Cold Steel

by sierra_seven_

Stampede

Cold Steel
Gulf Air Jet 1-2-Lima
By sierra_seven_

It hadn't taken the rest of the survivors long to realise a situation was developing. Several minutes later, the passengers had massed outside the aircraft, many of whom were brandishing makeshift weapons, eyeing the huge beasts with caution. Several fires had been carefully relit and the children had quietly been escorted away from the animals.

"What the hell are buffalo doing in the middle of Saudi bloody Arabia?" Henry muttered, casting nervous glances at the assembled herd. In the seconds after Alexis had seen the two, scores more had appeared, surrounding them. Thankfully they seemed docile, but that could easily change.

"I dunno. This is damn crazy. What're we gonna do? They don't seem to be leaving anytime soon." Alexis replied, genuinely lost. If he got out of this alive, he'd be sure to add 'Dealing with wild buffalo herds after a crash-landing' to the FAA's training programme.

Now that he was fully awake, he looked around to get an idea of the time. It was around eleven o'clock and bright stars punctuated the night sky. Unfamiliar stars. "Hang on, where's Orion's Belt?" muttered Alexis, deep in thought.

"What are you on about. Seriously, stargazing? More important problems here mate. Y'know, angry buffalo and all that?" whispered Henry irately, trying to avoid eye contact with a buffalo a few meters away.

"Where's Orion's Belt? It's not there. It should be. What the hell is going on...?" Alexis was thinking out loud, unconcerned by the brutes mere feet away from him. Henry glanced up too.

"Well, you're right. Bigger problems now?" Henry murmured, looking back down. However, Alexis was still curiously inspecting the sky.

"So, what are you then?" a voice asked nearby.

"It's a buffalo. Just stay quiet and let us handle this." Alexis whispered, annoyed.

"Umm, Lexus, you heard that too?" Henry sounded... off.

"Of course I heard it. Why?"

"That was the buffalo talking." Henry said calmly.

"Go and speak to the nurse. I reckon you hit your head harder than you thought. We'll handle this." said Alexis, indicating the arrival of Ella. The small camp was still quiet and most of the survivors had retreated back into the base. About forty buffalo surrounded them, so the safest logical place would be aboard the aircraft.

"Seriously. I'm not fucking with you. That buffalo spoke." muttered Henry angrily.

"You sound surprised." The buffalo in front of Alexis looked him over. For several seconds there was a complete silence.

"That's not possible." Alexis was practically speechless. He'd seen the lips move and everything. "Ella, tell me that didn't just happen." He hoped it was just the effect of a bad concussion.

"I don't know, this is... unreal. Did you say something about the stars?" she said, face shifting between fear, curiosity and awe. Meanwhile, the herd of buffalo just sat, obviously content watching the strange creatures.

"Yeah. I don't recognise any of these stars. It's crazy." Alexis looked around the makeshift camp quickly, checking no buffalo had crept up behind him. The small fires still illuminated the area and some buffalo had decided to settle near them.

"Check it. Those buffalo are actually gathering around the fires. Hell, maybe I should start charging rent." Henry joked, trying to lighten the mood. The joke crashed and burned, spectacularly.

"Captain, maybe the Flash... moved us. Elsewhere." Ella said quietly, stepping forward towards the buffalo.

"Ella, get the fuck back from there! They could be dangerous!" Alexis shouted, startling some of the creatures. He reached forward to grab her, but she dodged him, causing him to lose his balance.

"Just have faith..." she murmured quietly, stepping slowly across the warm sand toward the towering beast.

"Finally, one of you have shown some sense." The buffalo laughed, almost sending Ella running back. "No, we will not harm you, little...?" The buffalo trailed off, gazing at her curiously. The two pilots just stood, gaping.

"Umm... My name is Ella. I'm a human. And you are?" she asked interestedly.

"Chief Thunderhooves. We are buffalo. So, where are you from, human?" rumbled the Chief. As Ella and the Chief began trading information, Henry quietly kicked Alexis.

"That Flash must've affected us more than we thought. I... This is just bloody unreal. What do you reckon, that EMP scrambled our brains or something? That's a damn sight more likely than talking buffalo! We need to get Ella the hell out of there and get everyone on the jet. We'd be safer up there." Henry whispered quickly.

"I don't know. They're not hostile yet, so I wanna see how this plays out." The pilot turned his attention back to the conversation, barely catching the end.

"Thanks, that'd be great. Chief, if there's anything we can do in return, we'd be pleased to." Ella laughed happily, turning around to look at Alexis.

"Wait, what?"

"Chief Thunderhooves sent some buffalo to fetch help from another town. Apparently there's a proper village nearby. This is perfect!" Ella was practically bouncing with relief.

"A buffalo village?" asked Henry, re-entering the conversation.

"No, Mr. Stokes. It is a village belonging to the ponies, with whom we are well acquain-"

"This has gone too far. A pony village? Are you even listening to this Ella? You know what, bugger this. I'm going to go and reassure the passengers while you stand around talking to some projection of your own mind." Alexis shouted, storming off towards the aircraft.

Alexis leaned against the cold metal wall of the luggage hold. A hole had been torn in the airframe, allowing the survivors to recover their personal belongings, some of which had proved to be useful. The pilot grabbed another fleece from an unclaimed bag, shivering in the cold air. He'd forgotten that the temperature dropped during a night in the desert.

He'd found an iPhone in the same bag, entirely unsurprised to find a complete lack of signal. The pilot idly flicked through the apps, reflecting on the crash. The owner of the phone had existed one second and died the next. He slid the phone into his pocket. It could prove useful at some point.

Alexis sighed, pushing himself further into the corner of the storage hold and resting his head in his hands. 'How can they just... accept that? There's got to be some kind of explanation. Could the Flash have messed up our minds? Am I in a damn coma?' Alexis was so deep in thought that he didn't hear the soft footsteps approaching him.

"Mr. Volkov, I saw you come down here. Are you ok? Most of the aircrew are out the front, organising some form of rescue with the buffalo. I have to say, this is pretty strange." said the voice quietly. The pilot looked up, remembering the man from earlier in the day. He had been the nurse that had organised the first-aiders.

"Strange? My co-pilot is out there chatting with a damn buffalo! Strange doesn't even begin to cover it!" snapped the pilot.

"Have you thought that maybe that Flash affected our perception? I guess a large enough electro-magnetic pulse would alter our perception slightly, although the effects should have worn off by now." The nurse stood uneasily, scuffing his foot against the smooth metal floor.

Alexis stood up, examining the man properly for the first time. He was wearing light clothing, supplemented with their remaining medical supplies. The man had several bandages wrapped around his arm, most stained with blood. His clothes were bloody too, although this was more likely to be the result of those he had spent the day helping.

"My name's Donovan, by the way. Glad to actually get a word with you. I've been watching you since you got out of the aircraft. You did a damn good job organising the staff." Donovan stared intently at Alexis, unnerving him slightly.

"Well, thanks. We're very lucky to have you with us. I'm certain we would have had a lot more fatalities had we not had a trained medic aboard. Well, aside from the cabin crew, but they don't have the kind of experience of this."

"So, are we going to go out there and get a better idea of what's going on? It doesn't matter if this is beyond belief, those buffalo gave us water. If they're capable of that, I'm certain they'll be able to arrange rescue." Alexis nodded in relief. At least there was someone willing to think about this rationally.

The pair clambered out of the small tear, dropping onto the desert floor. It took a few minutes for the duo to reach the front, due to the shredded metal littering that side of the aircraft; the wing hadn't come off cleanly.

When the pilot reached the front of the aircraft, he immediately noticed several more fires had been coaxed into life. Most of the survivors were now out of the aircraft, either gathered around campfires or talking uneasily to the buffalo.

"Hey mate! Where did you disappear off to!" shouted Henry, waving him over to what appeared to be the 'leaders' group. Several buffalo, including Thunderhooves, sat around a larger campfire conversing with Henry and several members of the cabin crew. Ella was a short distance away, chatting with the children.

"We were just telling them about the aircraft. Apparently there's nothing like it on this planet." Henry said disbelievingly.

"Well, thats excellent. Have we got a plan for some kind of rescue? We're not going to last long on our supplies and I'd rather be away from here as soon as possible." Alexis said irately, crouching next to the fire.

"Patience, Mr. Volkov. Silver Star and his ponies will be here soon and will likely escort you all to Appleloosa. I'm sure Princess Celestia will be more than happy to assist you in returning to your own world."

"Princess what? A pony Princess!?" Alexis almost stormed off again, but remained seated when Donovan put his hand on his shoulder. "Well, the sooner we get back, the sooner I can find out exactly what those bloody Saudis fired at us." he muttered.

Several of the Saudi cabin crew looked at him, making the atmosphere even more tense. If it weren't for the awkward silence, he would have missed the foreboding noise altogether. He looked up to confirm his fears before leaping to his feet.

"Run! Get everyone the fuck out of the jet and run like hell!" Alexis yelled, dragging Henry to his feet. Panic spread through the camp as humans and buffalo alike began fleeing the airliner. Alexis ran, desperately trying to maintain grip as he sprinted up the small dune. The noise grew louder over the next minute, causing Alexis to run even faster.

"Wha- What the fuck!" panted Henry, trying to keep up with him. Alexis didn't answer, instead pouring on another burst of speed. Once they were at least five hundred metres away, Alexis spun around. Thankfully everyone had got away, but he didn't know if they would be safe, even at this distance.

They barely had time to duck as the Saudi fighter slammed into the ruins of the airliner, spraying fire and molten metal over everything in its way.

Note from the author: Thanks for reading! Remember to comment if you enjoyed it, and say why you disliked it if you downvoted :)

Huge thanks to my team, MyLittlePwny, Cry Havoc (The editors), LeafLock (For the title art) and LightPony (For the advice and support!)