Over There

by Paintbrush235

Chapter 3: Contact

All residents of Ponyville know about the Everfree Forest. They knew of it's unnatural dangers and creatures. Therefore any pony with a lick of sense knew that it was never wise to venture into it. For three little fillies chasing after a piece of paper, this slipped there minds.

The CMC had been chasing their list of possible cutie marks for about twelve minutes now. Sweetie Belle was desperately trying to keep up with it as the wind blew it further and further away. She had worked so hard on that list! Just as she was about to quit from exhaustion and start crying tears of loss, the breeze finally died down and the list settled in the middle of a small clearing. Sweetie Belle sighed in relief as Scootaloo quickly went up to the list and pounced on it, just in case the wind picked up again.

"Gotcha!" she exclaimed.

"Thank goodness!" Applebloom panted. "Now let's go home."

Sweetie Belle froze, taking the moment to at last look at the trios new whereabouts. She saw nothing but dark trees and dense underbrush surrounding them all around. Soon the shadows began took take on menacing shapes and every noise caused each filly to jump and squeak in terror as they huddled together for protection. To them, every shadow, tree and bush concealed some unknown monster.

"W-we need t-to get out of-f hear." Sweetie Belle whispered

"Agreed." Applebloom squeaked.

"Second." piped up Applebloom.

None of them moved. They had no idea where to go.

"Uh, how do we get out of here?" Sweetie Belle asked.

Before anyone could answer, a low growl penetrated the fillies ears. Turning their heads towards the source, the fillies saw three pairs of ghostly green eyes staring at them from the bushes.

--------------------------------------------

Blackburn kept his eyes peeled as he and the rest of the marines turned pony patrol trekked through one of the densest and swampiest forests he had ever seen. It had been twenty or so minutes since they had entered the mess of vegetation and trees and somehow managed to return to the dirt road. He had put Buckman up front, as Buckman was more at home in the swamps than any of them. So far no contacts of any kind had been made, but nonetheless Blackburn remained on the alert.

"Gunny!"

Coming out from his thoughts, Blackburn looked up front to see Buckman pointing with one of his new hooves to the right side of the road. Blackburn quickly trotted up.

"We're gettin' closer gunny." Buckman said as he pointed to another road sign that read "PONYVILLE 2 KM".

Blackburn sighed in relief that they weren't lost. He adjusted his trench gun's strap that crossed the from of his barrel and chest.

"Alright" he said, after taking a look around to make sure all of the patrol was accounted for. "Lets keep going down this road until we reach this town. Then we'll....."

"HEEEEELLLLLPPPPP!!!!"

Every marine turned their heads at once towards the scream.

"That's a child screaming!" Buckman exclaimed. Then, without waiting for orders, he unslung his B.A.R. somehow stood up on his hind legs while gripping the light machine gun in his fore hooves, and took off running down the road towards the screams.

"Buckman!" Blackburn shouted after the Corporal. Seeing that he wasn't coming back, he cursed, then motioned to the rest of the patrol to follow him.

Racing after Buckman, Blackburn began imagining the different scenarios that he and his fellow marines were getting into. What had Buckman run into? Germans? That didn't seem likely but still. His thoughts were answered when they finally caught up with Buckman, who was kneeling down behind a bush with his B.A.R. at the ready. The rest of the patrol fell in alongside the headstrong Corporal and mimicked his stance. Blackburn ran up to Buckman and settled in on his right.

"Corporal! What the hell were you....."

"HEELLLP US! SOMEPONY!"

Blackburn was once again interrupted by the sound of a child's scream. Except this time it sounded like more than one and he could tell they were coming from the bushes directly across from the bush that the patrol was behind. Then as if on cue, the bushes began to rustle and three figures came bursting out of it into the clearing. Blackburn could see they were ponies as well, albeit a lot younger. One was orange and had a purple mane and wings sticking out from it's sides. Another one was bright yellow and had a bright red mane and neither wings nor a horn like Blackburn had seen some of the marines grow recently. The last one had a horn and was white with a pink and purple mane. Blackburn could also see that she (he assumed it was a she by their screams) was limping on her right hind leg.

"Somepony! Help us!" the yellow filly screamed in pure fear.

This time, it was Blackburn who sprang into action. He could tell that these ponies were children, and if there was one thing he couldn't stand to see, it was children frightened and in pain.

"Buckman! O'brien! Cross! Allan! With me!" He shouted, as he and the marines he called out jumped out of their bush and ran towards the frightened fillies. Doc Hawkins followed close behind, gripping his medical bag in his teeth.

The three fillies froze on the spot at the sight of these strangely dressed ponies popping up out of nowhere. They hadn't expected any pony else to be in the forest.

"Get behind us!" Blackburn shouted to them. Quickly snapping out of their trance, the fillies shuffled behind the gunnery sergeant as he and the rest of the marine riflemen (or rifleponies now) formed a protective line in front of them. Doc immediately ran up to the white filly who was limping.

"Where exactly does it hurt?" He questioned. The horned filly pointed to her right ankle. Doc was just about to start examining when the yellow filly pointed towards the bushes they had come out of.

"Look out!" she cried.

As she did, a loud growl came from the bushes. Suddenly they erupted as three wolf like creatures came storming out. However they didn't look like any wolves any of the marines had seen before. They were made entirely out of tree limbs and their eyes glowed a sickly green.

However to Blackburn, it didn't matter what the creatures were made of. They were threatening him and his fellow marines, but more importantly to Blackburn, they had threatened and harmed these children.

Doc could see what was coming. "Cover your ears!" he warned the fillies.

"OPEN FIRE!!!"

All at once the marines 03 Springfield rifles erupted into fiery life. Buckman's B.A.R. began thumping away in a steady rhythm as it blasted away chuck after chunk off the wooden creatures. Blackburn all the while was pumping out blasts from his m1897 shotgun, literally blowing the head of the creature directly in front of him into a shower of splinters.

In a matter of seconds, all three creatures were nothing but splinters and sawdust. All the marines stood there catching their breath, some wondering how they had been able to fire their weapons in the first place. Blackburn however turned his attention back to the three shaking fillies beside Doc Hawkins, who was tending to the white ones leg. He slung his trench gun across his back and sat down on his rump next to them.

"How is she doing Doc?" He asked.

Doc looked up from his work at the Gunnery Sergeant. "It's a minor fracture from what I can tell. She can't put any weight on it though. We'll have to carry her to someplace where she can get better treatment."

"Alright then." Blackburn sighed. He then turned to address the fillies.

"Alright you three okay beyond your friend's injury?"

The fillies nodded shakily.

"Do you live nearby?"

"We live in Ponyville." the orange filly answered.

Blackburn perked up at this revelation. This was the first contact with a native population of wherever they had ended up.

"Is there a place where we can take your friend to get further help?"

"We have a hospital." The yellow filly was speaking now.

"Alright." Blackburn took a look around before continuing. "My names Nathan by the way. What are yours?"

"Mah names Applebloom." The yellow filly piped up.

"I'm Scootaloo." said the orange one.

"And I'm Sweetie Belle." said the white filly.

Blackburn smiled. Those were beautiful names. "Well girls, we were just on our way to Ponyville ourselves. So can you show us the way? We also need to find your families and let them know that you are alright. Sound good?"

"Sounds good." The trio said in unison.

"Good. Now O'brien, you help get Sweetie Belle onto Doc's back. The rest of you, back in marching order on the road. Let's move."
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Back in Ponyville, a large crowd of local residents had gathered at the town square. They were led by a familiar group of six mares. Three of them had been frantically searching for three fillies who had been missing since school let out two hours ago.

"Applebloom is never late comin' home!" Applejack fretted. "Ah just know somethin' ain't right!"

"I agree with Applejack." Rarity said as she paced nervously. "Sweetie Belle wouldn't go wandering off without telling me first!"

"Yeah! And Scoots was supposed to meet me after school so we could practice flying!" Rainbow Dash added as she hovered back and forth in the air with worry.

Twilight was busy looking over maps of the Ponyville area. She had called all the ponies she could to organize search parties. She had just now divided up the search areas for each party.

"Ok" she addressed the entire crowd. "Now that every pony is ready, there is one last thing to remember. If a team finds the fillies, they are to send messengers to the other teams so they can return. Any questions?"

Suddenly, a pink hoof shot up into the air and started waving around frantically.

"Yes Pinkie?" Twilight said.

Pinkie Pie immediately stopped waving and pointed behind her.

"Found them!" she said proudly.

Every pony turned their heads in the direction she was pointing. Standing less than ten feet away, were twelve stallions clad in dark green clothes, and hats that to the ponies in the square, looked like upside down bowls. They also, with the exception of one with white bands with red crosses around his forelegs, carried strange sticks slung across their backs. Among them were three little fillies the ponies all recognized.

"Applebloom!"

"Sweetie Belle!"

"Scootaloo!"

Author's Note:

Gah! Schools been hectic!

Anyway here is the next chapter in the saga.

How will ponyville react to the devil dogs?

Until next time!

Link to new illustration here

side note: ignore that the marines in the picture do not exactly match their descriptions. That was a dumb mistake on my part. Will be rectified in other illustrations

Comments

[slendergun]

fuck! reading stories like this is like drugs to me!

[The Library]

5851314
I know the feeling mate.

[paladinwolf]

I just stumbled upon this gem of a tale, so kinda late to the party. While normally I dislike transformation stories, this one seems to be well done. Grammar is pretty good, Spelling isn't terrible, and pacing is decent as well. The artwork is a nice touch as well. Sofar, this has my attention... onward to the next chapter! Can't wait to see where you are going to take over 4k U.S. Marines...
guns.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/military-bronies-Military-Bronies-3-my-little-pony-friendship-is-magic-30737324-500-375.jpg

[Prodigy]

I would of laughed my ass off if one of them was named Jenkins, but good job on being original. Have a mustache:

[Dinokid11]

Some grammar mistakes you said applebloom twice instead of scootaloo

[shadowshooter45]

wait.. you made the pictures? your really good! and the story is good too

[Night Star the Scholar]

By the way.... when did you add illustrations? I'm sure it didn't have them before. Either way... Nice!

[Unkind_Maid_Privaty]

Well, the Browning Automatic Rifle did seen action on July 1918... But, I'm sure some others used Lewis LMG too. Also, here's other weapons that the USMC used during WW1:

- M1917 Enfield Rifle
- M1903 Springfield
- Winchester Model 1907
- S&W M1917 Revolver (limited)
- Colt M1903 Hammerless
- Winchester M1897 Shotgun
- Remington Model 10 Shotgun
- Browning Auto-5
- Lewis MG (which I mentioned earlier)
- Hotchkiss M1909 Benét–Mercié MG
- Model 1915 Chauchat MG
- Maxim MG
- Vickers Machine Gun
- Hotchkiss mle. 1914

[dar88]

I love storys when they add art pieces to the story specially when thet drawn for the story its self