Salvation

by Sandstorm Inkwell

Chapter Three

“We're where?” shouted Gonz, throwing his hands into the air and pacing back and forth. “This is fucking perfect, you know that Tyler? You just made my fucking day! I hope you laugh yourself to death with this one!”

By this time, he had stopped pacing and was just glaring at me. All I did was remain silent and look back at him with an impassive face. His anger subsided slightly when I didn't reply.

“Smiley,” started the Sergeant, “is he telling the truth?”

I looked over at Smiley. The man was about six foot four and, contrary to his nickname, didn't smile much. He was actually one of the more serious men that I knew, always focusing on the task at hand. Without looking at me, he nodded his head,

“Yes sir. The three beings that I did see looked like ponies, talked, and definitely looked animated. From that, I'd have to say that we did get sucked into the show that Tyler described.”

The Sergeant, Kilborn was his last name, thought quietly for a couple moments before nodding his head, “That'd explain why the radio was out and how we ended up in an orchard.”

“Great!” Gonz yelled, “Well, while you guys act like this normal as can be, I'm gonna have myself some lunch because my stomach seems to be the only fucking thing that is acting normal around here.”

Even thought it was angrily said, I felt a small smile creeping to my face at what the Corporal had said. Kilborn was just shaking his head before nodding his head towards the Humvee. Nodding, I walked over to the Humvee with him.

“Might as well eat while we wait for them to come,” I heard Sergeant Kilborn say with an amused sigh. I chuckled a little myself. When I got to the Humvee, I reached into the back, which Gonz had opened, and grabbed my pack. It was identifiable by one of my nametapes being placed on it.

Setting the three-day assault pack on the ground, I opened it and pulled out one of the three MREs that was within. While there were plenty of apples around, the four soldiers knew they'd need more than one apple if they were going to get through the entire day. Zipping my pack closed, I leaned it against the sideways Humvee before walking near the edge of the clearing. I chose a tree that was close to the direction that the clubhouse was in, so that I would be the first to notice the ponies when they came.

I sat down against the tree before taking off my helmet and setting it aside. Ripping open the top of the MRE, I began to take everything out and set it on the ground. Looking at the front, I smiled. Hell yeah, Meatloaf. I thought to myself. While some of the other things weren't all that good, the meatloaf itself was awesome. The Tootsie Rolls that came with the meal just added to it all.

I had just finished pouring water from my canteen into the heater packet when I heard Gonz yelling again.

“Hey guys, look!” Looking up, I saw Gonz climb out of the turret hatch with the iPod in hand. A wide smile was on his face as he tapped the screen, “It still works!”

I shook my head at the medic as I continued to prepare the meal. When a very recognizable singing came through the music players speaker, I chuckled. With Eminem providing some background music, I dug my hand into my right thigh pocket to pull out a battered hardcover book. It had obviously seen better days as the covers were slightly scorched and the pages were frayed. However, even with the damage, the title was still visible. 1984 was a book that I had read in High School, causing me to buy it for my personal collection. When I left for this deployment, I resolved that I would read it again.

There wasn't much time for reading though. Between patrols, searches, PT, base security, and just plain surviving, I had little time to read. Now, however, I had quiet time to read as my meal was still heating up. Of course, I knew the quiet couldn't last for long.

“Shitshitshit!”

Looking up, I saw Gonz rushing over to Jones' laying form. The IV that was attached to his arm had been a shocker when I got back but I understood that Jones probably needed the nutrients it'd give him. Being closer to Jones and the now professional Gonz than Smiley and Kilborn, I dropped my book and scrambled over to my wounded friend.

Without even looking up, Gonz ordered me to put pressure against the wound. Pushing down where the hole was like he asked, I watched as Gonz started giving compressions. Every thirty compressions, he gave Jones two rescue breaths. A rescue breath was when you pushed some of your air down into the unconscious person's lungs. This did, of course, require mouth to mouth contact but when the life of your friend was at hand, you didn't exactly care. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Smiley and Kilborn rush over to us. All throughout the compressions, Gonz was whispering “Stay alive”, as if willing Jones to breath again.

After the third set, we saw Jones' chest rise and fall on it's own. Putting an ear to Jones' mouth, a smile grew on Gonzales's face. The smile spread across my face and a quick glance confirmed that Kilborn was smiling as well. I couldn't see Smiley's face because of the mask but I knew that he was at least happy with the outcome.

A clearing of a throat snapped us out of our merrymaking. Turning around, I saw a group of ponies standing near where I left my meal and my things. They were a mixture of different colors but I knew who they were. To my surprise, most of the of the Mane Six, Pinkie Pie being the one absent, stood at the edge of the clearing. With them was also Big Mac and the three fillies that Smiley and me had given chase to.

Rarity looked briefly at my food, helmet, and book with mild disgust before looking at us. Applejack, and her brother, stared at us with some aggression, the fillies hiding behind them. The fillies themselves had a mixture of fear and curiosity, peaking out from behind the older Apple siblings. Rainbow Dash was glancing between us and the Humvee before finally setting her sight on the Humvee. Fluttershy was peaking out from behind the purple unicorn that stood at the foreground, her face full of concern as she seemed to look straight at Jones. The unicorn, Twilight Sparkle, stared at us with pure curiosity.

I heard the clanking of guns being grasped and turned back to put my gloved hands, which now had even more blood on them, up. Looking at Gonz and Kilborn, I shook my head before lowering my hands. Following the motion, the two lowered their half-raised weapons. Looking over at Smiley, I saw him motion towards the ponies.

Sighing, I stood to my feet and turned to face the gathered group. Taking a step forward, I raised my hands up with my palms out.

“No weapons. See?” I started, directing it at Applejack and her brother, who didn't seem to simmer down at all. After a couple seconds, Twilight took a couple steps toward me.

“I'm Twilight Sparkle, who are you?” she asked, her words kind.

“My name is Tyler Odom. These are my... pals Gonzales, Kilborn, Smiley, and Jones,” I pointed them out when I said their names. Twilight frowned when I motioned to Jones.

“Is...is he... going to be... alright?”

I looked at Fluttershy, whose whisper was barely audible. She was motioning with her hoof towards Jones. I gave a quick glance to Gonzales before answering,

“He will be.”

With that seemingly taken care of, Twilight spoke again, “How did you end up here?”

I swallowed nervously. How could I possibly explain that almost dying brought us to their world? Besides that, how could I explain that the world we came from was a world where violence and death were common?

After a pause that was maybe too long, I answered, “We were driving through a desert when we were... attacked.” At this, I saw Twilight's eyes widen slightly and saw one of Rainbow's eyebrows shoot up. “Before we met our end, a bright light enveloped us. When we awoke, we found ourselves in this clearing. That's all that I know.”

After a couple seconds, Twilight sighed, “You're not from this world are you?”

I shook my head, “No ma'am.”

Twilight nodded and I heard her mutter an, “I thought so,” as she looked at my helmet and food. In the middle of the silence, my stomach decided to growl loudly. This caused Twilight to tilt her head at me with a small smirk.

“Smooth,” I heard Gonz mutter.

“Shut the hell up. I'm hungry,” I replied, glaring at the man. Gonzales laughed,

“Too bad your food is out of bounds than, huh.”

I opened my mouth to say a comeback but closed it just as quickly. He was right. Looking back, I saw the mess of MRE components that lay out orderly next to the group of ponies. I also noticed the confused looks on most of their faces.

“Uhm, this may seem weird, but can you give me that packet of water with the box in it and the spoon from that pile of stuff?” I asked, pointing at the necessary items that was near the tree. A soft purple glow surrounding the items before they were lifted from the ground.

“These?” Twilight asked incredulously, though I could tell she was slightly amused.

“Yes,” I answered. The two items then floated over to me before being deposited in my hands. Of course, that was probably a bad idea as the packet sent the heat through my glove.

“Shit. Hot,” I cursed. Letting go of the packet, I snagged the top of the box and let the packet and water fall to the grass. Ripping the spoon from it's plastic, I opened the top of the box. Digging out a spoonful of my meal, I stuck it in my mouth and smiled.

Of course, this elicited a laugh from my comrades, who were staring at me dumbfounded until that point.

“Hey,” I started through my mouthful of food as I looked back at them, “shut the hell up. It may be hotter than sin but it sure is good.”

I than heard a snicker from the group of ponies and remembered what was exactly happening. Swallowing the food, I smiled sheepishly as I looked back at the group,

“Sorry. Doesn't look like much but good food is good food,” I said with that same smile.

“Are you kidding?” asked Rarity in her high-class voice, “That... food looks downright inedible.”

I shrugged and shoved another spoonful into my mouth, “I think it's good.”

This caused Rainbow to laugh a little at Rarity's expense. I also noticed that Applejack was beginning to loosen up. Almost a minute went by in relative silence before I finally decided to break it,

“So Miss Sparkle. Now what?”

“I don't know,” she replied honestly, pawing a hoof at the ground, “I guess all I can do is send a letter to the Princess informing her of the situation and ask for her advice. Until than, I guess all we can do is-”

“Jones!”

Swinging my head around, I saw Gonzales looking down at Jones' face. His eyelids were opening and closing rapidly as his right arm moved to his head. With sluggish movements, he tried to hoist himself up but Gonzales gently pushed him back down.

“Whoa there bud. Had that bullet been an inch in any direction, you would be a dead man. Just lay still man.”

“Wh-where are we? Did we get away from the insurgents?” Jones asked as he opened his eyes and stared into the blue sky.

“Yeah man,” Gonzales chuckled a little, “we got away from them alright. You need to rest man, you got it? Just let yourself drift back to sleep.”

And like that, he was sound asleep again. Looking back at Twilight, I saw that they were all as enthralled on Jones' awakening as we were. The group had even taken a few, collective steps forward.

“You were saying Miss Sparkle?”

Twilight shook her head briefly before looking at me and giving a small smile, “I was saying that there isn't much we can do besides send Princess Celestia a letter describing this predicament and asking for her advice. Also, there is the order of finding you a place to sleep.”

At the last sentence, everyone looked up at the dimming sky, signaling the near end of the day. I gave a small chuckle though,

“A place to sleep will be no trouble at all Miss Sparkle. With your friend's permission,” I nodded towards Applejack, “my friends and I can simply sleep in this clearing. We've slept in worst conditions before.”

Twilight glanced back at Applejack, who shrugged her shoulders after a few seconds of thought.

“Ah can't honestly see why they can't stay in this clearing.”

“Perfect,” stated Twilight and me in unison. We both looked at each other for a brief moment before Twilight smiled.

“Right, well. Though I would appreciate it if you,” she pointed at me with her hoof, “would come with me to my library so that I can take a few samples to send with the letter.”

I looked at Kilborn, who nodded his head. Looking back at Twilight, I nodded.

“Sure. Just one second.”

Unclasping my rifle from chest, I handed the weapon over to Smiley, who silently took it. With that done, I cautiously walked over to the pony group. When they didn't try to trample an imprint of my face into the dirt, I approached my items near the tree. The box in my hand now empty, I placed it in the brown MRE bag.Picking up the book, I put it back in my thigh pocket before turning to Twilight.

“All set.”

She looked curiously at my thigh pocket before looking at my eyes and nodding.

“Let's go.”

Comments

[ButtCatt]

I love It!

[Wiz Ahmad]

Amazing so far. Loving this!