To: General Tomas Clancy
From: Chief Petty Officer Mendez
Subject: That Unicorn
This is a report on the horse you asked me to train, I still am not happy about that by the way. She has improved quite a bit since the pathetic thing that walked through the door last week. Dupo told me she was a quick study but I didn’t think she’d adapt this fast. I go to her quarters to wake her up the usual way and find her waking up; I still help her wake up though. She is doing well in hand to hand/hoof combat and has come close to striking me a few times and isn’t put down after a couple of hits. Her times for morning runs have improved greatly as has her times through the obstacle course.

Frankly in my opinion she will be a great asset in the field if she keeps up with her training regiment.

Twilight Sparkle followed Liston into his SHOP, why he called it that even though he didn’t sell anything she didn’t know but everyone else seemed to call it that so why shouldn’t she? It had been a week since she began training with Mendez and her body already showed effects, the most obvious being leaner then when she had arrived on Earth all those weeks ago. There were other effects but those were more noticeable to her, such as the fact she was starting to sleep less hours but still get the same result as a full night’s sleep and she didn’t get tired as fast.

The training had gotten worse just like Delco had warned her it would with her being expected to beat her time through everything each day or else get more laps to run. She also learned to hate Physical Training, or PT, gear. She had been introduced to that on day three and was still expected to beat her times. Which she did about every other day and she found herself feeling very proud of herself when she beat one of her times.

The one thing she still had trouble with was hand to hand training do to the fact as she got better at it she realized Mendez had been holding back. She had a couple of broken ribs and a broken rear leg and one dislocated foreleg to show for that. Luckily healing spell took care of broken bones though a trip to visit Dr. Grey had been required for the dislocation. That had been a fun time as Dr. Grey didn’t really approve of Twilight going into the field.

“Just follow me to the back little pony and we will get you all set.” Liston said breaking Twilight out of her thoughts.

“Alright, so you made the adjustments you needed?” Twilight asked, the whole reason she was here was Liston had tracked her down to inform her that her armor was ready. It had been a few days since her fitting of it and he had found the areas that were either too tight or too loose.

“Yup it should fit like a glove now.” He said with his permanent smile. Twilight couldn’t help smiling as well, when she had first seen her armor she had been amazed as the man had taken a standard set of armor and helmet and somehow modified it to fit a pony that was much smaller than a human and walked on four legs. How he did that while keeping the same level of protection was beyond her but she had learned that like Pinkie Pie it was best not to question things when it came to the supply clerk.

Twilight followed Liston into the back room and her eye fell on her completed armor and she couldn’t help but smile as she looked it over. It was the standard dark green as all the other Rebel’s armor but was totally remade to fit someone much smaller than the normal armor and it seemed that whatever material he had to remove her used to extend the armor so it wouldn’t just cover her upper body like it did on the humans but would actually cover her chest and flank. It had small pockets on where her right shoulder and the left has some sort of sheath of some sort and on the left side of the chest was a holster for a pistol. “So what do you think little pony?”

“It looks great. “Twilight beamed.

“Well step onto the platform and I’ll show you how to put it on.” Liston said and Twilight stepped onto the platform with the mirrors. Liston then spent the next 15 minutes explain to Twilight how to put on her armor and which of the straps to click together first and how tight they will need to be. Once he was done explaining twilight used her magic to slip on her armor, her legs slipping into the holes for them easily and once she had all the straps clicked into place she released her magic. The first thing she noticed was how much the armor weighed, the PT training now made a lot of sense as the armor weighed a lot more than the clothes she was used to. The second thing she noticed was that it fit perfectly, not to night or too loose and hugged her body with no discomfort.

“Wow, this fits perfectly!” She said as she moved around easily, if not for the weight it was almost like she wasn’t wearing anything at all.

“Well I do pride myself on my ability to modify things as needed.” Liston said with a chuckle. “Walk around a bit, get a feel for it.” He told her and Twilight nodded and walked around the supply room for a few minutes before she made her way back to where Liston stood holding a helmet. “How’s it feel?”

“Great, it fits perfectly.” She said with a smile. Liston nodded and then lifted the helmet up and placed it on her head, Twilight felt her ears and horn slide easily through hold that had been put into the helmet for them and then Liston buckled it tightly onto her head so it wouldn’t slip. He then reached up to an area above her eyes and slide down some type of visor that covered her eyes. Twilight blinked as a compass lite up on the very bottom of where she could see and showed she was facing South East.

“That is your HUD; it mostly just showed you which direction you are facing as we don’t exactly have access to military satellites to use it to send important information like status missions and such. But that’s what we use Datapads for, though we don’t have a lot of those so team leaders tend to be the only ones to get them “He said.

Twilight nodded and looked around watching as the compass turned with her. All the stuff these humans used was amazing and she couldn’t wait to study it all and tell the Princes all about it. She stopped and blinked as she remembered the Princess and she looked down, her ears going back as much as they could in the helmet. “Hey, hey what’s wrong little pony is the helmet uncomfortable?” Liston asked with concern, he was still smiling slightly but it wasn’t the type he usually worn, more like the type you would wear when trying to make someone feel at ease. “If it is I can remake it.”

“No…the helmet fits perfectly…it’s just…I’ve been here almost two months….with everything going on I hadn’t really had the chance to think about it…everyone must be so worried sick about me…” She said as she thought of her friends, family and the Princesses desperately trying to find her, and Spike! He had been in the room when she got dragged her. While a lot of that was blurry she was aware she had been screaming on the floor in pain and the entire time Spike had to sit there and watch that before she just vanished.

Liston sat beside her on the floor. “Well then, the way I see it the only way to get them to stop worrying is to find a way to get you back home.” He said and Twilight looked up at him. “If you got here then logically it’s possible to send you back.”

“Yeah…I guess….but…but I still don’t really know how I got here much less how I could go back.” Twilight said.

“Tell you what little unicorn, I’ll ask around and see what I can dig up about how you got here. And then once we know how we can work towards getting you back.” Liston said then put his hand on her shoulder. “I promise you we’ll find a way to get you back home.”

Twilight lifted the visor and wiped her eyes. “Thank you, really thank you.” She said and hugged him.

She felt him put his arms around her. “Hey, in my shop satisfaction is guaranteed and if you aren’t satisfied with being here then I’ll do what I have to, to ensure my customer is as happy as they can be.” He said cheerily.
She smiled and then let him go. “Thank you again…but…who are you going to ask that could tell you anything about me?”

Liston waved his hand, shooing away the question. “I know some people.”

Twilight made her way to the mess hall intending on grabbing a quick meal before going to meet Mendez for training. She still wore her armor and helmet with the visor up as Liston had suggested she wear it for the day to get used to the weight, siting that eventually she won’t even notice the weight being there and the armor will feel just as natural as her own skin.

She entered the mess hall and a couple of the soldiers glanced up, to see her entered before looking back down followed by their heads shooting back up and staring at her. Slowly, like a ripple in a pond all eyes turned towards her and she found herself the center of attention of every single soldier in the room. She shifted a bit uncomfortable before starting to make her way towards the back of the line, the entire time all the soldier tracking her progress. As she neared the line one of the soldiers got up and stepped in her path crossing his arms over his chest. “Well, well look what we have here guys and gals, seems our little unicorn here has graduated from a Recruit to a Rookie.”

Twilight heard some one walk up behind her and she looked and saw one of the female soldiers standing behind her. “Yeah looks that way doesn’t it.” She said. Twilight wasn’t sure what was going on and why she was suddenly being surrounded while everyone looked at her.
“Well then.” The first shoulder looked around at everyone.” We know what to do don’t we boys?” And with that every single soldier stood up from their seats and Twilight found herself surrounded. She looked around at all of them not sure what was going on till one of them stepped forward and punched her hard in the shoulder. She didn’t feel it really through the armor but when that soldier stepped away another took his place. She blinked not sure what was going on as everyone seemed to be doing this.

The soldier in front of her looked down at her, his arms still crossed and saw her confusion. “Helping to pin on your rank private. “He said as another soldier punched her shoulder; even with the armor it was starting to hurt do to it repeating over and over. “You are officially one of us.”

The punched didn’t stop till every single soldier had punched her shoulder in the same spot and by that time her shoulder was numb. Once the last soldier had down it everyone gave a small cheer before returning to their seats and Twilight was allowed to get in line.

She reached the cook, she still questioned how he kept his white apron and hat clean while making food in the sewers but found it best not to question how these humans did somethings. She was happy to learn they had hit a Fed supply convoy and had a lot of food including fruits and vegetables again. Twilight quickly ordered a couple of apples and got them along with water.

As she levitated the tray and was making her way towards an empty table she heard someone call out to her and when she looked she saw one of the soldiers waving her over, as she neared all the soldiers shifted to make room for her and she took a seat. This was the first time she had sat with the soldiers she didn’t know as usually only Marcus and Delco would sit with her, apparently she was one of them and everyone wanted to get to know the “Rook” or rookie.

They talked asked questions, talked to her and each other about random topics that with no clear direction. Some speculated on whose squad she would be put in. Twilight found herself joining in on the conversation a few times when it wasn’t directed at her with her own opinion as she ate her apples.

As she ate she noticed she felt something was missing from her meal but she couldn’t tell what, she had two apples and water, what was missing. As she started at her food it slowly came to her, she missed the taste of meat.

The next day Twilight made her way down the tunnels of the base, her hair was still damp from Mendez “Helping” her wake up even though she had already been awake and was just grabbing her armor when he showed up. Yesterday’s impromptu party like meal in the mess hall had made her very late to training and Mendez had not been happy, though he had commented that she at lasted looked like a proper soldier now in her armor, which he made her go through all her training while wearing it.

Before he had left this morning he told her that there was no training today as she had to report to the Major for her assignment and then meet her squad but he did tell her they would be making it up tomorrow, just because she was going to be in a squad did not mean her training was complete, she still had a lot to learn.

She eventually reached the majors office, not far from Clancy’s office, and raised a hoof and knocked twice. “Enter.” She heard the Major say from the other side and she pushed the door open with her magic. Once she reached the middle of the door she snapped into a perfect salute, something Mendez drilled into her by making her salute at random and anytime she got it wrong shooting her with his paint gun thing till it was now ingrained in her how to salute.

“Well I see your time with our Chief Petty Officer has done you some good private.” Major Briggs said.

“Yes sir.” She said not looking straight ahead, it felt odd not looking at the speaker but Mendez had drilled that unless she was told otherwise she was to stand exactly like this. Major Briggs stood from behind his desk and walked around Twilight. “Amazing what a few days with Mendez can do for a recruit, the man is a miracle worker.” Major Briggs said as he returned to his desk. “At ease private.”

Twilight dropped her hoof and stood with all four legs shoulder width apart, she didn’t have to stand with her front legs behind her back as that was physically impossible for her, though she still looked straight ahead. “Now then after looking over reports from Mendez, Dupo and Dr. Grey, as well as checking with squad leaders I decided to assign you to Staff Sergeant Grimm’s squad.” He said as he wrote one piece of paper. “Her are directions to where his squad is, you are to report to him immediately.” He held out the paper and Twilight took it in her magic. “You are dismissed.” And with that twilight saluted again and turned and left the room.

Once she was outside the closed door she relaxed and looked at the paper before nodding, she had an idea where that was and worst case could ask, though she wasn’t looking forward to meeting someone by the name of Grimm.

It didn’t take Twilight long to reach where her squad was in the barracks section of the base. She didn’t knock on the door this time and just walked in and looked over the rows of beds in the room. There were only a few soldiers present right now and she assumed they were her squad.

Looking them over she counted about 5 of them all wearing the rebel’s armor though only two wore the helmets and all of them only had pistols on their hips. She slowly approached them and one of them noticed her and stood up to walk over to her. “I’m Staff Sergeant Grimm and I’m guessing you are our replacement medic.”

Twilight snapped into a salute. “Yes sir, Private Twilight Sparkle Reporting for duty sir.” She said.

“At ease Privet, we are off duty so this is more of an informal meet and greet.” Grimm said as he made his way back to where the other Soldier had been and Twilight noticed they had been around a table, three of them holding cards and the rest seemed to be watching. The sergeant seemed to be the fourth in the card game. Twilight dropped her salute and stood at ease. “Privet relax.” Grimm told her and she relaxed, these soldiers were not like the Major or Mendez, though the Sergeant did say this was informal so maybe you don’t need to follow what Mendez taught her when it was informal.

She relaxed and slowly made her way over to the soldiers and looked what they were playing. She didn’t recognize the game. As she watched she saw that each player had one face down card and one face up card. Every now and then one would ask for a “hit” and would get another card or would “stay” and not get a card, once everyone had stayed they would turn over their face down card and either “bust” or one would win. And then the winner would then take a pile of plastic cards from the middle of the table.to another pile the player had in front of them. As she watched a few hand played she started to notice a pater to the game, the number cards had their values and the cards with the pictures of a humans seemed to have a value as well.

“You wanting to play Sparkle?” One of the soldiers asked as he noticed how intently she was watching.

“Oh…uh…sure I guess.” She said a bit nervously and the soldiers shifted around a bit to make room for her and one of the watchers got her a chair. She climbed into it and rested her front hooves on the table. “So…I got the rules a bit but I still don’t know how to play.”

Grimm nodded.” Don’t worry, Blackjack is really simple.” He told her and then spent the next few minutes explaining the rules to her, most of them she had gotten from watching but knowing the values of the face cards was useful. “Since you don’t have any credit to bet with you don’t need to worry about it till you actually get some.”

Twilight nodded and the soldier who was acting as the house dealt the cards. As they played Twilight started to relax more with the soldiers that made up her squad, she learned were called the Reapers do to their squad leader’s name, and actually managed to win some Credits to make bets with. She did learn that Grimm was called Sarge rather than his rank or full name and she learned that the humans referred to themselves by their last name when in the military.

Which explained why they were calling her Sparkle, though they also called her “Rook” which she asked about and learned it was short for Rookie which she was as she still wasn’t done with training. As they played she learned the names of the players, there was Sergeant Grimm their squad leader to Twilights right. Raymond his second in command to her left and Chekov next to him.

After a couple of hours of playing they decided to head to the mess hall to grab dinner, Twilight was happy to see she had won a decent some of Credits from the game and as the dealer collected the card as Twilight slipped off the chair.

Grimm and Chekov moved the table to the side of the room as Raymond moved the chairs. Once those were moved the squad started to head for the mess hall, the Soldier that had been acting as the house and the one that had been watched fell in beside Twilight. “Hey there Sparkle thought we should let you know out names as well. “The dealer said. “I’m Wilkerson and this here is McKay.” He said as he pointed a thumb at the other soldier who nodded at her.

Twilight smiled at them. “It’s great to meet you all; I’m looking forward to serving with you and you can count on me to keep you all in one piece.”

Author's Notes:

And Twilight's first experience with war is upon her.

I am sorry for it taking so long to for her to get to the field, I keep planning to get her out there but all the stuff before keep evolving and making it where things would be to long.

I have a PATREON with fair rewards. Every bit is greatly appreciated and helps me out.