At 0930, every human was told to gather in the Ponyville town square for an undisclosed reason by General Red Dawn and General Mark Durnkinscoff. That meant Jeremy Williams had to drag his ass down from Canterlot alongside Max Rex and Jane Shepard.

At 1030, Mark still hadn't shown up.

"What's this about?" Callum asked Gallan, who simply shrugged.

"Dunno, man. Whatever it is, I just hope it's over in an hour; I gotta go help cater a party with Pinkie." He answered.

"Aah-TEN-HUT!" A British voice rang out.

A loud stomp filled the air as the assembled men and women gave their undivided attention to Blake before he stepped aside for Mark, who had just arrived. "A day ago Celestia came to me with some disturbing news and a request," he announced while giving a wave toward the alicorn who stood off to the side. "Princess, if you will?"

"Thank you General," she nodded slowly as she stepped up to stand beside him. "Yesterday morning, I received word that the cousins of my little ponies, the Southern Zebra Nation, have fallen on hard times. A year long drought and failing crops have been plaguing their lands, and less than a week ago a wave of locusts had descended upon their fragile homeland…"

"Most of their food stores have been decimated and a sickness has spread through their villages and towns." Taking a deep breath, she continued as a sad look crossed her face. "They have asked for aid and while I am more than happy to assist, I fear that by the time our fastest cargo ships reach their docks in two months, many zebras will have died… most of them, foals."

"That is where we come in," Mark again took the floor. "I, for one, will not sit around with my thumb up my ass while children starve, not while we have the means to get the badly needed supplies to the zebras in just a few days. However, I am not going to make this an order, instead I'm asking for volunteers to help with the relief effort. All who wish to volunteer, give me a hoo-rah!"

"Hoo-rah!" All of the humans let out their best call, some even going as far as to branish whatever they were holding in their right hand at the time.

Tears formed at the corners of the princess' eyes as every last man and woman gave out the cheer at the top of their lungs. "Princess Celestia," Mark's loud voice almost made her jump, "We stand ready to serve."

"Thank you," she smiled as a large weight lifted from her shoulders. "Thank you all."

"Relief supplies will start arriving at the Ponyville train station by tomorrow," Dawn announced from off to the side. "And Shining Armor is sending in the Pony Core of Engineers to add another track to the rail system that will extend to the airfield, which will make the loading of the supplies for the second run easier. Thus we will be splitting the lot of you into two teams, loading the plane and delivering the cargo, and rail work."

"Now if any of you need anything, anything at all to help the relief go more smoothly," Celestia added, "please feel free to speak to either the generals or myself… And again, thank you all."

"Consider the rest of the day an open-leave to do as you wish, for tomorrow the shit hits the fan with our luck." Mark snapped, before calling out, "Diss-missed!"

As the troops disbanded, Celestia, Dawn and Mark gathered together to discuss how hectic the next few day were going to get when a voice cut in, "Excuse me, Ma'am?"

Turning, they found a young woman standing at attention. "Ah, Miss Higgins," Celestia acknowledged, slightly surprising the human that a princess would remember her name. "And how are Macintosh and the rest of the Apple family?" Mark felt a little insulted that she never asked him how his half of the family was doing, but held his tongue.

"um… Doing fine Ma'am," Judy blinked in dismay.

"And what may we do for you, Flight Lieutenant?" Mark questioned.

"You said to come to if we needed something to help out with the upcoming mission," she said as she slipped into an at-ease stance.

"And what might you need?" Asked Dawn.

"Not what, sir, but who." Seeing the odd looks being sent her way, Judy quickly clarified. "If I'm going to be flying Hannah cargo heavy, then I want someone with experience on my team, and I don't mean someone who's had their memories altered, I mean real hands on experience."

"Name him or her and I will do my best to bring them to Equestria," Dawn said, only to have his suggestion shot down like WWI planes could be shot down with a precision brick.

"No need sir, the one I want is already here," she replied. "I want Master Sergeant Rex as both my Load Master and Chief Flight Mechanic."

Mark was about to tell the Flight Lieutenant that Max was retired and no longer available, when Celestia beat him to it, "Granted, Miss Higgins." With that said, the princess glanced to Mark. "I hereby reinstate my Max back into the Equestrian Military and place him under your care, general."

"Er, thanks," He blanched slightly before nodding to Judy. "Anything else?"

"Now that you mention it…" the Flight Lieutenant smiled mischievously. Mark don't know why, but he liked that smile.

[two hours later]

"RISE N' SHINE MAGGOT!"

The dominating voice was followed by the loud banging of metal on metal. All this combined to catapult Max not only out of a dead sleep, but onto his feet in under a heartbeat. "Master Sergeant Rex… reporting… er," he paused for standing before him was I, metal trashcan and lead pipe in hand, and Celestia… we both had wicked looking grins.

"What the fu…"

"Grab your flight gear Master Sergeant," I cut him off as I set the garbage can down on his bed. "You've been temporarily reassigned to my command and as of o'rightfuckingnow hundred hours, you're on the job."

"But," Max blanched as he turned to his princess. "Celestia?"

"I am sorry my consort, but for now, Miss Higgins needs your help flying Hanna," she said while floating his rucksack over to his bed. "And do not fret, I will find a way to survive until you return to me."

"However, until that time comes, your ass is mine." I growled.

"Fine, but this better be good," he grumbled as he shook out his bag atop his bed, looking for his flight suit. "Give me fifteen to take care of the 3-S' and I'll be right with you…"

"Three what now?" Celestia asked.

"Shower, Shit, and Shave." I chuckled, yet as I was explaining, something unexpected caught my sharp eyes. "Is that what I think it is?"

Blinking, Max looked down at the pile of his belongings… at a large black and green convinent travel case. "You mean my Xbox 360?"

"You have an Xbox here… a working Xbox." My eyes grew wide.

"Sure, I carry it with me whenever I fly," the Master Sergeant nodded. "I hook it up to the flat-screen in the plane's galley… Really helps to break up the monotony on long flights."

"What games do you have?" I asked, staring at it with something that I haven't felt in a long time building up.

"Two fighting games, Torque loved Tekken," Max said as he opened the satchel to reveal 12 cases of bright green. "The entire Halo series, with ODST… Left 4 Dead 1 and 2, Modern Warfare, GTA 4, and my favorites… Dead Island and Fallout: New Vegas."

"General, are you ok?" Celestia asked, concern filling her voice as she gave me a worried look. "Max, why is he shaking like this?"

"I've heard of it, but I've never seen…" Max looked on blankly. "It's Gamer Withdraw."

Damn right it was; even though I'm a natural PC gamer, I loved the shit outta Halo and simple(ish) fighting games.

Sometime later Max was on the train to Ponyville with an overly ecstatic me, cradling a gaming console in my arms. After a quick negotiation wherein we would loan the sun princess the inflatable movie/TV/(now)gaming screen and a mass of DVDs for three days, Celestia had introduced a very happy me to Xerox, a unicorn stallion with the gift of duplicating anything set before him.

Oh the ramifications...

"Don't believe everything you read on the internet, it may be fabricated." George Washington, King of the Gay Bath House Clan.