The sun had set on the city of Canterlot, the moon rising to take its' place, bathing the city in unearthly light.
Deep inside the castle at the center of the city, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, the rulers of Equestria, looked on as Twilight Sparkle explained the intricacies of the spell they were attempting. Applejack and Rainbow Jack had already adopted bored looks, while Fluttershy had adopted a small smile, nodding at the appropriate moments as the lavender Unicorn went on.
"... And that's the basics of what we're going to be testing." Twilight finished. "We all need to be in Baltimare by tomorrow, and that is why we are using a teleportation spell."
"Alright, alright, we get it." Rainbow Dash grumbled. "Now can you do the spell already?"
"Did you ever hear anything I said?" Twilight asked.
"Uh... Yes?" Rainbow Dash said after a moment. Twilight brought her hoof up to her face, wondering why she even bother trying to explain what she did to the pegasus.
"Let's just start this already." Twilight grumbled, her horn light up. "Are you all ready?" The five others replied in the affirmative. "Okay, let's hope this works."
The room lit up in a purple glow, while the entire group disappeared in a white light-
0220 Hours
November, 1989
Light cascaded across the streets of downtown Seattle, lit only from the scattered streetlights. The once-busy roads were empty, as the curfew in place assured that they would be. The entire city had shut down for the night.
On the empty sidewalk, three National Guardsmen were walking, talking amongst themselves. All three carried their M16A2 rifles in a relaxed grip.
The man on the right was talking quite loudly, and his voice echoed across the streets. “... And that's why the LT banned me from his vehicle during non-combat situations."
The one on the left sighed. "Alex, it's a miracle you survived long enough to get through Basic. Fuck if I know how you were cleared for combat."
"It's simple, John." Alex replied, grinning. "I'm two levels higher than you could ever possibly hope to be."
"On what, the sliding scale of helpfulness to dickery?" The third man, David, asked.
“Shut the hell up." Alex shot back.
"Eloquent as always, Alex." John added.
"Fuck you."
“Not a chance in hell.”
All three of the National Guardsmen laughed.
Suddenly, a sharp bang echoed through the empty streets, a lot like the sound of a muffled explosive. All three were instantly alert, rifle raised, with fingers ready to flick the fire selector from SAFE to FULL at a moment's notice. A brilliant white light flashed from the alleyway entrance ahead of them, obvious signs of something in there.
John saw black spots on his vision, and he rubbed his eyes with his free hand to try to get them out. What the hell was that? A flashbang? Were the Russians here?
"Forward!" John hissed, the three National Guardsmen walking forward at a fast pace. John brought his clip-on radio up, pressing the button to transmit. "Seattle Actual, this is Patrol Five. We're moving to investigate something. Have backup standing by."
"Copy, Patrol Five. Colonel Sawyer is currently in command here, and we will pass on your reports to him." The radioman on the other end responded.
"Copy. Moving in."
John, Alex, and David all made it to the edge of the alleyway, flattening against the wall as John strained to understand the voices coming from it. They sounded... Female?
"... Oh Celestia, my head..." One of them was saying.
"Keep quiet, Twilight!" Another hissed. "I don't recognize this place."
"... What happened? Did it work?" The first replied after a moment.
"Ah can't tell. It sure don't look like where we're supposed to be." A third butted in.
"We go on three." John whispered. "One, two, three."
With that, all three National Guardsmen charged around the corner, weapons raised, and paused. John was the first to slow to a halt as his brain processed what was right in front of him.
Twenty feet away, standing in a semi-circle in the alleyway, were six... Horses? They seemed too short, however. Within moments, he noticed other, stranger features. Two of them had wings, one had a horn, and two had both. All six were various colors that seemed impossible on them.
And they were staring right at him.
“… What are you?” One of them, the purple one with a horn, finally asked.
David finally got his head together and spoke up. “We could ask you the same thing.”
The blue one with wings shot up into the air, actually flying a few feet above the street. Angrily, it looked at them.
“Just what the buck are you things?” It demanded.
“Just what the buck are you things?” Rainbow Dash demanded of them.
Twilight’s mind was racing. In truth, she didn't know where they were, as she didn't recognize this city, nor the… things in front of her. There were three of them, standing like a bipedal would, and all were carrying some sort of object in their grasp. Each of them had enough clothing on to cause heatstroke, and in colors that would make Rarity faint. From what she could see of their faces, each one was furless, and had a face that looked squashed compared to the average pony’s.
Suddenly, Rainbow Dash tried to rush them, and Applejack quickly got on her hooves to hold her back, grabbing on to Dash’s tail with her teeth.
Dash struggled to get free and charge the three things in front of her. “Come at me! I’ll take you all on at once! Just watch me! Let me go, Applejack!”
Applejack gritted her teeth and mumbled through Rainbow’s tail, “I cen’t huld er for lang, Twi. A lattle halp here?”
Twilight looked at the creatures in front of her. Their shock was quickly giving way to what looked like… amusement? Twilight sighed, and encased Rainbow Dash in her telekinetic grasp. “Not today, Dash.” She said in a firm tone of voice. “You’re not going to do this now.”
Twilight then turned to Celestia and, receiving a nod in return, looked at the one in front.
“Hello there!” She said. “I am Twilight Sparkle, can you understand me?”
“Hello there!” The purple - Unicorn?- said. “I am Twilight Sparkle, can you understand me?”
John was uneasy, to say the least. He was in a situation that seemed straight out of a bad sci-fi novel, and one of them had tried to rush them just moments before. Swallowing back his fear, he answered the question in as form a tone as he could manage.
“Private First Class John Warren, ma’am, and I can understand you. How can you understand us? And what are you, anyway?”
‘Twilight Sparkle’ seemed to think for a moment before replying, “I don’t know how you can understand us. Where in Equestria are we, anyway?”
John was momentarily confused, but shrugged it off. “Equestria? And you never answered my second question. What are you? Some type of horse?” He replied.
“Ponies,” Twilight gently corrected, “And it is where we are from. Are we… on another planet?”
John thought for a moment. He really, really didn't know the answer to that, and so he decided to answer it in the best way he could: “Maybe? I don't know. There are no sentient, talking hors- I mean ponies, here. You are currently in the United States of America. That ring a bell?”
“Definitely not on Equis now.” Twilight grumbled, in a tone that half resembled frustration.
"What's her problem? At least, I assume it's a 'her'." Alex asked, point towards the 'pony' currently suspended in some kind of purple glow.
“You’re an alien!" The blue pony, 'Rainbow', replied. "We don’t know why we are here, or if you brought us here, or-“
“Calm down.” John said, looking over at the two. “We didn’t bring you here. Something must have gone wrong with… Whatever brought you here.”
“Oh.” Rainbow said, looking slightly dejected.
"Can you tell me what is going on in this world right now?" Twilight asked, seemingly eager to find out.
"Yes, We are curious as well." The dark blue one, with both wings and a horn, said. "What is this region? Is it peaceful?"
"David, you're up." John grumbled. The former schoolteacher-turned-National Guard could talk endlessly about almost anything, to an extent that surprised even John, himself a dedicated bibliophile in his spare time.
"Right." David said. "Around here it's pretty peaceful. But, it's a different story elsewhere. About half a year ago..."
David quickly went through the beginning of the Third World War with his semi-attentive audience. In the meantime, John decided to call the recent events in. Stepping back from the group, he took out his radio and pressed the transmit button.
"Seattle Actual, this is Patrol Five. I need you to put Colonel Sawyer on the radio. It ain't the Soviets, but this is big. Very, very big." John said.
"Patrol Five, this is Seattle Actual. You better have a good reason for this." The radio operator replied. "This channel is for priority military communications, not-"
"Just. Put. Him. On." John said through gritted teeth. "If he thinks this is a waste of time, I'll take the fall. A Soviet invasion of California is more likely than this."
"... Your call." The radio operator said, going off air. Almost thirty seconds passed before someone else came on.
"This is Colonel Sawyer. This had better be damn good, Private." A gruff voice said a moment later.
"Sir, you're not going to believe me, but we have a situation here." John said, quickly outlining the events that had happened.
"Is this some kind of joke to you, Private?" The voice on the other end demanded. "You'd better show up here within the hour with proof of what you're telling me, or I will hand your ass to your CO, and let him deal with you."
"Copy that. Patrol Five out." John said, bringing his finger off of the transmit button, before walking back towards the group, where David was just finishing his talk.
“… And we're pretty damn safe here." David finished. "Just be glad you didn't arrive in West Berlin. I'd hate to think what the Ruskies would have done."
“So let me get this straight”, Twilight said, “These ‘Soviets’, who you also call Russians, are part of the USSR, or Russia, an evil nation that does bad things and invaded your alliance. And a war has erupted, and we might be safe here.”
“Yeah, that’s about it.” John said, rejoining the group.
The cyan Pegasus, Rainbow Dash, turned towards Celestia (John had been listening at a distance when Twilight interrupted David to deliver a lecture). “Celestia, what do we do now? Can’t you teleport us back to Equestria?”
“No, Rainbow Dash, I cannot. Our magical stores are exhausted from aiding Twilight the spell, and we might as well contact the local authority.” Celestia said that as if it was an undeniable fact, which only served to depress Dash further. John, however, raised an eyebrow at the word ‘Magic’. However much he was told by ‘Twilight’ that it existed, he still had his doubts.
“Ma’am,” John curtly said. “We should get you back to Colonel Sawyer. He’s the C.O. in charge of the area. He’s located his HQ near the docks.”
The blue one, an Alicorn if he remembered right, spoke up then, “Let us go, tis not far, Tia.”
The white Alicorn nodded, and John motioned for them to follow him. He didn't want to get caught in the open when the curfew lifted in two and a half hours, and he wanted to get chewed out by his CO, Captain Holden, even less.
0256 Hours
Colonel Sawyer was not having a good day.
He had been awoken a short time ago with a nearly incredible report, one that he was sure was a bad joke. In wartime, standards had to be met in the ranks, and that meant enforcing discipline. Discipline broke down when soldiers were given too much free reign. A little screwing around was normal - this was far, far too much.
And thus, here he was, standing in front of his Command Post, ready to give the Private who had called it in a severe tongue-lashing when he arrived.
Over his many years in the service of his country, had heard hundreds of stories, along with quite a few really bad fakes from Captain Bannon, but he had never heard of something so crazy. Six ponies, teleporting from another world, landing in Seattle? He scoffed at that. There is no way that this could possibly be true…
Three tall figures cam from around the block, twenty meters away from his command post. Following them closely, six other shapes strode out. The Colonel’s jaw dropped. He had never seen something so utterly… dumbfounding. Behind the three recognizable soldiers strode two large ponies, and four smaller ones, with a variety of different colors and features utterly strange on them, from wings to a horn to both.
All nine strode up to him. One of the Guardsmen, presumably Private Warren, saluted and barked out, “Reporting for duty, sir.”
Colonel Sawyer quickly composed himself, looked to the two tallest ponies (Alicorns, he had been told), and introduced himself. “Colonel Sawyer, commander of the Seattle area, and current representative of the government of the United States of America.” He then held out his hand.
‘Princess Celestia’ put her hoof out and shook it with his hand. “I am Princess Celestia.” She states, “Co-ruler of Equestria with my sister, Luna.” She pointed to the blue Alicorn with her hoof, which amused some of the soldiers. “We were teleported here by accident, and request your hospitality.”
“You shall have it” He stated, searching his mind for his next action. “Now then, I need to get on a helicopter to talk with the higher ups. You can sit tight at CG station in the harborfront. There should be very few people in there, and you can get a good look at Puget Sound.” He nodded to the ponies, who gathered up behind John and the other two Guardsmen.
Colonel Sawyer walked up to John and said to him a low voice, “Keep them safe and out of trouble. The Coast Guard station, near the harborfront, is the best place to put them for now. You were telling the truth, so I don't expect you to create problems.”
With that, Sawyer turned around, striding back into the CP. As John rounded up the group, they could see him climb into a MH-60, which took off, angling east.
“Let’s go,” John said. “The harborfront is just across the Alaska Viaduct.”
David waved them across a parking lot. To their left, a large, blocky apartment complex rose up, and behind it, the massive bulk of the Kingdome stood up. They made their way across the parking lot, scattered cars the only things around. The streets were still empty as a result of the curfew, so they wouldn’t have to deal with stray civilians.
They walked through a short section of woods before emerging again onto another parking lot, in front of the KRNT TV building. John hated that channel, always had. The ponies glanced around in awe at the tall buildings surrounding them, and the massive spires in the distance.
They quickly crossed another street and past a building to emerge on, yet again, another parking lot. Luna looked to her right as she heard a faint hum, and saw several elevated boxes with wires running out of them.
“What are they, John?” Celestia asked, seeing Luna’s fascination with them.
“Electrical stuff.” He answered, “Probably transformers. Don’t you know what electricity is?” He asked.
"Several major cities have it." Twilight Sparkle responded.
Meanwhile, they had moved beyond the massive concrete bulk of the Alaska Viaduct. The ponies stared in obvious awe at the massive freeway, as they headed west towards a group of large buildings near the waterfront.
The middle building was two stories tall, concrete, and bland enough to be of government build. It also helped that it had the words COAST GUARD - S.P.A. in block letters on the side.
Thankfully, once they entered, the introductions were much less awkward than they might have been. Somebody had thought to radio in what was coming, and so they were met with simple shock, and not a reaction warranting a Section 8 discharge.
The hours ticked by slowly, with the occasional radio call going out from the station, and the only thing they could do was talk. A lot. The conversation passed through all areas of history, politics, and geography, with more than a few chuckles had on both sides from the information.
John looked up at the clock again, noting the time: Ten forty-five. He had been up all night, and far into the norming. He yawned, the effects of the long hours beginning to wear on him.
"... No, I don't know what they are doing here." One of the radiomen was saying. "All I'm saying is that they are here."
"We're getting reports of a developing situation at the harborfront." A female voice said over the radio a moment later. "We have a lot of unmarked containerships approaching, and they are refusing to identify."
"Well, get some police down there!" The radioman stated. "We're the Port Authority. All I can do is slap a fine on them. How many are there?"
"Initial count fifty-two." The female voice said in reply. "Some are pulling into docking spaces. We're dispatching patrol cars."
"What's happening?" John asked.
"Some kind of stunt." The man at the radio said, rubbing his eyes. "A bunch of containerships in the harbor. We didn't see them coming, and we can't tell who they are."
"Well, can't you find out?" David asked.
"That's why we're sending the police." The radioman said. "If you look out the western window, you can see a few of the ships pulling in."
John went to said window and opened the blinds. Sure enough, a massive cargo ship piled with plenty of the multicolored shipping containers on its' deck was pulling into the docking space a mere three hundred meters from the Coast Guard building. A police car with flashing light zipped past, heading towards another containership. They quickly disappear behind the stacks of cargo, gone from view.
Suddenly, the cargo bay doors on the deck of one of the ships opened, lifting something into view. Frowning, and ignoring the continuing conversation behind him, John grabbed a pair of binoculars from off of a desk next to him and raised them to his eyes. He quickly shifted to the containership, taking in the view of the object...
John's eyes widened as the Russian-made Mi-24 gunship, already spun up, lifted off of the deck and began firing at something.
"11-99, emergency!" A panicked voice said over the radio. "They have gunships! Repeat, gunships! We need help immediately!"
"Who has gunships? Patrol Car 21, respond!" The radioman said over the radio.
"It's the goddamn Russians!" John yelled, dropping the binoculars and running away from the window.
"What?" Celestia said, frowning.
"The Russians are just outside, in the containerships!" John said, noticing movement by the window. "A gunship just came out and- Get down!"
He jumped down on the floor as the stray rocket from the helicopter slammed into the side of the building, blowing chunks of concrete through the air, and killing the radioman by the wall. John looked up as the dust cleared, seeing that both of his friends - and the ponies - were just fine, aside from a light coating of concrete powder. A new hole had been torn in the wall, and John grabbed his M16, looking out at the harborfront.
Several patrol cars lay burning on the docks, and the helicopter hovered over them all, its' chin gun scanning the area. Through the sparse holes between the stacks of shipping crates, John could see dozens of Russian vehicle disembarking, everything from tanks to armored personnel carriers.
"What the hell do we do?" David asked.
"We get away, and bring these..." He looked over at the creatures whom he was assigned to guard. "Ponies... To a safe area. We need to leave: They'll try and rush this area first."
"Then let's do it!" Alex yelled, grabbing his rifle as well, and fingering the M203 grenade launcher slung under it.
"What's happening, John? What's going on?" Twilight yelled as they ran down the hall, entering the stairwell that led to the first floor.
"It's the Soviets! They're here!" John yelled. "Seattle is under attack!"
