//------------------------------// // Chapter Sixteen // Story: Salvation // by Sandstorm Inkwell //------------------------------// “Shit, shit, shit,” I repeated frantically as I rushed into the mead hall. I still had the beret on my head but I couldn't care less about military regulations involving covers at this point. I was scrambling around like a thirty year-old virgin late for a job interview. Jumping up the steps, I barged into my room and quickly donned my vest (not bothering to buckle it) before grabbing my rifle. With those two items, I ran back downstairs to almost collide with a certain orange pegasus and her two friends. Instead of stepping or going around, I jumped over the three and continued outside. Once outside, I climbed into the driver seat of the Humvee and briefly contemplated on getting Kilborn and Smiley. “Hey Tyler, what's the hurry?” asked Scootaloo from outside the Humvee. The radio was still squawking, causing the three fillies to cock their heads. “Who's that?” Sweetie Bell asked. “Radio. Humans. Trouble. No time. Gotta go NOW!” I replied before turning on the IFV. Looking up from the ignition, I saw a recovered Twilight standing in front of the Humvee. “Where are you-” “NO TIME!” I yelled, startling the ponies. There was a flash and the purple unicorn appeared in the passenger seat. “Well, I'm going to than.” “B- I- AH! FINE!” I shouted before, being careful not to injure the fillies, slamming on the accelerator and sending the Humvee rocketing forward. “To any unit on this freq, this is Phoenix 1-1. Requesting immediate assistance!” As if to reiterate his message, a loud BOOM! sounded from the south. Turning Athena in that direction, I grabbed the microphone, and clicked the transmit button. “Phoenix 1-1, this is Sentinel Three, got your approx location. Coming in from the North. Repeat, friendlies coming in from the North. Watch your fire, over.” I got a confused, and slightly scared, look from Twilight. I imagined it was from the boom and how my whole demeanor had changed. “Sentinel Three, Phoenix 1-1, it's good to hear some goddamn English. Roger your last. Be advised, about two dozen OpFor foot mobiles, some armed with RPGs, have us more or less surrounded. We're trying to maneuver out of the killzone but that's been proving difficult, over.” “Sentinel Three copies, Phoenix. Out.” With that done, I slammed the microphone back into place. A uncharacteristically timid voice came from the passenger seat, “What's happening Tyler?” “Radio helps communicate at long ranges. Went outside to visit you to explain our... incident. Decided to check radio. Picked up signal. Now on rescue mission,” I explained quickly, swerving to avoid a couple trees. “So there's more humans here now?” “Yes and not all of them are friendly. Listen,” I now looked over at her. She was looking at me attentively, “you need to make yourself small. Climb down off the seat under the dash, curl up, and make yourself small. Got it?” “But-” “Got it?” I asked again, much more sternly. She just nodded and did as I said as the sounds of gunfire began to fill the air. It all appeared to be coming from the other side of a grassy hill. I pushed down on the accelerator even more as Athena started up the slope. The slope was no issue, it was what was after the slope that was the issue. Nonetheless, the Humvee jumped over the slope into the edge of the battle. I didn't stop, however, in fact, I tried to push down more. The Humvee landed with a bang and started barreling down the other side of the hill... right at a group of insurgents. The Humvee smashed through the insurgents, barely slowing. Yanking the wheel, the Humvee fish-tailed through the grass as it tried to comply with the command to turn. Hitting the brake, the machine skid to a halt. Before it was fully stopped, I was climbing between the two front seats and into the back. Standing up in the gun cupola, I flicked off the fifty's safety, aimed it at the largest group of insurgents and fired. Now that the surprise had worn off, some of the insurgents were now targeting the Humvee. All I can say is thank whatever deity, or deities, exist that there were armored plates around the cupola. With the tank's guns and my own, the insurgents were gunned down. None escaped the two American vehicles. When the last insurgent fell, I had done a three-sixty in the cupola, trying to find a new target. I heard the turret of the tank do the same. Finally, “Nice entrance Sentinel Three. I'm popping the hatch, why don't you come on over and explain to me what the hell is going on? Out.” I sighed and climbed back into the Humvee. “He doesn't sound very thankful,” I heard Twilight say. She looked a bit shaken but was otherwise okay. Though, even I knew that my driving would cause her to have some bruises later on. “He's just confused, that's all. I need you to stay there a bit longer, okay?” “Why?” “Talking unicorn?” “Oh, right.” I just smiled at her before climbing out the back door and stepping onto the grass. The engines of both the Humvee and the Abrams made it hard to hear outside the confines of the IFV. However, I didn't need to hear as I watched the commander's hatch finish swinging open and a skinny man in a tan jumpsuit crawl out. Walking over, I met him as he jumped to the ground. As I walked over, I saw that on the side of the tank's big gun, someone had painted the word “AXIOS”. When I looked at the tanker, though, I saw a silver bar rank tab staring back at me. Instantly, I walked straighter and held my head higher. The officer took one look at my beret and a slight frowned formed on his face. “Sir,” I started, coming to a halt in front of him, “Lance Corporal Tyler Odom, reporting.” “Most obvious question first. The beret?” he asked, motioning to said head wear. “One of the locals made it for me, sir. Forgot I had it on as I rushed to your aid, sir,” I replied. He nodded, “Right. Which, of course, brings me to the next question. Where the hell are we? One second, my tank platoon is fighting off an ambush, next second my tank and a bunch of insurgents are battling on a shitload of green. Not only that, but the BFT went offline, GPS is down, and the only assistance came from one lone Lance Corporal who plowed through some of said insurgents with a Humvee.” “All due respect but are you okay with big words, sir?” He looked at me, slightly confused, “Try me.” “My squad, who were unavailable due to 'local support missions', and I have assumed that a near death scenario has somehow transported us across the dimensional plane, landing us in a world that is greatly unlike our own yet shares certain characteristics with our own. Breathable air, for example, is a shared concept between the two worlds. My guess as to this is, sir, is that our dimension and this one are currently intertwined in a strange way, causing certain humans to be transported to this dimension through near death scenarios.” His looked of disbelief was priceless but I remained stoic. “Then where are we, Corporal?” “Ever heard of the show My Little Pony, sir?” “You're shitting me.” “No sir. In fact, I have somepony with me who can solidify that fact. If you will follow me, sir.” He looked suspicious but motioned me to lead the way. Nodding, I turned and walked back to the Humvee, going to the passenger side. I had the Lieutenant stand a couple feet away as I approached and opened the door. I looked at the purple unicorn and gave her a reassuring smile. “Come on out. Someone would like to meet.” She nodded and began to crawl out. I helped her out of the Humvee and into sight of the Lieutenant. His jaw immediately dropped as his eyes went wide in shock. As he recovered, the two of us walked over to him, Twilight looking from the officer to the tank in a mixture of awe and nervousness. Her ears were flattened against her head though. “Can you turn the... things off?” she asked. The Lieutenant regained his composure and said the command into the mic on his helmet as I walked around to turn off the Humvee. The Abrams died down first, followed by the Humvee. As I walked back, I heard the popping of hatches and looked to see the tank crew climbing out to share their Lieutenant's shocked reaction at the purple unicorn. “Much better,” Twilight said as she looked up at the officer and held out a hoof, “now, I'm Twilight Sparkle.” The Lieutenant knelt down and tentatively took the hoof and shook it, “Lieutenant Victor Perez. It's a pleasure to meet you Miss Sparkle.” “And it's a pleasure to meet you Mister Perez,” she replied as she withdrew her hoof and set it back onto the ground. Perez just looked up at me with a smirk, “You weren't bullshitting, Corporal.” “No sir, I-” “By Celestia,” Twilight whispered as she finally saw the dismembered and bullet ridden bodies that surrounded us. She looked up at me with a sad expression, “Their all dead aren't they?” I just nodded. “They were your own species.” Another nod. “H-how can you act like this is normal?” she asked, her voice rising some. Seeing her getting angry, I knelt down in front of her to look her in the eye. I reached out to caress her mane but she swatted my hand away with her hoof., “Twi, I... I have no words that can fully explain the hatred in my world but, sometimes, it gets to a put where you have to fight to protect those you love. Our way of fighting leads to death. Do I like it? No, I don't. In fact, I sometimes have nightmares where I relive some of those killings. It isn't fun.” “Them or us,” added the Lieutenant. This caused me to glare at the officer as Twilight looked at him in shock. “How can you think like that? These are your fellow beings!” she shouted. The officer shrugged with a ghost of a smile, “It's a lot easier when your within a box of metal.” Twilight looked like she was about to explode, but, instead she just disappeared in a flash of purple light. The last I saw of her were tears streaming from her eyes. Shaking, I stood and looked up at the hill that I had jumped the Humvee over. “Well,” my teeth began to grate at his voice, “looks like some creatures can't stand a little blood.” Before I knew it, I was standing over the officer with my left foot resting on his throat and my rifle pointed at his face. A light pain in my left knee explained his bleeding face. “Sir! My squad and I have formed a good friendship with the locals of this world. They are not use to war. Bringing her out here was my mistake but you should have known to not talk of war like you loved it, sir. I will not let you ruin our relationship with the locals. Is that understood, sir?” I heard him choke something out. Removing some of the pressure behind me boot, he began coughing before he finally spoke, “How dare you assault me, I'll-” I re-applied the pressure. I looked up to see that his crew were looking at me with indifferent faces. It seemed that even his crew, who were supposed to be like family, despised him. I looked back at him to see his face turning blue. “Again, do you understand me, sir?” I released some pressure. He started coughing and sucking in air. “I understand,” he choked out. When he said that, I stepped back from him. Shakily, he got to his feet, rubbing his throat. He looked back at his crew before motioning to me. “What are you waiting for? Kill this traitor!” One of his crewmembers stepped up to me and looked me in the eyes. I could see what his choice would be. “Axios!” he stated loudly before turning and clocking Perez. The Lieutenant fell to the ground, knocked cold. Shaking off his fist from the hit, the crewman looked back at me, “He was driving me nuts anyway. Sergeant Major Brad Thoreau. Nice to meet you Lance Corporal.” I smiled at him and shook his extended hand, “You too Sergeant,” I looked down at the unconscious officer, “What are we going to do about him?” The Sergeant looked down at him with a shrug, “Hog tie him, claim that he is 'unfit for duty' because he was 'reacting negatively with locals' under 'strenuous and unknown conditions'.” I tilted my head with a smile before nodding, “Works for me Sergeant. As long as you don't need him to help operate the tank.” Thoreau laughed, “Hell no. He's just decoration, even when he had a platoon to command.” “Alright Sergeant,” I replied, “I got some zip-cuffs on me. Once we get him cuffed, I guess we can set him in the Humvee and then y'all can follow me to the village?” He nodded, “Sounds good to me, Corporal.” I chuckled, “If you don't mind my saying so, you and me are going to get along just fine Sergeant.” He shrugged and smiled, “Bronies due tend to gravitate toward one another.”