Chapters Afghanistan
Sgt woods is sitting with his squad just below a ridge line of a mountain over looking a village waiting for command to give the green light to move in and take out the target. His team has been waiting for almost an hour and hes starting to get anxious about possible outcomes and how it could go wrong but he quickly banishes the thoughts to the back of his mind. Woods isn't a superstitious person but he does think negative thoughts before a mission could lead to casualties and he wasn't gonna have any of that, especially since it was one of his new jr enlisted marines first op since hitting the fleet a lcpl named Jason Grif, Woods hasn't talked to him to much other than how he was likening the fleet and making sure everything was going good for him back home but other than that he seemed like a good kid. Sgt Woods always made it his top priority to make sure his marines were in good condition and nothing bad was going on in their lives. As he thinks over all of his teammates and how he was gonna make sure they got a good leave when they got back to the states once their deployment was over and done with he puts in a new pinch of dip to try and ease his nerves about the mission they were about to carry out his jr nco Cpl Smith comes over to him.
"You know that shits gonna rot your gums if you keep it up." States Smith
Woods looks at her out the side of his eye trying to get a read on her before replying.
"I can stop whenever I feel like it Smith."
Smith just gives him a look that says (sure you can) while she sits done next to him. Woods knows she was gonna ask him something but really didnt feel like beating around the bush like always but he resigns to just sit there keeping noise to the min.
"When do you think command is gonna give the go ahead we know hes down there so what's taking so long?" Asks Smith.
"I don't know I'm not liking that it's taking this long though."
"Sigh... sorry about being so blunt but you look nervous. Getting second thoughts or something?"
Woods doesn't say anything right away just looking down at the village of insurgents thinking about his response.
"Honestly I got a bad feeling. But i dont know what to really think about this it's just seems to easy."
Smith just looks at her smart looking for any sign of him to be joking. For as long as she has been under him he hasn't been nervous of an OP before.
" dont worry about it Smith just the thoughts of an old guy."
Smith just chuckles at that since hes only a few years older than her.
"Your not old your only 28. But I've never seen you nervous about a mission should we call commander and head back?"
"No we'll be fine just this wait is getting to me I'm su..." Woods is cut of by his radio.
"Hunter 1 this is overwatch 3 copy"
"This is hunter 1 over"
"Hunter 1 your team is a go to move in and intercept the target copy"
"Roger that over."
With a sigh Sgt Woods gets up from his spot getting the attention of his team.
"Alright missions a go get to position we're moving into the village I want you to keep your eyes peeled and check the shadows, i dont want any surprises while down there understood!" Exclaims Woods.
"Yes Sgt!" Comes the teams response.
With that Woods leads his team down the side of the mountain to the west side of the village where they will make their way to the targets last known residence at the village. They come up to two huts on either side of an alley way leading to the main road as the stop and hold position for further orders from Sgt Woods.
"Alright it's dark on the road nvd's on and watch the roofs and windows when moving." Says Woods as he flips his nvd's down and turns them on lighting up the area in green. Woods the directs Smith and Grif to clear the house next them and to meet them at the road whil him and his other lcpl, lcpl Grey, clears their house. Looking through the window Woods dosent see any thing and Grey gives the all clear on his side Woods gives home the go ahead to go in so him and Grey climb into the windows and enter the house clearing rooms one by one. While Woods walks through the next room to the front room to meet with his lcpl an enemy insurgent comes around the door knocking his rifle to the ground and pulling a knife on Woods, as woods takes a fighting stance the insurgent plunges at Woods with the intent to kill him but Woods saw this coming a side steps bringing his knee up to meet the enemy's stomach with full force stealing the air for him. While the insurgent tries to regain his breath Woods knocks the knife away going behind the guy rlwraping his arms around his neck, before he could do anything Woods gives a Sharpe jerk snapping the insurgents neck killing him dropping him to the floor Grey comes in from the other room with weapon ready.
"Are you ok Sgt?"
"Yea I'm fine damn insurgent took me by surprise is all nothing I couldn't handle, anything on your side?"
"No all clear."
"Alright let's go the others should be waiting outside in the alley."
As the two walk over to the door a large explosion goes off just outside the door blowing back the two marines and back into the room. When woods comes back to the world all he can hear is muffled yelling and gunshots ring out while the world spins around him from the blast. As he regains his hearing and the spinning stops cpl Smith runs over to him and helps him back to his feet.
"They knew we were coming it was a set up we got to get out of here let's go!!" Yells Smith
"Is everyone ok?!"
"Grey is a little banged up but hell be fine we need to get out of here insurgents are closing in and fast we need to move!"
The two marines run out of the building to the road and meet up with the other two who are currently engaging the insurgents from cover. Woods and Smith run to cover further down the road and starts to provide covering fire for the rest of his team. As the other two start to run back to Woods and Smith lcpl Grif is shot in the leg and hits the ground luckily for him there was a crater in the road that he crawls into. Woods saw this and runs for the kid while Grey and Smith give covering fire from the concrete barriers that they were behind. Woods makes it to the kid and jumps into the crater and starts to open fire on the insurgents that were closest killing each with a shot to the head leaving no mercy for them.
"Grif your gonna be ok alright, I'm gonna get you home!" Yells Woods trying to keep the bleeding lcpl awake while he triage his wound and applies a tourniquet to his leg to stop the bleeding.
"Alright let's get you out of here!" Woods says as he picks up Grif and starts to run back to the rest of his squad as hes running he hears something hes all to familiar with the whiz of an rpg flying past him hitting the ground off to the side of the road When he gets back to the others he sets down Grif and starts to shoot back at any insurgent he can see.
"Smith, Grey get Grif the fuck out of here while i give covering fire he needs a corpsman and being here isn't gonna get him one any sooner!"
"Sgt we cant leave you here by your self!"
"Dont worry about me I'll be right behind you just start moving!" Before anyone can say anything else Woods sees a grenade land to the side of them with out second thoughts he jumps to action.
"GET DOWN!!" Yells Woods as he throws him self onto the grenade taking the majority of the blast into his body.
Place unknown
Black that's all Woods can see while he drifts through the unknown untill he notices a bright light in the distance steadily growing bigger as he gets closer to it, with a flash of light Woods goes into the ever growing ball of light.
"GASP!..." Woods wakes with a startle all he can see is blurred motion and muffled talking.
"He.... re.... ok."
"Sir c.... ear me"
"Guards!... edical now!"
"What the fuck." Wheezes Sgt Woods before his head goes back as he falls unconscious.
Dreamscape
Sgt Woods is alot of things but to just throw away the worries of a mission like that brings him an all new disrespect for himself. Woods is currently watching the scene of the fight play out in front of him an hass been watching it on replay for a while now he isn't sure how long He's been there but he has a guess that it's been at least a day or two.
"Young one it was. Not your fault for what has happened you saved your friend's, shouldn't that make you happy?"
Woods doesn't say anything this god like female that he learned was called a pony has been coming to him since he got here he hasn't payed much attention to her mainly cause he fears what she will see in his eyes from being in combat and he doesn't need that can of worms opened just yet. As of right now shes just been trying to get him to talk but he isn't giving in.
"Sigh... if you will not talk then you will listen. I am sorry for what has happened but I hope you will see that you are not to blame for the out come that has befallen you the sooner you talk the sooner you can go back to the waking world the only reason I keep you here, is so you don't end you life as soon as you wake up."
Woods just listens to what she has to say knowing she was right that it wasn't his fault, but why cant he accept it. Why does his mind keep telling him he was the reason behind it.
"Fine then say it wasn't my fault who's is it then because if it wasn't for me ignoring my bad feelings on the mission and just calling command saying it was off none of that would have happened but no I said fuck that and we went in any way! I WALKED MY TEAM INTO A FUCKING TRAP! BECAUSE OF MY CHOICE THEY ARE DEAD AND THERE IS NOTHING I CAN DO ABOUT IT AND YET IM STILL FUCKING HERE WHY!" The enraged Sgt yells while standing in front of her glaring daggers that could kill if he wanted them too.
"Believe me when I say this Sgt your friends are not dead but living thanks to your sacrifice."
"How can I believe you!" The Sgt says while getting closer to the mare.
"Because I saw what had happened, and that is also why I brought you to this world so that you may have another chance at life, you died to early on your world."
Woods just stares at her not knowing what to say but decides to turn away and stare back at the scene before him.
"Show me. I want to see if they really got out of there safely."
With a nod the goddess walks beside him lighting her horn to show what had happened after the explosion.
Woods just watches as the scene begins to play out again as the dust clears from the explosion he sees his team laying on the ground, as he's watching he notices movement among the bodies to see cpl Smith get up and begin to open fire on any insurgent that got close a few seconds later lcpl Grey gets up and joins her in the fight just as they were gonna run out of ammo, and be over run the sound of a 50 cal is heard mowing down the insurgents that got close to the injured team. Smith and Grey turn to see Humvees rolling down the road. A few seconds later the humvees pull up all of the gunners unloading into the enemy force while corpsman and other marines grab the team and get them loaded into the trucks. As soon as they were gone a jet flew over head dropping bombs onto the village destroying the enemy with devastating explosions.
As the scene ends Woods just looks to the mare nodding at her with a look of relief on his face his stance relaxing a bit.
"Alright I believe you, and I feel better knowing that they are ok but I still got one more question for you. Why did you bring me here because a second chance ain't it."
"All in good time young one but I'm afraid our time here is up and you must wake up now."
"Wait what's your name!"
"My name is Faust the former queen of equestria now I must go, and do be nice to my daughters when you awaken."
"With my life I shall see to it, thank you for giving me a chance at life again."
With that the former queen disappears leaving the Marine in the void by himself plundering what she has told him and wondering as to what reason she brought him here.
"Why have you brought someone as dangerous as me to your world Faust? Why?"
Equestria
Woods wakes up in a panic looking around the room he was in noticing no one was there he lays his head back down on the bed wondering who was gonna see he was awake first. As he looks around the room he notices all of his clothes are on a chair in the far corner, but none of his gear is there. 'They must have taken my stuff incase I was hostile, but if they thought that then why not throw me into a prison', with that he attempts to get up but immediately goes back down to the bed as he feels pain rocket threw his body. Woods tries again this time going much slower than he had wanted to, once he was up he made his way to his clothes adorning his desert trousers first the his socks and boots after he was done blousing his boots he put his shirt on, then seeing his dog tags on the chair he grabs them putting them on he decides to go with out his blouse as there is a large hole in the shirt. He just then notices that they washed his clothes for him. Woods starts to think the kind of panic the staff were in when he showed up. Looking around for anything else in the room, and seeing nothing of importance he goes to the door. While initially he had thought they had it locked he was shocked to see that it wasn't, and there was no one in the halls. While holding his side in pain Woods makes his way down the hall at a snail's pace while trying to see if he couldn't find anyone, as he makes his way down he starts to hear chatting coming from on of the rooms it sounded like there are a few people inside so he makes the choice to go inside. Cracking the door slightly he can see it was a large dining room with a large table at the center of the room sitting at the table were two pony's that looked like Faust one white and one a midnight blue the others either had wings horns or none of the two while one that he just realized had both like the other two the other six varied in color, the other alicorn that he had learned to call them was a deep lavender color with a two tone pink strip going through her mane and tail another was a unicorn that was pure white with a purple main one of the pegasus was cyan blue with rainbow colored mane and tail while the other was yellow with a pink mane and tail the other two being what's called an earth pony, one was orange with a blond mane and tail while wearing a Stetson and the other was bright pick with a curly pink mane and tail they were all wearing varying styles of winter clothing.
'At least the time of year is the same.'
"Uh.... hi." Was all Woods could say before a blue blue knocked him to the floor.
Introductions and medical
Equestria
"Uh.... hi." Before he could even react a blue blur smashes into him causing pain from his injuries to flare up making him groan in pain. After the initial shock of being slammed to the ground were off Woods looks at his assailant and what he saw was a deep magenta color staring back at him with a glare that meant buisness. 'ah oh maybe I should have knocked first.'
The rest of the girls stood up but didnt make a move to help more shocked than anything else. While the white alicorn just sat there sipping on her drink and the blue one looked intrigued about what was gonna happen next.
"WHO AND WHAT ARE YOU! WHAT DO YOU WANT HERE, ARE YOU A SPY HERE TO DESTROY CANTERLOT!" Yelled the prismatic pegasus that Woods will now call skittles.
"Ugh... man last time I was in this position with a girl it was after dinner, and she seemed to really enjoy her self with what she got for dessert."
Every thing in the room stops while the rest of the girls excluding the white alicorn seemed to go from shock to down right horror at the comment. The rainbow pegasus just stares down at him with shock but quickly turns to embarrassment as she let's her eye roam down to where she was sitting. With a very bright red face and little yelp in surprise from her she quickly jumps off of him joining back with her friends. With a groan Woods sits up looking at all of the mares in the room while rubbing his aching side. All of the females except the rainbow one who is looking away in embarrassment just stare slack jawed at the man. With a groan of pain and more energy than he would have liked to admit Woods stands up and places his had on the chair in front of him to help him stand.
"Sigh... you really shouldn't be walking around Sgt Woods not after the kind of injuries you had when you showed up in the castle throne room. I must say I have never seen my sister so frantic about something before. Even so I am very surprised that you are walking around after how much blood you lost as well as breaking multiple bones when you slammed into wall after flying through the portal my sister said you came through." The white alicorn says as she takes another sip of her drink 'I think it might be tea could be wrong but that's what I'm gonna go with'
"I'm sorry ma'am but how do you know my name and rank?"
The white alicorn just looks at him unlike everyone else in the room she radiates a sense of calmness.
"It was on those tags that you wear as well as on your uniform as for your rank it seems that your millitary has the same rank structure as ours. And my name is princess Celestia. "
Woods mentally face palms forgetting he had his name and rank on his blouse.
"Well I wouldn't say the whole millitary each branch has different ways for rank if anything my branch might be the most similar."
"Well if that is the case you must be an nco am I right rank 5 of the enlisted rank structure?"
"Yes ma'am that I am. I do have one other question if you dont mind me asking?"
"Not at all ask away."
"Why are you still so calm while everyone else is well shocked out of their wits end like the most dangerous thing in hell just crawled out of a hole and devoured a puppy?"
"Sgt I have been around for a long time and have seen many things that rank all over the weird spectrum. As for the way they are acting you sustained incredible injuries, injuries that our medical team thought you wouldn't wake from that and you when you came to this world you not only crashed into a wall but you fell on top of the captain of the night guard and knocked her out cold and were bleeding heavily, it also might have something to do with that comment you made to rainbow dash and being from another world."
"That was very long explanation for a relatively simple question that you just gave."
"I dont know what you wish for me to say theres alot that could be cause for something and none of what I could say might even be the right answer I only gave what I thought to be right."
Woods just looks at her with dull eyes not knowing on what to say but he has noticed something off about the situation.
Taking a breath Woods looks dead at the Princess 'I really hope I'm right about this.'
"Well then if that is it could you pls call of the kill squad before someone gets hurt mainly me since I'm in the condition that I'm in." Everyone's eyes just got a whole lot bigger in realization as they look between Celestia and Woods. Even Celestia's eyes got a little big in surprise before she regained her composure. Lifting a hand multiple unicorn ponies appeared two of which had spears pointed to the humans throat, they back off and proceed to go back to their positions around the room.
"If you dont mind me asking Sgt, but how did you know that they were there?"
"Easy you talked to long and gave a very weird and hard to follow explanation that and your cpl over there slightly scuffed the ground getting closer to me it was faint but I still heard it your talking just further gave reason to something being up." From hearing that the female guard that made the noise looked away in embarrassment.
"I congratulate you on your receptiveness to the situation around you but I'm still curious as to how my talking lead you to believe such a thing even if you didnt hear the scuff on the ground how did it help in anyway?"
"That's easy as marines we are trained to notice the small stuff just as much as the big. For example the door to my room was unlocked and un guarded no one was in the halls or in the room when I got here and I mean no one no staff guards or civilians that I'm sure you allow to come within the castle if they are on diplomatic missions or just to talk your ear off with issues and that was just the big stuff. The small stuff was your demeanor when I first showed up while everyone else had varying levels of shock you were calm didnt move didnt say anything just sat there like even if I tried something I would be stopped before I even tried the way you did things before talking and the long conversation told me you were stalling to allow your guards to time to get close, there was also the scuffing sound I'm sure there was more but what I had seen and heard told me enough that something was up, but I wasn't completely sure so I basically took a shot in the dark."
Celestia didn't say anything more stunned than anything her sister was The first to recover.
"But how, what kind of training do these Marines go through that could allow them to notice every little detail of not only the area around them but the people and the way they act?!?"
"Its simple in our line of work and the people we fight against makes us very aware of situations and people, we have training that helps us notice the area but the whole people thing comes with experience and a little bit of training."
As the rest of the room just looks st him Celestia and her sister give him a look of less distrust and more intrigue.
"If I may be so bold into ask but where are you from and what happened to you? From what the princesses told me in the letter they sent you shouldn't be walking or alive at this point." The lavender alicorn finally speaks but what she asks catches him off guard.
'Should I tell them of what happened to me? Telling them where I'm from isn't to bad not like I can go back, being dead and all in that world.'
Around the room the ponies give him looks of wonder and caution while the rainbow one who's name is Rainbow dash apparently is still looking away but keeps glancing up with a blush.
"Well where I'm from is easy, I'm from a planet called earth in a country named the United States of America or U.S.A. for short the state I was born and raised in is called Texas in a city called dallas why I went into it like that I couldn't tell ya. As for what happened to me it was a op gone wrong my team and I were to go in to a village in Afghanistan to eliminate a high value target that was giving weapons and ammo to the terrorist group there well in intel we got was fake and we walked right into a trap..." As Woods tells his story the group listens intently and gives the man the respect he deserved. After his story he was looking at the ground anger and sorrow in his heart one in particular noticed this and slowly made her way to his side am placing a hand on his back softly rubbing it as if to say that everything is ok and it wasn't your fualt.
Looking upnto the girl that walked to him it was the butter yellow one giving him a small but warm smile.
"Thank you but I'm not gonna burden any of you with the demons of my past I've seen things that would make even the strongest of men break, and I'm not around with some of it."
The blue female looks to him with concern but regains her composure.
"From what you have said you were a soldier of your world and that you fought to protect not only your home but for those that couldn't protect them selves if I am not mistaken. So why would you not be proud of the things you have done?" The blue alicorn asks with confusion.
"Ma'am the way war is fought where I'm from can be some of the bloodiest and most brutal shit you can be a part of maybe not as up close and personal like it is here if what your guards weild is anything to go by. We dont have to worry about just getting shot but where we are fighting in the world we have to worry about IEDs and the terrorists using children against us and in a combat zone when your men are in danger you have to make the call."
"If you dont mind me asking what are IEDs?" Asks the purple alicorn.
"IEDs also know as improvised explosive devices are a very common threat to infantry personnel, light armored vehicles, and tanks. Very dangerous cause they could be extremely unstable and very sensitive making them very hard to properly deal with while being sure to not get blown up or ambushed while trying to dispose of the IED."
"And you have experience with these devices?"
"Yea I do I've been blown up a couple times luckily it wasn't that bad and all I had to deal with was a few minor injuries and a massive headache after words."
The purple alicorn looks like she wants to as more but a look from Celestia stops her.
"Sgt if it's anything to go by I'm sorry that you had to go through all of that but from what you've said you should be dead so why aren't you?" The blue alicorn asks.
"I'm a very stubborn basterd is all I can think of. Anyway enough of this talk you all know who I am so who are you all?"
Everyone looked about the room to see who was gonna go first Woods was gonna ask the princesses to start but the purple alicorn stepped forward before he could do anything.
"Well if no one else is gonna start I guess I will. Hello I'm princess Twilight Sparkle as well as one of the elements of harmony. And these are my freinds Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Applejack. You already met Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy." Twilight states pointing to each pony as she calls out the names.
Applejack steps forward offering her hand .
"Its nice ta meet you." Woods grabs the females hand giving her a firm shake.
The next one to come up was pinkie pie.
"HI IM PINKIE PIE DO LIKE PARTIES WHAT KIND OF CAKE DO YOU LIKE... OMG WE HAVE TO SET UP YOUR WELCOME TO EQUESTRIA PARTY!" Before the very hyper girl could say more a lavender glow surrounds her muzzle effectively shutting her up.
"PINKIE! There will be time for that best not to overwhelm him after just waking up."
"Ok twi!" The girl just bounces away with a smile on her face.
Woods just leans over to Applejack to whisper in her ear.
"I got adhd and I dont think I ever acted that hyper is she ok?" Apple Jack just chuckles at the comment.
"She will be fine that's just Pinke being Pinkie."
The next female to come over Rarity.
"Its a pleasure to meet you darling my name is Rarity Bell, but Rarity will do just fine. If you dont mind me asking why would you wear such um interesting clothing?"
Well miss Bell that is my uniform for when I'm in combat it helps to make us a bit harder to see when in the desert we have uniforms for other environments but for where I was those were best. In where is my gear if you dont mind me asking Princess?"
"Celestia is fine Sgt, but if you most know we have your gear in a locked chest in my study and since you dont seem to hold any I'll intent against my subjects I will have it brought to you in ponyville where you will be staying with Twilight."
"Um ok you didnt happen to mess with any of it did you?" Woods asks with growing worry.
"No Sgt I would not allow anyone to mess with your stuff since we do not know how any of it works."
"Oh thank god. It's as you say alot of my gear may not be to dangerous but alot of it is. So I met rainbow dash and fluttershy dont know anything about them or well PINKIE pie for the matter but that can wait who is your sister?" Woods says only really needing to know names at this point.
"My name is princess Luna I am the co ruler of equestria with my sister."
"Now that that's out of the way, sgt I do believe that we should have you examined for you injuries to make sure you are ok to travel."
"Um ok after you pri... Celestia"
"Right this way."
After an unexpected godly amount of twist and turns the group makes their way to the medical wing of the castle. Looking around nothing really out of the ordinary can be seen castle staff and guards go about their daily jobs with only a few giving the human varying looks of indifference. Upon entering the medical area a nurse ran up to the princess bowing.
"Princess it's an honor may I ask about your vist today?" The nurse asked. Woods leans to get a better look at her she was a shorter one with blue and red mane and tail.
Good afternoon nurse Ambeance could you take a look at our new guest to make sure his injuries are healing properly."
"Of course your majesty. Sir would you pls follow me to the room?"
"Yea just lead the way." While woods followed the nurse he couldn't help but look more south than he should have been.
"Enjoying the veiw?" Woods head snapped back to attention looking at the nurses head seeing that she was glancing back at him with a giggle she turns back around and comes up to a door.
"Dont look so ridged I'm only joking I dont get much attention so I'm happy I still look good seeing as I haven't been working out as much as I used to."
"Uh sorry.
"Its alright anyway wait in here while i go get some stuff and we will start your check up and get you into the system."
Woods is walking back to the others next to his nurse just looking forward. The whole time she had been looking at him.
"Um Sgt how did you get that scar on your upper arm?"
With a Sigh Woods stops in his tracks and turns to the nurse.
"I was on a mission back home."
"What happened if you dont mind it looks pretty bad?"
"Well we were driving down a highway we used for transports normally we wouldn't use the same road a bunch of times at once but we had to get supplies to some of our guys that were running low well the insurgents we were fighting had placed an IED in the road our convoy hit it, my truck and I was on the gun on the top I was ejected whil taking shrapnel to my arm and leg I was the only one to survive from the explosion. The rest of the men in the other trucks fought off the ambush and got me back to base, when I came to I was in a bed with bandages on my leg and a cast on my arm. I dont know how I survived or why I did but I had nightmares for a year I still do but not just that one incident."
"Sgt I'm so sorry I didnt mean to open old wounds."
"Its alright it's a part of who I am now no need to hide it."
"From all the test and x Ray's we can see Sgt Woods is safe to travel he still has minor spider web fracturing to his left ribs but nothing a bit of rest cant fix he is safe to travel but I will send a letter to the hospital in ponyville letting them know of everything the Sgt needs.
"Sgt I do hope that your healing goes well but we dont have much more time we really must be getting back to day court, I hope you do come back to vist."
"Will do Celestia and thank you for your hospitality." With that Woods and the rest if the girls make their way out of the castle. With why woods is here and the future uncertain Woods walks with his head held high and thoughts of the past on his mind Woods grabs the can of Copenhagen wintergreen from his pocket and puts a lip in.
'What do you want with me faust?'
Canterlot train station
The walk to the station could have been better Woods was never the best with the high class snobs. One instance of this was when a noble stallion bad mouthed him and the sgt went off on him having to be held back by applejack and rainbow while the stallion ran off. The train faired no better due to him getting stared at by everyone on the train though it wasnt all bad he still had his phone and surprisingly enough it still worked with only a small crack in it while he was playing angry birds a young filly came up to woods wondering what he was, and what he was doing, he had talked to her for a few mins explaining what he was and how his phone worked and let her play angry birds on it until her mother found her and took her back to their seat.
"That was very nice of you Sargent, but might i ask what It is you were letting her play with?" Asks Twilight.
"Max is fine princess, and what she was playing with is called a smartphone you can listen to music, watch videos, take pictures, and play video games as well as a bunch of other things that won't really work anymore due to being on a different world."
"Really you can do all that on such a small device, and you can just call me twilight."
"Yea the way it works is beyond my knowledge so dont ask me how it does."
"Could you show me some of the music from your world? I would like to see how different it is compared to ours."
"Yea I don't mind, do you think the rest of the girls would like to listen in as well."
"Good idea. Hey girls Max is gonna show us some music from his world."
"Oh oh i wanna listen!" Cheers Pinkie Pie
"Now that you mention it i wanna see this." States Applejack.
"That sounds like a marvelous idea." Rarity says throwing in her two cents
"Oh yea alien music count me in!" Rainbow says pumping her fist in the air
"Um that sounds nice." Fluttershy says from behind her mane.
"Alright circle around and ill find some thing to show you all." After the girls surrounds Max he scrolls through his music app finding a good song for the group.
As the song plays Max looks around the group seeing various reactions to the music
"That was super fun Maxie can you play another one."
"Well that certainly was something else darling but I'm not sure it fits my taste."
"I'm non to sure about that song seems like it has to much bass for my likein but I did enjoy the lyrics." States applejack
"It was nice." Say fluttershy
"I loved the lyrics how it was talking about his best friend." Twilight says smiling.
"That song was more about his reaction ship with a higher power and how he made it through everything he has due to that relationship even though he never showed it the way most people did at least thats how I see it." Max say explaining his thoughts about the meaning.
"At least he can express it in some way could you play another song?"
"Yea i don't mind." Scrolling through he finds another song for the group.
"Well ill be that song was pretty good."
"I have to agree with Applejack on this one darling that was a beautiful song."
Max what kind of message did that song try to pass."
"Well twilight id have to say it was saying that even though the world is a complex places the one thing that doesn't have to be but is made over complicated is love cause as long as your happy it shouldn't matter what you do together."
"That's a very nice message Max." Twilight says with the rest of the girls agreeing.
"Well I think it could have been cooler you got anything cool to listen to?"
"I do but I'm not to sure the rest of the girls other than maybe Pinkie Pie would enjoy it."
"Oh come on one song."
"Ok one more song I'm cause I'm tired and wanna get some rest before we arrive."
"YES!" Exclaims rainbow dash.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y88LVU7MAe4
"THAT. WAS. AWSOME!" Yelled Rainbow dash.
"Well I'm not to keen on that type of music but it fits rd there dead on." Applejack states.
"She's right rainbow darling that song was practically made for you." Says Rarity.
"What was that song called." Asks Twilight?
" Its called what's up danger."
" I didn't know music could portray one person so much" Twilight says staring at his phone.
" Yea I don't know how much it is the same here but you can find something to relate to any all music where I'm from."
" For the most part its the same here there music like what Vinyl Scratch makes that's just for partying and having a good time."
"Well that's good to hear at least it won't be to different and ill hear some new music."
The group continued to talk for a bit longer until Max nodded off for a power nap. The girls were still talking but at more if a whisper compared to how they were talking.
"Why wouldn't we he has been nothing but kind to us and he was injured when he came here." States Twilight.
"I know i know, but girls aj can tell if some one is lying as if she saw into their memories to see the story play out as if she was there if he was lying wouldn't she have said something about it?"
Twi I understand what cha mean but you heard him he was trained to be able to pick up on small things to get a base line of a situation if he was trained to do that what if he was trained to be a really good liar to the point where no one and nothing could even figure out if its the truth." Says Applejack.
"She is right darling we can't trust him or at least completely we need to keep an eye on him." Says Rarity.
"Come on girls he was super nice we should at least give him a chance to open up more if he wasn't a good guy he wouldn't have been that nice, and he would have attacked rainbow when she tackled him, but he didn't." Says pinkie pie.
The mentioned Pegasus turns away with a tint of red to her cheeks grumbling to her self.
"Even so we need to be wary and proceed with caution if what he says is true and he has seen what he has seen then he could be a time bomb waiting to go off, he could have that um what's it called when something traumatic happens and certain things set it off?" Asks Rarity.
"That would be PTSD some of the guards that have seen combat get it but its not really common here." Says twilight.
"But he isn't from here... what... what if its more common to happen where he is from?."
"That's a good point Fluttershy, then its settled we keep an eye on him in case he has been lying or incase he has an attack." Say twilight. Unbeknownst to the group Max was having a slight attack in his sleep, but his fidgeting wasn't enough to tip off the girls.
"So when we get back to the castle what shall we do with him?" Asks rarity.
"well i have plenty of room in the castle and it does get lonely with just spike and starlight there." states twilight.
"That works besides i don't think granny would take to kindly to me just bringing in another mouth to feed." says applejack.
"And i have to much to do around the boutique, that and sweetie bell being there, there just not enough space for another." says Rarity.
"The cakes don't have anymore room with the twins taking up the last two rooms." says pinkie.
"He could stay with me but I dont know how angel will take to him." Says fluttershy
"Then its settled hell stay at the castle for now." Says twilight
"Max... max its time to get up."
"Hmm are we here?"
"Yes we are but before we get off I do have to say you may get some stares and mixed emotions but don't take it to heart alright."
"Thats fine nothing im not used to back home when I was on patrols while overseas we would get various looks from happy to disgust from the locals, as long as someone doesn't try anything I won't retaliate." Says max.
"Well we shouldn't have to worry to much about that ponyville is a welcoming place." States rarity.
"Well ill never know sitting on this train lets go shall we?" with that the group makes their way off the train and onto the platform, walking off the platform into the snowy road max looks around taking in a deep breath taking in the crisp winter air.
" you look relaxed." says twilight walking up to his side.
"that noticeable huh, yea I'm just realizing how much cleaner the air is here, its... nice."
"Sooo it's like a... breath.. of fresh air? haahaha!" Pinkie says with a luagh while bouncing away.
"I don't think I've cringed that hard since joining the military." Max says to no one particular.
"What do you mean by that?" Asks rarity
"When your in long enough you see things you wouldn't see out side of it for the most part unless it was with close friends or behind closed doors."
"Like what?" rainbow asks with a raised eyebrow.
"Well have you ever seen two guys in only under ware run up on a guy laying down out in the open mind you and proceed to lay on him and hump him, or two guys tape two mattress to another guy then proceed to throw him off a roof, maybe even seen a guy jump into another guys bed for no reason and whisper into his ear while he is trying to sleep."
after saying that Max faces the group with a neutral expression waiting for their response.
"the getting thrown off the roof bit ive seen but it was at a party and everyone was really drunk but what is wrong with you guys doing all that other stuff?" asks pinkie pie
"My branch has a little saying among enlisted not everyone I've met say it but a lot that i have met say it we are the gayiest straight guys you'll ever meet, now i don't know how it is with other branches but that's what I know for mine." Max states while putting in a lip.
"I... I don't know how to feel about that." Twilight says shocked by what she was hearing.
"Well you get bored and you make the best of it and when Alcohol's involved it gets weird and really funny if not extremely stupid." With that they make their way into town with Max in the center of their little group, all the while the residents give Max looks of fear and curiosity, some even running into building to get away from th unknown creature. As they continue into the town Max pulls out his thing of dip and puts in a pinch spittimg occasionally as they walk. Looking over to rarity he finds she's giving him a look as if to say thats gross but he just shruges his shoulders and continues to walk.
After a few more minutes of walking the group come up to a castle made of crystal. Following the group up the stairs two guards open the doors allowing the girls inside, but as Max makes his way through the guards put their spears in the way blocking his path with the blades coming fairly close to his neck.
"Ok you two im in no condition to fight but if you put steel to my neck again ill break you in half" Max says with a slight growl and as much venom to his words as possible. The two guards look at each other with hesitation in their eyes.
"Its ok you two hes with me, and get used to him youll be seeing the good sergent here alot more from here on out." Says twilight making the two go wide eyed at the sergent comment.
"Sorry sir we had no idea you were an nco." Say the guard on the right, with that one comment Maxs iner di comes out.
"Bitch! Do I have fucking shiny on this collar!"
"NO SERGENT!"
"No excuses Sergent!"
"Sorry about that soldier, I'm not part of your military, but next time just use my rank if you have to."
"Yes sergent."
Qith that Max walks past the guards and into the castle, looking up to the girls they all looknuneasy from what just happened.
"Max why did you do that?" Asks Twilight
*sigh* "Sorry about that inhad to deal with a lot of jr enlisted before and the tened to mess up rank alot while in a stressful environment, and pain usually fixes it you just lucky I stopped there or you'd be seeing your guard running laps and doing push-ups till I felt tired."
"You retain through pain simple as that."
"But thats barbaric!" Exclaims Rarity
"And that dosent sound very fun." Says Pinkie Pie.
"Military life isn't fun or nice sometimes you got be taught the hard way or the same mistakes happen, besides I've never treated a junior as bad as how I got it when I was a junior marine, they work out I got my ass beat or exercised until I either threw up or dropped from exhaustion."
"Max why would they do that to you." Asks Twilight
"Its just how it is ask your guards im sure they went through something similar just not as extreme who knows maybe they did get it as bad as me, but thats why I make it a point not to be that bad, so far noone has ever pushed me to that point." Max states.
The girls look at each other for a moment before Twilight clears her throat.
"Anyway... how about we show you your room so you can get some rest im sure your still pretty tired after everything."
"Yea that sounds good."
The girls stay in the main room while Twilight leads Max to his new room. While they walk Max couldnt help but look around at the crystal walls the light shining off in certain areas casting the area in an aurora of colors, as they continue to walk max begins to think about what he's gonna do while he's here since he basically died in his world and won't be able to go back, what can a human with his skills do for a mostly peacefull world, as he thinks this over he is suddenly snapped from his thoughts from twilight giggling softly when he comes out of it he realizes he had been staring at twilights back side.
"Sorry about that got lost on thought for a moment there."
"Thats alright it happens to the best of us, I know i tend to do that quite a bit as well. Anyway here's your room and if you need anything do hesitate to ask."
"Thank you twilight means alot you'd take me in like this."
"Its no problem at all Max, goodnight."
"Night."
With that Max heads into his room leaving Twilight in the hall way.
"Hey Twilight." Twilights startled by the sudden voice turning she finds her freind starlight with spike walking beside her.
"What you doing?"
"Oh i was just showing our new guest to his room, oh spike if you wouldn't mind could you keep an ear on his room just incase you hear anything weird?"
"Umm yea I can do that but why."
"He... well he's a soldier from where he's from and he's seen some pretty bad stuff so just listen to see if he's having any kind of panic attack and if he is come get me or one of the girls."
"Yea o can do that."
"Thanks spike, come on starlight I think I need to explain some stuff to you about our guest."
"Alright twi..."
After watching the girls walk off spike sits in a chair next to the door and listens for anything out of the ordinary.
Inside the room Max had laid down on the bed with out a shirt not even bothering to take off his pants. As he stares up at the ceiling he thinks back to his last op, wo during if there was something else he could have done something he missed, but as he thinks on it there was no way around what happened, soon after he slips into sleep the dark void wrapping around him with flames and smoke coming to view.
:Throne room:
"Ok girls hes in his room and should be trying to get some sleep, and I have spike keeping an ear on the door for us in case something happens." Twilight says as she and starlight walk in.
"Well thats good after everything he went through before coming here he deserves a good rest." Says Rarity.
"Um Twilight not to sound pushy but could you explain to me whats going on." Asks starlight.
10 mins later....
"So your telling me your guest is a traumatized soldier who's seen more blood shed then the oldest royal guard and you left his room unguarded!?" Asks starlight.
"Well yes so to speak but he has yet to do anything to make us think we would have to put guards on him."
"... ok so what do we do now?"
Twilight looks around the room for any indication as to if the rest of the girls have any ideas.
" For now let's ju..." Twilight was cut off as spike comes running into the room.
"TWILIGHT! Hurry its your guest!"
Author's Note
I'm back... kinda can't say where cant say when I'm done but I'm in the feild all my military brothers and sisters will know when I say the feild sucks... alot no im not overseas all yall really gotta know is I hate everything right now and some of you might understand that
2 years ago
Darkness was what surrounded Max as he opened his eyes, darkness and the smell of smoke, and burning diesel. As his senses came back darkness gives way to bright blue sky ringing ears and the scorching heat of sand surrounding him, Max picks himself up looking around finding fellow marines engaging enemy insurgents, one completely destroyed hmmwv and the one he was in turned over onto its side. Looking to the ground Max finds his m4 laying in the sand, picking it up his hearing comes back to him letting the sounds of gun fire and screaming, running to the wall his guys are behind laying down suppressive fire.
"SMITH! WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED!?" Yelled MAX
"I'M NOT SURE CPL, SANDROVER ONE HIT A IED, AND WE PROCEEDED TO TAKE FIRE FROM INSURGENTS ABOUT 500M EAST FROM OUR POSITION."
"WHERE THE FUCKS THE RADIO AT!?"
"STILL IN SANDROVER 2!"
"KEEP THOSES MOTHERFUCKERS BACK!"
"CAN DO CPL!"
With that Max ran back to his vic climbing into the cab and grabbing the radio. Running back to smith Ma slams his shoulder into the wall coming to a stop. Max tries to turn on the radio with no good results.
"COME ON COME ON TURN ON!" Max yells, giving it a good smack the radio starts its turn on process.
"YES!" Max yells in triumph as a round flies over head.
"FUCK!" He yells popping out of cover sending rounds down range before ducking back.
Going back to the radio Max pushes the call button praying that it'll work.
"HORNET-1A DO YOU COPY THIS IS HUNTER-1 WE NEED AIR SUPPORT NOW!"
"We read you Hunter-1 what is your position?"
"3 KLIKS WEST OF MAIN SUPPLY ROUTE BRAVO ENIMES WILL BEMARKED WITH SMOKE!"
"Roger Hunter-1 we are in route eta 2 minutes out." with that the radio went quite.
'Fuck they better hurry their ass's up.' Max thought to him self as he made his way over to smith keeping his head down.
"ETA 2 MINUTES WE NEED TO HOLD THE LINE HERE UTILL THEN."
"ROGER CPL." Smith yells as she lays down more rounds into the on coming insurgents.
*CLICK* "FUCK! IM OUT COVER ME!"
Max jumps up to lay down hate and discontent while smith is reloading until rounds hit right in front of him causing him to duck back down.
"GOD DAMNIT!" just as Max was about to pop back up the radio comes to life.
"Hunter-1 this Hornet-1A 30 seconds out where's that marking?"
" TARGET ZONE 475M EAST OF RED SMOKE!" Max yells as he throws smoke out.
"loud and clear Hunter-1."
"ROGER, NOW BURN THOSE MOTHERFUCKERS!"
"EVERYBODY GET DOWN!" With that jets flew over head with the sound of explosions and 20mm Gatling guns sounded off over head as the jets circled back and head back Max stood up to look out at the aftermath, dust smoke and fire filled the air. untill everything started to shake.
"Max? Max?! MAX!!" then everything went black.
Max's room castle of friendship ponyville
As Max came to everything was blurry, and there was a figure over him, as his half awake mind tried to process flashes of being attacked came to mind and on instinct his hand shot up to the figures throat twisting him and his attacker around he slams them to the bed bringing his fist up about to strike before two more sets of hands grab him and pull him off trying while trying to restrain him as he struggles against his attackers he faintly hears his name being called and the first figure walking up to him.
"Max? Max its alright its us your not in danger its your friends." the figure says as he feels soft hands being placed on the sides of his face, and feels a warmth surround him as a lavender glow fills his vision.
"wha? where am i? what happened? Twilight?" realizing he was still being held by two sets of hands realization struck him as he looks at twilight finding the fur around her neck was ruffled and the under skin was starting to bruise.
"oh shit." Max whispers to himself.
"Twi...Twilight I'm so sorry I didn't mean to I don't know what happened." Max says as the hands let him go and he falls to his knees looking down to the ground.
Twilight Drops down to meet him at eye level grabbing his face and bringing his eyes to up to look at her own.
"Its alright you didn't know where you were, and had a small panic attack brought on by PTSD no one was hurt alright."
"That may be, but if your friends hadn't stopped me it could have been worse I'm to dangerous to be around you girls I should be locked up in a mental hospital, or dead." Twilight and the girls all look at him mouths covered eyes wide at what they just heard.
"Max dear why would you say such a thing about your self there's no reason for you to think that, we all know you wouldn't do such a thing to any of us." says Rarity
"Yea maxi don't be so hard on your self it was just an accident you didn't mean anything by it you where just scared." says pinkie pie.
*sigh* "Girls i think its time i tell you all the truth or at least some of it mainly what exactly happened before I got here and why I had that attack not gonna reveal all of what I've done but its a start."
"But you already told us what happened your team walked into a trap and you saved your teammate which lead you to coming here." says rainbow
"Yes that is a very basic idea of what happened, but I didn't tell you all that happened that night and what happened to my jr marine..."
2 hours later
"And after the jets pulled back all that was left of the enemy forces was burned and torn apart bodies that wouldn't even be recognized by their parents." After what the girls just heard all they could do was sit in silence how could one stallion or even a man in this case go through so much see so much and come out almost completely unscathed. most of them had tears in their eyes pinkies hair was completely straight and fluttershy was full on crying, applejack was hiding behind her hat and rainbow was trying to hold back her tears.
"And now you all know just a bit of what I've done and seen."
"Max I'm... I'm so sorry that you went through all that... I don't even know what to say I..."
"It's fine Twilight I've made peace with what I've done even though the demons don't want to leave."
"I'm sorry I need to go write a letter Girls can you stay here with him?" Asks Twilight.
As twilight walks out of the room leaving the girls to keep an eye on Max she couldn't stop but think of ways she can help him if there was, but any way to help him princess Luna was the one to ask about it.
'I just hope I'm right about this, and Luna actually can help.' after getting to her study Twilight grabs a quill and a piece of paper and sat down at her desk.
~ Dear Princess Luna ~...
Author's Note
hey guys and gals what's going on well news i might have covid yea any way now I'm kind of stuck cant leave my room due to it so yea just waiting for my results so I'm gonna try knock a bunch of chapters out until I'm cleared anyway have a great thanks giving.
Later that night Max was standing out on the blaconey to his room staring out into the dark forest deep in his thoughts, before finally deciding not to sit there all night, and got dressed in his boots and a pair of dark blue jeans and black t-shirt courtesy of rarity, before holstering his pistol and leaving the castle as quietly as he could.
Once out of the castle he started making his way to the forest he was just staring at, as he made his way into the foliage and darkness a dark figure shot across the sky and into the tree tops.
Hunter had been walking for an hour now not sure where he was until he came to a clearing with ruins a few yards ahead. Taking a minute to think about what he was going to do he finally chose to head into the ruins, once I side the figure landed short of the entrance looking in.
"What is he up to?" As the figure walks in after Max it looked around the dark corridor.
"Where did he go?" But before the figure could make another move something grabbed it by the arm and pulled it into a side room before being thrown against a wall and pinned face to the wall arm behind the back with enough pressure to be just Slightly uncomfortable. The figure was about to try and break free before freezing by the feeling of cold steel being pushed to the side of its head.
"Who are you and why are you following me!?" Max asked making a point to press his pistol further to the figures head.
The figure didn't speak but before he could ask again the figure surprised him by breaking his hold and pushing up against the wall knocking the pistol away but before the figure could do anything else Max had used the split second of hesitation and space to push off the wall and tackle the figure to the ground. It used his momentum to throw him off but before the figure could get up fully and get its barring Max rushed the figure back tripping over the bed taking Max with ,but before the figure could retaliate Max put his bowie knife to its throat making the figure stop struggling.
"Now don't make me ask a third time who are you and what do you want!"
"I see you grappling technique is on par with mine." The figure said lighting its horn with a blue glow that lit up the room revealing Luna looking into Max's eyes
"Now if you wouldn't mind getting off me... unless this is what you planned." Luna says with a smirk and half lidded eyes.
"What are you doing following me I could have killed you." Max says getting off of Luna
"Well I got an interesting letter from twilight earlier tonight about your episode and thought I would come and talk to you but I saw you heading into the forest." She said sitting up on the bed.
"Well you didn't have to, I'm fine." He said grabing his pistol from the ground and putting it back in its holseter.
"Are you sure I understand how it is when ones past huants them." Luna says looking at the marine.
"You wouldn't understand."
"And how can I if you don't talk about it Twilight didn't tell me anything other than what happened during the attack."
"I said to stop asking." Max says not looking at Luna.
"Max you can tell me I've been through dark times before and I can tell you that it helps to talk about it." She says standing up and walking over to Max and resting her hand on his shoulder.
Max grabs Lunas hand turning around starting to advance on the mare making her back up stopping when her legs bump against the bed again.
"NO YOU WOULDNT NOONE EVER DOES!" Max yells at her.
"WE VETERANS ALWAYS ASK FOR HELP BUT NOONE EVER HELPS THE WAY WE NEED IT BECAUSE NOONE EVER UNDERSTANDS WHAT WE WENT THROUGH THE THINGS WE DO AND SEE!" Max states getting closer to the mare.
"I would if you just told me I've done many things and seen many things in my life I would understand." Luna says trying to gain back some semblance of control.
"Fine! You wanna know what I've seen the things I had to do! I'll show you" Max didn't know what compelled him to grab her horn and put it to his head but he did and as soon as he did there was a flash and then darkness.
At first Luna wasn't sure where she was or what happened but it was quickly dismissed when she caught the sound of explosions and yelling, when she turned around she found she was looking at a memory.
Looking closer at it she could see it was of men and women in outfits similar to Max's weilding weapons that spewed out fire surrounded by strange metal carriages some small some large a few where on fire while others had humans in and on top using the same weapons but diffrent the larger metal carriages were tracked with large barrels on the front and every now and again large fire balls would shoot out.
Every now and again explosions would go off sending dust debris and a few humans flying.
"These must be Max's memory's." As soon as she said this the memory ended and went on to another then another and another until finally it came to a memory of Max in a small village. The village had definitely seen better days buildings where crumbling craters in the road smoke was covering everything like a fog there were bodies lining the streets until one Body caught Max's attention to Luna it looked like a humans foal maybe around the ages of 10 and 12 laying in the middle of the street.
Max walked over to the body and got on his knees taking off his helmet crying over the poor thing there was blood all over him and his eyes were lifeless. Max finally put his helmet back on and picked the boy up in his arms and carried him off to his group as he made it back those strange carriages two humans ran out from behind the group of marines running up to Max taking the boy from him and dropping to the ground crying then the memory fade and everything went dark.
When Luna came too she was laying on the bed with max laying next to her. Luna couldn't hold it any longer and started to cry.
When max came to he grabbed his head until he noticed the crying and looked to find luna with her head buried into her hands, he knew what memory she saw and he didn't want her to see that one but once it started he couldn't stop it. Moving over to her he wrapped her into a soft embrace, she jumped at the contact but instead of pulling away she pushed herself into his chest pushing him back into the bed crying harder.
When she finally claimed down she spoke up.
"I...I I'm sorry you had to witness such tragedy no foal should die before their parents especially at that age the way that he did."
"That kind of thing happens in war we don't expect it but it happens... Luna I'm sorry you had to see that I tried to stop it but once it started I couldn't get it to stop." Luna but her hand on his chest stopping him making him look down at her.
"I'm glad it didn't cause now I truly understand what you must live with and I just want you to know you can come to me personally with anything that you have on your mind or just to talk." She says with a small smile.
"Thank you Luna I think I'll take you up on that offer."
After a few more mins of laying there Luna sighs and stands up from the bed looking at Max as he stands up as well.
"I think it's time to get you back to Twilights castle."
"Sounds good to me its been an exhausting few hours and I wanna get some sleep before the sun rises."
"Well ill see you later then."
"Yes we will have to vist again in a more pleasant setting I would hope."
"Yes that's true well goodnight Luna."
"And a goodnight to you as well Max."
Before Luna could Teapot away she stopped and called for Max.
"Oh before I go I would like to give you something." She says as her horn lights up and a flash of light goes off conjuring up two objects a small obsidian ring with a small blue gem inbedded in side and a id card with maxes picture and name on it.
"What are these for?" Max asks taking the two items in his hands.
"Well the id card is to allow you access to any area of the castle at anytime excluding the royal archives and the vaults in the lower parts of the castle and the ring will allow you to send letters and anything else you wish directly to me twilight has one as well but it's linked to celestia."
"Huh neat... well thank you Luna for these gifts I will keep them with me at all times." Max says while putting the ring on and putting the id in his wallet.
"So how does the ring work exactly?" Max say eyeing the ring.
"Oh thats easy just hold onto what ever you wish to send and think about it being sent to me."
"That easy?" Max asks.
"That easy." Luna says with a smile.
"Alright sounds good well then goodnight again luna."
"Goodnight Max." Luna says as she walks up to Max and gives him a hug and a small peck on the cheek. Then in a flash of light she was gone. Max stood there dumbfounded for a few minutes until he shruggs it off and starts to head back to his room as he opens the door to the castle he stops and looks out to the town, he could have sworn he heard somebody yelling idiot but he just dismisses it and head back to his room.
Author's Note
Dark yes don't know why it was so dark but it seemed right to get their relationship started you know anyway duces and like always like comment and favorite
That morning Woods was walking down the hall on his way to go work out a bit as he was walking past a bathroom the door opened causing him to stop as a new mare walked out with a towel over her shoulder and slightly damp mane draped over her face slightly.
"Oh sorry bout that wasn't looking where I was going.. Wow your muscles are a lot bigger up close." then unnamed mare said blushing slightly.
Looking at his exposed arms he took note that while not as big as they used to be he was still fairly buff, his arms slightly flexing as he moved them.
"uh no that's fine I was lost in thought for a minute there, uh my name is Max Woods, but you can call me Max." he said as he extended his hand to shake hers.
"Oh I know who you are I was there after your little episode last night, we didn't talk though, I didn't think it the best time to. My name is starlight glimmer, but everyone just calls me Starlight." She says taking hold of Woods hand.
"So where you off to this early would have thought you'd sleep in today considering all that's happened to you in the short time you've been here." Starlight asks.
"I was thinking of getting a small work out in nothing to bad just something to get the blood flowing."
"ok well don't push yourself to hard, you don't wanna end up back in the hospital."
With that Woods made his way out side the castle, and started to jog through town seeing the resident ponies starting their day a few giving him a wave while others gave him worrying and curious looks. As he made his way through the town, he started to wonder if there was a training ground for the guards here. Spotting a guard making his rounds he ran over to him.
"Sir I got a question for you." Woods yelled getting the guards attention.
"Um.. yes what is it?" the guard asks getting tense from never seeing a creature like woods before.
"I was just wondering if the guards stationed here had a training ground or something similar?"
"Sorry sir but the training grounds are for military personnel only."
"Well it just so happens I'm military myself not from this world, but I'm active duty in the United States Marine Corps rank of sergeant. I have my id if you wanna see it that or you can just ask Princess Twilight I am staying at her castle right now."
"OH so your the one corporal sliver wing was talking about."
"So he was a Corporal ill keep that in mind."
"Now I don't mind if you use the grounds, but what I do mind is when someone berates one of my guys without coming to me first, sergeant."
"And you are?"
"Sergeant Iron Work with the 201st guard company, in the Equestrian guard." Iron says holding out his hand
"Well its nice to meet you sergeant Iron work, I am Sergeant woods with the 3rd infantry battalion USMC." While taking hold of irons hand and giving him a firm shake.
"And where can I find the good Lt?"
"Right behind you." Causeing the two to trun towards the voice. Standing there in some pt gear was lieutenant Crimson with his arms crossed giving woods a glare.
"So you must be the human I've heard about supposedly your military."
"Yes sir I am 3rd infantry battalion in the USMC, Sergeant Woods at your service." Woods says reverting to parade rest while talking to the officer.
"So you want to have your fun with the recruits if my hearing is correct."
"Yes sir, wouldn't mind seeing what spirit these guys got but my way of training was very different compared to yours."
"And how diffrent are we talking here more patrolling drills dealing with day to day stuff monster attack drills?"
"No sir more like I'm going to break them down till their nothing and build them back up in to what ever it is they need to be to do their job my training is in hand to hand, marksmanship, patrolling ( not similar to yours), spotting little differences in baselines to spot an ambush or danger area, survival, and various other millitary training."
Crimson took a moment to respond thinking over what he said. 'Well on one hand this could be use full seeing he is not of this world, but on the other this could end poorly with less recruits then we started with.' Crimson thought.
"Whats the drop out rate for your training?"
"Well sir it depends for my training you have to be dedicated and want it to push yourself to the limits if they drop and some will drop it just means they didn't have what it takes. For example out of a platoon of 120 maybe 20 to 50 will drop but that's rare to get that many drops past 25."
"Alright well I wanna see what you can to help with training them and if I like what I see I'll give you a small group of cpls to train up to help with training recruits how does that sound?"
"Well I can but this is a thing for the princess's to think over isn't it and if I train em it's going to have to be a complete separate branch from the. Normal guards these ones won't be guards ill train em to be marines to fight on the front lines or mainly special ops cause I'd have to have certain weapons made. I'll even add this cause the training will be extremely tough any drops ill give to you to deal with weather to put them through the regular guard so you don't lose them or drop them fully."
"Now everypony shut the fuck up, and listen to what sgt Woods has to say!" That was his que.
Walking up to them they were all at parade rest putting on his best di voice and ass hole face Woods started.
"GET THE FUCK TO ATTENTION WHEN IM SPEAKING!" They all went to attention.
"STILL DIDNT FUCKING SAY ANYTHING ON YOUR FACES AYE AYE SIR!" Woods Screamed.
"YES SIR" they all yelled getting tired of being in the push up position.
"GOOD NOW GET UP AND LISTEN TO YOUR DRILL INSTRUCTORS AS THEY HAVE THE PLAN OF THE DAY MOTHER FUCKERS!"
Walking back to his spot Woods eyed Lieutenant Crimson smirking.
"Nicely done Sergeant I'd say these recruits won't know what hit them."
"I aim to please sir." Woods says giving a quick salute, and Crimson returning it.
The recruits were just finishing up with breakfast before they went to their obstacle course, but for Woods it was time he took to come up with ways to make them hate their lives. Before he could get to deep in his thoughts the senior drill instructor who you've come to know as staff sergeant rustic steel who was a tall buff stallion with a rust red coat and steel grey mane, started talking.
"All right maggots get up and out!" And like a switch Woods was on them running around the chowhall waving his arms and yelling.
"GET UUP UAAHHHP! LETS GOOO MOOOVE!" Screamed Woods as he ran around the room trying to get the recruits to move faster and get out of the chowhall.
"Take em to the course!"
"Yes staff sergeant!"
"YOU HEARD EM ASS HATS WE ARE GONNA RUN OVER TO THE COURSE, AND WE ARE GONNA SING A SONG WHILE WE RUN YOU WILL REPEAT IT BACK, AND IF I CATCH ANYONE OF YOU DROPPING OUT OF OUR LITTLE JOG SO HELP ME I WILL EAT YOU ALIVE." At that moment Woods took off in a run singing out a cadence with the recruits repeating it back.
As they ran Woods would look back every now and again seeing who he was gonna teach the meaning of becoming a sugar cookie. Once they got to the course Woods stopped and grabbed the recruits who were about to become a pastry.
" ALRIGHT YOU WEAK MOTHER FUCKERS WE GONNA MAKE SUGAR COOKIES AND FILTER OUT ALL THAT WEAKNESS FROM YOUR BODIES WITH PAIN ON YOUR FUCKING FACES NOW AND PUSH!" Woods screamed as soft heart took this moment to start running around and screaming at them to do push ups.
" 1,2,3,4" Woods counted off as the recruits counted 1,2,3,4 on every 4 Woods said.
"ON YOUR FEET HIGH KNEES!''
"YES SIR!''
"THIS ONE DIDNT SCREAM CRUNCHES MOVE IT!"
"YES SIR!" They screamed all the while getting sand and dirt kicked into their faces and bodies and the sweat made it stick to them.
"FUCKING ROLL OVER FULL 360 IN THE DIRT!"
At this point they were very much covered in dirt some of it turning to mud from their sweat.
"ALRIGHT YOU SON'S OF BITCHES ON YOUR FEET!"
"YES SIR!"
"Now take your canteen and dump enough of it on your face to clean your eyes so you can see and only your eyes let me catch you cleaning your full face or arms!"
"YES SIR!" at that they did as told and went back to attention.
"Get back to your group and do the course and I better fucking see some effort or we're coming back here!"
"YES SIR!" They all yelled before running back to the others.
"Was it really necessary to treat them like that?" Sergeant soft heart asks walking up to you.
"Unfortunately yes that's how I was trained. you learn through pain and I'm sure they are gonna really try to keep up next time, that and it is good for em its a lot of cardio." Woods says looking down at the mare.
"You got a good heart soft heart why did you become a drill instructor?"
"It wasn't my first choice but they didn't need anymore recruiters, that and its a requirement for staff." she says giving a small huff.
"That sounds about right its the same way with the marines."
"Lets get back." Woods says jogging away with Soft behind him.
By time they all returned back to the barracks most of the recruits were panting hard, and covered in dirt courtesy of Sergeant Woods. Walking in Woods noticed Crimson in the hut signaling him over, walking over Woods starts talking.
"You needed me sir?" Woods says giving a quick salute.
"At ease Sergeant, yes I've been watching you and you'll be happy to hear I like what I've seen do you think you could train some corporals to help train the way you have been showing me all day?
"Yes sir I think I can if its a small group enough to train a platoon of recruits."
"Well I will send this report to the princesses and will let you know what they say. oh and here I can't give you much because your not officially apart of the equestrian military but for your help ill pay you until everything is figured out."
"Thank you sir."
"Dismissed." Crimson says.
Woods gives a quick salute before turning to head back to the castle with his bag of bits.
Once he made it back to Twilights castle it was already five in the evening and starlight was sitting outside.
"Hey starlight what's going on?" Woods asks causing her to jump and look at him before she got up and ran over to him.
"And wear have you been all day Twilights freaking out... why are you in your uniform?"
Just then the front doors slamed open to reveal a very irate purple alicorn.
"AND WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!" shouted Twilight.
"Uumm about that.."
Hello everybody miss me I did to lol nah I'm just playing anyway yes I've been Mia for a fat min lately it's been really hectic and I've just been tired as all hell from work and being a general contractor for my parents house they are building I've not got a lot of free time but I'm gonna start getting back into it I've made some edits to one of my stories the next adventure just some stuff that me personally either fucked up cause I didn't catch it or didn't make sense I haven't done everything cause that is a lot and I think the bit of confusion kind adds to the story idk you tell me but enough of the rambling I'm back gonna start making more chapters and edits here and there little at a time ya know anyway you beautiful sobs stay safe and have a great rest of your night/day duces
Special1 day in the life "hell"
Max wakes up from another dreamless sleep, and stretches making his bones pop waking him up more. He looks out the window to see the sun hasn't come up but you can tell it's about to giving him enough time to go to the bathroom before all hell breaks loose, standing up and slipping on his shower shoes he makes his way to the head.
'Why we gotta use all these different names for flip flops and the restroom ill never understand thought hunter as he made his way back. Once he finished and washed his hands he heard the one thing he dreaded every morning being multiplied ten fold with him being out of bed ...
"Back to this recruits rack sir!" Max yelled going to the position of attention.
"This recruit was using the restroom before lights sir!"
"I CANT FUCKING HEAR YOU! WELL SINCE YOUR ALREADY HERE GET ON YOUR FUCKING FACE AND PUSH! PUSH PUSH! PUUUUSSSH!" Screamed the angry Di getting right in Hunters face spraying his face with spit.
Author's Note
Hope you all enjoy this little peak into the past of hunter ill try to do one every few chapters just to give you some insight to his career and life main story will do the same but only big events like when he revealed what he's done and seen while in combat these will be smaller things or just add one to the already known big events any way if you liked it leave a comment on what you thought it dosent just help me in writing it help yall with the read night
