I woke up with the sun rise, my body clock still in the routine that military training had instilled. I think at this point I must be physically incapable of sleeping past six in the morning. The rays of sun shone through the window as I started my usual morning routine... well, as usual as it can be in a new world with completely different ways of doing things. For one, mainstream electricity in this town was mostly reserved for critical infrastructure or commercial business, such as hospitals, restaurants, and the library I was staying in. Twilight explained that electrical supply was widely available in major population centres, while smaller townships usually resorted to more 'eco-friendly' means. Not to say that the way that the power was generated wasn't 'green' in any form; they were using technology and techniques that was commonplace in my own world, like wind farm turbines or hydro-electric dams among other things. Not to mention that this world had the whole 'naturally-occurring magical energy' thing going for it.

That said, there was a surprising disparity in the way of other major technical breakthroughs. A world that had modern (in my experience) medical technology did not have self-propelled vehicles available for the general populace; the majority of these people still used animal-drawn carriages and carts. They used literal air-ships, by which I mean a sailing ship combined with a zeppelin, for long range travel, and steam-powered trains for regional commercial travel. The mash of technology from various eras that I knew from my own world constantly surprised me, this was most apparent whenever Twilight and I discussed the similarities in various areas of tech.

It had been a few days since I had left the hospital, and Princess Celestia had said to me that she would use what's left of my aircraft to check for any latent magical energy in an effort to trace back to my world. I had thought about what I may do if they ever did discover a way to access my own world. I certainly couldn't go back, I knew that much. But I would just want to see how much of an impact my sacrifice had made. Most importantly, I wanted to know that the rest of my squadron had survived the air raid after my crash. I couldn't live with myself if I found that my friends had died shortly after I had.

I reflected on that as I made my way downstairs to the kitchen towards the back of the library. It was here where I found both Twilight and her assistant, a dragon-like boy called Spike, sitting at the table eating breakfast. Well, Spike was eating breakfast as Twilight scrutinised a scroll in her hands, her eyes darting back and forth as she read the text with such an intensity that I thought might set the parchment alight. I took a seat and poured myself a mug of coffee.

At least one thing is identical in each of our worlds.

"Morning Chop," said Spike as he finished the last of the food on his plate. "Sleep well?"

"Well, it's better than the bunks back home, I'll tell you that." I smiled as I sipped from my drink. I took a glance at Twilight, then looked back to Spike. "What's up with her?"

"Letter came through from Celestia while you slept, a few minutes ago actually. All I saw was your name on it before she snatched it out of my hands. She hasn't touched her food or anything since, I think she's read that letter twenty times by now." Hmm, a letter from the princess about me. That certainly piqued my interest. I stood up from my seat and walked over to where Twilight sat, and lowered my head to above her shoulder. With a quick breath, I shouted.

"Twilight Sparkle! Exam is over, parchment on the desk now!" I embraced my inner drill sergeant as I utilised a trick that Spike had taught me, something that was guaranteed to get Twilight's attention away from whatever she was focused on. The trick's effects were amplified as Twilight was still drowsy from the early start.

"I'm sorry professor!" She shouted as her hands slammed to the table top with the parchment in hand. A few snickers from myself and Spike were enough to bring her back to reality. "Oh... very funny Chopper."

"Good morning to you too Twilight. So, letter about me, huh?" I wanted to get straight to the point.

"Oh yes. Celestia sent this just a short time ago, she said she figured out a way to access your world. She's asked me to inform you that you are to meet her today at her palace in Canterlot whenever you are free. All we have to do is just let her know when you're ready and she'll send a carriage here to take you there."

"I see... well then, I guess I've got to get myself ready then. Might as well get this over and done with." I finished my coffee and made my way back to my room. The day after I was discharged from hospital, Twilight had introduced me to all of her friends. One of them, a white woman/mare by the name of Rarity, had nearly fainted at the sight of me in my sage green flight suit. She forcibly dragged me across to her boutique where she proceeded to size me up and design a whole range of clothing for me. While at first it was quite the shock, I was extremely grateful for her work. She had made me a few sets of civilian attire, mainly shirts, trousers, shorts and jeans. After seeing her work, I asked her if she could recreate something else, namely my service dress attire of the Osean Air Defence Force. I gave her a quick description of the different pieces of uniform and insignia it features, and after half a day, I had a new set of 'Air Force Blues'.

It was this uniform I changed in to, after all I was heading to meet royalty and I wanted to look my best. Rarity's attention to detail was amazing, it really was. She had made everything down to the standards, including my captain's bars, wings and service ribbons. The uniform fit perfectly, and looked extremely sharp. All I'd need are a set of starts instead of bars and I could have easily passed for one of the high commanders of the OADF. Hell, Rarity even recreated the garrison cap complete with OADF insignia. Granted, Twilight and Princess Luna did tap into my memories to see the full uniform for reference, but it was a great effort they all put in nonetheless. I may be dead in their eyes, but I felt that until I really died I was still part of them.

That and the ladies love a man in the 'Blues'.

I must say, Twilight wasn't kidding when she had told me about how majestic Canterlot is. When we were approaching, I couldn't help but worry about the mere fact that the entire city was located on the side of a mountain. But when we landed and started making our way through the town proper, all my worries were lifted by the sheer spectacle of this place. Make no mistake, this place was easy to pick up as the place where all the 'high society' types live, much like the city of Neptune on the south-east coast. A lot of nobles, celebrities, and millionaires called Canterlot home. But as we neared the Royal Palace, the feel shifted from fame and stardom to politics and leadership. I had to double-take at what I had to guess was a courthouse; the overall design reminded me of the same building in Oured.

"...nd the AWACS unit with the callsign Thunderhead could not confirm nor deny your location at the time of the attack."

"...ow a flight of four aircraft with Osean Air Defence Force markings clearly visible..."

"... after reviewing after action reports, it was also found that the aircraft seen in the images match the same types flown by War..."

"Eighty-four ninety-two, eighty-four ninety-two. Is that all you have to say? There is no squadron in our military with that number!"

"Chopper?" Twilight's slightly worried voice jolted me from the memory. I hated that day, no... I hated the entire week after that. We got scrambled to Bana City to drop neutraliser bombs in the city after terrorists detonated a series of chemical gas weapons. That was an awful day, all we could do was fly around while people below us suffered in retaliation for something that the Osean forces didn't do. If that wasn't enough, we were then deployed to strike a munitions faction covered by a radar network. At least we weren't sent to attack a civilian population in retaliation for their retaliation; I swear I would have gone AWOL and defected to Nordennavic immediately. "Are you okay?"

"Sorry," I said, shaking my head to clear the memories, "Just thinking of 'Operations Wisdom' and 'Operation Fork Dance'." I had told her about the attacks and the circumstances surrounding them. She nodded her head in understanding. "I still can't understand why command was going for our throats back then." I looked down at the ground and clenched my fists in frustration and anger. "We were the pillar of Osean morale, the core reason why we were doing so well in that damn war, and they wanted to hang us out to dry."

We made it to the entrance of the palace shortly after, and I couldn't help but inwardly share the pain for the guards who were on constant watch at the gates and throughout the complex in its entirety. Just because I was a fighter pilot doesn't mean I was just limited to flying planes; oh no, during officer training and the like, our instructors would teach us a thing or two about 'ground pounder living'. They had told us at the time that during wartime deployments overseas, we would sometimes need to maintain security watch at hangar spaces or along the perimeter during alert periods. To simulate this, for one week the instructors had the pilots or crew that weren't scheduled to fly on that day sit a simulated security watch on the base's perimeter, with complete issue of uniform, armour, rifle and other equipment a guard would carry.

Thanks to this, I could understand and emphasize with what the guards had to deal with every day and night; the constant threat of falling asleep at your post, the danger of having the Officer of the Watch infiltrate your sector and find you asleep, and the ever-present feeling of facing a verbal ass-tearing from your commander for being asleep while on duty. So, as we walked past, I gave the guards a subtle nod as if to say, 'I feel for you, and share your pain, brother.'

Whether they understood this, or thought I was just nodding at them for no good reason, I would never find out.

The journey through the palace proper was surprisingly rather fast, but then when your guide is someone who is a private and personal student of one of the rulers, you learn not to question every last detail. In no time at all, we found ourselves standing in a small line outside of the throne room. Twilight shared with me that every few days, Celestia holds a 'day court' in which citizens can see her personally to make statements or claim grievances with whatever may be happening in their lives. There were only a few such people ahead of us in line, including one man, or stallion (I still haven't worked what was the norm here, even with Twilight's help), who seemed to give Twilight and I the stink-eye every time he looked at us. After the fifth glance, I had enough and asked Twilight about it.

"That is Prince Blueblood," she said, with a detectable venom in her voice when she spoke his name, "he's one of Celestia's nephews. Adopted, but still technically royal family." She let out a quick sigh as Blueblood once again glared at us briefly before continuing. "It is thanks to unicorns like him that give the rest of the royal family and the nobility a bad reputation."

"Sounds like a typical federal politician back home; stuck up, self-centred and in it for the wealth." I smirked, before I caught a very dirty look from the prince. That does it. He's got some kind of problem with me. I excused myself from Twilight before taking a few steps to the prince. Immediately I saw that my action caught his attention, and I could see him sizing me up. "Hey, Prince Blueblood. I couldn't help but notice you looking my way a number of times earlier. See something you like?" I smirked at him, enjoying the slightly flustered reaction I received from him. He obviously wasn't expecting confrontation like that.

"As a matter of fact, it is more a question if I see something I do not like, and that is quite the case here." He scoffed at me, before gesturing at my uniform. "How rude of an Earth Pony such as yourself to be wearing a uniform entitled for only the finest of our Pegasai fliers. It's a disgrace if you ask me." He obviously either didn't see the OADF insignia, or just doesn't care. Either way, I wasn't going to let that go. But before I got a chance to put a word in, he spoke up. "And to be wearing the insignia of a Captain of all ranks, you make me sick!" He reached over and tried to pull the insignia off of my uniform, but I snatched his hand and pulled it behind his back, then spun him to face the wall and pushed him against it.

"Hey buddy, didn't your mother teach you not to pick on members of the military, or are you just looking for a fight?" He moved his mouth to reply but a tug on his arm stopped him. "if you were so offended by my wearing it, you would have noticed that it doesn't bare any of this nation's insignia and the like. That means I'm from another country. Now where I'm from, my military doesn't care what or what you are as long as you have the drive and desire to succeed. That is why I can wear this uniform." I pulled him away from the wall and spun him to face me, pinning his free arm in a way where I could still control him. With my free hand, I pointed towards one of the service ribbons on my chest. It was red with gold trim along each end, with three silver clasp affixed in the centre of the ribbon. "See this? That's a 'Combat Aviation Ribbon'. I earned that after my first combat mission. You know what happens in combat?" I paused for a second, before I spoke up again in a quieter voice. "People get killed. Now, one of those clasps represent ten kills in combat, and I have three. I trust you can do the math." I let go and stepped back away from him. "You of all people should know better than to go insulting a member of a foreign nation's military. However, seeing how ignorant you are to even notice the subtle differences, I'll let this particular issue slide." I looked around at the small crowd of guards and others that had gathered around during our little altercation.

With a huff, Prince Blueblood straightened out his clothing and faced a nearby guard. "Inform my aunty that I shall reschedule my visit for another time. Something has come up that I must take care of..." With that, he turned and walked out of the hallway. Every set of eyes nearby locked onto him as he walked out of sight, before locking back onto me. Internally, I prepared myself to be tackled by the guards and held in custody for assaulting nobility. I didn't expect the quiet round of applause that arose. I looked over to Twilight, who was the only one not clapping. Her face had visibly paled, and she looked like she had been paralysed in sheer shock. I don't blame her, to be honest. Before I was able to bring her back to reality however, another guard peered out from the door and looked at both of us. "The Princess will see you now." I shrugged and grabbed Twilight's hand to lead her into the throne room, still in her daze.

The sheer space and size of this room was intimidating. It had to be as tall as one of the Globemaster hangars I saw Heirlark, and maybe as wide as one too. At the opposite end of the entrance there was a large throne, where Princess Celestia sat and read a parchment in her hands. As we approached, our footsteps alerted her to our presence and she glanced up from whatever it was she was reading. I could see her eyes do a double-take at us before her face lit up and she dropped the parchment onto the small table beside her.

"Ah, Mr Davenport, how wonderful it is to see you. I trust your travel here was not an issue?"

"Ma'am, I've been flying fighter aircraft at supersonic speeds in the middle of combat. I would like to think I could handle an open-air carriage pulled by some of your Pegasus guards, but then I would also like to say that the mess hall is the same as five-star dining." I smirked at my remark, then continued. "After I got over the fact that there wasn't any real danger of me falling out, I quite enjoyed the ride." Celestia smiled at me, then saw that Twilight was still pale and paralysed in her shock.

"And what is with dear Twilight?"

"We met Prince Blueblood. He insulted me, my uniform and my nation. I introduced him to the wall just outside of your throne room." I saw her face flash with surprise and a trace of anger. "Don't worry, all he's suffering from is a puncture to his inflated sense of self-worth." Celestia sat down on her throne and held her face in her hand. A textbook facepalm if I must say.

"I do apologise for my adoptive nephew's antics. He feels that just because he has a title, he expects everyone to bow down to him and do as he desires. What did you do exactly?" I recounted my actions to Celestia, who actually gave a bit of a chuckle after hearing that he decided to turn tail and leave. Just after I finished, Twilight snapped out of her daze and erupted at me with the force of a fuel-air explosive.

"YOU JUST ASSAULTED PRINCE BLUEBLOOD! DO YOU KNOW WHAT WILL HAPPEN IF PRINCESS CELESTIA FINDS OUT THAT YOU DID THAT TO HIM?!" She was really red in the face, and her breathing was deep and fast. All I did was nod my head in Celestia's direction, and Twilight visibly calmed down at the sight of her mentor. "I'm sooo sorry for that outburst your highness, I apologise for Chopper's actions and I am accepting any form of punishment you bestow on him."

"Relax my student, Chopper has told me all about his encounter and I feel that Blueblood actually deserved that reality check. He does not realise that his remarks could have started some serious diplomatic issues, or that would be the case if Chopper was a citizen of a nation from this world. Which brings me to my reason for calling you here Chopper. We have found a way to reach your world."

Author's Note

Wisdom and Fork Dance