Fall of Equestria: The Vietnam War Museum

Chapters

Prologue
Chapter 1: A Very Strange Museum
Chapter 2: Nighttime Horrors
Epilogue

Prologue

Equestria. For many years, this Nation of Equines has been a shining beacon in the world of Equus. Ruled over by Princess Celestia, and her sister, Princess Luna, with their niece Princess Cadence, and her husband Prince Shining Armor ruling the Crystal Empire to the north, and Celestia's former student, Princess Twilight Sparkle, and her friends, the other Bearers of the Elements of Harmony based in Ponyville, Equestria was such a safe, and beautiful place. Yes, there were times of great trial and tribulation, but the Ponies of Equestria had always emerged victorious, but soon they were to face a new foe, one that they wouldn't be able to overcome so easily.

Not a whole lot was known about the Caribou Empire. They were ruled over by the powerful King Danin Stonehoof, and they lived to the north of Equestria, between the Crystal Empire and Yakyakistan, and they had little contact with the outside world. Rumors circulated that the Caribou were very warlike, and could control powerful Magic, and that they treated their females very badly, but all of this was deemed speculation by the public at large, until one day, it wasn't. From the North, and with very little warning, the Caribou suddenly invaded Equestria. There was almost no time for the Equestrians to prepare, and before they knew what had happened, the Crystal Empire had been overrun.

Prince Shining Armor had been gravely wounded, and the Imperial Crystal Army had been rendered combat ineffective as they worked to hold off the Caribou long enough for as many of the Crystal Ponies, including Princess Cadence, to evacuate south as possible. The Caribou overran the Crystal Empire, and used it as their new base of operations. The Crystal Heart was missing, presumably hidden somewhere while the Caribou were fighting to overtake the Crystal Empire, but in its place, the Caribou Mages placed their own heinous, arcane creation, the so-called "Crystal Cock"; a phallus-shaped piece of crystal, infused with the Caribou's Magic. This magic, emanating from the Crystal Cock, began to corrupt the minds of the stallions and colts of Equestria, causing them to turn on the mares and fillies. Granted, some were immune to the effects of the Crystal Cock, and Equestrian countermeasures were created, but in the end, it wasn't enough.

In a matter of weeks, the Caribou had overrun Van Hoover, Manehattan, Fillydelphia, Baltimare, Las Pegasus, and Rainbow Falls, and laid sieges to Appaloosa, and Dodge City. Both of these desert towns put up an immense fight, costing the Caribou quite a lot of their forces, but in the end, it came to naught as the Caribou bombarded them from above with cannons and bombs from their airships, leaving both towns in ruins, with hundreds, if not thousands of Ponies, and their Buffalo allies dead.

The Equestrian Army, Navy, and Marines were bringing the fight to the Caribou as best they could, and they were helping to stall the Caribou, but there just weren't enough of them to make a difference, as too many stallions had been corrupted by the Caribou's Magic, and fought for them, instead of against them. Sure, some gains were made by the Equestrians, but in the end, it didn't matter with how swiftly the Caribou were overwhelming them. The situation went from bad to worse in the coming days, and many units were forced to surrender to the Caribou, or were wiped out by them. Equestria's allies wanted to help them, but many feared the Caribou overwhelming them next after Equestria fell, forcing them to focus almost solely on protecting their own nations, all but leaving Equestria to its fate. Eventually, after nearly a month of fierce fighting, only Canterlot, Cloudsdale, and Ponyville remained in Equestrian hands, but this sadly wouldn't be the case for much longer.

Cloudsdale had put up a fierce resistance, made possible by the city floating in the sky, possessing weapons powerful enough to knock down the Caribou airships, and the Caribou's inability to walk on clouds, and this made King Danin quite furious. He ordered Cloudsdale taken, but those Pegasai in the city refused to allow it to fall. And in the end, if what hadn't happened next hadn't happened, then the city's survival may have continued. Alas, the siren call of a world ruled by the Caribou, a world where all mares and fillies, as well as Caribou cows were your personal playthings was too great, and 3 Pegasai stallions, who's names have been erased from history for their foul deeds; Equestria's Benedict Arnold's, and Vidkun Quisling's, gave the Caribou access to Cloudsdale after disabling the defense systems, allowing it to fall. Cloudsdale was now under the control of the Caribou, and the 3 stallions who betrayed their City. One obstacle down, only two more to go.

Canterlot was next, and it too came under heavy siege. The Ponies put up a valiant defense, but by this point, they could no longer use the Elements of Harmony, as Rainbow Dash had been captured at Cloudsdale. Thousands of Caribou fell, as did hundreds of Ponies, but in the end, Canterlot had fallen, Princess Celestia was captured, but Princess Luna had disappeared. The Caribou searched for her high and low, but it was as if she had simply vanished. Even Celestia didn't know where her Sister had gone, but was hoping that she was safe. King Danin forced Celestia to sign the surrender documents, which for the sake of her subjects she did, but yet this wasn't the end of the war, not by a long shot. Ponyville still stood, a handful of Equestrian naval vessels were still out at sea, a number of Equestrian resistance groups were still fighting a guerrilla war against the Caribou, and of course, Princess Luna still remained at large.

The Battle for Ponyville would be the final, and yet the longest, and bloodiest battle of the entire war. The gloves had come off now, as the Caribou would go to any lengths to capture Ponyville, and the remaining Ponies there knew what was at stake, and were resolved to go down fighting. The Caribou poured everything they had into capturing Ponyville, and after nearly 2 1/2 weeks of laying siege to the town, they finally captured it.

Spike the Dragon was mortally wounded while defending Twilight's Castle, and in his final moments, triggered a series of bombs he planted inside of the Castle, bringing the whole structure down on top of himself, and everyone else inside, killing many dozens of Caribou in the process. Twilight was taken down when one of her combat spells got deflected back at her by a Caribou Mage, and captured soon after, while Rarity was knocked unconscious by a Caribou soldier after she gouged out the eyes of several of his comrades with scissors and knitting needles. Meanwhile, Fluttershy was captured in a large net when she tried to save several of her animals who'd been wounded in the battle, while Pinkie Pie got severely electrocuted by a Caribou Mage who grew extremely irritated by her breaking the Laws of Physics, and killing other Caribou with her party cannon, which she loaded with bits of metal, rather than confetti. And what of Applejack? She was trapped by a corrupted Big Mac, who pushed over an apple tree on top of her. Once the last Element Bearers had been captured, they were stripped, raped, and then sold off to various Caribou as war-prizes, save for Applejack, who was kept by Big Mac, who began to feel guilt for what he had done to his Sister, as the Caribou Magic corrupting him wasn't absolute.

The Flag of the Caribou now flew from every town and city in Equestria, and with King Danin now sitting on the throne in Canterlot, the Caribou now reigned supreme, and Celestia was now his personal f@#k-toy. Up in the Crystal Empire, Shining Armor had recovered from his injuries, and was now the de-facto ruler of the Empire, but did so under Caribou supervision. He got to keep Cadence, as she was his wife, and while not completely corrupted by the Caribou's Magic, he wasn't fully immune to it either, making him at times cruel to Cadence, and other mares, and other times lamenting his inability to protect the Crystal Empire from the Caribou.

While the Siege of Ponyville was still going on, many of the remaining Equestrian warships were either destroyed by the Caribou, their crews scuttled their ships to prevent them from falling into Caribou hands, their crews surrendered their ships to the Caribou, or in at least one case, the crew of the ENS Hoofbelltown loaded their ship up with explosives, and steamed it directly into Fillydelphia Harbor before jumping ship, and detonating it when it reached the main docks, causing a catastrophic explosion that completely knocked out the docks of Fillydelphia Harbor, killing an unknown number of Caribou, and injuring many more. The surviving crew were captured by the Caribou, and most of them were executed for what they had done.

And what of the Equestrian Resistance Groups? Many of them had hidden in the Everfree, hoping that it would protect them, and it did......for a while. But when the Caribou showed up with their flamethrowers, napalm, fire spells, and other incendiary devices, that put an end to that real quick. So many Resistance Fighters, including Zecora, were burned alive, and the rest of the Resistance fighters were scattered across Equestria, where they were being hunted down one by one. Princess Luna was still missing, though by this point, the Caribou chalked it up to her having either killed herself, or been incinerated when the Everfree Forest was torched.

For Equestria, the entire situation looked extremely bleak. So many were dead, many more were injured, and the rest lived under Caribou rule, some stallions begrudgingly, but many more enjoyed their newfound freedom, and all of the mares and fillies were their personal sex-slaves. It looked so bleak, but little did the Caribou know that within the next few days, something would happen that would begin to bring their rule crashing down. What was this "something"? Well, it all began with a Caribou Scout Force who decided to explore the area around Ponyville........

Author's Note

Ok Everyone, here we go. Now that I've gotten the Prologue, which shows how Equestria fell to the Caribou out of the way, now I can move on to what you all really want to see. I would spoil it, in case anyone reading this right now hasn't seen my blog posts, but for those of you who know, you all know perfectly well what's coming next, and eagerly await it. And I shall deliver it in the next 2 Chapters!

In the meantime though, as always, comments, questions, feedback, as well as spreading the word about this story are always appreciated, and I'll see you all again in Chapter 1!

ScarFox out for now!

Chapter 1: A Very Strange Museum

On the most ordinary of days, the most extraordinary of things can happen, be they good, or bad. Many of the Caribou were enjoying their good fortune after the fall of Equestria to their rule, but yet, not all of them got to enjoy it all of the time. This was the case for Caribou Lieutenant Alston, the Caribou in charge of Lighthoof Platoon, one of the Caribou's scouting forces. During the times when they were on duty, Lighthoof Platoon was responsible for patrolling the area around Ponyville, ensuring that all was well, and to keep an eye out for any Resistance fighters, wild animals, or anything that looked suspicious. It was pretty boring for the most part, and Alston also hated being on the South Side of Ponyville, as that was where the Everfree Forest used to be, prior it being largely burned to ashes, and still contaminated with chemicals used to burn it down.

"Those idiots shouldn't have done that." He grumbled to his Platoon that afternoon while they were out on patrol. "I mean yes, I get it, they had to burn the forest to clear out the Resistance fighters, but the way they went about it was all wrong. I understand their use of flamethrowers, but the napalm, and other chemicals was not only incredibly dangerous, but HIGHLY irresponsible as well."

"How so?" One of his men asked.

Alston looked at him. "What would have happened if the wind had picked up? Or those chemicals burned out of control? Or if the flames had reached Ponyville, or elsewhere? We would have had a MASSIVE, uncontrollable wildfire on our hands, which very easily could have burned most of Equestria to the ground. It was ONLY by the grace of the Gods that the fires were contained within the forest itself. That's why I hate patrolling the South Side; not only are we near that forest, a reminder of the day it was burned down, but many of those chemicals are toxic, and shouldn't be breathed in. That whole area will still be contaminated for Gods only know how long."

"Well, then I guess it's a good thing we're on the West Side today." One of the soldiers replied.

Alston was maybe about to reply, but just before he could, one of his soldiers, Sergeant Oran, suddenly noticed something.

"Sir?"

"Yes? What is it, Sergeant?"

"When the main Caribou Army came through here, and secured the area, did anyone say anything about this road here, and where it went?"

"Which road?"

Alston then looked at where the Sergeant was looking, and sure enough, he saw it. Branching off from the main road that they were walking on was a smaller road, which was made of gravel, rather than paving stones, and led off towards a nearby grove of trees.

"Huh. I'm not sure, Sergeant." Alston then turned on his communication device, and contacted his boss, Captain Erich, to inquire if he knew anything about the gravel road, or if there was a record of where it went.

Captain Erich checked his records, and to his surprise, there was no mention of the road, aside from a few Caribou soldiers seeing it, but not going down it.

"Hmm, I see. Should we investigate it, Captain?"

"Yes, Lieutenant, you should. We need to know what's down there, so go investigate it, and report back your findings."

"Yes, Sir." Alston then turned to the rest of his Platoon. "Ok, Troops, listen up. Our orders are to investigate this gravel road, and see where it leads. Once we reach the end of it, or anything of interest, we report it back to the Captain. Got it?"

"Sir, yes, Sir!" They said in unison.

"Good!"

Sergeant Oran then took point, and the Platoon began to travel down the gravel road, many of them wondering what they were going to find, if anything. Most thought that it was either a nature trail, a lesser-traveled main road, or possibly led to a farm, while others were hoping it led to some more mares, or even Resistance Fighters. Little did any of those 25+ Caribou of Lighthoof Platoon know that this path in fact led to their doom.

The road wasn't as long as the Caribou were expecting it to be. It only went on for about a quarter of a mile, passing through a grove of trees, and over a bridge across a stream, before terminating in a very strange place. The Caribou crossed the bridge, passed through a few more trees, and then found themselves at the edge of a grassy field, with a few trees dotted here and there around the field, and the road wound through the field, before terminating in front of a large building.

"Huh. I wonder what that is." Alston wondered as he looked at the building through his spyglass. He then sent another message to Captain Erich, and informed him that the road led to a large building, and that they were going to investigate it.

The Caribou then walked the rest of the way down the gravel road, getting closer and closer to the building. All around them, they could hear birds chirping, and insect noises, and perhaps spot a few deer or squirrels. The area seemed peaceful, and they didn't see any Ponies or other creatures around. When they arrived at the road's terminus, the Caribou found themselves standing on a large paved area, covered in what appeared to be asphalt, and painted with a series of white lines, some of which intersected, forming a series of rectangular, symmetrical spaces across the paved area.

"Any idea what this is, Lieutenant?" One of the Caribou asked.

"I've seen these before in the larger Equestrian cities; they're called 'parking lots'. Ponies will park their wagons, and other vehicles in these spaces between the white lines, so that those who're visiting whatever attraction is attached to the parking lot can all park their vehicles in an orderly fashion. They're quite useful for staging areas too, as some of you saw when we conquered Equestria."

"But, this parking lot's empty."

"Yes, so perhaps this building is closed, or maybe even abandoned." Alston replied. Then the other Caribou began to look around.

Alston soon noticed that while the parking lot was indeed empty, it was well-maintained, having shown signs of being repaved within the past few months or so, and the white lines all repainted. There was hardly a crack, or an errant weed to be seen anywhere, and Alston then turned his attention to the building, which several other Caribou had done as well.

It was very large, and the exterior was sandy-yellow, and seemed to be made from a mixture of bricks and stone, covered over in a layer of cement, or something similar. There were a few windows on the front of the building, covered in black metal bars, and a gray roof sloped upwards from it. The building seemed to be 2-stories tall, but this could have been a facade. It was however, very large, almost the size of a large factory, but it lacked a factory's smokestacks. Between the building and the parking lot was a series of concrete sidewalks, and near the front of the building was a large berm, filled with gravel, and a large flagpole adorned with 2 unfamiliar flags. The one on top had a series of red and white stripes, with a blue rectangle with white stars on it, while below it was a flag that was all black, with a silhouette of what appeared to be a soldier on it, with the letters "M.I.A" below it. There were 2 other flagpoles in the berm, but at the moment, they had no flags on them, and the Caribou also saw a series of lights in the flagpole's bases that would light up the flags at night.

"Hmm, I wonder what flags these are. I've never seen anything like them before." Sergeant Oran remarked.

"Neither have I, Sergeant." Alston replied.

He then looked up at the building again, and finally noticed a large sign over the front doors. The sign was rectangular, and painted black with yellow letters. The words, "The Vietnam War Museum" were visible on the sign, as well as several guns, stars, and other decorations.

"Huh, so this building is some kind of museum." One of the Caribou said, cocking his head a bit. "But what's the 'Vietnam War'?"

None of them knew, as they'd never heard of such a thing.

"I remember finding archives of various museums across Equestria in Canterlot, but I don't recall any mention of this place, or hearing about it anywhere else." Sgt. Oran mused.

"Neither do I." Lt. Alston remarked.

"Maybe this place closed down some time ago." One of the other Caribou added.

"No, can't be. This place is clearly well-maintained, meaning that someone, or more than one being still cares for it at the very least."

Some of the Caribou then began to scout around the sides and back of the museum. They didn't find very much to report, as aside from gravel flowerbeds containing various bushes and flowers, a sidewalk that led to a tall fountain (that currently didn't have any water in it), a number of concrete squares arranged in a rectangular pattern around the fountain, but which seemingly served no purpose, and a shed containing various lawn tools, there wasn't much to report.

"I guess we'd better see if we can go inside, as we must investigate this place thoroughly. Come on, Men." Lt. Alston then led the way towards the front doors once the Caribou all regrouped there.

The two front doors of the museum were made of metal and glass, though the glass panes were tinted somewhat, preventing them from seeing inside right away, though a sign on the door said that the museum was open Monday-Saturday, from 10am-8pm Mon-Fri, and Noon-8Pm on Saturday. Lt. Alston looked at his watch, and saw that it was about 4:30pm, meaning that the museum was still open.

"Must not be very popular though, considering that we've never even heard of this place, and it seems to be totally deserted on the outside." One of the Caribou quipped.

Sgt. Oran gave him a look, before Lt. Alston pulled on one of the doors, and it opened right up revealing an empty foyer, and another set of doors, which were then opened, and the 25+ Caribou soon found themselves inside the museum's main lobby. Looking around, they quickly saw that the floors were covered in an old, reddish carpet, the walls were painted white, the ceiling was made of drop-down panels, rectangular electrical lights in the drop-down ceiling were buzzing a bit, and to their right were the museum's restrooms, as well as a drinking fountain, and to their left seemed to be the museum's gift shop. On the walls around the lobby were various pictures and paintings, while a few metal statues of soldiers wearing unfamiliar uniforms, and carrying unfamiliar weapons stood on the floor between them. But what made the Caribou stop and stare was the fact that these soldiers weren't Ponies, and didn't seem to be any kind of creature that they'd ever seen before.

"What kind of creatures are these?" One of the Caribou asked.

"I don't know. They look like some kind of.....hairless Minotaurs, or some kind of ape."

Just then, the Caribou became aware of some noises nearby, and they turned to see an Information Desk at the back of the lobby, flanked by 2 sets of closed wooden double-doors on either side of it, and a painting of some kind of flying machine on the wall behind the desk, but what made them stare was the male creature seated at the desk.

To the Caribou's surprise, he seemed to be the same kind of creature that they'd seen in the paintings and statues, and that he looked older, with graying brown hair, blue eyes, some light stubble, wore glasses, and was wearing a dark green button-up shirt, dark pants with a black belt, black boots, and a patch on his shirt's right breast pocket read "Danvers". The creature was also casually working on some kind of weapon on the desk in front of him, seemingly putting it back together after thoroughly cleaning it. He looked up at the Caribou as they stepped up to his desk, and he smiled a bit.

"Welcome." He said in a warm tone. "Welcome to the Vietnam War Museum. A place of wonder, discovery, and where History comes alive. I was wondering when you were going to show up here." He added as he looked down the barrel of the weapon, making sure it was clean and clear before reattaching it to the weapon.

"You've.....been expecting us?" Sgt. Oran asked, his hand closing over his sidearm in case the creature tried anything.

"Oh yes, I knew some of you would come by sooner or later. You Caribou are the new self-proclaimed 'Masters of Equestria', are you not?"

"Yes, we are! And who are you? And what are you? What is this place? Are you hiding any mares here? Or anything we need to know about?" Sgt. Oran asked accusingly.

Lt. Alston then put a hand on the Sergeant's shoulder, but before he could say anything, the creature laughed slightly.

"Gentlemen, gentlemen, no need for such anger here. I can answer all of your questions..."

"Then please do so." Alston interrupted.

"Certainly. And I take it that you're in charge of these men?"

"Yes, I am. I am Lieutenant Alston, of Lighthoof Platoon, a scouting force of the Caribou Army. This is my subordinate, Sergeant Oran, and the rest of my Platoon."

"A pleasure to meet you, Lieutenant, Sergeant, and the rest of your Platoon. I am former Lieutenant Austin Danvers, of the United States Marines Corps, retired. And to answer the rest of your questions, I am a Human, this place is the Vietnam War Museum, of which I am its curator, and guide, the only ones here are me, and the exhibits, and that depends. Are you gonna start crying and whining that 'War is evil!' that I'm a 'monster', or some other bullshit?"

"A Human? Are you even from here?" Alston asked.

Austin shook his head. "No, I'm not. I came from another world, but I'm still not sure how I got here. My world was populated by Humans, and we're the sole sentient species there." Austin then went on to answer the Caribou's many questions about Humans.

While he was doing this, some of the other Caribou decided to investigate the bathrooms, and the gift shop, just in case Austin was lying about being alone there. There were 2 bathrooms, one for males, and one for females. Inside the male bathroom was a row of urinals, a few stall toilets (all of which were empty), a row of mirrored sinks, and a supply closet full of cleaning supplies. In the female bathroom were a row of stall toilets (all of which were empty), a row of mirrored sinks, and another supply closet. The floors of both bathrooms were made from vinyl tile instead of carpet.

Meanwhile, inside the gift shop were all kinds of souvenirs from the museum, ranging from hats, to shirts, mugs, toys of all kinds, puzzles, key-chains, various model kits, books, posters, maps, DVD's, and even a few soldier costumes, and prop weapons. A window let in some natural light, and the sales counter and register were against the left wall. Everything was neat and tidy, and a few of the Caribou were playing with a few of the toys.

"Remember, you break it, you buy it. And if you pocket it, you buy it as well." Austin called from the front desk.

"Bold of you to assume that we'll be paying for anything." One of them called back, putting a small plastic tube of Green Army Men in his pocket.

Austin growled a bit in annoyance, especially since none of the officers or noncoms seemed interested in stopping them. "And I take it that you want to see the rest of the museum?" He asked, his tone now sounding less friendly than before.

"Yes, we most definitely would." Sgt. Oran replied. "And we won't be buying tickets if you were wondering."

Austin blinked. "Well then it's your lucky day. Museum admission is free, but donations are highly encouraged." He gestured to a metal box on the information desk marked "Donations".

One of the Caribou tried to grab the box, but it was stuck fast to the desk. Alston told him to stop, before putting a few coins inside.

"You said before that you were the museum's curator, and guide?"

"Yes. I also do all of the cleaning, tending the gift shop, and caring for the exhibits." Austin said curtly.

"Ok, so then give us the full tour."

"Fine. Once I finish putting my rifle back together, and not a single moment before." He then turned back to it, completely ignoring the Caribou. A few minutes later, he was finished, and attached a strap to it, and slid a bayonet knife onto the end of it.

"What is that?" Alston asked.

"This, is the M14 rifle. It was the main battle-rifle of the US Army and Marine Corps from the 1950's, until it was phased out in favor of the M16 rifle in the 60's, during the Vietnam War in fact. I always preferred the M14 to the M16, for reasons you'll see in a bit when I show you an exhibit that compares the weapons."

Austin then stood up from his desk, picked up his rifle, attached a box magazine to it, cocked it, and then slung it over his shoulder. He then walked over to the set of double-doors on his right, and got ready to open them.

"Get ready to be amazed." He said as he pushed the doors open, and led the way inside.

Once they were all inside, the Caribou looked around them, and gasped in shock and surprise. They were inside of a main gallery, and all around them were various displays of weapons, ammunition, uniforms, tools, other gear, and various mannequins and display cases displaying the items.

"This is the 'Overview Gallery'." Austin began. "It's here to showcase some of the guns, ammunition, other weapons, tools, supplies, and other gear used by the US Armed Forces at the start of their involvement the Vietnam War."

"And what is this 'Vietnam War'?" Alston asked.

Austin sighed. "The Vietnam War was a series of wars fought inside of Vietnam, a nation in Southeast Asia, lasting from 1955-1975. The first part of the war was fought from 1955-1963, but the main part of the war that everyone knows about was fought from 1964-1975. I would know, as I fought in Vietnam from 1967-1974, when I finally copped it bad enough to be sent back to the 'States. The war ended the next year, and was a total flop."

"The what in the who-which now?" Sgt Oran asked.

"Oh. I mean that in 1974 I was finally wounded bad enough to be sent home to the US, my home country, and then the next year the war ended when the US withdrew from Vietnam.....but the rest of it I have a VERY hard time talking about without getting angry enough to start stamping around and swearing. I'll let the exhibits from the last leg of the Vietnam War speak for themselves about that when we come to them. F@#kin' god-awful war." He muttered.

"What was that?"

"Nothing. Just......war is hell. And it changes you."

Sgt. Oran was perhaps about to ask more, but then one of the Caribou asked Austin about the difference between the M14 rifle, and the M16 rifle, noting a display where they were displayed together.

"Ahh, good question. You see, the M14 was a powerful, accurate rifle, capable of both semi-automatic, and fully-automatic fire, but it was heavy, hard-recoiling, and especially unwieldy in jungle fighting, as it was unsuited for the combat conditions, often suffering from feed failure. And in case you didn't know, 'Semi-Automatic' means that for each pull of the trigger, one bullet is fired, while with 'Fully-Automatic', the gun will fire until you either let off the trigger, or the gun runs out of ammunition. As for 'feed failure', that means that the guns were prone to jam sometimes. But as bad as the M14 was, when the M16 was introduced, it was far worse."

"How so?"

Austin scoffed. "These things were even MORE prone to jamming, and the plastic that their stocks were made out of was so cheap that it was prone to breaking quite easily. It wasn't until 1968 when the Military issued the M16A1 that these issues were finally solved. This was why I got so used to the M14, because while it was unsuited for the jungle, it actually worked as intended, and was reluctant to change over to the M16, even after all of its issues were solved. I did eventually though, and my M14 was relegated to becoming my secondary rifle."

"And what happened to your M16 rifle?"

"It's here in the museum. You'll see it in a display case alongside my old uniform, and my M1911 pistol. My M14 rifle is normally displayed there too, but I removed it to clean it today."

The Caribou then looked around a little bit longer, and then were ready to move on, and Austin led the way to the next gallery, with the mannequins in the room watching them all leave.

In the next gallery, various displays covered the history of the Vietnam War, what caused it, how it escalated, the French involvement in Indochina, Vietnam being split into the Communist North Vietnam, and the "Democratic" South Vietnam, the Gulf of Tonkin Incident, the US Involvement, how North Vietnam was aided by China, and the Soviet Union, as well as "neutral" Laos and Cambodia, and of course, how South Vietnam was corrupt, undemocratic, and unstable, but was still better than the Communists. Also included were a few exhibits on why Communism was so evil.

"And in the end, it was all for nothing, since Vietnam was united under Communist rule, despite our best efforts, and it wasn't until the 1990's that Vietnam finally began to shed the chains of Communism when the Soviet Union fell. Which led to myself, and so many others asking why tens of thousands of us had to die in those God-forsaken jungles."

"So the the French, the Americans, and their allies lost a guerrilla war to a bunch of farmers?" Sgt Oran asked mockingly.

Austin glared at him. "It wasn't just a 'guerrilla war', we were also fighting against the North Vietnam Army, Navy, and Air Force. The Viet-Cong, or as we called them, 'The Charlies', were only one part of it. And you laugh now, but riddle me this. How long did it take you all to conquer Equestria? You fought against guerrilla fighters from Day 1, and are still fighting them in the Present Day, and have taken absolutely devastating losses. You're in the exact same boat we were in, Pal. NEVER underestimate home-field advantage, ESPECIALLY when your enemy is surrounded by jungle!"

"He's right, Sergeant." One of the other Caribou noted.

Sgt Oran growled a bit, but said nothing further.

"Is there anything else cool to see in this museum?" One of the Caribou asked in a bored tone. "I don't care about the politics, and how it came to be, I wanna see the weapons of war! Not just the rifles, but the big stuff too!"

Austin sighed. "Fine, fine. That'll be the next stop on our tour. We'll head to the gallery for the vehicles, and then the aircraft gallery, the Navy display, and various combat displays with mannequins in between. There's so much to see!"

He then led the way there.

When they arrived, the Caribou were stunned. All around them were various trucks, Jeeps, tanks, APC's, and other vehicles. Some of the vehicles were open to allow people to sit inside of them, and others had mannequins in or around them.

"Holy cow!"

"This is so awesome!" The Caribou all then began to fan out over the gallery, acting like kids in a candy store.

"Hey, what the heck is this thing?" One of the Caribou asked, pointing to a small 4-wheeled vehicle that almost looked like a toy wagon.

Austin laughed a bit. "That is the M274 Truck, Platform, Utility, 1⁄2 Ton, 4X4, aka the 'Mechanical Mule'. It was used to haul cargo around secured areas, since they had no protection for the driver. They, and their successors, the M561 'Gama Goat', as well as the venerable M35 6x6 trucks, among others, were vital for the logistics lines during the war."

"And is this a Gamma Goat?"

"Yep, that's one of them." Austin replied once he saw what the Caribou had been pointing at.

"And what the heck is this little thing? It looks like a bug!"

"Ah, that would be the M422 'Mighty Mite', a small utility vehicle. It's a cousin of the venerable Willy's Jeep, and M151 'Mutt'."

Austin also got to show the Caribou the wonders of the Cadillac Gage Commando V-100, the M48 Patton Tank, the M60 Main Battle Tank, the LARC-V amphibious vehicle, the M54 gun-truck, the M551 Sheridan, and even the M50 Ontos. He loved talking about them, and even Lt Alston, and Sgt Oran were impressed.

However, while the Caribou were seemingly enjoying themselves, Alston couldn't shake this feeling that they were being watched. He first had the feeling when they entered the first museum gallery, and that feeling never went away. However, to his knowledge, the only ones in the museum were Austin, and themselves, which was confirmed by other Caribou who went ahead and scouted out the rest of the museum, so then why did he have the feeling of being watched? He chalked it up to his own paranoia over seeing the weird Human mannequins and statues spread throughout the museum, and let it go for the time being.

"Austin?" Alston asked him.

"Yes?"

"Where...where did all of this stuff come from? Did you bring it with you?"

Austin shook his head. "No, I didn't. It all just....found its way to me. Once I had enough items, I decided to try to build the museum, but was met with a lot of resistance from the Ponies. They didn't want a 'museum glorifying violence' anywhere near them, which was why I was forced to build it so far out here. Granted though, I can see where they were coming from. The Vietnam War was no joke. I lost so many friends, and even more came home mutilated, or insane. It was horrible. War is a terrible thing, but yet, that's why I wanted to build this museum; both to honor the fallen, and to offend the Ponies."

"Offend them? But you just said......"

"I still meant that, but what I mean by 'offend them' is that I wanted to completely pull back the curtain, and lay bare the horrors of war to offend them. Why? Because if war, or other unpleasant things from history offend you, then you're much less likely to make the same mistakes as those who caused these wars and unpleasant events did to begin with. Alas though, most Ponies didn't see it like that, which was why the Vietnam War Museum exists, but no one really knows about it, or comes to see it."

Alston was silent for a moment. What Austin was saying made a lot of sense, but before he could think further, a Caribou interrupted from the far side of the gallery.

"Hey! Does any of this stuff actually work?"

"Yes and no." Austin called back. "Yes, it could work, however, I lack the fuel, batteries, oil, and other such parts required to make them operate. And before you ask, yes, the guns work, but no, the ammunition you see next to them are inert, and for display only."

Austin then turned back to Alston, and asked him why he, Sergeant Oran, and the other noncoms weren't controlling their troops.

"We are controlling them. However, you don't seem to realize that you're not in Equestria anymore, Lieutenant. Well, I mean you are, but you're in OUR Equestria now. We make the rules, and you follow them."

Austin narrowed his eyes a bit. "Perhaps. But here in the Vietnam War Museum, you're in my world. I make the rules, and you follow them. Which for your credit, you've been pretty respectful of the exhibits, and you did pay for the toy soldiers one of your men stole with your donation, but you still need to watch yourselves. This isn't a place to be fooling around, or be disrespectful in, as 'the walls have ears', as they say."

Alston looked at Austin, but said nothing. Ever since meeting the Human war veteran, Alston had been getting very weird vibes about him. He seemed friendly enough, but yet also seemed to have a dark side. He decided to ignore it for now, but made sure to keep an eye on him during the rest of the tour.

After this gallery, the Caribou began to split up into groups. Some wanted to stay behind and play on the vehicles, while others wanted to go see the aircraft on display, and the rest wanted to see the exhibits on the various battles of Vietnam. Austin knew that he was going to be stretched very thin, which was why he was going to be walking all around the exhibits, and why Alston designated a few different Caribou to serve as messengers in case anyone had any questions while Austin wasn't around.

However, as they were looking around, some of the Caribou noticed that two of their comrades were missing. No one knew where they went, and they looked for them, but when they found them, they could only scream. Austin, Alston, and other Caribou came running when they screamed, and to their horror, the two Caribou were found next to a replica of a US mortar pit, and they were dead. One of them was lying flat on his back on the floor, while the other was draped over the sandbags that made up the mortar pit. Their faces were frozen in sheer terror of something, and both of their bodies showed signs of stab wounds. Even more chilling was the fact that no one was around, but yet 2 mannequins standing near the mortar pit had blood on their uniforms, and the bayonets on the end of their M16's were dripping with blood.

The Caribou immediately attacked the mannequins, and pulled them apart, but to their unease, there was no one inside of them, just a metal frame, overlaid with poseable plastic bodies and limbs. Even Austin looked worried, and he'd been with Lt. Alston the whole time, so it wasn't him who killed those 2 Caribou, but he was also upset about the corpses bleeding all over the floor, and getting blood on his display, as well as the Caribou pulling the 2 mannequins apart. The Caribou corpses were then removed, and Austin angrily pulled out cleaning supplies to clean up their mess, as well as tools to fix the mannequins, all while angrily muttering about all the blood.

However, while Austin was cleaning up the mess, in another gallery, a lone Caribou was teasing a mannequin infantryman who was using a latrine in a display. He was so focused on mocking the mannequin that he didn't hear the footsteps creeping up behind him, and didn't know that anything was wrong until a hand was suddenly slammed over his mouth, and a knife was driven into his throat. He tried to scream, but only bloody gurgles came out. Another Caribou came upon this scene, and was just about to lunge at his comrade's attacker, only to be run through from behind by a large machete, and then had his throat slit.

Soon after, their corpses were discovered, alongside a bloody mannequin, and a bloody statue of a US Army Commando. More panic set in, and this time, Alston ordered that the Caribou stayed together as a group, and that the whole museum be swept again for any signs of anything, which was done in short order, but once again, nothing out of the ordinary was found. The corpses were taken away, and now Austin was absolutely livid. He screamed at Alston, and the other Noncoms for failing to keep an eye on their troops, and for ruining his museum.

"Do you f@#kers have ANY IDEA how hard it is to get blood out of the carpet, off the walls, and out of those mannequins, to say NOTHING of their uniforms, and the displays themselves?!?! It'll take HOURS at least!!!! THIS IS ABSOLUTE BULLSHIT!!!!"

"Bullshit?!?!" Sgt Oran roared. "4 of my men are dead, and all you can care about is your museum?!"

"Yes!!!" Austin shot back. "I don't care a dime for the well-being of your men; that's YOUR responsibility, Sergeant, and yours too, Lieutenant Alston."

On and on this argument went, until finally, Alston punched Austin in the face, knocking him down, before doing the same to Sgt. Oran, telling both of them to stop acting like calves, and that if one more Caribou was killed, he was going to kill Austin, and burn the museum to the ground. Austin was still very angry, even more so about being punched in the face, but as mad as he was, Sgt Oran was even angrier. He and Alston fought for a while, until Alston laid him out with a lucky punch.

After this, Austin finished cleaning up the mess, and putting the mannequins back together, with help from the Caribou, and then they continued the tour. Some of them just wanted to leave, as the museum was giving them the creeps now, but because Alston had said that they had to stay together as a group, they had no choice but to stay. As the group left the area, the mannequins and statues watched them go.

The Caribou then decided to take a look at the gallery that contained aircraft, though there wasn't nearly as much to see here as there had been in the gallery of vehicles. There were a few helicopters on display, including a Bell UH-1 Iroquois gunship, and a Huey Cobra attack helicopter, as well as an F-4 Phantom II, an A-10 Thunderbolt, and even an AC-47 Spooky, but all of the other aircraft were models. These included a C-130, an AC-130, and a B-52 bomber.

"Aircraft were some of our greatest allies in the war." Austin told the Caribou. "They could get us out of dangerous places, and they could come in and drop a whole bus-load of ass-whooping. Fixed-wing aircraft in Vietnam were used to launch napalm, agent orange, white phosphorus, tear gas and other chemical weapons, as well as bombs, rockets, precision-guided munitions, cluster bombs, and a gelling agent generally mixed with petroleum or a similar fuel for use in an Incendiary device, initially against buildings and later mostly as an anti-personnel weapon that sticks to skin and can burn down to the bone. What you all did to the Everfree Forest? That was mere child's play compared to what we did in Vietnam."

The Caribou were stunned. It had taken them weeks to amass all of the napalm, and other chemicals they used to burn down the Everfree, and they used them all up in that one attack, but according to Austin, they did things like this on the regular, and on a much larger scale.

"But, it was a very dangerous job too. Over the course of the Vietnam War, the US lost almost 10,000 aircraft, helicopters and UAV's (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles). Broken down, that's 3,744 planes, 5,607 helicopters, and 578 UAV's. The 3rd most dangerous job in Vietnam was being a B-52 crewman, and the second most dangerous job was serving on a helicopter, as so many of those brave souls were killed. Many were shot down, some crashed, others were involved in accidents, and still others were lost due to 'Causes Unknown'."

The Caribou were staggered by these numbers. Granted, they'd lost plenty of their own airships while invading Equestria, but nothing like this. It was horrifying to them. For the first time, many of them were beginning to realize the true scale of the cost of the Vietnam War, and how horrible it was. However, while this experience was sobering, it made them more than a bit prideful that they'd been able to conquer Equestria with fewer casualties. They continued on with the tour, little realizing that their actions thus far had not gone unnoticed, and that they would soon be punished for their sins.

Author's Note

And, that was Chapter 1. This Chapter proved to be a bit harder to write than what I was expecting originally, as I don't know a whole lot about the many vehicles and weapons used in Vietnam, forcing me to take a crash-course in history while writing, but I think I did ok. So what do you all think so far? Are you enjoying the Vietnam War Museum? What's going to happen to the Caribou next? Is Austin really what he seems to be? What killed those 4 Caribou? Was it someone hiding in the museum, perhaps the still missing Princess Luna? Or was it someone, or something else? And what could possibly happen next? Well, you all know the drill, stay tuned and I'll tell you!

In the meantime though, as always, comments, questions, feedback, as well as spreading the word about this story are always appreciated, and I'll see you all again in Chapter 2!

ScarFox out for now!

Chapter 2: Nighttime Horrors

After the exhibits on the aircraft, the group passed through a small gallery dedicated to the US Navy, and the US Coast Guard in Vietnam. On display were various uniforms and weapons used by them, as well as models of the various destroyers, aircraft carriers, gunboats, river patrol craft, river monitors, cruisers, logistics ships, hospital ships, and other vessels used in the war, including a 1/72 scale model of the Iowa-Class Battleship USS New Jersey BB-62 in her Vietnam War-configuration.

"Out of everything the US used in Vietnam, 2 of them have a very special place in terms of what the North Vietnamese feared the most. One was the B-52 bomber, and the other was the Battleship USS New Jersey BB-62. She was the only US Battleship still in active service at that time, and she only served for one tour of duty in Vietnam from 1967-1969, but while she was there, the North Vietnamese were terrified of her."

"Why's that?" Sgt. Oran asked.

"Because they had nothing that they could use to kill it with. It could sit well outside of the range of their shore-based guns, and their missiles could be intercepted by the ship's countermeasures, or the countermeasures of her escorts. And of course, the ship had 9 x 16in guns, and 20 x 5in guns, all of which were used to inflict massive damage to enemy targets inland. All they could do was hide, and wait for the battleship to go away. By the time USS New Jersey withdrew, she'd fired 5,688 rounds of 16in shells, and 14,891 rounds of 5in shells."

"But why was her tour of duty so short?" A Caribou asked.

Austin sighed. "That was because of something talked about at a peace conference, and the US Government's extreme idiocy. The Vietnamese were so afraid of the New Jersey that they refused to come to the peace table until the ship had been decommissioned, and in an act of extreme idiocy, the US Navy ordered the ship to be withdrawn back to the US, where she was decommissioned. This was so stupid, as the USS New Jersey's guns could have hit up to 85% of targets in Vietnam that were being hit by aircraft, and with appalling losses thanks to North Vietnamese anti-aircraft weapons. Had they used the New Jersey to hit those targets though, then all of those dead and wounded pilots would have still been just fine. This was just another example in a rapidly growing list of examples of why politicians have no place in deciding military tactics, as it was their bad decisions, and micromanaging that ended up costing us the war."

"Sounds like they should have kept the New Jersey on-station, and then brought in another battleship to supplement it; force the North Vietnamese to the peace table."

"That's exactly right, Sergeant Oran. And as you'll soon see, this was but one of so many problems with the war that made it unwinnable for us. That's what the last galleries are dedicated to; the various engagements of the war, and the oh-so-many mistakes made by the shitheads in Washington that cost lives, local support, and the whole f@#king war, and that's going with the belief that we should have even been involved with this war to begin with!"

Austin then paused. He was about to go off on another rant, but decided to save it for the next galleries, and then led the way there.

The last galleries contained various dioramas of major battles in the Vietnam War, as well as various full-sized displays of battle scenes with mannequins, and a few statues as well, plus a few more displays of weapons, including various artillery pieces, flamethrowers, rocket launchers, and even an M67A1 Flamethrower Tank. It was also in these galleries that the 4 Caribou had been murdered by unknown forces, a fact that wasn't lost on them. Nor was the fact that they couldn't shake the feeling that they were being watched, despite there being no one else around.

".....And that's what made this whole war so damn hard." Austin was saying. "Not only were we fighting against the North Vietnamese, we also had to worry about the Charlies in the South, as well as supplies and troops coming in from 'neutral' Laos and Cambodia next door, plus weapons and advisers from the Soviet Union and China, and on top of this, our political leaders wanted to micromanage everything, rather than just set broad strategies, and then let the actual military professionals do their damn jobs!

And on top of all of this, we weren't even allowed to directly invade North Vietnam, and until the last few years of the war, we weren't allowed to bomb bases in Laos and Cambodia either. And on top of THIS, South Vietnam wasn't even all that great. It was corrupt, undemocratic, and extremely unstable, having gone through several coups WHILE the war was going on! It was an absolute shitshow! AND ON TOP OF ALL OF THIS, not only did we win every single battle of the war, somehow we STILL LOST!!!" He finished, absolutely exasperated.

The Caribou were shocked. Never had they ever heard of any case of a military engagement like what Austin had just described, where the leadership of the "good guys" had so thoroughly hobbled their own military forces in the face of such overwhelming odds.

"And why were you guys even fighting in this war? The North Vietnamese weren't a threat to the Mainland United States."

"A very good question, Lieutenant Alston, and there's no easy answer here. Supposedly, it was to fight off Communist aggression, which was true, but at the same time........we never should have even been there at all. It wasn't our war. Tens of thousands dead, so many more wounded, thousands of POW's, and God only knows how many MIA. And for what? All we did was fight, win every battle, and then withdraw, and South Vietnam fell within a year."

"Why did the US pull out of Vietnam?" A Caribou asked.

"Because the American public was tired of the war. They were tired of all the death and destruction, and nothing being gained for it. The anti-war sentiment at home was growing stronger by the day...." Austin then went on to explain about the anti-war protests, the draft-dodgers, the riots, and it looked like he was about to say something else, but stopped. He then walked towards a display case instead, the full-force of his PTSD coming back to him.

The Caribou then began to fan out again, and look at the various displays.

"Hey, Austin? What's going on here?" A Caribou asked, pointing to a display where a mannequin was crawling through what seemed to be some kind of tunnel.

"That display pays homage to the most dangerous job in the Vietnam War; being a 'Tunnel Rat'. The Viet-Cong dug a massive series of tunnels, bunkers, and other underground fortifications all over South Vietnam, and it was the job of the Tunnel Rats to go in there, armed only with a pistol and a knife, and clear them out before detonating them with explosives. They couldn't risk using any kind of light, lest they give away their position, and they were in constant danger of enemy soldiers, booby traps, dangerous jungle insects, venomous snakes, other jungle creatures, and of course being buried alive, as those tunnels were oftentimes very unstable. It was a horrendous job that no one wanted, with the casualty rate being 33%, and that's just those who died. Add in the wounded, and that casualty rate jumps up to about 55%. I knew a couple of Tunnel Rats, and they were among the lucky ones who got to come home."

Austin then turned back to the display he'd stopped in front of, which contained a mannequin wearing his old US Marines uniform and helmet with a black pawprint on the side of it, with a weapons display case next to it, and began to open the weapons display case with a set of keys he carried, and inside was an empty space where a gun should be.

"So....this was your uniform and weapons from the Vietnam War?" Lt. Alston asked him.

Austin nodded. "Yep. Normally they didn't let you bring home your guns, but some of us got pretty creative with how we smuggled them back to the US piece by piece. Let's just say I mailed a LOT of 'gifts' home to my family and friends prior to 1974. That's how I got my M14 back to the US."

"And what about your pistol, and M16?"

"I was lucky enough to be able to buy my pistol off of the US Army at a discounted rate after the war ended, but as for my M16, it just appeared the day I arrived in Equestria; somehow it found its way back to me. To this day, I have no idea how it happened, but I'm thankful that it did." Austin then placed his M14 back inside of the display case, and locked it up again.

"And do you know what the worst part of the war was, Lieutenant? Worse than being wounded, worse than the PTSD I got from it, worse than losing the war?"

"What was it?"

"How we were treated when we came back from the war. In previous wars, the boys who came back were always given a Hero's Welcome, complete with ticker-tape parades, awards, holidays, the works, but this time around, there was none of that. Everyone treated us with utter disgust, scorn, and hatred. They spit in our faces, yelled at us, called us 'murderers', and 'baby-killers', and refused to have anything to do with us. Hell, even the fallen from that war had to wait years just to even get a memorial dedicated to them. We lost so much in that war, and this was how we were treated.

It's no wonder so many of us turned to alcohol, drugs, and other vices. And eventually, it just becomes too much in some cases, and you take the easy way out. It's quick, painless, and solves so many of your problems. I got tired of it too, and just wanted all the pain to be over. And I made sure my pain was over forever.....until I arrived here alive and well anyway. Then it was 'murderer' and 'baby-killer' all over again, but this time the Ponies scorned my being a soldier, and wanting to build the Vietnam War Museum. I built it anyway, but it's no fun when you're pretty much the only one who truly cares about it."

Austin had turned away from Lt. Alston, and was looking at a massive floor-to-ceiling, and wall-to-wall display nearby. This one contained the names and ranks of every US Service Member who'd been killed, wounded, was a POW, or went missing in Vietnam, and he traced his finger over his own name, and for a moment, when he saw his reflection in the memorial display, he saw himself as the younger man he was in Vietnam, and all around him were the reflections of his friends and comrades who didn't come home.

He smiled sadly when he saw them, and they smiled when they saw him, but then Austin saw them frown and scowl when they saw the Caribou behind him. He shook his head, quietly mouthing the words, "Not yet. Just give me a little bit more time to get away from them, and take care of a few things. Then you can." They nodded, before fading away for the time being.

Austin then turned around to see that some Caribou had climbed over a railing, and were now inside of one of the displays, pretending that they were running through the jungle while another Caribou took pictures of them.

"Hey! Get out of that display right now! That is NOT a playground!" He yelled angrily.

"Heh, make 'em, Old Man!" Sgt. Oran laughed.

Austin looked around for Lt. Alston, but he'd stepped out for a bit, most likely to use the restroom. He knew that the time was now right to start making things happen, and make the Caribou pay, not only for the utter disrespect they were showing to the Museum, but also for their sins while conquering Equestria.

"Hey, I wanna show you guys something." He said suddenly.

"What is it?" The Caribou asked.

"Have you guys ever seen a flamethrower attached to a tank?"

"No, we haven't, but that sounds really cool."

"Oh, it is cool. It's over here in the gallery next door. Follow me."

Austin then walked into the gallery next door, with the Caribou following a short time later, even those who'd been inside the display, little knowing what was about to happen now that the time was 8pm.

The Caribou entered the gallery, which was mostly full of various artillery pieces, and a few self-propelled guns, and while they did see the flamethrower tank, an M61A1, they noticed something else; Austin was nowhere to be seen. They'd seen him walk into the gallery, and they followed him maybe 10 seconds later, but then he'd suddenly vanished.

"Austin? Where'd you go?" One of the Caribou asked.

There was no reply.

Now the Caribou were on edge, and many of them pulled out their weapons. They knew that 4 of their comrades were now dead, and they weren't going to be following them. Sgt. Oran and a few other Caribou began to quickly check around the gallery to make sure that Austin wasn't hiding in or underneath any of the weapons on display, and when he walked in a minute or so later, Lt. Alston asked what was going on.

"Austin's gone, Sir! He said that he wanted to show us something in this gallery, and he walked in here, with us following a few seconds later, and then he just vanished! We've been looking around for him, but we can't find him anywhere!"

"Is this true, Sergeant?" Alston asked.

"Yes, Sir. He's got to still be here somewhere, and we'll find him. And when we do, should we kill him?"

"No, not yet. He will be punished, but first he'll be showing us exactly how all of these weapons work, and then we'll kill him."

Just then, the museum's intercom system crackled to life.

"Attention, attention. The time is now 8pm, which means that the Vietnam War Museum is closing for the day. Please make your way to the front doors, and finish up making your final purchases in the gift shop. We hope that you enjoyed your time here today, and we hope to see you all again very soon. Goodnight everyone!"

"Hey, that sounded like Austin's voice!" One of the Caribou called.

Some of them began to make their way to the front of the museum, and they arrived just in time to see a metal security door lower over the front entry doors, and lock into place while another security gate lowered over the gift shop's entrance.

"Hey, we're locked in!"

They tried to find another way out, but the few side doors there were were all locked, including a fire exit door, and all of the windows had those metal bars on them. Then many of the lights in the museum turned off, leaving only a few lights on here and there, as well as the lights lighting up the displays.

The Caribou then quickly regrouped in the gallery with all of the vehicles in it to try and figure out what to do. A lot of them were worried, as there seemed to be no way out, and Austin still hadn't been found. Some of them wanted to smash up the displays, but Lt. Alston forbade this, as they still needed to use the weapons in them for later. He then tried to contact Captain Erich, or anyone else outside of the museum, but the signal wasn't getting through. The sun was almost completely down outside, and the Caribou knew that if they didn't get out soon, they were going to be stuck inside the museum for the night, or even longer if Austin didn't come back to let them out. However, little did the Caribou know that their problems were about to get a whole lot worse.

Suddenly, the Caribou began to hear a series of loud thuds, as well as loud, metallic footsteps coming from nearby, and in multiple directions.

"Um, Guys? What're those noises?"

"I...I don't know."

The Caribou were nervous, but some of them went to investigate the noises, the closest of which were coming from the gallery where they'd been earlier, the one with all of the battle displays. They looked inside, expecting to see Austin, or something along those lines, but what they saw was so much worse.

All of the mannequins and statues in this room were now moving around, seemingly coming to life, and were climbing and jumping down from their displays and pedestals, and grabbing their weapons. They turned and looked towards the Caribou, and while they only had basic facial features, or no facial features at all, the Caribou could tell that they were looking at them coldly. Just then, one of the mannequins, who was wearing the uniform of a high-ranking officer, pointed at the Caribou.

"Get them." It said coldly. "Do not let them escape."

"Yes, Sir." The others replied with equal coldness. They then began to open fire on the Caribou, while others charged at them with their bayonets, knives, and machetes.

The Caribou meanwhile were yelling, screaming, and running, trying to get away from the living mannequins and statues, or trying to fight them, but it made little difference. They were already dead. No matter where they went in the museum, there were always more statues and mannequins waiting for them, and not all of them were Soldiers or Marines; some were Airmen, while others wore the uniforms of the US Navy, and US Coast Guard. But all of them were equally deadly, and had their own ways of killing the Caribou.

One Caribou tried to hide in the bathrooms, only to be grabbed from behind by a Coast Guardsman, and had his head slammed into the nearest toilet. The mannequin then held the Caribou's head in place in the toilet bowl, repeatedly flushing the toilet until the Caribou had been drowned.

Two more Caribou had tried to run through a gallery, but failed to see the tripwire that a mannequin had strung across the doorway, and they both fell to the floor, and were quickly stabbed to death by several soldiers with bayonets.

"THIS IS INSANE!!!!" A Caribou screamed as he ran. "THERE'S NO WAY THAT THESE THINGS ARE ALIVE!!!!"

"They've got to be......." Another Caribou started to reply, before being shot in the chest with several large caliber rounds, while the Caribou who had just been screaming was allowed to keep running in a panic.

He ran past one of his comrades who'd been strung up by his neck with a piece of rope hanging off of a M60 tank's main gun, and was now hanging lifeless in the noose, and past two more of his comrades who'd fallen victim to booby traps laid out by US Marines mannequins, and he hid inside of a battle scene display, next to what he thought was his friend Coron.

"Coron, is that you?" He asked as he placed a hand on his friend's shoulder. However, Coron never answered, as his head slumped to the side, suddenly revealing that he'd had his brains blown out by a sniper!

"HOLY F@#K!!!" The Caribou screamed.

Just then though, two arms suddenly reached out from the display, which was the Tunnel Rat display, and drug the Caribou kicking and screaming into the display!

"Surprise!" A mannequin's voice said in a laughing whisper, before stabbing the Caribou to death.

All over the museum, the Caribou's numbers were rapidly dwindling, as more and more of them were being killed off by the mannequins and statues within the museum. One of the Caribou, the same one who'd stolen a tube of Green Army Men from the gift shop earlier, eventually made it back to the front doors, and tried to break through the security door, but was unable to. He was however successful in breaking into the gift shop, hoping to find a way out there, but it wasn't to be.

"So, did you really think you could get away with stealing, Dirt Bag?" A voice from nearby said.

The Caribou looked, and to his shock, the shelves near him were full of Green Army Men, and other toy soldiers, some of whom were in vehicles, and they were led by the one who spoke, a vintage GI Joe Jungle Commando doll, who was sharpening his machete, and looking at the Caribou menacingly. He tried to run, but stumbled into a rack of postcards, and fell to the floor. He tried to get back up, but the toys all pounced on him. The last thing the thief ever saw was the grinning face of the GI Joe Jungle Commando as he raised his machete, and brought it down on his face.

Meanwhile, Sgt. Oran and a few other Caribou with him had managed to dodge a machine gun nest, and a door gunner on a helicopter, and finally managed to break open a back door, and they ran outside, the door closing behind them.

"We did it! We're finally free!!!" One of the Caribou yelled.

"What about the others though?" Another asked.

"Forget them!" Sgt. Oran muttered. "We're lucky to be alive. Now let's get out of here, and back to Captain Erich, and have him send in an army to level this place!"

"Going somewhere, Sergeant?" A sinister voice suddenly said from somewhere nearby.

Sgt. Oran and the other Caribou looked up, and to their horror, they suddenly found themselves surrounded by these ghostly looking statues that hadn't been there a minute or so earlier when they made it outside.

"I think not." The statue who'd spoken said in a cold voice.

The few other Caribou with him tried to run, only to be quickly gunned down by the statues. Then Sgt. Oran charged at them with his sword, only to have his sword bounce off them, and he was quickly grabbed by the statue who had spoken earlier, and who seemed to be their leader, and lifted into the air by his neck. He tried to break the grip that was holding him, but it was too strong. It was also ice-cold, and stony. Then, before he could struggle anymore, the statue grabbed Sgt Oran's sword, and drove it deep into his gut. Sgt Oran was soon choking on his own blood, meaning that the wound was fatal. In his final moments though, he looked at the statue holding him by the neck dead in the eyes.

"What......what....are you?" He chokingly asked.

"We are those who were left behind." The statue replied coldly. "We never got to go home, and found ourselves here. And we have seen what you and the other Caribou have done, and now we are your judge...." The statue rammed Sgt. Oran's sword deeper into his stomach. "....Jury....." The statue squeezed his neck harder. ".....And executioner." It finished, snapping Sgt. Oran's neck, and letting his bloody corpse fall to the ground.

The statues then returned to their positions guarding the museum's perimeter, just in case any other Caribou made it outside.

All while the Caribou were being slaughtered, Lt. Alston was in hiding inside of an M1113 APC. He managed to lock all of the exterior hatches, and all he could do was wait, listen, and pray. It was horrible. All around him he could hear the sounds of the other Caribou being slaughtered. He could hear their cries, screams, and even their pleas for mercy, but there was no mercy, save for a quick death. And not all of the Caribou died quickly. From what Alston could tell, some of them were killed off quickly, but others were forced to endure a long, slow death, screaming in agonizing pain. And the worst part was that the cries of sheer terror became fewer and farther between, until he could only hear a few lone voices left.

One Caribou came running into the gallery, panting, sweating, and Alston dared to take a tiny peek through a crack in the APC's hatch, and regretted doing so forevermore. He saw a lone Caribou soldier, bloodied, and covered in sweat, and he had a number of wounds on him, seemingly being both bullet and knife wounds. He sank to his knees next to a railing, clearly exhausted, but then his pursuers entered the gallery. Several mannequins, and a few statues began to walk slowly towards him, one of them carrying a flamethrower. The Caribou could only start crying.

"Please, I surrender. Please have mercy on me. From one soldier to another."

The pursuers stopped, and then their leader, who's uniform bore the insignia of a Lieutenant, spoke up.

"No, you are not a soldier. Soldiers don't do what you do. You plunder, you torture, you rape mares. You are not like us."

"Yes, I am." The Caribou protested. "What about one of your own men? Lieutenant.......William.....Casey....Calley? Something like that. He and his Platoon committed the My Lai Massacre! We NEVER did anything like that!."

"My Lai was a tragedy, but that was wartime, and they were helping the Viet-Cong. Lt. Calley was used as a scapegoat when news of what happened reached the public. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and his superiors used him as a scapegoat to cover up their own crimes."

"How do you know? You're just a mannequin!"

The mannequin then walked over to the Caribou, and grabbed him by the neck. "Because I AM Lt. William Calley!" He growled with a glare, or at least, it would have been a glare if he'd had proper eyes. "And since you wanna talk about My Lai so much, allow me to show you how it went down!" He then looked at his comrades. "Help me out here, Guys."

"With pleasure, Sir."

Alston then watched in horror as the Caribou was grabbed, and then drug out of a side door to the gallery, where he was then dumped on the ground, and then the mannequin with the flamethrower walked over to the doorway, and hosed the Caribou down with a steam of flames. The Caribou screamed in agony, and soon burned to death. Alston then threw up inside the APC, and moved away from the hatch. He then sank to the floor, and started sobbing as quietly as he could. He cried for all of his deceased comrades, and he cried for himself. He knew that he was going to die, but he didn't know when, or how.

Over the next few hours, all Alston could hear was the sounds of the museum's denizens searching high and low for any Caribou who were still in hiding. A few were found, and when they were, they were drug out of their hiding place, and immediately executed, usually by a gunshot to the back of the head, but one Caribou attacked several mannequins, before having his head blown off by a statue with a shotgun. And then, all Alston could hear was silence. Nothing was moving around, no one was crying out in pain, there was literally nothing. Alston was wondering what was happening, but he didn't dare look. Eventually, he managed to fall into an uneasy sleep from sheer exhaustion.

An unknown amount of time later, Alston woke up with a jolt. At first, he couldn't remember where he was, or why, but then he remembered that he was hiding inside of the APC from the mannequins and statues in the museum. He looked at his watch, and saw that the time was about 5:45am. The sun would be rising soon, and Alston decided that if he was going to die, then at the very least he was going to see the sunrise one last time first.

He then opened a hatch on the APC as quietly as he could, and looked around. The gallery that he was in was seemingly empty of any mannequins or statues, but that didn't mean that they weren't in hiding nearby. He then climbed out of the APC, and keeping his head on a swivel, he began to quietly move through the gallery. Looking around, he could see signs of death. Most of the Caribou corpses were still right where they'd fallen, their blood and guts still pooling beneath them, and the smell was horrible. Many of their faces were still frozen in terror, and Alston recognized many of them, but Sgt. Oran was not among them. Alston wondered what happened to him, but knew that he was most likely dead.

He quietly made his way through the museum, seeing no signs of any of the mannequins, or statues. He knew that they were still inside the museum somewhere, but he didn't know where. Eventually, after getting a drink of water from a drinking fountain, Alston turned left, and suddenly found his way blocked by a row of US Army mannequins. He looked for a way out, but his avenues of escape were blocked by a row of US Air Force mannequins, US Marine mannequins, and the way he'd just come from was now blocked by US Navy and Coast Guard mannequins. Then the statues all came into the gallery, and Lt. Alston was completely surrounded. The mannequins and statues had their weapons lowered, but none of them moved.

"Come on! If you're gonna kill me, then f@#king do it you Monsters! Kill me! I'm right here!" He shouted at them.

None of the mannequins or statues responded.

"What's wrong? Are you all cowards now?! I heard you gut the others, I saw it! Why not me?!"

"We know." One of the mannequins finally said. "We knew where you were the whole time, but we were under strict orders from the Boss to let you live. We still are."

"You......you knew? And who's your boss? Austin?"

"That's 'Lieutenant Danvers' to you, you Swine!" One of the mannequins snapped. "And of course we knew. We saw you crawl inside that APC."

"Where's Sergeant Oran? I know he's dead, but where is he? How did he die?"

"He and a few others made it outside, only to fall victim to the 'Ghosts of Vietnam'; statues made to commemorate those who're still MIA in Vietnam to this day. Normally they would be out on those concrete squares by that fountain you saw when you first arrived here, but they saw you coming, and under orders from the Boss, hid in the woods until you went inside the Museum."

"You.....monsters!" Lt. Alston screamed. "I'LL KILL ALL OF YOU!!!!!"

He then charged forwards, only to have the mannequins in front of him side-step him, while a few others swung their rifles at his legs, tripping him up. Alston then fell to the floor, where the mannequins were on him in an instant. Many of them began to beat him up, and soon he was very bruised, and more than a bit bloody.

"Enough!" One of the mannequin officers finally yelled. "He's suffered enough, and the Boss wants him alive, so let's just tie him up, and bring him to him."

The others complied, and soon Alston's hands, arms, and legs were tied together, and he was stripped of his weapons, before being carried off through the museum by a group of mannequins.

Alston was carried through a gallery, then back into the gallery that Austin was last seen in, before a hidden door in the wall opened, and he was then carried through the door, and down a set of stairs to what seemed to be the museum's basement. It was dimly lit, but very neat and organized from what Alston could see, with various boxes, and other items on shelves, and nearby were other mannequins, but these were nude, and partially disassembled, so they weren't alive. In the middle of the basement was a large TV screen, sitting on top of 2 wooden crates, with a chair sitting in front of the TV, and 2 figures were standing next to the screen, chatting. One was wearing a green military uniform and helmet, and carrying an M14 rifle, and the other was wearing a black cloak. When Alston was brought in, the figures turned, and the one wearing the uniform spoke.

"Oh good, he's arrived."

"Orders, Sir?" One of the mannequins carrying Alston asked.

"Bring him to the chair, and secure him to it, and then make sure that the chair's properly secured to the floor. We don't want him to escape, or hurt himself."

"Yes, Sir."

Alston was then brought over to the chair, and while his bindings were cut temporarily, he was held tightly by 2 statues while his hands, arms, legs, and torso were secured to the chair. After this, the statues let go of him, they and the mannequins who tied him up stepped back, and began to stand guard over him.

"Who are you?" Alston asked.

The figure in uniform laughed a bit. "Oh come now, Lieutenant. You know who I am." He then stepped into the light more, and Alston saw that he was Austin.

"Nice to see you again, Alston. I take it my subordinates didn't rough you up too badly, did they?"

In response, all Austin received was a long stream of yelling, screaming, profanity, and being called all sorts of foul names and monikers. He waited until Alston either wore himself out, or stopped, which he finally did.

"Are you finished?" He asked with crossed arms. "All your troops are dead, and the whole museum is empty. There's no one here to hear you scream who actually gives a damn. You're lucky I wanted you alive; I just as easily could have let you be killed."

"Why? Why did you leave me alive?" Alston asked.

"Because I wanted someone from your group to see what was going to happen next. It was either going to be you, or Sgt. Oran, and you proved to be more agreeable. Still a selfish asshole, but more agreeable."

"Watch what? All of the others get killed?! Did you enjoy the show you sick maniac?!"

Austin shook his head. "No, that's not it. Although yes, I did enjoy seeing those murderers, rapists, and thieves get their comeuppance, as did you. I warned you when you first arrived here, Alston. I clearly said that you may rule Equestria, but out here, you're in MY world. I rule over the Vietnam War Museum, and you WILL obey my rules, or else. Your men decided to f@#k around, and they found out, as did you. But you're still alive, because I wanted you to see what comes next."

"And what's that?" Alston asked, growling a bit. "And who's that second figure over there? Another one of your minions? And how the f@#k are they even alive?! They're statues and mannequins, and toys from the gift shop! THEY SHOULDN'T BE ALIVE!!! One of them even claimed to be Lt. William Calley!"

Austin chuckled a bit. "Oh, so many questions!" He then looked at his watch. The time read just after 6am. "Yeah, I have time." He muttered. Then he looked back at Alston. "Luckily for you, I have time to answer all of your questions. How are they alive? I don't know. They just.....are. But what I can tell you is that each one of them is infused with the spirit of a Soldier, Sailor, Airman, Marine, or Coast Guardsman who either died in Vietnam, or died later on. Each and every one of them served in Vietnam, and are an individual person, even Lt. Calley. And as for who the cloaked figure is, why don't you ask her yourself? She came to me for help with Equestria having fallen, and you all did put a huge bounty on her head after all."

"Wait, what? But that would mean that she's......."

The cloaked figure then stepped forwards into the light, and pulled back her hood, revealing the scowling face of Princess Luna.

"Hello, 'Lieutenant'. Or should I even call you that, since you've been stripped of your rank now that you're a POW. The very first POW in what's to come in fact. It was a lucky thing I was able to escape from Canterlot, and make it all the way out here to Austin's Museum. He's such a good friend of mine, and we understand each other so well. I knew that if anyone could help me, he could."

"You.....you know Princess Luna?" Alston asked in shock.

"Know her? We're friends with benefits!" Austin laughed. "Plus, she bankrolled my museum's creation, but for another reason. And this ties into the same reason why you were left alive."

"And why am I still alive?! No one will tell me!"

"Oh, right, silly me!" Austin then cleared his throat. "In short, while this is a museum, it's also an emergency armory for Equestria, and contains an emergency standing army. I wanted to deploy it earlier, but Celestia didn't want me to do so for some reason. I'm assuming, based on what Luna has told me that it was because of Celestia's over-reliance (or perhaps overconfidence), that the Elements of Harmony, and their Bearers could solve all of Equestria's problems, but now that the Elements have been enslaved, and Equestria has fallen, that ship has sailed. And now the time has come for this army, and everything in the armory to be put to good use. And that's why you're still alive, Alston. You're the first POW in this new war, and you're going to live long enough to see it happen."

"See what happen?"

"Why, the liberation of Equestria from the Caribou of course!"

"And how's that going to work? You've got what, maybe 100 mannequins and statues here? We've got tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of troops! You don't stand a chance!"

"Who said I only had 100?" Austin laughed. He then flipped a breaker switch on the wall, and more lights in the basement turned on, revealing that the basement was far larger than it appeared to be, and to his horror, Alston saw row upon row of uniformed mannequins standing in military formation, as well as various other vehicles, tanks, jeeps, APC's, aircraft, helicopters, and artillery pieces, as well as crates upon crates of weapons.

"I have Discord to thank for all of this extra stuff. What's on display upstairs just appeared in Equestria, but the rest of this came courtesy of the Lord of Chaos. He used up a LOT of power getting it all here, hence the reason why he had to 'disappear', but make no mistake, he's going to be watching all this with great interest from the Chaos Realm while he recuperates! Oh, and you also have a front-row seat for it all too, Alston. You're going to be remaining here in this basement as a POW until the war is over. Don't worry though, my troops who'll stay behind to watch over the museum will be taking good care of you, and you can see everything that's going to happen on the TV in front of you; that's why it's there."

Austin then got onto the intercom system again, and ordered all of his Museum Forces, save for those who were remaining behind to grab their weapons, man their vehicles, planes and helicopters, and stand ready to fight.

"The sun is just now beginning to rise, and now we shall march upon Ponyville, and liberate it from the hands of the Caribou! And then we shall use it as a base to liberate the rest of Equestria! Today the tyranny of the Caribou shall come to an end, and a new Dawn of Liberation shall rise! Oorah!"

"OORAH!!!!" The mannequins echoed.

All of them then began to man their vehicles, and ready their weapons, just as their brethren upstairs were doing the same. Soon, doors in the walls of the museum, and large hatches in the basement ceiling were opening, and the mannequins, and their vehicles were soon pouring out of the museum. Planes and helicopters were taking to the skies, and the air was filled with the rumbling of tanks, jeeps, trucks, APC's and other vehicles, all of whom were awaiting the signal to head off into battle. Austin then climbed on top of an M60 tank, while Luna was climbing onto a nearby M48 tank.

"Go forth my Vietnam War Brethren!" He called to them. "Go forth, and liberate Eqestria! Show these Caribou what it truly means to be afraid!"

"SIR, YES SIR!!!" They called back, and then the massive formation of military hardware began to move forwards, and as the sun rose over Equestria, liberation was coming with it.

And down in the museum's basement, all Alston could do was watch the TV screen in front of him, and cry and scream. The mannequins and statues who were watching over him were bringing him food and water, as well as a bucket to use as a toilet, and they would eventually let him out of the chair, to be held only by a chain attached to his leg, but for now, all he could do was watch the fall of the Caribou right in front of him, as well as listening to the sounds of digging from out back of the museum, where the mannequins were burying the dead Caribou they slaughtered. All he could do was watch, and listen, and it was agonizing.

Author's Note

And, that was Chapter 2. I really hoped that you all enjoyed the many brutal, often crazy ways that the Caribou received their comeuppance for what they did, as well as the fate of Lt. Alston at the very end. So now the Caribou who came to the museum are all dead, save for 1, and now the Forces of Vietnam are heading off to battle, and liberate the rest of Equestria. How's that going to go? Will it be easy for them, or hard? How will the Ponies react to the sudden appearance of this army? And how will the Caribou react? Well, you all know the drill, stay tuned and I'll tell you!

In the meantime though, as always, comments, questions, feedback, as well as spreading the word about this story are always appreciated, and I'll see you all again in the Epilogue to wrap up this Story!

ScarFox out for now!

Epilogue

As the sun rose over Equestria that day, the Caribou thought that it was just going to be another ordinary day, but oh how wrong they were. From outside of Ponyville, they suddenly became aware of loud rumbling noises, as well as loud whirring sounds, and the sounds of roaring. Some thought that it was an earthquake, while others thought that it was a Dragon attack, but then they heard it, the unmistakable sound of music, but what made it unnerving was that it was a song that the Caribou had never heard before, and it was coming from the sky.

Just then, from over the horizon, the Caribou suddenly began to make out a series of dark shapes in the sky. Some of them were moving faster than others, but all of them were coming straight towards Ponyville. All too soon, the fastest of the shapes, which seemed to be like metal birds suddenly began to fire missiles into Caribou defensive positions, and strafe them with gunfire. Then, while they moved on to target nearby Caribou airships, other metal birds began to move in to attack the Caribou positions, and these birds began to make an ungodly sound.

Soon, the Caribou were thrown into disarray, many of them were screaming, and even more of them were dying. The Ponies had been given a warning sent to them in their dreams by Princess Luna the previous night, so they knew to take cover, but the Caribou had no such warning. Then the terrifying screaming birds were joined by even larger birds that circled overhead, raining down death and destruction on the Caribou in and around Ponyville, and on Caribou reinforcements trying to come to the aid of the Caribou in Ponyville. Soon after this, artillery and mortar shells came raining down from the sky, and smaller metal birds with spinning metal rotors began to come in, some raining down death, while others were dropping in what seemed to be some kind of soldiers. And then, just when it seemed like things couldn't get any worse for the Caribou, from over the hills surrounding Ponyville came a great stream of soldiers and vehicles, all of them heading straight for the town.

Many Caribou surrendered at the sight of them, and were quickly taken into custody by the strange soldiers, most of whom had skin(?) as white as snow, and some didn't even have faces at all. In less than an hour, Ponyville was secured, Captain Erich, the Caribou in charge of Ponyville, and Lieutenant Alston's boss was in custody, all of the Mares and Fillies were freed, the Stallions and the Colts were no longer under the Caribou's control, and the Pegasai mares had their wing coverings removed, and the Unicorn Mares had their horns reattached. Princess Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack were all so thankful to be freed, Big Mac apologized to his Sister profusely for what he did while corrupted by the Caribou, and they all thanked Luna, Austin, and their forces profusely, though Twilight still mourned Spike's death.

"He was so brave for what he did." Austin said quietly when he heard about Spike's sacrifice. "He knew that he was already dead because of his injuries, and yet even in death, he went out with a bang, taking many Caribou with him. I know that he was given a special reward in Heaven for his sacrifice."

Twilight and the other Element Bearers agreed, and with Ponyville now free, Austin began to direct his forces to fortify Ponyville to thwart any potential Caribou counterattacks, and to prepare to march on other towns and cities in Equestria. The war to liberate Equestria had just begun, and it was going to be a bloodbath for the Caribou.

After Ponyville had been fortified, the AVWMF (American Vietnam War Museum Force) quickly began to move on their next targets. While F-4 Phantoms, A-10's, B-52's, and AC-130's conducted massive air raids on cities like Manehattan, Fillydelphia, Baltimare, Van Hoover, and Las Pegasus to divert the Caribou's attention, ground forces, backed up by artillery, mortars, and helicopter and fixed-wing air support made their move on Appaloosa and Dodge City (both of which had been rebuilt during the Caribou occupation), freeing both towns, and their inhabitants, as well as the native Buffalo Tribe, all of whom pledged to fight against the Caribou, which was done a few days later when Baltimare came under ground attack, while air forces screamed overhead. The Caribou couldn't even hope to stand up to this kind of assault, especially not when they were facing a military force more technologically advanced than they were, and aided by Princess Luna, and the 6 Bearers of the Elements of Harmony. (Rainbow Dash had been freed from Cloudsdale by a team of mannequin Commandos while a diversionary air raid was conducted on Canterlot).

It was the same when AVWM Forces reached Fillydelphia and Manehattan. The attack would begin with a massive air assault to throw the Caribou into disarray, and hit their forces hard, followed simultaneously by artillery and mortar strikes on key positions to take out vital Caribou military infrastructure, and then this was followed by a ground assault, supported from the air by the choppers, A-10's, and AC-130's, as well as artillery and mortar support when needed. It was so efficient, and so frighteningly ruthless in its success that the Caribou forces seldom lasted more than a few days at most.

It took the AVWM Forces and their allies a scant 2 days to take Baltimare, Manehattan fell in 4 days, and Fillydelphia fell in a day and a half. But the all time record for the fastest capture had been the 1 hour for Ponyville, followed by 45(ish) minutes for Appaloosa and Dodge City, but this was broken by the capture of Rainbow Falls (15 minutes), and then by Starlight's village, which lasted a total of 30 seconds. All it took was the first few mortar and artillery shells to fall before the Caribou surrendered, and immediately began to beg for their lives. They were quickly taken into custody, and the Eastern half of Equestria was now secured.

"And it only took about a week and a few days, and while we've inflicted maximum damage on the Caribou, we've only taken minimal losses. Some Ponies and other creatures have perished, but we've only lost a handful of mannequins, as they can't really die. If they lose a limb, torso, or head, we can just replace them. The only way they can be killed is by being burnt, or blown apart."

"And how are they even alive again?" Twilight asked, still unnerved by the living, yet also not-living mannequin soldiers.

Austin shrugged. "To this day, I'm still not sure, Twilight. I only know that they're infused with the spirit of a fallen Vietnam War Soldier, Sailor, Airman, Marine, or Coast Guardsman. Even the mannequins themselves don't know."

Twilight jotted a few notes, but at the moment, there was little time to ponder this, as the Western half of Equestria still needed to be liberated, as did Cloudsdale, the Crystal Empire, and of course, Canterlot.

The fall of Las Pegasus to the AVWM and Equestrian Forces went smoothly enough, and while it was happening, Special Forces mannequins were dropped into the Crystal Empire to see what could be done there. Shining Armor welcomed the help that the mannequin Special Forces soldiers brought, and when the Crystal Cock was destroyed, and replaced with the Crystal Heart, which was retrieved from its hiding place, the Crystal Imperial Army, aided by the Special Forces mannequins, and some reinforcements from the AVWMF Marines, were quickly able to take back the Crystal Empire, purge it of all corruption, restore Princess Cadence to her former glory, fully free Shining Armor from the Caribou's corruption, and of course, put up a protective shield to keep the Empire safe from any further Caribou attacks.

Meanwhile, Caribou Forces were putting up quite a struggle in Van Hoover, and this required the use of AVWM river patrol boats, and river monitors, since Van Hoover was surrounded by various inland waterways. The river craft prevented the Caribou from escaping by water, but the Equestrians needed a way to break the stalemate they were experiencing here. Austin reluctantly put forth an idea, but it was a terrible one. There was a lot of debate around the idea, during which time air raids on Cloudsdale had begun, but in the end, it was decided to go ahead with Austin's idea.

To the West of Van Hoover, a corridor was left open, seemingly by accident as the AVWM Forces were preparing for a move on either Canterlot or Cloudsdale (the Caribou weren't sure), but they decided to use it to attempt a breakout from the city. The Caribou pushed at the corridor with everything they had, seemingly pushing the mannequin forces away, and they broke out with most of their forces, weapons, and equipment, and soon reached open ground, little knowing that they had just walked right into a horrible trap. From above, several B-52's opened their bomb bays, and began to rain cluster bombs down on the Caribou, trapping them in a gauntlet of carpet-bombing. This was followed shortly afterwards by aircraft dropping napalm, agent orange, white phosphorus, and other highly flammable chemicals to finish the job.

When all was said and done, barely any traces of the Caribou who had broken out from Van Hoover could be found, even bones. The area burned for several days, and had to be quarantined for decontamination because of how "hot" it was testing. Following this horrific display, all Caribou left within Van Hoover either surrendered immediately, or committed suicide to avoid such a horrible fate.

Many Caribou in Cloudsdale simply jumped off of the edge of the city to their deaths far below, and the floating city was retaken with relative ease. And what of the 3 traitorous stallions who sold out the city for their own personal gain? Their deaths were grizzly, horrendous, and painfully slow. For their treachery, they were stripped, beaten with sticks, and then were flayed alive, had their skins dipped in agent orange, and then sewn back onto their bodies, but without being set alight. Their screams were so extreme that they shattered their own vocal cords, and then they were doused in magnesium, and white phosphorus, before being set alight. Their bodies burned away into almost nothing, and they were still alive until almost the very end, feeling everything, but unable to scream.

Once the attention was turned to Canterlot, many of the remaining Caribou fled the city, surrendering en-mass to the Equestrian Forces, as they were terrified beyond belief at the AVWM Forces, and their nightmarish ways of conducting warfare. King Danin committed suicide to avoid being captured, and with the liberation of Canterlot, and the restoration of Princess Celestia, the war was finally over. Equestria was free from the Caribou, and the Ponies could begin to rebuild what was lost.

In the aftermath of the war, the Equestrians began to modernize their military, and their attitudes towards shying away from violence when push came to shove changed forever. Now they were a nation that while peaceful, and was always willing to lend a helping hand to those who asked, would fight tooth and nail to defend their homeland if need be, and were not above using extreme measures, as seen during the war.

After the war though, the AVWM Forces were disbanded, and they returned to the museum from whence they'd come from. The majority returned to the basement, where after cleaning up themselves, their uniforms, their weapons, and their vehicles, they put their vehicles into cold storage once again, and then the mannequins themselves formed back up into their military formations, and became motionless once more. The basement lights were then turned off, and the mannequins returned to their slumber, but were ready to be awoken again at a moment's notice should the need arise.

Meanwhile upstairs, all of the mannequins, weapons, and vehicles that had been on display were returned to their proper places, and after saying their goodbyes for the time being, all of the mannequins, statues, and toys all resumed their positions, and became silent, and still. They were now once again just museum exhibits, but like before, they were always watching for any signs of trouble.

And following the war, a lot of Ponies, and other creatures made the trip out to see the Austin, and the Vietnam War Museum, and all of the vehicles, weapons, and other items that had made the Caribou suffer so much, and they learned so much about the Vietnam War in the process. A new wing of the museum was built to commemorate the Equestrian-Caribou War, and it too was very much loved by the general public, as were the "Ghosts of Vietnam" Statues out behind the museum, which were eventually incorporated into a fully-fledged memorial garden.

And what became of Captain Erich, and Lieutenant Alston after the war? After the war ended, many Caribou were put on trial for war crimes, and while some were executed, others, including Captain Erich were given lengthy prison sentences in various mines and quarries in Equestria, while the rest of the Caribou were deported back to their homeland, to be joined by their imprisoned brethren once their prison sentences were served.

And Alston? He was never the same after the war. Found to be mentally unfit to stand trial, he was placed in a mental hospital where he lived out the rest of his days, forever plagued by the nightmares, and other horrible memories of what he experienced at the Vietnam War Museum. He never really spoke, and any mannequins or statues had to be kept out of his line of sight, lest he go into a frenzied state. Austin would visit him from time to time, but Alston always refused to talk to him, the man who he called "The Jungle Devil". To his dying day, Alston firmly believed that Austin was a devil sent from Tartarus to punish the Caribou.

And what of Austin himself? He would continue to curate the Vietnam War Museum, and serve as a museum guide for many more years before he finally retired, and he would continue to have a very close relationship with Princess Luna for the rest of his life. To his dying day though, Austin too never forgot the events of that night in the Vietnam War Museum, nor the war that followed it, and he was glad that he could have given the Equestrians such a big helping hand in the war, and beefing up their military afterwards.

"It wasn't much, but it was honest work." He said later. "It was bloody, it was violent, it was brutal, but it was war. And now the war is over, and the Equestrians can finally have peace again. I'm very thankful that God put me here to help the Equestrians have their peace. It's something I'll never forget."

For many years to come, Ponies, and other creatures across Equus would whisper about Austin, and how the Ponies owed their freedom to him, and his Vietnam War Museum full of angry mannequins and statues.

THE END

Author's Note

And, that was the Epilogue. So now the Caribou have been defeated, Equestria is safe, and now Ponies are finally appreciating Austin, and the Vietnam War Museum, with both of them having been forever cemented in Equestrian History for their roles in liberating Equestria from the Caribou. So what did you all think of this story? Was it everything you were hoping for? I sincerely hope that you all enjoyed it, as I put a lot of time and effort into writing it, knowing that you all wanted it so much, so I hope I did a good job.

In the meantime though, as always, Comments, Questions, Feedback, as well as spreading the word about this story are always appreciated, and I'll see you all again soon!

ScarFox out for now!