From Humans, to Cryptids, to... Ponies?

by TLP

Chapter 15: A Royal Pain

Kayla was just leaning on the doorframe, chuckling at what Marcus said. She then noticed that Rainbow was hugging him tightly. A manical grin slowly formed on her face as she remembered what she told.

"Hey Rainbow, remember what I told you.." She said a bit menacingly. Marcus raised an eyebrow at her then he looked down at Rainbow, with her eyes widened.

"Yo Kayla, lay off a bit will you? And what the hell did you tell her?" Marcus asked as he patted Rainbow reassuringly.

"She said she was gonna shoot Rainbow if she touched you.." Twilight said. Everyone looked at Kayla, who had her eyes focused somewhere else.

Marcus groaned "Please tell me you all made up while I was out..."

"Yep." Everyone said simultaniously. Marcus sighed in relif. But then Rainbow spoke up.

"Are you and I still on good terms?" She asked with an eyebrow raised. Marcus nodded, but wanted some answers to his questions.

"Yeah, but why'd you kick me?" He asked. Rainbow jumped off the bed as he shifted himself more comfortly.

"Uh... just not used to being joked around like that. Opens up old wounds, y'know?" She said the last part hesitantly.

"You have no idea..." He said quietly, but Rainbow heard him barley.

"What was that?" She said with an eyebrow raised. Marcus shook his head as he stretched his arms. He was pleased to hear several bones crack, making the girls wince a bit. He then felt a jolt of pain on his left side hit him like a lightning bolt. He yelped and clutched his left side.

Jackson chuckled "She kicked ya hard?"

"It's the bruise..." Marcus said as he lifted his shirt. The girls gasped at the huge, purple sore. Rainbow felt a twinge of guilt return before Marcus spoke.

"Pfft... this isn't even a flesh wound!" He said, making Jackson chuckle again. Then out of nowhere, a bright flash of light appeared in the middle of the room, like someone tossed a flashbang. Marcus and the rest rubbed and blinked several times.

"Princess Celestia!" They heard the girls say. They bowed, but the squad just stood there. The one they called Celestia had white fur, a mane that swayed majestically in the air, aside from no wind or any gush of air in the room, and had both a horn and a pair of wings, and was tall, about the same height as Marcus.

"You may rise, my little ponies." She said in a motherly tone. Then Twilight spoke up.

"Did you read through all my letters of information?" She asked. Celestia nodded.

"Yes, Twilight. I did. Now where are these creatures? I am very anxious to meet them." Celestia said. She then looked around and saw that the creatures were right behind the Elements. They stood at attention and saluted her.

"Oh! I apoligize for not noticing." She said.

"It's not a problem, Princess." Jackson said "Our leader is right there on the bed, resting a bit."

Celestia turned and saw their leader lying on a bed with bandages on his jaw and head. He then saluted.

"It's an honor to meet you, Princess." Marcus said.

"And the same to you, Sergeant. But please, just call me Celestia. I was never really one for formalities." She stated. Marcus nodded.

"Okay, Celestia. I'm guessing you have some questions for us?" He asked.

Celestia nodded " Yes, but I was also wondering if you or your friends have some of your own."

"We do, but let's answer yours first." Marcus said.

Celestia nodded "Very well then. Tell me, what exactly happened to your home planet."

Marcus' expression deepened as his mood sank like a rock "Our planet was taken over by these creatures called 'cryptids'. Which awoke after millions of years. They wiped out our entire species and took over our planet. We used all we had. And used our nuclear missiles. Only to create a wasteland and lose to those cryptids... It didn't even take them a year."

The girls and Celestia felt sorry for what happened, but his answer only generated more questions "H-how many of your kind existed?.." Celestia asked.

"Seven billion..." Marcus said, with a deadpanned expression. The girls gasped, but Celestia's royal poker face remained, but utter shock soared through her. Then she regained her composure.

"What about your family? Did they... survive?" She asked. Marcus felt like he was shot in the heart with a shotgun shell as tears formed in his eyes. The girls and Celestia noticed that she hit a sensitive spot. Hard. But before she could apoligize, Marcus answered.

"Yeah... they did." He looked up at Jackson, Thompson, and Kayla, who were sitting on chairs. ".. and I'm looking at them."

His squad smiled warmly at him "Oo-rah." They said in unison. Marcus then looked at the two empty seats next to them. Hi smile slowly faded as he looked down.

"Except for two..." He said quietly. The room fell into a deadly silence as memories invaded into Marcus' conciense. Before they could reach any further, Celestia spoke.

"May we see what these cryptids look like?" She asked. Marcus looked at her confused.

"How? I don't have any pictures."

Celestia shook her head "No, I mean I have a spell that can let me see what you think, and place it on a wall so others can see."

Marcus retorted "First of all, I have memories deep down inside my head.. ones that I refuse to re-think and re-live. And to have them plague all of your minds? Hell no."

"We can only see what you think, not go around your mind and memory as I please." Celestia said reassuringly.

"Presicley..." Marcus thought. He sighed and threw his hands up "Okay then. But don't say I didn't warn you.."

Celestia nodded as her horn glowed. She then touched his forehead with th tip of her horn. She saw Marcus put up a picture of a Scout cryptid on a wall next to the girls. Fluttershy let out an 'eep' and cowered behind her mane as the rest watched in awe and horror. Marcus mentally turned the image so they could get a full 360 degree veiw. He saw their reaction and chuckled.

"And that's the weakest cryptid.." He said as he replaced the image with a Breeder cryptid. He heard their jaws drop to the floor as he showed them every cryptid he knew and killed, all the way to the Anscestors.

Twilight asked a question she'd soon regret "H-how tough and destructive a-are they?"

Marcus then replaced the images with a flashback...

Over a suburb in Tusla Oklahoma, United States of America..

Marcus and his squad were flying towards a N.O.R.A.D underground bunker in Colorado in a V-22 Osprey until they were directed to provide suppresive fire for a civilian evacuation site in the heart of a suburb in Tusla. The pilot switched radio frequencies to listen in on th ground units.

"FIREFLY, WE GOT A SHIT-TON OF CRYPTIDS HEADING TOWARDS THE HELICOPTERS! TAKE 'EM OUT!!" He heard a soldier yell in the radio over gunfire. Marcus told the pilot to lower the ramp so he could provide the cover they needed and to keep the Osprey hovering. The pilot nodded and lowered the ramp. As the ramp lowered, Marcus unfolded an M103 Minigun from the right side of the Osprey and spoke on his radio.

"All units, this is CIF Team 1, hovering Northwest of the evac point. Permission to engage.." He looked and saw the carnage below. Burning and destroyed houses, wrecked cars, and several ruined helicopters. At the evac point, he saw cryptids all around trying to get in the safe-zone. The evac point was being heavily defended by National Guardsmen with M16's and the local police department. Alongside them were three Stryker vehichles. One had a 105-mm cannon and was blasting away, the other two were infantry transports with .50 Cal machine gun turrets on top, their gunners pumping lead into the cryptids brutally. At the middle was a Bell UH-1 Huey med-evac chopper. The two Strykers and the Huey were being loaded with civvies. Out in the distance were ten F-16 Fighting Falcons fighting alongside 14 Russian MIG-21's against Gargoyles for air superiority. Then Marcus heard a voice on the radio.

"CIF-1, WE GOT SCORPION CRYPTIDS TAKING ON HIGH GROUND, YOU ARE CLEAR TO ENGAGE ANY AND ALL HOSTILES!!" He could barley hear over the gunfire and the screams of petrified civilians.

"Understood, CIF-1 raining hell."Marcus spun up th M103 at the Scorpions on the rooftops. The explosive rounds connected with the acid-filled bulbs on their backs, making each Scorpion burn on their own shower of acid along with their limbs and flesh getting ripped apart. Marcus then heard a voice on the radio.

"This is Bonny 3-1, thanks for the assist! Taking these civvies to the U.S.S Enterprise near Galveston." Said a female pilot.

Marcus saw the Huey fly off at a dangerously low altitude. He was about to warn her until he saw a Rhino cryptid on a rooftop leap onto the right side of the Huey. The chopper tilted from the immense weight as it spiraled uncontrollably towards the ground. He then heard a huge explosion and saw a fireball rise from the ground. Marcus then heard the pilot shout.

"WE ARE AT BINGO FUEL, WE'RE PULLING OUT!" He shouted.

"WE CAN'T GO! THEY STILL GOT CIVILIANS THERE!" Marcus retorted.

"A-10 WARTHOGS FROM A NEARBY A.F.B ARE EN ROUTE, THEY CAN HOLD ON! FOLD THE MINIGUN BACK SO WE CAN GO!" He shouted.

As Marcus re-folded the minigun, he heard a faint whistling sound that got louder and louder. He looked up and saw three F-16's soaring downwards towards the evac point. Several Gargoyles were gnawing away at what was left of the jets. As the ramp closed, he heard 3 simultanious explosions...

End of flashback...

Marcus opened his eyes to see the girl's reaction to it all. They all looked confused, shocked, and utterly horrified to an unholy point, and were on the verge of tears. He looked at Celestia for her reaction. Let's just say the royal poker face didn't even last 2.4 seconds....

After about half an hour, Twilight spoke very quietly.

"W-was this your teams first... m-mission?"

Marcus shook his head "Not even close..."

Rainbow Dash was the second to phase back into reality "Then.... what was?"

Marcus mentally facepalmed "They just don't know when to quit... He thought.

Author's Note:

For those of you who want to know, Marcus has a bit of memory loss and doesn't remember anything from his dreams.

...Yet.

And give me your thoughts, like always!

P.S: Richtofen says 'Thanks!'

Comments

[JFK]

This is a great chapter

[Lauralite]

Really need to learn when to quit Twi... *facepalms* eh.. I say give 'em the whole nine yards if they're that inquisitive.

[JDPrime22]

I believe "cryptids" should be capitalized. Other than that I'm glad the ponies got to see the truth for their own eyes.

Also this:

"Yeah... they did." He looked up at Jackson, Thompson, and Kayla, who were sitting on chairs. ".. and I'm looking at them."

His squad smiled warmly at him "Oo-rah."

I fist pumped in the air after reading this.

[TLP]

4942098 Oh I am....
4941981 Thank you very much.

4942571 Aw yiss. And I'm not done with the flashbacks yet..

[Dragonfox]

Now that was a good chapter. Is he going to worn Celestia of the dangers that may be on there planet? Or, he think it was just a dream? You wood think that now wood be a good time to give his concerns.

Dragonfox

[The Graysons141]

Another good one. I can't wait to see how Luna will react to their dreams if they have flashbacks of fighting the Cryptids or other humans.
PS Richtofen, I need to know when my DG-2 will arrive.

[TLP]

4942712 Not yet, he doesn't remember due to slight memory loss. But he will.

4943956 Rainbow asked if it was their first mission.. Marcus is hesitant, but just wait..

[RexTheUmbreon]

4944284 hey richtofen, found five spleens. Here
hands you spleens