Chapter 1: The Perfect Storm
Authors' Note: Would just like everyone to know that GA is from Canada so you might notice a slight divergence of the English language from the first chapter. Anyways, enjoy everyone!
Captain George Stivers awoke from his less than graceful landing in field under the mountain. He opened his eyes and immediately shut them again as they were barraged with light. Oh God, what did I do to spite you?
He chuckled humorlessly as he opened his eyes again, this time forcing them to stay open. The nose of his aircraft was mostly buried in the dirt, but the glass of his cockpit was still intact. He looked to his left and saw the mountain looming over a field of what should have been a great expanse of ocean, but was instead grass. To his right was the start of a coniferous forest.
Stivers looked behind himself to find his crew -Rob Gruebel and Robert Gallivan- Unconscious. Opening the cockpit he continued to observe his surroundings. Near the edge of the mountain, a great billowing smoky mass jutted from the ground. It was the plane he followed in, piloted by Captain Powers. No way anyone survived that wreck. What happened?
As he leapt from his seat at the helm, he noticed the tail of his avenger had come off and was now lying some twenty feet behind them. That might not buff out... At least we made it though.
The sound of someone coughing shook him from his thoughts. Searching around to find the source, suspecting it was one of his men, revealed it to be Lieutenant Taylor, emerging from his plane, fire extinguisher in hand. The plane itself seemed to have made a fine landing, but the crew compartment was alive in flames. Taylor was doing his best to put them out.
Realizing the gravity of the situation, Stivers grabbed his own fire extinguisher from under his seat and made a dash to help Taylor rescue the pilots within. “Shit, I’m coming Taylor!” Stivers yelled, panicking at the sight. The inferno was still eating at the interior of the plane when Stivers arrived, so he put his extinguisher to use, the off white powder coating everything inside the ship, doing its best to suffocate the fire.
As Taylor’s extinguisher ran out, he reached into the compartment and grabbed both Devlin and Parpart, hauling them out of the craft. From Stivers' position on the opposite side of he aircraft, he couldn’t see their condition, so he kept on the fire.
After what seemed like an eternity of anticipation, the fire was out, and Taylor was distraught. Both of the men from his plane were dead. Third degree burns covered most of their body, and their clothes were covered in the sticky white substance produced from the powder mixing with the oxygen.
The sight gave Stivers mixed emotions; sure he didn’t know the men that well, but they were still good people. “Shit. What happened?”
Taylor gave a resigned sigh and stood from his gruesome duty. “There was a fire, as you can see. I think some of that lightning caused the electronic stuff to malfunction.”
“Lighting? I didn’t see any lightning. What the hell happened here?”
“I don’t know Stivers. I saw some explosions, and I followed you in. There was too much cloud cover to see anything else.”
“Where’s 81 and 3? You think they made it through?”
Taylor’s expression was answer enough for Stivers. “Whatever it was that forced us down, probably took them too. How’s your crew?”
“Alive. Speaking of which, we should check on Powers’ bird. See if...” Stivers knew no one was walking away from that crash. Nose first into anything going at highway speeds was bad enough, let alone three times that.
“Stivers, I know what you’re thinking, and it wasn’t your fault.”
“I know it ain’t my fault. I’ve seen death enough before to know that.”
“Okay, just saying. I mean, dying because of a crash is nothing like dying to a bullet wound.”
“Taylor, death is death. Doesn’t matter how. Now let’s go see if we can stop anyone else from dying.” Stivers grabbed the fire extinguisher and started at a jog for the crashed plane, hoping against hope that someone in the crew made it.
The crashed plane’s canopy was entirely shattered and the front half of the plane was doing it’s best impression of a pancake. Both of the wings had snapped at the planes body
As they approached the burning wreck, Stivers started hitting the fire where he could with what was left of his fire extinguisher. Taylor’s voice made him pause in his fire fighting efforts however. “Holy shit Stivers, Thompson is alive!”
Stivers did a double take, thinking it was impossible to live from something like this. He ran to Taylor's position, seeing a still breathing Thompson amongst the wreckage. Still breathing was however, all that could be said about him. He had burns on a large portion of his face and his left arm was bent at a very unnatural angle. There were also small pieces of shrapnel embedded in his chest. Stivers immediately ran back to his plane to get his emergency medical kit.
As Stivers approached the plane, he heard coughing coming from inside. Stivers ignored it for the time being, as finding the medkit was his priority.
Rob Gruebel’s coughing had slowed by the time Stivers found the kit. “Stivers, is that you?” Gruebel asked uncertainly. “The fuck happened?”
Stivers’ reply was slow to come however as he took a couple seconds to think about the situation. “We crashed, Devlin and Parpart are dead, and I need to go save Thompson’s life.”
Gruebel stared blankly as Stivers ran back to the smouldering wreck of plane 36.
When Stivers arrived, he immediately got to work on identifying Thompson’s more serious wounds as Taylor left to go find the other two crew members. By the time Stivers had prioritized Thompson’s wounds, Gruebel had ran up to him to offer his assistance.
“Gallivan is still alive. Thanks for checking on us by the way.”
“No problem.” Stivers was focusing on the wounded man in front of him, removing Thompson’s flight jacket. A large portion of the metal came out as the flight jacket was removed, causing some of the wounds to tear. “Help me out Gruebel, will yah?”
Gruebel removed a set of forceps as Stivers twisted Thompson`s arm back into place. Stivers set the bone and Gruebel started removing the smaller pieces of shrapnel. When that was out of the way, Gruebel grabbed the twine, a pair of scissors and a needle. Stivers washed the burn wounds with antiseptic and covered them with gauze, obscuring half of Thompson`s face and a good portion of both of his arms and legs. When Gruebel had finished stitching Thompson`s torso, he applied the antiseptic and the gauze. The whole procedue was done in silence and professionalism as both had served as field medics before.
“Taylor, anyone else?” Stivers asked as a grim faced Taylor approached the scene.
“No one. How’s Thompson?” The pain in Taylor’s voice was evident.
“He’s stable. We should make camp now before it gets dark.” Gruebel was quick to inform Taylor as the sun reached its zenith. “I’ll go and wake up Gallivan.”
“Taylor, let’s set up the tents. When Gruebel gets back, we’ll go and get some firewood from the forest.”
When Gruebel and Gallivan had made their way to the makeshift tents, they offered to gather their fallen comrades, leaving Stivers and Taylor to go hunt for wood. This was nothing new to Stivers as he used to go camping quite a bit before he joined the military. As he was picking up some detritus from a fallen tree, Taylor was busy organizing his thoughts. The sun had lowered to the point in the sky where the stars were just barely visible.
“Taylor, will you get your head out of the clouds and help me?” Taylor shook his head and took Stivers’ armful of wood, starting to make his way to back to camp.
Stivers was about to bend back over to collect more wood when he was cut off by Taylor. “Stivers, did you see that?”
“See what, Taylor?” Stiver’s annoyance was palpable.
“I... I don’t know. I just think I saw something in the woods. You think there are any bears nearby?” Taylor seemed genuinely worried.
“Well Taylor, if there is a bear, I guess I’ll just have to wrestle it into submission.”
“Funny Stivers, I’m being serious. What if there is something dangerous out there?”
“You aren’t much of an outdoors man are you? Still got your sidearm?” Taylor gave a confirmatory nod. “Good. Just shoot it then.” Stivers picked up the last of his armful of wood and started back to camp with Taylor. “Come on Taylor, let’s—”
“Stivers, Look at the sky.” Taylor’s command was so sudden that Stivers did so without hesitation.
“Okay... now what Taylor?”
“Stivers, I don’t think were near America... I don’t even think were in the same hemisphere...”
“Now what would make you think that?” Stivers couldn’t figure out what about the sky would really be able to tell him that until he noticed a distinct absence of any familiar constellations. “Oh. I see.”
“Yah, that. What are we supposed to do now? We couldn’t have flown all the way to any form of hostile country, cause we defeated them all... But if we aren’t in America...”
“Taylor, let’s concentrate on survival for now. Assume we’re in hostile territory.”
“Right. So this is how it feels to be a grunt.”
“Whatever flyboy.”
When they arrived back at camp, They were met by Gallivan patrolling the area.
“Hey guys. Gruebel is watching over Thompson. Let’s get that fire started cause it’s gonna get cold.”
Stivers and Taylor exchanged glances before Stivers decided that he should be the one to inform Gallivan of their predicament.
“Gallivan... We aren’t having that fire.”
“What, why not?”
“We’re in another country. Assume it’s hostile.” Stivers and Taylor dropped their arm fulls of wood beside one of the two tents.
“Shit. Alright, Who’s first on watch?”
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Spike, we need to alert the princesses of this.” Twilight had been going through her vast knowledge base of the cosmos and nothing she could think of, nor the books in her collection could shed light on what had happened.
“Twilight, it’s two in the morning.” Came spikes Indignant reply. “Can’t it wait?”
“No spike, this could be a cosmic emergency!” Twilight was shouting now as she paced back and forth in her room.
“Fine, I’ll send a letter, but after that, I’m going to bed.” Spike was up far past his bed time and his grumpiness was proof that he was still a baby.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Dear Princess Celestia,
I was practicing my nightly ritual of sky watching this night and to my utmost disappointment, the clouds had not been cleared away by the pegasi this night. It was in these clouds, however, that I saw something strange. After scanning for several minutes for any break in the clouds, I had discovered several flashing lights that were both green and red in colour. After tracking these lights for a few moments did something else happen. Right where the lights had been before, several bright orange flashes of light appeared in the night sky. They almost seemed like explosions, but I cannot be sure. The lights came from over the Everfree forest, near the mountain ranges. I am bringing this to your attention with the hopes that you may be able to explain to me what I saw in Luna’s sky.
Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle”
“Well, Luna,” Celestia and Luna were reading Twilight’s current correspondence with disdain. “You are the expert of the night. What do you say it is?”
“I don’t know Sister... But I say we exercise caution.”
“Agreed. Sergeant?” Celestia remained passive as she called for one of the loyal guards who was stationed at the door.
The door peaked open and the face of one of her guards poked through the door. “Yes, Milady?” His tone was even and formal.
“Inform the Captain that he is to send a detachment to ponyville. They are to perform reconnaissance on an area in the Everfree Forest. The area will be detailed by my student, Twilight Sparkle. The Captain is to bring the Elements of Harmony only if they are needed. Understood?”
The Sergeant took the information in stride as he saluted. “Yes Ma’am.” He stated as he turned and left the room.
“So Sister, do you think it might be...” as Luna drifted off, Celestia picked up the conversation.
“Yes Luna. I fear it is.”
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FIRST!11!!!11!
And now that iv'e got that out of my system, here is Chapter 1. Chapter 2 will arrive... eventually. Maybe we'll have a schedule... again, that's being planned this week.
Good update
Just for shits, I also steal the 100th comment!
This makes me happy.
“No spike, this could be a cosmic emergency!” TIwilight was shouting now as she paced back and forth "Twilight" awesome update i cant wait for more! :)
Wow. A HiE story with a reasonable explanation? Madness, I say!
339578 Thanks
339611 I'm glad you're enjoying it.
339629 Oops, my bad. Gonna get that fixed.
"Would just like everyone to know that GA is from Canada so you might notice a slight divergence of the English language from the first chapter."
I just had to comment before reading the rest of the chapter. As a Canadian, this made me laugh.
339578 Hey, awesome profile pic.
Finally! Been waiting for this to update
"When Gruebel had finished stitching Thompson`s torso, he applied the antiseptic and the gauss."
Unless this is a regional quirk I'm not aware of, that should be gauze.
Now that that's out of the way, I think that the constellations are not actually significantly different. If you look at Suited for Success (I think that's what it's called? The one with Art of the Dress), Twilight's second dress has a bunch of familiar ones.
Just to let you know, the medical bandaging aid is called "gauze." "Gauss" was a mathematician in the 1800s.
I'll be watching this fic to see where it goes.
this is a cool story man, keep it up
339695 Yes you are correct about the gauze lol, thank you
This is quickly becoming an interesting HiE story. Looking forward to more
339634 Screw reason. I prefer completely chaotic coincidence.
339645 Yah, I spell things correctly :D (except gauze)
339649 satisfied?
339706 Oop, I knew something was wrong with that. Thanks.
339695 No, you are right, it is gauze. Also, just cause there are similar constellations, does't mean they are in the same location. up here in Canada, Orion's belt is about 30 degrees above the horizon, whereas in Egypt, it is directly on the horizon.
339715 Thanks.
Hah, that was a good read, if a bit short. Leaves one wanting more. Which is good I suppose. But I want it NOA!
Still interesting! I'm having some trouble keeping all the names straight, though.
Keep on it!
339645
As an American, I caught how funny that sounded. The only way it could have been better is if GA were described as a being Brit with the same message.
Either way, the grammar needs work. I'm pretty sure the Queen's English involves capitalization (capitalisation) of proper nouns, but I'm not an English major or anything. I was also wondering how many times Twi could have worked "this night" into the first sentence of her letter to Celestia...
339756 Muahahahahaha You have fallen for a trap that I has been laid... and I totally planned it... yes....
339761 Meh, I'm still having trouble keeping names straight, so I don't blame you.
339798 Which proper nouns did I miss? (also, Ty wrote the letter... When I wrote it, it was much shorter)
339798
I think I would have fallen out of my chair laughing if that had been the message.
339831
You are an evil sneaky writer. I like it. You and Ty have done a good job catching initial attention. A tip of the hat and a moustache for both of you.
339889 Thank you for the hat tip, and the moustache. Also, Complements will get you everywhere
339831
I'd tell you to do you own proof reading, but that'd make me sound like an arrogant ass (granted, I can be). However, I don't have time to go through the whole document, so here's what I could find at the end. While Twilight is talking to Spike, Spike's name isn't capitalized on two occasions and is missing an apostrophe on one. Then, during Luna's conversation with Celestia, Ponyville isn't capitalized. Early on, Avenger isn't capitalized either. I'd recommend just finding an editor that isn't a physics major (I.e. someone other than me) and being done with it.
Hmmmmm..........
Aww yeah
two HiE stories im reading and their both great reads
Have the moustaches
take them:
Minor Historical-Political Nitpick:Given the time period these guys came from, "Hostile Territory" would be the lands controlled by the Soviet Union... although the Cold War is very much young, I doubt any pilots would be very enthusiastic of getting a first-hand look at Stalinism...
339646
Thank ya kindly
“So Sister, do you think it might be...” as Luna drifted off, Celestia picked up the conversation.
“Yes Luna. I fear it is.”
sirkevinpatrick.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/aliens-meme.jpg?w=510
Uh oh... Ponies with human technology?...
i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk266/spartan-029/mlp-sspattack.png
340021 Thanks, I actually do do a fair bit of editing, but I can't proof read my own stuff worth squat.
340088 moustaches everywhere
340113 As much as I want to remain historically accurate, that all flew out the window the moment the Bermuda Triangle was used as a portal.
So Celestia and Luna didn't know about the planes going down. I'm thinking this means they put up some sort of automated defense up a long time ago. Maybe the magic version of an automatic AA gun? those explosions sure didn't come from nowhere.
Mustaches?
I don't see any moustaches.
Damn Celestia and Luna with their goverment secrets
340796
Don't worry. Proofreading your own work is just a good way to leave embarrassing errors all over the place. No one can really edit their own work without leaving mistakes behind, or so I've heard.
I couldn't edit for you, but I could be (at least) a semi-reliable technical consultant.
340796 Like I said, minor nitpick that only a pedant like me would point out and obviously irrellevant to the story.
341048 I would answer your comment, but then I might give something away. So for now, enjoy derpy:
341526 Government? eh, I guess aristocracy is still a type of government... or is it a monarchy? but there are two co-rulers... bi-archy?
341588 What kind of technical consultant? because, if you could tell me how the internet worked, that would be great... (if you can, pm me).
341713 I would have pointed it out too, but that's because I enjoy history. Although with this kind of quantum mechanics, history is three sheets to the wind.
340451 What you did there... I see it...
341048 Um... I think the explosions were probably from the planes... you know... smashing into the mountain and ground? Just my opinion.
Nice work so far. I'm not sure how to feel about all that is going on... I just hope the humans aren't of the 'shoot first, ask questions later' variety. Keep up the great work.
340113
While the US and the USSR weren't friends, Flight 19 was lost before they actively became enemies.
And a little error:
"This was nothing new to Stivers as he used to go camping quite a bit before he joined the army."
Stivers was a Marine, and a regular at that. You might want to change that to something like "...before he joined the Corps." if you want it to be his thoughts or "...before he joined the Marines." if you want it to be from the narrator.
SO AWESOME. SO AWESOME. TOO AWESOME. MORE AWESOME PLEASE. Yes, this does mean I like it.
SO AWESOME. SO AWESOME. TOO AWESOME. MORE AWESOME PLEASE. Yes, this does mean I like it.
342122 Sorry, I thought the marines were a division of the regular army as a special forces unit or something. As I am not American, I did not know. I will take this into consideration for future chapters.
342253 I'm glad that you like it, but... double post.
ARE YOU INSAYAN?! BEATING A SANDWICH ONLY MAKES IT TASTIER! YOU ARE NO REALY SUPERSAND! That will be all.
It's okay so far; though it always feels a little odd to me to read about Flight 19, given that my father knew a guy who (almost) went on that flight until he got yanked at virtually the last minute. Talk about dodging a bullet.
342736 Any chance that that guy was the mysterious 15th crew member?
Instead loyal guard near the end, shouldn't be royal guard. It is hopefully assumed they are loyal.
342736 You mean Marine Corporal Allan Kosnar?
342736
I figured that someone with a connection to Flight 19 would show up eventually, altough I thought it would be to say that you (ty500600) had killed off a family member.
342353
Actually it is the norm for marines of any nation to be linked to the navy, (for instance: The Royal Marines are part of the Naval Service). The real question is are they part of the navy or an independent force?
I keep trying to find things wrong with fanfics... I think Twilight's letter could've been a bit shorter. She likes to keep things brief, Particularly when there could be an emergency, Right?
342810 All I know is, the guy worked at the Bethlehem Steel for several years and he told my father that he was on the base and was up for the flight when it happened. So if anyone was getting bullcrapped, it was my father and the guys he worked with.