Author's Note

First off, I'm terribly sorry for the long wait. It was never my intention for me to drop off like that, but some things came up that have been keeping me occupied.

Also, sorry for the short chapter, but I decided to chop this one into multiple parts for a few reasons:

1) It's been a REALLY long time since I've written anything, and I'm trying to get back into the saddle.
2) I wanted to get something out to you all, and I didn't want to put out an incomplete chapter, so I found a good place to stop and chopped it off there.
3) I've kind of lost track of my thought process during the interim, and I'm currently trying to find it again.

The wait for the next update shouldn't be too long, so keep an eye out.

As always, keep me updated on various grammar and spelling mistakes, and give me any and all feedback that you can. It helps a lot and is very appreciated.

Chapter 13: Complications

John was sitting on a bench at the train station waiting for the train to arrive. With the exception of a single family of three, the platform was empty.

To pass the time, he reviewed the plans for the next few hours. If everything went accordingly, the mangled pieces of his aircraft would be picked up and hauled to the train station, where the waiting train would take it to the distant city of Canterlot. After that, he was told that everything would be airlifted to a nearby air base, but a lack of sleep, followed by a lack of coffee, left his mind a bit fuzzy.

As the minutes ticked by, he started to nod off, only to be startled awake by the blast of a whistle. Standing and stretching, he checked the nearby clock, and with timing that would make any conductor smile, the train pulled into the station just as the clock struck 5:30.

The train itself wasn't very long, and only consisted of eight train cars total. Two passenger cars, and six flatbed cars. John's eyes lingered on the flatbed cars, more specifically, the large canvas-covered shapes on the flatbed cars. He figured that it was just specialty moving equipment that the engineers brought with them.

Tearing his gaze from the train, he focused his attention on the yellow unicorn walking up to him.

"Howdy, y' must be the feller that ah wus told wus meetin' us. Name's Terex, but y'all can just call me Terry. Ahm in charge of the Heavy Lifters, an' Ah wus told ya had some work for us."

John extended his arm and shook the pony's hoof. "Nice to meet you, I'm Lieutenant Killinger, and you would be correct. I've made a mess, and you get to pick it up."

"Heh, well, Ah guess we'd better get unpacked then."

The pony turned to head back to the train, but John stopped him. "While you do that, I'd like to meet with all the squad leaders, for both guards and engineers. I want to set a few ground rules and get an idea of how things are going to happen."

"Sure thing. Ah assume ya want me here too?"

John nodded an affirmative and Terex disappeared inside the train, only to reappear a moment later with a small group of ponies following him. Taking a moment, he surveyed the group standing in front of him before speaking.

"Alright, all of you are responsible for making sure this information gets to your subordinates, so listen up, this is how things are gonna go down..."

After making sure the engineers and guards were up to speed on everything, he left the train station and made his way to Sweet Apple Acres. He stood beside the cockpit of his downed aircraft, quietly looking at the smashed gauges and blood-stained panels.

It had been a miracle that he had survived.

The amount of things that could've gone wrong were practically endless. The fuel onboard could've ignited on impact, effectively cooking him and anything else that got close enough. The weight of his helmet, combined with the immense G-forces of the impact, could have snapped his neck like a twig. The aircraft could've rolled over, smearing him across the ground as it careened through the orchard.

But none of those things happened.

Either he was unbelievably lucky, or he had a guardian angel watching over him.

"Sir? They're almost here."

He turned around and eyed the pony that spoke up. He was pretty sure that he was one of Ratchet's engineers, but he couldn't quite remember. He'd have to try and find some coffee, or a good substitute, before he got on the train. He still owed Shining a report of the events in town, and he didn't want to nod off in the middle of writing it.

Rubbing his eyes and double checking the switches to make sure everything was off and safe, he began walking to the field where the majority of the ponies and marines were waiting.

"Is everything ready?" he asked the engineer.

"Yes sir. Everyone here knows what they're supposed to do, and we've removed all the ordinance and moved it out of the way like you asked."

When he arrived at the crash site earlier, he was flagged down by the Sergeant Major, who asked to consolidate all the ordinance. This would make it easier to keep track of and, more importantly, keep an eye on. It wouldn't be good if something was misplaced mid-move.

"Good. Very good." He nodded his approval. "Hopefully, things will go reasonably well."

A low rumbling noise caused everyone's head to turn.

Slowly making its way down the edge of the orchard were two massive, six-wheeled carts, pulled by some of the largest ponies John had ever seen. In the beds of the wagons were an assortment of large poles, straps, and cables.

"Alright, gents! Let's get to it!"

All the smaller pieces of John's aircraft were loaded onto the two carts in short order and hauled to the train station, where they were loaded onto the waiting train with relative ease. This left just the main fuselage and the pile of stripped ordinance left to load.

John watched as the engineers assembled what looked to be a gantry crane around the main body of the A-10 as one of the large wagons was positioned next to the wreck.

"What the- HEY! DROP IT! GET ON THE DAMN GROUND!"

His head snapped towards the small pile of ordinance where he saw two Marines with their weapons raised and a quickly fleeing unicorn in their sights.

"STOP! OR WE WILL OPEN FIRE!"

The declaration of impending doom only caused the pony to run faster.

"DROP HIM!"

A pair of gunshots silenced any remaining conversations and caused all work to come to a screeching halt as the fleeing pony dropped to the ground with a scream.

The Marines quickly made their way to the unicorn as John jogged over.

"What the hell is going on-" John cut himself off as one of the Marines picked up a Hydra-70 Rocket that was laying only a few feet away from the pony. "Please tell me this pony wasn't trying to steal my rocket…"

The Marine holding the rocket spoke up. "I'm afraid so, sir. Bastard was invisible. I almost tripped over him."

"Shit. Is he still alive?"

The Marine not holding the rocket crouched down and placed a hand on the pony's neck, feeling for a pulse. "Barely. Orders?"

John's mind went into overdrive as he began rapidly issuing commands. "Get him stabilized if you can, and find out who he is." He pointed at the rocket. "Get that thing back with the others and inventory everything, down to the last bolt. Get on the horn to the guys at the station and let them know what happened. Recall Sergeant Ironhoof and notify Lieutenant Crimson, I want this place locked down. I want eyes on every single piece of that aircraft, no matter how small. Nothing moves until we get this sorted." He turned on his heel and walked towards the main fuselage. "And someone send a letter to the Princess… And pray that she doesn't drop the moon on us."