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!