Poudre Noir, Rosso Sangue: A Veteran’s Tale in Equestria
Chapter 1
Arrival
War always finds a way. No matter how many pieces of paper signed by the leaders of a country, there is no guarantee that peace will be eternal.
1958
Tori-Shima , Izu Islands, Japan
Rain.
That’s all he could see on the passenger side of the Bugatti Type 56 automobile. How this old relic from the Pre-War years was still functioning escaped him, but the cost came up to mind. How much did this man pay for this car? He began to admire the craftsmanship of the vehicle, they don’t make cars like they used to. A small thought pattern lingered in his head in the Japanese language.
The car continued its path. The driver gave it a little gas, the engine purred as the background moved a little faster. After ten minutes of driving, the car reached what seemed t be an abandoned town. The driver turned to face the passenger, his fox-like eyes stared at him. “We are here.” He said, putting the car on Parking.
The Hispanic-American man got out. Fixing his stetson, he looked around.
The fox-eyed man smiled. “Search around, that’s all I got to say.” Closing the door, he shifted the vehicle to reverse. The car took off into the distance.
It was ironic to the man. This was an island in administered by Japan in the middle of nowhere. He was a veteran of the Pacific Campaign, seeing action in New Guinea, Iwo Jima, and Borneo. He earned several Purple Hearts, one Marine Corps Good Conduct medal, and a Navy Cross but at the cost of seeing his friends die by the Japanese bullet across his years of service which took a toll on him. It made him distanced, along with the burden of being the sole survivor of his unit.
To make things worse, when he came back to home in California, all he found was discrimination along with mistrust. Being of Mexican descent gave him a tough life. Not many jobs were given to those who were like him. Despite that he could speak the Japanese language, nothing came up. He took drifting across the Southwest, doing random jobs that were available. Something was something, despite that pay being $2 dollars the hour.
And then this fox-eyed man comes one day offering him a job. It involved several Nazis and their collaborators who disappeared many years ago after the war. He knew where they went.
Breaking out of his thought train, he began to explore the abandoned town. By the looks of the town, it was abandoned since the 1800s for reasons unknown. Entering a house, he explored it only to find nothing of interest. He continued to the next one, the only thing he could find was two gold coins with a sun and moon on their sides. “Huh…” He pocketed the currency.
Thunder booms across the skies, the rain getting heavier. Seeing a house by a hill, he sprinted to it.
Shutting the door, he caught his breath. The rain continued, thunder exploded followed by a harsh wind. Cleaning his boots in the wooden floor, he began to explore the house. It was clean and refurbished, as if someone was living here. Exploring the house, he found more of these gold coins which were pocketed.
Walking down to the basement, the lights flicked on. The entire room was disproportionate, something was off. A crystal cube was in the center of the basement, it was emitting an entire map of the galaxy. A red circle highlighted the location of the Earth, while a blue one dotted the destination of where he was going it. Looking at the projection curiously he tapped the blue circle.
The room began to shake. The floor opened up, revealing a craft of some sort. He examined the craft, eying with suspicion. Hot gasses hissed as the cockpit opened up, revealing a single seat.
“We have been expecting you.” A voice came out of the craft. “This transport will take you to your destination. Please board it.”
The man didn’t like how the situation was developing. With a heavy sigh, he sat down into the seat. The cockpit sealed shut. The craft’s automated voice spoke. “Prepare yourself. This craft is programmed to reach Equis. ETA: 3 months.”
“Wait! What!?” He started to bang on the cockpit.
The house began to shake. The entire structure was destroyed, leaving only a large ramp. The crystal cube emitted a screen, showing the read outs of the vessel. The plasma engines roared to life, making the craft move. “Take off beginning.” The ship gained speed, once it got to the incline; the engines gave a mighty explosion, launching it to the skies.
His eyes quickly scanned the settings. They were so high in the sky. The holographic screen showed that they were at 20,000 feet and rising. Panic began to flow across his veins, seeking a way to turn the craft back. Not one single form of control stick appeared. All he could do is look ahead as the craft flew through the darkness.
“Commencing hibernation process.” The voice of the craft said as a blue gas was released.
The man groaned as everything went dark.
The vessel accelerated into the vast void of space, following its path across the Milky Way.
The vessel traveled across the galaxy, eventually reaching the Core. Exiting the asteroid belt which acted as the border between the rest of the cosmos and the small solar system, the craft’s automatic pilot steered towards the blue planet.
From an observatory in a military base in Northern Equestria, an anthropomorphic Volpino Italiano looked at the night skies. A flaming object that was entering the atmosphere caught his interest. Locking on the object, he zoomed in. Seeing it was the same model of spacecraft that brought him here, the white dog could not believe it. Has their former Benefactor brought a new person to Equis after the war? He took off from his post to alert the rest of this event.
From Canterlot, the Royal Sisters watched as the flaming meteor disappeared into the horizon. Was it someone new? A person from the Terra of Orion’s Arm, coming to Equis to bring in knowledge?
The craft entered Saddle Arabian airspace, into a small island with a flowing river. A red gas was released across the cockpit; the passenger began to slowly open his eyes. Looking around, he saw that were was some pasture along with a river. Opening the cockpit, he looked at his arm. It was covered in brown fur. Giving a panicked scream, he quickly got out of the ship. Looking at his reflection on the water, it stared back at him with not the face of a man, but the face of a fox. “What the hell!? What happened!? What happened!? Why do I look like this!?” He felt a hand on his shoulder, he turned around.
It was a purple fox; he could see the same eyes of the man who hired him for the job. “There is a reason why. Come with me if you want to know.”
Following the purple fox, they reached a motorboat. Climbing aboard, the purple anthropomorphic fox started the engine, the boat moving towards the mainland of Saddle Arabia. “I know you have questions…why you are here with this new form of yours.” Turning right, he shifted gears and gave it a little gas. The fox took a heavy sigh. “The reason why I brought you here is to kill the Nazis and their collaborators who I brought here. Long ago, this world was being swallowed by magic.”
“Magic?” The brown fox anthro raised an eyebrow.
“Yes, magic. It may be a children’s tale in your world. But here, it exists.” The purple fox continued. “Since the world was being swallowed by magic, science did not progress, everything was focused on magic. The non-magic users of this world were becoming jealous of the nation of Equestria. Now to solve this, I brought several people from your world to introduce their knowledge of the sciences, their machines, and their military tactics.”
“The Nazis?”
“Yes, those people. I brought many of them here along with their collaborators…but it was my mistake,” The purple fox said a regretful tone. “It wasn’t until years later I found out these…men were responsible for a great genocide of religious and ethnic minorities of the continent you call Europe. But I was a fool, they began to plot to shape this world to their twisted vision, they began mining for radioactive metals, making and selling the weapons of war, along with supporting rebellions across the world.”
“But why me?” The brown fox asked.
“Your record is impressive. A Marine who saw action across various sites: Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima, Borneo. Earning the awards of Purple Hearts and a Navy Cross, you are a hero. But I have watched you, you are a 2nd class citizen, of Mexican-American blood I presume?”
The brown fox nodded.
“And is it true you lived amongst…Japanese-Americans?”
“I grew up with them, learned to speak Japanese before the War.”
“Good, your knowledge of the language will keep you alive when you reach Equestria. Try to think in Japanese, speak it, write it.”
“What for?” The brown fox raised an eyebrow.
“It’ll come in handy.”
The boat reached the mainland of Saddle Arabia.
The purple fox handed him a cigar box. Opening it, a pistol, 5 stripper clips of ammunition containing 12 rounds each. Before the passenger got off, he reached for the back of the boat and pulled out a finely made Tachi. “This belongs to you. If you ever run out of ammunition or need a melee weapon, this will suffice.”
The brown fox pulled out the sword from the scabbard, examining the black blade. Nodding, he returned it to the sheath. Putting the sword on his lower back for easy access, he loaded one clip into the pistol, holstering it for later use. Stepping into the sands of Saddle Arabia, he took off into the distance.
