• Published 30th Nov 2011
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Call of Duty - Equestrian Warfare - ChromeRegios



After a Disastrous mission gone wrong, Jackson was left for dead at a nucler explosion when he foundhimself to be the first human... in a whole new world.

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Chapter 9 - Allies on the Horizon (Part 1)

As Vasquez and Hanks walk towards the location of Rainbow Dash’s cloud house wondering what exactly they were likely to find or even be able to do about it, a bored Rainbow begins asking questions of them.

“So… what are you guys, exactly?” Rainbow wants to know as she floats in front of them, inspecting their uniforms and gear. “You don’t look like any ape I’ve ever seen!”

“Like Twilight said, we’re humans. And we already know that you’re a pegasus,” Vasquez replies not sure if he likes the brash mare or not.

“Well, what are those things you’re holding?” Rainbow next points a hoof at the weapons they’re carrying.

“These?” Hanks hefts his rifle, looking to his new L-T to answer.

Vasquez considers lying, but decides there is no point—if the ponies are to trust them, they can’t hide things from them. “We’re soldiers—actually marines—from our world. And these are human weapons,” he says simply, hoping it will be enough.


“Weapons?” she gives them a closer look, then shrugs. “Huh. They don’t look like any weapon I’ve ever seen. I mean, the Royal Guard has spears and bows, but they don’t usually need them.” she puts on an unimpressed air.


In relief at her lack of curiosity, Vasquez satisfies his own. “And why is that?”


“Well one… Equestria is at peace and the Guard is mostly ceremonial. I myself want to join the Wonderbolts, who used to be a rapid reaction military force but are now mostly just performance flyers.”


“Performance flyers? Oh, you mean like the Blue Angels?” Hanks pipes up.


“What’re the Blue Angels?” she asks, but doesn’t give them a chance to reply. “Never mind. Second… we don’t really need spears and arrows because we’ve got unicorn magic and weather control. You’d have to be pretty nuts to mess with that!


That catches them both short. Magic they could understand, but….. “I’m sorry. Weather control?” Vasquez repeats…


She gives them a funny look. “Of course! Pegasi control the weather here. We decide when it rains, when it snows… we can even spin up tornadoes or trigger clouds to fire lightning.” she explains as if it’s no big deal, leaving the two marines gaping and exchanging nervous looks. “In fact, I’m on the Ponyville weather team. Stick around, and you’ll see me clear a sky of clouds in ten seconds flat!” she boasts, doing a loop in the air.


About ten minutes later, they arrive at her house, the two marines looking up to see… a large structure floating up in the air. It’s all white and indeed looks like it’s made of clouds, but there’s a huge gaping hole in both sides of the building, like an entry and exit wound.

“So… that’s your home, Rainbow?” Hanks says, looking at her house floating in midair, the cobra copilot surprised that he could still be surprised after all he has already seen.

She harrumphs. “Well it used to be… until this weird metal bird came through it! It went over that direction,” Rainbow points towards a thin trail of smoke just visible in the moonlight.

Exchanging another look, Vasquez and Hanks immediately set off in that direction. “Whoa! Where are you guys going?” Rainbow Dash flies after them.

“Look, if a ‘metal bird’ hit your house as you say, it might be something from our world. We’ll go check it out and tell you what we find. You stay here.”


“No way! I’m coming with you!” Rainbow insists, crossing her forelegs in front of her.


Vasquez shakes his head. “Look, Rainbow… this is no place for you. We were fighting a war before we came here, and some of our enemies came through with us. There could be trouble over there, and we don’t want you getting hurt.”


Far from dissuading her, Rainbow puts on a cocky air. “Trouble? HA! Trouble’s my middle name! Anybody who wants trouble better watch out, ‘cause Rainbow Dash is here!” she puts a hoof to her chest as she speaks.


Vasquez rubs his eyes, sensing he’s not going to dissuade the cocky mare when her mind is set, and he certainly can’t give her an order to stay behind as he could one of his own men. “Fine, but… stay out of sight, Rainbow. If things blow up, head back to Ponyville and let our friends know what’s happening, okay?” he requests.


To his surprise, she salutes. “You can count on me!” she promises, and then zooms off ahead despite the Lieutenant’s call to wait, returning just a minute later. “I found the big metal bird! But there’s nopony there,” she looks confused.


The two marines weren’t sure whether to be relieved by that or not. “Show us.”


They follow her down the hill and end up in a grassy clearing, well-lit by the moon and find… “That’s a Blackhawk!” Hanks exclaims. “Looks damaged but serviceable if it was able to set down properly. But where’s the crew?” he asks his new L-T in a low voice.


“Don’t know, but I’m going to go check it out. Rainbow Dash, you watch from on high and stay out of sight unless I call you. Hanks, you cover me from the hilltop,” he instructs, going into the clearing, his weapon at ready.

The marine lieutenant makes it halfway to the chopper when hears a single rifle crack and a gout of dirt appears just off to his side.


Someone just fired at him!

“Stand down and lower your weapon! We have you surrounded and outnumber you five to one!” A voice calls out from behind in English, then Russian.


Vasquez immediately drops his weapon and raised his hands. He thinks he recognizes the voice but can’t be certain. “We’re friendlies!” he shouts, praying the next shot wouldn’t be into the back of his head.

“Hold fire, Hold fire!” the familiar english-speaking voice replies. “What the… Vasquez, Is that you?” it asks as the Lieutenant drops his hands and looks behind him, smiling in relief.


“Son of a bitch. I thought it was you, Foley…” Vasquez picks up his rifle from the ground and goes up to shake the Army Ranger’s hand.

“Dude. How are you here? I thought you died in that nuke?” asks Foley, looking him over from head to toe as if to confirm his friend is real.

Vasquez gives a wan grin. “Yeah, I thought so too… until I ended up here, just like you.” Vasquez replies as he radios Hanks to come into the clearing, deciding they can continue their conversation in the chopper bay.

“But… where is here?” Foley asks, looking around again as Hanks joins their group and they walk towards the stricken bird.


“Well, that’s the thing…” Vasquez begins slowly. “This is going to sound crazy, but I don’t think we’re on earth anymore…”


A half-hour later, Vasquez completes his story of how he and Jackson had arrived there. “Wow, Lieutenant…” Christian shakes his head in amazement. “Same thing happened to us when we were shot down by an RPG. We were about to crash, there was this bright white light, we blacked out and then… next thing we knew, we were much higher off the ground and about to hit this weird structure just hanging in midair. Thought we were a goner then too, but we just passed right through it,” he explains, still in disbelief. “After that we set down here.”

That catches Vasquez short. “Wait, you did that?” he asks in surprise, pointing up at Rainbow Dash’s ruined house again.

“We did, actually. But… I mean, it’s just a cloud right? It’s not like it was anybody’s home.” Christian says as he laughs a bit, only to look up and see Vasquez frowning.


“The problem, Sergeant, is that it was…” he precedes to tell them about the native pony inhabitants of the world. “To make a long story short, that was someone’s home. A pegasus pony named Rainbow Dash.”

The team stared at him like he was crazy. “Ponies? Rainbow Dash? Are you freaking insane?!” Dunn laughs out loud, and his teammates join in. “Come on L-T! “We’re not in another world, we can’t be!”

“Hey! I’m dead serious, Dunn! And don’t you dare laugh at me!” Vasquez snaps back, his temper still short after everything he’s been through, not helped by not being taken seriously. “Take a look around you. Is this Russia? Or the Middle East? Where’s the rebel base you were hitting? Was there a jungle-like forest or mountain range where you were? Why can’t we get a GPS signal or reach command? And have you ever seen such a clear starry sky or big moon?” he challenged them all in rapid-fire, his patience strained.


“He’s not lying,” Hanks spoke up for the first time, his voice numb. “This isn’t earth. And the natives are intelligent ponies.”


The group shifted uncomfortably at the conclusion they were being forced to reach. “Okay, I admit things are off here, but seriously, Vasquez… Ponies? Who would believe that ridiculous story? Did you hit your head or something? Or are the rebels now slipping you some weird drug cocktail that makes you hallucinate?” Foley asks seriously.


His patience at an end, Vasquez was about to ream the sergeant when Hanks broke in. “If I may suggest, L-T… we could just show them her, ” he motions with a thumb to the sky, where Rainbow is hiding.

The marine officer exhales sharply, kicking himself for not having done so already. “You’re right. Seeing is believing…” he looks up into the sky, spotting a single cloud with a silhouetted head peering down from over it. “Hey Rainbow! Come down from there and show these motherfuckers you’re real!” he orders, while the Rangers just glance between each other certain Vasquez and Hanks had both lost their minds. That lasted until there was an answering “Okay!” and accompanying rainbow streak out of the sky, followed by a very real creature planting herself in front of them, her features clearly visible in the bright moonlight.


“Rainbow Dash is the name, and being totally awesome is my game!” she announced with a hoof on her chest, her wings flared as if in display, a four-legged, four-foot tall winged-pony with a prismatic mane and tail. Dunn immediately got startled and fell backwards, while the others just stared in shock. “So are you the guys the ones who wrecked my house?” her expression turns angry and she stamps her hoof once.

“What—what the hell is that thing!” Dunn stumbles backwards, pointing a shaky finger at Rainbow.


“Hey, what do you mean thing?” Rainbow Dash takes immediate offense. “What, have you never seen a pony before?”


“They haven’t… and neither had we before today,” Hanks explained.


“Seriously?” Rainbow asks, unable to comprehend a world where her name is unknown.

“Wow, guess he was telling the truth after all…” Christian acknowledges while looking at her. “Sorry, we’re just new here,” he offers weakly, feeling faint. “Uh… can you really fly?”


That made her even more annoyed. “Of course I can!” she says, going into an immediate hover, doing a few simple tricks for emphasis.


“Of course she can,” Allen repeats numbly, still gawking.

“You believe me now, Sergeant?” Vasquez glares at Foley.


“We’re in another world… yes sir,” the veteran Ranger finally admits, even if he still can’t quite comprehend it. Trying to master his nerves he turns to Rainbow. “Um, sorry about your house…” he offers weakly.

“Eh, it’s okay. Cloud’s easy enough to fix, just a bit time-consuming. And I’d been thinking about upgrading it anyway. So what about that weird bird you came in? How does that work?”


“Well, uh…”


“Will someone please tell me why we’re talking to a winged horse?” Dunn asked again, clutching his head.


Rainbow shoots him a look, then darts over to the corporal and sticks a hoof in his chest. “And will someone please tell me why I’m talking to a bunch of weird apes who think I’m not real?” she gets in his face to answer him, causing Foley to burst out laughing.


“Okay, I like this filly, L-T. She’s got spunk,” he says in approval. “Sorry, Miss. We’re just… kind of far away from home right now.”

The corners of Vasquez’s mouth turn up as well and he claps Foley on the shoulder. “If it’s any consolation, you took it better than me, Sergeant. When I saw one of them for the first time, I didn’t do too well either. But they’re friendly, and they’re willing to help us.”

“They? Wait, you mean there’s more of them?!” Liam and Dunn ask in unison.


“Many more, and more of us, too,” he answered. “It’s not just soldiers crossing over, either, some of our vehicles have appeared here as well—aside from your chopper, we’ve got a crashed Cobra in the jungle and an Abrams tank that got deposited right in front of the local town hall. It was caught in the nuke blast too, and yet… here it is. And we may need it since it seems some ultra-nationalists came here as well,” he says grimly. “I’ve already fought a few. So we can’t drop our guard.”


“Ultra-what?” Rainbow asks.


“Shit,” Foley replies. “Can’t escape the call of duty no matter where we are, I guess. Alright then… take us to this town, L-T. I could use some sleep,” Foley yawns as he stands up from the chopper entrance.

“Sure. Just be ready for a lot more ponies when we get there. That means no more freakouts, understood?” he glares at Dunn in particular, who nods sullenly but picks himself back up.


“Lead the way, Rainbow Dash,” Hanks invites, and she does so, taking flight and heading towards Ponyville, leaving a colorful streak in the air even visible in the moonlight.


“No problem! Just follow me!” she invites, doing a few more flying tricks for them as she goes.