Note: This chapter may have a few issues, but I'll come back and edit it later. I wanted to get the chapter out because you people deserve an update after waiting so long... again... sorry.

"Message away, sir!"

Blackout nodded an approval at the bandaged Pegasus guard in front of him. "Very good. Now, all we can do is wait, and pray to Luna they arrive soon."

Donning his sunglasses and exiting the library, he took flight and headed towards the guard station where a rag-tag group of defenders were, yet again, marshalling the civilians to safety while the remaining knights kept the Manticore at bay.

Princess Luna had apparently decided that securing whatever came through the Gate was more important than the town's safety, since she had taken all but three knights (himself included) with her. He would have to have a chat with Shining Armor about that later.

When he was about halfway to the station, he was intercepted by Lightning, who had somehow managed to remain mostly injury-free throughout the entire ordeal.

"Sir! The knights won't be able to hold for much longer! They're slowly getting pushed back, and soon we won't have time to evacuate everypony!"

He was about to reply when the Pegasus from the library caught up with him, carrying a small black box and looking rather winded from his flight.

"Sir, *pant* this just arrived *pant* for you. It's from *pant* Lieutenant Killinger."

Blackout took the small box and looked at it, confused. "... And this is?"

"He said something about a 'Radio' *pant*, and pushing the big button on *pant* the side while talking to it."

He raised an eyebrow and examined the device, quickly finding the button, but hesitating before pressing the button. "Uh, hello?"

He nearly dropped the thing when it responded.

"Blackout, is that you? It's John."

"It is, but what-"

John cut him off. "I'll explain later. Gimme a SITREP."

He could hear faint sounds of yelling and a strange, high-pitched whining coming over the radio. "Uhm, we are evacuating fast as possible, but we are running out of time. My knights are being pushed back at this very moment, and I fear we will not be able to get everyone to safety."

The radio was quiet for a moment. "Ok, I want you to get all the civilians off the streets and indoors. Get every able-bodied guard or volunteer you can and hold that thing back as long as possible. It's risky, but you have to keep that thing under control until we get there in about... twenty minutes. Can you do it?"

"We will do our best."

"Good, that's all I ask. Just hang in there... The cavalry is on its way."

Blackout could barely hear John over the loud whomping sound coming through the radio as it went silent. Turning to the two Pegasi, he began issuing orders.

"Lightning, you're with me. We're going to help with Manticore." He turned to the other Pegasus, who had caught his breath. "Go back to station and start spreading word. All guards able to fight are to help with beast, while all civilians get inside. Also, hold onto the radio, and come find me if the Lieutenant speaks again." He held out the radio and the Pegasus took it and sped off.

As he started descending towards the faint sounds of fighting with a dark blue Pegasus in tow, he could only hope that John knew what he was doing, and that he would get there soon.

"... The cavalry is on its way."

John put his radio back in his vest and put on a borrowed helmet as the helicopter took off and headed towards Ponyville.

He had only ridden in a Blackhawk once or twice, so this was still a new experience for him, but he could tell that this was no ordinary helicopter, even by Military standards. The first thing that stood out was that there was only one row of canvas seats (two of which he and Rainbow were currently using); all the other seats had been taken out, leaving the Marines sitting rather uncomfortably on the floor. The second thing, or things, while not visible unless viewing the vehicle from the outside, was the long refueling boom and avionics dome on the nose of the aircraft and the rescue hoist above the sliding cabin door on the right side.

Speaking over the intercom, he contacted the Pops. "Sergeant Major, if I remember correctly, you and the guys are regular Marines, right? So why the special bird?"

He saw a few of the Marines tense up.

"Well, sir, on our last OP, our bird took fire and went down. One of the men got ejected after the hit, and Thing 2's co-pilot took some shrapnel to the face when we hit. Classic 'Blackhawk Down' shit. Tail got hit by an RPG and the bird went down in a small town a few miles from base."

John shook his head in disbelief. "And there were only two casualties?"

"Yeah, we got real lucky. Anyways, since our chopper got trashed, we were told to use the one the Force Recon guys were using."

"Spec-ops guys get all the cool shit." Rockstar quipped.

John grinned, deciding to lighten the mood a little. "Well, as far as I'm concerned Lance Corporal, it's our 'cool shit' now." This brought a few chuckles. "Alright, just one more question, then I'll quit bugging you for now."

"Shoot."

"You said Things 1 and 2 are twins?"

Pops nodded. "Yes sir, they are."

"Having family members on the same aircrew is against regs, so why are they flying this bird?"

This time, Thing 1 spoke up from the pilot seat. "Because my dumb-shit of a co-pilot fell down a flight of stairs and broke his arm. He just got out of training and it was his first OP, so when we got the call he was a bit too excited, decided to take the stairs four-at-a-time. They would've given me my bro's number two, but he was put in triage after they got back. All the other air crews were busy at the time, so the brass said 'what the hell' and I got stuck with this joker." He took his hand off the collective and gave a light punch to his brother in the left-hand seat, causing the aircraft to waver slightly.

Thing 2 wasn't paying attention, but was instead looking at the instruments, mainly the GPS. "Sir, the Sergeant Major said that you fly an A-10. Were your instruments acting up at all when you got here?"

John cocked an eyebrow. "I don't know, my girl got smashed to bits before I came-to, why?"

Rainbow looked nervously at John, who put a calming hand on her back. She wasn't exactly used to flying in cramped, steel deathtraps.

The pilot didn't answer, still keeping his eyes riveted to the GPS screen. "And you said we're headed to somewhere called 'Ponyville'?"

"Yes we are. Is something up?"

There was a moment of silence before he spoke again. "Either I'm going crazy, or that 'Gate' thing did more than bring us here. According to the GPS, we're thirteen minutes out."

The implications of what the pilot said hit John like a slap to the face as he jumped up and began stepping over Marines to get to the cockpit. Grabbing the seatbacks to keep himself stable, he looked over the pilot's shoulder at the screen currently showing the GPS.

Sure enough, there was a small dot labeled "Ponyville" slowly creeping across the screen with coordinates, an ETA, and other technical information in the corners of the screen.

John yelled into the pilot's ear so he could be heard over the sound of the aircraft since he had unplugged his microphone when he got out of his seat. "Did you set that!" Referring to the current flight plan set for the town.

"Yes sir! I just set it! I'm still trying to figure out how the hell it knows where we are!"

He took a moment and watched the dot continue its journey across the screen, growing ever-closer to the aircraft. "We'll figure that out later!" Giving a quick pat to the pilot's shoulder, he carefully made his way back to his seat and plugged his microphone back in, getting a nervous look from Rainbow, who looked a little ridiculous with the large helmet on her head.

"Is everything ok? This thing's not gonna crash, is it? Because that would totally NOT be awesome."

John gave a reassuring pat on the Pegasus' back. "Don't worry, everything's perfectly fine, and no, we're not going to crash." He thought for a moment. "Basically, the magic that brought us here changed a few things on our..." he paused to think of the right word, "electrical map. Nothing to worry about."

Rainbow scrunched up her nose. "Electrical map? How does that work?"

He thought for a moment "Well-"

"ETA Ten Minutes!"

He was cut off by the call from the cockpit. "That's gonna have to be a story for another time." He gave another pat to the disappointed Pegasus. "Alright Marines! Who here has fought a Manticore before?"

"Ach!" Blackout recoiled from the Manticore's swipe, barely skimming the side of his head, but sending him reeling nevertheless. "Alright, сука. You want to play rough?" He spat out a globule of blood as the two other knights moved to cover him. "Let us play rough." With a stamp of his fetlocks, two sets of razor sharp claws swiveled down and clicked into place on each of his hoofguards.

“Sir! How much longer do we have?” Star stepped out from behind a wagon and renewed his magical assault, slinging bolts of energy.

Lightning swooped down and attempted to slash at the Manticore’s tail, but missed, narrowly avoiding the appendage when it flailed as an energy bolt struck the beast in the face. “He’ll get here when he gets here! Just keep-“

He was cut off by a guttural yell from Blackout as he sprung at the Manticore. Still disoriented from Star’s shot to the face, the Manticore couldn’t get out of the way fast enough. Using his momentum, Blackout hooked a hoof around the Manticore’s neck and swung onto its back, just out of reach of its swiping paws.

Just as he was about to plunge a clawed hoof into the beast’s spinal cord, he realized his folly.

Yes, he was away from the deadly teeth and claws...

But not the tail.

Star watched in horror as Blackout was sent careening through the window of a nearby house. “Oh buck! The Lieutenant’s-”

“RAAAAAAAAAAGGGHHHH!!! I WILL BEAT YOUR FACE IN!!!”

“... Perfectly fine?...”

From his vantage point by the wagon, Star watched as a dark grey streak shot through the smashed window, right into the side of the Manticore. A moment later, the Manticore started yowling and bucking around frantically, trying to shake Blackout off, but the knight’s claws held firm.

“C’mon LT! Kick its flank!” Lightning was watching the scuffle from above and was getting ready to come around for another pass at the flailing tail when he almost ran into a rather winded Pegasus guard.

“Message *pant* for *pant* the *pant* Lieutenant.”

“I’M A BIT BUSY AT MOMENT!”

“Sir, *pant* Lieutenant *pant* Killinger *pant* says-”

“FOR LUNA’S SAKE, COLT! SPIT IT OUT!”

The guard took a few seconds to catch his breath.

“Sir, the Lieutenant is two minutes out. *pant* Closing fast.”

Blackout muttered an expletive as he deftly dodged a swipe from the Manticore’s tail. “EXCELLENT! TIME TO DIE, YOU OVERGROWN PILE OF DRAGON SHIT!”

Emphasizing his point, Blackout began using his claws to climb up onto the Manticore’s back again.

As if sensing what would happen next, one of the knights yelled out. “Watch the tail!”

When the tail inevitably came around and swiped at Blackout, he was ready.

With a muffled oof from the pony, and a roar from the Manticore, Blackout pulled his claws out of the Manticore's back and latched onto the tail, holding on tightly as he was flung around like a rag doll.

"WELL DON'T JUST STAND AROUND LIKE LITTLE FOALS!"

Snapped out of their awe-induced stupor, the two knights jumped into the action, deploying their claws and latching onto the sides of the Manticore, pinning its wings to its sides.

Unable to effectively help, Lightning landed next to Star, who couldn't fire his bolts for fear of striking the knights on accident.

"Remind me to never piss him off." Lightning gestured at Blackout, who was repeatedly stabbing the tail while being whipped around at speeds that would give a lesser pony a severe case of whiplash.

"Yeah, 'Breaking News: Pegasus found missing limbs and stuffed into cider barrel'." Star sniggered.

"Geez, I'd rather not- Hey, do you hear something?" Lightning's ears started swiveling around as he slowly took flight and ascended above the rooftops.

Star cocked an eyebrow and looked at Lightning. "I can't hear anything over that. He pointed a hoof at the Manticore turned bucking bronco.

"Just listen, you'll hear it."

"Hear what! I don't know what you're talking abou-..." Star's face paled as he looked at Lightning. "W-what is that?"

"I don't know dude, but it's getting louder!" Lightning frantically looked around to try to identify the low whomping noise.

"I've got a bad feeling ab-"

"Hey, you still there?"

Star jumped and Lightning flew over to the other Pegasus guard, who was just staring dumbstruck at the current brawl below him. Pressing the button on the side of the radio, the Pegasus responded. "Um, y-yes sir."

"Good. We have Ponyville in sight. We're going to drop some guys off at the station, and then make our way to your location. If you can, signal your position so we know where you are."

"Ok, standby." The Pegasus turned to Star. "Hey Star, can you do that firework thing?"

The Unicorn pointed his horn at the sky and shot a red bolt into the air. When he thought the bolt was high enough, he flared his horn and the bolt exploded in a shower of red sparkles.

"Ok, we have your location. If there are any Pegasi in the air, I want them on the ground now. Ponyville is now a no-fly zone."

"Yes sir, no-fly zone in effect." He turned to Lightning. "You heard the Lieutenant, hooves on the ground."

Lightning shrugged and glided down to land next to Star, closely followed by the radio-wielding Pegasus.

"Alright, sit tight. Be there soon. Out."

The radio cut off and the two Pegasi shared a glance.

"Why do you think he wants us on the ground?"

"No idea."

They continued to watch the knights, who were slowly making some headway. The Manticore's tail was now a gory pile of mush, due to Blackout's incessant pounding, and there were long bloody gashes all along the Manticore's back and sides.

Although, just as it seemed the knights were gaining the upper hand, one was sent flying when one of the Manticore's wings swiftly unfolded with a muffled pomf.

Sensing that it was free of one of its assailants, the Manticore took the opportunity to plow through the wall of a house, ridding itself of another. Using its tail as a wrecking ball, the Manticore swung the appendage at a wall, dislodging the remaining knight and sending him flying further into the house.

Emerging from the house knight-free, the Manticore charged at the three ponies standing by a wagon further down the street.

Seeing that Blackout and his knights had been defeated, or at least dazed and scattered, the three ponies did the only thing that made sense.

"Oh BUUUUUUCK!!!"

They ran for their lives as the whomping noise grew to a deafening level.

"Alright, remember, as soon as the wheels touch the ground, Sierra disembarks and takes up defensive positions around the station. The quicker you get off, the quicker we get back in the air." A wave of OORAHs filled the cabin. "After we get airborne, we'll locate the Manticore and Bravo will fast-rope in while the Staff Sergeant provides cover fire." Another round of OORAHs and a drowned-out "Get Some".

"Fifteen seconds!"

The Marines racked the charging handles of their weapons and opened the sliding doors on either side of the cabin.

John, who was crouching behind the cockpit, turned and pointed to a clear spot just behind the guard station. "Put down right there." The pilots nodded in acknowledgement.

"Five seconds! Four! Three! Two! Brace!"

Everyone onboard tensed as the helicopter touched down.

As soon as the helicopter stopped moving, the Sergeant Major, JTAC, Rockstar, and DJ jumped out, leaving the Gunnery Sergeant, Annie, Doc, and Shadow onboard

"CLEAR!"

The helicopter began lifting off again and John could see the men on the ground make their way to the station, weapons raised.

"-UCK! LIEUTENANT! THE KNIGHTS ARE DOWN! THE MANTICORE IS GAINING ON US! WE'RE HEADED TOWARD TOWN HALL, BUT WE MIGHT NOT MAKE IT!"

John cursed, then pointed in the direction of Town Hall. "Get us there as fast as you can!" The pilots nodded and John turned to the Marines behind him. "Get the rope ready! Staff Sergeant, get on that weapon!" He pointed at a small sliding between the cockpit and the main cabin door.

A chorus of "Yes Sir"s was heard as the Marines jumped into action. A large bag was retrieved from beneath Rainbow Dash's seat as Annie slid open the small sliding door, revealing an M134 minigun mounted on the side of the helicopter and causing Dash's eyes to widen at the sight of the weapon being readied.

Looking out the window, John spotted the three guards running down one of the main roads, the Manticore close on their heels as the Blackhawk swooped into a hover at the end of the road, just before reaching Town Hall.

"GO! GO! GO!"

John turned around just as the rope was clipped onto the hook of the rescue hoist and then tossed out the door, quickly followed by the Marines one-by-one until they were all safely on the ground. Reaching over, John pulled the quick-release, causing the rope to detach and fall to the ground.

Seeing that the Manticore was almost upon the guards, John grabbed his radio.

"WHAT THE BUCK IS THAT THING!"

"I DON'T CARE! JUST KEEP RUNNING!"

The three guards ran as fast as they could towards the giant grey object hovering at the end of the road they were on. They couldn't help but watch as a rope fell out of one of the doors and three men slid down the rope, each pointing what Lightning and Star recognized as rifles in their direction as soon as their feet hit the ground.

As soon as the rope detached from the flying object, the radio they had crackled to life.

"GUARDS, HIT THE DECK! OPEN FIRE! OPEN FIRE!!"

The guards' eyes widened. They had all seen what John's rifle could do...

And there were three of them pointed right at them.

"OH SHIT!" Lightning, being the quickest of the three, hooked a hoof around the necks of the guards running on either side of him and fell to the ground, pulling the other two with him.

The Marines opened fire.

And everyone in town knew it.

BRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!!

John watched as the minigun spewed forth fire and lead at an unholy rate, utterly destroying anything and everything unlucky enough to be on the receiving end. He just hoped that the Marines' aim stayed true and that the guards below would come out unscathed, but the borderline maniacal laughter coming from the female behind the minigun wasn't helping.

When the dust cloud around the Manticore engulfed the prone forms of the guards, John called a cease fire, and the firing quickly stopped, leaving everyone with ringing ears.

Keeping his eyes on the dust cloud, he tried contacting the guards. "Guards, is everyone alright?"

Silence.

"Bravo, is there any movement down there?"

"Negative, no movement."

John cursed. "Guards, if you can hear this, try making your way out of the dust. Bravo, move up, try to get eyes-on."

He could only watch as the Marines slowly advanced down the street, weapons still raised. His concentration was broken by a call from the cockpit.

"Do you want to check the FLIR?"

John had to restrain himself from punching something. In all the chaos, he had forgotten about the heat-sensing camera attached to the front of the aircraft. "Do it."

"Roger, standby..."

John held his breath.

"Manticore appears to be down..."

He caught a nervous glance from Rainbow in his peripheral vision.

"... I'm seeing slight movement from three small heat signatures, I believe those are your guards. They may be wounded but I'm not positive."

John cursed again. "Alright, set the bird down. Bravo, get them onboard. Sierra, I need medical personnel outside the station, there should be some doctors inside."

The Blackhawk touched down as the three Marines reached the dissipating dust cloud. Letting their rifles hang, they each grabbed a pony and jogged back to the waiting helicopter.

Once onboard, Doc began assessing the ponies' vitals to the best of his abilities.

Even though he wasn't medically inclined, John could tell that something was wrong. All three guards had their eyes glued shut, were drawing quick, ragged breaths, and were shaking violently. Lightning appeared to be having trouble breathing, and Star smelled like he had pissed himself.

John reached over and placed a hand on Annie's shoulder, causing her to glance at him. He pointed at the body of the Manticore. "Make sure that thing stays down."

She grinned. "Yes sir!"

The Sergeant Major was standing outside the guard station scanning the road in front of him. After he had received John's call, he had sent Sparky inside to retrieve the doctors.

"Sounds like things went FUBAR, eh sarge?"

He glanced at DJ, who had walked up next to him. "Son, compared to the OP where I met the Lieutenant, this doesn't even rate a 1 on a scale to 100."

"That bad, huh?"

He put a hand on the Private's shoulder. "You have no idea. Ask Rockstar sometime. He was there."

"Will do, sarge."

The sound of the helicopter began growing louder.

"Sierra, are the medical personnel there?" John's voice came through his headset. And he sounded pissed.

He turned his head as the station's doors opened and two ponies, a brown Unicorn in a lab coat and a white one wearing a nurse's hat, walked out. "Just got here."

He beckoned the ponies over. One looked as if it was about to speak, but he held up a finger and silenced it.

"Good, make sure they can hear this."

He took a moment to pull the radio out of its pouch and unplug his headset. "Good to go." He saw the Blackhawk ascend above the rooftops and bank in their direction.

The ponies sere startled as the radio crackled to life, but this time Doc was the one speaking.

"Ok, I've got three ponies; all male, two with wings, one with a horn. All three appear to be in various stages of shock and are suffering from mild exhaustion. The white one with the horn and the brown one with wings have some minor cuts and bruising. The blue one with wings has received a GSW to the chest. The bullet has pierced its armor and appears to have lodged in one of his lungs. He's having severe trouble breathing and appears to be having trouble remaining conscious. I'm stabilizing the best I can, but he needs to get to a hospital ASAP."

The Sergeant Major turned to the doctors. "You get all that?"

The white one looked a little confused, but the brown one nodded.

He brought the radio to his mouth. "Roger. Medical personnel standing by."

In a billowing cloud of dust, the Blackhawk touched down in front of the station, causing the two doctors to take a step back. In a flash, the side door opened and three Marines jumped out, followed by John and the Rainbow maned Pegasus.

Quickly leading the two doctors to the helicopter, he helped them up into the cabin, where he saw the Corpsman tending to a blue Pegasus with a blood-stained bandage across it's chest. Upon seeing the injured ponies, the doctors overcame whatever fears they had of the helicopter and began helping.

Shutting the cabin door and shielding his eyes from the rotorwash as the helicopter took-off, he glanced at John as he stormed into the guard station, closely followed by the Pegasus.

"Do you think someone should talk to him?" DJ asked him.

The Sergeant Major shook his head. "No, the best thing to do right now is to leave him be."

Rainbow Dash was worried. She had never seen John act like this.

She followed closely as the human burst through the doors to the station and headed towards the stairs. Seeing a small orange filly making her way towards him, she quickly intercepted her.

"Hey Rainbow Dash! Can I go talk t-"

"FUCK!"

Scootaloo was cut off as John wheeled around and punched the wall before stomping up the stairs, leaving a hole in the wall and causing the ponies in the room grow silent.

Rainbow turned to the wide-eyed filly. "Not right now Squirt. He needs some time to himself for a bit." She flinched as the door to the sleeping quarters upstairs slammed shut.

Author's Note

SWEET CELESTIA! A WILD UPDATE APPEARED!

Yeah, it's been a month... again...
Kinda dropped the ball on this one, but you can blame this one on mid-terms, work, and the world's largest case of writer's block.

Anyways, the action is starting to pick up, so the updates should speed up, because nobody likes writing filler.

As always, your feedback is appreciated.