Location: Equestria, Ponyville, Twilight's castle
Time: 4 days after Naval battle
Perspective: Twilight Sparkle, princess celestia, princess Luna, princess cadence, shining armor, Royal guard

"What do you mean a rogue company of royal guard's engaged the creatures in combat!?" Screamed Luna.

"Yes, a rogue group of 134 Royal guards went into the Baltimare forests, they were led by commander Honey Bun" said the guard.

"I always knew she was a loose cannon, I should've had her expelled from the lunar guard years ago!" Exclaimed Luna, who faced hooved.

Celestia looked towards Luna, than back at the guard and said "how many survived?"

"About 3 princess, all of which were heavily injured" said the guard.

"How badly?" Asked Twilight.

"Theirs 2 pegasus, and 1 unicorn. The unicorn guard's horn was severaly cracked, having little peaces fall of at every touch, while both pegasus guard's wings had several holes in them, one guard had their entire wing ripped off" said the guard with solemn look of sadness.

"How many of the creatures did they engage?" Asked Celestia.

"From what the guards say, they only engaged 20 of the bipedal creatures, the creatures where accompanied by 7 large armored machines with 3 large flying machines" said the guard.

"They seem stronger than their leading us to believe" said shining armor.

"Like that wasn't already blatantly obvious" said Luna.

"Luna!" Said Celestia.

"What, I've seen first hand what these creatures could do, it shouldn't be surprising that a group was able to slaughter 134 well trained Guard's with a force of only 30!" Screamed Luna.

Celestia could only stare at her sister, she knew full well that her sister was right, these creatures were immune to magic, and had technology that out matched any magic she had. Not to mention that she only knew the capability of their airforce, which could crush the pegasi without even trying. Celestia only heard about what their ground forces where capable of, she didn't know their full capabilities.

"What should we do Celestia?" Asked Cadance.

Celestia didn't know how to answer the question, she only starred at Cadance. Though that was until shining spoke up, "why don't we try to scare them with the elements of harmony?" Shining said.

"That couldn't work, their immune to magic" said Twilight.

"We could always show them the destructive side of the elements" commented Shining Armor.

"That could possibly work, though what if they perceive it as an act of war?" Asked Luna.

"That is true, and we don't have all the element bearers either. Rainbow Dash is still in their custody" said Shining Armor.

Again, all Celestia could do was stare, though this time she wasn't alone, Cadance was doing the same. Both starred at the three, unable to believe that they where scheming to scare a nation with flying machines that had the ability to break the sound barrier, a feat none of the fastest pegasus could achieve, not even Rainbow Dash. Yet here they where, Luna, Twilight, and Shining Armor had no idea what this new nations true capabilities where, yet where trying to come up with a way to scare the nation into obeying Equestrian rule.

"Enough, this nation doesn't deserve your scare tactics, and let us not forget how they react when threatened. Right Luna?" Said Celestia, which garnered Luna to lower her head and respown with "yes sister".

"We need to come up with a reasonable way of creating peace with this nation" said Celestia.

"Than what should we do?" Asked Twilight.

After the question, the room went quiet, until the guard spoke up, "excuse me...?princess" the guard said, raising his hoove slowly.

"Yes, my loyal guard" responded Celestia.

"Why not go question the survivers of both the naval battle, and forest battle" exclaimed the guard, rather proudly.

Celestia could only face hoove, not because that it was bad idea, but because she's never thought of that.

"Why didn't I think of that...! Okay, everypony get some sleep we leave tomorrow, and you my loyal guard" said Celestia.

"Yes princess celestia?" Asked the guard.

"I need you to rally up all the survivers of both the naval and forest battles" Celestia ordered.

"Yes princess" said the guard.

2 days later

Celestia, Luna, Twilight, Shining Armor, and Cadance walked down a hospital hallway towards a room containing what was 35 occupants, though now is only housing 19 occupants because the other 16 occupants succumb to their injuries. To add to the already worsening state they where in, they would get sickening nightmares of what they've seen, which Luna's had the displeasure of seeing.

"Luna, how do you think their going to react to the questions?" Asked Twilight.

"To be truly honest, I don't know, their dreams have been so unpredictable and...gruesome" said Luna.

Cadence heard Luna's and Twilight's conversation about the survivers who tried to battle the new creatures, and started becoming more and more curious about these new creatures and their nation, especially since Celestia was making such a fuss about it.

"Celestia, why is everypony so overworked by this new nation?"

"Well Cadance, it's because of the overwhelmingly mysterious power they possess" said Celestia.

"Power of what sort? I've only heard snippets of information about these creatures" said Cadance.

"Well, from what we know now, their air capabilities are out match any airborne Equestrian species by atleast a 1,000 years. Their flying machines have proven superior in air-to-air combat, speed, maneuverability, survivability, and stealth" said Celestia.

"How many of these flying machines do they have?" Asked Cadance.

"From what I've heard, they have over 50,000 of these machines, all of which of varying sizes at their disposal" answered Celestia.

"That shouldn't be that bad of a problem than" commented Cadance.

"Well, that would be true if they weren't able to obliterate a squadron of 10 thunderbolt's with only two of these machines" said Celestia.

"That can't be true!" said Cadance.

"Well, it is, I sent the squadron to rescue rainbow dash, and they where intercepted by only two of their machines. Only 3 came back" said Celestia.

Not long after the 5 royals fell into silence, continuing there trek towards the room that housed the few survivors of both the naval and forest battles. Once they came upon the door, they stopped, unable to continue, they all began to rethink their initial idea of questioning the guards.

These guard's have went through something literally no pony has been through before, so how would they react when reminded of the horrors they had to go through? They where about to find out.

The 5 royals saw a nurse and therapist open the door and walk out shaking their heads, not long after they saw Celestia, Luna, Twilight, Cadance, and Shining Armor, which stopped them in their tracks.

"How are they doing?" Asked Luna.

"Their in bad conditions, mentally and physically" said the nurse.

Soon after the therapist commented, "whatever those creatures did, it's going to stick with those 19 stallions for the rest of their lives. There's nothing I could do, atleast with the current techniques I have to deal with PTSD" he finished.

PTSD, that was a term both princesses haven't heard for over a thousand years, now it's a rare condition that only a select few get, making it on of the hardest mental problems to deal with.

"PTSD, what is that?" Asked Twilight.

"It's a condition that those who've experienced extremely tragic events have" answered Celestia.

"Such as?" Asked Cadance.

"Extremely gruesome deaths of either loved ones, strangers, and friends are among the few who have this condition" answered Luna.

All 7 ponies went silent, unable to respond to the sudden realization of 19 royal guards having a condition almost impossible to treat with current methods, and again, how would the guards react? Well, they're now going truly find out.

Celestia broke the silence by walking forward, past the nurse and therapist and towards the door, and with a deep breath she opened the door. Upon going inside, Celestia saw the full extent of the injuries they received.

She saw the missing limbs, broken limbs, gashes, bruises, ect. All she could really do was stare at them, she hadn't seen such brutal injuries at all in her more than 1,000 years of life. Now, all she could feel was rage at the creatures she dared not aggravate, and to add to the already mounting frustration, she knew the creatures had full right to do so, especially since the guards had full intent on hurting the creatures.

Celestia had nothing to vent her rage on, and everypony in that vicinity could see it, because on one hand these were her ponies they where hurting, though at the same time her ponies where trying to hurt the creatures all the same. It wasn't their falt for being prepared, especially since from the little information Celestia has heard, they've had it worse.

Celestia started breathing through her nose rather loudly, though it was helping her to calm down, after a while her nose became scrunched, her wings less tens, and her main didn't seem to want to burst to flames.

Celestia walked further into the room, getting the attention of 3 guard's that were able to move their heads without feeling excruciating pain.

"Pr-princess?" Said one of the guards, before looking towards the door and seeing the rest of the royal family.

"W-why are al-all of you here?" Asked the guard.

"Well, we're here to ask a few questions" answered Celestia.

The guards ears dropped down, showing full well that he didn't want to recall the event he had to live through, though he knew that they needed the information for whatever they where going to do.

"Ask away,...princesses" said the guard, making the royal 5 hearts ach.

Luna was the first to ask a question, "What battle did you participate in?" Luna asked.

"I was apart of the naval failure" answered the guard, which made Celestia ears droop.

Cadance than stepped forward and asked a question, "what weapons did their vessels use?"

"Well, they weren't like any other cannons in Equestria" answered the guard.

"Why?" Asked Shining Armor.

"They where better, after one shot from their cannon destroyed 3 ships in the span of several milliseconds" said the guard.

"How?" Asked Twilight.

"I don't know" answered the guard, after the guard said that, the room fell silent once again.

"What other weapons did they possess?" Asked Twilight, who was now holding a pen and paper.

"Wel after they fired their better cannon, we fired a second volley of enchanted cannon balls that didn't even scratch their armor, they tha-" Before he could finish, he was interrupted by Celestia.

"You mean, the enchanted cannon balls didn't penetrate at all?" She asked.

"None, none of our cannon where able to even scratch them. Though, their response to our volley was swift and ruthless" said the guard.

"How ruthless?" Asked Luna.

"One of their ships shot out impossibly fast projectiles at our fleet, destroying 15 of our vessels in under 25 seconds, and that wasn't even the end of it" answered the guard.

"Wh-what else happened?" Asked Cadance.

"*sigh* They released one of their impossibly fast flying creatures to attack us" answered the guard.

"What did it do?" Asked Celestia.

"Well, it came straight for what little fleet their was, but once in close enough proximity, it let out these tiny suns. At first they where beautiful, though that ended when they touched the ground and sea" said the guard.

"Why would that be?" Asked Celestia.

"Once they touched ground, they exploded with such force and fury that seem to rival the elements of harmony" said the guard.

The 5 royals stood in place, trying to imagine the great suffering he want through.

Celestia than said, "I'm sorry," putting her head down while walking towards on of the pegasus that fought in the forest battle, he had his eye closed and head down most likely dealing with extreme pain from the wounds he received.

"Excuse me my loyal guard, but may I ask you some question?" Asked Celestia.

He looked up thinking it was the therapist, though was surprised to see the princess of the sun slowly approaching him.

"Pri-princess?" Said the guard.

"Yes, it is I" said Celestia, calmly spreading her wings.

"Wh-why are you here princess?" Asked the guard.

"Well, I've come to ask some question about the forest battle" answered Celestia.

"Oh, ask away princess" responded the guard.

Cadance asked the first question, "what's weapons did they use?" Cadance asked.

"Well, they used large armoured beasts, like metal yaks, only immune to any magical attacks the unicorns throw at it, not even the arrows the pegasus shot at it broke through what seemed to be metal armor, they also had skinny cannons protruding from the front" answered the guard.

"How powerful where these cannons? Where they as large as Equestrian cannons?" Asked Twilight.

"Yes, they where just as powerful if not more powerful, while being much smaller than any cannon in Equestria" said the guard.

"*sigh* why was I expecting anything else" said Luna while she face hooved.

Than Shining Armor came up with a question, "How big where these armoured beasts" he asked.

"Massive, the 5 small ones where atleast 4 feet taller than the bipedal creatures, the largest was 6 feet larger with a much larger and more powerful cannon" said the guard.

"How fast where the projectiles they fired?" Asked Celestia.

"Extremely fast, so much so that we where never able to see them when they where launched" answered the guard.

"H-how?" Asked Shining Armor.

"As of right now, we have no idea" answered the guard, solemnly. He than continued, "though, I can understand why they attacked us" he said.

"Why would that be?" Asked Luna.

"Well, we haven't been the most excepting towards them, our first encounter with them was us trying to capture them and the changeling's. Especially with how we've been treating the changeling's, it's only obvious that they would find it to be wrong and unjust" commented the guard. So Luna

Luna hated it, but he was (spitting straight fax) telling the truth, she wasn't really thinking like a leader should when meeting a new species that was of mysterious origins. Lowering her head, Luna remembered every poor soul that was lost on that beach, every single one could have bee saved, if only she was more cautious and didn't let the emotions about the changeling's cloud her judgment.

"I understand your reasoning" said Luna, still with her head down.

Not long after, the guard realised the weight his words had on Luna, "oh, I'm sorry princess, I didn't mea-" though before he could finish, Luna interrupted him.

"No, your reasoning was sound and just, I'm not immune to criticism" said Luna.

"Oh, okay" responded the guard.

Not long after shining asked a second question, "what weapons did the smaller bipedal creatures use?" Asked Shining.

"Well from the little I saw, they used smaller version of the cannons their beasts used, though they still packed quite the punch" answered the guard.

"How much" asked Twilight.

"Well, when the projectiles their little cannons unleashed hit us, they caused damage that I doubt any pony can fully recover from, as you can tell" answered the guard, raising his left wing up at full view.

Upon looking at the wing, they saw the full extent of the damage, his left wing was almost ripped apart, half only hanging on by a few strands of skin and muscle, along with the bandages that where wrapped around it

"Oh my, why would they do such a thing!?" Screamed Cadance, spreading her wings in anger.

"We did have it coming" responded the guard, giving a slight shoulder shrug while looking towards his right wing. He than continued with, "besides, it could always be worse, I could be dead."

Cadance started to feel less anger, folding back her wings, "I'm sorry for my outburst."

"It fine, I could understand why you would be atleast a little angry, but do you guys have any other questions?" Asked the guard.

"No, we've heard all we've needed to hear" answered Luna, and not long after they left the hospital, pondering on what to do next.

Location: Equestria, Baltimare forest coast
Time: 6 days after Naval battle
Perspective: Lt Tristan Summers, gunnery sergeant Nathan Reeds, WHA-91 pilot Nicholas Diaz, colonial army ranger Frederick Bowman, armoured platoon commander Roman Hahn, Bradley driver Melvin Lara, Bradley turret operator Marco stain, Lt. Flash Sentry

Flash Sentry was walking through the already terrifying forest, knowing full well that he might get himself killed here. Though, their where more important matters at hand, and they needed to be addressed, the only thing in Equestria that could help him with it were these creatures.

He continued through the forest, waiting and looking for any signs of the creatures he wanted to see, and not long after, the tree next to him exploded into a storm of bits of wood. Though instead of running away, he stood tall, legs admittedly shaking.

"I know you're out their, I only wish to talk" announced Flash Sentry, not long after another tree exploded next to him.

"Please, I only wish to talk, I know my kingdom hasn't been quite accepting towards you, but all I ask is to talk" said Flash Sentry.

Not long after, Flash Sentry heard the creatures murmuring among themselves, though he knew they were talking about weather or not to address the obviously bright orange colored pegasus standing in the woods with a sattle bag.

Several creatures pop out if the bushes slowly, brandishing the strange sticks-like weapons Flash Sentry came to be all to familiar with at the prison he was stationed at in Baltimare.

Flash Sentry smiled when he saw the creatures brandishing their infamous weapons and downing their impenetrable armor, not caring that they could splatter him across every inch of this forest.

"Check the settle bags" (Roman Hahn) commended one of the creatures.

Not long after 2 of the creatures started to slowly approach Flash (Army rangers), still pointing their weapons at him to make sure he doesn't get any ideas. Once a sufficient distance, one (Frederick Bowman) bent down to look through the saddle bags, while the other stood tall, still pointing his weapon at Flash.

Though Flash only heard little details about their weaponry and it's destructive power, and every new piece of news, every rumor only made him more, and more curious. Now he was here, in front of the very creatures Equestria understood little about, and it didn't disappoint what so ever.

"Sir, theirs nothing in here besides a photo book, a box of gummies, and a map of the city we're close too. He's not a threat" said (Frederick Bowman) the creature.

"Okay than, what's your reasoning for being in this part of the forest?" Asked the creature, Flash determined him to be the leader.

"I'm here to report an injustice" announced Flash.

"And why report it to us?" Asked the creature.

"Don't you protect changeling's" Flash retorted.

"touche" said one of the creatures (a U.S. Marine) besides what Flash determined to be their leader.

"Okay than, what is your name?" Asked their leader.

"Lieutenant Flash Sentry of the Royal Equestrian Guard sir" said Flash Sentry, giving a salute that only made him look adorable in the eyes of the (Marines and Army troops) creatures.

After a little while, Flash started to wonder if they had names, "so, what's your names?" Asked flash sentry.

"Well for some of us here it's confidential, but I'm armoured platoon commander Roman Hahn, U.S. Marines Mr. Flash Sentry" said Roman, putting his hand forward for flash to shake.

"So, what do you want to tell us?" Asked one of Roman's men (Frederick Bowman).

"Well, I was stationed at a prison after Luna decided to...well, confront you, and what I've witnessed their is unbelievably cruel. I was hoping you could help" said Flash.

"I feel like this is something you should talk to Tristan and Nathan about" said Roman.

"Nathan? Tristan?" Asked Flash, tilting his head.

"Well, come with us, we'll introduce you to them" said Roman, gesturing for Flash to follow him.

Unsurprisingly Flash followed, trotting with small smile, receiving pets on the head from several Marines and Army troops, and surprisingly these creatures were quite nice, considering that all he heard that these creatures were emotionless with zero traces of a soul. Though he never really pay attention, until they talked about the creatures protecting the changeling's, which gained Flash's interest, considering how the changeling's have been getting treated in the prison.

Flash continued following Roman, wondering where he was leading him, not long after they arrived at their destination, which was 3 Bradley M3A3 IFV's (infentry fighting vehicles), and 5 M1A2 sep V4 abrams main battle tanks parked in a diamond formation.

"Wh-what are tho-those things? Are they monsters?" Asked Flash as he was slowly backing away, bumping into one of the Marines that followed behind him and Roman.

The Marine he bumped into noticed how distressed Flash was, so he tried comforting him to the best of his ability, "no, their not monsters, there machines we use to protect ourselves and the M3A3's" said the Marine, petting Flash on the head. Flash would be lying if he said that it didn't make him feel better, somehow these creatures made him feel safer despite the fact they where able to kill Celestia's and Luna's best guard's without much effort.

Not long after, Flash slowly approached one of the M1A2's Abrams tanks with the help of the same Marine he bumped into, once Flash was close enough to the tank, the Marine slowly picked up Flash's left hoove and allowed it to touch the lower frontal armor, insuring flash had no reason to fear the tank.

"See, you've got nothing to fear, it won't hurt you. The only way it would hurt you is if you're a threat, and you're not a threat" said the Marine, petting Flash once again. Not long after the Marines said, "you should go with Roman now, I've got to drive my tank."

"You control...this!?" Asked Flash, pointing towards Abrams

"Yay, it's a machine, it needs someone to control it" said the Marine.

"Cool" Flash said while walking towards Romans, who was performing a maintenance check on his tank.

Once Flash got to Romans tank, Roman picked up Flash like you would a dog, putting him on the front left side of the tank protruding armor plating, he than climbed on the main body, than the turret opening the commanders hatch.

"He Sentry, get up here we're about to go to the encampment" said Roman.

Flash did what he was told, clumsily climbing on to the tanks turret, sitting next to Roman who was currently standing in the commanders apartment.

Every one got in their appropriate vehicles, and not long after the armoured platoon was on its way towards the encampment. Along with their new guest.

Melvin Lara and Marco Stain perspective

"Hay Melvin, I heard your little brother Christopher had his first fire fight 2 days ago, you think he's okay?" Asked Marco, trying to start a conversation.

"He fought ponys, it's nothing to be worried about" answered Melvin, in an tone that made Marco shutter.

"Damn bro, and I thought I was cold blooded" responded Marco with a worried look.

"I mean really, there his ponies, and it's not like theirs a mental burden either" responded Melvin, which put off Marco.

"But they're still sentient, they still have feelings like us, they can cry, smile, hurt, and feel empathy much like we can. I thought that would be apparent for a species that can create structures and speak a discernable language" said Melvin, in a scolding manner.

"Yet, the same species that can feel 'empathy' wants another species either in cages for the rest of their lives, or dead. I don't know about you, but that sounds like genocide" responded Melvin.

"Not all of them think like that, I mean look at the German populist during World War II, not all of them thought the same way about Jewish people!" Said Marco.

"And yet a good portion of the population did agree with Hitler about the Jews, and a good portion still do now, so you make your guess" responded Melvin.

"But look at who just came, a literal pony came from that is most likely apart of the Equestrian kingdom came for, what seems to atleast help us with the changeling's, so stop with this senseless xenophobia!" said Marco.

For some unknown reason, Marco's words hit Melvin like a bus, Melvin felt slightly ashamed about the comments he made about the ponies, and his little brother. Though he wanted to end the conversation, because he could see he wouldn't see the end of it.

"*sigh* Okay, I see where your coming from now, and I'm sorry, I just didn't think they were all that great because of how they've been coming at us constantly" said Melvin.

"It's fine, we all have those moments, and I'd be lying if I said it wasn't fully justified" responded Marco, and not long after the 2 in tbe Bradley went quiet, neither knowing what to say next.

20 minutes later, everyone's perspective

Nathan and Tristan were in their command tent, going over possible defensive tactics encase Equestria declares war on the United States, they did this while a U.S.A.F Northrop Grumman SR-78 Aurora high-speed reconnaissance aircraft flew overhead, approximately 13 miles (68,640 feet ,or 20,915, or 20 kilometers) in the sky, casting a view that reached Canterlot, and it was doing this in all direction with its powerful 360 degree all weather multi-purpose cameras, relaying the feed back to the command tent in real time.

While doing this, the aircraft (Northrop Grumman SR-78 Aurora high-speed reconnaissance aircraft) was traveling 15,217 kilometers an hour (9,456 miles an hour) in 838 kilometer (521 mile) radius, using a mixture of different cameras as the name "multi-purpose cameras" states, the aircraft used thermal cameras, heart beat detecting cameras, heat detecting cameras, and brainwave detecting cameras, though greenwave detecting cameras couldn't read minds, only detect the electric frequencies they emitted. Each camera was connected to a number of frequencies that would feed information to vehicles, other aircraft, ground troops, and even naval ships while anything those platforms saw would relay the same information back to the aircraft (SR-78) and other platforms, nothing would be able hide.

As Nathan and Tristan discussed the tactics that would be most affective to use in a conflict against the Equestrian empire, a familiar person entered the tent with a small light orange colored pony with a blue main.

"Hey guys, we've got a guest who wants to speak to you" said Nicholas, with his normal slightly deep, seductive, semisexual, and assertive voice.

As Flash heard this, he became quite confused, he knew that Nicholas was male, but couldn't understand how he had such a feminine charm to him. Though for now, that would have to wait because there are more important things at hand.

As Flash entered the tent, he was met with two men who toward over him, both with confused expressions.

"He-hello?" Flash said, giving a nervous smile to add to the awkwardness.

Nathan and Tristan looked at each other with confused looks, than they looked back at Flash.

Tristan was the first to grow some balls and speak, "h-hi, I'm Lt. Tristan Summers, and this is gunnery sergeant Nathan Reeds, we both work for the U.S. Marine Corps. What's your name?"

"It's nice to meet you, my name is Lt. Flash Sentry of the Equestrian Royal guard" answered Flash, walking towards the two Marines.

"Ah, I ses you're a fellow lieutenant" responded Tristan, who bent down on his knees to properly greet Flash.

Flash and Tristan shook hands and hoove, both ignoring the fact they're both of rival kingdoms.

Not long after, Nathan bent down to his knees to greet Flash and ask the big question, "hello little guy, what would you like to speak to us about?" Asked Nathan, shaking Flash's hoove.

"Well, I've come to report an injustice in the royal guard" responded Flash.

"What would you report that to us? We don't have any control over the royal guard" said Tristan.

"Well, it's not about the guard, but the changeling prisoners that Equestria has acquired" answered Flash.

"Yes?" Asked Nathan.

"Their being mistreated, they're being beaten, physically and emotionally abused. That's what I came to report, and I was hoping you could help?" Asked Flash, nervously.

"I see, but how would you like us to deal with such a problem?" Asked Nathan.

"The way you dealt with Luna, the Equestrian naval fleet, and commander Honey Bun, and every pegasus you've blown out of the sky, you do this with superior technologies and tactics. You've shown what you're capabilities are capable of, and they outmatch any that Equestria has seen before, you have the capabilities to take on Tirek, King sombra, and even the elements of harmony themselves, and yet you continue to use your capabilities with noble intentions, and the changeling's in that prison need your help" responded Flash.

"Well, you make a valid case, though that would create more tensions between Equestria and the United States" commented Tristan.

"What are tensions to lives, Mr. Tristan" said Flash

"He does make a good point" commented Nathan.

"*sigh* Okay than, do you have any maps of the facility their being held in?" Asked Tristan.

"Actually, I do" answered Flash, digging through he's saddle bags.

"Here it is" said Flash, who raised the papers to Nathan and Tristan.

They grabbed the papers, examining all of them for important details.

"well, I guess this is going to be our first offensive against Equestria" commented Nathan.

Author's Note

Sorry for prematurely uploading this chapter a total of 4 times, writing on a cellphone can be a pain.

The SR-78 belongs to bagera3005 on deveintart.

(P.S. if you spot any grammatical errors, please notify me)