Operation Harvest

DIPLOMACY

The streets were empty, most of the pony’s sound in there homes, though there were still a few stragglers.  Fluttershy had left earlier saying she had to tend to a few Wrens that had sprained their wings.  As the group moved towards Sugarcube corner, they started garnering attention from the ponies who were still out and about.  They were met with a mixture of fear and awe as a few of the ponies decided to come closer for a better look at the four humans.  The soldiers  almost instantly straightened themselves, trying to look smart and orderly for the small crowd(an unnatural instinct drilled into them at boot-camp.  Don’t wanna make the army look bad do you?).  One of the ponies called something out, and although he didn’t understand it, he was pretty sure it was gathering the other inhabitants of the town.  They were so busy paying attention to the crowd that they hadn’t realised they had reached bakery and Amax walked straight into the door.  Actually he walked into the wall just above the door.

‘Watch your head, the doors are a bit small for you.’  As Amax rubbed his head, the other members of their make-shift squad followed the two ponies into the cafe, flashbacks of his days engineering mining equipment entering Banna’s mind.

‘Hello and welcome to-’  Mrs. Cake stopped when she saw Banna and the rest of the squad.

‘-Sugarcube corner...’ she trailed off.  Before Twilight or Rainbow Dash could speak, Pinkie Pie came bouncing down the stairs.

‘Hey guys!  Watcha doing?’ She seemed almost impervious to the soldiers, acknowledging their existence only by moving round them.

‘Oh... hey Pinkie Pie.  I just came to get some cupcakes.’

‘Why?’

‘We’re uh, we’re celebr-’

‘Celebrating!?  You’ve come to the right place!’  She disappeared back up the stairs, then popped back.  ‘What are we celebrating?’

‘Second-Lieutenant Banna was promoted.’

‘Hurray!’ she bounced back up.  Jimothy had stopped paying attention and was browsing the cakes with Thate.

‘What was that about?’ asked Banna, eager to know what had happened.  Oh wait. ‘Was that Pinkie Pie?’  Twilight nodded.  Pinkie Pie came downstairs carrying a bundle of... something.  Without a word she left the store and disappeared into the encroaching darkness.  They all turned back to the counter.

‘Could I get some cupcakes please,’ asked Twilight.  Mrs. Cake’s saleswoman mode kicked in.  Monsters or no monsters, she’d be damned before she lost a sale.

‘How many would you like, dear?’  Twilight turned momentarily to count the group.

‘A bakers dozen please.’ Mrs. Cake gathered up 13 cupcakes and placed them in a box.

‘That’ll be nine bits dear.’ Mrs. Cake gave a friendly, saleswoman smile as Twilight dug into her saddle-pack for money and emerged with the aforementioned amount and put it on the counter.  ‘Enjoy!’ she called after them as they left the building.  The crowds had dispersed, mainly because they weren’t willing to stay too long, but also because it had been getting dark.  Twilight handed the box to Banna once they were outside who took a whiff of the contents.

‘Wow, this smells really good.’  The other three soldiers gathered round, staring into the box, mesmerised by the aroma.  Rainbow Dash walked over to them and waved her hoof in front of their faces, garnering no reactions aside from Thate who snapped out of it for just a second before going back into the trance they all seemed to be stuck in.

‘You all act like you’ve never had a cupcake before,’ she joked.

‘Something like that...’ mumbled Amax, reaching out for one only to have his hand slapped away by Jimothy.  Although they had eaten baked goods before, the rationing system had minimised that, and being in the military meant you got even less (Especially if you were in the thick of it).  In short, they hadn’t seen a cake for the past four years.  Banna shook himself.

‘Right lads, we’ve got to get a move on.’ He closed the box and started speaking in his most formal voice.  ‘Ms. Sparkle, I thank you sincerely for this gift, and I will repay you, I promise, but we must return to our base.’  Jimothy and Amax looked less then pleased, while Thate kept his (mostly) neutral demeanour.

‘What, at this time of night?  Oh no!  There are way too many monsters roaming the Everfree Forest to go venturing at night.’

‘I am sure we will be able to handle whatever it is this forest throws at us.’

‘But you must be tired after having to make the same journey to and back three times now.’  Amax and Jimothy had realised now was the time to press the advantage and went on the offensive.

‘Yeah, sir, my aim isn’t too good at night.  Too dark.’ Stated Jimothy

‘And I don’t think I can stay on my two feet any longer sir,’ added Amax.  Thate gave a yawn which seemed a little too loud to have been a real one.  Banna rolled his eyes.

‘Okay fine, we can stay.’  Amax and Jimothy both fist pumped and Thate smiled.  ‘But where?  The houses don’t seem big enough to fit in comfortably.’  Rainbow Dash had an idea.

‘You could stay at AJ’s farm.’

‘Who?’

‘Applejack.  She runs the local apple farm here.  Their barn is definitely big enough for you, plus the hay is rather comfortable.’  Wow, hay.  That was five star accommodations for a man on the front.  The thing is, he wasn’t on the front.  He would have picked the bed back in the barracks, but the men insisted on acting like little children, so now they had to stay.  Well, it was better than freezing your arse off in a pit somewhere.  His eyelids started getting heavier.  Come to think of it, that bed of hay didn’t sound so bad.  In the corner of his eye he spotted something, an array of lights to the mountains far east.  Gazing at it he realised something.  It was a castle!  How could he have missed it?  Twilight followed his gaze.

‘That’s Canterlot castle, home to the two princesses Celestia and Luna.  They rule over the land from there.  I used to live there you know.’  It rivalled some of the fortresses he had seen on his tours of duty.

‘So that’s where I’m supposed to be going tomorrow?’  Twilight nodded enthusiastically.  The view must be nice from there.  There must be a balcony that the drop ship can land at with a castle like that.  Within a few minutes they had reached Sweet Apple Acres and could see the rows of apple trees stretching off into the distance, the darkness giving it the effect of going on forever.  The barn had some lamps still on around it to try and ward away any nocturnal predators.  The barn seemed large enough to accommodate them, though nobody had doubted that.

‘Just go inside, Rainbow Dash and I will go speak to Applejack about it.’

‘We will? I mean, yeah, we will.’  The two ponies walked towards the farm house while the men made themselves comfortable in the barn.  It was the usual stereotypical barn, with a second floor (more of a platform really) and an assortment of farming tools and equipment.  To their right, hay was spread out along the floor.

‘Finally,’ said Amax as he jumped onto the stack.  ‘This is quite soft.  Better than those poor excuses for beds.’ He moved about trying to find the most comfortable position to lie in and  Jimothy followed suite.  Banna looked around for Thate, then realised he had gone up to the platform and was hanging around near the large window.

‘You gonna keep watch or something?’  Thate nodded.  Okay, time to hit the hay.  Despite the joke being really, really poor, he chuckled at it nonetheless and set about looking for his own stack of hay.

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

‘So Twilight, how exactly do we tell Applejack she has four aliens spending the night in her barn?’ Asked Rainbow Dash as she caught up with her.

‘I don’t know.  Maybe we should just leave the details about them being aliens out.  Say we have friends over.’  They both agreed and continued to the farmhouse.  Twilight knocked on the door and waited for Applejack to answer.  They heard the shuffling of hoofsteps and someone wondering out loud as to whoever it could be.  The door swung open revealing Applejack, her hat off her head.

‘Why howdy there Twilight, Rainbow Dash.  How are you both this fine night?’

‘Oh we’re fine.  Hey do you think you could do me a favour?’

‘Why sure Twilight, what is it?’

‘I have some friends over from Canterlot and they need somewhere to stay.  Do you think they could spend the night in your barn?’  Applejack looked at her quizzically.

‘Uh, okay, yeah, it’s just that...’

‘What?  Is something wrong?’

‘Well you told me that, aside from the princesses, you didn’t have any friends back in Canterlot.’  Oh right.  She forgot about that.  Luckily Rainbow Dash thought of something.

‘Uh, that’s because they’re not her friends, they’re my friends!’  She said, slightly unsure of herself.

‘Your friends?’

‘Yeah, that’s right.  My friends.  What you think I don’t have other friends?’ she answered more confidently this time.

‘Okay, so why did Twilight say they were her friends?’

‘It’s a kind of my friend is your friend, type, thing?’  Applejack stared at her for a moment.

‘Makes sense to me.  Sure they can stay.  Lemme just go say hello...’ she tried to leave but Twilight barred her exit.

‘Oh no that’s okay they’ve had a long day getting here.  It’s best we let them rest.’

‘Whatever you say.  Well I’m gonna go to bed now.  See you tomorrow.’

‘Okay girls, I see you tomorrow.’ Applejack closed the door and the two ponies left.

‘We should probably get to the barn early tomorrow in case we have to explain things to Applejack.  I’ll put my cloud near the barn’ Said Rainbow Dash.

‘Yeah, good idea.  Well, see you tomorrow.’  She started angling towards her tree house.

‘Yeah, see you tomorrow Twilight.’  Hopefully tomorrow would pass without too much incident.

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

Banna stretched himself, a feeling of ease pass through his spine as he heard the cracks in his back.

‘Your becoming an old man,’ commented a half awake Amax, his hair ruffled.

‘That’s not how your supposed to talk to your superiors,’ Banna stood up. ‘Besides, I’m only 25, and your what, 15?’ He retorted.

‘Actually it’s 22 sir.’  Amax pulled out his flask and poured some on his hands, splashing it on his face.  Banna looked around for any sign of Twilight or Rainbow Dash.  Nothing.  There was however the box of cupcakes from yesterday.  God knows why they hadn’t eaten it the day before, but at least it gave him something to do while he waited.

‘Anyone want some cupcakes?’ He asked aloud.  They all turned their heads.  ‘Well?’  Advancing on the officer, they each took their share (three each plus one for Banna) and made off to different corners of the room to eat.  As he chewed, he remembered he had to go to Canterlot castle today.  Better freshen up.  ‘Hey anyone got any anti-perspirant?’

‘Why would we have deodorant sir...’

‘Oh right, sorry.’  Stupid question.  Thate was still in the same spot he had been yesterday, looking out the large window.  He tensed.  Banna turned to Amax and Jimothy.  ‘Quickly!  Hide!’  They dropped the cupcake wrappers and dived into the haystacks, concealing themselves as best they could.  Thate moved into the shadows and Banna kneeled behind a few crates at the back of the barn.  He could see Amax and Jimothy’s eyes peering out expectantly for something to happen.  Sure enough, they heard the beat of hooves outside.

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

‘You got any ideas for today Applebloom?’  Asked Sweetiebelle.  The filly furrowed her brows in thought for a moment, then shook her head.  They had tried everything from administration to zoology with no success whatsoever.  Scootaloo sat up.  ‘We could always try... no wait we’ve done that.  How about... no we’ve done that too.’  Was there anything left to do?  Applebloom looked around.  There was no one visible on the farm.  Looking up, she saw a few pegasi flying about.  That gave her an idea.

‘Hey girls, you know I just realised we’ve only been thinking small.’  The other two fillies looked at her confused.

‘Whaddaya mean?’ They asked.

‘We-e-e-ll, what I mean is, we should start thinking outside the box.’

‘You mean like we’ve been checking in the wrong places?’  Applebloom stopped for a moment.  She had heard the phrase from her sister, so she wasn’t entirely sure what it meant.

‘Yeah, sure.’

‘But we already looked everywhere we can.’ Commented Scootaloo.

‘That’s it!’ Exclaimed Applebloom, standing up.  ‘If we’ve looked everywhere we can, we should look somewhere we can’t!’

‘How would we do that?  We can’t look there, that’s why it’s in the name.’  Critisized Sweetiebelle.

‘Okay maybe not impossible, but really, really hard or unlikely.  Where do we know that is hard to get to?’  The three fillies looked at each other browsing their memories for any hard-to-reach locations.  At exactly the same time, a smile spread across all of their faces.

‘SPACE!’  They shouted.

‘Wait, what is there to see in space?’ asked Scootaloo.

‘Hmm... Aliens!’

‘ALIEN HUNTING CUTIE MARKS YEAH!’

‘So where should we start?’  They heard a rustling coming from the barn.

‘The barn!’  They started creeping towards the barn door.

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

Rainbow Dash yawned.  That was a good nap.  Now to stretch my wings a bit.  She stretched her wings and yawned once more in unison. Just as she was about to jump she heard someone cry something about alien hunting.  Almost immediately she shifted her gaze to the barn.  Sure enough, there were the Cutie mark crusaders snooping about the farm.  Oh thank Celestia, it was only them.  For a moment there she thought they were talking about- they’re entering the barn.  They’re entering the barn.  She dived off her cloud.

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

They were still here goddamn it.  Banna checked his watch.  It hadn’t been adjusted, so it was still set to Gleya 3/5 time.  It was currently four o’clock in the morning there.  He was sure the fleet was having a fun early morning fighting off yet another attack on the plane- Oh bugger she was going for the hay stacks.  He could see Amax’s pleading eyes through the hay, but the small ponies hadn’t seemed to realise it.  They were too busy jumping about, obviously excited about something.  The white one sat down on Amax, the soldier making a distinctive grunting noise.  She jumped up.  Crap, they were going to find him.  Hang on a second, what were they doing?  They were here for diplomacy, they didn’t need to hide, after all, the princess had asked him to make friends with the locals.  He took a deep breath and stepped out.  Stupid idea.

They hadn’t noticed him as they were too busy trying to solve the case of the hard, grunting hay stack.

‘Um, hello?’  They turned, a look of horror on their faces, then as quickly as the expression had come, it changed and was replaced with joy.  Wow, they must really like me, he thought at first.  The yellow one dashed off left.  The white one dashed off right.  Hang on, what’s going on.  The orange one ran straight towards him.  He was unsure of what to do.  His instinct told him they were flanking him and that he should whip out his pistol and start shooting everything that moved.  His instinct also told him that the sound of sprinklers were in fact the sound of gunships flying over head, so he wasn’t about to trust them.  The orange one lunged straight into his chest, causing him to stumble backwards and trip over the yellow one who had positioned herself right behind his leg.  As soon as he hit the ground, the white one tossed a net over him.  He tried moving but they all sat on top of him.  That and the net meant that his movement was severely restricted.  They had got him.  He started laughing which greatly confused the fillies.  They had just caught him, why was he laughing?  Three campaigns and a space battle survived, yet somehow he had been taken down by three children.  Rainbow Dash appeared at the barn door.  It was worse than she thought.

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

‘Girls!  Get off him!’She walked over to Banna, glaring at them, but they didn’t budge.

‘But Rainbow Dash, we caught this alien sneakin’ around in the barn!  He’s obviously up to no good.’  Stated Applebloom.

‘He and his friends were spending the night here because your sister allowed them to.’ She responded slightly angrily.  They looked confused.

‘Friends?’  At that moment, Amax and Jimothy revealed themselves, standing up.  Thate appeared next to the crusaders in his usual mysterious fashion.  The three of them fell off Banna, allowing him to break free of the net.

‘Are you alright sir?’

‘Yeah I’m fine.  They did a fine job of taking me down.  You could learn something from them men.’  Rainbow Dash simply stared at him in disbelief.

‘You mean you don’t mind?’

‘Of course not.  They’re just children.  I’ve met children who’ve done more reckless things.’  He glanced at Amax. ‘So, we’re going to have to move out now.  I believe we have an engagement with the princess.’

‘Oh right.  You might want to talk to Twilight about that.  See if she can get you the royal chariot or something.’  He was going to take the drop ship, but royal chariot sounded good.  It was very far away though, he wasn’t sure just how it was going to get them there quickly.

‘So where does Twilight live exactly?’

‘She lives in a library towards the centre of town.  Come on I’ll show ya.’  She turned and walked out the barn door.  The squad followed her out.  As they progressed towards the exit, Rainbow Dash heard a familiar voice coming round the barn.

‘Ah should probably check on the guests Big Mac.  Don’t worry ah’m sure they won’t be too cranky.  City folk don’t mind wakin’ up too early do they?’  Applejack trotted round the corner, staring at something out of sight, presumably Big Mac.  Then she made the mistake of turning her head.  Banna and the men stared back at the orange pony, whose mouth was so wide it was practically on the floor.  Rainbow Dash gave a nervous chuckle.

‘Uh, hey Applejack.  I was, um, just taking my friends to see Twilight.’  Applejack slowly turned her head to Rainbow Dash.

‘These are your friends...’ She said slowly and drowsily.  Rainbow Dash pawed at the ground nervously.

‘Yeah.’

‘You mind telling me how you... met?’

‘Oh, well it’s a long story actually, and we have somewhere to be so maybe another time?’  Said Rainbow Dash, attempting to push the four men away towards the town.  Applejack returned to her usual self.

‘Now wait just a darn minute, you can’t go takin’ them into town!  People’ll get scared!’  She called after her, running to block the road.

‘Oh come on Applejack, they have a meeting with the princess.  They can’t be late for that!’

‘The princess?  She knows them?’  Asked Applejack inquisitively as the group continued onwards past her.

‘We-e-ell not exactly, but she knows of them.  Now come on, they need to get to Canterlot.’

Applejack didn’t look too happy.

‘Alright fine, but you’d better tell me what’s goin’ on ‘round here.’

In town a huge crowd gathered.  Yesterday only a few of the townsfolk had been awake, now it was late morning and everyone was up and about.  Some kept there distance while others came close to see what all the fuss was about.  A few even tried to touch them.  The soldiers waved at a few of the younger ones and kept close to Rainbow Dash.  The cutie mark crusaders followed them in the hopes of finding out a different skill that only these off-worlders could provide.  They reached Twilight’s house after a good 20 minutes of attempting to get through the crowd.  She lives in a tree?  Banna thought.  Right outside her house were two pegasi standing next to a golden chariot.  Something told him that was the royal chariot.  It didn’t look like it could fit all of them.  There would only be enough space for another one person after he got in plus a pony, or two if they didn’t mind the squeeze.  Twilight was visible on the balcony.

‘Hey Twilight!’  Called Rainbow Dash.  ‘I brought them here!’

‘I can see that!’  She called back.  ‘I’ll be down in a second!’  She disappeared off into the house and reappeared at the door looking very nervous.  ‘So how is everything?’  She noticed Applejack behind Banna.  ‘I see you met Applejack,’ she said slightly exasperated.

‘Yeah, she was surprised to see us.  I think she’s gotten over it, but I don’t know.’  Twilight looked a little relieved, though she was still in high-stress mode.  Banna looked at the chariot.  ‘Is this the royal-’

‘-chariot, yes it is.  The princess sent it over earlier today.  She also wanted you to know that there would be a few ambassadors left over from the meetings.’

‘How did you know that?’  She held out a letter.

‘Well, you’d better get a move on, it’s rude to keep the princess waiting.’  She used her magic to pull Banna towards the chariot as she got in.  Banna waved his hands and told her to stop.

‘I need someone else to come with me, for, uh, moral support and, um, decision making.’  Twilight thought for a second.

‘Sure, I’m certain the princess will be pleased.’  The real reason he didn’t want to go alone was because, as much as he hated to admit it, he didn’t trust any of it.  It had nothing to do with the ponies themselves, they seemed great, rather it was the lack of Anteeists that got to him.  What was to say that they hadn’t got to the pony leaders first and were setting up a trap for high officials.  Then it struck him.  He had been promoted for this exact reason.  The Major and ship Captain didn’t want to risk themselves walking into a potential trap, so they sent him instead.  If he died, it was just another officer lost among the many millions of officers already dead.  Just another number in a list...  Well, can’t say he hadn’t expected this.  Not all officers were big fluffy marshmallows who cared about their men.  He shook himself.  No time to ponder.  Now, who would be the best candidate?  He looked at the three men.  Thate was handy in a scrape, but that was about it really.  He didn’t talk much, so he wasn’t going to get any help in that respect.  Next was Jimothy.  He talked quite a bit, sometimes too much.  He didn’t really have the experience he was looking for though, therefore the obvious choice was Amax.  Amax and him had fought alongside each other ever since the boy had joined.  He was fairly similar to Jimothy in terms of speech, but at least he knew when to keep his mouth shut.  There might be a problem with following orders though...

‘Amax, your up.’  Amax feigned surprise, as though he knew he was going to get picked.

‘I feel very honoured that you picked me over these two fine soldiers sir,’ he said sarcastically, jogging over to the chariot.

‘Thate, Jimothy,’ he said more seriously.  ‘Get back to base.  See if you can ready a dropship to collect me from the castle.’  He pulled out a notepad, scribbled a few lines down, signed it then handed it to Thate.  ‘Give this to the commanding officer if they don’t believe you.’  The two soldiers saluted then made off home.  He jumped in the chariot and looked at Twilight.  ‘I think we should get moving don’t you?’

‘Now hold on just one minute!’ Applejack ran up to the chariot and got in, squeezing herself in next to Twilight.  ‘I ain’t leaving mah friend with some aliens ah just met today.’

‘Oh Applejack, you don’t have to...’

‘Oh hush Twi, I’d never forgive mahself if anything happened to you when I could have stopped it.’  Banna stared at the two of them.

‘The more the merrier I suppose,’ he said.  ‘Now, let’s go.’  Twilight nodded to the pegasi, and they started flying upwards, the chariot in tow.  At first they seemed to be having trouble lifting the two humans, but that was only momentary, and they were soon on their way much to the amazement of the two soldiers.

Banna enjoyed the cool breeze on his face.  It was very refreshing, away from all the hustle and bustle of the crowds and officers.  Behind them he could see a cloud following them at an unusually fast pace.

‘So, Banna, where do you come from?’  Asked Twilight.  Applejack just stared at him in case he tried, as she put it, ‘somethin’ funny’.  Twilight had once more casted the understanding spell for Applejack to listen.  Banna drifted to thoughts of home.

‘I come from Gleya III, tens of thousands of light years away.’  Twilight was getting more interested.

‘So there are three versions of your home?’  Banna laughed.

‘Not exactly.  There are seven planets in the solar system, Gleya.  I come from the third one, the only fully inhabitable one other than the first and fourth.’

‘So what’s it like?’

‘Pretty much like here I guess, though not necessarily the same fauna or animals.  Of course, it’s different depending on how far north or south you are or what continent you’re on, just like any habitable planet.  I came from just north of the equator from a place called Sinobia.  It’s very mountainous in the area, and us such, the cities aren’t as developed or well spread there which is a relief because we get some fresh air.  Me and my brother used to play soldiers in the woods.  The stories of the war inspired us, and dad used to write home about his experiences.  When I was younger I always thought it was ‘cool’ how he was fighting, but as I got older I started to miss him.  I haven’t been home for... ten years now.’  Applejack couldn’t help but look a bit sorry for him.

‘Why not?’  She asked, wondering why anypony would want to be away from home for a whole decade.

‘Well, there was a siege on.  While I was growing up it wasn’t too bad, but it slowly increased in fervour.  We could hear the explosions from the nearby cities, and once or twice a stray missile would slam into a neighbouring house.  Eventually mother made us leave for a different solar system to live with some distant relatives of ours.  There was no siege which was a nice change, but now we lived in a city.  Not as big as the ones in Gleya, but still pretty crowded.  We got by, but as soon as I reached the age of 18, I was conscripted.’

‘That’s horrible!’ Commented Twilight.

‘At least it wasn’t Gleya I.’  The two soldiers looked at each other in agreement then shivered.  What could be so bad about Gleya I?  She thought.

‘What’s wrong with Gleya I?’  They both looked at her with a sense of dread.

‘Large scale orbital bombardments...’

‘Frequent commando incursions...’

‘Whole fleets blocking out the sun...’

‘It’s practically a war zone there all the time on all sides of the planet.’  The ponies could barely imagine what a small skirmish was like let alone a massive battle.  They’d just have to take his word for it.

‘Well enough about me, if I’m going to properly negotiate with your country I need to know more about it.’  Stated Banna, looking at Twilight expectantly.

‘Oh, well, where to begin...  Equestria is the largest nation on this planet, and is growing in size all the time.’

‘Growing in size?  Are you on a conquest?’

‘Oh Celestia no!’ She spoke, taken aback, ‘Smaller nations join us.  As time has passed, many ponies and indeed other races have come to see that it is pointless to remain separate.  Together who knows what we could accomplish?  Most of the nations that haven’t joined are different species, like the griffon kingdoms-’

‘Wait, there are MORE sentient species on this planet!?’  Twilight looked startled.

‘Well yes, of course.  Why, is there something wrong?’

‘Sorry, no, it’s just that from my, uh, species, experience only one race can be dominant on a planet.  Another sentient species just doesn’t develop or is killed off.  At least it was like that.  Now there seems to be more tolerance and less xenophobia.’

‘Oh.’  Twilight wasn’t really sure how to answer to that.

‘Hey Twilight, ah don’t mean to interrupt yer conversation there, but we’re here.’  Banna stared at the city below, the streets filled with ponies of all kinds going about their business.  Kind of like back home, he thought.  He shifted his attention to the castle in front if him.  It truly was magnificent, turrets and battlements towering high above the city with banners and flags waving proudly in the breeze.  One balcony, focused about halfway up seemed to be the biggest of them all, and the chariot was headed straight for it.  Just for a second he thought he saw a small flash of pink from it.  Probably just his brain playing tricks on him.  They landed with a brief thud, causing everyone to jolt.  The guards unsaddled and left for the lower recesses.

‘That’s odd.’  Said Twilight watching them leave.

‘What?’  He asked.

‘The guards don’t normally leave guests alone in the castle, especially when meeting with the princesses.’  That didn’t sound too good.  There was that cloud again.

‘Hey Twilight, you know that cloud over there?’

‘Yeah I know, Rainbow Dash has been following us.’  Actually he was going to ask if the weather tended to follow people around.  ‘It’s okay Dash you can come out now!’  Her head popped out from behind. She was visibly unhappy that she had blown her cover.

‘You knew I was there?’

‘You stick out like a sore hoof Rainbow.  Ya think we wouldn’t notice a cloud followin’ us around on a clear day?’  Said Applejack.

‘If it’s any consolation, I wasn’t expecting it,’ said Amax who truly had not noticed the cloud following them.

‘Yeah well your not exactly hard to scare.’  She responded.  Amax was not amused.

The only way off the balcony (other than base jumping) was through the large doors which Banna presumed led to a hall of some kind, probably for the meeting he was going to attend.

‘Come on, let’s go.’  Banna and Amax pushed the doors open which were surprisingly heavy.  It was almost pitch black in the hall.  Banna couldn’t see one foot inside.  Then...

‘SURPRISE!’

Banna and Amax jumped back, reaching for their firearms.  The lights came on to reveal the room full of ponies, all assembled around tables and chairs, streamers and confetti falling, a large banner with something he couldn’t understand written on it and, most notably, two ponies significantly larger than the others, one blue and one white (Probably Celestia and Luna, he thought) with a horn and wings sitting at a round table towards the front.  He was dumbstruck.  Pinkie Pie bobbed up to him happily, a party hat on her head.

‘Wereyousurprised?Ihopeyouweresurprised,IwasworriedyoumightnotbesurprisedbecauseyousawmeonthebalconythenIwasworriedaboutthehotsaucebeingto-’

‘PINKIE!’  They all looked at Twilight and she blushed.  ‘Uh, I mean Pinkie Pie, don’t you think we should let Banna and Amax meet the princesses?’

‘Oh silly me!  Of course they should!  This way.’  She trotted off into the crowd, some how appearing next to the princesses.  Music started playing.  It was the kind of music they have in restaurants, not so loud that you couldn’t hear yourself speak but not too quiet that no one noticed it.  Banna could clearly see a unicorn with a blue mane and shades standing next to a turntable looking fairly bored.  The ponies had not known what to expect from the visitors but still attempted to make his acquaintance, he couldn’t understand them though so Twilight had to apologise for him and Amax as they made their way through the crowd.  Eventually they got to the table that the two princesses were sitting at.  It was a bit bigger than the other tables, but the table was still just a little too small for his legs to fit under when sitting down on the chair (which oddly enough was the right size).  Both him and Amax stood to attention and saluted the princesses while the ponies accompanying them bowed.   There was something about the princesses that gave him a feeling of awe.  Their gentle smiles, the wavy manes, the elegance, he felt compelled to bow.  The only thing that stopped him was that bowing was a sign of surrender in the Gleyan army, done only to officers and Gleya's Chairman.  Had he been a civilian he just might have.  That and he liked to pretend he was a 'free spirit'.  Princess Celestia said something, but he couldn’t understand.  She then turned to Twilight and said something to her.

‘No.  I, uh, don’t know the spell.’  She looked a bit disappointed in herself.  Celestia said something else then stood up.  All the ponies went silent, even the music stopped.  Celestia’s horn start to glow in the same fashion as Twilight’s when she cast the ‘understanding’ spell but the air seemed to change.  It felt much heavier and that everything was getting sucked towards here.  Her eyes started to glow and her hair turned into pure white energy.  Banna felt his consciousness faltering, and judging from everyone elses twitching, hanging faces, it seemed everyone felt the same way.

‘AGGHH CRAP!’  Amax screamed, clutching his head and fell to his knees.  Banna wasn’t exactly sure what was wrong, then he felt it.

‘AH, FU-!’ His brain felt like it was expanding, burning and imploding violently at the same time.  Then, as quickly as it had come, it was gone.  He looked around.  The ponies didn’t seem to have had quite the same reaction since they were all staring at them.  Princess Luna approached the two of them and helped them up.  Amax looked at Banna.

‘You got any idea what just happened sir?’

‘Not a bloody clue.’  He could hear murmurs from the crowd.

What’s wrong with them? Why did they scream... only two days ago...

Wait a minute.  He could understand them.

‘You hear that sir?’

‘Yes I do...’

‘I hope that the spell didn’t cause you too much pain gentlecolts,’ said a very tired Celestia.  She was panting and had to be held up by Twilight and a guard.  ‘I didn’t know how magic would react to you.’

‘Why didn’t it hurt when Twilight did it?’  She smiled weakly.

‘She only opened your minds.  It is one way of doing things, but it makes you more susceptible to reading a persons mind.  I fused the language into yours and your friends minds.’

‘Friends?’

‘You have friends in the Everfree Forest correct?’

‘Uh, yeah, how did you know that?’

‘Your mind was open remember?’  The two of them went wide eyed and had the same look of OH SHIT on their faces.

‘Don’t worry, my sister and I only saw what was on the surface.’  She said, seeing their faces.  They remained unchanged.  ‘Just what was on your mind right now.’  Although Banna calmed down, Amax still looked a bit distraught.

‘Thank you for the, uh, compliment.’ Said Luna shyly to Amax.  He blushed rather profusely.

‘Oh right, uh...’  Banna wasn’t entirely sure what she meant.

‘When did you compliment her?’  He asked.

‘Oh I sort of, um, thought it...’

‘Ah.  Now, our heads hurt because of the language infusion, correct?’

‘No, that was from me closing your minds.’  Made sense.  She looked around the crowd.  They were all engrossed with what was going on.  ‘I’m sure parties are supposed to have music playing.’  The music abruptly started, the DJ still looking fairly bored.  ‘Ms. Scratch, maybe something a little more... lively?’  Vinyl smiled ferociously and changed records.  A very loud dance beat came on, and the ponies all seemed to liven up, going off to dance.  It really was a catchy tune, and for a second he forgot all about the meeting and almost danced off into the crowd.  ‘Second-Lieutenant Banna and Lance Corporal Amax, I think it would be better to discuss things elsewhere.’

‘Uh, sure ma’am.’  Banna, Amax, Rainbow Dash, Twilight and Applejack followed the two princesses to a set of doors somewhere on the left side of the hall.  As they neared it Pinkie Pie came out of the blue with sweets, chocolates and two ponies in tow.

‘Fluttershy?  Rarity?  What’re you doing here?’  Asked Applejack.

‘Pinkie Pie here told us she was hosting a party for some newcomers to Equestria,’ said Rarity.  ‘Fluttershy told me they were from the Everfree forest, but I didn’t expect anything quite like, uh, them.’

‘So it was Pinkie Pie’s idea?’ Asked Amax.  She immediately pounced on him, clinging onto him aorund his shoulders.

‘Yes!Wereyousurprised?IhopeyouweresurprisedIwasworriedyouwouldn’tbebecauseIthinkyousawmeonthebalconythenthereweresomered-’

‘Y-yes! Yes we were both very surprised.’  She squeed in delight and jumped off him. They continued onwards through the doors and beyond into the halls.  The winding passaged seemed to go on forever, and the stairs were a pain in the neck.  By the end of it they were gasping for air at the top of a spiral staircase in front of a door.  The ponies didn’t show any sign of fatigue.

‘Are you okay?’  Asked Luna.

‘Oh we’re fine your majesty *pant* we’re more of *pant* long distance runners,’

‘Already tired?  I thought you guys were supposed to be tough!’ Berated Rainbow Dash.

‘Hey, why don’t you try carrying *pant* our gear *pant* next time,’  Amax answered.

‘Besides, I don’t see *pant* you beating me in a fight anytime soon,’ retorted Banna.

‘Is that a challenge?’ She asked, quickly.

‘Not really, no-’

‘Challenge accepted!’  Banna facepalmed.  ‘Come on then, I’ll take you on...’  She got into a fighting stance, punching at the air.

‘Rainbow Dash, I don’t think now is the best time,’ said Twilight gesturing to the two princesses.

‘Okay fine, but don’t think you’ve gotten out of it.’  That was going to be an annoyance.

‘Okay girls, sorry but you aren’t going to be able to sit in on the meeting.’ Said Twilight apologetically.

‘What!  Why?  What if he tries something funny?’  Banna rolled his eyes.

‘I’m not going to ‘try’ anything funny.’  Rainbow Dash still wasn’t convinced, but she stayed outside with the other four mares.  Banna, Amax, Luna, Celestia and Twilight entered the chambers and shut the door.  All five mares stuck their heads against the door to listen in on the conversation, but it was all muffled.

‘It’s pointless, we’ll just have to ask Twilight.’  Resolved Rainbow Dash.  Applejack started thinking.

‘Hey Rarity?’

‘Yes dear?’

‘D’ya think ya could cast a spell to make us hear better?’

‘Oh, of course!’  Her horn glowed for a few seconds giving all the mares the temporary power of super-pony hearing.  They started listening again.

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

The room wasn’t too big, just right for their parties size.  In the middle there was a table with an assortment of papers signed and sealed, all looking very important.  To the left of the room there was a balcony, the doors wide open revealing the city streets below.  It wasn’t quite dark yet, but he could see the sun setting.  The remaining walls had shelves laden with books.  Celestia, Luna and Twilight sat at one end of the table while Banna and Amax sat at the other end.

‘So, how was your journey here?’ Asked Celestia, looking intently at him.

‘It was very comfortable thank you.  You didn’t have to send it, I could have made my way here just as easily.’

‘Nonsense!  You are a guest here, it is only right.  So, we should get down to business.  What brings you here?’  War.  Disease.  Famine.  Fear.

‘We have come looking for a place to live, and if you are willing to trade, resources.’

‘A place to live?  Did something happen to your home?’  It’s currently being contested between two armies who destroy anything that gets in the middle of them.

‘Not quite.  There’s a siege on right now, but that’s not the real reason we’re here.  We’re here to ensure that Gleya lives on.  Should every other bastion of ours fall somehow, this will be a safe haven for our weary forces.  It’s also so that the veterans have somewhere nice to retire to without being bombed at home.  Lastly, we’re here for resources, so if you have anything to trade, we’re willing.’

‘I see... but what would we have that you could possibly want?’  There was a beeping sound from Banna’s satchel.

‘Sorry, just one second.’  He pulled out the data pad and started finding his way to the messages.  Twilight left her seat and scrambled to his side, eager to see what he was holding.

‘What is it?’ She asked, full engrossed by the digital screen, the screens lighting casting a green hue onto her face.  He glanced at her.

‘It’s a data pad.  I use it to communicate with my officers outside of combat and maybe play the odd game or two.’

‘Game?’  Banna pressed on an icon and the screen faded to black then became alive with colours followed by a title screen saying ‘Pocket Governor’ and a ‘tap to continue’.  An airy song started playing and everyone in the room started focusing on the pad.

‘Maybe I can show you later,’ he said, seeing the looks from Amax and the curious ones of Luna and Celestia.  He reached the message that had been sent and opened it up.  ‘And here we go!  Aha, in answer to your last question there are quite a few things you have, most importantly carrberium.’  They looked confused.  ‘The metal you have in abundance up in the mountains north-east of here.’  They realised what he was talking about.

‘Dost thou- I mean do you mean the equinitium?’ Asked Luna.

‘I suppose so.’  It was probably the same thing.  ‘Will that be a problem?’

‘Oh no, that will be fine.  I’m sure we will be able to work something out.’ Said Celestia, concentrating on something.

‘Just out of interest, why do you want the equinitium?’ Asked Twilight, eager to find out more.  He could guess why she was wondering.  Only very advanced civilisations could extract the metal because of how tough it was.  Even for them it was still a pretty hard process (though mass production meant that didn’t matter so much); the heat-drills used required a lot of energy and had to be shut down for an hour after only ten minutes of use to cool down.

‘You can’t use it can you?’

‘Only the most powerful of magic users can try.’  There it was again.  Magic.  He was going to have to ask about that sooner or later because, while he wasn’t too bothered about the details, he was pretty sure that answering every question command asked him with ‘magic’ would raise a bit of suspicion.

‘That’s because your technology isn’t advanced enough.  We, on the other hand have the tools to use it.’

‘Just out of interest, what do you use it for?’ Asked Celestia, looking more serious than before.  Probably better not to answer tanks, battleships, cruisers, forts, bunkers, stormtroopers, drop-pods, etc.

‘Oh, ships, buildings, drills, anything which needs to be strong and sturdy.’  She sat in silence, still in thought, then snapped out of it.

‘Then I don’t think we will have a problem.  You will have to give me some time to think about what we would want in return.’

‘Of course.  I have the list here,’ he held up his data pad, ‘If you would like to see it.’

‘That would be helpful thank you.’  She turned to Luna.  ‘Now’s your chance Luna, you’ve been wanting to get more involved in state affairs.’  She looked at Celestia, wide-eyed, obviously thankful for the opportunity.

‘Do you really mean it?’  She nodded.  Luna got up and went to Banna.

‘Second-lieutenant Banna, I shall handle the list.’  She thrust out her hoof.  He handed it to her in a resignated fashion.  She took it and made for the door, but then Banna noticed something.  He couldn’t read any of the script from the papers lying around.

‘Wait a second.’  Luna stopped dead in her tracks.  ‘Can you read that?’ She looked down at it.

‘Oh, uh, no...’  Just as he thought.

‘Amax, go and assist her please.’  Amax stared out the window, daydreaming.  ‘Amax!’  he fell off his chair.

‘Yeah, right sure I’ll do it.  What did I have to do again?’  Luna stifled a laugh which earned her a glare fromm Celestia.

‘Go and translate the list for her.’  Amax saluted and left the room with Luna, taking the oad from her.  ‘And don’t break it!’  He called out after them.

‘Well, there are still some unresolved issues with Coltorado, and I think we should continue this after the list has been checked.  Shall we call it a day?’

Banna nodded.

‘Yeah, I feel exhausted.’  The chariot must given him some variation of jet lag.

‘I have prepared two rooms for you and your associate to sleep in.’  Woah, no one said anything about spending the night here, but then again, a luxury bed wouldn’t be so bad. ‘Twilight, I think you remember where the guest rooms are.’

‘Of course princess.  I will show him the way.’  She said quite quickly

‘Thank you Twilight, now if you’ll excuse me, I have to tend to the other ambassadors.’  Celestia left the room followed by Banna and Twilight.

The sound of clops on the stone work echoed through the corridors.

‘Aren’t you going to go to the party?  It’s still on you know,’  Asked Twilight staring at Banna’s utility belt.

‘No, I’m too tired.  Going to need a bit of rest.’  She nodded her head in understanding.  They walked on a bit more in silence, passing a few guards.  They all gave Banna looks, some of them in fear, some of them in awe, and some of them in aggression (he wondered why).

‘Hey, what’s this?’

‘Wha- hey no, don’t touch tha-’

‘khkhkhkhkh- Tah khufra meshin -khkhkhkhkhkhk- Roger that, we’re engaging now -khkhkhkhkhkhkhk- OhOhOh aNd ThAt’S wHeN I tOoK He- khkhkhkhkh- So, I wanna talk about carberrium, thaaaaats right! Now if you’ve been listening to what I’ve been sayin’ recently, there have been reports  -which have now been CONFIRMED!- from our military, that they have found a large carberrium mines on a planet not too far from here. Now what this means is, that carberrium will either plummet or flourish as people will both sell out and invest in it. I mean, if it hits hard, over half the network will go in debt! I mean what the hell are the Gleyan forces doin’ up there? It’s ridiculous! Over half of the entire god damn solar network is involved with carberrium investments! I wanna hear what your sorry arses have to say about this outrage!

612-X45, what the hell do you have to say about this crap?

“HEY GHOST! I wanted to tell you something REALLY important!”

Oh god, here we, we got this god damned armless pervert, yeh, eh? What the hell could you possibly want?

“Well, you know how I haven’t got arms, and that I’m entitled to Gleyan credit life benefits? I’ve actually managed to accumulate 50,000 credits worth of prosthetics as well as support drugs! And then I can sell off these arms on the inverse market for twice as much! It’s capitalism at its fine-”

You piece ah’ crap. YOU GOD DAMN EXPLOITATIVE, ARMLESS-PEEPIN’-TOM-ANAL-BUTTERING-FINGER-FU- khkhkhkhkh- isn’t that right?  In other news, the seventh offensive has finally reached a stalemate, with both sides locked in vicious close quarters combat.  The main battle is taking place on Amrioc where our brave men hold back tides of the red armoured menace.  Sadly our on the scene reporter, Biral Tanner was killed yesterday in a chemical attack, and so we have no further information on the event.  Our condolences to his family, this is Station 7, signing off.’