevator after i ripped his helmet off. That seemed to do the trick as he didn’t get back up and Aqua had just knocked out the other bat pony guard.

“Well, it’s clear that Celestia organized this.” I said to her “yep. She even decided to send Luna’s guards to do the job.” She replied. “Come on. There is a dumpster right below our balcony and we can dump their bodies in it” we dragged their unconscious bodies onto the balconies and looked down and saw a whole ton of royal guards down on street level along with the princesses and even the element bearers. We just dumped their bodies over the balcony and watched them land in the dumpster. Celestia gave me a worried look while everyone else just looked pissed off like someone took a shit in their sock drawer. I just gave them best “don’t give a fuck” face and just stuck up both of my middle fingers then went back inside with aqua.

“Dakota, given the circumstances, I feel like now would be the best time to tell you this. ever since I first saw you, I couldn’t stop thinking about you, even when I was on duty my thoughts would turn to you and I didn’t really know why. I just looked at you when you first came to canterlot and felt my heart catch in my throat. I guess what I’m trying to say is...that I like you...like like you. And I mean that i like you as more than a friend.” She confessed to me. “Aqua I...I don’t know what to say about that. I’m lost for words. Your the first one that has ever displayed any sort of romantic interest in me. I don’t know how to feel. But at the same time, I would be lying if I said I didn’t like you too. I think we would be a great couple.” I said as I accepted her confession. As I said this, a big smile formed on her mouth as happy tears fell from her eyes. She jumped on me and pulled me into a deep and passionate kiss. I simply returned her kiss as this seemed to please her immensely as she used her wings to pull me in closer to her.

This would explain why she had been acting so strange around me for the past two weeks, she had a major crush on me and was having a hard time hiding it. Whenever I talked to her, she would get all nervous and stutter and blush a little bit as well. I originally thought it was just because I liked to mess with her every now and then since that's what we would always do since she was actually my best friend, but to here her say that she liked me as more than a friend with her own words was entirely different. I was confused above all else but i was happy. Knowing that she was also now my first girlfriend made it even better.

We were like this for almost 5 minutes when I saw out of my peripheral vision that there was a bunch of Pegasi guards hovering outside of the hotel room all staring at us and many of them had a deep blush on their faces. We finally pulled away from each other as a single strand of saliva still connected us together. I got up and grabbed my gun from the hallway and went back into the room. “I’m very happy that we feel this way about each other Dakota. I’m hopeful that one day we could possibly even start a family.” Aqua said to me, but upon doing so, I got really depressed at the mention of “family” as i knew that i would probably never see them again. I felt hot tears pool up in my eyes as I felt my back hit the wall as i slumped down onto the floor and curled up and started to quietly sob to myself. Aqua got worried by this as she walked over to me and sat down next to me. She draped one of her wings over my back and tried to comfort me. "I'm sorry. I didn't know just how sensitive you still were about that topic." she said . "You've got nothing to be sorry for, its just the fact that I won't ever get to see my parents, my younger sister, my grandparents, cousins, aunts, or uncles ever again and i'll never get to go back home either." I tried to reply to as best I could in between sobs. She asked me what my home was like, At the same time, a certain john denver song in my playlist started playing. I just told her to listen to the song and she would get an idea of what my home state was like.

Upon the song ending, she had a look of understanding on her face as she started to tear up herself and just hugged me tightly as I returned the gesture. I opened my eyes and looked over her shoulder and saw all of the pegasi that were hovering outside now holding looks of sadness, understanding, and sympathy in their faces as they looked at us. we stayed like this for what felt like hours until we finally pulled away and wiped our tears away. "I'm sorry about that Aqua, I just got upset about the fact that I wont get to see my relatives or my home again, but im not gonna let that ruin what we have." I said to her "I understand Dakota. I know what you are going through right now and I would be pretty devestated if I was never able to see my relatives or my home again. I'll help you get through this, I promise." she said to me. "Here, You should put this on" She said while she handed me what looked like an armband with her cutie mark on it. "Wearing it means that you are already in a relationship and who you belong to." she said to me. "Alright then, I will. By doing this, we will be the first human and pony couple in history. This is a special day. Come on Aqua, Lets go back to Canterlot." I said as we packed up and left the hotel room. Once we were in the lobby, I handed the key back to the pony behind the corner and apologized to him about last night and left some money behind on the counter.

Once we were outside of the hotel, I was blinded by the intense mid-morning sunlight. I had my DevTac helmet in my left hand and put it back on my head as we got outside since the lenses were tinted and had a UV protective coating on them. Once we were outside, everypony was shocked by the armband they saw on my right arm. Celestia saw this as well and tried to hide her crushed expression but wasn't doing very well at it and flew off. I felt really bad about that knowing that she is now heartbroken by seeing me and Aqua together but I would fix that later. For now, I had something to say. "Everypony, I'm sorry about everything that has happened within the last 2 days. I know my mistakes will take time to fix but last night, In that hotel room, I met somepony special, somepony I saw as an equal, Somepony I saw as a significant other, She now stands beside me at this moment. I know what I did was risky, dangerous, and wrong but I just wanted to find a place to hide in until the heat season was over, and in the process, I risked the lives of my 2 friends and I nearly died as well. But I am sorry for not clearing things up, for killing a bunch of changelings, endangering others, and taking a hostage. I hope you can all forgive me in some way." I was just preaching to the choir at that point but it was either that or stay silent and try to dash towards my truck which was surprisingly still running. Almost everyponies expression had softened into one of understanding and neutrality. A few ponies were still skeptical including a certain rainbow-maned element bearer and lunar princess. "We are willing to overlook these events on one condition." luna sort of demanded. "You bring the other humans back and apologize to my sister for breaking her heart and we will put these events in the past." Luna offered. "Deal. I'll call the others right now and get their locations." I said as I pulled out my iPhone and started a group call.

"Guys I was found and I need to know where you are so we can get you to safety. I know it sounds like bullshit but that's what the princess wants." I said

"Alright then. I'm in some random ass town called Appaloosa with brian and Kevin but we are all in different parts of the town. Also, another one of those portal things opened up last night and shit out 3 more vehicles so now 3 more humans are here and we already know who they are. take a guess on their names." Gerson told me. "I'm guessing Natalie, Kendall, and manuel." I replied. "Close but instead of Kendall, its Trevor that came through with them. Also just as a heads up, These ponies seem pissed at them for accidentally destroying their property when it wasnt their fault and now they are pissed at us for defending them." Gerson told me "They're alright and we have been trying to explain things to them but they are still having little freakouts here and there." Brian said this time. "Alright, stay put. I'm coming to get you guys. Also, these royal guard ponies are coming as well. They said it is to ensure their safety but we'll see if thats actually the case though. I'll see you guys soon." I hung up the phone and looked towards Luna. "Well now you know where they are." I told her. "good. And as for my sister?" she said. "I don't know where the hell she went so we'll have to put a hold on that for now." I said.

Getting back in my ford, I opened the front passenger side door to allow her to get in with me. Once I buckled the seatbelt for her and shut the door, we departed for Appaloosa. It was roughly a 3-hour drive from dodge city to appaloosa but I didn't care all that much. I had aqua to keep me company and some sabaton albums on my phone to keep me awake on the drive there. Metal music usually did a good job at keeping me awake so I started listening to the Swedish heavy metal band and sang along to many of the songs, Aqua even tried to join in with me even though she didn't know the lyrics, it was the effort that counted. I looked in my mirrors and saw 2 carriages following behind me on either side of my truck. One had Celestia's sun while the other had Luna's moon. I'm guessing the princesses were gonna make sure they were alright as well.

it was roughly 2 hours before we reached appaloosa and I could hear a lot of locomotion and some fighting in the town as well. On one side, ponies against my friends were fighting with ponies that were protecting them and trying to prove their innocence and that the accidental destruction of property was not their fault. A group of anti-human ponies were blocking my path and forced me to drive like a mad man on cocaine. dodging and weaving through the narrow streets with a truck as wide as mine was hard enough, dodging these crazy ponies was even harder as they were actively trying to stop me. pegasi were flying beside me while unicorns were firing magic bolts at my truck but they ricocheted off with ease since like I mentioned before, I installed armor plating in this thing. They were following me in carriages that functioned exactly like cars but they were powered by magic and were much slower. I was having to drive like baby driver through the narrow streets to try and lose them. The ponies that were helping me, had blocked the path behind me to block off the ponies chasing me and cleared a path for me. After 5 minutes, I arrived at the town center and I could see 3 cars, 3 humans, and for some reason a Kenworth semi-truck in the middle as well. "Come on aqua, We got to help them because these guys seem pissed off!" I said as I hopped out of my truck and jumped into the middle of them to protect my friends. I jumped out with Aqua and made sure that they were alright. They had minor cuts and scrapes on parts of their faces and their cars were still in operable condition.

Just then, Gerson, Brian, and Kevin came drifting in at full speed to help us out. They used their trucks to block the ponies that were against us and held them back. I grabbed a Scorpion SMG from the black void part of my weather guard and fired a couple of rounds into the area to get their attention. "I do not care what your stance is on them if you hate them or not. However, I will not standby and let you try to hurt them while they are already injured. I am not afraid to defend them using any means necessary and I mean ANY means necessary." that seemed to put some fear into those assholes. The rest of the royal guards landed in the center of town and helped clean up the scene. I asked my friends how they got here and if they need medical help. After I was done with them, I went and inspected the semi-truck close by and somehow didn't notice earlier that there was a flatbed trailer a couple of feet away ready to be attached. Trevor told me that his drive train was broken and Manuel had a dead battery and couldn't start his car. We obviously couldn't leave this here so we did the only thing we could.

We loaded their cars onto the flatbed trailer along with my own ford and I got into the Kenworth and found the keys tucked up in the sun visor like it was a movie or something. I started lining up the trailer after we strapped down the cars. I never hooked up a trailer before on my own or without a spotter. With the obvious blind spot directly behind me because this was a sleeper cab, I had to rely entirely on my mirrors to see where the trailers kingpin was in relation to the trucks fifth hitch. I felt something click and lock into place. I got out and walked around to the trailer and I had caught it perfectly. I climbed back in the truck and set the trailer brake real quick. I walked back around to the truck and grabbed the loom of cables real quick and started hooking them up. Green for lights, red for main brakes, and blue for secondary. I did a tug test after connecting the flatbed and were ready to leave. Natalie and Trevor got in with Brian while Manuel got in with Gerson. Aqua opted to get in with me again as she climbed into the semi.

I had always wanted to be a trucker ever since I was still in kindergarten and now I'm finally getting my chance. I already knew what did what in the truck since my uncle owns a Kenworth W900 which is what I was driving right now. All of the chrome-lined gauges, Switches, and other things felt nostalgiac to me and my uncle had even taught me a little bit on how to drive a semi-truck from time to time and even taught me how to drive while pulling a trailer. That got me thinking about home again. Aqua noticed this as she was shaking me to snap me out of my thoughts as I had been daydreaming and almost ran over a couple crossing the road. I slammed on the brake pedal and flipped the switch that controls the engine brake and blasted the horn for 5 full seconds until the truck came to a halt. They rushed out of the intersection as I let off of the horn and ran past us giving me looks of anger and distrust. "What the hell did you brake check us for Dakota?" I heard Kevin's voice come through the trucks CB since I had switched its channels. "There was a couple of retards in the road and decided that they could take on a 24-ton big rig and just stood there in the road." I said back into my CB. It would take around 7 hours for us to get back to canterlot and judging from where the sun was on the horizon, I could tell that it was going to be a long night.

fixing a broken heart and reuniting with family

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Canterlot
3:00 am

Dakota POV

We finally made it back to the castle after 7 hours of driving. It was a long and interesting day to say the least. First, I learned that my "Hostage" had feelings for me, Second, We became a couple, Third, 3 more friends of mine showed up, fourth, I broke Celestias heart when I came out of that hotel with an armband that showed who I belong to, and I almost died as well before all of this so it was a pretty crazy 2 days to say the least.

I was super tired but I had Aqua to keep me awake as well as the AC, radio, and good old caffeine. We were finally back in the city and were on a straight away to the castle gate. I flipped the switch to use the Jake brake and gradually slowed down the truck until we came to a stop about 10 feet from the entrance. If the whistle of the turbo charged 12.7L detroit diesel 60 series engine hadn’t woken up the city of canterlot, this did. The truck had no mufflers on it whatsoever and it had bigger pipes as well. The night guards opened it up once they saw me and let us through. We all pulled off to the side and parked our cars while I was shutting down the truck. I had apperantly hit the break/clutch pedal too many times because a warning alarm started sounding indicating that air pressure was too low for the brakes to work properly but I didn’t care at this point. I just put the truck in park and applied the hand brake and used what little air was left.

Aqua had to help me into the castle because I was too tired to even walk straight. When the door to the palace opened up though, Princess Luna was waiting for all of us. “Clearly you need some rest after everything that has happened in the past 2 days. I will give you a pass on tonight but I expect you to make things right with my sister tomorrow night because she is not handling this new relationship between you 2 very well.” That was all she said before she walked off. “Um Dakota, What the hell is she talking about?” I heard Trevor ask. “Don’t worry about it bro. I’ll explain everything tomorrow morning. If I wake up when it’s still morning time that is.” I said back to him. “Come on Dakota, lets get you to bed.” I heard aqua say next to me.

It wasn’t a long walk from the entrance to where my room was but I still wouldn’t have made it if aqua wasn’t there to help me. I could see just how tired she was as well. She had bags under her eyes, her eyes were pretty bloodshot, her mane was rather messy, and she was having some trouble herself trying to stay awake. We finally made it to my room after about 10 minutes and went inside. I took of all my clothes except for a pair of boxer briefs and a tank top I was wearing under my shirt. I didn’t bother to take of my dog tags and just got under the covers.

“Thanks Aqua. I really appreciate this, but I know that you are just as tired as I am. So, being your new lover that I am, I insist that you stay here with me for the night because it’s too long of a walk back to the barracks and you would pass out on the way just like I almost did on the way here. So take off your armor and climb into bed. There is no point arguing it.” I sort of demanded while slurring through have of it. That seemed to make her happy as she didn’t need to be told twice and removed her armor and set it off to the side and got into bed next to me and got close. We kissed each other good night and fell asleep in each other’s embrace.

I found myself in some sort of galaxy looking dimension after a while. I noticed how I felt like I was standing on solid ground but at the same time there was nothing beneath me. This looked like the dream scape from the show from when twilight was taking a litteral trip down memory lane right before she became an alicorn. I also noticed something unusual as well, I was wearing only my underwear and tank top when I fell asleep but now, for some reason, I was wearing a full set of US marine fatigues from the Second World War along with all of the gear and armor as well. I even had a battle pack on my back as well and a helmet on my head. Suddenly the dream scape started shifting rapidly and I soon found myself suprisingly at the invasion of Iwo Jima but this was right before the Japanese had started attacking. I had a Thompson SMG in my hands and ducked down as soon as the MG fire started. I was watching hundreds of people die right before me. An artillary shell landed close to me and at that moment time seemed to stop. Everything was frozen in place and things got very quite. I knew that I had lived past lives before but I just didn’t remember much about them. I was just looking around, confused as hell and kind of nervous until I saw Princess Luna and she was walking right towards me.

“Forgive me, but I did not know that this was a memory of yours. I thought you were having a nightmare and tried to intervene and stop it.” She explained. “It’s fine. In a way, this a nightmare because this may have been a past life that I lived through but I can still remember some of this stuff like it happened just a couple of hours ago.” I said.

“I understand but that is also not the only reason I’m here. It’s been almost 7 weeks now since you arrived here and I know how worried your family had been about you.” She said. “I know that they would be. At this point, I would be presumed dead. There has probably already been a funeral held for me and everything.” I replied to her. “That is where you are wrong. A funeral has not been held yet but one is scheduled soon but that is beside the point. I’ve found a way for you to contact your family and physically be there with them and give them the news that your not dead.” She responded which left me somewhat speechless. “Really!? How? I gotta see them and tell them I’m ok!” I said somewhat frantically. “I’m able to open a portal which will allow you to temporarily cross over from here in the dream realm to the the real world and your home. But it is only temporary and you would only have 30 minutes during each visit.” She explained. I knew that I couldn’t fully be with them again but this was better than nothing and I desperately wanted to see them again. “We are able to see them right now if you wish to do so” that was all I needed to hear. I frantically said yes and she lit up her horn as both of our bodies became covered in light.

The first thing I saw was that it was around mid-morning to noon, the air was unbelievably humid, the ground was beyond soaked, and tree branches were down everywhere. We were now standing outside of a building with a sign that said “St.francis Catholic Church” I’m guessing that a funeral for me was happening right now. “They are inside. Go to them, comfort them with the fact that you are alive and well.” Luna urged me on and followed me in shortly after. I could see in the main area that hundreds of my family members were gathered around and were all crying as the priest was reading his script. I was about to make my presence known until I noticed that I was still wearing the WW2 uniform and would have to try and explain this to everyone.

Luna was right beside me for this and would vouch for me In case anyone tried to call bullshit about what happened. The time had come for me to blow their minds and I did so by entering the room and saying something out loud.

“Is it weird if you show up to your own funeral and your still alive? Or is it just the mushrooms talking?” I remarked as the whole room fell silent and everyone’s head darted towards me and just looked at me silently in shock. “Man, tough crowd. I thought you all would be overjoyed by the fact that I’m still alive.” I said once again as I adjusted my helmet and removed the Tommy gun from my shoulder and held it in one of my hands since it felt like it was about to fall off.

At that moment, I got swarmed by my relatives and could see my parents running towards me at full speed. This was only the second time that my biological parents and step-parents had been in the same place at the time. All four of them reached me and pulled me into a tight hug as I returned the gesture. I explained everything that had happened ever since the storm and had Luna to back me up on that. I even told my parents that I was now in a relationship and that I was going to take my new lover on a date as soon as I could. We also had to explain the reason why I was wearing an airborne uniform from WW2 but they seemed to somewhat understand. The time had come for me to leave and say goodbye to everyone but I told them that this would not be the last time they would see me. Luna had told me that I would be able to visit home once every week if I choose to do so. With the final goodbyes taken care of, I and Luna exited the church with my family following behind as they watched our bodies become covered in light and vanish into thin air.

I was now back in the dreamscape with Luna but now, everyone else was here as well. Gerson, Brian, Kevin, Natalie, Manuel, and Trevor were all here, Even Aqua was here. "What are you guys doing here?" I asked them all. "That's what we want to know." Trevor replied. Luna decided to explain everything of why we were all here by saying that there is a way for us to temporarily see our families again and that we would be able to do so once every week. She also said that since there is no true way for us to go home, she would begin the process of making us citizens of Equestria. After that, she said that since this was technically my dream, I could change the scenery to whatever I wanted. Upon hearing that, I changed everything to the Las Vegas strip.

If we were gonna be here in this dreamscape for a few more hours then we might as well make it interesting. Trevor had challenged me to a drinking contest while everyone else watched. Luna decided she would be a sort of coach to this contest and kept track of how many shots both of us had taken. He was drinking some honey jack daniels whiskey while I was drinking this nasty shit called Oddka, which was a literal spinach and cucumber vodka. Even though my stuff was stronger, Trevor ended up blacking out first since he didn't drink very often and he was still a lightweight. Luna used her dream altering magic to make both of us sober again and wake him up and get rid of his hangover. We then proceeded to have some more fun in the casinos. I played Brian at Blackjack and beat him while Gerson, Trevor, and Kevin were all playing roulette. Natalie, Manuel, and Aqua were playing the slot machines and were getting really lucky.

After about 2 hours, Luna said that we would wake up soon and ended the dream. One by one, everyone started to disappear into nothing. I was the last one to go but Luna reminded me one last time that I need to make things right with Celestia. After that, My vision went black and my body felt heavy. My eyes were still heavy, My body felt stiff and I had the overwhelming urge to stretch out and pop my joints. I felt a weight next to me on the king size bed that I was sleeping in. I opened up one of my eyes and saw Aqua's sleeping form next to me. She had a small smile on her face as I knew that she must have slept well last night. I rolled over and looked at my phone and saw that it was currently 2:45 in the afternoon. We were asleep for a whole 13 hours but after everything that happened yesterday along with a 7-hour drive straight back here without breaks, it was well deserved. I got out of bed and went into the bathroom and got straight to taking a shower to wake myself up fully. After I was done and had put some fresh clothes on and left the bathroom when I saw Aqua getting up and putting on her armor. "Morning Aqua. Did you sleep well last night?" I asked her. "Yeah, I did. These beds are way comfier than the cots we sleep on in the barracks" she replied. "Well if that's the case, then you are more than welcome to use my bed anytime you want. besides, since we're lovers now, I might ask you to move in with me at some point." I said somewhat jokingly. "I might have to take you up on that offer someday then. Who knows, maybe someday we might even get married." She said.

That got me thinking. I'm still only 17 years old and I never even finished high school, but if I was to get married at this age, that would really be something special. I put on the armband she gave me, texted everyone and told them to meet up in the dining hall, and headed out. It was no more than a 5-minute walk to the dining hall and we would have to figure out how the rest of the day would go. On the way there, we had to pass the throne room and it looked like day court was still in session since there were noble's lined up outside and I could see Celestia inside sitting on her throne as she had a tired expression on her face, But when she saw me walking by, Her expression changed to one of sadness as she was still upset about yesterday. As we walked past and out of her sight, The guard in front of the throne room entrance had announced that day court was over and that everypony could come back tomorrow at 10:00 AM. Damn, she is really upset about this whole thing between me and aqua. I knew that I would make things right with her later tonight.

We finally arrived at the dining hall and everyone else was already there and eating something good. We talked about what we needed to do today and if anything else needed to be done today. I needed to help Natalie and Manuel fix their cars since they had taken some pretty decent damage once they got here. When we got outside where the cars were at, I grabbed some spare tools out of my Ford and got to work. Manuel had a 2013 Toyota Tundra crewmax, Natalie had a 2011 Ford Crown Victoria P71, and Trevor had a 2015 Chevy avalanche. Natalie just needed some new headlights while Manuel had a Dead battery and failing alternator and needed both of them replaced and Trevor had a broken drive train which would be a real bitch to try and fix. I got the headlights I needed out of the black void in my weatherguard and made sure they were LED lights since they were much brighter than regular halogen bulbs and proceeded to install them and test them to make sure they work. I did her a favor and replaced the spotlights as well with LED lights and got to work on Manuel's truck. I decided that replacing the battery instead of recharging it was the best course of action and got to work.

It took roughly 6 to 8 hours to finish up since I had to take apart part of the engine in order to remove the alternator. Once I did get it though, I decided to do what I would do with broken, useless, or stupid stuff in the game my summer car and flip off the alternator as I through it over the wall. I put a higher output alternator in for him and a new battery. I had to put the engine back together and make sure his truck would actually work. After that, I got to work on Trevor’s SUV/Truck crossover. I did the best I could since I didn’t have a lift to raise his truck off the ground so I could get underneath and work on the drive train. I did the best I could welding it back together and would continue on it tomorrow. I finally finished up and put my tools away and jacked his car down. I was very sweaty and sore but I didn't care, An honest day's work is a good day's work, And since I preferred to do manual labor instead of a desk job, I could actually be happy while I worked. I went back inside, Gave them back their keys, Got showered, grabbed a quick snack, and made my way to Celestia's chambers. I can't bear to see her like this any longer and seeing her like this made me feel like a real asshole for doing what I did. I finally made it to her chambers and it was now time to make things right with her. The guards let me by and I knocked on her door, No response. I knocked again and once again, no response. I checked to see if the door was unlocked and it was. I slowly and quietly opened the door and entered her room. It was dimly lit inside and I couldn't see inside very well since it was only candlelight. I could see Celestia laying her bed quietly crying to herself. It was now or never, and then I made my move. "Tia"

Celestia POV
8 hours earlier

I was not in the mood to handle the day court today since I just wanted to be left alone with my thoughts. I would not be able to get over the fact that I missed my chance and lost Dakota to another mare, One that is within my royal guard no doubt. I wanted so badly to tell how I felt about him but now I will never get to tell him at all. The day court was going slowly, as usual, My thoughts had drifted to him again since I had not seen him in almost 2 days now. I was told that he had returned last night with 3 more humans with more of those so-called "vehicles". One of them was massive and had to be parked on the grass in the courtyard by the gate because of how long it was. I wrapped up with the pony that was speaking to me about some funding problems in his town. When he left, I saw Dakota walk by the throne room with the mare that he was now dating. He glanced at me and had a look of guilt on his face and looked like he wanted to say something but he just kept walking. I could also see the armband that mare had given him to wear on his arm. I ended the Day court early and had everypony leave as I went back to my chambers. I wanted so badly to tell him but I couldn't since he has already found a mate. I don't want to hurt him by trying to separate them, That is not who I am. If he is happy, then I will leave him be and let him enjoy his new relationship with her.

7 hours later

I was in my chambers for a while now and I did nothing but quietly cry, I wanted him to be mine, and for me to be his. That was only a dream now as I continued to cry over him. It was only an hour later now but I heard a knock on my door from the other side. There was another one and then it stopped. I couldn't be seen like this and just hoped that the guards had told whoever it was to go away. "Tia" A very familiar voice called out; one that I was surprised by.

"Oh, Dakota, I didn't hear you come in. What brings you here at this time?" I said to him as best as I could. "Tia, I came by to say that I'm sorry for everything I did in the past 3 days. I originally left because of the heat season and I planned to ride it out until it was over, only that plan went to shit. I almost died fighting some changelings, caused a small town to have a little mini civil war on if they are fighting to protect my friends or not, took a hostage, and broke your heart." He said as he started to get a little teary himself. "When I saw that you started to show feelings for me, I thought it was the heat that was talking which made me leave and not say anything about it." He continued as some tears started to fall from his cheeks. "Then I started dating another mare that has feelings for me even though you liked me. I'm so sorry that I did this and I feel like a real shitstain because of it. When luna showed me in my dreams what you did for me when I was passed out in the everfree, I didn't know what to think about it and then I turned and tried to run away again." He finished as the flood gates opened and tears were now freely falling from his eyes as were mine.

"It's alright. I'm not mad that you are dating another mare, I'm mad that I didn't tell you how I felt about you sooner. I feared that you would reject me for coming on too strong and then everything else happened." I replied to him as my own tears started falling again. "When Luna told me that I had a way to visit my family, I was overjoyed and forgot about everything else. I wanted so badly to see them again and tell them that I was alive and well. I wanted to tell you that I had feelings for you as well but I lost my chance once I escaped the castle in the forest. I may be seeing another mare but I still have feelings for you as well." He said once more. His face was red and I can tell that he needed to be comforted, he needed somepony to listen to his issues.

"How do I know if you still like me? that mare that you are seeing now had some feel-MMPHPH!!" I was cut off as he quickly pulled me into a deep and passionate kiss. He kissed me intensely as I squirmed a little bit, unsure how to react to this. Eventually I gave into my crush on him and returned the kiss. I prodded his teeth with my tongue, asking for entrance and to make this kiss one to remember. He parted his teeth slightly and slid his own tongue forward and met my own. I turned my head sideways to lock lips with him as he put his other hand around me and pulled me into a tight hug. I did the same as I put both of my hooves around his torso and brought him in tighter with my wings. We stayed like this for what felt like hours until we finally parted mouths, a single strand of saliva still connected us together. “Tia, I’m sorry I didn’t do that sooner. I want to start a relationship with you, but I also can’t just leave Aqua like that. She would be devestated if I did.” He said while still catching his breath. “Don’t worry about that one bit. I’ll talk to her and see if something can be worked out. Remember that a herd is okay here in equestria, and I don’t think she would say no to being in a herd with both of us.” I said to him as well as used my magic to remove his clothing. “I want you to stay with me tonight, I want to cherish this night forever.” I told him as I scooted over to make room for him as we got under the covers and got close to me. He used both of his arms to pull me into a close hug as I did the same. He kissed me goodnight as I returned the gesture and we fell asleep together in each other’s embrace.

Dakota POV

I found myself back in the dreamscape again but this time Luna, Aqua, and Celestia were all here with me. Luna had informed aqua about the possible herd but, to my surprise, she wasn’t mad or angry in the slightest. Aqua told me that she always wondered what it would be like to be in a herd, the fact that she would get to experience that with me and Celestia was pretty much a selling point for her. We talked about this for a while when the dream scape was morphed into a bar. We continued just talking about random stuff afterwards, seeing Luna and Celestia drunk at the same time was quite something. Me and aqua both challenged them to a drinking contest, since this was technically my dream again, I made them sober and grabbed numerous different bottles from behind the counter. I grabbed many different things like jack daniels, Oddka, Smirnoff ice, southern comfort, bud light, Kirin beer, and a whole bunch of different things.

Me and aqua were on probably our 40th shot now. We had the bartender keep track of how many shots we all took. Celestia looked like she was about to pass out while Luna just kept giggling like a Japanese school girl. We won the drinking contest when Celestia blacked out. The bartender had placed a bucket close by just Incase. I took the bucket and told him to do something to make me throw up so I could get somewhat sober. He punched me in the gut and that did the trick. I nearly filled the bucket all the way with vomit and I felt much better afterwards. We all continued to have fun in the bar until we were about 5 minutes from waking up. Luna thanked me for making things right with her sister. After everything went black again, I finally woke up and it was still dark outside. The first thing I saw was Celestia’s sleeping form next to me and she had the happiest smile on her face; I had a similar one since I had made things right with her and now have 2 ponies that I could call my lovers. I’m only 17 but I already know that this would probably be the most interesting part of my life. If I was to marry Aqua and Celestia, I wonder how it would work out, would I marry both of them at the same time or would I have two separate weddings? I just pushed it off and would figure it out when it happened. For now, I just wanted to take care of the two mares that I now call my marefriends. I could tell that I would have a good life and this was only the beginning.

Months gone by

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8 months later
Ponyville, equestria
Dakota POV

It has been 8 months now since that one decided night and things only got better afterwards and I was now on a vacation in ponyville after I got bored of the same old sights of canterlot. The weather had actually been doing it’s own thing ever since I first entered equestria, so now it worked like weather on earth. A pretty nasty snow storm had hit ponyville and the snow was still coming down pretty hard. I had a snow plow made for my truck and was plowing the road down Main road in central Ponyville while Manuel was following me and laying down salt on the road behind me. I actually did something interesting and heated the plow by soldering exposed wires to it and passed 232amps and 210 volts of dc current through the plow to heat it up. The power source was 3 additional alternators that I installed in the truck to power the subwoofers and numerous lights. The subwoofers were temporarily disconnected to allow for the heated plow. It wasn’t glowing but it was still charred from how hot it was and I cold see the heat radiating off of it from up in the cab. We were going down Main Street and had just passed twilights library; knowing her, she had probably been awake for a while now since it was only 10:30 in the morning but she always liked to get as much done in as little time. More stuff had appeared ever since these 8 months have gone by. I had other trucks that I owned, a 1974 dodge coronet, a sisu M162, some music equipment including couple of guitars that I owned, and other things. The craziest things that showed up though was actually a small group of abrams tanks including a Huey helicopter but I’ll get to that later. I knew that someone had to be doing this but now wasn’t the time to worry about it.

We finished taking care of the roads in ponyville and decided to go to twilights castle and wait until the snow stopped. Ponyville was much larger than portrayed in the show ( blame Faust ) so it was still about 10 minutes to reach her castle and knocked on her door. A certain purple dragon opened the door and allowed us to come in. In the time since I started a here with tia and aqua, I had gotten to really know the main six a lot and made friends with them real quickly. If I had to choose which one I could relate to the most, it would be rainbow dash since we had a lot of similar characteristics. We were both prideful, kind of reckless, athletic, fun loving, and heavy sleepers.

They were all at twilights castle since they got snowed in so they would be here for a few days at most. Spike led Manuel and I towards the map room were the 6 elements were. We made it there and gave them the good news that the roads were clear now but they would still be slippery for a bit because of the ice. Since we would be here for a bit, I decided to go back out to my truck and get something to pass the time. I reached into the weather guard and pulled out a big black duffel bag and a UPS went back inside. Once I made it back inside, I asked twilight if there was a common room or something were I could set my stuff up. She said there was a small home theatre that was recently finished being built in the basement that was ready for use.

That’s all I needed to here as I went down there with Manuel right behind me. The other 6 ponies decided to follow me as well. I would’ve liked to meet starlight as well but she had gone back to her home town to spend hearthswarming with her parents. Once we were in the small theater, I put down the ups and took off my bag. “What’s in that rather plain looking bag darling?” I heard rarity’s posh voice call from behind me. “If we’re gonna be here for a while, then we might as well do something fun to pass the time.” I replied to her. As expected, that piqued pinkie’s interest. “Ooooohh I’m all for that! Let’s get this started!!” I just chuckled at her enthusiasm. Not delaying any longer, I opened up the duffle bag to reveal my beloved Xbox One X and an expensive projector. It took no more than 3 minutes to get everything set up. I plugged everything into the ups and powered it on. I turned on the projecter and switched inputs to the Xbox. I then pulled 4 custom made elite controllers and powered on the Xbox. We spent much of the day playing games like call of duty, forza motorsport, halo, ace combat, moral kombat, as well as numerous other games. We also watched plenty of movies and tv shows as well. Pinkie had brought lot of snacks which made it all the more enjoyable.

I had given both Celestia and aqua cell phones and showed them how to use them call me when they need me and I wasn’t at the castle. I texted them and let them know that they could come down to ponyville and see us if they wanted to and they said that they would depart soon to come and visit. I told everyone else about this so we could clean up a little bit. We took turns playing battlefield 1 afterwards and they didn’t understand it one bit so me and Manuel had to describe it for them. From what WW1 was, to the many different countries involved and the events that contributed and started it. This game was made to take the gaming community back to the dawn of modern combat and give everyone a view of history through a way that appeals to millions of people.

We were partway through the “friends in high places” war story when Celestia and Aqua arrived.

“Hey guys, welcome to our little hide out.” I greeted them. “Hi dakota, good to see you again.” Aqua replied. We got greetings out of the way and continued playing games.

It was 2 hours later now and me Manuel we’re doing a 1v1 on cod mw2. “Fucking puta madre dios mio piece of shit!” He shouted as I got another kill on him. I was up on him by 8 kills since he was only used to GayStation. I was just kicking his ass without even trying at this point. He got so pissed that he actually broke the sniper only rule and switched to an M240 and I still beat him. I was just laughing my ass off afterwards since it was recorded as well. We then proceeded to watch some more movies. I decided to put on battleship since the movie was just as good as the board game was.

We wrapped everything up after about another 3 hours and thanked twilight for letting me stay at her castle for the last 2 weeks. After we got everything packed up, we said goodbye before we left to go back to canterlot. When we were walking back towards the entrance, I could hear a lot of something going on outside. Hurrying up to see what it was, I opened up the door two see 4 more damn humans and cars, and these 4 new humans were also the last 3 in my woodworking class and the woodworking teacher himself. I started running over to make sure they aren’t hurt. Kendall, Johnathan, Cody, and Mr.Hesington were all looking around with looks of just pure confusion. “Holy shit, Dakota is that you!?” I heard a certain Alabama accent call out. “Yeah it is!, and I ain’t alone either!” I called back to him. Once everypony saw us, they immediately stopped what they were doing to bow and clear the way through for us when they saw me and Celestia. “What the hell? Dude what’s going on?” Johnathan asked. “It’s a long story and I would rather not get into right now especially in the freezing cold.” I replied.

We got them inside of twilights castle and Celestia got them taken care of as far as questions go. Manuel and I got our winter gear on went back outside and got to work. I pulled my balaclava down over my face as soon as I opened the door and walked over to my truck and grabbed some towing ropes while I prepared the glow plugs. I handed half of them to Manuel and we got to work. I would tow Kendall and Johnathon's vehicles while Manuel took Mr.Hesington and Cody’s cars since their vehicles were lighter and Manuel’s truck is more suited for light and medium duty while mine is built for medium, heavy and superduty. We got them all attached and the others came out and got in with us; Celestia, Aqua, and Johnathon got in with me while Kendall, Cody, and Mr.Hesington got in with Manuel. We departed for canterlot and left ponyville. Normally, on a decent day, it would be a 2-hour drive to canterlot from ponyville but that wasn't the case. It had been snowing heavily for the last 2 and half days and I couldn't see shit past 80 feet; combine that with ice grounds and the fact that im pulling an additional 11000 pounds worth of vehicles behind me and it would be more like 5 hours.

I switched on the amber lights including a Federal Signal Vision SLR lightbar that I had mounted on the roof of my F350 so Manuel wouldn't lose me in the snow. Once we made it back to canterlot, It wasn't looking much different than ponyville. Streets were blocked and impassable due to the snow and it was up to 2 feet in some places, Good thing I had this plow otherwise we would have had to abandon our vehicles here and try to make it back to the castle on foot. I don't know how the Russians are constantly able to put up with this cold, Which is ironic since im 29% russian. We finally made it back to the castle and got through the gates and parked up. A small garage was built close to the gates for us to store our vehicles that was a maximum of 35 feet high to allow for the Kenworth to be put in there and raised up on the lifts if and when I needed to work on it. Manuel and I detached the towing straps and put them away and told everyone else were to park their vehicles based on their size. Kendall had a 2014 Ford F150 crew cab, Cody had a 2015 Jeep Wrangler, Johnathan had a 2016 ford excursion , and Mr. Hesington had a 2014 dodge charger srt. Kendall and Cody parked between my GMC Denali and the Kenworth while Johnathan and Mr.Hesingotn parked next to Natalie and Kevin's vehicles.

We dashed inside and got everyone situated while walked back towards my room to unpack my stuff and get changed. I noticed that Celestia had been following me and had something to say. When we got to my room, I hit her with 2 questions of my own. "Tia, Do you know anything about these portals that keep opening up and depositing my friends here." Was all I asked her. "I do, I've been trying to find a way to send you and your friends back home because I know much your families miss you all and how much you all miss them. So far we have only been successful in pulling things through." She said to me. "Alright, I have one other question though. There is a black void in the secondary compartment of that metal box you see in the back of my truck. I have been able to reach into it and pull out anything that I wanted just so long as it would fit through. Would you happen to know anything about that or anything related to that?" I asked her. Her eyes widened in shock at this as I said this. “Do you have any idea, what type of magic that box holds in it?” She said while she was still in a shocked state. “That metal box that you call a weather guard, is enchanted with a type of magic so rare that very little is known about it and I have only encountered an object enchanted with it once in my whole life. Dakota, that box is enchanted with something known as infinity magic.” She said. Infinity magic, I know I remember reading a story on this website that had that type of magic infused into some dude’s hat that he wore when he was brought to Equestria, turned into his alicorn OC, lived with flitter and cloudchaser, has a fear of magic since it almost got him killed, and constantly wanted to keep himself from being discovered by Celestia and Luna. That seemed to make me remember as I now knew just how much power I had in my possession.

I talked with Celestia a little more before we wrapped up and I went back to my room, got showered, and decided to play my Guitar for a bit. I got really into it since aqua came in and started singing alongside me as I continued playing my guitar. Celestia came in as well halfway the song along with a bunch of the guards that I had gotten to know a lot about them and became close friends with. We all continued as I played multiple sabaton songs such as Union, firestorm, price of a mile, Sun Tzu says, the art of war, nuclear attack, the last attack, panzer battalion, and many other songs from the Swedish heavy power metal band. After I finished up, I turned off the amplifier and hung up the amplifier. I got into bed and Celestia Aqua got in with me, probably because they didn't want to go back to their own beds and we were still a herd anyway. I turned off the lights and fell asleep with the two mares right beside me. I was once again in Vegas in the dreamscape and this time, not only were my friends from earth here, but also the main 6 and the guards that I had made friends with. Vegas had become the go-to place during the sleep time's as there was no limit to what we could do there and how much fun we could have. The dream was abruptly ended when I woke up to a knocking on my door. I got up and climbed over Celestia to open it and be greeted by a frantic looking guard. I knew that she needed to tell Celestia something so I wasted no time in waking her up by whispering in her ear. "Allahu akbar" Was all I said and that made her jolt up. Ever since I had told her about the "groups" on earth that shouted that saying, She would get pretty scared by it as I told her what they did. she walked over to the guard while I sat on the bed and listened to the conversation.

"Your Highness, Princess Cadence and Shining armor arrived here at the castle 10 minutes ago and have an urgent message to give you." the guard said before Celestia dismissed her and started running towards the throne room. I woke up Aqua and we followed her there. When we got to the throne room, Cadence and shining armor were both decently injured. They both had cuts all over their bodies, Cadence had some burns here and there, Shining armor had a black eye and a bloody nose. I heard something that I didn't want to and hoped that I never would. Sombra had returned, and he has enslaved the crystal empire again. I slipped out of the throne room during their conversation and proceeded to the garage that was built for us and texted everyone and told them to meet me here as soon as they saw this message.

4 hours later

I had been cleaning a gun that I planned to take into battle when we went to go kick Sombra's shadowy ass. Everyone had finally shown up and I told them what had happened and that I was going north to kill his ass and that I would like them to help me. I told them that if they didn't want to, then they didn't have to. When I told them that He was a tyrannical ruler, they were all on board with me going to kill him. We geared up and started to get into the tanks. I'm guessing these were experimental tanks since the turret was loaded with an autoloader and multiple ammo racks and no room for anyone in the turret except for a mechanic/machine gunner. the turret was now operated by a remote relay in the driver's compartment. I'm guessing that America was aiming for one man tanks since they wanted to experiment with the idea of one man turrets in WW2 and wanted to improve on that. Kendall was going to drive my Denali since it was armored like my ford but we had the room to mount an HMG in the bed to act as a gun truck, While Cody was going to drive my F350 so we had access to the black void that allowed us to pull out whatever we want. We started the Abrams tanks and the Trucks and left. I opened the gates to the castle since there were no guards on duty right now. We were guaranteed to attract a lot of unwanted attention because of how loud the engines in the tanks were but that wasnt of concern. We left the city and went on north to go and kill Sombra. I told my now squad-mates to avoid killing any of the crystal ponies when we get there since they were already suffering at the moment.

My phone went off after about 1 hour of driving and I saw a text from Celestia. "Where are you going? The guards told me that you are all missing as well as some of those vehicles. Please, If you have left the city, Come back." her text said. "We're going to kill king Sombra before he can inflict any major damage on the crystal empire. I'm sorry, but someone has to do something as soon as possible before he can amass his forces and begin invading nearby areas. Don't try to stop us as we are already one hour north of canterlot and we will be approaching the crystal empire to kill King Sombra by the end of the day." That was my reply to her. I knew that this was a very dumb idea. A group of 12 guys with guns, 6 tanks, and a gun truck going to face down an army was a terrible idea but it was the only thing that could be done right now. Equestria did not have an army and recruiting would take too long so this was our best and only option. I wasn't sure what the end result would be once we got there, but one thing was certain, we were going to kill him. Even if it was the last thing we would do. We would Kill king sombra, or die trying.

going to war against an empire

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Equestria
12/18/19
Near the crystal Empire borders

We had been driving for 7 hours now and could finally see the crystal Empire off in the distance but I could see something in the way as well. Sombra must have gotten wind that we were coming because I could see changelings and what looked like shadow ponies in trenches and bunkers waiting for us to get closer. There was barbed wire and artificial craters all across the land in front of us and made it feel like WW1 again when the MK1 was introduced. I told everyone to stop and wait at a distance of 3/4 of a mile from them while I got closer and tried to see if they would attack. I didn’t have to worry about the tank getting destroyed since I was protected by more than 12 inches of depleted uranium and steel armor on all sides as well as the tank was equipped with a Heavy/ERA armor package and a TUSK V3 kit so if the tank started getting shot at with magic bolts, they would glance right off without even triggering the ERA bricks. I stopped just 30 feet away from their trenches and waited to see what they would do.

I saw some changelings further back operating what looked like an old 77MM field gun from WW1. The gun crew fired off a shot and hit my tank but the round bounced clean off. My ears were partially ringing from the ricochet and the troops in the trenches had taken to the opportunity to attack with what looked like rifles made for ponies since they had no trigger guard as well as much much larger triggers. They had their own versions of our machine guns which they opened fire with. I looked at the monitor that is connected to a camera next to the tanks main gun and target the field gun a ways back and fired off a 120MM HEAT round that blew the whole thing out of existence. I gave the signal for my friends to advance and attack. We made quick work of the trench system and proceeded onwards to the crystal empire itself. There were more and more trench systems that we had to clear before we reached the city.

Once we did reach the city, there was a huge ass wall in the way that was bigger than the wall that Donald Trump wanted to build. It had to be at least 4 feet thick all around. I knew that we would need something big to blow a hole in it and I knew exactly what. Celestia has taught me how to use that portal spell to pull anything I wanted into Equestria at any time that I couldn’t pull out of my weather guard.

I followed her instructions and summoned a Centurion MK5 AVRE tank. I summoned this specific one because it had a massive 165MM demolition charge projector mounted on it as it’s main armament and enough explosive filler to blow up the wall. I had Kendall get in my Abrams while I got in the centurion and got ready to blow down the wall. Once I got inside, I found out this one was just like the abrams’s that we had so I wouldn’t have to move between driver and gunner all the time. I finally started the engine and turned the turret and fired off a massive HESH round and watched it destroy part of the wall. The autoloader did its job and I fired again, taking out enough of the wall to allow us to get through.

We entered the city and were met with heavy resistance. There were shadow pony and changeling fighters everywhere and were trying to stop our tanks but weren’t very successful as we just drove right over them. Our machine guns kept firing as they pelted the tanks with bullets. I texted Celestia telling her that if she sends reinforcements to the Crystal Empire, she needs to send airships because these guys had guns just like we did. “We should have brought the fucking Huey!” I shouted into my headset because air support would have been nice to have. "Roadblock up ahead! We're gonna have to find a way around." I informed everyone else as I saw the massive pile of rubble blocking the roadway. We made a left onto a side street and saw crystal ponies hiding in their houses as the battle continued. We hit a dead end had to backtrack. We couldn't risk firing a 165MM round in an alleyway because of the risk of killing ourselves if we did. We backed out of the alleyway and were surrounded on all sides.

The machine guns kept pumping out hot lead as we continued to be approached by our attackers. They just kept coming and coming. How many fighters did Sombra have? We cleared a whole bunch of them out but there was a Whole crowd of them approaching us with those field guns leading the way. They stopped firing and stopped about 30 feet away from us. I ordered the trucks to get behind the tanks to avoid the field guns. The ponies in the front cleared a path and allowed a certain king that we had come to kill, to present himself in front of us.

"It is very admirable of you to try and fight me even when you are outnumbered and outgunned. Tell me, have you ever thought about changing sides and fighting for me?" He asked. We shut down our tanks, grabbed our guns, and got out to meet him. "What makes you think that we would fight for you? You're a tyrannical dictator of a king and you have wrongly enslaved the crystal ponies against their will." I replied. "Is that so? it seems that I won't be able to convince you so now, I must kill you. Any last words" He asked. I looked to my friends beside me and in the Denali and said 3 simple, controversial, and chilling words. "remeber why we're here". After that, we raised up our guns and began to dump lead into the crowd of changelings and shadow ponies as they all dropped rapidly. Sombra escaped to the castle but we weren't going to going to let him get away that easily. The field gun crews were wiped out before they could get rounds off on us. The sound of M240B machine guns and M4A1 assault rifles filled the air all throughout the empire as we kept advancing forward. I told Cody to leave the Denali here and watch over the tanks with Gerson while the rest of us took the F350 and advanced towards the castle where Sombra would be.

The resistance was intense, but we fought like hell. Sombra's troops didn't have the equipment that we did which had put them at a huge disadvantage. Im guessing that their most powerful rifles were just as strong as an accidentally double charged musket that was loaded with 4F powder which was still strong, but not strong enough to penetrate the armor that we were wearing. I could see something massive looming in the distance but I didn't know what since it was only a silhouette. I could also sense 2 strong and familiar presense's on that thing but they still felt so foreign. I didn't have time to worry about it right now since I was in the middle of an intense gun battle and I didn't want to get shot. The resistance around the castle was the most intense as the changelings and shadow ponies fought desperately to keep us out of the castle. I told Gerson to bring one of the tanks around because the entrance was blocked by a makeshift barricade and we couldn't get through it without destroying it in the process. About 5 minutes later, Gerson and Cody brought up the Denali and the centurion and blew up the barricade.

We entered the castle and had to split up and clear each room to ensure that Sombra could not escape. We had to hit him now before he was ready for a full blown war against equestria and any other nations that oppose him. The resistance in the castle was ferocious, but we fought harder and fought very aggressively. We would not take him prisoner even if he surrendered. We would shoot him on the spot where he stood and free the crystal ponies. We finally reached the throne room and prepared to breach. As we were about to burst in and end sombra, the doors exploded into nothing but splinters, Hitting every last one of us. I got back up and saw 4 giant crystal monster things all looking right at us and I also saw sombra as well.

"I told you that you would not be able to defeat me. My army is only growing and getting stronger. I will restate my offer again; Fight for me, and we can all rule the world together. You could have everything you ever wanted and all you would have to do, Is switch sides and fight for me." He offered once more. I looked back behind me and saw that Mr.Hesington and Kendall were nowhere to be seen. Looking back at sombra, I asked him one simple yet difficult question. "If we fight for you, Would you have the power to send us home to our own world afterwards? I miss my family and want to see them again. If you are able to send us back to our own world after that, would you do it." I asked him

"But of course I would. It would take some time to master the spell required to do so, but I would be more than happy to send you home." He replied I thought about it as the crystal monsters just stood there looking at me ready to strike. "I would like to but at the same time, these ponies deserve freedom. You will die" I replied. "So be it. It is your fate that you have choosen for yourselves." Sombra stated as the crystal things moved forward. I thought we were done right then and there but just at the same time, Kendall and Mr.Hesington came rushing back in and saved us. "Eat these rockets you giant fuckwads!" Kendall shouted. Both him and Mr.Hesington were holding M202 Flash rocket launchers which hadn't been used since the Vietnam war. 8 Rockets were fired off and blew the crystal giants into tiny shards. Sombra had escaped but we didn't have time to go after him. I could see an army of changelings and shadow ponies marching towards the empire in the distance. I guessed that we had about 15 minutes to get ready before they got here.

We rushed out of the castle and back towards the tanks and brought them towards the castle. There was still crystal ponies in the city, so we did the only thing we could and evacuated them towards the castle where they would be safest while we held out against the army that was approaching. There was a large shadow overhead now as I looked up and saw a group of airships and saw both Celestia and aqua in the largest one, both looking at me with concern in their eyes as I was getting back into the AVRE. I saw thousands of pegasi taking off from the airships and unicorns and earth ponies disembarking from one that had landed in the city and was moving towards the castle. I used the spell again that Celestia taught me and summoned 2 mortars on the top of the castle. "Kendall, Trevor! There is 2 120MM mortars on the top of the castle. I want you two to get up there and use them to provide artillery cover as these bastards move into the city. There is also MMG's up there as well if they start to target you guys. If it gets too hot and you can't stop them, then get the hell out of there." I told them.

I was moving into a defensive position at the northern side of the castle when Celestia and Aqua approached my tank. I got out and hugged them. "What happened here? Are you ok?" Celestia asked me. "I'm fine. There is an army of at least 15000 strong approaching on all sides. You two need to get to the castle. If those airships have weapons on them that can help us, I recommend moving them into defensive positions as this is going to be a difficult battle." I told both of them. They told me that there were essentially battleship cannons mounted on the ships. I ordered them to cover all sides of the city. There was an additional airship that we could use to evacuate the crystal ponies back to canterlot. The army was now less than 3 minutes away from the city. The airship carrying the crystal ponies had taken off and departed south back towards Equestria.

This is it. This is the moment that we had prepared for. The changelings and shadow ponies were now in the city and advancing on the castle. As soon as the first group approached the castle, I gave the order to attack. I fired the 165MM demolition gun and evaporated the group before me. The sound of mortars, tank guns, and machine guns filled the air as the battle heated up. Natalie, Gerson, Kevin, Mr.Hesington, and Manuel had made makeshift machine gun nests in some windows in the castle while the rest of us were in the tanks. Even though we were outnumbered, Our will to fight was unbreakable and we kept the advancing army back away from the castle. I knew that we were outnumbered 40:1 but we would not give up, we would free the crystal empire and defeat Sombra when we next saw him. The battle raged hard and gruesome. There were dead bodies littering the streets as our tanks continued to roll through the streets and hold them back while mortars continued firing and the airships rained death from above. We would not allow these bastards to gain a foothold here or anywhere. We would break their lines and destroy them. The battle continued for a full hour before the enemy forces gave up and retreated from the city.

I pulled back towards the castle after the battle had ended where Celestia and aqua were waiting for me. I made my way to the center and saw them waiting there. I shut down the centurion and got out and walked over to them. "How many casualties did we take?" I asked in a sort of hollow and exhausted voice. "10 dead and 400 injured. The injured are expected to pull through. He'll be back to retake the empire." Aqua replied to me. "alright then, get everypony ready to move out and head back to canterlot.” We were going to be leaving the crystal empire but we would leave a nasty surprise for Sombra's forces when they returned. When we were on one of the airships, We started dropping landmines all over the city. We dropped mostly AP mines over smaller side roads and a mix of AP and AT mines on the main roads. They were in for a nasty surprise. Once we got back to canterlot, we would begin preparing the populace for war by modernizing early warning systems.

preperation and chaos on the homefront

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Canterlot, Equestria
12/27/19
Downtown Canterlot

Celestia POV

It has been 9 days now since the humans have returned from that gruesome battle in the crystal empire. They had been busy working to install these things that Dakota had told me were called "Sirens" all throughout canterlot and other major cities. After that, they proposed that an early warning system for radios be implemented to alert the public in the event of an attack. They had Radio towers upgraded to increase their range and installed emergency broadcasting equipment. I started a draft into the equestrian military to increase our military strength and prepare for Sombra's forces to try and invade. Dakota had given our scientists plenty of guns to break down and reverse engineer to even the playing field. The research had been coming along well. It was today that all of our new emergency warning equipment would be tested for the first time. I watched Dakota begin pressing buttons and typing on a keyboard. When he turned a key and pressed one final button, a loud and strange noise began coming out of the radio in his truck followed by a loud and high pitched beeping noise. A loud and distant noise was heard all around the city and most likely in other cities. I heard a voice coming from Dakota's truck after the noise stopped.

"The following message is transmitted at the request of the authority of the royal sisters. The following is a test of the emergency alert system. This is not an emergency, This is only a test. This test is taking place in accordance with the recent declaration of war on the crystal empire. No attack is currently taking place against this country. If this was an actual emergency, you would be provided with important instructions and information on what to do and where to go. This concludes the test of the emergency alert system. We will now return to normal programming."

For a test, that gave me chills all the way down to my knees. "The amount of nostalgia that I felt from that was indescribable." He said to himself. “Why is that?” I asked him. “Back on earth, the emergency alert system was introduced as the conelrad system during a time that every human simply knows as “the Cold War” it was a time of political assinations, an arms race, a race to space, racism, proxy wars, spying, and the closest the world ever came to nuclear Armageddon.” He told me. “How could anypony be alright with that? I’m genuinely confused on how your kind wasn’t doing anything to stop it.” I told him. “Well, it all started after the end of the Second World War. It was the bloodiest war in human history with over 50 countries taking part in it and over 70 million people dying during the six years that it lasted. The official declaration of the Cold War happened back in 1949, but the chain of events that started it, began back in 1917, during world war 1. The government was putting a lot of money into civil defense policies and practices to ensure that in the event that if the Cold War went hot, the public would be safe and survive. Just like what we have been doing for the past 2 weeks, happened back home for more than 50 years.” He told me “I still don’t understand. How does your kind not have any problem with a war of any kind?” I asked him. “Warfare is second nature to every human being. We are pretty much the inventors of war. We have perfected it and enhanced it over the centuries. Every human being, regardless of who they are, has that warriors spirit inside of them, Lying dormant waiting to be awakened and charge into battle.” He told me once more. I noticed just how much he has changed ever since he and his friends attacked the crystal empire in an attempt to kill Sombra. He had been working more and more lately to help upgrade our military, he had even voluntarily enlisted in the royal guard when he got back to help train our new soldiers and has climbed through the ranks extremely fast. He had told me that he had already been promoted to a Sgt.Major for his abilities in combat and leadership skills and enforcing his “No man left behind” policy. He personally oversaw the research of the weapons that he gave our scientists to reverse engineer and manufacture.

We had a breakthrough with the research on the infinity magic that his toolbox had in it and now had the knowledge of how to use it on any object that we wanted. He wanted to a test to see what we were working with and had summoned an unusual looking vehicle from earth once again. It was an olive drab color with a white star on both of the doors and the hood, it had armor plating, it used wheels and tracks together, and had something mounted in the back with machine guns on top of it. He told me that it was called an M16 half track and it was used for a number of different purposes in ww2. He was walking over to the vehicle while carrying 4 oddly shaped ammo boxes that were infused with infinity magic and got inside of it. One by one, I watched him load each individual gun and pull a wooden handle on them as well. He then sat down in the seat in the back and pulled out his phone to use as a stopwatch.

"Let's see if I can run out of ammo now with infinity magic now part of my ammo boxes." He said. He put in a pair of earplugs and gave me a pair and told me to put them in if I wanted to keep my hearing. He adjusted the guns to point upwards towards the sky. Surprisingly, There was a small group of changelings that were spying on us. They were his new target as he began to fire at them. They dodged and weaved through the air to avoid his aim but ultimately failed. They eventually were taken down as their fate was sealed and their corpses fell to the ground. I felt sickened by this and by the fact that this was second nature to him.

"WOOOO! Now that's what I would call a successful weapons test!" He shouted. "You're damn right it is, we could hear that damn thing firing from the dining hall!" I heard one of the other humans known as Johnathan, shout as they walked over to us. One of the changeling bodies hit the broadcasting tower and knocked a dish off of it before the body finally hit the ground. "Oh come on! We just tested this stuff and already we gotta replace a transmitter!" Dakota shouted, he sounded frustrated and just upset in general by this as he walked back inside, Presumably to grab his tools and try to fix the dish. He came back out a couple of minutes later with a ladder and some engineers. They worked hard to fix the dish and reattach the dish to the tower. I walked over to the dead changeling to remove its body but noticed something. Underneath its armor, was a small folder. Grabbing the folder in my magic, I examined its contents closely. There was a map of canterlot, orders, and a small team roster inside of it. I looked at the orders sheet and was shocked by what was written on it.

"Captain Sharper, You and your squad are to perform reconnaissance of canterlot for an attack that we will be launching after you return. You are to gather any information regarding troop movements, weapon emplacements, structural weaknesses. I have given you and your team a small number of explosives to place around the city as you see fit. I recommend detonating them one after the other to further spread out their soldiers and give us an advantage when we attack. If you are spotted, Flee the area and lie low until it is clear then either continue to recon the area or return to the empire for further orders.

General Phantom"

Looking at the map, there were red X's in numerous areas throughout the city. Some said that there was an explosive already planted at that location, While others said that there was still an explosive to be placed there. I quickly ran inside the castle to look for shining armor and show this to him. I found him 5 minutes later and showed it to him.

“Thank you for showing me this princess. I’ll assemble a bomb squad now.” Shining armor told me as he called in 20 guards. They broke off into 10 teams of 2 and set off for the locations on the map. I ran back and told Dakota and his friend after the transmitter was repaired and he quickly put a notification to alert the public of the bomb threat.

"BRRRRT, BRRRRT, BRRRRT, BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT. The following message is transmitted at the request of Princess Celestia and the Equestrian Royal guard. This is not a test, I repeat, This is not a test. This is an actual emergency. At approximately 11:15 AM, 5 changelings were killed and it was discovered that they had orders to spy on canterlot and plant explosive's around the city. The locations of these explosives are The Nobility Hotel, Canterlot city hall, Canterlot castle, The Canterlot engineering plant, and numerous other locations within the residential district. If you are in the area of any of these locations, calmly move away from the area and do not panic. Do not go near any suspicious objects or devices, Instead, report it to the royal guard and a bomb squad will be dispatched to the location. All other residents are instructed to shelter in place at this time until an all clear is given. BRRT, BRRT, BRRT." And the message was now out.

10 minutes later
Shining Armor POV

I dispatched 20 guards to split up, find, and defuse the bombs around the city before they could detonate and destroy part of the city. Some of the Human's had tagged along to help search for the bombs and deactivate them before they could be detonated. They had gotten in their vehicles and tagged along with one team each to help out. I received a report back 5 minutes after they left and was informed that the bomb at the hotel was found and defusing efforts were currently in progress. After another 5 minutes went by, I got another report from the team at the hotel saying that the bomb was successfully deactivated. "1 down, who knows how many more to go." I muttered under my breath. It was 2 hours later when the final report came in saying that all of the bombs had been found and deactivated. Crisis averted.

2 hours later
Dakota POV

When I tagged along to help find the bombs, I wasn't expecting them to be the landmines that we dropped from that airship when we were leaving the crystal empire 2 weeks ago. it looked like they were modified to have a larger explosive capacity and the proximity trigger was replaced with a remote activator for safe detonation from a distance. When I went along and found the first one, I told all teams to use extreme caution around the mines because they could blow up if you got too close to them. I had some knowledge of how to deactivate a bomb from constantly playing "Keep talking and no one gets hurt" and "Hand simulator" so I had a decent idea of what to do and what wires to cut and not cut. We removed the wires completely from the explosive charge and separated them completely before putting them in a container to take back to the castle for repurposing. We met up with the other bomb teams and helped out with the process of deactivating them. We were back in the castle now trying to figure out a retaliation plan but another thought crossed my mind. If Sombra launched an air assault, How would we protect the city? That's when I came up with a solution. I went to go find Celestia and tell her about the idea I had.

"So it's settled then, We'll put the guns at 25 locations on top of skyscrapers and other buildings, and the rest will be placed on the ground throughout the city while additional guns are installed in the mountain and valley surrounding canterlot." I was in a meeting with Celestia, Luna, Shining Armor, Aqua, and other military and civilian advisors to discuss air defense throughout Equestria in every major residential area. The meeting lasted for only an hour and went on without a hitch. We would summon A few hundred CRAM Phalanx guns from earth and install them in key locations in and around major areas to defend against an attack from Sombra. I was no military advisor or strategist but I was starting to feel like one now that I had enlisted in the guard and provided equestrian scientists and arms manufacturers with guns, vehicles, gear, ammo, and armor from earth that would help give us an edge on Sombra. We were now one step closer to being ready to take the fight to that shadowy bitch and kill his ass. Soon we would send him to hell and his army.

field test in a warzone

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3 months later
3/01/20
Dakota POV

It has been almost a full year now since I first landed in Equestria and a lot has happened in the past year. I found that my friends were sent here as well, I had 2 girlfriends, started a war, started an arms race, and joined the military. I had told my family about everything that had happened and they still found it somewhat hard to believe. When I told my dad that I joined the military, He was extremely proud and somewhat jealous as well. He was proud because I was following in his footsteps to serve my country and jealous because I had already achieved a higher rank than him. He was a Staff Seargent while I had already worked my way up to the rank of 1st lieutenant. We had been beefing up defenses on the home front ever since December and we had been working around the clock as there were rumors going around that Sombra's forces were gearing up for a massive attack. His forces would most likely attack from the air as a ground attack was not possible due to how strong our defenses were on the front line. We could actually give the French Maginot line and German Siegfried line a run for their money. Barbed wire, anti-air guns, anti-tank guns, Machine guns, bunkers, trenches, heavy artillery guns, land mines, radio posts, and sniper nest's littered our front line defenses, His forces wouldn't be able to get through at all. I had also commissioned tanks that Equestria had built from our own tanks and sent them to the front.

The past 3 month's had been spent Installing Phalanx guns in around every city and town all around Equestria to further increase our defense from the air. Sombra had been massing his forces for months. reports from the front were coming in that spies were sent into the empire and estimated that Sombra's forces were somewhere around 1.7 million strong while our own troops were around 2 million strong. It was a stalemate of trench warfare on the frontlines at our borders. It looked exactly like no man's land during ww1 and felt like it. We had finally finished installing all of the phalanx guns around major residential area's and they were equipped with sensors that could detect changeling magic that we produced from taking samples from captured changeling POW's. The time to test them in combat would eventually come, but I didn't expect it to be so soon. I was in the castle's newly built war room which looked very well done (Props to the royal construction team) and looked like the war room in the Pentagon back on earth. I was watching a radar feed when suddenly, the whole screen was flooded with red triangles that were approaching the border at high speed. Soldier's on the front line just said over the radio that they were not reinforcing their own troops but are heading past the border. After quickly discussing the situation with Luna and Shining Armor, We agreed to raise the alarm and warn the public.

15 Minutes later

We had given the order to shelter in place and the military was on full alert, waiting for the enemy forces to arrive. We took the time to make sure that each phalanx gun was up and running. This was no doubt retaliation for the attack we launched at him 9 days ago and he wanted payback, little did he know that his forces were heading into right into a trap that they wouldn't escape from. The minute the enemy force crossed the border, they split up into smaller groups and proceeded towards major metropolitan area's and had begun their attack. The closest city was canterlot so we had little time to get into position. Warning sirens were going off and the phalanx guns came to life as the enemy troops came over the mountains and descended towards canterlot and some landed in the streets while the others stayed in the air until they realized their fatal mistake. At that moment, every Phalanx gun in canterlot roared to life as they ripped the changelings and shadow ponies to shreds that remained in the skies. The guns may have looked like oversized pills but that doesn't mean that they wouldn't fuck your day up. Their ammo boxes were infused with the infinity magic that we were putting on everything now, so they could pretty much fire forever just as long as the barrels don't overheat and melt.

The changelings and shadow ponies that were in the area were forced to land and continue on the ground towards their objective. They were regrouping and were advancing on the castle. The phalanx guns were capable of firing downwards at a 25-degree angle giving them a deadly edge over our enemy. The guards were sent into the city to locate and either capture or kill any enemy soldiers that they came across. I could still hear the loud buzzing of 20MM M61 Vulcan Gatling guns in the distance, indicating that they were still tearing enemy soldiers apart. I went inside and grabbed my friends and some guns as we prepared to head out and take part in the action and see what we could find out from any survivors. We got in a couple of armored vehicles and departed to the action. We came across a small group of shadow ponies that were wounded from the AA fire and were in no state to fight. We had a couple of medics come with us in case there any survivors and they decided to cooperate with us. One of the shadow ponies told us what their mission was and in return, we provided him and his squad with medical support and got them sent back to the castle for further questioning.

The fighting was intense, but the phalanx guns kept firing down on the poor soldiers that were unfortunate enough to be caught in its line of fire. I could see just how deadly the guns were, there were changelings and shadow ponies all around that were either dead or dying. Blood painted almost every street in the city, limbs, guts, and bodies were all around from troops that were on the ground when the attack began and ones that were taken out of the sky and murdered. I just felt a cold sense of numbness wash over me as we continued driving. I knew that I should have been terrified and scarred by all of this but I wasn't, because of the fact that this is war. War, War never changes. Royal guards were running past us as they continued to locate and eliminate and capture hostile troops in the streets. We provided support wherever it was needed and so on. Terrified civilians were emerging from their homes in horror as bodies, limbs, blood, and guts were all over the streets as a result. I could still hear small skirmishes here and there all throughout the city as Sombra's forces were either being killed or captured. All gunfire within Canterlot finally ceased after about 20 minutes since we left the castle. Canterlot was safe for now, but other cities were still under attack. The Phalanx guns in the cities would cut them down to shreds but they would land in the streets as well to avoid their fire and terrorize the populace. Military forces were deployed to major cities as a contingency but I didn't know how effective it would be.

30 minutes later

We were back in the war room and reports were coming in from manehatten, dodge city, appleloosa, las pegasus, cloudsdale, ponyville, and other major civilian areas that were under attack. Sombra's forces were met with the same results in canterlot all around the country and everyone was in a panic. We would no doubt be launching an even bigger counter attack as payback and I had an idea on how. It would take time to prepare since we would have to summon stuff from earth again and I would have to teach my friends how to fly a plane. For now, all we could do was continue to fight him indirectly by shooting his soldiers out of the sky and taking prisoners. We dispatched emergency response teams to every city and town that was attacked and help those injured. Sombra's forces were now retreating but something was wrong. They were massing together and flying back towards canterlot, presumably for one final attack. They were over dodge city and flying fast. We had roughly about 30 minutes to prepare before they would arrive and we would be having to fight even more soldiers than last time. It was estimated that around 15000 soldiers were coming for us.

28 minutes later

I could see a large black mass off in the distance rapidly approaching canterlot and fast. All of the Phalanx guns were already pointing in the direction of the approaching army and the barrels were already spooled up and ready to fire. The royal guard had established fortifications and were all armed with M240B, M249 SAW, M60E4, and Negev MG4 machine guns to help take these fuckers out of the sky. The phalanx guns had once again erupted into a roar of terrifying life. Bright, white-hot lines of 20MM high explosive rounds filled the dark evening sky as they tore into the strike groups ranks and decimated them once more. The continuous sound of the Vulcan miniguns filled the night sky as we tore them apart. I was operating the M16 halftrack that I had pulled through some time ago and kept firing as they continued to get closer and closer. The four Browning M2 heavy machine guns kept firing as I held down the trigger and continued to take out changelings and shadow ponies. The enemy group had finally dispersed after we had cut their ranks down to about 50 percent of their original size and were now directly targeting the Phalanx guns themselves. We had to protect them at all costs no matter what. I shifted the quad 50 over towards a small group that was going for a set of Phalanx guns in the castle, where I already was. There was about 50 of them so I had to act fast before they could reach the guns. I made quick work of them and turned the 50BMG machine guns towards the south as more of them kept coming.

1 hour later

The original force of 15000 that had combined to attack us had finally given up hope and most of them surrendered while the rest flew back north towards the empire that they came from. This was a bad day indeed. Many equestrians lost their lives to Sombra's empire of evil, but their deaths would not go unavenged, nor would they be in vain. I already talked about my plan over with my friends, Celestia and aqua, luna, and shining armor. They gave me the go ahead and they would begin using their magic to summon some bombers from earth that we would use to retaliate against Sombra. Celestia told me that she would ask neighboring kingdoms for help in the war. She told me that her plan was to ask the griffons, dragons, and minotaurs for help in the war, in exchange, they would have full access to our ever-advancing arsenal of weapons and vehicles. For my plan to work, I told Celestia that we would need a piece of land that was 20000 feet long and 600 feet wide and would need to be completely flattened and paved for this to work. She agreed and had engineers and construction workers get to work on that right away. For now, emergency services were doing the best they could to help those affected by the attack and I had disaster relief squads deployed to every part of the country to help with clean up and rebuilding. We were now in a full state of war with the crystal empire and payback was coming very soon for Sombra. We would unleash greater destruction upon the north than he could ever imagine.

operation rolling thunder

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Just outside of ponyville
03/07/20
Dakota POV

Today was the day that my plan would be put into motion. We would fly north in 12 B52 Stratofortress bombers and unleash a JDAM run on the crystal empire. The planes were already lined up and the runway and ready to take off. The bombers were like a birthday gift for me since today was actually my birthday. Celestia and aqua were somewhat angry about this as I never told them when my birthday was and they never got me anything. I wasn't too concerned about it as it just meant that I had one year less to live and it was just another day of the year. I had asked rarity to make some flight suits when we came to ponyville a couple of days ago and to have them ready by today. I already had helmets ready for use so that wasn't an issue. I put my helmet on and boarded the front B52 and started the engines. My friends followed suit and did the same. I was given the clearance needed to take off and firewalled the throttle and started rolling down the runway. At 180 knots, I pulled back on the stick and lifted off. The runway was facing south so I had to turn around and fly north. While turning, I saw seven of the other B52's lift off and the other five rolling down the runway. This new airstrip was made into an airforce base as well since we had given equestrian scientists some fighter jets, bombers, and helicopters to take apart and reverse engineer.

Celestia informed us that friendly fighter support would link up with us once we reached the border and escort us all the way to our target and back until we were safe. After departing our yet to be named airfield, we got into formation and flew north towards the empire. We were flying at an altitude of 35000 feet above sea level and maintaining this altitude all the way to the target and back. We were flying for about 45 minutes now and I could see cloudsdale down below as I looked out the window. The city of clouds was still about 19000 feet below us as we passed over and I could see Pegasi flying about below us pointing as we flew past. After another 30 minutes of flying, we reached the crystal mountains and shortly afterwards, the pony versions of F22 fighter jets showed up as our escort group and got next to us. I switched radio frequencies and signaled the pony jets. “Equestrian fighters, this is bomber squadron Icarus, radio check, over.” I said into my headset mic while awaiting a response. “Bomber squadron Icarus, this is Raptor 2-1, we read you loud and clear over.” I heard one of the equestrian pilots say back to me. “Rodger that Raptor Squad, maintain heading 05 north and fly above us until we reach the target. After that maintain position and take heading 175 south and follow us back to the airfield, over.” I instructed them. “Be advised, enemy air defenses could be active in the AO, maintain awareness and be on the lookout for enemy fighters. ETA Time on target 40 mikes over.” I instructed.

30 minutes later

We had passed over the crystal mountains and were now 10 minutes away from our target. I could see the empire off in the distance and a lot has changed. Black and blood red crystal structures could be seen all around the castle as well as a faint force field. The city surrounding the castle had grown substantially since we were last there. More of those crystal structures had been built around the city. They would soon cease to exist. We had already evacuated the crystal ponies from the city when we went to try and kill Sombra before he launched a counter-attack. The crystal ponies had taken up residence in cloudsdale, ponyville, canterlot, Baltimare, manehatten, and other major cities. The destruction of the crystal empire would no doubt anger the whole population but their homes could be rebuilt.

“Equestrian pilots, this Icarus 1. We are 5 mikes away from the target. We need you to scout ahead for any hostile fighters and AA emplacements. We will proceed on target once we know the way is clear, over.” I told the pilots. “Icarus 1, we got you covered. Raptor 2-2 and Raptor 2-3 are already breaking off to scout ahead, over.” The fighter pilot told me

Even with the drafting for the military, mares still outnumbered stallions 3 to 1 in the armed forces. Something about this did not feel right at all but now wasn’t the time to worry about it. We were still five minutes away from Our target. We were told that the way was clear. Multiple shadow ponies and changelings took flight and tried to intercept us but couldn’t reach us because of how high up we were.

“Alright guys this it. Get into a V formation on me and open your bomb bay doors. We will slowly deviate away from each other during the bombing run to ensure maximum coverage. After that, we will turn around and fly back to the airbase. Any questions?” I announced.

“No”

“Nada”

“Nope”

“Negative”

“None here”

“Not a chance”

“Not at all”

“No, lets do this”

“Let’s get this fucker!”

“Time to party!”

“Nope, ready to unleash hell”

“Time to go to work”

Everyone answered back to me with enthusiasm. We were now less than three minutes away from our target. Our B52’s were outfitted with JDAM’s attached to the wings and the bomb bay’s loaded with them as well. Each B52 also had a FOAB in it as well. We were coming for Sombra with 1200 neighborhood destroying bombs and we would not give him a chance to retaliate. His army would be knocked out on the home front and wouldn’t be able to recover for months. “Alright guys this it, get ready to drop. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, DROP!!” I ordered.

The JDAM’s on the wings were the first to release. We released one JDAM each every half second. When we were over the center of the city, we released the FOAB’s and watched them fall to the ground. It was a full minute after dropping the bombs when they started to detonate. We dropped altitude to get a better view of the destruction. When we were at 15000 feet, I saw a flash brighter than all of the others. I instantly knew that it was a FOAB. More and more of the FOAB’s detonated as they hit the ground. The explosions finally stopped after 5 minutes and we dropped altitude once again to 5 feet and got into formation. There was barely anything left of the city except for the castle and some buildings on the outskirts of the city. There were fires burning everywhere. I could see troops in disarray, shock, and trauma on the ground as they had no idea what just happened. Bodies littered the streets and dying troops were dragging themselves to try and get help. They looked up to see our bombers flying over and stared at us in fear as they had never seen a B52 before, much less 12 of them at the same time flying in formation.

We had just left what remained of the city and began to gain altitude again. Many enemy soldiers took to the skies and tried to take us down but they couldn't keep up with a jet bomber. We had reached 20000 feet above sea level and maintained this altitude all the way back to ponyville along with our fighter escort. I changed frequencies and signaled canterlot informing them of the results.

"Canterlot command, this is bomber squadron Icarus, the target has been destroyed, repeat the target has been destroyed, the mission was successful, very few survivors detected. We are RTB at this time." I said. "Icarus 1, copy that. You are cleared to return to base at this time and land."

A voice on the other side said. I switched frequencies once again and tried to signal Celestia and aqua. "Tia, Aqua, come in over." I said "We read you loud clear Dakota, were you successful?" I heard Aqua's voice on the other end. "Affirmative aqua. Very little remains of the crystal empire. Is tia there with you?" I asked her "I'm standing right next to her. I hope this was a wise decision you made. Sombra won't take this lightly." I heard Celestia say. "He isn't going to be able to counter attack any time soon. Most of his troops were on the ground and died when the bombs started detonating. It could take years for him to fully rebuild his army. This just gives us an advantage to further grow our ranks and develop new weapons to give us an advantage over Sombra with. Trust me, He won't be able to recover for a long time after what we just did." I replied to her. "Also, our one-year anniversary as a Herd is in a couple of weeks. I want to do something nice for both of you. I made reservations at a certain top-end restaurant that just opened up in canterlot and just so happened to notice that you two have been really wanting to try the place out." I said to them. "You...you really managed to get a reservation for all 3 of us at Bistro en la trot?" I heard aqua ask sounding quite shocked. "Yep. Its the least I could do for you 2 since you both mean a lot to me. Also, sorry for not telling you guys that today was my birthday." I replied. "its fine. Next time just give us a heads up so we can get you something on time." I heard celestia reply. I don't know what she meant by "on time" but I would figure it out later.

2 hours later

The runway was in sight. I would be the first to land so I had begun the landing procedures while everyone else went into a holding pattern around the airfield. I received the clearance to land and throttled down the engines to just 15 percent. I deployed the landing gear, pushed the flaps, and tilted the nose up. I was now only about 50 feet above the ground and was gradually bringing the plane closer to the ground. The automated gws callouts kept alerting me about altitude and told me to pull up but I was landing, not in the middle of transit. "50, 40, 30, 20, Retard" I moved the throttle all the way back to the idle position when it said that. I knew what it meant by "Retard" but I still felt offended by it. I finally touched the ground and applied the brakes in the landing gear and deployed the parachute to help slow it down. I finally came to a stop halfway down the runway and began to taxi off to the hangers that were built to store the planes when not in use. I parked in hanger one as I watched another B52 move to hanger 2 followed by a third B52 touching the runway. It took about 30 minutes for everyone to land and get in their hangers before we finally exited our planes. I was sitting for about 6 hours straight and my ass was completely numb from sitting for so long that I honestly thought it had slipped into a coma. I finally stepped down from my bomber and stretched out and popped my joints as I saw Celestia and Aqua walking over to me as I was walking around to get the blood flowing back in my legs again. I flipped my visor up and unhooked my oxygen mask as they reached me.

"I guess this could be considered a birthday gift since You both summoned this plane to Equestria and I get to keep mine so I feel like this was the perfect gift. Also, that place I booked for us will be special for you both, I asked the manager nicely." I told them. "That sounds nice, but as far as your birthday goes, We planned something special for you tonight, Its going to be a memorable one, I promise you that. Celestia said as Aqua finished the other half of her sentence. "Something special huh, I wonder what it could be? I hope I'm not gonna get tied down and have my organs harvested or get molested. If only two special mares could save me from my impending doom." I humorously mocked as I continued to stretch out and pop my back. "It will be special, and all of your friends are invited. Trust us, we know that you will like what we have planned for you, mister evil fighter." Aqua replied with her own mock humor. I just laughed at these two as I finished popping my joints. I noticed that my truck was parked by the entrance to the hangar. I remember leaving it parked behind the hangar, not inside. Celestia used her magic to levitate my keys over to me as she just winked at me. I knew that it had to be her that decided to try and take my ford for a joy ride. I just grabbed my keys and walked over to the truck and got inside allowed them to get in as well. I started the engine and pulled out of the hangar and started the short drive back home to canterlot. I saw my friends following behind me as I left the hangar. "First thing Im doing when we get back to the castle is taking a nap. Im tired after flying for 6 hours straight." I told them. I don't know how air force pilots put up with that type of flight time.

We finally arrived back at canterlot castle after driving for about another hour. I parked up, went inside and went straight to my room. I finally made it back and locked the door behind me. I took off my flight suit and the clothing underneath until I was wearing just a tanktop and my boxers. I turned on the pedestal fan next to my dresser and got under the blankets and got comfortable. I finally fell asleep after about 10 minutes and enjoyed the silence. I don't know what Celestia and Aqua got planned for tonight but I would find out soon enough. I just enjoyed the time I had to rest and slept peacefully. Tonight was going to be fun, that much I knew.

birthday parties, drinking contests, and hangovers

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Warning, this chapter contains the following: birthdays, ponies, humans, profanity, alcohol, music, rap music, karaoke, break dancing, choreography, Russian hard bass, metal music, Sabaton, guns, vehicles, dancing, social media, excessive use of the middle finger, foreign language. Viewer discretion is advised.

Canterlot Castle
03/07/20
4:30 pm.
Dakota POV

I woke up from my nap after about 3 hours and I felt much better afterwards. I got up and got in the shower since I hadn’t worn anything other than that flight suit for the whole day and I was sweating my ass off in that thing since it was heavy and the B52 had no climate control. I turned the water onto mild and let it run for about a minute before I got in. I always took the time to think about stuff that was on my mind whenever I was In the shower since I had time to myself. I had seen my family once every-week ever since Luna had found a way for me to visit them. I had told them a lot of things that had happened, but I don't know if I want to tell them about our bombing campaign on the crystal empire. Would they think I was some kind of terrorist? a warmonger? or just a flat out killer? When I go to tell them tonight, I'll find out for sure. I finished up my shower and turned off the water. I had some fresh towels delivered last night so I could dry off. I grabbed one from the rack next to the shower and wrapped it around my waist and grabbed another one to dry off my torso and hair with. I opened the door and walked back out into my room and started looking through my dresser to see what I wanted to wear. I decided that I would wear the same clothes that I was wearing when I first came to Equestria and started pulling them out of the dresser. I pulled out my jeans, diesel t-shirt (#Team Powerstroke) my vest, socks, boots, hat, and belt. I got everything on and put on my apple watch as well since that is technically part of my outfit. I also made sure to grab my aviator sunglasses and put them on top of my hat.

After getting dressed, I walked out of my room and into the hallway but noticed that something was off. "Where are all of the guards at?" I wondered out loud. It was eerily quiet. You could hear a paper clip hit the ground without even needing to listen closely. At this time, the palace was usually full of activity. Something was not right, I went back inside my room and grabbed my Ithaca model 37 and my FN five-seven and went back out. I went down the hallway and stayed close to the walls. I had a nerve-racking feeling that I was being watched as I went. There was not a single pony in sight at all, it's like they all just got up and left. I found myself by the kitchen and decided to see if anyone was in there. I opened the door and turned on my flashlight. Nobody was in there at all.

I continued on and kept searching. I looked out of a window and saw that there were no guards on the wall's either, nor were there any ponies in the streets below. Something was very wrong. Alarms would have been going off if there was a security breach, but there wasn't, it was dead silent. I came by the throne room and there were no guards there either. I looked inside, empty. I kept going, knowing that there still had to be at least one pony still in the castle somewhere. I still felt like I was being watched and constantly looked back over my shoulder and looked up to see if there was anypony hiding in the rafters. The sun was starting to go down and I was losing light fast. I switched on the flashlight I attached to my shotgun and kept going.

After about a half hour of searching, I eventually came to what looked like some sort of ballroom and decided to check it out. It was very dark inside and I could barely see anything. All of a sudden, the lights switched on and I was blinded as I fell and landed on my ass and had the shit scared out of me. "SURPRISE!!!!" Was all I heard all around me as I saw very many familiar faces. Guards, Noble's, and even my own friends were all around me as I was trying to figure out what the hell just happened until I saw a large banner hanging above a DJ booth and read what was written on it. "Happy 18th birthday Dakota!" well that explains a lot.

"Happy birthday man, you like it!?" Kevin asked me as he helped me get back up onto my feet. "Bruh, I thought y'all got kidnapped or some shit while I was sleeping. I didn't expect this." I told him. "Don't worry about it man, we ain't going nowhere without a fight. Besides, how can you not expect us to do something like this when it's your special day today?" He replied. "He has a point there. It's only right that we celebrate this day for you since it only happens once a year." I heard Aqua announce as she and Celestia both approached me. "Well if that's the case then, Let's not waste any more time and get this party started right!" I said as I rushed over to the DJ booth and started pumping out that good music.

After about 1 hour into the party, Me, Kevin, and Trevor decided that we were going to show off our rapping skills for these ponies to see. I grabbed three microphones and loaded up a couple of songs and got to work. I let them sing for a bit on their own before I came in. I made quite an entrance and got straight to singing. Even these songs were from 2013, They were still good songs in my opinion. There was a band that was playing their instruments along with our music and they were doing a very good job matching the beat and everything else. The amount of cheering and clapping was thunderous as it echoed all throughout the city no doubt. The air was filled with the sound of Ace hood, future, Snoop Dogg, Problem, Kendrick Lamar, and other rappers as we kept going. The ballroom was attached to one of the courtyards in the palace and I saw our trucks parked out there instead of their normal spot by the front gate. My F350 and my Denali were both sitting right next to each other and I got on top of them and continued rapping. Celestia and Aqua got up next to me and started dancing when we started singing Bugatti by ace hood. We sang the original and the remix of the song and kept going. After about 20 songs or so, we stopped rapping and decided to take a break.

I decided that I also wanted to play my guitar for a bit and hooked it up to a port on the board of the DJ booth. I started playing all sorts of sabaton songs and kept going. I had a passion for metal music as it was part of me. I kept playing songs like union, firestorm, unbreakable, 40:1, panzerkampf, ghost division, cliffs of Gallipoli, and so on. I ended up losing my pic and couldn't find it so I had to stop playing since I didn't know how to play without one. I opened up my presents and got a lot of good things. Celestia had gotten me a bowie knife with the marine corps logo on it, Aqua got me my own royal guard uniform to wear at ceremonies after she talked it over with shining armor, Kevin and Brian had gotten me a TV to put in my room, Trevor and Gerson got me a desktop computer to go along with the tv, Kendall and Manuel got me a Set of steel toe boots, Natalie got me a new iPhone 6S plus, Mr.Hesington got me a pair of apple AirPods 2. We kept dancing until a certain song came on and I and my friends pretty much took control of the dance floor. The Hardbass anthem started playing and then we pretty much went crazy as there was no proper way to dance to this song. About halfway through the song, I pretty much dominated the dance floor for the rest of song until the end when Trevor came in and joined me and we linked our arms together behind our back and did something never before seen in Equestria. There were camera's rolling and recording the whole party. This was no doubt probably going to be in the news in the morning. "Surprise birthday party in canterlot palace leads to never before seen dance moves" I imagined the headline now. I asked the DJ to loop the song for the rest of the party and she happily did.

I was challenged to another drinking contest by Trevor since he was still salty about losing the one in the dreamscape and wanted a rematch. I gladly accepted as I wanted to beat him again and make him rage. We were drinking the strongest alcohol that the castle had to offer. It was a couple of bottles of 55% vodka and we each had our own shot glasses. We made it both to 20 shots before stuff got interesting. Celestia and Aqua tagged in for me while Manuel and Gerson tagged in for Trevor. My two girlfriends having a drinking contest with two of my friends, Who would have thought. At this point, I was completely wasted and could barely even stand up. I just watched as the four continued the drinking game for us. Manuel and Gerson were just slurring in Spanish after about 10 shots and it was funny to watch them get drunk while I was already drunk myself. I just continued to watch until I ended up wandering off and found myself getting in my F350. I just felt around trying to find my keys. I knew that I shouldn't drive while like this, but I didn't care. I found the keys in one of the cup holders and put them in the ignition. I noticed a large bottle of jack daniels whiskey in the passenger seat next to me, I don't know how but I wasn't complaining. I started driving away from the party without knowing where to go. I just kept driving until I found myself in a local park that was closed down to be used as an artillery battery in the event of an invasion. I got out of my truck and just started aimlessly walk around with the battle of jack daniels in my hand while I took swigs from it every now and then.

I sat down next to one of the massive guns and just looked up at the stars above me. I was wasted but the stars still look beautiful regardless of what state a person is in. "What did I do to deserve to get fucked over by you universe? Huh!? What the fuck did I ever do to you to deserve to get put here!? You are a fucking cunt!! you know that!!" I was drunkenly shouting at the dark sky while throwing up the middle finger. I ended up tripping over one of the legs that planted the guns into the ground and grabbed some sort of lever to catch myself but I didn't know that it was the firing mechanism. A massive 240MM HE shell was now airborne and heading to god knows where. I saw the shell land off in an empty field in ponyville. There were some trees that were flattened but that was about it. "Well, shit happens" was all I said as I got back in my truck. I didn't feel like driving again so I would just sleep here for the night. I turned the Heat on and reclined my seat back and reclined the back of my seat all the way back and set down the half-empty bottle of jack daniels and locked the doors. I ended up blacking out before I could lay back and had my head hit the steering wheel. The horn was going again but nothing could be done about it. I just hoped that there was no one around the impact site of that shell. I guess I'll find out tomorrow.

hangovers and explanations

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Canterlot
03/08/20
5:45AM
Dakota POV

I had the worst migraine imaginable as I started to wake up. There was a nasty metallic blood-like taste in my mouth, I was in a full blown cold sweat even though the heat was on, my eyes hurt so much that I didn’t want to open them at all, everything was sore, and felt like I wanted to throw up everything in my body while taking a huge shit. This is what it must’ve felt like to have a hangover and it was not worth it. I slowly tried to open my eyes as best I could. I could still hear my truck horn blaring as I had yet to remove my head from the steering wheel. I saw that it was still extremely dark outside when I opened my eyes and lifted my head up. Everything was still spinning and blurry when I opened my eyes and finally sat up all the way. I was feeling around next to my seat to find the reclining lever to bring the back of the seat back up. I finally found it and pulled it upwards and got hit it in the back by my seat and soon found my face buried in the steering wheel once again "Haista Vittu!" I shouted to my seat as it hit me in the back. I sat up again and adjusted the seat again and decided to try and get out of my truck. I opened the door and fell out of my seat and hit the ground and just grunted in pain. "Fucking lift kit" was all I said before I tried to get back up again. My legs gave out and didn't want to hold me up and so I just sat myself up and leaned against one of the tires. I started to feel my eyes sagging again and I knew I was about to black out again. I just reached up as best I could and grabbed my keys from the ignition and turned off my truck before I blacked out again.

6 hours earlier
Celestia POV

I had subbed in with Aqua in place of Dakota for the drinking contest just as his friends subbed in for the human known as Trevor. We were now about 15 shots in and very drunk but still kept going. The other two humans had finally given up after one of them blacked out and we stood victorious. Well, about as straight as you could when intoxicated. I went around looking for Dakota but I couldn't him. One of his trucks was missing and I couldn't find himself while I was in this state. I heard a loud boom in the distance and looked out of a nearby window to see Dakota in a local park that was shut down to be used as an artillery battery. I'm guessing that he ended up firing off one of the large guns in the park by accident and couldn't stand for much longer. I just watched him get back in his truck and stay there. I heard the horn blaring as he most likely passed out. For now, things could wait until day time to be sorted out. I looked over to Luna who said she would take care of everything for me. She dispatched some night guards to the park where Dakota was at to watch over him while he remained in the park while the others were sent to locate where the shell impacted. After the guards left, Luna helped me up and to my bedroom. "Thank you, sister. I don't think I would have made it back here without your help; at least in this state." I slurred. Luna helped me all the way back to my room while keeping me upright. We finally made it back to my room and Luna helped me get into bed. I thanked her one last time before she left and closed the door behind her. I soon fell asleep and I knew that the following hangover was not going to be pleasant.

6 hours later
Luna POV

After helping Tia to bed, I went with my guards to make sure that Dakota didn't cause any more damage while he was still intoxicated. I had been here for about five and a half hours now and I was slowly starting to raise the sun for tia while lowering the moon. It was about another 30 minutes later when Dakota had apparently woken up because I saw him moving around in his truck and eventually open the door and fall out of it. It looked like his legs had given out as he just sat against one of the wheels and reach up to grab something from inside of his truck before he fell back asleep again. It looked like he had one very bad hangover. I would have to have him taken to the castle infirmary to check for further injuries and what not after a night like that. He muttered something after falling out of his truck, and since I'm good at reading lips, I'm guessing he said something along the lines of "Fucking lift kits". He just fell back asleep again as he leaned against one of the oversized wheels. I ordered my guards to move a little closer after he fell back asleep and to have a stretcher brought out to the park right away.

20 minutes later

A medical team with a stretcher large enough to hold him finally arrived after 20 minutes. I ordered them to put him on the stretcher without waking him up. We finally got him loaded up and put him in the car that the medical team had used to get here and started to transport him back into the castle as quickly as we could. We made it back after about 5 minutes and wheeled him to the infirmary. After we got him inside, we let the infirmary staff take over and do their job's and make sure that he didn't hurt himself last night.

1 hour later
Dakota POV

I woke up in a hospital bed still feeling like absolute dog shit after last night but at least the AC was running so I wasn't sweating my ass off anymore so that was nice. I opened my eyes and found myself in the same hospital room that I was in over a year ago when I first arrived in Equestria and it looked like nothing had changed. I fully sat up and looked around and saw that I was hooked up to many different machines. Is this standard operating procedure for a hangover in Equestria? I still wanted to throw up and grabbed the trash can next to my bed and started to hurl. I finally stopped after about two minutes of puking and felt much better afterwards. The foul smell of methanol filled the air as I still held the bin close to me just in case there was still some more vomiting to do. I felt much better after getting all of the alcohol out of my system as I was no longer sweating, everything stopped spinning, some of my strength had returned, my migraine had subsided substantially and my body temperature had returned to normal. I put the bin down next to the bed and was about to get up to go and look for a water fountain as I was now thirsty after that and I needed some liquid. I forgot that I was still attached to all of these machines as I felt the tubes and wires yank on me as I sat up. Guess I gotta do this some other way then. I looked around before I saw my clothes sitting on a drawer and decided to reach into my pants to see if my iphone was in there. I pulled it out along with my AirPods and checked the time it was only 8:45 in the morning and there probably wasn’t that many ponies here right now. I decided to put my AirPods in and watch YouTube to help pass the time until a nurse came to check on me. I decided I was going to watch Blastphamous HD do the disgusting soda challenge on youtube. I put my AirPods in and was about to hit play until I heard the door open and saw a white earthpony nurse step into my room. I already New right away that it was nurse redheart as she was one of the first ponies I had met after coming to equestria.

“Oh,Dakota, your finally awake. How do you feel?” She asked. “Well, after throwing up, I actually feel much better than I did last night but at the same time, I’m also pretty hungry as well since I didn’t eat anything yesterday.” I replied. “I can bring you a menu if you want to order something from the galley to eat.” She said. I accepted her offer and she came back 2 minutes later with a paper menu with many different breakfast options. After looking it over for a couple of minutes, I decided on some pancakes with hash browns and grits with choice of white or wheat bread toast. Redheart took the menu back and said that my food should be here within 45 minutes.

Redheart was a nice mare to be around. She was funny, caring, and kind. A few months ago when I was at a nightclub that I decided to open up with my friends, she came with me and told me how she got transferred to Canterlot Castle. The head doctors at Ponyville general hospital took notice of how she liked to keep things professional in the workplace and volunteered to work late solely out of good will. What caught me off guard was the fact that she told me that she was still single. She said that she never just find the right pony to settle down with, but I knew that was gonna change. Last night, at my party, I saw the way that she was looking at Kevin on the dance floor. It was clear that she had a crush on him, and he felt the same way because I caught him staring at her during our little karaoke session last night. This obviously wasn’t the first time since I caught Kevin staring at her at the nightclub as well. I decided that being the good-hearted charismatic bastard that I am, I would try and get them introduced to each other later on this weekend.

Redheart came back with my food earlier than expected and set the tray down on the table next to me. She gave me a fork and pulled a chair up next to me as I started to eat. We made small talk all throughout the morning as we talked mainly about last nights events. Redheart said she was sober throughout most of the party and then she saw me downing shot after shot after shot. She said she had never seen someone drink so much potent alcohol and keep going afterward. She counted and said that I managed to take on a total of 42 shots of vodka which completely surprised me. After I was done with my food, Redheart told me that she was going to start my discharge work from the hospital and said that I should be out of here by noon at the latest. I looked at the clock on the wall and saw that it was a little past 10:25 in the morning. After getting up out of the bed, I removed my hospital gown and put my actual clothes back on and sat back down on the bed. I pulled out my phone and decided to watch some youtube videos to pass the time. Redheart came back about an hour later and told me that the discharge work was complete and that I was now free to leave. Upon hearing that, I got up, stretched out, and then proceeded to leave. Instead of going to find either Celestia, Luna, or Aqua, I instead went back to the park where I blacked out at last night to get my truck back. It was about a 30-minute walk and the streets of canterlot were already crowded. Children were out playing while their parents were busy shopping, while other ponies were busy opening up stores and stands to get ready for another day of work.

A pair of pegasi fillies had actually been following me for a while now, most likely because they were curious about what I was since they had never seen a human before. The scale of my size compared to their own was significant, to say the least. When they were on the ground, they were about 2 foot 11 inches tall while I stood at an "average" 6 foot 2 inches tall. I could hear them whispering behind my back, asking each other questions like "what is that thing, what is it wearing, where did it come from?" The usual types of questions. I just chuckled quietly at their curiosity since it reminded me of when I was their age. They apparently heard that as they started asking each other once again what I was chuckling about. I decided that the best for them to learn more about me is to let them ask me the questions they have. "You know, If you want to learn more about me, you could just ask me any questions you have." I said to the two fillies. That got their attention as they quickly fell silent as I turned around to face them. Of the fillies had a pure white coat with a bright red mane and tail and deep blue eyes while the other filly had a light blue coat with a greenish blue mane and tail and amber eyes. The white one was the first one to speak up. "What are you, Mister" she asked in a somewhat enthusiastic tone. "I'm a human, little ones. My name is Dakota Rodriguez." I replied to her question. The blue one was next to ask something. "Why are you wearing so many clothes?" she asked. "Humans can't hold body heat as good as ponies can since we don't have coats of fur like you do so we wear clothes to keep ourselves warm and its also a decency thing as well." I replied to her. After a few more questions, I asked them where their parents were. They said they were in the market some things real quick since they were headed to the park. I told them that I had been heading that way as well. I also told them that they could meet me there with their parents as well if they said it was alright. After that, they took off to go and find them while I resumed my walk towards the park.

20 minutes later

I finally reached the park where my truck was and saw the fillies with their parents having a picnic about 50 away from said truck. The fillies waved me over as their parents caught sight of me. The mother was a pegasi mare that had a white coat with a silver windswept mane and tail while the father as a Unicorn stallion with a dark blue coat and a similar hairstyle. They smiled as they waved to me as well. I went over and sat down with them and got to know the family. They two fillies that I met were named hurricane winds, and hail storm. The parent's names were sacred rune and high pressure. I had already given the parent's my own name afterward and talked with all four of them for about an hour before I heard one of the fillies start talking about my truck. I explained to all of them what it was for and offered them a demonstration and to give them a ride home after they were done. They thought about it for a few moments and then accepted my offer. After about 5 more minutes, they packed everything up and started walking over to my truck with me. I unlocked the doors for them and opened them so they could get in. I told them that they would have to give me directions on where they lived so I wouldn't end up dropping them off in some random part of canterlot. After I told them how to put the seatbelts on, I put my keys in the ignition and started the powerstroke engine. The fillies face's lit up in excitement as the diesel engine roared to life. After that, I put it in drive and departed. I turned on the radio about 5 minutes in after I told them that it was standard for most vehicles to come equipped with one and started to play some music. After another 20 minutes of driving, I finally reached their home and let the family out of my truck as they waved goodbye and went inside. After they got inside, I started driving towards the place in ponyville where the artillery shell had hit last night.

2 hours later

It was still a long drive but it was better than taking all day by taking the train. I reached the area where the shell hit which was actually on Applejack's farm. I could see her and her family out talking with some royal guards as I pulled up to the area. Once I pulled onto the farm, all eyes turned to face me as I pulled up to the group and turned off the engine. I got out and walked over to the group and told them about what happened last night. I explained that I was pissed my pants and swearing like a Scottish sailor drunk after my party, I had gone for a drive against my better judgment, ended up in a park that had part of it closed off to be used as an artillery battery, tripped on the legs of one the big guns, and accidentally triggered the firing mechanism that caused the gun to fire. Applejack seemed convinced with my explanation as she calmed down after a bit as I offered to clean up the area affected by the shell, fill in the crater, and replant the apple trees destroyed by the blast. I walked over with the group to the crater, but upon looking down into the crater, I saw that the shell had not exploded and was a dud. I'm guessing that it hit the ground with such tremendous force that it tore up the terrain and has been sitting here overnight. I asked one of the unicorn guards to help me lift the shell out of the crater carefully and to get rid of it. We carefully carried the warhead over towards a nearby creek and threw it in and unsurprisingly, detonated when it landed in the water. We both got covered in cold water as my clothes were now soaked and the guardsmare standing next to me was now shivering as well. "What in tarnation was that!? What did you just do!?" I heard Applejack call out as she rushed over to us. "The warhead detonated when we threw it in the water. That was the only way we could get rid of it without calling down an entire bomb squad." I replied.

After a couple of hours of helping Applejack fill in the hole in the ground and replanting new apple trees, She thanked us and gave all of us some apple cider before we left. The guards went back to canterlot while I stopped in ponyville real quick to make a pitstop at A local convenience store to buy some food. I bought a couple of energy drinks, a bag of chips, A few bags of mini donuts, A pack of soda, A case of beer, various different candies, a sandwich, and some fresh motor oil and coolant. After I paid for what I needed, I got back on the road and was back on my way to canterlot. Ever since we introduced motor vehicles to Equestria, more and more cars have shown up on the roads and more roads and freeways have been built. The main difference between our vehicles and the pony vehicles, is that they use magic as fuel while we use gas and diesel fuel to keep our engines going. Aside from cosmetic difference's as well, the concept of rush hour also followed as well. Traffic wasn't too bad but I was still moving at about 35 MPH until I got on the freeway. To take my mind off the long drive, I plugged in my phone and decided to listen to 21 savage on my way back. Police had also been trained to help enforce the new traffic laws and they now had radar and laser guns to monitor speed. When I found out about that, I knew that my radar detector and laser jammers would finally have a use again. Speaking of which, My radar detector started beeping as I was most likely coming up on a traffic cop shooting radar to monitor speed. The speed limit on the freeway was 70 MPH but I had been doing around 85 so I had to slow down or risk a ticket.

After another hour of driving, I finally made it back into Canterlot around 4:30 pm and decided that I would stop by the nightclub that we opened up in the downtown area. Canterlot needed some nightlife and we helped fix that issue. We named the club "SOLAR" and it was pretty big. There were 3 levels for patrons to be on, The DJ booth was on the second floor, as well as the entrance to the office where we ran everything. The office was also part of the VIP section. There was a garage that was connected by a stairwell to the office, and there an elevator that led down to 5 different sub-levels that only staff had access to. The five sub-levels were built to use as a warehouse to store weapons, ammo, food, and equipment for the Equestrian military. There were also five floors worth of 60 car garages that were currently holding tanks, APC's, and humvee's as well for the military. The actual club part itself composed of a laser light system paired with an LED light rig that ran all up and down the wall's and ceiling. The main colors of the clubs walls and accents were Orange, Blue, White, and black. A dry ice system and numerous fog machines were also installed and would be used during the key DJ moments. There was a large bar on the third floor as well as two smaller bars on the other floors. I loved being the DJ most of the time as the patrons usually loved when I played ace hood's song, Bugatti for them during the key moments and even sang along on the microphone with Trevor and Brian. I pulled out my phone and texted everyone and told them to meet me at the club so we could get things figured out about what exactly happened last night. I texted everyone and they said they would be here in 45 minutes. That gave me some time to get the club ready for tonight.

I liked to change up the music selection every week and this week was going to be a good one. Tonight, the ponies of canterlot would be treated to a mix of Tekashi 6ix9ine, offset, metro boomin, 21 savage, future, migos, Snoop Dogg, ace hood, blue face, YNW melly, post Malone, Lil nas X, Rick Ross, French Montana, birdman, 2 Chainz, and many other rappers. I got my entire Apple Music library upload to the Mac at the DJ stand and hit play, shuffle, and repeat. I ordered a double jager on the rocks from the bar and waited for the others to show up.

30 minutes later

I heard footsteps coming down the entrance to the nightclub and then saw everyone coming in. Celestia, Luna, Aqua, cadence, shining armor, Johnathan, Cody, Kendall, Trevor, Nataly, Brian, Gerson, Manuel, and Mr.Hesington all came down and then started walking up again to get to me. Once they got up to me I invited them to sit a table with me close to the DJ booth.

"Alright, So. I don't remember much of exactly what happened last night after I got drunk, So that's why I called you guys here to see if you could help me fill in the blanks." I said. "When you tagged out of the drinking match along with Trevor, you didn't seem to know where you were going and ended up getting in one of your trucks and driving off to some park and setting off a huge cannon." Kendall told me. "A couple of us got in the other truck to follow you and make sure you didn't accidentally kill someone." Brian added in. "I already knew about the drunk driving part. Is there anything else that I missed?" I asked. "That's about it. Luna had some guards watch over you throughout the night until morning time when she had you brought into the infirmary to deal with that hangover you had." Aqua added in. "Well if that's the case, then I'd say that was a rather eventful night." I said. At that point, the guys told me that they recorded everything on their phones as well. The dancing, singing, drinking, everything. I told them that they would have to send those clips to me at some point so I could see them myself.

4 hours later

The night club was now packed full of patrons as the music was in full blast. Right now, a Skrillex and Alvin risk remix was playing and the club goer's were absolutely enjoying the music. I was at the DJ booth and I was shredding the turntables like a boss. This was technically the after party to last nights events as it was kind of short-lived by what happened. I treated everyone to free drinks, all access, and great music. Aqua was standing next to me and jamming out while I worked the effects and music. I kept the dry ice system going as this was a key moment. There were speakers everywhere and every time the bass hit, the club shook a little bit. It felt more lively than the actual party which was weird. All in all, club solar was probably the better place to have a party than the castle ballroom. I would have to put the club down as part of my will that will go to Celestia when my time comes because I want this place to thrive for a long time.

A good day like today only happens once every couple of months and today was probably one of the best. I even saw that family from earlier on the dance floor. What a good way to wrap the day. The rest of the night was going to be a good one.

Aw shit, Here we go again

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03/22/20
Dakota POV
Canterlot castle front gate
6:28 PM

It's almost that time of year again When every mare's estrus cycle kicks in and stallions are forced to go into hiding to avoid getting gang raped by the mares to satisfy themselves. The fact that mares outnumber stallions 5 to 1 in Equestria made it all the more brutal. In order to help the poor stallions that wanted to possibly survive this year's heat season, I secretly started a project to build safe houses that any and all stallions could use to safely ride out the heat season without the worry of running into a lust-crazed mare. These safehouses consisted of cellars and basements, underground bunkers and tunnels, abandoned warehouses and factories, and caves in the everfree forest and even the old castle. Each safehouse was stocked with 6 months worth of food, water, and medical supplies. They were also equipped with either solar panels and or diesel generators to power light fixtures, climate control systems, water pumps, and electrical sockets. I had gotten the guys together and this time, we would leave under the cover of the night, and use 11 Erickson Sikorsky sky crane helicopters to transport our cars with us. Nataly was going to stay behind in canterlot since she didn't have to worry about the heat season like we did. Our cars were loaded with additional food, water, weapons, ammo, and medical supplies. The helicopters were waiting for us at the airbase near ponyville where we would attach our cars, and take off for the old castle in the everfree forest. 4 CH53 pavelow helicopters would follow us to the castle that was taking other stallions to the castle where they would spend the next 4 months in safety.

4 hours later

We used the Kenworth to transport most of the cars without making too much noise while the other ones that weren't loaded on followed behind us closely. There was a strict no headlight rule in effect until we were 10 minutes away from the airfield. We were only 30 minutes away now and I could see the airfield in the distance, We were this close to making it to safety. We had learned from last years mistakes of leaving in broad daylight and leaving a note. After another 25 minutes, We had just turned onto the approach road for the airfield and I could see the helicopters now. There was one helicopter in front of each hangar that housed one of the B52 Stratofortress bombers that we used to lay waste to the crystal empire on that fateful day. I stopped in front of my hangar and started unloading the cars so we could attach them to the helicopters and leave.

1-hour later

It was around midnight now and each helicopter was ready to go. The 11 skycranes and 4 pavelow's slowly started to ascend into the air and then flew in a flying V formation the old castle in the middle of the forest. We passed over ponyville at low altitude and most likely woke up the whole town, But we didn't have to worry as many residents would simply dismiss it as another military training exercise, not an underground movement to hide from mares. We also didn’t have to worry about any Pegasi tailing us because the everfree is too dangerous for a regular Pegasi to fly over alone, and they would show up on radar anyways. We kept flying for another hour until I could finally see the castle in the distance. The pavelows would unload their passengers then park off to the side while we landed one by one. There was more than enough room in the courtyard to allow for all 15 choppers to touchdown without the worry of hitting something. After landing, we started to unload the cars and the choppers full of supplies and helped to carry them inside. We had since then heavily rebuilt the castle after removing the bodies of changelings from that fateful day and washing dried blood off the walls as well and filling in the bullet holes. Seeing as how 1000 years of exposure to the elements would badly wear down even the finest built structures, We had patched up all of the walls, removed all of the indoor vegetation, installed new lights, installed water and gas utilities, solar panels connected to capacitors, security cameras, and renovated every other room in the castle. In the event that it was discovered that we turned the castle into a Heat shelter and an army of mares decided to come and try to fuck us, 20MM flakvierling anti-air guns were installed on the roof along with a radar and multiple searchlights. The AA guns, searchlights, and radar dome were all very well hidden and could only be seen if you looked very closely. Each AA gun had it's ammo boxes fused with infinity magic to keep them firing, and machine gun nests overlooked every entrance to the castle on the ground.

We had spent at least 1 hour now unloading and putting away the stuff that we had brought with us. We now had 8 month's worth of food, water, medical supplies, fuel, and ammunition stored here. After unloading everything, we all got situated and made our way to the rooms we would be staying in for the next couple of months until this all blew over. It was now 4 in the morning and the flight was rather tiring, It would be best if we all got some shut eye and prepared for tomorrow.

4 hours later

Celestia POV

After raising the sun, I dawned my royal regalia and left my chambers and began my usual morning walk towards the dining hall where I knew Dakota would be waiting for me. Something felt off though, I didn't know what, but I knew something was off. When I got to the dining hall, I saw that he was not there, Nor were the other humans, only the female one known as Nataly was there. I asked the guards If they had seen them at all recently and I was told that they weren't seen since last night. So that's why they aren't here. Considering the fact that today is when estrus break had begun. I felt its effects myself but I was able to control it. I wasn't very happy about the fact that he had decided to run away, Again. I organized a search party to spread out across the country to ask the residents of nearby towns and cities if they have seen the humans recently and have them found and returned to the castle as soon as possible. The fact that they left many mares in need at a time like this to protect themselves angered me quite a bit. I wrote a letter tow twilight asking her if she had seen them recently and waited for a response back. She wrote back to me ten minutes later and I had my answer.

"Dear Princess Celestia. I did, In fact, see the humans. I saw them last night at 2:00 AM flying over ponyville in helicopters in the direction of the everfree forest. I'm not sure where they were going, but I'm certain that they moving to some sort of hideout. Yours truly Twilight Sparkle.

So that's their plan; spend the next 3 months in isolation to avoid being found. I can understand why they are hiding, but that doesn't mean that it's justified. Many mares in canterlot alone including myself were suffering the full effects of estrus and wanted relief as soon as possible. I was going to ask them for their help to quell the heat of guardsmares in the castle so that they could work properly and not have to deal with estrus for the rest of the year. Instead, they decided to let them suffer and run off to somewhere. I wasn't going to be as forgiving this time as I was last time. They don't know what heat was like and they help quell the heat of the royal guard as punishment when they were found. I called as many pegasi guards to
the throne room right away to inform them about that was happening. "Loyal guards, As you know, the humans have fled the castle once again as estrus season has broken out. They have left thousands of mares in need behind in an attempt to save themselves from being overwhelmed. So far, It is believed that they are hiding out somewhere in the everfree forest once again. They are to be found and returned to canterlot right away to be punished for this...crime. They are not to be harmed. Disobey this order, and you will be ejected from the guard." After instructing them where to look, they left the castle and set off towards the everfree.

Everfree forest
Dakota POV
12:00PM

I had a sizeable fruit farm growing not far from the castle. Apples, oranges, strawberry’s, blueberries, blackberries, pineapples, watermelons, grapes, and bananas were all grown here in this clearing. A small storage room within the kitchen was converted to a freezer where we would store most of our food. There was a camouflage net over the clearing just like the one over the courtyard back at the castle. After picking enough fruits and placing them in baskets in coolers, I put them in my truck and started my drive back to the castle until I heard my iPhone start ringing. I looked at the screen and saw that Brian was trying to call me. I answered it and wasn't exactly prepared for what I heard.

"Hey, Brian, What's up?" I asked. "You gotta get back here now. We gotta problem." He said. Something was not right. "What's wrong? did you find something?" I asked. "You gotta see for yourself. This is bad." he said sounding pretty worried. "Alright, I'll be back in 5 minutes. Just stay put and I'll be there soon." I said to him. I hung up the phone and quickly made my way back to the castle. After getting the coolers unloaded, I made my way over to the old throne room that was converted into a war room to see what the problem was. Over 40 radar blips were on screen and closing on our location fast. I'd guess that we had about 15 minutes to get the AA guns ready as the group of unknown hostiles was still about 50 miles away. I told Johnathon, Kendall, Trevor, and Manuel to get on the AA guns and to only fire warning shots. Once in range. Everyone else was ordered to man the MG and Sniper nests just in case. Because of the number of radar signatures, I immediately knew that it was Pegasi; most likely royal guards. They now wore helmets similar to the ones that air force pilots wear and they had radio equipment. I grabbed a handset and switched the frequencies on a nearby radio to the frequency that their helmets used in order to issue them a warning message.

“Attention unknown Pegasi, you have entered restricted airspace. State your intentions immediately, or divert your course immediately or you will be fired upon.” I stated to them. I got an answer about 45 seconds later and found out why.

“Unknown transmitter, this is lieutenant firefly of the royal guard. I and my squad have been dispatched to this area to look for 11 humans that have recently gone missing. To whom am I speaking to over?” She responded. I decided to tell her that I was one of them. "You currently are speaking to one of them, And before you go reporting our position back to whoever sent you, At least allow me to explain why we ran off." I told her. I waited and got a response about 40 seconds later from her. "Alright, I'm willing to hear your side of the story to see why Celestia sent us out here." She responded. I ordered her to go into a holding pattern around the castle and to come alone, unarmed, and without her helmet on. Firefly landed in the courtyard where I was waiting for her. I took her helmet from her and walked inside with her.

1 hour later

After explaining to her why we left, from the last heat season that ended with me almost getting killed, not wanting to get gang raped, other "HEAT" shelters, and so on, she finally came to an understanding as to why we did this and said that she would still have to inform Celestia about our location but she said she would be willing to vouch for us if we gave her a reason to. Upon hearing that, I pulled out my wallet and handed her 3 platinum bits which were equivalent to 200 regular bits each. After that, I gave her back her helmet, and she took off with her squad. I watched as the blips on the radar screen got further and further away from the center as they finally disappeared off the screen. I can only hope that Celestia would understand and made sure to tell firefly to tell her that this will still happen every year because of our taboo's and sort of moral code.

4 hours later
Firefly POV

I was about to meet with the princess and report to her about the humans being found. I walked into the throne room and bowed before the princess. "Ah, lieutenant Firefly, Was your search for those 11 humans successful?" She asked me. "Yes your highness, we found them hiding in the old castle within the center of the everfree forest, however, we weren't able to get close to them to secure and bring them back as they mentioned that they have Anti-air weaponry in the castle and would not hesitate to use it on us." I replied "However, I met with the one that you seem to be in a herd with after we agreed to meet face to face and he offered an explanation as to why he left and plans to stay there until estrus season is over. He said something about how "Having sexual relations with an animal is not welcome back on his world" And mentioned that doing so could get put in prison for the rest of his life back home. He also said quoted something from what he called "The Bible" and said this "If a man lies with an animal, he shall surely be put to death, and you shall kill the animal." That is what he said." I finished. The princess seemed to be deep in thought as she processed this new information. "Very well then; I will go and speak to them myself and try to bring them back as it appears that they aren't going to go quietly. I want you to accompany me on the journey out to my old castle, my other herd mate that you may already know as Aqua lance, will accompany us as well since she has a better way with words than I do when it comes to talking to Dakota. We shall leave tomorrow as soon as I raise the sun." She said. I was dismissed for the evening as I began my walk back to the barracks. I would have to wake up a little earlier than usual to get ready to leave with the princess and this other mare.

1 day later
Dakota POV

I was woken up by the sound of an alarm going off in the war room. I fell asleep at the radar station last night and woke up to see some 100 bogeys on screen and closing on our position fast. I immediately raised the alarm as I grabbed my M16A4 that I was cleaning last night and my radio and rushed to the roof to get on an AA gun as fast as humanly possible. An alarm also started sounding outsided.I was shouting orders into the radio as well to get everyone ready until I heard a familiar and somewhat angry voice on the other end. "Dakota, I offered you and your friends a chance to come back to canterlot peacefully. But now, it seems you leave me no other option than to bring you and your friends back by force. The way you abandoned us and countless other mares is unacceptable. You don't know what they are going through or how badly they need help, so I figured as punishment, you and your friends will help the guards back at the castle with their estrus. You will learn today, just how badly they need this." Celestia said. "Tia, I told firefly to tell you about why I ran and it is obvious that you didn't listen. I'm not even going to try and argue about this. Just know that any attempts to land anywhere near the castle will be met with lethal force. We will shoot to kill." I warned her now but she was still closing in fast. What I didn't mention is that there was also a Tunguska 9k22 and Flakpanzer 1 gepard anti-air tank here as well that I summoned in case something like this happened. I told Kendall to take my position on the flak gun as me and gerson quickly made our way to the tanks. I took the Tunguska while he took the gepard. We quickly got into position as I started to fire warning shots at the large group of pegasi. I fired off multiple wire-guided missiles into the group to show that we were not fucking around. Quick bursts from the flak guns followed the missiles afterward as we started to open up with our 30MM cannons.

This seemed to do the trick as the large group quickly dispersed. When I said that we would use lethal force, I only said that to get a message across that we were going to fight to keep from getting raped. I had given explicit instructions not to kill any of them as it would be pretty bad for us to be framed as murders for killing a bunch of guardsmares. They tried to get into smaller groups but that also failed as they quickly dispersed again after a few shots passing by them. This continued for all of about 15 minutes before they gave up and Celestia said she would come down to discuss this with us. After parking the tanks by our cars, I waited in the machine gun nest for her. She finally showed herself but what surprised me was that aqua was with her as well. I didn't expect tia to get her involved in this. I opened the doors as we pointed guns at them to make sure they didn't try to do anything. "Don't...move" was all I said as we slowly approached them. I had a magic inhibitor ring that I placed on celestia's horn as cody and trevor tied ropes around their wings to prevent them from trying to escape and then led them to a makeshift conference room.

2 hours later

We were able to work out a deal with them, after some name-calling, shouting, and vulgarity and let them go. We agreed to do some work for her around canterlot, and in exchange, we would be allowed to remain here and ride out the rest of the heat season without worry. Celestia was understandably pissed about this but aqua just kept to herself about it. I'm guessing that she is used to going through this without someone to relieve her. I'm just glad that this didn't end in death. Things could have been much worse. We still had 4 whole months to go before we could return, but I didn't mind. At least no one got killed.

(side chapter) When in doubt, Have a dually contest

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YY05/13/20
Everfree forest
Dakota POV

Ok, so, it’s been two months since we’ve got here and made a “deal” with Celestia. By deal, I mean we pointed guns at her until she promised us that no mares would try to have there way with us until heat season was over. She stayed true to her word as only a few radar signatures popped up here and there, but were mainly just Pegasi flying next to the edge of the forest or flying right over top of it. None of them ever came within 5 miles of the castle cause they either didn't know that we were there, or cause the did know but they also knew that we had flak guns on the roof. I had been making major modifications to my truck ever since we got here and got rid of my 88mm borgwarner turbochargers for some much larger 101mm KeatingMachine turbochargers, I had experimented with my fuel/air mixture ratio, put in a bottle of NOS, installed a much bigger radiator to keep the engine cooler, replaced the glowplugs, retrofitted a supercharger in along side the turbos, put some massive industrial fuel injectors in, installed a stage 5 alison transmittion, stage 5 brakes, installed APR headstuds, further bored the cylinders, put in new pistons, a new differential, a lighter fly while, a massive cold air intake, and a stronger drive line. Kendall and trevor had been shit talking my ford ever since I put my first moddifications on it they keep saying that their "other trucks" could beat mine. I decided to put that theory to the test.

Kendall had recently bought a lightly used 2017 ram 3500 with low miles on it. Trevors dad had actually bought him an "unused" 2015 chevy silverado 3500 lml duramax litteraly the day before I disappeared to replace his 2014 avalanche. they were still no match for my 2018 F350 though. I mean come on, Cummins and Duramax just don't have anything to offer that prove they are better than Powerstroke. I challenged them to a dually contest next week on im done working my truck next week and they accepted the challange. I summoned their trucks from earth and they appeared in the courtyard. Summoning things from earth that large really sucks the energy out of me though and gives me such a headache as well afterwards. Their trucks had been sitting there now for 2 days and they were doing work to them just like was. I had given Kendall my old turbos and pulled a set of similar borgwarners out of my tool box and gave them to trevor. If we were going to have a contest to see which truck company is the best, Its gotta be an even match. Their trucks were going to match my specs so its a fair fight for all of us. I would have to continue to pull stuff out of my tool box to give to them so that their trucks had the same parts as mine until I had pulled out everything that they would need for their trucks.

2 days later

I had finished putting all of the new parts on my truck and was helping Kendall and Trevor with their trucks. They were both almost done, They just had to rehook up all of the cables and other things. I had to help them install the same lift kit that I had since that would put me at a disadvantage if i didn't. Most people don't realize that lifted trucks have a worse turning radius and are more likely to roll over if taking a turn too fast or turning while going downhill. I had to show them how to work the airbags with the lift kit as well since they weren't used to driving this high off the ground. Kendall had finished up everything on his truck we were now just waiting on trevor to finish. He had to wire in the controler, compressors, and pumps for the airbags to use them and seeing as how he doesn't know how to handle exposed wires to save his life, I had to help him with that as well. I don't blame him since most people just go to a professional to have this type of thing done. "Finally done. Your Shitverado is ready to go T." I told him. "It can still pull more than your Powerjoke that you drive everyday." He countered. "Are you sure about that? Last I checked, Chevy's couldn't pull anything without greatly stressing the engine." I responded. "Both of yall sounded like an old married couple. Yall got shit trucks so I don't know why you guys are trying to flex on eachother when Ive got the best truck. Ram's are built to last." Kendall Added in. "You've got 6 cylinders in your engine block! you can't be talking. The name of your engine also sounds like a sex pun as well." I replied.

I told them if they want to put their money where their mouths, Then we can kick this shit off right now. They both agreed as we all got into our trucks. I was first to start my Powerstroke engine, Trevor then started his LML duramax, and finally Kendall started his Cummins. We then pulled out of the courtyard and made our way to a clearing that I discovered on the way here when we were flying the skycranes here. Thats where we would do this. It was a fifteen minute drive from the castle to the clearing, but once we got there, we had all of the room we needed to do this, more than enough actually. I had guessed that this clearing was at least a half mile wide in all directions. There was a set of train tracks at the east edge of the clearing that ran through the forest to the north, Most likely towards Ponyville. "Alright ladies, since you think your puny little 6.7s can take on a manly 7.3, How about we kick things off with a race?" I said into my cb radio. "Now thats where your asking to get your ass kicked, I will leave both of your asses behind me." Kendall replied. "Hey, Fatass, Did you forget that you only have 6 cylinders while we've got 8?" Trevor responded to him. "You two can have your little argument, I'm gonna go mark a finish line real quick." I said. I drove to the north edge of the clearing and pulled out a set of warning triangles from my truck and placed them both 20 feet apart from eachother 40 yards away from the edge.

"Alright ladies, Get ready. When I blow the horn 3 times, Go." I said. Giving the signal, I took my foot off the brake since I already had the accelerator floored and took off flying. Trevor was mannaging to keep up with me for a short time until I entered 4th gear, Thats when I started to pull away from him I was the first to finish with Kendall and trevor both barely tieing together for second. Powerstroke 1, Duramax 0, Cummins 0. After grabbing the warning triangles, We then decided to see who could climb better. There was an artificial mound at the south end of the clearing that had to be at least 50 feet high. This time I let them go first. Kendall had actually managed to make it to the top, Trevor got up about 47 feet before he couldnt go anymore, Then it was my turn. I turned off my traction control and got ready to launch. I made it to the top as well, although with a decent bit of difficulty since my truck was heavier. Powerstroke 2, Duramax 0, Cummins 1. Now things get interesting. We would see who could do a donut or burnout the best. Watching trevor have to do a burnout in reverse was both impressive and embarrasing at the sime time. The fact that he couldn't do it in drive made me question why he was wasting money on chevy in the first place. Kendall managed to do a pretty decent 50 foot running burnout. "Alright Mr.Powerjoke, now its your turn." Kendall shouted at me. I decided to do a figure 8 around them just to show off which seemed to piss them off. Powerstroke 3, Duramax 1, Cummins 2. Now onto the final part, The towing test. I gave both of them 2 towing ropes each and watched them pull stuff. Trevor had pulled down some pretty big trees and kendall pulled both of us hooked together with our parking brakes on.

I decided to do something that they would never expect, I got on the train tracks and drove south for about 10 minutes until I saw what I has hoping to see. "Bingo" was all that ran through my mind. I grabbed my towing rope and got to hooking up my truck.

Kendall POV
28 minutes later

"Where the hell is he? Did he pussy off or something?" Trevor asked. "I don't know, What you asking me for? I don't know if he quit or not." I replied to him. I could hear an engine roaring in the distance getting closer. I could see a plume of black smoke up above the tree tops slowly moving closer to us as well. "Wait, Did he, HOW THE FUCK!?" Was all I shouted as I saw him come back into sight pulling something I thought impossible to pull in general. "CHOO CHOO MOTHERFUCKERS!!" He shouted. Dakota was pulling a train, A goddamn train of all things! He was pulling a 200 ton peice of machinery along at 35MPH like it was nothing! "Did you boys have fun playing with your Tonka trucks? I told you powerstroke was the best!" he shouted.

Dakota POV

Looking at their dumbfounded faces was enough to tell me that they were speechless by this. I knew that they weren't expecting me to pull a train and make asses out of them. They lost the bet and they knew it, They both now owed me 300 dollars each. Powerstroke 4, Duramax 2, Cummins 3.

I unhooked from the train and got my towing ropes back from them and we started to go back to the castle. I knew that they were still pissed off and i knew that they were going to be for a while. Thats why you don't mess with a Powerstroke.

Returning to society

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Everfree forest
10/29/20
13:30
Dakota POV

Heat season is officially over for this year and we now get to go and return to civilization. it was an interesting 4 months in this forest to say the least. Me, Trevor, and Kendall had a contest to see wwho ad the best dually truck, we huntred packs of timber wolves, met zecora by sheer coincidance while driving through the forest, and saw an ursa major for the first time which thankfully did not see us, that thing would have destroyed the castle. We were busy getting ready to leave and finally go home, I was busy trying to line my truck up underneath my skycrane chopper so I could attach it and get out of here. Kendall, Trevor, Brian, and Manuel had already gotten hooked up and were ready for take off. Kendall and Trevor would have to have their other trucks hooked onto the pavelows to be flown back as well. I was busy getting all of the cables hooked up to my truck that I didnt even notice that one of the pavelows had started up and the blades were spinning up. I finally got everything hooked up and strapped down and entered the cockpit of my skycrane and started to go through the preflight check procedures for take off.

30 minutes later

prechecks complete, time to start this fucker up. I switched on the engine primer and fired it up. The other skycranes and pavelows did the same and soon started to rise up above the forest cannopy and join me in the sky. We ascened to an altitude of 2000 feet above the ground and proceeded to fly back north towards ponyville. we had been flying for 30 minutes now and I could finally see the edge of the forest come into view now. It was still roughly 10 miles away but once we were there, we would only have to fly for another 20 minutes or so before we would actually come into sight of ponyville and another 5 minutes from there before we would reach the airfield. About 10 minutes after we had made it past the edge of the everfree forest, I checked the insturment panels and everything seemed to be going smoothly until i checked the radar. There was multiple groups of dots on the screen pointing out unknown pegasi or aircraft and that they were now circling our location, most likely scouting us. These groups of flyers were still about 15 miles away from our own flight group, beyond our line of sight. I switched to a different frequency and attempted to contact our followers.

"Attention unknown flight groups, this is 1st Leutenant Dakota Rodriguez of the equestrian armed forces. You are exhibting very abnormal behavior and we have reason to belive you may be hostile. State your intentions immediatly or we will authorise A10 warthogs to deploy and disperse you." I said into the microphone; no response. I attempted to communicate with them again after 20 seconds; no response. I gave them one final chance to ID themselves to us since I was starting to get nervous now. "This is your final warning, state your intentions now or divert your course otherwise you will be forcefully grounded." I said. This seemed to piss them off a little bit since they were now all starting to slowly converge on our location. I switched radio frequencys again and contacted our airbase and requested A10's and F25 crusaders to be dispatched.

The crusader is an equestrian multi role fighter aircraft that was reverse engineered from the Boeing F22 raptor, and The Northrop grumman F-14 tomcat. It combined the sleek, stealthy, and advanced tech of the F22 with the swing wing design and weapons capacity of the F-14; making it a very lethal fighter capable of fufilling the the ground attack role as well just like the A10 that would join it. Although it was mostly armed with AGM-84 demolition bombs and JDAM's it always had pylons desgined specificly for the AIM-9 sidewinder missile to aid in air to air combat, and to top it all off, the GAU-8 avenger 30MM gattling gun from the A10 was also mounted into the F25. The GAU was seated in a little compartment on the left side of the aircraft that would pop out in half a second and begin to spit out 30MM HE rounds at 35 rounds per second.

These groups were getting closer and closer by the minute and it was making me uncomfortable. I told my friends and the Pavelows to keep an eye out for clusters of ponies or aircraft and to deploy evasive manuvers if they get to close. The pavelows had been armed with M134 miniguns in the gunner ports and there was also a browning M2 machine gun mounted in the hull for any crew member to use that would be fired out of the cargo ramp. I told the pavelow pilots to be on high alert and to fire warning shots only unless we are attacked. I could start to see these groups come over the horizon now. Groups of 20 of what looked to be black, blue, and yellow dots were slowly getting closer to us as they circled like sharks. Ponyville was growing closer by the minute but not fast enough. The jets were still 20 mikes out and wouldnt get here in time. Groups of ponies were now only five miles away from us and I was really starting to get nervous. Once they were within 1 mile of us, I finally got a good look at who our stalkers were and I was shocked to say the least. Wonderbolts and shadowbolts, Since when did they decide to work together? I gave one final warning to them to try and get them to back off.

"Unknown flight groups, This is 1st leutenant Dakota Rodriguez of the equestrian armed forces, this is your final warning. Break off now or we will open fire on you." No response from them. I gave the order to drop to an altitude of just 300 feet and authorized the pavelows to fire warning shots. The signature buzz of the dillon M134 minigun rang in my ears as I looked out my left window and saw a line of tracers get close to one of the groups of shadowbolts. That seemed to make them disperse but then they all started to swarm us like an angry hive of bees. Wait a minute, This isnt how they fly. Something is deffinetly off here. I had a grenade that would temporarily disable a changelings magic and reveal themselves if they were disguised, kind of like a threat grenade from call of duty advanced warfare. I opened the door and threw the grenade out and watched as it detonated and confirm my suspicions.

"CH53 pilots and gunners, You are cleared to engage any and all threats at this time. Make your shots count." I shouted into my headset. Just like that, miniguns began tearing them apart one by one. Some of them got really close to my chopper and I panicked and grabbed an MP5 out from under my seat and began firing out the door. Using one hand to fly a Helicopter while the other is holding a submachine gun that kicks a lot is harder than you think. We had to break formation so the pavelows could effectivly engage the enemy forces. As soon as I heard my MP5 click, I threw it in the co pilot seat and kept flying. One of the changelings was right above me and it looked like he was trying to put a bomb on chopper. Doing the only thing I could do, I raised the throttle to full power and quickly ascended up wards as he got chopped up in the blades. Green blood was smeared all over my windshield and I could see his head actually fall and hit my trucks lightbar on top before his head fell to the ground with whatever else was left of him.

We were now over ponyville and many of these bugs were still on us but once we made it past town hall, Our fighter support arrived. I had never been so happy to see them. F25's were letting of sidewinders while A10s did the same but relied much more on their GAU's to get things done and to avoid hitting our choppers while we are on the move. A very familier voice came through my helmet as we got closer to the airfield.

"Icarus flight group, This is gator 1-1. We got your call for help, we'll escort you back to the airfield and from there, back to canterlot where princess celestia and princess luna are waiting for you all." I gave her my response. I knew right away that it was aqua that came to help us. "Roger that. Ive never been more happy to see you again aqua. You saved our asses back there and I owe you one for it. Any later and we would have probably run out of ammo and been brought down." I said to her. "You can thank me later, for now lets focus on getting you boys on the tarmac and to safety." she said. The remaining changelings broke off and tried to flee but were torn apart by the phalanx guns on the ground. That was the last of them. We were clear to reform up and land. The aifield was now directly below us and we broke off and began to descend, being careful not to damage our vehicles when we touched the ground because I really did not want to have to rebuild a whole bunch of suspension systems and transmitions from a poor landing. I finally landed and then my friends did soon after as well. The warthogs and crusaders began landing one after the other. Soon, Aqua landed her crusader and parked up on the tarmac next to my hangar and exited her aircraft. She was wearing an Olive green flight suit just like my own but my flight suit was black since I thought it looked better. I liked the way she looked in it though, her deep blue coat and silver mane just seemed to naturally go along with it.She walked over to me and gave me a big hug that I happily returned. I still felt like an ass for leaving her during heat season but a guys gotta do what a guys gotta do.

"It's good to see you again Dakota, The past 4 months have been rather boring without you and your friends." She said. "I can imagine it was. Without my pranks, loud music, adult humor, and gambling, I can assume that it was pretty quite around here." I replied playfully. She just giggled at my response and gave me a quick peck on the lips. "Come on, lets get these trucks unhooked and loaded onto the packer and be on our way back to canterlot." I said "Sounds good to me." She replied. We began removing the straps from my truck and soon got it cleared of the chopper and loaded the first vehicle onto the packer.

2 hours later

The last vehicle was finally loaded and we were good to go. We finished tieing down Kendall's ram since He liked his ford more which I can understand since they were pretty sturdy and the fanboys of ram and chevy that say ford is a joke can go fuck themselves because no car compaines today would have existed if it wasn't for ford, but thats beside the point. I had taken off the top part of my flightsuit inside the Kenworth while Kendall's F150 was being tied down, After that, everyone proceeded to pile into the vehicles, Aqua of course naturally got in with me since we were a couple, Which reminded me since I had forgotten. I quickly pulled out the arm bands that celestia and aqua had given me so any mares that saw me out in public, knew who I belonged to, and who belonged to me. I raised the trailer legs and did a quick tug test and then departed to canterlot. Aqua had told me that ambassadors from griffonstone and zebrica had already arrived but they were still waiting for the ambassadors of the minotuars, the dragons, and the diamond dogs to arrive but she told me they would arrive at canterlot before we did.

1 hour later

We were almost back to canterlot when I saw a carriage fly over head followed by griffons. It was clear that the griffon ambassador had arrived so now we would just be waiting on the dragons and the diamond dogs. There was a checkpoint up ahead on the freeway leading into and out of canterlot because of this high priority meeting, We were automatically let through since we would be part of said meeting. There was a high police and military presence in the streets and Aqua had told me that the castle was closed tourists and nobles today because of this and all non essential palace staff were given a paid day off. There was another carriage that had pulled out in front of us and was heading towards the castle. I could only assume it was the diamond dogs since they weren't capable of flight. We followed them back to the castle since we were part of this meeting. Upon reaching the castle walls, There was a large croud of angry nobles outside demanding to be let in. The guards had forced their way into the croud to make a gap large enough for us to pass through and get inside. As soon as the last car made it through, the gate was shut as fast as possible to prevent any of them getting in. Talks of this meeting were being brodcasted all over news stations because canterlot was locked up tight and all ponies within a 1 mile radius of the castle were forced to leave their homes until it was over. The ponies forced to leave were temporairly relocated to hotels outside of the 1 mile radius. Many streets were blocked off to allow the ambassadors through and for their safety.

We had parked up next to the Diamond dogs' Ambassadors cariage just as they stepped out. I shut off the Kenworth's engine, Put my top back on, and got out. We could unload the cars later, for now, the meeting took priority. Aqua had accompanied me to the meeting room and entered with me. "Good evening everyone, I hope im not too late to the meeting. As you all know, We have called you here today discuss a wartime alliance against King Sombra since he will not stop if he conquers equestria and he will keep going until he has controll of the world. However, We cannot officialy begin these negotiations until the other two ambassadors arrive, But in the mean time, We could use this time to learn about each other and what are goals are for a succesful alliance." I said. After 20 minutes of chatting with the ambassadors, I knew a lot about them that no one else would have. Emerald staff, the Diamond dog ambassador, Had been born in equestria, but moved back to the diamond dog homelands at the age of 16 to be with his whole family and had an amazing speech ability to sway those in his favor. Fireball, The dragon ambassador, had known the dragon king personally since she had spent part of her childhood with him and were best friends, and Razor blade, The griffon ambassador, had actually told me that she had been secretly dating one of equestrias high ranking military advisors for almost 7 years now and recently made their relation public and are planning on getting married soon. At that point, The doors had swung open to reveal Celestia, luna, and the zebra and minotuar ambassadors. The meeting could now finally begin. I watched as they all took there seats and then I took mine. I pulled a 44 magnum out of my holster and placed it on the table for "Security" reasons and then the meeting finally got underway, but not before I secretly slipped Aqua a 38 caliber revolver.

diplomatic talks, making money, and gearing up for full scale war

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Canterlot castle
10/29/19
10:00pm
Dakota POV

"So its all settled then. everyone, I would like to thank you for coming and wish you safe travels back to your own nations. I'll see your troops on the battlefield." After 4 hours of talking, We had finally all reached an agreement. The zebra's and minotaurs would send military advisors and equipment to use to help train new recruits, the diamond dogs would run stealth operations to steal any and all valuable tech and intel from Sombras forces so that we would have the advantage in any and all fights as well as they would perform sabotage missions, And the griffons and Dragons would help us train new recruits since they have a better understanding of how a war works and supply our army's with their own soldiers, each sending 5 regiments to the front lines to aid those in the trenches while we would provide them with access to our technologically advanced weaponry and show them how to use human weaponry and export 1/4 of whatever came out of the factories to our new allies. Griffons were already entering Equestria, ready for a fight. The Griffon ambassador seemed keen on getting tanks added to their inventory along with missile launchers, and anti-air weapons. I personally volunteered to train them on how to use them. The first tanking lesson would begin a week from now and I was ready for the couple month-long training session, But I would also need to find some volunteers to help teach them.

After all of the ambassadors left, I got up and went back to my room, Celestia went to hers while aqua came with me. I'm guessing she wanted to sleep with me tonight and she didn´t walk all the way back to the barracks and I don't blame her, that's a long walk; little under a mile if I had to guess. I would have to remember to talk to her CO and get some strings pulled to have her moved in with me since she was mostly patrolling this part of the castle anyways.

"I didn't know that you could be so persuasive like that, Dakota." Aqua said breaking the silence. "Well, being the diplomat of an alien race not from this world whose race has a DEEEEEEEEEP connection with the principals of war kind of requires you to be a good speaker like that, But, thank you." I replied to her. "Hey, look, I know why you've been sleeping with me in my room for the past year or so now. Its because the barracks are too far away, right?" I asked her with a raised eyebrow. "Yeah, I'm usually stationed here in this part of the castle almost all the time, Why? What are you trying to do?" She asked me with a slight hint of nervousness in her voice. "Who is your CO? I'm gonna talk with them and see about getting you moved in with me just to make your job a little easier for you, its the least I can do for you since you mean a lot to me." I replied to her. Her eyes widened slightly as I said this, unsure of how to react.

"Are you sure about this? I have no problem with walking here every day. But, If you insist, my CO is Lt.Firestorm. You can find her in her office in bunkhouse 8" She said to me

"That's all I need to know, Thanks love" I replied to her making her blush a little bit as well. I began my walk over towards the barracks. It took roughly 40 minutes but that's partially because I'm not a fast walker unless I need to be. Bunkhouse 8 was now insight. How did I know it was number 8? There was a large number 8 painted on the front side of it. The bunkhouses looked like scaled-down aircraft hangers with their corrugated sheet metal exterior and most likely wooden interior since that's how they usually are built on this scale. I saw mares milling about inside chatting, eating, sleeping, cleaning, and working out. I opened the door and walked inside. "Officer on Deck!" was the first thing I heard as I walked inside. Right away, every last guardsmare in the room stopped what they were doing and snapped to attention. "At ease ladies, I'm just here to talk to Lt.Firestorm about getting one of my herd mates moved in with me to make her job in the guards a little bit easier." I said "She's in her office right now sir, The door should be open." one of the guards said "Alright, thanks, Blaze." I replied to her. She just smiled and waved me off as I walked to the office in the back of the building. Blaze fighter was probably the friendliest mare in the guard. She was always in a cheerful mood, was fun-loving, and unusually slow to anger. Now that I think about it, I've never seen her angry once for the entire year and a half I've been here, Except for the time I had Aqua as a hostage. She had a bright reddish-orange coat of fur, deep ruby-colored eyes, a long flowing mane and tail that had streaks of red, orange, and yellow with yellow specks dotted all throughout both and her cutie mark was a fire hydrant with a fire hose hooked up to it that was spraying water on a brush fire.

When I reached the door to Firestorms office, I knocked on it to be safe because you never know what someone could be doing on the other side of that door. "It's open!" I heard a gruff, raspy voice call from the otherside. I opened up the door and walked inside. "Evening lieutenant" I greeted towards firestorm. "Evening Rodriguez" She responded back. "So what brings you to this part of the city this evening?" she asked me

"Ive got a question for you about one of the mare's currently under your command" I said "Which one of my fine protectors do you need to know more about?" she asked. "Aqua lance. As you probably already know, me and her are herdmates along with princess Celestia herself, and I was wondering if it was possible to get her moved in with me since she mostly patrols the guest halls of the castle where I've been living for nearly two years and it would make it easier for her to conduct her rounds if she didn't have to walk so far to reach her station." I said to her. "Hmmm, I suppose I could let her get moved in with you but who would she be taking orders from? Me or you? since we are both the same rank." She asked "You could email me the details of her assignments and where she would be stationed throughout the castle and I would pass it along to her and go with her since im part of the guard myself." I offered her. "That sounds like it could work. How about we give it a try for 2 weeks to see how it goes and we'll let her make the final decision." she said "Works with me." I replied. "Excellent. You should bring her footlocker with you as well so she has her stuff. Its the one on the right side of the bunk on the left of the door 3rd from the wall, you'll know which one it is since it's got a picture of you and her together on it." she said.

After wrapping up with firestorm, I proceeded to grab the footlocker she told me that was hers. Upon trying to lift it, I found out right away that it was extremely heavy, Like filled with osmium heavy. "Jesus Christ, what the hell is in this thing, Blocks of lead!?" I unknowingly said out loud while trying to drag it out the door. Blaze told me that the footlockers given to the guard were made out a compressed lead. That explains a lot. Trying to think of how I was going to get this thing back to my room, I thought of an Idea. "I'll be back in about 15 minutes. I'm gonna need a unicorn to help me move this when I do get back." I said. I proceeded to run out the door to grab my keys and tell Aqua the news. After about 7 minutes of running, I made it back to my room and quickly grabbed my keys but didn't see aqua, however. I'm assuming she was probably in the bathroom or something and began running towards the front of the castle. I finally reached my truck and got in. Winter had come early and I was sitting there in my engine swapped F350 listening to the Pissed off old 7.3 engine trying to start in the cold. I was starting to get a little pissed myself since it wouldn't start but eventually, it did. After that, I got it rolling and proceeded back to the bunkhouses. After I got back there Firestorm herself was waiting for me with Aqua's footlocker floating in her aura. I got out and opened up one of the passenger doors to allow her to put it inside. I told her of my plan since there was no way any pony was gonna carry this damn thing. I would drive my truck through the front entrance of the castle since that was the easiest way to get my truck inside and then proceed back out the way I came in.

Blaze would guide me all the way to my room and firestorm would help me unload the damn thing. After getting the lead box inside, I turned around and proceeded to the front entrance. The girls got the door for me and proceeded to guide me in. The night guards were all just looking out me with confused looks as I slowly drove through the hallways at about 10 miles per hour. I encountered a problem though when I came to a hallway that I would need to use to get to the next one where all of the guest rooms are. My truck was barely small enough to fit through it, And I knew that my back wheels would get stuck if I wasn't careful. I decided to try my luck and go through it will both of the girls guided me forward. Firestorm was behind me while Blaze was in front. I somehow made it through unscathed. Continuing on, I finally made it to my room and got out and opened up the door to see Aqua walking out of the bathroom wearing a pair of silky pajamas. It was pretty warm and humid in my room so I'm assuming that she had just gotten out of the shower and just looked at me and asked me why my truck was in the hallway. I told her that it was so I could bring her footlocker here since that thing was heavy as hell, Probably almost as heavy as I am. She seemed to understand as Firestorm Brought the box in and set it down in front of the bed. After that, They helped me reverse my way out.

Halfway out, I noticed that more than half of the guard was dozing off and I suddenly got a terrible Idea that would most likely result in me getting my ass kicked. I flipped two switches in my truck real quick on and off, one labeled truck, and the other one labeled train. I was going to blast my nathan K5LA train horn inside of the castle. Both Celestia and Luna would probably try and murder me for this but it would be worth it. I placed my hand on the horn and told both Firestorm and blaze to cover their ears and to not ask questions. They did as I asked and hit the horn two times. Every last guard in the castle was scared shitless after that and it echoed. I was right next to the exit as well so that worked great for me. I gave it two longer blasts once I was outside and the girls had gone back to the bunkhouse. Now having woken up probably the whole city and probably made a few enemies, I went back inside to my room. I couldn´t stop myself from laughing since so many of the guards looked like they had just seen a dead man walking, In which case they probably were. I rounded a corner and came face to face with Luna herself and she seemed to be pretty pissed about this.

"Do you care to explain what in Tartarus that was!?" She shouted with pure rage laced in her voice. "I noticed that half of your guards were dozing off so I decided to give them a bit of a "Wake up call" if you would" I replied with the biggest shit-eating grin ever. "Well then, I would like to let you know that you nearly sent our sister into shock because of that little stunt you pulled and is still shaken up by it!" she replied angrily. "Ah she's a big girl, she'll get over it, she'll probably forget that it even happened by tomorrow morning" I replied with a carefree tone. "Well then, maybe you should come and see her for herself" She shouted again and used her magic to grab me by one of my hands and dragged me down the hall. In response, I flicked her horn which caused her magic to flicker and release her grip on me. "Do that shit again and next time I'll beat the living shit out of you as I do to those that get on my bad side!" I shouted trying to get a point across.

I walked with luna all the way to Celestia's chambers to see her sitting up in her bed with a damn sword held in her magic, ready to stab anything that came in. She was shaking violently and had the look of the devil on her face. Damn, she really was shaken up by this. "Tia, you look like you have seen some shit." I said as I entered her chambers with luna behind me. "That noise, Reminded me of a dragons warcry. I haven't heard anything like that for over 400 years ever since the war between Equestria and the dragon empire." She said. She sounded really edgy while saying it as well and I don't know if it was on purpose. "Well, I can assure you now that it was not a warcry. That was the sound of the train horn mounted on my truck. I blew it a couple of times since more than half of the night guard seemed to be dozing off on the job so I gave them a bit of a "Wake up call" if you would." She seemed to understand as she calmed down a bit, but not entirely. I told her I was sorry and decided to head out for a bit and do some work. Luna decided to follow me to see what I was going to do but eventually went her own way.

I decided to take up a part-time job pumping septics around the city. Walking over to our garage, I got in the Sisu M162 which was used as a vacuum truck and headed out. The sound of the Rolls Royce Eagle 320 engine was mechanical music to my ears. The first tank that I would pump dry was located in the downtown area in the residential district at a noble's mansion. He said that it was completely full and had been having to use the bathroom at his neighbors home for the past few days and that his sewage well was almost full as well. When I came to a red light, I quickly took the time to put on my jacket and reflector vest along with my beanie since it was cold outside and dark. Although cars had quickly become popular in Equestria, There still wasn't a whole lot of them on the roads simply because they weren't being massed produced in multiple factories like they were on earth. All civilian cars were produced in one plant that was still a sizeable 100 acres big, they were slow to be made. the light finally turned green and I continued on my way.

After another 5 minutes of driving, I reached the neighborhood where the noble lived and kept going down the road until I reached his house. It looked like he was having a party or something but I didn't care all that much. He had a doorman who asked what I was doing here.

"I got a call saying that whoever lives here has a full septic tank that needs to be emptied." I told him. "One moment while I ask lord Gold Bar if this is true." The doorman asked. He got back to me a moment later. "Alright, you can go through. He'll be waiting for you around the backside of the house." He said. After that, I proceeded through and drove around to the back of the mansion where the property owner was standing and waiting for me. I pulled up next to him and he greeted me. He was one of the many nobles in canterlot that wasn't a total asswipe and actually cared about others, Seriously, there were more friendly nobles than asswipes. "Thank the princesses you're here! You got here at just the right time, the well is completely full and I've been trying to explain to my guests why the bathroom can't be used at the moment. Please, If you empty the well completely, I'll pay you very handsomely." He said sounding kind of desperate. "No problem Mr.Gold bar. I'll have the well emptied within the next 20 minutes." I replied. He thanked me and went back inside. I pulled the truck around and Backed it up, Turned on the back work light, took the hose, and got to work. A full shit tank is one of the worst smelling things in the world, especially when you take the well cover off. I put the hose in all the way and turned on the hydraulic pump and pulled the hand throtle all the way out to speed up the pump. The pump relied on the engine's RPMs to run effectively, so essentially the higher the RPMs, the better the pump would run and faster.

I walked back over to the side of the truck and watched as the meter indicating the trucks sewage tank fullness continued to rise ever so slowly. I climbed back in the cab and grabbed my phone and decided to see what was going on around the nation. Apparently some changeling spies were arrested in manehatten after stealing some documents from a military recruiting office on the south side of the city and were taken in for questioning. I heard the pump speed crank up, most likely indicating the well was empty. I informed the noble named Gold bar that I was done and he paid me a hefty 6000 bits for my services. I put the hose back, turned off the pump, and got on my way. Being the trolling bastard that I am, I sounded my La Cucaracha horn as I left the gate and woke up more than half of the neighborhood as got on my way. I still had to pump his neighbor's tank as well which was just down the road so I didn't have to go far. The owner of this home wasn't home but I was still able to get in and do my job. Following the same procedure as before for this tank, I got it done and taped a note to his front door indicating that I had been here and I could mail my payment to me at the castle.

It was around one in the morning now when I finally finished up and started heading back to the castle. I had earned myself a nice 37000 bits on this one night alone. My job wasn't done yet though as I still needed to empty the shit tank and refuel the fuel tank. The water treatment plant was on the other side of the city which was still a 20-minute drive away, even with the streets being empty as they were on a night like this. I did come across a few ponies driving around but most of the citizens were walking on the sidewalk or taking busses. The nightclub that I had opened up was packed to the roof with guests so it's safe to assume that's where a lot of them were. I rounded another corner and I could see the water treatment plant down the road. I pulled up to the side of the plant where there was an office that I had to pay a waste management fee at before I could empty the tank. The door was always open to employees to get in and pay the fee even when nopony was there. I went Inside and paid my fee and opened the garage on the side of the office where I would dump the sewage into a grate on the floor. Pulling the truck around, I had to maneuver earlier than I would have preferred because my rear lift axle was down so I could still maneuver the truck.

Finally getting the truck into the garage area, I got out and walked around to the back of the truck and opened the spill valve and watched as about 4000 gallons of fecal material spilled out the back of the truck. If you thought just taking the well cover off of a full sewage well smelled bad, then by the neckbeard of a kirin, This smelled 10 times worse. This was essentially the same as taking a whiff of a dead body that been decaying for 10 days now while it was baking in the sun.

It took about 10 minutes before the tank was completely empty. After that, I raised the rear lift axle and closed the spill valve. After that, I started heading back to the castle. Traffic was still light at night time but even though it was night time, canterlot's night time had really come to life when we opened Club SOLAR. Ponies were waking all up and down the streets, some of them heading towards the club, others heading towards local bars and or home. Many other smaller clubs had sprung up around the city to compete with us but that just wasn't going to work out. Club SOLAR was the largest club in the city and also the most popular. I had to drive by our place to see how it was doing. Almost all of my friends had moved out of the castle and into the club to manage it better and im assuming its because they also didn't like royalty, But then again, No self-respecting American citizen does, which is ironic coming from me since currently dating the very definition of royalty at the moment and living with royalty. Natalie was the only one still living in the castle with me but after that train horn stunt I pulled, I'm pretty sure she's going to move out.

I was getting ready to turn down the road where the club was and as I was coming up to the club, There was A line of ponies that stretched around the corner and to the intersection behind me. The stoplight was still red but the line of ponies continued to get longer as the night went on. Turning around the corner, I saw a bouncer escorting somepony out who looked to be drunk as a fucking skunk. He was putting up a bit of a fight but eventually gave up and passed out on the curb. Paying him no mind, I continued on towards the castle and was ready to fall asleep as soon as I got back. After getting back and parking the truck, I turned off the truck and started walking inside. Most of the guards still had a bit of a frightened expression on their faces. The train horn really gave them a bit of scare, But I should have seen that coming. The fact that there was also warped diaphragms in the horns also made it sound like something big had just awoken from the dead.

Finally getting back to my room, I went inside and saw that Aqua was already asleep. Without making any noise, I slowly took off my shirt and got into bed and wiggled close to her and put my arms around her. Apparently she might have still been awake still because she turned around and used her wings to pull me closer before we finally both went to sleep.

1 week later
Canterlot tank proving grounds

The time has come to begin tank academy. Busses full of dragons, griffons, and ponies were lined up outside. For the next two months, we would be training them on how to operate these 60-ton beasts. I had to travel to ponyville again and ask rarity to make a Drill instructors uniform for me so I looked proper. She got everything perfect all the way down to the thread count. She even made the belt and the badge on the cap for me. I had put all of my ranks on and other things as well that A normal DI usually wears. I had rapidly scaled the ranks and reached the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. I had my leaf markings on both of my shoulders and was ready to start. I was joined by 14 other DI's and we're ready to begin this 3 month long session. Our new recruits had already passed basic training and other trainings but they are gonna have to go through it all again before they are full blown tankers. I gave the go ahead for the other DI's to get on the busses and give instructions. I took the front bus.

"Alright, Everyone listen up and listen well! As you already know, I am Lt.Colonel Dakota Rodriguez, acting commander of the majority of the equestrian armed forces! You are now under my command and for the next 3 months, you will be pushed to the limits and this will be difficult! If you make it through this course, You will be machines praying for a war to drive these 68 ton beasts into. When I say get off my bus, you will leave quickly and orderly and line up outside in rows of 10. Do I make myself clear!?" I shouted

"Sir yes sir" The recruits responded

"Get the hell off my bus" I said as I let them out.

Now the 3 month process of training of them has officially begun. it is going to be interesting to say the least.

hooves on training

View Online

Early/Mid December 2020
canterlot valley joint army/air force base
11:52 AM

Dakota POV

These new guys have now finished the classroom portion of their tank training and recently completed PT. Today they will be assigned to their tanks and they will be evaluated on how well they can operate these beasts. We had manufactured over 1000 abrams tanks after the first 6 ended up in Equestria and we had broken them down and examined them and wrote our own blueprints. These new single-seat tanks still retained their turbine engines but they were now powered by much more powerful turbines to produce 2315HP and 7000lb ft of torque and given additional night fighting equipment such as new thermal and infrared optics and searchlights being mounted to the turrets similar to the light on the old M48 and M60 Patton tanks. The steel parts of the armor were thinned out and some of the steel removed entirely to be replaced with titanium armor panels instead since it was stronger than steel and almost 3 times lighter. Additional ammo storage was also created now that the crew compartment in the turret was filled in with an autoloader and remote control equipment, so now there was room for 20 more sabot shells and HEAT shells each. The old M2 on the turret above the commander's cupola was removed and an m240 was installed instead since now a GAU 19 was positioned in front of the loaders hatch and made fully autonomous to engage enemy aircraft and infantry. The GAU could be aimed almost straight up being able to fire 85 degrees into the air and aimed down 10 degrees. The GAU also had a manual targeting mode in case the sensors were destroyed and could be controlled through a monitor in the driver's compartment next to the periscopes.

After assigning every pony to a tank, I would see how well they could operate without guidance and see what they needed further instruction on. They would be required to start their tanks up all on their own, get them moving to top speed, complete a 3 lap course around the valley, engage multiple targets on the move using both the main cannon and the machine guns, and finally park the tank where it started in the shortest amount of time. First up to prove themselves was a griffon named steel claw and he seemed a little nervous to about doing this all on his own. He had aced everything in the classroom portion of his training and even seemed confident at first but now that I was up close with him, I could see that had sweat running down his face, his eyes were darting left and right between all of the controls, and he was shaking slightly.

"Private steel, You can do this, I believe in you. You showed that you could be leadership material in the classroom, and now is your chance. You have nothing to worry about, this is only training. If you get stuck or don't feel that you can do this, press that white button next to the switch that controls the headlights. It will activate a strobe light on the turret that will signal to us that the tank has been knocked out of action and I'll call a tank tower to have it removed from the course and I'll talk with you. No pressure son. You can do this." I reassured him. He gave me his best "aye sir" and sank all the way down into the tank before closing the hatch. He waited until I walked away to start the engine. He finally got the tank rolling after I gave him the all-clear and started a stopwatch.

He was competing in a bit of a race against recruits from other divisions in the same tank school we were all at. I was sitting with the other 14 drill instructors as we monitored our recruit's progress. After a while, when everyone was getting ready to begin their 2nd lap, Me and the 14 other drill instructors had started making bets with each other to see who would be the best tanker. After steel had completed his final lap, he proceeded on towards the firing range and was beginning to open fire on targets all around him as he kept on driving. Letting loose sabot after sabot, he was hitting each target spot on and hadn't missed any so far.He was competing for targets against the other recruits already on the range and the final one that had the most targets hit would win. Steel was now having to engage infantry and enemy armor as he made it halfway through the range. He was instructed to manually fire the GAU if there were no armored targets to fire at, and so he did and it turns he has a pretty good aim. He had finally left the firing range and was on his way back to where he started. He had the other recruits hot on his ass but he wouldn't let them pass no matter what. He had finally pulled right back up to where he started with the front of his tank facing all 15 of us and swiveled the gun back before shutting off the engine and getting out.

"Final overall time: 17 minutes and 37 seconds!" I shouted. He had actually come really close to beating a standing record. "Private steel, as of this time, You have come to be exactly equal with a record holder here at this training academy. You are clear to proceed to the observation building at this time." I said. I gave a small fist pump as well since now all the other DI's had to cough up 50 bits each as they had lost the bet.

4 hours later

Tank evaluation for the day had finally ended. The last of the recruits had completed the course designated for them, and most of them did well, a few others needed a little extra training, but most of them have proven that they have what it takes to become effective members of the Equestrian armored corps. Their final test would come in a few weeks though when an unannounced simulated surprise attack would be launched against the training grounds and the trainees would need to get to their tanks, start them up, neutralize enemy tanks and IFV's without getting overrun or knocked out. Spy drones that flew high in the atmosphere above the former crystal empire showed that Sombra now had access to old soviet tanks including the T44-100, T54/55's, T62's, and both the A and B variants of the T64 including small numbers of the T64BV, and even smaller numbers of the ever fearsome T72B. He was also in possession of BMP 1, 2, and 3 APC's and even larger numbers of BTR 90's. The tanks they would need to attack and eliminate would be remotely controlled from aboard specially equipped MH53 pave low and MV22 osprey helicopters flying around 5 miles outside the facility to observe everyone through the facility’s security cameras and recon drones operating from the nearby airbase to the north of canterlot. Unicorn Drill instructors would use a special type of hologram spell to cast fake yet extremely realistic-looking versions of shadow ponies and changelings that would be on the ground firing rubber bullets and or blanks from machine guns mounted on the target vehicles and the weapons held by the fake attackers.

2 weeks later
December 31st
11:57PM

The final test of these rooks would commence in three minutes. This test was also designed to test the base personnel to see if response time to an attack was up to par. We had given them the day off to rest and so I and the other drill instructors could prepare for it. They were in the helicopters holding 5 miles away while I was at the base waiting for the clock to strike 12:00 to trigger an explosion that would wake up the rooks and begin their final test. This would be super unorthodox but it would show how they do in an actual combat situation. it was now 11:59 and my hand was on the detonator. I was sitting in an air traffic control tower at the base as it was shared by the Air Force as well and I had made a mess of it to look like I was attacked. Fake blood stains and bullet holes riddled the top I was wearing and a glock 17 layed on the ground close by to me with 7 spent bullet casings as well to make it look like I died fighting. Holes were drilled into the glass to give the illusion that I had missed my target and struck the window instead. My reasoning for doing this is because I know they would try to find their commanding officer in the event of a real attack but I needed to see how well they would do in a situation where I was not an option because I was dead or missing. The clock had struck 12:00 am and ushered in the new year, I pressed the button on the detonator and triggered numerous explosions around the base in open areas where nothing would be damaged. The unicorn DI’s cast their hologram spells and multiple dead fake changelings and shadow ponies appeared in front of me. The base alarm sounded off as the final test started.

I had to act like I was mortally wounded as I could hear my rooks running up the stairs as they were trying to find me. I had been breathing laboredly and spasming. The first trainee to approach me was a mare under my command named peppermint goldylinks. She had a mint green coat with a light brown mane and take and was always wearing a purple bow.

“Colonel are you alright!?” She asked me

“Im not gonna...make it. There...is a whole battalion of enemy armor and infantry approaching the base. It’s up to you all...to hold them off long enough...until air support arrives. Don’t let them...in, and tell my herd mates... I...love them.” I finished as my badly acted out fake death was finished.

“Well, you heard him, let’s go! We gotta get to the tanks and now before we get overrun. Move move move!” I heard steel claw call out before all 8 of the recruits under my command leave the room I was in. I waited a minute to make sure they didn’t come back in before I got up and looked out the window to observe their progress. Each one of them were climbing into their own respective tanks just as the remote-controlled soviet tanks reached the perimeter. They each had their own tank that was distinguishable because one, they all had license plates on them, and two, they also had their individual cutie marks painted on the cheeks of the turret.

I walked over to a chair and powered on a monitor to to assume control of some of the tanks on the offensive. I hopped on the radio with the other drill instructors to report that my part was done and I was successful. I had locked the door just in case any of them decided to come back up and saw that I was alive, they wouldn’t actually know.

Steel claw POV

Lt.Colonel Dakota was killed in the surprise attack on our base. We had got no response from the chain of command back up in canterlot, we were on our own now. I had assumed command of our unit and had ordered everyone to get to their tanks as fast as they could. Me, and peppermint had gotten to our tanks first since we had the ability to fly. Peppermint had gotten her tank started and backed up through the wall behind the tanks and opened up on the enemy armor and was trying to buy us enough time for the rest of us to get in our tanks and jump into the fight. My engine was stilling spooling up but I was already able to rotate the turret. Friendly tanks from the other units were now joining the fray. My tank was now fully started but already I had a problem. I had forgotten to refuel last time I was training and had about half of a quarter of a tank of gas left. I needed to do something otherwise I was just a big target for all of Sombra forces.

“All behemoth assets, this is behemoth 1-1 actual, radio check, over!” I needed to raise my squad to try and figure out what to do.

“Behemoth 1-1, this is behemoth 1-3, I read you loud and clear sir! what’s the plan? over.” One of my squad and best friends since basic, a bat pony mare named blood moon, responded to the radio call.

“Behemoth 1-1, behemoth 1-2 here, what are we supposed to do!? The colonel is dead and we’re blind without orders. We need a plan of action now or we're gonna get overrun! How in Tartarus did they even get this far without us knowing!?” Peppermint called into the mic. I was really feeling the pressure now. I knew what I had signed up for but I wasn’t quite expecting something like this.

“Behemoth lead, Behemoth 1-8. Steel, we got hostiles disembarking from APC’s and are attempting to flank us on all sides. I’m breaking off to provide fire support with behemoth 1-2 and provide cover for you guys but we’re not gonna last long without backup or air support, over.” My younger brother, iron wing, called out over the radio. I’ve never felt a bigger deal of stress than I have now

“Behemoth 1-1, this is Behemoth 1-6, I’ve been immobilized but I’m still combat effective. Requesting immediate support while I try and fix up the tracks, over.” I heard over the radio from an early pony mare named sapphire blaze. I now needed to act. I was now a squad leader and I needed to act like one.

“Alright! All Behemoth units, engage targets at will. 1-2 and 1-8, you two take up sniper positions on the east hills used by infantry during training. 1-3, I need to refuel. You’ll follow me to the refueling station and provide covering fire while I gas up. 1-5 and 1-7, you guys help 1-6 fix her tracks and not let her die. Hooah?” I said. I got my response a second later as a group of Hooahs rang out in my helmet.

“1-3 form up on me. We’re gonna make a dash straight for the fuel station across the motor pool. While I’m filling up, I need you to cover me while I try to get raptor squad and rhino squad on the line.” I said. I needed to check on iron though because he was not gonna be going anywhere without help. The two other members of my squad that were helping him were both kirins that had come all the way from the peaks of peril. One was brown with a green mane and tail and gold back scales while the other was beige all around. I believe their names were cinder glow and autumn afternoon. Autumn was one of the rare males that had lived in the Kirin village and had to experience the vow of silence. I never knew what it would be like but I could imagine. I had also learned from cinder that female kirin's were far more common as well than their male counterparts, similar to the mare to stallion ratio in equestria.

“1-6, status report.” I said. “Tensioning the tracks now sir. She’ll be ready to roll on a few moments.” Sapphire responded. “Alright, once your mobile, take 1-5 and 1-7 and defend the northern entry point. Raptor squads holding the south entrance while rhino squad backs them up and sends units to assist us.” I said. Numerous changelings and shadow ponies were swarming our position and trying to get through. I had gotten back in the tank and took control of the GAU 19 and began to lay down fire as we were still under heavy attack. Numerous BTR's were starting to charge our position as well. The GAU was loaded with armor-piercing ammunition and made quick work of the BTR's.

"Behemoth 1 actual, this is Behemoth 1-5, me and 1-7 have taken numerous direct hits and are non-combat operational at this time! Main gun is offline and the turret is stuck! Private Cinder's tank has suffered an engine fire and the ammo is about to start cooking off! Repeat, we are dead in the water! Private cinder has been wounded. Im gonna grab her and make a break for the barracks!" Autumn called out over the radio. "Roger that. 1-3, break off from your current position and form up on autumn and cinder and get them to safety. Im gonna get a hold of rhino squad and get them to assist, over." I responded. I was about to switch channels until I felt something big and heavy hit my tank from the left. I looked out of the periscopes and saw that a BMP had rammed me in the side and was trying to raise his tow missile. I acted out of haste and used the GAU to dump rounds into the damn thing only for a sabot shell to rip through the back of it as it burst into flames.

"Ugh, What just happened?" I said to myself as the blast had dazed me until I got my answer when my headset buzzed to life. “Behemoth 1 actual, this is rhino 1 actual, I've got your back. Be advised, you’ve got multiple groups of infantry making a beeline for the Ammunition dumps to the east of the ATC tower and at the south end of the runway." Raptor team's leader informed me.

"Behemoth 1 copies all, out. Behemoth 1-1 actual to 1-2 and 1-8, we've got enemy infantry and armor heading for ammo dumps to the east of the tower and south end of the runway. Shift your fire south and east, repeat, south and east. You are clear to engage all targets of opportunity. 1-1 out"

Meanwhile back in the ATC tower
Dakota POV

I added a bit of stress-inducing action into the test by remotely disabling two friendly tanks on the ground. I could see the operators climbing out now as one now no longer had functional weaponry while the other had lit its engine on fire. PFC Blood Moon had broken off from private steel claw to give cover both of the kirin that had abandoned their tanks to make a run for the barracks. I had seen from here that Private cinder glow had sustained some injuries from a HE shell landing close to both of the kirin, probably about 30 feet away from them. I can tell now she had cuts from debris being thrown and she had noticeably been limping. I did not intend for that happen one bit, I would take full responsibility for it and treat her personally to make sure she made a full recovery. I didn't have much knowledge in the medical field but it was enough to make sure she wouldn't get an infection or anything like

"Any station, any station, This is behemoth 1-1 actual transmitting in the blind. We are under heavy fire from ground forces of the shadow empire, Requesting immediate air support!" I heard steel claw's voice call out from the radio next to me. I grabbed it and commenced the second phase of the test, limited air support.

"Alright Aqua, tia, your up." I said "Got it dakota, see you soon." Aqua said to me. Switching back to the other channel.

Ponyville AFB
Aqua POV

Dakota had just given us the go ahead to begin the second phase of this test. I switched channels again and got a hold of private steel claw.

“Behemoth 1-1, this is warhammer. We got your distress call and are on station to provide AC130 gunship support. ETA 10, mikes, over.” I said.

“Warhammer this is behemoth 1, that’s great to hear. We can’t hold out much longer and are in danger of being over run. Please, get here as fast as you can!” Steel replied. “Warhammer copies all, just hold on a little longer.”

9 minutes later

“Behemoth 1-1, this is Warhammer. We’re on station and awaiting targets. Be advised there are too many targets on the ground. We can’t tell who’s who from up here. Need you to use ir beacons to identify yourself or colored smoke to mark targets.” I said “Warhammer, our beacons are coming online now. Be advised, we have friendly units inside the buildings. You are not authorized to level the buildings, repeat do not fire on the buildings.” Steel replied.

"we've got targets heading for the ammo dumps to the south of the runway near the localizers and east of the ATC tower. We are unable to engage them from our current location, need you to take them out. Grids to engage: PU259119, GF279316. Hit them the 25MM and 40MM, do not use the 105. Can't risk blowing those dumps otherwise were gonna lose more than just some rounds." Steel said

"Warhammer copies all. Grids to engage: PU259119 and GF279316 using 25MM gattling guns and 40MM Bofors. Time on target, 30 seconds." I said. Because dakota was involved in this, Both me and the princess were involved in providing ground support. The princess was in the back working as the weapons control officer and was getting ready to dump rounds on the fake tanks.

"Princess, grids to engage are as follows: PU259119 and GF279316. We're not authorized to use the 105 in the vicinity of the ammo dumps. Stick to the 25 and 40MM and engage." I said "Columns of BTR 90's with attached infantry, Danger close, Repeat danger close. Target number: AW323." I said.

"Roger, Grids to engage: PU259119 and GF279316. Target number, AW323. Columns of BTR 90's with attached infantry, danger close. Engaging." She replied. “Putting 400 rounds of 25MM on the BTR’s and infantry and mopping up with 20 rounds of 40MM, over.” Celestia said. I kept the plane holding at a banked angle of 25 degrees port side to allow for firing at a good angle while holding at an altitude of 3500 feet.

“Rounds away rounds away.” Celestia said. I looked at my screen to see the extent of the damage on the ground. “Good effect on target princess, I don’t see anything moving down there and a lot of APCs are burning.” I said before steel claw came on the radio again. "Good effect on target Warhammer. Be advised, I've got reports of at least 50 tanks rolling towards the base full speed from the north end of the runway. Need you to shift fire north and hit those targets. Grid to mark, ZX532668, target number, AG5258. Get me 15 105 rounds on their position and mop up with the 40's!" Steel claw said.

"Roger that. platoon size of enemies approaching the north end of the runway. Grid to mark, ZX532668, target number AY5258. 15 rounds of 105MM HEAT and 40MM to mop up stragglers. Adjusting course now, time on target, 1 minute." I said. "Princess, units on the ground are requesting 15 rounds of 105MM HEAT and 40MM. They've identified a platoon size of targets approaching the north end of the runway. Grid to engage, ZX532668, target number AY5258." I said "Roger that. Grid to mark, ZX532668, target number AY5258. Shot out." She said as she began to engage the RC tanks. "Good shots Warhammer, at least 25 T64's destroyed, keep up the fire. Clean up the survivor's and shift fire west to support behemoth 1-2 and 1-8, out" Steel claw said. Even from up here, I could still see tracers flying about on the ground but they weren't as intense as when we first arrived.

"Aqua, Tia, its time for the third and final phase. Goliath's A10's are on the tarmac at ponyville AFB and awaiting the order to lift off and conclude things." Dakota said. "Got it. I'll start that phase now. see you in half an hour." I said. Switching the frequency again, I got a hold of steel claw and made him think he was on his again. "Behemoth 1-1, this is Warhammer, We're breaking off at this time. We're taking heavy anti-air fire from the ground and can't maintain our current heading! We're falling back to a safe distance and increasing our altitude until further notice. Be advised, flight of 10 A10 warthogs are departing from Ponyville AFB and will be on station in 10 minutes, just hold tight behemoth." I said

"Behemoth copies all Warhammer, thanks for the assist. Behemoth 1-1 out." Steel replied. Dakota came over the radio again to signal to the DI's to start grouping all of the fake's together to end this test. He requested that one of the helicopters orbiting around the area come to pick him up to surprise the soon to be graduates of the canterlot tank academy.

Steel claw POV
7 minutes later

Warhammer had gained altitude and left the AO leaving us by ourselves again. They did, however, give us a lot of breathing room and we could now start to effectively fight back as some of Sombra's tanks were starting to retreat while others were starting to group up. I thought they were going to start pushing forward again until I heard a voice in my helmet and I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Behemoth, Behemoth, This is Goliath 5-1 flight lead. We're inbound to provide close air support. We'll be on station in 3 minutes, over." The pilot said. I knew goliath squad was an A10 unit when I enlisted and knew they meant business. If you were caught on the receiving end of the entire squad, You might as well just stand there and take it because there is no escaping them. I heard rumors about how their squad leader was possibly in the manehatten mafia and was up there with the big bosses, Needless to say, him alone is not somepony to be trifled with. He was a fellow griffon like me so at least we came from the same nation. The only thing aside from being in the mafia, was his name. I believe his Name is golden wings.

"Goliath, Goliath, this is behemoth 1-1. Enemy forces are attempting to retreat via the north end of the runway. Friendly units are staying back at this time. You're cleared to engage all fleeing armor and infantry and we'll take care of any units still inside the base. We'll mark targets of opportunity Inside the base for you. You're not cleared to engage targets near the ammo dumps at the south end of the runway and the east end of the ATC tower." I said "Goliath squad copies all. AGM 114 Hellfire missiles are already away and tracking enemy targets. They'll take out any enemy infantry and APC's attempting to flee that are already outside the base perimeter. We'll finish off any survivors with 30MM bursts. Be advised, A friendly helicopter is entering the airspace now to recover the Lt.Colonel's body from the ATC tower and we can't engage until they are clear of the fighting, over. They should be there in 30 seconds" Goliath's squad leader said. "Behemoth 1-1 copies all. We'll establish a defensive perimeter around the tower until that bird gets here and provide fire support. I can already see the chopper from here. Behemoth 1-1 out." I said. "All Behemoth units, form up on the ATC tower and defend that chopper coming in to retrieve the LT.Colonels body. After that chopper leaves, Goliath squad will give us some breathing room." I said. “All units, this is viper 2-8, coming in to land, watch your fire, repeat watch your fire. We’re setting down next to the ATC tower at this time, over.” The pilot of the osprey said.

Dakota POV

My ride was here now. The osprey that had come to "Recover" me was now waiting outside for me. My squad had established a defensive perimeter and the tower and the RC tanks were now set to start falling back to the north and escape. They wouldn't fire on any buildings regardless of if they're being controlled manually or are set to automatic targetting parameters. Ponies up in canterlot city were made aware of the test weeks in advance so there wouldn't be mass panic if there were gunships and tank busters flying through the valley wreaking havoc. I shut off the monitors and got ready to leave as the chopper had touched down and two of the crew members of the chopper hopped out with a stretcher and tarp. I got the door for them and got ready to end it.

"Evening gentlecolts, Shall we be going?" I said "yes we shall be going, boss. Will you kindly lay down on the stretcher so we can cover you up and carry you to the chopper." One of them said. I did as they asked and within just 2 minutes, I was up in the air and watching the chaos start to come to a close.

Steel claw POV

"Behemoth 1-1, Goliath 5-1, this is warhammer. We've ID'd numerous unknown radar contacts approximately 5-10 miles outside the base, could be enemy attack choppers. They seem to be in a holding pattern at the moment. Do not engage them at this time, repeat, do not fire on any unknown radar contacts in the air." The pilot of the AC130 said. I knew her personally and I knew she would take the Colonel's death very hardly once she found out that he died in the surprise attack as it was no secret that her and the princess were his herdmates and had been for the past two years. Lance corporal aqua and princess celestia would have a hard time dealing with the loss and would need someone to help them through the tough times of loss, I’d be able to help the corporal since we were friends after all but there was nothing I could do for the princess.

“Behemoth 1-1 copies all, thanks for the heads up Warhammer, our.” I said. “Goliath squad confirms locations of unknown radar contacts at this time, thanks for the info Warhammer, Goliath 5-1 out.” The leader of Goliath squad said.

2 minutes later.

“Goliath 5-1, this is behemoth 1-1, raptor squad has taken heavy losses, where in Tartarus are you!?!?” I shouted. “Behemoth 1-1, Goliath squad has entered the airspace now, need you to mark targets for us using laser designators. We’ll take out what we can from here, over.” That was good to here. The GAU on the turret did have an infrared laser that the pilots helmets could detect so marking targets wouldn’t be too difficult. Some of the hostile tanks and infantry were starting to group up as well so things would be getting a bit easier as well. "Goliath, Goliath, this Behemoth 1-1. I've marked a group of enemy armor and infantry attempting to flee the base. Give me 400 30MM rounds and 3 hellfires on their position. targets been marked!" I shouted. "Goliath copies all. 3 hellfires away, time on target, 10 seconds." He said. just then, a massive explosion obliterated the majority of the group trying to escape before the signature buzzing of the 30MM gattling gun on the A10 was heard. "Behemoth 1-1, all targets destroyed. awaiting further targets. Goliath 5-1 out, over." Golden said to me.

"Goliath 5-1, Ive got another group of at least 30+ enemy armor units with attached infantry trying to escape through the north end of the runway. Need you to hit them with 4 GBU 12's and 5 hellfires once they're past the fence. Can't risk damaging the localizer's." I said. "Goliath copies all. More missiles away, time on target, 40 seconds. GBU’s will be dropped to finish off survivors.” He said. After 36 seconds of waiting, the missiles impacted their targets and destroyed a good bit tanks and APC’s but there were still some left operational and trying to escape. “Behemoth squad, Goliath 5-1. Our GBU’s are away, get away now before they impact, over.” Golden said. “You heard him Behemoth squad, fall back, fall back!” I said. I got my tank turned around and punched it. I took cover behind the ATC tower while the others sheltered in nearby hangers. Just then, 4 bright flashes of light erupted from the north end of the runway, vaporizing any hostiles still unlucky enough to be there.

10 minutes later

We had fought ferociously and dwindled down Sombras battalion of armor to just little over a platoon size worth of vehicles left. “Behemoth 1-1, the anti air fire has subsided substantially and we’re returning to the AO. We’ll finish off any stragglers along with Goliath squad.” The pilot of the AC130 gunship said. It was nice to know that we still had backup air support in the area in case Goliath squad had to break off. “Behemoth 1–1 copies all. Goliath 5-1 and Warhammer, the rest of the enemy forces are retreating to the north. Finish them off with everything you got!” I shouted. A moment later, tracer rounds from Warhammer began to rain down everything they had on the enemy forces trying to escape before all of Goliath squad opened up with their 30MM Gatling guns and fired off whatever hellfire missiles they had left. The result was a large fire ball rising up 80 feet into the air before it dissipated leaving nothing but burning tanks and APC’s in its wake. “Behemoth 1-1, Goliath 5-1. We’re returning to base, thanks for the work today, Goliath out.” Golden said to me before he and his squad took off back to the southeast towards Ponyville AFB.

“Behemoth squad this is Warhammer. We are bingo fuel and won’t make it back to Ponyville AFB. Need you to clear the runway so we can land, over.” She said. “Behemoth squad copies all. 1-2 and 1-8 form up on us by the fueling stations. I said. “All units, this is viper 2-8, we need to return to Canterlot valley. We came under attack by enemy recon choppers armed with rifle-caliber machine guns and have taken engine damage. We successfully took them down but we won’t make it back to Ponyville AFB in time to safely put down.” The pilot of the osprey said. “Behemoth copies all. We’ll clear an area for you to put down your chopper.” I said. We finally shut down our engines and got out of our tanks and waited for Warhammer to land so we could inform the pilot of what had happened to the colonel, until i forgot that two of our squad members were in the barracks

“Guys, let’s get private cinder and private autumn back out here. If we’re gonna pay our respects to the colonel, we’re gonna do it together, as a team.” I said. “I’ll go get them, I know which building they’re in right now.” Blood moon said to me before she got back in her tank and started it up again before she drove off. She came back 2 minutes later with both of our Kirin squad mates riding on top of the turret before blood parked up and shut off her engine again and helped private cinder get down. The enormous form of Warhammer came into view now as the AC130 was just 150 feet above the runway and steadily descending. The wheels finally made contact with the ground as the large lumbering form of the AC130 slowed down and turned off onto the taxiway and started to approach the fueling station. Once the gunship came to a stop, the engines shut off one by one until they finally all stopped spinning. The osprey that had retrieved the colonel's body was starting to descend now and had set down next to warhammer and shut off its engines. The left door on the front of the AC started to open up as the pilot stepped out as we took off our helmets as lance corporal lance walked over to us.

"Corporal, I'm so sorry for your loss. There was nothing we could do for him, the colonel was already badly wounded when we found him and bled out to death." I said solemnly. Her face turned to one of confusion though before a smug grin formed on her face. “Are you certain he’s dead? Because last I checked, he was alive and well.” She said. “Corporal, with all due respect, I know what we all saw, the others can vouch. The colonel is dead.” I said. I could see her trying to hold in a giggle as well before she finally said something else. “I wouldn’t be too sure about that. Viper 2-8, you can go ahead and drop the ramp.” She said. I was understandably confused by what she meant until the osprey’s ramp actually lowered all the way and left every last one of us with our jaws on the ground as we saw Just who was standing there.

“Surprised to see me alive and well guys?” I had no words for what I was seeing. I was only snapped out of my state of shock when I heard more helicopters approaching and getting ready to land. The colonel, who had supposedly died, was standing right in front of us. Alive and well, like nothing had happened to him.

“Wait, what!? I am so confused right now. How are you alive sir!? We all watched you bleed out and die in the tower!” Cinder said being the first one to break the silence.

“It’s simple corporal cinder, I was never dead In the first place. Because this was not an actual attack. It was a final exam to prove how well you’ve all mastered tankery.” He said. “Wait, A test!?!? What do you mean by that? And what do you mean by corporal as well!?” I shouted.

“This test was designed to see how well you all would operate in a real combat situation without any orders from the top and having to take the initiative, and you did well as a squad leader, Seargent steel.” He said. I’m now beyond confused at this point. He called private cinder a corporal and now he’s calling me a Seargent.

“I wasn’t the only watching as well. Your former DI’s were watching as well.” He said. Just then, The doors to the other helicopters opened up and revealed all of the drill instructors standing in the door ways, with each of them having their horns glowing brightly. “Cut it off.” I heard the colonel say. Just then, the light from their horns ceased as I watched numerous dead changelings and shadow ponies fade into nothingness.

“Class 3 illusion spell. Requires a minimum of 3 weeks to master if you’re learning it at a regular school. Those tanks and APC’s you all destroyed were UGV’s. They were being remotely controlled.” He said. “We were also not the only ones watching and observing you all. Aqua, you wanna drop the cargo ramp and show them who else was watching from afar? And also gave them fire support?” He said. A few moments later, the cargo ramp was opened all the way and needless to say, every last one of us was shocked and confused by who was standing there. None other was princess Celestia herself standing inside the gunship, dawning an all-black flight suit as she walked out to greet us. I snapped out of my shock to bow down as quick as I could, while my squadmates were a little slower to do the same.

“I don’t mean to be rude sir, but could you please explain exactly what all of this means?” I asked. “No problem. This will take a bit though so get comfortable, all of you.” He said.

20 minutes later

“And that’s why you’ve all been promoted and why you’re a squad leader now steel.” The colonel wrapped up. This made no sense at all. A fake attack on the base to test how we would do in a real combat scenario with little air support, getting promoted all the way to Seargent, and risking our lives in the process. Sure they were firing blanks but the infantry still had rubber bullets and could kill some pony if they weren’t careful with them, an example of this was the fact that private cinder got hit by a couple and she was having a hard time walking as it is with them still in her forelegs. I can understand why he did this, but the way he did makes no sense. The fact that he also gave all of us promotions added onto the stuff that made no sense. This was just so much info and too much at that as well.

I soon felt myself becoming drowsy and weak and my vision started to go black which was only an add on to the migraine I already had going on. The only thing I could hear now was the base's alarm still going off. Before I knew it, I had blacked out from sheer stress alone.

8 hours later
Dakota POV

"Look, he's starting to wake up!" I said. Steel claw had passed out a few hours ago. Poor guy had been put through hell and back after everything that had happened last night. He sat all the way up and looked around real quick before his gaze settled on me.

"Hey, Seargent, you alright? you blacked out a little before one in the morning last night and hit your head and the ground pretty hard. I carried you all the way back to the infirmary and the doc said you should be fine but I wanted to make sure that he was right and that you didn't have a concussion. I already feel bad enough about the fact that corporal cinder had taken rubber bullets and shrapnel to the forelegs. I also had to have your brother held back so he wouldn't tackle you when you woke up. the last thing I want is for you to possibly have a second concussion." I said. "What? Sir, I still don't understand. Even though everything that happened last night was only to test us, why would you put us through something like that?" He said

"It's to see how you would do in a real combat situation. I said it before. I would never put any of my soldiers in harm's way, even if we outnumbered our enemy 10:1. I don't want a blood bath on my hands because we don't know what they have in terms of weaponry. You see what I'm getting at? I would never intentionally put you guys in danger, I'd put myself in front to make sure you guys get the job done. You know what im saying?" I said. Steel took a moment to process what I had said before he finally gave me a response.

“I understand what you mean sir. But that still felt like a real attack. We thought you had actually died and I thought I was actually going to die out there. I was actually too scared to do much of anything, until I gave myself the mental slap I needed.” He said, which was reasonable. His family was more of a pacifist type so it’s understandable that he panicked.

“I know how you feel Seargent. I was the same way when I first went into a real combat situation before I had even signed up with the royal guards. It was just me, my friends, 7 tanks, 2 trucks, a bunch of guns, and a suicide mission up north while Sombra's forces were still weak and unprepared for a full-on war. I thought we were going to get overrun until Sombra himself made an appearance and offered us to fight for him in exchange for a way to return us home. I was tempted to take his offer, but I remained loyal to Equestria as I already had two lovers and we still had to evacuate the crystal ponies from the former crystal empire and get them back to canterlot since we couldn't just let them be enslaved again. I had taken the initiative as you did last night. Tell you what, to make up for last night, I'm giving you and your squad the next 10 days off and ill take you guys out for drinks tonight at club SOLAR, I'm buying. Does that sound good? will that take your mind off of everything that happened?" I said. Steel answered almost immediately with an exhausted but satisfied yes.

"Alright it's settled then. I'll mark you guys as on leave for the next 10 days and I'll be at your bunkhouse around 7:30 PM to pick you guys up in something more comfortable than the usual Humvee or MRAP." I said. After putting them through hell and back, this was the least I could do for them.

11 hours later
7:25 PM

I had told the base commander to get steel and his guys ready as I was now less than 5 minutes away. I told him to have them wait at the helipads next to aircraft hanger A2, the largest hanger on the base. I could see the helipads now and began to descend in order to land, and they all had a speechless look on their faces. When I told them I'd get them in something more comfortable, I was being serious. I had come to get them drunk at club SOLAR in a concerted Mil Mi-26 Luxury helicopter. 10 seats, noise proofing insulation, air conditioning, a 32 Inch flatscreen TV, WiFi, AM-FM radio, Minibar, Bluetooth sound system, built-in PC wired into the TV along with an Xbox, heated and airconditioned leather seats, and even a small bathroom made the Mi-26 a must-own for those who could afford it. I set down and opened up the door to allow them to get inside. I was surprised to see that they were still wearing their urban camo fatigues even though they could put on something more comfortable, and probably should have anyway because the AC isn't that great at the club.

"Welcome aboard behemoth squad. Are you guys strapped in and ready to go?" I said. "Yeah, we're good to go, colonel. Lets head out." Steel said. I lifted off and retracted the landing gear before taking off towards Canterlot.

10 minutes later

The club that I had helped to open a year ago was now in sight and I was ready to touch down. Even from up here In a helicopter, the music was still so loud and bassy I could feel every beat hit since bass travels farther and easier than treble does. I had made contact with the helipad and shut off the engine and got out. I opened up the door and proceeded to let steel and his squad out.

“Alright everyone, if you’ll all follow me this way, I’ll take you to the bar where I already have quenching amounts of beer, champagne, whisky, brandy, rum, wine, and vodka waiting for you all. The first rounds on the house then I’ll pay for the rest!” I said. I could see that every one got excited and even steel had cracked a smile which was good to see because that meant was less tense than he was last night.

I was at the bar now, still in uniform, serving free drinks. My friends who I hadn’t seen in quite a while, had all come over to ask me just what the hell I had been up to recently because they heard explosions in the valley from up here and felt them as well. I had taken the time to catch up with them before they went back to doing their own thing. I had already strengthened Equestria’s army and Air Force and now it was time for the biggest challenge yet, I would have to build up the navy, which was so under strengthed that I’m pretty sure a homeless guy in a row bot with a gun could stand a fighting chance. I already had big plans. Equestria was plentiful in resources such as steel, timber, coal, oil, and other crucial things. There was already a ship yard big enough to hold at least 10 ford class aircraft carriers in Manehattan so that’s where this would go down at. Equestia was about to be introduced to mighty mo and her siblings, but not for a while though since I had a lot of upcoming stuff to take care of first.

New ships, a monster hurricane, and unexpected side effects

View Online

Dakota
aqua
vapor trail
commander whiplash
Base guard
hospital staff, automated voice, and hospital security

2 months later
03/12/21
3:26 PM
interstate 276 east
Dakota POV

The drive to Manehatten was taking longer than I expected due to one thing. One thing that everyone had dreaded back home on earth, regardless of who they were or where they lived, I was stuck in the worst rush hour traffic ever. To make it even worse, it was a Friday and ponies were trying to get out of local towns close to the interstate to go to places for the weekend, and there were also reports on the radio of a major accident down the road that was blocking both lanes of traffic. I resorted to banging my head against the steering wheel out of frustration, thinking it would make a difference. I was doing 45MPH at best but I was averaging 15-20MPH on my way into the city which was odd because usually going into the city was faster than leaving the city but not in Equestria apparently.

I had bought myself another ford since obviously a truck with a secondary engine in the bed that’s only been used twice would cause you to not be able to see much and could cause irreparable damage to the drive line parts if something went wrong or I just pushed the parts too hard. So I had gotten myself a new undriven 2020 F450 platinum and did an engine swap so now It had the Same 7.3L engine and upgrades that I had put into my F350 except this time there was no tank engine in the bed and this time I had 3 inch wheel spacers on the tires and smaller but taller smoke stacks that had come up from the side of the truck instead of through holes cut in the bed, and It had a fully functional factory radio as well and I swapped out the instrument panel for one from a 2016 super duty since I didn’t like the look of the new almost entirely digital instrument panel. The toolbox in the bed also had that weird infinity magic weaved into it as well so that was a bonus. I don’t know why these ponies didn’t come up with their own brand names and just used the exact same manufacturer names from earth. Ford, Chevy, dodge, Chrysler, Buick, Pontiac, Cadillac, toyota, Nissan, Honda, Subaru, Mitsubishi, isuzu, Mazda and even Some European makers like Renault, Mercedes, Audi, fiat, and mini.

At least I had Aqua with me to keep me from going mentally crazy. She was coming with me to help inspect and determine what the first step to bringing up the navy's power would be before we would essentially copy and paste two BB63 and BB67 battleships and potentially a CVN 78 aircraft carrier into Equestria followed by some DDG 51 destroyers and CG 52 cruisers which would most likely come first.

The question of nuclear submarines being in the equestrian navy was still on the table as well because no nation on Equis had subs of any type so prolonged time underwater in a cramped vessel was being debated and tested to see if we could get some. Even if we had nuclear subs, training would be tedious and long, but it would give us the option to strike hard at the heart of Sombra’s growing empire. He had started pushing into neighboring areas and was gaining ground fast. He hadn’t pushed into equestria yet because territory’s of the dragon, diamond dog, griffon, and zebra empires were in the way so we had a buffer zoned about 1465 miles long spanning east to west and 922 miles spanning north to south keeping the nation safe, for now. We still had to start dealing with refugees being displaced by the war but they would be able to return to their homes soon enough. So far the farthest he’s gotten is 278 miles into the west of the griffon empire, having griffonstone being evacuated.

After another 20 minutes, we had finally picked up speed and saw how bad the accident was and why it made traffic so bad. A tractor trailer had overturned and jumped the barrier and struck another truck in the west bound lanes and caused that one to spin out and crash into a ditch, thankfully the trailer was only in the emergency lanes. Highway patrol and paramedics were already on seen but there was no sign of tow trucks anywhere right now. Both drivers were sitting on the side of the road and they seemed to be ok.

Focusing back on the road, I was finally able to get back up to speed and began cruising down the road at 85 MPH. Traffic laws In Equestria were much less strict than back on earth which was great because only 65 MPH on interstates like 95 back home was considered slow and there were always cops sitting in places with LIDAR’s waiting for someone to do a simple 5 over and give them a speeding ticket, bastards.

We were finally in Manehattan now after a painful 10 hour drive. Next time I’m taking a helicopter, or a harrier, regardless of how far I’m going. I’m not going through multiple hours of pure torture and hell like this ever again. I had left at 6AM and it’s close to 4PM now. I had gone most of the way uninterrupted until I hit that traffic. Surprisingly and not surprisingly, Manehattan was pretty much the same as Manhattan back in New York, except Manehattan still had its twin towers unlike Manhattan where it’s towers collapsed after the 911 terrorist attacks and a single tower was built afterwards. Foot traffic was just as heavy as it was in Manhattan and vehicle traffic was quickly approaching the same rate. Manehattan even had its own Statue of Liberty as well. Manehattan was also just one of the five islands that made up the whole city. Just like New York City, the equestrian name was new hope city. The landmarks were almost exactly the same. New hope city even had its own trump tower. Where we were at moment was the exact same location as time square and it was also called time square here as well. The amount of similarities between America and equestria was unreal and mind boggling. The only thing that wasn’t similar was obviously the naval yard we were heading to.

Aqua was giving me directions to the naval yard as it was somewhat difficult to get to, regardless of where you were in the city. Aqua did also have some friends stationed here and would be able to get us through the base and access to just about the entirety of the installation. I could see the ship yard now and it was huge, but largely empty. The base wasn’t as big as the Norfolk naval base back home in Virginia, but it was still pretty big. I could only see one or two ships docked up at the moment. They looked like dreadnoughts though, big guns, thick armor, and a lot of anti air weapons, but they were still kind of small, if this was the best equestria had to offer, they would have been fucked if the navy was needed and those two were the best equestria had to offer. The planned battleships, destroyers, cruisers, and aircraft carriers would help balance out the power of the navy.

We finally found our way onto an approach road and we were now approaching the gates to the base. Because of the fact that a war was going on that equestria was involved in, all military installations were on a higher state of alert, and since the defcon system was introduced, equestria as a whole and her new allies were currently at defcon 3. We still had to show our military ID’s at the gate so we wouldn’t raise any suspicion. I told aqua to give me her ID real quick as we pulled up. I rolled down the window and handed the cards to the guard on duty there.

We’re here on behalf of princess celestia. We were sent to inspect this navy yard and determine what’s going to happen, your base commander should’ve been informed about this.

“Our CO never tells us anything. He only told us you would be here around 1. We were expecting you 2-3 hours ago.”

You can blame the overturned tractor trailers blocking parts of 276 east and west. Poor bastards are probably still waiting for the tow trucks to arrive. Anyways, where should I park up and wait for the commander?
The guard pointed me over to a parking lot by a large office building. I gave aqua her ID back and started driving over towards the said office building.

I’m gonna drop you off in front aqua, while I go look for a place to park and wait for you guys to come back out.

“Alright. Shouldn't take longer than 20 minutes to find the commander. He knows we were coming and should be expecting at least one of us.” She said.

I pulled up in front of the main entrance and unlocked the door so she could get out. I then proceeded to circle the parking lot for a few minutes until I finally found an empty spot towards the back in row L. Now it was just a matter of waiting. Aqua said it would be 20 minutes at best so that meant it would likely take longer. I needed something to do until she came back out. I already texted her and told her I was parked in the L row. I was looking through my truck for something to pass the time. I found an old wooden box lying under my seat and pulled it out to see what it was.

Well if im gonna be waiting for a while, I should have plenty of time to enjoy one of these

The age for alcohol and tobacco consumption was 18 and seeing as how I just turned 20 last week and I now had a box of cigars in my hands, and just so happened to have a lighter with me, I could hot box until aqua came back. I decided to pull out my phone and turn the radio back on since I liked to have some good music to listen to while I’m enjoying a stogie. I opened SoundCloud and selected my favorite playlist and hit shuffle. I opened up the box as the first song started playing and pulled out a fresh and untouched cigar still wrapped in plastic. I pulled out my lighter after taking it out of the plastic and lit up the 8 inch stick of goodness and took a nice long drag on it.

Aqua POV

I’m going to have to go through multiple levels of security screening to reach the commanders office on the top floor. This defcon system was helping to reduce security issues for the moment but it was also making things take longer than they needed to. I’m only on the first floor and the elevators are out of order right now for maintenance so I’m gonna have to go through screening again once I get upstairs to the top floor. I would have to go through metal detectors, have my ID looked at, have my background checked, and answer some security questions once I got upstairs. One of my friends though, who worked as an assistant for the base commander, was waiting for me when I got up stairs. So I would at least get to see her again. We haven’t seen each other since this damn war started but we still talked all the time.

I was now out of the first stair well and arrived at the security checkpoint. I did everything the security officers asked of me as I showed my ID, stepped through the metal detector, got frisked, and answered their questions. I was free to proceed after they gave me back my ID. I kept walking and eventually found where I was supposed to be and saw a certain mare who I hadn’t talked face to face with in almost a year now. She quickly looked up from her computer as I walked over to her, beaming a wide smile.

“Aqua? Oh my gosh! How long has it been since I’ve seen you!? You look as great as you do in those photos of you and your colt friend that you emailed me!”

She was so happy to see me. She got up and ran up and hugged me almost immediately. We’ve known each other since pre school and have been best friends ever since pre school

“Hehehe, I’ve missed you to vapor. I haven’t seen you this happy since you got accepted into the Wonderbolts Academy and when you did actually make it onto the flight team with captain spitfire.”

Vapor was a bit of a shy mare but she was very caring and friendly and just overall a great pony to be around. We had each others backs all the way through our school years. She had gotten picked on a good bit in high school especially since she wanted to go into the Wonderbolts but I had her back since I wanted to go into the royal guard and had began my training when I was 17. She had got accepted into the Wonderbolts Academy the same month that I completed my training and got accepted into the guards. We still wear our respective insignias openly since the Wonderbolts was technically an elite branch of the Air Force because that’s where the best fliers In the equestrian military went and we want ponies to know who we represent. They were respectively placed on our uniforms where a branch flag was placed. We were allowed to wear the bands that were given to us by our special somepony. She didn’t have a colt friend yet as she wasn’t wearing a band on her foreleg. I had to have a band made with Dakota’s initials and something that represents him for who he is with his would be cutiemark being a silhouetted human soldier standing at attention as three missiles were launched from behind him.

“I almost forgot what you were here for. Here, I’ll buzz the lieutenant real quick and get him out here for you so you can get this thing started.” Vapor walked back over to her desk and pressed a button on her intercom.

“Sir, Sgt.Major lance and Lt.Colonel Rodriguez are here to see you about the meeting they requested with you.” There was a short pause before we had gotten a response.

“Ok. I’ll be right out. I just need a minute to finish something.” The commander came out of his office a moment later. We both snapped to attention as he came out.

“At ease ladies. Sergeant, where is the lieutenant if I might ask?”

“He is waiting in the parking lot for us sir. He said he’s ready to begin when you are.

”Alrighty then. Corporal vapor, I’d like for you to come with us for this meeting and help fill in anything I may have forgotten to mention during this meeting.”

With the introductions and reunions out of the way, we all started to walk back downstairs and out of the building apparently the commander vapor was working with, lieutenant whiplash, knew a lot about her past and was interested in hearing about all the things we did together from my perspective. Thankfully we didn’t have to stop at the checkpoints on the way out. There were sensors that could detect and disable changeling, shadow, and dark magic in an instant that were present just about everywhere on each military installation.

Sergeant lance, where exactly is your lieutenant parked at? I never asked that question before we got here.

He’s parked towards the back of row L sir. I’ll know when I see him.

We were out of the building now and walking through the parking lot. The cool breeze blowing across my face and sound of the waves crashing against the docks and ships was a great experience. Reminds me of when all 3 of us went to the beach for our 1 year anniversary. Dakota had forgotten about sunscreen and ended up getting a pretty bad sun burn All across his back. He was redder than a tomato but he still found a way to make us all laugh even if he hard time moving for a few days afterwards. Even though a monster storm was on the way and the sky was getting darker each hour, this still felt nice.

We were now in row L and I could see his truck now but I couldn’t see through the windshield for some reason. It was so foggy in there, I could hear music so it’s clear he trying to do something either interesting or stupid to pass the time.

Just as we reached him, the drivers side window rolled down as loads of white smoke started pouring out of the truck and something came flying out of the truck as well. I picked up whatever it was and it said “toro grande”.

“Oh for the love of celestia, I thought I told him to cut back on the cigars. He’s gonna end up Making himself really sick if he doesn’t stop.”

you did tell me to cut back and I did. All this smoke, produced from that one cigar.

Dakota finished that sentence by coughing a good bit and opening up the door all the way as the smoke now bellowed our from the truck.

Lieutenant Rodriguez.

Lieutenant whiplash.

They simply greeted each other by saluting one another before proceeding.

I understand that you called a meeting with me today to discuss what we can both do to improve equestrias fleet, sir.

That is correct. Before I decide though, I’d like to see what ships equestria currently has at her disposal and what the repair yards and storage facilities are like so I can decide whether those need work or not.

Understood sir. Please, allow me to show you around the Manehattan naval base.

Just like that, they wrapped up their formalities as We all climbed in and started to drive.

Dakota POV

I’ve met with lieutenant whiplash and now he was going to show me around Manehattans naval yard. He said the first stop would be indoor docks where most of the ships that weren’t currently out at sea were being kept for maintenance. If that’s the case, equestria could technically have a much larger navy than I thought.

We came up to an extremely large hanger shaped building and stopped at a set of large garage doors. It looked like it was activated by a keycard scanner so I quickly scanned my card and got us inside. Heading in, I saw a large amount of corvettes, frigates, and small torpedo gunboats just sitting in the water. There was a pair of what looked like L class destroyers moored against a back wall. However, these destroyers were probably better than a regular L class back home used in the late 19th and early 20th century as they had the same quick firing 90MM main guns along with an anti air gun mounted in an elevated position between 2 smoke stacks and was manually operated, but the armor seemed thicker as well by maybe 6 inches.

”You said most of equestrias ships were currently out at sea right now, right lieutenant?”

”yes lieutenant. Why do you ask?”

”When’s the next ship supposed to be coming back?”

”One of our heavy cruisers, the EQS sunspot, is currently on her way back to port for repairs and crew replacement. She had a close encounter with some depth charges off the coast of the crystal empire while on patrol. Reports from the captain of that vessel say that she suffered a hull breach above the water line from shrapnel and 30 crew members were injured and at least 1 crew member is dead. She should be here in less than an hour.”

I haven’t seen much of equestrias fleet but I think it’s safe to say that the new ships I planned on bringing here will be a real game changer.

”The repair yard has already been notified and medical teams are on standby for when she docks. But for now, let’s move on. I want to show you some of these ships up close and personal.”

”then let’s do it. I’d like to start with one of those capital ships outside if that’s fine, sir.

”of course, the back bone of the navy is always a good place to start sir. The EQS eclipse and EQS pulsar have seen their fair share of skirmishes, but have always come out victorious.

”Well then, I think I’d like to see the pulsar first then, sir.”

2 hours later

We had just gotten off the EQS pulsar and given the fact that it’s a dreadnought, she definitely could still hold her own in a fight. I had forgotten that aqua and her friend were with us on the ship as well because while we we’re making our way up to the bridge, I had forgotten about the small door ways and smacked right into the frame of one and fell backwards onto her friend and had given myself a nose bleed.

The heavy cruiser that lieutenant whiplash had told us that was on its way back he arrived and was already being worked on. Seriously, equestrians probably work even harder, faster, and better than the Germans do.

We had just gotten off of one the destroyers in the dock building or whatever it’s called, and now we were going to look at one of the frigates and then a corvette. The frigates and corvettes were probably the most modern ships equestria had to offer but they weren’t without some issues that their counterparts on earth had. For the most part they were still in good condition and pretty fast but there was a pretty big issue. None of the frigates has the anti air weaponry to defend itself from air attacks or attacking smaller vessels. I had already checked out the repair yard and refueling area along with ammo storage. I was ready to give my decision once I was done.

We had just gotten off of a corvette and it was now around 9:00PM.

Lieutenant whiplash, equestrias current fleet, although seeming somewhat small, has promising potential but it needs a serious overhaul. I’ve decided that ships from earth will be brought to the equestrian seas and help fight against Sombra. The current ships here will remain in service but will need to undergo some upgrading before ready to set sail and sink some, if any of Sombra’s ships if he has any.

Are you sure sir? I’ve commanded this fleet for over 20 years and we haven’t lost a single vessel to an enemy fleet. The mares and stallions under my command would need to undergo an intense retra

im sure about it sir. Don’t take it as something wrong with the fleet, just think of it as a suggestion from one O-5 to another O-5. Trust me, American navy ships are packed with so much fire power and are so much bigger that some of them are pretty much miniature cities.

Although somewhat reluctant, whiplash just let it happen as equestrias navy was going to be getting some real ships now. I would text celestia once me and aqua got a hotel for the night and let her know that we will be bringing numerous ships to equestria and be doing it either Sunday or Monday since celestia was currently away on some diplomatic business with the Minotaurs trying to negotiate terms for troop deployment and resources.

After leaving the naval yard, I started driving around while aqua was scrolling through her phone, trying to find a good hotel for the night that’s not too far away. Manehattan had a pretty good night life going for it. Ponies were still out and about, bars were packed full of ponies wanting to get wasted and watch some sports, there were lines outside of movie theaters, and bright, big jumbo screens decorated the buildings and were constantly playing advertisements, news, or weather. Most of the news on was revolving around the ongoing war right now but there were still stations covering what was going on here In Equestria.

Aqua had found us a hotel close to time square called the marionette inn and suites that had a 4.7 star review and would allow us to get a room even if we didn’t have a reservation. It was about 300 bits per night but I could afford to pay that for the next few days. Aqua set the GPS and I got us on our way. It was only about 1.2 miles away so I wouldn’t have to go far. Traffic had picked up somewhat as rush hour had ended long ago and we could move through the city at 40MPH right now.

I was pulling up to the hotel now and it was huge. There seemed to be a valet service out front which was good because I did not want to try and park a dually in a parking garage. That was already hard enough back home. I pulled into a little parallel parking spot out front and shut off my truck as we both got out and walked inside the hotel. It was pretty impressive to say the least.

Marble floors, pillars, and walls were common here along with a grand staircase that went up a floor and led to what looks like a pool and a gym area. The breakfast area was massive. There were multiple tables and what looked like a set of doors that led in and out of a kitchen area where guests could order special breakfast items. Over by a set of elevators was a set of vending machines and an ice machine. There was a sign above them that pointed to a laundry area down the hallway. There was a pretty big fountain in the courtyard like area that had lights in it that were on at the moment. balcony’s wrapped around for each floor and looked down into the courtyard like area of a first floor and were all connected up as one and went all the way up to the top floor and ended with a huge sky light at the top. TV’s were mounted on the walls and 2nd floor balcony advertising the hotels services, things to do in the area, the news, weather, and travel delays. Even from down here, I could see individual room number plates on the walls next to each room window. This place was almost identical to the embassy suites hotel back in America in Baltimore, real classy and affordable.

A receptionist came to greet us as we were waiting for one to show up now. We had already gotten a room straight away and we also got an active military discount for 40 percent off our stay for the next few days.

We got our room key and we would be staying on the 21st floor, room 2123. We went back outside real quick to get whatever we needed out of my truck such as my laptop, wallet, phone, some spare clothes and even my cigars. Aqua already had gotten her stuff and walked back inside. I reached into the tool box and pulled out two black under armor duffel bags contains some fresh clothes and something I could use to pass the time before I shut the door and gave the pony at the valet desk my lanyard with my keys. Apparently your keys would also be brought to your room after your vehicle was parked so that was pretty neat, all I had to do was tell her my room number and somepony would bring them to you. I wouldn’t have to talk to a receptionist and wait 10 minutes for them to look through a box of them just to find mine if I wanted to go somewhere.

I walked back in and over to the elevators which there was a convenient set of them right by the entrance. There was already one here on ground level so we wouldn’t have to wait for one to come down. We both stepped inside and selected our floor. The doors closed and the elevator started its way up. It was one of those elevators that you could see out of kind of like in a shopping mall, but this elevator was a lot faster.

Woah, holy cow

This was way quicker than a mall elevator. It’s only been 5 seconds and already we had just passed the 11th floor. It was already clear that this was an express elevator because after 10 seconds, we arrived on our floor. We got out of the elevator and started walking along the balcony to our room, passing vending machines, signs, TVs, windows, and other rooms. Rooms that were available usually had the blinds opened while ones with Ponies in them usually had the blinds on curtains closed or there was a light on inside with the tv inside turned on.

This is us, 2123

Aqua said as I almost walked past it since I wasnt paying attention. What I hadn’t noticed until now is that each room also had a little mail drop bin attached to the door kind of like an inbox attached to classroom doors at my old school and our box had a little package envelope sitting in it which I assumed could only be my keys and grabbed the envelope and put it under my shoulder as I reached into my pocket and pulled out the key card needed to unlock the door. I swiped the card in it’s slot and watched as a red light on the card reader turned green and I heard the tumblers moving as the door was unlocked.

Upon Walking inside, we both got blasted by the extremely cold hotel air conditioning. It was good for when I was sleeping, but not when I was still wide awake, and to add onto it, it was blowing full blast right in our faces as well. I had to squint my eyes and cover my face because hotel air conditioning is so powerful that it could probably cool down an overheated car engine in just 2 minutes. I quickly rushed over to the AC unit and shut it off as fast as I could and opened up the window right above it. I could still hear the one in the bedroom going as well so it was gonna be ice cold in there as well, but it’s a good thing I have a hoodie in my bag.

I set my stuff down and opened the bedroom door and shut off the AC before I walked back out into the main area. A nearby clock said that it was almost 9:30PM and I didn’t feel like going back out to find someplace to eat and it was easy to tell that we were both thinking the same thing to get for dinner.

“Pizza?” We both said at the exact same time.

Due to the alliances going on at the moment, Diamond dogs, griffons, Minotaurs, and equestrians were all living in unison in parts of equestria, which also meant that more food options became available, and my favorite, meat. Because a lot of griffons were now residing in Manehattan, meat became common, which meant I could enjoy my favorite pizza toppings such as pepperoni, ham, and sausage. I reached into my computer bag to pull out my laptop and begin the ordering process. I let aqua create her pizza first while I went into the bathroom.

I started to have a horrible migraine and started having tunnel vision as well and felt really heavy again. This started out as just some soreness and and minor headaches and dizziness but it’s gotten worse now and I already found out why on my own.

Because equestria is so packed full of magic, I was constantly absorbing it into my body without a way to naturally expel it. I had learned how to harness and cast it and taught my friends how to do it for their health as well, but use of magic is prohibited in most hotels across equestria due hotel owners to not wanting to pay lots of money for repairs if a unicorns spell went wrong and took out half of the whole building. I hadn’t used any of the magic I absorbed in almost 2 weeks now and I’m regretting it. If I can make it to Sunday or Monday, I’ll be able to cast the spell needed to bring the giant warships into equestria and I’ll almost completely drain myself of all the magic in my body. Ive been passively absorbing magic ever since I first arrived in equestria and I first started having these problems nearly 6 weeks after first arriving in equestria.

The amount of magic in anything living is measured in a unit Usually only used for measuring electricity, Amps. The average unicorn had a normal magic buildup of and threshold of 2750.56 Amps, while Alicorns had a MUCH higher threshold of 9890.67 Amps. I had a little device that I could put on my finger and it would measure my vitals such as blood pressure, heart rate, and of course, how much magic was in my body. I was currently sitting at a buildup of around 7995.82 amps and that number was still rising but it was going up pretty slowly but the magic was also still indirectly attacking my system in an attempt to escape. I had an extremely high capacitance for some reason so I was pretty much a living capacitor for this stuff, waiting to be discharged, and it was getting to be really painful. I had found out though if I exceeded 10000 amps, I would literally explode from the buildup reaching its breaking point, kind of like a pressure cooker not venting off its pressure and blowing up on the stove. That wouldn’t be good. I’m just out in public, or next to tia, aqua or my friends, and I’m just lying on the ground Writhing in pain, unable to do anything, and next thing you know, Boom! Blood, limbs, and guts go flying everywhere from the buildup reaching its breaking point, covering everything and everyone nearby in a bright red mist as bones became projectiles, moving fast enough to pierce through someone.

My legs had almost completely given out but everything stopped after a few seconds, but not before I coughed up a small bit of blood. I just washed it off before walking back out into the main room. Aqua had just finished up her order and now I started putting my order in. Double pepperoni, bacon, and ham with a thick garlic seasoned crust and extra sauce with a side of extra bread sticks and extra mozzarella sticks with marinara sauce was always the best combo I got back home. I would occasionally just go all out and also order order another pizza, salad, sub sandwich, fries, wings, and a couple of 2L sodas from places like dominos on nights when I was binge watching a movie series such as godzilla and mission impossible. What I would I give to have that back.

I finalized our order and put it through now. It was saying it would be a 40 minute wait time before our food got here. I still had yet to transfer my money on my credit card to an equestrian credit card believe it or not. I was still able to use dollars here and there since they pretty much were the same as bits but still a bit more valuable than bits as well.

We would either have to order more food later on tonight or try and finds supermarkets because a large hurricane, almost as powerful as sandy, was slowly approaching new hope city and we wouldn’t be able to do anything for the next couple of days since the hurricane was supposed to make landfall early in the morning around 4AM when we were still sleeping and more than 8 inches of rain is expected. This explains half the reason why so many ponies were trying to leave Manehattan for the weekend. A voluntary evacuation order was currently in place as well so things were getting serious. The hurricane was recently named Zala as well so it could be recorded better.

The storm was still more than 500 miles off the coast but it was moving at 30 MPH right now and expected to slowdown drastically once it’s closer than 150 miles away and could end up being almost stationary due to so many atmospheric instabilities right now that could push, pull, speed up, or slow down the giant storm. It’s currently a category 4 storm but it was still intensifying as well and could reach category 5 strength when it hits. We should be fine though since the hotel has a set of backup emergency generators ready to kick on in the event the power gets knocked out so we wouldn’t be in the dark. Even from here in our room, I could see cargo ships leaving port now as well as some naval ships returning to be docked in the yard to avoid capsizing since 20 foot waves have been reported inside the storm by observation planes and buoys. For the ships returning and leaving. It was up to the captains on the vessels to decide wether or not to remain out at sea or dock in the nearest harbor and wait it out. The wind had been slowly picking up over the past few hours and it was getting to be a bit gusty as well.

A Hurricane watch along with some high wind warnings and special marine warnings were in place for the next few days until the storm passed or dissipated, but because the hotel was 150 feet above sea level we wouldn’t have to worry about the sea flooding the hotel and Manehattan had a good amount of protective measures against flooding, storm surges, and High wind gusts. Most of the skyscrapers were built to withstand extreme wind gusts and powerful earthquakes, a lot like the buildings in places like Hong Kong, Tokyo, and shanghai, and our hotel was one of the buildings that was built to be resistant to those types of things.

After placing our order, I decided to see what else was in our hotel. We had a secondary bedroom off to the left after we walked in next to the bathroom. There was a fully open kitchen off to the left after we walked in and it came with an assorted set of pots and pans sitting in the cabinets and utensils along with bowls and plates and a sizeable refrigerator along with a gas stove, sink, and dishwasher, all facing into the living room so you could watch whatever you wanted on the 50 inch smart TV mounted on the wall above a gas fire place that could be controlled by an intensity and timer switch on the wall. There was a couch along with a love seat and dark oak coffee table in the living room with a TV guide, phone book, TV remote, note pad and pen on both sides of the couch and love seat were some side tables that had outlets attached to them and plugged into some floor outlets with lamps sitting on them. On the table closest to the master bedroom door sat one of the hotel rooms phones. There was a phone in each room for If we wanted room service. The floor was a mix of nice carpet in the living room and both bedrooms while the kitchen and bathroom were a cold marble tile.

Going back into the master bedroom, there was a large king size bed with at least 10 pillows on it. Looking over to the right of the bed, the window was still open and it felt nice. There was a closet with a safe in it to the left of the bed. A large oak wood dresser was present right in the middle of the doors back out into the living room and the master bedrooms bathroom. A 40 inch flatscreen TV sat on top of the dresser along with a pair of lamps and a cable box. Going into the other bedroom, it was the same layout as the master bedroom except there was no bathroom in here and it was a queen size bed instead of king size.

I walked back out into the living room and turned on the TV to see if anything was on at the moment. The weather channel was on right now and keeping up with where the hurricane was right now but was also talking about severe weather happening in other parts of the world. Right now over seas in the gryphon kingdom, a tornado outbreak was on going and already more than 200 griffons have died from the outbreak since a lot of the tornados were rated EF3 or higher and at least 1 EF5 was currently on the ground near griffonstone, interrupting the fighting between allied and shadow empire forces, temporarily putting on a ceasefire so that both sides could evacuate their dead and injured along with our side currently busy in getting civilians out of griffonstone that were still injured before the fighting resumed. Meanwhile in zebrica, severe droughts were affecting the nation and we were busy air dropping shipments of water and food to areas hit the hardest. In las Pegasus, winds were kicking up and the threat of a dust storm was starting to prompt ponies to stay indoors and to the east of there in what would be pony Arizona, the threat of wildfires breaking out in the more wooded areas was also growing because that area never sees any rain, and the low humidity and hot conditions were perfect.

Aqua had gone into the bathroom and as soon as she closed the door, my symptoms started again. The horrible migraines, tunnel vision, feeling heavy, blood coughing, and now ringing in the ears, back pain, foot pain, arm pains, and trouble breathing added onto the symptoms and reasons I needed to start discharging magic as soon as possible. This time my legs did give out and I collapsed in the middle of the living room and I couldn’t move much at all. I was spasming a bit on the ground now as well. I was really hoping it all would stop before aqua came back out. Unfortunately, my wish was ignored as I heard the toilet flush and heard her unlocking the door before she came back out and gasp as she stood there looking at me, not sure of what to do.

Oh my gosh! Dakota!? DAKOTA!? What happened to you!? Are you ok!?

She was really scared by seeing me like this since she quickly darted to my side and rolled me over onto my back and looked at me. I felt so bad about not telling either her or tia about this since I didn’t want to cause them undo panic and because I didn’t want to undergo numerous medical experiments. She was on the verge of crying since I could see the tears welling up in her big green eyes and threatening to fully spill over since some of them did fall and land on my face and one landed in my mouth. It was stopping again now and I slowly reached up to cup one of her cheeks in my hand. She was such a sensitive mare and I knew it absolutely pained and frightened her to see me like this, in a state of pain and suffering. Tears matted her soft blue as they started flowing freely now and her long silver mane now partially abscured her right eye, just like tia’s mane did. She got up and quickly tried to run to the phone to call for help, but I stopped her by grabbing one of her legs.

I’ll be...f fine. I’m suffering from a magic buildup in my body w...without a way for it naturally leave my body. I...if I can make it to Monday or wait for the eye of the hurricane to pass over..., I’ll be able almost completely deplete myself of this buildup. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you or tia sooner. I didn't want to cause either of you any undo panic, worrying about me when there’s more important stuff to focus on.

More important stuff? You’re the most important thing in both of our lives, in my life! I was so scared that you were about to die. Without you, not only does equestria lose its biggest influencer on the war effort, but we both lose the one closest to us, we both lose our special somepo...special someone. I don’t want to lose you this early in our relationship. I want to grow old with you and have a family of our own. If you continue to let this buildup happen, we’ll have to start planning a funeral for you, I don’t want that.

I felt like such a dipshit for not telling either of them about this but what’s done is done. I just sat up and quickly hugged her to try and calm her down and tried to talk to her as well which also seemed to work. She stopped crying and seems to have calmed down now, mostly forgetting about the fact that I could die. I got back up and grabbed the little device from earlier and put it on my finger again as it took a couple moments to read my stats until it finally came back. My buildup was only at 8023.43 amps right now but it was still climbing nonetheless.

I had told aqua about my buildup and what my symptoms were and how it affected me. I also told her about it affecting my friends and how I helped them out with it. What I hadn’t told her was when it all started originally when it was still just my first month In Equestria over 3 years ago, just 1 week after she confessed to me that she loved me in that hotel room even when I metaphorically had her at Gun point. Sure aqua might have been a crazy, love stricken guardsmare, but she was my crazy, love stricken guardsmare. I loved her and tia to death and would give my love for both of them, regardless of how cliche and corny it sounds.

As soon as I was done reading my amps, I heard a knock on our door. I quickly walked over to it and opened it up. Our pizza was finally here and I was fucking hungry. I quickly grabbed our food and tipped the guy 50 bits before quickly shutting the door and walking over to the kitchen counter and set the numerous boxes and bags down. We both decided to go all out and get the biggest pizzas we could order so we would have more slices and be able to have some left over because I’m sure the hotel isn’t gonna serve lunch or dinner so we would be on our own for the next few days. I set our food down on the coffee table and started flipping through the TV channels to see what was on. I had surprisingly come across a the pony versions of Chicago med, fire, and PD. I loved these shows back home, so they should still be good.

2 hours later

We were both now out at a grocery store, gathering up what we could before the hurricane arrived. Surprisingly enough, we had run into aquas friend, vapor trail, again at the store. She said she was trying to get as much food as she could and was gonna try and wait it out somewhere for the next few days until the hurricane passes since lieutenant whiplash ordered that everypony on base except for essential personnel such as security and maintenance was to leave and head more inland since the barracks there was close to the water and was at risk of being flooded by storm surges. I offered her to come stay with us since we had an extra bedroom in our hotel and I know her and aqua wanted to continue catching up. We were now checking out of the store with 3 full shopping carts which was yet again surprising because either most ponies already have what they need or they aren’t panic buyers like humans. We now had probably at least 2 weeks worth of food and essentials. I paid for everything and our final price came out to be 1890 bits. After paying for everything, we started pushing the carts outside and over towards my truck. The bed cap would keep our food dry for the most part. It was raining rather heavily now but most of the food was sealed in plastic and cans so we didn’t have to worry about much. We all got in the truck but as soon as I shut my door, my phone started going off.

A hurricane warning was now in effect. I quickly put my keys in the ignition and turned on the radio.

BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ Extremely dangerous and life threatening hurricane Zala now bearing down on the northeast coast of equestria. The National weather service office in Broncs, has issued a hurricane warning for the following major cities, new hope city, and baltimare. For the following surrounding areas, Crosby, gatorstown, Trent, flint, nipton, hiros, Little Rock, lamplight, Rockville, Honeywell, Winston, greenville, palmetto, Hartford, Howard, grainy, uptown, Waboba, la crosse, sharp, spencer, mechanicsville, prime, morison, steel river, husky, and Jacksonville until 3:30AM Monday. At 11:39PM eastern time, hurricane zala was reported by satellite imagery, buoys, and radar to be 150 miles off the coast as a category 5 hurricane, and is moving northeast at 2 MPH, and was nearly stationary. Sustained winds of 115 MPH with gusts up to 185 MPH have been reported. Storm surges can reach up 10 feet and will sweep away anything in their path. Severe flooding is likely to start within a couple of hours and areas as far inland as Cassio township can expect to receive up to two to three inches of rain within one hour.When this happens, make sure you are on a higher floor in a sturdy building. Stay away from windows. If you are outside, in a vehicle, or a mobile home, move to the closest substantial shelter as quickly as possible. Make sure you have a two weeks supply of non perishable food, bottled water, batteries, a flashlight, a battery powered or crank powered radio, first aid kit, cellphone with power bank, Blankets, and warm clothing. Repeating, hurricane Zala Is 150 miles away from making landfall, take the necessary precautions to protect life and property.
BZZZZZ BZZZZZ BZZZZZ

Oh my god. It’s actually happening.

I wasted no time in starting the engine and booking it back to the hotel. The city was desolate right now which would have made for some easy high speed driving and some Tokyo drifting if it wasn’t for the fact that some streets were blocked off and cars were abandoned in the middle of the road. We got back to the hotel and I went almost straight to the top of the parking garage. I stopped and parked one level below the top and we all got out. I opened the bed and there thankfully was a few of those suitcase carts nearby that we could use to get everything up to our room in one go. I brought three of them over and we loaded them up completely. It’s a good thing we bought fabric bags at the store instead of just opting for the plastic ones they usually give us because those would’ve torn. I shut the tailgate and locked my truck as we all made a mad dash for the hotel entrance. We made it inside just in time as a nasty gust blew through the garage and blew a lot of stuff over.

Woah, too close for comfort

I was just happy to be inside somewhere warm and dry now. We were on the 6th floor right now so we would just need to call the elevator and then walk to our room. The elevators were in the corners of the hallways so we had a bit of a walk ahead. I could hear the rain and wind hitting the building hard. I looked up at the giant skylight and could just see the rain running down it. It was like when your going through a car wash and your cars getting rinsed off. We didn’t have to worry about windows being blown out since bulletproof glass was used in windows built on outer walls with the glass being at least an inch and a half thick and layered. Every light in the hotel dimmed for a few seconds as a lightning bolt struck a lighting rod on the roof but the lights returned to normal. I had been slowly discharging some of the magic in my body for a while now but had to do it discreetly in the hotel now. I had been using the magic in my body ever since we left the hotel. It was interesting to try and drive without my hands on the wheel or my feet on the pedals Or my hand even on the shifter.

We were now back at our room and right as I swiped us in, the hotel manager decided to make an announcement.

“Mares and stallions, please excuse this interruption. As you know hurricane Zala will make landfall soon. We are compensating every pony here by making each night free for the rest of the time you’re here until Zala passes and we will be serving food all day everyday in the lobby until the hurricane passes as we know not many of you may have food in your rooms. Please keep all windows closed at all times unless told to open them by a staff member. In the event that the hotel starts to flood, empty rooms on floors 3 and up will be remotely unlocked for you to relocate to. Unless you have an emergency, most Doors leading outside will remain locked for your safety and everypony else’s. We will partially ease the restriction on magic use in the hotel to allow for small things to be done to help keep others safe. If you have any questions, please speak to a staff member. Please enjoy the rest of your night.

The guy on the PA did not seem phased by the storm one bit. He’s got balls of steel, I’ll give him that. All though only the outer rain bands were hitting us now, it felt like Zala already made landfall and the eye was getting ready to pass over us. We were putting away the food we bought when another lighting bolt struck the roof of the hotel and startled vapor trail as she jumped and dropped a bunch of cans on my foot while I wasn’t wearing any shoes.

Aaahhhh! My fucking toes! Owww that really hurt!

Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry! Are you ok!?

Yeah, I’ll be fine, they don’t feel broken and I can still feel and move them just fine, just hurts is all.

A can of beans dropped on your toes was never a pleasant experience, but things happen. I could see aqua giggling a little bit in the corner of my eye.

Oh quit giggling. If you had toes, I’d drop this can on yours. Still not as painful as accidentally stubbing them on a door or table leg.

That was easily something more painful than a can dropping on your toes. After getting everything put away and taken care of, I decided to change into some pajamas and hop into bed while aqua was showing vapor to the spare room she would be sleeping in for the next few days. I measured my vitajoules again before going to sleep and I was currently sitting at 7689.27 Amps right now. I had used a good bit of magic earlier but not enough it would likely seem. My symptoms would worsen a lot more tomorrow, if I don’t die in my sleep from the buildup.

I switched the AC back on and set it to 64 degrees on full blast before moving a couple of the excessive amounts of pillows and crawling under the blankets and closing my eyes. I was out like a light within minutes.

10 hours later

I had woken up now to a shit ton of pain. I checked my amps before I even got out of bed and to my utter dismay, shock, and slight fear, I was getting into the red zone at 8509.08 amps now. I couldn’t feel my legs and all I could do was groan in pain. I tried to roll off the bed and into the living room but I could only roll of the bed and hit the floor and I could barely move. I knew death would claim me if I didn’t do something fast.

Aqua, vapor, somepony, anypony! Help me! I don’t want to die in a hotel bedroom!

I was just barely above conversation levels of volume. To my relief, I heard a pair of hoof steps approaching the door way over the heavy wind and rain outside somehow. The door opened and aqua rushed in to help me.

Oh my gosh! Vapor, come here, I need your help! Dakota, how bad is the buildup!? Can you walk!?

8509.08, I have no idea how I built up almost 900 amps in my sleep in less than 10 hours.

Vapor rushed in almost as quickly as aqua and got on my left side real quick. She had the same look of worry on her face, but for clearly different reasons.

Get me to the naval yard as fast as you both possibly can. I’m going to discharge every last bit of magic in my body as I can. Take my truck, it’s too dangerous to fly through the hurricane right now, especially with these winds. One of you inform commander whiplash, let him know that we’re coming and that’s an emergency and the gates need to be open to allow entry for us.

I was somehow able to say everything in a tired sounding tone. I was fighting to not pass out right now and it was getting really difficult to stay awake. Almost immediately, both mares helped me up as I was placed on vapors back while aqua grabbed my keys and my phone for me. They ran out of the hotel room at lighting speed as I was now being held as vapor flew down from the 21st floor to the 5th where the parking garage access was. A staff member there saw us and unlocked the door for us. In less than two minutes, we were already in my truck as aqua fired her up and took off for the naval yard.

Aqua POV

Never have I acted on something so fast as I have now. Dakota was practically on the verge of death right now from his magic buildup starting to reach a critical point. I was now having to drive his new truck for the first time and I was not familiar with a manual transmission, much less one with 10 gears and high-low ranges. We weren’t even out of the parking garage yet and the strong winds were making this all the more difficult by blowing us around.

Pay attention to the RPMs when shifting, wait until you reach 800 rpms when you go to down shift, and 2500 rpms when you go to upshift. Change ranges when you’re in 4th gear low. You can shift without using the clutch in the higher gears when you find out what you’re doing

Even though dakota’s exhausted voice made me worried for him, he still helped me to get him to the Naval yard faster.

Thanks babe, but please, save your strength. We’ll be there soon. You’ll be alright.

Thank you sir. We’ll see you in a few minutes sir. Aqua, commander whiplash has the gates opened for us but only for the next 10 minutes. If we’re not there within that time frame, we’ll be own to help your colt friend

Thanks vapor, I’ll pay you back for this when this is all over.

The wind blowing left and right moved the truck left and right nearly hitting the sidewalks. I could faintly see what looked like the outline of a ship in the distance but it was too hard to see from here with it currently raining sideways and the windows being covered in rain water. We might not make it in time because in addition to the wind blowing us around, the heavy rain making it hard to see, and the wet roads, many ponies had just out right abandoned their cars in the middle of the roads, doors still open, sitting at intersections and everything. It was a challenge in itself to get around them as quick as possible. I could see what looked like a turn that led onto a small bridge a few intersections up ahead. That was it, we’re gonna make it to the base I could already see the EQS pulsar from here and I could now see the bow of the EQS eclipse coming into view now.

just hold on a little longer Dakota, we’re coming up to the yard now!

He was so packed full of residual magic that parts of him were glowing faintly. If he didn’t act as soon as he got out, he’d most likely die, and that’s what I’m most worried about. We’d been together now for three years which doesn’t seem like a long time it felt long to me. Through the good times and bad times and even the prank wars, I wouldn’t trade him for any other male in equestria ever. He was perfect for me. I wanted to Mary him and settle down somewhere quite when this war was finally over.

I stopped the truck and set the brakes as another wind gust blew and rattled the truck. I got out as vapor helped me to get Dakota out of the truck. The magic radiating from his body was so powerful that I could feel it flowing through my body and back into his. We were carrying him closer to the water like he told us to when suddenly, a huge lighting bolt struck a crane close to us and caused it to begin falling backwards towards us. We both tried to jump out of the way but we only barely made it because we had to throw Dakota. I was knocked down and vapor got pinned under something that came off the crane that also knocked her unconscious. I tried to get up and help her, but something stopped me from doing so, something painful. I felt a tugging feeling in my left rear leg and was horrified by what was there.

A piece of metal had stabbed right through my left rear leg but it didn’t feel like it went through through bone but was still keeping me anchored to the ground and a wire was also keeping me from even moving around slightly. I was already starting to feel the adrenaline wear off as the pain got worse and worse and my vision started to fade to black. I could see Dakota standing up now as he started to do something that I could only see in glimpses through my fading consciousness. He was channeling every last bit of magic he had into one giant spell. He was now floating right in front of me as both of his hands were out like a cross and glowing with a bright green color that radiated across his entire body. I could see what looked like a ship starting to appear above the water. It was absolutely huge. Even bigger than the Eclipse and pulsar. It had bigger and more guns, a taller super structure, and the number 63 painted on the front. The magic field around the ship vanished as it now dropped 50 feet into the water and caused the entire ground to shake for a full 10 seconds.

Moments later, a second, even bigger ship started to appear above the water. It had a fourth turret with guns in it as well and seemed to be longer than the last ship as well. This one though had a 67 painted on it instead. The second ship dropped into the water and caused a more violent shaking that lasted longer as well. Before I fully blacked out from blood loss, I noticed that the wind and rain had almost completely stopped. The last thing i saw was Dakota slowly trying to limp his way over to us. And the last thing I heard was him trying to call for help followed by 3 gunshots before total silence took hold.

Dakota POV
5 minutes earlier

I was barely conscious when I felt the truck stop and heard 2 doors open followed by mine a few seconds later. I soon felt 2 pairs of hooves grab me and get me out of my truck as I was exposed to the high winds. I could barely see, and I could barely hear right now. I did see though, a large bolt of lighting impact a loading crane close to us as it took out one of the legs on it and started to fall. I soon felt both mares throw me as far as they could to try and get away from the crane. I saw the extent of the damage and saw that they were both pinned under the remains of said crane. I needed to act now. I slowly stood up and started to funnel all of the magic into my hands as they started glowing a bright and intense lime green. I even felt myself start to lift up off the ground.

I focused as hard as I could and started to duplicate the first ship. I focused hard on it, every AA gun, every main battery, every entrance, I needed to get this down to the dot with accuracy. Soon, the ship started to appear in front of me. It grew more and more opaque as it appeared and then, when I was ready, dropped it into the water. Equestria now had the USS Missouri in its fleet. Now for the Montana. Even though the ship was only a prototype and never actually built, I played enough world of warships and saw enough pictures and documentaries to know exactly what it looked like and what it’s supposed to have. The Montana was now starting to appear in front of me. The rain and wind were slowing down as well which made this easier for me. I got everything down and dropped it into the water as well. The USS Montana was now also apart of the equestrian royal fleet. I stopped channeling as I now felt really weak. That little device that I always had with me to keep my levels in check was now reading just 20.3 amps of magic in my body after that. Death averted. I forgot about aqua and vapor as I quickly turned back to them and rushed over to try and help them.

Aqua, aqua! Vapor! Vapor!

I weakly shouted as I sort of limp ran towards them. There was nothing I could do for them, especially aqua in this state once I got a good look at her leg. A metal rod stabbed right through and she was slowly bleeding out. I looked around and saw some base security ponies looking around, surveying the damages so far. I tried calling out to them but I was to weak and was about to pass out as well. I resorted to doing something stupid to try and get their attention. Right before I faded out, I pulled out my trusty FN five seven and fired a few rounds into the air to try and get their attention before I collapsed next to both mares and finally blacked out. The last thing I saw before total darkness and total silence was them looking in our direction before booting over to us at lightning fast speed.

19 hours later

I wasn’t even awake and I already felt extremely cold air just bombarding me as my face felt ice cold while the rest of my body was somewhat warm. I slowly cracked my eyes open to see that I was yet again in a hospital bed, but this time, I wasn’t blinded by extremely harsh fluorescent bulbs shining down right on my face. The lights were actually off for some reason. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not gonna complain about because hospital lighting was either not bright enough or too bright, there was no in between.

I sat up to see that I was in some sort of emergency room, uh, room and not a military infirmary. The door was closed and the curtains were drawn as well. I was surprised to see that my clothes were still on and I wasn’t in a hospital gown for some reason, unlike the other times I was in a hospital. My camouflage pants were still on and my shirt and coat were sitting on a nearby shelf along with my boots on the floor next to said shelf. Even though I almost died, I somehow was able to change into a spare uniform I had in my truck during a hurricane. I made to get up and put my clothes on but forgot that I was hooked up to an array of machines. One by one, I slowly started to unhook myself from them. I started by pulling an IV out of arm then proceeded to remove a blood pressure arm pad thing from my other arm and then went to remove a breathing device. The last thing I made to unhook myself from was a heartbeat monitor. I knew that as soon as something like this was unhooked from my body, doctors and nurses would be rushing into my room to try and stop me from leaving. I learned that first hand when I originally landed in Equestria 3 years ago, and a lot has changed since then.

3 years ago, when I was still a somewhat blissfully ignorant 17 year old, equestria was essentially still in the medieval ages, now look at her. She resembled something of modern day America. I know down to the little details because whenever I visit my family in my dreams, I always ask what’s been happening ever since my disappearance. Currently a global health crisis was affecting earth so everyone was having to stay at home. Back to the similarity’s between earth and Equis, 3 years ago, it would have taken at least 1 week to to get from equestria to the former crystal empire by train since the old steam engines in use weren’t very fast. Now, that distance could be covered in a matter of hours by taking an airplane and just 3 days at most if you went by rail since bigger steam engines along with their diesel counterparts now roamed the railways of equestria. I was going to have to take a trip to the griffon empire to try and broker a permanent peace deal soon with the current queen of their empire. I couldn’t go by air since Sombra was modernizing so fast that he could possibly already have supersonic fighter jets, so I was going by ground, on my new private train. When I said equestria modernized fast, I meant it.

My personal train was powered by either FOURTEEN EMD DDA40X diesel engines, 6 Union Pacific type 4-8-8-4 big boy steam engines, or 4 3rd gen Union Pacific gas turbine enignes. 7 pulling and 7 pushing, 3 pushing and 3 pulling, or 2 pushing and 2 pulling. The 14 diesel locomotives gave the train all together a maximum of 92,400 horsepower which could allow us to reach speeds of up to 90MPH in under two minutes while I had estimated the steam engines gave about 56,000 horsepower all together. Occasionally all the engines would be run together for very long trips since there currently was only a set of diesel fuel towers every 75 miles while there were coal hoppers and water towers every 20 miles along each track, making the steam engines more reliable and giving a combined power output of 182,400 horsepower. The turbines had their engines modified to run on most liquid fuel types such as diesel, kerosene, gasoline and other types of fuel since the bunker C fuel oil originally used was a bit of a pain in the ass to manufacture and use just for a few turbine engines.
The reason for having that many engines is because wherever I go with that train, a whole battalion of carefully picked soldiers is accompanying me as well and each coach and car connected to my train was armored up as well. Glass was an inch thick while armor panels were up to 3 inches thick and there was usually anywhere between 70 and 300 cars connected up since when I was not using it, each locomotive was in freight service until I needed them and they were given two weeks in advance to head to a specific rail yard and were prepped for me. Not to mention that the ponies operating my train also had to protect me in case I came under attack, 8 cars loaded with small but extremely fast multi-role surface to air and surface to surface missiles were attached and ready to fire at a moments notice. If things got bad, railway artillery would be useful. Four modified carts carried hidden artillery guns that have the roofs and parts of the sides fold down to reveal the large caliber guns could hit targets up to 5 miles away, but I'll get to more on that later. Anyways, back to the present.

I disconnected the heartbeat monitor and got up and put the other half of my uniform on and made to leave but I felt like I was forgetting something, but couldn’t quite figure it out, I felt around in my pockets and I still had my keys, wallet, and phone with me, I also still had my pistol. Whatever it was, it probably wasn’t important. I pulled the curtains back and opened the door and looked around. The nurses station was currently occupied by just one nurse who wasn’t even awake right now and didn’t know that an alarm on her computer was going off because I just disconnected every machine I was hooked up to. I knew the night shift was a hard job but I’m guessing a shift change would happen in an hour then she would be able to go home, or somepony would come to relieve her soon.

I had to keep quite while moving around to avoid waking her up. I needed to try and find aqua and vapor, wherever they may be in this hospital. I was peeking in the other rooms to see if they were in them. Trying to sneak around while wearing heavy boots wasn’t something that could be easily done and I was tempted to take them off and carry them around until I was out of here but at the same time, I didn’t want to slip and bust my my ass if I was running and rounded a corner too fast. I was looking around and wasn’t quite looking in front of me since I had bumped into a trash can in front of me which made a good bit of noise. Somehow I didn’t wake up the nurse at the nurses station and carried on trying to find the mares I was with.

I peeked inside the last room before the hallway and found vapor trail. It looks like she had the same idea as me to try and stealthily get out of the hospital as quick and quietly as possible. She was unhooking herself from the many machines that were the same as the ones that I was hooked up to.

Pssst, hey, vapor. You alright?
I had to keep to a whisper because I knew that nurse behind me could wake up at anytime

I’m fine, just a few scratches. Nothing like that’s ever stopped me.

Alright, look, we gotta find aqua and get out of here as quick as we can.

She’s not here. When I first woke up a few hours ago, I heard some doctors saying that she was still at Manehattan naval yards infirmary. We were transferred to Manehattan central because they are at capacity and wouldn’t have anywhere to put us.

Well, looks like it’s just us then. We need to get out of here and get back over there if we can

She was about to unhook herself from the last machine which I didn’t see was also a heartbeat moniter. When that got unplugged, we were treated to a very unwelcome surprise.

Code blue, Code blue in ICU’s 8 and 14. Code blue, repeat, code blue.

Oh you gotta be fucking kidding me right now.

I knew something like this would happen but I still wasn’t prepared for it. I quickly looked back at the nurses station and saw that the nurse there was now awake and looking straight at us.

Hey! What are you...

I acted upon instinct and reached for the nearest thing I could which happened to be a big binder filled with a bunch of papers someone left in here and threw at her as hard as I could and watched it hit her in the face. I quickly ran up to her while she was stunned and knocked her back out with a hard superman punch. I really did not want to have to do that but I had no other option. I quickly ran to the door where ponies were brought in from ambulances and tried them but they were locked. There was a two radio on the desk at the nurses station that I grabbed real quick which would come in handy for when we needed to know what’s going on throughout the hospital.

Shit! We gotta find another way out of here. Come on, follow me vapor!

She quickly got up behind me as we were running down the hallway and I could hear a bunch of nurses and doctors coming as well from around the corner. What really concerned me though was the fact that it took the two of us getting up and out before a code blue was called. Either this hospitals system is extremely outdated and slow or just Outright broken.

Over here! We can hide in this maintenance closet until they pass and then sneak past them!

Good idea! They don’t know we’re out of the ICU and they won’t know where we are either when they get there. Let’s try and get it open!

I grabbed the door handle and tried to open it but the door wouldn’t open. It was unlocked but it felt like something was blocking the way. I told vapor to hold the door knob while I kicked it in and it worked. We both quickly dove inside the closet and locked the door behind us just as that large group of doctors and nurses rounded the corner. We waited almost a full minute before we tried to leave the room, but that’s when we realized we waited too long. I heard a security member on the radio start giving orders.

We’ve got two missing patients. Lockdown the entire west wing of the hospital. I want at least 4 ponies monitoring the cameras at all times until they’re found. Use extreme caution, the two missing patients are active military and have some extensive hoof to hoof combat training and could be dangerous. Keep your distance if you see them and assume that they’re armed. I’m shutting down the code blue alarm and activating two code yellows. Magic suppression field is going up now. Radio in soon as you find them.

The pony on the radio had effectively just trapped us in here.

Just our luck. They apparently don’t think we’re competent enough to leave the hospital either. Here, help me re-block the door in case they try to get in.

Vapor got up to help me try and move a pair of cleaning carts back in front of the door way when I heard some pony outside. I quickly stopped and put my hand over Vapors mouth and made a gesture to tell her to keep quite. I got down on my stomach and attempted to see under the door and sure enough, there was a security guard there. I quickly reached for the radio I had stolen and turned the volume on it all the way down. The pony outside was quickly joined by 2 more before they left I couldn’t see them but I heard some more ponies talking right outside and it didn’t seem like they were going anywhere anytime soon. That’s when I got an idea that many people have used before.

Hey! We can escape through the ceiling! Bypass the guards, cameras, and whatever else is in the way, then we get to an exit here in the west wing, and get outside.

hey Great idea! We can climb these shelves and crawl around above the lights and get past the guards and cameras like you said and then we can get out of here and find aqua.

We would likely have to steal a vehicle once we got out of here because I Highly doubt whoever brought us here brought us here brought my truck as well and it’s probably still sitting in the yard wherever aqua parked it at.

I gave vapor a boost up to the ceiling so she could remove a tile in the ceiling and help me up. I climbed up some shelves that thankfully were anchored to the ground so i didn’t fall over. Once vapor helped pull me up, we put the tile back so I’m case any pony came in here, no pony would suspect a thing. It was damn near pitch black up here, the only light came from the light fixtures below us that reflected light back up in here through small gaps and cracks in the tiles. They were definitely much stronger than the ones back home because I was almost able to fully stand up but the actual ceiling above the one we just climbed through was only just about 5 feet high, barely enough for me to stand up, but just enough for vapor to move around if she kept her head low a little bit and didn’t care about her wings brushing up against a bunch of stuff, which she did seem kind of bothered by since every time they touched something, her wings would twitch a decent bit cause I knew Pegasi wings were extremely sensitive to touch, not sure why, just knew that they were.

I reached into my pocket and felt around for my lighter so we could have a bit more light up here that wouldn’t be noticeable. I couldn’t find it though, I felt around in my other pockets as well, nothing. Somepony took my damn lighter while I was out. I knew I could easily replace it but that was a custom made gift lighter my sister gave me 6 years ago on my birthday when I got my license and my truck. Sure my sabaton zippo might be gone, but I could always get a new one when I was out of here and back home in canterlot. I pulled out my phone and set the light intensity as low as it could go. I was a bit worried about being seen up here, but not as much as being heard by ponies down in the hallways. I opened up my compass app and kept moving to the west.

It was hard to maneuver through gaps in piping, cables, and ducting since that was often the only way through to where we needed to go. It was nerve racking to be doing this because I could hear ponies below us talking clearly. They wanted to get us back on the gurneys as quick as possible and keep us from going anywhere again until they deemed us good enough to leave on our own. I knew that they were just looking out for our health, but I felt fine and vapor told me she felt fine as well aside from a couple of cuts and bruises from that crane collapse.

It was extremely dusty up above the ceiling and it was damn near impossible to suppress a sneeze but I was somehow managing to hold it in.

We kept crawling for 2 minutes now before I got caught on some cable bundles that had come undone and had ensnared one of my legs.

Oh shit! Not now, this is not the time for this!

What’s wrong!?

I’m stuck! My whole legs stuck in some wiring.

Vapor quickly clambered back over to me and tried to help me get out of the cables but it I was pretty stuck. Even if I took my boot off I still wouldn’t be able to pull my foot through. I still tried to pull my foot through the cables. Vapor carefully pulled cable after cable off my leg. Vapor had just about gotten me freed when I made the huge mistake of jerking my leg to help get myself out. My boot flew off my leg and went flying as we both watched it hit an air duct and caused a loud banging.

What the Tartarus was that?

It was even worse that there were either security guards or doctors down below us as well. I’m pretty sure that I just fucked both of us.

Probably just the AC kicking on. You really need to lay off the damn caffeine before you die of a heart attack.

As that pony finished her sentence, I was relieved since the AC did actually kick on.

See? I told you. Your just going crazy because you refuse to actually sleep and instead decide to load up on coffee and energy drinks. If a heart attack doesn’t kill you, diabetes will.

Alright, buck off

Buck me yourself tan, you coward. Oh but you won’t because you’re too afraid to whenever I’m not in heat and even though I don’t have a colt friend.

Whoever that mare was, She had one hell of a sharp tongue. We decided not to stick around and start to slowly crawl on again.

We were coming up to a wall which could either mean that we’ve hit a load bearing wall or an outside wall. We came to a stop just a few inches away from the wall and I moved a ceiling tile out of the way real quick to see where we were. We were thankfully close to an exit but there was a problem. Multiple cameras were pointed right at the exit and there were at least 2 guards standing there as well that were armed with sub machine guns, not sure why though, but then again, there could be somepony in the hospital as well that’s extremely dangerous that was meant to be getting sent to a mental health facility but got trapped here. I could take out the cameras with ease but that would raise suspicion since a set of cameras going out at the same time would definitely be suspicious and alert the rest of the security team to where we are. That’s when I got an idea.

Hey, pass me the radio real quick.

Maybe I could draw their attention away to somewhere else in the west wing or try and draw them closer to us and Quietly take them out and move from there.

If you can get them right underneath us we could drop down on top of them and pacify them that way. It might be our best option since we’re also in a blindspot for the cameras.

Vapor made a good point, we are in a blindspot and we could take them out from above easily and grab whatever they have that could be useful.

This was our best course of action and so we put our plan in motion. I turned the radio back on and removed the antenna and began pressing buttons on it to make noise. I mainly just hit the PTT button on the side every five seconds which seemed to work.

Where is that noise coming from? Do you hear that to?

Yeah I do. What in tartaurus is it?

Got no idea. Sounds like it’s coming from over there by the administration desk. Let’s check it out.

It’s working. Both guards are walking towards where are and they don’t seem to suspect a thing. I removed the panel completely and removed another one for vapor so we could get the drop on these guys. They were right below us now, this was it. It was now or never. We jumped down behind them together and began to subdue them. They struggled a good bit but they eventually passed out from us both keeping their mouths and noses covered. I have no idea how or why that worked like it does in movies and games but I’m guessing it’s because oxygen wasn’t getting around the system and they couldn’t breathe.

Quick, grab what you can off of her before more ponies show up or these guys wake up.

We both grabbed their vests, guns, keys, and radios before we moved them behind the desk and tried to open the door only to find out that it was locked. We were on camera as well and it sounded like every guard in the hospital was coming for us now. The FN P90s we grabbed off these ponies were good and all but we both only had 2 mags of ammo each and the high fire rates wouldn’t help us.

Gimmie the keys and I’ll try and get the door open. You keep an eye out for more guards and watch my back!

I quickly tossed the keys to vapor while I watched the hall way. I quickly pulled out my pistol and began to take out the cameras that were looking at us. I could hear a lot of hoof steps coming around the corner and they were coming fast. I kept my gun aimed down the hallway and as soon the first pony rounded the corner, I let off a quick warning shot. The sound of a 5.7X28 round leaving an smg barrel was much louder than most would think and it echoed for a whole 5-10 seconds before it stopped. My ears were already ringing from firing off a pistol indoors but an smg was much louder and made it even harder to hear.

Apparently this hospital had its own police department because Shortly after that pony scurried back around the corner that was coming right at us, 5 more ponies cladded in full body armor and holding ballistic shields slowly came around the corner. I was really starting to believe that there have been multiple very dangerous ponies here in the building in some kind of psych ward that had to be on lockdown or something because a hospital would never have a need for a security team armed with automatic weapons, bullet proof armor, and ballistic shields.

We got company! You gotta hurry up if we wanna get out of here!

Im trying but there’s like 60 keys on this one bucking ring!

Lay down your weapons immediately and approach us slowly. You will not be harmed IF you comply. We are only trying to help you.

Kiss my ass!!!

I quickly studied my surroundings to see what could be of use to me. I got a good look at the doors that these Armor wearing ponies had yet to walk through and they were being held open with electromagnets. There were two pull stations next to said doorway that would activate either the fire alarm or a police alert. Both would cause the doors to be closed but I’m willing to bet the one would call in law enforcement would also lock the doors. That’s when I got an idea.

It doesn’t have to end like this. Just put down your weapons and give up peacefully and no pony has to get hurt.

I shouldered my P90 and put my hands up while slowly started walking over towards the desk where we had put those two ponies we had knocked out. I grabbed both of them and dragged them out into the middle of the hallway, into plain view of the security ponies that kept slowly walking towards us. I released my grip on them and attempt to make an offer with the armoured ponies.

They’re not dead, just unconscious. We had our hooves and hands over their mouths just long enough to knock them out. We’ll let you take them, but in exchange, you guys all have to back up at least 20 feet and give us some room. Deal?

You got it. Rains, grind, get them out of here.

The pony in the front ordered as two of them put away their shields and slowly approached. I had my gun back out but lowered to try and keep them from attacking us. We were this close to escaping. They grabbed the unconscious guards and slowly dragged them out of the waiting area. I waited until they were clear of the door way and then charge right at the pull stations. I pulled the police alarm and watched as the doors automatically closed and locked. They tried to breach through the door way but couldn’t get through since the doors seem to be magnetically sealed.

I’ve got it unlocked! We’re home free!

Perfect timing. We’re now free and we can get to the naval yard as soon as we’re off hospital property. I know for a fact that the magic suppression barrier is still active and reaches to the parking lots and garages because I tried to cast a teleportation spell to get us close to the naval yard but I couldn’t even get my hands to spark and vapor couldn’t even fly at the moment. Our own technology was being used against us.

Come on, this way! We need to get a vehicle!

The hurricane was still stalled out and we were still in the eye but I have no idea how much longer we would have before it reversed and it started to dump rain and wind on us again. The entirety of the outside was an utter mess. Tree branches were down everywhere, traffic lights were out and down as well, some street signs were bent sideways from the winds, trash was blown about as well, and some vehicles that were either abandoned or left parked on the side of the road were blown over onto their sides as well. The cost was going was going to be high for this one and I knew now that the national guard would definitely be coming in to aid with search and rescue for this one.

There were many vehicles scattered about but most of them were either locked, flipped on their sides or even upside down, or flooded out. It took us almost 10 minutes but we had finally found a vehicle that was functional, on all of its tires, and unlocked. Vapor had found us an Isuzu NPR that was sitting in the middle of the road. Probably wasn’t our best option since it sat kind of low to the ground which didn’t help since there was still some flooding occurring and driving over stuff in this thing would be pretty bumpy but it was better than walking or letting vapor try and carry me all the way there.

We both got inside and I got to work trying to Hotwire the thing. This npr was equipped with the 5.2 liter 4HK1-TC Diesel engine so naturally, it might take longer to start than its gas counterpart since Diesel engines use compression and heat to ignite their fuel instead of a spark like gas engines do.

I had held the wires together that power the electronics in the truck for a minute now before using some electrical tape I found in the backseat to wrap them up together and then moved onto the wires needed to crank the starter. I didn’t have any gloves so it was already difficult enough to get the electronics wires taken care of but the wires for the starter could easily kill me because of the much higher voltage that i was attempting to use to my advantage. If I slipped up once, it could be my last mistake ever. Touching the wires together caused the starter to go for a second but also created an intense flash that temporarily blinded me. It would’ve been nice if this NPR had a gas engine instead because gas engines don’t take nearly as long to start as diesels do.

We might have a problem! It sounds like Somepony might have called the cops and told them where we went! Sounds like at least 4 or 5 squad cars are a couple blocks away!

The last thing I wanted. More unwanted attention.

Oh, goddamnit! We can’t seem to catch a break! I’ll try and get this thing started! You lie down in the back, if they come this way, I’ll run into a nearby alley way and wait them out.

I turned my attention back to the wires in my hands and kept trying to start the truck. After a few more attempts, it finally started. I got in right as 3 fire trucks and 2 ambulances rolled past on another street.

I think we’re good. Let’s get out of here and get to aqua.

I Threw the truck into gear and we started moving.

Hang on aqua, we’re coming

Radio reports were saying that the hurricane was starting to reverse and move back out to sea. We didn’t have a lot of time left before we would be pounded with rain, storm surges, and strong winds again. Power was out throughout many parts of the city and roads were blocked which meant that it take a little longer before we arrived back at Manehatten naval yard.

I could see the two “new” battleships off in the distance now from where we were. I could also see the fallen crane that had nearly killed all three of us as well. No idea how they were gonna fix that. Many military vehicles were out on the streets right now trying to help get injured and trapped ponies somewhere safe. Some were leaving the base while others were heading back to it.

We came across a small convoy that seemed to be heading back to the yard and got in line behind it. Some of the soldiers in the back of the truck we were following behind got suspicious until they looked out and saw me. They immediately tried to call out to me or something. One of the ponies in the truck eventually held up a piece of paper that said “follow us” on it. Thankfully they worked out that we were not trying to do anything dumb like break into the base. I could see the driver of the truck talking on the radio but I didn’t know what he was saying. I’m guessing he was telling somepony in charge that we were coming into base with them and to keep the gates open.

This was the home stretch. We were crossing the bridge now into the yard some ponies there were directing us so we followed the convoy over to what I could only assume was the motor pool. There was a place to park indoors to stay out of the rain thankfully and I followed a few vehicles inside. The building was mostly empty since many of the ponies stationed here were currently out assisting with rescuing ponies that were trapped or needed to relocate to new shelters. Just as I about pull into a parking spot, I got a glimpse of one vehicle that looked like it didn’t quite belong here that was parked against the wall in the back. I couldn’t quite see it but it’s main defining feature was it’s brushed silver paint job and clear cab lights.

I parked our stolen NPR and managed to shut it off by separating the electronics wires and we left our guns in the truck before we both got out. I decided to take a quick gander at what would be parked in here that a paintjob like that since i know for a damn fact that no army paints their vehicles a bright reflective silver paint. Finally coming face to face with it, I was a bit surprised. Somepony had moved my truck for me to someplace safe while I was probably on my way to the hospital or while I was already there. No time to think about it right now. Gotta get inside the main building before this storm is on top of us again, and judging by the way those storm clouds were moving and how close they seemed, I'd say we have anywhere between 5 and 15 minutes before all hell broke loose again.

Vapor, you know this place better than I do right? I need you to lead me to the infirmary!

No problem, Come on!

Just like that, we both charged out of the garage and made a beeline towards a building not far from where we were. I was following close behind vapor and I don't think I've ever run faster before in my life until now. Knowing that it was to make sure that somepony I was close to was ok is what made me push past the shortness of breath and burning chest and power through all the way until we reached a set of doors. Vapor swiped her ID and typed in a pass code before the doors were unlocked and we both were able to get inside.

1st floor is minor trauma and the emergency rooms. More than likely, she'll be in surgery which is up on the 4th floor if shes not already in a recovery room! The OR's on the north side of the building, we can take the stairs here in the eastern corridor and we'll exit next to the recovery rooms!

Alright then, lets take these stairs and get up there! Hopefully Aqua will be out of surgery by now!

I guarantee she'll already be in a recovery room! tendon repair surgerys don't take as long as other surgery's do but they still take a couple hours

The way she got stabbed by that rod already told me that the process would be long and a bit tedious. I don't know much about how and what surgery is like here in equestria compared to back on earth, but I know that reattaching severed tendons and nerves would be a lengthy process and could take a long time!

We had made it to the top of the stairwell and we had both taken a few moments to sit down and catch our breaths. My chest felt like it was being melted with thermite and my heart was beating so fast that It felt like it could just beat its way right out of my chest if it wanted to. My legs were sore, and I was sweating hard. After our breathing had mostly to returned to normal, we walked out of the doors and there was somepony at the end of the hallway who I honestly didn't expect but looked a bit relieved when he saw me.

Whiplash!?

Yeah its me. Look, I already know what happened and know why you came back here. They took her out of surgery 16 hours ago. She still hasn't woken up though and I've been constantly watching over her for you. She's right in there.

He pointed at the room for us and I quickly looked in. Aqua was out cold on a bed in the center of the room and hooked up to a heart beat monitor and breathing machine. The lights were off and I could hear the air blowing inside. Some blankets were pulled up over her and she seemed to be alright, according to her heartbeat monitor.

The docs said she got super lucky where that rod hit. She should be able to start some therapy within 10 days and be able to walk without the use of assisting items such as walkers, crutches, or canes. Thankfully she's a Pegasus so she can fly for most of the time. They said she should be walking like normal again in 3 months at most. She had lost a lot of blood as well but they stopped the bleeding and got her transfused and cleaned up right away

Well, at least that's some good news. I'm gonna stay here until she starts to wake up. Shes means more to me than anything else.

it was true. Both her and Tia meant more to me than anything in the world and probably just as much as the outcome of this war. The past 3 years I've spent with both of them were great but I knew getting over attached to both of them could be dangerous since that could present opportunities for sombra to send abduction squads to snatch up either one of them or both and try to ransom them into swinging the war in his favor.

I've been here without rest for a while but I'll stay here with you for even longer until she wakes up.

Me too. She's my best friend and making sure shes alright is the least I can do for her, especially after what happened.

They were both willing to stay by my side and wait for aqua to wake up amidst the natural disaster happening right outside the building. I could feel a strong sense of loyalty coming from them and it wasn’t just because I outranked one of them and was the same rank as the other.

Thank you, both of you. This means more than our new ships to me. I’m glad that ponies like you two are serving.

“Anything for you sir”

The way they said that in unison, it brought a genuine smile to my face, the first one i had cracked in almost 3 weeks now.

Well, I can tell we’re going to be here for a while, so let’s pull up some chairs and find something to do.

4 hours later

Hey, wake up! She’s starting to come to!

I had decided to take a nap for a while since busting out of a hospital and doing everything we did would tire you out a good bit. Whiplash was passed out right next to me as well. Poor guy had stood watch over her for me for almost 16 hours straight. But now that Aqua was starting to wake up, he would soon be able to get some proper rest as well. I looked in through the door window and sure enough, Aqua was waking up. Her eyes were twitching a bit and I could see her shifting around a bit under the blankets as well.

I quickly went in with vapor and we both stood next to the bed just as aqua cracked her eyes open. As soon as she saw us, she gave a weak smile and a quiet chuckle before she tried to sit up.

I'll be honest, I thought we all were about to die on that dock since that crane fell on the two of us, ...and you had so much magic built up in you that I could feel it radiating off you and warming things up.
She said sounding a bit tired.

Well its nice to know that all three of us shared a near death experience and you found it amusing. We should do this again when there's another major hurricane.

Joking with her about how we all almost died probably wasn't the smartest idea but it was nice to know that her sense of humor was undamaged by everything that happened.

It also turns out you get very lucky. The doctors were able to repair your tendons and nerves and they also said you should be able to walk like normal again in just a couple of months. Its amazing that you didn't bleed to death as well. You apparently had lost a lot of blood as well but they were able to stop the bleeding and perform a transfusion and keep you alive. Honestly, I don't know what I would've done if my best friend I've known since foalhood, would've died.

Vapor interjected, finishing off for me. I decided we should probably tell her what had happened as well after we woke up.

Well, while you were out after getting your leg fixed, we should probably tell you what happened with us when we came to, and just so you know, We woke up in manehatten general hospital, not here.

and so we told her everything that happened. From when we woke up, to when I knocked out a nurse, from when we triggered the code blue, to when we hid in a maintenance closet, until...

And then we climbed up into the ceiling. Its dusty as hell and hard to breathe without trying to sneeze, also pretty dark. That's when I decided to pull out my lighter to try and light things up a bit, but, somepony fuckin stole it. so now its gone forever.

We were telling her the part where we climbed up and into the ceiling when she got this really smug and tricky look on her face.

You mean, THIS, lighter?

She used her wings to reach over to some drawer next to the bed she was laying in and grabbed a very familiar looking zippo and then held it up to my face. Thats when it hit me, Aqua, took it.

You sly, sleazy, pick-pocketing pegasus.

I reached for it but she yanked her wing away before I could grab it and it seemed that she enjoyed seeing me a bit frustrated.

How did you even get that out of my pocket anyways?

It was easy. When we were rushing you here, I used my wings to slide my feathers into your pocket that I know you keep it in and pulled it out while I was driving. You have no Idea just how nimble and capable pegasus wings are. They're like your hands, but thinner, and a lot more maneuverable.

Still though, why did you take it?

I don't want to see you get sick from smoking those cigars you keep buying and end up dying one day because the chemicals in them gave you some really bad disease.

I appreciate her concern for my health, but I'm not a chronic smoker like many people back on earth who would go through a pack of cigarettes in a day. I limited myself to usually just 2 cigars a week. I took my lighter back from her and decided to sit down. There was a small couch and some chairs on the other side of the bed and I decided to go sit down but then remembered something. Whiplash was still out in the hallway.

I quickly walked back out and sure enough, He was still asleep on the floor. I decided it would probably be a good idea to bring him inside and put him on the couch instead of leaving him in the hallway. I carefully picked him and put him on my shoulder without waking him and carried him into the room and gently laid him down on the couch.

You know, He had told me that he had been keeping watch over you for the full 16 hours you were out of surgery before we showed up. Only letting the doctors assigned to you into the room and keeping a close eye on them while they were in here with you. He was probably awake for over a full 24 hours. That's gotta be pretty taxing.

He actually did? he stayed outside and only let certain ponies in here while I was unconscious?

Yep, I'm guessing he did it because he thought that if anypony hurt you while I wasn't here, I'd probably find them and tear their heart out or something. But I wouldn't tear their heart out though. I'm not a cold blooded killer.

Maybe. But you know that there's been a lot of rumors circulating among a lot POW's that have been captured that's somehow been leaked to the public that you personally approved of and took part in torturing our prisoners for info and to send a message to sombra and try and instill some fear in his soldiers and lower their overall morale. I know its already really rough for both sides on the front lines in the trenches.

It's true. Somepony or group of ponies started a rumor about me that I approve of torturing and that I did it myself as well, but that was not that case. If a captured enemy soldier was being interrogated and refused to cooperate, they might receive a few punches here and there along with some very verbal and explicit wording, but that was about it. I had issued a cease and desist order to stop the rumors from spreading and got most of them cleared up but a few older ponies and just over all idiots still believed that we tortured prisoners of war but we didn't, we have morals and standards. Many prisoners were put to work to support the war effort, but they were watched closely.

Well, either way. We can try and figure out how to use this to our advantage. We're gonna be stuck here for a while. That hurricanes moving backwards out to sea so we're gonna be here together for a few days. That hurricanes still moving as slow as it was before when we were on our way into manehatten.

I know. I can tell my phone was going off like crazy because the amount of notifications from news and weather apps completAely flooded the notification center. Speaking of which, let me actually turn on the do not disturb feature and do something real quick.

Mine was going off like crazy as well. I had to totally power it down as soon as I woke up, or risk getting caught while trying to escape.

Mine wasn't going off for some reason. Strange.

Did you forget to pay your bill? Again?

The hell do you mean by again?

Babe, you always forget to pay your phone bill and either me or tia have to remind you to do it or just do it for you.

No I don't, I pay it on time. I always do.

She just gave me a skeptical look and raised one of her eyebrows.

Let me see your phone then.

Alright...here

I unlocked and gave her my phone real quick.

You say you paid it, but I just looked and your behind on it. Don't worry, I'll take care of it for you, again.

Alright whatever. Lets not argue about it though. Besides, you can't walk right now, Me and vapor are probably wanted by the manehatten police department, and commander whiplash is asleep right now.

After that, we quieted down a bit, just chatted about whatever to pass the time, played a few games here and there, and did some other things. We probably wouldn't be able to leave until monday like radio reports said but hey, I'd rather be stuck in a hospital room with my currently disabled marefriend and her best friend, than stuck in a hospital bed of my own. We would still have to swing by the hotel we were supposed to stay at until the storm passed and grab our stuff before we went back home to canterlot, but we didnt have much. All I knew though, was that the drive home probably won't take as long as it did to get here. It's been one hell of a chaotic week, and I'm sure this isn’t the end of it.

Author's Notes:

The healthy human mind doesnt wake up in the morning and think it'll be productive today or catch a life threatening disease. But I think that's a luxury, not a curse. To know that you're at constant high risk whenever you go outside is a kind of freedom. Good time to...write a lengthy chapter. Stuck inside, Stuck in online school, trying to bypass wifi restrictions. But the pages and covers here stained with a decade of writing, They will remember us...for this. Because out of the vast array of stories, this is the one I choose to write for you. I go forward, like a breath exhaled from the earth. With passion in my heart and one goal in site, I. Will. Continue this.

In all honesty though, I'm so sorry that I've not done anything with this fic in a while. I've been extremely lazy and haven't had the opportunity to do some proper writing since I my computers been broken and ive been trying to fix it, not to mention I've been busy with a rather large automotive project. I hope you enjoy this lengthy chapter and for the love of christ, wash your hands and wear your goddamn mask, its not that damn hard. Also, try not to question that first paragraph in this authors note. I just bought cod mw2cr and finished it recently. Also go check out my other story, A sable made of silver. Also one final thing. Let me know if the colored text helps make things a bit easier to read and understand so I know to continue using colored text or just stick to the regular one color text

Pile up

by Tornado siren lover

Prologue

Awakening

meet and save

Crazy mares driving me crazy

recovering and escaping

Hostage situation

Confessions, Emotional breakdowns, and more rescues

fixing a broken heart and reuniting with family

Months gone by

going to war against an empire

preperation and chaos on the homefront

field test in a warzone

operation rolling thunder

birthday parties, drinking contests, and hangovers

hangovers and explanations

Aw shit, Here we go again

(side chapter) When in doubt, Have a dually contest

Returning to society

diplomatic talks, making money, and gearing up for full scale war

hooves on training

New ships, a monster hurricane, and unexpected side effects