December 28th, 1972, 1000 Hours (10:00 AM)
Camp Roughneck, Smoky Mountains, Equestria, Equus

When dear old Captain Nguyen had ridden in his jeep, driven by his sergeant with a duo of war correspondents from the Associated Press sitting in the back, and a convoy of coalition troops behind him, into the recently captured encampment, he was sure he was told that the camp was cleared and safe. They didn’t account for the two scared animals he had found in a ditch near a group of tents… whimpering and shuddering and at worst, bucking their platoon leader’s nose off.

It was supposed to be a routine check for hidden enemy armaments, though this was a surprise. The captain and his platoon of troops were ordered to help secure the camp after the rangers had confirmed that they captured it, the news teams had come along with permission from the South Vietnamese government to take in the sights. What they found shocked them. The camp was a mess, a complete war zone, though that was to be expected. It was what was contained inside the tired old camp which created shock.

There were numerous torture posts, stocks, and gallows where pony mares clad in black, red, and purple collars were being hanged, flayed, or as some wounds indicated, were whipped or raped. Many of the mares were dead, but the lucky few who survived were immediately being treated by medics from all coalition nations. Next to the torture posts and the gallows were what looked to be a primitive pen for the mares. There were no tacks or bedding, only hay; the place stank of excrement and urine, and a cesspool of other smells that the dear captain and his news crew didn’t dare identify.

When his men began their search, their discoveries weren’t any better, they found torture chairs, some bloodied, others still had corpses on them. There also were what his men had dubbed “whore rooms.” Where there were mattresses meant for two with a selection of tools and items that were fitted more for a whorehouse than for a military camp.

There was a fast-paced cacophony of many languages, each trying to create order within the camp. Prisoners were processed, wounded were moved into the triage set up in the now-occupied medical tent. Some of the captured officers and soldiers didn’t escape the wrath of a few of the troops, as troops from each nation mistreated them, ranging from shoving them with extra force, to outright beating them, before being promptly being pulled away by cooler heads, as the prisoners were treated and moved to the waiting trucks.

The new troops and the press team didn’t take it well. The war correspondent had been accustomed to being in areas of complete and abject horror. But with the sight of the conditions of the mares, and the outright injustice, had caused him and his camera man to feel queasy. The sight of the dead mares only furthered the need for many a soldier or news reporter to rush to the nearest shrub and vomit.

Nevertheless, An’s platoon continued their assigned task of looking for any weapons caches or anything that might prove to be some important object, whether it was a stockpile of some kind, or some key documents, if it looked important, they were to either take it, or, in the case of weapons stockpiles, to burn it. Which led them to their current predicament, when An had walked past what seemed like a pile of leaves and branches, only to hear it gasp in surprise. He gestured for his men to grab the cover, and then with a flick of the hand, they abruptly removed it, discovering the two beings that led them to their current problem.

A caribou cow and a shiny, purple mare cowering in a hole, probably thinking they were monsters. He thought? No... They definitely saw him as a threat for the mare to buck him in the face. And so as he was leaning back, hands covering his nose and yelling out in pain, he definitely regretted being awake, especially since the news team thought it was a great idea to start filming right then and there… with the nearby troops under his command laughing… nevertheless, he held his hand out to prevent his troops from retaliating, and, as he was holding his bloody nose, held out an open-palmed left hand to the duo, slowly, and gently.

The first thing the crystal mare had expected was more pain and beating. She had just blindly hit a creature, and surely they meant to fight back with a vengeance…

Several minutes had passed…nothing happened…

Then hesitantly, the crystal pony opened one eye, to meet with a strange appendage, one with five limbs attached to it. She opened her other eye, and looked up. It seemed like the creature was in pain, as blood (?) was dripping from what was probably his nose. Yet, he still had a limb held out in offering, the other creatures in the background sounded like they were laughing. She cautiously reached out a hoof to the strange creature, hoping he wouldn't break it. He shook it gently , and then nodded over to Daleering.

She quickly nodded back, and gently shook her friend, nudging her to look at the creatures. Once she saw that the creatures were not trying to attack them, she offered her hoof as well. The creatures lifted them out of the hole, for them to get a better look at the changes in the camp.

The camp was filled with many of these creatures. Some of them patrolling, others guarding, and others guiding prisoners and freed slaves onto the weird carriages, separately fortunately. Next to the creature that carried them was a team of two creatures, one holding a strange contraption that looked to be a more slicker version of a camera, while the other held what looked to be a microphone and a tape recorder, doing some sort of narration in front of the creature with the camera, the view alternating between him, and them.

The camera’s focus then moved over to the flagpole, as the dreaded flag that both she and Daleering had seen every day while they suffered was being lowered. After a few minutes of hooking and unhooking, another flag was raised to take its place, this one was a pretty simple, but beautiful in the duo’s eyes, three red stripes running horizontally across the middle along a sea of yellow.

The crystal mare had noted the amount activity around them, and the amount of sounds made her head spin. She was soon lowered back to the ground as she and Daleering were sat near a few carriages. The creature that carried them spoke up in broken Equestrian.

“H-Hello, I do not mean no harm.” The accent threw the mare off, but she was able to think up of a reply.

“O-Oh I’m sorry I accidently hit you…”

“That is fine, it’s part of the job.” The man, judging from his voice, in green replied back. He continued after a few moments of silence. “I am Captain Nguyen Bao An, but you can call me An.”

The mare looked up hesitantly, but surely replied back, “My name is Crystal Clear, a-and my friend right next to me is Daleering. What, who are you?”

“Oh, I am sorry, forgot to say who we are. I am what we call human, a type of animal that are based on apes. You do have apes on this world, right?”

Crystal nodded.

“Alright. Do not worry. We know what type of animal are you.”

Crystal asked, “What type of nation do you fight for, and why did you come here, how?”

It took several minutes for the captain to process what Crystal was saying before he said, “We are from a nation called the Republic of Vietnam. There are also people from South Korea, New Zealand, and Australia with us here.”

“S-So many places…” Daleering finally said, eyes agape with amazement, fear already slightly drained from her. “Are you part of an empire to?”

“No, the reason why I am here, and why Vietnamese are here, are to fight back against the caribou. They had nearly destroyed and raped our capital, Saigon, and so as a duty to protect our nation and the world, we had declared war on them. The other nations I said before are here because they are our friends, and are just as worried about protecting the world as we are, we are an alliance as you say.”

Both mares nodded before a chocolate bar appeared in front of them, it looked as though the captain was offering them some. “You look hungry, might not be much, but will do for now.” Crystal smiled in delight, and, with some strain, lifted up the bar with her magic, opening up the wrapper. She turned to her friend, who was looking in awe at the size of the bar, and in curiosity as she stared at the strange, brown, sweet smelling bar.

“What is that?”

“It’s chocolate, Daleering, you’ve never had any before?” Daleering shook her head. Crystal broke off a bit of chocolate with her magical grip, and offer the first piece to Daleering. She took a bite, her face contorting as she processed the bittersweet taste for the first time, then smiled as she got accustomed to the taste.

“Th-this is good”

“Thank Americans for that.”

“What are Americans?”

“They are also our friends, but they haven’t joined us in fighting fully yet. I can explain later, but for now, let’s get you two to a truck, we are evacuating people like you back to the firebase.”

Both girls looked slightly nervous and a bit scared as they saw the monstrosities, smoke billowing out of the pipes, engines roaring. Feeling a little empathy, he said, “Tell you what, you can ride in the jeep with me.” He pointed to a smaller carriage. “And we can talk about anything you want until we get to the base.”

Both mares looked at each other, and soon whispered to each other, then Crystal turned and said , “Alright, we’ll do it…baby steps.”

“Alright, follow me.” The caribou and the unicorn stood up, trotting along with the captain. He then lifted them to the back of the jeep, each of the mares reveling in the cushion, more comfortable than the ground they had in the pen.

The two soon cuddled up next to each other, and then nuzzled each other to sleep. An stared in awe at the cute scene, before shaking his head and snapping out of his trance. He turned to his sergeant and ordered him to keep watch over the creatures, then walked off to find the press team to notify them of their changes in seating arrangements.

December 29th, 1972 6:00 PM
Canterlot, Oregon, United States

“Thanks for inviting us to a sleepover at your house, Pinkie. I think we all needed some time together after having so much alone time.” A girl with ginger hair, trailed by specks of yellow dye said, as she opened and unpacked her duffel bag marked with a distinct red and yellow sun patch.

“Ohitwasnothing,itisprettyconvieneiantbecausewenotonlycouldcelebrateourfitstwintersleepoverever,butnewyearsaswellwouldn’tthatbegreat,huh,wouldit,wouldit?” Pinkie said at over 100 miles an hour, as if a record had sped up whenever it was broken…or was that just Sunset…? Either way, everyone had settled into their groove, as Pinkie kicked it off with Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band as an opening tune. She had also ordered pizza, and the girls were just waiting in the living room, watching the television. “Sunseeeet!” Pinkie yelled in sing-song, as she rushed and shoved a wrapped package into Sunset’s hands “I know Christmas is over, but I still wanted to give you something, think of it as an ‘oh my god this year is ending gift!’ Bet you didn’t know that New Year’s is coming up, did you, did you!?”

“Ummm surrre, Pinkie?” Sunset said, as she unwrapped the packaging, only for the box to explode with confetti, streamers, and strangely enough, smoke. As Sunset coughed, the smoke parted ways, revealing…a leather journal…with Sunset’s cutie mark emblazoned onto the cover. “Pinkie, wha-”

“I’ve noticed that your other non-magical journal was getting all filled up, so I thought maybe I could give you a brand new one that looks almost just like the old one.”

“How did you-”

“Oh silly Sunset, the other Pinkies in the Pinkie-verse told me! Go on! Use it! It has frosting scented pages and everything…mmmmm…frosting…”

“Oh…O…kay? Thanks for the gift anyway Pinkie, I’ll be sure to use it.” Sunset opened the journal up, and flipped through the pages, she took in the scent of vanilla frosting, but as she looked at the cover, and really noticed the details, she hardened up, trying to compose herself as her memories of her old life ran through at a mile a minute. She needed a place to sit, and chose to promptly plop herself onto the living room couch.

It wasn’t long until Twilight noticed Sunset’s downcast look, and walked over to her, her scientific notebook under her arm. She sat next to her, fixing her glasses as she nervously started, “Sooo Sunset, it’s been four years since you said you’ve left Equestria. I’ve heard you talk about what it was like living there, I couldn’t believe that you’d leave that all behind for power. I mean, I know you must’ve had a bad time but-”

“I was young and impatient at the time. I wanted to impress my family so that they would at least notice me again, even if it meant using some dark, powerful magic. In the end, it wasn’t exactly my choice, the only choice I had was to be banished to this world, but I do miss it. I’m kind of hesitant though, seeing as I might still have a death warrant back there…”

“There might be a problem to it anyway….” Twilight said, glancing down at her notebook, flipping through the recent pages with chicken scratch pen marks that only she herself could make out, “I’ve been monitoring the amount of energy that emanated through the portal in the Wondercolt’s statue…it completely died down about four weeks ago, and hasn’t recovered since.”

Sunset raised her eyebrow in wonder. “That’s odd, Princess Twilight does switch off the portal when it’s not in use, but there’s still supposed to be a magical connection in between both worlds, if I still remember my lessons correctly.”

“I know, it’s almost as if-”

A news intro followed by a title sequence interrupted the two girls , as the voiceover announcer said, “Tonight on NBC Nightly News, Nixon's election campaign is still under investigation for the Watergate break in, Eastern Airlines Flight 401 crashed within the Florida Everglades, number of survivors still unknown, and finally, a closed book, an open door, as the possibility of U.S. and both North and South Vietnam concluding peace talks for a ceasefire of the Vietnam police action looms ever so closer. President Thieu sets his eyes to the unknown regions beyond our known universe, as his nation struggles to contain an alien threat. This is NBC Nightly News, Friday, December 29th, with John Chancellor.” The anchor appeared on screen, brown blonde hair combed over, brown glasses over his eyes, as he shuffled his papers and looked straight at the screen, to his left, a mini-map of Vietnam with the South Vietnamese flag showing in a box as he began his broadcast.

“Good evening ladies and gentlemen, and tonight we move to our top story. A coalition made by Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Laos, Cambodia, and the Philippines, led by South Vietnam, have made the opening blow to what could be seen as a long war to protect the world as we know it. They have been able to attain a foothold within the region, and have captured a strategic camp, gaining valuable information and saving many lives enslaved by this new alien threat." The image then switched to some recorded footage, the narration continuing as it was shown.

“The attack was in response to an earlier offensive by a group of species that call themselves the Caribou Empire, a nation that has been cited as a derogatory evil by Nixon and most of the free world, and in turn is getting an increasing amount of interest from the international community as the conflict progresses. We had covered President Thieu’s speech in the national assembly shortly after this attack, confirming the low casualty rate of the war so far, and re-emphasizing the importance of this conflict. Since then we were able to ask him a few questions with our foreign correspondent, Andrew Williams.” The image switched to footage with South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu.

“Mr. President, how do you feel about the recent attacks made on your capital?”

“The attacks were resounding, but as you can see, we were able to push them back. I think that after so many years fighting communists, we were able to react quickly to an invasion threat quite adequately.”

“Despite the possible ongoing war you might have with North Vietnam and with the National Liberation Front, why had you decided to open up another front and open yourself to the risk of another attack?”

Thieu hesitated as he thought out his reply, and then said, “As a foreign nation, we have a right to defend our territory. If this attack proves anything, it proves that not only our safety is at risk, but also the safety of the region, and possibly the world is also at risk. They are just as dangerous as the communists, if not more.”

“And that’s the reason why you have formed a coalition with all the other nations?”

“That is correct, it is with our own hope that after several testimonies from survivors and from the refugees we may get foreign aid from the United Nations in combating this threat.”

“With the possibility of American forces already pulling out of South Vietnam, are you certain that you may be able to stick up for yourself if the US decides against sending additional aid?”

“We are not sure, we are aware of the peace movement in progress over there, it is our best hope that America does provide aid, but if they fail to do so, we will try our best to combat against these new threats.”

The footage cut back to Chancellor, “It has been reported that there have been few deaths or casualties in this new conflict so far, and among those wounded, there are no Americans, though there are advisors on the ground.” The footage changed to an image of a wrecked camp, as South Vietnamese troops tried to create order, rushing to and fro to set up sandbags and ransacking the camp for hidden arms and supplies. Coalition troops quickly set up barbed wire fences and lined up prisoners. ANZAC* troops walked down the line and took down names, filling out information on clipboards and confiscating weapons. Medics did their jobs in checking the wounded, rushing to treat burn victims and wrapping up broken bones. An ARVN medic shined a flashlight into a Ranger fall victim’s eyes to check for consciousness as other medics checked the same patient for any internal bleeding and broken bones.

However, what shocked Sunset wasn’t the wounded soldiers, what made Sunset contort her face in surprise and horror were the other patients being treated, pony mares, many in broken chains, but bruised, scarred, and tortured. Sunset looked on as Chancellor resumed his narration.

“We had received footage from our correspondents in the region of the camp that was captured two days ago, when South Vietnamese Rangers raided the camp and took control, allowing the Coalition forces to secure the camp and gain a first glimpse into who they are fighting for. Pony, zebra, buffalo, and caribou slaves, many of them starved, tortured, or killed. Many of them have a common theme, they are all female, all from what seem like different walks of life with different histories and different ages.

“The new refugees will be sent back to the foothold where the coalition landed to remain under guard from further abuse, where they will be met with great care. It is hoped by both the Nixon administration and the Thieu administration that the revelation of such a horror, combined with the recent campaign of heavy bombing in the North will hasten the end of the current war in Southeast Asia, so that the Coalition may focus on fighting back this threat. Moving onto the disaster in the Everglades…”

Sunset stared at the screen, shocked and tearing up, as she dropped her new gift and just sat there.

“Sunset, oh no, oh no oh no, oh no!” Twilight held Sunset’s hand and squeezed it, as Sunset processed what was announced on the Nightly News. The Humane Five quickly noticed the commotion, and rushed to Twilight and Sunset’s side.

“That was why you recorded no magic from the statue, not only did it move, but Equestria isn’t there anymore… these guys came and took it over.”

“The South Vietnamese?”

“No, the Caribou…they must’ve unintentionally corrupted the magic while they were fiddling with the portal. Twilight, it looks like the portal has moved…”

“So, what now darling?” Rarity asked, all of the Humane Five’s faces had the look of worry on them, not sure what a possibly emotionally unstable Sunset would do, trying to keep close proximity to comfort her, but far enough to escape any harm as Sunset clenched and unclenched her fists.

“I-I have to go back…” Sunset replied.

“But Sunset! It’s a warzone out there, you could get killed!”

“Not if I’m careful enough, I need to go rescue Princess Twilight and her friends, I can’t just leave them to rot. I have to join the fight.”

“Let the others do it, Sunset, its t-”

“Horseapples!” Sunset yelled, startling everyone. “We’ve all faced more dangerous magic before, if I can handle that, then I can survive long enough to save them… but how?”

The Humane Five lacked a response as they did not know the right answer. Until Rainbow Dash broke the silence by saying, “The WAC’s.”

“The who?” Sunset asked in confusion.

“The WAC’s. Women’s Army Corps. They’re supposed to be the female branch of the Army, each armed force has one. They said they were sending advisors, maybe they might need some people to volunte-Ooof!”

“How do you know about them, Dashie?” Pinkie asked, as she pounced and hugged the girl. Rainbow shoved Pinkie off of her, causing the pink haired girl to land in a pile of conveniently-placed cushions from the void.

“Well, you know how I wanted to join the Blue Angels, right?” The girls nodded. “Well, turns out they don’t allow women to fly a plane in combat yet apparently, so they offered me the next best thing, a nurse or a secretary position, even air traffic controller. They said that hopefully maybe things would change if I tried hard enough. I decided not to, that sounded pretty boring and fucking lame for me… something that an egghead would do.”

Twilight looked at Sunset worryingly, and fixed her glasses, “Sunset, are you sure you want to do this? Not only would you have to worry about surviving, but also worry about being discovered as an illegal immigrant. We can try to get some false paperwork so you could enlist, but even then you might be caught.”

“Twilight, this is my home we are talking about.” Sunset said, her face still tear-streaked. “I might be banished from it, but I have to help it somehow, those ponies and troops need my help.”

“We’re not even sure if I-”

“I’ve made my decision and it’s final, I’m going to try to enlist. I need to get home, Twilight, I can’t leave my friends to die…”

Twilight slumped her shoulders and sighed, “There’s no stopping you now, is there?”

“I’m afraid not.”

Twilight hesitantly nodded. “I’ll see what I can do to get you some false papers, until then, I suggest you finish your affairs,you might not be coming back.”

The rest of the Humane Five solemnly and grimly nodded, as they realize the fact that the one friend that had helped keep them together was now marching off to a possible slaughterhouse.

Pinkie teared up and, as her hair started to deflate and straighten out, she said, “H-Hey w-we can’t be all mopey dopey saddy waddy… let’s give Sunset the best last slumber party she will ever have, what do you say?” Everyone nodded in agreement, and soon the festivities returned, though slightly subdued as the Mane Seven processed the gravity of the situation.

December 30th, 1972, 0900 Hours (9:00 AM)
Bà Triệu Airbase, Undiscovered West, Equestria, Equus

With the gate hill secured, the ARVN and the Pacific Coalition had a successful foot in the door, and they intended to keep it that way. Since day one, they had driven in supplies of SAMs (Surface to Air Missiles), anti-aircraft guns, machine guns, bulldozers, building supplies, and units upon units of engineers. Within the week since their arrival, Firebase Alpha was upgraded to have an airfield, permanent buildings and infrastructure, such as bunkers, hospitals, and schools for the military family children. In addition, a control tower, radar arrays, and even a radio station from Armed Forces Radio soon propped up, though still unstaffed. Soon, Firebase Alpha became Bà Triệu Airbase, named after one of the many famous Vietnamese heroines of ancient yore who fought back Chinese invasion.

As the airbase was built, various squadrons of VNAF, Australian, New Zealander, and South Korean aircraft were delivered to the base. From large cargo planes, to aerial gunships, to fighters, to even planes with loudspeakers and leaflet dispensers to win people over to their cause. Various helicopters were also delivered, and soon the airspace around Bà Triệu was filled with various aircraft, and the radio filled with various amounts of radio chatter between patrols, and air groups, scanning the skies for enemy scouts and possible targets, in addition to dangerous wildlife. A flight of South Vietnamese F-5’s were seen flying a circling around each other in a mock dogfight, trying to outdo each other’s moves to get an upper hand. This amazed Crystal, as she saw the large, cumbersome aircraft fly with great grace and agility against its foes.

The amount of metal birds flying in and out on practice runs and maneuvers, the amount of tanks on practice runs, and the amount of noise they all made had frightened the caribou cow and the unicorn mare, as An and his convoy of refugees and troops returned to the airbase and stopped by a military police outpost. The couple hid even more behind their seats from the noisy world around them.

“Why is everything so loud!?” Crystal yelled as she winced and tried to cover her ears.

“Just a side effect of the vehicles we have!”

Crystal looked in awe as she watched the planes take off and land. In the distance, a flight of C-119’s flew in slow formation, as the ARVN Airborne Division jumped out of the aircraft, and parachuted to their designated landing zone. “Why are they jumping out of the.. ‘A-airplane?’” An nodded, reassuring Crystal that she got the term down correctly, she then continued, “Can they fly?”

“Yes and no.” An replied back, “We can fly with help of machines, but our airborne division jumps out of these machines to quickly and quietly go into enemy lands. Their parachutes keep them from falling to the ground.” A tall man wearing aviators and green fatigues adorned with a black helmet marked by a tri-color of red sandwiching white, with the letters QC adorning the front of his helmet and on his armband on his right bicep, took An’s papers and identification to check back with the outpost.

Crystal stared in awe as she saw the airborne division float down to the ground, and after a few minutes, Daleering followed suit, watching as the paratroopers landed. The military police officer returned An’s papers, and waved him through, saying in Vietnamese, “You and the convoy are cleared to go on through, sir, proceed with your convoy to the designated area, a Military Police jeep will guide you to the location.” On cue, a jeep manned by four military police officers drove up in the front, marked with a white banner with the words, “Quân Cảnh” written under the windshield. A second jeep drove to the back of the convoy. The MP’s raised the gate, and the Jeeps moved through, followed by the trucks of troops and refugees.

What greeted Crystal’s sight made her arch her eyebrows curiously. As they passed a warning sign, they passed through several miles of empty space, littered with the occasional structure made out of sandbags. In the distance, in the surrounding hills, there were various entrenchments, each bearing flags of their respective nations. One entrenchment had a plain white flag that looked to be a red tadpole chasing a blue tadpole, almost in a similar fashion as the Equestrian flag. The circle was surrounded by various black lines.

Another entrenchment was flying a navy blue flag with white stars forming a constellation on the right side, and on the left side, some red lines crossing vertically, horizontally, and diagonally, framed by white. Another hill had a similar flag, only with red stars.

The ground rumbled as several strange vehicles roared by. Several dark green creatures with wheels covered in black coverings, topped with a strange ovular turret with a long rod jolting out, with a smaller turret on top of the first, but of smaller scale, passed by. The convoy passed by several more entrenchments getting to the air base. As they passed the main gate to the base, Crystal noted the changes as they drove on smoother pavement, two walls protecting the base. Behind the inner wall, several buildings littered the base as if it were a small town. Planes took off and landed as jeeps and various other vehicles rushed by in orderly chaos, driving off to their destinations. Several formations of humans did various exercises and drills, ranging from laps, to jumping jacks, to push ups to the cadence of a yelling Vietnamese soldier. Groups of troops rushed by the convoy as they tried to complete an elaborate obstacle course consisting of tires, mud, and climbing walls. Airborne trainees and rangers were seen sliding down a zipline additionally. The entire place was a fortress.

Crystal yelped as she heard the sudden burst of gunfire, only to be comforted by An’s petting. “Do not worry, it is simply our soldiers training with guns.”

“What are guns?”

An unholstered a strange device, a weapon with a handle and some sort of barrel topped off with a hole at the end. “This is a gun. It is supposed to set off a small explosion powerful enough to send a small object hurling to target. Sometimes can go through metal, depends on gun?”

“So not all guns are powerful?”

An nodded yes in response. “It depends on how big the bullet is, the bigger it is, the bigger the explosion it make, the faster the object can go.” As Crystal processed this new information, An reholstered his sidearm and tapped the sergeant’s shoulder and yelled out some orders over the cacophony of the base. The MP jeeps led them to the divisional headquarters, and soon, the convoy came to a complete stop, the trucks carrying the troops broke off from the convoy to drive to another area of the base. The MP’s dismounted, and helped direct the refugees as they dismounted from the trucks. As Crystal and Daleering were both carried out of the jeep, and set down, they both marvelled at the large building in front of them, and the four flags they’d seen just outside of the base all united side by side in front of them. Silently, An slipped into the divisional headquarters for the debrief from his major.

December 30th, 1972 1000 Hours (10:00 AM)
Regional Headquarters, Bà Triệu Airbase, Undiscovered West, Equestria, Equus

“Captain An reporting for duty, sir!” An yelled, as he clicked his jungle boots together and saluted at attention in front of a man behind the desk with the name block “Suong Hanh Nha” etched into it.

“At ease, Captain.” An stood at ease, then took a seat.

“Sir, the last batch of refugees from my group has arrived.”

“Sure they have, captain, them and several hundred more!” An flinched back in response.

“Sir?”

“This is rather sudden, captain. We were expecting fifty or sixty at most, not at least one-hundred and fifty or two hundred fucking refugees!”

“With all due respect sir, but one of our objectives was to liberate any parties captured by the Caribou Empire, they have no place to go.”

The major rubbed his sinuses with his right index and thumb and muttered several Vietnamese curses. “Alright, since you thought to bring them here, I'm tasking the organization of housing and care to you, captain. Have them questioned for testimony, maybe have any of the locals who understand us attend the next staff meeting, afterwards, get them into decent shelter. Understood captain?”

An visibly paled, but answered back with an audible, “Yes, sir.”

“Dismissed.”

December 30th, 1972 1030 Hours (10:30 AM)
Supply Depot , Bà Triệu Airbase, Undiscovered West, Equestria, Equus

“Well this is a stressful task, but what must be done must be done. Sergeant Trần?”

“Yes, sir?”

An looked at the clipboard in his hand. “Go with Squad One to gather up bedding for the pre-fab shelters, I’ve already contacted the engineers to begin construction near the proximity of the air base.”

“Yes sir, right away, sir.” Minh saluted, and rushed off to rally his designated squad. An looked back at his clipboard.

“Doctor?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Get to the infirmary and see if you can help screen the refugees for any diseases or STI’s.”

“Yes, sir.” The doc followed the same path as the Sergeant, and rushed to a nearby jeep to get to the medbay.

“Corporal Nim?”

“Sir?”

“Gather a fire team and have them work with the mess hall staff to set up some simple meals for the refugees, or at least provide some American rations No matter how disgusting they are, just get them fed.”

“Yes, sir, I’ll get right on it, sir.” The corporal rushed off to gather his team without saluting the captain. The last person walking with An, a lieutenant, turned to look at him with a shocked and outraged expression.

“He should be co-” An raised his hand up to order silence.

“Not to worry Lieutenant, we’re all in a hurry to get the refugees settled in, just order the sergeants to give him a reprimand to not make a habit of it.”

“Speaking of which, what task do you have in mind for me?”

“Helping me out, we’re supposed to question some of the refugees to get testimonies. I thought it would be a great start to ask the unicorn who kicked me and her shy friend, then move from there.”

“Sounds pretty reasonable, and it explains why you ordered me to lug around this tape recorder all day, do we have any records on them?”

“That’s the problem, the enemy do happen to speak English, but their written language is completely different, looks to be Latin-derived, but with Germanic or Scandinavian attributes. Our code breakers are having a hard time translating the things, much less decoding them.”

“Could it be that they are adapting to a majority language within their empire?”

“Could be, either way, we need information, maybe their life story, and any intel they picked up. According to the major, they need the information for future use. Also, in case the CIA want to get involved and need some background.”

“Understood, sir.” The duo approached a door marked “Interrogation Room” and walked in carefully, making sure to make it clear that they did not have ill intentions. Both the shiny unicorn and the caribou cow looked up as they walked in, still briefly taking in the carpeting, the semi-formal chairs and tables and, more prominently, the large window showing the outline of the base from the second story building.

“This is a really nice room, Captain.” Crystal said, as she shuffled her hooves against the carpeting.

“If you think this luxury, then-”

“Actually Captain, I’d like to see if I’ve got your native tongue down correctly, I’ve asked for one of the soldiers with the weird cowboy hats to give me an English to Vietnamese dictionary*, he looked at me funny, but he gave me one anyways. I’m just not sure if I’ve got the language down correctly.”

An looked at Crystal in perplexed surprise, but nodded anyway, saying, “If want, but you’ve only ha-”

“*Bạn muốn bắt đầu từ đâu?” Crystal said, slowly saying it with a slight stutter, but in an audible tone that sounded eerily similar to a Southern Accent*.

“H-How?”

“Languages are my special talent, all I need to do is listen to some dialogue for an hour or so, and read up on the language, and I could sort of understand the language, though in this case, it’s been a while so I’m sort of rusty at learning new languages. It’s my cutie mark.”

“What? I’m sorry, what?” The Lieutenant asked incredulously, not believing the words he had just heard.

“A cutie mark, a set design a pony or griffon gets on their flank at a certain age which signifies their talent. It’s a rite of passage for ponies. Don’t you have them?”

Caught off guard, the Lieutenant wrote down notes on what Crystal was saying onto his clip board while An replied back: “No, nothing on our butts.”

“Then what are those strange symbols on your clothes?” Crystal pointed to the various patches on An’s fatigues.

“Oh, these? Each of these symbols means a different thing. For example,” An pointed to his left shoulder patch, a green shield-like shape with a red circle in the middle and a yellow lightning bolt going diagonally from right to left, a number 25 in white in the left corner. “This patch says what unit I’m in. In this case, it’s the 25th QLVNCH* division. This also determines where we are station, as the 25th division usually patrols around Saigon.” An pointed to the cluster of three black cherry blossoms stacked up on his collar, “This denotes my rank, in this case, a captain. We could also add more pins to show what we specialize in, but normally, our uniforms are this plain.”

“Sounds like a mouthful to say. So you don’t have anything that can help you know what is your special talent?”

“Outside the military, no.” An looked at his watch and nodded to the Lieutenant, who had just started a tape recorder to begin the interview. “We will be asking you a few questions regarding to your life, we need to send a few recordings to some of our allies, so for now, we’ll just speak in English, understood?”

Crystal nodded, and repeated what An said to Daleering in turn, leading her to nod as well.

“Good. Now, can you begin with your names?”

“I am Crystal Clear, a unicorn of the Crystal Empire, a protectorate of the former Equestrian Diarchy and currently a dominion of the Caribou Empire.”

“A-And I’m Daleering, a caribou cow and formerly a slave to the Caribou Empire along with Crystal.”

An directed the Lieutenant to move the microphone to Crystal. “Now Crystal, we will begin with you, can you tell me of your life before the caribou took over? If you don’t want to talk about things, let us know.”

Crystal nodded and began her narrative. “I grew up with a cartographer as my father, and an archeologist for my mother so it wasn’t a surprise that we traveled a lot. Growing up, I was always waking up in new places, from beautiful beaches, to dry deserts, to dense forests. In fact, I got my cutie mark when I had managed to understand what a yak was saying, ending an argument that was heating up between him and my father. No matter where we went though, we always came back to the Crystal Empire. It was beautiful, marvelous, it was full of beautiful streets, buildings, and spires of crystal. Then King Sombra took over.”

“Who is this King Sombra? Do we have to worry about him?” An asked, standing up at the mention of another potential threat to the war effort.

Crystal shook her head, “He was long since banished. He was a dark lord who took over our kingdom and ruled it with an iron hoof. Princess Luna and Princess Celestia, the leaders of the Equestrian Diarchy, were able to stop him, but in turn, we vanished off the face of Equus for over a thousand years, frozen in time before we reappeared again to a different Equestria. We were nearly taken over by Sombra, but the great and wonderful Spike, a baby dragon, with help from his assistant, Twilight Sparkle, and her band of six, were able to drive him off with the Crystal heart.”

“What is this Crystal Heart?”

“An ancient artifact that spreads the hope and love of the Crystal Empire all over Equestria, maybe even beyond.” Crystal paused, eyes closed and face scrunched up before she opened up her eyes again, “The Caribou used it to help in their conquest of our land.”

An nodded, and gestured for her to go on.

“L-Life returned to normal for a little while, and Princess Cadence and Prince Shining Armour took the reins to lead the empire, my family conducted new expeditions to explore the changes of this land, we would’ve went, but...the Caribou stormed into the Crystal Empire, the royal guard fought hard to keep them back, but Changelings had infiltrated the guard to the point where they couldn’t put up a fight. Once the Caribou and their mercenaries reached the Crystal Heart, they did something to it, did something to corrupt its magic so that it caused every stallion to ally with them, to do...terrible things to us. Not everypony was affected, but it was enough to cause the Crystal Empire to bend to its will.” She began to tear up as she continued her account. “ I-I had to stun my own father after he told me to tie him up before he became a monster…”

Daleering turned and wrapped a forehoof around Crystal, after a few minutes, Crystal pressed on. “My mother and I tried to escape the Crystal Empire, but we were caught, and soon we were split up, I endured months of torture and...and… they just wouldn’t stop touching me…” Crystal said in a weepy voice. She began to cry and mumble, “Oh Celestia! Why won’t they stop!?”

An turned to his subordinate and nodded for him to cut the tape. “Lieutenant, begin the interview with Daleering, I’ll take Crystal out and help her calm down.”

“Yes sir, at your command, sir.”

“Oh, and Lieutenant?”

“Sir?”

“Feel free to comfort her if she begins to tear up, too. I have a feeling this might be a long day.”

The Lieutenant nodded, and An nudged for Crystal to move toward the door. He closed it and turned to face a crying unicorn. He wrapped his arms around her, sitting down to accommodate for the semi-large frame. He gently pet the unicorn’s mane. “Shhh, there, there...you’re safe now, under our protection.”

“I want to see my family again, I haven’t been with them for months!”

“I know… I know. Can I tell you something?”

Crystal nodded.

“Many years ago, when I was ten years old, the country where I was from was controlled by some people called the French.”

“L-Like the Prench?” Crystal asked inquisitively.

An mentally smiled to himself and said, “I’ve never known about the Prench, so I wouldn’t know. Anyway, there was this general feeling of the want of independence from the French. However, there were many groups who wanted to gain independence in different ways. Among them were some terrorists, these terrorists called the Viet Minh, captured the village I was in. They killed all of the government officials in the village, or anyone they suspected of being allied with the government. Keep in mind, my father was working for the government at the time, so the fact that I saw many of my father’s friends die by the hands of these people unnerved me, and made me fear for his life.”

An paused, as he remembered the fallout from the attack. “Then the government came, and drove the Viet Minh away. But what they did in revenge was horrifying. They burned our homes, and our crops. They murdered our men and raped our women. I could not have believed that these people were the same ones that wanted us to return to their rule. I understood the plight of the Viet Minh, but still could not forgive their actions. To this day, I remember the people that suffered in the crossfire, and since then, have made it a pledge to put all my passions to make a free Vietnam, where no one has to suffer.” He turned to Crystal. “And now that passion has spread to protect you from the same horrors I saw. You have to find a way to vent those frustrations, those tears, those moments of agony, turn them into passion, and find a way to use that for good.”

Crystal looked up to An, nodding in understanding, but still teary eyed and shaking. “I-I understand, Captain.”

An looked down and continued to pet her mane. “If you do need to talk to someone, you have me, and you have the medical bay. I’ll show you later, but they’ll have someone that could talk to you about your troubles.” An looked at his watch. Thirty minutes had passed since Crystal left the room. “Tell you what, let’s see if my Lieutenant is finished with interviewing Daleering. If they are, I’ll treat you to a Vietnamese meal at the mess hall. Deal?” Crystal nodded, and in return, An let go of her, and helped her get up from the chair. Just before he reached the door knob, Crystal feebly gripped An’s left hand with her magic, causing him to turn around.

“Captain?”

“Yes?”

Crystal’s face contorted in concentration and deliberation before she responded. “I would like to help you free my homeland. I will do my best to learn Vietnamese so I can understand you better.” An nodded, smiling. He turned to grab the doorknob again before- “And one more thing, An?” An turned back. “Thank you, for fighting for a species you have never known before.”

Author's Notes:

Thank you so much for the likes and the support guys, really do appreciate it! I'll try to update as often as I can, also, special thanks to Kildeez for helping to edit out this chapter.

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Fast Facts!

*Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. The name, originating from World War 1, stuck around as far as the Vietnam War.

*Vietnamese for, "Where do you want to start?" Literally translates to, "Friend, where do you want to start?" A little side note, all Vietnamese characters, if in dialogue with each other, are speeking in Vietnamese. I wouldn't put in dialogue like this unless it was absolutely necessary.

*Vietnamese, though spoken all over Vietnam, has a variety of accents in terms of tones. For example; North Vietnamese, the Vietnamese commonly taught, is in a higher pitch than Southern Vietnamese, in part to the fact that North Vietnam is on a higher elevation.

*Acronym for Quân Lực Việt Nam Cộng Hòa (Army of the Republic of Vietnam or South Vietnamese armed forces depending on context.)