Salvation

by Sandstorm Inkwell

Chapter Eighteen

“Alright, what do we have?” Kilborn asked as we all looked down on the map that Gonz had with him. It was rolled out on the table with different emblems drawn on the map with pen. One noticeable thing was that the emblems were mostly next to settlements. Only one marking wasn't over a settlement and that was 'OpFor?' that lay in the southern badlands.

“This is all by reports from locals,” Gonz started, “I'll start in the North-East and go West. Manehatten: Approximately one company of German Airborne. Contact with locals; sketchy. Only conversing for supplies and information. Hollow Shades: American Ranger Platoon. Contact with locals; same as us. Cloudsdale: One Blackhawk helicopter. Contact with locals; limited. Vanhoover: Approximately two platoons of Canadian Infantry.-”

The list went on and on. British Mechanized Infantry, French Tanks, American Marines, a fucking Destroyer off the coast of Baltimare! What the hell is going on? I thought to myself as the list continued. Most of the units had about the same 'contact with locals' as my squad. That being that they were on their way to living with and helping the locals. The only exceptions seemed to be the Germans. Finally, the list ended and we were all left in shocked silence. Well, the humans were. Celestia and Luna held their defensive manner while AJ looked scared and confused while Big Mac mostly looked confused.

“What's this in the Badlands?” Thoreau asked, his voice quiet.

“A report from the locals at Dodge City says that the Marines there have been fighting with another group of humans. Whether these are insurgents or not have yet to be discovered,” Gonz explained.

“Right, well. First order of business needs to be consolidation,” Thoreau began, “Malinowski, get on the horn and make contact with any willing units. Get the net quieted and figure out the situations of each unit. Also, tell the kids to disperse.”

“Roger Sarge,” replied the driver before jogging out of the building, closing the doors behind him. When he left, Kilborn spoke up.

“Second order of business needs to be a meeting of Commanding Officers and/or the highest ranking enlisted.”

“Agreed,” replied Thoreau, “we'll set the meeting point as this mead-hall. Get everyone here and then we can discuss housing and placement.”

“Excuse me! Just what in the hay is going on?” AJ asked, sounding irritated.

“We would like to know the same,” Celestia intoned, her tone one of malice.

“Ah, yes. Sorry Princesses,” Thoreau began, “but we have no idea ourselves. What we've been able to gather is that certain individuals seem to be being transported to Equestria through near-death experiences. All of these transported individuals appear to be military personnel at this time. The reason for this is currently unknown.”

I cleared my throat before speaking up, “I have a theory but it is just that.”

Luna looked over at me, “Please enlighten us.”

I nodded, “I think that this dimension and our dimension are currently intertwined because of an event that may be happening in either one of our worlds. Because of the transportation of human warriors to this dimension, I regrettably assume that this dimension is on the brink of war. Thus the... transference is targeting warriors who have 'died' while fighting.”

The tank gunner spoke up now, “Kind of like a program! If you look at this from a computer viewpoint, we are all lines of code. Think of war as a virus sweeping through the code. Certain anti-virus codes are going to try to stop the virus, which the virus is going to have to bypass or break through. Our dimension, our 'program', has too many of these anti-virus codes. This dimension has too few anti-virus codes. Therefore, we are being taken from our program and put here to defend the code.”

There was a silence before Celestia spoke, “While I do not know what a program or computer is, I think I understand what you two have theorized. I must ask, however, why (with no offense to your capability as warriors) would the... program choose warriors that have died in battle?”

“Second chances,” Smiley replied in his usual deep voice. All eyes were on him, causing the masked man to shift his weight from foot to foot, “It chooses the ones that have faced death and would do anything in their power to not have to face it again. However, we are soldiers. Our duty is to protect. Therefore, even though we have faced death, we would gladly fight again if innocents were endangered.”

“Of course we can't fight without fuel,” Thoreau pointed out. He looked up at the Princesses, “Princesses, if this theory proves to be true, we're going to need our machines. If you know any combustion magic, now would be the time.”

Luna looked over at Celestia, who had a thoughtful look on her face. Their wings had lowered from their dominant position, a sign of ease if there ever was one. After about a minute, she nodded, “Yes, I think I know where such a spell can be found. If you give me a detailed description or picture of the machine, I believe I can modify the spell accordingly.”

Thoreau nodded, “I'll get to work on that.”

“In the meantime,” Kilborn started, “I'll organize the scattered troops and see who's the highest rank out there. I don't want to hand it off but we need a chain of command.”

“Agreed,” Thoreau stated.

Kilborn continued, “Gonzales, I need you to get on our own radio and help Malinowski coordinate everything. Get two channels going. Everyone east of Ponyville of one channel, everyone west of Ponyville on another. Get to it.”

Gonz nodded and jogged out of the building.

“Jones and...” he stopped, pointing at the tank's gunner.

“Smith, Sergeant.”

“...Smith, find paper and pens and help Malinowski and Gonzales in taking down SitReps from each unit. I want everything from number of people to how much food they have to how many shits they've taken since they've got here. Got it?”

“Yes Sergeant,” they both replied simultaneously. A look of surprise was etched on all the pony's faces. Except for Celestia. She looked like she had actually found it to be humorous.

“Then get,” Kilborn ordered. The two jogged out as well. He turned now to Smiley and me, “You two. Go around town and try to alleviate any fears anypony may have. Even if it's a fear of the big blue sky, try to alleviate it. Explain the situation as best as you can if you must. Get to it.”

“Yes Sergeant!” we replied before turning and leaving the building. Once outside, we both put on our berets and turned toward the center of town. We could hear the Humvee's radio going and Gonz's voice as he tried to get things under control.

We walked in silence down the empty street. Everything seemed abandoned. At least, it would have if I couldn't see and hear ponies shutting windows and doors.

“I don't think we're all that welcome anymore,” I said as a smiling colt was roughly pulled inside by his mother, who then slammed the door shut.

“Nope,” was Smiley's reply as he adjusted his grip on the SAW in his hands. We drifted back into silence as we walked. My mind took this time to go into overdrive, What is causing all these deaths? How did a Destroyer get sucked through? What war is going to happen? One thought suddenly overcame all the rest, Will I survive this war?

That was the big question wasn't it? Will I survive? I looked over at Smiley. Will any of us survive? After the war is over, what will happen to us? Will we stay here or will we disappear?

My think was interrupted as something collided with, and wrapped around, my left leg. Looking down, all I saw was purple and orange.

“Scoots?”

Her shoulders were shaking and I could feel a wetness where her face was. Kneeling down, I set my rifle down as I brushed my hand through the filly's mane. She removed her face from my leg to look up at my face. Tears were running freely down her cheeks.

“Scoots, what's-”

“They're calling you monsters!” she blurted, “They say you're going to hurt us! I tried to argue but they glared at me. Th-th-they said I was...” a new wave of tears came out, “tainted. Then they kicked me out.”

I looked at Smiley in disbelief. His face was as hard as a stone, though his eyes contained fires. I looked back down at Scoots, who had buried her face back into my leg.

“Where are they, Scoots?” I asked. She looked up at me, fear in her eyes.

“You're not going to h-h-h-hurt them, are you?”

I physically recoiled at those words, “No. I want to explain to them what is actually happening. I give my word that we will hurt no pony.”

She looked at me for a couple seconds before saying through her tears, “T-their at C-c-city Hall.”

I nodded, “Alright. Go home and stay with Kilborn and them, okay?”

She nodded and, reluctantly, let go of my leg to start trotting towards the mead-hall. Once she was on her way, I grabbed my rifle,stood up and looked at Smiley. No words were said and yet an entire conversation passed between us.

We both nodded before turning and jogging toward the City Hall. When we got close to the building, we could hear yelling coming from inside. Angry, violent yelling. Coming up to the steps, I set my rifle against the fencing before turning to Smiley. He nodded. I would go in alone. If they turned violent, he would fire a burst into the air to disperse and/or confuse them. We would then retreat to the mead-hall. I hoped that we wouldn't have to do that.

Stepping up to the main door, I took a deep breath before pushing them open. The yelling became deafening. Now that I could clearly hear them, though, I realized that they were all saying the same thing.

“Gone with the humans! Gone with the humans!”

Again and again they chanted it. No pony noticed me standing there, frozen. I looked amongst the crowd. Almost everypony was present in the building. They all had their heads craned upward, looking at the balcony. Letting my gaze drift upwards, I focused on the balcony.

...and felt my heart crumble.

“Twilight...”