//------------------------------// // Same Shit Different Day (And Place) // Story: Sentinels of Equestria // by Lightning Spear //------------------------------// The Sentinels, Royal Guards, and Luna were standing by in the castle's courtyard, awaiting for the Princesses, generals, and military advisers to arrive, fully armed and equipped. Despite the urge to visit the firing range was a bit overwhelming, since most of them haven't fired their weapons since the beginning; they agreed to wait for the generals and military advisers first. Surely, there were a lot of things to discuss and their curiosity will be higher than Mount Everest upon seeing them. Gideon was chatting with Silent Wing, Shining Armor, and the Captains (Mitchell included) making their own interpretations about the attack yesterday with little to no intel. In the end, the conversation led them nowhere so they decided to drop the conversation and change it to something relaxing. "I am sorry guys, gotta go and check Twily's condition." Shining Armor said in the midst of the chatter. "If she is better, Twilight and her friends will come with me when I am done." "Alright, all the best for your sister." Mitchell said. Shining smiled and walked towards the entrance. "Hey, Mitchell do you have any good music?" Joker asked while chewing an MRE cracker in his mouth. "First of all, that's gross. Second of all, I downloaded pretty much everything when we made contact with the network's signal. So I have everything uploaded to our local network." Mitchell said proudly. "Well go on then mate." Gideon said "How about Guns and Roses?" "Guns and Roses? Now that's a classic." Ramirez said as he fumbled with Twilight's broken tablet, replacing every piece of broken hardware with a new one. "Lets introduce some human music to these ponies." "You guys okay with this?" Mitchell asked to Ilona, the rest of his team ,and the guards who were busy cleaning and tending to their equipment, vehicle, and weaponry; getting a lot of 'Sure and why not's in return. "Go ahead, Reeves. Use those speaker systems!" Joker said. "Copy that." the former Night Stalker pilot said; having done with warming up the engines and checking their VTOLS the pilots have nothing left to do, so deciding to join the fun was of course the new priority. Something the soldiers rarely had back on Earth due to the ongoing war with Atlas Corporation. Reeves flipped some buttons on his Razorback's control to turn off the engines and browsed through the computer's data archive with the VTOL's system interface. He clicked with his finger on the music folder, and searched one track he knew most people came to love, maybe the ponies will love it too. He found the track, and selected it. Shortly, series of high-pitched guitar strums filled every single ears in the courtyard. For the humans, they knew this song very well and they still do love it and for the ponies, they are about to get into a hell of a ride. She's got a smile that it seems to me Reminds me of childhood memories Where everything Was as fresh as the bright blue sky "Oh yeah! this is my jam!" Joker said merrily. At this moment, everyone and everypony are nodding their heads to the song's rhythm and melody. Still doing their activities. Several Ponyville citizens had made their way to the castle's entrance due to the music playing in the air, in both curiosity and excitement. Now and then when I see her face She takes me away to that special place And if I stared too long I'd probably break down and cry Oh, oh, oh Sweet child o' mine Oh, oh, oh, oh Sweet love of mine Mitchell himself was enjoying himself in the song. If they have some cold beers, that day would've been perfect. Mitchell, Gideon, and some operatives was chatting to some guards and Ponyville citizens who got curious about them; until Luna's telepathic voice echoed in his head. "Mitchell, can we talk?" A bit shocked, he turned his head and saw Luna laying under a tree,staring at him from a distance. An expression of mixed sorrow and wonder written on her face. Seeing this, Mitchell excused himself and walked towards Luna's position. Interestingly, although the tree was not very far from the courtyard; the loud music's volume seemed to decrease more and more as he walked towards her. And when he got to her, it was completely silent; save for the rustling leaves and the chirping of birds, a perfect peace and tranquility. (You might want to stop the music now.) "Please, sit with me." She said while patting a spot next to her. Which he complied. "I cast a sound barrier so we can talk privately. Nopony or nobody will eavesdrop on us." Mitchell nodded politely "What is it Luna?" Mitchell asked as he sat next to her. Also mentally questioning himself whether Luna really appeared in his dream last night. Luna inhaled and exhaled deeply before turning back to him "Have I told you before that as a Princess of the Night, I am able to walk into somepony's dream?" She asked "or somebody's in your case." Mitchell's suspicion was confirmed by the time Luna said those words. "So, you were in my dream last night." He said calmly. Luna was surprised by his statement "I...I am sorry! I didn't mean to invade your privacy; but I felt a disturbance last night so I-" she was cut off when Mitchell put a hand on her shoulder; his eyes staring reassuringly. "It's okay Luna, you were just following your instincts." Mitchell said. "In fact, after you entered my dream; I woke up with a peaceful heart and mind. Thank you." He smiled. Luna let out a smile of relief, but she still have some unanswered questions and decided to dig deeper "After that ship crashed and that piece of metal struck your arm...what happened?" Luna asked. A long pause. Mitchell was and still is a battle-hardened soldier, although the memories were not pleasant; he was not a closed type of individual. In fact, sharing helped him to get over the problem. He was just thinking on how to tell Luna without freaking her out."It's okay if you don't want to answer my question, I understand." she said while standing up on all fours. But before she could leave, Mitchell stopped her. "Before I start, are you sure you wanna hear this? 'cause this one will probably scare you." Mitchell warned her. And she nodded whilst sitting back down beside him. "After that stray piece of metal impacted my arm, the damage was so severe that it cut my left arm on the crash site." Mitchell began "and the man stuck on the aircraft, Will Irons; my best friend and Jonathan Irons' son, was critically injured by both the bomb explosion and the crash. Long story short, the doctors removed his life support system since the wounds he suffered were too much. He saved my life..." Mitchell paused "And I owe him for it." "I see...I am sorry for your friend, Mitchell" Luna responded while wiping away a tear from her eyes. "But I don't understand one thing..."she trailed off. " Go ahead" Mitchell stated. "It's about your left arm." Luna said while pointing a hoof at Mitchell's left arm "If it was truly cut off, how could your left arm still attached to your body? Do humans grow their lost limbs?" Mitchell chuckled, "Oh, this is not my real arm." He said while rolling up his sleeve, exposing his advanced robotic prosthetic arm, causing Luna to stare at it with widened eyes. "Do you want to have a feel for it?" Mitchell asked again; extending his left arm in the process and snapping Luna from her trance. Slowly but surely, Luna extended her right hoof and traced it gently on Mitchell's prosthetic arm, getting a good feel on the metallic surface. Her touch was gentle and delicate,quite frankly, he enjoyed it. After a minute of observing Mitchell's arm, Luna turned her head towards him. "Irons gave me this arm, but in return; I have to work for him, as an Atlas operative." Mitchell told her. "But again, this is not my original arm; an improved design. The original one was long gone...taking Irons with it." Luna flashed him a sympathetic smile, completely aware of Mitchell's past and losses which he returned. "Now, lets go back to the courtyard; I think everybody and everypony are looking for us." Mitchell said with a smile. "Yes, lets." Luna replied. "But first..." with that, her horn glowed with a bluish magic aura and a brief flash like that of a camera's blitz flashed from her horn. "What was that?" Mitchell asked. "Oh, nothing I just disabled the sound barrier." she replied simply. With that, the pair walked towards the courtyard. As they did this, heavy strums of electric guitar and the beats of drums began to play through their ears. But this time, instead of a cheery and relaxing tone; it shifted into more of an energetic and revolutionary tone. To Mitchell, he heard this song during his march towards the battlefield and needless to say, fond of it. But he wasn't sure about Luna's reaction about this. This is survival of the fittest This is do or die This is the winner takes it all So take it all As electric guitar strums followed by multiple beatings of drums filled the air, Mitchell knew the lyrics head on will probably make her uncomfortable; so he took the initiative. "You might want to put that sound barrier up again, there are a lot of profanities in this song's lyrics." Mitchell said. "And what's wrong with those?" Luna asked with a dirty smile "I swear quite a lot for a princess, and besides I love this song." she said as the song continued to play; Mitchell just shook his head with a smile. Wasn't ready to being a millionaire, I was ill-prepared I was prepared to be ill though, the skill was there From the beginning, it wasn't 'bout the ends It was 'bout busting raps and standing for something, fuck an acronym Cut the fucking act like you're happy, I'm fucking back again With another anthem, why stop when it doesn't have to end? It ain't over 'til I say it's over – enough when I say enough Throw me to them wolves and close the gate up I'm afraid of what'll happen to them wolves When the thought of being thrown into an alligator pit, I salivated it Weight is up, hands up like it's 12 noon, nah, homie Hold them bitches straight up, up wave 'em 'til you dislocate a rotator cuff Came up rough, came to ruffle feathers, nah, egos I ain't deflate enough, last chance to make this whole stadium erupt As Mitchell and Luna walked to the courtyard, he noticed that Luna was nodding her head to the song and when they got to the courtyard; pony citizens seemed to be unnerved by the song while the Royal Guards and the Sentinels were also nodding their heads to the song. Seeing this, the two decided to sat and waited until the song ended; also enjoying themselves in the song. I'm so close to my goals I can almost pole vault over the goal post And if I don't got enough in the tank, maybe I can just siphon enough To fill up this last can, man will I survive in this climate or what? They said I was washed up, and got a blood bath I'm not a rapper, I'm an adapter, I can adjust Plus I can just walk up to a mic and just bust So floor's open if you'd like to discuss Top 5 in this mothafucka and if I don't make the cut What, like I give a fuck, I'mma light this bitch up like I'm driving a truck To the side of a pump, 0 to 60 hop in and gun it Like G-Unit without the hyphen, I'm hyping 'em up And if there should ever come a time where my life's in a rut And I look like I might just give up, eh you might've mistook Me for bowing out I ain't taking a bow, I'm stabbing myself With a fucking knife in the gut, while I'm wiping my butt! Cause I just shitted on the mic, and like getting cut I get excited at the sight of my blood, you're in a fight with a nut Cause I'mma fight 'til I die or win Biting the dust it'll just make me angrier, wait Let me remind you of what got me this far, picture me quitting Now draw a circle around it and put a line through it, slut It's survival of what? This is survival of the fittest This is do or die This is the winner takes it all So take it all So get your ideas, stack your ammo But don't come unless you come to battle, I'm mad now jump in the saddle This is it, it's what you eat, sleep, piss and shit Lift, breathe, your whole existence just consists of this Refuse to quit, fuse is lit, can't diffuse the wick I don't do this music shit, I lose my shit Ain't got shit to lose, it's the moment of truth It's all I know how to do, as soon as I get thrown in the booth, I spit But my respect is overdue, I'm showing you the flow no one do Cause I don't own no diploma for school, I quit! So there's nothing for me to fall back on, I know no other trades So you'd better trade your fucking mics in for some tool-box-es Cause you'll never take my pride from me It'll have to be pried from me, so pull out your pliers and your screwdri-vers But I want you to doubt me, I don't want you to buh-lieve Cause this is something that I must use to suc-ceed And if you don't like me then fuck you Self es-teem must be fucking shooting through-the-roof cause trust me My skin is too thick and bul-let proof to touch me I can see why the fuck I disgust you I must be a-llergic to failure cause everytime I come close to it I just sneeze, I just go atchoo then achieve. This is survival of the fittest This is do or die This is the winner takes it all So take it all As the song ended, multiple hoof-stomps and cheering noises erupted from courtyard. Likely from the Royal Guards. "That song was amazing." Luna said to Mitchell, who was sitting next to her "You humans sure have a good taste in music. Who is the singer?" "Marshall Bruce Mathers III, also known by his stage name; Eminem. Featuring Liz Rodriguez." Mitchell replied. "Before you ask, his songs are cliche since there could be at least on word play or metaphor in every single line. But overall, it means he can do anything. He can reach any goal. He's almost there. He is back in the spotlight and he is loving it. He is saying that he is back to cause people to be upset and cause things to go haywire again. It's stating Eminem's undeniable epic skill and determination. Also, it expresses his cockiness. If you can control that cockiness, it's a morale booster." he explained "In my opinion, a good song to listen to when you are going to battle." "Ah, I see...but how could he chant the lyrics so fast? If I try it myself, I may need a replacement for my tongue, throat, and lungs." Luna stated. Mitchell chuckled "I don't know, but probably a lot of cardio exercise, spending your time with your nose buried under a dictionary and a creative mind to bend words so they will rhyme in the end." Luna chuckled, "Please tell me you still have more music?" she asked with an almost begging tone. Mitchell nodded, much to her delight. "If you'd like, I could upload our musics to your tablet later." Mitchell said. "Oh, that would be lovely." Luna replied. Suddenly three pegasus-pulled royal chariots entered the castle's airspace; signaling the arrival of Princesses Celestia and Cadance, and with that the top generals and military advisers. Seeing this, the Sentinels turned the music down and grabbed their gears alongside the royal guards with elements of them guiding the citizens politely, away from the castle; which they cooperated very well. After the citizens are out, they formed neat rows with Gideon, Luna, and Mitchell standing on the first row. "Where have you been mate?" Gideon asked. "Nothing, just had a chat with Luna that's all." Mitchell said while glancing at the Night Princess beside him. Flashing her a smile, which she returned. As he said that, the chariots landed on the courtyard. There were Princess Celestia and Princess Cadance, accompanied by four military dressed ponies. A Unicorn stallion, a Pegasus mare, and an Earth Pony stallion. Judging from the abundance of awards and rank insignia strapped to their red jackets, they were exactly the ones they have been waiting for. One of the ponies, the Unicorn stallion, stepped forward with the Pegasus and Earth Pony following close behind him. He has a medium build, a white coat, and a blonde mane. With a sparkling-shining dark blue shield as his cutie mark. and saluted at the Sentinels; seeing this, the Sentinels saluted back. Despite their serious and no funny business attitude, the Sentinels noticed the ponies' prying eyes; scanning their bodies. The newcomers noticed that these creatures were clad in black vests with metallic bars on their bodies, carrying some oddly shaped metal-sticks in their appendages. With four large metallic creatures sitting behind them. They had been told that they were their weapons, equipment, and air transportations; and if the rumors were true, then they were armed to the damn teeth. "At ease." The Unicorn said while lowering his hoof to the ground, the Sentinels did as they were told "Hello Sentinels, forgive us for the awkward introduction. I am General Gleaming Shield, the Princesses have told us so much about you. And we can't thank you enough for saving Ponyville from Iron Will and his scums." the General chuckled. "And I have to say, that was a very good music." Gideon and Mitchell stepped forward, as both leaders and representatives of the tier-one multinational task force "just doing our duty, sir." Gideon said politely. "And believe me sir, we still have a ton of music to go through." Mitchell added. "Ah, Major Gideon and Captain Jack Mitchell. We've got a lot to discuss with you and your team. " the General said with a tone of admiration towards the two "but before that, I would like you to meet my colleagues." as he said that, the Pegasus mare stepped forward and saluted. She has a slender build, cyan coat, and dark blue mane accompanied by a depiction of a hurricane as her cutie-mark. "I am Commander Hurricane, Commander of the Equestrian Royal Air Force. It's an honor." she introduced herself. "The honor's ours Commander." Mitchell said as he, Gideon and the rest of the team returned her salute. Shatter Storm stepped back, and this time the Earth Pony stallion stepped forward. He has a proportional heavy build, a crimson coat, and an orange mane accompanied by an iron sword as his cutie mark. Very reminiscent to Big Macintosh. "And I am Commander Iron Sword, Commander of the Royal Guards. My pleasure and honor to stand before you." he said respectfully, snapping the Sentinels a firm salute. Which they again, returned with an equal respect. With that, Iron Sword backed away After the introductions were done, Princess Celestia and Cadance stepped ahead of their military advisers with Luna joining them. "I guess introductions are out of the way, shall we go inside? We have much to talk about." Celestia said. "Lead the way Princess." Joker said. "So, have you encountered any sort of problems last night?" Celestia asked as the group walked through the luxurious hall of Twilight's castle; being flanked by both Gideon and Mitchell complete with Luna and Cadance by her side as well as Gleaming Shield, Hurricane, Iron Sword, and of course the Royal Guards and the rest of the Sentinel operatives. Being escorted by a combination of both human and pony elites surely bolstered the their confidence. Even the guards, knowing such well-trained soldiers were on their side and ready to fight with them seemed proud as well. "Absolutely not Princess." Gideon replied. "That's because all of you were sleeping." Silent Wing said with a nasty hint of sarcasm in his voice. "And you guys insisted to take the night shift, remember?" Ilona spoke up. This caused both parties to chuckle. "Excuse me, Mitchell? Cadance said, inching closer to him. "Yes?" Mitchell replied, looking at her. "Where is my husband and the others? I haven't seen them since we got here. I hope Twilight is alright." she sighed. "Shining is checking on Twilight's condition, he should join us when he is ready. And if Twilight's conditions are good, she and her friends will be joining us with Shining Armor." Mitchell informed her. Cadance smiled gratefully in return. With that, the group stopped in front of two large doors guarded by two royal guards; upon seeing them, they opened the door, saluted, and granted them entrance to a large conference room. The group entered and took their seats, but before the guards could close the door; a familiar masculine voice echoed from across the hallway. "Hold the doors!" Shining shouted. The group looked outside and to their excitement, Shining Armor was walking with a still bandaged Twilight with her friends behind them. Despite the injuries she has suffered, she seemed to be okay and fit for light non-physical activities. "How are you feeling Princess?" Mitchell greeted the newcomers as they entered the room. "I am fine, thank you." Twilight smiled as she took her seat next to him, Gideon, her brother, and her friends. "But my ribs are still far from good." She said as she rubbed her still recovering ribcage. "You will be okay, Twily." Shining assured his sister "that healing spell Doctor Red Cross gave you should help." "Thanks BBBFF!" Twilight said to her brother with a soft smile. The room fell into a dead silence. Both parties awaiting for each other to start the discussion. The Sentinels are waiting for the higher-ups to begin, due to respect and etiquette. While the ponies are waiting for the humans to begin, due to both excitement and curiosity. "Um, Gideon? Are you not going to say something?" Shining whispered while giving him a nudge. Gideon nodded with a hint of surprise written on his face, he stood up and cleared his throat. "Good morning, I on the behalf of the Sentinel Task Force; felt honored to have all of you for coming here today." He began "You have been very kind and accepting to us. Even after knowing we are soldiers. The truth is, if alien soldiers shows up on our planet, our leaders probably won't respond with the same manner as the way you are treating us now." "Because that is our way, to be kind and tolerant." Gleaming Shield said while scanning the room; getting a good view of every Sentinel operatives in the room "we too, are equally as honored to have soldiers like you on our side; not just as soldiers, but also our friends and allies." He said. "We are flattered, sir." Mitchell chuckled "But I reckon, you have a lot of questions for us?" "Ah, straight to the point I see." Gleaming Shield said "First of all, I've been told that these are your weapons and combat gears; is that true?" he said while pointing at Mitchell's exo-suit and IMR. "Exactly, sir." Mitchell said. "Don't worry, sir. We won't be using our weapons unless we are required to do so." "I know you won't." he chuckled "But, could we perhaps see how your weapons and equipment works?" he asked. Gideon chuckled "Of course, sir. The guards kept asking us about the same thing since two days ago." this caused the royal guards behind him to smile sheepishly, rubbing their helmets. "Captain Mitchell, could you tell us more about your team?" iron Sword asked. "Of course, sir." Mitchell said while putting his tablet on the table, turning the projectors on for a proper briefing. The ponies, stared at amazement. "We have three teams on our disposal, eight operators each. As you may have heard before, we are the best of the best in our world; which means we were handpicked from various elite military groups and organizations. Despite being picked from different military organizations, we have been trained intensively to deal with situations such as Direct Action, Special Reconnaissance, Counter-Terrorism, Unconventional Warfare, Information Ops, Foreign Internal Defense, Counter-Insurgency, Deep Reconnaissance, Hostage Rescue, and other types of missions." he said "We are all weapons specialists with our own specialties; which means we are capable to use any weapons, vehicles, and technologies both new and old." "Ilona here is one our top snipers. And Ramirez is our lead intelligence officer." Gideon said. "And I am just an extra gun I guess. An extra gun couldn't hurt, right?" Joker said, causing the room occupants to chuckle. "Oh really? What's your story?" Gleaming Shield asked. "Not much, former Spetsnaz special forces sniper. I never missed my shot." Ilona said. "I have to say, ma'am. Your accent is very similar to our soldiers from Stalliongrad." Iron Sword commented. "You mean Stalingrad? we call it Volgograd now." she added. "I see, our world seems to share quite a lot of similarities." Hurricane commented. Receiving nods of agreement from the others. "How about you?" "Not much, former National Security Agency agent; if you need any intel, sir; I can get it for you." Ramirez said with a smug smile,cracking his knuckles. "Captain Mcknight, you are up!" Mitchell said. With that, Mcknight got up from his seat "Thank you Captain Mitchell, I am Captain Matthew Mcknight; Captain of Aegis team." he introduced himself "Before joining the task force, me and my team were part of the United States Marine Corps; specifically the Marines Special Operations Regiment or 'MSOR' for short. Marines and Sailors of the MSOR train, advise and assist friendly host nation forces – including naval and maritime military and paramilitary forces – to enable them to support their governments' internal security and stability, to counter subversion and to reduce the risk of violence from internal and external threats We went through more and tougher training, specializing in actions Captain Mitchell mentioned earlier. Overall, we consider ourselves better than an average marine." he said "Oorah?!" "Oorah!" the team exclaimed in unison. "Just so you know, I was a part of the United States Marine Corps as well." Mitchell said "But I never made it to the MSOR though." "Why?" Iron Sword asked "You surely fit the requirements to join." "Having my left arm severed by a stray metal piece from an exploding gunship during my first day of deployment ended my career in the Marine Corps." Mitchell said while rolling up his sleeve, exposing his prosthetic arm to the ponies, much to their shock. Fluttershy was on the brink of passing out, but thanks to Ilona she didn't. "I see, but if you were a royal guard; such wounds will cause you to be discharged with the greatest of honors and being supported by our government." Iron Sword said. Mitchell chuckled "I actually thought so, but Jonathan Irons; former CEO of the Atlas Corporation, which you may have heard of...gave me a second chance in a form of an advanced prosthetic arm but in return I have to work for him. I think you know the rest." The ponies nodded in confirmation "Captain Menendez, you are up!" Menendez got up from his seat "Thank you Captain Mitchell, I am Captain John Menendez; Captain of Phantom Team." he introduced himself "Before joining the task force, me and my team were part of the United States Navy Seals; specifically our country's intelligence division Special Operations Group or SOG for short. We were tasked to conduct small-unit maritime military operations which originate from, and return to a river, ocean, swamp, delta, or coastline. SEALs can negotiate shallow water areas where large ships and submarines are limited due to depth." he said "During our time with the SEALs, we were trained to operate in all environments; Sea, Air, and Land. Hence the abbreviation. We were also prepared to operate in climate extremes of scorching desert, freezing Arctic, and humid jungle. In the past, SEALs only undertook maritime and littoral operations. But today, we can also carry out lethal direct action strikes equally well from air and land. Put us anywhere, we are ready to go. Hooyah?!" "Hooyah!" the entire team exclaimed in unison. "Captain Summers, you are next!" Mitchell said. Summers got up from his seat "Thank you Captain Mitchell, I am Captain Rick Summers; Captain of Hunter Team." he introduced himself "Before joining the task force, me and my team were part of the United States Special Forces; known as the Green Berets. We were tasked with five primary missions: unconventional warfare;the original and most important mission of Special Forces, foreign internal defense, special reconnaissance, direct action, and counter-terrorism. The first two emphasize language, cultural, and training skills in working with foreign troops. Other duties include combat search and rescue (CSAR), counter-narcotics, counter-proliferation, hostage rescue, humanitarian assistance, humanitarian demining, information operations, peacekeeping, psychological operations, security assistance, and manhunts. Hoorah?!" "Hoorah!"The entire team exclaimed in unison. "Sounds like you have a hell of a team under your command, Major." Gleaming Shield commented. "More than just subordinates, they are family." Gideon said "However, we are not the only ones from the spec-ops community." he said while turning his head to the pilots. Hurricane's ears perked up at his gesture, acknowledging his implication. "So, you pilots are special forces too?" Hurricane asked with an enthusiastic tone. "That's right ma'am." Sergeant John Reeves commented, getting up from his seat "I am Sergeant John Reeves, before joining this task force; me and my buddies here served for the United States Army 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment a.k.a the Night Stalkers. We provide aerial support for general purpose forces and special operations forces. Our missions have included attack, assault, and reconnaissance, and are usually conducted at night, at high speeds, low altitudes, and on short notice; hence the name 'Night Stalkers'." "Impressive, very impressive." Hurricane commented "I am looking forward to work with you." "Talking about work, we have a--." Before Gleaming Shield could continue his words, all Sentinels exo-wristpads started sending alerts endlessly as their built-in radars detected two large objects were falling from the sky with a blistering speed. "CLEAR THE ROOM NOW!"