//------------------------------// // Chapter 33: UGV (Unidentified Ground Vehicle) // Story: From Humans, to Cryptids, to... Ponies? // by TLP //------------------------------// Marcus and Jackson smiled as the Hive's plant-like top started shaking violently as matter and blood-like liquid spurted all over the place. The miniguns kept firing non-stop until the Hive let out a screeching sound, and the top exploded, sending more matter and blood around as it stopped moving, rendering the Hive useless. The Little Bird's miniguns stopped firing, as the helicopter lowered itself to the ground, and Fluttershy stopped shaking and took her hooves out of her ears as the rotors started building up more dust around them. Jackson and Marcus picked up their remaining supplies as they ran towards the sides of the Little Bird and climbed in, with Thompson and Kayla helping them in. "Nice to see you guys again!" Kayla shouted over the blaring sounds of the rotors, helping Marcus inside. The girls then moved around a bit to make room for the Marines to sit. "Same! I was starting to think we were gonna run back to the town!" Marcus shouted back. Then, he went up to the front and patted the pilot on the shoulder. "Welcome to Equestria! As you can see, we have talking ponies, magic, and best of all, Cryptids!" Marcus said with a smile. The pilot smiled and shouted back. "I wouldn't have it any other way!" He responded laughing, which the Marines returned. Marcus and Jackson then sat on the right side of the Little Bird, and strapped themselves, so they wouldn't fall down. Their legs hung from the sides as the Little Bird rose up from the ground in a swirl of dust. "So what's your name and rank, pilot?" Marcus asked the pilot. The pilot turned around, while Marcus noticed that under his helmet, his forehead was covered in a strap of gauze, and he was wearing an eye patch, which he found nearly comical. "Captain Randy Treston, 160'th SOAR!" The pilot shouted back as he controlled the Little Bird to fly back to Appleloosa. "Callsign?" "Pathfinder!" "Alright, we'll do introductions later. We should go and tell the townsfolk the good news about the Hive!" Marcus said, with Randy nodding back in agreement. Then, Rainbow asked a question to the pilots. "How fast can this thing actually go?" She asked, still fascinated by the Little Bird's ability to fly, even though it's made of metal, and has no 'wings'. Mike then turned around and responded for Randy, so he could keep flying. "About two hundred and fifty miles and hour! Right now, we're going about one hundred and eighty seven!" Rainbow's eyes widened with surprised by the speed this thing could reach. She knew she was way faster than the Little Bird, but she knew and saw first hand that this thing was something not to be fucked with. "Wow! That's pretty impressive! Not as fast as me, but still!" Rainbow replied, huffing her chest out a bit in pride as Mike looked at her with confusion. "How fast can you go?" He asked curiously. "I can do a Sonic Rainboom, if that gives you an idea of how fast I am." Rainbow said proudly, but Mike didn't understand what a 'Sonic Rainboom' was. Twilight saw the look of confusion still on his face, so she decided to answer for her. "She can basically break the sound barrier." Twilight said simply. Mike's jaw dropped a bit, but he decided not to go against it and nodded. "So what about you, Randy? How did you react when you woke up?" Marcus asked, turning around. Randy chuckled for a second before responding. "It could've been better, that's for sure!" Flashback: Ten minutes after Marcus and Jackson left... Kayla was returning from trying to get a couple of Unicorns to help them repair the Little Bird. She was able to get about three Unicorns, who were obviously nervous and untrustworthy of the humans, until Twilight and the girls reassured them. Twilight and the other Unicorns were looking over the blueprints of the Little Bird with Mike as Thompson, Kayla, and Fluttershy were treating to the main pilot, who was still out cold, and laying on the table. "Hey Fluttershy, can you hand me the sterile gauze?" Thompson asked as he brought out a small med-kit, used for treating sucking chest wounds, and minor head injuries. Fluttershy nodded as she reached into her own med-kit and brought out a small piece of gauze and handed it to Thompson with her mouth. He took it as he stitched the pilot's cuts and gashes on his head with butterfly closure strips. He then used a small bottle of alcohol and dropped a bit of drops into the pilot's scratches and wrapped the gauze around the pilot's head, then put the bottle of alcohol back into the med-kit. "Alright, his head is good. You can work on the rest of his injuries now, Fluttershy." Thompson said as he moved away a bit as Fluttershy grabbed a sterile eye patch and started to lean down to place it on the pilot's bloody eye, until his bloodshot eyes sudden opened in shock. Fluttershy let out a loud 'eeep!' as she stumbled and started to fall on the floor. Thompson caught her in mid-air, making her let out a little squeak as the pilot thrashed around and landed on the floor below. Randy then looked at both Thompson and Fluttershy, who looked like a pair of frozen salsa dancers. They looked back at him, with Thompson having a look of confusion and a bit of anger on him, while Fluttershy had a look of utter fear. "Where the fuck am I and what does that pony have fucking wings?!" Randy shouted. He then saw the pony's eyes turn into pinpricks as he shouted. The man then put the pony down as it cowered behind his legs, whimpering. "Woah there, dude! Calm down and let me explain.." The man wearing black combat gear started saying as he put his hands in front of him in defense. Randy then looked around for his MP5, thinking he was being experimented on. He then saw someone else enter the room and look his way. Randy then realized it was his co-pilot, Mike Preston, who looked pretty banged up by the looks of it. "Hey Randy! Calm down, dude! They're just trying to help you! Mike said, grabbing a hold of Randy's shoulders to make sure he stays in place. "But... wha.. where... I-" Randy started blabbering away, until Mike put a hand on his mouth, silencing him. "Look dude, I am just as confused as you are, but right now, you need to get your shit together. And these guys are Marines, and part of the Rapid Reaction Force, so don't worry about us being the only ones here. Their leader said he'll answer our questions soon, but we need your help to come help repair the Little Bird." Mike said, calming Randy down a bit, but creating a helluva lot more questions. Randy took in a deep breath and sighed. "Okay.. wait, what do mean 'we'?" "Look, as I said before, everything'll be explained later. But outside is our Little Bird. Long story short, Unicorns pulled it out, and are now repairing it, but we need your skills to help us out a bit. Can you do that?" Mike asked, shaking Randy's shoulders a bit and making him wince a little. "Yeah.. yeah, I can. Where is it?" Randy asked. Mike pointed to the door, then walked towards it. Randy soon followed, until stopped and noticed the pony- er, Pegasus still cowering behind the Marine. He kneel'd down and got closer to the Pegasus. It whimpered and backed away in fear, its eyes looked like two fried eggs. Randy chuckled. "Um.. I'm sorry about that. I could've reacted better. That was a fault on my part. I didn't know you were medically healing me.." He said honestly. The Pegasus then let out a small smile and handed Randy what seemed to be an eye patch with her hoof. He smiled back and took it, placing it on his left eye, which was coated in blood. End of flashback Marcus and his squad were chuckling at the story Randy told. The girls were just smiling, while Fluttershy hid behind her mane, but not without letting out a small smile as Thompson patted her back. "We have so much shit we gotta tell you guys.." Jackson said as he looked down at the ground below him, The Little Bird swayed to the right a bit as Mike responded. "Oh yeah you do.. and I'm guessing the girls here have a lot of questions they want to ask?" He said, turning to the girls, who nodded in response. Mike chuckled as he turned back around and looked out the front. The Little Bird flew over a set of train tracks, which had a really girly-looking train on them, speeding along down the tracks. Marcus looked at it, but thought nothing of it. As the Little Bird swayed closer, he noticed something on one of the flat transportation carts that made his mind explode in confusion and curiosity. "You guys... look at the train below us and tell me what it's carrying on one of its transport carts.." Marcus said. The squad complied as they looked down. They then gasped. The girls decided they wanted to see what they were looking at, but the Little Bird was already too far away to notice. "What was it?" Rainbow asked, turning to the Marines, who seemed like they were trying to comprehend what they saw. Then, Marcus spoke up. "One of the transport carts had a Stryker strapped to it..."