//------------------------------//
// Chapter 5 
// Story: Need for Feed 
// by totallynotabrony 
//------------------------------//

After deciding on a course of action, the group split up.  Maverick and Goose went back to their jet and picked up the tapes on which the electronics had recorded the brief battle with the pony plane.  Finding a place to play the tapes was quite a bit more difficult.
 
After wandering the base for a little while, they managed to find an electronics building.  It was a little difficult to talk their way in, but aircrew (cough, Maverick, cough) were masters of telling stories.
 
Sitting down in a small room with tape players and TVs, Goose pulled out a small notebook and kept track as Maverick played the tapes.  Carefully annotating events and the exact time, they painstakingly reviewed the data.
 
“Okay, here’s where we first picked it up.”  Maverick pointed to the display that showed the forward camera mounted on the jet.  It showed the artificial horizon and view through the heads-up display in the cockpit.  They spun the tapes a little further until the moment the Tomcat was behind the colorful jet.  Goose recorded relevant information from the radar display.
 
Walking through the intercept, they noted shots fired and the maneuvers of the foreign aircraft.  They played through its teleport jumps several times.  And, near the end, something interesting happened.
 
Goose had noted the distance the jet had jumped, and upon further analysis saw that it had shrunk each time.  When the jet made its final leap, there was a barely perceptible flicker at the edge of the radar screen.
 
“I think I’ve figured something out,” Goose said.
 
“You hate ponies?” Maverick replied.
 
“You know I’m allergic to horses.  Besides that, I think this transdimensional thing might be running out of power.  Its jumps kept getting shorter.  It might not be able to do that again until it recharges or something.”
 
“Interesting.”  The wheels in Maverick’s head were turning.
 
Goose saw the look and reminded him, “Before we shoot it down, we have to find it.” 
 
Maverick shrugged.  “Maybe our guests might know something about that.”
 
“Nah, that nerdy one didn’t even seem to know.”
 
“The pony or the woman?”
 
“Either.”
 
The two of them packed up and left the building, heading back to where they last saw the rest of the group.
 
While the two of them were reviewing the tapes, the gang and the girls had sat on the beach for a while longer.  The picnic was one attraction, but the chance to converse with aliens was even more interesting.  Even Shaggy, Scooby, and Pinkie managed to work words in edgewise between bites.  Everything was going well, so well that the next logical step was a downslide straight to heck.

Sand ninjas.

At least, that’s what Pinkie exclaimed when a group of men wearing tan uniforms burst upon the scene of the picnic.  The pleasant lunch turned into a mad dash in the blink of an eye.  

Food was flying, hooves and feet were scrambling, in the background somebody had started some music.

The two groups chased each other up and down the beach for several minutes, weaving through palm trees, avoiding crabs and sea life, and taking turns getting swept away by waves.

Finally, Twilight got her wits about her and teleported the group.

“Wow, that was some trip,” muttered Shaggy.  He looked around, but wherever they had ended up, it was dark.

“Reah,” Scooby agreed.  It sounded and felt like he had ended up on top of Shaggy.  In fact, the whole group seemed to be piled up.

There was a flicker of light and Twilight’s horned glowed.  “Sorry about that.  I had to get us away, and I guess in the heat of the moment I didn’t have time to take a precise aim.”

The group got themselves disentangled.  The room where they had ended up was apparently very large and echoed.  The floor appeared to be smooth concrete, covered in salt water and sand from the beach.  

“Hang on, let me get some more light,” Twilight said.  She pointed her horn up and shot a magic flare into the air.  It hovered a few dozen feet above them, shining brightly.

Everyone gasped.  “What’s that?” Rainbow asked in awe.

Velma squinted, and wandered over to the thing they shared the room with.  She put a hand on it.  “It feels like a B-52.”

“Like, I thought they just made music,” Shaggy said.  Everyone ignored the terrible joke.

“Is this another kind of airplane?” Twilight asked.

“Sure is,” Fred replied.  “You teleported us into an aircraft hangar.”

“The lights aren’t on,” Rarity said.  “Perhaps they won’t think to look for us here.”

“Who were those guys, anyway?” Pinkie asked.

“Maybe more security people,” Daphne speculated.

“It sure looks like this place is locked up securely,” Twilight noted, looking around at the plane and the locked hangar doors.

“They tend to do that with nuclear bombers,” Velma said.

Fluttershy let out a frightened squeak.  Rainbow put on a huge grin.

Just then, someone started pounding on the locked door that lead to the outside.

Scooby said, “Ruh-roh.”