Travelling Worries

"Captain Foundation, the U.A has breached the northeast wall and is storming the city!" cried corporal Maverick saluting as he hastily ran up to me. "Damn it that was our strongest point, if the fall in that sector then out entire east section defenders will be attacked in the flank" said a nearby private. "What do we do?" asked the Corporal.

"Go gather five men and wait for me over by the main square, the last thing they except is an attack in the flank themselves and that's exactly what we're gonna do" I said, jamming a magazine crystal into my rifle. "Sir that's suicide!" cried the Corporal splaying his hooves apart in protest to my authority.

"That's enough Corporal, I'm signing you up for a breach of orders, now get your ass moving and go find some ponies"! Maverick looked shocked at my punishment issue but saluted and sprinted off to gather some troops. I myself stood up on the top of a toppled pony transporter which some mechanics were working on and looked over the fields at the wreck and rubble of used to be Trottingham...

I opened my eyes; coming back to the real world and realising I had drifted into a small nap which annoyed me immensely. I looked over at Luna who was smiling quite cutely in her sleep and then Chad who was snoring with his mouth wide open and drooling immensely. I actually caught sight of a fly buzz around his head for a minute before it entered the deep, slimy cavern of his mouth and disappeared. I sniffed and looked the other way trying not to focus on the fact that Chad could have been snuck up on without much practice and easily stabbed to death.

"That kid is going to need a lot of training" I said softly. Luna stirred slightly and I looked over at her, taking in everything about her. She seemed to be having a dream because her eyelashes fluttered intensely and her face contorted into a frown.

I wondered back to my dream and I shuddered at the intense replay as if I had actually been there again. It was a painful memory and I dislike memories since about 85 percent is filled with battles and fallen comrades and emotions which I don't want coming up.

I thought to the argument me and Red had had yesterday, it must be stress doing this I mean I am a damn soldier of one of the most technologically advanced armies in the world I don't get sick or develop physiological problems that threatened my mission, this was just built up stress and my mind adapting to a friendlier, softer environment not some nutty part of myself wanting to come out and raze Equestria to the ground.

Suddenly Luna's eyes fluttered open and blurrily looked at me. "Is it morning yet" she asked. "Yes Luna it's been morning for hours" I replied. She stretched and took in her surroundings looking at both me and the still sprawled out Chad. "Did you stay awake all night!" she exclaimed.

I nodded an affirmative at her and she blinked with her eyes wide open "careful not fall asleep while walking today" she said. "No problem your majesty we will change our pace to marching I teased getting up and handing her an apple which she began to eat vigorously.

She seemed relatively happy but images in my mind blinked back to yesterday when I drew my gun on her and she stood there frozen like a rabbit in the headlights of a Airlifter Pony Transport or an A.P.T. "Listen Luna about yesterday" I began but she interrupted me saying "No Asimov it's okay everyone get's stressed and you certainly have an excuse".

"That's not what I want to talk to you about, you see I raised my gun at you like this right" I said raising my gun at her slowly so she wouldn't be afraid. "Such a weird word gun, I'd have called it a fire thrower" she remarked looking at my black and silver side arm which I had pointed at her. "Yes well as you have seen this thing can take a limb off a pony quite easily and is used and carried by just about every single pony in the future so I am going to show you an easy trick how to avoid a situation like this" I told her making the gun go slack in my hand and offering it to her.

She took it warily; holding it clumsily in her hands and taking note eat its weight. "Now as you can see the trigger is a little bigger than a crossbow and is pressurized so that a pony doesn't have to bend there hoof which is difficult when firing a crossbow, this saves time and training".

I moved towards her and bent her arms a little moving her hair back over her head which felt soft as silk. Focusing I stood about half a metre away from her saying "Ok raise my gun and please don't push down hard otherwise my journey is over" I said jokingly but Luna didn't see the funniness of it.

"Ok now watch what I do" I said as I slowly put one foot forward and launched into the air grabbing Luna's arm and pushing her hoof outward so that the gun fell from her hoof and got grabbed by my other hoof where I levelled it at Luna's head.

She gasped as she stared down the barrel of my gun and my intense eyes. "You see how easy I could have killed you" I said.

"Asimov, I realise what you're doing but I protest at your manhandling of a royal Princess" scolded Red. "She needs to know how to protect herself Red" I protested. "Yes but can't you just give her the data and she convert it into an action" said Red. "Real world don't work like hat Red, we all should learn instead of he left in the dark expected to figure things out" I said leaning away from Luna and lowering my gun.

"Sorry Luna" I murmured turning away from her and clicking the cartridge out of the pistol. "Perhaps we can try again" said Luna coming over and putting a hoof to my shoulder. I looked up at her, still a little freaked about our differences in size.

"Ok, but this time you need to disarm me with that move got it" I told her immediately getting back into the roll as instructor as Luna paced herself half a metre or so away from me and I raised the gun.

She stared at it for a few seconds, leaning on her tow front feet she prepared to spring but put too much force into the springing part and not enough into the hoof coordination when she was in the air above me and she fell over, belly flopping the ground

"Are you ok" I asked moving to help her up. "I am quite alright, now proceed" she said hastily getting up and back into position.

So we continued like this for a couple of hours, each time Luna failing to take the gun from my grasp but improving immensely no longer falling over and perfecting her leap, her hooves now slowed her down as she tried to tear the gun from my hooves. "What are you to doing" asked Chad suddenly surprising me so I turned round just as Luna snatched her hands forward and took my gun stating "Ha, victory is mine"!

I looked in astonishment at the gun now In Luna's hooves and levelled at my chest. I slowly raised my hooves and said "ok I surrender".

She grinned and gave the gun back to me which I holstered and went over to Chad. Chad never distract me from a winning spree again or I will take food rations from you for a week.

Chad didn't take this threat so lightly and he quickly swallowed the carrot he'd been holding and shouldered his pack.

I looked at him intensely but he seemed to hold my gaze steadily which surprised me. "So you've been practicing then, well here's another tip for crushing the enemies spirit which Canterlot seems to have adopted into their Royal guards… silence, an enemy who has to make assumption on your look can easily be fooled or scared by your look, especially of you have a grenade launcher" I said ending the discussion with a chortle which. Either Luna or Chad got.

"Well it's still pretty early but I want to get a move on as soon as we can, we can arrive at the foot of the mountain if we keep up a steady march, you both know how to march don't you?" I asked them. Chad nodded and stated parades mostly" which raised a typical roll of my eyes whilst Luna said "I marched my followers into battle during the great war which took place on the plains of Celestia" which instead raised a large pool of questions that I now wanted to ask.

Chad also stared at her but she didn't seem to notice, so I ended the awkward few seconds and said "so be it then onwards" shouldering my pack and marching west.

For a long time nopony spoke, not a whisper or a question just marching which really took me back to my good old military days which in reality were only a couple of months back but it seemed as though it was now a lifetime.

Chad continued to look behind him every now and then which brought a faint smile to my lips, Red was very quiet but she was slightly like me minus the mental issues. Always cold and following programming and her AI system programmed emotions competing against her mission priorities and rules.

Luna's eyes seemed-drifting always focused enough to realise where she was but seemingly in some kind of dream world, or memory either way I got the impression she didn't want to be disturbed.

I then looked around at the seemingly repetitive forest, trees and rocks and maybe another type of tree now and then or even better yet a bigger rock!

I shook my head now as I started to develop a headache; I checked my watch and the map still marching and decided we could afford a break since we were all an hour ahead of schedule. "Okay guys let's take a break so we can rest up you're both doing good and I'd like to keep that way so there's a stream nearby we can rest over there" I said leading them away from my original route and to the stream.

They both seemed relieved and took long drafts before I could stop them. I considered shouting at them but I just went over and told them "please in future let me test the water to make sure there are no chemicals or poisons in it".

They both looked at me water still dripping from their mouths. "It's just a natural flowing stream Asimov, no reason to freak out" scoffed Luna. "On the contrary this stream is a perfect weapon, just slip some poison in upstream and bam you are dead" I smacking my two front hooves together violently.

They looked at me a bit ludicrously but kept drinking and, sighing I filled up the canteens.

After a refreshing drink we all went and sat down not quite knowing what to do or say but looking each other up and down and coming up with insane topics like "is that mud on your hooves".

Suddenly I had a brilliant question and decided to ask Luna "why does your mane and tail flow like a river"? She blinked in surprise but seemed happy to answer "Oh well it didn't used to but it changed recently when I returned as ruler of Equestria just like my sister".

Well that opened up more questions than it officially answered. Seeing the look of incomprehension on my face Luna further took it upon herself to explain to me "Some kind of magic affects the manes of the rulers of Equestria, their manes are blessed by some ancient magic or something that I can't quite remember but think I should" she said now adopting a look that many ponies with what I call battle amnesia get.

"I thought that was just because you used Celestia's shampoo" stated Chad. We both looked at him with a "You are going to shut up now" look and he shrank slightly. However Luna couldn't maintain the look and quickly burst into laughter followed closely by me to my surprise even though I hadn't quite got the hang of a laugh and it came out as a dull chuckle.

So we began to get to know each other a bit more, which was mostly one sided questions directed towards Luna about little things like her sister and the moon, however a question popped up from Luna directed towards me which startled me to say the least.

"Why do you cut your mane so short?" she asked. I unconsciously looked up as if I could see my mane but I realised I had never really seen it much. "Well in my time as you know the war is no place or fashion and long hair is impractical and easy to grab hold of" I responded.

"So all ponies walk around with their manes cut so short" she said raising an eyebrow. "Yes" I responded not seeing what they were getting at here. "Even mares" said Chad. I looked at the both of them now starting to get a little annoyed at their stupid question. "Yes mares also cut their hair back".

"Hey and I meant to ask you but why is your cutie mark covered y those funny markings" asked Luna out of nowhere. Now the before questions really annoyed me but this just sent me over the top and I immidielty got up shouldered my back announcing "breaks over we're moving out now". "But what about..." began Chad but I cut him off with a loud, terse "NOW"!

Luna now stood up and was about to protest at me her hoof raised and everything when suddenly voices could be heard from the north and everyone froze. "Behind the rock" I whispered quickly and everyone got behind a nearby rock.

The voices seemed to get louder which signalled that they were definitely heading this way which freaked me out slightly". "Maybe they're only some ponies taking a stroll in the forest" whispered Chad. I didn't want to alarm him both for his own well being and for the reason he'd blow our cover.

I checked my rifle and clicked the safety off just as the voices got close enough to hear properly.

"I'm telling you they must be heading for Ponyville it's the place no one would ask questions right" asked a light voice. "Bullshit, Ponyville was like a happy place I mean what would a U.E.R Captain do when he got their open a flower stall" said a gruff voice now entering the conversation.

"Look here private out of the ten ponies in our platoon we were the only ones who made it through so shut your ass and go and refill the canteens, the rest of us will wait here" said a voice that sounded arrogant and young.

"Yes sir Staff Sergeant" said the light voiced pony who then I could hear crashing through the undergrowth to get to the stream.

He uncorked the stoppers of the canteens and began to fill them up, muttering all the while as he did it. I looked from behind the rock and saw his back was turned; he also took off his helmet revealing he was a U.A pony and that he was incredibly stupid.

"Stay here" I whispered so quietly that Luna and Chad could barely hear me. I slowly left the cover of the rock and slung my rifle behind my back, next I drew my combat knife and slowly advanced keeping low and my knees bent.

I was now right next to him and he still didn't know I was here; I quickly reared up and grabbed his mouth whilst my other hand drew the finely sharpened metal blade across his throat. The cried he gave prior to his throat being slit were muffled by my hand. He slowly began to fight less and less against y firm grip until all that remained of his energy was a few gurgling rasps and some small twitching.

I waited no time, quickly taking off the ponies backpack and armour I quickly changed out of mine and into his. Just as I was attaching the helmet I heard the Staff Sergeant Yell "boy hurry up and get your ass back, double time man"!

The helmet was too large and since I didn't have a horn it felt off balance but I strapped it on none the less and picked up the soldiers crude rifle which looked to be nearly fifty year out of date. I saw Luna rising from her hiding place and motioned for her to stay down before moving forwards. I checked the rifle contained an energy crystal and that it was cocked before I blindly tried to guess where the other two U.A ponies were.

"Finally where are you going" came the light ponies voice from the left of me. I looked to the left and saw them both resting under the roots of a large uprooted tree and walked over to them.

"Where's our canteens" asked the Staff Sergeant as he scratched the stubble on his chin. "Right here" I said throwing them high into the air with the stoppers open so that the water flew out. They both were distracted in those few seconds which gave me extra advantage as I raised the dead private unicorn's gun and shot the gruff voiced pony right in the visor which shattered under impact and killed him immidielty.

The Staff Sergeant blinked in surprise still not fully aware of what was occurring until the rifle turned on him and he rose with his gun also.

They both fired at the same time and hit the others gun. They both shattered sending bits of metal everywhere some which stuck in my right fore leg. I recovered however and pulled my sidearm which he had knocked out of my hands with magic before I could do a thing.

He pulled a small crude looking knife from his belt and circled me now with an arrogant look which matched his arrogant voice. "So you're the sole U.E.R genetically modified freak soldier sent to protect the bitch of the moon then". "Maybe you could kill these here saps but believe me after I'm through with you maybe my mission doesn't have to end with a simple shot, how about death by one thousand stab wounds or maybe some strangulation, wither way the night princess is gonna be looking mighty ugly when I'm through with her.

This sent me over the edge and I charged with a roar and this son of a bitch who dared threaten Luna like this. My attack caught him by surprise and he fell as I barrelled into him, his knife nearly getting knocked out of his hoof as it was knocked aside.

We struggled over it, both locked in a battle of wills and strength, the other pony was strong, his very arrogant nature giving him confidence to boot but at the end of the day he was a unicorn, a pony who relied on magic to move things whilst I was an earth pony, maybe I couldn't levitate things or change the weather but I could push hard and that's what I did now.

The knife was twisted around and the deadly point was now facing him with cruel irony. He seemed much panicked and began pushing against my strength extra hard, this only increased the time it took for the knife to be hovering just above his eye.

Suddenly his voice was pleading me "stop I-I'll tell you anything just don't kill me man please"!

I looked down on this pathetic pony and thought, on one hand he could be good information. On the other he threatened Luna and knew that in the end I would have to kill him anyway.

I looked at his eyes which were a dark red and brown and made my decision.

The Crystal empire was...FUCKIN AWESOME (please pardon language just so enthused)