Chapter five The third degree

Mesa eyes followed Twilights movements as she bustled around the library's main room, paper poised in the air surround by blue aura as a quill quickly jotted across it, while its owner gushed excitedly.

"Ohh. this is so great! I've really never had a lengthy discussion with a soldier. Even Shining is somewhat reluctant to talk to me about it!" gasping, she rushed over, looking at Mesa expectantly, nose inches from his face. "Ohh, what sort of food do you eat? Have you seen combat? Was basic difficult? I see those letters on your emblems, but there in a language I don't know! Ohhh, whats it like living the life of a jarhead?"

Laughing, Mesa patted the unicorn on the head.

"Easy girl! Sit, breathe." Sighing, Twilight sat back on her haunches, and looked at Mesa expectantly.

"First, thats the wrong term for my branch of military. A jarhead is another term for a marine. The term for someone in the army would be grunt."

Twilight oh'd softly, quill working, then asked "Marines... like at battle of Elira's eyrie?"

Mesa nodded after a moment. When he first arrived in Equestria, Head quarters was abuzz. Apparently, a few months before hand, and gryphon matriarch named Elira took a bunch of her fellow gryphs and went rogue, making numerous assaults across the equines borders. Celestia enlisted the help of a deployed troops from the Third Battalion, who assaulted Elira's base of operations with artillery. After a few hours, she made an offer. Rather then risk her people, she challenged the commanding officer to a melee. If the human won, she would surrender. If he lost, then he would be taken prisoner. After dulling her claWs to avoid and deadly blows, she met the man in the fields at the base of her eyries range. It took a total of two minutes for her to yield. Surrendering, she disbanded her warriors. And apparently the day before Mesa, she had given the news she was to married to the c.o who beat her.

"Hmm...' Twilights ear flicked as she looked over her notes 'So, whats the difference between the army and marines?"

Mesa grinned. "Well, marines fight battles. Grunts fight wars."

Twilight cocked a brow, frowning.

"I should elaborate. You see, the marines are in fact a relatively small branch of the Navy. Their mission as I understand it is primarily to conduct initial combat operations from a forward deployed platform, such as a large boat, and establish a beachhead from which they can operate until follow on forces arrive." at the end of his sentence, the human shrugged. "I may be mistaken. I'm not a marine."

Twilight nodded, quill working overtime. "What does the army do?"

"Well, our missions tend to be on a much larger scale.  Along with establishing a foothold, we also expand the foothold into entire theaters of operations. Also, one aspect of the marines is that they are not a self sustaining force. They take the beach, or whatever, and hold it until support arrives. It might sound like this is a bad thing, but in reality this is part of what makes them such an elite force. There is a lot of pride in knowing that you are at the tip of the spear."

Twilight nodded. "True. Say, I once saw a coat of arms of the marines. What does semper fidelis mean."

"Always faithful. Though the marines use the phrase almost exclusively, it applies to all forces of the United States."

"I also saw your coat of arms. What was written there, I didn't get a good look."

"De Oppresso Liber. It means to free the oppressed."

Twilight nodded, quill scritching gently. "Do you have any tattoos?"

Grinning, Mesa rolled up the sleeve of his gear, and flexed his arm. On it was sketched in dark green ink a skull, a knife sticking out of the top. Squinting, Twilight read out loud "Sum custodis,I non cedere, I Inflictum,."

"It means "For I am a protector, I do not yield, I strike."

Twilight ahh'd, and looked over her notes.

"May I ask a question ma'am?"

Twilight looked up, and nodded. "Of course."

"Well, I dont know why, but folks around here are often asking me to hold there newborns." Chuckling, he rubbed the back of his neck. "I guess I should feel honored they feel such respect for the military."

Twilight chuckled nervously. "Uh, sorry to burst your bubble Mesa, but thats not why they do it."

"Oh?"

The lavender mare sighed. "No, I'm afraid it's an old tradition. Protection against the eye of envy. Foals were often held in the hands of soldiers, for what mother could be jealous of anothers offspring when that childs been touched by blood soaked hands."

The human, resting his chin on his palm. "I thought it was something like that."

The mare hung her head. "I'm... I'm sorry Mesa. Shining went through the same the thing."

Mesa raised his head back, waving off her apology with his now free hand. "Oh, it's no problem. That sort of thing comes with the territory. Consider my country. Right now, there are people burning the symbol of the freedom they enjoy, and cursing the people who protect those freedoms everyday."

To this, Twilight snorted and scowled.

“I love this town, but sometimes the ponies here drive me crazy. When me and Lero first got together, that…” her scowl deepened “Honey whatever her name is, tried repeatedly to kick my stallion out. And even now, she’s still stirring the fucking pot, trying to provoke us.  And what she’s said about Rainbow…. My herdmate is out there, risking her life, and that bitch says she shouldn’t even be allowed in the Guard, never mind be a wonderbolt.” She sighed, and laying the quill and parchment down, laid her head down alongside them.

"It's just not fair."

Mesa looked up at the ceiling, contemplating what the unicorn had said.

"No, Twilight. No its not. But thats life, you know?" Looking back down, he smiled. "But you know, whenever I hear idiots like them, I'm happy you know? Means I've done my job, and they can wax idiotic another day."

Twilight pursed her lips a moment, then rasberried. Raising her head, she replied, "True, but that doesn't mean I wish some of them would go jump up a rope."

Raising her quill again, she cleared her throat.

"Mesa, when I was in Canterlot, I watched a demonstration of anti humanists. One of them stomped on your countries flag, and was quickly... well, clobbered. Why is that piece of cloth so important?"

Mesa rubbed his chin.

"Well Twilight.... hmm, please forgive for bragging, but that piece of cloth, Old Glory, has been with us a good two hundred years. It was there when Washington crossed the Delaware, and when Francis Scott wrote Oh say can you see she was there. She was there in Chancellorsville, almost fell at the alamo. She survived the guns of world war one, and turned black with blood in World war two. She was with us in Korea, Vietnam. In our war with China, it waved from the top of our tanks as we heard that the war was over. For nearly two hundred years, she waved from our ships and our barracks, all the time it being forbidden to wave in our country. In America, she's be burned, dishonored, stepped on, and the government that she represents is going from one scandal to another. The old girls getting threadbare, but she's in good shape for the shape she's in, cause she's been through the fire before, and she can take everything thrown at her. She is our symbol, our emblem, so every day we lift her up, and every night we fold her up right."

As Mesa spoke, Twilight's eyes widened, her quill working furiously as she noted the names. She'd definitely have to look up most of them later. Mesa smile softened, "On second thought, ma'am, I do like to brag, because I'm mighty proud of the old girl."

Twilight chuckled. "You seem to love her."

Mesa nodded sagely. "Oh I do. But you know, I would happily, and with my own two hands, tear, rip, and burn every last strand to ashes to protect the freedom she represents."

"That is really interesting logic Mesa..."

Next Chapter: Chapter six Protoge Estimated time remaining: 17 Minutes