Chapter 7: A Night at Fort Solitude

A day and the beginning of another had passed since the incident with Miss Lulamoon. She will be facing trial for her crimes in the months to come. Currently, however, Twilight has been noticing abnormalities not in Ponyville, but in the area surrounding the base.

It started with her noticing some weather patterns that are, as she put it, "Strange, even for the Everfree," yesterday. When she came to take some atmospheric readings however, she noticed that she was having some issues with her magic. She was having to exert quite a bit more strength than usual simply to hold up her instruments. She quickly went into some tirade about thaumetric pressure or something like that, then left, only to come back not thirty minutes later with Spike, both of them hauling a trailer's worth of equipment. We basically just let them do their thing for a few hours, during which time, Twilight was running around all over base, while Spike was just wandering around checking things out. When they where ready to leave, I offered to give them a ride back home in a L-ATV, which they gladly accepted. The entire ride, Twilight was giddy about riding in one of the "Ponyless carriages." as she called them. I should really give her that technology demonstration I offered.

Anyway, today, I was going to my office in administration, already sulking over the mountain of paperwork that the local PD, or rather "town guard", had given me to fill out for Trixie's arrest, when the head of security, Sergeant Major Lakes, approached me.

"Sir?" He said, getting my attention.

"What is it, Sergeant Major?" I responded, quickly recognizing who it was.

"The Elements of Harmony are here. Miss Sparkle says they need to talk to you. The only thing is, they're unannounced." Lakes said, loyal as ever to his orders.

"Alright, let 'em in. They'll stay with me." I said.

"Aye aye, sir." He said, then pressed the button on his earpiece. "Let them in. Major says they're good."

"Bring them to my office, if it's not any trouble." I said.

"Alright, I'll escort them over there." Sergeant Major Lakes said.

"Thanks, Lakes." I said, resuming on my path to hours of boredom.

Sure enough, fifteen minutes later, there was a knock on my office door.

"Come in." I called loud enough to be heard through the door. It opened, revealing six ponies, a dragon, and a human.

"Contact me when you guys get done." Lakes said, about to close the door, but waiting for my response.

"Will do, Sergeant Major." I said. He nodded, closed the door and left.

"Well, he was rather intense. Anypony else think so?" Rarity said. There where murmurs of agreement.

"He's always like that." I said, not looking up from my paperwork.

"Nopony should be like that all the time." Pinkie Pie said.

"He's the head of security around here. Anything that goes on on site, he knows about. And he takes his job very seriously." I responded. "You wanted to talk to me about something?"

"Yeah, about that, Twilight, ya still haven't told us what it was ya wanted ta talk ta us about." Applejack spoke up.

I looked up from my work for the first time since they arrived. "What do you mean she hasn't told you yet?" I said to Applejack, but still addressing everyone in the room.

"Well, I thought this would be better to tell all of you at once." Twilight said.

I put down my pen, leaned back into my desk chair, put me hands together with my index fingers and thumbs still extended, and put my index fingers just above my top lip. "I'm listening."

"Well, after measuring the thaumetric pressure in this area, then comparing it to the surrounding forest at different distances, then comparing the decrease to the time you have been here, I have come to a definite conclusion that explains the strange phenomenon that have been happening around here." Twilight said, pacing the room.

"Alright, spill it already!" Rainbow Dash said, irritation and confusion evident in her voice.

"The evidence that I've collected all leads to the theory that the presence of humans is leaching the area surrounding their main area of operation of all ambient magic. In laypony's terms, humans being here, occupying this area, is creating a veritable magic dead zone." Twilight declared.

"Oh my. That could be bad." Fluttershy spoke for the first time.

"So, what you're telling us is that, because of the human presence, this area is being leached of all magic?" I asked to clarify.

"Yes and no for both. First, it's not as much humans yourselves as it is all matter from your universe. That's my theory at least, I'll need to run some experiments. Second, it's not as much leaching it away as it is simply repelling all magical energy that comes into contact with it. Also, not 'all magic' per se. It's kind of hard to explain to somepony who can't use it themselves. Let's just say this, an area is never, and can never, be fully rid of magic. Only to the point where it is inoperable." I could see that Twilight was deliberately holding back what I assume would be a college lecture on the topic.

"Could it be harmful to the public in any way?" I asked.

"Not unless you can pick this whole place up and move it closer to town." She said sarcastically.

"We should probably bring this up with the princesses, though." Spike said.

"I agree, Spike. We have a meeting with them in a few days to discuss our observations and findings into each other." I said. "In the meantime, what sort of effects can we expect for this to have?"

"Well, we've seen at least one of them already. The weather, as well as all other events that are usually controlled by ponies, will happen on their own. Mostly the weather, but also plant growth, wind, and seasons will happen just as they do on Earth, which can either be better or worse than simple uncontrolled weather. Also, ponies and any other creatures from here will also be leached of all magic, which can have some ill effects if exposed to for an extended period of time." Twilight said in a manner that made it seem rehearsed.

"What kind of ill effects could this have on ponies?" Spike asked.

"I'm not sure. This topic is hard to explore as it was only theoretical before now. But every book and article I've read on the topic say the same thing, the most extreme effect of magic deprivation," she sighed ," is, death." Twilight said, hanging her head slightly.

Every pony besides Twilight gasped. Even Spike's slitted eyes widened. Twilight folded her ears and looked away from us. I, of course, did not react. Five years of being the deliverer of death has long since made me immune to it's mental toll.

"So, is it a good idea for us ta be here right now." Applejack asked, a look of panic spreading across her face. Everyone except Twilight quickly shared the look. I raised an eyebrow and looked at Twilight.

"We should be fine. Even if there wasn't still enough ambient magic in this area, our bodies would be able to resist it for while." Twilight reassured, her ears perking up again. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, and my expression returned to it's usual lack of such.

"Is that all you needed?" I asked.

"Yeah, that's it." Twilight responded. "Though, I would be grateful of you could record the daily weather patterns for every week and send them to me. You know, for research. Equis has never seen something like this, so nopony has ever been able to study it. I can study the effects on the local flora and fauna, but I can't just watch the skies over here twenty-four seven."

"Will do, we have a weather recorder attached to the comms tower anyway." It was then that I heard a very distinctive sound coming from the window. The sound of rain, heavy rain. The blinds were drawn, so I could not see out the window, but there was no doubt about it. "Speaking of weather," I reached into my desk droor, pulled out the small remote with four buttons, and pressed the one on the top right. The blinds on the window raised upwards, revealing a torrential downpour hitting the window.

"Oh no!" Rarity seemed horrified. "I didn't think to bring an umbrella or rain boots! My perfect mane and hooficure are going to be ruined!" The last sentence came out as a whine more than I statement.

"I'd be a bit more worried about the fact that that trail is completely impassable during high water. I mean completely flooded over. It's like quicksand out there. You'd either get lost in the forest, or, if you did manage to follow the trail, drown in the mud. Either way, the results wouldn't be pleasant and we wouldn't be able to look for you until the storm stops and the rain dries up enough to walk on without sinking." I deadpanned.

"Why can't you just, I don't know, fly us over there?" Rainbow Dash asked, trying and failing not to sound pleading.

I decided I'd had enough with her insistence on racing the VTOLs. "First, the amount of water coming down is enough to cause the engines to flame out. Second, if you say one more thing about the aircrafts, I will throw you into the lift fan of an F-35b at full throttle. Capiche?"

She hmphed and crossed her forelegs. "Okay."

Her weak response was not good enough for me. "Capiche!?" I put more force behind the word this time. It seemed to do the trick.

Rainbow put her hooves up in a defensive manner. "Okay! Geeze."

"Thank you." I said, then turned to address the rest of the room's occupants, who had various expressions of fear and surprise. "Looks like you may have to stay the night here, 'cause that storm doesn't seem to be letting up any time soon."

"I-is that safe?" Fluttershy squeaked, looking to Twilight.

"Oh yes," Twilight reassured, "like I said, we should be fine here for at least a few days."

"Alright then, looks like-" I began but was interrupted by Pinkie Pie inhaling deeply.

"We're having a SLUMBER PARTY!!!" she shouted, jumping into the air and, to my utter surprise, staying there for a few seconds.

I could not contain the expression that crept onto my face. Some wide-eyed, slack jawed mix of shock, confusion, and frustration that was just as soon shared by six of the other seven creatures in the room.

Rarity sighed. "Just goes to show that you should always expect the unexpected from Pinkie Pie. As long as she still has her cutie mark she will always be the same crazy party mare."

I sighed, and grabbed my radio, and switched the channel to the one I need. "Sergeant Major Lakes" I said, holding the input button.

"Yes, sir?" The voice of Lakes responded.

"It would appear that the Elements of Harmony are going to be staying a bit longer than expected." I said. Pinkie let out a noise that I could only describe as a giddy squee.

"Understood, sir. Let me guess, they're gonna wait out the storm here." Sergeant Major Lakes monotoned.

"Affirmative." I said.

"Alright, I'll get started on the paperwork. Lakes out." He responded.

"Thanks, Lakes. Foote, out." I said, then put down my radio. "So, that's settled. You guys should head down to the barracks. I'll meet you down there shortly, I just have a few things to do first."

"How do we, um, get there." Fluttershy asked.

"Once you leave this building, it's to your immediate left. Pinkie knows the layout of you need to know." I said.

"Mm-hm. Let's go, girls. The sooner we get there, the sooner we can start the party!" Pinkie proclaimed with great enthusiasm.

And with that, they left my office, closing the door behind them.

I dropped my arms to my sides, tilted my head back until it hit the headrest of my chair, and let my neutral expression drop as I let out a defeated groan. 'Great.' I thought, then sighed internally. 'At least this gives me a valid excuse to put this off a bit longer, if a bit half-assed.' I sighed internally again. 'I could really use a pick-me-up right now. Something a little stronger than a cigar and some weak beer.' I eyed my phone, currently only capable of inter-site communications, 'I wonder.'

I sighed and picked up the phone. "First things first. Plus, doing it this way will remove a step from the second thing." I pressed the button for the PA system.

"Attention all personnel, civilian VIPs on site. Repeat, civilian VIPs on site. That is all."

My message played across every loudspeaker in the base. I pressed the button to end the announcement. 'And now we wait.'

Sure enough, five seconds later, my phone rang.

I picked it up. "Foote."

""Civilian VIPs"?" Colonel Locke said. "Let me guess, the Elements of Harmony."

"Yup." I responded.

"They came all the way here in this weather?!" His voice was a little louder than necessary.

"No. They showed up about twenty minutes before the storm started. Remember, they're not used to weather happening on its own. I'll also have to give you a recap of our conversation." I explained.

"Alrighty-" he began, but I stopped him.

"Hang on. Do you know if the phones are connected to Earth yet?" I asked.

"Yeah, yeah they are." Colonel Locke said.

"Alright, thanks, Locke." I said.

"Alrighty then, see ya at supper." He said, then hung up.

I took a breath, then put in my wife's phone number.

It rang twice. "Come on, Shelby. Pick up." It rang once more, then a pause, and I heard the voice I'd been itching to hear for nearly a month.

"Hello?" Asked the voice of my wife.

For only the second time this month, I dropped my firm tone. "Hey, honey."

There was a gasp, and three familiar voices asking what happened in the background.

"Put me on speaker." I said. She obliged. "Hello, ladies."

There was a trio of mid-twenties women squealing like little girls. I held the phone away from my ear until it ended. When it finally did end, someone picked up the phone.

"Shawn." Said the voice of one of Shelby's three best friends, Mandi, who is currently six months pregnant.

"Mandi, how's the baby doing?" I asked, making fun of her like I have been doing for the past six months.

"How is it that even after being deployed, you still have it in you to crack jokes?" She asked with about as much sarcasm as you'd expect.

"I find it hilarious knowing that you pee yourself every time you laugh. Now where's my wife." I said.

"Where she is is in tears." She responded.

"Then give her the phone, miss mommy-to-be." I said in a snarky tone.

"Keep talking, soldier boy." Mandi said.

"Give her the phone, Mandi." Krista, another one of Shelby's long time best friends, said. I could also her Hannah talking to Shelby in the background.

There was a sound of what I imagine was the phone being passed from one person to another, and Shelby spoke again.

"Shawn!" I could hear the sobs in her voice. "What took you so long to call? Oh my god, I thought something happened to you." She sniffed.

"I'm fine, just got a little held up." I said in my best comforting voice, which involved dropping my voice to the lowest it can go without noticeable effort, and saying my words slowly and clearly.

"I was so worried!" I could tell that she was in tears again. "Where are you?"

"That is information that I, unfortunately, am not permitted to disclose." I said. We where under orders to not disclose any information about the project to any civilian source.

"Then what can you tell me?" Shelby said, desperate to at least know something about my whereabouts.

"Not much. But I can tell you this; I will come home, eventually." I said, my tone regaining some of it's firmness. "Mark my words, I will come home. But until then, I can only be the soldier on the battlefield. I need you to be the soldier at home. Take care of the kids, take care of yourself. I want you to not worry about me so much. Now I know, that's a wild request, but I need to know that you are okay, that you are not constantly killing yourself worrying about me. Just promise me that you will do that- promise me that you will not worry about me, because I can take care of myself. And I will come home."

Shelby let out a long sigh. "I promise." she said, and I know she meant it; she would never lie to me about something like this.

"I love you." I said, knowing without a doubt that it was true and making that fact evident.

"I love you too."  And Shelby felt the same way.

And at that, I, with great reluctance, hung up the phone.

I took a deep breath through my nose, held it for a few seconds, then exhaled out my mouth. I stood up and walked around my desk and out the door, turning off the light and closing the door on the way out.

As I was reaching the door to the common area in the barracks, I could hear laughter inside. I opened the door and walked in, and was greeted by Twilight, though the several humans in the room also looked at me when I came in.

"Oh, hey Shawn." Twilight said, apon noticing my presence.

I did a saluting action with two fingers while walking towards my quarters.

"Something wrong dear? You seem distraught." Rarity said.

I sighed and turned to face them. "It's nothing. I just got off the phone with my wife is all. I'll be fine."

"I'm not entirely sure what that means, but if you say you'll be alright, I won't pry." Rarity replied.

"I appreciate that." I said. "What where you guys laughing about?"

"Oh, I was about to tell the awesome story of how I got my cutie mark." Rainbow Dash said. Everyone snickered.

I shrugged. "Seems interesting."

"Yeah it is!" Rainbow boasted. "It also ties into every pony else's stories, so it's probably the best choice to tell first."

"Alright, proceed." I said, with a bit of amusement in my voice.

"Alright. It all started when I saw these two colts, that I knew where bullies, picking on Fluttershy, who I'd known for a while by then..."

"...And as I was flying towards the course ring, I could see clouds forming around me, and right when I went through the ring, I immediately did a 90 degree turn to face upward, and BOOM, Sonic Rainboom. A giant ring of rainbow colors explodes outwards, and behind me I'm leaving a massive rainbow trail, bigger and brighter than the one I leave by flying normally. It. Was. Awesome! And somewhere during that time, my cutie mark appeared." Rainbow Dash said, gesturing towards her cutie mark, while also struggling to contain her ego.

"I fell off of the cloud when the race started, and was caught by large cluster of butterflies. Then met all the animals on the ground. I had never been on the ground before then. When the rainboom happened, they got scared. I helped them calm down, and my cutie mark appeared." Fluttershy said, louder and prouder than I'd yet heard out of her.

"I was taking an entrance exam for Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, which involved hatching a dragon egg. I later came to find out that I was meant to fail that test, to see how I responded to failure. I, of course, couldn't do it under my own power, I was only eight, but just as I had given up hope, the rainboom happened, startling me and causing a magic surge, a big one. During this surge, I temporarily turned my parents into putted plants, and hatched Spike's egg and turned him into a fully grown dragon that punched through the roof. Princess Celestia must have seen the dragon in the roof, and came in to diffuse the situation. She managed to calm me down, then pointed out that I got my cutie mark." Twilight was beaming with pride, and nuzzling a thoroughly embarrassed Spike.

"Betta make yourself comfortable buddy, aint no way she lettin' go any time soon." said Second Lieutenant Clinton, seeing the maternal pride shining in her eyes like everyone else. She may not feel like it but in every other way, she is Spike's mother.

"Anyhoo, who's next?" Aim said.

Applejack sighed. "Ah guess it would be better ta just get this out of the way now. Mah life story is not exactly the most happy one, mah parents passed away in an accident just before Ah turned eight, leaving mah brother, baby sister and Ah with mah granny. Shortly after the accident, I decided to run off to Manehattan..."

"...Somehow, when Ah saw that rainbow, Ah knew the farm is where Ah belonged. So Ah rushed home, an that's when mah cutie mark appeared." Applejack had some air of both sorrow and pride of her story.

'Now I understand why she seemed so touchy when I was talking about my family.' I thought to myself.

"Pinkie, you can go first." Rarity said.

"Okay! So when I was a little filly, I lived and worked with my parents and three sisters on a rock farm, where there was no fun or smiling." Pinkie began.

"Wait wait wait, did you say your parents own a rock farm!?" I asked incredulously.

Pinkie and Twilight looks at each other, then turned back to me. "We'll explain later." they said in unison.

"Alright," I shrugged, "continue."

"Okay, one day, I was moving rocks from one field to another, feeling as depressed and unfulfilled as usual, when I look up at the usually cloudy sky, only to see a huge wave of color push all the clouds away. I felt happiness on a level I had never felt before. I felt so happy, I just had spread this happiness as to my family. So I made a party in my family's silo. We never really had parties before, so I went off of what little I had heard about the subject. The next morning, my dad came out to the silo, and just stopped in shock, the rest of my family soon followed. At first, I thought that they didn't like it, then, ever so slowly, the began to smile, and I knew it was a success. I got my cutie mark during the party." Pinkie couldn't help but bounce where she sat.

"I always knew I would be a fashionista. The day I got My cutie mark, I had designed the costumes for a school play, and the costumes where missing a certain flare. I was working on them some more, when suddenly, my horn lit up with magic, and began dragging me around. Unicorn magic doesn't happen without reason, so I let it guide me, I followed it for hours, until I eventually came across where it was bringing me, and you can imagine my rage when I realized it was just a massive boulder. I was about to leave, when a giant blast of magnificent color blasted across the sky, splitting the boulder in two. The boulder was full of gemstones, that I suddenly had the idea of incorporating into the costumes. It was during the show that I earned my cutie mark, and isn't it beautiful!" Rarity had some sense of, 'Look at me! I'm drop-dead gorgeous!', about her.

I, however, had different ideas in my mind. "Anyone want to say it?" I said, addressing the present soldiers.

Clinton stood up and turned to face Rarity. "Gemstones. Sown into costumes. For a school play! What, the actual fuck!?"

"Thank you, Second Lieutenant." I said, "Couldn't have said it any better myself."

Twilight sighed. "I'd suggest making yourselves comfortable, this is going to be a very long speech that will alternate between Pinkie and It. It will explain why that, while unorthodox, is not really bad."

Three hours later

The last three hours were spent discussing many different topics, beginning with how rock farming works and how gems develop naturally like some form of wild crop, then moving on to more arbitrary topics. The Equestrians became rather flustered when one of the female soldiers, who is also a physiologist outside of the Corps, answered Twilight's questions about different points of our anatomy. Rarity was mortified when she was told why we constantly wear clothes. We all had a good laugh when she pulled a couch out of absolutely nowhere and fainted onto it, mostly because of the utter randomness of the situation.

It wasn't until Mess Call blared over the PA system, that I realized just how long we'd been talking.

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"What is that music anyway?" Applejack asked.

"That's called Mess Call." I said, getting up and moving toward the door. The ponies followed. "It's one of a few bugle calls used on this site, more to preserve tradition than anything. Back before we had radio communication, we would use bugle calls to signal troops. Mess Call's purpose is it's name, it's played at meal times. You'll hear the other two we use here tonight and tomorrow morning."

"Wait. You mean were going to the Canteen? Outside!?" Rarity suddenly said, seeming horrified.

"Yeees," I said slowly, "Where else would we eat?"

"No. Absolutely not. I simply refuse to ruin my perfect mane." she whined.

"Rarity, it's across the street. You'll only be in the rain for about ten seconds if you go fast." Rainbow Dash gestured to the canteen out a window, while flying at my eye level.

Rarity just sat there, for a few moments before she relented. "Fine." she said, then trotted out the door, immediately making a mad dash towards the open canteen door.

"She knows that she will have to come back in here after we eat, right?" I said to no one in particular.

"Oh, she knows. She actually did the same thing when we came in here, too. And five bits says she'll do the same thing when we come back." Rainbow Dash said.

I walked out the door, followed by Rainbow Dash and a few soldiers. "Well that's obvious, also I don't have any bits."

Rainbow paused. "Right, I forgot about that."

We walked through the door into the canteen, where Twilight, Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack Pinkie Pie, and Spike, where waiting, all covered in varying amounts of rainwater.

"So, what's on the menu, Shawn?" Spike asked.

"You know, I'm not sure if your luck is good or bad. Since it's Friday, it's pizza night." I said, scratching my head. "Come to think of it, Spike, have you ever had any kind of meat? I saw you eating whatever it was that Twilight had in Canterlot."

"Nope, never eaten any kind of meat in my life." Spike said.

"I'm just not gonna question how that's possible." I said, shaking my head. "Either way, we have a few vegetarian pizzas for people who like them, and then some that just don't have any meat on them, so find what you like and grab however much you think you'll eat."

A few minutes later, we all sat at a table with Colonel Locke.

"Major Foote?" Colonel Locke spoke.

"Yes Colonel?" I said.

"You asked me about the phones earlier." he said.

"I called home." I responded simply.

"Ah. Now that you mention it, I should call my son sometime soon." he said.

I hummed. "Anyway, Spike, how's it tasting?"

"So good." Spike said through a mouth full of pizza.

"Spike, don't talk with your mouth full." Twilight scolded.

I had given Spike a small piece of sausage, and he said he liked it, so he got sausage pizza.

"What do you have on yours?" Spike asked.

"Pepperoni, but I will not even dare give that to you. That is the last thing you need to get a taste for." I said.

"Why not?" Spike asked, confused.

"Pepperoni is a mixture of cured pork and beef. In other words, it's made of pig and cow." I said.

Fluttershy seemed unphased, everyone else seemed to just be trying to get the image out of their heads. "Yeah, I thought that would get to you guys." I said.

"Ah'm jus' a bit disturbed, cows can talk over here, and Ah guess it's jus' hard ta imagine them not bein' able ta." Applejack said.

"Yeah, I saw the talking cows, even had a short conversation with one. They seem intelligent, but it was just weird talking to something that I know shouldn't be. I also couldn't shake the thought that the whole arrangement must be really weird for both parties involved."

"They're fine with it, so Ah'm fine with it." she said.

"Alright then." I responded

About an hour later, we where sitting in the common area of the barracks once again, and once again discussing arbitrary topics.

"You know, I want to get a comparison of the two species. Ponies on Earth and Ponies in Equestria." I said

"Yeah, why not. Might be fun to see what we're like over there." Rainbow Dash said.

"Okay. So, you know what I first noticed? Your eyes. They're massive. Horses' eyes on Earth are usually about the size of a person's, if not slightly bigger." Master Sergeant Fry said.

"Horses on Earth are also dichromatic and their vision is motion based." I added.

"Not dichromatic, but we are ever so motion based vision, especially when we're young. It mostly goes away after eighteen months, but it still effects us as adults. But it's only really a hindrance when we're not paying attention." Twilight said.

"Something I noticed is that your joints are really weird. Ponies on Earth can't lift their legs above their barrels. Basically they work nothing like yours from what I've seen." I said.

"Not much to say about that. Our anatomy is just different I guess." Twilight said.

"Well, it just seems weird to me that-" I began, but was interrupted by the sound of a bugle.

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Immediately upon hearing Taps, the room went silent. Heads where bowed and eyes where closed. A few of the ponies tried to speak, but where hushed by several soldiers each time.

When the call ended, I stood up, and addressed the room.

"Nineteen hundred hours, two hours to lights out, why don't we set up some accommodations for our guests?" I said.

The eight soldiers in the room nodded and set to work clearing out and preparing the rooms.

I turned to address the ponies. "Okay, so here's the thing. We have three spare rooms, each with two beds in them. They are currently used for storage but are intended for VIPs if we ever have them. I'm sure you can see the predicament here."

"There's not enough beds for all of us." Fluttershy said.

"Correct. So, we have two options, either two of you share a bed, or we MacGyver it and make it work somehow." I said.

"Not sure what 'MacGyver it' means, but I think Spike and I can share a bed fine, we have several times in the past. Hay, he used to refuse to sleep anywhere else except beside me." Twilight said.

"Pff. Alright then." I said, then turned to a soldier that was passing by to grab something form a storage closet.

"Just put a pillow on both ends of one of the beds." I said, gesturing toward Twilight And Spike.

"Alright." Master Sergeant Fry said, then turned to Twilight and Spike. "You guys want another blanket, so you don't have to share that too?"

Twilight and Spike both nodded.

"Wait, we're preparing for bed!?" Pinkie Pie said, disappointed.

"Yup, 'fraid so, Pinkie." Applejack answered for me.

"Lights out at nine PM, no exceptions." I said.

"Aaaw, But we didn't even get to tell stories or anything." Pinkie wined.

"Oh, believe me, we'll have plenty of time in the morning to tell stories, among other things." I reassured her. "Oh by the way, You'll have to get up at oh-five hundred with everyone else."

"What?" Rainbow Dash said with an irritated expression.

"Oh, but then I won't be able to get my beauty sleep." Rarity complained.

"Hey, sometimes sacrifices must be made to achieve happiness." I said. "Besides, we'll have coffee and stuff at breakfast."

"When's Breakfast?" Applejack asked.

"Six thirty." I responded simply. "Now, I'd suggest you get however much of your nightly routine done as you can. That's what I'm gonna do."

An hour and a half later, after completing most of my evening routine, which involved a shower and changing my clothes, I was brushing my teeth, in fact, I had walked out of the latrines, when Fluttershy approached me.

"Hey Fluttershy, you need something?" I asked.

Fluttrshy took a deep breath, I assume to calm her nerves, and spoke. "I just wanted to say, thank you for doing all this for us. It's very kind of you."

I smiled slightly, "Well what did you expect me to do, make you leave and let you guys drown in the rain and mud?" I said sarcastically. I knelt down and put my hand on her shoulder. "I'm going to tell you something. When I was young, I made a promise to follow a set of character defining points, called the Scout Law. These points became my moral code, excluding one that is kind of irrelevant, but the point stands. Those points are this; A scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent. It is because of my dedication to these laws, that I am the person I am today. I'm glad to help anyone, my friends especially."

A small smile appeared on Fluttershy's face, as she blushed slightly and looked away. "I'm glad you think of us that way."

I smiled again, patted her shoulder twice, and stood up. "Goodnight, Fluttershy."

"Goodnight, Shawn." Fluttershy said back.

I walked over to my door and opened it, but stopped before I opened it. "Goodnight, everybody." A couple dozen voices responded with "Goodnight, sir." or "Goodnight, Major". Seven responded with "Goodnight, Shawn."

With that, I went into my quarters, closed the door, and got into my bed, and racked out. Even asleep, I know the lights shut themselves off fifteen minutes later.

Oh-Five Hundred Hours, The Next Day

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Reveille! Get out of the rack!

Even five years later, those six words from my Drill Instructor are still engrained into my mind. They are the reason I use Reveille as an alarm even when I am inactive. Every time those words cross my mind, I am immediately wide awake. 'I guess that's the point.' I thought, as I do every morning.

Nevertheless, I quickly got up, wide awake. I stretch my back, until I heard a satisfying crack, and went to work getting myself dressed.

Twenty minutes later, I walked out of my quarters into the hallway, and saw the normal sight, with five exceptions. Four where in the form of  small ponies, the fifth, a large reptile, a dragon. Three of the ponies and the dragon where half awake, with their eyes half-lidden, and their ears pinned down. The fifth pony, however, was, as I expected, just as awake as the soldiers.

"Let me guess," I said to Applejack, "You're used to waking up at the crack of dawn on your farm."

"Eeyup." Applejack responded.

"Fair enough. I see we have a few stragglers, though." I said, looking at the two still sleeping ponies.

I stood between the two doors, took a deep breath, and shouted with as much force behind my voice as possible, "Reveille! Get out of the rack!"

Immediately, Rainbow lept out of the bed and landed on her hooves, wings fully extended, standing at what I assumed to be attention.

Rarity on the other hand, was not so efficient. She shot her head up and looked at me, then got the most pissed off look on her face.

"What, are you doing?" Rarity demanded, her tone harsh yet still quiet.

"Okay, if your gonna be like that, sleep in all you want, but I'm gonna go run for a bit, and by the time I get back, it'll be breakfast time. I expect you all to be at least over the delirium by then." I said. Every pony gave some form of affirmative response, Rarity flopped back onto the pillow.

One hour later, after running several laps around the base, not including the mile-and-a-half long runway, I walked back into the barracks.

As I entered, I noticed all six ponies and Spike lying on the various couches in the room, chatting with some soldiers. Spike was asleep next to Twilight. 'I don't blame him, he is a baby dragon after all. When I was his age, I was never awake before seven.'

"Hey girls, I got some good news and some bad news." I said.

"What's the good news?" Pinkie asked, already hopping with energy.

Jesus Christ. "The good news is the rain has slowed down to nothing more than a drizzle, the sun's coming through the clouds in a couple places." I said.

"So, what's the bad news?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"The bad news is that the entire trail is still gonna be like quicksand for a while." I said, "I do, however, have a plan to get to Ponyville."

"What's the plan?" Twilight asked.

"You'll see. Right now though..."

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Thank you God. "C'mon, let's get some grub." I said, gesturing towards the door.

Spike sat up, yawning and stretching. "What time is it?"

"Six thirty." Twilight said. "You fell asleep again."

"Oh, sorry." He said, rubbing his arm.

"Ah, it's fine." I waved him off, "I don't blame you. When I was your age, I was never awake any earlier than seven o'clock." I said, walking towards the door. Everyone in the building followed.

"So, what's for breakfast. I'm starving." Pinkie said.

"I never bother to memorize the menu pattern. All I know for sure is what's on it, besides a few special occasions, and that every other Friday is Pizza night." I said.

"Why doesn't that change?" Rainbow asked.

"It helps keep morale up. We are isolated from our entire planet by the very walls of the universe, after all. The Navy does something similar for submarine crews, who are submerged for months at a time." I said.

"Oh, we'll have to discuss the technological marvels of the United States military, and humans in general at some point." Twilight said, her eyes shining with an almost childlike curiosity.

"That, is something we can do." I said.

"Can you two eggheads at least wait until we're all not trapped in the room with you?" Rainbow Dash said. Twilight and I both rolled our eyes.

"Is she always like that?" I asked, already guessing the answer.

"Except for when it's useful." Twilight said.

We walked into the canteen, and instantly the smell of cinnamon, maple syrup, and the divine scent of bacon hit my nose. A small smile found its way onto my lips.

Pinkie and Spike both took a deep breath in through their noses.

"Mmm. Prench Toast." Pinkie said.

"What is that smell?" Spike asked.

"That, my reptilian friend, is a little delicacy from America called bacon. It is possibly the worst thing for your cholesterol levels, in normal portions, to ever exist, and yet, not even divine intervention can stop anyone who's ever had it from eating it." I said.

"Sold." Spike said, jumping off of Twilight's back.

"It's better when you get the real stuff. What we get is, while still not terribly processed, still processed. It's at least fresh enough to be good." I said.

"Hey, you said it's good, so I'm gonna try it." Spike said.

"That's the spirit." I said

"Wait, Is it like hay bacon, but made of meat instead of hay?" Applejack asked, genuinely curious.

I said nothing. I simply stopped, turned, walked up to the nearest wall, hit my head on it once, walked back, and just stood there with an emotionless expression, while the equestrians gave one that appeared perplexed.

"What was that about?" Spike said after a short pause.

"I just died a little bit on the inside." I said quietly.

Ten minutes later, we were once again sitting at a table with Colonel Locke.

"So, Shawn, Colonel locke, you said you have been in combat with guns before, being shot at, have either of you ever been hit?" Rarity asked, now awake after having a cup of coffee.

"Yes, I have. quite a few times. I only have one bullet wound to show for it though, the rest of the time it just hit my armor." I said.

"I have also been hit before." Colonel Locke said, running a finger over the long scar near the top of his head. "Damn thing scraped the surfaace of my skull, they still ended up having to replace a small section."

Fluttershy looked concerned, everyone else was intrigued.

"What about yours, Shawn? Can we see it?" Rainbow Dash asked, half climbing onto the table.

"Why not." I lifted my shirt, revealing the small pinkish circle in my side, and the much larger one on the other side. "Three-oh-eight managed to land in a spot where the body armor didn't cover. That same time I got hit here," I pointed to the middle of my right pectoral, "and here." I pointed to a spot directly to the left of my navel. "The top one was the first to hit, and it ended up cracking three ribs, the second one knocked the wind out of me and caused me to fall to the ground, where I was hit with the one that went right through me. Luck was not on my side that day, because the only reason the son-of-a-bitch was able to hit me was because my M-16 misfired. As soon as I realized what was happening, which was as I was falling to the ground, I threw my M-16 away and pulled my M-9. I then put a nine millimeter into it's rightful place in the fucker's brain." I emphasized my point by doing a finger gun gesture.

The ponies and dragon stared, gaping at me.

"You are a much more detailed storyteller than me, Major." Colonel Locke commented.

"I've always been like that, Colonel." I replied.

"Y-you just... just killed him. No remorse, just killed him." Twilight stuttered out, eyes wide with horror.

"He was going to kill me, and many others. He had a high-powered rifle, and was on the third floor of a building. Had I not killed him before he could get set up, he would have shot and killed many more than me, better shoot me than kill a dozen others. To make matters worse, everyone we killed that day was fighting us because of their religious beliefs no less. If he's putting his beliefs before a man's life, I have no problem putting my own life over his." I said sternly. "Also, I did feel remorse. I always hate it when I have to kill people. It's a huge relief to me that most of them will just surrender to an M-27 IAR or an M-16A5 pointed at their heads, with six-foot, buff, highly trained and heavily armored U.S. Marine with his finger on the trigger. I honestly don't know how I'm still sane after some of the things I've done, or if I even am still sane."

"It's... just kind of disturbing." Rainbow Dash said.

By this point Fluttershy was cowering in fear, tears streaming down her cheeks, leaving a damp trail in her fur.

"Oh for the love of- don't you dare get that goddam violent soldier bias." I said.

"What do you mean, dear." Rarity asked, still noticeably apprehensive.

"You see it too often. Employers think that a military background automatically means that they are violent. It's not that big of a problem by comparison, but too many veterans are left unemployed and living on the streets because of it." Colonel Locke said.

"Veterans living on the streets!? Do humans have no respect for those who sacrifice so much for them?" Rarity said, disgusted at the thought.

"Most people do, but that does not include much of the upper class, and the majority of the federal government." I said, then facepalmed. "Can we get off this topic? Just thinking about it makes me want to punch congress in it's entirety."

"Congress?" Twilight said, giving me a quizzical look.

"The United States is a constitutional republic. The people always have a say in what happens, they elect who is on congress, and who is the President. It helps a lot, compared to other countries systems, but it also makes me question the competence of mankind in general at times." I said.

Twilight chuckled slightly. "Tell me about it."

"Moving on." Rarity said, noticeably annoyed, but not with anyone in particular. "Shawn, I noticed a black mark on your back, what is it?"

"Oh, that's a tattoo. It says 'For those I love, I will sacrifice all that is given to me with an open heart, and a closed fist." I replied.

"A tattoo huh. Nice. I've been trying to decide whether I should get one or not, they're kinda expensive." Rainbow Dash said.

"But why? I just don't understand the appeal of permanently changing the color of a patch of fur." Rarity said.

"Wait, so, ponies can get tattoos, but it involves forcibly changing the pigments that are responsible for the color of your fur?" I said.

"Yeah, how else would you do it?" Twilight asked.

"We definitely don't change the natural pigmentation of our skin. There are only a few animals on Earth that can do that, for example a cuttlefish. No, we take a thing with a bunch of little needles coated in a safe ink. The needles penetrate the epidermis and insert the ink beneath it, leaving a line if you move it around." I said.

"Sounds kinda painful." Spike said.

"Just a little bit." I said.

There was a short silence.

"So, about your plan to get us back to town." Twilight said.

"You'll be briefed on it at the same time as everyone else that will be involved." I said. I then turned, and mouthed 'I'll explain later.' to Colonel Locke, to which he nodded.

Immediately after breakfast, I talked to Colonel Locke, and told him my plan. He approved. I then made an announcement for five of the ten fireteams on site, as well as the elements, to meet in the briefing room at oh-eight-hundred hours.

It is now oh-eight-hundred hours.

And everyone is here.

"A-te~n-tion!" I said loudly upon becoming certain that all those requested to be here, where here. Everyone stood at attention, including the equestrians, Rainbow Dash having the best stance.

I disregarded that train of thought. Worry about that later. "Today, we are going to be running a drill. Simple VIP escort with a few improvisations, most notably in the case of Miss Dash." I had come to learn that Rainbow Dash lived in a house made of clouds, floating in place in the sky, thirty-five meters off the ground. "In any case, our objective," I grabbed the presentation tablet, giving me a display of what was currently projected on the wall next to me, a map of Ponyville, "is to insert on the South-Eastern and South-western edges of town." I circled two spots right outside town, one between the edge of the Everfree and the edge of town, and the other in Sweet Apple Acres. "Once there, five teams will proceed on foot with the five VIPs whose delivery points are... accessible. The last team will escort Miss Dash to her delivery point in the two-eighty. When a team gets their VIP to their respective delivery points, they will then move to the South-Eastern insertion point, where both two-eighties will be standing by for extraction." I was drawing lines every so often, and circling the 'delivery points'. "The Elements of Harmony will act as our VIPs, if you haven't deduced that by now. And the delivery points will be their respective homes."

( OOC: Okay, so, this Image. I know It's not exactly show-canon accurate. The "Church Of Celestia" for example. However, I have come to accept this general layout of Ponyville given in this map, Just Imagine Rainbow's house is positioned to the North-East of Fluttershy's cottage, and disregard anything that just seems wrong.)

"Any questions?" I said, looking into the crowd of MCCUU garb and pastel fur. One soldier raised his hand, and I indicated for him to speak.

"Why insert on the outskirts of town?" he said.

"The only place in town large enough to land a two-eighty is in the middle of the market district. I think, and hope, you can see why that's a bad idea." I said. "Any other questions?" The room remained silent. "Then we deploy at oh-nine-hundred. Be there and ready by then."

"Aye aye, sir!" the soldiers said.

"Dismissed." I said, then began walking through the side door, motioning to the Elements to follow me.

Once out the door, Twilight moved up to be trotting beside me. "So, this is your plan. Use us as a part of a drill."

"Yep." I said, "I hope you don't mind."

"Not at all" she said.

"So, does this mean that we get to ride in one of your flying machines?" Rainbow Dash asked hesitantly, flying up next to me.

I rolled my eyes. "Yes."

Rainbow did a small inside loop, then stopped and did a fist-pumping action with her hoof, exclaiming "Yes!"

I rolled my eyes again.

"Yippee! this as gonna be fun!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed.

And a third time.

"I'm gonna go get suited up, follow me and we'll go to the helipad when I'm ready." I said.

About an hour later, we're all loading into two V-280s. "Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Spike, get into this one with me. The rest of you get into the other one."

They all nodded, and jumped up into their assigned V-280.

Soon, we were in the sky, absolutely barreling over the Everfree Forrest, easily scaling the kilometer between the edge of town and the base.

"I suppose I should say this now as apposed to the very last second." I said, barely speaking over the combined sound of a jet engine and a prop. "The way this is going to happen is we're going to perform a standard tactical insertion; the aircraft is going to hover fifteen feet above the LZ, we are then going to jump out of the aircraft, and proceed with the mission."

"Are you nuts!?" Pinkie shouted, having the same problem. "you guys may be able to do that without a problem with your robo-suit... things, but Twilight, AJ, Spike and I can't do that. We aren't Pegasi if you haven't noticed yet."

"First of all, yes, i may be a bit fucked up in the head. Second, Pinkie, where you being rational?" I quipped.

Twilight spoke up. "Shawn-"

"Major." I corrected, just for the scenario.

"Okay, Major, how do you expect us to do this safely?" she asked.

"That's the thing," I said, "Usually, we are going the other way with this, picking people up from the ground in the helo, and we'll pull the up with a harness and a winch, but... the harnesses don't really work for you guys."

Twilight broke in. "Okay, before you tell us whatever ludicrous idea you have, I'll just teleport us down."

"Yeah,"I said, "That would probably be better than any of the ideas I had."

"Then It's settled." Applejack said. "Ah'd much rather trust Twilight with a spell she's performed dozens a times than some Gung Ho alien.... no offense."

"It takes a lot more than that to offend me, AJ." I said.

"Ooh, lookie. I can see the base from here." Pinkie said, standing at one of the small port holes.

I moved over to her, and looked out. There, on it's own in a vast expanse of wilderness, stood the base, with it's flag flying high in the breeze. Applejack and Twilight joined us.

"I think I finally have a good name for the place." I said to no one in particular.

"Oh, what do you have in mind?" Twilight asked.

"Fort Solitude."