"I bet the ocean is red right now, considering the amount of marines they're losing at Omaha, Sword, and Gold." I said as I crossed my arms while looking at Reed. We're all sitting in front of our tent. Not that I didn't want the ponies' company inside, but it was too small for us to budge into the tent. So we decided to just sit outside while the other soldiers looking at us with curious expressions. Not that I care, these ponies were more opened than I thought. They didn't give a damn care about other soldier's comments, once they knew who's friendly, they immediately called them friends.

These ponies were a lot more fun to hang out with. Especially Rainbow Dash and Applejack. I like Applejack's accent though. It's really cute hearing her said, 'consarn it' or 'horseapples'. Rainbow however, is friendlier than the rest of them, which I learned, she's the Element of Loyalty, even for a stranger like us, she didn't see us as a danger to her friends. When she already knew us, she instantly will do anything to keep us alive. But that's my duty for now. She won't be doing stupid act as long as she's under my command.

"How much?" Reed asked while inspecting his rifle.

"The last letter from my dad says that two thousand U.S. troops were killed, wounded or went missing at Omaha. Same goes for the British troops at Sword and Gold. But still, Omaha took the best fight."

"Your father is there too?" Cadance asked.

I sighed and lowered my head. "Yeah... but he's my step father though. He's a Colonel from one of the divisions in the marines. He was the one who inspired me to joining with the army."

"What happened to your real parents then?" Twilight asked next to me.

I sighed. "It's a long story. And I rather to keep it all myself."

"Hope he's okay." Shining said, his tone showed that he's really concern about my dad.

I give him a sad smile before nodding. "I hope so too."

"Sarge?" A voice interrupted our conversation. This is the third time soldiers went by and asking the ponies some questions. I let out an annoyed grunt and turned over to face the soldier.

"What is it?" I said as I looked at him. But when I saw him... no, them, my eyes widened. I quickly stood up as I inspect them. "Glenn? Andrew?" I said with a shock expression.

"Good to see you're alive." Glenn said with a chuckle. I smiled as I return the chuckle. These are my men too from my squad. We got seperated from the last ambush when we were heading towards a town that was supposed to be our assembling point.

"How are we still alive now it doesn't matter," Andrew said while adjusting his glasses, "We heard about these ponies that can talk and they're in our squad right?"

I nod as I step aside to let them sit on the group. To my surprise, both of them didn't shock like any other soldiers are. Instead, they immediately took a seat next to Reed while taking off their helmets.

Glenn then gave a slight punch to Reed's left shoulder. "You leave us when we need you."

Reed smirked. "If that wasn't because of the barrage I'll probably stick with you guys. Also, the convoy was seperated."

"How's the other soldiers doing?" I chimed in as I took a seat.

Andrew shook his head. "Not good. When you ordered us to regroup at base as soon as possible, we were in a group of nine men. But all of them were dead when we got ambushed by an MG emplacement. Until then, it's only four of us left that survived."

I sighed while running a hand through my hair. "Who's the other two?" I asked.

"Aaron and Steve are with the medics now Sir." Andrew replied.

"I told you I was twenty. Not thirty." I said with a smirk, didn't realize that the ponies were staring at me. "Jack didn't make it?"

Andrew shook his head. "No. You better not know about his death." I sighed again.

"We're sorry for your loss Sergeant." Celestia spoke up, her ears flattened against her head.

"No need to be sorry," Glenn said while placing his Garand on the side, "In war, a good soldier, kill his enemy without thinking them as a human being."

"Easier to talk rather than you do it," Reed retorted, "You remember when you begged Parker for letting one of those Germans to go?"

"Hey, I was just being a human all right. Not every soldier is a good soldier."

"That's enough gentlemen. I heard enough." I didn't want to recall the events from it. Better to change the subject. "You wanna introduce yourselves or what?"

"Sorry," Glenn replied, "Name's Glenn." He said while looking at the ponies.

"I'm Andrew." Andrew said with a smile. The ponies smiled back at them.

"It's nice to meet you Glenn, Andrew," Celestia spoke, "I'm Princess Celestia, ruler of Equestria. And this is my sister, Princess Luna." Luna nodded at them, which they nod back. "And these..."

After knowing each other, we continued our conversation. The ponies were all curious about our world so I decided to tell them some stories that they might find it interesting. Well, for Twilight, everything is interesting. Especially when I explained about... well... everything. Yeah, she's a lot more like an egghead, just like Dash told me.

"Be honest," Glenn said to the Princesses, "It's weird how you and your magic can control the sun and the moon."

"Like we said, magic is a part of our lives in Equestria." Celestia simply said.

"So, it's like that... your life depends on it?" Andrew asked.

"Not really," Luna replied, "Not every magic is the part of ponies' life. For example, Earth Ponies are naturally strong. Without magic, they can still live properly." Andrew let out a silent 'oh'.

"Remember when you mentioned some of the city's names?" I asked, which the ponies nodded in agreement. "Well, it's funny considering our city names too are similar to yours. Such as Manehattan, to Manhattan, Neigh York and New York, Baltimare and Baltimore, Fillydelphia and Philadelphia and many more."

"Is it a coincidence?" Andrew asked.

"I have no idea." Reed replied.

Casual conversations then returned it's way once more, leaving us to laughed, teased one another. Until something that I didn't expect, happened.

"Sergeant Parker?" A voice called out from behind me as I was laughing with the ponies. I turned around and noticed that there, stood General Graceland, Lieutenant Blake and two marines stood behind them. Wait... marines? What the hell are they doing here?

Me and my squad quickly stood up before giving him a salute. "Stand down," Graceland said, "Parker, do you have a minute?"

"What is it Sir?" I asked while the others returned to their sitting position.

He sighed before looking at the marines behind him. "These soldiers are here to send you a message. And it's about Colonel Baker."

"Dad?" I raised an eyebrow.

Graceland looked at the marines before he spoke, "He's all yours now." He took a few steps back, letting the marines standing in front of me. There was a heavy silence between me, the marines, also the ponies behind me. None of them dare to speak as they tried to hear the news.

One of the soldiers cleared his throat. "Sergeant Parker. We've come here to tell you that... that..."

"That what?" I asked impatiently. Suddenly, I had a bad feeling about this.

"About your father," another one finally spoke up, "He was killed in action."

I could have sworn my heart stopped beating for a moment when I heard those words slipped from his mouth. I could hear some gasps from behind. Well, mostly the girls, not the soldiers. Hopefully, this is a dream. But the pain in my heart and both marines expression tells me otherwise. They looked at me with sad looks. Mostly mournfulness.

"It happened too fast... I'm sorry." One of them spoke up.

I nod as I sniffed and looked up at the sky. Letting out a big sigh, I looked back at them. "How... how did he die?"

They both looked at each other before one of them nod his head, signalling to just answer my question. The other marine looked back at me before spoke up, "Our... our squad was about to attack a town in order to secure the perimeter before we move straight into Paris. And then, it's just... happened. The point is, he saved my life from a sniper."

My only answer is another nod as I felt a tear running down my cheek. I was still hoping that this is all just a dream.

"He was a good man," one of them broke the silence, "He told us fun jokes, stories, and never once turned his back on the wounded soldiers." He then grabbed something from his pocket and handed it to me, still clenched.

I looked down and put my right hand under it. My assumption was right though, it was his dog tag when it was on my palm, and his ring. I inspect it with a smile on my face, clenched it, then looked at the soldiers in front of me.

"I'm glad you're with him." I said as I extended my hand to gave them a hand shake. They smiled to me and nod before we did it. "What's your name?" I asked still holding his hand.

"Private Hank, Sarge. And this is Private Russ." He said as he looked at his friend. I smiled with the best strength I had as I released our hands and put my dad's belongings into my pocket.

Graceland cleared his throat to get our attention. "I'm sorry about the news Sergeant. But luckily for you... you're going home."

My eyes widened while looking at Graceland. "Excuse me General?"

"You're going home, Sergeant. You don't have to be on the frontline anymore." He smiled. "Besides, your mom is waiting for you."

Yeah, my step mother. I looked to the ground and started to think. If I go home, then I can see her smile again, hear her laughter, eat her cooking, doing whatever mom and son always does. I love her, she's like the best mother I've ever had. But if I go, what about my men? Most importantly, these ponies. They still have a lot to learn and it was me who found them in the first place. Well, not just me of course but still, they will probably stick around with my men. No, I had to make my decision. I know it's tough, but this is what I meant to do.

"No," I said firmly, "I'm not going home." Graceland and Blake were taken aback by my answer.

"The hell Parker?" Blake spoke up, "You're going home and didn't have to be in war anymore. Don't you want to go home? Besides, you don't have to take care of these ponies."

I looked at him with flat face. "I hate to go home... I hate it. When I knew I had to leave. And they might never see me again." I sat down while lowering my head. A big sigh escaped from my mouth. "And these ponies... you know they're my responsibility Blake. They still have a lot to learn. And it was me who had to teach them."

"They still got your men." Blake responded.

"But my men needs me," I retorted, "Not just me, but you need me too." Still lowering my head, I waited him to reply.

It took a moment for Blake to respond it to me. Huh, guess that works. "Parker," Blake said, "This is Graceland's order. You can't-"

"Fuck off."

"Sorry?"

"I said. Fuck. Off." I said while gritting my teeth and clenching my fists.

I heard Blake's footsteps coming towards me. But I couldn't react when he suddenly grabbed my collar and get me up to my feet.

"WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE PARKER!!" He shouted right in front of my face. Before I could retort, he released me and punched me right in the face, making me stumble backwards and land flat on my back. He immediately stood on top of me while grabbing my neck on one hand while the other hand ready to attack my face again.

"Say. That. Again." He said, which I gladly complied.

"Fuck. Off." I replied while glaring at him. His grip making me difficult to breathe.

He was about to deliver another death punch to me but stopped when he heard Graceland's voice. "Lieutenant, that's enough!" He almost shrieked. Blake looked back at the General.

"But General, he-"

"I said enough Blake! Get off from him!" Graceland ordered.

Blake sighed before looking back at me. He released my neck and stood up. I slowly followed Blake as I stood up while panting for air. Graceland looked at me as if he was searching or waiting for another word from me. He sighed when I just stood in silence.

"Listen kid, you know your mother is waiting for you back home right?" I simply nodded. "And you choose these ponies and your men instead of home?" I nodded again, assuring him that I wasn't going to change my mind. He paused for a moment before spoke up, "Well, I know how stubborn you are when it comes to a situation like this. All right. I can't force you to do what I want. I want you to do what you want. I want you to do the right thing. And if this is your decision, then I guess I can take that." He looked at Blake, who was wearing a shock expression on his face. "Like he said Lieutenant... fuck off. Dismissed." With that, Graceland walked away from us with his hands on his back. "You're a brave kid Sergeant, you know that?" He said again, not looking at me.

"Oh, I almost forgot." A marine snapped me out of my thoughts as he pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket. "I believe this belongs to you." He handed me the letter, which I took it. The half of it was already covered in blood. I sighed again and looked at them while smiling.

"Again, thanks."

They both nod before going back to whatever they had to get here. Blake turned his gaze towards me with cold eyes.

"Sometimes, I wish I didn't meet you." With that, he turned and head towards his tent with Graceland. I sighed and felt a single tear ran down my cheek. I looked at the letter in my hand. Maybe I'll just read it later. I put it inside my pocket and sat down with the others while looking at the ground. None of them spoke, but Reed put a hand on my back and rub it.

"Why?" Celestia suddenly asked, making me looked at her.

"What?" I asked back.

"Why do you choose us instead of your family?"

I smiled warmly at her. "I won't leave my friends behind." The ponies were baffled by my answer.

"I know it's tough for you but... we'll be here when you need us." Reed said. Andrew and Glenn smiled and nod.

"You know you still have us, Sarge." Andrew said.

"You betcha." Glenn added. I simply chuckled at their antics.

"Imma get my water first." Reed said as he stood up and walked inside our tent. I then noticed my right hand began to trembling. I clenched it, but it still trembling. Knowing it won't stop until... I don't know when, so I decided to just leave it be.

"We're sorry for hearing that." Shining suddenly said, breaking the silence once more.

I shook my head. "No... there's nothing to be sorry about." I looked at the ponies with a sad smile. "Anything can happen in war." Celestia nodded solemnly.

"He must be happy to have a son like you." She said with a warm smile.

I then felt a hoof resting on my right shoulder. I looked to see who it was and noticed Twilight was looking at me with those adorable eyes. "If you need anything, just ask, okay?" She then extended her hoof to offer me a hug.

With it's own accord, my body just leaned onto her and wrapped my arms around her little form. I nearly cried when we hugged each other. I let out a sigh as I tried my best to hold the tears back from flowing down my cheeks. Though it's really hard for me to not cry at that moment, but somehow, I succeeded.

"Better?" Twilight asked as she nuzzled under my chin.

I didn't care what everyone saw or think, I just wanted to feel comfortable for a moment. So I put my head on hers and stroke her mane gently. "Yeah... thanks." I simply replied.

I just hold her tight with me. Feeling her warmth spread throughout my body really helped me to ease up the pain in my heart. My hand stopped shaking in an instant. I smiled and looked at the ponies, who were smiling at us; along with the other soldiers.

I released the hug and pat Twilight's mane. "You must be hungry. I'll go get some food for you guys to eat."

"They're ponies Sarge," Andrew said, "I'm sure they don't like meat." The ponies' eyes widened as he said that.

I chuckled and stood up. "I know. Luckily, I heard that we got a vegetarian meal around here." With that, I walked to find some food for these ponies to eat.

Author's Notes:

Another update for this story. Stay tuned for the next one guys!