Chapter 2
Well this was a fine predicament he had gotten himself into. One minute he was in Texas, about to be shipped off to Alaska to fight the imposing Russian threat, the next he was in another world, face to face with creatures that shouldn't even exist. Marlowe stood there, staring at the unicorn and dragon, constantly blinking in disbelief. After a half a minute of awkward silence, Twilight Stepped forward. "Umm, hello. Who are you?" She asked.
Marlowe couldn't believe it. A unicorn that talked, in English no less! "If only Sweets was here, he'd be freaking out big time." he mumbled.
"Excuse me," Twilight said, easily hearing his mumbling "but who's 'Sweets'? And like I said before, who are you?"
Marlowe tried to gain his composure back, sat down and took a deep breath. "I am Private Marlowe Preston of the United States Army, 222nd battalion, B-Company and to be honest, I have no idea how I got here. As for your previous question, 'Sweets' is my friend, Private Terrence Sweetwater, of the same company. I also have two other friends, Sergeant Redford and Private Haggard. As to where they are, I have no idea."
"You're very...forthcoming with that information, Private Marlowe." Twilight said.
He smiled. "Well, it's not like you're really going to be able to do much with that information, and besides you seem friendly enough."
"Well, since you've taken the pleasure of introducing yourself, let me introduce myself. My name is Twilight Sparkle, Proud and faithful student of Princess Celestia and this is my assistant, Spike the Dragon." Spike poked around Twilight and gave a cautious wave.
"I have some questions, first of which is: Where am I?" Marlowe asked.
"This is Ponyville, in the land of Equestria." She replied.
"Okaaay, never heard of it. Second question: Who's this Princess Celestia you just talked about?"
"Princess Celestia is the Ruler of Equestria, and is in charge of raising the sun. She is also my mentor, and is very likable, at least once you get to know her."
"Okay, Last question. Do you know anything about my friends?"
"No, sadly I don't. But I'm sure wherever they are, they're perfectly safe."
Sweetwater and the others looked at each other nervously, wondering what would happen next. Fortunately they didn't have to wait long, as Shining Armor and some of the royal guard arrived. Expecting some kind of warm welcome, Haggard walked up to Shining, only to receive a spear pointed at his face.
Haggard tried to get the spear out of his face.. "Whoa there, no need to get stabby. We're tourists. This place is really nice, lots of sunshine, good servic-"
"By order of Princess Celestia, you are being placed under custody. Do not resist, or we will take action." Shining interrupted.
"Now wait a minute, wait a minute. Who in the hell are YOU, exactly? And more importantly, where the heck are we?"
"All questions you may have will be answered by the Princess but until then, be quiet and follow me."
"Well, at least we know who isn't the smooth talker here." Sweetwater smirked as they started to follow the guards.
"Aw shuddup Sweets." As they went into the palace, Haggard let off a whistle, admiring the stark beauty of the interior.
"Well I've gotta say, they definitely know how to decorate. Maybe a few more tapestries or murals would go in nicely." He joked.
"Uh, I don't mean to be the pessimist here but we still don't know where Marlowe is, or even where HERE is for that matter. Are you sure this is real Sarge?" Sweetwater asked.
"Hell if I know, but what I do know is that we need to get some answers, and right now the best way to do that is just to do what they say. So just shut up, and wait." Sarge replied.
"Would it be wrong to say I thought of that?"
"Yes!" Sarge and Haggard said in unison. They were escorted through large double doors, into what appeared to be a large throne room. At the end of the room stood Princess Celestia, deep in a conversation with Prince Blueblood.
"Princess Celestia, I have something that you will wish to see!" Shining called out. The Princess turned to see Shining standing next Sarge and the others.
"And who, or what, might they be?" She asked with a confused look on her face.
Sweetwater stepped forward. "Remember, nothing but name, rank and serial number!" Haggard whispered to him.
" I am Private Terrence Sweetwater, 222nd Battalion, B-Company of the United States Army. These are my friends Private Private Haggard and Sergeant Redford of the same company, and we were wondering something, like where the fuck are we?"
The Princess sighed. "I would advise not speaking to me like that Private Sweetwater, as it is rude to both me and my subjects. As for your question as to where you are, you are in the royal palace of Canterlot, of the Empire of Equestria. I am Princess Celestia, ruler of Equestria by day. My sister, Princess Luna, watches over the land in the night. I have never seen a creature like you before, what are you exactly?"
"We your highness, are humans, scientific name being homo sapiens. We're from a another world entirely, one called Earth. We haven't much of an idea as to how we got here, and we have no idea at all as to how we can get back. We would really appreciate it if you could offer us a place to bunker down until you decide what to do with us, as we are undoubtedly tresspassing. We-" Sweetwater said as he was cutoff by Prince Blueblood.
"Your highness, if I may. These creatures are clearly not seeking refuge here, look at all the equipment they are carrying! do you think that something with that much possibly dangerous equipment could possibly have the need to seek refuge here? I think not, and with that I think you should-" He said until a single shot rang out. Haggard had fired a shot from his XM8 into Blueblood's back leg, causing him to fall to the ground clutching it on the way down.
"Sorry," Haggard said, with an evil smirk on his face. "finger slipped. You were saying Sweets?"
"Right, forgive my friend here. As I was saying, we would very appreciate some accommodation until you decide what to do with us." The Princess thought for a minute, ushering a guard to move the helpless Blueblood.
"After careful thinking, I have decided to let you stay, at least until I find something suitable as a punishment. You did injure Prince Blueblood after all. Actually, I have just thought of a punishment for you. You will be doing community service until you earn the right to stay here. You will be going to the town of Ponyville tomorrow, until then you shall stay here in the palace as guests. Shining Armor will show you to your room, he will also be keeping an eye on you for the time being." Sarge and Sweets gave the Princess a salute before leaving, whereas Haggard just gave a casual wave goodbye.
"why don't you come inside? you know, before somepony sees you." Twilight offered.
"That's...a good idea. After you." Marlowe replied, following them both inside. He pulled up a seat and sat in front of Spike and Twilight. "So, Spike. What's it like here? I mean, I have a basic idea, but I want to know what it's like for you, being the odd one out and all."
"Oh, me?" Spike said nervously. "It's okay I guess, they're all friendly enough to me around here. I pull my own weight, but sometimes I need help from others. Most of the time I help out others, but sometimes I feel like I need my own space, you know?"
Marlowe smiled. "I know exactly what you mean Spike."
"you, you do?" Spike said hopefully. "I mean, I've always wondered whether there was someone who shared my predicament, but I didn't figure it would be a...umm, what are you exactly?"
"Oh, I'm a human. I take it you don't have humans here?"
"N-no, we don't. If you don't mind, I'm going to go upstairs and have a rest." Spike said before stiffing a yawn.
"That's okay, gives me more time take notes." Twilight said back.
"Take notes, on me?" Marlowe asked nervously.
"Well, yes, obviously." She levitated a quill and notepad towards her, while Marlowe stared in awe of the unicorn's ability of using magic. "I take it you don't have magic on earth?"
"Nope, well, maybe illusions and magic tricks. Anyway, What did you want to ask?"
"Well first off, your home. This Earth, what's it like?" She asked.
"To be honest, it isn't really that different from yours, from what I've seen anyway. We're in a big war right now, between my country, the United States, and the Russian Federation. I WAS going to go fight them, but then I ended up here. Somehow."
"Interesting...Do you know what brought you here?"
"As far as I'm aware, it was some kind of super-weapon, apparently the original version was developed 60 odd years before the present day on Earth, but I'm pretty sure that doesn't matter. From what I've seen so far you don't have the materials to make it, that and there we didn't have any plans for the thing before we arrived here."
Twilight sighed. "Ah well, I guess it doesn't matter now. Next question, your friends. How did you meet them?"
Marlowe chuckled "Now that's a different story. We were all assigned to our Company because of things we did. Put simply, if someone in our forces did something that would result in expulsion, they would be given a choice to go to "B" Company, which is known in our world for it's disregard for loss of friendlies, but since they probably would've ended up dying anyway, I guess they don't really care about it."
She gasped. "That's terrible!"
He shrugged his shoulders. "Guess it doesn't matter now. As for how my friends ended up there, well that's something different altogether."
Haggard was fast asleep in what he described as 'the best bed he'd slept in in all his life' after complaining about a headache from 'jet-lag'. Sarge and Sweetwater were discussing over by a window what they thought what was gonna happen to them in their 'new life'. "Ooh, I know! We could start up a small business, we could build a house near a lake and you could finally go fishing!" Sweets suggested.
"Mmm, nah. The fishing part sounds nice, but I don't think it'll work." Sarge replied.
"Ah well, was worth a thought. I wonder if they have snowmobiles here?"
"Snowmobiles are for pussies!" Haggard said said in his sleep. This resulted in Sweetwater to laugh loudly.
"I know it's only been about a day, but I gotta say I'm missing Marlowe."
"Yeah, just doesn't seem right without him here does it?" Sarge said nodding.
"I wonder if they'll write a book about us?"
"What'd you think it'd be called?"
"Hmm...The Mysteries of the Human Race."
"Ha, the only mystery concerning you is how you got into B company, and to be honest it's not that interesting."
Sweets sighed. "I guess you're right. Well, I'm gonna catch some Z's before we have to do 'community service'." With that, he laid down on a bed, leaving Sarge to stare out the window at the vast Plains of Equestria.
Sorry for the long time between chapters, I've been busy doing other things, and with my Exams coming up this week I won't be getting much further for a bit. Hope you enjoyed it!
A good bit of this chapter is get people familiar with the group of Bad Company, if you aren't already.
Texas, United States of America.
"The Russians, they're invading." General Braidwood said.
"... Uh, no they're not sir. We just blew up that fucking ultimate weapon of theirs. PS: Invasion cancelled sir." Haggard boldly proclaimed.
"Not here," He said, climbing into a Humvee. "they're coming in through Alaska!"
The team just stood there, dumbfounded as Braidwood drove away. "Wh-what just happened Sarge?" Sweetwater asked.
"I think my retirement just got postponed, again." Sarge responded.
Only minutes beforehand, the team had just parachuted down into Texas, after following a one Colonel Arkady Kirilenko through half of Europe and South America and ending up taking down a Russian super weapon project called a Scalar weapon (although originally the 'black weapon', started by the Japanese during the 1940's) that had almost ended up in the middle of the United States. What had started out as a simple support mission, what was to be their last mission in B-Company as it was, turned into a cascade of events ending in the foiling of a plot to cripple the US for invasion. The group had only formed just a few years ago, under rather inconvenient circumstances. The team consisted of four people, all sent to B-Company (or Bad company, as referred to by most) for various reasons. They are as follows:
Sergeant Samuel D. Redford, AKA 'Sarge'. Unlike most others, he actually requested to be transferred to B-Company, because he thought it would lead to a quicker retirement. (And boy was he wrong) He is the squad leader and knows what he is doing. The others however, not so much.
Private George Gordon Haggard Jr, AKA 'Hags'. Was sent to B-Company supposedly for an incident involving 'the officer's latrine and a claymore' and blowing up 'the biggest ammo dump east of Paris'. Likes blowing things up and is a good fan of the Dallas Cowboys, Also treats Sweetwater like a younger brother at times.
Private Terrence Sweetwater, AKA 'Sweets', AKA 'CSI New Jersey'. Was sent to B-Company after uploading a virus into the US Military mainframe. Is rather cautious but decently intelligent. Also hates baseball, much to Haggard's disappointment.
Private Preston Marlowe, AKA 'Pres'. Transferred to B-Company after crashing a Black Hawk into a general's car. Comes from a line of war veterans, and rarely swears.
"I still can't believe after we just took out the scalar weapon, the Russians still want to invade." Sweetwater said.
"yeah well, we always knew Ivan was persistant, we're just gonna have to put up with it and head up to Alaska." Sarge replied.
"Oh come the fuck on." Haggargd complained. "I just got back home, and now they want us at ALASKA? Nuh uh, no way in hell am I leaving."
"I'm not sure we have much of a choice, Hags." Marlowe said, trying to comfort him. "But put it this way, if we don't stop the Russians, there wont BE a Texas to come home to." Haggard stood up loaded his rifle, before walking over to a knocked over sign and lightly kicking it.
"Ahhh, I don't know. If I do, I'll be away from home the moment I get there, and there won't be a guarantee that I'll come back alive. If I don't, I'll be home for a while, but then again I might not have a home to go back to later.That means there'd be no more Superbowl sundays, T-bone steaks-"
"No shooting tresspaassers on your front porch...(which I do believe is legal in Texas)" Sweetwater added.
"No more Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders..." Marlowe also added.
"Aww shit, that's definitely torn it. Lets go boys, I got myself a country and some cheerleaders to save!" haggard said boldly, before squinting over into the distance.
"The Cheerleader thing always gets him, doesn't it Sweets?" Marlowe said.
" Yeah, it does. I wonder how long it'll take for it to stop working. What is it Hags?" Sweetwater asked, noticing him just staring into the distance. Haggard just pointed and continued looking at the wreckage of the plane that had taken them to the US, which also housed the remains of the Scalar weapon. The rest of the squad turned to face the wreckage in the distance, to find it was glowing. "Oh, that's not good..."
"Yeah, I second that." Sarge said uncomfortably. Suddenly, a blue flash appeared out of the wreckage. Seconds later, a wave of the same blue light shot out, travelling at easily 100 miles an hour. The squad was instantly ingulfed, unable to be seen in the large pulsing wave. Just seconds after it started, it suddenly stopped. The squad had disappeared, leaving nothing behind indicating that they were even there. They had however, not been disintegrated into nothing, as everything else around them was completely intact. What had actually happened, was something that none of them would have guessed.
Just outside the Royal Palace, Canterlot, Equestria.
The squad appeared out of nowhere, right in the middle of the street. Sarge and the rest stood there, dazed and confuzed for several seconds until he spoke up. "Ya'll still with me? Hags?"
"Yeah..." haggard mumbled.
"Sweets?"
"Alive. Confused, but alive." Sweetwater said.
"Marlowe?" There was no response. "Marlowe? Sound off!" There was nothing but silence. All the while, Sweetwater as looking at their surroundings. he was also looking at the dozen or so ponies that were forming around them.
"Uhh, guys? I don't think we're in Kansas anymore. Take a look at this." He said, pointing at one of the many ponies. "I think the defecation just hit the oscillation, if you get what I'm saying."
'Well butter my butt and call me a biscuit, I haven't seen anything like this before in my entire life." Haggard said in a mix of shock and awe. After regaining clear thinking ability, the squad (minus marlowe) put their backs to each other, cautiously sweeping their gun sights at the multitude of ponies that surrounded them. "Alright, I'm not much of a diplmoat but I do have one question for them." Sarge said. "Where the fuck is Marlowe?"
Meanwhile in Ponyville, Spike the dragon was tending to the roses outside the Library, humming a tune as he went. Everything was calm, peaceful, and above all; quiet. At least, for now. Twilight came outside to check how he was doing, when suddenly a bright flash of blue light erupted in front of them. The light dissipated seconds later and Marlowe appeared before them, dazed and confused. Spike screamed and hid behind Twilight, who had half a mind to back off slowly and another half telling her to approach the unfamiliar creature. Marlowe snapped out his dazed state to find himself standing in front of a purple unicron and a baby dragon.
"What the, Am I dreaming or something? Did something hit me in the back of the head when I landed? Because I'm pretty sure I'm not in Texas anymore." Marlowe muttered to himself. Looking around, he couldn't see any of his squadmates. Panicking, he edged back, tripping into a fountain behind him, earning a snicker of laughter from Twilight and Spike. "Well, I guess I'm not dreaming. Question is, Where the fuck am I?"
