//------------------------------// // painful introductions - re-write complete // Story: Crashed and Burned in Equestria // by Gaz1997 //------------------------------// ~~3rd person perspective~~ "erm hi" Matrix just stood there looking like a major twat, the five mares on the other hand were just sitting there, their mouths hanging wide open in complete shock staring right at me not saying a word, he gingerly moved his hand up to back on his neck, but for some reason he had the shittest luck in the world, oh and pain seems to love him, what happened was rainbow seemed to have thought that he was some sort of threat, nothing wrong with her personality it seems, but when she saw him raise his arm, she thought he was going for a weapon, so what did she do, simple enough she tackled him but not in the reaction she expected to get, unluckily he fell down back through the doorway and down the stairs, twisting his bad leg slightly, drawing huge amounts of pain, when he came to a stop at the bottom he let out a loud scram of pain "OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWW MOTHER OF!......" he couldn't finish his sentence as the pain became unbearable as he cupped one hand over his knee and the over his back a, back upstairs however,  "MATRIX!" screeched twilight as she ran down the stairs, surprisingly the other four ran down with her, rainbow just stood at the top of the stairs taking in everything that had just happened   "rainbow dash why did you do that! you've hurt him! oh Celestia, rarity help me lift him onto the table"  twilight spoke with worry and dread in her voice as she and rarity floated him onto the table as he clutched his leg, the others had completely forgotten of the strange new creature but were eager to help twilight as she cast a more powerful spell on him than she did a few moments ago and slowly he started to calm down.  She then turned to the desk behind her and floated over some metal splints and straps the doctor had left in case the bones hadn't settled and began placing them onto his whole leg keeping it straight, fearing that hit short tumble had injured him further, when she finally finished she turned around and shouted to rainbow who had slowly moved into the basement "rainbow dash! why in Equestria did you do that, he did nothing!" rainbows lips began to tremble "I.....I don't know, he just looked really suspicious and...........odd! and when he reached...arm behind his head, i thought he had some sort thing behind his back, so i just....." "just, WHAT! rainbow, you tackled him, hurt him, you sent him down the stairs and hurt him more than he already was! he did nothing at all, he barley said two words two you, this is just like the Zecora and nightmare night incidents all over again, you acted before you thought about it properly!" twilight exclaimed, rainbow just held her head low in defeat on the brink of crying, that was until a voice called out. "twilight, twilight, don't get pissed at her, its all right, i'm fine see" the human managed to croak out from having the wind slightly knocked out him 'huh merely a day and already making friends, such a caring world this place this is' he thought whilst smirking "alright? fine? she tackled you down the stairs!" she looked at him like he was mad in the head  "she did what anyone would do who thought their friends were in danger, she may have acted out of hand but she did it for a reason, and to be honest i probably would have done the same if i was in her shoes.. er i mean hooves and that is loyalty at its purest" he groaned as he rubbed his burning back from the marks under his shirt that resided there and as he also tried to sit up. "oh please don't get up, you need rest after a fall like that" begged fluttershy, her mother like instincts coming in to play at his attempt of sitting up. "rest is for the weary" he groaned "and besides sometimes you gotta run, before you can walk" he said with a smirk as he took a small step forward and with the slight aid of the splint that was on his leg he managed to make over towards twilight and rainbow, whilst making himself look like an absolute idiot, yet again....... "as much as i would like to get to know you all and resolve this whole thing, i would first rather get out of this musky basement, no offense twilight" he said as he made his way towards the stairs he just fell down, attempted to get up the first step and nearly fall over again but was caught by twilight and rarity "thanks" he said as he made his way up the dreaded stairs, for the second time in less the three minutes, they eventually made it into the library's main room and he sat down on the sofa whilst the the girls sat around him, but rainbow decided to sit the furthest away from him by sitting in the opposite end of the room with her back to him, the burning in his back was getting ever so slightly more intense as the minutes wore on  "so Mr Matrix" began twilight as she floated over a quill and a notepad "just Matrix will do please, not really keen on formalities" he smiled "ok then 'Matrix' i would like to introduce to my friends, this is rarity our towns fashionista, this is pinkie our local go to party  pony, this is applejack, she owns sweet apple acres with her brother Big Macintosh, and this is........fluttershy our local animal whisperer" she said with smile whilst fluttershy has subdued to her shyness and was hiding behind rarity's seat  "and i believe you've already met rainbow dash" 'not in the way i would have liked to' he thought "well it a pleasure to meet you all and fluttershy please come on out, i don't bite" he reassured them all, she seemed to lighten up a little at this and coming out from behind the chair "begin yur pardon ther mister, but can i jus ask, jus what in the hay are ye? a'h never seen anything like ye" questioned the orange mare  "well to put it simply, i'm known as a human or as we scientifically put it a homo sapien"  "where do you come from?" asked twilight as she scribbled away  "from a planet called earth in a solar system that's located in a galaxy called the milky-way, I come from a country called the united kingdom, Britain or England as its known to many and its part of a continent called Europe agh" he groaned as the burning in his back was intensifying, she eyed him curiously, her facial expression just asking 'are you ok?' "yup yeah totally fine" he answered with a sheepish smile "no you're not darling you've been groaning and holding you're back since you fell down the stairs, please, let us help" said rarity who could see right through his facade "there no point in arguing is there?" they all nodded "fine, but don't say i never warned you" he answered before slowly and carefully pulling of his shirt revealing his toned body, for a young man his age he was built fairly well thanks to frequent trips to the gym, his arms and legs were strong and powerful, his body had the beginnings of a four pack but it still was noticeable, still he wouldn't concern himself to be as fit as most of the other pilots on the base but still had the potential to be so. as he pulled his shirt of, the girls let out quiet gasps, they stared at his toned body and there stairs wouldn't leave him, even rainbow had turned around to look at him, but her body showed it the most, her wings were going fully extended and she had a massive blush on her face, but her eye's deceived her enough and wouldn't stop starring at him, he caught on to all of them, especially rainbow, he turned his head to her and spoke a line he always wanted to say. "take a picture, it'll last longer" with that she blushed even more and flew up to the roof and sat on a bookshelf to hide her small shame whilst the other girls turned heads to avoid him looking at there blushed faces. "you're only looking at my decent side *sigh* let me show the side that hurts the most" he spoke as he stood and turned around to show his back, the mares attentions looked towards him again but this time there expressions were different, on his back there was three dark colored scars going diagonal from the left shoulder to his right hip, they looked demonic, painful and just a complete eyesore. twilight gasped as she saw the state of his back, how could she have missed it as well as the doctors, well....he was lying on his back the whole time so they obviously must have missed them, she reached out a hoof to feel them, he at her touch, but it felt soothing almost after, the scar under hoof felt just a jagged as they looked, permanent scabbing adorned all three he winced again as his scars throbbed in pain as she took her hoof away as he sat back down on the sofa, he caught a glimpse of twilight powering up her horn and trying to aim whatever she was doing at his back "no! don't, what ever you're trying to do it isn't going to work...nothing ever does" he said dejectedly as she cancelled her spell "what kind of creature would do this to you?" spoke rarity clearly shocked at him  "human corruption and evil at its finest, these scars are one of the reminders of my pain, loss and...........and failure"  "what......what happened" asked rainbow as she floated down and sat by his side "what happened.................i lost my only remaining family and friends, that's what happened......all in the space of mere minutes......it was three months ago when i was based in another country called Afghanistan, the country my country is involved in a war on terror with, high command of the army in the local area had received what they called a fairly reliable tip-off......but what they didn't know was that it was complete bullshit....." ~~three months ago - Afghanistan mountains - Matrix first person~~ so........high command says they have a tip-off about this new splinter group of AL-Qaeda, the black horses they called themselves from what we interpreted, either it was that or the translator was just bad, pah but what a crock of shit it all was, anyways the black horses were this splinter group, fairly small but they were gaining followers and friends.................quickly, not only that they were also making life hell for the people living in the surrounding towns and villages, also they were more reckless and were being complete thorns in our sides for too long, so this tip-off was spouting that the dark horses had bought a huge shipment of weaponry and were going to transport them through the mountains to supply there camps here and into Iraq.  well, we weren't going to let that keep continue, by any means necessary. our mission, was that my team of pilots, going in with harriers loaded with ground based weapons, would take it out as it comes out into the open part of the mountains, the Intel said it would have only a few souls on board and from the drones it said there was to be no enemy air or ground support in the surrounding area. seems they didn't look hard enough so here 'were' was my team of pilots  sergeant designated 'silver' specialty in ground based gun runs corporal designated 'rookie' specialty in air to air dogfights  flight sergeant designated 'wise guy' specialty in all rounder   and then there was me, captain designated 'Matrix' i specialize in blowing up shit and getting the job done with minimal casualty's, but there one thing about us that make us work at our best, is that we are a family, symbolically but family, a band of brothers to the end, a shame it came to that  on the day of the delivery, we set out to the coordinates with our heavy pay loaded harriers, we arrived a little early to ambush it just as it leaves the tunnel, all was quiet......until the radar went haywire, at first it may have looked like a flock of birds, but in reality it was a squadron of fighters, we were outnumbered three to one and with only armed with 25mm cannons and no air to air missiles, it seemed like world war two for us I remember that masivly unfair dogfight like it was my whole life in one moment "two minutes to target" "the skies are still clear"  "yeah looks like Intel is true to there word for once!" "tighten it up back and cut the chatter..............somethings not right" "you're not the only one with that feeling lad" "er guys, my radar's fuckin with me" "that not you rookie, iv'e got it too!" "wiseguy can you confirm any of this?" "no, my scope says things are clear?" "the hell is going on?" "holy shit contact starboard side! i count at least 16!" "i thought Intel said they didn't have air support" silver shouted down the comms  "rookie! you've got four on you're six, evasive maneuvers before they get a lock on!" silver shouted desperately whilst trying to shake of his own tail "i cant do anything, he's got me spiked! my wings and rudder are shot to hell, i'm heading in low!"  "just hold on lad i'm coming in in 30 seconds just let clear a window!" exclaimed wise guy "i'll get that window" i shouted as i banked hard right to help wise guy with his two guys in any way possible "shit i've got radar lock!" rookie cried  "Just a few seconds were almost there!" i replied but it was for naught, one fighter had managed to sneak away and get in front of him, getting a perfect lock on him....and firing  he didn't have a chance in hell as the deadly missile sped towards him, he could only look on in horror as his life ended in a fiery ball of flames  "rookie! alright you sneaky bastards, square go!" silver didn't take too kindly to this, his anger took control of him and he turned himself loose on the enemy fighters, dodging left and right, canon's blazing, earning a streak of three kills, but his own careless ended him, as he turned left a fighter came down on him guns and missiles blazing, a few lucky shots hit his left wing external fuel tank, exploding it and completely ripping of the wing, making the plane spin out of control, he had no chance of ejecting "fuck it! fuck it no!"  "calm it lad this isn't helping the situation, the train is out the tunnel now, i'll draw there fire you get you're shot on the target" i knew this was suicidal, merely five minutes ago we all thought this was gonna be easy, now half my team is dead, the rest were on the verge of death. not the way i or we would have wanted to go out but that's life, always kicking you in the balls.  "okay!, banking hard left!" "alright, come along then hot shots, let's see how good you can fly with my flight boot's up you're arse's" he shouted as he pulled away to try and attract all there attention. merely a minute after, the radio went..... *boom.............fizz crackle........................" the last sound I heard through the radio, meaning he was gone already, i had my aim on the target as it sped down the track, a quick glance at the radar showed me rest of the fighters were aiming down on me, one locked and fired a shot and hit my tail, but i was still airborne but i was going down anyway. I had to take the shot now or never all or all of my team would have died for nothing, i flipped the switches and fired everything at it, cannon's, maverick missile's and rocket pods, a small shower of hell raining down and blowing everything in its way my ammo spent, my plane damaged and with part the train still there and still going i aimed my craft with what control i had at it and ejected, the canopy broke off, i was thrown vertical into the air in the ejector seat as i watched my crafts last moments before exploding, i touched the ground softly but i had no chance of escape as a swarm of technical's came up from behind me, i tried to run but hey cornered me, knowing i was done for i went to my knee's, and flipped them all the bird with a smug smile on my face, one man came over to me as knocked me the fuck out with his rifle  I remember waking up in dark place, musky, damp, smelt like shit, that's what you get for ordering 1 star hotel and bar in a desert country after blowing up something important to the enemy, i was chained to the wall, i was missing my shirt with my dog-tags still around my neck and i had a few bloody scratches, i felt fine unless you count the side of my face stinging like a bitch, I heard the sound of the thick heavy door at the other end of the room i was in open, in strode three men, the middle guy was the biggest, pretty intimidating, but who wasn't "you here to kill me, he-he, i didn't think that the black horses recruited stacks of shit that high!" i laughed, not the best way for introductions, my reward, a kick to the stomach  "silence!" spouted one of the lackeys but he was silenced by the bigger buy obviously the leader, i didn't feel frightened, not until i saw what he was holding, a crude looking sledgehammer and what looked like a whip, he took the hammer and swung at my right leg, and broke it with a sickening crunch, the pain was unbearable but i tried to tough through it by not screaming out "you are tough" he spoke in his in a rough version of English with his accent "but i will break you and you information will be hours" he said before speaking his lackeys who unchained me and re-chained em so i was then facing the wall "bring the oil!" he shouted and the two brought in a small barrel of what i thought was said oil, from my odd angle i could see him dip the whip in the barrel, coating the whip with the stuff, he pulled it out and pulled out a match from his pocket at set it alight *CRACK!* I suffered similar torture for the next week alongside regular punching and kicking, but i never said a thing, they would not break me, eventually, being the dumb asses they are, they worked out that i never knew anything anyway, they took me to the nearest town and dumped me there, shirtless, battered, broken and empty, in the end i had earned three bloody deathly looking scars along my back, the burning oil from the whip had seeped into the skin and caused a burning pain that never stopped burning, it was like my back was constantly on fire, my leg from what i could tell was only a minor fracture as i could stand only it for a few minutes before giving out so i ended up using a stick to help, for three days i skulked around at night before i came across an american patrol, they told me that any of the bases in the area had been searching for me, was i ever glad  they took me back to base. splinted me and flew me home for proper care, a month after being in hospital and getting of crutches fairly quickly surprisingly it was only a small break, they held the funeral for my team, there families were there, weeping and full of sorrow, i felt like i had been kicked in the gut, i took it upon myself that it was my own fault they got killed despite others saying otherwise, i watched at they lowered the empty coffin into the graves, i had been given there spare dog-tags, i don't know why they gave them to me, but i kept them, i wore them all around my necks or in my pockets everywhere i went as another weight reminder of my own failure, i could have been there quicker for them.   after the funeral they awarded my with a medal for my 'bravery'...........but what bravery had i done?...........they also 'awarded' me with the chance to fly and test one of the newly bought F-35's lightnings that the government were going to buy for the British navy's future aircraft carrier fleet from the U.S.A., i accepted, a third reminder of my failure  nearly two months later the mission, i was deemed fit to fly again, but i don't know if i could any more, my dreams at night were filled with nightmares of the fight all over again usually waking up to the ever present burning pain, the doctors said they couldn't get rid of it, only dull it, i spent allot of nights walking alone along the runway with my head in the clouds, eventually I got into the thrill of flying again, the doctor saying i was going through a lot of stress, he convinced me to get back in the game although it worked and i was in the air again, though it was only a small dosage of anti-depressant  for me, I was a mess, my life was a mess  I was eventually called to a debriefing of the mission one day, why they needed one i didn't know, they said they had some 'upsetting' news, i went in, they talked, i came out angry and even more upset that i originally was, they said that the pilots were Russians, older ex-pilots who still held grudges against the western democracies, they had been hired by the black horses because they had the same ideals and could essentially get payback for whatever wrongs we had supposedly done to them? they told me the tip-off was false, the whole thing was set up! the train was fake, the black horses had set it up to demonstrate and make a fool out of us, my team 'DID' die for nothing, i just wanted to fly over there and blow all there shit to hell! real or fake! ~~present - 3rd person~~ "i lost the only remaining people i held dear to me, and still to this day i hold the responsibility of there deaths on my shoulders, as if my life wasn't bad enough to start with" he tried hard to let his emotions loose but he couldn't stop the line of tears fall, he then heard the sound of wings flapping and he then felt a pairs of limbs wrap around his side he looked and saw that rainbow was hugging him, it felt warm and comforting, he couldn't help but wrap his other around her and pull her into the hug, then he felt more body's against him, the rest of the girls had joined in too to comfort him, he never felt more happy and felt more closure in ages, he let out a happy smile as the girls did too, the girls let up but rainbow was still attached to him, she looked up to him with a small tear in her eye "i'm sorry, i'm sorry...........truly i am" she whispered as she buried her head into his arm, he couldn't believe the whole scene before him, this didn't seem like rainbow at all, maybe it was just a side he never saw before on the show? "it's ok, i forgive you" they both released each other and looked at each other with light blushes before turning to the rest of them as he pulled his shirt back on "so i suppose you all have plenty more questions now that that little incident is water under the bridge" he chuckled, they nodded  "well ask away" i said and instantly rarity raised her hoof  "yes miss rarity i believe it is?" he responded still acting completely anonymous to them "you are correct dear and could i ask but pardon my expression what is that horrendous ensemble you're wearing?" she pointed her hoof at his trousers, shirt and boots "oh these, just standard issue clothing, and that suit and helmet are my flight wear, they're designed to allow my body to endure the G forces when i'm flying at supersonic speeds" "supersonic speeds, how is that possible? only a few pegasi can fly at those speeds and you clearly look like you aren't even capable of flying!" questioned twilight, he grinned at her and answered smugly "well you obviously weren't paying attention when i came crashing down overhead weren't you, did you not see the grey machine fly over you're little town" he had her there because she simply face-hoofed at how she so easily forgot  "anyways dear, you must allow my to make you some new cloths, you cant keep walking around in those cloths all the time, you should come along to my boutique at some point" "thank you for the invitation miss rarity, i think i might take you up on that offer, i do only have one spare pair of clothes anyhow" twilight was waving her hoof around slightly, eager to ask him plenty of questions "what you wanna know twilight?" she put her hoof down "what was that machine that you arrived here in?"  'oh boy this gonna be good' he mind chuckled to himself  that 'machine' my dear twilight is a flying machine called a jet plane or in this a jet 'fighter', this type of jet is called the F-35b lightning ll joint strike fighter, like most jet aircraft it uses a jet turbine engine to produce its propulsion through the air and although i have never been at it's top speed but i know that it can travel up to 1200 miles per hour and fly up an altitude of 60,000 ft, and unlike most other planes that require and long strip of tarmac to take of from this plane can take of vertically" he stated proudly there jaws were all literally on the floor, never had they heard something quite extraordinary machine capable of doing such feats, rainbow though thought other wise and laughed  "bwahaha i'll believe that when i see it!"  "again i'll revert back to my previous statement did you not see me flying through the air crashing to the ground earlier?" he had her there too, all of them yet again, then his mind suddenly clicked he plane was still a wreck and his gear was still inside it "aw crap i need to get my plane, could you guys take me to it" "of course we would like to" said a new voice  everyone turned around and looked at the two new figures that stood in the doorway "princess Celestia! princess Luna!"