Thunderbolt

by BrightIdea

Crash Landing

Crash Landing

“Funny. I thought when you saw a white light your life was supposed to flash before your eyes…” James sighed as the cockpit shifted back into focus. Dio’s voice inside of his head was replaced by a rhythmic beat of a migraine that grated on his already overloaded senses.

“Still…something feels funny…like my skin is on backwards…” James groaned and shifted in his seat. It was true. Everything had transformed from soul crushingly numb to feeling absolutely wrong. His flightsuit felt like it sagged around his legs and midsection but, had become tighter around his torso, especially his backside. “No, wait. Still can’t feel my fingers or toes.”
He fluttered his eyes open and winced as they were bombarded by…bright colors. He blinked several times and looked out the canopy. There was A sky and A sun, but they looked nothing like what the sky and sun should have looked like. They looked somehow more colorful then they should have been. “Feels like I’m staring at a picture frame.”

Something about all this just did not feel right. He shuddered as a chill crawled up his spine and his wings fluttered in response underneath his flight suit.

“What in the hell…” his eyes stretched wide as he turned his neck to the hump that shifted in the backside of his flight suit. The sudden flood of panic that swept through him only made him more disturbed which caused his wings to stretch and twist more. “AH! HOLY SHIT!!!”

He raised one of his hands to smack into his helmet in panic but, instead of what he had expected a hoof smacked to the side of it. He kicked one of his legs and the boot that was supposed to have secured his entire foot fell off as another hoof wrapped in a stretched sock emerged. He stared down his nose…no down his snout to the end of his muzzle where the oxygen mask had stretched away from his helmet. He wanted to wring his fingers but, he did not have any to do so. “WHAT IS HAPPENING HERE?”

His words were soon answered.

“RRRRROOOOOOOOOARGH!!!” a bestial roar seemed to slam into the back of his A-10 and quickly caused James to grab the control stick...at least to grip it between his hooves. He growled as the control stick slipped through his hooves a few times as he tried to move his A-10, which only made the aircraft jerk around. “Come on you damn thing. Work with me here.”
James tightened his grip and pulled the stick which slowly turned his A-10 enough so he could see behind him. For a moment he wished he had not. He quickly guessed that he must have emerged from what looked like a rolling mass of brightly colored clouds but, at some point he had not emerged from there alone. Flapping its wings behind his A-10 a few hundred yards a monstrous dragon had emerged from and followed him out from the strange mass of clouds that even as he looked quickly dissipated. For a moment he thought he had caught a glimpse of a more solid, small blue form with wings but, before his eyes could focus the dragon belched a wicked ball of flame toward him. James pushed on the flight stick and dived downward out of the path of the fireball.

“DRAGON!” his mouth shouted but, his mind echoed a much longer stream of obscenities as he tried to take in the situation. He did not have much time to think as the dragon swooped down after him. Its wings flapped at impossible speeds as it and James dived toward the ground and a carefully arrayed bank of clouds.
-
“RAINBOW DASH!” Twilight Sparkle shouted as her Pegasus…friend…plummeted through the after effects of the banishment spell. The ear splitting roar of Dark Claws signaled to Twilight that despite her best efforts she had failed. Not only was Dark Claws still above Ponyville, Dark Claws was above Ponyville with Rainbow Dash knocked unconscious. She watched as the helpless form of Rainbow Dash fell through the air toward the ground that waited below. She screamed at her body to do something but, she could not move a single one of her limbs. Tears had begun to stream down her face before something totally unexpected snapped her out of her paralysis.

The first thing that had emerged from the failed spell field had not been Dark Claws, but some kind of new metal bird-beast that cried a high pitched sound as it was chased by the behemoth form of Dark Claws. Twilight Sparkle was amazed the beast-bird could fly through the air so quickly even as its wings were locked in place. From her point of view she could see the bird-beast’s head which looked like a shark to her and like the rest of its body appeared to be utterly rigid despite the fact that it dodged Dark Claws’ dragonflame. It did not move a muscle but, it almost effortlessly avoided every attack Dark Claws hurled at it. More importantly she realized that Dark Claws was distracted by the appearance of this new monster and completely ignored Rainbow Dash.

“Now’s my chance, magic, please, please, please don’t fail me now!” Twilight Sparkle mumbled as she concentrated her magic and disappeared in a flash of purple light. She reappeared several dozen yards away but, on the ground below. She disappeared and reappeared several more times as she closed distance to the spot where Rainbow Dash fell towards. Though she visibly panted and sweated with the magical strain by the time she appeared underneath Rainbow Dash she looked up and disappeared and reappeared next to Rainbow Dash’s body. She grappled for Rainbow Dash but, Rainbow plummeted too quickly and Twilight missed her by a few inches. Twilight spared not a single precious moment to curse as she teleported herself again to Rainbow Dash and only a few dozen yards from the ground.

“Yes!” Twilight panted as she grabbed a hold of Rainbow Dash and pulled her unconscious friend close before she teleported them both to the ground.

“Rainbow! Wake up Rainbow! Please, wake up right now! Don’t be…don’t be…” Twilight cried as she pressed her hooves to Rainbow Dash’s sprawled out body.

“Mmmmph…can’t you see I’m taking my nap…Twi...” Rainbow Dash mumbled as she raised her eye lids. She soon blushed as Twilight hugged her in a tight embrace. Her wings jerked straight up! “C-come on T-twilight. You know I wouldn’t leave a friend hanging. Element of Loyalty, remember?”

“Heh…yea I know. I am glad for that.” Twilight smiled as she moved a step back and wiped her tears. Both ponies jerked their heads skyward as another roar from Dark Claws echoed from overhead. They gasped as they saw the bird-beast swoop just above the cloud cover that protected Ponyville. It seemed to see at the last minute that there was an entire town underneath those clouds and instead sharply turned skyward again, followed closely by Dark Claws. Both monsters avoided ploughing into the town but, the kick up of air from their passage did it for the cloud cover and it soon drifted apart and revealed Ponyville.

“Oh, no…” Twilight gasped as Dark Claws noticed Ponyville and changed directions.

“He’s going for easier prey then that thing.” Rainbow Dash gulped and looked past Dark Claws “and it looks like so has it!”
-
James was actually proud of himself that he had managed to get a hang of flying without hands. He would have congratulated himself if it weren't for the dragon that chased him across the cheerfully colored sky.

“This thing is physically impossible. There is no way that this thing should be able to keep up with me. It has to be the most, least aerodynamic thing in all creation but, its making me jump through hoops to stay alive!” James gritted his teeth as he mouthed out how the dragon broke conventional laws of physics. He could not deploy countermeasures and whenever he tried to outmaneuver it and bring it into the range of his GAU-8 Avenger cannon it just shifted back behind him. When he noticed the dragon suddenly break off pursuit he was relieved for a moment but, the next moment his mind was hurled back into confusion and panic that had become the norm.

“I know that place. Oh, God. I know that place. I skip the damn intro but, I know that place!” he had dodged a impossible and strange looking bank of clouds just a minute earlier. The cloud bank had now dissipated and revealed the picturesque landscape of Ponyville.

His mind struggled to put the pieces together.

‘This place is colorful. I am being chased by a dragon. I’m a horse. No. I’m a pony. I’m a pony. I’m a pony. I’m a pony flying above Ponyville. Ponyville is below me. Ponyville is under me. I am flying above the geographic location of Ponyville. Ponyville does not exist. Ponyville should not exist. I am above Ponyville. I am a pony in Equestria…and a dragon is about to destroy it. Right then, not on my watch am I going to let Ponyville be destroyed.’

His trail of thoughts seemed ridiculous to him but, here he was and he did not have any time to waste. He was a United States Air Force Pilot. If he could not react to a sudden change of events then he would die, his comrades would die, and innocent people would die. In this case he substituted people with ponies.

He turned his A-10 around and chased after the dragon as it bore down on Ponyville. He pushed his throttle and sped closer and closer to the dragon and lined its huge body with the firing reticle.

“No, this won’t work.” James grimaced as he realized that even if he hit this dragon with the Avenger and did not spray any of the rounds then the dragon would still pretty much fall on top of Ponyville causing destruction and death. He couldn’t blow this thing out of the sky just yet. He had to get it away from town and that would mean…

“Alright, ugly how do you feel about a close shave?” James pushed the throttle and increased his speed. He gained on the dragon just as it stopped to land and do who knows what kind of horror. The dragon growled larger and larger in his vision as he literally charged at the beast. At the last few precious seconds before he could no longer pull out he pulled up on his flight stick and buzzed several of the dragon’s spines along its back. Control nearly slipped out of his hooves when his A-10 shuddered at the impact but, he managed to guide his plane back up into the sky.

Lucky for him, James did not have to look behind to see if his plan had worked.

“ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAARGH!!!!!!!!!!!”

The dragon once more had its eyes locked on him and had taken flight in pursuit. The town below it was soon forgotten as it plowed through the air after the A-10.

“Unless I am in some kind of dream coma and dying will wake me up I think I better show this guy how it’s done in the Air Force.” James pulled his throttle back and as his plane lost its speed he craned his head back to see the fast approaching dragon. “Only going to get one shot at this…” James gulped as the dragon’s claws stretched out to grab onto his beloved Hog and just as the dragon swept them down he pushed the throttle back even more and nudged the flight stick with his hoof. James looked up as the dragon’s bulk passed overhead and as its tail whipped back to strike at him. He managed to pull back but, the tail scraped somewhere along the rear of his Hog. “That’s something I’ll have to deal with later.”
He pulled his A-10 back up and sighted the monstrous dragon in his firing reticule once again. Even if he had sidewinder missiles he wouldn’t have used them in this case. No, he wrapped his foreleg around the front of the flight stick and over the firing trigger for the beast of cannon that his aircraft had been built around. The dragon tried to turn around in midair but, before it could its body was immediately shattered by the over a hundred eleven-inch long rounds that pierced its body faster then the speed of sound in the brief moment James pressed on the fire trigger.

THHRRRIP

The GAU-8 Avenger when fired sounded like ripping cloth but, in this case it was the dragon that was ripped. The dragon exploded as the high caliber rounds sped through its body at high speeds. The dragon’s hide had resisted swords, arrows, and even magical fire but up against the Avenger rotary cannon it may have as well be made out of tissue paper.

“And another one bites the dust.” James grinned behind his oxygen mask as he soared past the remains of the dragon as it plummeted toward the forest below. Before James could congratulate himself any further a sharp metal twanging noise that caused his whole Hog to shudder. He looked back and immediately paled. The dragon’s tail had knocked into not just one but, both of his turbofan engines. The metal twanging noise had been something coming undone in the engines which had caused miniature explosions. Both engines smoked and James quickly noticed that not only was he losing speed but, he was also losing altitude.

“What’s the word for this…horsefeathers?” The swampy ground below him speeded closer as he braced for impact.

Comments

[Silent Scout]

WHAT THIS UPDATED! FINALLY!

Now to read it.

[BrightIdea]

2798121

And now you dislike it!

I actually finished this ages ago but I wanted to write this and it's partner story in tandem but I never got up to writing it.

So I said to myself today just screw it and posted it.

[Closet Colonel]

THHRRRIP
Best part of the story

[Shpoople96]

2798278
You ever heard that shit fire?
THHRRRIP.

[Eagle]

There is nothing on this or any other world that can withstand the GAU-8 Avenger.
fc01.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2010/285/d/8/a_10_thunderbolt_poster_by_jedijaffy14-d30m91e.jpg

[Closet Colonel]

2798349
Explosive diarrhea is that sound *auto tune*

[Armadaes]

aw fuck he is apony know the story is less interestin

[Shpoople96]

2798377
Y'know what they Say...
logicalconclusion.net/wp-content/uploads/peace-through-superior-firepower.jpg

[myhe01]

Sorry, but I'm gonna have to stop reading your story. The main reason is that he becomes ponified, and I normally don't like that.

Hope you understand.

[BrightIdea]

2798445

It happens.

No hard feelings.

[BrightIdea]

2798445
2798424

Is Ponification really a deal breaker these days? Did the Conversion Bureau go and ruin it for everyone?

[Armadaes]

2798568 its not that its just it takes the charm of seeing what the ponys reation is in seeing something totaly alien if hes a pony......well its just that the world hes in is full of em steals the uniqeness of the situation

[An A10 Warthog]

Reminds me of ArmA Cold War Assualt.

"I've lost both engines. I'm going to have to bail out."

[Deactivated 001]

I'm really not a fan of the Fisher Kingdom trope.

[ISS]

Ponified....But I can still have a hope. Please don't make a-10 into wreckage.. I want those avenger cannon shredding baddies.

[BrightIdea]

2798809

But I wanted him to crack skulls by diving down like an A-10 and hitting something with his hooves...

"Thunder Struck"

[BrightIdea]

2799733

I was in the original script but over the hiatus I kind of waned on the original plot abit and will have to review the more finer points

Namely, Equestria Invaded.

[Armadaes]

2800008 its cool im not saying its bad just a little less interestin il continue reading for the sake of curiosity

[BrightIdea]

2801505
2798445
2799733

FYI this whole issue has inspired the title for the next chapter "This All Seems Like Bad Fan Fiction to Me..." It was going to be "Welcome to the Jungle" but I'll save that for later.

[Armadaes]

2801579 lol

[MiiaTheLamia]

>Ponified

24.media.tumblr.com/f245835937b51797f83131639bba25ce/tumblr_mhf1scka6f1s4wlbio1_400.gif

[Omegapony]

And I thought that this would be great. But the ponification really ruins it for me.
It takes the point of this being a Human story out.

[Snowfyre]

unlike those before me, i actually like human turned pony especially if they are turned into a pegasus

I do hope you will update more frequently though

[Ponytime]

2814562 Why, why would he do this to A-10

[Symyon]

An A-10 can survive a few scratches, why did a little damage to the engines knock it out of the sky?

[dukesofhazzardftw]

Moar.

[dukesofhazzardftw]

dun dun dun... And another one bites the dust. Dun dun dun and another one bites the dust. AND ANOTHER ONE DOWN AND ANOTHER ONE DOWN AND ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST!

[Leadstorm]

DEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRP
That should be the right sound for the A-10's derp cannon hehehe

[Leadstorm]

Bty we need moar chapters

[Americanwastelander]

I hope the next chapter comes out soon this is a really good story

[Lunar eclipse airsoft]

Update

[sinewystatue382]

do more chapters