Sons of Equestria

Chapter 4: Reliving the Old Days

  It had been a long night. After seeing the signs of interstellar combat over a rather peaceful planet that had only two U.S. militaries on it, I decided to spend the rest of the night on a nearby hill and watch over the village from a little distance to truly have an eye over the whole place while Max stayed behind and waited for me to radio in case of trouble.

  The sun slowly inched above the horizon and it was just as pretty as it was on Earth. As I had thought, no shrapnel had fallen from the sky, but ever since the battle, the radio silence from our few access points on U.N. communications channel turned from their original silence to a buzz of constant talking. By what I could tell, the U.N. ships had won out but a larger ship from U.S. forces was coming; I only hoped it was the U.S.S. Piranha that was gearing up for the fight. With the capacity to hold over two hundred soldiers and full equipment for all of them, with two thousand total standard broadside lazar cannon and five ion cannons, fifteen backup engines, thirty shield generators making the five shields the best of the best, and the ability to board and take over a vessel ten times as big made it the best thing possible in this situation. But then again any Cruiser Class ‘Super’ of Cutter Class ‘Forward’ would probably do fine, all in all those two classes were meant to take on anything of anything.

  I watched the sky for some signs of a possible drop pod from the enemy ship, although I hoped their ship was too damaged to launch one it would be foolish not to at least keep some caution about oneself.

  So far in our stay I had scanned every being I met and assigned them blue if they were just wild life, as I would do with any being that wasn’t a major species, or at least unable to speak, and green if they were pegasus, unicorns, earth ponies, and alicorns, although I had been told there were many more kinds I had yet to meet. So far all wild life I had met were already catalogued because they also lived on Earth, although phoenixes and such were not.

  The sun’s bright yellow caught the morning sky ablaze as it turned shades of orange and red, only once before had I seen the Equestria sun rising, and that was a long time ago, and back then I was different, life was different, the world was different, the universes were different. War changed everything so terribly; I guess I knew why my father had been so desperate to separate this world from the rest.

  We I first came here I made friends, true friends. This world was a paradise with no violence; no robbers to really worry about, but now that the U.N. had its sights on this place everything would change. Ever since the war started we shot for the stars and brought every universe down with us. The peaceful realms that once were abundant in the cosmos were now war torn lands of destruction. I knew this land before the war, and if I could I would stop it from falling, and if the U.N. turned the cities and towns into rubble, after we beat them off I would rebuild those cities, by myself if necessary, but no matter what happened to this world I would make it go back to the way it was. Lives might not be the same because of the war, but the world would be the same, and if I could the generations that followed would forget about the war and would once again live peaceful lives. All in all isn’t that what most heroes in stories do? The come to a paradise and bring conflict with them, they beat it, then rebuild. But being as life isn’t always a storybook I couldn’t suspect every circumstance to work out in my favor, although my secret should help me in the instance I might die, I could only hope it wouldn’t be necessary to do.

  The sun eventually rose to its full height where the sky lost the spectrum of colors to become a simple blue, a blue that brought a smile to my face.

  It had been seventeen years since I had lived here, a technical five in this world but no difference to me. A question came to mind, ‘why only enjoy the world after the war and a little seventeen years in the past’? I could possibly try to enjoy this place while the U.N. was gearing up to attack. But what would I really do? There were three fillies I enjoyed being with, then there was Spike, while Pinkie and Rainbow were also options in this situation. But what would we really do? It had been five years for them so not much had changed in their view, but I had grown up completely, and the only ponies or otherwise who knew me in both forms were Twilight and Spike, and I didn’t really know if they knew I was both. Being as my father was he probably say something along the lines of a spell gone wrong and my bodily and mental maturity gain rate was compounded upon greatly and also I was given a new body as a side effect and because of it I was tossed into some foreign army and I was now serving as a peace making unit. I probably should ask him, but knowing his style he would do something like that.

  My most likely course of action would be to meet up with those three fillies from before, and knowing them they should be in or heading to their club house.

   “Orion, I’m doing some local bonding, if we are to fight together we need to be comfortable together.” Orion smiled and nodded at me.

  “Or you could just be meeting up with some old friends.” He said after I placed his chip down and activated the mini-shield it had.

  I arrived at the little club house and heard that they were already in session, and the ladder was closed, perfect. I activated a little hologram in the shape of my pony self, only a tad bit bigger so as to give room for a five year difference in growth. I slowly moved forward and backward and made sure my hologram responded, and it did. I turned on my active camouflage and got ready. Knowing my voice had changed incredibly since last time I just had to wing it on the pitch by sending a message to all inside by Rahgahgogarian style, but I could only hope that they didn’t try to fly over me because if they did I would be found out before I could explain.

  “So let me see… we have… waterskiing?” Sweetie Belle read off their list, while casting a glance at Scootaloo.

  “No, we did three weeks ago.” Applebloom replied, annoyed at the repeated request.

  “How about… fencing?” Again Sweetie Belle shot a glance at Scootaloo, who at the time was scratching her chin.

  “Nope, did that the day before we did bowling.” Scootaloo replied after her rare moment of prolonged thought.

   “Well I’m plum out of ideas! How about today we just see if we can get our Cutiemarks by doing nothing at all!” Applebloom shouted out in frustration.

  “Hey, sounds good to me!” With that the three crusaders hit the floor and started a starring contest with the ceiling. But in a moment a voice came from in front of the club house, well, actually it sounded like it came from all over but it seemed a bit more concentrated in that direction.

  “Hey, you guys going to let down the stairs or what?” Applebloom lifted her head. She thought she recognized the voice, but the face wouldn’t come up. Applebloom trotted out to the railway in front of the club house, and saw a face that she knew well.

  “Jason, you’re back, finally!”

  “Hey, I said I come back, and don’t think I was lying, it just took a while.” Suddenly Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were right beside Applebloom.

  “Jason, you’re back!” The two newcomers shouted in unison.

  “Yep, now can you guys lower the ladder?”

  “Sure thing, I’m lowering the ladder, watch out bellow!” With that, Applebloom bucked the ladder and allowed me to pass.

  I stepped inside the club house, but had to crouch all the while. I made sure my hologram wouldn’t do that, but I found out that I would have to lie on the ground to make it crouch. Eventually I sat down and slightly surprisingly so did my hologram.

  “So, why were you gone for so long?” Scootaloo asked me.

  “Well, actually that goes along with something I got to tell you all.” The three crusaders drew closer. “I’m about to do something that might scare you, but please, tried not to scream.”

  “We’ll try, Jason, what is it you got to show us?” I took a deep breath. I turned off my hologram, which earned a few gasps from the fillies.

  “I know this might scare you but that wasn’t really me.” I said this in my real voice and not through Rahgahgogarian methods, which also made them shake. “Get ready for the surprise of your life.” With that I removed my helmet, which disrupted all commands to my suit and so turned off my active camouflage. The girls squeaked, Sweetie Belle even screamed, and I made no attempt to silence them, being as I knew that it would be best to let them carry on as long as they liked, which was a long time.

  “Alright, why are you three screaming about? Did you try to get your Cutiemarks in something way to dangerous and are in trouble or something?” a voice rang out in a rather thick southern accent. I recognized the voice as Applejack, the older sister of Applebloom and the one who took care of the farm for the most part. I decided she would find out soon enough so I decided to go out and tell her.

  “Oh, nothing much, just a startling transition of a friends form, that’s all.”

  “Well if that’s it then… wait… what are you and what are you doing here!?”

  “Oh me? I’m Jason, remember? I’m that pegasus that used to hang out with these guys. I’m just dropping in for a friendly visit but my appearance is a bit concerning too these three.”

  “Who are you kidding, Jason was a young little pegasus colt, you’re some older… thing.”

  “Actually, I’m the same pegasus colt at heart, but after some freaky spell my father goofed I became this, not to mention I got slung into another universe, was shoved into the army and now I’m back and I made peace between the two peoples!” Applejack simply looked at me strangely. I had to admit I toned down severally my usual seriousness and instead was acting as childish as I knew how, a small attempt at convincing her. She squinted at me; I flashed a smile I always had given before as the pegasus colt, man oh day was I making a fool of myself. Applejack starred at me a little more.

  “If you were that pegasus colt then tell me what your Cutiemark was.”

  “Are you kidding me? I didn’t have one back then.”

  “Ah still don’t trust you.”

  “You’re choice, Applejack, but I’m telling you, you can confirm with Johann and I have nothing to fear.”

  “I might just do that.” I nodded and went back inside to the girls. The three weren’t yelling any more so that was good, but they were clutching each other, but small steps were expected instead of large leaps. Scootaloo finally spoke up for the whole group, as was usual when I first came here.

  “Are you really Jason?” I just looked at her and the two other fillies.

  “Is there any way I could convince you?” They looked at each other. I had to admit I had few memories left from back then because of my intense training, but if necessary I could fall upon my characteristics that I had back then. Sweetie Belle was the first to speak up.

  “What is something I hate?”

  “You hate… being teased by Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, and Opal as a general being.” Sweetie Belle smiled as I mentioned Opal the cat. At this correct answer the girls started to smile, and they also stopped holding each other.

  “I think I can say he’s Jason, even though he looks nothing like the one we know. Hey, how come you look so different?” Scootaloo said.

  “Well, to tell the truth, it is because this is my real form, the form you saw five years ago for you was the form I had seventeen years ago. See, I am a human; my father brought me here with my mother seventeen years ago in my world. And when we came we had to blend in with you guys. My pegasus form was just a way to blend in.” They all looked at me in disbelief at what I had just said. “I decided to visit you guys once again, and maybe relive some old times, probably for the last time.”

  “What… what do you mean the last time?” Sweetie Belle asked me.

  “Never mind that, I just wanted to visit and maybe have some fun.” The three fillies looked at each other and shrugged. They all smiled and filed out of the club house, with me at the back of the group.

  “So, what do you want to do first?” Scootaloo asked me. I turned my head to her and frowned.

  “It has been seventeen years of long war with no brakes, I don’t think I can begin o think of how it feels, much less how to have fun.”

  “Whoa now! You mean you haven’t had fun in seventeen years? You haven’t had so much as one party through the whole thing?” Sweetie looked back at me with a concerned look on her face. I shook my head; truly I had no real interests any more.

  Those seventeen years of war had taken their course and had slowly warped and twisted us to the point of breaking. Those seventeen years had made it so an entire generation knew nothing but fear and war, how life could go back to ‘normal’ I could never know, much less how the war would end with our current stalemate.

  My thoughts were broken when I noticed the silence of the ponies as they smiled at each other.

  “Well then, I think we got just the thing to start us off!” Applebloom shouted as the three preformed a three-way high-hoof. With that, they darted off, although their visual speed was great, their actual speed was rather low considering what I could pull without the Mark IX weighing me down. I quickly darted into my fastest running speed, and even had to slow down to match, and yet follow, the three crusaders.

  We dashed through the many streets of Ponyville, and eventually came to the front of the Sugar Cube Corner. I slid to a halt, and while still under the cover of the dust, I activated my active camouflage. The three crusaders entered and began talking to somepony. I turned on my listening booster so I could hear what they were saying.

  “You mean there’s a pony you hasn’t had a party since he was a foal!?” A rather concerned voice said.

  “Yeah, he said that he hasn’t had a party in SEVENTEEN years, I think he would like one of your parties as the first he’s had in a long time!” Applebloom said to the pony that I didn’t recognize by voice. I heard what sounded like a small explosion, and reacting by instinct alone, I took out my rifle, deactivated my active camouflage, and jump-rolled into the shop, quickly clearing all corners, only to notice nothing but a plume of confetti, and a frozen pink sculpture off a pony, that to me looked rather realistic, until I realized it was breathing that is. The pony unfroze and bounded right up to me with the biggest smile on her face. It was that smile that reminded me who she was, Pinkie Pie, party master of Equestria.

  I removed my helmet and placed my rifle back onto my back, and extended my hand in greeting. She put her hoof into my hand and shook it.

  “Nice to see you again, Jason! It’s been a while since we last saw each other! I know it’s been five years on our end, but I can’t believe that it’s been seventeen on your end! It’s time for a party!” With that she jumped from my grasp and pulled the cord on her cannon, that somehow was able to fire out all the party decoration in an organized way. And at the same moment a horde of ponies flowed in and crammed into the space as if draw in by a magnet, only to freeze when they saw I wasn’t a decoration. I only smiled at them.

  “Don’t worry about me, I’m just here to watch, it’s too small in here for me to do anything else.” The ponies looked at each other and shrugged and continued along their merry way. Suddenly I had a face full of Pinkie Pie.

  “You mean you can’t dance?” Pinkie said nearly shouting at me.

  “Not in here, the roof is only about three feet from the floor at most and I’m budging on six, if not already past it.” Being as I was already crouched and still almost touching the ceiling, I thought it might be obvious what I could and could not do.

  “Then we need to take this party outside! Come on everypony! Let’s move this outside!” With that the ponies grabbed what they could and ran outside, while some of them just moved outside without helping at all. I, of course, gathered and carried most things with a greater carrying space in my arms and strength which I could use.

  Pinkie switched the track to something more upbeat than I knew how to dance to, being as I had only taken a class in formal style dancing when I was six. So pulling out something rather basic and ironic all in all, I started to o the robot, out of nothing else I could do. After doing a quick check by searching for certain brain signals, I concluded that my father and Max were at Sweet Apple Acres, being as their signal came from the direction where I saw the orderly group of fruit bearing trees.

  “Wow, you dance pretty well, Jason!” Scootaloo said to me as I used my boosters slightly to cheat myself into a proper moon walk, whereas most could only achieve the result with socks and a verily waxed floor. “”Do you think you can teach me?”

  “If you could stand on two legs I might be, as most movements are exclusive to bipeds.”

  “Hey, I could try, can’t I?”

  “I never said you couldn’t.” I said shooting her a smile. She wobbled up into an upright position on two legs, which caused most other ponies to look her way. “Now, spread out your forelegs like this.” I said while showing her the starting position. “Now the next movements consist of a few basic and simple adlibbing to your balance and position after your last trick. As if you are falling you can either try a few handstand tricks or do a back flip, no general preference is made, but the more complex and better executed tricks are the best. Now here are the basic movements to know, the rest should come from instinct as you carry on.” With that I did a few of the more basic moves of the most simplistic dance ever made, now a slight correction, the simplest on sight, some of the more complex in acting out right. Soon enough Scootaloo was dancing and staying upright with her wings, and soon the whole group of ponies was trying the dance out. Eventually some of them experienced a newbie’s mistakes, when they try to do a trick that they weren’t set for, but after a few brief lessons and demonstrations, they all were the best robot dancers I’d seen since I was five.

  “Hey, Jason, would you tell us what you want to do next, the party is nice but I think we should move on.” Sweetie Belle said after nudging me a little.

  “I think lunch is in order, a small reason, I guess, to stick around a little longer.” Pinkie smiled and an inside the shop and came out with a platter filled with a rather large cake, that is, by pony standards, but to my militarized mind, it would serve as an energy source for a few minutes and to fill my stomach until my next meal, being as a military as myself can survive to the next chow time without complaining. I grabbed it and took a bit out of it, followed by several more, until it was finally gone from sight, except for a few crumbs around my mouth.

  “Whoa, you ate that cake almost as fast as Pinkie!” Suddenly the ground under me shook violently. I looked and saw a drop pod base slamming into the ground.

  “Everypony! Get inside, stay away from windows and enter any tornado or any other emergency shelters!” With that everypony looked at me and ran to their houses. “Applebloom, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, Pinkie Pie, go into Sugar Cube Corner and wait for me to get you out, and don’t even think of coming out until I do.” The four ponies nodded and ran inside. I tapped the side of my helmet and activated direct link to Max’s radio headset.

  “Max, U.N. just made their move, meat me five clicks north of drop pod base.”

  “Affirmative, I’m moving out, meet you at rendezvous point”