Chapter 3: Amity and Discovery

It has been a week since our... intense, encounter with Celestia. Since then, some stuff has happened. The ponies offered to build us a base, they said it was the least they could do to welcome their new allies. We explained to them that we couldn't have a military base made of wattle and daub, and, surprisingly, they said they could build it out of concrete, then proceeded to explain that Ponyville is basically the exception for the larger towns in Equestria, since it was founded by Earth ponies.

Anyway, enough about past events. Today is an important day; the day the President arrives for the peace negotiations. Colonel Locke and I will be escorting her to a city called Canterlot, the capitol of Equestria, a city built onto the side of a mountain. Which is bad-ass as hell if you ask me.

Colonel Locke and I were patiently awaiting the arrival of President Janet Wier through the Tear, as the scientists have called it, in Marine 1. We were wearing our formal uniforms, with our Officer swords at our sides.

"How do you think she's going to react at first if we don't tell her the locals are horses?" Colonel Locke asked me.

"She'll probably look at us then say something along the lines of 'You're kidding, right?'" I responded with a chuckle.

"Then one of them speaks, and she freaks the fuck out." He said, and we both begin laughing. That is, until we hear a loud, cracking noise, and the distinctive sound of helicopter blades.

Marine 1 begins to descend through the Tear. A few seconds later, it lands, with guidance from the soldiers from the ground, of course.

The door on the side of the fuselage opens and out steps a secret service agent, and the President. We all salute, and she returns it, and approaches Colonel Locke and I. "Colonel Locke, Major Foote. Glad to see you're alright, I heard you guys got into a bit of a beef with the locals." She said.

"Madam President, if there's one thing I've learned from that, it's to never underestimate the abilities of anything based on it's appearance." I said, to which Colonel Locke nodded.

"We probably would have lost, had this magnificent SOB not had the ingenious idea that he did to get them to agree to cease fire." Colonel Locke complimented.

"And what idea was that." Asked President Wier.

"We'll explain on the way to the city, along with the briefing on the locals. But right now, we should get going." Colonel Locke said, looking at his watch.

"You're probably right, Colonel. Let's get moving." said the President.

After a standard takeoff, the explanation and briefing regarding the natives, including questions, the retelling of the firefight, more questions, and a rather boring flight where the only exciting thing that happened was the pegasus escort showing up and us having to explain to them to stay away form the blades, we landed in an open courtyard in Canterlot, in front of a massive castle.

Colonel Locke and I exited the helicopter upon landing, stood to either side of it, and saluted. President Wier exited the craft along with her Secret Service escort, saluted us back and exited into the courtyard. In the courtyard, we were met with a guard battalion, and an alicorn I had yet to see. She was pink, with a three-toned mane and tail of violet, maroon, and yellow, and her wings faded into violet at the tips. "Greetings, Humans. I am Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, Princess of Love and ruler of the Crystal Empire." She said in a gentle, cheery tone, "I have been asked by my aunt, Princess Celestia, to escort you to the throne room."

"Thank you, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza." President Wier said, bowing, "I'm sorry, I was not informed that there was a third princess in Equestria."

"Just Princess Cadence is fine, and it's quite alright, I'm kind of obscure when it comes to foreign countries' knowledge." She said, still in the same tone. "We'd best get moving, my Aunt Luna can get impatient when it comes to negotiations, I know she just wants to get this over with as quickly as possible."

"Understood, shall we?" the President said.

Skip a 5 minute walk through what has to be the most expensive looking place I've ever seen, like I was afraid to walk on the carpet, that's how expensive everything in this place is, we stepped into the throne room, where upon a golden throne sat Princess Celestia, with Princess Luna sitting next to her on a silver throne.

"Greetings, you must be President Wier, I am Princess Celestia, Diarch of Equestria and bringer of the day." Princess Celestia said in a friendly tone.

"And I am Princess Luna, Bringer of the night and ruler of the realm of dreams." Princess Luna said, "My sister and I have been eager to meet you."

"An honor to meet you, your highness. I am President Janet Wier, President of the United States of America." said President Wier, bowing.

"Rise, President Wier, there is no need for such formalities at this time, we're negotiating an alliance, not the end of a war." Princess Celestia said.

"In that case, just call me Janet." said the President.

"Very well, Janet. Now, shall we begin?" said Princess Luna.

"Indeed, sister. Come, we shall go to my private study, no need to stay in this stuffy old room for peaceful negotiations, now is there?" said Princess Celestia. She then rose from her throne, along with Princess Luna, and motioned for us to follow her out the door we came in.

Another walk, though shorter than the last one, later, and we enter a rather cozy room with two fancy-looking sofas that look like they're worth more than everything I own combined, a coffee table with the same attribute, and a large fireplace with a mantle the size of a Prius.

"Come, Take a seat." Princess Celestia said to us, we complied. "Would you like some tea or anything?"

"Yes, some tea sounds good right now." President Wier responded.

"Actually, could I get some coffee? Black but bring the creamer." Colonel Locke said.

"I'm alright, thanks for offering though." I said.

A maid that I had not noticed was in the room walked out to get our requests, But before the door closed fully, a purple hoof stopped it and pushed it open. In walked Twilight Sparkle and the other Elements of harmony, whose names I had yet to learn. "I hope we're not interrupting anything, Princesses." she said.

"Not at all Twilight Sparkle, is there something you need?" asked Princess Luna.

"We wanted to see if we could possibly get Major Foote alone for a moment, we have something we need to say to him." Twilight said.

"I believe that that is something you should be asking his leader, not either of us." Princess Celestia stated, gesturing towards the President.

"Would it be okay if we took one of your soldiers for a moment, ma'am." Twilight said, nervously.

"Not a problem at all," she said, then turned to me, "In fact, Major Foote, your presence will not be needed for this negotiation, you are relieved for the time being. Until we finish the negotiation, just explore the place... but, stay out of trouble, soldier."

"Yes, ma'am." I said, slightly relieved that I would not have to sit through a boring peace negotiation (those things suck), but also curious what the Elements wanted to say to me, though I have a feeling I already know. I walk out into the hallway followed by the Elements of Harmony.

After A few moments of silence other than the sound of my footsteps and the clip-cloping of hooves, I broke the silence. "Are you going to talk to me or are you just going to follow me around all stalkerish?" I said. Boring stoic image be damned.

"Right, sorry." Twilight said, then paused for a few moments, thinking. "We wanted to apologize for what we did to you and the other soldiers." she said, "We should have thought more on what to do in the situation, and frankly we feel terrible for-" I cut her off there.

"Girls, I want you to think nothing of that incident. You did what you did because you were uninformed and misunderstood, you just acted on impulse. No one blames you for that." I said in a calm, even tone, while still keeping my voice firm as usual.

"You really aren't mad?" said the pink one, whose mane and tail were all strait instead of poofy like the last time I saw her. She had a look on her face that told me she was crestfallen.

"Maybe a little, but I was never one to hold a grudge. There's an old saying, 'what doesn't kill you, only makes you stronger'. What you did did not harm anyone physically, though it hurt like hell, I see no reason to be mad at you for anything." I said.

Her mane and tail instantly exploded into their usual fluffy state, and she literally lept ten feet into the air and screamed "Yippee! New Friends Party!" while confetti was flying out of absolutely nowhere.

"I don't think that now is the best time for a party, Pinkie Pie." the rainbow one said, which reminded me that I still hadn't yet learned all their names.

"Speaking of which, I never got all your names other than Twilight." I said, while thinking 'how the hell did she do that'.

"Oh yeah, I'm Rainbow Dash, fastest flier to ever come out of Cloudsdale." the rainbow one gloated.

"Hi I'm Pinkie Pie it's nice to meet you do you like parties 'cause I like parties ooh and I like frosting and-" the pink one kept going on and on.

It wasn't till I said, "Wow, you need to take a friggin chill pill." that she stopped ranting at the speed of light and apologized, saying that she "can get carried away at times".

"Yes, she can be a hooffull at times. I'm Rarity, by the way." said the white, posh one.

"Howdy! Ah'm Applejack, Mah family owns Sweet Apple Acres in Ponyville, y'all should come by sometime fer brunch." said the orange one while shaking my hand vigorously with both of her front hooves.

"We'd love to, if we can ever find time; and not to mention you're willing to feed about fifty soldiers." I said, shaking my hand with equal force.

I counted up the names I had gotten and matched them to the ponies in my head, and realized that I still didn't have the yellow one's name. "Hang on, I don't believe I got your name yet." I said to her, and she tensed up, as if scared.

Mind you, her voice was already really quiet so the whole thing was hard to understand, her response was, "I-I'm, Fluttershy."

"What was that?" I said.

"Fluttershy."

"Sorry, one more time. It's alright, I won't bite."

"Fluttershy."

"Fluttershy?" I asked, just because I barely heard it well enough for it to be comprehensible.  She nodded. "Well it's nice to meet you, all of you. My name is Major Shawn Foote. I'm glad we can start from scratch like this, I was never one to be happy about making enemies, I like to avoid pissing people off as much as possible."

"That's good to know, after all, friendship is magic" said Twilight in a slight matter-of-fact tone.

I was silent for a moment, with a look on my face that said exactly what I was thinking, 'Dafaq?'. "Anyhow," I said, shaking my head, "I imagine you all have some questions for me. Honestly, who wouldn't."

"Yes, I do, mostly on your anatomy and human society in general." said Twilight. then proceeded to pull a scroll four feet long from her saddlebag. "Also, the girls may chip in if the have anything to say."

"Alright, ask away." I said.

"OK, first and foremost, I kind of want a physical examination, you know height and weight and such." she said.

I shrugged, "Don't see anything wrong with that. I can just tell you most of it."

"Good," she said, "Let's begin, shall we?" I nodded. "How tall are you?"

"Six foot even."

"What is your weight?"

"Two hundred and twenty-five pounds."

"Alright, that gives me two pieces of information, the most interesting of which is that our units of measurement are the same." Twilight said.

"Good to know." I said.

"The rest I can just see and write for myself." she said. "Let's see, brown hair, light stubble. Brown eyes, very small. Light skin, similar to that of a pony's bare hide. Interesting, is there any particular reason for the different skin color of some humans?" she had an inquisitive look on her face.

"Noteworthy difference in skin color usually means the person is of a different race, usually having ancestral bonds to a different part of the world." I explained.

"Oh, okay then. so what race are you a part of?" she asked.

"I, like the majority of the soldiers here and Americans in general, am Caucasian, I have ancestors from Ireland and Scotland." I said.

"Noted. Now let's move on to anatomy, shall we?"

"We shall."

"Alright then. First, I need to see your teeth."

I stopped walking and opened my mouth, allowing a clear view of all my teeth.

"Oh, my. Um, front teeth are flat like most herbavores, but include four sharp canines like those used by carnivores to tear apart flesh, and back teeth are round and dull, similar to a pony's teeth." Twilight said with surprise, and a bit of fear.

"So, what does that mean." said Rarity in an equally fearful tone.

"What it means is that humans are carnivores or omnivores." Twilight said, still scared.

"Equestrian, Twilight! What does that mean!?" Rainbow Dash said.

Twilight sighed. "They eat meat. Either exclusively or as well as plants."

At this point I spoke up. "I'm right here you know, you could just ask me."

"S-so, which are you... that is, if you don't mind me asking." Fluttershy asked nervously and very quietly. I'm beginning to realize why her name was Fluttershy.

"We're omnivores, though, we can live on one exclusively, hence vegetarians." I said.

"Y'all wouldn't consider eat'n... ponies, would ya?" Applejack said, fear evident in her voice.

My eyes widened in surprise. "Hell no, no, never. We'd never even think of killing any sapient being for food except as an absolute last resort." I said loudly, emphasizing my words with my hands.

They all looked relieved. "Thank Celestia." said Rarity.

"Anything else?" I said, wanting to get off that topic.

"Alright, now let's move on to body structure." Twilight said, still a little shaken. "Bipedal, with arms and hands similar to a Minotaur's, are your feet the same?" she asked.

"Similar, my toes are much shorter, and no I'm not about to take my shoes off to show you." I said, shrugging.

"Speaking of which," Rarity chimed in, "I noticed the uniforms you were wearing when we first saw you did not have much protective value, is there a reason your soldiers do not wear armor?"

"We do wear armor, in the form of an impact-resistant material called Kevlar, and steel plates strapped to our chests. We wear several layers of it, that's what our combat uniforms are made of. Beneath that, we wear a type of armor called AR500 body armor, it's basically a steel plate covering most of our torso and our sides, meant to protect the vital organs from any bullets that mange to pass through the first few layers." I explained.

"So, this uniform that you are wearing now..." Rarity began.

"It's not made of Kevlar, but some other material that I don't know nor care enough to find out." I said.

"Well, it definitely looks better than the combat one, I mean, whose idea was it to have a full body metal piece to it, that must be heavy." she said.

"Metal piece? Oh, you're talking about the MES." I said.

"The what?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"Kinda glad you asked that, this is something I actually like. MES stands for Mobility Enhancement Suit. It virtually doubles my natural abilities by taking my thoughts and turning them into physical action using a mix of hydraulics and pneumatics." I explained.

"But, how does it read your thoughts if not with magic?" Twilight asked, sounding confused.

"We wear electroencephalograph caps beneath our helmets." I explained. 'Jesus Christ I am glad I remembered that word.'

"I still don't quite understand, but OK." she said.

"If you'd like, I can show you some of the non-classified technology sometime." I said.

"Sounds good to me." she said.

"Enough egghead-yness. I still want to know more about this guy." Rainbow Dash suddenly broke in.

"Right, for once Rainbow has a point to interrupt, we still need more on your anatomy and human culture." Twilight said. "Where was I? Oh, yes, body structure. So; broad, muscular torso. Um, I also noticed that females' chests seem to be a bit..." she waved a hoof in the air, trying to find an appropriate word, "fuller, than males'. Why is that?" she asked

"It's most often because of their breasts." I said. I could feel my cheeks heating up because of the topic at hand, the ponies just seemed confused.

"Breasts? Ya mean like, teats?" Applejack said, seeming to test the word 'teats'.

"Kind of." I said, shrugging. At this point, I was sure that my face was glowing a slight red. "You see, human mammary glands work... differently, from other mammals. I will not explain that any further because I do not know any more than what has been said, and I do not want to know any more than that. You may question a female soldier at a different time."

"O-kay then, save that subject for later." Twilight said. "That's all the questions I have, that can be answered right now at least. Now, would you mind answering some questions about life back where you came from?"

"Ask away." I said, shrugging.

"Ooh ooh, I have a question." Pinkie Pie said excitedly.

"Wow, that's the longest I've ever seen you go without talking, Pinkie." Rainbow Dash said.

Pinkie pie shrugged, somehow. "I haven't had anything to say and didn't want to interrupt." she said.

"Anyway, what did you want to ask?" I said, gaining her attention again.

"Oh, right. Where exactly did you come from?" Pinkie Pie asked.

I whistled, "Well, this is going to blow your minds, so, be prepared." I paused, more for dramatic effect than anything. "We came, from another universe entirely."

Jaws fell open, eyes widened, and tracks were stopped dead. All of the ponies were in disbelief after hearing what I said. The hallway was completely silent, that is, until Twilight let out a loud squee of excitement, and actually fucking tackled me.

"Ohmygosh. Really? You're really from another universe!?" Twilight said, literally standing on my chest, muzzle an inch from my face.

"First of all, could you please refrain from doing that again." I said, lightly pushing her off. "And second; yes, we come from a different universe. I was rather ecstatic myself when General Pierce told me that when I was recruited. Hell, a foolish version of myself would have disregarded my family and career and just jumped on board right then and there. I, however, am not a fool. I love my family, and I miss them every moment I spend here." I said, emotion seeping into my voice despite my attempts to suppress it.

"You have a family back home."  Fluttershy said in an empathetic tone. "I'm sorry if I bring up anything that you don't want to talk about, but, what is your family like. It might help to talk about them so you can get them off your mind." her voice in and of itself was really helping to calm my nerves.

"Well, alright. My direct family consists of my wife, Shelby, and my two kids, Justin and Bella, who turn three in June. I also have my mother, my father, my brother and a few others in between. I love them all dearly, and I know that I will be missed for the time I will be here." I said, my tone still remorseful, but not as much as before. 'Wow, she really knows how to help people with their emotions.' I thought.

"How long will you be here?" Fluttershy asked.

"That's as of yet undetermined. The bare minimum I've seen is nine months, and that's if you don't get injured to the point of being unfit for service." I said.

"Well, we can at least make the best of the time you are here." Twilight said.

"That we can, also I have one question for you." I said.

"What is it?" Twilight said.

"What's with the tramp stamps?" I asked.

"The whats?" Twilight seemed confused.

"The marks on your flanks. What are they for?" I elaborated.

"Oh! You mean our Cutie Marks." She said.

"What?" now I was confused.

"A cutie mark is something that everypony has, it appears when a pony discovers their special talent. It's what makes everypony unique in their own way, no two are the same, but some are similar." Twilight explained rather happily.

"So you get a magical tramp stamp when you figure out what makes you unique. Interesting, bet that makes things much more convenient." I said.

"I can tell you the story of how I got mine, it was the day I got Spike." Twilight said.

"Wait, who's Spike?" I asked.

"My assistant. The dragon you saw last week." Twilight said.

"Oh, the drake." I said. "Wait, what do you mean you got Spike?"

"Well I hatched him from his egg for an entrance exam and got my Cutie Mark." Twilight said.

"So you're basically his mother." I said.

She blushed. "I guess you can say that, but we just see each other as brother and sister. I was only eight when it happened after all." Twilight said.

"Ah, I see." I said. "Actually, where is he, I kind of want to meet him."

"He's probably off bugging the chefs." Twilight said, rolling her eyes.

I heard a slight static buzz in my earpiece, usually indicative of someone on the line. "Major Foote to Colonel Locke, what's the SITREP in there?" I said, pressing the button on my headset.

"We should be done in about 30 or so minutes." Colonel Locke said over the comms.

"Alright, I'm gonna start heading back." I said.

"Roger that. ETA?" Colonel Locke said.

"Should be there right when you get done."  I said.

"Alright, see you then, Locke out." he said.

"Who are you talking to?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"My superior." I answered, then took my earpiece out. "This device allows me to communicate with anyone on the same radio channel over a maximum distance of four klicks on it's own." I explained.

"Interesting, that seems like it would be very useful for civilian use." Twilight said.

"No, civilians have access to something that allows communication from anywhere in the world to anywhere else on Earth. We just don't have the means to use it here yet." I said.

"Really? What is it?" Twilight asked.

"It's called the Internet. And it can do a lot more than allow communication. I'll explain it at a different time" I said.

One 30 minute walk later, and we were standing outside the door to the study.

"Well girls, I look forward to talking to you all in the future, just don't expect to see me often." I said.

As soon as I had said that, the door opened, revealing President Wier, Colonel Locke, Princess Celestia, and Princess Luna.

"Major Foote, I trust your conversation with these girls went well." President Wier said.

"Yes, madam president." I said, nodding.

"And that you forged a friendship with them." Princess Celestia said.

"If you could call it that, yes, I believe so." I said. "Do we have an alliance?"

"Yes, our agreement was that the United States would defend Equestria in it's times of need, in exchange for total access to the country's massive untouched resource reserves." said Colonel Locke. "And another part of our agreement is that we would each have a foreign relations officer or officers."

"The princesses have chosen the Elements of Harmony, and I think, since you have already been acquainted with them, you would fit into the job well." President Wier said. "Now, the question is, Major, do you accept?"

"I do, ma'am." I said, thinking 'What the hell, why not.'.

"Excellent. We have an agreement. Now, It is getting late, My sister and I will set the sun and raise the moon and then meet you in the dining hall." Princess Celestia said. "Guard, escort our new allies to the dining hall, would you please."

"Yes, your highness." The door guard saluted.

"And do not worry about food arrangements, we a few griffins on the kitchen staff for and occasion just like this. You may also stay in the castle for the night." Princess Luna called back to us.

'Damn, they have griffins and Minotaurs here? I wonder what other creatures from myth exist here.' I thought.

"So, I guess this means we'll be seeing you a lot more often than you expected, huh, Major Foote." Pinkie Pie said, literally bouncing up next to me.

"I guess so. Well, this should be fun at least." I said.