//------------------------------// // Passenger Stories: Part 2 // Story: An Airliner in Equestria // by TopGunBrony //------------------------------// Meanwhile, near the Everfree Forest... Air Marshall Jason Ramirez was walking along the edge of the forest, checking the area out. He felt slightly nervous being near a huge forest in a totally different world, but he felt safe with his standard issue SIG-Sauer P229 9mm pistol. He saw a cottage in the distance that was surrounded by various animals. He smiled at the sight, realizing that whoever lived there must be an animal caretaker. As he walked on, he heard a rustling from a nearby bush that caused him to tense up and a hand to fly onto the grip of his gun. Suddenly, he heard a loud screeching noise and before he could react, a set of golden talons wound up digging into his chest. Jason yelled in pain as he drew his pistol. He looked to find himself face-to-face with a gryphon. “W-what the fuck are YOU?!” Jason asked. “I'm Gilda the gryphon, freak! What are YOU?” Gilda asked. He thought as he struggled to bring his gun to bear on the threat. “One, I-I'm a human, a-and two, G-get off me!” Jason yelled as he fired a single shot, which went into Gilda's chest. Jason used this opportunity to force her off of him and sat up, gun still pointed at the injured gryphon. “W-what made you think that it was a good idea to attack random st-strangers from o-out of nowhere, huh? W-what, you think you're queen of this place o-or something?!” Jason asked, wincing in pain from his injuries. “Do you get some kind of-of THRILL attacking people at random? Is that it, huh? ANSWER ME, BITCH!” Jason yelled. Gilda looked at him, still maintaining a calm demeanor despite having a gunshot wound in the chest. “Well, I sure don't like the idea of the likes of YOU hanging with those l-lame-o ponies!” Gilda replied, blood still leaking out of her wound. She then got up and tried to swipe at Jason with her talons. “Bad move, feather-head!” Jason said. He fired a second shot, which went into her head, killing her. “Take that, bitch!” Jason said as he struggled to stand up. He staggered towards the cottage, losing blood by the second. Thirty seconds later, as he got close, he fell to his knees, dropping his gun as the blood loss took its toll. He looked up and saw a yellow Pegasus flying towards him. He saw her pink mane and recognized her as Fluttershy. The last thing he saw before he blacked out was Fluttershy landing near him and rushing to his side. Fluttershy was feeding Angel Bunny when she heard a loud bang coming from the forest. “What was that?” she asked as she walked outside to try and find the source of the noise. Several seconds later, she was about to go back inside when she heard a second bang. She then took off towards the sound, curious to see what could have made such a sound. Several seconds later, she saw a bipedal creature walking towards her cottage. Upon closer inspection, she realized that he was one of the humans from earlier. Her eyes widened when she saw that he was bleeding from wounds on his chest. “Oh, no! He's hurt!” she said as she flew towards him as fast as she could. She watched as he collapsed, overwhelmed by blood loss. “Hang on, I'm coming!” she said as she rushed towards him. She saw Rainbow Dash flying over head and called her down. “What's going on, Fluttershy?” Rainbow asked. “He's hurt, bad, we gotta get him to the hospital!” Fluttershy replied. “How did he get hurt?” Rainbow asked. “I don't know, but by the nature of these wounds, it looks like he was attacked.” Fluttershy replied. Just then, Applejack came up to see what was going on. “Howdy, y'all, what's going on?” she asked. “This guy's hurt, we need to get him to the hospital, pronto!” Rainbow replied. “Git him on mah back, I'll get him there right quick!” Applejack replied. Fluttershy and Rainbow helped get the unconscious man onto Applejack's back. Applejack then began galloping towards the Ponyville Urgent Care Center, careful to make sure he didn't fall off. Rainbow looked around and saw a body that looked familiar. Once she recognized the body as Gilda, she quickly put two and two together and realized that she had attacked this man. Rainbow noticed the two wounds on the corpse, one on the chest and another on her head. She then saw a strange L-shaped metal object lying a few yards away. She looked at it closely and took mental notes of its features. She realized that this must have been the weapon that the man used to defend himself from Gilda's attack, though she couldn't think of how this object could cause these wounds unless it was designed to expel some kind of projectile at high velocities. She picked up the weapon and made her way to the hospital. Meanwhile, at the Ponyville Urgent Care Center... Applejack burst into the lobby, the unconscious human still balanced on her back as she called out for help. The desk clerk quickly alerted two orderlies and they rolled out a gurney into the lobby, placing the unconscious human onto it and rolled him into the ER, quickly signaling for a doctor's attention. Seconds later, Rainbow Dash flew in, the man's weapon tucked in her fore-hooves. “What's that?” Applejack asked. “I don't exactly know, but I do know that this must be his.” Rainbow replied. Three hours later, Jason came to and after looking around, realized that he was in a hospital room. He looked and saw Fluttershy and two of her friends sitting in chairs in the hallway just outside. Upon seeing him wake up, the three walked in and stood beside the bed. “Wh-what happened?” Jason asked. “Fluttershy found you unconscious after Gilda attacked you, Applejack brought you here after she saw what was happening. Also, I believe that this...thing is yours.” Rainbow Dash replied as she got out his pistol. “That's OK, just leave it on that table there, I have no use for it, anyways.” Jason replied. Jason then looked down and saw that his chest was wrapped up in bandages. “Wow, she really did a number on me, huh?” Jason asked. “Yep, if we hadn't found ya, ya might have died!” Applejack replied. “Well..thank you, if it wasn't for you three, I would have died out there.” Jason replied with a weak smile. “Why did you have that weapon, anyways?” Fluttershy asked. “Well, I'm an Air Marshall, basically, my job is to protect the plane and the passengers and crew from people that might try to hijack it.” Jason explained. “Oh, so you're like a security guard, of sorts.” Rainbow replied. “Pretty much.” Jason replied. "What's your name?" Fluttershy asked. "I'm Jason Ramirez, but you can just call me Jason." Jason replied. Just then, the doctor trotted in through the double doors. The earth pony stallion’s dark-blue fur was covered by a white coat, and the stethoscope around his neck held his well-aged, gray mane pressed down against his neck. His flank was mostly exposed, and his coat was cut short to reveal a cutie mark of a stethoscope. “Hello, everypony, I am Doctor Goodheart. I’m the lead doctor of the team currently taking care of your...rather unique friend. I know that this incident is a shock for you all, but I do have some good news: sir, you did lose quite a bit of blood from your wounds, but luckily, their friend Twilight Sparkle was able to get a hold of one of the other humans who just happened to be quite a medical expert. She was able to keep you stable and even brought some blood packs from the machine you all flew in. The procedure of getting the blood into your system was successful and you should be able to check out in a couple of days.” he said in a kind voice. “Also, that gryphon that attacked you, she was rather well-known for causing trouble. This wasn't the first time she caused trouble around here, although her reason for attacking you is a mystery, maybe she just wanted to make herself seem all 'tough' or something like that.” he added. “Figures.” Jason replied. “Just keep getting some rest and you should be just fine.” the doctor added as he left. “You have any family here, Jason?” Fluttershy asked. “Just my wife, Maria; here's a picture of her.” Jason replied as he got out a picture of his wife. “I'll go get her and let her know that you're here.” Rainbow said as she took the picture and left. Back in Ponyville, Rainbow flew around and spotted the woman she was looking for. She came down and landed nearby. “Maria Ramirez?” she asked. “Yes.” the woman replied. “Your husband Jason's in the hospital, something's happened to him.” Rainbow said. “What, is he alright?” Maria asked, her voice filled with worry. “He's fine, he's just recovering now.” Rainbow replied. Rainbow had Maria get on her back and took off. Maria held on for dear life as Rainbow flew her to the hospital. Two minutes later, Rainbow landed in front of the hospital and Maria immediately hopped off and the two ran inside. Jason's eyes lit up when he saw Maria come in. “Jason, what happened?!” Maria asked when she came in and hugged him with a kiss, thankful that he was alright. “A stuck-up gryphon attacked me.” Jason replied. “A what?” Maria asked, confused. Rainbow Dash then explained the situation, along with Fluttershy and Applejack. “Wow, I never thought anything like that would happen to you, or anyone.” Maria said after hearing about the incident. They visited for ten more minutes before they left on the doctor's recommendation.