Per Mare, Per Equestria

I kept pace behind Celestia and Luna as the two Alicorns led me down one of the many corridors of whatever building we were in. I had been mentally trying to map it out in my head, as well as trying to work out what sort of building it was, both of which I was struggling to do. Eventually however we reached our destination, and after Celestia and Luna had passed by the guards and assured them that I was under their watch, I was admitted inside what I could only describe as some bizarre fusion of steam-punk science and the potions classroom from Harry Potter.

“Celestia! So good to see you again,” a voice came from somewhere within the room, the sound bouncing off the various vials and bottles. “And Luna as well, always a pleasure.”

I turned my head to the side to glance at Luna, who simply smirked, before turning back to look for the source of the voice, before jumping backwards and letting out a cry of shock as a pony who had not been there before stared intently at me, a very disconcerting grin on his face.

“Oh what have you brought me today?” he asked, his horn lighting up, and I suddenly found my right arm pulled up and out from my body as the pony looked closer, observing my whole body, rambling all the time. “A new Minotaur? Possible but unlikely, too small and no hair or horns. A Diamond Dog? Also unlikely, but more plausible. Right size, again no hair. Possible hairless offshoot. Maybe ancestors were exposed to some form of radiation. He doesn’t match any species I know, which is odd as I know all documented species on this planet. Two conclusions, mutant of a species or you’re a species from some other planet.”

“Should I be worried about him more than I’m worried about you two?” I asked, my voice unsure as I glanced at Luna again, the dark blue Alicorn still smirking.

“Oh and it talks too! How wonderful,” the unicorn continued, grabbing my head with his forehooves and pulling me down to his eye level. “And you understand me? Even better. Oh this will be good. Just think Celestia, a new species, so much we can learn from,” he paused as sudden realisation dawned on his face, and he suddenly dashed off, before reappearing a split second later with my rifle. “This?! This is yours yes?!”

“Yes,” I nodded slowly, my head still spinning from the sudden unexpected movement.

“Fascinating. This technology is amazing. Brilliant. Stupendous. Fantas…” the unicorn began, before Celestia cleared her throat.

“Thank you Starswirl, but if you could perhaps pause for breath once in a while, this may be a more productive session.”

“Ah, yes. Sorry about that,” Starswirl chuckled in embarrassment, taking a deep breath, before placing the rifle back on the table he had picked it up from, before looking back at me and smiling. “My apologies. Starswirl the Bearded. Who might you be?”

“Major Matthew Wood of the Royal Marine Commandos at your service. And to put your mind at rest I’m a human, not a Minotaur or whatever a Diamond Dog is.” Now that he had stopped bouncing around the room, I got a good look at the wizened unicorn, resisting the urge to sneeze as I wiped some of his white beard hair out of my nose.

“At my service? How wonderful,” Starswirl turned to Celestia. “This human, he was the one you found after the operation wasn’t it?”

“That is supposed to classified information,” Celestia pointed out.

“Celestia darling, look who you’re talking to,” Starswirl gently patted her head. “Do I really look like a classified sort of Stallion?”

Celestia groaned, before shaking her head. “No, I’m sorry. If thou would refrain from talking about classified information in front of potential risks to Equestria though, it would be much appreciated.”

“You can talk normally around me Celestia,” Starswirl reminded her, before looking back at me. “I must say, you are an interesting specimen, but you don’t strike me as a warrior. You remind me of a tiny Minotaur without the natural weapons.”

“Ponies don’t strike me as warriors either, and yet you still have an army,” I countered.

“Touché,” Starswirl nodded. “I would assume that was why you were carrying a knife?”

“A bit more than that, but yes,” I nodded, turning to Celestia. “I said I would answer your questions, and I will, within reason. You have classified information, so do I. I’ll share everything I can.”

“You will answer the questions we ask you,” Celestia shot back.

“Within reason,” I nodded pointedly.

“I will take it from here sister,” Luna stepped forward. First off. What was thou purpose in sneaking into our camp in the jungle?”

“I was searching for a place to shelter, that’s it,” I answered quickly.

“And thou just happened to stumble into our forward outpost?” Celestia asked, raising an eyebrow sceptically.

“Yes as a matter of fact. If I had been meaning to spy on or attack your forces, I wouldn’t have revealed myself quite so easily.” I shot back. “Your forward outpost was set up inside a building, and from what I’d seen of the jungle it was the only shelter around, so yes, it was an accident.

“Tis true sister, the temple did offer respite from my encroaching night,” Luna looked at Celestia. “And considering the fact that he did reveal himself, rather than getting found, I am inclined to believe that his stumbling across us was purely an accident. He could have just as easily fallen into the talons or hands of our enemies.”

“Very well,” Celestia shook her head, before looking at Starswirl. “Starswirl, you can bring the items we confiscated out.”

Darting off, Starswirl quickly returned, bearing with him everything that Jenkins and I had been carrying at the time of our capture, as well as a large table which he placed before me, before laying the items down and sliding my knife forward.

“Clearly this is a knife, sharp, the blade is steel with trace elements of carbon within. It’s very fine compared to our weapons, easily equal of your own weapon Luna, and yours Celestia,” Starswirl held the knife, before pushing it aside and moving over our DPM pattern clothing. “And these are?”

“Camouflage clothing,” I replied simply. “They break up the silhouette of a body, and make it slightly harder to pick out in a jungle environment, and when combined with this,” I pointed at the two tubs of camo-cream, “can make someone very very hard to see unless they want to be seen.”

“Oh, I assumed that was some form of makeup. Hate being wrong,” Starswirl sighed as he placed the clothes and the camo-cream to one side with the knives. “I had theories about these items, I can’t even begin to speculate what these next one are as you wouldn’t allow me to experiment on them Celestia.”

“I wanted to wait until we talked to their owner,” Celestia replied.

“Fine, you’re the one who controls the sun, I won’t argue.”

“That would make a first,” Luna smirked.

“Yes, it would wouldn’t it,” Starswirl mused, before picking up another a smoke grenade and a frag grenade. “So then Matthew, what are these?”

“They’re grenades, other than that I’m not sure I should say.”

“Why?” Celestia glared at me.

“It’s classified,” I retorted, trying to keep a straight face before smirking. “I’ve always wanted to say that.”

“Of course,” Celestia nodded with an ominous smile. “Of course our medical facilities are for ponies only.”

She left her final comment open, the thinly veiled threat hanging in the air, before I finally sighed and shook my head. “No Celestia. Just, no.”

“What, are, they?” Celestia enunciated slowly.

“Fine. The one on the left is a standard issue smoke grenade, I can’t remember the designation number so I can’t give you that. It’s designed to cover an area in smoke to mask movement in combat. It can also be used for a signal flare in a real pinch, but that’s beside the point. The other one is an HG85 L109 fragmentation grenade. It’s Swedish made, weighs in at four hundred and fifty six grams and has a diameter of sixty five millimetres. Inside is one hundred and fifty five grams of Trinitrotoluene or TNT explosive. After the pin is pulled there is a five second fuse, and when it blows can be lethal up to ten meters to unarmoured targets and is almost guaranteed to kill any organic target at five meters.”

“See, was that so hard?” Celestia asked.

“Sister, perhaps in the interest of ensuring that the information that is gained is accurate, it would be wise to not insult him at every single turn,” Luna sighed.

“I agree with Luna in this situation,” Starswirl nodded, looking at Celestia.

“Very well,” Celestia finally responded, still glaring at me, but not saying anything else.

“Thank you sister,” Luna smiled, before nodding to Starswirl.

“Right, next item,” Starswirl began, picking up my rifle. “And this? I can’t even begin to hazard a guess as to what this device is. All I can say is…”

Starswirl turned the rifle over in his magical field, before looking down the barrel. I could see the safety was off, and instinct dug in. Diving forward, I pushed Starswirl away with one hand while pulling the rifle away from his head with the other, the guards who were holding taken aback by my sudden movement.

Everyone seemed to be shocked, before I felt myself being pitched from my feet, slamming into the room as Celestia disappeared from where she was standing, before reappearing directly on top of me, a look of rage on her face.

“HOW DARE YOU!” she roared, using the same voice that she had used to address the crowd in the throne room and causing me to grab my ears in pain, my head ringing as I saw Celestia mouthing something over me. I couldn’t make out what she was saying, but judging by her threatening glare and the increasingly glow around her horn, I would guess that whatever she was saying was not going to be good for my health.

My vision was suddenly cut off as Luna leaped in front of Celestia, flaring her wings and rearing up on her hind legs. My hearing was slowly starting to return by this point, and I made out snippets of their conversation.

“…don’t think…”

“…attacked Starswirl!”

“…sure?”

“Yes I’m sure,” Luna nodded, picking up the rifle and holding it away from her. “I believe this is some sort of weapon. Maybe Starswirl was risking activating it?”

“So you think this beast was trying to save Starswirl?” Celestia scoffed. “Why would it do that?”

“Because I don’t want to see someone blow their own brains out,” I grunted, glaring at Celestia. “It’s not a pretty sight, your highness.”

“If you really believe that he wanted to save Starswirl, then you deal with him,” Celestia snapped, before turning and walking towards the door, her hooves making soft clopping sounds on the floor as her horn lit up, the chains sliding off my wrists. “There are things that need my attention sister. You can deal with this creature how you see fit, I doubt the guards will be needed, so they can be elsewhere.”

Celestia disappeared from view, followed softly by the guards that had been holding my chains, and I slowly got to my feet, still resting a hand against my right ear as my head kept ringing. “Thank you Princess, I think that may…”

For the second time in as many minutes I was thrown against a wall, stars bursting into life in my eyes as I found myself held in place, a very angry Luna glaring at me. I could feel something tightening around my neck, but was unable to move to do anything about it.

“What did you do?” she asked, barely containing her anger.

“I thought you knew,” I grunted back, focusing on her even as I became shorter on breath. “Starswirl was pointing a very dangerous and unsafe weapon at his head.”

“Explain,” Luna demanded.

“C…8…carbine,” I struggled, wheezing slightly.

“Luna!” Starswirl snapped, his own horn lighting up, and I felt the grip around my throat lighten. “For Faust’s sake girl, have you learned nothing over the years of controlling your temper? You and your sister are both the same, you always have been.”

“I,” Luna began with a snarl, before taking a deep breath and nodding, her demeanour becoming less aggressive as she turned back to me, her magic subsiding. “I am…sorry for my outburst, and that of my sister.”

“I understand,” I grunted, massaging my head and neck. “I don’t like it, but I understand.”

“My question still stands though,” Luna added. “Explain what you meant.

“Starswirl was pointing a very powerful weapon at his head at point blank range. The C8 carbine fires five five six rounds from a thirty round magazine. It’s not especially powerful on my world, but I would hazard a guess that it’s more powerful than most things you have here. At that range if it had fired, it would his brains out the back of his skull, and that’s not a nice sight.”

“Speaking from experience?” Starswirl asked with a raised eyebrow.

“I’ve seen it enough times,” I nodded.

“I still don’t I understand what you are saying,” Luna shook her head. “What does this weapon do?”

“Umm, layman’s terms then. Does your kind have crossbows?” I waited for Luna to nod before continuing. “Well think of it like a more up to date crossbow. Instead of tension it uses gunpowder, and instead of a bolt it uses a bullet, both put together in an easy to load cartridge. You pull the trigger, the gunpowder explodes and the bullet is propelled forward.”

“It’s like our cannons?” Starswirl piped up, realisation dawning on his face.

“Well first firearms were big cannons yes,” I nodded. “You have gunpowder weapons?”

“I’ve got no idea what gunpowder is,” Starswirl shook his head. “Our cannons use specially empowered crystals that can create a massive amount of hot air in a fraction of a second, which propels a shot forward.”

“Well it sounds like the same principle, but a crystal? As in a diamond?”

“Well sometimes, although I personally find that emeralds are more effective at holding a charge indefinitely,” Starswirl nodded.

“Are you sure we should be giving this information to him?” Luna asked.

“Luna, grownups are talking,” Starswirl smiled, shushing her.

“So let me get this straight, you use diamonds and emeralds in your weapons?” I asked in disbelief. “Really?”

“Yes,” Starswirl nodded slowly. “Why are you so confused about this? The propulsion is different, but the method is the same, although the size of your weapon is, it’s just impossible.”

“Clearly not,” I shook my head. “No I understand the idea of your cannons, and I’d be happy to talk about it at length at some point in the future, but what I want to know about is the fact that you have enough precious gems that you can use them in weapons.”

“Enough? Hardly,” Starswirl sighed. “We always search for more, we can’t mine the number we need to both supply our army and experiment on.”

“You supply your entire army with them?!”

“Matthew, how many gems does your country have?” Starswirl asked slowly, considering his words carefully.

“No idea the numbers, all I know is I’ve only seen a few real ones up close, mostly on my mum’s rings when she was alive.”

“I’m sorry for your lose,” Starswirl nodded, before lighting his horn and opening a draw, floating out what I assumed were a few pieces of coloured art. When I realised I was wrong, my jaw hit the floor and my eyes glued themselves to the two rubies and the emerald that were floating in front of me.

“Matthew?” Luna asked, waving a hoof in front of my vacant staring face.

“These…those…” I began, struggling to find my words. “They’re real?”

“As real as they come,” Starswirl nodded. “I assume by your reaction that nothing your world is like this?”

“Nothing,” I shook my head. “Third world countries would fight wars those three stones. I’ve never seen anything like them. They’re big though, most of them are smaller right?”

“These are small ones,” Starswirl shook his head. “I’ve personally seen ones that are bigger than these by, ten? Twenty times?”

My eye twitched as I slowly reached forward, touching the gem and chuckling. “Now I know I must be dreaming. One stone that’s small, and it’s probably worth more than I’ve made in my entire life.”

“If we could more on Matthew?” Luna asked with a small smile.

“Ummm, yeah, sure,” I nodded, tearing my eyes away from the gems and looking at the last few items Starswirl was showing me. “Those are SA80 assault rifles, both broken but fire the same sized round as my carbine, and the big bastard is a General Purpose Machine Gun, fires much bigger seven point six two rounds, which are a lot heavier and more damaging. Finally you have Osprey Body armour, made of a Kevlar weave and I think it’s some sort of ceramic.”

“You use pottery in your armour?” Starswirl asked in surprise, twirling the armour over in his magic.

“Hey it’s beats me, I just wear the stuff. No one ever accused me of being smart.”

“I’m sure,” Luna nodded, gesturing that Starswirl should put the items down, only for the aged unicorn to pick one last thing up and show it to me.

“Last item, this was in one of your pockets in a strange, seemingly waterproof, package. Any reason this was protected more than your other equipment?”

“Because it’s my iPod,” I grinned, taking hold of the small black box and pressing the home button. The screen was cracked, but it still flared into life, allowing me to see the tiny amount of battery life that remained within.

“And what is an… iPod?” Starswirl asked.

“This,” I smiled again, tapping the screen a few more times, before the speakers finally flared into life.

Youtube Video

Just before the end of the song the iPod screen went dark and the speakers went silent. Grimacing, I tried pressing the power button again, only for the annoying power dead icon to flash on the screen.

“What was that?” Luna asked softly, looking at the iPod.

“That princess was Crush 40’s I am All of Me,” I sighed, before putting the iPod down on the table. “And now it’s out of power. Just great.”

“That was…music from your world I take it?” Starswirl asked, to which I nodded.

“I’m guessing by your tone you don’t really approve,” I chuckled.

“No no no no, it’s… nice?” Starswirl offered, before I laughed at his hasty retreat.

“It was different,” Luna nodded, before looking at Starswirl. “That was the last of the items yes?”

“That I didn’t know about yes,” Starswirl nodded. “I could read the other ones, some food and some ‘glow-sticks’ which I assume are like our own glow-stones.”

“Probably,” I nodded.

“Very well,” Luna nodded, before looking straight at me. “There is but one question that remains is there not? What to do with you? I know what my sister would have me do, but I do not believe throwing you in prison would be advantageous to either party.”

“And I’d rather stay out of prison, if it’s all the same to you,” I chimed in.

“I’m sure,” Luna looked at Starswirl. “Starswirl, you know I value your opinion. What do you make of the Major?”

“He seems like a soldier to me,” Starswirl began, glancing between me and the weapons. “And his species does seem to have more technological prowess when it comes to warfare if these weapons are anything to go by. Whether that means that they have had to adapt to defend themselves from an outside aggressor or if they are the aggressors themselves is up in the air.”

“Unfortunately it was usually a bit of both,” I sighed. “Humans aren’t exactly the most peaceful of races, no matter what people say. In the last one hundred and fifty years on my planet there were a lot of deaths from war, tens of millions.”

“Millions?” Luna asked with a cough. “Just in war? Your planet has the population to support that toll of death?”

“Yeah, last I checked there was a population of nine billion on earth,” I nodded. “I think there’s a couple of dozen living on the International Space Station, and I believe there was at least talk of a colony on Mars.”

“Your species achieved space flight?” Luna asked in surprise.

“Yeah, not like major sci-fi colonisation space flight, but we’ve got to the moon and to our nearest planet before.”

“Incredible,” Luna breathed softly. “You humans sound like an interesting people. Are you and Alex…”

“Jenkins,” I cut in. “He dislikes the name Alex.”

“Are you and Jenkins a-typical for your world?” Luna finished.

“There’s no such thing as a typical human,” I shook my head. “Think of it this way. You ponies all have different coloured coats and manes, you’re diverse in that way. Humans are just as diverse in thought. Jenkins and I are completely different people for instance. I doubt he would have been as forthcoming information.”

“Then without trying to sound malicious, I am glad that it was you who was well enough to talk to my sister and I rather than Jenkins.”

“Yeah, well I wish we could both have talked to you,” I sighed. “Any chance I can see him again?”

“It may be possible, but only after we have come to a consensus about what to do with both you and Jenkins,” Luna nodded. “My sister seems to have washed her hooves of the matter, so that makes this decision up to me.”

“What are you thinking Luna?” Starswirl asked, moving up beside the dark alicorn.

“That we’ve been at war for far too long, and none of our projects are seeming to find an answer to how to break our enemy lines.”

Luna sighed as she trotted over to a window in the far corner of the room, staring out into the world beyond. I followed her along with Starswirl, and got my first proper look at the buildings outside. It was instantly clear that we were in some sort of military camp, soldiers trotting to and fro outside of the window. Most of them seemed to be clutching spears awkwardly in their forehooves, or wielding swords in the mouths, and once again I had the sudden thought that it was the most incredibly inefficient way for the ponies to hold the weapons. Another thought tugged at my mind however, and I turned to look at Luna.

“You said you’d been at war for a long time Princess. How long is long?”

“First contact officially started on February the 9th, twenty three years after Discord was defeated, but we believe that the aggressor that destroyed our fleet the day before was also the Griffons.” Luna didn’t look away from the window, and I made a mental note to ask for a few books at some point so I could learn more about this world if getting home was going to be difficult, which I assumed it was.

“And what year is it now?”

“Thirty Six AD,” Luna sighed.

“Thirteen years of war?” I asked in slight shock. “Fuck me, that’s a long time.”

“Please watch your mouth Matthew,” Starswirl cut in, shaking his head. “I will never understand why the young have to add in swear words for no reason.”

“To add emphasis to something Starswirl,” I replied, before looking at Luna again. “You’ve been at war with the Griffons and the Minotaur’s for thirteen years?”

“No,” Luna shook her head. “We have been at war with the Griffons for thirteen years. The Minotaur’s were our allies until six years ago, now they are not, and we are on the back hoof again.”

“Damn,” I whispered softly, staring back out of the window.

“Exactly,” Luna nodded. “Which brings us onto yet another point. We ponies do not know how to fight, other than what we have learned in the fires of this war, our first war. Our enemies have fought for countless decades and they are much more suited to combat than we are.”

“I’m sensing that the point is coming soon.”

“Yes, and the point is this. Thou are a soldier, and by your own admission thou are a good one. The weapons thou wields are better than ours, your mentality seems to be more suited to war than the majority of the army, and what’s more, you seem to care.”

“Care? About who?”

“Everypony, or what do you say? Everyone?” Luna smiled. “You could have been more violent, less helpful, whatever, but thou wasn’t. I believe you care about the wellbeing of others, even if they are different.”

“Being racist doesn’t help anyone,” I shrugged. “Not sure how it applies to ponies as opposed to different humans, but experience has taught me that being an asshole for the sake of it doesn’t really help anyone. Back to your point though, what are you asking?”

“I want you to help us win this war,” Luna replied simply.

“I want to go back to my world, Jenkins will too,” I shook my head. “I can see that you’re struggling in this war, but I have my own wars to fight, and I am needed at home.”

“I understand, but know this, we don’t know how you were brought here,” Luna sighed. “We don’t know that, we will not be able to figure out how to reverse whatever process brought you here.”

“I heard that one pony, umm, Gauntlet? Grave? Greave?” I clicked my fingers as I tried to jog my memory, before nodding. “Yeah Greave. He said something about teleportation runes. They might have…”

“They’re an unproven theory of an experimental magic,” Starswirl cut in. “They mean nothing, just a soldier jumping at a rumour.”

“But they could…” I started again.

“They, don’t,” Starswirl insisted.

“Princess. What are they?” I turned back to Luna.

“I’m sorry Matthew, as Starswirl says, they are just a rumour in the troops, something that has begun to spread about the Minotaur’s.”

“Princess, promise me that they are nothing,” I took a small step forward.

“Matthew, stop,” Luna ordered, her tone turning icy. “You have my word that we know nothing to make this rumour any more than just that. We are working to see if there is any truth to it, but at the moment there is no proof that it is anything more than hearsay. If we do make any breakthroughs that may influence you and your compatriot getting home, you will know about it, but at the moment we do not know how to help you. This I swear on my word as a Princess of Equestria and the monarch of the Moon.”

I ground my teeth slightly, but nodded. I couldn’t really threaten Luna or Starswirl effectively, and I doubt it would really help me even if I did somehow manage to make an effective threat.

“Alright Princess, we’ll play it your way,” I nodded. “What is your plan?”

“You know how to fight wars, and you know how to kill. I want you as an advisor of sorts, your compatriot too when he is ready.”

“I can’t agree to that until I’ve seen Jenkins,” I shook my head. “I’m not the only one affected by this princess. Allow me to talk to him, and maybe we’ll have a deal.”

“If we don’t come to some sort of deal, I won’t be able to help you Matthew. But I can grant you audience with your compatriot. I believe for what I am asking of you, it is only fair.”

“Thank you Princess,” I nodded.

“Starswirl, I must leave now. Do not experiment on the equipment unless told to, and do not pick up things that could be dangerous without either Matthew or Jenkins present.”

“Of course,” Starswirl nodded, before extending a hoof towards me. “It has been a pleasure Matthew, meeting a new species is not something that happens every day. I hope we can talk again at some point. You never know, you may be able to learn something from me, and I from you.”

“I’d like that Starswirl, especially if I’m going to be stuck on a new world for a long time,” I nodded, taking the hoof, before following Luna out of the room, the door closing with a soft hiss behind of us.

The pair of us walked down the corridor side by side, the only sounds echoing around the corridor coming from my bare feet and Luna’s hooves. Eventually I broke the silence, asking a question that had been niggling away at my mind since meeting Starswirl.

“So, what’s the deal with Starswirl Princess?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well everyone else…”

“Everypony,” Luna corrected me.

“Everypony else has called you and your sister princess. He seems much more familiar with you.”

“He is familiar with us Matthew, considering the fact that he trained us in the higher magic’s after we rose to power,” Luna smiled as she reminisced. “He may also be the only pony in the world to be older than the two of us and wield as much magical power.”

“So he was your teacher then?” I summarised. “Makes sense, guy like him. Seems like a cross between Merlin and Mordin Solus to me, perfect teacher.”

“Merlin? Mordin?” Luna asked.

“Fictional characters from my world,” I replied, before stopping beside Luna as we came to a door with an inscribed red cross, instantly identifying it as a hospital. I smiled slightly as I saw that even across worlds, the symbol for doctors and hospitals stayed almost identical. “Am I allowed in?”

“Your associate has been given a separate room due to quarantine reasons and to avoid a panic,” Luna informed me. “I will allow you ten minutes to talk to him alone, please do not waste this chance Matthew. I am afraid if you make a mistake here, my sister will not accept my decision to allow you to help us.”

“I only want to talk to him and tell him about the situation princess, nothing more. You have my word as an officer.”

Luna nodded, before opening the door and quickly ushering me inside, before opening a second door at the side of the room, quickly closing it behind me. Turning away from the door, I walked towards the bed that Jenkins was lying on.

“Nice of you to drop by,” Jenkins muttered softly, not getting up from where he was lying.

“Sorry, other matters ran away with me,” I apologised, before pointing at the end of the bed. “D’you mind?”

“Not at all.”

Nodding I sat on the bed, looking over Jenkins. Apart from the few cuts on his face, he looked fine, yet underneath the covers were clearly going to be bandages hiding his main wound. At the moment though he seemed to be well enough to talk and recovering, which was the main thing.

“So, why the long face?” Jenkins asked finally.

“Really?” I deadpanned, looking down at him. “You’re really asking me that question in that way here?”

“Err, yeah?” He asked. “What’s wrong?”

“Long face. On a world populated by horses and ponies?”

“Oh god,” He moaned, bringing a hand up to cover his face. “I am a terrible terrible person.”

“I know,” I chuckled, patting his shoulder.

“Still, you owe me an explanation. What’s happening?”

Five minutes later I had brought Jenkins up to speed with recent events, giving him the cut down version of the species that inhabited this world, the ongoing war, our chances of getting home and Luna’s offer. Throughout it all Jenkins stayed quiet and impassive, but when I finally finished he groaned, before sitting up and looking at me.

“So we can’t get home?” he clarified.

“Luna and Starswirl both say they have no idea how we got here. I think they’re lying, but I can’t make them budge. Maybe they know, maybe they don’t, but I can’t force them to tell me anything.”

“And yet you want to put us in bed with them?” Jenkins asked.

“Well unless you like rotting in a cell, I would say that taking Luna up on her offer is the only option left open to us,” I sighed. “Luna seems to be more in charge of military matters, Celestia seems more like she’s in overall command and she doesn’t like me. If we’re not in the military, I would say that Celestia would be all over us and we’d be incarcerated for various reasons for god knows how long.

Jenkins growled, supporting his bandaged stomach with his right hand, while grabbing my arm with his left. “Do it then, agree to what she wants. But when we can go home, we leave instantly. We don’t wait out the war. We have our own battle to fight, and they’re not here. And I want to keep my rank, regardless of who I’m fighting for. Ok?”

“Don’t worry Jenkins, I know what colour my blood is,” I nodded, pushing his hand off me and slowly helping him to lie back down on the bed before getting to my feet again. “Rest up, stop attacking ponies and listen to the doctors ok? Oh, and don’t take too long to get better, or I may have to think about replacing you.”

“As if,” Jenkins scoffed. “You know that without me everything falls apart.”

Chuckling to myself I opened the door once again, slipping out of the room and walking towards Luna once more.

“You’ve come to a consensus?” she asked as she led me out of the hospital and back in the direction we had come from.

“We have your highness,” I nodded. “Jenkins and I will help you in your war, but we want to keep our old ranks. Do we have a deal?”

“Fine,” Luna nodded. “You will be my military advisor, your compatriot is a Colour Sergeant yes?”

“He is indeed,” I confirmed.

“Very well, he will also be instated as a military advisor once he is able. The pair of you will act under my orders and the orders of the superiors you are assigned to.”

“That’s fine. I’d like to learn a bit more about this world before I do anything though if possible.”

“Unfortunately I don’t think it will be able to be,” Luna shook her head. “There is a planned offensive that is going to be taking place very soon, and I would like you accompanying it.”

As we talked we made our way back towards Starswirl’s laboratory, entering the room and quickly seeing the unicorn in the corner. Nodding to the pair of us, Starswirl turned back to face the experiment he was working on, carefully pouring a bit of liquid into a box, before covering the hole with a heavy duty piece of metal.

“Working on something interesting Starswirl?” Luna asked, walking over.

“Yeah,” he nodded, before opening the box and pulling out a sandwich, proceeding to take a huge bite out of it. “Lunch.”

Luna shook her head in exasperation, before turning back to look at me. “The Major has decided to help us. For that he needs his gear back, and you are not going to be able to take the other pieces apart, as Colour Sergeant Jenkins has also offered to help us.”

“But…alien technology,” Starswirl pouted, looking longingly at the table as I walked towards it, slipping my shirt on, before picking up my rifle and quickly unloading it, making sure to pick up the round that came out of the breech and placing it back in the magazine.

“Sorry Starswirl, maybe next time,” Luna apologised.

“Tell you what,” I cut in, pulling my body armour on and licking up my helmet, repacking my webbing and assault vest as I spoke. “The two SA80s are broken so they’re not much use to Jenkins or I. You can keep those and look over them, but you can’t keep any ammunition. We need it.”

“Thankyouthankyouthankyou!” Starswirl beamed, rushing towards the table and picking up the two weapons I had indicated.

“No problem,” I chuckled softly. “Do you want me to show you how to take them apart?”

“No, I’m going to run tests on them,” he shook his head, his beard almost hitting me in the face. “I’m a smart unicorn, I can figure it out.”

Nodding, I turned back to Luna, checking over the last of my equipment. “I’m ready, just tell me when and where to go.”

“Thank you Major,” Luna smiled. “Follow me.”

I began to follow her, before remembering something and turning back to Starswirl, taking my iPod out of my pocket and tossing it to the Unicorn, who deftly caught it in his magic field.

“It’s out of battery,” I explained as he looked at me quizzically. “If you can figure out anyway to charge it again, I’ll be in your debt.”

“I’ll do my best,” Starswirl nodded, putting the iPod down and picking up one of the broken rifles, inspecting the bent barrel closely, and being careful to keep the end of it away from him this time.

“Are you fit?” Luna asked as I closed the door.

“Exceedingly, thanks for asking your highness,” I nodded with a slight smirk.

“A joke?” she asked hesitantly.

“Of sorts,” I nodded.

“Odd,” she mused, before trotting down the corridor. “Follow me, I’ll take you to the commanders of the offensive.”