> The Soldier and his Rider
>  by Joe Toon
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1: Scouting
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“So, tell me again; why are we here?”

“(Sigh) For the thousandth time Joshua, we are here as reconnaissance. We are to scout this entire area and find what we are looking for.”

“You say that, but what are we looking for?”

“We are looking for any trace of the New World Order in this realm. To check if they already established a foothold in this world.”

“Oh right. And who or rather what is the New World Order?”

“They are the perfidious traitors of mankind that sold us out to the vile Xenos!”

“………Aah.”

“They caused the Great War and made it last for a hundred years so that the aliens could invade us and rule over Thera once they hand over control to them.”

“Oh right. So essentially, the enemy!”

“Well to simplify it, yes the enemy.”

“You could have just said it from the start.”

“I HAVE! And every time I tell you, you seem to become even more talkative since we got to this new world! On that note, how in God’s name are you even talking? You are a horse for crying out loud!”

It was the midday at the bottom of a mountain’s cliffside adjacent to some woods and a British soldier in his late 20s, wearing a Great War uniform was riding out into an open field. His horse was a young brown stallion who he had been talking to for the past week. 

“I can’t help that,” snorted the horse, “ever since we got here all I could ever think about are thoughts.” There was an awkward moment before the stallion continued. “I just realised how redundant that sounded.”

“On that note, how did you start talking let alone over think about things?” the rider spoke with curiosity and fatigue, “I feel as though something in this world is suddenly giving all the horses in our division some sort of sentience.”

“Sentience,” Joshua thought for a minute before he was struck with an epiphany, “Yes, sentience! That’s the word to describe what I’m feeling right now! Yes, Sentience.” The air of confidence in his voice faded as he lowered his volume in his last sentence.

The soldier gave a blank look, “You don’t know what it means, do you?”

“Nope,” the horse gave a sheepish reply. His rider looked at Joshua’s face from his saddle seat and could have sworn that his horse formed what could only be described as a toothy grin of embarrassment. Joshua then lit up immediately, “but that doesn’t mean I can’t have an idea of what it implies.” 

His sheepish grin felt so infectious that the soldier could not help but burst laughing. The sight of his rider’s laughter caught up to the steed as he too joined his companion’s glee. It took a full two minutes to compose themselves before each drew a long sigh of breath from the laughing.

“Alright,” sighed the horse, “I admit that was silly.”

Still chuckling the rider drew another long breath and looked to his steed, “I have to say, talking with you didn’t turn out to be so bad after all.”

The horse snorted a chuckle and smiled, “Thanks Sergeant. Anyway, where are we?”

“Let’s see,” the soldier pulled out a journal and started tracing out a layout of the area, “we left alpha site two weeks ago and has since travelled through the barrens, over this mountain, and now I believe we are making our way to meet the potential locals in the area.”

“Oh,” Joshua exclaimed with surprise, “this world in inhabited?”

“Of course,” the sergeant put away his journal, “While we were up on the mountain, I noticed patches of towns and villages not far from here. And as an added bonus, that ridiculously impossible palace built on the mountainside across us! If I had not broken these binoculars, I could get a better look of the area.”

“How far do you reckon is the closest town?”

“Three, four days, give or take. Two if you decide to gallop all the way there.”

The horse gave a deep sigh. Hearing this his rider patted his mane, “Cheer up old boy, I wont rush us getting there. We’ll take a break now and then. Besides, we still have a full week before we report our whereabouts to the rest of the division and I still have the wireless transmitter in case things get hairy.”

“Nah, it’s not that Sergeant,” Joshua neighed a sigh, “it’s just… Ever since… No that’s not it. The reason I kept asking about our mission is because, I thought we would be participating in some action!”

The sergeant looked puzzled by this. “I beg your pardon?”

“What I mean is sir is that I was bred and raised to be a warhorse!” Joshua stirred up proudly from his statement. “All of my brothers, sisters and I have been raised to be cavalry! To be the fearsome force that routes the enemy lines! I mean, just a hundred years ago both our species would honour the code of chivalry! Charge head long into the enemy lines and either die in honourable combat or return home as glorious heroes! Nowadays, we are either pulling supply wagons or be a quick mode of transport when there is a lack of automotive vehicles.”

The rider stared at his steed dumbfounded from his rant. “I have no words. To think that a steed such as yourself would have grandiose dreams of glory and honour. I would have thought that a creature such as yourself would hate such notions.”

“Whatever do you mean?”

“Well, for one I would have thought that beasts of burden such as yourself would loathe the fact that we use you as a mode of transport, let alone ride you out into battle. For another, I would have thought that you would have relished the idea of being a free animal such as those of the wild.”

“Surely you jest?” Joshua stamped his hooves in protest. “That may have been true to the creatures of the wild, but we are domestic bred horses. Though I may not speak on behalf of all my brothers and sisters but contrary to your thoughts there are many of us who find it an honour to be the steed of a warrior, let alone an officer! Some of us even hold romantic ideas of dying in battle with our rider.”

“Well, sorry to disappoint your ideals but I do not intend to die in battle, let alone in a strange new world.” The rider took notice of his steed’s dampened mood after he spoke. He gave a supportive smile as he thought of an idea. “However, perhaps I can humour your fancy for now.”

Joshua’s ears raised, “What do you mean?”

“How would you like a quick gallop across the open field to pass the time?”

The horse turned his head to face the soldier. His eyes gleamed with excitement. “You mean…… A Charge?”

“Why not? We have time to continue scouting later.”

“Wonderful sir!” Joshua neighed with anticipation. “Wait sir, before we do how about great speech before the charge?”

“Very well,” the sergeant cleared his throat and straightened his form. He drew his sabre from its sheath and pointed it to the air, “En Garde! For God, King and Country!”

Joshua stamped his hooves, “For Pride, Honour and Glory!”

And together as the soldier raised his blade to the sky and his horse raised his forelegs to the air they cried out in unison, “THERA VICTORIA!” and charged out into the open field.





“Woah there! Slow down! I don’t know how much more I can handle!”

“What’s the matter, sergeant? Too fast for you to handle?”

“Actually yes. I’ve never been in a charge that fast before and my balls are killing me.”

“Bwahaha, lucky that I have no concern for that! Now that you mention it, I never galloped that fast before in my life. It feels as though I could run across the whole world!”

“Hahaha! Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”

It was a full hour since their charge across the open as the sun rose higher above them. Joshua full of energy felt ready to go for another run contrary to his rider who looked as though he was going to faint from the speed they were moving.

“You know, something tells me there might be an anomaly in this world that gives strength to certain creatures such as yourself.” The sergeant panted as he dismounted.

“I suppose that might be the case. Ever since we’ve been here, not only having my mind felt sharper than before, but it feels as though I gained some sort of inner strength to keep going. Do you suppose you might gain similar benefits from this new environment?”

“I doubt it. On the contrary, I feel unnerved here. I mean don’t get me wrong, this land is beautiful. Almost too beautiful. Nothing here feels out of place except for me. I can’t exactly speak for the rest of the men in the Division but me personally, I feel as though I don’t belong here. It’s as though my entire being rejects the reality around us or it’s the other way around.”

“Well that’s disturbing,” Joshua gazed towards him with concern, “Anything I should be concerned with?”

“No. Not really. It’s probably because this world is a complete contrast to the dreary Steam-powered cities of Thera…”

There was a cut in his sentence. The soldier suddenly went silent and started to scan the area around them. They were out in the open and the woods covered what leering eyes that may be spying at them.

“Joshua, do not look alarmed but I think we’re being watched.”

The horse saw his rider’s gaze into the woods and listened in. He whispered, “You’re right. I hear movement among the fallen branches.”

Sweat streamed from the sergeant’s forehead as he gestures Joshua to move naturally, “No sudden movements just yet. Just let me mount up and when I give the order, run.”

The horse nodded. The two slowly did as planned and trotted into the open field away from the woods. Joshua slowly picked up the pace when he heard something that made his heart stop for a moment; a noticeably crack from a fallen tree branch. In his hesitation he turned to the noise and he saw them; five men in camouflage clothing, armed with rifles and bore no insignia of any respective army he knows of. He turned to his rider who already bore notice and quickly shared a gaze of alarm.

“Joshua, Hiya!” the soldier whipped the reins, signalling his steed to break for it. In turn Joshua ran as fast as his legs could push him as distant sounds of gunfire was heard. As they began to lose sight of the woods, a noise from a distance was heard. They recognise that sound; it was engines.

“An Automobile!” the sergeant cried, “Can you move faster?”

Joshua gave him a smirk of confidence. “Is that a challenge? Hold on tight!” His speed quickly outpaced his gallop on the open field earlier as a truck quickly came to view.

“Alpha base! Alpha base! This is Sergeant George Percival!” The soldier was yelling into a wireless communique, “We are being pursued by N.W.O.! Bearings East-by-Southeast five miles from Highpoint 28!”

“Copy that sergeant! Evade capture and return to base a.s.a.p.”

“Negative, Alpha base! Direct route to base is cut off! Hostile presence assessment Code Orange Foothold! Repeat, Code Orange Foothold! Requesting scavenger protocol!”

After a long pause from the dispatcher the wireless sounded off, “Acknowledged Percival. Permission granted! God speed! Over!”

“Acknowledged Alpha base! THERA VICTORIA!”

After the communique ended Joshua spoke out while still trying to outrun their pursuers, “So what is it then? What is Scavenger protocol?”

“It means we are on our own. There will be no support, no reinforcements, we are basically cut off!”

“That’s it?! Then what the hell do we do?”

"Evade capture, live off the land, survive and return to base anyway we can. If not possible, establish a new base of operations by recruiting the locals to our cause or at least request cooperation of some sort.”

“That’s putting a lot of faith on the locals.”

“With them on our tail, I don’t think we have much of a choice.”

Percival looked back to see the automobile lag behind them. “I can’t believe it! We are actually out running them!” Just as he spoke a gunshot rang out and the sergeant screamed in pain. He was shot in the shoulder. 

“Sergeant!” Joshua slowed down after taking notice from his master’s ordeal.

“What the hell are you doing?” the sergeant gasped in agony as he clutched his injured shoulder, “I didn’t tell you to slow down!”

“But you’re hurt!”

“And if they catch us it’s all over! Now keep running!” He let out a groan of pain as Joshua galloped faster than before. With each movement the pain grew all the more excruciating as he couldn’t reach for the alcohol pouch.

Sensing this, Joshua slowed down enough for the pursuers to catch up. 

“Sergeant, there’s a river ahead!” The horse looked back at his rider who has now slumped over from agony. He turned back towards the river and noticed how wide it was. There was no bridge and the current looked rapid, making it dangerous to cross. Then he had an idea, “Sergeant, stay with me and hold on as tight as you can. I’m going to try the impossible here so hang on!”

Joshua felt him grasp his mane tightly as he sped up, galloping faster towards the river. As they approached the riverbank, with all his might Joshua leaped clear across the river barely landing on the other side. His rider gasped in agony from the landing as the steed continued to gallop away. He turned back to see the men disembarked from their vehicle and started firing shots at them. He pushed on until they were no longer in sight.





“Joshua, please put me down!”

“Not until we lose them!”

“You have been running for hours and I don’t think they could have crossed the river in time to catch on to us. I can’t take any more of this pain!” 

Night fell on the pair as the horse continued to gallop. Ever since they lost their pursuers, they came across a road and has been following it, still running.

“You need medical attention and you only have so much cider to ease the pain. We can’t stop now, not if we can make it to a town!”

“You have been running for hours and the closest town is 3-4 days away! If you keep this up, none of us will make it!”

Joshua snorted confidently, “As I recalled, you said we could make it within two days if we galloped there and judging by how fast we’ve been moving we might reach there by dawn. Just stay with me a little longer! I’ll be fine!”

Percival gave a weaken reply, “Then at the very least slow down. I’ve been bleeding for hours and I need to at least bandage the wound. I can’t last like this.”

Hearing this Joshua slowed pace and started to trot. “I… I am sorry sir,” his voice quivered in fear of losing his partner, “I didn’t realise…”

“It’s fine. Just let me bandage myself and then we can keep going.” It felt like the night dragged on as the sergeant nursed himself. His hisses and groans of pain felt like daggers to Joshua. He couldn’t bear to listen without the urge to continue to race for the closest town. 

“Talk to me,” Joshua spoke out.

“About what?” Percival said with a low panted breath.

“Anything. Just something to distract you from the pain!”

The rider painfully chuckled, “What could we talk about? On that matter, what do horses normally talk about?”

“I don’t know,” Joshua said thoughtfully, “We don’t actually talk about a lot of things other than food, mates and when the next action will be.”

“Alright then. Let’s talk about mates. Have you got one?”

“Ah no,” the sergeant sensed a blush coming from his tone, “I don’t think I could ever find one until retirement. I reckon if the Army wanted me to breed, they would have sent me a mare by now.” The horse looked back as took notice at his rider’s pained smile. “What of yourself, Sergeant? Do you have a mate?”

“Hah, they're called spouses Joshua, and no I don’t have one. Well, not yet anyway.”

“Not yet?” The horse gave a smirk, “So there is a woman you have your eye on. What do you mean not yet?”

Percival’s voice was softer now, “I’ve known her since childhood. Both our families knew each other actually. I couldn’t ask her hand though, not since her brother died after the alien invasion five years ago. I was there when he died, I felt responsible for his death.”

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that sir.”

“I’s all right. No chance of marriage anytime soon anyway.”

For a while there was an awkward silence. Thoughts of getting out of their predicament were swirling between them without a word. Percival finished what he could applying bandages to his shoulder. His pain was beginning to numb his mind as his breathing begins to slow drastically. Thinking of a means to keep him conscious Joshua broke the silence, “If we make it back home, will you ask for her hand?”

Percival coughed, “That may be improbably all things considering. You’ve got a better chance of getting a mate than me getting married.”

“Then how about this?” Joshua tried to sound assuring, “If I could find a mate, you ask your lady friend to marry you.”

“I’m not sure if you know what I meant by what I said earlier, but I’ll humour you. You’ve got a deal…”

Before the soldier could finish, Joshua felt a slump on the side of his back. He looked back to see his rider’s motionless body; the sergeant fell unconscious. 

“Sergeant! Sergeant wake up! Sergeant!” Joshua began to panic. He tried to shake him awake but to no avail. With no other alternative, he began to quicken his pace while ensuring his rider does not fall off. He rode through the night, desperation kept him awake as he followed the road. He began to feel strange, as though the world began to spin around him. He then realised he was exhausted. He had not stopped for a meal or rest since the mountain and his legs began to weigh heavy. But he must push on, for the sake of the mission… No, to Hell with the mission. For the sake of his comrade, he must get him help.

Then from the distance he saw it, Farmland. He quickened his pace as he ran past a sign “Sweet Apple Acres” though he could not read it. He saw a barn with a farmhouse next to it and raced towards it. He stopped as soon as he reached the arch gate and with all the breath he could spare he cried out, “Somebody! Anyone! Please help us!” 

There was no response. From his sudden shift of movement, the rider fell from his back completely motionless. With determined vigour he bellowed even louder, “Is there anyone in there? Please, we need help! Please, somebody!” 

A light came on from one of the windows. Joshua’s heart pounded in hopes for rescue. He was about to call out again when the door of the farmhouse opened revealing a silhouette of a pony, fast approach from where they were stationed. An orange mare with blonde mane stood before Joshua with a concerned but tired look as though she was shook out of bed. And with a thick Americano accent she spoke, “Can 'Ah help you, sir? Sweet Apple Acres is not open at this time of the night so…”

While she was speaking, Joshua could not help but wonder why it was a pony of all things to approach them and not the barn owners. The thought went past him however as he interjects the mare, “I beg your pardon but my rider, he needs medical attention immediately.” As he spoke, he moved to reveal Percival.

“What in the hay do you…” before the mare could finish, she looked at the sergeant’s body with a wide-eyed look. Her tired expression turned to alarm at the sight of the motionless body as she opened the arch gate and approached the rider. “What happened? More importantly, what is that?”

“He’s my rider! We were attacked by enemy forces and he got shot!” He was bleeding out not too long ago! Please he needs help!”

“Woah calm down there big feller. Help me get him inside the house and Ah’ll go into town to get a doctor and Princess Twilight. She might want to see this.”

Joshua couldn’t figure out how she was able to lift the soldier with her forelegs, but she did so almost effortlessly with little assistance from him. As they approached the house, she turned to him and asked, “Oh by the way, the name’s Applejack. And you are?”

“I am Jo…” before he could finish, he found himself falling with dizziness as the world slowly began to fade. Muffled voices and shady images took his sight as he assumed more horses came into view as he slowly began to lose consciousness. Before long he fell into a deep sleep as the weight from his mind was finally relived from his shoulders.
> Chapter 2: Animal
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Joshua, where on Thera have you found yourself in?”

Joshua woke up to find himself not in the haystack of a barn or stable but on a bed in a room that felt oddly cosy. He noticed his saddle was removed and sat on a stool across the room along with the other supplies. The Sunlight’s rays from the window illuminated the room giving a warm feature that gave Joshua the impression that it was around mid-morning. He let out a huge yawn as he begins to process how he found himself in this room. 

That was when he turned to look towards a small filly with a yellow coat and a large pink bow ribbon tied behind her bright red mane staring right at him with curiosity. Her appearance looked so peculiar especially her eyes as he found that hers resembles that of a human’s; a dotted pupil surrounded by an orange iris and a white sclera rather than the amber coloured eyes with a lined pupil that was typical of a horse.

They exchanged a look curious wonder for a moment that felt like hours until finally Joshua spoke out, “Um, hello?”

The little one stared at him, drew a long breath then turned around and shouted, “Applejack! He’s awake!” She then turned back with a toothy smile at Joshua who could have sworn he heard a squeak like sound (similar to a toy rubber duck) when she grinned.

“Hold on, I’m coming!” Joshua heard a voice from outside the room when in walked the orange pony he met last night. He was dumb struck when he saw her more clearly without the dark of night. Her green eyes sparkled and her flowing blonde mane under her Stetson flowed in a way he has never seen in a mare before. Rather, she was unlike any mare he has ever seen before. She was the most beautiful creature he has ever seen in his life. 

She entered the room while balancing a food tray on her back whilst greeting, “Howdie-doo there, big fella. I brought you some breakfast. You were out like a light last night, so I bet you’re hungry.”

The mention of last night snapped him back to reality and tried to step out of the bed when his attempt was hindered as his entire body ached and his stomach grumbled from hunger. He did feel hungry, he hasn’t eaten since yesterday afternoon. “My rider, is he alright?” 

“Woah, slow down there, partner!” the orange pony approached the bed trying to stop him from getting up, “You are in no condition to get up. Although you’re in a better shape than he was. Whatever he is, he lost so much blood everypony who were looking after him were surprised he’s still alive. He’s doin’ okay, asleep and still injured but okay.”

Joshua sighed disconcertingly as he slumped back to the bed stubbornly. He knew nothing he could do now would help. If anything, if he would push himself anymore, he would only achieve making things more complicated. 

All of the sudden the little filly bounced next to his bedside and bombarded him with questions, “What’s your name? I’ve never seen you around here before so where do you come from? Why don’t you have a cutie-mark? Who was that weird thing with you? What is he? You’re really huge, a little bigger than Big Mac. Has anyone ever told you that? Why do you look so different?”

“Now hold on there, sugar cube!” the orange pony dragged the little yellow one away from the side of the bed, “You can’t just question anypony like that, especially if they’re injured.”

The filly’s ears folded down along with her gaze, “Sorry Applejack.”

The orange mare smiled and turned to Joshua who looked startled by the little one’s questions. “Sorry about that. Apple Bloom here is just a curious little thing. Although can’t exactly blame her, we’all are just as curious to be honest. Never seen you around these parts and quite frankly Ah’ve never seen anything like your friend.” She set the food tray on the bed. “Ah believe we met last night but just in case you may have forgotten,” she extended a hoof as though she were expecting Joshua to shake it, “I’m Applejack, head of Sweet Apple acres.”

Her eyes glistened in front him as though he were mesmerized once again by her looks. “You are the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.”

It took a moment for the Stallion to realize that he said those words out loud when Applejack’s jaw dropped with wide eyed surprise, her freckled face glowing bright red and from whom he would assume to be her sister gave the look of ecstatic astonishment of the fact that someone who just landed on their doorstep suddenly proposed to her sister. Blushing now from embarrassment, Joshua shook his head, “Wait, I didn’t mean it that way! I mean, I didn’t mean to say that out loud! I mean I just, I thought…… I…… I…” His words became a scramble of gibberish and confused embarrassment as he struggled to put together a cohesive sentence.

“No, it’s okay!” Applejack’s face flushed redder than any apple in her orchard as she flounders an attempt to calm him, “No really, it might have been fatigue from last night. Or maybe you’re just hungry? Yes, that’s right! You’re just hungry, is all.” She quickly took a spoon with her mouth and scooped up a serving from the food tray to him. Joshua (still embarrassed) gave a puzzled look as she was attempting feed him, then realized what she was doing dropped his jaw from disbelief as to what was happening which gave Applejack the opportunity to stick the spoon into his mouth. 

Joshua shut his mouth on reflex down into the spoon full of the meal provided. The moment went worse for the two when they both found themselves holding each end of the spoon with their mouths giving each other less than a centimetre of metal between them. It took a while for the two to process what just happened before each of their faces burned a deep red colour. Almost in sync, they released the spoon as it drops from their mouths, jolt their heads backwards and quickly turned from each other in utter embarrassment.

Apple Bloom witnessing this shameful display of two grown ups sharing a moment despite only just meeting the night before was elated, “Were both of you about to kiss?”



“Twilight, this creature is from an Unknown place! Do you think it is safe to be so close to its face?”

“It’s fine Zecora, I’ve seen his kind before. Although it was from another dimension without magic full of tall bipedal creatures like him. A lot about this seems wrong though.”

“Wrong you say? Do tell, I pray.”

“Well for starters; he looks older than anyone I met from that world, his clothes aren’t like anything I’ve seen, and above all else, he retained his form! Normally anything that travels between dimensions would transform to a local creature of the world to compensate the rules for each respective reality.”

While Joshua’s curious awakening was still happening, from the next bedroom were two figures standing between an unconscious Sergeant George Percival resting on a bed. To his right keeping a distance from him was Zecora, a zebra who spoke in rhymes and riddles. To his left was Twilight Sparkle, a purple alicorn who stood closer to the bed. 

“I mean, honestly? How did he get here?” Twilight ignited her horn with a purple magical glow to monitor his health, “To be able to transport from his world to here would require the mirror and it has been standing in my castle and being kept under surveillance by Starlight. And even if he did come from his world to here, how is it that he still looks like this? I mean, his companion seems to have no problem with the bio-transformation so how come he hasn’t?”

“His appearance is not my concern,” Zecora took out bowls of a strange salve and approached the sergeant, “it is the strange wound that seems to burn.” She removed the blanket and started applying the Salve on the injury with her hoof. As she does this Percival gave a groan and began to sweat while still remaining unconscious.

“His injury is strange,” said Twilight looking at the wound, “I’ve never seen anything like it. It certainly doesn’t help with this piece of lead lodged into him.” Twilight held up a shard of metal with the magic of her horn and gazed at it curiously.

Zecora comes closer to Twilight to inspect the fragment, “I agree with you about this piece of lead. Something about it fills me with dread.”

“So how is the patient doing?” Twilight and Zecora turn outside the door to see two other ponies. One was a white coated (earth) pony with a light pink mane and wore a nurse’s cap while the other was a Pegasus with a light-yellow coat and a large pink flowing mane. They carried with them saddle bags of medical equipment and an assortment of food.

“Fluttershy! Nurse Redheart!” Twilight approached the two, “You brought more medicine.”

“And food,” the Pegasus Fluttershy added softly, “I wasn’t really sure what he might be able to eat so I just brought what fruits and vegetables I could carry.”

“I have to say, I am impressed that it is still alive,” the nurse said as she lowered her medical supplies, “Did you remove the cause of the injury?”

“Yes,” said Twilight, “and his condition is more stable now.”

“Well then, I suppose it’ll be up to your hoofs now.” After unloading the medicine from her bag, Redheart made her way out the door, “To be honest, I’m not entirely sure if I could treat him any better than Fluttershy. She knows more about treating animals than I do.”

“He’s not an animal, I can assure you.” Twilight pointed out to the nurse, “He is quite intelligent. Probably even more so than some of us.”

“That may be so, but there’s nothing more I can do anymore than you mares can handle. Call me when his condition worsens.” Redheart left the room leaving the three ponies to the patient.

“Do you really think he is intelligent, Twilight?” 

“Actually, I do Fluttershy. His kind is the same as my friends at Canterlot High. But like I just told Zecora, we don’t know how he got here or why he still looks they way that he does. Normally he’d look like a pony by now.”

Just then, the fiasco with Applejack and Joshua could be heard from their room. “Well,” exclaimed Twilight, “it seems he’s awake.”

The three exited the room, leaving the unconscious patient (Negligent much?) and made their way to the ruckus. As they entered, they were greeted with the sight of Applejack on the floor, blushing red all over and covering her face with one hoof while extending another towards the patient on the bed as though to let him keep distance while the patient himself who was just as red was flailing whilst trying to apologise for whatever he did. All the while, Apple Bloom too was blushing but had a twinkle of excitement in her eyes as though she has just seen the juiciest scandal in her life.

“Look I’m s-sorry! I didn’t m-mean to say all that! And I… I didn’t…”

“L-look, it’s all right! J-just… Just don’t look this way! Don’t say anymore! In fact, don’t do anything…”

“This is the sweetest thing I’ve ever seen in my life. My sis finally getting a colt friend.”

The three just stared into the chaos with mild amusement and complete bewilderment as to what was happening before their eyes. It did not take long for the others to realise that they just walked in and witnessed what just happened throwing everyone in a state of awkward silence.

Twilight broke the silence as she cleared her throat, “Ahem, I hope we weren’t interrupting.”



“YOU’RE FROM ANOTHER WORLD?”

“Yes I am.”

“And that strange fella too?”

“Yes, he is.”

“And you both came here looking the way that you both are?”

“That is awfully strange hearing that from what I would call the strangest looking creature that I’ve ever seen. Sorry, pardon me if I sounded rude.”

“Can you tell us your name?”

“Why of course, I am Joshua. Joshua of Cornwall.”

Joshua have been staring at Twilight for the longest time now. Sure, whilst Applejack maybe the prettiest mare he has ever seen, the Alicorn by comparison is like comparing a beautiful woman to an angel. Not exactly a creature to desire but the tranquil form felt untouchable. 

“Forgive my bluntness, your highness but I have never seen anything as pristine as you are.”

“What?!” Apple Bloom after noticing her sister turn towards Joshua called out to him, “What happened to your confession you just gave my sister?”

“APPLE BLOOM!” Applejack covered her sister’s mouth whilst still having visible traces of blush. “Forgive my little sister here. She’s rather excited about those kinds of things.”

“Oh please, I’m the one who should be apologising.” Joshua bowed his head. “That was terribly tactless of me to speak such inappropriate remarks, especially towards our rescuers.” He turned to look at Twilight, “It’s just where I come from, I have never seen a pony with wings and horns. All of this is alien to me.”

Twilight nodded in understanding, “It’s alright, also Twilight is just fine. Speaking of alien,” there was a twinkle in Twilight’s eyes as she stared into Joshua with excited anticipation, “Please tell me everything about your world! What were you like? What was he like? How Did you get here? Tell me everything!”

“Hold it there, Sugar-cube. You’re scaring the Stallion.”

At this point, Joshua is no longer surprised by all of this and at this point assumes all ponies in this world are just as excitable as her or for Apple Bloom’s case, possibly even more so. He took a deep breath, “To be honest, there is nothing to tell. Before I came here, I never even held a thought in my life.” 

All gave Joshua a puzzled look. “What do you mean?” Twilight razed her eyebrows.

“I am a war horse. Born and bred to carry troops and supplies to the front and being the steed to the scouts. We don’t do thinking. We leave that to our riders.”

The room went silent. No one could figure out what he meant. War Horse? Is it an occupation? Or perhaps?

A soft whisper broke the silence. “Do you mean, like an occupation?” The whisper came from the yellow pegasus with long pink, flowing mane. Noticing that all eyes were now on her she shrank behind Twilight and added, “I’m Fluttershy, in case you’re wondering.”

Although she was barely audible, the stallion did make out what was whispered and nodded, “Charmed,” then shook his head, “No, I would not call it an occupation. More like purpose in life. I mean you ought to know, we are all beasts of burden here. We are all animals.”

“WHAT!?” Everyone else exclaimed in unison. They couldn’t believe what this stallion was saying. An animal? 

“Now wait just a dog-gone minute here, mister!” Applejack pointed a forehoof at Joshua in protest, “Just who do you think you are calling us animals? Is this the face of an animal to you?”

“I… Is that a trick question?” Joshua was startled. He didn’t understand why everyone was upset by what he said. “Begging your pardon, but aren’t any of you anima…?” That was when it hit him. He looked around the room and stared at all of them. Then he turned to the walls and gazed at the room’s pictures and shelves. All this time he was in the room, there was not a sign of a single human being. “You mean… You are not animals?”

“Of course we aren’t! What pony in their right minds would…?”

“Applejack!” Twilight interjected, gesturing her to stop then turned back to him, “Do you mean to say that you were an animal in your world?”

“Yes I am, Lady Twilight.”  There was eloquence and a hint of pride in his tone, “In our world, the horse is man’s greatest companion. Throughout our history, the pact between our two species have always been man and beast. They provide land, food and shelter and in return we pull their wagons, chariots and yokes. Horses of my breed are raised to be steeds for military officers and scouts. Not one of our species within a million years have broken this sacred pact and each one of us are willing to give our lives to serve they who are our masters. In fact, a hundred years ago my ancestors were the last of our kind to charge head long into battle with their riders armed with sabers, pikes and pistols. It all changed in the great war of course, countless cavalrymen and steeds died in the start of the war, forcing war horses such as myself to menial tasks such as reconnaissance, supply runs and message delivery. So the history goes.” 

The silence that followed was deafening. For most in the room they couldn’t believe their ears that this stallion would nonchalantly describe himself to be a tool for another creature. For Twilight and Fluttershy however, they could somehow understand where he is coming from and what it entails. Twilight has spent enough time with the world of humans to understand that perhaps in his world, ponies, horses and other Equidae creatures are in fact domestic animals. For Fluttershy’s case, she has spent all her life tending to animals for her to somewhat understand his viewpoint. She cannot however imagine a world where ponies, horses or any of the like are in fact animals.

“Excuse me, but this is too much for me to believe,” Zecora broke the silence as she makes her way out the door before she turned to look at Joshua, “I will tend to your friend so I will take my leave.” 

As Zecora made her exit, Fluttershy slowly approached the bed and with her voice now a little louder than her usual whisper said, “I think I can understand a bit what you mean.” Her forehoof now on his as if to reassure him, “But I will speak for everypony here when I say, you shouldn’t talk about yourself like you are just an object. Even the animals here have their hopes and dreams while you sound as though a thought never crossed your mind!”

“That’s just it, I never had a thought until I came to this world. I had a mind, I felt emotions, but a thought never came to me until we came here. It was like, thinking was an alien concept. It wasn’t like we left all the thinking to our masters, it’s just we never really thought about such things. But when we came here, it was though a door opened and all of a sudden, we started not only being able to think but also begin to process sophisticated things and even developed speech. I mean, I don’t even know what sophisticated means, but it felt like the right thing to describe the word. Sometimes I don’t even know half of the words I’m saying but somehow I could understand what it means after I just said it.”

“Wait a minute,” Twilight stopped him from saying more, “you mean to say that by coming to Equestria, you became sentient?”

“That’s right!” Joshua exclaimed, “That’s the word I was looking for! I became sentient! So that’s what the sergeant meant when he said that.” 

“Now hold it there,” Applejack interrupted, “what you said earlier, just what do you mean by “we”?”

“Why, my brothers and sisters of course. And our riders. The Sergeant said we brought an entire Division into this world.”

“YOU WHAT!?” The room erupted with disbelief. An entire Division of soldiers? Here? But that could only mean…… They all gazed at the stallion with suspicion, fear and apprehension. 

“WHY. ARE. YOU. HERE?” The Alicorn gave Joshua a threatening look as she raised her wings as though to intimidate him.

Joshua felt intimidated. He doesn’t know why they reacted the way that they did until he realised the implications of his statement of a potential invading army. “No, wait! We aren’t here to…”

“Sorry to interrupt,” Zecora came in to break the tension, “but I believe your friend is waking up.”
> Chapter 3: Percival
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“I assure you Princess; we came here in peace.”

“You know, the more you try to convince me, the more it sounds otherwise.”

“Okay, maybe I’m not the most convincing creature but let me tell you, my rider might change your mind. He’s a better talker and diplomat than I am.”

“And a soldier. I’ve met enough royal guards to know they’re like; headstrong, clumsy and somehow incompetent at times. My brother was once captain after all.”

“Not the sergeant. He’s a survivor and a gentleman. He’s got a better head on his shoulders than mine to be honest. Even in the most pressuring situations he still keeps an elegant composure.”

As though on cue as Twilight ignited her horn to open the door, she was pulled into the room by her mane and held against a wall with an elbow around her neck and a sharp object on her side. “You have ten seconds to tell me where I am and where my horse is before I gut you!”

“TWILIGHT!” Her friends rushed into the room to see the injured creature. He was standing tall by his two legs worn with khaki-coloured trousers, a bloodied bandage seen around his left shoulder and around his torso, an arm holding Twilight with an elbow lock and held a bayonet on her right side. Applejack stood in front of the others before the stranger with a glowering look, “You let her go right now, mister!”

“Not until you bring me to meet your leader!” The creature demanded as he firmed his grip.

“I am their leader!” Twilight managed to gasp from the headlock as she began to ignite her horn, “Can’t you see I’m an alicorn?”

“Sure, and I’m Napoleon Bonaparte VII. I find it rather hard believe that a group of talking horses would be led by a petite purple pony.” 

“Sergeant wait! It’s me!” Joshua pushed his way into the room. “They’re the ones who saved us!”

“Joshua?” the sergeant gave a look of bewilderment upon seeing his steed, “You’re alright…”

“Pardon me for interrupting, but you’re pointing your bayonet at a Princess, sir.”

There was a pause as the sergeant was beginning to process his surroundings. He began to observe Twilight and noticed her wings on her side, the horn glowing brightly on her head and a crown not far from it. Immediately after putting two-to-two together he released the alicorn, straightened his form and gave a salute, “My apologies, Ma’am! I had no idea!”

“It’s okay, Twilight is f…” Twilight stopped and thought for a moment. After taking over the rule of Equestria from the Two Sisters, she has observed several Royal Guards addressing each other and after several visits from her Brother, Prince Shining Armour, she was given a few tips when it comes to addressing the guards as royalty. She straightened her composure and with a different tone from all those who knew her, raised her wings and with a commanding tone ordered, “NAME! RANK! Please!”

“T-Twilight,” Fluttershy stuttered nervously, “isn’t it mean to…”

“George Percival! Sergeant, 1st Light Horse Reconnaissance Division of the Inter-Universal Volunteer Army! Serial number: 82976728!” While the sergeant maintained a straight form, it was clear to everyone that he was struggling to stand. His legs finally gave way as he collapses towards his backside.

“Sergeant!” Joshua pushed passed Twilight and leaned in to support his back and broke his fall. Applejack followed suite and held his back with her hooves. “Oh, thank you Ms Applejack.”

“Just Applejack is fine.”

“Thank you, Joshua, ma’am.” Percival looked pale and sickly as though all the colour from his face was drained as he struggled to stand up properly. “Applejack was it?”

“Yes sir, that is my name.”

“I hope you don’t mind if I use you as a support, do you?”

“Not at all. So long as ya'll under the care of this roof, consider yourselves family.”

There was a puzzled look from Percival as he turned to Joshua who in turn exchanged the same gaze. Percival returned to Applejack with a courteous smile, “Consider us your honoured guests and in your debt.”

Twilight picked up a bit of the sergeant’s character. All though he can be aggressive, he has proven himself to be polite and at the very least trustworthy. “Um, Sgt Percival? Can I call you that or would you prefer I call you George?”

“You may call me what you like your majesty.”

“I’ll call you George then, and um… Call me Twilight.”

“I’m sorry, what?”

“Oh right, we have not been properly introduced. I am Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship and well,” there was a hint of embarrassment in her expression as she labelled herself, “current ruler of Equestria.”

Joshua and Percival’s eyes widened upon hearing this. She is a Monarch? “Begging your pardon, your grace,” Percival apologetically bowed his head, “but I couldn’t possibly address you casually, especially after my earlier behaviour!”

“Well, I’d rather you call me Twilight. I’m still not used to being in charge of an entire country, in fact I was just coronated last month.”

“Oh, is that so?” Percival was brought back to the bed and groaned with pain, “It seems like I may have overexerted myself.”

“I’ll say, your blood loss was severe! It was a miracle that you are still here!” Zecora approached him and began to replace his bandages.

“Yeah, about that,” the sergeant winced as she slowly removed the bandages, “I should be dead. How am I still alive?”

“Yeah, how is he still alive?”

“!!!!!!!!”

Everyone turned to the new voice heard revealing a pink pony along with a blue pegasus with a rainbow-coloured mane and a white unicorn with a violet mane.

“Pinkie Pie? Rainbow Dash? Rarity?” Twilight exclaimed, “What are you doing here?”

“OhIgatheredRainbowDashandRaritylikeyouaskedsothatwecoulddiscussaboutthestrangepersonyoupickedupfromApplejack’sSowegatheredtogetheratthecastlebutthenwegottiredofwaitingsoIwaslike,  “Maybe they’re still in Sweet Apple Acres?” SoweleftthecastletogethereBigMacopenedthedoorforusGrannySmithofferedussomepiethenweateandthenweheardacommotionsoweclimbedupandthenweheardeverythingabouthowtheyarefromanotherworldanthathealmostdiedforsomereasonandnowhereweare.” The pink one finished her rambling with a smile accompanied with a comical squeaking noise. 

“Call me deaf but I absolutely couldn’t make out a single word she said.” Percival pressed his fingers on his forehead while trying to process everything.

“I would say “get used to it” but you never truly do,” Twilight tilted her head as she gave an awkward smile.

“Woah, he’s huge!” the blue one looked at Joshua with amazement, “He’s just as large as Tirek (when he wasn’t buffed with magic of course). Probably even bigger.”

“I’ll say. But I would say he’s a lot more dashing.” The white one stared at him with dreamy eyes. 

It was at this point that the sergeant notices his companion’s expression. Joshua was doing his usual “hiding-his-head-under-his-mane-out-of-embarrassment” behaviour. “Oi, are you alright there?”

“I’m sorry, sir. It’s just, I’ve never been surrounded by this many beautiful mares before. It’s embarrassing, especially as to what happened earlier before you woke.”

“What do you m…? Wait, are you blushing?”

“I… No! I mean… Maybe.”

Akin to a Grandfather noticing his grandson’s crush, Percival grinned mischievously at his steed. “Well, well, well. Since when were you the shy type?”

“I… No! I am not! You don’t know what you are talking about, sir!”

“Oh, don’t give me that, boy! You’re an open book as it is, and I’ve known you too well to know what’s going through that head of yours just by looking at you. It's hard to not notice your quirks when we've been working together for almost ten years.”

“You don’t have to say that out loud, you know! People are watching!”

“Oh sure, “PEOPLE”. We have mares in our division and I’ve never seen you give a hint of interest to any of them, even when we came here.”

“THEY DO NOT COUNT, sir! Besides, they are all sisters and cousins, not exactly mate material!”

“So, you do have a preference! And here I thought you never had one. Care to tell me which one of these lovely ladies is your favourite?”

The sight of the two began to resemble that of a dirty old stallion teasing a young rookie as the mane six, Apple Bloom and Zecora began to feel the awkwardness and embarrassment of just being in their presence as they continued bickering.

“Maybe we should give them some time to catch up with whatever this is.” Twilight looked at her friends sheepishly as she made her way to the door.



“Well, that got rid of them.”

“… Sir, I don’t appreciate being used as a distraction at the cost of my pride.”

“Sorry about that Joshua, but we need to talk.”

“Sigh, I suppose we do. By the way sir, I may have told them that we brought our entire Division here. And also, how are you doing?”

“A little better actually. No, belay that, a lot better.”

Percival sat up straight on the bed as he touched the newly applied bandage, “So, much do they know of our mission?”

“Vaguely anything sir. Hard to tell them anything if I know little to nothing about the mission.”

“Then without a doubt they’ll come back for a lot of questions.

“Are you going to tell them?”

“We may not have much of a choice, Joshua. We are miles away from Alpha Site, we are short on supplies, the locals are probably suspecting that we are an invading army, and worst of all,” Percival pulled up his wireless communique riddled with bullet holes, “we have no means to call for extraction. If we don’t cooperate with them, chances are they may not let us go. And I fear if we stay too long, I might stop being human.” Percival took off his bed sheets and climbed out of bed as he made his way towards his uniform that was laying on a chair.

“How do you mean, si…” Joshua was startled as he saw his rider began to unwrap his bandages. “Sergeant! What are you doing?” He stared in horror as Percival unbandaged himself. 

Bloodied marks on the cloth worried the stallion, “Sir if remove it now without aid, you’ll open your woun…” the horse stopped. What he saw, he could not believe. Percival’s injured shoulder as it was revealed not only closed but has somehow fully healed (other than scarring). His eyes widened in disbelief as he stared at the wound and then back to the sergeant, “How is that possible? It was barely a full day!”

Percival looked at his injured shoulder, “I believe the rules of this world is vastly different from ours.” 

“How so?”

“Well, first and foremost; this world is inhabited by multicoloured talking equine that resembles something out of the Wizard of Oz. Secondly; all of the horses we brought here (including you) started talking which relates to the first point. And finally; everything here feels wrong and out of place, EVEN THOUGH NOTHING SEEMS OUT OF PLACE. It’s like the very air I’m breathing is doing something to me, changing me into something that I for sure would not like to wait to find out. I mean, look at this injury!” Percival points at his shoulder, “I could have sworn there was a gaping hole after being shot there and yet there it is, almost good as new were it not for the scarring!”

Joshua stares at where his injury should be and then turns to look at Percival, “Whatever your decision is sir, I will faithfully follow. Although, regrouping with the rest of the division via our previous route might be suicide so perhaps in exchange for our information they could help us to find a different path back. It is their world after all.”

The sergeant gave him an astonished look, “That’s… Actually, a very reasonable idea. Good thinking there, Joshua!”

“What can I say? I think I’m getting better at thinking ideas!” Joshua snorted proudly.

Percival gave him a sneering look as he dons his uniform, “So Joshua, about what we talked earlier, who’s your favourite?”

“……… SERGEANT!!!”

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.

“Come in!”

In walked Apple Bloom with a cheery and curious smile, “Um hello there?”



“Darling, do mean to tell us that they are from another world?”

“Yes Rarity. And it might be possible he came from the same world as Sunset Shimmer.”

“What makes you say that Twilight?”

“Well Rainbow Dash, he looks exactly like everyone in that world. Bipedal, hairless except on their heads, hands instead of paws or hoofs, flat faces and most notably; No Magic.”

“Um girls?”

“First, if he’s from the same world as Sunset Shimmer, why didn’t he go through the mirror? Second, shouldn’t he have transformed into a pony coming here? And Third, WHEN CAN WE THROW A WELCOME PARTY FOR THEM?”

“Sorry, but…”

“That’s what we are trying to find out Pinkie. As for a party, I think we should put that on hold.”

“WHAT?”

“They are soldiers, they came here for a reason, and until we know if they are friendly or hostile a welcome party might not be a good idea. I don’t want to assume the worst, but they might not be here for friendly reasons.”

“Do any of you hear…”

“Ah don’t know Twi. From what Ah’m getting from the big fella, he wears his heart on his sleeve. Ah don’t think they’re here to do harm.”

“GIRLS!”

All turned towards the soft-spoken yellow Pegasus who finally raised her voice. “Sorry for that,” Fluttershy now noticed all eyes were on her, shrinked as she lowered her head and ears but nonetheless continued, “but can any of you hear that?”

All ears now raised to listen. “Yeah, I can hear that too,” Twilight noted.

“Is that, singing?” Rainbow Dash asked curiously.

Pinkie gasped in utter shock, “ARE THEY STARTING A PARTY WITHOUT US?”

“Wait a minute,” Applejack began to look around, “Where’s Apple Bloom?”

All eyes widened as they turned to look upstairs. 

“APPLE BLOOM!” Applejack stood from her seat and made her way upstairs with the rest of them following suite. 

As they climbed, they distinctly heard the duet from both the sergeant and the steed.

  “Here’s forty shillings on the drum,

For those who Volunteer to come.

To ‘list and fight the foe today,

Over the Hills and Far away!

O’er the Hills and O’er the main

Through Flanders, Portugal and Spain.

King George Commands and we obey,

Over the Hills and Far away!”

“Those voices,” Rarity commented with a heartfelt passion, “They blend with beautiful harmony.”

“They do sound wonderful,” Fluttershy added.

  “When duty calls me, I must go.

To stand and face another foe.

But part of me will always stray,

Over the Hills and Far away!

O’er the Hills and O’er the main

Through Flanders, Portugal and Spain.

King George Commands and we obey,

Over the Hills and Far Away!”

“What are they singing?” said Rainbow Dash who sounded somewhat amused, “Because that lyrics sounds awesome!”

“More interestingly,” Twilight pondered, “why are they singing?”

They reached the room and saw it opened and in there revealed Joshua sitting next to the bed, Percival who sat up strumming a guitar and Apple Bloom who sat on a stool across. The gentle strumming of the strings accompanied by the sergeant’s baritone voice and Joshua’s surprising high tenor voice that harmonised together somehow entranced and delighted the little filly who somehow started developing tears upon listening to the melancholic tune. “I think I can see why,” Applejack noted.

 “If I should fall to rise no more,

As many comrades did before,

Then ask the fifes and drums to play,

Over the Hills and Far away!

O’er the Hills and O’er the main.

Through Flanders, Portugal and Spain.

King George Commands and we obey.

Over the Hills and Far away!”

The two suddenly stopped when they noticed Pinkie Pie sobbing waterfalls, “Why are you singing such a SAD SONG? I was planning to throw the both of you the biggest party you’ve ever seen that’ll make you two have the biggest smiles on your faces but now after hearing such a bitter-sweet song, I feel so SAPPY (You know, when you’re Sad-Happy) that I don’t know how to cheer you up anymore!”

The two soldiers turned to see all but Twilight and Applejack turned teary-eyed from the song. “Oh sorry, we didn’t notice you all,” Percival stood up, “This little one was just curious to know about us so Joshua and I thought about perhaps we can introduce ourselves with a little song from our home country.”

“We kind of chose a song that we both knew by heart,” Joshua added, “and this was the only one we both memorised.”

Apple Bloom wiped the tears from her face, “And so I gave them a guitar and then you all walked in.” She turned to look at the two of them, “That was mighty beautiful Mr Percival. A little too sad though.”

The Sergeant gave a sad smile, “Why thank you little miss. I’ll bear that in mind next time, and I’ll try to pick a chirpier one.”

Apple Bloom’s face brightened up as she leapt from her stool and made her way across the room, “Well anyway, I’ve got to go. The rest of the Cutie-mark Crusaders are waiting up for me. Bye for now!” She walked out the exit past the main six who stood there motionless.

Percival’s smile faded into a stern look as Apple Bloom left the room, “I believe that you all have questions for us?”

“Believe me, we have plenty,” Twilight stepped forward, “Perhaps we should start with who are you and why are you here?”

Percival sat down and drew a long sigh, “Very well, but we are going to have to talk in a more secure location. For now, allow us to re-introduce ourselves.” He straightened himself while he remained seated, “I am George Arthur Percival, and this is Joshua, my steed. We are both soldiers and we come from a world known as Thera. We came to this world to hunt down a group of traitors who found their way into this world.”

"Traitors?" Rainbow Dash twitched at the word, "Where did this come from? I thought these guys are some part of an invading army like the Storm King!"

"Rainbow Dash!" Rarity spoke, "don't be rude! Let the stallions finish before we can make any conclusions."

"Um, like I said before," Joshua politely interjected, "we are not here to invade anyone. If anything, we're actually trying to stop an invasion."

"Now this Ah've got to hear," Applejack said.

"Not here though," Percival began to explain, "The less anyone else knows about us, the better. I have a feeling we might be listened to, like your sister out the door."

"Oops!"

"APPLE BLOOM!"

"So, we might need a more secure location before I could explain everything."

Twilight already thought ahead, "Actually, I already have a place in mind."
> Chapter 4: Thera
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Wait, that is a castle?”

“Of course it is! Haven’t seen castles before?”

“First off, yes I have seen castles before. In fact, I dare say my family property has one, or rather what’s left of it. Second…”

“(GASP) YOU HAVE A CASTLE? Does that mean you’re a…?”

“No, I am not royalty. Just part of the lower aristocracy, and just to be clear; the castle is nothing but ruins and is over 500 years old so nothing of value from it. And secondly, this is by no means a castle. This looks more like a palace!”

“An’ what exactly is the difference?”

“Well, the difference being; one is a glorified house for royalty, the other is a large, primitive bunker!”

“I don’t know sir. It looks more like a chateau than a palace to me. With the exception of the tree-like shape of the structure, it’s like a castle keep was built underneath a chateau.”

“Oh my, I never figured you to be a connoisseur for architecture.”

“Hehe, actually I’m not. I just spent a lot of time in France. I’ve seen the Golden Palace of Versailles, I’ve been to Chateau de Chenonceau, and um… Oh yeah, Sir, remember Verdun?”

“Joshua, we do not talk about Verdun!”

“Oh… Right.”

“W-why? What's Verdun?”

“I-it’s a sensitive issue. Something terrible happened there, and he would rather forget it.”

“Oh my… Sorry, I didn’t mean to…”

“No, don’t worry about it, Ms Fluttershy. It was my fault for bringing it up.”

The group left the farm discreetly to avoid catching attention from the locals to what Princess Twilight called “The Castle of Friendship”. The name didn’t exactly amuse the Sergeant, although his thoughts at first were something akin to the Tower of London only to be quickly corrected when he caught sight of it and was immediately turned from suspicion to a critical sour face (both from it being called a castle and the fact that the structure’s material looked alarmingly similar to buildings of a certain alien race he was familiar with). Joshua on the other hand, held a calm expression yet one could see the contained excitement in his smile. He kept his composure partially to try and imitate Percival’s professional mannerism but mostly due to the Pink mare blasting more enthusiastic excitement then he could possibly blurt out.

“It doesn’t matter what it’s called,” Twilight looked back at the group as she led them towards the doors, “All what matters is its function.” Her horn glowed with a soft purple light as the doors swung open. 

Joshua made a note of that and turned to the sergeant who also noticed the means to open the door. Curious he said to himself.

“Twilight, you’re back!” What greeted them at the entrance was what Percival and Joshua could only describe to be a small, winged, purple dragon walking towards the group by his hind legs. “When I heard we’re expecting company, I made some…” His voice trailed off when he caught sight of Percival. The little creature was utterly confounded as his jaw dropped and his eyes widened. “H-how? What? W-why?”

“Yeah, I forgot to mention,” Twilight rubbed her mane with her forehoof out of embarrassment, “We are having guests of the more unusual kind.”

“B-but, how? Starlight Glimmer had the mirror monitored. More importantly, how is he still human?”

While Percival raised an eyebrow to that, Joshua spoke out, “What do you mean by that?”

Spike turned and took notice at the Stallion, “Woah! You’re a big one! You’re just as large, no, probably larger than Big Mac!”

“Spike!” Twilight gave the dragon a disapproving look, “They are our guests.”

“Oh, sorry Twilight,” Spike smiled sheepishly before straightening his form before the two, “The name’s Spike. Twilight’s number one assistant and friendship ambassador to the Dragons and Changelings.” He held out a claw as he flew up to level with Percival and Joshua.

“Percival,” the sergeant shook his claw, “Sgt George Percival. And this is my steed, Joshua.”

Joshua held out a forehoof as Spike shook it, “Joshua of Cornwall, at your service.”

Percival gave the young dragon a curious gaze, “A gentle Dragon. Now that’s a first. Spike, was it? I knew a man by the same name.”

Spike raised an eyebrow and smiled roguishly, “Oh really? Was he as dashing and handsome as me?”

Percival smiled, “He was a roguish, dashing sea-dog who is over 300 years old and yet still as suave as ever. You might like him.”

Hearing this, the stallion gave his rider an incredulous look. “Sir, is he a real person or are you just pulling his leg?”

“Oooooh! Are we pulling each other’s legs now? Because I know a game we can pla…”

“Begging your pardon, Ms Pie but can you perhaps tone down your excitement just a tiny bit?”

“Oh, Okay!” Pinky let out a squee as she hopped her way in.

“On a related note,” the porcelain pony addressed the pair, “I don’t believe we properly introduced ourselves.”

She gestured her forehoof with her introduction, “I am Rarity, owner of Carousel Boutique.”

Percival raised an eyebrow, “A boutique owner? Do you happen to be a seamstress who sells her own works or perhaps are you a Captain of Industry?” On that regard, he thought what need is there for clothing if they are all animals who spends most of the time naked?

Rarity proudly smiled, “I prefer to call myself a Fashionista.” She then took a closer look at the sergeant’s blood-stained uniform. “speaking of which, I must say sir, your uniform demands a dire need of cleaning and adjusting. Khaki doesn’t suit your colour and it makes you blend in a forest background!”

Joshua snorted trying to hold a laugh, “That is kind of the point of the Khaki uniform; to make you blend in with your surroundings.”

Rarity gave a dramatic gasp, “But he is an officer, shouldn’t he stand out to let everyone know that he is in charge? Otherwise, how would anyone recognise him?”

“If that were the case,” Percival smirked sarcastically, “I might as well be dressed with a large bullseye and get shot at.”

All went silent as the implication of that last statement sank in.

“I-I see,” Rarity awkwardly broke the silence with a sheepish smile, “I suppose that would be a problem. Still, I do insist that we have that uniform cleaned and patched up. It looks as though you’ve been wrestling a bear!”

“Heh, you look like you’ve seen some action!” the blue, rainbow-haired pegasus gave Joshua a nudge as she floated at an eye level with Percival. “The name’s Rainbow Dash by the way! I’m a Wonderbolt, so I’m kind of a big deal around here!”

The two soldiers shared a puzzled look. “What’s a Wonderbolt?” they both said in unison.

The pegasus’ jaw dropped in disbelief, “How can you not know the Wonderbolts? Have you been living under a roc…?”

Rainbow Dash stopped as she just realised who she was talking to (that and they both gave her an incredulous look). “Heh, I forgot who I was talking to. Sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it,” said Joshua.

The pegasus gave a cough, “Well, anyway. The Wonderbolts are basically the most awesome flyers in Equestria. They’re a group of Pegasi that doubles as an air-acrobatics team and an elite air squad for the military.”

Percival raised an eyebrow as this piqued his curiosity, “Interesting. They sound like the Flying Circus.”

The Pegasus stopped to stare in disbelief at that statement, “What did you say? They are not circus performers!”

“Oh sorry, I think there might be a bit of a misunderstanding there.” Percival explained, “The Flying Circus is by no means a performance group but an elite corps of fighter pilots. Humans can’t fly naturally but we build flying vehicles called airplanes that can travel at great speeds. The Flying Circus is an international squad of Ace Pilots recruited from across every air force in each country and functions as a First Strike or Counterstrike against our enemies. They got their name due to being that each pilot flies a plane of a different colour distinguishing them either by nationality or reputation. They were first formed in Prussia during the first years of the Great War lead by the famous Red Baron and has since changed after the formation of the League of Nations.”

There was a moment of pause until Rainbow Dash broke the silence, “Did anypony get that?” All but Twilight and Pinkie shook their heads. “No? Meh, moving on!”

The sergeant’s jaw dropped. Did that rainbow flavoured equine just ignored me? He thought to himself. He felt a hoof on his side.

“Don’t worry about it, darling,” Rarity assured him, “she tends to zone out of long-winded explanations.”

“A simple, “I don’t understand you,” would have sufficed.” Percival muttered.

“I understood what he said!” Pinkie Pie raised her forehoof with enthusiasm.

“Same here,” said Twilight, “I knew that humanity was an innovative race, but I didn’t expect such innovations to be used for warfare.”

This peaked Percival’s curiosity. She has heard of humanity before. Why and how puzzled him considering this world so far has no human in sight (other than the ones that attacked them). Then again, a lot of their tools and architecture seemed very human so perhaps they had prior exposure to humans before. 

“MY TURN!” The pink mare declared. She hopped in front of the pair and before the background behind her exploded with confetti she introduced herself, “Pinkamena Diane Pie! Also known as Pinkie, but you already know that. Professional Party Pony!”

Joshua rubbed his chin, “I suppose you mean Event planner rather than Partisan, correct?”

All eyes turned to the stallion. Percival cleared his throat, “Excuse our presumption, the word “Party” stopped meaning celebration a hundred years ago.”

“So, what exactly does it mean now?” Applejack inquired.

Percival said with a sigh, “Politics.”

Pinkie gave a gasp and looked as though she heard heresy. “What kind of life have you been living if Party means politics?!”

“That’s not to say we don’t have celebrations. But I suppose you’ll find out as soon as we can finally discuss it in your council room.”

Joshua turned to Fluttershy and Applejack. With a blush, he scratched his mane as he spoke with a sheepish smile, “I believe we already got to know each other.”

“Um… Yes, I believe we did,” Fluttershy spoke up with her signature gentle smile.

Applejack on the other hand kept her eyes down and muttered, “Yeup, w-we already have.” Everyone noticed the slight blush from her face.

A smile came out of Percival. So that's your fancy. He gave a mischievous grin to Joshua who in turn groaned. 
"Apple on your eye, I presume?"



"Twilight, you're here. I heard from Spike that you were bringing visitors and.... Oh."

Joshua and Percival were lead into a throne room of sorts that somehow resembled the Arthurian legend of the Knights of the Round Table:
Six large thrones (with a smaller one adjacent to one of them) circled around a large round table made of marble like crystal. Above the table and thrones was the remains of a large oak tree with it's roots decorated with lights and other ornaments. 

Greeting them as they entered was a light-purple Unicorn with an Aurora-like mane who looked rather startled upon seeing the duo. 

"Hello Starlight," Twilight chimed as she lead the rest of the group into the chamber, "these two are our visitors I mentioned."

"George Arthur Percival, at your service." the sergeant tipped his helmet.

"Joshua, tis a pleasure to meet you, miss?" he extended a hoof.

"Oh," the unicorn reached to shake Joshua's hoof, "Starlight, Starlight Glimmer. Headmare of Twilight's school of Friendship and caretaker of the Castle of Friendship." She turned to Twilight with a questioning look.

"Long story short; they are soldiers from an unknown army and we found them unconscious outside of Sweet Apple Acres," Twilight replied with a knowing look, "We were hoping they would give us the longer version as to why they are here."

As each made their way to their respective seats (Starlight, Joshua and Percival were provided as well) the human began to rub his forehead in contemplation, "Now, where do I begin?"

"Maybe you can start by telling us where you're from?" suggested Fluttershy.

"I thought the sergeant already told you; we came from a world called Thera."

"Oh, sorry," Fluttershy shrunk into her seat, "I just thought that maybe you can give us a better idea of what your home is like."

"Well, I suppose I could tell you more about our world." Percival put on a pair of spectacles and took out a journal and flask from his kit. He opened the flask and took a drink from whatever it was inside and continued, "Thera is our planet of origin. I actually came from Northumbria, one of the states of Allied Kingdoms of Britain. Joshua here was actually from Cornwall, Wessex; another of the States of the Allied Kingdom. The Allied Kingdoms of Britain, better known as the British Empire, is just one of the many nations across our world. 

"We are actually one of the major powers of our world as well as a member of a global alliance called the League of Nations of Thera. Other members include the French Empire, the Prussian Confederation, the Swedish Empire, the Austria-Hungarian Empire, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Byzantine Empire, the Russian Empire, the Spanish Empire, the Kingdom of Portugal, the Holy Vatican states, the Empire of Ming, the Nihon Empire, the Mali Empire, the Kingdom of Kongo, the Ethiopia-Arabian Empire, and the Iroquois-Cherokee Confederate states."

"Wow," Spike was still counting the nations he listed, "that is a lot of countries."

"You think?" Joshua added, "He didn't even mention the huge number of colonies, vassal states, protectorates, and tributary states. And that's just in Thera!"

"What do you mean by that's just Thera?" Rarity inquired.

"Oh, we colonised other planets. I mean, by Jove, we even built a base on our moon."

The silence from every pony and dragon was deafening. Every jaw was dropped when they heard Joshua's claim. The moon. The honest to Luna, moon. The idea of landing on the moon was outright impossible, and yet here one claims to have not only landed on a celestial object but have also established a colony of sorts on it. 

The silence was broken when the pink mare who took out a glass of water and did a spit-take, "YOU DID WHAT?!"

"Look, it's not that important," Percival exclaimed, trying to change the subject.

"Not that important?" A maniacal grin slowly formed from Twilight's face as her eyes twitched, "NOT THAT IMPORTANT?! How is landing on a celestial object in the night's sky NOT IMPORTANT?! It's outright un-doable! It's crazy! WHY AND HOW IN CELESTIA'S MANE DID YOU DO IT?!" 

"Woah! Twilight, calm down," Spike grabbed hold of the Alicorn to restrain her, "You are Twilighting again, and Twilighting hard!"

"I DON'T CARE IF I'M TWILIGHTING HARD! I DEMAND AN EXPLANATION FOR THIS IMPOSSIBLE FEAT!"



"I apologise for my outburst there. That was foalish of me, immature. As ruler of this Kingdom, I should be showing more propriety and dignity instead of just reverting to old habits."

"Please, think nothing of it, your Highness. I've seen worse from other rulers."

About half an hour of the Alicorn's crazed state finally subdued by her friends, Twilight kept her head low with embarrassment in front of the two otherworldly soldiers. 

The Princess took a deep breath, cleared her throat and continued, "I think we got off topic. I believe that it is time that you told us why you are here."

"To tell you the truth, if I'm going explain the why I need to first explain how. And to do that, a bit of my world's history is in order."

"Oh great, a boring lesson," the rainbow maned pagasus complained, "Wake me up when we get to the good part."

"Rainbow Dash, don't be rude!" snapped Applejack.

"I assure you, Ms Dash, this is one history lesson you won't sleep on. In fact, I dare say not one of you will sleep easy after hearing this." Percival took another swing from his flask before he continued, "Until just recently, our entire world spent the last one hundred years fighting in a war."

The atmosphere turned deathly silent as the sergeant continued, "We called it The Great War because every nation, every country, everyone was involved. What started as a simple assassination escalated due to a long chain of alliances. Experimental weaponry then were recklessly used with outdated tactics. In just the first decade of the war, 130 million died, including civilians."

A collection of gasps were heard from the ponies (and dragon). Then Twilight spoke out, "130?! Within the first decade? Then how many...?"

"2.3 Billion and still counting. 1/3 of our Planet's population." Percival spoke in a hollow tone as he took another drink.

He was not lying about not being able to sleep on this topic. The mere mention of war and assassination was enough to catch their attention. The staggering number of the loss of life with his cold demeanure was what chilled everyone to the core. 

"Some of us called it The War to end all War, or The Last War between the Nations. Everyone thought it was the end of the world. Armageddon."

"If that was the case, how did it end? How did you survive?" Starlight asked.

"That is the question," Percival gave a wry smile, "Everyone found out the war was a lie."

"Wait, say what now?" Applejack captured everyone's sentiment.

"Fifteen years ago, a group of mutineers from both sides deserted to Neutral territory. They discovered an abandoned research facility and found an object that changed everything; The Inter-Dimensional Gate. A Xeno artifact that bridges across countless realities. Somehow the mutineers, lead by Colonel Paul Andrews managed to activate the damned thing and landed in another version of our world. There they made contact with an organization known as the Secret Global Intelligence (SGI for short); who in turn contacted an entity called The Administrator."

"Another version of your world? SGI? Administrator? Does any of this make sense to anypony?" Questions came from among the ponies.

"An explanation for another time. Though I suppose I could talk briefly about the Administrator. He oversees a pocket-dimension that bridges across (almost) every reality. His job is akin to a ticket inspector for unauthorised travelers. He knew of our world, and he knew what kept the war going for a full century. The Xenos who built the damned Gate were called "Starcatchers", and for some unknown reason (for me at least) they funded the war effort to keep the lot of us killing each other til we are of an acceptable population for subjugation."

"Th-that's just AWFUL!" Rarity exclaimed.

"Awful does not even begin to describe the utter betrayal of the countless dead, Ms Rarity. Imagine the agony of knowing that your people have been killing each other for a bloody century, only to find the cause of it all were conspiring Xenos and their collaborators trying to thin us out to be conquered."

"Okay we get it, you hate them. But what happened next?" Spike asked.

"Revolution," Joshua answered before Percival, "World wide military revolution. Thanks to the assistance of the SGI and the Administrator, Colonel Andrews exposed the truth of the war and led every army from every nation to turn against their respective leaders in power."

"That's not entirely correct, Joshua," Percival interjected, "Yes, they led The Armies' Revolution but not all leaders or members of our world's leadership were behind the conspiracy. Most had no idea of the Xenos or the collaborators that kept the war going."

"Then who are these Collaborators?" asked Rarity.

"They call themselves The Shadow Empire; better known as the New World Order. They are a Cabal of Aristocrats, Captains of Industry, Crime Lords, Generals, Scientists, Press Publishers and Propaganda, Diplomats, Senators, and other men of influence across our world. They sold us out to the Starcatchers in exchange for Technological advancements, such as weapons and inter-dimensional travel; lordship over Thera as a vassal; and an assortment of other requests such as spacecraft and what have you. They are also the reason why we are here." 

"Why is that?" Pinkie Pie asked, "It's not like they made their way here, right?"

"Well, that's the tricky part," Percival continued, "After the Revolution and the establishment of the League of Nations, we tracked down every member of the New World Order that we could get our hands on. But just like rats in a sinking ship, they somehow managed to escape by activating a series of Gates across the world; almost tearing the planet apart in the process. For the last fifteen years we've been hunting them down across hundreds of realities, all the while defending against more than two Xeno Empires both in our own reality and other dimensions.

"Wait a minute," Rainbow shook in disbelief, "so you're telling us that on top of finding these guys, you are fighting against more aliens out there, even though you just barely survived your last war? How are you still kicking?"

"Well, for one, not all Xenos we encountered are hostile. In fact, quite a lot in our galaxy were impressed that we held our own when the Starcatchers eventually invaded us that some decided to ally with us. For two, our weapons (as primitive as they are compared to the other races) utilize materials only found in our world, and somehow manages to break through their energy shields and armour in their ships and ground forces. That and the fact that we just finished our war meant we have more than a million veterans ready to fight their way through Hell and highwater to protect our world. 

"As for the New World Order, we know they will find a way to come back to us, and with greater numbers. They have already established themselves in countless worlds; either influencing them or outright takeover under a tyrannical regime."

"And you reckon those folks are here in Equestria?" Applejack asked.

Joshua answered in a careless tone, "Well, yeah. How do you think we ended up unconscious on your doorstep?" 

A collection of gasps were heard all over the throne room.

"B-but that would mean..."

"ALIENS! THE ALIENS HAVE FINALLY COME FOR US ALL!"

"Oh dear..."

"Oh Sweet Celestia!"

"Th-they can't be that hard to deal with, r-right? I mean we did face off against worse."

"I don't think it's that simple, RD."

"Twilight! What are we going to do?"

"EVERYPONY QUIET!" Twilight finally screamed out, "We've dealt with problems like these before, and we will fix it yet again. We can do this, remember? We are the Element bearers of Harmony, the Council of Friendship! With our magic and the magic of Friendship across Equestria; from our allies to our students, there is nothing we cannot do together."

This calmed everyone down.

Except the outsiders. "D-did you just say, magic?" 

"Yeah, why? Oh, is it because you don't have magic in your world? Well yes, magic is prominent across the world; from the land to every creature."

Percival and Joshua looked to each other. Their faces turn pale with an expression of horror in their eyes.

"S-sir, if this world is made up of magic.... then..."

"We need to get the Hell out of here!"

"Wait, is there something wrong?"

Joshua turns to Twilight with fear in his eyes, "Well your highness, magic is lethally dangerous to mankind."
> (Rewrite) Chapter 5: Breech
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Tia, while we are still trying to adjust ourselves to retirement, could you at least try to relax?"

"I don't know, Lulu. I just feel something is off over the last few weeks. Maybe it was too early of us to let Twilight takeover running the Kingdom."

"Tia, we've been over this a hundred times now. She will be fine. They will be fine."

"I suppose. But I just can't shake this feeling of concern that something is wrong."

"Do I sense chaos and doubt from you, Celestia?"

"!"

"!"

Celestia had just spent the last few days pacing back and forth in their retirement home on Silver Shoals whilst Luna tries what she could to calm her down; when a certain draconequus popped in from existence. Discord, the lord of chaos was floating over the two while drinking from a cup of tea he had just taken from Fluttershy's.

"Now, there is nothing really to be concerned about. Just stopping by to see how retirement is going for you two."

"Well that is nice of you Discord, but right now I'm not exactly in the mood for your usual antics. Especially if I just can't shake this feeling that something is very wrong."

"Oh, so you've been feeling that too then?" Discord popped next to Celestia whilst dressed as a medium and pretended gaze into the future.

"Discord, I think it would be best if we leave our sister some space to take in her retirement." Luna poured some tea of her own, "If you want, I could offer you some tea and company in her stead."

Crack

Discord's ears raised, "D-did you just feel that right now?"

Celestia sighed with annoyance, "Discord if you have nothing better to do, then I suggest that you..."

Crack

"No, I'm serious. I felt something. Like a disturbance from the force."

Crack

"Hold it, Tia. I felt it too."

Crack

"Wait a minute. That felt like..."

Suddenly, a huge void in the fabric of reality cracked open from the living room with a huge deafening roar. The three of them huddled together as a figure walked in from the maw. It started out as a short biped, but as it entered it morphed into a miniature (Scottish) Earth Pony. She had a thick ginger mane tied in a large pigtail behind her head and a mud-brown coat. She wore a crimson red fedora covering most of her mane, a pair of shades and a large saddlebag with instruments sticking out of it.

As she entered the room, the void vanished from sight as the whole room went silent. Celestia, Luna and Discord took a moment to process what just happened while the pony slowly walk towards them. 

"Well, it has been a while seeing you three." The pony removed her shades, revealing deep red eyes and a smug smile, "It's been what, more than a thousand years?"

The three of them stared with their jaws drop and their pupils shrink as they recognise the stranger. 

"T-T-T-T- Tesra Alba?" Celestia shuddered as beads of sweat poured from her head.

The others could only gawk in fear. Despite being of small stature, this "Tesra" exuded a large, overwhelming presence.

"Ah, so you do remember me." Tesra said in a sing-song tune while giving a cheerful smile, "I was beginning to wonder if you forgot about me. Tia, Lulu, Dizzy. How're all doing?" She shook hooves with them as she called their pet names.

"D-doing perfectly w-w-well, actually," stuttered Luna.

"Smiling as always, actually," Discord nervously grinned.

"Never better, actually," Celestia smiled with what composure she could muster, "So what brings you back to Equestria?"

"Ah yes, about that. Funny story, really." Tesra gave a wide smile (that was clearly forced), "Do you recall the job I gave you as a favour for dealing with the Grogar incident?"

"You mean, when you gave Gusty the means to steal his bell?" 

"Yes Luna, that one. Do any of you remember what the favour was?"

"You assigned us as monitors to protect Equestria and the rest of the world from the outside."

"Very good Celestia. Now tell me, what has happened since then?"

"They turned me into stone, Luna turned into Nightmare Moon and was banished into the moon, but we all came back reformed, so everyone is happy?"

"Ah, so you're all happy then? That's wonderful. But you see, here's the problem," immediately Tesra's tone shifted into a dark one, "I am not happy. I am not happy at all. I am not happy that one of you decided to abuse your position as monitor and wreck havoc. I am not happy that it resulted in one of you turning into stone. I am not happy that one of you decided to have a little temper tantrum, which resulted in you ending up on the moon. I am not happy that you've been neglecting your duty to protect this reality from the outside."

"Well, it all worked out in the end," cheered Luna, "Discord's reformed, I'm no longer Nightmare Moon, all the villains that tried to take Equestria has been dealt wi..."

"Knock it off, Luna," Tesra kept a composed look as she held in what all three could see in her eyes, rage. "I don't want you to tell me all the good that you've done over the past ten years. If I wanted to know all the adventures of your little ponies, I would have watched the show from start to finish. You want to know what's in my mind right now? It's not your reformations. It's the f massive breach in your world."

"Woah, Tess. We have a rating here to uphold. You can't just..."

"DON'T FING GO FORTH WALL ON ME, DISCORD! Don't fing do it! Otherwise I'll be more than happy to toss you into the Fing Fifth Dimension where you could start a band!"

"B-but we haven't detected a breach for a thousand years," defended Celestia. 

"That's because you've spent the last twelve years grooming your precious little student!" Tesra spat, "And all the while for the past ten years, a massive breach was left wide open in Equestria."

Silence gripped them as the gravity of the situation hit them. All eyes turned to Celestia as she lowered her head in guilt.

"You three had one job!" Tesra's fury continued, "You had ONE FING JOB! AND YOU ALL SCREWED IT UP!"

"Well, if you detected it years ago, why didn't you tell us?" Luna nervously asked.

"Oh yeah, funny thing about that. You want to know how I found out? I got a call from Joe, my superiors from the Bureau and the Boss upstairs just a week ago! Imagine my surprise that not only did they just find out about the breach a month ago, but that someone has been going in and out from that breach unnoticed, for Boss knows how long within those ten years!"

"Wait, What?!" 

"Oh yeah, that's right! You have been having uninvited guests for quite some time."

There was a pause before Discord spoke out, "We could still close it, can't we? I mean, with a snap of my paw we could send them all back."

"Oh yeah, that would be perfect. Except for one thing; do you think I wouldn't be here if I haven't already done so?"

All eyes worriedly turned to the mini pony. "We found out about the breach after one of our Investigators came here to have a look. The next thing we knew, she was terminated while triangulating the location of the breach. Then we lost the signal. There are only three idiots we know of that could pull that stunt; The Starcatchers, The Mauradans, and the New World Order. The Starcatchers are out because that's not their MO. The Mauradans are out because they're in a war (and quite frankly they don't matter in the story), which leaves the New World Order."

"And that would mean, what exactly?" asked Luna.

"It means they have been operating behind the scenes in your world for quite some time." Tesra pulled a chair and sat down, "Haven't you noticed over the past ten years how everything seemed to follow one thing after another?"

"What do you mean?"

Tesra pulled a cane out of her bag and knocked Celestia on the head, "Hello? Hello? ANYBODY HOME? Think, Tia! THINK! The revelation of the changelings? The return of Sombra? Tirek's escape? Starlight Glimmer? The Storm King's invasion? Who do you think left all those bread crumbs to release the Pillars of Equestria from Limbo? How about Cozy Glow? How do you think all of them somehow fall into place one after the other over the past ten years? Someone has been pulling the strings for all these incidents. I'm surprised you didn't pick it up when you compare it to the relative ease over the past thousand years!" 

Celestia winced from the knocking of Tesra's cane and pondered about it, then she finally saw the dots. How could I have not seen it? All this time I thought it was just the universe paving the way for Twilight's ascension. But for what reason, and why?

"Um, out of curiousity," Discord interrupted Celestia's trail of thought, "Did you find out precisely when the breach was made?"

Tesra gave them a stern look, "I think you might have figured out by now, Discord. But for these two I guess I could humour you: The Thousandth Summer Sun Celebration."

Celestia and Luna's hearts stopped for a moment.

"You mean, I caused the breach?"

"I don't know about that, but I do know it might have taken a blast of powerful energy to chain a link from one end of reality to another."

Celestia gasped, "The Elements of Harmony!"

"Oh, wow. Wouldn't that be an irony? Then again, I suppose it is possible considering they weren't used for a thousand years. All that excess stored power might have shattered the fabric of your reality."

Tesra jumped from her seat and looked to the three, "Anyways, here the deal. We have a bunch of bad guys running around Equestria's shadows, influencing it behind the scenes. They are deep rooted into your society which means it will only be a matter of time before they start replacing leaders and positions of power to start a takeover. Luckily, Joe already called a few favours and brought a Division of Volunteers from another world with an axe to grind. If you could have them cooperate with the Royal Guard and the Sentinels, we might just be able to uproot them. I'm also bringing a few specialists from the Secret Global Intelligence to establish a spy network and find their underground cells and disrupt any more operations from them."

"Wait, isn't that a little too much?" Celestia asked.

"The fact that I'm going overboard should tell you the seriousness of the situation. When we get back to Canterlot, I need you to enact those edicts, pronto!" Tesra put on her shades and made her way across the door leading outside.

Celestia paused for a moment. Wait, does she know? "Tesra? How much do you know over the past ten years?" 

"Up to the bit where you dumped a kid in Tartarus, why?"

The three of them began to sweat nervously, "Um, about that," Luna answered, "We kind of retired and gave the Throne to Twilight."

Tesra turned around, removed her shades and glared at them, "YOU DID WHAT?"
> Chapter 6: Magic (Rewritten)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Oh Twilight, what have we done?!"

"Why? What have you done? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!"

"Eep! We had Zecora use some of her magic potions to heal your wounds and Twilight used magic to scan your body for other injuries."

Percival at this point started hyperventilating as he takes a large gulp from his flask. Cold sweat poured out of him as he began to shake uncontrollably.

"Sergeant, sergeant! Please calm down!" Joshua rushed to his rider trying to hold him together.

"I-is this the effect of magic?" Fluttershy worriedly asked.

"No, he just suffers from shell shock," Joshua explains, "Anything that induces a certain traumatising event sends him into a state of panic."

"What exactly does magic do to humans?" Twilight inquired as she approached the two.

Before Joshua could answer, Percival grabbed a revolver from his bag and pointed the muzzle to his head.

"SERGEANT NO!" Joshua charged to the officer before halting as he sees Percival cocked the hammer of his revolver.

All stood up with concern in their eyes, though some of them weren't sure as to what was happening.

"None of you move!" Percival trembled with fear and hesitation as his eyes darted from each of the ponies and dragon until it rests on his steed, "Don't stop me, Joshua! I'd rather die than become another monster! You and I know what magic could do to us! You've seen those worlds! What they did to our boys! I won't lose my humanity! I'd die first!"

"Sergeant please!" Joshua took a small step forward as he begged with tears welling in his eyes, "The men need you! I need you! She needs you! Remember our deal? Think of her!"

Time stood still for Percival when he heard those words, his panting slowed. Images ran across his head; the boys of his company, his division. Joshua when he first chose him as his steed after the war. Matilda in mourning. Gritting his teeth in anguish, he moaned a sob in surrender, lowered his arm and dropped his revolver with a echoing clatter. 

Joshua approached his rider and nuzzled his side, encouraging a hug. Percival embraced him with one arm and while the other brushed the mane on his head. "I'm sorry," he whispered as he leaned on his steed and continued to caress his mane.

"Soooooo, is this going to be a thing? You going all crazy on us, then Joshua going all sad and hugs you?"

Percival looked up to see the ponies now circled around them. With the exception of Pinkie (who kept her signature grin) they gave him a wary smile with concern. He trembled, feeling his legs about to give out. Taking a deep breath to calm himself he turned to Twilight, "Magic, how does it work in this world?"

Twilight was taken aback by his question. Well, that came out of nowhere considering their reaction when we mentioned magic. Although, I guess it's not unexpected but it does raise questions. A LOT of questions. She cleared her throat and gave her reply, "Certainly, but first we need to know about that outburst of yours. How dangerous is magic to you? What did you mean when you screamed about turning into a monster? And more importantly," the pony princess leaned in closer with a twinkle in her eyes, "What was that object you pointed at yourself? Is it some sort of tool? No wait, it must be some kind of weapon similar to a cannon perhaps? How does it work?"

This time it was Percival (and to an extension, Joshua) who was taken aback. 

"I'm not sure if I have the rank to disclose information of our firearms and what I can tell you about the effects of magic on mankind are limited. Not due to me withholding information but my lack of knowledge of the concept itself."

"If that is the case, how do you know it's magic that harms you?" Starlight asked, raising an eyebrow.

Percival eyed her an incredulous look, "Because if you've been there to see every form of magic kill, poison, possess, transform, mutate, and other abominable acts against nature done to your comrades just by merely being exposed, you would come to that conclusion."

"Every form of magic you've encountered?" Twilight asked, "How many have you seen?"

"Three, and every one of them results in either of the same effects; mutating into abominations, possession or a major loss of sanity, and an alarmingly shortened lifespan due to blood-poisoning."

This time it was Twilight's turn to give an incredulous look, "Three? You came to that conclusion after just seeing three?"

Clearly irritated, the sergeant snarled at the alicorn, "Look, I'm just a Non-commissioned officer who failed the officer's academy; not some egghead who has a clear understanding of the concept of magic!"

Rainbow snickered, "He's got you there Twilight."

Twilight glared at the blue pegasus before taking a deep breath to calm herself, "Alright, fine. What is your concept of magic?" 

"Powers that upsets the natural order by supernatural means. Powers that corrupt or distort God's domain."

God? As in...? "You're religious?" Twilight asked.

Percival gave a small forced chuckle, "Not exactly, but from everything I've seen I cannot doubt his existence."

"And why is that?" asked Applejack.

"The Administrator we've been cooperating with admitted to us that he personally works for him. And seeing what he could do, leaves very little room for doubt."

"Wait, really?" Joshua's ears perked up.

"Haven't you been paying attention?" said Percival before returning to Twilight, "I think we're getting off tangent, what exactly is magic as a concept in your world?"

Turning on her teacher mode, Twilight began her explanation, "Well, in comparison to your concept of distorting the natural order, for us it's the opposite; magic is the natural order of all things. In Equestria, magic is in everything; from the sky to the deepest ocean. From a biological stand point, it comes to us naturally as we grow and influence our lives. It's how we get our Cutie Marks when we discover our natural talent; it's how unicorns cast basic spells for simple actions; it's how pegasi manages to fly and manipulate the weather and seasons; it's how earth ponies have a clear connection to the land which in turn, makes them excel at farming and achieve great feats of strength.

Most of our magic functions due to the harmony we maintain with the land and all creatures. There are exceptions such as the Everfree Forest and beings like Discord or the Windegos, mostly due to ancient magic that predates even the pony tribes. In a way, our magic and how we cast them reflects on our emotions or unity with one another."

"That... That sounds like Endowments." mused Percival.

"Endowments?"

"Aye. A few of the Volunteers from Earth in our Division told me about Endowments. Apparently (if they are to be believed), they came from a hidden world within Earth called The Mystic Isles, and what makes them unique from the rest of the world is that the humans (and a few animals) have been granted supernatural powers called Endowments. From what they described, it is a gift granted to them by a being called the Oracle that allows them authority over certain aspects of nature. For instance; the ability to cast fire from the palm of their hands, or the ability to communicate with the spirits, or the ability to see "the strands of destiny" as he called it. 

"Wait, that's a thing in that world?" Spike's jaw dropped, "But I though magic doesn't exist there!"

Percival looked at Spike inquisitively, "First off, I said it was my world of Thera that doesn't have magic. Second, Endowments; however mystical and magical it may sound, is by no means considered magic to them. Endowments are considered to be divine gifts and that Magic or "Mage Craft" is a perversion of such power (and I'm inclined to agree from what I saw). And finally, why do you sound like you've been to Earth?"

Spike casually shrugged, "Twilight, Starlight and myself have been to the human world called Earth before."

This alarmed the human, "Preposterous! You need a gateway for that to be possible, which it wouldn't be! Otherwise we'd have met a unit of guards protecting the Gate we entered and as far as we've seen, it has long been hidden from the lot of you."

"Actually," Pinkie chimed in with a squee at the end, "We have a magical dimensional mirror that connects to the human world here in this castle."

The two outsiders shared the same look of alarm and disbelief. "And you didn't bother to mention this because...?" Joshua asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, we thought you guys came from Earth, but since you said otherwise it seems that's not the case."

"Anyway, back to the subject at hoof," Twilight continued, "How is Magi... "Mage Craft" a perversion? What's the difference between Mage Craft and Endowments?"

"We are the wrong people to answer that question I'm afraid," the human replied, "You're going to have to ask the volunteers from the Mystic Isles for that one. Although, from experience I can tell, using Mage Craft involves poisoning the blood and shortening one's life span by decades."

"Wait, seriously?" Rainbow exclaimed.

"I'm afraid so." Percival sucked in a deep breath and let out a sigh, "Look, please understand. Nothing ever goes well when we involve ourselves with magic. I have to get back to my Division to report the new situation. Nothing in our world is compatible with magic, the closest we've ever had that even resembles such things are Psionics and even that is debatable. You need to let us go and I assure you we will never return."

"But what about the ones you came here for?" Fluttershy asked worriedly, "You're just going leave them here?"

"Yeah, you're just going to leave them here to do Celestia knows what?" Rainbow yelled while pointing accusingly at the two of them.

"You might not have to worry about them. With any luck, the constant exposure of magic will eventually degrade their sanity or mutate them."

As Percival approached Joshua to sort their belongings a thought came to Twilight. What if..., "George, can I call you that? Can you wait for a moment?"

Percival flinched when he heard his given name, "I don't think we could afford to wait any longer, your highness."

"Well I think it is important that you do! Please wait right here while I grabs some of my instruments. Spike, Starlight, come with me please." Twilight and the two she called out followed her out the room, leaving the rest to watch over the two soldiers.



"What exactly are you hoping to achieve here?"

"I need to test out a theory. Spike, can you record this for us?"

"Sure thing."

"Does this theory feel the need to strap the two of us to a table as though you're about to dissect us?"

"Now that you mentioned it, why are they strapped to tables?"

"It's mostly to prevent them from struggling."

"(Sigh) If we agree not to struggle, will you get us out of these ridiculous straps?"

"Oh very well."

The group brought them to a room with various instruments (almost resembling Frankenstein's Lab) where Twilight strapped the two to tables earlier, only to unstrap them (as heard earlier).

"So, what is this theory?" Percival clasped his wrists from the straps.

Twilight stepped in closer to the two, "How long did you say you were in Equestria?"

"About two weeks, right sir?" Joshua counted.

Twilight looked directly at the stallion, "And in those two weeks, what are the changes you've felt?"

"Hmm, other than the ability to communicate to mankind, gain sentience and a greater brain function (Wait, how do I know that?); I'd say, increased stamina and durability, physical strength, and I think that's about it."

Twilight turns to Percival, "And how about you, do you notice anything different coming here?"

Percival scratched his chin for a moment to reflect. He thought about the many things he felt since coming to this world; the uneasiness. "I have. Not in the same way as Joshua, mind you. Ever since I came here, I've always had this feeling pressuring me; like I was resisting against a tide from a beachhead." He looked to his shoulder, "That and my shoulder healing abnormally fast."

"The latter might be the result of Zecora's potions." Twilight smiled sheepishly before straightening her form and igniting her horn with magic, "Please don't be alarmed, I am going to cast a detection spell. There is no need to worry, it won't affect you in any way. It will only scan your bodies for magical influences and make it appear visible." She eyed the stallion with calm, "To be safe, I'll start with you Joshua."

"O-okay." Joshua gulped nervously, "Just make sure it doesn't hurt."

The alicorn smiled reassuringly and released her spell. A purple glow enveloped Joshua as sparkling lights circled and flowed through him. 

"Please don't panic, Joshua. Just breath normally."

The stallion complied as he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. The lights continued to circle and pass through him in a continuous loop until they spell faded.

"It appears what I thought was going on with Joshua was right. He is pretty much assimilating with the magic of Equestria. In a way, he's on his way to become like us."

Joshua's ears perked at that, "Is that a good thing or bad?"

"I don't know," Twilight shrugged, "But there doesn't seem to be anything wrong, biologically." She then turned to the human and nodded, "I promise you, it won't affect you unless you are already assimilating."

"Just get this done and over with." Percival grunted before shutting his eyes.

Similarly to Joshua, Twilight cast her detection spell to the man. This time however, two things happened: The purple light instead of enveloping his body, domed around him like a bubble. Following that, the sparkling lights that normally circle and pass through the body instead bounced off the dome as though they were rain hitting the head of an umbrella. 

All eyes stared as everyone awed with bewilderment as to what as happening. The Flow of magic seems to be repelled by an unseen barrier. Percival even opened his eyes to observe what was happening and was just as confused (if not more so than they were).

"Interesting," Twilight mused, "It seems you might have nothing to worry about, Sergeant Percival. That feeling of pressure and unease might be because your body is protected by an unseen barrier that is resisting against the flow of magic. It doesn't eliminate magic altogether around you, but it seems to slide away from you like an umbrella." 

"You mean... I'm not affected?" Percival released a sigh of relief as fell down to a chair that Pinkie swiftly placed behind him as he dropped. "Thank you."

"No problem, Arty!" the pink mare squeed.

"I am actually curious about this barrier around you." Twilight began her inquisitive mode as she circles around the sergeant like a shark, "Do you mind if I could scan what kind of barrier this is?"

Spike twitched at her behaviour, "Um, Twilight. I don't know if we should..."

Before Spike could finish and before everyone else could protest, Twilight gave a, "It'll be fine," and ignited her horn once again to cast the detection spell. Once the barrier was visible, she leaned her still ignited horn to poke it. As her horn touched the skin, her eyes flashed with a brilliant light as all of her senses of the world faded.



Wait, where am I? Why is it so bright?

light

What was that?

Twilight

Hello? Is somepony there?

Twilight

Yes, that's me. Who are you?

Twilight, child of the horse. Thou shalt not open the veil.

Veil? What do you mean? I don't understand.

Thou hast attempted to open the veil given unto the child of man. He hast not given thou consent to touch the veil, and thou art not ready to see.

I... I don't understand. What is this veil? Why does it need consent? On top of that, who are you?

The veil is thy oath of guard, of protection. Only on his permission can the veil be opened. So long as the veil remains, his soul shalt be intact.

Intact? You mean, magic corrupts his soul?

No. Thou power shalt not harm his soul, but his soul might corrupt thine power and in turn corrupts his soul.

!!!

The child of man has darkness within his heart. A darkness that haunts his soul. Should thou open the veil, his soul shalt be revealed and his darkness will corrupt the power within thine world.

Which means, it's not magic that changes him but the darkness within?

More or less. Thy veil keeps the darkness from touching thou world and must remain shut. Unless thou hast healed his soul, the veil must not open. Thou powers are not meant for the mortal children of man, not while thine souls are still in darkness.

... I understand. I am sorry. I shouldn't have poked my horn into this.

Fret not child of the horse. When time is thine, thou shalt see into the veil and know. The child of man and his steed shall protect all thine beloved within thou world. 

I see. Thank you. By the way, who are you? I feel like I know you, but... I don't.

Thou shalt know thee once thou meet thy servants. Farewell and speak not a word of this to a soul, lest thou risk thine world for you are being seen.



"Twilight! Twilight!"

The alicorn snapped from her trance to see everyone (including the two soldiers) surrounding her. "What happened?"

"Princess, you kind of started glowing your eyes out of nowhere and began speaking in gibberish." Joshua recounted. "We tried to drag you away from the sergeant but you wouldn't budge until your eyes stopped glowing."

Twilight's eyes widened, "How long was I out?"

Percival pulled out a pocket watch, "About five-ten minutes, give or take."

"Twi, what happened? Did you see something?" Applejack asked.

Speak not a word of this to a soul, lest thou risk thine world for you are being seen.

"It's nothing. It's nothing to worry about." Twilight smiled, trying to reassure her friends. She stood up from the floor, turned to the human and bowed her head in apology, "I am so sorry for what just happened. I promise, it won't happen again."

Percival sighed, "Just, don't use your crazy voodoo on me again. If what you say is true about this barrier I'd rather keep it intact."

"You have my word."

"Very well. Still, if it's all the same for you, I'd like to head back to the base to warn the rest of my division of..." He stopped for a moment, "Wait, what's that noise?"

Everyone joined the silence to listen. There was a commotion outside. Then a series of howls. Then came the screams.
> Chapter 7: Hunters
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Sweetie Belle, What's taking Apple Bloom long? We've got a couple of new blank flanks hoping to get their Cutie Marks."

"Well, I haven't seen her yet so might be still at home."

"At this time of the day? Have you at least checked the club house?"

"Eyup."

"Sugarcube Corner."

"Eyup."

"The school house?"

"It's summer, Scootaloo. No one goes to school during summer."

"What about...?"

"Girls! Sorry Ah'm late!"

Apple Bloom galloped to her friends Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo and stopped to catch her breath, "Sorry Ah'm late. We had a few visitors from another world in our farm. You should have seen them; they were amazing singers."

"Wait... ANOTHER WORLD?" The other two CMCs were dumbstruck. "You're not pulling our legs here, right?" Scootaloo asked.

"Nah, Ah'm serious!" insisted Apple Bloom, "There was this stallion who's bigger than Big Mac an' a two-legged, hairless thing Twilight called a hoo-man who's just as tall as the stallion."

"Wait, do you mean Human?"

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Bell turned to look at two earth pony fillies that approached Scootaloo. One had a grey coat and a curly ginger coloured mane while the other had a tan coat and a straight blonde mane. 

"Sorry, I just can't help but overhear your conversation," the tan filly sheepishly smiled.

"Nah, it's fine," said Apple Bloom, "Who are you two?"

"Oh, right!" exclaimed the orange pegasus, "Crusaders, allow me to introduce to you our new clients!" She points at the grey filly, "This is Della Lillie," and then to the tan, "and her cousin Jessie Bella. They're new in town and they heard that we could help them find their Cutie Marks."

"Word in town say you girls are the experts in the field, so we came looking." Della added.

"And then we overheard your conversation about a human and it piqued our curiosity." added Jessie.

Apple Bloom raised an eyebrow, "Y'all know what a human is?"

The cousins looked at each other for a moment and returned to the Crusaders, "Um, yeah. We kind of heard about it from some conspiracy enthusiast in town called Lyra Heartstrings. Hard to miss when you live next door to her."

"I guess that makes sense," Sweetie Bell pondered. 

"Never mind that," Scootaloo interrupted, "What did you say about this human being from another world?"

"It ain't just the human, there's also the stallion with him!" said Apple Bloom, "They came to our farm last night; the human was badly hurt while the stallion, he was out cold from bein' tired."

"Wow, how did that happen?" asked Jessie with awe.

"Maybe they are aliens from outer space and they crashed landed with a space ship?" suggested Scootaloo with excitement.

"Or maybe they're just explorers who just want to say "Hi"?" suggested Sweetie Bell with optimism.

"Or, maybe they're here as infiltrators who's come to scout us out so that the rest of them could invade us!" Della exclaimed with horrified enthusiasm.

"Um, Ah don't know 'bout that last one," said Apple Bloom sounding unsure, "Ah mean, sure they said they was some kinda soldiers or guards of the sort but it sounded like they were here to stop an invasion instead of startin' one. Besides..." she leaned in close to them with a smirk as though she was telling a juicy secret, "the Stallion who's named Joshua kinda has his eye on AJ, if y'know where Ah'm gettin' at."

The four fillies listening gasped in adoring awe.

"That is so romantic!" said Sweetie Bell.

"About time Applejack found some special pony!" said Scootaloo.

"Oh how I love star-crossed lovers!" cooed Jessie.

"Two people from different worlds meet, only to fall for each other. It's such a dreamy story!" added Della.

The five of them continued to gossip when suddenly one of the two newcomers perked up. "Oh shoot, we forgot something important! Sorry girls, but we're going to have to put a rain-check on the Crusading business today. Me and Jessie need to be somewhere else by now!"

"S'alright," said Apple Bloom, "Is not like we're gonna find your Cutie Marks on the first day anyway. It takes time and trial after all."

"We'll see you two tomorrow then," said Scootaloo.

"Nice meeting you two," added Sweetie Bell.

"It was our pleasure. Charmed to meet you." The two waved off as they left the trio.

"Well, now that that is taken care of, how about we get to see these aliens?" Scootaloo suggested with a wide grin.

"Oh that would be awesome!" exclaimed Sweetie Bell.

"Um, about that," Apple Bloom fidgeted nervously, "Twilight and the others already brought 'em to the Castle of Friendship to have a private meeting, so chances are we ain't seein' 'em til the meeting's over."

"Aww!!" the other two groaned.

"But Ah bet Zecora could tell us more 'bout 'em!" Apple Bloom suggested to lift their spirits, "She was treatin' the human from his injuries."

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Sweetie Bell exclaimed, "Let's Go!"

They rushed through the town square to Zecora's when they encountered a gathering of ponies. 

"I'm telling you, these newcomers are strange. Especially the tall one."

"Are you sure you weren't just seeing things? I mean, tall, bipedal, hands? You sure you haven't been listening too much from Lyra's theories?"

"Nurse Redheart saw them though. And so did Zecora."

"Could they have something to do with the strange activity around the Everfree? I mean, Starlight Glimmer and the Mayor organised no one to enter until they could properly investigate it."

"What of Zecora then? Doesn't she live in the Everfree?"

"She was forced to move here two weeks ago, remember?"

"But she's still entering the forest from time to time."

"Maybe she's still bringing her things from her old house here. After all, it was at such short notice that they told her she can't stay in the Everfree."

"I think we're dodging the subject here."

"What's going on in here Diamond?" Sweetie Bell approached a familiar light purple earth pony filly with a tiara.

Oh, you three. You're just in time," the filly by the name of Diamond Tiara replied with a concerned expression, "Some strangers came to town last night and was seen heading off to the Castle of Friendship with Princess Twilight and the Council of Friendship earlier. The whole town's started asking a lot of questions."

"Y'all mean Mr Percival and Mr Joshua?" Apple Bloom asked, "Those were the two that were on our farm last night, injured and tired. We took them in for the night til they were well enough to go with Twilight and the others."

"Wait, are you serious?" another earth pony filly named Silver Spoon jumped in, "You actually met them? What are they like? Were they dangerous?"

"Ah actually don't know that much about them, other than their names and the fact that they are amazing singers." Apple Bloom proudly admitted, "We was hoping to ask Zecora for more info, considering she was there healing the two of them."

"Zecora?" Diamond Tiara wondered, "I thought I saw her head for the Everfree Forest not long ago." 

Before the Crusaders could say anything further, the Zebra in question just ran into the town square panting for breath with fear clear in her eyes.

"Zecora? What's wrong?" a beige old mare who was Mayor Mare asked the panicked alchemist.

Before Zecora could manage a sentence however, a scream was heard from the edge of town; followed by gasps and more screams. The whole town watched with horror as walking piles of wood stalked their way into the town, baring their sharpened fangs at the now terrified ponies.

"TIMBER WOLVES! EVERYPONY RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!"



"There's panic in the town! Twilight, it's Timber wolves!"

Spike watched with horror out the window to see the commotion. Vast numbers of Timber wolves were spread across town chasing the towns folk everywhere. A group of them encircled the ponies at the town square with royal guards forming a perimeter between them and the wolves.

"Twilight, we need to get out there!" Rainbow Dash peered out the same window before turning to the alicorn, "What's the plan?"

Twilight looked around the room and watched as all eyes were now on her, staring expectantly for her orders.

"We are right behind you Twilight," came the voice of Pinkie with her signature grin.

Twilight took a deep breath and nodded knowingly, "Right, okay. First off, our priority is the safety of the townsfolk. Rainbow Dash, you are the fastest; pick up any pony who is isolated and cornered or need the most urgent of rescues."

"Got it Twi!" the cyan pegasus saluted with a smirk.

"Applejack, you go with Spike. Herd as much of the townsfolk who are being chased to the town square. Spike will provide cover and direct you to where you need to be."

"You got it Twilight!" Applejack nodded.

"I'll watch your back, AJ!" Spike gave her a knowing nod.

"Rarity, Fluttershy. I need you both to bring as much of the townsfolk indoors and provide medical attention to those injured."

"We'll do our best, darling! We won't let you down!" Rarity smiled confidently as she flicked her mane up with style.

"I'll have my animal friends try to spot some stragglers too." Fluttershy softly replied.

"Starlight, you and I are going create a barrier around the town square. As we clear out the town from the timber wolves, we'll widen the shield."

"Got it, Twilight!" Starlight nodded.

"Pinkie, do you think you could make a distraction to catch the timber wolves' attention?"

"Sure can do, Commander!" Pinkie Pie gave a sing song reply with a salute.

"Count us in, your highness!"

All eyes turned to Percival who was watching the devastation unfold from the balcony. They all stared at him incredulously, wondering.

"How?" Rainbow pointing at him accusingly, "No offence George, but you aren't exactly rescuer material. I don't know by what means you think you can do to help, but I think we got everything covered right now."

Percival turned to look at the blue pegasus, "Well, for starters you need someone to drive the beasts out of town. We can do that for you."

"How do you plan to do that?" Starlight asked, "You can't use magic and I doubt you're strong enough to fight them head on."

"Need I remind you that I am a soldier? I served five tours of duty and survived the Great War. As for fighting..." He turns to his steed, "Joshua, grab my Shockgun!"

A bright smile came out of the stallion, "Yes Sir!" and he reached for a rucksack and pulled out the most peculiar object. It was shaped like a blunderbuss but was made of copper and surrounded by coils, pipes and small lights.


The sergeant marched towards the group from the balcony whilst donning a pair of tinted brass goggles and a helmet. "The two of us can drive the wolves out while you rescue the town. I know a thing or two about hunting and I think its time those mongrels learned that they are no longer the top of the food chain."

He turned to see a few of them winced from his declaration. "Besides," he removed his goggles for a minute and gave them a reassuring smile, "this might be an opportunity to see each other in action."

Rainbow grinned, "Oh, now this I have got to see!"

On cue, Joshua approached with the weapon in his mouth and handed it over, "Here you go, Sir."

Percival took the gun, placed a saddle on Joshua and mounted on him. All eyes stared with awe at the height he sat on. 

"On your word your highness, open the doors and we shall commence the operation!" he adjusted his goggles to his eyes and gave his steed a pat on his mane, "Joshua, would you do the honours?"

"To ride out and meet them in Glorious Combat? Gladly, Sir!" 

The sergeant flipped a switch and the weapon gave a tuned whirl indicating it was charging up.

"Alright everypony!" Twilight announced, "Let's do this!"

"FOR GOD, KING AND COUNTRY!" Joshua bellowed.

"ET VETERUM, ET VIRTUTI, ET VIRIBUS!" came Percival's reply.

The castle doors opened.

"THERA VICTORIA!!" came the battlecry as they charged out the castle and into town.



"Zecora, what happened? Why are the Timber Wolves attacking the town?"

"I know not Apple Bloom. Had I not fled, I would have met my doom. I was just on my way to retrieve my belongings, by Celestia I am glad I kept an eye on my surroundings."

"Well while we're here, could you perhaps tell us about the two aliens that came here?"

"This is hardly the time to discuss such things, Scootaloo! Besides, I know just as much as Apple Bloom too."

BANG!

"What was that?!" 

BANG! BANG!

"Was that thunder?!"

"Sweetie Bell, the sky is clear. Whatever made that noise is not thunder I fear."

The series of thundering noises continued followed by howls and yelps of pain. Everyone at the square braced themselves for the worst to appear as the explosion of sounds drew closer.

"Everyone keep calm and stay behind us!" ordered a guard, "We need to keep the perimeter stable from the wolves! Whatever made that sound could be help, so keep calm!"

Just as the guard was finished, a mass of Timber Wolves spilled out from one of the streets and into the town square. The townsfolk were about to lose all sense of order and panic when out from the street the wolves came; a burst of lightning blasted out from the same path with splinters of wood popping out of it. 

"YEEEEAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!!!!!" came a battlecry.

Every creature watched with awed silence as they all witnessed a bizarre sight: The Banes of the Everfree fled for their lives from a creature mounted on a large pony as it shot bolts of lightning from a magical tool it held on its upper limbs. The crackling blasts was deafening but the wolves seem to be more terrified of the lightning than the noise. The brave few that held their ground gave a howl and snarled at the new comers, only to be either blasted into splinters or bucked by the mighty hooves of the stallion. The wolves that were just now witnessing the carnage joined the rest as they made their way out of the square, fearing for their lives.

None spoke a word until the rider turned to one of the guards and looked at him through his tinted goggles. "Guardsmen! Grab what volunteers you have and follow me! We are driving these wooden mutts from the town!"

"Guardsme...? Who are you to give us orders?" the lead Royal guard ordered the strangers, "And for that matter, who in Tartarus are you?"

"Who we are doesn't matter!" came the frustrated reply from the Stallion who was mounted on, "We need to kick those things out of town, pronto! Besides, we're under orders of Princess Twilight!"

With that the head guard snapped from his thoughts and addressed his subordinates, "Royal Guard! I want eight of you to protect the town square! The rest of you, let's drive these snarling twigs out of this town!"

The rider snorted a smirk before turning towards the fleeing monsters. "Guards, to me! I'll take the spearhead. CHAAAAAAARGE!!!"

The Cutie Mark Crusaders could only watch with awe as the rider and his mount rally the guards against the Timber Wolves and chased after them.

"That. Was. AWESOME!!!"



Starlight and Twilight just entered the town square as they witnessed the occurring events.

"Twilight, are you seeing this?"

"I see it Starlight, and I can't believe it!"



Rainbow Dash watched the whole fiasco unfold from the moment they left the castle to the town square with her jaw dropping as she rescues a frightened young colt.

"No way! How did he shoot lightning without a storm cloud?"



Pinkie Pie readied her party wagon to create a distraction only to find not a timber wolf was in sight of where she was.

"Aww! I was going to make a blast of a distraction!"



"Everypony get inside a building and off the streets, if you don't mind."

"Fluttershy dear, could you help me bring her inside? Her injuries need looking after."

"Oh, right away Rarity."

The two mares were in an alleyway bringing in injured ponies (and other creatures) indoors while tending to some who were injured. All the while, a series of thundering shots were heard across the town followed by howls, screeches and yells. Fluttershy winced at the few pain howls from the timber wolves but tried to brush it away by tending the injured inside. 

Time stopped for the mare however when she heard a loud howl that chilled her to the bone. That howl. It couldn't be! Why is it here?



Applejack and Spike began rushing towards the noise across town after rallying the last stragglers to the town square.

"Sis! Spike! Over here!"

Applejack stopped on her tracks and took notice of her sister and her fellow Crusaders. "Apple Bloom!" the farmer rushed to embrace her little sister, "Are you alright, Sugarcube?"

"Ah'm fine, Applejack. We just saw Mr Percival and Mr Joshua chase a whole group of Timber Wolves!" Apple Bloom gleamed excitedly.

"Now hold on, did you say chased? Like they really chased them out?" Applejack stared at her sister in disbelief. 

"Yeah, it was awesome!" Scootaloo added with her own excitement, "They just charged right in and blasted the timber wolves with lightning and a few good old bucks! Then the others just saw what they did to them and just ran off, then they rallied the guards and chased after them!"

Applejack just stood there, trying to take it all in. They chased off the timber wolves? I mean, when they said they'd drive them out Ah figured they'd just make some noise and ward them off like old Granny Smith did in her time. But CHASE? Who in their right mind would chase after timber wolves?

The orange mare shook her thoughts off and made her way towards the howls and thunder. "Spike, look after them for me! Ah'm goin' after them!" Before any could protest, she was already gone.

She galloped through the streets and alleyways of Ponyville, following the noise until she reached the edge of town. Applejack saw her friends gathering there, a wall of Royal Guards and... And Percival and Joshua standing off against the largest Timber Wolf she has ever seen.

Oh Nelly, it's an ALPHA!



"To me, lads! We've almost driven them off of town!"

BANG!!

Percival took another shot at a wolf that was covering the retreat of the others as the entire horde of them ran wildly towards the forest's edge. 

"We did it Sir! We've beaten them back!" Joshua cheered at the sight, "Oh that was easier than I thought it would be..."

Before the stallion could finish his sentence an ear-splitting howl was heard from the edge of the woods as a figure emerged before them. A giant timber wolf that towered over the pair, three times their size in height. Its deep, green eyes stared into them as it snarled with fury and... desperation? Percival wasn't sure why, but he sensed there was something off about it. Regardless, it posses a threat to the town and its inhabitants. It must be stopped now.

The giant slowly stepped forward as though to challenge the two and unleashed another ear-splitting howl. The smaller of its kind began to rally behind it at the edge of the forest. 

Sensing the challenge, Percival dismounted and slid-pumped his gun giving an electrical whirling tune. "Joshua, cover my back. If any of the spectators got any funny ideas to interfere, give them a good beat down."

"Aye aye, Sergeant!" Joshua gave a salute as he hung back behind his rider.

"Sgt Percival, what are you doing? Are you crazy? THAT'S AN ALPHA!" came the scream of Twilight.

He ignored the warning and stared down the giant wooden canine. The creature replied with a glare of its own and snarled, hoping to intimidate the human. Percival didn't even flinch.

"You know, as terrifying as you look, you are hardly the scariest thing I've ever laid eyes on," he taunted, "Not to brag but you barely even begin to scare an inch of my nerves. I used to hunt vermin like you on a regular basis. But since we've just been acquainted, I'll give you and your kin a chance; leave this town and never return."

The creature seemed to snarl a laugh from what he said and lunged after the human. Percival reflectively dodged the charge and fired a blast of lightning. The shot stung the giant wolf but shrugged it like it was nothing. It charged once more at him and once again missed as Percival dodged and fired another shot. It shook off the blast, more irritated by the sound of the blast than its impact as it once more lunged at the soldier. This time however, it managed to pin Percival down with its paws. The timber wolf readies to bite down on him, much to the horror of the observers. It opens it's fangs and lunges its jaws into its helpless victim.

"Let's see if you can eat plasma, you wooden bitch!" Percival swore as he switched his weapon's power outlet to the highest setting. 

Just as the giant's teeth was inches away, a bright blast of burning hot plasma seared all over its muzzle as the creature's wooden frame burned brightly and spread across its head, torso and the rest of it's body. It screamed, thrashed and rolled on the ground to put the fire out. All who witnessed the inferno were wide-eyed and dumbstruck at the sight. As the flames died down, the creature was on the ground whimpering in pain and shuddered as the soldier drew closer pointing his weapon at it.

"Mr Percival, wait! Please don't kill it!" Fluttershy screamed, begging with tears, "Its afraid! They're all afraid! Please don't hurt it!"

Percival pumped his shockgun and glared at the beast through his weapon sights. Everyone held their breaths as he broke the deafening silence, "I let you off with a warning. You laughed it off on my face. I should kill you in front of everyone for that, just to make an example how deathly serious I am." 

He closed his eyes and lowered his aim before glaring at the pitiful thing in the eyes, "But from one hunter to another, I'll let you live. I'll let you live to warn every creature you could communicate with that if anyone of them dares to approach this town and threaten any of its residents, I will personally hunt them down. You will tell your kin, that if anyone of them terrorizes another soul from this town I will blast every last one of you to splinters and turn you to fire wood. Am I clear?"

The Alpha painfully stood up and nodded in agreement to the demand.

"Good. NOW GET!!" he pointed his gun in the air and fired a blast of lightning to the sky, signalling the wolves to promptly leave.

Joshua trotted towards his rider and nuzzled him, "Brilliantly said sir. Here's hoping we don't see their lot again."

Percival brushes his steed's mane with a gentle smile before he gave a worried frown as he stared to the onlookers. Joshua turned to look at the sight of them and a growing concern crept in. "You don't suppose we might have intimidated the entire town with that display of Strength-of-arms, did we?"

"Joshua, I might believe that we have just overstayed our welco..."

"THAT! WAS! AWESOME!!!!!!!"

The two were startled by the sudden uproar of praises as they we both tackled by several ponies who were elated by the fight.

"Who are you two?"

"What kind of creature are you?"

"Are those hands?"

"Where are you from?"

Are you part of the Royal Guards?"

What are your names?"

"Are you heroes from somewhere?"

"Are you really aliens?"

"Are you really dating Applejack?"

"Settle down everycreature!" ordered Twilight, "Settle down! I know all that today has been overwhelming for all of us, so I will do the honour of answering the questions in everyone's mind. Ponyville, meet Sgt George Arthur Percival and Private Joshua of Cornwall. They came from a world far away, arrived in our town as injured patients and now find themselves as heroes." She turned to the two with a smile, "As such, let us give them the welcome they rightly deserve. Give it up for The Heroes of Ponyville!"

A round of applause and cheers rang across the town as Pinkie Pie stepped in to silence everyone, "With that said, you all know what this calls for!"

"PARTY!"

As the crowd gathered around to parade the two into town, Percival couldn't help but look back into the forest. He turned to Twilight and nudged her to catch her attention, "Out of curiosity, how often do those wolves attack the town?"

"Never actually," Twilight casually replied, "Timber wolves mostly stay clear away from the town. Why?"

Percival looked back to the forest and narrowed his eyes, "I've hunted wolves before, and from all that time they only ever attack towns for two reasons; either food became scarce or they were driven out of their territory."
> Chapter 8: Party
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Ms Rarity, while I do appreciate the generous offer, I assure you that none of this is necessary."

"Nonsense Sergeant! If you expect me... Nay, anypony to allow you to attend a party with a bloodstained, tattered combat uniform then you are sorely mistaken! You need to be presentable, darling! You are a soldier and an officer, therefore you must look your best, now hold still whilst I take your measurements!"

"(Sigh) Very well, but I insist I keep my trousers on, or at the very least my pants. It is deplorable and undignified for a man to be in the nude while in the presence of a lady."

"Why? Is there a problem among your kind to be naked?"

"If you must know Ms Rarity, Mankind has little to no fur, coat or hair around their body. Their skin is not as thick as most creatures and therefore often suffer from physical complications when left too long in exposure; such as catching a cold."

"Fascinating! I always wondered why that was the case when I went to see the human world."

"That is hardly the main reason, Joshua! There is a certain decorum to uphold! One should never expose themselves unless for medical reasons, bathing or intimacy with another of the opposite sex."

"Oh? Oh. OOOOOH! Oh my! We must look like savages to you! I'm sorry, I should have realised!" 

Rarity and Twilight brought the guests of honour into Carousel Boutique for a fitting. Due to the conversation earlier however, both Rarity and Twilight blushed at the sudden realisation of certain social cues and etiquette to do with clothing (and became rather self conscious that they have been ignoring said etiquette in his presence). 

"Look, don't worry about it your Highness, Ms Rarity," Joshua tries to assure the two ladies, "He doesn't consider you Human so you don't have to concern yourself whether or not you're wearing anything. He's just self conscious when he is the one naked."

"On that note I've been curious," Percival asked what has been on his mind since he heard of the Seamstress' occupation, "Ms Rarity, how could a fashionista such as yourself thrive in a society that has no real need for clothing?" 

"No real need?!" the porcelain unicorn gasped in offence to that statement, "My good sir, I will have you know the importance of clothing among the ponies is greater than you think! Of course, I will admit while it may not be a necessity like it may be among your kind; clothing is worn for either the most important of occasions or as a means of self-expression. You will find that several ponies wear attires to either make them recognisable or for formalities."

"So it's either to stand out or to flaunt their status in society? Are clothes a luxury here rather than a necessity?"

"Well, admittingly I suppose it very well could be, if you put it that way. However, it isn't so luxurious that no pony could not afford. Besides, they are needed come winter where every creature will have to rug-up for the cold season."

Percival paused at the thought, "Fascinating."

"Indeed, now what colour to choose," Rarity mused to herself as she began drafting designs for a replacement uniform for the party until a gasp with a bright smile came out of her. "IDEA!" came her sing-song announcement. 

At breakneck speed, she rushed into her workshop and began her work. An assortment of sounds could be heard from the room as well as the voice of Rarity humming and talking to herself. About an hour later, the unicorn burst out.

"I'm done!" came her sing-song tune as she held out a coat, "I don't have Khaki coloured dyes I'm afraid but I figured red might do. So, what do you think?"

Percival gave a deadpan look at the coat. It oddly enough resembled an old 19th Century British uniform.


"This. This looks like an old officer's Uniform, but it was phased out about two hundred years ago. Nobody wears red anymore," he said calmly before turning to look at Rarity's disappointed expression. "But I suppose it will have to do," he sighed, "After all the effort you put into it, who am I to refuse a gift horse in the mouth? Um, figuratively speaking of course."

At that Rarity's face lit up, "Oh wonderful! Here, put it on and let us have a look!" And a fitting later she gasped excitedly, "Oh darling, you look superb! Very... What's the word? Proper! That's right! Prim and Proper!"

They all looked at the sergeant in the vintage uniform while viewed himself on a mirror. "Well, I admit Ms Rarity; I do like the colour."



"WELCOME TO TOWN HALL!"

The eruptive greeting came from the whole town as the two guests arrived. They arrived escorted by Rarity and Twilight as they were bombarded with cheers and greetings. Everyone (pony or otherwise) circled the entrance jumped out with surprise, some firing party poppers; blasting confetti at the two. Pinkie Pie on the other hand went the extra mile and fired her signature "Party Cannon" causing the soldiers to instinctively duck for cover.

"Jesus, Mary and Joseph! Are you MAD?!" Percival glared at the pink mare with intent, catching everyone off guard.

Pinkie's mane deflated as she doubled down, "W-what? D-did I do something wrong?"

"Did you do something wron...?" Joshua looked at her as though she might as well have unpinned a grenade in front of them, "WHY DO YOU HAVE A CANNON HERE?! Much less fire it in a crowded area?!"

"Oh, you mean this?" Pinkie pointed at her Party cannon, "It's my Party Cannon, silly. I use it to fire out party favours, cakes, decorations, and confetti to complete the party, of course. On that note, HAPPY WELCOME TO PONYVILLE AND THANKS FOR SAVING THE TOWN!"

The two took a moment to process the information from Pinkie. Finally, Percival stood up, shook his head and drew a long breath as he sighed, "Ms Pie, I don't know whether to be grateful for the effort of putting this event together in our honour, be amused by such a ridiculous explanation or," he turned to her and almost snarled, "STANGLE YOU FOR SCARING US HALF TO DEATH! Who in the right mind retrofits a primitive artillery piece to have it fire confetti? I could give you a list of so many violations to Health and Hazard, especially in an Event!"

"Sgt Percival, there's no need to be overreactive," Rarity assures them with her hooves on their shoulders, "We assure you that Pinkie's Party Cannon is quite safe. We've never had a party without them and we've most certainly never had any issues with it." She paused for a moment to think back, "Well, except that one time but it was resolved."

Percival raised an eyebrow, "Is it a common occurrence to host festivities with retrofitted artillery?"

"Well, not exactly," Twilight answered with her encyclopedic knowledge, "Not all party planners in Equestria use extravagant tools like Party Cannons for festivities, as you would put it. However, you'll be hard pressed to find a party planner without a signature flare to liven up a party. For Example, there was Cheese Sandwich who used a Party Howitzer for his celebrations."

"A HOWITZER?!" Joshua's jaws dropped.

So this must be how Alice felt when she found Wonderland thought Percival. 

"Hey, why are we just sitting still here?!" came the complaint of Rainbow Dash, "This is a party! Let's have some fun!"

As the crowd decided to carry on with the festivities, Joshua and Percival stood up from their fallen spot as they looked around the Town Hall. It wasn't just ponies that were taking part it seems. There was a pair of donkeys, a familiar Zebra, a few dragons, two griffins, a Yak, a strange bug looking thing, and a hippogriff. If there were Elves, Dwarves and Men, Percival would have thought that he was back in the Eridan Empire. 

"Is everything alright, Mr Percival? Mr Joshua?" 

The two turned to the soft voice belonging to Fluttershy who was looking at the worryingly.

"Oh, nothing's wrong Ms Fluttershy," Joshua replied, "Just a little overwhelmed at what we are seeing." He paused as he thought for a moment, "You know, I've never actually been to festivities before, much less in our honour."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I was just a simple horse before coming here after all. No sentience whatsoever."

"Oh right," Fluttershy gave a knowing look before fidgeting her forehooves as though she was reluctant to ask but tries anyway, "So... What is it like? Being an animal I mean. You see, I take care of animals for a living and while I can communicate with them, I don't really know what's it like being one."

Joshua pondered for a moment, "To be honest, I don't know what to tell you. It's like you know what you are, you know who to serve and all you care really is food, care and mate and everything else doesn't really matter. That's for me anyway. I can still remember everything as a simple animal but after we came here, everything became clear and I began to question everything."

"Oh my, It wasn't bother, was it?"

"On the contrary, it was nothing short of a miracle."

"So this party then, it must be very special to you?"

Joshua gave a wide smile, "More than you know it."



"What are just standing there for? Aren't you going to eat?"

"Begging your pardon Ms Pie, but don't you usually say a blessing before partaking into festivities?"

"A Blessing? Oh, you mean a Prayer? Wow Georgie, I didn't know you were a traditionalist!"

"What's going on? Is something the matter?" Twilight approached Pinkie and Percival in the middle of their discussion of party etiquette.

"Georgie was just asking me if we hold prayers before the party," Pinkie replied with a toothy smile.

"A prayer?" Twilight let that thought float in the air before clicking the dots, "Oh that's right! You did mention that you have a belief in a deity." 

"Personally, it's more for tradition then anything else really." Percival corrected.

A spark lit her eyes as she gasped with excitement, "Could you say one now? It would be a perfect opportunity to get to know a bit of your culture and even your religious values. Please, do! I could document this moment for prosperity as a small cultural exchange!"

The sergeant winced nervously at her request. He was about to decline until Twilight and Pinkie both gave him those eyes that tugged his heart. These creatures are just like the household dogs that give you those longing eyes when they expect something out of you. He gave a sigh and caved in, "Very well, I'll provide one. But I need the floor to be silent for a moment."

"Of course!" Twilight lifted a glass with her magic and rang a spoon to silence the floor, "Attention, attention everyone!" All went silent as the princess continues, "I'd like to propose a toast to Sgt George Percival and Pvt Joshua of Cornwall for their act of bravery to defend our beloved town of Ponyville. Despite being strangers from another world they went out of their way to protect our town from danger. To our new heroes." 

"To our new heroes!" cheered the town.

"On another note," Twilight continued, "as bit of a cultural exchange between our worlds I have asked the good Sergeant to perform a custom from his world." She turned to Percival and gestured for him to take the lead, "Sgt Percival, you may do the honours." 

The human took a step forward and looked around the hall. All eyes were staring at him with anticipation and curiosity. He had never had an audience before which made him twitch slightly, but with a deep breath he steeled his nerves and began his prayer, 
"Almighty Father, Lord of all creation. I thank you for this blessed day. Despite all the turmoil and the attack I thank you for day resolving in victory, for securing the safety of all within the town. I thank you for the hospitality of all the residents within this town, despite being strangers from a strange land they welcomed us. Not just for our service unto them but for their desire to help others. I ask you oh Lord to bless them. Bless this town, it's people, it's leaders. Bless all their endeavours, their livelihoods, their friends and families, their land. I finally ask that you bless the food that we shall partake in celebration of today. May it nourish us physically and spiritually. In the name of your son, Christ the Lord. Amen. In Nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen."

Unbeknownst to everyone else in the floor, the six bearers of the elements couldn't help but notice a faint glow across the room as he concluded his prayer. 

"Did my eyes deceive me or did he just caused to room to glow there for a minute?" Rarity whispered.

"Yeah, I know right?" whispered Rainbow Dash, "For a dude who claims he can't use magic, it sure looked like magic to me."

"Well we can't know for sure, Sugarcube," whispered Applejack, "Ah reckon he was mighty honest when he said he can't use magic."

"Does it really matter if it was magic or not?" asked Fluttershy (in her normal voice), "I mean, it did look pretty and it wasn't doing any harm."

"And why are we all whispering?" whispered Pinkie Pie, "I thought this wasn't suppose to be a whispering party."

"I think it would be prudent if we say nothing about this to anypony."

The five of them looked at Twilight with bewilderment.

"I know what all of you are thinking right now, but everything you just saw must never be spoken." Twilight's voice carried a seriousness reminiscent of her predecessors that somehow sent a chill to their spines.

"You know Twi, I would have thought you'd be the one to jump at the opportunity to go full egghead on what we just saw," Rainbow spoke out inquisitively, "Why the sudden change of mind?"

"Three reasons, Rainbow Dash; 1. No one but us seems to take notice of the glow and I would rather not raise unwanted attention for what should be a party. 2. When I touched George's invisible barrier earlier today, I connected with something. Something that warned me not to pry any further for his safety and for our security to which I made a promise not to. 3. That something also warned me that we are being watched. At first I thought it was just simple test from a being that could possibly be greater than Celestia herself but after the timber wolves and from what the sergeant told me about his experience with wolves tells me that something else is going on in here."

Pinkie gasped, "YOU MEAN WE'RE BEING SPIED AT?"

Applejack and Rarity covered the pink mare's mouth and gave her a "Shush!" to which the mare complied.

"You're not really suggesting that it was all foul play, are you darling?" Rarity asked as she and Applejack released Pinkie.

"Actually, Twilight might not be wrong," Fluttershy added, "The timber wolves have never approached the town like that before. Something must have upset them."

Twilight stared at all her friends before turning to the townsfolk as they carry on with the festivities. She then looked at the two guests as they interacted with the ponies. She gave a smile and returned to eye at her friends, " I believe we shall discuss more of this another time. For now, let's just enjoy the night. Besides, I believe our guests of honour have a lot of stories to tell."



"So there we were; me, the sergeant and our battalion of three hundred volunteers were stationed in this outpost to hold out against the Kalderin Swarm."

"Pardon me, Mr Joshua but what's a Kalderin?"

"Ugh! Pipsqueak, we've already heard him say that!"

"But I didn't get to hear it."

"No, it's okay. What a Kalderin is, young colt is a parasitic xeno. A fungal swarm controlled by a hivemind that devours everything in its path and turns their poor victims into one of them, adding their numbers."

"Eeep!"

"Creepy!"

"But going back, we had to hold the outpost to allow the locals from the planet to evacuate either by their ships or the Gate. But when we saw the Swarm that was rushing towards us, we thought we were goners. Thousands... No, Millions of them surrounded the outpost. Imagine, Three hundred Volunteers against a literal tidal wave of bodies ready to swallow us whole! But we held; oh, we held! For three days we held against them, most of my brothers and sisters were in a state of panic, all of our riders fought desperately to hold the outpost. Then when the sun rose on the third day, we were down to our last line of defense. We all knew we were going to die."

"Gasp."

"Or so we thought. As we watched the swarm rush towards our lines, our captain called out and pointed high above the cliffside where our outpost was built next to. And then we saw..."

"Yes?"

"THE WINGED HUSSARS' DIVISION! Hundreds of Landships and Airships swept across the battlefield and burnt their way across the swarm! It was like a miracle that they came to our rescue as they cut a path through them to regroup with us. That whole morning they blasted artillery and dropped bombs into the ranks of their infected corpses, rescuing us from the Swarm and allowing us to escape the planet once and for all. 

"Oooooh!"

Joshua took a swing from a tankard and slammed it on the table, "And that was how we managed to survive against an overwhelming swarm of monsters."

The listening crowd of both young and old clapped their hooves (and claws) together with some cheering and commenting questions like, "How does a landship look like?" or "Did that really happen?"

Percival who was listening to his steed recount the tale when he and his Division were sent to escort a delegation of Xenos call Kaldivians to a summit on a Neutral planet only to be attacked by the infamous scourge of their Galaxy made him shiver at the memory. Though he was quite impressed that Joshua somehow not only managed to remember the siege but also managed to tell it as though it were a heroic epic told in bars when many of his comrades were still plagued by nightmares of the event. He took a swing from his flask, trying to drown that memory from his mind.

"Mr Percival, was what Mr Joshua said true?"

The sergeant looks down to see three fillies look at him expectantly, one of whom he recognised earlier that day. 
"Ah, Little Ms Apple Bloom was it?"

"Howdy, Mr Percival," the little filly gave an infectious smile, "How're doin' with your injury and all?"

"A lot better, thank you," he reached his hand on her mane and patted a brush on it. "I swear, you lot are the third most adorable creatures I've ever seen," he thought out loud.

The three fillies blushed with embarrassment. "Aw, shucks Mister," Apple Bloom gave a squee.

Percival removed his hand from the filly's mane and turned to the other two before returning to Apple Bloom, "Are you not going to introduce me to your friends, Little Miss?"

"Agh! Right." Apple Bloom rubbed her mane with a sheepish smile before gesturing a forehoof for introductions, "Mr Percival, this here is Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. Together, we three are the Cutie Mark Crusaders!"

Percival raised an eyebrow, clearly confused, "Cu-Cutie Mark? Did I hear that right?"

"What's the matter?" the unicorn Sweetie Belle asked, "Don't you know what a Cutie Mark is?"

"I'm afraid not, but do enlighten me."

"Wait, you mean you actually don't have Cutie Marks in your world?" Scootaloo exclaimed at Percival who in turn shook his head. "A Cutie Mark is a symbol of a pony's special talent! It appears on our flanks once we discover what our special talent is. For our case, our marks symbolise that our special talent is to help others discover their special talent," the little pegasus gave a proud smirk as she spun around to expose her flank with her mark.

"...I see," Percival deadpanned before forming a small grin, "I thought those marks are some sort of identification tattoos. I suppose I'm not far off the mark, as it were."

Choosing to ignore the poor pun, Sweetie Belle pushed the previous question, "About what Mr Joshua said earlier, did you really fight against terrifying monsters?"

"Duh! Of course it must be true! We all saw what he did with the timber wolves, it shouldn't be a surprise that he took on alien zombies!" Scootaloo rebutted.

Percival gave a wry smile at the expectant fillies and with a soft voice replied, "A little romanticised but more or less true. But if it is all the same for you little ones, I would prefer not to recount my side of the story. As heroic as it sounds, I lost many comrades that day; same would be said in the many battles I've survived."

The trio's smiles dropped at the implication of his words. They know of the concept of death and war, but until they heard his request they realised he must have lost so many of his friends and decided that it was prudent not to pursue the topic. 

Then Sweetie Belle had an idea, "Apple Bloom mentioned that you and Joshua are good singers. If it isn't any problem, would you mind if you could sing one for us?"

Percival chuckled, "Perhaps another time, Little Ms Sweetie Belle. I'm not sure if I'm in the appropriate mood for a song."

The fillies groaned with disappointment, to which Percival winced at their dejected eyes that were practically begging him. He turned his gaze to his side to avoid theirs when Applejack sat next to him with two tankards of beverage, "Something the matter, Sergeant? Why aren't you celebratin'?"

"This is me celebrating, Ms Applejack," Percival eyed the drinks she brought with her, "A little quiet time with a drink as I soak up the atmosphere."

"Then why aren't ya'll getting into the thick of it?" Applejack jabbed his shoulder, "Do some socialising! Have some cider! At the very least get some real party food! All ya got there is just roast vegetables!"

Percival rubbed his shoulder from Applejack's jab. Good Lord, does she pack a punch! "Maybe your event planner should have taken my dietary needs to consideration before having half the food made of hay, grass and flowers. The only thing edible to me are the assortment of fruits and vegetables, your pastries on the other hand could kill me."

Applejack raised an eyebrow, "Well why didn't ya say so earlier? Could have saved you the trouble!" She scooted a tankard in front of him, "At the very least try some of Sweet Apple Acres Apple Cider. It's the finest cider in this side of Equestria!"

"Is that so?" Percival eyed her skeptically.

"I don't lie, Sergeant," Applejack warmly smiled.

Percival eyed the beverage in front of him and lifted the tankard. He took a quick smell of the drink and was overwhelmed by the sugary-fruity scent before taking a sip. His eyes widened with delighted surprise as he guzzled down the rest of the drink and emptied his tankard.

He licked his lips and turned to look at Applejack's expecting gaze, "It's good. This is by far the sweetest thing I've ever tasted."

"See, I told you it's good!" the farmer smirked proudly, "This here is probably be the best Cider ya'll ever taste."

"I said it was good, I didn't say it was the best I've ever had."

To that Applejack did a double-take, "Say what now?"

"I won't deny that your family cider is good. The problem though is that it is too sweet, almost sugary even. A perfect cider has that balance of sweetness and fruity flavour," the sergeant explained before opening his flask and poured its content into the tankard.

"Is that a fact?" Applejack narrowed her eyes.

"No, it's my opinion," Percival dryly said, "It may well be a fact that your cider is the best that your world has to offer, but in my opinion yours doesn't compare to what mine has to offer." 

"Well that's a mighty strong opinion you got there," one of Applejack's eyes twitched at what might just be the greatest insult to her honour, "Ah hope you've got some proof to back that claim."

As Percival finished filling his tankard with the content of his flask an idea came to his mind. He smiled mischievously as he turned to Applejack, "Then allow me to persuade you." He changed his gaze to the Crusaders, still keeping his grin, "So, you girls still want to hear a song?"



"Woah AJ, what's happening here?"

"The Sergeant here is tryin' to convince me that his world has the better cider than ours."

"Whaaat? No way! There's no way anyone could beat your family's Apple cider!"

"Shhh!"

"Everyone, can I have your attention please?"

Percival was now standing on top of a chair, holding his flask high up. Next to him was Joshua who was brought to him by the Cutie Mark Crusaders for his presentation. All eyes were now on the human as the room turned silent.

"I will admit I am not as interactive with all of you in this "Party" you have thrown in our welcome, so in spirit of friendship I have decided to share a gift from my world to your town. As a challenge from Ms Applejack's cider, I present to all of you (who are old enough of course) to have a taste of one of my world's best cider."

As he said this, he filled more tankards from his flask which had many onlookers wondering how could a small flask produce so much drink.

"And you're saying this is the best that your world has to offer?" Rainbow Dash asked skeptically with a smirk.

"Why of course," Percival smiled, "After all..."

And just like that, out of nowhere he broke into song.


From France we get the Brandy, from Martinique the rum
Sweet red Cabernet from Italy does come!
But the fairest of 'em all me lass, the one to be the day, is made from apples up the mighty Saguenay

So follow me lads! (Slam) ‘cause this 'ain't no grog or ale
One pint down you'll be swingin’ in the gale
Five pints bully, you’ll be shakin' in your shoes
We're half-seas over on the Joli Rouge
(Chugs a drink)

She's called the Dreadnought Cider, she's proper and she's fine
And when the day is over, sure, I wish that she were mine!
Or in the dark of winter, or on a summer's eve
One hand giveth and the other doth receive

So follow me lads! (Slam) ‘cause this 'ain't no grog or ale
One pint down you'll be swingin’ in the gale
Five pints bully, you’ll be shakin' in your shoes
We're half-seas over on the Joli Rouge
(Chugs a drink)

So turn your sails over, and bring her hard to port
Find that little star and fly straight into the north!
The wild sun upon your back, the wind a-blowing free
You're rolling down the river boys to old Chicoutimi

So follow me lads! (Slam) ‘cause this 'ain't no grog or ale
One pint down you'll be swingin’ in the gale!
Five pints bully, you’ll be shakin' in your shoes
We're half-seas over on the Joli Rouge
(Chugs a drink)

So you can have a Magners and pour it over ice
Or you can have a Strongbow if it's sadness that you like!
Or join us up the river, and we'll set your heart aglow
And how you'll feel when the real cider starts to flow!

So follow me lads! (Slam) ‘cause this 'ain't no grog or ale
One pint down you'll be swingin’ in the gale!
Five pints bully, you’ll be shakin' in your shoes
We're half-seas over on the Joli Rouge

So follow me lads! (Slam) ‘cause this 'ain't no grog or ale
One pint down you'll be swingin’ in the gale!
Five pints bully, you’ll be shakin' in your shoes

We're half-seas over on the Jooooo
Jooooo
Jooooooli Rouge!


Percival intended to merely sing the song but as the song progressed he kept taking a swing from his drink. Soon he began to dance to the tune followed by Joshua's harmony and then later the rest of the townsfolk who were brave enough (and old enough) to taste his beverage joined in the chorus. 

Among them was a certain cyan pegasus mare who was at first skeptical but after noticing the surprised look of the ponies who had a taste of the cider decided to try it for herself. And she was not disappointed. To Rainbow Dash, it certainly wasn't the sweetest cider she ever tasted but boy, did it come with a kick! It was smooth and fruity but strong to the taste.

"Applejack," Rainbow looked at her competitive farmer friend after emptying her tankard of Percival's cider with a smirk, "you might have just gotten yourself a competitor."

Soon the entire town hall was consumed with the singing, and just as Percival hit the final note of the long chorus he collapsed on the floor, dead drunk and unconscious with a goofy smile.
> Chapter 9: Bunnings
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Sergeant. Sergeant, get up."

"Ugh! My head! Bloody Hell, my head!"

"Georgie, you might want to do as she said."

"Ugh, give me five more minutes. This headache is killing me!"

"Um, Sir. I think it would be in your best interest to get up."

Percival found himself face down on a floor as he turns to see the ponies and Joshua surround him. Rarity, Applejack and an old brown coated mare with glasses glared at him with disappointment. Rainbow Dash on the other hand gave him a smug grin whilst Pinkie kept her smile she always wore. Only Joshua and Starlight Glimmer gave him a concerned look. 

"Sgt George Arthur Percival, I am ashamed of you! ASHAMED!" Rarity berated as she scowled, "What possessed you to bring alcoholic beverage into a party, with foals participating no less?"

"Settle down, Rares," Rainbow Dash puts a hoof to calm the fashionista, "The way I see it, he might just as well be a bigger party animal than Pinkie." She turns to the human with a rather impressed smirk, "Seriously though dude, that was pretty wild of you to bring that stuff last night."

"W-what are you ladies on abou...?"

The sergeant finally sat up from where he laid and saw a sight he never thought he'd ever see in his life. He was still in Ponyville's Town hall and noticed a number of ponies who were also sprawled on the floor covered with makeshift blankets. Some of them were coming around albeit suffering from the same hangover he was having. One particular mare who was a teal-coloured unicorn was actually right next to him holding his hand with her hooves while a cream coloured earth pony mare tried to coax her to wake up.

"Hands! Lovely hands!" muttered the unicorn.

"Lyra please, get up!" the earth pony tried to shake her awake before glaring at Percival, "You! You get your filthy claws off off her! You've done enough last night already!"

"Unhand me woman!" Percival yanked his hand from the unicorn, "What have I ever done to you?"

"You brought liquor into a party!" the cream coloured mare pointed accusingly at him, "You intoxicated about a quarter of the town from your stunt with that stupid cider of yours!"

"Please Bonbon, lower your voice," one of the ponies pleaded, "Some of us haven't exactly recovered from last night."

Although still in pain from the hangover, Percival began to piece together what was going on, "Is it some sort of taboo to bring liquor to festivities?"

"Quite so, sergeant," the spectacled mare replied sternly, "Such beverages are not allowed in the general public!"

"Mayor Mare's right," added Rarity with a scoff, "Such beverages are reserved only for the appropriate establishments such as tap houses and..." she then blushed slightly, "...other occasions."

"Looks to me like my cider is still better," Applejack gave a smug smirk at the sergeant.

"Opinions, Ms Applejack," Percival muttered as he rubbed the crown of his head, "Opinions."

"To be honest, it wasn't that bad," the prismed maned pegasus snorted a giggle, "You should have seen Twilight down the stuff, it was hilarious! It was, "all for science!" she said when she wanted to taste that cider of yours. Next thing we knew, the egghead was singing along with that song of yours before she passed out."

"Please, for the love of my sanity keep your voice down!" the human gritted his teeth in pain, "Your voice could wake up the dead and it's killing me here."

"Speaking of the Princess," Joshua turned to Starlight, "where is she?"

"Oh, she had to return to the capital of Canterlot," replied the lavender unicorn, "The Royal Guards and Spike escorted her last night to recover from, this."

"I see."

Suddenly, the doors of the town hall flung open, exposing the blaring sunlight into the building. A booming voice cried out as the doors opened, "WHERE IS HE?!"

Groans of pain were heard across the hall as all turned to see who it was that made the noise. There standing by the entrance was another human (wearing a hood and cloak) with Fluttershy who was cowering behind it, accompanied by... a black lop-eared rabbit. The presence of the human and the rabbit was one thing, it's just that it wasn't the human who's voice that yelled; it was the rabbit's.

"WHERE THE BLOODY HELL IS HE?!" the rabbit continued to screech with an unusually thick cockney accent as he walked right in the town hall. 

Nopony could stop his ranting for they were too stunned or in a hangover to process what they were seeing. The rabbit surveyed the building until he finally stopped right next to Percival who was now lying flat and groaning from the noise.

"Well. Well. Well. Sergeant Percival," he crossed his tiny paws in mock(?) disappointment, "Is that liquor I smell? Liquor displeases the Lord. Hand it here so I may dispose of it!"

"I don't have it with me, sir," Percival grunted.

"Is that right?" Without warning, the rabbit kicked him in the stomach, causing Percival to cough and squirm in pain. "Get up, ya lazy bum," the rabbit continued to berate him, "or I tear you a new one!"

"What in Sam Hill do ya'll think yer doin'!?" Applejack stepped in between the rabbit and Percival before Joshua stopped her. "Joshua, why'd ya stop me?"

The farm pony stopped when she saw the nervous look on Joshua's face. Wait, does he know these fellers?

"Apologies my good mares, but we have business with Mr Percival here," the human finally talked. The voice sounded feminine. It was in fact a woman with a tan complection and appeared to be a lot older than Percival as she lowered her hood and made her way towards the group.

"And just who do you think you are?" Rainbow Dash snarled, not taking a liking to what they did to Percival.

"Ms Dash, please don't confront them," Joshua pleaded, "that's Sgt Major Bunnings of the SGI. The Secret Global Intelligence."

"Sgt Major?" Pinkie gasped with surprise, "You mean the one with the rabbit?"

"It is the rabbit," Joshua flatly replied.

All looked at Joshua incredulously before turning to the rabbit in question, who was now snarling irritably.



3 hours ago

"Permission to speak freely, Sgt Major?"

"What is it, Polaris?"

"For goodness sake Bunnings, will you get yourself a grip? You've been scowling for two weeks now and you've just about terrified every local we've come across. How do you plan on them cooperating if you keep threatening to beat them to a bloody pulp every time they want that fluffy tuff of yours?"

"Oh sure, try to be civil when every pony you've come across literally wants nothing more but to hug you. Try being a 15 inch fuzzball that everyone from their mothers wants to hug all your life, then we can compare notes!"

"Oh for the love of... THEY. ARE. PONIES. PONIES! Of course they would be affectionate animals that want nothing more than to hug you. They're like children here, so cut them some slack. Besides, with all that stress you've pent up, you could use a hug."

"Oh you did not just say that to me Polaris! You did not just take a piss on me! I may be 15 inches high but I can still beat your arse seven ways to Sunday! Say that to me again and I will rip your fing head off as well as the next pony that hugs me!"

"Oh, a human. Are you friends with Mr Percival?"

"Wait, you know the Sergeant Miss?"

"Why yes. My name is Fluttershy. My friends and I met Mr Percival yester... (Gasp) Oh what a cute little bunny! Is he yours? Can I hug...?"

Click! (Sound of a Glock)

"Eeep!"

"Go on. I dare you. I FING DARE YOU! I'd love to see who'll be the first bloody pony to try me! I'm about blow a fing fuse so a little target practice might get me to vent off some steam."

"C-c-could you please mind your language? It's not very nice. If you don't mind, of course."

"I. DON'T. GIVE. A. F... Hey, what are you doing? Polaris! Put me down! PUT ME DOWN YOU...! (MMFF)"

"Please forgive him, he's had a very rough two weeks. You were saying that you've met the Sergeant?"

"Yes."

"Do you know where he is?"

"Yes."

"Could you perhaps take us to him?"

"Okay."



"You threatened Fluttershy?!"

The five mares (Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Starlight Glimmer) gasped after bringing the group into the mayor's office to be questioned. Fluttershy joined of course to share what has transpired a few hours earlier. The rabbit who lashed out at the mare in question was seen scowling on the desk, his forelegs crossed as he stood on his hind legs. The woman who accompanied him said nothing and wore a blank expression. For a brief moment, it seemed as though she blended in the background, almost being forgotten until any of the ponies kept eye contact on hers. 

Percival (who was still recovering from his hangover) was seen holding a small glass with a raw egg inside and was seen salting the content before reeling from the sudden outburst. Joshua leaned close to him to provide support before he would drop on the floor.

"Look, it's not like I was going to hurt the lassie," Bunnings scoffed at the mares' protests, "I was just trying to get her to bugger off!"

"Why I never! The nerve of you!" Rarity leaned closer to the animal and glared daggers at him, "You ought to be ashamed, using such vulgarity in the presence of ladies."

"Not to mention bein' straight up rude!" Applejack stomped a hoof in protest.

Bunnings replied with a thump of his own hind leg, "Now you listen here! I've not the patience for niceties and quite frankly, I don't care if your the bloody queen of England!"

"And I for one don't appreciate that attitude of yours towards my friends!" Rainbow began to size up on the rabbit, "You better watch yourself buddy, or I'm going make you taste the rainbow!"

Bunnings wasn't even intimidated at the slightest from the pegasus' warning. "Oh put a lid on it, dye-job," he scoffed nonchalantly.

Rainbow's eyes twitched at the insult, "What did you call me?"

"You heard me, false pride."

"THAT'S IT! IT'S ON FURBALL! I WILL BLAST A SONIC-RAINBOOM SO HARD UP YOUR FLANK, YOU'LL BE SEEING COLOURS FOR THE REST OF YOUR MISRABLE LIFE!"

"Oh for the love of God, please will you all just shut up!"

All turned to Percival who was now struggling to stand from his hangover as he attempts to swallow his concoction.

"Um Georgie, why do you have raw egg yoke, salt, pepper, hot sauce and Applejack's family cider in a cup?" Pinkie asked curiously.

"It's called a Prairie Oyster, good for hangovers. I would have preferred Gin but the cider will have to do." He closed his nose, swallowed the concoction and coughed. "Ugh! Could have been better."

"Bah, Humans." Bunnings scoffed.

It was at this point where Starlight Glimmer gained the opportunity to ask what was in everyone's minds, "Um, excuse me but would you mind telling us who you are and why you are here? I mean, we know your name but don't know who you are, your affiliations or whether we could trust you."

"Who we're affiliated with is classified. Why we are here, is him." Bunnings pointed at Percival who was now slowly recovering from his predicament.

Wait, me?

"Classified? What do you mean classified? Joshua literally told us that you two are part of some secret organization!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

What?

"You know, I've been curious; how did you know who I am?" Bunnings pointed at Joshua, "Those unlucky enough to know me would normally be six feet under, unless they're part of the organization." Noticing a shudder from the group, he continued his intimidating interrogation on Joshua, "So I'll ask again; how do you know me?"

The stallion took a large nervous gulp before answering, "I-I actually heard of you from Rosana. She's Captain Wood's steed, also my brother Seabiscuit's mate."

"And let me guess," the rabbit deadpanned, "she eavesdropped our meeting with your captain about our involvement with your division and told you and your horse buddies."

"That and rumours about you among the riders were prominent before this mission. I just never really thought about it until we came here."

"Well now that that is out of the way allow me to properly introduce ourselves; I am Polaris Willsing and this is Sgt Major Bunnings of the Secret Global Intelligence. We are liaisons from Earth sent by the SGI in cooperation with the Inter-Universal Volunteer Army to investigate this world," Polaris nodded a bow with a smile.

"Polaris, we shouldn't be telling them that! That's classified!" Bunnings stamped his foot in protest.

Polaris rolled her eyes, "Bunnings, we have not time for this. The sooner we cooperate, the quicker this will be. Besides; the term "Classified" only applies to the common folk on Earth, not aliens. Even if they managed to get to our planet, they're talking ponies. Who are they going to tell without being experimented on?"

"... Fine," Bunnings grumbled with a snarl.

Polaris turned to Percival, about to say something when she noticed the Sergeant's shocked expression, "Polaris Willsing? THE Polaris Willsing?"

"You've heard of me?"

Percival's eyes went from dazed shock to gleaming admiration, "Yes Ma'am, I have! You are a living legend; the most elusive Endowed from the Mystic Isles of Earth! Word was that you volunteered to help out the IUVA from time to time in your endless quest for redemption (whatever it is). The lads talk of your exploits as though you're some sort of ghost story."

"Well that's surprising," especially considering my endowment she muttered.

"She's Endowed?" Starlight asked curiously, "Like the ones you told us about yesterday?"

"They both are actually. If the rumours are to be believed; she is very powerful. Although, I don't know about Sgt Major Bunnings, the fact that he's from the SGI means he is quite the big shot." He turned to the rabbit and asked, "What branch from the SGI are you from, sir?"

"Task Forces and Faculty." Bunnings plainly replied, "The rank I got from Task Forces but I mainly work for the Faculty."

The sergeant took a step forward to eye at the two, "To what honour do I have that command sent a living legend and an SGI Officer to extract me?"

"You ought to know, Sgt Percival," Polaris flatly replied, "As a member of Thera's lower Aristocracy, your safety is of concern by the noble families. Or at the very least, knowing what became of you in the event of your untimely demise. Besides, a certain Duke's daughter kept pressuring your Commander to send a search and rescue after you went silent for a week."

The news of that requested rescue would have brought a smile to Percival's face were it not for that small discrepancy he just heard, "Wait, I beg you're pardon? What do you mean I've been silent for a week?"

"What do you think, Blueblood?" Bunnings snarked sarcastically, "For a full week you haven't sent a single report from your scouting mission via wireless. It made a lot of noble families in Britain nervous to lose the last son of the Percival household so command asked the two of us to find you. We spent almost a week tracking you across this Pony-infested countryside looking for you. I swear, the only relief I got out of this trip was when I get to beat the shit out of some monsters we came across."

"But, that can't be sir."

"Of course it can be." the rabbit bragged, "I bashed a Winged Lion, Scorpion thing just yesterday. I have its teeth to prove it."

"What, a tiny guy like you? No way." Rainbow snarked causing Bunnings to snarl at her.

"No sir, that's not what I meant," Percival corrected, "I've been sending wireless reports the whole time while I was out on mission. In fact, my last transmission was just two days ago when I confirmed a New World Order presence with a Code Orange Foothold."

Bunning's eyes widened at Percival, "What?"

"They are here?" Polaris shared her companion's expression with utter shock.

"You didn't know?" Joshua asked, "I thought you two were sent to rescue us after we got shot at two days ago."

The two Endowed shared a glance of realization before Bunnings barked out, "Sergeant, your communique! NOW!"

Percival opened his rucksack and pulled out his damaged device before handing it to the rabbit. "It was shot at when we tried to make our escape."

Without a word, Bunnings grabbed the communique and with the utter amazement to all who saw; he tore the device open apart like cardboard. He then proceeded to look into its interior and took out a small glowing device from the inside. A bug.

"SONOVABITCH! It's been bugged!" Bunnings crushed the device with one paw before throwing it to the floor with a loud crunch; further damaging it beyond repair. "The Bastards knew this whole time!"

"By the Oracle, how long have they known we were here?" Polaris rubbed her forehead with her hand.

"Would ya'll mind tellin' us what the hay is goin' on?" Applejack raised her voice in an attempt to calm down the situation.

"Yeah! And could you please tone down the swearing?" Pinkie yelled out, "I've just about given up censoring the story if this keeps up!"

"How much do you ponies know why we're here?" Polaris asked.

"From what the Mr Percival told us, it is by our understanding that you are here to find a group of traitors from his world." Rarity recalled, "The New World Order, was it?"

A strained sigh came out of Polaris, "His communication device was bugged. Basically, our communications have been intercepted and compromised this whole time."

"And there's a big chance that they were listening in our conversation just now," Bunnings growled at the thought.

"Oh my. that can't be good, right?" Fluttershy muttered as she trembled.

"Oh it is worse than you think," Polaris continued, "Alpha Site might be in real danger. We have to go back!"

"It's worse than that," Bunnings added, "We can't contact them, they may have either bugged or jammed our wireless. We can't go back to base, we might get ambushed on the way there. We're buggered! We're absolutely buggered!"

"Why not just ask for Twilight's help in Canterlot?" Starlight suggested.

"You mean the Princess?" Joshua asked.

Bunnings raised an eyebrow, "What princess?"

"The two of us were rescued by Princess Twilight and her friends, sir," answered Joshua, "She's apparently the ruler of Equestria."

"Oh yeah, Twilight could help you with your problem," Pinkie pitched in.

"And with our support, we could make it a lot easier for all of you," added Rainbow.

The four of them thought for a moment when out of nowhere a scroll appeared before Starlight and dropped in front of her. She picked it up and opened it with her horn (much to the wonder of the outsiders) and exclaimed with a wide smile, "It's from Twilight! Apparently she's called George and Joshua to Canterlot to see her and... Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Discord and another pony?"

"Wait, the other Princesses are there?" Applejack asked, sharing the group's shocked reaction to the news.

"Maybe they've got some news that could help your situation?" Starlight concluded, "Either way, you might need some help if we're to get you all home in one piece."

Bunnings pressed a paw on his chin in thought. He looked to Joshua and Percival who was looking at him expectantly then he turned to Polaris who gave him an approving nod.

"Well bugger me, let's go see this Princess."



"They are aware of our presence. Should we abort?"

"No, maintain surveillance and follow them."

"What about their Alpha Site? What if they are warned of our presence?"

"You two worry about the maintaining surveillance on the Sergeant and his group. We'll deal with the Alpha Site later."

"Very well, High Elder. For the Shadow King!"

"Hail the New World Order!"
> Chapter 10: Tesra
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Twilight, are you sure you're okay? You seemed pretty out of it earlier."

"I'm fine, Spike. Nothing a little magic can't fix. Just put a reminder for me to sign an edict to have all beverages inspected for alcohol before being distributed in parties." Why did I suddenly feel like I just had Deja Vu?

"Already in the To do list."

Earlier that day within the pristine halls of Canterlot Castle, Twilight and Spike were making their way to the throne room to prepare for day court. Though no longer feeling the effects of last night's festivities, Twilight was rather irritable after finding out the contents of the human sergeant's cider. Needless to say...

"I know I said I'm fine but I am not looking forward to Day Court!" she grumbled with a sigh, "Can't I just cancel it for the day and say I wasn't feeling well?"

"I guess you could, but Raven sent me the list of Urgent Business that needs attention that you might need to have a look at." Spike said calmly as he held out a scroll.

"Ugh! Could you read it out for me? I haven't fully recovered from the hangover," Twilight groaned as she clutched her head with a hoof.

Spike gave a sigh, "Very well," as he opened the scroll and read out its contents, "First off, a consensus for every town, village and settlement needs to be enacted to update the Equestrian map."

"Why haven't we done that sooner?"

"Apparently, it kept being backlogged in the list of priorities. Guess it's no wonder we never known about Starlight Glimmer's village til you found it on the map room. Next is... oh dear." Spike's expression went pale.

"What? Spike what's wrong?"

"Twilight, don't freak out but you know how we sent teams of Guards Ponies to investigate how Tirek, Chrysalis and Cozy Glow managed to do what they've done?"

Twilight raised an eyebrow, "Yes?"

"Well, one of the teams led by Flash Sentry went missing."

The alicorn abruptly stopped on her tracks, "Missing? Flash is MISSING?!"

"Along with his team, their resources and all their findings."

Twilight narrowed her eyes as she levitated a scroll and quill to herself and began writing furiously. When she finished, she passed the scroll to Spike and ordered, "Send this to the captain! It should have my orders to search for our missing party, immediately."

"On it!" The baby dragon took the scroll and lit it with his flames as it's remains led to the barracks. Noticing the worry on her face, Spike tried to lighten the mood, "Don't worry Twilight. They'll find your favourite Guardspony."

"I hope they do.... SPIKE!" Twilight quickly went from concern to blushing at his insinuation, "I just don't want to lose a competent Guardspony, okay!" 

"And doth the lady protests too much?" Spike continued to tease with a smirk.

"I... I... URG! Just read the next one!" Twilight groaned in surrender as she hung her head low while still blushing.

Spike gave a gentle smile of victory as he continued to read out the last line on the list as they walked, "And lastly... Oh!" He paused to reread the scroll to be sure he didn't misread it, "It looks like Princess Celestia, Princess Luna and Discord are coming for a visit, and they brought somepony with them."

"They are?" Twilight's face lit up, "When?"

"They are here right now, in the throne room."

"WHY DIDN'T THEY START THE LIST WITH THAT?"

"Well, apparently it was on such short notice and was treated as a surprise visit and... Hey Twilight, wait up!" Spike was cut short as Twilight started galloping to the throne room.

"PRINCESS TWILIGHT SPARKLE! COMPOSE YOURSELF!"

She skidded to a stop just outside the throne room when Kirbitz, an old unicorn who keeps Canterlot Castle in order, called her out.

"You're majesty, you may be young and new to the throne but please show proper etiquette when you're on your way to the throne room."

"Sorry Kirbitz, but Princess Celestia..."

"... And Princess Luna are in the throne room, I know. But that just makes it more reason enough to be proper when you are entering the throne room." the old unicorn scolded.

The young princess smiled sheepishly, "Sorry. I guess I was excited to see them again."

"Understandable. Just remember..."

"Oh for the love of the almighty, Kirbitz! JUST LET HER IN!"

Twilight startled at the sudden outburst from the throne room while the old unicorn groaned at the interruption with disappointment as he shook his head. 

Who was that? Twilight wondered.

"I suppose we shouldn't keep them waiting," Kirbitz sighed as he opened the door, "I'll inform Lord Spike to wait for you here when he catches up."

Twilight was about to protest at the thought of leaving Spike out of the meeting but saw the old stallion's expression of concern. "Thank you Kirbitz," she nodded to him before entering through the doors.



As Twilight entered the Throne Room, she bore witness to the most surreal thing since Discord's return. 
First was the nervous and terrified expressions from the sisters and Discord in the room.
Second were the noticeable bruises on them (mostly around their flanks).
And finally was the fourth pony present. She was clearly smaller than Twilight, even more so than the princesses, wore a fedora and held a scowl that screams restrained fury. 

"Twilight, it's good to see you again." Celestia gave a wide, albeit forced smile.

"Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Discord," Twilight forced a polite smile as she gave each of them a bow (she gave Discord a bemused look before giving a nod), "To what do I owe the pleasure for your visit, as well as your guest?"

"Well, you see Twilight..." Discord began before he was interrupted.

"Oh for f's sake!" The little pony snarled at Discord before turning to Twilight and pointed at the diarchs and the draconequus, "These three screwed up and I brought them here to amend their mistakes!"

The three in question shrank with an "Eep!" as the miniature pony berated them.

Twilight's eyes twitched at the vulgar language and the disrespect for her predecessors. She glared at the earth pony and flared out her wings in intimidation, "Who are you and what have you done to the Princesses?"

"Um Twilight," Luna winced at the young alicorn with panic in her eyes, "it would be better for you not to threaten her! She..."

"Lulu, did I give you permission to speak?" the earth pony glared at the princess of the moon.

Luna lowered her ears and head as she silently whimpered.

"The grownups are talking here and I expect you all not to interrupt us," she turned her glare from the frightened three to Twilight and dropped her scowl, "I apologise for that, Princess. Allow me to start over: I am Tesra Alma, Inter-dimensional Investigator. I'm here on business that concerns your little corner of the multiverse." 

Tesra paused for a minute and looked back to the trio with a sinister smirk, "As for what I did to them, weeeell...."



(Yesterday, Silver Shoals.)

"YOU DID WHAT?!"

"We... We... We gave the throne to Twilight?" Celestia cowered with a nervous smile.

Silence. There was a long moment of silence. Each second felt like an eternity as beads of sweat began to form on the three.

"Sunbutt."

Eep!

"Moony."

Gulp.

"Snake-ass."

Uh-oh.

"It just occurred to me how long it has been since your flanks have been acquainted with good old, Mr Horsewhip."

!!!!!

"And I think he is looking forward to catching up with you all."

(INTERNAL SCREAMING!)



"You whipped their flanks?!"

"You whipped the Princesses' Flanks?!" 

"YOU WHIPPED THE PRINCESSES' BLESSED FLANKS?!"

Twilight was livid. She couldn't believe it. Somepony had the gall to actually dispense corporal punishment at the Princesses of all ponies. She didn't even know where to begin being shocked at; the question of why she would do so, the fact that this tiny earth pony managed to do so without consequence, or that fact that Celestia Luna and even Discord were too afraid to stop her.

"She whipped me too, you know." Discord muttered.

"Hey, you three deserved what was coming for you!" Tesra growled at Discord as he joined the Princesses' cowering, "Hell, I'd say you aren't punished enough for all the shit I have to clean up!"

"What in Equestria could possibly warrant that kind of punishment?" Twilight snarled at the tiny earth pony, "And for that matter, who are you to dish out punishment for what they may have done? I can understand Discord, but the Princesses?"

"I hold an authority Higher than your precious princesses, Ms Sparkle," Tesra returned Twilight's snarl with a glare that shook the young monarch, "After all, it was I who got them the job to begin with!"

"Wait, what?"

"Yeah, that's right. You thought it was the three tribes or Starswirl who gave them the throne, but no; it was I, TESRA!" She gloated with a smug grin as her expression changed resembling a certain charismatic vampire.

"Is... Is she serious?" Twilight gave Celestia a pleading look that begged Celestia to refute the short mare's declaration as something silly as Pinkie Pie's usual antics. 

Her old teacher only frowned nervously and nodded.

"After dealing with Grogar, convincing Clover, Cookie and Pansy to unite the tribes, assisting Starswirl in teaching these two, and bringing Discord from Toonworld to keep everything in check; I personally crowned these two and offered them the one job I expected them keep," Tesra dramatically recalled her tale.

"Wait, YOU WERE THE ONE WHO BROUGHT DISCORD HERE?"

"Um, yeah. He's a creation from a pocket universe that monitors the multiverse. His purpose was to keep an eye for outsiders from breaking in. A job I extended to these two, which all three of them royally screwed!" Tesra scowled, causing the three immortals to wince again.

Twilight just stood there trying to process the information. He's not from Equestria? I guess that answers several questions I have about his existence. But him of all creatures was given a task as monitor? For that matter, what exactly does monitor entail? I suppose it implies that he's to protect this world from outsiders... Outsiders... Sgt Percival! Does that mean he's involved? Or perhaps he's the problem or the groups he's after might be... No, Focus Twilight! This Tesra is mad about what the Princesses and Discord had done, so...
"If you'll pardon me Ms Tesra, what exactly the Princesses and Discord do?"

"Oh, it's quite simple, your highness," Tesra replied with the mock emphasis of her title, "Do you recall when Discord was first turned to stone?"

"Yes, I do," Twilight slowly nodded.

"And do you recall when Luna turned into Nightmare moon and was banished for a thousand years?"

"Yes, I do." Where is she going with this?

"And do you recall the day they coronated you as ruler of Equestria?"

Twilight winced, "That... That is a day I'd rather forget. But yes, I do recall (however embarrassing it was)."

"What was that?"

"Oh, nothing!" Twilight denied before attempting to change the subject, "So, where are you going with this?"

"Tell me, did Tia or Lulu tell you about the terms and conditions of taking their place as a ruler?"

How could she just address them by their pet names so casually? "Why of course. Raise the sun and moon regularly, oversee the country's administration, maintain diplomatic ties with all our allies, deal with disasters as they come and spread the magic of friendship."

"Anything else?" Tesra asked expectantly.

Anything else? "I beg your pardon, but what else is there?" Twilight inquired, clearly puzzled. She looked to the princesses for confirmation only to be disappointed. Celestia and Luna were now seen visibly shaking; not of anger, not of disappointment, but fear. The kind of fear that foals have when they were caught doing wrong.

Tesra in turn glared at them like a parent who was furious at what they did, "Are you going to tell her or should I?"

Celestia gulped and shamefully looked at Twilight, "When we gave the throne to you Twilight, we had you inherit all our responsibilities, this includes being this world's monitor."

The purple alicorn's jaw dropped. "I... I do?"

"If only it were that simple!" Tesra snapped, "One can only accept the responsibility as monitor from the Administrator of Toonworld! It cannot be handed over, or should I say hoofed over to a successor without the proper process! In other words, this Equestria doesn't have an active monitor!"

"B-but what about Discord? Isn't he a monitor too?" asked Twilight.

Tesra sighed with irritation, "Rogue Contingency; in the event of a monitor being corrupted or going against their duty, their status as monitor is void. Happened to Luna as well when she decided to throw a fit and become Nightmare Moon; something which I am thoroughly pissed about!"

Luna hung her head low in shame.

"Oh come now, Tess! I'm the spirit of Chaos! What were you expecting me to do, become a conjurer of cheap tricks?" the draconequus protested.

"Neeww! I was expecting you to be the snarky comic relief; not reprise your roll as Q!"

"But the audience loves Q, and I refuse to be another Loki!"

"Well, the joke's on you; you're just as useful as him!"

"ENOUGH!" Twilight gave her impression of the Royal Canterlot speech before adjusting herself once she caught everyone's attention, "So to sum it all up, Equestria doesn't have a monitor and I presume that there is a problem that requires one?"

"Ding! Ding! Ding! Give the little Pony a Prize!" pulling a Pinkie Pie act, Tesra popped behind Twilight out of nowhere and gave her a demeaning pat on her mane, "And to make the story even shorter, the current problem is massive breach in your reality."

"A Breach?"

"Eeeyup! Basically, your negligent teacher here left a giant hole in the fabric of your reality (that was caused by a powerful magical surge btw) for ten years!" She gave Celestia a quick glare before continuing, "It just so happens that we found it out just a few months ago and are surprised that it wasn't closed, let alone quarantined! And to top it all off, you have outsiders that have been coming in and out of your world for all that time."

"Wait, ten years?! You mean to tell me we've been invaded for ten years?!"

"An invasion is too late for that, your highness. You've already been infiltrated by rather insidious group."

Wait a minute. It couldn't be a coincidence, could it? "This group, they wouldn't happen to be called the New World Order, would they?"

This caught Tesra by surprise as her expression went from wide-eyed to scowling, "Where did you hear of them?"

"I've met two soldiers from another world who told me their mission was to hunt for them," Twilight replied.

"Wait, you've met the Volunteers?" 

Twilight raised an eyebrow, "You know them? We rescued a Sgt George Percival and a Pvt Joshua of Cornwall."

A huge grin grew from the little earth pony's face, "Best news I heard all day! Sparkles, where are they?"

"They're in Ponyville at the moment."

"Hey, Kirbitz!" Tesra yelled, causing the room to vibrate, "Bring the Dragon in here! I'm pretty sure he's listening in anyway!"

A moment later, the doors swung open and a nervous Spike walked in, "H-how did you know I was listening in?"

"Because I can hear you breathing from the other side of the door," Tesra deadpanned, "Listen, I need you to send a note to  your friends and ask them to bring the volunteers here. The sooner we can make contact, the sooner we can begin sweeping out the Order."

"Oh by all means, bring them all here like lambs to the Slaughter."

Just as Spike finished writing up a letter and sending it to Starlight, a feminine voice called within the Throne Room. The Princesses, Discord and Spike were alarmed when suddenly they found themselves surrounded by several hooded figures. Most were quadrupeds while the rest stood on tall on two legs. Among them was a woman who lowered her hood and stepped forward with a smug grin. Tesra pulls out a sawed-off shotgun from her fedora and pointed it at their leader.

"How did they get in here!?" Celestia screeched as she struggled to ignite her horn.

"Perception filter, or is it a Wallflower Spell?" Tesra snarked at their leader.

"Does it really matter, investigator?" the woman sneered, "You and your friends can all surrender now, there is nothing you can do." 

Twilight fired a magic bolt to their leader, or at least tried to as her horn fizzled out. "What? My horn!"

"Don't bother casting spells; we've placed an anti-magical field within the room."

"Sister, Tesra, what do we do?" Luna pleaded answers as she, Twilight, Spike and Discord began to panic.

Celestia gave no answer as she gave Tesra a look that asks "Do you have a plan?" to which Tesra nodded with a smirk.

"You did say that this place is just surrounded by an anti-magical field, right?" Tesra gave a cocky smirk at the strange woman.

"What about it?" 

"Oh, I don't. I just think it would be a shame if someone were to carry with them a non-magical teleportation device." Tesra grinned as she touched a button on her fedora.

EMERGENCY TELEPORTATION FIELD ACTIVTED!

"Everyone, grab hold!" 

The alicorns, the dragon and the draconequus held on to Tesra as a pillar of light glowed around her.

"Stop them!" one of the hooded figure barked the order as the rest rushed to the huddled group.

Before any of them could reach the royals, they were enveloped by a blinding flash of light and vanished from the room.

"High Elder, they escaped!" the one who gave the order spoke.

"I can see that, you mangy dog," the woman deadpanned with a bemused expression, "No matter, it's time for plan B. Get our changeling contacts and ready the throne room. We have a few fugitives on the loose and it's time we stamped them out for conspiring against the crown and imposing as Princess Twilight."

"Yes High Elder."

"Oh and before I forget, give the order to eliminate the Alpha Site. Word must not reach Thera."

"Very well, High Elder. For the Shadow King!"

"Hail the New World Order!"