Marcus was once again, in a room of darkness. He looked around for Samantha, but she was nowhere in sight. Frustrated, he sighed and spoke angrily.
"What the fuck do you want, Samantha? Haven't you caused enough shit already?! What is it now?!" He shouted. Samantha appeared in a light blue haze in front of him, chuckling.
"You don't remember, do you?" She asked.
"Remember what?" Marcus replied annoyingly.
"What I told you the last time we talked... about the similarities of this planet to your former." She said. Marcus thought for a second as his mind tried vigorously to remember what he and Samantha were talking about while he was out. He slowly remembered what had happened. The similarities.. the planet... the warning of the Cryptids actually being here.. and when he was in Caldrea Peak with Jamie..or was it Rainbow?..
"Oh... oh shit. Wha- what about it? You want to psychologically torture me again by sending me to another one of my flashbacks? Well some ponies already beat you to it, you fuck.." Marcus said, clenching his fists together to both suppress his anger and memories.
Samantha only chuckled coldy at this "No.. I have something to tell you about what happened in this new world you and your friends are in.." She then walked closer to Marcus, who was a bit uneasy on this. Before Marcus could do anything though, he appeared in a field in the middle of the night. He looked around and noticed an apple orchard in the desert.
"Samantha... what the fuck is this and where am I?" Marcus asked, clearly pissed of at her antics.
"Calm yourself, Sergeant. Look to your left.." Marcus hesitantly complied and turned around. He saw what looked like a bipedal dog, who looked pale and saw he had a hand.. er, paw on his stomach, with blood oozing out of it. Marcus was about to run up to the dog until he heard a screeching sound he'd recognized anywhere...
"Cryptids.." He thought as he looked around frantically for the source of the sound, while also looking around for a weapon.
"SAMANTHA! GIVE ME A WEAPON, WILL YA!?" Marcus yelled angrily.
"Just watch, Sergeant.." Samantha said calmly. Marcus was about to retort until he saw a silhouette of a Cryptid on two legs run towards the dog. The dog turned and shouted in fear.
"No..NO! PLEASE! PLE-" The dog shouted, pleading for mercy, but he was cut off when the Cryptid pounced and pinned him. Marcus then recognized that the Cryptid wasn't a Hunter... it was a Cricket..
"Always hated those shits..." He shivered as he saw the Cricket slash and rip the intestines out of the dog's stomach. The dog screamed in pure agony, until the Cricket bit and ripped his throat, nearly decapitating him. The Cricket then placed several eggs in his stomach cavity and ran off into the orchard.
"Poor bastard.. why the hell did you show me this?" Marcus asked.
"You really are a bit empty in the head, aren't you Marcus? This Cryptid is here.. in the planet YOU'RE all currently in. Which means?.." She asked.
Marcus' eyes widened as he facepalm'd. Hard. "Fucking hell.. are they SERIOUSLY HERE?! FUCK!!" He shouted in anger, punching a nearby apple tree, denting it a bit. "WHERE THE FUCK ARE THEY?!"
Samantha was taken aback by his sudden urge of anger, but answered his question. Kinda. "I don't honestly know.. but I do know that when you appeared in this world, you must have made some sort of pulse, like what the Cortex does. Except instead of killing them, it acted as a beacon for the Cryptids, waking them up, like what the Ancestors did to wake up the Arks. I don't know how many Arks there are in this planet, all I know is that you woke one of them up.. and they don't seem too happy about it."
Marcus' anger grew into a full blown rage, his lust for killing Cryptids were seeping from his pores, but before he could do anything he would most certainly regret, he calmed himself slowly before asking another question "Who.. how close are they?"
"They seem to come from near those mountains. This event happened while you were out. I think they already have scientists and.. 'guards' stationed here in this little town." Samantha said.
"What's the town called?" Marcus asked.
"I don't know, but I think a relative of that one orange pony lives here. You need to tell everyone.. or pony in this case, about this and do NOT forget." She said sternly.
"Good thing you're still on our side and that you're looking out for us.. in a way." Marcus said, which made Samantha chuckle. Then Samantha dissapeared and Marcus was taken back into his dreamless sleep.
Meanwhile in Sweet Apple Acres...
Jackson and Applejack were walking through the orchard on their way to the barn. Jackson was still awed at how many trees were in this orchard. Applejack saw this and chuckled.
"Ya never seen anything quite like this, have ya, Jackson?" She asked. Jackson shook his head, still wide-eyed and looking at the apples, which made her chuckle again.
"I've seen farms before and all that.. just not one THIS damn huge." Jackson said, breaking out of his trance "Oh, and those apples were the best I've had in all of my damn life. Never tasted anything like 'em."
Applejack smiled "Thank ya' kindly, Jackson. And before ah forget, can ya cut down on your swearin' here? Ah don't want Applebloom pickin' up words she don't need ta know." She asked kindly.
"Oh, yeah, don't worry about it, AJ. And who's Applebloom? Your little sister?" He asked. Applejack nodded.
"Yep! She's kinda.. well, y'know how little sisters are, don'cha?" She asked.
"Oh you have no idea." He said chuckling at his childhood memories with both of his sisters "So, are your parents gonna be okay with me being here?"
Jackson was still looking around until he sensed something odd. He turned to his right side and saw that Applejack was behind him, dead in her tracks. He saw that her eyes were distant and saw tears forming up.
Jackson mentally slapped himself "Oh.. oh shit. I'm.. I'm sorry, AJ, I didn't know tha-" He started to apologize, but Applejack lifted up a hoof.
"It's okay, Jackson.. ya didn't know. Ah know you don't mean anything by it, but can we not talk about this?" She asked, blinking and trying to clear her eyes.
"Of course." Jackson said as he waited for Applejack to regain herself and catch up. They started walking in silence, until they heard a deep voice in the distance.
"GET AWAY FROM MAH SISTER, YA APE!" Someone yelled. Jackson then heard heavy trotting come closer and closer. He saw a cloud of dust in the distance, then a large, red pony running towards him with anger.
"Oh COME ON.." Jackson thought. Before he could do anything, he heard Applejack yell at the red pony.
"BIG MAC! CALM DOWN, HE'S JUST AH FRIEND OF MINE! STOP! NOW!" She shouted. Jackson winced as he heard a screeching sound, like a car breaking while going at top speed. Jackson then felt a soft bump on his chest. He looked down and saw the red pony.
"Oh.. sorry Applejack. Ah thought he was-" The red pony spoke, but Applejack shook her head.
"It's okay, Macintosh. Ya were just trying ta protect me is all. But ah can handle mah own. Also, this here is Jackson." She pointed a hoof at Jackson.
"Oh.. hay there. Sorry for what ah was gonna do. Ah thought you was gonna hurt mah sister." Macintosh said. Jackson chuckled.
"I'd never hurt you or your sister. Besides, I think you could've broken more than just my rib cage if you did tackle me.." He said. Macintosh turned his head to the side, which made Jackson grin.
"Well, ya must be pretty tired. Hey Mac, Jackson here is gonna stay at the barn for ah couple of days. That okay?" Applejack asked.
"Ah suppose. Ah'll go ahead and tell Granny Smith and Applebloom." Macintosh said as he ran off towards the barn.
"Alright then, I'll head towards the barn and set up my stuff. You can come along if you want." Jackson said. Applejack nodded as they walked towards the barn.
Meanwhile at Fluttershy's...
Thompson was getting his stuff set down as Fluttershy catered to the various animals around the cottage. Thompson still couldn't believe it. He was actually IN Equestria. More specifically FLUTTERSHY's cottage. Before he could lose control of his excitement, he felt a soft kick on his foot.
He looked down and saw a small, white, little demon "Angel... anything but.." Thompson though. Angel pointed a finger at Fluttershy, who was feeding some brids. He then looked at Thompson and punched his fist into his hand.
Thompson put his hands up "Don't worry. I won't hurt or try anything to her." He said. Angel raised an eyebrow at him, still unconvinced. Then Fluttershy spoke up.
"Um.. what are you both talking about?" She asked, then backed away ever so slightly "If you don't mind me asking.."
"Your pet bunny here is worried I muight hurt you or try something. Can you reassure him?" Thompson asked.
Fluttershy nodded and walked up to Angel "Don't worry, Angel bunny, he won't hurt me or do anything to me." She said, but had a twinge of doubt as she turned to Thompson "Right?..."
Thompson smiled and nodded "Not in a million years."
Fluttershy blushed pink slightly as she nodded to Angel and went outside. Thompson saw Angel smirk and shake his head as he hopped away. Thompson rolled his eyes and went back to rearranging his equipment.
Meanwhile at Twilight's...
Kayla was looking around the bookshelves as Twilight was cleaning her room, while Spike was checking things off on a scroll.
"Quills?" Twilight said.
"Check!" Responded Spike.
"Scrolls?"
"Check!"
"A 30,000 word story with us in it?"
"Che- wait, what stor-"
Before Spike could finish, Kayla called Twilight from downstairs.
"Hey Twilight!"
"Yeah?" She yelled back.
"Where do I sleep?" Kayla asked.
"You can sleep on the couch! There's some pillows and blankets in the basement closet!" Twilight answered.
Kayla walked to the basement door and opened it, walking down the steps and towards the closet, moving a MAAWS rocket launcher out of the way. She opened the closet and saw several items inside. She reached for a pillow, but saw something hidden below it. She pulled it out from under. She gasped as her face turned a deep crimson red at what she was looking at. Then an evil grin formed on her face.
"Hey Twilight!" Kayla yelled.
"What?" She responded.
"Why do you have a male, human Playboy magazine?" Kayla asked with a demonic grin. After a couple seconds, she heard Twilight gasp, making her chuckle.
"Uh.. I... um.." Kayla heard her stutter. She yawned and decided now was not the time for pranks.
"Nevermind! I'm just gonna go sleep and just pretend like nothing happened!" She yelled, then heard Twilight sigh in relief.
As Kayla walked upstairs, she wondered how she was gonna prank Twilight tomorrow morning..