As the song ended, the girls were a bit uneasy at hearing the lyrics, and the overall meaning. It sounded somewhat like an anti-war song, which was ironic. Regardless, they found it catchy, especially Rainbow, who was laying back against the seat, with her forelegs behind her head as she felt the breeze of the wind enter the inside of the small attack helicopter.
"That song was... something." Twilight said. The others nodded, except for Fluttershy, who was slightly shaking. Not because of the wind, but because she wasn't used to hearing that type of stuff in a song. Applejack put a foreleg over her and hugged her slightly, comforting her to a certain degree.
"Yeah, Vietnam was the days.." Randy sighed as he turned the helicopter to the right, and slowed down to nearly a hover.
"Vietnam?" Asked Twilight.
"Yeah. Back in our world, there was a war called the 'Vietnam War', which was a proxy war, which means that it's a war instigated by a major power that doesn't want to get involved." Mike explained. Twilight's ears perked up at this.
"Why did it happen?"
Mike shrugged. "There's a lot of shit behind it, but the main reason is to stop the spread of a government called 'Communism' , which is a socioeconomic system, from spreading into Southeast Asia. If you want me to go further in Communism, then prepare for a shit-ton of politics."
Twilight shook her head. "Please, no politics. I really don't like talking about that kind of stuff."
"Then you and the rest of us got something in common." Mike said with a chuckle.
"So how long did this war last?" Twilight dared to ask.
"It lasted for about nineteen years." Mike answered. The girls' eyes widened, but Mike just chuckled once more. "That's not even our longest war."
"H-how many d-died?" Twilight asked with major hesitation in her voice. Before Mike could answer, Randy spoke for him.
"Five hundred and thirty six thousand United States troops were sent there.." Randy said, not looking away. "And more than fifty thousand of them died." Randy said with an emotionless tone. The girls were now filled with somewhat sorrow, and Twilight was mentally slapping herself for completely killing the mood, while getting soul-piercing glares from Rainbow and Applejack, who was hugging Fluttershy tighter as she weeped silently in her shoulder.
Randy didn't help either as he went on. "And don't even get me started on the overall amount of deaths and injuries, or the POW's.."
Mike punched his shoulder. "Shut up! Don't you think we've corrupted their minds enough, you mindless fuck?" He whispered harshly. Randy sighed as he kept quiet and turned back to the front, with Mike turning around to see how they were holding.
Twilight didn't dare ask anything else as the helicopter fell into a dead silence again, with Randy flying the Little Bird back to the courtyard, and Marcus and Kayla shaking their heads in disappointment.
Meanwhile, in the courtyard...
Jackson, and Thompson were helping Dempsey and Kevin with maintenance on the Stryker, while the guards kept a close eye on them. Their trust for and respect for the humans were increasing by the hour, but they still had their doubts, and were overall still skeptical about them, but only to a certain point.
Ironhoof was once again inside the Stryker, very curious on how the inside worked still, and was now looking over Kevin's shoulder as he sat on the seat, using the joystick to swivel the turret.
"Wow.. these cameras look so much more clearer and sophisticated than the ones we use for security." Ironhoof said in awe as he looked at the screen. He then noticed that Dempsey was now on the screen. Dempsey waved at them with a smile as he returned to cleaning off the mud from the top of the Stryker. Ironhoof's eyes then went wide as the screen suddenly turned white and grayish, showing Dempsey being colored in bright white, and had something on his chest that made it blink rapidly on the screen.
"What did you do?" He asked, still confused at the sudden screen change.
"I switched to thermal imaging, or as we call it, 'FLIR'. It highlights anything that emits a heat source in bright white, like Dempsey here, while everything that doesn't, stays black and gray, but it gives a better view of the area, and even easier to spot targets." Kevin explained as he pressed a button, switching back to regular.
"Wow... You humans are really advanced in technology. You guys should share it with us!" Ironhoof exclaimed, already getting a bit giddy at the idea.
Kevin just chuckled as he switched the camera off. "We'll see. We don't want any bad guys here getting our tech, but you guys seem cool. Maybe if we feel like it."
Dempsey was now scrubbing away, with the help of the Pegasus guard they met earlier, who handed Dempsey a hose. "Thanks."
"No problem." The guard said with a smile as he went back down to the ground. Dempsey was careful not to wet the inside of the Stryker, which would require electronical repair, and assuming from what they've seen, that was something that they could not afford.
He then heard a voice behind him. "You sure you don't want us to help ya'?" Dempsey turned around and saw that it was Jackson. He smiled at him and shook his head.
"No, we're good! Besides, we're almost done!" Dempsey shouted back. Jackson shrugged as he turned around and pulled out his own IPhone. He scrolled through his playlist and chose a somewhat relaxing song.
As he set his phone down on the hay, the beat started flowing through as he pulled out and used his cleaning kit to clean the inside of his M27. As he detached the dual drum magazines, he felt like he was being watched. He turned around, noticing that the two other guards were looking on in curiosity, and were curiously listening to the beat, but looked away after Jackson looked back. Jackson just chuckled internally as he went back to fixing his gun.
Thompson was using one of the wipes from Jackson's own cleaning kit as he wiped the scope of the Panzefaust and the leather grip and handle. They were cleaning their weapons in peace as the song started playing its lyrics.
"Just waking up in the mornin', gotta thank God,
I don't know, but today seems kinda odd..
No barking from the dog, no smog,
And momma cooked a breakfast with no hog.
I got my grub on, but didn't pig out.
Finally got a call from a girl I wanna dig out.
Hooked it up for later as I hit the door,
Thinking I will live another twenty four?"
"I gotta go, cause I got me a drop top.
And if I hit the switch, I can make the ass drop.
Had to stop at the red light.
Looking in my mirror, not a jacker in sight.
And everything is alright. I got a beep from Kim,
And she can fuck all night.
Called up the homies and I'm asking y'all:
'Which park are y'all playin' basketball?'
Get me in the court, and I'm trouble.
Last week, fucked around and got a triple double."
"Freaking niggas everywhere around like M.J,
I can't believe, today was a good day."
The guards have never heard this type of music, let alone the beat before. They hesitated grinning from a couple of the lyrics, but any negative thoughts or overall skepticallity they had were now either gone, or reduced severely.
They watched as Thompson carefully set down his Panzerfaust, and started scraping off the rust it had acquired from the back pipe area. He unslung his pack and set it on the ground, zipping it open and pulling out a containter. The guards looked on as he switched it open, revealing several tubes ad other oddly-shaped objects.
Jackson was now re-attaching the barrel onto his M27 as he turned to see what Thompson was up to. He noticed that Thompson had pulled out one of his several black containers he always carried with him. Thompson was now pulling out several explosive devices. He carefully laid out twelve Bouncing Betty mines, eight Claymore mines, seven Semtex grenades, five Canister bombs, four NX-1 grenades, and forty Venom-X grenades, ranging from regular corrosive, to fire, electricity, and Seeder turret pods.
"I thought you had pipe bombs in there too?" Jackson asked.
"I don't, but Kayla has another case filled with them, along with a couple of sticky flares, and a lot of schematics she stole." Thompson replied. Jackson nodded as he focused his attention back onto his light machine gun.
The guards continued to watch them until one of them built up the courage to ask the Marines a question. "What are those things exactly?"
"Explosive devices." Thompson replied, not looking away from the weapons displayed in front of him. "I'd keep my distance if I were you." He said again with a casual tone, still not looking up at the guards as they backed away nervously. The Marines chuckled as they heard the guards shuffle further away. Thompson then re-organized the explosives back into the box, for use later.
As he did, Jackson sighed. "You know what's making my fucking head hurt, man?" He asked.
"What?"
"How the hell does Twilight have our stuff 'n shit?"
"Don't you remember that she said she used a trans-dimensional spell or something along those lines?"
"She did? Damn, that explains why our shit always kept disappearing on our missions after they get destroyed.." Jackson said. They then started to go into deep thought on the one instance where their equipment kept disappearing more frequently than other times...
November 26, 2017
Onboard the Stormbreaker, Tasman Sea, South Pacific Ocean
26 Days after the Nightfall Program Termination
Marcus and his squad were on the storage area of the decomissioned Chinese stealth destroyer, and were about to enter the control room of the ship and find Archer, who, by Godfather's words and terms, was 'A necessary evil' that would benefit the human species as a whole to win the war against the Cryptids.
"The drill's under attack!" Jackson shouted as he used his combat knife to cut the throat of a Scout, who was angrily swiping away at his armored legs, causing not too much damage. He swung his knife, as it sliced through the Scout's throat, making a heavy amount of orange blood spill as the small Cryptid stumbled and collapsed on the floor, completely defeated and losing its urge to fight as its own foreign orange blood filled its throat and lungs.
"I got it!" Thompson shouted, shooting a Seeder turret that was shooting back at him, trying to penetrate his armor, with little effect. His CBJ-MS, which was equipped with armor-piercing rounds, took down the turret with ease. He then slung it to his side as he crouched and started re-fixing the drill.
"Cover me!" Thompson shouted again as he fixated the drill's battery system. Even when in the midst of all this chaos, he was still very cautious of avoiding the blue laser beam that cut away at the metal door.
"Don't worry, I'm placing a sentry gun!" Marcus shouted as he slung out a set of tripods, spread the legs, and placed it on the ground as Kayla used her MK14 to cover both him and Marcus from a Seeker that tried to shoots acidic projectiles at them. Marcus then placed the main gun part on the tripods, and activated it online. "Sentry gun's online!" He shouted as he jumped down the balcony and engaged a Seeker, who was trying to pull a Solid Snake on Kayla. The explosive rounds that his Ripper contained exploded near the Seeker, killing it with the fragments, making it explode itself in a heap of plasma and flesh. The sentry gun opened fire, taking down Scouts and Hunters with ease, but was having a bit of trouble acquiring a specific Cryptid.
"Shit! We got a Phantom inbound!" Jackson shouted, reloading his Chain SAW as fast as he could. The Phantom jumped from crate to crate, disappearing in a puff of bluish black smoke as it jumped. It then appeared right in front of Marcus while he was reloading. The Phantom was about to pounce him, until a 7.62mm round pierced the side of its stomach by Kayla's MK14, making it flinch and scream in pain as it ran towards the flight of stairs and jumped towards the Sentry gun.
"It's gonna get the Sentry!" Marcus shouted, running towards the stairs, with Scouts and Hunters following him. Kayla got on one knee and fired at the, taking them down swiftly as Marcus ran up the stairs, only to notice the Phantom already tearing away at the Sentry gun. Marcus switched the Ripper to SMG mode, and opened fire on the Phantom, the explosive rounds literally ripping away its limbs, and exposing its intestines. Its shrieks of pain were anything but heard as its corpse launched from the balcony to the floor below. Marcus checked on the Sentry, noticing that its health was severely low, and was letting out sparks of electricity.
"Drill's repaired!" Thompson shouted as he smacked the battery for good measure, and stood up. He then reached behind him, and launched a Vulture drone to the sky, activating it. Kayla and Marcus noticed this and did the same, with Kayla's having a small pod able to shoot small incendiary rockets. The Vultures flew side by side as they fired away at the oncoming Cryptids that spawned from the smaller hives on the roof.
Thompson checked on the Sentry gun. He then turned to Marcus and shook his head. "Don't even bother defending it, Sarge. It's too low to repair."
Marcus nodded. He looked over Thompson's shoulder, noticing that the drill was half way finished. He grunted at this, then turned as he saw one of the shipping crates slowly being dropped to the ground by one of the crane machines. As it did, he could hear loud banging coming from the inside.
He and his squad rose their weapons, aiming at the crate. After killing the remainder of the Cryptids, the Vultures circled the crate. Utter silence took over, aside from heavy breathing from the Marines, the buzzing sounds of the Vultures, and the constant sound of the waves hitting the ship. The crate's side doors were then launched open, revealing two enraged Rhino's.
"RHINO'S!" Marcus shouted. They then all fired simultaneously at the Rhino's. They flinched, especially at the explosive rounds, then roared in pure agony as the incendiary rounds engulfed their entire bodies, making them burn inside out from their bodies being covered in an armored shell. They ran towards the Marines, roaring in both pain and anger. They both then jumped up towards the balcony.
"Get out of the way!" Marcus shouted again as the Marines split into two, getting out of the way as the Rhino's smashed their fists onto the metal floor, making a metallic sound, and a small shockwave, that made Jackson stumble and fall to the ground. One Rhino noticed this, and was about to smash him in, until a bright purplish flash came out of nowhere, blinding them, and the Rhino's.
"Aghhh!!"
"What the fuck was that?!"
"I can't fucking see!"
"God damn it!"
The Marines then regained their vision, noticing that the Rhino's were heavily dazed and confused from the flash. They set the event aside as they engaged the Rhino's, taking advantage of the moment, taking them out with ease as the explosive and incendiary rounds worked wonders. After the Rhino's collapsed dead, they noticed that their sentry gun and Vulture's were gone.
"What the hell? Where's our Vulture's?!" Asked Jackson, clearly confused and awaiting an explanation.
"No fucking clue.. did someone use a flashbang?" Asked Thompson.
"Since when do flashbangs cause a purple flash?" Asked Marcus in an annoyed tone. Thompson just shrugged. "Seems like our sentry's gone too.."
"Damn it, dude... that was my last fucking Vulture!" Kayla groaned.
The sound of the drill then stopped, as the metal door leading to the control room fell down into the room. The drill then fixated itself to store its laser. The Marines then slowly walked into the room, with Thompson picking up the drill, and Kayla covering their six with her MK14.
End flashback
"Well, that explains a lot... heheh." Thompson said with a chuckle.
"Oh yeah. Wait, Twilight said she used a 'trans dimensional' spell, right?" Jackson asked, now wondering about something beneficial.
Thompson nodded. "Yeah.. why'd you ask?"
"If it's trans-dimensional, do you think she'd be able to teleport some stuff here to help us out or something?" Jackson suggested jokingly, yet curiously. Thompson gave him a look, but they both the started to chuckle at the thought, thinking it was way too far fetched.
"Yeah, next thing you know, we'll be wearing exo-skeletons.." Thompson said, making both of their laughter increase in volume. As the laughter died down, they went into deep thought about the actual possibility that it could be pulled off.
"Actually.. now that I think about it.. it coul-" Thompson started to say, coming to the conclusion that it could be possible, but was cut off as he heard a buzzing sound near them. They looked behind them, then above then, noticing the silhouette of a Little Bird helicopter approaching the courtyard. They got up, collected their equipment and weapons, and slowly stepped back as the Little Bird descended towards the ground. Dust built up around them as the buzzing sound of the rotors made the guards cover their ears, and made everybody cover their eyes to prevent dust entering their eyes.
As the Little Bird touched down, Marcus and Kayla unstrapped themselves, and jumped off, while the girls followed behind them. Randy shut off the engines, while Mike shut off the electronic systems. They then swung open the doors and jumped out, the engine whining and the dust settling as they walked towards Jackson and Thompson.
"Had a nice ride?" Jackson asked, walking over to the two Marines.
"Just peachy. Until someone mentioned the Vietnam war..." Marcus replied, staring over at Randy.
"Hey, don't blame me, it was Twilight who asked!" Randy said, pointing at Twilight.
"I said I was sorry!" She shouted back. Jackson could see that a huge argument was about to commence, so he just shut everyone up before the argument could grow into something more worse.
"Alright, alright! Shut up! Jesus... sorry I asked." Jackson said, making them all calm down. He sighed as he turned around to the guards. "What time is it?"
The guard then ran up the stairs and into the hallway. After a couple of seconds, the guard came out. "It's 10:42!"
"Damn.. already?" Marcus said, scratching his head. "Well shit, we should go then. Ironhoof, you know where the dining room is?"
Ironhoof nodded. "Yes, I do. Just follow us."
The Marines nodded as they called to the gunners, who nodded as they got off the roof of the Stryker, and jogged towards them. Jackson picked up his IPhone, stored it, then they walked up the steps, walking behind the guards as they led them back inside.
"So what the hell did you guys do to make them ask about the Vietnam war?" Thompson asked.
"Rolling Stones." Marcus replied casually. Thompson and Jackson chuckled. "What did you guys show them?"
"Ice Cube, man. Today was a good day." Jackson said in a smooth tone. Marcus smirked as he gave him a bro-fist, something they'd always do instead of a salute or anything similar to that. Since they were in the Spec-Ops community, they could do almost anything that the regular military of navy couldn't.
"What else?"
"Thompson here was organizing the explosives we still got, and the guards got a bit curious.." Jackson turned to the guards. "We didn't show them what they actually do. We only got so much."
"Yeah. We're gonna need to find a way to make sure we'll be kept in good supply." Marcus then turned to Twilight. "Do you know any sort of duplication spell or anything like that that could be similar?"
Twilight put a hoof on her chin. "Hmm.. I don't as of right now, but if you want, I can try to find one in the archives. I remember when I went there to find the trans-dimensional spell, I saw one. I looked at it, and it said that I need to learn what and how an object is made. Like its dimensions, items, material, inte-"
"I think they get it, Twi..." Rainbow said annoyingly. Twilight blushed a bit and nodded.
"Alright. If you could find it soon, then it'd be very useful to us." Marcus said grateful that there could be an easy solution to the limited ammunition problem. They then stopped walking as they approached a set of huge doors. Ironhoof and the Pegasus guard stood on the side of each door, and opened them. The humans' jaws dropped at the sight. It was like they just walked into something similar to the Cindarella move or something like that. On the table, were several covered plates, and food everywhere. Like. Everywhere.
"H-holy crap.." They said in unison. The guards smiled and the girls giggled as they walked in.
"This is better than any freaking mess hall." Kayla said. The others just nodded in unison as they followed behind the girls. They also noticed that Princess Luna and Princess Celestia were already sitting at the very back. The humans took their seats and looked at the plates. Marcus looked over, seeing that there was a slight skinny line of drool coming out of the corner of his mouth. He would've smiled, if his mouth wasn't watering too. The princess' noticed this, and chuckled.
"Go ahead. 'Dig in'." Celesita said. "You all must be starving."
"Oh HELL yes." Kevin said happily as he and the others took of the tops. They then saw that they all got about seven pancakes with strawberries, and a lot of syrup. Along with it, was a serving of two eggs, and a huge serving of hash browns.
"PUNCAKES!" Kevin shouted out loud as he found a fork next to his plate, and literally stabbed the pancake to death, quickly scarfing it down. The others did the same, digging into their food with glee, while the ponies watched in horror and shock, except for Rainbow, who just shrugged and started eating.
Kayla swallowed her food and looked at the others. "Do you not now any manners?" She said as she put more pancakes in her mouth. They laughed as they kept eating, but then turned to the ponies. Applejack and Rainbow were laughing along with them, while Fluttershy and Twilight looked like they were about to vomit. The princess' however, were chuckling.
"I see I was right." Celestia commented as she started eating herself, at a much slower and 'mannerful' way. "How long has it been since you've eaten?"
The three Marines looked over to Marcus. He lifted a finger as he swallowed before answering. "Last time we really ate was at Sweet Apple Arces, so about.. four days?"
"The last time we ate was about three.. back when we actually had time to eat our MRE's..." Dempsey answered as he swallowed.
"I can't fucking remember, and I don't care! This is incredible!" Kevin said with a mouthful of food. The princess gasped as he called over a guard. She whispered into his ear. The guard nodded assertively as he ran out the door.
"What was that about?" Jackson asked.
"If it has been that long, then we're gonna need more food." Celestia said with a smile. Kevin whooped in happiness as he and the others kept eating. Marcus then turned to Celestia.
"So what do you want us to do next after this? Do we need to meet someone, or something?" He asked.
Celestia nodded. "There's still a bit more we need to talk about. I will keep it simple, and say that you must meet our Generals and military officials. They have been eager to ask some questions to you, and they need you and the others to explain what kind of threat really hides within Equestira."
The sounds of forks dropping could've put the best tambourine player to shame.
"Since you've all faced the Cryptids before, I am sure you know how we can deal with these things. I have faith within you. But for now, let us just eat in peace." Celestia said. The humans picked up their forks and nodded, now eating much slower and in silence.
As they did, Luna turned to Celestia. "May I be excused?"
"Yes you may, Lulu."
Luna nodded as she stood and walked towards the door, looking at the humans with a smile. They ignored this, except for Marcus, who kept looking at her with curiosity as she walked out the dining room and into the hallway.
Then it hit him.
"Oh shit..."