Full Chapter Title: Getting Some USMC Swag and Meetin' the Crusaders

While the others were conversing with Twilight, who was grumpy about something, I had a visitor in the form of Dawn in my mind.

"So, you like Applejack. I could hear your thought about that." Dawn said, a hint of laughter in his 'voice'.

'Stuff. It.' Was all that I replied with.

"Hey, if you like her, that's between you and her. I won't promote it, but at the same time I won't deny it from you two." Dawn said in his defense.

'So, what do I have to do?' I asked him, changing the subject.

"Get on the train with the girls tomorrow. Might want to come in Service Dress, if you could convince Rarity to make it for you." Dawn explained.

'Alright, I think I have a picture in my wallet.' I cut the connection and stood up. I was just about to say something when Twilight started singing.

"Ignore her. For the love of your god ignore her! Don't get dragged into the song!!" Dawn yelled into my head. "I have no idea what it'll do to you!"

'Why is she fucking singing?!' I asked, confused as shit.

"It's song magic. When something emotional or exciting happens, or if it's an important holiday, a unicorn usually starts singing and everyone in the area could start at anytime, too. Unless it's Pinkie Pie. That mare defies even song magic. She sings whenever she wants to, magic be damned." Dawn explained while I tried my hardest to not get pulled into the song. Let me tell you, that shit's hard as fuck considering I don't have a damn bit of resistance to magic. And stop reading this fucking journal, you bastard. Unless you're Applejack, then I don't care.

"Rarity, I have a request for you." I said once they stopped, digging out my wallet. Pushing aside my worthless money, I pulled out a 'recent' picture of me in my Service Dress.

"Is it for the wedding?" She asked, looking up at me.

"Yes, I need you to replicate this EXACTLY. It's my Marine Service Dress uniform, and I'd love to have a replica back, at least." I answered. "The items on my chest are made separately." I added, handing over the picture.

'As my brother called it, I will soon have my Marine Swag back.' I thought with a slight grin.

"I'll have it ready for you tomorrow!" Rarity said, looking over it. "Although I've never made clothing for a bipedal..." She muttered, frowning a little.

"The back of the uniform is just like a normal suit, same for the pants." I explained, turning around to show her. I felt Rarity's eyes going over my back for a second. "I'll stop by later to give you my measurements."

"Alright, and I'll make dresses for you five, too!" Rarity exclaimed, before trotting off towards the town.

"Hey, Applejack. Does Ponyville have a blacksmith?" I asked, looking over at said Earth pony.

"Yea, why do ya need one, Sugarcube?" She asked.

"Just wondering. Brass casings are hard to come by here." I said, patting my M1911.

"Brass casings?" AJ asked, raising an eyebrow.

"For bullets." I said and walked towards the Everfree forest to get my suit, waving off questions on where I was going.

'Can't believe I had forgotten about it until now...' I thought, facepalming.

[Later]

"I'm going into town, AJ!" I called upstairs, dumping my bomb suit into a corner in the living room.

"Just be careful, ya hear!" She shouted back. I paused for a second, sighed, and tossed my M1911 into the pile, along with my backpack.

"Might as well keep the baton... Hm..." I thought of a key, and nothing happened. "Figures... Alright, oh magical plastic beating stick, please turn into a titanium crowbar." I rolled my eyes and used some twine to tie the crowbar loosely to my side, before walking out.

Let's see... The townsfolk were, wary at best. Except for one teal unicorn, who had a lyre for a cutie mark, if I remember correctly. As soon as I entered town, she latched onto my side and started pelting me with questions, before using magic to examine my hands and feet. I had to sit down for the second of the two. The walk to Rarity's was slow, thanks to this Lyra Heartstrings lass, who I figured was a hobby scientist, if the assmarks were anything to go by. Pinkie came in about three fourths of the way there.

"Hey, Mark! When do you want your party? I know it can't be done this week, so I might as well ask you when!" She half yelled at me insanely fast.

"Jeez, lass! I'll have it the day after we get back!" I replied, cringing from losing some more of my hearing. Pinkie squee'd and ran off, killing off even more of my sanity. What I have left of it, anyway.

'Fucking. Physics. Don't. Work!' Is all that I thought, waved Lyra off, and sighed before entering Rarity's shop after knocking, glad that I asked Lyra to take me there. Carousal Boutique was the name, I believe.

"I'll be right there~" Rarity's voice called out from a different room, while I looked around, waiting on her. She didn't take long, only a few seconds.

"I'm here for the measurements." I said while examining what looked like a half completed dress.

"Could you step over here then?" She asked, causing me to walk over and eye several tape measurers.

"Would you like me to take my clothes off for more accurate measurements?" I asked, slipping off my jacket and vest. "Well, except for what I really need to be modest around you?" I added, not wanting to strip down fully in front of these ponies.

"Yes, please." She said. I nodded and took my shirt, shoes, socks, and pants off, leaving just my boxers. While Rarity was taking my measurements, I overheard something crashing from above us.

"Do you have anyone upstairs?" I asked, reaching for my crowbar and turning it into a cattle prod.

"Yes, my sister and her two friends. You can put whatever that metal rod is down, you won't need it." Rarity said without breaking her measurement stride. I nodded and tossed the prod back onto my clothing, holding my arms out to the side again. After she was finsihed several minutes later, I pulled my clothing back on and turned the electric rod into a butterfly knife, which I folded up and stuck into a pocket.

"I'll also need some spare clothing; these fatigues will not last forever." I said, slipping on my vest and looking down a hallway at some stairs. "Would you mind if I went upstairs? I'd like to meet your sister." I asked, looking over at Rarity.

"If you do, would you mind fixing whatever it was that they broke, if you could? I have several dresses I need to finish before tomorrow..." She said, not looking like she was paying attention to me.

"Alright, I'll do that." I said, going down the hallway and up the stairs quietly, hoping to not startle whoever was upstairs.
When I walked up to the door that had noises coming from behind it, I pressed my ear against the wood. It sounded like there were three ponies, or other beings with hooves, behind it. I nodded to myself, slowly opened the door, and lifted my boot as a persian cat came streaking past, clearly discomforted by the three fillies that I noted were inside.

"Hey, Applebloom. What're you all doing up here?" I asked when I saw her, while observing the other two. One of them was a unicorn, and looked somewhat like Rarity, which led me to believe that this was her sister. The other was a orange Pegasus with a mane styled like Rainbow Dash's, if not in color.

'Probably Dashie's sister.' I thought as Applebloom grappled my leg in her form of a hug.

"Mind introducing me to your friends?" I asked, casually waving my hand at the two fillies who were looking at me in awe.

"Oh, right! This is Sweetie Belle an' Scootaloo!" She exclaimed, pointing at the Unicorn and Pegasus in turn. "An' we're-" She started, getting up close to the others.

"-THE CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS!" They shouted extremely loudly. After I wiped the small amount of blood that came from my ear due to their caps lock rage, I shook my head and frowned.

"Welp, there went my hearing..." I muttered, probably loudly considering that I couldn't hear shit. The three of them went wide eyed before saying something. "I can't speak mouth, girls." I said, still loudly, trying to hear myself.

'Sonofafuck.' I thought, sitting down. 'I figured I'd go deaf from explosions. Not a group of three fillies.' Sweetie Belle said something to the other two before dashing out and down the stairs, probably going to go get Rarity.

"Do you have any paper lying around? And a quill?" I asked Applebloom, mimicking writing down something just in case I said something unintelligible by accident. She looked thoughtful for a second before saying something to Scootaloo, then said something to me, and ran out of the room too. I sighed and stood up unevenly, wobbling around.

'Ah, fuck it. I'll go and get Twilight's help. She better have a fucking spell to fix hearing, or I swear to God...' I thought, deciding not to finish the threat. I quietly left Carousal Boutique and went out looking for Twilight, discreetly picking up a small, smooth rock along the way. The Heartstrings lass quickly found me and started badgering me with questions again, which somewhat made me glad that I was deaf at the moment. After several unheard questions, she looked up at me in confusion.

-Can't hear, going to find Twilight to fix it.- I wrote in the dirt with the rock, before wiping it away. -Could you take me to her?- I then asked, looking at her hopefully. After several seconds, she grinned and nodded, indicating that I should follow her. I stood back up and did, dropping the rock in the process.

'Well... Even IF I don't get my hearing back, I'll be able to speak through the dirt.' I sarcastically thought, sighing. Lyra looked at me in confusion, but I simply waved her off.

"Keep going, please." I think I said, not really sure anymore. Lyra nodded and kept leading me around, before finally stopping in front of a huge ass tree with a door and windows in the trunk.

'...I'd expect Fluttershy to live in a tree...' I thought, facepalming while Lyra banged on the door. After a second, Spike opened it and said something to Lyra, who waved me in. Spike looked at me in confusion, and called out something into the room, which I noticed was a library. 'Does... Twilight live in a library?' I thought, confused as hell. The Unicorn in question came down the stairs, and Lyra talked to her. She nods, lowers her head slightly, and the next thing I know is that I'm getting a face full of purple laser, a ringing noise erupting in my ears.

"Agh!" I groaned, gripping my head tightly. After several minutes, the ringing slowly ebbed away, until I was able to think clearly again.

"Are you able to hear me?" Twilight asked, rather loudly.

"No need to yell, lass!" I said, standing back up, shaking my head.

"Uh... I didn't yell..." Twilight slowly said, raising an eyebrow. I paused for a few seconds, before grinning.

"I was just hoping you'd give me the hearing I had back. Seems you gave me my original hearing!" I said, going over to her and hugging her lightly. For some reason, Lyra joined in.

"Hugs are awesome." Was all that she responded with when I asked her. I shrugged and let go of Twilight, noting that Lyra didn't.

"Um, Lyra?" I asked after a moment of awkward silence. "Could you let me go now?"

"Awww! Fine..." She dramatically groaned, before letting go and looking up at me with a grin. That grin... scared the living shit out of me. And I will deny it if you bloody idjits come to me asking about it!

[Later]

As I got home for the night and prepared for tomorrow, I couldn't help but think. At least, until Applebloom came in with her head and ears down.

"Applebloom, don't worry about my hearing; Twilight fixed it. Better than I needed, too." I said, causing her to look up at me in surprise.

"How did'ja know that's what Ah was comin' to talk to ya about?" She asked.

"I'd do the same thing once I knew the person was able to hear again. Or at least knew sign language, considering that humans don't have the science to fix hearing yet." I said, wiping off dirt from my M60. "Anyway, go on up to bed. We have a big day tomorrow, since AJ decided to ask ya'll to help with the preparations." I said, shooing her away. About a minute later, Applejack came in while I was lying on my back, trying to sleep.

"Goodnight, sugarcube." She softly said, before kissing me on the lips lightly and shifted up against me. I broke out into a grin when she started sleeping and went to sleep, too.

I feel something intelligent should be put here, but I don't really know what...

Quote: "If it has a hole, it's fuckable!" - Corporal Mark Durnkinscoff of the USMC