He came from Space

Chapter Eight

Old friends, new friends

January 8th, 2129

Equestrian star system (unlisted)

Royal City of Canterlot

Citizen Marcus James Calaway

Mark Calaway stood before Princess Celestia, an uncaring expression on his face. He had long tuned out what the Princess was saying as she was merely lecturing him about returning to her planet.

"Are you listening to me?" the sun Goddess asked.

"No. I don't need to. You're wrong, you DO need our help, and we're gonna provide it whether you like it or not" Mark declared.

"No! I'm trying to protect humanity from Griffon attack! You can not fight this war with us" Celestia stated.

"The Griffons will walk over you like a carpet. Your Elements of Harmony were almost killed in the very first battle of this war! And furthermore the Griffons have been supplied with human weapons from an unknown source; humanity is already in on this war. We're helping" Calaway said matter-of-factly.

"No, you can not help us!" Celestia raised her voice.

"ENOUGH!" another voice thundered, stepping into the room next to Marcus was the captain of the ship Evil in the name of Good, Dick Malone.

One of the other Heroes of the Human race, and life-long friend of Marcus Calaway.

"Humanity doesn't need protection, if the Griffons declare war on our species I'll report it to the UN council and they'll be more than happy to come to your planet, nuke the Griffons into extinction, and then the plague that is humanity will infect your planet. Mark and I are the only two that know of Equestria aside from the man supplying the Griffons with weapons, so why don't you knock off the 'protection' gig, pull your head from your ass, and listen to what we're fucking saying" Dick demanded.

Celestia was floored by the human's language and how blunt he had been, and furthermore offended by his disrespect.

"And don't even think about shitting me with that 'respect' fuckery, I don't give a fuck" Malone finished before casually walking from the room.

Marcus stood. "Word of advice; NEVER piss off Dick Malone. Listen to what we say, and we just might win this war" he finished the conversation before moving out to join Dick.

"Good work in there, Malone" Calaway said, congratulating his friend.

"Yeah, well…that stupid bitch needed to see logic one way or another, and your reasons weren't enough" Dick explained.

"You always were the best negotiator" Mark complimented.

"Because there was always a 50/50 chance of me either handling a situation diplomatically with my excellent negotiation skills or killing everyone I saw. Anyway, what's next?" Malone inquired, coming to a stop next to a door that led outside.

"Well we gotta go back to Ponyville, Twilight will be more than happy to see me again, and I gotta introduce you to her and her friends" Marcus answered.

"I meant what happens next with the Griffons…you know better than this Mark, now is not the time to be concerned with trivial acts. We need to stay on the offensive" Dick said.

"When we leveled that Griffon base we saved Twilight and her friends from certain death, they went into that base for some reconnaissance work, which means they may know where we should go next" Calaway explained.

Sighing in resignation Dick opened the doors and stepped out onto a docking platform; normally used for Equestrian air-ships two of the docking stations were being used for the human vessels.

The two boarded their respective ships and pulled out of the docks, turning and gently rocketing for the town of Ponyville.

Upon arrival they left their ships to hover above the town and disembarked, dropping to the surface with the aid of their jetpacks, landing outside the Ponyville Library.

Dick opened the door to find a lavender Unicorn messing about with several books, rearranging and reorganizing them.

"Twilight, we're here" Marcus announced, the Unicorn turned and a smile spread across her face.

"I'm so glad you're back, I don't think Equestria can win without your help. Thanks for saving us" Twilight said.

"Don't give me all the credit" Mark replied, nodding to Dick Malone.

"Yes I've been meaning to ask about you; who are you?" Twilight asked, taking a step toward the other human, who didn't seem to be that surprised to be in a world of talking ponies.

"Dick Malone, also known as The Great Crusader. Recipient of the title Hero of the Human race" the man explained.

"Most humans think of me as the man they owe everything to" Dick explained.

"What do you think of yourself as, Mr. Malone?" Twilight inquired.

"A man who does what he needs to."

A silence befell the room for a moment before Malone spoke up again. "Let's cut to the chase; Mark here told me that you had actionable intel on what the Griffons were doing next" Dick said.

"Ah yes, the assault on Appleloosa has been stalled for the time but we've also got word that the Griffons have some kind of shipment awaiting delivery in the town of Whinniesport. Don't know what it is exactly, though" Twilight explained.

"Alright, thanks for the info. Let's go, Mark" Dick said, he turned for the door but was stopped when the Unicorn spoke up again.

"Wait! Don't you want to stick around? Meet my friends? You don't even know my name" Twilight said.

Dick turned back to face her. "Look, I'm here to fight a war, not make friends" Malone said, he looked over at Mark and said "you coming?"

"Yeah, I'll go. Can't send you in on your own" Calaway answered, he accompanied Dick outside but not before saying goodbye to Twilight.

"Wait, we can't both go, one of us has to stay here and guard the town" Malone said, stopping in his tracks.

"You're right" Mark replied, a smile on his face.

"God damn it Mark, this is not going to be fun" Dick stated, he stepped back and watched Mark as he ascended the skies and returned to the Freedom, leaving Dick alone with the ponies.

"Motherfucker" Dick exclaimed as he turned back to reenter the Library.

*-*-*

Marcus Calaway followed the coordinates on his ship's navigation system to the town of Whinniesport, which was several miles to the southwest of Canterlot.

Mark stopped his ship behind a mountain near the town and travelled down to his ship's armory, looking to see what kind of equipment he'd need.

He decided that he'd be very high profile if he were to travel in the day in the middle of the city, so he decided that he'd head into the town when night fell.

Marcus disassembled his Five-seven and swapped the standard barrel for a threaded one, screwing on a sound suppressor afterwards.

In addition to his Five-seveN he decided to take with him a Mk14 MOD 0 Enhanced Battle Rifle, a modernized version of the M14 battle rifle with an adjustable stock and synthetic furniture. Mark replaced the standard flash-hider with a sound suppressor, just in case he needed to use it.

Calaway checked his silver Rolex; the time displayed was just a little after noon.

Figuring that he had some time Marcus began to peruse the rest of the weapons in his armory, looking to see if there were any other weapons that would be better suited for his coming task.

*-*-*

Dick Malone sat on a couch in a room of the Ponyville, answering Twilight Sparkle's constant barrage of questions with an air around him that screamed 'I don't care.'

The Great Crusader knew almost nothing about Twilight and didn't mind that at all, like he told Mark earlier he was there to fight a war, not make friends.

All Dick knew about the Unicorn was that her name was Twilight Sparkle, and she had a baby dragon for an assistant named Spike.

Malone looked down longingly at the Jericho 941R sitting in his holster, calling for him to press it to his head and pull the trigger, just to end the horrible misery of answering questions from a talking Unicorn.

Dick wasn't all that bothered by a planet filled with talking ponies, when Mark had told him about the planet all Malone had to say about the subject was "OK."

Malone had long trained himself not to be surprised by outlandish and implausible things, and as a result has become jaded to things most would find shocking or disturbing.

Like death.

The last thought reminded Dick of the reason he was here in Equestria; there was a war going on, which means that soon he'd be in the place he called home.

The battlefield.

Malone refocused his attention on Twilight, who was finally done writing down whatever it was she was writing.

"OK, that's it. We're done" Sparkle said, organizing all of her notes.

"Great, I'm going" Dick said, he stood from the couch and went for the front door; he couldn't leave the Library fast enough.

Taking a deep breath of the afternoon air Dick decided he would go do some target shooting, eager to keep his shooting skills up to par.

Malone set off for a secluded part of the area and in his search he came across a moderately sized copse of trees behind some kind of farm.

Dick pulled his deployable target device out of his pocket and set it up, unfolding the device and propping up the three targets.

While he was setting up he failed to notice three fillies watching from a nearby treehouse, curiosity matched only by their fear as they debated who would be the one to approach the mysterious human.

The Great Crusader drew the Jericho from his holster and performed a brass check, ensuring that around was already chambered. He took aim at the first target and pulled the trigger; the gun produced a loud crack as the .45 caliber round left the barrel and flew straight and true into the first target.

Dick heard a scream and turned around, leveling his Jericho as he searched for the threat. There was nothing there except trees and bushes, and what appeared to be some kind of treehouse twenty feet away.

Suddenly Malone saw yellow in his peripheral, and snapped his eyes to it.

Malone took aim with the gun and the sights fell on a small female pony, a filly, as she stared up at him in fear. She was yellow with a bright-red mane and tail; her mane sported a huge pink bow.

"Jesus fucking A' you almost got shot. Who the fuck are you? What are you doing out here?" Dick asked, it seemed him speaking struck more fear into the filly.

"For fuck's sake I'm not gonna hurt you" Malone promised, crouching to look the filly in the eye better. It didn't work that well, however, as was well over six feet tall.

"What's your name?" the human asked, earning a sigh of relief from the filly.

Finally I can understand what he's sayin' the filly thought, she hadn't understood all the words coming from the creature's mouth up until this point.

"Ah'm Applebloom. What's yer name?" the yellow filly inquired, it seemed her fear was starting to subside.

"I'm Dick Malone" The Great Crusader answered, returning his Jericho to its holster.

"Di…Dic…Dick Ma…lone?" Applebloom said, struggling to pronounce the name to no avail.

"Don't hurt yourself" the human sarcastically told her, unable to believe that she was having this much trouble pronouncing a name.

The filly looked at him with contempt but said nothing further on the subject. "So anyway, what are you? I ain't never seen nuthin' like you" Applebloom declared, her southern accent wasn't as annoying as Malone previously believed it would be.

"I'm a human being, from Earth" Dick answered, he was getting an odd feeling of Déjà vu.*

"So yer an alien" Applebloom stated matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, whatever" The Great Crusader replied, at this point he lost interest and was starting not to care what the filly had to say.

"Hey, why don't you come on back to ma' clubhouse, maybe ya'll could help me and ma' friends get our cutie marks" Applebloom suggested, alarming the human.

"Your WHAT?" Dick asked, standing and taking a step away from the filly. He was pretty sure that a cutie mark was local slang for some kind of sexual act and he wasn't interested at all in having sex with a pony, unlike a certain Marine he once knew.**

"Ma' cutie mark, everypony else already has theirs except for me and ma' friends" Applebloom explained.

"You're gonna have to tell me what a cutie mark is 'cause I don't have a fucking clue" Malone said.

"Ah'd love to! Come on, follow me back to my clubhouse" Applebloom tried tugging on the human's pant leg but couldn't get Malone to budge, he was as solid as a brick wall.

Figuring he had no other choice The Great Crusader decided he was relegated to being The Great Question Answerer for the day, a fact that made him mentally groan.

It was going to be a long afternoon.

*-*-*

*This is a reference to earlier parts of this story when Marcus Calaway had to introduce himself to multiple ponies at different times, feeling like he was a broken record as a result.

**This is a reference to Michael Blackburn's first Halo/MLP 'Fight For Equestria' story; in which a UNSC Marine, named Mendez, kidnaps Applebloom to use as a bargaining chip, though the rest of the Marines thought he was going to fuck the poor filly. Why? Because Mendez apparently fucked a normal horse in his old days.

Doesn't make him any less awesome though.

I get the oddest feeling you're all not gonna like Dick Malone.

This chapter was kind of short and a little dull in my opinion but it's meant to provide fluff, so the entire story isn't focused on combat. It does set up the premise for the next chapter, however.

*-*-*

Legal shit nobody reads: Marcus(Mark) James Calaway, Dick Malone, and all related characters belong to me. Twilight Sparkle, Princess Celestia, and all related characters belong to Hasbro. My Little Pony belongs to Hasbro.

"Review me!" says the chapter.