//------------------------------// // Hole In The Sky // Story: From the Shoulders of Giants // by Za Raapini //------------------------------// From the Shoulders of Giants By Za Raapini Chapter Two: Hole in the Sky Rainbow Dash stared slack-jawed at what she saw, and her body rebelled against the foreign feeling that was washing over her. Her brain tried to comprehend what she was witnessing. Three circles of purple light were just...floating, in the sky. Coming out of them were creatures, creatures she had never seen before in her life. The cyan pegasus hovered in the sky, hesitating. What should she do? Moreover, what could she do? Her pulse quickened, and her brain scrambled in a million different directions, trying to come up with an idea. "Who would know… who would" Rainbow trailed off, and she mentally slapped herself for not coming to the conclusion sooner. Twilight. Of course she would be prepared for this!, With that, the cyan mare turned and sped towards the unicorn's home. The lavender unicorn would have answers for her. She always had the answers. Once she got Twilight on the case they could begin planning. At least, that was the concept. 000 "Jesus Christ, you guys see that?" a pilot exclaimed over the net. All twenty five helicopters were now through the breach, rotors whirring and thumping. “Keep this net clear. All Whirlys, break off and drop off your loads. Pre-designated units, establish your cover patterns after releasing your men,” another voice said. “This is Overlord. Fixed wing air support is ready when you need it. Establish a tempo, and press the advantage. Remember the ROE, leave no building unsecured. Good luck out there.” “Solid copy Overlord,” Major Picante, the on-the-ground commander said. 000 Rainbow finally spotted Twilight's house, and made a beeline for it. She stopped just outside the door and began pounding on it. Spike came to open the door, and before he could even say anything Rainbow was already brushing through into the house. “Twilight! Twilight! Twilight!” "Upstairs!" came Twilight's reply. She started walking down her staircase. "What's up Rainbow? Why are you out of breath?" Twilight said, concerned for her friend. "Out... outside, quick, come," Rainbow said. "Why? What's going on?" Twilight started to say. Then she heard it. Rainbow instinctively flinched. Thump-thump-thump-thump-thump-thump-thump-thump-thump-thump-thump One of the black things flew right over the house. Then... stayed there. What was happening? "Rainbow, get inside. Catch your breath. I'll see what I can find out," Twilight said. "As if! I'm coming with you," Rainbow spat out. "Rainbow this isn't the time-what are those?" Twilight began, and then stopped as it appeared... rope was dropping out of the beast in the sky. Twilight turned around and yelled inside to Spike. “Send a letter to Princess Celestia, Spike! Tell her we need help!” She walked closer towards the horror. The wind was unreal right beneath it. Twilight fought to keep her eyes open against its fury. She craned her neck upwards to try to look at the monster. That was when Rainbow came out, ready for a fight, and ended up with her mouth agape right next to Twilight. Creatures were dropping down, with bulky bodies, bulbous heads, and sinister looking black things strapped to their backs. They were tan in color, and looked like no being Twilight or Rainbow had ever seen. Then Twilight finally reacted and shot a beam of magic at the beast, enveloping it, hoping to keep it in place. At least long enough to try to get a good look at it. The creatures continued dropping out, landing about one hundred feet away from where the two ponies were. She could see the monster moving left and right, trying to break free of her grip. Rainbow, seeing that Twilight had the beast in her grip, flew up, looking to see where she might be able to help out. Seeing more of the creatures in the sky scared her, but she swallowed, determined to put a stop to this. She took off after one, a rainbow trail left in her wake. 000 Inside the cockpit, CWO4 Perez and CWO3 Collins were a bit curious at what was happening. They tried moving their bird a little, just to see what effect that...unicorn was having on it. Stuck, but not immobile. Rotors were still turning. Total flight time was only seven minutes, so fuel wasn't a concern in case they decided to go to one hundred percent thrust. They tested the various systems. Hydraulics were good. Electrical was good. It was kinda like a tractor beam. Perez rolled to Delta's radio channel and began speaking. "Dread Actual, Dread Actual this is Whirly One Five." "Go ahead One Five." "Roger, have encountered one of the locals. Has us caught in a tractor beam. Dread One Two is done fast roping, we're going to see if we can power out of this." "... Say again One Five. It sounded like you said 'tractor beam.'" "Yeah, that's affirm. We have limited mobility, good altitude, fuel is good, we're going to increase thrust and try to power out of this. We'll be RTB if that works." "Roger." "Whirly One Five out." 000 On the other side of town, another Task Force helicopter happened upon a rather large orchard. Could be the primary food source for the area, and maybe a focal point for resistance if things got hairy. They decided to drop off the squad there to establish dominance. "You see that clearing in the trees there? About five hundred meters from the farmhouse? We'll drop low, let the guys jump out, give it some throttle, get out of here," one of the pilots said. "Roger that," the other responded. He switched to the freq the MARSOC guys were on. "One minute. We're gonna drop down low, you guys disembark, we fly off. Easy day," the pilot said. Down below they could see movement; some of the livestock and work animals appeared to be loose. Looked like a stallion was running back towards the buildings off in the distance, and another horse was galloping around. It appeared to be... wearing a hat. 000 "Apple Bloom! Are ya out here?" Applejack shouted. Getting no response she kept running, trying to find her, get her out of here before the monster in the sky could begin hurting them. It appeared to be getting lower every second. "Apple Bloom!" she shouted again, then with a start remembered that her and her friends had been playing in their clubhouse. She shot off in that direction, then stopped. She would lead this monster right to her little sister and her friends if she did that. "You ain't hurtin' mah lil' sister," Applejack said to herself as the beast came down near the ground. Then she saw its sides open, and even more monsters got out! Bulky bodies, evil looking things on their backs. They noticed her and began moving slowly in her direction. The big monster, apparently out of little ones to unleash, lifted back off into the sky with a tremendous roar and wind. "Maybe if I‘m careful, I can take 'em out one at a time," Applejack said to herself. She noticed one of them looking at her, his black stick in his arms. He put it into one, and began waving to her. Not suckered in by its pathetic attempts to ensnare her, Applejack leapt forward, turned around, and kicked it square in the chest. She felt something break when she did so, and while she hated the idea of violence, she couldn't afford to dwell on it. Not when her little sister was at stake. She dashed away, expecting the others to charge after her to avenge their fallen comrade. To her shock, she noticed them carrying him behind a tree, the others looking around warily while this happened. What was going on? 000 "Corpsman! Corpsman! Get over here!" Gunny Johnson yelled. He couldn't believe it. Not one minute on the ground and they already had a casualty. He looked down at Pryor. His breathing was labored, and they had all definitely heard his ribs crack when the horse kicked him. It ran off after it did it, and Gunny Johnson was mad. Mad at himself, and a little mad at Pryor. Mad at himself for not stopping Pryor from waving to the horse. Mad at himself for agreeing to be dropped in at this location. If not here, then where? The farmhouse? Yeah, let's let a bunch of hick motherfuckers with plenty of guns get a good firing position at a helicopter. That'd be genius, Johnson thought to himself. He caught a glimpse of the horse that had kicked Pryor running off. They'd obviously spooked the poor thing, between their landing, and Pryor waving to it. He couldn't really blame the horse for kicking him. It was obviously terrified of what was going on. Johnson was interrupted from his thoughts by Doc Richards, who came rushing up to Pryor. "What happened?" Richards asked as he removed Pryor's gear. "Got kicked in the chest by a horse. We're pretty sure he got some of his ribs broke," Johnson replied. "He's having difficulty breathing, and we definitely don't have the capabilities of treating broken bones out here. We need to CASEVAC him," Richards said. "Figured that. O'Brien! You got that 9-line ready? Get with Doc! We're getting Pryor out of here!" As the Marines rushed about, preparing to CASEVAC Pryor, Johnson stole a glance at where the horse had run off to. To his shock, it was still there. Looking at them. It was wearing a hat. What kind of farm puts hats on horses? Johnson had never been a fan of this mission; too many unknowns, too many chances for confusion. This didn’t seem like the type of place to try and start a fight. So why the display of power? One way or another, he'd get answers for his Marines. 000 Back in Ponyville, Khrutov and his squad were awaiting the order to insert. Craning his neck to look outside, he could see that area was not ideal for an insert. Too many buildings, too many chances to get picked off while conducting a fast-rope. The lack of gunfire in the area however gave him some hope that the mission wouldn’t be too difficult, and they would be able to move on and conduct reconnaissance soon afterward. His train of thought was broken by the helicopter stopping and the blaring voice in his ear telling him to kick the ropes and drop down. Time to get to work. He glanced at his squad as they dropped down, making sure it was a clean insert. As the last man went down, Khrutov followed suit and took in his surroundings. 000 With the Spetsnaz on the ground, the pilots in the helicopter gave it some throttle and started flying up and out away from the town. They spotted something heading their way from off in the distance. A chariot? And flying horses? Seriously, what the fuck was going on? “Overlord, this is Whirly One One.” “This is Overlord.” “Roger, we’re seeing some additional flyers in the area. Request you send in fixed wing to help it settle.” “Roger One One, Havoc Five One and Havoc Five Two are en route.” “Roger Overlord. One One out.” Two F-22s outta help the situation here a little bit. Satisfied that the situation would be resolved, the pilots of One One decided to do a few laps around the town, make sure things were calm enough to leave for a bit. 000 “Whirly One Five, Whirly One Five this is Dread One Two,” SFC Ramos said. His squad had moved out a bit after fast-roping into the town, and wanted to make sure the pilots were still okay. “Send it One Two.” “Roger, we’re about 200 meters away to the northeast, do you need assistance?” “Negative. That horse looks like it’s getting tired. We’re gonna give it a minute then goose the throttle. Appreciate the concern.” “Roger. We’ll be nearby. Give the call if you need it.” “You got it.” “One Two out.” Ramos wasn’t sure what to do in this situation. His whole military career had been based around swift and violent assaults. Swiftness wasn’t the issue. Nine minutes on the clock, and already ten of the operator squads had been deployed. Given that they knew absolutely nothing about this area, where the center of gravity was for these guys, terrain, expected times for armed response, this mission was going as smoothly as it could. Except where the fucking people? All he had seen were horses. Pegasi, unicorns, regular horses; seriously, there was something wrong with this place. But where were the people? Ramos looked around. There was every indication there was a civilization here. Shaking his head, Ramos looked at his squad and motioned for them to patrol the area. There were buildings nearby that needed to be cleared. Time to do some digging. 000 Twilight Sparkle was in hell. Oh sure, maybe not literal hell, not in the depths of the pit of Tartarus, but close enough. She could feel her will to do anything being sapped out of her by this beast. Every time she thought she had a grip on it, it threatened to break free again. It seemed to have an unlimited amount of power, and there was nothing she could do to stop it. She risked opening her eyes to see what happened with the things it had dropped out of it. She could see one of them staring at her from a good distance away. She wondered what he was thinking about the situation. Probably more than her. She was a tad occupied at the moment. Suddenly the beast surged with new found power, and Twilight cursed herself for her momentary lapse in concentration. Gritting her teeth she applied more power to the spell and managed to re-corral the damn thing before it flew up. Gradually she upped the ante, giving it her all to try and bring it down. Despite everything, it still remained there in the sky, looking down on her, taunting her. Letting her know how bad the situation was. 000 “Whirly One One, this is Shadow Two. We have deployed and are beginning our patrol. Request you provide aerial surveillance,” Sgt Khrutov said into his mike. His squad had regrouped after the fast rope insertion, and began taking defensive positions. “Roger Shadow Two. Be advised, Havoc Five One and Havoc Five Two will be on station in approximately five mikes. Have your controller ready to take charge.” “Roger. Siege Four Two will be ready to control them once the word is given. Are there any other squads who will be needing their use?” “Negative, it’s quiet right now.” “Roger, Shadow Two out.” “Break break break,” came over the radio. Khrutov felt his breath stop and his heart rate pick up. Quiet? Then what was so urgent? “Stand by for 9-line CASEVAC.” “Gentlemen, two teams of five. Begin clearing houses in the immediate area. Detain any people you find. We will begin questioning them on the lack of response,” Khrutov said to the squad. They nodded in the affirmative. “Move out.” The ten Spetsnatz operators began swiftly moving through the area, all the while hearing the 9-line coming through on the net. Broken ribs. Not quite what Khrutov was expecting. His heart rate slowed back down. Most likely they spooked some farm animal, or perhaps he had fallen out of the helicopter. Still, it was one less man, and from what Khrutov had seen at Edwards, the Marines that had been selected for this mission were capable and well trained. Which made the assumption of one of them falling out a little off base. Khrutov shook his head. It would not do well to dwell on thoughts when there was a mission to be accomplished. He spotted a large, ornately decorated building. He could smell baked goods emanating from it. Obviously some type of food shop. “Dynamic entry, bottom floor, flashbangs through first entrance, weapons on burst,” Khrutov said to his team. They nodded silently, ever the professionals. “Stack up.” As the team moved in on him, he could see the other detachment doing the same on another building. Ideally there would be minimal bloodshed, and a field headquarters could be established in one of these buildings. Something to provide a spot to plan their next move. “Breach.” The door was violently kicked in, and two flashbangs flew in the building. They waited a beat, and the grenades went off with a loud blast and blinding light, ideally confusing and disorienting anyone inside with a weapon trained on the doorway. The team rushed in, sweeping the corners and ensuring there were no hostiles inside. Truth be told, Khrutov was a little disappointed that there was nobody to engage. He paused, the first floor cleared, and gathered himself. Then he heard noises. Crying. Shit. “Children in this domicile Sergeant. Suggestions?” Fetisov, one of his team leaders, said. A level headed individual, he could be counted on to make the right decision in just about every situation. This one included. “Continue clearing. Soft knocks. Isolate the room with the children and refrain from weapons discharge unless you feel your life is threatened.” “Move out.” 000 Pinkie Pie was scared. Not good scared like Nightmare Night scared either. When she first felt the vibrations, Pinkie’s thoughts immediately went to some type of party. It was the only explanation for there being so much noise. Then she remembered that she wasn’t throwing a party at the time. The Cakes immediately went upstairs, and encouraged Pinkie to follow them. Not really wanting to see what would happen, Pinkie did just that. The roaring noises outside still hadn’t abated, and then two loud bangs were heard downstairs and the sound of things rushing inside. To make matters worse, Pound and Pumpkin were bawling their eyes out, and really who could blame them? Pinkie was trying to help console them. She gulped, and nervously went to the door. She put an ear next to it, trying to hear what was going on. Voices. So at least whatever had come to Ponyville could talk. But it was a language that Pinkie had never heard before, a harsh, angry sounding language. Well, that wasn’t very fun. Then she heard them soften, and realized with a panic they had heard the twins. 000 “The rest of the building has been cleared Sergeant. This is the room with the children, presumably with the inhabitants of the building as well,” Fetisov said. “Very good. Careful and considerate approach here gentlemen,” Khrutov said. He walked forward and knocked on the door. “Hello? Anyone there inside? Military,” Khrutov said, struggling to spout out the words in English. He’d never quite gotten the hang of the language. “M…military?” he heard coming from the other side of the door. “Correct. Talk is what want,” Khrutov said, slightly embarrassed at his lack of command of the language. Hopefully they could get some type of information out of these people, and if worst came to worst, detain them and let the Delta guys take care of it. He shuddered at that thought. Delta wasn’t known for their mercy in field interrogations. He heard footsteps, heavy ones, although it made sense, given the nature of the building they were in. Khrutov allowed himself a small smile. They were getting somewhere. Then he saw the door open. 000 Pinkie Pie couldn’t believe herself. Here she was walking to the door, more confused than she had ever been, going to talk to some guys that said they were…military? Pinkie had never heard of such a thing. She opened the door to one of the strangest creatures she had ever seen. 000 Abandoning all pretext of logic and reason, Khrutov and his team stormed into the room, knocking the pink horse (pink horse? Really?) out of their way, weapons trained on everything that moved, and began yelling at them. Unfortunately, Khrutov knew that his English went right out the window when he was in any type of excited or agitated state. Therefore, it came out as Russian, and any hope of this situation calming down was lost. 000 Pinkie Pie wondered what had upset the thing in front of her. He was shouting at her angrily, with a strange gleam in his eyes. Shouting was never fun, and she wondered what she could do to try to get it to calm down. She ran through a mental checklist of things, but as most of it revolved around jokes or food, she was drawing a blank as to what would work. Then she saw one of them lean towards the shouting creature, and he stopped all of a sudden. This was strange, but Pinkie wasn’t going to argue with it. She was happy the shouting had stopped, and things calmed down, if ever so slightly. 000 “Sergeant, shouting at horses will not help us to understand what is happening. We should calm down and try to avoid spooking them further. There is a bed here. Someone has to live here,” Fetisov said smoothly, trying to bring his friend back from the brink of making a poor decision. He saw Khrutov stop shouting, and watched as he closed his eyes for a brief moment. “Um…can we…can we help you?” Now even Fetisov was shocked. Did…did one of them just talk? Mercifully the radio keyed in at that particular moment. “Siege Four Two, Siege Four Two, this is Havoc Five One, checking in on station. Guns are tweaked, foxes are hot, and we have joker plus four five playtime available.” At once, Konstantinov, their JTAC, keyed the mike. “Havoc Five One this is Siege Four Two. Roger. Need you to conduct aerial scan of the town to the west. Call in any targets that you see,” he said. “Roger. Be advised, there is a flying chariot with a large horse inside it, flanked by six flying horses. Want us to smoke it?” “No! That’s Princess Celestia! It has to be!” they heard one of the horses shout out. The five men and five horses sat there in dumbfounded silence for a beat. “Siege Four Two, copy my last?” “Affirm. Hold fire for now. Stand by for further tasking. Siege Three Three may have something for you.” “Roger. Havoc Five One out.” The men stared at the horses, wondering what exactly they had gotten themselves into. 000 Johnson looked around. The 9-line had been sent up, and Whirly One One was coming in to pick up Pryor. He looked up to make sure the skies were clear when he noticed some objects up there. Fast movers. Not theirs. “Hey Gunny! Havoc is on station! Any tasking?” he heard his JTAC, Sgt Yun say. “Show of force! Get these fuckers off our backs while we get Pryor out!” “You got it! Havoc Five One, Havoc Five One, this is Siege Three Three. I need you to conduct a Show of Force from northeast to southwest of our position to be marked by air panel, maintaining no more than zero one zero zero meters off the deck, moving as fast as you feel comfortable.” “Roger, Show of Force at good speed skimming the trees. Stand by gents, it’s about to get noisy down there.” 000 Celestia was rather taken aback. When she had received the letter from Spike, she had been expecting a report on friendship perhaps. Not that one of her towns was under attack. She could never have guessed what would be waiting for her as she rounded up the royal guard and some of the Wonderbolts to go assist Ponyville. Monsters. The likes of which nobody in Equestria had ever seen. She didn’t panic. It wouldn’t do well to panic in this situation. But she was beyond curious as to what was happening. She heard a whooshing sound, and a small smile appeared on her face. Rainbow Dash was flying up to them. Perhaps she could tell them what was going on. “Princess! It’s not safe up here, you have to get down on the ground!” Celestia was taken aback by this. Rainbow seemed scared, and in all her encounters with the young pegasus, she had never seemed afraid of anything. Spitfire, flying with her on her left, looked at Rainbow. “Whoa, kid, calm down. What’s going on?” “Spitfire! Everyone! Trust me! You have to get down on the ground right now!” That was when they heard it. An otherworldly roar crashing through the skies. “I feel it would be best to follow her advice. Ground. Now,” Celestia said with authority. Immediately they dropped down, Rainbow Dash trailing behind them. Right as they touched down, they heard a tremendous boom, and saw two flying creatures soar through the sky, looking as menacing as they sounded. 000 “Havoc Five One, Siege Three Three. Good effect on target, repeat mission.” “Roger, repeating mission.” 000 Celestia, her guard, the Wonderbolts, and Rainbow looked up to see the…demons, that was the word that Rainbow had been looking for the whole time. The demons came back around, flying very low, very fast, and very loudly. Rainbow watched in awe as clouds formed around their heads as they breached the sound barrier. They came roaring overhead with an incredible boom and continued on. That was when Celestia noticed almost a dozen strange bipedal creatures almost five hundred yards away. She was about to move towards them when an ominous thumping filled the air, and another demon, differently shaped, dropped in between them. She could see some type of activity going on, but was unsure as to what it was. 000 “Let’s go! Move move move! Get him on board!” Johnson yelled to the stretcher team. Pryor was going to be okay. The bird was here, he was getting loaded on, and there was an Air Force base right on the other side of the portal. Things were going to be okay. “Havoc Five One, Havoc Five One, good effect on target, good effect on target. Ask that you switch tasking to aerial surveillance,” Yun said. “Roger, good copy Siege Three Three. We’ve been reduced to joker plus three five mikes on station after the show of force.” “Roger Havoc Five One.” 000 To say Fluttershy was terrified would be a bit of an understatement. About to have a nervous breakdown would likely be a more accurate statement. Ever since she had heard the powerful thumping noises she had ushered all of her animals inside her cottage and bolted the door as best she could, in a desperate attempt to keep whatever was entering the town from getting in. She knew, in the back of her mind, that it wasn’t going to stop them. She heard one of the monsters coming through the sky and hid under her couch, Angel held close to her. The rabbit was relatively docile for once, and for that Fluttershy was grateful. The last thing she needed right now were his usual antics. She heard indistinct voices coming from outside and she huddled closer to the ground. Maybe they would come in, see nothing, and move on. Fluttershy kept up this line of hopeful reasoning for a minute or two, right up until the door exploded in a powerful spray of wooden daggers. Animals Fluttershy had never seen before came charging through the open space, yelling out words and swinging strange sticks around. She kept quiet, hoping that they wouldn’t see her. Unfortunately, Angel saw this as a prime opportunity to be aggressive. He squirreled his way out of Fluttershy’s grasp and ran up to one of the strange creatures, trying to deliver a kick. Fluttershy let out a small gasp as she watched, then immediately regretted doing such. “Hey, look at this. You ever seen a rabbit act like this?” she heard one of them say. Maybe they hadn’t heard her? “Can’t say I have, mate. I’ve also never seen a horse laying down underneath a couch. What a day, huh?” she heard another say. Oh no! Oh no, no, no, no. They… they saw me! What are they going to do? Fluttershy thought in a panic. “Is that horse… yellow? Oi, Captain! We got something weird here!” the creature shouted. Whatever this ‘Captain’ was, Fluttershy didn’t want to meet it. She tried to bolt out and make her escape, but Angel, of all things, got in her way. He was frowning at her and stamping his foot. “Angel, no! We have to go!” Fluttershy said with as much volume as she could muster. Just then she heard all the creatures stop moving, and she could feel all of their eyes on her. “You… you talked. Captain, apparently those radio transmissions were not in error. You want me to notify Daredevil Actual?” she heard one say. “Yeah, go ahead and do that. Oi, horse, what’s your name?” the one who was apparently named Captain said. “Uhm… Flut… Fluttershy,” she responded. As least they weren’t attacking her. That was a start. Hopefully they would leave and never return soon. “Interesting name. I’m Captain McCollum. I am a member of the British Special Air Services. We didn’t mean to startle you. Our mission brief didn’t really account for talking horses. We’re going to be on our way now, okay? We’re um… sorry about the door,” the Captain said. “It’s… it’s okay,” Fluttershy said. They were leaving, and they were sorry about her door? Could she have been wrong about what was happening? She heard a strange scratching noise fill the room, and noticed one of the creatures touching its head. She could hear something being said, but couldn’t quite make out the words. “Sir, that was Daredevil Actual. Rally point is the town. Non-hostile environment. Shift mission parameters,” it said. Non-hostile environment? Rally point? What exactly did they mean by all that was said? “Alright gents, let’s get moving. Again, sorry about the door. Get in touch with us later, bill us for it. Let’s get moving!” the Captain said as the creatures moved out of her cottage. Fluttershy stood there, bewildered by what had transpired. In the span of a few minutes her door had been obliterated, she had met strange creatures, and they had left. As scared as she was, Fluttershy was also intensely curious as to what had happened today. Taking a deep breath, she made her way out of her cottage, intent on talking to Twilight and asking her what she knew. 000 Twilight was on her last dregs of energy, the tethering spell taking just about everything she had to keep going, when suddenly the pressure she was feeling in her head dropped considerably, and the winds picked up. She risked opening an eye to see the creature dropping down. What was this? Exhausted, she finally released the spell, not caring whether the monster did anything to her or not. She was drained of every fiber of her being. She just couldn’t do it anymore. This was the end of Equestria. She had failed everyone. Princess Celestia, her friends, all of Ponyville. She just couldn’t fight them anymore. She resigned herself to her fate, when she noticed that the winds stopped. The roaring stopped. Then she heard footsteps approach her. “You alright?” she heard. She was on the verge of unconsciousness, when she felt something splash her. Water. “Hey. You alive?” Twilight was a bit irritated. Surely they would be able to see the rise and fall of her chest as she breathed in and out. Groaning weakly, she tried to stand up and face down the creatures. But she literally had nothing left in the proverbial tank, and she collapsed nearly as soon as she went up. “Hey, easy now, easy now. Rest up. Here, try this,” the creature said to the purple unicorn. She could hear the crinkling of a wrapper, and a delicious aroma filled her nose. “Wha…” was she could manage. “It’s granola. It’s good,” was the response she got. She could feel them placing it on her tongue. “Ta…tasty.” Twilight chewed the snack and swallowed it. It could have been poisoned for all she cared. She was just so tired. For now, she was content to lay here and rest, letting her magic replenish and her body recuperate. Answers would come. She was sure of it. 000 “…and not one minute into it, we’re already down a man! So I’m thinking, you know, shit. We just got here and we already took a casualty? Where’s all the people? You know? Eight years in this shit, and I ain’t never seen nothing like it!” “F’real man! This shit was fucking outrageous. Can’t wait to get back to Cali, get ready to go do an actual mission. This is not what I joined MARSOC to do!” Collins looked up as he heard the voices. Must be the MARSOC guys who landed near the farm. In the turmoil of the insertion, he’d forgotten they lost a guy. Broken ribs. He made a mental note to ask them how it happened later. Major Picante walked up, shaking Collins out of his thoughts. Where the fuck did he come from? “You don’t get to lead a Special Operations Task Force without being damn good at it yourself. You the boys who got caught by some type of beam earlier?” Picante said, seemingly reading his thoughts. “Yes sir. No damage to the bird, and when you sent the word to go firm, we decided to land. Why’d you say we’re in a…’decidedly non-hostile environment’ anyways?” Perez asked. “Well, despite the rather rude manner you came here, I felt it wouldn’t be proper to not at least greet you,” they heard a voice say. “Gentlemen, meet the big kahuna for this area- Princess Celestia.” A/N: Can't say I'm happy with the end of this chapter, but I couldn't think of a good way to end it. Movin' on. I realize I toss out a lot of jargon and military specific nomenclature and the like in my writing. If you would like, I can start putting a glossary of terms at the end of each chapter. I'm loathe to do that, for the same reason I loathe writing author's notes: artificially inflated word counts. But, if there's interest in them, so's youse guys can get a better idea of what people's jobs are and glean a better understanding of what in the fuck exactly is going on, I'm down. As always, I hope you enjoyed the writing, and if you have any questions, bitches, moans, complaints, gripes, constructive criticism, flames, admiration's, trollin' to do, hatin' to do, drop me a line. Leave a comment. Send a letter. Shit. This is Za Raapini, wishing you Lady-like Luck tonight.