After a silent ten or so minutes of walking me and Silver reach the entrance to the barracks, Twilight following close behind. “Do you think we took too long, is that why they left the mess hall without you? Do they suspect anything?” Silver asks me quietly.

“I don’t think we need to worry, they probably just got used to me being gone.” I respond, keeping my voice low as well.

“I guess you’re probably right, after you got separated the first time maybe they got used to it.” Silver turns around and falls back into her professional guard demeanor. ”Are you ready, your highness?” Silver asks, remaining formal in front of the other guards watching the door.

“Yes Silver Dagger, I’m ready to meet the humans.” Silver motions to the guard ponies and they open the doors to the barracks. Me and Silver trot into the room first, Twilight staying out of sight next to one of the doors.

“Everyone line up in front of your bunks.” Silver commands, showing me her professional assertiveness for the first time. Everyone gets off their beds and lines up in front of them. After noticing an empty bunk bed I walk over and stand in front of it. “Introducing her majesty who has come here to meet you all, Princess Twilight Sparkle.” Silver bows her head and walks off to the side, allowing Twilight to walk in.

Seeing her everyone bows their heads, quite a few of them with very excited looks on their faces. “You may raise your head everyone.” Twilight permits, glazing back and forth at everyone. “Which one of you is the commander?” She asks.

“That would be me.” One says, taking a step forward. He turns to her and once again takes a brief bow. “It is an honor to meet you, your highness.” One surprisingly extends his left hand, to offer a hoof shake.

Twilight glances at the offered hand and seems to hesitate to accept. “Come to think of it, she did also leave my hoof shake hanging when I offered it.” I observe, thinking on the topic a bit more. “I wonder if she doesn’t like the idea of touching humans.”

After a few seconds Twilight waves her hoof dismissively. “No need for all that, you’re our guests after all.” Twilight assures,

One lowers his hand and puts his full attention on Twilight. “Alright then what did you want with me? You asked who the commander was, so you must have something you’d like to ask.”

“Yes actually, it’s about that one over there.” Twilight raises and points a hoof at me. I don’t pay it too much mind though, if she was going to try and expose me she would have put up some sort of protection spell, and I was certain her horn never glowed. Not to mention I could feel the magic in the air back at the portal, but there was nothing here.

“You mean Anon?” One asks, glancing back at me. “What about him?”

“I ran into him and Silver Dagger in the hall earlier and we talked for a bit, but something kept bothering me…” Twilight takes a moment to pause and pick what she says next, obviously trying to figure out the question without giving too much of what happened away. “Do any of you know why his resting bitch face almost never seems to go away?”

And just like that, what I thought would be a question about what happened earlier suddenly turned into a jab at me. “I’m not sure.” One says, glancing at me and tilting his head a moment. “We haven’t had him on the team for long, but I do know what you mean about the resting bitch face.” A series of mumbled agreements seem to come from all members of the team.

“Oh well, figured it was worth asking.” Twilight says, her expression turning more serious after words. “Anyway, onto my main question. Can we really trust all of you?”

In an instant I could see all of One’s muscles tense up and judging by the movement of his throat, he gulped the second the words left Twilights mouth. “Yes your majesty, we were all selected because we came from normal places with no criminal, military or government backgrounds. We may not be the most reliable people, but we will never do anything to harm your land.”

“Empty words and glass promises.” Twilight almost spits in the commander's face. “I don’t just want your word, I want proof that you won’t betray us if your country asks you to.”

“A glass promise may be fragile, but it’s also transparent so you know there’s no hidden inside it.” I say, looking over at Twilight. “You just have to trust we have the strength to protect the promise from what may shatter it.”

“And what reason do I have to trust you have the strength to do that? What proof do you have?” Twilight asks, turning her attention to me, walking past One who seems frozen, without the strength to even turn his head.

“What proof do you want?” I ask. “Give us an idea, tell us how we need to prove to you that we have both Earth and Equestria’s best interest in mind.”

“NO!” One shouts, catching me and Twilight off guard. “I’m the leader god damnit. Tell me what to do. Tell me what and I’ll do anything to prove that me and my team are people you can trust.”

“Well, look at you acting like a leader, about time.” Twilight comments, turning around full and looking at One. “Congratulations, you pass.”

“What do you mean? Pass what?” One asks.

“If the commander, the one chosen to lead this group, didn't even have the balls to act like one, then what was there that the rest would follow?” Twilight starts walking towards the door. “As long as you lead your team and keep them in order then you have my blessing to remain here, and I’ll trust you for now.”

“Thank you, your highness.”

“Just don’t let me down.” Twilight glances up at me. “I’ll forgive him for not being able to control you.” I hear Twilight's voice say in my head, but don’t see her lips move. Then I take notice of the almost unnoticeable pink glow faintly wrapped around her horn.

“Telepathy ha? I didn’t even realize she could do that.” I think to myself. “Oh well, she can’t read my mind, so I’ll let this little intrusion go.”

Twilight's horn goes dark once again and she leaves the room. “Thank you all for your time.” Silver says. “You may go and explore the castle until lights out, however you must be accompanied by a guard. Would any of you care to go?” All at once almost every hand in the room shoots up, with the exception of One, 12, and Myself. Silver looks over at me a little disappointedly before looking back at everyone,

“Alright then, I’ll go fetch four guards and you can split into groups of three.” Silver says walking out of the room. “Wait here till I return.” and with that the doors shut and I’m finally left alone with the rest of the team.

A few people begin talking to each other about Twilight and I decide to test out the bed. I sit down on the edge and as I lay down and spread myself out I come to one quick conclusion. “These beds… are really fucking big.” I think to myself, not being able to touch my fingertips to the top and my toes to the bottom at the same time.

I curl up slightly on the bed before remembering my luggage. “Where did I put it again?” I wonder, glancing around the bunkroom. After giving the room a once over I notice it sitting by the door. “Ah that’s right, I just tossed it in here before we all left to go to dinner.” I get up and walk over to the back, overhearing a conversation on my way.

“I hope she’s getting female guards.” 2 says as I walk past. I pause in front of my bag and kneel down. I open it and pretend to look for something so I can hear the rest of this discussion. “I mean I know it’s a part of their culture and all, but if I have to stare at one more penis, I’m going to throw up.”

“I thought you were bi.” 3 remarks.

“Just because I enjoy the company of men doesn’t mean I find horse cock appealing.” 2 corrects. “Not every gay guy has the impulsive need to stretch their asshole to it’s theoretical breaking point.” 3 lets out a sigh and I see him wipe the sweat from his forehead out of the corner of my eye. “At least with the females you can ignore it, but it’s kind of hard not to notice every ‘five legged’ stallion.”

I zip up my duffle bag and take it over to my bunk. “Hey One.” I say. One glances up from his lying position on the bunk across from mine.

“What?” he asks.

“I get her not wanting to go.” I point up at 12 sitting on her top bunk. “But why don’t you want to go and explore the castle?”

“S’not like we’re gonna be livin here, I don’t really feel like seein all the fancy stuff we’ll never get.” One sit up and stretches his arms, I hear an audible pop come from his shoulder. “Honestly, I just want to get going already.”

“You seem rather eager, did you get Ponyville or somethin?” Marie asks, walking over to the bunk.

“No, but I do get to go out and live in the country.” One pulls out his white paper that he got from his locker and flips it over. “I get to go see Apploosa.”

“You lucky bastard.” Marie pulls out her slip and flips it. “I gotta deal with all the shiny ponies out in the Crystal Empire.”

“At least you know what you’re in for.” Marco says, slipping himself into the conversation holding up his own paper. “I got Prance. Please tell me they still speak English there.”

“I think the accents and speech patterns change, but I think every country still speaks ‘Equestrian,’ at least I think so.” I say.

“What about you Anon?” Marie asks “Where are you going to be staying?”

Author's Note

Hello, I just wanted to clarify something as the story progresses. This story is set in an alternate universe, not only for Equestria, but also for earth. There will be mentions of wars that haven't happened and things that happened in the real world might not be mentioned. for example: On this earth *ovid never happened, Trump was never president, and Ukraine was ever attacked. It also takes place a good few decades in the future.

Okay, I'll stop talking now, but before I go I just want to say goodbye to a very talented writer who will officially no longer be posting on FimFiction. They're alright, but will no longer be writing here. Goodbye Crystal Wishes, you will be missed here.