Equestria Dustoff

Chapters

Black Hawk down!
Recon
Questions and answers
Not alone
I want YOU for Alpha Squadron 6
The enlistment
Job hunting and gambling (minor rewrite.)
This story is gonna be on pause for bit fellas

Black Hawk down!

Above a vast desert, a large helicopter soared overhead. On the side doors, head and nose of the chopper were medical crosses. It was a medevac helicopter of the United States Army. In the helicopter were a crew of six people, two pilots, two crew chiefs, and two flight medics. The man flying on the right was Warrant officer Brandon O’Neil, his co-pilot was Warrant officer Joel Sanchez. Brandon was born and grew up in Arkansas.

O’Neil joined the armed forces as a young man, he started off as a military police officer, typically just patrolling around the bases and what not, but he later decided to earn his wings… or rotors, that was the day he met Joel Sanchez.

Together they trained to become chopper pilots. They were assigned to a HH-60M medevac helicopter. They had done many missions with each other and were pretty much pals for life. Right now they were currently on their way to help a downed AH-64 Apache pilot and gunner whose bird had crashed, the pilot had stated his gunner was badly injured. They believe the enemy forces were dealt with at the hands of their underbelly chain gun.

Usually this would be the job of combat rescue forces to get the guys out but they seemed to have rid the area of any remaining enemy forces, and with Apache crews’ reputations, O’Neil didn’t doubt the mission for a second, yet he still felt they should have had back up if things went south.

They started to descend lower and saw the town, in the middle of a square, there were the beat up remains of the Apache, the two pilots awaited the medevac helicopter, the helicopter slowly flew over different streets, kicking up dust and garbage as it flew.

“This is Echo-4-9, we have visual, preparing for immediate evac, over,” said Brandon into his mic.

“Copy that, Echo-4-9,” said someone on the radio.

O’Neil and the crew kept an eye out for anything that could be a threat down below but it seemed that the area was cleared out way before they got here. They made it to the square, the helicopter lowered to the ground, dust flying everywhere as the Apache crew shielded their eyes as the main pilot helped his gunner who surprisingly could still walk, to the medevac helicopter.

The back crew brought in the gunner, O’Neil looked back to see what was happening, among the stretchers and other stuff crowding the helicopter’s interior, he could make out the side of the Apache gunner. The Apache pilot said he was okay yet he still would be checked up on, when, he did not know, all he knew was to get everyone out of there.

This is Echo-4-9 package has been extracted, over.

“Roger that Echo-4-9, return to base,” said the same person on the radio.

Slowly lifting the thrust lever, the helicopter left the ground, while they made their way upward, he noticed some movement going on in the town, he was about to respond but was cut off by one of the paramedics at the door.

“al-Qaeda!”

Shit! Grunted O’Neil as he tried to get out of the place ASAP.

“Wait, I thought you can’t attack a medical helicopter,” said Sanchez in worry.

Brandon looked back at him with a serious gaze.

“In war, the enemy plays dirty, and the geneva conventions doesn’t apply to the fucking al-Qaeda.”

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Down below, the al-Qaeda insurgents made their way through the streets and jumped onto roofs while shooting at the helicopter that was trying to get clear of the buildings. The leader of the group, a man with a gruesome scar running from his left eye all the way down to his chin, looked at the helicopter almost in the clear, he growled and took a RPG from a nearby man and ran inside a house.

He made his way up multiple stairs and scrambled on the roof. He took aim with the RPG and fired, the projectile hit and blew off the tail rotor of the helicopter as it began to spiral out of control.

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Inside the helicopter.

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It was complete chaos on board, alarms were blaring, crew members were screaming, and Sanchez had been knocked out cold. Brandon was trying his hardest to gain control of the helicopter. He saw the ground becoming closer and he awaited his end.

“God damn it, everyone hold on!” Yelled O’Neil over the alarms and commotion.

“This is Echo-4-9, we’ve been hit, we are going down, I repeat, we are going down!”

O’Neil found out the radio wasn’t working and cursed his luck. The ground was now coming up and he knew it was over for everyone.

“Fuck fuck fuck!!!”

That’s when O’Neil’s vision went black, after a long period of time everything fell silent, all that could’ve been heard were the rotors whirling.

Wait, whirling rotors?

Slowly opening his eyes, Brandon saw he was no longer over the town, he was now over a lush green forest, he looked to see if Sanchez was with him but he saw that his seat was empty, looking back, he saw the gunner to the Apache was gone, so was the entire crew.

“What the hell is going on? they couldn’t have all just jumped out with the helicopter spiraling down like that.”

Greatly puzzled, Brandon realized the chopper was intact, how it was was a mystery. Deciding he was going to get nowhere by just sitting up here with the chopper, he was about to fly around until a presence next to him, one he didn’t notice before made itself known.

“You must be wondering where you are and what happened to your friends.”

In Sanchez’s seat sat a humanoid being, a maniacal toothy grin spread across its face, she wore some, well, rather revealing clothes, yet she thankfully had enough decency to wear some covering clothes on certain areas. Her skin was cherry red, and she had two twisted devil horns on her head. The white part of her eyes were black with gold irises, long eyelashes, and dark maroon eyeshadow. She, yes, she, just looked at a terrified Brandon as if nothing was wrong.

“What and who the hell are you, what did you do with my friend and the crew, how did…” he was cut of by a hand.

The being began to giggle like a child.“You may call me Mirth, and as for your friend, I put him in the back.”

“When I land, You better be right,” muttered Brandon as he checked the helicopter’s fuel gage, and to his surprise, a sparkly substance was spinning around in there.

“The fu…” was all he was able to say before the helicopter jerked violently in different directions.

“This is so cool! Man, I wish we had these back in hell,” yelled the unknown being named Mirth, her trademark grin never falling.

“Give me that!” With that, Mirth let go of the cyclic stick, stuck out her tongue, and began to pout.

“Okay, what do you mean by, back in hell.”

Mirth sighed and decided to explain her existence to Brandon.

“I was sent by the underworld to be your demon guide, to explain what a demon guide is, a demon guide is assigned to a person who has in some way escaped death’s hands.”

“Now, most people who have escaped or cheated death have demon guides, they are usually invisible to anyone other than the person who has one, unless you want us to be seen.”

Mirth began to talk about everything that demon guides or also known as demons for hire or warrant demons, could do, they could turn into whatever they want, but mostly they will turn into something to match their environment. She could change her size and become as small as a mouse or hummingbird, or could be the size of a human. There were also angel guides, it depends on what kind of person you are, if you're innocent enough, you will have an angel guide, if you're darker or have committed sins, like Brandon who had committed a few sins, not bad ones, you would get a demon guide.

How Mirth described hell was what he’d sort of expected it to be, it looked like the nether from Minecraft yet it had small houses. Mirth was apparently in a swimming pool filled with lava next to her house, as she was resistant to lava, before she was summoned by the high council of the realm of demons, to serve as a demon guide.

Banking left, Brandon saw a grassy area with a small lake, he could land there and check on the helicopter and Sanchez. Lowering to the ground, the helicopter’s landing gear gently landed on the grass and powered down.

Hopping out, an M4 in hand, just in case anything were to attack him, yet he didn’t want to waste ammunition so he decided to use it as a last resort, he had his service pistol, a Beretta M9 but that wasn’t his most effective weapon at the moment.

Mirth got out and stretched. Brandon couldn’t ignore her outfit anymore, it was getting to him and he at least wanted some more covering clothes over the present clothes. “Mirth, would you please put on some more covering clothes,”

Brandon was blushing so hard his face was more red than a tomato. Rolling her eyes, Mirth nodded and spun her finger around and just like that, she was wearing a black hoodie with a skull and crossbones on it, the shirt said “go to hell.”

Brandon opened up the cargo door and looked to see Joel holding his pistol out but relaxed at seeing his fellow pilot, but once he saw Mirth, he raised his gun again.

“Brandon, what’s going on, and what the hell is that thing!?”

“Well that’s just hurtful, my name is Mirth, not thing”

Brandon decided to tell Joel about Mirth and what she was, now that Brandon wasn’t flying, he could get a better look at her. She had the appearance of a human but looked a little more demonic, not in a scary way though.

“Well, where are we? You didn’t tell me where we are.”

Brandon didn’t know how to answer Joel’s question, but he knew one way to get answers, a little recon wouldn’t hurt.

“I think we should do some recon, we can get better answers that way, and we surely aren’t in Kansas anymore Toto.”

Joel nodded while Mirth disappeared and reappeared on Brandon’s shoulder, she was the size of a hummingbird and she carried a little pitchfork which he found adorable.

The trio didn’t notice the glowing eyes and the large shadow hidden in the forest’s shrubbery.

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At the edge of the forest near a town lay a small cottage, Fluttershy was in her backyard, feeding her animals, and boy did she have a lot of them, she had just finished feeding her chickens until a small little blue bird flew down next to her, trying to get her attention. Looking down at the frightened avian, she spoke in her calm motherly tone.

“Oh, hello Mister bird, are you okay?”

The bird shook its head and told her about what it had seen when flying over the Everfree forest.

“You are saying you saw a flying metal beast, and you think it’s not any living creature you’ve seen before.

Fluttershy was interested at what the bird had said and wished to see this for herself as she took to the sky, higher than she would normally be comfortable flying and scanned the horizon, the vast forest as far as she could see. But there, in the distance was an object that seemed to be moving fast but slow enough that she could make out an elongated body. As it came closer, her eyes turned into pinpricks as it zoomed past, clearly losing altitude.

She knew every animal within the Everfree forest and this was not normal at all. She almost thought it was a machine of sorts, but that was a ridiculous thought, wasn’t it?

She knew one pony who would maybe know what this unidentifiable flying object was, and that was Twilight Sparkle. With her new objective, she walked over to the town of Ponyville.

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Twilight was in the middle of reading a book on dimensional teleportation, she had recently casted a spell that would bring some other worldly technology to maybe advance all the races of Equestria, yet to her disappointment, when she casted it, nothing happened.

A knock on the library door caught her attention, walking over to the door, she opened it and saw Fluttershy with a frightened look on her face. “Fluttershy, you look pretty shaken, what’s going on.”

Fluttershy came in and sat down on a chair and began to explain what she had seen over the Everfree forest.

“I’m not sure what I saw, Twilight, I was feeding my animals when a bird flew down and told me a strange object was flying around over the forest.”

Twilight already knew strange creatures lived in that forest but as Fluttershy began to describe the thing, she began to have doubts on that this was an animal, what Fluttershy had described sounded more like a machine of some kind, but how it was described made it seem that this was far beyond pony technology, heck, even the Griffon Kingdom, the most technological kingdom, couldn’t produce anything of this sort.

It had no wings, only an odd spinning disc on its back, a similar one on its tail, yet it could still fly somehow, if it truly was from the Griffon kingdom, it would have had two scratch marks on a shield. The griffon prince, Prince Callus, was going to be crowned king after his father passed away. Unlike his father, he hates ponies and thinks that they are weak and pathetic.

Twilight was going to say something but a scroll from the Princesses came out of Spike’s mouth, said dragon who was making his way out of the kitchen.

Twilight caught the scroll in her hands and unfolded it, she began to read the message written by Princess Celestia herself.

“Deer twilight sparkle, that spell I wanted you to learn, it somehow managed to bring something not of Equestria here, I need you and your friend’s to stay alert.”

“I will be sending a platoon of guards down to Ponyville, I know you and your friends can do it, from your mentor, Princess Celestia.”

Twilight finished reading and put the parchment on a table with various scrolls before looking towards Fluttershy.

“Fluttershy, you said you saw this thing, do you know where it went?”

“Well, I can take you to where I think it might be but I really don’t want to go into that forest, the deeper you go, the more dangerous it becomes.”

“Great, let’s get the girls and wait for the guards before we head out.”

Right then, a certain orange pony with a blonde mane smashed through the door, quickly regretting doing that, if Twilight’s annoyed face was anything to go by.

Applejack was followed by rarity and Rainbow Dash, all looked very distressed about something.

“Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, what’s going on, and could you knock next time instead of bashing my door down?” Twilight said, trying her hardest to calm down.

“Sorry, Twi,” Applejack apologized. “It’s Apple Bloom, Sweetie Bell and Scootaloo, they’ve wandered into the Everfree forest again.”

Twilight and Fluttershy’s expressions became grave and worried for the filly trio.

“If the guards are here, tell them to come along with us in case we run into any danger,” Twilight commanded.

With that, the group nodded and prepared for the trek into the Everfree.

Author's Note

Hope you liked this chapter, tell me if you want more, If i get any inspiration on my other story, I’ll let you know, just read my blogs. Here’s the picture of the exact helicopter.
As for the demon, I didn’t feel like calling her a succubus, I wanted to be a little more creative. I used to play a lot of quest games with demons in it so I decided call her a demon guide.

Recon

Author's Note

Oh Jesus, I had the most terrifying dream last night, so glad that’s over with, anyways hope this chapter is to your liking.

When a character is thinking, it will be in bold lettering

Recon

After grabbing a first aid kit, Joel’s standard issue rifle, and locking the doors so no one could enter, the two pilots entered the forest. Brandon told Mirth to stay behind and watch the chopper. Mirth wanted to argue, but Brandon didn’t want to hear any of it. Seeing she couldn’t win this, she gave up but asked to keep in contact with the two.

The forest was dark and creepy if the two had to sum it up. Brandon and Joel’s rifles were trained in every direction, they had no idea what prowled in these woods and needless to say, none were too excited to know what was out there with them.

“Hey, Brandon.”

Brandon turned his attention to Joel who was shaking a bit, while he walked, clearly uneasy about doing recon in this forest.

“What is it Joel,” he asked.

“You think I should’ve joined the Marine Corps or become an Army Ranger?”

Brandon snickered at Joel’s question. “Be serious, Joel, you know as well as I that you wouldn’t make it past basic.”

Joel just rolled his eyes while scanning his environment, nothing to be seen aside from plants, trees, and rocks. They had carved x marks into the trees so they didn’t lose their way back to the heli. It had been a long time since they had entered the forest and decided on a plan to get a better visual without using the helicopter, they wanted to save fuel just in case they needed it again.

“Okay, you see that tree?” Brandon said while pointing to a tall tree with many branches in a circular area in the forest.

“I need you to climb it and see what you can find and hopefully get the layout of the land we are in, this obviously isn't Iraq nor any other area in the Middle East.”

Joel nodded, looking at the tree before walking over to it and began to climb it, branch by branch. On the ground, Brandon kept watch and decided to call Mirth, he was still on edge about her appearance, but she didn’t seem to want to cause any harm. Brandon couldn’t tell if people were lying but he definitely knew how to root out a good person from a bad person, something the military took a liking to.

He quit being an MP because he longed to fly and he was mainly getting sick of doing patrols or just standing in one place. Paperwork was definitely a bitch whenever he had to do it.

His boss was the main reason he became a warrant officer, he was overly demanding, mean and if you completed something, he’d find a way to mess it up so you would do it all over again.

He wanted more thrills and to actually save lives, something he apparently failed to do today. Ignoring those thoughts, he grabbed his walkie-talkie and pressed the speak button.

“Mirth, do you read, over? After saying that, Mirth’s voice came through the speaker.

“What?” She said, clearly confused.

“I said, do you read, over?”

“Yes I can read, I’m not a baby, what book do you want me to read?”

“No, i said… oh just forget it” said Brandon as he hung up, remembering she was not part of the military, or someone from the land of the living in general.

Just as he hung up, Joel had made his way down to the ground, sweating bullets.

You are damn lucky you got watch duty Mr. former MP, he said before slugging him playfully.

“Help!!!”

The two men snapped to attention at the scream, Brandon recognized the screams as children.

“Are those kids!?” Joel asked.

“What else would they be, dumbass?” Brandon retorted.

“So, do we follow the…” was all Joel could say as he was grabbed by his wrist by Brandon as they barreled through the foliage, not caring if any hungry predator saw them.

They arrived at a rocky ledge that overlooked a rock wall, what they saw below were not humans at all. Three creatures stood on their two legs like humans, the only thing that made them odd was the short equine-like muzzles, yet it more resembled a cat’s muzzle than a horses. They had ears on the top of their heads, one seemed to have fucking wings, another had a horn on its head.

The main threat was certainly the giant lion with bat wings, horns, and a scorpion tail, standing as tall as a god damn Polar bear on all fours that is.

“The fuck is that thing?” Muttered Joel as he took in the spectacle.

“Do you have a plan, boss?”

Brandon thought for a bit, if there were no human kids around here, where were they?

Brandon considered the idea of helping these kids, well, he thought they were kids, the former MP inside him telling him to help, but at the same time, he thought he would just get hell from whatever family or authorities that lived around here.

“Joel, what did you see up there anyways?”

“Is this really the time to be asking me about this?” Joel said, pointing to the soon to be massacre below them.

Answer the damn question, I don’t want to get caught in the act doing this.

“I saw a town pretty far from here, maybe we could give these, uh, kids a ride back.”

Brandon nodded, not like he would allow them to get spotted that easily. He pulled Joel in and told him what to do after that, they silently made their way down. Brandon only hoped that they wouldn’t have to resort to faze two, lethal force.
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Apple Bloom’s POV.

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It was supposed to be a quick trip into the forest to get our Cutie Marks, only to end up lost. To make matters worse, we stumbled upon a hungry manticore, it chased us to a dead end which leaves us trapped with no way of escape.

“Girls, I’m sorry I got y’all into this mess, if Diamond Tiara didn’t tease us so much, maybe we wouldn’t be in this situation in the first place,” cried Apple Bloom.

“Hey, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon are jerks, they can’t tell us what to do or what to not be,” said Scootaloo, still aware of the approaching manticore.

“Well, that’s good and all, but how are we going to get past our demise?” Sweetie belle Pointed out.

Before the monster could take a swipe at us, a loud whistle came from behind it, causing the beast to turn its attention to whatever made that noise. I thought it might be Applejack as she always whistled like that, but as the monster moved aside, we saw a being wearing heavy clothes and a helmet.

If his face wasn’t flat with no muzzle, I would easily pass him off as a pony in an odd attire. He also had no ears, or maybe they were under his helmet. The manticore seemed pretty upset that he didn’t get to eat as it approached the stallion, or that’s what I think he is.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Back with Brandon and Joel.

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The beast came closer to Brandon’s position, its huge fangs, the same size as a fucking hippo’s were on full display. Now that he got his attention, he signaled Joel to check on the kids, he had been trying to understand why they have such odd facial features.

He was not trying to be mean or anything, but what would you do if you saw anthropomorphic equines with techno colored fur. The one in the middle had yellow fur, red hair, or mane, with a large pink bow.

The one with stubby wings had orange fur, and a magenta colored mane while the girl with the horn had an elegant white coat with a purple and pink mane. Brandon didn’t know whether to say hair or mane due to their equine and human features.

He nearly avoided a swipe from the cat’s mighty paws, both embedded with grim reaper-like claws. Any closer that hit alone could have decapitated him. He flicked the safety off and set the gun to burst. Avoiding another blow, he fired at the… well, whatever it was, making it roar in pain, but soon that pain turned into anger.

The beast’s tail knocked Brandon over as he fell to the ground. The monster loomed over him, it’s stinger poised to strike. Before it could finish off Brandon, it roared in pain once again and turned around to see Joel with the frightened kids. He held his rifle that was currently trained on the monster’s back. The beast, forgetting Brandon at the moment, charged straight for Joel, who in turn fired at the oncoming lion hybrid.

Brandon had a new plan, he got up and fired a few more rounds at the creature who slammed into Joel. Joel quickly dodged a swipe from the hybrid and climbed onto its back. Joel pulled out his knife from a holder and began to slash the hybrid’s back and neck, hoping to hit something.

While that was happening, Brandon got up off the ground and held his M4 up and continued to fire upon the beast.

The beast didn’t swing its stinger at him, less it wanted to kill or paralyze itself. The hybrid flipped itself over, leaving a stunned and winded Joel on the ground.

Firing a few more rounds at the cat, it turned its attention back towards Brandon and without hesitation, it charged.

“Time to end this,”muttered Brandon as he aimed for the creature's head.

*Click*

Brandon flinched at that dreaded sound. He had used up his entire magazine and he didn’t notice due to the climactic fight. He then found himself flying through the air before hitting his head on a tree. He wasn’t unconscious yet, his vision was blurry but that was not his main concern. The lion hybrid was only inches from him, his rifle was out of his reach on his left. He struggled to go for his M9.

The hybrid brought its head down to his level. Brandon had only one last card to play, something another friend in the Army had given him to fight those bastards. The beast let out an ungodly roar but that didn’t faze Brandon one bit. He reached behind him, pulled a pin on a grenade given to him and chucked it down the beast’s throat. The hybrid began to choke on the device which gave Brandon enough time to make his way back to Joel and the kids.

“Kids, if you can understand what I am saying, close your eyes, you don’t want to see this.”

The girls, or that's what the two humans assumed they were, closed their eyes. The lion hybrid decided to run into the foliage and you could hear a muffled explosion and a loud painful yowl.

“Well, that went better than I thought it would,” said Joel.
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Twilight and the gang, along with two guards were traveling through the forest, the deeper they got, the more unnerving it became. With the two guards, one Stallion and one mare holding spears, crossbows strapped to their hips in a sort of holster, seemed to keep any nearby predators of the forest away. Nothing interesting had happened on their journey, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie pie on the other hand wanted something interesting to happen. The two guards had to shush Pinkie a couple times to not alert any nearby predators in the vicinity.

It had been probably one hour of non stop walking and rarity was hating it.

“Oh please, can we take a tiny break, my legs are killing me, I would usually complain about how dirty this forest is but that’s another story for another time.”

“Doggone it, Rarity, your sister could be in danger!” Yelled Applejack.

Everypony just face palmed themselves at Rarity’s complaining yet continued their trek, leaving Rarity to lay down on a log. Seeing she was alone with all the dangerous wildlife, she made her way back to the group.

The group stopped in their tracks as loud firework-like sounds pierced the silence and ambience of the forest.

“Maybe Apple Bloom brought some of our fireworks and is giving their location to us,” Said a relieved Applejack.

We got no other choice, let’s go, said Twilight.

Before they could move any further, a rotten smell filled the air, it smelled of a dead animal. They looked to their right and saw a sight none wanted to see, the dead carcass of a manticore.

Hearing some voices ahead of the group, they cautiously approached a clearing.
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Back with Brandon and Joel.

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Brandon and Joel had been explaining some things to the CMC, also known as the Cutie Mark Crusaders. To be honest, they were surprised at what answers they got from these fillies.

“Okay, let me get this straight, your species are called ponies, you have different races, and you all live in this world we are now in called Equestria,” said Brandon.

“And there are three Princesses, one raises the sun, another raises the moon, and one has the ability to sense if someone…”

“It’s somepony,” said Apple Bloom, correcting Joel.

“Ooookay, so the Princess of love can tell if somepony has feelings for another, am I correct?” Finished Joel, still looking at the girls.

The three girls nodded.

“Excuse me please.”

Brandon excused himself and walked into the foliage, Joel could hear tons of profanities, just about every word you could think of. Before Brandon could say anything, Joel told the girls to cover their ears.

Joel obviously could tell Brandon was pretty pissed, all he wanted to do was get the previous mission over with and head home back to America.

Joel had family too, but he didn’t see them often. Both him and Brandon were single, and most likely would stay that way until they were done serving.

Brandon came out of the bushes, after recovering from his fit of rage, he had told Mirth everything and he said he would be coming back with three kids.

Okay, kids, we’re going to give you a ride back to your village. Apple Bloom nodded to Sweetie belle and Scootaloo.

“It’s okay girls, they saved us, so I trust them.”

Sweetie Bell and Scootaloo looked at each other and after a few seconds, nodded.

“Alright, let’s get…” Brandon was cut off as the foliage and a few voices approached their position.

“Oh shit, abort plan, abort plan,” whispered Brandon as he and Joel ran up the rocky ledge they had come down from and hid themselves.

Out of the bushes came more ponies as Apple Bloom called her species. One was a lavender unicorn with a dark purple mane, a pink streak running down it, there was a white unicorn as well with a curly purple mane.

The lavender pony wore a plaid vest over a white collared shirt and a skirt along with it.

The others were an orange pony with a blonde mane and a stetson, a cyan Pegasus with a rainbow mane, and another Pegasus with butter yellow fur, and a light pink mane.

The last one was… Brandon didn’t have the words, she was all pink, her hair was poofy, and she was bouncing around. One thought ran through Brandon’s mind.

“I want whatever she is on, looks like she’s having a fucking great time.”

The two others wore armor, and Brandon had to shake his head at the choice of armor. They both wore gold armor, in modern days that would be the last thing anybody would be wearing on the battlefield. Gold was damn heavy and he felt kinda bad for the two. One seemed to be a stallion and the other seemed to be a mare, Both had white fur.

The yellow Anthro pony, which really did describe what they were, was crying, so he decided to listen in on that specific conversation.

“What could have done that to that poor poor manticore,” she said, still crying as the others comforted her.

“Poor manticore? Last time I checked that thing was gonna tear me a new one.”

“Don’t worry Fluttershy, when I find whoever, I’ll teach them a lesson they won’t forget,” said the cyan Pegasus.

“Oh shit, that one's hostile.”

Brandon turned to Joel and told him what the next objective was. “Joel, I will contact Mirth and tell her we are on our way.”

“Those armored ponies won’t be a major problem unless we have to resort to fighting, I’d rather not fight someone in gold armor in any way.”

Joel nodded but his eyes went wide at something that he thought was impossible. Brandon looked to where he was looking and he saw the all pink pony was looking at us and trying to get the other’s attention.

“How the fuck did she see us, we are in perfect cover,” said Brandon as the others took notice of the two camouflaged beings.

The rainbow maned pegasus took an aggressive stance and the two armored ponies took a defensive stance, that was all the two pilots needed as they dashed for the chopper.

They ran through the forest as fast as a jungle cat, they could hear shouts and oddly the sound of wing beats.

Looking behind him, Brandon saw that the cyan pegasus was gaining on them, yet each turn slowed her down due to the dense woods. The two pilots had the advantage but that was all lost as Brandon tripped over a root sticking out of the ground.

“Brandon!” Yelled Joel.

His leg hurt like hell and he may have twisted his ankle. Joel went back to him but Brandon pushed him away.

“Don’t help me Joel, I will lead them away, if you escape, try to find me in that town, use my walkie talkie to contact me, now go!”

Joel nodded and took off towards the helicopter, passing the marked trees. Brandon got up slowly, using his rifle to balance himself. He switched the rifle’s safety off and headed in the opposite direction but didn’t get far as a powerful blow to the back sent him flying into a tree and knocked him out.
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Joel’s POV.

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I burst through the trees and saw the helicopter, my ticket out of here. Sitting next to the cargo door facing me was Mirth, sleeping but woke up when I approached her. She looked around and I knew who she was looking for.

“Where’s Brandon?”

“He’s leading a group that was chasing us away, he twisted his leg and I don’t think he made it out of there in that condition.”

“What! We have to go back for him,” she yelled accusingly at me.

“I think he has a plan, but he wants us to find another place to hide and then we will fly over to the town we saw.”

Mirth gave me a deadpan stare but lost it quickly as she went to jump into the helicopter. I did the same, stowing my rifle before getting into my seat. I noticed some of the overhead panel switches were not in the right position, most likely due to Brandon while I was unconscious, so I corrected their positions. Within a few minutes the chopper started up as I waited for the rotors to reach full power, which would take some time.

After a while of thinking about what Brandon had said, I slapped my face remembering we marked the trees so we could find our way back, that also meant the ponies could too. I checked the dashboard and thankfully the rotors were at full speed, the. Heli was ready for takeoff.

I grabbed the thrust lever as the helicopter slowly lifted off the ground, but then the helicopter was stuck in place, a blue glow engulfing the controls and everything around me, aside from Mirth. no matter how many times I tried to give lift to the chopper, it wouldn’t budge.

“Mirth, I need you to open the back door, grab a rifle, and see what’s going on down there!”

She nodded and hopped over various supplies and medical beds, picking up a rifle. Thankfully she knew how to use a gun, and opened the left side door.

I heard some gunfire but stopped after a while. Mirth came back to her seat, buckled in and sat down. I was able to move the heli again and we moved out of the area.

“Care to tell me what you did back there?” I asked with a suspicious look.

“Oh don’t worry, it was those ponies so I just sprayed a couple rounds to scare them off.”

I shook my head in annoyance, me and her were acquaintances to say the least. I hope negotiations weren’t thrown out the window, yet we could pretend this never happened if we were caught, couldn’t we?

Questions and answers

It was late in the afternoon and the sun was hammering down upon Brandon who was standing next to his patrol car. Here in Arkansas it could reach some hot temperatures but Brandon didn’t mind, he was born here after all, yet he didn’t want to stay under the sun for too long. He adorned his work uniform, his service pistol strapped to his hip. In his right hand he held a water bottle, he took a sip of the refreshing liquid before setting it down on the car’s hood.

It was a rather boring day as usual, patrolling and standing at his post for god knows how long until he had to move or let another MP take his place. It was definitely better than being in Afghanistan, Iraq, or any other areas in the Middle East.

Looking towards the runway, he noticed a pair of Helicopters taking to the skies. For many days he thought about becoming a pilot or a co-pilot, yet he liked to serve and protect as an MP, but he wasn’t entirely happy. He decided to put those thoughts to rest as a guy on the radio told him to head to an area where some trouble was brewing.

While he made his way past many crates and buildings, he felt like he was being watched, yet Brandon knew he was always being watched so he decided to keep moving. Once he reached the area where supposed strange activity was occurring, he ended up in a dead end alleyway.

“Okay, this isn’t damn funny at all.”

Hearing footsteps behind him, he put his hand on his holster. Brandon never drew his gun on base unless he was actually being threatened, but the way he was cornered and someone was behind made him extremely uneasy, so it was to be expected for him to put a hand on his M9 just in case.

“Finally, I found you out of all these creatures.”

Turning around, he came face to face with a… blue horse with wings and a horn? He recalled something like this happening previously but he couldn’t put his finger on it.

“What the fuck, what are you and how did you step foot on base grounds without no one seeing you.”

The being had human qualities but the only thing that was off was the equine-like head, muzzle, ears, horn, bird wings, and mane. The eyes were pretty large, larger than humans. She, if the eyelashes and makeup were anything to go by, wore a very regal dress, similar to those old fashioned ball gowns.

What caught his attention was the crown upon her head, maybe she liked dressing up for fun.

“We are in a dream, this is all in your imagination.”

Brandon took a few steps back, in doing so, he accidentally tripped on a pipe and banged his head on a wall, causing him to lose his vision.

“You can not hide, creature.”

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Brandon woke up in a cold sweat, panting heavily. He looked down at his body and noticed he was wearing one of those hospital gowns. The only thing covering him were his boxers.

“Wait, if I’m wearing a hospital gown, wouldn’t that mean I’m in a hospital?” He thought as he looked around.

Taking in his surroundings, he was indeed in a hospital. All he could do was let out a tiny smirk.

“Looks like recon went as planned.”

He had planned quickly to get himself captured and learned more about this society and these ponies’ intentions. Yes it was a lousy plan but it was the only idea he had before he was knocked unconscious, for how long, he did not know.

He saw all of his clothing in a bag near the bed and decided to get dressed. Once he was done dressing he noticed his sidearm was missing, so were all of his equipment, rifle and helmet included.

“Damn ponies touched my stuff without permission,” he muttered bitterly.

He saw his radio was the only thing that was thankfully left alone so he decided to call Joel.

“Joel, come in, do you read, over?”

“Dude, I know how to read,” said Joel, chuckling over the radio, obviously trying to toy with Brandon.

“Oh shut your trap, this is not the time for this, I need you to fly over to the town and look for a good place to land, once you land, ask where the hospital is, I will be out soon, hopefully.”

“What if the ponies become hostile towards me.”

Brandon thought about what Joel had said but replied soon after.

“If they start to become hostile, just surrender to them. I know you may not like it, but we don’t want to look like a national threat.”

“Copy that,” said Joel with a bit of skepticism, yet he didn’t doubt his partner.

Moments later, Brandon heard footsteps which sounded like heeled shoes on a tiled floor.

He decided to hide behind the door and wait for the perfect time to announce his presence. The door opened and in came a few ponies, the first one seemed to be a nurse with white fur and a pink mane, a nurse cap on her head. She wore a blue outfit and black leggings.

“He’s right in here, he should be up any…” the nurse trailed off as she noticed Brandon wasn’t in bed.

“He’s gone!!!”

The group from the forest, aside from the kids he had met, rushed in and looked at the empty bed. Brandon had a knife in his boot pocket but he didn’t need it, all he wanted was to make peaceful negotiations but still didn’t want to look completely vulnerable.

“I wouldn’t say that, let’s just say I didn't feel like sleeping in today,” said Brandon as he came out of the shadows like a badass.

The group turned towards Brandon with wide eyes, all Brandon did was raise his hands in the air as one of the guards from the forest held his spear at the ready.

“Hey hey, I’m not here to hurt anyone, that’s the exact opposite of what I’m trained to do, yet I will defend myself if I have to.”

The cyan pegasus mare zoomed up to Brandon’s face who in turn stepped back a bit, he wasn’t intimidated as his instructors were more intimidating than her. She wore a white and blue T-shirt and navy blue cargo pants.

“Oh yeah, then why did you slaughter that manticore, you made my friend here cry because of that!”

Brandon was rather displeased. He may have made a nature lover cry from his actions but that thing was gonna kill him, Joel, and those kids, what else was he supposed to do.

“Just for the record, that thing was going to kill me, my friend, and those kids, oh, by the way, we saved their lives, where the hell were you, huh?” He said, getting up in her face like she had done to him.

The cyan pegasus looked a bit worried as Brandon had a stare that only his Sergeant could give. After a few seconds, the Rainbow haired pony returned the glare with gritted teeth. The purple one lit up her horn and somehow dragged the pegasus back. “What the fuck!” Thought Brandon.

“Rainbow Dash, we are here to ask questions and then give answers to the Princesses, not antagonize him,” she said sternly but looked at Brandon with an apologetic look.

“I’m sorry for her actions, she gets a little aggressive towards different creatures she doesn’t know.”

Brandon took a breath of air before nodding.“Understandable, I don't hold grudges.”

The purple unicorn sheepishly smiled and levitated, and I kid you not, a notebook.

“Let’s start with introductions, I’m Twilight Sparkle, these are my friends.”

The first one to step up was the orange pony with a blonde mane and a stetson. She held out a hand to Brandon who smiled and shook back.

“Howdy partner, my name is Applejack, me and my family own Sweet apple acres.”

“Strong grip you got there, I respect a per… I mean, a pony who shakes like that.”

Her face turned red at the comment. “Ah shucks, you're too kind, and thank you for saving my sister, you're welcome down at the farm anytime.”

“It was no problem at all, Applejack.”

Brandon smiled, he grew up on a farm and he’d be more then willing to help at the farm. He knew him and Applejack would get along right away.

The next was that same rainbow maned pegasus. She seemed hesitant on her words but braved up anyway.

“Uh, hey, I’m Rainbow Dash, fastest flyer in all of Equestria, and thanks for saving Scootaloo, I don’t know what I would do without her.”

Nodding, Brandon looked to the next pony, who was looking at his clothes with disgust. She had an ivory white coat, light blue makeup around her eyes, blue eyes, and a purple mane.

She wore some pretty fancy clothes which looked like they cost hundreds of dollars. They were in every way flashy, meant to catch attention etc.

“Darling why do you wear such a horrendous outfit, this certainly can’t be worn around town.”

“And you are?” Brandon deadpanned with a raised eyebrow.

“She gave a sheepish grin while chuckling in embarrassment. I’m Rarity, proud owner of Carousel boutique, one of many in Equestria, and the same goes for my sister as well.”

“Well, pleasure to meet you miss Rarity, and as for the clothes, they are a uniform I must wear, yet I may need some new clothes eventually, and about your sister, it was no problem.”

She seemed to get really excited about the idea and Brandon thought he might regret the decision. The next was the butter yellow pegasus, she seemed very shy, maybe due to the fact he killed an animal, but he had to reassure her he did it to protect the kids.

“Hey, I’m sorry for…” was all Brandon got to say as the pegasus cut him off with a hand.

The room was silent but she looked up at me and smiled softly. Brandon took that as a sign of acceptance and just waited to hear what she had to say.

It’s okay, you did what you had to do to defend Apple Bloom, Sweetie Bell, and Scootaloo, my name is fluttershy by the way.”

The other ponies oddly looked shocked, Brandon didn’t know why but he didn’t think about why, perhaps she was very shy and would take time to get used to one’s presence. Either way, Brandon gave a warm smile and a nod, but soon his vision was filled with nothing but pink and two baby blue eyes.

“Hello, I’m Pinkie Pie, do you like parties, I like parties, oooooooooooh, I have to make you a welcome to ponyville party once you get out!”

In an instant, she dashed out of the room after her ongoing speech. Brandon was stunned and only had five words floating in his head.

“What the fuck just happened?!!”

“Um, who was that, and what just happened?” He asked with his pointer finger raised, his voice rather shaky.

Twilight looked embarrassed but that soon vanished as she explained to Brandon who he had just met.

“That was Pinkie Pie, Ponyville’s party pony. She typically welcomes everyone who enters Ponyville.”

“Ponyville, of all the stupidest names I have heard of, this takes the cake!” He screamed in his head.

Nodding, he decided it was only fair to introduce himself. He headed over to the bed, but he almost tripped as he winced from the pain coming from his leg that had been hurt after his fall in the forest. His face had some cuts and bruises from the impact into the tree before he was knocked out.

The nurse ran to Brandon’s side, helping him to the bed.

the guard that was in the room, the other keeping watch outside, stepped forward. “Ma’am, I advise you to be cautious of this new creature, he could be potentially dangerous.”

The nurse gave a distasteful look towards the guard. “I’m not scared of him, he’s a patient and as long as he’s here, he will remain as such.”

Brandon sat back on the bed, letting a soft sigh slip from his mouth. “Thank you, nurse…”

“Oh, Redheart, nurse Redheart.”

“Well then, my name is Brandon O’Neil, I am a human, man, or homosapien.”

Twilight wrote down what he had said in her notebook. She looked at Brandon, signaling him to continue.

“Well, where do I start?” asked Brandon, a little unsure what they wanted to know.

Twilight put the pencil to her lips, thinking but soon came to an idea. “How about you just tell us the basic things, you can tell the Princesses everything else when we visit them tonight for dinner.”

If Brandon had a drink, he would have choked on whatever liquid he was drinking. He knew he might become popular in this new land, but catching the attention of royalty was flabbergasting. He knew a guy who flew those VIP president helicopters, Jerry was his name, he actually got to fly the president and a few other VIPs to a classified location. Remembering he had questions to answer, he gave them the best answers he could think of.

“So what I do for a living is fly…”

“Bwahahahahahaha!” Rainbow Dash put her hand on the wall and laughed at the prospect of Brandon flying, seeing he had no wings.

“That’s a good one, but I don’t think you would be able to even get off the ground without any wings,” she said while trying to catch her breath.

Brandon held an unamused face but it slowly turned into a smirk. He was going to have some fun, and seeing ponies weren’t extremely technologically advanced, he began to talk about his bird that was being flown here as they spoke.

“You're right, I don’t have wings, but us humans are very advanced, technology wise, we have created contraptions that have wings that can hold two to one hundred and eighty three passengers.

“Some can break the speed of sound, others can fly to extreme heights.”

“They are called airplanes, a machine that gets passengers to where they need to be or drop off cargo and other sorts of equipment.”

At what he told them, the ponies, even the guard, who had been giving Brandon the stink eye were very interested.

“So, which one do you fly?” Asked Rainbow, the most interested of the group.

“Oh, I don’t fly airplanes, I fly an aircraft called a helicopter, chopper,, heli, helo, whirlybird, etc.”

“What does it do?” Asked Twilight, furiously writing in her notebook.

Unlike planes that takeoff going forwards and landing forwards, helicopters liftoff vertically, they can fly backwards, forwards, sideways, even upside down sometimes.

“It can hover in place, similar to a hummingbird, but that eats up a ton of fuel,” finished Brandon as he checked his watch, oddly the time was the same as before he crashed.

Brandon forgot to mention his job and the guns, he also noticed he had a few more minutes before the heli would arrive.

“Okay, last few questions, I will answer more once we have dinner.”

“Okay, the Princesses wanted to know what your job was, what those weapons do, and what you plan on doing in Equestria,” said Twilight.

“Okay, I worked for the military, or army, in my world, it is an armed force that protects the country from aggressors or other threats, in and outside of our country.”

So, it’s like the Royal Guard? said Rarity, yawning a bit.

Um, I guess so, if they serve and protect Equestria, then absolutely, only the country I’m from called America, is runed by a government, not a monarchy,” said Brandon.

“I started out as a military police officer, enforcing military law and keeping everything secure and safe. I later decided this job wasn’t helping me or anyone else, so I became a pilot of a medical helicopter.”

“I have saved a few lives whether I was outside a base or at a base.”

“I have a friend who is on his way with an acquaintance of mine and will land outside, would you like to join me?” he asked the group who nodded.

Just then a doctor came in holding a clipboard, he walked over to the bed as nurse Redheart left.

“Well, your ankle seems to be fine now after we applied some magic over the hurt area, I’d suggest you take it easy for at least a day,” he said.

“Thanks doc, am I free to leave?” Asked Brandon, hoping he’d say yes.

“Yes, yes you are, just check out at the front desk whenever you're ready.”

With that, the doctor left the room

Brandon nodded, but he forgot one little thing. “Now, about my weapons, they are similar to crossbows but they are a bit more advanced, they are called guns and us pilots rarely use them.”

“So, how do they work?” asked Twilight

“They shoot small projectiles that can vary in size, at high speeds. They are the only way for us humans to fight bigger opponents.”

“Sure in the military we are trained to do hand to hand combat, some of us that is, but mainly we use guns for fighting, protecting, hunting, and for sport.”

“Why ya need all that, can’t you use magic?” Asked a confused Applejack.

“Brandon tried to hold back his laughter as best as he could. No, humans don’t have magic nor can we use it, we have to rely on technology and nature itself.”

The group gasped and Brandon raised an eyebrow.

“How can you live without magic, darling, I couldn’t imagine what it would be like if I never could use my magic.”

Brandon chuckled and began to explain a little bit about his world. As he told them, their faces changed by each answer he had given them. They really lost it when he said the sun and moon rose on their own due to gravity as they orbited the planet, he didn’t pay too much attention during science class.

Trust me, Rarity, you would soon get used to living without magic, you would adapt in time, now then, why don’t we head out and meet my friend.

The group nodded as Brandon got up and exited the room, after walking down a few halls, they made it to the counter and he checked out. Exiting the hospital, he saw Joel and Mirth waiting for him.

“How was the hospital food, better than an MRE I take it?” He asked with a smirk.

“Lucky for me, I didn’t get to find out since I didn’t stay the night, but what we are going to do is visit these Princesses tonight for dinner.”

Joel’s face went from cocky to surprised. “Wait, we are dining with royalty, you're joking right?”

Brandon gave him his no-nonsense face, seeing this, Joel nodded but soon noticed the group looking at Joel and Mirth.

“What is that thing, it’s scary looking,” said Fluttershy, hiding behind Applejack, looking directly at Mirth who didn’t look amused at the least.

Mirth chewed a bar of gum she had somehow pulled out of thin air and blew a bubble. “I’m not a thing, I’m a demon, you know, from the underworld, but don’t worry, I’m nice.”

Everypony aside from Brandon, Joel, and Mirth, looked at Applejack for some sort of answer. Applejack’s eyes squinted but later relaxed.

“She’s tellin the truth, I think she’s just as confused as we are,” said Applejack, being the living lie detector she is.

“Whoa, hold up, you can tell she was telling the truth?” Said Joel in astonishment, yet he was still skeptical about Applejack being able to tell if someone was lying.

“Yup, I’m the Element of honesty, I can tell if somepony is lying or not.”

“Well that’s interesting indeed, I have been known to be able to tell a bad guy from a good guy, something that has helped me during my time as a military police officer.”

“Many people thought it was impossible for me to do so, but I have proved them wrong a couple times during some tours in iraq,” said Brandon.

Twilight had told Brandon about the Elements of harmony and what they do. Brandon and Joel wanted to call bullshit on the idea of rainbows surrounding someone and either reforming them or turning them into stone, but in the situation they were currently in, they had to believe it.

As they walked down a trail, separating the hospital from the noisy town, a tapping gained Brandon’s attention. Looking to his left, he saw Fluttershy looking at him with her light blue eyes.

“Yes,Can I help you?” said Brandon in the most gentle voice he could muster.

“Um, what kind of animals do you have back home, if you don’t mind me asking that is,” she said timidly.

“Oh no, no problem at all, there are a large variety of animals, said Brandon, listing off all the animals he could think of as they entered town.

“Wow, I didn’t know you had so many, some of the animals you mentioned actually live in Equestria,” Fluttershy said in glee.

Brandon thought of the idea of what they were going to eat in a herbivore society, so he decided to ask Twilight about the topic.

“Hey, Twilight.” She turned her head in Brandon’s direction.

“Yeah, what is it?” She asked.

He had to pick his words wisely, one wrong word could give him and Brandon, and Mirth possibly, who was in her tiny form, sitting on his shoulder, a bad look.

She poked him with her pitchfork, giggling. She could read his every thought, unless he didn’t want her to, she was permanently linked to him all thanks to the high demon council.

“Ouch!” “I know I know, geez.”

“I was meaning to tell you, humans can eat almost anything edible, but we also need to eat meat to stay healthy.”

Twilight’s face went pale and he had to reassure her that he and Joel meant no harm, he couldn’t say for Mirth though.

“I don’t need to eat to stay alive, dummy, I’m a demon”

Nodding he turned back to Twilight.

“Twilight, don’t worry, we don’t eat ponies or anything that is intelligent as a human or pony.”

Shaking away her fear, she nodded and thought for a bit but that all was shattered as a scream for help pierced the silence.

On instinct, the group ran around a corner and noticed a group of anthro ponies were crowded around something but they couldn’t see. Brandon and Joel pushed aside the group and saw a mare with crimson red fur, violet and purple hair, mane, fuck it, same thing, on the ground, bite marks all over her body.

Two nurses, one doctor, and a small group of guards, told the remaining civilians to stay back and let the professionals handle things.

Seeing he and Joel were also professionals here, they came up to the doctor and nurses.

What’s her condition doctor, I’m a medical pilot and this is my co-pilot, do you need any assistance.

“She came out of the forest after being attacked by timberwolves, she is critically wounded, I’m not sure if she will make it here in Ponyville,” said the nurse next to the doctor who Brandon recognized as Nurse Redheart.

“You're pilots, you say?” The doctor asked, but Brandon could tell there was more to his words.

“Yes, sir, we fly that machine over there,” Brandon pointed to the chopper behind them near a fountain in the middle of the town.

“Our medical supplies are very low at the moment, more supplies are coming by train and this mare wouldn’t last very long,” said the doctor.

“The only place I can think of that has the right medical supplies is Canterlot but we can’t teleport from this distance, and going by train would take too much time.”

It didn’t take much time for Brandon to come up with a solution.

“Sir, the only way that’s quick enough that I can think of is our helicopter, let us take her and we will get there quickly,” said Brandon as Joel fired up the chopper.

The doctor looked at the nurses who nodded before looking back at Brandon. “These nurses will go with you and help keep the patient steady, now hurry.”

With that said, they loaded the gravely injured mare into the helicopter which was up and running, waiting for takeoff. Rainbow Dash flew up to Brandon. “Follow me, I will lead you to Canterlot from here.”

Okay, just be careful of that spinning thing on the top of the helicopter, trust me, you don’t want to get cut by those blades,”warned Brandon.

Rainbow saluted and took to the sky, awaiting the pilots. Brandon got situated in his seat, Twilight and her friends said they would meet up in Canterlot via train. One guard was stationed on the helicopter for security reasons.

Brandon looked back at the guard, the guard noticed everyone was strapped in, he then gave a nod to Brandon as he gave lift to the helicopter after signaling Rainbow Dash. The chopper left the ground and in little time was soaring over the landscape at high speeds, the pilots could only hope they could make it in time.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Princess Celestia’s POV.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Twilight had informed me that a wounded mare was being taken to the main Canterlot hospital near the castle. the creatures that Twilight had encountered were surprisingly bringing her here. Me and Luna waited in a large treeless garden in front of the largest Hospital in Canterlot.

“Sister, do you remember what I told you about the creatures’ appearance?” Asked Luna.

I nodded, the creatures seemed to share similar features to ponies as Luna described them, the only things that separated them from ponies were that they were hairless, only hair on their heads and eyebrows.

The other features were the muzzless face, a small snub-like protrusion for their nose, they also had smaller eyes. What humans as they were called, lacked in magic and other abilities, they made up for in technology.

Perhaps these humans’ knowledge could possibly boost pony technology and benefit our species with their ideas, but then the Griffon Kingdom would be wanting what we have, our relationship has been heated due to the Prince who was to be crowned king tomorrow. This worried me greatly, he hates ponies and most likely will find ways to make problems.

“I hope nothing like that happens, I must protect my subjects, even if it means war, I must stay strong!”

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

End of POV

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

As the two Princesses waited, Celestia was in deep thought, she was worried the Prince would try to start a conflict. Being the most technologically advanced race of all, they were fierce, brave, and tactical when it came to fighting. The Royal Guard weren’t ready to face a race such as the Griffons, the strongest weapon the Royal guards had were cannons and crossbows, but they were no match for what the Griffons had.

The Griffons, including their infantry, used what they called boom sticks, similar to what Twilight had described the two humans’ weapons, very similar to boom sticks, but far more advanced.

Celestia thought of the idea of perhaps using such a device for her guards but always thought the prospect was too violent and gruesome, but now she really was running out of choices, she couldn’t let the Prince see her and her nation as a weak species.

Her train of thought was smashed as a loud chuffing noise approached her and Luna’s position, Twilight and her friends arriving.

A elongated large brownish grey machine with two spinning discs, one on a slanted tail and another on its back, similar to what one of her selected guards had mentioned, pulled in over the grass covered garden. The two Alicorns could only look on in shock and amazement until Twilight regained their attention.

“Princess Celestia, we need to get doctors out here now, the pony inside that machine won’t last very long,” yelled Twilight over the powerful rotors and engines of the helicopter.

Celestia nodded and turned to Luna. “Luna, I need you to get a medical team out here immediately to bring in a wounded pony.”

“It will be done, sister,” said Luna as she ran into the hospital’s doors.

The large machine’s wheels touched the ground. Inside the middle part of the interior, two nurses and a guard got out. A medical team from the hospital came forth with a stretcher as they loaded an injured mare onto it and began to rush her into the hospital towards the emergency room.

The machine became less noisy as the front doors opened up and out came two ponies… wait, no, they weren’t ponies at all, they were the two humans.

The two men, as their gender were called, came up and the first one, Brandon she believed, bowed down, the other who she didn’t know stood up absentmindedly before getting a harsh slap to the side which made him bow down.

“You may rise, corporal.”

Brandon got up with a shocked expression. “How do you know my rank used to be a corporal, your highness?”

“Twilight told me, but I see you are a warrant officer now, your ranks are almost the same as the Royal Guard here.”

“Now, I must talk to both of you in private,” said Celestia, giving a look to Twilight and the group.

Taking the hint, Twilight led the five others away, Rainbow Dash grumbled but begrudgingly followed behind. With that done, Celestia, Luna, who had just returned, and the two pilots left their helicopter which was told to be guarded by three guards, and entered into a garden.

“We have much to discuss,” said Celestia, the group taking a shortcut to the castle.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

After a long walk, the group made it to a garden with a pool and a few chairs, Brandon was glad mirth went to get a drink at a local bar, that way he wouldn’t have to put up with her childish attitude, such as getting poked by her pitchfork whenever she wanted to gain his attention.

The two Alicorns sat down and gestured for the two pilots to take a seat. They sat down and got comfortable as they awaited the Princesses to start the conversation.

“So, Brandon and Joel, we have some rather upsetting news, but we promise to help in any way we can,” said Celestia, hesitant on her words.

Brandon raised an eyebrow, gesturing for her to continue.

“I’m afraid how you got here was due to a magic spell casted by Twilight, a spell that can’t be undone, we are very sorry.”

Joel looked down, knowing he would most likely not see his family again. But all Brandon did was pinch the bridge of his nose, very pissed off that he could never go home, but then it hit him, he would’ve been considered KIA, so technically these ponies saved his and Joel’s lives.

“We understand we won’t be able to return home, but all we can do is thank you, we were in a near death experience, you saved our lives and we are eternally grateful,” said Brandon, surprising Joel with his positiveness.

“We have something big in store for you two, we feel it is only right and our neighboring country, the GriffonKingdom, Prince Callus will most likely try to send spies because of your arrival” said Luna.

“And what is this plan of yours?” Asked an interested Joel.

“We would like to create a new branch of the Royal Guard, with you as the captain Brandon due to your skill in your military, this will most likely halt any of Prince Callus’s hostile plans.”

“Say what?”

Author's Note

Now that I have this chapter done, I planning on some boot camp scenes, tell me what you think. :moustache:

Not alone

It was night out, On a small dirt road with no traffic, a forest on both sides, a black pickup truck was driving on said road, inside was an African American man, he had military work clothes on. The name on his uniform said Brock.

He was listening to some classic rock, the speakers blaring music loud enough to hear outside the truck.

Brock’s focus was broken as his phone received a text message. Looking at the screen, he barely noticed the deer crossing the road. Once he looked back at the road and saw the deer, he put on his brakes and tried to swerve out of the way but drove into the nearby woods.

“Oh shit!”

He braced himself for anything until the car came to a halt.

Brock opened his eyes to see trees covering his view, everywhere he looked there were trees, bushes, and rocks.

He needed to get his car back on to the road, he tried to back the car up but it seemed he had gotten stuck in some very thick mud.

“Oh fuck my day!”

Brock pulled out his phone so he could try to call a tow truck out here but when he tried he realized he had no signal.

“God damn it!!!”

He heard some growling in the bushes, he was greatly confused, he was gonna go with a coyote but coyotes usually wouldn’t attack a full grown man, it couldn’t have been wolves since wolves were unheard of in these parts of Texas.

He saw some green eyes in the darkness of the foliage. He slowly reached for his gun, an M1911

As he drew his handgun, one of the creatures made his way out of the bushes.

“What the hell are you?”

The creature only responded in growls. It had the form and body structure of a wolf, but was made out of wood. It took a battle stance and charged soon after but didn’t get far as a bullet found it’s way into the beast’s skull.

The Green eyes faded as the creature fell to the ground.

“Ha, Get some mother fucker!!!”

Right at that moment, another wooden wolf pounced on him, sending both to the ground,

Brock used both of his hands to hold the beast’s jaws open which were inches away from his face. He used one of his knees to push against the wolf’s belly as he sent the wolf flying sideways into a tree. It got back up and advanced on him again.

“You fuckers are hard to take down, I’ll give you that, now, who wants some more.”

Two others joined their fellow wolf in chewing apart Brock but that was all stopped as a large figure threw the first wolf as it crashed into a tree, turning into a pile of splintered wood.

He looked up to see a man standing over him, he wore a regular vest (not a kevlar vest) and wore ripped up long pants.

The one thing Brock didn’t expect him to do was let out a deathly terrifying roar. With that, the wooden beasts ran back into the forest. The being turned around to reveal his face and neck were not of a human but of some kind of fish, his face was similar to a barracuda.

“Wh-who are you,” Brock asked, to be honest, he was a marine, yet he was showing his fear to this mutant being.

“Your welcome, weakling, now I think we should set up camp, you gonna help me or not.”

Author's Note

Sorry for the short chapter, keep in mind I have a plan for throwing this guy in. Unlike our two joking Army pilots, this guys a diehard marine, he’s very serious. I was very busy so I could only do so much.

I want YOU for Alpha Squadron 6

Author's Note

I’m sorry, I couldn’t help using that Uncle Sam poster as a reference lol. Anyways, been long time hasn’t it, my cousin is getting married so I’ve been pretty busy lately. Hope you enjoy

I want YOU for Alpha Squadron 6

Brandon and Joel had finished up dinner with the Princesses. Afterward, they had been doing some advertising for the new branch, and were now entering where the guards were training. Brandon and Joel were surprised to hear Equestria was not too far behind, they had TVs, computers, and phones, just not advanced as present day technology.

Celestia said if they were to start a new branch, they would need a few guards who were already trained and ready, the recruits would pile in later.

They saw numerous guards working out or sparring with each other. The one thing that caught their attention were the guards in blue or perhaps a dark purple armor, unlike the other guards in gold, their eyes were slitted like cats, they had leathery wings on their sides.

Brandon was the one who ignored most of their appearances, thinking about what their use would be in his military branch, or Celestia’s new branch.

If he were to start recruiting, he would need instructors to train the recruits. He smiled ear to ear at the thought, remembering his days in boot camp. It sure was hell for him, most likely for Joel as well.

The guards all stopped what they were doing and bowed to the Princesses.

“Good afternoon, guards, I am here to tell you that a new active branch of the Equestrian Royal Guard is going to be opening soon.”

Muttering came from the guards but stopped as soon as it started.

“I would like for any one of you who would be willing to go out of your way and head down to ponyville to have an interview with the one who will be running the brunch under me,” said Celestia, gesturing to Brandon.

Joel was kinda disappointed that he was not mentioned but Brandon did have more experience than he did, he was a corporal after all.

The weapons the guards used disappointed Brandon and wanted to talk to Celestia and Luna about what weapons the griffons used.

“Princesses,” he had to slightly look up due to them being a little taller than he was.

“You wouldn’t happen to know what weapons the Griffon Kingdom uses, if I’m going to have guardsmen under my command, I need to equip them with the armor and weapons that would be appropriate for any hostile attacks.”

Celestia knew what he was going at and knew she couldn’t prevent the use of boom sticks, so she told him what weapons they used.

Seeing that the aggressors used bolt action rifles, he had a plan but it needed to be put into action soon, how soon? He did not know. Brandon didn’t know much about bolt action rifles or marksman rifles entirely, seeing the guns he mainly trained with were automatic rifles and handguns.

He planned on creating something similar to an M4, the only major difference would be that it would only fire one round and wouldn’t be automatic. All Brandon needed to know is what ammunition the Griffons used, but that's another story for another time.

Would he get hell from his superiors if they found out about this? Most likely, he only prayed they never found out, or perhaps the Princesses could help him and Joel in that time of need.

If what he heard was right about the nobility of Canterlot from Luna, nobles would be asking for such weapons almost immediately, he would need to advise Celestia and Luna, the guards as well, to not share any blueprints or how the guns work in any way.

gun violence was bad enough back home, Equestria didn’t need that issue too.

During dinner, Princess Celestia told the two pilots that both her and Luna would have the greatest minds in Equestria working to find Brandon and Joel a way home if possible.

They walked out of the training room, Celestia in deep thought. “So where would we be staying?” Joel asked.

“You will be staying in Ponyville, as for living accommodations, …we are not sure, said Luna.

Applejack was listening to the conversation along with the rest of the main six, hearing they had nowhere to go made her feel like she had to do something, after a while of silent walking, she spoke up.

“I can’t let y’all just sleep out in a field or something, if ya want, you can stay in one of our guest rooms, if you help around the farm that is.”

Both Brandon and Joel were rather shocked, no one back home would just openly welcome two armed individuals into their home, especially when they knew little about them.

Working on a farm was an easy task for Brandon, Joel however never worked on a farm, yes he enjoyed working out whenever he could, but he mostly ran marathons. But that wasn’t going to stop him.

“If your okay with it, we are okay with it.”

Applejack smiled at Brandon’s words.

As they walked outside, they headed towards the garden where the helicopter was parked. While walking, Brandon noticed Pinkie Pie wasn’t with them, she showed no malevolent intent, but something about her made him feel a little uneasy.

Deciding to forget all that, Brandon wanted to check on the fuel. Brandon felt that sensation that someone was next to him. A poke on the neck told him all he needed to know, Mirth was back.

“So, how did it go?” She said in a drunken slur.

You're intoxicated aren’t you? Brandon asked flatly.

“Maybe.” She giggled.

Sighing tiredly, Brandon proceeded to check the fuel gauge. “Mirth, did you refuel the helicopter?”

Mirth, still drunk as hell, tried her best to explain what she had done.

“You see, I have the capability to create things, for example, your fuel for your helicopter. I took a sample of it and recreated it, yet it drains a lot of my energy. I hope we can find some other alternative, I can’t keep doing this.”

Brandon nodded, he needed to find at least two people who could either create the specific fuel, or someone who could work as an engineer so the helicopter could stay in shape. He also would need to see what kinds of vehicles and aircraft had been created here.

Seeing the fuel was full again thanks to Mirth, he began to power the helicopter up.

“Hey, Brandon, could we take a ride? Seeing it would be cheaper than taking the train,” asked Twilight.

Now Brandon wouldn’t mind the girls’ company, but helicopters had been known to crash more often than planes, so he was rather worried about that, he could at least descend from the mountain and fly low to avoid any major casualties.

Rainbow was pleading to go for a ride, Fluttershy said she would take the train along with Rarity. The only ones who wanted to hop on were Applejack, Rainbow, and Twilight.

“I think that can be arranged.”

Brandon told Joel to hop out and help strap them in, now that he thought about it, the rest of the girls probably wouldn’t be able to fit due to the medical supplies and beds in the way.

Maybe he could clear some of that out later. While Joel explained what to do if the helicopter was going to crash or had some sort of malfunction, he told them the basic things they would need to do in order to survive.

They felt a little uneasy about flying now, but after hearing that Joel and Brandon had been flying for years, and were as professional as pilots come, despite being jokers at times, they felt a little more safe.

Brandon waved goodbye to the Princesses who waved back as the helicopter left the ground and turned its tail to the direction of the castle and hospital and left.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

In the back of the helicopter, Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack felt a slight rumble. They looked out the cargo door to see the ground leave them. It was breathtaking, especially for Applejack and Twilight who had never flown in anything other than a slow hot-air balloon.

“Wow, this is something I could get used to, imagine if all ponies could travel like this!” Said Applejack excitedly.

They could thankfully hear each other through the headsets. The helicopter cruised over the city of Canterlot, startling some of the residents. The chopper had finally passed Canterlot and began to lose altitude slowly as it flew towards Ponyville.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

In a music themed bedroom, record discs on the walls along with a few trophies. The most noticeable thing was the white unicorn sleeping on her bed.

*Knock!* *knock!* *knock!*

“Vinyl, get your lazy ass out of bed, it's the afternoon!”

“In a moment Tavi, I just want to finish my solo,” the mare known as Vinyl mumbled, still sleeping.

The door opened and in stormed a grey earth pony with raven black hair, purple eyes, and a grey casual women's tuxedo, a white collared shirt underneath, a pink bow tie completed the look.

She pulled the blankets off of her roommate and friend. This didn’t go unnoticed by the white unicorn. Her crimson red eyes opened in a flash, her facial expression went from surprised to irritated.

“Hey, what gives, Tavi?! I was having a great dream about my rave last night”

Octavia pinched her forehead in sheer aggravation. “That’s the last straw, Scratch, you need to find a proper job.”

“You barely get paid at all at your concerts and I hate having to pay for most of the things in this house, so go out there and find a real job.”

With that, Octavia left the room, leaving Vinyl alone, contemplating on what to do.

Getting up, she put on some more presentable clothes and walked out of the room, she had her signature purple shades on. She made it downstairs and began to make lunch. It was a leftover cheese pizza, well, whatever was left of it.

Vinyl grabbed a remote and turned on a TV that looked a lot like one of those school computers, only a bit larger.

While eating, she flipped through some channels, hoping to find something good.

She stopped on a show that was in the middle of a bank robbery. “Now this should be interesting.”

“We’ll be right back after these commercials.”

“Damn it.” Vinyl muttered.

She had to sit through at least five stupid commercials, she new Octavia would be back and wondering why she wasn’t looking for jobs.

Thankfully there was only one commercial left, so she just waited for it to be over.

“Hi there, I’m Warrant officer Brandon O’Neil, now captain of the new Royal Guard branch, the AMS, Armored medical service, also known as Alpha squadron.”

“We here help and rescue Royal Guards and civilians in the roughest of conditions using the latest cutting edge technology.”

“Right now I’m looking for brave recruits and some savvy tech ponies who can help maintain our aircraft.”

“Go to the nearest recruiter and have them contact me, your future begins here, enlist today and become a full time or part time guardsmen.”

Vinyl was stunned to say the least, she had never seen a species that wasn’t a pony yet looked similar to one. She was always seen as a tech geek in school as a filly, being different and with a rare eye color caused her to be bullied by some of the kids in class.

This could be the moment she had been waiting for, a chance to show those kids that she could do great things like her mother had once told her.

Finishing up the pizza, she turned off the television, got dressed in a more formal outfit, and was about to gather her official documents and other papers for background checks she would need to enlist until someone knocked at the door.

Thinking it was Octavia, she opened it but noticed an excited Pinkie Pie holding a letter.

“Hey, DJ Pon 3, there’s going to be a super dooper looper party for some new ponies, oh wait, their humans, which makes it even more special, and you're the best dj in town.”

With that, Pinkie was gone.

Well, I guess a trip to Canterlot to try and get enlisted will have to wait since we have no guard stations down here.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Back In Canterlot

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Inside a house on the side of Canterlot was a young colt who was watching TV. He was still living with his mother, his father had passed away years ago. The guy was 20 years of age, the boy had cookie brown fur, dark chocolate brown hair, and sea green eyes.

He was not extremely muscular but he worked out daily, he had been depressed since his mother had told him he wouldn’t be able to qualify as a Royal Guard, a dream he wanted to follow ever since he was a child.

The entire family, aside from his mother, Daisy Field, who was a nurse at a local hospital, had served as Royal Guards for years. The boy couldn’t serve due to a heart problem, the doctor said it would be very unlikely for it to go away.

As a kid, he was one of the fastest Pegasi in school, until the incident that they found out about his heart failure if he pushed too far.

None of the two branches of the Royal Guard would accept him, so he decided to look at a security guard career, maybe a bouncer, there were plenty of night clubs in Canterlot.

He decided to flip the channel to the sports event that was happening but that all was thrown out the window when a commercial popped up.

“Hi there, I’m Warrant officer Brandon O’Neil, now captain of the new Royal Guard branch, the AMS, Armored medical service, also known as Alpha squadron.”

“We here help and rescue Royal Guards and civilians in the roughest of conditions using the latest cutting edge technology.”

“Right now I’m looking for brave recruits and some savvy tech ponies who can help maintain our aircraft.”

“Go to the nearest recruiter and have them contact me, your future begins here, enlist today and become a full time or part time guardsmen.”

He didn’t know what this guy was, he was obviously not a pony but he didn’t care what he was, he was too shocked about the new Royal Guard branch.

Could this be it, could he finally become a Royal Guard?

He knew there would have to be tryouts, he looked down at his chest, he remembered what the doctor had told him but his desire to serve was too strong.

If he could pass the tryouts, which all Royal Guards had to do, even if this Brandon guy didn’t mention it, he could possibly become a Royal Guard.

If he could ask his doctor to do another check for any heart problems, it would mean a lot to him, he just hoped that his heart problem wouldn’t start up. Now his heart was healthy, it was just one little drawback that kept him from serving.

“Hey mom, I’m headed out for a bit, I’ll be back tonight.”

“Alright, but make it home for dinner, Coffee Cube,” said his mother.

“Will do.”

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The helicopter soared quickly over passing trees, on course to Ponyville. Twilight looked out the door to see the top of town hall and sugarcube corner. In the front, Brandon couldn’t believe what he was seeing, it was a building made out of fucking candy, or so it seemed, it could’ve been just how the building was designed. They were over the Everfree at the moment but we’re closing in on Ponyville.

“Hey, Brandon, you see that clearing in between those buildings near that fountain?” Asked Joel.

“Yeah, I see it, let’s touch down there.”

The helicopter began to slow down, descending over the town, the powerful downwash caused dust to pick up and anything that was not stuck to the ground.

The front and tail landing gear safely touched the dirt as they slowly retracted back into the fuselage.

Brandon began to power everything down as Joel got out to help out the passengers.

“That was so totally awesome! I mean, not as cool as flying without the need of a machine, but still, awesome,” yelled Rainbow, stretching her limbs from a long time of sitting down.

“Sure was an interesting experience, sugar cube,” said Applejack.

Twilight told them to follow her. As they made their way through, they realized that it was nothing but a ghost town. An uneasy feeling ran through the two pilots’ spines.

They reached the house that looked like candy. Mirth eyed the building as if it was the most delicious treat in the world. Brandon gave Mirth a look that meant “don’t even think about it.”

The inside of the building was shrouded in darkness, further making the two men uneasy.

“Someone should go in and check it out to make sure it’s safe,” said Joel.

Brandon rolled his eyes, being in pony land, he highly doubted that these ponies would dare attack an alien species that they have no knowledge of what they were capable of.

“Good idea,” said Brandon with a smirk.

Brandon pushed him through the door. The lights turned on as Joel recovered from his fall. SURPRISE!!!

The room was filled with ponies, streamers, and what else you would see at parties.

“Brandon, you are an asshole!” He muttered.

“I try,” replied Brandon.

Joel’s vision was filled with pink and two blue eyes.

He leaned back as pinkie jumped in place, he just wondered how much sugar she had consumed to get this hyper.

“Hey Joel and Brandon, how do you like the party we threw you, huh, huh, huh?”

Joel had to take a couple steps back while Brandon chuckled, seeing his friend was taking the verbal assault before him.

“Um, it’s very kind of you to welcome us into your society, but you really didn’t need to do all this,” said Joel.

Oh it’s no big deal, or maybe it is, now let’s get this party started.

Seeing there was so much to do, and so much to eat, the two pilots went their separate ways, unaware that a certain mint green unicorn was stalking Joel.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

An hour before the party.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

In the thick forest, Wayne and his new demon partner, Scallop, had been walking for what seemed like hours. They left the car since it couldn’t function properly and Wayne doubted he was in his world.

Seeing that thought sounded like a pile of bullshit, he pushed that thought aside. Wayne was in many ways intimidating, he was tall, heavily muscled with a six pack. Back in school, no one fucked with him, yet he was always there to defend someone in need, and that’s how he ended up being a sergeant in the Marine Corps.

Wayne had seen combat multiple times, after some time, he became a drill instructor, and boy did he do his job well, he made fine soldiers out of many recruits and never failed them. He was not only one of the finest instructors, but was one of the most brutal ones. If you messed up, that’s when his dark side would show,

The guy didn’t play around and made his recruits do so much that they would collapse onto their assigned beds for the night, no questions asked. He would push them far beyond their limits to make them some of the finest marines out there.

Scallop on the other hand was a street fighter back in the underworld, he fought for money and the entertainment of beating other beasts senseless. Of course he wasn’t going to tell Wayne that, so he kept his mouth shut. He didn’t want to be a demon guide for some wimp human, but he had no say in the matter.

Each month, a hellish creature would be chosen to be a demon guide, he tried his best to look unfit for the task, but he failed all thanks to one of his former opponents who had a bone to pick with him.

Their thinking was paused as a big helicopter flew overhead.

“Is that a blackhawk?” Asked Wayne to no one in particular.

“What’s a Blackhawk?” Asked Scallop.

“A machine that we humans use to fly, and if that helicopter is here, theirs got to be U.S Army forces around here, Follow me.”

With nothing better to do, Scallop followed Wayne as they headed in the direction towards Ponyville.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Back at Ponyville.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The party had moved from indoors to outdoors. Many ponies stared in wonder and amazement at the massive helicopter. Brandon loved aircrafts, especially helicopters, the Blackhawk was specifically his favorite.

Before he could do anything else, he got a tap on the back by someone. He turned around and saw a white unicorn with electric blue hair, she wore purple shades with a black frame.

“Hey, you’re that guy, Brandon, the guy from the commercial right?”

Brandon remembered briefly of the commercial he had done, Joel was pretty pissed off that he didn’t get to be in it, but Brandon promised him next time, he told Joel he’d do something special for him in the meantime.

“Yes, ma’am, what can I help you with?”

“The name is Vinyl, Vinyl Scratch, I’m hoping to enlist. I make some of the best technology in Equestria, sure There’s other ponies who are probably better than me, but maybe I could help maintain your airship.”

Brandon looked back at the helicopter, seeing many ponies, including those three fillies, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Bell, and Scootaloo, looking at the helicopter, talking to each other about it.

“Come by tomorrow at the Apple family’s house and we can discuss your enlistment, don’t be late.”

Vinyl fist pumped, yet how was Octavia going to feel about her joining the Royal Guard. Well, it’s not like she was in a position where she would go into battle or anything.

Brandon decided to park the helicopter on the outskirts of town to avoid any problems.

“Brandon!”

He turned to see Joel, a mint green unicorn, giving him a death hug.

“Dude dude dude, she won’t let go of me.”

The unicorn was holding onto his arms and wouldn’t let go, that is Until a cream coated earth pony with purple and pink hair grabbed her arm and yanked her off of him.

“But, Bon Bon, it’s a human, this could be the only time we may ever see one.”

“Lyra, that’s quite enough, yes your dream has come true but you need to contain yourself,” said Bon Bon as they left.

“Wait, how did she know what our species is?!” Said Brandon.

Joel could only shrug, Brandon’s guess was no better than his.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Time Skip.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

After parking the helicopter in a field outside of ponyville and storing all their weapons, vests, and gear in there. Mirth said until the guards arrive, she would keep watch.

It was dusk As Brandon and Joel made their way to the farmhouse. A sound emanating from the edge of the forest caught Joel’s attention.

“Brandon.”

Brandon looked where Joel was pointing and noticed the foliage was moving slowly.

“Whoever you are, show yourself,” yelled Brandon as he and Joel waited.

Out of the foliage came… another human and an anthropomorphic fish!?

The group looked at each other silently before the muscular unknown man introduced himself.

“Greetings, I’m Sergeant Wayne of the United States Marine Corps, you?”

Brandon was a bit shocked to see another soldier but quickly broke out of his shock.

I’m Warrant Officer O’Neil, and this is my partner Warrant Officer Sanchez, both of us are from the United States Army, but you should already know that.

Wayne nodded, and looked around. “So, you boys know where we are?”

Brandon and Joel looked at each other, wondering how they were gonna play this.

Well, this is going to be hard to believe and take in, but we are in a land called Equestria, home to ponies and other mythological creatures, Joel explained.

Wayne held a blank face. “So your telling me, I’m stuck in this fucking place full of creatures from my little sister’s fucking imagination!?”

“Whoa easy serg, don’t worry, the Princesses are doing their best to figure out how to get us home, in the meantime, me and Joel have helped create a new branch in their Royal Guard system,” said Brandon.

“Traitors!” Wayne yelled.

“Whoa whoa, serg, it’s not like that, it’s only temporary, the Princesses said they would help defuse the situation when we return to earth.”

Before tensions could rise, Applejack came along but stopped when she noticed Wayne and Scallop.

“Um, y’all didn’t tell me about the new fellas.” Applejack gave the two a suspicious look.

“Oh, hey Applejack, don’t worry about Wayne and Scallop here, these guys are friendlies,” said Brandon.

“Okay, well, we got one more spare room for ya, Mister Wayne, I’ll pull out a mattress for your fish friend.”

“Um, thank you, is there something I can do in return?”

“Well, you could help your friends working around the farm, heck I’ll even pay you if you do a good job.”

Wayne looked at the others who nodded, Scallop just shrugged, he soon turned back to Applejack who was waiting for an answer.

“I believe I can work with that… wait, is that apples I smell?”

“Sure is, the Apple family makes some of the best Apple products in Equestria.”

With that, Applejack and the crew made their way to the house. While walking, Brandon wanted to ask Wayne something, he still wasn’t happy that Brandon and Joel became Royal guards, even if it was temporary, but in the end, it would be them getting in trouble, not him.

“Hey, Wayne right, or do you prefer your first name?” Asked brandon.

“Just call me Brock.”

“Okay, so what was your occupation back home in the Marines?”

“I was a drill sergeant, one of the finest drill sergeants out there.”

Brandon and Joel could tell this guy had a pretty big ego but didn’t say anything about it. But seeing he was a drill instructor, he could once again have a job and train the new cadets who hope to join Alpha Squadron.

I’d like to offer you a proposition tomorrow, if you're not interested it’s fine by me, I just thought you’d like to serve for a longer period of time.

“I’ll consider hearing you out, I’m still getting used to this situation.”

The group went inside and saw the CMC, a red stallion with orange hair, wearing a white tank top. This guy was built like a brick wall. He was easily taller than Brock, and Brock was a tall guy, the next pony was very old, she was a green earth pony with white hair, and lots of wrinkles. She wore a red and white plaid shirt, an apron over it.

Applejack motioned the group to have a seat. “This is my family, the big fella over there is my brother, big Macintosh, but most just call him Big Mac.”

“E-yup.”

“Not much of a talker, huh?” Said Brock.

“Nope.”

“This is my granny, Granny Smith.”

“Nice to meet you youngins, y’all must be hungry, please, take what you like,”she said, she kind of reminded Brandon of his late grandmother.

Without further ado, the Apple family, the humans, and the fish-man began to eat.

Scallop eyed the food but decided to be a good guest and eat it anyway.

After Dinner, Applejack showed Joel, Brandon, Scallop, and Brock to their rooms.

Before Brandon could go anywhere, he noticed unlike Sweetie Belle, Rainbow Dash didn’t come up to the door and pick Scootaloo up.

He decided to look out a window and there was Scootaloo sadly walking somewhere, where to? He did not know but something deep down in his heart, he wanted to know why Dash didn’t pick her up. We’re they not siblings?

He’d make a note to find out tomorrow, he hated seeing children sad and depressed. With that, Brandon followed Applejack’s voice upstairs.

The enlistment

It was early in the morning, far earlier than Applejack and the rest of the family would be waking up, the only one up was a certain sheepdog that kept following them, the three men, and Scallop decided to get their half of the work done, it was the least they could do since the Apple family was allowing them to stay until they got enough money to rent a apartment or something in Ponyville.

A certain red haired filly was too restless and wanted to examine the humans and fish creature more closely, so she got out of bed, slipped on some comfortable clothes and snuck out of her room to her intended destination.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Back with the humans and Scallop.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

It was difficult at most for the humans, kicking the trees didn’t do much, only one apple had fallen into the bucket. They had to find a new technique to “buck” the apple trees.

Scallop seemed to have no trouble kicking the trees, he was really good at this to the point where the humans were annoyed at his progress.

“I’m starting to think he’s just trying to show off,” said Joel.

“No shit,” responded Brock.

“Well we better find a way to rock those trees before Scallop leaves nothing behind,” said Brandon.

While Brandon was thinking, he heard footsteps approaching his position. Turning around, he saw Applejack’s younger sister Apple bloom walk up to them, she appeared to be sleepy and most likely woke up to check on them.

“Kids won’t change when it comes to curiosity” thought Brandon as he walked over.

“Hey Apple Bloom, it’s pretty early, you should head back to sleep.”

“Ah just wanted to see what you and your friends are up to, I gotta go to school this morning anyways.”

“Well if you insist, we are just trying to get our work done early, I don’t know about fish face over there, but we are used to waking up early.”

Something clicked inside of Brandon’s mind, an idea that might turn the tables for the three humans.

“You wouldn’t happen to know anything we can use to hit the trees, we can’t physically kick or punch trees seeing we aren’t… Earth ponies, is it?”

Apple Bloom nodded and looked around, her vision a bit better than the humans’. She saw a pile of sticks near the barn and motioned Brandon, Joel, and Brock to come over.

“Try hitting the trees with these,” she said.

The men picked up their respective stick, Brock picked up a log. The two pilots looked at him like he was insane, the log was extremely heavy in their eyes, and the Marine was holding it like it was nothing.

“What are you looking at me for, I don’t see your asses in the Marine Corps.”

Brandon gave him a slap on the back and pointed to Apple Bloom who was standing by.

“Ass?” She asked.

“Let’s just say it’s a bad word and should never be said in front of your… family or others.” Thankfully he caught himself before he said parents.

Applejack had told him about what happened to her parents. So with that he kept his mouth closed about the topic. The reason they woke up later was they had a meeting with those who wanted to enlist. Some current guards from both Solar and Lunar Guard had the choice to transfer into Alpha Squadron and help train recruits as well.

Walking up to their respective trees, Brandon was the first to land a blow with his stick, well, more of a small limb, on the tree.

Only a few apples managed to fall into his bucket, he looked towards the others and noticed that Brock’s bucket was full of apples.

He gave both Brandon and Joel a smirk which didn’t go well for them. Looking around for Apple Bloom, he noticed she went inside, Brandon flipped Brock off.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

As the sun slowly rose, Applejack had exited the house, a cup of coffee in her hands. She was going to wake up her guests but noticed they weren’t in their beds. She became worried until Apple Bloom told her they were outside working.

This stunned Applejack, even she couldn’t wake up that early, seeing she had work to do as well, and figured that they had done enough, she walked towards them.

The first to notice her was Joel, Brandon and Brock apparently were nowhere in sight. Applejack noticed the large barrels filled with apples, there was also another bucket of apples that were rotten and dirty.

“Well I’ll be hogtied, y’all woke up earlier than me, and that’s saying something, y’all should take a break, you more than earned it.”

“So, where’s Brandon and Brock?” she asked.

“Oh right, they are down by the fields near the woods.”

With that, Applejack headed to do her portion of the work, she’d check on Brock and Brandon later.

Joel had nothing else to do, so he decided to find a hobby, not a job per say, but something to do when he was off duty. He was jealous that Brandon got all the good stuff, but he knew better than to let that eat at him.

A non-paying part time job was just what he needed. He would get some breakfast beforehand, luckily the Princesses had lent him and Brandon some bits, he would also go shopping for a few supplies and such. So with that he headed down to Ponyville.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Brandon and Brock had been waiting for at least half an hour at the edge of Sweet Apple acres, he contemplated on Explaining to Applejack that a group of ponies and Royal Guards would be arriving shortly to help and enlist, Princess Celestia was also putting Brandon in charge of the new Guard Station near Whitetail woods.

Since the Elements of Harmony had been targeted by many villains, or how Brandon liked to put it, bad people, in the past, this new Guard Station and actively specialized trained personnel nearby would prevent any sudden attempts to invade or assassinate.

He was in charge of its design and what requirements it needed to be fully operational.

Brock had been giving Brandon a cold look, it was finally getting to him and he had to ask why he was giving him that look.

“Look, brock, is there something I’m doing that’s bugging you, if so I’ll stop.”

“I don’t like this, we were supposed to be serving America, not Equestria, do you know what will happen if the military finds out we are serving this land?!”

Brandon let out a sigh, he knew Brock wouldn’t like the change but he seemed to go along with it as long as he got to scream and train new recruits.

“I know you haven’t met them yet, but the Princesses are working on a solution to our dilemma and hopefully will help us avoid getting into hot water with our home country’s military and government.”

Brock only nodded until the sound of someone coming up the hill that was to the side of town was audible.

A unicorn with white fur, wild and spiky electric blue hair, with crimson red eyes came towards the group.

“Is this where I’m supposed to come to enlist?”

“Yes ma’am, Vinyl Scratch, right?”

“Yup, that’s me,” she said with a smile.

“Well, while we await the others, why don’t you tell me about yourself and why you want to join.”

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Time skip.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

After an explanation and a background check, Vinyl had finally passed phase one, now she was approaching phase two, Basic training.

Well, with that out of the way, it seems the new recruits and Guards I had asked for have arrived, said Brandon, looking at the line of ponies.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Coffee Cube’s POV.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I had arrived in ponyville and was told by a guard to follow a small group of ponies, mostly pegasi, to an intended destination.

The doctor told me it was fine for me to join the guard, he would dismiss any claims of my health problems, but there was a catch, if I got a heart attack in the guard or in training, I was to let my superiors know and get discharged from the guard and find a different choice of work.

The ponies who I was now walking with were led by a burly white pegasus with coal black hair, and turquoise eyes.

This guy held his head up high, most likely was a noble that wanted to join the Royal Guard. If this guy was in my designated team, he would most likely be a pain in the ass through the training.

The pony behind him was a lime green pegasus mare, she had lush brown hair, her eyes were dark green, out of all of them, she seemed to be the most excited.

The final pegasus was a much younger stallion, definitely younger than the first stallion and himself. He had messy golden hair that covered his eyes. I was surprised he could still see where he was going.

He had cream fur, he was rather on the skinny side, I wasn’t sure if this guy would make the cut, but who knows.

It appeared we were the first group to arrive, I knew there would be more to come. I regret not telling my mom about this, yet she probably would just lecture me and protest the idea of me serving as a guard.

We arrived at not a station, but at a field, and a white unicorn with spiky blue hair had beaten us here.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

End of POV.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Brandon, Brock, and Vinyl had noticed the group approaching them. The group consisted of three pegasi, two men and one woman… or would that be two Stallions and one mare, ah fuck it, same thing.

“Good morning to you all, I’m sure you already know me, but in case you don’t, I am Brandon O’Neil, former warrant officer and now nominated captain and highest ranking officer in the AMS, better known as Alpha Squadron.”

“So, what are your names and why do you want to join?”

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Coffee Cube’s POV.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I had kinda dozed off into my own little world for a short period of time, my attention was brought back to the captain, the other guy seemed to be reading a History book about the Royal Guard, a couple books on the table that was laid out in front of me.

“So, what’s your name, sport, and why would you like to join the Royal Guard?” He asked.

I was a bit nervous, I never thought a day like this would come, so I swallowed up any remaining anxiety I had and responded hesitantly.

“My name is Coffee Cube, sir, I’m 20 years of age, I want to join because my entire family served, it’s kinda a generation thing we have in our family.”

“Uh huh, so, do you know what kind of job position you are aiming for?”

I felt like an idiot, I didn’t think about that. “Well, I’m not sure, I never really thought about that.”

Don’t worry, kid, we can worry about that later, now, let’s get into the more personal information and dive into a background check before I deem you eligible to serve.

I grabbed the official papers and documents I had secretly snuck out of my mom’s room while she slept.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Time skip.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I had finally finished my interview with the captain, I was just waiting on his decision on whether I’m in or not. He was done checking my files and other stuff I needed to enlist, he looked at me, I awaited his answer, the captain’s face was as hard as stone, no emotion.

“Congratulations, Coffee Cube, you made the cut, you will be heading into basic training.”

My jaw dropped, I can’t believe I would soon begin my training as a recruit! Oh man, if only my dad and the rest of my family could see me now. I decided to hang out with the other recruits who have seemed to have been accepted into training.

Another small group of ponies had arrived, they must have been the other group. But I knew for certain that I wasn’t completely in, I had to get past training to become a guardsman.

The large white stallion was doing push-ups while the other two just sat around, the girl was checking on her phone. She noticed me come over and gestured for me to take a seat.

“Hey, Coffee Cube, right?” She asked.

“Yeah, that’s me, just came down from Canterlot, you?”

“My name is Citrus, I’m from Cloudsdale, I’m hoping to join because my brother joined the Solar Guard not too long ago, on top of that, I’m looking for a challenge.”

Well well, look what we got here, if it isn’t the nerd,” said the muscular white pegasus making his way towards me.

“Do I know you?”

“Oh yes you do, remember, we were chums in kindergarten, you seriously forgot all the wedgies I gave, those were good times!”

“Wait, Wealthy Wallet!!!”

Memories filled my head, my childhood bully, I never thought I’d see him again.

“Yup, and that’s Prince Wellet to you, you're definitely bigger than the last time I saw you, despite you always being, mama’s boy,” he said with a chuckle.

“Hey, I don’t give a damn if you're some VIP, give him a break, if we are going to be a team, we need to work together, not hate each other,” Citrus cut in.

There was a lot of tension in the air, I had never heard anyone talk to Wealthy Wallet like that. His face showed that he was in no way happy, but he took a deep breath and exhaled.

“Fine, but in the end, it’s gonna be me who will become a Royal Guard, and you two will stay civilians.”

With that, the snobby Prince left. I could only wonder why he decided to join the Royal Guard. Something was up, he never wanted to join the Guard as a kid, all he wanted to do was become a respected noble like his father, Prince Blueblood.

I suppose I will find out sooner or later.

“Alright everyone, listen up!” Said a Night Guard, who we didn’t see arrive.

“While the new station is being built, you will be training in Canterlot for the time being, so pack up and head home.

A guard will arrive at your house early in the morning and will take you to the castle’s guard barracks to get ready for basic training, understand?” She explained.

We all nodded and got ready to head out. The oldest in our designated group happens to be a Unicorn named Vinyl Scratch, She was pretty popular in Canterlot, not by the nobles but by the nightclubs that hired her.

She would be considered the team leader, the thing that disqualified her from being the team leader was she was more of a tech wizard. She rejected the idea of being the team leader, which was bad news for us, because the second oldest was that damn asshole, Wealthy Wallet.

Said asshole walked up to me, bumping my shoulder a bit. “Looks like I’m gonna be the team leader, you take orders from me now!”

This was going to be a long day, and the following days will be even more painful.

We left down the hill and made our way to the train station, thankfully the Royal Guard was paying for the tickets and other minor stuff.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

End of POV.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Joel was casually shopping in and out of stores. He had rented a small apartment complex, it wasn’t even crappy at all. Yet he had a choice between a roommate, and ponies seemed to be very accepting when it comes to new roommates, or to live in an apartment complex, well, the only apartment complex.

The ponies running the place said if you were in the Royal guard, a lot of things would be paid for by the apartment company. He would let Brandon decide on what he wanted to do, Joel just wanted to get stuff done today so it was off his plate.

He had one last stop to make before he headed back to Brandon and told him the news. While walking, he saw some cars parked in little driveways, the cars were very old school, one looked to be a very old red Cadillac continental. The one next door looked to be a Station wagon, nearly all the cars he saw were not of the present day, hell, he even saw a model T.

Joel considered getting a driver’s license and getting a car but he had nowhere to go, so he put that at the back of his head, he reached his destination, Golden oak library. What baffled him was that the library was made out of a tree, and in no way was the tree unhealthy or dead.

“What the hell is this?”

Trying to push past the idea of a library inside a tree, he shook his head and entered. A bell rang as he entered, he looked around and saw loads upon loads of books in bookshelves all over the place. A little tree stump in the middle of the room held up a carved figure of a horse or pony’s head.

To say this place was amazing would be a lie, it was beautiful, once you got over the idea of a library inside a tree that is. As he looked around, he heard footsteps coming down the stairs he previously saw when he entered.

What he saw confused him greatly. A purple and green lizard with dark green spikes looked up at him curiously.

“Barney?”

Author's Note

Be sure to check my blogs because they have a lot of information and you’ll understand a lot of the story, when things are in bold letters, that means either it’s a sign that has words on it, or they are thinking in their minds

Hope you enjoy

Job hunting and gambling (minor rewrite.)

Author's Note

Finally found time to work on this story, be warned there’s a brief flirty sexual moment but no clop. I hope you enjoy it. Also check my newest blog because you’ll understand why I got rid of a certain scene.

Job hunting and gambling (minor rewrite.)

Joel stood there, looking at the purple dinosaur, of all things, he was not expecting Barney to be a real thing, not at the slightest.

“Um, no, my name is Spike, can I help you with anything?”

This broke Joel out of his thoughts, he felt kinda silly for thinking he was Barney the dinosaur, but he had a question to answer.

“Sorry, I thought you were someone else, so, Spike, is it? What are you exactly?”

“Well I know it’s not very obvious, but I’m a fire breathing dragon.”

“…a dragon? I thought dragons were supposed to be giant and scary, maybe how my people depicted your kind was wrong.”

“Nope, you are actually right, I’m a baby dragon, and dragons grow very slowly, so, what can I help you for?”

“Well, I’m looking for Twilight, a nice mare on the way here told me she lives here.”

“Joel, what are you doing here?”

Joel looked at the stairwell to see Twilight come down the stairs.

“Oh, hello Twilight, I’m currently looking for a part time job when I’m not on duty, you wouldn’t happen to know a site on a computer would you?”

Twilight ran back upstairs and didn’t take long to come back downstairs, an old school laptop in hand.

“Well, at least ponies and other races have created computers, wonder what else they have created, airplanes perhaps?”

“Okay, let’s see what jobs are currently available,” said Twilight as she searched.

There were actually quite a few jobs, more than he expected, but one really caught his attention. There apparently was a group of musicians for hire who played in very classy places such as restaurants, balls, and something called the… Grand Galloping Gala?

Joel was once a viola musician during his high school years, he hadn’t played for years but he still knew how, he just never decided to acquire one.

“Twilight, click on the one that says Equestrian musicians, I’d like to see where they are holding that competition.”

Twilight clicked on the link and he immediately grabbed a pen and a sticky note and wrote some stuff down.

“Twilight, do you know where I can get a viola?”

“There’s a shop at the edge of the town, Spike can take you there.”

He thanked Twilight and left the library with Spike.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Joel and Spike arrived at an eye-catching store with neon lights on some of the signs, and a few instruments were on display on the windows.

“Well, this is the place to get instruments, I’ll hopefully see you at the up and coming Grand Galloping Gala”

Joel was going to ask what this event was but discarded the thought as soon as it came and thanked Spike as he left.

Entering the shop, he looked at all the instruments and there were a ton of them, many ranging from antique phonographs, classical violins and cellos, to electric guitars.

Joel remembered what he came here for and took a look around until someone cleared their throat.

Joel turned around to see probably the most beautiful and alluring woman he had seen in his entire life, despite the fact that she was an anthro pony.

She had grey fur, purple eyes, and raven black hair.

Her accessories and choice of clothing were a fancy yet every day sleeveless suit jacket, two treble clef earrings, a white collared undershirt, and a pink bow tie.

Joel may have been staring for too long as she began to break the silence.

“Um, can I help you?” she asked, Joel noticed her thick British accent.

“Yeah, I came here for two things, one I need to know if you have a viola for sale.”

The grey earth pony thought for a while but then seemed to remember something.

“All the violas were sold, except for that one, but I’m pretty sure you can’t afford it,” she said, pointing to a very fancy black and white custom made viola.

“I could make you a deal, since this is my shop and my business, the Gala is coming up and I could lend you the viola, but you’d probably need to practice first.”

“No need, I’m a skilled musician and I played the viola during my years of school.”

“Well, if you're as good as you say you are, how about we test that.”

She handed the Viola to him and Sanchez tried to think of something he used to play, but before that, he asked for the lady’s name.

“Before I start playing, I didn’t actually get your name?”

“Oh, it’s Octavia, Octavia Melody.”

“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Octavia, I’m Joel Sanchez, and the song I will be playing is something from back home called castle on the hill.”

As he played the instrumental parts of the song, Octavia looked very impressed and as Joel finished, she clapped her hands.

“I’ve never heard somepony play a viola that well, there are tryouts coming up and I suggest you should try it if you want this gig.”

Joel smiled and nodded. “I’ll keep that in mind, so, what do I use while performing?”

“You can use that viola in the meantime, and I might consider selling it to you If you do a good job and make the cut.”

“Thanks, Octavia, I better get back to my friend, he’s probably looking for me.”

“See you in two days,” she called out as he left.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Brandon was looking all over town for Joel, he didn’t tell him he was leaving so he decided to find out what he was up to. Before they got to work on the apple orchard, Joel said something about looking for a place of residence.

“Where the hell are you?”

Brandon was so focused on looking around, he accidentally bumped into someone.

“Oh, sorry, my bad, I should’ve looked where I was going.”

The pony In question turned around and he recognized her as the nurse from the hospital, she was currently in casual clothing, not in her work outfit.

“Oh, hello, Brandon, didn’t expect to run into you, all though you are the talk of the town,” she said with a giggle.

“Well I’m sure we are, a group of strange beings from another world somehow randomly show up here, I’m pretty sure my world would do the same if ponies like yourselves showed up.”

“Anyways, how’s your leg?”

Brandon looked down at his left leg and moved it around.

“Well, after a good rest, I think it’s doing alright, where are you off to?”

“Just heading home, despite working at the hospital, I live a bit outside of Ponyville, why do you ask?”

“I don’t want to seem like a burden to the Apple family so I’m considering becoming someone’s, I mean somepony’s roommate.”

Redheart nodded and began to think.

“You could stay with me, my house is typically the biggest house around ponyville, it used to belong to my parents but after they moved to Canterlot, they gave me the house.”

“If you are willing to do all this, I don’t see why I should refuse such a kind offer,” said Brandon with a smile.

Redheart and Brandon parted ways after she gave him her address.

“Now, where are you Joel?”

“I’m right here, and I heard everything you said to that nurse.”

Brandon turned around and saw Joel.

“Where the hell were you at?”

“Meeting up with a nice musician, I got a gig in two days, a job that you don’t need to get paid to do, unless you want to of course.”

“It’s nice to see you keeping busy,” said Brandon.

“Say, you want to find something to do tonight, like go to a bar or club?”

“You think ponies would do such things?” Asked Joel.

Maybe, it doesn’t hurt to check it out.

Apparently it was getting dark out, Brock would be on his way to Canterlot to help train the recruits, so they wouldn’t be seeing him any time soon.

“Ya boys are looking for a club you say?”

Turning around, Joel and Brandon saw Big Mac, three other stallions behind him.

“You can say full sentences?” Asked Brandon.

“When I want to.”

The two pilots just looked at each other before Brandon spoke.

“Yes, we are looking for some place to play cards.”

Brandon pulled some cards he had brought on board the helicopter before the extraction.

“We were just heading to a club not too far from here near the edge of town, care to join us?”

Certainly, I don’t think I’ve met your friends there Mac.

An orange stallion with brown hair walked up and extended his arm and hand for a hand shake.

“Pleasure to meet you, Brandon right?”

Brandon shook firmly. “Yes, sir, this is my friend and co-pilot, Joel Sanchez.”

Joel shook his hand.

“I’m Golden Weaver, but most just call me Weaver. I run a business here in ponyville, if you need any type of basket or material, my employees would gladly help you.”

“Thank you Weaver, I’ll keep that in mind,” said Brandon.

A very athletically fit charcoal grey pegasus with a light blue and teal Mohawk.

“I’m Thunderlane, put her there.”

Joel and Brandon shook his hand.

The last guy was a unicorn with brown fur who also had black hair.

“The name's Lucky.”

Once again, Joel and Brandon shook his hand.

“Well, if we are going to make it to the club, we better get going, said Thunderlane.”

Brandon nodded and followed Big Mac and the others to this club.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Back on earth.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

In the center of a village in Afghanistan, four soldiers were on the move, running through the streets. The team leader took out a radio and began to talk into it.

“This is Taipan 6, where is our god damn transport!”

He got a reply soon.

“Your transport is closing in, hang in there.”

Taipan 6 looked behind him and saw a truck with a mounted heavy machine gun closing the distance. This was clearly a mission that went completely wrong, yet from above, a combat rescue Pave Hawk flew overhead, the crew chief manning a 50.cal began to fire upon the truck and any enemy forces that were on the soldiers asses.

Lowering itself, the helicopter landed outside of the town.

“Follow that helicopter!”

The team ran down a slope, trying their best not to trip.

They reached the helicopter, the crew chief gesturing them to come in. They gladly did so and buckled in.

“Anyone of you hurt?” Asked a flight medic.

“No, sir, we are fine, I do suppose we’ll get checked up on at the base later.”

The flight medic nodded as the chopper took to the sky.

“RPG!”

In minutes, the helicopter began to spin around the crew doing their best to hold onto anything firmly attached to the helicopter. The helicopter began to lose altitude and was heading straight for the ground, but a bright light somehow engulfed the chopper which made all the occupants close their eyes.

“Brace!” Yelled the pilot as everyone began to lose consciousness.

After a long period of time, Taipan 6 opened his eyes slowly, he was still in the helicopter and surprisingly was alive. He began to look around and noticed his team, the flight medic, and the co-pilot sitting at a small bonfire.

Walking over, they noticed him and told him that they were no longer in Iraq. One of the men handed him a radio.

Just in case there are any of our men nearby who can help us.

Looking back at the broken and bent remains of the chopper, Taipan 6 had to ask.

“What happened to the crew chiefs and the main pilot?”

The group looked down.

“They didn’t make it,” said the woman pilot.

Taipan 6 sighed and nodded, he decided to radio any nearby soldiers.

“Anyone injured?” He asked.

The woman raised her hand, she not only was having trouble breathing, but her leg seemed to be bleeding out just a little.

“Josh, what’s her status?”

One of the men walked over, probably the tallest guy in the squad.

“She’s been wheezing a bit, I think she’s got a broken rib and perhaps a punctured lung, I suggest we try to radio any units and hope for the best that they arrive in time.”

Taipan nodded and sat next to the group, the flight medic keeping the pilot stable as she lay on the grass.

“Where the hell are we?”

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Joel and Brandon entered the club, it looked more like a restaurant but they didn’t really care.

A mare came up to them with a clipboard and greeted them.

“Hello, welcome to the Mystic moonlight tavern, how can I help you tonight?”

Mac decided to do the talking.

“We are looking for a large booth. There are six guys with me.”

“Okay, Follow me.” They followed her to a booth with a table and sat down.

“So, what are you guys into, poker, euchre, gin rummy?”

Thunderlane was about to say yes to gin rummy but a glare from Weaver made him lower his hand.

“I think we should avoid gin rummy due to a certain cheater in our group,” Said Weaver.

“How about a simple game of go fish?” Mac suggested.

“That’ll work.”

Brandon dealt the cards, while they were doing so, a waitress approached them, the only one who noticed her was Joel.

Joel noticed she was swaying her hips just enough to be noticeable, he knew this because back home he had never seen a waitress do it so seeing something was up, he tried to alert Brandon about this.

“Brandon.”

In a moment Joel, I’ll get your cards in a minute.

“Excuse me boys.”

The group turned their attention to the waitress in question.

Now Joel and Brandon had only been here for two days and had made some friends. They noticed most mares they had run into had normal breast sizes, some larger than others of course, but this mare was a different story.

To put things simply, her cup size was much larger than other mares they had seen in ponyville and Canterlot so far, her hips were no joke, they were wide as hell and Joel and Brandon dare not think about what she looked like from behind.

The stallions they were with aside from Mac were fidgeting and sweating profusely at the sight of the waitress.

Noticing her desired charm had no effect on the humans, she frowned and continued on with her work, yet trying to find a way to crack their stone expression.

“I’m Sugarcane, of course you boys know me,” she gestured to the stallions.

“What can I get you six to eat?”

Brandon and Joel knew she was probably very popular around town, they did their best to ignore her flirting, yet Joel’s face began to heat up. Sugarcane smirked at Joel’s broken facade.

Brandon focused on the menu she handed them and he looked at all the choices, surprisingly there actually was meat, such as chicken wings and fish but that was mainly it, Brandon could easily live with that. He also saw a few Griffons, probably passing through, yet one group looked rather sketchy.

They were looking at them every once and a while, while other Griffons were just minding their own business.

“I’ll take a bucket of chicken wings with some ranch dressing and this delectable sounding dark mountain cider.”

Sugarcane nodded and wrote it down and looked to Joel and gave him a wink.

Trying to mask his red face the best he could, he began to tell her his order.

“I’ll just go for a large salad and hard apple cider as well.”

“And could you tell the chef that humans, like myself can’t necessarily stomach dandelions and hay?”

Sugarcane nodded and asked the others what they wanted. After taking their orders, Sugarcane left, leaving the others looking at Brandon in shock.

What? Asked Brandon.

“You didn’t even blush or stutter when noticing or talking to Sugarcane,” said Thunderlane.

“Well, I’m not that kind of person to stare at one’s assets.”

With that, Sugarcane came back later with their foods as the group played go fish.

Brandon noticed when he ordered the chicken wings, Mac and the others didn’t cringe or anything unlike Twilight, so he had to ask.

“You know, when I placed my order, you guys didn’t seem to get grossed out by the fact of me eating meat.”

“This restaurant has Griffons working here too, most ponies won’t cook meat, and all kinds of customers come in, so we don’t see you as some terrifying monster,” said Mac.

“Well thanks, Mac, and it’s your turn.”

“Ya got any sixes, Brandon?”

Brandon looked at his deck of cards and shook his head.

“Sorry Mac, go fish.”

And that Mac did.

“Let’s just say whoever wins pays for dinner,” said Lucky.

“I can live with that,” said brandon.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

After some time of playing cards, Brandon said his goodbyes to his new pals and Joel.

He noticed Applejack disassembling her empty stand where she usually sells her apples. She said it was a traditional thing in ponyville, even though some places had begun to sell things either online or in stores.

“Hey Applejack.”

Applejack turned to Brandon and smiled.

“Howdy Brandon, where did ya come from?”

“Oh, just playing cards with Big Mac and his friends down at the Mystic moonlight tavern.”

“Well ain’t that something, I but i have a feeling that’s not the only reason ya came over here for.”

“Alright, you got me, I came over here to ask you why Scootaloo always seems down at the end of the day, she gives me this look as if she admires me or something.”

Applejack sighed so Brandon prepared for whatever she was going to lay down.

“Scootaloo often feels down because she wishes she had a family like Apple bloom and Sweetie Belle, there’s an orphanage at the edge of ponyville, that’s where she lives.”

Brandon’s heart sank, orphanages were no longer heard of in America due to foster care and other alternatives, but he knew kids’ lives like hers were usually hell when living in an orphanage.

Brandon wanted to talk to Scootaloo after school and hopefully get to know her more, perhaps he could try to make her life a bit better.

“Thanks, Applejack, I’ll talk with her after school, and I also came over to tell you I have found a house and I’m going to be a roommate to that nurse at the hospital. She offered me a room to stay in so I thank you for taking me in last night.”

“It ain’t no problem, Brandon, the Apple family is always willing to help.”

The sound of flapping was heard and he looked to see a thestral guard land in front of him.

“Can I help you, sir?”

“I have news from the Princesses, sir, there is an emergency distress call near the border of the Griffon Kingdom.”

“Is Princess Luna awake at this hour?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Tell her I’m on my way.”

The guard nodded and Brandon left for the helicopter.

“Hope she still has some fuel in her.”

This story is gonna be on pause for bit fellas

Sorry to all you guys who are excited for more but until I get some big inspiration, this will be on pause, don’t worry I’m not canceling it.

I will be rewriting my other story but making it a bit deferent at the same time, so if your interested in reading that, just keep following me and it’ll probably pop up sometime.

Again, I’m sorry for the news but someone once told me, artist needed time to write, draw, or sing, making up things without thinking them through usually gets bad views.