World at War: Protectors of Harmony

Chapter 9: The Adventure Begins

"That was unbelievably delicious." Celestia said with a smile.

"You think so?" I asked as I put my Bible on my bag.

"Mhmm." She hummed in delight, which making me laugh lightly.

The rest of the ponies too seemed to like the food that I've brought. Though, it took me a goddamn minutes to just argue with the soldier about our supplies. He didn't want to give our supplies to the ponies and let me tell you, I'll put my gun on his head if he didn't admit defeat when arguing with me back there.

"You got more of this?" Spike asked to me. Of course, not all of them were vegetarians, I just figured a dragon must be like meat. So I gave him my meal, which has a bacon in it.

"I'm glad you like it Spike," I replied while opening my tin can, "Sadly, I can't give you anymore of this until lunchtime arrives. We have to spare some of our foods for one day in order to survive." I gulped down some of my water.

"Ohh... okay..." Spike replied while lowering his head.

I chuckled and put a hand on his tiny shoulder. "Don't be sad Spike, I'm sure you'll understand."

"I know... but don't you hate this?" He asked again.

"Hate war?"

"Yeah... didn't you all hate to be suffering like this?" Everypony goes silent when he said that and turned their gaze to me.

I sighed and looked at him. "I admit it, I hate war Spike. But this is the thing I must do. Me and my men do this in order to keep our families alive. Even if we have to die, it doesn't matter. Cause what we know, is that we die in honour. We die because of reason. We die, because it's our choice. If we didn't fight, the Germans might take over the world and use us as their slaves. And you have no idea how horrible the POW camp they have."

"POW?" Twilight asked.

"What's that?" Rainbow chimed in.

"It is better if you have a look on yourself." I replied.

"It's a nightmare in real life." Andrew said as he chewed on his meal.

"Those Germans are really an asshole." Glenn said while drinking his water.

"So," I decided to change the topic, "Princess Celestia?"

"Celestia is fine." She said.

I nod. "Celestia, does Equestria have a war before?" Though, I already know from Twilight but it seemed that Celestia knew better than her. You know, because she's the ruler.

Heavy silence filled the air when I asked that before she replied. "Well, we did have a war hundreds of years ago. But me and my sister manage to-"

"Wait, wait, wait..." Reed cut her off, "You said that hundreds of years ago?" Celestia nodded. "And you said that, you and your sister manage to?"

"Control it." Luna replied.

Reed looked to me as I did the same. Both of us had the same expression, shocked and confused. And so did Andrew and Glenn. "You mean..." I began, "You were there when the war started?" The Princesses nod their head in unison.

"How can that possible?" Glenn asked. Looks like all of them have the same mind as I am.

"What do you mean?" Celestia asked as she tilt her head.

"I mean, you lived for over hundreds of years?" I asked again.

"Thousands of years to be precise." Celestia replied like it was nothing.

Me and my men stared at her with disbelief. The ponies snickered at our expression. I thought this was just some kind of pranks. But then again, these were aliens we're talking about. We didn't know how long they live. Or the planet they live in. And I don't want to blow up my brain just because I want my answers. Nope. Let's just ask some questions that's straight to the point.

"How old are you?" I asked, finally breaking the silence.

Celestia put a hoof under her chin. "Probably... thousands?" She said with a smirk.

I face palmed myself and sighed. "You can't even remember about your own age?"

"Because we have lived for so long." Luna replied. "We saw ponies died, and birth again. We already lost lots of our closest friends. So, when it comes like this, believe me, I feel the same way that you feel."

"But not for these ponies," Celestia looked at her little ponies, "They haven't experienced a lot of life like us."

"Oh yeah," I said as I realized something, "Cadance, Shining Armor, I heard you guys are the ruler on a kingdom named..."

"Crystal Empire." Cadance said.

I snapped my fingers. "Yeah. Just curious... is that Empire truly made of crystal?"

Cadance nod. "It is."

"And you won't believe what me and Twilight had gone through to save that Empire." Spike said while nudging my thigh.

"Was there a trouble?" I asked.

Twilight nod. "There is, and we, the Elements who were there to save the Empire."

"That sounds interesting, can I hear some of your stories then?"

"Of course!" Rainbow suddenly shrieked.

"Calm yer horses now Rainbow," Applejack said, "Let Twilight tell 'em 'bout it."

"Fine." Rainbow replied with a cute pout and crossing her hooves.

Twilight cleared her throat before she spoke up. "It started when we have a report about King Sombra's dark magic activity around the Crystal Empire."

"Sombra?" Glenn asked. "That's a badass name."

"He is indeed powerful," Celestia said, "In fact, he's the former ruler of Crystal Empire."

"You know what Twilight," I said, "Before we move on to your story, it's best if we know the history about Crystal Empire first."

Twilight clapped her hooves in joy. "Thought you never ask. All right... where do we start?"

It took her only about fifteen minutes to complete the story. From the history of Crystal Empire, until when the Elements saved the Empire from Sombra's dark magic.

"So Spike here is the one who almost killed by Sombra?" I asked when Twilight was done with her story.

"Not killed, darling," Rarity said, "King Sombra was about to grab the Crystal Heart from him when Cadance flew and quickly snatch Spike, along with the Crystal Heart at her hooves."

I rolled my eyes and looked at Spike. "Well, what can I say. You really are a hero."

"Not really." Spike rub the back of his head and smiled sheepishly.

"Much to his horror," Shining said, "He shatters to pieces in a flash of light, along with his crystals, and his smoke dissipates."

"So he got FUBAR then?" Reed asked with a chuckle.

I laughed, which made everypony confused. "Pretty much."

"What is FUBAR?" Twilight asked.

I looked at her with a smile. "You seemed to be very curious about our world didn't you Twi?" She smiled sheepishly and blushed for a moment while rubbing her hoof at the ground. "I'll tell you when we have a time to talk, all right?" She perked up and nodded vigorously.

Just then, Wade suddenly stood right behind Reed and playfully kicked him off. "Get outta my seat will ya."

"Ya back already?" Reed asked with a groan and move aside.

Wade shrugged as he took his seat. "Meh, the wound is fine and I heard that we're off to war in the next half an hour."

"Wow," I said, "Graceland didn't inform any of that to us."

"I know right, just heard from the others." Wade replied.

"All of us?" Glenn asked. Wade nod calmly. "What about Steve and Aaron?"

"Aaron didn't make it," Wade said with a sigh, "It's only Steve the medic right now. And he's struggling to survive." All of us lowered our heads. Neither of us spoke up, we were losing too much before the real operation towards Paris began.

"Sergeant," Celestia's voice made me to look at her, "I know it's tough for you to be like this. But you must stay strong. For the sake of your men here." She looked at my men, who was still lowering their heads. "I don't know much about you, but you have our support." I didn't know how to respond to that. I just smiled, nod and looked back at the ground and let the silence filled the air once more.

"You think I'm a good leader?" I suddenly asked, breaking the silence. The soldiers didn't respond as they just stared at me. "You think I failed?" I asked again.

"Parker, what do you mean?" Luna asked.

Reed blinked before spoke up, "Of course not! What makes you think that you are?"

"It's just..." I sighed. "It's just... I can't keep my men alive. Jack and Aaron already dead. Steve's with the medic. I fucked up didn't I? How am I-"

"Hey," Reed pat my shoulder to stop my rambling, "We all know anything could happen in war. If they die, none of it was your fault."

"Not my fault?" I laughed bitterly, making everypony flinched at my reaction. "They were my responsibility. You are my responsibility. All of you. And I just couldn't do one simple task. Just one simple task. And, that is keeping my men alive... and look at it now!" I raised my hands in the air. "I am a failure..."

"Sergeant!" Glenn shouted, making everypony jumped slightly from their seats. "Parker... just... ughh... you know it wasn't any of your fault! You already did the best! For all of us! For fuck sake, I'm not in the mood to talk about this right now but it seems you have bigger thoughts than I am. What the hell are you thinking?"

I managed to calm myself down. Damn it, what's got into me? I rubbed my face as I let out a frustrated groan. "I'm... I'm s-sorry," I spoke up, "Just had some thoughts in my mind."

"I know that Sarge," Glenn replied with a nod, "I understand you. But whatever it is, you should talk about it with your friends. Trust me, it'll make you feel better. You should get it off from your chest."

I shook my head. "No need. I'd rather to keep it myself."

"Good ol' Sergeant Parker." Wade said with a chuckle. "Wait... where's my gun?" He looked around for his weapon, but find nothing.

"Oh, you dropped it when we fought at the river. Remember when you got shot? I think the gun is still behind that cover where you screamed like a bitch." Reed replied matter-of-factly.

Wade looked at him before slumped back against the box behind him. "Great, now what am I suppose to do without my sniper."

"Grab it from another dead body I guess." Andrew said with a chuckle.

"That'll work." I replied sarcastically. "You still have your sidearms right?" Wade nod. "Well, at least that'll help you protect yourself until you find a better weapon to fight with."

Just then, a voice yelled behind us. "Everybody listen up!" Me and the soldiers quickly stood up and looked at Blake, who was crossing his arms. "We're heading towards Carentan in a couple of minutes. Get your equipment. I'll see you at the convoy." He looked at me, but with concern eyes. "I just hope you could handle this. Don't put on so much weight on your shoulder all right?"

"I will Lieutenant." I replied while adjusting my gun.

"One more thing," Blake said, "You prefer that Thompson or do you wanna switch with BAR?"

I paused for a moment to think. "Get me my BAR."

He chuckled and started to walk away. "I know you're that type of guy!"

"Lieutenant!" I called out. He then turned to face me. "What about Steve?"

Blake sighed. "He still needs some treatments. I'll find his replacement and we're good to go." He was about to walk away but stopped and turned his gaze towards me again. "Parker, you have a minute with me?"

"Sure." I said as I walked to him. As we both were sure that my men and the ponies wouldn't hear us, he sighed.

"Listen Parker, I'm sorry about earlier. Just got a lot of things in my mind." I nod and let him continue. "What I'm trying to say is, you sure about this?"

"About what?"

"Bringing them to war." He looked at the ponies with crossed arms. "I'm afraid they're just going to be a burden to us."

"Hey," I glared at him, "I'm the one who volunteered to keep them safe. To keep them alive from this madness that was started by that shit ass Hitler." He was about to speak but I won't let him do that. "No, my mind is made up. And I'm a hundred percent sure that these ponies won't be a burden to us. As long as they under my command, you have nothing to worry about. In fact, if you want to go F yourself then go on. I don't even care what you think Blake. You see this as a terrible idea, but not for me; and my men." I looked at Glenn, Andrew, Reed and Wade who were laughing with the ponies. "They too wanna help them. They want them safe. They want to make sure, that we're friendly." I looked back at him. "So if you don't like this, I may suggest you to go and pick another group to deal with. Cause I'm sure I can handle this by myself." I walked away from him while calming myself down. If I lost my temper, probably I would punch him right in the face as a gift from earlier with Graceland.

"Sergeant!" He called out. I stopped but didn't look at him. "I got your back buddy." With that, I heard him walk away.

"You better be." I said quietly.

As I regroup with the others, I put my helmet on and readied myself for the next battle. I looked at my men, who were preparing themselves too.

"You're leaving?" Celestia said.

I raised an eyebrow at her. "You mean, we." I correct her.

"We?" Luna asked, slightly confused.

"You guys didn't remember what Graceland's said back in the tent?" They shook their head. I sighed while putting my hands on my hips. "No wonder you don't remember your own age. All right, listen, you will come with us to go on the frontline." The ponies gasped but I continued. "Like it or not, you have to stick with me and my men. Do as I say, got it?"

"What if I don't?" Rainbow asked with a smirk and confident tone.

"Rainbow, you hear what he says." Rarity said.

I looked at Rainbow with a frown. "Look, you wanna die or not?" She remained silent after that. "That's what I thought. Let's get moving. We don't have much time."

"Is it safe for us to go?" Twilight asked with her ears flattened against her head.

I smiled and knelt down to meet her eye level. "It's gonna be all right Twilight. Didn't I promise you? I will do anything to keep all of you alive. To bring all of you back home, together. Don't worry, whenever you need me, I'll be right by your side. Okay?"

She seemed to relief a bit as she suddenly pulled me in for a hug. "Thank you." She quietly said as she nuzzled my cheek. I wrap my arms around her and cherished the moment.

"My pleasure Twilight." I replied. The moment must end as she released the hug and I stood up.

"You'll be a good guardian for my sister." Shining suddenly said while chuckling.

I shrugged. "Just doin' my duty here."

I looked back at the soldiers behind me, who were wearing a confident smile on their faces. "Let's open a path to Berlin, shall we?"

"Hell yeah!" Reed said as he shouldered his weapon.

"Let's take Carentan back to France." Glenn added as he started to walk to the main road. I gestured for the ponies to follow as I started to walk too.

As we all walked towards the convoy, where I assumed it must be in the same entrance, other soldiers were busy with their own business. Packing stuff, talking about the oncoming battle, writing letters to their families, friends, wife, girlfriend and many more. I looked around and they seemed to be just fine when the ponies walked with us. Not that they care, their minds must be focusing at Carentan. I walked next to the ponies while Reed took the lead. As I was whistling some songs that I knew back home, Reed started something that I really love for being an airborne.

He was just a rookie trooper and he surely shook with fright

The ponies' ears perked up when he started to sing. They looked at Reed, who was looking at me as he sang. I smiled from ear to ear as I started to sing along.

He checked off his equipment and made sure his pack was tight
He had to sit and listen to those awful engines roar

Glenn and Andrew then started to sing too with wide smiles.

"You like singing?" Pinkie asked. "I like singing!"

You ain't gonna jump no more...