Chapter 38: Eavesdropping
Kevin kept shooting manically at the ground, expending all thirty rounds in his M4 Carbine in less than seven seconds. As he breathed heavily, he turned around to see everybody's facial expressions.
The Marines and the pilots were grinning somewhat at his actions. Dempsey however, was a different story. He was facepalming hard, and let out a heavy sigh mixed with disappointment and tiredness.
Kevin grinned as he turned to the ponies. Their eyes were cartoonishly big, and some of their jaws hung open. That one pony named 'Shining' looked like he was on the verge of passing out.
"Jesus, Christ, Kevin..." Dempsey groaned. "Not even twenty four hours in this world, and you've already scared the living shit outta the population, let alone the military."
Marcus chuckled. "Hate to break it to you, but we beat you to it." He said.
Kayla bumped into the conversation. "Not yet. We still haven't found where that Cricket came from. Then we'll see how they react when the Seekers start falling from the sky-" She was cut of by Kevin before she could say anymore.
"Wait what? You said you were gonna tell us about the Cryptids! How the hell are they even here?" Kevin asked in a more serious tone.
"Now's not the place to tell you about it." Marcus said. "But you guys need to know a lot of shit before we get out of here."
Then, one of the guard spoke up behind him. "Wait, is that what you call those things you killed down there in the labs? Crickets?" He asked, a bit stumped.
"No. What you saw down there at the labs were a different type of Cryptids called 'Scouts', which are the weakest of all the Cryptids." Marcus responded.
"T-the weakest?..." The guard croaked. "Those things killed over half of the scientists in that one area!"
"Really?" Jackson asked with a raised eyebrow. "We only found four bodies down there. And damn, they did not look good." He said, pondering for a second before chuckling quietly. "Guess the little fucks were hungr-"
"A-hem."
Jackson turned around, noticing the ponies giving him glares that could melt through titanium. "Um... heheh... sorry." He said, grinning sheepishly.
"Now that we're done trying to rip each other's throats out..." Randy said, standing up. "How about we head inside? It's cold out here. Unless you all want to sleep in the Stryker." He stated, pointing at the Stryker to further his point. They all nodded in agreement as they stood up to walk back into the castle, but Mike stopped as a thought came into his mind.
"Wait!" He shouted out of nowhere. "What about the vehicles?"
"What about them?" Kevin asked.
"We can't just leave them out here and let the ponies have their way with 'em!" Mike then quickly turned to the guards. "No offense."
The guards just shrugged in reply, but Shining walked in front of the soldiers. "I can just set up a force field around the two vehicles for the night. With it, you shouldn't have anyon- er, anypony, try to steal them or something along those lines."
The soldiers thought about his offer for a second. Kevin and Dempsey both nodded in agreement, but Mike and Randy were skeptical. "What makes you think we can trust you? What if you sabotage them or something?"
"And get hit with that?" Shining said, raising an eyebrow and pointing a hoof at Kayla's Barrett .50 Cal. "I don't think so..."
The pilots chuckled and also agreed. Shining then ordered Ironhoof to take the five girls and the seven men to the castle.
"Yes sir!" Ironhoof said with a salute. He then motioned the humans to follow him inside. They did so as they walked back up the steps and into the castle, while the other guards went to other directions, still in a somewhat state of awe, while Shining went to the vehicles to prepare them for the night.
They then all walked in silence, the looking at their surroundings, making a mental map of the area in case they ever needed to return, which they were certain they would need to in the near future more than once. Even though it was silent, the humans were still somewhat awestruck to a small degree by how the entire place looked on the inside. Especially Thompson and Marcus, who, even thought their memories of the actual show were somewhat vague, they still took in every little detail.
Marcus then turned to Ironhoof. "Hey, you were here on the day they told you we cleared the labs, right?" He asked, finally breaking the silence in the group.
Ironhoof nodded. "Yes, I was. It was... something down there." Ironhoof said with a slight shiver, then he chuckled quietly. "But the look on the clean-up crew's faces when those doors opened?" He laughed outloud. "Priceless!"
Marcus and the others smiled as Ironhoof went on. "But that place looked like something out a sci-fi movie. Still, thanks for clearing those things out of there before it got out of hand." He said with a smile.
"Don't worry about it, it's our job anyways." Marcus replied, but he then stopped dead in his tracks as a voice with a British accent echoed swiftly through his mind.
"Don't let them thank you just yet.. the worst has yet to come." The voice said with a dark chuckle. Marcus shook his head, not noticing that he was standing still.
"Marcus?" Twilight asked. "You okay?"
"Yeah.. just had a bit of a sudden headache, that's all." He replied with a smile. They then continued walking down the hallway, until Ironhoof asked another question.
"Oh, and when we looked back at the security camera footage, we saw that a little flying thing was always hovering over Applejack and Rainbow Dash. What was it?" He asked.
"I was wondering when somepony would ask." Marcus said. Then, he reached and pulled out the Vulture drone that was strapped to the left side of his pack, also pulling out the black pad device as he placed the drone on the floor, and pressed the screen on the pad. The ponies and the soldiers watched as the drone made a couple beeping noises and started to slowly make its way over their heads, hovering in place.
"Ah still don't know how that works, sugarcube..." Applejack said in awe as she looked up at it, while placing a hoof on her Stetson to keep it from blowing away. "Ya'll are gonna give Twilight here another excuse ta not leave the library." She said with a smug smile.
"Hey!" Twilight said to Applejack's amusement. "I leave the library just as much as you leave Sweet Apple Acres!" She retorted.
"Twi," Rainbow bumped into the conversation. "with all the stuff these guys are showing us, your egghead-y ness is gonna increase ten-fold." She said with a cocky smirk.
Twilight rolled her eyes. " 'Egghead-y ness' isn't a word, Rainbow." She replied with a deadpanned expression.
"It is if I say it!" Rainbow shot back. "I said it, so it's now an official word!"
Twilight just sighed, giving up to Rainbow's amusement. Then, Randy chuckled as he turned to the Marines. "You guys have some pretty cool toys with ya." He said.
"We got lots more back where we were before we came here." Thompson added. "Trust me, we got a lot more than you think we do."
Randy's eyes widened as he nodded, keeping in his anticipation. They then kept walking down the hallway, until Ironhoof turned to Marcus.
"How is it?" He asked. Marcus raised an eyebrow before the guard quickly added. "The flying machine, I mean. How can it work without you controlling it?"
"Well, it's really Thompson over there who deals with these kind of machines, since he's basically an Engineer of sorts." Marcus pointed a Thompson, who smiled proudly. "But I'll put it in a nutshell. That little thing has Artificial Intelligence, or A.I for short. It basically-"
Marcus stopped talking as they turned the corner, noticing that at the end of the hallway, were two ponies. He looked closer, noticing that one of the ponies was a Unicorn, and was wearing a torn-up tuxedo, along with several bruises and a cast of his right foreleg. The other was a guard, who seemed to be wearing a slight look of awe and shock on his face. Marcus recognized the Unicorn immediately.
"Blueblood..." He whispered in annoyance and anger. He then turned around and ushered everybody out of the hallway, and back around the corner.
"Uh.. Marcus? What are you gonna do?" Twilight asked with a hint of worry. Marcus didn't reply as he plucked the Vulture from the sky and back down to the floor. He then started to unload the 7.62mm ammo box from its attached M240.
He then turned to Jackson. "Jackson, do you happen to have a box full of blank rounds?" He asked with a smirk. Jackson grinned and nodded.
"Fuck yeah, I do." He then brought out his pack, and brought out an ammo box with blank rounds, handing it to Marcus, while taking the 7.62mm round box. Marcus attached the ammo box into the M240, before switching it back online, and bringing it back up from the ground, letting it hover freely.
"Here, let me show you how this works in a situation where you have an annoying slob..."
He then used the black pad to switch on the camera that was attached to the right side of the M240. The ponies and the soldiers watched on the tiny screen as the Vulture quietly hovered closer to the two ponies at the end of the hallway. As it did, the Vulture picked up on their conversation.
"I can't believe those mutant apes did this to me!" Blueblood said in pure anger. "If I see those mutant apes one more time, I am going to have them face off against my private squadron!" Blueblood then stomped on the ground with his broken foreleg, yelping in pain as the drone got closer and closer.
"With all due respect, I don't think that's a good idea, sir." The guard warned nervously, completely unaware of the vein that suddenly showed on Blueblood's forehead. "They seem to be heavily trained and oriented on combat and war. Especially the four in black combat-"
"And so is my private squadron!" Blueblood roared, cutting off the guard and making him step back a bit. "How dare you compare my elite squadron to a bunch of apes in costumes! Who's side are you on?!" He yelled angrily.
"Okay.. this guy is just all bark and no bite." Jackson said, clearly annoyed by the Unicorn's antics and words. The others agreed, giving out an 'Oorah' or a 'Hooah'.
"Then let's send this guy running back to whatever shit hole he crawled out of." Marcus said as he ordered the Vulture to move in closer.
Meanwhile, the guard just stood there, trying to find what right words to say back, until he looked up.
"Well? Speak, imbecile!" Blueblood demanded. The guard's pupils turned to the size of pinpricks as he kept looking above and over Blueblood. He then saw the look in the guard's eyes. "What are you staring a-"
Blueblood cut himself off as he looked behind and above him. His jaw dropped and his pupils also turned to the size of pinpricks. They both were now looking at the Vulture drone, hovering above and in front of them. Blueblood was about to speak, until a red beam shined out from the side of the M240, and landed neatly in the middle of his forehead.
Then, a couple more beeping noises emitted from the Vulture, as it readied its weapon and fired off blank rounds, deafening both the guard and Blueblood.
The shots echoed all around as the two ponies yelled in utter fear and ran off in separate directions. Blueblood tried to run, but he stumbled on his broken foreleg and fell onto the floor with a pitiful cry of pain, and a thud. As he laid on the floor, he turned around, looking over his shoulder as he hyperventilated.
After a couple of seconds, the Vulture drone came back into view, as the red line of light made contact and showed on his flank. He screamed in utter fear as he got back up, skidding on the floor as he did so, and ran down the hallway, running away like a little schoolfilly. The yells and shots dissipating as he ran further and further away, the drone in hot pursuit.
Marcus and Rainbow were laughing to the point where tears rolled down their faces. Then, the others joined along, laughing, making the laughter raise into sheer pandemonium.
"That.. was.. AMAZING!" Rainbow said between laughter and gasps for air. The others agreed as the laughter eased down a bit.
After a couple of minutes, they all collected themselves as Marcus used the black pad to call the Vulture back to their location. They then walked down the hallway, the Vulture meeting them along the way.
"Thompson, you think you can store the drone in your pack? Before I waste its battery life on some other useless shit?" Marcus asked with a smirk. Thompson nodded as he was handed the black pad. He then grabbed the Vulture drone and shut it off, storing it in his pack as they walked down the hallway.
"I don't really approve of what you did to Blueblood, but I am glad you're setting him straight in a way." Twilight commented, giggling a bit.
"Ah really never like the guy ta be honest with ya'll. Especially when he acted like he did with Rarity.." Applejack said with a disapproving shake of her head. "She should've known better than to try to go for the rotten stallion.."
"I'm sure he has a good side to him." Fluttershy said, trying to ease the tension and hatred for the blonde-maned stallion. "I mean, sure he acts a bit rude at times, but he's still a pony."
"Yeah..." Rainbow said. "A pony that needs a good kick in the flank.." She muttered the last part angrily.
The humans just walked along as the girls continued their conversation. Ironhoof didn't say anything. As much as he would have loved to agreed to the accusations that they were giving Blueblood, he was a Royal Guard. He was sworn in to protect all members of the Royal family, which, unfortunately, also included Blueblood. After walking down the hallway and getting a couple of glares from some guards along the way, they turned the corner and walked into a hallway, which contained two, and two dead ends.
"Well, this is the are a where you'll all be sleeping tonight. Each room has about eight beds, and has enough room to store your stuff. Make yourselves comfortable. I'll be back in the morning to escort you all to court martial." Ironhoof said. He then saluted the humans, and walked out of the area, disappearing behind the corner. The humans and the girls then opened the doors, and were surprised at the sheer size.
"Looks like a damn barracks up in here.." Jackson said as he walked in, the others following behind him.
"Yeah.." Randy said, walking next to a bed, and jumping onto it. "But oh my God, does it feel so much better."
"I second that." Kevin said, also getting into a bed, sighing as he took off his helmet and set it on the floor. The others set down their weapons on the back wall, as they took of their main gear and helmets before settling in.
Mane Six P.O.V
The girls were all sitting on their beds, talking to each other, since a lot has happened since they found the Marines, and it hasn't even been a week since then.
"I still wonder what their world came from. I mean, just look at the technology they have! It's so much more advanced than what we got..." Twilight exclaimed excitedly as she looked through all the notes she's written about their technology and weapons.
"Um Twi, your egghead-y ness is showing again." Rainbow said with a smirk.
"Don't you get it, Rainbow? They can even give us their own technology! I mean, it could boost our science and so much more to a level we can't even imagine!" Twilight shot back.
"I guess. I really liked that one vehicle they have. The 'Little Bird', right?" Rainbow asked to be sure. Twilight nodded. "I want to see how fast it can go. Also, remember Marcus' last flashback at the end? When those things dropped the white smoke stuff on the island?"
"Oh! Those things! I think he called them 'F-35 Lightnings' or something? I can tell you're interested in them.." Twilight said. Rainbow nodded eagerly.
"Buck yeah I am! Did you see how fast those things flew?!" Rainbow said. Twilight nodded.
"So how did they act when they were sleeping in your girls' places?" Twilight asked, changing the topic.
"Thompson was really caring and helped me take care of the animals when he was there. I think he's really into taking care of animals. Even Angel is taking into Thompson being there. He's really helpful." Fluttershy commented with a smile.
"Jackson seemed to like being around the farm a lot. Ah think he really likes it there. Ah might tell Big Mac to help build him an extra room or something along those lines. He doesn't deserve to live in the barn, but he seemed to like sleeping in the hay. Ah think he'll be pretty helpful around the farm." Applejack said.
"Marcus seems pretty cool." Rainbow commented. "And he's pretty strong."
"How strong is he?" Twilight asked.
"He.. well, he beat me at a hoof-wrestle." Rainbow admitted with a sigh of defeat. The girls gasped slightly, a bit shocked at the fact that she was beaten at one of the things she was actually good at.
"Hey, but we lasted for about seven minutes! He has a freaking iron grip. But he seems kinda soft sometimes. And I'm not letting him go with a victory that easily. I'm gonna one up him with a rematch, and a race." Rainbow said with a cocky smirk, crossing her forelegs. The others just rolled their eyes and chuckled.
Applejack then turned to Twilight. "How about Kayla? How is she?" She asked.
Twilight put a hoof on her chin before replying. "She seems relaxed and calm, but she's a bit 'mischevious'. And can be a bit arrogant. But she's really funny and kind."
"Oh! Remember when she blasted your face with the airhorn?" Rainbow reminded Twilight as she laughed at the memory. "That was too good!"
Twilight rolled her eyes. "Yes, Rainbow. I remember. I swear if she does something like that again.." Twilight said, not daring to tell them about when Kayla found the magazine in her basement. She then decided to switch up the topics a bit. "What about the other four?"
The girls thought about it for a second. They didn't know much about them to state an opinion about them, except for Dempsey. "I still don't trust that one guy. 'Dempsey', right?" Rainbow said. "But if he really has PTSD like Marcus, then I guess I can understand why he killed the guard."
"Wait, Marcus has PTSD?" Twilight asked with an eyebrow raised. Rainbow and Applejack nodded.
"Yeah. When we were down there, Rainbow was jumped on by one of those Cryptid things." Applejack explained. "Marcus launched it off of her and killed it."
"Yeah, and for some reason, I think he said, 'Don't touch Jamie'? Then he just stood still for a couple of seconds, and his hand started shaking like crazy." Rainbow finished.
"Wow.. does any one of the others have similar issues?" Twilight asked, now concerned for their newly found friends.
"When Jackson went ta sleep in the barn, ah heard what sounded like weeping. When ah came to check it out, he was mumbling something about his sisters." Applejack added. "When ah asked him about it while we were walking towards Rainbow's house, he didn't reply..."
"Thompson was a bit shaky and giddy when I let him enter my cottage. I don't think it's anything to be worried about, but I have no idea why.." Fluttershy said, now pondering.
"Wait, aren't they in the room next to us?" Rainbow asked. "We can just eavesdrop on what they're talking about! Maybe get some clues?" She suggested. The other girls thought about it for a moment, but before they could respond, Rainbow already had an ear against the wall.
"Um.. I don't think we should. It's not-" Fluttershy started to disagree with Rainbow's suggestion, but she stopped as she noticed that Applejack and Twilight also joined in. Her ears flopped to the side as she frowned sadly. After a while, she sighed in defeat as she rose up one ear and leaned in, still several feet from the wall.
Human's P.O.V
"So are you gonna tell us about the Cryptids now?" Kevin asked, raising his head from the pillow, his arms folded behind him as his hands laid behind his head. "Or are we gonna wait until tomorrow morning?"
Marcus chuckled as he placed his helmet on the cabinet. "Nah, we'll start now. Listen up, 'cause I'm only gonna say this shit once." He said. The two gunners and two pilots nodded as they took of their gear.
"We're listening. Just tell us while we take our shit off." Dempsey said, placing his M16A4 on the wall.
"Okay then. I'll keep it short and simple. You guys know who Samantha Cross is, right?" He asked. They nodded again, but Mike rose his hand.
"It's that one chick that was born with a rare neurological disorder, right?" He asked. Marcus nodded. "I thought she disappeared..."
"Yeah. The one who's a natural code-breaker. And she kinda disappeared. Well, out of public eye. She was recruited by a man named David Archer, a former S.A.S operator who worked on the Nightfall Program." Marcus confirmed.
"I knew there was something wrong about that fucking program. I remember looking at some C.I.A files and shit back at one of the bases in Germany. It didn't say much, but it had some weird shit on it." Mike said.
"Yep. After the program went downhill, it was terminated by the U.S Government, and we were sent to Alaska to de-contaminate the main facility, which went FUBAR, out of all the Cryptids, and to extract Samantha. But Archer beat us to it after we cleared the entire base. After a long ass time and several other operations, we finally got her and took her to the Exodus Launch Facility near San Diego. We activated a device that wiped all of the Cryptids in a three mile radius out, and giving them enough time to reach the space station, and go into cryogenic slumber for about one thousand years." Marcus said.
"That still doesn't explain how you said the Cryptids are here." Randy said impatiently.
"I'm getting to it, motherfucker." Marcus shot back. Randy just lifted his hands up in defense. "Anyways, we arrived here, we were told that a Hive was in the town we were just in. Who told us? Take a wild fucking guess."
The four soldiers thought about it for a second, before they put two and two together. "Wait.. no. Seriously?"
"Yeah. Somehow, her smart ass found her way into my damn mind or some shit like that. By that, she told me that she was half Ancestor, half... human? I don't know, but she's been contacting me and warning me about the Cryptids."
"How the hell are they here again?" Randy asked.
"Well, if you think about it, this world isn't as different as ours was. She told me that they were formed identically as ours. Like, how it formed its shape, and how it formed, air, water, ec cetera. The Cryptids back on Earth have been around longer than us, about 541 millions years. Turns out it's the same situation here." Marcus said.
"Damn.. and how were they awoken?"
"When we made it here, we activated some sort of beacon or signal or some shit that awoke the bastards. So now that they're awake, they're ready to take over this world." Marcus said angrily. Then, he chuckled. "But not if we can help it."
"Did she tell you where the Cryptids came from? Or more specifically, the Cricket?" Randy asked. Marcus shook his head.
"No, she didn't. I can't help but think that her human side, or what's left of it, wants to help us, but her other half is just toying with is, using us as some sort of bait, or something along those lines. But for now, she's all we got in having a good chance on finding where they're located at, so we just have to hope that our luck tips on our favor."
"Does Celestia know about the Cryptids?"
"Yeah, she does. Well, after we told her. She seemed calm about it, until I showed her one of our flashbacks, and how our world was completely brought down to its knees by the Cryptids."
"So what do you think Celestia will do about me?" Dempsey asked with a bit of worry.
"I doubt she'll really lock us up or something. She knows damn well that we're the best chance this world has in defeating the Cryptids if the flashbacks didn't prove anything else. She and everypony else will need all the help they can get, and frankly, we're the best here." Marcus said as he stood up, cracked his neck side to side, and proceeded to walk to his bed.
"What if they do lock me up?"
Marcus laid on his bed, sighing. "Then we'll negotiate about it. Celestia seems reasonable and negotiable, but if all else fails, we'll use force."
"How?"
"I don't know, but let's just say we might lose the friendliness of our friends if things head south..." Marcus said as he closed his eyes. "..or worse. Let's just go over our options in the morning, alright?"
"Alright." Everyone else said in unison as they climbed into their beds and tried to sleep, but the nervousness and tension made it hard for them to do so. The Marines were never one to harm civilians, or let alone their friends. But they knew that it would be for the greater good of the planet.
Since it would be better to lose some respect, then lose an entire planet to a war-pressed and battle-born species that's been around longer than the ponies themselves.
As Marcus drifted to sleep, he heard a faint male voice with an accent echo through his mind once more, as he drifted into blackness.
"You want options.. I'll give you options.."
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I love the Vulture Drone a little bit more now. Also, damn man, prestige 2?!
I'm like...rank 33 or something. I barely have time play AW sadly. 
Yep... not sure if I want to get it for console game, or P.C... either way, A.W. looks damned awesome.
Shit man Prestige 2, I'm like a 28 I barely have time to play it, between school and choir and ROTC and shit I do a lot after school. I digress good chapter and I enjoy the fact that you let them make SHTF plans with the court-martial, and Twilight you can have our tech when you pry it from our cold dead unmoving bodies in bloody field we die in if the Cryptids don't get ya first. Keep it up and STOP playing AW give it a break man, really you'll tenth prestige by New Years if keep this up.
5237574
Actually, M16s are based on the original ar15 designed by Eugene Stoner in 1957. The ar15 was a lighter, smaller caliber version of the ar10 which was designed in 1956. The ar10 is basically a 7.62 nato ar15.
5244782 I realize that, but most of their weapons were scavanged when they arrived at the Exodus Launch Facility. Marcus just happened to come across one.
5241502 The Vulture drone is a michevious little devil, eh?
And just take advantage of double xp. It should bring you up easily and quickly.
5241679 Well, it's fun, super fast paced, more so than BO2.
If you got the cash, get it on XB1 or PS4.
If you're super gung-ho about graphics, then P.C is the way to go.
5241717 Glad you liked the chapter. And don't worry, I'm laying off AW for now. I got football coming up, and stories to write.
5244963
Eh. I'm a gun nut so I'll be saying stuff like this
I prefer the IMS with flaming pools over the vulture
5248641 I actually never knew there were zombies until I unlocked Riot myself. To say I was shocked would be the understatement of the century.
The ending cutscene was great, and left me wanting more, and the fact it will be included in DLC is awesome. I just hope it has a good story to it. Poor Gideon...
5249743 Xbox 360. I can't afford a next gen yet.
Good chapter! And damn...Prestige 2? Anyway, I've been hearing rumors about Zombies returning in the DLC, so we might have a chance of seeing the guys back in action!
"Tank Dempsey, kicking ass and making messes!" -TD, Zombies
5244771 bad spelling blabla dyslexia blabla
okay that's out the way by reloading i mean filling the ''mags'' again, if you really get so butt hurt about grammar become a freaking teacher and let ppl write, English is not my language by birth and have mostly self taught it my self, get of my back because your heavy with that huge ass nose of yours, maybe you should keep it out of someone else business if you got nothing useful to ad