When Garret and his squad-mates Sam and Jake get teleported to Equestria, anything can happen.
It was just another mission for Delta Operations members Garret, Jacob, and Sam, but when their C-130 was magically teleported into Equestria on a top classified mission what is to happen to them? Will they learn to help Equestria when a new species called The Howlers arrive or will they watch it burn?
“LISTEN UP YOU WORTHLESS MAGGOTS! I WILL MAKE YOU RUN THIS COURSE UNTIL YOU CRY FOR YOUR MOMMY!” It was just another average day for a in military boot camp. I was sitting here listening to this fricken DI telling us to run this fricken course for the third time today. Apparently some asshole decided that our times weren't fast enough and we could do better. WELL SCREW THEM! I mean seriously, it was pouring rain at 1800. Why do we keep running this? Sure our times were a BIT slow but this is ridiculous! I was here to be a Delta soldier... Just like it was Rainbow Dash’s dream to join the Wonderbolts this was my dream. Heh I remember the last poor kid who was a brony here... Had his soul ripped out from the pain we went through... Anyways, it was my dream to become the best the army can offer, my dream to kill those assholes who killed my parents in 9/11.
I was the best of the best in my class. I was the best at shooting and camouflage. I was the best at hunting and planning. To put it simply, I. Was. The. BEST. I was chosen for Delta before I was even out of boot-camp. When they asked me one day I couldn't believe my ears. I immediately ran to check the calendar only to see that it was June 5th. I soon said yes and was admitted into the hunt for Osama Bin Laden. I went all over the world from China to Mexico. I had the best equipment like the ACR 13.9 and the SR-47.
I was placed in a squad with five others. They were slowly killed off one by one mission after mission until just Sam, Jacob, and I remained. I met Sam and Jacob when I was Fourteen. We did everything together, hell we were even put in the same squad! But that couldn't stop the biggest event of our life that was certain to come to us...
“Okay, guys, listen up. The drop is in five. Get ready to jump...” I looked around the drab gray interior of the C-130 as we flew over Iran for a HALO jump. I stood and shuffled to the door that was where I was to drop from. I was taking part in the confidential operation called “Operation Spearhead”. Spearhead was the combined assault of all the military branches to capture Bin Laden. The attack would start when the full Delta company dropped into the compound from fifteen thousand feet and then- “Open the doors so the cavalry can get in,” said the commander as the C-130 continued on. A faint orange and purple glow could be seen around the windows of the plane. Then it happened. A force worse than any AA gun could make shook us around inside the plane. Imagine some idiotic kid shaking up a soda can before opening it. We were like the soda in the can. Our left wing caught fire and the near-200 people around Sam, Jake, and I looked like they pissed themselves. The plane was shaking horribly and then after a bright flash it was over. Immediately men began to bail out of the doors we were lined up at and were deploying the chutes. I turned and saw the plane spinning towards a.... Forest? I turned to see where Sam was. “Sam, there aren't any forests in Iran, right?” He just shook his head as we began to land in a large opening in the forest. “I’m pretty sure there wasn’t a forest where we were heading...”
Fast Skies
I was bored as ever. Just a few days ago, my parents kicked me out of the city and into a country town called Ponyville. At least I had my new friends, the Element holders, to keep me company. It’s not bad that they’re celebrities, either. As I was trotting with them into the park for a picnic, they began to chat about, well, everything, I guess. “Darling, when are you going to find a new dress?” I turned to see Rarity staring at me along with the rest of the girls. “No offence, but those rags that you brought simply are not proper fashion! Especially from such an extravagant place as Manehatten!” I sighed. “Rarity, like I said before, my family’s poor and I don’t want a new dress until I can pay for it.” Rarity looked like she was about to cry. Realizing my mistake, I said, “Rarity, I understand why you want me to get a new dress. But please understand my situation. I just wouldn’t feel right.” Rarity smiled back and helped Twilight set up the picnic blanket. Just as they finished, there was a loud bang and bright light followed by the strangest noise ever. It sounded like somepony was.... Humming. The girls all turned and gasped at what they saw: some large, gray bird had one of its wings on fire and was spinning out of control. It looked like it was going to crash in the Everfree Forest. Strangely, the back end of the bird opened and things began jumping out. They didn’t look like they could fly, and I thought they were going to fall to their dooms. But then, sheet-like objects opened above their heads and they slowed down. “Girls! We have to go see what the hay that was!” Twilight said. Fluttershy was the next to speak up. “Girls, she’s right.” Everypony gasped. “Whatever that was, it looked hurt. Those things that jumped must be hurt, too,” Everypony just looked at her then each other. Then we began to run towards the smoke reaching above trees into sky.
Garret
I just looked around at the trashed C-130. It was on fire and spewing black smoke. All the people around me were either dead or dying. Only a handful of us had survived the crash with soldiers getting suffocated in their chutes or getting stuck in the plane when it crashed. Sam was trying to get the radios working, desperately trying to get us a ride out of... Wherever the hell we were. The other living soldiers were gathering ammo and weapons from their fallen comrades and burying the bodies of the dead. There were still some snipers that were walking around, securing the perimeter. As they walked around the small clearing caused by the plane crashing, one of the snipers called out. “I’ve got movement over here!” I, being the highest rank alive, walked over to investigate the noise. It got louder and louder until some strange animal jumped out. It had the head of a lion, body of a bear, and tail of a scorpion. If I wasn’t too busy fearing for my life, I would have said this was the scariest thing I have ever seen. “What the hell is that?!” “Jesus!” “All I wanted to do was eat my bagel...” People shouted and quickly decided that the best option available to them was to shoot the crud out of the monster. Turns out, it actually was the best option. The roar of the beast’s death was the loudest thing I’d ever heard.
Fast Skies
The girls were halfway to the crash site with Rainbow Dash and Fast Skies leading the way. While the seven were running, a loud ear-splitting roar could be heard. “Girls, that sounded like a manticore,” Twilight turned to see Fluttershy hiding behind her mane. Suddenly, a loud, raspy-sounding voice yelled,”I’ve got movement!” “What in tarnation was that?” yelled Applejack when suddenly popping sounds filled the forest. Fluttershy squeaked and hid behind her mane. “Come on girls! Look we’re almost there! Just keep walking,” said Twilight, who was in an eager mood to see what in hay those strange beings are. Then the girls poked their heads out of the bushes and gasped at what they saw. Dead bodies all around covered in bags and strange clothing. Other creatures were stripping them of strange metal discs and were burying the bodies, singing a strange tune...
Garret
Sam and I looked around at the soldiers doing their tasks, unloading supplies, and burying bodies. Then one private that was obviously terrified started up a familiar song.
“March along, sing our song, with the Army of the free Count the brave, count the true, who have fought to victory,”
Slowly, the men around him started to sing along.
“We're the Army and proud of our name We're the Army and proudly proclaim First to fight for the right, And to build the Nation's might,”
With each word, more and more men joined until it was a roar filling the forest.
“And The Army Goes Rolling Along Proud of all we have done, Fighting till the battle's won, And the Army Goes Rolling Along”
Everyone was smiling, just because we were still alive throughout this nightmare. Then, a purple blur caught one of the snipers eyes. “Contact left!” Immediately, soldiers stopped singing and smiling and pointed their weapons at the bush in question. A small gasp could be heard. “Everybody! Fall back into the plane! Use it for cover!” I shouted over the sound of boots stomping the ground. Soldiers were running into the wrecked and smoldering plane from every direction, hoping to get some view of what was in the bush.
Twilight
I looked at the creatures in front of me. They were singing some strange song about “Army” and some god. “Twilight,” whispered Fast Skies, “What the buck are they doing?” “I don’t know, Fast, they seem to be singing some sort of song. But I don’t know any of the things they are singing about.” Apparently, I turned just enough so that a part of my leg stuck out of the bush. Then my heart stopped when I heard one of the creatures roar, “Contact left!” I turned my head to see that all of the creatures had their strange L-shaped objects pointed at me. I gasped and slowly backed up. Then suddenly, a creature with a single green stripe on its arm spoke up. “Everybody! Fall back into the plane! Use it for cover!” I watched as the creatures began to back up into the strange metal bird. Then, I noticed that the wings were stationary. I looked over at Fast Skies and whispered, “Fast, I don’t think that’s a bird, I think its a self-propelling Sky Chariot.” Fast cocked her head at me in a way that seemed to say, “Really? You don’t say?” She looked at me through narrow eyes. “Twilight,” she said, looking at me, “I’m going to go see what they want.” Before I could stop the red mare she ran out of the bush and into the clearing.
Garret
Everybody in the plane gasped as they saw a small horse walk out of the forest. All eyes turned towards me, seeming to ask me what to do. “Hold fire!” I yelled and slowly walked by Sam. “Sam, follow me.” We walked out of the downed plane and towards the single horse. “Sam, it barely even comes up to our chests.” Sam looked at the horse and said, “So it is.” Strangely, he didn’t seem surprised by any of this. Then we turned to the equine standing in the opening. I made a quick scan of the area and turned to look at the plane. “Well are you guys going to hide from a horse or come out here?” I yelled. Immediately after I said this, the doors on the plane opened and out came the surviving men. They lined up behind me in a simple line formation and I turned back to the equine standing In front of me. One of the soldiers snickered “Hey guys look we were scared by a mini horse!” All the soldiers burst out laughing. “HEY!” came a voice. All the men stopped laughing and turned stared wide-eyed. “I’m a pony!” It said. If this was a cartoon world the soldiers jaws would have hit the ground.
I sat there, wide-eyed at the bipedal figures talking in front of me. Two of them came out of the silver beast and began talking... Joking, maybe? Then the one that had told them to go into the beast before turned around and yelled something about coming out. I stared at the creatures as they walked out of the beast and lined up behind the one. He seemed to be giving the orders. One of the things snickered and said something about me being a “horse”.
“What the hay is a horse?” I thought as the other beings burst out laughing. “Hey!” I yelled. “I’m a pony!”
The looks on their faces were priceless. But I guessed that mine was better when they brought their strange L-shaped objects up again. I flared my wings and began to back up. Then the beings surrounded me and the leader looked down at me.
“Well, well. We have a talking hor- I mean, pony here.”
Garret
“Well, well. We have a talking hor- I mean, pony here,” I said as I cracked the biggest smile I could. I motioned with my hand to the soldiers to fan out and search the rest of the area. Then the pony flared its wings... Wait... Wings?
“What the hell?!” I screamed as i jumped back at the sight of a pegasus, a creature of myth. “Sam, am I high or is there a pegasus in front of me?”
I turned and looked at him. He just cracked a smile and said, “Toto I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore...” The sound of hands hitting faces was the only noise that followed.
“Well,” I said, only to be interrupted by one of my missing soldiers walking out of the brush.
“Guys!” yelled Jacob as he walked out of the bush. “Way to forget about me!” He walked over and slapped Sam and slapped us on the back. “Nice to see you guys. Now, would you be so kind as to explain why there is a pegasus in front of us?”
I just turned and looked at him. “That’s kinda what we were figuring out before you got here.”
I turned back to the pegasus. “Well, where were we?... Oh, yes. I’m Lieutenant Garret, that’s Private First Class Jacob, and this is our scientist-in-residence Sam. He’s doing some research on the area we were traveling to. And the rest of these fools who you see walking around are the idiots known as our soldiers.”
Fast Skies
I wanted to jump in the air and do a flip at the fact that I was the first pony to ever make contact with an alien race! But I had to restrict myself to smiling as I stared at Lieutenant Garret.
“Well,” he said, looking at me, “Are you going to tell us your name? We know you talk.”
I just shook my head and looked him in the eyes, still smiling. “I am Fast Skies,” I said calmly. “I’m an ex-Royal Guard member. May I ask what you are?” I just looked at them with the biggest puppy-eyes I could muster.
Finally, the leader answered, “We are humans.”
Twilight
I watched the events going on without moving, just sitting there, probably looking dumbfounded as they talked and finally walked out, followed by the other Element holders.
Pinkie Pie bounced up to the leader of the humans. “Hey! You guys fell from the sky in the bird-thingy! That’s not really a bird is it? It can’t really be a bird, because it’s made of metal! Is it a machine of some kind? That’s nothing like what we have around here. We do have a hot air balloon in Ponyville, but this looks completely different from that! So, it flies? Can we ride on it? Huh? Huh? Huh-” Rainbow Dash shoved her hoof in Pinkie Pie’s mouth.
“That’s Pinkie Pie for you, heh,” Rainbow said. I just sat there and stared at Pinkie Pie.
“Uh, Pinkie I think y’all should let them nice uh...” Applejack started.
“Men,” one of the creatures interrupted.
“Right. Let them nice men talk,” said Applejack.
"I second that... As well as putting duct tape over her bloody mouth," said one of the soldiers that was standing next to Sam.
Sam casually turned and punched the man in the face and then sighed. "Jenkins, every time you do this... Every. Time."
While the girls were more interested in the fight, Fast Skies was more interested in the leader’s answers.
Garret
I sighed. “Alright, Sky, let’s get these questions over with. Some I might not be able to answer...”
She just stared at me with a blank expression. "What?" I asked, "Cat got your tongue?" She just looked at me and asked the strangest question I've ever heard...
"What’s a cat?" I felt like ripping my head off. "Never mind, let’s just move on."
She just smiled at me and asked her first reasonable question. "What are you, Garret?"
I thought about this question before answering. "Well, I'm a human, male, as is the rest of my entourage. And I’m nineteen."
She gasped. "You're only nineteen?!" she asked, obviously in distress.
"Yeah, why?" I asked slowly.
"Because that sounds a bit young to be a soldier..."
I just laughed at her. "For the group I'm in, that is a bit young. But in the military you can join at eighteen. How old are you?"
She just looked at me with a huge smile. "I'm nineteen, too, but we can’t join the royal guards until twenty-five. I was a guard until they found out I was sixteen... But anyways, back to the questions!"
I sighed and thought, “Oh, no.”
"Garret, what is the Army?"
"Well, it’s a branch of the military. There is also the Navy, Air Force, Marines, the Coast Guard, and the National Guard The Army is the main ground-based forces, along with the Marines."
Fast Sky
“Okay, Fast Sky, just keep asking questions...” I thought to myself. I said, "What do you do as an Army soldier?"
"I kill."
My blood froze and I felt lightheaded. “I knew it!” I thought. Out loud, I said, "W-why do you k-kill?"
"Well, in all honesty, my country is a nice place, but some of the rest of the world isn't. There is famine, drought, pollution and wars everywhere. I kill the guilty to keep the innocent safe. There are assholes all over the world who hate my country, America," he pointed to the rectangular patch which I assumed was a flag. "They hate us for our freedom. The American flag, here, the thirteen stripes represent the original thirteen colonies that fought the American Revolution against the British to create our country. The fifty stars here represent the fifty states that are currently part of America." He sat down after that. I'm pretty sure that my jaw was wide open because he just smiled and left.
Garret
“Sergeant, how’s things going over here? I swear all these things do is ask questions and bug my men.”
Sam just turned and looked at me with a faint smile. “I sort of like that,” he said slowly. “It’s nice to have the men be able to converse with something that isn’t trying to kill us.”
I just stared at him in disbelief and then smiled back faintly. “Yeah,” I said slowly. “I guess it couldn’t do too much harm, right? I just can’t shake the feeling that this is familiar somehow. You know, like something one of the recruits said... Damn it, what was it?”
Sam looked at me and shrugged. Jake then walked up followed by the other six. “Guys, doesn’t this seem familiar to you?”
I looked at him and then back at Sam. “I freaking called it!”
Then the soldiers gathered around us. “Sir!”
I turned to see one of the newbies. “What is it, Private?” I said in an almost bored tone.
“Sir, these creatures are asking us to go to a town with them. The purple one over there is apparently the protege of the ruler of this country. The strange thing is they don’t have a King or a Queen, but two princesses. Their names were...uhhhhhh...”
“Princess Celestia and Princess Luna,” the purple pony said.
“What are your orders?” I turned and looked around at the smoldering wreckage and the crates containing ammo and weapons.
“Delta, gather around on the double!” They all ran around me and formed a circle around me. “Ok, here’s the plan. We are going to go to the village, get to the rulers and talk to them, and then get the hell out of here. HOOAH!” I turned and looked around the circle at all the faces.
“Hooah!” the soldiers all called out and then ran around gathering crates and their weapons.
Fast Skies
I looked at the leader and just stared at him as he ordered the men around him. “What could he possibly be doing?” I thought. “We only asked him if he wanted to come back to Ponyville with us? What’s taking them so long? I mean-”
My thought was cut off as the leader hollard, “HOOAH!” and the other humans as they repeated it. They suddenly started to move around and gathering the boxes they had around the clearing. They then proceeded to line up to the right of the leader in a formation of two columns.
The leader then turned and looked at us and smiled. “Lead the way,” he said and started to march his troops into the woods behind us. After a few hundred hoof-lengths they began to sing another one of their strange songs.
“Down by the river, We took a little walk, Ran into the enemy, We had a little talk,”
My blood froze yet again as the soldiers continued to sing this song as if it was nothing.
“We didn't like their attitude, Didn't like the way they walked, So we pushed em, We shoved em, We threw em in the river, laughed as they drowned,”
I cringed and stopped walking, bumping into the commander. He just smiled and put me on his shoulders and continued the marching song.
“We don't need the enemy, Hangin around,
Heyyyy, don't be a fool, Somebody said we we number two, They lied! We're number one, Go Army!”
They repeated the song along with a few others she couldn’t remember. They seemed to be marching to the songs they were singing.
As they neared the edge of the forest, Ponyville came into view. The commander raised his hand in an odd fashion and the soldiers pulled out their L-shaped objects again.
“Hey,” I said. “What are those? You keep pulling them out.”
He just turned to me and pointed it at a tree. When he pulled a hook on the bottom of the object, sparks flew out of the barrel of the object with a loud bang. The tree he had pointed it at now had a hole in it.
“Did that answer your question?” he asked, looking at me.
Garret
I almost wanted to “d’aww” at the sight of the pegasus’ face when I fired my ACR into the tree. It had to have been the cutest expression I have ever seen. But we had work to do. I had half my men follow the orange mare - Applejack, I believe it was - with our supplies while the rest of us entered the town.
As we walked in, it was dead empty. I heard a snore from my side only to see Fast Skies asleep on my shoulder. I turned to Sam and Jake, “I’m not that soft... Am I?” I said poking myself and then poking Jacob.
“No, no, Jake seems softer,”
We then began to walk through town, nearing the center. My troops surrounded me in a standard patrol. We were just doing what we did best, patrol, and don’t die. When we entered the town square, it was empty.
I poked at the mare asleep on me until she woke up. “Wha...? Where am I?” We all snickered until a few of the lower privates started to laugh their asses off.
“Wake up, sleepy head, where is all your friends that should be here? It’s dead empty - no, wait. A funeral is more lively than this.”
She looked around and shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s only noon.”
We continued to talk and mill around, waiting for the other men to show up. When they did, we all gathered and started having a brunch. Then the girls came back and began to ask me more questions such as, “What is your country like?”, “Do you have a family?” They burst into tears when I told them what happened on 9/11 and how my parents were in the planes. They followed through with asking what I like to eat. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the looks they were giving me when I said meat.
“What?” I said innocently. “I’m an omnivore. I eat both plants and meat. Mostly plants, anyways.”
As we were talking, we didn’t notice the golden-armored ponies dashing house to house. Well that being said I didn’t... But my sniper did.
“Contact!” We all turned to see a golden pony walking towards us with a... Spear?
“I am commander Golden Star. You will give up your hostages or we will kill you.”
I looked through narrowed eyes at the bipedal creatures in front of me. They seemed to be confused at what I said. “You know, the mares besides you?”
They all looked around again until the tall one said, “We don’t have any hostages! These mares were helping us out of the woods!”
I had enough of their ignorance. I turned to Maple Shade. “Maple, I want you to send a warning spell right by that tall one. He seems to be in charge.”
When Maple Shade fired off the shot, not even half a second later the creatures had their L-shaped objects pointed at us.
“Ha! What are you going to do with that? You’re too far away to use clubs!”
How wrong I was.
Garret
This freaking pony in golden armor was getting really annoying. Then it turned and whispered something to the brown pony besides it. After that, I have no idea what the hell happened. Some giant burst of light went by me and I heard the girls gasp. I knew this was not a good thing and I pulled and aimed my ACR. My soldiers followed suit. That’s when the pony made the biggest mistake of his life.
“Ha! What are you going to do with that? You’re too far away to use clubs!”
I turned and looked at my men all with their weapons trained at anything besides the girls. I looked back at him. “You will apologize for that!”
He seemed to snicker. “Oh yeah? Or what?” He turned and told the mare next to him loud enough to hear to kill me. I decided to make him regret that.
“Hey, asshole!” I yelled, causing him to turn and look at me. “Whoever said these were clubs?” I turned and looked at my soldiers. “Drop the big mouth, let the brown one live. It had no idea what it was doing.” The soldiers all brought up their guns.
Maple Shade
“What is he thinking?” I thought as Golden Star ordered me to shoot magic at these creatures. “They were just talking peacefully with the mares, you dumb buck.” That’s when he royally pissed them off. He told me to kill them loud enough for them to hear and then told me not to in a whisper. The tall one that was their leader turned and looked around him to see all the other creatures around him training their L-shaped objects at me and then I could see him saying something to them. The open end went from me to Golden Star.
“Who said this was a club?” it said and it ordered them to do something. Then, suddenly all the L-shaped objects flashed bright lights and made loud bang noises. When we all turned to Golden Star we could see he was dead and was covered in holes. That’s when the tall one started to walk closer to me to examine the body. It then fired two more shots into his head in looked at me.
“I’m sorry,” it said slowly. “But he needed to learn his place.” He then turned and walked back into the line with his men. They then turned and walked towards the Apple family property along with the girls and the old guard Fast Skies.
Fast Skies
“Did you have to kill him?” I asked.
He just looked at me. “I had to. He was a threat to my soldiers’ and my lives. I cannot allow something that endangers us to live.” He then turned and continued walking towards Applejack’s barn where it was decided that they would stay the night while we try to find the princesses for them. But now I have the feeling that thanks to them killing Golden Star we have less of a chance than ever. I flew to catch back up to him, clipping him on the ear. He just turned and smiled.
“What is it?” He asked, not taking his eyes off the barn in front of him.
“I-I just wanted to know why you killed him. Don’t you think it’s going to be harder to get a peaceful leader to help you if you go around killing ponies?”
He turned to look at me with a small frown visible. “Well... I never knew they were peaceful. But anyways, as I already said-”
He was cut off by one of the soldiers running up to him waving a bagel. “Sir, I have found my bagel. Let’s record it in the history books.”
Garret stared at him. “Aren’t you the mentally-challenged soldier Sam brought with him?”
He nodded over-enthusiastically. “Yes, sir!”
Garret turned away slowly. “Of course... What’s your name?”
He just stopped and looked at him and said, “I’m the Bagel Man. The Bagel Man, the Bagel man who lives on Bagel Lane.”
I was feeling very awkward. So, I turned to walk away. But stopped when I felt a hand on my shoulder.
I turned around to see Garret smile and shake his head. He turned back to the soldier. “Go find us a history book and I’ll scribble that in for you, ok?”
He nodded again and strode off with a quick “Sir, yes, sir.”
He then turned back around.
Garret
“Now, where were we?” I said when I turned back around. “Oh yeah, we were talking about how I would get a peaceful ruler to help me if I killed someone. Well, you see, as I already said, he was endangering my soldiers’ lives and I did what I felt was the right decision at the time. Just as we are trained to do.” I turned and looked at her again. “Hey, just out of curiousity, how did they find out you were sixteen?”
She shivered at this and uttered, “You don’t want to know...”
“Oh, but I do.”
She frowned at this. “No, you don’t. It’s very... Disturbing, to say the least.”
I looked down at her. “Point taken.”
I turned back to walking into the barn. She followed me and my men inside as we were unpacking our gear. She would continuously ask us what this and that was... Every. Little. Thing. She asked us what everything from a cell phone to a tent was. A tent!
“One does not simply not know what a tent is,” I whispered to my men, getting them to burst out laughing and causing Fast Skies to look out from the inside of the tent with a confused look on her face. I just waved it off and she smiled and ducked back inside. That’s when I realized what my troops were laughing at. She was in the command tent!
Twilight
“I don’t see what they’re doing in there...” Applejack said as she turned towards us. “Don’t y’all think they oughta be out by now? Especially Fast Skies?”
Then I heard the strangest sound... There was this low cheer and a small “clink” noise followed immediately by strange music.
“Twilight, what the hay is that?” Applejack asked as she turned to me. We all turned back to the barn door to find flashing lights visible under the door. “What the hay are they doin’ in there?”
Garret
Five minutes earlier...
“Well, this is the last crate, men. Then we can hit the sack,” I said as I opened the overly large crate in front of me.
“No way!” I yelled out, causing all of the men to run over to me asking what is it. “Does anybody here know how to DJ?” I asked, pulling out the mixing board. I don’t think I’ve ever seen bigger smiles. And to make it better, the freaking crate had booze in it!
We set all the equipment up (with the help of Fast Skies) and after five minutes we all cheered and clinked our glasses together. Then we had one of the boys up there playing some good old deadmau5. We had the strobes going and everything! It was great. Or, well... At least it was until the freaking six ponies that everyone keeps calling the Element Holders opened the door.
Twilight
“What the hay!?” Applejack roared as we entered the barn to a sight of the soldiers having some sort of party. Applejack asked after the record scratch signaling the abrupt stop of the music, “Where the buck did y’all get all of this stuff?” she asked, looking around.
One of the soldiers pointed with a beer to the big crate filled with beers and records. “Over there... We found all this shit in there while Fast Skies was in the CO’s tent.” He said this in a weird way, getting a chuckle from everypony and a punch from Garret, followed by a roaring laughter.
Fast Skies flew over with a bunch of beers in her hooves. “Come on, guys, have some! This stuff is great!” she said, obviously drunk. Celestia help whoever has to share a tent with her tonight.
Better yet... “Everypony, listen!” I yelled getting everypony to look at me.
“What is it, Twi?” Applejack asked.
“You guys do know that Fast Skies is staying here with you, right?... And you just got her drunk.”
Garret
I looked at Fast Skies chugging another one of our endless supply of beers. Then I turned back to Twilight.
“Yeah, so? If drunkenness is anything like it is on Earth, the worst she will get is a massive hangover.”
She seemed to smile at this. “Yeah, well guess what?-” She was interrupted by the screeching of tires. Wait, screeching of tires?
Immediately, my men snapped up with their weapons. The girls seemed freaked out. Fast Skies just looked... How do I put this nicely?... Drunk.
I could see a convoy of three vehicles up ahead. I drew a head count and saw I was missing three of the soldiers.
“Son of a bitch,” I said over the roar of laughter when a Sparta remix of “I can’t wait to eat this bagel” played over the humvee speakers. The humvees pulled up into the barn... Which I still can't understand how they managed to fit them in and still get us room. When the soldiers climbed out, who was driving them? It was freaking Sam, Jake, and, God bless his soul, Bagel Man. He will be the death of me.
Right after that strange occurrence, I saw the soldiers looking up.
Twilight
I saw all of the soldiers and girls look up, so I looked up, too. What I saw shocked the buck out me.
Somehow, in her drunken state, Fast Skies had managed to attach a rectangular piece of cloth with a blue square with white stars and red and white stripes on the rafter. I was about to tell her to rip it down, and that’s when the soldiers did the strangest thing in the world. They placed their right hand over their hearts and said some strange “Pledge”. That’s when I realised it. The rectangle on the rafter was the same emblem that was on the arms of the soldiers. I looked over to the girls and they nodded, realizing the same thing.
Immediately after that, two of the soldiers took out stringed instruments and began to play with the others, stomping their feet clapping their hands and cheering in general. It had to be the most interesting sight in the world. When I turned to the girls again, they had all joined in and were stomping their hooves and drinking “beers” which I believe were some type of alcohol. That’s when the commander came over to me after another song that I’m sure you need their appendages to the dance. He had Fast Skies wobbling behind him, trying to stand upright.
Garret
“Twilight,” I said, looking behind me to check on our barn drunk. “Twilight, why does she have to sleep here with us instead of going to her own home?”
Her answer shocked the hell out of me. “She lives here... Applejack offered her the barn to call home. But I don’t think she can do that with you pon- I mean humans hanging around. No offense.”
I looked at her and casually smiled as well as clapping and cheering for the ever-so-talented “Bagel Man” and Jake finishing another set of banjo/guitar songs. I turned back to Twilight.
“Twilight, it seems to me like she’s having a lot of fun here,” I said as I pointed to the drunk mare behind me trying to dance on her hind hooves with a couple drunk soldiers.
I turned to them. “Okay, guys. One more song and then it’s time to hit the sacks,” I said.
I got replies of “Aww,” “Please?”, and “Boo, you suck!”, followed by one or two drunks slumping to the ground. The song they played I couldn’t help but join into. They played the Earth favorite “Cotton-Eye Joe”. Not one soldier stayed out. Even the drunks managed to get out onto the floor and do the dance. I turned to see the mares behind us looking confused but I couldn’t help but laugh and continue our party.
After the song was over, I placed Fast Skies in one of the humvees and closed the door. Then I walked back to my tent to see that the soldiers were returning to their tents for the night.
I turned to the six mares turning to leave. “Thanks, you guys. For everything,” I said as they waved goodbye and left. All I can remember after that is a strange dream...
The screams echoed out over the Everfree Forest and into the ears of no-one. The dark shadow drew closer and closer to the poor couple that had made the bad decision to wander into the Everfree Forest. They cowered underneath the glowing red eyes and sharp teeth of the monster. They drew closer and closer to the poor couple until they were in range of their deadly claws.
Their bloodcurdling screams cut through the air.
Silence returned to the forest.
Garret
I woke up after a strange dream of seeing a poor pegasi couple die. Dismissing that as PTSD, I continued the endless struggle to open my eyes. That’s when I felt something warm on my side.
I cracked my eyes open a bit and saw a red and orange mane in my vision.
“What the hell?!” I yelled, scaring the poor mare awake. “What the hell?! Fast Skies, how did you get in here?!”
She slowly pointed a shaky hoof to the large hole in the side of my tent. A loud smack echoed around the barn, waking up all the soldiers in the process. When they all wandered around, trying to find the source of the sound they all noticed the hole in my tent and burst out laughing.
“Yeah, yeah, real freaking funny. Laugh it up, assholes.”
I walked around a bit until I found the small group cooking MRE’s on the engine of the Humvee. “Why aren’t you just using water?” I asked, walking around them to see it better.
“Well,” one of them replied sluggishly, most likely one of the drunks. “It’s better to cook it this way because it saves the water for drinking. Not to mention that since we are Delta we get the cars that can run on bio-fuels.”
I shrugged and took some of the eggs and sausage and sat down with a big ‘ol mug of coffee.
Fast Skies
I woke up in Garret’s tent without a clue of how the buck I got in there besides a hole in the tent wall. After fully waking up and chugging enough water and Tylenol to kill a Hydra, I decided to find where the commander went.
I saw him over in a seat in their horseless carriage eating, so I decided to go and join him.
When I landed next to him he jumped and laughed at the funniness of being scared by me. After he asked the soldiers to get me a cup of this “coffee” that supposedly wakes you up.
After I tasted some of this, which I instantly labeled as just a flavored form of caffeine, I continued along chatting and watching the CO eat. That’s when i noticed some sort of brown food that smelled strange. While the commander was too busy chewing to answer my question of what it was, I took one and started to eat it.
Garret
So here I was, just eating breakfast and drinking some coffee, when Fast Skies scares the shit out of me. It was all funny, though. That was, it was until she decided to eat one of my sausages. I immediately slapped her across the face, getting her to spit it out. She then burst out into a huge temper tantrum. But I can understand that part... Sort of...
So after she stopped crying a bit, I apologized and told her that she was trying to eat meat. This seemed to shock her a lot because she had almost swallowed the damn thing but after I told her this she bawled her eyes out again and started to thank me over and freaking over until she put me into a choke hold. I swear she would put a WWE champion to shame. After that nothing really eventful happened until the girls ran in.
Twilight
I was taking my morning stroll along the Everfree Forest when something strange caught my eye. When I walked over to it, I found that they were two bodies. More specifically, the bodies of Lightning Storm and Cloud Kicker. Two of the best weather ponies around. Why they were dead I had no idea. Why they were in the Everfree Forest I had some idea. The two had been dating for months now, but what killed them, I had no clue. The only marks of the attackers were long scratch wounds running along the length of their bodies, cutting deep lacerations into their bodies. I saw a long shadow snake around the tree. It looked bipedal almost.
I ran into town and didn’t stop running until I arrived at the library. I ran into the library and called for Spike. I wrote a letter to Princess Celestia on red emergency parchment. It read as follows:
“Come quick. Something bad is going on. Twilight.”
Immediately after Spike sent that letter, a bright flash filled the library. When it dimmed, Princess Celestia appeared before the girls. Twilight quickly explained what had happened and about the humans to the Princess. Although disturbed that they had so quickly murdered her guard, Twilight hastily explained that they were acting in self-defense, and that they had not gotten used to Equestria yet. The Princess wanted to immediately see the humans, so they set off in a sprint towards the barn.
Sam
“For he’s a jolly good fellow, for he’s a jolly good fellow, for he’s a jolly good felloooooooow...” sang the soldiers and Fast Skies or “Sky” as she has now been called, celebrating a private’s birthday with a horribly out of tune song. Meanwhile, I was less-than-enthusiastically participating, more interested in my book than the singing.
The singing quickly stopped when the barn doors slammed open, followed by blazing sunlight as a very tall figure walked in. While I had observed that most ponies in this land, apparently called “Equestria” by the natives, were a little over four feet, this one was at least six feet tall, taller than even me and the soldiers. This pony had both a horn and wings, a combination I had not yet seen, white fur, a multi-colored mane, and several pieces of jewelry. This must have been the Princess Celestia that Twilight had mentioned.
“Hello. You are the Princess, I presume?” I asked, casually looking up from my book.
“I am Princess Celestia, ruler of Equestria and Bringer of the Sun. You are the humans that crashed into Equestria?”
“We are.”
“Care to explain why one of my guards is dead?”
“Yeeahhh... Sorry about the dead guard... It was a tense and confusing situation.”
“Tragic, but it is forgiven. Although, there are other matters at hand,” the Princess said.
“We found two dead bodies,” Twilight spoke up.
Garret did a spit-take. “Bodies?! What the hell happened?!”
“My pupil, Twilight, came across the bodies of two pegasi in the Everfree Forest. She says that they appeared to have been killed by creatures with claws of some sort.”
“We haven’t figured out exactly what it is, but it’s nothing that we have seen lately. It’s actually very uncommon for ponies to be killed by some other creature...”
“Alrighty, then. Let’s go check it out,” I said, closing my book. Some of the soldiers looked uneasy at the prospect.
“Wait, why do we even care?” a soldier asked.
“Well, we don’t have anything better to do,” Garret pointed out.
“And besides, you soldiers care more about the protection of civilians than your own lives, right? Well, I’m a civilian, I’m going to check it out, and my life is at risk. Now, you can either let me go out there and possibly die a horrible death by the claw of a monster, or you can help us out.”
“Meh. You can go on your own,” a soldier replied. He was promptly punched in the face by Garret
“Well, it’s decided,” Garret said. “Let’s go.”
Garret
We drove for a bit into the Everfree Forest, following a moderately-used trail that led deep into the woods. The entire time, the ponies seemed uncomfortable at the thought of riding in a carriage that didn’t have the need to be pulled by other ponies. When we arrived at the spot that Twilight indicated, I had the drivers form a perimeter with the Humvees and put a man on each gunnery turret. This created a large protective field of view for us to work safely in.
Sam stepped out of the Humvee I was in and walked up to the bodies, seemingly untouched since Twilight found them. He crouched next to them for a minute, examining them.
“Well, they were killed by something with claws. It seems that they were killed instantly, given their expressions. I wouldn’t say that they have been here long, since nothing seems to be growing on them and that they are still faintly warm... But it’s been a while. They were probably killed late last night,” he reported, standing up.
“Horrifying,” Rarity commented. “What beast could do this?”
“I’m not sure. Do you know of anything that could do this, Princess?” Sam asked.
“There is nothing that comes to mind. However, there does seem to be traces of evil magic here. Pure evil...” Celestia said.
Everyone was silent for a moment. Evil magic seemed like such a fairytale until it was staring you in the face.
“Well, we might be able to find something if we look in the Canterlot libraries,” Twilight said.
“Canterlot?” Jake asked.
“Canterlot is the capital city of Equestria,” Celestia replied.
“Well, a bunch of humans walking into Canterlot can’t seem good to the ponies there... Is there some kind of way we can transform ourselves? Temporarily, though?” Sam asked.
“Sure, there’s something I can perform. I can actually make it so that you transform on will, too,” Celestia answered.
“Well, that simplifies everything,” Sam replied. “Let’s perform it back at the barn, okay?”
“Wait,” I interrupted, “What about the Humvees?”
“We can store ‘em in a barn,” Applejack replied. “We’ve actually got a few ones we don’t use too often, so they make great places to store big things like them Humvees.”
“But I don’t feel so good about leaving behind four trillion dollars worth of weapons and vehicles.” I said.
“Garret, shut up,” Sam said. “They’re definitely not four trillion dollars. More like four million dollars. That I needed in funding...”
“Well, I’m sorry that we were kicking Iran’s ass so you don’t get your precious little lab blown up,” I replied.
“Meanwhile, I’m furthering humanity’s knowledge of the universe, but whatever,” Sam retorted. “Let’s just leave them in the shed. I think the Princess can put some powerful seal on the door to keep robbers out. Besides, what pony can even consider driving one of these?” He said as he slammed the hood of the Humvee. I cringed for some reason.
“Lyra can,” said Twilight. “Now that I mention it, she did draw some creatures called ‘humans’ in school...”
“Son of a bitch, they invented us,” Jake said.
Sam and I countered this by pulling something that should be in the Three Stooges.
The three of us were eventually pulled apart and turned into ponies by Celestia’s magic, along with the rest of the squad.
“Son of a...” Jake said. “How the hell do I turn into a human again?”
“Hm... Interesting. I like it,” Sam said.
“Pussy,” said a soldier.
Jake was turned into an earth pony, Sam was turned into a pegasus, and Garret was a...
“Ha! Look at me i’m so awesome!” I said galloping around.
“Whoops,” Celestia said, and used her magic to remove his wings. “Can’t have your dreams be fulfilled that easily, can we?”
“Aw...” I said.
“That was for Golden Star’s untimely death,” she said, and brought back his wings. “And this is for helping us.”
“Whoop!” I shouted, doing a backflip in the air. I continued to trot around Sam, taunting him until the other soldiers joined in the taunting with the CO causing one big pony-pile on Sam. Celestia couldn’t help but laugh at the sight.
“Take that, science!” an overly-religious soldier shouted.
“Celestia,” I said, after prompting her to turn to me. “I have one question that’s very important.”
“What is it?” she asked, sounding concerned.
“I want us to bring our weaponry with us, just in case.
Everyone turned in the direction the sound was coming from.
“The hell was that?!”
“Oh, God, are those the monsters?”
I turned to Celestia. “Change us back to humans! We need to be ready to fight!”
She nodded. “Just imagine yourselves turning back into humans. You need to really concentrate, though.”
Everyone closed their eyes and focused all of their attention on becoming human again. After a bit of time, everyone was back. But we had lost time.
“Everyone! One person on the Humvee gunnery! Everyone else take a gun for yourselves! Face away from the center of the circle!” I ordered. Everyone scrambled to get their weapons and take their positions. Following some confusion, we had a good defense.
“I’ll get into the Humvee. Not much I can do from here,” Sam said to me.
“Good idea,” I told him. He climbed into the passenger seat of my Humvee.
We had about six Humvees with people ready at their gunnery, thirteen soldiers in between the Humvees, ready to fire, seven ponies and myself in the center of the circle, and a scientist hiding in a Humvee.
“Everyone, be as quiet as possible,” I said softly.
Everyone was silent. The only sounds that could be heard were some distant birds and the wind rustling the leaves of the trees.
Sam looked out of the Humvee window. “Garret?”
“Do I need to know?” I asked.
“We have a great defense and all. No one could get through from the sides.”
“Where are you going with this?”
“What about the trees above us?”
Silence. I looked up.
Sam
“What about the trees above us?”
Garret was looking at me, confused for a second. Then his eyes widened in horror. He looked up. Then, some kind of shadow fell onto him.
“Agh!” Garret yelled. His gun started firing, trying to get the shadow off of him. Everyone else turned around, seeing their commander being attacked by a shadow. No one shot, fearing that they would instead hit Garret.
“Shoot the damn monster!” Garret yelled. “It’s solid here! You won’t hit me!”
All nineteen other guns erupted into fire, sending hundreds of bullets flying through the air, at the shadow. Sparks flew off of the monster, as the bullets failed to break through its armor and kill it. The shadow apparently decided it had enough and flew off of Garret. All of the gunfire stopped immediately.
“Where’d it go?” someone asked.
“It’s not here anymore...”
I looked out the windows of the Humvee, desperately trying to get a glimpse of the shadowy beast, trying to find the danger. There was no trace.
“Agh!” someone yelled. I realized that it was the gunner on top of my Humvee. A body went flying off of the roof. When he landed, I caught a glimpse of deep claw marks.
“What is that?!” someone yelled.
“It’s what killed those pegasi!” another soldier shouted.
“Shoot the damn thing!” Garret yelled, pointing at the roof.
Suddenly, darkness covered the windows of the Humvee. I tried to open the door, but it wouldn’t budge.
“It’s turned into shadow!” someone yelled.
“Sam!” Garret yelled.
“I can’t get out of here!” I yelled. Then I felt the Humvee being dragged backwards. Slowly at first, but then gaining speed. Then I felt the sensation of lifting off of the ground.
“Oh, God, what’s that?!” I yelled to myself.
“Sam!” Garret’s distant voice yelled.
Garret
“The hell was that?!” someone yelled.
“They just took the Humvee?!” another soldier shouted.
I ran over to a Humvee. “We’re going after them,” I announced.
“Wait!” Jake yelled, running after me and grabbing my arm.
“You want to let them get away with Sam?!” I yelled. Jake must have gone crazy if he wanted to let Sam die at the monsters’ claws.
“No, I don’t,” Jake said calmly. “But they’re way too fast for us to catch up with. We’ll run out of fuel before we get anywhere near close to them,”
I was getting irritated with Jake. “What do you suggest we do, then?” I noticed that my words had a sort of venom to them.
“Let’s check out the library in Canterlot first, and see if we can find a way to combat them,” Jake explained. “After that, we can track down the monsters,” he glanced at Celestia, “possibly with the help of the Royal Guard, and then destroy them and save Sam.”
“But what if they kill him?” I asked.
“I don’t think they will, for some reason. After all, they would have killed him already if they wanted to, right?”
I couldn’t argue with that logic.
“Don’t worry, he’ll be fine. He’s pretty good at fighting, if he needs to,” Jake pointed out. I had forgotten that Sam had occasionally beaten me in fights.
I sighed. “Fine. But let’s hurry up, okay?”
“We can get on a train to Canterlot at Ponyville,” Twilight said. “You’ll have to transform once we’re there, though.”
“What about all of the ponies that saw us as humans?” Jake asked.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if they simply dismissed it as rumors,” Rarity said. “In such a small town as Ponyville, rumors can be more... Interesting that reality.”
“Alright, everyone,” I said. “Let’s go.”
Twilight
All of us climbed into the “Humvees”, which I noticed on a sign inside were actually called “High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles”. As we rode back, bumping along the forest floor, I thought about what had happened. The scientist, apparently named Sam, was captured, and everyone was very concerned about that. If it had been a close friend of mine, I would be too. So that means that the monsters have killed three and kidnapped one. What if there were more monsters, and more damage was being done without us knowing it? What are they trying to accomplish? Or what if they’re just mindless beasts, acting on instinct.
It didn’t seem like much time had passed before we reached Sweet Apple Acres. The Humvees were stored away in an empty barn, and Celestia cast a powerful guarding spell to protect them. The commander, Garret, seemed very nervous leaving the apparently expensive equipment in there. He had made an argument to bring at least one with us, but the argument was quickly stopped by Jake. Garret protested, and received a smack to the face along with a “Pull yourself together, man!” Needles to say, this turned into a full-on wrestling match between the two. It was finally settled that they would bring the things they call “guns” along with us.
“How much do those cost?” I asked him.
“How much does an apple cost in your currency?” he asked.
“About two bits.”
“Then about six hundred thousand bits.”
Needless to say, I knew why he was so concerned about them. Suddenly, I found myself concerned about their safety as well.
“You will need to transform now,” Celestia said.
“Alrighty, then,” Garret said. The soldiers closed their eyes for a minute, and then quickly changed forms into those of ponies.
“I can’t get over the feeling,” Jake said. “It feels like I should have fingers and stuff, but they aren’t there.”
“I think there’s a name for that feeling... I think it’s called ‘Phantom Limb’,” I pointed out. “It’s usually related to amputations.”
“I think I actually am missing a part of me,” Garret said.
“What’s that?” Jake asked.
“The Humvees.”
The sound of hooves slapping faces could be heard.
“So, we’ve got... Twenty-six of us left,” Garret said.
“Let’s try not to lose anyone else,” Jake said. “Let’s head over to the train station.”
We all walked for a few minutes to Ponyville’s center. According to a clock, it was 4:15 PM.
“The next train leaves in about five minutes. Let’s hurry up!” I said to the others.
“I will meet all of you at Canterlot,” Celestia announced. “My presence on the train would be somewhat disturbing to the guards.”
“Okay. We’ll see you later,” Garret said. Celestia winked out.
Garret
“Okay. We’ll see you later,” I said. Celestia blipped out of existence.
“Let’s get to the train station quickly,” Twilight said.
By the time we got to the station, the train for Canterlot was pulling in. “All aboard!” the conductor yelled. We had managed to quickly buy twenty-five tickets, costing a total of 125 bits. By my calculations, this was about 250 dollars. Thankfully, Twilight paid for it all.
“It’s always a good thing to invest,” Twilight pointed out. “It’s made me a good deal of money.”
Since the sheer number of our group was very large, we had our own car to ourselves. All of us were sitting around, chatting idly. At first, everyone was tense and tended to stay quiet. Within a few minutes, and after some really horrible jokes, we were chatting like schoolgirls.
Twilight
“So, how big is Equestria?”
“...and the duck said, ‘Got any grapes?’”
Everypony was talking about everything. Things were looking pretty good, despite the circumstances. I guess it was better to enjoy the moment than to dread the future.
“So, Pinkie,” I started.
“Yeah, Twilight?”
“You seemed really quiet today. Is something up?”
Her face fell. “Well... Everything was going pretty bad. Ponies died. Ponies were sad. I didn’t like that... I’m happiest when everypony is having a good time, and since nopony was having a good time, then that must have been the reason I was so sad.” She perked up and smiled again. “But, everypony’s happy now, so I’m happy, too!”
I smiled. “Yeah, that’s great-”
Suddenly, a crash was heard as a window broke. A shadowy figure flew in from the hole.
“Aw, heeeeeeeell, naw, That son of a bitch made me drop my bagel!” the “Bagel Man” said.
“Oh, God, the monster!” somepony shouted.
“Everyone!” Garret yelled, levitating his gun with his magic. “Grab your guns!”
“Uh, how?” a private that was transformed into an earth pony asked.
“Use your mouth!” somepony said.
“Eh, erh gehrt ert nerh!” the private said, with his mouth full.
Loud bangs filled the air as the soldiers fired their weapons at the monster. I was blasting attack spells at the thing. More shadowy figures burst through the window to assist their comrade.
For the second time, I got a good look at the monsters. Their bodies were in the shape of humans, but they were covered with fur and had a snout and pointy ears on top of their heads. Their paws had huge claws on them. They looked like wolves, but also like humans. They looked shadowy in the forest, but even in the light of the train car, they had shadows all over them. It looked like the shadows were part of them and they used them to fight.
“I knew we needed the Humvees!” Garret said.
“You wanted us to put the Humvees on this train?!” I yelled.
“...good point,” Garret admitted.
The shadows seemed to protect the monsters from the guns, but finally a shot got through. Blood spurted from the wound, and the monster cried out.
The cry was nothing like I had ever heard before. It sounded vaguely like the howl of a wolf, but it was ear-shattering and seemed to affect everypony’s minds as well as their ears. All of the gunshots stopped as everypony covered their ears with their hooves, desperately trying to block out the horrendous sound.
Finally, the howl stopped, and everypony continued the fighting. The monster that was injured had dissipated into shadows that spread everywhere and faded out of existence. Finally, more injuries were inflicted on the other monsters, who howled out and died.
The car was a wreck. There was broken glass from the windows and lamps, and the room was shadowy with the light of dusk and the lack of proper lighting. Everypony was exhausted. Luckily, though, the train was pulling into Canterlot.
Once the train stopped, we were pulled aside after getting out and interrogated by the Royal Guard. Luckily, they believed our story, and left us alone. They said to call a guard if there was anymore trouble. I heard somepony say something about “increasing the security” and calling Shining Armor. I hoped that my brother would be able to do something about this.
“Well, that was exhausting,” Garret pointed out.
“Let’s go to the Princess’s castle,” I said, and led the way. Once we arrived, we had to confirm our identities with the Royal Guard. Since some of us were the Element Holders, we were able to get through without much trouble. Since the others were with us, they trusted them. Just barely, though, especially given their guns that they were still carrying.
Princess Celestia met us in the castle. “All of you look exhausted. You should get some rest,” she said.
“Praise the great bagel in the sky!” Bagel Man cried out.
After that, we did as we were told.
Garret
Each of us had our own rooms. The Princesses must get a lot of visitors. For a while, I could hear the guards patrolling down the hallways. They must have increased security after hearing our story. I was sure that I would do the same.
“Can you believe those murders, Lightning Tail?” said somepony from a distance. Everything was a shade of gray. Suddenly, an ear-splitting screech came from right next to me. When I turned, I could see a shadow. It slowly moved forward...
Wait. What? Shadows don’t mo- Oh, no!
“Run!” I wanted yell, but I couldn’t. Something was preventing me from speaking. Suddenly I moved forward, rushing quickly. I saw two black claws stick out of my hand and cut the back of the two ponies in half. He screamed in pain, and then suddenly went silent.
Garret
I woke up from my dream, sweating and gasping for breath. There was a loud banging at the door to my room.
“Who is it?” I asked, already guessing who it was.
“It’s me, Fast Skies,” said the voice.
I sighed and said, “Come back with Jake. I need to talk to him.”
I heard a faint “Okay” and the tapping of hooves on the ground as Sky was walking away.
I sighed into my pillow and got up to fetch my weapons. I heard more knocking at the door.
“The damn thing is open!” I yelled at I picked up my ammo. In walked Jake.
“Jacob,” I said without turning. “I had the creepiest goddamn dream in the world.” I finally turned around, noticing that Sky was there, too. “Sky, you may not want to hear this.” I said looking at her. “This belongs on creepypasta.”
Jacob’s jaw just dropped. “That must be freaky, man,” he said, looking at me. So when Sky insisted on staying, I began to tell them the tale of my dream from hell.
Sam
I woke up in the passenger seat of the Humvee. I had been flying in there for hours, and eventually dozed off with nothing to do. The original panic and fear had slowly receded into a passive but ever-present anxiety about the future.
I sat up and thought about my predicament. “Well,” I thought. “They wouldn’t want to kill me, since they would have already. There’s no point in flying me for hours just to kill me later. They must want something from me. What could I give them? Well, let’s see why they didn’t take anyone else... I was the only non-military human there, so they might want to take me hostage or use some information from me. That is assuming that they are intelligent and can communicate, however...”
Suddenly, I felt the Humvee land. The door was ripped off of its hinges by a shadowy, wolf-like humanoid.
“Well,” I said. “This is going to be interesting.”
Garret
“...and then I told these two about it, and they suggested we come to you,” I said as we stood in front of Celestia’s throne. Next to her was another alicorn who I guessed could only be Princess Luna. They both seemed very interested in my story. What I was interested in was how the hell I looked like Luna. I’m pretty sure she was wondering the same thing.
Celestia took the three of us out of the room, leaving Luna in charge. As we walked down the hallways, she explained how the guards have seen a few of these creatures and nicknamed them the “Howlers” for the noise they make before and during their attacks. She also explained how she searched the entire library and found no mentioning of the creatures we found... But she did find a spell that would allow us to duplicate items, which would come in handy for our ammo reserves.
We continued to walk into the gardens where we sat down. Our men showed up a few minutes later with the help of some guards that i high hoofed as they walked out. Celestia turned her head as if asking “Why?” and I chuckled. Then we all turned back into humans and began to clean and polish our guns when there was a small gasp behind us. We all turned around to see a pair of blue eyes looking at us.
Luna
“I do hope Tia won’t be mad that I followed them to find out why he looks like me and why he is an alicorn that I’ve never heard of,” I thought as I walked down the hall behind them, listening on everything they were talking about.
“So, these ponies found the Howlers in the Everfree?” I thought as we rounded another turn and walked into the gardens. I teleported and hid in a bush in time to see the new ponies joined by some more. I didn’t recognize any of them but the alicorn high hoofed two guards who smiled and waved as they ran out. I almost couldn’t hold in the laughter when I saw Tia, confused as ever. Suddenly, the new ponies all changed form into some unknown creature. I couldn’t help but gasp and I quickly regretted it as I noticed three of them stand up, holding small L-shaped objects.
Garret
I looked behind us at the blue eyes and stood up along with Jake and the Bagel Man. We pulled out our M9’s and slowly crept up on the bush. We heard a little squeak as we circled around it.
“Okay, come out now,” I said slowly as we circled the bush. I pulled back my empty clip to make it think the gun was loaded. The other two did the same.
“Come out or we’re coming in on three,” I said even more slowly. “One... Two...” I looked at the two and they nodded at me. I looked back at my men and saw them trying to hold in laughter.
“Two and a half...” I said again and my men burst into a laughing fit.
“THREE!” I shouted and dove into the bush, followed by the other two. We landed on something soft and midnight blue.
Wait.
“Oh, shit.” I said as I jumped out of the bush.
Luna
I could hear the creature’s friends laughing as they circled the bush I was in, slowly saying things I couldn’t make out due to the sound of laughter.
Suddenly, the creature roared “Three!” and jumped on top of me, followed by two others. It looked down and said a simple “Oh, shit” and backed up.
“Thou had better flee!” I shouted, only to hear more laughter as I walked out of the bush. I turned to Tia and gave an innocent smile.
“Luna,” she said in a very - and I mean very - angry voice. “Why did you follow us here?” she asked slowly.
I opened my mouth to deny I was following them when she interrupted me.
“And don’t you dare say you didn’t, because we could hear you all the way here.”
“Drat!” I thought. They had heard me!
“Uhh...” I said slowly in a very squeaky voice. “I wanted to know why a new alicorn was here, and why he looks like me.” I looked at the creature that had transformed from an alicorn that was clinging to a larger version of the L-shape that it had been holding.
Garret
So after we told Luna everything that had happened up to this point, she still had questions. We would have been there all day if it wasn’t for that guard breaking into our conversation.
“Your Majesties!” he yelled as he ran in, sweat pouring from his face. “Your Majesties, two ponies have been murdered in Ponyville by the Howlers!” he said quickly. Then everyone looked at me.
“What?” I asked I then realised why they were looking at me. “No-ho-ho-ho way,” I said, looking at them. “We came all the way out here... Just to go back... In less than 12 hours?” I facepalmed when they all nodded yes. “Oh, alright... I swear to God, though, if any of you die I will revive you and kill you again.” And with that I walked out. I heard a clicking noise behind me but I took no notice as I continued to my room.
I walked in and picked up my iPod and headphones. I put them on my head and turned on “Daft Punk: Harder Better Faster Stronger”. I just layed down on my bed and bobbed my head up and down to music,
Fast Skies
I was leading Luna to Garret’s room so she could ask him some questions about Earth. But when we got there, the door was still open. As we walked in, we could see Garret on the bed with some strange device over his ears.
Luna immediately ripped it from his ears causing him to shoot up with a good ‘ol joyful “What the hell?!” He turned and looked at the two of us. “Give me back my goddamn headphones or so help me, God, I’ll beat you to death with your own skull.”
I just stared at him blankly.
“Is that even possible?” Luna asked from beside me, levitating his “headphones” back over to him.
He made a smirk. “I don’t know, but I’m about ready to find out.” Luna backed up a bit when he said this. “Now, what was so important that you had to interrupt my rest?”
I looked at him blankly. “Well, first of all, what is that? And what does it do?” I asked.
He looked at me and sighed. “Come here.”
I walked over to him and he put the headphones over my ears.
He then pointed to a little box at the end of a wire. “This holds music by turning into binary code.” He said and then he pointed at the headphones. “And the code is made back into sounds inside these headphones using speakers.” He then pressed a button on the glass of the small box and music began to pour into my ears. Once the song ended he took the headphones off me and put them back down. “Now, next question?”
Sam
I was hauled out of the Humvee by one of the wolf-like creatures. The claws dug into my skin, and, needless to say, it hurt. They had to be at least three inches long. That doesn’t seem long until you measure it in comparison to your fingernails. Then you’ve got some monstrosities.
The creatures were about six and a half feet tall, so they towered over me. Their fur was gray and darkened further by the shadows that seemed to make up their body. Their eyes were soul-sucking black, with nothing else in them. All in all, they were the things of nightmares.
“What are you?” I asked them.
Out of the five that were in front of me, the one in the middle spoke first, in a hissy and gravelly voice. “We are the Lykosumbra,” he said
“What is your name?” “I am Odigirex.”
“Why are you here, in Equestria?”
“We do not know. We cannot remember before two days ago.”
I thought, “That’s when we first arrived. Wow, they managed to assemble themselves quickly.”
To them, I asked, “Why have you been killing ponies?”
“They threatened us,” Odigirex replied.
“Threatened you? How?”
“They were in our territory.”
“Why do you need me?”
He stared at me with his black eyes. “To discover where we came from.”
Garret
“How I regret asking if they have more questions...” I thought to myself as I explained about the lunar landings to Luna. To say she was enthusiastic would be an understatement. She asked question after question. I was asked so many different topics that I can’t even remember them all. There were some about technology. Some about the army (most questions of which I answered “Classified”) and some about binary code.
After the lovely Q&A, Luna decided it was about time to find out why the hell I was an alicorn, which involved a very unwanted trip through my memories with the two girls. We went through my memories one at a time. The one about 9/11 seemed most painful to them as they burst out into tears. We continued on into my boot camp. That’s when I got the biggest shock of my life...
So, here we were, going through my memories, when we came across the day when that poor brony got chewed out. The girls seemed shocked at the fact that someone could be so mean. But I was shocked at how the brony said “Sweet Celestia” instead of “Sweet Jesus”.
“Right! I thought all of this seemed familiar!” I exclaimed. “This is that My Little Pony TV show...”
“TV?” Luna asked.
“Never mind,” I said.
We finished the set of dreams with the two mares bawling some more. I grabbed my things and turned into my alicorn form before racing outside and meeting up with my men. We all met up in the courtyard and formed the greatest idea ever.
Sam
“What do you need me for?” I asked Odigirex.
“To discover where we came from,” he replied.
I thought about that for a second. How could they have known that I was a scientist? “Why did you choose me?” I asked.
“The others attacked us. They were the warriors. They would not listen to us, they would only slaughter us. You were the peaceful one.”
So they didn’t know that I was a scientist, they just wanted someone that wouldn’t kill them. It looked like these monsters were more like humans than I had previously thought. “So all you wanted to do this whole time was to discover where you came from? I understand that you thought that us and the ponies were a threat, but did you try to communicate first?”
“We did. They screamed and attacked us.”
“Okay. Sorry that we killed some of your people. I wish we had known what your intentions were earlier.”
“Killed?” Odigirex said. “No, they simply regenerate once they are killed. We cannot be wiped from existence so easily.”
Immortal. Well, that’s a sort of scary thought.
Fast Skies
“Where dost thou think he hath gone?” Luna asked me as we walked down into the courtyard.
“Probably the gardens,” I said as we turned to walk into the massive gardens.
When we walked in, some music about shuffling could be hard and out ran the soldiers into the gardens doing something with their feet that looked like they were sliding across the floor. About a minute later, they all broke down laughing.
I looked around to find Garret and realized he wasn’t there. Suddenly, one of the soldiers caught my look and pointed to a tower. I looked up and saw him hanging from the edge of the tower with his wings tied together. Suddenly, one of the soldiers next to me shot the rope dangling him from the edge. The rope broke off and he plummeted down straight down.
Suddenly, two pegasi formed up on his right and left. Then the soldiers that could turn into pegasi turned into their pony forms and joined onto his wingpony. One of the soldiers started up that strange box and said it was something like “Till I Collapse” by some Eminem pony. Once the music started they line of ponies turned to us and began doing... An airshow?
Garret
1 hour earlier
“This is the plan,” I said, looking around me at all the pegasi soldiers. “When they walk in, all but two of you will do a shuffle, and then we pull off some good ‘ol flyboy Blue Angel stunts! Now, who’s in?” I asked. All of the soldiers raised their hands. I smiled and handed out the routine and we began to practice.
Fast Skies
“This is just amazing! I can’t believe they haven’t crashed yet! They are practically clipping each other’s wings off..” I said to myself as I watched the pegasi pulling stunts never done before.
I felt a tap on my shoulder. Garret stood there with two others and they motioned me to follow the airshow above Canterlot.
They all pressed small button on their back leg pouches and red smoke begun to pour out. I looked up to see the colors in red, white, and blue also covering the sky in smoke form.
Garret pushed a small button on his helmet and said, “Treehouse 0-1 this is Echo 2-3. Time to end the show?”
He just nodded and took off with the other two pegasi. The did a loop and flew through it causing a square and stripes. I realized what they were doing: they were making the flag on their patch. After they finished they all landed to the cheering of ponies and walked away back into the castle.
Somewhere in Iran
“What do you mean, ‘we lost Delta’?! Go find them! I want a Black Hawk up, now!” screamed the CO as we ran around base and into our bird.
Suddenly we were lifted up in a red and orange glare. We shook around until we were over a mountain in blue smoke
“Sir,” one of my soldiers said. “You may want to see this.”
I looked over the edge and saw... Ponies? And when I looked up, I saw an American flag. I turned around to look in the cabin as a pony with a horn and wings landed in a uniform. A Delta uniform.
“Son of a bitch... Garret?” I asked as I looked at him, wide-eyed.
He suddenly changed back into himself and smacked me on my back. “Welcome to Equestria, mate,” he said. “The planet where ponies rule and there ain’t no way to get back to Earth. Follow me into the castle where I may be a... Uh, guest.”
And with that he changed back into a pony and jumped out. The pilot just looked at me.
“What are you waiting for? Follow him!”
Garret
Five minutes earlier
“Garret!”
I turned to see Celestia running in. I looked up from my food with my soldiers. “First of all, wonderful show. Second, there are large magic fluctuations... The same kind that brought you here.”
I looked, wide-eyed, at my soldiers. They all had the same expression and we took to the air in which ponies were gathering around a bright light. We immediately started to see a large space just as it became extremely bright.
Suddenly, a Blackhawk flew out of our flag. My jaw just dropped as I noticed the Second Platoon symbol on the side. So, I decided to pay a little visit to the CO. As I landed I could just see his eyes shoot open at my pony form.
I changed back into my human form and clasped him on the back. “Welcome to Equestria, mate,” I said, acting like my crazy self. “The planet where ponies rule and there ain’t no way to get back to Earth. Follow me into the castle where I may be a... Uh, guest.” I said and jumped back out to find a landing spot. I noticed Royal Guards swarming up. I just waved them off and flew through them with the helo following.
Fast Skies
I looked up to see a large, black, wingless bird fly out of the blue smoke. Garret disappeared inside the machine. Guards began to swarm out of the castle and into the air, while others charged up spells to attack it. Suddenly, garret flew out of the machine and waved to it. It slowly began to make its way behind him and they flew down in a steady arc into the courtyard. I saw the soldiers began to clear the area and the troops showed up. They formed the same formation they did when I first walked out and saluted the black bird as it landed.
The sides opened and out stepped more humans in the same uniform as Garret but with different patches on the arms. They had the same flag on the sleeve and they carried gear different from Garret’s. I think this is because they aren’t of the same elite level as him, but who knows?
Garret came around from the back and made weird hand signals. The circular object on the top slowed down and revealed four long rectangular pieces of metal. Two more humans climbed out carrying strange objects on their heads.
“They must be the ones who fly that,” I thought as they stepped out. They quickly took off their helmets. One of them had hair longer than Garret and his soldiers. They walked over and stood in line with the others and began to talk with the others. That was until Celestia walked in.
“What is that thing?” she asked, looking around. Her eyes settled on the pilots besides Garret.
Garret
So, here we were, just re-united with second squad and freaking Celestia comes in and just stares at me. And this wasn’t just your average, everyday stare, this was one of those creepy “I will kill you in your sleep and feast on your lungs” stare.
I gulped and looked around me. “This would be second squad, ma’am,” I said. I turned around to look at all the soldiers.
“Atten-tion!” I yelled. They all stepped into line and the second squad leader stepped forward to stand next to me.
I turned back around. “This is their leader, Markus,” I said. He immediately bowed.
I turned to him. “Oh, Lord, please tell me you're not a bloody brony,” I said as I turned to him again.
He just smiled at me. “And if I am?” he asked slowly.
“Welcome to heaven.”
All the soldiers shared a laugh. The ponies looked confused, and Sky looked... Like Sky.
“Anyhow,” I said when I turned back to Celestia, “This big black thing you see is another one of our contraptions. It’s called a UH-60, but it’s better known for its nickname, ‘Blackhawk’,” I said as I faced the ponies yet again.
Celestia just stared at the beast with wide eyes. “What is this for?” she asked slowly.
“Well...” I said, pausing to figure out how to word this. “You remember that flying machine we arrived in?”
They all nodded. “Well, this thing is a small flying machine. One meant to carry a small squad of five to ten men, or, um, ponies.”
They all gasped at how such a small object could carry so many.
“But why do you use it?” Celestia asked.
“Well... It’s kinda sorta used by the military... A.k.a., what our nation uses to defend itself,” I said as she opened her mouth.
I guessed the question. “Yes, I know my group is small. You saw one die already, and those seven over there saw us burying the dead bodies from when our plane crashed.”
I turned back to Markus. “By the way, I forgot paperwork, and since you’re the second highest here now, have fun filling out the letter. Here’s the dog tags.” I tossed the bag to him and his eyes went wide.
Celestia asked yet another question. “Why do you wear items meant for dogs?”
This sent the soldiers into hysterics. “Celestia, these aren't meant for dogs. they’re identification tags in case we are killed and have no reasonable way of identifying us. They list our blood type, religion, and soldier number,” I said.
She looked wide-eyed at us. I sighed.
I looked to the pilots and made a small circle a few times with my fingers. They sighed and ran back into the Blackhawk and the rotors started up, kicking up dust.
“All right,” I said. “Who wants a ride in the giant black flying machine?” Yet again the soldiers burst out into hysterics as Jake, the ponies, and I climbed in. They watched how we strapped ourselves in and attempted the same thing. We laughed and secured them into the harnesses awkwardly. The ones with wings we didn’t bother to help because they could fly. We did warn them about the spinning blades and how they could kill them.
Sam
“Okay, I guess that I can help you... But I’ll need some information about this world to work with,” I said to Odigirex.
So, here we were in this strange flying contraption. This thing was fast. Well, not as fast as the big metal bird they arrived in, but it was still fast.
Rainbow was trying to keep up with us, and we slowed down so she could climb in.
I turned to Garret. “So, Garret,” I said. He looked up from the glass thing he always plays with. “How does this fly? It doesn’t look like it should.”
Celestia turned and joined us from the side. “Indeed. I have been wondering that as well,” she said.
Garret turned to us and smiled. “Well,” he said. “I don’t know much. All I know is the blades spin at a super fast speed, creating lift, and the tilt of the aircraft works for the speed and direction.” He turned to look back down.
“Hey, what is this thing? It looks awesome!” Rainbow cheered from the edge.
I looked up. She was playing with the thing that looked like a giant “gun”, as the humans called it.
“Rainbow, don’t touch that!” Garret yelled, looking panicked. He turned to look at Jake and Bagel Man. “Lock down those turrets!” he roared, sending them into action, racing to the sides.
Sam
“Grab onto me,” Odigirex said.
“What?” I asked, unsure of what he was planning.
“Grab onto me,” he repeated. I grabbed onto his shoulder.
Suddenly, Odigirex dissolved into shadow and rocketed into the air. Within a few seconds, we were flying at what must have been over a hundred miles per hour over the trees, away from the clearing. I looked at my hand. It appeared to be holding onto a cloud.
After a few minutes, I adjusted to the speed. Looking forward, I managed to make out a large city resting on a cliffside.
“That must be Canterlot,” I thought. “It’s a huge city.”
Odigirex tilted downwards, materializing on a spire. I was still holding onto him, trying to keep balanced.
Odigirex motioned downwards. “This building is a library. You should be able to find what you need.” He turned into shadow again and flew us into the library window. I noticed that the others had followed us in.
I looked up at the name of the section of the library we were in. “Starswirl the Bearded,” I read out loud.
I looked around. Scrolls and books were piled on the bookshelves. There did not appear to be anyone else in the area. I started searching.
After a few minutes, I found something in a book. A section in the book said something about a unicorn’s theory that emotions could be transferred through universes.
“This might have something to do with this all,” I said to myself.
Suddenly, I heard yelling.
“Breaching!
“Clear!”
“Clear!”
“Fire in the hole!”
The door to the section was blown into splinters that showered over me and the Lykosumbra. Once the dust had settled, I saw Garret and the other soldiers standing with their guns at the ready. The Lykosumbra growled and showed their claws, glinting in the sunset light.
A battle was about to begin.
Garret
Earlier
The helicopter was flying around. When we landed the troops, everyone gathered around as we walked over to Celestia.
“Celestia, Luna,” I said, getting them to turn around and look at me. “I would like to take a look at this library you have been talking about..”
Celestia seemed to think about this for a while before she turned to Luna.
“Lulu, could you take Garret and his soldiers to the ‘Starswirl the Bearded’ section for me? I have to head to day court.”
I heard some soldiers snicker at Luna’s pet name. Luna just sighed and looked at us.
“Come, thou shalt follow us if thou wish to find the section.” And with that she walked off into the castle.
I turned to the soldiers and they just shrugged. I turned around again and we began to walk towards the library. Sky was flying next to me as I played with my iPod, not paying much attention. She was so intrigued by this magical device that she flew into a stone pillar. Needless to say, the soldiers laughed their asses off. I pulled her back up and continued walking again.
As we neared a door with a large book shelf carved into it, I could hear strange voices behind it. Then, I heard the freakiest thing in the world:
I hear Sam!
I turned to the soldiers and they nodded, letting me know that they heard it too. We armed our weapons and stacked up on the double doors. We put a small block of C4 on the door and backed up. The ponies did the same.
“BREACHING! CLEAR, CLEAR, CLEAR! FIRE IN THE HOLE!”
We ran in to see Sam with the Howlers.
Instantly, we all picked our targets and opened fire. The Howlers rushed forward, causing us to back up. They got a few hits on a private, but thanks to our new healing skills, we were able to keep him alive. We began to lose ground ever so slowly as the Howlers kept advancing forward. When we were halfway out of the room, I heard Royal Guards yelling at us from behind for fighting in the sacred section. But when they realized who we were fighting, they immediately drew their spears and joined in to help us fight this strange menace. With the guards’ help we were able to retake the room, but not before Sam and the Howlers began to disappear. I could hear bells going off around the castle as guards raced around, scanning for any more of the Howlers.
I looked around at the now-trashed library section. Then I turned to my soldiers and said the simple phrase:
“Well... Shit.”
Fast Skies
I walked in with the girls after Garret and the other Delta soldiers secured the room. Garret was holding his signature ACR and was looking around at the bullet holes everywhere. He turned in time to see Rainbow Dash smash into his chest, causing him to fall onto the ground.
“That was so... AWESOME!” shouted Rainbow Dash as she looked at the ACR. “I totally need to get one of these!”
I chuckled, getting everypony to turn and look at me. “Rainbow, I don’t believe it is wise to have everypony running around with these!” I laughed at how stupid the idea is. Garret cringed and changed into his pony form, teleporting out from under Rainbow Dash. He then turned back into human and looked at me. “I agree, these have turned my world into a warzone...” I was shocked but kept my mouth shut. Well, that was until Celestia stormed in.
Garret
Freaking Celestia! We save her sorry-ass library, and then she comes storming in and freaking yells her head off at me for shooting up a couple of books! I mean, I know they’re old, but who doesn’t make any copies!
Apparently her!
“Garret!” roared Celestia, getting me to turn at her again, stopping my walk away from the library towards the helicopter with my soldiers.
“Yes?” I asked in a pissed-off tone, arching an eyebrow.
“Where do you think you’re going, Garret?” she yelled at me.
“Her mouth, I should just shoot it off...” I thought to myself as I turned and continued walking.
“Back to Ponyville,” I said as I continued to the helicopter where the soldiers that couldn’t be pegasi were getting in.
I climbed into the helicopter and sat on the edge, hooking myself up so that I could sit right on the edge and not worry about falling out. Celestia was still yelling at me but thanks to my awesome blocking-out skills and the spinning blades, I couldn’t hear her. I put my hand to my ear, pulled it away and shrugged. Then I turned on the radio connected to my helmet and my soldiers. The pegasi-soldiers all morphed and prepared to launch alongside the helicopter.
“This is your Lieutenant speaking. Let’s head home,” I said as I felt the helicopter lift off the ground in perfect unison with the pegasi.
Fast Skies
I watched as the helicopter and soldiers lifted off in perfect unison. I turned to see Celestia teleport away, probably into the throne room. I turned to see Luna looking at the helicopter.
“What are we to do now, Luna?” I asked.
She turned and looked at me. “We follow them,” she said as her royal carriage suddenly landed in front of us. I stared at it with an open mouth and turned to Luna.
“Not even going to ask,” I said as I stepped inside alongside Luna. The chariot shot into the sky and followed the helicopter as it flew over the Everfree Forest. Suddenly, it began rocking side to side as the pegasi soldiers pulled out their guns and formed a “V” formation, flying in front of the helicopter and out of sight. We gasped as we saw why. The turrets on the side of the helicopter opened fire with a sound that can only be described as a ripping noise. We felt the carriage lurch as a large dark needle embedded itself into the chariot.
Garret
Five minutes earlier
“I’m breaking a sweat, but it’s alright!” sang the soldiers along with the Skrillex song we currently had playing over the radio. That was, until a large black needle embedded itself into the landing gear of the helicopter right by my leg. Immediately, I jumped into the helicopter and activated the gatling guns.
“All units listen up-” I started, but immediately stopped as a scream came from my left. I turned and saw a soldier with a needle in his arm.
“Medic!” he yelled as he fell being caught by the lucky medic seated next to him.
“Hostile Howler ambush! I repeat, hostile Howler ambush!” I yelled into the mic as both turrets’ ammo belts were loaded. “Pegasi, fly back as fast as you can! The target is going after the Blackhawk.”
I watched as they formed a standard “V” and sped away out of the forest. “Okay, Delta,” I said as the soldiers turned to look at me. “Let’s show them what happens when you mess with the goddamn best.”
Cheers went over the radio as the gatling guns on the side opened fire strafing the forest as the spikes continued to go all around the helicopter.
“Sir,” one of my pilots said over the radio, “We have a carriage behind us with two ponies on it. Orders?”
I stuck my head out of the side that was currently reloading and sighed. “They’ll turn back eventually. How far until we’re out of this forest?” I said over the comms.
“One min, sir, but why is there black smoke over Ponyville?”
Suddenly the spikes stopped as we shot out of the forest airspace. The town wasn’t on fire as much as the forest was. The pegasi soldiers formed back up around the helicopter with the biggest smiles you’ve ever seen.
“You lit a controlled fire correct?” I said into the mic causing one of them to look at me.
